Nineteenth century miracles; or, Spirits and their work in every country of the earth. A complete historical compendium of the great movement know as "modern spiritualism"

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Dedication

Whose Names, unknown on Earth, shine in Immortal Types

in the Archives of Eternity, This Humble Record of the Mightiest Work ever

Performed on Earth,

Table Of Contents

SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY.

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE.

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Introduction

Eternity and Infinity are the only words that seem, in our imperfect forms of speech, to embody tjie conditions of spiritual existence. Time and Space are equally apposite to the state of being we call " material." Whilst therefore, we essay to write of a dispensation which manifests the characteristics of the endless and illimitable, it must not be forgotten that we are yet denizens of a material sphere, bounded in on every side by the limitations of time and space.

The author of these pages would press the above propositions upon the reader's attention, because they may serve to excuse the necessity of secularizing a subject, the high religious import of which should command the most sublime forms of expression that language can supply. But as the inspiring intelligences who prompt the production of this volume, mark out the beaten path of verbal simplicity as the best that can be adopted for the reader's benefit, and charge the author to leave to posterity only a brief compendious record of the footprints made by an invisible world of heing in this, the nineteenth century, so must our chief aim be to reduce to the plainest possible mode of expression the tale we have to telL The reader will find then in the following pages, nothing more than a concise historical summary of the spiritual movement as it has transpired in various countries of the earth, from the commencement of the nineteenth century.

There have been certain features of specialty in this " cause" in America, which have given it a prominence there unparalleled in any other country. This remarkable distinctiveness the author has already testified to by publishing a voluminous work embodying the history of the first twenty years of American Spiritualism.* Any student endowed with ordinary powers of observation will soon discover that " the modern outpouring of the spirit" has been just as full in other lands as in America, but no where else has the same freedom of speech been allowed to testify to the facts of spirit communion. No other people have so fully organised the propaganda of the movement by the aid of professional media as the Americans, neither have the inhabitants of any other country so universally systematized the use and culture of " spiritual gifts." It must also be remembered, that the immense mass of spiritual literature put forth through the American press has contributed largely to the popular understanding of the subject Considering however, the world-wide character of the spiritual outpouring in the nineteenth century, the author has been urgently entreated —by such

•

. * •• Modern American Spiritualism : a twenty years' record of the open communion between spirits and mortals." By Emma Hardinge Britten. Published by Colby and Rich, office of the Banner of Light, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. I

• • • • *

INTRO D UCTION.

••- dwellers o£ the? life beyond as can make their wishes understood — to supplement.jfcefHistory of American Spiritualism, by one which shall include compendious sketches of the movement all over the earth, as well as continue, {he* record in America from its first twenty years of action to the present "date. In carrying out this plan of the work, the author has been strfcngly counselled by the same intelligences as prompt tne undertaking, /4to. write of what pertains to the history of Spiritualism without fear .''•tfl: favour, but to omit, as far as possible, all notice of those excres- •\ licences which invariably fasten on the armies of reform, in the shape

•/•.,** of fraud, imbecility, or such evidences of human selfishness as represent what Spiritualism is not — not what it really is. Whilst then, we

V ' would "nothing extenuate, or set down aught in malice," we shall unhesitatingly point to any breaches made in the spiritual garrison by human intervention, but carefully avoid giving to the worthless interloper, that notoriety which so many seek to obtain, even at the price of tampering with " the life lightnings," through which the angels telegraph to man ; in a word, the cheat, swindler, and parasite, whose genius it is to prey upon any cause strong enough to bear them along on the broad current of progress, may look in vain for opportunities to make capital out of this volume. Whether we send it down the stream of time to the one or the many, we do not propose to disgrace its pages with names which simply represent the darker features of humanity, not the light destined to be shed abroad by the great nineteenth-century spiritual outpouring.

With these impelling motives to our undertaking, we essay its commencement, committing the result to God and the angels, whose work it is, and under whose guidance the author reverently attempts the record.

CONCERNING THE WORKERS AND THEIR WORK.

How far disembodied spirits are the authors of the startling phenomena which have obtained the name of " Modern Spiritualism," how much of the reported marvels are due to the spirit within man himself, or owe their colouring to exaggeration on the part of the narrator, and easy credulity on that of the observer, are questions which are agitating thoughtful minds everywhere, both within and without the ranks of Spiritualism.

That fraudulent manifestations have been given, and in many instances publicly represented as proceeding from spirits, none can deny ; but the question of how to discern the true from the false, is of the most vital importance, especially to a writer, whose sole aim is to present a worthy record of a sublime truth, yet to free it from all the misrepresentation which would render such a record valueless.

The chief obstacles which intervene between this purpose and its accomplishment, are the manifestations of partisan spirit, which find their readiest sphere of representation in the columns of the spiritual journals. One set of writers determinately upholds every asserted claim to mediumship, however flimsy, and hurls denunciation against every individual' who either presumes to question the validity of that claim, or draws attention to the most palpable evidence of imposture. This injurious spirit of credulity, so often mistaken by the world for complicity with the impostor, is met on the other hand by equally violent denunciation of all which the denouncer cannot himself fully apprehend.

The editors of the spiritual journals are besieged with demands to make their columns the arena of this unseemly warfare. If they comply, they

INTRODUCTION. 3

disgust and offend the impartial, whilst their refusals to do so, are regarded as tantamount to partisanship, to be construed at the pleasure of the belligerents. But a still worse result of this quarrelsome and self-assertive spirit, is the difficulty which it interposes of arriving at any reliable representation of a communion, which depends wholly for its acceptance on the validity of the facts claimed for it.

The philosophy of Spiritualism, however beautiful in theory, or true in principle, grows out of its facts, for, if spirits are not the authors of the communications received in their names, the whole theory of a hereafter — as demonstrated by Spiritualism — crumbles into the dust and ashes which underlie the unsustained assertions of theology.

To place religion upon the assured foundation of knowledge, and redeem mankind from the tempest-tossed ocean of speculative opinion, we^have nothing, unless we have facts and basic fundamental principles. To demonstrate these, and guide our drifting souls into the ports of eternity by the infallible compass of truth, spirits have come to earth.

What then can we say of the remorseless swindlers, who would simulate the personality of these angelic pilots, or the imbecile credulity of those who allow- themselves to be duped by their shallow pretences ?

Testimony on so weighty and solemn a question as Spiritual existence, can only be admissible when it is proven beyond the peradventure of one or two interested witnesses ; in short, the entire intercommunion between the two worlds, must be based on the impregnable rock of truth, or it can never shake the earth with the birth throes of a religion, which claims to demonstrate immortality, as the corner-stone upon which man's faith may rest unmoved.

On the other hand, psychological conditions are subtle, and as yet often incomprehensible, in their working.

Those who attempt to deal with them, whilst they should observe their modes with the closest scrutiny, should yet approach the subject in a considerate and even reverential spirit; always remembering, that they may break or destroy, whilst they endeavour to bend and shape, the invisible force, to suit man's ignorance and presumption. It is certain, however, that discourteous treatment and rude denunciation are not the methods best calculated to evolve psychic phenomena, or ensure results which obviously require calm and harmonious mental conditions. Dean Swift was not far wrong when he said, that " it required a man with brains to write a book, but any brainless ass could criticise it." And this is true of all intellectual processes, Spiritualism not excepted. Whilst the wise and philosophical investigator may take much pains to study out the best means of evolving phenomena, the presence of the boorish ignoramus may be quite sufficient to mar its production. At present, we are profoundly ignorant of all the laws and forces concerned in the evolution of spiritual phenomena ; hence, we should be prepared to extend an equal amount of charity both to the medium and the investigator, confident that the spirit of partizanship will never favour the discovery of truth, or promote the integrity of righteous judgment. Many attempts have been made to draw unfavourable comparisons between the value of testimony received from paid or professional mediums, and that obtained through persons whose rank and wealth might be supposed to exclude the hypothesis of motives for practising deception.

Unfortunately for the theory that non-professional mediums alone are reliable, the assumption is not based upon admissible facts, for it can be shown, that a large percentage of the alleged spirit communications

4 INTRODUCTION.

received through non-professional mediumship, is often tinctured bj hallucination, self-deception, and prepossession of opinion, especially upon religious subjects, whilst some of the most notorious txpos'ts that have occurred in connexion with physical mediumship, have involved ladies and gentlemen, whose positions in society, were assumed to be sufficient warranty, to exclude all idea of fraud or deception.

If the difficulty also of testing mediums, when the investigators are simply guests, and the slightest appearance of suspicion would be resented as a mortal affront, be taken into account, the balance, as a whole, may be struck in favour of maintaining professional mediumship, especially for the purjxjses of investigation and the more general advancement of Spiritualism amongst the masses. In the meantime, there are two forms of spiritual manifestation which are not open to any of the objections above suggested ; manifestations, which can be criticised and examined at pleasure, and which always present testimony of an indisputable character. These are, first ; spontaneous or unevoked phenomena, occurring without preparation ; and next, all such forms of intelligence as cannot be traced, either to the knowledge of the communicants or the mentality of the recipients. Multitudes of both these forms of spiritual agency will be found detailed in this volume ; in fact, the author has given the preference, wherever possible, to the records of spontaneous phenomena, because its production is freed from all those equivocal conditions which surround invocatory processes. These, together with the vast mass of supra-mundane intelligence which has been given during the modern spiritual dispensation, are quite sufficient to demonstrate the facts of spiritual agency, and place the cause on a basis of proof, that rises triumphantly over the most injudicious partisanship, or the most bigoted antagonism.

We now trust our readers will understand in what spirit this volume is written, and why its author has withheld a large mass of offered testimony, extravagantly lauded by one party, and equally extravagantly denounced by another. Also, why those names are omitted from the roll-call of the grand spiritual army that have been made the Shibboleth of contending parties, to prove or disprove imposture.

We may often err in the conclusions we attempt to draw, and utterly fail to do justice to the stupendous theme we treat of, but we will never wilfully aid in deluding a generation, seeking to find in Spiritualism, the path to I leaven that no merely speculative faith can point out

In endeavouring to trace out with all fidelity, the origin of the great modern spiritual movement, it will soon become apparent that though very momentous results were obtained in the Hydesville investigations of 1848 — especially in the discovery of a systematic mode of communing with spirits through a set of concerted signals — yet even in America, the land in which Spiritualism has attained to a pre-eminent degree of popularity, spirit communion was demonstrated, long prior to the "Hydesville disturbances"; in fact, it is obvious that this century in the New, as well as the Old World, has been remarkable for the persistence with which spirits have endeavoured to effect a direct method of intercourse with mortals.

The causes before alluded to, which have favoured the marked publicity to which Spiritualism has attained in America, should be carefully considered, and will be found explanatory of the custom of dating the commencement of the modern movement, from the "Rochester knocking* r* in 1S48. One great difficulty in attempting to chronicle the details of This movement, is the very fact that it did not originate in any special locality,

INTRODUCTION. 5

or at any given time, inasmuch as it manifested its influence in a spontaneous and universal outpouring all over the world, coming and going like the wind-^few, if any, could say whence, or whitherward. Again ; it is because we cannot trace up the history of modern Spiritualism consecutively from point to point, either in time or place, that we find it expedient to take the commencement of this century for our data; and propose to treat of the manifestations as they occurred, independently, in the various countries of earth from which authentic records are obtainable. In pursuance of this plan, we shall commence our researches in Germany, where we shall find abundant testimony to the supra-mundane character of the intelligence derivable from spirit sources, as well as proof positive, that spirits have manifested their presence on earth through spontaneous action and wholly unprepared conditions.

"NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES;"

OR,

SPIRITS AND THEIR WORK IN EVERY COUNTRY OF

THE WORLD.

Chapter I

SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY. (FROM THE CLOSE OF THE l8TH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE IO/TH CENTURY.)

William Howitt, that most indefatigable student of every subject on which he chose to exercise his facile pen, in his " History of the 'Supernatural," writes in strong terms against the custom of identifying the modern Spiritual movement with America as its birth place, or the "Rochester knockings," as the opening of intelligent communication between mortals and spirits.

We have already pointed to the reasons which have tended to popularize Spiritualism in America, but we must add, that the very methods so favourable to the diffusion of knowledge on Spiritual subjects, are not in accordance with the conservatism of older countries, especially in Germany, where the prevailing policy has been to discountenance and even forbid associations, having for their aim the investigation of subjects not immediately fostered by the government

In America, the investigator finds his best opportunities for gathering up knowledge concerning the status of Spiritualism, in public meetings, Sunday services, conferences, children's lyceums, and the columns of journals specially devoted to the interests of the Spiritual cause.

In Germany, Spiritualism has no publicly defined status. It is not known as a movement, and until the last few years, has had no periodicals devoted to its exposition ; yet the higher class of German literature, redolent of Spiritual facts and philosophy, is most voluminous, and a long and brilliant array of eminent German writers could be mentioned, whose wdrks are almost entirely devoted to Spiritualistic subjects.

Take for example the history of Jung Stilling, the famous pneumatologist, whose life-long experiences in seership, inspiration, prophecy, and the gift df healing, no bigot, however prejudiced, can deny. Coteroporary with this celebrated phenomenal character, was the noble Swiss philosopher Lavater, whilst the literature of the period was enriched by the writings of

Esghenmayer, Mayer, Gorres, Schubert, Werner, Kant, Dr. Ennemoser, the author of the most exhaustive treatise on magic, extant ; Dr. Justinius Kerner, the renowned magnetist and biographer of the life and experiences of "the Seeress of Prevorst"; Zschocke, the famous seer and mystic; and many others, whose works connect the close of the last century with the opening of the present, and by the profusion of spiritual evidences they bring, unite in one unbroken chain, the modern outpouring, with the Swedenborgian and Paracelsian period; with mediaeval spiritualism, or those forms of influx stigmatised by the ignorance of the times as " Witchcraft and Sorcery " ; whilst again ; the ghastly records of those dark days reach back in continuous links of connection with the more sublime, because more distant revelations of the Christian, Hebraic, and those other ancient dispensations, during which the foundations of world-wide religious systems were laid.

To return to the immediate subject of this chapter. Germany has made no sensational mark in the form of popular spiritualism, but she has contributed to the age a wealth of recorded facts, philosophy, and high-toned spiritual literature, unmatched by any other nation of our own times. It is to Germany too, that the world owes one of the mightiest discoveries that has ever been made in spiritual science, for Germany was the birth-place of Anton Mesmer, a pioneer in the realms of the imponderable, through whose stupendous revelations, miracle became converted into law, the supernatural into the spiritual, and ancient alchemy into modern magnetism ; in a word, it is only in contemplating the great and revolutionary work effected by Mesmer, that we can begin to appreciate the influence of the German mind upon the movement we now assume to be of purely spiritual authorship.

SEERS, PROPHETS, AND MEDIUMS.

A close observer of all phenomena of a spiritualistic character, will recognise, that they require for their production the presence of certain exceptional persons, such as in ancient time were termed seers and prophets ; in the middle ages, witches and wizards ; and in our own time, magnetic subjects, or spirit mediums.

In the mystic writings of the Orientalists, it is intimated that the wonder-working element displayed in special individuals is latent in the whole human race, and can be brought into action by certain elaborate methods of culture. Now, although the Mediaeval Mystics, especially Cornelius Agrippa, Van Helmont, and Jacob Bohmen, have professed to give instructions for the unfoldment of magical power, the readers of their treatises have seldom profited by them ; in fact, so vast have been the claims for what might be done, and so futile the attempts to realize thes' claims, that magical processes have long been relegated to the realms shadowy superstition. Not so however, the study of those mysteri< forces with which the visible universe is teeming. Whether the affinit of chemistry, and the potencies of light, heat, and magnetism, &c, r anything to do with the " vital principle " in animated bodies, has bee question which often obtruded itself upon the philosopher, though neve such a shape as admitted of practical analysis. Paracelsus, Van Heir and Bohmen, have hinted at the existence of such a connection, an< first named, professed to have made cures by discovering the assimil of the magnet to the human system. Still the great problems of ihf forces or the Elixir Vifay have remained unsolved, and would have continued to do so but for the timely appearance of Anton Mesmer, who, about the middle of the last century, brought the wand of science to bear upon the enchantments of ignorance, and in a single lifetime, broke that spell of mystery which had enshrouded the hidden secrets of life, and the correllation of all forces in the universe. These may seem large claims to make for one who, in his own day, was denounced as an impostor by the scientific world, misunderstood and deserted even by those he had most benefited, and suffered to die in obscurity by the very followers who should have placed him on the highest pinnacle of fame. But Anton Mesmer is no exception to human procedures in every case, where the mind leaps before its age. Slowly but surely, the world recognises its benefactors, though it may be too late to return their benefits. To those who believe that the immortal spirit is the real man, acknowledgment of blessings received, will never seem too late, even if they are only sped by grateful memory and the pen of posterity, across the pathless realms which separate men from the land of ascended spirits.

In considering the life, work, and influence of Dr. Mesmer, it would seem as if he had been providentially born and prepared for the part he was destined to fill in the history of human progress.

Even in his eighth year, he would absent himself from home and school, to trace up the source of streams, and wander far to collect stones, shells, and minerals, which he would pore over with strange and unchiidlike interest

Educated as a physician, he took his degree as a doctor of medicine, at the Vienna University, where he attracted universal attention by the curious nature of his inaugural thesis, the subject of which was, " The influence of the planets on the human body."

During his residence at Vienna, he became acquainted with the professor of astronomy at the University, Father Hehl, a learned Jesuit, who claimed to be the inventor of certain steel plates, in which he could conserve the virtues of the magnet, so as to apply them successfully to the cure of disease.

Whatever might have been the original merit of Father Herd's discovery, his friend Mesmer soon improved upon it, and by his own superadded methods, produced such astonishing results in the cure of diseases, that he excited the spirit of rivalry, not only in the mind of his former friend, but also in the entire medical faculty of Vienna.

The strife thus commenced was fanned into fury by Mesmer's continued successes, and though the machinations of his enemies ultimately obliged him to quit the city, opposition only had the effect of stimulating him to fresh energy in pursuing his path of discovery ; in fact, from the time when, in 1772, his attention was first called to the curative effects of the magnet, up to the date of his death, in 1815, he never ceased to study, improve in, and practise the art of healing, which has been justly called, after its great discoverer, " Mesmerism."

In his new mode of practice, Dr. Mesmer's earliest efforts were directed towards the utilization of the magnet, an'd his first cures were effected by the aid of magnetic machines, together with a baquet or bath, in which various mineral substances, immersed in water, were brought into connection with his patients. In a very short time, Mesmer discovered that which he had previously assumed, namely, that the chief virtue in his experiments resided in his own organism. It was from the point when he commenced the application of magnetic passes with his own hands, and found that he io NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES.

could transfer the life principle from himself to his patients, under the direction of his will, that his system obtained the now familiar name of " animal magnetism." Our purpose is not to write the biography of Anton Mesmer ; we simply aim to point out the gradations of unfoldment, by which the true knowledge of occult life forces was obtained. This stupendous result 'does not appear to have been known to, or anticipated by Mesmer, although it undoubtedly became familiar to many of his followers. The extent of this great man's discoveries, and the theorems upon which he based his whole system, are succinctly described by one of his most eminent biographers, Dr. Justinius Kerner, from whose admirable work, " The Life of Mesmer," we shall epitomize the summary of his views in the following chapter.

Chapter II. Spiritualism In Germany (continued)

Dr. Anton Mesmer.

In the London Spiritual Magazine^ Mr. Wm. Howitt, one of its ablest and most constant contributors, gives a series of papers translated from Dr. Kernels life of Mesmer, from which the following extracts are taken : —

" During his fifteen years medical practice in Vienna, Mesmer came upon his new art of healing through observing the origin and career of diseases in connection with the great changes in our solar system and the universe ; in short, with what he termed ' Universal Magnetism.' He sought for this magnetism originally in electricity and

subsequently in mineral magnetism It was after this manner Mesmer

reasoned. There must exist a power which permeates the universe and binds together all bodies upon earth ; and it must be possible for man to bring this influence under his command.

"This power he first sought for in the magnet. He then pondered upon it in regard to man and applied it successfully to the cure of the sick. This remarkable result would, in any other investigator, have brought him to the end of his experiments. Not so with Mesmer. Ever accompanied by the idea of a primal power, which must pervade the universe, the thought occurred to him that the influence must exist yet more powerfully in man than in the magnet. . . He thus perceived that he could not ascribe alone to the magnet which he held in his hands the effects produced, since he must also, in his turn, influence the magnet.

•• Upon this, he cast aside his magnet, and with his hands alone, brought forth similar and unadulterated effects."

Seifert, another of Mesmer's biographers, affirms that he wore beneath his vest a shirt of leather, lined with silk, to prevent the escape of the magnetic fluid.

He also believed that Mesmer wore magnets about his person, with a view of strengthening his own magnetism.

NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. n

The following description is given by Seifert of the Baquet which Mesmer used in the early days of his magnetic practice —

"This receptacle was a large pan, tub, or pool of water, filled with various magnetic substances, such as water, sand, stone; glass bottles (filled with magnetic water), &c. It was a focus within which the magnetism was concentrated, and out of which proceeded a number of conductors. These being bent pointed iron wands, one end was retained in the baquet, whilst the other was connected with the patient and applied to the seat of the disease. This arrangement might be made use of by any number of persons seated round the baquet, and thus a fountain, or any receptacle in a garden, as in a room, would answer for the purpose desired."

mesmer's theorems.

The following summary of the twenty-seven theorems which Mesmer published when the French Academy refused to indorse his discovery, are taken from Mkmoire sur la Decouverte du Magnetism* Animal, par M. Mesmer. Paris, 1779:—

" Animal magnetism is a fluid universally diffused.

" It is the medium of a mutual influence between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and animated bodies.

'* It is continuous, so as to leave no void. Its subtility admits of no comparison.

" It is capable of receiving, propagating, and communicating all the impressions of motion. It is susceptible of flux and reflux.

" The animal body experiences the effect of this agent by insinuating itself into the substance of the nerves — it affects them immediately.

" There are observed, particularly in the human body, properties analogous to those of the magnet, and in it are observed poles equally different and opposite.

" The action and the virtues of animal magnetism, may be communicated from one body to other bodies, animate and inanimate.

" This action may take place at a remote distance, without the aid of any intermediate body.

" It is increased, reflected by mirrors ; communicated, propagated, augmented by sound. Its virtues may be accumulated, concentrated, transported.

" Although this fluid is universal, all animal bodies are not equally susceptible of it. There are even some — though a very small number — which have properties so opposite, that their very presence destroys all the effects of this fluid on other bodies.

*c Animal magnetism is capable of healing diseases of the nerves immediately, and others mediately.

" It perfects the action of medicines, excites and directs salutary crises in such a manner, that the physician may render himself master of them. By its means, he may know the state of each individuals health, judge the most complicated diseases, prevent their increase, and heal them without dangerous effects or troublesome consequences, whatever be the age, sex, or temperament of the patient.

" In animal magnetism, nature presents an universal method of healing and preserving mankind." . . .

Nothing in the history of the race is more admirably illustrative of providential methods, than the succession of steps through which great ideas are perfected, from their inception to their fruitage.

TTius it is that we find the grand discovery of Mesmer, interpreting the dreams of the mystics concerning the " Philosopher's Stone " and " Elixir Vitse " ; illustrating the theories of Galileo and Newton, and converting the universal realm of gravitation which they perceived, into the soul-force of the universe, which could be made the instrument of annihilating disease and indefinitely extending the life of man. But though Mesmer capped the climax of philosophic research in the direction of blind, non-intelligent forces, his powers of observation extended no farther. He himself perceived that there were unknown realms of knowledge yet to be traversed ;