SPIRITUALISM.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 666, 26 April 1870, Page 4

SPIRITUALISM.

We have on previous occasions given extracts from the reports of the proceedings of the committee appointed by the Dialetical Society in. London to investigate the phenomena of Spiritualism. The following very remarkable narrative is by one of the investigating committee. It is the report of a sitting with the celebrated medium, Mr D. D. Home. The writer of the report was invited to the sitting purposely to test whatever phenomena should occur. He went with the most perfect confidence that he should discover a delusion. He was entirely sceptical as to the spirit theory of the Spiritualists, and is so still : — The sitting (he says) was at the private house of a personal friend of mine, a barrister, who is also an author of repute and a gentleman of position and integrity, wholly incapable of participating in a fraud. Mechanism could not have been employed in his house without his knowledge and consent. The place was a double drawing-room. The persons sitting in the one room could distinctly see the whole of the other room. In the middle of the room was a heavy 100 table, having a pedestal and three claws, which two strong men could only with great effort lift from the floor. Previously to beginning the experiments, we examined with the utmost care, the table, the chairs, the furniture, and the carpets. No spring or wire was attached to any of them, for we carried them from place to place purposely to try them. The light fell so brightly that 1 was enabled, when sitting under the table, to read small type distinctly. Lighted candles were placed upon the mantlepiece, about eight feet from the table, and the room was well lighted. It was furnished in the usual manner of a drawing-room, with sofa, chairs, chiffoniers, and side - tables, crowded with works of art of considerable value and very frangible. The company consisted of Mr Home, an authoress of fame, an A.R.A. and his wife, an eminent sculptor, a well-known lawyer, and an American lady, also an authoress. Previously to the sitting, Mr Home said that, as I was invited there for the purpose of scientific investigation, it was his desire that I should have every possible facility for testing whatever might occur ; he hoped I would not hesitate to ask any question, or do anything at any moment that might suggest itself to me as a means of testing the reality of the phenomena. He assured me that he should not feel annoyed by any expression of doubt, or by any act implying suspicion on my part, for he was anxious for a close investigation as I could be, and he declared that he knew no more about the causes of the phenomena or ,the manner of their production than j did. It will be seen that I fully availed myself of the liberty of experiment and test thus given to me. On taking our seats, an accordeon and a box of musical glasses were placed upon the table. I examined both of them with the greatest care, and am enabled to assert positively that no mechanism of any kind was, or could have been, within them or attached to them. I was seated opposite to Mr Homo. 'On my left was the American lady, on my right the wife of the A.R.A. I mention this because the motions to be described occurred on the side of the table where I was sitting, and not where Mr Home sat. In the course of six and a half minutes the table began tremble slightly. This gradually increased, untill it shook so violently that it waß with difficulty we could keep our hands upon it. The tremor was like that of a man in an ague fit, as rapid and as strong. The table was then tilted up, first on one side then on the other, being thus raised about six inches, . so far as I could measure. It was several times so raised on the side where I sat, and where I alone could have so moved it. I need not say that it was not so moved by me. Had it been raised by a force applied on the opposite side, where Mr Home was Bitting, it must have been depressed before me, and not raised there as undoubtedly it was. . After the continuance of these motions for several minutes, the table rose altogether from the floor to a

height of about eighteen inches, preserving its level, so that water in a glass upon it would not have been spilled. It remained for a few seconds floating in the air, and then gently descended, not as a heavy body falls, but sinking slowly down as a balloon descends. I asked if I might be permitted to sit under the table, to assure myself that it was not thus moved, either by mechanism or by the feet of any of the party. Mr Holmes said he not only would allow it, but desired me to do so. Accordingly I seated myself under the table. The full light of the candles was upon me. I could readily read small print. I could see distinctly every foot. I passed my hands round the pedestal and the claws to ascertain if they were touched, or if anything was attached to them. There was nothing. While I was thus sitting, loud rappings were made incessantly upon the leaf of the table as it began to quiver and tilt as before. Presently the table rose altogether from the floor to the height of about two feet. I passed first my arms and then my legs under the suspended claws. Nothing was there ; no feet was near when it began to rise. While it was rising, and when floating, I can affirm most posivitely that no hand or feet touched it below, and the company stated that the hands of all were at that moment lying flat npon the surface of the table. After being suspended in the air for about half a minute, it slowly and gently descended. During the whole of the process my eyes were not removed from it for a moment ; it was quite light, and hand or foot conld not have been used under the table without being seen by me. The A. R. A. then asked permission to do as I had done, and I resumed, my seat at the table. The like tremblings, rappings, and rising in the air took place, and he declared that he could discover no human or mechanical agency. As I was then sitting at the table I can positively assert that during those movements, which he declared were not produced by the feet under the table, every hand, Mr Home 3 included, was lying extended, upon the table, and several inches from the edge of it, for I looked carefully to this to see if the lifting could possibly be caused by hands upon the edge of the table. I Mr Home then told me to desire in my mind, but not to express with my lips, that the table should be light or heavy at option. I wished it to be light. I touched it at the edgo where I sat, and it tilted from the floor as if it had been made of cork, lifting it easily with one finger. Then I wished it to be heavy, and standing upright, and applying both arms and my full strength, I could not raise it from the ground. While doing this I again wished it to be light. This experiment I repeated several times with the same result. It was tried also by others of the company with the like success. While I was trying this the A.R.A. was seated under the table keeping watch. He declared that he could see nothing to account for the alternate levity and weight. When he tried the experiment I took his place under the table, and I am certain that no person touched it but himself, and I could see no mechanism that could alternately lift it up like a cork and bind it down like lead. During the trial of the above experiments there were continual loud and sharp rappings upon the table, upon the musical glasses before us (the notes of which were sharply struck), on the floor, and on the walls of the room. The accordeon had remained untouched upon the table where I had placed it after my careful examination of it. Mr Home took it up, and without removing it from our sight, held it at the end by the forefinger and thumb of one hand only, his other hand being upon the table. Thus held, the instrument expanded by its own weight, the keys being below. In a few seconds the accordeon moved up and down, as when a player plays upon it, and it commenced to play a pretty air that was unknown to me. The music was as if made by an accomplished artist. Sometime before I had heard Mr Blagrove play on that identical instrument in that room, and the skill and expression with which it was now played was quite equal to his. When this had continued for some minutes Mr Home asked me to desire in my mind for some other tune of my own choice. I desired "The Last Rose of Summer," which was played with taste and feeling several times— now the air only, then with a bass ; now heard with the full power of the instrument, now soft, and with the finest thread of sound. After awhile another of the party wished for "Home, Sweet Home," and and that was played in like manner. During this experiment, which continued for nearly half an hour, the instrument was held by Mr Home by the side of his chair, his hand being just below the ledge of the table, but visible to all of us, and his other hasd being extended upon the table. tvt**" Again I asked permission to sit under the table, to watch the position^ and motions of the instrument, and in fact to ascertain, if I could, how it was moved. Consent was readily given, and I placed myself under the table, sitting upon the floor. The candlelight fell full upon the

instrument, which was within reach of my hands. I could see Mr Home's hand holding it at the top by the thumb and forefinger. The instrument was moving up. and down vertically, and the music was \ issuing from it. No other hand was near it ; no foot, nor clothes, nor was there any sign of mechanism above, below, or around it. While I was looking to detect any contrivances, the instrument raised itself from its vertical to a horizontal position, turning its under surface, wherethe keys are, right before my face as I sat, and within a few inches of my eyes ; and in this position the light fell full upon the keys, and I could distinctly see them moving in accordance with the music, the instrument expanding and contracting during the process. Nothing visible to my eyes was touching the keys, nor was any shadow appareut. Some of them executed rapid and very delicate shakes. 1 distinctly saw every moving key during the whole time (about three minutes) that it continued thus to play before me m the horizontal position. It then returned slowly to its vertical position, still playing as before. Mr Home now said, " They are trying to take it away from me. I think they want to give it to you. If it is brought to you, take it ; don't be afraid." But it did not come. Presently he said, " They have taken it away from me j have you got it ?" I said :" No ;it is still where it was." And it was still playing as before, in the same place in the air. The company exclaimed, ♦ ' That can't be— both of Mr Home's hands are on the table;" and Mr Home said, " Yes, here they are," and placed them below the table that I might see them. But the instrument did not move from its place. There it was still in the air as before, playing with great vigor. I extended my leg and passed it under, and passed my hand about it. It was apparently floating in the air. It continued thus for three or four minutes or more, and then descended on the floor. It was taken up by myself and examined. There was no mechanism in or about itAfter I had returned to the table the instrument had played " The Last Rose of Summer," in *he thinnest thread of sound I ever heard. Whils it was thus playing, the lady at my side whispered tome, so low as to be inaudible to any other about us. "No human hand could make such a sound." Instantly there were loud and frequent rappings npon the table and upon the musical glasses. Mr Home said, " They want to communicate something." He asked me to call the alphabet. I did so. The letters were indicated by rappings on the table, on the door, on the musical glasses, and by notes played on the accordion. I had not the slightest conception what words were thus spelled. I wrote each letter on paper as it was indicated, and when completed, I had great difficulty in reading it, for it stood upon my paper thus in capitals : — OURHANDSAREASREALASYOURS. Thus the letters were taken by me— the above is a facsimile. It will be seen that the words are, " Our hands are as real as yours," certainly a pertinent answer to my neighbor's whisper. Mr Home said the manifestations were so powerful this evening that he thought if the candles were extinguished the force by which they were produced might be visible. This was done ; then the room was lighted only by a bright fire, and by the full moon, whose beams streamed in at the window, and fell upon the' table and the party so clearly that every face and ohject was distinctly visible as before — only the light being now the silvery light of the moon instead of the yellow light of candles. Presently Mr Home said that he could see a hand moving round the table, and to what he pointed, and he seemed surprised that we did not see it also. However, none of us could discern anything, either as a form or even as a shadow, covering in its passage any of the objects on the table. Mr Home pointed to the place where, as he declared, he could see it moving. I saw , a Bmall dark object, which moved slowly along, about two inches above our hands. As it passed over my hands, each of them waß struck in succession smartly as by a small twig, and then the lady next to me exclaimed, "Something has been put into my hand." On the candles being relighted, this was found to be a spray of jessamine about five inches long. Another like spray was placed upon the hand of another of the company. On examination it was found that both of these flowers had been taken from a bouquet that was upon a side-table in the adjoining room. I have endeavored to report faithfully what I witnessed. I could discover no fraud, although I availed myself freely of the permission that had been given me to use any means that might occur to me for the detection of imposture. I offer no opinion, for I have formed none, as to the means by which the phenomena I witnessed were produced. My single duty it is to report truly what I saw or heard, leaving the investigation of it to the sagacity of the collective committee.