Modern spiritism; its science and religion - SpiritArchive.org

PHENOMENA OF MODERN SPIRITISM 41
Alexander had two little girls with some of the
powers of mediums. They saw a spirit form, which
was also seen by a dog, who barked at it, and by a
baby, who cried out, "Man, man!" and pointed
at it.
In General Boldero's house at Cupar, with D. D.
Home in the room, a bright light was seen, the
table moved off to the piano, on which notes were
struck, and two voices were heard talking, though
Home kept speaking all the time to show it was
not his voice. Mrs. Boldero walked over to the
piano, and saw the notes depressed and heard lovely
chords. The harp was played next, the strings
vibrating.
A well-known scientist seriously thinks it a proof
of an "astral body" when he says he saw his wife
and children in a cab while he was senseless in a
dentist's chair. My reader may make fun of this
to his heart's content, for I agree with him that
such a vision is a common result of laughing gas
and other anaesthetics.
Psychic Phenomena
I now turn from physical phenomena to those of
a psychical nature, with which are connected all raps
by which words are laboriously spelt out, as well as
with automatic writing. All such, more or less, relate
to supposed communications from the dead, or
necromancy. To understand what follows the reader
must grasp that all messages have to pass through
four personalities. First of all, the supposed spirit
of the departed "speaks" to the "control" of the
medium sometimes, as in Mrs. Piper's case,