HPB-SB-10-86

T i

vol. 10, p. 86

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

vol. 10

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< On the Weighing of Mediums (continued from page 10-85) >

reduced weight proves that his body is drawn upon, in its material part, to supply the duplicated form. Many of my own mesmeric experiments tend to _ confirm the opinion expressed in Isis Unveiled,'' that levitation of persons and things is caused by a change of their mesmeric influence overcoming the law of gravitation. On this point Madame Blavatsky speaks as if she had certain knowledge. It may be that it is merely the mesmeric life of the medium which is absorbed in this manifestation. Elsewhere “W. H. C.” informs us that whilst he had hold of the hand of the duplicate, Mr. Blackburn felt the substantial head of the medium presumably as in her usual state, which tends to confirm this view.

Still you may have better proof of your own particular view of this question, and if so, your readers would be much indebted to you for it.

John Yarker.

Burton-road, Withington, October 17th, 1879.

Machine Tests

Sir,—We are all much indebted to Mr. Blackburn for his most liberal expenditure of time and money on the subject of materialisations.

I met Mr. Blackburn the other day, and expressed my opinion to him that the weighing machine could not settle the question as to the weight of a materialised spirit, nor demonstrate that the apparent'' diminution of the weight of the medium, as recorded by the machine, had any relation to the weight of the apparition produced, nor demonstrate that the said apparition in the room was a separate being from the medium supposed to be in the cabinet.

It is well known that spirits can make any body light or heavy at will; and if they wished to humour the idea that the medium always became fighter in exact relation to the solidification of the apparition, all they required to do was to tilt up the machine.

This explanation, indeed, is manifest from the record in this day’s Spiritualist,'' where it is said that a spirit said he was “pushing the cabinet up and down to give the medium a ride.”

So far as my limited experience goes, I have, never found the medium sitting in the cabinet and the apparition walking about outside at one and the same moment, although I have occasionally seen the apparition disappear, and instantly'' afterwards found the medium in the cabinet.

Mr. Blackburn tells me he has at one and the same moment felt'' the medium inside the cabinet, and seen'' the apparition outside it; and if Mr. Joad and Mr. Massey can corroborate this statement from their own experience, it will be of great importance.

That the medium, like Mrs. Compton, can sometimes be transformed into forms big or little, male or female, with a beard “growing into the skin,” from a smooth, shaved being, although it does not prove the materialisation of a foreign spirit, yet, to my mind, demonstrates in a more interesting and marvellous way the miraculous power of spirit to form and transform.

George Wyld, M.D.

October 17.

Queer News in "The Banner of Light"

Sir,—The London correspondent of The Banner of Light, who writes over the signature “Fidelity,” is a singularly favoured individual. Among other notes of intelligence and comment, he (or she) wrote nearly a month ago, speaking of a “paper printed in the interests of the theosophists (The Theosophist, I suppose):—“It is a neat little monthly, but will scarcely be appreciated by Spiritualists in general.” The English subscribers to The Theosophist have surely some reason to complain of the preference apparently shown to “Fidelity” (who must, of course, have seen what he or she describes) by the publishers of that paper, since none of them have even yet seen a copy, or were aware, before reading ‘‘Fidelity’s” letter, that the first number had been published. English Spiritualists will be hardly less surprised to hear of the “profound sensation” which has been produced by an article in The Whitehall Review (which I had supposed to be the least known of all the “Society” papers) about Mr. J. W. Fletcher. If it is so, I imagine they will not be particularly well pleased at the extensive currency thus obtained for a scandalous aspersion on Dr. Slade from the mouth of another professional medium. Mr. Fletcher, I observe, is now a member of the Council of the British National Association of Spiritualists, and of their General Purposes Committee—one whom if they have delighted to honour. Who, I wonder, is “Fidelity?”

A Subscriber to “The Theosophist,” and an old

“Slade Committeeman.”

Spiritualism at the Antipodes

Mr. Tyerman has succeeded in creating a stir at Adelaide, and drawing out the dean of that city, who, at the end of one of Mr. Tyerman’s lectures, entered into a discussion with him, lasting about an hour. This is reported in the S. A. Register, and naturally attracted more attention to the subject. A committee was formed who hired a hall for a month, in which Mr. Tyerman has been actively engaged in the dissemination of free-thought and spiritualistic ideas to numerous audiences. It is probable he would have laboured longer there but for the receipt of a peremptory call from Dunedin, where the local association want him to succeed Mrs. Britten. He arrived here on Sunday and left again on Tuesday, having to commence his New Zealand lectures on the 10th inst. During his stay in Adelaide the press reported him fairly, and in a controversy about Sunday charges publishes his letters in defence.—Harbinger of Light, August.

Mr. and Mbs. William...

Mr. and Mbs. William Tebb may be expected home almost hourly from their tour in the United States, since they left New York in the s.s. City of Berlin on the 13 th of October. Before leaving Mr. Tebb started an anti-vaccination society in New York, under the presidency of Dr. Wilder.

Editor's notes

Sources

• 

  London Spiritualist, No. 374, October 24, 1879, p. 202

• 

  London Spiritualist, No. 374, October 24, 1879, p. 203