JOSEPH HENRY 145 



considered it a duty to do what he could toward imbuing the next 

 one of the class who addressed him with correct notions of scientific 

 principles. 



It is hardly necessary to say that in Professor Henry's mental 

 composition were included a breadth of intellect, clearness^ of 

 philosophic^jafiigjit, and ,qtrp t p^fh of judgment, without which he 

 could never have carried out the difficult task which his official 

 position imposed upon him. His mental fiber was well seen in 

 the stand which he took against the delusions of spiritualism. On 

 no subject was he more decided than on that of the impossibility 

 and absurdity of the pseudo-miracles of the mediums, who seemed 

 to him to claim no less a power than that of overruling the laws of 

 nature. An intellectual person yielding credence to their preten- 

 sions seemed to him to be in great danger of insanity. An old and 

 respected friend, who had held a prominent position in the govern- 

 ment service, in speaking to him on the subject, once described 

 how he had actually seen a spiritual medium rise in the air and 

 waft himself out of the window. " Judge," answered the Professor, 

 "you never saw that, and if you think you did, you are in a danger- 

 ous mental condition. If you do not give this delusion up you 

 will be in the insane asylum before you know it. As a loving 

 friend I beseech you to take warning of what I say, and to reflect 

 that what you think you saw is a mental delusion which requires 

 the most careful treatment." 



He once related to the writer a curious circumstance as an illus- 

 tration of the character of this " spiritual" legerdemain. A noted 

 spiritualist had visited Washington during Mr. Lincoln's adminis- 

 tration and held several seances with the President himself. The 

 latter was extremely desirous that Professor Henry should see the 

 medium, and give his opinion as to how he performed his wonder- 

 ful feats. Although Henry generally avoided all contact with such 

 men, he consented to receive him at the Smithsonian Institution. 

 Among the acts proposed was that of making sounds in various 

 quarters of the room. This was something which the keen senses 

 and ready experimental faculty of the Professor were well qualified 

 to investigate. He turned his head in various positions while the 



