{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_34475/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_34475","id":"gutenberg_34475","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34475","summary":null,"tags":["Apparitions","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Spiritualism"],"text":"Produced by Roberta Staehlin, David Garcia, Charlene Taylor\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images\ngenerously made available by The Internet Archive/American\nLibraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    Materialized Apparitions\n\n    _If Not Beings from Another Life\n    What Are They_\n\n    BY\n\n    EDWARD A. BRACKETT\n\n    AUTHOR OF \"THE WORLD WE LIVE IN\",\n    \"MY HOUSE,\" ETC.\n\n    [Illustration: ARTI et VERITATI]\n\n    BOSTON\n    RICHARD G. BADGER\n    The Gorham Press\n    1908\n\n\n\n\n    _Copyright_ 1885, _by E. A. Brackett_\n\n    _All Rights Reserved_\n\n\n    _The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A._\n\n\n\n\n    To abandon these spiritual phenomena to credulity, is to commit a\n    treason against human reason. Nevertheless, we see them always\n    rejected and always reappearing. They date not their advent from\n    yesterday.\n                                                    VICTOR HUGO.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nWritten at intervals from the pressure of business, and at times that\nshould have been devoted to recreation, these pages make no claim to\nartistic arrangement or literary merit. If they enable any one to arrive\nat a clearer and better appreciation of the wonderful phenomena of which\nthey treat, they will have accomplished all that was intended.\n\n    WINCHESTER, MASS.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    INTRODUCTION,                                        PAGE 9\n\n\n    Part I.\n\n    MATERIALIZATION AND DEMATERIALIZATION OF FORMS AND OBJECTS.\n\n    CHAPTER.                                              PAGE.\n\n       I. MY FIRST SEANCE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT               17\n\n      II. PERSONIFICATION BY THE MEDIUM, OR MATERIALIZED\n          FORMS                                              30\n\n     III. MATERIALIZATION AND DEMATERIALIZATION OF\n          OBJECTS                                            36\n\n      IV. MATERIALIZATION AND DEMATERIALIZATION UNDER\n          TEST CONDITIONS                                    51\n\n       V. AN UNEXPECTED SEANCE                               60\n\n      VI. SEANCE WITH MRS. CARRIE M. SAWYER                  68\n\n     VII. SEANCES WITH MRS. FAIRCHILD                        79\n\n    VIII. SEANCE WITH MISS HELEN BERRY AT ONSET              88\n\n      IX. SEANCE AT THE BERRY SISTERS' IN BOSTON             99\n\n       X. MATERIALIZED FORMS--HOW SHALL WE MEET THEM?       109\n\n\n    Part II.\n\n    OPINIONS AND THEORIES.\n\n       I. A GLANCE BEHIND THE CURTAIN                       123\n\n      II. EXPOSURES OF MEDIUMS                              131\n\n     III. PUBLIC SEANCES                                    140\n\n      IV. THE ATTITUDE OF SCIENTISTS                        146\n\n       V. PUBLIC OPINION                                    153\n\n      VI. CONCLUSION                                        164\n\n\n    ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n    DIAGRAM OF MRS. FAY'S SEANCE-ROOM                        29\n\n    DIAGRAM OF THE MISSES BERRY'S SEANCE-ROOM               100\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nIn 1840 I became acquainted with Dr. Colyer, then lecturing on\nMesmerism, at Peel's Museum, New York, and fully believed, at that time,\nthat he was a humbug, and Mesmerism a fraud. Soon after this, while\nvisiting some friends, with Mr. Pendleton, formerly from Boston, this\nsubject was pretty thoroughly discussed,--Mr. Pendleton insisting that\nthere was truth in it, and that I was not treating it fairly; and he\nproposed, as a matter of amusement, that I should try the experiment on\nsome one of the party present. Willing to turn the discussion into a\nless serious form, I consented to take the part assigned me; and soon\nfound, to my astonishment, that I had before me a most excellent\nclairvoyant subject. What had been started as amusement became a very\ninteresting entertainment, resulting in the meeting of the parties once\na week for the purpose of studying Mesmerism.\n\nIn the following spring I removed to Boston, where in my leisure hours I\ncontinued my investigations, part of the time with Dr. William F.\nChanning, the inventor of the Fire Alarm, and at the time a student with\nDr. Jackson. I was indebted to him for many interesting suggestions, and\nespecially for the use of a very delicate galvanometer, for the purpose\nof detecting, if possible, any magnetic or electric currents passing\nbetween the magnetizer and his subject. No such currents were\ndiscovered, and when we found that our subject could be controlled and\nthrown into a trance when more than a mile away, by the action of the\nwill alone, the idea of testing currents was abandoned. All that has\nsince been made public under the names of Mind-Reading and Telepathy,\nand much more, was familiar to us.\n\nWhen trance-mediumship became known, believing that it was only a form\nof Mesmerism, I gave considerable attention to it. There were few\nmediums of note that I did not have more or less sittings with, but the\nmost satisfactory communications I received came through a member of my\nown family. While the evidence was such as would have convinced most\npersons that these messages came from the other side of life, I was by\nno means sure of it.\n\nIn this state of mind, in consequence of some statements made to me by\nMr. Thomas Appleton, of what he had seen in Europe, I decided to\ninvestigate what is known as \"Materialization,\" that is, the alleged\nproduction of visible and tangible apparitions out of seeming\nnothingness. I felt, whether right or wrong, that my experience in\nMesmerism, and the long training of my perceptive faculties as a\nsculptor, which enabled me to detect the slightest differences between\nobjects, was as good a preparation as one could have for studying this\nclass of phenomena. I had no sectarian prejudices to overcome, and no\nlack of courage in stating my convictions, no matter which way the\nevidence might lead. That I prejudged the case in the beginning, I\nfreely admit, and, like thousands of others, formed an opinion without\ngiving to it that attention which is necessary in dealing fairly with\nany subject.\n\nI have a thorough abhorrence of fraud, whether in the seance-room or in\nthe pulpit, regarding any one who would trifle with the most sacred\nfeelings of our nature as deserving the severest punishment.\n\nIn briefly detailing some of the facts that have come under my own\nobservation, it is a matter of no consequence to me what may be said\nabout them, since it is impossible for any one to give the subject the\nsame careful study without arriving at similar results.\n\n\n\n\nPART I.\n\nMATERIALIZATION AND DEMATERIALIZATION OF FORMS AND OBJECTS.\n\n\nMan is what he feels. He may dazzle the world for a while with the\nsplendor of his acquirements, but, like an iceberg that glistens in the\nfrosty air and disappears in a more genial clime, the pride of his\nintellect is lost in the warmth of his affections.\n\nWhat Swedenborg aptly terms his \"loves,\" alone indicate man's true\ncharacter. They determine his relation to superior as well as to\ninferior beings. There is no other way through which he can advance to a\nhigher life, or commune with those exalted spirits who are ever ready to\nwelcome him, than by the elevation of his affections. Through every\nphase of his spiritual progress, whether in this or the other life,\nforever arches over him in letters of gold the divine commandment, \"That\nye love one another.\"\n\n\n\n\nMATERIALIZED APPARITIONS.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nMY FIRST SEANCE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.\n\n\nNot being acquainted with any \"materializing medium,\" so termed, I\nobtained from Mr. Luther Colby, of Boston, a letter of introduction to\nMrs. H. B. Fay, of that city, stating that I was desirous of visiting\nher seances. I called upon the lady and presented the letter, but found\nthat she was out of health, and, for the present, had discontinued her\nsittings. I, however, left my address, with the request that she would\ninform me when she resumed her seances.\n\nMore than a year passed without hearing from her, and, finding that she\nwas giving sittings, I made free to call at the house and ask\nadmittance, which was granted. As she did not recognize me, I felt\nconfident that she had forgotten the circumstance of the letter, and, as\nI preferred to remain as far as possible _incog._, I made no allusion to\nit.\n\nCuriosity led me to scan the audience. There were about thirty persons\npresent, and, as far as I could judge, they were of more than ordinary\nintelligence. At the beginning of the seance, the light was lowered, but\nnot so low that we could not discern clearly the features of those\naround us.\n\nI do not propose now to deal with the experience of others, although I\nhave from the beginning made that a part of my study, but shall confine\nmyself to what came to me.\n\nNear the close of the seance, the lady who sat next the cabinet said\nthere was a form present who gave the name of \"Maggie Brackett.\" She\nwould not be certain about the first name, as the form was very weak and\nspoke in a whisper. Here was a chance to come in contact with one of\nthese beings, supposed to belong to another life. Although I knew of no\none, in or out of my family, by that name, I assumed that it was for me,\nand stepped up to the cabinet. As I did so, the curtain parted, and a\nvery beautiful female, apparently about sixteen years old, stood before\nme. I looked at her very closely, but could trace no resemblance to the\nmedium, nor to any one I had known. I said, \"I do not remember you; did\nI ever see you before?\" She shook her head, and tried to speak, but I\ncould not make out what she intended to say.\n\nFinding that I did not understand, she held out her hand, about three\nfeet from the floor; but I did not know what that meant, and, seeing\nthat she was greatly disappointed, shook hands with her, saying, \"Never\nmind; we will find out about this some other time;\" then bade her\nGood-bye, and she stepped behind the curtain.\n\nAs I turned to my seat, a hoarse voice inside the cabinet somewhat\nstartled me by saying, \"Your wife is here!\" I answered, \"Very well, I\nshall be glad to see her.\"\n\nIf I was disappointed in the first form, I was doubly so in this. It was\na much smaller person than my deceased wife, and had a tired, careworn\nexpression, while the features strongly resembled the medium. She\ngreeted me warmly. Holding her at arms' length, in order to better study\nher form, I said, \"You are not tall or stout enough for my wife.\"\n\"Wait,\" she said; and, stepping behind the curtain, returned in a few\nmoments, fuller, and near a head taller. The height and general build of\nthe form were now very good, but the face was a medley. I saw, or\nfancied, some resemblance to my wife, but still more to the medium.\n\nShe appeared overjoyed at meeting me; so much so that I felt it would be\nheartless on my part to repel it. Laying her head upon my shoulder, she\ntalked freely with me, saying things that it seemed impossible that any\none but my wife could know. I knew what Mesmerism and clairvoyance\nmeant. Was this another phase of them? Was it mind-reading? If so, it\nwas a very clever performance. I could not realize that I had my wife\nbefore me, and yet here was a being who had penetrated the inmost\nsecrets of my domestic life; had dragged from the past the well-worn\npages of memory and read them anew.\n\nShe remained out much longer than most of the forms had done, when I\nnoticed that she appeared to be growing weaker, and, in spite of her\nefforts to sustain herself, was sinking downward. Bidding her\nGood-night, I let go her hand. As I did so, she went down directly in\nfront of me, within a foot of where I stood, her head and shoulders\nbeing the last part visible. On the carpet, where she disappeared, there\nwas a glow of phosphorescent light, which gradually faded away.\n\nFor the first and only time during my investigations, I was unduly\nexcited. It came so suddenly and unexpectedly upon me that I was\nconfused. I brushed my hand across my forehead and eyes to make sure of\nmy bearings, and slowly returned to my seat, fully conscious of the\nimportance of what had passed before me. If real,--if the form had thus\ndematerialized,--then the reality of materialization followed as a\nmatter of course.\n\nWhile turning these thoughts over in my mind, the seance closed; and as\nI stepped out into the full light of the autumnal moon, everything\nseemed changed. The sound of feet on the brick pavement grated harshly\non my ears; before me rose the tall spire of the stone church, throwing\nits ghostly shadow across the way; behind me was the seance-room, and a\ndreamy consciousness of the strange phenomena I had witnessed surged\nthrough my brain. Was it possible that I had stood face to face and been\nin communication with one from another life?\n\nAs I pondered over this, a reaction came, and before I reached my home\nthe probability, or the possibility even, that I had been deceived,\nvexed and annoyed me, and aroused a determination to know whether or not\nthere was truth in materialization. I was not over-pleased with what I\nhad seen, and, but for this last incident, my investigations might have\nended here. Materialization was either a great truth or a stupendous\nhumbug. Thousands of intelligent persons believed in it, on what\nappeared to me uncertain evidence. Was it not a disgrace to science that\nthis had been allowed to go on so long without any honest attempt to\ninvestigate it? If I could only get the inside track, how easy it would\nbe to expose it! The whole thing lay in a nutshell: either the forms\nappearing were confederates, or personations by the medium; perhaps\nboth. I would if possible adopt a system of investigation so thorough\nthat nothing should escape me.\n\nTo go to seances as an ordinary visitor was, to me, to throw time away.\nIf the manifestations were genuine, and my personal relations with the\nmedium not objectionable, I saw no reason why I should not obtain\nprivileges without which, to my skeptical mind, it would be useless to\npursue the subject.\n\nI therefore continued my visits, having this object constantly in view.\nOtherwise I remained perfectly passive, neither demanding nor asking\nanything.\n\nSeveral times I was surprised by finding thoughts to which I had given\nno outward expression anticipated by what claimed to be \"the control,\"\nthat is, the spirit alleged to hold possession of the entranced medium.\nI had not asked, although greatly desirous, to be taken into the cabinet\nduring the seance. While thinking this, \"Auntie,\" Mrs. Fay's \"control,\"\nsaid, \"You shall come in.\"\n\nThe forms were coming quite freely to me, and one said, \"You may go in\nwith me.\" As I entered, the control greeted me in a friendly way, saying\nthat she liked me; that I was a skeptic, but an honest one.\n\nWhile talking with her, I had my left arm around the waist of the form\nthat took me into the cabinet. With my right hand I reached out and\nsatisfied myself that the medium was sitting in her chair, entranced.\nThere could be no mistake; there were four of us in the cabinet,--the\ntwo forms that appeared to be materialized, the medium, and myself!\n\nI know how two got in, but where did the other two come from?\n\nTaking advantage of the expressions of kindness on the part of the\ncontrol, I sought an early opportunity to express to the medium what I\ndesired. To my surprise, she made no objections, saying that she was\nentranced, and did not know what the forms were, nor was she conscious\nof taking any part in what came before the audience; that she was simply\nthe instrument, not the operator. I thanked her, saying I trusted that\nI should do nothing which would be distasteful to her or the control;\nthat the first step would be a thorough investigation of the cabinet.\n\nOn my first visit to Mrs. Fay's, the cabinet consisted simply of a\ncurtain drawn across the corner of the room. It was soon after changed\nto a light, portable structure, which could be easily moved to any part\nof the room.\n\nI had this cabinet moved out, the floor, wall, and everything connected\nwith it thoroughly examined. There was no chance for confederates to be\nused here. I have since assisted in moving it out for the satisfaction\nof others, and have seen it placed in the opposite corner of the room,\nwhere it remained for weeks without in the least affecting the\nmanifestations. Whatever may be the cause of these phenomena, they are\ncertainly not due to confederates.\n\nI herewith submit a carefully drawn plan of the cabinet and its\nsurroundings, made by a competent architect, who has never seen any of\nthe manifestations, and consequently is not a believer in them.\n\nThere could be no doubt; it was impossible for any one to enter the\ncabinet except through the door of the seance-room, in the presence of\nthe whole audience. To be perfectly sure on this point, I sought and\nobtained permission to sit next the cabinet, which place I occupied for\nmore than forty sittings. I know that it is impossible to use a\nconfederate in this cabinet without its being instantly detected.\n\nHaving settled this so thoroughly that it could not come up as an\nelement of doubt in any future investigations I might make, the next\nstep seemed to be a plain one.\n\n[Illustration: Diagram of Mrs. Fay's Seance-Room.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nPERSONIFICATION BY THE MEDIUM, OR MATERIALIZED FORMS?\n\n\nThe forms that came from the cabinet were either personations by the\nmedium, or they were what they purported to be--materializations.\n\nI had, during this time, allowed nothing to pass unnoticed. From forty\nto sixty forms would often manifest at a seance, apparently of both\nsexes, and of all ages and sizes, from a little child to extreme old\nage, each form individualized and complete in itself.\n\nWhat claimed to be my wife came to me quite often, and so many times\ndisappeared in the way heretofore described, that I was no longer\nstartled by the occurrence, for I had become so familiar with it that I\nhad come to regard it as a natural consequence of her appearance. She\nnot only grew stronger, but the likeness was much improved, and the\nresemblance to the medium, at times, entirely disappeared.\n\nIn my first visits to these seances, I was led, like many others, to\nattach great importance to the resemblance which these forms might bear\nto what they claimed to have been when in earth-life. I was constantly\nlooking for it, and have seen many instances where the likeness was so\nmarked that it would have been impossible to mistake it; yet I have\nlearned not to regard it as positive evidence of identity. Whatever they\nmay be, whether from this or the other side of life, there can be no\nquestion that they possess the wonderful power of changing their forms\nat pleasure, as any one at all familiar with them can testify.\n\nI have seen a tall young man, wearing a full beard, claiming to be a\nbrother of the lady with me, while standing before her, one hand on her\nwaist, the other in mine--upon her saying, \"I have not seen you since\nyou were a lad; how do you suppose I should know you now?\"--stoop, kiss\nher on the cheek, and raise his roguish face without the beard; at the\nsame time diminishing in size until he was more nearly like the boy she\nknew.\n\nI have witnessed similar changes outside of the cabinet, in the presence\nof the audience, quite often.\n\nThe mental and moral tone of the audience has more to do with the\ncharacter of the seance than the medium has. I have, several times, by\nthe action of a strong will, caused the forms to recede from the\nposition which they at first assumed.\n\nPersons, without being fully aware of it, find themselves more or less\nreflected in these seances. They reap what they sow. Their condition of\nmind prevents the forms from approaching them.\n\nI have known persons to visit seances many times without receiving any\nattention; and, on the other hand, I have seen entire strangers, coming\nfrom distant parts of the country, who had never before been in a\nseance-room, receive the most tender demonstrations of affection and\nrecognition.\n\nSometimes these forms have treated me to little jokes, that illustrated\nbetter than words the information I was seeking; enjoying heartily\nanything that for a moment seemed to disconcert me.\n\nWhat claimed to be my niece came to me in a very beautiful illuminated\ndress. I asked her to appear to me at the next seance dressed in the\nsame way. I took a friend with me to that seance, expecting to astonish\nhim with the wonderful illumination. But, instead of keeping her\npromise, she came out in a dark dress, such as I had never seen her\nwear. As my friend had gone up to the cabinet with me, I was greatly\ndisappointed in the way she came, and said, \"Bertha, why do you come in\nthis dress?\" Placing her right elbow in the palm of her left hand and\nher index finger on her lip, in a bashful, coquettish way, she said,\n\"I'm in mourning.\" I said, \"For what?\" She replied, \"I expect I have\nlost my friend.\" I said to my companion, \"This is something new; I don't\nunderstand it.\" While we were both looking at her, instantly the dark\ndress disappeared, and she stood before us radiant in her beautiful\ngarments. With a girlish laugh she threw her arms around my neck, kissed\nme and said, \"It is all right now, uncle.\" The disappearance of the\ndark dress was quite as marvellous to my friend as the illumination.\n\nI have never been able to detect any fraud, or any indication of it, on\nthe part of Mrs. Fay at these seances; and in the absence of any\ninformation which would lead to any other conclusion, I shall hereafter\ncall these forms spirits. That they are not beings belonging to this\nside of life, I feel certain. What they are, each one must determine for\nhimself.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nMATERIALIZATION AND DEMATERIALIZATION OF OBJECTS.\n\n\nThe severest tests which I could apply to these manifestations convinced\nme that not only the forms which surrounded these spirits, but the\ngarments which they wore were \"materialized\" (that is, made visible and\ntangible out of previously invisible substances) inside of the cabinet.\nHow this is done we may not comprehend. Emerson says, \"The whole world\nis the flux of matter over the wires of thought to the points or poles\nwhere it would build.\" We only know that here, as in Nature, there must\nbe a germ or starting-point around which the particles aggregate. This\nis seen in the materialization of objects, which is important as being\nthe only materializations outside the cabinet, and the only ones that we\ncan study.\n\nI have spoken of a beautiful spirit claiming to be my niece, Bertha,\nthat came to me at Mrs. Fay's. In all my attendance there she has never\nfailed to meet me. This did not arise from any understanding or\nagreement, but seemed to grow up as a natural consequence of the\nmagnetic relations between us. Simple and childlike in her bearing, I\nhave found her remarkably conscientious, intelligent, and affectionate.\nShe comes freely, and in all my intercourse with her I have never found\nher judgment at fault.\n\nI do not care to discuss the question as to who or what Bertha is;\nI know she is not the medium, nor a confederate, and that her\nmaterialization of objects is genuine. In my long and delightful\nassociation with her, extending over more than two years, I have never\nbeen able to detect the slightest thing that would lead me to doubt that\nshe is what she claims to be.\n\nNo parent ever watched the unfolding of a young life with more interest\nthan I have studied the apparent growth or development of this\ndelightful spirit. It may be that what I have considered her progress\narises from the increasing strength gained through her long association\nwith me, enabling her to more freely express herself; for during my\nacquaintance with her she has seemingly passed from a commonplace person\ninto a remarkable embodiment of intelligence and affection. If I have\nrefrained from expressing the many inspired thoughts and feelings which\nin her exalted moments she has freely given forth, it is because they\nare sacred to my own domestic circle. They belong to that centralization\nof the affections without which life loses its force, and all\ninvestigations or attempts to reach these beings are only time thrown\naway.\n\nAs I never saw her before she passed to the other life, I have no means\nof proving her identity except by what she has told me. Owing to the\nfact that her family live many hundred miles away, and that I am very\nforgetful of names, I did not recall, until reminded by others, the\nexistence of any one of that name. She came, at first, very weak, not\nbeing able to come out from the cabinet, and spoke in a whisper. She\neither gave a wrong name, or, what is quite as likely from the\ndifficulty she then had in expressing herself, was misunderstood. This,\nwith my limited experience, led me to regard her appearance, so far as\nit related to me, a mistake, and I am quite conscious that I treated\nher coldly. That she felt this indifference on my part was evinced more\nthan once by the expression of her face.\n\nShe, however, continued to come whenever I was present, growing stronger\neach time, apparently demanding recognition, and showing plainly that\nshe did not mean to be put aside for any one. At length I said, \"Will\nyou tell me who you are?\" She replied, \"I am Bertha; you are my uncle; I\nam your niece;\" at the same time holding out her hand about three feet\nfrom the floor. As I did not understand this, she subsequently explained\nit by coming out as a child about four years old, that being the age, as\nI afterward learned, when she passed to the other life. As I was a\nstranger to the medium and all present (except one, and that one knew\nnothing of my relatives), it does not seem probable that the medium\ncould have known anything about her.\n\nThe individuality of Bertha is very striking, bearing little or no\nresemblance to any other materialized form which I have seen. She never\ncomes shrouded in a profusion of drapery; on the contrary, she appears\nscantily but richly dressed, wearing a short skirt and close-fitting\nwaist, with short sleeves, leaving her finely-rounded arms bare. She\nnever wears a head-dress; her long silken hair floats freely round her\nshoulders. In form and feature she is the embodiment of girlhood, with a\nplayful disposition which leads her to make amusing remarks, at times,\nabout those who come within her mental atmosphere.\n\nHer figure is compactly built, and well proportioned, with a remarkably\nfine face, the expression of which, at times, surpasses anything I have\never seen. She is much shorter than the medium, as the following\nmeasurements will show:--\n\n    Mrs. H. B. Fay, medium, height,             5 ft. 4 in.\n    Bertha, materialized form, height,          4 ft. 9-1/4 in.\n    Male form (to Mr. Tallman), height,         5 ft. 9-1/4 in.\n    Difference between Mrs. Fay and Bertha,           6-3/4 in.\n    Difference between Mrs. Fay and male form,        5-1/4 in.\n    Difference between Bertha and male form,         12 in.\n\nThese measurements were taken by means of an upright staff with a cross\npiece at right angles, and I was assisted by a gentleman who is a\nthorough skeptic. Care was taken to have the forms stand perfectly\nupright, so that there could be no mistake as to accuracy.\n\nI have given this brief sketch of Bertha as I shall have occasion to\nallude to her hereafter, for I am greatly indebted to her for much that\nI have learned about materialization. She has taught me that the ability\nto communicate intelligently depends upon the use these beings can make\nof our aromal emanations, or magnetism; that frequent association with\nus is necessary to enable them to gain control of material elements, and\nthat where the relations are harmonious they gather strength every time\nthey come in contact with us.\n\nFrom a feeble and almost unintelligible whisper, Bertha now speaks in\nclear tones, with little or none of the German accent of the medium, and\nvery often, no matter where I am placed, comes across the room, and\npulls me up with both hands; or, if there is a vacant chair beside me,\nsits down and begins to talk, apparently not noticing those around her.\n\nAt a Thursday afternoon seance, held last spring, she came out very\nlively; and after a cordial greeting I said, \"You are feeling strong\nto-day; can you not do something to interest us?\" She hesitated a\nmoment; then leading me into the middle of the room, looked up\nlaughingly into my face and said, \"I will show you how we dress the\nforms in the cabinet.\"[A] Stretching out her bare arms, turning them\nthat every one could see that there was nothing in them, she brought the\npalms of her hands together, rubbing them as if rolling something\nbetween them. Very soon there descended from her hands a substance which\nlooked like very white lace.\n\n    [A] The control had stated to me, only a few minutes before,\n        that the forms were first materialized and then draped.\n\nShe continued this until several yards of it lay upon the carpet, and\nthen asked me to kneel down, saying I was too tall for her to work\neasily. She then took the fabric and made a robe around me, which\nappeared seamless. On being reminded that there were no sleeves, she\ntook each arm in turn and materialized sleeves. Putting her hand on my\nhead she said, \"You have not hair enough,\" and, rubbing her hand over my\nhead, materialized a wig. This I could not see, but put my hand up and\nfelt of it, and those who were near me said it was in keeping with my\nown hair and quite an improvement.\n\nRemoving the garment, she rolled it into a compact mass, manipulated it\na few moments, and it was gone! In materializing and dematerializing\nthis fabric, her arms, which were bare to the shoulders, were stretched\nout at full length, precluding the possibility of any deception.\n\nThursday afternoon, Oct. 2, I visited Mrs. Fay's seance with some\nfriends from New Bedford and Cincinnati. When Bertha came out I\nintroduced her to my friends, and asked if she would be kind enough to\nshow them how to make lace. She stepped forward and asked for my\nhandkerchief, which she placed between her hands, manipulating it much\nafter the manner of starching fine fabrics. It was easy to see that the\nmaterial in her hands was rapidly increasing in volume, and soon the\nlace began to descend; but instead of being only one piece, there were\ntwo, one dark red, and one white, both falling at the same time, each\npiece about three quarters of a yard wide.\n\nWhen she had completed it, she held one end, while I took the other and\nwalked across the room, stretching it out to its full length, between\nthree and four yards, so that all could see it; and while it was so\nheld, the controlling spirit shut off the light, showing that the lace\nwas brilliantly illuminated. Bertha then gathered it in, rolled it up\nand dematerialized it on my shoulder, the light remaining on my coat for\nnearly a minute after the lace had entirely disappeared.\n\nThese things are not new; they are as old as the history of man, and are\nof common occurrence in India at the present time. They have no possible\nconnection with what is known as sleight-of-hand, or legerdemain. Louis\nJacolliot, Chief Justice of Chandenagur, French East Indies, in his able\nwork on Occult Science in India, thus points out the difference:--\n\n    \"Every European has heard of the extraordinary skill of the\n    Hindoo Fakirs, who are popularly designated under the name of\n    Charmers or Jugglers. They claim to be invested with\n    supernatural powers. Such is the belief of all Asiatic people.\n    When our countrymen are told of their performances, they usually\n    answer, 'Go to the regular magicians; they will show you the\n    same things.'\n\n    \"To enable the reader to appreciate the grounds of this opinion,\n    it seems necessary to show how the Fakirs operate. The following\n    are facts which no traveller has ventured to  contradict:--\n\n    \"_First._--They never give public representations in places\n    where the presence of several hundred persons makes it\n    impossible to exercise the proper scrutiny.\n\n    \"_Second._--They are accompanied by no assistant, or\n    confederate, as they are usually termed.\n\n    \"_Third._--They present themselves in the interior of the house,\n    completely naked, except that they wear, for modesty's sake, a\n    small piece of linen about as large as the hand.\n\n    \"_Fourth._--They are not acquainted with goblets, or magic bags,\n    or double-bottomed boxes, or prepared tables, or any of the\n    thousand and one things which our European conjurers find\n    necessary.\n\n    \"_Fifth._--They have absolutely nothing in their possession save\n    a small wand of seven knots of bamboo, as big as the handle of a\n    pen-holder, which they hold in their right hand, and a small\n    whistle, about three inches long, which they fasten to one of\n    the locks of their long, straight hair; for, having no clothes,\n    and consequently no pockets, they would otherwise be obliged to\n    hold it constantly in the hand.\n\n    \"_Sixth._--They operate, as desired by the person whom they are\n    visiting, either in a sitting or standing posture, or, as the\n    case may require, upon the marble, granite, or stucco pavement\n    of the veranda, or upon the bare ground in the garden.\n\n    \"_Seventh._--When they need a subject for the exhibition of\n    magnetic or somnambulistic phenomena, they take any of your\n    servants whom you may designate, no matter whom, and they act\n    with the same facility upon a European in case he is willing to\n    serve.\n\n    \"_Eighth._--If they need any article, such as a musical\n    instrument, a cane, a piece of paper, a pencil, etc., they ask\n    you to furnish it.\n\n    \"_Ninth._--They will repeat any experiments in your presence as\n    many times as you require, and will submit to any test you may\n    apply.\n\n    \"_Tenth._--They never ask any pay, merely accepting, as alms for\n    the temple to which they are attached, whatever you choose to\n    offer them.\n\n    \"I have travelled through India in every direction for many\n    years, and I can truthfully state that I have never seen a\n    single Fakir who was not willing to comply with any of these\n    conditions.\n\n    \"It only remains for us to ask whether our more popular\n    magicians would ever consent to dispense with any of their\n    numerous accompaniments, and perform under the same conditions.\n    There is no doubt what the answer would be.\"\n\nWhether the forms or articles exhibited are considered as objects\ninvisibly brought into the room, or created from the atmosphere, they\nare alike astonishing manifestations of an occult power. It does not\nsimplify or explain these singular phenomena to deny their relation to\nbeings of another life, and refer them to a supposed power in man, the\nlaws of which are unknown to us. We have to deal with them as we would\nwith any of the natural manifestations of life.\n\nTo assume that these things are not honest,--that these beings, who come\nto us claiming to be our friends and relatives, are deceiving us,\nplaying on our credulity,--is to decide the question without evidence.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nMATERIALIZATION AND DEMATERIALIZATION UNDER TEST CONDITIONS.\n\n\nAt Mrs. Fay's, on Thursday, Oct. 6, 1885, previous to the seance, Mrs.\nFay came into the room under the control of \"Auntie,\" and requested that\nfour ladies should be selected by the audience to go with the medium to\nher dressing-room. The request was complied with, and the ladies\nreturned with Mrs. Fay, still under control, and stated that they had\ndressed her entirely in dark clothes; that there was not one particle of\nwhite fabric about her, except the little collar around her neck. The\ncontrol then asked me to take a light into the cabinet, and all were\nrequested to examine it and see that there was no possible chance for a\nconfederate, or the concealment of drapery. This was done to the entire\nsatisfaction of all present.\n\nMrs. Fay was not allowed to leave the room, but, as soon as the audience\nwas seated, went directly into the cabinet. She had not time to take her\nseat before a form, dressed in white, came out into the room. This was\nfollowed by several others similarly dressed.\n\nThen the light was lowered, and a tall female form came out, dressed in\nbrilliantly illuminated garments. A white handkerchief held against this\ndrapery had the appearance of a dark object. This figure walked about\nthe room for a few minutes, and vanished within three feet from where I\nsat, and at least eight feet from the cabinet.\n\nThen, in the middle of the room, on the carpet, appeared a small light,\nnot larger than the palm of my hand. It gradually grew larger, until it\nassumed the tall, angular form of \"Auntie,\" the control, who, in her\nhoarse voice, greeted us with, \"Good afternoon, all: I thought I would\nsee what I could do.\" She then addressed the audience in one of the most\nforcible speeches I ever listened to, stating her reasons for putting\nher medium under test conditions, ending by saying that she respected an\nhonest skeptic, but had no patience with those who accept anything\nwithout good, substantial evidence.\n\nShe returned to the cabinet, and many forms came out and were\nrecognized. Bertha came, and, stretching out her arms at full length,\nthat all could see there was no chance for deception, she materialized\nbetween her hands a piece of cambric, about three yards long and one\nwide, brilliantly illuminated. After all who desired to do so had\nexamined it, she gathered it up, and, passing over to where the light\nwas the strongest, held it up, laughingly remarking that there was\nenough to make a dress, proceeded to make it up, materializing sleeves,\nand then put it on and walked round the room. Taking it off, she\ndematerialized it in the presence of all.\n\nReturning for a moment to the cabinet, she came back, and, kneeling on\nthe floor, with the fingers of the right hand made circular movements on\nthe carpet, with each of which it was plain to be seen that the light\nwas increasing. She continued this until she had materialized another\nlarge piece of fabric. This gave great satisfaction to all, except\none visitor, who, from some cause, was a little disturbed, and had\nthe kindness to ask me if I had been in the habit of practising\nsleight-of-hand. His intimate friend, who came with him, had the good\nfortune to be close to Bertha, and had witnessed all that had occurred.\nHe rose, of his own free will, and stated to the audience that he had\nbeen investigating the subject for thirty years, and that this was the\nmost wonderful and convincing thing he had ever seen.\n\nOn Thursday, Oct. 13, Mrs. Fay was again put under test conditions. The\naudience was large, crowding the room and making it so warm as to\nmaterially interfere with the manifestations, especially with those\nspirits who had not been accustomed to materialize. The illuminated\nforms and drapery were well shown. In the light seance, Bertha came and\npulled me up from my chair. She complained of the closeness of the room,\nsaying that she could not do much. She materialized a carnation in my\nhand, and I called Mr. Whitlock to witness it, whereupon she took both\nof his hands and made a flower in each.\n\nEmma, one of the controls, soon came out, dressed in a rich white\nfigured satin dress, which all in the front row were allowed to inspect.\nMr. Whitlock obtained a pair of scissors, and, with Emma's consent, cut\nquite a piece out of her dress. The damage seemed to be soon repaired.\nMr. Whitlock, in searching for the place where he had cut the piece out,\nlifted the skirt, which gave Emma a chance to play the coquette, and\nthis created considerable amusement. Mr. Whitlock persevered, and I\nthink is able to state whether he succeeded in spoiling the dress.\n\nA fine-looking form, claiming to be a German chemist, and the control of\nDr. Thomas, came out, and magnetized or medicated a tumbler of water,\nsparks of light flashing freely from his fingers into the water, which\nwas then given to a lady from New Haven, Conn.,--with what effect I\ncannot say, except that she complained that it tasted bitter. I saw\nthis manifestation for the first time several weeks before, and, I\nconfess, was rather amused with it. While speaking somewhat skeptically\nof it to a friend who sat beside me, I was surprised when the form came\nacross the room and asked me to take the magnetized water. I had been\nsuffering for some weeks, and, to do the Doctor justice, I must say I\nwas almost entirely relieved.\n\nMr. Whitlock's father came to him,--a fine, robust form, with a strong\nindividuality that could not well be mistaken. Mr. Whitlock and his wife\ntestified to the likeness. This was followed by the appearance of Dr. J.\nR. Newton, the widely-known healer, some time deceased. Mr. Whitlock and\nI went up and greeted him. I shook hands with him, and had time to study\nhis face well: there could be no mistake; it was a wonderful likeness of\nthe Doctor.\n\nThe seance, although held under unfavorable circumstances, was full of\nstrong, convincing points. To the above statement, Mr. L. L. Whitlock,\nEditor of _Facts_, appends the following:--\n\n    \"At the above-named seance, held on Nov. 13th, the\n    following-named ladies were asked by Mrs. Fay to examine her\n    clothing before she entered the cabinet, viz.:--Mrs. Joseph\n    Harris, of Dorchester, Mass.; Mrs. A. Smith, of Lynn, Mass.;\n    Mrs. J. D. Lillie, Boston; Mrs. M. A. Estee, East Boston; and\n    Mrs. L. L. Whitlock, Providence, R. I.\n\n    \"They stated that she had nothing white about her person, except\n    a piece of ruche around her neck, worn as a collar. The cabinet\n    was also thoroughly examined by all who desired.\n\n    \"My father, Rev. Geo. C. Whitlock, LL.D., who passed to the\n    spirit-life about twenty years ago, was very perfectly\n    materialized, so much so that Mrs. Whitlock, who often sees him\n    clairvoyantly, but never saw him in earth-life, recognized him\n    before I saw him, my attention at the moment being attracted by\n    conversation in another direction.\n\n    \"We will not attempt a description of this seance, as Mr.\n    Brackett's report is substantially what we would have written.\n    Our experience with the dress above mentioned was wonderful, and\n    to us as incomprehensible as was our lace experience at Mrs.\n    Fay's seance at Onset Bay last summer, a description of which we\n    published in the September number of _Facts_.\n\n    \"One thing is certain: I had in my hand a piece of brocaded\n    white satin, which I know I had cut from the dress of which Mr.\n    Brackett speaks, and that, while I was kneeling before the form,\n    the hole which I had made in the dress did disappear, and that I\n    used my senses, of both sight and feeling, to convince myself of\n    the facts.\n\n    \"Over sixty forms appeared, most of whom were recognized by\n    friends.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nAN UNEXPECTED SEANCE.\n\n\nAt an interview with Mr. W. C. Tallman, Mr. W. A. Hovey, and Rev. M. J.\nSavage, the question of obtaining private seances, in the interest of\nthe Committee on Psychical Research, was discussed, and it was\nconsidered desirable to make arrangements with Mrs. H. B. Fay for that\npurpose. I was selected to consult with her, and, if possible, obtain\nher consent.\n\nAs several gentlemen who intended to join us were not present, Mr.\nSavage was requested to see and inform them of the conditions agreed\nupon; the result of his interview to be forwarded to me by letter at\nMrs. Fay's, on Thursday, before the seance held on that day. These\nconditions were very simple, and ought to have been satisfactory to any\nreasonable person. They were the result of the long experience of Mr.\nTallman, Mr. Hovey, and myself, made heartily in the interest of the\nCommittee. There was no difference of opinion, Mr. Savage fully\nendorsing them.\n\nThe letter was duly received, and, without stopping to read it, I\ninformed Mrs. Fay that I was ready to talk with her. She replied that\nshe should leave the matter entirely with her control, and if I would\nlay the letter on the mantel, near the cabinet, Auntie, the control,\nwould probably speak about it. This letter was a long one,--some four\npages, written by a member of the Psychological Society, in reply to Mr.\nSavage. I placed it under a heavy music-box, within a few inches of my\nhead, where I am certain it remained undisturbed until I took it away.\nIts contents, which reversed the arrangements agreed upon, were not made\nknown to Mrs. Fay until after the decision of her control. As I did not\nthen know what it contained, and in my subsequent interview with Mrs. F.\nmade no allusion to it, Auntie's knowledge of it seemed very remarkable.\n\nAs the seance drew near the end, a spirit to whom I am greatly attached\ncalled me up to the cabinet; and while I was conversing with her,\nAuntie's voice broke in, saying, \"Mr. Brackett?\" I said, \"What is it,\nAuntie?\" She replied, \"I will see you to-morrow.\"\n\nI called on Mrs. Fay the next day, and, after talking with her on other\nmatters, and finding that she did not seem disposed to allude to the\nappointment, I reminded her that I came on business. She asked, \"What\nis it?\" I replied that Auntie had requested me to meet her. She rose\nwithout a moment's hesitation, saying, \"We will go to the cabinet.\" This\nwas a surprise to me, for I fully expected that Auntie would take\ncontrol of her medium, and talk to me through her, as she had often done\nbefore.\n\nAs Mrs. Fay stepped behind the curtain, Auntie came out, fully\nmaterialized, greeting me cordially, shaking hands with me, and\nexpressing pleasure at meeting me; then, in a clear and forcible manner,\ndiscussed the question of the proposed seance, going freely into detail,\nshowing conclusively that she understood both sides, and closed by\nsaying that she did not propose to submit her medium to such conditions\nas were required by the letter, at the same time expressing a\nwillingness to do all she could for Mr. Savage personally. Bidding me\nGood-bye, she dematerialized directly in front of me, so near that I\ncould have laid my hand upon her as she went down. The curtains were\napart, and I could see Mrs. Fay standing just beside the cabinet; but,\nin order to make me more certain, if possible, of that fact, she reached\nout her right hand, which I took in my left, preventing the curtains\nfrom closing; and while thus standing, no less than six fully\nmaterialized forms came out and greeted me.\n\nDuring all this time Mrs. Fay may have been under partial control, but\nwas not entranced, and talked freely with me about the forms, often\ndescribing them before they were visible to me.\n\nThese forms were substantial, varying in height and shape, and distinct\nfrom each other. Most of them conversed freely, showing quite as much\nindividuality and intelligence as some of my acquaintances to whom\nforms sometimes appear,--persons who think they are wise in treating\nthese forms with coldness and distrust, all of which is reflected back\nto them.\n\nIt is easy to understand why such persons are disappointed in what comes\nto them; but it is not easy to understand how any intelligent\ninvestigator, who has given the subject any considerable attention,\nshould come to the conclusion that the forms are automatons, and that\nour friends from the other side never take possession, or control them,\nas they would a trance-medium; that they are merely effigies,[B] or lay\nfigures, built up to mock us, and play with the most sacred feelings of\nour natures; and, what is more diabolical, that our spirit-friends are\nnear by, enjoying the base deception! If this view is correct, what a\nfearful amount of lying there must be in every seance! Such a conclusion\nwould be impossible from what passed before me at this sitting.\n\n    [B] In an essay written by \"Shadows,\" intended to enlighten the\n        public on this subject, he puts forth the theory of effigies.\n        In the same article he relates a seance with the Berry Sisters,\n        in which he says that \"a young female spirit came to him.\" The\n        word spirit must have been a slip of the pen; he should have\n        said, a young female effigy. It was possibly in anticipation of\n        his theory that the young effigy called him \"father!\"\n\nAs I gazed with delight upon this sudden and unexpected manifestation,\nbathed in a mellow light which made all the surroundings perfectly\nvisible, I could not help feeling a regret that my Psychical friends had\nshut themselves out from such evidence by requiring arrangements to\nwhich no intelligent control would submit. Here, under strictly test\nconditions, which precluded any possible doubt, was crowded into a small\nspace just the information which I am sure that some of them are\nhonestly endeavoring to obtain.\n\nThese things may be nothing but a mere phantasy of the mind; what is\nclaimed as exact science, a humbug; and life itself only a delusion; but\nthose whose lives are rounded into a full consciousness of an individual\nexistence may prefer to consider them in a different light. The same\nperception which enables us to recognize one must be conceded to the\nother.\n\nIf, in the search after facts relating to the more subtle forms of life,\nthe testimonies of thousands of honest and intelligent persons are to be\ndisregarded, we might as well abolish our courts. Judge, jury, and\nwitness become nothing but ridiculous actors in a farce played in the\nname of Justice.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nSEANCE WITH MRS. CARRIE M. SAWYER.\n\n\nAmong the strong points in evidence of the genuineness of these\nmanifestations are the marked individuality and constant variations that\nappear. The seances with the same medium will be found to differ widely;\nno two of them are exactly alike. Sometimes they will be exceedingly\ngood, and at other times almost an entire failure. If they were in any\nway due to confederates, or to personation by the medium, such\nvariations would not be likely to occur.\n\nAgain, the seances with one medium differ essentially from those with\nanother; so much so that each medium may be said to have a phase of\nmediumship distinct in itself. The forms may appear quite different in\noutward shape, when coming through one medium from what they do in\ncoming through another. The mental characteristics will, however, as I\nhave found, be retained in both instances. This has often led to\nconfusion and distrust with those who visit different seances. The\ntendency is very strong to give precedence to mere outward appearance,\nwithout reference to character.\n\nIn no case is the old adage, \"A little learning is a dangerous thing,\"\nmore applicable than to the study of this subject. The shallow\ninvestigators, the touch-and-go people, will, in most cases, find\nthemselves left in bewilderment and doubt. These things are not to be\nsettled by witnessing one or two seances. Nor is the character of the\nmanifestations, as expressed through any medium, to be determined\nwithout considerable experience.\n\nFrom statements, and especially from the impression I received on my\nfirst interview with Mrs. Sawyer, I was led to expect much from her\nseance. My first seance with her was a disappointment, there being\nnothing except the delightful interview with little Maud, one of the\n\"cabinet spirits,\"[C] to attract the attention of any one familiar with\nthese things. It is due her to say, in explanation, that it was her\nfirst seance in Boston, and held under unfavorable conditions.\n\n    [C] This term is applied to spirits who appear to be constant\n        attendants or assistants in the cabinets of mediums for\n        materialization.\n\nOn the 11th of August, I again visited her seance, in company with Mrs.\nFay. The day was very hot, with a close, moist atmosphere, rendering the\nseance-room very uncomfortable. The only wonder was that, under such\nconditions, there could have been any manifestations whatever. I was\nseated on one side of Mrs. Fay, and a friend of hers on the other. This\ntrio, so to speak, drew the fire of the whole seance; the only strong\nand decided manifestations appearing on that side of the circle.\n\nAuntie, Mrs. Fay's control, stood behind us, invisible to all except her\nmedium, occasionally making remarks in her hoarse, unmistakable voice.\nComing, as the voice did, out of space, with no organized being in sight\nto produce it, the effect was at times startling.\n\nA very sprightly spirit came briskly up to Mrs. Fay, extending her\nhands, and leading her up to the cabinet, where they conversed for some\ntime. This was followed by what claimed to be Bertha. She came very\nlively, greeting me cordially. The form was very like, and the\nexpression of character assuring, but, owing to the unusually poor\nlight and hasty interview, I prefer to withhold conclusions for the\npresent. More decided in its character was another spirit that followed\nsoon after. There was a centre-table between me and the cabinet. This\nspirit, instead of coming into the middle of the room, passed to the\nleft, moving the table out, and coming directly to me. This brought her\nmore in the light, where I had a better opportunity of seeing her. Both\nof these spirits appeared to be the exact counterparts of those who had\ncome to me so often at Mrs. Fay's, but who at other places exhibited a\ngreat deal of variation. Was the close resemblance due to the fact that\nMrs. Fay was sitting by my side? The question is an interesting one,\nsuggesting further experience.\n\nIt may be well to state here that every opportunity was granted for\nexamining the cabinet, which I did to my entire satisfaction. I also\nobtained from the builder a certified statement that it was constructed\nof kiln-dried lumber, tongued and grooved, nailed, screwed, and glued\ntogether in such a way as to render it impossible to remove the boards,\nor for a confederate to enter it except through the door in the\naudience-room, in the presence of the visitors. All were permitted to\ninspect it before the medium took her seat. There could be no question\nbut that the cabinet and its surroundings were above suspicion. This\nleft me free to study the manifestations purely as materializations, or\npersonations by the medium. I know that the forms that came to me were\ndistinct individual beings, and in no instance was I able to discover\nany indications that would lead me to suppose that the medium personated\nany of the forms.\n\nAt the next seance which I visited, on Sept. 15, the weather was again\noppressive, so much so that the seance would have been abandoned had it\nnot been that some of the visitors, who had come from another State,\nwere unwilling to give it up. Notwithstanding the excessive heat, the\nseance proved a very interesting one.\n\nWhile little Maud was standing at the curtain talking, there was a\nremarkable show of hands and arms above her head. Sometimes six of them\nwould be moving back and forth outside the curtain at once. About eight\nfeet from the cabinet, and directly in front of me, so near that I could\nhave touched it without moving from my seat, appeared a very delicate\nlittle hand and arm. Like a bird that hovers around some object that it\ndare not approach too closely, this hand and arm dallied and played\nbefore me for several minutes, visible to all present. On the left side\nof the room, more than six feet from the cabinet door, a form\nmaterialized in full view, and came forward and shook hands with a lady\non my right.\n\nWhile engrossed in these things, I had almost forgotten that my\nprincipal object in being there was to study the form of Bertha as\ncompared with her appearance at other places. I was aroused from my\nmeditations by an involuntary shock that almost always warns me of what\nis coming. Turning quickly around, I saw what appeared to be Bertha,\ngliding from the cabinet. She passed rapidly to the left side of the\nroom, moving the centre-table and coming directly to me. Throwing her\narms around my neck, she greeted me with, \"I love you,\" and then, with a\nfrightened expression and half hysterical laugh, she retreated to the\ncabinet. This was totally unlike Bertha, who, in her perfectly confiding\nand childlike bearing toward me, never felt it necessary to express her\nfeelings in any such bold declaration. Knowing that there are phantoms\nthat can take on almost any form they choose, the outward resemblance of\nthese beings has no weight with me, in the absence of mental\ncharacteristics.\n\nAt a seance held by Mrs. Sawyer, Sept. 29, there were present\ntwenty-five persons, most of whom received more or less attention from\nthe spirits. Little Maud was very lively and full of witty, playful\nremarks. Near the close of the seance, she asked me to come into the\ncabinet and try to quiet the medium, who was exhausted in consequence of\nhaving watched with a sick friend the previous night. On entering the\ncabinet, I found that Mrs. Sawyer was not entranced, and took hold of\nboth her hands, endeavoring to give her all the mesmeric strength I\ncould.\n\nWhile thus situated, conversing freely with the medium and little Maud\n(who was evidently pleased to have me there), a spirit materialized and\nwent out among the audience. After it returned, another materialized,\nand taking my left hand while Mrs. Sawyer held my right, we all three\nwalked out into the room, some distance from the cabinet, in full view\nof all present. This was a new experience for me. To suppose that the\ntwenty-five honest, intelligent persons who witnessed this were\ndeceived, or that the appearance of the form was due to a confederate,\nis simply absurd. I know it materialized in the cabinet, within reach of\nwhere I sat.\n\nWhat was claimed by the manager to be Bertha came out, and I gave her a\ntest to be used by her at another seance.\n\nIn following the role of strict investigation, and in honestly relating\nwhat has come to me at these seances, I am forced to state that the\nform that appeared on this occasion was not Bertha, and that there was,\nas subsequent events proved, an attempt to deceive me. Mrs. Sawyer is a\ngentlewoman and a strong medium, but she is surrounded by a coarse\nmagnetism, the baleful influence of which she seems powerless to\nresist.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nSEANCES WITH MRS. FAIRCHILD.\n\n\nThe mediumship of Mrs. Fairchild differs from that of others inasmuch as\nshe stands outside of the cabinet, under the influence of one of her\ncontrols, managing the seance with great skill and judgment, thus\neliminating from her seances all chance of transfiguration or\npersonation by the medium, forcing the skeptic or investigator to the\nconclusion that the forms are either genuine materializations or\nconfederates.\n\nThe position of her cabinet, placed as it is between two rooms, is\ncertainly open to criticism. A thorough examination of it, however,\nrevealed no possible chance for the concealment of draperies or the\nentrance of a confederate.\n\nIn order to meet the objections which have been made to this\narrangement, she has drawn a light curtain across the corner of the\nroom. Backed as it is by solid walls, the forms that come from this\ntemporary cabinet cannot be confederates, and the skeptic may answer as\nbest he can the question, What are they?\n\nThis cabinet, however, is only used occasionally, and the average\nvisitor sees only what comes from the main cabinet. If this temporary\narrangement is so successful, and I know it is, there is some force in\nthe objection made against using the other. Every medium is in justice\nbound to give to visitors the best conditions possible. Mr. Whitlock\nthus describes seances held with Mrs. Fairchild, Sept. 12 and 19:--\n\n    \"The medium was controlled in a few moments by 'Cadaleene,' a\n    very interesting spirit, who managed the seance with perfect\n    nonchalance, selecting with ease and correctness the persons\n    whom the spirits desired to come to the cabinet, thereby\n    fulfilling the double office, with Mrs. Fairchild, of medium and\n    manager.\n\n    \"During this seance the medium was outside, and in view of the\n    audience, except on one or two occasions, when she went into the\n    cabinet for a moment; and at the last, when her control,\n    Cadaleene, who had promised to materialize, came out so perfect\n    in action and voice that I shall never forget her grateful\n    attentions as she knelt at my side. Time after time more than\n    one form was out of the cabinet at the same moment, and in one\n    case five persons, including a child.\n\n    \"One of the most convincing proofs of materialization was the\n    following: A lady, whom we understood to be a relative of Col.\n    Bailey, called him up to the cabinet and kissed him; and while\n    he was standing with both arms around her, talking, she\n    dematerialized. This occurred fully three feet from the cabinet,\n    in sight of the audience, a dozen of whom must have been within\n    six feet of the form, and some of them as near the cabinet.\n\n    \"The following Saturday, Sept. 19, we again attended her\n    afternoon seance. At this seance we found Mrs. Isabella Beecher\n    Hooker, of Hartford, Conn.; Mr. Thomas Hazard, of Providence, R.\n    I.; Mr. John Wetherbee, of Boston, and many other well known\n    persons, were present.\n\n    \"What we have already written in reference to Cadaleene and her\n    control of the medium, is equally applicable to this seance;\n    also the expressions of confidence in reference to the cabinet.\n    I had expressed to a friend, whom I met in the office of the\n    _Banner of Light_, that while, to the best of my knowledge,\n    after an examination, I believed Mrs. Fairchild's cabinet to be\n    all right, still I would like to see the same results in a\n    cabinet made by hanging a curtain across the corner of the room.\n    Judge of my surprise when, after the seance had commenced,\n    Cadaleene said, 'Mr. Facts-man, I heard what you told the brave,\n    and you see we have the curtain across the corner, to show you\n    what we can do.'\n\n    \"The seance continued in the regular cabinet, as usual, for\n    about an hour and a half. The light was good, and many spirits\n    manifested their presence, among which the following interesting\n    experience occurred: A gentleman, who does not choose to have\n    his name mentioned, had a communication the day before from a\n    spirit-friend, in writing, through his own hand, promising to\n    materialize at this seance. He told me that this spirit had not\n    only fulfilled this promise, but had told him things that no\n    other person knew but himself, and that he recognized her fully.\n\n    \"Then came the crowning glory of the seance. The control,\n    Cadaleene, still holding the medium, directed that the gas be\n    lit and the hall door opened. She then closed the sliding door\n    in front of the cabinet, and fastened back the curtains which\n    hung over it to form the front of the regular cabinet when in\n    use, so that all might know if it was opened.\n\n    \"The audience was then seated facing the corner where the\n    curtains had been hung for a temporary cabinet, some near and in\n    front of the door just mentioned, which could be seen by all\n    present. The medium, still under control, passed behind the\n    curtain, but came out in a moment, followed almost immediately\n    by a form dressed entirely in white. After this form returned to\n    the cabinet, two others came out,--one a lady, the other a\n    gentleman,--and it was said a third was seen in the cabinet.\n\n    \"All this time the medium was controlled by Cadaleene, who was\n    finding the friends of the spirits with remarkable dexterity.\n    Several others followed, and we might give names and personal\n    experiences, but feel that our readers will appreciate most\n    these special points of interest.\"\n\nMrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, Mr. Thomas Hazard, and Mr. John Wetherbee\nhave given graphic descriptions of these seances.\n\nOn Tuesday, Oct. 13, in company with William D. Brewer, I attended a\nprivate seance with Mrs. Fairchild. I examined the cabinet without being\nable to discover anything that would lead me to suppose that there was\nany chance for a confederate to be used. The seance lasted about two\nhours, during which time scarcely a minute passed that there were not\nforms out in the room, either to Mr. Brewer or myself; sometimes three\nor four at once. More than half the time the extemporized cabinet in the\ncorner of the room was used. There appeared to be no difference between\nthe workings of the two; the manifestations came as freely from one as\nfrom the other.\n\nAs I examined the walls and everything connected with the temporary\ncabinet, I have no hesitation in saying that the forms that came from or\nappeared in it were materialized beings. I was in this cabinet several\ntimes during the seance, often with two forms at the same time. Once I\nsat between them, an arm around each, satisfying myself of their\nobjective reality as well as if I had been walking with them outside in\nthe room. While thus holding them, the one encircled by my left arm,\nand whose right arm was around my neck, instantly disappeared, without\nthe slightest indication of any movement;--she was there, and she was\nnot there. Still holding the one encircled by my right arm, I rose and\nwith my left hand drew the curtain aside, so that I could see everything\nbehind it. There was not the faintest trace of the beautiful being that,\na moment before, I had so firmly held, and with whom I had been talking.\n\nSimilar things have occurred to me in various ways, so often that they\nproduce no surprise, only an earnest desire to discover how or where the\nforms go, or possibly gain some knowledge of the laws governing these\nstrange phenomena.\n\nThe force at Mrs. Fairchild's seances is mainly expended in\nmaterialization, and for that reason they are valuable to skeptics; but\nto the experienced investigator they offer nothing new. Many of the\nforms come heavily veiled, and there is an absence of that social and\nmental character which is ever the surest evidence of recognition.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nSEANCE WITH MISS HELEN BEERY AT ONSET.\n\n      \"Spirits are never finely touched\n    But to fine issues; nor Nature never lends\n    The smallest scruple of her excellence,\n    But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines\n    Herself the glory of the creditor,\n      Both thanks and use.\"\n\n\nAt one of Miss Helen Berry's seances at Onset in the summer of 1885,\nthere came a young female spirit, apparently about sixteen years old.\nShe took me by both hands and led me up to the cabinet, where she\ngreeted me very warmly. As she could bear more light than most of the\nforms, I had no difficulty in studying her face and figure. She was a\nlittle below the average height, lithe and graceful in all her\nmovements. A cloud of dark golden hair drifted around her neck and\nshoulders, falling far below her waist. Her dress was pure white, of a\nrich fabric, so thin that it revealed a form beautiful as the finest\nGreek statue. She appeared more like a dream of ideal life, than a\ncreature who had ever walked the earth.\n\nThere are moments of exultation in the life of every artist, when his\nsoul reaches out to visions of great beauty. No canvas or marble can\nrecord these visions. In his associations with the world, he may, at\ntimes, catch glimpses that remind him of what he has seen, but nowhere\ndoes he realize, as a whole, the perfection of those forms that have\nallured him from his ordinary surroundings.\n\nWas this charming creature one of those beings who had haunted my\ndreams?--who, in the still hours of the night, had sometimes dispelled\nthe darkness by the glow of her presence?\n\nIf I hesitated a moment in recognizing her, it was because she had never\nbefore appeared clothed in so beautiful a form, or if so I had failed to\nappreciate it. Perhaps it was due, in part, to the negative condition I\nwas in, which allowed a freer and more perfect development, undisturbed\nby any mental action on my part; and this idea is strengthened by the\nfact that, in all my connection with these seances, what I most desired\nto obtain seldom came until after I had become more or less indifferent\nabout it. As I stood beside this form, I passed my fingers through her\nlong silken tresses, and put my hand upon her finely formed head. As she\nlaid her face to mine, she said in the most earnest yet tender tones,\n\"You did not think I would come.\" This was true; tired with my journey\nand the sultry heat, I was indifferent to taking an active part in the\nseance. I was, however, in a listless way, interested in what came to\nothers, and had given up expecting that anything would come to me; and\nyet, had I reflected for a moment, I should have known that at any true\nseance, where I was present and the conditions favorable, it would have\nbeen hardly possible for her to keep away. The consciousness of her\npresence at other times than in the seance-room is no uncommon\noccurrence with me.\n\nIn the seance-room, where she comes so strong and substantial, I have\noften put forth little playful, but somewhat provocative remarks, in\norder to draw out, as far as possible, an expression of her character.\nSometimes these things excited her, but never, except for the moment,\ndisturbed the harmony between us.\n\nAt this interview I was not in a condition of mind likely to attract\nspirits, whether in or out of the flesh. In the course of conversation,\nI dropped a remark that disturbed her. She grasped my hand nervously,\nher chest rose and fell with increased respiration, and without making\nany reply she retreated to the cabinet.\n\nThinking it possible that I might have displeased her, and that she\nwould not return, I went to my seat. A moment afterward, I was surprised\nby her rushing out and kneeling down in front of me. Throwing her bare\narms around my neck and pulling my head down to her, that others might\nnot listen to what was said, she poured forth, in the most earnest and\nimpassioned strain, her thoughts; talking as only a woman can talk under\nthe highest inspiration.\n\nI had long since abandoned all doubts of the existence of these beings,\nand had been, in a quiet and affectionate way, studying the different\nphases of character manifested by them. Like many others who have\ninvestigated this subject, I had met with things which I could not\nunderstand or harmonize with my experience. This was leading me to\nconclusions that I intuitively felt were not true, and yet I could not\nextricate myself from the network of apparent evidence that surrounded\nme.\n\nThat she understood my mental condition, was evinced by the fact that\nher whole force and energy were directed to this one subject. Her form\ntrembled and vibrated with emotion as she uttered sentence after\nsentence in clear explanation of what had perplexed me. Raising her\nhead, and tossing back her long hair, she grasped both my hands, and,\nwith a face beaming with light, said:\n\n\"It seems strange to you, but what can I do? We are subject to\nconditions; and if I come at all, it must be in harmony with them.\nThere are spheres and circles we cannot penetrate, if the controlling\ninfluence is against us. We are still human, still yearning for\naffection,--that love which is the silken cord that binds us all. What\nwould you not do to reach those dear to your heart? You understand me\nnow.\"\n\nThere was a remarkably childlike simplicity in the way she unburdened\nher mind, giving free expression to her feelings, bearing me mentally\nalong with her, until I was lost to everything else. That is all. There\nare thoughts and feelings which no language can express. Like the\nsilvery notes of a sweet song that echo in the distance, they revel in\ntheir freedom from restraint, and forever elude our grasp.\n\n    I know the breath that fans my cheek,\n    The thoughts, the words I cannot speak,\n      The arms that round me twine.\n    What need of words when thoughts are told\n    In light that gleams like burnished gold,\n      With pulse that throbs to mine?\n\nNever before had I listened to such eloquence. Every word, with its rich\nintonation, is indelibly stamped upon my memory, and I regret that, for\npersonal reasons, it cannot be recorded here.\n\nExhausted by her long effort, as she rose and led me to the cabinet, I\nnoticed that her form was rapidly changing. Suddenly, like the\nextinguishing of a light, she passed into that invisible space whence\nshe came.\n\nThere were no \"test conditions\" here; and there might have been a dozen\nconfederates, for aught I can prove. It is barely possible that this\ndelightful being belonged on this side of life; but whether on this side\nor the other, in the fulness of my artistic nature, I thanked God that\nsuch beauty could exist anywhere. The evidence of truthfulness in what\ncame to me at this seance rests on something stronger than barred\nwindows and locked doors;--it was in the complete embodiment of the\ncharacter, both mentally and physically.\n\nThe seance closed, and I returned to Glen Cove by the road that skirts\nthe shore. The south wind played with the blue waters of the bay,\nthrowing up myriads of little waves that danced in the moonlight. As I\nstood gazing upon the sea, baring my feverish brow to the cooling\nbreeze, I felt that my whole nature was flowing out into a vast circle\nof being. Thoughts, words, feelings, all blended with the mellow light\nwhich flooded the scene. If I was not supremely happy, it was not from\nlack of harmony with everything around me.\n\nThere is ever a tinge of sadness in the background of life. With the\nbeauty of the waves comes the low moan as they break upon the shore.\nWith the warmth of friendship, comes the pain of parting, and, sadder\nstill, that relentless fate that hurries us from those we love into the\ndim, uncertain future. The sands of life are golden only where thought\ndiffuses itself without shadows, and the light that charms us flows from\nthe object of our affections.\n\nIt was late, and I retired for the night--closed my eyes, but not to\nsleep. The walls of my room disappeared, and my vision swept over an\nundefined and illimitable space. Before me like a mist, but perfectly\noutlined, glided the beautiful being who only a few minutes before had\ncome so close to me. Soon she was joined by others, lightly drifting,\nfloating through the air.\n\n    As round the mountain's craggy steep\n    The trailing vapors curve and sweep,\n    So, hand in hand and side by side,\n    Through space unmeasured, soft they glide.\n    Now there, now here--so far, so near--\n      With outstretched arms they beckoned me,\n      And, like the murmur of the sea,\n    Their voices broke upon my ear.\n\nAs they passed near me, a hand was laid upon my face; I started, sprang\nup, looked around; there was no one in the room. All was still save the\nlow surging of the tide that swept the beach below.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nSEANCE AT THE BERRY SISTERS' IN BOSTON.\n\n\nIn looking over my notes, my attention is strongly drawn to the many\nremarkable things I have witnessed at the Berry Sisters'. As I have\ngiven a drawing of Mrs. Fay's cabinet, and its surroundings, which I\nknow to be honest, I give a carefully drawn plan of the seance-room here\n(see next page). It will be seen that this is one of the most simple and\ntruthful arrangements possible, and the thanks of every investigator are\ndue to the able manager and controls for placing the cabinet in a way\nthat every one can see at a glance that a confederate is out of the\nquestion. I have attended several seances at this place since this\narrangement has been adopted; and, so far from injuring the\nmanifestations, they are, if anything, improved.\n\n[Illustration: Diagram of the Misses Berry's Seance-Room.]\n\nAt these seances, when I have been present, Bertha has materialized\noutside of the cabinet, more than three feet from it, and at least six\nfeet from the entrance, and on one occasion so close to me that she\nbrushed me with her garments as she rose.\n\nOn Saturday, Nov. 7, 1885, I attended in company with my wife and little\ndaughter--Mrs. A. E. Newton, of Arlington, also making one of the party.\nAlthough the atmosphere was unfavorable, the manifestations were good,\nthere often being two forms out at once, talking with their friends. My\nseat was on the right, facing the cabinet, and very near to it. Before\nthe seance commenced, by the request of Mr. Albro, the manager, I locked\nthe door at the farther end of the room; and when this was done, he\noffered me the privilege of sitting beside it. I declined, preferring to\ntake part in the seance.\n\nI will state, however, for the benefit of those who have any doubt about\nthis arrangement, that the seat I occupied commanded a full view of this\ndoor, and that I unlocked it after the seance, and can state positively\nthat it was impossible for the door to have been opened without my\nknowing it. Again, the cabinet is so constructed that if a confederate\nhad entered, he would have been obliged to go around to the front, in\nfull view of the audience, before he could have passed into the cabinet.\nThose persons whose fertile brains are always leading them into absurd\nconclusions, will have to seek for some other explanation than that of a\nconfederate here.\n\nIn the course of the seance, I had warning of Bertha's presence, and\nrequested Mrs. Newton, who sat beside me, to watch the left-hand\ncorner, near the cabinet. In a few minutes there appeared a soft light\non the carpet, near the wall, and almost instantly Bertha came up in\nfull view of all.\n\nSpringing forward and taking my little daughter by both hands, she came\nbriskly across the room to where I sat. After our usual greeting, I\nintroduced her to Mrs. Newton, who detained her for some time, my wife\ncoming forward and joining in the conversation. I have described this\nbeautiful spirit so fully in the preceding chapter that it is\nunnecessary to repeat it here.\n\nMany persons will find it desirable to make themselves familiar with the\ndifferent phases of materialization as expressed through different\nmediums; but nowhere else will they find more strength combined with\ndelicacy and refinement, as shown both in the beauty of the forms and\ntheir affectionate bearing. Neither in the controls, the forms, nor the\nsurroundings, is there anything here to offend the most fastidious\ntaste. These seances appear to have advanced beyond the mere fact of\nmaterialization, offering to those whose magnetic relations are in\naccord with conditions, a more attractive expression of social and\nmental character than is frequently met with. As Mrs. Newton seemed\nquite interested in Bertha, I felt desirous to know what impression was\nmade upon one so well prepared to form a just opinion on such matters.\nTo my expressed wish she kindly responded with the following\nstatement:--\n\n                               \"ARLINGTON, MASS., NOV. 11, 1885.\n\n    \"MY DEAR MR. BRACKETT,--\n\n    \"In accordance with your request that I would give you my\n    observations and impressions in regard to the materialized\n    apparition claiming to be your spirit-niece, Bertha, I will\n    state that I think her the most intelligent and sprightly\n    re-embodiment of a spirit that I ever saw,--and I have seen a\n    great many within the last ten years. At all events, I am\n    confident no one who sees her can imagine her to be either a\n    made-up figure, a lifeless effigy, or the medium in disguise.\n\n    \"At Mrs. Fay's seance, where I first saw her, she showed, on\n    meeting you, that spiritual illumination in the face which joy\n    and gladness give to us when we meet those we love, after an\n    absence. She had also those fine intonations of the voice that\n    can spring only from the affections. Can it be, said I to\n    myself, that this beautiful girl, so charming and graceful, so\n    full of life and intelligence, is truly a spirit? Just as the\n    thought had formed itself in my mind, she had turned toward the\n    cabinet and vanished before the curtain. But hardly a minute had\n    elapsed before she sprang out again from the cabinet, like a\n    new-born seraph, and, opening her hands before all the company\n    present, her arms being entirely bare to the shoulder, she\n    extended them above her head, began to manipulate something\n    apparently in the air, and soon handed me a most exquisite\n    rose, with the moisture oozing from the stem where it had\n    apparently been twisted off from the stock.\n\n    \"When at Miss Helen Berry's seance, a few days later, I had the\n    assurance made doubly sure that she was not a being of earth, by\n    seeing, about three feet from the cabinet, a small, white,\n    cloud-like substance expand until it was four or five feet high,\n    when suddenly from it the full, round, sylph-like form of Bertha\n    stepped forward. Seeing her little cousin and namesake (Bertha\n    Brackett, nine years old), she took both the child's hands in\n    hers, drew her from her chair, and, after greeting her\n    affectionately, led her playfully across the room to where we\n    were sitting. There I studied every lineament of her face. Her\n    hair had all the warmth and glossiness of that of a healthy girl\n    of eighteen. She said to me, 'Don't you think I am very strong\n    to-day?' and, putting both hands in mine, allowed me to caress\n    and converse with her freely. 'Do you remember you materialized\n    a rose for me last week?' I asked. 'Yes,' she replied, 'and you\n    have it now at home.' This was true.\n\n    \"Mrs. Brackett called my attention to the length and beauty of\n    Bertha's hair, and asked her if she could not make it longer if\n    she wished to. 'Yes,' she laughingly replied; 'but it will grow\n    shorter if I don't get to the cabinet soon!' and, with a\n    graceful adieu, she tripped across the room, leading her little\n    cousin into the cabinet with her, where she dematerialized in\n    the child's presence.\n\n    \"Since witnessing the foregoing, I have re-read your account of\n    the seance with Miss Berry at Onset, and I feel quite safe in\n    saying your description of Bertha is not overdrawn. She\n    certainly exhibits an individuality intensely human, and yet not\n    of ordinary flesh-and-blood, as shown by her sudden appearance\n    and disappearance. She proves beyond a doubt that, given the\n    same conditions and opportunities to other spirits that you have\n    afforded her, they may come with the same fulness of life and\n    strength.\n\n    \"I cannot refrain from expressing the hope that some of the\n    members of the Seybert Commission will come to Boston and study\n    Bertha--see her materialize three feet from the cabinet, as we\n    did--hear her converse intelligently--see the divinely moulded\n    form--and then witness, as we did, her sudden change to another\n    sphere of being, doubtless to engage in pleasant duties among\n    that deathless throng who are ever learning, and who will unfold\n    to us, if we will become receptive, the laws of entrancement and\n    of materialization. It seems scarcely possible that these\n    gentlemen would fail to be convinced that 'there are more things\n    in heaven and earth than are dreamed of' in materialistic\n    'philosophy.'\n                                      \"Very truly yours,\n                                                 \"S. J. NEWTON.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nMATERIALIZED FORMS--HOW SHALL WE MEET THEM?\n\n\nYears ago I had a friend who was generous to a fault. He freely gave\nwherever he thought there was need. With all his liberality, he was\nsingularly successful in business, and when he passed to the other life\nleft a large fortune, which was mainly distributed to charitable\ninstitutions.\n\nWalking with him one day, we passed some beggars sitting on the\nsidewalk,--pitiful specimens of humanity, with large placards in front\nof them, detailing the misfortunes that had befallen them. One, not over\nthirty years old, had lost a leg in the battle of Waterloo; another had\nlost his eyes by an eruption of Vesuvius which must have occurred\ntwenty years before he was born. The cards must have been heirlooms,\nhanded down at least one generation. These little discrepancies\napparently made no impression on my friend, who emptied his pockets of\nhis spare change, giving something to each of them. As we passed on, I\nsaid to him, \"Do you know that these poor fellows were up before the\npolice court a few days ago for being engaged in a drunken brawl?\" I\nshall never forget the expression of his face as he turned to me and\nsaid, \"It is my duty as well as my pleasure to give; the responsibility\nof using it is theirs, not mine.\"\n\nMany years had come and gone, and the memory of my friend had almost\nfaded from my mind. I was engaged in studying materialization. As my\ncustom is to take one thing at a time, I did not trouble myself about\nthe quality. I did not even propose to myself what I might do afterward;\nbut did propose, if there was any truth in it, to so clearly demonstrate\nit that no doubts should come up as a disturbing element in any\nsubsequent investigations I might make.\n\nWhen I had finished my investigations on this point, I found that I\nstood on the shore of a boundless sea of speculation and uncertainty. I\ncould not help asking myself the question, \"What are these forms that,\nfor a few minutes only, clothe themselves in objective reality, bearing\nthe semblance of my friends, blended with the likeness of the medium?\nAre these my father, my mother, my wife, my brother? Is this the\nrollicking boy who made the hills echo with his laughter, now whispering\nin my ear so low that I can scarcely hear him?\"\n\nIn the midst of this perplexity, this whirl of unanswered questions,\nthe voice of my old friend came to me: \"Don't stare these sensitive\nbeings out of countenance, but give to them all that you can of your\nbetter nature, and you shall have your reward. If there is a possibility\nof mistake as to identity, if you are in any way deceived, the\nresponsibility is theirs, not yours. In all true seances, if the forms\nare not what they are supposed to be, they are, at least, beings from\nanother life, seeking strength and comfort from association with you,\nelse they would not come. Let not a shadow of doubt or distrust bar\ntheir approach. Have no awe, no reserve, no fear as to what they are,\nand they will blend into your soul, become a part of your life. In the\ntrue relations which you hold to them will be the fulness of what they\nbring to you.\"\n\nWith a nature naturally skeptical, and a mind long trained to a close\ncomparison of objects, it was not easy to accept this advice. What,\nthen, was to be done? It was plain that I must move on, or abandon all\nthat I had so successfully demonstrated.\n\nI could not launch out into the endless speculation of \"psychical\nresearch;\" I had not time for that; so I decided to follow the course\nwhich had been suggested to me. I would lay aside all reserve, and greet\nthese forms as dear departed friends, who had come from afar, and had\nstruggled hard to reach me.\n\nFrom that moment the forms, which had seemed to lack vitality, became\nanimated with marvellous strength. They sprang forward to greet me;\ntender arms were clasped around me; forms that had been almost dumb\nduring my investigations now talked freely; faces that had worn more the\ncharacter of a mask than of real life now glowed with beauty. What\nclaimed to be my niece, ever pleasant and earnest in aiding me to obtain\nthe knowledge I was seeking, overwhelmed me with demonstrations of\nregard. Throwing her arms around me, and laying her head upon my\nshoulder, she looked up and said, \"Now we can all come so near you!\" Her\nwonderful spontaneity of character at once asserted itself, and has ever\nsince been the delight of all who have come in contact with her.\n\nMy association with these forms is of the most simple character; it is\nthat of children with each other: we realize the full force of the\nMaster's words, \"Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter\nthe kingdom of heaven.\" Science may wrangle over the supposed movements\nof molecules and atoms, and the correlation of forces; may dissect the\nbird to find its song; but love alone shall set the boundaries of\nknowledge. The key that unlocks the glories of another life is pure\naffection, simple and confiding as that which prompts the child to throw\nits arms around its mother's neck.\n\nTo those who pride themselves upon their intellectual attainments, this\nmay seem to be a surrender of the exercise of what they call the higher\nfaculties. So far from this being the case, I can truly say that until I\nadopted this course, sincerely and without reservation, I learned\nnothing about these things. Instead of clouding my reason and judgment,\nit opened my mind to a clearer and more intelligent perception of what\nwas passing before me. That spirit of gentleness, of loving kindness,\nwhich, more than anything else, crowns with eternal beauty the teachings\nof the Christ, should find its full expression in our association with\nthese beings.\n\n\n\n\nPART II.\n\nOPINIONS AND THEORIES.\n\n    The credulous have their weak points, but the belief of\n    unbelievers surpasses all credulity.\n\n    There is no position a man can assume so weak as that of extreme\n    skepticism in the face of fair evidence.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    Heat, light, electricity, and force are common things. We accept\n    them as matters of everyday life; our familiarity with them\n    prevents surprise. In our attempts to discover or learn what\n    they are we have utterly failed. All that we have found is how\n    they act under certain conditions. They are the elements\n    necessary to the existence of physical life, and by cultivating\n    their acquaintance we have made friends with them. They walk\n    beside us, lending a helping hand in everything; still they are\n    our masters--we know them not. For the moment we comprehend a\n    thing we are greater than the thing we comprehend: it is behind\n    us, not in front.\n\n    Those who are seeking to know how these spirit-forms are created\n    will seek in vain, for there is no language by which the process\n    can be conveyed to our understanding. When it is said that they\n    come out of invisible space, and depart in the same way, all is\n    said that can be in explanation of their advent among us.\n\n\n\n\nOPINIONS AND THEORIES.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nA GLANCE BEHIND THE CURTAIN.\n\n\nThe nature of man is, to a certain extent, dual. The brain is divided\ninto two parts; there are two sets of nerves crossing each other, so\nthat an injury received on the left side of the brain affects the right\nside of the body, and _vice versa_. While the duplicated organs are\ncapable of separate action, anatomically suggesting two distinct beings,\nthey are united so as to form a complete union of both. There is,\nhowever, a preponderance of brain or will-force in the left side of the\nhead, giving a more complete control over the right side of the body,\nand, in some instances, a manifestation of character, which would\nindicate that each side of the brain might act in alternation, and\nsomewhat independently of the other.\n\nThe force which the brain exerts over its own organism and that of\nothers is not understood. Could it be explained, all the phenomena of\nthe material and spiritual would, probably, lie within reach. A person\nwith a strong will may possess a magnetic power enabling him to throw\nanother, of a peculiar temperament, into a trance, in which that person\nis physically insensible to everything except what comes through the\nsensibility of the magnetizer.\n\nThe material bodies are brought _en rapport_ with each other, or under\nthe law of individual control, and the magnetizer can direct the\nphysical movements of the other very much as he would his own, leaving\nthe spirit of the entranced person free to act, for the time being,\nindependently of its own body. If it has the strength or power to\ncontrol other sensitives, it may manifest itself in remote places,\neither clairvoyantly or by materialization more or less tangible. It\ncan, however, do this much more perfectly in close proximity to its own\nbody. Such a materialization is a counterpart of the entranced person;\nis, in fact, the spirit of that person clothed in a body not strictly\nits own, but composed of material largely drawn from it. The existence\nof this phenomenon has been more or less known through all ages, and is\nprobably the origin of that mythical story of the creation of woman,\nwhere the Lord is said to have caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.\n\nAmong all nations, traditions of what is known as \"the double\" exist.\nThough often classed as a vulgar superstition, it nevertheless finds\nexpression in the works of some of the best intellects. It plays an\nimportant part in the progress and development of all physical seances,\nsince it is the first indication of true materialization. Furthermore,\nthe substance composing this counterpart is, to a certain extent, the\nnucleus around which all spirits materializing are developed or clothed.\n\nThe form appears to issue from the left side, but in reality it comes\nfrom the whole circumference of the body, in a rapidly-moving luminous\nvapor, which quickly consolidates into a separate individualized form,\ncomplete in its organization, and capable, for the time, of physical and\nmental action. Such manifestations are what is understood to be the\nproduction of living forms by means of living matter given off from the\nbody of the medium. The process is more or less affected by the\nsurroundings, and is ever the result of more intelligent beings\ncooperating with the spirit of the entranced person.\n\nThe spirit occupying this temporary body can, when proper relations have\nbeen established with it, surrender it into the control of other\nspirits, the same as it surrendered its other body into the control of\nthe magnetizer, and from its peculiar structure they can contract,\nexpand, or change it to suit his or her requirements. So long as it\nremains in the possession of the spirit of the entranced person, the\nlikeness to it is maintained; but the moment it passes into the\npossession of another, the resemblance will depend entirely upon the\nstrength of the control, and the knowledge the spirit has in shaping the\nform like to that borne in earth-life. From these conditions\nmaterialization may broaden into more complex forms, always depending\nupon the currents of magnetic thought, and that central will-force that\nsweeps into its vortex all atoms necessary to its use.\n\nUntil the spirits acquire more than ordinary strength by frequent\nmanifestations, or by favorable surroundings, this will probably be\nfound to be the usual way in which they make themselves visible to us.\nThese conditions necessitate more or less resemblance to the medium,\nboth in form and intonations of voice.\n\nI have seen hundreds and thousands of materialized forms; have seen, in\na few instances, personation, where the medium was taken possession of,\nbrought out, and controlled as in trance-mediumship; I have seen what\nappeared to be the double of the medium, so thoroughly like, that I\nshould have testified that it was the medium had I not seen it\ndematerialize, or been taken into the cabinet by the form and found the\nentranced medium there; but I have never seen a single instance of\ntransfiguration, unless the double of the medium be considered as such.\nThe fact that Mrs. Fairchild stands outside, by the cabinet, during the\nseance, in full view of the audience; that at the Berry Sisters', and at\nMrs. Sawyer's, the spirits lead the medium out of the cabinet; that at\nMrs. Fay's the forms often take the visitors into the cabinet and show\nthem not only the medium but the materialized control,--are things which\nthe skeptic will find very hard to explain. If they are not evidence of\nthe existence of these phenomena, it is difficult to understand what\nevidence is.\n\nTo a sensitive person, with even a limited experience, the character of\na seance is easily determined. There is always in the true materialized\nforms a decided lack of some of the elements that make up the magnetism\nof what we call real life; something not easily described, but readily\nperceived by a person thus constituted. To such a one, neither a\nconfederate nor a personation by the medium can pass undetected.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nEXPOSURES OF MEDIUMS.\n\n\nThere have often been sensational reports circulated claiming to be\n\"exposures\" of materialization, but when traced to their origin they\nhave generally been found to be unreliable, and never the result of\ncareful study or scientific investigation. The ungentlemanly and in some\ninstances brutal conduct of the parties engaged in the \"exposures\" has\nbeen such as to discredit their statements, and in no case have they\nproduced evidence that would be considered valid in any court.\n\nIf it be true that the garments used to clothe the forms are\nmaterialized and dematerialized in the cabinet, any sudden disturbance\nof the magnetic conditions of the circle might arrest the process of\ndematerialization, leaving the draperies intact. Persons not\nunderstanding this would naturally charge fraud upon the medium, on\nrushing into the cabinet and finding them there. This has led some\nmediums to submit to a thorough examination of their clothes before\nentering the cabinet, going so far, at times, as to allow themselves to\nbe dressed entirely in dark clothing, without a particle of white upon\nthem, and giving every opportunity to prove that there were no concealed\ndraperies in the room. These arrangements, while taking up valuable time\nthat otherwise would have been devoted to the seance, have never\ninterfered with the manifestations.\n\nThe most serious and perhaps the most generally believed charges made\nagainst these seances is that confederates are used to personate the\nforms. Passing by the many knotty questions which cannot possibly be\nexplained on the theory of confederates, and considering it in a\nbusiness point of view, there are difficulties connected with such an\narrangement that might in the end prove disastrous.\n\nA employs B to personate, at one dollar a seance. B finds that A is\nmaking money, and, being rascally enough to engage in such work, would\nhave no scruples in demanding, under threats of exposure, the lion's\nshare of the proceeds.\n\nA is completely in his power, and has no alternative but to submit.\nThis, and the outside pressure which would be likely to be brought to\nbear upon B to make public the fraud, would render it almost impossible\nto carry on the deception for any great length of time.\n\nAgain, there are often from fifty to sixty distinct individual forms\nappearing at each seance, requiring as many confederates to represent\nthem. As the circle is rarely composed of more than twenty-five persons,\nwould it pay to keep so many actors for so small an audience? If people\nwho listen to these accusations would reflect for a moment, they would\nsee that the theory of confederates is not a very plausible one, and it\nmight do much toward relieving mediums from the unjust suspicions to\nwhich, through lack of understanding on the part of the public, they are\nmore or less obliged to submit.\n\nAll honest mediums will cheerfully do all they can to satisfy the public\nthat there is no deception, and that the cabinet and its surroundings\nare such as to preclude the possibility of confederates. Any other\narrangements are unnecessary, and, to say the least, suspicious. These\nthings are new and strange to most people, and they very naturally\nexpect strong evidence; and they are right, provided their desire is\nexpressed in a kindly and gentlemanly manner.\n\nAny one at all familiar with these seances cannot help seeing that there\nare some mediums and their controls who are largely responsible for the\nfeeling of distrust more or less manifested toward the subject. When the\nquestion of a confederate is fairly settled (and no one can be certain\nof his position until it is done), and two forms appear at the same\ntime; or when you can be taken into the cabinet by a form, and shown the\nentranced medium, it is self-evident that one of them is a materialized\nform, and not a personation by the medium. It needs no argument to\nsettle this, no matter how much it may conflict with pre-conceived\nnotions.\n\nI have quoted from Chief Justice Jacolliot's work on Occult Science in\nIndia, to prove that there is no connection between these manifestations\nand what is called sleight-of-hand.\n\nThere is, however, a more important fact conveyed in his statements,\ncorroborated by other writers upon this subject, showing the perfect\nfairness with which these mediums, or Fakirs, submit to tests, courting\nthe most thorough and exhaustive investigation, even trusting\nthemselves, while in a trance, without any protection, to the honor and\ngood faith of those around them, repeating at request the experiments,\nagain and again, to satisfy that there is no deception about them.\n\nThis is strangely in contrast with our mediums, who as a rule shrink\nfrom anything of the kind, and are disposed to regard any request of\nthat nature as a direct imputation upon their honesty.\n\nIf materialization means anything besides dollars and cents--if it has a\nmission to perform--it is to enlighten and educate the people upon one\nof the most important subjects that has ever engrossed the mind.\n\nThe lack of openness and confidence on the part of many of the mediums,\nor their managers, creates a feeling of distrust which sometimes finds\nan expression in rudeness on the part of skeptics, and leads those who\nare confident of the genuineness of a part of the seance to be impressed\nwith the idea that there are things connected with it that are\ndishonest.\n\nThere is no difficulty in tracing the source of this feeling. Everywhere\nlike begets like, and as long as this state of feeling exists there\nwill be a lack of harmony in the circle, with more or less disturbance.\n\nIt may be that these things are inseparable from the newness of the\nmanifestations among us, and will disappear when mediums are more freely\ndeveloped in our homes, and the seances assume less of a commercial\ncharacter.\n\nWhile no apology should be made for fraud in these seances, we have no\nright to make charges that cannot be sustained. Every medium is bound,\nin justice to the audience, to see that the cabinet and its surroundings\nare so arranged that the appearance of fraud is, as far as possible,\navoided.\n\nLack of experience, want of perception, or ignorance of a subject, gives\nno authority to assume that it is a fraud. The eagerness with which the\npress circulates reports of imposture finds its excuse, not in a manly\ndefence of the truth, but in a morbid disposition to cater to the whims\nand caprices of the public. Those who accept such statements without\ninvestigation may possibly become victims of a worse delusion than that\nwhich they fancy they are condemning in others--a delusion born of\nignorance and self-conceit.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nPUBLIC SEANCES.\n\n\nNo comparison can justly be made between different mediums. All are\nexcellent in their way. The preference that is given to one over others\nis mainly due to personal feeling, to likes and dislikes, which must\nalways find an expression among individuals of different tastes.\n\nIn some seances the strength of the manifestations is largely exhausted\nin the production of forms. In others, the social and affectionate\nelement predominates. Where there are from fifty to sixty materialized\nforms appearing at a sitting, it is hardly to be expected that much time\ncan be given to the interchange of thought or the expression of\nfeeling. Such seances are, as a rule, mere touch-and-go occasions.\n\nThe strength of the circle is often exhausted in combating the ignorance\nand prejudice of the audience, and the higher and more delicate phase of\nmaterialization is lost sight of.\n\nMany condemn public seances on account of the mixed audience and the\nconflicting elements that surround the medium. These things are, at\npresent, a necessity, being the only means of educating the masses.\n\nThe time has not yet come when, through a more general acceptance of the\ntruth of materialization, it can be transferred to the domestic circle,\nwhere it properly belongs, and where its best results will be obtained.\nNot until the flush of excitement necessarily arising from the\nstrangeness of the phenomena has subsided, and the investigator has\nsettled in his mind the facts of materialization, is he capable of\nforming an intelligent opinion on the subject.\n\nThousands of persons, through their experience, have reached that point.\nWhether they advance beyond this will depend upon the character of the\nseance, the strength of the manifestations, and the purely affectional\nbearing toward these beings.\n\nSeances should be classified: the first, for primary education, for\nfacts and evidence to convince skeptics; the second, for the more\nadvanced investigator. Into this latter class no skeptic should be\nadmitted. Such an arrangement could not interfere with the patronage of\nmediums, but on the contrary would enhance it, for there comes a period\nin the progress of the investigator when, finding that he cannot\nadvance, he will retreat or seek some other field for investigation. The\npublic seance, as now constituted, must, from the nature of its\nsurroundings, remain more or less stationary.\n\nThere are seances that are pitched on so low a key that when the\ninvestigator passes from a state of doubt into a full knowledge of the\ntruth of materialization, he will instinctively leave them for a more\ngenial atmosphere; for it is in vain to expect that coarse, mercenary,\nuntruthful mediums can avoid impressing more or less of their natures\nupon the spirits who come through their organisms, or that mainly\nspirits like themselves will be attracted to them. The more intelligent\ninvestigators are beginning to realize this, and those mediums who have\nlost the sense of their high calling, and degraded the seance to a mere\nshow, will, under the inevitable law of progress, find themselves\nsupplanted by a better element. Mediums are being developed everywhere,\nand in the near future there will be no lack of noble men and women who\nwill gladly come to the front with their divine gifts.\n\nIf we accept the idea that passing to the other life does not\nessentially change the character of the man, that his peculiarities\nremain the same, we can account for many things in the seance-room that\nappear to be simply acting,--performances which have no other object\nthan to attract the audience, to show what power the spirits can acquire\nunder conditions which seem impossible to us.\n\nConsidering the state of feeling with which many persons enter the\nseance-room, it is not singular that they are sometimes treated to what\nseems to be deception. The spirits, perceiving the condition of the\nminds around them, act very much as they would if they were still on\nthis side of life. Thoughts are things, which appear to them very much\nas solid substances do to us. If, instead of attempting to remove them,\nthey can accomplish their object by going round them, they feel\nthemselves justified in doing so. They act very much, at times, as\nchildren would under similar circumstances; and, until they obtain\ncomplete control over the form that encases them, they cannot express\nthemselves with much force. They are as children learning to walk, to\nthink, and talk through a medium that is new to them.\n\nA simple, childlike bearing, blended with the warmest affection, is the\nonly element that enables them to progress and meet us upon the highest\nplane of thought.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE ATTITUDE OF SCIENTISTS.\n\n\nThe world is indebted to scientists for their clear arrangement of and\ndeductions from what others have discovered; for, as a rule, they are\nnot inventive. Hasty in condemning everything new, their timidity and\nlack of generous bearing toward what seems to conflict with their\nmaterialistic theories are conspicuous.\n\nNothing can be more unscientific than the attitude of most of them\ntoward this subject. Obliged in the past to antagonize the despotism of\nthe old Theology, they have themselves become despotic. Condemning\ndogmatism, they assume a dogmatic bearing toward everything that does\nnot square with their pre-conceived notions. Walking with faces toward\nthe ground, they refuse to look up, or admit the existence of anything\nbeyond matter; denying the possibility of spirit, and claiming that the\nearth contains within itself the \"promise and potency\" of everything\nthat is or has been.\n\nAgainst this sweeping claim may be opposed the fact that, in the light\nof a purely scientific analysis, the earth gives no promise of the\nliving beings that cover its surface; that it creates nothing, furnishes\nnothing except the environments or clothing of the beings that for the\ntime find their abiding-place here.\n\nWhen scientists are confronted with materialization, they deny it\nwithout investigation, or refuse to examine it unless they can dictate\ntheir own conditions, and yet no class of men understand better than\nthey do the necessity of adhering closely to the laws governing any\noperation in nature, if it is to be fairly studied. The course that has\nbeen and is now being pursued by the two scientific bodies supposed to\nbe investigating this subject must necessarily lead to failure.\nIndividual members may be more or less impressed with the reality of the\nphenomena, but no report worthy of the subject will ever be made by\neither society. The ridiculous farce enacted by the French Academy of\nScience in their report on Mesmerism, will probably be repeated here.\n\nIt has been charged upon me that I am not a scientist, and that my\nmethods are not scientific,--all of which, if their implied definition\nof science is correct, I admit. I have had the fairness, notwithstanding\nmy skepticism, to lay aside my prejudices and study this subject purely\nin relation to itself, and not in connection with pre-conceived ideas.\nThe facts which I have presented have been attested by competent\nwitnesses; and until scientists have made themselves familiar with them,\ntheir allegations amount to nothing. The course which I have pursued in\nstudying this subject is far more sensible and scientific than a denial\nwithout investigation.\n\nThe editor of one of the ablest scientific journals has well said,\n\"Science having no methods by which it can experimentally determine that\nman has a spiritual nature distinct from the material, it follows that\nit must be incompetent to throw light upon the nature of that which is\nunrecognized or unknown.\"\n\nThe testimony of scientists in such matters cannot be considered of any\nmore value than that of any other careful investigator; and if we take\ninto consideration their materialistic views, it is dealing liberally\nwith them to concede that much.\n\nScience accepts the theory of molecules and atoms, and declares matter\nto be indestructible. These little molecules set in motion produce the\nphenomena of life. When they get tired and refuse to climb one above\nanother, like acrobats in a circus, then there is death. It is all very\nsimple, and any one can understand it,--a little alkali thrown into some\nacid,--a rapid effervescence,--the atoms are disturbed and seek to\nhurriedly arrange themselves into a different position,--they have\nperformed the fantastical dance of life, and all is over!\n\nUpon this theory scientists have endeavored to account for the creation\nof everything. If they have found anything else they have not declared\nit. The trinity of Molecules, Atoms, and Motion is the keystone of the\nwhole structure which for centuries they have been trying to build up.\n\nAs science takes nothing for granted, it would be interesting to learn\nwhen and where they found these little atoms, which no microscope,\nhowever powerful, has ever revealed. Before scientists insist upon the\ndenial of the existence of that spiritual force which organizes and\nindividualizes all forms of life, it might be as well for them to settle\nthe question, What is matter?\n\nI do not assert positively that these beings are spirits; for it may be\nsaid, in a scientific point of view, I have no right to do so; but I do\nassert that the facts warrant beyond a question the conclusion that they\ndo not belong to what we call the earth-side of life,--that they are not\nautomatons, lay figures, or effigies, but are living, breathing,\nintelligent beings, with thoughts, feelings, and passions strictly\nhuman; that they come out of invisible space, and depart in the same\nway. In the language of Professor Crookes, \"Nothing is more certain than\nthe reality of these facts. I do not say that they are possible, but I\nsay that they _are_.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nPUBLIC OPINION.\n\n\nWhen Mesmer appeared in Paris, exhibiting his claims to Magnetism, he\nwas ridiculed, and treated as a humbug. The French Academy of Science,\nafter due consideration, pronounced Mesmerism a fraud. This was the more\nremarkable from the fact that many of the experiments in Mesmerism are\nso simple that a child can demonstrate them to the entire satisfaction\nof an unprejudiced person. Many years afterward, in 1831, the French\nAcademy of Medicine, through a report of its Committee, reversed this\ndecision.\n\nSo far as we know, these are the only efforts that have been made, until\nwithin a few years, by any scientific association, to investigate this\nclass of phenomena. Both in Europe and this country it has been treated\nwith contempt, and for more than a hundred years condemned by\npseudo-Science as nothing more than a hallucination produced by a\ndiseased condition of body or mind.\n\nI was present at the Massachusetts Hospital, many years ago, when the\nelder Warren, knife in hand, made mock passes over his patient,\nridiculing to his students the idea that any one could be entranced or\nrendered insensible to pain by what was called Mesmerism; and yet the\nexistence of the Mesmeric force or fluid is one of the most remarkable\ndiscoveries ever made. It has been known for thousands of years, by the\nHindoo philosophers, as \"the pure Agassa Fluid\" that penetrates and\npermeates all objects, whether animate or inanimate. It controls the\nsocial relations; is the secret of that influence which one person\nexerts over another; and is the connecting link between the seen and the\nunseen worlds, enabling spirits, whether in or out of the flesh, to\nproduce all the phenomena known as \"spirit-manifestations.\"\n\nIf we except the writings of Deleuze, Townshend, Gregory, Dr. Elliotson,\nand a few lesser lights, Mesmerism has been kept before the public\nmainly by a class of itinerant lecturers who, despairing of a more\nconsiderate hearing, have, in order to retain their hold on their\naudience, degraded it to a mere burlesque.\n\nThe history of Mesmerism forms no exception to all discoveries that have\nmarked the progress of man from a state of barbarism to the present\ntime. The old stubble chokes and prevents the new crop of grain, unless\nit has been turned under. The acceptance of anything with which we are\nnot familiar depends more upon the mental condition produced by\npre-conceived ideas than upon any evidence necessary to sustain it. The\nprogress of public opinion is like the march of a great army; it camps\nat night upon ground occupied by its videttes in the morning. When\nSpiritualism began to attract attention, the opponents of Mesmerism, not\nunderstanding its true character, abandoned their hostility to it, and\naccepted it as an explanation of the new phenomena. Mind-reading,\nTelepathy, everything possible, was brought forward to explain away this\nsupposed evidence of another life. And, in a somewhat different form,\nthe same thing is taking place in regard to Materialization.\n\nIf we eliminate from it the idea of spirits, and attribute to man alone\nthis wonderful power, we disarm scientific as well as sectarian\nopposition, and the possibilities of man, the influence of mind over\nmatter, become a legitimate subject for study. But no matter how\nexhaustive your investigations of Materialization may have been, the\nmoment you suggest that spirits may have something to do with it, it\nbecomes unscientific, and, in the judgment of certain persons who have\nassumed the right to control public opinion, you are instantly\ntransformed from an honest student into a \"crank\"!\n\nIn view of the obstacles that Conservatism is always throwing in the way\nof Progress, one may be pardoned for a certain kind of admiration for\ncranks. They have, at least, the courage of their convictions, and in\nthis respect, if for nothing more, may become popular, for the crowd\nalways throw up their hats, whether right or wrong, to the plucky man.\n\nIs courage, then, so rare a thing that we are forced to applaud it even\nin the bulldog?\n\nPublic opinion is the despotism of a republic. It is astonishing what\ncowards it makes of decent men; the fear of being laughed at is the\nterror of society; the assertion of manhood, the expression of an honest\nopinion, the love of truth,--everything goes down before it.\n\nMy ministerial neighbor throws theological brickbats at me because I\nchoose to study a subject which he has not the courage to face, and\nwhich, if not a reality, he lied about in his last funeral sermon, when\nhe told the mourners that their \"dear friend is not dead, but still\nliving and hovering around them.\"\n\nShall we allow these attacks, and not remind him that, if he knows\nanything, he must know that the Christian religion is an outgrowth of\npaganism; that there is not a cardinal point in his theology that is not\nas old as the Hindoo Pagodas; that the idea of another life, imperfectly\noutlined in the Bible, was taken from a religion founded upon occult\nmanifestations; that He whom he calls Lord and Master not only taught\nhealing by laying on of hands, but exemplified Materialization in the\ntransfiguration on the Mount, and in his bodily appearance to his\ndisciples, after his death, in a room with closed doors?\n\nAt every seance there are more or less clandestine visitors, who shrink\nfrom letting their best friends know anything about it. At one, I met an\nold acquaintance, who was surprised to find me there, and begged me not\nto give him away. He had obtained a seat under an assumed name,\npartially as a test, he said, but mainly on account of his position in\nsociety; he did not care to be known to visit such places. In the course\nof the seance, a beautiful female form came briskly out into the middle\nof the room, and, stretching her arms toward him, said, \"Father!\" As he\ndid not respond, the controlling spirit, calling him by name, said,\n\"that lady is for you!\" He stepped forward, and, to his astonishment,\nfound that it was his daughter. He said afterward that the recognition\nwas perfect. This was his first seance, and, unless Materialization\nbecomes popular, it may be his last. That he told his wife about it\nthere seems to be no doubt, as she has been a frequent visitor ever\nsince. I fancy him in his dressing-gown and slippers, reclining in his\narmchair, smoking his cigarette, anxiously awaiting her return, that she\nmay relate to him the touching manifestations of affection she has\nreceived.\n\nTraces of these phenomena have always, in one form or another, been\npresent in the world. In India, for thousands of years, they have\nfurnished the foundation of a religious belief, which, like all other\nreligions, has been perverted and used as a means to blind and control\nthe common people.\n\nThe danger of its being accepted as authority through a blind reverence\nfor what is supposed to be supernatural, instead of affectionate and\nintelligent companionship, is sufficient reason why its true import\nshould be thoroughly understood. Whether it be a power in man, the laws\nof which are unknown, or a direct emanation from another life, it\nrequires the most serious consideration. Shall it receive the attention\nit deserves, or shall we turn our backs on it, till, like a rising\ntide, it overwhelms us with a flood of ignorance and superstition? It\nwill not do to ignore it; already its influence is sweeping far and\nwide.\n\nScientists may sit supinely on the summit of their intellectual conceit,\ninsisting that it \"will not be much of a shower;\" still it swells and\nrolls on, sapping and undermining the whole system of social and\nreligious thought. Sects and creeds crumble in its pathway. All hopes of\na scientific evidence of a life after death are centred in these\nmanifestations.\n\nThe issue is a plain one; there can be no middle ground. Either\nSpiritualism or Materialism triumphs. Deal with it as you may; if it is\nfrom the other side of life, it cannot be overthrown. In some form or\nother it must be met.\n\nShall we not, in the interest of humanity and of what purports to be an\nimportant truth, lay aside our pre-conceived notions and prejudices,\nand treat this subject as we would any of the common things of life,\nearnestly endeavoring to get at its true meaning?\n\nMillions of honest people have witnessed these things in their own\nhomes, by their own firesides. Against what they have seen and know\nthere is no argument.\n\nTime will show whether the public have sufficiently advanced to grapple\nhealthily with Materialization and its spiritual surroundings.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\n\nIt has been heretofore stated that everything known as Spiritualism is\ndue to pure Magnetism.\n\nMagnetism may be classed under three heads: Terrestrial, Aerial, and\nEthereal or Spiritual Magnetism. These are only different modes or\ngrades of expression of the same thing; and may be compared, in their\norder, to earth, air and ether;--heat, force, and light;--or root,\nstock, and flower in plants.\n\nEthereal Magnetism is the medium of thought, as is clearly proved by\nwhat is sometimes called telepathy, or mind-reading, and by well\nattested facts of communication between persons widely separated. It is\nalso known to Mesmerizers that, when they have established magnetic\nrelations between themselves and their subjects, they can often control\nthem without reference to distance.\n\nOutside of the domain of this subtle fluid, there can be no connection\nbetween the seen and the unseen worlds, or between any of the individual\nforms of life. More attenuated than Electricity, it holds the same\nrelation to life that Terrestrial Magnetism holds to the grosser\nparticles of matter. It enables what we call intellectual force to\ncommand and control all forms.\n\nThrough it, Thought, which is the Principle of everything, builds and\nunbuilds; clothing itself in material garments, and filling the earth\nwith countless millions of individual beings, made visible to our\noutward senses.\n\nThe process by which this is accomplished is the same, whether done\ninstantaneously or extending through a series of years. Materialization,\nthen, is only the manifestation of a law everywhere acknowledged, with\nthis difference: the external forms, under a superior force and\nintelligence, are more quickly wrought.\n\nIt is the question of time, more than anything else, that challenges our\nskepticism. That which we call progress, or evolution, is only so many\nsteps by which mind exerts itself, with increasing force, over matter.\nWe are in the habit of regarding matter as a solid substance; whereas,\nin its primitive state, it is invisible. It is only by different\ncombinations, in its aerial form, that it becomes solid. In a fluidic\nstate, it probably pervades all space. In this condition, spirits, it\nwould seem, have power to condense it and shape it at pleasure.\n\nExisting as individual beings, complete in their organization, many of\nthem are able, under certain conditions, to draw from their surroundings\nsufficient matter to clothe themselves in garments, for the time being,\nas substantial as any forms in life.\n\nI have witnessed the processes of materialization and of\ndematerialization in the middle of the room, several feet from the\ncabinet,--have taken hold of the hands of these beings, and gone down\nwith them to the floor, until the last things that disappeared were the\nhands that were in mine.\n\nI have been taken into the cabinet by one of these forms, and, with my\nleft arm around the form (to all appearance as solid as my own), have\nput my right hand on the entranced medium, and while in this position\nhave seen a white, luminous cloud rise slowly from the side of the\nmedium until it reached the height of nearly six feet. I could have\npassed my hand through it without resistance. In a few seconds it\ncondensed into a human form that cordially greeted and shook hands with\nme, having a hand as substantial as my own. It was the form of \"Auntie,\"\nthe control, who greeted me with \"How do you do? What do you think of\nthis?\" At the same time, there were many hands patting me on the head\nand shoulders.\n\nAll this occurred in a cabinet where a confederate was impossible. Was I\ndeceived,--laboring under a state of hallucination? Not if I now have or\never had any knowledge of myself.\n\nI have studied these things as quietly as I would have studied a statue\nor a picture; have not been satisfied with witnessing them once, but\nhave had them repeated many times, that I might feel certain that I had\ngiven them a thorough investigation. If I have been mistaken, those who\ncome after me will have small chance of better success. I have stated\nsome things positively, because I know that they are true, and can be\nscientifically demonstrated.\n\nWe may discover and accept the conditions that best enable these beings\nto reach and communicate with us, thereby extending our knowledge and\nour association with them, but neither our observation nor what they may\ntell us will enable us to comprehend what our experience has not fitted\nus to understand.\n\nAt best we have only established our pickets on the other side of the\nriver. The problem of life still remains unsolved.\n\nThe erroneous ideas so generally entertained regarding beings of another\nlife render it important that we should fully understand that no one,\nwhether on this or the other side of life, can set aside the laws\nnecessary to our individual growth.\n\nThe assimilation of thought; the gestation of ideas, the mental\ndigestion which is analogous to the process of physical growth, must\never remain the source of a healthy development. To abandon this to the\ndictation of authority, whether real or supposed, or to accept anything\nin violation of these laws, only leads to disorder and mental dyspepsia.\n\nWhat we most desire does not always come; but in its place, often,\nsomething unexpected and surprising. The power which operates suffers no\ndictation or control; and, like the reflection of an object in water,\nthe phenomena become distorted the moment the magnetic currents are\ndisturbed.\n\nForced, by the accumulation of facts that cannot be set aside, to\nacknowledge the existence of these beings, they are, nevertheless,\nshrouded in mystery. That they are from the other life is more than\nprobable; no other theory will, in the long run, be found tenable.\nWhether they are our departed friends and relatives must be determined\nby the exercise of those faculties which enable us to settle the\nrelations of objects in this life. While they exhibit no feelings of\nselfishness or jealousy in their associations with us, the same cannot\nalways be said of \"the control.\" For some reason which we do not\nunderstand, but which may be a necessity, the controlling spirit of the\nseance exercises a more or less despotic power over the manifestations;\nsometimes denying the privilege of manifestation, and forcing back\nspirits who have been accustomed to appear at other seances. In other\nwords, there seems to be a good deal of human nature in their make-up,\nand the likes and dislikes of the medium or manager, are often shared by\n\"the control.\"\n\nWhile the theory is correct that the medium is nothing but the\ninstrument through which the spirits are evoked, there can be no\nquestion that his or her mental and moral atmosphere affects the quality\nof the manifestations.\n\nYour personal relations with the medium are known to the controlling\nspirit, and if the medium is prejudiced against you, you are, in most\ncases, debarred from any satisfactory results. On the other hand, your\nrelations to these beings are known to \"the control,\" but not\nnecessarily to the medium,--never unless the controlling spirit thinks\nbest to communicate them.\n\nWhat you learn of the character of these beings depends upon your\npersonality,--the magnetic atmosphere that surrounds you. Many of them,\nif they are able to penetrate your atmosphere, are so exhausted by the\neffort that they cannot talk much with you; while others, overcoming\nall obstacles, are able to throw themselves around you with all the\nabandon of childhood, talking freely, and often so fast that it requires\nthe closest attention to follow them. In such cases, however strong the\nresemblance may be to the medium in the outward form, the mental\ncharacteristics are as different as it is possible to be between any two\nindividuals.\n\nI have refrained from saying much about the quality of these\nmanifestations. It is a matter upon which there must always be a wide\ndifference of opinion. Every one will find _himself_ more or less\nreflected in them. It is the inevitable law of association. \"You are a\ncheat and a scoundrel!\" said an enraged man to my friend. \"I know it,\"\nwas the prompt reply; \"it is the rascality and cussedness in you that\nhave called it out. I never was conscious of it until I met you.\"\n\nNo selfishness, deceit, or diplomacy avails with these beings; what you\ntruly think and feel, your moral atmosphere, makes or mars your\nrelations with them. Until you can learn to meet them in perfect\nconfidence, you can know nothing of the beauty which emanates from them.\n\nMaterialization is denounced by the learned and the ignorant, and in\nboth cases the denial springs from the same cause. It is a fair\nillustration of high life with the bottom turned up; both classes meet\non the same plane. It is also bitterly condemned by a class of\nSpiritualists whose brains are saturated with trance and inspirational\ncommunications. In their conceit, the little they know is the whole\nworld to them.\n\nAs a rule, all nations and tribes hold in some form or another to a\nbelief in the continued existence of man after death. However desirable\nsuch a belief may be, it is generally admitted that it rests entirely on\nfaith, there being no substantial evidence by which it can be\nscientifically demonstrated. In both the Old and New Testaments are\nrecords of occult manifestations similar to what has been related here,\nbut the materialistic tendency of science has long since caused them to\nbe regarded as Oriental fictions.\n\nIn the materializing seance come, for the time being, living, breathing,\nintelligent, human forms, that are not confederates or personations by\nthe medium. If not beings from another life, what are they? The\nprobability, or even possibility, they offer of scientific evidence of\nthe existence of man after death, commends them to the serious\nconsideration of every intelligent person.\n\nIt is not a difficult task, nor one requiring a great amount of labor,\nto determine that these forms are distinct embodiments. To settle this\nis, however, only the A B C of the matter. To learn what these beings\nare, and their relations to us, requires the most patient investigation\nand the most delicate and far-reaching exercise of the mind. Facts, in\nthemselves, unless they suggest something higher, are of little\nconsequence. They derive their importance solely from their connection\nwith some general law around which they are grouped.\n\nWhile I have stated positively that at Mrs. Fay's no confederates are\nused, and that the forms that have come to me are not personations by\nthe medium, yet, in the _legal_ definition of the word, I do not _know_\nwho or what they are. I have my convictions, based upon what is\nsatisfactory evidence to me. I do not ask any one to accept my theories,\nbut upon what have been stated as facts there need be no controversy,\nsince any one who will give the matter the same attention can verify all\nthat has been said.\n\nTo deny the facts without an investigation, on the ground that they are\nimpossible, can have no weight, for it has been truly said by Arago that\n\"outside the domain of pure mathematics, the word impossible has no\nmeaning.\"\n\nI have imperfectly related only a few of the many hundred strange things\nthat have come under my observation, selecting them at random without\nany special regard to order. The same may be said of the thoughts\nexpressed; their value, if they have any, will be found in the closeness\nwith which I have pursued the investigation. My experience has extended\nover more than a hundred seances, and to have given them in detail would\nhave exceeded my time.\n\nThese things are open to any who will approach them honestly. Let us\nhope that some fair-minded specialist, whose brain is not lumbered with\nthe debris of old ideas, will yet be able to lift the veil that\nsurrounds them.\n\nI feel confident that I have exhausted almost every conceivable test\nnecessary to establish the reality of these wonderful apparitions. Some\nof these tests, in the light of a more extended experience, now seem\nvery absurd. Ridiculous as they must have appeared to these beings, they\nwere never vexed, nor showed any impatience with my ignorant and\nunreasonable demands, but either met them squarely or playfully turned\nthem aside. My investigations have been confined mostly to Mrs. Fay's\nseances, for the simple reason that here the cabinet and surroundings\nwere known to me to be above suspicion, and from the beginning greater\nfacilities for study were granted me than elsewhere. Such is the\nskeptical nature of my mind that if I had been obliged to conform to the\nrole of an ordinary visitor, I should, in all probability, have never\nbeen fully convinced of the truth of materialization.\n\nIn dealing with a subject so new to the mass of people, it is hardly to\nbe expected that it will be accepted on the testimony of any one. Facts,\nhowever clearly stated, will have but little weight with those who have\nhad no practical experience. Fortunately, the rapid increase in the\nnumber of mediums, both public and private, is bringing these things\nwithin the reach of every one.\n\nIf what I have stated be true,--if the experience of others shall prove\nthat I have not been deceived,--then the whole system of ethics must\nundergo a complete revolution. Man will no longer be regarded as an\nanimal, confined to earth, but a direct emanation from a superior\nintelligence, holding in his nature a dual existence, connecting him at\none and the same time with both the seen and unseen worlds.\n\nThere is no estimating the influence which a realization of these\nthings, rightly understood, would have upon the moral and social\ncondition of society. What has been held in the past as a vague and\nuncertain belief, would be supplanted by knowledge; and the skeptical\ntendency of modern thought would be checked by a fuller sense of the\ninspirational and spiritual nature of man.\n\nThe dread of death, throwing a gloom over the domestic circle, would\nglide away as the darkness of night disappears before the coming morn.\nThe parting of friends and relatives would find its compensation in\nrenewed companionship and the perfect consciousness that there is no\nreal separation.\n\nFor the fullness and tenderness with which these beings have overwhelmed\nme with demonstrations of regard, promptly responding to every\nreasonable request, I am under the deepest obligations. As I go back in\nmy mind over the various seances which it has been my privilege to\nenjoy, I linger fondly over the stately form and affectionate bearing of\nwhat claimed to be my wife; the rich girlish nature of Bertha, with her\nmarvellous beauty of expression; and the tender pleadings of one who\nmust be nameless here, begging that I would bring those she loved nearer\nto her.\n\nAll along the pathway of my investigations glow a thousand things never\nto be forgotten. Who shall say the gates are not ajar, and that our\nloved but not lost ones are not passing to and fro?\n\nPoor in spirit and weak in affection must they be who can meet these\nbeings as I have met them, and not feel that there comes, from the\nassociation with them, a richer and fuller life.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\nPunctuation has been standardised. Changes to the original have been\nmade as follows:\n\n    Contents\n    PERSONIFICATION BY THE MEDIUM OF MATERIALIZED FORMS _changed to_\n    PERSONIFICATION BY THE MEDIUM, OR MATERIALIZED FORMs\n\n    SEANCE AT THE BERRY SISTERS IN BOSTON _changed to_\n    SEANCE AT THE BERRY SISTERS' IN BOSTON\n\n    Page 98\n    With outstreched arms they beckoned me _changed to_\n    With outstretched arms they beckoned me\n\n    Page 136\n    may conflict with preconceived _changed to_\n    may conflict with pre-conceived\n\n    Page 170\n    ever remain the source of a a healthy development _changed to_\n    ever remain the source of a healthy development\n\n    Page 171\n    exercises a more or less depotic power _changed to_\n    exercises a more or less despotic power\n\n    Page 171\n    the magnetic atmostphere that surrounds _changed to_\n    the magnetic atmosphere that surrounds","title":"Materialized apparitions : $b if not beings from another life, what are they","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":23331}