Light V1 May 1881 - Iapsop.com

Kay U, 1881.) LIGHT. 151
BJPBBD[BlftS WITH SBAT.BD BLA.'.rBS.
OlJ'B OOlftDIPOBABJES .
The transfer of a photograph or other small object from
without into the closed space made by tying a pair of hinged
.i.tea together and gumming a strip of paper round the edges,
bu repeatedly been aocompliahed of late at the apartments
of Captain James, through the medium.ahip of Mr.· Rita. In
order to make the impoaaibility of the photograph being introduced
in a natural way still more striking, Captain James baa
bad a rim of about an eighth of an inch high let into the frame
of one of the a1atea and a corresponding groove cut in the frame
of the opposite alate, ao that when the two are closed they lock
into each other, and it would be plainly impossible to paaa the
finellt blade through the joining of the two frames into the
interior, even if it was not effectually closed by the gummed
paper.
On Monday lut week I closed the alates with a morsel of
.iate pencil within ; carefully gummed a slip of paper all round
the edges of the slates, ao aa to leave no poaaible cranny for
communication with the cavity within ; and tied the slates firmly
together in such a wayaa not to admit of any slipping of the string,
and eealed the knot. We were not, however, succeaaful on that
occa'lion in obtaining any result. But on Thursday I went again
with my daughter-in-law, and we sat with a party of nine all
told, with Mr. Rita aa medium. I saw that the seal was exactly
u I bad left it, and shook the alatea, but the morsel of pencil
waa too amall to make any noise, and there certainly was nothing
el.le within that could be made to rattle. Some time after the
lights were extinguished I was asked for a ahilling, which was
taken out of my hand. The slates were then put into my
hand and three or four others of the party were made to lay hold
of them at the same time. While we had hold of the a1atea
a photograph was put into the hands of my daughter-in-law,
and while ahe held it, it was torn in two, and one-half left
in her hand, and the other taken away. Presently a tick was heard
upon the alatea, and one of the sitters said that it was the shilling
falling into the alatea. We were aaaured that that was ao, and
alao that the photograph had been introduced. On striking a
light I found the gummed paper perfect all round the edge and
the eeal (with well marked peculiaritiea) exactly as I had left it,
and inside the slates were the ahilling and one-half of the
photograph, the other half remaining in the hands of my
daaghter-in-law. It will be observed that the evidence is concllllive
that the half photograph was paaaed into the slates
during the time that they were held in the hands of four or
fiTe of the sitters.
31, Queen Anne-atreet, May 9th. H. WBDOWOOD.
.. The lplrliuaun,"
. '!Jie concluaion .of Mr. Podm~re's paper, " A Sixth Sense,"
18 given, and the philoeophy of clairvoyance, the '' sixth sense"
in question, ia thus summed up from Mr. Podmore's point of
view:-" '.fhere ~· ao far as ia already known, three main
claaaea of impreaa1ons conveyed by the nerves which suppl7 the
~in, though. whether they_ are appropriated to separate nerves
11 not certainly known-impreaa1ons, to wit of contact and
preaaure ; impressions of pain ; and impreuio~s of temperature.
~ow any two of these claalea can be abolished, and leave the third
mtact ; such baa been observed to be the case in certain morbid
conditio~ There.ii nothing,.then, to hinder ua from supposing
that a clairvoyant 18 a person m whom the sensibility to heat­
!1Lys-or to certain heat-rays-given out by surrounding objects,
18 enormously developed at the expense of all the other sensibilities.
The clairvoyant says he sua the objects he describes
because these impressions, by the law already explained'
inevitably revive the visual impressions, which have always bee~
received with them by the same objects, just aa the touch of "
dog brings the image of the d~ before the memory ; and ao
much the more· powerfully and vividly in the case of the clairvoyant,
because the impressions of temperature are actually
m~re ~rmane to the impreaaiona of s!ght, which the7 recall,
being mdeed produced by the same unpulaea received from
different sense-organs." Yet it is admitted that the theory will
only explain aome of the facta which it is intended to cover l\nd
that it is submitted in the rough. A.a an effort to deal U:telligently,
upon a physical baaia, with the subject of clairvoyance,
Mr. Podmore's paper ia valuable.
A curious account ia given, copied from the Ne1D Y01·k Timu,
of a wonderful development of muaical ability in a boy five yean1
and ten months old. The child recogniaea the titles and authors
of compositions of all aorta merely by seeing the notes alone, it
matters not even though the music be held upside down !
"The llecllum.''
Clairvoyance is further treated by " Hamner Stafford " who
iuotes the seven states of clairvoyance aa detailed by Krage.
' Ouranoi " diacuaaes, in hia paper upon " Bible Spiritualism ''
what he calla the " Development of Christ,'' and proceeds to
shew, from his view, that the temptations Jesus underwent at
the reputed hand of Satan were paaaages of development fitting
Him for His ministry.
A letter to the Malt1trn News, by Dr.' J. M. Gully, on "Art
Treatment of Diaeaae," is quoted in full. It enforces the idea
that medical art muat be eclectic and progressive, the writer
adding further : " The man who puts hia name and medical
title on hia door and refuaea to examine anything which has
been announced that concerns hia art, commits a fraud on the
public ; hia title implies that he baa examined .A.LL methods that
can cure or alleviate disease ; if he baa not done ao and refuaea
t:o do ao, it ia diahoneat."
"The BenJ.4 Of l'rogreu."
SPIBITS WHO LOVB DRINK.
The first part of what ia announced as a " History of the
To tAe Editor of "LioBT."
True Jesua Clhriat-the Sun God," by W. Oxley, appears in the
Slll,-I recently had a sitting with a medium who was controlled
by the Spirit of a Lancashire collier, who greeted me in narrative of His life and death, aa contained in the New Testa­
last iaaue of thia journal. It ia an attempt to shew that the
the Lancashire Clialect and sai•I he~ away nine years ago, ment, is but a presentation in symbolical guiae of the celestial
and was known aa " Th' owd Dick. ' I forgot to ask him for phenomena, aa narrated in the astro-philoaoph1 of past titnea.
hia addreaa and other particulars of hia identity, as I was more A report is given of a " Spiritualist Funel'l\I.,' at C?'ook, of the
interested in what he told me about the drinking habita of infant aon of Mr. T. Stewart, Mr. Oyston officiating. Seemingly
certain Spirits. He said he was occupied in trying to do a little the authorities did not cordially appreciate the event, for we are
told " that it is customary for Diaaenters to be shewn into a
spacious reception room, where a chapter from the Bible is
usually read. On this oocaaion, however, the reading desk was
good now 1 ~ut when he first paal&d away he was fond of drink;
hilt eome kind Spirit.a took an interest in him and tried to help
him on, and now '' he had got a new coat." When he first passed
away he lived with a lot of others ; but now " he was gradually
building up a house of hia own." He used at first to go to the
public-houses and stand behind a man drinking and imbibe the
aence of the drink ; but now " when he saw a lot of hia old
pals drinking more than wur good for 'em, he many a time put
a good thowt into their hearts and they would even think of
OWd Dick sometimes." I asked whether he could not have done
more good by exercising thia intluence over hia friends when he
waain the bodf· "No, he couldn't, because he would have
done aa they did. The good that was in him was kept down by
hia IUl'rOundinga ; but the love of drink died out in time, when
the ' friends ' helped him ; ao now he had got a ttew coat."
" Then," I said, " Spirits can induce people to drink 1" " Eh,
lad, of course they can, and many a sup I've had in that way."
" Blit, now,'' I said, '' you can inftuence them against drink ?''
"Eh, to be sure ; dun 10 think I've got a new coat for nowt 1 "
Thia Spirit spoke m the broad Le.ncaahire dialect, spoke
with great respect of the " big, bright, wise '' Spirit who had
p~vioualy controlled t~e medium and who had helped him to
nae. It was the first tune he had controlled the medium in the
fteah, but he had controlled her spirit whilst the body was
aaleep, and had uaed her to talk to some of hia unhappy
comndea and " try to raiae them a bit."
AA illustrative of what goes on in the other life, these notes
may be interesting to your readera.-Yours respectfully,
Kaneheater, April 23rd, 1881.
FmTz.
divested of the neceaaary l::Jcripturea, and inquiry having been
instituted, the clerk handed in a tather dilapidated looking oopy
of the Church of England Burial Service. Of course objection
was made to this proceeding, and the body was removed to the
grave forthwith, where, after singing one verse, Mr. Oyston
delivered an apgropriate addreu, which was listened to with
eager attention. ·
That indefa~ble Spiritualist, Mr. J. Enmore Jones J.>ropounds
the question, "Orthodox Spiritualism: What is ii f' ma
trenchant letter in which he remarks: "The epoch of 1881 ~uirea
that Spiritualists publicly declare to their f&milies, their friends,
and the nation the creed that governs their union. Therefore
it ia that I call on the men of the North to answer the question
which heads this appeal-Orthodox Spiritualism : What is it 1 "
"The BeUgto-Phlloloph1oal .Jo111':11&1."
The name of Giles B. Stebb~:n author and lecturer well•
known among American Spirit · ta, has been added to the
staff of the Joun&al in the capacity of aaaociate editor.
William Emmette Coleman, of San Francisco, writes i
" Annivel'9&1')' exercises closed last night ; had three days and
seven aeaaiona. The grandest time ever had here ; immense
audiences, great enthusiasm, splendid speaking. Foster and
Wataon outdid themselves, carried the people by stom1."
Dr. W. A. Hammond is creating quite a aen.aation in New
York, by hia lectures and experiments on" hypnotism," or old
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