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

438 APPENDIX.(Jerful powers may all be imparted to a naked pane of glass, wbile thecharge thus imparted is really only two opposite and equal affections, capableof neutralizing each other by due communication. Known also isit, that properties, to a certain extent similar, may be found in a pile ofpairs of heterogeneous metals, with the additional power of electrolysis,or, in other words, of resolving chemical compounds into their ingredients,(1376.) It is well known that, by these means, water, long and almostreligiously considered as one of the four elements of the universe, can bedecomposed into two kinds of air; that the earths and alkalies have beenresolved into metals and oxygen ; and that there is scarcely any chemicalcompound consisting of two elements, which may not, when in aqueoussolution or in fusion by heat, be directly or indirectly decomposed by electrolysis,as explained in the note to page 384.These multifarious feats of electricity have caused it to be contemplatedas the source of every thing mysterious in nature. It is not surprising,therefore, that those who, through theaccessibility of electricity, had becomepartially acquainted with electrical phenomena, should view itas thesource of spiritual manifestations; while those who have a more extensiveknowledge of the nature and extent of electrical jurisdiction shouldperceive at once that the phenomena in question do not fall within itssphere.After the discovery, by Oersted, of the previously unsuspected reactionbetween galvanized wire and a magnetic needle, those who hadresorted to either one or two fluids to explain electrical phenomena, foundthemselves completely at fault. Yet the language originated by Franklinhas been still employed conventionally. This, though not misleadingadepts, introduces confusion in the minds of those who have merelyreached the ante-chamber of the electrical department.Under these circumstances, I deem itexpedient to republish the expositionof electrical theory which I first laid before the scientific worldin 1848.I hope that those who endeavour to refer spiritual manifestations oranimal magnetism to electricity,in any of its modifications, will study thisexposition of my views.Though, as already stated, there appears to be, for the spirit world, appropriateelements, distinct from those of this mundane world, there is,nevertheless, a correspondence.AYe mortals can best prepare ourselves tounderstand the elements of that world by understanding our own.Froman idea of om7' light and o%t>r vital air, we may by analogy conceive oftheirs as a preliminary to any further knowledge.The following theory has been submitted to the spirit of Franklin, whofully approved of it, and fully admitted the validity of the reasons assignedby me for substituting this new exposition of electricity for that whichgoes under his celebrated name.