PSYCHOMANCY.
SPIRIT-RAPPINGS AND TABLE-TIPPINGS
EXPOSED.
BY
PROF. CHARLES G. PAGE, M. D., ETC.
NEW-YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY.
MDCCCLIII.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by D.
APPLETON AND COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court
of the United States for the Southern District of New-York.
SPIRIT-RAPPINGS.
The wide-spread and alarming mania of _Spirit-rappings_ and
_table-tippings_ of the present day, is only a modification, or
new garb, of _devilish instrumentalities_, operating through human
machinations, which have infested society from time immemorial. We
start with this proposition, harsh as it may sound to some, and if we
should fail to sustain it by facts, reasoning, and common sense, to
the entire satisfaction of all, we still say to the unbelievers in our
doctrine, show us the proof to the contrary; and with a confidence
firm as our belief in Holy Writ, and the unfailing laws of God,
we challenge the exhibition to our senses of any performance with
spirit-rappings, or table-tippings, which cannot be explained upon
natural, and _well known_ natural laws. We will here premise, that
we do not attribute to Satan any direct agency in this matter other
than has always been ascribed to him in the crimes and misdeeds of man
from the fall down to this present time. That neither the "prince of
the power of the air," nor his imps (unless they be in human shape),
rap out intelligence by sounds, get under tables and tip them over,
swing them round, or perform any of these extraordinary feats, which
so many among us are determined to invest with supernatural character
and origin. Nor do we consider that the arch-enemy of man has brought
any _new power_ or _agency_ into operation to further his mischievous
designs. FAR FROM IT. _A new power?_ It would frustrate his schemes
in their very inception. _A new power?_ It is a lawful subject of
pursuit, to the very exhaustion of mental resources. _A new power?_
Its bare mention is an arousing signal to the devotees of science, and
upon the first scintillation of plausibility, the midnight lamp will
burn throughout Christendom, till its capabilities and subserviency
to man's actual wants are unfolded. No! the tempter knows his game
and tools, and perhaps his own limits, all too well to give to man a
new and legitimate object of research, and thus divert investigation
from hallucinating and mercenary sorceries to that which is lawful
and truthful. He works with his own and old tools, upon and through
that most successful instrumentality, over which, by long and dire
experience, he has acquired such mighty ascendency--the human soul.
This is his pliant tool, and here his stronghold. To those who
regard the Scriptural account of the devil's existence and agency as
allegorical, our argument, in its cardinal character and bearing, will
apply with the same force, for they have only to invest the mind of
man with all the force and attributes that the allegory gives to both
combined, and we address ourselves to them with the same interest and
hope of success as with those who believe the Scripture implicitly
to the letter. To all alike, the deep, untiring, unending wiles of
the human soul are familiar themes, and it matters but little to our
present purpose, whether these impious transactions proceed from the
main-spring of unaided, uninspired thought, or whether the unheeding
thought is impressed by supernal powers. There is in the mind a
strong and often morbid appetency for the supernatural and marvellous;
a proneness to inquire beyond what is actually revealed; and, worse
than this, a prurience of power, either real or specious, to exalt one
above his fellow mortals, and give the weight of Divine authority to
his words and acts. From this desire originates priestcraft, astrology
and sorcery, and in the former habitude of the mind lies the secret
of their success and perpetuation. It has been a real source of
distress to us, to see professing Christians, even among our immediate
friends, pushing their inquiries beyond the confines of realities into
the spirit-world, forgetting or misapprehending the injunctions of
Scripture forbidding us to look into such things, and unconscious of
the fact, that their well-meant invocations of spirits by the tipping
of tables and rappings, was, in every step and act of repetition,
lending encouragement to the mercenary and nefarious schemes of a
certain set of vile impostors, who originated the cheat, and were
continuing its practice for the sake of filthy lucre. To them, and
to all, we say Stop! ere this temerity be visited with the righteous
judgments of an offended Deity, who has pronounced, in his holy
oracles, in clear and unmistakable language, his malediction of sorcery
and witchcraft; has set the bounds of human inquiry where time stops
and eternity begins, and sealed up the future in impenetrable mystery;
who has refused to the yearning hearts of fond and bereaved parents
all knowledge of their dear departed, save the hopes and consolations
of the Scripture. What! shall the GREAT JUDGMENT be anticipated, and
the archives of eternal retribution be read by the _knocking of sticks
upon the floor_, or the upsetting of tables? Shall eternity be made
subordinate to time; the immortal to the mortal? Shall the silence of
the grave be disturbed by grovelling mountebanks, or its stern abodes
become vocal through these gross mediums of rappers and tippers?
IMPIOUS! IMPIOUS! We need not quote Scripture against this unholy
pursuit, for its anathemas are full and loud, and he who runs may read.
We know there are those who are innocently engaged in the _invocation
of spirits_, and who seem to take delight in holding converse with
their departed friends, as they suppose. We ask them to pause, and
consider well what they are doing! to look around, and see the
devastation of human intellect, the fearful swellings of the madhouse
rolls, the frightful deeds of blood and violence, and the stupendous
frauds, all begotten of this monster mania! Are these the fruits of
legitimate and holy deeds? Are these your consolations while at your
spiritual shrines? Do they not bear evidence in themselves of their
diabolical origin, and are they not warnings to you to beware, lest in
your attempts to enter beyond the veil into the "_Holy of Holies_," you
be struck down also? If these pests of society are beyond the reach of
earthly tribunals, will you countenance and encourage their career?
Shall we be met here with the assertion that there are religious
maniacs, that religious excitement makes madmen, and leads to deeds of
violence? We spurn the fallacy; and with proud defiance, armed with the
Rock of Ages, we hurl back the apology in the very teeth of the casuist
who made it, and, fearless of his replication, triumphantly assert that
the true religion of Jesus Christ, whose first fruits and very essence
is peace to the soul, NEVER DROVE ANY BODY MAD.
We profess a profound reverence for all that is holy, and from our
earliest recollection have been imbued with a deep dread of profanity
in any shape, and approached this mockery of high Heaven with some
reluctance, unwilling that our veneration should suffer so much
violence. But we felt justified, in the full assurance that this
thing was not of Heaven, but of men. For the sake of unravelling
this imposture and illusion, for this purpose _alone_, we have put
ourselves frequently in the attitude of dupes of these impostors,
and feigning for a time conviction and conversion, have led them on
till they were completely baffled in every attempt to perform their
tricks, and the spirits became powerless and silent as the mortal
tenements they once actuated. When we first sat down to a table with
a few well-meaning and particular family friends to conjure spirits,
we confess to a momentary feeling of horripilation, not from fear of
meeting a visitor from another world, but from the impression that the
very act was _heaven-daring_ and _profane_. But when we came to utter
the Rapper's Shibboleth, "_If there are any spirits present, will
they please to signify it by tipping the table?_" the thoughts of
sacrilege vanished, and were immediately supplanted by an irresistible
sense of the ridiculous, and the smile and the laugh rose above all
convictions of solemnity or irreverence. "Will the spirits please to
tip the table?" was again and again reiterated, but no table tipped
for us. Perhaps we are not "_mediums_," said one. "The spirits have
declared that I am a medium," said another; but that Great Exorcist,
_common sense_, was present and prevalent on this occasion; and the
spirits would not communicate, and the table would not tip, _certainly
not, of itself_. We introduced every variety of manipulation of
crossing hands, interlocking fingers, and, in spite of all, and the
most patient persistence, the table proved true to its lifeless
character, and the universal law that "_matter is inert, and cannot
move of itself_." What could have been the cause of this abortive
conjuration? Were the spirits present, and not disposed to gratify
a certain class of _dilettanti_ who were present? Were they jesting
and teazing, or in bad humor with our persons, our fixtures, or our
espionage? For we had heard from very respectable sources, of the
spirits jesting and taunting those present on such occasions. Or were
they far away on some errand of duty, or busy and monopolized for some
_special tippings_ elsewhere? This last idea seems to be precluded by
the fact that certain great spirits, such as Channing, Webster, Clay
and Calhoun, who figure so largely on these occasions, rap and tip in
different places at the same time. What mummery is all this to the
mind that believes in the omnipresence of the Great God himself, who
cannot look upon such practices but with abhorrence. Are you, Christian
man or woman, one whit better for these doings than that woman with
the familiar spirits, the Witch of Endor?[1] Are you not rather her
disciple? and is she not held up to you for an example and a warning?
Do you think that rappings and table-tippings give respectability to
witchcraft? Is reading the future and the invisible world by rappings
and tippings any better than the doings of yonder wretched crone, who
works out in her concealed abode the same problems by packs of cards
and mystical incantations? Are you not ministering encouragement to her
hagship, and pursuing her very vocation, though under another name?
Shall not this veritable beldame rise up in judgment, and plead in
justification of _fortune-telling_ the example of the Christian Church
in spirit-rapping and table-tipping? Perhaps you think that these
seeming wonders are fraught with more interest, novelty, and mystery,
than the magical demonstrations of old. Why, in very truth, they are
contemptibly insignificant when compared with the witcheries of old.
Read Upham's letters on the witchcraft of the New England Colonies, Sir
Walter Scott's demonology and witchcraft, and see how the rappings and
tippings dwindle before the performances of the witches of yore. After
reading these, study well Sir David Brewster's Natural Magic--a book
that should be in the hands of every one who takes interest in these
marvels of the day. There you will see how phenomena, at first sight
inexplicable, are solved by the touch-stones of science and common
sense. You will there find that sorcery was not to be stopped entirely
by the gibbet, the gallows or the stake, but that the light of reason
and science were most effectual in promoting its overthrow. Sir Walter
Scott says of the opposers of witchcraft in the seventeenth century,
that the "pursuers of exact science to its coy retreats were sure to be
the first to discover that the most remarkable phenomena in nature are
regulated by certain fixed laws, and cannot be rationally referred to
supernatural agency" (meaning, of course, supernatural interference),
"the sufficing cause to which superstition attributes all that is
beyond her own narrow power of explanation. Each advance in natural
knowledge teaches us, that it is the pleasure of the Creator to govern
the world by the laws which he has imposed, and which in our times are
not interrupted or suspended."
In all ages, the Church has attributed sorcery to the agency of the
devil. If this is his work, he certainly proceeds upon the same general
_modus operandi_ as ever. As one artifice wears out, or is exploded by
the power of science, he resorts to another; that is, he prompts new
tricks by his own unseen influences, upon the minds of those who become
his willing instruments. The most gross of all is spirit-rapping,
and next, the subtle delusions of mesmerism, and table-tippings. We
cannot stop here to discuss mesmerism, for whatever there may be in
it of lawful inquiry, surely the sending of clairvoyant spirits to
the portals of heaven or hell, to bring back descriptions of those
abodes and their inhabitants, is sorcery of the most impious character.
Some years ago said a distinguished poet, "Satan now, is wiser than
of yore;" doubtless he has advanced a few degrees in strategy, since
Pope's time, and as the light and power of science and wisdom increase,
so does he deepen his plots and shift his points of attack. Now we will
repeat here, that it is entirely immaterial to our purpose whether our
readers believe in the seen or unseen, direct or indirect influences
of the devil upon mind or matter, or in neither one nor the other. If
they do not believe that he "goes about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour," if they do not believe in the existence of such
a malignant being, they have only this alternative, that they must
find the devil's equivalent in the human heart, which though a less
palatable doctrine, will answer the design of this argument, which is
to show that these pretended wonders of knocks and table movements
are illusory, nefarious and mischievous, originating chiefly from
evil-minded persons, and perpetuated by the indifference of careless
observers, the connivance of others, and mainly by the fanaticism,
ignorance, and credulousness of a large class of persons found in every
community. These have been recognized in all ages as the principal
ingredients in sorcery, but there is yet another element which is doing
much to foster this crime, and although not a new feature, yet is quite
prevalent at this time, and less excusable than it was in the days of
Bacon and Napier. Sir Walter Scott, in one of his letters, has this
point in our discussion so strongly portrayed, that we take the liberty
of quoting him at some length, rejoicing in the opportunity of adding
his great wisdom and authority in these matters, to our own efforts.
Speaking of the causes which retarded the subversion of witchcraft
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, among learned men, he
says, "The learned and sensible Dr. Webster, for instance, writing
in the detection of the supposed witchcraft, assumes, as a string of
undeniable facts, opinions which our more experienced age would reject
as frivolous fancies; for example, the effects of healing by the
weapon-salve, the sympathetic powder, the curing of various diseases by
apprehensions, amulets, or by transplantation." All of which undoubted
wonders he accuses the age of desiring to throw on the devil's back--an
unnecessary load, certainly, since such things do not exist, and it
is therefore in vain to seek to account for them. It followed, that
while the opposers of the ordinary theory might have struck the deepest
blow at the witch hypothesis by an appeal to common sense, they were
themselves hampered by articles of philosophical belief, which, they
must have been sensible, contained nearly as deep draughts upon human
credulity as were made by the demonologists, against whose doctrine
they protested. This error had a doubly bad effect, both as degrading
the immediate department in which it occurred, and as affording a
protection for falsehood in other branches of science. The champions
who, in their own province, were obliged by the imperfect knowledge
of the times to admit much that was mystical and inexplicable; those
who opined, with Bacon, that warts could be cured by sympathy--who
thought, with Napier, that hidden treasure could be discovered by the
mathematics--who salved the weapon instead of the wound, and detected
murders as well as springs of water by the divining-rod, could not
consistently use, to confute the believers in witches, an argument
turning on the impossible or the incredible.
"Such were the obstacles arising from the vanity of philosophers and
the imperfection of their science, which suspended the strength of
their appeal to reason and common sense, against the condemning of
wretches to a cruel death, on account of crimes, which the nature of
things rendered in modern times impossible."
Thus learned men seeking to unravel mysteries, for want of sagacity and
full knowledge, may become the apologists of sorcery and witchcraft.
Bacon was obliged to be a philosopher for the whole enlightened
world; but, in our day, so vast has each branch of science become,
that any one of them would be full enough for a Bacon's grasp, and
philosophers hardly dare to venture outside of their own boundaries,
lest they become, or be considered _philosophists_. We hear men of
science abused because they take such obstinate, inexorable positions
against these "_fooleries_." This they are bound to do. Familiar
with the laws of nature, all real phenomena are alike marvellous to
their minds, and those which claim to be miraculous, supernatural,
and, _par excellence_, the MARVELLOUS, they repudiate summarily as
absurdities, knowing that if they cannot disabuse the popular mind,
they can prove their irrationality to their own entire satisfaction, at
least. Formerly fortune-tellers were sometimes styled Philomaths, but
we think that as fortune-telling has degenerated into such disrepute,
the name is unworthily applied, and we propose to transfer it to that
class of learned writers of the present day, who seek to trace these
tricks of raps and tips to the direct agency of the devil, or evil or
good spirits;--supposing these spirits to make the sounds or movements,
and to give the communications;--and to that class specially who
attribute these phenomena to electricity, magnetism, or to the action
of some power or fluid hitherto unknown; in short, to all, who look
upon these things as any thing else than impostures and illusions.
These are the philomaths of the present day, and while they thus stand
in the way of advancement in true knowledge, they are, in effect,
fostering error, superstition, and sorcery. We boast in our day of the
enlightenment of the masses, the spread of education and the diffusion
of knowledge; but for all this, necromancy is not dead nor stifled;
and is now like a baleful poison running rife through our land, upon
the most preposterous foundations and pretexts. Spirits, rapping upon
doors, floors, and tables, upsetting tables and swinging them about
the room? Spirits, do you say? Has a "spirit flesh and blood?" Has a
spirit _bones, muscles, fingers, heels, toes, and sticks_? DO SPIRITS
WEAR PETTICOATS _and long dresses_? A "_new fluid_," says another
philomath. A new fluid, forsooth? None other than that old fluid of
credulity or gullibity, if we may be allowed the latter term. An
"old fluid," says another. "Electricity or magnetism in some shape."
This is insufferable. Since the first discoveries in electricity and
magnetism, these agents have had to take the paternity of every rare
and inexplicable phenomenon. This is much more the case now than when
Sir Walter Scott wrote his letters on witchcraft, though he says that
the divining-rod, and other remarkable and misconceived phenomena, were
assigned to the agency of electricity and magnetism. At the present
times these subtle agents are the common _scape-goats_ for mesmeric,
electro-biological, psychological, and every other kind of phenomenon,
the cause of which eludes the senses, and the new-fangled farce of
"rappings and tippings" must fain take advantage of the same subterfuge
in order to make its way to popular credence. Unfortunately, in this
case an accurate knowledge of the laws of electricity is possessed
by comparatively few persons; and the electric fluid, or power of
magnetism, becomes a very clever instrument in the hands of charlatans
and empirics, through which to enforce upon the popular mind the
reality of their tricks and impostures. To one who has an adequate
knowledge of the laws of electricity and magnetism, it is more than
amusing to see with what pedantic gravity these latter philomaths
descant upon electricity and magnetism, contorting and butchering
their established laws all the while, to explain some vile juggle, or
unravel the psychomancy of rappers and tippers; and also to see with
what avidity their inflated arguments are gulped by gaping crowds, who
apparently are unwilling or unable to swallow a single _naked truth_.
It is often said that "men love to be deceived." This is true to some
extent, and it is sometimes the case that a quack will draw crowds
around him where a truly learned man could not get a foothold. The
truth however is mighty, and will prevail, and the power of learning
always has been, and will be felt, though it may be somewhat slow
to assert and maintain its supremacy. In verity, there is not one
property, condition, or law of electricity or magnetism, so far as they
have been established by experiment and science, that would explain
rappings and tippings without doing violence to philosophy. A few years
ago, a medical friend and brother came to our house late at night,
in considerable trepidation, and wished us to go and see a woman who
was bewitched in an extraordinary manner. At intervals she would be
seized with convulsions, and while the fit was on her she pulled pins
out of the hands, arms, and legs of bystanders, and tossing the pins
into her mouth, swallowed them. We remonstrated with him, but though
highly intelligent, and excelling in his profession, our friend the
Doctor would not give it up. He had seen it, believed it, but could not
account for it, and came to us specially to ascertain if "ELECTRICITY
had not something to do with it." Knowing that the witches of old had
a special fancy for pins, and fully prepared to see nothing more than
a dexterous feat of legerdemain, we consented to go, late as it was,
and as soon as the pretty little elf, who was lying upon a pallet upon
the floor, had become convulsed, and pulled a pin from our person, and
swallowed it, we discovered the _quomodò_, and the next day, with a
little practice, we were able to go into very fair convulsions, and
could draw out pins and swallow them as skilfully as the witch herself.
Our good friend, the doctor, had not even noticed that the convulsive
movements were all confined to the voluntary actions upon the muscles,
so engrossed was he with the idea of the supernatural character of
this performance. It is remarkable to notice how the scrutinizing
powers of the most astute, fail as soon as they entertain the remotest
idea of the supernatural in these cases. This girl was visited by
hundreds of respectable and intelligent persons in our community, and
notwithstanding a publication which was made exposing the trick, but
few were able to discover it for themselves, and the greater portion
believed it to be a genuine performance, and alms were freely given in
sympathy for her unfortunate condition. Our sympathies were enlisted
for those whom _she bewitched_, and we must give the _enchantress_
credit for more shrewdness than her customers, and we believe she
reaped quite a rich harvest for her skill in legerdemain. We cite this
case to show what violence is done to science to account for modern
sorceries. _Remember_, we are called on to decide if _electricity_
played any part in this extraordinary exhibition.
Many years ago a person of the name of Hannington came to Salem,
Massachusetts, then the place of our residence, to exhibit the
so-called _mysterious lady_. This lady had the power of naming and
describing various things which she could not see, declare names
written upon bits of paper handed to persons promiscuously in the
audience, and a variety of performances, which completely astounded her
visitors. Their programme announced that they had visited the principal
cities in this country and Europe, and that her extraordinary gift of
divination had baffled the ablest researches. We were invited to see
this great modern Pythoness, and specially for the purpose of judging
whether it was an _auricular_ illusion. In a word, whether it might
not be an extraordinary case of ventriloquism, for this seems to have
been the last resort for a solution of the problem, with those who
repudiated witchery. Electricity would not answer this time, and the
science of sound had to be mutilated for the occasion. Being ourselves
expert in the performance of ventriloquism, and familiar with the laws
of acoustics, it needed but a moment to decide that ventriloquism was
utterly inadequate to the solution of the puzzle, and before we left
the room we discerned the whole trick, disconcerted the performers very
essentially, and the next day published a full exposure, after which
the whereabouts of the _mysterious lady_ was a greater mystery than
her performances had been.
A few years since, an account was published throughout this country and
Europe, of a prodigy in the shape of an _electrical girl_ in Paris,
who was indued with an extraordinary power--_electrical_ of course--by
which, when she attempted to sit down in a chair, it was thrown from
her with great violence. This was one of the wonders of the day, and
after having deceived multitudes, and become an object of universal
interest and sympathy, she fell into the hands of a select committee
of the Academy of Sciences, with Arago at their head. Does any one
suppose that Arago ever entertained for a moment the idea of electrical
action in this connection? Not at all! Arago immediately set himself
to the examination of the girls heels, and soon found that she moved
the chairs by muscular effort. By long practice she had acquired such
skill and power of kicking, or thrusting the chair away from herself,
that it was always done without exhibiting any motion exterior to
her dress, or the slightest disturbance of her person. So much for
electricity or the "_new fluid_" in this case. This kicking girl was
styled the _Electrical girl_, or the _Electrical wonder_. Of course she
belonged to the _new fluid class_, for no one acquainted with the laws
of electricity, would have entertained a suspicion that electricity had
any thing to do with the phenomenon.
We may be accused of being somewhat dogmatical in this treatise,
and perhaps we are so, while we have to deal with so many fanatics
and pragmatical philomaths. For the superstitious and ignorant, we
have some charity, but we confess that we have little or no patience
for those among educated men, who are wearers of the _amulets_ of
electricity, magnetism, or _new fluids_. They evince more pedantry
than penetration, and are inexcusable disseminators of sophistry
and error. They are exactly in the category of the believers in
perpetual motion, and, in fact, the ascription of such phenomena as
table-tippings to electricity, magnetism, or some new fluid, goes
a step beyond perpetual motion, if that is possible. Most of the
plodders after perpetual motion expect to get, by some new adjustment,
a machine that will barely move of itself without any great surplus
of power; but according to this new table-tipping philosophy, we
certainly should look for any amount of horse power, without any
consumption of material, and no other expense than that of keeping
a clever medium at hand. On the principle of touching a heavy table
_lightly_ (for the touch must be light according to rule), and thus
causing by incantations the table to tip, rise up, whirl about, etc.,
it would cost but little to move a church or a mountain, and mediums
should be in great demand for mechanical purposes, as being cheaper
and safer than steam engines. How strange it does appear, that these
pseudo-philosophers have entirely lost sight of the one great radical
principle of all dynamic science, viz., that action and reaction are
equal, and never have attached the least value to the fact, that when
persons put their hands _lightly_ upon tables, _their hands always
follow the motion of the table, whichever way the table moves_. It
certainly appeared to us a very _significant_ fact, when we first saw
the performance, and if considered in connection with electricity,
or the _new fluid_, is sufficiently anomalous to require a careful
analysis. But more of this anon, as we propose to examine the rappings
first. This imposture originated with two girls, by the name of Fox,
from Rochester, New-York, who are now, with their mother, travelling
through the country, and exhibiting their art for money. A few weeks
ago, the Fox-mother gave us an account of this wonderful development
of noises or rappings about the two daughters, and from her we learned
that the noises were kept up for a long time before they discovered
the cause. At first they were annoyed by them, but, _after a while_,
they became so familiar with the sounds, that they took but little
notice of them, until they discovered the mode of communicating with
their authors, and ascertained that the sounds were made by spirits
of the departed. According to her account, the spirits then rapped at
points remote from the girls, but it seems that the spiritual habit has
changed somewhat, for since the girls have been on exhibition,[2] the
spirits rap nowhere except directly _under the girls, and about their
feet_, or upon something with which their persons or dresses are in
contact. We had no desire to see these creatures, except to discover
the precise means by which they made the raps, and although fully
prepared to condemn them before we paid them a visit, we preferred not
to condemn them unseen, lest, on that ground, the clique of rappers
should have some advantage over our argument.
It amuses us greatly at times, when discussing these matters with our
friends, to be told that our "opinions are all made up beforehand,"
"that we are prejudiced," &c. We admit the charge, and say frankly
we _are_ prejudiced, and mean to prejudge any effort to make black
appear to be white, and white, black; and declare the pretensions of
these rappers and tippers to be as grossly absurd and silly, as any
monstrosity in the shape of a proposition, that ever emanated from a
crazy or evil designing brain. When we are told that a table is moved
by the mere effort of the will, that it moves about when it is not
touched, we deny the statement _flatly_ at once, and challenge the
reproduction of the miracle, and when we are told that spirits rap
upon tables, floors, doors, walls, or any thing else, we deny the
statement, and challenge the production of any kind of rap or sound
in these cases, which is not clearly traceable to human agency.
Perhaps it will be inferred that we either do or should take ground
against supernatural interference and miracles altogether, seeing
that we are prepared to condemn _à priori_, these manifestations,
claiming for themselves supernatural origin. We confess that one of
the greatest obstacles we have to encounter in the course of this
exposition, is the deep-rooted belief in the existence, at the present
day, of miraculous powers, agencies and deeds, and the readiness with
which many persons ascribe every thing which eludes their judgment or
senses, and especially whatever savors in the least of religion, to
superhuman agency. We do not mean to draw upon Holy Writ for arguments
in support of our decision, upon these _rappings_ and _tippings_, but
anticipating the reception we shall meet, with this class of persons,
we must advert briefly to the grounds of their belief and objection,
and at the same time define our own position. We here find ourselves
arrayed against learned divines of the present day, who, failing to
account for these strange doings upon the supposition of human agency,
resort to their belief in the superhuman, and consistently with
their professional calling, must evidently found their views upon
scripture. Failing to discern the "_finger of God_," they have come
to their last resort, "that these manifestations are the work of the
devil, or of evil spirits." Without claiming any depth in biblical
lore, we ask them where is the authority for any such conclusion in
the Bible? The Bible teaches plainly of the devil's agency, of his
operations upon the heart of man, and so far would such a construction
be justifiable, but no farther. There is not one instance recorded,
in which Satanic agency was recognizable by man as _immediate_. "By
their fruits ye shall know them," is a sufficient rule of judgment
for any deeds, pretensions, or manifestations whatsoever; and here
they should rest content, and instead of going beyond the record,
might safely administer the general caution, that these "lies are of
their father, the devil," without introducing the whole Pandemonium
into our houses, to overturn our tables and upset the laws of gravity
and mechanical philosophy. We believe that miracles were performed
of old, for holy purposes, and no other; that they were necessary to
enforce the truth of revelation; that the day of miracles has gone
by, and that they ceased when their necessity ceased. We have our own
mode of fixing that period, but the discussion would be too far from
our present purpose, and we have digressed too much already. We take
the ground that every witch, wizard, magician, astrologer, sorcerer,
necromancer, and fortune-teller, from the earliest, down to the present
time, has had no more power over matter, or the laws of nature, than
any other person, and that whoever lays claim to familiar spirits,
foresight, or any direct communication with the invisible world,
through raps and tips, is either witch, wizard, conjurer, or sorcerer
_de facto_.[3] The prime movers in all these marvels are _impostors_,
and their disciples, _dupes_. While the former are filling their
coffers at the expense of the latter, they must often indulge in secret
merriment at the credulity of their adherents; and particularly at the
grave discussions of the learned clergy and others upon electricity,
magnetism, the new fluid, the nervous fluid, or the devil's immediate
agency, as probable causes of these strange phenomena. Surely the
"children of this world are wiser than the children of light." The
juggler with his legerdemain far outstrips any thing that has ever been
accomplished by rappers and tippers, but then he tells you that he
performs by sleight of hand, and that unless your eyes are quicker than
his hands, you will be deceived. If certain of his performances were to
be introduced with some religious jargon and pretext, his success in
infatuating the mass of the people, would put the rappers and tippers
entirely in the shade, for the tricks of these latter are clumsy and
poorly done at the best. Mr. Anderson, the professed juggler, known
as the Wizard of the North, has, to his great credit, published
a series of communications, in which he boldly avers that these
rappers are all impostors, and has contrived a system of rapping and
spiritual communications, quite as successful as those of the original
fraternity. He has failed, however, to elucidate the whole subject,
from the fact that he has been contented with a mere imitation, which
the rappers will of course pronounce a counterfeit. Our first visit
to the rappers, was in company with a gentleman of high eminence in
science, of keen discernment, and very fruitful in expedients. We had
formed no particular plan of procedure, except that we had agreed to
feign belief in these performances, lest incredulity might prove an
obstacle to investigation, and keep the rappers too much on their
guard. Repudiating all idea of the supernatural, we were not liable
to any distraction on that account, and our attention was directed
entirely to the scrutiny of the performances, with reference to their
solution upon established principles of evidence and natural laws. If
the advocates of this new "spiritual philosophy" should object to this
prejudication, our answer is, that aside from our prior experience in
unravelling many such pretended wonders, we hold our position to be
entirely justifiable, on the ground of probabilities, and that hitherto
we have never known an instance in which so much of presumption was not
in such cases, legitimated in the conclusion of facts.
Be this as it may, we had resolved to follow up these rappings and
tippings to see whether they were impostures, delusions, or illusions,
one or all. After the mother of the Fox girls had given us an account
of the spiritual visitation of her daughters, they three took seats
at a large circular table, and we joined the circle sitting opposite
to them. We were directed to ask if there were any spirits present.
This done, BANG, BANG upon the table announced the presence of the
spirits. The table was evidently struck underneath by something _hard_,
_solid_, _material_, and so as to jar the table perceptibly to the hand
resting upon it. Our coadjutor feigned surprise and alarm, and stooped
to look under the table, when the raps immediately ceased. This he
repeated several times and each time the raps ceased. We asked again
if there were any spirits present, but no answer came while he had his
eyes below the level of the table top, but as soon as he sat up, the
raps upon the table commenced again. He however was so persevering
in his scrutiny about the table as to give us a good opportunity to
say--for mere effect--"Why do you look under there, you cannot _see_
a spirit?" The rappers finding themselves baffled in making their
demonstrations through the table, were forced to retreat from it, and
taking their seats a short distance from the table, the rappings
then commenced upon the floor immediately under the girls, or about
their feet. Both the girls were rappers, but one conspicuously so, she
rapping much louder than the other, and did most of the rapping for
the occasion. Both the girls wore long dresses sweeping the floor, but
the principal rapper ought to have been attended by a train bearer.
"Are there any spirits present?" was again asked, and the raps came
promptly and so thick and fast that the spirits seemed anxious to make
some communications, so we proceeded to this part of the ceremony.
The instructions being given to us how to proceed, we commenced by
asking several questions, but to these we received either no answers,
or incorrect ones. The programme was this: We were to write down three
names[4] of spirits, one of which was to be the name of the spirit
we intended to invoke. We were then to put down the names of three
diseases, one of which was to be the disease of which the person
had died. We were then to put down three places, one of which was to
be the place where the person died. We were then to point _seriatim_
to the names of the persons, and that when we pointed to the name
of the person intended, the spirit would signify his presence and
approbation, by two raps, which mean YES. Names of others, or those
not intended, would be answered by one rap, which meant NO. We made no
progress, however, and, although there was an abundance of rapping,
there was no communication, no intelligence, no confirmation to us, of
what we already knew (in the imperfection of human knowledge), and we
appealed with an air and tone of assumed _naïveté_ to the rappers to
know if perhaps our failures were not owing to our great wickedness?
"Oh, no!" said the Mother Fox, "it will happen so sometimes." Just
then a gentleman entered who, it appears, was a devotee of Rappism,
and a daily worshipper at the Fox shrine, for the purpose of holding
communication with the spirit of a departed wife. As we had failed,
entirely, to elicit even a respectable _guess_ in answer to our
inquiries of the spirits, and this gentleman had been more highly
favored, his visit was rather fortunate at this juncture, for it gave
us an opportunity to observe more closely than when our minds were
occupied with the manipulation of the _spiritual telegraph_.