Four gentlemen in Springfield, not long since, publicly attested to a "miracle," performed, as they believed, by spirits, at a "circle" where they were present. It consisted in moving a table, and a number of chairs in the room, and in shocks, resembling distant thunder, or cannon at a distance, causing the persons and the chairs and tables to tremble in such a manner that the effects were both seen and felt, the room being well lighted at the time, and an opportunity afforded for the closest inspection, so that the company unitedly declare that they know they were not imposed upon nor deceived.

Now, there is nothing very remarkable in this affair, for all might have been done by the medium himself, by first pathetizing the persons present, as it might be done without their knowledge, and while in that state could be made to see and hear any thing imagined by the operator. We are assured, by one who knows, that it is impossible for those who are fit subjects to be present at a circle without being more or less under the mesmeric influence. And, in such cases, they can be willed to remember or forget what they have seen or heard. We do not consider such persons as competent witnesses in such a case as they have testified to. It may all have been induced, or it may all have been real. And if real, there was no need to refer it to the agency of spirits, since such things have been done without spirits, as in the case of Joe Collins, or others which we shall refer to, in this part of our volume. But here we may be told, that a thousand dollars has been offered to any one who will prove that such things are produced by any other power than that of spirits. But the same sum has been offered to any one who will prove that spirits move tables, chairs, and the like, or that spirits produce the noises and other manifestations ascribed to them.

We have heard the case of a person who went to a medium and wished to know if he could be put in communication with his father, who had died several years before. He was answered in the affirmative. But the inquirer desired, as proof that it would actually be the spirit of his father that would be introduced to him, that a pencil and paper should be laid upon a table, and that the spirit of the father should come and write his own name upon the paper, the son feeling assured that, if this were done, he should at once recognize both the name and the writing. Accordingly, the spirit in question came, and did as was desired, and the son declared it to be the real name and handwriting of his father. Now, the philosophy of the case is this: The inquirer was first pathetized, although ignorant of the fact at the time—a thing very common, though not generally understood. Thus the medium became acquainted with the name of the father as it existed in the mind of the son; but did the pencil actually write the name upon the paper? No. It was only made to appear so to the mind of the inquirer. As to the handwriting, the inquirer's mind was directed to a piece of paper, and to look at the writing. Of course, he saw his father's name, and the handwriting, for he could see nothing else for the time being, his mind being impressed with that one idea or object, and closed to every thing else. It was in fact, to him, his father's name and chirography, and no one's else. It could not be otherwise while his mind was under the control of the operator.

We have been told of a lady, who, in a magnetized state, sits at a table and writes down information that is imparted to her, as is said, from the world of spirits. Her hand and pen glide over the paper with astonishing speed and velocity, far more rapid than the most expert penman in a normal state. And what astonishes many is, that she cannot stop writing when she wishes to, and sometimes becomes so exceedingly fatigued as to beg of the spirit or spirits to grant her a little repose from the wearisome task. But the whole matter is easily accounted for, without referring it to the supposed agency of spirits. The lady's arm is first paralyzed—deprived of motion by the will of the medium or operator, so that her own mind or will has not the least control over it. She thus becomes a mere machine, under the will and control of another, whose will directs the movements of the arm and pen, and dictates what is written in answer to inquiries made of things appertaining to the spirit world, just as Miss Martineau declares, in her letters on magnetism, that "the volitions of the mesmerist may actuate the movements of the patient's limbs, and suggest the material of his ideas." Many singular effects are produced upon the minds and feelings of subjects in a sleep-waking state, by Professor Williams, Dr. Cutter, and others, such as being made drunk with water, eating cayenne as sugar, exercising complete control over their mental as well as physical condition.

We have been assured by a pathetist, who is a thorough adept in the profession, that he can and often has put persons in communication apparently with a deceased father, mother, brother, sister, or friend. The individual is first pathetized (another name for mesmerism) by him in a wakeful state, though unconscious, it may be, that he is under such an influence. His mind being in the possession and under the control of the operator, a person is now either actually or mentally (for it makes no difference) presented before him, and he is told of the fact, and asked, Do you not see your father? The idea of father is so presented to the mind, through the organ of form, that the organ can take cognizance of none other than the father. The person, if an actual person is employed for the occasion, is then shifted or changed for another person; yet the subject perceives no difference, even if changed successively for a dozen others; it is all the same; it is father, and no one else, through the whole exhibition. The father speaks, the son recognizes his voice, and they converse together. The subject can be willed to hear any sound, as that of music, artillery, thunder, and the like, though no sounds whatever are in reality made. A niece of ours was operated on in this way, and she was told to look abroad and behold the majestic waves of the ocean, the pageantry of a military procession; and she saw and was delighted with the scenes that were willed to pass before her. Apples were oranges to her, and she sucked their juice with a delightful zest. An apple paring held before her was a beautiful bird, then a squirrel, a rabbit, or whatever the operator willed it to become. The mind of the operator and the subject, in such cases, become as one, and they then hear, see, taste, and feel the same thing at the same moment. Miss Martineau says that, while in a mesmeric state, she saw "things out of other worlds—not the things themselves, but impressions of them." "They come," says she, "from my brain. The influence does not separate soul and body, but it sets the body at rest, while it exalts and elevates the thinking powers."

"A striking incident," says Miss M., "occurred in one of my earliest walks after recovery from a protracted illness. My mesmerist and I had reached a headland nearly half a mile from home, and were resting there, when she proposed to mesmerize me a little—partly to refresh me for our return, and partly to see if any effect would be produced in a new place, and while a fresh breeze was blowing. She merely laid her hand upon my forehead, and in a minute or two the usual appearances came, assuming a strange air of novelty from the scene in which I was. After the blurring of the outlines, which made all objects more dim than the dull gray day had already made them, the phosphoric lights appeared, glorifying every rock and headland, the horizon, and all the vessels in sight. One of the dirtiest and meanest of the steam tugs in the port was passing at the time, and it was all dressed in heavenly radiance—the last object that my imagination would select as an element of a vision. Then, and often before and since, did it occur to me, that if I had been a pious and very ignorant Catholic, I could not have escaped the persuasion that I had seen heavenly visions. Every glorified object before my eyes would have been a revelation; and my mesmerist, with the white halo around her head, and the illumined profile, would have been a saint or an angel."

We know not whether, in this instance, the mesmerist willed her subject to behold things as she did, yet as to the general truth that the will of the operator can produce in the subject mesmerized those states of mind and body which he wills him or her to experience, there is abundant evidence. O. S. Fowler, editor of the Phrenological Journal, says he "can bear ample testimony to the fact, as he has seen, experienced, and induced similar states by the thousand." And many others testify to the same effect.

Persons can be made to travel to other countries, and even to other spheres, and come back and tell what they have seen. And as persons vary in the talent of description and observation, in the normal state, so do they vary in a semi-abnormal condition. Some are found to be better travellers, and will see more than others, and in spiritual things will differ in their descriptions as they differ in religious creeds and sentiments. Thus a Swedenborg, or a Fishbough, sees a hell in the future state, where sinners suffer the penalty of their earthly sins; while an Ambler, or a Davis, discovers that all men are alike joyful and happy. Mr. Davis has seen fit to caution the public not to believe too quickly or too fully the things excitable persons relate; "because some minds are naturally inclined to exaggerate or enlarge upon every thing which they may feel, see, or hear." The state alluded to is merely induced. It is not real.

Persons are frequently made to do what they believe is done by others, as in the case of a son of Dr. Phelps, of Stratford, Connecticut. The boy, on one occasion, was found (with a rope passed under his arms) suspended to the limb of a tree, having been taken, as was supposed, from his bed in the evening by spirits, and thus treated by them. The boy declared that when it was done, he "screamed at the top of his voice;" but it was ascertained that he made no noise at all, for if he had, the domestics, who were in the kitchen when he passed through it, must have heard him, which they did not. We have the testimony of A. J. Davis, himself, that the boy "really supposed that he had called aloud; and so far from having been tied to the tree by spirits, he had been made unconsciously instrumental in tying himself to the tree!" "I have heard," says Mr. Davis, "instances of mischief cited, as occurring in Dr. Phelps's house, in evidence of satanic agency, which I now discover to have been caused or accomplished by one of the children in sport, sometimes by electrical discharges and magnetic attractions, and sometimes by the almost unpardonable mischievousness of persons unknown to the family. The wanton destruction of property alleged to have taken place on this gentleman's premises is referable, in most cases, to emanations of vital electricity, seeking its equilibrium in the atmosphere. In this manner window panes were broken and furniture injured. In Woodbridge, New York, some few years ago, a young lady was affected with a disease which gave rise to similar phenomena. Mysterious sounds were heard in her presence; window panes were frequently broken in her vicinity; and, in like manner, door panels were burst out, sometimes falling towards her, sometimes from her, and quick, concussive, and very loud sounds were heard under her feet as she ascended a flight of stairs. Ultimately, the mysterious phenomena frightened her into an illness which cured the malady."

"People cannot be too cautious how they receive the doings of those who profess to be in connection with spirits of the other spheres; and to those who wish to inquire into the matter, we would say, Go and hear, but try to keep your wits about you, and not swallow bodily either the preachers or their strange affirmations."—Horace Greely.

"Under an impression that whatever is communicated by a spirit must, of course, be true, many persons are receiving these communications as the truth of God—as a new revelation from the spirit world. But if these communications are from spirits, we have no proof that they are good spirits. The presumption is, that they are bad spirits—lying spirits. At my house they often accused each other of lying—contradicted at one time what they affirmed at another; inflicted injury upon property in the most wanton manner; and have given conclusive evidence throughout that the discipline of hell, which they profess to have experienced for several years, has not been wholly effectual in improving their characters, and qualifying them for the 'higher spheres' for which many suppose that the discipline after death is a preparation."—Dr. Phelps.

"Many of the doings of the rapping spirits are too nonsensical and absurd to be believed. They spoil all our notions of the dignity, the spirituality, of the spiritual world. That a messenger should come from the spirit land to tell an old woman that her black cat did eat another old woman's white rabbit, is not in accordance with the ideas most people have of the doings and missions of beings in the enjoyment of an immortal state."—Puritan Recorder.