LECTURES AND ESS A YS 



which I was known in the heavenly 

 world. Our host commenced repeating 

 the alphabet, and when he reached the 

 letter " P " a knock was heard. He 

 began again, and the spirits knocked at 

 the letter " O." I was puzzled, but 

 waited for the end. The next letter 

 knocked down was "E." I laughed, and 

 remarked that the spirits were going to 

 make a poet of me. Admonished for 

 my levity, I was informed that the frame 

 of mind proper for the occasion ought to 

 have been superinduced by a perusal of 

 the Bible immediately before the stance. 

 The spelling, however, went on, and 

 sure enough I came out a poet. But 

 matters did not end here. Our host 

 continued his repetition of the alphabet, 

 and the next letter of the name proved 

 to be " O." Here was manifestly an 

 unfinished word ; and the spirits were 

 apparently in their most communicative 

 mood. The knocks came from under 

 the table, but no person present evinced 

 the slightest desire to look under it. I 

 asked whether I might go underneath ; 

 the permission was granted ; so I crept 

 under the table. Some tittered; but the 

 candid old A. exclaimed : " He has a 

 right to look into the very dregs of it, to 

 convince himself." Having pretty well 

 assured myself that no sound could be 

 produced under the table without its 

 origin being revealed, I requested our 

 host to continue his questions. He did 

 so, but in vain. He adopted a tone of 

 tender entreaty ; but the "dear spirits " 

 had become dumb dogs, and refused to 

 be entreated. I continued under that 

 table for at least a quarter of an hour, 

 after which, with a feeling of despair as 

 regards the prospects of humanity never 

 before experienced, I regained my chair. 

 Once there, the spirits resumed their 

 loquacity, and dubbed me " Poet of 

 Science." 



This, then, is the result of an attempt 

 made by a scientific man to look into 

 these spiritual phenomena. It is not 

 encouraging ; and for this reason. The 



present promoters of spiritual pheno- 

 mena divide themselves into two classes, 

 one of which needs no demonstration, 

 while the other is beyond the reach of 

 proof. The victims like to believe, and 

 they do not like to be undeceived. 

 Science is perfectly powerless in the 

 presence of this frame of mind. It is, 

 moreover, a state perfectly compatible 

 with extreme intellectual subtlety and a 

 capacity for devising hypotheses which 

 only require the hardihood engendered 

 by strong conviction, or by callous 

 mendacity, to render them impregnable. 

 The logical feebleness of science is not 

 sufficiently borne in mind. It keeps 

 down the weed of superstition, not by 

 logic, but by slowly rendering the mental 

 soil unfit for its cultivation. When 

 science -appeals to uniform experience, 

 the spiritualist will retort : " How do you 

 know that a uniform experience will 

 continue uniform ? You tell me that 

 the sun has risen for six thousand years : 

 that is no proof that it will rise to- 

 morrow ; within the next twelve hours it 

 may be puffed out by the Almighty." 

 Taking this ground, a man may maintain 

 the story of " Jack and the Beanstalk " in 

 the face of all the science in the world. 

 You urge, in vain, that science has given 

 us all the knowledge of the universe 

 which we now possess, while spiritualism 

 has added nothing to that knowledge. 

 The drugged soul is beyond the reach of 

 reason. It is in vain that impostors are 

 exposed, and the special demon cast out. 

 He has but slightly to change his shape, 

 return to his house, and find it " empty, 

 swept, and garnished." 



Since the time when the foregoing 

 remarks were written I have been more 

 than once among the spirits, at their own 

 invitation. They do not improve on 

 acquaintance. Surely no baser delusion 

 ever obtained dominance over the weak 

 mind of man. 



