320 Spiritualism Viewed by the [July, 



The spiritualist tells of manifestations of power, which would 

 be equivalent to many thousands of "foot-pounds," taking place 

 without known agency. The man of science, believing firmly in 

 the conservation of force and that it is never produced without a 

 corresponding exhaustion of something to replace it, asks for some 

 such exhibitions of power to be manifested in his laboratory, where 

 he can weigh, measure, and submit it to proper tests * 



For these reasons and with these feelings I began an inquiry 

 suggested to me by eminent men exercising great influence on the 

 thought of the country. At first, like other men who thought little 

 of the matter and saw little, I believed that the whole affair was a 

 superstition, or at least an unexplained trick. Even at this moment 

 I meet with cases which I cannot prove to be anything else ; and 

 in some cases I am sure that it is a delusion of the senses. 



I by no means promise to enter fully into this subject ; it seems 

 very difficult to obtain opportunities, and numerous failures cer- 

 tainly may dishearten anyone. The persons in whose presence 

 these phenomena take place are few in number, and opportunities 

 for experimenting with previously arranged apparatus are rarer still. 

 I should feel it to be a great satisfaction if I could bring out light 

 in any direction, and I may safely say that I care not in what direc- 

 tion. With this end in view, I appeal to any of my readers who 

 may possess a key to these strange phenomena, to further the pro- 

 gress of the truth by assisting me in my investigations. That the 

 subject has to do with strange physiological conditions is clear, and 

 these in a sense may be called "spiritual" when they produce 

 certain results in our minds. At present the phenomena I have 

 observed baffle explanation ; so do the phenomena of thought, which 

 are also spiritual, and which no philosopher has yet understood. 

 No man however denies them. 



The explanations given to me, both orally and in most of the 

 books I have read, are shrouded in such an affected ponderosity of 

 style, such an attempt at disguising poverty of ideas in grandiloquent 

 language, that I feel it impossible, after driving off the frothy 

 diluent, to discern a crystalline residue of meaning. I confess that 

 the reasoning of some spiritualists would almost seem to justify 

 Faraday's severe statement — that many dogs have the power of 

 coming to much more logical conclusions. Their speculations utterly 

 ignore all theories of force being only a form of molecular motion, 

 and they speak of Force, Matter, and Spirit, as three distinct 



' * In justice to my subject, I must state that, on repeating these views to some 

 of the leading "spiritualists" and most trustworthy "mediums" in England, they 

 express perfect confidence in the success of the inquiry, if honestly carried out in 

 the spirit here exemplified ; and they have offered to assist me to the utmost of 

 their ability, by placing their peculiar powers at my disposal. As far as I 

 have proceeded, I may as well add that the preliminary tests have been 

 satisfactory. 



