In no age, says a popular writer, has the world been destitute of those who professed, by some instrumentality or other, to hold intercourse with departed spirits. Neither has any age been without its reputed spectres, ghosts, or apparitions. The high priest of the Buddhist and Hindoo temples, in former times, when arrayed in the consecrated garments for the festivals, wore a round knob, about the size of a large pendent drop of a chandelier, suspended from his neck by a chain of great value and of dazzling brilliancy. It was through the agency of this crystal that he was supposed to hold communion with the spirit or spirits to whom he and his followers accorded devotion and made intercessions; and the glass, acting as did the famed oracle of Delphi, gave orders and commands, and settled all great questions that might be submitted to its spiritual master. The priest, although he might be a pattern of purity, and the quintessence of all that was good, having, however, the sin of being in years, and not able, perhaps, to hide from the spirit inhabiting the crystal all the transactions of his youth, could not hold a direct communication with it. To arrange this, a certain number of boys, and sometimes, in some of the temples, young damsels, were retained, who, having never mixed with the world, could not be supposed to be in any way contaminated by its vices. These alone were said to be capable of beholding the spirit when he chose to make his appearance in the divining glass, and interpreting to and fro the questions put and answers received. Although it was not every boy or seer to whom was permitted the gift of spiritual vision, yet in latter times, when divining crystals multiplied, little ragged boys would run after the passers in the streets, and offer to see any thing that might be required of them, for a trifling gift, even a cake or sweetmeat. In Egypt, the divining glass is superseded by putting a blot of thick black fluid into the palm of a boy's hand, and commanding him to see various people and things; of which practice Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, gives some curious disclosures.

Divining mirrors were not confined to the East. Dr. Dee was the first English impostor who vaunted the possession of one of these priceless treasures. He had for the seer one Keily, an Irishman; and to this, doubtless, was attributable the impression that prevailed among the astrologers and amateur spirit hunters, that when the spirits condescended to speak, they always gave speech with a very strong spice of the brogue. This "beryl," as it is called, was preserved among the Strawberry Hill curiosities, and fell under the hammer of George Robbins at the memorable sale. It proved to be a globe of cannel coal. In Aubrey's Miscellany there is an engraving of another larger crystal, and there are with it many wonderful stories. Yet, notwithstanding the magic capabilities of these mirrors, they went out of fashion until the beginning of the year 1850.

This revival and its consequences are like a page out of a silly romance. The story, if told by a disinterested historian, would require authentication as belonging to 1850. We therefore turn, by way of voucher, to a publication called Zadkiel's Almanac for 1851. At page 46, after referring to the existence of magic crystals at the present day, the writer, says, "One of large size was a few years ago brought over to England by a friend of Lady Blessington, after the sale of whose effects, it recently fell into the hands of a friend of mine; and, having tested its powers, I have resolved on giving my readers an account of this wonderful mode of communicating with the spirits of the dead. The crystal is spherical, and has been turned from a large mass of pure rock crystal. I have been shown some few others, but, with the exception of one shown me by Lord S., they are all much smaller. These smaller ones are said to be consecrated to angels of the planets, and are, therefore, far less powerful than Lady Blessington's crystal, which, being consecrated to the Archangel of the Sun, Michael, may be consulted during four hours each day, whereas the others can generally be used only for a very brief space of time; nor can very potent spirits be called into them, or made to render themselves visible. In this larger crystal is given most important information of the actual existence of the soul after death, and of the state in which it exists and will exist until the judgment."

"The first intimation we received," says Dickens, in his Household Words, "of the revival of this notable practice of divination, was about six months ago, when we were casually informed that the son of a distinguished officer of the royal navy was, at that time, frequently engaged in developing, before a few privileged friends, the extraordinary faculty of being able to hold intercourse with the world of spirits. It was added that the revelations made through the medium of this youth were of so wonderful a nature, and carried such conviction to the minds of those who listened, that they were declared to be the result of more than human power."

The conjurer was asked, on one occasion, to describe Lord Nelson. And, accordingly, the spirit, with an accuracy that was quite astonishing, considering that no portrait, bust, or statue of Nelson is known to exist, gave a full, true, and particular account of England's hero, describing him as a very thin man, in a cocked hat, with only one eye, one arm, &c.; and the truth of the description was declared to be something truly marvellous.

A demand was made that the spirit of a deceased brother of one of the querists should be summoned to appear. Presently he said, "I see him; he has curly hair, and stoops a good deal. I can't exactly see his features, but I think he squints." This account of her late brother's personal appearance, though not very flattering, satisfied the lady as far as it went; but being, like Macbeth,—

she required further proof of his identity. There was a pause for a minute or two, and then the spirit seer spoke again—"He has got a scroll in his hand, which he unfolds; there is this inscription on it, in letters of fire:—

'I am Tom!'"

This sublime revelation was received with a degree of solemn awe, and with suppressed throes of well-bred laughter.

Other cases not a whit less marvellous have been described by the narrators, who could not be reasoned out of their absurdity, insisting that there could be no deception in the matter, on account of the means employed, and the evident sincerity of the employÉs! These means, they said, required that the person who looked into the crystal should be perfectly pure; that is to say, a child free from sin, and by no means given to lying, and that the form of adjuration used was, "In nomine Domini," &c.; Latin being, as is well known, the language which spirits of all denominations are most accustomed to. When interrogated after this fashion, the spirit, if evil, fled away howling; if good, it came, when called, unless particularly engaged in the sun; for it appears that it is to that planet almost all spirits go when their term of purgatory is over. It seems that the spirits would sometimes get out of breath, travelling so far, and talking so much; and they then had recourse to the expedient of letters of fire, which seemed to be written in various ways in the crystal; sometimes on flags, which the spirits hold up, but sometimes they are in print. In these letters of fire, the querist was counselled something like the following: "Be merry. Quarrel not. Keep your temper, and your children too. You are a good man, but try to be better. I am wanted. Let me go."

We subjoin the following as specimens of conversations heard by large parties of amazed, titled, and believing listeners: "Are you Pharaoh, that was king of Egypt?" "Yes." "Where do you dwell now?" "In Jupiter." "How long have you been there?" "About thirty years." "Where did you dwell till then?" "In the atmosphere, and was undergoing punishment till then." "Were you king of Egypt when Moses was there?" "Yes, and Aaron too." "Did you build the pyramids?" "Some." "Were any built before your time?" "Yes." "Do you know how long the first was built before Christ?" "About three hundred years after Adam; it was built then." "Do you mean that it was built before the flood?" "No, it was not finished; the flood destroyed them." "What was the principal object of them?" "To hold the kings of Egypt." "Were there kings of Egypt so soon after the creation?" "Yes; that was the first country kings were in." "Were you drowned in the Red Sea?" "Yes."

At one time Swedenborg volunteered to give information about Sir John Franklin, when the following dialogue took place: "What is the best way to communicate with him?" "By the natives; they speak to him sometimes." "Will he be home next summer?" "No." "Why?" "Because he cannot help himself; he is stopped by ice; but his heart does not fail him; he wants to explore." "How will he do for provisions?" "He will find bears, dogs, and wolves." "Will he find the passage?" "No; there is a continent there." "But there is also a passage." "There is one, but he will not find it." "What latitude does he lie in chiefly?" "I do not know: good by." It appears strange that Swedenborg, who knew so much, did not know this. But we learn in another place that "spirits do not well understand about latitude and longitude." Socrates's appearance is described as follows: "A tall, middle-aged man, rather bald, dressed with striped coarse trousers, very loose at the top, and tight at the bottom; a kind of frock, open in the front, and without sleeves. He is generally employed in singing praises, but was not quite happy." Alexander the Great appeared on horseback, in armor, the horse also in armor; deeply regrets killing Clitus, and all the murders he perpetrated; amuses himself in fighting his battles over again.

To give these things a sort of Éclat and popularity with the public, Zadkiel sums up the whole in the following language: "In concluding this account, I may remark that numerous children have seen these visions, some of them the sons and daughters of persons of high rank; and that several adults have also seen visions, one of them a lady of title, and another a member of one of the highest families in England. It will be seen that delicacy prevents my naming individuals; but I can assure my readers that above one hundred of the nobility, and several hundreds of other highly respectable ladies and gentlemen, have examined this wonderful phenomenon, and have expressed the highest gratification and astonishment."

Dickens declares it to be "the fashion, especially among people of fashion, to point with pity to a tale of modern witchcraft, to an advertisement of a child's caul, or to the bona fide certificates of cases from the takers of quack medicines, and to deplore the ignorance of their inferiors. Delusions, however, of the grossest kind are not confined to the illiterate. A cloud of dupes have ever floated about in the higher regions of society; while it is quite a mistake to suppose that the refinements and discoveries of the nineteenth century have dispersed them. The reign of Queen Victoria, like that of Elizabeth and Anne, has its Dr. Dees, and Lillys, and Partridges, who are as successful as their precursors in gaining proselytes who can pay handsomely. Damsels of high degree, fresh from boarding school, with heads more full of sympathy for the heroes and heroines of fashionable novels, and ideas more fixed upon love affairs than on any legitimate studies, can easily find out, through mysteriously-worded advertisements in the Sunday papers, or through the ready agency of friends who have already become victims of the 'science' of astrology and magic, the whereabouts of these awful and wonderful beings. There are a number of styles and classes of them, all varying in appearance and mode of operations. There are the old women, who, consoled by the glories of their art, repine not at inhabiting comfortless garrets in the purlieus of the New Cut, Lambeth; and hiding their vocation under the mask of having stay laces or infallible corn plasters to sell, receive more visitors from the fashionable cream of Belgravia than from the dross of Bermondsey. Disguises are sometimes resorted to, and parties of titled ladies have been known to meet, and put on the habiliments of 'charwomen,' and to pass themselves off as dress-makers. There is an old man, with unshaven beard and seldom-washed face, who lives in more comfortable circumstances, with his son, in Southwark, (the favored district of the conjurers,) who, to keep up appearances, has 'Engineer' hugely engraved on a great brass plate over the door, who casts nativities, and foretells events of the future, for three or five shillings, as the appearance of the visitor will warrant him in demanding; receives all his votaries sitting at a terribly littered table of dirty paper, with a well-smoked clay pipe beside him. Passing to a higher grade, the 'agent,' or arranger of matters, legal, pecuniary, or domestic, only practises the black art for the love he bears it, and to oblige his friends, but never refuses a few shillings' fee, out of respect to the interests of the science. Nearly all his customers are people of title."

We now come to speak of events in our own country which seem to be somewhat akin to those which have so recently transpired in England. We allude to what are familiarly termed "rappers," or "knocking spirits," from the noises which they are said to make.

From a history of these knockings, as given in a pamphlet by Capron and Barron, of Auburn, New York, we learn that they were first heard in the family of Mr. Michael Weekman, in the town of Arcadia, Wayne county. He resided in the house where the noises were heard about eighteen months, and left it some time in the year 1847. He relates that one evening, about bedtime, he heard a rapping on the outside door, when he stepped to the door and opened it, but, to his surprise, found no one there. He went back, and proceeded to undress, when, just before getting into bed, he heard another rap at the door loud and distinct. He stepped to the door quickly and opened it, but, as before, found no one there. He stepped out, and looked around, supposing that some one was imposing upon him. He could discover no one, and went back into the house. After a short time he heard the rapping again; he stepped (it being often repeated) and held on the latch, so that he might ascertain if any one had taken that means to annoy him. The rapping was repeated; the door was instantly opened, but no one was to be seen. He could feel the jar of the door very plainly when the rapping was heard. As he opened the door, he sprung out, and went around the house, but no one was in sight. His family were fearful to have him go out, lest some one intended to harm him. It always remained a mystery to him; and finally, as the rapping did not at that time continue, it passed from his mind, till some time afterwards, when, one night, their little girl, then about eight years of age, was heard to scream from fright, so that the family were all alarmed by her cries, and went to her assistance. This was about midnight. She told them that something like a hand had passed over her face and head; that she had felt it on the bed and all over her, but did not feel alarmed until it touched her face.

It seems that Mr. Weekman soon after moved away from the house, and nothing more was heard of the rapping, or other manifestations, till it was occupied by the family of Mr. John D. Fox, who have since become so conspicuous with "the advent of spirits." In March, 1848, they, for the first time, heard the "mysterious sounds," which seemed to be like a slight knocking in one of the bed rooms on the floor. It was in the evening, just after they had retired. At that time the whole family occupied one room, and all distinctly heard the rapping. They arose, and searched with a light, but were unable to find the cause of the knocking. It continued that night until they all fell asleep, which was not until nearly or quite midnight. From this time the noise continued to be heard every night.

After having been disturbed and broken of their rest for several nights in a vain attempt to discover from whence the sounds proceeded, they resolved, on the evening of the 31st of March, that this night they would not be disturbed by it, whatever it might be. But Mr. Fox had not yet retired when the usual signs commenced. The girls, who occupied another bed in the same room, heard the sounds, and endeavored to imitate them by snapping their fingers. The attempt was made by the youngest girl, then about twelve years old. When she made the noise with her fingers, the sounds were repeated just as she made them. When she stopped snapping her fingers, the sounds stopped for a short time. One of the other girls then said, in sport, (for they were getting to be more amused than alarmed,) "Now do what I do; count one, two, three, four, five, six," &c., at the same time striking one hand in the other. The same number of blows or sounds were repeated as in the former case. Mrs. Fox then spoke, and said, "Count ten," and there were ten distinct strokes or sounds. She then said, "Will you tell the age of Cathy?" (one of her children;) and it was given by the same number of raps that she was years of age. In like manner the age of her different children was told correctly by this unseen visitor.

Mrs. Fox then asked, if it was a human being that made the noise, to manifest it by making the same noise. There was no answer to this request. She then asked if it was a spirit, and if so to manifest it by making two distinct sounds. Instantly she heard two raps, as she desired. She then proceeded to know or inquire if it was an injured spirit, and if so to answer in the same way, and the rapping was repeated. In this way it answered her until she ascertained that it purported to be the spirit of a man who was murdered in that house by a person that had occupied it some years before; that he was a pedler, and that he was murdered for his money. To the question how old he was, there were thirty-one distinct raps. By the same means it was ascertained that he was a married man, and had left a wife and five children; that his wife had been dead two years.

We might relate a little different manoeuvre in the case of the ghost that appeared in Waltham, Massachusetts, a few years since. A superstitious old man, by the name of McClarren, a mechanic, purchased a lot of turf that had been piled up in a meadow about half way between his workshop and place of residence. Upon returning to his work from supper, he used to take a basket with him, and fill it at the turf heap on his return late in the evening. It was on one of these occasions that the reputed ghost first appeared to him, and caused him some alarm, when he dare not linger to reconnoitre this strange and unexpected visitor. He resolved, however, to muster courage the next evening to accost the figure, should it again appear to him. Accordingly, he went with a large Bible open in his hands; and as the ghost appeared, he followed it till it crossed a ditch, when he was requested by the same to proceed no farther. Thus they stood, facing each other, on either side of the ditch, when the following conversation took place between them:—

Ques. By McClarren. "I demand of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, our once crucified God, whether you are mortal or immortal?"

Ans. "I am not mortal."

Ques. "What, then, are you?"

Ans. "I am the spirit of a murdered man."

Ques. "By whom were you murdered?"

Ans. "By ——, of Waltham."

Ques. "Where does your body lie?"

Ans. "In yonder pond, behind me."

It is supposed that this affair was got up in an innocent mood, merely to test the strength of McClarren's faith in ghosts. But it caused a wide-spread excitement; and some, who were thought to be concerned in its projection, were prosecuted and brought before a justice for examination, although nothing was proved. McClarren testified under oath, that he believed it to be a real ghost; "its tones," he said, "were so unearthly," "and when it moved its motion was not like that in walking, but it glided along like a swan, or a boat in the water." He was neither to be reasoned nor laughed out of it. He would believe it to the day of his death. You might as well tell him he was not a living being, as to tell him he had not seen a living ghost.

The advocates of the "influx from the world of spirits into our own" claim in its behalf many astonishing miracles. Chairs, tables, and beds are moved up or down, to and fro, &c. At Auburn, New York, on one occasion, sounds on the wall, bureau, table, floor, and other places were heard as loud as the striking with a hammer. The table was moved about the room, and turned over and back. Two men in the company undertook to hold a chair down, while, at their request, a spirit moved it; and, notwithstanding they exerted all their strength, the chair could not be held still by them—a proof that spirits are far more strong and powerful than men. On another occasion, the sounds proper to a carpenter's shop were heard, apparently proceeding from the wall and table. Sawing, planing, and pounding with a mallet were imitated, it is said, to the life. Some gentlemen were at the house of the Fox family at one time, and were conducted into a dark room. They called for the sounds to be made like a band of martial music. As they requested, the sounds were produced; the playing of the instruments and the heavy beating of the bass drum were perfectly imitated, together with the sound of the roar of distant cannon. Shall we not gather from this, that in the spirit world they have their bands of music and companies of artillery, the same as in this world? We are also told of the spirit or spirits playing on a guitar in a dark room, the guitar being taken from the hands of those who held it and put in tune, and played while it passed around the room above their heads. On one occasion, as it is said, it played an accompaniment, for nearly two hours, to some persons engaged in singing, being very exact both in time and tune. On one occasion, while several ladies were present, some of them requested that the spirits would take their hair down. Accordingly it was done. One of them had her hair taken down and done up in a twist, and one of them had hers braided in four strands. Sometimes persons have felt a hand passing over or touching their arms, head, or face, leaving a feeling of electricity upon the part touched; and the hand that thus touches them will, by request, instantly change from a natural warmth to the coldness of ice.

In answer to the question, "Why do these spirits require a dark room to play upon instruments of music, or to take hold of persons," they answer by saying that "they assume a tangible form in order to do these things, and we are not yet prepared for such a visitation."

To the inquiry how it is they make the rapping noises that generally accompany their visits to this world, they answer, that "they are made by the will of the spirits causing a concussion of the atmosphere, and making the sounds appear in whatever place they please."

A Mrs. Draper, of Rochester, New York, had an interview with Dr. Franklin, at one time, while she was in a magnetized state. She said he appeared to be busily employed in establishing a line of communication between the two worlds by means of these "rappings." On another occasion, while in a clairvoyant state, at her own house, sounds were heard in exact imitation of those heard in the telegraph office. These sounds were so unusual, that Miss Margaretta Fox, who was present, became alarmed, and said, "What does all this mean?" Mrs. Draper replied, "He is trying the batteries." Soon there was a signal for the alphabet, and the following communication was spelled out to the company present. "Now I am ready, my friends. There will be great changes in the nineteenth century. Things that now look dark and mysterious to you, will be laid plain before your sight. Mysteries are going to be revealed. The world will be enlightened. I sign my name, Benjamin Franklin."

It seems that, in the early history of these rappings, they used to be without any limitations as to whether persons were in a magnetized state or not. The first we learn of magnetism being employed as a medium of communication is in the case of a daughter of Lyman Granger, in Rochester, New York. For a long time, answers could be obtained by any two (why two?) of the family standing near each other. And in the freedom of the answers, no preference seemed to be manifested towards any particular members of the family. At length, one of his daughters was placed under the influence of magnetism, and became clairvoyant. From that time none of the family could get communications unless the daughter who was magnetized was present. Why the communications should leave all the family except the magnetized daughter, after they once had free conversation without her, remains to be explained. The whole business now seems to be pretty much, if not wholly, monopolized by the clairvoyants. They seem to be employed as agents, or mediums of correspondence, between the two worlds, acting as interpreters between two classes of beings, or beings existing in two different states, natural and spiritual. They act as a kind of spiritual postmasters between the two countries. We find spiritual letter paper, and envelopes to enclose the same, advertised for those who wish to avail themselves of an opportunity to write to their deceased friends in the other spheres. Letters said to have been written in the spirit world have been transmitted through the established mediums to friends in this world, and have been published in some of the papers devoted to these subjects. In the New York Daily Tribune of February 28, 1851, we find the prospectus of a quarto journal, to be published in Auburn, "to be dictated by spirits out of the flesh, and by them edited, superintended, and controlled. Its object is the disclosure of truth from Heaven, guiding mankind into open vision of paradise, and open communication with redeemed spirits. The circle of apostles and prophets are its conductors from the interior, holding control over its columns, and permitting no article to find place therein unless originated, dictated, or admitted by them: they acting under direction of the Lord Supreme."

We hope the information coming through its columns will be more reliable than the communications from some of the "rapping spirits." No dependence whatever can be placed upon them. They are so blundering, awkward, and uncertain, and even trickish and deceitful, that they spoil all our notions of the dignify and purity—the spirituality, in fact—of the spiritual world. The advocates of the manifestations attribute the fault to ignorant spirits, who do not know whether the matter they attempt to speak of be true or not. Swedenborg says, "There are some spirits so ignorant that they do not know but they are the ones called for, when another is meant. And the only way to detect them, in speaking, is by the difference of sound—that made by intelligent spirits being clear and lively, and that of the ignorant being low and muffled, like the striking of the hand upon a carpet."

It is contended by the authors of the pamphlet from which we quote, that these ignorant spirits will ultimately progress to a state of intelligence. But this idea of progression seems to be at variance with the observations of a writer in the Boston Post, who was astonished at the wonderful precocity of little infants in the spirit world. "I have known," says he, "the spirit of a child, only eighteen months old when he died, and only three months in the second sphere, show as much intelligence, and as perfect a command of our language, as Dr. Channing himself seems to possess." On the other hand, when I find that "the spirit of Dr. Channing cannot express an idea above the rudimental conception of a mere child, I am forced to the conclusion that his mental endowments must have greatly deteriorated since he left us."

It is said that the theological teachings of these spirits generally agree with those of Davis, Swedenborg, and others who have claimed to receive their impressions from spirits. Accordingly, we find them using the term higher and lower spheres, instead of heaven and hell. Swedenborg prophesied that the year 1852 would be the one to decide the fate of his church or his doctrines; and Capron and Barron tell us that "the probabilities now seem to be that his general spiritual theory will, not far from that time, be very generally received." We presume that the "mysterious rappings" are considered by them as so many omens of such an event. And we may reasonably conclude that they are as decisive tests, as sure prognostications, as were the various celestial signs of the coming of the end of the world in 1843. The believers in the "harmonial philosophy" have their miracles in attestation of their theory; and so of the Millerites. On Saturday evening, January 18, 1851, we are told by La Roy Sunderland, that Mrs. Cooper (clairvoyant medium) was taken to Cambridge, by Mr. Fernald and a friend, for the purpose of visiting a gentleman who had been confined by a spinal difficulty some ten years or more. The spirits gave beautiful responses for his consolation, and in the sight of all present, the sick man and his bed were moved by spiritual hands alone. The sick man and the "bed whereon he lay" were both moved by attending angels, without any human power. And more recently, a Mr. Gordon, it is said, has been taken up and his body moved some distance entirely by spiritual hands. Were such miracles ever wrought in favor of Millerism? Most assuredly, if we are to believe the Millerites themselves; and even more in favor of witchcraft also. At a meeting of the friends of Millerism, held in Waltham, in 1842, a lady was taken from her seat by some unseen power, and carried up to the ceiling of the room; and she afterwards declared that it was done without any effort on her part. More recently, (1851,) another lady of the same place testifies that she has, in a similar manner, been taken from her seat in church and carried up above the tops of the pews. And at times, at the advent meetings, strange noises have been heard, houses also have been shaken, mirrors shattered to pieces, and furniture broken, and all have been considered by the Adventists as so many auguries or signs of the approaching dissolution of all things, to take place in 1843.

We have already made mention of the fact, in another place, that bewitched persons used to be carried through the air, on brooms and spits, to distant meetings, or Sabbaths, of witches. But we will now give a case to the point.

On the 8th of September, 1692, Mary Osgood, wife of Captain Osgood, of Andover, was taken before John Hawthorne, and other of their majesties' justices, when she confessed that, about two years before, she was carried through the air, in company with Deacon Fry's wife, Ebenezer Baker's wife, and Goody Tyler, to Five Mile Pond, where she was baptized by the devil, and that she was transported back again through the air, in company with the forenamed persons, in the same manner as she went, and believes they were carried on a pole! She was asked by one of the justices, how many persons were upon the pole; to which she answered, As I said before, viz., four persons, and no more, but whom she had named above.

Are not these cases to be relied upon as much as those related by Mr. Sunderland? Could not four respectable ladies tell whether they were actually carried through the air on a pole or not? Could they be deceived? Possibly, in the days of chloroform, or ether, it might have been the case; but not at the period in which it actually occurred.

Some of the bewitched persons, as in the case of Elizabeth Knap, of Groton, alarmed the people by their ventriloqual powers, in imitating sounds and languages. And it would be nothing strange if some of our modern witches were in possession of the same talent. No wonder that the editor of one of the Boston papers should have ventured the opinion, that if some of these persons had lived two hundred years ago, they would have been hanged for witchcraft.

It appears to us, that if we believe in all that is alleged of the rapping spirits, and their manifestations, we must be prepared to indorse all that has been published of witches and ghosts, spooks and hobgoblins, in every age of the world, which, at present, we are not at all inclined to do. We do not believe that any of the noises heard, or any of the information given, has proceeded from beings out of the normal state. We are rather inclined to adhere to the sentiment contained in the old couplet:—

We once went to stay over night in a house said to be haunted, the house being empty at the time, the family who had occupied it having actually been frightened away by the noises they had heard. But, strange to tell, we did not hear any noises, neither did we expect to. There was a house in Green Street, Boston, formerly occupied by the celebrated Dr. Conway, which, after his decease, was said to be haunted. A young man of our acquaintance never passed that house late at night but every window in it appeared to be illuminated. And finally, he became so alarmed about it, that as soon as he approached the vicinity of the house, he would commence running, and continue to run till it was out of sight. We have frequently known him to cross the ice on Charles River to avoid passing the house. And still, we often passed the same house, at late hours of the night, without seeing any thing unusual. And we know of no reason why, unless it was because we did not believe in such things, which our friend actually did. Faith alone made the difference.

One of the believers in the "spirit rappings" tells us that "if these things are emanations from the spirit world, we are bound to believe them." True, if they are; but this little conjunctive if is a word of very doubtful meaning. We have already shown how Mr. Miller kept the whole world standing thirty years on this same little if; and then it did not end in 1843, as he supposed it would. We must, therefore, be cautious how we depend upon a simple if.

But we are told that, as honest persons, we are bound to believe what we cannot disprove by actual demonstration. But let us examine this for a moment. The Greenlanders have an idea that thunder is caused by two old women flapping seal skins in the moon. Now, who has ever been up in the moon to ascertain whether it is so or not? Again, they say that the Aurora Borealis is owing to the spirits of their fathers frisking at football. Who can say it is not so? And yet we reject such belief on account of its apparent absurdity. Some of the ancients have told us that the earth stands upon the back of a tortoise, or upon that of an elephant; and yet, without investigation, a majority of mankind reject the idea as being perfectly ridiculous. We might here remark, that no less a scholar than the great mathematician Kepler attempted to prove that the earth is a vast animal, and that the tides are occasioned by the heavings of its prodigious lungs.

Many of the performances of jugglers and ventriloquists puzzle us, and yet we do not believe there is any thing supernatural in them. Signor Blitz once called upon the ladies in the hall where he was giving an exhibition to pass him a handkerchief with their name stamped upon it, and he would put it into a pistol and fire it off in their presence, and it should be found in the steeple of a church some quarter of a mile distant, and yet not a window or a door should be open on the occasion. A committee of honest and respectable men were despatched from the hall to the house of the church sexton, the keys procured, with a lantern, when the belfry was ascended, the handkerchief found hanging on the tongue of the bell, and returned to the lady, who instantly recognized it as the identical handkerchief she passed into the hands of the performer. Now, who could prove that the thing alleged was not actually done? and yet who will believe that it was?

We have heard distant sounds of music, and other imitations of men, birds, and animals, that deceived our sense of hearing, knowing that they were produced by the power of ventriloquism. We have seen things moved from place to place by magnetic attraction, and we do not think it at all strange that so light an instrument as a guitar could be thus attracted to different parts of a room by an unseen power, especially in a dark room, and its tones be imitated by a being as yet in the normal state. A guitar will give vibrations of its tones to the concussions of the air, caused by the conversation of persons present; and a stranger to the fact might possibly interpret these vibrations as something quite mysterious, and suppose the instrument, as it stood alone, to be touched by some spirit hand. When people's minds, or their imaginations, get wrought up to a certain pitch, the most trifling things are looked upon as wonderful phenomena. Every thing is new, and strange, and appalling. We hear of the doings of the spirits at Rochester, and other places, and which are called the "ushering in of a new science." "We know of what we speak," says the pamphlet before us, "we know they are facts, strange, new, and to many wonderful!" (See page 43.) And yet the authors introduce several pages from a work by Dr. Adam Clarke to show that, as early as 1716, the Wesley family were troubled by noises made by the "knocking spirits," and that "the present manifestations have no claim to the credit of originality." The cracking of hazel nuts upon Martin Luther's bed posts, and the racket and rumbling upon his chamber stairs, as if many empty barrels and hogs-heads had been tumbling down, claim still greater antiquity, and belong to the same category or chapter of wonderful events.

It is said to be impossible that any mere human being could inform persons, with whom they never had any previous knowledge or acquaintance, of the past, present, and future events of their lives—whether they are married or single, the number of their children living and dead, age, health, business, letters expected, the whereabout of long-absent friends, &c. It is supposed that such information must indeed emanate from the spirit world. Yet precisely such things are and always have been told, more or less, by astrologers and fortune tellers, without any pretensions to being in league with spirits of the other worlds. We have said that fortune tellers do not always tell correctly; but, as poor an opinion as we have of them, we will venture to assert that they are full as correct, if not more so, in the information they give, as the members of the Fox family, or any of their contemporaries, of the alleged spiritual manifestations.

Persons of sane mind, though ever so ignorant of arithmetic or orthography, can tell at least how many children they have, and are usually able to spell their own names; but one who has spent a good deal of time in witnessing the performances of the spirit rappers, says, "They seem to be unwilling or unable to answer purely test questions, like that of answering their own names. I have never known them to do this," says he, "though often solicited." He also speaks of their great deficiency in mathematics, not being able to enumerate the number of children they have on earth with any thing like accuracy. "I am aware that such questions have sometimes been correctly answered, and I have heard them so answered; but I have much more frequently known them to refuse entirely, or to do it very awkwardly, or to fail entirely in the attempt. Out of five numbers four were erroneously selected as the right one. The fifth was right, of course. This goes to show, at least, that spirits have greatly deteriorated, rather than improved, while inhabiting the celestial spheres." But this is not all. The facility of communication between the two classes of beings is also on the decline. The time was when ghosts or spirits held free conversation with those they visited, without calling in the aid of clairvoyancy or electricity. Neither did they resort, like modern spirits, to the slow and clumsy mode of communication, through the letters of the alphabet. In spelling out a sentence by letters, one of the ladies commences repeating the alphabet; and when the desired letter is mentioned, a rap is heard. In this slow and tedious process, long sentences are communicated. No wonder that the slowness of the mode of communication should be considered as "perfectly appalling." And then, too, the substance of these communications is too absurd and ridiculous to be believed. We might here refer to the information given by the prophet Swedenborg himself, in relation to the condition of the pious Melancthon in the future state, that he was sometimes in an excavated stone chamber, and at other times in hell; and when in the chamber, he was covered with bear skins to protect him from the cold; and that he refuses to see visitors from this world on account of the filthiness of his apartment. This is about as probable and interesting as the account given by a female clairvoyant in Cleveland, Ohio, who says that she has (just) had an interview with Tom Paine, "who recants his errors, and is at present stopping with General Washington and Ethan Allen, at a hotel kept by John Bunyan."

We here introduce the following from one of the Boston papers:—

"The 'Spiritual Rappings' exploded.—There is a good article under this head, on the first page, to which we invite attention. The writer is an accomplished scholar, an able physician, and one of the first and best magnetizers in this country. He has investigated the 'rappings'—tested them theoretically and practically, and 'exploded' them, if our readers have not already done so for themselves. His communication is entitled to weight, and if circulated, as it should be, among the credulous and unsuspecting, might save some from the pitiful effects of a mischievous, absurd, and contemptible superstitious delusion."

The article is as follows:—

"About the 16th of December last, I called on Mr. Sunderland, in good faith, in order to hear and see manifestations from the spirit world. He received me in a friendly manner, and, with a young lady who was with me, seated me in the spirit room. We had to wait an hour or more, and while seated we devoutly invoked the spirits. Finding them silent, I put on them some of my most powerful mesmeric electric formula. They persevered, however, in preserving profound silence.

"When, however, the medium, Mrs. Cooper, had arrived, and seven of us, four gentlemen and three ladies, were seated round a square centre table, the responses were made, and came freely. The young lady with me, willing to believe, but wishing to know with absolute certainty, before she assented to the truth of the proposition, that the rappings were made by spirits, and not by the persons engaged in the business, had seated herself about three feet from the table, so that she could see under it. The following dialogue then ensued between Mrs. Cooper, her adopted sister, and the young lady:—

"'Will you sit close to the table, miss?'

"'If they are spirits, they can rap just as well where I am. I am willing to be convinced, and where I am I can hear perfectly well.'

"'The rule is, to sit close to the table.'

"'I will not disturb, but choose to sit where I am.'

"'If you will not comply with the regulation, you had better go into the other room.'

"'I came to know, and I shall sit where I am.'

"She was inflexible, and the work proceeded. When my turn came, I could put no test question, and was so told. I saw and felt that there was collusion, and, ashamed of myself as being the dupe of supposed and known imposition, after enduring the hour's sitting, I arose with the full conviction that all was the effect of bones and muscles, and of mesmeric action and reaction on the subjects themselves. While we were examining a piano which was used on such occasions, and our backs were turned towards the table, standing partly sidewise, I caught a glimpse of Mrs. Cooper's foot in the very position and act of commencing a spirit somerset on the table. She looked confused. I appeared not to have fully recognized any thing wrong, thanked them for their father's kindness and their attention, and left the domicil of the 'spiritual philosopher' under a full, stern, and abiding conviction that there was not the abiding place of invisible beings—that all was mechanical which we heard, and all that any one had heard or seen was mechanical or mesmeric.

"The second opportunity I had of testing the truth or falsity of these spirit communications was in the city of Lowell. Every thing was favorable as to place, time, and company. My eyes were every where, and raps came seldom and solitary. The medium dropped from between his fingers a small black pencil, about two inches long, with which I believe he made the raps. After it fell, we heard no more. He looked despairingly disappointed, soon went into a trance, arose, locked us into the room, and when the hour had transpired, came out voluntarily.

"Invited by a friend who was anxious to convince me more fully, and especially to convert the young lady who was with me at Mr. Sunderland's, he called at my house with the medium, and was received into my office. The young lady requested that we should stand around the table, and no one touch it. We did so. On the first response, she exclaimed, indignantly, addressing the medium, 'That, sir, was from your foot; I heard it distinctly!' He looked guilty, and his eyes flashed with anger. He asked the spirits if it was not 'nonsense,' and received the response from the foot, 'yes,' and left, evidently highly incensed.

"I determined to give one more trial to the spirits. In this latter case, there were the three raps, clear and strong, and the answers highly satisfactory, as far as they went. But the difficulty was, that the spirits were capricious, and would respond only to just such as they saw fit; and the medium was pretty well acquainted with me. The perfect regularity of the knocks, and the sound, convinced me that, in this instance, it was purely mechanical. I endeavored to get the secret from the medium, and the answer was, 'If I should tell you, you would be as wise as myself.' She evidently knew how it was done.

"I will now state a few facts, and conclude. 1. Wood is an excellent conductor of sounds. A small worm, called at the south a sawyer, and sought for angling, can be heard three yards, as it gnaws between the wood and bark of a fallen pine; and the slightest scratch of a pin, on the end of an isolated mast, sixty feet long, can be heard distinctly.

"2. In mesmeric operations, we well know that individuals can be made to hear and see things that never occurred or existed, and yet the subjects remain unconscious that they have been made the subjects of mesmeric hallucination!

"3. Persons highly observant and susceptible can, by their eye and feeling, when they put themselves into a semi-abnormal condition, tell, in many instances nine times out of ten, who is and who is not a believer, and what is in the mind of the inquirer.

"4. Mediums are invariably of this character.

"5. In matters of faith, friendship, love, or the spirit world, many are willing to be deceived; and when they fall into the hands of the shrewd and designing, who can appear the impersonation of truth, virtue, honesty, and even piety itself, they are emphatically humbugged, and give their money and their testimony to confirm the fraud.

"Lastly. Many are so sincere and honest in their intentions, that it is not in their hearts to believe that some of our most respectable men, even clergymen, would lend their names to sustain any thing but what they had believed and tested as a reality, and therefore themselves believe.

"Now, Mr. Editor, from all that I have seen and know of these spiritual communications, as 'rappings,' and from all these facts, I am free to declare, that I believe them an arrant humbug, and one, too, of the most pernicious tendency. They can all be traced to a human agency, as either mechanical or mesmeric, alone or combined; and I will give my right hand to any medium whose operation and device I cannot fully discover, trace, and demonstrate, as deducible from either the one or both of these sources, and from no other."

A correspondent of the Boston Traveller, in a communication dated New York, January 22, 1852, says, "I look upon the delusion as I do upon a contagious disease. It is a moral epidemic. Any man of peculiar diathesis may be its victim. It spreads by sympathy and by moral infection. Men of standing and intellect gravely and seriously affirm that they have seen a man rise and float about the room like a feather, till some unbelieving wretch approaches and breaks the spell, when the aerial swimmer falls suddenly to the floor. Franklin, Washington, and all the signers of the Declaration of Independence, have visited them, and these departed worthies sanction any doctrine which the uninitiated may happen to entertain before consulting them." A. J. Davis says, "There is a class of spirits who dwell in divine love more than in divine wisdom, and who are easily influenced to feel precisely what the majority of those who consult them feel and think, and under peculiar circumstances will say precisely what the questioning minds of the circle may ardently and positively desire. Affectionate spirits—those dwelling in the love circles—are readily influenced to approve the desires of the hearts of those with whom they commune on earth; as in our homes, the infant, by virtue of its cries and positive entreaties, captivates the affectionate, and perhaps intelligent, mother, who, consequently, forthwith coincides with her child's desires, submitting her judgment to its powerful appeals. Thus it is, through the power of sympathy, spirits of the other world gratify all our thoughts and desires." This is the opinion of Mr. Davis, which may pass for what it is worth. We never indorse his spiritual notions.

To give an idea of the conduct exhibited at the circles, or meetings, of the "harmonials," we submit the following from the Springfield Republican of January, 1852:—

"When we entered the hall, the meeting had not commenced, and all parties were engaged in a lively chat. Soon there was a spontaneous coming to order, and the ladies formed a circle around a table. The gentlemen then formed a larger circle, entirely surrounding the ladies. A good hymn was given out and sung. During the singing, we noticed one lady growing excessively pale and cadaverous. Then her hands began to twitch, and she commenced pounding upon the table. Directly opposite her, a young woman was undergoing the process of being magnetized by the spirits, while she, as we were informed, was resisting them. Her hands were drawn under the table by sudden and powerful jerks, and every muscle in her body seemed to be agitated with the most powerful commotion, as if she were acted upon in every part by shocks of electricity. This continued for ten or fifteen minutes, until she was, at last, in a state apparently resembling the magnetic sleep.

"Another lady, with a fine eye and an intellectual cast of countenance, was then moved to write, which she did, while her eyes stared and rolled as if in a state of frenzy, and every muscle seemed strained to its utmost tension. She wrote absolutely furiously, but no one but the spirits could read it, and it was passed over to another medium, who announced it a message of such utter unimportance that we have forgotten it. A brawny blacksmith was among the mediums, but he did nothing but pound on the table, and write the word 'sing.' The famous medium Gordon was there, too, and he went through various contortions—got down upon his knees, stood upon his seat, and stretched up his arms and fingers, trembling all the while, as if in the highest state of nervous excitement. Once he was twitched bodily under the table, uttering a scream as he went. At times, the different mediums would rise, spread their arms, slap the table, and throw their hands into motions almost inconceivably rapid.

"One of the mediums, a young woman, arose by the dictation and powerful urging of the spirits, and delivered a rambling sermon. It abounded in quotations from the Bible and the doctrines of Universalism.

"But it was when the singing was in progress that the spirits and the mediums were in the highest ecstasy. Then the latter would pound, and throw their arms around, and point upwards, in the most fantastic manner possible. And thus, with singing, and pounding, and reading the Bible, and writing, and preaching, the evening passed away; and while Old Hundred was being sung, the spirits gave their good night to the circle.

"We can give but a faint idea of this scene. It is one we shall never forget, and we only wish that the respectable men we saw there, the men of age and experience, the young men and young women, could understand the pity with which a man without the circle of their sympathy regarded them. With the light of reason within them, with minds not untaught by education, and with the full and perfect revelation of God's will in their very hands, it was indeed most pitiable to see them swallowing these fantastic mummeries, and mingling them, in all their wild, furious, and unmeaning features, with the worship of Him who manifests himself in the 'still small voice.'

"Of the sincerity of the majority of those present we have no doubt; but that there are rank impostors in this town, who are leading astray the credulous, we have as little doubt. The most that we saw on Saturday night was mesmerism, and the rest a very transparent attempt at deception. At any rate, if it was any thing else, we should attribute it to any thing but good spirits. Were we a devil, and should we wish to see how foolish we could make people appear, we should choose this way. O men and women, do have done with such outrageous nonsense."

Some have been most grossly deceived, and even made insane, by being made to believe that they were magnetized by spirits. This was the case with one of the celebrated Hutchinson singers—Judson J. Hutchinson. Mr. Sunderland, in the fourth number of the Spiritual Philosopher, observes as follows: "We shall hear of communications from 'prophets,' 'apostles,' 'kings,' and 'statesmen,' and of divers 'revelations,' said to be made by them. We shall hear of human beings said to be magnetized by spirits. But the good and the true will know and understand how easy it is for some to become 'magnetized' by their own ideas, and to take for 'revelations' the fancies of their own brains. The notion about mortals being magnetized by spirits is a mistake, an error; and it was this error which was the principal cause of all the real difficulty in the case of Judson J. Hutchinson. Mr. H. was made to believe that he was in company with his deceased brother, and that his own deceased children came and sat upon his knees, and put their arms about his neck. When he found himself sinking into an abnormal state, he was told to believe that it was the spirits, and that there was nothing human about it. This, of course, Mr. H. was ready to believe. He had heard of others being magnetized by spirits, and they were happy, very happy. And as this seemed to promise him approximation to the spirit world, for which he was earnestly longing, he readily gave himself entirely to that idea." The operator, Mr. Hazard, of Rochester, New York, suggested that Mr. Hutchinson should ask the spirits to move his (Mr. H.'s) hand to the top of his own head, that then he (Mr. H.) might know it was they. "But the operator should have known," says Mr. Sunderland, "that his suggesting it to the mind of Mr. Hutchinson, in the manner he did, or, if Mr. Hutchinson's own mind was directed to the movement of his own hand, that was sufficient to cause his hand to move, even if there had been no spirits in existence. And so, when Mr. H. went to Cleveland, the difficulty was increased by a repetition of the cause. He fell into the same state again, of course, when similar associations brought it up before his mind; and there he was again told by a clairvoyant lady, that she 'saw the spirits' (his brother Benjamin and Swedenborg) operating upon him. The effect was, to render him insane." His brother Jesse says, that "the shock was too great for Judson, on account of his bodily weakness, and that his feeble nature was too fine strung to bear up against the severe attacks, and it was with great difficulty he was brought back to Milford, New Hampshire." While in this state, Mr. Sunderland was sent for, and staid with him three days and three nights, to render him assistance. Mr. S. says, "He was unfortunate in being told that he was magnetized by spirits, and still more so, perhaps, in the treatment he met with from some uncongenial spirits in Syracuse and in Worcester." From this, as well as from some other unfortunate cases, persons are admonished to be careful to refrain from visiting such impostors.

Some have been told that St. Paul, St. Peter, St. Luke, and Timothy, were present, and answered questions put to them; but Mr. Davis and Mr. Sunderland declare it to be false. Mr. Davis says, "This point I have been led to investigate carefully; and at no one of the circles referred to do I discover, upon the most critical interior retrospection, a single communication from the veritable St. Paul, nor from any one of his glorious compeers."

So of Benjamin Franklin, who, it is said, has never condescended to converse but a very few times with earthly beings, though his name is often quoted in connection with clairvoyancy. The reason he is said to assign to Mr. Davis is, that he cannot "prevent the almost exact human imitations of his vibrations; and that they produce so much confusion and contradiction, that, he thinks it best to wait until some further improvement can be made in the mode of communication between the two worlds." Yet how many are told that they have been put in communication with Franklin!

Mr. Sunderland says, "We need the same conditions, or guaranties, for believing spirits, that we do for believing human testimony." Speaking of those clairvoyants who are supposed to be exalted into the spirit sphere, so as to see and converse with spirits, he says, "Whether they do, really, see the spirits, whom they think they do, must be determined by other things besides their own testimony. We are not obliged to take their own mere ipse dixit upon this, any more than upon any other subject." And as yet, as has been remarked by Dr. Phelps, there is no proof that what purports to be a revelation from spirits is the work of spirits at all. Mr. Sunderland, for all we can see, is liable to be in an error, as well as others; and all the evidence he gives us that he has had interviews and holds conversations with spirits is that of his own testimony alone. And so of Mr. Davis.

We have said that no dependence whatever can be placed upon the rapping spirits. Dr. Phelps, of Stratford, Connecticut, once heard a very loud rapping under the table while at his breakfast. "I asked if it was my sister. The answer was, 'Yes.' 'Well,' said I, 'if you are the spirit of my sister, you can tell me how many children you have in this world.' So the spirit commenced counting, and counted up to twenty-five, when I pronounced it a lying spirit. I asked it, 'Are you unhappy?' It answered, 'Yes.' 'Can I do you any good?' 'Yes.' 'How?' The spirit then called for the alphabet, and spelled out, 'Give me a glass of fresh gin.' 'What will you do with it,' said I. 'Put it to my mouth.' I asked, 'Where is your mouth?' No answer."

Letters, and lines written upon scraps of paper, have, it is said, been sent from the other world. The following was dropped from the ceiling of Mrs. Phelps's parlor when she and others were present.

"Sir,—Sir Sambo's compliments, and begs the ladies to accept as a token of his esteem." Other papers have been similarly written upon, and signed "Sam Slick," "The Devil," "Beelzebub," "Lorenzo Dow," &c.

On the 15th of March, 1850, a large turnip was thrown against Dr. Phelps's parlor window, having several characters carved out upon it, somewhat resembling the Chinese characters. A fac-simile of them may be found in Davis's explanation of Modern Mysteries, page 55.

Some may receive such things as emanations from the spirit world; but to us they seem too simple and puerile to be considered as having any thing to do with the higher spheres.

Dr. Phelps, who has been witness to every species of manoeuvre of the alleged spirit rappers, says that he has become fully satisfied that no reliance whatever is to be placed on their communications, either as a source of valuable information, or as a means of acquiring truth. "I am satisfied," says he, "that their communications are wholly worthless. They are often contradictory, often prove false, frequently trifling and nonsensical, and more in character with what might be expected of a company of loafers on a spree than from spirits returned from a world of retribution to 'tell the secrets of their prison house.'"

With regard to moving tables, chairs, beds, &c., Mr. Davis says that, "at a circle of friends in Bridgeport, Connecticut, there was a large congregation of spirits, who, from a distance of eighty miles, or thirty above the atmosphere of our earth, directed a mighty column of vital electricity and magnetism, which column or current, penetrating all intermediate substances, and by a process of infiltration, entered the fine particles of matter which composed the table, and raised it, several successive times, three or four feet from the floor!" This we are to receive upon his authority, or upon the testimony of those who may say they saw the table moved. But if the operator can make things appear that never occurred or existed, and can imagine a thing, and have that imagination transferred to others, then what evidence have we that spirits are concerned in the transaction? Just none at all. A while ago, we heard of an Italian, at the Massachusetts Hospital, who could raise tables from the floor without touching them; and the art of so doing, he said, he learned in Italy. And how are we to account for the Millerites and others being so raised, as they believed? Are they not as much to be credited as those who profess a belief in the miracles of the "harmonial philosophers"? For ourselves, we are satisfied that such things, for the most part, are but a delusion, whether they are alleged to take place among those supposed to be bewitched, the Adventists, or the harmonials.

As to the rapping noises, we are inclined to think they may have something to do with the knee and toe joints, and that the two performers usually sit together, in order the better to alternate with, and spell or relieve each other. Upon a fair trial, it certainly has been proved that the noises cannot be produced when the joints are grasped firmly by another. But it may be doubted by some whether the joints can be made to produce the distinct rappings that are sometimes heard. We think they can. A few years ago, a boy in London gave exhibitions of what was termed "chin music." It was done by striking the fists upon the lower jaw. By this practice he was able to produce quite loud and distinct sounds, and play a variety of tunes, to the amusement of the public. The sounds were made by the finger joints, it was supposed; and perhaps the jaw bone may have contributed its share in the performance. The sounds given by the "rapping spirits" are by no means so remarkable as many suppose. They are often quite indistinct, and nearly inaudible. Unless a person was possessed of a large share of credulity, he would never consider them as the responses of an intelligent spirit. This is the decided conviction of hundreds who have witnessed their performances in various parts of the country. Yet many have been, and others will be, deceived. And, doubtless, many tender and sensitive minds may be made insane by the wicked trifling of these unprincipled impostors. Certainly we have not the least desire to set at nought any thing of a truly serious character. Yet we are constrained to believe that the things of which we have spoken are too ridiculous and nonsensical, if not actually sinful, to be entitled to the least favor from the public. The learned Thomas Dick, in his Essay on the Improvement of Society, gives an account of far more singular and wonderful phenomena produced by mechanical agency, than any that has as yet been attributed to the agency of spirits, as affirmed by A. J. Davis, or La Roy Sunderland. And we here subjoin the facts of the case, for the benefit of the public:—

"Soon after the murder of King Charles I., a commission was appointed to survey the king's house at Woodstock, with the manor, park, and other demesnes belonging to that manor. One Collins, under a feigned name, hired himself as secretary to the commissioners, who, upon the 13th October, 1649, met, and took up their residence in the king's own rooms. His majesty's bed chamber they made their kitchen, the council hall their pantry, and the presence chamber was the place where they met for the despatch of business. Things being thus prepared, they met on the 16th for business; and in the midst of their first debate, there entered a large black dog (as they thought,) which made a dreadful howling, overturned two or three of their chairs, and then crept under a bed and vanished. This gave them the greater surprise, as the doors were kept constantly locked, so that no real dog could get in or out. The next day their surprise was increased, when, sitting at dinner in a lower room, they heard plainly the noise of persons walking over their heads, though they well knew the doors were all locked, and there could be nobody there. Presently after, they heard, also, all the wood of the King's Oak brought by parcels from the dining room, and thrown with great violence into the presence chamber, as also all the chairs, stools, tables, and other furniture forcibly hurled about the room; their papers, containing the minutes of their transactions, were torn, and the ink glass broken. When all this noise had ceased, Giles Sharp, their secretary, proposed first to enter into these rooms; and in presence of the commissioners, from whom he received the key, he opened the doors, and found the wood spread about the room, the chairs tossed about and broken, the papers torn, but not the least track of any human creature, nor the least reason to suspect one, as the doors were all fast, and the keys in the custody of the commissioners. It was therefore unanimously agreed that the power that did this mischief must have entered at the key-hole. The night following, Sharp, with two of the commissioners' servants, as they were in bed in the same room, which room was contiguous to that where the commissioners lay, had their beds' feet lifted up so much higher than their heads, that they expected to have their necks broken, and then they were let fall at once with so much violence as shook the whole house, and more than ever terrified the commissioners. On the night of the 19th, as they were all in bed in the same room, for greater safety, and lights burning by them, the candles in an instant went out, with a sulphurous smell; and that moment many trenchers of wood were hurled about the room, which next morning were found to be the same their honors had eaten out of the day before, which were all removed from the pantry, though not a lock was found opened in the whole house. The next night they fared still worse; the candles went out, as before; the curtains of their honors' beds were rattled to and fro with great violence; they received many cruel blows and bruises by eight great pewter dishes and a number of wooden trenchers being thrown on their beds, which, being heaved off, were heard rolling about the room, though in the morning none of these were to be seen.

"The next night the keeper of the king's house and his dog lay in the commissioners' room, and then they had no disturbance. But on the night of the 22d, though the dog lay in the room as before, yet the candles went out, a number of brickbats fell from the chimney into the room, the dog howled piteously, their bed clothes were all stripped off, and their terror increased. On the 24th, they thought all the wood of the King's Oak was violently thrown down by their bedsides; they counted sixty-four billets that fell, and some hit and shook the beds in which they lay; but in the morning none was found there, nor had the door been opened where the billet wood was kept. The next night the candles were put out, the curtains rattled, and a dreadful crack, like thunder, was heard; and one of the servants, running in haste, thinking his master was killed, found three dozen of trenchers laid smoothly under the quilt by him. But all this was nothing to what succeeded afterwards. The 29th, about midnight, the candles went out; something walked majestically through the room, and opened and shut the windows; great stones were thrown violently into the room, some of which fell on the beds, others on the floor; and at about a quarter after one, a noise was heard as of forty cannon discharged together, and again repeated at about eight minutes' intervals. This alarmed and raised all the neighborhood, who, coming into their honors' room, gathered up the great stones, fourscore in number, and laid them by in the corner of a field, where they were afterwards to be seen. This noise, like the discharge of cannon, was heard for several miles round. During these noises, the commissioners and their servants gave one another over for lost, and cried out for help; and Giles Sharp, snatching up a sword, had well nigh killed one of their honors, mistaking him for the spirit, as he came in his shirt from his own room to theirs. While they were together, the noise was continued, and part of the tiling of the house was stripped off, and all the windows of an upper room were taken away with it. On the 30th, at midnight, something walked into the chamber, treading like a bear; it walked many times about, then threw the warming pan violently on the floor; at the same time, a large quantity of broken glass, accompanied with great stones and horse bones, came pouring into the room with uncommon force. On the 1st of November, the most dreadful scene of all ensued. Candles in every part of the room were lighted up, and a great fire made; at midnight, the candles all yet burning, a noise like the bursting of a cannon was heard in the room, and the burning billets were tossed about by it even into their honors' beds, who called Giles and his companions to their relief, otherwise the house had been burned to the ground; about an hour after, the candles went out as usual, the crack as of many cannon was heard, and many pailfuls of green stinking water were thrown upon their honors' beds; great stones were also thrown in as before, the bed curtains and bedsteads torn and broken, the windows shattered, and the whole neighborhood alarmed with the most dreadful noises; nay, the very rabbit stealers, that were abroad that night in the warren, were so terrified, that they fled for fear, and left their ferrets behind them. One of their honors this night spoke, and, in the name of God, asked what it was, and why it disturbed them so. No answer was given to this; but the noise ceased for a while, when the spirit came again; and as they all agreed, brought with it seven devils worse than itself. One of the servants now lighted a large candle, and set it in the doorway between the two chambers, to see what passed; and as he watched it, he plainly saw a hoof striking the candle and candlestick into the middle of the room, and afterwards, making three scrapes over the snuff, scraped it out. Upon this the same person was so bold as to draw a sword; but he had scarcely got it out, when he felt another invisible hand holding it too, and pulling it from him, and at length, prevailing, struck him so violently on the head with the pommel, that he fell down for dead with the blow. At this instant was heard another burst, like the discharge of the broadside of a ship of war, and at the interval of a minute or two between each, no less than nineteen such discharges. These shook the house so violently that they expected every moment it would fall upon their heads. The neighbors, being all alarmed, flocked to the house in great numbers, and all joined in prayer and psalm singing; during which the noise continued in the other rooms, and the discharge of cannons was heard as from without, though no visible agent was seen to discharge them. But what was the most alarming of all, and put an end to their proceedings effectually, happened the next day, as they were all at dinner, when a paper, in which they had signed a mutual agreement to reserve a part of the premises out of the general survey, and afterwards to share it equally among themselves, (which paper they had hid for the present under the earth, in a pot in one corner of the room, and in which an orange tree grew,) was consumed in a wonderful manner by the earth's taking fire, with which the pot was filled, and burning violently with a blue flame and an intolerable stench, so that they were all driven out of the house, to which they could never be again prevailed upon to return."

This story has been somewhat abridged from the EncyclopÆdia Britannica, where it is quoted from Dr. Plot's History of Oxfordshire, in which these extraordinary occurrences are ascribed to satanic influence. At the time they happened, they were viewed as the effects of supernatural powers; and even Dr. Plot seems disposed to ascribe them to this cause. "Though many tricks," says the doctor, "have often been played in affairs of this kind, yet many of the things above related are not reconcilable with juggling; such as the loud noises beyond the powers of man to make without such instruments as were not there; the tearing and breaking the beds; the throwing about the fire; the hoof treading out the candle; and the striving for the sword; and the blow the man received from the pommel of it." It was at length ascertained, however, that this wonderful contrivance was all the invention of the memorable Joseph Collins, of Oxford, otherwise called Funny Joe, who, having hired himself as secretary under the name of Giles Sharp, by knowing the private traps belonging to the house, and by the help of pulvis fulminans, and other chemical preparations, and letting his fellow-servants into the scheme, carried on the deceit without discovery, to the very last.

The occurrences which are said to have taken place at the house of the Rev. Dr. Phelps, in Stratford, Connecticut, are not to be compared in their marvellousness to those we have quoted from Dr. Dick, and which things were the results of the ingenuity of Joe Collins. Therefore, when we hear of such like occurrences in our day, there will be no necessity for us to attribute them to any supernatural influence, either good or bad; for it is a well-received maxim, that "what man has done man can do." To suppose that the merciful Father of spirits would harass and frighten mankind by haunting their houses with strange noises and rappings, ghosts and hobgoblins, and spirits of the uneasy dead, would be derogatory to his paternal character. And who, for a moment, could believe that he would torment little children in this way, when our Savior took them in his arms, and blessed them, and said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven"? No, we must attribute such things to any other source than as proceeding from the throne of God.

Up to the present time it may be that many will profess to the world that they have actually seen the spirits of the departed. Yet this is no new profession, for the votaries of St. Vitus, and the spiritually-minded Shakers of later times, have declared to us that they have seen their departed friends and acquaintances. But even Mr. Davis is led to consider a large majority of these cases to be the results of cerebral agitation. "I can truthfully affirm," says he, "that the objects, localities, scenery, and personages, seen by those laboring under monomania, delirium tremens, &c., are of the same class of mental delusion, and are absolutely nothing more than the unconscious elaborations of the surcharged brain."