“Where is the Spirit World?”
Sir,—In a former course of lectures on Intellectual Philosophy, delivered in the Theatre of Anthropology, Clayton-square, I have sought to prove that matter has no existence as objective substance, i.e., entirely independent of mind or spirit. Cerebral organisation is a form of molecular nervous combination only, for purposes of the planet Earth, and logically, philosophically, and demonstratively due to a priori mental force, whether technically called Deity, nature, or the pantheistic operation of spiritual power. I hold that particles of any given mass, in form of mountain or molecule, plant, animal or man, owe their present existence to higher laws of attraction, repulsion, cohesion, gravitation, or what not, and that, in point of fact, if you take away extension in any sense, matter ceases to exist in a commensurate ratio, from the standpoint of human observation or scientific experience. Of course, there is no annihilation, but, at the same time, change in pre-existing equilibrium may be adequately effected by superior force, alike m the aggregation of worlds and the smallest chemico-physical bodies. Brain itself (as I have shown at the British Association for the Advancement of Science, when a member of the General Committee) has no sine qua non reference to, or connection with distinctive mental faculties. And why not? Animals eat without stomachs, move without muscles, feel without nerves, breathe without lungs, and are nourished without blood, in a coil of mortality. If Spiritualism has proved nothing else, its demonstration of continuity of life without protoplasm, and of mind without matter, clearly shows that the soul of man is really constructed for an immortal cultus of individual consciousness, in a spiritual body, having higher and lower conditions, in coming spheres of existence. “Virtue still leads to heaven, and vice to hell.”
Fellow of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh.
Liverpool, April 12th, 1877.
Form Manifestations
We have received the following circulars. With regard to the signatures, one is that of Mr. Cranstoun, of the Tyrol; another that of Mr. Colley, late curate of Portsmouth; another that of Mr. Adshead, of Belper, Derbyshire; and a fourth that of Mr. Wedgwood, one of the Middlesex magistrates:—
We, the undersigned, attest to the following facts. On Friday evening, December 7th, we sat with Dr. Monck for materialisation. First we thoroughly seached the smaller room leading from the seance room in which the sitting was held, and sealed up window and door, affixing private marks to enable us to verify the fact that no admission thereunto from without could take place; and it may at once be stated that at the conclusion of the night’s most wonderful events for us to report, the seals were intact as we had left them.
We sat round a small table placed within a yard of the black curtain that separated the smaller from the larger room, and Dr. Monck standing before the curtain about two feet from the table, soon passed under control of Samuel. The light from two gas jets, was, at this time, about the power of one candle. Under these conditions we all very clearly saw a tall, white robed figure grow out of Dr. Monck’s left side; and Mr. Colley, desiring more light, was permitted to increase it, so that we all plainly saw the figure, in process of development, issue from the medium’s body, bound to him, as has before been described, by a spiral attachment that appeared to be part of the figure’s robe and right hand, and thus stood as separate individuals before us, both medium and figure.
But presently from this form, a female figure rapidly grew into being (just as the first form grew from Dr. Monck), and stood at the left side of the first form, even as the male figure stood at the left side of the medium. So the three, which before were one in the person of Dr. Monck, stood before us thus:—1st. Medium ; 2nd. man spirit-form; 3rd. woman spirit-form; the latter being still fibered to the second in the same way that the second has been fibered to the first.
The female form was as much shorter than Dr. Monck as the man form was taller. Her face was beautiful, and her white garments, like those of her companion, seemed to be of exquisite texture. She smiled, bowed, kissed her hand to us, and affectionately addressed one of our company in a voice low and exceedingly sweet, while accents, tone, and articulation were recognised by Mr. and Mrs. Colley, as belonging to one so-called dead, with whom they have been familiar, through various media, for some years. A fabric of the most delicate structure covered the face of this materialised spirit, which added grace to its appearance, and in no way impaired our view of her lovely features. Long streaming masses of dark hair fell over her shoulders behind, and one curl hung over neck in front. Then, after she had passed backwards and forwards, now behind, and now again at the side of our first visitor, thus retiring and advancing, the two mysterious living beings stood forward for the closest inspection, not a yard from us; while Dr. Monck left them, and turned up the gas to the full, so that nothing whatever was wanting that might better enable us at any time to recognise the faces of these strange visitors anywhere.
Then, after a time, the female figure seemed to be absorbed by the male figure (just as he in turn was at last absorbed by the medium), and a great access of power on his part seemed to be the result.
For now, with the gas turned on full, this form came with Dr. Monck round the circle, and at request, lifted three of our company, one after another, completely out of their chairs. He also took up a chair and twirled it round, and flourished it about to show the perfect anatomy of hand, wrist, elbow joint, and other powers of the arm. Then placing the chair in front of us, the embodied spirit sat down, and permitted us to handle and leisurely inspect its, hands, arms, and feet, and scrutinise very closely its features, moving its eyes and eyelids at our request, affording us in many ways every facility for most thoroughly making its acquaintance in every way desired. Dr. Monck, still under control of Samuel, standing apart, and aiding us in every way possible to get the fullest and complete knowledge of our mysterious visitant. Further, this strange addition to our number wore a sort of head-dress bound round with a chaplet of golden leaves and other ornaments: its arms were bare and very lean, but perfectly natural both as to appearance and touch. Very audibly, also, under instruction of Samuel, while the medium’s closed lips were pressed on the back of Mrs. Colley’s hand, did the figure speak, and addressed us, saying, “All hail.”
And now, an experiment, very unique in its outcome, was suggested, namely, that the form should drink a glass of water, and though Samuel, on behalf of Dr. Monck, objected to the experiment as not a nice one, in its expected conclusion, yet Mr. Colley, for good reasons, persisted; and the result was that, as the figure drank the water visibly and audibly before us, the water so consumed was, in quantity corresponding to what the materialised spirit swallowed, instantly ejected from the medium’s mouth, demonstrating by another proof, added to former proofs, that there is, at times, if not always, great community of taste and feeling between the psychic forms and the mediums from whom they take birth. Thus, after many experiments, and a stay with us of nearly an hour, the medium all the time, and throughout the whole seance, never once out of our sight, the embodied mystery began to lose power, till at last Dr. Monck, drawing near, received the form back into himself, the figure sliding, as it appeared, gradually into his left side, leaving only a patch of white, misty, luminous vapour on his black coat. This, too, disappeared, but the lappet of his coat, by chance being moved aside, we all saw beneath, on the waistcoat, about the place of the watch-pocket, the same flickering patch of misty light, which Mr. Adshead tried to arrest, placing one hand at the back, while with the other he explored the inner vest, feeling all round in vain for its cause, which ignis fatuus presently died out, or was drawn within; and with a spasm Dr. Monck awoke and sat down with us, apparently unconscious of the mighty wonders we had witnessed, and feel powerless to describe.— William S. Adshead; Agnes S. Cranstoun; Alexander J. Cranstoun; Lillie Colley; Thomas Colley.
A Terrible Chinese Ghost
A Terrible Chinese Ghost.—Had Mr. Tony Weller lived in these days, and had he, moreover, been a regular subscriber to the Shanghai Courier, he would have been supplied with an additional and cogent reason for not marrying widows’ It appears that a Mahometan Chinaman, who had lately been united to a lady to whom he was fondly attached, fell sick and lay at the point of death. In taking farewell of her husband thus unhappily departing, the lady clasped her hands and swore never to wed any one else when he was gone. For a while she kept her vow; suitors came and went, but, unlike the widow in Goldsmith’s Citizen of the World, she was constant, and it is probable would have remained a model widow, if a gentleman named Wang, also a Mahometan, had not appeared on the scene as a lover. What blandishments this swain used are not recorded, nor are we told whether he was of prepossessing appearance. All that is certain may be summed up in a few words. He came, saw, and conquered. Possibly neither he nor Mrs. Wang had read of the fate which attended the fair Imogene when she was faithless to the memory of Alonzo the Brave. Perchance they were ignorant of the very existence of vengeful goblins. They were quickly to learn by unhappy experience. “One day,” says the chronicler, “the husband, on entering his wife’s room, saw with perfect distinctness the figure of a man sitting down, gazing fixedly upon the woman.” The apparition seems to have been somewhat objectionable to Wang, for we are told that he “started violently, and asked his wife whom she was keeping company with?” To which the lady replied’ “Nobody,” and just then the sprite vanished^ Sorely perplexed, Mr. Wang left the room, and threw himself on a couch in an adjoining chamber to sleep. But in the middle of the night he was aroused by “a tremendous bump in his wife’s apartnqent, succeeded by piercing screams, and, hastening to the door, he found that the lady had fallen out of bed, and that blood was flowing from her nose and mouth.” Nor was this all; for the unfortunate Wang perceived that his wife’s reason had departed, and that, apparently possessed by some strange spirit, she was “addressing herself in the character' of her husband, and pouring out the most bitter denunciations of her own conduct in having broken the vow she had made.” In vain a Taoist priest was sent for to exorpise the ghost; futile were his charms, useless his sorceries. Mrs. Wang had gone stark staring mad, and so she still remains—a sad example to all faithless widows.—Daily Telegraph.
A Club that is Out of Debt and has a Balance in its Treasury – The New Great Granddaughter of Hannah Dustan of Haverhill
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Editor's notes
- ↑ “Where is the Spirit World?” by Hitchman, W., London Spiritualist, No. 243, April 20, 1877, p. 189
- ↑ Form Manifestations by Adshead, William S., London Spiritualist, No. 277, December 14, 1877, p. 287. Signed by five people
- ↑ A Terrible Chinese Ghost by unknown author, London Spiritualist, No. 201, June 30, 1876, p. 310. From Daily Telegraph
- ↑ A Club that is Out of Debt and has a Balance in its Treasury – The New Great Granddaughter of Hannah Dustan of Haverhill by unknown author
London Spiritualist, No. 243, April 20, 1877, p. 189
London Spiritualist, No. 277, December 14, 1877, p. 287
London Spiritualist, No. 201, June 30, 1876, p. 310