Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

172 ON rSYCnOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS, ETC.appro2-)riatc ability of his profession in defcndirip;; tlic view he has espoused,than I could hope to exert. It is only in the strength of truth that I feelstrong. "Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just.''889. It is of no small importance that this learned and subtle psychologist,should explain how my spiritoscope, or any other instrumental meansof alphabetic indication, becomes necessary to cficct the psychologization ofa medium at a great distance, so as to convey to her mind the ideas which itis an object to impart. Wliy is it necessary that the index over a disk atCapo May, should revolve to the letters requisite to spell a message, inorder that the index of another disk in Philadelphia, should revolve at asuhseqvent time ?How does the mechanism in one place, acquire a powerfrom the remote actuation of another ? Will it be pretended that theyarc afifectcd analogously to the sympathetic snails; whence, having kepteach other's company, this miracle ensued ? But even this is not true, sincethey were not kept together, if ever they were in each other's company.890. Could any process be divined by wliich an instrument for supposedalphabetic communication with spirits, could be applied to transmit suchmessages as that for which I employed mine, according to tbis j)S3T-hologicalhypothesis, it would be superior to the existing telegraphic process,since the ocean could be no barrier to messages which, although dependenton snail-like sympathy, would have nothing in it of tlie proverbialcreeping attribute of the animal in question.891. The following manifestations are of a nature, as it seems to me, toinvalidate Dr. Bell's notion that the communications received from thespirit are acquired from the minds of the bystanders :892. Calling on Miss Ellis, it was found that her time was so preengaged,that she could not, as she said, sit for me till the day but onesucceeding. My spirit sister manifested her desire to communicate, andconveyed the ideathat Miss Ellis could give an hour named next day, ifshe would examine her list. This examination being made, the suggestionwas verified.893. Here was an idea not obtained from the mind of any person present.It could not exist in the minds of those wlio, like my friend andmyself, had not seen the list, nor could it have been in Miss Ellis's mind,as in that case she would not have had to consult the list, in order to determinethe truth of the suggestion.894. In this visit, Dr. W. F. Chauning, who was my companion, saidthat possibly he had better not accompany me. It was left to my spiritsister to decide. No instrument being ready, as the quickest mode ofcommunication, the medium was made to take up her pen, and began forthwithto make figures upon a sheet of paper. When the operation terminatcd,nothinir but fisurcs were seen to have been written. The mediumsaid she did not know what to make of it. But under the letters it waswritten, '^ Select, from the alphabet, the letters corresponding, and you havo