347 



made at that very instant a strongly marked jerk. It was learned that 

 at that moment a magnetic storm prevailed at the West Indies, in South 

 America, and in Australia. The signalmen in the telegraph stations at 

 Washington to Philadelphia received strong electric shocks. The pen of 

 Bain's telegraph was followed by a flame of fire, and in Norway the telegraph 

 machinery was set on fire. At night great auroras were seen in both hemi- 

 spheres.* 



" The magnetic vibrations thrill in one moment through the whole frame of 

 our earth ! " — Proctor, Light Science, p. 34. 



Note I. — The Eainbow, according to the old legend, indicates gold hidden 

 at the point of junction with the earth. 



Note J. — I think the suggestions of Mungo Ponton in The Beginning are 

 well worth attentive consideration in this connection. 



The Chairman. — I am sure, Mr. Howard, that I may tender you the thanks 

 of this meeting for your interesting paper. (Hear.) By way of opening the 

 discussion, I will just refer to an expression contained in these pages, — 

 "Counter eddy of thought." If there should be any such in the minds 

 of those present, I shall be very pleased to have it fully enunciated, in 

 order that we may receive the information which othej minds may bring to 

 bear upon the subject. I have no doubt that there is abundant subject- 

 matter in this paper for differences of opinion. With regard to the scientific 

 argument here broached, for the existence of bodily organization in angels ; I 

 know that is only a subordinate part of the paper, but it fell in with a line 

 of thought in which I often indulge. The theory set forth is that probably 

 angels have spiritual bodies ; with the composition of which the luminiferous 

 ether, of which he speaks in Part III., may have some connection. Into 

 that point I shall scarcely enter ; but that angels, as created spirits, must 

 be supposed to have bodies — impalpable, invisible, refined, and subtly 

 etherealized, as distinct from pure spirit, I take to be essentially necessary. 

 God is the only spirit purely such, unconditioned, and separated by an 

 almost infinite interval from any created being whatsoever. It is often 

 said, and especially by the Positive school of philosophy, that as an angel 

 is never seen — "as the microscope or telescope cannot detect one" — it is 

 absurd to think about the matter, and therefore it must be confined to the 



■ * Sir J. Herschel's Familiar Lectures, p. 81. Chambers's Hand-Booh of 

 Astronomy, p. 6. Carrington and Hodgson s Monthly Notes, E.A.S., vol. xx. 

 pp. 13, 16. Proctor, The Sun, &c., p. 206. Proctor, Other Worlds than 

 ours, p. 33. Meteorological Society's Proceedings, vol. i. p. 66. Monthly 

 Mic. Journal^ INIarch, 1873, p. 132. 



