BOSTON AND THE HARVARD PROFESSORS, 1857.
AGREEMENT FOR AN INVESTIGATION BY A COMMITTEE OF HARVARD
PROFESSORS--EXPULSION OF A STUDENT FROM THE DIVINITY SCHOOL FOR
THE CRIME OF MEDIUMSHIP--PROFESSOR FELTON--AGASSIZ--VARLEY, THE
ELECTRICIAN OF THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
On the 16th day of June, 1857, we left our home in New York, at the
earnest solicitation of friends in Boston, to attend an investigation
which had been arranged in accordance with the following note:
THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE PARTIES.
"We, the undersigned, hereby agree to submit the question in controversy
between us in regard to the phenomena of Spiritualism, so called, to
the investigation and award of the Committee, consisting of Professors
Agassiz, Pierce, and Horsford, and Dr. Gould, according to the terms of
the paper annexed.
_Boston Courier_,
by GEORGE LUNT.
H. F. GARDNER.
"CAMBRIDGE, June 9, 1857."
DR. GARDNER'S CONDITIONS.
"Meeting to be held in a suitable room in the city of Boston, to
continue six days, or a longer time if desirable, and two hours each
day to be devoted to the investigation, commencing at 4 and closing
at 6 o'clock P.M.
"All the arrangements and details for the forming of the circles to
be entirely under the control of Dr. Gardner, except the Committee
may remain out of the circle so formed if they choose to do so. If
the phenomena are produced under the arrangements as ordered by Dr.
Gardner, and they are not satisfactory to the Committee, they shall
have the right to require them to be produced under such conditions
as in their judgment will be satisfactory to them.
"As harmony is an essential condition for the production of the
manifestations, it is agreed that no loud talking or exciting debate
or other unnecessary noise shall be allowed in the rooms during the
sessions, and that each person present shall be treated with that
respect and courtesy which is due from each person to every other in
the society of GENTLEMEN.
"There may be present at each session the writer in the _Boston
Courier_, and a friend, and the four gentlemen composing the
Committee of Investigation, Dr. Gardner, and any number of persons
not exceeding six at any one time, at his option, such being
selected and invited by Dr. Gardner.
"The writer in the _Courier_, and the gentlemen composing the
Committee, agree that, while they are at liberty to exercise all the
shrewdness and powers of observation which they are capable during
the investigation, they will not exercise their will power to
endeavor to prevent the manifestations, but allow them to be
produced under the most favorable conditions which a thorough
scientific investigation will permit.
"The words 'to be provided by Dr. Gardner' first being stricken out,
and the words 'and a friend' inserted, it is further understood that
the proceedings are not to be published until the investigations are
closed.
"_Boston Courier_,
by GEORGE LUNT.
H. F. GARDNER."
We questioned, at that time, the propriety of leaving New York to attend
to this request, as to do so would necessarily cause us to break our
engagements at home. And, as to the contest between the professors of
Harvard College and the Boston Spiritualists, mediums, etc., we cared
very little at that time whether they (the professors) should pronounce
for or against us, and for this reason: that it may be safely averred
that while intelligent, scientific minds, honestly and studiously
devoted to their legitimate labors and investigations, have been, and
are, glorious pioneers in the advancement of human knowledge, _there are
subjects_ touching which scholastic eminence furnishes but a poor outfit
for special and honest investigation. But we had met the equals of these
Boston and Harvard professors long ere this; and here let me add we
seldom received enlightenment through scientific opponents. Many
successful experiments had been made by honest, intelligent, and
educated investigators, which proved, beyond all cavil, what _their
science_ could not fathom--and did not wish to.
It will be remembered, I doubt not, that Professor Eustis, of the
Scientific School, once caught the foot of a Divinity student out of its
proper place under the table, and that the said professor cried "fraud,"
and brought an accusation against the student before the governing
faculty of the university, who, in their high wisdom, knowing not what
they did, expelled the young man for the "heinous crime of owning an
erratic foot."
I am unable to state here at what time this occurrence took place, but
the public press, at that time, very extensively condemned the action
of the collegiate authorities in that case; and, in doing this,
Spiritualism necessarily came more or less in for consideration. Great
doubt was expressed, in the press editorials of the day, of the honesty
of the professors in thus expelling the student without giving him an
opportunity to prove his integrity. The expulsion of this young Divinity
student was simply because he was a Spiritualist and a medium, and
refused to abandon the sacred truth which he had learned and tested in
his own person; and it was in the full spirit of the old New England
persecutions for honest opinion obnoxious to dominant authority; which,
fortunately, had no longer the power to hang or burn. But the world
moves, after all, in spite of such persecutions, to which history soon
does the justice it has rendered to Galileo; and the leading scientific
journal of New England, published at Cambridge itself, an organ of the
Scientific faculty of Harvard, has recently put itself in the line of
modern progress in reference to this very subject of Spiritualism.
Fierce and rude attacks were made in the columns of _The Boston
Courier_, _by these professors_, upon mediums, Spiritualists, and all
who had any faith in the phenomena; insinuating at the time that, "If
mediums believed in themselves, they would only be too eager to exhibit
their powers before those who are most sceptical."
In reply to these attacks Dr. Gardner made the following proposition,
viz., That a committee of twelve disinterested men shall be selected by
the principal editors of _The Boston Journal_, _The Boston Courier_,
and _The Daily Traveller_, which committee shall arrange all the
preliminaries of the discussion, and decide upon the strength of the
arguments, adduced for and against the Spiritual origin of the various
forms of manifestations of the present day, usually denominated
Spiritual.
The challenge to a public discussion was declined, but in lieu of it the
following statement appeared in _The Courier_, which was well understood
to have proceeded from Professor Felton, of Harvard:
"We will pay $500 to Dr. Gardner, to Mrs. Henderson, to Mrs. Hatch, or
to Mr. or Mrs. anybody else who will communicate a single word imparted
to the 'Spirits' by us, in an adjoining room; who will read a single
word, in English, written inside a book, or sheet of paper, folded in
such a manner as we may choose; who will answer, with the aid of all the
higher intelligences he or she can invoke from the other world, _three
questions_--which the superior intelligences must be able to answer, if
what they said in _The Melodeon_ was true; and we will not require Dr.
Gardner or the mediums to risk a single cent on the experiment. If one
or all of them can do one of these things, the five hundred dollars
shall be paid on the spot. If they fail, they shall pay nothing; not
even the expense incident to trying the experiment."
Immediately on receipt of this challenge from the professors, Dr.
Gardner replied, "Now, Mr. Editor, I accept the offer, as I do also the
distinguished gentlemen named as the committee, provided the person or
persons making the offer will agree to let all of the conditions of the
arrangement come within the scope of those natural laws within which we
believe Spirits are confined in producing the manifestations above
referred to; and I will meet the person or persons making the offer at
any time and place, after next Sabbath, which he or they may name, to
make such arrangements as are necessary to a thorough and scientific
test of this great subject.
"H. F. GARDNER.
"May 27, 1857."
The committee named in the _Courier_ was George Lunt (editor of that
paper), Prof. Benjamin Pierce, chairman, Prof. Agassiz, Prof. Horsford,
and Dr. A. B. Gould.
The place of meeting was in the upper room of the Albion Building,
corner of Tremont and Beacon Streets, Boston.
I and Katie accepted an invitation to go to Boston to lend our
contribution to this investigation, with disinterested self-sacrifice
for the sake of the cause, and in support of Dr. Gardner, one of
the best of men and Spiritualists, who thus stood forward as its
representative and champion. I may mention that this was anterior, not
subsequent to the Phosphorus affair related in the preceding chapter.
There were present Miss Kendrick, George A. Redman, J. V. Mansfield, the
Davenport brothers, Katie and myself--mediums.
The committee of Spiritualists were Mr. Allan Putnam, Dr. Gardner, Major
G. Washington Rains.
At the first meeting Dr. Gardner expressed his dissatisfaction with the
idea of a penalty of $500, or of any money, to be paid by the _Courier_,
and this seemed to meet unanimous approval; so that no ground remained
for the position afterward taken by the professors, that they had to
make an award, as stakeholders and judges, of $500 on the presentation
of certain specific phenomena laid in Prof. Felton's original (unsigned)
article in the _Courier_, while the document above quoted, of June 9,
1857, between the _Courier_ and Dr. Gardner, is conclusive to the effect
that it was to be a general scientific investigation. It will be seen
below how the professors afterward quibbled over this point, and avoided
making a report of any results, but only an "award" that the $500 was
not claimable, because the specific phenomena originally put forward by
Prof. Felton had not been exhibited; while at the same time promising
a future report, which report they _never came up to the scratch of
making_. It was generally understood that a draft of a report had been
proposed by a portion of them, but suppressed because deemed more
"damaging to Christianity" than one favorable to Spiritualism. So that
Harvard has ever since remained under the odium and ridicule of never
having made a report, of which, in what they called an "award," it had
recognized that the duty was incumbent on the professors, and which
they had expressly promised to make. It was in vain that for months
and years the Spiritualist papers of Boston clamored for the promised
report, and jeered at those who evidently found it impossible to make
one which should not be more or less favorable to Spiritualism.
This meeting, to my mind, was very unsatisfactory. I was astonished and
disappointed at the course which the professors pursued. Astonished
at their seeming ignorance of all laws of order and harmony, and
disappointed to find that they had met, determined to establish some
appearance of carrying their point, right or wrong.
They fell far beneath the degree of intelligence we had met on so many
former occasions, in connection with the phenomenal manifestations
associated with Spiritualism. Our investigating committees had always
heretofore been chosen with reference to their intellectual competency
and honorable character; whose reports were expected to enlighten
thousands who were unable to make such experiments themselves. But I am
quite sure, from the experience I have had, that a great majority of
those highly conceited professors, many of whom were of quite ordinary
talent, had, to some extent, overcome the deficiencies of nature by
turning their attention in one direction of specific study only.
On all other subjects, they are ordinary, and often very ordinary men.
Professor Agassiz conversed with me pleasantly, and I was attracted to
him, and admired him greatly; _but I knew he was wanting in courage_,
the courage of being ready to forfeit or endanger his great _position_
in Harvard and the country. I incline to the theory presented by Mr.
Allan Putnam in 1874, in his pamphlet on "Agassiz and Spiritualism,"
that Agassiz at this investigation was in a false position, which gives
him claims to our indulgence. In his earlier life, when a professor in
Switzerland, he had been thrown under the mesmeric spell by the Rev.
Chauncy Hare Townshend, and at this investigation was under mysterious
conflicting influences, of which his better self was perhaps
unconscious, and for which it was not responsible. (See the pamphlet
referred to, published by Colby and Rich, Boston.)
He said to me, "Mrs. Brown, I have seen the day I could do everything
you do." I replied to this, "Very well, Professor: if you can do all
that is done through me, you are a Medium," and I at once challenged
him, in friendship and good-will, to take the stand (in the presence of
their committee) with me, and submit himself to the same tests I would,
adding that unless he could do all that the Spirits could do through me,
I should claim the victory.
He replied, "My physical condition is much changed now." I did not at
that time know that he had formerly been a mesmeric subject, and had
been made clairvoyant, and given positive proof of his mediumship long
years before I knew anything about Spirit rappings, magnetism, or
anything relating to the subject. He positively refused to have anything
to do further in connection with the examination at that time, and
remained with me, aside, during the investigation going on at the time
with others.
Prof. Agassiz noticed that my attention was somewhat absorbed in the
movements of Prof. Pierce (as he wandered about so restlessly, and
seemed very much troubled; I trying to study him out), and said to me,
"Mrs. Brown, what do you think of Prof. Pierce?" I replied, "If he
were boxed up in such a way that I could see nothing but his lower
extremities, and the manner in which he plants his feet on the ground, I
could read his character correctly." He laughed and said, "I think you
do not read him favorably." "No," I said, "he is not an honest man."
Prof. Agassiz did not dare to sit in a circle and subject himself to
the influence or power of magnetism, as may be seen in a quotation from
"Facts of Mesmerism," by Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend, an article written
by himself and consequently correct, from which the following is
extracted:
"Desirous to know what to think of mesmerism, I for a long time sought
for an opportunity of making some experiments in regard to it upon
myself, so as to avoid the doubts which might arise on the nature of
the sensations which we have heard described by mesmerized persons.
M. Desor, yesterday, in a visit which he made to Berne, invited Mr.
Townshend, who had previously mesmerized him, to accompany him to
Neufchatel and try to mesmerize me.
"These gentlemen arrived here with the evening courier, and informed
me of their arrival. At eight o'clock I went to them. We continued
at supper till half-past nine o'clock, and about ten Mr. Townshend
commenced operating on me. While we sat opposite to each other, he, in
the first place, only took hold of my hands and looked at me fixedly.
I was firmly resolved to arrive at a knowledge of the truth, whatever
it might be; and therefore, the moment I saw him endeavoring to exert
an action upon me, _I silently addressed the Author of all things,
beseeching him to give me the power to resist the influence, and to be
conscientious in regard to myself, as well as in regard to the facts._
"I then fixed my eyes upon Mr. Townshend, attentive to whatever passed.
I was in very suitable circumstances: the hour being early, and one at
which I was in the habit of studying, was far from disposing me to
sleep. I was sufficiently master of myself to experience no emotion,
and to repress all flights of imagination, even if I had been less
calm; accordingly it was a long time before I felt any effect from the
presence of Mr. Townshend opposite me. However, after at least a quarter
of an hour, I felt a sensation of a current through all my limbs, and
from that moment my eye-lids grew heavy. I then saw Mr. Townshend extend
his hands before my eyes, as if he were about to plunge his fingers into
them; and then make different circular movements around my eyes, which
caused my eye-lids to become still heavier.
"I had the idea that he was endeavoring to make me close my eyes, and
yet it was not as if some one had threatened my eyes, and in the waking
state I had closed them to prevent him. It was an irresistible heaviness
of the lids which compelled me to shut them, and, by degrees, I found
that I had no longer the power of keeping them open, but did not the
less retain my consciousness of what was going on around me, so that I
heard M. Desor speak to Mr. Townshend, understood what they said, and
heard what questions they asked me, just as if I had been awake, but I
had not the power of answering. I endeavored in vain several times to
do so, and, when I succeeded, I perceived that I was passing out of the
state of torpor in which I had been, and which was rather agreeable than
painful.
"In this state, I heard the watchman cry ten o'clock; then I heard
it strike a quarter-past; but afterward I fell into a deeper sleep,
although I never entirely lost my consciousness. It appeared to me that
Mr. Townshend was endeavoring to put me into a sound sleep. My movements
seemed under his control; for I wished several times to change the
position of my arms, but had not sufficient power to do it, or even
really to will it; while I felt my head carried to the right or left
shoulder, and backward or forward, without wishing it, and, indeed, in
spite of the resistance which I endeavored to oppose; and this happened
several times.
"I experienced at the same time a feeling of great pleasure in giving
way to the attraction which dragged me sometimes to one side, sometimes
to the other; then a kind of surprise on feeling my head fall into Mr.
Townshend's hand, who appeared to me from that time to be the cause of
the attraction. To his inquiry if I were well, and what I felt, I found
I could not answer, but I smiled; I felt that my features expanded in
spite of my resistance. I was inwardly confused at experiencing pleasure
_from an influence which was mysterious to me_. From this moment I
wished to wake, and was less at my ease; and yet, on Mr. Townshend
asking me whether I wished to be awakened, I made a hesitating movement
with my shoulders. Mr. Townshend then repeated some frictions which
increased my sleep, yet I was always conscious of what was passing
around me.
"He then asked me if I wished to become lucid, at the same time
continuing, as I felt, the frictions from the face to the arms. I then
experienced an indescribable sensation of delight, and for an instant
saw before me rays of dazzling light, which instantly disappeared. I was
then inwardly sorrowful at this state being prolonged. It appeared to me
that enough had been done with me. I wished to awake, but could not; yet
when Mr. Townshend and Mr. Desor spoke, I heard them. I also heard the
clock, and the watchman cry, but I did not know what hour he cried. Mr.
Townshend then presented his watch to me, and asked me if I could see
the time, and if I saw him; but I could distinguish nothing. I heard the
clock strike the quarter, but could not get out of my sleepy state. Mr.
Townshend then woke me with some quick transverse movements from the
middle of the face outward, which instantly caused my eyes to open;
and at the same time I got up, saying to him, 'I thank you.' It was a
quarter past eleven. He then told me--and M. Desor repeated the same
thing--that the only fact which had satisfied them that I was in a state
of mesmeric sleep was the facility with which my head followed all the
movements of his hand, although he did not touch me, and the pleasure
which I appeared to feel at the moment when, after several repetitions
of friction, he thus moved my head at pleasure.
"(Signed) AGASSIZ."
On the above quoted statement of Agassiz himself, Mr. Allan Putnam, in
his pamphlet on "Agassiz and Spiritualism," remarks:
"We are distinctly taught, in the above (see pages 6, 7, 8, and 9), that
as philosopher and scientist, then in the full vigor of manhood, Agassiz
'had for a long time sought' for such an opportunity to be mesmerized as
Dr. Townshend's visit afforded. This professor, even then eminent--this
man, gifted with gigantic mental and strong physical powers--reverently
and prayerfully, as well as philosophically, sat calmly down, not to
welcome and imbibe, but '_to resist the mesmeric influence_.' Then Greek
met Greek, scientist met scientist, in calm but resolute measurement of
the strength and efficiency of their respective weapons and forces.
Agassiz says his purpose was to _resist_. The whole tone of his account,
however, indicates that his resistance was in no degree captious, but
designed simply to measure the strength and enable him to note the
action of mesmeric force. The vigorous professor then called into
exercise all his own great inherent powers of resistance, and such
further aid as his earnest aspiration could bring to his support, and
yet was forced to yield up to another's will all command over his own
physical organs. A stronger than he entered and ruled over his peculiar
domain. The Author of all things, though besought, did not so co-operate
as to countervail the legitimate action of natural powers. Invisible
forces, emitted and directed by another man's mind, against which his
own robust intellect was planted in calm and firm resistance, penetrated
even the compact Agassiz, and caused him,
"1st. To feel the sensation of a current through all his limbs.
"2d. To close his eye-lids from necessity.
"3d. To lose his powers of utterance.
"4th. To lose power to change the position of his arms.
"5th. To lose power to even _will_ to move his arms.
"6th. To lack power to prevent movements of his own head by another's
will.
"7th. To experience great pleasure in giving way to the attraction upon
him.
"8th. To feel surprised at the contact of his head with another's hand.
"9th. To find the operator the cause of the attraction.
"10th. To be confused at experiencing _pleasure_ from an influence that
was _mysterious_ to him.
"11th. To see for an instant dazzling rays of light.
"12th. To be unable to awake, even though he wished to.
"Similar experiences have become so common that they are now devoid of
strangeness. Thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, have had their
like since 1839. But no other Agassiz has described the sensations and
facts attending the subduing operations. The character of their reporter
gives his experiences exceptional value.
"It is true and readily admitted that this keen and exact observer was
then dominated by _mesmeric_, which many assume to be widely different
from _Spirit_, force. The belief is prevalent to-day that those two
adjectives describe one and the same thing. Few persons who have sought
to discover the relations between mesmerism and Spiritualism, hesitate
to indorse the following statement, made by Cromwell F. Varley before a
committee of the London Dialectical Society, which was substantially
this, viz., 'I believe that the mesmeric force and the Spiritual force
are the same--the only difference being that in one case the producing
agent is in a material body, and in the other is out of such a body.'
Mr. Varley's competency to give a valuable opinion may be inferred from
the fact that the great Atlantic Telegraph Company elected him from
among England's eminent electricians, to supervise and control the
constructors and operators of their vast and delicate apparatus for
flashing knowledge under the waters, from continent to continent, and he
made their project a success. We add, that Spiritualism had, for years,
been manifested in striking forms and much distinctness, both through
himself and other members of his own family, and that he had been an
extensive observer and scientific student of its phenomena, and a
careful tester of its forces. He had reached the conclusion, not only
that the chief force employed in producing both the mesmeric and the
Spiritualistic entrancement was the same, but also that it was distinct
from either electricity or magnetism. From Mr. Varley's views the
conclusion may be fairly deduced that Agassiz, in middle life,
experienced much that is undistinguishable from the sensations and
perceptions of modern mediums, and that he was subdued by use of the
same force by which they are controlled. As a general rule, though
possibly subject to a few exceptions, persons who have once yielded to
mesmeric, afterward are very liable to succumb to Spirit force. This
rule will have important bearings when we come to view the deportment of
Agassiz as a member of the Harvard investigating committee. What we have
already adduced suggests the probability that, if unresisted by himself,
Spirits could have controlled him with much facility, had he consented
to be calm and unresisting while he was within the auras or spheres of
persons whose emanations and constituent elements were helpful to the
control of physical forms by Spirits."
The great naturalist probably was mesmerized at other times than the one
of which his own pen furnished an account. For Townshend, p. 344, says:
"Prof. Agassiz, who, when mesmerized, could not of himself stir a
muscle, moved like an automaton across the room when impelled by me.
Even while retaining his consciousness enough _to resist my efforts_
to move his limbs by mere gestures, without contact of any kind, he
subsequently owned that he was actually compelled into such motions as I
wished him to perform."