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BUCHANAN'S
JOURNAL OF MAN.
VOL. I. APRIL, 1887. NO. 3.
CONTENTS OF JOURNAL OF MAN.
Psychometry: The Divine Science
A Modern Miracle-Worker
Human Longevity
Justice to the Indians
MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE--Anatomy of the Brain; Mesmeric Cures;
Medical Despotism; The Dangerous Classes; Arbitration; Criticism
on the Church; Earthquakes and Predictions
Chapter II. Of Outlines of Anthropology; Structure of the Brain
Business Department, College of Therapeutics
PSYCHOMETRY: THE DIVINE SCIENCE.
It is presumed that every reader of these pages has some knowledge of
this subject, either by reading the "Manual of Psychometry" or
otherwise, and has at least read the "Introduction to the JOURNAL OF
MAN" on our cover pages.
It is not of the directly practical bearings of Psychometry that I
would speak at present, but of its imperial rank among sciences,
entitling it to the post of honor.
In all human affairs, that takes the highest rank which has the
greatest controlling and guiding power. The king, the statesman, the
hero, the saintly founder of a religion, the philosopher that guides
the course of human thought, and the scientist who gives us a greater
command of nature, are the men whom we honor as the ministers of
destiny.
When we speak of science, we accord the highest rank to that which
gives the greatest comprehension of the world as it is--of its past
and of its future. Geology and astronomy are the sciences which reach
out into the illimitable alike in the present and past. Biology will
do the same for the world of life when biology is completed by a
knowledge of the centre of all life, the brain. But in its present
acephalous condition it is but a fragment of science--a headless
corpse, unfit to rank among complete sciences. Theology claims the
highest rank of all, but based as it has been on the conceptions
current in the dark ages, it has become, in the light of modern
science, a crumbling ruin. Does psychometry compare with astronomy and
geology in its scientific rank, or does it compare with the acephalous
biology, which occupies all medical colleges?
It compares with neither. Like astronomy, it borders on the limitless;
like geology, it reaches into the vast, undefined past; and like
biology, it comprehends all life science; but unlike each, it has no
limitation to any sphere. It is equally at home with living forms and
with dead matter--equally at home in the humbler spheres of human life
and human infirmity, and in the higher spheres of the spirit world,
which we call heaven. It grasps all of biology, all of history, all of
geology and astronomy, and far more than telescopes have revealed. It
has no parallel in any science, for sciences are limited and defined
in their scope, while psychometry is unlimited, transcending far all
that collegians have called science, and all that they have deemed the
limits of human capacities, for in psychometry the divinity in man
becomes apparent, and the intellectual mastery of all things lifts
human life to a higher plane than it has ever known before.
Psychometry is therefore in its nature and scope not classifiable
among the sciences, since it reaches out above and beyond all, in a
higher and broader sphere, and hence may truly be called the Divine
science, for it is the expression of the Divine element in man.
Wherein is Divine above human knowledge? And wherein is human above
animal knowledge and understanding? The superiority in each case
consists in a deeper and more interior comprehension of that which is,
which realizes in the present the potentiality of the future, enabling
us to act for future results and accomplish whatever is possible to
our powers. That forecast, that comprehension through the present of
that which is to be, constitutes foresight,--the essential element of
wisdom; and in its grander manifestations it appears as prophecy.
Prophecy, then, is the noblest aspect of psychometry; and if this
prophetic power can be cultivated to its maximum possibilities, there
is no reason why it should not become the guiding power of each
individual life, and the guiding power for the destiny of nations.
Moreover, in its prophetic role its superiority of rank is manifest,
since it is then the instructor of all hearers,--the revealer of that
in which they readily confess their ignorance.
Hence it was that St. Paul especially recommended the cultivation of
prophecy as the most sacred and Divine of all religious exercises,
saying, in 1 Corinthians xiv. 21-25: "If therefore the whole church be
come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there
come in those who are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say ye
are mad? But _if all prophesy_, and there come in one that believeth
not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling
down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you
of a truth." This is a description of a congregation in which all are
developed up to a psychometric and spiritual condition in which the
truths of religion and the ministry of angels may have full power.
Wherever the highest order of religious sentiment is in active
operation, prophecy becomes one of its results. It was so in Jewish
history, and has been so in many eventful periods since.
George Fox had the most exalted religious sentiment of his time, and
he had an eminently prophetic mind. All nations have had prophetic
minds and well-attested prophecies. Egypt and India, Greece, Rome,
France, England, and America, have their recorded prophecies, and in
the height of ancient civilization prophecy commanded sufficient
respect to influence the course of public events. Cicero expressed the
general intelligence of the ancients in recognizing prophecy as a
power of the human soul.
Modern materialism has ignored all this, and one of the noblest works
to-day for a man of genius whose mind is sufficiently vigorous to
throw off the trammels of collegiate ignorance and fashionable
conservatism, would be to produce a volume upon prophecy, in which its
vast historic development should be sketched.
The limitations of the JOURNAL OF MAN do not permit me to introduce
this historic matter which would be sufficient to exclude everything
else from its pages, and I would merely refer to an almost forgotten
example of the intuitive and prescient faculty connected with the
introduction of Universalism into this country.
A worthy and pious farmer on the seacoast of Delaware, named Potter,
built a church at his own expense, but having an advanced idea of the
Divine benevolence, he could never find any preacher whose doctrines
suited him. Nevertheless he was profoundly convinced that such a
preacher would be sent to realize his hopes, and was not discouraged
by the disbelief of his neighbors. His anticipation was strangely
fulfilled. Rev. John Murray, almost crazed by the death of his wife,
sailed from England for America in 1770, intending to abandon the
pulpit entirely. The vessel put in at Philadelphia instead of New
York, and as the stage for New York had left, Mr. Murray concluded to
remain on the vessel and go to New York that way. But on the voyage
they got lost in the fog, and got into Cranberry Inlet in a dangerous
position. They went ashore, being out of provisions, and found a
country tavern. Mr. Murray strolled along the coast, intending to get
fish for the crew, and fell into company with Farmer Potter, who had a
supply, and who at once told him, to his astonishment, that he was
glad to meet him, and had been looking for him a long time. Potter
decided at once that this was the minister he had been looking for,
and of whom he had often spoken when telling his neighbors, "God will
send me a preacher of a very different stamp from those who have
heretofore preached in my house; that God who has put it into my heart
to build this house will send one who shall deliver to me His own
truth, who shall speak of Jesus Christ and His salvation." Potter
briefly sketched his own life and said:
"The moment I beheld your vessel on shore, it seemed as if a voice had
suddenly sounded in my ears: 'There, Potter, in that vessel cast away
on that shore is the preacher you have been so long expecting.' I
heard the voice and I believed the report; and when you came up to my
door and asked for the fish, the same voice seemed to repeat, 'Potter,
this is the man, this is the person whom I have sent to preach in your
house.'"
Murray says: "I was astonished, immeasurably astonished at Mr.
Potter's narrative, but yet I had not the smallest idea that it could
ever be realized. I requested to know what he could discover in my
appearance which could lead him to mistake me for a preacher." "What,"
said he, "could I discover when you were in the vessel that could
induce this conclusion? No sir, it is not what I saw or see, but what
I feel, which produces in my mind a full conviction." "But, my dear
sir, you are deceived, indeed you are deceived. I shall never preach
in this place nor anywhere else."
Potter maintained that he had preached and that he would preach in his
church, and that the wind would not allow him to leave until he had.
To shorten the story, Murray at last yielded and preached in that
church, of which we have a picture in his biography. He had a great
fear of giving out the doctrine of universal salvation, expecting
universal denunciation of himself by the clergy and their followers,
but he went on from this beginning and established Universalism in
America.
In this instance it is evident that Potter was of a spiritual
temperament, and was indebted to a spirit influence for his
impressions and convictions. But whatever is possible to the
disembodied spirit in the intellectual way is also possible to the
embodied spirit which has not lost its material body, if the interior
faculties are well developed and prophecy does not require supernal
aid. In innumerable cases mesmeric subjects, in their somniloquent
condition, have made most accurate predictions in reference to their
own cases and others, which have been accurately verified. There is
probably no good clairvoyant physician who has not often made
successful predictions concerning patients.
In the daily practice of psychometry, Mrs. Buchanan, of whose powers
the "Manual of Psychometry" gives a fair idea, is accustomed in
speaking of the present to feel impressions of the past and the
future. In reference to public men she has spoken in advance of their
election or defeat, their policy and their death. She spoke
prophetically of the election of Cleveland and the defeat of Blaine,
of the deaths of Disraeli and Garibaldi, of the career of Gladstone
and his becoming "the best friend of Ireland;" and when Ireland was
believed to be on the brink of a bloody revolution or rebellion, she
announced that no such outbreak would occur, but that at the end of
two years Ireland would be pacified and quiet. At the end of two years
this was verified, for the magistrates commented on the fact at that
time that there were fewer crimes of violence before them than had
been customary.
I have learned to rely on this prescience, and in reference to public
men and public affairs, when they interested me, have satisfied my
curiosity by the psychometric method.
For twelve months past the newspaper press and the statesmen of Europe
and America have been continually agitated by apprehensions of a great
European war, and have made numerous estimates of the power of
belligerents and the result of the contest. France and Germany have
been expected to engage in a fatal conflict, and even a noted public
medium has fallen in with these ideas and predicted a coming war this
year.
I have kept the record of public opinion, and from time to time have
invoked the aid of psychometry, which has dissipated every fear and
contradicted all the pessimistic notions of politicians and newspaper
correspondents down to the present time.
On the 26th of January I recorded the psychometric impressions, again
in February, and again on the 11th of March. The psychometer answers
questions or discusses subjects by impression alone, not knowing what
is under her hand, but expressing what arises in her mind. The first
impression, January 26, was as follows:
"It looks misty, but the finale looks bright. The result of this,
whatever it is, will be a grand success or achievement--good will
result. There is a dissatisfaction or rivalry on a very large
scale--very momentous--is it war? There is agitation and blustering."
_Q._--How will it be in the summer?
"There will not be war. There is a growing contention, like growling,
angry dogs; they may keep up growling for a year, but it will be
nothing; there will be good coming out of it--a better understanding;
this experience will elevate the views of the people; they will see
the folly, and not be so belligerent. _There will be no war_ this
summer."
What was the drift of opinion, however, as shown by the press? The
correspondent of the New York _Sun_ said: "Everybody talks of war as a
sure thing which must soon appear somewhere. The work of getting ready
for the fray, of which I have often sent details, goes steadily on."
M. Thibaudin "hopes for peace, as do all other diplomats trained and
admired for their ability to say what they don't think; and finally he
announces that France is ready to fight whenever the time comes."
January 29 he writes: "The _Daily News_ war scare which shook us up
early in the week seems not to have exhausted its disquieting
influence yet." "France and Germany are looked upon as certain to lead
off the ball, and Germany, it is generally thought, will be found at
the head of the set and take the initiative. Preparations for a big
fight continue in every direction." "Russia, if we can believe the
tales from that unreliable country, is quietly making preparations on
a tremendous scale to have her paw fall heavily on somebody."
The French _Revue des Deux Mondes_ said about this time that a war
between France and Germany would almost inevitably lead to a general
European war, on a scale such as the world has never before seen.
The Russian _Viedomosti_ of February 5 said: "No compromise is
possible between Russia and Austria concerning Eastern affairs,
without detriment to Russia and the Eastern races. German intervention
is useless, and will only create hostility between Russia and
Germany."
The Boston _Herald_ correspondent of February 5, said of France and
Germany: "Now both are counted as among the most civilized and most
humanitarian on the face of the globe, and yet the _certainty of war_
between the two hereditary enemies on either side of the Rhine is _as
certain as anything can be_. When it comes, be it sooner or later, one
of the two adversaries is inevitably condemned, if not to total
annihilation, at least to such a crushing punishment that for many
long years the defeated power will be little more than a geographical
expression on modern maps." His letter concluded with an elaborate
statement of the military resources and condition of the two nations,
which approximate an equality in the aggregate.
A Paris dispatch of the same date said that "Prince Bismarck has
succeeded in establishing a coalition between Austria, England, and
Italy against Russia. Germany will join the coalition if France
supports Russia."
The New York _Sun_ of February 7, said: "We suppose there is no
subject which just now is more earnestly discussed among intelligent
Americans than the probable result of the war between France and
Germany which is believed to be approaching. France ought by this time
to have outstripped her enemy in point of military efficiency. She has
laid out since 1871 nearly twice as much on her permanent armament,
and she devotes nearly twice as much to the current military expenses
of each year. She has maintained a larger peace establishment, and she
should have it in her power to bring to the field a larger number of
soldiers who have served under the colors."
February 10 the Paris correspondent of the Berlin _Post_ said that
General Boulanger was growing in popularity, and "is regarded by the
masses as the long-expected liberator. The whole country is anxious
for _revanche_ [revenge], and is arming silently, but with the evident
belief that the hour is coming." To add to the growing hostility, the
_Post_ quotes from the Paris _Figaro_ an article imputing the grossest
immorality to German women.
At the same date, the Buda Pesth _Journal_ urged Austria to attack
Russia before the latter has completed her preparations on the lower
Danube. It said: "_War is inevitable_, and it is better to begin
fighting before the Balkan states have been Russianized."
Senor Castillo, the Spanish minister of the interior, said that Spain
had taken steps to augment her defences and protect her colonies, in
view of the possible European war.
February 12 a despatch to the London _News_ from St. Petersburg said:
"Ominous fears of a European war prevail here. It is announced that
German colonists in the Caucasus have been notified to hold themselves
in readiness to return to Germany and join the reserves."
At the same date the _North German Gazette_ said that since General
Boulanger had assumed charge of the French war office not a day had
passed without measures being taken to augment the offensive strength
of the army, and there were constant movements of troops upon the
frontiers.
February 19 the news was still more alarming at Berlin. Work was going
on night and day on the fortifications at Verdun and Belfort. "All
commerce has been suspended at Metz, excepting in food. The
inhabitants are storing their houses from cellar to garret." A Russian
paper of that date said, "Existing circumstances admit of no delay."
At Vienna, February 18, it was announced that "a semi-official letter
from St. Petersburg represents that Russia is waiting for a
Franco-German conflict, _which she considers inevitable_, to realize
her own Balkan projects. Russia would consider it to be to her own
interest not to allow Germany to be victorious."
February 19 Senator Beck at Washington referred to an extract from a
late speech of Count von Moltke before the German Reichstag, to show
that _war is inevitable_.
February 27 the London despatch to the _Boston Herald_ said: "Within
the last forty-eight hours confidence in the maintenance of peace has
visibly lessened."
About the same time in Russian government circles the conviction was
said to be gaining ground that a Franco-German war was inevitable, and
that it would be for the interest of Russia to save France from
disaster.
March 6 the _North German Gazette_ said that the Alsace elections had
strengthened the war party in France. War seems to have been the
general anticipation of military men. General Wolseley (February 26)
is reported to have said: "I feel sure that a vast, appalling war is
certainly in the near future; but this, indeed, everybody may be said
to know."
But "everybody" is as liable to be mistaken on questions of futurity
as on questions of philosophy and religion, on which the multitude
called "everybody" has been largely mistaken ever since the earliest
periods known to history. "Everybody" is generally pessimistic, apt to
be superstitious, and never philosophic. A single good psychometric
perception is worth much more than Mr. Everybody's opinion, whether
upon national policy, personal character, historical truth, or medical
science.
The psychometric opinion is the opposite of that of General Wolseley
and Senator Beck, for the psychometric soul is in the calm sphere of
truth, in which the passions have no deceiving power. I have already
published in the "Manual of Psychometry" the prediction of universal
peace at the end of five years from the prophecy, and I now repeat the
statement that great Franco-German war is but the fantasy of passion
and fear. The last psychometric expression, March 11, confirms the
uniform statements heretofore. Upon the question "What of the war in
Europe?" this was the impression:
"This seems a question of occurrences. I seem to disagree with other
people on this question. It does not seem to me that it will occur. If
there are any prognostications, they are _intensified_. The result
will not be what is predicted. There is something like a foreshadowing
that might cause a prediction, but it will pass over. There is a good
deal of agitation and concern, but nothing will occur this year as
apprehended. I feel that it will all subside, and a picture of
brightness and a clear sky appears. The fire will burn out; the
boiling caldron which sends up steam will be quiet; _a peaceful time
is coming_."
When the JOURNAL shall have a little more space, for _it must be
enlarged_, and psychometry is a little better understood, I propose to
establish a prophetic department, and speak to my readers of coming
events.
(From the _Pall Mall Gazette_, London, Jan. 12.)
A MODERN MIRACLE WORKER.
AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. GEORGE MILNER STEPHEN.
Every one knows Sir James Fitzjames Stephen; most people have heard of
Mr. Leslie Stephen--the two most distinguished members of the Stephen
family resident in this country. The Stephen clan, however, is
widespread, and there are eminent Stephens scattered all over the
world. "Any Stephen," said Mr. Froude in his "Oceanea," "could not
fail to be interesting." Sir Alfred Stephen, the deputy governor of
New South Wales, is declared by Mr. Froude to be regarded as the
greatest Australian, by nine out of every ten of the people of Sydney.
But the judicial renown of Fitzjames, the literary fame of Leslie, and
the colonial reputation of Sir Alfred, all pale their ineffectual
fires before the marvellous claims of George Milner Stephen, across
whom Mr. Froude stumbled in New Zealand, and who has now turned up
unexpectedly in London. He is, as Mr. Froude said, a very noticeable
person. In fact, he is a thaumaturgist of the first order. While his
relatives in the old country have devoted all the energy of their
intellect to demonstrate the absurdity of all the superstitions built
upon any arbitrary interference with the invariable laws of nature,
their kinsman George Milner suddenly displays at the antipodes a gift
of healing which, if the veracious records of colonial and American
newspapers can be relied upon, rivals the most famous exploits of
apostolic times. Not, indeed, that George Milner has yet raised the
dead to life. That is beyond his powers. But all the minor marvels,
such as making the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak,
and the lame to walk, are accomplished by him in the ordinary course
of his daily practice. Although this miracle-working Stephen is a
physician whose patients are healed by the touch, he is nevertheless a
physician practising the healing art like other eminent
authorities--for the prescribed fee of the ordinary medical
practitioners. The only difference is that whereas the ordinary
physician attends his patient daily for weeks and sometimes months,
Mr. Stephen's course, if a course at all, ends at the latest in three
visits, and the charges, therefore, are correspondingly low. Two
guineas for consultation fee, one guinea each subsequent visit, or
four guineas at the outside, are to be regarded as his retaining fee;
but in those cases--and they are said to constitute a large proportion
of those submitted to him--in which he effects a complete cure he
naturally expects to be remembered by the grateful patient whom he has
restored to health. This, however, by the way. In response to an
invitation to the _Pall Mall Gazette_ office, Mr. George Milner
Stephen described to a member of our staff with much detail the nature
of his work. It is a sufficiently marvelous story to arouse attention,
even on the part of the incredulous; and the unbelieving authorities
owe it to the public to institute a series of investigations into
their relative's claims, in order that he may either be claimed as the
master healer of his age, or summarily prosecuted as a rogue and
vagabond, who is obtaining money under false pretences. It is
monstrous that a gentleman of his rank and position should be allowed
to go at large, making such enormous claims of quasi-supernatural
powers, without having them promptly brought to the most rigorous of
scientific tests.
Mr. George Milner Stephen is a man of wide and varied culture, of
great experience in affairs, and has spent his life in public service
of the most varied kind. Brought up to the bar, he has been a trained
lawyer all his life. He has been acting-governor of South Australia;
he refused the colonial secretaryship of New Zealand; he has been
official draftsman for the colony of Victoria; he has held the balance
of power in more than one colony; and in the colony of New South
Wales, at the time when he suddenly discovered his miraculous powers,
he was leading counsel on circuit, and in receipt of one of the
largest professional incomes of any lawyer at the antipodes. Nor was
his training solely colonial. He had repeatedly visited England, and
had been called to our bar. He takes a keen interest in mineralogical
science, and in the course of his career has exhibited on more than
one occasion great personal bravery and indomitable nerve. That such a
man, so highly connected, so carefully trained, with the intellect of
a lawyer and the experience of a statesman, should be in our midst
claiming to be endowed with the gift of healing spoken of in the New
Testament as vouchsafed to the Christians of apostolic times, is a
portent indeed, and one well worthy of the attentive consideration of
the most sceptical among us.
"It was six and a half years ago," said Mr. Stephen in reply to a
question, "that I first discovered that I possessed this gift of
healing--it was by pure accident. A friend who suffered from deafness
jokingly appealed to me to give him back his hearing. I, also in joke,
made some passes over his head, when to my utter astonishment I
discovered that his deafness disappeared. One experiment of this kind
led to another, and in a short time I found myself overwhelmed with
patients of high and low degree, begging me to heal them of their
diseases. For three months after the discovery of my gift the sudden
influx of patients who would not be denied left me no time to attend
to my practice; and, willy nilly, I was compelled to give up the law
and take to medicine--if you may call by the name of medicine a
profession in which no medicine is given."
"Then do you use no medicine at all?"
"None whatever. The nearest approach to medicine that I ever gave to a
patient is a little magnetized ointment--that is, camphorated lard,
and a little magnetized oil. But it is only occasionally that I use
these. Neither do I use passes, although it was by the use of passes
that I first discovered that I possessed this gift."
"But how do you proceed?"
"Variously. Sometimes I lay my hand upon the part affected; at other
times I breathe into the eye, ear, or mouth of the patient. Then,
again, on other occasions I am able to banish the disease by a mere
word or gesture."
"Are you a mesmerist or a magnetic healer?"
"Mesmerist I am not; for mesmerism implies the throwing of the patient
into a mesmeric sleep. Neither am I a magnetist, properly so called,
for there is no outgoing of magnetism from my body when I am healing.
The ordinary magnetist admits that he cannot cure more than four
persons per diem; I have cured as many as thirty, and beyond the
weariness caused by standing, I have been no worse at the end than at
beginning."
"How do you explain these miracles?"
"I don't call them miracles. They are marvels, and I cannot explain
them. All that I know is that I have gone through the Australian
colonies, New Zealand, and many of the States in America, and that
wherever I have gone the same effect followed. At my touch, diseases
and defects declared incurable by the first physicians of the faculty,
disappear. I remember well healing Sir James Martin, the chief justice
of New South Wales. Six years ago he was given up by the doctors and
declared to be dying, breathing with great difficulty, and hardly able
to speak without pain. I laid my hand upon his chest, and in a few
minutes all difficulty of breathing disappeared, he was able to speak
freely, and in a short time he had completely recovered. He resumed
his seat upon the bench, and remained a hale, active man till his
death, which occurred just the other day. That is only one case out of
many."
"How many?"
"I think I have been the means of healing about 30,000 patients in the
six and a half years during which I have devoted my time to the work.
Of course many of those patients were suffering from diseases which
might have been cured by ordinary means. Others were declared to be
incurable."
"Declared to be incurable by whom?"
"By the chief physicians in the colonies. I have in my
pocket"--producing the papers as he spoke--"certificates signed by the
witnesses, attested sometimes by magistrates, and at other times by
ministers of religion and colonial ministers, that the person named in
the certificate has received instantaneous relief by my touch. Here is
one in which a person stone-blind from birth received sight when I
blew into his eyes."
"Then do you cure all diseases?"
"Certainly not. There are many things which I cannot do. I cannot
raise the dead, nor can I restore an arm which has been cut off, a
joint which has been excised, or an eye which has been destroyed. When
there has been complete destruction of any important organ I cannot
effect a cure; but when destruction of the organ has not been
complete, I am frequently able to effect a cure in cases which the
regular faculty have given up as utterly hopeless."
"Take cancer, for instance: can you cure that?"
"I have treated some cases with remarkable success; but of course I
can do so only when the cancer has not eaten too far into the vital
organism of the sufferer. I have treated some thirty cancer cases, the
cure in all being complete. The treatment was that of laying my hands
over the part affected, anointing with a little magnetized ointment,
and sometimes the injection of magnetized oil. Beyond that I do
nothing. I have here records of ten cures of cancer in all parts of
the body. If you will glance over the accounts, described by the
newspapers at the time when they occurred, or copies of the
certificates which I leave with you, you will see that there is almost
no limit to the variety of the cures which I have been able to
effect."
"That is all very well, Mr. Stephen, but you will not make converts by
newspaper extracts. The point is this: Will you consent to submit your
gift to a practical test?"
"Certainly," said he; "I have already written to Sir Baldwin Leighton,
asking him if he can place me in communication with the governors of
deaf, dumb, and blind asylums, in order that I may be able to try my
powers upon the patients of those institutions. I am quite satisfied
that if I am allowed a fair opportunity of trying the effect of my
healing touch, ten out of every hundred of the inmates of these
asylums will receive their sight, or regain their speech and hearing.
I ask for no payment: I simply request that in these institutions
which are maintained by the public charity for the relief of helpless
sufferers, and where, therefore, there can be no collusion or any
suspicion of trickery or fraud, I should be allowed to lay my hands
upon the eyes or the ears of the inmates. I can do them no harm; and I
am perfectly sure that in at least ten per cent of the cases I shall
be able to give great if not entire relief."
"This is all very well; but before you can expect the governors of
public institutions to allow you to touch their inmates there must be
a preliminary illustration of your power. Otherwise they would say
justly that they would be over-run with quacks, all of whom might wish
to try a patent nostrum upon the unfortunate 'inmates of public
institutions.'"
"Very well," said Mr. Stephen, "I am willing to submit my gift to the
most stringent test which your scientific sceptics can suggest. I am
willing to give an exhibition of my power under any test, in the
presence of any picked number of sceptics whom you may nominate, and
you may bring there half a dozen cases of disease certified by the
faculty as incurable. Of course you will not bring sufferers whose
complaints are manifestly beyond my power to cure. As I said before, I
make no claim to restore organs that are destroyed, but there is a
sufficiently wide category in the complaints 'that flesh is heir to'
to afford you an ample choice of half a dozen typical incurable cases.
When the deaf, dumb, lame, and otherwise suffering persons whom you
wish experimented on have been brought and are in the presence of
those whom you shall name, I will undertake to effect an immediate
improvement in the condition of, say, four out of the six. It will
probably become a complete cure on the second or third visit. I seldom
or never see a patient more than thrice."
"Well, that seems fair. You have no objection to my publishing this
offer in the _Pall Mall Gazette_?"
"None. I make no profession to any skill. I can only exercise a power
which I discovered quite accidentally was vested in me. The limits of
that I can ascertain only by experience. I am perfectly willing to
have that power subjected to the severest tests which you can suggest,
and I have no doubt at all, from the invariable experience of the last
six years, that cures will be effected for which no existing
scientific hypothesis can adequately account."
The _Gazette_ says in another column:--"We commend the challenge of
Mr. George Milner Stephen, which we publish in another column, to the
special attention of all interested in the exposure of popular
delusion. Here is an educated English barrister of unimpeachable
character, who has rendered no little service to the state, informing
all the faculty that he can heal patients whom they have dismissed as
incurable, by merely breathing on them or touching them. In an
ordinary, unknown, vulgar charlatan this challenge might have passed
unnoticed. In the case of the Australian cousin of Mr. Justice
Fitzjames Stephen it must be treated more seriously. We invite
communications from our scientific readers as to the best way of
putting our visitor to the test."
Scores of American healers do similar works to those of Dr. G. M.
Stephen, but the fashionable press ignores them because they have not
wealth and social position. The JOURNAL OF MAN will endeavor to do
them justice. In all such cases, in which the healing power is
inexhaustible, we know that it is replenished from spiritual sources.
Dr. Stephen exercises a little policy in not mentioning the spiritual
source of his power. Godless science and dead sectarianism recoil from
spirit life. No human constitution contains an inexhaustible fountain
of life--the fountain is above, and fortunate are they who can reach
it.
HUMAN LONGEVITY.
The possibility of long life, illustrated in the first number of this
JOURNAL, may easily be corroborated by referring to numerous examples;
but the fact that the nobler qualities of human nature are the most
efficient promoters of longevity is our most important lesson, and it
is illustrated by the superior longevity of women. He is a misanthrope
who does not recognize their superior virtue, and he is a poor
statesman who does not wish to see that virtue imparted to our
political life, and who does not recognize the importance of giving to
woman the most perfect intellectual and industrial education, that she
may be self supporting. The British census show that there are 948,000
more women than men in Great Britain. The _St. James Gazette_ says:--
"Prof. Humphry of Cambridge has prepared a series of tables which
contain some interesting information about centenarians. Of 52 persons
whom he mentions, at least 11--2 males and 9 females--actually
attained the age of 100. Others attained very nearly to the hundred
years. Only one of the persons reached 108 years, while one died at
the alleged age of 106. Of the 52 persons, 36 were women and 16 men.
Out of the 36 women 26 had been married, and 11 had borne large
families. Of the 26 who had been wives, 8 had married before they were
20, 1 at 16, and 2 at 17.
"Twelve of the fifty-two centenarians were discovered to have been the
eldest children of their parents. This fact, adds Dr. Humphry, does
not agree with popular notions that first children inherit a
feebleness of constitution, nor with the opinion of racing stables,
which is decidedly against the idea that 'firstlings' are to be
depended on for good performances on the course. The centenarians
generally regarded were of spare build. Gout and rheumatism were as a
rule, absent. 'It seems,' says Prof. Humphry, 'that the frame which is
destined to great age needs no such prophylactics, and engenders none
of the peccant humors for which the finger joints (as in gout) may
find a vent.'
"Of the fifty-two aged people, twenty-four only had no teeth, the
average number of teeth remaining being four or five. Long hours of
sleep were notable among these old people, the period of repose
averaging nine hours; while out-of-door exercise in plenty and early
rising are to be noted among the factors of a prolonged life. One of
the centenarians 'drank to excess on festive occasions:' another was a
'free beer drinker,' and 'drank like a fish during his whole life.'
Twelve had been total abstainers for life or nearly so, and mostly all
were 'small meat eaters.'"
The oldest woman in Austria at this time is Magdalene Ponza, who is
112. "She was born at Wittingau, Bohemia, in 1775, when Maria Theresa
sat on the Austrian throne. George III. had then been but 15 years
King of England, Louis XVI. who had ruled a little more than a
twelvemonth in France, was still in the heyday of power, the
Independence of the United States of America had not yet been
declared, Napoleon and Arthur Wellesley were as yet but six years old.
Magdalene Ponza retains full possession of her mental faculties.
Unfortunately she can only speak the Czech language, and she can
neither read nor write. However, she answers questions briskly enough
through the youngest of her surviving grandchildren, herself a woman
of 60. Magdalene Ponza's age is authenticated by the outdoor relief
certificate of the Viennese Municipality."
Of American centenarians we have a number, some of whom are still
living. Harrisonville, New Jersey, has two, Michael Potter and
Bartholomew Coles. Polly Wilcox of Hope Valley, R. I., celebrated her
centennial last year; so did Jane Wilcox of Edgecomb, Maine, while she
had a sister 94, and a daughter 81. Old Auntie Scroggins, of Forsyth
Co., Georgia, is now 104 years old, and is still one of the most
effective shouters of the Methodist Church to which she has belonged
94 years.
Miss Phebe Harrod, of Newburyport, Mass., celebrated her centennial
last year. She still takes a lively interest in passing events.
Grandmother Sarah Drew, at Halifax, celebrated her centennial a year
ago. Her constant companion is an old Bible which has been in the Drew
family for 250 years.
Mrs. Triphene Bevans, of Danbury, Mass., held a lively centennial
reception in the parlors of the West Street Church, April 14, 1886.
Her health, hearing and speech were good, and her step brisk. She
attributes her age and good health to good habits and allowing nothing
to trouble or worry her. She has always been a strict church member.
William Waterman, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is said to be 109 years old.
It is said he "is a Methodist, uses liquor and tobacco, and finds no
fault with the world."
Joseph O'Neal of Barnesville, Georgia, might have been living still if
he had not been frozen to death last winter, at the age of 107, in a
sudden blizzard. He was a negro, and had over 200 descendants.
Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, of Reading, Penn., who had lived a century,
might be still living if she had not been killed last year, while
walking on the railroad track.
Of those who overrun the century, we might mention further, Simon
Harras, who died in Putnam Co., Indiana, last January, aged 109. His
memory was good to the last.
Mrs. Elizabeth Small, relict of Dr. Samuel Small, at Lewiston, Maine,
had passed her hundredth birthday a few weeks, when she died of
apoplexy; and Mrs. Susan Phillips, of Wilson Creek, N. C., died last
year just as she finished her century.
Nathan, formerly slave of Benj. W. Bodie, died last year in
Mississippi, Talbot Co., aged 107.
Christopher Mann, of Independence, Missouri, died last year, aged 111.
The oldest of all, and probably the oldest minister in the world, is
Rev. Thos. Tenant, of Vineyard Township, Arkansas, an itinerant
Methodist preacher, born in 1771, now in his 116th year.
Mr. Edward Gentry told a more remarkable story at Indianapolis, last
July. He was at the governor's office, and gentlemen were guessing at
his age. None supposed him over fifty; but he said he had a son
fifty-two years old, and was himself seventy-eight. He added: "My
doctor has given me a fifty years' longer lease on my life, barring
accidents. My father is 128 and is still living. My mother died at the
age of 117, and her mother lived to the same age." Mr. Gentry is of
English birth.
Perhaps the best specimen of family health is that of the Atkinson
family of Gloucester, Mass. Nine children were born, and all lived.
The first death in the family was a few weeks ago, when John Atkinson
died, aged eighty-four. When he died the ages of the nine amounted to
703 years.
Aunt Dinah John, the oldest Indian at the Onondaga reservation died in
May, 1884, aged 109.
About ten years ago, when Governor Seymour was about to make an
address at an Indian fair on the Onondaga reservation, Aunt Dinah
walked upon the platform and asked to be introduced to him.
Mr. Gardner said, "Governor Seymour, this is Aunt Dinah, who wants to
become acquainted with you."
"Oh, no; him get acquainted with me," Aunt Dinah explained. "Me know
him before he know anybody. Many years ago me go to Pompey Hill, his
father's grocery. Governor's father say: 'My squaw very sick.' I ask,
'What matter?' His father say, 'Go in and see for yourself.' He go
into a room; see a little pappoose about a foot long." Then moving
toward Governor Seymour, and pointing her finger at him, she said:
"That pappoose was you, Governor Seymour, born that night."
Aunt Dinah called frequently at Mr. Seymour's and took especial
delight in rocking the cradle and showering caresses in her native
fashion upon the future Governor of the State.
About three years ago she became blind, and has since been kept at her
home on the Onondaga reservation. She retained her faculties to the
last. Her husband died thirty years ago. Her dying request was that
the pagan ceremony be first observed and afterward the Christian
ritual.
What are we to reckon, says the _Home Journal_, as the declining
period of man's existence? The point at which old age taps us on the
shoulder, and says it comes to keep us company, varies with every
individual. It depends a great deal on circumstances, which are hardly
the same in any two cases. Some writers have said that a man is old at
forty-five, others have set down seventy as the normal standard. Dr.
John Gardner, who has written on "Longevity," remarks: "Long
observation has convinced me that sixty-three is an age at which the
majority of persons may be termed old, and as a general rule we may
adopt this as the epoch of the commencing decline of life."
Suppose then we agree to call no man old till he is past sixty-three.
Let us set down the names of some of the illustrious people of the
world who have prolonged their days of usefulness after that age. We
shall make a table of them, and begin it with those who have died at
seventy,--that is to say, with those in whom the springs of life have
not stood still till they have had at least seven years of old age. It
will be found, however, to be far from exhaustive, and every reader
may find pleasure in adding to it from his own stock of information:
_Age at Death._
70--Columbus; Lord Chatham; Petrarch; Copernicus; Spallanzani;
Boerhaave; Gall.
71--Linnæus.
72--Charlemagne; Samuel Richardson; Allan Ramsey; John Locke;
Necker.
73--Charles Darwin; Thorwaldsen.
74--Handel; Frederick the Great; Dr. Jenner.
75--Haydn; Dugald Stewart.
76--Bossuet.
77--Thomas Telford; Sir Joseph Banks; Lord Beaconsfield.
78--Galileo; Corneille.
79--William Harvey; Robert Stevenson; Henry Cavendish.
80--Plato; Wordsworth; Ralph Waldo Emerson; Kant; Thiers; William
Cullen.
81--Buffon; Edward Young; Sir Edward Coke; Lord Palmerston.
82--Arnauld.
83--Wellington; Goethe; Victor Hugo.
84--Voltaire; Talleyrand; Sir William Herschel.
85--Cato the Wise; Newton; Benj. Franklin; Jeremy Bentham.
86--Earl Russell; Edmund Halley; Carlyle.
88--John Wesley.
89--Michael Angelo.
90--Sophocles.
99--Titian.
100--Fontenelle.
It may be said that they were exceptional in living so long, but if
what the best authorities say be true, the exceptions ought to be the
people who died young, and not those who prolong their lives and carry
on their work till they are old. Few of us may find ourselves, like
Lord Palmerston, in our greatest vigor at seventy, or be able, like
Thiers, to rule France at eighty, or have any spirit for playing the
author, like Goethe and Victor Hugo, when over eighty; or for playing
the musician, like Handel and Haydn, when over seventy; but by good
management we may do wonders.
The wisest men and the best have been conspicuous for working to the
end, not taking the least advantage of the leisure to which one might
think they were entitled. They have found their joy in pursuing labors
which they believed useful either to themselves or to others. John
Locke began a "Fourth Letter on Toleration" only a few weeks before he
died, and "the few pages in the posthumous volume, ending in an
unfinished sentence, seem to have exhausted his remaining strength."
The fire of Galileo's genius burned to the very end. He was engaged in
dictating to two of his disciples his latest theories on a favorite
subject, when the slow fever seized him that brought him to the grave.
Sir Edward Coke spent the last six years of his life in revising and
improving the works upon which his fame now rests. John Wesley only
the year before he died wrote: "I am now an old man, decayed from head
to foot.... However, blessed be God! I do not slack my labors; I can
preach and write still." Arnauld, one of the greatest of French
theologians and philosophers, retained, says Disraeli, "the vigor of
his genius and the command of his pen to his last day, and at the age
of eighty-two was still the great Arnauld." It was he who, when urged
in his old age to rest from his labors, exclaimed, "Rest! Shall we not
have the whole of eternity to rest in?"
A healthy old age cannot be reached without the exercise of many
virtues. There must have been prudence, self-denial, and temperance at
the very least. According to the proverb, he that would be long an old
man must begin early to be one, and the beginning early just means
taking a great many precautions commonly neglected till it is too
late. More people would be found completing their pilgrimage at a late
date if it were not that, as a French writer puts it, "Men do not
usually die; they kill themselves." It is carelessness about the most
ordinary rules of healthy living.
The enjoyment of old age may be looked on then as a reward, and the
aged may pride themselves on being heirs to a rich inheritance,
assigned to forethought and common sense. Many years are an honor.
They are an honor even in the case of the worldly, and a great deal
more so when life has been regulated by motives higher than any the
world can show. "The hoary head," says Solomon, "is a crown of glory;"
but he adds this qualification, "if it be found in the way of
righteousness." Old people form a natural aristocracy, and to be
ranked among them may be recommended to all who have an ambition to
close their lives well up in the world.