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Preface.—Letter from J. F. Lanning, Esq.—Spiritual communication, through the mediumship of Mr. Lanning, to the author—Author’s Reply—Communication from an assembly of eminent spirits, sanctioning, under test conditions, the credentials transmitted through Mr. Lanning—Postscript by the author—Supplemental Preface | 3 |
Introduction.—The evidence of the existence of a Deity, by the author—Theological Axioms | 17 |
Intuitive Evidence of the Existence of Spirits.—Narrative of the author’s experimental investigation of Spiritualism—Letter in reply to an inquiry respecting the Influence of Electricity in Table-Turning—Of Manifestations founded on Movements without contact, or such contact as cannot be sufficient to cause the result—Hymn chanted, and reply | 35 |
Corroborative Evidence of the Existence of Spirits.—Evidence afforded by the Rev. Allen Putnam, of Roxbury, Mass.—Evidence of Dr. Bell, of Somerville, near Boston—His errors, arising from ignorance of facts, (110, 283, 864.) | 55 |
Foreign Corroborative Evidence of the Existence of Spirits.—Manifestations which occurred in France in 1851—Letter from T. R. P. Ventura—Letter of Dr. Coze—Letter of M. F. De Saulcy—Spiritualism in Paris—Spiritual Manifestations in France and Germany—Spiritualism in Great Britain—Letter of Robert Owen, Esq. | 66 |
Communications from the Spirit World.—Remarks introductory to my spirit father’s communication—My father’s communication—Communication from a spirit son of the author—Additional communications from spirits who died while infants—Communication from a very young spirit child to its parents | 85 |
Of Spiritual Birth.—Narratives given by spirits of their translation to the spirit world—Narrative of his spiritual birth, by W. W., a most benevolent spirit—The spirit Maria’s narrative—My sister’s account of her translation to the spirit world—My brother’s account of his spiritual birth, &c. | 101 |
Convocation of Spirits.—Sixty-four queries addressed to a convocation of worthies from the spirit world; also their replies to the same, (through the mediumship of Mrs. Gourlay,) confirmed under conditions which no mortal could pervert | 113 |
Exposition of the Information received from the Spirit World | 119 |
Apology for my Conversion.—Reasons for my change of opinion, and belief in the existence and agency of spirits—On the whereabout of heaven—Correspondence with Mr. Holcomb, of Southwick, Massachusetts | 125 |
Moral Influence of Spiritualism | 136 |
The Heaven and Hell of Spiritualism contrasted with the Heaven and Hell of Scripture | 141 |
Instinctive Impression as to Heaven being overhead.—Discordance as to the whereabout of the scriptural heaven | 149 |
“The True Doctrine.”—The Rev. H. Harbaugh’s opinion respecting heaven | 151 |
Of Mediumship | 159 |
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Of Counter-Mediumship.—On the influence of the ill-treatment of media on spiritual manifestations—The author’s discovery of his powers as a medium | 166 |
On Psychological Explanations of Spiritual Manifestations | 168 |
Alphabetic Converse with Spirits.—Modern process for alphabetic converse with spirits as new as that of electric telegraph | 173 |
Influence of Mundane Wealth in the World to come.—According to the spiritual code, riches elevate or degrade according to the morality displayed in their acquisition and employment | 176 |
Mrs. Gourlay’s Narrative of her Conversion to Spiritualism | 179 |
Practical Benefit of Spiritualism.—Illustration of the practical benefit of Spiritualism, in the happiness imparted by the conversion of an unbeliever to a belief in immortality—Letter from a spirit daughter—Correspondence with a spirit brother | 192 |
Marriage on Earth and in Heaven.—The hymeneal tie in the spirit world grows out of the necessity of the connubial union in the mundane sphere—“Free Love” imputation refuted | 204 |
Influence of Scripture on the Morals of Christians.—The morality of Christendom being irreconcilable with the New Testament, cannot be its legitimate offspring—Inspiration can have no higher authority than the human testimony on which its existence is arrogated—Injurious influence of unreasonable restriction—No one would believe that a capable farmer
APPENDIX. Letter to the Episcopal Clergy.—Letter from Dr. Hare to the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church, offering to lay before them the new evidence of immortality. (Submitted to the late convention, Philadelphia, May 15, 1855.) | 427 | A Letter from Dr. Hare.—Addressed to the Association for the Advancement of Science, at their meeting, August 18, 1855—Preliminary remarks | 430 | Farraday’s Speculation.—Speculation touching electric conduction and the nature of matter. By Farraday | 432 | Motives for Republishing my Memoir on Electrical Theory | 437 | Electrical Theory.—Objections to the theories severally of Franklin, Dufay, and Ampere, with an effort to explain electrical phenomena by statical or undulatory polarization—Supposed grounds for a theory—Proofs of the existence of an enormous quantity of imponderable matter in metals—Electrical phenomena attributed to stationary or undulatory polarization—On the perfect similitude between the polarity communicated to iron filings by a magnetized steel bar and a galvanized wire—Process by which the ethereo-ponderable atoms within a galvanic circuit are polarized by the chemical reaction—Difference between electro-ethereal and ethereo-ponderable polarization—Competency of a wire to convey a galvanic discharge is as its sectional area, while statical discharges of frictional electricity, preferring the surface, are promoted by its extension. Yet in proportion as such discharges are heavy, the ability of a wire to convey them and its magnetic energy become more dependent on its sectional area, and less upon extent of surface—Difference between frictional electricity and galvanic does not depend on the one being superior as to quantity, the other as to intensity; but on the different degrees in which the ethereo-ponderable atoms of the bodies affected are deranged from their natural state of neutralized polarity—Of ethereo-ponderable deflagration—Summary. | 439 |
Robt Hare M D. EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, GRADUATE OF YALE COLLEGE AND HARVARD UNIVERSITY, ASSOCIATE OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE AND MEMBER OF VARIOUS LEARNED SOCIETIES. Engraved at J. M. Butlers establishment, 84 Chestnut St. Philada.
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