72 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



were satisfactorily explained as due to the rapid partial disloca- 

 tion and resetting of the knee-joint, and perhaps other joints, the 

 raps failing to occur when the Fox sisters were placed in a posi- 

 tion in which the leverage necessary for this action was denied 

 them and being perfectly repeated, at will, by a lady gifted with 

 the same peculiarity. To-day spiritualists count their adherents 

 by millions. In 1867 there were estimated to be three millions in 

 America. They publish about one hundred journals, hailing 

 from all parts of the world (twenty-six of them appear in Amer- 

 ica), and the manifestations have increased in number and 

 variety. Spirit-forms are seen and hold converse ; they write on 

 slates in mysterious ways, they move tables, play musical instru- 

 ments, send flowers and messages, tie knots in an endless cord, and 

 so on ; all, however, only in the presence of " mediums." 



It would seem self-evident that so momentous a conclusion 

 should not be accepted without the most rigid scrutiny ; that only 

 after every attempt to explain the phenomena by laws already 

 understood had failed, would recourse be had to a supernatural 

 origin, and only when the truth of such a theory had been re- 

 peatedly verified by a variety of evidence would it be definitely 

 accepted. The history of psychic epidemics shows too clearly that 

 any such logical procedure is made impossible by the white heat 

 of the emotional interest with which such movements always 

 spread. There is always a large class of people yearning for a 

 possession that shall be mysterious and unshared by the common 

 herd, anxious to embrace any such strange and novel doctrines 

 as spiritualism advanced, simply because of their strangeness and 

 novelty. Such persons find no satisfaction in investigating, but 

 only in believing. With such the movement began; but, as it 

 spread, it found its way into higher circles, securing the adher- 

 ence of many men and women of decided culture and intellectual 

 acumen, and even enrolling in its cause a few eminent representa- 

 tives of the world of learning. The spiritualists grew bold and 

 defied investigation; investigations were frequently made, and 

 resulted, according to the ability, impartiality, and technical fit- 

 ness of the investigators, about as frequently in exposure as in 

 conversion. The conversions were always trumpeted far and wide, 

 while the mediums convicted of fraudulent procedure quietly and 

 successfully continued their career. A prominent spiritualist 

 openly announces that Slade (perhaps the most famous living 

 medium) " now often cheats with an almost infantile audacity 

 and naivete, while at the same or the next seance with the same 

 investigators," genuine spiritualistic phenomena occur. If this 

 is the moral atmosphere of spiritualism, one can readily under- 

 stand the opinion of another disciple, that the true spirit in which 

 to approach its study is " an entire willingness to be deceived." 



