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CHAPTER XIV.

MEDIUMS.

Physical Mediums - Electric Persons - Sensitive or Impressionable Mediums - Hearing Mediums - Speaking Mediums - Seeing Mediums - Somnambulist Mediums - Healing Mediums - Pneumatographic Mediums.

159. Every one who is in any degree influenced by spirits is, by that very fact, a medium. This faculty is inherent in man, and is therefore no exclusive privilege; in fact, there are few persons in whom some rudiments of medianimity are not found. We may therefore assume that every one, or nearly every one, is a medium. Nevertheless, this qualification is only practically applicable to those in whom the medianimic faculty is clearly characterised, producing well-marked results and this depends upon the greater or less degree of sensitivity of the organisation. This faculty does not reveal itself in all cases in the same manner : each medium has generally a special aptitude for some special order of phenomena ; so that there is as great a variety of mediums as of phenomena. The principal varieties of mediums are as follows: Physical mediums; Sensitive or Impressionable mediums; Hearing mediums; Speaking mediums; Seeing mediums; Somnambulists; Healing mediums; Pneumatographers; Writing mediums, or Psychographers.

1. Physical Mediums.

160. Physical mediums are more especially fitted for producing physical phenomena, such as the movement of inert

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bodies, noises, &C. They may be divided into two categories, Voluntary mediums, and Natural or Involuntary mediums. (See Part Second, Chaps. II. and IV.)

Voluntary mediums are those who exert their power consciously, and obtain spirit-phenomena by an act of their will. This faculty, although inherent, as we have already said, in the human species, is far from existing in all men in the same degree; but, though there are few persons in whom the medianimic faculty is absolutely null, those who are able to obtain the most startling effects-such as the levitation of heavy bodies, the transport of objects, and above all, apparitions-are rarer still. The simplest effects produced are those of the rotation of objects and the production of raps and tilts.

Without attaching any great importance to phenomena of this elementary character, we cannot pass them over altogether, for they suggest interesting questions, and are always useful in convincing beginners. But we must remark that the power of producing physical effects rarely exists in connexion with the more advanced means of communication, such as involuntary writing, or inspirational speaking.

Physical medianimity generally diminishes in proportion as a medium develops the higher modes of medianimic action.

161. Natural or Involuntary mediums are those who are influenced without their knowing it. They have no idea of their power, and the abnormal occurrences which take place around them (10 not appear to them at all extraordinary. Their peculiar faculty seems to them to be a part of themselves, as is the case with persons who are endowed with second-sight, and who have no suspicion that such is the case.

Mediums of this description are well worthy of observation ; and we should not neglect to collect and study all the facts that may come to our knowledge in regard to them. They are of all ages; young children often possessing this faculty in a high degree. (See Chap. V. Spontaneous Manifestations.)

The faculty we are about to treat of is not, in itself, an indication of a diseased state of body, for it is not incompa-

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tible with the soundest health. A person so constituted may be sickly, but, in that case, his ill-health is due to some other cause, and medical treatment is therefore power-less to prevent the manifestation of his medianimity. This faculty may undoubtedly co-exist with some forms of organic debility, but it is never produced by them. There is no reason for dreading this faculty on the score of health; because medianimity only becomes a cause of bodily weakness when the medium uses his power too continuously, and thus makes a too lavish emission of his vital fluid, which is always injurious to his bodily health.

162. Reason revolts at the idea of the tortures, both moral and physical, too often inflicted by science upon feeble and delicate persons, in order to ascertain whether there is, or is not, deception on their part in the production of the phenomena we are considering. The experiments to which such persons are often subjected, and which are not unseldom entered upon with malevolent or hostile sentiments, are always injurious to sensitive organisations ; and serious injury is often done to the system by tests which may, in some cases, be justly designated as a trifling with life.

Dispassionate observers know that there is no necessity for expedients such as are sometimes resorted to in cases of this kind ; the abnormal phenomena exhibited by this class of patients being connected with the moral rather than with the physical nature, for which reason they cannot be explained by purely physical science.

From the fact that these phenomena are closely allied to the moral nature, whatever might tend to over-excite the imagination of such patients should be scrupulously avoided. We know the evil effects that may result from fear; and people would be less frequently guilty of the imprudence of appealing to this sentiment, if they knew all the cases of imbecility and epilepsy that have been occasioned by nurseryterrors.

What, then, must be the effect of persuading weak minds that they are possessed by the devil ? *

* To attribute ubiquity to a spirit of low degree, such as the "devil"

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Those who sanction such ideas know not how heavy a responsibility they assume, for, by so doing, they may cause the death of a fellow-creature. And the danger of such ideas is not confined to a single individual, but is shared by all the inmates of the same house, who may also be made ill by the idea that their abode is a den of demons. This direful belief led to the commission of innumerable acts of atrocity in times of ignorance and superstition. But even in those dark and gloomy days, the inquisitors ought to have known that, in burning the body of those who were reputed to be possessed by the devil, they could not burn the devil ; and that, in order to get rid of the devil, it was the devil himself that would have had to be killed. Spiritist doctrine, by enlightening us concerning the true cause of all these phenomena, gives the death-blow to be lief in the devil. So far, then, from giving our sanction to that belief it is our bounden duty, in the interests of morality and humanity, to combat and destroy it wherever it exists.

Whenever involuntary medianimity develops itself spontaneously in an individual, it should be allowed to follow its natural course. Nature is wiser than man and Providence, forecasting its ends, may use the humblest of us as an instrument for the accomplishment of the greatest designs. It must, however, be admitted that this phenomenon sometimes attains proportions which render it annoying and fatiguing to all who are in contact with a medium of the character in question ; * and in all such cases, as we have

would necessarily be, is utterly illogical. The "devil " can only be a generic term; for the name of bad spirits is " Legion." Vide, for the relation between a spirit's purity and his " ubiquity," - in other words, his power of radiation, the admirable illustration given by the spirit of CHANNING, Part Second, Chap. XXV. 30. - TR.

* One of the most extraordinary facts of this nature, both for the variety and the strangeness of the phenomena manifested, is that to which we have already alluded as having taken place at Bergzabern, near Wissemburg in Bavaria, in 1853; for it offered, through the same medium, almost every species of spontaneous manifestation; noises loud enough to shake the house, upsetting of furniture, the transport

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already remarked (Chap. V. Concerning spontaneous physical manifestations), we should endeavour to enter into communication with the disturbing spirit, so as to find out what he wants.

The invisible beings who reveal their presence by troublesome manifestations are generally spirits of an inferior order, and such as may be controlled by moral ascendancy; and this ascendancy we must both seek and acquire if we would influence such uncomfortable visitants.

In order to do this, we must begin by modifying the medianimity of the individual through whose fluid the phenomena occur, so as to change his state from that of a natural (or involuntary) medium to that of a voluntary medium. A result is thus effected analogous to what occurs when natural somnambulism is put a stop to, as is usually done by the superinducing of magnetic somnambulism; in which case, the action of the faculty which emancipates the soul is not arrested, but merely turned in another direction. It is the same with the medianimic faculty. Instead of attempting to prevent the production of the phenomena (which can rarely be done, and cannot be attempted without danger), the medium must be urged to produce the same phenomena voluntarily, thus making the spirit work by an exertion of his will. In this way, he acquires a mastery over the spirit, and often succeeds in converting him into a docile servant, instead of the tyrant he was before. It is worthy of remark that, in circumstances of this kind, a child has often no less, or even

of objects by invisible hands, visions and apparitions, somnambulism, trance, catalepsy, electric attraction, cries and other sounds in the air, the playing of instruments without human contact, intelligent communications, &c.; and, what is of no small importance, the reality of these facts, which occurred during two years, was attested by a vast number of ocular witnesses of admitted intelligence and good social position. Authentic accounts of the occurrences referred to were published at the time in many German journals; and a summary of them, with comments and explanations, is given in the Revue Spirite of following year.

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more authority than an adult ; a fact which gives new proof of that capital point of our doctrine, viz., that a child is only a child as regards his body, that his spirit possesses the degree of development he had acquired before his present incarnation, and that he has necessarily a proportional ascendancy over spirits whose development is inferior to his own.

The moralisation of an obsessing spirit, through the counsels of an influential and experienced third party, is often efficacious when the medium is not in a state to act for himself. We shall return to this point by and by.

163. It would seem, at first sight, that persons who are endowed with a large amount of natural electricity, might be placed in this category of mediums. Such persons are veritable human torpedoes, and produce, by their mere contact, all the effects of magnetic attraction and repulsion but we should be wrong in regarding them as mediums, for medianimity pre-supposes the direct intervention of a spirit, while, in the cases we are speaking of conclusive experiments have proved that electricity is the sole cause of the phenomena in question. This curious faculty, which we may almost call an infirmity, is sometimes allied to medianimity, as is seen in the history of the Spirit-rapper of Bergzabern, already alluded to; but it is often entirely independent of medianimity. As we have already remarked, the only proof spirit-intervention in a given phenomenon is its intelligent character; whenever this characteristic is lacking, we may safely assume that the phenomenon is due to some purely physical cause. It is a question whether electrical persons have not a special aptitude for becoming physical mediums; we think they have, but this is a point which can only be decided by experience.

2. Sensitive or Impressionable Mediums.

164. We give this designation to persons who are able to recognise the presence of spirits by a vague impression, a sort of shuddering sensation, running through their whole

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body, and for which they cannot account. This variety of medianimity has no very decided characteristic. All mediums being necessarily impressionable, this quality maybe regarded as being general rather than special ; but it is an indispensable condition of all other forms of medianimity. It is different from purely physical and nervous impressionability, with which it must not be confounded; for there are persons whose nerves are by no means delicate, and who are nevertheless affected by the presence of spirits, while others, whose nerves are very irritable, have no perception of their presence.

The faculty of perceiving the presence of spirits is developed by habit, and may become so subtle as to enable one who is endowed with it to recognise, by impression, not only the good or evil nature of the spirit at his side, but even his individuality; just as a blind man, by an undefinable faculty of perception, recognises the approach of such and such a person, so a medium of the kind we are considering recognises the presence of certain spirits. A good spirit always produces an agreeable impression ; an evil spirit, on the contrary, produces an impression that is painful and disagreeable and causes a feeling of anxiety; it seems to bring with it, so to say, an odour of impurity.

3. Hearing Mediums.

165. These mediums hear the voice of spirits : some times, as we have observed when speaking of pneumatophony, it is an inner voice that speaks to the interior consciousness ; sometimes it is an exterior voice, clear and distinct as that of a person in the flesh. Hearing mediums are thus enabled to enter into conversation with spirits.

When they are in the habit of communicating with certain spirits, they recognise them immediately by the character of their voice. Persons who are not endowed with this faculty can communicate with spirits through the intermediacy of a bearing medium, who thus plays the part of an interpreter.

This faculty is a very agreeable one when the medium

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hears only good spirits, or those whom he evokes; but it Is not so when, as sometimes happens, he is violently as-sailed by some hostile spirit, or forced, by some backward and troublesome persecutor, to listen to unpleasant or unseemly remarks. In all such cases, it is necessary to get rid of the obsessing spirit by the means which w& shall point out in our chapter on Obsession.

4. Speaking Mediums.

166. Hearing mediums, who only transmit what is said to them by spirits, are not what are properly called speaking mediums, who very frequently hear nothing; the spirit merely acting upon their organs of speech, as he acts upon the hand of writing mediums. A spirit, when he wishes to communicate, makes use of the most flexible organ that he finds in the medium; from one, he borrows the hand; from another, the voice ; from a third, the hearing. The speaking medium generally speaks without knowing what he says, and often gives utterance to instructions far above the reach of his own ideas, knowledge, and intelligence. Though he may be perfectly awake, and in his normal state, he rarely remembers what he has said; in short, his voice is only an instrument employed by a spirit, and by means of which a third party can converse with a spirit, as he can do through the agency of a hearing medium.

The passiveness of speaking mediums is not, however, so complete in all cases; for some of them have an intuition of what they say. at the time they pronounce the words transmitted through them by the spirit. We shall return to this variety when we treat of intuitive mediums.

5. Seeing Mediums.

167. Seeing mediums are those who are endowed with the faculty of seeing spirits. There are some who possess this faculty in their normal state and when they are perfectly awake, and who preserve an exact recollection of

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what they have seen. Others only see spirits when they are in a somnambulic state, or one bordering on it. This faculty is rarely permanent ; it is almost always the effect of a momentary and passing crisis. We may place in the category of seeing mediums all persons endowed with second-sight. The possibility of seeing spirits in dreams, results, undoubtedly, from a sort of medianimity; but, properly speaking, it does not constitute the seeing medium." We have already explained this variety of mediums. (See Chap. VI. Visual Manifestations.)

The seeing medium thinks he sees with his bodily eyes, like those who have second-sight, but it is in reality his soul that sees ; which accounts for the fact that seeing mediums see with their eyes shut just as well as when they are open, and that a blind man can see spirits as well as a man possessed of eyesight. This seeing of spirits by blind men is a very interesting point ; it would be important to ascertain whether this faculty is more common among the blind than among others. Spirits who had been blind during life have told us, after their death, that, when in the flesh, they had, through the soul, a perception of certain objects, so that they were not plunged in utter obscurity.

168. We must distinguish between the accidental and spontaneous sight of apparitions and the faculty of seeing mediums properly so called. The first is frequent, especially at the moment of the death of persons who have been loved or known by us, and who come to tell us that they are no longer of this world. There are numberless examples of this nature not to speak of visions during sleep. At other times, relatives or friends who have been dead, as regards the flesh, for a longer or shorter time, appear to us, either to warn us against danger, to give us good counsel, or to ask of us a service. The service which a spirit asks is generally that something may be done which he was unable to accomplish before his death ; or he may ask for the help of our prayers. The seeing of these apparitions is an isolated fact which has always an individual and personal character, and does not constitute a faculty, properly so called.

The

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faculty consists in the possibility, if not permanent, at least very frequent, of seeing any spirit who comes near us, even though a perfect stranger. It is this faculty which constitutes, strictly speaking, a seeing medium.

Among seeing mediums, there are some who only see the spirits who are evoked, and of whom they are able to give minute descriptions; they describe, in detail, their gestures, expression, features, costume, and even the sentiments by which they appear to be animated. There are others with whom this faculty is more general, who perceive all the spirit-population around us, and see spirits going and coming, and performing all the acts of their routine of life.

169. We once went to the Opera, when Oberon was being performed, in company with an excellent seeing medium. Many of the seats were vacant, but these were seen by the medium to be occupied by spirits who appeared to be attending closely to what was going on. Other spirits were seen to approach the spectators, and seemed to be listening to their conversation. Upon the stage, quite another scene was being enacted; behind the actors were several jovial-looking spirits, who were amusing themselves by -making grotesque imitations of their gestures; others, more seriously disposed, seemed to be influencing the actors, and endeavouring to inspire them with energy. One spirit remained all the evening close to one of the principal female singers; as it appeared to the medium, with somewhat questionable intentions. We evoked this spirit, during one of the interludes, and he came to us, and reproached us severely for our rash judgement of him. "I am not what you imagine," said he, "I am her spirit-guide and protector; it is I who am charged to direct her." After some minutes of very serious conversation, he left us, saying: "Adieu! she is in her box; I must go and watch over her." We then evoked the spirit of Weber, and asked him what he thought of the execution of his work. "The performance is not bad ;" he replied, " but it lacks energy; the actors sing, and that is all ; there is no inspiration in their work. Wait a moment," he added, "I will try to give them a little

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of the sacred fire." He was then seen hovering over the stage; an effluence seemed to proceed from him and to envelope the actors, and a decided increase of energy was observable in their acting through the rest of the performance.

170. Here is another fact proving the influence that spirits exercise over men, without the latter being aware of it. We were one evening at a theatre, accompanied by another seeing medium. Having entered into conversation with a spirit-spectator, the latter said to us: - "You see those two ladies who are alone in that box, in the first tier; I am going to make them leave the theatre!" No sooner had he said this, than he was perceived to enter the box in question and to speak to the two ladies, who had been very attentive to the performance, but who suddenly looked at each other, appeared to consult together, quitted their box, and did not return. The spirit then saluted us with a comic gesture, to show that he had kept his word; but we saw no more of him, and were therefore unable to ask him for an explanation of what he had done. We have often been a witness, in this way, to the part that spirits play among us; we have observed them in many of the places where men and women meet, at balls, concerts, sermons, funerals, weddings, etc.; and we have every where found that some of them were stimulating bad passions, fanning discord, exciting disputes, and rejoicing in their power for evil, while others, on the contrary, were seen combating this pernicious influence with counsels that were, alas! but rarely listened to.

171. The faculty of seeing spirits may doubtless be developed ; but it is one of which it is wiser to await the natural development, without urging it, thus avoiding the danger of becoming the sport of our imagination. Where a faculty exists, it manifests itself spontaneously, sooner or later; and we should, as a rule, rest content with such power as God has given us, without seeking for what may be impossible, as by desiring too much, we risk the loss of what we have.

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When we said that spontaneous apparitions frequently occur (107), we did not mean to assert that they are very common; as for seeing mediums, properly so called, they are comparatively rare, and we must always be on our guard with respect to those who claim to be such, and not admit anything short of positive proof In judging of such cases, we must take into consideration the character of the medium for morality and sincerity ; but it is, above all, the details given by the seer that prove the genuineness of his vision. There are cases which leave absolutely no doubt in the mind; as, for instance, when a medium gives us, by description, an exact portrait of the spirit of some one whom he has not known in his life. The following fact speaks for itself.

A widow lady, whose deceased husband frequently communicated with her, found herself one day in company with a seeing medium who knew nothing of her or of her family, and who presently exclaimed : - " I see a spirit near you." "Ah!" replied the lady, "it is probably my husband, who hardly ever quits me." - "No," said the medium, "it is a woman. She is no longer young; she wears a singular head-dress; she has a white band over her forehead."

By this peculiarity, and by other descriptive details given by the medium, the lady fully recognised her grandmother, about whom she had not been thinking at the moment. If the medium had wished to simulate the faculty, he might easily have guessed the widow's thoughts; yet, instead of the husband of whom she was thinking, he saw a woman with a peculiar headdress, of which he could have had no idea. This fact proves, moreover, that what the medium saw was not a reflexion of his own mind.

6. Somnambulic Mediums.

172. Somnambulism may be regarded as a variety of the medianimic faculty, or rather, we should say, that these two orders of phenomena are found very frequently united. The somnambulist acts under the influence of his own spirit; it

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is his own soul which, in its moments of emancipation, sees, hears, and perceives, beyond the limits of the senses what he expresses he draws from himself. His ideas are generally more just than in his normal state, and his knowledge is more extended, because his soul is free; in a word, the somnambulic state is a sort of foretaste of the spirit-life. The medium, on the contrary, is the instrument of an intelligence exterior to himself ; he is passive ; and what he says does not come from himself. In other words, the somnambulist expresses his own thoughts, and the medium expresses those of another. But the spirit who communicates through an ordinary medium may do so through a somnambulist; the soul-emancipation of somnambulism often rendering spirit-communication even more easy. Many somnambulists see spirits perfectly, and describe them with as much precision as do seeing mediums; they converse with them, and transmit their thoughts to us; and what they say, when beyond the circle of their personal knowledge, is often suggested to them by spirits. The following is a remarkable example of the joint action of the somnambulist's own spirit and of another spirit.

173. A friend of ours had a somnambulic subject, a lad of about fourteen years of age, of very limited intelligence, and very imperfectly educated. But, in the somnambulic state, he gave proofs of extraordinary lucidity and great penetration. He excelled especially in the treatment of disease, and cured a great number of persons who had been regarded as incur able. One day, he gave a consultation to a sick man, whose malady he described with entire exactness. - "That is not enough," said a bystander, "you must now tell us the remedy." - "I cannot do so," he replied, "my angeldoctor is not here."- "What do you mean by your 'angel-doctor?'" - "Why! the one who prescribes the remedies."- "Then it is not you who see the remedies?" "No; did I not say that it is my angel-doctor who tells me what I am to prescribe?"

Thus, in the case of this somnambulist, the seeing of the disease was the act of his own spirit, which, for that part of

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his work, had no need of assistance; but the remedies were dictated by another; so that, when this other was not present, the somnambulist could say nothing about them. Left to himself, he was only a somnambulist; assisted by him whom he called his "angeldoctor," he was a somnambulic medium.

174. Somnambulic lucidity is a faculty appertain mg to the organism, and is entirely independent of the elevation, advancement, or even the moral state of the subject. A somnambulist may be very lucid, and yet, if his spirit is but little advanced, he may be incapable of solving certain problems. The somnambulist, who speaks from his own power, may say good or bad things, may be true or false, may act well or ill, according to the elevation or inferiority of his spirit; he may or may not be assisted by another spirit, who may supply his insufficiency; or he may be acted upon by a lying, frivolous, or even wicked spirit, just as is the case with a medium; but, in his case, as in all cases, his moral qualities have a powerful influence in attracting to him good spirits. (See The Spirits' Book, No. 425, and following chapter.)

7. Healing Mediums.

175. We only allude here to this variety of mediums in order that we may not seem to overlook them; for this subject requires more ample treatment than we can give to it in this place. We will now only remark that this kind of medianimity consists principally in the gift, possessed by certain persons, of healing by the laying-on of hands, by the look, by a mere gesture, without the help of medication. It will no doubt be said that this is nothing but mesmerism. It is evident that the animal-magnetic fluid has much to do with it; but when this phenomenon is carefully examined, we perceive that there is in it something more. The ordinary mesmeric treatment is a regular one, followed up according to rule and method; the medianimic treatment is quite different. Most mesmerisers would be healers, if cap-

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able of proceeding with system and judgement; while in healing mediums, the faculty is spontaneous, and some of them possess it without ever having heard of mesmerism.

The intervention of an occult power, which constitutes medianimity, becomes unmistakable under certain circumstances especially when we consider that the majority of those who may be regarded as undoubted healing mediums have recourse to prayer; for prayer is unquestionably an invocation as well as an evocation (131).

176. The following conversation occurred between ourselves and the spirits we questioned in reference to this subject: -

1. Can we consider persons endowed with magnetic power as forming a variety of mediums?

"You surely can have no doubt on that point."

2. A medium is an intermediary between spirits and men but the magnetiser, finding, as he does, his force in himself, does not appear to be the intermediary of any extraneous power.

"You are mistaken ; the magnetic force undoubtedly resides in the man himself ; but it is increased by the action of the spirits whom he calls to his aid. For example, when you magnetise with a view to healing, you invoke the aid of a good spirit, who is interested in you and in your subject ; that spirit increases your will-power, directs your fluid, and gives to it the qualities required for. effecting the desired cure."

3. Yet there are very good magnetisers who do not believe in spirits.

"Do you suppose that spirits only act for those who believe in them? Those who magnetise with a good intention are always seconded by good spirits. Every man, when animated by good intentions, calls good spirits to him without suspecting it ; and so, too, does a man practically invoke evil spirits, when his desires and intentions are evil."

4. If a healing medium believes that spirits help him, does that belief enable him to act with greater efficacy?

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"Such a man might do things that would seem to you to be miracles."

5. Is it true that some persons have really the gift of healing simply by the touch, without having recourse to mesmeric passes ?

" Assuredly it is; have not you many examples, of this gift?"

6. In such a case, is it the mesmeric action, or is it solely the influence of spirits, that effects the cure?

"It is both. Such persons are really mediums, for they act under the influence of spirits; but that does not imply that they are mediums for writing or other phenomena, as you understand medianimity."

7. Can this power be transmitted?

"Not the power; but the knowledge which enables the possessor of that power to make an efficient use of it. There are persons who would not suspect themselves to have this power, if they did not believe that it had been transmitted to them by something higher than themselves."

8. Can cures be effected by prayer alone?

"Yes, in some cases, if Cod permits it; but when it is for the good of the sufferer to continue to suffer, your prayer is not granted."

9. Are some forms of prayer more efficacious than others?

"It is mere superstition to attribute special virtue to certain words; and only ignorant or lying spirits foster such ideas by prescribing forms. For persons but little enlightened, and incapable of comprehending things purely spiritual, a form may be useful, by inspiring them with confidence; but, even then, the efficacy of the prayer is not in the form but in the faith which is increased by the idea attached to the use of the form."

8. Pneumatographic Mediums.

177. This name is given to mediums who obtain direct writing ; a faculty which has hitherto remained an excep-

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tional one, though it may probably be developed by exercise. As previously remarked, its practical utility is mainly limited to the evident proof thus afforded of the intervention of an occult power. Experience alone can show whether a person possesses it or not ; each can try for himself, asking the aid of his spirit-protector.

According to the degree of the medium's power, he obtains simple strokes, signs, letters, words, phrases, or entire pages. It is usually sufficient to place a folded sheet of paper in the place designated by the spirit, leaving it there for a few minutes, a quarter of an hour, or a longer time, as the case may be. Concentration and harmoniousness of thought being necessary conditions of success, it would be difficult to obtain anything of the kind when the sitters have met together with no serious views, or when they are not animated by sympathetic and kindly sentiments. (See the explanation of direct writing, Chap. VIII. Laboratory of the Invisible World, 127 et seq., Chap. XII. Pneumatography.)

We now proceed to a fuller consideration of writing mediums.