THE MODERN OCCULT. 455 



purpose were in large measure not original. The rappings are in accord 

 with the traditional folk-lore behavior of ghosts, though their trans- 

 formation into a signal code may have been due to the originality of the 

 Fox children; the planchette has its analogies in Chinese and European 

 modes of divination; clairvoyance was incorporated from the phenomena 

 of artificial somnambulism, as practiced by the successors of Mesmer; 

 the 'sensitive' or 'medium' suggests the same origin as well as the popu- 

 lar belief in the gift of supernatural powers to favored individuals; 

 others of the phenomena such as 'levitation' and 'cabinet performances' 

 have counterparts in Oriental magic; 'slate-writing/ 'form materializa- 

 tions/ 'spirit-messages' and 'spirit photographs' are, in the main, mod- 

 ern contributions. These various phenomena as ordinarily presented 

 breed the typical atmosphere of the seance chamber, which resists pre- 

 cise analysis, but in which it is easy to detect morbid credulity, blind 

 prepossession and emotional contagion; while the dependence of the 

 phenomena on the character of the medium offers strong temptation 

 alike to shrewdness, eccentricity and dishonesty. On the side of his 

 teachings the spiritualist is likewise not strikingly original. The rela- 

 tions of his beliefs to those that grew about the revelations of Sweden- 

 borg, to the speculations of the German 'pneumatologists' and to other 

 philosophical doctrines, though perhaps not intimate, are yet traceable 

 and interesting; and in another view the 'spiritualist' is as old as man 

 himself and finds his antecedents in the necromancer of Chaldea, or in 

 the Shaman of Siberia, or the Angekok of Greenland, or the spirit- 

 doctor of the Karens. The modern mediums are simply repeating with 

 new costumes and improved scenic effects the mystic drama of primitive 

 man. 



Spiritualism thus appeals to a deep-seated craving in human nature, 

 that of assurance of personal immortality and of communion with the 

 departed. Just so long as a portion of mankind will accept material 

 evidence of such a belief, and will even countenance the irreverence, 

 the triviality and the vulgarity surrounding the manifestations, just so 

 long as these persons will misjudge their own powers of detecting how 

 the alleged supernatural appearances were really produced and remain 

 unimpressed by the principles upon which alone a consistent explana- 

 tion is possible, just so long will spiritualism and kindred delusions 

 flourish. 



As to the present-day status of this cult it is not easy to speak 

 positively. Its clientele has apparently greatly diminished; it still 

 numbers amongst its adherents men and women of culture and educa- 

 tion and many more who cannot be said to possess these qualities. There 

 seems to be a considerable class of persons who believe that natural laws 

 are insufficient to account for their personal experiences and those of 

 others, and who temporarily or permanently incline to a spiritualistic 



