was no other place; and because they cannot understand how Houdin could have performed the trick, they are not entitled to say the hat was magical. Bearing this in mind, we read with great impartiality all the marvellous narratives of the most respectable witnesses, and our scepticism falls on the things the witnesses did not see. Thus

"The Mayor of Cideville deposes to the fact that, being in the parsonage, he saw the tongs leap from the fire-place into the room. Then the shovel did the same thing. The mayor said to one of the children, How, Gustave! what is that?' The child replied, 'I did not touch it.' The tongs and shovel were then replaced, and a second time they leaped forward into the room. This time, as the mayor testified, he had his eyes fixed upon them, so as to detect the trick, in case any one pushed them; but nothing was to be seen. M. Leroux, curate of Saussay, deposes that, being at the parsonage, he witnessed things that were inexplicable to him. He saw a hammer

fly, impelled by an invisible force, from the spot where it lay, and fall on the floor of the room without more noise than if a hand had lightly placed it there. He also saw a piece of bread that was lying on the table move of itself and fall below the table. He was so placed that it was impossible that any one could have thrown these things without his seeing him do it."

This evidence is startling and convincing to minds untrained in habits of investigation; but a closer inspection discloses that it amounts to nothing more than a confession of ignorance on the part of the witnesses who "did not see" how the thing was done.

Let the candid believer consider for a few minutes what the evidence on which he founds his belief amounts to. Certain startling phenomena are witnessed by him; he sees a table rock up and down, or a chair rise in the air, when no one seemed to move them. He cannot understand how these things were effected. When called upon to explain them, he is forced to confess complete ignorance. Instead, however, of keeping this fact of his complete ignorance steadily before his mind, and remembering that any guesses he may make as to the means by which the phenomena were produced, are only guesses, and

required to be tested and confirmed before being accepted as even probable hypotheses, he rushes to the conclusion that the phenomena must have been produced by spiritual agency. Now, what evidence has he for this hypothesis? Simply his inability to conceive what physical agency was at work. He has no knowledge of spirits, or their methods of procedure, which could enable him to recognise their presence. He is therefore totally without evidence on the subject; and if he rushes to the conclusion that the table was moved by spirits, it is solely because he cannot otherwise explain the movement. He had much better leave it unexplained. He does not attempt to explain a conjuror's tricks.

Reduced to a mere question of inference, in the absence of positive knowledge, it is surely more probable that the tables were moved by human agency-conscious or unconscious-than by spiritual agency? We know that human ingenuity can devise methods which will escape the imperfect examination of an audience; we know also that people may unconsciously push the table round; but we know nothing of spirits which could warrant us in attributing the phenomena to them. To warrant such a belief, very cogent evidence would be necessary; and we need scarcely say that the evidence hitherto afforded has been such as could only satisfy an extremely uncritical, incautious mind. The communications by means of raps have been numerous enough; but although much childish nonsense, and much actual falsehood, have been communicated by these means, no one of the many thousand "revelations" has carried with it the evidence of supra-mundane intelligence. The spirits of poets and philosophers have communicated silly poems and sentences; the spirits of departed relatives have given vague indications of their happiness; and the spirits of murdered pedlars have vaguely accused their murderers, but never with sufficient accuracy to be of the slightest service in detecting the criminals. The spirit of Shakespeare declared to us that he was the author of an article in the last Quarterly; and Clytemnestra de

clared that she died in the Jewish persuasion. But although these things, and others equally trivial and foolish, have been communicated, there has been an utter absence of supramundane wisdom, or even of ordinary sagacity, in decisive cases, such as the indication of a murderer. Clairvoyants have likewise made many "revelations," which have greatly startled credulous people; they have read sealed letters, and seen into diseased lungs, and seen distant events; but, although they can read sealed letters, they have been unable to read the number of a bank-note enclosed in a sealed envelope, when to have read it would have gained them the note; although they can see through clothes and flesh into the lungs, and read the state of your lungs, they cannot, one minute afterwards, see what you have in your waistcoat pocket (this we have tried); and although they can describe what is going on in India, they cannot describe what is going on next door. It is thus also with the rapping Mediums: they are profuse in communications, but are unable to make any one simple communication which could be accepted as decisive of the spiritual hypothesis.

A spiritualist gravely proposed the other day, in a morning newspaper, that a Medium should be employed to discover the murderer of Mr Kent's child, at Road; and there are several reasons why any Medium, who is honest, should accept the proposition, and why earnest believers should insist on his accepting it. In the first place, he exhibits his powers for money; and the reward offered for the discovery of the murderer is large enough to pay for a hundred ordinary séances. The effect of his success, if he were successful, would be to make his fortune, and convert Europe to Spiritualism: two results which could not be otherwise than gratifying to a man who gains his living by spiritualism, and who knows what is the opinion of his integrity held by all but believers. Yet it is not venturesome in us to pronounce that no Medium will seize this brilliant opportunity of clearing his character, making his fortune, and convincing

Europe. He will avoid any such decisive test. He will prefer to summon the spirits of murdered pedlars, the spirits of statesmen, poets, philosophers, and children, whose communications are not so valuable, nor so easily confronted with fact. Like the clairvoyante reading the sealed letter, but never attempting to read the number of the bank-note, he will continue to be medium of communications wholly useless, or beyond verification, but will not help us to clear up this Road mystery, in spite of the advantages to himself and to society which would accrue.

In the celebrated Hydesville case, the spirit of a pedlar, supposed to have been murdered, did give information as to himself, his family, and his murderer. All inquiry, however, failed to ascertain that such a person had ever existed. His five children, said to be in a particular district, had never been heard of there, and the implied murderer (the spirit did not venture to accuse him) was not even cross-examined. That the information turned out false, does not, however, in the least disturb the spiritualists. Nay, Mr Dale Owen quotes the following:

nection, that, a few months afterwards "It is proper also to state, in this concircumstance occurred at Rochester, -to wit, in July or August, 1848-a

New York, somewhat analogous in character, and indicating the danger of indulging, without corroborating evidence, in suspicions aroused by alleged spiritual information. A young pedlar, with a waggon and two horses, and known to be possessed of several hundred dollars,

having put up at a tavern in that city, settled down to the belief that he was suddenly disappeared. Public opinion murdered. An enthusiastic spiritualist had the surmise confirmed by the raps. Through the same medium the credulous inquirer was informed that the body lay in the canal, several spots being successively indicated where it could be found. These were anxiously dragged, but to no purpose. Finally, the dupe's wife was required to go into the canal at a designated point, where she would certainly discover the corpse; in obeying which injunction she nearly lost her life. Some months afterwards, the alleged victim reappeared: he had departed secretly for Canada, to avoid the importunities of his creditors."

The facility with which the spiritualists evade all the consequences of failures, is seen in the note which Mr Owen affixes to this narrative :

"If we concede the reality of the spirit-rap, and if we assume to judge of ultra-mundane intentions, we may imagine that the purpose was, by so early and so marked a lesson, to warn men, even from the commencement, against putting implicit faith in spiritual communications."

When the "devils of Loudun" were convicted of having communicated demonstrable falsehoods, it was said to be in order "to confirm the incredulous in their doubts." In like manner the spirits of our day, although very anxious to have their communications listened to, are wont to make false statements for fear we should trust in them too implicitly! The credulity which spiritualists display in the absence of evidence, is not more surprising than their credulity in presence of adverse evidence. Here is a specimen. Mr Owen quotes the following:

"On the 5th of December 1838, the inmates of the farm-house of Baldarroch, in the district of Banchory, Aberdeenshire, were alarmed by observing a great number of sticks, pebble-stones, and clods of earth flying about their yard and premises. They endeavoured, but in vain, to discover who was the delinquent, and, the shower of stones continuing for five days in succession, they came at last to the conclusion that the devil and his imps were alone the cause of it. The rumour soon spread all over that part of the country, and hundreds of persons came from far and near to witness the antics of the devils of Baldarroch. After the fifth day, the showers of clods and stones ceased on the outside of the premises, and the scene shifted to the interior. Spoons, knives, plates, mustard-pots, rolling-pins, and flat-irons appeared suddenly endued with the power of self-motion, and were whirled from room to room, and rattled down the chimneys, in a manner nobody could account for. The lid of a mustard-pot was put into a cupboard by a servant-girl, in the presence of scores of people, and in a few minutes afterwards came bouncing down the chimney, to the consternation of everybody. There was also a tremendous knocking at the doors and on the roof, and pieces of stick and pebble-stones rattled against the windows and broke them. The

whole neighbourhood was a scene of alarm; and not only the vulgar, but persons of education, respectable farmers, within a circle of twenty miles, expressed their belief in the supernatural character of these events.'

"The excitement, Mackay goes on to state, spread, within a week, over the parishes of Banchory-Ternan, Drumoak, Durris, Kincardine O'Neil, and all the adjacent district of Mearns and Aberdeenshire. It was affirmed and believed that all horses and dogs that approached the The mistress of the house and the serfarm-house were immediately affected. vant-girls said that whenever they went to bed they were pelted with pebbles and other missiles. The farmer himself travelled a distance of forty miles to an old conjuror, named Willie Foreman, to induce him, for a handsome fee, to remove the enchantment from his property. The heritor, the minister, and all the elders of the kirk, instituted an investito have had any result. gation, which, however, does not appear

"After a fortnight's continuance of the noises,' says Mackay, the whole trick was discovered. The two servantlasses were strictly examined, and then committed to prison. It appeared that they were alone at the bottom of the whole affair, and that the extraordinary alarm and credulity of their master and mistress in the first instance, and of the neighbours and country people afterwards, made their task comparatively easy. A little common dexterity was all they had used; and, being themselves unsuspected, they swelled the alarm by the wonderful stories they invented. It was they who loosened the bricks in the chimneys, and placed the dishes in such a manner on the shelves that they fell on the slightest motion.""

Instead of treating this story as one of the many exposed tricks, Mr Owen insists that it was no trick. "The proof that the girls were the authors of the mischief," he says,

appears to have rested on the fact that no sooner were they secured in the county jail than the noises ceased." To any but a spiritualist we should say the proof would appear to be quite other. Magistrates in England are not in the habit of committing suspected persons to county jails, without other proof than what will take place after commitment; and unless cross-examination had elicited confession from the girls, they would never have been imprisoned. But even their confes

sion would not disturb Mr Owen's belief; the idea of these two girls having performed such a trick undetected, is to him far more incredible than that spirits should have been at work.

"For five days a shower of sticks, stones, and clods of earth are seen flying about the yard, and are thrown against the windows. Hundreds of persons come to witness the phenomenon, and none of them can account for it. Is it credible, is it conceivable, that two girls, employed all day in menial duties under the eye of their mistress, should, by 'a little common dexterity,' have continued such a practical joke for five hours-to say nothing of five days-without being inevitably detected? Then various utensils in the house not only move, as if selfimpelled, about the room, but are whirled from one room to another, or dropped down the chimney, in presence of crowds of witnesses. There is a tremendous knocking at the doors and on the roof, and the windows are broken by sticks and pebblestones that rattle against them. This farce is kept up for ten days more, making the whole neighbourhood a scene of alarm, baffling the ingenuity of heritor, minister, and elders; and we are asked to believe that it was all a mere prank of two servant-girls, effected by loosening a few bricks in the chimney, and placing the crockery so that it fell on slight motion! A notable specimen, surely, of the credulousness of incredulity!"

After the specimens we have given of Mr Dale Owen's credulity, and utter inability to discriminate evidence, no surprise will be felt at his having made a collection of stories relating to dreams, haunted houses, and apparitions, as proofs of spiritual communications. The stories of ap paritions are curious, and might make a convert of every one who is weak enough to conclude that whatever is not understood must needs be supernatural. These stories often wear a most deceptive air of precision. Names and dates are given with scrupulous exactness; and the stories themselves are certainly such as baffle explanation. Here is one :

"In the month of October 1833, Mr C, a gentleman, several members of whose family have since become well and favourably known in the literary world, was residing in a country house, in Hamilton County, Ohio. He had just

completed a new residence, about seventy or eighty yards from that in which he was then living, intending to move into it in a few days. The new house was in plain sight of the old, no tree or shrub intervening; but they were separated, about half way, by a small, somewhat abrupt ravine. A garden stretched from the old house to the hither edge of this ravine, and the further extremity of this garden was about forty yards from the newly erected building. Both buildings fronted west, towards a public road, the south side of the old dwelling being directly opposite to the north side of the Attached to the rear of the new dwelling was a spacious kitchen, of which a door opened to the north.

new.

"The family, at that time, consisted of father, mother, uncle, and nine children. One of the elder daughters, then between fifteen and sixteen years old, was named Rhoda; and another, the youngest but one, Lucy, was between three and four years of age.

"One afternoon in that month of October, after a heavy rain, the weather had cleared up; and between four and five o'clock the sun shone out. About five o'clock Mrs C stepped out into a yard on the south side of the dwelling they were occupying, whence, in the evening sun, the new house, including the kitchen already referred to, was distinctly visible. Suddenly she called a daughter, A, saying to her, What can Rhoda possibly be doing there, with the child in her arms? She ought to know better, this damp weather.' A looking in the direction in which her mother pointed, saw, plainly and unmistakably, seated in a rocking-chair, just

within the kitchen-door of the new residence, Rhoda, with Lucy in her arms.

What a strange thing!' she exclaimed; it is but a few minutes since I left them up-stairs.' And, with that, going

in search of them, she found both in one

of the upper rooms, and brought them

down. Mr C and other members of the family soon joined them. Their may be imagined. The figures seated amazement, that of Rhoda especially, at the hall-door, and the two children now actually in their midst, were absolutely identical in appearance, even to each minute particular of dress.

"Five minutes more elapsed, in breathless expectation, and there still sat the figures; that of Rhoda appearing to rock with the motion of the chair on which it seemed seated. All the family congregated, and every member of ittherefore twelve persons in all-saw the figures, noticed the rocking motion; and became convinced, past all possible

doubt, that it was the appearance of Rhoda and Lucy.

"Then the father, Mr C, resolved to cross over and endeavour to obtain some solution of the mystery; but, having lost sight of the figures in descending the ravine, when he ascended the opposite bank they were gone.

"Meanwhile the daughter A- had walked down to the lower end of the garden, so as to get a closer view; and the rest remained gazing from the spot whence they had first witnessed this unaccountable phenomenon.

"Soon after Mr C had left the house, they all saw the appearance of Rhoda rise from the chair, with the child in its arms; then lie down across the threshold of the kitchen-door; and after it had remained in that recumbent position for a minute or two, still embracing the child, the figures were seen gradually to sink down, out of sight.

"When Mr C- reached the entrance, there was not a trace nor appearance of a human being. The rockingchair, which had been conveyed across to the kitchen some time before, still stood there, just inside the door, but it was empty. He searched the house carefully, from garret to cellar; but nothing whatever was to be seen. He inspected the clay, soft from the rain, at the rear exit of the kitchen, and all around the house, but not a footstep could he discover. There was not a tree or bush anywhere near, behind which any one could secrete himself, the dwelling being

erected on a bare hill-side.

"The father returned from his fruitless search, to learn, with a shudder, what the family meanwhile had wituessed.

The circumstance, as may be supposed, made upon them a profound impression; stamping itself in indelible characters

on the minds of all."

Singular enough. Yet Mr Owen seems to forget that inasmuch as the two children seen in the vision were themselves alive and present in the house, the vision could not have been one of spirits appearing-unless we are to suppose that spirits can be in two places at one and the same time. And without pretending to explain this vision, especially on the narrative before us, we are justified in assuming that it was in some way analogous to that of the Brocken spirit :

"In the Philosophical Magazine (vol. i. p. 232) will be found a record of the observations which finally explained to the scientific world the nature of the

gigantic appearance which, from the summit of the Brocken (one of the Hartz Mountains), for long years excited the wondering credulity of the inhabitants and the astonishment of the passing traveller. A Mr Haue devoted some time to this subject. One day, while he was contemplating the giant, a violent puff of wind was on the point of carrying off his hat. Suddenly clapping his hand upon it, the giant did the same. Mr Haue bowed to him, and the salute was returned. He then called the proprietor of the neighhouring inn and imparted to him his discovery. The experiments were renewed with the same effect. It became evident that the appearance was but an optical effect produced by a strongly illuminated body placed amid light clouds, reflected from a considerable distance, and magnified till it appeared five or six hundred feet in height.

"In Westmoreland and other mountainous countries the peasants often imagine that they see in the clouds troops of cavalry and armies on the march-when, in point of fact, it is but the reflection of horses pasturing on a hill side, and peaceful travellers or labourers passing over the landscape."

The desire to explain the narratives we hear and the marvels we witness, often leads to rash statements and suppositions, the effect of which is only to confirm the credulity of the credulous. It is better to abstain from explanation. When you hear of tables rising in the air, no one touching them, content yourself with regarding these things as you regard back upon the simple confession that Houdin's conjuring tricks. you don't know how the things are done, and don't care to know. You have ample evidence that the thing is a trick. You have ample evidence that some Mediums are impostors; what evidence have you that all are not?

Fall

A delusion so gross, a doctrine so absurd, and a practice so base and debasing, only deserves serious notice because of the light it concentrates upon that want of a right appreciation of evidence which is common among mankind. In this respect it may have been of service. "Il ne suffit pas de dire que l'esprit est faible," said Malebranche; "il faut lui faire sentir ses faiblesses." It is not enough to say that human testimony is fallible; we must point out the origin of its weakness-its tendency to err.