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SPIRITUALISM

AND

ALLIED CAUSES AND CONDITIONS

OF

NERVOUS DERANGEMENT

BY

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, M.D.

Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System in the Medical
Department of the University of the City of New York, etc.

" Ratio quasi qusclam lux lumenque vitse." — Cicero.

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

182 Fifth Avenue

1876

IGHT,

AM'S SONS.
1876.

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO ALL,
FEW THOUGH THEY BE,
WHO ARE FREE FROM SUPERSTITION

PREFACE.

iir | ""HE Physics and Physiology of Spiritualism," a little book
X based upon an article contributed to the North American
Review, having for several years been out of print, I have taken
the opportunity presented by the demand for a new edition to
reform the work, and to extend it very far beyond its original
limits. In so doing I have not only re-written and amplified
the remarks on Spiritualism, but have included within the scope
of the present volume several other subjects, not only analogous
in their scientific relations to the discussion in question, but
which are in themselves, perhaps, still more interesting to the
general reader.

Throughout, my object has been to strip from the basis of
fact, which almost always exists, the network of error which
ignorance, credulity and superstition have woven around it. In
making this attempt I have endeavored to avoid saying a word
which could be tortured into an expression of disrespect for
true and rational religion of any kind, especially for the funda-
mental beliefs of Christianity to which the civilized world owes
so much. But for the faith, whether spiritualistic or mesmeric ;
whether medical or theological ; whether orthodox or heterodox ;
whether Christian or Pagan ; whether Protestant or Roman
Catholic, which seeks to bolster itself up by so-called super-
natural phenomena, or by alleged miraculous interpositions of
the Deity in its behalf, I have not hesitated to speak with
entire frankness and directness.

And I confess that for the religion which is mainly based

vi PREFACE.

upon emotion I have no great respect. It is generally as fleet-
ing as the inconstant feeling from which it arises, while leaving
behind it mental and nervous disorders often of life-long dura-
tion. The " Outpouring of the Spirit of God " — an expression
which would be blasphemous if it were not the result of ignor-
ance— is too often, to the physician's perception, only another
name for epilepsy, chorea, catalepsy, ecstasy, hysteria or in-
sanity.

This book is not therefore written in the interest of science
against religion. Its aim is altogether different. Indeed there
can be no conflict between pure science and pure religion ; for
the one is truth and the other is faith in the truth. But between
science and the distorted facts, the misinterpreted phenomena,
the gross and senseless delusions with which individuals have
from time to time bedaubed the features of natural religion,
warfare is perpetual, and in that contest the position of this
little work is not doubtful.

43 West 54th St., New York,
May 1, 1876.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGB

Some of the Causes which lead to a Belief in Spiritualism —

Sensorial Deception i

Sensorial deception — Human credulity — Love for the marvellous —
Belief in spirits — Effects of mental emotion over sensorial impressions
— Effects of physical causes — Simultaneous sensorial deception of large
numbers of people — Animal electricity— No investigation practicable
of subjects not capable of proof.

CHAPTER II.

Magnetism in its Relations to Spiritualism 16

Reichenbach's investigations — The od force — Fallacies of Reichen-
bach's experiments — Volpicelli's experiment — Angelique Cottin, or the
" electrical girl " — Failure of the phenomena before the committee of
the French Academy of Sciences.

CHAPTER III.

Concentrated Attention a Source of Erroneous Sensorial

Impressions 27

Spiritual photographs — Experiment — Mr. Braid's experiment in re-
gard to the power of attention— Mediumistic deception.

Vii

viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

PAGE.

Sleight of Hand Compared to Spiritualistic Manifestations 31

Benvenuto Cellini's experiment — Mediumistic fraud — Elephas Levi
— His directions for raising the dead — Experiments in sleight of hand
like those of the Davenports — Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke's per-
formances— Psycho — East Indian Jugglers — Performances before the
Emperor Jehangire.

CHAPTER V.

The Different Kinds of Mediums 49

Two kinds, the dishonest and the honest — Allen Kardec's decision.

CHAPTER VI.

Physical Mediums 51

Increasing and diminishing the stature — Mr. Home's manifestations
— Manifestations of the saints in the same direction — The blessed Ida's
amplification — Levitation or rising in the air — Mr. Home's manifesta-
tion as reported by Lord Lindsay — Apollonius Tyaneus — Col. Stodare
— Erroneous report relative to Savonarola — Levitations of the saints — .
Calmet's accounts^St. Theresa — St. Francis — St. Thomas, of Villan-
ova — Maria d'Agreda — St. Peter, of Alcantara — St. Esperance, of Brene-
galla — Agnes, of Bohemia — Dominic de Jesus-Marie, etc. — Levitations
by demoniac influence — Jane Brooks — Case reported by Glanvil — How
levitation is to be explained — Hallucination — Case reported by Pliny —
Case of Johannes Scotus — Unintentional exaggeration and misrepresen-
tation— Insufficient evidence — Intentional misstatement — Legerdemain
— Hallucination on the part of the narrator — Lord Lindsay again — True
explanation of Mr. Home's levitation — Gravitation — Case of St. Joseph,
of Copertino — Case of a wicked minister, Raynerus — Hysterical cases —
Case of the concubine — Alleged resistance to the effects of physical and
chemical agents — Incombustibility — Cases of St. Catherine, of Sienna,
of St. Timon — Ordeal by fire — Incombustibility through demoniac
influence — Curious mode of exit of a devil from the body of a young
man — Case of Eunus — Case of Rabbi Barchochebas — Fire eaters of
modern times — Incombustible men — Explanation of their performances
— Application to Mr. Home's manifestations — Devil worshippers —

CONTENTS. ix

PAGE

Variation in the weights of bodies — Mr. Crookes' experiments with Mr.
Home — Exploits of East Indian Jugglers as related by M. Jacolliot — Sir
Walter Raleigh's experience in regard to the fallacy of human testi-
mony— Mr. Grimes' experiments relative to the principle of suggestion
— My own experiment in increasing the weight of a table — Explanation
of Mr. Crookes' experiments — Globes of fire — Katie King.

CHAPTER VII.
Sensitive or Impressible Mediums i ii

Evidence in regard to their existence entirely subjective — Every-
body is a sensitive medium — Case in illustration — Various kinds of
sensations of numbness — Effects of concentrated attention.

CHAPTER VIII.
Seeing and Auditive Mediums 121

Description of seeing mediums — Hallucinations and illusions of
sight — Katie King — Mr. Robert Dale Owen — His Boston experience
of seeing a spirit — Explanation of the imposition practised on him, and
objections to the reality — Kardec's case — Weber appears at the opera in
Paris.

CHAPTER IX.

Speaking Mediums 136

Doctrine of spiritualism relative to speaking mediums — Absurdity
of the view — Ancient oracles — Speaking animals — Comte's perform-
ances— Trance speaking — Experiment with the foot of a " trance me-
dium."

CHAPTER X.

Curing Mediums 141

Power of saints as miraculous healers — St. Sauveur, of Horta — His
wonderful cures — Sovereigns as healers — Touching for the King's evil
— Origination of the practice — Form of prayer used at the ceremony — ■

x CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Evelyn's description — French kings touching for scrofula — Guarded
opinion of Servetus — Disuse of the practice — Relics of saints and holy
men and women — Tombs as therapeutic agents — Special gifts of heal-
ing claimed for certain individuals — Mr. Greatreakes — George Fox —
Mesmerism — Dr. Elliotson — " The Zoist " — Reported cure of a woman
in fits — Explanation — Reported cure of uterine disease — Fallacy — Miss
Martineau's cure of a cow by mesmerism — Hypnotism the only real
phenomenon of mesmerism — Mary Tofts*and her rabbits — Establish-
ment of the fact that she gave birth to these animals — They were
produced before the king and dissected in his presence — Dr. Elliotson's
objections ill-founded — The proof just as good as for the alleged facts
in mesmerism — Examples of other women bringing forth animals, lay-
ing and hatching eggs, etc. — Case from Lycosthenes — Perkinism — Ex-
posure of the metallic tractors — The " metal cure " of Dr. Burq — Sir
Keneim Digby and the " powder of sympathy " — Case of Mr. Howel,
as reported by him — Effect of Sir Kenelm's practice on modern surgery
— Zouave Jacob and other similar healers — Experiment with nitrous
oxide gas — Wonderful effects of thermometers in curing diseases —
Case — Reflections on cures through the influence of the imagination.

CHAPTER XL

PNEUMATOGRAPHIC AND WRITING MeDIJJMS l8l

Description of writing mediums — Opportunities for frauds.

CHAPTER XII.

Somnambulism, Natural and Artificial 183

Natural somnambulism described — Varieties — Case and experiments
— Jane Rider, the Springfield somnambulist — Mr. Braid and hypnotism,
or artificial somnambulism — How produced — Continuation of the case
just described — Relations of hypnotism to spiritualism — Kircher's ex-
periment relative to the imagination of the hen — Czermak's experiments
with crawfish, hens and other animals, in throwing them into the hyp-
notic condition — Other experiments — Braid's experiments with men
— Velpeau's and Broca's surgical operations on persons hypnotized —
Author's operations on hypnotic persons — Author's experiments in arti-
ficial somnambulism — St. Rose of Lima — Her experiments on mosquitoes

CONTENTS. xi

PAGE

■ — Jacques de Cerqueto silences frogs — St. Ida and the fish — Other ex-
amples of saintly influence over the lower animals — The Duke of Marl-
borough's experiment on a savage dog — The Rev. Mr. Bartlett mesmer-
izes a furious bull — Animals capable of hypnotizing other animals — Hu-
man automatism — Examples — Relations of somnambulism to sleep —
Suggestion — Anecdote — Medical and hygienic management of somnam-
bulic individuals. '

CHAPTER XIII.

Hysteria 218

Hysteria a condition in which a tendency to simulating disease exists
— The Jansenist convulsionnaires — Their immunity from injury by physi-
cal violence — Cases— Louis Gaufridi — Marie de Saines — Urban Grandier
and the nuns of Loudun — Father Santerre's signs — Nicholas Remigius
— His self-accusation — New England witchcraft — John Goodwin's chil-
dren— Winlock Curtis — Death of the epidemic — Kentucky revival —
McNemar's description — Lorenzo Dow's account — The Jerkers — Rev.
Mr. Wesley's ministrations — Hysteria developed therefrom — Shakerism
— Mother Ann Lee — Shaker performances — Devil-worshippers — Joanna
Southcott — Her sexual orgasms — Preparations for the birth of the
second Messiah — Mrs. Emma Hardinge — Possession and sorcery in Mas-
sachusetts— Hysteria and spiritualism — Cases — Jerome Cardan and
Swedenborg,

CHAPTER XIV.
Fasting Girls 263

Hysterical fasting girls — Margaret Weiss — Appolonia Schreira — Eve
Fliegan — Joan Balaam — Other cases — Ann Moore — Case reported by
Dr. Ogle — Sarah Jacob, the " Welsh fasting girl " — First watching —
Second watching — Death — Trial and conviction of parents for man-
slaughter.

xii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV.

The Hysteroid Affections — Catalepsy, Ecstasy, and Hys-
tero-Epilepsy 289

Catalepsy — Its symptoms — Ecstasy — Its relations with catalepsy —
Cruciform paroxysms — Case of Ler. — Cases of the mystics — Miss Narcissa
Crippin — Cases mentioned in the New Testament — Jansenist convul-
sionnaires — Marie Sonet, the "Salamander" — Charlotte Laporte, the
"Sucker" — Her disgusting actions — Catharine of Sienna, the proto-
sucker — Case of Berguille — Her ecstasy and passional paroxysms — Joan
of Arc — Her speech to her judges — Her trial and execution at the stake
— Bernadotte Soubirois and "Our Lady of Lourdes " — Use of the
Water of Lourdes ha New York — Analysis of M. Lassere's Work —
Hystero-Epilepsy — Its phenomena — Case reported by author— Case of
Ler., reported by Mr. Charcot — Another case reported by author — Dr.
Delitzsch's opinions in favor of possession and witchcraft — Practical
deductions therefrom — A good practical formula for exorcising demons.

CHAPTER XVI.

Stigmatization 349

Description — Cases in early times — St. Francis d'Assissi — Christine
de Stumbelle — Tricks of the devil — Veronica Guiliani — The American
stigmatic Vitaline Gagnon— Palma d'Oria — How she received the body
of Christ — Her other performances — Pathology of her case — Louise
Lateau — Mr. Warlomont's report — Her cruciform paroxysms — Her fast-
ing— Pathology of hsemidrosis or bloody sweat — Case of Maria K. — Dis-
cussion of Louise Lateau's case in the Royal Academy of Medicine of
Belgium.

CHAPTER XVII.

Conclusion 3^3

The deceivers and the deceived— Spiritualism a religion — Facts of
small importance— Doctrine of Algazzali — Default of spiritualism.

^ OCT 20 1910

SPIRITUALISM

ALLIED CAUSES OF NERVOUS DERANGEMENT.

CHAPTER I.

SOME OF THE CAUSES WHICH LEAD TO A BELIEF IN SPIRITU-
ALISM SENSORIAL DECEPTION.

THERE is an inherent tendency in the mind of man to
ascribe to supernatural agencies those events the causes
of which are beyond his knowledge ; and this is especially the
case with the normal and morbid phenomena which are mani-
fested in his own person. But, as his intellect becomes more
thoroughly trained, and as science advances in its developments,
the range of his credulity becomes more and more circum-
scribed, his doubts are multiplied, and he at length reaches that
condition of " healthy skepticism " which allows of no belief
without the proof. Thus he does not now credit the existence
of an archcBus dwelling in the stomach and presiding over its
function, for he knows by experiment that digestion is a purely
physical process, which can be as well performed in a teacup,
with a little pepsin and dilute chlorhydric acid, as in the stomach
with the gastric juice ; he does not now believe that the bodies
of lunatics, epileptics, and hysterical women, are inhabited by.
devils and demons, for he has ascertained by observation that

2 SPIRITUALISM.

the abnormal conditions present in such persons can be ac-
counted for by material derangements of the organs or func-
tions of the system. He has learned to doubt, and, therefore
to reason better ; he makes experiments, collects facts, does
not begin to theorize until his data are sufficient, and then is
careful that his theories do not extend beyond the founda-
tion of certainty, or at least of probability, upon which he
builds.

But there have always been, and probably always will be,
individuals whose love for the marvellous is so great, and
whose logical powers are so small, as to render them susceptible
of entertaining any belief, no matter how preposterous it may
be ; and others more numerous, who, staggered by facts which
they cannot understand, accept any hypothesis which may be
offered as an explanation, rather than confess their ignorance.

The real and fraudulent phenomena of what is called spirit-
ualism are of such a character as to make a profound impres-
sion upon the credulous and the ignorant ; and both these classes
have accordingly been active in spreading the most exagger-
ated ideas relative to matters which are either absurdly false or
not so very astonishing when viewed by the cold light of
science. Such persons have, probably, from a very early age,
believed in the materiality of spirits ; and having very little
knowledge of the forces inherent in their own bodies, have no
difficulty in ascribing occurrences, which do not accord with
their experience, to the agency of disembodied individuals
whom they imagine to be circulating through the world. In
this respect they resemble those savages who regard the burn-
ing-lens, the mirror, and other things which produce unfamiliar
effects, as being animated by deities. Their minds are decidedly

PREDISPOSING CAUSES. 3

fetish-worshipping in character, and are scarcely, in this respect,
of a more elevated type than that of the Congo negro who en-
dows the rocks and trees with higher mental attributes than he
claims for himself.

Then it is possible for the most careful and experienced
judgment to be deceived by false sensorial impressions of real
objects, or by non-existing images created by the mind. In the
first case a gleam of moonlight passes for a ghost, the stump
of a tree becomes a robber, and the rustling of leaves blown by
the wind is imagined to be the whispering of voices. No one
possesses an absolute perfection of sensation, and thus things are
never seen, or heard, or smelt, or tasted, or felt exactly as they
exist. In the dark, or in the uncertain light of the moon, or of
artificial illumination, the liability to self-deception is very
much increased ; and if, in addition to the defect of light,
there are continual sounds and other means of engaging the
attention, it is exceedingly easy to induce sensorial confusion and
thus to impose upon the intellect.

The so-called mediums know very well the advantages to be
derived from darkness, musical sounds and other ways of
diverting the senses from the real object they have in view,
and every magician, conjurer, and legerdemainist makes use of
the same means as a spiritual element in the success of his
tricks.

Thus the medium, or the honest prestidigitateur tells the
subject who is to be deceived that he must concentrate his mind
on his great-grandmother, for instance, and that in a few min-
utes she will make her appearance. If the victim be weak of
intellect and highly impressionable, it is fully within the range
of probability that no further efforts will be required from the

4 SPIRITUALISM.

worker of the pretended miracle. The apparition of the de-
ceased ancestor will be present to the eyes of the descendant.
But even if he be gifted with an ordinary amount of cerebral
development the concentration of his attention upon a single sub-
ject, places him in the most favorable possible condition to be
deceived by any manoeuvres of the medium or magician, to be
still further guided by his suggestions, or to misinterpret real
occurrences which may be produced.

As regards purely imaginary images — that is, images not
based on any sensorial impression — the trouble is in the
brain. An excess or deficiency of blood circulating through
this organ, or a morbid alteration of its quality, such as is in-
duced by alcohol, opium, belladonna, and other similar sub-
stances, will often lead to hallucinations. Those of De Quincey,
Coleridge, and other opium-eaters, are well known, and several
striking instances have come under my own notice.

Various mental emotions act in a like manner by their in-
fluence in deranging the cerebral circulation. A young lady who
had overtasked her mind at school, was thrown thereby into a
semi-hysterical condition during which she saw spectres of va-
rious kinds which passed and repassed rapidly before her all
day long. Everything at which she looked appeared to her of
enormous size. A head, for instance, seemed to be several
feet in diameter, and little children looked like giants. When
I took out my watch while examining her pulse, she remarked
that it was as large as the wheel of a carriage. Sauvages
refers to a somewhat similar case, in which a young woman,
suffering from epilepsy, saw dreadful images, and to whom real
objects appeared to be greatly magnified. A fly seemed as
large as a chicken, and a chicken equalled an ox in size.

SENSORIAL DECEPTION. 5

Physical causes, calculated to increase the amount of blood
in the brain or to alter its quality, may give rise to hallucina-
tions of various kinds. A gentleman under the professional
charge of the writer, can always cause the appearance of images
by tying a handkerchief moderately tight around his neck ;
and there is one form which is always the first to come and the
last to disappear. It consists of a male figure clothed in the
costume worn in England three hundred years ago, and bearing
a striking resemblance to the portraits of Sir Walter Raleigh.
This figure not only imposes on the sight, but also on the hear-
ing j for questions put to it are answered promptly, and with
much more intellectual force than those addressed to the
so called " spirits." How easy would it be for the gen-
tleman subject to this hallucination, were he a believer in spir-
itualism, and less intelligent, to imagine that his visitor was
a spirit, and that he held converse with the real Sir Walter
Raleigh !

A similar instance is related in Nicholson's Journal. * "I
know a gentleman," he states, "in the vigor of life, who, in my
opinion, is not exceeded by any one in acquired knowledge and
originality of deep research ; and who for nine months in suc-
cession was always visited by a figure of the same man, threat-
ening to destroy him, at the time of his going to rest. It
appeared upon his lying down, and instantly disappeared when
he resumed the erect position." The explanation here is very
simple. The recumbent position facilitated the flow of blood
to the brain, and at the same time tended, in a measure, to
retard its exit. Hence the appearance of the figure was due
to the resulting congestion. As soon as the gentleman rose

* Vol. vi., p. 166.

6 SPIRITUALISM.

from bed the reverse conditions existed, the congestion dis-
appeared and the apparition went with.it.

The other senses may be individually affected, or may par-
ticipate in the general disturbance. It is by no means un-
common for physicians to meet with cases in which either the
smell, the taste, or the touch is the subject of hallucinatory
impressions. A gentleman recently under the care of the
writer, is constantly under the idea that he smells turpentine.
For a time the conviction was so strong that he could not
resist the impulse to search for the origin of this odor, but as
he was never once rewarded with success in his efforts, he
gradually came to regard the cause as entirely subjective.
Still he is never free, except during sleep, from the smell of
turpentine in his nostrils.

Another has the sensation of touch on the top of his head so
deranged, that he is sure there is something pressing hard upon
his scalp. Even the correction which he is enabled to give
through the ends of his fingers does not suffice to eradicate the
idea. He resists, as well as he is able, for several minutes at
a time, and then, goaded on by the sensation "that there is
something there," he raises his hand to ^remove it, only to be
undeceived for a brief period.

Mayo * relates the case of a Herr von Baczko, already sub-
ject to hallucinations, his right side weak from paralysis, his
right eye blind, and the vision of the left imperfect, who, while
one evening engaged in translating a pamphlet into Polish, sud-
denly felt a poke in his back. He turned round and discovered
that it proceeded from a negro or Egyptian boy, apparently

* Lessons on the truths contained in Popular Superstitions, Frankfort-
on-the-Maine, 1849, P- 47-

SENSORIAL DECEPTION. 7

about twelve years of age. Although convinced that the whole
was an hallucination, he thought it best to knock the appari-
tion down, when he felt that it offered a sensible resistance.
The boy then attacked him on the other side and gave his left
arm a peculiarly disagreeable twist, when Baczko again pushed
him off. The negro continued to visit him constantly during
four months, preserving the same appearance and remaining
tangible, then he came seldomer, and finally appearing as a
brown colored apparition with an owl's head, he took his
leave.

The fact that multitudes may be simultaneously impressed
with the same belief, is no guaranty that this belief is founded
on reality. A great many otherwise sensible people have been
convinced that the blood of St. Januarius periodically under-
goes liquefaction ; yet those, whose education and habits of
thought teach them to look upon such so-called miracles with
distrust, are not brought to accept the truth of the legend,
because many thousands of other persons have received it in
full faith.

Josephus * states that " a few days after the feast of the
Passover, on the twenty-first day of the month Artemisius, a
certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared. I
suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable were it not
related by those that saw it, and were not the events that fol-
lowed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals ;
for, before sun-setting, chariots, and troops of soldiers in their
armor, were seen running about among the clouds, and sur-
rounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast, which we call Pen-

* The works of Flavius Josephus ; translated by William Whiston,
A.M., Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge. The
Wars of the Jews, chap, yi., book vi.

8 SPIRITUALISM.

tecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner court
of the temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred
ministrations, they said that in the first place they felt a quak-
ing and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a great
sound as of a great multitude saying, 'Let us remove hence.' "

The army of Constantine saw the cross in the sky, with the
legend " In hoc signo vinces." The Crusaders were often wit-
nesses of like imaginary prodigies. At the battle of Antioch
" a squadron was seen to descend from the summit of the
mountains, preceded by three horsemen, clothed in white and
covered with shining armor. 'Behold,' cried Bishop Adelman,
'the heavenly succor which was promised to you; Heaven
declares for the Christians ; the holy martyrs St.' George,
Demetrius and Theodore come to fight for you.' Immediately
all eyes were turned towards the celestial legions. A new ardor
inspired the Christians, who were persuaded that God himself
was coming to their aid."*

Ferrier f quotes an Italian writer to the effect that upon one
occasion, in the streets of Florence, a crowd was assembled
earnestly beholding the image of an angel hovering in the sky.
A philosopher explained to the excited multitude that the cir-
cumstance was a deception caused by a mist which partially
covered the dome of a church, surmounted by the gilded, figure
of an angel, in such a manner as to allow the image to be
illuminated by the rays of the sun. Without the presence of
this sensible man the event would have passed for a super-
natural appearance.

It is only necessary to refer to the writers of three or four

* Michaud's History of the Crusades. Translated from the French by
W. Rolrson, London, 1S52. Vol. I., p. 175.

t An Essay towards a Theory of Apparitions, London, 1S13, p. 2S.

SENSORIAL DECEPTION. 9

hundred )^ears ago to discover how common were the supposed
miraculous events by which whole communities were deceived.*
And we see at the present day by the yearly example afforded
by the pretended liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius in
Naples, just referred to, that even our own time is not exempt
from instances (besides those which illustrate the power of
spiritualism in this respect) of large numbers of people being
simultaneously' subjected to illusions or hallucinations. Thus
Hibbert, f quoting from Ellis's edition of Brand's Popular Anti-
quities, relates the story of a sea captain of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, as follows: "His cook," he said, "chanced to die on
their passage homeward. This honest fellow having had one
of his legs a little shorter than the other, used to walk in that
way which our vulgar idiom calls ' an up and a down.' A few
nights after his body had been committed to the deep, our
captain was alarmed by his mate with an account that the cook
was walking before the ship, and that all hands were on deck
to see him. The captain, after an oath or two for having been
disturbed, ordered them to let him alone and try which, the
ship or he, should first get to Newcastle. But turning out on
further importunity, he honestly confessed that he had like to
have caught the contagion, .for, on seeing something move
in a way so similar to that which his old friend used, and
withal having a cap on so like that which he was wont to wear,
he verily thought there was more in the report than he was at
first willing to believe. A general panic diffused itself. He

* For instance " Prodigiorum ac ostentorum Chronicon per Conradum
lycosthenem. Basilese, MDLVII."

t Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparitions, etc., 2nd edition, Edin-
burgh, 1825, p. 16.

,#

io SPIRITUALISM.

ordered the ship to be steered towards the object, but not a
man would move the helm ! Compelled to do this himself, he
found on a nearer approach that the ridiculous cause of all
their terror was part of a main-top, the remains of some
, wreck, floating before them. Unless he had ventured to make
this nearer approach to the supposed ghost, the tale of the
walking cook had long been in the mouths and excited the
fears of many honest and very brave fellows in the Wapping of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne."

Dr. D. H. Tuke,* in his recent very interesting work, gives
the following instance : —

" A curious illustration of the influence of the imagination
in magnifying the perceptions of sensorial impressions de-
rived from the outer world, occurred during the conflagration
at the Crystal Palace in the winter of 1866-7. When the
animals were destroyed by the fire, it was supposed that the
chimpanzee had succeeded in escaping from his cage. Attract-
ed to the roof with this expectation in full force, men saw the
unhappy animal holding on to it and writhing in agony to get
astride one of the iron ribs. It need not be said that its
struggles were w7atched by those below with breathless suspense,
and as the newspapers informed us, with ' sickening dread.'
But there was no animal whatever there, and all this feeling was
thrown away upon a tattered piece of blind, so torn as to re-
semble to the eye of fancy, the body, arms and legs of an ape."

It is even possible for considerable bodies of men to be
affected simultaneously by the same dream. Laurent f relates
the following remarkable event : —

* Illustrations of the Influence of the Mind upon the Body in Health
and Disease, etc., London, 1872, p. 44.

t Grand Dictionnaire de Meclecine, t. xxxiv., Art. Incubi, par M. Parent.

SENSORIAL DECEPTION. n

" The first battalion of the regiment of Latour d'Auvergne,
of which I was surgeon-major, while in garrison at Palmi in
Calabria, received orders to march at once to Tropea in order
to oppose the landing from a fleet which threatened that part of
the country. It was in the month of June, and the troops had
to march about fifty miles. They started at midnight, and did
not arrive at their destination till seven o'clock in the evening,
resting but little on the way and suffering much from the heat
of the sun. When they reached Tropea they found their camp
ready and their quarters prepared, but as the battalion had
come from the farthest point and was the last to arrive, they
were assigned the worst barracks, and thus eight hundred men
were lodged in a place which, in ordinary times, would not have
sufficed for half their number. They were crowded together
on straw placed on the bare ground, and being without cover-
ing, were not able to undress. The building in which they
were placed was an old, abandoned abbey, and the inhabitants
had predicted that they would not be able to stay there all
night in peace, as it was frequented by ghosts, which had dis-
turbed other regiments quartered there. We laughed at their
'credulity; but what was our surprise to hear about midnight
the most frightful cries proceeding from every corner of the
abbey, and to see the soldiers rushing terrified from the build-
ing. I questioned them in regard to the cause of their alarm,
and all replied that the devil lived in the building, and that
they had seen him enter by an opening, into their room, under
the figure of a very large dog with long, black hair, and throw-
ing himself upon their chests for an instant, had disappeared
through another opening in the opposite side of the apartment,
We laughed at their consternation, and endeavored to prove to

i2 SPIRITUALISM.

them that the phenomenon was due to a very simple and
natural cause and was only the effect of their imagination ; but
we failed to convince them, nor could we persuade them to
return to their barracks. They passed the night scattered
along the sea shore, and in various parts of the town. In the
morning I questioned anew the non-commissioned officers and
some of the oldest soldiers. They assured me that they
were no-t accessible to fear ; that they did not believe in dreams
or ghosts, but that they were fully persuaded they had not
been deceived as to the reality of the events of the preceding
night. They said that they had not fallen asleep when the
dog appeared, that they had obtained a good view of him, and
that they were almost suffocated when he leaped on their
breasts.

" We remained all day at Tropea, and the town being full of

troops we were forced to retain the same barracks, but we
could not make the soldiers sleep in them again without our
promise that we would pass the night with them. I went there
at half-past eleven with the commanding officer ; the other
officers were, more for curiosity's sake than anything else,
distributed in the several rooms. We scarcely expected to
witness a repetition of the events of the preceding night, for the
soldiers had gone to sleep, reassured by the presence of their
officers, who remained awake. But about one o'clock, in all
the rooms at the same time, the cries of the previous night
were repeated, and again the soldiers rushed out to escape the
suffocating embraces of the big, black dog. We had all re-
mained awake watching eagerly for what might happen, but,
as may be supposed, we had seen nothing.

" The enemy's fleet having disappeared, we returned next day

ANIMAL ELECTRICITY. 13

to Palmi. Since that event we have marched through the
kingdom of Naples in all directions, and in all seasons, but
the phenomena have not been reproduced. We are of opinion
that the forced march which the troops had been obliged to
make during a very hot day, by fatiguing the organs of respi-
ration, had weakened the men, and consequently disposed them
to experience these attacks of nightmare. The constrained
position in which they had been obliged to lie, the fact of their
not being undressed, and the bad air they were obliged to
breathe, doubtless aided in the production."

There are two forces resulting from vitality, which may or
may not be correlative, but which are of such a nature that
some of their more unusual manifestations excite the astonish-
ment of the vulgar, and are inexplicable to many who consider
themselves learned. These are the mind, and animal electri-
city. The latter, thanks to the investigations of Nobili, Matte-
ucci, Miiller, Du BoisTleymond, and others, is beginning to be
understood, and its phenomena reduced to fixed laws. All our
knowledge of animal electricity tends to show that it does not
differ in any essential particular from the galvanism developed
outside of the body by chemical action ; and that the tissues
of the organism, the bones, muscles, nerves, etc., act toward it
precisely as they do toward the galvanism which passes along
an iron or copper wire and sets a telegraphic instrument in
operation. It is impossible for us, therefore, to attribute any
of the real or false manifestations of modern spiritualism to
this force ; and those persons who do so, show themselves to
be not fully acquainted either with what is asserted of spiritual-
ism, or with electricity in its internal or external relations with
the animal body. The idea that tables are moved, knocks

14 SPIRITUALISM.

made, and apparitions produced by the electricity of the body,
is simply absurd.

The mind — under which term are included perception, the
intellect, the emotions, and the will — is ordinarily supposed to
have its seat wholly in the brain. That its higher manifesta-
tions are clue to cerebral action is doubtless true ; but holding
the view that where there is gray nerve-tissue, there nervous
power is generated, the writer believes — and physiology and
pathology fully support the opinion — that the spinal cord and
sympathetic system are capable of originating certain kinds of
mental influence, which, when the brain is quiescent, may be
wonderfully intensified. The physiology of the nervous system
is by no means even tolerably well understood. Science has,
for ages, been fettered by theological and metaphysical dogmas,
which give the mind an .existence independent of the nervous
system, and which teach that it is an entity which sets all the
functions of the body in action, and of which the brain is the
seat. There can be no scientific inquiry relative to matters of
faith — facts alone admit of investigation ; and hence, so long
as psychology was expounded by teachers who had never even
seen a human brain, much less a spinal cord or sympathetic
nerve, who knew absolutely nothing of nervous physiology,
and who, therefore, taught from a stand-point which had not a
single fact to rest upon, it was not to be expected that the true
science of mind could make much progress. It is different
now, but the majority of physiologists have scarcely yet thrown
off the trammels of the past, and, therefore, barely going a step
in advance of Descartes — who confounded the mind with the
soul, and lodged it in the pineal gland — they attribute all
mental action to the brain alone.

DEFINITION OF MIND. 15

Before we can be qualified to inquire into the powers of the
mind, we must have a definite conception of what mind is.
To express the idea in sufficiently full, but yet concise, lan-
guage is difficult, and perhaps no definition can be given
which will be entirely free from objection. For the purposes
however, of the present memoir, the mind may be regarded as
a force, the result of nervous action and the elements of
which are perception, intellect, the emotions and the will.
Of these qualities some reside exclusively in the brain, but the
others, as is clearly shown by observation and experiment,
cannot be restricted to this organ, but are developed with
more or less intensity by other parts of the nervous
system. It would be out of place to enter fully into the con-
sideration of the important questions thus touched upon, but in
the fact that the spinal cord and sympathetic ganglia are not
devoid of mental power we find an explanation of some of the
most striking phenomena of what is called spiritualism. To
these the attention of the reader will presently be invited.

1 6 SPIRITUALISM.

CHAPTER II.

MAGNETISM IN ITS RELATIONS TO SPIRITUALISM.

IT has been supposed that magnetism — a force correlative
with electricity — resides in the body, and that some persons
are peculiarly sensitive to the influence of the magnet and to
the magnetism evolved by other individuals. This subject has
been thoroughly investigated by the Baron von Reichenbach, a
very learned, but certainly a very imaginative man, who has
developed from his inquiries some truth and a great deal of
fancy. He sought to give an explanation of mesmerism, and
really succeeded to a certain extent. The following observation
is certainly true :

" If a strong magnet, capable of supporting about ten
pounds, be drawn downward over the bodies of fifteen or twenty
persons, without actually touching them, some among tnem
will always be found to be excited by it in a peculiar manner.
The number of people who are sensitive in this way is greater
than is generally imagined. . . . The kind of impression pro-
duced on these excitable people, who otherwise may be regard-
ed as in perfect health, is scarcely describable \ it is rather dis-
agreeable than pleasant, and combined with a slight sensation
of cold or warmth, resembling a cool or gently warm breath of
air, which the patients imagine to blow softly upon them.

MAGNETISM. 17

Sometimes they feel sensations of drawing, pricking, or creep-
ing ; some complain of sudden attacks of headache. Not only
women, but men in the very prime of life, are found distinctly
susceptible to this influence ; in children it is sometimes very
active." #

Reichenbach supposed that these and other phenomena
were due to a hitherto undescribed force which he denominated
od, the odic force, or odylj, and which was present in the body.
When evolved in large quantity, the subjects were said to be
sensitive, and could then not only experience the sensations
mentioned, but could also see the luminous flames which were
asserted to be given off from the poles of a magnet. At first his
experiments were conducted with confessedly sickly persons ;
but he subsequently ascertained that individuals in perfect health
were capable of experiencing the same sensations. What the bar-
on's " perfect health " was, will be apparent from the following
remarks which conclude his detailed description of thirty-five
persons who were thus doubly gifted :

" None of these perfectly healthy persons knew anything
about their most remarkable and interesting peculiarities ; and
they were not a little astonished at the discovery, under my
guidance, of powers of which they had never before dreamed.
The manner in which I come upon the trace of them, which I
at once take up and follow, is now simply this : I -inquire
among my acquaintance whether they know any one who is fre-
quently troubled with periodical headaches, especially megrim,
who complains of temporary oppression of the stomach, or who
often sleeps badly without apparent cause, talks in the sleep,

* Physico- Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, etc.
p. 3. English translation, by Dr. John Ashburner. London, 1851.

18 SPIRITUALISM.

rises up or even gets out of bed, or is restless at night during
the period of full moon, or to whom the moonlight in general is
disagreeable, or who is readilv disordered in churches or
theatres, or very sensitive to strong smells, grating or shrill
noises, etc., — all such persons, who may be otherwise healthy,
I seek after, and make a pass with a finger over the palm of
their hands, and scarcely ever miss finding them sensitive.
When they follow me into the obscurity of my dark chamber
and remain there an hour or two, their surprise is excited by
the appearance of a quantity of luminous appearances, of which
they had not previously the slightest idea. The number of
persons who are in this state of excitability does actually
exceed belief, and I state it rather below than above the reality
when I say that at least a third part of the population are sensi-
tive ; for on every side on which I turn I meet with healthy sensi-
tives ; and I could in a few days collect, not dozens, but hun-
dreds, if it were requisite. It will and must soon be proved how
little ground there is to doubt these asseverations. Sensitive-
ness is not a rarity among human beings, as I myself thought
>ome years ago, but a very generally distributed quality, which,
after my accounts, will soon be discovered in every direction,
and will throw open a new and not unimportant page of the
human condition."

Can any physician conversant with the abnormal conditions
of the nervous system doubt that such " healthy persons " as
those described by the Baron von Reichenbach could be made
under "guidance," to see or feel almost anything suggested to
them ? The writer has now under his professional care a young
lady, hysterical, a somnambulist, and affected with chorea, upon
whom this principle of suggestion can be made to act with

MAGNETISM. 19

striking effect, and who would be a perfect godsend to all mes-
merizers, mediums, and electro-biologists. For instance, it is
only necessary to tell her that certain images are before her,
when she directly sees them exactly as they are described ; to
inform her that she is about to have galvanism applied, and
then to give her the unconnected poles, when she at once ex-
periences the shock ; to ask her if she has not a bitter or a
sweet or a sour taste in her mouth, when she immediately de-
clares that she has just such a taste as is mentioned. Voices
are heard and odors smelt precisely as they are described to
her. Hundreds of patients affected with diseases of the ner-
vous system are susceptible, in a greater or less degree to the
operation of suggestion; and to the action of this principle
many miracles and impostures owe the success with which
they have been received. To it many of the phenomena of
spiritualism are clearly due.

In the Comptes Rendus for August 31st, 1874, is a letter
from M. Volpicelli, of Rome, to M. Chevreul, which illustrates
the effect of the imagination in giving rise to expected phenom-
ena. " A physician," says the writer, " possessing an excellent
reputation, asserts that if a magnet is brought into contact with
a nervous subject the magnetism produces many disquieting
effects and notably deranges his health. For my part I do nut
think these disturbances are in any way due to the magnetic
influence, whose real existence, however, I do not contest, but
I attribute them to the influence of the person's imagination. I
was invited by the learned medical professor to experiment upon
a nervous subject at the Hospital Saint Esprit, at Rome. I
accepted the courteous offer, but instead of a magnet I brought
a piece of iron, which was not in the least magnetized. The

20 SPIRITUALISM.

patient had no sooner seen this iron than he was seized with
violent convulsions ; his imagination was so excited that we
could observe the greatest intensity of nervous disturbance.

"I made a second experiment : A magnet was placed in
the hand of a person likewise affected with a nervous malady :
at the end of a few seconds he became so violently excited that
I was obliged to remove it. I was impressed with the convic-
tion that the nervous disturbance was produced by the mere
sight of the loadstone, and not by any magnetic action, and
several days afterward I was able to convince myself by
means of the following process : The same person was called
upon to preside at a scientific reunion. I took powerful mag-
nets and placed them in his chair, in his table drawer, and
even beneath his feet, without his having the slightest suspicion
of any of my preparations. During the seance, which con-
tinued more than two hours, he had no nervous disturbance
whatever, and at the conclusion of the meeting he declared, on
my asking him, that he felt perfectly well. On being told that
he had been surrounded by powerful magnets, he manifested
both surprise and fear, as though he were not quite sure of
being in perfect health."

But notwithstanding the fact that many of the experiments
of the Baron von Reichenbach and others have no other
foundation than that property of the human mind which causes
it to be subjectively affected by suggestion, it is undoubtedly
true that there is a germ of fact in his investigations, and that
magnetism is destined to play an important part in physiology
and pathology. In a strikingly original and interesting paper*

* " On the Physiological Action of Magnetism." By John Vansant,
M.D., etc., Journal of Psychological Medicine, April, 1870.

MAGNETISM. 21

recently published, the experiments detailed in which have
been verified by the writer, it is clearly shown that certain very
obvious symptoms are induced by the application of a magnet
directly to the body, and that the lower animals and even plants
are indubitably affected by its influence.

Nevertheless, there is no proof that magnetism, or the odic
force, is capable under any circumstances of producing the
clairvoyant state, of moving tables, of causing raps, or that
any of the other more striking phenomena that are claimed for
spiritualism can be accounted for through its agency. The
possibility of such a power being exercised is quite another
thing. The force that can cause a mass of iron to be moved
in opposition to the laws of gravity, and through media imper-
vious to all ordinary influences, can scarcely have the word
impossible properly applied to it. But this is not a question of
possibilities, but of facts, and certainly it has not been shown,
with that reasonable degree of certainty which all scientific
questions demand, that magnetism in or out of the body exer-
cises any such control over mind or matter as has been claimed
by its partisans.

In this connection, and as showing how greatly, sincere and
conscientious individuals may be deceived, it may be well to
recall the chief points in the history of Angelique Cottin, the
"electric girl," who, nearly thirty years ago, created much
excitement in France.

According to the account given by Figuier * in his Histoire
du Merveilleux, this young girl, at this time about fourteen
years old, on the fifteenth of January, 1846, was occupied with

* Histoire du Merveilleux dans le Temps Moderne, par Louis Figuier.
Deuxieme edition. Paris, 1861. t. iv., p. 160.

22 SPIRITUALISM.

three companions in her ordinary work, which consisted ir.
weaving silk gloves. It was eight o'clock in the evening, when
the oaken round table at which one was seated, suddenly, with-
out obvious cause, became violently agitated, and could not br
maintained in its proper position. Frightened at this remark
able occurrence, the girls ran away uttering cries of terror and
attracting several of the neighbors to the place. Not being
able otherwise to convince the spectators of the truth of their
story, two of the girls seated themselves again at the table,
which, however, remained perfectly still, but the instant
Angelique took her place at it, the table was again shaken
and finally was completely overturned. At the same time the
young girl was apparently compelled to follow the table, but if
she touched it another series of violent movements ensued.
The conclusion arrived at by the neighbors was that Angelique
Cottin was bewitched.

The following day she endeavored to resume her work, but
similar results followed. Various plans were devised for keep-
ing the table quiet but all were in vain. Being unable to explain
the unusual phenomena otherwise, the people of the village
were unanimously of the opinion that Angelique Cottin was
possessed by the devil, and accordingly she was taken to the
priest to have the fiend exorcised.

But the good father was not disposed to employ the thera-
peutics of the church unless he were first an eye witness of the
satanic manifestations. Accordingly the table was brought,
and on Angelique sitting down at it, it was shaken but not
overturned. Her own chair was, however, drawn away from
the table, and oscillated so violently that she could with diffi-
culty keep her seat.

MAGNETISM. 23

Convinced of the reality of the phenomena, the priest was
still unwilling to employ exorcism for what he regarded as a
physical disease requiring medical treatment. He therefore
quieted the excitement of the inhabitants by declaring that
Ange'lique was affected with a rare and perhaps unknown dis-
order, for which physicians should be consulted.

The manifestations continued and became much more
varied in character. Books, brushes and other objects were
repelled from her if even her clothes touched them. A chair
upon which she was about to seat herself was forcibly repulsed,
notwithstanding the efforts made by three strong men to keep
it in place. Work was no longer possible, for everything she
touched was immediately drawn or pushed away with great
energy.

Several physicians examined her and were witnesses of the
occurrences. The opinion generally entertained was that
Angelique was highly charged with electricity, and many ex-
periments undertaken by the doctors and other learned men
went to show that this really was the case. Among others, Dr.
Lemonier examined into the matter and testified as follows, in
a letter which he wrote at the time :

" I hasten to give my views relative to the phenomena which
you have observed in the girl Cottin ; they are perfectly well
known to me. / have seen a willow basket filled with beans
instantly emptied and the contents scatte?'ed roic?id the room, when
the young girl placed her left hand in it. All the furniture,
tables, chairs, chests, when touched by her hand were repulsed
violently. The procureur du loi of Mortagne was present ; he
being seated on a chair, requested Angelique to sit down on
his knees. Instantly, as by a thunderbolt, he was raised, up

24 SPIRITUALISM.

and repelled with the chair. Another chair held by myself and
two of my friends escaped from our hands, and one of the legs
of this chair was broken. The girl uttered a cry indicative of
pain when any one put any thing in her hand. Placed on a
chair isolated from the ground by four glasses, the girl support-
ing her feet on the rung, produced no manifestations. But as
soon as she was placed in contact with the floor the phenomena
recommenced, and always from left to right. During a par-
oxysm one side was warmer than the other. Moreover there
was an unusual excitement of the circulation."

There were many other similar letters, and Dr. Tauchon
wrote a brochure entitled : Enquiry relative to the reality of the
electrical phenomena of Angelique Cottin* in which the manifes-
tations are very fully described and many arguments adduced
in favor of their reality.

But in an evil moment for the continuance of the remark-
able phenomena exhibited in the person of Angelique, her
parents, prompted by a desire to turn an honest penny by
making a show of their daughter, resolved to travel with her
from city to city, and eventually to take her to Paris. The
manifestations continued, many other physicians and scien-
tific men examined her, and were satisfied that no more was
claimed for her than was actually founded on fact. Finally
she arrived in Paris, and a commission of the Academy of
Sciences, composed of Arago, Becquerel, Isidore Geoffroy,
Saint Hilaire, Bobriest, Raver and Pariset, was appointed to ex-
amine her and report the facts to the Academy. The inquiry was
entered into with calmness and deliberation, instruments were

* Enquete sur l'Authenticitc des Thcnomenes Electriques d'Angelique
Cottin. G. Bailliere, Paris, 1846.

MAGNETISM. 25

employed to determine the quantity of electricity evolved by
the " electric girl," and the following report was made : —

"We were assured that M'lle Cottin exercised a strong,
repulsive action over bodies of every kind at the instant that
any part of her clothing touched them. It was also said that
tables were overturned by touching them with a single thread
of silk held in her hand.

" No appreciable effect of this kind was produced before
the commission.

" In the accounts communicated to the Academy, it was
alleged that a magnetic needle, influenced by the arm of the
young girl, at first rapidly oscillated and then assumed a posi-
tion far from the magnetic meridian.

" Before the commission, such a needle, delicately sus-
pended, experienced, under such circumstances, neither per
manent nor temporary displacement.

" M. Tauchon believes that M'lle Cottin has the faculty of
distinguishing the north from the south pole of a magnet by
simply touching it with her fingers.

" The commission is convinced, by numerous and varied
experiments, that the young girl does not possess this power.

" The commission will not pursue much further the enu-
meration of its failures. It will only say that the only fact
announced which was realized before it was that of sudden
and violent movements in chairs on which the young girl was
seated. Suspicions having been aroused relative to the man-
ner by which these movements were produced, it was deter-
mined to submit them to careful examination. The commis-
sion announced, without reserve, that the researches would hz
directed to the point of ascertaining what part certain quick

26 SPIRITUALISM.

though concealed movements of the hands and feet might have
in the causation of the alleged facts. At this period it was
declared to us that the young girl had lost her faculties of
attraction and repulsion, and that we would be notified as soon
as they were regained. Although several days have elapsed
since then, the commission has not received the promised
notice, though we have been informed that M'lle Cottin daily
repeats her performances before others.

"After having duly weighed all the circumstances, the
commission is of the opinion that the allegations made to the
Academy relative to M'lle Angelique Cottin should be con-
sidered as not proven."

Nothing more was heard of the " electrical girl." Like
many other extraordinary occurrences, her performances were
incapable of resisting the inquiries of scientific men, not easily
led astray by their emotions, but bringing to the investigation
a desire to know the truth, and a determination to be guided
only by facts.

* " On the Physiological Action of Magnetism," By John Vansant, M. D.,
etc., Journal of Psychological Medicine, April, 1870.

CONCENTRATED ATTENTION. 27

CHAPTER III.

CONCENTRATED ATTENTION A SOURCE OF ERRONEOUS SENSORIAL

IMPRESSIONS.

THE attention, when concentrated upon any particular thing
or part of the body, will often lead to erroneous sensorial
impressions. An observer gazing anxiously out to sea, or across
a vast plain, will scarcely ever fail to see the object of which he
is in search ; an expectant watcher hears every moment the
rumbling of wheels, the footstep, or the knock which announces
the wished-for or dreaded arrival ; and pains, tastes, odors, and
even diseases, can frequently be thus originated. Thus, a lady
who has been under the professional care of the writer for in-
tense nervous headaches, and who is of a very impressionable
organization, is able at will to produce a pain in any part of
her body by steadily fixing her attention upon it. Even the
mention in her presence of physical suffering experienced by
other persons immediately results in her feeling similar pains
to those described, in corresponding parts of her own body.
The case of Mrs. A., detailed by Sir David Brewster,* is a
forcible illustration of the point in question. This lady, who
possessed a remarkable degree of good sense_, and who was sub-
ject at one time to hallucinations of various kinds, was of so
sensitive a nature that the account of a person having suffered
pain of any kind, immediately produced corresponding twitches
in the same part of her own body. The mention, for instance,

* Letters on Natural Magic addressed to Sir Walter Scott. Letter III.

28 SPIRITUALISM.

of the surgical operation of amputating an arm, at once caused
her to feel a severe pain in her arm. She talked in her sleep,
and was accustomed to exercise her memory greatly by writing
verses of poetry — facts which showed the existence of a mor-
bidly hypersesthetic nervous system rendered still more excitable
by the undue development of her imagination.

Physicians know very well that actual organic disease may be
produced by the habitual concentration of the attention on an
organ. The fancies of the hypochondriac may thus in time be-
come realities.

Many of the facts of spiritualism are clearly explainable by
referring them to this influence.

A so-called "spiritual photograph" is shown to a sorrowing
mother, and immediately she recognizes the features of her dead
son ; the wish is in such cases father to the thought. I have
repeatedly known the same photograph acknowledged to be the
exact likeness of several very different persons, solely because
those who looked at it and carefully examined every feature,
were told beforehand that it was a correct portrait of some one
in whom they were specially interested.

An experiment illustrating how the sense of sight may be
perverted by the concentration of the attention, may be readily
made by any one. Let him go out into the middle of Union
Square, for instance, and look steadily towards the zenith, at
nothing. — In a few minutes he will have a crowd about him, all
gazing eagerly in the same direction. He need not utter a
word, not even in reply to the questions that maybe asked him.
In a short time some one will declare he sees something, another
will see a bird far up in the air, another a star, another a bal-
loon, and so on. Then let the original observer declare the

CONCENTRATED ATTENTION. 29

object to be a kite or any other thing which it is possible to see
in the sky, and forthwith many present will at once agree that
it is a kite, while all the time their sense of vision is being de-
ceived by an unreal image.

A timid woman goes to bed after having read accounts or
listened to stories of house-burnings. Her attention is concen-
trated upon the one object, and before she goes to sleep she
sees lights, hears the crackling of the flames and smells the
smoke. I once knew a lady who not only under these circum-
stances experienced all these sensations mentioned, but who
even felt a feeling of suffocation from the smoke which she im-
agined filled the room.

In his book on Hypnotism to which fuller reference will
presently be made, Mr. Braid says that on one occasion he re-
quested four gentlemen to lay their arms on a table with the
palms of their hands upwards, each one to look at the palm of
his hand for a few minutes, and at the same time concentrating his
attention on it and to wait for the result. In about five minutes,
the first, one of the present members of the Royal Academy,
stated that he felt a sensation of great cold in the hands ; an-
other, who is a very talented author, said that for some time he
bought nothing was going to happen, but at last a darting
pricking sensation took place from the palm of the hand, as
if electric sparks were being drawn from it ; the third gentle-
man, lately mayor of a large borough, said that he felt a very
uncomfortable sensation of heat come over his hand ; the fourth,
secretary to an important association, had become rigidly
cataleptic, his arm being firmly fixed to the table.

I am very sure, with the great John Hunter, that it is impos-
sible for anyone to concentrate the attention on any part of

3o SPIRITUALISM.

the body, without having, as the result, a sensation of some kind
originate therein.

It is perfectly within the range of our experience that
many who go to witness the performances of mediums should,
upon being told to fix the attention on a certain event which
was about to take place, experience the sensation through the
sight, hearing, touch or smell, that the event did in reality
occur, when in fact they have been deceived. Upon one occasion
I was present when a medium announced that he was about to
increase his height. He disappeared behind a screen, and on
emerging to view, every one present, except myself, perceived an
increase of height which they variously fixed at from five to
eight inches. But I had taken the precaution to measure with
my eye the distance from the top of his head to the chandelier
under which he stood, and I saw that he almost touched it.
When he came from behind the screen and stood under the
chandelier it was very evident that the increase in height con-
sisted of about two inches, an amount which any tall man can
at will apparently add to his stature.

The visions of saints, votaries and other enthusiasts, about
which I shall have more to say under another head, are, in
a great measure, the result of concentrated attention upon some
one object or image.

SLEIGHT OF HAND. 31

CHAPTER IV.

SLEIGHT OF HAND COMPARED TO SPIRITUALISTIC
MANIFESTATIONS.

A STILL more important factor in the production of spiritu-
■*■ *■ alistic manifestations is sleight of hand. The perfection to
which this art is carried by accomplished performers is really re-
markable, and is much more wonderful than would be real visita-
tions of spirits. For when we are dealing with what appear to
be circumstances and conditions of every-day life and are de-
ceived, with all the elements of knowledge at our command, it
is certainly more astonishing than would be the actual appear-
ance before our eyes of something which no one had ever seen
before and of which no one knew anything.

For instance, a man stands before us clothed in ordinary
apparel, and on an open stage of a theatre, with no drapery
within reach, and nothing to obstruct our full view of him. He
takes a white cambric handkerchief out of his coat pocket, and
holds it in both hands stretched out before him. He then, still
holding one corner with his left hand, seizes the other corner
with his teeth and with the free right hand proceeds to take
from under the handkerchief bowl after bowl, to the number
of a dozen, full of water to the brim and each containing sev-
eral gold fish. Another places a stool in full view of the
spectators, and on this stool puts a large empty basket. There

32 SPIRITUALISM.

is no curtain around the stool, and it would apparently be im-
possible for anything to pass through the bottom of the basket
without being seen by every one present. A woman then gets
into the basket, the lid is closed, and the performer, drawing a
long sharp sword, plunges it in all' directions into the basket.
Shrieks and groans, gradually getting fainter and fainter, appa-
rently come from the basket ; blood, or what has the appearance
of blood, drops from the sword, and finally, the cries having
ceased, the performer desists from his horribly realistic perform-
ance, during which several ladies have fainted, and announces
that he has done a part of his task, and will now proceed to its
conclusion. He calls loudly in an unknown tongue, and straight-
way the woman who had entered the basket walks into the
room from the farther end, and takes her place upon the stage
with as much sang-froid as though she had not been just butch-
ered in presence of four or five hundred people.

Now, such things are to me more wonderful, deceptions as
they are avowed to be, than would be the apparition of a ghost
of a person I knew to be dead. A man in evening dress can
not reasonably be supposed to be able to carry a dozen gallon
bowls full of water and fish in his waistcoat pockets. Such ca-
pacity is not for a moment to be admitted, and yet he in some way
or other deceives the eyes of the hundreds of persons who are
watching him with every intention of detecting him if they can.
A woman enters an empty basket and gets out in full pres-
ence of many people without any one seeing her leave, while
the attention of all is concentrated upon the place where she
is. If the spirit of Julius Caesar should appear to me I should
not be as much confounded as by this performance. I know
nothing of Julius Caesar's spirit, of its attributes, or of the cir-

SLEIGHT OF HAND. 33

cumstances of its visibility or invisibility, I do not even know
that it exists. I neither believe or disbelieve in its existence.
That of which nothing is known , cannot excite astonishment, for
we are only astonished when our preconceived notions of things
are suddenly overturned. But the conviction of a woman
going into a basket is, that she cannot get out of it, in our pre3-
sence and within our view, without our knowledge, and when
she does get out under these circumstances we are naturally
astonished.

A sleight of hand performer knows very well the great
advantage of being able to engage the attention of those whom
he is deceiving. Mention has already been made of this element
as a source of inattention to other things which are going on
around. The fact that individuals have been severely wounded
in battle without knowing it till faintness supervened, or the con-
test was over, is a familiar fact, but it is not so generally known
that surgical operations requiring much time for their successful
performance and causing great pain under ordinary circum-
stances, can be effected without the patient experiencing the
least suffering simply by engaging the attention in such a way
as to produce a kind of mental exaltation. It was undoubtedly
this emotional excitement which prevented sensation in those
who in former times were put to torture or burnt at the stake
for their opinions.

When, in addition, the performer is enabled to accompany his
operations with imposing rites and ceremonies or an appearance
of mystery or awe, his success with a certain class of observers
is still more certain, for not only does he deceive their senses
but he imposes on their understandings.

This was the case in the incantations used to convince

34 SPIRITUALISM.

Benvenuto Cellini, and as the story is exceedingly apposite in
the present connection, I quote it as told by himself. #

"It happened through a variety of odd accidents, that I
made acquaintance with a Sicilian priest, who was a man of
genius and well versed in the Latin and Greek authors. Hap-
pening one day to have some conversation with him on the art
of necromancy, I, who had a great desire to know something
of the matter,, told him that I had all my life felt a curiosity
to be acquainted with the mysteries of this art. The priest
made answer 'that the man must be of a resolute and strong
temper who enters upon that study.' I replied ' that I had forti-
tude and ambition enough if I could but find an opportunity.'
The priest subjoined : ' If you think you have the heart to ven-
ture, I will give you all the satisfaction you can desire.' Thus
we agreed to undertake this matter.

" The priest, one evening, prepared to satisfy me, and de-
sired me to look out for a companion or two. I invited one
Vincenzio Romoli, who was my intimate acquaintance. He
brought with him a native of Pistoria, who cultivated the
black art himself. We repaired to the Colosseo, and the priest,
according to the custom of necromancers, began to draw cir-
cles upon the ground with the most impressive ceremonies imag-
inable ; he likewise brought thither, assafoetida, several pre-
cious perfumes, and fire, with some combustions, which dif-
fused noxious odors. As soon as he was in readiness, he
made an opening in the circle, and, having taken us by the
hand, ordered the other necromancer, his partner, to throw the
perfume into the fire at the proper time, intrusting the care of the

* Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini, written by himself. Roscoe's Transla-
tion : London, 1&23, Vol. i., p. 236.

SLEIGHT OF HAND. 35

fire and the perfumes to the rest, and then he began his incan-
tations. This ceremony lasted above an hour and a half, when
there appeared several legions of devils, inasmuch, that the
amphitheatre was quite filled with them.

I was busy about the perfumes, when the priest, perceiving
there was a considerable number of infernal spirits, turned to
me and said : ' Benvenuto, ask them something.' I answered,
Let them bring me into the company of my Sicilian mistress,
Angelica.' That night we obtained no answer of any sort ;
but I have received great satisfaction in having my curiosity so
far indulged. The necromancer told me it was requisite we
should go a second time, assuring me that I should be satisfied
in whatever I asked, but that I must bring with me a pure and
immaculate boy.

" I took with me a youth, who was in my service, of about
twelve years of age, together with the same Vincenzio Romoli,
who had been my companion the first time, and one Agnolino
Gaddi, an intimate acquaintance, whom I likewise prevailed
upon to assist at the ceremony. When we came to the place
appointed, the priest, having made his preparations as before,
with the same, and even more startling ceremonies, placed us
within the circle which he had likewise drawn, with a more
wonderful art and in a more solemn manner than at our for-
mer meeting. Then, having committed the care of the per-
fumes and the fire to my friend, Vincenzio, who was assisted by
Agnolino Gaddi, he put into my hands a pintaculo or magical
chart, and bid me turn it towards the places that he should direct
me, and under the pintaculo I held my boy. The necromancer,
having began to make his tremendous invocations, called by
their names, a multitude of demons, who were the leaders of

36 SPIRITUALISM.

the several legions, and invoked the virtue and power of the
eternal and uncreated God who lives forever, in the Hebrew
language as likewise in Latin and Greek ; inasmuch that the am-
phitheatre was almost in an instant filled with demons, a hun-
dred times more numerous than at the former conjuration.
Vincenzio Romoli was busied in making a fire, with the
assistance of Agnolino, and burning a great quantity of
precious perfumes. I, by the direction of the necromance^
again desired to be in the company of my Angelica. The
former, thereupon, turning to me, said, ' know they have
declared that in the space of a month, you shall be in her
company.'

" He then requested me to stand resolutely by him because
the lesfions were now above a thousand more in number than he
had designed, and besides these were the most dangerous, so that
after they had answered my question, it behooved him to be civil
to them and dismiss them quietly. At the same time the boy
under the pintaculo was in a terrible fright, saying that there
were in that place a million of fierce men who threatened to
destroy us, and that moreover four armed giants of an enormous
stature were endeavoring to break into our circle. During
this time, whilst the necromancer, trembling with fear, endeav-
ored by mild and gentle methods to dismiss them in the best
way he could, Vincenzio Romoli, who quivered like an aspen
leaf, took care of the perfumes. Though I was as much ter-
rified as any of them, I did my utmost to conceal the terror I
felt, so that I greatly contributed to inspire the rest with resolu-
tion ; but the truth is I gave myself over for a dead man. Seeing
the horrid fright the necromancer was in, the boy placed his
head between his knees and said : ' In this posture will I die

SLEIGHT OF HAND. 37

for we shall all surely perish.' I told him that all these demons
were under us, and what he saw was smoke and shadow, so bid him
hold up his head and take courage. No sooner did he look up but
he cried out, 'the whole amphitheatre is burning and the fire is
just falling upon us,' so covering his eyes with his hands, he
again exclaimed that destruction was inevitable and he desired
to see no more. The necromancer entreated me to have a good
heart and take care to burn proper perfumes ; upon which I turn-
ed to Romoli and bid him burn all the most precious perfumes
he had. At the same time I cast my eyes upon Agnolino Taddi,
who was terrified to such a degree that he could scarce distin-
guish objects, and seemed to be half dead. Seeing him in this
condition, I said, ' Agnolino, upon these occasions a man should
not yield to fear, but should stir about and give his assistance ;
so come directly and put on some more of these perfumes.'
Poor Agnolino, upon attempting to move, was so violently ter-
rified that the effects of his fear overpowered all the perfumes
we were burning. The boy hearing a crepitation, ventured once
more to raise his head, when seeing me laugh, he began to take
courage, and said that the devils were flying away with a ven-
geance.

"In this condition we stayed till the bell rang for morning
prayer. The boy again told us that there remained but few devils,
and these were at a great distance. When the magician had
performed the rest of his ceremonies, he stripped off his gown
and took up a wallet full of books which he had brought with
him. We all went out of the circle together, keeping as close
to each other as we possibly could, especially the boy, who had
placed himself in the middle holding the necromancer by the coat
and me by the cloak. As we were going to our houses in the

38 SPIRITUALISM.

quarter of Banchi, the boy told us that two of the demons whom
we had seen at the amphitheatre went on before us, leaping
and skipping, sometimes running upon the roofs of the houses,
and sometimes upon the ground."

As Cellini was constantly the subject of hallucinations, he
was a fit person to be imposed upon by the priest, who, as
Roscoe states in a note, probably made use of the magic lantern
to throw images of demons on the clouds of smoke raised by
the wood and perfumes. It will be noticed that the only one
who saw the 'demons where there was no smoke, was the boy,
who was evidently in such a condition of terror and excitement
as not to be very clear in his perception. Cellini naively
adds that all dreamed that night of nothing but devils.

Subsequently, as the time approached for the fulfilment of
the promise, and as Cellini became anxious, the priest knowing
that he could not bring Angelica to Rome, contrived a plan for
sending Cellini to Naples, and thus apparently showing the
good faith of the demons and his own power. He fastened a
quarrel on him, and then making Cellini believe that he had
killed his adversary, persuaded him through emissaries to flee
from Rome in order to save himself from the wrath of the Pope.
Cellini went to Naples, and was in the company of his Angelica
within the month.

Many instances have come to my knowledge in which simi-
lar conduct by mediums of the present day, has equally led to the
deceptions of their dupes.

In one case, a lady consulted a well-known orthodox me-
dium, relative to the opinion of her deceased mother, in the
matter of her marriage to a young man of rather questionable
position and character. Knowing that the lady intended to

SLEIGHT OF HAND. 39

visit the medium, the lover went first and fully posted the nec-
romancer in many of the details of the mother's life, and ex-
pressed his own strong desire, liberally supported by green-
back arguments, that the advice should be in favor of the mar-
riage. The young lady went ; the mother appeared ; the ques-
tions were answered, most unequivocally in favor of the mar-
riage, and the lover was extolled as a model of goodness and
propriety. The recarnified spirit was clothed in white, and the
lady noticed that the gown worn was marked with her mother's
name. She retired perfectly satisfied, and immediately an-
nounced her engagement. But the accepted lover saw fit, soon
afterwards, to change his mind, and his reputation being
already bad, he thought it better to have the engagement bro-
ken by the lady rather than himself. He therefore caused the
medium to write a series of letters to the lady in her mother's
name, in which it was stated, that, since the first communica-
tion, circumstances had come to light, which were not then
known, and that, therefore, having her daughter's happiness at
heart, she felt bound to urge her daughter not to marry the
man to whom she was engaged. These letters were signed
exactly as her mother wrote her name. The daughter, who, it
must be confessed, was a fit subject for mediumistic wiles, at
once broke off the engagement, and the young man had the
effrontery to tell her how he had contrived the whole business,
even to furnishing the medium with a night gown, belonging to
the deceased mother, and marked with her name.

Elephas Levi,* in his chapters on necromancy, gives very elab-
orate directions for raising the dead. Thus, the operator is to
go every evening at the same hour, into a dimly lighted cham-

*Dogmc et ritnel de la haute magie, t. II, Paris, 1861, p. 1S5.

4o SPIRITUALISM.

ber, a room in which the dead person was accustomed to sit,
and then placing the single lamp behind him, is to gaze fixedly,
and in silence, at the portrait of the deceased. The room is
then to be perfumed with good incense, and the necromancer
is to retire backwards.

On the day fixed for the evocation, the one who pro-
poses to raise the dead, should dress himself as for a
fete; should not begin a conversation with any one, and
he should eat only a single meal of bread, wine and roots
or fruits. The table-cloth must be immaculately white, two
covers are to be laid for two persons, a piece of bread placed
at the plate representing the dead person, and a few drops of
wine in the wine-glass. The meal is to be eaten in silence in
the chamber of evocation, and before the portrait of the person
to be recalled to earth. Then the remains of the repast are to
be removed with the exception of the bread and wine, which are
to be left standing before the portrait.

In the evening at the hour of the deceased's habitual visit,
the chamber should be entered in silence. A fire is to be light-
ed with cypress wood, and into it incense is to be thrown at
the same time that the name of the dead person is pronounced.
The fire and the lamp are then to be allowed to die out. This
day the veil is not to be removed from the portrait.

When the flame of the fire has ceased, incense is to be thrown
on the embers, and God is to be invoked according to the for-
mulas of the religion which the deceased professed, and accord-
ins: to the ideas which he entertained of God.

In making this prayer it is necessary for the evoker to iden-
tifv himself with the person to be evoked, to speak as he spoke,
and in a measure to believe himself to be the person whose

SLEIGHT OF HAND. 41

presence is desired. Then after a quarter of an hour of silence
to speak to him as if he were present, with affection and with
faith praying him to appear. Then cover the face with both
hands and renew this prayer, and then in a loud voice call the
person by name three times. Falling on the knees, the eyes
closed or covered, and speaking to him mentally, the advent is
to be awaited for several minutes, then again call three times in
a low and tender voice, and slowly open the eyes. If nothing
is seen, repeat the experiment the following year, and a third
time if necessary. It is certain that at farthest on the third
occasion the dead person will appear, and the longer the ap-
pearance is delayed the more real and visible it will be.

Nervous and impressionable people would, as most physi-
cians know, be very apt to be so impressed by such stuff as this
as to experience the hallucination of seeing the person called
upon. For the purpose, the formula is a good one, and its use
by some people who have come under my observation, would
scarcely fail to bring the dead visibly before their eyes.

That some of the phenomena of spiritualism are explainable
on the theory that they result from sleight of hand, and natural
magic, is not to be doubted. The perfection to which such
performances can be brought is remarkable; and in the East
Indies the jugglers far surpass in dexterity any mediums yet
produced in the Western world, and they do not pretend that
their performances are anything more than adroit tricks. Thus
the Hindoo magician causes flowers to grow several feet in a
few minutes, changes his rod into a serpent, suspends himself
in the air, kills people and restores them to life, and even al-
lows himself to be buried several months in the earth to be
dug up at. the end of that time alive.

42 SPIRITUALISM.

A short time since I invited several medical and other friends
to witness in my library some surprising spiritualistic exhibi-
tions by a first class "medium." The operator went through
all the performances of the Davenport brothers to the entire
satisfaction of the audience. He was securely tied by a gentle-
man who had been an officer in the naval service and who ex-
hausted his strength and ingenuity in devising bands and knots.
A screen was then placed in front of the " medium " and in an
instant an accordeon was played, a bell rung and a tambourine
struck. The performer then requested that the screen might
be removed, and on this being done, he was found to be tied in
precisely the same manner as at first. The gentleman who had
bound him declared that not a cord or a knot had been inter-
fered with. In a second attempt, the " medium," tied with ad-
ditional care, rang a bell and was discovered intact in a second
afterward.

The rapping of this gentleman was perfect, and he read
communications from the dead, made on plain slips of paper,
with a skill equal to that of the most highly gifted and orthodox
medium.

The astonishment of the audience was great when he
informed them that all his performances were deceptions,
which he then proceeded to explain in the most satisfactory
manner.

But even the doings of this gentleman are exceeded by
those of Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke, who for several years
past ha\re been astonishing large numbers of people in London
and other parts of Great Britain. Several years previously
Mr. Maskelyne made many visits to the seances of the Daven-
port brothers, and becoming convinced that they were impos-

SLEIGHT OF HAND. 43

tors, determined to exceed them in the performance of similar
acts, but with the distinct avowal that these were done by
legerdemain, and not by spirits. So perfect are his feats,
that spiritualists, notwithstanding his denial, insist upon it
that he is aided by spiritual power. '

In conjunction with Mr. Cooke, all the most astonishing
tricks of the Davenports are exceeded. Thus, while securely
tied and sealed by gentlemen from the audience, and with
both hands filled with flour, Mr. Maskelyne takes off his coat
and vest and throws them out of the cabinet, while the coat of
any one who may offer appears suddenly on the back of the
conjuror, who, when inspected, „is found tied and sealed as at
first with his hands still full of flour and not a particle of it
on the floor.

Mr. Cooke, while equally securely fastened and subjected
to checks, drinks a glass of water, drives nails into wood and
cuts devices out of paper with a pair of scissors, and still
further bewilders the spectators by extricating himself from
his bonds and the meshes of a net in which he is enveloped,
without the most searching individual of the audience being
able to ascertain how the feats are accomplished.

But the most wonderful feature exhibited by these magi-
cians is an automaton called Psycho. It consists of a figure
twenty-two inches high, dressed in an oriental costume and
sitting cross-legged on a small pedestal. The small size of
the figure entirely precludes the idea of anyone being inside ;
and besides, it may be opened and inspected as thoroughly as
may be wished. It is then seen to be filled with machinery, as
is also the pedestal on which it is seated. Further, in order to
show that there is no communication between the figure and

44 SPIRITUALISM.

any outside influence it is placed upon an empty cylinder of
transparent glass, and this may also be inspected. The whole
arrangement is then deposited on the floor, entirely clear from
all curtains, traps, or other contrivances. Any one from the
audience is allowed to examine all the surroundings and to
watch as closely as possible while the performances are go-
ing on.

Under these circumstances Psycho plays whist, calculates
problems in arithmetic, and acts as a conjuror. Any num-
bers proposed by the audience are added, subtracted, multi-
plied or divided with entire accuracy. The results are shown,
one figure at a time, by the automaton opening a little door
and by a movement of the left hand sliding the figure in front
of the aperture.

This automaton plays whist and does various tricks with
cards, all of which show intelligence somewhere, but the source
of this has hitherto escaped detection. Electricity and
magnetism have each been supposed to be the agent, but
opportunity has been afforded for full investigation, and it has
been shown that to neither, can the intellectual or motive power
be ascribed. #

But in the way of conjuring, nothing can exceed the skill of
the East Indian Jugglers, some of whom have recently been
giving the Prince of Wales exhibitions of their powers. Two
hundred and fifty years ago, if we may believe the accounts
which have come down to us, they were even more expert than
now.

*For a fuller account of Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke's exploits the
reader is referred to a work from which these particulars have been taken,
Frost's "Lives of the Conjurors" London, 1S76.

SLEIGHT OF HAND. 45

Thus, Sir Thomas Roe, who visited India in 1615, charged
with a mission from the East India Company to the Emperor
Jehangire, saw many magical performances, but his time and
attention being otherwise occupied, he gave little heed to such
matters. But the Emperor relates that he once witnessed the
feats of some Bengalese conjurors and jugglers, the astonishing
character of which throws the performances of Mr. Home and
all other accomplished " mediums " entirely in the shade.

The conjurors were desired to produce upon the spot, and
from seed, ten mulberry trees. They immediately planted
ten seeds, which, in a few minutes produced as many trees,
each as it grew into the air, spreading forth its branches and
yielding excellent fruit. In like manner, apple, fig, almond,
walnut and mango trees were produced, all yielding fruit
which Jehangire assured us was of the finest quality.

But this was not all, "Before the trees were removed "says
the imperial author, " there appeared among the foliage, birds
of such surprising beauty in color and shape, and melody of
song as the world never saw before. At the close of the
operation, the foliage as in autumn, was seen to put on its
varied tints, and the trees gradually disappeared into the
earth from which they had been made to spring." Major
Price stated many years ago that he had himself witnessed
similar feats in India, but that a sheet was employed to cover
the process. " I have, however," he adds, no " conception of the
means by which they were accomplished, unless the jugglers
had the trees about them, in every stage, from the seedling to
the fruit."

" One night," continues Jehangire, " and in the very middle of
the night, when half this globe was wrapped in darkness, one of

46 SPIRITUALISM.

these seven men stripped himself almost naked, and having spun
himself round several times, took a sheet with which he cov-
ered himself, and from beneath the sheet drew out a splendid
mirror, by the radiance of which, a light so powerful was pro-
duced, as to illuminate the hemisphere to an incredible distance
around ; to such a distance indeed, that we have the attestation
of travellers to the fact, w7ho declared that on the night on which
the exhibition took place, and at the distance of ten days' journey,
they saw the atmosphere so powerfully illuminated as to exceed
the brightness of the brightest day they had ever seen.

" They placed in my presence a large cauldron, and partly
filling it with water, threw into it eight of the smaller maunds of
Irak of rice ; when, without the smallest spark of fire, the cauld-
ron began to boil, and in a little time they took off the lid and
drew from it nearly a hundred platters full, each with a stewed
fowl at the top. They produced a man whom they divided
limb from limb, actually severing his head from the body. They
scattered these members along the ground, and in this state
they laid for some time. They then extended a sheet over the
spot, and one of the men went beneath it and in a few minutes
came out followed by the individual supposed to have been cut
into joints, in perfect health and condition, and one might have
easily known that he never received any injury."

This trick was performed in this city about three years ago
in the spectacular play called " Roi Carotte," with the addi-
tion that the amputated parts were apparently boiled in a
cauldron. It was also introduced into London in 1874 by the
conjuror Dr. Lynn.

But to return to the Emperor Jehangire and the marvels he
witnessed.

SLEIGHT OF HAND. 47

(i They caused," he says, "two tents to be set up, one at the
distance of a bowshot from the other, the entrances being
exactly opposite ; they raised the canvas all around and desired
that it might be particularly observed that the tents were empty.
Then fixing them to the ground, two of the men entered, one
into each tent. Thus prepared, they said they would under-
take to bring out of the tents any animal we chose to mention,
whether bird or beast and set them in conflict with each other.
Khaun-e-Jahaun, with a smile of incredulity, required them
to show us a battle between two ostriches. In a few
minutes two ostriches of the largest size issued, one
from each tent, and attacked each other with such fury that
blood wras. seen streaming from their heads ; they were so
equally matched, however, that neither could get the better of
the other, and they were therefore separated by the men and
conveyed within the tents. They continued to produce from
either tent whatever animal we chose to name, and before our
eyes set them to fight in the manner I have attempted to de-
scribe ; and although I have exhausted my utmost invention to
discover the secret of the contrivances, it has been entirely
without success.'"'

" They were furnished with a bow and about fifty steel point
ed arrows. One of the men took the bow and shooting an arrow
into the air, the shaft stood fixed at a considerable height ; he
shot a second arrow which flew straight to the first, to which
it became attached, and so with every one of the remaining
arrows, to the last of all, which striking the sheaf suspended in
the air, the whole immediately broke asunder and came at
once to the ground."

" They produced a chain fifty cubits in length, and, in my

48 SPIRITUALISM.

presence, threw one end of it towards the sky, where it remained
as if fastened to something in the air. A dog was then brought
forward, and being placed at the lower end of the chain, im-
mediately ran up it and reaching the other end disappeared in
the air. In the same manner a hog, a panther, a lion and a
tiger were successively sent up the chain and all disappeared at
the upper end. At last they took down the chain and put it
into a bag ; no one ever discovering in what way the animals
were made to vanish into the air in the mysterious manner
described." *

The levitation, bodily extension, holding live coals, etc., of
Mr. Home are extremely insignificant and sorry performances
when compared with those of the jugglers who exhibited before
the Emperor Jehangire.

It would be very easy to adduce other instances of legerde-
main fully as remarkable as those cited, but the foregoing are
sufficient to establish the point that there is nothing claimed by
the most deluded believer in spiritualism as being performed by
mediums, which is not equalled or excelled by the feats of
magicians and jugglers, who do not pretend to be endowed
with supernatural powers.

* Lives of the Conjurors, p. 94.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF MEDIUMS. 49

CHAPTER V.

THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF MEDIUMS.

THERE are two classes of mediums, the dishonest and the
honest. The former have already engaged a portion of our
attention. They are the charlatans who act under false pretences,
the Katie Kings, the Davenports, the Fays, and others — whose
whole life is one of deceit and fraud — and who charge high prices
for very poor exhibitions of jugglery. The others are a pecu-
liar set of individuals, sometimes males, but generally females,
who are the subjects of one or more hysteroid affections, en-
grafted upon a naturally impressionable and irritable nervous
organization. Although these people present no essential
points of difference, so far as their neurotic dispositions and
tendencies are concerned, there are various kinds of mediums
as regards capacity and power. According to Allan Kardec,*
every person who feels in any way, and to any extent, the influence
of the spirits, is a medium. The faculty is one which is in-
herent in the human race, and is not therefore the peculiar
privilege of a few. But some are more highly gifted than
others, some exhibit a peculiar aptitude for one or more phe-
nomenal manifestations,and it is to these that the name of medium
is commonly applied. Thus, as stated by Kardec, who, under his
nom de plume, is the leading French authority on spiritualistic
science, there are physical mediums, such as the table turners, the

*Le livre des mediums, dixieme Edition. Paris, 1S63, p. 195.

3

5o SPIRITUALISM.

fire eaters, levitators, etc.; sensitive or impressible mediums, those
who have vague impressions, a sort of tingling in the limbs
which does not admit of accurate description ; auditive ?nediums,
who hear spirit voices, which may be either an internal or an
external voice .; speaking mediums, those who exhort and give
utterance to communications received from spirits ; seeing
mediums, who are gifted with the faculty of seeing spirits, either
when awake or in a state of somnambulism ; somnambulic
mediums, who differ from other kinds in the fact that they act
under the influence of their ' crWrlvspirits instead of that of
another ; curing mediums, who are^ftdowed with the power of
curing tha subjects of various TnseasA by simply touching them,
looking at them, by a gesture, or by Addressing a few words to
them, without using any medical means whatever ; pneicmato-
graphic mediums, who are able to obtain writing directly from
the spirits, a rare gift, as M. Kardec says, and writing or psycho-
graphic mediums, through whom the spirits communicate their
wishes and opinions by causing them to write. To which I would
add the possessed mediums, those into whose bodies the spirits
enter and rend them and contort them, and the obsessed medi-
ums, who are seized by the spirits and hurled about from one
spot to another. I propose in the following pages to give an
explanation of the real conditions which induce each of the
kinds of mediumship mentioned by Kardec or myself, and to
bring forward examples to show how readily the phenomena
are explained upon very different theories than the spiritualistic.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 51

CHAPTER VI.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS.

A PHYSICAL medium is one who through spiritual agency
*- *~ is able to perform mechanical or chemical feats without
the use of mechanical or chemical means, or even to do things
which are not from a human point of view regarded as possible
with any means or by any power at our command. Increasing
the height of the body, suspension of the body in the air, playing
on musical instruments, increasing the weights of substances,
holding live coals in the hand, etc., are instances of the ability
which first class mediums of this kind are claimed to possess.
As we have seen, there are many tricks of legerdemain which
are fully equal, indeed superior in apparent impossibility, to any
one of these things ; but I propose to discuss some of these
assumed faculties with more particularity than when they were
referred to in the chapter on sleight of hand.

Increasing and diminishing the stature. This is one of Mr.
Home's favorite performances. The account is given by Mr.
Home,*' but on the authority of Mr. Jencken, who thus details
the occurrence.

" Mr. Home had by this time passed into a trance. After
making several circuits and mesmerizing us, he placed himself

* Incidents in my Life, second series. New York, 1872, p. 177.

52 SPIRITUALISM.

behind Mrs. , whom he mesmerized. I have not space

to describe the whole of the proceedings, though I have kept
for my own satisfaction accurate notes of what passed. Re-
markable was the breathing of Mr. Home on Mrs. 's spine,

causing alternately a feeling of cold and then of intense heat.
Mr. Home said, ' I am now going to grow taller,' and then the
remarkable phenomenon of elongation was witnessed. The elon-
gation repeated itself three times. The first time Mr. Home
lengthened to about six feet nine inches. And then he shorten-
ed down below his normal height to about five feet. He then
asked me to hold his feet, which I did by planting my foot on

his instep whilst Mr. held his head, his left hand being

placed on his left shoulder. We carefully measured the extent
of elongation against the wall ; it showed eight inches. Mr.

, who had been watching the extension at the waist,

measured six inches elongation ! Mr. , who stood behind

Mr. Home barely reached up to his shoulders, though himself
six feet high. Mr. Home had now seated himself. Again he
said, ' I am going to be elongated (?). Daniel will be elongated

thirty times during his life ; this is the sixth time. ' Mrs.

who sat next to Mr. Home, placed her hand on his head and
her feet on his feet. Thus held, the elongation nevertheless
proceeded, measuring six inches. I repeat, Mr. Home was
seated all the time and held by those present, anxious to verify
this truly unaccountable phenomenon. By this time Mr. Home
had awakened from his trance. Shadows on the wall were
seen, voices heard, and finally, ' Good-night,' spelt out, term-
inating the evening."

Upon a previous occasion, according to Mr. Jencken, Mr.
Home mesmerized those present, and then telling them what he

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 53

was going to do, his body was lengthened to almost six feet nine
inches.

And again, in presence of Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall and a
Mr. H. T. Humphreys, who is the reporter, Mr. Home was
elongated to the extent of seven feet and contracted to less
than five feet. i

The fact that upon two of these occasions the spectators
were " magnetized " is sufficient to throw the evidence of one of
them as regards what took place while he was in that condition
entirely beyond the pale of legitimate testimony. The addi-
tional fact that at both of these seances Mr. Home announced
beforehand what he was going to do, brings in the principle of
suggestion as a disturbing factor upon individuals avowedly of
nervous and highly impressionable temperaments. But in re-
gard to both these occasions, as well as to that at which Mr.
and Mrs. S. C. Hall assisted, in which it does not appear that
those present were either magnetized or that Mr. Home pre-
viously said that his stature was about to be altered, it is not
necessary to appeal to any other force than that of legerdemain
or sleight of hand. Thus Mr. Robert Dale Owen states that on
one occasion Miss Katie King, alias Mrs. White, appeared to be
only eighteen inches high, but in a few seconds raised herself to
her full height. We all know the history of Mr. Owen's de-
lusions in regard to this medium, and though we have not yet
actually convicted Mr. Home as thoroughly as we have Mrs.
White, the time is probably not far distant when the mechanism
of his elongations and contractions will be as fully exposed as
were hers. A not very complex mechanism would enable a per-
former to increase or diminish his stature at will, and a tall
man by an imperceptible flexure of the joints and curving of the

54 SPIRITUALISM.

back, and an equally inappreciable extension, can very readily
vary his height four inches or more.

But the saints did far more astounding things with their
bodies than Mr. Home with all his spiritual aid has ever ven-
tured to attempt. Gorres' # states that the blessed Ida, of
Louvain, who lived in the convent of Rosenthal, was so filled
with the desire to render herself acceptable to the Lord, that
one night as she occupied a bed with a very devout nun, her
intense longing so filled her soul that very soon all the mem-
bers of her body began to swell and quickly assumed mon-
strous proportions. The skin of one of her legs burst, so
great was the strain, and she ever afterwards had the cicatrix.
The poor nun, her bed-fellow, did not know what to think of
this enormous amplification of the saintly Ida, and her situation
was rendered in addition, physically uncomfortable, for the
swelling Ida went on enlarging, till she occupied all but a
very narrow strip of the bed. Suddenly, however, things
changed. Ida's body diminished little by little, till at last it
was reduced to an extremely minute size. This phenomenon
was reproduced, as she was returning from the church with her
friend.

Here we have the evidence of a devout woman in support
of the alleged miraculous event, and the testimony is as good
as any adduced in favor of Mr. Home's elongations.

Levitation or rising in the air. As an instance of this per-
formance by Mr. Home, I quote the following account by
Lord Lindsay.f After mentioning Mr. Home's ability to

* La Mystique divine, naturelle et diabolique. Paris, 1861, t 1, p.

349-

X The Spiritual Magazine. August 1, 1S7 1. p. 380.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 55

discover a magnet in the dark, the noble spiritualist con-
tinues.

" I may mention that on another occasion I was sitting with
Mr. Home, Lord Adare, and a cousin of his. During the sitting
Mr. Home went into a trance and in that state was carried out
of the window in the room next to where we were and was
brought in at our window. The distance between the windows
was about seven feet six inches, and there was not the slightest
foot-hold between them nor was there more than a twelve inch
projection to each window, which served as a ledge to put
flowers on.

" We heard the window in the next room lifted up and almost
immediately after we saw Home floating in the air outside our
window.

" The moon was shining full into the room ; my back was
to the light, and I saw the shadow on the wall of the window-
sill and Home's feet about six inches above it. He remained
in this position for a few seconds and then glided into the
room, feet foremost, and sat down.

" Lord Adare then went into the next room to look at the
window from which he had been carried. It was raised about
eighteen inches, and he expressed his wonder how Mr. Home
had been taken through so narrow an aperture.

"Home said (still in a trance), ' I will show you,' and then,
with his back to the window, he leaned back and was shot out
of the aperture head first with the body rigid and then returned
quite quietly.

" The window is about seventy feet from the ground. I very
much doubt whether any skilful tight-rope dancer would like
to attempt a feat of this description, when the only means" ol

56 SPIRITUALISM.

crossing would be by a perilous leap, or being borne across in

such a manner as I have described, placing aside the question

of the light."

The foregoing account is sufficient to indicate the nature

of the claim put forward in behalf of Mr. Home's ability to
raise himself in the air without extraneous aid. Now, let
us see from the intrinsic evidence afforded by Lord Lind-
say's report whether or not it is proven that Mr. Home
really did pass from one window to the other as described,
and if so, whether the movement was really effected by the
agency of spirits.

Before the present spiritual era it was asserted by many
persons, or claimed for them by credulous adherents, that they
had been lifted from the ground without the aid of material
agencies. It is contended by the spiritualists that these cases
are similar in character and due to the same cause as those
now declared to be quite common. An inquiry into the
history of these earlier instances will serve to enlighten us
relative to those of our own time.

According to Philostratus,* Apollonius saw the Brahmins
of India rise in the air to the height of two cubits and walk
there without earthly support.

The authority is not very reliable, but the Brahmins are well
known to be preeminent in feats of legerdemain. A few years
ago I saw a Colonel Stodare, who had resided in India and was
exhibiting his skill in magic at Egyptian Hall, London, cause
a female confederate to remain in the air after a table on which
she was reclining had been removed. Long wands were
passed through the air above and below her without any sup-
*Vita Apollonii Tyaneus, lib. iii.. cap. xx. 17.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS, 57

port being detected other than a slender cane which she held
in one hand and which rested lightly on the floor. The trick
is quite a common one among the Brahmins, and was prob-
ably used to impress Apollonius, who was regarded as a god
by his followers. The instance, however, is quoted by sev-
eral spiritualistic writers as establishing the possibility of
levitation.

In a work on Spiritualism * by an anonymous writer, pub-
lished a few years ago, I find the following statement, which,
however, is taken from " Howitt's History of the Super-
natural." (Vol-. I., p. 491, Am. ed.)

" Savonarola, before his tragical death at the stake, and
while absorbed in devotion, was seen to remain suspended at
a considerable height from the floor of his dungeon. l The
historical evidence of this fact,' says Elihu Rich in the 'En-
cyclopedia Metropolitana,' ' is admitted by his recent biog-
rapher.' "

I suppose the " recent biographer " of Savonarola here re-
ferred to is Mr. R. R. Madden, who makes the observation
stated, but whose authority for so doing can scarcely be re-
garded as very great. But the most recent as well as most
thorough and reliable history of this great man, is that of Vil-
lari, | and this is what he says of Savonarola's last night in
prison. If any such incident as levitation had occurred, Vil-
lari would certainly have referred to it.

" The night was already far advanced when he returned to

* Planchette, or the Despair of Science, being a full account of Modern
Spiritualism, etc. Boston, 1869, p. 207.

t La Storia di Girolamo Savonarola, e di suoi Tempi. Firenze, 1859-
1861. A translation of this work in two volumes, by Leonard Horner,
was published in London in 1863.

3*

58 SPIRITUALISM.

his prison ; sleep and weariness so overpowered him that
almost as a sign of love and gratitude, he laid his head on
the knees of the good Nicolini and soon fell into a short
and light slumber, during which he appeared to smile and
dream, so great was the serenity of his mind and soul." (Vol.
II., p. 204).

The rest of the night was passed in prayer.

Now there is not a word here about being carried up from
the floor. Some person may have made the assertion quoted
by Madden and the author of Planchette ; but Villari, who is
Professor of History in the University of Pisa, evidently dis-
credits any such story. Savonarola may at times have enter-
tained such a delusion, for he was of a highly nervous temper-
ament and claimed that he was subject to visions which he im-
agined were real events. He had read and re-read those parts
of the Bible which treat of visions, angels, and apparitions, his
mind had been strongly impressed with their truth, and his
nervous temperament was agitated to an extreme degree. The
dreams and visions of his childhood were multiplied, they con-
stantly obtruded themselves upon his mind, and at night he
was scarcely ever free from them. Thus, as Villari remarks,
" he passed whole nights on his knees in his cell, a prey to
visions, by which he more and more exhausted his strength,
continually excited his brain, and then ended by seeing in
everything a revelation from the Lord." *

If, therefore, Savonarola had entertained the delusion that
he was at times lifted from the floor, there would have been
nothing surprising in the circumstance ; yet there is no credi-

* Op. cit., Vol. i. p. 295.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 59

ble evidence, Mr. Elihu Rich, Mr. Howitt, the author of
Planchette, and the "recent biographer" to the contrary, not-
withstanding, that he ever had this delusion. *

No one has done more to perpetuate the stories of saints
rising in the air than Calmet, f and his statements are accepted
at the present day by the too willing followers of spiritualism
without the least hesitation or inquiry, and generally at second
or even third hand. Calmet was born in the year 1672, and
lived, therefore, at a period when a belief in the supernatural
was general. His education in the church did not by any
means tend to lessen the force of the credulity implanted in him
by nature. Thus his work shows that he believed in magic
and sorcery, witchcraft, familiars, spirits, elves, demons, vam
pires, the possibility of a man being in two places at the same
time, that the bodies of excommunicated persons do not decay,
etc. He credited in full the accusations made against Gau-
fridi — to which we will hereafter more fully allude — and ap-
proved of his punishment. The instances he adduces in sup-
port of all his beliefs are numerous and perfectly convincing to
those who are willing to accept any statement which appeals
to their love for the marvellous, without asking for the proof.

* The statement comes originally from Mr. Rich, who makes it without
giving the name of his authority. It is contained in a section signed with
his initials in " The Occult Sciences ; Sketches of the Traditions and Super sti-
tions of Past Times and the Marvels of the Present. London, 1855, p. 202. A
work written by himself, Rev. Edward Lindley, W. Cooke Taylor, LL.D.,
and Mr. Henry Thompson. I have consulted several biographers of Sav-
onarola without finding any reference to the circumstance he relates.

t The Phantom World, or the Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, etc.,
by Augustin Calmet. Edited, with an introduction and notes, by Rev. Hen-
ry Christmas. London, 1830.

60 SPIRITUALISM.

What he says in regard to the human body rising in the air
comes under the same category, and has no evidence in its
power stronger than that brought forward in support of his other
views of supernatural phenomena.

The twenty-first chapter of his treatise is thus entitled :
" Reasons which prove the possibility of Sorcerers and Witches
being translated to the Sabbath." After referring to instances
in the Bible, he says :

" We have in history several instances of persons full of re-
ligion and piety, who, in the fervor of their visions, have been
taken up into the air, and remained there some time. We have
known a good monk, who rises sometimes from the ground, and
remains suspended without wishing it, without seeking to do
so, especially on seeing some devotional image or hearing some
devout prayer, such as Gloria in excelsis Deo ! I know a nun
to whom it has often happened to see herself thus raised up in
the air to a certain distance from the earth. It was neither
from choice nor from any wish to distinguish herself, since she
was truly confused at it." It is not stated by Calmet that
either of these instances was witnessed by him. He then inno-
cently inquires :

" Was it by the ministrations of angels, or by the artifice of
the seducing spirit who wished to inspire her with sentiments
of vanity ? or was it the natural effect of divine love, or fervor
of devotion in these persons ? "

" I do not observe that the ancient fathers of the desert,
who were so spiritual, so fervent, and so great in prayer, expe-
rienced similar ecstasies."

As Calmet remarks, the phenomena were only met with in
the " new saints."

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 61

Of these " new saints," who have been lifted up by unseen
powers, he gives the following list :

St. Philip Neri.

St. Catharine Columbina.

St. Ignatius Loyola.

St. Robert de Paientin.

St. Bernard Ptolomaei.

St. Philip Benitas.

St. Cajetanus.

St. Alber of Sicily.

St. Dominic.

St. Christina, who was raised up after death, was restored
to life, and who was thereafter so light that she could run with
great swiftness.

A nun, named Seraphina, in whom the tendency to rise was
so great that six sisters could not hold her down.

St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who, it will be
recollected, caught the devil by the nose with a pair of red-hot
pincers, and at whose instigation, or at least connivance, Elgiva,
the wife of Edwy, was so cruelly murdered.

St. Richard, abbot of St. Vanne de Verdun.

Father Dominic Carme Dechaux, who floated in the air, and
who, while in this position, was so light that he was blown
about like a soap bubble.

It would be a needless piece of labor to search through
the lives of the saints for the details of these asserted exam-
ples of levitation. They all rest upon the same kind of
evidence, where there is any at all — the declaration of the
subjects themselves, or of some of their followers. I have,

62 SPIRITUALISM.

therefore selected a few of the most notable instances for more
thorough investigation than Calmet thought it necessary to
give.

St. Philip Neri, born in 1595. Of this saint, Butler* says :
" Gallonio testifies that the divine love so much dilated the breast
of our saint in an extraordinary rapture, that the gristle which
joined the fourth and fifth ribs on the left side was broken,
which accident allowed the heart and large vessels more play."

After this statement we are prepared for any thing — and
need not, therefore, be surprised that " Gallonio mentions sev-
eral extraordinary raptures with which the saint was favored in
prayer, and testifies that his body was sometimes seen raised
from the ground during his devotions some yards high, at which
times his countenance appeared shining with a bright light."

To this account Butler | appends the following remarks in
the form of a note :

" We find the same authentically attested of many other
servants of God. St. Ignatius Loyola was sometimes seen
raised in prayer two feet above the ground, his body at the
same time shining like light. The like elevations are related
in the lives of St. Dominic, St. Dunstan, St. Philip Benitas, St.
Cajetan, St. Albert of Sicily, B. Bernard Ptolomcei, institutor
of the congregation of our Lady of Mount Olivet, Aug. xxi.,
B. Robert of Palentin, Aug. xviii. in the Bollandists, of St.
Francis of Assisium in his life by Chalippi, and others. Many
of the authors of these lives, persons of undoubted veracity,

* Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Martyrs, and other Principal Saints
Compiled from Original Monuments and other Authentic Records. By the
Rev. Alban Butler. Third edition. Edinburgh, 1799, vol. v., p. 345.

t Op. cit., p. 348.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 63

testify that they were eye-witnesses of these facts. Others
were so careful and diligent writers that their authority cannot
be questioned."

Butler cites several of the cases on the authority of Calmet,
whom he praises in the highest terms. But, as showing the
difriculty with which he has accepted the truth, yet not per-
ceiving that he is using a two-edged sword, he says :

" Ennapius, a Platonic philosopher, who, in 380, wrote the
lives of Porphyrius and Jamblichus, relates that the latter was
often raised ten cubits into the air, and was seen surrounded
with a bright light" But he denounces Ennapius as " credu-
lous, malicious, and unworthy of credit," as being inimical to
Christianity, and in fact as bad as Porphyrius and Jamblichus
themselves. I am, nevertheless, decidedly of the opinion that
the evidence in favor of the levitation of Jamblichus, the Neo-
platonic philosopher, is fully as strong as that adduced on the
side of any Christian saint, monk, nun, or medium.

Among the instances mentioned by Calmet is that of St.
Theresa. This remarkable woman was born in 15 15. From a
very early age she was afflicted with frequent fits of fainting and
violent pain at her heart, which sometimes deprived her of
her senses ; sharp pains were frequent through her whole
frame, her sinews began to shrink up, and finally, in August
1537, when she was in her twenty-third year, she fell into a
lethargic coma or trance, which lasted four days. At one time
she was thought to be dead, and her grave was actually dug.
During this attack she bit her tongue in several places, and was
for a long time unable to swallow ; sometimes her whole body
seemed as if her bones were disjointed in every part, and her
head was in extreme disorder and pain.

64 SPIRITUALISM.

As Madden # remarks, from whom these particulars are
taken, though they are found in Butler, f and in her autobiogra-
phy : " It is impossible for a medical man to read this account
of the occasional falling into a lethargic state, fits of fainting
and swooning, violent spasms, pain at the heart, temporary loss
of reason, shrinking of the sinews, oppression, with a profound
sense of sadness, biting of the tongue in many places when out
of her senses, inability to swallow any liquid, distortion of the
whole frame as if all her bones were disjointed, subsequent in-
ability to stir hand or foot for some time, and a generally-dif-
fused soreness so as to be unable to bear being touched, with-
out coming to the conclusion that the sufferer labored under
physical disease of a low nervous or gastric kind, with continu
ous fever probably complicated with epileptic tendencies."

There can be no doubt that she was of a highly hysterical
temperament, and was subject to paroxysms of hysterical
chorea, catalepsy, and epilepsy. Her visions became very fre-
quent, and her raptures were even more numerous. In rapture,
as she says, " the body loses all the use of its voluntary func-
tions, and every part remains in the same posture, without feel-
ing, hearing or seeing, at least so as to perceive it."

During these raptures she was at times under the impres-
sion that she was raised in the air. Speaking of the elevation
of her soul, she says :

" Sometimes my whole body was carried with it so as to be
raised up from the ground, though this was seldom. When I

* Phantasmata; or Illusions and Fanaticisms of Protean Forms, produc-
tive of Great Evils. London, 1857. vol. i., p. 181S.
t Op. cii., vol. x., p. 324, etseq.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 65

had amine! to resist these raptures, there seemed to me some-
what of a mighty force under my feet, which raised me up, that
I knew not what to compare it to." *

It is said, Bishop Ypres saw her thus lifted up. The in-
stance in question is similar in general features to all the others
recorded of enthusiastic saints and other religious persons.
The organization of St. Theresa was such as to allow of her im-
agining anything as reality ; and the hallucination of being lifted
up, as I shall show hereafter, is one of the most common, expe-
rienced by ecstatics.

A case not referred to by Calmet is that of St. Francis of
Assisium, whose life is contained in Butler's f collection. This
self-denying and enthusiastic saint died in 1226. He con-
stantly wore a hair-shirt, rarely ate anything cooked, and, when
he did, put ashes and water on it, slept on the ground with a
piece of wood or stone for a pillow, never drank enough water
to satisfy his thirst, when tormented by an occasional accession
of sexual desire, stripped himself and rolled in the snow, and
made large snow-balls which he clasped in his arms, imagined
that during a state of exaltation he had been marked in the
hands, feet and side in imitation of the wounds received
by Christ during the crucifixion, and exhibited the scars — •
the stigmata of catalepsy — besides giving many other evidences
of laboring under mental derangement. Among his miracles,
was that of curing a man of a virulent ulcer of the face by kiss-
ing the sore. It is therefore not strange that levitation was
among his powers. As Butler says : " The raptures and other
extraordinary favors which he received from God in eontempla-

* Butler, Op. cit., vol. x., p. 359. t Id. p. 71.

66 SPIRITUALISM.

tion, he was careful to conceal from men. St. Bonaventure
and other writers of his life assure us that he was frequently
raised from the ground in prayer. F. Leo, his secretary and
confessor, testified that he had seen him in prayer raised from
the ground so high, that his disciple could only touch his feet,
which he held and watered with his tears, and that sometimes
he was raised much higher." * As F. Leo is shown by this ex-
tract to have been of an excitable and nervous temperament,
we would scarcely be warranted in placing implicit confidence
in any statement he might make bordering on affirmation of a
miraculous act.

But the most credulous writer relating to supernatural
qualities and performances of the saints is Gorres t some of
whose examples have just been cited and to whom I shall
frequently have to refer. The case of St. Thomas of
Villanova, detailed by him, exhibits in a striking light the ner-
vous organization of the levitants, and I therefore quote it in
the present connection.

St. Thomas, of Villanova, was the subject, it appears, of
continual attacks of ecstacy when preaching, praying or saying
mass. One day he was preaching at Valladolid before the
Emperor Charles V. on the washing of feet (not a bad subject
for the Saints of those days), when he repeated the words of St.
Peter : " Lord, dost thou wash my feet ? " In explaining these
he said : " Thou Lord to me ? Thou my God, the glory of the
angels, the ornament of heaven, the master of all creation !

* Op. cit., p. 104.

tLa Mystique divine, naturelle, et diabolique. Ouvrage traduit de l'Alle-
mand par M. Charles Sainte Foi. Deuxieme edition, Paris, 1861.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 67

Thou to me ? " As he pronounced these last words " to me "
he stopped suddenly and became as immovable as a marble
statue. His eyes were raised towards heaven, his tears
flowed, and he was unable to say another word. This often
happened to him, and when he was seized while in the pulpit,
the congregation waited a half hour, and more even, till he had
come to himself. Priests and laity were equally anxious to
hear him preach, for they knew that in these conditions he
spoke as an angel from heaven, and singularly touched those
who heard him. But for fear of being considered a saint he
ceased preaching. Nevertheless the more he fled from glory
the more it pursued him. One Easter morning as he was
walking in the corridors of the Archiepiscopal palace with his
chaplain Bovello repeating his Breviary, at the words Et viden-
tibus Mis, elevatus est" he was seized with ecstasy and carried
up from the ground, remaining suspended in the air from six
o'clock in the morning until five in the evening. A great num-
ber of persons in and out of the house came to see him in that
state.

St. Thomas explained the event by saying that, just as he
began to chant the anthem "videntibus Mis" a troop of angels
took up the words and him also, and that the music was so
ravishingly beautiful that he was deprived for the time of the
use of his senses.

Gorres cites several other examples not referred to by
Calmet.

Thus Maria d'Agreda was often elevated above the ground
in the communion or even when reading passages relating to
the grandeur and goodness of God. The music of the Church
was equally sufficient to put her into this condition, which gen-

68 SPIRITUALISM.

erally lasted about three hours. Margaret of Hungary was also
raised from the earth after the annunciation. St. Agnes was
one day found by a sister in her cell on her knees and raised
several inches from the floor.

Caeson of Heisterbach knew a priest who every time he
said mass was lifted up a foot in the air, from the beginning of
the service to the communion.

Gorres gives a list of twenty-two others by name, which he
states is not complete, who have been lifted up sometimes in
view of large numbers of people, remaining thus suspended for
several hours.

St. Peter, of Alcantara, while saying his breviary on the
high road, was elevated in the air in this position several feet
above the earth, was seen by many travellers, who waited till
h^ had regained his senses in order that they might receive his
blessing. The Saint, however, overpowered with humility, came
down and ran away as fast as he could.

On another occasion he was carried up in the air to a great
height, far above the trees, when with his arms crossed on his
chest he continued to soar, while hundreds of little birds gath-
ered around him, making a most agreeable concert with their
sonjs.

St. Esperance, of Brenegalla, was still more greatly honored,
for once, when she was praying in church, she was elevated in
the air, where she was seen soaring with the infant Jesus in
her arms !

Sometimes, as Gorres declares, it is impossible to cause the
levitants to descend. Thus the blessed Gilles, while one day
reading a passage relative to ecstasy, was lifted up above the
table. When found in this state bv some of the brethren he

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 69

was seized and pulled at with all their strength, but they could
not get him down.

On Ascension day, Agnes, of Bohemia, as related in an old
manuscript, while Walking in the garden of the convent with
her two sisters singing pious songs, was suddenly raised from
the earth and carried without any visible help up to the clouds,
so that she disappeared from sight. Her sisters ceased their
song, and filled with admiration fixed their eyes towards
heaven, and with tears waited for Agnes to return. At the end
of an hour she re-appeared ; they asked her where she had been
and what had happened to her ; but they could obtain no other
answer than a sweet and amiable smile. " She had," says
Gorres, " contemplated the secrets of God which no one is per-
mitted to reveal."

The ecstatic paroxysm was sometimes so powerful with
Dominic de Jesus-Marie that he was raised up to the ceil-
ing of his cell, where he remained without earthly support
for a day and a night. There were sceptics in those days
as well as in our own, and many of the ungodly in Valencia
ridiculed the idea of levitation as asserted to be constantly
realized in the church of that city. One of the scoffers was
bold enough, while Dominic was floating around, to seize
him. by the feet ; but he was borne on high, and being fright-
ened let go and fell to the earth. After suffering great pain
for his temerity, he was constrained to admit the truth of the
elevation.

The cases cited are attributed to the influence of the Holy
Spirit or of angels. There is another class of examples sup-
posed to be due to the agency of demons, witches, or other
diabolical power. Thus those who had made a compact with

7o SPIRITUALISM.

the devil always went to the Sabbath by supernatural agencies,
and generally through the air astride of a broomstick.* Others
are cited by Mather. t And many are contained in treatises
on the "black art." The evidence in support of this category
of instances is fully as strong as that in favor of the more
orthodox variety.

A very well authenticated case — as authentication goes in
such matters — is that " concerning the witchcraft practised by
Jane Brooks, upon Richard Jones, son of Henry Jones, of
Shepton Mallet. % Among other spells laid on this unfortunate
youth we are told that :

" On the 25th of February, between two and three in the
afternoon, the boy being at the house of Richard Ifles, in
Shepton Mallet, went out of the room into the garden. Ifles
his wife followed him, and was within two yards when
she saw him rise up from the ground before her, and so mounted
higher and higher till he passed in the air over the garden
wall and was carried on above ground more than thirty years
[yards ?], falling at last at one Jordan's door at Shepton, where
he was found as dead for a time, but coming to himself told

* Many of the older works on sorcery and witchcraft contain plates re-
presenting the departure to the Sabbath and the orgies which there took
place under the auspices of the devil. Among the most striking are the
"Description de Vassemblee des sorciers qii'on appelle Sabbat" in " L ' Histoire
des imaginations extravagants de Monsieur Oufle," Paris 1754, t. ii. and " De-
part four le Sabbat" and other plates in the second edition of the Diction-
nairc Infernalc, Paris, 1S26.

I Magnolia Christ] Americana, etc. First American from the London
edition of 1702. Hartford, 1720.

X Sadducismus Triumphatus, or a Full and Plain Evidence concerning
Witches and Apparitions. By Joseph Glanvil: London, 1726, p. 285 et
seq.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 71

Jordan that Jane Brooks had taken him up by the arm out of
Ifles' garden and carried him in the air as narrated." It is
perhaps scarcely necessary to add that Jane Brooks was con-
demned and executed.

This same Joseph Glanvil, who was chaplain in ordinary
to King Charles II., and like some equally credulous persons
of the present day, a Fellow of the Royal Society, reports #
another case on the very bad authority of Mr. Valentine
Greatrix, or Greatrakes, the notorious healer by laying on
of hands. In this instance, a butler, who asserted that he
was visited by a spectre, was shut up in a room with sev-
eral persons, in order that he might not be carried off as the
spectre had threatened. While together in the room, he was
perceived to rise from the ground, and, notwithstanding that
Mr. Greatrix " and another lusty man, " caught hold of him
and held him with all their strength, he was forcibly taken
up, and for a considerable time floated about in the air over
their heads. At length he fell and was caught in the arms of
his guardians.

It would be very easy to go on and quote numerous other
instances of levitation both of ancient and modern times, of
sacred and diabolical agency, but the foregoing are sufficient to
show the character of the evidence on which they rest. By
such testimony anything could be proved, no matter what the
degree of absurdity or of opposition to physical laws.

In all supposed instances of levitation such as have been
cited, the true explanation may be given by referring them to
one or other of the following causes.

1. An hallucifiation on the part of the subject, charactei'ized fry

* Op. cit., p. 356.

72 SPIRITUALISM.

the sensation of rising in the air, or of flying, and illusion on the part
of those asserting themselves to have been witnesses.

A. De Boismont # remarks : "The sensation of flying is rather
common ; frequently in dreams we feel ourselves carried along
with the rapidity of an arrow ; we accomplish great distances
just lightly touching the ground. We have noticed this fact in
a literary man of our acquaintance, whom we have several times
found with fixed eyes, and who said to us, ' I am flying, do not
stop me.' On returning to himself he described his sensations,
and it seemed to him that he really had flown. This sensation
was experienced as far back as the time of St. Jerome, who re-
lates that frequently in his dreams he felt himself flying over
mountains, seas, etc."

Turning again to Gorres, that mine of wealth of alleged
supernatural phenomena, we find that with Beatrix of Naz-
areth, during her ecstatic paroxysms, it seemed to her in the
night, that she flew in the air. St. Joseph of Copertin, be-
ing in ecstasy, appeared to brother Junipero to be as light as
straw.

Oringa, on coming out of a paroxysm, felt her body to be
so light and agile, that she was obliged to touch it with her fin-
gers to make sure that it was still present.

Madame d'Arnim, Goethe's friend, in speaking of the sen-
sation in question, says : ' I was certain that I flew and floated
in the air. By a simple, elastic pressure of the toe, I was in
the air. I floated silently and deliciously at two or three feet
above the earth : I alighted, mounted again, I flew from side to
side, and then returned. A few days after, I was taken with

* A History of Dreams, Visions, Apparitions, Ecstasy, Magnetism and
Somnambulism. American Edition. Philadelphia: 1S55, p. 94.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 73

fever. I went to bed and slept. It happened two weeks after
I was confined.' *

Numerous other instances of similar cases are recorded in
works on psychological medicine, and several have come under
my own observation.

In one of these, a lady, of strongly-marked hysterical tem-
perament, and of most fanatical religious tendencies, imagined
that she was frequently raised from the ground while in the
act of saying her prayers. She usually spent several hours
each day in these exercises, and during the whole time was in
a state of fervid exaltation, which rendered her insensible to
all that was passing around her. While in this condition, she
would exclaim, " I rise, I rise ! I see angels ! " and, with her
hands raised on high, her head elevated, her face turned up-
ward, and her countenance illuminated with ecstatic radiance,
she really did seem, to some superficial and sympathetic ob
servers, to be lifted up. Among others, her maid was strongly
convinced that the elevation was actual ; but stronger-minded
members of her family could see nothing of the kind, and
eventually the lady herself became convinced that she- was the
victim of self-deception. A young married lady, formerly under
my professional care, was very confident that, during the catalep-
tic seizures to which she was subject, she was raised from her
bed, and she appealed with confidence to those surrounding her to
confirm her statements. It almost always happened that some
one present expressed the opinion that she really was lifted up
several inches.

In another case, occurring in a young and strongly hyster-

* Correspondence de Goethe et de Bettina. Translated by M. Sebact
Albin. t. i., p. 68.

74 SPIRITUALISM.

ical, unmarried lady, the sensation of lightness is at times so
powerfully felt, that she is sure she is floating in the air. This
lady is a believer in spiritualism, and is firmly convinced that,
at these periods of lightness, her soul has left its body. She
recovers her weight with a long drawn sigh of relief, that she has
returned to the right dwelling-place, and is conscious during
her ecstasies of a fear that she may never get back.

Such a misfortune is really said, according to Pliny,* to
have happened to Hermotinus, the Clazomenian, who seemed
frequently to have his body deserted by his soul, and as if
it had wandered about in the world. At che return of it, he
would relate things which had been seen or performed at such
a distance that no one could talk of them, unless, he had
been present. These things he did for a long time to the great
admiration of those among whom he lived. At last, however,
being in one of his trances, his enemies seized upon his body
and burnt it, by which proceeding the returning soul was dis-
appointed of its usual place of residence and retreat.

It is also affirmed that Johannes Scotus, the philosopher,
used to go into trances, so that he would sit sometimes for the
space of a whole day immovable, his mind and senses bound
up or wandering; far off from his bodv. One dav when his soul

J- O J J

was thus roaming over the earth, or perhaps to other spheres
as the saying is, his body was taken by some who were unac-
quainted with his peculiarity, and buried so deeply in the earth
that the soul could never find it again.

The majority of cases met with in the lives of saints belong
to the category of disease. Nearly all the subjects were the

* Ilistoria Naturalis Tarvisii. 1479. Lib. VII. c. Hi.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 75

victims of some severe disorder of the nervous system, by which
they were rendered peculiarly susceptible to hallucinations ;
and their more ardent followers were either similarly affected
or were so impressed by the power of suggestion, already con-
sidered in this essay, as to be fit recipients of erroneous mental
or sensorial impressions.

The appearance as if about to fly is very common in cases
of ecstasy, and is due to the raising of the arms, the upward
look, and the elevation of the body on the extreme points of
the toes. This position is sometimes kept for hours, and may
readily — as the stature is increased in height — lead to the
opinion that the body is off the ground, especially in the cases
of women whose feet cannot readily be seen, owing to the
drapery of their dress.

A sensation as if the body were passing rapidly through the
air is induced by certain drugs, particularly aconite.

2. Unintentional exaggeration, misinterpretation, and inaccur-
acy of statement. It frequently happens that, during hysterical
convulsions, the affected person makes strong efforts to rise,
which attempts are strenuously resisted by the by-standers. In
former times when every seizure of the kind was regarded as
being directly due to the agency of demons or other super-
natural beings acting either within the sufferer (possession) or
from without (obsession) the idea was very naturally enter-
tained that but for the assistance of friends at hand, severe in-
jury would result from the convulsive movements. When there-
fore, the limbs were thrown about, or the body writhed, or the
tongue was bitten, the afflicted epileptic, cataleptic, or hysterical
individual was at once seized, and the statement made tha all
the phenomena of the paroxysm were caused by some kind of

76 SPIRITUALISM.

spiritual power. At the same time the actual violence of the
manifestations was always over-estimated, just as is invariably
done by spectators of our own day. It thus often happened
that a contortion of the body was regarded as an effort of a
demon to rend it or carry it off. No sensible person can read
the accounts of witchcraft which have come down to us, and to
which fuller reference will presently be made, without being
convinced that this was a frequent interpretation of well-known
pathological symptoms, or doubt that several of the asserted
instances of levitation — as for instance that of sister Seraphina
■ — are to be explained in a similar manner.

3. Insufficient evidence. Most of the instances of levitation
which have been recorded rest on insufficient evidence — such
as would be inadequate to establish the fact in a court of law.
This is the case, for example, in several of those said to have
occurred in the persons of saints, monks and nuns. It does
not appear that Calmet ever saw the human body lifted up
without material agency, although he refers to several cases of
which he had heard. Hearsay testimony is of so equivocal a
character as to be disregarded in all matters of importance, and
yet we are expected to rely on it as sufficient to establish the
fact of miraculous events, which, of all others, should require
the most unerring and irrefragable demonstration.

Take, for example, the alleged elevation of Savonarola,
which is quoted with peculiar unction by the spiritualists of the
present day. Research shows that the story is altogether of
comparatively recent origin, and that its truth has been as-
sumed by interested believers in supernaturalism, without due
pains being taken -to verify its accuracy.

And so, relative to St. Ignatius Loyola, whose elevation in

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 77

the air is also a point d'appui for the spiritualists. A recent
biographer, a sincere and devout member of the Roman Cath-
olic Church, thus speaks of St. Ignatius and his faithful adher-
ents, in connection with a report — the last of the kind — that a
supernatural light had been seen around his body :

" His children never claimed for him a power of working
prodigies, and he would certainly greatly have regretted such
an attitude. All the remarkable circumstances of the kind
that it has been thought right to detail may be set aside, if the
reader so pleases. The true and only miracle that it is neces-
sary to know and to appreciate is that of a most noble, extra-
ordinary, and original character and an admirable life." #

We know that even undoubted events, when seen throuo-h
the prejudiced historian's spectacles, become so changed in
character as to be scarcely recognizable, and that no two per-
sons witnessing a transaction will give precisely the same ver-
sion of it. Even in so exact a science as chemistry, authorities
differ, and, in testing for poisons, one observer has perceived
the looked-for reaction, while another, working under the same
conditions, has failed to see the change of color or the precip-
itation. The sensorial impressions of some persons are always
modified by their mental bias.

4. Intentional misstatement. Some of the instances are
probably due to misrepresentation, with the view of enhancing
the reputation for sanctity of the subjects, or simply from that
love for telling marvellous stories which is so inherent a qual-
ity with the majority of mankind • such, in all likelihood, are
the earlier examples — as that of St. Dunstan.

* Ignatius Loyola and the Early Jesuits. By Stewart Rose. London,
1870, p. 481.

78 SPIRITUALISM.

The cases, too, recorded in connection with witchcraft are
many of them clearly fraudulent in character, fabricated for
the purpose of injuring some obnoxious person by the imputa-
tion of being a witch. The boy who asserted, in conjunction
with the wife of Ifles, that he had been carried over a wall by
one Jane Brooks, was evidently in a conspiracy with Mrs. Ifles
to accomplish the destruction of an innocent woman.

5. Legerdemain. This explanation has already been com-
mented upon in connection-with the Brahminical exploits made
before Apollonius Tyaneus ■ that it is sufficient to account for
many cases cannot be questioned.

The modern instances, attributed directly to the influence
of the spiritualists, are scarcely deserving of mention. None
of them are well authenticated, and all are more reasonably
explained by ascribing them to one or several of the causes
specified. Performed in the dark, they afford abundant oppor-
tunity for deceit on the one part, and hallucination or illusion
on the other. They do not even claim to be as powerful man-
ifestations as those specially referred to in this essay, for the
latter were asserted to be done in broad daylight, and the sub-
jects could be touched by those present ; while those of our day
avoid inquiry, and are performed under such circumstances as
to defy thorough examination. In one case which came under
my notice, the medium, a woman, was bound in a chair and
seated at one end of a long table. The lights were then ex-
tinguished, and a blanket hung over the window, so as to ex-
clude the feeblest ray of light from a dark night. The compa-
ny, with the exception of the medium's husband, sat around the
table, holding each other's hands. The only inquirers present
were myself and another gentleman, who were carefully sand-

PHYSCIAL MEDIUMS. 79

wiched between the faithful, who kept up a dismal howling
while the experiment went on. The husband stood at one end
of the room, outside of the circle. There was a good deal of
noise at the medium's end of the table, which was only par-
tially drowned by- the lugubrious singing. Suddenly she ex-
claimed, "Now ! " The gas was turned on, and she was found
seated in the middle of the table still fastened to the chair ; all,
present except my friend and myself, were convinced that the
spirits had placed her there. We were not, for the reasons
mainly, that it was entirely practicable for her husband to have
put her on the table without his movements being known to us,
and that it was very easy, as I have ascertained by experiment,
for her to have climbed to the top of the table without any as-
sistance whatever. Now applying the foregoing principles to
the case of Mr. Home, as related by Lord Lindsay, and we
perceive the possibility of :

1. Hallucination on the part of the Narrator. Lord Lind-
say may have dined heartily ; his cravat may have been too
tight, or, from some other cause, the circulation of blood in his
brain may been accelerated so as to have produced active con-
gestion, or retarded so as to have caused passive congestion

It is infinitely more probable that Lord Lindsay had a hal-
lucination than that Mr. Home was, without material aid, and in
opposition to the laws of gravity, suspended in the air, and
moved about in the manner stated.

2. Unintentional exaggeration, misinterpretation end inaccura-
cy of stateme?it — Lord Lindsay says: "We heard the window
in the next room lifted up, and almost immediately after, we
saw Home floating in the air, outside our window."

Taking this sentence by itself, we should be led to believe

So SPIRI1UALISM.

that Lord Lindsay in Unasserted the fact that he saw Mr. Home
floating in the air ; but when we come to peruse the next
paragraph, we are induced to think that he saw nothing of the
kind, in fact, that he was so situated that he could not see it.

" The moon was shining full into the room ; my back was to
the light, and I saw the shadow on the wall of the window sill,
and Home's feet about six inches above it. He remained in
this position for a few seconds, then raised the window and
glided into the room, feet foremost, and sat down."

Lord Adare went into the next room to see how Mr. Home
got out of the window, and he alone, so Lord Lindsay tells us,
saw the second experiment.

To be sure, Lord Lindsay does say he saw Mr. Home's
feet ; but as the room was dark, and he had only the uncertain
light of the moon to assist him in his observations, it is quite
probable he was mistaken, as we are all apt to be, under simi-
lar circumstances.

3. Insufficient evidence. — The testimony of one person to the

occurrence of so remarkable an event as the body of a man
floating in the air, in opposition to the laws of gravity, cannot
be regarded as sufficient to decide the matter affirmatively.
The experience of the world is against the possibility of such
a circumstance, and Lord Lindsay's evidence in view of the
possibility of hallucination, illusion, or misinterpretation, on
his part, must go for very little, if for anything at all. We
kn-wthat hallucinations or illusions do occur to us all under
certain circumstances ; we know that we often interpret phe-
nomena wrongly, and the probability of one or another of
these conditions being the governing factor in the present in-
stance is infinitely greater than the alternative which Lord

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 81

Lindsay would have us accept. There were three gentlemen
present in the room besides Mr. Home. Lord Adare, we may
admit, accepts the account given by Lord Lindsay. Indeed, he
may be said to be the father of it. But why have we no word
from the " cousin of his " who formed one of the company ?
There cannot be too much evidence on so important a point as
this.

4. Lord Lindsay's character, as a gentleman, puts him
above the imputation of intentional misstatement.

5. Legerdemain. That Lord Lindsay may have been de-
ceived by a trick, is a supposition which has a good deal of
plausibility in its support It appears that Mr. Home in the first
experiment, went into another room alone, and was from this
second room brought into the other, through the window. It
would have been very easy for him, while alone, to have ar-
ranged means for passing from one window to tbe other — if he
did pass at all — and for such means to have escaped detection.
Many of the examples of conjuring performances which I have
cited, are far more remarkable than would have been Mr.
Home's, even if he had really passed from one window to
the other without visible material agency, as Lord Lindsay
supposes.

But as these lines are being written, the true explanation
comes to hand, showing that both Lord Lindsay and Lord
Adare suffered from a hallucination. In. an interesting paper,
Dr. Carpenter,* evidently referring to this account of Lord
Lindsay's, says : " A whole party of believers will affirm that

* On Fallacies of Testimony respecting the Supernatural. Contemporary
Reviezv, Jan., 1876.

4*

82 SPIRITUALISM.

they saw Mr. Home float out of one window and in at another,
while a single honest sceptic declares that Mr. Home was sitting
in his chair all the time." This "honest sceptic" is probably
the cousin incidentally mentioned by Lord Lindsay. It is
scarcely necessary to pursue the inquiry further.

There are perhaps fifty cases of levitation on record. I will
engage to supply more and better authenticated instances of any
other hitherto mentioned supernatural phenomenon ; such as
lizards living in the human stomach, persons walking without
their heads, people with glass legs or arms, others who are coffee-
pots; or to go to the very opposite, instances of the force of
gravity or the power of spirits being so great as to prevent the
body being raised at all.

Thus, turning again to Gorres,* we find that St. Joseph of
Copertino went into the state of ecstasy at any circumstance
which reminded him of God. The ringing of a bell, the chant-
ing in a church, the name of Jesus, of Mary, or of any saint, a
picture of the passion of Christ, an allusion to the glory of par-
adise, the sight of a holy image, were sufficient any one of them
to induce the condition in question ; and as such occasions
were in his monastic life of never-ceasing occurrence, the sus-
ceptible saint was continually passing from one trance into
another. On one occasion, as he was carrying the chalice, the
spell seized him and he fell at full length on the ground, hold-
ing the vessel to his breast. After some trouble, this was taken
from him, but he remained stretched out on the earth as if dead,
so powerfully attached to the ground that a brother named
Ludovic could not raise him, and it was necessary for several

* Op. Cit., t. ii. p. 19.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 83

persons to unite all their strength in the attempt before he
could be lifted up. It will be remembered that this was the
same saint, who, on another occasion, was as light as a
straw.

Excessive gravitation, like levitation, appears to be pos_
sessed by saints and sinners alike. Thus it is recorded by
Neubrigensis, and also by Huntington, # that Raynerus, a
wicked minister of a more wicked abbot, while crossing the sea
with his wife, so overweighted the ship with his iniquity that in
the midst of the stream it was unable to stir, at which the
mariners, astonished, cast lots, and the lot fell upon Raynerus.
And lest this should be thought to happen by chance they cast
the lots again and again, and still the lot fell upon the same
Raynerus. Whereupon they put him out of the ship, and pres-
ently the ship was as if eased of her burden, and sailed away.
" Certainly," adds the pious chronicler, " a great judgment of
God, and a great miracle, but yet recorded by one that is no
fabulous author, saith Sir Richard Baker."

Instances of assumed excessive weight are not uncommon
in the annals of hysteria, and several such, in which the patients
declared they could not rise from their beds or chairs, on
account of the attraction which restrained them, have come
under my notice. It has repeatedly happened that these per-
sons have succeeded in persuading their attendants and friends
that they spoke the truth, and experiment has appeared to give
additional sanction to their assertions.

In such cases the expectant attention of the observer causes

* The Wonders of the Little World, by Nathaniel Wanley, M. A., Vicar
of Trinity Parish, London, 1806, p. 400. From Baker's Chron. p. 72.

84 SPIRITUALISM.

the deception. Thus, when no metal heavier than water was
known, it was not surprising that Dr. Pearson, as he poised upon
his ringer the first globule of potassium produced by Sir
Humphrey Davy's battery, should have exclaimed " Bless me,
how heavy it is ! " though when thrown upon water the metal
floated upon it.#

But the following story will undoubtedly be received by all
earnest spiritualists as a genuine instance of excessive gravitation
or adhesion caused by extra mundane interference :

" In the northern borders of England and on the other side
of the river Humber, in the parish of Hoveden lived the rector
of that Church with his concubine. This concubine one day
sat rather imprudently on the tomb of St. Osanna, sister to
king Ofred, which was made of wood and raised above the
ground in the shape of a seat. When she attempted to rise
from the place, her posteriors stuck to the wood in such a man-
ner that she never could be parted from it till, in the presence
of the people who ran to see her, she had suffered her clothes
to be torn from her, and had received a severe discipline on
her naked body and that to a great effusion of blood, and with
many tears and devout supplications on her part. Which done,
and after she had engaged to submit to further penance, she
was divinely released." t

* Dr. Carpenter. Fallacies of Tjstimony respecting the Supernatural.
Contemporary /Review, Jan., 1876.

tThe History of the Flagellants, otherwise of Religious Flagellations
among different nations, and especially among Christians — being a Para-
phrase and Commentary on the Historia Flagellantrium of the Abbe Boi-
leau. Doctor of the Sorbonne, etc. By one who is not a Doctor of the Sorbonne
[De Lolme]. The second edition, London, 1783, p. 317. The miracle re-
ferred to is quoted from the " Itinerarium Cambriae " of Sylvester Gir*
aldus, a native of Wales, who wrote about the year 1188.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 85

A remedy so potent in gravitation would probably prove
equally efficacious in levitation.

Another power claimed for the physical mediums is the abil-
ity to resist the effects of physical and chemical agents. To enter
into the consideration of all the alleged phenomena under
this head would be profitless. I shall, therefore, take the most
remarkable of them all ; the asserted non-combustibility of the
bodies of certain mediums when brought in contact with flames
or intensely heated substances.

As with levitation, incombustibility goes back to a very early
period. Starting with Meschach, Shadrach and Abednego,
who walked about in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace without
being burnt, or the hairs of their heads being scorched, or even
with the smell of fire remaining on them, we come to the saints
of the new dispensation, and here we find, as usual, a mine of
wealth in Gorres' voluminous history.

Speaking of ecstatics, he says* that as they are, for the
time being, above the ordinary laws of nature, they might be
supposed to be removed from their influence. And, in fact, it
is proved that fire, the most terrible of all the elements, has no
action on them. Thus St. Catherine of Sienna, was one day
seated in the kitchen occupied in turning the spit and in pre-
paring dinner for her family. Left to her meditations, she fell
into ecstasy and naturally the spit stopped. But her sister-in-
law, being present, took charge of the culinary operations, and
left Catherine in her trance. After the meal, when the family
had gone to bed, the sister-in-law returned to the kitchen to
see how Catherine was getting along, and found that she had

* Op. cit.,t. ii. p. 51.

36 SPIRITUALISM.

fallen from the chair with her face in the midst of the burning
coals on the hearth. The sister-in-law, with a cry of horror,
seized Catherine and dragged her from the fire, thinking, of
course, that she was severely burnt, but to her great astonish-
ment, not only was there no injury, but there was no smell of
fire about her, or even ashes sticking to her clothes.

This was not the only time that the like circumstance hap-
pened ; for she was often, in presence of numerous witnesses,
thrown into the fire by an invisible power. When the specta-
tors, weeping and affrighted, endeavored to pull her from the
flames, she escaped from their hands and laughing, said : " Be
not afraid, it is Malatasca, (the name she gave the devil) who
has done this."

Another time, being in church, near to a pillar to which
were attached a number of lighted candles, one of the latter
fell on her head while she was in a state of contemplation, and
was not extinguished till it was entirely consumed. Upon ex-
amination, it was discovered that she was not in the least burnt,
and that not even her veil was injured.

St. Simon d'Assissi, being one day in ecstasy, a burning
coal fell on his foot, and remained there till it was consumed,
without the saint sustaining any injury, or even feeling the heat.

In the middle ages, the ordeal of fire was frequently em-
ployed for the purpose of establishing the guilt or innocence
of an accused person. Thus, in questions of state, the accused
was obliged to walk over nine ploughshares heated to redness.
If he did this without being injured, he was considered to be
innocent of the alleged crime ; but if he was burnt, his guilt
was deemed to have been established, and he was punished ac-
cordingly.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 87

Sometimes the accused walked blindfolded over and among
the ploughshares laid on the ground, and at others was obliged
to press each one with the naked feet. Again, the ordeal con-
sisted in the accused person carrying in his hand for a certain-
distance, usually nine feet, a piece of red hot iron, the weight
of which varied according to the gravity of the alleged offence.

This ordeal was employed in the determination of various
doubtful questions. The count of Modena, in 996, was executed
on the charge of loving the empress, wife of Otho III., the
lady herself, in the fury of unrequited love, being the accuser.
But after his death, the countess, before the emperor, disproved
the charge against her husband by carrying the red hot iron
and sustaining no injury therefrom. Otho, convinced by this test
of his injustice, caused the empress to be burnt at the stake as
a false witness.

The mother of two illegitimate sons of Robert, Duke of
Normandy, established their paternity to the satisfaction of the
alleged father by holding, unhurt, a red hot iron in her hand.

Pietro Aldrobandini, in order to show that Pietro di Pavia,
Bishop of Florence was guilty of simony and heresy, offered to
submit to the ordeal by fire. After imposing religious ceremo-
nies, he walked slowly between two piles of blazing wood, ten
feet long, five feet wide, and four and a half feet high ; the
passage between them being six feet wide and covered with an
inch or two of glowing coals. The violence of the flames
agitated his dress and hair, but he emerged without hurt, even
the hair on his legs being unsinged, barelegged and barefooted
though he was. Desiring to return through the pyre, he was
prevented by the admiring crowd, who rushed around him in
triumph, kissing his feet and garments and endangering, his

88 SPIRITUALISM.

life in their transports, until he was rescued by his fellow monks.
A formal statement of the facts was sent to Rome by the
Florentines, the Papal court gave way, and the bishop was
deposed ; while the monk who had given so striking a proof of
his steadfast faith, was marked for promotion and eventually
died Cardinal of Albano.*

Besides the proof by the red hot iron and fire itself, there
was another by boiling water, in which the hand was plunged
into water heated to the boiling point. It was then wrapped in
linen and sealed with the signet of the judge, to be examined
on the third clay. If then, the member was found to be
uninjured, the accused was considered innocent, but if any
evidence of the action of heat was discovered, guilt was inferred.

That such performances admitted of deceit and jugglery
there is no doubt, neither is there any question but that such
deceit and jugglery were often practised by those, or in the
interest of those who were in favor with the authorities, or who
voluntarily availed themselves of the ordeal for the purpose of
accomplishing some cherished object. For many centuries
preparations for making the skin and clothing incombustible
have been known, and fire-eaters and other conjurors with
burning coals, and excessively heated bodies, have flourished in
various parts of the world. A different interpretation being
given to the cause of their immunity according to the character
of the performer, the bias of the reporter, or the spirit of the
age in which the phenomena occurred.

* Superstition and Force. Essays on the Wager of Law, the Wager of

Pattle, The Ordeal, Torture. By Henry C. Lea, Philadelphia, 1866, p. 209.

Many other cases similar to the foregoing, are cited in this very learned
work.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 89

Thus Gorres, who has given us so many excellent examples
of the power possessed by the saints to resist fire, relates the
following history of a like immunity with which one, who was
possessed by a demon, was endowed, prefacing it with a
theory, which if not entirely satisfactory is at least ingenious.

" When possession has attacked the more profound regions
of life, it is rarely confined to the cceliac axis, but soon pene-
trates to the lungs, which more than any other organs of the body,
are in close sympathy with the nutritive system. It then happens
either that the respiratory organs are so restrained that they
cannot perform their functions, or that they act with such undue
force that the life of the individual is endangered. There is
thus formed in the lungs a vital volcano and the chest becomes
a crater from which perpetually issues a devouring fire. St.
Apre, bishop and confessor, being one day at Chalons-sur-Saone,
saw a young man who was possessed and from whose mouth,
as from a furnace, rushed sulphurous flames. As soon as he
saw the saint afar off, he became furious and tried to bite all
who came near him. Everybody got out of his way, but the
possessed ran towards the saint as if to seize him. But the
holy man advanced without fear to the encounter with the cross
in his hand, and ordered the possessed to stop. As the fiery
vapor which escaped from his mouth touched the face of the
saint and as the possessed tried to bite him, the bishop made
over the mouth of the afflicted man, the sign of the cross, and
the demon no longer being able to escape in that way went out
from the body of the man in the form of a diarrhoea."

Certainly this was a most ignoble ending for the fiery spirit,
but the story is instructive as showing how the faculty of in-
combustibility was an endowment of the whole thirty feet, more

9o SPIRITUALISM.

or less, of intestines belonging to the possessed, and thus estab-
lishes a marked superiority of diabolical power in this direction,
over that belonging to the spirits who watch over the saints,
and Mr. Home.

Strabo states that the priestesses of Diana at Castabala in
Cappadocia had the power of walking uninjured over burning
coals, and the Hirpi by marching over burning coals were
exempted by the Roman Senate from military service, and were
granted other privileges. According to Varro, their immunity
was due to the use of a liniment on the soles of their feet.

Lucius Florus* states that a Syrian named Eunus, a leader
of the Sicilian slaves who in the second century before Christ
rebelled against their Roman masters, convinced his followers
of his power by breathing sulphur and fire, and that at the same
time words and flames issued out of his mouth. This perform-
ance, according to Florus, was effected by Eunus placing in his
mouth a nut-shell filled with sulphur and fire and perforated at
both ends, and as he spoke he breathed gently through the shell
and flames were emitted with his words.

St. Jerome states that the Rabbi Barchochebas, who
headed the Jews in their last revolt against the Emperor Ha-
drian, made them believe that he wras the Messiah by vomiting
flames from his mouth, f and at a latter period the Emperor
Constantius was greatly alarmed when informed that one of
his body guards had been breathing out fire and flames.

About the close of the seventeenth century an Englishman
named Richardson created great astonishment by putting live

* Lucius Florus, lib. iii., Bellum servile.

t Bayle's Dictionary, i., p. 450, art. Barchochebas.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 91

coals into his mouth, pouring melted lead on his tongue, and
swallowing melted glass.*

A hundjed years later a native of Toledo, Spain, excited the
wonder of Paris by similar though even more striking experi-
ments. Thus at the School of Medicine, before the professors
and three hundred students, in broad daylight, after thorough
examination he performed the following feats :

1st. A vessel containing oil heated to 850 Reaumur
(about 2230 F.) being prepared he opened his hand and
applied the palm of it several times to the oil ; he then washed
his face in the oil and applied the soles of his feet to it. At the
end of the experiments the heat of the oil was still from 760 to
780 R. or nearly that of boiling water.

2nd. A bar of iron, from eighteen to twenty inches long and
two and a half inches hi breadth was brought to a cherry-red
heat at one of its extremities and placed on bricks. The
Spaniard then put the sole of his foot on the red part ; a por-
tion of the oil which still adhered to it at once inflamed. He
then applied the other sole in like manner, and this he repeated
several times.

3d. The flat part of a large iron spatula, eighteen inches
in length, was brought to a cherry-red heat. The Spaniard
thrust out his tongue and applied it to the red part several
times.

4th. He took a lighted candle and drew the flame of it
several times over the posterior part of his leg from the heel to
the hip.

He was examined after these trials and no part of his skin

*Beckmann, Op. et lo. Cit, p. 121.

92 SPIRITUALISM.

appeared to be in the least altered. His pulse, however, had
increased from 75 to 145 per minute.*

A few years afterwards another mountebank, calling himself
the miraculous Spaniard, opened an exhibition in Paris where
he walked barefooted on red hot iron, drew red hot bars of iron
across his face, arms, and tongue, dipped his hands in melted
lead, and swallowed a glass of boiling oil.

But as long ago as two hundred years these saludores, as
they were called, were regarded as impostors, for one of them
having pretended that he could endure unharmed the heat of a
kindled oven, was forced by the sceptical populace into one
before he had time to prepare himself for the performance, and
on opening it at the end of an hour the saludor was found to
be calcined.

Beckmannf states that when in September, 1765, he visited
the copper works at Arvestad, one of the workmen, for a little
drink-money, took some of the melted copper in his hand, and
after showing it, threw it against the wall. He then squeezed
the fingers of his horny hand close to each other, put it a few
minutes under his armpit to make it sweat as he said, and
taking it out again drew it over a ladle filled with melted cop-
per, some of which he skimmed off, and moved his hand back-
ward and forward by way of ostentation. During this perform-
ance there was a smell like that of singed horn or leather, but
his hand was not burnt. The workmen in the Swedish smelting
works showed the same thing to some travellers in the seven-
teenth century, for Regnard saw it in 1681 at the copper works
in Lapland.

* Journal de Physique. Messidor, An. 11 (1803).
t Op. Cit, p. 122.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 93

Passing: over the fire-eaters etc. of our own time, who do
not assume that their feats- are anything more than tricks of
legerdermain, we come to the performances with fire which are
pretended to owe their success to spiritual agency.

In the March (1868) number of Human Nature, Mr. Jenck-
en, quoted by Mr. Home* thus writes : " Mr. Home (after va-
rious manifestations) then continued, ' we have gladly shown
you our power over fluids, we will now show you our power over
solids.' He then knelt down before the hearth, and deliber-
ately breaking up a glowing piece of coal in the fire place, took
up a largish lump of incandescent coal and placing the same in
his left hand, proceeded to explain that the caloric had been
extracted by a process known to them, (the spirits) and that the
heat could in part be returned. This he proved by alternately
cooling and heating the coal ; and to convince us of the fact,
allowed us to handle the coal which had become cool, then
suddenly resumed its heat sufficient to burn one, as I again
touched it. I examined Mr. Home's hand, and quite satisfied
myself that no artificial means had been employed to protect
the skin, which did not even retain the smell of smoke. Mr.
Home then re-seated himself, and having described how the
waters in the decanters were to be used, awoke from his trance
quite pale and exhausted."

Again, Mr. Wallace f says : " But perhaps the best attested
and most extraordinary phenomenon connected with Mr.
Home's mediumship, is what is called the fire test. In a state
of trance he takes a glowing coal from the hottest part of a

* Incidents in My Life, second series. New York, 1872, p. 182.
t On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism. Three Essays : London, 1875,
P- 159-

94 SPIRITUALISM.

bright fire, and carries it round the room so that every one may
see and feel that it is a real one. This is testified by Mr. H.
D. Jencken, Lord Lindsay, Lord Adare, Miss Douglas, Mr. S.
C. Hall, and many others. But more strange still, he can de-
tect the same power in other persons or convey it to them. A
lump of red hot coal was once placed on Mr. S. C. Hall's head
in the presence of Lord Lindsay, and of other persons. Mrs.
Hall, in a communication to the Earl of Dunraven (given in
the Spiritual Magazine, 1870, p. 178), says : Mr. Hall was
seated nearly opposite to where I sat, and I saw Mr. Home af-
ter standing about half a minute at the back of Mr. Hall's
chair, deliberately place the lump of burning coal on his head !
I have often wondered that I was not frightened, but I was
not ; I had perfect faith that he would not be injured. Some
one said, ' Is it not hot ? ' Mr. Hall answered, ' Warm, but not
hot.' Mr. Home had moved a little way, but returned, still in
a trance ; he smiled and seemed quite pleased, and then pro-
ceeded to draw up Mr. Hall's white hair over the red coal.
The white hair had the appearance of silver thread over the
red coal. Mr. Home drew the hair into a sort of pyramid, the
coal still red showing beneath the hair.

"When taken off the head without in the slightest degree in-
juring it, or singeing the hair, others attempted to touch the
coal and were burnt. Lord Lindsay and Miss Douglas have
also had hot coals placed in their hands, and describe them as
feeling rather cold than hot ; though at the same time they
burn any one else, and even scorch the face of the holder if
approached too closely. The same witnesses also testify that
Mr. Home has placed red-hot coals inside his waistcoat, and
has put his face into the middle of the fire, his hair falling into

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 95

the flames, yet not being in the least singed. The same power
of resisting fire can be temporarily given to inanimate objects.
Mr. H. Nisbet of Glasgow states (Human Nature, Feb. 1870)
that in his own house in Jan. 1870, Mr. Home placed a red-hot
coal in the hands of a lady and gentleman to whom it only felt
warm ; and then placed the same on a folded newspaper, burn-
ing a hole through eight layers of paper. He then took a
fresh and blazing coal and laid it on the same newspaper, carry-
ing it about the room for three minutes, when the paper was found
this time not to have been the least burnt. Lord Lindsay
further declares — and as one of the few noblemen who do real
scientific work, his evidence must be of some value — that on
eight occasions he has had hot coals placed on his own hand by
Home without injury. Mr. W. H. Harrison {Spiritualist, March,
15, 1870,) saw him take a large coal which covered the palm of
his hand and stood six or seven inches high. As he walked
about the room it threw a ruddy glow on the walls, and when
he came to the table with it, the heat was felt in the faces of all
present. The coal was thus held for five minutes. These
phenomena have now happened scores of times in the presence
of scores of witnesses. They are facts of the reality of which
there can be no doubt ; and they are altogether inexplicable by
the known laws of physiology and heat."

How far these powers are " altogether inexplicable by the
known laws of physiology and heat " I propose now briefly to
inquire.

There are three ways in which deception may have taken
place :

1 st. The spectators may have labored under hallucination
and delusion.

96 SPIRITUALISM.

2d. Mr. Home may have appeared to make use of live coals
in his experiments when in reality he did not.

3d. He may have protected his hands, clothing, and Mr.
Hall's head by some one or more of the methods at present
well known.

1. Although it is by no means impossible that the principle
of suggestion or expectant attention may have caused those
present simultaneously to imagine that Mr. Home performed
all the various acts attributed to him, it is nevertheless much
more probable that the true explanation is to be found under
one or both of the other heads. At the same time the reader
ought clearly to understand that with our present experience of
the effects of extreme heat, such as that of a live coal on the
human body and ordinary clothing, the weight of evidence is
o-reatly in favor of the postulate that half a dozen people
would be more likely to be deceived, than that a man should
without protection of any kind, hold live coals in his hand, and
put them into his waistcoat pocket, without either being burnt.
When in addition, we consider that these people were accus-
tomed to be moved by suggestion and expectant attention, and
that the light of the room was dim, the probability is greatly
increased. And it is rendered still more predominant when
we call to mind the fact that at least two of them (Lord
Lindsay and Lord Adare) have since then shown their capacity
to be thus deceived, as in the matter of Mr. Home's levitation
to which reference has already been made.

As previously stated, the fact that several persons are
simultaneously deceived and caused to believe the reality of
hallucinations or illusions is common enough. At the very

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. ' 97

time of writing these lines, the following account appears in
the Baltimore Sun of February 21st, 1876 : —

"The neighborhood of Charles and Mulberry streets was
the scene of great excitement on Saturday night over the
rumor that there was a burglar in the grocery store of Thomas
Reese & Son. Shortly after Mr. Reese had locked the doors
and left for home, a citizen in passing was certain that he saw
through the plate glass a man moving about in the store, and
he got a boy to watch the place until the police could be
found. When the policeman arrived, the presence of some-
body was confirmed by the boy, who said he saw a man peeping
at him from inside the store. A telegraph messenger was
dispatched to Mr. Reese to inform him of the circumstances
and to get the keys. In the absence of the messenger, a large
crowd assembled in front of the store, at least half of whom
distinctly saw the burglar moving about the store, and by the
time Mr. Reese's two sons arrived with the keys, excitement
had reached its highest tension, and the prospect of having a
good look at a live burglar was largely speculated upon. The
doors were opened and Capt. Jamison, the two sons of Mr.
Reese, and two policemen cautiously entered, leaving 'two
policemen to guard the door. The gas was turned on*-and a
careful search made behind boxes, barrels, and bags. Every
nook and cranny big enough to hide a rat was closely inspected,
but without finding any burglar. The supposed burglar was
an optical delusion, caused by the reflection from the lights in
a drug store on the opposite side of the street, which gave the
inside of Mr. Reese's store the appearance of being lighted
up, and the figures seen were the reflection of passers by oh

the opposite sidewalk."

5

98 SPIRITUALISM.

2d. It would have been a very easy matter for Mr. Home to
have caused his company to imagine that he was using real
live coals when in fact he was doing nothing of the kind. A
good juggler, such as Mr. Home evidently is, would have
experienced no difficulty in changing real coals for false ones,
so as to give the sensation of heat or cold as desired.

It is well known that a piece of spongy platinum becomes
incandescent where a current of hydrogen is allowed to impinge
upon it, and that the incandescence is immediately lost when
the current of gas is arrested. It is much more reasonable to
suppose that Mr. Home employed this substance and a small
reservoir of hydrogen, than that he really did, at will or through
the will of a spirit, cause a coal of fire to lose and regain its
heat.

3d. The means which Mr. Home most probably used are
those which are well known to render the skin and clothing
more or less incombustible. The repeated application of sul-
phuric acid to the skin of the hand will enable it to resist the
heat of a burning coal for a considerable period, and oil, if
rubbed in frequently and for a long time, renders the skin hard
and horny. Long, continual exposure of the skin to great heat
has also the same effect, as in the case of the copper smelters
referred to by Beckmann. According to some authorities, the
juice of certain plants produces a like condition when applied to
the skin.

It would have been very easy for Mr. Home to place
a layer of asbestos cloth under the burning coals laid on Mr.
Hall's head and Lord Lindsay's hand, and thus to have effectu-
ally prevented injury to the skin. It would have been still
easier for him to have thus protected his own hand. In any one

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 99

of the cases detection would not have been probable, for the
attention of the subject and observers being otherwise engaged,
deception would have been the natural consequence, just as it is
with the dupe out of whose hand the skilful conjurer removes a
coin which the victim believes is still firmly grasped. Mr. Home
could, with the greatest facility, and with the slightest possible
risk of discovery in the badly lighted room, have worn gloves
made of asbestos or amianthus cloth. Gloves made of this lat-
ter material, according to the method of M. Aldini, enable the
wearer to handle red hot coals or iron with impunity. A fire-
man, having his hand within a double asbestos glove, and his
palm protected by a piece of asbestos cloth, seized with impu-
nity a large piece of red hot iron, carried it deliberately to the
distance of 150 feet, inflamed straw with it, and brought it back
again to the furnace. On other occasions this fireman handled
blazing wood and. burning substances, and walked during five
minutes upon an iron grating placed over flaming faggots.

In the experiments which were made at Paris in the presence
of a committee of the Academy of Sciences, two parallel rows of
straw and brushwood, supported by iron wires, were erected at a
distance of three feet from each other and were thirty, feet each
in length. When ignited, the heat was so great that it was
necessary for the spectators to stand at the distance of eight or
ten yards to avoid suffering. The flames from these burning
masses seemed to fill up the whole space between them, and
rose to the height of nine or ten feet. Then six firemen, clothed
in the incombustible dresses, and walking at a slow pace behind
each other, repeatedly passed through the whole length between
the burning walls, the fire of which was kept up with additional
fuel. One of the firemen carried on his back a child eight

ioo SPIRITUALISM.

years old, in a wicker basket covered with wire gauze, and
the child had no other dress than a cap made of amianthus
cloth*

Mr. Home's waistcoat pocket, into which he is said to have
put a coal of fire, was probably lined with amianthus cloth or
made of material rendered incombustible by having been satu-
rated with a solution of alum in water.

Any one of the explanations proposed is infinitely more
probable than that Mr. Home did, without protection or previous
preparation, carry live coals in his hand and waistcoat pocket,
and put them on other people's bodies without causing injury.
The latter is an impossibility, so far as our knowledge of the
physical effect of heat now extends, and to set aside that know-
ledge, based as it is on the experience of ages, merely because
half a dozen people with badly trained minds think they were
witnesses of the alleged phenomena, would be in the highest
degree illogical and absurd.

When not thus protected Mr. Home would doubtless suffer
as did the devil-possessed priest who presumed too much upon
the power of the demon he worshipped, and the account of
which is thus given by Mr. Robert Charles Caldwell : t

" But evening draws near ; the sunset reddens over the
Ghauts ; the deep mellow notes of the wood pigeons grow
fainter and then cease ; fire-flies twinkle out ; great bats flap by
lazily overhead : then comes the dull tuck of the tom-tom ; the
fire before the rustic devil-temple is lit ; the crowd gathers and

* For the details of these and other experiments of a similar character the
reader is referred to Sir David Brewster's Letters on Natural Magic, Letter

XII.

t Demonaltry, Devil Dancing, and Demoniacal Possession. The Con-
temporary Review. February, 1876.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 101

waits for the priest. He is there ! His lethargy has been
thrown aside ; the laugh of a fiend is in his mouth. He stands
before the people the oracle of the demon, the devil-possessed !
Enough for the present. I must subsequently describe this
scene more carefully in detail. Suffice it in this place to say
that about eight years ago I was staying in Tinnevelly not ten
miles distant from the scene of a tragedy on one occasion such
as I have referred to. The priest appeared suddenly at the
devil-temple before the expectant votaries. A cauldron was
over the fire and in it was lead in a molten state. ' Behold '
calmly cried the priest, the ' demon is in me, I will prove to you
all the presence within me of the omnipotent divinity.' With
that hs lifted the cauldron and poured the liquid lead over his
head. Horns were blown, toms-toms beaten, fresh logs of
resinous wood flung into the fire, and goats duly sacrificed.
The priest staggered about a little and then fell down in a faint-
ing fit. Three days afterwards he died in horrible agony. But his
mind was calm and clear to the last. The last words he uttered
were nane sattaya sami ! ' It is indeed I who am the true God.' "

After these supreme performances of Mr. Home it is
scarcely necessary to consider those of. less moment, such as
moving bells and other articles, table-lifting, accordeon-playing,
etc. There is only one other which has acquired some impor-
tance from having been elaborately studied and then endorsed
by Mr. Crookes, and that is the variation produced in the
weights of bodies by spiritual agency, or, as Mr. Crookes assumes,
by a new force which he calls " psychic."

For the determination of the point involved, Mr. Crookes*

* An Experimental Investigation of a New Force. Quarterly Journal of
Science, J uly , 1 8 7 1 .

I 02

SPIRITUALISM.

constructed an apparatus consisting of a mahogany board 36
inches long by 9^ inches wide and 1 inch thick. At one end
a strip of mahogany was screwed on, forming a foot, the length
of which equalled the width of the board. This end of the
board rested on a table, while the other end was supported by a
spring balance attached to a firm tripod stand. The whole
arrangement is shown in the accompanying wood-cut (Fig. 1) :

Fig. 1.

It will be perceived that any pressure exerted on the board
between the foot and the end attached to the spring balance,
would cause the balance to indicate an increased weight, while
a force acting on the board over the foot would not apparently
affect the balance, and one exerted on the board at its extreme
end over the table would cause the other end of the board to rise
or would show diminished weight by the indicator of the balance.

Everything being thus arranged, Mr. Home placed the tips
of his fingers lightly on the end of the board which was resting

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 103

on the support, and almost immediately the pointer of the bal-
ance was seen to descend. After a few seconds it rose again.
This movement was repeated several times.

" Mr. Home now of his own accord took a smail hand-bell
and a little card match-box which happened to be near, and
placed one under each hand, to satisfy us, as he said, that he
was not producing the downward pressure. The very slow
oscillation of the spring balance became more marked, and Dr.
A. B., on watching the index, said that he saw it descend to 6}i
lbs. The normal weight of the board as so suspended being 3
lbs. the additional downward pull was therefore $}i lbs. On
looking immediately afterwards at the automatic register we saw
that the index had at one time descended as low as 9 lbs.,
showing a maximum pull of 6 lbs."

In order to see how the indicator would be affected by
weight applied to the end of the board resting on the table, Mr.
Crookes stepped upon the table and stood on one foot on the
end of the board. Dr. A. B., who was observing the index,
said that it only indicated an increased weight of 1^ lbs. Mr
Crookes' weight was 140 lbs. It is probable that his foot pro-
jected slightly over the foot of the board, for otherwise it is
very evident the index would not have been depressed.

Mr. Crookes kept full notes of these experiments, after-
wards writing them out, and sent the proof of his paper to Dr.
Huggins, the eminent astronomer (the Dr. A. B. mentioned),
and received from him the following note :

" Upper Tulse Hill, S. W., June 9, 187 1.

" Dear Mr. Crookes, — Your proof appears to me to contain a correct
statement of what took place in my presence at your house. My position at
the table did not permit me to be a witness to the withdrawal of Mr. Home's

io4 SPIRITUALISM.

hand from the accordeon, but such was stated to be the case at the time by
yourself and by the person sitting on the other side of Mr. Home.

" The experiments appear to me to show the importance of further
investigation, but I wish it to be understood that I express no opinion as to
the cause of the phenomena which took place.

" Yours very truly,

"William Huggins."

" William Crookes, Esq., F. R. S."

Subsequently, Mr. Crookes performed another series of ex-
periments in which additional precautions were taken to avoid
error in the conclusions. The apparatus used is thus de-
scribed.*

"To do away with the objection that the contact of the
hand of the medium with the lever in his spring balance
experiment, might by some inexplicable possibility produce
the observed results by muscular action he tried the following
experiment. Over the centre of the fulcrum he placed a glass
vessel full of water, and by means of an iron stand quite de-
tached from all the rest of the apparatus, a vessel of copper
was held so that it dipped into the water without touching the
sides of the glass vessel, the bottom of the copper vessel was
perforated with holes in consequence of which it was partially
filled with water. The cut on page 105 shows the whole arrange-
ment. (Fig. 2).

" When Mr. Home placed his hands inside the copper ves-
sel, any force passing through his hands had to traverse the
water, hence no muscular action of his could have any effect
upon the spring balance. With the apparatus thus arranged,

* '' Further Experiments of Mr. Crookes," Spiritual Magazine, August
1, 1871.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS.

io5

Fig. 2.

the lever oscillated as in his previous experiment, the aver-
age strain registered being three or four pounds."

The lever moved equally well when Mr. Home put his
hands on the table without touching the apparatus at all.

I think after an attentive consideration of these experiments
we may conclude that in point of fact they are correct. There
is such a thing as being unduly sceptical as well as weakly
credulous, and we should have to strain our scepticism — which
is only healthy when it is rational — to an unwarrantable extent
were we to disregard the results reported by so accurate an
observer as Mr. Crookes, and witnessed and concurred in — so
far as the facts go — by so eminent and cautious a philosopher
as Mr. Huggins. It is therefore, I think, fairly to be believed
that Mr. Home was capable without the exertion of muscular
force of so acting on the spring balance through the medium
of the board as to indicate an increase of weight.

Increasing and diminishing the weight of bodies are per-
formances well known to the East Indian Jugglers, and their
feats in this direction far exceed those of Mr. Home and

106 SPIRITUALISM.

other so called mediums, if we are to credit the accounts which
are given us by observers. Among others, and the most
recent is M. Louis Jacolliot,* who is, moreover, sufficiently
impressionable, as his work shows, to be readily acted upon by
the principle of suggestion. He says.

" I had often seen charmers cause certain objects to adhere
to the ground, — either according to the explanation given me
by an English Major who had studied the subject, by charging
them with a fluid, so as to increase their specific weight or by
some other unknown means. I resolved to repeat the experi-
ment. Taking then a little table made of teak-wood that I lifted
readily with the thumb and fore finger, I placed it on the
terrace and asked the fakir if he could not so fix it in that
situation that it would be impossible for me to move it.

" The Malabarian went to the little piece of furniture and
placing his hands on the upper surface remained immovable
in that position for nearly a quarter of an hour ; when this
time had elapsed he turned towards me and said, smiling :

" ' The spirits have come and no one can displace that table
without their consent.' I approached it with a certain
amount of incredulity and seizing it made what I thought
was the necessary effort to raise it ; I could budge it no more
than if it had been fastened into the cement of the terrace. I
redoubled my efforts and the top of the table came off in my
hands. I then vigorously took hold of the legs which
remained erect united by two cross pieces but I obtained no
other result. At this moment a thought struck me, ' if,' I said
to myself,' ' it is by charging objects with a fluid that the

* " Le spiritisme dans le monde. L'initiation et les sciences occultes
dans l'lnde." Paris, 1875, p. 294, et seq.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 107

charmers produce this effect, and if the phenomenon is only
the development of a natural force of which we do not know
the cause, the fluid when not renewed by the imposition of the
hands of the operator will gradually be lost, and in that case
I ought to be able in a few moments to displace what remains
of the table.' I then requested the fakir to go to the opposite
end of the terrace which he did very willingly, and in the course
of a few minutes the little table was readily dislodged from its
position.

" 'The///m [spirits] are gone,' said the Hindoo, in expla-
nation of the circumstance, ' because the bond which attached
them to the earth has been broken.' "

Now this experiment is not like those of Mr. Crookes, but
it appears at first sight similar, and even more astonishing.
Like Mr. Home, the fakir attributed the immobility and in-
creased weight of the table to the influence of spirits, but the
explanation is quite surely to be found by another line of inves-
tigation. M. Jacolliot, by his own account, was subject to
vertigo and semi-unconsciousness at times when the fakir was
performing some of his more astonishing tricks. The whole
scene, as he describes it, may, therefore, have been an illusion
or hallucination. The fakir may himself have broken the table
or the entire account may be pure imagination.

In this connection, the following story, related of Sir Wal-
ter Raleigh,* is apposite.

Sir Walter was in his prison composing the second vol-
ume of his history of the world. Leaning on the window sill,

* Quoted by Mr. S. Baring Gould, in " Curious Myths of the Middle
Ages." London, 1869, p. 114.

10S SPIRITUALISM.

he was thinking of the work before him, when suddenly his
attention was attracted by a loud noise in the court yard, upon
which his cell looked. He saw one man strike another whom
he supposed by his dress, to be an officer. The latter imme-
diately drawing his sword, ran his assailant through the body.
The wounded man then knocked the officer down with a stick,
and fell dead upon the pavement. At this moment the guard
arrived, first carried off the officer in an insensible condition,
and then removed the corpse of the man who had been run
through the body. The following day Raleigh was visited by
a friend to whom he related the event of the day before which
had occurred under his eyes. To his astonishment his friend
unhesitatingly declared that Sir Walter had entirely mistaken
the whole series of incidents.

The supposed officer was no officer at all, but the servant
of a foreign ambassador ; it was he who had dealt the first
blow ; he had not drawn his sword, but the other had snatched
it from his side, and had run him through the body before any
one could interfere ; whereupon a stranger from among the
crowd knocked the murderer down with his stick and some of
the foreigners belonging to the ambassador's retinue, carried
off the corpse. The friend of Raleigh added that government
had ordered the arrest and immediate trial of the murderer as
the man assassinated was one of the principal servants of the
Spanish ambassador.

" Excuse me," said Raleigh, "but I cannot have been de-
ceived, as you supposed, for I was eye-witness to the events
which took place under my own window, and the man fell on
that spot where you see a paving stone standing up above the
rest." "My dear Raleigh," replied his friend, " I was sitting on

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 109

that stone, when the fray took place, and I received this scratch
on my cheek in snatching the sword from the murderer, and
upon my word of honor, you have been deceived in every par-
ticular."

Sir Walter, when alone, took up the second volume of his
history, which was in MS., and contemplating it, thought, " If
I cannot believe my own eyes, how can I be assured of the
truth of a tithe of the events which happened ages before I
was born ? " and he flung the manuscript into the fire.

But we may admit that the circumstances detailed by Ja-
colliot really occurred, and still we have a better explanation
either than that of spiritual influence or a new force, the laws
of which have not been studied. For instance, I find in a re-
cently issued book by Mr. J. Stanley Grimes * some personal
experiences which are in all respects as reliable as those de-
tailed by Mr Crookes and M. Jacolliot. Mr. Grimes is a
lecturer on phrenology, animal magnetism, electro-biology, etc.
He expresses the utmost contempt for spiritualistic doctrines,
and attributes the performances of mediums either to downright
fraud or to some one of the semi-abnormal conditions with
which educated physicians are well acquainted. Thus he
says :

" We are now prepared to understand another class of ex-
periments to which I have not before alluded. Say to the sub-
ject, ' You cannot put your hat on.' He takes the hat and
tries to put it on, but his hand moves the hat to one side and
then to the other side, but will not obey his will. He seems
to make great efforts, and nearly succeeds and then repeats his

* " Mysteries of the Head and the Heart explained," etc. Chicago,
1875, p. 285.

no SPIRITUALISM.

efforts, but in vain. Tell him that he cannot sit down, or get
up, or open his eyes, or speak, and he tries and fails in the
same manner. The modern spiritualists and some others as-
sert that there are two wills contending ■ that one is the will of
the operator and the other that of the subject; but it is easy
to prove that this is not true. Any one who will perform the
experiment will find that the mere unexpressed will of the
operator is ineffectual. The truth is that both the contending
forces are in the brain of the subject himself — one force is his
own proper and normal will and this is rendered abortive by
the superior force of the conforming faculties.

" In Judge Edmonds' book on spiritualism, he gives an ac-
count of a performance with a table, which several men could
not hold still. In spite of their efforts, the spirits pushed it
over and held it down till the spirits were requested to allow it
to be raised, when it was lifted with great ease. In this case
one force was supposed to be the wills of the men who had
hold of the table, and the other force to be exerted by some in-
visible spirit. In reality both forces resided in the brains of
the distinguished operators themselves.

" I often perform an experiment involving the same princi-
ples in the presence of large audiences. After a person is
found to be susceptible and conforming, I ask him to take hold
of a table and hold it still if he can. I then ask the spirit
to push it over towards him. He will take hold of the table
and while he seems to be holding it up, an unseen power
appears to be pushing it over. He is in reality holding it up
with one hand and pulling it over with the other. If his
conforming organs are sufficiently excited the experiment
will succeed perfectly ; the table will go over and he will be

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. in

unable to raise it again until I request the spirit to allow him
to do so."

" I usually call on the spirit of Sampson to push the table
over and at the same time urge the young man, the subject, to
hold it up. If the audience are unacquainted with mesmerism
and inclined to believe in spiritualism, they generally regard me
as a wonderful medium and suppose that a spirit is really mov-
ing the table. To give greater effect to the performance I use
encouraging language to both parties. I say push young man !
push spirit ! push both of you ! Sometimes I have two or three
subjects take hold of the table and in trying to hold it they
occasionally demolish it."

But I have recently performed an experiment similar in
all essential results to that reported by M. Jacolliot. I took
a small oblong Japanese table weighing only a pound and a half,
and in the presence of a young man of a highly impressionable
nervous organization, and hence peculiarly well fitted to be
acted upon by the force of suggestion, placed it upon the floor
of my consulting-room, raising a corner of the rug so that it could
rest upon the bare floor. I then said to him, " I am going to
make this table so heavy that you cannot raise it, please give
me your attention for a few minutes."

I then placed the ends of my fingers of both hands on the
table and stood in that position for about fifteen minutes. Dur-
ing this procedure, the young man looked at the table and
me with the greatest interest, and when I saw from the expres-
sion of his face that his attention was sufficiently concentrated,
I removed my hands and told him the table was now fasten 2d
to the floor, and that he could not lift it. He took hold of the
light object with both hands, and appeared to be making strong

1 1 2 SPIRITUALISM.

efforts to raise it from the floor, but he could not, and I saw
that so far from endeavoring to lift it as he supposed he was
doing, he was in reality pressing it with all his might towards
the floor. Finally he broke the top of the table in half, not by
holding, but by pushing. He then desisted from his exertions
and asked me to lighten the table so that he could lift it. I
made a few passes over it, and then telling him he could raise it
easily, he took hold of it and succeeded of course, without any
appreciable exertion.

Now I am unable to perceive in what respect this experi-
ment differs from that detailed by M. Jacolliot, and I think
the reader will require no suggestion to enable him to appreci-
ate the fact that in both cases it was not the apparent but the
real performer, M. Jacolliot, in the one instance, and my
impressionable subject in the other, who kept the table from
moving. In both cases the individuals who attempted to raise
the tables were so impressed by one overwhelming idea that
they could not, that their actions were unconsciously directed
in accordance therewith. That this principle of suggestion
and its influence are competent to explain many of the phenom-
ena of spiritualism has already been insisted on, and need not,
therefore, further detain us. We may, therefore, pass at once
to the consideration of Mr. Crookes' experiments.

We would scarcely be entirely justified in applying the prin-
ciple of suggestion to the phenomena alleged to have taken
place through Mr. Home, and in presence of Messrs. Crookes
and Huggins. These two gentlemen are not of the class of
individuals in which "subjects" are included, and the precau-
tions taken to avoid error and the numerous checks devised to
ensure exactness preclude the idea of any mistake so far as the

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 113

facts are concerned. It may, therefore, be assumed with as
much certainty as we can ever have in regard to any event, that
when Mr. Home placed his hands on the apparatus in the
manner described, the index of the spring balance descended.
There is only one other alternative, and that is, that Mr. Crookes
and Mr. Home were in a conspiracy together to deceive Dr.
Huggins. No one acquainted with Mr. Crookes' character, devo-
tion to science and truth, and position in society, could for one
moment adopt that explanation. It may be added too, that Dr.
Huggins is a gentleman whose whole life has been passed with
apparatus and instruments, whose mind is pre-eminent for its
scientific training, and that consequently his liability to be de-
ceived is exceedingly small.

But in admitting the facts, we go as far as it is possible to
advance without meeting with uncertainties and assumptions.
To attribute the falling of the index of the spring balance to
spiritual agency is about as sensible as to allege its causation by
lunar influence. Indeed, far less so, for we know that the
moon does exert a very powerful effect upon the earth, and we
have no satisfactory evidence to show that spiritual beings affect
in any way the substances belonging to our planet or even that
such beings exist. Neither is Mr. Crookes much more happy
with his "psychic force." Because a spring balance with a
board attached to it indicates increased weight when a person
touches the arrangement in the manner described, is certainly
no adequate reason for rushing to the conclusion that a new
force has been discovered. Mr. Huggins, while admitting the
facts, exercises a proper degree of philosophical caution when
he declines to express an opinion relative to the cause of the
phenomenon. There are so many ways in which known forces

1 1 4 SPIRITUALISM.

manifest themselves and so little is known of the laws which
govern them, that Mr. Crookes might, for the present, with
safety and propriety, have held his opinion in abeyance. Of
course such a thing as a " psychic force " is possible. But
possibilities and actualities are very different things, and it will
require much more evidence than that now submitted to re-
move Mr. Crookes' new power from the one category to the
other.

But the best evidence against the existence of spiritualistic
force in the matter of Mr. Crookes' experiment, is the fact that
the index can be made to move in the way and probably to the
extent mentioned by him by similar pressure exerted by many
persons not pretenders to mediumistic powers, and in whom
there is no evidence tending to show the existence of any
hitherto unknown force.

An inspection of the apparatus (Fig. i) will show that if a
downward tractile force be exerted on the board at any
point in front of the foot, at the end which rests upon the
table, the extremity attached to the spring balance will be de-
pressed and the index will consequently show increased weight.

An experiment recently described by Prof. Tyndall * illus-
trates this fact very clearly.

Place an egg in an egg-cup and balance a long lath upon
the egg as shown in Fig. 3, on opposite page.

Though the lath be almost a plank it will obediently follow
a rod of glass, gutta-percha or sealing-wax, which has been
previously well dried and rubbed, the former with a piece of
silk, and the two latter with woollen cloth.

* Lessons in Electricity; Holiday Lectures at the Royal Institution;
Popular Science Monthly, March, 1876, p. 611.

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS.

JI5

Now in dry weather, many persons within my knowledge,
have only to walk with a shuffling gait over the carpet, and then
approaching the lath hold out the ringer instead of the glass,
sealing-wax or gutta-percha, and instantly the end of the lath

Fig. 3-

at L rises to meet it, and the end at L' is depressed. Applying
these principles, I arranged an apparatus exactly like that
of Prof. Crookes, except that the spring balance was such as
is used for weighing letters and was therefore very delicate,
indicating quarter-ounces with exactness, and that the board
was thin and narrow.

Applying the glass rod or stick of sealing wax to the end
resting by its foot on the table, the index of the balance at once
descended, showing an increased weight of a little over three
quarters of an ounce, and this without the board being
raised from the table.

I then walked over a thick Turkey rug for a few moments,
and holding my finger under the board near the end attached
to the balance, caused a fall of the index of almost half
an ounce. I then rested my finger lightly on the end

n6 SPIRITUALISM.

of the board immediately over the foot, and again the
index descended and oscillated several times just as in Mr.
Home's experiments. The lowest point reached was six and
a quarter ounces, and as the board weighed, as attached to the
balance, five ounces, there was an increased weight of one and
a quarter ounces. At no time was the end of the board raised
from the table.

I then arranged the apparatus so as to place a thin glass
tumbler nearly full of water immediately over the fulcrum as in
Mr. Crookes' experiment (Fig. 2), and again the index fell and
oscillated on my fingers being put into the water.

Now if one person can thus, with a delicate apparatus like
mine, cause the index, through electricity, to descend and as-
cend, it is not improbable that others, like Mr. Home, could
show greater, or even different, electrical power, as in Mr.
Crookes' experiments. It is well known that all persons
are not alike in their ability to be electrically excited. Many
persons, myself among them, can light the gas with the
end of the finger. Others cannot do it with any amount
of shuffling over the carpet. At any rate is it not much
more probable that Mr. Home's experiments are to be thus
explained than by attributing the results to spiritualism or psy-
chic force ? !

As to the other manifestations mentioned by Mr. Crookes,
such as playing on the accordeon, they are doubtless, if real, to
be explained in like manner to those with the spring balance.

The balls of fire which are reported as among the phenom-
ena attendant on mediumistic influence scarcely require con-
sideration here ; recalling to mind that if they were really per-
ceived, it is highly illogical and unscientific to attribute them to

PHYSICAL MEDIUMS. 117

spiritual agency, when our knowledge of electricity tells us that
just such balls are not at all uncommon in certain electrical con-
ditions of the atmosphere.

It is, however by no means certain that these globes of fire
were actually perceived by the persons who so report. Appear-
ances such as these are not infrequent among the symptoms
of cerebral congestion, and ocular disease. Most physicians
having met with cases of the kind.

As to the other alleged spiritualistic performance of physi-
cal mediums, such as the so called materialization of the body
— Katie King, etc. — the ringing of bells, getting loose from
cords and bands, moving of tables, knockings, and many other
juggling tricks of similar character, they are to be regarded in
the light of what has already been said, and time would be
wasted in taking them up and dealing with them separately.

n8 SPIRITUALISM.

CHAPTER VII.

SENSITIVE OR IMPRESSIBLE MEDIUMS.

ASENSITIVE or impressible medium is, according to Kar-
dec, one who feels the presence of spirits by a vague im
pression, a kind of light touch on the surface of the body, which
cannot be explained by reference to ordinary causes.

Here the evidence — if such it can be called — is entirely
subjective ; a sensation, the existence of which, is only realized
by the subject. That many mediums feel impressions such
as those mentioned is very probably true. All the various
forms of numbness, such as tingling, formication, a sensation
such as if water were trickling over the skin, pins and needles
sticking in it, or as if the part were " asleep," are common
enough among the people from whom mediums are constituted.
Such phenomena are merely symptoms of nervous derangement
of some kind, often slight in character, but not infrequently of
serious moment. In the former case they may generally be
dissipated by a few doses of the bromide of potassium or half a
dozen applications of galvanism ; in the latter, they are often pre-
cursors of organic disturbance of the brain or spinal cord, lead-
ing to paralysis, epilepsy or mental derangement.

A lady not long since was under my care who imagined that

SENSITIVE OR IMPRESSIBIE MEDIUMS. 119

she could discern the presence of a spirit by a sensation of
coldness which extended throughout one side of her body, and
which was paroxysmal in character. She was brought to me by
her husband, a gentleman of good sense and education, very
much against her will, and refused persistently to be subjected to
medical treatment. A few days afterwards she had a cerebral
hemorrhage, and was deprived of both the power of motion
and of sensibility in the very parts in which she had experienced
the spiritual manifestations. She was cured of her delusion,
but at rather a heavy price. Such erroneous conceptions of
the nature of sensations, the physiology of which is thoroughly
understood, have existed at all times of the world's history, and
even at the present day form part of the religious system of
certain barbarous and semi-barbarous nations. It is well known
to us all that under the influence of intense emotional disturb-
ance we experience feelings which are of the same character,
in fact, identical with those which M. Kardec tells us are pro-
duced by contact with a spirit. Thus we thrill with pleasure
and delight on hearing a melodious or harmonious piece of music,
or with admiration or sympathy for the bearing or misfortunes
of the characters which interest us in a play ; we tingle with
shame or anger, our fingers itch to get at an enemy, and an
electric shudder goes through us when we are struck with
horror.

Similar sensations are even excited through the other senses
in the first place, and by mere force of imagination thereafter.
Herbert Spencer says " I cannot think of seeing a slate rubbed
with a dry sponge without there running through me the same
thrill that actually seeing it produces." I have already consider-
ed the effects produced upon various parts of the body by con-

120 SPIRITUALISM.

centrated attention; undoubtedly, most of the "vague impres-
sions " and sensations of " light touches " which, according to M.
Kardec, indicate the presence of spirits, are to be ascribed to
this factor.

SEEING AND AUDITIVE MEDIUMS. 121

CHAPTER VIII.

SEEING AND AUDITIVE MEDIUMS.

SEEING and auditive mediums are those who, according to
our authority Kardec, are capable of seeing and hearing
spirits ; in other words, they see apparitions and hear voices.
Medical science teaches us that such hallucinations are very
common even in persons not the subjects of insanity. I have
already in the early part of this work considered this division
of the subject so far as relates to furnishing a satisfactory ex-
planation of the causes of erroneous sensorial impressions,
especially of those of sight and hearing. It is extremely pro-
bable, however, that so far as the so called mediums are concern-
ed, the stories which they tell in regard to seeing spirits and
hearing their conversation are pure fabrications. It may be
laid down as a law admitting of no exception that, ceteris pari-
bus, one individual is just as capable of seeing a spirit and hear-
ing its voice as another. When therefore, several persons are
assembled together under like circumstances, and one of them
asserts that he or she sees a spirit which the others do not see,
either the person making the declaration labors under hallucina-
tion, or utters a falsehood. Even if all the others were to de-
clare they saw a spirit, the evidence still would not be convincing

till we had carefully inquired into all the circumstances, intrin-

6

1 2 2 SPIRITUALISM.

sic and extrinsic, of the individuals. For it is infinitely more
probable that half a dozen or more persons should be mistaken
in regard to an event so thoroughly at variance with the experi-
ence of mankind than that they should really have seen a
spirit.

And the mistake may arise from a like cause acting simulta-
neously on a number of persons and producing like results as
in the examples previously cited ; or deception may be practised
by designing persons and the apparent spirit may be real flesh
and blood as in the Katie King case, so thoroughly exposed in
Philadelphia a year ago ; or by means of mirrors and lenses,
and a slight knowledge of the laws of optics, the image of a
real person may be made to project in such a manner as to
convey the idea of an incorporeal being, as in Prof. Pepper's
ghost so often brought into use now in theatrical performances,
and in Benvenuto Cellini's demons in the Coliseum.

In a recent work of Mr. Robert Dale Owen,* he gives an
example in which an apparition was seen by himself and others
which has been the means of perverting several very excellent
people within my knowledge into the vagaries of spiritualism,
and of shaking the confidence of others endowed with somewhat
more of intellectual force. No one who knows him will question
Mr. Owen's honesty, especially after his recantation in regard to
the Katie King fraud. But Mr. Owen has never to my knowl-
edge retracted his assertions relative to the apparition referred
to, and in order that the readers of this volume may perceive
upon what flimsy evidence an example rests which Mr. Owen
refers to as constituting an era in his spiritual experience, and

* "The Debatable Land between this World and the Next." New
York, 1872, p. 472, et seq.

SEEING AND AUDITIVE MEDIUMS. 123

to show in what way the appearance was in* all probability
produced, I quote his account in full.

" What I particularly desired was to have an opportunity,
in the light, of witnessing the formation of such an apparition ;
its actions, its movements from place to place, and its disap-
pearance. But it was not until the year 1867 that I obtained
any further satisfaction. During the spring of that year I heard

of Miss B , of Boston, an elderly lady long known and

esteemed in that city, as a successful teacher of music and
dancing. It was said that she, in a private circle, had obtained
numerous objective apparitions in a partially lighted room.
This was afterwards confirmed to me by a most estimable lady
who had herself been present at many of those sittings ; Mrs.
John Davis, widow of the well known ex-governor of Massachu-
setts, and of whom I have already spoken.

" Mrs. Davis expressed to me her conviction that Miss B

was entirely sincere and disinterested ; and that the phenomena
which she (Mrs. Davis) had witnessed in Miss B 's apart-
ments were genuine. Miss B , it seems, had several friends,

married ladies in the middle rank of life, who had more or less
power as mediums, especially in connection with spiritual
appearances of an objective character. On several occasions,
sometimes in one of their houses, sometimes in another, Miss
B had herself seen an apparition.

" None of those ladies were professional mediums ; but it
occurred to them that if they met occasionally they might by

their united powers obtain very interesting results. Miss B ■

offered the use of her spacious apartments ; and during a series
of experiments which were conducted there, phenomena of a
marvellous character were observed ; a great variety of spirits

i24 SPIRITUALISM.

appearing, chiefly strangers to any of the assistants, in various
costumes.

" This was noised abroad and brought requests from the
curious for admission to witness such wonders. These were
usually granted, but uniformly as a favor and without charge.
Opinions were various ; some visitors were convinced, others
went away in doubt whether it was not an exhibition got up to
mystify the credulous or gratify a longing for notoriety.

"This of course was very unpleasant to the ladies concern-
ed, and when I called on Miss B in May, 1867, 1 found tha-t

for several months they had almost ceased to meet. When,
however, I expressed to Miss B my earnest desire to inves-
tigate the matter, intending some day to publish the results*
she acceded to my wishes with the utmost alacrity. ' I am so
glad ' she said £ to have some one who will be listened to, to test
these phenomena. When one has no other interest or desire
than to get at an important truth, it seems hard to be subjected
to groundless suspicions.'

" At the first two or three sittings a portion only of the ladies
could attend, and Miss B was of the opinion that the dis-
continuance of their regular sittings had for the time weakened
their power. We had only rapping and phosphorescent phe-
nomena, but of a remarkable character. Bright stars appeared
on the person of one medium, and a line of light along the
forehead of another, the word ' Hope' on the back of the hand
of a third. These appearances were brilliant and could be
seen twenty feet off across a dimly lighted room. At other
times the raps were so violent as to shake the sofa on which we
sat.

" But until the session of June 4th there was no apparition.

SEEING AND AUDITIVE MEDIUMS. 125

On that occasion we had one under very satisfactory circum-
stances but I did not consider the test complete ; for I did not
witness either, the formation of the figure or its disappear-
ance.

" It was not until the twenty fifth of June that we were able
to bring together all the ladies who had composed the original
circle. I consider that day, like the twenty-first of October,
i860, an era in my spiritual experience.

"an apparition in shining raiment.

" Miss B 's rooms, which occupied the entire third floor

of a corner house in Washington Street, Boston, consisted of a
large apartment thirty feet front by thirty-five feet deep ; open-
ing by folding doors into a parlor back of it which was twenty-
five feet by twenty. From each room there was one door of
exit only, on a passage or stair-landing, as seen in diagram
(Fig. 4) on following page.

" The front room was lighted by eight windows, four on
Washington Street, and four on a gas-lit court-yard. As there
were no curtains drawn nor shutters closed during the sitting,
which was held after lamp-lighting, this room was so far lit from
without that by any-one seated in the back parlor a few feet
from the folding doors, the dress and general appearance of
persons in the front room could be readily observed, and every
motion they made distinctly seen. I took notice, however, that
there was not light enough to recognize features except close
at hand. In this room, employed for dancing lessons, the floor
was uncarpeted and waxed. All footsteps of persons walking
across it could be very distinctly heard."

126

Jtoojn

A

SPIRITUALISM.

B A.

\><3 — r><i

--*-

-*
x

30~bydS

ijfJ}

+*

S :

Tarlor 20~byS5

3 [

Fig. 4.

SEEING AND AUDITIVE MEDIUMS. 127

" Except myself there was but one visitor present, Mrs. John
Davis. The amateur mediums who assisted at the sitting were

six in number ; Mrs. S. I. D , Mrs. George N. B , Mrs.

Sarah A. K , Mrs. Fanny C. P , Mrs. William H. C ,

and Mrs. Mary Ann C ; all ladies, apparently from thirty

to forty years of age.

" Before the sitting began, Mrs. Davis and myself passed
around the room and examined carefully every part of it. The
furniture consisted of a sofa, a piano, and numerous chairs set
against the walls. There was no pantry or press or recess of
any kind. We locked the sole door of exit and Mrs. Davis
kept the key in her pocket during the sitting. Then we locked
the door of the back parlor, retaining the key.

" We sat down in that parlor directly before the folding
doors. The sofa (marked S on ground plan) on which Mrs.

Davis, Miss B and myself were seated was about four or

five feet within the parlor. I sat on the left hand corner of
this sofa ; the entrance through the folding doors was draped
by curtains which were looped back so that from where I sat
I could see three of the four front windows looking out on
Washington Street and the corner of the room to the right of
them. The six mediums sat three each side of use"

" All was quiet during the early part of the sitting which
commenced a little after eight P. M. Scarcely any rapping.
A few phosphorescent lights.

" About a quarter past nine, all the mediums being seated by
us, I saw dimly, near the right hand corner of the front line of
the large room (at X) at first a grayish slightly luminous vapor ;
after a time a figure draped in white. At first it was stationary ;
then it moved very slowly past the two right hand windows

1 2 S SPIRITUALISM.

(A and B) to the center of the front line of the room (at C) between
two windows. There it remained one or two minutes, still but
indistinctly visible. Then very slowly, and without sound of
footstep, it advanced down the room coming directly toward
the center of the folding doors. It stopped (at D) about twelve
or fourteen feet from where I was sitting. Thereupon, of a
sudden, a brilliant light, coming from the right, striking directly
on the figure, and only on it, not directly illuminating the rest
of the room — enabled me to see the appearance as perfectly as
if the entire room had been lit with gas.

" It was a female figure of medium size, veiled and draped
from head to foot in white. The drapeiy did not resemble in
material, anything I had ever seen worn. It gave me, as on a
previous occasion, the exact feeling of the scriptural expression
' shining raiment.' Its brilliancy was a good deal like that of
new fallen snow in the sunshine ; recalling the. text wThich
declares the garments of Christ during his transfiguration to
have been ' exceeding white as snow ; ' or again, it was not
unlike the purest and freshest Parian marble with a bright light
on it, only more brilliant. It had not at all the glitter of
spangles or any shining ornament ; the tone being as uniform
as that of a newly sculptured statue. It stood upright in a
graceful attitude, motionless. Had I suddenly seen it else-
where, and without having witnessed its previous movements I
might have imagined it a beautiful piece of sculpture of
singularly pure material and marvellously lighted up. The
drapery fell around the figure closely, as usual in a statue ; not
at all according to the modern fashion of amplitude. I think
it was shown to us under the bright light as long as fifteen or
twenty seconds."

SEEING AND AUDITIVE MEDIUMS. 129

" Mrs. K stcjDped out to meet it, going close up to it, and

then returning to us. The figure followed her, and as Mrs. K ,

when she passed the folding doors had stepped aside to the
right, the apparition advanced with a gliding motion into the
parlor till as nearly as I could judge it was within two or three
feet of me. Then it stopped (at E).

" As it remained immovable, I raised my left arm hoping to
that I should be touched. As I stretched it out, the figure ex-
tended its right arm covered with drapery towards me ; and
dropped into my hand what proved to be a white rose ; but its
hand did not touch mine.

"Thereupon the appearance, still keeping its face to us,
slowly retired with the same silent gliding motion which had
marked its advance ; not the slighest sound of footstep on the
waxed floor being audible.

" A second time it stopped again about twelve or fifteen feet
from me, and a second time an instantaneous light coming from
the right and falling upon it gave it to be seen with the utmost
distinctness. I was enabled to verify my former observation
in regard to its appearance, and the unique, rich, resplendent
character of the drapery.

" Then it slowly receded, still facing us, to the centre of
the opposite wall (at C), gradually diminishing in brightness ;
and finally it vanished before my eyes.

" Mrs. K had followed it, and remained a few seconds

near the spot where it vanished. Then I saw her cross the
window to the right on her return to us. She was dressed in
black.

" I am quite certain that one figure only, that of Mrs. K— — ,

as she returned to us, left the spot. From the time the figure

6*

i3o SPIRITUALISM.

in white reached that spot, I kept my eyes intently fixed there
without taking thc?n off for a single moment ; and the light from
the street was such that it was impossible for any object, black
or white, to pass one of the windows without my seeing it.

" When a minute had elapsed after the disappearance of the
figure and while my eyes still fixed on the spot, the thought
rushed vividly upon me. 'Is it possible that there can be noth-
ing there ? ' This thought, to which I did not give utterance, had
hardly crossed my mind when, as if in reply to it, the same sort
of mysterious light which had previously illuminated the figure,
suddenly passed the space of wall between the two windows
where the figure had disappeared, completely lighting it up
— while the windows and wall on either side were not illuminated.
The light remained long enough to show me that there was noth-
ing whatever there except two chairs set against the wall
as I had seen them before the sitting began.

" Then with my eyes still fixed on the place of disappear-
ance I rose and passed entirely around the room • nor did I for
a moment take my eyes off the spot that had been illuminated
till I had reached it. Everything in the room was exactly as it
had been before the sitting, so far as I could recollect. The
outer door was still locked.

•'It is proper to add that two of the mediums, Mrs. K

and Mrs. D , informed me after the sitting was over that

they did not remember seeing anything of the figure ; both hav-
ing awoke as from a trance at the close of the sitting. This,
Miss B informed me, was usual with them.

" I do not think that any of the assistants perceived the
formation of the apparition as soon as I did ; but while the
figure was advancing and retreating, the whispered remarks of

SEEING AND AUDITIVE MEDIUMS. 131

the ladies near me — ' There it is ' — ' Now it stops ' — ' Didn't you
see that light ? ' etc, — made me aware that they saw it just as I
did. This was confirmed to me after inquiry by all the ladies

except Mrs. K and Mrs. D . All the others observed

the sudden illumination of the spot where the figure disap-
peared.

" As on a former occasion, it is proper I should state here,
that throughout the sitting, though the impression produced was
profound, solemn beyond expression, never to be forgotten,
yet it did not partake at all of the emotion of fear. The
predominant feeling was a deep anxiety that there might be no
interruption, and that the sitting might not terminate until I had
obtained incontrovertible evidence of the fact that the appear-
ance was of a spiritual character, yet as real as any earthly
phenomenon.

" The allegation by raps at the close of the sitting was that
the apparition was that of Violet. Some years before during a
sitting with Kate Fox, I had had a promise, purporting to come
from her, that some day when the conditions were favorable she
would appear to us. The veil quite concealed the features ;
but the height, the form, and the carriage of the figure, so
strictly corresponded to hers, that when it approached me I
ceased to doubt that she had kept her promise."

Now let us analyze this extraordinary account of Mr. Owen's.

1. In the first place, doubt had been thrown upon previous
performances at Miss B — 's house and she had been suspected
of trickery. If the manifestations which she superintended
were real why should they have excited suspicion. If Prof.
Dal ton, for instance, were to announce a hitherto unknown fact in
physiology, we should not suspect him of attempting to commit

t32 SPIRITUALISM.

a fraud upon the public. There would be no occasion for
doubt any more than that being human he might be in error.
Miss B , however, exclaimed that it was "hard to be sub-
jected to groundless suspicion," and the feeling seems to have
been so strong against her and her associates that they had ac-
tually given up their sittings till in a fortunate moment they
came across Mr. Owen, who, as he would be listened to, would
unwittingly minister to their thirst for notoriety.

2. An inspection -of the diagram of Miss B 's apart-
ments and attention to the account of the situation which Mr.
Owen occupied, will show that it was entirely practicable for
any one to have walked along the wall on the right side of the
front room without being visible before arriving at the point
marked X, the place where the apparition was first perceived
by him.

3. The fact that Mr. Owen saw the doors locked and the keys
placed in Mrs. Davis' pocket, was no bar to any one else having
a key which opened the door leading to the front room from
the passage-way at the head of the stairs.

4. A barefooted person walking on the floor would have
made no noise.

5. The light was too dim to admit of Mr. Owen distinguish-
ing the features of any such person.

6. He did not touch the hand of the apparition.

7. A dark lantern held at the doorway of the front room
opening on the passage-way would have sufficed to illuminate
the figure throughout its whole course up to the folding doors,
and to have given the flash of light after the disappearance of
the apparition. A sudden shutting off of the light would have
given the appearance to the figure of vanishing.

SEEING AND AUDITIVE MEDIUMS. 133

8. Mrs. K followed the figure. Why did not Mr. Owen

follow it and grasp it. If he had he would very certainly have
had an earlier experience of the frauds of spiritualists than he
had with the Katie King humbug.

The conclusion therefore which every person not willing to
be deceived must inevitably arrive at is : — That a confederate
woman entered the front room at the doorway leading from the
stairs ; that she passed noiselessly along the right-hand wall
appearing at X ; that she was barefooted ; that she was illumi-
nated by a dark lantern held at the door or even in the room by
another confederate and which came from the right — the only
direction from which it could come without Mr. Owen perceiving
its source ; that she carefully avoided touching Mr. Owen ; and
that she retired precisely in the same direction in which she
had made her appearance.

Mr. Owen was therefore egregiously deceived, and the con-
federates were Miss B , Mrs. K , Mrs. D and two

others unknown, one of whom played the part of the appari-
tion while the other held the lantern.

As to the object, a desire for notoriety, or to play a practi-
cal joke, or to accomplish some other desired end would have
been a sufficient incentive. Whatever it was it was eminently
successful. The conspirators knew how credulous and guile-
less was the gentleman they selected, or rather who forced
himself upon them as their victim, and they took advantage of
their opportunity. And this is the sort of evidence upon
which the phenomena of spiritualism rests ! That full and
free inquiry, without which no doctrines in science are at
the present day accepted, is expressly forbidden, and inquirers
are compelled to remain passive and in the dark while the

i34 SPIRITUALISM.

juggling goes on. That there should be men of intellect weak
enough to be deceived by such transparent trickery would be
surprising, were it not true that in all ages of the world there
have been individuals whose general high intellectual develop-
ment has not prevented their being made the dupes of design-
ing persons. Such persons lack that power of discrimination
between the false and the true, between the probable and im-
probable, which is sometimes characteristic of the human mind
in its very highest phase of expansion. They view facts un-
equally, as Czermak* forcibly puts it, and thus are ready, in their
intense desire to explain anything they do not understand, to
adopt a conclusion which is without the least relation with the
observed phenomenon.

Take for instance a case the details of which are given by
Kardec.f

One evening he was at the opera in company with an ex-
cellent "seeing medium." Weber's opera Oberon was being
sung, and the medium declared that there were a great many
spirits present who occupied the vacant seats and walked
through the aisles near the spectators. On the stage another
scene was being enacted, for behind the actors were spirits of
jovial humor who imitated the gestures of the performers in a
grotesque manner, while others of more serious turn seemed
to be endeavoring to inspire the singers with additional energy.
One spirit was always near one of the principal female singers,
and Kardec thought his behavior rather frivolous. After the
fall of the curtain this spirit was summoned ; he immediately

* Hypnotism in Animals. Lectures delivered at the University of
Leipsic. Translated for the Popular Science Monthly, Sept. and Nov.,
1873, by Clara Hammond.

t op. at., p. 205.

SEEING AND AUDITIVE MEDIUMS. 135

made his appearance in Kardec's box and reproached him
with some severity for his hasty judgment. " I am not what
you think,*' said he ; " I am her protecting spirit, and I am
charged with the duty of guarding her." After a few minutes'
serious conversation he departed, saying, " Adieu, she is in her
box, and I must go and watch over her."

The spirit of Weber, the author of the opera, was then
evoked, and he was asked what he thought of the execution of
his work — " It is not very bad," he answered, " but it is too
subdued ; they sing well, but that is all. . There is no inspira-
tion. Wait ! " he added, " I will see if I cannot give them a
little sacred fire." Then he was seen (by the medium and Kar-
dec) walking about among the singers. A vapor seemed to go
out from him and to spread itself over them and from that mo-
ment there was a notable increase of energy.

And this is the stuff sensible people are expected to believe,
with much more, fully as nonsensical ; to some of which, in the
performance of the task assumed, I will have to ask the further
attention of the reader.

SPIRITUALISM.

CHAPTER IX.

SPEAKING MEDIUMS.

A SPEAKING medium is one of whom the spirits make use
for the purpose of conveying their ideas to the world. It
is not therefore in strictness the medium who speaks, but the
spirit who animates him. Indeed, the medium is generally in a
state of trance, and is not only not aware of the words he is
uttering, but may express ideas directly contrary to those he is
known to entertain. Even when awake, he rarely preserves the
memory of what he has said ; he is therefore the mere passive
agent under the control of the spirit using him.

Such is the doctrine of the spiritualists. Its absurdity will
I think be apparent from the facts I shall adduce in the present
connection, and when we come to the consideration of other
divisions of the subject.

The hypothesis that individuals could be thus made use of to
express the thoughts of spirits of various kinds, good and bad,
has been held with more or less pertinacity in all periods of the
world's history, has faded out again and again, to be revived
under different forms, according to the prevailing superstition
of the current time. It is probably less generally held at the
present day than at any other, for the reason that there is
certainly a growing disposition to disbelieve in matters the affir-
mation of which cannot be established by proof.

SPEAKING MEDIUMS. 137

It has even been asserted that the inferior animals could be
thus taken possession of, and be employed to give utterance to
speeches intended for the edification, reproof or warning of
man. Balaam's ass spoke, to go no further back into the re-
cesses of ages, and the fables of Esop were probably based, to
some extent at least, upon actual belief.

The oracles of the ancients often spoke through animals.
Apis, the sacred bull of the Egyptians, gave his opinion, on be-
ing fed by those who consulted him,# and even inanimate objects,
as the Sphynx, the statue of Memnon, and the head of Apollo,
were at times endowed with the faculty of speech.

In our own day speaking animals are occasionally encoun-
tered. Comte, the French conjuror, on one occasion, while
travelling near Nevers, overtook a man who was beating his ass.
Throwing his voice in the direction of. the poor brute's head,
Comte upbraided the fellow for his cruelty. The man stared at
the ass for a moment in fear and trembling, and then inconti-
nently took to his heels.

At another time, being in the market place at Macon, he
asked a woman the price of a pig she had for sale, and upon
being told, pronounced it exorbitant : a charge which was
indignantly denied.

" I will ask the pig," said Comte gravely. " Piggy, is the
good woman asking a fair price for you ? "

" Too much by half," the pig seemed to reply. " I am
measled, and she knows it."

The woman gasped and stared, but she was equal to the
occasion.

* Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. viii., c. 48.

138 SPIRITUALISM.

"Oh ! the villain ! " she exclaimed. " He has bewitched my
pig ! Police, seize the sorcerer ! "

The bystanders rushed to the spot, but Comte slipped away
and left the affair to the intelligence of the police.*

This is the only way in which animals, except parrots,
ravens and " Ned, the learned seal," are known to speak in
our time.

The instances of inspired persons speaking are much more
numerous ; for the reason probably that the fact of inspiration
rests entirely upon the assertion of the speaker. Many cases
of the kind are recorded by Gorres and other authorities, and
cases, before the era of spiritualism, were common in all
countries, our own among them. As to the fact of speaking
while in the condition known as trance, or immediately on
emerging from it, there appears to be no doubt. Many such
have come within my own personal experience in which no
claim to spiritualistic influence was put forward. And the
"camp meetings," and "protracted meetings," and "love
feasts," and " revivals " of our clay seldom pass without one or
more examples. It must be confessed, however, that the
liability to such performances is diminishing every year.

As a manifestation of hysteroid disease, trance-speaking is
of decided pathological interest, and will engage our attention
hereafter ; but the men and women — mostly women — who go
about the country talking nonsense and calling it inspired, are
the veriest humbugs of the age. I have had the opportunity
of hearing these impostors give utterance to language pur-
porting to come from Socrates, Plato, Julius Caesar, George
Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte and other celebrated person-

* Frost's Lives of the Conjurors, London, I076, p. 199.

SPEAKING MEDIUMS. 139

ages, in which there were not half a dozen ideas which could
be understood, and in which the English tongue, both in its
orthography and syntax, was tortured to a degree exceeding
the vagaries of Mark Twain and Josh Billings ; and yet such
men as Mr. Alfred Wallace, who ought to know better, can
quote page after page of the stuff uttered by Mrs. Emma
Hardinge and extol it to the skies for its miraculous depth and
beauty !

Upon one occasion, while a so-called "trance medium"
was dilating upon the beauties of the " summer land," in an
assumed state of insensibility, I took the liberty of treading on
her foot as it rested under the table, and which, as I had seen,
exhibited unmistakable evidence of having a large bunion on
it. The foot was at once quickly withdrawn, there was
unmistakable contortion of the countenance and a very
emphatic " Oh ! " escaped from the lips. The current of the
discourse was interrupted, and when resumed touched upon
Hell, or " Hades " as she called it, to which I have no doubt she
in her heart consigned all inquiring unbelievers. Now if this
woman had been in a condition of trance, my action would
have been unfelt, and I would have obtained indubitable
evidence of the existence of an abnormal condition of her
nervous system and of her sincerity, though of course not of
the manifestation being due to spiritual agency.

We have only to look at these people while they are
delivering their discourses, to be convinced that they are com-
mitting frauds upon their hearers. In actual trance or ecstasy
the expression of the face is peculiar and well marked ; it is
one which no physician who has ever seen a case could fail to
r^co^nize, and the attitude and bearing of the subject are such

i4o SPIRITUALISM.

as show unconsciousness. Yet these spiritual trance-mediums
stand up before us, acting and looking like other people and
tell us they are in a trance and do not know what they are
saying! To attempt further to controvert such palpable
deception would be almost an insult to the reader's intelli-
gence.

CURING MEDIUMS, i4t

CHAPTER X.

CURING MEDIUMS.

f~\ F all the forms of mediumistic interference, that of heal-
^S ing disease has probably the fullest scope, and for various
reasons has most effect with ordinary individuals ; and at all
times within the historic period there have been persons pre-
tending to supernatural power in curing the ills to which
mankind are subject. The fact that success has often followed
their performances has given them more or less of the prestige
which so generally attends upon the obtainment of favorable
results in any direction of effort. It is, however, a very easy
matter to dissipate the cloud of mystery which envelops such
proceedings, and to show that whatever good fortune has
ensued to the subjects who have been operated upon, is due to
well-known and very commonplace causes.

The influence by which so-called supernatural cures have
been effected has been ascribed to various sources, according
to the time at which the healers have performed. At one
period it is the direct power of some deity which produces the
cure, at another the machinations of devils ; again it is the
sanctity which resides in the touch of a king, the holiness of a
saint, or the superior virtue and godliness of certain other
persons ; then it is magnetism, and again spiritualism ; some-

142 SPIRITUALISM.

times it is a peculiar power inherent in some particular person,
and at others the direct interference of God for the relief of
those who have propitiated him by prayer. Nor does the
matter stop here : the bones and other relics of Saints, the
halter with which a criminal had been hanged, the moss
growing from a dead man's skull, the touch of a dead man's
hand, especially of one who had been executed ; the heart of
a mule ripped up alive, the lungs of a person who had died a
violent death, decoctions and powders made from snakes, toads
scorpions, etc., and according to St. Augustine an efficacious
process employed by the devil was : " agentis cum patientibm
conj'ungunt, colliger semina serum, eaque materia applicant."

To trace all these various forms of delusion through their
devious courses, though interesting as presenting an important
phase of human error, would carry us further than the limits
of this work will allow. It will be sufficient for the purpose I
have in view to examine into a few of the more prominent,
especially as a parity of reasoning can be shown to be applica-
ble to the others.

And to begin with the power of saints and kings to banish
disease by a word, a look, or a touch, or even by a visit of the
patient to their tombs, or by the efficacy residing in their dead
bones, or in the garments they are said to have worn.

According to Gorres # the most remarkable instance of
curative power possessed by" a saint is that afforded by St.
Sauveur of Horta. This holy man was born in Catalonia, and
received the first part of his name from a presentiment on the
part of his sponsors that he was to be a saviour of men, and
the second from the fact of his entering a monastery in Horta,

* Op. Cit., t. i. p. 470.

CURING MEDIUMS. 143

In a fortunate moment the people seemed to have imbibed
the idea intuitively that he was possessed of the wonderful
gift of healing ; for in a short time after he had finished his
noviciate, patients came in crowds to Horta from all parts of
the country, so that in one single day there were more than
two thousand assembled in one place. St. Sauveur was not
dismayed ; he cured them all, and blessed them in the name
of the Holy Trinity, after they had confessed and partaken of
Christ's Body. He continued during several years curing
those who came to him, and at one time, during the feast of
the Annunciation he cured six thousand. But this was not
the greatest feat ; for another time, at Valencia, in the square
before the convent of St. Marie de Jesus, he found
more than ten thousand patients, from the viceroy to the
laborer, waiting for his benediction and to be cured of their
diseases.

Now notwithstanding the great success which St. Sauveur
is asserted to have had, he does not seem to have made friends
of his brother monks. They became weary of the disorder
and dirt caused by so many people coming to the convent.
So on one occasion when the bishop came to visit them they
complained of their healing brother ; and his lordship having
no faith — for there were skeptics, then as now, high in eccle-
siastical dignity — in St. Sauveur, called the chapter together,
summoned him before it, and thus addressed him : " I had
hoped to find peace in this house, but on the contrary I meet
with trouble, and on your account. Tell me then, brother
Sauveur, who has authorized you to live in this manner. Are
you not ashamed of hearing people saying ' come let us go to
the saint at Horta ! ' It would be better for them to say ' come

144 SPIRITUALISM.

to the evil spirit who troubles the brethren at Horta.' But you.
my brothers, have done wrong in assuming that he alone could
work miracles, for you are just as holy as he. But I will take
care, my brother, that your name will not be bandied around in
future, for I am going to put an end to your miracles and all
these crowds of people. And first, for penance you will re-
ceive discipline, then you will change your name to Alphonse,
and at midnight you will depart for the monastery of Reus
without another word."

Sauveur went to the church without making any reply, and
then at the hour that had been fixed upon he set out for the
monastery of Reus with a lay brother, passing in silence
through the crowd that was collected around the monastery of
Horta. He made the journey plunged in fervent prayer.

Arrived at Reus he was received by the abbot with these
words : " In order to keep you from disturbing the brothers
with your miracles I will put you in a place where you will not
be able to incommode them. Go to the kitchen and work
your miracles with the plates and dishes-"

But the following morning, as soon as it was day, the
people of the place came in crowds to the number of more
than two thousand, and the sick among them demanded to see
brother Sauveur. The brothers, who knew nothing about the
matter, went to the abbot, and he, running to the kitchen
administered a sharp reprimand to the poor brother, who fell
on his knees before him. But in the meantime the crowd
besieged the gates and the abbot to appease them was obliged
to yield to their wishes on condition that they would all go to
the church. Then the saint addressed some simple words to
them, blessed them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the

CURING MEDIUMS. 145

Holy Ghost, and at once returned to his kitchen. The great
numbers of crutches, bandages and sticks that were left behind
testified to the efficacy of the benediction.

But the abbot at this sight cried out, " Do you see with
what filthiness this brother fills the church, making it no better
than a stable ? "

For some time after this the convent was undisturbed, but
as soon as the people knew the way to the saint the processions
recommenced. To end them the bishop sent him to Barce-
lona, then to Saragossa and other places ; but after a little
while, no matter where he was, it was the same thing. Pa-
tients came in crowds and camped out in tents when they
could obtain no other shelter.

A still more determined effort was finally made to stop
Sauveur's miracles by sending him to Cagliari in Sardinia, but
it was the same there as it had been in Spain. Simple, open,
in his relations with men, austere towards himself, having no
want for a cell, as he passed his nights in prayer in the church,
and sleeping, when nature required this indulgence, in a corner
of the monastery, Sauveur went on doing his work in the
kitchen, the garden, or at the gate distributing alms and
blessing the people. He preserved his chastity during all
the forty-seven years of his life, though often tempted ; his
patience and resignation never became less under the many
persecutions to which he was subjected ; he was compassionate
towards the poor and the sick, and full of zeal for the conver-
sion of sinners ; he had ecstasies, and frequent visions,
especially before the image of the Blessed Virgin, and often
while in that state was lifted up in the air in presence of
many thousand witnesses. He had the, gifts . of prophecy, of

146 SPIRITUALISM.

knowing secret things and of commanding the elements ; and
in his simplicity was the wonder of his time. The number of
patients of all kinds that he cured is incredible. He even
resuscitated three dead persons. Finally he died in 1527 (why,
is not very evident) after having predicted the exact hour of
his death. And even to this day miracles are performed at his
tomb.

In view of all that is here said in favor of St. Sauveur, it
would be interesting to learn what his brethren and ecclesias-
tical superiors had to report of his wonderful performances.
It is very evident that he was not in favor with them. Cer-
tainly if there had been no doubt of the truth of his alleged
cures, they would have cherished him, as one able to give great
renown to their religious houses, and glory to the Church.
And if the history given of him by Gorres is only partially
true, his memory would have not so entirely gone out of the
records of the past as only to be embalmed in a few books on
the lives of the Saints. Facts do not disappear so completely.
If St. Sauveur had really been the great healer he is said to
have been, we should find his doings recorded in a thousand
contemporaneous volumes and every schoolboy would have
them at his tongue's end. Neither do facts go begging for
believers, nor will they remain concealed in obscure books. I
have questioned ten educated and intelligent Catholic gentle-
men relative to St. Sauveur and not one of them had ever
heard of him ! How will it be with curing mediums three
hundred years hence ?

But the mere facts of notoriety and acceptance of assumed
miraculous acts are of course no evidence of such acts having
been really performed. The belief in the veracity and powei

CURING MEDIUMS. 147

of the oracles lasted from far back in the history of Egypt till
the time of Theodosius of Greece — several thousand years —
and then the temples were closed. Would they have been
closed at all if the oracular utterances had really been what
was pretended ?

Now I have no reason to doubt that many persons were
cured by St. Sauveur through their imaginations, and of such
diseases as are known can be dispelled by such agency. The
bishops and abbots who disciplined him doubtless took this
fact into full consideration, and one of the former was
certainly right when he said that all the other brethren were
just as capable as he of working miracles. But St. Sauveur
had somehow got the start and had obtained the power by
which such deeds in miraculous therapeutics are done — the
confidence of those subjected to treatment — and hence his
success.

At the present day we hear very little of cures by ecclesias-
tical functionaries. Other agencies equally miraculous have
taken their place one, by one, and ere long these will also
disappear to make room for others doubtless as little founded
on truth.

The asserted power of sovereigns, to cure diseases, espe-
cially scrofula, by the royal touch, is another example of the
rise and fall of a superstitious belief. '

The practice appears to have begun with Edward the
Confessor, of England, and to have lasted with more or less
intensity till the accession of the House of Brunswick, the
last sovereign to touch for scrofula having been Anne.

According to other authorities, however, it originated with
the early French kings, and there was for a long time a great

148 SPIRITUALISM.

dispute between writers of England and France relative to
the possession of the power — the English denying it to the
French kings and the French with equal vigor restricting it to
their own sovereigns.

Queen Elizabeth with her hard sense, was very much
averse to the practice, though public opinion required her to
continue it. Upon one occasion, she told a multitude of the
afflicted who besieged her that " God alone could cure their
diseases."

During the reign of Charles II. the practice was at its
height and yet more deaths took place from scrofula — or king's
evil, as it had got to be called — in his reign than in that of
any previous sovereign. With Anne the faith wrhich had been
held in the efficacy of the royal touch died out, Dr. Samuel
Johnson was among the last to receive the imposition of the
Queen's hands, which was in his case at least entirely ineffica-
cious, as he was subject to scrofula all his life.

Henry VIII. was the first monarch to establish a particular
ceremony to be observed. This was altered at various times,
and was printed in the Book of Common Prayer used during
the reign of Queen Anne.

With the touch it was customary to give a piece of gold,
which was hung around the patient's neck by the sovereign.
The desire to get this gold was the cause of many presenting
themselves, who were not afflicted with scrofula, and of others
repeatedly coming forward. The coins were often found in
the shops, having been sold by the recipients. Stringent mea-
sures were therefore taken to prevent imposition on the mon-
arch, and after the reign of Elizabeth the size of the coin was
reduced.

CURING MEDIUMS. 149

The form employed by Charles II. is thus described by
Evelyn : *

6. [July 1660] " His Majestie first began to touch for the
evil according to costume, thus — His majestie sitting under his
state in the Banquetting House, the Chirurgeons cause the sick
to be brought or led up to the throne, where they kneeling, the
King strokes their faces or cheekes with both his hands at once,
at which instant a Chaplaine in his formalities says : ' He put his
hands on them and he healed them : ' This is sayed to every
one in particular. When they have all been touched they
come up againe in the same order ; and the other Chaplaine
kneeling, and having angel-gold strung on white ribbon on his
arme, delivers them one by one to his Majestie, who puts them
about the necks of the touched as they passe, whilst the first
Chaplaine repeats : ' That is the true light who came into the
world.' Then follows an Epistle (as at first, a Gospel) with
the Liturgy, prayers for the sick with some alteration, lastly the
blessing ; and the Lo. Chamberlaine and Comptroller of the
Household, bring a basin, ewer and towel for his Majestie to
wash."

But there were skeptics, and gradually they outnumbered the
believers, and the practice was discontinued on the death of
Anne. Among the unbelievers was Mr. Charles Bernard, sur-
geon, who on being made sergeant-surgeon to the queen
became a convert to the doctrine of the efficacy of the royal
touch. As Oldmixon f says :

" Yesterday the queen was graciously pleased to touch for
the King's evil some particular persons in private ; and three

* Memoirs, Chandos Library Edition, London, p. 266.
t History of England, Vol. II. p. 302.

1 5o SPIRITUALISM.

weeks after, December 19, yesterday, about twelve at noon her
Majesty was pleased to touch, at St. James', about twenty per-
sons afflicted with the King's evil. The more ludicrous sort of
skeptics, in this case, asked why it was not called the queen's
evil, as the chief court of justice was called the Queen's Bench.
But Charles Bernard, the surgeon who had made this touching
the subject of his raillery all his lifetime till he became body
surgeon at court, and found it a good perquisite, solved all
difficulties by telling his companions with a fleer ' Really one
could not have thought it, if one had not seen it.' A friend of
mine heard him say it, and knew well his opinion of it."

As we have seen, the French kings also touched for scrof-
ula, and it is claimed by some, that the practice originated with
them. Servetus, who was not of a credulous mind, says in the
first edition of his " Ptolemy " published in 1535, that he had
seen the king touch many persons for the disease, but he had
never seen any that were cured thereby.* But the last clause
of this sentence excited the ire of the censor, and in the next
edition published in 1 541, the words "an sanati f iter hit non
vidi" were changed to " pluresque satzatos passim audivi."
I have heard of many that were cured. Testimony in
support of miracles has often been manufactured, but the nat-
ural obstinacy and truthfulness of Servetus would not ad-
mit of his giving his personal endorsement at the expense
of his convictions.

It is very certain that if there had been any real efficacy as
such in the royal touch the practice would never have been dis-
continued. That cases were cured by it is probable, just as

* " Vidi ipse Regem plurimos hoc languore correptos tangentem, an san-
ati fuerint non vidi."

CURING MEDIUMS. 151

they are cured by any imposing ceremony, or action, or thing
that appeals to the imagination and rouses the spirit of hope.
But the respect for kings and queens which once existed in an
extreme degree, began to fade out after its spasmodic revival
with the restoration of the monarchy in England, and hence,
reaching its acme with Charles II., touching gradually lost its
hold on the people, along with many other notions pertaining
to the " divine right of kings." But it held its sway for over
seven hundred years — to be utterly extinguished at last — a type
doubtless of many other delusions which still prevail to a
greater or less extent.

The relics of saints and holy men and women of all
religions have in former times enjoyed a very high reputation
for their sanitary virtues. At the present day they are at a
discount with all civilized nations, except among the ignorant
and superstitious, and whole communities reject all idea of
their efficacy, substituting, however, very often, some other
equally absurd belief.

The therapeutical influence supposed to be attached to
the tombs of such persons, like that associated with relics,
is not so powerful as it once was. Credulity runs in other
channels, and for the same reason we do not now use dead
men's skulls, or their dried livers, or mummified reptiles in
our therapeutics.

But supernatural powers of healing were claimed by others
in virtue of some special gift with which they and their followers
asserted them to be endowed. Among these was Mr. Valen-
tine Greatrix or Greatreakes, who obtained great celebrity
during the reign of Charles II., as a curer, by the touch, of
ague, epilepsy, paralysis, deafness, and other auctions cf the

152 SPIRITUALISM.

nervous system more or less under the influence of the emo-
tions and of the imagination.

Another was Prince Hohenlohe, who likewise operated on
convulsions, paralysis, deafness, blindness, etc., and who even
still is regarded by some persons as a veritable worker of
miracles.

Again, there was George Fox, the founder of the Quakers,
whose single case, though very striking at the time, was like
the greater part of those relieved by similar means, only
temporary in its duration. He thus records it.*

" After some time I went to the meeting at Arnside where
Richard Meyer was. Now he had been long lame of one of
his arms ; and I was moved by the Lord to say unto him,
among all the people, ' Prophet Meyer stand up upon thy legs,
(for he was sitting down) and he stood up and stretched out
his arm that had been lame a long time, and said : ' Be it
known unto all you people that this day I am healed.' But
his parents could hardly believe it, but after the meeting was
done, had him aside and took off his doublet ; and then they
saw it was true. He soon after came to Swarthmore meeting,
and there declared how that the Lord had healed him. But
after this the Lord commanded him to go to York with a
message from him ; and he disobeyed the Lord ; and the Lord
struck him again, so that he died about three-quarters of a
year after."

There are many other persons who might be mentioned in

illustration, but their examples would teach us nothing new

relative to the matter in question.

* Journal, Vol. I. p. 103, London, 1794. Cited by Pettigrew in "Super-
stitions connected with the History and Practice of Medicine." London*
1844, p. 116.

CURING MEDIUMS. 153

Mesmerism or animal magnetism has put forward strong
claims to be regarded as a curative agent, and if we look at
the subject from a proper stand-point we will find reasons, as
in all the other alleged instances, to admit certain facts as
being sufficiently well established. But experience and care-
ful investigation show that all such cures are to be ascribed to
emotional disturbance, to imagination, to hypnotism or artificial
sleep, to expectant attention, to suggestion or some other well-
known principle. Some thirty years ago a mesmeric infirmary
was established in London, and many cases of disease were
treated there; and by mesmeric operators, in other parts of
England, cases were reported as being cured. The affections,
however, were of the nervous system, or were self-limited, or
were of such a character as to allow of errors in diagnosis on the
part of the ignorant persons, many of them laymen, who under-
took the cures.

For instance, I have before me a number of the " Zoist, a
Journal of Cerebral Physiology and Mesme?^ism, and their
applications to Human Welfare"* edited by Dr. Elliotson, a
learned but credulous physician, who for a time, fought with
great vigor in support of the doctrines he had embraced.
Though at first mesmerism gained many adherents from Dr.
Elliotson's association with it, even his name was not sufficient.
Its followers deserted in large numbers,- the infirmary was
closed, and Dr. Elliotson himself sank into comparative
obscurity.

But to return to the "Zoist."

The cases of cure reported in the number referred to— and

* October, 1851.

154 SPIRITUALISM.

it is a fair sample of all the others — are " Good Effect of
Mesmerism in an Epileptic Fit." " Striking Proofs of the
remedial Power of Mesmerism over Epilepsy," " Cure of a
Case of Insanity," " Cure of a most intense Nervous Affection
commonly called Spinal Irritation," " Cures of Loss of Voice,
Neuralgia, Spinal Irritation, Excruciating Rheumatism," " Cure
of a large Polypus of the Uterus."

And this is a sample of the cures. It is reported by a Mr.
Masset, Jr.

" I was walking out on Thursday evening the 13th when
I saw a crowd ; and upon asking what was the matter was
informed that there was a woman dying who had been taken
into the stable adjoining the inn called the " Baldfaced Stag."
I went in and found a woman in fits, foaming at the mouth.
A policeman of Highgate had hold of her by one arm, and two
laborers held the other. She was struggling against them with
all her might. I immediately without asking questions, com
menced making passes downwards from her head to her feet,
and in less than two minutes she was quite calm. I made the
men leave hold of her, and then she complained of pains in
her side. These I relieved instantly by local passes on the
place she pointed out to me. I then instantly threw her into a
beautiful, calm sleep, and she remained quite still ; her breath-
ing being hardly visible. I left her, and calling on the follow-
ing morning found her in the same attitude i?i which I had left
her. The men who had slept on some straw by her side all
night (one of them was her husband) told me that she had
walked thirty miles, and that she often had fits, but that she
had slept well all night. I ordered some breakfast for her and
left her, and have not heard of them since."

CURING MEDIUMS. 155

Every physician will at once see all the fallacious points of
this case ; but others who may read this work may run some
risk of being deceived with an account which to a person
unacquainted with the phenomenon of epilepsy appears to
relate a cure of this terrible disease. I will therefore say :

1 st. That the convulsive stage of an epileptic paroxysm, if
left to itself, rarely lasts over two or three minutes. This was
one of the exceptions, as it continued much longer — two
minutes in fact after Mr. Masset began his passes.

2d. That stupor almost invariably follows severe epileptic
convulsions and often lasts several hours. Besides she had
walked thirty miles and was consequently tired and disposed to
sleep.

3d. The woman had had repeated attacks before, from
which she recovered without treatment.

4th. Physicians who understand their profession employ no
treatment for the simple uncomplicated epileptic paroxysm,
knowing that the natural tendency is for it to cease spontane-
ously. I have seen hundreds of cases in which just such
phenomena existed as in Mr. Masset's case, and in which
there was no treatment beyond putting something between the
teeth to prevent injury to the tongue and cheeks.

5th. The cure of epilepsy consists not in arresting a par-
oxysm which has already begun, but in preventing the occur-
rence of others.

It is however with perfect truth that Dr. Elliotson states in
a note that had Mr. Masset done this in former days he would
in due time have been canonized. It was just such cures as
his that led to the canonization of their performers, and just
such, produced by mesmerizers and spiritualists of the present

156 SPIRITUALISM.

day, that excite the astonishment of the credulous and ig-
norant.

Dr. Ashburner's "Cure of a large Polypus of the Uterus"

was effected by his mesmerizing the patient for at least an hour
every day and pointing the fingers of his right hand at her
eyes for half an hour daily. In eight weeks the tumor was
gone. The patient had suffered from profuse hemorrhage from
the uterus ; and the symptoms were indicative of a miscar-
riage rather than a polypus. But even if there were a polypus,
spontaneous cure after profuse hemorrhage is a well known
occasional circumstance. Dr. Ashburner's cure of it by point-
ing his fingers at the patient's eyes is about on a par with a
person standing by a railroad track pointing his hand at a
passing train, and then reporting that he had by that action
caused the movement of the engine.

But the mesmerizers do not limit their therapeutical
operations to the human species. Mr. H. S. Thomson* con-
tributes to the " Zoist " an account of cures of two horses, one
of a sore eye and the other of an inflamed leg, by passes made
over the diseased parts.

A still more remarkable case in the eyes of the faithful is
that which occurred in Miss Martineau's experience, and which
I quote in the language of the estimable reporter.!

" Bolton near Skipton,

"August 19, 1850.

" Dear Dr. Elliotson,

"Your note has just reached me having been forwarded

•from home. The story of the cow is this. One very hot even-

* No xii., p. 522. t "Zoist" Oct. 1850, No. xxxi., p. 301.

CURING MEDIUMS. 157

ing in July I took some young cousins to see my stock, and I
saw a small pail half full of blood at the door of the cow's
house. During my absence that day my cow Ailsie had been
taken violently ill, so that the servants had sent to Rydal for the
cow-doctor, who had bled her and given her strong medicines.
This had been done some hours before I saw her, and the
doctor said that if she was not much relieved before his even-
ing visit, he was sure she would die. There were no signs of
relief in any way when I saw her at seven o'clock, nor when
the doctor came soon after eight. He said she could not
recover and it was a chance if she lived till morning. At ten
she was worse, and to be sure no creature could appear in a
more desperate state. She was struggling for breath, quivering,
choking and all in a flame of fire. Her eyes were starting ;
her mouth and nostrils dry ; and the functions suspended, as
they had been all day.

"It occurred to me then, to have her mesmerized; but I
am afraid I was rather ashamed. The man knew nothing
whatever about mesmerism except the fact that I had once
done it with success to his sister. I believe he had not the
remotest idea what was clone or what it meant.

" I desired him to come up to the house at twelve o'clock
and let me know Ailsie's state. As I sat during these two
hours I remembered how I had known cats affected by mes-
merism, and how Sullivan the whisperer tamed vicious horses,
and Catlin learned from the Indians how to secure buffalo
calves by what seemed clearly to be mesmerism, and I deter-
mined to try it upon the cow if by midnight she proved to be
past the power of medicine.

" At midnight I went down and found that there was no

158 SPIRITUALISM.

improvement or promise of any. I then directed the man to
mesmerize her, and showed him how. He was to persevere till
he saw some change, in making passes along the spine from the
head to the tail, and also across the chest, as she labored more
dreadfully than ever in her breathing. Within a few minutes
her breathing became easier, her eyes less wild, her mouth
moist, and before morning she was relieved in all ways.

" The first news I heard was of the astonishment of the
Rydal doctor, who came early without an idea that she could
be alive. He exclaimed that he had ' never thought to see
her alive again,' that 'it was a good ^"io in Miss M.'s pocket,'
and so forth. One thing struck me much. My man called to
me when I was in the garden and asked me to come and see
how ' Ailsie fare to go to sleep like ' when he mesmerized her,
and it really was curious to see how her eyes grew languid and
gradually closed under the treatment.

" This was not all. Towards noon I was told that Ailsie had
relapsed and was almost as bad as ever. I went down and
saw that it was so, and ordered an hour's mesmerizing again.
The relief was as striking as before, and in two hours more she
was out of danger, and has been very well since.

" I foresee how such a story may be ridiculed ; but I
perceive how important it is that we should gather some facts
about the power of mesmerizing our brutes ; not only for
truth's and humanity's sake, but because the establishment of
a few such facts would dispose of the objection that the results
of mesmerism are all imagination. I am fond of my cow and
stand up for her good qualities, but I cannot boast of any
imaginative faculty in her. A cow morbidly imaginative is a
new idea I believe. If it is true that the greatest chemist in

V

CURING MEDIUMS. 159

the world says that he must believe if he saw a baby mesmer-
ized, I would ask him whether a cow, or a cat, or a vicious
horse would not do as well."

" If my cows are ever ill again I will try the experiment
with great care and let you know the result. I may mention
that some of my neighbors were aware of the desperate illness
I .of the cow; and of her doctor's astonishment at her recovery.
We did not tell the doctor how we interfered with his patient,
and I dare say he has not heard of it at this hour, but others
of my neighbors were deeply interested in the story and
wished it could be made known. To this I can have no
objection, as I do not mind a laugh, and should be glad to
save the life of even a single cow.

" I am, dear Dr. Elliotson, yours truly,

" Harriet Martineatj."

That animals as well as men can be put into the condition
of hypnotism or artificial somnambulism is well known, and will
be fully considered in a subsequent part of this book. But if
the curative influence of mesmerism were as strong as Miss
Martineau and Dr. Elliotson supposed, we should not now see
the practice confined to the merest ignoramuses and charlatans
which the world is capable of producing. Miss Martineau's
recital simply presents another example of a fact " viewed
unequally." One of those in which all the conditions which
might have acted in curing the cow independently of mesmer-
ism, are not eliminated. Thus the animal may have been cured
by the cow- doctor, or may have spontaneously recovered, the
disease — probably pneumonia — having run its course. Cer-
tainly if mesmerism were capable of exercising such immediate

160 SPIRITUALISM.

and striking influence as Miss Martineau supposes, it would
not now be disregarded as a healing agent. There is no dif-
ficulty in getting physicians to accept all means of curing their
patients which experience show to be useful ; but knowing
the falsity of the claims put forward in behalf of nine out of
ten of the agents whose therapeutical power is vaunted, they
naturally fight shy of such things at first.

It is very certain that all the truth of mesmerism as a
healing agent is accepted by the medical profession. Thus the
ability to produce artificial somnambulism in some patients is
not questioned, nor the fact that during its existence surgical
operations can be performed without causing pain to the
subject. These are matters that admit of demonstration, and
they have been demonstrated. But the mind of a well trained
and thoroughly educated physician accepts nothing as fact till
it is proven, and it is the persistent and unreasonable attempts
of the adherents of theories, to command his acceptance of
their doctrines on insufficient evidence, and often on no
evidence at all, that excites his spirit of opposition and
contempt. He does not cease to remember that proof and
assertion are two very different things.

Dr. Elliotson * when he cites the following story does so
as an instance of an impossibility; but I think I will be able to
show that it relates to an event which is no more impossible
than Miss Martineau's cure of the cow.

Voltaire advises the devil never to address himself to the
faculty of physic, but to that of theology, when he wishes to
impose upon mankind. However, in 1726 a poor woman at

* Human Physiology. Fifth edition, London, p. 672. Also " Zoist?'
October, 185T, p. 235.

CURING MEDIUMS 161

Godalming in Surrey, pretended that after a violent longing for
rabbits while pregnant, she brought forth these animals ; and
persuaded her apothecary, Mr. Howard, a man of probity who
had practised for thirty years, or in common language, a highly
respectable practitioner of great experience, that in the course of
about a month he had delivered her of about twenty rabbits.
George the First, not thinking it impossible, sent his house
surgeon, Mr. Akers, to inquire into the fact, and the royal
house surgeon returned to London convinced that he had
obtained ocular and tangible proof of the truth, and promised
to procure the woman a pension. The wise king then sent
his sergeant-surgeon, Mr. St. Andre, and the sergeant-surgeon
returned to town a firm believer. They both returned with
rabbits as proof, and the rabbits had the high honor of being
dissected before the king. An elaborate report of the produc-
tion and dissection was published by the sergeant-surgeon, and
the honest, severe, vain and visionary Arian clergyman Whiston,
(of the faculty of theology indeed) in a pamphlet (for a furious
controversy arose between the believers and the unbelievers),
showed that it was an exact fulfilment of a prophecy in Esdras.
An eminent physician, Sir Richard Manningham, backed by
Caroline, the Princess of Wales, detected the cheat, and on the
threat of a dangerous operation and imprisonment, Mary Tofts
confessed the fraud.

These are Dr. Elliotson's own words, italics and all, and he
cites the case as an actual impossibility. But there are no impos-
sibilities outside the domain of pure mathematics, and I contend
that not only is Mary Tofts' case not an impossibility, but that it
is fully as probable as most of the more astonishing manifesta
tions of mesmerism, spiritualism, or any other pseudo science.

1 62 SPIRITUALISM.

i. In the first place it is not unique. Bartholinus * states
that Johannes Naboronsky, a noble Pole and his good friend,
told him at Basel, that he had seen in Poland, two fish without
scales, which were born from a woman, and that as soon as
they were delivered they were put into water, where they swam
about like other fish.

The same veracious and honest chronicler gives his testimony
to the fact that a woman of good quality at Elsinghorn, being
about to be confined, prepared everything for the event. In
due time labor ensued, and after much travail she gave birth
to a creature resembling a large dormouse ; which, to the
great amazement of the women who were present, with wonder-
ful agility sought and found a hole in the chamber, into which
it entered, and was never seen afterwards.

And again ; that in the year 1639, m Norway, occurred the
remarkable case of a woman, who, the mother of several
children, again being in labor, was delivered of two eggs, like
hens' eggs in every respect. One of these eggs was broken,
but the other was sent to the famous Dr. Olaus Wormius, who
kept it in his museum, where all who wished might see it. In
support of this history he adduces the following certificate.

" We, whose names are hereunto written, Ericus Westergard,

Rotolph Rakertad and Thor Venes, coadjutors of the pastor

in the parish of Niaess, do certify to all men, that anno 1639,

upon the twentieth day of May (by command of the Lord

President in Remerige, the Lord Paulus Tranius, pastor in

Niaess) we went to receive an account of the monstrous birth

in Sundby ; brought forth by an honest woman, Anna, the

* Anatomicae institutiones corporis humani utriusque sexus historian,
etc. Lagduni Batavormn bist. 65, p. 103.

.CURING MEDIUMS. 163

daughter of Amundus the wife of Gudbandus Erlandsonius,
who already had been the mother of eleven children, the last
of which she was delivered of upon the fourth of March, 1638.
This Anna in the year 1639, upon the seventh of April began
to grow ill ; and being in great pain in her belly, she caused'
her neighbors to be called in to her assistance ; the same day, ,
about the evening, in the presence of her neighbors, she brought
forth an egg, in all respects like that of a hen, which being
broken by the women present, Anna Grimen, Ellen Rudstad,
Gyro Rudstad and Catharina Sunby, they found that in it the
yolk and white answered directly to a common egg. Upon
the eighteenth day of April, about noon, in the presence of the
same people, she was delivered of another egg, which in figure
was nothing different from the former. The mother reported
this to us ; the women that assisted at her delivery confirmed
the truth of it ; as also that the pains of this birth had been
more sharp to her than all the rest of the former. That this
was the confession, as well of the mother as of them that were
present, we do attest with our seals in the presence of the Lord
President, in the parish of Niaess, the day and year abovesaid."*
The great Wormius looked upon this as a diabolical work,
since by the artifice of the devil many other things are
conveyed into and formed in the bodies of men and
women. >

Here we have the testimony of eye witnesses, of a com-
mission of clergymen, of Wormius, one of the most distin-
guished of anatomists, besides that of the woman herself and
the actual existence of the egg in the museum of a University
Can mesmerism and spiritualism do better ?

* " Wonders of the Little World," by Nathaniel Wanley, London, 1806.

164 SPIRITUALISM.

And further in support of the alleged fact that women are
at times, like birds and most reptiles, oviparous, we have tes-
timony to the effect that the women of the Selenetidae, unlike
other women, lay eggs from which men are hatched, and the
learned Lycosthenes,* in referring to the circumstance which
he accepts as a fact, gives an illustration which, as going into
details, and therefore adding to the testimony, I subjoin.

Fig. 5.

Franciscus Rossetus t says :

" Anne Tromperin, the wife of a certain porter in our
hospital, being about thirty years of age, was delivered of a
boy and two serpents upon St. John's clay, anno 1576. She
told me upon her faith 'That in the summer before, in an

* Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon. etc, Pasileae, 1557, p- 13.
t L>e Partu Csesareo, Basilex. 11582. Waniey, p. 282.

CURING MEDIUMS. 165

extreme hot day, she had drank of a spring in the grove called
Brudetholk, a place within a quarter of a mile from Basel,
where she suspected she had drank of the sperm of serpents.'
She afterwards grew so big that she was fain to carry her
belly in a swathing band. The child was so lean that he was
scarcely anything but bones. The serpents were each of them
an ell long and as thick as the arm of an infant, both of which,
alive as they were, were buried by the midwife in the church-
yard of St. Elizabeth."

Many other examples to the like effect might readily be
adduced, but the foregoing are sufficient to establish the pre-
cedent of women giving birth to the lower animals ; and
hence to show that the case which Dr. Elliotson considers an
impossibility, is supported by analogous instances.

2. In the second place we have to inquire into the char-
acter of the evidence offered in' support of the alleged births
of rabbits by Mary Tofts.

Three medical gentlemen of the highest respectability,
visited and examined the woman and obtained some of the
rabbits. The king himself saw them, and they were dissected
and shown to be veritable rabbits. Besides this, a distin-
guished clergyman demonstrated from scripture the fact that
the event did take place, and that it was in fulfilment of a
prophecy. When science and theology agree, surely the
probability of error is rendered exceedingly small.

3. The confession of Mary Tofts to the effect that she had
committed a fraud, is the strongest point yet adduced tending
to show that she did not commit a fraud.

The confession was made under threats of a painful opera-
tion and punishment. Every jurist knows of how little value

1 56 SPIRITUALISM.

a confession is, when extorted by such means. Mary Tofts
would doubtless under like compulsion have acknowledged
herself to be a witch or anything else that her questioners
might have desired. "As if" to quote Beccaria,# "truth
resided in the muscles and fibres of a wretch in torture."

Besides, confessions are made continually, every time a
flagrant crime is committed, by persons seeking notoriety, or
some other end, or from delusion, or other morbid impulse.
What more likely, than that Mary Tofts was driven into
insanity by the questionings, to which she was subjected, and
bv the agitation into which she was thrown at the idea of the
contest which was urged relative to the reality of her lepurine
delivery ?

I think therefore it will be admitted that the evidence in
favor of Mary Tofts is much stronger than that adduced in
support of Miss Martineau ; and yet Dr. Elliotson declares
the one to have been guilty of fraud, while the other is held
up as a pattern of nobility and goodness !

Spiritualism has not been especially distinguished for its
remarkable cures, although it puts forward pretensions to
powerful therapeutical influence. Occasionally we hear of
some travelling charlatan who pretends to the possession of
specific healing virtue, and who by impressing the imaginations
of his ignorant dientelle, or by telling them in a loud and im-
perious voice, that they are cured, or by knocking them down
and then bidding them rise and find their maladies gone,
succeeds, sometimes, in relieving patients of certain affections
of the nervous system ; or of persuading them for a time that

* " An Essay on Crimes and Punishment." Translated from the Italian,
with the Commentary of Voltaire. London 1801, p. 56.

CURING MEDIUMS. 167

they were relieved. Many of these latter have come under
my notice with their diseases unmitigated, and in whom the
belief of a cure had been effected solely by the principle of
suggestion, which the electro-biologist knows so well how to
use.

Again, many of the sick who resort to clairvoyant and
spiritualistic humbugs, have their maladies temporarily relieved
through the emotional disturbance consequent on visiting such
people, who always preserve a certain air of mystery well
calculated to impress the ignorant. In such cases the abate-
ment of the symptoms, has its analogue in the fact that a mere
visit to the dentist often cures a raging tooth-ache. The clair-
voyant or spiritualistic quack takes advantage of the period of
momentary relief which the patient experiences, and of the
gratitude which all patients temporarily feel when freed from
suffering, to get a certificate setting forth the fact ; and this
is speedily published as a bait for other credulous sufferers.

The influence of the imagination in curing disease has
already engaged a good portion of our attention, but the subject
is very extensive, and can scarcely be touched in any of its
relations without leading to interesting illustrations.

Thus about seventy or eighty years ago, an American named
Perkins excited great interest in this country, and in England
and France, by curing diseases by the use of little metallic rods,
which he called tractors, from the fact that they were drawn
over the diseased part. Many were apparently healed by
them, but they fell into disrepute as soon as Dr. Haygarth
demonstrated from numerous examples, that wooden tractors,
painted to look like the metallic ones, were fully as effica-
cious.

1 68 SPIRITUALISM.

Then, quite recently, was the metal-cure of Dr. Burq # of
Paris, which was endorsed by Dr. Elliotson, who was capable of
believing everything but that women could conceive rabbits.
As another instance of human folly, I give the following account
of this delusion, which, I think, has never taken root in this
country.

In 1847, Dr. Burq, as he says, noticed in a woman whom
he was mesmerizing for hysteria and phthisis, in the hospital
Beaujon, that as often as she was thrown into a mesmeric
sleep, the direct contact of certain metals was insupportable,
while that of others was agreeable to the touch, or at least,
caused no signs of repugnance. If, for instance, he suddenly
placed a piece of copper, iron or steel on her bare hand, or any
other part of her body, she instantly, and sometimes in the
midst of the apparently deepest sleep, repelled it roughly,
often with an expression of suffering, or even of anger if the
experiment was repeated too frequently. If a key, or a shovel,
or iron tongs were placed upon her bed near enough to her to
make their influence felt, she instantly discovered them and
got rid of them, either by a sudden movement, if the object
were not fixed or large, or with her hand, covered previously
with something to insulate it, when a greater or more direct
effort was required. The latter precaution was always care-
fully taken, when, in order to open a door in her sleep-walking,
she was under the necessity of slowly turning the key or the
handle of the lock.

If, however, gold or silver were placed in her hands, she

* " Nervous Affections. Metallo-therapia, or metal-cure ; New properties
of metals illustrated through mesmerism." Translated, communicated and
supplied with a note, by Dr. Elliotson ; " Zoist" July and October, 1852.

CURING MEDIUMS. 169

showed much pleasure in handling them, provided the gold,
and especially the silver, was not much alloyed with copper.
If it were, her repugnance was in direct ratio to the extent of
the debasement of the precious metal.

Dr. Burq was very much astonished at these results ;
though the exhibition of pleasure in handling gold or silver is
no very unusual phenomenon. He determined, therefore, to
investigate farther, and accordingly performed the following
experiment.

The patient being mesmerized, and her insensibility per-
fectly proved by a pin being stuck into her skin, he repeatedly
applied, to different parts of her body, different pieces of
money of nearly equal size. With the copper coins, a few
seconds were sufficient to restore sensibility ; first in the parts
touched by the metal, and then in the surrounding parts ;
whereas with the gold and silver, nothing of the kind was
observed, except when instead of the silver coin, he substituted
another piece of the same metal of inferior value by being an
alloy.

The patient died a few days afterwards, before Dr. Burq
could draw any decided conclusion, but he resolved in spite of
many difficulties to pursue the investigation further, and in the
course of three years built up the system of practice which he
called metal-cure. He asserted that cases of anaesthesia,
cramps, paralysis, etc., were cured by different metals, espe-
cially if the patient were hysterical. Epilepsy he could not
manage at all. Brass was found a very efficacious metal in
the treatment of hysteria ; the mental quality which goes by
that name is also valuable to the practitioner in like cases, and

Dr. Burq appears to have had a good stock of both. As Dr.

8

1 7 o SPIRITUALISM.

Elliotson remarks : Dr. Burq, in his memoir entitled u Mesmerism
Illustrated by the Metals" shows a " remarkable relation which he
has discovered between the effects of brass and those of mes-
merism."

But notwithstanding the publication of remarkable results,
the metal-cure made little headway, and is now almost for-
gotten ; and yet its efficacy was attested by as good evidence
as any adduced in favor of mesmerism or spiritualism.

Another delusion, which over two hundred years ago was
in high favor, was that relative to the cure of wounds by the
" powder of sympathy," as described and advocated by Sir Ken-
elm Digby.*

The first published case of the effects of this mode of
treatment attracted great attention • and as a further contribu-
tion, I quote it in Sir Kenelm Digby's own words as he related
it in his discourse before the noble and learned assembly he
addressed.

" Mr. James Howel (well known in France for his public
works, and particularly for his Dendrologia, translated into
French by Monsieur Baudoin) coming by chance as two of his
best friends were fighting a duel, he did his endeavor to part
them ; and putting himself between them, seized with his left
hand upon the hilt of the sword of one of the combatants,
while with his right hand he lay hold of the blade of the
other ; they being transported with fury, one against the other,
struggled to rid themselves of the hindrance their friend

* "A late discovery made in a solemne assembly of nobles and learned
men, at Montpellier, in France, touching the cure of wounds, by the Pow-
der of Sympathy; with instructions how to make the said Powder, etc."
London, 1658.

CURING MEDIUMS.

171

made that they should not kill one another ; and one of them
roughly drawing the blade of his sword, cut to the very bone
the nerves and muscles of Mr. Howel's hand ; and then the
other disengaging his hilt, gave a cross blow on his adversary's
head, which glanced towards his friend, who heaving up his
sore hand to save the blow, he was wounded on the back of
his hand as he had been before within. It seems some
strange constellation reigned them against him that he should
lose so much blood by parting two such dear friends, who,
had they been themselves, would have hazarded both their
lives to have preserved his ; but this involuntary effusion of
blood by them, prevented that which they should have drawn
one from the other. For they seeing Mr. Howel's face be-
smeared with blood by heaving up his wounded hand, they both
ran to embrace him ; and having searched his hurts, they bound
up his hand with one of his garters to close the veins which
were cut and bled abundantly. They brought him home and
sent for a surgeon. But this being heard at court, the king
sent one of his own surgeons, for his majesty much affected
the said Mr. Howel.

" It was my chance to be lodged hard by him, and four or
five days after, as I was making myself ready, he came to my
house and prayed me to view his wounds, 'for I understand,'
said he, ' that you have extraordinary remedies upon such
occasions, and my surgeons apprehend for fear that it may
grow to gangrene, and so the hand must be cut off.' In effect
his countenance discovered that he was in much pain, which
he said was unsupportable in regard of the extreme inflamma-
tion ; I told him that I would willingly cure him, but if haply
he knew the manner how I would cure him, without touching

1 7 2 SPIRITUALISM.

or seeing him, it may be he would not expose himself to my
manner of curing, because he would think it, peradventure,
either ineffectual or superstitious ; he replied that the wonder-
ful things which many have related unto me of your way of
curing, makes me nothing doubt at all of its efficacy ; and all
that I have to say unto you is comprehended in the Spanish
proverb ' Hagase el milagro y hagalo Makoma.' Let the miracle
be done, though Mahomet do it."

" I asked him then for anything that had the blood upon it
so he presently sent for his garter wherewith his hand was
first bound; and having called for a basin of water, as if I
would wash my hands, I took a handful of powder of vitriol
which I had in my study, and presently dissolved it. As soon
as the bloody garter was brought me, I put it within the basin,
observing in the interim what Mr. Howel did, who stood
talking with a gentleman in a corner of my chamber, not
regarding at all what I was doing; but he started suddenly as
if he had found some strange alteration in himself ; I asked
him what he ailed ? I know not what ails me, but I find that
I feel no more pain ; methinks that a pleasing kind of fresh-
ness, as it were a wet cold napkin did spread over my hand,
which hath taken away the inflammation that tormented me
before. I replied, since that you feel already so good an
effect of my medicament, I advise you to cast away all your
plasters, only keep the wound clean and in a moderate temper,
'twixt heat and cold. This was presently reported to the "Puke
of Buckingham, and a little after, to the king, who were both
very curious to know the circumstance of the business, which
was that after dinner I took the garter out of the water and
put it to dry before a great fire. It was scarce dry but Mr.

CURING MEDIUMS. 173

Howel's servant came running that his master felt as much
burning as ever he had done, if not more, for the heat was
such as if his hand were 'twixt coals of fire ; I answered that
although that had happened at present, yet he should find ease
in a short time, for I knew the reason of this new accident,
and I would provide accordingly, for his master should be free
from that inflammation, it may be, before he could possibly
return unto him ; but in case he found no ease I wished him
to come presently back again, if not, he might forbear coming
Thereupon he went, and at the instant, I did put again the
garter into the water ; thereupon he found his master without
any pain at all. To be brief, there was no sense of pain
afterward, but within five or six days the wounds were cica-
trized and entirely healed. King James required a punctual
information of what had passed touching this cure ; and after
it was done . and perfected, his majesty would needs know of
me how it was done, having drolled with me first (which he
could do with a very good grace) about a magician and a
sorcerer ; I answered that I should be always ready to perform
what his majesty should command, but I most humbly desired
him, before I should pass further, to tell him what the author
of whom I had the secret said to the great Duke of Tuscany
upon the like occasion. It was a religious Carmelite that
came from the Indies and Persia to Florence, he had also
been at China, who having done many marvellous cures with
his powder after his arrival to Tuscany, the Duke said he
would be very glad to learn it of him. It was the father of
the great Duke who governs now. The Carmelite answered
him that it was a secret which he had learnt in the oriental
parts, and he thought there was not any who knew it ir

174 SPIRITUALISM.

Europe but himself; and that it deserved not to be divulged,
which could not be done if his highness would meddle with it,
because he was not likely to do it with his own hands, but
must trust a surgeon or some other servant, so that in a short
time divers others would come to know it as well as himself.
But a few months after I had an opportunity to do an impor-
tant courtesy to the said friar, which induced him to discover
unto me his secret, and the same year he returned to Persia ;
insomuch that there is no other knows this secret in Europe
but myself. The king replied that he needed not apprehend
any fear that he would discover, for he would not trust anybody
in the wrorld to make experience of his secret, but he would do
it with his own hands ; therefore he would have some of the
powder ; which I delivered, instructing him in all the circum-
stances. Whereupon his majesty made sundry proofs whence
he derived singular satisfaction."

But the king's physician, Dr. Mayerne, watched the royal
practitioner and discovered that vitriol was used. Whereupon
Sir Kenelm instructed him fully. Dr. Mayerne soon after
went to France on a visit to his friend, the Duke of Mayerne,
and told him the secret, and thence it soon became generally
known, so that Sir Kenelm said it came by degrees " to be
so divulged that now there is scarce any country barber but
knows it."

Now, as learning was in those clays, Sir Kenelm Digby was
a learned man, and the object of his discourse was to show, not
only that wounds couM be heald by his manner of proceed-
ing, but to explain the rationale of the process. F< r this
latter purpose he adduced arguments based on the physical
properties of light, air, etc., and in the course of his reasoning,

CURING MEDIUMS. 175

brought forward certain alleged phenomena which he thought
were analogous in character. It is a very curious circum-
stance that of these, there is not one which is true. Thus he
is wrong when he says that if the hand be severely burnt, the
pain and inflammation are relieved by holding it near a hot
fire ; that a person who has a bad breath, is cured by putting his
head over a privy and inhaling the air which comes from it ;
that those who are bitten by vipers or scorpions, are cured by
holding the bruised head of either of those animals, as the
case may be, near the bitten part ; that in times of great
contagion, carrying a toad, or a spider, or arsenic " or some
other venomous substance " about the person, is a protection •
that hanging a toad about the neck of a horse affected with
farcy, dissipates the disease ; that water evaporated in a close
room will not be deposited on the walls, if a vessel of water be
placed in the room ; that venison pies smell strongly at those
periods in which " the beasts which are of the same nature and
kind are in rut;" that wine in the cellar undergoes a fermenta-
tion when the vines in the fields are in flower; that a tablecloth
spotted with mulberries or red wine is more easily whitened at
the season in which the plants are flowering than at any other ;
that washing the hands in the rays of moonlight which fall
into a polished silver basin (without water) is a cure for warts ;
that a vessel of "water put on the hearth of a smoky chimney,
is a remedy for the evil, and so on, — not a single fact in all
that he adduces. Yet these circumstances were regarded as
real, and were spoken of at the time as irrefragable proofs of
the truth of Sir Kenelm's views.

Svmpathetic cures have Ions: since gone the way of kindred
follies, the way which mesmerism has already begun to take,

i;6 SPIRITUALISM.

and on which spiritualism will surely enter ere many years
have lapsed.

And yet, absurd as it was, we owe to Sir Kenelm Digby's
practice one of the greatest improvements in surgery which the
world has known. Artificial somnambulism or hypnotism will
iurvive mesmerism ; something beneficial may come out of
spiritualism ; but the curing of wounds by the use of sympa-
thetic powders led to the modern system of healing by the
first intention, and thus revolutionized the whole art of sur-
gery, to the inestimable good of the human species.

We have only to refer to the surgical treatises written before
Sir Kenelm began to treat wounds, to learn how barbarous,
and with our light, how senseless, was the system used before
his day. The object was to keep a wound open so that it
might discharge itself of its " bad humors," the flow of blood
was stopped by pouring into it melted tar or boiling oil, and
when operations were performed red hot knives were used so
as to prevent haemorrhage.

But in Sir Kenelm Digby's process the wound was cleaned,
the edges were brought together, and it was kept quiet and
protected from the atmosphere. By this treatment the cure
was greatly facilitated, and as it was attended without the pain
accompanying the ordinary process, it grew into favor ; and
though the treatment by sympathetical powders fell into
disrepute, it became the first object of the surgeon to procure
union without suppuration.

It has often happened that permanent advances in medical
science have resulted from experiments made with quite a
different object in view. Thus the discovery of modern
anaesthesia by the inhalation of certain vapors, was the direct

CURING MEDIUMS. 177

result of breathing nitrous oxide gas and the vapor of ether
for purposes of exhilaration. And local anaesthesia from the
application of the ether spray, which was at first supposed to
be due to some specific property of the ether, is now known to
be caused by the intense cold which ensues. In the other
sciences also, great discoveries have been made by the misdi-
rected efforts of eager inquirers. The search for the philosopher's
stone constitutes almost the foundation of modern chemistry.

But to return to the cures by spiritualists. In all alleged
cases, where the cure is real, imagination or emotional excite-
ment has been the healing agent. Whether the operator be
the Zouave Jacob, or Judge Edwards, or Mrs. Emma Hardinge,
or " Prof." Brittain, or Andrew Jackson Davis, or Dr. Robert
Newton, the influence is the same and resides not in the
operator — except in so far as he is able to obtain the con-
fidence of the subject — but in the patient, just as it does in
cases of mesmeric, sympathetic, astrological, and other delu-
sional agencies, through the apparent action of which maladies
have been cured.

That such cures are unjustifiable I am not prepared to say.
The patient, like Mr. Howel to Sir Kenelm Digby, is always
ready to exclaim " Let the miracle be done, though Mahomet
do it ! " Physicians frequently banish real or imaginary affec-
tions by the use of bread pills, and many a person has been
cured by the application of some instrument, as the stetho-
scope or thermometer, intended only as a means of examina-
tion.

Thus Dr. Paris * says that " as soon as the powers of
nitrous oxide gas were discovered, Dr. Beddoes at once con-

* Pharmacol ogia, p. 28.
8*

178 SPIRITUALISM.

eluded that it must necessarily be a specific for paralysis ; a
patient was selected for trial, and the management of it was
intrusted to Sir Humphrey Davy. Previous to the administra-
tion of the gas, he inserted a small thermometer under the
tongue of the patient, as he was accustomed to do upon such
occasions, to ascertain the degree of animal temperature, with
a view to future comparison. The paralytic man, wholly
ignorant of the nature of the process to which he was to
submit, but deeply impressed from the representation of Dr.
Beddoes with the certainty of its success, no sooner felt the
thermometer under his tongue than he concluded the talisman
was in full operation, and in a burst of enthusiasm declared
that he already experienced the effect of its benign influence
through his whole body. The opportunity was too tempting
to be lost ; Davy cast one intelligent glance at Coleridge, and
desired his patient to renew his visit the following day, when
the same ceremony was performed, and repeated every suc-
ceeding day for a fortnight ; the patient gradually improving
during that period, when he was dismissed as cured, no othei
application having been used."

In a recent number of the British Medical Journal * some
interesting observations are given from the Students Journal,
of the impressions which patients occasionally derive from the
use of the clinical thermometer ; a young woman who was
convalescent, and whose temperature had long remained nor-
mal, had a slight relapse, which she attributed to having had
" no glass under her arm- for a week." A man suffering from
acute rheumatism, obstinately refused to have his temperature
taken any more, saying " it took too much out of him ; it was

* January 29, 1876.

CURING MEDIUMS. 179

a drawing all his strength away." A man had been in the
habit for some time of having his temperature taken daily
under his tongue, with a thermometer that had just been doing
severe duty in the axilla? of other patients. One night a bran
new thermometer was applied to his mouth ; next day he
declared he was not so well, and said, "the glass was not so
strong as usual ; he felt at the time the taste was different, and
it had not done him so much good." A sister in one of the
woman's wards says, that many of the patients think the
thermometers are used to detect breaches of the rule against
having unauthorized edibles brought in by friends ; and she,
accordingly, does not disabuse their minds of their innocent
superstition. These " impressions " are precisely the sort of
evidence on which " metallic tractors," galvanic belts, mesmer-
ists, and animal magnetisers rely for their vogue.

Only a few days ago a lady consulted me for a severe
neuralgic attack, involving the fifth pair of nerves throughout
one side of her face. In order to determine the relative
temperature of the two sides, I applied to each cheek a thermo-
electric pile in connection with a delicate galvanometer. Of
course there was no sensation given to her beyond that of
contact with the two little piles, but looking at the galvano-
meter, as it stood on the table she saw the deflection of the
needle, and imagining that it was for the purpose of cure,
exclaimed that she felt decidedly better, and expressed the
belief that another application would entirely cure her. I
again put the piles on her cheeks, with the result of completely
relieving her of a pain with which she had suffered for five
days.

Similar cases are common enough in the ' practice of all

180 SPIRITUALISM.

physicians, and wise members of the profession taking them
at their full value, can meditate on the problem which will con-
tinually recur to their minds : how much such a curative power,
in any case, is to be ascribed to the purely medical treatment,
and how much to that confidence in themselves, which, it
should be no small part of their duty to endeavor to inspire
by all honorable means, in the minds of those who put health
and life in their hands. It is certainly true that the only
advantage the charlatan has is his unscrupulousness ; and this
in the long run will probably bring him to grief. The educated
physician, however, skilled as he should be in the working of
the human mind, may, without the sacrifice of dignity or truth,
avail himself of all the power which his knowledge gives him,
and if he has reason to think, after a careful study of his
patients' mental organization and disease, that colored water
will probably effect the cure, it is his duty to use it, instead of
resorting to medicines which, like a two-edged sword, may cut
two ways at once.

WRITING MEDIUMS. 181

CHAPTER XI.

PNEUMATOGRAPHIC AND WRITING MEDIUMS

APNEUMATOGRAPHIC medium is one who is able to ob-
tain writing direct from the spirits without the employment
of any material agency. A writing medium is one of whom
the spirits make use as a means of communication with human
beings. According to Kardec the first are exceedingly rare,
but are probably developed by exercise. When found, all that
they have to do is to place paper in any spot designated by the
spirits, to leave it there a few minutes, and then, on inspection,
the spiritual message will be found written on it. Prayer and
meditation are necessary adjuncts, and for that reason favor-
able results are impossible of attainment in a company of
frivolous and scoffing people — not actuated by sympathetic
and benevolent sentiments.

Ordinary writing mediums are quite common. As Kardec
says, of all means of communication from spirits to human
beings, writing is the most simple, the most convenient and
the most complete. He might have added that of all methods
it is the easiest for perpetrating fraud. All that a writing
medium has to do is to take a pen in his hand, write what he
chooses, and tells his dupes it comes from some spirit. There
will always be idiots enough to believe him.

i82 SPIRITUALISM.

Both pneumatographic and writing mediumship afford such
palpable opportunities for frauds that it is scarcely necessary
to pursue this division of the subject further.

Somnambulistic, possessed and obsessed mediums, will be
more appropriately considered under the heads to which the
attention of the reader will next be invited.

SOMNAMBULISM. 183

CHAPTER XII.

SOMNAMBULISM — NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL.

IN the condition known as somnambulism there appears
to be a more or less perfect state of automatism, which is
the governing power of the individual. Certain faculties and
senses are intensely exalted, while others are as completely
suspended in action. If the attention can be concentrated
upon any particular idea, circumstance or object, great lucidity
is manifested. On the other hand there may be, and generally
is, the most profound abstraction of mind in regard to all
other ideas and things.

The most thorough work on natural somnambulism, is that
of Bertrand,* published over fifty years ago, but which is still
admirable for the truthful account of the various phenomena
attendant upon the condition in question. Bertrand assigns
somnambulism to four causes : —

1. A particular nervous temperament, which predisposes
individuals otherwise in good health to paroxysms of somnam-
bulism during their ordinary sleep.

2. It is sometimes produced in the course of certain
diseases, of which it may be considered a symptom or a
crisis.

* " Traite du somnambulisme et des differentes modifications qu'il pre-
sente." Paris, 1823.

1 34 SOMNAMB UL1SM.

3. It is often seen in the course of the proceeding neces-
sary to bring on the condition known as animal magnetism.

4. It may result as a consequence of a high degree of
mental exaltation. It is in this state contagious by imitation
to such persons as are submitted to the same influence.

From these four categories of causes, Bertrand distinguishes
four kinds of somnambulism — the natural, the symptomatic,
the artificial, and the ecstatic. Under the artificial variety we
must include Mr. Braid's hypnotism. In general terms, there-
fore, there are two kinds of somnambulism, the natural and
the artificial. As an instance of the former condition, the
following case is adduced from a recent monograph of the
writer : *

" A young lady of great personal attractions had the
misfortune to lose her mother by death from cholera. Several
other members of the family suffered from the disease, she
alone escaping, though almost worn out with fatigue, excite-
ment, and grief. A year after these events her father removed
from the West to New York, bringing her with him and putting
her at the head of his household. She had not been long in
New York before she became affected with symptoms resem-
bling those met with in chorea. The muscles of the face were
in almost constant action ; and though she had not altogether
lost the power to control them by her will, it was difficult at
times for her to do so. She soon began to talk in her sleep,
and finally was found one night by her father, as he came
home, endeavoring to open the street door. She was then, as
he said, sound asleep, and had to be violently shaken to be
aroused. After this she made the attempt every night to get
* " Sleep and its Derangements," p. 205. Philadelphia, 1869.

NATURAL SOMNAMBULISM. 185

out of bed, but was generally prevented by a nurse who slept
in the same room with her, and who was awakened by the
noise she made. Her father now consulted me in regard to
the case, and invited me to the house in order to witness the
somnambulic acts for myself. One night, therefore, I went to
his residence, and waited for the expected manifestations.
The nurse had received orders not to interfere with her charge
on this occasion, unless it was evident that injury would result,
and to notify us of the beginning of the performance.

" About twelve o'clock she came down stairs and informed
us that the young lady had risen from her bed and was about
to dress herself. I went up-stairs, accompanied by her father,
and met her in the upper hall partly dressed. She was walk-
ing very slowly and deliberately, her head elevated, her eyes
open, and her hands hanging loosely by her side. We stood
aside to let her pass. Without noticing us, she descended the
stairs to the parlor, we following her. Taking a match which
she had brought with her from her own room, she rubbed it
several times on the under side of the mantel-piece until it
caught fire, and then, turning on the gas, lit it. She next
threw herself into an arm-chair and looked fixedly at a portrait
of her mother which hung over the mantel-piece. While she
was in this position I carefully examined her countenance, and
performed several experiments, with the view of ascertaining
the condition of the senses as to activity.

" She was very pale, more so than was natural to her ; her
eyes were wide open, and did not wink when the hand was
brought suddenly in close proximity to them • the muscles of
the face, which, when she was awake, were almost constantly
in action, were now perfectly still ; her pulse was regular in

186 SOMNAMBULISM.

rhythm and force, and beat eighty-two per minute, and the
resphation was uniform and slow.

" I held a large book between her eyes and the picture she
was apparently looking at, so that she could not see it. She
nevertheless continued to gaze in the same direction as if no
obstacle were interposed. I then made several motions as if
about to strike her in the face. She made no attempt to ward
off the blows, nor did she give the slightest sign that she saw
my actions. I touched the corner of each eye with a lead-
pencil I had in my hand, but even this did not make her close
her eyelids. I was entirely satisfied that she did not see, at
least with her eyes.

"I held a lighted sulphur-match under her nose, so that
she could not avoid inhaling the sulphurous acid gas which
escaped. She gave no evidence of feeling any irritation.
Cologne-water and other perfumes and smelling-salts likewise
failed to make any obvious impression on her olfactory nerves.

" Through her partially-opened mouth I introduced a piece
of bread soaked in lemon-juice. She evidently failed to per-
ceive the sour taste. Another piece of bread saturated with a
solution of quinine was equally ineffectual. The two pieces
remained in her mouth a full minute and were then chewed
and swallowed.

" She now arose from her chair and began to pace the
room in an agitated manner ; she wrung her hands, sobbed,
and wept violently. While she was acting in this way, I struck
two books together several times so as to make loud noises
close to her ears. This failed to interrupt her.

" I then took her by the hand and led her back to the
chair in which she had previously been sitting. She made no

NATURAL SOMNAMBULISM. 187

resistance, but sat down quietly and soon became perfectly
calm.

u Scratching the back of her hand with a pin, pulling her
hair, and pinching her face, appeared to excite no sensation.

" I then took off her slippers and tickled the soles of her
feet. She at once drew them away, but no laughter was
produced. As often as this experiment was repeated, the feet
were drawn up. The spinal cord was therefore awake.

" She had now been down-stairs about twenty minutes.
Desiring to awake her, I shook her by the shoulders quite
violently for several seconds without success.

I then took her head between my hands and shook it.
This proved effectual in a little while. She awoke suddenly,
looked around her for an instant, as if endeavoring to com-
prehend her situation, and then burst into a fit of hysterical
sobbing. When she recovered her equanimity she had no
recollection of any thing that had passed, or of having had a
dream of any kind."

This case illustrates very well some of the principal
phenomena of natural somnambulism. Many others are on
record which, in many respects, are more remarkable, but it is
scarcely necessary to refer to them here at greater length,
though a word or two in regard to Jane Rider, the Springfield
somnambulist, will be both instructive and interesting.

When she began her manifestations Jane Rider was in her
seventeenth year. She was intelligent, of mild and obliging
disposition, and had the confidence and esteem of those who
knew her. Ht^r education was superior to that of persons oc-
cupying her class in society, and she was particularly fond of
poetry and of reading generally. She was of full habit and of

188 SOMNAMBULISM.

prepossessing appearance, but was subject to headaches, and
about three years previously was affected for several months
with chorea. A small spot on the left side of her head had
been tender from her earliest recollection, and the sensibility
was much increased when she suffered from headache.

Dr. Belden,* from whose account I derive the foregoing and
the following particulars, states that the first attack began on
the night of June 24, 1832. When he saw her she was strug-
gling to get out of bed, and complained at the same time of
pain in the left side of the head. Her head was hot, the face
flushed and her pulse much excited. An emetic was given her,
and she vomited a large quantity of green currants ; after which
she became quiet.

Nearly a month elapsed before she had another paroxysm.
Then, after several attempts on the part of her friends to keep
her in bed, it was determined to allow her to take her own
course and to watch her movements. Having dressed herself
she went down stairs and proceeded to make preparations for
breakfast. She set the table, arranged the various articles
with the utmost precision, went into a dark room and into a
closet at the most remote corner, from which she took the
coffee cups, placed them on a waiter, turned it sideways to pass
through the doors, avoided all intervening obstacles, and de-
posited the whole safely on the table.

She then went into the pantry, the blinds of which were
shut, and the door closed after her. She then skimmed the
milk, poured the cream into one cup and the milk into another
without spilling a drop. She then cut the bread, placed it reg-

* An account of Tane C. Rider, the Springfield Somnambulist. Spring-
field, 1834.

ARTIFICIAL SOMNAMBULISM. 189

ularly on the plate, and divided the slices in the middle. In
fine, she went through the whole operation with as much pre-
cision as the cook in open day ■ and this with her eyes closed
and without any light except that from one lamp which was
standing in the breakfast room to enable the family to observe
her operations. During the whole time, she seemed to take no
notice of those around her, unless they purposely stood in her
way, or placed chairs or other obstacles before her, when she
avoided them, with an expression of impatience at being thus
disturbed.

She finally returned voluntarily to bed, and on finding the
table arranged for breakfast when she made her appearance in
the morning, inquired why she had been allowed to sleep while
another performed her work. None of the transactions of the
preceding night had left the slightest impression on her mind.

Then she had many more paroxysms similar in general
character to that just described, and during which she was sub-
mitted by Dr. Belden and others to many experiments.
Though it was found that her sense of sight was greatly in-
creased in acuteness, she had no clairvoyance, properly so-called.
It was ascertained, too, that though she had no recollection,
when awake, of what she had done during a paroxysm, she re-
membered in one paroxysm the events of the preceding one.
Finally she was sent to the hospital at Worcester, and there,
under suitable treatment, her seizures became less frequent and
finally disappeared altogether.

Now, it has long been known that somnambulism can be
artificially induced. Even before the time of Mesmer there
were occasional illustrations of this fact ; but Puysegur is
entitled to the credit of being the first to systematize them and

i9o SOMNAMBULISM.

to practise the art of producing factitious somnambulism. He
caused it by passes, and finally, it is claimed, by simple acts of
the will. The Abbe Faria induced it by shouting, and Bar-
berin by praying ! Other methods were also employed ; and,
as its identity with mesmerism became generally recognized, it
had ascribed to it the name of mesmeric or magnetic sleep.

No one has more thoroughly investigated the nature of
artificial somnambulism than Mr. Braid,* who gives the follow-
ing as his ordinary method of procedure :

" Take any bright object (I generally use my lancet-case)
between the thumb and fore and middle fingers of the left
hand, hold it from eight to fifteen inches from the eyes at such
position above the forehead as may be necessary to produce
the greatest possible strain upon the eyes and eyelids, and
enable the patient to maintain a steady, fixed stare at the
object. It will generally be found that the eyelids close with
a vibratory motion, or become spasmodically closed. After
ten or fifteen seconds have elapsed, by gently elevating the
arms and legs, it will be found that the patient has a disposi-
tion to retain them in the situation in which they have been
placed, if he is intensely affected. If this is not the case,
desire him to retain the limbs in the extended position, and
thus the pulse will speedily become greatly accelerated, and
the limbs, in process of time, become quite rigid and involun-
tarily fixed. It will also be found that all the organs of
special sense, excepting sight, including heat, and cold, and
muscular motion or resistance, are at first prodigiously exalted,
such as happens with regard to the primary effects of opium,

* " Neurypnology, or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep, considered in
Relation with Animal Magnetism," etc. London, 1843.

HYPNOTISM. 191

wine, and spirits. After a certain point, however, this exalta-
tion of function is followed by a state of depression far
greater than the torpor of natural sleep. From the state of
the most profound torpor of the organs of special sense and
tonic rigidity of the muscles, they may at this stage instantly
be restored to the opposite condition of extreme mobility and
exalted sensibility, by directing a current of air against the
organ or organs we wish to excite to action, or the muscles we
wish to render limber, and which had been in this catalepti-
form state. By mere repose the senses will speedily merge
into the original condition again."

Mr. Braid gives examples of this artificial somnambulism
or hypnotism, as he designates it, which show that its phe-
nomena are identical with those of natural somnambulism, and
that it covers much that is alleged to be due to animal magnet-
ism and modern spiritualism. He found the same condition
to be produced, though he left the room, if the subject followed
his directions, so that there could be no suspicion that he
acted through the medium of any force emanating from his
body.

The persons who most readily come into the hypnotic
condition are of the same class as those who were such
favorable subjects for the odic force of Von Reichenbach, and
who now make the best mediums. The writer has ver3r care-
fully investigated this division of the subject, and has made
many experiments in regard to it, which leave no doubt in his
mind that the relation really exists. As an illustration of the
character of the phenomena, the following case is adduced.
He does not doubt that the thoughtful reader will at once see,
that if such a person, as the one whose actions while in the

192 SOMNAMBULISM.

hypnotic state are described, should be disposed to deceive, or
should be under the control of designing or ignorant individ-
uals, she would not fail to be received by many as a medium
of the first order.

A short time after writing the account of the young lady
whose case has just been quoted as an example of natural
somnambulism, I was informed by her father that her affec-
tion, which had been cured by suitable medical treatment, had
returned, owing, as he supposed, to excessive mental exertion,
she having contracted a taste for philosophy, in the study of
which she had indulged to a great extent.

Upon examination, I found that she not only had par-
oxysms of natural somnambulism, but that she had acquired
the power of inducing the hypnotic state at will. Her process
was to take up some one of the philosophical works she was
in the habit of studying, select a paragraph which required
intense thought or excited powerful emotion, read it, close the
book, fix her eyes steadily, but not directing the foci so as to
see any particular object, and then reflect deeply upon what
she had read. From the revery thus occasioned, she gradu-
ually passed into the somnambulic condition. During this
state it was said she answered questions correctly, read books
held behind her, described scenes passing in distant places,
and communicated messages from the dead. She therefore
possessed, in every essential respect, the qualifications of
either a clairvoyant or a spiritualistic medium, according to
the peculiar tenets of belief held by the faithful.

In accordance with my request, she proceeded to put
herself into the hypnotic state. With a volume of Plato in
her hand, she read thus from the Apology of Socrates. Her

ARTIFICIAL SOMNAMBULISM. 193

voice was calm and impressive, as though she felt every word
she uttered : ,

" Moreover, we may hence conclude that there is great
hope that death is a blessing. For to die is one of two
things : for either the dead may be annihilated and have no
sensation of any thing whatever, or, as it is said, there is a
certain change and passage of the soul from one place to
another. And if it is a privation of all sensation, as it were a
sleep in which the sleeper has no dream, death would be a
wonderful gain. For I think that if any one having selected a
night in which he slept so soundly as not to have had a dream,
and having compared this night with all the other nights and
days of his life, should be required on consideration to say
how many days and nights he had passed better and more
pleasantly than this night throughout his life, I think that not
only a private person, but even the great king himself, would
find them easy to number in comparison with other days and
nights. If, therefore, death is a thing of this kind, I say it is
a gain ; for thus all futurity appears to be nothing more than
one night."

As she reached the close, her voice became inexpressibly
sad, the book dropped from her hand, her eyes were fixed on
vacancy, her hands lay quietly in her lap, her breath came
irregularly, and tears were flowing clown her cheeks. Her
pulse, which before she began to read was eighty-four* per
minute, was now one hundred and eight. As hen abstraction
became more profound, it fell, till, when she was unconscious,
three minutes after she ceased reading, it was only seventy-
two. - - ■ ■ - - -;. ' ' " , ..,■" ","r I*

To satisfy myself that she was completely hypnotized, I

194 SOMNAMBULISM.

held a bottle of strong aqua ammonia to her nostrils. She did
not evince the slightest degree of sensibility. Touching the
eye with the finger — a test that a person practising deception
could not have borne — equally failed to afford the least
response indicative of sensation. I was, therefore, satisfied
that she was in the condition of artificial somnambulism.

To describe in detail all that took place would lengthen
unduly this account ; such parts, therefore, as are material, and
which illustrate essential points, will alone be given.

The writer asked her if there were any spirits in the room.

" Yes."

" Whose spirits are they ? "

"The spirit of Socrates is here, the spirit of Plato, the
spirit of Schleiermacher." (She had been reading before
my arrival " Schleiermacher's Introductions to the Dialogues
of Plato.")

" Do you not also see the spirit of Schenkelfiirst ? "

This was a ruse, there being no such person.

" Schenkelfiirst ? " she asked.

"Yes; he was Schleiermacher's constant companion and
friend."

" Schenkelfiirst," she repeated ; "what a singular name ! "

She was silent for a moment, and then her face was lit up
with a smile, and she exclaimed :

" I see him ; he is a small, dark man, with sharp, piercing
eyes ; he wears a coat trimmed with fur ; he approaches
Schleiermacher; they embrace; they are talking to each
other."

"Will not Schleiermacher send some message through

you ? "

ARTIFICIAL SOMNAMBULISM. 195

" No ; he has gone away with his friend."

" Will no other spirit communicate ? "

" Yes, there is one coming now ; a man with a mournful
face ; his name is Bruno — Giordano Bruno. He speaks ; he
says, 'O my friends, be of good cheer 3 there is no end, even
as there has been no beginning ; the weak-hearted fall from
the ranks, and, for a time, are lost ; but, as there is a portion
of the divinity in all God's creatures, even they are regen-
erated.' "

She stopped, and then in a low voice said, while tears
streamed down her cheeks :

u Majori forsitan cum timore sententiam in mefertis quam ego
accipiam '* — the words used by Bruno when sentence of death
was pronounced upon him. She had finished reading his life
a few weeks before.

Desiring to change the current of her thoughts, and also to
test her powers of prevision, she was asked who would be the
first patient to enter the office of the writer that day week, and
with what disease would he or she be affected ?

She answered promptly :

" A gentleman from Albany, I see him now ; he is thin,
and pale, and very weak ; he is lame, I think he is paralyzed."

The first person in reality who entered the office on the
day in question was a lady of New York, suffering from
nervous headache.

She was then asked where her father was at that moment
(4.10 p. m.). Her answer was : "At the corner of Wall Street
and Broadway ; he is looking at the clock on Trinity Church ;
he is waiting for a stage." During the hour between four
o'clock and five her father was in Brooklyn.

i96 SOMNAMBULISM.

A table with paper was now placed before her, a pencil put
into her hand, and she was requested again to place herself en
rapport with some spirit She immediately began to write as
follows : " Let all the world hear my voice and follow the
precepts I inculcate. There are many fools and but few wise.
I write for the former, and am probably a fool myself, for I
- constantly see a chasm yawning at my side ; and though my
intellect tells me there is no chasm near me, I place a screen
so that I cannot see it. Pascal." She had that very day
been reading a memoir of Pascal, in which the hallucination
referred to was mentioned. *-

The following conversation then took place :

" Where are vou now ? "

" In New York."

" No, you are in a vessel at sea ; there is a terrible storm ;

are you not afraid ? "

" Yes, I am very much frightened ■ what shall I do ? Oh,
save me, save me ! "

She wrung her hands, screamed with terror, rose from her
chair and paced the room, apparently suffering intensely from
fear, sin the midst of her agitation she awoke, and it was not
,without difficulty that the impression she had received could
be removed. . ,

On a subsequent occasion her somnambulic powers of
vision were tested by asking her to read the writing on a slip
of paper; to tell the time marked. by. a;. watch held to. the back
of her -head; to read a particular vline from; a closed book,
.etc. .; but, though she always made some ^ answer, she was
• never once right. The senses of touch -and^of hearing were
the only ones she appeared to be capable of exercising, and

ARTIFICIAL SOMNAMBULISM. 197

these were „ not in any degree exalted in their action. Con-
joined with;:integrity of touch there was well-marked analgesia,
or inability, to feel. pain. Thus, though able to tell the shape,
texture, arid . consistence of objects placed in her hands, she
experienced. "no .sensation, when a pin was thrust into the calf
of her leg, or when a coal of fire was held in close proximity
to any part of her body. ' * t

It will readily be preceived, therefore, that certain parts of
her nervous system were in a state of inaction, were in fact
dormant, while others remained capable of receiving sensa-
tions and originating nervous influence. Her sleep was
therefore incomplete. Images were formed, hallucinations
entertained, and she was accordingly in these respects in a
condition similar to that of a dreaming person ; for the images
and hallucinations were either directly connected with thoughts
she" had previously had, or were immediately suggested to her
through her sense of hearing. Some mental faculties were
exercised, while others were quiescent. There was no correct
judgment and no volition. Imagination, memory, the emo-
tions, and the ability to be impressed by suggestions, were present
in a high degree.

Now, the writer is satisfied, from a careful study of this
lady's case, and of others similar to it in general character
which have come under his observation, that the phenomena
of hypnotism are not those of pure somnambulism, but that
three other conditions are present in greater or less degree.
These are hysteria, catalepsy, and ecstasy. To a brief con-
sideration of some of the more important features of these
abnormal states of the nervous system the attention of the
reader will presently be invited.

1 98 SOMNAMB ULISM.

That many of the phenomena exhibited by honest mediums
are referable to the condition now under notice is not a matter
for doubt ; and this view is rendered still stronger by a con-
sideration of the fact that the hypnotic state can be readily
induced in many species of animals. This has been known,
with different interpretations of the cause and nature of the
condition, for very many years, but for a revival of the knowl-
edge, and for giving incentives to new lines of inquiry, we
owe a debt to the students of animal magnetism or mesmer-
ism.

In 1646, Kircher, a Jesuit priest, and like many others of
his fraternity, fond of scientific investigations, published an
account of an experiment performed by him and which he
called " expefimentum mi?'abile de imaginatione gallince — a won-
derful experiment showing the imagination of the hen.

He tied the hen's feet together with a cord, and then laid
the animal on the ground, where, after struggling for a while,
it lay perfectly quiet, as if despairing of escape, it had yielded
to the superior will and power of its conqueror. Then with a
piece of chalk Kircher drew two lines on the ground, one
from each eye, and uniting at an acute angle a little in front
of the head. He then loosened the band which fastened the
legs together ; but the hen, though physically free to escape,
remained still, and could scarcely be forced out of its posi-
tion.

So far, the facts ; now for the theory. Kircher attributes
this very remarkable result to the strong imaginative powers,
with which, in his opinion, hens are gifted ; for the animal
seeing the chalk line, takes it for the string with which it had
been fastened, and having ' acquired experience of the futility

HYPNOTISM IN ANIMALS. 199

of all efforts to escape, and thinking itself still bound, remains
perfectly quiet on the ground.

The late Prof. Czermak, a short time before his death,
placed Kircher's and similar experiments before the world in
their true light ; and I therefore do not hesitate to cite his ob-
servations at some length.*

While on a visit to Bohemia, Czermak was informed, by a
gentleman whose acquaintance he made, that he had not only
seen crawfish magnetized, but had himself put these animals
into the magnetic state, and that the matter was exceedingly
simple.

The crawfish is to be held firmly in one hand, while with
the other, passes are to be made from the tail of the animal
towards the head. Under this manifestation the crawfish now
becomes quiet, and if placed on its head in a vertical position,
remains motionless until passes are made in the opposite
direction, when it staggers, falls, and finally crawls away.

Czermak did not question the facts, but he doubted the
explanation and expressed a desire to witness the experiment.
A basket of crawfish was obtained from a neighboring brook,
and the friend, sure of his results, seized one of the animals
and began his "magnetic strokes " from the tail to the head.
The crawfish, which at first resisted, gradually became calm,
and finally stood erect on its head, remaining motionless as if

* Czermak's experiments were performed before the class of the private
physiological laboratory of the University of Leipsic, Jan. 24th and 25th,
1873, and were published with his remarks in subsequent numbers of the
" Gartenlaube." These lectures were translated by Clara Hammond and
published in the "Popular Science Monthly" Sept. and Nov., 1873.

2 oo ' SOMNAMB ULISM.

asleep, in this forced and unnatural position, supporting itself
with its antennae and two under claws.

But in the mean time Czermak had taken one of the crawfish
and endeavored to make it stand on its head without the passes
being previously made. The animal staggered at first, as did
the other, and ended by becoming perfectly quiet and standing
on its head exactly as had the one which had been magnetized.

As to the awakening process the friend made his passes from
the head to the tail and Czermak made his from the tail to
the head. The result was the same in both, for both soon
fell over and crawled away. In fact whether the strokes were
made or not, the animals regained their normal condition in
about the same length of time.

Hence it was demonstrated that " magnetic passes " were
neither necessary to induce the hypnotic state nor to cause the
animal to emerge from it. The act, therefore, constituted what
Czermak calls " a fact viewed unequally." His friend had
not thoroughly investigated the phenomenon in all its relations,
and that is just what is clone everyday by certain people calling
themselves "inquirers," who make imperfect attempts to solve
the pseudo-mysteries of mesmerism, spiritualism, etc.

Now to return to Kircher and his experiments, which he
thought demonstrated the existence of a great degree of im-
agination in the hen.

o

It has long been known that wild and frightened hens may
be rendered perfectly quiet by placing them, for instance, on a
table and holding them there while a chalk line is drawn so as
to connect the eyes ; or even a single line for an inch or two from
the end of the beak. In calling attention to this fact Czermak
caused one of his assistants to bring him a hen and to hold it

HYPNO TISM IN ANIMALS. 2 o 1

fast on the table. This was done after much resistance and
many cries from the frightened bird. Then, with his left hand,
he held the head and neck of the hen upon the table, and with
his right hand drew a chalk line on the tabic, beginning at the
end of the beak. Left entirely free, the hen, though breath-
ing heavily, remained entirely quiet on the table ; then without
resistance it allowed itself to be placed on its back, in which
unnatural position it remained till the end of the lecture, not
awakinsr till the audience be^an to leave.

Czermak states that when he first performed this experi-
ment, he was for a moment dumb with astonishment, for the
hen not only remained motionless in its forced and unnatural
position, but did not make the slightest attempt to fly away or
to move in any manner when he endeavored to startle it. It
was clear that the hen had altogether lost the functional capa-
cities of its nervous system, under the apparently indifferent
and useless arrangements of the experiment, and had placed her-
self in this remarkable condition as though by magic. But
Czermak was not a man to stand still at an " event viewed un-
equally," and as soon as he recovered from his extreme astonish-
ment at the result, he rubbed out the chalk line. The hen still
remained perfectly quiet. But as this might have been due to the
continuing effect of the chalk line, he performed another experi-
ment in which he held the hen firmly for some time and
stretched out the head and neck as though he were groins: to
draw the chalk line, but in reality he did not draw it. He then
released the hen and the animal remained just as immovable as
in the previous experiment.

The cord around the legs and the chalk line were therefore
entirely unnecessary, and accordingly Kircher's theory of the

9#

202 SOMNAMBULISM.

imagination of the hen falls to the ground. The only part
which survives is the immobility of the hen when laid upon a
table after having been previously held in the hand for a short
time. He has therefore reported an unequally viewed event.
He stopped too soon in his investigations, and in his anxiety to
discover a cause for the remarkable phenomenon before him,
jumped at a conclusion which, as we have seen, has nothing what-
ever to support it. Suppose Mr. Crookes or Mr. Wallace had
seen Mr. Home perform this experiment, and that they had
never heard of it before. Can there be a doubt that had he told
them that the hen was held down by the power of a spirit they
would have been ready to believe him ? This' is exactly what
they have done in accepting his theories of levitation, immunity
from fire, accordeon playing, raising weights, etc.

I have repeatedly performed Czermak's experiments, using
young lobsters, frogs, hens, geese and ducks, with scarcely a
failure. Of all animals in my experience, the frog passes into
the hypnotic condition most readily. All that is necessary is to
hold it firmly for a minute or two by the sides of the body just
behind the fore legs, and then gently lay it on its. back on a
table, board, or palm of the hand. So profound is the hypnotism
that the blade of a pair of scissors may be introduced into the
lower part of the belly and the animal cut open its whole
length, without its moving, or apparently experiencing the least
sensation. Over ten years ago I became acquainted with the pos-
sibility of inducing the condition in question in frogs, and often
in my medical lectures brought the fact before the class in attend-
ance. In general, without the causation of hypnotism, there
is no position seemingly so disagreeable to a frog as the dorsal,
and it gets out of it as soon as possible.

HYPNOTISM IN ANIMALS. 203

But with some animals it appears as if an object to gaze at is
necessary in order to produce the hypnotic state, and hence we
cannot say that the chalk line of Kircher, or something analo-
gous is in every case unnecessary. Thus pigeons are not brought
into this condition by simply strerching out their necks and hold-
ing them firmly for a short time. Czermak ascertained that
in order to hypnotize them it was requisite to hold something,
as the finger, before their eyes, so as to attract their attention,
and then the birds remained rigid and motionless as if tired,
for several minutes. The same result follows if a piece of glass
tube, a cork, a small wax candle, or any other equally lifeless
object, be placed on the top of the pigeon's bill. All that is ne-
cessary, is to place the article in such a position as to admit of
its attention being attracted and fixed upon the substance used.

And with hens ; if they be seized by the bodies with both
hands so that their heads and necks are quite free, and the
bodies bs pressed against a pedestal on which a glass tube rests
so as to come in contact with their bills, they remain perfectly
quiet for some time gazing at the object before them.

Again, if a piece of twine be hung so that the end comes just
between the eyes, a hen not only remains perfectly motionless
but closes its eyes and sleeps, the head sinking till it comes in
contact with the table. Before falling asleep, the hen's head
can be pressed down or raised up and it will remain in the posi-
tion in which it may be placed, as though it were made of wax.
This fact shows the analogy which exists between hypnotism
and catalepsy as it occurs in the human subject, and to which
attention will presently be invited.

In this connection I may state that I have recently repeated
an experiment which I remember to have seen when a boy,

2o4 SOMNAMBULISM.

long before Mr. Em id began his investigations, and which
shows that there is at least one other way of inducing hypnotism
in hens. I took a hen, and putting its head under its wing, held
it in that position for a couple of minutes. On placing it on a
table, it stood erect without removing its head from the position
in which I had placed it, and remained motionless for several
minutes apparently in a deep sleep. As I had formerly seen
this experiment, it was somewhat different. The head was
placed under the wing, and then the animal, held in that posi-
tion, was swung round three or four times before being placed
on the ground. The explanations then given of the subse-
quent insensibility was, that the animal was affected with ver-
tigo, and did not move for fear of falling.

Czermak therefore found, as he proceeded with his investiga-
tions, that the drawing of the chalk line in Kircher's experiment
was of some significance, though not such as the old priest
supposed. The hand which draws the line, and the line itself
constitute an object upon which the animal's look and atten-
tion are placed, and there is developed a marvellous condition
of certain parts of its nervous system, accompanied by cataleptic
phenomena and sleep.

We have already seen how Mr. Braid produced hypnotism
in the human subject, and we now perceive that a like process
causes it in the lower animals.

Upon one occasion Mr. Braid, in the presence of eight
hundred persons, put ten full grown men, out of fourteen, into a
state of complete sleep ; all began the experiment at the same
time. The persons fixed their eyes steadily upon pieces of
cork fastened upon their foreheads ; the others of their own will

HYPNOTISM IN ANIMALS. 205

gazed steadily at certain points in" the direction of the audience.
In three minutes the eyelids of the ten had involuntarily closed.
With some, consciousness remained ; others were cataleptic and
entirely insensible to being stuck? with needles, and others on
awaking knew absolutely, nothing ■ of what . had taken • place
during theirsleep. In 1859, Velpeau and Broca, two distinguish-
ed French surgeons, placed twenty-four women in the hypnotic
condition by, Braid's method, and then performed surgical op-
erations on them without causing- the slightest pain. ...

I have repeatedly placed women in the hypnotic state, and
performed surgical operations which would otherwise have
caused great pain, without the least sensation having been ex-
perienced. Only a few days ago I cauterized, with a red-hot
iron, the spine of a lady, having previously hypnotized her by
causing her to look for a few minutes at a cork which I had
fastened to her forehead a little above the root of the nose. The
anaesthesia was complete, and the sleep so profound that she not
only did not hear the sound produced by the burning of the skin,
but very loud noises made close to her ears were equally unper
ceive'd. After about seven minutes she spontaneously awoke.

Czermak was preparing to extend his observations to mam-
mals, but death prevented the fulfilment of his intentions-
Experiments of my own, however, show that there is n^ diffi-
culty in bringing dogs,, rabbits, and cats fully under the hypnotic
influence.. Rabbits. require to be held firmly in the hands at the
same time that some bright object, as a key, is allowed to hang
from a string, justciri front, of, and a little above the eyes. Five
or at most ten minutes are sufficient to induce hypnotism.

Or, the animal may be held firmly in a squatting position on

2 o6 SOMNAMB ULISM.

a table while an object, as a key, a piece of chalk, or a cork, is
placed about an inch in front of its nose. After a few minutes
sleep ensues.

With dogs, the procedure is much simpler. My experiments
have been conducted with the several varieties that have been
taught to stand up on their haunches and "beg." It is exceed-
ingly easy to engage their attention and thus to cause them to
pass into the hypnotic state. For this purpose a piece of chalk
the size of a cherry is fastened to a string and allowed to hang
between the eyes of the dog at a distance of an inch or two.
The experiment seems to succeed better if the animal be made
to take the begging position, though this is not necessary. In-
deed, the condition can often be induced by simply engaging
the attention of the dog for a few minutes by pointing the ringer
at him, or by any other convenient method.

After a due consideration of the experiments of Czermak
and myself, we are able to appreciate, at their full value, the
accounts which are given us of miraculous and mesmeric power
exercised by man over the lower animals. Thus we may dismiss
as absolutely untrue the stories which are told of the bees com-
ing to Sts. Ambrose, Isidore, Dominic, and others, while they
were yet infants, and depositing honey on their lips, and of
following them into the desert and obeying the commands
addressed to them. We may also refuse to regard as within
the domain of truth, the account given of St. Rose of Lima
by Gorres,* as follows :

This young lady had built a little arbor in her mother's

* Op., cit., t. 1, p. 480.
7

SAINTLY INFLUENCE ON ANIMALS. 207

garden, and was accustomed to repair thither for meditation and
praise. The place was continually thronged night and day by
mosquitoes, the walls were covered with them, and the music of
their hum continually resounded throughout the place. Not one
of them, however, ever touched her, but if her mother or any other
person visited her in her solitude they were at once bitten and
their blood sucked by the insatiable insects. Every one was
astonished that St. Rose was never injured by them. But she
smiling, said " When I came here I made a pact with these little
creatures." [It would have been somewhat more filial if she
had included her mother in the bargain.] " It was agreed that
they should not bite me and that I should not injure them.
Therefore they dwell here in peace with me ; and not only that,
but they aid me with all their power to praise God." In fact
every time the virgin came into the arbor at sunrise she said to
the mosquitoes. " Come, my friends, let us praise God," and then
the little insects formed a circle around her, and began their
little songs with a degree of order and harmony such as no choir
directed by a master could have excelled ; and this was kept up
until the saint enforced silence upon them.

These circumstances are cited by Pope Clement X. in the
bull canonizing St. Rose.

It must be admitted that the character of the mosquito has
greatly degenerated, since that time, for it has, apparently, ac-
quired habits of association with demons rather than saints.

Fish, reptiles, birds and mammals, have also been brought
under saintly influence. Jacques de Cerqueto, an Augustine
monk, enforced silence on the frogs that troubled him when he
was saying mass. St. Ida could not approach a stream without

20S SOMNAMBULISM.

hundreds of fish corning to greet her, and if she placed her
hands in the water, " the fish took hold of her fingers as infants
do the breasts of their mothers."

Gondisalvo Amaranthi, being in want one clay of a din-
ner, made the sign of the cross on the river near by, and
instantly numerous fish placed themselves at his disposal. The
good man took what he wanted and put the rest back into the
water. St. Joseph of Copertino, among others, controlled birds,
making them sing when he wished, and St. Jacques de Stephano
was thanked by a flock of pigeons which he had saved from
destruction at the hands of some hunters.

Among quadrupeds, lions have always been remarkable for
the docility with which they submit to saintly influence. From
the time of Daniel, down through the early ages of Christianity,
these naturally ferocious beasts have at times shown an appre-
ciation of the character of those exposed to their fury, which
is certainly not a usual attribute of their savage nature.

St. Thomas of Florence calmed furious bulls by a single
word. St. Francis de Paul selected two of the most savage of
these animals out of a herd and led them like lambs. The like
is asserted of wild horses and angry dogs, both kinds of animals
being quieted by a look, a word, or a gesture from a saint or
other holy person.

It would scarcelv be wise to refuse belief to all incidents of
the kind which are referred to in the acts of the saints. We can
accept some as being true in point of fact, and we attribute the
result, not to supernatural agency, but to the hypnotic power,
illustrations of which have engaged our attention.

Strange to say, however, the influence over the lower

MESMERISM OF ANIMALS. 209

animals is denied, or at least regarded by some mesmerists as
not proven. Thus, Teste# states that the results are so vague,
so fleeting, so inappreciable, that it is not possible to certify
their existence.

But, on the other hand, Dr. Elliotson believes fully in the
mesmeric power of man over the brute creation, and gives sev-
eral instances in support of his opinions. Among them the
following. f The Duke of Marlborough, writing to Dr. Elliot-
son, says : —

" At Lord Ely's farm there is a yard dog so savage and fero-
cious that no one can approach him. I was determined to
beat him and in thirty minutes had him fast asleep, his last sigh
being a deep growl. In presence of several persons I then
kissed the dog on his forehead, and then left him to awake
at his leisure."

A month afterwards the dog was still stupid.
Again the Duke wrote to Dr. Elliotson. " I must now tell
you what I have been doing here. I have also a very savage
yard dog, I tried him to-day ; in about fifteen minutes he ran
into his kennel and hid his eyes from the manipulating process
growling, snarling, and biting most furiously ; notwithstanding,
I then made the man who feeds him, and who is the only per-
son who dares go near him, drag him out of his kennel and nail
up a hurdle before the entrance, so as to keep him effectual-
ly outside. I then went to work again, the dog, as you may
suppose, being ten times more ferocious. In about five minutes

* " A Practical Manual of Animal Magnetism," etc., translated by D.
Chilian, M.D., etc., London, 1843, P- 226-

t " Mesmeric Phenomena in Brutes ; as effected by the Duke of Marlbor-
ough and the Rev. Mr. Bartlett," Zoist, October, 1850. p. 295.

2 1 o SOMNAMB ULISM.

I had him so quiet, oppressed and stupid, that he dropped his
nose several times in the mud around his kennel. Carts and
horses, and men and boys were passing and repassing, which
served continually to alarm him, so that I could not satisfacto-
rily complete the task and leave him dead asleep ; besides which
a heavy snowstorm was falling all the while, and I could not
feel my finger ends. But I completely subdued the beast and
patted him on the head before I left."

The Rev. Mr. Bartlett writes as follows :

" Upon descending a mountain I found myself in a narrow
road between two stone fences which perhaps separated the
lands of different proprietors. On one side of the fences were
cattle and a bull. The bull approached the fence in an angry
mood and walked along the other side of it parallel with me for
more than a quarter of a mile : he then grew more excited, tore
the ground with his horns, and bellowed fiercely. As I could
not but apprehend that, should there be a breach in the wall, he
might leap over and attack me, I was considering what course
it was best to take, when we came to a very high and strong
gate. Upon reaching the gate the bull rushed close up to it
and bellowed loudly through it. As I knew that he could
neither leap over nor force this gate I also approached it and
looked him steadily in the face. In about a minute I caught
his eye, which then fixed upon me, in about another minute a
trembling of the eyelids arose, very similar to that of a human
subject at an early stage of mesmeric influence. After probably
three or four minutes, the eyes gradually closed, and the bull
remained quiet and appeared to be as immovable as if he had
been chiseled by the hand of the sculptor. The transition from

HYPNO TISM IN ANIMALS. 2 1 1

his previously excited state to that of his perfectly motionless
state was indeed most striking.

"I could not but feel thankful that all danger from the bull
was now passed and after looking at his fixed form for a few
moments' I descended the remainder of the mountain, and did
not stop to wake him"

That some animals possess the power of acting upon others
so as to induce a condition analogous to, if not indenticalwith,
hypnotism, is well known. Serpents appear to be especially
endowed with this faculty, and make use of it to secure birds
and mammals for food. There is some reason also for believ-
ing that serpents can, in rare cases, exercise a like influence
over man.

Now, after this survey of some of the principal phenomena
of natural and artificial somnambulism are we able to deter-
mine in what their condition essentially consists ? I am afraid
we shall be obliged to answer this question in the negative,
and mainly for the reason, that with all the study which has
been given to the subject, we are not yet sufficiently well ac-
quainted with the normal functions of the nervous system to
be in a position to pronounce with definiteness on their aber-
rations. Nevertheless, the matter is not one of which we are
wholly ignorant. We have some important data upon which to
base our investigations into the philosophy of the condition in
question, and inquiry, even if leading to erroneous results, at
least promotes reflection and discussion, and may in time carry
us to absolute truth.

If we turn our attention to the operations of the mind — by
which term I understand the force developed by nervous ac-

2 1 2 SOMNAMB ULISM.

tion — we shall see that they are performed under two very dif-
ferent conditions. In the one there is consciousness ; in the
other unconsciousness.

A few examples will place the matter more distinctly before
the reader.

If we are engaged in composing or writing, the only part of
the process of which we are conscious, is the conception of our
ideas, or the expression of them in suitable language. We are
not conscious of every motion we give the pen. We do not
even think of it, our whole attention being engrossed with
higher thoughts. We can turn our minds to the penmanship if
we are so disposed, and can make it the chief subject of our
thoughts ; but persons who write out original ideas rarely
bother themselves with the nice formation of the letters. Hence
their handwriting is generally bad, in the ordinary sense of the
term. On the other hand, persons who copy, or those whose
writing is not the expression of much thought, usually write
with care and precision ; to do so, is with them the chief ob-
ject.

Or in the act of walking : a person, for instance, desires. to
measure the length of a room by pacing it. He starts at one
end of it and makes his steps, conscious of each one, for his
attention is turned especially to them ; he counts them, in fact,
and when he gets to the end knows exactly what he has done
from the beginning to the end. Another person rises from his
chair for the purpose of going to the book-case for a volume he
desires. His mind is not on his steps — his will is directed
towards getting the book he wants. He goes to the place
where he knows it to be, but is not conscious of the act or

HUMAN A UTOMA TISM. 2 1 3

method of getting there ; but his legs have been accurately di-
rected, there has been no mistake, his feet have been raised at
exactly the right moments, and obstacles in the way have been
avoided.

At another time we may begin to wind our watch. At that
very instant some engrossing subject comes to our mind, we
lose all consciousness of the act we have set out to perform,
and yet it is carried out to the end, the key is taken out, the
watch is closed and put in its pocket, and we may go on and
perform other movements to which we have been accustomed
before consciousness takes cognizance of the actions. In fact,
so thoroughly taken up is consciousness with the thoughts
which have come into the mind, that it fails altogether, at
times, to embrace within its scope the act of winding the
watch ; and hence we do not know whether we have per-
formed the act or not, and we begin the whole movement over
again.

Again, a person will play a difficult piece of music and carry
on a conversation at the same time ; the conversation, if more
interesting, engrosses the consciousness, and the music is per-
formed automatically or unconsciously. If the piece has not
been thoroughly learned, mistakes are made. If, on the other
hand, the music interests more than the conversation, the in-
dividual is distrait and errors are committed, which show that
the thoughts are not in the speech.

It would be easy to adduce other familiar examples, but
the intelligent reader will have many such occur to his or her
mind as instances in daily, hourly experience.

Now, somnambulism, natural or artificial, appears to be- a

2i4 SOMNAMBULISM.

condition in which consciousness is subordinated to automa-
tism; the subject performs acts of which there is no complete
consciousness, and often none at all. Consequently there is
little or no subsequent recollection. There is diminished ac-
tivity of those parts of the nervous system which preside over
certain faculties of the mind, while those which are capable of
acting automatically are unduly exalted in power.

The condition is therefore analogous to sleep ; for in all
sleep there is in reality something of somnambulism. For the
higher mental organs, as the sleep is more or less profound, are
more or less removed from the sphere of action, leaving to the
others the duty of performing such acts as may be required, or
even of initiating others not growing out of the immediate
wants of the system. If this quiescent state of the brain is ac-
companied, as it often is in nervous and excitable persons, by
an exalted condition of the spinal cord, we have the higher
order of somnambulistic phenomena produced, such as walking,
or the performance of complex and apparently systematic
movements ; if the sleep of the brain be somewhat less pro-
found and the spinal cord less excitable, the somnambulic mani-
festations do not extend beyond sleep-talking; a still less
degree of cerebral inaction and spinal irritability produces sim-
ply a restless sleep and a little muttering ; and when the sleep
is perfectly natural and the nervous system of the individual
well balanced, the movements do not extend beyond chang-
ing the position of the head and limbs and turning over in
bed.

But the actions of the spinal cord — which is, I conceive,
the organ chiefly controlling the mind in somnambulism — are

SUGGESTION. $15

not always automatic in character, as I have endeavored to
show in another place.# The motions of frogs and of some
other animals when deprived of their brains exhibit a certain
amount of intellection or volition. That they are not more ex-
tensive is probably due to the fact that all the organs of the
senses except that of touch have been removed with the brain,
and hence the mechanism for coming into relation with the ex-
ternal world is necessarily diminished.

In profound somnambulism the whole brain is probably in
a state of complete sleep, the spinal cord alone being awake.
In partial or incomplete somnambulistic conditions certain of
the cerebral ganglia are not entirely inactive, and hence the
individual answers questions, exhibits emotions, and is re-
markably disposed to be affected by ideas suggested by others.
The ability to originate trains of thought exists only in very
imperfect somnambulistic states.

Thus a girl, just after her first communion, while im-
pressed with the solemnity of the occasion, or with the con-
versation which had been addressed to her, fell into a som-
nambulistic state, and exclaimed that she saw beautiful and
glorious things. When asked by the elders around her what
she saw, she answered, "God surrounded by the angels, the
apostles, and Mary." Subsequently this girl got into the
company of an individual who was a great admirer of Vol-
taire, and others of his philosophical sect, and on one oc-
casion was hypnotized by him. Again she saw glorious

* The Brain not the Sole Organ of the Mind. — Journal of Nervous and
Mental Disease, January, 1876.

2i6 SOMNAMBULISM.

sights, and when he asked her what she saw she replied,
" God, accompanied by His two apostles, Voltaire and Rous-
seau." *

In this and similar cases the brain originates nothing. It

simply reflects the ideas which have recently been brought
prominently before it, just as in dreams we imagine things
and events with which in our waking moments the attention
has been engaged.

The existence of a tendency to natural somnambulism is
evidence of a highly impassionable and irritable nervous or-
ganization. Young persons are more often its subjects than
those of mature age, and there are few children, who do not
exhibit, at some time or other, manifestations of the condition
in question, such as muttering or talking in their sleep,
laughing, crying, or getting out of bed. The same irritable
nervous system leads often to the supervention of other con-
ditions, more of the nature of actual disease, such as cata-
lepsy, ecstasy, epilepsy, chorea, convulsion, tremor, etc.

■ Much may be done in the way of medical treatment to
correct the faulty neurotic condition, and much also, which
more properly lies within the domain of home management.
The reading of exciting fictions, and the witnessing of sensa-
tional theatrical exhibitions, are always prejudicial to persons
subject to attacks of somnambulism.

Somnambulism often exists in conjunction with other afTec-

* Franz Dilitzsch, D.D., Professor of Theology, Leipsic. A System of
Biblical Psychology. Translated from the German, by the Rev. Robert
Ernest Wallis, Ph.D. Second English Edition. Edinburgh, 1875, P- 3^7 •

OTHER RELATIONS. 217

tions of the nervous system. Its relations to spiritualism have
been pointed out in the foregoing pages. But the association
with hysteria, catalepsy, ecstasy and other morbid conditions,
is of great interest and will next engage our attention.

218 HYSTERIA.

CHAPTER XIII.

HYSTERIA.

IT is not to be expected that, in a work like the present,
hysteria can be treated with that degree of fulness re-
quisite for the study of the disorder in all its multiform
aspects ; neither would that be desirable, as such a course
would lead us far into the domain of pure medical science, and
one object — the principal which I had in writing this little work,
would be defeated. All that is necessary or proper, is to make
the reader acquainted with certain broad features of the affec-
tion, and to indicate the relations which it bears to various
delusions — spiritualism among them.*

There is a strong tendency in all persons afflicted with hys-
teria, to the occurrence of symptoms which simulate organic
diseases of various kinds. Paralysis, both of motion and of
sensation, is one of the morbid conditions thus assumed ; this
tendency is not generally voluntary, though undoubtedly cases
are not infrequent in which the simulation is clearly inten-
tional, and others more numerous, in which volition, when
drought to bear with full force upon the disposition, will over-

* For a full account of hysteria and hysterical affections, the reader is
referred to the author's treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System, sixth
edition. New York. 1876.

HYSTERICAL ANAESTHESIA. 219

come it. In these latter cases there is, as it were, a paralysis
of the will. In other instances, hysterical persons will deliber-
ately enter upon a systematic course of deception and fraud,
more apparently for the sake of attracting attention and ob-
taining notoriety, than from any other motive.

Thus, a hysterical woman will suddenly take to her bed
and declare that she has no feeling and no power in her arms
or legs. The most careful examination shows that she is
speaking the truth. Pins may be thrust into the affected
limb, it may be punctured or scorched ad libitum, and yet the
possessor does not wince. A somewhat analogous state exists
in us all at times. When the mind is intensely occupied, or
the passions greatly aroused, there is a like insensibility to
pain. Many a soldier wounded in battle, has not discovered
his injury till the heat of the contest was over. We have seen
how a similar insensibility to pain, is present during the
somnambulic or hypnotic condition.

Now, when great mental exaltation is induced in a hysteri-
cal person, we find this analgesic condition developed to its
utmost extent. Under these combined influences weak girls
have submitted to all kinds of maltreatment and suffered no
pain, and have been able to resist blows and other bodily in-
juries, which in their normal condition would have caused
death. Thus it is stated by Montgeron,* in his account of the
Jansenist Convulsionnaires, who visited the tomb of the Abbe'
Paris, that some women gave themselves severe blows with iron
instruments in such a manner, that sharp points were forced

*LaVerite des Miracles, tome ii. 1737. Quoted by Calmeil, De la
Folie, etc. Paris, 1845.

22c HYSTERIA.

into the flesh. Fouillon states that another had herself hung
up b}r the heels with the head downward, and remained in this
position three-quarters of an hour. One day as she lay ex-
tended on her bed, two men who held a cloth under her back,
raised her up and threw her forward two thousand four hun-
dred times, while two other persons placed in front, thrust her
back. Another day, four men having taken hold of her by the
extremities, began to pull her, each with all his strength, and
she was thus dragged in different directions for the space of
some minutes. She caused herself to be tied one day as she
lay on the table, her arms crossed behind her back and her
legs flexed to their fullest extent, and, while six men struck
her without ceasing, a seventh choked her. After this she re-
mained insensible for some time, and her tongue, inflamed and
discolored, hung far out of her mouth. Another insisted upon
receiving a hundred blows upon the stomach with an andiron,
and these were so heavy that they shook the wall against which
she was placed, and upon one occasion a breach in it was
caused at the twenty-fifth blow.

A physician, hearing of these things, insisted that they
could not be true, as it was physically impossible that the skin,
the flesh, the bones, and the internal organs, could resist such
violence. He was told to come and verify the facts. He has-
tened to do so, and was struck with astonishment. Scarcely
believing his eyes, he begged to be allowed to administer the
blows. A strong iron instrument, sharp at one end, was put
into his hands ; he struck with all his might and thrust it deep
into the flesh, but the victim laughed at his efforts, and re-
marked that his blows only did her good.

JANSENIST CONVULSIONNAIRES. 2 2 1

The government tried for a long time, unsuccessfully, to
stop the epidemic, and at last was obliged to close the tomb
and to place a guard over it, with orders to disperse the crowd
that habitually collected in the cemetery, and to arrest the
convulsionnaires. A wit of the period was almost justified in
sticking up the following lines over the gate : —

" De par le Roi, defense a Dieu
De faire miracle dans ce lieu."

" And," says Voltaire, who relates this event, " Ce qu'il y a
de plus etonnant, c'est qui Dieu obeit."

This immunity from injury, though remarkable, is frequently
met with among hysterical persons at the present day, but is
much more frequently assumed. Calmeil* states that many
of the Jansenist fanatics were subject to great illusions on this
point ; for many among them exhibited very obvious effects of
the treatment, such as patches of discoloration on the skin,
and innumerable contusions on the parts which had suffered
the most severe assaults. Then it must be remembered that
the blows upon the belly were given while the paroxysms were
present, and when the stomach and intestines were distended
with wind — a condition almost inseparable from the hysterical
state. The prize-fighters of our own day, by filling the chest
with air, endure blows which untrained persons could not
receive without serious injury.

The writer has had the opportunity of witnessing many
manifestations of hysteria analogous in character to those de-
scribed in the foregoing remarks. Upon one occasion, a young

* Op. cit.f tome ii. p. 386.

222 HYSTERIA.

woman, a patient in the wards of the Pennsylvania Hospital,
began a series of movements consisting in bending her body
backward till it formed an arch, her heels and head alone rest-
ing on the bed, and then, suddenly straightening herself out,
would fall heavily. Instantly the arch was formed again ;
again she fell ■ and this process was kept up with inconceivable
rapidity for several hours every day. In another instance, a
lady, during an access of hysterical paroxysms to which she
was liable, beat her head with such violence against a lath and
plaster partition, that she made a hole in it, while little or no
injury was inflicted on herself. In another, a girl eighteen
years of age lay down on the floor, naked, and made all the
members of her family, five in number, stand each in turn for
several minutes on her abdomen. In another, a lady, in order
that she might resemble those martyrs who suffered on the
rack, tied her wrists with a stout cord, mounted a step-ladder,
fastened the cord to a hook in the wall, and then, jumping from
the ladder, succeeded in dislocating her shoulder. In another,
a lady rigidly closed her mouth, and refused to open it, either
to take food or to speak, for over forty-eight hours. No force
that it was safe to use, could overcome the contraction of her
muscles, and no persuasion induce her to relax them. She
only yielded to an irresistible impulse to talk, and a degree of
hunger that human nature could no longer endure. It would
be easy to go on and cite, from the writer's practice or from
monographs on the subject, hundreds of other instances of
hysterical folly in which the subjects have been able to violate
•the laws of their being without apparently suffering serious
pain or injury.

LOUIS GAUFRIDI. 223

During the sixteenth ^ and seventeenth centuries, an epi-
demic of hysterical chorea with catalepsy prevailed in many
convents of Europe, and many grievous wrongs were in conse-
quence inflicted upon perfectly innocent persons whom the
" possessed " accused of having bewitched them ; among
others, Louis Gaufridi, a priest of Marseilles, and a man of
cultivation and strict morality, was accused by two Ursuline
nuns, named Madeline de Mandol and Louise Capel, the lat-
ter but nineteen years of age. At the time of the accusation
these women were suffering from attacks of a hysterical kind,
accompanied with hallucinations and illusions, fearful convul-
sions and catalelptic paroxysms, all of which were ascribed to
possession of the devil, moved and instigated by Louis Gau-
fridi. At first, the accused denied the charges made against
him, and endeavored by arguments to show the true nature of
the seizures. The effort was in vain ; he became insane, and
confessed all that was laid to his charge, with numerous other
offences, which had not been imagined. He declared that he
had worshipped the devil for fourteen years, and that " ce
demon m'engagea a rendre amoureuses de ma personne toutes
les femmes que j'atteindrais de mon souffle. Plus de mille
femmes ont ete empoisonnees par l'attrait irresistible de mon
souffle qui les rendraient passionnees. La dame de la Pallude,
mere de Madeleine, a ete prise pour moi d'un amour insense
et s'est abandonnee a moi soit au sabbat soit hors du sabbat."

Gaufridi was burned at the stake, and the two Ursuline
nuns " continuerent a delirer." * Among the convents visited
by this terrible disorder was that of Sainte-Brigitte, at Lille.

*Calmeil, De la Folie, etc. Paris, 1845, *• *•> P- 4^9> et se1-

224 HYSTERIA.

Several of the nuns had been present at the proceedings against
Gaufridi, and had thus been subjected to influences readily
capable of producing the disease.

Among the sisters was one named Marie de Sains, who
was remarkable for her many virtues, but who was now sus-
spected of devoting herself to sorcery and of being the cause
of the "possessions" of which the other nuns were the vic-
tims. She remained a year in prison, without any formal
proofs of her guilt being adduced, until at last she was posi-
tively accused by three of the sisters with having intercourse
with demons. At first, the poor nun appeared to be surprised
at this charge ; but suddenly she recanted her denial, and
avowed herself the perpetrator of a series of such wicked and
abominable acts, that it was difficult to understand how the
conception of them had ever entered her mind. Among them
were numberless murders, stranglings of innocent children,
ravaging of graves, feeding on human flesh, revelling in orgies
of superhuman atrocity, unheard-of sacrileges, poisonings, and
in fact every imaginable crime. In the presence of her ac-
cusers and exorcists she improvised sermons which she ascribed
to Satan, discoursed learnedly on the apocalypse, and made
long discourses on antichrist. Like others of the present day,
she was a speaking medium.

Marie de Sains was not burnt. She was merely stripped
of her religious character, and condemned to perpetual im-
prisonment at Tournay.

A more noted example of spiritual possession is that af-
forded by the nuns of Loudun, and which resulted in the death
of Urban Grandier at the stake, after he had been submitted to

FATHER SANTERRE'S SIGNS. 225

the most atrocious tortures, in the vain attempt to make him
confess to an alliance with the devil.*

As showing the nature of the phenomena exhibited in the
cases of monomania occurring among the nuns of Loudun,
the following questions were proposed by Santerre, priest and
promoter of the diocese of Nimes, to the University of Mont-
pelier :

Question 1. Whether the bending, bowing, and removing
of the body, the head touching sometimes the soles of the feet,
with other contortions and strange postures, are a good sign of
possession ?

2. Whether the quickness of the motion of the head for-
ward and backward, bringing it to the back and breast, be an
infallible mark of possession ?

3. Whether a sudden swelling of the tongue, the throat and
the face, and the sudden alteration of the color, are certain
marks of possession ?

4. Whether dulness and senselessness, or the privation of
sense, even to be pinched and pricked without complaining,
without stirring, and even without changing color, are certain
marks of possession ?

5. Whether the immobility of all the body which happens to
the pretended possessed, by the command of their exorcists,
during and in the middle of the strongest agitations, is a cer-
tain sign of a truly diabolical possession ?

* For a very full account of this lamentable event, see the " Cheats and
Illusions of Romish Priests and Exorcists discovered in the History of the
Devils of Loudun. Being an account of the Pretended Possession of the
Ursuline Nuns, and of the Condemnation and Punishment of Urban Gran-
dier, a Parson of the same town. London, 1705.

10*

226 HYSTERIA.

6. Whether the yelping or barking like that of a dog, in the
.breast rather than in the throat, is a mark of possession ?

7. Whether a fixed, steady look upon some object, with-
out moving the eye on either side, be a good mark of pos-
session ?

8. Whether the answers that the pretended possessed made
in French, to some questions that are put to them in Latin, are
a good mark of possession ?

9. Whether to vomit such things as people have swallowed,
be a sign of possession ?

10. Whether the prickings of a lancet upon divers parts of
the body, without blood issuing thence, are a certain mark of
possession ?

All these questions, to the credit of medical science, were
answered in the negative. No one can read them without be-
ing struck with the absolute identity of the symptoms, in all
essential characteristics, with those which in our day are as-
serted to be clue to spiritual possession, and with those met
with in the various forms of hysteria. Cases almost exactly in
point have already been cited in this essay.

Nicholas Remigius, judge of the Criminal Court of Lorraine,
who in the course of his official career, caused eight hundred
women to be burned for sorcery, believed that magic was prev-
alent far and near around him. This became with him a
fixed idea, a veritable madness. He wished to preach a cru-
sade against the sorcerers with whom he believed Europe to
be filled. Desperate when he was not believed on his word,
that every one was guilty of magic, he ended by declaring him-
self to be a sorcerer, and on his own confession was burned at

NEW ENGLAND WITCHCRAFT. 227

the stake.* Can any fact indicate more strongly than this,
the overwhelming influence of a strongly rooted belief and the
danger of allowing the mind to become possessed with one
idea?

Nor have these epidemics been restricted to convents or
catholic lands. Protestants of the straitest sects have been
visited, and our country has afforded many notable examples,
besides possessing the doubtful honor of originating spiritua-
lism in its present form.

The history of witchcraft, as it existed in New England
during the latter part of the seventeenth century, is exceedingly
instructive to the student of human nature, and of great interest
in the present connection. As an illustration of the symptoms
exhibited by the so-called " possessed " — the " mediums " of
our day — I subjoin the following case, being the " ninth exam-
ple " adduced by the Rev. Cotton Mather.f It would be dif-
ficult to select from all the records of medicine better examples
of the blending of hysteria, chorea, and catalepsy. The evi-
dence concerning the diabolical character of the "Quaker's
book," "popish books," and the " Prayer-book," is incidentally,
though with manifest gusto, thrown in by the narrator for what
it is worth.

Four children of John Goodwin, of Boston, remarkable for
their piety, honesty, and industry, were in the year 1688 made
the subjects of witchcraft. The eldest, a girl about thirteen

* Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie Par Elaphas Levi. Paris, 1861,
Tome second, p. 290.

t " Magnalia Christi Americana/' etc. First American, from the Lon-
don edition of 1702. Hartford, 1820 vol ii., p. 396.

228 HYSTERIA.

years old, had a dispute with the laundress about some linen
that was missing, whose mother, a " scandalous Irishwoman of
the neighborhood," applied some very abusive language to the
child. The latter was at once taken with "odd fits, which
carried in them something diabolical." Soon afterwards the
other children, a girl and two boys, became similarly affected.
Sometimes they were deaf, sometimes blind, sometimes dumb,
and sometimes all of these. Their tongues would be drawn
down their throats, and then pulled out upon their chins to a
prodigious length. Their mouths were often forced open to
such an extent that their jaws were dislocated, and were then
suddenly closed with a snap like that of a spring-lock. The
like took place with their shoulders, elbows, wrists, and other
joints. They would then lie in a benumbed condition, and be
drawn together like those tied neck and heels, and presently be
stretched out, and then drawn back enormously. They made
piteous outcries that they were cut with knives, and struck with
blows, and the plain prints of the wounds were seen upon
them.

[This latter is not an uncommon occurrence. I once de-
tected a woman cutting herself with a knife, and thus inflicting
wounds which she afterwards declared were given her by a
spirit whom she had offended in the flesh.]

At times their necks were rendered so limber that the bones
could not be felt, and again they were so stiff that they could
not be bent by any degree of force.

The woman who by her spells was supposed to have caused
these " possessions," was arrested. Her house was searched,
and several images made of rags and stuffed with goat's-hair,

NEW ENGLAND WITCHCRAFT. 229

were found. These the woman confessed she employed for
the purpose of producing the torments in the children, which
she did by wetting her finger with saliva and stroking 'the
images. The experiment was made in court, to the entire
satisfaction of all concerned. The woman, who was evidently
insane, and probably rendered so by the accusations made
against her, acknowledged that she was in league with the
devil. She was tried, condemned to death, and executed. On
the scaffold she declared that others remained who would carry
on the work of tormenting the children ; and so the calamities
of the victims went on. They barked like dogs, purred like
cats, at times complained that they were in a red-hot oven, and
again that cold water was thrown on them. Then they were
roasted on an invisible spit, and would shriek with agony ;
their heads they said were nailed to the floor, and it was be-
yond ordinary strength to pull them up. They would be so
limber sometimes, that it was judged every bone they had
might be bent, and then so stiff that not a joint could be flexed.
And so the story goes on through several pages of details.
Unseen ropes and chains were put around them, blows were
given, and then the narrator continues, in regard to the eldest
of the children, who was specially under his observation : —

" A Quaker's book being brought to her, she could quietly
read whole pages of it ; only the name of God and Christ she
still skipped over, being unable to pronounce it, except some-
times stammering a minute or two or more over it. And when
we urged her to tell what the word was that she missed, she
would say : ' I must not speak it. They say I must not. You
know what it is. 'Tis G, and O, and D.' But a book against

230 HYSTERIA.

Quakerism they would not allow her to meddle with. Such
books as it might have been profitable and edifying for her to
read, and especially her catechisms, if she did but offer to read
a line in them, she would be cast into hideous convulsions, and
be tossed about the house like a football. But books of jest
being shown her, she could read them well enough, and have
cunning descants upon them. Popish books they would not
hinder her from reading, but they would from books against
popery.

" Divers of these trials were made by many witnesses, but
I, considering that there might be a snare in it, put a season-
able stop to this kind of business. Only I could not but be
amazed at one thing. A certain prayer-book being brought to
her, she not only could read it very well, but also did read a
large part of it over, calling it her Bible, and putting a more
than ordinary respect upon it. If she were going into her tor-
tures, at the tender of this book, she would recover herself
to read it."

Then she rode invisible horses, and continued other pranks,
till at last " one particular minister " (who seems to have
been very negligent heretofore), " taking a peculiar compassion
on the family, set himself to serve them in the methods pre-
scribed by our Lord Jesus Christ. Accordingly, the Lord be-
ing besought thrice in three days of prayer, with fasting, on
this occasion, the family then saw their deliverance perfected."

In the tenth example it is stated that one Winlock Curtis,
a sailor, "was violently and suddenly seized in an unaccount-
able manner, and furiously thrown down upon the deck, where
he lay wallowing in a great agony, and foamed at the mouth,

NEW ENGLAND WITCHCRAFT. 231

and grew black in the face, and was near strangled with a great
lump rising in his neck nigh his throat, like that which be-
witched or possessed people used to be attended withal."
Winlock Curtis clearly had an epileptic fit, and the lump
spoken of was the well-known globus hystericus, which few of
my nervous readers have failed to experience at some time or
other of their lives.

Finally, the epidemic spread with such rapidity, and so
many accused themselves of converse with the devil, that the
common-sense of the people put a stop to further executions.
In the language of Mather, " Experience showed that the
more there were apprehended the more were still afflicted by
Satan, and the number of confessions increasing did but in-
crease the number of the accused ; and the executing of some
made way for the apprehending of others. For still the af-
flicted complained of being tormented by new objects, as
the former were removed. So that those that were concerned
grew amazed at the number and quality of the persons ac-
cused, and feared that Satan by his wiles had enwrapped
innocent persons under the imputation of that crime; and at
last it was evidently seen that there must be a stop put, or
the generation of the children of God would fall under that
condemnation. Henceforth, therefore, the juries generally
acquitted such as were tried, fearing they had gone too far
before, and Sir William Phips, the governor, reprieved all that
were condemned, even the confessors as well as others."

The epidemic, being thus let alone, died a natural death,
as would likewise be the case with the spiritualism of the
present day with similar treatment.

232 HYSTERIA.

The vagaries of the shakers and jumpers of our own coun-
try, and of the whirling dervishes and other sects of the old
world, and the contortions, trances, and beatifications of camp-
meetings and revivals, may also receive a portion of our
attention.

McNemar,* who was an eye witness of what he describes,
but whose book has almost passed out of sight, says of the
Kentucky revival : —

" At first appearance these meetings exhibited nothing to
the spectator but a scene of confusion, that could scarcely be
put into any language. They were generally opened with a
sermon, near the close of which there would be an unusual
outcry, even bursting out into loud ejaculations of prayer, etc.

" The rolling exercise consisted in being cast down in a
violent manner, doubled with the head and feet together, or
stretched in a prostrate manner, turning swiftly over like a dog.
Nothing in nature could better represent the jerks than for one
to goad another alternately on every side with a red-hot iron.
The exercise commonly began in the head, which would fly
backwards and forwards and from side to side with a quick
jolt, which the person would naturally labor to suppress, but
in vain. He must necessarily go on as he was stimulated,
whether with a violent dash on the ground and bounce from
place to place like a foot-ball, hopping round with head, limbs

* The Kentucky Revival ; or, A Short History of the Late Extra-
ordinary Outpouring of the Spirit of God in the Western States of
America, agreeable to Scripture Promises and Prophecies concerning the
Latter Day. With a brief account of the entrance and progress of what
the world calls Shakerism among the subjects of the late revival in Ohio
and Kentucky. Presented to the True Zion Traveller as a Memorial of
the Wilderness Journey. Cincinnati. 1807.

THE JERKERS. 233

and trunk twitching and jolting in every direction, as if they
must inevitably fly asunder."

Lorenzo Dow, in his Journal, states that at one of the
meetings at which he preached, at Knoxville, Tennessee, in
1805, a hundred and fifty persons, among them several qua-
kers, were affected with the "jerks." "I have seen," he says,
" all denominations of religion exercised by the jerks, gentle-
man and lady, black and white, young and old, without ex-
ception. I passed a meeting-house where I observed the un-
dergrowth had been cut down for camp-meetings, and from
fifty to a hundred saplings were left for the people who were
jerked to hold by. I observed where they had held on, they
had kicked up the earth as a horse stamping flies."

Another account of the Kentucky revival is that of Mr.
Geo. A. Baxter,* a man of whom the Rev. Archibald Alex-
ander, President of Hampden Sidney College in Virginia,
says, " I never knew a man in whose judgment in a matter
of this kind I could more confidently rely."

The account states that the people were accustomed to
assemble on sacramental occasions to the number of from
eight to twelve thousand, and to continue on the ground in de-
votional exercises for several days and nights. They were
addressed by several ministers, and presently some of the
audience began to fall down, which at first created some dis-
order, but soon this fall became so general and frequent that
it excited no disturbance. At Cane-Ridge sacrament, it was

it>v

* Quoted by Dr. Brigham from the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine,
Vol. II., in Observations on the Influence of Religion upon the Health.
Boston, 1855, p. 229.

234 HYSTERIA.

general!}7 supposed that not less than one thousand persons
fell prostrate to the ground, and among them many infidels.
At one sacrament at which Mr; Baxter attended, the number
that fell was thought to be over three thousand. It was com-
mon to see the fallers shed tears plentifully for about an hour.
Then they were seized with a general tremor, and sometimes
they uttered, at the moment of falling, piercing shrieks. Some-
times they could not sit up or speak, the pulse became weak
and the breathing very slow. At others, all signs of life left
them, for an hour or more. In many cases the falling was
very sudden ; some would go down as if struck by lightning.
Many infidels and other vicious characters were arrested in
this way, and sometimes at the very moment in which they
were uttering their blasphemies against the work.

On one occasion he says : — " The people, as usual, met on
Friday, but they were all languid, and the exercises went on
heavily. On Saturday and Sunday morning it was no better.
At length the communion service commenced, and everything
was still lifeless. The minister of the place was speaking at
one of the tables without any unusual liberty. All at once
there were several shrieks from different parts of the assem-
bly. Persons fell instantly in every direction. The feelings
of the hearers were suddenly relieved, and the work went on
with extraordinary power from that time to the conclusion of
the solemnity."

And all this was called " The outpouring of the Holy
Spirit ! "

Some ministers were then, as now, more potent to convert
than others. Thus, one of the most gifted in this respect, at

REV. MR. WESLEY'S MINISTRATIONS. 235

least in his own estimation, was the Rev. Mr. Foote * who says,
" Most ministers, I suppose, do not expect to convert a hundred
souls in all their lives ; but though I am a poor creature, I
should not think I did anything unless I converted two
thousand or two thousand five hundred a year."

In England, like performances resulted from the ministra-
tions of Mr. Wesley, and are thus described in his Journal :

" Sunday, May 20, being with Mr. B— 11, at Everton, I was
much fatigued and did not rise, but Mrs. B did, and ob-
served many fainting and crying out, while Mr. Berridge was
preaching ; afterwards, at church, I heard many cry out, espe-
cially children, whose agonies were amazing ; one of the old-
est, a girl of ten or twelve years old, was full in my view, in
violent contortions of body, and weeping aloud, I think, inces-
santly during the whole service ; and several much younger
children were in Mr. B — IPs full view, agonizing as they did.
The church was equally crowded in the afternoon, the windows
being filled within and without, and even the outside of the

pulpit to the very top, so that Mr. B seemed almost stifled

with their breath ; yet feeble and sickly as he is, he was con-
tinually strengthened, and his voice, for the most part, dis-
tinguishable in the midst of all the outcries. I believe there
were present three times more men than women, a greater part
of whom came from afar • thirty of them having set out at two
in the morning, from a place thirteen miles off. The text was :
' Having a fear of godliness but denying the power thereof?
When the power of religion began to be spoken of, the pres-

*" Account of the Seven Protracted Meetings in Berkshire Co.,
Mass." By the Rev. D. D. Field, of Stockbridge. Boston Recorder, April
3, 1835, cited bv Brigham, op. cit, p. 242.

236 HYSTERIA.

ence of God really filled the place; and while poor sinners
felt the sentence of death in their souls, what sounds of distress
did I hear ! The greatest number of those who cried or fell,
were men j but some women and several children felt the
power of the same almighty spirit, and seemed just sinking
into hell. This occasioned a mixture of various sounds ; some
shrieking, some roaring aloud. The most general was a loud
breathing like that of people half strangled and gasping for
life ; and, indeed, almost all the cries were like those of human
creatures dying in bitter anguish. Great numbers wept with-
out any noise • others fell down as dead ; some sinking in si-
lence ; some with extreme noise and violent agitation. I stood
on the pew seat, as did a young man on the opposite pewr, an
able-bodied, fresh, healthy countryman ; but in a moment,
while he seemed to think of nothing less, down he dropped
with a violence inconceivable. The adjoining pew seemed to
shake with his fall. I heard afterwards the stamping of his
feet \ ready to break the boards as he lay in strong convulsions
at the bottom of the pew. Among several that were struck
down in the next pew, was a girl who was as violently seized
as he. When he fell, Mr. B — 11 and I felt our souls thrilled with
a momentary dread ; as when one man is killed with a cannon-
ball another often feels the wind of it.

" Among the children who felt the arrows of the Almighty,
I saw a sturdy boy about eight years old, who roared above his
fellows, and seemed, in his agony, to struggle with the strength
of a grown man. His face was red as scarlet, and almost all on
whom God laid his hand, turned either very red or almost black.
When I returned after a little walk to Mr. Berridge's house, I

REV. MR. WESLEY'S MINISTRATIONS. 237

found it full of people. He was fatigued, but said he would
nevertheless give them a word of exhortation. I stayed in the
next room and saw the girl whom I had observed so peculiarly
distressed in the church, lying on the floor as one dead, but
without any ghastliness in her face. In a few minutes we were
informed of a woman filled with peace and joy, who was cry-
ing out just before. She had come thirteen miles, and is the

same person who dreamed Mr. B would come to her

village on that very day whereon he did come, though without
either knowing the place or the way to it. She was convinced
at that time. Just as we heard of her deliverance, the girl on
the floor began to stir. She was then set on a chair ; and
after sighing awhile, suddenly rose up rejoicing in God. Her
face was covered with the most beautiful smile I ever saw.
She frequently fell on her knees but was generally running to
and fro, speaking these and the like words: ' Oh, what can
Jesus do for lost sinners ? He has forgiven all my sins ! I am
in heaven ! I am in heaven ! Oh, how he loves me I And
how I love him ! ' Meantime, I saw a thin, pale girl, weeping
with sorrow for herself and joy for her companion. Quickly
the smiles of heaven came likewise on her, and her praises
joined with those of the other. I also then laughed with ex-
treme joy, so did Mr. B — 11 (who said it was more than he
could well bear). So did all who knew the Lord, and some of
those who were waiting for salvation, till the cries of those who
were struck with the arrows of conviction, were almost lost in
the sounds of joy. # # * # ♦

" Immediately after a stranger, well dressed, who stood
facing me, fell backward to the wall ; then forward on his

238 HYSTERIA.

knees, wringing his hands and roaring like a bull. His face at
first turned quite red and then almost black. He rose and
ran against the wall, till Mr. Keeling and another held him.
He screamed out, ' Oh, what shall I do, what shall I do ? Oh, for
one drop of the blood of Christ ! ' As he spoke, God set his
soul at liberty ; he knew his sins were blotted out ; and the
raptures he was in seemed too great for human nature to bear.

He had come forty miles to hear Mr. B , and was to leave

the next morning ; which he did with a glad heart, telling all
who came in his way, what God had done for his soul. # * *

" And now did I see such a sight as I do not expect again
on this side eternity. The faces of the three justified children,
and I think of all the believers present, did really shine ; and
such a beauty, such a look of extreme happiness and at the
same time of divine love and simplicity, did I never see in hu-
man faces till now. The newly justified eagerly embraced one
another, weeping on each other's necks for joy. Then they
saluted all of their own sex and besought men and women to
help them in praising God."

On the 24th, Mr. Wesley went to hear Mr. Hicks preach at
Wrestlingworth, and thus describes what ensued :

" While he was preaching, fifteen or sixteen persons felt
the arrows of the Lord and dropped down. A few of these
cried out with the utmost violence, and little intermission for
some hours, while the rest made no great noise but continued
struggling as in the pangs of death. I observed besides them,
one little girl deeply convinced, and a boy nine or ten years
old, both of them, and several others, when carried into the par-
sonage house, either lay as dead or struggled with all their

SHAKERISM. 239

might, but in a short time their cries increased beyond meas-
ure, so that the loudest singing could scarcely be heard. Some
at last called on me to pray, which I did, and for a time all
were calm ; but the storm soon began again."

This is not all. There is a great deal more to the same
effect, and were it not that there is such a condition as hysteria,
we should be disposed to take the other alternative of de-
moniacal possession, as an explanation of the frightful orgies,
which under the blasphemous designation of the "outpouring
of the spirit of God," excelled in hideousness the frenzies of
the demonolaters of the East.

Hysteria from any other cause is marked by exactly such
phenomena — the emotional disturbance, the falling, the loss of
consciousness, the spasms, convulsions, coma, are all so many
symptoms which physicians see every day arise from very dif-
ferent factors than the "spirit of God." The well-known force
of contagion by example, has no more marked exponent than
hysteria affords, and hence, when one began to sob, and to be
convulsed, to cry out in agony and to fall in a coma, the spark
was set to the train, and the others with pent-up emotions,
were ready to do likewise.

But the relations of hysteria to religion have never been
more distinctly shown than in the fact that women under its
influence, have been able to gather numerous followers and ac-
tually to originate new religious faiths, of such preposterous
tenets and practices, as to inevitably lead to the conclusion
that the adherents are either fools or knaves.

Take for instance, the shakers. This sect professes to be-
lieve that Christ made his second appearance on earth in the

24o HYSTERIA.

person of one Ann Lee, an Englishwoman, daughter of James
Lee, a blacksmith of Manchester, England. This woman was
employed in a hat manufactory, was married when very young,
and had four or five children all of whom died in infancy. At
a very early period of her life, Ann Lee began to feel the
" awful sinfulness of sin and the depth of man's fall." Al-
though she could neither read nor write, she managed to pick
up from others a little smattering of the Bible, and evinced a
great interest in the Apocrypha, as was natural she should,
under the peculiar circumstances of her career. She always
said the Apocrypha was the cream of the Bible.

Night and dav she labored to discover the root of all evil,
and being convinced beyond a doubt where it lay, she opened
a flaming testimony against it, which called down upon her
head showers of persecutions, too cruel for long endurance.
But many adopted her views and she was called " mother," as
the head of the band of followers she had gathered around
her.

By continual fasting and prayer, much agony of soul, inces-
sant cries, tears and entreaties by day and by night, she wasted
away, till becoming helpless, her followers were under the ne-
cessity of taking her in their arms as an infant. It is said she
was fed with pap from a spoon, the greater portion of the time
during which she was travailing in the "New Birth." She tra-
vailed nine years in this way, and then she announced that she
was born again " completely redeemed from all the propensi-
ties of a fallen nature, in July, 1790." She then separated from
her husband and was duly regarded as the second Christ — «
the Redeemer of the world.

SHAKERISM. 241

Like all new religions, this met with violent persecution —
not enough to crush it, just enough to feed it. In every place
in England in which Mother Ann undertook to worship God
by dancing on Sunday and preaching against the institution of
marriage, persecution was excited ; but she bore up against it
and her followers increased.

As in the case of other originators of religious dogmas,
which do not admit of proof, Mother Ann began to work mira-
cles for the confusion of the unbelievers, and the strengthening
of the convictions of the faithful.

Thus we are told she was dragged before the magistrates,
for no other offence than worshipping God in the way laid
down by herself, and was condemned to a cold, dark prison,
with a small allowance of bread and water ; yet she lived, to
the great astonishment and confusion of her enemies. After
being confined in this dark prison, in delicate health, and with
insufficient food, the doors were thrown open, and thousands
of spectators in breathless anxiety awaited the egress of an
emaciated and subdued woman, supported by one of her fol-
lowers ; but to their great astonishment Mother Ann came
forth in unsurpassed beauty, with an air of dignified buoyancy,
a halo of glory around her head, singing a song of paradise
given her by an angel who attended her in the prison, and who
had fed her with food sent by the Eternal Mother. For the
Shakers worship a quadruple God, consisting of the Eternal
Father, the Eternal Mother, the Son and Holy Ghost, corres-
ponding to Power, Mother Ann, Jesus Christ and Wisdom.

This miraculous event so incensed the people that she was

taken, with her followers, to a valley a short distance from

11

242 HYSTERIA.

Manchester. The mob collected on a hill near by, and com-
menced a furious attack on them with stones and other missiles.
These projectiles flew with tremendous velocity till within a
few inches of their object, and then fell harmless to the ground.
Mother Ann saw a circle of power of God around about them
like a high wall.

Then they determined to leave a country where they met
with so little appreciation, and so set sail for America. On
the voyage Mother Ann stilled a raging tempest, and kept the (
sea calm till they landed. She died in a few years, and took
her place in heaven, to be worshipped as a member of the
Godhead.*

The religious ceremonial of these degraded creatures has no
one redeeming feature about it. The demonolatrous worship
of the Hindoos has an object — the propitiation of a powerful
being — but the shaker ritual is abjectly degrading to human
nature, without even the excuse of adoration.

There are many among them who profess to see God, Christ
and Mother Ann. They are taken to the spiritual world and
introduced to good spirits, where they often sit at table with
the Godhead. At their meetings, some one called the visionist
directs the proceedings. Standing at the head of the room,
this person, who professes to see God, Christ or Mother Ann,
and to be in communion with them, gives his orders to the
assembled people. He calls on one to step forth and shake.
The victim comes forward, drops his or her hands to the side,

* This account, as well as what follows, is quoted in an abridged form
from " Extract from an Unpublished Manuscript on Shaker History ; by an
Eye Witness." Boston, 1850.

SHAKERISM. 243

and begins shaking the whole body and stamping with the feet,
while the visionist calls out at the top of his voice " Shake !
Shake ! Shake ! There is a great spirit on you, shake him
off ! shake him off ! Christ says, shake him off ! " Another
then takes up the cry : " Down ! clown ! come down ! Christ
says, come down ! Low ! low ! low ! " At which every person
in the room bends and bows like willows in a high wind.
Sometimes one of the gifted, will see the devil come into the
meeting, and, like a faithful sentinel, gives the alarm, when
every true believer opens the battery at once by drawing the
right arm nearly to the chin, placing the arm in the position as
if to shoot, and then straightening the body out with a jerk and
a stamp of the foot, accompanied by a quick bursting yelp in
imitation of a gun, all being' the work of a moment. " There,"
says the visionist, " see him dart ; he has gone down towards
the chimney ; shoot him ! shoot him ! kill him ! " and a rush
is made for spiritual weapons, given by the visionist from the
spiritual armory.

Sometimes Christ or Mother Ann enters the meeting-room,
bearing such presents as the band wants. These presents are
" spiritual," and are handed round by Christ to the faithful,
who receive them as though they were real gifts. To one
golden potatoes are given ; to another, oranges ; to others, cake,
puddings, jellies, etc., with various other things not known to
this world.

Mother Ann has a splendid vineyard ; the walks are of pure
gold, with angels walking around among the vines. There are
ten thousand kinds of grapes. Mother Ann superintends her
own wine press, and often brings wine (" spiritual " again) as

244 HYSTERIA.

a present. The visionist pretends to take a waiter filled with
wine-glasses ; every body must have faith, and take one as it is
handed to them. Those who have little or no faith are told by
the visionist whether they have taken theirs. Then they all
raise their hands to their lips as in the act of drinking, and
presently they begin to reel and stagger around the room as
though actually drunk. Indeed, they act in all respects as
drunken persons, stamping, shaking, vomiting, etc., till finally,
exhausted, they gradually sink away till all is silent. Then,
standing in a circle, they throw their handkerchiefs over their
shoulders, raise their hands to their heads, and make six solemn
bows, saying with each, " I kindly thank Mother for this
beautiful gift."

Often some one will feel a " laughing gift," and will begin
with — he, he, he ; ha, ha, ha ; ho, ho, ho. Another takes it up,
and soon all in the room are engaged in boisterous laughter.
Once under full "laughing gift," they will hold on to their
sides and reel in their chairs till they become exhausted. This
gift ends in a song :

Ho, ho, ho ; he, he, he ;

O, what a pretty little path I see :

Pretty path, pretty play,

Pretty little angels,

Hay, hay, hay.

The first and last lines are sung with a loud laugh.

A gift sometimes called the " mortification gift " enters the
room. One might suppose it came direct from the barn-yard,
as the inspired begin slapping their hands against their sides
and crowing in imitation of a chicken-cock. Some will cackle,
others imitate the turkey, duck, hen, goose, or guinea-fowl.

SHAKERISM. 245

Sometimes young men and women are exercised by what
they call the " jerks," for two weeks at a time, during the whole
of which period the head is kept in continual motion by quick,
convulsive motions of the shoulders and neck. The author of
the little book from which these particulars are quoted says she
once saw a young woman whose face was frightfully swollen,
her eyes dilated and bloodshot, and who had been exercised by
the " jerks " for three weeks. Directly after the "jerks" she
began to talk in unknown tongues, and continued at short in-
tervals for three or four clays ; then she stopped suddenly, and
remained entirely mute for two weeks, no possible persuasion
being sufficient to make her say even yes or no. This expe-
rience is called the " dumb devils."

" At one time," she writes, " while in a mission meeting, the
visionist said ' Vicalun ' was present. I was told that ' Vica-
lun ' was the angel of repentance, and he had come to visit me,
if I would ' own the gift.' I informed the visionist that I felt
honored by the notice.

" They then sang a very solemn song in ' unknown tongues '
and English, called ' Vicalun's Prayer,' reading thus: —

' Hark ! hark ! my holy, holy,
Vicalun seelen sor,
I have come to mourn
And weep with you
In low humiliation;
Pray to the silun sool,
Whose hand can stay the billows,
And san si rulun sool.'

" I cannot do justice to these songs by writing them. The
spiritual gifts are never set to music. They have some excel-
lent songs, however, and very difficult to execute correctly.

246 HYSTERIA.

The song just quoted has a variety of changes, accompanied
by the following motions : At the first line the head is inclined
forward, with the forefinger pointing to the right ear, as in the
act of listening. At the third line the hands are brought for-
ward with an earnest beckoning motion. At the fourth line
the hands are carried to the eyes as in the act of weeping, the
body gradually bending till it sinks ori the knees and the face
touches the floor at the close of the fifth line. At the com-
mencement of the sixth line both hands are brought up to the
side of the head as in prayer ; at the seventh the right hand is
thrown convulsively upward ; at the word ' Vicalun ' both hands
are extended wide. At the last line, and at the last word, they
are clasped over the heart. The last four lines are repeated
twice. Appropriate motions accompany all songs sung by
them."

Now, can any person not utterly lost to all sense of the dig-
nity of the human species think of these things without doubting
the sanity of those who practise them ? In what essential
respect do these acts differ from those of the demon olaters, as
described by Caldwell ? * A devil has been angered, and must
be propitiated.

" Beat the tom-tom louder. Let the fattest sheep be offered
as a propitiation ! Let the horns blaze out as the priest rolls
about in the giddy dance, and gashes himself in his frenzy.
More fire ! Quicker music ! Wilder bounds from the devil-
dancers ! Shrieks and laughter, and sobs, and frantic shouts !
And over the long, lone valley, and up the bouldered mountain-
side, under the wan moon, thrills out loud and savage and

* "Demonolatry, Devil-Dancing, and Demoniacal Possession." The
Contemporary R.view, Feb., 1876.

DE VIL-DANCING. 247

shrill, the wild, tremulous wailing of women and yells of mad-
dened men. ' Ha, ha ! I am God ! God ! The God is in me,
and shrieks ! Come, hasten, tell me all! I will solace you,
cure you ! God is in me, and I am God ! Hack and slaugh-
ter ! The blood of the sacrifice is sweet ! Another fowl !
Another goat ! Quick, I am athirst for blood ! Obey your
God ! ' Such are the words which hoarsely burst from the
frothing lips of the devil-dancer, as he bounds and leaps and
gyrates, with short, sharp cries, and red eyes almost starting
from their sockets."

Mr. Caldwell appears to believe that the devil-dancers are
in reality, as they believe, possessed by demons. What would
he say if present at some such shaker gatherings as have been
described ? He and others may believe in possession, but those
who know how low the majesty of the human mind can fall, and
what strange and degraded acts, hysteria and hysteroid affec
tions lead their subjects to commit, will see only in spiritualism,
shakerism, camp-meetings, devil-dancing, and their congeners,
fresh reasons to doubt the existence of any very broad line of
demarkation between man and the rest of the animal kingdom.

Mr. Wesley, had he been present at a shaker meeting,
would doubtless have seen little of the " outpouring of the spirit
of God " in their acts. He would probably have regarded the
performers as possessed by evil spirits and as mocking the God
they pretended to please. But " heterodoxy is your doxy, or-
thodoxy is my doxy," the world over. This is what the
shakers think of him.

il After singing this prayer, the young prophet rose from his
seat and approached me saying, " Will you hear what the spirit

248 JOANNA SOUTHCOTT.

has to say to you ? ' I answered, yes. He then returned to his
seat and commenced bowing his head as is the custom in the
opening of a 'gift,' and said, ' O, look there and see that great
spirit ! He has got a large rope in his hand and it is tied
around your waist; and O look ! there is another on the other
side, he has got a rope around your waist. There ! see him
pull you.' I asked him who these spirits were. ' Why,' said
-ire, ' Christ says, the one on your left side is John Wesley, and
the other on your right side is John Murray. First you incline
to the one and then to the other. But oh look, there is an aw-
ful spirit ! He has got a great iron chain around both these
men. O mother, do tell us who that awful spirit is ! ' After a
moment's pause, he exclaimed, ' Why it is the devil ! so you
see, let you go to either of these men, you will go to the devil,
for he has them both.' I asked him why I did not go if Mur-
ray, Wesley and the Devil had united their forces to draw me
with cable ropes and iron chains ? The young man sat a mo-
ment and then said, ' Oh, I see it all now ; there is a beautiful
spirit all light and glory, right behind you. Dear, good spirit,
do tell me what you are, so very glorious ? Why now I know,
it is our blessed mother, and she has got a splendid gold chain
around your waist, holding your arm, so you had better let
methodism and universalism alone, and cheat the devil by
being a good child of mother's kingdom.' "

Again, there is the remarkable example of Joanna
Southcott, who announcing that she had conceived by super-
natural agency and was about to give birth to a second Christ,
or rather that Christ was to be born again through her, ob-
tained many followers who anxiously expected the promised

HYSTERIA. 249

advent. She called herself the woman spoken of in the Revela-
tion of St. John, as the " Bride, the Lamb's Wife clothed with
the sun," as she said,* " by types, shadows, dreams and visions,
I have been led on from 1792 to the present day."

Day and night she had hallucinations or visions, as she
called them, which she accepted as realities, and which formed
the basis of her prophecies and system of religion. Meetings
were held to inquire into the truth of her pretensions, and at
once a court was organized and a trial instituted. The result
was that she was accepted for all she claimed to be, as the
document was published, worded as follows :

" We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, being invited
by divine command for seven days to the examination of Jo-
anna Southcote, do individually and voluntarily avow by our
separate signatures, our firm belief that her prophecies and
other spiritual communications, emanate wholly and entirely
from the Spirit of the living Lord."

And among the names subscribed to this precious instru-
ment of human folly, are those of several of the clergy !

She was subject to paroxsyms of weeping, to trances and
convulsions of a hysterical character. She often saw and con-
versed with the devil, and his satanic majesty did not hesitate
to abuse and threaten her in language scarce fit for polite ears.

" Thou infamous ," said Satan, enraged at the opposition he

met with, " thou hast been flattering God that He may stand thy
friend ! Such low cunning I despise ! Thou scheming wretch,

*" The Strange Effects of Faith with Remarkable Prophecies (made in
1792, etc.) of Things which are to come; also, Some Account of My Life."
Printed for the author. Exeter, 1801. p. 16.

II*

250 JOANNA SOUTHCOTT.

stop thy eternal tongue ! God has done something to

choose a of a woman that will argue down the devil and

scarce give him room to speak." #

On other occasions she was visited by Christ. It is pain-
ful to be obliged to refer to such events, but it must be remem-
bered that this woman was sincere, actually believing in the
reality of all she imagined she saw, and thousands of others
drinking in as truth, every word that fell from her lips or pen.

"Who," says the author from whom I have just quoted,
" can peruse the account of the following vision, for example,
related by Miss Townley in the pamphlet entitled ' Letters and
Communications of Joanna Southcott,' and not be staggered
at the disclosure of such scenes ? Monday evening, July
2d, 1804, it seems that Joanna tried to compose herself after a
hard contest with the devil, when " at last she fell asleep, and
whether awake or asleep," continues Miss Townley, " she does
not know, but she remembers she wras quite awake when
she felt the hand of the Lord upon her, but in that heavenly
and beautiful manner, that she felt joy unspeakable and full of
glory. She felt herself lying as it were, in heaven, in the
hands of the Lord, and was afraid to move fearing she should
remove his heavenly hand, which she felt as perfect as ever
woman felt the hand of her husband." Here the " Lamb's Wife "
herself, takes up the tale. 'In this happy manner,' affirms

* Memoirs of the Life and Mission of Joanna Southcott, interspersed
with authentic anecdotes and elucidated by interesting documents ; includ-
ing the Progress of her Pregnancy, detailed by Herself, together with the
opinions of Drs. Reece and Sims, to which is added a Sketch of the Rev. W.
Tozer, M.J. S., embellished with a likeness of the Prophetess. London,
1814, p. 15.

HYSTERIA. 251

Joanna, ' I fell asleep, and in my sleep I was surprised with
seeing a most beautiful and heavenly figure that arose from the
bed between Townley and me. He arose and turned himself
backwards towards the foot of the bed, and his head almost
.reached the tester of the bed, but his face was towards me,
which appeared with beauty and majesty, but pale as death.
His hair was a flaxen color, all in disorder around his face.
His face was covered with strong perspiration and his locks
were wet like the dew of night, as though they had been taken
out of a river. The collar of his shirt appeared unbuttoned,
and the skin of his bosom appeared white as the driven snow.
Such was the beauty of the heavenly figure that appeared be-
fore me in a disordered state ; but the robe he had on was like
a surplice down to his knees. He put out one of his legs to
me, that was perfectly like mine, no larger, but with purple
spots at the top, as mine are with beating myself, which Town-
ley, Underwood, and Taylor, are witnesses of. Methought in
my dream, he got himself into that perspiration by being
pressed to sleep between Townley and me. I said to him,
' are you my dear dying Saviour that is come to destroy all the
works of the devil ? ' He answered, ' Yes.' I thought I called
Underwood and waked Townley, to look at him, which they
did with wonder and amaze."

Such sexual orgasms were frequently misinterpreted by
the mystical women of the middle ages, into acts of intercourse
with angels and members of the Godhead, so that Joanna's
experience was not isolated.

Then, when in her sixty-fifth year, she gave out that her
pregnancy had at last occurred, and that Christ would be born

252 JOANNA SOUTHCOTT.

again of her, several medical men examined her and certified
that she was actually pregnant. But a Dr. Sims took another
view of the case, and gave his views at length, for arriving at a
contrary opinion.

Nevertheless, the faithful continued to believe. A crib of
satin wood, mounted in gold, was provided for the heavenly
infant. This was called "the manger." - Bed-clothing of the
finest linen, lace, satin and silk, embroidered with doves and
trimmed with gold lace, was supplied, and the bed was of eider-
down. The whole cost upwards of two hundred pounds.

The time arrived, her adherents waited patiently, but there
was no birth. Excuses were made, and the number of her
followers scarcely diminished during her lifetime.

It is hardly credible that human folly can reach to such ex-
tremes, as it is shown to have attained in the development of
Shakerism and the delusions of Joanna Southcote. We shall,
however, see that there are still lower depths. That Spiritual-
ism, therefore, should have its adherents, need excite no sur-
prise. A little inquiry into the operations of the human mind,
as they relate to matters of faith, is sufficient to reveal to us
the fact that the extent of human credulity is illimitable, and
that nothing can be asserted so absurd, so degrading, so blas-
phemous, so impossible, that there will not be found men and
women with minds badly enough organized, to accept it as an
article of belief.

In a recent work,* which certainly may be regarded as good

* Modern American Spiritualism ; a Twenty Years Record of the Com-
munion between Earth and Heaven. By Emma Hardinge. Second Edi-
tion. New York, 1870, p. 159.

HYSTERIA. 253

spiritualistic authority, there is an account of a medium who
was by turns under the influence of a good spirit called,
* Katy,' and of a bad one whom she asserted to be a 'sailor
boy.' This latter, took great delight in swearing through her
and in uttering such profane language as he had been accus-
tomed to on earth. Many manifestations of the power of these
spirits were given :

"About 1846, a most singular and distressing phase of
these phenomena was superadded to the rest, under what
claimed to be the influence of the profane sailor. The girl's
limbs in several directions, would be thrown out of joint and
that with apparent ease, in a moment and without pain. To
replace them seemed to be either beyond the power or the will
of her invisible tormentor, and Dr. Larkin, (a weak minded
man, whose servant she was) though an experienced surgeon,
was often obliged to call in the aid of his professional brethren,
and his or their strong assistants.

" On one occasion the knees and wrists of the girl were
thrown out of joint, twice in a single day. Those painful feats
were always accompanied by loud laughter, hoarse and profane
jokes, and expressions of exultant delight, purporting to come
from the sailor, while the girl herself seemed wholly uncon-
scious of the danger of her awkward situation. The preter-
natural feats of agility and strength exhibited on these
occasions could scarcely be credited, and the frightfully
unnatural contortions of the limbs with which she became tied
up into knots and coils, baffle all physiological explanation or
attempts at description.

This last statement arises from Mrs. Hardinge's ignorance of

254 MODERN NECROMANCY.

the capacities of hysteria. Can any body familiar with its va-
garies doubt for an instant that this girl was suffering from it,
and that her condition was aggravated by the notoriety which
she gained by her performances ? In what respect do these
so-called spiritualistic exhibitors differ from those which have
been cited, and, except in being less strongly marked, from
those to which attention will be asked in the following chapter.

But though we can deplore the ignorance of those who be-
lieved this girl to be possessed by two spirits, what are we to
think of the lamentable darkness in which certain of her neigh-
bours seemed to have lived. Mrs. Hardinge* makes the state-
ment that the Rev. Horace James, one of the ministers of
Wrentham in the year 1849, anc^ an unceasing slanderer and
persecutor of Dr. Larkin, summoned three magistrates, who,
together with a few persons of the place, inimical to the
manifestations, constituted a judicial court, before which Dr.
Larkin was cited to appear, and on authority of which the un-
fortunate sick girl was dragged from her bed and arrested on
the charge of " necromancy ! "

In this notable case the Rev. Horace James, according to
Mrs. Hardinge, appeared as complainant, chief witness, and
even judge.

" If," says Mrs. Hardinge, " the details of this unheard of
court of justice should seem to draw too largely on the credulity
of nineteenth century readers, if it seems impossible to believe-
that in 1849 a P°or sick girl could be dragged from her bed on
the charge of ' necromancy,' and a respectable physician hauled
before a court of his own neighbors on a charge of sorcery, let

* Op. cit., p. 162.

HYSTERIA. 255

the sequel speak for itself. Mary Jane was convicted on this
charge and and actually sentenced to sixty days' confinement
in Dedham jail : witness the Dedham jail records in the State
of Massachusetts."

This seems almost incredible, but the account is circum-
stantial, and has never, to my knowledge, been denied.

From the same volume* the following account is taken : —

" Four badly-educated girls, of ages ranging from fifteen to
twenty, having gathered together at a friend's house to have a
time with the spirits, or, in other words, to trifle with spiritual
manifestations, seated themselves around a table, and after
asking all manner of foolish questions, requested the spirits to
lay hold of them.

" The spirits at once complied, seized them, treated them in
the roughest manner, and, shaking them, caused them to use
the most violent actions and outrageous language, etc. In this
strait one of the dignitaries of the mother church was sent for
in haste to ' expel the obsessing demons.' After the priest had
arrived at the scene of disorder, he put on his robes, got ready
the holy water, and approached the possessed girls in the due
formulae proper to such occasions. After many sallies with the
holy fluid, and a vast number of incantations, none of which
produced the slightest effect, the mediums at length charged
upon him with such irresistible power and such capacity of
finger-nails, that the worthy padre fled precipitately, leaving the
field in possession of the ' demons ' and the spectators who had
gathered together to witness the 'exorcism.' The girls still
continued to be used roughly, by the discordant spirits they

*Op. cit., p. 271.

256 SPIRITUALISTIC CHOREA.

had invoked, until the arrival of some of their spiritualistic
friends, by whose judicious passes and gentle remonstrances
with the spirits, they were instantly relieved."

That these " silly, badly-educated girls " were simply hys-
terical, no one with even a superficial acquaintance with the
normal condition of the nervous system, and the aberrations to
which it may be subjected, can entertain the slightest doubt.
It is from just such persons as these that the best mediums are
obtained. That such phenomena as they and the girl whose
case was previously quoted, exhibited are regarded as spiritual-
istic, is sufficient of itself to throw discredit on all the other
alleged manifestations of the spirits." " Falsum in uno,falsum
in omnibus."

At most of the spiritualistic meetings which the writer has
attended there have been hysterical phenomena manifested by
some of the men and women participating in the exercises. At
a recent public exhibition of the kind he predicted, from their
personal appearance, with perfect accuracy who of those assist-
ing would be thus affected. The symptoms of disordered ner-
vous action which the audience was invited to consider proofs
of spiritual agency consisted of incoherent utterances and con-
vulsive movements of the head, arms, and legs. In one case
these symptoms became permanent for several months ; a well-
developed case of chorea, or St. Vitus's dance was thus
established. The patient finally came under the writer's care,
and was only cured by the persistent administration of iron and
strychnine — medicines which, with good food and fresh air,
appear to possess more exorcising power than the formulae of
the good priest mentioned by Mrs. Hardinge.

HYSTERIA. 257

In hysteria, hallucinations of the several senses are very-
common. Attention has already been directed to the fact that
they may be produced by an excessive amount of blood circu-
lating through the brain. Hysteria is always accompanied by
an anaamic condition of the brain, and hence we have an illus-
tration of the well-known fact that opposite pathological states
may give rise to similar sets of symptoms. It frequently hap-
pens that, just before death from exhausting diseases, the brain,
enfeebled with the other organs of the body, is deceived by
hallucinations of sight and hearing.

The records of spiritualism abound with instances of spirits
being seen by the faithful, and many of the cases are to be re-
ferred to the existence of hysteria. * From among numerous
similar examples which have come under the professional care
or observation of the writer, the following are adduced : —

A young lady gave very decided evidence of suffering from
mental aberration. She had imbibed the delusion that she had
a " double," whom she saw almost constantly, and with whom
she conversed whenever she pleased. At first she had been very
much frightened, but gradually had become accustomed to her
imaginary companion, and was lonesome and uncomfortable
without her. There was no other well-marked delusion, though
some of her absurd fancies partook more or less of that charac-
ter. Headache was almost an inseparable symptom, as was like-
wise pain in the back, nausea, and constipation. Her menstrual
function was deranged, and her whole aspect was that of a

* For a very philosophical account of hallucinations due to slight cere-
bral disturbance, the reader is referred to " An Essay toward a Theory ot
Apparitions," by John Ferriar, M.D. London, 18 13.

258 HYSTERICAL HALLUCINATIONS.

person whose physical powers were below par. Strychnia,
iron, and whiskey, and a full, nutritious diet, were not long in
banishing her delusional visitor, and in otherwise restoring her

health.

A married lady consulted the writer for advice regarding
hallucinations of sight and hearing, with which she had suffered
for several months. It was only necessary for her to think of
some particular person, living or dead, when she immediately
saw the image of the person thought of, who spoke to her,
laughed, wept, walked about the room, or did whatever other
thing she imagined. In fact, to such an extent had her pro-
clivity reached, that it was often impossible for her to avoid
thinking of persons, and immediately having their figures
brought to her perception.

At first she religiously beliered in the reality of her visions,
and that she really saw the spirits of the various individuals of
whom she happened to think. But, as the hallucinations be-
came more common, she lost her faith, and ascribed them to
their true cause — disease. Upon examination, I found that she
was preeminently of an hysterical type of organization, and was
then laboring under other symptoms of its presence, besides the
hallucinations. Thus she had hysterical paralysis of motion
and sensation in the right leg, to such an extent that she could
neither move it, nor feel a pin thrust through the skin ; there
was occasional loss of voice and of the power of speech, and
tonic contractions of various muscles, especially of those of the
fingers and toes. Her pulse was small and weak, her bowels
obstinately constipated, her appetite capricious, and her com-
plexion pale. Not the least of her afflictions was an almost

HYSTERIA.

259

perpetual headache. Under a suitable hygienic and medicinal
treatment, this lady entirely recovered.

A young lady, whom I saw at Bridgeport, Connecticut, in
consultation with my friends Drs. Hubbard and Ohnesorg, had
hallucinations of sight, in conjunction with other symptoms of
the hysterical condition.

Another, whom I visited in consultation with my friend Dr.
Blakeman, of this city, constantly saw a man, armed with a gun,
whom she called Peter, and with whom she carried on a con-
versation. She described him in detail, and tried to make
others see him.

Another young lady, in regard to whom I was not long
since consulted, was subject to fallings like those described by
Mr. Wesley, convulsions and trances, during which she had
visions of various kinds, as the result of emotional disturbance
of even the slightest description. Upon one occasion she lay in a
trance for seventeen hours, because a dress which had been made
for her was not trimmed exactly to her liking ; and on another had
a violent epileptiform convulsion, during which she foamed at
the mouth, because a novel she was reading turned out dif-
ferently from her expectations.

Occasionally persons have the power of voluntarily pro-
ducing hallucinations of various kinds — a practice fraught with
danger, for the time comes, sooner or later, in which they can-
not get rid of their false perceptions. Goethe states that he
had the power of giving form to the images passing before his
mind, and on one occasion saw his own figure approaching him.
Abercrombie* refers to the case of a gentleman who had all

* Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers, and the Investigation
of Truth. Tenth edition. London, 1840, pp. 380.

2 60 VOL UNTAR V HALL UCLNA TIONS.

his life been affected by the appearance of spectral figures. To
such an extent did this peculiarity exist, that, if he met a friend
in the street, he could not at first satisfy himself whether he
saw the real or the spectral figure. By close attention he was
able to perceive that the outline of the false was not quite so
distinct as that of the real figure, but generally he used other
.means, such as touch or speech, or listening for the footsteps,
to verify his visual impressions. He had also the power of
calling up spectral figures at will, by directing his attention
steadily to the conceptions of his own mind ; and this either
.consisted of a figure or a scene he had witnessed, or a compo-
sition created by his imagination. But though he had the
faculty of producing hallucinations, he had no power of banish-
ing them, and, when he had once called up any particular per-
son or scene, he could never say how long it might continue to
haunt him. This gentleman was in the prime of life, of sound
mind, in good health, and engaged in business. His brother
was similarly affected.

Several like cases have come under the professional obser-
vation of the author. In one, the power was directly the result
of attendance at spiritual meetings, and of the efforts made
to become a good " medium." The patient, a lady, was of
a very impressionable temperament, and was consequently
well-disposed to acquire the dangerous faculty in question.
At first she thought very deeply of some particular person,
whose image she endeavored to form in her mind. Then she
assumed that the person was really present, and she address-
ed conversation to him, at the same time keeping the ideal-
istic image in her thoughts. At this period she was not de-

HYSTERIA. 261

ceived, for she clearly recognized the fact that the image was
not present.

One day, however, she was thinking very intently of her
mother, and picturing to herself her appearance as she looked
when dressed for church, on a particular occasion. She was
reading a book at the time, and, happening to raise her eyes,
she saw her mother standing before her, clothed exactly as she
had imagined her. At first she was somewhat startled, and in
her agitation closed her eyes with her hands. To her surprise
she still saw the phantom, but yet, not being aware of the cen-
tric origin of the image, she conceived the idea that she had
really seen her mother's spirit. In a few moments it disap-
peared, but she soon found that she had the ability to recall it
at will, and that the power existed in regard to many other
forms — even those of animals, and of inanimate objects.

During the spiritualistic meetings she attended, she could
thus reproduce the image of any person on whom she strongly
concentrated her thoughts, and was for a long time sincere in
the belief that they were real appearances. At last she lost
control of the operation, and was constantly subject to hallu-
cinations of sight and hearing. She was unable to sleep,
complained of vertigo, pain in the head, and of other symp-
toms indicating cerebral hyperemia. The application of ice
to her head, and other suitable medication, saved her from
an attack of insanity. But her nervous system was for several
months in a state of exhaustion, from which she rallied with
difficulty.

A young lady has recently informed me that she is able to
bring visually before her the images of the characters contained

262 CARDAN AND SWEDENBORG.

in any novel she may have been recently reading, or in any
striking play she may have witnessed.

It is probable that many of the visions of Jerome Cardan,
and Swedenborg, were voluntary productions. On this princi-
ple can be explained many of the instances of spiritualistic
hallucinations which have been detailed by inquirers willing to
be deceived.

FASTING GIRLS. 263

CHAPTER XIV.

FASTING GIRLS.

ANOTHER remarkable class of deceptions occasionally
induced by hysteria is that embracing the " fasting
girls " as they are called. They have existed for many years.
Gorres gives a number of examples occurring among male and
female saints and other holy persons, but the records of pro-
fane history contain far more remarkable instances. Some of
these may appropriately be considered in the present chapter,
while others will find their proper place in that which follows.
As " fasting girls " are a kind of periodical phenomenon in our
own day, I shall enter at some length into the consideration of
a few remarkable cases, and of the rationale of their existence.
Among these, is that of Margaret Weiss, a young girl ten
years of age, who lived at Rode, a small village near Spires,
and whose history has come down to us through various chan-
nels, but principally from Geraldus Bucoldianus,# who had the
medical charge of her, and who wrote a little book describing
his patient. Margaret is said to have abstained from all food
and drink for three years, in the mean time growing, walking
about, laughing, and talking like other children of her age.
During the first year, however, she suffered greatly from pains

* " De puella quae sine cibo et potu vitam transigit." Parisiis Ann.
MDXLIL

264 APPOLONIA SCHREIRA.

in her head and abdomen, and, a common condition in hysteria
— all four of her limbs were contracted. She passed neither
urine nor foeces. Margaret, though only ten years old — hys-
teria developes the secretive faculties — played her part so well
that, after being watched by the priest of the parish and Dr.
Bucoldianus, she was considered free from all juggling, and
was sent home to her friends by order of the King, *' not," the
doctor adds, " without great admiration and princely gifts."
Although fully accepting the fact of Margaret's abstinence, Dr.
Bucoldianus appears to have been somewhat staggered, for he
asks very pertinently : " Whence comes the animal heat, since
she neither eats nor drinks, and why does the body grow when
nothing goes into it ? "

Schenckius * quotes from Paulus Lentulus the " Wonderful
History of the Fasting of Appolonia Schreira, a virgin in
Berne." Lentulus states that he was with this maid on three
occasions, and that, by order of the magistrate of Berne, she
was taken to that city and a strict guard kept upon her. All
kinds of means were set in operation to detect imposture if
any existed, but none was discovered, and she was set at lib-
erty as a genuine case of ability to live without food. In the
first year of her fasting she scarcely slept, and in the second
year never closed her eyes in sleep ; and so she continued for
a long while after.

* " UnrnTT/r/'/ryeow, sive observationum medicarum, novarum, admirabib
ium et monstrasarum volumen ; tomis septem de toto homine institutum."
Lugduni 1606, p. 306.

These cases arc cited by Wanley in his " Wonders of the Little
World," but I have taken care in most instances to refer to the originals,
several of which are in my library.

FASTING GIRLS. 265

Schenckius also advances the case of Katharine Binder, of
the Palatinate, who was closely watched by a clergyman, a
statesman, and two doctors of medicine, without the detection
of fraud on her part. She was said to have taken nothing but
air into her system for nine years and more, as Lentulus report-
ed on the authority of Fabricius. This last-named physician
told Lentulus of another case, that of a girl fourteen years old,
who certainly had taken neither food nor drink for at least
three years.

" But," says Dr. Hakewel * " the strangest that I have met
with of this kind, is the history of Eve Fliegen, out of Dutch
translated into English, and printed at London, Anno 161 1,
who, being born at Meurs, is said to have taken no kind of sus-
tenance for the space of fourteen years together ; that is, from
the year of her age, twenty- two to thirty-six, and from the year
of our Lord 1567 to 161 1 ; and this we have confirmed by the
testimony of the magistrates of the town of Meurs, as also by
the minister who made trial of her in his house thirteen days
together by all the means he could devise, but could detect no
imposture." Over the picture of this maid, set in front of the
Dutch copy, stand these Latin verses :

" Meursae hsec quam cernis decies ter, sexque peregit,
Annos, bis septem prorsus non viscitur annis
Nee potat, sie sola sedet, sic pallida vitam
Ducit, et exigui se oblectat floribus horti."

Thus rendered in the English copy :

" This maid of Meurs thirty and six years spent,
Fourteen of which she took no nourishment ;

* " Wonders of the Little World." London, 1806, p. 375.

266 JOAN BALAAM.

Thus pale and wan she sits sad and alone,
A garden's all she loves to look upon."

Franciscus Citesius,* physician to the King of France and
to Cardinal Richelieu, devotes a good deal of space and atten-
tion to the case of Joan Balaam, a native of the city of Con-
stance. She was well grown, but of bad manners. About the
eleventh year of her age she was attacked with a fever, and
among other symptoms vomited for twenty days. Then she
became speechless and so continued for twenty-four days.
Then she talked, but her speech was raving and incoherent.
Finally she lost all power of motion and of sensibility in the
parts below the head and could not swallow. From thence-
forth she could not be persuaded to take food. Six months
afterwards she regained the use of her limbs, but the inability
to swallow remained and she acquired a great loathing for all
kinds of meat and drink. The secretions and excretions ap-
peared to be arrested. Nevertheless she was very industrious,
employing her time in running errands, sweeping the house,
spinning, and such like. This maid continued thus fasting for
the space of nearly three years, and then by degrees took to
eating and drinking again.

Before coming to more recent cases, there is one other to
which I desire to refer for the reason mainly that in it there
was probably organic disease in addition to fraud and hysteria.
It is cited by Fabricius | and by Wanley. Anno Z>om., 1595, a
maid of about thirteen years was brought out of the dukedom

* Opuscula Medica. Parisiis, 1639, pp. 64, 65, 66.

t Observationum et curationum chirurgicae, centuria secunda. Genevae,
1611, p. 116.

FASTING GIRLS. 267

of Juliers to Cologne, and there in a broad street at the sign
of the White Horse exposed to the sight of as many as desired
to see her. The parents of this maid affirmed that she had
lived without any kind of food or drink for the space of three
whole years ; and this they confirmed by the testimony of
divers persons, such as are worthy of credit. Fabricius ob-
served her with great care. She was of a sad and melancholy
countenance; her whole body was sufficiently fleshy except
only her belly, which was compressed so as that it seemed to
cleave to her back-bone. Her liver and the rest of her bowels
were perceived to be hard by laying the hand on the belly. As
for excrements, she voided none ; and did so far abhor all
kinds of food, that when one, who came to see her privately,
put a little sugar in her mouth she immediately swooned away.
But what was most wonderful was, that this maid walked
up and down, played with other girls, danced, and did all
other things that were done by girls of her age ; neither had
she any difficulty of breathing, speaking or crying out. Her
parents declared that she had been in this condition for three
years.

A great many more to the same effect might be adduced,
but the foregoing are sufficient to indicate the fact that belief
in the possibility of such occurrences was quite general, and
that if doubt did exist in regard to their real nature, it was not
so strong as not readily to be overcome by the tricks and de-
vices of hysterical women.

In the following instances of more modern date the reader
will perceive the view which is taken of them by physicians of
the present day, and will doubtless discover their real nature.

268 ANN MOORE.

About sixty-five years ago, a woman of Sudbury, in Staf-
fordshire, England, named Ann Moore, declared that she did
not eat, and a number of persons volunteered to watch her, in
order to ascertain whether or not she was speaking the truth.
The watch was continued for three weeks and then the watch-
ers, as in other instances, reported that Ann Moore was a real
case of abstinence from food of all kinds. The Bible was al-
ways kept open on Ann's bed. Her emaciation was so extreme
that it was said her vertebral column could be felt through the
abdominal walls. This sad condition was asserted to have
been caused by her washing the linen of a person affected with
ulcers. From that time she experienced a dislike for food, and
even nausea at the sight or mention of it.

As soon as the watchers reported in favor of the genuine-
ness of Ann's pretensions her notoriety increased, and visitors
came from all parts of the country, leaving donations to the
extent of two hundred and fifty pounds in the course of two
years. Doubts, however, again arose, and, bold from the im-
munity she had experienced from the first investigation, Ann
in an evil moment, for the continuance of her fraud, consented
to a second watching. This committee was composed of nota-
ble persons, among them being Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart., Rev.
Legh Richmond, Dr. Fox, and his son, and many other gen-
tlemen of the country. Two of them were always in her room
night and clay. At the suggestion of Mr. Francis Fox, the bed-
stead, bedding, and the woman in it were placed on a weighing
machine, and thus it was ascertained that she regularly lost
weight daily. At the expiration of the ninth day of this strict
watching, Dr. Fox found her evidently sinking and told her

FASTING GIRLS. 269

she would soon die unless she took food. After a little prevar-
ication, the woman signed a written confession that she was an
impostor, and had " occasionally taken sustenance for the last
six years." She also stated that during the first watch of three
weeks her daughter had contrived, when washing her face, to
feed her every morning, by using towels made very wet with
gravy, milk, or strong arrowroot gruel, and had also conveyed
food from mouth to mouth in kissing her, which it is presumed
she did very often.#

In a clinical lecture delivered at St. George's Hospital,f Dr.
John W. Ogle calls attention to the simulation of fasting as a
manifestation of hysteria, and relates the following amusing
case :

A girl strongly hysterical, aged twenty, in spite of all per-
suasion and medical treatment, refused every kind of food, or
if made to eat, soon vomited the Contents of the stomach. On
November 6th, 1869, whilst the girl was apparently suffering in
the same manner, the Queen passed the hospital on her way to
open Blackfriars bridge. She arose in bed so as to look out of
the window, although up to this time declaring that every
movement of her body caused intense pain. On December 29,
the following letter in the girl's handwriting, addressed to an-
other patient in the same ward, was picked up from the floor :
' My Dear Mrs. Evens, — I was very sorry you should take the
trouble of cutting me such a nice piece of bread and butter,
yesterday. I would of taken it but all of them saw you send

* Wonderful Characters : By Henry Wilson and James Caulfield. Lon-
don.

t British Medical Journal, July 16, 1870.

270 SARAH JACOB.

it, and then they would have made enough to have talked
about. But I should be very glad if you would cut me a nice
piece of crust and put it in a piece of paper and send it, or else
bring it, so that they do not see it, for they all watch me very
much, and I should like to be your friend and you to be mine.
Mrs. Winslow, (the nurse) is going to chapel. I will make it up
with you when I can go as far. Do not send it if you cannot
spare it. Good bye, and God bless you.' Although she pre-
varicated about this letter, she appears to have gradually im-
proved from this time on, and one day walked out of the hos-
pital and left it altogether. She subsequently wrote a letter to
the authorities expressing her regret at having gone on as she
did.

One of the most remarkable instances of the kind, is that of
Sarah Jacob, known as the " Welsh Fasting Girl," and whose
history and tragical death excited a great deal of comment in
the medical and lay press in Great Britain a few years ago.
The following account of the case is mainly derived from Dr.
Fowler's * interesting work.

Sarah Jacob was born May 12th, 1857. Her parents were
farmers and were uneducated, simple minded, and ignorant
persons. In her earlier years she had been healthy, was intel-
ligent, given to religious reading, and was said to have writ-
ten poetry of her own composition. She was a very pretty
child and was, according to the testimony of the vicar, the Rev.
Evan Jones, a " good girl."

* A complete History of the Welsh Fasting Girl (Sarah Jacob,) with
Comments thereon, and Observations on Death from Starvation. London,
1871.

FASTING GIRLS. 271

About February 15th, 1867, when she was not quite ten
years of age, she complained of pain in the pit of the stomach,
and one morning on getting up, she told her mother that she
had found her mouth full of bloody froth. The pain continued,
and medical attendance was obtained. Soon afterwards she had
strong convulsions of an epileptiform character and then other
spasms of a clearly hysterical form, during which her body was
bent in the form of a bow as in tetanus, the head and heels only
touching the bed. Then the muscular spasm ceased and she
fell at full length on the bed. For a whole month she con-
tinued in a state of unconsciousness, suffering from frequent
repetitions of severe convulsive attacks, during which time she'
took little food. Mr. Davies, the surgeon, said in his evidence,
that she was for a whole month, in a kind of permanent fit, ly-
ing on her back, with rigidity of all the muscles. For some
time her life was despaired of, then her fits ceased to be con-
vulsive and consisted of short periods of loss of consciousness
with sudden awakings. For the next two or three months (till
August, 1867) she took daily, from six, gradually decreasing to
four, teacupfuls of rice and milk, or oatmeal and milk, which
- according to her father's account, was cast up again imme-
diately and blood and froth with it. During this time the
bowels were only acted on once in six or nine days. "Up to
this time," said her father, " she could move both arms and
one leg, but the other leg was rigid."

By the beginning of October, 1867, her quantity of daily
food had, it was affirmed, dwindled down to nothing but a little
apple about the size of a pill, which she took from a tea-spoon.
At this time she made water about every other day ; she looked

272 SARAH JACOB.

very bad in the face, but was not thin. On the tenth clay of
October, it was solemnly declared that she ceased to take any
food whatever, and so continued till the day of her death, De-
cember 17th, 1869, a period of two years, two months, and one
week.

" Of the veracity of the assertion in respect of the one week"
says Dr. Fowler, " there is unfortunately plenty of evidence.
To the absurdity of believing in the barest possibility of twenty-
six months absolute abstinence, it is sufficient to reply that
when to our knowledge, she was completely deprived of food,
the girl died ! The parents most persistently impressed upon
every private as well as official visitor, both before and during
the last fatal watching, that the girl did not take food ; that
she could not swallow ; that whenever food was mentioned to
her she became as it were, excited ; that when it was offered
to her she would have a fit, or the offer would make her ill.
The sworn testimony of the vicar, the Rev. Wm. Thomas, Sis-
ter Clinch, Anne Jones, and the other nurses, is sufficiently
confirmative on this point. Furthermore, the parents went so
far as to expressly forbid the mere mention of food in the girl's
presence."

Towards the end of October, 1867, the case had attracted
so much attention that the inhabitants in the neighborhood first
began visiting the marvellous little girl.

" In the beginning of November of the same year, the Rev.
Evan Jones, B.D., the vicar of the Parish, was sent for by the
parents to visit Sarah Jacob. He was at once — by the mother
— told of the girl's wonderful fasting powers ; it was admitted
she took water occasionally. He was also informed of the

FASTING GIRLS. 273

extraordinary perversion of her natural functions (the suppres-
sion of urine and fcecal evacuations.) He found her lying on
her back in bed, which was covered with books. There was
nothing then remarkable about her dress. The girl looked
weak and delicate, though not pale, and answered only in
monosyllables. ' The mother said her child was very anxious
about the state of her soul, that it had such an effect upon her
mind that she could not sleep.' I asked her myself if she had
a desire to become a member of the Church of England? She
said ' Yes ! ' She continued to express that wish until July,
1869. At this time the reverend gentleman did not believe in
the statements relative to the girl's abstinence. " Every time "
he says, " that I had a conversation with her up to the end of
1868, the parents both persisted that she lived without food,
and continued their statements in January and February, 1869.
I remonstrated with them and dwelt upon the apparent impossi-
bility of the thing. They still persisted that it was a fact."

" Even as late as September, 1869, the vicar reiterated his
ministerial remonstrances. When, in the beginning of the
spring of 1869, he observed the fantastical changes the parents
made in the girl's daily attire, he told them about the remarks
made in the papers about this dressing and dwelt upon the im-
propriety of it. They replied, ' She had no other pleasure —
they did not like denying it to her.' During the following sum-
mer, finding that the girl looked more plump in the face and
that her general improvement was more conspicuous, he said,
' Sarah is evidently improving and gaining, and you say she
takes no food ; you are certainly imposing on the public' I

then dwelt on the sinfulness of continuing the fraud on the

12*

274 SARAH JACOB.

public. I said there were on record several cases of alleged
fasting, some of which had been put to the test and had been
discovered to be impositions ; that those families would ever
be held in execration by posterity, and such would be the case
with them whenever this imposture was found out. , The mother
then assured me no imposition would be discovered in that
house, because there was none."

The father and mother both said that the Lord provided for
her in a most natural way, and that it was a miracle. The
father always talked about the " Doctor Mawr," meaning God
Almighty ; that she was supported by that " Big Doctor."

Then soon began the custom of leaving money or other
presents with the child, till at last every one who visited her,
was expected to give something. Open house was kept and
pilgrims came from near and far to see the wonderful girl who
lived without food.

When money was not forthcoming, presents of clothes,
finery, books, or flowers, appear to have been substituted. Ad-
vantage was taken of these presents to bedeck the child in
every variety of smartness. At one time she had a victorine
about her neck and a wreath about her hair, then again, orna-
ments and a jacket on, and her hair neatly dressed with rib-
bons. At another time she had a silk shawl, a victorine around
her neck, a small crucifix attached to a necklace, and little
ribbons above the wrists. She had drab gloves on and her bed
was nearly covered with books.

Notwithstanding the alleged fasting, Sarah Jacob continued
to improve in health.

And now comes an astounding feature of this most remark-

FASTING GIRLS. ■ 275

able case. The vicar became convinced that the instance was
one of real abstinence. A little hysterical girl twelve years of
age, by her perseverance in lying, had actually succeeded in
inducing an educated gentleman to accept the truth of her
statements ! The following letter which was published on the
19th of February, 1869, speaks for itself : —

"A STRANGE CASE.

" To the Editor of the Welshman.

" Sir : Allow me to invite the attention of your readers to a
most extraordinary case. Sarah Jacob, a little girl twelve years
of age, and daughter of Mr. Evan Jacob, Lletherneuadd, in this
parish, has not partaken of a single grain of any kind of food
whatever, during the last sixteen months. She did occasion-
ally swallow a few drops of water during the first few months
of this period ; but now she does not even do that. She still
looks pretty well in the face and continues in the possession of
all her mental faculties. She is in this and several other re-
spects, a wonderful little girl.

" Medical men persist in saying that the thing is quite im-
possible, but all the nearest neighbors, who are thoroughly ac-
quainted with the circumstances of the case, entertain no doubt
whatever of the subject, and I am myself of the same opinion.

tl Would it not be worth their while for medical men to
make an investigation into the nature of this strange case ? Mr.
Evan Jacob would readily admit into his house any respectable
person who might be anxious to watch it and to see for him-
self.

276 SARAH JACOB.

" I may add, that Lletherneuadd is a farm-house about a
mile from New Inn, in this parish.

" Yours faithfully,
" The Vicar of Llanfihangel-ar-Arth."

The suggestions of the vicar relative to an investigation,
were soon after afterwards acted upon by certain gentlemen of
the neighborhood. A public meeting was called and a com-
mittee of watchers was appointed to be constantly in attend-
ance in the room with Sarah Jacob, and to observe to the best
of their ability, whether or not she took any food during the
investigation. It was agreed that the watching was to con-
tinue for a fortnight.

Prior to the beginning of this watching, no precautions
were taken against food being conveyed into the room and con-
cealed there. The parents actually debarred the watchers
from touching the child's bed. The very first element of suc-
cess was therefore denied, and no wonder that the whole affair
was subsequently regarded as an absurdity. The watching
consisted in two different men taking alternate watches from
eight till eight. The watching to see whether the child partook
of food, commenced on March 22d, and ended April 5th, 1869
— a period of fourteen days.

11 During the above fortnight, one of the watchers, in turn,
was always close to her bed, and in her sight day and night,
and at the time the bed was being made, which was generally
every other morning, the four persons were always present and
had every article thoroughly examined. The parents were
allowed to go near the bed, as also was the little sister, six

FASTING GIRLS. 277

years old, who had been Sarah's constant companion and bed-
fellow.

" On Wednesday, April 7th, 1869, a public meeting was
held at the Eagle Inn, Llandyfeil, to hear the statements of
the parents and of the several persons who had watched the
child during the fourteen days. The parents briefly detailed
the condition and symptoms of their daughter from the com-
mencement of her illness. At no time during the whole four-
teen days did the pulse ever reach above ninety per minute,
although exceedingly changeable, as it always had been. The
following evidence was received from the watchers, and it is
said that their statements were duly verified on oath before a

magistrate : —

Watcher No. 1 said : I, Evan Edward Smith, watched Sarah

Jacob for two consecutive nights, (/. e., nights 2 2d and 23d of
March) at the request of Mr. H. H. Davies, surgeon. The pa-
rents gave every facility to investigate the matter. I watched
her with all possible care, and found nothing to suspect that
food or drink was given her by foul means. I am quite sure
she had nothing during my watch. I was dismissed on account
of being suspected to doze on the second night.

Watcher No. 2. This watcher watched Sarah Jacob for a
whole fortnight, and found no indications that the child had
anything to eat or drink. He was a college student, Daniel
Harris Davies.

Watcher No. 3. John Jones, a shopkeeper, gave similar
evidence. He was a decided sceptic before he began watching,
but after twelve days was thoroughly convinced of the fact that
nothing in the shape of nourishment was given to the poor

278 SARAH JACOB.

child. He watched every movement of all the inmates, and
found nothing that would lead him to suspect that any nourish-
ment was given to the little girl.

Watcher No. 4. James Harris Davies, a medical student,
spoke in like manner, and was perfectly positive that nothing
had been given to her during the fortnight he had watched
there, with the exception of three drops of water, once, to
moisten her lips with. He was as great a sceptic as any one
before he began watching, but as he saw nothing to confirm his
suspicions, he could conscientiously say that nothing had been
given her during his watch.

Watcher No. 5. Evan Davies, of Powel Castle, who only
watched her for one day, gave similar evidence, but as he was
a neighbour he was dismissed for a stranger.

Watcher No. 6. Herbert Jones, watched only one day, and
spoke in a similar manner, and was dismissed on account of
his credulity.

Watcher No. 7. Thomas Davies, who had been the greatest
sceptic of all, was strongly convinced. He watched Sarah Ja-
cob twelve days, and was quite positive that nothing could have
been given her during his watch. He watched her with all
possible care, and was very cautious to be in a prominent place,
where Sarah Jacob's mouth was always in sight.

Evidence, however, was given which went to show that the
watching was very imperfectly performed ; that occasionally
the watchers left before their time had expired ; that intoxicat-
ing liquors were taken by them to the house, and that one of
them was drunk while there. It was also shown that the father
and mother had free access to the bed, while the watchers were

FASTING GIRLS. 279

absolutely prohibited from examining it. It is therefore with
entire justification that Dr. Fowler states that the watching
" was the greatest possible farce and mockery."

After the report of the watchers the notoriety of Sarah Ja-
cob of course became still greater ; crowds came to visit her,
and among others the Rev. Frederic Rowland Young went to see
her, and made an unsuccessful effort to cure her by laying on
of hands. When Dr. Fowler visited her, August 30th, 1869, on
getting out at the nearest railway station, he was met by little
boys . bearing placards with the words " Fasting Girl," and
11 This is the shortest way to Llethernoryadd-ucha," on them.
In his letter to the Times, giving an account of his visit, Dr.

Fowler says :- —

" The first impression was most unfavorable, and to a medi-
cal man the appearances were most suspicious. The child was
lying on a bed decorated as a bride, having around her head a
wreath of flowers, from which was suspended a smart ribbon,
the ends of which were joined by a small bunch of flowers, after
the present fashion of ladies' bonnet strings. Before her, at
proper reading distance, was an open Welsh book, supported
by two other books on her body. The blanket covering was
clean, tidy, and perfectly smooth. Across the fire-place, which
was nearly opposite the foot of her bed, was an arrangement of
shelves, well stocked with English and Welsh books, the gifts
of various visitors to the house. The child is thirteen years o£
age, and is undoubtedly very pretty. Her face was plump, and
her cheeks and lips of a beautiful rosy color. Her eyes were
bright and sparkling, the pupils were very dilated, in a measure
explicable by the fact of the child's head and face being shaded

280 SARAH JACOB.

from the window-light by the projecting side of the cupboard
bedstead. There was that restless movement and frequent
looking out at the corners of the eyes so characteristic of
simulative disease. Considering the lengthened inactivity of
the girl, her muscular development was very good, and the
amount of fat layer not inconsiderable. My friend stated
that she looked even better than she did about a twelvemonth
ago. There was a slight perspiration over the surface of the
body. The pulse was perfectly natural, as were also the sounds
of the lungs and heart, so far as I was enabled to make a
stethoscopic examination. Having received permission to do
this, I proceeded to make the necessary derangement of dress,
when the girl went off into what the mother called a fainting fit.
This consisted of nothing but a little and momentary hysterical
crying and sobbing. The color never left the lips or cheeks. The
pulse remained of the same power. Consciousness could have
been but slightly diminished, inasmuch as on my then opening
the eyelids I perceived a distinct upward and other movement
of the eyeballs. Each percussion stroke of my examination,
and even the pressure of the stethoscope, produced an expres-
sion of pain, which elicited a natural sympathy from the mother,
and an assertion that a continuance of such examination would
bring on further fits. On percussing the region of the stomach,
I most distinctly perceived the sound of gurgling, which we
know to be caused by the admixture of air and fluid in motion.
The most positive assertion of the parents was subsequently
made that saving a fortnightly moistening of her lips with
cold water, the child had neither ate nor drank anything for the
last twenty-three months. The whole region of the belly was

FASTING GIRLS. 281

tympanitic, and the muscular walls of this cavity were tense
and drum-like — a condition not infrequently concomitant of a
well-known class of nervous disorders. The child's intellectual
faculties and special senses were perfectly healthy. Before her
illness she was very much devoted to religious reading. This
devotion has lately considerably increased. She is a member
of the Church of England, and has been confirmed."

Dr. Fowler then adds some other interesting particulars, all
going to show the impossibility of the girl's being the subject
of any exhausting disease, or of even having been continuously
in bed, as her parents asserted, for nearly two years ; and then
says : —

"The whole case is in-, fact one of simulative hysteria, in a
young girl having the propensity to deceive very strongly de-
veloped. Therewith may be probably associated the power or
habit of prolonged fasting. Both .patient and mother admitted
the occasional occurrence of the choking sensation called
globus hystericus.

This letter excited renewed discussion in the newspapers,
and a second public meeting was called to make arrangements
for a second watching. At this meeting it was decided to bring
down from Guy's Hospital, London, several trained nurses, who
were to conduct the watching ; and the following resolutions
were adopted, as expressing the terms under which the inquiry
was to be conducted : —

1. It would be advisable, before taking any steps in the
matter, to obtain a written legal guarantee from the father of
Sarah Jacob sanctioning the necessary proceedings. 2. That
the duty of the nurses shall .be ,to watch Sarah Jacob with a

282 SARAH JACOB.

view to ascertain whether she partakes of any kind of food, and
at the end of a fortnight to report upon the case before the
local committee in Carmarthenshire, and, if required, at Guy's
Hospital. 3. That two nurses shall be constantly awake and
on the watch in the girl's room, night and day. 4. It would be
advisable for the nearest medical practitioner to watch the pro-
gress of the case \ and it will be absolutely necessary for him
to be prep a,7'ed against any serious symptoms of 'exhaustion, super-
vening on the strict enforcement of the watching, and to act accord-
ing to his judgment. 5. That the room in which the girl sleeps
shall be bared of all unnecessary furniture, and all possible
places in the room for the concealment of food shall be closed
and kept under the continual scrutiny of the watchers. 6. That
if considered desirable by the local medical practitioner, or by
the nurses, the bedstead on which the girl now lies shall be re-
placed by a single iron one. 7. That the bed on which the
parents now sleep, in Sarah Jacob's room, shall be given up
absolutely to the nurses. 8. That the parents be not allowed
to sleep in the same room as the girl ; that if they cannot at all
times be prevented from approaching her, they should be pre-
viously searched (their pockets and other recesses of clothing
as well as the interior of their mouths) ; and that no wetted
towels or other such articles be allowed to be used about the
girl by the parents, or any other person save the nurses ; that
the children of the family, and in fact every other person what-
ever (except the nurses), have similar restraints put upon them.
9. That the nurses have the sole management of preparing the
room, bed, and patient, prior to the commencement of the
watching. 10. That, as it is asserted the action of the bowels

HYSTERIA. 283

and bladder is entirely suspended, special attention must be
directed to these organs.

Four experienced women nurses were accordingly deputed
from Guy's Hospital to take the entire charge of Sarah Jacob,
and to watch her for fourteen days. They were instructed not
to prevent her having food if she asked for it. but they were to
see that she got none without their knowledge. On the 9th of
December, 1869, at 4 p.m., the room was cleared of people and
the watching began.

In the first place it was ascertained that the girl had re-
peated evacuations of urine, and once, at least, of fceces.

Gradually evidences of mental and physical disturbance be-
gan to appear. The watch was so closely kept that no food or
drink reached the child, and she did not ask for any.

"At 10 P. M.," to quote the language of the journal kept
by the sister nurse, " she was restless and threw her arms about.
She was very cold, and the nurses put warm flannels on her.
This was the last day on which she passed urine.

Thursday, December 16, 3 a. m. — She was rolling from one
side of the bed to the other. At half-past three she wished
the bed made, and they made it. She was looking very pale
and anxious. Her eyes were sunk and her nose pinched, and
the cheek bones were prominent. Her arms and hands were
cold, her feet and legs were the same. Ann Jones, one of the
nurses, says in her memoranda, " She was very restless and
appeared to me to be sinking. Her lips were very dry, and
her mouth seemed parched." The peculiar smell (the starva-
tion smell) about the bed was so strong as to make the sister
nurse quite ill.

284 SARAH JACOB.

At ii a. m., the vicar saw her and told the parents that the
child was gradually failing, and suggested to them the pro-
priety of sending the nurses away and giving her a chance
to obtain food, but they refused, saying that there was nothing
to do but what the nurses were doing, and that they had seen
her quite as weak before. The parents were urged by others
to give up the fight by sending the nurses away, but they re-
fused on the ground that want of food had nothing to do with
the symptoms, and that she would not eat whether the nurses

were there or not.

Ann Jones subsequently testified before the coroner : " Be-
fore one and two o'clock on Thursday afternoon (Dec. 16), she
kept talking to herself. I could not understand whether she
was speaking Welsh or English. Up to that time I could un-
derstand her. She pointed her fingers at some books ; I gave
her one, but she took no notice of it ; she was not able to read
it. Both parents were then told the girl was dying."

Repeatedly they were begged to withdraw the nurses, and
again and again they refused, saying there was no occasion —
that she had often been in that way, that it was not from want
of food, etc. The girl became weaker and weaker ; low, mut-
tering delirium ensued, and on the 17th of December, 1869, at
about half-past three o'clock, p.m., the " Welsh Fasting Girl "
died, actually starved to death, in the middle of the nineteenth
century and in one of the most Christian and civilized countries
of the world !

But this was not the end. Public opinion was much ex-
cited both against those who had sanctioned and. conducted
what appeared to have been a senseless and cruel experiment,

HYSTERIA. 285

and against the father and mother who had wilfully and per-
sistently refused to allow food to be given to the dying child.
A coroner's inquest was held, and the coroner appears to have
made a very satisfactory charge to the jury after the rendition
of the testimony. He said there could be no doubt of the child
having died of starvation, and that the responsibility rested
with the father, who had knowingly and designedly failed to
cause his child to take food. The mother was not responsible
unless it could be shown that she had been given food for the
child by the father, and had withheld it from her. It was mar-
vellous, he said, how the father could have made out such a
story — such a hideous mass of nonsense, as he had under oath
attempted to impose on the jury.

The jury deliberated for a quarter of an hour, and then re-
turned a verdict of " Died from starvation, caused by negli-
gence to induce the child to take food on the part of the
father ; " which constituted manslaughter.

Evan Jacob was therefore arrested. But the Secretary of
State for the Home Department took the matter up and deter-
mined that the proceedings should go farther than the local
authorities intended. At first it was contemplated to indict
the members of the General Committee for conspiracy, but it
was finally concluded to include only the medical gentlemen who
had accepted the responsibility of superintending the watching,
as well as both parents of the deceased child.

The initial proceeding took place before a full bench of
magistrates, and continued eight days. The Crown and the ac-
cused had eminent counsel, and many witnesses were exam-
ined. At the conclusion of the inquiry the presiding magistrate

286 SARAH JACOB.

announced that it had been determined by the court that no
case had been made out against the physicians, who had not
been shown to have undertaken any other duty than that of
advising the nurses, and that it did not appear that their ad-
vice had been asked. As to the father and mother the court
had decided to send them both for trial for manslaughter, at
the next assizes. In due time they were arraigned, they
pleaded not guilty, but after being defended by able counsel,
the jury, after an absence of about half an hour, returned with
a verdict of guilty against both the prisoners, but with a re-
commendation of the mother to the merciful consideration of
the court, on the ground that she was under the control of her
husband. The man protested his innocence, and the woman
"buried her face in her shawl and wept bitterly."

His Lordship, in passing sentence, said : " Prisoners at
• the bar, you have been found guilty of a most aggravated
offence. I entirely concur with the verdict which the jury have
given, and I shall act upon the recommendation which they
have presented in favor of the female prisoner, the mother,
though, I must say, that I cannot but feel that it is a greater
crime in the mother than the father, since it is more contrary
to the common nature of mothers, to neglect their children in
the manner in which you have treated this unfortunate child.
It is contrary to the nature, even, of a father. But I shall act
upon the recommendation of the jury, upon the ground they
have put forward, that you have been subject to the control of
your husband more than has appeared from the evidence of
the case. But the offence is, as I have said, a serious one, on
this ground ; that there can be no doubt that both of you have

HYSTERIA. 287

persisted in this fraudulent deception, upon your neighbors,
and upon the public, and that in order to carry out that fraud-
ulent deception and to preserve yourselves from detection you
were willing; to risk the life of that child. The life of that
child has been lost in that wicked experiment which you tried.
Therefore, the sentence that I shall inflict on you, Evan Jacob,
is, that you be imprisoned and kept at hard labor for twelve
calendar months ; and that upon you, Hannah Jacob, will be
more lenient in consideration of the recommendation of the
jury, and it is, that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labor
for the period of six calendar months."

Thus ended one of the most remarkable and interesting
histories of human folly, credulity, and criminality which the
present day has produced. Comment upon its teaching is
scarcely necessary ; but the thoughtful reader will not fail to
perceive how important a bearing it has upon the whole sub-
ject of belief without full and free inquiry, and that how all
the facts which science has gathered during ages of painful
labor, go for naught, even with educated persons, when
brought face to face with the false assertions of a hysterical
girl, and of two ignorant and deceitful peasants. If there is
any one thing we know, it is that there can be no force without
the metamorphosis of matter of some kind. Here was a girl
maintaining her weight — actually growing — her animal heat
kept at its clue standard, her mind active, her heart beating,
her lungs respiring, her skin exhaling, her limbs moving when-
ever she wished them to move, and all, as very many persons
supposed, without the ingestion of the material by which alone
such things could be. And yet such is the tendency of the

288 SARAH JACOB.

average human mind to be deceived, that it would be perfectly-
possible to re-enact in the city of New York the whole tragedy
of Sarah Jacob, should ever a hysterical girl take it into
head to do so ; and there would not be wanting, even from
among those who might read this history, individuals who would
credit any monstrous declarations she might make. Even
now in a little town in Belgium, an ecstatic girl is going
through . the same performance with extraordinary additions,
and books are written by learned physicians and theologians,
with the object of establishing the truth of her pretensions.
To this most remarkable instance the attention of the reader
will presently be invited. But in view of these things one is
almost tempted to say with Cardinal Carrafa, " Qiiandoquidem
populns decipi vult, decipiatur"

HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS. 289

CHAPTER XV.

THE HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS — CATALEPSY, ECSTASY AND
HYSTERO-EPILEPSY.

ALTHOUGH in systematic medical treatises these dis-
eases would properly be considered separately, for the pur-
poses of the present inquiry they may be advantageously
brought together under one head. They are hysteroid without
actually being hysteria. It is very often the case that they are
co-existent in the same patient, or they alternate one with the
other. Indeed, it is quite rare to find a case in which one of
them is present without one or both of the others being also
manifested.

In all of these diseases, we have affections which are well
calculated to impress ignorant and superstitious persons with a
sense of mystery, and they are therefore admirably adapted to
fulfil the requirements of religious enthusiasts and impostors,
or of spiritualistic mountebanks.

Catalepsy is characterized by the suspension of the under-
standing and of sensibility, and by a tendency in the muscles
to preserve for a long time any degree of contraction which
may be given to them. Thus if the arm of a cataleptic patient
be extended it remains so for several minutes, sometimes
hours ; if the leg be raised from the bed, the muscles continue

13

290

CATALEPSY.

to keep it in that position till they become thoroughly exhaust-
ed, when it sinks slowly down. These facts are well shown in
the accompanying wood cut, (Fig. 6) taken from a photograph
of a patient, in Bellevue Hospital, under the care of Dr. M. B.
Early, of this city.

HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS. 291

The aspect of a cataleptic patient is very striking. The
eyelids are sometimes wide open, at others gently closed ; the
pupils are dilated and do not respond to strong light ; the
respiration is slow, regular, but generally so feeble as to be per-
ceived with difficulty ; the pulse is usually almost imperceptible,
but is rhythmical and sluggish ; the face is pale, the mouth is
half open, and the rigidity of the body and the coldness of the
extremities add to the death-like appearance which impresses
all beholders.

The cutaneous sensibility is ordinarily completely abolished.
Pins may be thrust into the skin, and they are not felt ; but
owing to the abolition of the power of motion and of reflex
action, it is possible that in some cases at least, the patients
would give some evidence of sensation if they could. Cases
are on record in which tears have been caused by excessive
emotional disturbance, excited by the words or actions of
persons surrounding the patients ; thus showing that the senses
of sight and hearing were capable of being exercised. Such
instances are, however, rare, and are probably imperfectly
developed paroxysms, or those complicated with hysteria or
ecstasy.

The paroxysm may last a few minutes or hours, or may be
prolonged for several days. In a case recently under my care,
one paroxysm continued, with scarcely even a remission, for
eleven days. The ability to swallow was not lost — it very
rarely is, and the patient was fed at regular intervals, taking
what was put in her mouth and eating it, without appearing to
appreciate the taste or character of the food.

In the less perfectly developed forms of the cataleptic con-

292 CATALEPSY.

dition, the afflicted individuals, though taking no cognizance of
circumstances surrounding them, are capable of a certain ex-
alted esoteric mental action, which passes with the vulgar for
illumination, inspiration, or spiritualism. Such cases were
common enough among the women of the thirteenth, four-
teenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, shut up in convents,
and are not infrequently met with in our own time. Chambers *
cites from DeHaen, the case of a child twelve years of age,
who began a paroxysm by being cataleptic, and ended by re-
citing the metrical Protestant version of David's Psalms, saying
her catechism with proof texts, and preaching a sermon on
adultery.

A young girl, recently under my professional care, was cata-
leptic on an average once a week, and epileptic twice or three
times in the intervals. Five years previously she had spent
six months in France, but had not acquired more than a very
slight knowledge of the language, scarcely, in fact, sufficient to
enable her to ask for what she wanted at her meals. Imme-
diately before her cataleptic seizures, she went into a state of
ecstasy, during which she recited poetry in French, and de-
livered harangues about virtue and godliness in the same
language. She pronounced at these times exceedingly well, and
seemed never at a loss for a word. To all surrounding influ-
ences she was apparently dead. But she sat bolt upright in
her chair, her eyes staring at vacancy, and her organs of speech
in constant action. Gradually she passed into the cataleptic
paroxysm. She was an excellent example of what Mrs. Har-
dinge calls a " trance medium." The materialistic influence of
* Reynold's System of Mediums, p. 104; Art. Catalepsy.

HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS. 293

bromide of potassium, however, cured her catalepsy and epi-
lepsy, destroyed her knowledge of the French tongue and made
her corporeal structure so gross that the spirits refused to make
further use of it for their manifestations.

.Many of the cases to which reference has already been
made as being induced by emotional disturbance at camp-
meetings, revivals, and other religious gatherings, were in-
stances of catalepsy. The electro-biologist knows well the
ease with which the condition can be excited by the principle
of suggestion, and he therefore employs it in his public exhibi-
tions with great effect. He renders the arms and legs of his
subjects rigid, by telling them in a confident and commanding
tone that they are so, and he produces the other phenomena of
the cataleptic state with equal facility.

Catalepsy often exists in combination with somnambulism,
either natural or artificial. In former times cataleptics were
thought to be "possessed," and even in our own day, such
afflicted persons are by some authorities regarded as being
under demoniac influence. To this division of the subject we
shall presently return.

Ecstasy, though closely allied to catalepsy, differs from it
in several important particulars, among others, in the fact that
the ecstatic recollects the train of thought which has been
going on during the seizure, and speaks of it usually on emer-
ging from the paroxysm. Besides, in ecstasy there is rather
muscular immobility than rigidity, although this latter is some-
times present. The eyes are open, the lips parted, the face is
turned upward, the hands raised as if to heaven ; and the body
is erect and stretched out to its utmost height, or else is ex-

294 ECSTASY.

tended to its full length in the recumbent position. A peculiar
expression of joy lights up the face, and this is the radiance
spoken of by camp-meeting and revivalist preachers, ignorant of
the symptoms of the affection in question.

At times, various attitudes are assumed which are in con-
sonance with the ideas passing through the ecstatic's mind.
The body may thus be elevated on the toes, and the arms ex-
tended as if in aerial flight, or it is stretched out on the bed or
floor, the feet crossed one over the other and the arms placed
at right angles to the body, in the position of crucifixion.

Mr. Bourneville * cites the case of Ler., a hystero-epilep-
tic, to whom, hereafter, fuller reference will be made, who
at one time had a cruciform paroxysm. Her head was
strongly thrown back ; her eyelids, half open, were in con-
tinual motion ; the muscles of the jaws were contracted, and
those of the neck were hard and tense.

The superior extremities were extended at right angles
with the trunk, the hands closed, and the fingers flexed so
strongly on the palm as to render it impossible to open them.

The inferior extremities were stretched out to their full
length, the sole of one foot being in contact with the dorsum
of the other.

In a word, the rigidity was such that the body could have
been raised from either end like a bar of iron, (Fig. 7.) The
attack lasted about four hours, and then Ler. opened her eyes
and recovered consciousness, exclaiming, " O, my God, I was so
happy ! "

Among celebrated cataleptics and ecstatics, may be men-
* Louise Lateau, etc., Paris, 1875, p. 13.

ECSTASY.

■9S

ho

296 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

tioned Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Gertrude, St. Bridget, St.
Catherine of Sienna, Joan of Arc, St. Theresa, and Madame
Guyon. Others who were not only cataleptics, ecstatics, and
hystero-epileptics, but who were also the subject of the stig-
mata, will be separately considered.

The conventual life was especially favorable to the pro-
duction of all forms of catalepsy and ecstasy, and sometimes,
as in the instances of the nuns of Loudun, the disorder as-
sumed a degree of malignancy which all the powers of the
Church could not abate.

It is a striking fact, which would be laughable, but for the
frequently lamentable results which ensued, that while the Cath-
olic ecstatics inveighed against the heretical sects which were
springing up on all sides, and consigned them to torture and
the flames, these, the Calvinists, Camisards, Pre-adamites, Jump-
ers, Anabaptists, Bewailers, Sanguinarians, Tremblers, etc., etc.,
denounced the Pope as Anti-Christ, desecrated churches and
exhibited a ferocity which, in its sanguinary character, has
rarely been equalled in the history of the world.

Now, as has already been remarked, in the imperfect forms
of catalepsy or ecstasy, consciousness is not altogether lost.
Montgeron noticed this fact, and in speaking of persons af-
fected, says, " they generally saw those who were about them,
spoke to them and heard their answers, though at the same
time their minds were entirely absorbed in the contemplation of
objects which a superior power enabled them to see." It must
be recollected that Montgeron was a believer in the super-
natural origin of these manifestations of disease. At the present
day he would have been a shining light among Spiritualists.

ECSTASY. 297

He further observes, that in these undeveloped forms of
both diseases, as noticed among the Jansenist convulsionnaires,
the affected individuals appeared as if struck by the sight of
some object before unseen, and the contemplation of which
filled them with the most ravishing joy. They raised their eyes
and their hands on high, leaped towards heaven, and seemed as
if about to fly into the air. They appeared to be absorbed in
the contemplation of celestial beauties. Their faces were ani-
mated with a brilliant glow, and their eyes, which could not be
closed during the continuance of the ecstasy, remained open
and fixed on the spiritualized object on which they gazed.
They were, in a manner, transfigured; they appeared to be per-
fectly unlike their natural selves. Those who ordinarily were
low and repulsive, were changed so profoundly that they could
not be recognized.

It will be brought to mind that Mr. Wesley, in the extracts
from his journal which I have cited, speaks of this change of
countenance as a supernatural gift.

The following example is domestic, and is taken from the
Norfolk Beacon, of August 19th, 1824. It was copied into other
religious papers without the least doubt being expressed of its
being produced by the direct and special action of the " Spirit
of God." *

" A singular display of the goodness and power of Almighty
God at a camp-meeting held at Tangier Island.

"Miss Narcissa Crippin, a highly-respectable young lady,

* " Observations on the Influence of Religion upon the Health and Physi-
cal Welfare of Mankind. By Almirah Brigham, M.D." Boston, 1835, p..

3°5' *

13

29S HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

nineteen years of age, and a zealous Christian, was, on the even-
ing of the 15th instant, so operated on by the Spirit of God
that her face became too bright and shining for mortal eyes to
gaze upon without producing the most awful feeling to the
beholders. It resembled the reflection of the sun upon a bright
cloud. The appearance of her face for the space of forty
minutes, was truly angelic, during which time she was silent,
after which she spoke and expressed her happy and heavenly
feelings, when her dazzling countenance gradually faded, and
her face resumed its natural appearance. The writer of this
paragraph was an eye-witness of the circumstance above stated
— such a sight he never expected to behold with mortal eyes,
and to give a true description of which would be beyond the
ability of mortal man. While she remained in the situation
above described, she was seen by more than two hundred per-
sons, a few of whom have subscribed their names hereto.

"Wm. Lee (Rev.),
" Wm. E. Wise,
"John Bayly."
I have frequently seen this remarkable change induced in
the faces of persons of both sexes. It appears to be directly
due to a relaxation of all the muscles of the face concerned in
expression, and is accompanied by suffusion of the eyes and
. dilatation of the pupils. Undoubtedly the instances mentioned
in the Bible as transfigurations, (see Exodus xxxiv. 29-35 ;
Matthew xvii. 1,2; Mark ix. 2, 3 ; Luke ix. 29) were of this
character.

Almost fifty years ago, a very remarkable case of preaching-
ecstasy, or, as it would now be called by some, trance-medium-

ECSTASY; RACHEL BAKER. 299

ship, occurred in this city in the person of a maiden lady, of
delicate health, named Rachel Baker. Dr. S. L. Mitchill took
great interest in her case, and had her sermons reported by a
stenographer, and published. Miss Baker was the daughter of
a respectable farmer in Onondaga County, New York, and had
received a plain but substantial education. About the age of
twenty, she became much exercised on the subject of religion,
and at length her mind became seriously affected, and she
fell into the habit of trance-preaching. Her parents were at
first impressed at what they regarded as a most extraordinary
gift, though they afterward became convinced that it was the
result of disease, and accordingly brought her to the city of
New York, in order that she might have the benefit of the best
medical skill. Crowds flocked to hear her preach at the houses
of different medical practitioners. Her discourses were highly
respectable in point of style and arrangement, and were inter-
spersed with Scripture quotations. After her health was re-
stored, she lost the faculty of trance-preaching and never re-
gained it. She died in 1843.*

But ecstatics and cataleptics do other things fully as remark-
able as trance-preaching. The performances of the Jansenist
convulsionnaires have already been alluded to, but they are so
various in their character, that there is scarcely a subject con-
nected with paroxysms of disturbed mobility and sensibility,
with which some of them are not en rapport.

Among them was a woman, or rather a girl, Marie Sonet,
who, on account of her apparent incombustibility, was called

* Remarkable sermons of Rachel Baker and Pious Ejaculations delivered
during sleep, taken down in short hand, etc. London, 18 15.

300 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

the salamander. We have seen what Mr. Home has done in
the way of showing his ability to resist heat ; the salamander
was immeasurably his superior. Let us begin with a certificate
which was published at the time :

" We, the undersigned, Francois Desvernays, priest, doc-
tor of theology of the house and society of the Sorbonne ; Pierre
Jourdan, licentiate of the Sorbonne, Canon of Bayeux ; Lord
Edmund de Rumond, of Perth ; Louis Bazile Carre de Mont-
geron, Counsellor to the Parliament ; Armand Arouet, Treasurer
of the Chamber of Accounts ; Alexandre Robert Boindin,
Esquire ; [and five others ; ] certify that we have this day, be-
tween the hours of eight and ten o'clock in the evening, seen
Marie Sonet while in convulsion, her head on one stool and her
feet on another, the said stools being entirely within a large
fire-place and under the mantel-piece, so that her body was in
the air above the fire, which burned with extreme violence, re-
maining in that position for thirty-six minutes in four different
times, (nine minutes each time) without the cloth in which she
was- wrapped (she was without other clothes) being burned,
although the flames sometimes extended above her — the which
appears to us to be quite supernatural.

" Again, we certify that while we were signing the present
certificate, the said Sonet placed herself over the fire in the
manner previously described, and remained there nine minutes,
appearing to sleep above the brazier, which was very hot,
having been replenished with fifteen large logs, and a faggot of
kindling wood, during the last two hours and a quarter. In
testimony of which," etc., [here follow the signatures.]

The Abbd Asfeld, who wrote against the Jansenists, thus

ECSTASY; THE SALAMANDER. 301

describes what he saw : " Sonet went behind a screen and was
there divested of all her clothing, except her chemise and a
little jacket. Then she was entirely wrapped up in a cloth,
which was fastened with strong pins." To this Carre de Mont-
geron replies, " It is not true that she was reduced to a chemise
and a jacket ; she had besides, a corset, a petticoat, and stock- ,
ings." "Then," continues the Abbe Asfeld, "being thus
enamelled, she called for the stools, and immediately two of the
brethren brought them and placed them near the fire-place,
where there was a good fire. Sonet placed herself on them,
and from this performance she has received the name of 'Sala-
mander.' " To this Carre de Montgeron rejoins, " One would
think, from this account, that the stools were placed opposite
the fire. Now, it is a fact which has been witnessed a num-
ber of times by many persons, that at each representation the
two stools, which were of iron, except two boards on which
Sonet supported her head and feet, were placed in the fire-place
on each side, so that when the girl was on them she was imme-
diately over the flames, and so that no matter how great the
fire was, she suffered no inconvenience therefrom, nor was the
cloth in which she was wrapped even singed, although it was
often in the midst of die flames." And he pushed his adver-
sary so hard that the Abbd had to admit that ordinarily the
convulsionnaire remained long enough in the fire for a piece of beef
mutton, or veal, to be roasted I *

Marie Sonet was not the only " incombustible." Many
others appeared, the example she afforded spreading, like other

* Mathieu. " Histoire des Miracules et des Cqnvulsionnaires de Saint
Medard." Paris, 1864, p. 262, et seq.

3o2 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS ; THE SUCKER.

hysterical performances, by contagion. Of course Marie Sonet
and her imitators did not expose their unprotected persons to the
fire, and we have already seen how the necessary immunity can
be obtained. The cloth in which she was so securely enveloped
was of incombustible material, or rendered fire-proof by some
one of the preparations to which reference has already been made.

But this was not all. There was one Charlotte Laporte,
called the " Sucker," whose proceedings were so disgusting that
it is with hesitation I mention them. We must, however, re
member with Bacon that : " Quidquid essentia dignum est, id
etiam scientia dignum" The fact that such things could be, is
my excuse for bringing them forward in illustration of the occa-
sional depravity of the human mind, even when actuated by
noble impulses. The " Sucker," then, went about claiming to
cure ulcers, cancers, and other open sores, by sucking them
while in a state of ecstasy. She, also, had her imitators-
women all. They applied their tongues and lips to the most
disgusting ulcers, full of pus and horrible to see, and sucked
them till they were perfectly clean. They even swallowed the
foetid exudations with impunity and even relish. They washed
the dressings which had been applied to such sores, and then
drank the water !

These people were heretics, but such vile actions are not
confined to those who are heterodox in religious faith. Thus
we read in Gorres* that so great was the holiness of St.
Catherine of Sienna that she did some things that were almost
incredible. There was a widow named Teeta who, on account
of her poverty, lived in a hospital. But her body was covered

* Op. cit., t. I., p. 277.

ECSTASY; ST. CATHERINE OF SIENNA. 303

entirely with a hideous leprosy, and she was required to quit
not only the hospital, but the city, because she was an object
of horror to everybody. Catherine, however, took care of her,
and with admirable charity dressed her sores. The woman,
however, was puffed up with pride, and treated her nurse in the
most haughty and overbearing manner. Nevertheless, Cathe-
rine continued her cares, and even contracted the leprosy in
consequence of the frequent contacts with this woman. The
latter died, as was very proper, and Catherine laid out the
body. She had her reward, as was also proper — for if the
story be true, she had acted with tender charity — for her hands
immediately became free from leprosy.

So far, so good ; but she went farther. There was another
woman who had a cancer of the breast, from which the odor was
such that no one could remain near her, and she had great dif-
ficulty in getting the attention she required. Catherine, how-
ever, assumed the charge and cleansed the sore, with a cheerful
face, to the great astonishment of the woman herself. But it
was really so disgusting that one day the stomach of Catherine
revolted. Indignant against herself, she said to her body :
How ! Thou hast a horror of thy sister, baptized, as thou hast
been, in the blood of our Lord ! I will pay thee up ! Saying
which she applied her mouth, her nose and her whole face to
the disgusting wound, and kept them there till she felt that her
soul had conquered the repugnance of the flesh. Nevertheless,
the virgin had at times her moments of loathing. " And then,"
says Gorres, "she did what perhaps no one had e^er done be-
fore her — she drank the pus and the filthy discharges which
she had sucked from the wound. She subsequently declared

3o4 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS ; BERGUILLE.

to her confessor that she had never drank in all her life a
more agreeable beverage.'' We see, therefore, that four hun-
dred years before Charlotte Laporte began her horrible opera-
tions, there was a proto-sucker in the person of one of the most
worthy saints of the Calendar.

MM. Mauriac and Verdalle* give a very interesting ac-
count of an ecstatic woman, who daily enacted the passion of
Jesus, terminating in the usual manner in the crucifixion. This
woman, Berguille, had been of good health till, in 187 1, she lost
one of her children. A short time afterward she began to have
visions of her child every night, and then she was seized with
obstinate vomitings, which were only cured by drinking the
water of Lourdes, ordinary therapeutics not having been very
efficacious.

In a short time she began to have paroxysms of ecstasy.
In these, there were more or less profound abolition of sensi-
bility, general and special, and hallucinations of various kinds.
At first these seizures were at no fixed intervals of time, but
after a while they occurred regularly on Friday and in the
afternoon. The duration was in the beginning only a few
minutes, but latterly they got to lasting several hours.

Like many other ecstatics, Berguille was devoted to making
predictions both in religion and politics. Unfortunately for her
reputation, nothing that she foretold ever came to pass. Thus,
on the 26th of July, 1873, she said, "The great king, the most
Christian king, promised to France, will come very soon. He ,
is Monseigneur the Count de Chambord." On the 24th of
August : " The three days of darkness are near ; terrible events

* Etude MeMicale sur 1'extatique de Fontet. Paris, 1875.

ECSTASY; BERGUILLE. 305

are about to take place. Paris will be entirely destroyed."
On the nth of September Berguille declared that "The great
King Henry V. will come, not by the votes of men, but by the
will of the all-powerful God, and because it is necessary for him
to save France."

When visited by MM. Mauriac and Verdalle, Berguille was
lying in bed. She is described as a woman of about forty-five
years of age, brown complexion, muscles and limbs well de-
veloped, but without much fat, eyes blue, widely open and
staring vaguely. She smiled kindly when questions were put
to her, and answered with sufficient intelligence.

On being asked why she was in bed, she answered that she
was in pain night and day ; and when requested to state where
she felt the pain, she answered the backs and palms of her
hands, the tops and soles of her feet, and the right side. These
places were in correspondence with the five wounds of Christ,
but the pain in the side, she had on the right, while other
ecstatics, as Louise Lateau, had it on the left. The miracle-
believers ought to find it difficult to reconcile a discrepancy like
this.

Relative to her visions and what she heard during her ecsta-
sies, she said that she saw Jesus Christ in His passion, that she
heard voices, but she could not repeat what was told her. Her
pulse was from 68 to 72.

At about one o'clock the ecstasy began. Her pulse rose
to 80. She clasped her hands over her heart, her gaze
became fixed, her eyes were widely opened, her lips moved
as though she was muttering prayers, and there were fre-
quent movements of deglutition. Her pupils were slightly

306 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

dilated, but contracted when a light was brought to them.
Her limbs were rigid, but it was noticed that she flexed
them very readily* when she altered her position a little
or arranged her dress. In a few minutes she raised herself
somewhat awkwardly on her knees, her hands still being clasped
and her eyes fixed. Then began the passion on the way to the
cross, during which she walked on her knees around the bed,
changing her position twelve times and falling three times in
the traditional manner. To make this journey, required thirty-
six minutes, and this done the next act, the crucifixion, was in
order.

Suddenly she threw herself back on the bed, extended her
arms from each side, and remained immovable. The pulse
was ii2, the respirations ioo. The muscles of the chest
seemed to be paralyzed, only the diaphragm acting. The eyes
were closed.

The limbs were in a state of forced extension and very
rigid ; the cutaneous sensibility to pinching, pricking, and to
the electrical stimulus was abolished. The latter, a very strong
induced current, caused muscular contractions, but no sensa-
tion. There was not the least flinching. Things went on in
this way for over three hours, and then she sang the " Salve Re-
gina" exclaimed " Oh, what sorrow ! " and gradually recovered
her senses.

We have seen how greatly a weak, hysterical girl can dis-
turb the community in which she lives. The history of the
world is full of examples, in which whole nations and groups
of nations have been so deeply influenced by ecstatics of both
sexes, as to have their entire political status changed thereby.

ECSTASY; JOAN OF ARC. 307

The instance of Joan of Arc has already been cited. It is in-
teresting to quote her own touching and evidently sincere words,
detailing how she was led to take the leadership of the armies
of France, and conduct them on to victory.

" It is now seven years ago," she said to her judges, li on a
summer's day, towards the middle hour, I was about thirteen
years of age, and in my father's garden — that I heard for the
first time on my right hand, towards the church, a voice, and
there stood a figure in a bright radiance before my eyes. It had
the appearance and look of a right good and virtuous man, bore
wings, was surrounded with light on all sides, and by the angels
of heaven. It was the Archangel Michael. The voice seemed
to me to command respect ; but I was yet a child, and was
frightened at the figure, and doubted very much whether it
were the Archangel. I saw him and the angels as distinctly
before my eyes as I now see you, my judges." With words of
encouragement the Archangel announces to her that God had
taken pity upon France, and that she must hasten to the assist-
ance of the King. At the same time he promised her that St.
Catherine and St. Margaret would soon visit her ; he told her
that she should do what they commanded her, because they
were sent by God to guide and conduct her. " Upon this,"
continued Joan, " St. Catherine and St. Margaret appeared to
me, as the Archangel had foretold. They ordered me to get
ready to go to Robert de Baudricourt, the King's captain. He
would several times refuse me, but at length would consent,
and give me people who would conduct me to the King. Then
should I raise the siege of Orleans. I replied to them that I
was a poor child, who understood nothing about riding on

3o8 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

horseback and making war. They said I should carry my
banner with courage ; God would help me, and win back for
my King his entire kingdom. As soon as I knew that I was
to proceed on this errand, I avoided as much as I could
taking part in the sports and amusements of my young com-
panions. So have the Saints conducted me during seven years,
and have given me support and assistance in all my needs
and labors, and now no day goes by but they come to see me.
I seldom see the Saints that they are not surrounded with a
halo of light ; they wear rich and precious armor, as it is
reasonable they should. I see them always under the same
forms, and have never found in their discourse any discrepan-
cies. I know how to distinguish one from the other, and
this as well by the sound of their voices as by their salutation.
They come often without my calling upon them. But when
they do not come, I pray to the Lord that He will send them
to me, and never have I needed them but they have visited
me."

These judges were nearly all ecclesiastics, selected by
the Bishop of Beauvais for this particular work, sixty in all — ■
bishops, writers of theology, mitred abbots, etc. ; men skilled
in all the subtleties of theological fence. She was a peasant
girl, nineteen years of age, who could not even read and write.
The only evidence that we have that they were not thoroughly
depraved, is the fact that it was proposed to put her to the tor-
ture, and only three votes — from doctors of theology — were re-
corded in favor of this proposition. It is said, however, that
the only reason why she was not tortured was the fact that
being weak, she might die, and thus cheat the stake.

ECSTASY; JOAN OF ARC. 309

Of course she was found guilty. They found her to be :
"A sorceress, a divinitress, an invoker of demons, a conjur-
ess, superstitious, and entirely given to magic, thinking evil
of the Catholic faith, sacrilegious, an idolatress, an apostate
from the faith, a blasphemer of the name of God and of the
Saints, scandalous, seditious, a disturber of the peace, excit-
ing to war, cruel, wishing for the effusion of human blood, en-
tirely abandoned and in variance with the sense of decency
and shame, taking the dress of a man-at-arms as her habili-
ment, contemning and despising the law of God and of nature,
and ecclesiastical discipline before God and men, a seducer
of princes and peoples, consenting to the adoration of her per-
son and allowing her hands and vestments to be kissed, to
the great contempt and injury of the honor and the worship
of God, therefore demanding that she be declared a heretic,
and legitimately punished according to divine and canon-
ical law."

She was sentenced to be burned alive, and this determina-
tion was kept concealed from her till the arrival of the day
appointed for the execution. When told of it by her confessor,
she exclaimed, in her misery, " Alas for me ! It is dreadful
that my healthy, youthful body, all unspotted, must this day be
destroyed and reduced to ashes ! Ah, it were better for me to
be beheaded seven times over than to be burned to death ! "

While on the scaffold, a sermon was preached to her from
the text, " When one meinber suffers, all the other members
suffer also." The discourse concluded with the words, " Depart
in peace, the Church can no longer protect thee."

Then the Bishop of Beauvais, her relentless persecutor, who

310 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

had wielded the mighty ecclesiastical power against her, read
the sentence : —

" In the name of God, Amen. We, thy lawful judges, found
thee, Jeanne, called the Pucelle, guilty of apostacy, of idolatry,
of invoking the devil, and of various other crimes ; but as the
Church ever opens its arms to receive the penitent, so we, be-
lieving that thou didst truly abjure and swear never to relapse
into thy delusions, admitted thee again to repentance, as one
resolved evermore to dwell in the unity of the Church. But thy
heart was led astray by the Prince of lies, and thou art fallen
back into thy errors, even as a dog returns to its vomit. Thou
didst abjure thy errors with a false heart and not in good faith,
as thou hast thyself acknowledged. Therefore, by the present
sentence, we proclaim thee a relapsed heretic, and a withered
branch. And lest thou corrupt others, we cast thee out of the
bosom of the Church, and we deliver thee over to the temporal
authorities, praying them to deal mildly and humanely by thee,
and to rest satisfied with the death of thy body and the destruc-
tion of thy members."

As Madden* says, from whom I quote this account : " This
last phrase is merely the deceitful form proper to the eccle-
siastical sentence of death, for the temporal judge was far
more under subjection to the inquisition than to the temporal
powers of France, and by the rights delegated to the Church
was liable to be himself accounted heretical, if he did not con-
sign the person thus given over to him to the flames." And
then she was burnt to death, and her ashes thrown into the
river.

* Phantasmata. London, 1857, p. 186.

ECSTASY; BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS. 311

It was, therefore, in thorough consistency that the Church,
bearing in mind its former action, recently refused to canon-
ize this high-minded and virtuous maid. Perhaps a hundred
or two years from now it will act differently in regard to an-
other ecstatic who is fortunate enough during her lifetime to
receive the favor of those who have the management of such
things, and to whose history during the last few years I ask
the attention of the reader.

Bernadette Soubirous, according to the account given by
M. Henri Lasserre *, whose book is prefaced by a letter of ap-
proval from his Holiness the Pope, a young girl of Lourdes,
in the south of France, went out one day with her two sisters
to gather dry wood on the neighboring hills. On their way they
had to cross a brook, and they stopped at the bank to take off
their sabots. Bernadette was behind the other two, and being
the only one who had on stockings, she stooped to take them
off. It was about noon, and the Angelus was about to sound
from all the bells of the neighboring villages.

She was in the act of taking off her stockings when she
heard a sound as if a wind was rushing by her. To her sur-
prise the poplars which bordered the banks of the river were
in a state of complete repose, there being not the slightest ruf-
fle of the leaves.

" I am deceived," she said to herself.

And remembering still the rushing sound she had heard,
she did not know what to think.

Again she began to take off her stockings.

* Notre Dame de Lourdes, Paris, 1874.

3i2 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

And again the sound as if the wind were rushing by passed
through her ears.

Bernadette raised her head, looked in front of her and
uttered a loud cry, or rather, as M. Lasserre says, she would
have uttered a loud cry if she had not been choked with fear.
She trembled in all her limbs, and fell to the earth daz-
zled, completely overcome by what she had seen ; she
crouched on the ground on both knees and waited in terror
for what was to come. For in a niche formed by nature, in
the rock, stood a female figure of incomparable splendor.
There was nothing fantastical or vague about this lovely being.
She appeared to be a real woman, and the light that came from
the aureola above her head, and from her whole body, though
of surpassing brightness, did not hurt the eyes.

She was of middle height ; she seemed to be quite young,
and she had all the grace of a girl of twenty ; but without de-
tracting in the least from the delicacy and beauty of her form,
there was at the same time, an air of eternal grandeur about
it, which was in entire accordance with the fitness of things.
Her face was oval, her eyes blue, her lips bore an expression
of divine gentleness and love, her forehead appeared to ex-
press supreme wisdom — that is to say, the knowledge of all
things, united to a virtue without limits.

The garments worn by this heavenly being were of an un-
known material, and were doubtless, as M. Lasserre says,
manufactured in a mysterious workshop, where lilies of the
valley are made into textile fabrics ; for they were as white as
the immaculate snows of the mountains, and more magnificent
in their simplicity than the gorgeous vestments worn by Solo-

ECSTASY; OUR LADY OF LOURDES. * 313

mon, when arrayed in all his glory. Her robe long and en
frain, fell in chaste folds, allowing her feet to be seen as they
stood upon the rock, pressing lightly a branch of eglantine. On
each one of her feet, which were in a state of original nudity,
bloomed the mystical golden colored rose.

In front a girdle, blue as the heavens, and tied half around
the body, fell in two long bands which almost touched her
feet. Behind, enveloping in its fulness her shoulders, and the
upper part of her arms, was a white veil, which was fastened to
her head and reached to the lower border of her robe.

There were neither rings, nor necklace, nor diadem, nor
jewels ; none of the ornaments with which human vanity, from
all time, has loved to ornament her. A chaplet, of which the
beads were as white as drops of milk, and of which the chain
was as yellow as the harvest corn, fell from her hands, fervent-
ly clasped as they were. The beads of the chaplet glided one
after the other through her fingers. Sometimes the lips of
this Queen of Virgins were still. Instead of reciting her rosary
she was then perhaps listening to the eternal echo in her heart
of the angelic salutation, and to the murmur of the invocations
coming from the earth. Each bead as she touched it was
doubtless a shower of celestial graces, falling on souls as the
drops of dew fall upon flowers.

She was silent, but afterwards her own words, and the
miraculous facts mentioned, attested that she was really the
immaculate Virgin, the very august and very holy Mary, the
Mother of God.

It must be admitted that, considering the state of mental

confusion into which Bernadette was thrown by this sudden

14

3i4 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

appearance, she had a wonderful perception for the details of
face, form, and dress, of the celestial figure before her. She
tried to make the sign of the cross, but her agitation was so
great that she could not raise her arm from her side. But
the figure, as if to encourage her, made the sign with infinite
grace, and then Bernadette, partially nerving herself, ran over
her rosary, and as she finished it, the apparition disappeared
and she was left alone.

No one believed the account she gave, even her mother
regarding it as based on hallucination ; but she saw the figure
again, though her companions, not being gifted with the power
of seeing spiritual things, saw only Bernadette fall on her knees,
her face illumed with the light of ecstasy, as she gazed
towards the place where she declared she perceived the Virgin*
On another occasion two women went with her to the grotto,
but though Bernadette saw the Virgin and fell on her knees
at the sight, her two companions, as the others, saw only Ber-
nadette, whose countenance was again transfigured by ecstasy.

After that, Bernadette was told by the Virgin chat she
wanted a church built on the spot. The water of the spring
in the grotto became suddenly possessed of healing powers,
and though the government attempted for a time to put a
stop to the spread of the belief in Bernadette's visions, it was
found to be impossible to do so, especially after a commission
appointed by the bishop had rendered a report in favor of
their authenticity. The rest is well known ; the church was
built by the contributions of the pilgrims who visited the place,
either for purposes of devotion or to bathe in the healing pool,
and the water of Lourdes became famous for the wonderful

ECSTASY; OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 315

cures it accomplished. It is now exported to all parts of the
world, and even in the city of New York is in extensive use
as a therapeutical agent, its qualities being miraculous, accord-
ing to the belief of those who place faith in its virtues.

This is the same old story over again, simply clothed in a
new dress — a story that in one form or another has been re-
peated a thousand times, and that is probably destined to be
reiterated again and again, while the world lasts, and the
human mind continues to be constituted as it now is. But we,
who know how to take such recitals at their true value, can
derive from them many a lesson of use to us, in our dealings
with men and women of sound and unsound minds and bodies.
That thousands have been cured by the water of Lourdes ad-
mits of no doubt. Such facts are, however, only another group
to be added to those embracing the results of the royal touch,
the powder of sympathy, the metallic tractors, mesmerism, the
acts of the Zouave Jacob and of Dr. Newton, and the bread
pills and colored water, which, when taken in faith, are fully as
miraculous in their effects as the water of Lourdes. And again,
we see how prone man is to view facts " unequally," as Czermak
puts it ; to accept the most improbable explanation that can be
offered of matters with which he is not wholly familiar, and
while wise, as a child of the world ordinarily is in the conduct
of his worldly affairs, a very prince of fools when an appeal is
made to his sense of the marvellous.

There are few books of its kind more instructive, if read
with a mind free from superstition and full of the knowledge of
the wonderful workings of the human intellect, than the " Notre
Dame de -Lourdes " of M. Lasserre, and no one can rise from its

3i6 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

perusal without being impressed with a sense of the incompar-
able adaptability of the Roman Catholic Church to the wants
of those who are guided more by emotion than by reason, more
by faith than by facts ; and these constitute the majority of the
human race.

As to Bernadette, let the reader recall to mind the circum-
stances under which she first saw the vision. She was stooping
down in the act of taking off her stockings. The position was
one which wras calculated to accelerate the flow of blood to her
brain, and to retard its return. A temporary cerebral congestion
was thus induced, a condition particularly favorable to the pro-
duction of hallucinations, as has already been pointed out.
The roaring sound in the ears when there was no wind, was also
the result of the augmented quantity of blood in the cerebral
vessels.

Then, M. Lasserre repeatedly speaks of her ecstatic condi-
tion. " Suddenly Bernadette's countenance appeared to be
transfigured, and it was in reality transfigured. An extraordi-
nary emotion was depicted on her face, and her beaming
expression seemed to be the result of a divine light."* " They
(her two companions,) perceived that the features of the child
were transfigured by ecstasy."! " Bernadette, ravished in
ecstasy, gazed upon the immaculate beauty before her."$ And
again : " A minute afterwards her forehead appeared to become
illuminated and radiant. The blood did not appear to rush to
her face ; on the contrary, she looked somewhat paler than
natural, as if nature receded a little in the presence of the
apparition which was before her. All her features seemed to

* Op. cit., p. 27- t Id., p. 41. J Id., p. 42.

ECSTASY; OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 317

be enlarged, and as if in a higher sphere, in a country of glory,
to express feelings and things which do not belong to this
world. Her mouth, half open, was expressive of the admiration
which filled her soul, and which appeared to raise her towards
heaven. Her eyes, fixed and beaming with happiness, gazed
on the beauty invisible to others, but which all felt to be
present, which all, thus to speak, saw reflected in the face of
the child. This poor little peasant girl, so ordinary in her
natural state, seemed now not to belong to this earth.

All those who have seen Bernadette in ecstasy, speak of the
spectacle as a thing quite without analogy in the world.'7*

So much for the orthodox account. The fact of ecstasy is
admitted, but it is contended that while in this state the girl
saw the Virgin Mary, although no one else, of the hundreds
who went with her to the grotto, saw anything at all but the
girl herself in the ecstatic state. If this kind of thing can be
true, facts go for nothing. I have had under my own imme-
diate charge fifty girls and women, who, in the condition of
ecstasy, have had visions of, from God himself, down to the
school-mistress who had locked them up in dark closets. That
there were many sensible people who held this view in regard
to Bernadette is very evident from M. Lasserre's admissions.
Thus the editor of the " Lavedan" in detailing the events in
question, said :

" Three children of early ages had gone out to collect
the branches, which had been cut from some trees near
the town. The girls were surprised by the proprietor of the

* Op. cit, p. 63.

318 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

land, and fled as fast as their legs could carry them to one of
the grottos near the road through the forest of Lourdes. We
shall not stop to detail the thousand versions which have been
given of this occurrence ; we will only say that the young girl,
with a wax taper in her hand, and escorted by more than five
hundred people, goes every morning to pray at the entrance of
the grotto. There she is seen to pass from a state of profound
and sighing meditation into a most pronounced condition of
ecstasy. Tears flow from her fixed eyes, which remain con-
stantly turned towards that part of the cave where she believes
she sees the figure of the Blessed Virgin. Everything leads us
to suppose that the poor visionary is the subject of catalepsy."

Of such people as the editor of the " Lavedan" M. Lasserre
speaks with becoming disdain.

" Some physicians," he says, " some autocthonous Socrates,
some local philosophers, calling themselves Voltairians to make
us believe they have read Voltaire, bristling up against their
curiosity, held it to be a point of honor not to visit the grotto
with the stupid crowd, which daily grew in size. This is what
almost always happens; the fanatics of "Free Examination" hold-
ing the principle of only examining what suits them. For them
no fact is worthy of attention which is capable of overturning
the inflexible dogmas they have learned in the Credo of their
journal. From the height of their infallible wisdom, on the
steps of their shops, on the terrace in front of the cafe's, from
the windows of the club houses, these spirits of the first order
saw, with supreme disdain, the innumerable human souls which
sauntered along on their way to the grotto."

These " disdainful spirits " were probably silenced, if not

HI rSTER O-EPILEPS Y. 319

convinced. Some of these days perhaps they, or their de-
scendants, will have more voice in restraining the delusional
vagaries of their fellow-creatures than they seem to have had
in the matter of Our Lady of Lourdes.

After the first paroxysm, it was no difficult matter for Ber-
nadette to have others. The mere fact of her fixing her gaze
steadily in one direction would have been sufficient to produce
them, just as the similar paroxysms of hypnotism are caused in
the human species, and even in animals. This fact is well-
known to the people of many nations, Thus, in India the
seeker for wisdom, the anchorite, is told to go to some place of
solitude, to seat himself neither too high .nor too low, to keep
the head, neck and body immovable, to look fixedly at the point
of his nose, and to remain calm, chaste, free from fear, and to
think only of God. A similar method is followed in China.

The monks of Mount Athos enter into ecstasy by placing
their thoughts on God and their eyes on the navel. Simeon
Abbot, of the monastery of Xerocos, writes the following in-
structions : " Being in thy cell, shut the door, and seat tlryself
in a corner of the room. Turn thy thoughts and thy eyes
towards the middle of thy belly, that is to say, to thy navel.
Hold thy breath, not even breathing through thy nose."

3. Hystero- Epilepsy. The combination of hysteria with
epilepsy has long been recognized as one of the most frightful
affections to be found in the whole range of neurological medi-
cine. It is the condition which more frequently than any other
led to the idea in former times — an idea which, however, as I
shall presently show, holds its own among theologians of the
present day — that demons entered the body and produced the

32o HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

symptoms of the disorder by tearing and contorting it for diver-
sional or malicious purposes.

An attack of hystero-epilepsy is characterized by the
occurrence of convulsions more or less resembling those of
epilepsy. There is usually, in the first place, a spasm resem-
bling such as characterizes tetanus or lock jaw, as it is pop-
ularly called. During this stage the body is bent backward so
as to resemble a bow in shape. Then follow convulsions,
during which the body is violently agitated ; there is frothing
at the mouth, the urine is sometimes passed involuntarily and
occasionally the tongue is bitten. During all this period the
patient is unconscious.

Next ensues a remarkable series of movements, at the
beginning of which, or during their continuance, the patient
recovers consciousness to such an extent as to answer ques-
tions, though there is not often recollection of the incidents
that may have occurred. These movements are apparently
voluntary, and consist of the most extraordinary contortions of
the face, neck, trunk and extremities, so that superstitious or
ignorant people would be very apt to imagine the existence of
an internal or external diabolical agency. During the continu-
ance of this part of the paroxysm, the patient tears with the
hands and teeth anything tearable that comes within reach,
and continually utters inarticulate sounds or words, apparently
in relation with the ideas passing through the mind. Finally
the purely hysterical element ceases to predominate, and the
patient alternately weeps and laughs, and gradually acquires a
knowledge of what is passing around.

During the whole of the paroxysm the face is flushed, the

HYSTERO-EPILEPSY. 321

pupils are moderately contracted, the pulse is accelerated, the
perspiration is increased in quantity, and the respiration is
hurried and irregular.

But there are numerous deviations from this type. Some-
times the tetanic spasm is wanting, and again it, or some mod-
ification of it, may constitute the most marked 'part of the con-
vulsive period. Thus in a lady who was lately under my
charge the paroxysm began with the bending of the body, and
the bowlike form was at once relaxed, and again assumed to
be again relaxed, and so on for over half an hour, during which
time the patient was sobbing, groaning, and shrieking alter-
nately.

In a case now under my charge the patient, a woman, has
daily attacks at about the same hour — -three o'clock p.' m., —
which are more distinctly tetaniform in the beginning than
any that have come under my observation. They consist of a
series of spasms, during the first part of which the body is
extremely rigid. The convulsion is, however, unlike others
that have come under my notice, very slowly developed. The
body extended at full length in the recumbent position grad-
ually becomes exceedingly rigid, the legs are slightly separated,
the arms are pressed closely to the sides, the jaws are tightly
closed and the gaze fixed. Respiration is entirely suspended
and the heart beats rapidly, sometimes as frequently as one
hundred and sixty pulsations in a minute. Then the body is
slowly bowed so that the head and heels alone touch the bed,
and is so rigid and strongly arched that no ordinary force, such
as a powerful man can exert, suffices to overcome the extreme
tonicity of the muscles. In about a .minute from the begin-

322

HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

ning of the rigidity the spasm suddenly relaxes, and with a
long-drawn inspiration the paroxysm ends to be again resumed
in a few minutes with a like sequence. In the accompanying
woodcut (Fig. 8) is an exact representation of this patient when
the tetanic spasm is at its height.

No one has written with greater effect in regard to the
manifestations of hysteria and hystero-epilepsy than Charcot.
As a most striking instance of this latter affection I cite from
him the following instance, * already referred to in another
communication under the head of ecstasy.

Ler., aged forty-eight, is a patient well known to all physi-
cians who visit the Salpetriere as one of the most remarkable
instances extant of hystero-epilepsy. Her menstruation has
ceased for four years, and yet all the neurotic symptoms persist.
She is a demoniac, a possessed, and presents a striking exam-
ple of that type of hysteria manifested by the " Jerkers " in
" Methodist camp meetings," and who exhibit in their parox-
ysms the most frightful attitudes.

* " Legions sur les Maladies du Systeme nerveux," Paris, 1872-73, p. 301,
et seq.

HYSTERO-EPILEPSY. 323

The probable origin of these nervous phomonema in Ler.
deserves to be noted. She has had, as she says, a series of
frights. At eleven years of age she was terrified by a furious
dog, at sixteen she was frightened at the sight of the corpse of
an assassinated woman, and again about the same time when
going through a wood by robbers, who attacked her and took
away her money.

With her, there are various local manifestations of hysteria,
consisting of anaesthesia of one half of the body, tenderness
over the ovaries, semi-paralysis of various parts, and at times
contractions of the limbs on the right- or left side. The attacks
are characterized at first by epileptiform and tetaniform con-
vulsions, after which come extensive movements of an inten-
tional character in which the patient assumes the most hideous
postures, recalling the attitudes which history ascribes to demon-
iacal possessions. At the moment of the attack she is seized
with delirium, which evidently turns on the facts which have
produced the initial seizure. She hurls invectives at imaginary
persons : " Scoundrels ! robbers ! brigands ! Fire, fire ! Oh the
dogs, they bite me." When the convulsive part of the accession
is over, there ensue generally, hallucinations of sight. She
sees frightful animals, skeletons and spectres. Her power of
swallowing food is impaired for several clays, and the tongue
is more or less contracted, leading to indistinctness of her
articulation.

Later, M. Bourneville * has given an account of Ler. some-
what fuller than that of M. Charcot. In illustration of the
period of contortions, I take from M. Bourneville's excellent
* Louise Lateau, ou la stigmatisee Beige. Paris, 1875, P- 3^» et secl-

324

HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS.

monograph the accompanying wood cut, (Fig. 9) made from a
sketch taken on the spot, by Mr. Charcot.

A case at this time is under my care, in which phenomena
very similar to those exhibited by Ler. are present. The pa-
tient is a girl who was brought to me after various remedies,

Fig. 9.

calculated to exorcise a supposed demon, had been employed.
Although a Protestant, she had been taken to a "Christian
Brother," who had laid his hands on her head,, as her mother
informed me, and had bid the devil depart, at the same time
washing her with holy water. These means not succeeding,
the water of Lourdes was next drunk and the forehead bathed
with it. But these means also failed. Evidently Protestant

HYSTERO-EPILEPSY. 325

devils are not amenable to Catholic spiritual therapeutics. She
was then brought to me, and I had the opportunity of seeing
her in a paroxysm.

It began with slight tetanic rigidity, then there were general
clonic convulsions, epileptiform in character, with foaming at
the mouth, and then the consciousness having been regained,
the volitional muscular contractions made their appearance, as
well as a higher state of delirium. The face twitched, the
tongue was protruded, the eyes rolled. She seized books and
other articles within her reach and hurled them about the
room. She swore fearfully, and uttered the most obscene words
with a horrible leer on her face. Then she threw herself on the
floor and kicked, rolled and tossed about without regard to
decency, or the safety of her own or others' limbs. She dashed
her head against a chair, scratched her face, tore her hair, beat
her breast, and almost entirely divested herself of clothing.
Finally she fell asleep utterly exhausted, and did not awake
for several hours. She was then sore from head to foot, and
professed — evidently with truth — that she had no recollection
of what had taken place. Such a case as this would, undoubt-
edly, at a not very remote anterior period have been regarded,
almost without a dissentient voice, as one of diabolical or de-
moniacal possession, and even now there are not wanting learn-
ed and pious theologians, Catholic and Protestant, who would
certainly thus designate it, for it fulfils in all respects the de-
scription given of such cases, both in ancient and modern times.
Thus if we go back to the writers of the New Testament, we
find the phenomena well described. There are convulsive
movements, the body is contorted, the patient cries out, he

326 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS ; POSSESSION.

foams at the mouth, falls down and then reposes.* The patient
is torn, he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth.f He falls
on the ground and wallows foaming.! He is contorted (vexed),
falls sometimes into the fire and sometimes into the water.§

Delitzsch || admits that these are the symptoms of epilepsy,
but he very weakly attempts to make a distinction between the
ordinary disease and that produced by the entrance of a devil
into the human body, in that, plus these symptoms, one of the
subjects was deaf and dumb. But it very often happens that
patients are both epileptic and deaf and dumb, and that the
cure of all the morbid conditions takes place at one time, being
due as they are to an essential anatomical lesion, or some hys-
teroid state.

In contending for the reality of obsession and possession,
Delitzsch, with a degree of learning and ability which it is la-
mentable to see wasted in such a cause, endeavors to locate the
situation of the devil who has taken up his abode in the human
organism. According to him the soul itself can never be inva-
ded, and however strongly such a view may have been held, it
must now be given up, as he says the locality of possession is
the human body. " In this — and indeed just where the soul
exerts an influence upon it by means of the nervous system,
and receives reacting influence from it — the demon establishes
himself, but from here outward exercises a forcible influence,
extending itself to soul and spirit : to the soul at once so far
as he makes the corporiety, e. g., the instrument of speech, a
means of his self-manifestation, and thereby dislodges the soul

* Luke ix. 39-42. t Mark viii. 18. J Mark ix. 20. § Matt. xvii. 1 15.
|| A System of Biblical Psychology. English Translation. Edinburgh,
1875, P- 348.

HYSTERO-EPILEPSY ; POSSESSION. 327

from its relation of power to the body that it vitalizes ; to the
spirit inasmuch as he degrades the will to a mere potentiality
and places it in fetters that cannot be broken. So this affects
the nature of man even to its very foundation. Even to the will,
and thus even to the root of the soul and of the spirit, his influ-
ence penetrates. He binds the will in a magical manner, and
makes it subservient to himself, and thus deprives the entire
man of independence and of all further power over himself."*

Nor does the learned author stop here. He believes in the
ability of man to form pacts or covenants with the devil — witch-
craft. Thus he says :

" Nevertheless, that prevalence of demoniacal disorders, es-
pecially of possession, had also certainly a deep psychological
reason in the superstition of that day, in virtue of which it was
mingled with all kinds of magic. Superstition is not absolute-
ly a mere subjective, guiltless delusion ; and, moreover, it is not
a complication which is dissolved by truly scientific illumination
into a mere nothing. It opens the human soul to demoniacal
influences just as much as faith does to divine. And witchcraft
is not empty, guiltless legerdemain, and neither is it an empty
fraud, disclosing itself to intelligent cultivation ; it is, in its of-
ten sufficiently undeniable reality, the fearful opposite of the
sacred miracles, which apart from God sets in movement created
powers." f

Now what is the logical practical deduction from this ?
Obviously, that, if there are individuals capable of entering into
contracts with demons or devils to torment their fellow beings,
they ought to be put out of the world as rapidly as the machin-

* Op. cit, p. 355. t Op. cit., p. 360.

328 HYSTEROID AFFECTIONS; EXORCISM.

ery of the law can be brought to bear against them. Burning
at the stake would be a merited punishment for such fearfully
degraded creatures. The error of our ancestors was not in the
conclusions at which they arrived, but in the premises from
which they reasoned. Admitting the truth of these, and they
were perfectly right in consigning children and old men and wo-
men to the stake, the scaffold and the water. And Dr. Delitzsch,
the Protestant professor of theology in the University of Leipsic,
tells us they were right, and he says this in our day, right into
our ears ! Doubtless this very talented divine, who inveighs
against superstition in the same breath with which he expresses
his belief in witchcraft, would send Bernadette Soubirous to the
category of fanatical and bigoted papists, and smile in derision
at his Holiness the Pope, for writing approvingly to M. Lasserre
and speaking kindly of Bernadette. But the Pope and his
Church are at heart consistent, and it does seem to us — in our
ignorance perhaps — that consistency is a virtue which those
who set up to be teachers of mankind in the knowledge of eter-
nal and never-changing truths, might cultivate with more advan-
tage to themselves and their disciples. The Catholic Church
believes in the possibility of possession, and it supplies a for-
mula to its ministers by which demons are to be exorcised.
This is the formula which exorcised the devils who had entered
the body of the hystero-epileptic girl whose case I have just de-
tailed : R. zinci bromidi 3i; sodii bromidi, §i; aquse, 3 iv ;
M. ft. sol. Sig. A teaspoonful in water three times a day. De-
mons of the present time have a great antipathy to the bromides,
and in most cases they refuse to dwell in any body into which
any one of the saints of that company obtains a lodgment.

STIGMATIZATION. 329

CHAPTER XVI.

STIGMATIZATION.

IT is claimed by the Catholic Church (not, be it understood,
as an article of faith which all must believe,) that there
have been instances in which certain highly-favored individuals
have, through miraculous agency, been marked in a manner to
represent the wounds which Christ received in the crucifixion.
When fully developed, these wounds consist of one in the palm
of each hand, one on the dorsum of each foot, each indicating
the place where a nail was inserted in the act of nailing Jesus
to the cross, and one in the side, which represents the thrust
of the spear which the Roman soldier is reported to have made.
In some cases there have been, in addition, signs upon the
forehead, which stand for the lacerations produced by the
crown of thorns ; and others in various parts of the body, which
are interpreted according to the fancy of the subject. To some
of these remarkable instances of the consequences of religious
fervor I propose to ask the attention of the reader before en-
tering into the consideration of the philosophy of the occur-
rences.

Gorres * admits that in all the periods of Christian antiquity

* Op. cit, t.ii, p. 202.

33o ST. FRANCIS HASSISSI.

there is not to be found a single example of stigmatization,
properly so-called. The first to exhibit this mark of divine
favor was St. Francis of Assisium, who was born in 1186,
who died October 4th, 1226, and who, in 1224, became marked
in the manner mentioned. In memory of the event a special
day, the 17th of September, in every year was set apart as a
feast of the Holy Stigmata by Pope Benedict XI.

One morning — the day of the exaltation of the cross — as
St. Francis was praying on the mountain-side, he experienced
a violent desire to be crucified with Christ. At the same time
he saw a seraph descend from heaven towards him. This
celestial being had six fiery and luminous wings, and as he
approached, St. Francis saw between the wings, the figure of a
man crucified, his arms and legs extended. Two of the wings
were elevated above his head, two were used in flying, and the
other two covered the body. Filled with astonishment at this
sight, he nevertheless felt great joy that God had thus favored
him, and at the same time profound grief at the painful spec-
tacle of which he was a witness, and which pierced his heart
like a sword. When the apparition had faded from his sight,
there remained in his soul the most fervent emotions, and on
his body very marvellous impressions, for on each hand and
each foot was the mark of a nail, and in the right side a wound,
such as would have been made with the point of a spear.
These wounds were large, and blood flowed from them. In the
middle of those in the hands and feet were nails like nails of
iron. They were black, hard, with a head above and a point
below, but though movable to some extent they could not be
withdrawn. St. Clara tried to pull them out after St. Francis

STIGMATIZATION. 33 x

was dead, but was unable to do so. After receiving these wounds
he could move his ringers and use his hands and feet as before.
Nevertheless, walking was difficult to him, and therefore in his
journeys he usually went on horseback. The wound of the side
was deep and of the width of three fingers, as one of the
brothers, who had by chance touched it, testified. His clothing
was often stained with the blood which flowed from it.

There was never formed in his wounds any appearance of
gangrene, nor even of suppuration ; and the saint never em-
ployed any remedy for the purpose of curing them. It was
regarded as miraculous, that notwithstanding his sufferings and
the continued loss of blood, he lived for two years after receiv-
ing the stigmata.

The history of Christine de Stumbele is one of the most
remarkable that has come down to us. She was born in 1242
at Stumbele, a village situated a few miles from Cologne.
When she was only six years old the Lord appeared to her under
the form of a beautiful young man, and said to her, " My dear
daughter, I am the Lord Jesus ; give thyself entirely to me,
and continue always in my service." At nine years of age she
went to live with the sisters at Cologne. There she led a life
of prayer, austerities and ecstasies. At fifteen years began the
diabolical temptations to which fuller reference will presently
be made, and which lasted for thirty-one years. These were
considered by the sisters to be epileptic, and they sent Chris-
tine home to her parents. These attacks prevented her being
admitted to the sisterhood at Stumbele.

Christine had remained with her parents ten years, continu-
ally subject to these diabolical assaults, when she was visited

332 CHRISTINE DE STUMBELE.

by Pierre de Dacie, who had prayed to God to show him a true
saint, and who sent him to Christine. Hardly had Pierre en-
tered her house when she was seized by an invisible hand and
thrown violently against the wall, with such violence that the
house shook. Although this was repeated seven times, Chris-
tine exhibited neither impatience nor pain. Pierre, touched
with compassion, placed a mattrass against the wall, so as to
soften the violence of the blows in case of fresh assaults. But
she soon began to groan with pain on account of wounds, which
she said she had received in her feet. On examination, afresh
wound was found on each foot, from which blood flowed. This
was repeated several times. Afterwards, while she was talking
with Pierre, she again began to groan, and on his asking what
was the matter, she replied, " I am wounded in the knee."
After a few moments she passed her hand under her robe and
drew out a nail, which she showed him, and which he declared
had a most extraordinary degree of heat, as if in fact it were
newly arrived from hell. Towards midnight he joined his
companion monk, and began the recital of the office, but had
barely got to " Laudes," when they heard such a noise in
Christine's room that they were obliged to interrupt their
prayers and go to her relief. The young girl suffered horribly,
and appeared to be dying. A moment afterwards she drew
from under her clothing another nail, red-hot, and of hideous
shape ; and putting it in the hand of his companion (after it
had cooled, it is to be hoped), said, " See what has been wound-
ing me ! " The two monks looked at this horrible nail, and
were struck with stupor and fear. Pierre requested permission
to keep it as a souvenir ; "and," he says, in his account of the

STIGMATIZATION. 333

matter, " I have kept it to this day." In the morning, the two
brothers departed on their way to Cologne, and Pierre thanked
God for having allowed him to witness all these manifestations.

The foregoing details in regard to St. Christine de Stum-
bele are taken almost literally from the recent work of Dr.
Imbert-Gourbeyre,* professor in the school of medicine ot
Clermont Ferrand, in Belgium, who quotes the principal part
from Pierre de Dacie, with full acceptance of all that is stated.
It is lamentable that a member of a profession, so little prone
to be deceived in matters of the kind, should exhibit such igno-
rance of his own science, and such credulity and superstition.
We shall see hereafter that he is not the only Belgian physician
who views facts " unequally."

But to continue the account of Christine —

Pierre made a second visit to Stumbele, and was invited to
dine with the cure' in company with Christine. After the repast,
one of those present undertook to chant " Jesu dulcis memorial
but he had hardly begun before Christine was taken with
ecstasy, was motionless, rigid in all her limbs and completely
insensible. She could not even be seen to breathe. " I wept
with joy," says Pierre, " stupefied with this miracle, and I thank
God for granting me such a favor. I could not attribute it
either to nature or to man, and I venerated the divine pres-
ence."

Christine remained in this condition for several hours,
stretched out on a bench, her body wrapped in her veil. Then
she began to cry and sob, and her body became agitated. Her

*.Les Stigmatisees. Louise Lateau, etc., 2d Edition. Paris, 1873, t. i,
p. 268.

334 CHRISTINE DE STUMBELE.

breath then began to return, though at first, very feebly.
Finally she began to murmur a few words, such as " O my
well-beloved ! O my spouse ! " and then she went into such a
state of jubilation that her body trembled with excess of emo-
tion.

On another occasion while in a profound state of ecstasy,
her body exhaled a most delicious perfume, "the odor of
sanctity," which has been exhibited by many other holy per-
sons. It must be confessed, however, that if the stories which
have come down to us, relative to the personal habits of most
of the holy men and women whose histories have been written,
are true, the odor exhaled from their bodies could not have
been of a very delectable character.

Christine had numerous temporary stigmatizations, which
always took place on Good Fridays and lasted a few days.
The first one occurred in 1267 — being preceded by the crown
of thorns, which came on Tuesday of Passion Week, and by the
bloody sweat which occurred on Holy Thursday. The follow-
ing morning she had the five wounds.

Pierre has left a description of the stigmata as he observed
them on one occasion. There was a wound in the palm of
each hand of about the size of a shilling piece. The flesh was
exposed but the abrasion was only superficial. The stigmata
on the backs of the hands were in complete relation, both as
regarded size and situation, with those on the palms. All these
wounds remained but for eight days, diminishing little by little.

Subsequently the devil again began to torment her and her
friends. Pierre, accompanied by another monk, paid her a
visit, at the request of her father. They had saluted the

STIGMATIZATION. 335

young girl and had gone into the next room to dry their gar-
ments, when another clerical visitor who had taken a seat in
front of the fire, was suddenly struck violently on his legs by
an invisible hand, and at the same time covered with human
excrement.

In a few minutes afterwards this was repeated. " I ascer-
tained," said Pierre, " that the demon more than twenty differ-
ent times during that night, covered Christine with excrement.
Sometimes it was on her clothing, sometimes on her body, and
on one occasion, though her head was veiled, it was covered
with excrement as if with a paste. It was in her eyes, in her
mouth, and it stuck so fast that it was difficult to remove it.
" I must avow," continues Pierre, with great naivete, " that some
of it got on my hands."

These are filthy matters to talk or write about, and nothing
but the necessity which I think exists for giving a true idea of
the vagaries which hysterical women at times indulge in, causes
me to place them before the reader. All of these phenomena
— the sticking of sharp instruments into the body, the introduc-
tion of them into the various passages, the drinking of wine,
and tricks with excrementitious substances, both of man and
the lower animals, together with many others, which do not
seem to have occurred to Christine de Stumbele, are common
enough as manifestations of hysterical, or hysteroid affections.

But to return to the performances of this saintly creature.

The next night all the doings of the previous night were
re-enacted with additions. " Towards the hour of midnight,"
he continues in his journal, " I asked Christine if she saw the
demon. As for us, it was easy to know the presence of the

336 CHRISTINE DE STUMBELE.

demon by his acts — by all our senses, by the eyes, by the nose,
by the touch, and even by the ears. Christine declared that
she saw him all the time, even with her eyes closed, or covered
with a veil. He took all possible forms. At that moment she
only saw his figure, but it was hideous. However deformed it
might be, it was always a human figure, having two great horns."
Pierre asked whether or not the demon would go, if he
sprinkled the chamber with holy water, and Christine replied
that he would, but that he would soon return.

"The following day," says Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre, * in his
book published only three years ago, and prefaced with a letter
of endorsement and approval from the Bishop of Nantes, " was
passed tranquilly as was also the night, but on the third night
the same scenes recommenced. Brother Wipert wras then abso-
lutely determined to recite the prayers of exorcism, in order to
put the devil to flight. Christine, however, took occasion to
say that it would be useless, and that she was still condemned
to submit to the assaults of the devil, so long as the good God
should determine. But Brother .Wipert was obstinate and be-
gan to recite the formula. Hardly had he begun, however,
when a tremendous noise was heard in the room, the candle
was extinguished, and Brother Wipert panic-stricken, rose up
and attempted to seek safety in flight. At that moment he
felt a blow, and was covered with excrement. He rushed from
the room repeating " O my God, I have lost an eye ! " In the
next chamber, before the fire and with hot water, he busied
himself in washing his clothing, soiled by the demoniacal opera-
tion. The sisters helped him in his cleansing processes. Brother

*Op. cit, p. 285.

STIGMATIZATION. 337

Wipcrt had been very badly treated. One-half of his body
from head to foot was covered with liquid excrement. A few
minutes afterwards, well cleaned, he entered Christine's room
laughing. 'The devil,' said he, "has dirtied me all over and
has given me such a blow that I thought at first he had
put out my eye,' Pierre de Dacie could not help laughing
also."

How it is possible for any person claiming to have a human
brain normally constituted — that noblest work of God — to be-
lieve such stuff as this, passes comprehension.

It is scarcely worth while to inquire further into the acts of
this filthiest of hysterical women, this most degraded of all the
individuals who have pretended to stigmatization as the act of
God. I will only further state, that her performances are con-
tained in not less than one hundred and fifty folio pages in the
collection of the Bollandists, extending over a period of twenty
years, from 1267 to 1287, and that they are accepted as verita-
ble acts of the devil and of God, according as one or the other
was for the time being in the ascendency, by bishops, priests,
deacons, and laity of the most important of all the Christian
churches.

Yes, there is one thing more to state in regard to this
woman who is honored as a saint, by the church that has re-
cently refused canonization to Joan of Arc. Her relics were
first taken to Niedeck, then, towards the end of the sixteenth
century, to Juliers. Here in the year 1685, they were visited
by Father Steinfunder, who reported that a green crown, the
width of the finger, was in process of growing from, the fore-
head to the occiput. When he saw it, it had reached the ears.

338 VERONICA GIULIANI.

" God thus wished," said he, " to crown the chastity and the
invincible patience of the virgin." In 1692 he inspected the
relics a second time. The virginal crown was still growing,
and it was sprinkled with red drops, which were symbolical of
the points of insertion of the crown of thorns she had re-
ceived during her life.

Veronica Giuliani had frequent ecstasies, during which she
saw and conversed with Christ and the Virgin Mary. In one
ot these interviews she prayed that she might be crucified with
her Saviour, and the promise was given her that she should
receive the stigmata on the following Good Friday. When that
day arrived she had repeated ecstasies, and received the stig-
mata during one of her prayers. She saw the Lord attached to
the cross, and His mother seated at His feet. She prayed to
the Holy Virgin to intercede for her, knowing that of herself
she could do nothing. The Holy Virgin promised to grant her
prayer, and she immediately received an assurance from the
Lord that He would cause her to remember Him in everything.
Three times He asked her what she desired, and three times
she answered that it was her wish to be crucified with Him. " I
accord it to thee," said He, "but I wish you to be always faithful
to me and I will give the grace thou needest by means of these
wounds, which I now impress upon thy body as a sign of
the gift I have bestowed upon thee." Immediately five brilliant
rays emanated from the five wounds of the Saviour, and were
directed towards her. In. these rays she saw little flames. Four
of them represented the nails and the fifth the lance. The
nails and the lance seemed to be of gold, but were blazing at
the same time. " The heart, the hands, and the feet of the

STIGMATIZATION. 339

Saint were pierced. She experienced great pain, but simulta-
neously she felt herself transformed into Our Lord." *

Awakened from her ecstasy, she perceived that her arms
were extended and rigid. She tried to look at the wound in
her side, but she could not on account of the pain she felt in
her hands ; nevertheless, after renewed efforts, she succeeded,
and then she saw that it was open, and that water and blood
were pouring from it.

Doubts in regard to the truth of her story arose, and she
was ordered by her confessor to submit to a very severe exam-
ination, which the inquisition ordered the bishop of her diocese
to make in order to ascertain whether she was deceiving or not.
This, according to Gorres and other authorities, was of such a
character that if she had been a fraud the fact would inevitably
have been discovered. But she came triumphantly out of all
her trials, and the stigmata were accepted as genuine gifts of
God, according to the account she had given. Veronica was
beatified by Pope Pius VII., and canonized by Gregory XVI.,
May 26th, 1839.

Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre f gives a list of one hundred and
forty-five persons who have received the stigmata, besides eight
now living, known to him. He has reason to think there are
many others now on the earth. America has only had one,
and, according to Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre, she is still living. In
regard to her he gives the following details without, however,
citing his authority. I quote them for what they may be worth :

" Vitaline Gagnon was born twenty years ago, of poor pa-

* Gorres. — Op. cit. t. ii. p. 216.

t Les Stigmatisees. Palma D'Oria, etc., 2d edition. Paris, 1873, P- 2^3-

340 VITA LINE GAGNON.

rents, in the diocese of Quebec. From her earliest infancy she
gave evidences of piety, and while quite a child experienced
great delight in visiting the cemeteries and saying Ave Marias
among the tombs. Hence she acquired a great regard for the
souls in purgatory, who often rendered themselves visible to
her to ask the benefit of her prayers. About the age of thir-
teen she entered the noviciate of the Sczurs Hospitaliers of
Quebec, but she was obliged to leave by direction of her physi-
cians, who declared that a cloistered life was not to be endured
by one of her weak constitution. Some time afterwards she
presented herself to the Sceiirs Grises at Ottara [Ottawa ?], after
being cured of a cough which was thought to be incurable.
Threatened with being sent away on account of this cough, she
prostrated herself at the feet of the Holy Virgin and coughed
no more. She made her profession two years afterwards, and
on the same day received the stigmata. Since that time the stig-
mata bleed, every Friday, and every time that she offers her
sufferings with the object of obtaining a grace for any one who
is commended to her prayers. Since her profession, now two
years, she has taken no nourishment, and she suffers terribly.
A little wine is all that has passed her lips. She has exteriorly
all the signs of perfect health ; she is even stout. The water
which flows from her wounds is always perfumed, and a person
has only to remain in her room a few minutes to be quite im-
pregnated with perfumes. She offers all her sufferings for the
souls in purgatory. The author of this note states that he
reports only what he knows and has seen."

Of the seven other stigmated individuals of the present day,
I propose to consider at some length the main points in the

STIGMATIZATION. 341

histories of two, Palma d'Oria and Louise Lateau, and in so
doing I shall avail myself of the works of those, who are firm
believers in the miraculous interposition of God to produce the
effects, of which they are said to be the subjects. These cases
are very little known in this country. Instances of the kind
are extremely rare among practical common sense nations, like
those inhabiting the British Isles, and their descendants in
America. Of the whole one hundred and fifty-three cases re-
corded by Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre, but one — Jane Gray — was
British, and hers is the most doubtful case in the list, for the
fact rests only on the testimony of one Thomas Bourchier, an
English minor brother, who asserts that she had the stigmata
in the feet. Of the remainder, the very large majority are of
Italy, and as Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre says :

" Quel pays fut jamais si fertile en miracles ? " *

To the account of a visit made to Oria for the purpose of
studying the phenomena exhibited by Palma, made by Dr. Im-
bert-Gourbeyre, I am indebted for the following details :

Palma, at the time of the visit in 187 1, was sixty-six years
old, hump-backed, thin, small, and with light, expressive eyes.
For several years she had not left the house, and was, on ac-
count of her sufferings, scarcely able to walk. Occasionally,
when she felt particularly well, she took a few steps about the
room supported by a cane. In her youth she had been very
strong and active.

At the first interview, after some conversation in the course
of which Palma declared that she had often seen Louise La-
teau while in ecstasy, the doctor directed the conversation

* Op. city, t. ii.

342 PALM A D'ORIA.

towards the subject of hallucination. While thus engaged and
seated close to Palma, he felt her strike him gently on the
arm, and at the same time saw the abbe, who had come with
him, fall on his knees. He turned toward Palma ; her eyes
were closed, her hands clasped, her mouth wide open, and on
her tongue he saw the host — th£ body of Christ. Immediately,
he fell on his knees also, and worshipped it. Palma protruded
her tongue still farther, as if she wanted to give him every op-
portunity of seeing that the host was really there ; then she ate
it, closed her mouth and remained perfectly quiet on the sofa
upon which she was reclining. It was then almost four o'clock
in the afternoon, the day was fading, the room was badly lit
by a little window, high from the floor. The miraculous host
appeared to him to be as white as wax, and somewhat thick.
On account of the little light, and the short time that this ex-
traordinary communion lasted, he was unable to determine
whether or not it was marked according to the custom of the
church.

In regard to this wonderful event — that is, if it be not a fact
viewed unequally — it is further to be said that Palma dis-
closed to Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre. that two or three times, the
holy element, which be it remembered is believed by the great
majority of Christians to be the real body of Christ, was brought
to her by the devil, and that then she refused it. Sometimes
he had the figure of an angel, but she knew him by the sign of
reprobation which he wore on his forehead — a little horn.
Moreover she saw that the wicked creature hesitated, and was
a little embarrassed. She intoned the Gloria Patri, and made
the sign of the cross, and he instantly took flight and disap-

STIGMATIZATION. 343

peared. In order to ascertain what it all meant, her confessor
forbade her to receive the miraculous communion for eight
days. Hardly had that period expired when Jesus Christ him-
self brought her the communion. Before giving it to her he
made her recite the Gloria Patri three times. Then he said to
her, " Have I fled as the demon did ? No. Therefore reas-
sure yourself. It is really I."

These miraculous circumstances had been going on for
about two years when Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre made his visit to
Palma. Sometimes it was brought to her by Christ, as in the
instance specified, or by some saint, as St. Peter, St. Vincent
de Paul, St. Francis d'Assisi, in the company of her guardian
angel, and other saints and angels. At other times it was brought
by priests and confessors of the olden time, long since dead.

An Italian bishop stated, that at the moment of the mirac-
ulous sacrament on one occasion, he had seen the host flying
through the air before entering Palma's mouth, but the doctor
questioned her attendant on this point, and she declared that
she had not seen that, and she assured him that the host was
never seen by any one till it rested on Palma's tongue. The
doctor inclines to the belief that the attendant was right, but
he states that nevertheless a French apostolic missionary had
asserted that he had seen the same thing.

Well, if the consecrated bread be really the body of Christ
that was given for the salvation of the world, what horrible
blasphemy to state such things of it, what vileness to believe
them, what a barefaced imputation on the reason of man to
spread these shocking details before him and ask him to ac-
cept them as true of the God he worships !

344 PALM A D'ORIA.

After witnessing the communion, Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre
was requested to withdraw into the adjoining room, while
Palmagot ready for her other performances. In a few min-
utes he was informed that all was in order. One of the women
went in first and returning immediately, the others were invited
to enter. The stigmatization had already begun on the fore-
head. He saw a stream of blood flowing from the left frontal
eminence along the side of the nose. A handkerchief was
given to Palma ; she held it to her nose for a moment and the
haemorrhage soon stopped. He examined the blood and found
that it did not differ in appearance, color or temperature from
ordinary blood. He then examined the handkerchief, and be-
sides numerous rotund spots he perceived other figures resem-
bling hearts, with stains of blood proceeding from them, indica-
ting the flames of love. All this appeared to him to be very
extraordinary, for though he had often seen people bleed from
the nose, he had never seen them bleed like that.

After this incident Palma continued the performances — ac-
tions de grace he calls them — her hands clasped and her eyes
closed. In the lower limbs, especially the left, there was a
tremor like a nervous trembling which was soon quieted. Af-
ter a few minutes she rubbed her hands together, made the
sign of the cross and returned naturally to the conversation.
He then examined her forehead and endeavored to ascertain
where the blood had come from. The skin was intact without
the least opening. She showed him above the right frontal em-
inence a hole in the cranium, from which at a former period,
five little pieces of bone had been discharged. The opening
was entirely covered over by the scalp, and he was surprised

STIGMATIZATION. 345

to find that there was no cicatrix. It was round, the end of
his index finger entered it readily, and it was just such an
opening as would have been produced by the crown of a tre-
phine. At the time it was made, the skin opened to allow of
the exit of the pieces of bone ; then it closed without leaving
the trace of a scar. It was the same with the stigmata.
They closed at once without there being any marks to indicate
the place whence the blood had flowed. This hole in the skull
had been caused by some particular circumstances that no one
was willing to reveal to him, but which he says are reported in
the journal of the directors of this woman, and which will
soon be published. Most medical men will come to the con-
clusion that it was due to caries and necrosis of the bone, of
syphilitic origin.

During another visit Palma told Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre
that she had eaten nothing for seven years, but that she was
obliged to drink frequently on account of the great internal
heat, which like a fire consumed her. She then drank in his
presence two carafes of water at one time, and the doctor
states that " this water became so hot in her stomach that it
was vomited boiling. She also had often ejected from her
mouth oil, and another fluid of a balsamic character, in which,
on standing for some time, bodies resembling the consecrated
host were formed."

The doctor then relates the following details, which I give
in his own words, in further illustration of the character of his
mental organization and of the pretensions put forth by the
woman, whose word seems to have been sufficient to convince
him of anything at all, no matter how preposterous. Four years

346 PALM A D'ORIA.

previously he had been so unfortunate as to lose by death his
eldest child :

" A year after his death, I had met a woman of great
renown for piety, and who was-even regarded as a receiver of
celestial communications. I had commended my poor Joseph
to her. Some time after she assured me that my son was
saved, and that he was in paradise. She declared that in a vision
she had seen him near our Lord ; he was happy. Various cir-
cumstances, which it is useless to mention here, had caused me
to believe in the truth of this asserted revelation. Being in
Oria, I wished to have as much certainty as possible in regard
to the matter, and as i knew that Palma was in spiritual com-
munication with many pious souls scattered over the earth, I
said to her in the course of our conversation, ' tell me, Palma,

do you know M. de X , ' giving her the baptismal

name of the woman in question. ' No sir,' she. answered. " I
then related to her my history in detail, taking care not to ask
her opinion in advance, although I felt sure that she would
explain the thing to me. She listened with the utmost atten"
tion to the superioress who translated my words, and when
Mother Becaudcameto say that the woman had had a vision of
my son. and that he was in paradise, Palma stretched out her
arm in a solemn manner as a sign of negative, and said to me,
" ' He is saved, but he is still in purgatory.' "

' Is it possible ? Palma,' I cried, profoundly moved : • Since you
tell me this, you are in conscience bound to get him out of that
place of expiation as soon as possible, and I commend him im-
mediately to your prayers.'

" ' Yes, sir,' she said, ' I will pray for him, and when I am

STIGMATIZATION. 347

sure of his deliverance, I will send you word by Father de
Pace.

" The following morning at my visit I again commended my
poor child to Palma, and on the following Friday evening on
taking leave of her, I asked if she had prayed that morning for
my son, ' No sir,' she answered. ' I will only do so on the day of
All Saints.' 'Then' said I to Palma, 'will you allow madame
the superioress to take the answer.' ' Very willingly said the
seeress.' On the 7th of November, I received at Nice the
following letter :

" Sir,

" ' I have fulfilled the promise which I made to you in
accordance with your wish to go to Palma on All Saints Day,
in order to ascertain whether or not your wishes in regard to
your son had been granted. That good soul assured me twice
that he had gone to heaven that very morning, God be praised
a thousand times !

" ' Thus sir, I have done what I could for your consolation.
"'I have the honor to be, etc.

" ' Sister Marie Becaud.'

" This letter was post marked at Oria, November 2d."
I should not venture to insult the intelligence of the reader
with these idiotic details but for the reasons stated, and addi-
tionally, that they carry conviction with them to thousands of
minds, honest doubtless, but which are accustomed to grovel
in superstition, and falsehood, which they are unable to test by
right standards.

A phase in Palma's spiritual pathology has been alluded to
cursorily, but has not yet been considered with the fulness

348 PALM A D'ORIA.

proper in connection with somatization, and that is the occur-
rence of hemorrhagic spots on various parts of her body, and
which she so managed as to convey the idea that they were
symbolical of various holy things. On the back of her hand
she convinced Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre that she bled in the
shape of the cross, and he gives a wood-cut representing a
cross on the dorsum of the hand, a little above the space be-
tween the first and second fingers. This is surrounded by
other rectilinear figures. On her breast and back, other figures
were obtained by placing handkerchiefs on the parts. The
doctor thus procured several mementoes of his visit, in the
shape of pieces of linen stained with spots of blood somewhat
resembling hearts, with flames coming out of them, suns,
roses, crosses, etc. He gives several plates in his book repre-
senting these figures, of the reality of the miraculous formation
of which he has not the slightest doubt.

Another phenomenon has also been mentioned incidentally,
and that is the intense heat which Palma declared she felt, and
which the doctor refers to as the " divine fire." He had
brought with him from Paris, a thermometer to use in deter-
mining- the extraordinary temperature of this fire. He
examined her with this instrument while she felt this divine
fire, but failed to find any abnormal increase ; her pulse at the
time was 72. " I made this experiment," he says, " to satisfy
my scientific conscience, [God save the mark !] but I ought to
say that I was ashamed of myself for presuming to measure
this divine fire by such an instrument." He is right, science is
not for him, or those like him.

On one occasion while Palma was in ecstasv, Antonietta,

STIGMATIZATION. . 349

who was near her, laid bare her chest a little, and cried with
enthusiasm, "she is burning!" Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre ap-
proached and smelt something like the burning of linen.
The dress was opened and her chemise was found to be burnt
on the left side just over the collar bone, and immediately be-
low this, scorched in the shape of " a magnificent emblem rep-
resenting a monstrance. The fire was invisible, but its traces
were very evident."

In a note he states that it was affirmed that Palma's tem-
perature on similar occasions had reached ioo° centigrade, (2120
Farenheit) a fact which he does not doubt, although his ther-
mometer did not show it. "That her chemise," he says, "burnt
by invisible fire, which escaped the thermometer, was more ex-
traordinary than if the instrument had indicated a temperature
of ioo°."

I shall not stop now to comment further on the circum-
stances detailed by Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre, and of which I have
cited but a small part. I will only say at present that science
and common sense would conclude in regard to Palma d'Oria,

1 st. That she had probably at a former period contracted
syphilis.

2d. That she was strongly hysterical.

3d. That she was the subject of purpura haemorrhagica.

4th. That she was a most unmitigated humbug and liar.

And now we come to the consideration of a case of stigmati-
zation which has greatly stirred both the theological and the
scientific world of Europe — that of Louise Lateau — and here
again I shall draw largely, though by no means exclusively, from

350 LOUISE LATEAU.

the works of the believers in the miraculous production of the
phenomena manifested.*

Louise Lateau was born at Bois-d'Haine, a small village in
Belgium, on the 30th of January, 1850. She was reared in the
utmost poverty, was chlorotic, and did not menstruate till she was
eighteen years old. She loved solitude and silence, and when
not engaged in work — and she does not appear to have labored
much — she spent her time in meditation and prayer. She was
subject to paroxysms of ecstasy, during which, as many other
ecstasies, she spoke very edifying things, of charity, poverty, and
the priesthood. She saw St. Ursula, St. Roch, St. Theresa,
and the Holy Virgin. Persons who saw her in these states de-
clared that, while lying on the bed, her whole body was raised
uo more than a foot high, the heels alone being in contact with
the bed.

The somatization ensued very soon after these seizures.
On a Friday she bled from the left side of her chest. On the

* For the theological view of this remarkable case the reader is referred
to the following works, a part only of those written in support of her pre-
tensions. " Louise Lateau de Bois-d'Haine, sa vie, ses extases, ses stigmates,"
etude Medicale, par le Dr. Lefebvre, Louvain 1873. " Les stigmatisees
Louise Lateau, etc.," par le Docteur A. Imbert-Gourbeyre Paris, 1873. " Bio-
graphie de Louise Lateau " par H. Van Looy, Tournai, Paris and Leipzig
1874. " Louise Lateau de Bois d'Haine etc." par le Dr. A. Rohling, Paris,
1874. "Louise Lateau, ihr Wunderleben u.s.w." Von Paul Majunke, Berlin,

I875-

Among the treatises in which the miracle is denied, and the phenomena at-
tributed to either disease or fraud are ;" Louise Lateau ; Rapport Medicale
sur la stigmatisee de Bois-d'Haine, fait a l'academie royale de medecine
Belgique, par le Dr. Warlomont, Bruxelles and Paris, 1875. " Science et
miracle, Louise Lateau, ou la stigmatisee Beige" par le Dr. Bourneville,
Paris, 1875. " Les Miracles ; " par M. Virchow, Revue des cours scienti-
fiques, January 23rd 1875.

STIGMATIZATION. 351

following Friday this flow was renewed, and in addition, blood
escaped from the dorsal surfaces of both feet ; and on the third
Friday, not only did she bleed from the side and feet, but also
from the dorsal and palmar surface of both hands. Every suc-
ceeding Friday the blood flowed from these places, and finally
other points of exit were established on the forehead and be-
tween the shoulders.

At first these bleedings only took place at night, but after
two or three months they occurred in the daytime, and were ac-
companied by paroxysms of ecstasy, during which she was in-
sensible to all external impressions, and acted the passion of
Jesus and the crucifixion.

M. Warlomont, being commissioned by the Royal Academy
of Medicine of Belgium to examine Louise Lateau, went to her
house, accompanied by several friends, and made a careful ex-
amination of her person. At that time, Friday morning at six
o'clock, the blood was flowing freely from all the stigmata. In
a few moments the sacrament would be brought to her, and
then the second act of the drama would begin. The scene that
'followed can be best described in M. Warlomont's own words :

" It is a quarter-past six. ' Here comes the communion,'
said M. Niels [a priest], ' kneel down.' Louise fell on her knees
on the floor, closed her eyes and crossed her hands, on which
the communion-cloth was extended. A priest, followed by sev-
eral acolytes, entered ; the penitent put out her tongue, receiv-
ed the holy wafer, and then remained immovable in the attitude
of prayer.

We observed her with more care than seemed to have been
hitherto given to her at similar periods. Some thought that

352 LOUISE LATEAU.

she was simply in a state of meditation, from which she would
emerge in the course of half an hour or so. But it was a mis-
take. Having taken the communion, the penitent went into a
special state. Her immobility was that of a statue, her eyes
were closed \ on raising the eyelids the pupils were seen to be
largely dilated, immovable, and apparently insensible to light.
Strong pressure made upon the parts in the vicinity of the stig-
mata caused no sensation of pain, although a few moments be-
fore they were exquisitely tender. .Pricking the skin gave no
evidence of the slightest sensibility. A limb, on being raised,
offered no resistance, and sank slowly back to its former po-
sition. Anaesthesia was complete, unless the cornea remained
still impressionable. The pulse had fallen from 120 to 100
pulsations. At a given moment I raised one of the eyelids, and
M. Verriest quickly touched the cornea= Louise at once seem-
ed to recover herself from a sound sleep, arose and walked to a
chair, upon which she seated herself. 'This time,' I said, 'we
have wakened her.' 'No,' said M. Niels, looking at his watch,
' it was time for her to awake.' "

She remained conscious ; the blood still continued to flow ;
the anaesthesia had ceased, her pulse rose to 120, and at the
end of half an hour she was herself. " Our first visit ended
here. At half-past eleven we made another. The poor child
had resumed her attitude of extreme suffering, against which
she contended with all the energy that remained to her. The
wounds in the hands still continued to bleed. M. Verriest aus-
cultated with care the lungs, heart, and great vessels, and found
the bruit de souffle, which he had detected in the morning at the
apex of the heart and over the carotids. The handle of a

STIGMATIZATION. 353

spoon pressed against the velum, the base of the tongue, and
the pharynx, provoked no effort at vomiting. The glasses of
our spectacles, as they came in contact with the air expired,
were covered with vapor. As the patient appeared to suffer
from our presence, we went away.

" We made our third visit at two o'clock. There were still
fifteen minutes before the beginning of the ecstatic crisis, which
always took place punctually at a quarter past two and ended
at about half past four. The pupils at this time were slightly
contracted, the eyelids were almost entuely closed ; the eyes,
looking at nothing, were veiled from our view, We tried in
vain to attract her attention ; her mind was otherwise engaged,
and her pains were evidently becoming more intense. At ex-
actly a quarter past two her eyes became fixed in a direction
, above and to the right. The ecstacy had begun.

"The time had now come to introduce those who were
prompted by curiosity. This could now be done without in-
convenience, for the ecstatic, for the ensuing two hours, would
be lost to the appreciation of what might be passing around
her. The room crowded, could hold about ten persons, but
enough were allowed to enter to make the total twenty-five.
These placed themselves in two ranks, of which the front one
kneeling, allowed the rear ones to see all that was going on
All this was done under the direction M. le Cure, who took
every pains to give us a good view of what was going to
happen.

" Louise was seated on the edge of her chair ; her body,
inclined forward, seemed to wish to follow the direction of her
eyes, which did not look, but were fixed on vacancy. Her

354 LOUISE LATEAU.

eyes were opened to their fullest extent, of a dull, lustreless
appearance, turned above and to the right, and of an absolute
immobility. A few workings of the lids were now observed
and became more frequent if the eyelids were touched. The
pupils, largely dilated, showed very little sensibility to light,
and all that remained of vision was shown by slight winking
when the hand was suddenly brought close to the eyes. The
whole face lacked expression. At certain moments, either
spontaneously or as a consequence of divers provocations, a
light smile, to which the muscles of the face generally did not
contribute, wandered over her lips. Then the face resumed
its primitive expression, and thus she remained for the half-
hour which constituted the ' first station.'

" The ' second station ' was that of genuflection. It had
failed at one time, but had again appeared. The young girl
fell on her knees, clasped her hands, and remained for about a
quarter of an hour in the attitude of contemplation. Then she
arose and again resumed her sitting posture.

" The ' third station ' began at three o'clock. Louise in-
clined herself a little forward, raised her body slowly, and
then extended herself at full length, face downward, on the
floor. There was neither rigidity nor extreme precipitation ;
nothing in fact, calculated to produce injuries. The knees
first supported her body, then it rested on these and the
elbows, and finally her face was brought in actual close contact
with the tiled floor. At first the head rested on the left arm,
but very soon the patient made a quick and sudden movement,
and the arms were extended from the body in the form of a
cross. At the same time the feet were brought together so

STIGMATIZATION. 355

that the dorsum of the right was in contact with the sole of the
left foot. This position did not vary for an hour and a half.
When the end of the crisis approached, the arms were brought
close to the sides of the body, then suddenly the poor girl rose
to her knees, her face turns to the wall, her cheeks become
colored, her eyes have regained their expression, her counte-
nance expands, and the ecstasy is at an end."

Further particulars are given, and an apparatus was con-
structed and applied to Louise's hand and arm so as to pre-
vent any external excitation of the haemorrhage. It was ap-
parently shown that there was no such interference, for the
blood began to flow at the usual time on Friday.

In addition to the stigmata and the paroxysms of ecstasy,
Louise declared that she did not sleep, had eaten or drank
nothing for four years, had had no fecal evacuation for three
years and a half, and that the urine was entirely suppressed.

M. Warlomont examined the blood and products of respira-
tion chemically, and satisfied himself of their normal charac-
ter, except that the former contained an excessive amount of
white corpuscles.

When being closely interrogated, Louise admitted that,
though she did not sleep, she had short periods of forgetfulness
at night. On M. WTarlomont suddenly opening a cupboard in
her room, he found it to contain fruit and bread, and her cham-
ber communicated directly with a yard at the back of the
house. It was therefore perfectly possible for her to have
slept, eaten, defecated, and urinated, without any one knowing
that she did so.

The conclusions arrived at by M. Warlomont were, that the

356 LOUISE LATEAU.

stigmatisations and ecstasies of Louise Lateau were real and to
be explained upon well-known physiological and pathological
principles, that she " worked, and dispensed heat, that she lost
every Friday a certain quantity of blood by the stigmata, that
the air she expired contained the vapor of water and carbonic
acid, that her weight had not materially altered since she had
come under observation. She consumes carbon and it is not
from her own body that she gets it. Where does she get it
from ? Physiology answers, ' She eats.' "

Relative to the assumed abstinence in the cases of Palma
d'Oria, Louise Lateau and other subjects of ecstasy and stigma-
ta, it is not necessary, in view of the remarks already made
on this subject in a previous chapter, to devote further con-
sideration to it here. The conclusion arrived at by M. Warlo-
mont is the only one which science can tolerate. Should Lou-
ise Lateau or Palma d'Oria ever be subjected to as close watch-
ing as was the poor little Welsh Fasting Girl, Sarah Jacob, it
will certainly terminate as badly for them as for her, unless
they yield to the demands of nature and take the food which
the organism requires.

But a few words in regard to the scientific aspect of the
stigmatization will probably not be considered out of place. .

The connection between certain affections of the skin and
the nervous system, has only been a subject of particular at-
tention during the past ten or twelve years. Now, dermatologists
make one of the most important classes of skin diseases
to be the direct result of nervous derangement. A very fa-
miliar example is the urticaria or hives, so frequently met with,
especially in children, as the effect of emotional disturbance.

STIGMATIZATION. 357

In the disease known as purpura, 'the blood is deficient in
red corpuscles, while there is an increase in the white globules,
a condition of this fluid which the investigations of M. Warlo-
mont showed to exist in the case of Louise Lateau. The
affection is further characterized by a tendency of the blood to
transude through the coats of the vessels, and in some cases
to the formation of aneurismal dilatations of the capillaries,
appearing on the surface as little ulcerations, and the rupture
of which allows the blood to escape.

Many cases of hasmidrosis, or bloody sweat are scattered
through medical treatises, and several monographs have been
devoted to the consideration of the subject.

Thus Boerhaave relates the case of a young girl who was
subject to the occurence of ampullae on various parts of her
body, from which blood flowed in aoundance, and which then,
as did those of Palma d'Oria, disappeared without leaving any
trace. These haemorrhages took place very often, and among
other places from the right hand, the front of the neck, the right
arm and the right leg. She even wept tears of blood, a cir-
cumstance not mentioned of any one of the stigmatized mys-
tics, but one calculated still further to excite the astonishment
of those on the look-out for miraculous events.

The fact that such haemorrhages follow closely on the occur-
rence of any strong emotion is well established. As the counter-
part to the cases of Palma d'Oria, Louise Lateau, and other so-
called miraculous instances of stigmata, I addu.ce the following
instance from Dr. Magnus Huss of .Stockholm, as cited by M.
Bourneville.#

* Louise Lateau, ou la Stigmatisee - Beige. Paris, 1875, P- 32,

353 LOUISE LATEAU.

Maria K., a servant girl aged 23, was born in the country,
of poor parents. Her father and mother had always been in
good health, never having shown any disposition either to haem-
orrhages or to affections of the nervous system. The same may
be said of the other ancestors of Maria, and of her brothers and
sisters.

Maria is of medium height, of lymphatic constitution and
presents the appearance of good health. Her skin is delicate^
her complexion high colored, her hair brown, almost black, her
eyes a grayish blue, her figure full. At fifteen years of age her
menstruation began with regularity, and has continued so
without any interruption. This fact is to be noted, for M. Le-
febvre cites a like circumstance in Louise Lateau as one of the
proofs that her case is not to be classed with those of mundane
etiology.

In her infancy, Maria suffered from attacks of convulsions,
but latterly she has not been ill. Accidental wounds of the
skin do not give place to haemorrhages, and her flesh heals as
well as that of other people. At nineteen she went out to ser-
vice. She asserts that the family with whom she lived treated
her badly.

On the 4th of August, 1850, Maria was severely beaten, and
was struck with a hard body on the head. These blows, with
the anger and fear they provoked, caused convulsions, and she .
was for half an hour unconscious. When she came to herself
she observed that a severe haemorrhage had occurred from the
hairy part of the scalp, and from a place where there had been
no wound. During the two following weeks the haemorrhage
from the head continued. Besides, she bled from the eyes, or

STIGMATIZATION. 359

from the face around the eyes, from the left ear, and finally
she vomited blood.

For fifteen days she was better, and then another haemor-
rhage from the scalp and stomach took place during her sleep.
The haemorrhage continued for eight days, then it stopped spon-
taneously, and Maria was in a good state of health for two
months. At the end of that period, and following immediately
on a strong emotion, she bled from the head, from the borders
of the eyelids, and from the left ear. Since then the haemor-
rhages were produced regularly at intervals of from eight to fif-
teen days, and lasted for one or two days. In the intervals,
Maria was in good health, although physically weaker than be-
fore the beginning of this disease. She had a good appetite,
and her bowels were regular. Her menstruation was not only
not suspended, but it occurred with perfect regularity, even
during the periods of the haemorrhagic attacks, not being changed
either as regarded quantity or duration.

In February and July, 185 1, the haemorrhages appeared at
irregular intervals, and were more or less abundant. - About
the middle of July she was admitted into the Seraphim Hospi-
tal in Stockholm, where she was examined successively by
Profs. Santessen, Malmessen and Magnus Huss. Aside from
the existence of a chloro-anaemic condition, all the organs were
in good health, and all the functions regular.

The haemorrhages often supervened upon emotional disturb-
ance, and at irregular periods. They were in general preceded
by an ensemble of symptoms which recalled to mind those
observed with Louise Lateau — a sensation of pressure or
weight on the top of the head, a feeling of vertigo, and of gen-

360 LOUISE LATE A U.

eral fatigue, noises in the ears, and frequent pulse. When the
exuding surface was examined with a lens no trace of excoria-
tion of the skin was discovered. And even when the haemor-
rhage had lasted five or six days, the most careful inspection fail-
ed to show any sign of a cicatrix. During the haemorrhages the
region affected was painful to the touch, and the temperature
was elevated.

A certain number of attacks (convulsions and haemorrhages)
were complicated with vomiting of blood, with ecchymosis, and
apparent bruises on the left half of the body. They were never
observed on the right side. The limbs on the left side were
always, at the time of the haemorrhages, semi-paralysed, and the
paralysis remained for periods ranging from six days to two or
three weeks. Consciousness always returned to her suddenly,
as if she had wakened from a long sleep.

" One circumstance," writes Dr. Huss, " nearly twenty years
before Louise Lateau had begun to exhibit the stigmata, de-
serves to be reported in view of its psychological importance.
She was not slow to notice that she was the object of particular
attention, and that her disease was studied with great curiosity.
As among those visiting the hospital, some saw her while the
haemorrhages were present, and others hearing them spoken of,
made her presents, often of considerable value, she began, as
was very evident, to cause at will the phenomena to take
place. And this she did by seeking a quarrel with some other
patient, and the excitement into which she was thereby thrown
produced the haemorrhage she desired. It seemed also that
she could, without such cause, by the mere effort of her will,
throw herself into such a mental condition that the haemorrhage
resulted."

STIGMA TIZA TION. 3 6 1

In his very valuable memoir, M. Parrot* distinctly affirms
the fact of haemorrhages of the kind in question. In the case
of Louise Lateau the haemorrhages occurred on Fridays, some-
times, however, missing. The mental excitement produced in
her by the devotional contemplation of the events which the
Church associates with this clay, as well as the exercise of her
own will in the matter, are sufficient causes of the periodicity
observed in her case. Besides, when the habit had become
well established, no other exciting cause would be required than
the force resulting from the constant repetition of an act by the
organism at some particular time. No one competent to form
an opinion after a scientific study of the subject, and not bound
in the trammels of a most abject superstition, can fail to see
the absolute identity in all essential respects of the cases of
Maria K. and Louise Lateau. And this is only one case.
Many others are mentioned by M. Parrot, M. Chauffard, Wil-
son, Mason Good, and dermatologists generally.

One further point only in regard to Louise Lateau. The
report of M. Warlomont was made to the Royal Academy of
Medicine of Belgium. In the debate which ensued upon the
presentation of the report, views were advanced in favor of, and
against the miraculous interposition of Providence to produce
the stigmata, according to the predilections of the speakers.
M. Lefebvre held to his view of miracle in the case, and M.
Crocq declared that it did not pass beyond the category of
pathological occurrences. And then, after several forms of
expression had been proposed, the Academy decided to have

* Etude sur la sueur de sang et les haemorrhages neuropathiques.
Paris, 1859.

362 L O UISE LA TEA U.

nothing further to do with the subject, either in its theological
or pathological aspects beyond printing the memoir of M.
Charbonnier, who was the first to call attention to the scientific
points of the case, and passing a vote of thanks to him for his
contribution to its archives.

In the mean time Louise Lateau continues her ecstasies and
stigmatizations, and many will continue to regard them as
miraculous, no matter how thoroughly her pretensions are ex-
posed ; and while she can gain notoriety by acting the cruci-
fixion every Friday, it is very certain, unless she wearies of the
monotony, that she will keep up the habit she has established.

CONCLUSION. 363

CHAPTER XVII.

CONCLUSION.

And this concludes what I have to say now, relative to the
important subjects which have been under consideration. It
would be very easy to extend the inquiry much further, and in
other directions, and at some future time I may be tempted to
do so. My main object has been to show that so far as the
matters which have engaged our attention are concerned, there
are no phenomena connected with them which are not readily
explainable by well-known physiological, pathological, or phys-
ical laws, and that many assertions made in reference to them
are fraudulent and false.

We see, too, that at all times during the historic period two
classes of individuals have been concerned in the propagation
of false ideas relative to certain phenomena which have been
regarded as supernatural. These are the deceivers and the
deceived. Whether as priests, witches, magicians, mesmerizers,
somnambulists, ecstatics, hysterical persons, or mediums — the
first are deceivers, some of them honest, but by far the greater
number guilty of intentional fraud. Whether subject to illu-
sions, hallucinations, or delusions ; whether weak-minded,
superstitious, or ignorant — the second are deceived.

364 SPIRITUALISM A RELIGION.

In the foregoing pages I have attempted among other things
to give an outline view of some of the causes which produce
many so-called supernatural manifestations, and which lead to
their acceptance by certain classes of individuals. To describe,
in detail, all the vagaries of spiritualism would be a fruitless
undertaking. I have witnessed many spiritualistic performances,
and have never seen a single one which could not be accounted
for by the operation of some one or more of the causes speci-
fied. No medium has ever yet been lifted into the air by spirits
no one has ever read unknown writing through a closed envelope,
no one has ever lifted tables or chairs but by material agencies,
no one has ever been tied or untied by spirits, no one has ever
heard the knock of a spirit, and no one has ever spoken through
the power of a spirit other than his own.

Even if bodies had been raised in the air by agencies unex-
plainable, even if some one had read writing through several
thicknesses of paper, even if others had been bound and un-
bound in a way unknown to us, even if knocks had been heard
whose sources could not be ascertained, even if the causes of
all the phenomena of spiritualism were entirely beyond our
present knowledge, there would be no proof that spirits had any
thing to do with them. On the contrary, the hypothesis of
spirits is altogether the least plausible which could be suggest-
ed. The phenomena and the explanation have nothing in com-
mon.

Spiritualism is a religion. As such it is held tenaciously and
honestly by many well-meaning people. To reason with these
would be a waste of words, just as much as would be the attempt
to persuade a madman out of his delusion. Emotion or inter-

DOCTRINE OF ALGAZZALI. 365

est or accident might change them, but facts never. But there
are some who halt between belief and unbelief, for the reason
mainly that they have no clear conception of what knowledge
is, and of how things are to be proved. For these there can be
no more striking truths than the following account of Algazzali's
description of his search for actual knowledge :

"■ The true source of casual beliefs is the authority of parents
and preceptors. Now, there are many methods of comprehending
the differences which exist between things received on the faith
of such authority and the principles of the things themselves.
There exist likewise many means of distinguishing the true from
the false. For this reason I said to myself in the very begin-
ning of my inquiry, ' My object is simply to know the truth of
things, consequently it is indispensable to seek for that which
constitutes knowledge.' Now, it is evident to me that certain
knowledge ought to be that which explains the object to be
known, so that there can be no doubt, and that all error and all
conjecture would be henceforth impossible. And not only then
the understanding would not need to make efforts to arrive at
certainty, but the security against error ought to be in so inti-
mate a connection with the thing known for certain, that even
when an apparent proof of its falsity is produced — as, for ex-
ample, if a man should transform a stone into gold or a stick
into a serpent — no error should be caused, or even the suspi-
cion of error rendered possible. If, when I have satisfied my-
self that ten is more than three, some one should say to me,
' Not so, on the contrary three is more ' than ten, and to prove
to you the truth of my assertion I will transform this rod into a
snake ; ' if then he should so transform it to my entire convic-

366 DEFAULT OF SPIRITUALISM.

tion, the certainty I should have of his error would not be sha-
ken. His performance would produce in me only an admira-
tion for his skill, but I should not doubt the truth I had ac-
quired.

" Then I was convinced that all knowledge which I did not
possess in this manner, and of which I had not this kind of cer-
titude, could inspire me with neither confidence nor assurance,
and that all knowledge without assurance is not a sure knowl-
edge."*

How little the phenomena of spiritualism are reconcilable
with the tests laid down by Algazzali, every candid, intelligent,
and educated inquirer knows.

* Essai sur ]es Ecoles philosophiques chez les Arabes et notamment sui
la Doctrine d'Algazzali. Par Auguste Schmolders, Docteur en Philosophie
Paris, 1842.

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