the 'indicator,' as shown by the fixity of its index, there is no evidence whatever of the exertion of any other force than the Muscular action of the operators. And the Physiologist, who is familiar with the fact that every human being is continually putting forth a vast amount of muscular energy, of the exercise of which he is entirely unconscious, and who has also studied that unconscious influence of mental preconception of which I have already given you illustrations in the pendule explorateur, at once perceives that the absence of any consciousness of exertion on the part of the operators, affords no proof whatever that it is not being put forth; while he is further well aware that involuntary muscular contractions are often far more powerful than any which the will can excite.

The same explanation applies to the tilting of the table, which is made in response to questions asked of 'the spirits' by which it is supposed to be influenced. Nothing but a strange prepossession in favour of some 'occult' agency, can attribute such tilting to anything but the downward pressure of the hands laid upon it; the hypothetic exertion of any other force being scientifically inadmissible, until it shall have been experimentally shown that the table tilts without being manually pressed down. An 'indicator' might be easily constructed, which should test downward pressure, on the same principle that Faraday's indicator tests lateral pressure; but no one, so far as I am aware, has ever ventured to affirm that he has thus demonstrated the absence of muscular pressure, although I long since pointed out that only in

this manner could the matter be scientifically tested. Until such demonstrations shall have been given, the tilting-like the turning-of tables, may be unhesitatingly attributed to the unconscious muscular action of the operators; while the answers which are brought out by its instrumentality may be shown to be the expressions, either (like the movements of the pendule explorateur) of ideas actually present to the mind of one or other of the performers; or (as often occurs in Somnambulism and other allied states) of past ideas which have left their traces in the brain, although they have dropped out of the conscious memory.

That such is the nature of the responses ordinarily obtained by those who (in entire good faith) have practised this 'curious art' in any of its varied forms --- including planchette-writing—is shown by the analysis of a number of cases observed by myself and recorded by others.' And there is this very curious indication of it: that when the 'table-talking' epidemic first spread in this country, a number of Low-church Clergymen, strongly imbued with the belief that it was a manifestation of Satanic agency, put to the tables a series of what they regarded as 'test' questions, and got just the answers they expected.2

SPIRITUALISM.

I now come to the existing phase of the Epidemic belief in the 'occult,' which, as I have already pointed out, differs from the preceding rather in its outward manifestations than in its essential nature. You have

1

Appendix L.

2

Appendix M.

all heard of the ghostly visitations, which, in the days of our ancestors, were reputed to have disclosed by means of raps the places in which treasure had been hidden, or a murdered corpse had been buried. Ghosts, however, like witchcraft, seem to have lost credit with the present generation, until brought into vogue again as 'spirits' by the Rochester rappings. A family of the name of Fox, including two girls aged respectively about nine and eleven years, went to inhabit a house at Hydesville (Rochester County, New York State), in which a murder was said to have been committed many years before. They had not resided in it long, when raps were heard in the girls' chamber; sometimes obviously issuing from their persons, but sometimes apparently proceeding from other parts of the room. Curiosity was excited; the neighbourhood flocked to witness the marvel; no one could detect any movement on the part of either of the girls while the raps were sounding; and no concealed instrumentality could be discovered by careful search. The rappings soon began to show a certain coherence; a code of signals was arranged, according to which one rap was to mean no, three raps yes, and two raps doubtful or wait; and communications having been thus opened with the rappers, visitors were enabled, through the medium of these two girls, to summon and interrogate the spirits' of their departed friends. Multitudes now flocked from all parts to witness the phenomena; and the girls having gone to live with an elder married sister at Rochester-town, the alphabetical system was established at her suggestion; which enabled the

'spirits' to spell out their messages by rapping at the required letters, when either the alphabet was repeated by the enquirer, or the letters on an alphabet-card were successively pointed to. The excitement continuing to increase, a Committee of Investigation was appointed by a town-meeting. Every opportunity was given for the enquiry; but the committee was completely baffled. The enquiry was taken up, however, by an eminent anatomist, Dr. Austin Flint, of New York; who, having first convinced himself that the sounds issued from the legs or feet of the girls themselves, notwithstanding their apparent stillness, sought for a physiological explanation of them; and soon found one in the power which certain persons can acquire, of giving a jerking or snapping action to particular tendons of either the knees, ankles, or toes,a patient of his own being able thus to produce an exact imitation of the Rochester rappings. Dr. Austih Flint's explanation subsequently received full confirmation from Professor Schiff, since of Florence, who not only himself acquired the power of producing the raps, by the repeated displacement of a tendon which slides through a sheath behind the external protuberance of the ankle, but exhibited this acquirement to the French Academy of Medicine in April, 1859, baring his legs, and producing the raps without any apparent movement. And not more than six years ago, Mrs. Culver, a female relative of the Fox family, made a deposition before the magistrates of the town in which she resided; stating that while visiting the

girls at Rochester many years before, she had become acquainted with the entire secret, which she fully disclosed; and herself reproducing the raps in verification of her narrative.

But the very rationality of this explanation caused it to be disbelieved by such as were anxious to be placed in communication with the spirit world.' The fame of the Fox girls spread through the United States; they established themselves as 'mediums' in New York; and before long they were drawing a large income from the pockets of their credulous visitors.

Under the fostering influence of pecuniary temptation, imitators of the Fox girls soon sprang up in various parts of the United States; 'mediums' became numerous; and one of them, Mrs. Hayden, brought the contagion to this country, where the 'spirit-rapping' Epidemic rapidly spread. The manner in which, according to the experience of those who witnessed Mrs. Hayden's performances (subsequently confirmed by Mrs. Culver), the 'medium' divined at what letters to make the raps, was very simple; consisting merely in carefully watching the countenance or gestures of the questioner, who almost invariably gives, in some way or other, involuntary expression to his or her expectancy. Of this I could cite many proofs. An eminent scientific friend told me that having been at a party by one member of which after another Mrs. Hayden's powers were tested, he was at first greatly surprised at the accuracy of the replies he obtained regarding the name, date of death, and