SPIRITUALISM, Under the head of ANIMAL MAGNETISM, an account is given, from the skeptical point of view. of some of those mysterious phenomena which, under the name of modern Spiritualism, have recently attracted so much public attention. It is proposed here to give a more complete account of these phenomena as they appear to those who hold that they are inexplicable by the commonly received laws of physics.
That these phenomena in their hither phases—as those of trance, healing by touch, and subjection to the thought and will of another mind—are intimately allied withthose of mesmerism is obvious to all who have given any careful attention to them. Spirit ualists, indeed, affirm that then differ only in this—that in the one case the operator is a mortal, in the other a disembodied human spirit possessing a spiritual body instead of a physical one. Those persons most readily susceptible to mesmeric influence generally prove to be the best mediums for spirit manifestation. Wherever mesmerism bas been extensively practiced, it would seem that the ground has thereby -been prepared for the operators in the unseen world; and indeed human magnetism is not unfrequently resorted to for this express purpose. Many of the earliest and foremost advocates of Spiritualism in England have traveled to Spiritualism via mesmerism. Asis fully shown in the correspondence of M. Billault and M. Deleuze, published in two volumes in 1836, the magnetists of France anticipated by at least half a c. the revelations of what is now known as "modern Spiritualism." which was a.s humble iu its origin as other great movements recorded in history which have so largely influenced mankind.
In the village of Hydesville, New York state, lived Mr. John D. Fox and family, much respected by their neighbors as honest upright people. The two youngest chil dren, Margaret, then twelve years old, and Kate, nine, were staying with their parents. Soon after they had taken up their residence here, in Dec., 1847, they began to hear knockings in the house, which toward the end of March increased in loudness and fre quency. Mr. Fox and his wife got up night after night, lit a candle, and thoroughly searched every nook and corner of the house, but discovered nothing. When the raps came on a door, Mr. Fox would stand ready to open it the moment they were repeated, but though he opened the door on the instant, he could detect nothing, and no one was to be seen; nor could he obtain the slightest clue to the cause of these disturbances. But through all these annoyances Mr. and :Mrs. Fox clung to the belief that sonic natural explanation of them could be found. Nor did they abandon this hope till the last night
of March, 1848. Wearied out by a succession of sleepless nights, and of fruitless attempts to penetrate the mystery, the family had retired very early to rest; but scarcely hall the mother seen the children safely in bed, and was retiring to rest herself, when the children cried out: " Here they are again!" The mother chid them, and laid down. Thereupon the noises became louder and more startling. Mrs. Fox called in her hus band. The night being windy, it suggested to him that it might be the rattling of the sashes. He tried several, shaking them to hear if they were loose Kate happened to remark that as often as her father shook a window-sash, the noises seemed to reply. Turning to where the noise was, she snapped her fingers, and called out: " Here, do as I do?" The knockings instantly responded. She tried, by • silently bringino. together her thumb and forefinger, whether she could still obtain, a response. Yes! It—the mysterious something—could see, then, as well as hear! She called her mother: " Only look, mother," she said, bringing her finger and thumb together as before. And as often as she repeated the noiseless motion, just so often responded the raps. This at once arrested the mother's attention. "Count ten," she said; ten strokes were distinctly given. " How old is my daughter, Margaret?" Twelve strokes responded. " And Kate?" Nine! " What can all this mean?" was Mrs. Fox's thought. Who was answeriug her? Wat it only some mysterious echo of her own thought? The answers to the next question she put seemed to refute this idea. "How many children have I?" she asked aloud. Seven strokes. " Ah!" she thought, " it can blunder sometimes." And then, aloud, " Try again." Still seven strokes as before. Of a sudden a thought crossed her mind: "Are they all alive?" she asked. Silence for answer. "How many are living?" Six strokes. " How many dead?" A single stroke; she had lost a child. Then she asked, "Are you a man?" No answer. "Are you a spirit?" It rapped. "May my neighbors hear if I call them?" It rapped again. Thereupon she asked her husband to call a neighbor, a Mrs. Redfield, who came in laughing. But her mirth was soon changed. The answers to her inquiries were as prompt and pertinent as they had been to those of Mrs. Fox. She was struck with awe; and when, in reply to a question about the number of her children, by rapping four, instead of three, as she expected, it reminded her of a little daughter, Mary, whom she had recently lost, the mother burst into tears.