Exposure of Spiritism.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3166, 12 April 1879, Page 4

Exposure of Spiritism.

(FBOM THE SCOTSMAN.)

Recently a number of well-known citizens of Edinburgh assembled at the Windsor Hotel, ou the invitation of Mr W. Irving Bishop, 8.A., a young American gentleman, for the purpose of witnessing an exposure of the supernatural pretensions of spiritism. We have had such exposures before at the hands of professed conjurors and others; but whereas in those cases the performers were content to tell us that they disavowed spiritual agency, in the present instance the promise was held out of a distinct exposition of the mode of operation. The company, attracted by this offer, and which nearly half filled the large dining saloon of the hotel embraced Principal Sir Alexander Grant, Bart., and Lady Grant, Profeisors Tait, Blackie, Maclagan, Crum-Brown, Rutherford, and Laurie, Archbishop Strain, the Eev. Dr Gray, the Eev. Dr W. C. Smith, Dr Arthur Mitchell, and Dr Batty Tuke. For the I purpose of the seance, the window shutters of the aaloon were closed, and the room lit up with gas. The apparatus to be used occupied a moderate space at one end, and the spectators were seated in row» as near the centre of attraction as their number permitted. Mr Bishop, on entering the room, at once placed himself on a pleasant footing with his visitors by the frank vivacity of his manner. Dr. Arthur Mitchell explained that it was on his suggestion the company had been invited. As one of 'the demonstrations to be given required ' the use ot a galvanometer, it was at first proposed that the seance should be held at the University ; but the room which tad been thought of could not be obtained, although the application was very courteously received by the University 1 authorities1. If the exposition had been given in the University, a certain odour of science might perhaps have been given to the performance; but, after all, if its purpose, was to afford: an addition to ■ knowledge, it could afford to dispense with any such borrowed odour, and its value would be as easily and correctly estimated where they were assembled as it could be elsewhere. Dr. Mitchell went on to indicate the nature of the proposed demonstrations, and said he had urged upon Mr Bishop that he should not attempt any explanation which would not be entirely comprehended by his audience. He understood that the explanations to be proffered were thorough and complete, and such as would entirely remove from the domain of mystery the feats of spiritism. Mr Bishop, in further explaining the object of the seance, said he proposed to show that the pretended marvels of spirit mediums could be performed by one who not only disdained all spiritual help, but who was, from the clear and undoubted evidence of his own senses, an utter non-.believer in so-called spiritism; and he hoped to convince his visitors, as fully as he was convinced himself, that the so-called spirit manifestations were nothing more nor less than cleverly contrived deceptions conceived and performed by human ingenuity alone. Everything, he added, should be done under precisely the same conditions as it. was presented by the mediums. ' On Mr Bishop's suggestion a committee was then nominated, consisting of Professors Eutherford and Crum-Brown, and Dr Arthur Mitchell, to co-operate in and take special cognisance of the progress of the demonstrations. The first point selected for exposition was the galvanometer test applied' to Miss Fay in London, by Professor Crooks, as a means of ascertaining that the medium did not use her hands in producing manifestations. In applying this test, the medium was made to grasp two handles connected with a-galvanic circuit, a galvanometer being so arranged as to indicate, by the position of a ray of light upon an index, whether or not the hold was maintained. With the help of Profossor Tait, it was shown that, by a simple modification of the apparatus, the galvanometer could be so affected as no longer to tell when the handles were let go; anoV, it was easy to see how matters could be so- managed that the medium's ( hands, while supposed to be fast, might be actively employed in working spiritist wonders. Mr Bishop said he had found out the secret, with the help of Mr Eddison's assistant; and Professor .Tait remarked that in what was done there was nothing bat what was understood by those who knew the very elements of electromagnetism. In introducing his next experiment, intended to illustrate what has been called unconscious cerebration, Mr Bishop said he had requested Archbishop Strain alone in a room to write a number of figures on pieces of paper, and also to write down the name of a deceased person; and he proposed to discover those numbers by means of unconscious manifestations on the part of the Archbishop communicated through a length of wire. It was in this ■way that he might explain table-tipping : People placed their hands on the table ; a number hoped it would move; others thought it might move; two or three thought it must move; and when it was asked that the spirits should manifest themselves by tipping the table, by unconscious action of the muscle it was tipped. A stretch of thin wire, some 12ft. of 15ft. > long, was now produced, and Archbishop Strain, having, as directed, grasped one end of it tightly in his left hand, Mr Bishop carried out the other end till the wire was perfectly taut, when, pressing it to his forehead, and fingering it carefully with his right hand, he proceeded to name aloud the numerals one, two, three, &c. This was repeated several times, and in each case a pause was made upon a number which turned out to be one of those which had been written down. The Archbishop, still holding the wire, was now asked if he remembered the name he had written, and having replied in the affirmative, the alphabet was gone Over in tbe same way as the numerals had been, but at first without result. Dr Strain was thereupon requested to concentrate his attention- on the first letter of the person's second name, and this having presumedly been done, the alphabet was again referred to, and the letter S successfully singled out. In the same way C, O, and T were presently announced ; when the Archbishop admitted, to save further trouble, that the name he had written was Walter Scott. Some gentlemen who narrowly watched the experiment believed they could detect a slight tremour of the Archbishop's hand as the letters he had written were called out.

By way of preparation for the next series of experiments, Mr Bishop had strips of strong cotton cloth tied round his wrists, by Professors Eutherford and Crum-Brown, so tight as well nigh to impede the circulation. The bandages were then sewed to his shirt sleeves, and

their ends firmly tied, so as to link the wrists together behind his back at the distance of three or four inches from one another. Another bandage was then tied over the last formed knots, and by its means the hands—Mr Bishop having now seated himself on a low camp stool —were made fast to an iron ring which had been securely attached to the wall. A similar bandage was fastened round the neck, and also secured to the wall in such a way as to leave the head very little freedom of movement; and to complete the operation, the knees and ankles were tied together, the committee certifying that all the knots were such as might be depended upon. A tambourine with some half-dozen hand bells were now laid on Mr Biship's knees, and a curtain drawn by his assistant across the corner in which he sat. Hardly had this been done when the tambourine was jingled, the bells rung, and an impression conveyed of half-a-dozen busy hands being at work. The bells and tambourine were finally tossed over the curtain; and this being presently dropped, there sat Mr Bishp, looking for all the world as if he had never stirred a muscle. Two pieces of wood with a hammer and nails were next laid on a chair beside the performer, and the curtain drawn as before. Within a few seconds a slight clattering noise was heard, followed by the sound of hammering, and on the droping of the curtain a large nail was found to have been driven through both planks, Mr Bishop, of course, looking as if nothing had happened. Attention was next invited to a feat which.it was stated, Dr Eussell Wallace had declared to be impossible. Sitting bound, as above described, Mr Bishop had a strip of cloth similar to those on his wrists placed loosely round his neck, with the ends simply crossed in front. A finger ring was placed between his teeth, and after the curtain had been drawn for a minute or so, he was seen sitting as before, with the bandage tightly tied round_ his neck, and the ring made fast in the knot. As if to show that, no use was made of the hands, a number of pellets of small shot were now placed in each, while at the same time a penny was laid on each foot to betray any movement in that direction. Under these circumstances, Mr Bishop, still remaining tied as before, contrived to placel round his neck a hoop which had been laid upon his knees, and then to plant a large wooden pail, hat-wise, on the top of his head. The shot and pennies were found undisturbed ; as they were also at the close of another feat in which the performer managed to drink the contents of a tumbler which had been left on his knees. The assistant in this case seemed to drop the curtain prematurely, and Mr Bishop was discovered with the tumbler between his teeth, but the greater portion of its contents disposed of. Then came the writing feat, which generally plays so prominent a part in spiritist manifestations. A slate was left on the performer's knees, and a pencil stuck upright between his feet, and after the due scratching noise, commenced within a few seconds after the curtain was drawn, the slate was produced, bearing in a bold, legible hand the words, " Spiritism is a fraud, Katie King."

And now, with the view of exhibiting one of Miss Eay's most notable experiments, Dr .Arthur Mitchell was requested to take his place behind the curtain while a series of manifestations were carried out. Having been blindfolded, the doctor was seated at right angles to Mr Bishop, who still remaiued tied, and was requested to place the left hand on the performer's forehead, and the right on his left hip. When the curtain was drawn only two or three seconds had elapsed when a pipe was played on, a guitar twanged, and other sounds produced, apparently indicating a good deal of active exertion. Dr Mitchell felt himself touched, as if by hands, on the legs, arms, and body, and on being restored to sight found the guitar lying across his shoulder, and his own eye-glass sticking between Mr Bishop's teeth.

The committee having reported the knots all secure, Mr Bishop proceeded to repeat, in full view of the audience, some of the feats he had done behind the curtain. In regard to this part of the performance, we are only at liberty to say that it involved great muscular exertion. Professor Maclagan, who was requested to take note of the performer's physical condition while engaged in it, reported that there was enormous tension of the muscles of the arm, that the pulse was 140 or 180, and going at a tremendous rate ; and the experiment altogether seemed one which he should not like to see a person repeating too often on account of the enormous tension of circulation produced by it. In the course of some conversation which followed, Dr Mitchell remarked that Mr Bishop had said that the things done by Miss Fay he could do; but he had not absolutely asserted that she did them in the way he had indicated. Mr Bishop replied that he absolutely asserted that she did them in the way he had done, because he had seen her do them so.

Attention was here called to the powerful muscular development of Mr Bishop's forearm, a development all the more remarkable as he is a gentleman rather under the medium height and of comparatively light build, and which, associated as it is with a small wrist and hands, has evidently much to do with his success in the feats he undertakes to perform. After showing his dexterity in getting rid of his coat while his wrists were to all appearance firmly tied with tape to the back of his cbair, he now proposes to close the demonstrations with an exhibiton, under which be considered more crucial conditions, of certain manifestations which had been produced in private seances by Mrs Fairland. He used, he said, no confederates whatever, and he should produce out ef the corner of the room an old man and a young lady who had been dead about a hundred years, and who being in search of her affinity, gentlemen had better be careful as she wandered round. A narrow open fronted cabinet was forthwith produced, and the performer having taken his seat within, had his hands secured with tapes passed through holes in the back and firmly tied. A net was then drawn over the whole and fastened with a cord, the free end of which was nailed to the floor. The gas having been turned down and the curtain drawn as before, the usual manifestations with bell and tambourine forthwith commenced, and undefined objects appeared from time to over the top of the screen. Presently there rose a venerable, grey-bearded figure in white robes, who raised his hands as if pronouncing a benediction, and then ducked down again. A minute or two more, and a female form, robed in white, and with copious hair streaming down her back, slipped out from behind the curtain,

paused for a moment, and, with courteous salutation slipped back again. When the gas was turned on again, Mr Bishop was found fast under his netting with a handbell between his teeth; and ho lost no time in explaining to his astonished audience how simply the apparent marvels had been produced. At the close of the performance, Professor Maclagan proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Bishop, remarking that the company had been very much delighted with all that he had made known. Mr Bishop having briefly acknowledged the compliment, the company dispersed. Public demonstrations were given on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.