HPB-SB-7-92

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vol. 7, p. 92

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

vol. 7 (March-September 1878)

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eng • рус

Further Experiments With Dr. Slade in Russia

To the Editor of the “Banner of Light” (Boston, U.S.)

Sir,—It is now six weeks since Dr. Slade gave his first seance in St. Petersburg. The Russian journals are more liberal than those of any country we have visited, and, as far as I can learn, have spoken favourably of Dr. Slade and the subject of Spiritualism. Very respectful notices of Professor Zollner’s experiments have appeared in some of them, while Professor Boutlerof has published a pamphlet on them. A report of the experiments with Dr. Slade will also be published after they finish their investigations here.

Some of the manifestations are entirely new (having been suggested by the investigators), which, when published with illustrations, cannot fail to interest thinking minds. I will at the present time cite only one of the many. In a seance given to Mr. Aksakof and Professor Boutlerof, at Mr. Aksakof’s house, two pocket compasses were placed upon the table side by side. By requesting the spirits to turn the needle of one while the other remained stationary, it would be done, thus destroying the theory that it was turned by a concealed magnet, which must affect both in the same manner.

Dr. Hoffman writes from Leipzig that Professor Zollner is desirous of continuing his experiments, and would like to have Dr. Slade there before the close of this month. But the engagements here will prevent his going to Leipzic before about the first of May.

Mr. Liebing writes from Berlin that public opinion is beginning to react in favour of Dr. Slade, and that Dr. Wittig has obtained a hearing on the subject in an illustrated journal.

J. Simmons.

Hotel de la Paix, St. Petersburg, March 11th, 1878.

Henry More on Form Manifestations

It is quite evident from the writings of Henry More, the Platonist (born 1614, died 1687), that he was well acquainted with the modern phenomenon of spirit materialisation. I am the owner of a copy of the original edition of his work on The Immortality of the Soul, but at present it is in New York; I having loaned it to the library of the Theosophical Society. The proofs of my assertion as to his acquaintance with the phenomenon are scattered through that volume, not now accessible to me; but I also find them in More’s poem on “The Pre-existence of the Soul,” the following extracts from which are given in evidence:—

“Show fitly how the pre-existent soul Enacts and enters bodies here below, And then entire, unhurt can leave this moul, And thence her airy vehicle can draw, In which by sense and motion they may know, Better than we, what things transacted be Upon the earth, and when they list may show, Themselves to friend or foe, their phantasic Moulding their airy orb to gross consistency ... Wherefore the soul possessed of matter meet, If she hath power to operate thereon, Can cath transform this vehicle to light, Dight with due color figuration; Can speak, can walk, and then dispear anon, Spreading herself in the dispersed air, Then, if she please, recall again what’s gone”

Henry More then goes on to speak of the effect of the mind upon the body, even in this mortal state, and tells us how “phantasie,” or the working of the mind, in cases of pestilence, may affect the bodily parts, and even produce death. He says:—

“All these declare the force of phantasie, Though working here upon this stubborn clay; But the airy vehicle yields more easily, Unto her beck more nimbly doth obey.”

More was a reincarnationist, and I wonder that the upholders of that theory have not resorted to his pages more frequently for help in their arguments. I am not the owner of his Psychozoid, or Life of the Soul, afterwards republished with other pieces in a volume, entitled Philosophical Poems. Campbell says of him: “Before the appearance of the former work, he had studied the Platonic writers and mystic divines till his frame had become emaciated and his faculties had been strained to such enthusiasm that he began to talk of holding supernatural communications, and imagine that his body exhaled the perfume of violets.”

All this would seem to indicate to us Spiritualists simply, that, at one period of his life, Henry More was a medium for spirit influences. Campbell tells us that the “Psychozoid' is not a common-place production; a certain solemnity and earnestness in his tone leaves an impression that he ‘believed the magic wonders which he sung.’” Doubtless, he not only believed, but knew.

The Philosophical Poems of Henry More may probably be found in the British Museum; and I hope that some of your readers, with leisure for the task, will examine them for further evidences of his thorough acquaintance with the modern phenomena.

No. 68, Moreland-street, Boston, Mass.

Alleged Japanese Mediums at the Paris Exhibition

(From the “San Francisco Post.”)

Among the arrivals yesterday on the steamship City of Pekin were two priests from the interior of Japan, claiming to be endowed with miraculous power. They are on their way to the Paris Exposition with a party of their countrymen, conducted by two English gentlemen who have for several years resided in Japan. A reporter interviewed these gentlemen last evening. They told him that the priests are religious enthusiasts, who profess, through the power of faith and by the medium of prayer, to be enabled to do the most remarkable things—such as are recorded in the Christian gospels as in the power of the followers of Jesus—referring to those passages which speak of their being able to remove mountains, and to swallow deadly poisons without harm. One of the miraculous things which these priests are able to do is to walk with naked- feet over the edges of swords ground to the keenness of a razor, and also over a bed of live coals. They never attempt this without a formal and fervent appeal to their divinity for protection, and they assert most positively that it would be impossible for them to perform the works they do without divine interference in their behalf. They intend to exhibit these remarkable powers in Paris during their stay, and will challenge the devotees of the Christian or any other faith to do the things that they do. In answer to an inquiry whether they would exhibit their powers in this country, the gentlemen said that such was not their intention.

Mother Shipton's Prophesy

In The Spiritualist of the 5th inst., information is asked for respecting the authenticity and antiquity of Mother Shipton’s prophecy. There are many enigmatical predictions called Mother Shipton’s, and collected in the various editions since 1641, which bear that name. The one referred to, is, I suppose, that which is most popularly known, and which has lately been hawked about the streets, beginning “Carriages without horses shall go,” and con-eluding

“The world to an end shall come, In eighteen hundred eighty-one.”

Some years ago, there was a somewhat frequent correspondence on the subject of Mother Shipton in Notes and Queries, and the above prophecy was noted as absent from an edition of 1797.

The correspondence winds up with the following note by the Editor (N. and L. 4th series, vol. xi., p. 355).” Mr. Charles Hindley, of Brighton, in a letter to us has made a clean breast of having fabricated the prophecy with some ten others included in his reprint of a cheap book version pub lished in 1862.” I believe this is not generally known, though without the discovery of its origin, the modern diction of the prophecy, and its absence from the old editions would prevent any critical person, or any one who took the trouble to enquire, from being taken in. Why the not too ingenious Mr. Hindley should have fixed on the year 1881 for the end of the world (whatever he meant to be understood by that) remains obscure. He might also be asked, if still living, whether he wrote “England shall at last admit a few” or “foe,” as another version is. In the former case the “prophecy” would have been recently fulfilled in 1862. But the true Mother Shipton usually predicted disasters.

Editor's notes

Sources

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  London Spiritualist, No. 295, April 19, 1878, p. 186