PSYCHOLOGICAL CURIOSITIES OF SPIRITUALISM. 



123 



it appears, is referable to the " well-known law 

 of spiritualism," that any impression of this 

 kind made on the spirit is transferred to the 

 medium. Such a test as the free opening of the 

 doors, and the examination of both figures un- 

 der a full light, is, of course, not to be thought 

 of. 



In another set of cases, a spirit " dummy " is 

 made up with a life-sized doll head and shoul- 

 ders, and long, flowing robes ; this may be held 

 up by the medium, who is ensconced behind the 

 curtains, and who passes his or her hand between 

 them ; or else two spirits may appear at once, 

 performed by the medium and the dummy, the 

 latter being made to appear to sink into the floor 

 by a very simple contrivance. 



That multitudes of men and women, who claim 

 to be sensible and well educated, should be vic- 

 timized by such an obvious imposture, especially 

 after its repeated detection and exposure, seems 

 almost incredible ; to me it is one of the most 

 pitiable facts in the mental condition of our time. 

 Mr. Home tells us that he does not believe that 

 there are more than five of these " materializing 

 mediums " who have not been found out ; and 

 yet the thing goes on. The fact seems to be, that 

 the respectable spiritualists who have counte- 

 nanced it in the first instance, being generally 

 ashamed of their gullibility, refrain from publish- 

 ing the detection themselves, and do their best to 

 keep others quiet. Sergeant Cox, however, who 

 seems to have been partly taken in at first, has 

 since honestly and vigorously denounced the 

 cheat ; a long letter from him being published in 

 Mr. Home's book, which contains a set of instruc- 

 tions given by a " medium " to her pupil ; by 

 which we find inter alia that, in order to evade 

 the search for " properties," which is sometimes 

 made on entrance, she brings in a veil under her 

 drawers ! 



Now, so far is Mr. Crookes from having been 

 a cautious scientific investigator of these " mate- 

 rializations," that it can be shown from his own 

 utterances that he has "gone in " for them most 

 enthusiastically. One of his favorite " spirits " is 

 the English (not the American) " Katie King ; " 

 of whose " entrancing loveliness " he thus speaks : 



" But photography is as inadequate to depict 

 the perfect beauty of Katey's face as words are 

 powerless to describe her charms of manner. Pho- 

 tography may, indeed, give a map of her counte- 

 nance ; but how can it reproduce the brilliant 

 purity of her complexion, or the ever-varying ex- 

 pression of her most mobile features, now over- 

 shadowed with sadness when relating some of the 



bitter experiences of her past life, now smiling 

 with all the innocence of happy girlhood when she 

 had collected my children round her, and was 

 amusing them by recounting anecdotes of her ad- 

 ventures in India ? — 



" Hound her she made an atmosphere oflife. 



The very air seemed lighter from her eyes ; 

 They were so soft and beautiful, and rife 



"With all we can imagine of the skies ; 

 Her overpowering presence made you feel 

 It would not be idolatry to kneel." * 



Truly, as has been well said, " the ' scientist ' 

 who writes like this is much too far gone for in- 

 vestigation." We shall now see how Mr. Crookes, 

 fascinated by these "spiritual" charms, lent him- 

 self to Katie King's influence, and was rewarded 

 by her fullest confidence. This, he says — 



" Gradually grew until she refused to give a se- 

 ance unless I took charge of the arrangements. She 

 said she always wanted me to keep close to her 

 and near the cabinet ; and I found that after this 

 confidence was established, and she was satisfied I 

 would not break any promise I might make to her, 

 the phenomena increased greatly in power, and 

 tests were freely given that would have been un- 

 obtainable had I approached the subject in another 

 manner. She often consulted me about persons 

 present at the seances, and where they should be 

 placed ; for of late she had become very nervous, 

 in consequence of certain ill-advised suggestions that 

 force should be employed as an adjunct to more 

 scientific modes of research.''' 1 2 



This last refers to an unpleasant circumstance 

 which took place in an early stage of the "Katie 

 King" materialization — the unceremonious clasp- 

 ing of her spiritual w r aist by an incredulous " Dia- 

 lectical," for whom "materialization" seems to 

 have been a little " too strong," and who was re- 

 warded for his impudence by a very forcible tug 

 at his beard, which is said to have despoiled it of 

 some of its beauty. 



Further, the Rev. C. Maurice Davies, a well- 

 known author, who was far from being unfavora- 

 bly disposed to spiritualism, and who was at the 

 time a member of the Council of the British Na- 

 tional Association of Spiritualists, thus describes, 

 in his " Mystic London," the part taken by Mr. 

 Crookes (whom he styles " the professor ") at a 

 seance at which he was present : 



" The professor acted all the time as master of 

 the ceremonies, retaining his place at the aperture ; 

 and, I fear, from the very first, exciting suspicion 

 by his marked attention, not to the medium, but 

 to the ghost." 



And he afterward speaks of Mr. Crookes's 

 1 The Spiritualist, June 5, 1874. s Ibid. 



