M O D E R N M A GI C .

M . SC H EL E D E V ERE .

No n f uma m ex f u mo da re lace m
Cogit a t , u t sp ecio sa dehin c m ir ac u la p roma t .

HORACE .

NE W YORK
’

G P P UTNAM S S ONS ,
’
. .

FO URT H AV ENUE AND TW ENT Y TH IRD-

STREET .

1 873 .
Ent e re d acco rding t o ac t. o f C o ngress, in t h e y ea r 1 873 . b y

G P PUTNAM S
'
SONS
Li b i i
. .
.

'
In t h e O ffi ce o f t he ra r a n o f Co n gre ss, at W
ash ngt o n .
 P REFA C E .

TH E m ain pu r pose of o ur existen ce on ea rt h —a side

from the s acred and pa ramount duty o f secu ring o u r
salvation —is undoubtedly to make ourselves masters
of the tangible world aro un d us as , it stands revealed
to our senses , an d as it was expressly made subject to
o ur will by th e Creator . We are howeve r at the same
, ,

time ,
n ot l e ft without in formation abou t the existence
of ce rtain laws and the occ u rren ce of certain ph enom
ena w h ich belong to a world n ot accessible
, to u s by
mean s of o ur ordin ary senses and which yet affect se ri
,

o u sl
y o ur intercou rse with N ature an d o ur personal
welfare . This kn owledge we obtain sometimes by , spe

c ial favor as direct revelation an d at other times for

, , ,

reason s as yet unknown at the expense of our health,

and mu ch su ffering . By whate ve r mean s it may reach

u s it cann ot b e rej ected ; to tr eat it with ridicule
, or to
4 P RE F A CE .

decline examin ing it would be as unwise as

, u n pro fi ta

ble . The least that we can do is to asce rtain the p r e

cise n atu re of these laws and after stripping these
, ,

phenomena of all tha t can be proved to be merely in ci

dental or delu sive, t o compar e th em with each other ,

and to arrange them carefully according to some stand

ard of classification . The main interest in such a task
lies in the discove ry of the grain of truth which is
often found concealed in a mass of rubbish and which , ,

when thu s brought to light se rves , to enlarge o ur

knowledge and to in crease ou r power . The diffi culty

lies in the absen ce of all s cien tific investigation and i n ,

the innate ten dency of man to give way wan tonly , or

un consciously to mental as well as to sen sual delu

,

sion .

The aim of this little work is therefore limited , , to

the gath ering of such facts an d phenomen a as m ay

serve to throw ligh t upon t he n ature of the m agic

-

powers with which man is un doub tedly en dowed . Its

end will be a ttained if it ,
su cce e ds in sho wing that h e
actually does possess powers whi ch are n ot su bj ect to

the general laws of n ature but more , or less in depen d

en t of space and time an d which yet make themselves

,

kn own partly by appe al s to the ordinary sen ses an d

pa rtly by peculiar pheno en a the result m , of thei r
 P RE F A C E .
5

ac t ivity . These higher po ir e r s ope rating exclusively ,

'

through the Spirit of man are part of his n atu re which , ,

has mu ch in common with that of the Deity since he ,

was created by G o d “
in His o wn image , and th e Lord
breathed in to h is nostrils the b reath of life and man
”
became a living s ou l . T h is soul is not as materialists ,

maintain merely the su m of all perceptions obtained

,

by t he collective activity of bodily organs—a conclusion

which woul d finally make it the product of mere
material atoms subj ect to , cons tant physical and
chemical changes . E ven if it were possible—which we
deny— to reduce our whole inner life including memo ,

ry, imagination an d reason , , to a system of purely

physical laws an d thus to admit its destruction at
,

the momen t of death , there would still remain the

liv ing so u l, coming directly fr om the M ost High and ,

destined to continue throughout eternity . This soul is ,

hence independent of time

, . No r i s it boun d by space ,

except so far as it can commun e with the ou te r world

onl y by means of the body with which it i s united in ,

this life . The nature of this union is a mystery as yet

unfathomed but precisely becau se it is such a mystery
, .
,

we have no righ t to assume that i t is altogether indi s

soluble during li fe ; or that it ceases entirely at the ,

moment of death . There is on the contra ry over

, ,
6 P RE F A C E .

whelming evidence t hat the soul may at times act , ,

independently of the body and the forces develop e d

, on

s u ch occasions we have for the sake , of convenien ce

rather than on account of the special fitness of t he

term preferred to call

, m agic powers .

There is no evi den ce wh atever before u s as t o t he

mutual rel a
tion s of soul an d body after death . He r e ,

n ecess arily all must be mere speculation

, . N othing
m ore therefore will be claimed for the following
, ,

suggestions . When the body becomes u nfit to se rv e

any longer as an abode and an in strument to th e soul ,

the tie which was formed before or a t the moment of

bir th is gradually loosened . The soul no longe r

receives imp ression s fro m the oute r world such as the
body heretofore conveyed to it and with this cessa tion ,

of mutual action ends also the communityo f sen s a

, ,

tion The living soul —in all probability— becomes

.

conscious of its sepa ration from the dead body an d

from the world ; it continues to exist but i n lon eliness ,

a nd self dependence
-
. Its life however becomes only
, ,

th e more active and the more self con sciou s as it is -

no

longer consumed by intercourse with the world n or ,

disturbed by bodily disorders an d in fi rm it ie s . The soul

r ecalls with ease all lo n g forgotten or mu ch dimmed - -

sensa t i on s . What it feels most deeply at first is w e may ,

 P RE FA CE . 7

presume the double gr ief at being separ ated from the

,

body wi th which it
, h as so long been closely connected ,

and at the sins it h as commi tted during li fe . T hi s

repen tan ce will be n atu rally all th e heartier as it is no ,

longe r inte rr upted by sen sual impressions . A fte r a

wh ile this grief like all sorrows begins to moderate
, , ,

and the soul retur ns to a state of peace : sooner , of

course in , th e c ase of person s who i n their earthly l ife

already had secu r ed pea c e by the only means revealed to

man ; late r by those , wh o had given themselves entirely

up to th e world and thei r passion s . A t the same time
the living soul enters into communion with other so uls ,

r etaining however its in di viduality in sex cha rac te r

, , , ,

an d t emper, and possibly pro ceeds on a course

, ,
of

gradual purification till it reaches the desired haven in

,

perfect r econcili ation with G o d . D urin g this in ter

mediate time there is nothing known to u s which
would absolutely forbid the idea that these living souls
contin ue to ma intain some kin d of in tercourse with
the souls of men on earth with whom they shar e all
,

that constitute s their essential nature save only the ,

o ne fact of bondage to the body .

-
No r is there any
reason why the soul in m an should not be able by its ,

higher powers , to perceive an d to conso rt with souls

de tached from mor t al bodies although this intercourse ,
8 P RE F A CE .

must n eeds be limited an d impe r fect because of the

vast di fference bet ween a free soul and on e bound to an
earthly sinful b ody
, . Fo r m an, when he dies leaves ,

behin d in this world the body dead , an d po werless a ,

co rpse . He contin ues however to live a s o ul with

, , , , all

the peculiar powers whi ch make up our spiritual

organism ; that i s to say, the tru e man in the highe r ,

sense of th e word exists still , , though he dwell in

another world . This soul h as now no longe r ear thly
organ s of s ense t o do its bid ding but i t still controls
,

n ature which was made su bj ect to its will ; i t has ,

moreover a new set , of powers which represent in the

higher world its h ighe r body and the characte r , of its
new active life will be all the more elevated as these ,

organ s are m ore spiritual . M an cannot but continue to

develop , to grow an d, to rip en in the n ext wo rld as he

,

did i n this ; his n ature an d h is destiny are alike in co m

.

patible with sudden transition s and wi th absolute re st .

The soul must become purer an d more u seful ; its

organs more subtle an d more powerful an d i t is , of this
life of gradual improvemen t an d purification that we
may occasion ally obtain glimpses by that commun ion
which n o doubt still exists between earth bou nd so uls -

"

an d souls freed from such bondage .

There are it is well kn own many th eologian s

, ,
wh o
 P RE FA C E . 9

sternly deny any such further developmen t of

’
man s
spi ritual par t and insist upon look ing at this life as the
,

only time of probation accorded to him at th e

, en d o f

which immediate and etern al j udgmen t i s rendered .

Their views are entitled to the u tmost consideration

and respect . B ut di fferent opinions are en tertained by
some of their brethren not les s em in ent in piety pro
, ,

found learn ing an d critical acumen and hen ce at least

, ,

equally deserving of being attentively listened to an d

carefully regarde d S o it is also with the b elief in the
.

possibility of holding intercourse with disembodied

spirits . S uper ficial observers are ready to doubt or to
deny to sneer haughtily
, , or to scoff contemptuously .

But men of great e m ine n ce have from time im m e m o ,

rial treate d the question with gr eat attention and d eep

,

“
inte rest . M elan chthon w r ote : I have myself seen
ghosts and know many trustworthy people who a ffir m
,

that they have no t only seen them but even carried on ,

conversations with the m (De A nima Reco gn : Wit t em b . .

1 5 95 p,
an d Luther said nearly the same Calvin
.

and K nox also expressed similar convictions . A faith

which has las t e d thro ugh all ages of man s histo ry and ’
,

has such supporters cannot bu t have some foundatio n

, ,

and deserves full i nvestigation . A lch emy with i ts vi s ,

io n ary hopes con tained nevertheless the germ of

, , ,
=l<
1
lO P R E FA C E .

modern chemistry and astrology taugh t al r eady much

,

th at constitutes the ast r onomy of o u r day . The

is n o doubt the case with M ode r n M agic an d
, , ,

also we may safely expec t

,
to fin d t h a t o ut of darkness
”
cometh light .
 C O N T EN T S .

DR EAMS

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

MAGNETI SM

MI RACUL O U S CURE s
 MOD ERN MA GIC .

I
.

W IT C H CRAF T .

W it ch cra ft ll e git im at e
is an i m iracl e ; a mirac l e is l e git im ate
w i t ch cra ft —JA C O B B OE HME
”
. .

PER H A P S in n o direction has the human min d ever

shown greater weakness than in the Opinions enter
t ain e d of witchcraft If Hecate the oldest patroness
.
,

o f witches wandered about at nigh t with a gruesome

,

following and fr ightened lovers at their stealthy meet

,

ing or lonely wanderers o n open heaths and in dark

,

forests her appearance w as at leas t in keeping with the

,

whole syste m o f G reek mythology T acitus does not .

frigh ten us by tell ing us that wi t ches u sed to meet at

salt Springs ( A n n xiii n or the E dda when speak
. .

ing of t h e bear ers of witches kettl es against whom ’

,

even the S ali c La w warns all good Christian s B u t .

whe n t he Coun cil of A ncyra,in the fifth century ful ,

m in a t e s it s e di cts against women ridi n g at night u pon

weird a n im als in company with Diana and Herodias ,

the strange combination o f n ames and th e dread penal

ties t h re at e n ed m ak e u s almos t think of witches as of
'

real and most marvelous beings A nd when wise .

14 MODERN MAG IC .

councillors o f French Parliamen t s and gray dignita r ies

o f th e Holy G erman E mpire sit in j udgmen t over a

handful of poor old women when great E nglish bishops ,

and z ealou s N ew E ngland divines condemn little

children to death because they have made pacts with
,

the D evil atten ded hi s sabbaths and bewitched thei r

, ,

p eaceful n eighbors — then we stan d am azed at t h e delu

sions t o which the wisest an d best amon g u s a r e
,
‘

liable .

Ch ris t iani ty it is tru e shed for a time such a b righ t

, ,

light over the ea rth that th e works o f darkness we r e

,

abho r red and the power o f the E vil O ne seemed to be

broken according to the sacred promises that the seed
,

’
o f w oman sho uld bruise the serpen t s h ead Thu s
'

Charlemagne i n his fierce edi ct issu ed after t h e defeat

,

o f th e S axon s ordered that death should be inflic t ed

,

o n al l who after pagan mann er gave way to de v ilish

delusions and believed that men o r women co u ld be

,

w itches persecuted and killed them ; o r even went so

, ,

far as to consu me their flesh an d give it to others for

like pu rposes ! But almost at the same time th e belief
i n the D evil distinctly maintaine d in Holy Writ Spread
, ,

fa r and wide an d as early as the fourth Century dis

,

eases were ascribed n ot t o organic causes but t o demo ,

n iac influences and the Devil w as once more seen bo dily

,

w alking to and fro o n the earth accompan ied by a host ,

o f smaller demon s It was but rarely that a truly

.

enlightened man dar ed t o comb at the u niversal super

stit io n Thu s Ago b ard archbishop o f Lyons shines
.
, ,
 w rrC iI CRAFr . l5

like a bright sta r o n the dark sky of the n inth cen tu ry

by h is open denunciation o f all belief in possession in ,

the control of the weather o r the decisio n of di ffi culties

by ordeal For like reasons we ought t o reve re t h e
.

memory o f John o f S alisbu ry who in the twe lfth ,

century declared the stories of nightly as semblies o f

witches with all thei r at t en ding c ir cumstances to be
, ,

mere delusion s o f poor women and simple men wh o ,

fancied they saw bo di ly what existed only in thei r

imagin ation The Church hesitated now requiring her
.
,

children to believe in a D evil and demons and n o w

‘
,

den oun cing all faith in supernatural beings The thi r .

t e e n t h century by Leibnitz called the darkest of all

, ,

developed the wo r ship o f the E vil O n e to its fullest per

fe ctio n ; the w ritings of S t A ugustin e were quoted as
.

co n firming the fact that demons and men could and

did inte r marry an d the Dj inns o f the E ast were men
,

“
t io n e d as spirits wh o sought the daughters of men
for w ives .The fi rst trace of a witches dance is found ’

in the records of a fea rful A u to da— fé h eld in Toulouse

-

in the year 1 3 5 3 and about a century later the Domini

,

can monk Jaquier publi shed the fir st complete work

, ,

o n wi t ches and witchcraft He represen ted them as

.

organised—aft er the prevailing fashion of the day—in a

regular guil d with apprentices companions an d m as
, , ,

te rs wh o prac t ised a special a rt for a defin ite purpose

,
.

It is certainly mos t remarkable that the same op i n i on ,

in all it s details has been en te rtained in this century

,

even and by o n e of the most famou s G erman ph ilo so

,
16 MODERN MAG IC .

ph ers, Esch en m aye r While the zeal and m adness o f

.

devil worshippers were growing o n one side perse cu

-

tion became more violent an d cruel o n the other side ,

till th e trials o f witches assumed gigan tic proportion s

an d the proceedings were carried o n according t o a reg
ular method These trials Oii ginat ed inva ri ab ly with
.
, ,

theologian s and although t he sys t em was not begun by

,

’
the Papal government it obtained soon th e Pope s legal
'

sanction by th e famous hu ll o f I nn ocent V III S a mm is .

,

desidera n t es dated December 4 1 48 4 and decreeing

, , ,

the relentless persecution of all here t ical witches The .

far famed Ma lleu s m a lefica iu m ( Cologn e

-
wr itten ,

by the t wo celebra t ed j u dges o f witches S prenge r an d ,

Gre m pe r and fu ll of the most extraordinary vi ews an d

,

statements reduced the whole to a regu l ar method an d

, ,

obta ined a vast influen ce over the minds o f that age .

The rules and forms it prescri b ed we re n o t only o h

se rve d in almo st all parts o f Christen dom bu t actu ally ,

retain ed their force an d legali ty till the end o f the

seven te e nth century N o r w ere these v iews and prae
.

tices confined to Catholic countries ; a hu ndred and

fifty year s aft er the Refo rma t ion a great G erman j urist
,

and a Pro t estant,Carpz o n published his P rax is Cr im

,

i na lis \ in which pre cisely the same opinion s were

,

taught an d the same measu res were pres cribed The .

P uritans i t is well kn o wn , pu rsu ed a similar plan an d

,
-
,

the N ew World has n o t been more fortunate in avoid

ing these errors than t he O ld World A cu riou s .

fe ature in the above menti oned works is the fact that

-
18 MODERN MAG I C .

O ccasionall y most star tling cont r asts would be exh ib

ite d by di fferent gover n men ts In th e N orth James I
.
, .
,

claiming to be as wi se as S olomon an d more learn ed ,

than any man in Ch r istendom imagined that h e was ,

pe r secuted by the E vil O n e o n acco unt o f hi s gr eat

religious z eal an d sa w in every Catholic an in st r u ment
,

o f his adversary His wil d fancy w as cunningly e u

.

c o u rage d by those wh o profi t e d by his tyran ny an d ,

C atholics were represen ted as bein g o n e and all give n , ,

up to the D evil the mas s an d witchc raft th e three un

, ,

holy allies opposed to the Trinity ! In the S outh the ,

Republic o f V enice with all its petty tyranny an d pr

, o

v e rb ial political cruelty sto o d almost alon e in all

,

Christendom as opposed to persecution s o f wizards an d

witches an d fought t he battle m anfully o n the sid e o f
,

enligh tenment an d Christian charity The hor r ors o f .

w itch trials s oon reached a heigh t which makes u s

-

blush for humani ty The accu sed were tortured till

.

they con fessed their guilt so that they might lose n o t

,

only life upon earth but also hope for ete rnity If
, .
,

u nder tor ture they declared themselves inn ocen t but

, ,

ready to confess their guil t an d t o die they were told ,

that in such a case they would die with a falsehood o n

their lips an d thu s forfeit salvation Some o f the suf
, .

fe re rs were foun d t o have a stigm a o n their bodies a ,

place where the nerves had been paralysed an d n o pai n ,

was con sequen tly fel t —this was a su re sign o f their

’

b eing witc hes and they were fo r thwith b urnt if they

,

had no such s tigma the j u dge decid e d th at the Devil

,
 WIT CHC RAFT . l9

marked only his doubtful ad herent s an d left h is trusty ,

followers u nmarked Th e terror became so great that

“
in the seventeenth century repen tan t witches aboun d
ed because it had become cus tom ary m erely t o hang or
,

to decapitate those wh o con fessed while all oth ers w ere

,

burned alive Hundreds suffering o f painful di seas es or

.

su ccumbing to unbearable privation s forthwith fancied ,

themselves bewitched o r actually sought relief from

,

the ills of this life by voluntarily appearing before the

n ume r ous trib u n als fo r the trial o f witchcraft Th e .

m inds o f men were so thoroughly blinded that even ,

when h usban ds testified the impossibility o f their wives

’
h aving atten ded the witches sabbath because they had ,

b een lying all night by their side in bed they were told , ,

and quite ready to believe that a phanto m had taken

,

the place o f their absent wives ! In on e o f the m ost fa

mous trials fi v e women con fesse d aft er suffering n u ,

speakable torture that they had di sinterred an infant

, ,

the child of one o f their n umbe r and supped upon it ,

with the D evil ; th e father of the child persevered till

’
the grave was opened an d behold the child s body was
, ,

there un h armed ! But the j udges declared it to be a

phanto msent by the E vil O ne since the co nfes sion o f
,

the criminals was wor t h more than mere ocular proof ,

and the women were bu rnt accordingly ( Horst D e . .

m o n o m agie i p
,
. . The most signal proof o f the
absurdity of all su ch charges was obtained in ou r own
country Here the n u m b e r o f those who complained
. o

o f bein g plag ued and inj ured by demoniac agencies

20 M ODERN MAG IC .

became large r in precise proportion as t rials in c r eased

and condemn ations su cceeded But when n ineteen o f .

the accu sed had been ex ec u ted an d th e j udges b e co m

,

in g appalled at the daily growing n u mber o f com

plaints se t some o f the p ri son ers free and declin ed t o
, ,

arrest oth ers there was suddenly an e n d of th ese griev

,

au ces n o more accounts o f enchan tm en t an d witch

,

craft were heard an d soon the evil disap peared en

,

t irely .

It was a si mi lar re t urn t o re as on whi ch at last led in

E urope also to a reaction The D oge o f V eni ce a nd th e
.

G reat Coun cil appealed to the pope Leo X to put a ,

.
,

curb upon the intemperate zeal o f his ministers an d h e ,

'

sa w himself forced to check the m e rc il e ss pe rse cu t io n .

O cca sionally voices h ad been raised already before that ,

public appeal con demning such wholesale slaughter ;

,

among these were men like B acon o f V erulam Regi ,

n al d S cotus and marvel o f marvels two famo u s

, , ,

Jesuits Tan ner and S pee A nd yet even these merci

, .

i n] an d enlightened men n ever for a momen t doub te d , ,

’

the genuinen ess o f witch craft an d its fatal effects .

F ath er S pee a most learned m an writin g against th e

, ,

ceaseless persec ution s o f pretended witches n ev e rt h e ,

less declared in 1 63 1 in his ren owned Ca u t io cr imin

, ,

a lis by far the best work written on that side o f th e

,

question that there are in the world some few wizards

,

an d en chante rs whi ch could n ot be denied by any

,

”
body without frivolity an d great ignorance an d even ,

’
Bayle while condemnin g the cruelty of witches trials
, ,
 W ITCHC RA FT . 2l

seriously proposes t o punish witches for thei r ill wil l -

.

V au dé the wel l known librar i an of C ardin al M az arin

,
-

wrote an able work as an apology of all the great men

,

wh o had been suspec ted o f witchcraft in cluding even ,

Clemens V S ylves ter II an d oth er popes and a re

.
, .
, ,

nown ed Capuchin monk d Au t u n pursu ed the s ame ,

’
,

subj ec t with infinite subtlety of tho u gh t and great hap

i ss o f di ction in his L zn ér édu z
’
'

p n e aé sa va n to et la crédu
lite i gno ra n ie A witc h was h owever still condemned
.
, ,

to be burned in 1 6 98 in G ermany ; fortun ately the ,

j udge a distingu ished j u rist o f the University of Halle

, ,

was remonstrated with by an este emed colleague and ,

thus induced to examin e himsel f as well as the whole

g rievou s subj ect with unsparing candor This led him .

to see clearly t h e error involved in trials o f wi t chcraft ,

an d he wrote in 1 7 01 a mo st valuable an d influential

, ,

work against the Crime of M agic He s ucceeded espe .

,

c iall in destroying t h e enormou s presti ge heretofore

y ,

enj oyed by Del Rio s great work D isgu isit io n es m agicce

’
,

the favori te hand book o f j udges o f all lands which

-

was even adopted though from the pen of a Jes uit b y

, ,

the Prote stants of G ermany In no case ho wever .

, ,

were the personal existen ce o f the Devil and his activity ,

u pon ea rth denied by these writers ; on the contrary

'

, ,

it is well known that Luther M elan chthon an d even , ,

Calvin continued always to speak of S atan as havin g a

,

corporeal existence and as being perceptible to h uman

senses The n egation con tended for applied only to hi s
.

direct agen cy i n the physical w orld ; his moral infl u

22 M ODERN MAG IC .

ence was ever r eadily admitt ed S poradic cases o f .

w itchcraft an d their t rial by high cou rts o f j u stice

, ,

h ave contin u ed to occur down to o u r day M aria .

Theres a was the first peremptorily t o forbid any fu r ther

persecutions on accoun t o f Ven efio iu m as it h ad become ,

the fashion to call the acts o f m agi c by which m e n o r

beasts were said to be inj ured There are however.
, ,

wri te rs who maintain in this century an d in o u r gen

, ,

cration even the direct agen cy of the D evil in daily

, ,

life and see in demoniac su fferin gs the pun ishmen t O f

,

th e wi cked in this life already .

The question o f how much t r u th there may have

been in this belief i n witchcraft h eld by so many n a
‘

ti on s an d persevered in during so many centuries has

, ,

n ever yet been fully an s w ered It i s hardly t o be pre

.

sumed that during this long period al l men e v en t he ,

wisest an d subtlest should h ave been completely

,

blinded o r u tterly demen ted M any historians as well

.

as philosophers have l o ck e d u pon witchcraft as a mere

creat ion o f the Inquisition Rome they argue was in
.
, ,

great danger she had n o n ew dogma t o proclaim which

,

would give food to in quir ing min ds an d in crease the ,

prestige o f h er power ; she was growing unpopula r in

many coun tries heretofore considered most faithful an d
submissive and she was engaged in vario us dangerou s
,

con flicts with th e secular powers In this embarrass .

men t her In qu isitors looked around for some mean s o f

'

escape an d t hought a remedy might b e fo u n d in this

,

new combin ation o f the two tradition al crimes of

 WITCHC RA FT . 23

heresy and en chantmen t Witch craft as a crime

.
, ,

because o f the d eeds o f violence with which it was

almost invariably asso ciated belonged before the tri
,

bunal o f the secular j udge ; as a sin it was t o b e pun

ish ed by the bishop but as heresy it fell accordin g t o
, ,

the cu stom o f t h e day to the share o f neither j u dge nor

,

bishop b u t into th e hands of the Inquisition

,
.

The extreme un iformity o f witch craft from th e

Tagu s to the V istula and in Ne w E nglan d as in O ld
,

E ngland i s addu ced as an addition al eviden ce of it s

,

“
hav ing been manu factured by the Inquisition .

N othing is gain ed however by looking upon i t as

, ,

a mere i nven tion ; n or woul d su ch an explanation

apply to the wiz ards and witches who are repeatedly
mentioned an d con demned in Holy W rit Witchcraft .

was n either purely ar tificial a mere delusion nor can

, ,

i t b e accounted for upon a pu rely natural basis

.
.

The ess ential pa r t in it is the magic force w h ich ,

does n ot belong to the n atu ral but to the spiritual

pa rt of man Hen ce it is n o t so ve ry surprising as
.
,

many authors have thought it that thousands o f ,

poor Women should have don e their best to obtain

visions which only led t o imp risonment torture an d , ,

death by fire while they procured for them appa

,

re n t ly neithe r comfort n or wealth bu t only pain , ,

horro r and disgrace Fo r there was mixed up wi th

, .

all this a sensation of pleasure vagu e an d wild , ,

though it was i n confo rmity with the rude and

coarse habits o f the age It i s the sam e with the
.
'
24 MODERN MAG IC .

opiu m eate r and hasheesh smoker only in a mo r e ,

mo derate man ner ; the deligh t these pern iciou s drugs

afford is n ot seen but the disea se the su fferin g an d
, , ,

the wretched death they produ ce are vi sible enough ,

.

The sto ries o f witches sabbaths taking place o n

’

certain days of the year arose n o do ubt from th e

,

fact that th e prevailin g superstition o f the times

r egarded some season s as peculiarly favorable for the
’
ceremony o f anoin ting on e s self with n arco tic salves ,

an d th is led to a kin d of spiritual co mm unity on

such nights which to the poor delu ded people ap
,

pe are d as a real meetin g at appointe d places In like .

man ner there was n othing absolutely absurd o r im

possible in the idea o f a compact with the D evil .

S atan presen ted himself t o the minds o f men in those

ages as the bodily in carnati on o f all that is evil and
sin ful an d hen ce when they fan cied they made a
,

league with him th ey only arou sed the evil prin ciple
,

w ithin themselves to its fulles t energy and act ivity .

It was in fact the selfish covetou s n atu re o f man

, ,

ever in arms against moral laws and the comman d

men ts o f Go d which in these cases became distinctly
,

visible a nd presen ted itself in the form o f a vi sion .

Th i s evil p r in ciple now relieved from all co nstrain t

,

an d able to develop its power again st a fe ebly resist

ing so ul woul d n aturally destr oy the poor deluded
,

vi ctim i n body and in spirit Hen ce the t rials o f

,
.

w itchcraft had at least some j ustification however ,

u nwise their fo r m and howeve r atr o ciou s their abu ses .

26 MODERN MAG I C .

t ain s poisoned an d thei r daily bread infected by Jews

o r other suspected classes an d promptly took j us t i ce
,

into the i r o wn hands ? It ought also t o be ho m e

in mind as an apology fo r the hor rible crimes com
,

m it t e d by j udges an d priests in condemning witches ,

that in their eyes the crime was too enormou s an d

th e danger too pressing an d universal to admit o f
delay in i nvestigation o r mercy in j udgment Th e
,
.

severe laws o f t hose semi b ar barous times were imme

-

di at ely app l ied an d all mean s con sidered fair in elic

iting th e truth Torture was by n o mean s limited
.

to tri als o f witches for some of the greatest states

,

men an d the most exalted divin es h ad alike to endure

its ter r ors M oreover n o age h as been entirely free
.

from similar delusions although the form u n der which

,

they appear an d the powe r by which t hey may be

supported difl e r n aturally according t o the spi rit of
'

the times S cien ce alon e cannot protect us against

.

fan aticism if th e hea rt i s once led astray and fearful

, ,

crimes have been co mmitted no t only in the n ame

o f Liberty but even unde r the san ctio n o f the C r oss .

Basil the G reat already restored a slave a d int egru m ,

wh o said h e had made a pact with the D evil bu t ,

th e first au th en tic accou nt o f s uch a tran saction

occurs in connection wit h an Imperial o ffi cer The ,

o ph il u s of A dana in the days of Justinian

,
His .

bishop had undeservedly humiliated him an d thus

arou sed in th e heart of the n aturally meek man in
ten se w r ath and a boun dless desi r e of revenge .
 WITCHC RA FT . 27

Wh ile he was in this state o f uncontrollable excite

ment a Jew appeared an d o ffered to procure for him
,

all he wanted if he wo uld pledge his soul to S atan

, .

The unhappy man con sente d and was at once led

,

to the circus where he saw a great n umber of torch

bearers in white robes the costume of servants of
,

t he church an d S atan seated in the midst of the as

,

se m b ly He Obeyed the order to reno un ce Christ and

.

certi fi ed his apostacy in a written document The .

n ext day already t h e bishop repen ted of h is i nj usti ce

and restored Theophilu s in his office whereupon the ,

Je w pointed ou t to him how promptly hi s master

had come to his assista nce S till repentance comes
.
,

to Th eophilus also and in a new revelation the V irgin

,

appears to the despairing man after incessan t prayer

o f forty days and n ights— a fit preparation for su ch .

a vision S he directs him to perform certain aton

.

ing ceremonies and p romises him restoration to his

Christian privileges which he fin ally obtains by fi n d
,

ing the certificate of his apostasy lying on hi s breast ,

and then dies in a state of happy relief A fter th a t .

si m ilar cases of a leagu e being made with S atan occu r

qui t e frequen tly in th e history o f saints an d eminent
m en till the belief in its effi cacy gradually died out
,

an d recent e fforts li ke those recorded by Go erre s

( III p 620) have proved u tterly fruitless
. . .

A mong the magic phenomena connected with witch

craft none is more curiou s than the so cal l ed witches
,
-
’

sabbath the formal meeting of all who are in league

,
28 MODERN MAG IC .

with S atan for the pu rpose o f swearing allegiance t o

,

him to enj oy unh oly delights and to introd u ce n eo

, ,

ph yte s . That no such meeting ever r eally took place ,

n eed hardly b e stated The so called sabbath s w e r e

’

-
.

somnambulisti c vis ions appearing to poor deluded,

creatures wh ile i n a state of tran ce which they had ,

produced by n arcoti c ointments vil e decoction s o r , ,

even mere menta l effort For the most skill ful among
.

the witch es co uld c ause themselves t o fall in to the

Witches S leep as they called this t ran ce whenever
’
, ,

they chose ; others had to submit to tedious and often

abomin able Ceremonies The kn owledge of simples .
,

wh ich was then very general was of great service t o ,

cunning impostors ; thus it was well known that cer

tain herbs like aconite produces in sleep the sen sation
, ,

of flying an d they were of course diligently employed

, , ,
.

Hyo sciam u s an d taxu s hypericu m an d asafoetida were

,

great favorites and physician s made experimen ts

,

with these salves to try their e ffect upon the system .

Lagun a for in stan ce physician to Pope Juliu s III

, ,
.
,

on ce applied an oi ntment which h e had obtain ed from

a wizard to a wom an who thereupon fell into a sleep
, ,

o f thi rty six hours duration and upon bei n g ar ou sed

’
-

, ,

bitterly complained of hi s cruelty in tearing her from

th e embraces of h e r h usband Th e M arqu is d Agen t .
’

tells us in his Let t res Ju if s ( i l that the celebrated

. . .

G assendi dis covered a drug which a shepherd used to

’
take when ever he wi shed to go to a witches assembly .

’
He won the man s confiden ce and pretending to j oin , ,
 wrrCE CRAF r . 29

him in his j ou rn ey pe rsu aded him to swallow the

,

medicine in his presen ce A fte r a few m inutes the

‘

.
,

shepherd began to st agger like an intoxicated person ,

and then fell i nto profound sleep during which he ,

talked wildly Wh en he roused himself again many

.

hours after wards he congratulated the physician o n

,

th e good reception he had met at S ata n s court an d ’

,

recalled with delight the pleasant things they had

j ointly seen an d enj oyed ! The symptoms of th e
’
witches Sl eep di ffer however ; while the latter is i n
, ,

some cases deep an d unbroken in other cases the

, ,

sleepers become rigid an d icy cold or they are subj ect ,

t o v iolent spasms an d utter unn atu ral soun ds in

abundance The sleep di ffers moreover from that of

.
, ,

possessed people in the con sciou sness of bodily pain

whic h bewitched people retain while the possessed ,

become ins en sible Invariably the i mpression i s pro

.

du ce d that they meet kindred Spirits at some great

assembl y b u t the mann er of reaching it di ffers greatly
, .

S ome go on foot ; b ut as Abaris already rode on a Spea r

given to him by A pollo ( Iam hl ich u s De V ita Pyt h c ,
. .

others ride on goats In G ermany a broomsti ck .

,

a club or a dist afi became suitable vehicles provided

’

, , ,

they h ad been pro perly an ointed In S cotland an d .

S weden the chimney is the favorite road in other ,

coun tries n o such preference is shown over doors an d

windows The expedition however j oyou s it may be
.
, ,

is always very fatiguing an d when th e revellers awake

,

th ey feel like people wh o have been dissipated The .

30 M ODERN MAG I C .

meetings di ffe r in locality according t o si z e : wh ole

provinces assemble o n high isola t ed mounta ins among , ,

which th e Brocken in the Hartz M oun tains i s by fa r

, ,

the most renown ed ; smaller compan ies meet near

gloomy chu rches o r u nde r dark t rees with w ide spre ad -

ing branches .

In the north of E urope the favorite reso rt i s the Blue

M ou ntain popularly kn own as Bl o ku ll a in S weden
, , ,

and a s B lak alla in N orway an isolated r ock in the sea ,

between Sm o l an d an d O lan d which seems t o have had ,

some associ ation i n the min ds of t h e people with the

an cien t sea goddess B lakyl le In Italy th e witch es
-
.

loved to assemble unde r the famou s walnu t t ree nea r

Ben event wh ich was already to the Longobards an o h
,

j e ct o f superstitious veneration sin ce h ere in an cien t , ,

times the o l d divinities were worshipped an d afte r

, ,

wards th e sl righe were fon d of meeting In Fran ce .

they h ad a favorite resort on the Puy de D eme n ear ,

Clermont an d in S pain on the sands nea r S eville

, ,

wh ere th e hech izem s held their sabbaths The Hekla .

,

o f Iceland also passes with th e S candin avian s for a

,

great m eeti n g place o f witch es although stra n gely

-

, ,

enough the inhabitants o f th e islan d have n o su ch t ra

,

dition It is howeve r clear that in all countries where

.
, ,

witchcraft prospered th e favorite places o f meeting

,

were always th e same as those t o which in an cien t ,

times the heathen s had made pilg rimages in large

,

n umbers in order to perform thei r sacrifices and t o

, ,

enj oy their merry m akings -

.
 W ITCH CRAFT .
31

In p recisely the same manne r the favo r ite season s fo r

these ghastly meetings correspond almost invariably
with the times of high festivals held in heathen days ,

an d hen ce they were generally adopted by the early

,

’
Christian s with the feast and sai nts days of Christen
,

dom Thus the o l d G ermans observed when they

.
,

we r e still pagan s the first o f M ay fo r two reasons : as a

,

day of solemn j udgment an d as a season fo r rej oicing

, ,

during which prince and peasant j oined in celebrating

the r eturn of summer with merry songs and gay dan ces
around the M ay pole The witches were nothing loth
-
.

to adopt the day fo r their o wn festivities also an d ,

added it to the h olidays of S t John the B a ptist an d S t

. .

Bartholomew on which i n like manner anciently th e

, , ,

holding of publi c courts had brought togeth er large

assemblies The meetings however must always fall
.
, ,

upon a Thursday fro m a determined though yet u n ex

, ,

plained asso ci ation of witchcraft with the old G erman

god of thunder Don ar who was worshipped o n th e
, ,

Blocksberg and to w h o m a goat was sacrifice d—whence

,

also the peculiar fondness of witches fo r th at an imal .

’
The hours of meeting are invariably from eleven o clock
at night to one or two in the morning .

The assembly consists according to circums tances , ,

o f a few hundred o r of several thousan ds but the ,

female sex always largely prev ailes Fo r this fact .

the famous tex t book o f j udges of witchcraft the

-
,

Ma lle us assign ed n ot less than four weighty reasons

,
.

Women it said are more apt to be addicted to the fear

, ,
32 MODERN MAG IC .

ful crime t h an m en because in the fi rst place they a r e

, ,

more credulous ; secondly in their n atural weakness

,

they are more susceptible ; thirdly they are more im ,

prudent an d rash and hen ce always ready to consult

,

the D evil and fourthly and ma i nly f em in a comes from

, ,

f e faith an d m in u s less hence they h ave less faith

, , ,

The guests appear generally i n their n atural fo rm ,

but at times they are represen ted as assuming the shape

o f variou s an imals ; the D evil s followers having a decid
’

ed preference fo r goats and fo r monkeys although th e ,

latter is a p assion of more r ecent date The crowd i s .

naturally in a state o f in cessan t fl ewin g and ebbing ;

the con stant coming an d going crowding an d pressing ,

admits of n ot a m oment s quiet an d even here it is

’

proven that the wicked have n either rest n or peace .

A mong thi s crowd flocks ar e seen consisting of toads ,

and watched over by boys an d girls in the centre Sits

S ata n on a ston e draped in weird m aj esty wi th ter rible
, ,

b u t indistinct fea t ures and u ttering sho rt commands

,

w ith an appallin g voice of u nn atural and u nheard o f

mu sic A qu een in great splendor may sit by h is side
.
,

promoted to the throne from a place among the guest s .

Countless demon s attendin g t o all kinds o f e x t rao rdin

,

ary duties surr ound their master ; or dash through

, ,

the crowd scattering in decent words and gestures in all

direction s E nglish witches meet also inn umerable
.
, ,

kitten s on the S abbath and Show the s car s of wounds

in flic t ed by the mali ciou s animals E very visitor mu st .

pay h is h omage t o th e lord o f the feast which is done ,

34 M ODERN MAG IC .

creatures ; they enj oy there a pa radise o f deligh t ,

whether they really indulge in sensual pleasu re o r

s urren der mind an d will so completely t o t h e u nb al
l owed power that they cease to wish for anything else ,

an d are plunged in vague un speakable pleasu re A n d

, .

yet n ot even th e simp l e satisfaction of good looks is

g ran ted them ; wi tches are as ugly as angel s are fair ;
they emit an evil odor an d inspire others with uncon
q u e rab l e repugnan ce .

’
How exclusively all these description s of witches
sabbaths have th eir origin i n t he imagination o f the
deluded women is seen from the fac t that they vary
con sistently with the prevailing notion s o f tho se by
whom th ey are entert ai n ed ; with coarse peasan ts th e ,

meetings are r ude feasts full of obscene e nj oyments ;

with noble knights they becom e the rovings of t h e
,

w ild huntsman or a hellish court u nder the guise o f a

,

’
V enu s mou n ta in with asceti c monks an d n u n s a sub
,

terr anean conven t filled with vile blasphemies o f Go d

an d th e saints T hi s only is common t o all su ch
.

visio n s that they are always con ceived in a spi rit o f

,

bitter an tagonism to the Chu rch : all th e do ctrines n ot

'

only b u t al so the ceremonies of the latter are here

travestied The sabbath h as it s masses b ut the host is
.
,

desecrate d its holy water obtain ed from the lord of the

,

feast ; its host an d its can dles are black an d the It o

,

mis sa est of the di smissing priest is changed into : Go

t o the Devil Here also confession is r equired ; b u t
, , ,

t h e penitent confesses having omitted t o do evil an d

 WITC HC RA FT . 35

be ing guilty of occasional acts of mercy an d goodn ess ;

the penalty imposed is to n eglect o n e o r the other o f
the twelve commandments .

When witc hes were brought to trial one of the first ,

m easures w as to search for sp ecial marks whi ch w ere

be l ie ved to betray their true character These were .

’
espe cially the so called witches moles spots of the siz e
-

of a pea on which for some reason o r other the n erves

,

had lost their sensibility an d whe r e i n consequen ce n o

, , ,

pain w as felt These were supposed to h ave been

.

formed by bein g punctured the E vil O n e performing ,

the operation wi t h a pin o f false gold with his claws or ,

h is horn s O the r evidences were foun d in th e peculiar

.

coloring of th e eyes which was said t o r epresent the

,

feet of toads in the absen ce o f tears when the little

gland h ad been inj ure d and above all in the specific
, , ,

lightn ess o f the body In order to as certain the latter

.

the accu sed were boun d han d and fo ot crosswise tied ,

loosely to a rope and then three times dropped into

, , ,

the water If th ey remained floating thei r guilt was

.

established for either they had been e n dowed by their

M aster with safety from drowning or the wate r r efused ,

to receive them because they had abj ured thei r baptism !

It need n o t b e added that the execution ers soon fou n d
o u t ways to let thei r prison ers float o r sink as they

chos e —for a con sideration .

Witches trials began in the earliest days o f Chris

’

t ian it y
, for the E mperor V alens ordered as we ,

learn from A mmianus M arcellin us all the wiz ,

36 MODERN MAG IC .

ards an d enchanters to b e h eld to accoun t wh o h ad

en deavored by magic art t o ascertain his successo r .

S everal thousan ds were ac cused of witchcraft but th e ,

charge was then as in almost every la te r age in mos t

, , .

cas es n othing more than a pretex t for proceedings

against obnoxiou s persons T he n ex t monste r pro .

cess as it began t o be called already i n those early

,

days was the persecution o f witches in Fran ce u nde r

,

the M erovingians The ch il d of Ch ilpe ric s wife h ad

.
’

died sudden l y and under suspiciou s circumstan ces ,

which led to t h e imprison ment o f a prefect Mu m m o ,

lus whom th e queen h ad long pursued with he r

,

’
h atred He was accu sed o f having caused h er s o n s
.

death by hi s charms an d was subj ect ed t o fearful

,

tortu res in company with a nu mber o f o ld women .

S till he con fessed n oth ing but th at th e latter had

,

furnish ed him with certai n drugs an d oin tments

which w ere to secu re to him th e favor o f th e king
an d th e qu een A later trial o f this kin d in which
.
,

fo r a time calm reason made a firm stan d ag ain st

superstition bu t finally succumbed ingloriou sl y is
, ,

know n as t h e Va u dois ie and t ook pla ce in Ar r as

,

i n 1 45 9 It was begu n by a Cou nt d Estam pe s b ut

.
’
,

was mainly con du cted by a bishop an d some eminent

divines o f his acqu aintan ce whose inordinate z eal ,

and merciless cruelty have secured to th e pro ceedings

3 peculiarly painful memory i n the
. ann als o f the
chu rch A large n umber o f pe r fectly in nocen t men
.

an d women were tortu red an d disgracefully execu te d ,

 WITC H C RA FT . 37

but fo rtunately the death of the main persecuto r ,

Du B lo is made a sudden end t o the existence of witch ;

,

craft in that p r ovin ce O n e of the most remarkable

.

trials of this kin d was caused by a n umber o f lit t le

children and led to most bloody p r oceedings It
, .

seems that in th e year 1 669 several boys an d girls in

the parish of M o ra on e of the most beautiful pa rts
,

of th e S wedish provin ce o f Dal arn e an d famou s ,

through the memory o f G ustavu s V asa an d G u stavus

III were affected by a n ervou s fever which left them
.
, ,

a fte r thei r partial recovery in a state o f extrem e

,

irritability an d sensitiveness They fell into fain t in g

.

fits and had convulsion s —symptoms whi ch the sim

ple b ut superstitiou s mountaineers gradually began
to thin k inexplicable and hence to ascribe to magic
,

influ ences The repo rt Spread that the poor chil

.

dren were bewitched an d soon all the usu al details

,

of satanic poss ession were current The mountain .

called B lakull a in b ad repu te from o f old was

, ,

poin ted out as the meeti n g place of the wi tches

_
-

where the annual sabbath was ce l ebrated an d these ,

children were devoted to S atan Church and S tate .

combined to bring thei r great power t o bear upon the

poor little ones an en ormou s n umbe r of women
, ,

m ostly the mothers of the you n g people were i n volved ,

in the charges an d fin ally fi fty two of th e latter with

,
-

fifteen children were publicly executed as witches ,

wh ile fifty o f the younger w e re condemned t o severe

punishment ! Mere than th r ee hundred unfo rtunate
38 MODERN MAG IC .

children under fou rteen had m ade detailed con fe s

’
sion s of the witches sabbath an d the ceremonies
attending their initiation in to its m ysteries A Sim .

ilar fearful delusion took hold o f G erman children in

W u r te m b e rg when towards the en d of the seventeenth
,

cen tury a large n umber of little boys and girls none ,

o f whom were older than ten years began to state ,

that they were every n ight fetched away an d carried

to the witches sabbath M any were all th e time fast
’
.

asleep an d could easily be roused b u t a few among ,

them fell regularly into a trance during which thei r

,

l ittle bodies became cold an d r igid A commission .

o f great j u dge s an d experien ced di v ines was sent t o

the village to investigate the m atter and foun d at ,

last that there was n o imposture attempted but that ,

th e poor children firmly believed what they stated .

It became however evident th at a few among them

, ,

’
had listened to o l d women s tales abo u t wi tches with ,

eager ears and with inflamed imagin ations retailed

, , ,

the accoun t to othe r s till a deep an d painful n er

,

vou s excitemen t took hold of their min ds and

rapidly spread through the community M any o f .

the children were as was n atural at their age led

, ,

b v vanity to sa y that they also had been at the sab

bath while others were afrai d to deny wh at was so
,

positively stated by their companion s Fortunately .

the commission con sisted for once o f sen sible men

, ,
'

who took t h e righ t vi e w of the matter ordered a ,

 WI TCHC RAFT . 9

good whipping here an d there an d thus saved the

,

’
lan d from th e crime of another witches trial .

O ur own experiences in N ew E ngland at the time ,

when S ir William Phipps was governor of the colonies ,

have been forcibly reported b y the great Cotton

M ather. N early every commu nity had its you n g
men and women who were addicted to the practices
of magic ; they loved to perform en chan tments to ,

consult sieves an d turni n g keys and thus were grad

,

u ally led to attempt more se r iou s an d more danger

o u s practices In S alem men and women o f high

.
,

standing and unimpeached integrity even pious mem ,

bers o f the ch urch were suddenly plagued and tor

,

t u re d by unknown agencies an d at last a little black

,

and yellow demon appeared to them accompanied ,

by a n umber of companion s wit h human faces .

These apparition s presented to them a book which

they were summon ed to Sign o r at least to touch ,

an d if they refused they were fearfully twisted and

turned abou t pricked with pin s burn t as if with
, ,

hot iron s bound hand an d foot with invi sible fetters

, ,

an d carried a way to great distan ces S o m e were left .

u nable to tou ch food or drink for m any days ; others ,

atte mpting to defend themselves again st th e demons ,

‘

snatched a dis t afl or tore a piece of cloth fro m them ,

an d immediately these proofs o f the real existen ce

o f the evil Spirits became vi sible to the eyes of th e

bystanders .The magic phenomena attending the

disease were o f the most extraordinary character .
40 MODERN MAG IC .

S eve r al men stated that th ey had received poison b e

cau se they d eclined to worship S atan an d imme ,

diat e ly all the u sual sequences o f such treatmen t

appeared from simple vo miting to most fearful suf
,

fe ring till counteracting remed ies were employed

,

and began to take e ffect In othe r cas es the su ffere r s

.

complained o f burning rags being stu ffed into th ei r

m o uths and although n othing wa s see n burnt
, ,

places an d blisters appeared and the o do r an d smoke ,

o f smouldering rags began to fill the roo m When .

th ey reported that they were bran ded with hot iron s ,

the marks showed themselves suppura tion too k ,

place and scars were formed whi ch never agai n di s

,

appeared during life —and all these phenomen a were

watched by the eage r eyes o f hu ndreds The author .

iti es o f course took h old of the matte r and many

, , ,

person s of b oth sexes an d all ages were brought t o

trial While they were tortured they con tinu ed t o
.

have vision s of demoniac beings an d possessed men

and women ; wh en they were sta n ding blindfold ,

ed in cou rt
, felt t h e approach of those by who m
,

th ey pretended to be bewitched and plagued an d ,

urgently prayed t o b e delivered of their presen ce .

Finally many were ex ecuted not a few undoubtedly ,

again st all j u stice but the better sen se of the au tho r

,

ities soon saw the fu tility if n ot th e wickedness o f

,

su ch proceedings an d an en d was made promptly

, ,

witchcraft disappea r ing as soon as persecu t ion relaxe d

and the sensation subsided .
 MODERN MAG IC .

centu ry N early abou t the same time—in 1 743 an

. —
earnest effo rt was made i n S cotland t o kindle on ce
more the fire o f fierce persecution In the month o f
.

February of that year th e A ssociate Presbytery in a

, ,

public document addressed to the Presbytery o f the

S eceded Church es required for certain pu rposes a
,

solemn ackno wledgment o f fo r mer sin s an d a vow to

,

renoun ce them fo reve r A mong these Sins that au stere

.

“
body enumerated the a bolit ion of the dea t h penalty
”
for witchcraft since the latte r was forbidden in Holy
‘

Writ and the leni en cy which h ad taken the place o f

,

the forme r severity in punishing this c rime h ad given

,

an opening t o S atan to tempt and actually to seduce

othe r s by m eans o f the sa me o l d accurs ed an d dange r ous
sna r e s — ( Ed in o Rea , Jan
. .
 II .

B LA C K AN D W H IT E MA GI C .

P e a ce —
the ch arm
’
s wo u nd up .
—MACB ETII
”
.

THE most startlin g o f all scenes described in Holy

W ri t as far as they represent in cidents in human life
is n o doubt the mysterious in terview between n u
, ,
,

fortunate K ing S aul an d t h e spirit of his former patron ,

the prophet S amuel The poor monarch abandoned

.
,

by h is friends and forsaken by his own heart turn s in ,

his u tter wretchedness to those whom he h ad bu t

“ ”
shortly before put ou t of the land those godless ,

“ ”
people who had familiar Spirits an d the wizards .

Hard pressed by the ancien t enemy of his people the ,

Philistine and unable to obtain an an swer fro m the

,

great G od of h is fathers h e stoops to consult a witch a

, ,

woman It seems that Se de cl a t h e daughter of the

.
,

De cem diab it e—for so Philo calls her according to D es

M ousseau x —h ad escaped b y her cu n n ing from the fate
of her weird Sisters and having a familiar Spirit fore
, , ,

told the future to curious enquirers at her dwelling in

'

E ndor A t first she is un will ing to incu r the penalty

.

t hreatened in the king s decree but wh en the disguised

’
,

monarch with a voice of authority promises her im

,

”
pu n ity she consents to bri n g up S amu el A s soon
“
.
,
44 MODERN MAG IC .

as the fearful phantom of the dread prophet appea rs ,

sh e becomes in stin ctively aware of the tru e characte r

o f her visitor and far more afraid o f the power of th e

, ,

living than of the appearan ce o f the departed she cries ,

o u t trembling :
“
W hy hast thou deceived me ? Thou
”
art S aul ! Then follows the appalling scen e in whic h
S amuel reproves the miserable self despairing king ,
-

an d foretells his d ea th and that o f his sons .

There can be n o do ubt that we h ave h ere befo r e u s

an in stan ce of ge n uin e magic The woman was evi .

de n t ly capable o f casting herself in to a st ate of ecs tasy ,

i n which she could at on ce look back into the pas t an d

forward into the futu r e T hu s she beholds the great
.

prophet n ot sen t by G od from on high as the Holy

, ,

Fathers generally taught but according to th e then ,

prevailing belief rising from S heol the place of de

, ,

parted spirits an d then sh e utters u nconsciou sly h is

, , ,

o wn words For it mu st n o t be overlooked that S amu el

.

makes no revelations but only repe ats his for mer

,

warnings S aul learns absolutely nothing n ew from

.

him ; he only hears the same threate nings which the

prophet h ad pronounced twi ce before when th e reck ,

less king had dar e d to sac rifice u nto G od with h is o wn

han d ( I S am xii i ) and when h e h ad fail ed to smite
. .
,

th e A malekite as he was h idde n Possessed as i t

, .
,

w ere by the Spirit of the living S amuel the woman

, ,

speaks as he had spoken i n his life time and i t is only ,

when her state o f exaltation renders he r capable o f

looking in t o th e fu tu re also that she ass um es the part
,
 BL A CK AND W HITE MAG IC . 45

of a p r ophetess herse l f and foretel ls the appro aching

,

doom of her royal visitor .

That the whole dre ad scene was fore ordained and -

could take place on l y by th e will o f the A l mighty ,

alters nothing in th e character of the woman wit h the

familiar spirit It i s a clear cas e o f necromancy or
.
,

conj uring up of t he spirits of departed persons such as ,

h as been practised among men fro m time I mmemorial .

A mong the ch osen people of G od person s were foun d

fr om the beginning of their history who had familiar
spi rits an d M oses already fulminates his severes t ana
,

themas against these wizards ( Lev x x They ap . .

pear under various aspects as charmers as con s ulters

, ,

o f fami liar spirits as wizards o r as n ecromancers

, ,

( D e n t xviii 1 1
. .
) they ar e charged with passing their
children through th e fire with observing times ( astro
,

l o ge rs) ; with u sing en chantments ; or they are said i n

”
a gene ral way t o use witchcraft ( II Chron x xxiii
“
. . .

That other nations were not less familiar wi th the art

”
o f evoking spirits we se e for in stance in the
, , O dyssey , ,

which mentions n u merou s cases o f such intercourse

with another world an d speaks o f necroman cers as
,

“ ”
forming a kind of close g uild In th e Persius of .

E sch yl u s th e spirit of Dariu s father of Xerxes is , ,

called up and foretells all th e misfortun es that are t o

be fall poor Q u e en A tossa The greatest among the
.

ste rn Roman s could n o t e n t irely shake o ff th e belief in

'

su ch magic in spite of the matter o f fact t endencies of

,
- -

the Roman mind and t h e vast superiority o f their in

,
46 MODERN MAG I C .

t e lligen ce A Cato an d a S ylla a C aesa r an d a V es

.
,

pasian all admitte d with clear un failing perception

, , ,

the small grains o f truth th at lay con cealed among the

mass of rubbish then called magic E v en Chri stian .

theology has n ever absolu tely denied the existen ce o f

su ch extraordinary powers ove r the spirits of the de
parted although it has consistently attri b uted them to
,

diabolic influences .

In this poin t lies the main di fferen ce between an cien t

an d modern m agi c For the oldest M agi whom w e
.

know were the wise men o f Persia called from ma h , ,

( great ) M ugh, the great men

, o f the lan d They w ere .

the philosophers o f their day and if we believe the , ,

impartial evidence of G reek writers — n ot generally apt

to overestim ate the merits of other nation s— they were
possessed o f vast and varied information Their aim .

w as the loft iest ever con ceived by h uman ambition ; it

was in fact n oth ing less than the erection of an I n te l
, ,

lectu al Tower of Babel They devoted the labors of a

.

lifetime an d the full well trained vigor of their inte l

, ,
-

l ige n ce t o the study of the forces o f n ature and th e ,

true ch aracter of all created beings A mong the latter .

they in cluded disembodied spi rits as well as th ose still

bound up with bodies m ade of earth considerin g with ,

a w isdom an d boldness o f conception never yet sur

passed b o t h clas ses as o n e an d th e same etern al crea
,

tion The knowle dge th us acquired they were more

.
,

over n ot disposed merely to store away in their

,

memory or to r ecord in unatt r acti ve manu scripts ;

,
 BLA CK AND W H IT E MAG IC . 47

they were men of the world as well a s philosophe r s ,

and looked for practical results Here the paga n spirit

.

shon e forth unrestrained ; the en d and aim of all their

restless labors Was Power Thei r ambitio n was to con
.

trol by the superior prestige of thei r knowledge not

, ,

only t h e mechanical forces o f Nat ure but also the a

,

lesse r capacities o f other created beings and finally ,

Fate itself ! Truly a lofty an d n oble aim if we view it ,

as in equity we ar e bound to do from their stan d point ,

-

as men possessing with all the wisdom of the ea rth as

, ,

yet not a particle of revealed religion .

It was only at a much later perio d that a distinction

w as made between White M agi c an d Black M agic .

Thi s arose from the erro r which graduallyoverspread

the m inds o f men that such extraordinary powers
,

based originally only upon extraordinary knowledge

, ,

were not naturally given to m en ; b u t could only be ,

obtain ed by th e special favor of higher beings with ,

.

whom the owner must n eeds enter into a perilou s

leagu e If these were ben evolent deities the resul t s
.
,

obtained by their assistan ce were called White M agi c ;

if they were gods of ill repute they gran ted the powe r
-

to perform feat s of Black M agic acts of wickedness , ,

and crimes Christian ity though it abolished the gods

.
,

of paganism maintained nevertheless th e belief in ex

, , ,

t rao rdin ary powers accorded by s upernatural beings ,

and the same distin ction continued to be made Piou s .

men and women perfo rmed miracles by the ai d o f

angels and sain ts ; wicked sinn er s did as much by an
48 MODERN MAG IC .

unholy leagu e with the E vil O n e The E gyptian .

charmer o f April ej u s who declared that n o miracle

, ,

was too di ffi cul t for his art s m ee h e exercised the blin d

,

power o f deities who were subj ect t o his will only ,

expressed what the lazzaron e of N aples feel s in o u r

day when he whips h is saint with a bundle of reeds i n
, ,

order t o compel him to do his bid ding M agicians did .

n ot change their doctrine ; they hardly even modi fied

their ceremonies ; thei r allegiance only was tran sferred
from J upiter to Jehovah e ven as the same column that
,

o nce bore the great Thu nderer o n O lympus is n o w ,

crowned by a stat u e of Peter Boanerges N o r h as the

.
.

race o f magicians ever en tirel y di ed o u t ; we find

enough notices in classic authors whose eviden ce is n u ,

impeachable t o know that the G reeks were apt sch olars

,

o f the an cient M agi an d tran sferred th e knowledge

they had thus obtain ed an d long j ealously guarded to ,

the priests o f E gypt, wh o i n thei r turn became the

-

maste rs o f t h e two migh t iest nations on ea rth First .

M oses sa t at their feet till at the age of forty he was

,
“
,

”
learned in all the w isdom of the E gyptians and coul d ,

“ ”
successfully cop e with thei r magicians and sorcerers .

Then th e lan d of the Nile fell into t h e hands of t he .

Roman s an d poverty and neglect drove the w

,
ise men
o f E gypt to seek r efuge in the ca pi tal of t h e world ,

where they either lived upon the min or arts and cun
n ing tri cks o f their fals e fate or being co nverted to
, ,

Ch r istianity in fected the pure faith with their ill

,

applied knowledge Ce r tain po r tion s o f true magic

.
50 MODERN MAG I C .

affec ted th e feebler his will and the more impe rfect his
,

menta l vision may b e by nat u re o r may have b een

r endered by t raining an d careful p reparation H en ce .

it is that the m agic table o f th e dervish the enchan ted

drum of the sh aman ; the medicine bag of the Indian -

'

are all u sed fo r precisely th e sam e pu rpose as the ri n g

.

o f Hecate ; th e di vining ro d an d the magic wand o f the

en chanter Legen d and amulet mu mmy an d wax

.
,

figu re herb and ston e drug and elixir in cense a nd

, , ,

oin tment are all b u t the mean s which the strong will
, ,

o f the gifted M as t er u ses i n orde r to influ en ce and

finally to control the weaker mind Thus powe rful .

perfu mes narcotic odors an d an aesthetic salves are em

, ,

ployed to produce en ervation an d often actual an d com

l
p e loss of sel f co n trol ; in other cases the n eophyte
e t -

h as to turn round and round within the magic circle,

from east to west till he be comes giddy and u tterly
,

exhausted It is very curiou s t o observe how as far as

.
,

these preparation s go in the most distant countries an d

,

among the most di fferen t form s o f society the same

means are employed for the same pu rpose : the wh irling
dan ce o f the fan atic dervi sh is perfectly analogous to
the wild raving of o u r Indian medicine man who ties -

himself with a rope t o a post an d then whirls around it

i n fierce fu ry Thu s also t h e oldest magician s Speak
.
, ,

with profound re v eren ce of the po w ers of a little herb ,

kn ow n to b o tan ists as Hyp er i cu m p erf ora tu m L an d ,

behold !in the year 1 8 60 a G erman author of eminence ,

Ju st in us K erner still taught seriou sly that the leaves

, ,
 BLA CK WHIT E MAG IC
”

AND . 51

of that plant were the best mean s to bani sh evil spi rits !
-

M andrak e and elde r have h eld their own in the false

faith of n ations from th e oldest times to o ur day an d ,

even n ow G erman s as well as slaves love to plant the

latter e v erywhere in their graveyards as suggestive o f ,

t h e realm of Spirits !
White M agic though strictly forbidden by the
,

Church in all ages seems nevertheless t o h ave had

,
'

irresistible attractions for wise an d learned men o f every

country This charm it owes to the many elements of
.

truth which are mixed up with the fin al error ; for it

aims at a thorough u nderstanding of the mysteries o f
N ature and so far it s purpose i s le giti m ate an d very
-

te mpting t o superior minds — bu t only in order to

obta in by such kno wle dge a power which Holy Writ
expressly denies to man When it pre scribes the study
.

o f Nature as bei n g the outer te mple o f G od an d re pre

sents all the parts of this vast edifice from the central ,

sun of the un iverse t o the minutest li v ing creation as

.
,

bou nd u p by a common sympathy no obj ection can be ,

m ade to its doctrines an d even the greatest minds may

,

fairly enroll themsel v es here as its pupils But when it .

as cribes to this sympathy an active po wer and attributes

to secret n ames of the Deity to ce rtain natural produ cts
, ,

o r to mechanically re gulated combination s of the stars ,

a peculiar and supern atural e ffect it sinks into con ,

t e m pt ibl e superstition Hen ce the con stan t aim of all

.

White M agic t he su ccessful sum moning of superior

,

Spirits for the purpose of le a rning from them what is

52 MODERN MAG IC .

purposely kept con cealed from the min d of man has ,

n ever yet been reached For it is sin th e same sin that

.
,

craved to eat from the tree of knowledge Hence also .

, ,

n o beneficial end has ever yet been obtained by the

‘
practices o f m agic although wise an d learn ed men o f
,

every age have Spent thei r lives and r isked the salvation
o f their souls i n r estless e fforts to lift t h e veil o f Isis .

Black M agic the K ish u ph o f t h e H ebrews avows

, ,

openly its p u rpose of forming a leagu e w ith evil

Spirits in order t o attain selfish ends which are i nva ,

riab ly fatal to others A n d yet i t is exactly h e re t hat

.
‘

we meet with great n u mbers of well au thenticated -

cases of success which preclu de all doubt an d force

,

us to admit th e occasi on al effi cien cy o f such sinful

allian ces . The art flourishes n atu ral l y best among
the lowest races o f mankin d wh ere gross ignoran ce ,

is allied with blind faith an d th e absen ce of in spira

,

tio n leaves the mind in natural darkness We can not .

help bei n g stru ck here also with the fact that the
m eans employed for such pu rposes have been the same
in almost all ages Readers o f classic w ri ters are
.

familiar with the drum o f Cybele— the Laplan ders

h ave from time immemorial had the same drum on ,

which heaven hell an d earth are painted i n brigh t

, ,

colors and reproduce in pictorial writing the letters

,

o f th e m o dern Spiritualist A ri n g is placed u pon

.

the tightly stretch ed skin whi ch slight blows w ith

,

a hammer cau se to vi b rate an d according to the ,

appar entl y erratic motions o f the ring over the varied

 BL A CK AND W HIT E MAG IC . 53

figures of gods men an d beasts th e futu r e is re

, , ,

vealed The con s ulting savage lies on his knees an d

.
,

a s th e pendulum between our fingers an d th e pen cil

o f Planchette in ou r h an d wri t e apparently at hap

hazard but in reality under th e pressu re of ou r mu s

,

cles actin g thro u gh the unconscious influen ce o f our

will so here also the beats of t h e hammer only seem
,

to be fortuitou s b ut in reality are guided by the

, , ,

ecstatic o wner For already O laf M agnu s

. Hist .

”
G oth L 3 ch 2 6 ) tells u s that th e incessant beatin g
. .
,
.

of the drum an d the wild ex ulting singi n g of the

, ,

magician for hours before the actual ceremony begins ,

cause him to fall into a state of exal tation withou t ,

which h e would be u nable to see the fu ture That .

the dru m is a mere accident in the ceremony w as

strikingl y prove d by a Laplander who delivered up ,

his in strumen t of witchcraft to the piou s m issionary

( T o rn ae u s) by whom he had been converted and ,

wh o soon came to complain that even without h is

drum he could not hel p seeing hidden thi n gs —an
assert ion which h e proved by recitin g to t h e amazed
minister all the minute deta ils of his recen t journey .

Who can help while reading of these savage magi

,

cia n s reca l ling the familiar ring and drumstick in the

,

left hand of the Roman Isi s —statues W i th a drum

above the head or the rarely missing ring and ham
,

mer in th e han ds of the E gyptian Isis ? It n eed

hardly be added that the Indians o f ou r cont inen t
h ave practised the art with more o r less succes s from
54 MODERN MAG IC .

the day o f discovery to o u r o wn times

,
A l r eady .

Wafe r in his De scr of th e Isthmu s o f D ar ien ( 1 6 9 9)

“
.

describes h o w India n sorcerers afte r careful prepara ,

tion were able to inform him of a nu mber o f fut ure

,

events every one of which came to pass in the suc

,
.

cee din g days The prin ce of N eu Wied agai n m et

.
-

a famous medicine man among the Crea Indian s -

whose prophecies were readily accepted by the whites

even an d of whose power h e witnessed un mistakable
,

eviden ce Bon duel a well known an d generally per

.
,
-

fe ct ly tru stworthy writer afli rm s from person al knowl , ,

edge that among the Me n o m o n ee s the medicine men

,
-

not only practise magic b ut are able to produce most ,

astounding results A fter beating thei r drum Bonduel

.
,

u sed to hear a heavy fall and a faint inarticulate ,

voice whereupon the tent o f the charmer though

,

fifteen feet high rose in t h e air and in clined first o n

,

on e and then on th e other si de This was the time o f .

the interview between the medicine man and th e -

evil Spirit S mall doll like fig ures o f men also were

.
-

u sed barely two in ches long an d tied to medicin e

, ,

bags . They ser v ed mainly to inflame women with

loving ard or an d when e fficien t could drive the poo r
,

creatures to pursu e their beloved for days an d nights

through the wild forests O ther missionaries also .

a ffirm that these medicine men must have been able -

to read the sign s an d perhaps to feel in advance th e .

effects of the w eather with amazing accuracy si n ce ,

they frequen t ly engaged to procure storms for special

 BLA C K AND WHIT E MAG I C . 55

pu rposes an d never failed It is in teresting to notice

, .

that according to the unanimous testimony o f all

write rs on Indian a ffairs these medicine men almost ,
-

invariably fi n d a violent an d wretch ed death .

It is not with out in terest to reca ll that the prevailing

forms of th e magic of o u r day as far as they consist o f ,

table moving spirit rapping and the like h ave their

-

,
-

, ,

origin among the n atives o f our continen t The .

earliest n otice of these strange pe rforman ces appeared

in the great j ournal of A ugsburg i n G ermany ( Allge ,

mei ne Z eit a ng) where A n dree mentioned their occur

-

ren ce among Wes t ern In dian s S argent gave u s n ex t .

a more detailed description of the manner in which

many a wigwam o r l o g cab in in Iowa became the scen e
~

o f star t ling revelations b y means o f a clumsy table

which hopped merrily about o r a half drun k red ,

-

Skin n ed medium from whose lips fell un cou t h words

, .

”
( S picer Lights and S ounds p
“
, It was only in ,
.

1 84 7 that t h e famous F ox family brou ght these phenom

ena with i n the pale o f civilization : having rented a

house in Hv dev il le N Y alre ady ill repu ted on account
, .
-

of mysterious noises they reduced these kn ockings to a

,

kind of system and by mean s of an alphabet obtained

, , ,

the important in formation that they were the work of

a Spiri t an d that h is n am e was Charles Ray M ar
”
,
.

garet Fox t ran splan te d the mappin gs t o Rochester ;

Catherine only t welve years old t o A uburn and from
, , ,

these two central plac es the n ew M agi c spread rapidl y

throughout t h e Union O pposi tion and persecutions
-

.
56 MODERN MAG IC .

serve d as th ey are apt to do only to i nc r ease the

, ,

interest of th e public A M rs N orman Culver prove d

. .
,

i t is true that rappings could easily be produ ced by

,

certain mu scular m ovemen ts of the kn ee an d the

ankle an d a committee o f investigation of which
, ,

Fen imore Cooper was a m ember obtain ed ample evi ,

den ce of such a method bei n g u sed ; b u t the faith o f

the believers was n ot shak en The mo v ing of tables .
,

especiall y fu rnished to their minds n e w eviden ce o f

,

the actual presen ce of spi rits an d soon circles w ere

'

establish ed in n early all the N orthern an d Western

S tates form e d by person s o f edu cation with ou t r egard
,

to confession who called themselves S piritualists or

,

S piritists and their most favored associates M edia

, .

A n umber o f men wh ose in telligen ce and candor were

,

alike u n im pe a cliab l e became members of t h e n ew sect

, ,

among them a j u dge a govern or of a S tate and a pro

, ,

fe sso r of ch emistry They o rganized so cieties and

.

circles th ey publish ed j ournal s and several works of

,

interest and valu e an d produced results whi ch more

,

an d more strengthen e d their conviction s .

The n ew art met natu rally with mu ch opposition

, , ,

especially amo n g the ministers a n d m e m b e rs of the

‘

di fferent chu rches S ome o f the oppo nen ts laughed at

.

the whole as a clever j uggle ry w hich deserved its gr eat

,

su ccess on accoun t of t h e smartness of the per

formers ; others den ou nced i t as a h eresy and a crime ;
th e form er o f cou rse saw in i t n othi n g bu t t h e h and
, ,

o f m an while th e latter admitted the agen cy of spirits

'

, ,
58 MODERN MAG IC .

p redecessors had on ce or t wice before committed them

selves gri evously Had n ot the same A cademy pro
.

n o u n ce d again st the u se of qu inine an d vaccin ation ,

again st lightning rods and steam engines ? Had no t

- -

Reaumur s u ppressed Peysso n e l s “

E ssay o n Coral s
’ ”
,

because he thought it was madn ess t o m ai ntain their

animal n atu r e ; had n ot his learn ed brethren decreed ,

in 1 8 02 that there were no meteors although a short

, ,

time later t wo thousand fell i n o n e department alon e

an d had they n ot more recen tly still received th e n ews
, ,

o f ether being useful a s an an aestheti c with scorn an d

u nanimous condemn ati on Perhaps they recalled D r .

Hare s assertion that o u r o wn S ociety for the A dvan ce

’

m en t of Useful K n owledge had i n 1 8 55 refu sed to , ,

hear a report o n S pi ri tu alism preferrin g t o discuss th e

,

“
important qu estion : Why do roos ters always crow
”
between midnigh t an d o ne o clock ? A t all events
’

they heard the repo rt an d remained silent In th e .

same mann er A lexan der von Hum b oldt refused t o

examine the question T his indi fferen ce did not h o w
.
,

ever check the growth o f S piri tu al ism in Fran ce but

, ,

its followers divid ed into two pa rties : spi ritu alists ,

u n der Riv ail who called himself A llan Cardec and

, ,

Spiritists un der Piérard The former died in 1 8 6 9

, .
,

afte r having seen his Liv re des Esp ri ts reappea r in

fifteen e ditions ; to seal his mission h e sen t imme , ,

d iat e ly after his death his Spirit to inform his eager

,

pupils who crowded aroun d the dead body o f thei r

,

leader o f his first i mpression s in the spirit w orld If

, .
 BLA C K AND W H IT E MAG IC . 59

style is the man ( le s ty le e est l ho mme) n o o n e

’ ’

t he ,

cO u ld doubt that it was his spirit who spoke .

Perhaps the most estimable high priest o f this -

branch of modern magic is a well kno wn professor

o f G eneva Ro e ssin ge r a physician o f great renown
, ,

an d much beloved by all who know him H e is h ow . .

,

ever a rock o f o ffen se to A merican spiritu alists b e

, ,

cause he h as ever remained fir m l y at ta ched to his

religious faith and admits no Spiritual revelation s as
,

genuine which do not entirely harmonize with the do c

trines of Chris t and the statements of th e Bible U n .

fortu nately t h is leads him to believe that his favorite

medium a young lady enj oying the mystic n ame o f
,

Libna speaks under the direct inspiration of G od

,

h imself ! In E nglan d the n ew magic has not only

numero u s but also infl u ential adherents like Lord ,

Lytton an d the D arwinian Wallac e ; papers li ke the

S ta r and j ou rnals like the Co rn lt t ll Maga zi ne suppor t
'

it with ability and n ames like Home i n former years

,

an d Newton in our day who n ot only reveal secrets

,

bu t actually heal the sick have give n a n ew prestige t o

,

the young science The works of Howitt an d D r

. .

Ash b u rn er o f M rs M organ an d M rs Crossland have

, . .

treated the subj ec t under various aspects and in th e ,

‘

year 1 8 7 1 Crookes a well known ch emist investigated

, ,
-

’
the phenomena of Hom e s revelation s by means of an
apparat u s s pecially devised for the purpose The re .

sult was the conviction that if not spiritual they were ,

at least not produced by any power n ow know n to sci :

enc e — Qua rt Jo u r n of S cience Ju ly 1 8 7 1

. .
, ,
.
60 MODERN MAG IC .

In G ermany the n ew magic has been far less pop

ular than elsewhere but i n return it has been there
, , ,

mos t thoroughly investigated M en o f gr eat eminen ce

.

i n scien ce an d in ph ilosophy have published ex ten sive

works on the subj ect whi ch are h owever more re
, , ,

markable for zeal an d in d ustry than for acute j udg

'

m ent G erster in Regen sburg claimed to have invented

.

the Psychography but Sz apary in Paris an d Coh n fe ld

,

in Berlin discovered at the same time the cu rious ih

strumen t kn own to u s as Planchette The most prae .

tical measu re taken in G ermany for t h e purpose o f

ascertaining the tr uth was probab ly the formati on o f a
so ciety for spirit studies which met for the fi rst time
,

i n D resden i n 1 8 6 9 an d purposes t o obtain an insight

into those l aws of n ature which are reported to m ake
i t possible to hold direct and con stant intercou rse
with the worl d of spirits Here as in the whole ten
.
,

den ey of this branch of magi c we see the workings ,

not merely of idle curiosity but of that ardent lon ging

aft er a kn owle dge o f the future an d a certain ty of pe r
sonal etern ity which dwells in th e hearts o f all men
, .

Th e ph enomen a o f modern magic were first imper

feet rappings again st th e wall th e legs o f a table o r a
,

chair accompanied by th e motion o f tables ; then

,

followed spirit writin g by the aid o f a psychograph o r

-

“
a simple pen cil an d fi n al ly cam e direct spirit writ
,
~
~

”
ings d rawings by the media together with musi cal
, ,

and poetical inspiration s th e wh ole reaching a climax

,

i n spiri t photographs The ringing of bells the dan c

-
.
,
 BLA C K AND W H IT E MAG IC . 61

ing of detached han ds in the air the rais i ng u p of the

,

entire body of a man and m usical performan ces with

,

ou t human aid were only accomplished in a few cases

by specially favored individuals Two fa cts a l on e are
.

fully established in con nection with all these ph enom

en a : on e that som e of the latter a
, t least are n o t pro
du ce d by the ordinary for ces o f nature ; and the oth er .
,

that the performers are generally an d the medium ,

al w ays in a more or less complete state of trance In

, .

thi s condition they forget themselves give their min d ,

up entirely i nto the hands of other s—th e medi a—an d

candidly believe they see an d hear what they are told
b y the latte r is taking place in their presen ce Hence .

also the well established fact that the spirits have

-

n ever yet revealed a singl e secret n or ever mad e ,

known to u s anything really n ew Their style is in .

variably th e sam e as that in which ecstatic an d som

n a m b u list ic person s are apt to speak A famous G er .

man spiritualist Hornu n g whose faith was well

, ,

known once laid h is hands upon his planchette

,

together with his wife an d then asked i f there really

,

was a world of spirits ? To th e utter as tonishment

of all presen t the psychograph replied N o ! and when
,

q u estion ed again an d again became troublesome The

,
.

’
fact was simply that the would b e magi cian s wife -

did n o t believe in spirits and as hers was t h e stronge r

,

wi ll the answer came fro m her mind and not from her
,

hu sban d s O n the other han d it can not be denied

’
.
,

that media—most frequently delicate women of high

62 M ODERN MAG IC .

nervou s sen sibility and almost always le ading lives of

,

con stant an d w ea rying ex citemen t—become o n such

o ccasion s wrought u p to a degree which resembles
somnambulis m an d may r eally en able th em occa ,

sio n al ly in a state o f clairvoyance to see what i s hid

, ,

”
den to others It is they who are vitalized as they
.
,

call it an d n o t the knoc king table o r th e writing

, ,

plan chet t e and hen ce ari ses the n ecessity of a medium

,

for all s u ch commun ication s That th ere are n o

.

spirits at work in these phen omena requires har dl y to

be stated ; even the most arden t an d enthusias tic ad
h e re n t s of th e n e w m agic cannot deny that n o orig ,

inal revelation concerning the world o f spi rits has yet

been made but th at all that is told is but an echo of
,

the more or less familiar views of men It is far more .

interesting to n otice with Coleman the electri c and

, ,

hygroscopic condition of the atmosphere which h as ,

eviden tly m uch to do with such ex hibitions The .

visions of hand s arms an d heads which move about

, , ,

in the air an d may occasionally even be felt are either ,

mere hallu cination s or real obj ective appearances due ,

to a pecu liar con dition of the air an d favorably inter ,

p r e t e d b y the predisposed mind Hence also our own

.
, ,

continen t is for its sup erior dryness of atmo sphere

, ,

much mo re favorable to th e development o f such phe

n o m e n a than th a t of E uro pe .

S piritualists in the Old aS in the N ew World a r e

‘

h opeful th at th e new magic will produ ce a new un i

versal religion and a better social order In this di
,
.
 BL A C K AN D W HIT E MAG IC . 63

r ection however n o substantial success has yet been

, ,

obtained O utsiders h ad expected that at least an in

.

t e rco u rse with departed spirits might be secured and ,

thus the immortality o f man might be practically

demonstrated B ut this also has n ot yet been done
. .

Wh at then can we learn from modern magic ? O nly .

this : that there are evidently forces in nature with

whose character an d precise i ntent we are n ot yet ao
u ain t e d and which yet deserve to be studied and
q ,

carefully an alyzed M odern magic exhibits cert ain

.

phenomen a in man which are not subj ect to the known

laws of nature an d thu s proves that man possesses cer
,

tain powers which h e fa il s or does not know how to

.

exert in ordinary life Where these powers appear in

.

consequence of special preparation o r an exceptional .

condition of mind t h e y are comparatively worthless

, ,

b ecau se they are in su ch cases merely the result o f

physical o r mental disease and we can hope to profit
,

only by powers employed by soun d men Bu t wh ere .

th ese powers becom e m an ifest by spontaneous action ,

apparent l y as the result of Special endowm en t they de ,

serve careful stud y an d all the respect due to a new and

,

unknown bran ch of kn owledge .

N or mu s t it b e overlooked th at al t hough modern

, ,

magic as a scien ce is new mos t of the phen omen a u pon

,

which it is based were well known to the oldest nation s

,
.

The Chinese who seem to have possessed all the knowl

,

edge o f mankind ages before it could be useful to them

, ,

o r to others and to have lost it as soon as there was a

,
64 M ODERN MAG IC .

call for it had cen tu r ies ago n ot only moving tables

, , , ,

but even writing spirits Their modern plan chette is a

.

sm all board which they let float upon the water with the
, ,

legs upward ; they rest their hands upon the latter and ,

wa t ch the gyrations it makes in the water Or they .

’
hold a small b asket with a camel s h air bru sh attach ed -

to o ne end sus pended over a table upon which they

have strewn a laye r o f flou r ; the bru sh begin s to move
through th e flour and t o draw characters i n it which ,

they inte rpret according to their alphabet Th e priests .

o f Buddha in M ongolia also h ave long sin ce employed

, ,

moving tables an d for a good purpose u sually to detect

, ,

thieves The lama wh o i s appealed to for the purpose

.
, ,

Sits down before a small four legged table u pon whi ch -

h e rests his h ands whilst reading a book of devotion

, .

A fter perh aps half an hour he rises an d as h e does so

, , ,

h olding h is h an d steadily upon the table the table also ,

rises and follows hi s hand which h e raises till han d

,

and table are both level with his eyes Then the priest .

advances the table precedes him an d soon begin s to

, ,

move at such a rate that it seems to fly through the air ,

and the l ama can hardly follow S ometimes it falls .

down u po n the very spot where th e stolen goods are

hidden ; at other times i t only indicates the direction in
whi ch th ey are to be sought for ; and n ot unfrequently
it refu ses altogethe r to move i n which even t the priest
,

abandon s th e case as hopeless ( Ne rd B ien e: A pril . .

27,
Here also it is eviden t that the table i s no t
t h e controlling agent bu t the w ill of the lama whom
, ,
66 MODERN MAG IC .

speaking which may be heard occasion ally in N ew Yo r k

,

circles an d which requires no interposition o f a m e

, ,

diu m . Fo r here also we are struck by the u tter ah

, ,

se n ce of usefulness in all these revelation s ; the in spired

believers speak they r ecite poetry but it r emain s liter
, ,

ally v ox et p rce terea n ilufl, an d we are forcibly reminded

o f the words of fEsch l u s who already said i n his
y ,

“
A gamemn on ( v .

Did eve r se e rs afi o rd de ligh t

Th e l o n g pra ct i se d a rt o f all t h e se at s W h o m
Eve r t h e go ds i n spi re d re v e a l e d ,

N au gh t b u t h o rro rs a n d a w re t ch e d fat e .

A mong th e of o u r day Hom e is n atu r ally

‘

m e dia ,
.

f a c ile p r in cep s
'

A S cotchman . by birth h e claims that ,

h is mother already possessed the gift of S econ d S ight ,

and that in their home near E di nb u rgh similar endow ‘

ments w ere frequent a m ong their neighbors At t h e .

age of three years h e saw the death o f a co u sin who ,

lived in a distan t town an d n amed th e person s who ,

w ere standing around her couch ; he con versed con

st a n tly in his childish way with Spirits and heard h eav

e n ly m u sic ; his cradle was rocked by invisible hands ,

an d h is toys ca m e unaided into his han ds When ten .

years o ld he w as taken to an aun t in A merica in whos e ,

h ouse he h ad n o soon er been installe d than chairs an d

tables beds an d uten sil s began to mo v e abo ut in wild
, ,

disorder till the terrified lady sent the u nlucky boy

,

away A ttending once an exhibi t ion of table moving

.
-

h e fell in to fi t s and suddenly becam e cataleptic ; during

 BLA C K AND WHIT E MAG IC . 67

the paroxysm he heard a summoning then the spi rits ,

announ ced the wrecking of two sai l ors the table began ,

t o rock as in a storm the whis t ling of t he wi nd through

,

the tackl e the creaking of the vessel an d the dull heavy

, , ,

t hud of the waves against her bows all were di stin ctly
,

heard and finally the table was upset while the spirits
, ,

announced the n am e and the age of the pe rishing

seamen From that day Home carefull y cultivate d his
.

strange gifts and developed what he con sidered a

,

decided talent for reading th e future A s a young man .

h e returned to E urope an d soon becam e famou s Flor

en ce was ,for a ti m e the principal stage of his successes ;
,

here he not on l y summoned the spirits o f the departed ,

b u t was raised by invisible powers from the ground and

hovered for some time above the h eads of his visitors .

The superstitious I tali ans finally became ex cited an d

threatened him with death from which a Count B ran ich i
,

saved him at grea t personal peril In N aple s the

.

spirits su dde n l v declared their intentio n to leave him

o n F ebruary 1 0 1 8 56 and to rema in absent for a w hole

, ,

year they did so a nd during the interval Home

,

enj oyed better health than ever i n his life ! In Rome

‘

h e became a Catho l ic an d good Pio Nono himself

,

o ffered him h is crucifix to kiss with the words : That

,

i s the only true magic wand — n u fortunately th is was

“

n ot Home s vie w al ways ; at le as t we fin d him in 1 8 64

’

in the same city in conflic t with the papal police who ,

“
ordered h im to cease all intercourse with higher as
well as with lo wer spirits and finally compe l led him t o
,
68 MODERN MAG IC .

leave the E te rn al City H e then claimed publicly .

,

what it m ust n ot be forgotten he had consistently ,

maintain ed fro mthe beginning o f his marvelous career

,

that he was the u nwilling agent of higher powe rs

which affected him at irregul ar times indepen dent o f ,

his will an d oft en con tr ary t o his dearest wishes It

,
.

m ust be added tha t h e gave the str ongest proof o f hi s

sin cerity by n ever accepting from the public pecunia ry
compensation for the exhibition of peculiar powers .

His exterior is winning ; he i s of medium height ,

light haired and light complexioned of slen der figure ;

- -

simpl e and well bred in his mann ers an d of irrepro ach

-

able morale The highes t circles of society have always

.

been open to him and h is m a r riage with a daughter o f

,

the Russian general S troll h as given hi m wealth and an

a greeab l e position in the world A s the spirits had .

predicte d they returned on the l ot h of February 1 8 5 7

, , ,

and ann oun ced themselves by repeated gentle kn ock

ings— in oth r words Home s former nervous disease
e
,
’

returned an d with it his ex ceptionable powers He

, .

was then in Paris an d soon ex cited the attention o f

,

the fai r but superstitious E mpress wh ose favo r he ,

s peedily obtained by a revelation concerning the E m

percur de l avenir as the spirits h ad the ga llantry to
”
’
,

call her in fant so n Napoleon also began to take an

.

interest in t h e clever talen t ed man whose Special gifts

, ,

did not preven t him from being a plian t co urtier an d a

cunning observer He showed himself grateful for the
.

kindness with which E ugenie provided for h is sister s ’

 BL A C K AND WHIT E MAG IC . 69

education by exerting his powers to the u tmost at the

Tuileries and by revealing to th e E mperor the secrets
,

he had skillful l y elicited during his spiritual session s ,

from state smen and generals A t the house o f Prin ce .

M urat he performed perhaps the most su rprising feats

, ,

h e h as ever accomplish e d : seated quietly in his arm

chair h e ca u sed tables to whirl aroun d the clocks i n
, ,

t wo rooms to stan d still or to go at will al l the bells in ,

the h ouse to ring tog ether or separately an d h an dke r ,

chiefs to escape i rresistibly from th e hands an d the

pockets of several persons the E mp eror in cluded Then
. .

the floor seemed to Sink al l the doors of the house ,

were slammed to an d opened again the gaslights h e ,

came extinct and when they as suddenly blazed up

,
’

again Home had disappeared without saying good bye

,
-
.

The guests left t h e house quietly and in a state o f

great an d painful ex citement A t another exhibition
'

in Prin ce N apoleon s hou se a renowned j uggler was

’
,

presen t by invi tation to watch Home but h e declared , ,

soon th at there was n o j ugglery such as he knew in

, , ,

w hat h e saw and the meeting du ring which the

, ,

most sta rt l ing phen omen a were exhibi t ed ended by ,

Home s falling into a state of fea rful catalepsy Per

’
.

haps nothing can speak more clearly of the deep in

te re st felt in the modern magician by th e highest in
the land than the fac t tha t more than on ce private
“

session s were held at the Tuileries at which besides , ,

him se lf the E mperor and the E mpress only one per

, ,

son was al lowed to be present the Duke of M onte ,

70 MODERN MAG IC .

bel lo . It is said though not by H ome hi mself that at

, ,

o n e o f thes e meetings the sad fate of the E mpire was

clearly predicted and even t he time of the E mpero r s

,
’

death ascertained O n e achieveme n t o f modern magi c

.

in which Home is u nique is th e r aising of his body ,

into th e air ; n o other perso n h aving as yet even

at t empted the same exploit He i s lifted up in a hori .

z o n t al position sometimes only to a sho rt distan ce

,

from the floor bu t n ot u nfre q u en tly also n early to th e

, , ,

ceiling ; on on e occasion in Bordeau x he rem ain ed , ,

thu s suspen ded i n th e sight of several person s for five

minutes Another speciality of his is the lengthening
.
,

o f his body A ccording t o a statement deserving full

.

credit Human Natu re De c

”
he can when in
, .
,

a state of tran ce add four in ch es to his stature !

,
'

Finally he has b ee n re pe a t e dly see n passing i n the ai r

,

o u t of one window of the room in which his visitors

were assembled and return ing th rough another win

,

dow an exhibition which almost always ended in the

,

co m plete exhaustion and apparent illn ess o f the m a

i
g an
c i .

Home himself maintains that he performs n o mi r

acles an d is n o t able to cau se the laws of n atu re t o be
,

su spende d for a momen t bu t that he is gifted with an ,

exception al power to employ faculties which h e po s

sesses in common with all h is breth ren I n him they .

are act i v e ; in the vast maj ority of me n they lie do r

man t because man is n o longer conscio us of the full
,

and abs olute control ove r N ature with which h e has ,

 BLA CK AN D W H IT E MAG IC . 71

been endowed by the Creator He adds that it is faith .

alone with ou t th e aid of spirits whi ch e n ables him to

, ,

cause mysteriou s lights to be s e en or heavy pieces of ,

furn iture to move about in th e air and to produce ,

strange sounds and peculiar vision s in the mind of his

friends O n the other hand when he is lifted up into
.
,

the air or enabled to read the futu re and to reveal wh at

, ,

absen t persons are doing at the moment h e professes ,

to act as a w ill in gl ess instru men t of Spirits having ,

n either the power to provoke his ability t o perform

these feats n or to lay it aside at will O ccasional ly he

,
.

professes to be con sciou s of an electric curre n t which ,

he is able to produce at certain times an d in a certain

state of mind ; thi s emanation protects his body again st
influen ces fatal to others and enables him for instan ce
,
-
, ,

to hold live coals in hi s hand an d to thru st his whole

‘

head into the chimney fire This certain state of .

”
min d as h e calls it is simply a state of tran ce Hen ce
, , .

the ex tremely variable n ature of h is perfo rman ces and ,

h is great rel u ctan ce to ap pear as a magician at the re

quest o f others No r i s he himself al ways quite sure
.

of h is own con di t ion ; th us in t h e win t er o f 1 8 7 0 when

, ,

he wished to exhibit some of the simplest phen omen a

in the presence of a n umber of savants in S t Peters .

b u rg he fail ed so completely in every effort that t h e

, ,

committe e repor te d h im vi rtually though not i n terms , ,

an impo stor The same hap pen ed to him at a first

.

examination h eld by Mr Crookes a well known pro .

,
-

fesso r of chemistry in c o m pan y with M essrs Cox an d

'

, .
72 MODERN MAG IC .

Huggi ns ; they did no t aban don thei r pu rpose h o w ,

ever and at the n ex t meeting wh en certain antipathic

, ,

spectato rs w ere n o longer presen t Home displayed the

,

most remarkable phenomena The committe e came t o

.

the con clusion that he was enabled to perfor m these

feats by mean s o f a n ew psychic force which it was ,

all important for men o f science to investigate thor

-

o ughly .

Th e number o f m e n and women wh o poss ess similar

e n do vv
m e n t s though gen erally in an inferior d egree
,

only is very great especially in the Un ite d S ta tes

, , .

O nly o n e featu re is commo n to them all —the s tate of

trance in which they are en abled to produ ce such start
ling pheno mena— in all other res pec ts they di ffer widely ,

both as to the nature of their performances an d as to

their credibility For, from the first appe arance of
.

media in spiritualistic circles in fact probably already

, ,

in th e exhibitions of th e Fox family delusion and ,

willful deception have been mi xed up with actu al

m agic Tables have been moved by cle v er le ge rde
.

m ain ; spirit rappings have be en produ ce d by cunning

e fforts o f m u scl es an d sinews ; ventriloqu ists have u sed
their art to cause ex traordinary noises in the air a n d ,

’
Peppe r s fa mou s ghosts have shown the facili ty with
which the eye may be decei v ed an d the other s enses be
taken captive The most su ccessful d ec eption was
.

prac tised by the so called Davenport Bro thers wh o s e

-

,
'

w ell known exhibition s excited univer sal i nteres t as

-

long as the im pression las ted that they were the work
 74 M ODERN MAG IC .

b r an ch o f modern magic is the Od o f Baron Re ic hen

bach ; its presen ce an d e fli cacy can n ot be denied ,

although the man ner in which it operates is still a ‘

mystery In the summer of 1 8 6 1 the G erman ba r on

.

found himself in a company o f table movers at t h e -

hou se of Lord William Cowper the son in law of Lord ,

- -

Palmerston To p r ove his faith he crept un der the

.

h eavy din ing table resting with his full weigh t o n o n e

-

o f the three solid feet and gr asping th e other two

firmly with his hands The wood began t o emit low .

,

electric soun ds then cam e louder n oises as when furn i

,

ture cracks in extremely dry weather an d finally t he ,

table began to m ove Reichenbach did h is best to pre.

vent the movemen t bu t the table rushed down the ,

r oom dragging the unlu cky baron with it to the

, ,

in t ense amusement of all th e person s presen t The .

G erman savant m aintains that this power possessed ,

only by the privileged few who are peculiarly sen si t ive ,

emanates from th e tips of th e fingers becomes luminou s ,

in th e dark an d acts like a lever upon all obstacles that

,

co me in i ts way A s the existence of Od is established

.

beyond all doubt an d its e ffects are admit t ed by al l wh o

,

h ave s t udied the subj ect we are forced to look u pon i t ,

as at least on e of th e mys terious elements of modern

m agi c .

Th e Od is as far as we know a magnetic force ; for

, ,

as soon as certain person s are magnetized th ey become

conscious of peculiar sensation s heat or cold head ache , ,

o r othe r pains and if predisposed o f a startling in crease

, , ,
 BLA CK AN D WHIT E MAG IC . 75

of power in all their sen ses They see lights of every

.

kind can distin gu ish even min ute obj ects in a dark
,

r oom and behold beautiful white flames upon the poles

,

o f magnets . Reichenbach obtained as h e believed two , ,

remarkable results from these first phenomen a He .

con cluded that polar lights aurora boreales etc, ,

.
,

were identical with the magnetic light of the earth and ,

he discovered th at se nsitive sickly persons who were

, ,

peculiarly susceptible t o magn etic influences ought t o ,

lie with t h e head to the north and th e feet to the south

,

in order to obtain refreshing sleep The n ex t step was

.

an effo rt t o identify the 0 d with animal magnetism ;

Re ichenb ach found that catalepti c patients who per
ce iv e d the presence of magnets with exquisite accuracy ,

and followed them like mesmerized persons were a ffected ,

alike by his o wn hands or those of other pe rfectly

soun d but strongly magne t ic men He could attract
, .

such un fortun ate person s by his outstretched fin gers ,

an d force them t o follow him in a sta t e of u nconsciou s

ness wherever he led them A ccording t o his theory
.
,

th e t wo sides of m an are of opposite electric nature an d

a magnetic current passe s con tinually from on e side to
the other ; sensitive person s though blind folded know -

perfectly well o n which Side they appro ach others .

G radually Baron Reich enbach ex te nded th e range of

h is experiments employing fo r that purpose besides his
, ,

o wn daughter especially a M iss N owotny a sad su ffere r

, ,

from cataleptic attacks S he w as able to disti nguish

.
,

by the sensations which were exci ted in her whole sys

76 M ODERN MAG IC .

t e m,more than six h undred chemic als and arranged ,

them un de r his guidance according to th eir elec tr o

, ,

chemical force A nother sick wo man M iss M aiss felt

.
, ,

a cool wind when ever ce r tain substances were brought

n ear her and by these and s imilar e fforts in whi ch the
,

baron was aided by many friends h e as certained t h e ,

fact that there is in nature a force which passes th rough

,

all substan ces the h uman body included and is inh e

, ,

rent in the whole material w orld T hi s force h e calls .

the 0 d Like electricity an d magn etism this Od i s a

.
,

pola r force and here also opposite poles attract like

, ,

poles repel each other The whole Subj ect alth ough as .
,

yet only i n its infan cy is wel l deserving of careful stu dy,

and th oro u gh investigation .

The m anifestation s of so call ed Spirits hav e n atu rally -

ex cited much atten tion an d g iven ris e to the bitterest ,

at tacks In E ngland especially t h e learned world i s all

.
, ,

o n on e side and the S piritualists all on th e other ; nor do

they hesitate to say very bitter things o f each other .

The S a t u rday Rev iew more forcibly than courteously , ,

Speaks of A merican Spiritualists thus : If this is the

“

Spirit world an d if this is Spirit u al in t ellige n ce an d if all

, ,

the spirits can do is to whisk abou t i n dark rooms , ,

and pin ch people s legs un der the table an d play Hom e

’
, ,

S weet Home o n the a ccordeon and ki ss folks in th e

’ '

, ,

dark an d paint baby pictures and write su ch sen t im e n

, ,

tal n amby pam hy as M r Coleman copies o u t fro m their

,
-
.

di ctation — it i s mu ch better to be a respectable pig and

accept annihilatio n than to be cursed with su ch an im
 BL A C K AND WHIT E MAG IC . 77

mortality as this To which the Spiritu a l Magazine

.

“
( J an .
,
does not hesi tate to reply We sh all not .

e a t breakfast bacon for some time for fear of getting a ,

s l ice of the editor o f the S a t u rda y Rev iew in his ,

”
self so u ght appropriate metempsychosis
-
It must .

b e borne i n mind however that Spiritualists eve ry

, ,

where appeal to their own reason as the highest t ribu

n al befo re which su ch question s can be decided and
’

to the la w s of nature becau se as they say they are , ,

identical with the laws of practical reason They .

believe as a body neither in angels n or In demon s

, , .

Their Spirits are simply th e purified souls o f de

parted m en Protesta nt theologians who admit
.
,

of no purgatory se e i n these exhibition s nothing bu t

,

the deeds o f S atan Catholic divines on the othe r

.
,

h an d an d Protestan t m ystics who like t h e G erman

, , , ,

S chubert believe that there exist what they curiou sly

,

”
en ough call a more peaceful infern al spirit ascribe ,

them to the agen cy of evil Spirits In the great ma .

j o rit y of cases however t h e Spirits have clearly Shown

, ,

themse l ves n othing else bu t the produ ct of the media .

The latter in v ariably either of diseased mind by na

,

tur e or over excited for t he occasion believe they see

.
‘
-

an d hear manifestations in the outer world which in ,

reality exist only in their o wn con sciousness A .

C atho l ic medi u m is thu s visited b y spirits from heaven

'

and hell while the Protestant medium n ever meets

,

souls from purgatory Nothi n g h a s ever been re vealed .

co ncerning t h e future state of m an t h at Was n o t al ,

78 M ODERN MAG IC .

r eady well known upon earth M ost dive rt ing are the
.

j ealou sies of great spirits of S olomon an d S ocrates

, ,

M oses and Plato —when the media happen t o be j ee l

o u s of each other ! A somewhat satirical w riter on
.

th e subj ect explain s even th e fact th at spirits so often

contradic t ea ch other an d sa y vile things of sacred
s ubj ects by the inn er wickedn ess of the media which
, ,

comes t o light o n such occasion s while they c arefully

,

conceal it in ordin ary life ! If these spi rits are really

the creation s of the inn er m agic life o f which we are,

j u s t learning to kn ow the first elementary signs then ,

the powers which a re hidden within u S may well ter

r ify u s as they appear in su ch exhibition s wh il e we ,

will n ot be surprised at th e manner in which man y an

ordin ary mortal appears here as a poet or a prophet
if n ot as a wi cked demon N or mu st i t be overlooked
.

th at our memory holds vast treasures o f knowledge o f

wh ich we are utterly un con sciou s until u nder certain ,

circum stan ces o n e or the other fact suddenly reappea rs

,

before our mind s eye The very fact that we can b y a

’
.
,

great e ffort and con tinu ed appeal s to o u r memory ,

recal l at last what was apparently u tterly forgotten ,

proves the prese n ce o f su ch kn owledge A sta te of .

i nten se excitement of fever or of tran ce i s peculiarly

, ,

favorable to the recovery o f such hidden treasu res and ,

there can be n o doubt that man y a mediu m h on estly

believes to r eceive a n ew revelation when only o ld , ,

long forgotten facts return to his con sciousn ess G en .

e rally however ,we repea t n othing is in t h e spirit that

,
 BL A CK AND WHIT E MAG IC . 79

is n ot i n the medium The A merican Spiritualist con

.

j u res up only hi s o wn countrymen and occasio n al ly ,

some world renowned heroes like Napoleon o r C aesar

-

S hakespeare or S chiller while t h e cosmopolitan G er

,

man receives vi sits from men of all coun tries Finally .

it mu st be borne in m in d that according to an old,

proverb we are ever ready to believe what we wish to

,

see o r hear an d hen ce the amazing creduli t y o f th e

,

m aj ority of Spiritu alists E ven skeptics are n ot free

.

from the influen ce of this ten den cy When D r Bell . .

,

th e eminent physi cian o f S omerville M as s investi , ,

gated these phenomena o f modern m agic many years ,

ago h e promptly n oticed th at the spirits n ever gave in

,

formation which was not already in the possession of

o n e or the other person present O nly in a few cases
.

he acknowledged with h is usual candor and at once , .

at the meeting itsel f that a true answe r was returned

,
.

B ut when h e examine d after his return home these

, ,

few exceptional revelations he discovered that h e had

,

been mistaken and that these answers had been after

,

all as illu sory as the others .

There can be no doubt therefore that modern magic , ,

as far as it consists in table moving and spirit rapping

- -

with their usual accompan imen ts is neither the work ,

o f mechanical j ugglery exclusively nor on the other , ,

hand the result of revelations mad e by spirits In th e

, .

mass of accumulated evidence there remain however ,

after sifting it carefully many facts which can not be

,

explained according to the ordinary cou rse of n ature .

 DI U U JB K N
‘
M A U IU .

The power which produ ces these ph enomena mu st b e

classified with oth er well known powers given to man -

un der exception al circum stan ces such as the safety of ,

somnambulists in dangerous places ; the cures per

formed by faith an d the strange exhibition s made by
,

dise as ed person s suffe ri n g o f catalepsy an d Simila r

,

a ffections If men un der the in fluen ce of mesmerism

.
, ,

in a state o f ecstatic fervo r o r un de r the pressure of .

strong an d long continued ex citemen t Show powers

-

which are n o t possessed by man n at u rally then modern ,

magic also may well be a dmitted as one of t he mean s

by which su ch ext raordinary and as yet u n explored ,

forces are brough t to light A ll that can be reasonably .

asked o f those who so peremp t orily challenge o u r ad

m ira t io n an d deman d o u r respect for the n ew science
, ,

is that i t shall be proved to be u seful to man an d this ,

’

pro o f is as yet altogether wanti n g

, ,
.

In M exi co the preparation for acts of magic seems t o

have been downright intoxication ; at least we learn
from A costa in h is H ist n a l y m o r a l de 103 I ndia s
, . .

that the priests before sacrificin g in h aled power

, ,

ful perfumes rubbed themselves with ointments made

,

of venomous an imals to bacco an d hempseed an d, ,

fin ally drank chica mixed with variou s drugs Thus .

they reach ed a state of ex altation in which they n ot

only butchered numbers o f human beings in cold
blood and lost all fear of wi l d beasts bu t were also
, ,

able to reveal what was happening at a great distan ce ,

or even future even ts We fin d sim ilar practi ces also

.
, ,
 M ODERN M AG IC
'

82 .

perpetrated at th e comm and of the neg r oes Ob ee o f ’

,

which well au thenticated records aboun d in Fl o ri da

-

and Lo uisiana as well as in C uba,

.

Th e Indo G ermani c r ace h as kn own and practised

-

black magi c from ti m e immemorial an d the V en di dad ,

already explain s i t as an act which A hriman the E vil ,

S pirit brought forth when o v ershadowed by death In

, .

E gypt it flo urish ed for ages and has n ever become en ,

t ire ly extin ct Jannes and Jambres who led the priests

.
,

in their opposition to M oses ( 2 Tim iii h ave their . . .

su ccessors i n o u r day an d the very miracles performed

,

by these an cien t ch arme rs have been witnessed again

an d again by modern travelers Holy Writ abounds .

with instances of every kin d o f magic ; it speaks o f

astrology an d prophesying from arrows from the e n
, ,

trails o f animals an d from dreams ; bu t strangely

, ,

enough the charming of serpents and the evil eye are

,

n ot mentioned if w e ex ce pt B alaam The K abbalah

, .
,

o n the contrary speaks more than on ce o f the evil eye

,

( ain hara) an d all the southern n ation s o f E urope as

, ,

well as t h e S lavic races fear its weird power ,

.

The eye is however by n o mean s employed only t o

, ,

work evil ; by the side of their m a l occhio the Italians

h ave another gift called a ffra l i va which en ables man
, , ,

apparently by t h e force of his eye only to draw to ,

himself all whom he wishes to attra ct The well known .

-

S aint Filippo N eri thus not only won all whom h e

w ished to gain over by looking at them but even dogs
, ,

left thei r beloved masters an d followed him everywhere .

 BLA C K AND WH IT E MAG IC . 83

Cotton M a ther tells us in his M agnolia that quakers

“

frequ en t ly by the eye only—though oft en also by , ,

anointing or breath in g upon them—compelled others

to ac company them to j oi n their communion an d to
, ,

be i n all things obedient to their bidding Tom Case .

,

himself a quaker, certainly possessed the power of over

whelming those at whom he looked fixedly for a while ,

to such a degree th at they fell down as i f struck with

epilepsy ; once at least he tu rned even a mad bull b y
, , ,

the force o f his eye till i t approached him humbly and

,

licked hi s han d like a pet dog E ven in o ur own age

.

G o ethe has admitted the power of certain men t o

attract others by the strength of their will an d men ,

tion s an instance in which he himself ardently wishing ,

to see his beloved o n e forced her unconsciously to come

,

and meet him halfway ( E ckermann iii

.
, .

It avails nothing to stigmatize a faith so deeply rooted

and so un i v ersal as mere s uperstition A mong the mass .

o f errors which i n the course of ages have accumulated

around the cree d the li ttle grain of truth the in du b i

, ,

’
ta ble po wer of man s mind to act through the eye ought ,

n ot to be overloo ked .

It i s the sa me with the magic known as such to the

two great nations of antiquity If the G reeks sa w in
.

Plato the son o f A pollo who came to h is mother

,

Pe ric t io n e in the shape of a serpent an d in A lexander

,

the G reat the son of Jupite r A mmon they prob ably ,

intended merely to pay the same compliment to thei r

countrymen which modern n ations convey by calling
84 M ODERN MA G IC .

their r u lers K ings an d K aisers by th e Grace o f G od “

.

B ut t h e consisten cy with which higher b eings came t o

visit earth born man i n the shape of favored an imals
-

is more than an accident The sons o f G od came t o .

se e th e da u gh ters o f men though it is n ot said in what

,

form they ap peared an d th e suggestion that they were

,

“ ”
the giants u pon the earth mention ed i n Holy Writ , ,

is n ot supported ; bu t exactly as the go ds came from

O lympu s in the shape o f bulls an d rams so the evil ,

Spirits of the M iddle A ges appeared in the Shape of

rams and cats A cu riou s instan ce o f the mixture of
.

truth an d falsehood appears i n this connection It is .

well known that the Italians of the S outh look upon

-

V irgil as on e of th e greatest magicians that ever lived ,

a n d ascribe to his tomb even now supernatu ral power .

The poet himself h a d of course nothing whatever t o

, ,

do with magic ; but his reputation as a m agi cian aro se

from the fact that next t o the Bible h is verses became
, , ,

at an early perio d a favorite mean s of con sulting the

,

futu re S e r ies Vi ryilia m e

. the lines wh ich upon ,

accidentally opening th e volume first met t h e eye we re ,

a leading featu re o f the art known as st icho m an ia .

The sto ry of the greatest magician mentioned in the

N ew Testament h as been thoroughly examin ed an d the ,

m ain features at least are well established

, ,
S imon .

M agu s was a m agigian i n the sen se in whi ch the

ancients u sed that term ; bu t he possessed evidently ,

in addition all the powers claimed by better Spi ritu al

,

ists l ike Home in o u r day A native o f Gitt o n a small

, .
,
 BLA C K AND W H IT E MAG IC . 85

village of S ama ria h e h ad early manifes te d su pe rio r

,

inte llectual gifts accompanied by an almost m arvelou s

,

control over the min ds of others By the aid of th e .

former he produced a l o fty gn o st ic system which crum

'

bled h owever t o pieces as soon as it came into contact

, ,

with the in spired system of Ch ris tianity His influen ce .

over others led him in the arrogance which is inheren t

,

to n atural man t o consider himself as the G reat Divine

,

Power which appe ared in di ffer en t forms as Father

, ,

S on an d S pirit He professed to be able t o make him

, .

se l f i nvisible and t o pass u nimpeded through solid

'

, ,

substances— precisely as w as don e in later ages by S aint

Dominic an d other saints ( Go erre s Mystic ii 5 7 6 ) .
, .

to bind an d t o loosen others as well as himself at will

to open prison doors an d t o cause trees to grow o u t of
the bare ground Before u t t e rly rej e c t ing h is preten
.
‘

sion s as mere lies an d tricks we mu st bear in mind t wo ,

facts : first that moder n jugglers in India pe rform

,

these very tricks in a manner as yet unexplained and ,

secondly that h e in all probability possessed merely

, , ,

th e power of ex citing oth ers to a high state of exalta

tion in whi ch they candidl y believed they saw all these
,

things A t all even ts his magic deeds were i dentical

.
,

with the miracles of later sai nts an d as these are ,

enthron ed in Shrin e and statue in Rome SO the E ternal ,

City erected t o S imon M agus also a statu e an d pro , , ,

claimed him a go d in the days of C l audius ! A nother

celebrated magician of the same race was Se de ch ias ,

G erre s M ys t ic iv ii who lived i n t h e days of

( o
-

. .
, .
86 M ODERN MAG IC .

S aint Louis and who once in order t o convin ce t h e

, , ,

Skeptics of his day of the real existe n ce of Spirits such ,

as th e K abbalah admits ordered them to appear in ,

human form before the eyes of the mon arch In stantly .

’
the whole plain aroun d the king s ten t was alive with
a vast army ; long rows of bright colored ten ts dotte d -

the lowlands and on the slopes around were encamped

,

countless troops ; whilst mounted squ adron s appeared

in the air performing m arvelous evolutions This was
,
.

probably the firs t in stan ce of th ose airy hosts which ,

have ever since been seen in various countries .

The Christian era gave to magic phen omen a a new

an d specific character ; what was a miracle in aposto lic
times rem ained in the eyes of the multitude a miracle
to ou r day wh en performed by saints of the church
,

—it became a crime an d an abomination when the

authors were laymen and yet both di ffered i n n o single
,

featu re The most remarkable represen tative of this

.

dual n atu re of supernatural performan ce sis no doubt , ,

Dr Faust whom the great and pious M elan chthon

.
,

states to h ave well known as a n ative o f the little vil

l age of K nittlingen n ear h is o wn birth plac e an d as a
,
-

man of dissolute habits whom the D evil carried o ff in

,

person His motto which has been discovered ti nder a

.
,

portrait of his ( Hau b e r s Bibl was ch arac t eris

’
.

tic o f his faith : Om ne bo nu m el p erf ecl u m a Deo imper ,

ee iu m a dia bo lo His vast learning his great power

f .
,

over th e elements and t h e popular story o f his pact

,

with the E vil O n e made him a hero among the G er

,
 BL A C K AND W H IT E MAG IC . 87

mans of whose national ten den cies h e was then the

,

typical representative Un fortun ately however nearly

.
, ,

e very Chris t ian land has had its own Fau st su ch was
'

for instan ce in S pain the famou s D r Toralba who

, .
,

lived i n t h e si xteenth century and by the aid of a ,

servile demon read the fu ture healed the Sick traveled , ,

through the ai r and even wh en he fell into th e h ands

,

o f the Inqu is ition obtained his release through the

,

G reat A dmiral of Castile G illes de Laval who was

.
,

publicly burn t in 1 440 and Lady Fowlis of S cotland

, , ,

are parallel cases .

O ne of th e most absurd ceremonies belonging to

black magic was the well known Taigh e irm of t h e
,
-

S cotch Highlands a demoniac sacri fice evidently hand

,

ed down from pagan times The so called magician .

-

procured a large number o f black cats and devoted ,

them with solemn incan tations an d while burnin g

, ,

o ffen sive in cen se of various kinds to the evil spirits , .

Then the poor victims were Spitted an d slowly roasted

over a fire of coal s on e after the other but so that n ot
, ,

’
a second s pau se occ urred between the death of on e an d
the su fferings of th e n ext This horridly absurd sacri
.

fi ce had to be contin ued for three days an d nights ,

during which the magician was not allowed to take

any food o r dri n k The con sequence was that if h e
.
,

did not drop down exhau sted and perish miserabl y he ,

became fearfully ex cited and finally saw demons in the

,

Shape of black cats who granted h im all he desi red

”
Horst Deu te ro sco pia ii
. It n eed hardly b e
, .
88 MODERN MAG IC .

added th at in t h e state of clairvoyan ce which he had

r eached he only asked fo r what b e w ell knew was
,

goi n g to happen , an d that all the fearful vision s o f

h el l ish spirits existed only in his overwrough t imagin a
tion But it will su rprise many to learn that s uch
.

t aigh e irm s were held as late as the last century and ,

that a place is still Shown on the islan d of M ull where .

Allan M aclean with his assistan t Lachl a in M aclean

, ,

sacrificed black cats for four days an d n ights i n succes

sion The elder o f th e two passed for a ki n d o f high
.

priest an d chief m agi cian with the superstitiou s island

e rs ; th e other was a young unmarried man o f fin e
appearance an d more than ordin ary in telligen c e Both
,
.

s urvived the fearful ceremony but san k utterly ex

,

hansted to the ground u nable to obtain the revelation

,

which they h ad expected ; n evertheless they retained

the gift of second sight for their lives .

It mu st n ot be imagin ed fin ally that the summon

, ,

ing of spirits i s a lost art ; even i n o u r day men are

fou nd who are willing to call the departed from their
restin g place an d to exhibit them to the eyes of living
-

men Th e bes t expla n ation of this bran ch of magi c

.

wa s once gi v en by a learned professor whom t h e Prince ,

E lector o f Brandenburg Frederick II sen t for fro m

, .
,

Halle in order to learn from h im h o w spi rits could b e

,

summon ed The sa v ant declared that n othing was

.

e asier an d supporte d hi s assertion by a n umber o f

,

actual performan ces First the spectator was prepared

.

by strong be v erages su ch as the E gyptian sorcerers

,
90 M ODERN MAG IC .

ployed for s inis te r pu rp oses Thus it is a well kn own

.
-

historical fact that th e men who obtained control over

K ing Frederick William IL after his ascen sio n to the
,

thron e an d held it for a t im e by the vi sions which

,

they sh owe d h im employed m ean s like these to sum

,

mon the spirits he wished to see The m as ter in this .

b ran ch o f bl ack magic was u n do ub t e dlv Joseph Bal

samo th e Coun t Caglio stro o f Fren ch history
, He .

was n either a m agician in the true sense of the w ord ,

n o r even a r eligiou s en thu siast but merely an aecom,

pl ish e d j uggler an d swindler who had acquired by , ,

n atural endowment patien t study an d consummate

, ,

art a great power over the minds of others He

,
.

played upon the imagin ation o f men as upon a famil

iar in strument an d the greatest philosophers w ere as
,

easily victimized by him as the most clear — sighted w o

men in spite of t h e n atural in stin ct which generally
,

protects the latter against such imposition His .

secret— as far as the summoning o f th e spirits of the

departed is con cerned—h a s died with him bu t that ,

enligh te ned con scien tiou s men candidly belie v ed th ey

,

h ad been shown disembodied spirits i s too well estab ,

l ish e d by memories of Fren ch an d Dutch writers to be

doubted In the meetings o f h is lodges of E g y ptian
.
“

Freemason s he as G rand Co ph t ha o r those whom he

, ,

h ad qu alified by breathing upon them employed a boy ,

o r a girl frequ ently called up at haphazard from the

,

street but at other times carefully prepared for the

,
'

purpose to look into the h an d o r a basin o f wa t er

,
.
 BL A CK AND WHITE MA GIC . 91

The poo r child w as however first m ade half u n co n

, ,
-

”
scious bei n g anointed with th e o il of wisdom n o
, ,

doubt an intoxica t ing compound an d after n umerous ,

ceremonies carried in to a recess called the Tabernacle

, ,

an d ordered t o look into t h e hand or a basin of wate r .

A fter the assembl y h ad prayed for some time the ,

“
D ove as they called t h e child was asked what he
, ,

s aw O rdinarily he beheld first an angel or a p riest

.

p r o b ab l v the image o f C agliostro h imself in h is sacer

dotal robe s —but frequently also monkeys the o ffspring ,

o f a skeptical imagina t ion Then followed more or

.

less in teresting revelations some utterly absu rd others

, ,

o f real interest an d at times actual predictions of

,

future events Cagliostro himself during h is last trial

.
,

before the Inquisition of Rome while readily confess ,

ing a large n umber of impostures stoutly main tain ed ,

the gen uine n ess of these communication s an d insiste d

that t hey were the e ffects of a special power granted
by Go d His assertion has som e value as the shrewd
.
,

man kne w very well how mu ch more he w as likely to

gain by a prompt avowal than by su ch a denial ; his
wife also although his accomplice in former yea rs an d
, , ,

n ow by n o mean s dis posed to spare her quasi hu sband -

always stat ed that this was a tru e mystery which she

h ad n ever bee n able to fathom If we ad d to these.

consideration s th e fact that n umerous masters of

lo dges even in Holland an d E ngland obtained the
, ,

sa me results and that th ey cannot all h ave been im po s

,

tors or de l uded victi m s there remain s enough in these

,
92 MODERN MAG I C .

well established phen omen a to asc r ibe them to a mys

-

t erio u s magic power

, ( Comp en dio della v ita etc di 0
.
,
. .

B a lsa mo Roma , It is in fact quite eviden t th at

,

the un fortun ate j uggler possessed in a very rare degree

a power akin to that practised by a M esmer a Home , ,

and other men of that class withou t ha vin g the sen se ,

to un derstan d its tru e n ature or the ambition to em

ploy it for othe r tha n the lowest selfish purposes .

T rials of magician s who have conj ured u p th e dead

,

an d compelled them to reveal the future are still tak ,

in g place every now an d then ; in th e year 1 8 5 0 n ot

less than four men to gether with t h ei r associates we re
, ,

accused of this cri me in enlightened G ermany an d th e ,

proceedin gs in on e case which occurred i n M unich , ,

created n o small sensation .

Black magic t h erefore must also be looked upon as

, ,

by n o mean s a mere illusion mu ch less as the work o f ,

evil spirits The results i t obtains at times are th e

.

work of man himself an d exis t only within his o w n ,

conscience B u t if m an can produce su ch m arvelou s

.

e ffects which lie apparently beyond the range of the

,

mate rial world h o w much more mu st th e Creator an d

,

Pr ese rver of all things be able to call fo rth events

which transcen d— do our min d— the limits of the tan
gib le world S u ch occurren ces when they have a
.
,

higher moral or religiou s purpose in view we call M ir ,

acles an d they remain incomprehensible for all whose

,

kn owledge is confined to th e physical world A bove .

th e laws of n ature there rules the Divine Will which ,

 B LACK AND W HIT E MAG IC . 93

can do what N ature cannot do an d w h ich we can only

,

begi n to understand when we bear in mind the fact that

b y the side of the visible order o f the world o r above
it there exist spiritu al laws as well as spiritual beings
,
.

In a miracle powers are rendered active which ordina

,

rily remain inactive b u t which e xist non e the less per

,

m an e n t ly in the world Hence all great thinkers have

.

readily admitted the existence o f miracles : a Locke

and a Leibnitz as well as more recently a S tahl and a
, ,

“ ”
S chopenhauer Locke i n his D iscou rse of M iracles
.
, ,

goes so far as to call them the very credentials of a

messenger sent from G od and asserts that M oses an d
,

Christ have alike authen ticated the truth and the

divine character of their revelation s by miracles E ven .

their possible continuance is believed in by those who

“
hope that men will ever continue among u s wh o have
t asted the good word of G od an d the p owers of the
”
world to come .
( Heb r ews vi .
 D RE A M S .

To l
s e ep —p e rch an ce t o dream .
—HAML ET .

OF th e t wo parts of o u r b eing o n e spi ritual an d , ,

h eaven born i s alw ay s active the other the bodily

-

, , , ,

ea rth born part requires frequent and regular rest i n

-

sleep D uring this time of repo se however the m in d

.
, ,

also ceases apparently its operation s m erely however , , ,

becau se it has n o longer servants at its command who ,

are willing an d able t o give ex pressio n to it s activity .

When th e sen ses are asleep the min d is depri v ed of the

u sual mean s o f communication with th e outer world ;
but this does n o t necessarily condemn it to inaction .

O n the contrary i t has often been m aintained that the

,

min d is most active an d capable o f the highest

ach ievements when released from its usu al bondage to
”
the sen ses A lrea dy [Esch yl u s in h is E umenides
.
“

says
Th e m i n d o f sl e e pe rs a ct s m o re cun n in gl y ;
Th e gl re o f day co n ce a l s t h e fa t e o f m e n
a .

I t seems h owever as if th e interme diate state between

, ,

the full activity of wakeful life and t h e complete repose

o f th e senses i n soun d sl eep is most favorable to the ,

development of su ch magi c phenome n a as occu r in

 DREAMS . 95

dreams: The fact that the su sceptibility of the mind

is at that time peculiarly great is intimately connecte d
wi th the statement recorded in Holy Writ that G od ,

frequ en t ly revealed Hi s will to men in dreams If we .

admit the antiquity of the book of Job we see there ,

the earliest known announ cemen t of this connection .

In a dream i n a vision of the n ight when deep sleep

, ,

falleth upon men i n slumberings upon the bed ; then

,

He open eth t h e ears of men an d sealeth their in st r uc

”
tion ( xxxiii N ext we are told that G od came t o
.

A bimelech in a dream by night ( G en xx and from . .

that time we hear of similar revelation s made by n ight

in dreams thro u ghou t the who l e history of the chosen
people Frequ ently however the dreams are called
.
, ,

“
vision s Thu s Balaam prophesied :
. He hath said ,

which h eard the words of G od and knew the knowl

edge o f the M ost High which saw the vision of th e
,

Almighty fal l i n g into a trance bu t havin g hi s eyes

, ,

open . Daniel h ad his secret “

revealed in a night
visio n but such favor was denied t o S aul for the
,
“
,

Lo rd an swered him not n eith er by dream n o r by

,

”
Urim nor by prophets
, To S olomon on the contrary
.
, ,

”
the Lord appeared in a dream by nigh t many times ;
Joel was promised that old men should dream dreams
”
and youn g men shall see vi sio n s a ple dge quoted by ,

S t Peter as having been amply fulfilled in his day ( A cts

.

11
. For dreams did not lose their importan ce at
the coming of Christ To h s r eputed father the
i .
“

A ngel of the Lord appea red in a d r eam bidding him ,

96 MODERN MAG IC .

to take M a ry to h is wife ; again h e w as wa r ned in a

”
dr eam not to return to Herod and the Lo rd spake
“
,

“ ”
to Paul i n the night by a vision more than on ce ,

as he was by a dream also sen t t o M acedonia .

What in thes e and similar cases i s accepted as div in e

in spiration is in secular his tory generally looked upon
,

as mysterious magic r evelation ; but the p henomen a

,

r emain the same i n all instances an d those appearing ,

in drea m s are identical with the symptoms exhibited i n

r evelations occurring during the day when the favored ,

r ecipi ent is wide awake Clairvoyance by n igh t di ffers

.

in n o way from clairvoyan ce d u ri n g the day ; a state o f

ecstasy a trance is necessary in either case That
, , .

prophetic dreams generally remain un kn ow n —o utside

o f Holy Wri t —must be ascribed to the fact that they

l eave no recollection beh ind u nless they are continued

,

into a state o f half sleep from which a sudde n awaken

-

in g takes place an d soon then they are in variably

cloth ed in some allegoric form and become liable to be
,

erroneou sly or at least imperfectly in terpreted Thus

, ,
.

dr eams like tran ces often prefigu re death unde r the

, ,

form o f a j ou rney an d represent the dyi n g man as an

,

uprooted tree a withe r ed flower o r a drowning swim

, ,

me r The early Christian s foreseeing martyrdom ve ry

.
, ,

frequently r eceived in dr eams an intimation o f their

impen ding fate un de r such symbolic fo rms an d what , ,

was qui te peculiar t o their vision s was that they often

extended t o the pagan jailors an d keepe r s whose minds ,

had bee n excited by wi tnessing the su fferings and the

98 MODERN MAG IC .

r emained at an in n w hile the othe r went to stay with a

,

a friend Both wear ied by the j ou rn ey retired t o

.
, ,

r est ; bu t the traveler who was at a private h ouse

dr eam t in the nigh t that hi s frien d u rged him to com e
to his assi stan ce as the innkeeper was about to m u rde r
,

h im . Terrified by the vivi d dr eam h e j umped up ; but , ,

upon reflection he conclu ded th at the whole was b u t an

,

I dl e fan c y and lay down again Thereu pon the dream

, .

was repeated ; but this time h is frien d added that it ,

was t o o late to com e to his aid n o w as b e h ad been ,

murde r ed and his body would in the m o rn ing b e

,

car ried o u t of th e city concealed u nder a load of

,

manu re This s econd dream made such an impression

.

upon the A r cadian that he went at an early hou r to th e

city gate and to hi s amazemen t soon saw a wagon
,

load ed w ith manure approach i ng the place where h e

stood He stopped the drive r and asked him what h e
.

had hidden in his wagon The man fl ed trembling ,

the body o f th e murdered frien d w as fou nd and the ,

treach erou s innkeeper paid with hi s life fo r h is c rime .

( Cicero De dim n )
’

.
,

O n e o f the oldest o f well au th en ticated dreams in

-

Christian times revealed t o S t B asil the death of

, .

Julian the A postate It seemed to him in hi s sleep

.

that h e saw the martyr M ercu riu s r eceive from G od

the o r der to kill th e tyrant an d after a short tini e,

“
retu rn and say : 0 Lord Julian is killed as Thou
,

”
hast com m anded ! The sain t was so fi rmly convin c e d
o f having r eceived a direct revelation from heav en ,
 DREAMS . 99

that he immediately m ade th e news known to the

peopl e and thu s gain ed n ew h onor when the Offi cial
,

informati on at last arri v ed ( Vita S B asil etc p . .

,
.
, .

Here also th e deep seated hatred o f the Christian

, ,
-

priest against the E mperor who dared to rene w the ,

worship of the ancient go ds of the Pagans no do ubt , .

suggested th e vi vid dream while on the other hand , , ,

the t ran smission of th e actual revelatio n was so im

perfect as to change th e real occurrence —Juli an s ’

de ath by a Persian lan ce— according to the familiar

way of thinking o f S t Basil into his execution at
.
,

divine command by a holy martyr There is no lack .

o f renowned men o f all ages who have had their re

markable dreams and who have fo rtun ately fo rfutu r e

, ,

investigation recorded them carefully

, Thus M e .

l an ch t h o n t ell s u s that he was at a convent with a

o

certain Dr Jon as when letters reached him reques ting

.
,

him to convey to his frien d the sad n ews o f his

’
daughter s sudden death The great re former was at a
.

loss how to discharge the pain ful duty an d driven by ,

an instinctive impu l se asked Dr Jo n as whether he

, .
'

h ad ever had any remark able dreams The latter re .

plied that he had dreamt during the precedin g night

, ,

o f his return home a n d of the j oyful we l come h e h ad

,

met from all his family except his Oldest daughter

, ,

wh o had not appeared Thereupon M elan ch thon told

.

hi m that his dream had been true and that he would ,

n ever see his daughter again as she had been su m ,

m o n e d t o he r eter n al home Petrarch had a dream .

l 00 MODE RN MAG IC .

which was evidently also the reflex o f his though ts in

the day time but accompanied by a direct r evelation
-

, .

He h ad been for som e days ve r y anx iou s abo u t the

, ,

health of his patron a Colon n a who was Bishop Of , ,

Lombez and on e night saw himself in a dream walkin g

,

’
by his friend s side bu t un able t o keep pa ce wi th him
,

th e bishop walked faste r an d faster bidding him stay ,

b ehind and when the po et in sisted upon followin g

,

him he suddenly assu med a death l ike appearan ce an d

,
-
,

said,
“
No I will n ot h a v e you go with m e now !
,
”

D u ring t h e same night in which Petrarch had thi s

dream in Parma the bishop died at his pal ace in
,

Lombez The well known Thomas Wotton also

.
-

, ,

dreamt a sho rt time before his death while residing ,

in K ent that he saw five persons com mit a robbery at

,

O xford O n the followin g day h e added a postscript t o

.

a let ter which he had written t o his so n H enry then a ,

studen t at that u niversity in which h e mentioned h is ,

dream and asked if su ch a robbe ry h ad really taken

,

place The lette r reached t h e you ng man o n the morn

.

ing after the crime h ad been committed when town ,

an d university were alike in a state Of in ten se excite

men t H e m ade the lette r immediately known t o the
.

authorities who foun d in th e acco un t Of the dream so

,

accurate a description of the robbers that they were ,

enabled at on ce to as certa in who were the guilty pe r

sons an d to have them arrested before they co uld
,

escap e. ( Beaumont p T h e great G erman poet

, .

G us tav S chwab received the firs t in timation of the

 02 MODERN MAG IC .

g raphic powe r conj u r ed up the s cen es that were likely

,

t o h appen whenever the day o f th e t e mpest Should

ar rive Thus hi s daugh ter s mind h ad n o doubt long
.
’
, ,

been filled with images of this kind an d was in a state ,

peculiarly su sceptible fo r impression s connected with

the subj ect There r emains h owever the magic phe
.
, ,

’
n o m e n o n that sh e saw n o t a poet s fi ctio n but actual
, ,

occurrences with all their details an d saw them in the ,

very night during which they happen ed In th e papers .

Of S ir Robert Peel was foun d a n ote concerning h is

j ourney from An tib es t o N ice in 1 8 54 He was o n , .

board the steamer Ercul an o whic h on the 2 5t h o f , ,

A pril so v iolen tly collided with another steamer th e

, ,

S icilia that it s an k immediately an d two th i rds o f the

, ,
-

passengers perish ed A mong those who were res cu ed

.

were the great E nglish statesman and the maid o f t w o

l ad ie s t h e wife an d the daughter Of a coun selor of a
,
~

Fr en ch court of j ustice at Dij on The young girl h ad .

h ad a presentiment o f i mpending evil but her wish to ,

pos t pone the j o u rney h ad been overruled The father .

,

also though kn owi n g nothing of the precise where

,

abouts of h is beloved ones had been much troubled in ,

mind about thei r safety and in th e very nigh t in wh ich

,

the accident happen ed saw the w hole occurren ce in a

,

harassing dream He distin ctly beheld t he vessel di s

.

appear tu the waves an d a n umber of vic ti ms among

, ,

whom were h is wife an d his child struggling for life , ,

till they fin ally perished He awoke i n a state of grea t

.

anguish summon ed h is servants t o keep him com

,
 DREAMS . 1 03

pany an d to ld them what he had dr eamt

, A few .

hours later the telegr aph informed him of the acciden t ,

and of h is o wn gr ievou s affl iction ( Jou r n de l czme ’ ‘

. .
,

Fé v r 1 8 5 7 p
.
,
.

While in these dr eams events were made k n own

which happened at the same time in oth er dreams the ,

future itself is revealed C icero in h is work on D ivi

.
,

n ation ( I 2 7 an d II
.
, and V alerius M axi mu s have
.

preserved a number of such dream vision s which were -

famou s already in the d ays Of an ti quity ; a dream con

cerning t h e tyrant Dionysiu s was especially well known .

It seems tha t a woman called Him era foun d herself

, ,

in a dream amon g the gods o n O lympus an d there sa w ,

chained t o the throne of J upiter a large m an with red

hair a n d spotted cou nten an ce When sh e asked the .

divine messenger who had carried her to those regions ,

wh o that man was he told her it was the scourge o f

,

Italy and S icily a man who when unchai ned would

, , ,

destroy many cities S he related her dream on the fol

.

lowing morning to her friends but fou nd n o expla na ,

tion till several years afterwards whe n D ionysiu s

, ,

ascended the throne S he happened to be in the crowd

.

which had assembled t o witness th e triumph Of th e

n ew monarch and when sh e saw the tyran t she
, ,

ut tered a lou d cry for she had r ecognized in him the

,

’
man in chains under Jupite r s throne The cry at .

tr acted at tention ; she was brought before D ionysius ,

forced to relate her dream and sent to be executed ,

.

E qually well known was the remarkabl e drea m whi h c

 1 04 MODERN MAG I C .

S ocrate s had a short ti m e befo r e his death His sen .

ten ce had alread y been passed but t h e day fo r its ex e

,

c u t io n was n o t yet made kno w n when O rito one Of his , ,

frien ds came to him and informed him that it would

,

probably be ordered for the nex t morning The great .

philosophe r replied with his u sual calmness : If su ch

is th e will of the gods be it so ; bu t I do n ot th ink it
,

will be to m orrow I had j ust before yo u en te red a

-
.
, ,

sweet dream A woman Of t ran scendin g beauty and

.
,

dr essed in a long white robe appe ared to me cal l ed m e

, ,

by n ame and said In three days yo u will retu rn t o

,
‘
,

your beloved Phthia ( S ocrates n ative

’
He ’

did n ot die till the third day .

A lexander t h e G reat came more th an once during his ,

remarkable career i n peculiar co ntact with prophetic

,

dreams H e was th u s informed of the coming of Cas

.

s ander long before he ever sa w h im an d even Of th e ,

influen ce which the still unkn own frien d would h ave

on his fate When t h e latter at last appeared at cou rt
.
,

A lexan der looked at him long an d an xiousl y an d ,

recognized in hi m the man h e h ad so often seen i n his

dreams . It so happened however that before his
, ,

suspicion s assu med a positive form a G reek distich ,

'
was mentioned to him written to prove th e u tter
,

worthlessness of all dream s an d the e ffect o f thes e

,

lin es combin ed wi th the dis covery that Cassander wa s

,

the son of his beloved A n ti pater induced him to lay ,

aside all apprehension s N eve rtheless his friend su b

.
,

sequen t ly poisoned him in cold blood N ot l ess .

1 06 M ODERN MAG IC .

Calph u rn ia, in a d ream fall wounded an d

saw h im , ,

copiou sly bleedin g into her ar ms and there en d his

'

life S he told him of her dr eam an d on her knees

.
,

besought him no t to go o u t o n th at day ; but C aes ar ,

fea ring h e might be s u spected o f giving u ndu e weigh t

to a woman s dream s made light o f her fea r s wen t t o
’
, ,

the S en a t e an d met his tragic fate A mong later

, .

Romans the E mperor Theodosiu s was most s trikingly

favored b y dre am s if we m ay rely u pon th e state men t
'

of A m mianu s M arcellin u s ( I T wo courtiers .

,

anxious t o as ce rtain wh o should su c ceed th e E mpero r

V al ens o n the throne employed a kin d o f m agic in str u
,

men t resembling the m odern psychograph and su c

, ,

ce e de d in deciphering th e letters Th eo d Thei r dis .

co v ery becam e known t o the j ea lou s emperor who ,

ordered n o t only Theodorus his secon d secretary Of ,

state to be execu ted bu t w ith him a large n umber o f

, ,

eminent personages who se n ames began with the o m i

n ou s five letters Fo r some un kn ow n reason s Th eo do
.
,

sin s then in S pain escaped his su spicions an d yet i t was

, , ,

he who when V al ens fell in the war against the Goths

, , ,

was summoned home by the n ext emperor G ratianu s , ,

t o save th e empire an d as sume th e supreme comman d

o f th e army When the s uccess ful gene ral re t u rn ed t o
.

Byzan tiu m t o m ake h is report t o the emperor he had ,

himself a dream in which he saw t h e gre at Patriarch

o f A ntioch M eletius in v est him wit h the pu rple an d
, , ,

place t h e i m perial cro wn upon his head

_
G ratianu s .
,

str uck by th e brillian cy o f the victo ry ob t ained at the

 DRE AMS . 7

moment of supreme danger m ade Th eodosius E mperor ,

Of the E as t and returned to Rome D uring the follow

,
.

ing year ( 3 8 0) a great council was held in Con stan

t in o ple an d here amid a crowd o f as sembled dignitaries
, ,

O f the church Theodosius instantly r ecognized the

,

Bishop of A ntioch whom he h ad neve r seen ex cept in

,

his dream .

It is not gen erally know n that the prediction of -

futu re greatness which S hakespeare causes the three

witches t o convey t o M acbeth rests o n an histo ric ,

basis The an noun cemen t ca me to him however

.
, ,

probably not at a n actual m eeting but by mean s of a ,

prophetic dream which presen ted t o the ambi t iou s

. ,

C hiefta in the appearance o f an encoun t er with u n

earthly agents This presumption is stre n
. gthen ed by
the firs t no tice of the mysterious event which occurs it , ,

is be l ieved in “
Wyn t o wn is Cro nyk il where M acbeth
, ,

is reporte d to h ave h ad a vivi d dream o f three weird

women w h o foretold him his fa t e
,
Boethius deri ved .

his informatio n from this source an d for unknown ,

reasons added not only Ban quo as a witness of the

scene but described it also first o f all chroniclers as
, , , ,

an actual meeting in a forest .

The report tha t the discovery of the famou s V enus

Of M ilo w as due t o a dr eam is not i mprobable but is as
, ,

yet withou t su fficient au thentication The French .

Consul Brest who was a resident of M ilo dreamed it is

, , , ,

state d two nights i n succession that h e h ad ca used

, ,

diggings t o be m ade at a certain place in the is l and a n d

1 08 MODERN MAG IC .

that h is effo r ts h ad been rewarded by the discove ry o f a

beautiful statue He pai d n o attenti on to t h e dream ;
.

but i t was repeated a third time an d now so distinctly ,

that he not only saw clearly all the surroun dings but , ,

also the traces o f a recent fire o n the spo t that h ad

,

been poin ted ou t to him before When he went o n the .

following day to the place b e ins tan tly recogniz ed the

,

t races Of fire began his researches and di sco vered not

, ,

only the V enu s n ow the glory o f the Louvre but also

, , , ,

several other most valuable st atu es The w ell known .

-

dream con cern ing M aj or A n dré is Open t o t h e same

obj ections although it i s quoted in good faith b y Mr s
, .

Crowe ( i p.
,
. We are told that th e Rev Mr Cu n .
-
.

n in gh am , th e poet saw i n a dream a man who was

,

captured by armed s oldiers and h anged o n a tree To .

his utter conste rn ation he recognized on the follow in g

,

day in M aj or A ndré who was then fo r the fi rst time

, ,

presen ted to him the person h e h ad seen in his dream

, .

The latter was then j ust on the point of embarking fo r

A merica wh ere he met with h is sad fate
,
.

A large n umbe r o f dreams which are looked u pon as

prophetic are n othing more than the r esult o f impres
,

sions made on th e mind during sleep by some bo dily

sensation A swelling o r an in flammation for in stan ce
.
, ,

is frequently ann ou nced beforehan d b y pai n in the

a ffecte d pa rt Of the body ; the min d receives thro u gh
t h e n erves an impression of this pain an d clothes it ,

during sleep an d in a dream into some familiar garb , ,

t h e biting o f a se rpen t the sting Of an in sect o r even

, , , ,
1 10 M ODERN MAG IC .

fligh t S t Augustine al so h as an accoun t Of a father wh o

. .

afte r death appeared to his son and show e d him a re

ce ipte d accou nt the loss of which h ad caus e d his hei r
,

muc h anxiety ( De cu m pro m o rt a is ch x i ) A fter

.
,
. .

D ante s death th e thirteenth canto Of his Paradise could

’

n owhere be found an d t h e apparent loss filled all Italy

,

with grief an d sorrow His son Pietro Alighieri how

.
, ,

ever saw a long time afterwards in a drea m hi s father

, , , ,

who came to his bedside an d tol d him that the mi ssing

p apers were conce aled unde r a certai n plank n ear the
window at which he h ad been in the h abit of w riting .

It was only when all o ther researches h ad proved

vain that att ention was paid to t h e dream bu t whe n
, ,

the plan k was examin ed the canto was foun d in th e

precise place which the dr eam h ad indicated .

A similar dream o f qui t e recen t occu rrence was ae e i

dentally more thoroughly authenticated th an is gen
‘

e ral l
y the case with such events The beauti ful wife .

o f Baron A lphon se de Roth schild o f Paris h ad lost a

valuable ring while hu n ting in the woods n ear her cas

tle Of Fe rriére s It so happen e d that early as sociation s
.

made the j ewel specially dear to her an d she fel t th e ,

los s grievously ; a reward Of fifte en hu ndred fran cs

w as therefore o ffered at on ce fo r its recovery
.
,
The .

night after the hunt th e daughter Of o n e o f the ke en

,
.

ers saw in a dream an unknown man of imposing ap

’

aran c e who told her t o go at daybreak to a certain

p e ,

crossroad i n the forest where she would fin d the rin g

,

at the foot of a bee ch tree close to t h e h ighway S he

-

, .
 DREAMS .

awakes dresses h erself at on ce an d goes to the pl ace of

, ,

which she has dreamed ; after half an hour s walk Sh e ’

r eaches the crossroads an d almost at the same moment

sees something glittering and shining like a firefly ,

picks it up an d behold ! it is th e r ing The girl had

,
.

n ot even seen th e hu nt nor did she kn o w anything Of

,

the loss of the j ew el ; t h e whole occurren ce and the ,

place w here it was lost all were pointed o u t to h er in

,

her dr eam ( Le ll orzde I llu stre De c 1 5

‘

I .
.
, ,

It has already been m entioned that the question h as

often been moo t ed whether the min d was r eally quite
at res t during sleep or still Operative in dreams S ome
,
.

authors deny its activity al t ogether ; o thers admit a

partial activity The philosopher K ant went so far as
.

t o maintain t hat perception s had during sleep were

clearer and fuller than those of the day because Of the ,

perfect rest o f the other senses Recollection alon e h e

.
, ,

added was missing becau se th e min d acted in sleep

, ,

w ithout the co operation of the body .

There are however cer tain facts which seem to

, ,

prove that t h e mind does at least n ot altogether cease

, ,

its activity wh ile the body is asleep How else could .

we explain the power many persons undoubtedly pos

sess to awake at a fixed ho ur and th e su cce ss with ,

which more than on ce great men tal e ffo rts have been
, ,

m ade du ring profound sleep ? O f the lat ter Tartini s ,

’

famous sonata is a striking ins tance He had e n .

deav o re d in vain t o finish this great work inspiration

would not come an d he had abandoned the task in
,
1 12 MODE RN MAG IC .

despair D u ring the night he h ad a dream i n w h ich

.

he on ce more tried his best bu t in vain ; at the mo ,

ment of despair however the Devil appeared to him

, ,

an d promised to finish the work in return for his soul .

The composer nothing loath surrenders hi s soul an d

, ,

hears his m agnificen t work glo riously completed on the

violin He wakes u p in perfect delight goes to his
.
,

“ ”
desk an d at o n c e writes dow n his D evil s S on ata ’
'

.
,

E ven children are known occasion ally to be able t o

give in te lligen t an swers while fast asleep ; the ques
tion s however mu st be i n accordance with the cu rren t
, ,

o f their thoughts otherwise they are apt to be arou sed

, .

A c as e i s qu oted by Reil o f t wo Soldiers who used at ,

times t o keep up an u ni nterru pte d conversatio n during

,

a whole n ight while they were to all appearan ces fast

,

asleep A lady also was un able to refuse an swers t o

.
, ,

ques tion s put t o her at n ight an d had at last to lock ,

herself in carefully wh enever sh e wen t to sl eep .

Hence it is that some of the most p r ofound thin kers

wh o ha v e discussed the subj ect Of dreams like D es ,

cartes and Leibn itz Jo u fl ro y and D ugald S tewa rt

‘

, ,

Richard an d Caru s wi th a n umber o f o th ers assert the

, ,

unin te rrupted wakefuln ess o f the mind S ome authors .

'

believe that the spiritual pa rt Of man n eeds n o sleep ,

bu t deligh ts i n the comfort o f feeling that the body i s

i n perfect repose an d of forgettin g by these mean s
, , ,

for a time the troubles of daily life an d the respon si ,

b ilit ie s of our earthly existen ce They base th is view .

upon the fact that as far as we can j u dge th e m

, , in d is , .
1 14 M ODERN MAG IC .

a dry river bed an approa chin g famine an d pretty

-

flo wers great j oy to come provided al ways we are dis

, , ,

posed to ad mit a higher class of prophetic dreams .

S uch a view is supported by high au thority for since ,

the days o f A ristotle great writers divines as well as

, ,

philosophers have en deavored to classify dreams accord

,

ing t o their n ature and importan ce Th e gre at re .

i

form er M elan chthon in his work o n the so ul divided

, , ,

them into common dr eams void o f importan ce ; pro ,

ph e t ic dreams arising from th e individual gifts Of the

,

sleeper ; divin e dreams inspired by G od either directly

,

o r through the agen cy Of angels and finally demoniac , ,

dr eams such as t h e witches s abbat h

, O n e great dif
’
.

fi cul t y attending all su c h classification arises however

~
, ,

from the well known fact already alluded to that ex

-

, ,

ternal sensations are by far the most frequ en t cau ses of

dreams E ven these h ave been systematically arranged
.

by some wri t ers most s u ccessfully p erhaps in the

“

, , ,

work of M ain e de Biran b ut h e overlooks again the

,

n umero us cases i n which ex ternal n oises and similar

accidents produce a whole train o f tho ugh ts Thu s .

Pope dreamed o f a S paniard who i mpu den tly entered

'
his library ran sacked the books on th e shelves an d
, ,

turn ed a deaf ear to al l h is remonstran ces The im .

pression was so forcible that h e questioned all his

servants an d investigated the matter thoroughly ti l l
, ,

he was finally forced to ackn owledge that the whole

tran saction was a dream cau sed by the fall of a book
i n his lib r ary which h e h eard in h is sleep A still
, .
 DREAMS . 115

more remarkable case occurred on ce in a hotel in

Dan t z ic where n ot on e person onl y bu t all t h e gu ests
, , ,

wi thout exceptio n dreamed Of the su dden arri v al of a

,
.

n umber o f travelers wh o disturbed the w hole hou se

, ,

an d took possession of their rooms with un usual clatter

and noise N ot on e had arrived bu t during t h e night
.
,

a violent storm had arisen cau sing doors t o slam and

,

windo w shutters to flap against the hou se n oises

-

which had arou sed in more than fifty people precisely

the same impression s .
 IV .

V ISIONS .

Co n cipie ndis v isio nib us q u as ph an t asias v oca nt .

Q UINTILI AN .

'

VI S I ON S, that is the percept io n o f apparently tan

,

ib l e Objects in th e ou te r world which only exist in

g ,

o u r imagination have been kn o wn from time im

,

memorial among all n ation s on e arth They are i n .

,

themselves perfectly n atural an d can frequ ently be

, ,

traced b ack withou t difficulty to bodily affection s o r

a disordered state o f the mind so that m any emi ,

n en t ph y sician s dispose o f them curtly as mere inci

de n tal symptoms o f congestion o r n eural gia They .

may presen t real men an d thin gs known beforehand , ,

and now reproduced i n such a manner as to appear

obj ectively ; or they may be ideal forms the product ,

o f the moment an d i n compatible with th e laws o f

,

actual life . Person s wh o h ave vision s an d kn ow

n othing of their true n ature are apt to become in ,

t ensely ex cite d a s if they h ad been tran sferred in to

,

another world The images they behold se em to them

.

o f supern atu ral origin and may inspire them with lofty
,

thoughts an d noble impulses but only too frequently

,

t hey disturb their peace Of min d an d lead th em to

crime o r despair .
118 MODERN MAG IC .

path fellow t r avelers climbing up on all sides an d

,
-
,

rolli n g masses of sn ow which changed into dogs ; he

heard the blows Of axes an d th e laughin g an d si n ging
of distant shepherds while his road was u tterly de
,

ser t e d ,
an d n ot a human soul within many miles .

His hands an d feet were foun d frozen when h e arrived

at last at h is quarters for the night and te n da ys later ,

he died from the effects o f his exposure During t h e .

retreat Of the Fren ch from Russia the poor su fferers ,

frozen and famished were con tinually tormen ted by

,

similar halluc ination s which increased their su ffe rings

,

at times to such a degree as to lead them to commit

suicide A nother frequent cau se of visions is lon g
.

continu ed fasting combined with more or less ascetic

devotion This i s said to expl ain why t h e prophets Of
.

the O ld Tes ta ment were so vigorously forbidden to in

du lge in win e or rich fare Thus A aron was told
.

DO not drink wine nor strong drink thou n or thy ,

r

son s with th ee when ye go in t o t h e tabernacle ( Levit

,
.

x 9 ) M oses remain ed forty days and n either did eat

.
,

bread nor drink win e when he was on M oun t S in ai

,

( D euter ix . t h e N azarites were ord ered n o t to

.

drink any liqu or of grapes nor to eat moist grapes or

,

drie an d even to abs tain from vinegar ( N umbers v i .

3 ) an d Daniel an d his companion s had n othing but

pulse to eat and water to drink ( Dan i in . .

“
order to prepare them for receiving wisdom an d kn ow
”
ledge and t h e understanding of d r eams an d visions .

N arcotics also and in ou r day most of the an aest h et

, , ,
 VI S I ONS . 1 19

ics can produc e visions an d hallucin ation s but the ,

result is in all su ch cases m u ch less interesting than

-

when they are produced spont an eously Tobacco an d .

Opium betel h asheesh and cocoa are the prin cipal

, , ,

mean s employed ; bu t S iberi a has b esides its n arcotic

mu shrooms Pol ynesia its ava Ne w G ranada an d the
, ,

Himalaya t h e thorn apple Flo ri da its e m eti c apa

-

l achine and the northern regions of A merica an d

,

E urope have their ledum Th e most e ffective among .

these narcotics seems to b e the Ind ian hemp since th e ,

visions it produces surp ass even the marvelou s e ffects

of opium as has been recently again most g raphically
,

described by Bayard Taylor L aughing gas al so h as .

-

, .

frequent l y similar effects and a ffords besides the pre , , ,

cio n s privilege of freedom from the painful often ex ,

cru ciating cons equen ces of other narcotics: W hen

pe rfumes are employed for the express purpose of pro
duc ing vision s it is difli c ul t to ascertain how mu ch i s
,

due to their influence and how much to the over ex ,

-

cited mind Of the seer Benvenuto Cellin i describes

.

though probably n ot in the most trustworthy manner

‘

th e amazing e fl e c t produ ced u po n himself and a boy by

his side by the perfumes which a priest burnt in the
,

Coliseum Th e whole vast building seemed to h im

.

filled with demons and the boy saw thou sands o f

,

threatening men fou r huge giants an d fire bursting

, ,

out in cou ntless places The great a rtist was told at .

,

th e same time that a great danger w as threatening

,

him and that he would surely lo se his beloved Angelica

,
1 20 M ODERN MAG IC .

within the mo n th ; both even ts oc curred as predic t ed,

an d thus proved that i n this cas e at lea st m agic ph e
n o m e n a had accompan ied the vision s ( Goet h e B Cel .
,
.

l in i 1 i v ch
, . . .

A mong other extern al causes which are apt to pro

duce vision s must be m en tion ed violent motions espe
, ,

c ial ly when they are revolving as i s the case with the

,

S hamans of the Laplanders and th e dan cing D er v ishes

o f the E as t ; self in flic t ed wounds s uch as the pri es ts
-

o f B aal ca u sed in o rder to ex cite their power of divin a

tion ahd long continued imprison ment as illustrated in

,
-

th e well— known cases of Benven uto Cellin i and S ilvio

Pellico The latter w as constantly tormented b y sighs
.

o r suppres sed laugh te r which he hear d in his du n geon ;

then by in v isible hands pulling at his dr ess knocking ,

dow n his books or trying to put o u t his light till h e ,

began seriously to suspect that he might be the victim

o f in visible malignan t powers F ort unately all these
.

p h en omena dis appeared at break of day and thus his ,

vigoro u s min d supported by true piety was enabled to

, ,

keep h is j udgment uninj ured .

D i seases of every kin d are a fruitful source Of vision s

a n d s ome are rarely without them ; bu t the characte r

o f visions di ffers acc ording t o t h e nature Of the affe c

tions Persons who su ffer with the liver have melan

.

c h o ly consumptive patients have ch ee rful vision s

, .

Epil eptics often see fea rful spectres during their pa r

o x ysm s and persons bitten by mad dogs see th e animal
,

that h as ca used their su ffe r ings The cas e Of the book

.
1 22 MODERN MAG IC .

b ut h eard as they were conversing with oth ers ; what

,

t hey said was written down in m any cases an d p r oved

, ,

t o be predicti on s of approaching visits of the dread

disease t o neighbo ring houses A magic power of fore .

sight seems in these cases to b e developed by the ex

treme ex citement o r d e ep an xiety but th e un con sciou s ,

clairvoyan ce assumes the form o f person s ou tside of

thei r o wn mental sphere within w h ic h they alone
,

existed .

By fa r the most frequent causes o f vision s are how ,

ever those o f psychical nature l ike fixed ideas intense

, , ,

passions or deep rooted prej udices an d concealed mis

,
-

deeds When t hey are produced by su ch cau ses they

.

have Often the appearan ce of having led to the commis

sion of great crimes Thus Julian th e A postate who
.
,

had cau sed the image of his guardian angel to b e pu t

upo n all his coins and banners n aturally h ad this form ,

deeply impressed upon his mind In the night before .

a decisive battle h e saw according to A mmianu s

, ,

M arcellinu s this protecting genius in th e act of turn

,

ing away from h im and this vision m ade so deep an

,

impression upon his mind that b e interpreted it as an

omen of his impending death O n the following day .

he fell in battle The fearful penalty inflicte d upon

.

Charles IX by his o wn con scien ce is well known ;

.

after the m assacre of S t Bartholomew he saw by day

.
,

and by night th e forms Of his victims around him till

, ,

death m ade an end t o h is su fferi ngs O n o ur o wn .

continent , o n e of the early conquerors gave a s triking

 VI S I ONS . l 23

in stan ce of the manner in wh ich su ch vi sion s are pro

du ce d
. He was one of the adventurers who had
reached Da rien and was on the poin t of plunde ring a
,

temple ; but a few days before an Indian woman had

, ,

told him that the treasures it held were guarded by evil

Spirits and if he entered it the earth would open an d
,

sw allow up the temple and the conquerors alike N oth .

in g dau nte d h e led his men to the attack ; but as they

, ,

came in sight he suddenly sa w in the evening light

, , ,

h o w the colossal building rocked to an d fro as in a

te mpest and t horoughly in timidated he rode away with
,

hi s followers leaving the temple an d its treasures

,
'

unharmed That vision s are apt to precede atrociou s

.

crimes is quite natural sin ce they are in su ch cases

,

n othing but the product o f the in ten se ex citemen t

u nder which murders are often committed ; but i t ,

wou ld be absurd to look upon them as motive causes .

Rav aillac had con stant visions of angels saints an d , ,

demon s while prepa ring his min d for the assassination

,
-

o f Henry IV and the yo ung studen t w h o attempted

.
,

the murder o f Napoleon at S ch on brunn repeatedly saw

the geniu s of G ermany which appeared to him an d
,

en couraged him t o free his country from the u surper .

Person s who at t empt to summon ghosts are very apt to

see them because their mind is highly w rought up by
,

their proceedin gs and they confidently expect t o h ave

visions But some men possess a similar power withou t
.

making any special effort or pe culiar preparations their ,

firm volition su fii cin g for the pu rpose Thu s Talma .

1 24 MODERN MAG IC .

c ould at all times force h imself t o see in the place o f th e ,

actual audience before whom he was acting an assembly ,

o f skeleton s an d h e is sa id never to have acted bette r

,

th an when he gave himself up to this hallucination .

Painte r s also frequently have th e powe r to summon

, ,

’
before their mind s eye the features o f t hose whose
port rait they ar e painting ; Blake for instan ce w as , ,

able actu ally to finish likenesses from images he saw

sitting in th e chair where th e real person s had been
sea te d .

While visions are quite common delusion s o f the ,

other sen ses are less fr eq u en t The insane alone hear .

strange conversations Hallu cination s O f the tas te

.

cause patients to enj oy delightful dishes or to pa rtake ,

O f s poiled meat an d other u n pala table vian ds which ,

have no ex is ten ce S weet smells and incen se are Oft en

.

perceived bad Odors much less frequently The touch

, .

is Of all senses the least likely to be deceived ; still

deranged people occasionally feel a slight to uch as a
severe blo w an d person s su ffering from certain dise ases
,

are convinced that ants spiders or other i n se cts are , ,

runn ing over thei r bodies .

Th e favorite season o f visions is night —mainly th e

hour about midn igh t —and in the whole year the time o f ,

A dven t bu t also th e nights from Ch ristmas to Ne w

,
'

Year This is Of course n ot a feature of supern atural

.
, ,

life bu t the simple e ffect o f th e greate r quiet an d the

,

more though t ful inward life which these seasons are apt
, ,

to bring t o busy men The r eality o f ou r s urroundi ngs

.
1 26 MODE RN MAG IC .

see v ision s an d o u r power t o distinguish the s tar s In .

the day the brilliancy of the sun so far outshines t he

,

latter that we see not a S i ngle o n e ; at night they step

,

forth as it were from t h e dar k an d the deeper the black

, , ,

ness of the sky the gre ater their own brightn ess A re
,
.

they on that account n oth ing more than creatures of

, ,

o u r imagination set free by night and darkness

,

A s for the favorite places where vision s most fre

qu ently ar e seen it se ems that solitudes have already
,

in ancient times alw ays been looked upon as Special

r esorts for evil spiri ts The deserts Of A sia with thei r
.
,

deep gullies and n u m erou s caves suggested a po pu la ,

tion o f shy an d weird beings whom few saw an d no o n e ,

knew fully Hen ce the fearful description of Babylon

.

i n her ove r thro w w hen Their hou ses shall be ful l of

,

doleful creatu res an d owls sh all dwell there an d satyrs

,

”
shall dan ce there ( Isaiah xiii . The N ew Te sta .

ment speaks in like manne r of the deserts of Palestin e

as the abode of evil spirits and in later days the F ar oe
,

Islands were con s tan tly referred t o as peopled with

weird and u n eart h l v beings The deserts of A frica are .

full O f Dj inn s an d the va st plain s o f the E ast are peopled

,

w ith weird apparitions The solitudes of N orwegian.

mounta in districts a bound with gnomes an d sprites an d ,

waste places ev erywhere are n o sooner abandon ed b y

men than they are occupied b y evil spiri ts an d become
the s cenes of wild and gruesome visions . .

Well authenti cated cases Of visions are recorded in

-

unbroken succession from the times of an tiquity to

 V I S I ONS . l 27

o u r o wn day and leave n o doubt o n the mind that

,

they are not only of common occurren ce among men ,

b ut generally also accompanied by magic phenomena

, ,

o f gr eat importance Th e ancients sa w of course

.
, ,

most frequently their gods ; the pagans who had been ,

converted to Christianity their former idols threatening

,

them wit h dire punishment ; and Christian s their ,

saints an d martyrs their angels and demons Thus all

, .

pa rties are supported by authorities i n n o way peculia r

to one faith or another but common to all humanity ;
,

and the b attle is fought for a time at least between faith

, ,

and faith an d bet ween vision and vision A famous

, .

r hetor A ristides who i s mentioned in histo ry as one Of

, ,

the mightiest champion s polytheism eve r has been able

to raise against t r iumphant Christianity saw, in his ,

hours of exaltation the great E sculapiu s wh o gave

, ,

him directions how to carry o n his warfare A t su ch .

times his public addresses became so attractive that

thousands Of enthusi astic h earers assembled to hang
u pon his lips . The s tory of the geni us Of S ocrates is
well known A ulus Ge ll iu s tells u s how the great sage
was seen standing motionless for twenty four hours in -

the same place before j oin ing the expedition t o Po tidea

, ,

so absorbed i n deep t hought that it seemed as if his

soul had left the body D ion Plato s most intimate

.
,
’

friend saw a huge Fury en ter his house and sweep it with
,

a broom ; a conspiracy broke ou t an d he was murdered , ,

after having los t his only son a fe w days before .

”
( Pl u ta rch s Life of Dion The same S imonides
’ “
, ,
 1 28 MODERN MAG IC .

wh o according t o V aler i us M aximu s ( De S am m i s l i ch

’ '

, . .
.

h ad escaped from Shipwreck by the timely warn ing

of a spirit was once dining at th e magnifi cent hou se
,

o f Sk o pas at Cran o n in Th essaly w hen a servan t

, ,

en tered t o inform him that t wo gigantic you ths were

s t an ding at the door an d wished to see him immedi ately .

He wen t o ut and foun d no o n e there ; but at the same ,

moment t h e roof and the walls of t h e dinin g room fell

,
-

down bu rying all the g u ests under the ru ins ( Ph aedru s

,
’

Fab iv .
, The an cients l ooked u pon the vision i n
.
,

both cases as m erely e ffects o f the prOph e t ic power o f

,

th e poet which saved him from immediate death on ce

,

i n the form o f a spirit and t h e secon d time in the form

'

of the Dioscu ri For as S imon ides had shortly b efore

.
,

writte n a b eau t iful poem in honor o f Castor an d Pollux ,

h is escape and the friendly warning w ere n aturally

attributed to the heroic youths wh o con stan tly appear ,

in history as protective gen ii In G reece they were .

known to have fought dressed in their pu rple cloaks ,

an d seate d on snow white horses on the side of th e

-

Locri an d t o have announ ced their victory o n t h e sam e

.

day in O lympia an d S pa rta in Corinth an d in A then s

, , ,

( Ju sti n ix ,I n R om .e they were credited with the

victory o n the banks o f Lake Regill u s an d report ed to ,

have as in G reece dash ed into t h e city far ah ead of all

, , ,

messengers to proclaim t h e j oyful news Duri ng the

,
.

M acedonian war they met Publiu s V at in iu s On his way

to Rome an d informed him that o n the precedi n g day , ,

ZEm iliu s Paulus had captured Perseus D eligh ted .

130 MODERN MAG IC .

to make the ar m y victoriou s Upon the stre n gth o f

.

this vision the two g e nerals decided that he whos e

troops should fir st Sho w signs Of yielding sh o uld see k ,

d eath by advancing alon e against the Latin army .

The legion s o f D eciu s therefore n o sooner began t o

, ,

fall back than he threw himself sword in han d upon

, , ,

the enemy an d not only di e d a gloriou s death for hi s

,

count ry but secu red a brilliant victory t o his brethren

, .

A t a later per iod a gen ius saved the life of O c t avian ,

when h e an d A ntony w ere encamped at Philippi o n ,

the eve o f the great battle again st Brutus and Cassi u s .

The vision appeared not to himself however but to , ,

anoth er person his own physician Art o ru s who in a

, , , ,

dream was ordered to advis e his m aster t o appear o n

,

the battle fiel d in Spite of his serio us indisposition

-
.

O ctavian followed the advi ce and w ent o u t tho u gh h e ,

h ad t o be carried by h is men in a li tte r ; du ring his

absen ce th e soldi ers of Brut u s entered the cam p an d .

actually searched his ten t in which he would have

,

perished in evitably without the timely warning O f a .

very di fferent n ature was th e vision o f Cassius th e ,

lieu t enant o f A ntony who du ring his flight t o

, ,

A then s saw at night a h uge bl ack ph an tom which

, ,

informed him that h e was hi s evil spirit In his terro r .

h e called hi s se rvants and in quired what they h ad seen ,

b ut they h ad noticed n othin g Thu s tran qu iliz ed he

.
,

fell asleep again but the phan tom returned once more
, ,

and disturbed his min d so painfully that h e remain ed

aw ake th e r est o f th e night surrounded by h is guards
,
 V I S I ONS . 131

an d slaves The vision was afterwards interpreted a s

.

an ome n of his impending violent death .

The E mperor Traj an was saved from death during a

fea r ful earthquake by a man of colossal proportion s ,

who came to lead him out of h is palace at A ntioch ; an d ~

A ttila who to the surprise of the world spared Rome

, , ,

and Italy at the request of Pope Leo the G reat men ,

t io n e d as the tru e motive o f his action the appearanc e

o f a maj estic o l d man in priestly garments who h ad ,

th reate n ed him drawing h is sword with instant death

, ,

if he did not gran t all that the Roman high priest -

should demand .

In other cases which are as numerous as they are

,

striki ng the genius assumes the shape o f a woman

, .

”
Thus Dio Cassius Hist Rome 1 as well as S ue
.
, .

t o n iu s Claudius l i ) relate that when D rusus had

, .
,

ravaged G ermany and was on the point of crossing t h e

,

E lbe the formidable shape of a gigantic woman ap

,

peare d t o him who waded u p to th e mi ddle of the

,

stream an d then called ou t : Whither O D rusus ?

“
,

Canst thou put n o limit to thy thirst of conquest ?

”
B ack the end of thy deeds and of thy life i s at hand !
History records that Drusus fell back wi t hout apparent
reason an d tha t he died before h e reached the banks of
,

t h e Rhine Tacitu s tells u s in like mann er a vision

.
, ,

which en couraged Curtius Rufus at the time when he ,

’
a gladiator s son and holding a most humbl e positio n
, ,

was accompanying a qu aesto r o n his way to A frica .

A s he walked up and down a passage in deep m edita r

132 M ODERN MAG IC .

tion a woman of unu sual size appeared to h im an d

,

said : Thou , O Ru fus shalt be proconsul of this prov

,

ince The young man perhaps en cour aged an d ,

supported by a vision which was the result of h is own

ambitious dreams rose r apidly by his eminent ability
, ,

an d aft er h e had reach ed the consulate re ally Obtaine d ,

the pro v in ce o f A frica ( Ann x i

'

The younge r , .

Pliny who tells the same story in his admirable lette r

,

to S ura on the subj ect of magic ad ds th at th e gen iu s

’

appeared a secon d time t o th e great procon sul bu t ,

r emained silen t The latter saw in this silence a wa r n

.

in g o f approach i ng dea t h an d prepared for his end, ,

which did not fail soon to close his career .

It is very striking to se e h o w in these visions also the

inner life Of man was invariably clearly and distinctly
reflected The ambitions youth saw his good fortun e
.

personified in the shape of a beautiful wo m an which ,

his ex cited imagination called A frica an d which h e ,

hoped some time o r other to call his own Bru t us o n .

,

the contrary full of anticipation s of evil and s u ffering

, , ,

and p erh aps u nconsciously bitter remorse on account of

,

’
C aesar s mu rder saw his sad fate as a hideous demon
,
.

The army also sha ring n o dou bt their leade r s dark

, , , ,
’

apprehension s looked upon the black [Eth iOpian wh o

,

entered th e camp as an evil om en The appointed .

meeting at Phi lippi was m erely an eviden ce o f the su

perio r ability of Brutus wh o foresaw the probable ,

cou r se o f the war an d kn ew the g reat strategi c impor

t an ce Of t h e famous town .
1 34 M ODERN MAG IC .

higher powers This was Bern adotte wh o forsook h is

.
,

ben efac to r in order to moun t the thron e of S weden ,

and turn ed his own s word again s t his form er master .

Lo n g years afte r the fall Of Napoleon he was o n the ,

point o f sending his son O scar w ith a n army against

Nor way an d met with m uch opposition in the Cou ncil
,

of S tate Full of i mpatience an d indignation he

.
,

m ounted his horse an d r o d e o u t to cool his hea t ed

min d as he approach ed a dark forest n ear S tockholm ,

h e saw an Ol d woman sitting by the wayside whose ,

q u aint costume an d wild disheveled hair attracted his

,

atten tion He asked h er roughly wh at Sh e was doing

.

there ? Her reply was : If O scar goes into the war

“

which you propose he will no t strike b u t r eceive the

,

”
first blow The king was impressed by th e warn ing
.

and returned full of thoughts to his palace ; after a

, ,

sleepless night h e informed the Council o f S tate that

he had changed his views an d would n o t sen d the
,

prin ce to N orway ( La P resse M ay 4 E ven if

, ,

we accept the intervi ew with the woman as a mere

vision th e e ffect o f th e king s long an d an xiou s pre
,
’

o ccupation wi th an impo r tant plan upon the success of

which the security o f his th r one and the continuatio n
o f his dyn as ty might depen d the question still remain s
, ,

wh y a man o f h is tastes an d h aughty skepticism should

have clothed his doubts in words uttered by an o ld w o

man dressed in fan cy costume ?
,

The number o f prac t ical sen sible men who have

, ,

even in recent times believed themselves under the

,
 VI S I ONS . I 35

special care and pro tection Of a genius or guardian

angel is mu ch larger than is commonl y known The
,
.

ancients looked upon a genius as a part of thei r mythol

ogy ; and modern Christians who cherish this belief , ,

refer to the fact that the S aviour said of little children :

“
In heaven their a ngels do always behold the face o f
”
my Fathe r ( M att x viii These vision s—for so
. .

they must be called—vary greatly in di fferent persons .

To some men they appea r only when great dangers are

threatening or sublime e fforts have to be made ; while
i n others they assume by their fre qu ency a more or
, , ,

less permanent form and m ay even be inherited b e co m

, ,

ing tu telary deities of certain houses familiar spirits or , ,

specially appointed guardian angels of the members of

a family or single individuals Hen ce the well known .
,
-

accounts of t h e genius of S ocrates an d the familiar

Spirits of the Bible i n ancient times Hen ce also the
, .
, ,

almost uninterrupted line of similar accounts through

the M iddle A ges down t O o ur own day Thu s Campanella
’

.
,

sta ted that whenever h e was threatened with m isfo r

tun e he fell into a s tate half way between waking an d
,

sleeping in which he heard a voi ce say : Campan el l a !

,

Campanella ! and several other words without ever ,

seeing a person Calign an Chancelor of N avarre

.
, ,

heard in B éarn h is name called three times and then

, , ,

received a warning from t h e same voice to leave th e

town promptly as t h e plag ue was to rage there fear
,

fully He obeyed the order and escaped the ra v ages of

.
,

the terrible disease ( Bea umont etc p , .

, .
136 MODERN MAG IC .

The Jesuit G iovann i Carrera had a protecting geni us ,

whom he frequently consulted in cases of Special diffi

culty He became s o familiar with him that h e had
.
,

himself wak ed every n ight for his prayers b u t wh en at ,

times he hesitated to rise at once the spirit abandon ed ,

him for a tim e an d Carrera could only induce him t o

,

come back by long con tinued praying and fasting -

“
( His t S J iii p . .
, . .

The Bernadottes had a tradition that on e of thei r an

c e st o rs had married a fai ry who r emained the good gen
,

i us of the family and long sin ce h ad predicted that on e

,

o f that blood woul d moun t a throne The Bernadotte .

who became a king n ever forgot the prophecy an d was ,

largely influen ced by it when th e S wedish nobles o ffer

,

ed him the thron e It is well k nown that N apoleon

.

himself either believed o r a ffected to believe in a go o d

, ,

genius wh o guided his steps an d protected him from

,

danger He appeared according to his own statements

.
, ,

sometimes in the shape Of a ball of fire which he called ,

“ ”
his star o r as a man dressed in re d who paid him
, ,

occasional visits G eneral Rapp relates that in the year

.
,

1 80 6 he on ce fou n d the E mperor i n his room appar

, ,

ently absorbed in su ch deep meditation that h e did not

notice h is entrance but that when fairly arou sed he
, , ,

seized Rapp by the arm and asked h im if saw that st ar ?

When the latter replied that h e saw n othin g N apoleon ,

continued : It is my sta r ; i t is standing j ust above

“

you It h as n ever forsaken m e ; I see i t on all impor

.

tant occasio n s ; it orders me t o go o n and h as always ,

l 38 MODERN MAG IC .

can v as o r in marble o n paper or in rapturous words

, .

Raphael S anzio had long in vain tried to portray the

Holy V irgin according to a vague ideal in his mind ; at
las t he awoke one nig h t and saw i n the place where his
sketch was han ging a bright light an d in the r adiance ,

the M other of Christ in matchless bea u ty and with ,

supern atural holiness in her features The vision re .

mained deeply impressed upon his mind an d was eve r ,

afte r the original of which even his bes t M adonnas

could o nly b e imperfect copies Benvenuto C ellini .
,

when sick un to death r epea tedly saw an old man

,

trying t o pull him down into his boat bu t as soon as ,

his faith ful servan t came and tou ched h im the hideous ,

vi sion disa ppeared The artist h ad eviden tly a pictu re

.

o f Charon an d his A cherontic boat in his mind which ,

was thu s reproduced in his feverish dr eams O n .

another occasion when he had long been in prison an d

, ,

i n despair contempla t ed suicide an unkn own being ,

su ddenly seized him and hurled him back to a distance

o f four yards whe r e he remained lying for hours half
,

dead In the following night a fair you th appeared

.

to him an d made him bitte r reproaches o n account of

h is Sinful pu rpose The same you thful geniu s appea red
.

to h im repeatedly when a great crisis approached in h is

marvelously adven turou s life an d more t h an on ce
,

revealed to him the mysteries of the fu ture ( G o ethe s .

’

”
Be n v Cell i p
. . . Poor Tasso h ad fearful h allu
.

cin a t io n s during the time when his mind was dis

ordered b ut above them all hovered as it were the

, , ,
 VI S I ONS . 139

vision of a glorious V irgin surrounded by a bright l ight ,

which always comfort ed and probably alone saved him

from self destru ction Like Raphael Dannecker also
-
.
,

h ad lon g tried in vain to fin d perfect expression for h is

ideal of a Chris t on the Cross ; on e night however h e , ,

also saw the S aviour in a dream and at on ce proceeded ,

to form h is model from which was after wards C opied

,

the well known statue of transcen dent beau ty and

-

power .

Paganini used to te ll with an amu sing air of as sumed

awe an d reveren ce that his mother had seen a few
, ,

days before hi s birth an angel wit h two wings and of

,

s uch dazzling splen dor that Sh e could not bear to look

at the apparition Th e heavenly messenger invited her
.

to express a wish an d promised th at it should be ful

,

filled Thereupon sh e b egge d him on her knees to

'

make her N icolo a great violinist and was told that it ,

should be so The vision—perhaps nothing more than

.

a vivid form of earnes t desire and fervent prayer— h ad ,

n o doubt a seriou s influence on the great artist who

, ,

was himse l f strangely susceptible to such impression s .

M
‘

( o n it eu r sept 3 o ,
.
,

N othing can here be said accordi n g to the purpose ,

o f these sketches of t h e long series of visions vouch

,

safed to martyrs an d saints ; thei r histo ry belongs to

.

the ology But holy men have in dependen t of thei r

.
,

religious convictions oft en been as famou s for thei r

,

vision s as for t h e piety of their hea rts and their ,

achi evements in the world Loyola for in stance w ith .

, ,
1 40 MODERN MAG IC .

h iS facu l t ie s
'

perpetually strained to t h e utmost and ,

with his thoughts bent forever upon a g ran d and h o l v

aim could n ot well fail to r i se to a state of psychic
,

ex citement which n aturally produ ced impressive visions .

Hen ce he continually saw strange sights an d heard

mysteriou s voi ces the e ffect n ow o f extreme de spo n
,

den ey an d n ow of resto r ed confiden ce in G od and in

himself as the agent of the M ost High A n d yet these .

vision s never int erfered with the clearness of his j udg

men t n or with his promptn ess and en ergy i n acting .

Luther also o n e o f the most practical m e n ever called

, ,

upon t o act an d to lead in a great crisis had v isions ; ,

he saw th e D evil an d held lou d discuss ions with him ;

he su ffered by hi s persecutions and made great e fforts
,

to ri d himself of h is u nwelcome guest while engaged ,

i n his great work the translation of the Bible For h e

,
.

was after all— and for very great an d good pu rposes

,

only a m an of his age imbued with the universal

,

belief in the personal existen ce an d constan t presenc e

o f S ata n an d felt at the same time that he w as e n
, , ,

gaged in a wa r fare upon the results o f which depended

n o t only the ea rthly we l fare b ut the eternal salvation
,

o f millions .

It is diffi cult to say whe ther M ohammed who h ad ,

un doubtedly visions inn um erable received any aid fro m

,

h is h allucinatio ns in devising his new faith Me n o f sci .

en ce tell us that he suffered of Hys t er ia m u scula r is a dis ,

ease not un common in men as well as in women which ,

produ ces pe riodical paroxysms and is charact erized by

1 42 MODERN MAG IC .

against his fo r midable advers ar y Magen t ius a brigh t ,

cross in the heaven s sur r ounded by the words : I n 71 0 0

,

s ign o v in ces. B ut this vision stood by n o mean s alone .

He h imself beheld besides in a dream du ring the fol

, ,

lowing n ight the S aviour who ordered him to u se in

, ,

battle henceforth a ban ner like that which he h ad seen

i n h is vision N azarius a pagan also speaks o f a n um
.
, ,

ber o f marvelou s sign s in t h e heavens seen in G au l im

mediately before the emperor s great vi ctory N or can ’
.

it be doub te d that this vision no t only in spired Con

sta n t in e with n e w hopes an d n ew courage en abling ,

him to secure his triumph but also in duced him after

,

his su ccess to avow h imself ope nly a convert t o the

,

faith of Christ .

The visions o f that eminent man S wedenborg are

t o o well known t o r equire here more than a mere allu
sion Be ginning h is inte rcourse with the supernatu ral
.

world at the r ipe age of forty fi v e he soon gave himself

-

up to it systematically an d felt compelled to make his

,

daily conversations as well as th e r evelation s h e re

,

ce iv e d from tim e t o time duly known to the public

, .

Thus he wrote with an evident air of firm conviction

I had recently a con feren ce with the A postle Paul
an d at an othe r time he assured a W u rt em b e rg prelate ,

“
I have conferred with S t Paul fo r a whole year espe
.
,

c ial ly about th e words in Roman s iii 2 8 Three times . .

I have con versed with S t John once with M oses and

.
, ,

a hundred times with Luther when the latter co n ,

fessed that he h ad taugh t fi dem sola m con t rary to the

 V I S I ONS . 1 43

w arning of an an gel an d that h e h ad stood a l one when

,

ren ouncing the pope With angels finally I ha v e

.
, ,

held con stant intercourse for the last twenty years and ,

sti ll hold daily conversations .

Classic as well as Christian art is indebted to visions ,

for more than one sign al su ccess O n th e other h an d .

,

they have as fr equently been ma de to serve vile p urposes ,

mainly by feeding superstition and supporting religiou s

ty ranny We n eed only recall th e terrible calamity
.

caused by a wretched shepherd boy i n F ran ce who in , ,

saw o r pre tended to see heavenly visions order

, , ,

ing hi m to enlis t his com r ades and with their aid to , ,

r escue the Holy L an d from the possession of in fidel s .

Th ousands of little children were seized by t h e co n t a p

gions excitement and leaving thei r home an d their

,

kindred followed their youthful leader unch ecked b y

, ,

the au thorities because of th e interpretation applied t o

,

the words of Jesus S u ffe r little children to come unto

”
M e ! N ot on e of them ever reached Palestin e as all ,

perished long before they had reached even S outhern

France .

It is n ot e x act l v a magi c phen omenon b ut ce rtainly ,

a most startling feature in visions that the minds of ,

many men should be able by their own volition to cre

, ,

ate images and forms so perfectly like those existing in

the world aroun d u s that t h e same minds are incapable
,

o f distinguishing where hallucination an d re ali ty tou ch

each oth er This fac ulty va ries of cou rs e as much a s

.
, ,

othe r endowments : sometimes it produ ces n othing but

1 44 M ODERN MAG IC .

vague shape less lights or sou nds ; in other person s it is

,

capable o f calling u p well de fi n e d forms a n d of ca using

-

even words t o be hea rd an d pain t o be inflicted D ur .

in g severe su ffering in body o r soul it may become a ,

comforter an d in the momen t of passing through th e

,

valley o f the sh adow o f d eath it is apt to soothe the

,

anguish by vision s of heavenly bli ss bu t to an evil con

, ,

science it may also appear as an avenger by pre figu rin g ,

impending j udgmen t and condemnation It is this in .

fl u e n ce on the live s o f men and their great moral im

,

portance which lends to vision s— and in a certain degree

,

even t o hal lucination s— additional interest an d m akes ,

it our d uty n ot to set them aside as mere idle phan to ms ,

but to try t o ascerta in th eir true n ature an d final pur

po se This is all the more n ecessary as in ou r day v is
.
,

ion s are considered purely the o ffspring of the see r s own ’

m ental ac tivity a truth ab un dan tly proven by the Sim

,

pl e fact that b lin d or dea f people are qui t e as capable of

having vision s and hallucinations as those who have ,

the use of all their senses .

Thu s these magic phenomena have i n an unbroken ,

chain accompanied almost a

, l l the great men who are
kn own t o histo ry from th e ear liest time to o u r o w n
,

day In mod ern times they h ave ofte n been su ccess

.

fully traced to b o dily a nd mental diso rders ; bu t this

fact dim inishes in n o way the in terest which they have
fo r t h e stu dent o f magic The great Pascal wh o was
.
,

once threatened with instan t death by the upsetting o f

h is ca rr iage hencefo rth saw pe r petually an abyss by hi s
,
146 M O DERN MAG IC .

but nevertheles s neglected the work A fortnight after .

t h e visio n he was arrested an d lodged in the gate house -

of Westmin ster where h e re m ai ned for ten years o f

, ,

which he spen t five in the tr anslation of the work .

( Beaumont , p E ven religiou s vis ion s

.

have by no mean s ceased in m odern times an d more ,

than one remarkable co nversion is asc ribed t o such

a gen cy We do not speak of so called miracles li ke
.
-

t h at of th e chil dr en of S alette in the depa rtment of

the Is ere in 1 8 4 9 o r th e recen t revelation s at Lo urdes
, , ,

and in S outhern A lsace which were publicly endo rsed,

by leading men o f the church an d have furni shed rich ,

m aterial even for politi cal demon str ation s The vision .

o f M aj o r G a r diner also w h o j u st before committing a

, , ,

sinful action beheld the S aviour and became a ch anged

,

man has been so often published an d so thoroughly

,

discussed th at it n eed n ot be repeated here The con .

version o f young Ra t isb o n e in 1 8 43 created at the , ,

time an immense sen sation H e was born of Je wish .

parents but li ke only t o o m any of his race grew up to

, , ,

become a fr eethinker an d a sco ffer rej ecting all faiths ,

as idl e superstitions O ne day he strolled into the

.

church D elle Fratte in Rome an d while sun k in de ep ,

medita tion suddenly be hel d a vision of the V irgin

,

M ary whi ch made so deep an impression u po n him

,

that it changed th e wh ole ten or o f his life He gave . .

u
p the great wealth to which he had fallen heir h e ,

r enoun ced a lovely betrothed and resolu tely turni n g ,

h is back upon the worl d he en te r ed a s a novi ce in to a

, , ,
 V I S I ONS .

Jesuit conven t ; thus literally forsaking all in order to

follow Christ .

Th e magic phenomena accompanying vision s have , ,

among nations of the Sclavic race not unfrequ ently a ,

sp ecially formidable and repellen t character corre ,

spo n ding n o doubt with the temperament an d turn of

, ,

imagination peculiar to that race The S claves are apt .

to be r idden by invisible men ti l l they drop down in a

,

s o n ; they a re driven by wild be asts t o the graves o f

criminals where they behold fearful sights or they are
, ,

forced t o mingle with troops o f evil Spirits roving ove r

th e wide waste steppes an d they inva riably su ffe r from
, ,

the sad e ffects of such Visions t ill a premature death

,

relieves them aft er a few months In Wallachia a .

special vision of the so called Picko l itch is qui te com

-

mon and has i n on e case at least been o fli e ially re

, , ,

corded by military au thorities A poor private soldier

.
,

who h ad already more than on ce su ffered from vision s ,

was ordered t o stand guard in a lonely mountain pas s ,

and for ced by the rules of the se rvice to take h is place

there although he begged hard to be allowed to ex
,

change with a brother soldier as he knew h e would ,

come to grief The o fli ce r in command struck by th e

.
,

ear nestness of his prayer promised to len d him all

,

possible assistance and placed a secon d sentinel for his

,

support close behind him A t half past ten o clock

.
’

th e o ffi cer an d a high civil fun ctionary sa w a dark

figure rush by the house i n whic h t h e y were ; they ‘

h as tened at once to the post where two shots had ,

1 48 MODERN MAG IC .

fallen in rapi d succession an d fou nd th e inner se ntin el

, ,

the still smoking rifle in han d stari n g fixedly at the ,

place where h is com rade had stood an d utterly u n c o n ,

sciou s o f the approach o f his superior When they .

reached the ou te r post they found th e rifle on the

gr ound shattered t o pieces and the h eavy ba rrel bent
, ,

in the shape of a scyth e while the man himself lay at a

,

considerabl e distan ce gr oaning with pain for h is whole

, ,

body was so severely burn t th at h e died o n the follow

ing day The survivor stated that a black figure had
.

'

falle n as i f from heaven upon his comr a de an d to rn

, ,

him t o pieces in spite of the two shots h e had fi r ed at

it from a short distan ce then it had van ished again in
,

an in stant The matter was duly report ed to he ad

'

q u ar t ers an d when an in v e stigation was ordered th e

, ,

fact was discovered that a n umber o f precisely similar

occurren ces h ad alre ady been offi cially recorded Th e .

vis ion i s o f course nothing more than a product o f t h e

, ,

excited imagination of the mou ntaineers who lend the ,

favorite shape of a Picko lit ch to t h e freque nt bizarre ,

looking masses O f fog an d mist which ri se in their dark

valleys hover over gullies an d abysses an d d riven by a
, ,
-

sudden cu rren t o f w in d fly u pward wi th amaz ing

,

rapidity an d thu s seem to disappear in an i nstan t

, .

The apprehen sion o f the poor sentinel o n the other ,

hand was a kin d of clairvoyan ce produ ced by the com

,

bin ed in fluen ce of local t radi tion t h e nightly hour an d

,

the dar k pas s u pon a previou sly ex ci t ed mind wh ile

,
-

the vision o f the two o fli cers w as a similar magic phe

150 MODERN MAG IC .

bleeding an d purging the ph en omen a were n e v er th e

,

less real as far as th ey a ffected the patient and have i n ,

every insta nce been fully authen ticated an d scie n t ifi c

ally investigated The wel l known author Macn ish
.
-

, ,

h imsel f was frequently a Victim of this kin d of self

delu sion ; he saw durin g an attack of fever fearful
hellish shapes fo rming and dissolving at pleasure an d
, ,

during o n e nigh t h e beheld a whole th eatre fill ed w i th

people among whom he r ecognized many frien ds an d
,

acqu aintan ces w hile o n th e stage h e saw the famous

,

Du cro w with his horses A s soon as he opened hi s

.

eyes the scen e di sappeared bu t the mu sic continued

, ,

for the o rch e st ra pl ayed a magnificent march from

'

A lad din an d did n o t cease its magic pe rforman ce fo r

,
’

five hou rs The Vision o f t h e eye seems thus to h ave

.

been u nder the influen ce o f his will bu t his h earin g ,

was beyon d his control .

A ve ry interesting class o f Vision s ac co mpanied b y

undoubte d magic ph en omen a an d as frequen t in o u r ,

day as at any previou s period i s formed by those which

,

ar e the result of climati c an d topog raphi c peculi ari

ties We have already stated th at the peculia r impres
.

sion mad e upon predisposed minds by vast deserts an d

boundl ess waste s i s frequently asc ribe d by the super ,

st it io u s dwellers n e ar su ch localities to t h e in fluen ce ,

o f evil sp i r its. S u ch a Vi sion is the Ragl o f N orth ern

A frica which occurs ei th er aft er fatigui n g j o urneys
,

through the dr y hot dese r t in consequ ence of great

, ,

nervou s excitemen t o r as o n e o f the symptoms o f

,
 V I S I ONS . 1 51

typhoid feve r in n ative patients S eei n g an d hearing .

are alike affec t ed the other senses only in rare cases

, .

O rdinarily the eye sees everything immen sely magni

fi e d or oddly chan ged ; pebbles become huge blocks of
s t one faint tracks in the hot sand change into broad
,

causeways or ample meadows and distant shadows ap ,

pear as an imals wells o r moun tain dells If the moon

, ,
-
.

r ises th e vision i ncreases in siz e and distinctness ; the

sce ne becomes animated men pass by camels follo w , ,

each other in long lines and troops are marching past

,

in battalion s Then the ear also begins to succu mb to

.

the charm ; the r ustling o f dry leaves becomes the

swee t song of n umerou s birds ; t h e win d changes into
cries o f despair and the noise of falling sand into dis
,

tan t thunder The brain rem ain s appare nt ly u n af

.

fe c t e d fo r travelers su ffering o f the Ragl are able to

,

make note s and record the symptoms although th e ,

n o t e book l o oks to them like a huge albu m with cos tly

-

engravings There can be little doubt th at the great

.

afli u x of blood to the eyes and the ears is the first cause

o f these phenomen a but the peculiar n ature of the

,

vision s r emains still a mystery O ne stri kin g peculi .

arit y is thei r unvarying identity in men o f the same

r ace an d culture ; E uropean s have th eir o wn h all uci

nations which are not shared by A fricans ; the former
see churches hou ses an d carriages the latter mosques
, , , ,

te nts and camels thus proving here also the fact that
, ,

these delusion s of th e senses are produced in the mind

and not in the outer world T r avelers who su ffer from .
152 MODERN MAG IC .

hunge r o r from the dread e ffects of the Simoon are

n aturally m ore subj ect to the Ragl t han others ; the

visio n s generally appear towards midnight and contin u e

till six o r seven o clock in th e morning while du ring
’
,

th e day th ey are only seen in cases of aggravated suf

fe r in g . A n other peculiarity is the fact that these
visions conn e ct themselves only with small obj ects and
moderate sounds ; the gen tle friction of a V ibrating
’
tassel o n hi s ca mel s n eck appeared t o the great ex
l o re r Richardson like the cl a ek in g of a m ill wheel bu t
p
-

the words shouted by his companion soun ded quite n at

ural Thu s he saw in every li ttle lichen a green gar
.

den spot but th e stars he discerned distin ctl y en ough

,

to direct his way by them even when su ffering most in

tensely from th e B ag] .

The F ata M organ a of the so called G reat Dese rt in -

O regon i n which th e waters of the Padu cah K an sas

, , ,

an d A rkansas lose themsel v es to a great extent is a

”

kin dred affectio n H ere also phantom s of every kind

.

are seen gi gantic horsemen colossal bui ldings an d

, , ,

flitting fires b ut the absen ce of heat makes th e visi on s

“

less frequen t an d less distinct The Indian s however .

, ,

like th e M oors of A frica dread these apparition s an d

,

ascribe them to evil spirits These phenomena have b e .

sides a Special in terest by proving how constantly in all

,

these questions of modern magic facts are combined with

mere delu sions The flitting fires to which we alluded
.
, ,

for in stan ce are no t mere vision s but r eal and ta n gible

, ,

Substan ces the effec t o f gaseous e ffu sion s which are

,
 154 MODERN MAG IC .

mean s to acco m pl ish this the promise has often been

,

exacted o f dear friends that th ey would afte r death

, , ,

r eturn and make known their condition in the other

world S uch compacts have been m ade fr om time
.

immemorial—bu t so far their only r esult has b een th at

the survivors have believed o ccasionally that they have
r eceived visits from deceased friends —in other words ,

that their state of great excitement an d eager expectation

h as caused them t o have Vision s . It r emain s true after
,

all that fr o m that bou r n e n o traveler eve r return s

,
.

N evertheless these vision s have a deep interes t fo r the

,

psychologist as they ar e the result o f un consciou s

,

action an d thu s display what thoughts dwell in o ur

'

inn e r most heart con ce r ning the future.

 GH O ST S .

S unt a l i q ui d m an e s ; le t u m n o n o mni a fini t .

"

T H ER E are fe w subj ects outside of t he v exed qu es

,

tions of Theolo gy on which eminen t men o f all nation s

,

and ages have held more v aried views than so called -

ghosts The very term has bee n u nderstood di fferently

.

by almost every great writer who has approached the

boundary line of this department of magi c The word .

which is now commonly used in order to designate any

immaterial being not made o f t h e earth ear thy o r
, , ,

”
perhaps in a higher sense the body spiritu al o f S t
, , .

Paul was in the early days o f Christianity applied t o

,

th e visible spirits o f deceased pe rson s only In the .

M iddle A ges again when everything weird an d u n

,

n atural was unhesitatingly ascribed to diabolic agen cy ,

these phenomena also were regarded as nothing else

, ,

but the D evil s work ’

Theologians h ave added i n
.

r ecen t days a new subj ect of controversy t o this vexed

.

matter The divi nes of the seventeen th and eighteen th

.

century denied of course the po ssibility of a reappear

, ,

ance o f the spirits of th e departed as they were in ,

con sistency bo un d to deny the existe nce of a purgato ry ,

and yet from pu rgatory alon e were these spi r its accord
, ,
156 MODERN MAG IC .

ing to popular belief allowed to revi sit the earth —heaven

,

an d hell being comparative ly clos ed places A s the .

people insisted u pon seeing ghosts however th ere , ,

r emain ed n othing bu t to declare th em to b e delusion s

produ ced for malign pu rposes by the E vil O n e himself ;
an d s o decided n ot many generations ago th e Co n
, ,

sist o ry of B asl e in an appeal m ade by a G erman mysti c

autho r Jung S tilling A nd yet it is evident that a

, .

n umber o f eminen t thinkers an d not a few o f the most ,

skeptic philosophers e v en have believed in the occur ,

r en ce of such visits by inmates of S heol Hugo G rotius .

an d Pu fl e n do rf whose far famed worldly wisdom entitles

,
-

thei r Views to great respect M achiavelli and Boccac cio , ,

Thomasins an d even K ant all have repeat edlv admitte d ,

.

the existe nce of what we familiarly call ghosts The .

great philosopher of K On igsb e rg en ters fully in to th e

“
subj ect Immate rial beings he says
. includin g , ,

the souls of men an d animals may ex ist though they , ,

must be considered as n ot filli ng space but only acting

wi thin the limits o f space He admits th e probability
.

that ere lo n g th e process will be di scovered by whi ch ,

the h uman soul even in this life is closely connected

, ,

with the immaterial inmates o f the world o f spiri t s a ,

connection which h e states t o be operative in both

di rections men affecti n g spirits an d Spirits acting upon
,

men though the latter are un con sciou s of such impres

,

”
sion s as long as all is well In the same man ne r i n .

which the physical world is u nder the control of a law

o f gravity h e believes the spi ritual world t o be r uled by
,
1 58 MODERN MAG IC .

are pure immaterial Spirits S in ce this q u estion tran .

scen ds ou r mental faculties w e must submit to th e ,

”
j udgment of th e Church which cann ot er r , A nother .

great theologian th e G erman Bengel on the con tra ry

, , ,

“
assumed that probably the apparition s of th e departe d
have a prescribe d limit and then ceas e ; th ey contin ue
probably as long as all the ties between body an d soul
are not fully dissolved This question o f the n ature
.

o f o u r existe n ce during the time i mme di ately following

death is it is well kn own o n e o f the most vexed o f o u r

, , ,

day for while m ost divines o f the Protestan t Chu rch

,

assume an i m media t e decision of o ur etern al fate o thers ,

admit th e probability o f an in termediate s tate an d th e ,

Catholic Church has its well kn own probation ary state -

in purgato ry It may as well be stated here at on ce

.

that the whole theory of ghosts is ad missible only if we

as sume th at there follows after death a period during
which the soul u ndergoes n o t an immediate rupture , ,

bu t a slow gradu al separation fr om its bo dy aecom

, ,

p an ie d by a similar g r adual adaptation t o its new mode

o f ex iste n ce Wh ether the spiri t dur ing thi s time
.
, ,

i s still s uffi ciently aki n to ea rthy subs tan ce s to be able

t o clothe itself in to som e mate ri al pe rceptible t o th e
senses o f living m en is o f comparatively little impor
,

“ ”
tan ce The idea of such an ethereal body i s very
.

Old an d has never ceas ed to be en te rtained Thus in

,
.
,

1 3 0 6 already G uido de la Ton es who died in V eron a

, , ,

appeared during eight days t o his w ife his n eighbors , ,

an d a n umbe r o f devout p r iests an d decl ared in ,

 G H OS TS . 159

answer to their question s that the Spirits o f t h e de

parted possessed th e power to cloth e themselves with
air an d thu s to become perceptible to living beings
,
.

Bayle also in his ar ti cle o n S pinoza ( note

, a dv o

cates the possibili ty at least o f physical e ffects being

, ,

produced by agen ts whose presen ce we are not able to

perceive by the u se o f o u r ordi nary senses E ven so .

’
eminently prac t ical a mind as Lessin g s was bewildered
by the di ffi culties surrounding this question and he ,

”
declared that here hi s wits were at an end .

A nother great G erman writer Go e rres in his Chris , ,

”
tian M ysti c ( iii p . . not only admits the existen ce
“
o f ghosts bu t explains them a s
, the higher prototypal
form of man fre e d from the earthy form th e spectru m ,

relieved of its envelope which can be p r esent wherever

,

”
it ch ooses withi n the prescribed limits of its domain .

Th is View is ho wever not supported by the experience

, ,

o f those who believe they have seen ghosts ; for the

latter appear only o ccasionally in a higher purified ,

form resembling ethere al beings as a mere whitish

, ,

v apo r or a Shape formed of faint li ght ; by far more

gene rally they are seen i n the form and even the cos
tu me o f their ea rthy exis t en ce The only eviden ce of
.

r eally supernatu ral o r magic power s acCo m pan yin g

su ch phenomena consists in the in efl ab l e dr ead which is
'

apt to oppress the heart and t o cause inten se bodily suf

faring ; in the cold chill which invariably precedes the
apparition and in the profo u
, n d an d exquisitely painful
emotion which is n eve r again forgotten throughou t life .
1 60 MODERN MAG IC .

A s yet the subject has been so little studied by can

.

did in quiries that there are but a few facts which can
,

be mentioned as fully established The form an d shape .

under which ghosts appear are th e result Of the imagi ,

nation of th e ghost see r only whether he beholds angels ,

or devils m e n o r animals If his r ecept ive power is

, .

highly developed he will see them in thei r completeness

, ,

an d discern eve n the minu test details ; weak persons ,

on t h e other hand perceive n othing more than a faint

, ,

lumin ou s o r whitish appearan ce me r e fragmentary and ,

embryon ic visions These powers o f perception may

.
,

however be improved by practice an d those who see

, ,

ghosts frequently are sure tO discover o n e feature a fter

,

an other un til the whole form stands clearly and dis

,

t in c tly before thei r min d s eye The ea r is generally

’
.

more sus ceptible than the eye t o the approach of ghosts ,

and Ofte n warns the mind long before the apparition b e

comes Visibl e The noises heard are apt to be vagu e an d
.

ill defin ed con sisting m ainly o f a low whispering or

, .

restless r ustling a st range moving to an d fro or the

, ,

blow ing o f cold air in variou s direction s M any s ou nds .

,

however are so peculiar t hat they ar e neve r heard ex

, ,

cept in connection with ghosts and hen ce b aflie all , ,

‘

description It need not be added that the great maj or

.
,

ity of su ch sounds also exis t only in the min d of th e

b ea rer bu t as the latter is in his state o f ex citement
, , ,

fu lly persu aded that he hears them they are to him as ,

rea l as if they existed out side o f his being N or are .

they always confined to the ghost seer O n the contra ry .

,
1 62 MODERN MAG IC .

can only become possible by the m ore o r less complete

suspension of the ordinary life in th e flesh . For a mo
ment all bodily function s are susp en ded the activity o f
, ,

the b rain ceases and con sciousness itself is los t as in a

,

fit of fainting This rarely happens withou t a brief

.

instinctive struggle and th e final victory of an un seen

,

an d u nknown power which deprives the min d of its

,

habitual mastery over th e body is necessarily aec om ,

pan ie d by intense pain and overwhelming anguish .

Well authenticated cases of the appearan ce of Spiri ts

-

o f departed persons are men t ion ed in th e earliest w ri t

ings V alerius M
. aximu s r elates in graphi c words th e
experien ce of th e poet S imonides wh o was abou t to
-

en t er a vessel for t h e pu rpose of u ndertaking a lon g

j ourney with some o f his friends when he discovered a ,

dead body lyi ng unburied o n th e sea shore S hocked -

.

’
by th e impiety of the unknown man s friends h e delay ,

ed his departure to give t o th e corps e a decent fun eral .

D uring the follo wing night t h e spirit o f this man ap

,

peare d t o him and advised h im not to sail on the n ex t

day He ob eys th e warn ing ; his frien ds leave without
.

h im an d perish miserably in a great te mpest D eeply

,
.

moved by h is sad loss but equ ally grateful for his ow n

,

miraculou s es cape h e erected to the memory o f his u n

,
'

kn own frie n d a n oble m on ument in verses u nm atched ,

i n beauty an d pathos Phlegon also the freedman o f

.
, ,

the E mperor Hadrian has left u s i n his work De Mi

,
.

,
’

r a b zlib u s one of the most tou ching instances of such

,

ghost seeing ; it is th e well known s tory of Mach at e s

- -

.
 G H OS TS . 1 63

and Philim io n which G oethe reprod u ced in his Bri de

,

”
o f Corinth . N or must we forget the n umerou s exam
p l es of vi sion s in dreams by which the A lmighty chose ,

to reveal His will to his beloved among the chosen pe p

ple—a series of apparition s which the Chu rch has taken ,

care t o continue du ring the earlier ages in almost nu ,

broken su ccession fr om sa in t to saint Pagans were .

converted by such revelati on s martyrs were comforted , ,

the wounded healed and even an E mperor Constantine

, , ,
'

cured of leprosy by the appearan ce o f the two ap ostles

, ,

Peter and Paul .

The truth which lies at the bottom of all such ap

,

pearan ces is probably that ghostly disturbances are

, ,

u ni formly the acts of men b u t of men wh o have ceas ed ,

for a t ime to be free agen ts and who have, for reason s ,

to be explained presen tly acqu ired exceptional powers ,

.

Thus a famou s j u rist Counselor Hellfeld in Jen a was

, , , ,

o n e evening on th e point of signing the death warrant

o f a cavalry soldier Th e subj ect had deeply agitated

.

his mind for days and before seizing h is pen h e in v o k e d

, , ,

as was h is custom in such cases the aid of the Al

“
,

mighty through His holy spirit ”

A t that momen t —it .

was an hour before midnigh t —h e hea rs heavy blows fall

upon h is win dow which sound as if the panes were
,

s t ruck with a riding whip His clerk also hears the -

.

b l ows distin ctly and begin s t o tre m ble Violently This

, .

apparent acciden t in duces the j udge t o delay his action

h e devotes the n ext day to a careful re perusal of the -

evidence an d i s now led to the co nviction th at the crime

,
1 64 MODERN MAG IC .

dese rves only a minor punishmen t E re t h e year has .

closed another criminal is caught and vol un teers the

, ,

confession that h e was th e perpetrator o f the crime for

which the soldie r was punished In that solemn mo .

’
ment i t was of cou rse only the j u dge s own mind
, , , ,

deeply moved and worn ou t by painful work which ,

wa r ned him In a symbolic mann er n ot t o be precipitate ,

an d the very fact tha t the blows soun ded as if they had
been produced by a whip proved his un con scious asso
'

cia tio n o f the noise with the cavalry soldier A n d yet .

he an d his clerk believed and solemnly afli rm e d that ,

they had heard th e mysteriou s blows ! This du alism ,

which as it were divides man in to two beings o n e o f

, , ,

whom follows and watches the other while both are ,

un consciou s of their iden tity is the magic elemen t in

,

these phenomen a Thi s uncon sciou sness proving— as

.
,

in dreams— the inactivity of our reason produces the ,

n atural e ffect that we fancy all ghostly appearan ces are

,

foolish wanton an d wicked The fact is moreo ver t hat

,
.
,

they almos t al w ays proceed from a more or less diseased

o r disturbed min d and acquire importan ce only in so
,

fa r as it is o u r duty here also to eliminate truth fr om

error Thus only can we hope to cou nteract their mis
.

ch ie v o u s tenden cy and to preven t still stronger delu

,

sions from obtaining a mastery over weak minds This .

is the pu rpose of a club formed in London i n 1 8 69 the ,

members o f which find amusement and useful employ

ment in in vestigating all cas es of h aunted hou ses an d
other ghostly appearances .
166 M ODERN MAG IC .

eral days h e began to hear footsteps in his h o usef Grad

u ally they became m ore frequ ent then he distinguished
them clearly as a woman s st epfan d at last they were
’
’

accompanied by the draggi n g o f a gown Watches .

were set san d was strewn dogs were kept in the house
, ,

—but all in vain ; no trace of man was found an d still ,

the sounds continu ed The unhappy man prayed day

.

an d n igh t an d the n oise disappeared fo r a fortnigh t

,
.

When he ceased p raying they return ed loude r than ,

ever He sternly bids the ghos t desist an d behold ! th e

.
,

ghost obeys When he asks if it is a good angel or a

.

demon n o an swer is given bu t the qu estion : A rt tho u

,

the D evil ? fi nds an immediate reply in rapid steps up

and down th e hou se — for the poo r man s min d was ’

filled with the idea that su ch things can be done only

by the E vil O ne A t last he s u mmon s all his remain
.

in g energy an d in a tone of comm and he orders t h e

ghost to depar t an d never to reappear From that mo .

ment all distu r b an ces cease —and ve ry n a t urally for the ,

hau n te d distu rbed m an h ad fully recovered the com

, ,

mand over h imself ; the dualism that produced all th e

spectral phen omena h ad ceased an d the restored min d,

accomplished its o w n cure A s these phen omena are

.

thu s produced from within it appears pe rfectly n atural

,

also that they sho uld be repor ted as occurring most fre
qu en tly in th e month of N ovembe r Religiou s minds .

and supersti t io us di sposition s have bro u ght this fact

into a quaint connection with the approach of A dvent
time but the cause is p r obably pu r ely physical ; th e
,
 G H OS TS .

dark and dismal month with its den se fogs emblematic

of coming w inter predis poses t h e mind to gloomy
thoughts an d ren ders it less capable of resisting atmo
sph eric influences .

A ve ry general belief ascribes su ch distu rban ces u n i

,

“ ”
der the name of haunted h ouses t o t h e souls of ,

decease d perso n s wh o can fin d n o rest beyond the

grave The series o f ghost stories based upon this sup
.

po sition begin s with the account of S ue to n iu s an d co n

t in u e s unbroken to ou r day Then it was the spirit of
.

Caligula wh ich could not be quiet so l ong as h is body

, ,

which had only been h alf burned remained in that dis ,

graceful condition Nigh t aft er n ight his house an d

.

his garden were visited by strange apparition s till the ,

palace was destroyed by fire an d t h e empero r s sisters ’

ren dered the last hon ors to his remain s .

Thu s the disposition of mode rn in quiries to tra ce

back all popular accounts of great events all familia r ,

anecdotes an d fairy tales and even proverbs an d max

,

ims t o the ancients h as been fully gratified in this cas e

, ,

also They were not only kn own to an tiquity bu t

.
,

formed a staple of pop ular tales Thu s the younge r .

Pliny tells u s one which h e h ad frequently heard re lated .

A t A the n s there stood a large comfort able man sion , ,

whi ch howeve r was ill reputed N igh t afte r n igh t it

, ,
-
.
,

w as said chain s were hea rd rattling first at a distance

, , ,

an d then coming nearer till a pale hagga rd shape wa s

, ,

seen app ro aching wear ing beard and h air in lo n g dis

,

b evelled locks an d clan king the chains it bo r e on hands

1 68 M ODERN MAG IC .

and feet The occupants o f the h ouse could n ot slee p

.
,

we r e te rrified sickened and died Thus it came abou t

, .

that the fin e bu ilding stood empty year aft er year and , ,

was at las t o ffered for sale at a l o w price A bout that .

time the philosopher At h e n o do ru s came to A thens and

sa w the noti ce ; he h ad his su spicions aroused by the

s m all s um de m anded fo r the house inquired abo ut the ,

cau ses and ren ted the house For he was a man of
.

courag e and mea nt to fathom the mystery .

O n th e evening o f the first day h e dismis se d hi s se rv

an ts and remained alo n e in the front room writing and ,

oc cupying himself pu rposely with grave an d abs tract

, ,

questions so as t o allow n o opening for his imagination

,
.

A s soon as all was qu iet arou nd him the clankin gan d

rattling of chain s be gins ; b ut he pays no heed and con
t in u es to write The noise approaches an d enters th e
.

r o om ; as he looks up he sees the well known weird -

shape before h im It beckons h im but h e deman ds

.
,

patience and writes o n as be fore ; then t h e ghos t shakes

his chain s ove r his head an d beckons once more impe r
a t iv e ly. N ow h e rise s ta kes his l amp an d fol lows hi s
, ,

visito r through the pas sages into a cou rt yard wh ere ,

the ghos t disappears The philosopher pul ls up some

.

grass on the spot and marks the place O n the follow .

in g day he appeals t o the au thorities to cause the place

t o be dug up ; an d when this is don e th e bon es of an old ,

man loaded with hea vy chain s are found From that

, ,
.

tim e the house was left undisturbed as if the depar ted ,

had only desi red t o indu ce some in telligen t person t o

1 7O M ODERN MAG IC .

Spaciou s building which he could n either o ccupy him

self nor ren t to o thers becau se of its evil reputation
,
.

A t last the Jesuit Riccius a mission ary offered to take

, ,

i t for his orde r ; the fathers moved i nto it con qu ered ,

th e ghosts by some m eans best kn own to themselves ,

an d n o t only obtained a good hou se but great prestige

with th e n atives for their t ri umph over the spirits ( C .

Hasart His t Eccles S i n ica p 4 ch

. . .
,
.
, .

The same singular belief i s n ot only met with in

every age an d among the most enlighte ned n ations bu t ,

even in ou r o wn century a Similar case occurred and i s

well aut h enticated Th e Duke Charles A lexander of
.

W u rt em b e rg of u nholy me mory died at t h e town o f ,

Ludwigsburg perhaps by murder For years afterwards

, .

the palace was the scene of most v iolen t disturban ces ;

even the sentinels powerful an d well a rmed men were
,
-

b odily lifted up an d thrown across t h e par apet of th e

terrace A t other times the w h ole building appeared t o
.

be filled with people ; doors were open ed and closed

'

h gh t s were seen in the apar t men ts and dim figu res fl it

ted t o and fro Large detach men ts of troops u nder
.

the command of o ffi cers special ly selected for the pur

,

pose w ere ordered to march through the palace more

,

than once on such occasion s bu t n ever discovered a

, .

trace of h uman agency ( K ern er B ilder p E v en . . .

the great Frederick of Prussia a man whose thoroughly ,

:

skeptical mind might surely be suppose d to h ave been

fr ee from all superstition was on ce forced to admit his
,

i nability t o explain by natural causes an occurren ce of

 G H O S TS . 1 71

t he kind A Catholi c priest ih S ilesia lost his cook

.
,

who h ad been specially dear to h im ; her ghost— as i t

was called—co ntin ued t o h aun t the house and most , ,

strange of all n ot in order to di sturb i ts peace bu t t o

, ,

perform the usual domestic service The floors were .

swept the fir es made and linen washed all by invisible

, , ,

h ands Fr ederick who accidentally heard of the mat

.
,

ter ordered a captain and a lieutenan t o f his guard to

,

in vestigate it ; they w ere received by the bea t ing o f

drums and then allowed to witn ess the same household
pe rformances When the grim o ld captain broke o u t
.

in a fearful curse h e received a severe box on the ears

,

and retr ea ted u tterly disco m fi t e d Upon his report t o .

the king the ho u se wa s pulled down an d a new parson

age erected at some distance from the plac e The o c .

curren ce is mentioned in many historical works an d

q u ote d withou t comment even by the grea t historian
M enzel An other striking case of a somewh at differen t
.

cha r acter wa s fully reported to the Colonial O ffi ce in

,

London The scene was a large vault in the island of

.

Barbadoes h ewn o u t of t h e l ive rock an d accessible

,

only through a huge iron door faste ned in the usual ,

way by strong bolts and a lock the key t o which was ,

kept at the G overnment House D u ring the year 1 8 1 9 .

i t w as opened fo u r times for purposes of interment and ,

each time it was observed that al l the coffin s in the

vault had been Violently thrown about The G overnor .
,

Lord Co mbermere wen t himsel f accompanied by his

, ,

sta ff and a numbe r of o ffi cers to examine the place an d

, ,
1 72 M ODERN MAG IC .

foun d th e vault itself in perfect order and with out a

trace of violen ce He ordered the door to be closed
.

with cement and placed hi s seal upon the lat t e r an ex ,

ample followed by nearly all the bystan ders E ight .

months later the 2 8 th of A pril 1 8 2 0 he had the vault

, , ,

opened in the presen ce o f a large compan y o f frien ds

and within sight o f a crowd o f several thousan ds Th e .

cement and the sea l s w ere found to be pe rfect and nu

inj ured ; th e san d which h ad been carefully st rewn ove r
the floo r o f th e vault showed n o footmark or Sign
whatever but the co ffi n s were again thrown about in
,

great confusion On e o f such weight that it requ ir ed

.
,

eight men to move it was foun d standi n g upright an d

, ,

a child s c o ffi n h ad been Violently dashed again st the

’

wall A carefully drawn u p report with accompanying

.

drawings was sent home bu t no explanation h as eve r ,

been discovered S cientific men were disposed to as

.

erib e the distu rban ce to earth q u akes b u t the annals of

'

t h e islan d report non e du ri n g those years ; there re

mains however the possibility t hat the examination of
, ,

the vault was after all imper fect and that the sea might ,

have had access to it through some hidden cleft : In

that case an unusually high tide migh t very wel l have
been the invisible agent .

E ven the Indian of our far West ch erishes the same

superstitiou s belief and in his lodge on the slopes of the
,

Rocky M ountain s he hears myste riou s knockings To

,
.

him they are the kindly warning of a spi r it whom h e ,

calls th e G reat Bear which announ ce s some great

,

calamity .
1 74 M ODERN MAG IC .

powers soon became personal ; fo r one n ight when th e ,

colon el sitting at the supper table and hearing the

, ,

u sual sounds said angrily I wish the ghost would make

, ,

”
himself known ! a fearful explosion t ook place knock ,

ing down th e speaker an d bringing all the inmates o f

the h ou se to the room S earch was immediately in sti
.

tu t e d an d the main w eight o f the gr eat clock w as dis

,

covered t o be missing A new weigh t had to be ordered

.
,

and only long afterwards the o l d on e was found w edged

in between t wo floors above the clock N or were the .

disturban ces confined to the castle : at midnight the

horses in t h e stable became r estless an d almost wild ,

tearing themselves loo se and swea ti n g till they were .

covered with white foam O ne night the colonel wen t

.

t o the stable mounted his favo rite charger who had

, .

born e him in the din and roar o f many a battl e and ,

awaited the striking o f m idnigh t In stantly the poo r

.

animal bega n to tremble then to r ear and kic k furiously

, ,

until h is maste r famous as a good horseman could hold

, ,

him in no longer an d was carried around the stable by the

,

maddened horse so as to imperil hi s life A fte r an hou r .

,

th e poor creatures began to calm down bu t stood trem ,

bling in all the ir limbs ; the colonel s o w n horse su c

’

c u m b e d to the t ri al and di ed in the morning A n ew .

sta ble had t o be built which remained free from disturb

,

an ces .

By far the m ost remar kable and s t r ange en ough at

, ,

the same time th e best authenticated of all accoun t s

o f disturbances cau sed by r ecently de arted friends is
p
 G H OS TS . 1 75

found in a memoir w ri t ten by the su fferer herself and ,

ad dressed t o the famous Baron G rimm under the pse u

do n ym of M r M ei s Through the latter the story
. .

reached G o ethe who at on ce appropriated it in all its

,

details an d merely changing the name of the principal

,

to Antonelli inserted it i n his Conversations o f

,
“

The same e v ent is fully related

”
G erman E migrants .

i n the M emoirs of th e M argravine of A nspach as a

sto ry which at that time created a great sensation in
Paris and ex cited universal curiosity
, Bu t even .

greater authority yet is gi v en to this account by the

‘
fact that it was o fli cially recorded in the police reports
o f Paris from which i t h as been frequently extracted
,

for publication M dlle Hippolyte Clairon makes sub

. .

st a n t ial ly the following statements : In the yea r 1 743

my you th an d my success o n the stage procured for me
mu ch attention from young fops and elderly pro fl igat e s ,

among whom however I found frequently a few better

, ,

men O ne of these who made a deep impression upon

.
,

me was a M r S the so n of a merchan t from B rittany

, . .
, ,

about thirty years old fair of features w ell made and , , ,

gifted with some talent for poetry His conversa t ion .

and his mann ers Showed that he had recei ved a superior
education and that he was accu stomed to good society
, ,

while h is reserve and bashfulness w hich prevented him ,

from allow ing his at t achment to b e seen made h im all ,

the dearer to me When I had ascertained his disere

.

tion I permitted him to visit me and gave him to

, ,

understand that he migh t call himself my friend He .

1 76 MODERN MA G IC .

took t h is patien tly seeing that I was still free and n ot

,

with out tender feelings and hopi n g that time migh t

,

in spire me with a warmer a ffection Who knows what .

might have h appened ! B ut I u sed to question h im

closely both from cu riosity an d from pru den ce an d
, ,

his candid an swers destroyed h is prospects for he con

fessed that dissatisfied with h is modest station in life
, ,

h e h ad sold h is property in o r de r t o live in Paris i n

better society an d I did n ot like this M en wh o are
, .

ashamed of t h emselves are not it seems to me cal , ,

c ul at e d t o inspire others with respect Besides he was .

,

o f a m elan choly an d dissatisfied temper knowing men ,

too well as he said n ot to despise an d avoid them H e

, ,
.

i ntended to visit n o on e b u t myself an d to i nduce m e ,

also to see n o o n e but him You may i m agin e how I

.

disliked such ideas I might have been held by gar

.

lands but did n o t wish t o be bound with chain s

, .

From that moment I saw th at I mu st disappoin t h is

h opes and gr adu ally withdre w from h is society Thi s
, .

cau sed him a severe i llness during which I showed

,

him all possible atte n tion But my ste ady r efusal t o

.

do more for him o nly d eepened the wound an d at the ,

same tim e the poor young man had the misfort un e of

being stripped of n early all his property by h is faithless
broth er to whom h e h ad intru sted th e sal e of all he
,

owned so that he sa w h imself compelle d to accept

,

small sum s from me for the payment of his daily food

an d the necessary medicin es :
“
A t l ast h e recovered part o f his pro pert y bu t h is ,
1 78 MODERN MAG IC .

n eeded and this cry had surely be en heart ren din g

,
-

en ough to convin ce him that i t announced n o s weet

moments M y paleness my tremor which lasted for
.
, ,

so m e time my tears flowing silently and almost n u

,

con sciou sly and my u rgen t r equ es t t h at somebody

,
‘

wo uld stay up with me during the night all these ,

sign s convin ced him of my in nocen ce M y friends re .

mained w ith me discussing the fearful cry and de

, ,

t erm in ing finally to station gu a rds around the h ouse .

“
N evertheles s the dre ad soun d was repeated night
aft er night ; my friends all the n eighbors and even th e
, ,

po licemen wh o were stationed n ear us hea rd it di s ,

t in ct ly ; it seemed t o be uttered immediately unde r my

window where n othing could ever be seen There was

, .

'

n o do u b t entertained as t o the person for whom it was

inte nded for whenever I supped o u t n o cry was heard ;

, ,

but frequen tly aft er my retu r n wh en I entered my ,

r oom an d in quired about i t o f m y mother an d my

servan ts it su ddenly pierced the air a n ew O nce th e
,
.

president o f the cou rt at who se house I h ad been

,

entertain ed proposed t o see me home in safety ; at the

,

m oment when he wi shed me good night at the door -

the cry was h ear d right b et ween us an d the poor man ,

had t o be lifte d into h is carriage more dead than

alive .

A nother time my yo u u g companion Rosely a clever , , ,

witty man who believed in n othing i n heaven o r on

,
’

ear th was ridin g with me in my carriage o n our way

,

t o a frien d who lived in a di stan t part o f the city We .

 G H O STS . 1 79

were discu ssing the fearful torment to which I was

exposed and he laughing at me at last declared he
, , ,

woul d never believe it unless he h eard i t with h is o wn

ears an d defied me to su mmon m y lover I do n o t
, .

k now how I ca me to yield but instantly th e cry was ,

repea t ed three times an d with overwhelming fi erce n e ss

, .

When ou r carriage reached the hou se t h e servants ,

foun d u s both lying unconscious on the cushions and

had to summon assistan ce before we recovered A fte r .

this I h eard nothing for several months an d began t o ,

hope that all was over B u t I was s adly mistaken

. .

The members of the kin g s troop of comedian s h ad

’

all been ordered t o appear at V ersailles in honor o f the ,

’
dauphin s marriage and as we were t o spend three days
,

there lodgings had be en pro v ided It so happened

, .
,

however that a friend of min e M me G rand v al had been

, ,
.
,

forgotten and seeing h e r trouble I at last o ffered her

, , ,

towards thre e o cl ock i n the m o rn in t o Share my room

’
,

in which there were two beds This forced me to take .

my maid into my own b e d an d as she was in the act o f,

coming I said to her : Here we are at the en d of th e

,

world the weather is abominable and the cry would fin d

, ,

i t hard to follow u s here " A t that moment it resound

c d close t o u s ; M me G ran d v al j umped up terribly
.

frigh tened and ra n th rough the whole house waking

, ,

everybody an d keeping u s all in su ch a state o f excite

,

ment that not an eye was closed the whole night S even .

o r eight days later as I was chatting merrily with a

,

number of friends at t h e striking of the hou r a shot

, ,
1 80 MODERN MA G IC .

was h eard coming apparently through my win dow

, .

We all heard it an d saw th e fire but the pan e was n o t ,

broken E v erybo dy th o u gh t at on ce of an attempt t o

.

murder me an d Some friends h as t en ed in stantly to the

,

Chief of Police M en were immediately sen t to sea r ch

.

the houses opposite an d for several days an d n ights th e

,

street was strictly gu arded by a number o f soldiers ;

my o wn hou se was searched fr om r oof t o cellar an d ,

frien ds came in large co m panies to assist i n watch ings :

n evertheless the Shot fell n igh t after night at the same
,

h our for three mon th s with u n failin g accurac y No

, , .

clu e was found and n o Sig n was seen save the soun d o f
the Shot an d t h e sight of the fire Daily repo rts of the .

o ccu rrence were sent to the headqu a rte rs o f the police ,

n e w measures were continu ally devised an d applied ,

b ut the au thorities w ere ba ffl ed as well as all wh o tried

to fathom the mystery I became at last quite accus
.

t o m e d to the disturbance an d was in t h e h abi t of speak

,

ing o f Ha s the doing of a ban ( lia ble because h e con tent ,

’
ed himself so long a time with j ugglers tricks bu t on e
night as I had stepped through th e open wind ow out upon
a bal cony and was standing there with my agent by my
,

Side the Shot su ddenly fell agai n and knocked u s both

,

back into t h e room where we fell down as if dead When

, .
.

we recovered our con sciou sness w e got u p an d a fter , ,

some hesitation con fesse d to each other t h at o u r ears

,

h ad been severely box ed his o n the righ t side and min e

,

o n th e left wher eu pon we gave way to h earty laughter

, .

The n ext n ight was quiet but on the following day I ,

182 MODERN MAG IC .

pretex t o f wishing to see my house which I had o ffered

for rent I was very mu ch str u ck by her venerable ap
.

pe aran ce and her e v iden t emotion I o ffered her a ch ai r

.

an d sat down opposite to h er b ut was for some time

,

un able t o say a word A t last she seemed to gather

.

courage an d told me th at sh e had long wished to make

my acqu aintan ce bu t had n ot dared to come so long as
,

I was constan tly surrounded b y hosts of frien d s and ad

m ire rs A t last sh e had happened to see m y advertise
.

men t an d availed herself o f the opportunity in order t o

see me— and t o visit my house which h ad a deep ,

th ough melan choly in te rest in her eyes I gu essed at .

on ce that sh e w as the faithful friend who alon e re

mained by th e bedside o f poor S when he was pros .
,

t rat e d by a fatal disease and refused to see anybody

else For mon ths she n o w told me h e had Spoken o f

.
, ,

n othing save o f myself looking u pon me n ow as an

,

angel an d now as a demon bu t utterly unable t o keep

,

his thoughts from d welling unin terruptedly upon the

o n e subj ect which filled his min d and his heart alike .

I tried t o explain t o th e old lady how I h ad fully appre

ciate d h is good qu alities and noble impulses finding it , ,

howe ver impossible t o fall in with his pe culiar vi ews

,

of society and to promise as he insisted I should do t o

, ,

forsake all I loved for the pu ip o se of living with him in

lon eliness and complete retiremen t I told her also .
, ,

t h at when he sent for m e to see him in his last mo

ments my friends prevented m y goin g and that I felt

, ,

myself th at th e sigh t o f his death u nder such circu m

 G H O ST S . 1 83

stances would have been dangerous in the extreme to

my peace of mind besides being utterly u seless to the
,

dying man S he admitted the force of my reasoning

.
,

but repeated that my refusal had hastened his end an d

deprived him at the last moment of all self control In -
.

this state of mind when a few minutes before eleven

, ,

the ser v ant had en tered an d assured him in answer t o

his passionate inquiry that n o one had come he h ad
, ,

exclaimed : Th e heartless woman ! S he shall gain

‘

nothing by her cruelty for I will pursue h er after death

,

’
a s I have pursued her during life ! an d with thes e
”
words on his lips he had expired .

The impression produced by this t horoughly anthe m

t icat e d recital i s a strong argument i n favor of a con
tinned con nection after death of the human soul with
the world in which we live There was a man whose
.

whole existence was absorbed by one great and all per -

vading passion ; it bro u ght ruin to h is body and dis

abled h is mind from correc t ing the vagaries of his fan
cy. He died in this state with a sense of grievous
,

wro n g and intense thirst of revenge uppermost in his .

min d Then follow a number of magic ph enomena

.
,
‘

witn essed for several years by thousands of att a

, , ched
frien ds an d curiou s observers defying the vigilance of
,

soldiers and t h e acuteness of police agents Th ese dis .

t u rb an ce s at first bearing the stamp of willful annoy

,

an ce gradu ally assume a milder form as if expressive

, ,

of softening indignation they becom e weaker an d less

frequent an d finall y cease altogeth er suggestive o f t h e
, ,
184 MODERN MAG IC .

peace which t h e poor erring soul h ad at last fo und by ,

infinite mercy an d goodness when safely entering the

,

desired haven .

O n th e other han d— fo r contras ts meet here as well

as elsewhere— these ph enomen a have b een frequ ently
ascribed to purely physical cau ses and in a n umber o f ,

cases the final explan ation h as confirmed this sugge s

tion A hypochondriac artis t fo r instance w as nightly
.
, ,

disturb ed by a low bu t furiou s knocking in his bed ,

whi ch w as h eard by others as w ell as by himself He .

prayed he caused priests to come to his bedside h e h ad

, ,

masses read in his behalf but all remained in v ain

,
o
.

Then came a plain sen sible friend who half in jes t

, , ,

an d half in earnest covere d h is big toe with a brass wire

,

which he di pped into an alkaline solution and behold , ,

th e knockings ceased an d n ever returned ! ( Du po t e l ,

“
A n imal In another case a somnambulisti c
woman frighten ed h erself as well as others b y most
violent knockings when ever she was disappointed or
thwarted ; her physician su specting t h e cause finally
, ,

gave h e r antispasmodic remedies and it soon appeared,

th at in her n ervou s spasms the mu scles h ad been

vibrating forcibly en ough to produce these disturban ces .

S in ce these discoveries it has been found that almost

anybody may produce such knockings— which stan d in
a suspiciou s relation ship to spirit rappings—b y exe rting
-

certai n mus cles of the leg ; some men wh o have prae ,

t ise d this trick fo r scientific purpos es like Professor ,

Schifi o f Floren ce are ab l e t o imitate almost all t h e

'

, ,
186 M ODERN MAG IC .

r ecognized all the person s present even with her eyes ,

closed S he fancied that a black man with a red shaw l

.

produced the knockings an d delivered th e speeches .

Her clai rvoyan ce became at last so strik ing that her

c ase excited the deepest interest of person s in high
social position an d several physicians exam ined it with
,

great care Her disease was declared t o be n eurosis

.

c oeliaca v .

A very peculiar and utterly inexplicable phenome n o n

belonging t o this class o f ghostly appearances is t h e
comple te removal of persons by an unseen power The .

idea of such occurren ces must have been current among

“
the Jews for when there appeared a ch ariot of fire
,

and horses of fire and E lij ah wen t up by a whirl .

wind into heaven ( II K ings ii . the son s of the

.

prophe ts did not at on ce r esign them selves but sent ,

fifty strong men t o seek him lest perad v enture the

“
,

S pirit o f the Lord hath taken him up an d cast him

”
upon som e mountain o r into some valley ( v In .

the Ne w Testament th e same mysterio us remov al is

men t ioned in the case o f Philip after his inte rview
,

with the E thiopian whom he baptized

,
The S pirit of .

t h e Lord caught away Philip that the eunu ch saw hi m

,

” ”
no more an d Philip was foun d at A zot u s ( A cts
,
“ -

viii 3 9
.
, What in these cases was don e by divin e
power is sai d to be occasionally the work of an u n
,

known and un seen f orce G enerally n o doubt men or

.
, ,

chil dren lose themsel v es by acciden t either when they ,

are already from illness or o ther cause in a state of

 G H O STS . 187

se m i consciou sness o r when they become so bewildered

-

and frightened by the accident itself that they fancy ,

they must have been car ried away by a mysteriou s

power The best authen ticated case is reporte d in
.

Beau mont ( p A n Irish steward cro ssing a field

.
, ,

saw in it a large company feasting an d was invited to ,

j oin their meal O ne of them howe v er warned him in

.
, ,

a whisper not to accept anything that sho uld be o ffered .

Upon his refusal to eat the table vanished and the ,

men were s een dan cing to a merry mu sic He was .

again invited to j oin an d when he refused all dis

, ,

appeared an d he foun d himself alon e He hurried

, .

home thoroughly terrified an d fainted away in his ,

room D uring the night he dream t — o r really saw

.

that one of the mysterious company appeared at his

bedside and an n o un ced to him that if he dare leave the
house on t h e following day he would be carried away , .

He remained at home till the even ing wh en thinking , ,

himself safe h e stepped across th e threshold Instantly

, .

his companion s saw him with a r o pe around his body

, ,

hurried away so fast t h at t h e v could n ot follo w A t .

last they meet a horseman whom they request by signs

to arrest the unhappy victim ; he seizes the rope an d
receives a smart blo w b u t rescues t h e steward Lord
, .

O rrery desired to see the man an d wh en the latter ,

presented himself before the earl h e reported that ,

an other nightly visitor had threatened him a s before .

He was thereupon placed in a large room u nder the

, ,

gu ard of several stout men a n umber of distinguished

188 MODERN MAG IC .

persons two bishops among them went constantly in

, ,

an d out In the afternoon he w as su d denl y lifted in to

.

the air a famous boxer Great rix wh o had been

, ,

Specially engaged to guard him an d an other powe rful

,

man seized him by th e shoulders bu t h e was dragged

, ,

from their grasp and for some time carried about high
above th eir h eads till at last he fell in to the arms o f
,

some o f his keepers D uring the nigh t the same appari

.

tion stood on ce m ore by his b ed side inviting him to

-

drink of a gray porridge which w ould cure h im of all ills

,

and protect him again st furth er violen ce He su ffered .

himself to be persuaded when th e visitor made himself

,

known as a former friend who had to atten d those m ys

t e rio u s meetings in pu n ishment of the dissolute life

h e h ad led u pon earth an d who now wished to save

,

another unhappy fellow being from a like sad fate A t

-
.

th e same time he reminded him of his n eglect to pray ,

an d then di sappeare d The steward speedily reco v ered

.

from h is frigh t and w a s n o furth er m olested There

, .

can be little do ubt that the man was ill at ease in body
and in con scien ce an d that this double burden was too
,

heavy to bear for his mind ; his thoughts became dis

ordered till he felt an apparen tly ex te rn al power
,

stronger th an h is own will an d th us n ot o n ly imagin ed

,

strange vision s but actually obeyed erratic impuls es of

,

his diseased mind as if they were acts of violence from

,

without .

A favorite pastime of these pseudo ghosts is t h e -

throwing of stones at the b uildings or even into the

1 90 MODERN MAG IC .

head p r oduces the impression of t h e ringing of be lls ,

and experience tells us how e a silv men are made to

i
bel eve that they see or h ear what others assure the m
is seen or heard by everybody E ven the grea t J oh n .

Wesley seems n ot to have been fully convin ced of the

p urely n atural Ch aracter of su ch distu rban ces wh en ,

they annoyed his venerable father at E pworth Rectory ;

and D r Priestley a cal m and cautious writer says of
.
, ,

these phenomena : It is perhaps the best authentica t ed -

an d the best told story of th e kind that is anywhere

-

extant on wh ich account and to exercise the ingen uity

, ,

o f some speculative person I thought it not undeserved ,

”
o f being published It seems th at in 1 7 1 6 th e rectory
.

became the scen e of strange disturban ces whi ch were ,

’
at first ascribed to on e of the minister s enemies Jeffrey , .

The inmates heard an in cessan t walking about Sigh in g ,

an d groaning cac kling an d crowing ; a hand mill was

,
-

set whirling arou nd by invisible hands and the A men

.
'
,

’
with which Wesley s father ended th e family pra y er
was accompa nied by a n oise like thun der E ven th e .

faithful watchdog was disturbed an d his in stin ct over

awed for he sough t refuge with m e n and barked
, ,

furio usly till h is excitement rose t o a state resembling

,

madness h e even an ticipated the coming of the dis

,

t u rb an ce and annou nced i t b yhis inten se agitation

,
.

The subj ect is on e of extreme d iffi culty because of

the large number of cases in which all su ch dist ur
ban ces have been cl early traced to the agen cy of dissat
isfie d se r vants hidden enemies o r enviou s neighbors
, , ,
 G H OS T S . l 91

whose sole pu rpose was a desire to drive the occupant

from his h ou se or t o diminish its val ue It is charac
,
.

te rist ic of human nature t hat the cunning and the Skill

displayed on such occasion s even by ignorant servants
and awkward ru stics are perfectly amazing a fact ,

which proves an ew the assertion o f old divines t hat

t h e Devil is vastly better served than the Lord of Hea

ven E ven the best au t hen ti cated case of such m yst e

.

r io u s disturban ces K erne r s so called S eeress of Pre

,
’
-

vorst is not entirely free from all suspicion M rs

,
. .

Hauffe a lady o f delicate h ealth great n e rvou s irrit a

, ,

b ility and a min d which was to say the least not too
, , ,

well balan ced became th e patien t of Dr Justinus

,
.

K erner in southern G ermany Besides her mysteriou s

, .

power to reveal unknown things to read the future , ,

’

and to pre scn b e for herself and others of which men ,

tion has been made before ; Sh e was also pursued by

every variety of strange noises Plates an d glasses .
,

tables an d chairs were violently thrown abou t in th e

hou se in which she lived ; a medicin e phial rose slowly
in to the air an d h ad to b e brought back by one of t h e
bystanders an d an easy ch air was lifted up to the ceil
,
-

ing but came down again quite gently The su fferin g

, .

woman was the only on e who knew the cause of these

p henomen a ; she ascri be d them all to a dark Spirit ,

’
Belon s compan ion who appeared to her as a black col
,

u m n of smoke with a hideou s head and whose ap

, ,

proach oppressed even some of the bystander s —espe

cial ly the patien t s siste r
’
He was not content wi t h
.
1 92 MODERN MAG IC .

disturbing M rs Hauffe only but carried h is wantonness

.
,

even into the homes of dis ta nt friends and kinsmen A .

piou s minister who frequently visite d the poor su fferer

, ,

was con tagiou sly a ffected b y the ill fated atmosphere of -

h er house ; night afte r night h e was waked up by a ,

“
bright spirit, who coughed and sighed an d sobbed in
his presen ce till a ferven t prayer drove h im away ; if
,

the poor divin e however prayed only faintly or enter

, ,

ta in e d doubts i n his heart the spirit mocked him with ,

’
in creased en ergy Later even th e minister s wife suc
.

c u m b e d sa w the same lumin ous appearances and hea rd

,

the same mysterious noises till th e whole matter was ,

suddenly brought to an en d by an amulet ! To this

class of occu rren ces belongs als o the experien ce o f the
Rev Dr Phelps o f S tratford Con necticu t
. . O ne fin e ,
.

day he found upon retu rning fr om church that all the

, ,

doors of his house w h ich he had carefully locked were

, ,

Open and everything in the lower rooms in a s ta te o f

boun dless confu sion N othing h oweve r had be en
.
, ,

stolen In the upper story a room was foun d to be o c

.

c u pied by eight or te n person s diligently read i n g in an

Open Bible which eac h o n e held close to his face Upon

,
.

exam ination thes e readers were discovered to be b undles

o f clothes carefu lly an d mos t cun ningly arranged so as

to represent li ving beings E verything was cleared .

away and the room w as locked ; bu t in t hree minu te s

the clothing which had been put aside disappeared
, , ,

and when th e do or was Open ed the same scene was pre

sent ed For seven long months th e ho use was hau nted
.
1 94 M ODERN MAG IC .

no m e n o n was repeated over an d over again till the lady , ,

in her distress appealed to a neighboring n ative so v e r

,

e ign who promised his assistance

,
He sen t immediately
.

a large fo rce o f armed men who surroun ded t h e h o u se

,
.

an d watched the room ; n evertheless the red spots re ,

appeared an d stones fell as before Towards evening a

.
,

M ohammedan mufti of high rank was sen t for ; but he

, ,

had scarcely Open ed h is K oran to read certain sen tences

,

fo r the purpose o f e x e rc ising the demon s when the sacred ,

book was hu rled to on e side an d the la m p to anothe r .

’
Th e lady took the child to th e prin ce s residen ce to spend
t h e night there an d n o disturbance occu rred Bu t when
,
.

her husband for whom swift messengers had been sen t

,

o u t r etu rn ed on the followi n g day

, th e same trouble ,

occu r red ; th e child was Spit at with betel j uice and -

stones kept fallin g from on high S oon the repo rt .

r ea ched the G overnor G eneral a t B re i ten z o rg who there

-
,

upon sen t a man o f great military renown a M aj or ,

M ichiels t o in vestigate th e matter O nce m ore the

,
.

'

house was surrounded by an armed fo rce even the ,

n eighborin g trees were carefully gu arded and the ma ,

j or took the little girl upon his knees In spite o f all these
.

precautions her dress was soon covered wi t h red spots

, ,

an d stones fl e w abou t as before N 0 one however was

.
, ,

inj ured They were gathered up proved t o be we t or

.
,

hot as if j ust picked up in the road an d at n ight filled

, ,

a huge box The sam e process continu ed whe n a h u ge

. .
,

sheet of li nen had been stretched from wall to wall so ,

as to form an inne r ceiling u nder the real ceiling ; and

 G H O S TS . 1 95

n ow not o nly stones but also fruit from th e surrounding

,

trees freshly gathered and mortar from the kitchen fell

, ,

into the newly formed tent A t the same tim ethe fur.

n it u re was repeatedly disturbed tumblers and wine ,

glasses to ssed abou t and marks left on the large mirror

,
'

as if a moist han d had been passe d o v e r th e su rface .

The marvelous occurrences were duly reported to the

home govern men t and the king william IL ordered
'

, , ,

that no pains should be spared to clear up the matter .

B ut n o explanation was ever obtained ; on l y the fact was

asce rtained that sim ilar phen omena had been repeatedly
observed in other parts of the island also and were ,

con sidered quite ordinary occurrences by the n atives .

Ce rtai n families it may be added claim to have in h e r

, ,

it e d from their ancestors the power to make themselves

invisible a gift which is almost invariably accompanied
,

by the Gun daru a as these n a tive families gradually die

o ut
, the symptoms Of the lat te r also disappear more
and more There is no doubt that here as in the Ru s
.
,

sian p oga n n e ( cursed pl aces which are haunted by ghosts ) ,

th e belief in su ch appearan ces bequeathed through long

,

ages from father to son has finally Obtai n ,

ed a force
which renders it equal to reality itself Re ason is not .

only biased but actually held bo un d ; the min d is

,

w rought up to a state of excitement in which it ceases

to see clearly and finally visions assume an overwhelm
,

ing force which ends in sympto ms of w hat is called

,

magic The Same law applies for instan ce t o the an

.
, ,

cien t home of charmers and magicians the lan d of the ,

1 96 M ODERN M AG IC .

N ile where also the studies o f the ancient M agi have

,

been assumed by a succession of learned men till they ,

were taken up by fan at ic M ohammedan s whose creed ,

arranges invisible beings angels dem ons an d o thers

, , , ,

i n regular order and assigns them a home in distinct

:

parts of the universe It is n ot withou t in te rest to o h

.

serve that even E uropean s after along resi dence in the

,

O rien t become deeply imbued with s u ch notions and

, ,

m en like Bayle S t John i n his account o f magic pe r

.
,

fo rm a nce s which h e witnesse d do no t seem able t o re

,

main altogether impartial .

O n e Of the m ost remarkable ph en omena belonging t o

this bran ch o f magic is the appearance o f living or
recently deceased person s to friends or suppli cants .

The peculiarity in this case con sists in the constantly

changing character of the appearance : the do u b le— as
i t is called — is the vision o f the dying man whi ch ,

appears to others o r to his own sen ses The fo rme r .

class of cases was well known in an tiquity for Pyt h a ,

goras already had according to popular repo rt appeared

, ,

to numerous friends before he died Herodotus and .

M aximu s Tyriu s sta te bo th that A ristae u s sent hi s,

Spirit into di fferent lan ds to acquire knowledge and ,

E pi m enides and Hern e st in u s from Claro m e n ae were , ,

p op u larly believed to b e able to visit when in a state of ,

ecstasy all distan t countries and to return at pleasure

, , .

”
S t A ugustine also states
.
, , S ermon 1 2 3 ) that he , ,

himself had appeared t o two persons who had known

,

him only by repu tation a nd advis ed them to go to

,
1 98 MODERN MAG IC .

was above suspicion an d his j udgmen t held in the ,

h ighest esteem He formed part o f an embas sy sent to

.

Henry IV of Fran ce and had been two days i n Pari s

.
, ,

thinking con stantly and an xiously o f h is wife whom he ,

had left ill in London Towards noon he su ddenly fell .

into a kind of tran ce and wh en he reco v ere d his sen ses

,

r elated to his frien ds that he h ad seen hi s be loved w ife

pass him twice as sh e walked across the room her hair
, ,

dishevelled an d her child dead i n h e r arms When sh e .

passed him the second time she looked sadl v in to h is ,

face an d then disappeared His fears were ar o used t o .

su ch a degree by this vision that he immediately dis

patched a special messenger to E ngland and t welve ,

days later h e received the affl i cting news that o n that

day an d at that hou r his wife had after great an d pro ,

t racted s u fferin g been delivered of a still born infan t

,
-

( Beaumon t p In Macnish s exc ellent work o n

,
.
’

“ ”
S leep we find ( p 1 80) the following account : A
,
.
“

M r H : went on e day apparen tly in the e nj oyme n t of

.
,

full health down the street when he saw a frien d o f

, ,

his M r C who was walking before him He called

,
. .
, .

his n ame alo u d bu t the l atter pretended not to hea r

,

him and steadily walked on H haste ned his s te ps to

, . .

overtake him but his friend also h urried on an d th u s

, ,

remain ed at the same distan ce from h im thu s the t wo

walked for some time till su ddenly M r C entered a ,
. .

gateway and when M r H was about to follow slammed

, . . .

the door violen tly in his face Perfectly amazed at .

su ch un usual con du ct M r H opened the door and , . .

 G H OS T S . l 99

looked down the long passage upon which it opened , ,

but saw no on e Determined to solve the mystery he

.
,

’
h urried to h is friend s hou se an d there to his great , ,

aston ishment learn t that M r C had been confin ed to

,
. .

his bed for some days It was not u ntil several weeks
.

later that the two friends met at t h e ho use of a com

mon acquain tance ; M r H told M r C of hi s adv e n . . . .

ture and added laughingly that having seen his

, ,

double he was afraid M r C would not live long

, . . .

These words were received b y all with hearty laughter ;

but only a few days after this meeting the unfortunate
friend was seized with a violent illness t o wh ich h e ,

”
speedily su ccumbed W h at is most remarkable how
.
,

ever is that Mr H also followed him quite u n ex

,
. .
,

p e c t e dly soon to the grave

, Whatever may have b een .

the nature of the event itself it cannot be do ubted that ,

the minds o f both friends were far more deep l y im

press ed by it s mysteriousness than they would probably
have be en willing t o acknowl edge to themselves an d ,

that the nervou s excitemen t thus produ ced brough t

o u t an illness lurking already in their system and ren ,

dered it fatal A very remarkable case was that o f a

.

distingu ished diplo m at related by A M oritz in his , .

’3
Psychology He was lying in bed sleepless when
.
, ,

h e noticed his pet dog becoming r estless and apparen tly ,

distu rbed t o th e utmos t by a rustling an d whisking

abou t in the room which he heard but could not ex
,

plain . S uddenly a kind of white vapo r rose by h is

bed side and gradually assumed the ou tline and even
-

,
200 MODERN MAG IC .

the featu res o f his m other ; h e especiall y noticed a

pu rple ribbon in her cap He j umped ou t of b ed and .

endeavored to embrace her but she fl e d before him an d ,

as su ddenly vanishe d leaving a bright glare at the

,

place where she had disappeare d It was found after .

,

wards that at that hour— 1 0 o clock A M — the old

,
’
. .

lady had been ill unto death lying still and almost ,

breathless o n h er cou ch ; Sh e h ad felt th e ang u ish of

death in h er h eart and had thought so an xious l y of
,

h e r son and her sister th at h er fi rst question when sh e

,

recovered was whether sh e h ad n ot perhaps been

,

vi sited by the two person s wh o h ad thu s occupied her

w h ole mind It was also ascertained that con tra ry t o a
.
,

’
life s habit sh e h ad o n that day worn a purple ribbon
,

in her nigh t cap A G erman professor once su cceeded

-
.

in establishing th e conn ection w h i ch undoubt edly

exists between th e wil l Of certain person s and the ir
appe aran ce to others He h ad only been married a .

year in 1 8 2 3 when h e was compelled to leave his wife

,

an d to undertake a lon g an d perilou s j ourn ey O n ce .

,

si tting in a pecul iarly sad an d dej ected mood alon e in

a room Of his h otel h e lo n ged so arden tly for the
,

society of his wife th at he felt in his heart as if by a

, ,

great e ffort of will h e should be able to see her He

,
.

made the effort and behold h e sa w her Sitting at h er

, ,

work— table bu sily engaged in sewing an d himself as

, , ,

was hi s h abit on a low foot stool by h er side S he

,
-
.

tried to co n ceal her work from his eyes A few days .

late r a messenger reached him sent by his wi fe wh o , ,

2 02 M ODERN MAG IC .

of an entire stranger who regarded h im fixedly In a

,
.

state of great excitement he rushed to the upper deck ,

where he foun d the captain and told him what h ad o c

curr ed There u pon both wen t down there was n o on e
.

’
in the cabin bu t o n the capt ain s slate an unknown
,

hand had written these words : S teer NW ! N o effort .

was spa r ed to sol ve the mystery the whole vessel was

searched from end to en d bu t no stranger w as disco v
,

ered ; even th e h andwriting of eve ry membe r of the

'

crew w as examin ed but n othing found resembling i n

,

th e least degree th e mysteriou s warning A ft er some .

hesita tion the captain decided as n othing waslikely to

,

be lost by so doing t o obey the behest an d ordered th e

_
,

helmsman to steer n orthwest A few hou rs later they

.

en coun tered the wreck o f a vessel fastened t o an ice

berg wi t h a large crew an d a n umber o f passengers in
, ,

expec tation of certain dea th Wh en the unfortunate

.

’
men were brought back by the ship s boats Bru ce su d ,

de n ly starte d in utter amaz ement for in o ne o f t h e

.

saved men h e recognized by dress an d fea tures the per

, ,

’
son he h a d seen at the captain s desk in the cabin T he .

stranger was requeste d to w r ite down th e w ords : S te e r

NW ! an d wh en the words w ere compared with those
.

s t ill stan ding on the S l ate they were identical ! Upon

,

inqu iry it turn ed out that the sh ipwrecked man had at

noon fallen in to a deep Sleep during which he had seen
,

a ship approaching t o their rescue When he h ad b ee n .

waked half an hou r later he had confidently assu red

his fellow su fferers that th ey woul d be rescued de
-

,
 G H OS TS . 2 03

scribing eve n the vessel that was to come to their assist

ance Words cannot convey the amazemen t of the n u
.

fortunate men when they saw a few hours afterwards , ,

a ship be ar down upon them w hich bore all the marks

,

predicted by their companion and th e latter assured ,

Robert Bruce that everythi n g on board the vessel ap

re d to hi m perfectly fami l iar
p e a .

Cases in which men have been seen at the same time

at t wo differen t places are n o t less frequent though ,

here the explanation is mu ch less easy A F rench girl .

,

E milie S ag ee had even to pay a severe penalty for s u ch

,

a peculiari ty : She was contin ually met with at variou s

places at on ce and as Sh e could n ot give a satisfactory
,

excuse for bein g at one place when her duties r equired

her to be at an other she was su spected of sad miscon
,

duct S he lived as governess in a boarding school in

.
-

Livonia and the g irls Of the institute saw her at the

,

same time Sitting among them and walking below in

the garden by the side o f a friend and not unfrequent ,

ly two M iss Sagé es would be seen standing before the

blackbo ard looking exact l y alike and performing the
,

s ame motion s although on e of them only wrote with

,

chalk o n the board O nce while she was helping a

.
,

friend to lace her dress behind the latte r looked into ,

th e mirror and to her horror sa w two persons standing

there whereupon she fell down fainting The poor
,
.

F ren ch girl lost her plac e not less th an nine t ee n times

on accoun t O f he r double existence ( O wen “
Foot ,

”
falls etc p
,
.
, .
2 04 MODERN MA G IC .

“
O ccas ionally this double appears to others at t h e
same time that i t is seen by t h e o w ner hi m self Th u s .

the E mpress E lizabeth of Russia was seen b y a Coun t

, ,

0 and the Imperial G uards seated i n full regalia on

.
,

her th rone in the th ron e room while sh e was lying fast

,
-

asleep in her bed The vi sion was so distin ct an d the

.
,

terror of the beh olders so great that the E mpress was ,

actually waked an d informed of wha t had happene d by

, ,

her lady in waiting who had herself seen th e whole

- -

scene The dauntless E mpress did no t hesitate for a

.

mome n t ; she dressed h astily and went to the throne

room ; when the doors were thrown open she saw her ,

self as the others had seen her ; bu t so fa r from bein g

,

terrified like her servants she ordered t h e guard to fire ,

at the apparition When the smoke had passed away

.
,

the h all was empty—bu t the brave E mpress died a few

months latter ( B l a u s P r ev ost V p . Jung , . .

S tilling mention s another striking illustration A .

young lieu tenant full o f health and in high spirits

, ,

return s home fro m a merry meetin g with old frien ds .

A s h e approaches th e hou se in which h e lives he sees ,

lights in h is roo m an d to h is great terror h imself i n

, ,

the act of being undressed by his servant ; as he stands

an d gazes in Speechless wonder he sees hi mself walk t o ,

his bed an d lie down He remain s for some t ime .

dumbfoun ded an d stan ding motion l ess i n the street ,

till at last a dull heavy crash arou ses him from his
,

reve ry He makes an e ffort goes t o the doo r an d rings

.
,

t h e bell ; his servant who open s t h e doo r s ta r ts back

, ,
2 06 M ODERN M AG IC .

t icat e d
cases of th e kind occu rred at the cour t of Cosmo ,

’
de M edici in 1 49 9 In the brillian t circle of eminen t
, .

men which the great merchant prin ce had gathere d

around him two philosophers M ichael Me rcat u s papal
, , ,

prothon o tary and Marsiliu s Ficin u s were prominent by

,

their vast erudition thei r common devotion to Platonic

,

ph ilosophy an d the ardent friendship which boun d

,

them to each other They h ad solem nly agreed that h e

.

who Sho uld die first should con vey to the other some,

information about the fu ture state F icin u s died firs t .

,

an d his friend writing e arly in t h e morning near a

, .

window su ddenly heard ahorseman dashing up to his

,

house checking his hors e and crying ou t : M ichael !

,
“

M ichael ! nothing is mo re true than wh at is said

o f the life t o come !
”
Me rc at u s immediately Open ed
th e win dow and saw his bosom friend riding at full
speed down the road o n his white horse until he was
, ,

o u t of sight He returned full of thought to h is

.
, ,

studies ; but wrote at once to i nquire about his friend .

In du e time the an swer came that Fi cin u s had died in ,

Floren ce at the very moment in which Me rca t u s h ad

seen him in Rome O ur auth o rity for this re
:

markabl e acco u n t i s the Cardinal B aro n iu s who kne w ,

Me rcat u s and heard it from his o wn lips but t h e dates

which he mentio ns do n o t correspond with the ann als
Of history He places the even t in the year 1 4 91 b u t
.
,

M ichele de M ercati was papal prothonotary un der S ixtus

’

V ( 1 58 5—
'

. 9 0) and could therefore n ot h ave b e en t h e , ,

friend o f Ficinu s the famous physician and theologian

, ,
 G H OS TS . 07

who was one of S avon arola s most distingu ished ’

adherents .

No r can we attach much weight to th e old ballads of

Roland which reci t e in touching simplicity t h e anguish
,

o f Charlemagne when he heard from afar the sound of

,

his C hampion s horn im plo riu g hi m to come to his

’

assistan ce although the two armies were at so great a

,

distance from each other that when the E mperor at las t

reached the ill fated valley o f Ro n cev al his heroic friend
-

had been dead for some days Calderon depicts in like .

manner bu t with t h e peculiar coloring of the S pan ish

,

devotee h o w the dying E usebio calls his absen t friend

,

A lberto to his bedside to h ea r h is last confession an d

, ,

how the latter obeying the mysterious summo n s has

, ,

tens there to fulfil his solemn promise .

A well kn own occurren ce of this kind i s reported by

-

Cotton M ather as having taken place In Ne w E ngland .

O n M ay 2 d 1 6 8 7 at 5 o clock A M a young man called

, ,
’
. .
, ,

Beacon then living in Boston suddenly sa w his brother

, , ,

whom he h ad left in Lon don sta n ding before him in ,

h is u sual costume but with a bleeding wound in hi s

,

forehead He told h im t h a t h e h ad been foully m ur

.

dered by a reprobate who would soon reach New E ng

,

l an d ; at the same time he described minu te ly the ap

e ran ce o f his murderer and implored hi s b ro ther to
p a ,

avenge his death promising him hi s assistan ce Towards

, .

the en d of June o ffi cial information reached the colony

that th e young man had died on M ay 2 d at 5 o clock ,
’

A M from the e ffects of h is woun ds But here also

. .
, .
, ,
2 08 MO DERN MAG IC .

several in consistencies diminish the value of the accoun t .

In th e first place the narrator h as evidently forgotten

,

the di fferen ce in time between London an d Boston i n

.

A merica or he has pu rposely falsifi ed th e report in

, ,

order t o make it more impressi ve Then the mu rderer .

never left his cou ntry ; although he was tried for h is

crime escaped the penalty o f death by the aid of in fl u
,

e n t ial friends It is however possible that he may have

.
, ,

had t h e intention O f seeking safe tv abroad at the time

he committe d th e murder .

The apparition o f the great Ca rdinal o f Lorraine at

the momen t of death is be tter authenticated D Au
, .
’

b ign é te lls u s ( Hist Un ive r 1 5 7 4 p 7 1 9 ) that the

. .
, .

queen Catherin e of M edici w as retiri n g one day at an , ,

earlier hour than u sual in th e presen ce of the K ing o f

,

Navarre t h e A rchbishop of Lyon s and a number o f

, ,

emine n t persons when sh e suddenly hid he r eyes un der

,

her hands and c ried piteou sly for help Sh e made grea t .

e ffo rts to point Ou t to the bystanders the form of the

Cardin al whom she saw standing at the foot Of her bed
,

an d o ffering her his hand S he ex claimed repea t edly : .

“
M onsieur le Cardin al I h ave n othing to do with yo u
,

an d was in a state of m ost fearful excitement A t last .

’
one of the cou rtiers h ad the wit to go to the Cardinal s
house an d soon return ed with the appalling n e w s that
,

the great man h ad died in that very h our To thi s class of .

cases belongs also the well known vision of Lord Lyt -

tle t o n who had been warned that he would die o n a

,

certain day at midnight and who did die at th e

, ,
210 MODERN MAG IC .

of him who died first bu t also th at h e should make an

,

e ffo rt to appear to h im if permitte d t o do so The .

G overno r foun d everything as it had been tol d h im ;

’
h e took charge of h is frien d s became a p ro
t égé o f Q ueen Charlotte when she heard the re m arka
,

ble story an d wasedu cat ed as a companio n o f the future

,

”
G eorge IV .

Lord Byr on tells the following sto ry of Captai n

K idd He was lying o n e night in h is cabi n asleep
.
,

when he suddenly felt oppressed by a heavy weight

apparen tly resting on him ; he opened his eyes and by ,

the feeble light o f a small lamp he fancied he saw h is

brother dressed in full u niform a n d lean ing across the
, ,

bed Un der the impression that the whole is a m ere

.

idle delusion Of his sen ses h e turns over an d falls

,

asleep once more B u t t h e sense of Oppression retu rn s

.
,

and upon opening h is eyes he sees the same image as

before No w h e t ries to seiz e it and t o his amazemen t
.
,

t ouch es somethin g wet This t e rrifie s him and h e

.
,

calls a brother o fii ce r but wh en th e lat t e r ente rs

,
‘

n othing is to be seen A ft er the lapse of several

.

mon ths Captain K idd received i nformation that in that

s ame nigh t his brother had been drowned in t h e In
dian S ea He himself told the story to Lord Byron
.
,

an d the latter en dorse d its accuracy ( Mon thly Rev .

,

1 830 p , .

O n e of th e most remarkable inte rviews of this kind ,

which continu ed for some time and l ed to a prolonged ,

an d in teresting co n v e rsation du ring which the three

 G H OS TS . 21 1

sen ses Of Sight hearing and tou ch we re alike engaged

, , , ,

i s that which a M rs B argrav e had on th e 8 th o f S ep

.

tember 1 8 05 , A ccording to an accoun t given by

.

Jar v is ( Aured G host S tories Lon d

“ ”
. she was ,
.
,

sitting in her house in Canterbu ry in a state of great ,

desponden cy wh en a friend Of hers M iss V eal who

, , ,

lived at D over and whom she h ad not seen for t wo

,

years and a half entered the room The two ladies, .

h a d formerly been very intimate and found equal com ,

fort during a period of great sorro w in reading

, ,

togethe r works treating of future life an d similar sub

j e ct s Her friend wore a traveling suit an d the clocks
.
,

were striking noon as she entered ; M rs B argrav e .

wished to embrace her but M iss V eal held a han d ,

before her eyes stating that sh e was unwell an d drew

,

back S he then added that sh e was on t h e poin t o f

.

making a lon g j ourney and fee ling an irresistible de ,

sire t o see h er frien d on ce more sh e had come to Can ,

t erb u ry S he sat down in an arm chair and began a

.
-

lengthened conversation during which She begged her ,

frien d s p ardon for h aving so long n eglected her and

’
,

gradu ally turned to the subj ect w hich h ad been upper

most in M rs B argrav e s mind the views entertained by
.
’
,

variou s authors of the life after death S he attempted .

“
to con sole the latter assurin g her that a moment of ,

future b li ss was ample compensation for all earthly

” “
su fferings and that if the eyes of o u r mind were as
,

open as those of the body w e should See a number of ,

”
high er beings ready for our pro tection S he decl ined .
,
2 12 M ODERN MAG IC .

’
h owever readi n g certain verses aloud at her friend s re
,

“
quest because h olding h e r h ead lo w gave her th e
,
‘

”
h eadache S he frequently passed her hand ove r h er
.

face but at last begged M rs B argrav e to write a letter

, .

to her brother which sur prised her friend very mu ch fo r

, ,

in the letter sh e wished h er brother to dist ri bute certain

rings an d sums o f mon ey belonging to her among
frien ds and kinsmen A t this time she appeared to b e
.

growing ill again an d M rs B argrav e moved close u p

, .

to h er in order to support h e r in doin g so sh e tou ched ,

he r dress an d praised the materials whereupon M iss ,

V eal told her that i t was recently m ade b u t o f a s ilk ,

which had been clean ed Then Sh e in qu ired after M rs

. .

’
B argrav e s daughter and th e latter wen t to a n eighbor
,

ing hou se to fetch her ; o n h er w ay back Sh e saw M iss

‘

V eal at a distance in the street which was full o f ,

people as i t happened to be market day bu t before she

-

, ,

could overtake her her frien d h ad turned round a

,

corner an d disappeared .

Upon inquiry it appeared that M iss V eal whom sh e ,

h ad thu s seen whose dress Sh e had tou ched an d with

, ,

whom sh e had con versed fo r n early t wo h ours h ad died ,

the day b e fo re i When th e question was dis cu ssed wit h

the relatives o f the deceased it was foun d that she had ,

commun icated several secrets to her Canterbury frien d .

Th e fact that h er dress was made of an old silk stu ff -

was known to but one person who had don e the clean ,

ing and made the dress wh ich sh e recognized in stan tly

,

fr om the description S he h ad also ackn owledged to

.
2 14 MODERN MAG IC .

supern atural o ccu rren ces men tions i n his Eu t h an ,

“

asia a Protestant lady of his a cq rrain t anbe whose min d ,

was frequently filled with extraordin ary visions S he .

was a somn ambulist and s ubj ect t o cataleptic attacks

,
.

A Benedictine monk an o l d frien d of the family h ad

, ,

been ordered to Bellin zon a in S witz erl an d b u t his , ,

correspondence with his friends had never been inter

rupte d for years Years after h is removal t he above
.

mention ed lad y was taken ill and at once predicte d ,

the day an d hou r of her death O n t h e appointed day .

she was cheerful an d perfectly composed ; at a certain

h our h owever she raised h erself Slightly on her cou ch
, , ,

an d said with a sweet smile Now it is time for me to ,

go an d say good bye to Father C S h e immediately

-
.

fell asleep then awoke again spoke a few words and

, , ,

di ed A t the same hour the monk was sittin g in Bel

.

l in z o n a at h is writing ta b le a so called pandora a m u

-
,
-

sical in strument by hisside

,
S uddenly he hears a noise
.

like an ex pl osion an d looki ng up startled sees a whi t e

, ,

figure in whom he at o n ce recognizes his distant frien d

,

by h er sweet smile When h e examin ed his instrumen t

.

h e foun d th e soun ding board cracked wh ich n o doubt

-

, , ,

h ad given rise t o h is hearing what he considered a

“
warning voice The Re v M r O berlin well known
. . .
,
-

an d mu ch revered in G ermany and by n o mean s forgot ,

t e n in our o wn coun try where a prosperou s college still

,

bears his n ame declares in his memoirs that he h ad for

,

n in e years con stant intercourse with his deceased wif e .

He saw he r for the first tim e after her death in broad

 G H OS TS . 2 15

daylight and w h en he was wide awake ; afterwards t h e

conversation s were carried on partly in the day an d
partly at night O th er people in the village in which
. .

he lived saw h er as well as himself N or was it by the .

eye only that th e pious excellent man j udged of her

,

presen ce ; frequently when h e exten ded his hand h e

, ,

would feel his fingers gently pressed as h is wife had ,

been in th e habit of doing when sh e passed by him an d '

would n o t stop But there was mu ch bittern ess and

.

sorrow also mix ed up with th e sweetness of these mys

t e rio u s relation s The p assionate attachment of hus
.

ban d and wife could ill brook th e terrible barrier that

separated them fr om each other an d often th e latter,

wou l d look so wretched and express her g rief in such

heartrending words that the poor minister was deeply
afflicted The impression produced on his min d was
.

that h e r soul forced for unkn own reasons to remai n for

,

some time in an intermediate state remain ed warmly ,

attached to ea rthly friends an d lamented the in ability

to confer with them after the mann er Of men A fter .

’
nin e years the hu sband s vision s suddenly ended an d
he was informed in a drea m that his wife had been ad
m it t e d i nto a higher heaven where Sh e e nj oyed the
,

promised peace with her S a v iour bu t Could no longer

,

commun e with mo rta l beings .

It is well known that even th e great reformer Ma r ,

tin Luther knew o f several Similar cases an d in his

, ,

Table Talk m ention s more tha n one remarkable in

stance
.
 MODERN MAGIC .

A nother well kno wn and much discus sed occurren ce

-

o f this kind happen ed in the days o f M azari n an d cre ,

ated a great sensation in th e highest circles at Paris A .

m arquis o f Rambou illet and a marquis o f Preci inti ,

mate friends had agreed to inform ea ch other of their

,

fate after death The form er was ordered to the army

.

i n Flanders while the other r emain ed in the capi tal

,
.

H ere he was ta ken ill w ith a fever several weeks aft er ,

parting w ith h is frie n d an d as he was on e morning to

,

wards 6 o clock lyin g ia bed awake the cu r tains were

’
,

s uddenly drawn aside and his frien d dressed as u sual

, ,

booted an d spurred was standing before hi m O v er

, .

j oyed he was about t o embrace him b u t his frien d

, ,

drew ba k and said that he h ad come only to keep his

c

promise after having been kil l ed in a skirmish the day

before an d that Preci also would share his fate in th e
,

first combat in which he Shou l d be en g aged The latter .

thinks his frien d is j oking j umps up and tries to

'

seiz e him — but he feels no thing The vision however .

, ,
.

is still there ; Rambouillet even shows him the fatal

wou n d in h is thigh from which the bl ood seems still to
be flowing Then only he disappears an d Preci re
.

main s utterly overcom e ; at last he summon s his valet ,

“

r ouses the wh ol e ho use and causes every r oo m and

,

every passage to be searched No trace however is .

, ,

found and the whole vision is attributed t o his fever

, .

B ut a fe w days later t h e mail arrives fr om Flanders ,

bringing the n e ws that Rambou illet h adreally fallen 1 11

such a skirmish an d died from a wound In t h e thigh ;
2 18 MODERN MAG IC .

that instan t it flash ed through his mind that h e an d

his brother h ad promised each other that t h e on e dying
first should if possi b le give a Sign to the sur v ivo r
, , .

When he recovered from th e deep emotion caused by

these thoughts he left th e room an d as he open ed the
,

door h e came across a nu mber of men who bore th e

body of his brother who had been killed by a fall from
,

his horse ( La P a t ric S ept 22 The Coun t Of

,
.
,

N euilly al so was warned in a somewhat similar man

, ,

n e r He was at coll ege an d on the poi nt of paying a

.
\

visit to hi s paternal home when a letter came telling ,

him that his father was n ot quite wel l a n d that he had

bett er postpone hi s visit a few days Later letters from .

h is mother m entioned nothing to cau se him any n u

’
easiness B ut several days afterward at on e o clock in
.
,

the morn ing he thought apparently in a dream that

, , ,

h e saw a pale ghastly figure rise slowly at th e lower en d

of h is bed extend both arms embrace him and then
, ,

sink Slowly down again out o f sight He uttered heart .

ren di ng cries an d fell out of h is bed upsetting a chair

, ,

and a table When h is tutor an d a man servant r u shed

.
-

into the room they found him lying un consciou s on

,

the floor covered with cold clammy perspiration an d

, ,

strangely disfigured A s soon as he was restored to

.

consciousness he bu rst o ut into tears and assured them

,

that hi s father h ad di ed and come to ta ke leave of him .

In vain did his friends try to calm his min d he re ,

mained in a State of u tter dej ection Three days later .

a lette r came from his m other bringing him the sad ,

 G H OS TS . 2 19

news that his father h ad died o n th at night and at th e

,

hour in which he had appeared by his bedside The .

unfo rtunate Coun t could n ever entirely get rid of the

overwhelming impression which this occurrence h ad
m ad e o n his min d an d was to t he day o f his death
, , ,

firmly convin ced of the re ality of this meeting ( Dix

An née s d em igra t io n Paris 1 8 65 )
’
.
,

We learn from su ch accounts that there prevails

amon g all men at all ages a carefully repressed but
, , ,

al most irresistible be lief in supern atu ral occurren ces ,

and in the close proximity of the spirit world This .

beli ef is n either to be treated with ridicule nor t o b e

obj ec ted to as u nch ristian Since it is an abiding wit
,
‘

ness that men entertain an inerad icable con v iction of

the immorta lity of the soul NO ar guments can ever .

destroy in the minds of the vast maj ority of men this

innate and i ntuiti v e faith We may decline to believe
.

with them the existence Of supernatu ra l agencies as .

long as n o experimen tal b aS Is I s o ffered bu t we ought ,

at the same time to b e w illing to modify our incre

,

dul it y as soon as an accumulation of facts a ppear to

j ustify us in so doing O ur age is so completely given
.

u p to materialism with it s ceaseless h u rry an d wor r y ,

that we ought to hail w ith a sense o f relief n ew powers

which require exami nati on an d which O ffer to our in
,

t elle c t ual faculties an u ntrodden fi eld of investigation ,

full of incidents refreshing to ou r weary mind and ,

promising rich additions to our s tore of kno wledge .

It can hardly be denied that there is at least a pos

220 M ODERN MAG IC .

sib ility the existence

of of a highe r spiritu al p o wer
'

within u s which often slumbe ring an d altogether u n

, ,

kno w n o r certainly unobserved during life becomes

, ,

suddenly free to act in the hour of death This may .

b e brought about by the fact th at at th at time the

stre n gth of the body is exhausted and earthly w an ts ,

n o longer press u pon u s while the spiritual part o f ou r

,

being largely relieved of its bon dage becomes active in

, ,

its own peculiar way an d thu s acqu ires a power which

,

w e are disposed to call a magic powe r This power is .

,

o f cour se not u sed con sciou sly for con scious n ess pre
, ,

Supposes the control over ou r sen ses but it acts by in ,

tu itive impulse Hen ce th e wide differen ce existing

.

between the so called magic O f charmers en chan ters

-

, ,

an d conj urors j u stly abhorred an d strictl y prohi b ite d

.

by divine laws an d the e ffects o f su ch supreme e ffo rts

,

made b y the soul which depen d upon involunta ry

-

action an d are n ever made s ubservient to wicked pur

,

poses .

The results Of su ch ex ertion s ar e gene rally impres

sions made appar e n tly upon t h e eye o r the ear ; b ut it
need not be said th at what is seen o r heard in such
c ases is merely t h e e ffect o f a deeply felt sensation in
,

o u r soul which seeks an outward expression If o u r .

i nn ermost being is thus suddenly appealed t o as i t ,

were by the spirit of a dying frien d or compan ion his

, ,

’
im a e ari se s in sta ntaneously befo re o u r m ind s ey e and
g
,

we fan cy we see h im in bodily form or o u r memory ,

r ecalls the familiar soun ds by which his appearance

222 MODERN MAG IC .

most familiar phenomenon second sight are in reality

, ,

n othing more than Symptoms of a thoroughly diseased

system an d this explain s very simply th e frequency
,

w ith whi ch death follows s uch mysteriou s occurren ces .

M en have claimed —an d proved to the satisfaction o f

m ore o r less considerable numbers of friends—that they
could at will cau se a pa rtial an d momen tary parting b e
tween th eir souls and their bodies Here also an tiq u ityj s
.

o u r first teacher if we believe Pliny ( H ist Na t vii c

, . . . .

He rm o t im u s could at his pleasure fall in to a t ran ce

an d then let his sou l proceed from h is bod y to distan t
places U pon being arou sed h e reported w hat he had
.
,

seen an d heard abroad and his statemen ts were i n e v ery

, ,

case fully confirmed Cardanus also c ould v ol un

,
.
, ,

t arily throw h imself into a state of apparent syn cope as ,

h e tells u s in most graphic words ( De Res Va r v iii 1 . . . . .

viii c
. . The first se nsation Of wh ich h e was always
fully con scious was a peculiar pain in the hea d which
, ,

gradu ally exten ded downward along th e Spin e an d at ,

last Spread over the extremities —evidently a purely

n ervous process Then h e felt as if a door was opened
.
,

”
and h e himself was leaving h is b ody wh ereupon he ,

n o t o n l v sa w pe r son s at a distan ce but noticed all that

,

befell them and recalled it aft er h e had recovered from

,

the trance An o l d G erman Ab b e Fre it h e im Of whose

.
, ,

r emarkable work on S t ega nograp h ze u n fo rt u n

’

ately only a few sheets have been preser v ed claim s th e ,

power t o commune with absen t frien ds by the nrere e n

“ “
er
gy of his will I. can says ,
he make known ,
my
 G H OS T S . 3

t ho ugh t s t othe initiate d at a di stance of many hundred

,

miles w ithout word writing or cyph er by any messenger

, , , .

The latte r cannot betray me for he knows nothing , .

If needs be I can even dispense with the messenger

,
.

If my corresponden t should be bu ried in th e deepest

dungeon I could still convey t o him my t houghts as
clearly as fully an d as frequently as might be desir
, ,

able and all this quite simply withou t superstition

, , , ,

”
withou t the aid Of Spirits .

The famous A grippa ( De occu lm philos Lugdu n i , ,

III p 1 3 ) quote s the former writer an d asserts

. .
,

that he also could by mere e ffo rt of will in a

, ,

perfectly simple and n atural manner con vey h is '

thoughts not t o the initiate d onl y b ut t o any o n e , ,

’
even when his correspondent s present place o f resi
dence should be unknown The most remarkable
.
,

and at the same time the best authenticat ed case

, ,

o f this kind is that of a high G erman O fficial men

,

t io n e d in a scientific paper ( Na sse Z e itschr if t f ar .

'

s c k ische Aerzt e an d frequently copied into

p y ,

others A Counsellor W e se rm a nn claimed to be able

.

to cau se distant friends t o dream of any subj ect he

migh t choose Wh enever h e awoke at night and made
.

a dete rmined e ffo rt to produ ce su ch an effect he never ,

failed provided the n ature o f the desired dream was

,

calculated t o startle o r deep l y excite his friends Hi s .

po wer was te ste d in this mann er He engaged to cause . .

a youn g o ffi cer who was station ed at A ix la Chapelle

,
- -

n early fifty miles from his o wn home to dream of a ,

 24 MODERN MAG IC .

you n g l ady who had died n ot long ago It was eleven .

’
o clock at nigh t bu t by some accident t he lieutenan t
,

was n o t at home in bed bu t at a frien d s cou ntry seat

,
’
-

di scu ssing the Fren ch campaign S uddenly the col .

o n e ] h is host and he himself see at the same time the

, ,

door open a lady en t er salute t hem sadly and beckon

, , ,

them t o fello w her Th e two o fficers rise an d lea v e th e

.

r oom after h e r b u t once o u t o f doo rs the figure disap

, ,

pears an d when they inqui re of th e sentin els stan di n g

,

guard outside they are told that n o on e h as entered

,
.

What made the matter more s triking yet was t h e fact ,

that although both men had seen th e door Open this ,

cou l d n ot really have been so for the wood had Sprun g ,

and the door creaked badl y wh enever it was opened .

Th e same W e se rm an n could in like manner ca u se his , ,

friends t o se e his own person an d to hear secrets which

h e s eemed to whisper in t o their ears when ever h e
chose ; bu t he admitted upon it that his will was not
at all times equal l y strong an d that he n ce his efforts
, , ,

were n ot always equally successful Cases o f simila r .

powers are ve ry numerous A very curiou s exampl e .

“
was publish ed i n 1 8 52 in a work o n ,P sychologi c
S tudies ( S chlemmer p The author wh o was a
,
.
,

police agen t in the Pru ssian service asserted that per ,

sons wh o apprehen ded being conducted t o gaol with

Special an xiety oft en made themselves kn own there I n
.

advance ann oun cing their arrival by kn ocks at the

,

gates opening of doors o r footsteps heard in the room

, ,

set aside for exam ining n e w comers O ne day n ot the .

,
2 26 MODERN MA G IC .

men t A court preacher in on e o f the little S axon

.
-

D uchies appeared on ce in bands an d gown s before his

,

sovereign bowing most h umbly an d reveren tly The

,
.

duke asked what he desire d bu t r eceived no answer ex,

cept another deep reverence A secon d questio n meets .

wi th the same reply whereupon the divi n e leaves the

,

r oom descends the stairs an d crosses th e cou rt yard

,
-

while the prince mu ch s urpr i sed at h is strange condu ct

, ,

stands at a win dow an d watch es him till he reach es th e

gate s Then he sen ds a page after h im t o try an d as
.

cer tain what was the matte r wi th t h e o l d gen tlema n ,

bu t the page comes run ning back almost beside himself ,

and reports that the mi nister had died a short while

b efore The prin ce refuses to believe his report an d
.
,

sends a h igh o ffi cial b ut th e latter returns wi th th e

,
‘

same report an d thi s addition al in formation : The dy

ing man had asked for writing materi als in order to ,

recommend his widow to his sovereign but had h ardly ,

comm en ced writing the letter when death su rprised

him The frag ment was brought to the duke an d con
.

v in ce d him that hi s faithful servant unable to reach h im ,

by letter an d yet n ervou sly anxiou s to approach him

, ,

had Spiritually appeared to him in h is most familiar co s

tume ( Dau m er My stagog I p , . . .

'

Be fore we regret such st ate m e n t s o r treat t h em w ith

ridicule i t will be well to remember that men en dowed
, ,

with an extraordinary power of con trolling certain fac

u l t ie s o f body and soul are by n o means rare and that
, ,

the di fference between them and those last men tione d ,

 G H OSTS . 227

consists only in the degree We speak of the pow e r of

.

sight and limit it ordinarily to a certain distance— an d

v et a Hottentot we are told can perceive the head of a
, ,

gazelle in the dry uniform gr ass of an A frica n plai n at

, ,

the distance of a thousand yards ! M any men can no t

hear sounds in n ature which are perfectly au dible to
others while some persons hear e v en certain note s
,
'

u ttered by tiny insect s which escape altogether the

,

a v erage hearing of man Patien ts under treatment by

.

B aron Reichenbach sa w lumin ou s obj ects an d the ap

,

pe aran ce of lights hovering above ground where neithe r ,

h e n or any of his friends could perceive anything but

utter darkness and the special gift with which some
,

person s are endowed to feel as it were the presence of , .

wa ter and o f metals below the surface is well a u th e n t i ,

c at e d . Poor Caspar Hauser bred in darkness and soli

,

tude felt various and deep impressions upo n his whole

,

being during th e first months of his free life whenever ,

he came in contac t with plants stones or metals The , .

la t te r sent a current through all h is limbs ; tobacco fields

m ade h im dea dly sick and the vicinity of a graveyard
,
‘

gave him violent pains in h is chest Person s who were .

introd uced t o him for the first time sent a cold current ,

through him an d when they possessed a specially power

ful physique they caused h im abundant perspiration an d
, ,

Oft en e v en convulsions The waves o f sound he felt s o

.

much more acute l y than others tha t he a l ways con tin

ued to hear them with deligh t long after t he last sou n d ,

had pas sed a way from the ears of others It may be fairl y .
228 M ODERN MA G IC .

presumed that this extreme sensitive n ess to ou tward im

pression s is origin ally possessed by all m en b u t becomes ,

gradually dulled and d immed by con stant repetitio n; at

the same time i t may certainly be preserved in rare privi
l e ged cases o r i t may come back again to the body i n
,

a diseased or disordered condition an d at the momen t ,

of dissolution .

No r is the power occasion ally granted to men to con

trol their se nses limit ed to these even the Spon taneou s
fun ction s of the body are at times subj ect to the will Of
man A n E nglishm an for in stan ce could at will m o d
.
, ,

”
ify the bea ting of his heart ( Cheyne N ew Dis p , ,
.

an d a G erman produ ced like a veritable rum inant the , ,

antiperistaltic motion s of the stomach whenever h e

‘

chose ( Blu menbach P hys O ther men have

, .

been known w h o could at an y moment cau se the famil

“ ”
iar goose skin or perspiration to appear in any part
-

, ,

Of the body an d many person s can move not only the

,

ears — a lost faculty according to D arwin —but even e n

large o r contract the pupil of the eye after the manner ,

o f cats and parrots E ven the circulat ion of the blood h as

.

been known i n a few rare cas es t o have been subj ect to

, ,

t h e will of men an d the great philosoph er K ant did not

,

hesitate to affi rm su pporte d as he was by his own ex

,

p ience that men could if t hey were bu t reso l ute

e r , ,

en ough master by a mere effort of th e will n ot a few o f

, , ,

th eir diseases .

A striking evide n ce o f the comparati v e faci lity wi th

which men t h u s e x cept io n ally gifted may be able t o
" ‘

,
230 M ODERN MAG IC .

great fondness o f A ugustus of S axony— afterwards

king of Poland — h is A u strian coun sellors became
alarmed at th e possible influen ce of su ch in t imacy of
their sovereign wi t h a Protestant prin ce an d de te rm in ,

ed to break it o ff N ight after night therefore a fear

.
, ,

ful vision arose before the G erman emperor, rattl ing its
chain s an d accu sing the young prince of grievous her
es
y
. A ugu stus
, however kno wn
, alread y at that time
’
for his gigantic strength asked Joseph s permission to
,

s leep in his room ; wh en the ghos t appeared as usual ,

the yo ung prin ce sprang u pon him and feeli n g h is .

flesh and blood threw hi m bod ily out of a window o f

,

th e second story into a deep fosse The un fortunate .

king of Prussia Frederick William II fell soon after

,
.
,

h is ascension o f th e throne into the hands of designing

men who determined to profit by his great kin d n ess of
,

h eart and his tendency to m y sticism and began to ,

work upon him by supern atural apparition s O ne of .

the most cunningly devised impostures o f t h e kind

was prac tised upon K ing G ustavus III o f S weden by .

ambitiou s n obleme n of his cou rt .

The scene was the ancient Lo fo e church i n D ro

t in gh o l m a favorite residence of former S wedish mon
,

’
archs The kin g s physician Iven Hedin learn t acci
.
, ,

dentally from the sexto n that his master h ad be en

spending several n ights in the bu ilding in company ,

wi t h a few of his courtiers A larmed b y this informa

.

tion b e p ersu aded the sexton t o let him watch t h e pro

ce e dings from a secret pla c e in the o l d ste eple o f the
 G H OS TS . 23 1

church A n Opportunity came In the month of Au

.

gust 1 78 2 and h e had scarcely take n possession of

, ,

h is post when two of the royal secretaries came i n ,

closed the door and arranged a curious con trivance in

,

the body of the building To his grea t surprise a n d .

amusement th e doctor saw them fasten some horse hairs -

to the hea v y chan deliers suspended from the lofty ceil

in g and then pi n to them masks sewed on to white
,

floating garments Finally large qua ntities of incen se

.

w ere scattered on the floor an d set on fire while all ,

lights save a few thin candles were extinguished

, , .

Then the king wa s ushered in with five of h is courtiers ,

m ade to assume a peculiar very irkso n re position and , ,

all were asked to hold naked swords upon each oth er s ’

breas ts Thereupon the first comer murmured certai n

.

formulas of conj u ration an d performed some cere ,

monies when his companion slow l y drew up one of the

,

masks It was fashioned to resemble the great G us

.

tavus A dolphus and i n the dimly lighted church fi l led

,
-

wi th dense smoke it looked to all in tents and purposes

,

like a ghost aris ing fromthe vau l ts underneath It .

disappeared as slowly in to the darkn ess above and was ,

immediately followed by another mask representing

A dolphus F rederick and even t h e ph ysic ia n wh o kne w
, ,

the secret could not repress a shu dder so admirably

.
,

w as the whole con trived Then followed a fe w flashes

.

of lightning during which th e horse hairs were re

,
-

moved lights were brought in and the k ing deeply

, , ,

moved and sh edding silent tears escorted from th e ,

23 2 M ODERN MAG IC .

bu ilding The faithful physician watched his o ppo r

.

t u n ity and whe n a favorab le h our appeared revealed

, ,

th e secret t o his master and thu s fortunately for

, ,

S weden defeated a very dangerou s and most skillfully

,

con ducted conspiracy .

E ven ven triloquism has len t its aid to many an his

t o rical imposture as in the case of Fran cis I o f Fran ce
,
.
,

w h ose vale t Louis of Brabant pos sessed great skill i n

, ,

th at art and u sed i t unsparingly for his own benefit

,

an d to the advantage of cou rtiers wh o employed him

for politi cal pu rposes He even persuaded the mother
.

o f a beautiful an d wealthy you ng l ady to give him her

daugh t er s han d by imitat i ng th e voice o f h e r former

’

h u sband and commanding her to do so in order to

,

release him from pu rgatory

We fear that to this class of gh ostly appearan ces
m u st al so be counted the almost hi sto rical Wh ite Ladv
o f t h e M argraves of Brandenburg .

Report says that she represents a Coun tess K unigu nde

o f O rlam unde who lived in t h e fourteenth cen tu ry
,

an d killed her t wo childr en fo r which crim e Sh e was

,

execu ted by orde r o f a Burggrave of Nuremberg His .

tory however knows n othing o f su ch an even t an d

, , ,

t h e White Lady does n ot appear till 1 48 6 when sh e i s ,

first seen in the Old palace at B a ire u th This was n oth .

in g but a trick of the cou rtiers ; when ever they desired

to leave the dismal town an d the un comfortable build
ing o n e o f the court ladies personated the ghost and
, ,

oc ca sion ally even t wo white l adies were seen at t h e

,
334 MODERN MAG IC .

had laughed at the credulity Of the G ermans In 1 8 09 .

G eneral d Espagn e roused his aids in the depth of night

’

by fea rful cries an d whe n they rushed in he was found

,

lying i n th e centre of the room un der the bedstea d , .

He told them that the White Lad y in a costume of ,

black and white resembling on e o f the portraits had

, ,

appear ed and threaten ed to strangle him ; in the strug

gle she h ad dragged the bedstead to the middle o f the
room and t here upset it The room was thoroughly
.

searched at his command the hangings removed from

,

the walls and the whole floor taken up but no t race

, ,

was found of any Opening through which a pe rs o n

m ight have en tered ; the doors had been guarded by
sentinels The gen eral left th e place immediately
.
,

lo okin g upon th e vision as a warn ing Of impending

evil and sure en ough a few days later he found his
, , ,

death upon the battle fie l d o f Aspern E ven the grea t

-
.

N apoleon whose superstition was generally thought t o

,

”
be confin ed to his faith in his star would n ot lodge ,

in the rooms haunted b v the Whi te Lady an d when h e ,

reached B aire u th in 1 8 1 2 a suite of rooms was prepared

,

for him in another wing o f the palace It was h o w .

,

ever n oticed that even there his night s rest m ust ha v e

,
’

been inte rrupted for 0 11 the nex t morning he was re

,

m a rkab l y n ervou s and out of hu mor murmuring ,

”
repeatedl y Ce ma u dit chat ea u a n d declaring that he
'
,

would n ever agai n sta y at the plac e When h e retu rned .

to that neighbo rhood in 1 8 1 3 he refused to occupy the

,

rooms that h ad been prepared for h im and contin ued ,

 G H OS T S . 235

his j ourney far into the n ight rather than remain at ,

B aire u t h .The town wa s however forever relieved of

, ,

it s ill fam e after 1 8 2 2

-
It is n ot without interest that
.

i n the same year the steward of the royal palace died ,

an d report says in his rooms were found a n umber of

’
curiosities apparen tly connected with the White Lady s
costume ; if this be so his ardent patriotism and fierce
,

hatred of the F ren ch mig ht well furnish a cue to some

of t h e more recent apparition s The White Lady con .

tin ned to appear in Berlin and the terror she created ,

was not even allayed by repeated discoveries of most

absurd e fforts at imposture O n ce Sh e turned ou t to be
.

a white towel agitated by a strong draught between two

windows ; at another time it was a kitchen m aid on an -

erran d of love and a th ird time an old cook taking an

,

ai ring in th e deserted rooms S he appeared on ce m ore .

in the month of February 1 820 announcing as m any , , ,

believed the death of the reigning mon arch which

, ,

took place in J une ; and quite recently ( 1 8 72 ) similar

warning was g iven Shortly before the emperor s brother ’
,

Prin ce A lbrecht died in his pal ace

, .

White ladies are however by n o means an exclusive

, ,

privilege of the house of Brandenburg ; S cotland has

its ancient legends skillfully u sed in novel poem and
, ,

opera and Italy boasts of a Donna Bian ca at Co l alt a

, , ,

in the M arca Eriv igian a of whom Byron spoke as if he

,

had n ever doubted her existen ce Irelan d h as in like .

mann er the Banshee who war ns with her plain ti v e

,

voice the descendants Of certain old families whenever ,

236 MODERN MAG IC .

a grea t calamity threatens one of the members Cu ri .

o u sly enough she clings to these on ce powe rful b u t

now often w retch edly poor families as if pride of ,

descen t and attachment to old splen dor prevailed even

i n the realms Of magi c .

Hi storical ghosts play n evertheless a prominent part

, ,

in all countries Lilly Baxter an d Claren don all

.
, ,

r elate the r emarkable warnings which preceded th e

“

murder o f V illiers D uke o f Buckingham Inthis case

,
.

the warni n g was given not to the threatened man bu t ,

to an old and fai t hful friend who h ad already been ,

intimate with the duke s father He saw the l atte r ’

.

appear to him several nights in su ccession u rging him ,

t o go to the duke an d after revealing to him certain

,

peculiar circu mstances to warn him against th e plots

,

o f his enemies who threatened his life

, Park er was .

afraid to appear ridiculous an d delayed giving th e

warning B ut the ghost left him no peace an d at las t
.
-

, ,

in order to decide h im r evealed to him a secret on l y

,

kn own to himself and h is il l fated son The latter -

.
,

when his o l d frien d at las t summoned cou rage t o

deliver t h e m ysterious message was at first inclin ed t o ,

laugh at th e warning ; bu t when Parker mentioned the

’
father s secret he turned pale an d declared on l y the
,

E vil O n e coul d have entrusted it t o morta l man .

N eve rt heless h e took no steps t o rid himself of his

,

traitorou s fr ien d and contin u ed h is sad life as before .

’
The father s ghost th ereupon appeared on ce m ore to
Parker with deep sadness in h is features an d hold
,
23 8 MODERN MAG IC .

h usband , beseeching him to break o ff h is intercourse

with his beautiful friend Lady Horatia A s these ,
.

requ ests availed nothing and the mon arch refused even
,

to believ e in the reality of her appearan ce sh e at l ast ,

tied a kn ot in a lace collar declari n g that if mortal

“
,

fingers could untie the kn ot t h e king and Lady ,

Horatia might laugh at her words The fai r lady .

tried her best to undo it bu t giving it up in despai r

, ,

she thre w the collar into the fire ; the ki ng highly ,

ex cite d sn atched the lace from the burn ing coals bu t

, ,

in so doing tou ched with i t the light gauze dr es s of

,

his companion In her terror she ran with great swift

.

n ess through room after room thus fan ning th e flames ,

into a blaze and perish ed ami d excru ciatin g pain s

,
.

The king i t is wel l known died only t wo mon ths

, ,

later .

A case which created a very great sensation at the

time when it h appened and became gen erally known
,

thro u gh the admirable mann er in which it was n ar

rated by the eloqu ent Bern ardin de S t Pierre ( Jou r .

n a l dc Tr evo u x vol ,
w as that of the priest B e z u e l
. .

When a young man of 1 5 and at college h e contracted

, ,

an intimate friendship w ith th e son Of a royal o ffi cial ,

called Desfo n t ain e s The two frien ds often spoke of futu re

.

life an d when parted in 1 6 9 6 th ey signed w ith thei r

, ,

blood a solemn compact in which they agreed t h at the

,

firs t who died should appear a fter death to the survivor .

They wrote to each oth er con stantly an d frequ ently ,

alluded in their letters to the agreement A year after .

 G H OS T S . 239

thei r parting B e z u e l happened to be one day in t h e

, , ,

fields delivering a message to some workmen when h e

. ,

sud denly fell dow n fainting A s he was in perfect h ealth

. ,

he knew not what to think of this accident bu t when ,

it occurred a second and a third time at th e same h our , ,

on the t wo following days he becam e seriou sly uneasy

,
.

O n the last occasion however he fell into a trance i n

, , ,

which he sa w no thing around him bu t beh eld h is frien d

,

De sfo n t a in e s who seized him by the arm and led him

,

Some thirty yards aside Th e w orkmen saw him go

.

there as if obeying a guardian h an d an d converse with

, ,

an unseen person for three quarters of an hou r The .

y oung man heard here from his friend s lips th at h e ’

,

h a d been drowned while bathi n g i n the river O rn e o n

the day and at the hour when B e z u e l had h ad his first
fainting fit that a compan ion h ad endeavored to save
,

him but when seized by the foot by the drowning man

, ,

had kicked him on the ch est an d thus cau sed him to

,

sink to the bottom B e z u e l inquired after all th e de

.

tails an d received full an swers bu t n one to question s

,

about the future life ; nevertheless th e apparition con ,

tinned to speak fluently but calmly and requested Bez ,

u e l to m ake certain communication s to his kinsmen ,

”
and to repeat the seven pen iten tial psalms which he ,

ought to have s aid himself as a penan ce It al so men .

t io ne d the work in which De sfo n tarn e s had been e n

gaged up t o the day of h is death and some names which
,

h e had cut in the ba rk Of a tree near th e town in which

h e lived . Then it disappeared B ez u el was not able t o
.
2 40 M ODERN MA G IC .

’
ca rry o ut his friend s wishes although t he a rm by which
,
.

he h ad bee n seized remin ded him daily of his du t y by

,

a severe pai n ; after a mon th th e d rowned man appeared

,

twice more urging his requests an d saying each tim e

, ,

”
at the end o f th e i n tervi ew bis bis j ust as he had
, , ,

been ac customed to do when in life A t last the young .

’
priest found the mean s to do his friend s bidding ; the
pai n in the arm ceased instantly an d his health remain
ed perfect to the end o f his life When he reached Caen
.

where Desfo n tain e s had perished he found everything ,

precisely as he had bee n told in his vi sions an d two ,

years aft erwards he discovered by chance even th e tree

with t h e n a nre s cut in the bark The amiable Ab b e .

de St Pierre does h is best to explain the whole occur

.

r enc e as a natu ral series of very simple acci dents ; th e re

c a n be however n o doubt of the exceptionable char
, ,

acte r of the leadin g features of th e event an d th e priest , ,

from whose o wn ac cou n t the facts are derived must ,

evidently i n his tra nce have been endowed with powers

o f clairvoyan ce .

In the first part of thi s century a book appe a r ed in

G erm any which led to a very gen eral and rather violen t
discussion o f the wh ole subj ect It was written by a .

D r Woetzel whose m i n
.
, d h ad no doubt been long , ,

engaged in trying t o solve mysteri es like that o f the

future li fe since he had early come in co ntact wi t h
,

strange p henomena The fathe r of a dear frien d of his

. .

having fai n ted in consequ ence of receiving a se riou s

wound was very in di gnant at being rou sed fr om the
,
2 42 M O DE RN MAG IC .

”
again . Woetz el j umped up and tried to seiz e th e
form but it vanished like thin mist an d h e felt a
, ,

stron g electri c shock He saw th e same vi sion an d

.

heard the same words repeatedly ; h is wife appeared as

h e h ad last seen h er lying i n her co ffi n ; the secon d
ti me a dog who had been ofte n pette d by her wagged
, ,

h is tail and walked ca ressingly aro und the appari tion .

The book which appeared in 1 8 04 an d gave a full

, ,

accoun t o f all the phenomena m e t with much opposi ,

tion and contempt ; a n umber o f works were w ritte n

agains t it W ielan d ridiculed it in his E u th anasi a
,
“ ”
,

an d oth ers deno un ced i t as a mere repetition o f former

statements The author was however n o t abashed by
.
, ,

the storm he h ad raised ; he o ffered to swear t o th e

truth o f all he had stated before th e G reat Co u ncil of
the University o f Leipzig an d published a seco n d work
,

i n which he developed his theo ry of ghosts with gr eat

ability A ccording t o his view the spirits of th e de
.
,

parted ar e for some time afte r death s u r round e d by a

luminou s essen ce which may un der peculiarly favor
, ,

able circum stan ces become visible t o h uman eyes bu t

, ,

wh ich acc o rdin g to th e weakne ss o f o u r mind is gen

'

, ,

e rall y transfo r med by the imagination only in to the

more familia r form of decea sed frien ds He insists .

,

besides upon it that all h e saw an d hea rd was an im

,

pression made upon the oute r sense s only an d that ,

nothing in the whole occu rren ce ori ginated i n hi s

in n er con scio usn ess A s there was n othing to b e
.

gained fo r him by h is persi s te nt a sse rtion s i t se e m s ,

 G H OS TS . 2 43

b ut fai r t o give them a l l th e weight they may deserve ,

till th e whole subject is more fully understood .

A nother r emarkable case is that of a M r an d M rs . .

James at whose hou se the Re v M r M ills a M ethodist

, . .
,
'

preacher was u su ally en te rtained when his duties

,

brought him to th ei r place of residen ce O ne year he .

found they h ad bo th died sin ce his last visit b ut he ,

staid wit h the o rphaned children an d retir ed t o the ,

same room which he had always occupied The ad .

j oining room was the former chamber of the aged

couple and h ere h e began soon to hear a whispering
,

an d moving about j ust as he u sed to hear it wh en they

,

were still alive This recalled to him th e reports h e

.

had heard in the to wn that the depa rte d h ad been fre

,

quently seen by their numerous friends an d kin smen .

The n ext day he called u po n a plain b ut very piou s

woman who urged him to share her simple meal with
,

her h e con s en ted bu t wh at was his amazement when

,

she said to hi m at the close of th e meal : N ow M r

“
,
.

M ills I h ave a favor to ask o f you I want yo u to

, .
~

preach my funeral sermon n ext S unday I am goi n g .

”
t o die n ex t Friday at three o clock When th e aston
’
.

ish e d minister asked her to explain th e strange request ,

sh e replied that M r and Mr s Jam e s h ad come to h er

'

. .

to tell he r that they were ine ffably happy but still ,

bo un d by certain ties t o the world below They had .

added that they h ad n ot died as people belie v ed with

, ,

ou t disposing o f thei r property bu t that in order to , ,

avoid dissension s among their child r en they h ad been ,

2 44 M ODERN MA G IC .

allowed to r etu r n and to make the place known where

t h e will was con cealed They had tried to confer with
.

M r M ills b u t hi s timidity h ad preven ted it ; n ow they

.
,

h ad come to her as the ministe r was going to dine that

,

day at her h ou se Finally they h ad in formed her o f

.

her approachi n g death on the day she h ad mentioned .

The M ethodist min ister looked aided by th e heirs an d ,

a l egal man for the will an d foun d it at th e place in di

,

c at e d
. N anny the poor woman died o n Friday an d
, , ,

her funeral sermon was preach ed by him on th e follow

i n g S unday ( Rechenberg p , .

A certain Dr T V an Velsen published i n 1 8 70 in

. .
,

D u tch a work calle d Chr is t u s Red iv iv u s in which he

, , ,

relates a n u mber o f very r emarkable appearances o f

“
deceased pe rs ons an d among these the followi n g : A
,

friend of the autho r s a man o f sound practical mind

’
, , ,

an d a declared en emy of all superstition lost his mothe r ,

whom h e had mos t assiduously n u rse d fo r six weeks

‘

and who died i n full faith in her Redeemer A fe w .

days late r his n ephew was to b e m arried in a di stant

province b ut al th ough n o n ear kin sman o f his except
, ,

h is mother could be present he the uncle could not

, , , ,

make u p h is min d so soon afte r hi s grievou s loss t o ,

attend a wedding This decision irritated and wounded

.

his si ster deeply an d led to warm discussion s in which ,

oth er relatives also to ok h er side an d which threaten ed ,

to cau se a seriou s breach i n the family The mou rn er .

was deeply affli cted by the scen e and at n ight having ,

l ai d the m atter before G od h e fell asleep with the ,

2 46 MODERN MAG IC .

In s ome in stan ces phen omen a like those described , ,

are apparently the r es ult o f a disturbed conscience an d ,

o ccu r therefore in frequ ent repetition A lready Plu

, , .

”
tarch in his Life of Cimon tells u s that the S parta n
, ,

gen eral Pausanias had murdered a fair maiden

, , ,

Cleonice because she overthrew a torch in his te nt and

,

he imagined himsel f to be attacked by assassin s The .

ghost o f the poor girl who m he h ad dishonor e d in li fe

,

an d so foully killed appeared to h im and threa ten ed

,

h im with su ch fearful disgrace that h e was terrified ,

an d h astened to Heraclea where n ecromancers sum ,

m ou ed the spirits o f the departe d by their vile arts .

’
They called up Cleon i ce at the great comman der s ,

r equest an d she replied reluctan tly that the cu rse

, ,

would not leav e him till he wen t to S parta Pausanias .

did so an d foun d his death there the only way says , ,

the historian of the same n am e i n which he could ever ,

b e r elieved of su ch fearful guilt Baxter also tells u s .

, ,

( p
. 3 0) o f a Rev M r Franklin whose young son r epeat
. .
,

e dl
y saw a lady and received at her hands quite painful
correction Thus when he was bound apprentice t o
”

.
,

a surgeon in 1 661 an d refused to return home upo n

, ,

being ordered to do so sh e appeared to him an d when , ,

h e resis t ed h er adm onitio n s en ergetically boxed his ,

ears The poor boy was in bad health an d seemed to

.

su ffer so much that at l ast the surgeon determined to

con sult his father wh o lived on the i slan d of Fly O n
,
.

th e morning of t h e day which he spen t travellin g the ,

”
boy c r ied o u t : O h mistress here s the lady again !
, ,
’
 G H OS TS . 24 r

an d at the same time a noise as of a violent blow was

h ear d The child hung his head an d fell back dead
. .

’
In the same ho ur the surgeon an d the boy s father sit ,

ting to gether in consultation saw a lady enter the

,

room glance at them angrily walk up an d down a fe w

, ,

tim es and di sappear again .

The fancy that murdered person s r eappear in some

shape aft e r death for the purpose o f wreakin g their
vengean ce upon their enemies is very comm on among
,

all nations an d h as often been vividly embodied in l e

,

gen ds and ballads . The sto ries of Hamlet and o f Do n

G iovanni are based upo n t h is belief and the older ,

chronicles abound with similar c ases belon ging t o an

age when violence was more frequent and j ustice less
prompt than in our day Thus we are told in the an
.

n al s o f the famous castle o f Weinsberg in S u ab ia

j ustly renowned all over the world for the rare ins ta nce
o f m arit al att a ch m e n t exhibited b v its women — that a
‘

steward had wantonly murdered a peasant there .

Thereupon di sturbances of variou s kinds began to

m ake the castle uninhabitable a black shape was seen
w alking about an d breathing hot and hateful odors
upon all it met while the steward became an obj ect o f
,

special persecution . The to w n speople at first we re

skeptic an d laughed at his reports bu t soon the black
,

visitor was seen on the ramparts of th e town also and

create d within the walls the same sen sation as up at the
castle The good citizen s at last observed a solemn fast
.

day and pe rformed a pil grimage t o a holy shrine at

248 M ODERN MAG IC .

He il b ru m . But all was in vain a n d t h edisturbances

,

an d ann oyan ces increased in frequen cy and violen ce ,

till at last the u n fortun ate steward di ed from vex ation

and sorrow when the whole ceased an d peace w as re
,

stored t o t O wn an d castl e alike ( Cru siu s “

Su ab ian ,

”
Chron ii p. . .

A nothe r cas e o f this kin d is connected with a curi

o u s token o f gratitude exhibited by the g r atified v ic

tim A presiden t Of the Parli am en t o f To ulouse

.
,

r etu rn ing from Paris towards th e en d o f the seven

t e e n t h cen tu ry w as compelled by an accid en t t o stop
,

at a poor count ry tavern D uring the night there ap

.

peare d t o him an Old m an pal e an d bleeding w h o

, ,

declared that he was the fath er of the presen t own er o f

th e house that h e h ad been mu rdered by his o wn so n
, ,

cut to pieces an d buried in the garden He appealed t o

, .

t h e president to i nvestigate the m at ter and to avenge

h is m urder .The j udge was so forcibly impressed by
his vi sion that he ordered sea r ch t o be made an d lo ! ,

the body o f the mur dered man was fou nd and the son , ,

thu n derst r u ck by the mysteriou s r evelation ackn o wl ,

edged hi s gu ilt was tried and in course o f tim e died

, ,

o n the sca ffold B ut th e murdered m an was not sati s

.

fi e d yet ; he sh owed him self on ce more t o the president

an d asked how he could prove his gratitude ? The
latter asked to b e informed of th e hou r of h is death ,

that h e might fi t ly prepare himsel f an d was promised ,

that h e should kn ow it a week in advan ce M a n y .

years afterwar ds a fierce kn ocking was h eard at the

250 MODERN MAG IC .

es t piou s man awoke in th e m iddle o f th e night an d

, , ,

saw by the bright moonlight which was shining into

,

th e room another ministe r in gown and b an ds stand

, ,

ing b efore his Open bible appa r ently search ing for some
,

quotatio n He had a small ch ild in his arm s and a large r

.
,

child stood by hi s side A fter some time spen t i n speech

.

less astonishment M r Lindner ex claimed : A ll good

, .

”
spirits praise G od ! whereupo n the stranger turned
r o un d wen t up to h im an d o ffered three times to shake
,

hands with him M r Lindn er howeve r refused to do

. .
, ,

so gazing at th e sam e time intently at his features and

, ,

after a while h e found him self looking at the ai r for all ,

had disappeared It was a long time afterwards when

.
,

sauntering through the cloisters o f his church h e was ,

suddenly a r rested by a portrait which bore all the features

o f th e minister h e had seen on that night It was on e .

o f his predecessors in o ffi ce who had di ed n e arly fifty ,

years ago in rather bad odor repor t s having been cur ,

ren t at the time as ve ry old men still living te stified

, ,

that h e had h ad several illegitimate children o f wh ose ,

fate n othi n g was k nown B ut there was a still fu rther

.

sequ el to the ministe r s strange adven tu re In the cou rs e

’
.

o f t h e next year his study was enlarged an d for that ,

purpose the h uge G erman stove h ad to be removed ; t o

th e horror o f the workmen and of M r Lin dn er who was .
,

promptly called to the spot the remain s o f several child ,

ren were fou nd carefully concealed ben eath the solid

st r ucture A s there is n o reason to suspect self delusion
.
-

in the r eve r en d man and th e vision cannot well b e

,
 G H O S TS . 25 1

ascribed to any ou tward cause i t must be presu med that

,

his sen sitive natur e was painfully affected by the Skeie

to ns in his immediate neighborhood an d that th is u n ,

con sc i ous feeling acting thro ugh his imagination gave

, ,

form an d shape to the impressions made upon his

n erves
.

In another case the prin cipal person was a c andidate

o f divinity ,
Billing we l l known as being o f a highly
,

sensitive disposition an d given to hallucination s ; the

extreme suffering which the presence o f human re
mains ca used to his whole system had been previously
already observed The great G erman fabulist Pfe fi el
'

.
, ,

a blin d man on ce to ok Billing s arm and went with

,
’

him i n to the garden to take an airing The poet n o .

ticed that when they came to a certain place the young ,

m an hesitated an d his arm trembled as if i t had re

c e iv e d an electric shock When he was asked w hat
.

”
was the matter he replied
,
O h nothing ! B ut upon
, ,

passing over the spot a secon d time the same tremor ,

mad e itself felt Pressed by Pfe ffe l the young man at

.
,

last ac knowledged that he experien ced at that Spot the

sensation which the presen ce o f a corpse always pro
du c e d i n him a nd Offered to go there with the poet at
,

n igh t in order to prove to him t h e correctness o f his

feelings When the two friends went to the garden

.

after dark Billing perce ived at on ce a faint glimmer

,

o f light above the spo t He stopped at a distance of

.

about te n ya rds and after a while declared that h e saw

,

a female figure hovering above the place about five fe et ,

25 2 M ODERN MA G IC .

high w ith the right arm across her bosom and the left
,

h an d ha n gin g down by her side When th e poet ad .

v an ce d and stood on th e fatal spot the young m an ,

affir m ed that the image was on his right or his left ,

before o r behin d him an d when Pfe fl el struck aroun d

'

h im with his can e it produced the e ffect as if he were

,

cu tt ing thro u gh a flame which instantly re u ni t ed .

Th e same phenomen a were witnessed a second time by

a number of Pfe fl el s relation s S everal days afterwards
’
'

.
,

while the young m an was absent the poet cau sed the ,

place in the garden t o be dug u p and at a depth o f ,

several feet benea th a layer of lime a human skelet o n

, ,

was discovered It was removed th e hole filled u p

.
, ,

and all smoothed over again After Billin g s retu rn’

.

t h e poet took hi m on ce more into the garden an d this ,

time the young man walked over the fatal spo t without
experien cing the slightest sen sation ( K ieser Arab ia , ,

etc p
.
,
.

It was this remar kable experience wh ich led Baron

Reichenbach to verify it b y leadin g o n e o f his sen sitive
patients a M iss Reichel at n ight to th e great cemete ry
, ,

o f V ien na A s soon a s she reached the pl ace sh e per

.

ce iv e d everywhere a sea o f flames brighte st over the ,

i

new graves weake r ove r others an d q u it e faint here

, ,

an d th ere In a few cases these ligh ts rea ched a height

.

o f nearly four feet bu t generally they h a

, d mo re the ap

pe aran ce of luminous mists so that her h an d held , ,

over the p l ace where Sh e saw o n e seemed to be en vel ,

oped in a clou d o f fire S he was in n o way tr oubled .

254 MODERN MAG IC .

mortal sickness By far t h e most common case of such

.

emission of ligh t is th e emission o f Sparks from the

h air when combe d B efore and du ri ng the electrical
.

dust storms i n I ndia this phenomenon is of frequent

-

occurr en ce in the h air of both sexes In dry weathe r .

,

an d when the hair also is dry an d especially immediately ,

before thunderstorms the same sparks are seen in all ,

cou nt ries Dr Ph Ipso n mention s th e cas e of a relative

. .

o f his , whose hair ( exactly one yard a n d a quarter long ) ,

when combed somewha t rapidly with a black gutta

percha comb emits sheets of light upward of a foot i n
,

”
length the light being composed of hun dreds of small
,

electric sparks the snapping n oise o f which i s dis

,

”
t in c t ly heard .

Bu t electric ligh t is sometimes given o ff by the h uma n

body itself n o t merely fr om the hair A m e m o rabl e in
,
.

stan ce o f this phenomenon is recorded by Dr K ane in the .

j ournal of h is las t voyage to the Polar region s He and .

a companion Petersen had gone to sleep in a hut du ring

, ,

inte nse cold and on awaking in the night found to their

. , , ,

horr or that their lamp—their only hope—had gon e ou t

,
.

Petersen tried in vain t o get light from a pocket pistol -

an d then K an e resolved to take the pistol himse l f It .

” “
was so intensely dark he says that I h ad t o grope for
, ,

it and in so doing I tou ched his hand A t that instan t

, ,
.

the pistol—in Petersen s hand —became di stinctly visi ’

ble A pale bluish ligh t slightly tremulou s but n o t

.
, ,

broken covered the metallic parts of it The stock too

,
i
.
, ,

w as dist in ct ly v isib l e as if by r eflected ligh t and to t he ,

 G H O S TS . 255

amazemen t of both of us also the thumb an d two fi n ,

gers with which Petersen was holding it— th e creases ,

wrinkles and circuit Of n ails being clearly defined upon

”

the skin A s I took the pis tol my han d bec ame ill u
.

”
m in at e d also This lumin ous and doubtless electric
.

phenomenon took place in highly exceptional circum

s tances and is the only case r ecorded i n recent times
, .

B ut a far more remark able phenomenon o f a similar

kind is mention ed by Bartholin w h o gives an accoun t ,

Of a lady in Italy whom he rightly styles m u lier sple n

,

dens whose body became phosphorescen t—o r rathe r

,

shon e with electric radia t ion s —when slightly rubbed

w ith a piece of dry linen In this case the luminosity .

appears to have been n ormal certainly very frequen t ,

un der ordinary circumstan ces and the fact is well attest ,

ed M r B H Patterson mentions i n the j ournal B ah ra

. . . .

v ia ( O ct th at he saw the flann el with wh ich h e

.
,

h ad rub b ed his body emit blue sparks while at the same

, ,

time he heard a crac kling sound These facts prove .

tha t the human body even in ordinary life is capable of ,

giving out luminou s undulat ion s whi le science teaches ,

u s that they appear quite frequently in disease Here .

again Dr Ph ipso n mentions several cases as the result

, .

Of his re ad ing O ne of the se is that o f a woma n in M i

.

lan du ring whose illness a so cal led phosphoric light

,
-

glimmered about her b ed A nother remarkable case i s .

recorded by Dr M arsh in a volume o n the E volution

.
,

”
Of Light from the Human S ubj ect and reads thu s : ,

“
A bout an hour and a hal f befor e my sister s death ’
,
256 MODERN MA G IC .

we were struck by luminou s appearan ces proceedin g

from h e r head in a diagon al direction S he was at t h e .

time in a half recumbent position and perfectly tran

-

quil The light was pale as the moon b ut quite e v iden t

.
,

t o mamma myself and sisters who were watching over

, , ,

he r at the time O ne of u s at first thought it wa s light

.

ning till shortly aft erwards we perceived a so rt o f

,

tremulous glimmer playing a r oun d th e head of the bed ,

an d then recollecting that we had re ad so mething o f

,

a similar natu re having been observed previ ous to dis

solu tion w e had candles brought into the room fearing
, ,

that our de ar sister would perceive the luminosi ty an d ,

th at it might disturb the tranquillity o f he r last m o

men ts .

The oth er case relates to an Irish peasant an d is re ,

corded from personal observation by D r D onovan in the .

,

Du blin Medica l P r ess in 1 8 7 0 as fO llo ws :

, I was sen t
,

t o see Harri n g ton in December He h ad been un der t h e .

care o f my predecessor an d had been entered as a ph t h isi

,

cal patient He was u nder my care for abou t five years

.
,

an d I had di scontinued my v isits when the report he ,

came general that mysterious lights w ere seen every

night in his cabin The subj ect attrac ted a great deal of
.

at t ention I dete rm i ned to subm it the matter to the

.

ordeal of my own senses an d for this purpose I visited

,

the cabi n for fo urteen nights On three nights only I .

witnessed anything unusual O n ce I perceived a l u

.

minou s fog resembling th e aurora bo realis ; an d twice I

saw scintillations like the sparkling ph Osph o re sc e n ce ex
258 MODERN MAG IC .

t erio u slights play a promin en t part ar e by n o m ean s ,

n ecessarily without foundation .

Cases in which deceased persons have m ade them

s elves known to survivors or have produced by some as
, ,

yet unexplained agency an impression upon them

,

th r ough othe r senses than the sigh t a re very rare ,

.

O ccasionally however the h ea ring is thus a ffected and

, , ,

sweet mu sic is heard in to ken as it were of the co n

, , ,

tinned in tercourse between the dead an d t h e living .

O n e instance may serve as an illustration .

The Coun tess A h ad all her life be e nremarkable for

.

the strange delight she to ok i n clocks ; no t a room in

h er cas tle bu t h ad i ts large or small clock and all these ,

she in sisted upo n winding up herself at the proper time .

Her favorite however was a very curiou s and most

, ,

costly clock in her sitting room which had the form of

-

a G othic ch urch an d displayed in the ste e pl e a small

,

dial behin d which the works were con cealed ; at the

,

full hour a hym n was played by a kin d of music box -

attached to the mechanism S he allowed no one to .

touch this clock an d u sed t o Sit before it as the han d

, ,

approached the h our waiting for the hymn to be h ear d

,

A t last She was take n ill an d confined fo r seven weeks ,

during which the clock could n ot be wound up an d ,

then she died For Special reas ons the in t ermen t h ad

.

to take plac e on the evening of the n ext day and as , ,

the castle was far from any town the preparations took ,

so much time tha t it was nearly mid night before t h e

body could be moved from the bedroom to the drawing

 G H OS TS . 259

room where the usual ceremon ies were to b e performed

, .

The transfer was accomplished un der the superinten d

ence of her husband who followed the coffin an d in
, ,

the presence O f a large number of friends and depend

ents while the minis t er led the sad cort ege A t the
, .

momen t when the coffin approached the favori te clock ,

it sud denly b egan to strike ; b u t i nstead of twelve it ,

gave out th ir teen strokes an d then followed the melody

,

o f a well known hymn

-

Le t us w it h bo l dn e ss no w pro ce e d
On t h e dark pat h t ol ife a . ne w .
”

The minis ter who happened to h ave been sitting a little

,

’
while before by the count s side j ust beneath the clock , ,

an d h ad mournfully n oticed its silence after so many

years was thunderstruck and could not recover hi s
, ,

self control for some time The cou nt on the contrary

-
.
, ,

saw in the acciden t a solemn warning from on hi gh ,

an d henceforth laid aside the frivolity which he had so

far shown in his life as well as in his principles
(
“
E ven ing Post ”
1 8 4 0 N O . .

There are finall y certain phenomena belonging t o

this part of magic which have bee n v ery generally a t
,

tribu ted to an agen cy in which natural fo r ces and

supernatu ra l beings held a nearly equal shar e They .

suggest t h e in t eresting b ut difli cu l t question whether ,

visions and ecstasy can ex ten d to large n umbers of men

at once ? An d yet without some su ch supposition th e
armies in the clouds the wild huntsman o f the A r
,

dennes and like appearances cannot well be explaine d

, .
260 MODERN MAG IC .

Here also n o li ttle weight must be attach ed to an cient

superstition s whi ch h ave become as i t were a par t o f
, ,
'

a n at io n s faith Thu s all Northern G ermany h as from

’
.

the earlies t days been familiar with the idea o f the

great Woden ran ging through it s dark forests at the ,

head o f the W al tyri e s an d the hero es fallen in battle

’

wh ile his wolves an d his r aven followed him o n hi s

nightly course When Christianity changed the o l d
.

gods of the G erman r ace in to devils an d demons ,

Woden became very n aturally the wild h untsman who ,

was n o w escorted by men o f violen ce blo ody t yr an ts

'

, ,

and c rimi nals o ften grievously m utilated or altogether

,

h eadless There can b e littl e doubt bu t that these vis

.

ion s also rested upon some n atural substructure : e x c ep

t io n al atmospheric distu rbances h u rrican es comin g
,

from afar an d crashin g through mighty forests or even ,

the modest tramp of a ban d of poach ers heard afar o ff ,

under favorable circumstan ces by ti mid ears The ve ry .

fact that the favorite tim e for su ch phenomen a is the

wi nter solstice fav ors this supposition They are how .
,

ever by n o mean s limited to seasons an d days for as

, ,

late as 1 8 42 a nu mb er o f wheat cutters left i n a pan ic

-

the field in which th ey were en gaged because they b e ,

lie v e d they heard Frau Holle with h e r hellish company ,

and saw Faithful E ckhard as h e walked steadi l y before

,

the procession warn ing all he met to stan d aside and

,

escape from the fata l sight A n occurrence of the kind

.
,

which took place in 1 8 5 7 was fortunately fully ex

.
,

plained by ca r eful Observers : th e cause was an immense

2 62 MODERN MAG IC .

also upon t he children of that r ace S u ch was amo ng .

,

others t h e fearful battle on the Catalaunian Fields i n

, ,

which t h e V isi G oths and A ctins conquered A ttila and

-

o n e hun dr ed an d sixty t wo thousand warriors were slain

'

-
.

It was at the time reported that the intense bitte rness

and exasperation o f the a r mies continued even after the
bat tle and that for thr ee days th e Spirits of the fallen
,

were contendin g with each o th er with u nabated fu ry .

The repo rt gr ew into a legend till a firm belief was ,

established that the battle was fought year after yea r

o n the memorable day an d tha t any vis itor might
,

behold the passionate spirits as they rose from their

gr aves armed with their an cient weapon s and fil led
,

with un diminished fury O n e by on e the soldiers of

.

the two armies it was said leave their lowly graves

, , ,

r ise high into the air an d en gage in deadly but Silen t

,

strife till they vanish in the clouds It is w ell kn own

, .

how su ccessfully the great G erman painter K aulbach , ,

h as reproduced the visio n i n hi s magnificent fres co o f

the “
Hu n n e n schl a ch t ”
In other coun tries these
.

gho stly vision s assum e di fferent forms Thu s th e .

neighborhood o f K e ro pe in Livonia is in like man n er

, ,

renowned fo r a long series of fea rful bu tcheries during

the wars between the G erman knights an d the M usco
vites There al so night after night th e shadowy battl e
.
, ,

i s fought over again b u t the clashin g o f arms and the

h oarse war cries are distinctly heard an d the piou s
-

traveler h aste n s away from the blood soaked plains -

utte ring his praye r s fo r t he sou l s of the slain In th e .

 G H OS TS . 2 63

Highlands of S cotl and als o an d on the adj oining ,

i sl ands most weird and g r uesome sights h ave been

,

watch ed by young an d Ol d in every generation The .

dark dismal atmosphe r e o f tho se regions th e dense

, ,

fogs an d impenetrable mists now rising from the sea , ,

and now descending from the mountain s and the fierce , ,

inclement climate have all combined for ages to pre

,

dispose the mind for t h e perception of su ch strange an d

myste rious phenomena N early every clan and every
.

family has its own parti cular ghost an d besides t hese ,

the whole n ation claims a nu mber Of com m on vis

ions and propheti c spirits whose h arps and wild ,

songs are heard faintly an d fearfully sounding on

high A frien d of M r M artin the author of a work on
. .
,

”
S econ d S ight u sed to recite several stanz as belong
,

ing to su ch a prophetic song whi ch he h ad heard h im ,

self o n a sad November day as it came to him th rough,

the drooping clouds and sweeping mists from the Su m

mit of a lonely mountain A t funerals als o wonderful
.
,

voices were heard high in the ai r as they accompanied ,

the chanting of the people belo w with a m u sic n ot ,

born upon earth an d fill ing the h eart with strange bu t

,

sweet s adness N early the same vision s are seen an d

.

t h e sam e songs are heard in S weden and Norway ,

proving con clusively that l ike climatic influen ces pro

'

duce also a simila r magic life in individu als not on l y , ,

but in whole nations For even if we are dispo sed to

.

look u po n these phenomen a as merely st range appe ar

an ces o f clouds an d mi sts accompanied by the b o wl ing
,
2 64 M ODERN MAG IC .

and whistling o f th e w in d an d the t umbling down of

roc ks an d gravel there r emain s the u niformity wit h
,

whic h thousan ds o f every gen eration interpret these

sights and sounds in to weird v isions and solemn chant

It is however not qui t e s o eviden t why the pe culiar

, ,

cl as s of visions which is often erron eously called sec

o n d sigh t — the be holding o f a double —should be
“

almos t en t irely confined t o these same northern region s .

It is of course n ot u nkn o wn to o t h er l an ds also an d

, ,
'

even Holy Writ seems to j ustify the presu mption th a t

“ ”
the idea o f a do uble w as famili ar to the people of
Palestin e Fo r the poo r damsel Rhoda wh o for glad
.
,

”
n ess did not open the door at which Peter kn ock ed ,

after he h ad bee n miraculously li berated bu t ran to e u ,

n oun ce his pres ence to the frien ds who were assembled

at t h e house o f M ark s bro ther was first called mad ’
, ,

an d then told : It is h is angel ( A cts x ii They .

evidently mean t n ot that i t was the Spirit of their de

,
'

ceased frien d sin ce they would have been m a de aware

,

o f h is dea th but a phan tom represen ting hi s living

,

body But th e number o f authentic cases of persons

.

who have seen their o wn form is v astly grea t er at the ,

Nor th th an anywhere else The Celtic superstition o f .

”
th e fetc h as the appearance of a person s double is
,
’

there called is to o well known t o require explan ation

,
.

B ut the vision its elf is o n e of t he most in teresting in

the study o f m agic Since it exhibits most strikingly the
,

gr eat po w e r which t h e human soul may u nde r peculiar ,

266 M ODERN MA G IC .

even mo r e painful mal adies and during the time of thei r,

afli ict io n behold and con verse with t he in mates o f

anoth e r world The most renown ed o f these seers was a
.

Mr s Hau fl e wh o h as become well known t o the reading

'

.
,

wo rld thro u gh D r J K erner s famous work

. . The ’
,

S ee r ess o f Prevorst A pec ul ia r feature in her case was

”
.

the fact that t h e visi ons she h ad were invariably an

n o u n ce d to bystande r s by peculia r sou nds hear d by all ,

wh o we r e presen t The forms assumed by her m ys

.

t e ri o u s visitors varied al most infinitely ; n o w i t was a

man in a b r own gown and n o w a w oman i n whi te, .

O ften when the spirits appea red in the ope n ai r and sh e

, ,

t ried to es cape from them by ru nning sh e w as b odily

'

lift ed up and hurri ed along so fast that her companion s

could not keep pace with he r It was only later in life .

th at she fell as a patien t in to the han ds o f Dr K ern er .

,

who was quite distin guished as a poet and h ad a great ,

renow n as a physician fo r insane peopl e o f a special

class His hou se at Wein sbe rg i n W ur te m b e rg was filled

.
,

t o ove rflowing with persons o f all class es o f society ,

fr o m th e highest to the lowest and all had v is ion s N o r , .

w as the docto r himself ex cluded ; h e also was a seer ,

an d h as given in the above mentione d book a full an d -

mos t i nterestin g ac co unt o f the diseases in conn ectio n

.

with which magic phenomena are most frequently Oh

se rved By the aid o f ca reful Obse rvation o f actual
.

facts an d u sin g such r evelati ons vouchsafed to him and

,

other s as he believed fully trustworthy he formed a ,

r egul ar th e o ry o f vis ions Fi rst o f all he ad mits that

.
 G H OS TS . 267

the privilege o f communing with spirits is a grievou s

affl iction and that all of his more thoughtful patients
,

contin ually prayed to be deli v ered o f the bu rden It is .

eviden t from all he states that not only the body but
’

the mind also suffers—an d in many cases s u ffers unto

des t ru ction — under the e ffects o f such exceptional
powe rs ; that in fact the l ines o f separation between this
life and anothe r life can n ever be crossed with impuni
ty. His most in teresting patient M rs Hauffe presents
,
.
,

th e u sual m ix ture o f mere fan ciful imagery wi th occ a

siou al flashes of truth ; her genuine revelation s we r e
ma rvelous and can only b e explained upo n the gr oun d
,

o f real magic ; bu t with them are mixed up the most

absurd theories and the most startling contradiction s .

S he i n sisted however upon the fact that only those

, ,

spirits could commun e with mortal man wh o were

detained in the middle realm —between heaven an d hell
—the spi rits o f men who were in this life unable ,

though not unwilling to believe th at G od could for

,

”
give their Sins for the sake of Chri st s death S he was
’
.

often t ri ed by Dr K erner and o thers ; Sh e was told that

.

cer ta in stil l l iving person s had died an d asked to sum

,

m o n thei r Spirits but she was never misled

,
There can . .

be n o doubt that the poor woman was sincere in he r

statements ; but she was apparen tly un able to distin
guish between real visions in a tran ce and the mere o ff
spring o f her imagination That her peculiarities were
.

closely connec ted with her bodily con di tion is more ,

ove r proved by the fact that her whole family su ffered

,
268 MODERN MAG IC .

i n similar mann e r an d enj oyed si m ilar powers ; a

brothe r and a sister as well as her young so n all had
, ,

vi sion s an d heard mysteriou s noises The lat ter we r e .

,

in fact perceptible to all the inmates Of th e st r ange

,

hou se ; even the great skeptic D r S trausz wh o on ce , .

,

”
visited it h eard lon g fea rful groan ings close to his
“
, ,

amiable hostess wh o had fallen asleep o n he r sofa No r

, .

we r e the ghosts con te n t wi th distu rbing the patients and

th ei r excellent physician they m ade themselves kno wn
t o thei r friends and n eighbors also and even the good , ,

ministe r i n th e little town had mu ch t o su ffer fr o m

nightly kn ockings an d strange ut teran ces .

Dr K erner himself heard many spirits bu t saw only

.
,

“
o n e and th at only as
, a gr ayi sh pillar ; o n the other
han d he witnes sed countless mysteriou s phenomen a
which occu rr ed in his patients bedrooms No w he b e ’
.

held Mr s Hau ffe s boots pulled o ff by invisi ble han ds

.
’
,

while she herself wa s lying al most inanimate in a ,

tran ce o n h er bed an d n o w he heard he r r eveal secre t s

, ,

which upon writing t o utterly un known persons at a

,

great di stance proved t o b e co rr ectly state d What

, .

makes a thorough investigation o f all these phenomena

pec u liarly di ffi cult is the fact that D r K ern e r s hou se
, .
’

became an asylu m for somnambulists as well as fo r real

patients an d that by this mixture the scien tific valu e
,

o f his obse rvati ons as r egards th eir psychologi cal

,

interest is seriou sly impaired He himself was a sin

, .

cere believer in magic phen omena ; almost all of his

friends and neighbors from the h u mblest pe asant to ,
 VI .

D IV INAT I ON .

Th e re ll no t b e fo u n d am o ng y o u an y o ne
sh a t ha t u se t h di v
ina tio n .
”
—DE UT x viii 9
. . .

T HE u sual activity o f o u r min d is limited t o the per

ceptio n o f the world aro un d u s an d its life as far as , ,

the powe r o f o u r sen ses reaches ; it must therefore , ,

n ecessarily be confined within the limits of space an d

time There are however specially favored men among
.
, ,

u s wh o profess an additional power o r even ordina ry ,

men may b e t hu s endowed under peculia r circum

s ta n ces as when they are unde r the influen ce o f n e rv
,

o u s a ff ec tions tran ce s o r even merely in an unu sual

, ,

s tate o f exci tement Then they are n o longer sub

.

e ct t o the u sual laws o f di sta nce in space o r remote

j ,

n ess in time ; they perceive as immediately presen t

what lies beyond the reach o f others and the magic ,

power by which this is accomplished i s called D ivin a

tion This v ision is n ever quite clear nor always com
.
,

ple t e or correct for even su ch ex ceptionable powers are

,

in all cases more o r less subj ect t o t h e impe r fections o f

o u r n ature habitu al n o tions an i l l ex ecu ted imagina
,
-

tion a n d often a disordered state o f the system all in

, ,

t e rfere with its perfect success These imperfections .

,

moreover n ot only affect the v alue o f such magic per

,

ce pt io n s but Obscu r e the genuin e features by a num

,
 D I V INA TI ON . 2 71

ber of fal se state men ts and of erroneou s impression s ,

which quite legitimately excite a stron g prej udice

again st the whole subj ect Hen ce especially the rigor
.
, ,

Of the Church a gainst divin ation in every form ; it has

ever as cribed the erro rs mixed up with the true parts
o f such revelati on s t o th e direct influence o f the E vil

O ne The difficul t y howeve r arises that such magi c

.
, ,

powe rs h ave nothing at all to do with the question o f

morality ; the saint and the criminal m ay possess them
alike sin ce they are elements o f o u r common n ature
, ,

hidden in the vast m aj ority o f cases an d coming into ,

view and into life only in rare ex ceptional instances .

D ivinati on as freed from th e ordinary limits of o u r

,

perceptions appea rs either as clairvoyan ce when things

, ,

are seen which are beyond the range o f n atural vision ,

o r as prophecy when the boundary lines o f time are

,

overstepped Th e l atter appears again in its wea kest

.

fo rm as a m er e anticipation o f things to come o r rises ,

to perfecti on in the actual fo ret ell in g o f future even ts .

It is sad en e ugh to learn from the experience o f all

n ation s that th e occurrence s thus foreseen are al most
i nvariably great misfortunes yet o u r su rprise will cease
,

if we remember that the tragic in life exerci se s by fa r

the greatest in fluence on o u r mind and ex ci tes i t fa r,

be yon d all othe r events N or must we overlook the

.

m arvelou s un an i mity with wh ich su ch magic powers

are admit t ed t o exist in M an by all n ation s o n earth .

The explan ation also is invariab l y the same n amely

, , , ,

that M an po ssessed o riginally the comman d ove r Space

2 72 M ODERN MAG IC .

and time as well as G od himself: but that when sin

came into the world an d affected h is earth born body -

this power was lost and preserved only t o appear in

,

ex cepti on al an d inva r iably most painful cases So .

thought the an cients even lo n g before revelation h ad

spoken They believed that M an had had a pre vio u s
.

g o d like
-
exis t en ce before appea r ing upon earth where ,

he was condemned t o expiate the sin s of h is forme r

life while his immortal an d divin e soul was chained to
,

a perishing earthy body Plato Plutarch and Pyt h ag

.
, ,

o r as Cicero ( in his book De Divi n a tion e) and even

, ,

Po rphyr ius all admit without hesitation the powe r o f

,

divin ation an d Speak o f its Special vigor in the m o

,

ments preceding death M el anchth on ascribed wa rn

.

ing dr eam s to the proph etic po we r o f the human soul .

Brierre de B oismon t al so is forced t o admit that n ot all

cases o f clairvoyan ce an d prophesying are t h e results
o f hallucin ation by diseased person s h e speaks on the ,

contra ry an d i n Spite o f his bitte r Skepticism o f

, ,

in stan ces in which the incre ased powers o f perception

“ ”
a r e th e e ffect o f supe r natural intuition .

O n e o f the most prolific so urces o f e r ror in D ivina

tion has eve r been the variety o f mean s employed for
the pu rpose o f cau sin g the preparatory s tate of trance .

It is well kn own in o ur day that t h e min d may be

most strangely a ffecte d by innum erable agencies which
are apparently purely mechanical an d often utterly
,

absur d S uch are an inten t gazing at highly polished

.
-

su rf aces o f metal o r into the b right in side o f a gold

,
2 74 MODERN MAG IC .

ru de and fierce n ature o f savages t o a state of excessive

ex citement In all ca ses h owever w e mu st n otice th e
.
, ,

comparative ste rility o f su ch divin ation an d the pen ,

alty which has to be paid for most meagre r esults by

inj uries inflicted upon the body an d by t r oubles cau sed
,

i n the mind which if they do n ot become fatal t o life

, , ,

a r e invari ably so to happiness an d peace That t h e .

s ad privilege m ay h ave t o be paid for with life itself ,

we lea r n already from Pluta rch s account o f a prieste ss

’

wh o becam e so furious while proph es yin g that n ot ,

only the s t r an gers bu t th e p ri ests themselves fled in

dismay while Sh e he r self expired a few h ours late r
,

( II p
. .

The state in which all form s o f divination are most

apt t o sho w themselves i s by theologi an s called ecsta s is ,

when it is cau sed by mean s specially employed for t h e

“ ’
pu rpo se an d appear s as a literally being beside on e s
self by its side they Speak o f rap tu s when the ab n o r ,

mal state suddenly begin s durin g an act of ordinary

life su ch as walking working o r even p r ayin g The
, , ,
.

distin ction is o f n o value as t o the n ature o f the magi c

powe rs themselves wh ich are in al l ca ses th e same i t
,

refers ex clusively to the ou ter form .

O n e o f the simpl est methods is the D easil walkin g -

o f t h e S cotch Highlan ders : the seer walks r apidly three

times with the sun arou n d t h e perso n who se futu re i s

, ,

t o b e fore t old an d t h us produ ces a tr an ce in w hi ch h is

, ,

magic powers become available Wal t e r S cott s Chron

.
’

ioles o f t h e Can o n gate gives a full account o f this cere

 DIv INATION . 2 75

mony Robin Oig s au nt performs the ceremony,an d

.
’

then warns him in great terror that she h as see n a ,

bloody dagger in his h an d stained with E nglish blo od , ,

O

and b e see ch es him to Stay at home He disregards .

the omen ki lls the same nigh t an E nglishman a cattle

, ,

dealer an d pays for the crime with h is life

, .

In the E ast o n the co ntrary the u su al form is t o

, ,

employ a young boy taken at haphaz ard from the street

, ,

and to force him t o gaze intently at In dian ink poured

into the hollo w o f the hand at molten lead wax poured , ,

into cold water th e paten o f a priest o r a Shining

,
.

swo rd with which seve ral men hav e bee n killed G en

, .

eral readers will recall the famou s boy of Cairo wh o saw ,

thu s in the dark glittering surface o f ink the gr eat

, , ,

N elson —c uriously enough as in a mirror for he report

~

e d the image t o be witho ut the left arm and to wear the

left sleeve across the breast while the great admiral had ,

lo st h is right arm an d wore the right sleeve suspended ’

”
Burke in h is amusing A necdotes of the Ar isto c racy
, ,

etc ( I p
. . relates how the magician Magraub in
.

in Alexand r ia appeared with a ten yea r old Coptic boy - ~

before the o ffi cers of H M s ship Va ngu ard A fte r.

’
. .

bu rning mu ch incen se and u t t e ring many unintel ligible

formulas b e roll ed a paper in the Sh ape of a corn u co
pia filled it with ink an d bade the boy tell them what
, ,

he sa w AS u su al he saw first a broom sweeping and

.
, ,

wa s thoroughly frighten ed When a young midship .

man asked him to inquire what woul d be his fate he ,

described in stantly a sailor with gold o n the shoulde r s ,

2 76 MODERN MAG IC .

figh t ing against Indian s till h e fell dead ; then cam e

‘

frien ds an d bu ried h im un der a tree on a hill The .

midship m an Crok er return ed h ome aban doned t h e

, , ,

sea an d became a landowner in on e of t h e midlan d

,

counties o f E ngland wh ere he oft en laughed at the ah

,

su rd predic t ion Long years aft erwards h o we v e r when

.
, ,

th ere was a su dden want o f seamen he was recal led ,

into servi ce an d sen t o n a long cruise H e rose to be .

come a captain an d while in comman d o f a frigate fell

, ,

upon the islan d o f To n gat ab o o in a skirmish with the,

n atives whereupo n he was interred t h ere un der a lofty

,
.

palm tree which s tood o n a comma n ding e m inen ce

-
.

The same author repea t s ( I p 3 5 7 ) t h e well known

. .
-

s to ry o f Lady E leanor Cam pbell which is in substa nce ,

as follows :
Poor Lady Primrose a daugh t er o f the second E arl
,

o f Loudoun had for years en dured the saddest lot that

,

can befall a noble woman she had been b oun d by ma r

riage to a hu sband whose dissolu te habits an d u n ta m a

ble passion s I n sp i red h e r with fear while his sho rt love ,

for he r had lon g sin ce turn ed in to bitter h atred A t .

last h e formed the r esolution t o r id himsel f fo rever of

his wife whose very piety an d gen tleness w ere a stand
,

ing reproof to h is villainy By a rare pie ce of good

.
p

luck she was awake wh en h e came from his deep po ta

tion s a bare sword in his hand an d ready t o kill he r ;
, ,

she s aw him in t h e mirror before whi ch sh e happened

t o be sitting an d escaped by j umping from a windo w
,

and hastening to h e r husban d s o wn mo ther A ft er this

’
.
2 78 MODERN MAG IC .

kno wn as t h e magician whom they were abou t to vi si t ,

’
and by some words whispered i nto the lady s ear as a
, ,

man who no t only r ecogniz ed her as Lady P rimrose ,

but who also was perfectly well acquai nted with all the
i nt i mate details o f her histo ry A maz ed an d n ot a lit
.

tle frighten ed the two l adies accepted his courteou s

,

invitation to follow him ente red the hou se an d were

, ,

shown in to a simply furnished roo m where the strange r ,

begged them t o wait for him till all was r eady for the
,

ceremony by which alone he could satisfy their curios

ity Afte r a short pause he r e appeared in th e tradi
.

t io n al costume o f a magician a long tunic o f black ,

velvet which left his breast ar ms an d hands fr ee an d

, , ,

r equested La dy Primrose t o follow him into t h e adj oin

ing r oom Aft er some little h esita tion she left her co m
.

pan ion an d en te red the room which was perfectly pla in

, ,

offering n othing to attract the eye save the dark cur

tain s before the windows an o ld fashioned arm chair
,
- -

an d a kin d o f altar o f black marble over which a large ,

an d beau tiful m ir ror was suspen ded B efore the latter .

stood a small oven in wh ich some un kn own substance

,

bu rnt with a blu e light which alon e feebly lighted up

,

the room The visitor was requested to si t do wn t o in

.
,

voke help from above and to abstain from u tte ring a

,

sound if she valued her l ife an d th at of th e magician

, .

A fter some simple but apparently most importa n t cere

monie s the magician thre w a pinch o f red powder upo n
,

th e flame which instantly changed into bright crimso n

, ,

while a few plaintive sounds were heard an d red clouds

 D I VI NA TI ON . 2 79

seemed to rise before the mirror broken at short inter ,

vals by vivid flashes of lightning A s the mist dis .

’
pe is ed the gla ss exhibited to the l ady s astonished eye
the interior of a c hurch first in vague ou tlines u n dul
,

l ating as passing clou ds seemed to set them in mo tion ,

but soon distin ctly an d clear in the m in u t e st de t ail s

'

T hen a priest appeared with his acolytes at the altar ,

and a wedding party was seen standing b efo r e him ,

among whom Lady Primrose soon recognized her faith
less husba nd Before she could recover from he r pain
.

ful Surprise she sa w a stranger hastily entering the

church wrapped in his cloak ; at the moment when
,

the priest who had been performing the usual ceremony

, ,

was a b out to j oi n the hands o f the couple before h im ,

the u nknown dropped his cloak an d rushed forward .

Lady Primrose sa w i t was her own brother who dre w ,

his sword and attacked her husban d ; sud denly a

thru st was made by the la t ter which threate ned to
be fatal an d the poor lady cried o u t :
, G reat G od ,

they will kill my brother ! S he had n o sooner uttered

these words than the whole s cene in the mi rror became
dim an d blurred the clouds rose again an d formed
,

den se masses an d soon t he glass resumed its ordinary

,

brightness an d the flame It s faint blue color The .

magician apparently much excited informed the lady

, ,

th at all was over an d th at th ey had escaped a most fear

,

ful danger in curred b y her imprudence in speaking

,
.

He would ac cept no reward stating that he h ad m erely

,

wi shed to oblige her b u t would not have dared do so

,
2 80 MODERN MAG IC .

mu ch if h e had foreseen th e peril t o which they h ad

,

both been exposed Lady Primrose accompanied by .

,

her friend reached home in a state of extreme excite

,

men t but immediately wrote down the hou r and th e

,

day o f her st range adven tu r e with a full account o f all ,

she h ad seen in the magic mirror The paper thu s .

dr awn up sh e sealed in the presen ce o f her compan ion

an d hid it i n a secret drawe r N ot long afterwards he r .

bro t he r returned from the Con t ine n t b u t for some tim e ,

.

r efused t o speak at all o f he r hu sban d ; it was on ly

after being long and u rgently pressed by the poor lady ,

that he consented t o tell he r how he had heard o f Lord ,

Primrose s intention to marry a very wealthy lady in

’

A msterdam how b y m ere chance he h ad entered th e

,

church whe r e the m arriage ceremony was to be per

formed an d h o w h e h ad co m e o u t j ust i n time to pre
,

ven t h is brother in l a w fro m committing bigam y They

- -
.

h ad fought for a few minu tes wi thou t doing each othe r

any inj ury and after being separated he had remaine d
, , ,

whil e Lord P rim r ose h ad disappeared n o o n e kn ew ,

whither Upon comparing dates and circumstan ces it

.
,

appeared th a t th e mirror h ad presented the scene faith

fully in all its details ; but the ceremony h ad taken
place in the morning the visit t o the magician at night
, ,

s o th at the latter b ad afte r all only revealed an even t

, ,

already completed There remains however the diffi

.
, ,

culty o f accounting for the mean s by which in those

days —about 1 700—an even t in Amsterdam could
282 MODERN MAG IC .

an swer was unfavorable to the absent Count It ap .

p e a re d afte rwards that he had reall

, , y died a day o r two

before the consultati on O n e o f the most st riking

.

cases o f such ex ception al endowmen t was a F r en chman ,

Cah agn e t who in his work L u m iere des Mar t s ( Paris

, , ,

claimed to see remote obj ects and persons H e .

u sed to make a m ental e ffo rt upon which his eyes b e ,

came fi xed and he saw obj ects at a great distan ce r ead ,

ing th e title an d discerning the precise Shape of b oo ks

in public l ibraries o r watching absent fr iends engaged
,

in u nu sual occupation s ! This s tate o f clair v oyance ,

h owever never laste d mo r e tha n sixty seconds nor

, ,

could he ever see the same obj ect twice—l imitation s o f

h is endowment w hich secured fo r him greater credit
than he would have otherwi se possessed O ccasion ally .

h e would assist the e ffo rt h e h ad t o make by fixedly

gazing at some shining obj ect su ch as a small flaw in a ,

mirror o r a glass A n other restrain t un der which he

.

labored an d whi ch yet increas ed the faith o f others

, ,

consis ted in this that such sigh ts as presented them

,

selves spontaneously to him pro v ed In var iably t o be

true while the vision s which he pu rposely evoked were
,

n o t u nfrequently u n fou nded i n fact .

A mong recen t magician s of this class a Parisian , ,

E dmond is perhaps the most gen erally kn own He is

,
.

a man without education wh o le ads a life of asceticism

, ,

and is said t o equ al th e famou s Le nn o rm and in h is

ability t o guess t h e futu re by gazing in t ently at certain
cards The latte r although n ot free from th e charge
.
,
 D I V I NATI ON . 2 83

of charlata nism possessed undoubtedly the most ex

,

t rao rdin ary talent of divining the thoughts of those

who cam e to con sult her an d an almos t marvelous
,

tact in connecting the kno w ledge thus obtain ed with

th e events of the da y S he began h er career already
.

as a young girl at a conve n t school where her play -

mates asked her laughing wh o would be the next

abbess and she mentioned an en tirely unknown l ady
,

from Picardy as the one that would be appoin te d by

the king Contrary t o all expectations the favo rite
.

candidates were put aside an d the unkn o wn lady ap

,

pointed although eighteen months elapsed before he r

,

prophecy w as fulfilled A s early as 1 7 8 9 she predicted

.

the overthrow o f th e Fren ch governmen t and durin g ,

the Revolution her reputation w as su ch that the first

men o f the land came t o con sult her The unfortunate .

prin cess Lamballe an d M irabeau M me de S ta el and ,

.

the king himself all appe ar ed in he r state ly apart

,

men t s Her efforts to save t he qu een to whose prison

.
,

she m anaged to obtain access were unsuccessfu l ; bu t,

when her ar is tocratic connectio ns caused her to be im

prisoned h erself even the noble an d virtuou s M me
, .

Talli en so u gh t h e r society
. The new dyn asty whose
.
,

members were almost without exception more o r less

superstitious as it is th e n ature of all Corsican s con
, ,

su l ted her frequently ; the great N apoleon came to her

,

i n 1 7 93 when h e w as disgus ted with France an d o n

, ,

the point of leaving the country ; he sen t for her a

s econ d time in 1 8 01 to confer with he r at M almaison ,
284 MODERN MAG IC .

an d the fair Joseph ine actually con ceived fo r he r a

deep and lasti ng attachment A fte rwards howev e r
.
, ,

she became as obnox ious to the E mperor as h is in v e t

e ra t e enemy M me de S t ae l
, . sh e was repe atedly sen t
'

t o prison because sh e predicted failures as in the cas e ,

o f the proj ected invasion o f E ngland o r because she ,

r evealed the secret plans o f N apoleon Th e E mperor .

A lexande r o f Russia also consulted her i n 1 8 1 8 an d of ,

the Prussian king Fr ederick William III it is at least

,

r eporte d that h e visite d he r i ncognito A fter the year .

1 8 3 0 she appeared b ut r arely in h er cha racte r as a

di vin er ; she h ad become old and rich and did not per ,

haps wi sh to risk he r world wide repu tation by t oo

-

numero us r evelations S he maintained however fo r

.
, ,

the rest o f he r life the most intimate relation s wi th

many eminent men in Fran ce an d wh en she died in , ,

1 8 43 seventy o n e years old leaving to her n ephew a

,
-
,

very large fortun e he r gorgeou s fun eral was attended

,

by a host o f distinguished person ages including even ,

men o f su ch character as G uizo t A nd yet sh e also .

h ad n ot disdained t o use the most absurd and appar

ently childi sh means in orde r t o produce th e state of
'

ecstasy in which she alone could divine : playi n g cards -

fan cifully arranged th e white of an egg the sediment

, ,

o f co ffee o r the lines in th e h an d of her visitors

, At .

the same time h owever she used the information which

, ,

sh e cas ually picked up o r purposely obtai ned from h e r

gr eat frien ds with infinite cunning an d ma t chless tact ,

so that the be tter informed often asked he r l aughingly

286 MODERN MAG IC .

bones of rams were bro u ght to him which he held fo r ,

some time in his hands while deeply meditatin g on the

,

subj ect ; then he threw them into the fire A fter they .

were bu rnt black they were again laid before him an d

examin ed ; if they had cracked lengthways the omen
w as favo ra ble if crossways the enterprise was abandon
,

ed A lmost i dentically the sam e process is described by

.

the gr eat tr aveler Pallas wh o witn essed it repea tedly

,

an d ob tained very sta rtl ing communications from the

M ongol p ri ests But here also violent dan cing n arcoti c
.
,

pe rfumes and wild cries had to aid in producing a

,

tran ce The Laplan ders h ave perhaps the most strik

.
, ,

ing magic powers w h ich seem to be above su spicion .

A t least we are ass ured by eve ry traveler who h as spe n t

some time among them from Ca spar Pe u ce r
, Com
m e n tarie s etc W itt e b e rgae 1 5 8 0 p 1 3 2 ) down to the
, , ,
.

”
tourists o f ou r days S ix M onth s in Lapland ,

that they n o t only see person s at the greate st distance ,

but fu rn ish min ute details as to th eir occupation o r

surr oundings A fter having invoked th e aid of h is
.

gods th e magi cian falls down like a dead man and re

mains in a state Of trance for twenty fou r h ou rs du ring -

which forei gners are always warn ed t o have him ca re

”
fully guarded lest the demon s should carry him o ff
“
,
.

During this time the seer maintain s that his soul opens
the ga tes of the body an d moves about freely whereve r
”
it chooses t o go When he returns t o con sciou sness
.

he desc ribes accurately and minutely the persons about

whom he has promised to give information In th e .
 D IVI NATI ON . 287

E ast Indies it is well kn own clairvoyance has existed

from time immemorial and t h e kin d of trance which
,

consists in utter Oblivion o f actual life and perfect ab

s tra ct io n o f thought fr om this world is th re carried e

o u t to perfection The faithful believer sits or lies

.

down in any position he may happen to prefer for the

moment fixes his eyes intently upon the po in t of his
,

nose mutters the word O n e and fin ally beholds G od

, ,

wi t h an inner sen se in the form Of a white brillian t

,

light of in e fi ab l e splendor S ome Of these ascetics pa ss

'

from a simple trance to a state of catalepsy In wh ich ,

their bodies become insen sible t o pain—bu t this kin d

of ecsta sis i s not accompan ied by divination .

A n other bran ch of divination conque rs the diffi cu l ty

whic h distance in space Op po ses to ou r ordinary percep
'

tion s In all such cases it is of course n ot o ur hearing

.

or smell in g which sudden ly becomes m iraculously

powe rful b u t another magic power which causes
, ,

impressions on the mind like those produ ced by the eye

an d the ear . The Oldest well authen ticated instan ce of
-

magi c hearing is probably that of Hyrcan u s the high ,

p riest o f the Jews wh o while burning incen se in the

,

temple h eard a voice saying : No w A ntioch us h as

,
“

”
be en slain by thy sons The news was immediat el y
.

proclaimed t o the people an d some time afterwa rd m e s

,

se n ge rs came announ cing that A ntiochus had thus

pe rished as he approach ed S amaria which he desired t o,

relieve from the besieging army under the sons of

Hyrcan u s ( Josephus A ntiq“
,
”
lxiii ch . A still. .
288 MODERN MAG IC .

more striking instan ce is also reported by a trustworthy

author ( Th eo ph ylac to s Sim o cat a 1 v iii ch A ,
. . .

man in A lexand r ia E gypt saw as he returned home , , ,

abou t midnight the sta tues be fore the great te mple

,

moved as ide from their seats and hea rd them call o u t ,

t o him that the E mperor had been slain by Phocas

Thoroughly frighten ed he h astened t o the
autho r ities reporting his adventure ; h e was car ried b e
,

fore Pe t er the V iceroy Of E gypt and ordered to keep

, ,

s ilence N ine days later however the official news

.
, ,

cam e that the E mperor had been murdered It is .

evident t hat the kn owledge of the even t came to him in

some mys teriou s way and for an unkn own purpose ; but
,

that what he saw and heard was purely the work Of his ,

imagin ation whi ch became t he vehicle of the r evelation

, .

There e xists a long almost unbroken series of s imilar

,

phenomen a through the enti re course o f modern his tory ,

o f which but a few can here find space Richelieu te lls .

u s in his Mémozres —
Coll M ich au d Po ry o ulat 2 d
’
”
.
,

se ries vii p that the P r évost de s Ma re clza ux o f the

’

.
, .

city o f Pithiviers was o n e night engaged in playing

cards in his house wh en h e suddenly hesitated fell in to
, ,

a deep m using an d then turn ing to his compan ions

, , ,

said solemnly : Th e ki ng has j ust been mu rdered !

“ ”

These words made a deep impress ion upon all the mem
b e rs o f t h e assembly which aft erward ch anged into
'

gen u in e terror when it became know n that on that

,

same evening at the same hour o f four O clock P M

,
’
,
.
,

Hen r y IV h ad real ly been murdered No r was this a

. .
290 MODERN MAG IC .

unite d on ce more their diaries were compared an d i t ,

app eared th at th e statement h ad been exact in all its

deta ils .

Clairvoyance as far as it implies the seeing o f per

,

sons o r the witnessin g o f eve nts at a gr eat dista n ce is ,

coun ted among the mos t frequen t gifts of early saints ,

and S t A ugustine mentions a n umber Of remarkable

.

cas es N ot only abse n t frien ds an d their fate were thus

.

beheld by privileged Christians but even the souls of ,

departing sain ts were s een as they were born e to heaven

by angel ic hosts The same exceptional gifts were ap
.

n tl ran ted to the early Jesuit fathers thus X

p are yg ; a

vie r once saw distinctly a whole n aval expedition sai ling

again st the pirates Of M alacca and defeating them in a
great naval battle He had h imsel f caused th e fleet to
.

be sen t from S umatra and remained du ring the whole,

time in a t rance He h ad fallen down u nconscious at

.

the foot o f the altar whe r e he had been fervently pray

,

ing for a long time and during his uncon sciousness he

,

saw n o t only a gen eral image Of what was occu rring at

a distance o f 200 Portug uese leagues b ut every detail , ,

so that upon recove ring from the tran ce he could

announ ce t o h is brethren the good news o f a great vic
to ry o f the loss o f o nly three lives an d of the ve ry day
, ,

and hou r o n which the offi cial report would be received

( O rlan dini 1 vii ch
, .
Q ueen M argaret not always
. .
,

reliable still seems t o state well known facts only when

,
-

she tells us in her famous Mémo zres ( Paris 1 658 ) the

’

visions Of her mother the gr eat Q ueen Cathe rine de,

 D I V I NATI ON . 29 1

M edici The latte r was lying dangerously ill at M etz

.
,

an d K ing Charles a sister an d another brother of M ar

, ,

garet Of V alois the Duke Of Lorraine and a number of

, ,

eminen t pe rson s Of both sexes were a ssembled aroun d ,

what was believed to b e h e r death bed S he was delir -

.

“
ious an d suddenly cried o u t : Just see h o w th ey run
,

my son is victorious G reat G od ! raise him up he has .

,

fallen ! DO you se e the Prin ce o f Condé there ? He is

”
dead . E verybody thought she was delirious but o n the ,

next evening a messenger came brin ging the news o f the

battle of Jarn ac and as h e mention ed the main events
, ,

she calmly turned to her children saying : A h I ,

knew ; I saw it all yesterday ! It seem s as if in times

o f great an d general expectation when bloody batt l es ,

are fought and the destiny Of empires hangs in the

,

scales the m i nds of the masses become so painfully ex

,

ci t ed that the most sensi t ive am o n g t h e m fall into a

'

kind o f tran ce and then perceive by magic powers of

, ,

divination what is taking place at great dista nces This

, .

o ver excitement is moreover not unknown to men of

-

, ,

the highest characte r and the grea t e st erudition Calvin .

,

whose ste rn clear sigh ted j udgmen t abhorred all super

,
-

st it io n n evertheless once saw a battle between Catholics

,

and Protestan ts with all its de t ails S wedenborg whose .

,

religious enthusiasm n ever in terfe red with h is scrupu

lous candor saw more than On ce with h is mind s eye
,
’

events occurring at a distan ce Of hun dre ds of miles .

His vision Of the gr eat fire at S to ckholm is too well

authenticate d to admit o f doub t N ot less reliable are . .
2 92 M ODERN MAG IC .

the accou nts of another visi on he had at A ms terdam i n

the presen ce of a large compan y While en gaged in an i .

m ated conversation he suddenly changed cou nten ance

,

an d became silent ; the person s n ea r him saw that h e

was under the in fluen ce of some stron g impression .

A ft er a few moment s h e seemed to recover an d over ,

whelmed with questi ons he at las t relu ctantly sai d

,

“
In this h ou r th e E mperor Peter IV o f Russia has .

su ffered death in his p rison ! It was asce rtai n ed after

w ards that th e unfortunate sovereign h ad died o n that
day and in th e manner indicated .

A mong modern seers the most remarkable was pro

bably the wel l known poet Emile D eschamps who
-

, ,

published in 1 8 3 8 interesti n g accounts o f his o wn ex

perie n ces Wh en h e was only eigh t years Ol d i t was
.

decided that he should leave Pari s an d be sen t t o

O rlean s ; this troubled him sorely and in hi s great ,

grief he found so m e little comfort i n setting his li vely

fan cy to work and t o imagine what the n ew city would
b e like When h e reached Orlean s h e was extremely
.

su rprised to reco gni ze the str eets the shops an d ev en , ,

th e n ames o n the sign boards everyth ing was exactl y

-

as he had seen it in his day dreams While he was yet

-
.

there he saw h is mother wh om h e had left in Pari s in

, ,

a dream risin g gen tly h eav en wards with a palm bran ch -

i n her h and and heard her voice very faint bu t sil

, ,

”
very call t o him
, , my son ! S he h a d
died in the same n igh t uttering th ese words with h er
,

departing breath Later in life he often heard strange

.
2 94 M ODERN MAG IC .

When this powe r r eaches in Older men a high degree

Of perfection it enters within the limits of magic and
, ,

in this form was well known to the ancien ts The N eo .

Pla t on ic Plotinu s is repo rt e d by Po rphyriu s to h ave

been almost m arvelou sly endowe d with su ch divining
powers ; he revealed t o his pupils the past and the fu
ture events of thei r lives alike and on ce ch arge d t h e ,

author h imself with cherishing thoughts o f suicide ,

when n o on e else suspected su ch a pu rpose In like .

mann er we are told An cu s N asv ins the famou s augur

, , ,

Of the fi rst T arquin s could re ad all he desired t o know

,

in the faces of others The saints Of the chu rch were

.

n aturally as richly endo w ed and from Filipo Neri t o

,

X avier n early all possessed this peculi ar gift o f divina

tion But other men also an d by n o mean s alway s
.
, ,

tho s e most abundantly en do wed with men tal superiority ,

have fre q uen tly a peculiar talent o f thi s kind Thu s .

the well known writer Z sch o kke t h e author of the ad

-

mirable work , Hou rs o f Devotion gives i n his a uto

”
,

biographical work S elbst scha u a full account o f h is

, ,

pe culiar gifts as a seer which con ta in s the followin g

,

prin cipal facts : A t the moment when an u t te r stranger

was first i ntroduced to him h e saw a pi cture o f his ,

’
whole previous life rising gradu ally before h is min d s
eye resembling somewhat a long dream b u t cle a r an d
, ,

closely connected D uring thi s time h e would contrary

.
,

to h is gen eral custom lose sigh t o f the visito r s face

,
’

an d n o lo n ger hear his voice He u sed to treat these .

involun tary revelation s at first as me r e idle fan cies till ,

 D I V I NA TI ON . 2 95

o ne day he was led by a kin d o f sportive impulse to

te ll his family the secret history of a seamstress wh o
h ad j ust left the room an d whom he had n ever see n b e
'

fore It was soo n ascertained that all h e had state d

.

was pe rfectly true though known only to very few per

,

son s From that time he treate d these vision s m o r e

.

se riously taking pains to repeat them in a n umber o f

,
“

cases t o the person s whom they con ce r ned and t o h is ,

o wn
great amaz ement they turned o u t in every cas e t o
be pe rfectly accu rate The author ad ds o n e cas e Of pe
.

”
cu liarly striking n ature : O ne day he sa ys I reach , ,

ed the to wn o f Waldshu t accompanied by t wo you n g ,

foresters who are still alive

, It was dusk an d tired by .
,

o u r walk we e n te red an inn called The G ra pevine We .

to ok our suppe r at the public ta ble in company with

numerous gues ts wh o happened to be laughing at the
,

oddities and the simplicity o f the S wiss their faith in ,

M esmer in Lavate r s S ystem Of the Physiognomy etc

,
’
,
’
.

O n e o f my companion s hurt in his n ational pride, ,

asked me t o make a reply esp ecially with regard t o a ,

you n g man sitting opposite t o u s whose pretentious ,

airs and merciless laughte r had been peculiarly o fl e n

’

sive It so happen e d that a few moments before the

.
, ,

main events in the life o f thi s person had passed before

my mi nd s eye I turned to him and as ked him if he
’
.

would an swer m e candidly u pon being told the mos t

secret parts of his li fe by a man who was so complete a
'

stranger to him as I was That I added would certainly , ,

go even beyond Lavate r s power to read faces He prom

’
.
296 MODERN MAG IC .

i sed to co n fess it Openly if I stated facts Thereupon

,
.

I related all I had seen in my mind an d in formed thus ,

’
the whole company at table Of th e young man s history ,

the events o f his life at school h is petty sin s and at last , ,

a robbery which he had committed by pilferin g h is em

’
ployer s strong box I described the emp ty room with its
-
.

whitewashed walls an d brown door nea r whi ch on the ,

right h an d a small black money box had been stan ding

,
-

o n a table and other details

,
A s long as I spoke there
.

re i n e d a deathlike silen ce in t h e r oom which w as only

g ,

interrupted by my asking the young man from time t o ,

time if all I said was n ot true H e admit te d everything

, .
,

although evidently in a state of utter con stern ation an d ,

at l as t deeply touched by his can dor I o ffered him my

, ,

”
hand across the table and closed my recital .

Thi s popular writer a man Of unblemished c h aracter

, ,

wh o died i n 1 8 50 regretted by a wh ole n ation m akes

, ,

this accou nt o f his o w n prophetic power still more ih

t ere st in g by adding that he m et at least once in h is l ife
”
another man similarly endowed I on ce encountered .
,

h e says while t r avelling with t wo Of my son s an Old

, ,

Tyrolese a peddler of oranges an d lemons in a smal l i nn

, ,

h alf con cealed in o n e O f the n arrow passes o f the Jura

M ountains He fixed his eves for some ti me upon my
.

face and the n en tered into conversation with me stati n g

, ,

that h e kn ew me althoug h I did n ot know him an d

, ,

then began t o the inten se delight o f th e p easan t s wh o

,

sat around u s an d Of my children to ch at abou t myself ,

an d my past life How the Ol d man h ad acqu ired hi s

.
2 98 MODERN MAG IC .

fain t vapor barely recalling a human shape arises before

, ,

the beholder and abo v e it are seen the same ter rible eyes
,

Se n t from th e pal ace Of Ais b y fe arful Pcrse ph o ne ia .

M agi c divin ation in point o f time in cludes th e class

o f generally ve ry vagu e an d indefinite perception s ,

which we ca ll presen timents These are u nfo rtu nately.

, ,

so u niversally mixed u p wi th i mpression s produ ced

.

after th e o ccu rren c e — v a l icin im n p os t cr an i u m— that

thei r value as interesting ph en omena o f mag i c Is ser i

o u sly impai red There remai n s h owever in a n um
.
, ,

ber of cases enough that is free from all spu riou s

”

a dmix tu re t o admit o f b e in g ex amined se riou sl y The

, .

ancients n ot only believed in this kin d o f foresigh t bu t ,

ascribed i t with Pyth agoras t o revelation s made by

frien dly spirits ; i n Holy Writ it rises almost invariabl y ,

u nde r direct in spi ratio n fr om on high t o ge n u in e ,

proph ecy It reveals no t only t h e fate o f th e seer bu t

.
,

al so that Of oth ers an d even Of whole nation s ; the

,

d etails va ry Of course according t o the prevailing

‘

, ,

spirit o f the times .

When N arses w as ruling over Italy a yo u n g shep

'

h erd ih t h e se rv ice Of V ale rian u s a la wyer was seized, ,

by the plagu e an d fell into syn cope He recover e d for .

a time and then declared that he had been carried t o

,

h eaven where he h ad heard the n ames Of all who in hi s

,

’
maste r s hou se should die Of the plagu e adding th at ,

V alerianu s h imself would esca pe A fter his death .

everything occu rr ed as he h ad predicte d A n E nglish .

 DI e ArI O N
'
. 2 99

minis ter M r D odd o ne night felt an irr esistible im

,
.
,

pul se to visit a friend of hi s wh o lived at some distance .

He walked to h is house found the family asleep bu t

, ,

the father still awake and ready to open t h e door to h is

la t e visito r The latter very much embarrassed thought
.
, ,

it best t o state the matter candidly an d con fessed that

,

h e came for no ostensible pu rpose and really did not ,

kno w himself what made h im do so B ut G od kne w .

”
it was the an swer for h ere is the rope with whi ch
, ,

”
I was j ust about to hang m yself It may w ell b e
.

presumed that the Re v M r Dodd had some appreh en

. .

sions Of t h e state o f mind of his frien d ; bu t that h e

should have felt prompte d to call upon h im j ust at that
hour was certainly n o t a mere acciden t
, .

The family o f the great G o ethe was singularly e n

do wed with this power of presenti men t The poet s .
’

g randfather predicted both a grea t co n fl agrat io n and

the unexpected ar rival of the G erman E mpe r or an d a ,

dream informed him beforehand o f his election as

alderman an d then as mayor o f his native city His .

’
mother s sister saw hidden things i n her dreams His .

grandmother on ce entered her daughte r s chambe r ’

long after midnight in a sta t e o f gr eat an d painful ex

c ite m e n t ; she had heard in he r o wn room a n oise like

t h e rustling of papers and then deep sigh s and after a

, ,

while a cold breath had stru ck her S ome time aft er .

thi s e v ent a stranger was announ ced and w h e n h e ,

appeared before her holding a crumbled paper in his

h and she had barely strength enough to keep from
,
3 00 MODERN MAG IC .

fainti n g . W h en sh e recov ered her vi sitor s tated that

,

in the nigh t of her vision a dear frien d of hers lying ,

o n h is deathbed had asked for paper i n order t o impart

,

to her an important secret ; before h e co u l d write ,

however he had been seized by the death struggle and

,
-

after crumpling up t h e paper an d uttering t wo deep

sighs he had expired A n in distinct scrawl was all
.

that could be seen ; still th e stranger had thought i t

best to bring the paper The secret con cerned h is n o w
.

orphan ed chil d a gi rl whom G oethe s g ran dparen ts

,
’

thereupon took home an d cared fo r a ffectionately

( Goethe s B r ief wechsel 3 d e d II p
’
.
, ,
. .

B o u rrie nn e tells u s in h is Mém o ires seve ral in s tan ces

o f remarkable forebodings on the part o f N apoleon s
’

'

first wife Jo sephin e He r m in d was probably by her

,
.
,

educatio n an d th e peculiar surroundin gs i n which sh e

pas sed h er childhood predis posed t o receive vivi d im
,

pression s Of this kin d an d t o observe them with great

,

care an d deep interest Thu s sh e almost i nvari ably

.

predicted the failure o f such o f he r h u sban d s ente r ’

p rises as proved unsuccessful A fter Bonapar t e h ad .

moved into t h e Tu ile ries o n the 1 8 t h Brumaire she saw , ,

while sitting i n the room o f poor M arie A ntoinette ,

t h e sh adow Of the unfortunate qu een ri se from th e

floor pass gently through th e apar t men t and vanish
, ,

t h rough the window S he faint e d and from that day

.
,

predicted her o wn sad fate On an other occasion th e

.

spirit o f he r fi r st hu sband Beauharnais appeared before

, ,

h er with a gesture Of solemn warning ; she immediately

302 MODERN MAG IC .

day o f the fin al as sault his troops an d told them h e

, ,

would certainly fall before the E ternal City but witho ut ,

regre t if they but proved vic torious Henry IV Of . .

France felt his death coming according to the unani

, ,

mous evidence o f S ully L Eto ile an d B as so m pie rre ,

’
, ,

and said before he entered his coach o n the fatal day

,

“
M y fr iend I would rather n o t go o u t to day ; I know
,
-

”
I shall meet with misfortune O n t h e l 6t h o f M ay .
,

1 8 1 3 fou r days before the bat t le o f Bautzen t wo o f

, ,

Napoleon s g r eat O ffi cers the Duke of V icen z a an d

’
,

M arshal Duroc were in attendan ce at Dresden while t h e

,

emperor was h olding a protracted conferen ce with the

A u strian ambassador The clock was striking mid
.

nigh t when suddenly Duroc seized his compani o n by

,

the arm and with frightfu l ly altered features looking ,

intently at him said in trembling tones : M y friend

,
“
,

th is lasts too lo n g ; we shall all Of us perish and he l ast ,

o f all A secret voice tells me that I shall never see

.

”
Fran ce again It is well kn own that o n the day o f the
.

battle a cannon ball which had alr eady kill ed G eneral

-

K irchn er wounded D uroc also mortally an d wh en h e

'

, ,

lay o n his deathbed he on ce more turn ed t o th e D uke

o f V icen z a and reminded h im Of the words he h ad

spoken i n D res den .

”
The trustwo rthy author o f E ight M onths in Japan ,

N L uhdorf tells u s (p 1 5 8 ) a remarkable instan ce o f

.
, .

uncon scious fo reb o diu g on the part O f a common sailor .

The A merican barque Greta was in 1 8 5 5 ch ar tered to

carry a great number of Russian s who h ad been ship ,
 D I V I NATI ON . 3 03

wrecked o n board the frigate D ia n a during an earth

quake at S imoda to the Russian port of Ayan A sailor .

o n board w as very ill and shortly before his death told

,

his comrades that he would soon die but that he was ,

rather glad Of it as th ey woul d all be captured by the

,

E nglish with whom Russia was then at war The re

, .

’
po rt Of his prediction reached th e captain s cabin bu t ,

all the O ffi cers agreed that su ch an even t was next to

impossible ; a dense fog was making the ship perfectly
i nvisible and no E nglish fleet h ad as yet appeared in
,

the S ea of O khotsk wh ere t h e Ru ssian s had n eithe rv e s

,

sels nor forts to tempt the British The whole force Of .

E ngland in those waters was at that moment engaged

in blockading the Russian fleet in the Bay of Cast ris in
the G ulf of Tartary N evertheless it so chan ced that a
.

British steamer the corvette B a r ra cou ta hove in sigh t

, ,

o n the l st Of A ugust and captured the vessel making ,

the Russians prisoners o f wa r .

S ECO ND I H
S G T .

A special kind Of divination which h as at times been ,

ev idenced in certain parts of E urope and is not unknown ,

to o u r North western Indian s consists i n the percep

-

tion Of contemporaneou s o r fu ture even ts during a brief ,

trance G en erally the seer looks with pain fully raised

.

eyelids fixedly into space evidently u

,
tterly u n con sciou s
,

o f al l around h im an d engaged in watching a distant

,

occurrence A peculiar featu re of this phen omenon

.
,
3 04 M ODERN MAG IC .

familiar to all readers as s econd sight is the exclu s i on ,

Of religiou s o r supernatural m atters ; the vi sion s are

always strictly limited to events o f daily life : death s
an d births battles and skirmishes baptisms and wed
, ,

di ngs The actors in these scen es are Often personally

.

u nknown t o the seer an d the transactions are as fre

,

qu ently beheld in symbols as i n reality A man wh o . .

is t o die a violen t death m ay be seen with a rope aroun d

,

h is n eck o r h eadless with a dagger plunged into his

,
,

breast or sinking in to the water up t o his n eck ; th e

,

sick man wh o is to expire in his bed will appear wrap ,

~

ped u p in hi s win ding sheet in which case his person ,

is m re o r less c ompletely con cealed as his death i s

nearer or farther o ff A frien d o r a messenger coming
.

from a great distance i s seen as a faint shadow and a ,

mu rderer o r a thief as a wolf or a fox A nother pe c u

, .

liar feature o f second sigh t is the fact that the same

vision s are very frequently beheld by several person s ,

although the latter may l ive far apart and have nothing
in common with each o ther The phen omena are spor .

a dic in G ermany and S witzerland in the Dauph in e an d ,

the C even n es ; they occur in larger n umbers an d are

,

often hereditary in certain families in D enmark the , ,

S cotch Highlands and the Faroe Islands In G aelic th e .

,

person s thu s gifted are called Taish at rim seers Of ,

shadows Or Phissichin possessing kn owle dge before

, ,

han d Hence they h ave been mo st thoroughly stu di ed

.
,

in t hose cou ntries an d M r M arti n h as gathered all that

, .

could be learnt Of secon d sigh t in t h e S hetlan ds in a ,

3 06 M ODERN MA G IC .

are almost wi thout exception simple frugal m en free , ,

from chronic affe c t io n s an d perfect strangers to hys ,

t e ries spasms o r n ervous su ffering s

, , Insan ity and .

s uicide are as unkn own to them as drunkenness an d ,

n o case of selfish in terest o r wil lful imposture has ever

been r ecorded in connection with s e con d sigh t This .

does not imply howeve r that e fforts have n ot been

, ,

made by othe rs to profit by the strange gifts o f such

persons ; b ut even the caree r o f the famous D uncan
Campbell a deaf an d dumb S cot who in the beginning
, , ,

Of the las t century crea t ed an immense sensation in

,

Lon don only proved ane w the well known disinterest

,
-

e dn e ss O f these seers In many in stances th e gift o f

.

secon d sight is treated with in di fference and hardly ,

n oticed Su Ch was th e cas e with Lord N elson who i s

.
,

reported to have exhibited the gift o f a kin d o f secon d

sight at leas t in t wo well authenticate d case s rela ted
,
-

by S ir Thomas Hardy to A dmiral Dun das an d quoted ,

by Dr M ayo as he h ad the accoun t from the latter

.
,
.

Captain Hardy heard N elson orde r the comman der Of

a frigate to sh ake out all sails to sail toward s a ce rtain
place where he would in all probability meet the French
fleet and as soon as h e had made it o u t to run in t o a
, ,

certain port an d there to wai t for Nelson s arri v al ’

.

When the o ffi cer h ad left t h e cabin N elson turned to ,

“
Hardy saying : He will go to the West Indies ; h e
,

will see the Fren ch ; he will make the port I to ld h im

to make b ut h e will not wait for me —h e will sail for
,

”
E nglan d The commander actually did so In this
.
‘
.
 D I V INATI ON . 307

case howeve r N elson may possibly have only given a

, ,

striking eviden ce Of h is power to read the character Of

men and to dr aw his con clu sions as to their prob ab l e
,

action In the following in stance his knowledge ap

.

peare d on the con trary as a magic phen omenon

, ,
It .

was shortly before the batt le Of Trafalgar when an ,

E nglish fr igate was m ade o u t at su ch a distan c e that

her position coul d n o t be accu rately ascertai ned S ud .

de n ly Nelson turned to Hardy who w as stan ding by

,

“
his side an d said : The frigate has sigh ted the Fren ch
, .

Hardy had nothing to say in reply “

S h e sights the
.

Fren ch ; sh e will fire presently ” In an in stant th e

.

low sound Of a signal shot was heard afar Off

-

In other cases the cu rious gift is borne with g r eat

impatien ce,and becomes a source o f intense su ffering .

This is certainly very pardonable in men who read im

pending death in the fea tures Of O thers and hen ce are ,

continually su bj ect to hear trending impression s S ome

-
.

times th e moribun d appears as if he had been lying in

h is grave al ready for several days at other times he is
,

seen wrapped up in h is shrou d o r in the act of e xpir

ing In some parts of G e r many the appro aching death
.

o f a neighbor is announ ced by the appea rance o f Death

itself n o t in the fa miliar mytholo gical form but as a

, ,

white luminou s appearance which either stops before

, ,

the house of the person wh o i s to die soon o r actually ,

en ters it and places itself by t h e side Of the lat ter .

O ccasionally the image is s een to fi ll the seat o r t o wal k

in a p r ocession in the place Of a man as yet in perfec t
3 08 MODERN MAG IC .

heal th wh o n evertheless soon falls a victim to some

,

disease or sudden attack .

S econd sight is like all similar magic phenomen a

, ,

frequ ently mention ed i n the writings of th e an cients .

Homer mentions a cas e in his O dyssey ( x x v . .

A polloniu s of Tyan a was delivering an oration at

Eph esu s wh en h e suddenly stopped in the mi ddle o f a
,

senten ce an d beheld in a vi sion th e E mpero r D omitian

at Rome in the act o f su ccumbing t o his murderers
,
.

H e fell into a kin d o f tran ce his eyes became fixed an d

, ,

h e ex claimed in an unn atu r al voice : D own with the

“

tyr ant ! ( Vita Ap oll Z en obzs An olo i nterpret e Paris

” '

.
,
.

1 5 5 5 1 vi ii p
,
. . Hen ry IV when still P rin ce Of
. .
,

N avarre saw o n th e eve Of S t Bartholomew several

,
.

drops Of blood falling upon t h e green cloth Of the card

table at whi ch h e was seated in comp any wi th several
courtiers ; the latter beheld t h e fearful and o m In o u s
sight as well as he himself G erman writings aboun d .

with ins tan ces o f men having seen thei r own fun eral
several days before their death an d in man y in stan ces ,

the warnin g is reported to h ave had a most sa lutary

e ffect in causing the m t o r epent of their sins an d t o
prep are for the impending su mmons O n e o f the most .

r emarkable i nstan ces is that Of a distinguished pro

fe sso r of divin i ty D r Lysins in K onigsberg He had
’
“
.
, .
,

inherite d special magic powers th r ough m any genera

tion s from an early ancestor who saw a funeral of very ,

peculiar n ature with all the atte n ding circumstan ces

, ,

long before it actually took place H e himself h ad his .

3 10 MODERN MAG IC .

The annals of S we dish history ( A r n d t S ch wed , .

Gesek p 3 1 7 ) record a remarkable case of this kind

. . .

The scen e was the Old castle of Gripsho lm near S tock ,

holm a place full of terrible reminiscen ces an d more

, ,

than o nce made famou s by strange mysteries A gr eat .

state dinn er given to a prince Of Baden had j ust ende d , ,

when one Of the guests Co unt Fr olich s uddenly gazed

' '

, ,

fix edly at the great door of the dining hall an d when he -

regained his composu re declared h e h ad j ust seen their

,

princely guest walk in wearing a di fferent uniform from

,

that in which he was actually dres sed as he sat i n th e ,

place of honor It was however a custom of the prince s

.
, ,
’

to wear o n e cos t ume o n e day an d another the nex t day

.

and thu s to change regularly ; Count Fr olich h ad seen

him in that which he would accordingly wear the nex t
day The impression was beginning to wear away an d
.
,

the acciden t was nearly forgotten when su ddenly a ,

great disturbance was heard without se rvan t s came ,

running in women were heard crying and even the o fii

, ,

cers on guard were seriou sly disturbed The report was .

”
that K ing E ric s ghost had been seen O n the fol
“ ’
.

lowing day the Prin ce of Baden was thrown from h is

carriage an d instantly killed ; his body was brought
back to Gripsh o l m .

Here also we meet again with the ex cep t ional powers

granted to G o eth e He h ad j ust pa rted with on e o f h is
.

many loves the fair daughter of the minister Of Drusen

,

heim Friederike an d was riding in deep though t up o n

, ,

the footpa t h when h e suddenly sa w

,
n ot with t he ,
.
 D IVIN A TI O N . 3 11

eyes of the body but Of the spirit his own self in a

, ,

new ligh t gray coat la ced with gold riding towards

, ,

him When he made an effort to shake o ff th e impres

.

“ ”
sion the vision disappeared
, It is strange however .
, ,

“
he tells u s himself that I found myself eight years
,

later riding on that s am e road in order to se e F rieder ,

ike o n ce more and w as then dressed by accident an d

, ,

n o t fr om choice in the costume Of which I h ad d re amt

,

( A u s M e in e m L eben iii p , A kindred

. spi.rit S ir ,

Humphry Davy had once a v ision which stra n gely

, ,

enough was fulfilled more than once In his attractive .

”
work Consolations in Travel p he relates how , .

he saw when sufferin g Of j ail fever the image Of a beau

, ,

tiful woman wi th whom he s oon en tered into a mo st

, ,

inte resting conversation He was at the time warmly

.

at t ach ed to a lady b ut the vision represented a girl

,

with brown hair blue eyes and bloom ing complexion

, ,

while his lady love was pale and had dark eyes an d dark
-

hair His m ysterious visitor came frequently as long as

.
,

he was really sick but as his stren gth returned her

, ,

visits became rarer an d at last ceased alto gether H e

, .

forgot it entirely ; but ten years later h e suddenly met

in Illyr ia a girl o f about fou rte e n or fifteen years wh o
, ,

strikingly resembled the image he had seen and n o w ,

recalled in all its details A nother ten years passed

.
,

and t h e great chemist met once more i n t raveling a ,

person who as strikingly resembled his first vision and ,

became indebte d to h er ten der care an d kind ness for the

preservation o f his life .
3 12 MODE RN MAG IC .

In some parts of the world this gift o f sec on d sigh t

assumes very peculiar fo rms In A frica for instan ce
.
, ,

and espec ially in the countries adj oining the S ahara ,

men and women are fou nd who pos sess alike the powe r
o f see ing coming even t s beforehan d M o re than on c e.

E urope an travelers have been hosp itably received by

natives wh o had been warn ed o f their coming Rich .

a rdso n tel ls us in his graphic ac co un t Of his M issio n

”
t o Central A frica that h is arriv al had thu s bee n a n
,

n o u n c ed to the chief and the people o f T in tal us in these

words : A carav an of E ngl ishmen is on the way from

“

”
Tripoli t o com e to yo u
, The seer was an Old n egro
.

woman a rep u ted witch who h ad a great repu tation for

, ,

anticipating even ts In the Isle Of Fran ce—we lear n

.

from James Prio r in his Voyage in the Indi an S eas

there a r e many men wh o can see vessels at a dis tance o f
s everal hundred miles O ne o f them described accu
.

ra t el
y an d min utely the w reck Of a ship o n the co as t

O f M ad agasc ar from whence i t was t o bring provision s

, .

A woman expecting her lover o n board another sh ip ,

inqu ired o f on e of thes e seers if he could give her any

comfo rt : he repli e d promptly that the vessel was only
’
three days sail from the i sla nd and that h e r frien d was
,

then engaged in washing his linen The sh ip arri ved.

.

at the appointed t im e and the man co rro b o ra te d the

"

’
seer s statemen t The great n avigator relates even
.

more su rprising feats accomplish ed by the di recto r Of

signals Faill afé wh o saw vessels distinctly at a distance
, , .

Of fr om six ty to o n e hundred se a miles Their image .

3]4 M ODERN MAG IC .

all sign s o f gr eat fear an d fin ally ki cked an d reafe d so

,

wildly that he had to be removed A s soon as h e was .

placed in ano t her stable he calmed down an d bec ame

perfectly quiet It was at las t discovered that a person
.

endowed with se con d sight h ad ascribed the s t range b e

havio r o f the horse t o the fact that a co ffi n was be ing
m ade befo r e his Open stable an d that the horse could
,

n ot bear the sight The man was laughed at b u t n o t

.
,

lo n g afte rthe minister s wife died an d fo r some special

’
,

r ea son s the co fli n was actually made i n full view o f the

former stable o f the horse ( K ies Arch viii p . . . .

D ogs also have been reported i n almost innumerable

cas es to have set up a most painful howling before the
approaching death o f inmate s of a house where they
were kept .

In E ngland and in G ermany especially they are con ,

s idere d capable Of seeing supernatu r al beings When .

they are seen t o cowe r dow n o f a sudden and to press ,

close to the feet of their masters trembling Often in all

,

thei r limbs and looking up most piteously as if for

, ,

“
help popular belief says : All is n ot right with the
,

” “ ”
dog o r He sees more than men can see The memory
, .

o f Bal s am s ass rises instin ctively in our m ind an d we

’
,

feel th at this part of c reation which gr oan eth w ith u s

,

fo r salvation an d which was included among those fo r

,

wh ose sake the Lo rd spa r ed N ineveh may see wh at is ,

concealed from o ur eyes S amuel Wesley tells u s ex

.

pressly how a dog specially bought for t h e pu rpose o f

,

frighten in g away the evi l disposed men who were at

-
 D I VINA TI ON . 3 15

first suspected o f causing the nightly disturbances at the

parsonage barked but on ce the first night and after
, ,

that exhi b ited upon the recurren ce of those noises quite

, ,

as much terror as the children .

No r are dogs and horses the only animals con sidered

capable of perceiving by a special instin ct of their o wn
th e working Of supernatural agen cies During a series .

Of mys teriou s disturban ces in a G erm an village the ,

chicken s fled in te rror from the garden an d the cattle ,

refused to e n ter the en closure when the appearan ces

,

were s een S wiss herdsmen have a number o f stories

.

concerning feyed p l aces in the A lps t o which neither ,

ca ress nor compulsion can induce their herds to go even ,

when pasture is rare everywhere else and rich grass ,

seems to tempt them to come to the abhorred meadows .

S torks have been known t o have aban doned the roof

tree o n which for year s they had bu i l t their nest an d ,

in ev ery cas e the forsaken h ouse was burnt during the

summer This and other peculiarities of sagaciou s an i
.

mals have been especially noticed in Denmark where ,

all ani m als ar e called sy ns k seers when they are b e

, ,

l ie v e d to po ssess the gift of second sight .

O R A CLES AND P R OPH ECI ES .

The highest degree Of divination is t h e actual fore

telling Of events which are yet t o hap pen The i mme .

diate causes which awaken the gift are of the most

varied character and Oft en very curio u s Thu s a young
,
.

F lorentine G asparo who had be en woun ded by an

, ,
3 16 MODERN MAG IC .

arrow and could not be relieved began in his fearful

, ,

su ffering to p r ay incessantly day and nigh t ; this ex ,

cite d h im to su ch a degree that he fin ally foretold not

only the n ame o f his visitors but also the hour at ,

which they would come an d finally the day Of his com

,

pl e t e recovery ; h e a l so knew by the same instin ct , ,

that later in life h e would go to Rome and die the r e .

When the iron point was at last r emoved fr om his

wound his health began to improve an d at once his
, ,

prophetic gift left him an d n eve r r eturned He went .

,

however t o Rome an d really died i n th e E ternal City

, ,

( Colquhoun p , The
. p r iests of A pollo at CO ,

l o ph o n intoxicated themselves with the water of hi s

,

fountain which was as famou s fo r bestowi n g the gift

,

o f prophecy as E scul apiu s well at Pergamus an d the

’

springs near his te m ple at Pell en a In other temples .

vapors were inhaled by the prophetic priests In t h e .

prophet schools o f the Israelites music seems t o h ave

-

played a promi n ent part fo r S amuel told S aul he would

,

“
meet at the hill o f G ad a company of prophets coming
down fromthe high place with a psalte ry an d a tabret
”
an d a pipe before them The Jews possessed,h o w
.

ever also other mean s t o aid in divining : Joseph h ad

,

h is cup a custom s till prevalent in the E ast ; and th e

,

High Pr iest before en te r ing into the Holiest put on

, ,

th e Thummim with its six dark j ewels and the Uri m

with its six light colored j ewels whereupon the bril
-

lian t sparkling o f th e precious s t ones and t h e rich

fu mes o f in cense combined with the awful sen se of the
3 18 MODERN MAG IC .

are a few cases known i n which appar en tly dying per

sons after delivering su ch prophecies h ave r ecovered
, ,

an d retained th e ex ception al gift during the remainder

Of their lives b ut these in stances are rare an d require
,

confirmation .

A s all magic phen omen a are liable t o be mix e d up

with delusion an d impostu r e so divination o f this kind ,

also h as been frequently imitated fo r personal o r po

l it ical purpo ses The an cient oracles al r eady gave
.
‘

frequently answers full o f irony and sly h umor Th e .

sto ry o f K ing A lexander o f E piru s is well known wh o ,

was warn ed by th e oracle at D odon a to keep away from

th e Ach eru sian waters and then perished in the r ive r
,

Ach ero s in Italy Thu s Henry IV o f E ngland had

, . .

b een told that he would die at Jerusalem ; he thought

only of Palestin e b ut met his death uncon sciously in a
,

room belongin g to the A bbe y of Westmin ster which ,

bore th e n ame Of the holy city In S pain Ferdinan d .

,
'

t h e Catho l ic received warn ing that he would die s t

M adrigal an d h en ce carefully avoided th e ci ty o f th at
'

n ame ; b u t when h is last illne ss overtook him at an

Obscure little town he foun d that it was called M ad ri

,

gaola o r Little M ad ri gal

,
The historian M arian a
.

( H is t d
.e reb u s B isp l xxii chap 66 ) also men tion s the
.
, . . .

despair of the famou s favorite Do n Alvarez de Lun a ,

whom an astrologer had warned against Cadah al so a ,

v illage near Toledo ; the unfortunate man died o n th e

scaffold which is also called cadah al so In France it .

was the fate o f the su pe rstitiou s queen Cathe rin e de ,

 D I VI NATI ON . 3 19

M edici to expe rience a similar m o rt ifi cat io n : the

,

famou s Nostradamus h ad predicted th at sh e would die

i n S t G ermain an d she carefully avoided that pal ace ;
.
,

but when her last end came she fo un d hersel f sinking,

h elpless into th e arms of a courtier called S t G er .

mai n .

N or is there any wan t o f false prophecies fr om the

time wh en Jeremiah complained th at a wonderful an d
horrible thing is committe d in the land ; the peo ple
p r oph esy falsely ( Jer v to the great money crisis
. .

in 1 8 5 7 which filled the l an d with prediction s Of the

,

approachin g end Periods o f great political or reli

.

gio u s ex ci te men t invariably produce a few genuin e and

a host o f spuriou s prophets which represen t the sad ,

forebodings filling the mind o f a distressed n ation an d

avail th emselves o f the credulity Of all great sufi erers
’

S ome of the most absurd prophecies ha v e n evertheless

caused a perfect panic ex ten ding in some cases through
,

o u t whole coun tries Thu s in 1 5 7 8 a famou s ast ro lo

.

er the father of all weathe r prophecies in o u r alm a

g ,

n acs predicted that in th e month of F ebruary 1 52 4

, , ,

when three planets should enter at once the constellation

o f the fishes a secon d deluge would destroy the earth
, .

The report reached the E mperor Charles V who sub .

,

m it t ed the mat te r to his S panish theologi ans an d a s

t rologer s They investigated it with solemn gravity
.

and foun d it very fo rm idable ; from S pain t h e panic

spre ad through th e whole of E urope When Feb ru arv .

came thousan ds left their houses an d sought refuge on

3 20 MODERN MAG IC .

mountain an d hill top ; others hoped to escape o n board

-

ships and a rich president at Toulouse actually built

,

himself a second ark Whe n the deluge did not take

.

place divines an d diviners were by n o means abash ed ;

,

t h ey decl are d that G od had this time also taken pity

_

upon sinful men in con sideration o f the ferve n t praye r

o f the faithful a s h e had done before in the c ase of
,

N ineveh The fear o f the last j udgment h as at all

.

times so filled the min ds of men as to make them re adi

ly believe a prediction o f the a pproaching end o f t h e
world an event which i t i s well kn own th e apostles
, , , ,

M ar tin Luther an d certain modern divines have per

, ,

sist e n t ly thought imm ediately impe nding S ects h ave .

arisen at various epochs wh o have looked fo r ward to the

secon d A dvent with a sincerity o f conviction o f which
they gave s t riking and even most fearful eviden ce The .

M illerites of the Union have more than once predic ted

the coming of Christ an d in anticipation o f the n ear
,

A dvent disposed o f their property assumed the white

, ,

robes in whi ch they were to ascend to heaven an d even ,

mou nted in to the topmost bran ches o f trees to shor t en

th e j ou rney In S witzerlan d 3 young w oman o f Be rn e
. .

became so ex cite d by th e coming o f j udgment whi ch ,

sh e fixed upon the next E aste r day that sh e prophesied ,

dail y gathered a n umber of follo w

, ers around her a n d ,

actually had her own grandfa t h er strangled in order t o

save h is soul before the approaching A dven t ( S tilling .
,

“
Jan se rit s p ,
.

N ot un frequ ently proph cies a r e appa r ently delivered

e
3 22 MODERN MAG IC .

the true faith an d fu rthered its gradually widening rev

,

elation In their case ho wever divination was so

.
, ,
'

clearly the result of divine inspiration that their pro ph ,

e c ie s can hardly be classed among magi c phenomen a .

The groun d which they have in common with merely

human forebodings an d div in ings is the s tate of trance
,

in which alon e prophets seem to have foretold t h e

future whether we believe this ecstatic co n dition t o
,

h ave been cau sed by m u sic long— protracted praye r o r

,

t h e di r ect agen cy of th e Holy S pirit .

This ecstasy was in the case of almost all the o racles

o f antiquity brought on by inhaling certain gases which

rose from the soil and produ ced often most fearful sym p
toms in the unfo rt u n ate persons employed for the pur
pose A t the same time they were rarely free from an
.

addition of ar t ifice as the priests n ot only filled the

,

mind of the pythoness beforehan d with thoughts sug

gested by their own wisdom and political experien ce ,

b ut the latt er also frequently employe d her skill as a

ven triloquist in order to increase the force o f he r rev
,

elation s Hence th e fact that almost all the G reek o ra

.
,

cles proce e ded from deep caves in which as at Dodona

, ,

an d D elphi carbonic gas was develop ed in abundance ;

,

hen ce also the n ame of v en triloqu a v a t es whi ch was

, , ,

commonly given to the D elphi Pythia The oldest o f .

these oracles that at Dodon a foreto l d events for nearly

, ,

two thousand years an d even survived the almost uni

,

versal destru ction o f such instituti ons at th e time of

Chris t ; it did n ot actually cease till the third cen tury ,
 D I VI NA TI ON . 3 23

when an I l lyrian robber cu t down the sacred tree The .

oracle o f Z eu s TrOph o n iu s in Boeotia spoke through

the patie nts who were brought to the caves where th ey ,

became somnambulists h ad vi sions and answered t h e

,

question s of t h e priests while th ey were in thi s condi

tion The Romans also had their somn ambulist pro ph
.

ets from the earliest days and whenever the s t ate was
,

in danger the S ibylline books were consulted

,
Chris .

t ia nit y made an en d to all such divination in Italy as in

G reece It is strange that the vast scheme o f E gypti an
.

superstition sh ows us no oracles whatever ; bu t among

the G erman s prophets were all the more numerous .

They foretold wa r o r peace s uccess or failu re and ex , ,

e rc ise d a powe rful in fluen ce o n all a ffairs O n e o f th e .

older prophetesses V eleda who lived in an isolated

, ,

tower and allowed herself to be but rarely consulte d

, ,

was held in high esteem even by th e Rom ans The .

Celts had in like manner prophet D ruids some of whom -

became well kn own to the Roman s and are reported to ,

have foretold the fate o f the emperors A urelian D io ,

cl e t ian and S everus .

W e have the authority o f Josephus for the contin u

an ce of prophetic power in Israel even afte r the coming
o f Christ He tells u s o f Jesus the son of An an u s
.
, ,

who ran for seven years an d five months through t h e

streets of Jerusalem proclaiming the coming ruin an d
, , ,

“ ”
while crying out Woe i s me ! was struck an d
in stantly killed by a ston e from one of th e siege engines
of the Roman s (Jos 1 vi 0
. .
, Josephu s himself
. . .
3 24 MODERN MAG IC .

passes fo r a prophet having predicted the fall o f the

,

city of Jo t apat a forty seven days i n advance his o wn

-

captivity and th e imperial dignity of V espasian as well

,

a s of Titus O f northern prophets M erlin is probably

.
,

th e most widely kn own ; he was a Celtic bard called ,

Myrdhin an d his poems written in the seventh century

, , ,

were looked upon as accurate description s o f many

subsequent events su ch as the exploits o f Joan o f A rc
, .

In the six teenth cen tu ry N ostradamu s took his place ,

es Cen t u r ies et P mp hé t ics

'

whose prophetic verses t , ,

ar e to this d ay current among th e people and n ow an d ,

then reappear in leading j ournals He had been a pro .

fe sso r of medicine in the Un iversity of M ontpellier an d ,

died in 1 56 6 enj oying a world wide r eputation as an

,
-

astrologer Hi s brief and often enigmatical verses have

.

never lost their hold on credulou s minds and a few ,

striking in stances h ave even i n o ur century largely , ,

revived his credit S uch was for instance the stanz a

.
, ,

( No 1 0)
.

Un emparen r na i t repres d I ta lze,

’
’

Qu z d l empzre
'
‘ ‘

sera ven du t r és char;

D irbn t twee qu els gens 3 6 r a ll zé,

'

Qu o n t rau t em m o i ns p ri nce qua bo ucher ,

’

which was natural ly applied t o the great Napol eon an d

his marshals .

A n o the r n orthern proph et whose predictions are ,

still qu oted was th e A rchbishop o f A rmagh M alachias

, , ,
'

w h o in 1 1 3 0 foretold the fate o f all coming popes ; as

, ,

in almost all similar cases h ere also the accidental ,

3 26 MODERN MA G IC .

t aine d that sh e was inspired in the same man ner as

S t John in Patmos an d that she was compelled by th e
.
,

power of the Holy S pirit to foretell the future In .

Spite o f her erron eo us announcement of the n ear M il

l e n n iu m sh e foretold many min o r events with gr eat
,

accuracy an d was highly esteemed as a prophet D r

,
. .

Po rdage had mainly visions o f the future world wh ich

were all characterized by a great pu rity o f heart an d
wil dness of imagination S wedenborg also had many
.

prophetic visions bu t their fulfillmen t belongs ex

,

cl u siv ely t o future life an d their gen uin eness firmly

, ,

believed by the n umerou s an d enlighten ed members o f

the New Chu rch cann ot be proved t o others in th is
,

world .

O ne o f the mos t remarkable cases of modern pro ph e

syin g w hich has been o ffi cially recorded is connected ,

with the death of Pope Gan gan ell i The latter heard
.

that a nu mber o f person s in variou s parts of Italy had

p redicte d th at he would soo n end his life by a violen t
death . He attached su ffi cient importan ce to these
r eports to hand the matter over to a special commission
previously appointed t o examine grave charges which
'

h ad been brought again st the Jes uits perhaps suspect ,

ing that the O rder o f Jesu s was not un conn ected with
those prediction s A mon g the persons who were the r e
.

upon arrested was a simple ign orant peasant girl

,
-

Beatrice Rensi wh o told the gendarme very calmly

,

”
Ga n gan el li has me arrested Braschi will set me free
, ,

im plying that th e latte r would be the n ex t pope The .

 DIe ATI O N . 3 27

priest at V alen ta no who was arrested o n the same day

,

( 1 2 th of M ay
“
,
ex claimed quite j oyously : What
h appen s to me now has been predi cted three times
al ready ; take these papers an d see what my daughter
”
e Rensi
( t h ) has foreto ld Upon examination it ap .

pears that the girl had fix ed the pope s day upon th e ’

day of equinoxes in the m onth of S eptember ; sh e an

,

n o un ce d that he would proclai m a year of absolution ,

but not live t o see it ; that n o n e o f the fait hful would

kiss h is foot nor would they take him as u su al t o the
, , ,

Church of S t Peter A t the same time she spoke o f a

. .

fierce inward struggle through which the Holy Father

would have to pass b efore hi s death S oon after these .

predic t ion s were made o fficially known to the pope the ,

bull against the order of Jesuits was laid before him ;

the immense importan ce of su ch a decree and th e ,

evident dangers with which it was fraught caused h im ,

great con cern and when he on e night ro se from his

,

bed to afiix his sign ature and frighte ned by s ome co n, ,

siderati ons threw away the pen only to take it up at

,

last and sign the paper h e suddenly rec al led the pro
,

ph e cy of the peasant girl He drove at on ce to a great

-
.

prelate in Rome who h ad formerly been the girl s con

,
’

fe sso r and inquired of him about her character ; t h e

,

priest tes t ified t o her purity her unimpeached h onesty , ,

and her s implicity adding that in his opinion sh e w a s

,

evidently fa v ored by heaven with special and ve ry ex

t rao rdin ary powers Gan gan e ll i was made furious by
.

this suggestion and insis ted u pon it th at his commis

,
3 28 MO DERN MAG IC .

sion should decl are all these prediction s wi cked lies the ,

inspiration s of the D ev il an d condemn the sixty t wo

,
-

person s who had been arrested to pay th e extrem e pen

alty in the C astle of S t A ngelo o n th e l st o f O ctober
. .

In the meantime however his health began to su ffer

, , ,

an d his mind was more an d more deeply a ffected .

Bea trice Rensi h ad been imprisoned in a conven t at

Mo nte fiascan e ; o n the 2 2 d o f S epte mber she told th e
priores s that prayers might be held fo r the soul o f the
Holy Father ; the latter informed the bishop o f the
pl ace an d soon the w h ole town was i n an uproar Late
, .

in th e aft ern oon cou riers brough t the news th at G an

’
gan e lli had sud den l y died at eight o clock in the morn
ing ; the b o dv began to putrefy s o promptly that the
’
u sual ceremoni es o f kissing the pope s feet and the
transfer to S t Peter s became impossible ! The most
.
’

curious e ffects o f t h e girl s prediction s appeared h o w

’
,

ever when the Con clave was held to elect a su ccessor

,
.

M any C ardin als were extreme ly anxiou s that B ra sch i

shoul d n ot be elected lest this sh ould be in te rpreted as
,

a co n firmation o f the prediction and hen ce as th e work .

o f the E vil O ne ; others again looked upon the girl s

’

words as an in dication from o n high they car ried the-

day . Braschi was r eally chosen and ascended the ,

throne as Piu s V I The commission h o wev er co n

‘

.
, ,

tin ned the work of investigation an d fin ally acquitted ,

t h e Jesuits o f the charge of collusio n Beatrice Re n si s ’

predictions were declared to be supernatu ral but sug ,

gested by the Father o f Lies the accu sed were all set ,
3 30 MODERN MAG IC .

palace o f the D uchess de G ramont some o f the mo st

remarkable personages o f the day an d found h imself ,

sea te d by the side o f M alesherbes He n o t iced at a cor .

n e r of th e table Caz o t t e apparently in a deep fit o f,

mu sing from whi ch he was only roused by the frequ ent

,

to a sts in which he was forced t o j o in When at l ast th e

, .

g uests seemed t o be ove r flowing w ith fe r ven t praises of .

modern philosophy an d its brilli an t vi ctory over o l d re

ligio u s superstitions Caz o t te su ddenly rose an d in a
,

solemn ton e o f voi ce an d with features agitate d with

deep emotion said t o them : G entlemen yo u may rej oice , ,

for yo u will all see that great an d imposing revolution ,

which you so m u ch desire Yo u M Condorcet wi ll .

, .
,

exp i re l ying o n the floo r o f a subterran ean prison .

You M N will die o f poison ; you M N will pe rish

, . .
, , .

’
by th e ex ecu tion er s h an d o n the scaffold They crie d .

out :
“
Wh o o n ea rt h h as made you think o f p ri sons ,

poison an d the execution er ? What have these thin gs

,

to do with philos ophy and the r eign o f r eason which ,

we an ticipate and o n which you b ut j u st n o w co ngrat u

” ”
lated u s ? Th at is exactly what I say replied Ca ,

z ot t e in the n ame o f philosophy o f r eas on o f hu ma n

, , ,

i ty an d o f freedom all thes e things will be done which

, , ,

I have foreto ld and they will happen precisely w

,
hen
”
reason alone will reign an d have its te mples Cer .

” “
tainly replied Ch am fo rt yo u will n ot be o n e o f t h e
, ,

” ”
priests .N ot I an swered t h e latter but you M
,
“
, ,
.

de Cham fo rt will be o n e o f them an d deserve to

,

be o n e ; you will cu t y our veins in twen ty t wo places -

 D IVI NA TI ON . 331

with you r r azor an d yet die only several months aft er

,

that desperate operation You M V i o qu e d Azyr .

, .
’
,

will n o t open your vein s becau se the gout in you r b an ds ,

will pre v ent it but you will get another person to Open
,

them six times for yo u the same day an d you will ,

die in the n ight succeeding You M N i colai will .

, .
,

die o n the s caffold and you M Bailly and you ,

.
, ,

” ”
M M alesherbes
. G od be th anked .ex claimed M ,
.

Richer it see m s M Ca z o t te only deals with members o f

“
, .

the A cademy B ut Caz o t t e replied instantly Yo u also

”
.
,

M Richer will die on the scaffold an d they who sen

.
, ,

ten ce you and others like you will be nevertheless

, ,
-

”
philosophers A nd when is all this going to happen
.
?

“
asked several gu ests Within at most six years from .

”
to d ay was the r eply Laha rpe n o w asked : A nd
, .

”
about me you say nothing Caz o t t e ? The latter re ,

“
plied : In you sir a great mira cle will be done ; yo u
, ,

”
will be converted and become a good Christian These .

words relieved the company and all broke o u t into ,

merry laughter No w th e Du chess of G ramont also

.

“
took co u rage and said : We women are fortunately
,

bette r o ff th an men revolution s do not mind us ,

.

” “
Your se x ladies answered Caz o t te will not pro tect
, , ,

you this time and however careful y o u may be not to be

,

mix ed up with politi cs yo u will be treate d exactly like ,

the men Yo u also Du chess with many ladies before

.
, ,

and after you will have to moun t the scaffold and more
, ,

than th at they will car ry you there on the hangman s

,
’

”
ca rt with your hands boun d behind your back
, The .
332 M ODERN MAG IC .

duchess perhaps looking upon the whole as a j est said

, , ,

“
smil ing : Well I thin k I shall at least h ave a coach
,

lin ed with black N o n o replied Caz o t t e

.
“
the , , ,

h angman s cart wil l be your last carr i age and eve n

’
,

”
greater ladies than yo u will have to ride in it S urely .

n o t prin cesses o f th e royal blood asked the duchess .

”
S till greater on es answered Caz o t t e But they will
,
.

” “
n ot deny u s a confessor ? she continu ed Yes re .
,

“
plied th e other only th e greatest o f all wh o will be
,

”
executed will have o n e B ut what will become o f .

you M Caz o tt e
, . asked the guests who began at last ,

”
to feel tho r oughly u n comfortable M y fate was th e .
,

reply will be the fate of th e man wh o called o u t

, ,

Woe ! over Je r usalem before the last siege an d Woe ! , ,

ove r himself wh ile a stone thrown by the enemy e nded

, , ,

”
his l ife . With these words Caz o t te bowed an d with
drew from the room However mu ch of the details may .

have been subsequently added to the prediction the fact ,

o f su ch a prophecy has n ever yet been impugned an d ,

William Burt wh o was a witn ess of the scene e m ph ati

, ,

cally en dorses the ac count .

E ven the stern Calvinists have had thei r reli giou s

prophets among who m D u S erre is probably the most
,

i nteresti ng He established himself in 1 6 8 6 in the

.

D auphin e bu t extended his operation s soon into the

,

Cevennes an d thu s prepared the great uprisin g of Prot

,

e st a n t s t here in 1 6 88 which led to fearful war an d ,

general devastation S pecial gifts of proph ecy were ao .

corded t o a few generally u neducated persons ; bu t in

334 MODERN MAG IC .

u rge Hodges to r emain strictly in the path o f duty as ,

by so doing he was sure to reach the high est honors .

In order to enforce h is advice he predicted that he

would rise from the post he then occupied as Residen t
in Bombay to highe r plac es till he would finally be ap ,

pointed governor Th e prediction was often discu ssed

.

among Hodges fr iends an d when fortune favored him

’
,

and h e r eally obtained u nusu ally rapid prefermen t he ,

began t o rely more than eve r on the Indian s predi c ’

tion But suddenly a severe blo w shattered all hi s

.

hopes A rival of his S pencer was appoin ted governor

.
, , ,

an d Hodges ve ry indign an t at what h e con sidered an

,

act o f unbearable inj ustice wrote a sharp an d disre ,

spect ful letter t o the G overn or an d Council of the Com

pany The result was his dismissal from the ser vi ce

.

an d the order to retu rn to E urope B efore embarking .

he sent once more for his friend wh o was then li vi ng at ,

o n e o f the sacred pl aces and when he came info rmed

,

him of the sad turn in his affairs an d reproached him

with his false predictions Th e Indi an however was .
, ,

in n o way discon certed bu t assured Hodges that al

.
,

though hi s adversary had put his foot o n the threshold ,

he would n ever enter the palace but th at he H odges

‘
, , ,

would in spite of appearan ces most surely r each the

, ,

high post wh ich he had promised him year s ago These .

assuran ces produ ce d n o great e ffect an d Hodges was o n ,

th e point of going on board the ship that was to carry

him to E urope when another vessel sailed into th e har
,

bo r having ac complished the voyage o u t in a mo st unu

,
 D IV INA TI ON . 3 35

su al lyshort time an d brought ne w orders from E ngland

,
.

The Court of Directors had disapproved of S pencer s ’

conduct as G overnor o f Bengal revoked his appoint ,

ment dismissed him from se rvice an d ordered Hodges

, ,

t o be installed as G overn or of Bombay ! From that day

the B rahmin obtained daily more influen ce over the
m ind o f his E nglish friend and th e latte r undertook ,

nothing without having first consulted the strangely

gifted native It became however soon a matter o f
.
, ,

gene ral remar k that the Brahmi n could n ever be per

,

s uade d to refe r in his prediction s to the time beyon d

the year 1 77 1 as he had never promised Hodges another

,

post o f honor than that which he now o ccupied The .

explanation o f his silence came but t o o soon for in the ,

night of the 2 2 d of February 1 7 72 Hodges died sud , ,

den ly and thus ended hi s b rilliant car eer verifying h is

, ,

’
friend s prophecy in every detail .

TH E DIV ININ G ROD .

The relations in which some men stan d to N ature

are s ometimes so close as to enable them to make dis
co v e ries which are impossible to others This is for .
,

instance the case with persons wh o feel the presence o f

,

waters o r o f metals The former have from time ib i

.
,

memo rial generally used a wand the so called divin

, ,
-

ing rod which according to Pliny was already known

, , ,

to the an cient E truscan s as a mean s for the discovery

of hidden springs A n Italian author A moretti wh o
.
, ,

has given special attention to this subj ect states that ,

3 36 MODERN MAG IC .

at least every fifth man is susceptible to the influ ence

o f wa t er and metals but this is eviden tly an over
'

estimate . In recen t times many person s have been

kn own to possess this gift of discovering hidden Springs
o r subterran ean mas ses o f water an d these have bu t ,

rarely emp l oyed an in strumen t Catharin e Beutle r .

,

o f Th u rgo v ia in S witz erland and A nn a M aria Brugger

, ,

o f th e same place w ere both so seriou sly a ffected by the

,

presen ce o f water that they fell into violen t nervou s

excitement when they happened to c ross places ben eath
which larger qu an tities were concealed and b ecame ,

pe rfectly exhaus t ed In France a class of men called

.
,

s ou r cie rs have for ages po ssessed this in s tinctive power

,

o f perceiving the presence o f wate r an d others like the , ,

famous Abb é Param elle have cultivate d the natural

,

gift till they were finally enabled by a mere cursory ,

examination o f a landscape to ascertain whether large

,

m asses of water were hidden anywhere an d to indica te ,

the precise spots where they might be foun d .

Why wate r and metals should almost always go h an d

in h and in conn ection with this peculi ar gift is not ,

quite clear ; bu t the sta ff o f Hermes h aving probably ,

the form of the divining rod was always represen ted ,

as g iving the command over the treasures of the earth ,

an d the O rphic Hymn ( v 5 2 7 ) calls it hen ce th e

.
, ,

golden rod producing weal th an d happiness O n the

,
.

other hand the Agn es Virgo the nymph of springs h ad

, , ,

also a divining rod in her hand and N uma inspired by , ,

a water nymph estab l ished the worship of waters i n

,
338 M ODE RN MAG IC .

lia r is that it i s by n o m ean s limited t o the discove ry

’

o f wat er b u t extend s t o other things likewise

, A very .

wealthy family called Collomb living in Cessen s

, , ,

boasted of more than o n e member who was able by th e ,

aid o f the ro d and with ban daged eyes t o di scove r n o t ,

only pieces o f money b ut even n eedles evi dently cases

, ,

o f personal susceptibility t o th e presence of metals ,

aided by electric currents O n ce at leas t the gift was

.
, ,

made u sefu l A n umber o f bags fil led w ith wh eat h ad

.

been stolen fro m a neighboring h ouse and the police ,

were un able to discover the hiding place A t the re -

.

qu est o f h is frien ds o n e o f the Co l lo mb s u nder took t h e

search with th e aid o f th e di v ining rod ; he soon found
the wi ndow through which the bags h ad b een h anded
o u t ; he then followed the t r ack along the banks o f the

rive r Cheran an d asserted that the thief had cros sed to

,

th e othe r side A t th at time n othing more was dis

.

covered ; bu t soo n afterwards a mille r living across th e

river was suspected the bags were found and the
, ,

culprit sen t to the galleys ( Rev u e S a vois ien ne A p ril 1 5

.
, ,

Dr M ayo mentions mainly upon the au tho r ity

.
,

o f G eorge Fairh olm a numb er o f instan ces i n which

,

perso n s belonging to all clases of society h ave exhibited

the same gift bu t as cribes its e ffi cacy to the presence o f
,

currents of 0 d .

The divi ning ro d o r iginally a twig o f willow o r haz el

, ,
“

is oft en made of metal an d the impression prevails that

,

in such cases an electric current arising from the sub ,

terranean water o r metals enters th e divi ne r s body by

’
,
 DIe ATI ON . 339

the feet passes through h im and finally affects the two

, ,

bran ches of the rod whi ch represent opposite poles It

,
.

is certain that when the electric current is interrupted ,

the power of the divining rod is suspended Dr M ayo . .

te lls u s o f a lady o f his acquainta nce in S outham pton ,

wh o at his request u sed a divinin g rod of copper and

iron wire made after the fashion o f the usual hazel
,

rod ; it answered the purpose fully b u t wh en the ends

,

to uched by her han ds were covered wi th sealing wax -

it becam e useless as soon as she put her fingers i n con

tact with the unprotected wire the powe r instantly
,

turn ed This ce rtainly seemed to be strong evidence o f

.

the ex istence o f an electric current N evertheless many

.
,

believe that the divining rod acts in all cases sim

ply as an extension of the arms an d thu s se rves to make
,

th e vibration s o f the muscles more distinct It is by .

this theory they explain the fact which has caused seriou s
trouble to careful inquirers like Cou nt T ristan and Dr .

M ayo that th e gift o f u sing t h e di v 1 n1 n g rod varies

,

with the state of health in the i ndividuals in whom it

h as been discovered .
 VII .

P O SSESSI O N .

Th e re upo n St . Th eo phil u s m ade a pa ct wit h De v il .

ACTA , S S
. .
, 4 Fe b ru ary .

M AN Y forms o f insanity it is well known are acco m , ,

pan ie d by the fixed idea that th e su fferer is con tin u al ly

associated with another being a fri end o r an en emy a , ,

man an animal or a mere shadow S omn ambulists

, ,
.
,

also not un frequ ently fancy that they obtain their ex

,

cepti o n al knowledge o f hidden things n o t by intu i tion ,

o r instin ct but through the agen cy o f a medium whom

, ,

they look upo n as an angel o r a demon There i s .

,

howeve r a third class o f cases far more fo r midable than

, ,

either of those mention ed in which the mind is dis ,

t urb e d and magic phenomena ar e produced by an

,

agency apparently entirely in depen dent o f the pati en t

h imself S u ch are possession vampi rism an d z o an th ro
.
,

—
py th r ee frightful forms o f human su ffering which ar e ,

fo rtunately very rare being limited to certain locali ties

,

in space to a few short pe r iods in time an d t o men o f

, ,

the lowest g rade only .

Possession is that appalli n g state of mind which

makes the patien t believe that he is i n th e power o f a
foreign evil being which has for the time full control
,

ove r his body This powe r it abuses by plaguing the

.
3 42 M ODERN MAG IC .

tal nature fo r violent coercion of will sudden and sub

, ,

versive nervou s shocks o r long contin ued enforcement -

o f a hateful mode o f life are apt t o produce th e sa d

,
‘

e fl e ct . Hen ce it s frequen t occurrence in monasteries ,

o rphan asylums an d Similar in stit ution s where t his ,

kin d of in san ity is moreover liable t o become epidemic

, , .

A t othe r times the ca use is a trivial o n e an d then a ,

peculiar predisposition mu st be presumed which only

n eeded a decisive act t o bring the disturbed min d t o its
extremity But poss ession is n ot m erely an affection o f
.

the mind it is als o always a disease o f the body whi ch

, ,

in the bewildered an d di sordered imagination o f the

patient becomes personified in the shape of a demon ;
hen ce the grave r th e disease the fi erce r the demo n , .

A s sickness worries the patien t robs him b f his appc ,

tite an d makes all he used t o like distas teful to h im so ,

the demon also su ffers n o enj oymen t ; interferes with

every pleasure and consistently rages especially a ainst
,
g

re ligion which alone could give con solation in such

,

cases The outbursts of rage in demoniacs wh en e ffor ts

.
,

a re m ade to exorcise o r convert them even although ,

nothing bu t prayers may be at te mpted is asc ribed to an ,

i ns t in ctive repugnance o f the su fferers f o r means which

they feel t o be u tterly inappropriate t o their case — very
mu ch as if men m ad wi th hunger were to be fed wi t h
, ,

mo ral axiom s Possession is fin ally som etimes limi ted

.

to par ts o f the body ; as when a demoniac is spoken o f

wh o was dumb ( M att i x an d another who was
.

blind and dumb ( M att x i i In other cases th e

. .
 P OSSESS I ON . 3 43

body is en dowed with supernatural st rength and four ,

o r five powerful men have been known to be scarcely

able to hold a frail girl of fifteen .

A peculiar featu re in possession is that during the

.
,

most violent attacks of apparent fury accompanied by ,

hideous cries an d frightful contortions the pulse is n o t ,

quickened an d the physical strength o f the patient does

n ot seem in th e least diminished The disease how .
,

ever n aturally affects his whole system and exhausts it

,

in time .The possessed man who unli ke so m n amb u

,

lists retain s during the paroxysms full control over all

, ,

his senses n ever speaks o f the demon that possesses

,

him bu t the demon speaks of him as o f a third person

, ,

an d at the same time of himself a feature which power

,

fully contribu tes t o the popula r belief of actual demon s

dwelling in these unfortunate perso ns A nd yet after .
,

the paroxysm is over t h e poor su fferer knows n othing

,

o f the horrible things he has don e and of the fearful ,

words h e has u ttered ; if he is told what has occurred ,

he is terribly shocked and bitterly repen ts his mis

,

doings .

The paroxysms are twofold : in the b ody they appear

as vi olent convulsions accompanied by a contraction of
the throat and the globu lu s hy stericu s saliva forms in
abundan ce black coal like lumps are thrown up and
, ,
-

the breath is hot and ill smelling In this mental form

-
.

they appear as a raging of the demon against the po s

sessed and again st religio n— in fact a struggle of the
patient with himself and his former convictions O c .
 44 MODERN MAG IC .

casio n al ly the good prin ciple within him assumes in ,

c o n t radist in ct iOn to the demon who p e rso n ifi e s the evil

prin ciple the form of a guardian angel who comforts

, ,

the poor su fferer as he i s tossed to and fro like a shi p in

a tempest and promises him assistance N or i s the de
, .

m o n always alone there m ay be as Holy Wri t teaches

, ,

se ven thousan ds o r their n am e may be Legion s ”fo r

, , ,

these vi sion ary beings are only so m an y representatives

o f certain evil principles at work in the soul o f the
po s
sessed S ome patie n ts have been en abled to t r ace this
.

conn ection and to discove r that each sympto m o f thei r

disease was thu s personified by a separate demon t o
whom in their paroxysms they ascribed the infliction :
Lu cifer caus ed prickin g and stinging pains A nzian ,

tearing and scratching J u nian convulsion s o f limbs

, .

etc The fearful su fferin g which demoniacs have t o u n

.

de rgo an d the still mo r e harassin g conflicts in their

soul drive them frequen tly to despair and engender
thoughts o f suicide .During th ese paroxysms the
struggle between light and darkn ess heaven and h ell
, ,

ete rn al bliss an d damn ation angel an d devil is carried

, ,

o n with su ch energy an d dramatic truthful n ess that

th ose wh o witn ess it are apt to become deeply ex cited

an d often su ffer not a little from the violent tran sition s
from sympathy to h orror an d from heartfelt pity to u n
speakable disgu st A s soon as the dualism in t he soul
.

relaxe s and with it the disease becomes milde r the de

, ,

mon also grows more q u iet ; a happy momen t of rest

ens ues which the exorciser calls the p eriod o f c on ver
,
3 46 MODERN MAG IC .

more dominant an d a healthy n atu ral sta te of mind

, ,

an d body is restored .

It mu st howeve r n ot be overlooked that the views

, ,

o f possession have changed essentially in di fferent n a

tions an d ages A t the tim e of C hr ist s com ing the

.
’

belief in actual possession the dwelling o f real demon s

,

in the body o f h uman beings was unive r sal and to this

, ,

belief the langu age o f Holy Writ n aturally adapts its

records o f mi r acles .

The K abbal ah as well as the Talmu d con tain full

accou nts o f a kingdom o f h ell opposed to the heavenly ,

kingdom with Sm aal as head of all sa t an im o r evil

,

spi ri t s defying Jehovah

,
The latter are allowed t o
.

dwell upon ea rth Side by side with the sons o f A dam ,

an d occasion ally to posse ss them and to live in their

souls as in a hom e o f thei r o wn In other c ases it was .

the Spirit o f a deceas ed perso n which condemned for ,

sin s committed du ring life t o wander about as a demon ,

r eceived permission to enter the sou l o f a living being .

The N ew Testam en t mentions at least seven c ases o f

possession from the woman whose suffering was Si mply
,

ascribed t o the D evil s agency to M ary M agdalene wh o

’
,

was relieved o f seven demon s an d the G adarene wh o , ,

“ ”
h ad a legion o f devils The Catholic Church also
.

h as always taugh t the existence of evil spirits ; doctrin al

works however men tion only o n e D iabolu s o r Sa
, , ,

tan as A lthough the Church adheres con sis t ently to

.

the theory o f actual possess i on it teaches that dem on s ,

can not wholly take posse ssion o f a h uman soul but ,

 P OSSESS I ON . 347

only force it to obedien ce o r accept vol untary sub m is

sion Hen ce their power o v er the body also never
.

becomes absolute but is al ways Shared with the soul

,

o f the su ffere r A mong Protestants many orthodo x

.

believers look upon possession as a mere del u sion prac

t ise d by the E vil O ne ; others admit its existence but ,

attribute it to t h e souls of deceased persons an d not

to demons This was the doctrin e o f th e an cien t
.

G reeks who like the Romans seem to have known bu t

, , ,

a few rare cases of possession which they ascribed t o ,

departed Spi ri ts Th us Ph ilo st ra tu s in his life o f A po l

’

.
,

l o n iu s ( 1 iii ch
. . mention s a young man who was
.

for two yea rs possessed by a demon pretending to be

the spirit o f a sol dier killed in battle N early all .

na t ions on earth have records o f possession Thu s .

cases occurring in China an d Japan an d in the Indies

are attribu t ed to the in fluence o f certain d eities as t h e ,

Hindoos kno w n either a hell nor a devil Early trav .

clers like Blom and Rochefort report in like manner

, , , ,

that i n some of the islands of the Caribbean S ea evil

spirits are believed to obtain at times possession o f
women and then t o enable them to foretell the future .

A ccording to E llis the inhabitants o f the S andwich

Islands were much plagu ed by evil spirits dwelling in
some of their brethren .

It was only t owards the latter part o f the last century

'

t hat possession was found to be n othing more than a

peculiar disease arising from the combin ation of an

unsoun d mind with an unsoun d body This discovery .
3 48 MODERN MAG IC .

was first made by Farmer in E nglan d an d by S eml er ,

i n G ermany ; Sin ce that time the symptoms of the

character of t h e afi e c t io n have been very generally
studied and thoroughly investigated .

Thus it h as been discovered that simil ar phenomena

are occasionally observed in typh us an d nervous feve r s .

First the patients fancy they feel somebody br eathing

by their si de o r blowing cold air upon their he ad ; after
,

long u n con sciou sness they are apt t o imagi ne that they
are do uble and have been known to h esitate where t o
,

carry the Spoon contai ning their medicine In still .

more marked cases persons wh o have su ffered from the

,
’

e fl e c t s o f some
great calamity and have th us been
,

brought t o the verge o f the grave have even acted two

,

differen t individualities o f which on e was piou s and

,

t h e other impiou s o r one Speaking the patient s nati ve

’
,
‘

ton gu e an d the other a foreign language A s they re .

covered and as the return o f health brought back bodily

an d mental strength this duali sm also ceased to be ex
,

h ib i te d during the paroxysm a nd finally disappe ar ed

,

altogether.

Possession is gene rally announced some ti me before

h an d by premoni tory symptoms bu t the first cause i s
,

not always easily asce rta ined When we are told that
.

ce rtain cases have o riginate d in a hastily Spoken word ,

a fierce cu rse or an outburst o f passion we only learn ,

thus what was th e first occas ion on which the malady

h as been n oticed but n ot what was the first cause
, .

This lies al most invariably in m o ral corruption ; the

3 50 MODERN MAG IC .

because he had in j est exorcised a demon in a playmate ;

n o w a m an cu rses himself in a moment o f passion and ,

then a boy drinks hastily a glass o f cold water when

o verheated and both fall victims to the disease
, .

The magic ph enomena accompanying possession ar e

by fa r the most r emarkable within the whole range o f
modern magi c but a n umbe r o f the more st riking are
,

fr equ ently identical with thos e seen in r eligiou s e csta

sy. D emoniacs als o exhibit the traces o f inj uries in ~

flict e d by demon s as sain ts Show the stigmas an d thei r

, ,

wou nds heal as little as those o f s tigmatized person s .

They share in like man ne r with religious enthusias ts

paroxysms during w hi ch th ey remain suspended in the
air fly up to th e ceiling o r are carried t o great dis ta nces
,

withou t tou ching the grou nd The strength o f the

.

possessed is amazing A monk kn own i n ecclesiastical

.
,

his t ory as Brother Ra fael o f Rimini co uld n o t be ,

bound by any ropes or chains ; as soon as h e was left

alone he broke the strongest fetters r aced up the roof
,

o f the ch urch ran along th e topmost ridge an d was

, ,

often found si tting o n the great hell t o which n o on e

,

else had ever been able t o gain access A t last the de

.

mon s led him to the t o p o f the steeple itself an d were

about to hu rl him down as he said ; the abbo t an d his
,

monks an d an immen se crowd o f people asse mbled b e

low and besought him to invoke the aid of th ei r pa
,

t ron saint SO as to save bo dy and soul It does not ap

.

pear by what miraculou s influen ce a change was

wrought in the poor man ; bu t h e did raise h is voice ,
 P OSSESS I ON . 351

which had n ot been heard to address a saint for many

years and instantly his min d returned h e fo un d his
, ,

way down to the church an d was cured .

The most frequent symptom in posses sion is a strong

antipathy against everything con nected with religion ;
the holy names o f G od and Ch rist t h e presence of ,

priests the S in ging o f hymns an d the reciting of

,

prayers excite intense pain and provoke outbursts of

, ,

fury E ven young children manifest this aversion e s

.
,

pe cia l ly when they h ave previously been forced t o attend

church an d to engage in devotional exercises against
,

their inclination Hence it is al so th at paroxysms are

.
, ,

most frequent at the regular hours of divine ser vice or

-

break forth suddenly at the Sight of a procession or the

h earing of ringing bells The symptom i t self arises
.

naturally from the imaginary con flict between a good

and an evi l principle the latter being continually in
,

arms against anyth ing that threatens to crush its own

power All the other symptoms of this fearful di sease
.

occur also in S t V itus dan ce in catalepsy an d even in

, , .
’
, ,

ordin ary trances ; only they appear more marked and ,

make a greater impression upon bystanders becau se ,

they are apparen tly cau sed by a foreign agent the pos ,

sessing demon an d not by the patient h imsel f AS t h e

,
.

digestive organ s are i n all such cases sympathetical l y

exci t ed and seriou sly affected a desire for unn atural
, ,

fo o d is very frequent ; the coarsest victuals are preferred ;

u nwh olesome and even inj urious substances are eagerly
,

devoured ; an d medicines as well as strengthening food

3 52 MOD ERN MAG IC .

are vehe m ently rej ected The su ffe rer is apt to interpret
.

this as a n ew plague his demon refusing him his legit i

,

mate sustenance an d compelling him to feed like an

,

anim al .

O ne of th e most remar kable historical cases o f appar

ent possession accompanied by m agic phenomen a was ,

that of Mirab eau s gr andmother M arried when quite

’
.

young to t h e o ld marquis sh e tried after his death t o ,

protec t herself against the temptation s o f the world ,

and of h er own heart by ascetic devotion In he r , .

eighty third year Sh e was attacked by gout whic h

-

affecte d her brain and Sh e became insane in a man n er

, ,

which according to th e views of her days was called

possession It was found necessary to Shut her up in a
.

b are room with a pal let of straw where n o one dared ,

en ter but her valet a man seven ty years o ld with whom

, ,

she had fallen in love ! For strange as i t may appear , ,

her fearful a ffliction restored to h er the ch arms o f

youth she who had been reduced to a Skeleton by old
,

age an d un ceasing devotion sudden l y regained the ,

plumpness o f her early years her complexion became ,

fair and rosy her eyes bright an d even her h air began
, ,

to gro w ou t once more But alas ! her tongu e also .

, , ,

had change d o nce afraid to utter a word that could be

misinterpreted the unruly member n ow sent fo rth
,

Speeches of incredible licentiousness an d over whelme d ,

the old servan t with terms of en dearmen t and coarse

allusions A t the same time the retired asceti c became
.

a violent blasphemer an d would allow n o o n e to enter

,
354 MODERN MAG IC .

S u ch re co v erie S are almost invariably acco m panied by

'

violen t efforts to discard foreign matters which h ave ,

been lodged in the syste m an d largely contributed to

,

produce the di sea se E xorcism has o f cou rs e n o direct

.
, ,

effect : eve n when the powe r to cas t out devils ( M ark

x vi 1 7 ) is given it i s not said by what means the
.
,

casti ng o u t is t o be accomplis hed ex cept that it must

,

be don e in the S aviou r s name The formalities c ar e

’
.
,

fully regulated an d prescribed by many decrees of the

Church since the th ir d cen tu ry do n o good except so
,

far as they re awaken faith i mpar t hope an d free th e

-

, ,

min d from distressing doubts Ign atius Loyola n eve r

.

cured po ssessed person s otherwi se than by prayer A s .

early as the Sixteen th century a case is r ecorded clea rly

illustrating the true natu r e of exorcism A demon .

w as after man y fruitless attempts at last driven o u t by

, ,

a particle o f the cross of our S aviour bu t in depar ting ,

h e declared in a lou d voice that he kn e w full well th e

n ature o f the piece o f wood ; it was cut from a gallows
an d n ot from the true cross n eve rtheless he was forced
,

t o go because the exorcist w illed it so an d t h e pati en t

,

believed in his po wer The sam e rule applies to cures

.

achieved by r elics ; not that these had any effect but in ,

the long cherished faith o f the possessed that they

-

migh t and could wield such power over evil spiri ts .

The main poin t is here also the en ergy o f will in th e

exorciser an d that this special gift is by n o m ean s con
,

fined t o men was s t rikingly illustrated by a fam ous

l ady the wife o f a M arqu is de la Croix who was a
, ,
 P O SSESS I ON . 3 55

S panish general and V i ceroy of G alicia In her youth .

a matchles s beauty with almost perfect classical fea

tures she retained an impos ing carriage and bewitching
,

grace throughout a long life and even in o ld age com

,

m an de d the admiration of all who came in contact w ith

her n ot only by the superiority o f her mind but also
,

by the beauty of her eyes and the charming expression

o f h e r features Aft er the death o f h er husband she
.

h ad mu ch to en dure from neglect in the great world ,

fr om Sickn ess and from poverty doubly hard to bear

,

because standing in painful contrast to the Splendor of

her former life The e ffects of a v io l en t attack of sick
.

n ess produ ced at last a partial disturbance of her mind ,

which Showed itself in visions an d the power to drive

demon s from th e possessed Her theory was that as
.

the Sins o f men caused their di seases and as the D evil

,

was the cause of all Sins sickness was invariably pro

,

du c e d by demoniac agency ; sh e di stinguished how ,

ever between sufl e rers who had voluntarily given them

,

selves u p t o sin an d thu s to the service of the Devi l

, ,

an d those who had unawares fallen into his h an ds .

H er practi ce was simple and safe : she employed nothing

but fervent p rayer and the Imposition of hands which ,

sh e h ad moistened w ith holy water or oil In th e .

course of time Sh e found her way to Paris an d there ,

m e t amid many skeptics also with coun tless believers

, , ,

some of whom belonged not only to the highes t classes

o f society but even t o th e sect of Free thinkers then
,
-

prominent in the French capital S uch were M arshal

.
356 MODERN MAG IC .

Richelieu , Coun t S chomberg an intim ate of th e famou s,

circle meeting at Baro n Ho lb ach s house an d even the

-
’
,

illu striou s B ufl o n When sh e was e ngaged in exorcising

’

.
,

h er im posing stature her imperiou s eye an d comman d

,

ing voice aided her at least as mu ch as her perfect

faith an d striking humili ty so that h er pati en ts after a
, ,

sho rt demur willingly looked upon her as a sain t who

,

might if she but chose perform miracles With su ch

, ,
.

a disposition obedien ce was no longer di fli c ul t an d th e ,

remarkable lady healed a l l man n ers of diseases from ,

modest tooth ach e to rabid m adn ess E ven when she .

was un su ccessful as frequ ently happened sh e wo n al l

, ,

hearts by her marvelous gen tleness and hu mb l e piety .

Thus when a possessed man was brough t to her in the

,

presence of an ill u striou s company an d all h er e ffo rts ,

an d prayers were fruitless She placed h erself bravely

,

between th e en raged m an an d her friends wh om h e

threatened to attack He began to foam at th e mou th
.
,

and amid fearful con v ulsion s and dread imprecation s ,

broke o u t into a long se ries o f terrible accu sation s

against the poor lady chargin g her with all he r real
,

and a host of imagina ry Sin s till she could ha rdly ,

sta nd u p any longer S he listened however with he r

.
, ,

arms folded over her bosom an d her eyes raised t o

heaven an d when the madman at last sank exhauste d
,

to the ground Sh e fell upon her knees an d said to the

,

“
bysta nde rs : G entlem en you see here a pun ishmen t
,

ordained by G od for t h e sin s of my youth I deserve .

this humiliation in you r presen ce and I would endure ,

3 58 MODERN MAG IC .

She began t o accuse herself o f horrible crimes and ex

cesses The whole coun t ry was amazed for She h ad
.
,

passed fo r a great saint an d n ow o f a su dden Sh e con

, , ,

fessed that she h ad murdered n umbe rless little children ,

disinterr ed co rpses and ca rr ied poo r girls to the meet

,

in g o f witches A ll these misdee ds which existed o nly

.
,

i n her disordered imagination Sh e ascribed to the agen ,

cy o f a demon by whom Sh e was possessed an d before

, ,

many weeks had passed every n un an d lay sister in the

,

ill fated conven t was posse ssed in precisely the same

-

manner !
O n e o f the most recent cases o f possession is reported
by Bishop Lauren t o f Luxemburg in a pamphlet o n ,

the subj ect In the yea r 1 8 43 a woman thi rty four

.
,
-

years old was brought to him wh o had b een poss es sed

,

since her fifteenth year and wh o exhibite d the remar k

,

able ph en omen on that in her sou n d moments she Spoke

n o other language bu t the patois o f her n ative place ,

while in her pa r oxysms she u sed Latin French an d , ,

G erman at will Wh en the good bishop threate n ed the

.

demon the latter attacked him in r etu rn troubling

,
, ,

him with nightly visits an d suggesting to him sinful

doub ts o f the existence o f G od an d the efli cacy o f
Ch rist s sac rifice This fact shows how easily su ch
’
.

disturbances o f min d can be transfe rr ed t o others ,

when disease o r mental struggles have prepared a way .

Fortunately the bi shop first maste r ed his o wn doubts ,

an d thus stre n g thened obtained the same m as te ry

, ,

ove r the possess ed woman He commanded the demon .

 P O SSESS I ON . 359

to come o u t of her whereupon sh e fell into co n v ul

,

sion s Speaking in a disg u ised tone o f voice but after a

,

while d r ew he rself up an d n ow h e r face was once more

,

”
free from ang uish and angel like, A nother bishop -
.
,

who had been requested to exorcise possessed persons in

M orzine in the Ch ablais was not so s uccessful A t thi s
, , .

place in 1 8 3 7 a little girl n ine years old in consequence

, , , ,

o f a great fright fell in t o a deathlike Sleep which

, ,

retu rn ed daily an d lasted abo ut fifteen minutes A

,
.

month later another girl eleven years old was attacked

, , ,

in the same way and soon the n umber o f a ffl i cted per

,

sons rose to twenty all girls un der twent y years A fter a

, .

while they declared that they were possessed by demons ,

and ra n wild through the fields climbed to the t o p of ,

lofty trees and fell into violent convulsions In vain did

, .

the local priest an d his vicar attempt to arrest the evil ;

the girls laughed them to sco rn When the civil author .

ities in te rfered they were met with in sults an d blows ;

,

the guilty were fined but th e n umber steadily in creased

, ,

and n ow grown women also were found in the crowd .

A t l ast the offi cial r eports reached Pari s an d the min ,

iste r sent the chief superi n te n den t of in sane asylum s

t o the village He immediately dist ributed all the af
.

fe cte d among the adjoining towns and hamlets t o break ,

o ff the ass ociation an d sent the priest an d hi s vi car t o

,

their superior the bishop o f An n e cy A few only of

,
o
.

the women recovered several died, and on e man als o

,

s uccumbed others when they returned t o M orzine

, ,

relap sed and in 1 8 6 4 the malady began to spread once

,
3 60 MODERN MAG IC .

more so fear fully that the bishop of A nn ecy himself came

t o exorcise the possessed S even t y of them were brought
. .

to the church wh ere th e most fearful scenes took place ;

,

howli ng and yelling filled the sacred bu ildi ng seven or ,

eight powerful men scarcely su cce eded in brin ging one

possessed child t o the altar and when there the demo , ,

n iac s broke o ut in horrible blasphe m ies The bishop .

,

exha u ste d by the in tense exci t emen t and su ffering from ,

serious contusions inflicted upon h im by the u n fo rt u

nat e women h ad t o leave the place u nable to ob tain
.
,

any resul t s E ven as late as 1 8 6 9 two demon s were

.

solemnly exorcised upon an orde r fr om the bishop of

S t rasbourg and with the con se nt o f the prefect o f the
,

departmen t The ceremony t ook place in the Ch apel

.

of St . George i n the presen ce o f the lady abbess e s

,
-

u nder the di rection of the V icar G ene r al o f th e -

di ocese assisted by oth e r dignita ries an d the S uperior

,

o f the Jesuits The t wo boys wh o were to be relieved

.

h ad long bee n plagued with fearful visions and publicly

given eviden ce o f being possessed for twenty or thirty ,

tim es th ey had been led in to a public square in the

presence o f large cro wds an d the r e they had pulled
,

feathers o u t o f a horribl e monste r which they sa w above

them i n a th rea te n in g attitude t hese feathers they h ad
handed to th e bystanders who fo und that when they
,

”
were b urnt they left n o ashes When the t wo chil.

dr en were brought to the house o f the S isters of Charity ,

they became clairvoyant an d revealed to the good

,

ladi es al though they had never seen them before

, ,
3 62 MODERN MAG IC . .

themselves publicly in th e most cruel m anner The .

Roman s were infected soon after an d copied their ,

ex ample ; fro m then ce th e contagion spread and soon ,

all ove r Italy men wome n an d children were seen

,

inflicting upon th emselves fear ful punishmen t in order

t o drive o u t the evil spirits by whom they fan cied -

themselves possess ed N oble an d h umble rich and

.
,

poor o l d and young all j oined the crowds which in th e

, ,

daytime filled squ ares and streets and at night u nder , ,

the guidance o f priests m arched with waving banners

, ,

and blazin g torches in vast armies through t h e land

,
.

N or can w e Sh u t o u r eyes t o the fact that the Jumpers

an d Jerkers o f th e M ethodist Church present t o u s
ins tan ces o f the same m ental disorder caused b v over ,

ex cite men t which in ea rlier days was called possession

, ,

and that hence these abe r rations also infin itely varied
, , , ,

a s they are according t o the tempe r of men an d t h e

,

habits o f th e locali ty in which they occur mu st be ,

n umbe r ed among the phenomena o f modern m agic .

V A MP I R IS M
.

O ccasionally possession is not attributed to demon s ,

but t o deceas ed m en wh o come by ni ght from thei r

graves and s uck the blood o f thei r victims whereupon
, ,

the lat t er begi n to declin e an d fin ally die a miserable

death while the buried man lives an d thrives upon his
,

ill gotten food Th is i s vampirism th e n ame being

-
.
,

de rived from the on ce u niversal belief that there existed

vampires huge bats who whilst fanning Sleeping men
, , ,
 P OSSESS I ON . 3 63

with the ir soft wings feasted upon their life s blood and
,
’

only left them when th e y had turned into co rpses Pop .

ular credu lity added a n u mber of hor rid details to the

general ou t lin e and believed that th e wretched victim s
,

o f vampirism became themselves after death vam

pires and thu s forever continued the fearful curse It
, .

was long though t that vampirism was known only to

the n ations o f the S lavi c race but recent researches ,

have discovered t r aces of it in the E as t Indies an d i n ,

E u rope among th e M agyars E ven the S an scrit al .

re ady appears t o h ave had a te rm o f its o wn for the

vampires— Pysa chas hostile beings eager for the flesh
, ,

and blood of living m e n wh o gratify their cruel lust

,

mainly at the expen se o f women when they are asleep ,

”
drunk or in san e
,
.

Careful writers like Ca l m e t an d others have it is ,

true always maintained that while the existence of

, ,

vampirism cannot be denied the ph enomena attending

,

it are in all cases the creations of diseased m inds onl y .

O n t h e other hand it is a well establish ed fact that t h e

,
-

bodi es o f so called vampires when exhu med have been

-

, ,

found free from corruption while in all the corpses

,

ar ound them decomposition had long since begun In .

the fac e of such facts vampirism cannot be di smissed

as simply the product o f heate d an d over excited im ag -

in ati o n s although it must be admi t t ed that its true na

,

ture is still t o all inte nts and pu rposes a profound mys

t e ry
. A ccording to popular belief the unu sual preser
vation o f the co rpses indicates that death has not yet
3 64 M ODERN MAG IC .

obtained full dominion over the bodies an d that hen ce ,

the soul has not yet departed to its eternal home A .

kind of lower organ ic life it is said continu es an d as

, , ,

long as this lasts t h e soul wan ders about as in a dre am

, , ,

among the familiar scen es of its earthly life and makes

itself kn own t o the fri ends o f its former ex is t en ce The .

life th us extended requires blood in order to su stain it

self and hen ce the minds o f those wh o c ome in magi c
,

contact with th e soul o f a vampire become filled with ,

sanguina ry th o u ghts which present themselves to th ei r

,

imagination as the desire to suck blood and thu s lead t o

th e a ctu al performance The fact that vamp i r i sm IS
.

epidemic like many Similar mental diseases has led t o

, ,

the b elief that the living are brough t in to close con

n ec tio n with the dead an d are infected by them while ,

in reality there is n o bon d betwee n them b u t a common

'

misfortune No r must it be forgotten that in this dis

.

ease as in the plagu e the mere though t o f being seized

, ,

often suffi ces to cause death without any warn ing sym p
toms an d hen ce the great n umber o f death s in locali
,

ties where v am pirism h as been thought to prevail Fo r .

very few o f those who are attacked su cceed in escaping ,

and if they su rvive they retain fo r life the marks left by

their wounds The pen alty moreover is not always
.
, ,

undeserved ; vampi rism rarely i f ever attacks men o f

pure h earts and sobe r m inds ; it is found on the con ,

t rary exclusively among semi barbarou s n ation s and

,
-

only in person s of rude savage and sinful di spo sition

, ,
.

Traces o f vampiri sm have been di scovered in t h e

3 66 MODE RN MAG IC .

found bleedi ng were decapitated o r impaled or burn ed in

,

public In some parts of Hungary the dis ease appeared

.

in the Shape o f a white Spectre which pursued the

patients ; they declined visibly and died in a week o r a
fortnight It was mainl y in thi s cou ntry that physi
.

e iau s atten din g t h e disinte rmen t of suspected bodies

n oticed t h e presence of more or less con siderable quan

titi es o f blood which was still fluid and actually caused

,

the cheeks t o look reddish S ome o f the witn esses even

.

though t they n oticed an e ffort to b r eathe faint pul sa,

tions and a slight ch ange o f features ; these were how

, ,

ever eviden tly n othing more than th e e ffects of curren t s

,

o f air which accompanied the open ing of the co ffin It .

was here also that ani mals were first believed to h ave
been attacked by vampires ; cows we re fo u n d early in
the morning blee ding profusely from a woun d at the
n eck an d horse s standin g in their stalls trembling
, ,

covered with white foam and so th oroughly te r rified as

,

to become unfi t for u se .

A nother period o f e xcitemen t due to accou nts o f vam

irism comprised the m iddle o f last century when all
p ,

E urope was deeply agita te d on the su bj ec t The E m .

pe ro r of G ermany an d oth er m onarch s appointed com

m it t ee s o f learned men t o investigate the matter theo
l o gian s an d skeptics p h ilosoph ers and physician s took
, ,

up the discussion an d hu ndreds o f volumes were pub

,

l ishe d on the mysteriou s question but n o satisfactory

,

result was ever obtained M any declared the whole a

.

fable o r merely the e fl e c t of diseased imagination s ,

 P OSSESS I ON . 3 67

others look e d upon it as a malignant and epidemic dis

ease an d not a few as the u nmistakable work of the
,

devil Learned men searched the writings of an tiquity

.
,

and soon found more traces of the fearful disease than

they had expected They discovered that in Thessaly
.
,

E pirus an d some parts of t h e Pieria men were reported

, ,

by an cient write rs as wandering about at night and

tearing all whom they met to pieces The Lami ae o f .

the G r eeks and the S t rig ae of th e Roman s evidently b e

longed to the same category while the later Tympanites
,

o f th e G reeks were persons who had died while under

the ban of the church an d w ere therefore do omed t o

become vampires The S lavic population of M oravia
.

and Bohemia was in those days especially rich i n in stan

ces of vampirism and so many occurred in H ungary
,

that the E mperor Charles IV intr usted the in vestiga

.
~

tion o f the mat te r to a prince o f W u r t e m b erg before ,

whom a nu mber of cases were fully authenticated M en .

who h ad died years before were seen to return to their

,

former homes some in the daytime some at night an d

, , ,

the following morning those whom they had visited

were found dead an d w eltering in their blood In a .

single village sevente en person s died thus within three

months an d in many in stances when bodies were dis
, ,

interre d they were foun d looki n g quite alive A t this

,
.

time the S orbonne at Paris also took up th e subj ect bu t ,

came t o no conclusion save that they di sapproved of

,

“
the pr actice o f dis interri n g bodies because vampires , ,

as cataleptics might be restored to life by bleedi n g o r

,
3 68 MODERN MAG IC .

magneti c treatment according to the opinion of the

,

learn ed Dr Pié rard ( Rev u e Sp irit iv )

. .
, .

H ere we com e at last to the grain of truth around

which this m ass of popular superstition has gradually
accumulated an d th e igno ran ce of which h as cau sed
,

hundreds o f in nocent h u man bei n gs to die a miserable

“
death There can be n o doubt that cases o f suspen ded
.

animation o r apparen t death have alone given rise t o

the whole se ries o f fea rful tales o f vampirism Th e .

very words o f a recital belo n ging t o the times an d t o ,

the districts where vampirism was prevalen t prove the ,

fo rce o f this supposition E rasmu s Fran cisci states

.

that in the duchy o f K rain a m an was bu ried an d

, ,

then suspected o f being a vampire When disin terred .

his face was foun d rosy an d his features moved as if

,

they attempted to smile ; even his lips opened as if

gaspin g for ai r A crucifix was held before h is e y es an d
.

a priest called o u t with a lou d voice : Peace ! Th i s Is

‘

Jesus Christ who h as r escu ed thy soul from the to r

m en t o f hell an d su ffe re d de ath fo r thee !
, The soun d
seemed to pen etrate to his ear an d Slowly a few tears ,

began to trickle down his cheeks A fter a sh ort prayer .

for his poor soul his head w as ordered to be cut o ff a

,

suppressed cry was h eard th e body turned o v er as if

.
,

still alive an d when the head was severed a qu an tity o f

,

blood ran into the grave It was as clear a case o f a.

living man who had been buried before death as has

eve r been authen ticated No r are such cases as rare as
.

i s pop ularly believed High authorities assure u s th at

.
,
 M UU L R N M A B l U .

authorities ordered a kind o f corone r s inquest an d the ’

,

body was opened D uring the ope ration the Ab b e

.

su ddenly u ttered a cry o f anguish— but it was t o o

late !
If a certain n u mbe r o f su ch cases o f apparen t death
has reall y given rise to the faith in vampirism t hen it ,

i s equally possible to suppose that this kind o f tran ce

,

fo r which there may exist a special predisposition in o n e

o r the other race — m ay b e come at times ep idemic Per .

son s o f peculi ar n e rvousness will be ready t o be a ffected ,

and a locality in which this has occurred may soon

obtain an u nenviable repu tation E ven where th e .

epidemic does n o t appear in full force a disturbed state ,

o f the n ervous syste m will be apt t o lead to dreams by

night an d to gossip in the daytime o n the fatally

, ,

attractive s ubj ect an d th e patien t will soon dr eam o r

, ,

really imagine that a perso n wh o has died o f the dis

,

eas e h as appeared t o him by n ight an d d rawn h is ,

strength from him or i n his excited fan cy su cked hi s

, , ,

’
life s blood By such means even the popular w ay o f
.

“
Speaking o f nocturnal visits made by the vampire s ’

”
ghost is n o t so ent irely u nfoun ded as would ap pear at
fi rst Sight an d the superstition is eas ily shown t o b e
,
l

n o t altogeth e r absurd b u t t o be based upon a s m all

,

substruc t ure o f actual truth .

It i s remarkable however that the G ermanic race

, ,

h as n ever furnished any ins ta n ces of vampirism ,

althou gh their an cient faith in a Walhalla where their ,

departed h eroes feast sumptuously and their custom to ,

place food i n the g r aves o f their friends would have

 P OSSESS I ON . 3 71

seemed most likely to reconcile them to the idea that

men contin ue t o live i n their graves .

How sad l y persisten t on th e other hand su ch super

, ,

s t it io n s are among t h e lower races and in specially ,

igno rant communities may be gathered from the fac t

,

that as late as 1 8 6 1 two corpses were di sinte rred by the

, ,

peas ants of a village of Galici a an d decapita ted The , .

people believed them to be vampires and to have caused ,

a long p r otrac ted Spell of bad w eather !

-

Z O AN T H R OPY .

E ven more fearful yet than vampiris m is the disease ,

ve ry common already in the days o f antiquity which ,

makes men think that they have changed into beasts ,

an d then act as such according to the logic o f insanity

, .

Petronius is probably the first to mention in his Feast ,

o f Trim al chio
”
a case of lycan thropy when Nicero s re
, ,

lates how some one who was j ourneying with him threw
o ff his garments changed into a wolf and ran away in to
,

the forest When he returned home h is accoun t con

.
,

tinnes h e foun d that a wolf had fallen upon h is flock

, ,

bu t h ad been wounded by a servant in the neck with a

lance Thereupon he goes to inquire after his fellow
.
.

traveler and finds him sick in bed with a physician by

,

his side who binds up an ugly w ound in h is n e ck

,
.

The well known writer took this episode from th e A r

-

cadian s a rude nation o f shepherds whose flocks w e re

, ,

frequently attacked by wolves and among whom stories ,

o f men ch anged into wild be asts were quite cur ren t . .

3 72 MODERN MAG IC .

N or mu st w e forget among histo ri c person ages the

, ,

daughter of K i n g Proetu s of Ar gos wh o believed her ,

self changed into a cow ; and of N e b u ch adn ezz ar who ,

“
according to his own tou ching accoun t was dr iven
from meat did eat grass as oxen and his bo dy was wet
, ,

with the dew o f h eaven till h is hairs were grown like

,

”
eagle s feathers and his nails like bird s claws ( Dan
’
,
’
.

iel iv . The early days o f C hr istianity are n atu rally

full of in cidents o f this kind but what is remarkable
, ,

zoan thropy was then already trea ted as a mere delusion .

The holy man Macariu s once saw a large procession

approaching h is hermitage in E gypt ; it was he aded by
a number o f perso n s who led a large an d imposing
looki ng woman by a bridle and foll owed by a crowd o f
,

people o f all ages When they came n ea r th ey told his

.

disciples that the woman had been changed in to a mare ,

an d had thu s rem ained for th r ee days and n igh ts with

o u t food —would the sain t pray over her an d restore
‘

h e r t o her n atural condition ? The delusion was so

forcibly contagiou s that the disciples also forthwith
saw a mare an d not a woman
, and refus ed to admit
,

t h e an i mal to the presen ce o f the hermit ! Fortuna tely

the latte r had retai ne d h is self control he rebuked his

-

followers sayi ng :
, You are the real beas ts that im ag ,

in e you see something which does n ot exist This .

”
woman h as n ot been changed bu t you r eyes are deluded
,
.

Then he po u r ed holy wa te r over her an d at on ce ,

everybody sa w her o nce more in h er n atural shape H e .

dismissed her an d her esco r t with t h e words Go

3 74 MODERN MAG IC .

t in c t iv e
feature is this that in lycanthropy n ot only th e
,

fu n ction s o f the brain s but also those o f the Ski n are

disordered and hen ce an impression arises that the lat
,

ter is hairy an d shaggy after th e mann er o f wild

_

beasts .

The G e r man W ah rwo l f ( were wol f o r man wolf i s

- -

the same as the lycan t h rOpo s o f the S cythians an d

G reeks an d the v ers ip ellie o f th e Roman s ; h e was in
G erman m ythology con nect ed w ith Woden Hen ce .
,

probably the readiness with which the disease during

,

the M iddle A ges took hold of the mi n ds of G ermans ;

bu t at that period n early all the nation s o f E urope
firmly believed in the reality o f su ch changes .

AS late even as the beginning o f the Sixteenth cen

tury cases of this kind occurred in France where t h e ,

possess ed were known as Zoup s ga rou x A you ng man

-
.

o f Besan con was thu s brought before the Councilor o f

S tate De ZAn cre at Bordeaux an d accu sed o f roving

,
’
, ,

like a wil d animal through the n eighbo ring forests He .

confessed r eadily that h e was a h untsman in the service

o f his invisibl e maste r the devil wh o had changed h im
, ,

into a wolf and forced him to range by the Side o f

another more po werful wolf through the coun try Th e .

poor fellow shared the u sual fate o f his fello w suffe rers -

who were either subj ected to a Sharp treatment o f exo r

c ism or simply executed as heretical c rimin als .

In o u r day lycanthropy i s almost entirely limited t o

S ervia and Wallachia V o lh y n ia an d White Russia
,
.

There h owever the disease br eaks o u t frequently anew

, , ,
 P OSSESS I ON . 3 75

and popul ar belief knows a variety of mean s by which

a man may be cha n ged into a wolf ; th e animal differs ,

however from a genuine wolf in h is docked tail and his

,

marked preference for the blood of young chi l dren .

In A byssinia there exists accordin g to Pearce a b e

, ,

lief tha t men are o ccasionally changed into hyenas —the

wolves of that co u n t rv — but this sad privilege is limit
ed to workers in clay an d iron called Booda among the ,

A mharas who wear a gold earring o f Special form as a

,

distinction from other inferior castes .

It will th u s be seen th at like all other varieties o f

,

possession zo an thropy al so is Simply a kin d of insan ity

, ,

and ou r amu sement at the marvelou s con du ct of wer e

wolves wi l l vanish if we recall the entire cha n ge pro
‘

du ce d in man by the loss of reason In that sad condi .

tion he endures fatigue cold o r heat an d h unger as no

,

h ealthy ma n ever can learn to do ; h e does n ot mind

the severest castigation for his body is almost in sen si
,

ble it ceases to be susceptible t o contagious diseas es and

,

requires in sickness double or treble doses o f medi

, ,

cin e If w e on ce kn ow the precise n ature of an insan e

.

’
person s hallu cination his acti ons will be apt to appear
,

quite con sistent and thu s lycan thropy also not only
,

produces the fin e connection o f a change into a wolf ,

b ut causes the su fferer to condu ct himself in all his -

ways like the animal which h e represen ts .

 VIII .

M A GN ETI SM .

Gre at is t h e po w e r of t h e h an d .

Sr . AUGU STINE , 0p .
, iv 48 7“
.

M ESMER wh o was th e fi r st to make the an aesthetic

,

e ffects of certain passages o f th e h and over the bodies

o f patien ts kno wn to the p ubli c sought origin ally t o ,

explain them by the agency of electricity ; but as early

in 1 7 73 he ascribed them to magn etism F r om that day .

h e employed magn ets and by passing th em over th e

,

a ffected parts of his patie n ts he performed remarkable

,

cures for many years in the city o f V ienna He looked .

upon t h e magne t as the physician which cured the ,

patient in the sam e way in which it attracted iron .

S oon after however he became acquainted with th e

, ,

famou s Father Eassn e r o f Ratisbon who had obtained

, ,

precisely th e same results withou t a magnet by Simple

, ,

manipulation s an d hen ceforth he also treated his

, , ,

patients with the ha n d only ; bu t b e r etained the o l d

name looking now upon himself and others wh o were
, ,

endowed in the same m ann e r as possessing t h e powers

,

o f a stron g magnet In the meantime o n e o f his

.

pupils the M arquis de Puys egu r had quite accidentally

, ,

discovered the peculiar nat u re of somn ambu lism an d ,

3 78 M ODERN MAG IC .

A cademy in 1 7 8 4 h is n ew doctrines spread r apidly

.

through all the provin ces ; so called Harmonic S ocieties

-

were formed in almost every town and n u merous in sti ,

t ut io n s s prang up fou nded upon the n ew syste m of

magnetizing patien ts It is cu riou s that of the nine

.

members o f that commi t tee among whom Franklin

,

was n ot the least renown ed only o n e the great savan t

, ,

Ju ssie u r efused t o Sig n the repo r t

,
“
beca use it w as
”
foun ded upon a fe w isolated facts and sen t i n a sepa
,

r ate memoir in which he described animal heat as the

,

u niversal agent o f life E qually curious obj ection s

.

we r e m ade by others ; thus in another report o f the

A cademy th e ki ng was reques ted to prohibit the pr ae
,

“
tice of magnetism becaus e it was dangerous to the
,

”
morals of the people and in the great hospital of the
,

Charité magnetic treatmen t was forbidden because

, ,

the new sys t em had caused for a long time warm dis
”
e ussion s between the best informed men of science !

Urged by r epeated petitio ns the A c ademy appointed in

, ,

1 8 2 5 a second committee to investiga t e the matter

, ,

which fin ally r eported a firm conviction o f the genuine

n ess and e ffi cacy o f mag n etism and recommen ded a
,

further ex amination of this importan t branch o f psy

ch o l o gy an d n atu ral scien ce A permanen t commit t ee
.

was thereupon direc ted to take charge o f the matter ,

before which a very large n umber of importan t facts

were authenticated ; bu t in 1 8 40 and subsequ en tly , ,

once more unfavorable r eports we r e laid before the

,

august body an d adop t ed by small maj orities .

 MAGNE TI SM . 3 79

In E nglan d magnetism me t with fierce and violen t

opposition the faculty being no little in censed by this
,

ne w and un expected competitor for fees and reputation .

Dr Ellio t so n a professor in the University of London

.
, ,

an d director of a large hospital h ad actually to give up ,

his place beca u se of the hostility engendered by h is ad

,

v o cacy of the new doc t rine A ft erwards th e con troversy .

,

though by no means less bitter was carried on with ,

more cour tesy an d the subj ect received on the whole

, , ,

all the attention it deserved G ermany alone has legally .

sanctioned magnetism as a scientific method with in th e

ran ge of the healing ar t,an d the leading powers like ,

Prussia A ustria and S ax ony h ave adm itted its practice

, , ,

in public hospitals Unfortunate l y mu ch deception .

,

and imposture appeare d from the beginning in company

with the n umerous gen uine cases an d led many eminen t ,

men to become skeptics The Ru ssian governmen t h as .

limited the permission to practice by magnetic cure to

”
“
we l l informed physicians ; b ut the Holy Curia th e
-

pope s authority after admitting magnetism first as a

’
, ,

well established fact has subsequently prohibited it by

-

a decree of the Inquisition ( 2 1 st A pril 1 8 4 1 ) as con ,

“
du cive to infidelity and imm orality In spite of all 9,
.

these obstacles magnetism i n it s various branches of

, ,
”

somnambulism and clairvoya n ce of mesmerism an d ,

hypnotism is universally acknowledged as a valuable

,
fi

doctrine an d has led to the publication o f a copiou s

,

lite rature .

M agnetizers claim— an d not without some show of

3 80 MODERN MAG IC .

reason — that their art w as n o t unkn own to antiqu i t y

'

an d is especial l y referred to in Holy Writ They rest .

their cl aim u pon th e importan ce which h as from time

immemorial been ascribed to the action o f the han d
as produ cing vision s and imparting the gift o f
prophecy Wh en E li sha was called u pon t o predict the
.

i ssu e of the war agai n st M oab he sent for a min str el

, ,

“
an d it came to pass when th e min strel played that
, ,

”
the ha n d o f the Lord cam e upon him ( 2 K i n gs iii
. .

“
In like m anne r the ha nd of t h e Lord was upo n
”
E zekiel among th e captives by th e ri ver o f Cheber an d
he prop h esied ( E zekiel i 3 ) years after he says again :
.

”
The ha nd of th e Lo r d was upon me i n the evening
“
( xxxiii
. an d on ce more : the h a n d o f the Lord w as

u pon me
( xl
. It i s eviden t that according t o bib

l ical u sage i n these cases th e manne r o f acting attributed

t o G od is described aft er th e u sage prevailing among
“
men ,and that th e han d upon m en represented the
u sual method o f causing them to fall in to a trance .

But this placing the han d u pon a person was by n o

mean s confined to cases of vision s ; it was employed also
i n blessings and in sac rifi ces in con secration s an d
,

miraculous cures . D aniel felt a h an d tou ching h im ,

“
which set m e upon my kn ees and the palms of my
”
hands ( Dan K . . while soon after the same han d
”
strengthened him ( 1 7 ) an d even in t h e N ew Testa
ment a high privilege is expressed by th e words : The
ha nd of the Lord was with him ( Luke i . . In othe r
cases a finger is subs t ituted for the h an d as when the,
3 82 MODERN MAG IC .

something entirely new The so called temple sleep .

- -

of the G reeks was al most iden tical with modern

‘

somnambulism the only essenti al di fferen ce being

that the n th e gods o f O lympus were seen an d lent their ,

assistan ce in the place o f the saints of the M iddle A ges

, ,

an d the mediu ms o f o u r o wn day In cen se min eral .

,

waters n arcotic herbs and decoction s of S trychn os o r

, ,

Halicacabum were according to Pliny employed t o

, , ,

produ ce the peculiar sleep Hi st Nat l xxi ch

”
. . . . . .

The patien ts fell asleep while lying on the Skin s of .

recently killed animals i n t h e Temples of E sc ul apiu s

'

and other b e n e fi ce n t deities and in their sleep h ad ,

dreams with revelations prescribing the proper remedies .

The p riests also sometimes dream t for their visitors

, ,

for a con sideration — o r at least interpreted th e dream s

, ,

o f others E ven magnetism by touch was perfectly

.

familiar to the an cients as appears from words of ,

Qu id s i ego i llu m t ra ct im ta nga m u z

‘
Plautu s , ,

dorm ia t ? ( W hat if I were to tou ch him at intervals

so that h e should fall asleep ?
) Plu tarch even Speaks
Of magnetizing by tou ching with the feet as practised ,

by Pyrrhus O ther writers discovered that the S ibyls

.

o f Ro m e as well as th e Druids of the Celts h ad been

, ,

n othing more than well trained somnambulists and ere -

long dis tinct traces of similar practices were foun d in

the ann als of th e E gyp tians also .

O ne Of the earliest cases which was thoroughly ,

investigated an d carefully watched ,is reported by D r

, .

P et etin o f Lyon in h is famous M emoir o n Catalepsy

, ,
 MAGNE TI SM . 3 83

and S omnambulis (mLyon

.
, His patient was a
lady who had n ursed her child with such utter disregard
o f her own health that her whole system was under

mined A fter an attack of most violent convulsion s

.
,

accompanied with apparen t madness she suddenly ,

began to laugh to utter a n umber of clever an d witty

s ayings and finally brok e o u t into beautiful songs bu t
,

a terrible cough with hemorrhages ended the crisis .

S imilar attacks occu rred with i ncreasing frequency ,

du ring which she could read with closed eyes what w as

, ,

placed in her han d st ate hour an d min ute on a watch

,

by merely tou ching the crystal an d mention the con

,

tents of the pockets of bystan ders S he stated that she .

sa w these thi n gs with varied distin ctness ; some clearly ,

others as through a mist and still others on l y by a

,

g reat e ffo rt The rep orter expresses h is belief that th e

.

stomach in this case pe rformed all the fun ctions of the

s enses and that the epidermis with its n etwork Of fine
, ,

nerves acted in pl ace of th e usual organ s P et etin was

, .

also the first to en ter into direct relation s with his som
n am b u list h e could indu ce her at will to become
clairvoyant an d make himself un derstood by her when
,

ever h e di rected his voice to ward the only sensitive part .

G radually however it was discovered that th e degree

, ,

o f close comm u nication

( rapp o r t ) between the t wo par

ties depen ded as largely o u the correspondence of

character be tw een them as on the en ergy of will in the
magn etizer an d the power of imagination possessed by
th e patient Deleuse o n e of t h e professors of the
.
,
3 84 MODERN MAG IC .

Ja rdin des P la n t es, in Pa ris gave mu ch at te n tion t o

,

th e subj ec t and in h is num erous publication s m ain

,

t ain e d th e existen ce o f a magn etic fluid by the side o f

t he superior power with which some men are endowed ,

and that bo th were employe d in influenc ing others .

He was frequently an d violently at tack ed o n the s core

, ,

o f his con victions especially after seve ral cases Of cun

,

ning deception h ad bec ome kno wn For very soon th e .

inna te desire for notoriety led many persons to pretend

somnambulism and skillfully to imitate the phenomena
,

o f clairvoyance displaying as is not unfr equently th e

, ,

case in these e fforts a skill an d a perseverance which

,

w ould have secured them great success in any legitimate

enterpris e A n umbe r o f volumes appeared mostly in
.
,

G ermany professing to con tain accoun t s o f mar velous

,

cures achieved by magnetism which upon examin ation ,

proved t o b e alto geth er ficti tious F ran ce however .

, ,

aboun ded more than any other cou ntry with impos t ors ,

an d every kind o f deception an d cheating was ca rried

o n there at the begin ning of this century un der t h e
, ,

cloak of mesmerism Yo ung girls stimulate d by large

.
,

re wa rds and well trained by hospita l surgeon s would

, ,

s ubmit t o bru t al tre atmen t and profess t o r eveal dur

, ,

ing well— simulated trances infallibl e remedies for ,

gr ievou s diseases The followers Of M esme r degraded

.

hi s ar t by making it a mer ry pastime o r a lucrative

exhi bition withou t r egard t o truthfulness and withou t
, ,

r everen ce for science E ven po l iti cal intriguers and

.
,

fin an ci al spe culato rs availed themselves of t lfe n e w

,
3 86 M ODERN MA G IC .

will alone su ffi ce s to produ ce the magic phen omen a of

magn etism n or heat an d elec tricity a the phys icist
, ,
s

Parrot m aintained as little can electro magn etism n u -

aided be the cau se o f such results though t h e grea t

, ,

Ro b ian o sto utly as serted i ts powe r ; man is a dualis m

o f spirit and body and both mu st be influenced alike
,

an d together in order to obtain perfect mastery The

, .

most plau sible explanation yet o ffered by men of scien ce

is that by th e will of the magnetizer his o wn nervou s
,

and mental system assumes a certain condition which

changes that Of the su bject into o ne o f Oppo site polar ‘

ity paralyzes some Of h is cerebral fun ctions and causes

,

him t o fall into a state resembli n g sleep The stronge r .

an d h ealthier m an affects the n ervou s system o f a fee

ble and less healthy man according to his o wn more o r
less stro n gly marked individuality an d the spiritual in
,

fl u en ce n aturally develops itself i n the same proportions

a s t h e material influence He n ce the th ough ts an d
.

feelings the con victions and t h e faith o f t h e magn e t iz er

,

are reflected upon the m in d o f his subj ect E ven .

M esmer h imself h ad n o t ye t reached this poin t ; h e

_

was u p t o his death con ten t t o asc ribe the p ower o f

, ,

the magn etiz er t o th e waves of an universal fluid set in

motion by the superior energy o f special ly endowed
persons A ccording to h is doctrin e thoughts were con
.

v e ye d by mean s o f thi s mysteriou s flu id in precisely

the same m an n er in whi ch ligh t and soun d are borne

onward on th e waves o f the air that s u rrounds us .

Th ey proceed from the brain and the n erves o f on e -

 MAGNE TI SM . 3 87

pe rson an d reach those of another person in this imper

c e pt ib l e manner ; to dispatch them on th eir erran d v o ,

lit io n is required ; to receive them willingness and a,

ce rta in natural predisposition sin ce there are men in ca

,

pahle o f being reached in this way as there are others

,

who are deprived of sight or h earing A s the convey .

ing fluid is far more subtle than the t h innes t air per ,

m e at e s t h e whole universe an d be ars a close resemblan ce

to t h e fluid which sets o ur ne rves in motion there i s ,

n o other limit t o t h e e ffects of volition on the part of

the so called magnetizer than th e strength Of h is will

-
.

If he possesses this in a su fficient l y high degree he can ,

affect those who are subj ect to his superiority even at

the g reatest distan ce M oreover if his influence is
.
,

suffi ciently e ffective th e somnambulist acquires n ew an d

heretofore unknown powers ; he sees the interior of h is
o w n body recognizes its defects and diseases and by a
, ,

newly awakened i nstin ct perceives what is n ecessary to

-

restore its pe rfect order S u ch were the vi ews of Me s

.

'

mer .

Besides this theory a number o f others have been pub

lish e d from time t o time by men of scien ce of almost all
,

coun trie s —even modern philosophers like th e G erman ,

S chopenhauer hav ing en te red the lists in defen se of

,

their favorite ideas The most striking vie w published

.

in recent times is found i n the works of Count Ro b ian o

, ,

a learn ed abb é and a brilliantly successful magnetizer .

He asc ribes all the phen omena of som n ambulism to the

purely phy sical activity o f the n erves and proposes to ,
388 M ODERN MAG IC .

call his new physical science n e u ru rgy He iden tifies .

the nervou s fluid with galvanism and voltaic electricity ,

and asserts that by a galvanic battery all the results can

be obtained which mesmerism cl aims as its own He .

also states that galvanic rings bracelets be lts and neck

, ,

laces cause immedi ately somnambulism in well quali -

fi e d person s while carbon held before the n ostrils o f

,

somnambulists in deep sleep awakes t hem instantly and

, ,

at the same time releases limbs held in cataleptic rigi di

ty. A labaster soda an d w a x h ave similar e ffects but
, , ,

less promptly an d th e win d from a pair o f bello ws h as

,

equal power A ccording to his theory currents Of what

.
,

h e calls the galvanic neu rurgic fl uid are capab l e of

-

produ cing all t h e well known symptoms an d phen om

-

ena of thought fro m idi ocy to gen ius an d from u n c o n

’

s cious sleep to the highest excite men t ; the process by

which these results can be obtained is a suspension of the
vital equilibriu m by disease intoxication abstinence , , ,

long continued fasting and prayer and the like If the

-
.

marvelous fluid is un equ ally distributed throu gh the

system catalepsy ensues The novelty and force o f
,
.

Ro b ian o s doctrines attracted m u ch atten tion but a

’
,

series of e xperiments co n ducted by eminent men soon

proved that galvanism alone produced in n o ins ta nce
somnambulism bu t invariably required the aid of voli
,

tion which t h e learn ed Italian i n h is modesty had

,

probably underrated if n ot altogether overlooked

, .

It is a matter more of curio sity than of real in t eres t

th at the Chinese have—now for nearly eleven h undred
3 90 MODERN MAG IC .

wh ich draws from the m the electricity of which it contain s

more th an other plants Physicians h ave learnt that a
.

person wh o h as the small pox cannot be electrified the

-

body being fully ch arged and refusing to receive more

electrici ty while Sparks m ay be dra wn from the b ody
,

of a patient dying with cholera Now this o n ce .

despised power in the shape o f voltaic electricity

, ,

adorns our tables with electro plate works of art carries

-

o u r thoughts around the glob e blasts r ocks fires ca n

, ,

n on s an d torpedoes and even rings the bells o f ou r

,

hou ses N ow little chain batteries that can be car

.
,

r ied in the w aistcoat po ckets produ ce powe rf ul shocks

,

and cure grievous diseases while tiny bands which yet

, ,

can decompose wate r i n a test tube are worn by thou

-

sands as a protection against intense su ffering an d utter

prostration What in this case happened to electricity
.

may very well be the fate of the n ew power also which ,

is the true agen t in all that we carelessly Call magn etism .

S omn ambulism and clairvoyan ce by whatever means ,

they may h ave been cau sed di ffer in thi s from dreams
,

and feverish fancies that the ou ter senses are rendered

,

inact ive an d i n their place pec uliar in ner li fe begin s t o

act while the s ubj ect is perfectly conscious The magic
, .

phen omena di ffer n aturally infinitely according to the

varyi ng n atures of the patients In th e maj ority o f
.

cases sleep is the only result of magnetiz ing ; a few per

sons become gen uin e somn ambuli sts and begin to speak ,

first v ery indistin ctly because the organ s of speech are

,

partially locked an d the consciou sn ess is n ot fully

 MAGNETI SM . 3 91

aroused A s th e spasms cease speech becomes freer an d

.
, ,

as the mind clears up the thoughts also reveal themse l ves

,

more distinctly These symp toms are ordinarily aecom

.

pan ie d by others of varying characte r fr om simple heat ,

in the extremities an d painful sobbin g to actual syncope .

In almost all su ch cases however the n e rvou s system is

, ,

su ffe ring from a v iolen t shock and this produces spasms

,

o f more o r less appalling violen ce The temper Of the

.

su fferers—for such they are all t o some degree— varies

from deep despon dency to exulting bli ssfulness bu t i s ,

as changeable as that o f children and resembles b u t ,

t o o fr equen t ly the capri ciou s an d unintelligible mental

con dition of insane persons .

Those wh o are for the first time thrown into m agn etic
sleep generally feel after awaking as if a great change
h ad taken place in them ; they are apt to remain se ri
o u s an d apparen tly plunged in deep thought for several
,

days If their c as e is in u nski l lful han ds nervo us dis

.
,

orders are rarely avoided ; phan ta stic visions may be

‘

seen an d convulsion s and more threaten ing symptoms

,

even may occur Youth is n aturally more susceptible

.

to th e influen ce o f ma netism than riper years ; l eally

g

Old person s have n ever yet been put to sleep In like .

m anner women are more ea sily controlled than men and ,

hence more capable of being magnetized than of magn e

tiz ing others . If men appear more frequently in the
ann als of this n ew branch of magic th an women this is ,

due merely to the fact tha t men appear n aturally an d ,

so far at least volun taril y more frequently in public

3 92 M ODERN MAG IC .

s t atements than women The la tte r moreover are ve ry

.
, ,
'

rarely foun d abl e to magnetize m e n simply because ,

they are less in the habit of exe rting their for the
purpos e o f influ en cing others ; the exception s were
mostly so called masculine women O ver t heir own sex
-
.
,

h owever they are easily able to obtain full control

,
.

A mong the cu riou s sym pt o m s acco m pan ying the magic

‘

phenomena o f this class the following deserve be ing

,

mentioned A di st in gu ished physi cian D r Heller ex

.
,
.
,

am in e d th e blood corpuscules of a person in magn etic

sleep and foun d that their shape wa s essen ti ally modi

fi e d ; they were raised and poin ted so as t o bear some
resemblance to mulberries at the same t ime they ex
h ib it e d a vibrating motion A n other sympto m fre
.

quently obse rved i n m esmerism are elect ri c shocks ,

w hich produce sometimes a violen t trembling in the

whole person before th e beginning Of magnetic sleep

an d after i t has ceased As many as four thousan d
.

such shocks have been counted in an hour ; they are

especially frequen t i n hysterical women and then ao
compan ied by severe pain in men th ey are of rarer occur
,

r ence fi n ally it appears from a number of well a u t h en

.
,
-

t icat e d cases that magn eti c convulsion s are contagious ,

exte n ding even to animals Persons su ffering with cata

.

lepsy have more than on ce been compelled to kill pet

cats because the latter suffered i n a similar man ner
whenever the attacks came an d the same h as been ,

n oti ced in favorite dogs which were left in the room

while magn etic cures were performed This is all the .

3 94 MODERN MAG IC .

sumed influen ce exercised by the heavenly bodies as ,

well as by all inorganic substan ces admits of no isola ,

tion al though it is possessed in varying degrees by

,

certain metals an d minerals It has no e ffec t even upon

.

the electromete r o r the m agneti c needle its fo r ce is radi

ating quite independen t of light but considerably ih
, ,

creased by heat Person s magn etized by the mysteriou s

.

force o f the ba gu et have however an asto nishing power

, ,

over the magn etic needle and can m ake it deflect by

motion fixed glan ce o r even mere v ol ition In Ga ligp
, ,
.

n a n i s Messeng er ( 2 5 t h of O ctober 1 85 1 ) the c ase o f

’
,

Pruden ce B ernard in Paris is m entioned wh o forced ,

th e needle to follo w the motions of her head .

Whatever we may thin k of the value of this theory it ,

can n ot be de nied that the e ffect which certain physical

processes going o n in the atmosphere have on o u r b o dy
and min d alike is very strik ing and y et almost entirely
u nkn own S cien ce is leisurely gathering u p facts which
.

will n o doubt in the en d furn ish u s a clue to many phe

n o m e n a which we now call magic o r even supernatural
, .

Thus alm ost every hour o f the day has its peculiarity
in conn ection with N ature : at on e ho ur the barometer ,

at another the thermom ete r reaches i ts maximum ; at

o ther periods magnetism is at its highest or the air full
est o f vapor and to these va riou s influen ces th e dis
,

eas es of men s ta n d in close relation When A uroras .

are seen freq u ently the atmosphere is found to be sur

charged with electri city ; they are in timately connected
with gastric fevers and according t o some physician s
, ,
 MAGN ET IS M . 3 95

even withtyph us and cholera It has also been asce r .

t a in e d that the progress of t h e cholera an d th e plagu e

— pe rhaps also o f common in fl u e n z a— coincides accu
ra te l
y with the isogon ic line ; these diseases disappear
as soon as the eastward declin ation o f th e magnetic
needle ceases In recent times a correspo n den ce of the
.

spot sin the su n with earth magnetism h as also been -

Observed In li ke manner it h as been established that

.

contin ued positive electricity o f the air producing ,

ozone in abundance is apt to cause catarrhs in fl am m a

, ,

tions and rheumatism while negative electricity causes

, ,

n ervou s fevers and cholera E ven the moon h as reco v

.

ered some of its former importance in i ts relation s to

th e human body an d although the superstition s o f
,

past ages with their absurd exaggeration s have long sin ce

been a ban doned certain facts remain as evidences o f a
,

connection between the moon and some di seases Thus .

the paroxysms of lunatics epileptics an d so m n am b u

, ,

lists are u ndo ubtedly in correspondence with the phases

o f t h e moon ; m adm en rave most furiou sly when the

latter is full and its phases determine with astonishin g

,

regularity the peculiar affection s of women as was tri ,

u m ph an t ly proven by the j ournal kept with admirable

fidelity during th e long life o f D r Constan t ine Hering .

o f Philadelph ia .

A nother name given to th ese phenomen a i s the

Hypnotism o f the E nglish ( Braid Neu rohypn o l ogy
.
”
, ,

London ,
This theory is based upon the fact that
sen sitive perso n s can be rendered clairvoyant by looking
3 96 M ODERN MAG IC .

fixedly at some small bu t bright obj ect held close t o

their face an d by continu ing for some time to fix the
,

mind upon the same Obj ect after the eyelids h ave ‘

closed from sheer weariness Th e method o f pro du c .

i ng this magn etic sleep and some o f the symptoms ,

peculiar t o mesmerized person s has sin ce been fre ,

q uently varied Dodds makes the patient take a disk

.

o f zinc upon which a small disk o f copper i s laid in to

, ,

h is han d an d regard them fixedly ; thu s he produ ces

,

wh at he calls electro biology Catton i n M an cheste r

-
.
, ,

E ngland prefers a gen tle bru shing o f the forehead an d

, ,

’
by this simple mean s causes magn etic sleep Braid s .

experiments in wh ich invariably over ex citemen t o f

,
-

n erves was followed by torpor rigi dity and insensi b ility , , ,

h ave si n ce been repeated by eminent physician s with a

view to produ ce an aesthesis du ring pain ful operation s .

They have met with perfect success ; an d th e removal

o f the shining obj ect fresh air and slight fricti on s
, , ,

suffi ced t o restore con sciou sness Th e same results .

have been Obtain ed in Fran ce where according to a , ,

report made to th e French A cademy i n 1 859 by the , ,

ren own ed D r V elpeau person s in du ce d to look at a

.
,

shining obj ect held clos e betwee n thei r eyes began t o

, ,

squint violen tly and in a few moments to fall u t t erly

, ,

uncon scious an d ins e nsible into magnetic sleep ,

.

M au ry explain s the process as o ne o f vertigo which ,

itself again is caused by the pressure o f blood u pon th e

brain and adds that any powerful impression produced
, ,

upon the retin a m ay have the same e ffect Hen ce n o .

,
3 98 M ODERN MAG IC .

Practice at lea st however ai ds the magnetizer e ffec t u

, , ,

ally and certain Fren ch an d Italian mas ters have

,

obtained surprising results The most striking of these

.

is still the cata leptic state which they cause at will

,
.

Breathing pulsation and digestion continue u n in te r

, ,

r u pt e d but the mu scles are no longer subj ect to our will

,

they cease t o be active and hence the patient remains

,
-

immovable in any position he may be forc ed to assum e .

The general symptoms produced by magn etiz ing are

u n iform ly the same as soon as a su ffi cient nu mber of
passes h ave been made from the head downward the pa
tien t draws a few deep inhalation s and then follo w .

increased animal heat an d perspiration the effect of ,

greater ac tivity o f the n erves while pain ce ases and

,

ch eerfulness succeeds desponden cy If the passes are .

conti n ued these symptoms increas e in force produce

, ,

their n atural con sequences and the fun ctions becomin g

, ,

n ormal recovery takes place: M agnetic sleep is fre

,

quently preceded by sligh t feverish n ess convulsive ,

trembling and fainting The eyelids half o r entirely

.
,

cl o sed begin to tremb le the eyeballs tu rn upward and

, ,

inwar d and the pupils be come e nlarged and i n sensible

,

to l igh t The features change in a striking manner

.
,

peculiar t o this kind of sleep and easily recogn ized

,
.

A fter several ex perimen ts of this kind have been made

u pon su sceptible person s the out ward sleep begins to be
,

accompanied by an inner awakeni n g at first in a half ,

dreamy state and gradually more fully till conversation ,

can be attempted .
 MAGNE TI SM . 99

Contrary to the gen eral impression faith does not ,

seem to be an es sential element of succes s at least o n ,

the part of the patient for infan ts and very young

,

ch ildren have b e en rendered clai rv oyant as wel l as

grown persons O n the other han d n atural su sce pt i
.
,

f da Magne t ism e
b ilit y is indispensable for Deleu se ( D e
’

.
, ,

p 1 5 6 ) states that in h is extended practice he foun d

.

only one ou t of twenty person s fi t to be magnetized .

O f those whom h e could influence only o ne in ,

twen ty could converse in his sleep and of five o f this ,

class not more than one b e came ful l y clairvoyant Cer .

tain person s though well endowed impress their pa

, ,

t ie n t s unfavorably cause a sensation o f cold inste ad of

,

h eat in their system and produce a feeling o f strong

,

aversion The most remarkab l e feature in all these re

.

l at io n s however i s th e fact that the patien t n o t u n fre

, ,

quently affec t s the magnetizer an d this in the most ,

extraordinar y manner O ne physician lt o o k in to the

.

hand with whi ch h e h ad tou ched a dying person t wo ,

finches they immedi ate ly sicken ed and died a few days

later A nother a physically powerful and perfectl y
.
,

healthy man who was treating a patient su ffering of

,

t ie do u lou reu se by means of magnetism became un well ,

after a few da y s and o n the se v ent h day fell himself a

,

victim to that painful disease ti l l he had to give up the

,

treatment He handed his patien t over to a brother

.

physici an who su ffered i n the same manner an d actual l y

, ,

died in a short t ime .

A fter continued practice has stre ngthened the m ag

4 00 M ODERN MAG I C .

n e t iz e r, his
passes often become u nn ecessary an d h e
‘

can at last under favorable circumstances produce

, ,

magn eti c sleep by a simple gl ance o r even t h e mere

unuttered volition S ome physicians had only to say
.

S leep ! an d thei r patient fell asleep ; oth ers were ab l é

to move th e sleepers from their beds by a slight tou ch
w ith th e tip of the thumb O ne o f thi s class afte r .
,

curing a poor boy of catalepsy retained su ch pe r fect ,

con trol over him that h e on l y n eeded to point at him

with h is finger or to let him tou ch so m e metal whi ch he
,

had magn etized in order to m ake him fall do wn as if

,

thun derstruck The great G erman writer kn own as

.
,

Jea n Paul relates of himself that h e in a large c o m

,
“
,

pany and by merely lookin g at her fixedly cau sed a ,

M rs K twice to fall almost asleep and t o make her

. .

”
heart beat and her color go till S h ad to help h e r , . .

The A bbé Faria wh o seems t o have bee n specially e n

,

dowed with su ch po wer would magn etize perfect stran

,

g e rs by suddenly stretching out his h ands and sayin g

in an auth o ritative tone : S l e ep I will it ! He had a ,

formidable co m peti tor afterwards in H ebert who played ,

almost at will with a large n umber Of spectators in hi s

crowded hall making them follow h im wherever he
,

led or causin g them to fall asleep by simply making

,

passes over t h e in side Of their hats In the case of youn g .

girls he produ ced rigidity of members wi th great facility ,

and then cau sed them to assume any position h e chose ;

his patients were u tterly helpless and po w erless Du .

po te t already men tion ed po ssessed similar influen ce

, ,
402 M O DERN MAG IC .

Uebe r d Willen i n d Na l a r 1 8 6 7 p
. . M au ry .
,
.
,

wh o h as given a most interesting an d trustworthy

accoun t of similar ca se s
( Rev u e des Deu x Me ndez 1 8 60 , ,

t. state s in speaking o f G eneral No iz e t that the ,

latter caused him to fall asleep by saying : Do rmes

Immediately a thick veil fell upon his eyes he felt weak , ,

began to perspire and felt a s trong pressu re upon the

,

abdomen A second experimen t however was less su c

.
, ,

c e ssful .

Besides passes a variety o f o ther means have been

,

employed to produ ce magnetic sleep and kindred phe

n o m e na D r B en dse a one Of the earlier prac titioners
.
, ,

frequ en tly u s ed metal mirrors o r even ordinary looking

glasses ; another D r Barth main ta in ed that by to u ch
.
,

ing or irritating any part Of the o u t er skull the under ,

lying po rtion s O f the brain s coul d be ex cited By thus .

pressing upon the organ of love of children his p atien ts ,

would at once begin to thin k o f children and often

caress a cu shion In this theory he is supported by Had
.

’
dock who first discovered tha t th e magnetizer s will
,

could force his patien t to s ubst itu te his fan cies for the
reality and for instance t o bel ieve a h andkerchief t o
, , ,

be a pet dog or an in fan t and an empty glass t o be ,

filled with such liquids as h e s u gges t ed The in fl u .

ence in such cases must howe v er be rather ascri bed t o, ,

the fact that the magnetizers were al so phrenologists ,

than t o the pres umed organs themsel v es .

It m u st lastly be mentioned that some person s claim

t o possess the power to magnetize t hemselves and Da ,
 MAGNE TI SM . 4 03

po te t a tru st worthy au thority in su ch matters supports

, ,

the assertion A case is men tioned in the Jo u r n a l de

.

Zame ( iv p
’
. . of a man wh o cou l d t n o t iz c him
self from childhood up by m erely fixing hi s eye fo r
,

some time upon a certain point ; in later years proba ,

bly by too fr equent exci t ement of thi s kin d he was apt ,

to fall into trances and to see vision s .

The sympathetic relations which by magn etism are

established between two or more persons who are in a
state of somnambulism or clairvoyan ce is commonly ,

called rapp ort although there i s no apparen t necessity

,

for preferring a French word The closest relation s .

exist naturally between the magn etiz er an d his subj ect ,

and the in tensity of th e rapport varies of cou rse with , ,

the en ergy of will of the on e and the susceptibility of

,

the patient of the other The same rapport exists

.
,

however often betwee n the patients o f the Same mag

,

n e t iz e r and may be increased by merely j oining h ands

, ,

o r a strong e ffort of wi l l on the part of the physician .

It h as often been claimed that mesmerism produces

exceptiona l ly by rapp ort what in twin s is the e ffect Of
a close natu ral resemb l ance and contemporaneousness
o f organization Clairvoyants endowed with the highest
.

powers which have yet been Observed thus see n ot only ,

their o wn body as if it were transparent but can in ,

like mann er watch what is goin g on within the bodies

o f o thers pro v ided they are brought into r apport with
,

them and h ence their abi l ity to prescri b e for their ail
,

ments Puys egur was probab l y the first to discover

.
40 4 MODERN MAG IC .

this peculiarity : he was humming to himself a favorite

air while magnetizin g a peasa nt boy an d suddenly the ,

latter began to sing t h e same air with a lo u d voi ce .

’
Haddock s patients gave all th e n atu ral sign s of pain in
di fferen t parts of the body when h e was stru ck or ,

pin ched while at the very time they were themselves

,

in sen si ble to pain Dr E melin found th at wh en h e

. .

held h is watch to his right ear a female patien t o f h is ,

h eard the ticki n g in her left ear ; if h e held it to her

o wn ear sh e h eard nothing He was also n ot a little
.
, ,

aston ished whe n anoth er patient in a distant town to ,

wh ich h e traveled revealed to h im a whole series of

,

professional meditation s in which he had b een plunged

durin g his j ourn ey A n d yet such a knowle dge of the
.

’
magnetizer s thoughts is n othing un common in well
u alifi e d subj ects who have been repeatedly magnetized
q .

M rs Crow emention s the case of a gen tleman who was

.

thu s treated while h e was at M alvern an d h is ph ysician

at Cheltenh am He was lying in m ag n e t ic sle ep when
.
,

he suddenly spran g u p clapped h is han ds together an d

, ,

broke out into loud lau ghter His physician was wri tten .

to an d replied that o n the same day he had been busy

thinki ng o f his patient when a sudden kn ock at th e
,

door startled him and made him j u m p an d clap his

han ds together He then laugh ed h ea r tily at h is fo l lv l
.

( I
. p . D u po t e t once saw a st riking illustr tion o f a

the rapport which may exist between t wo patients of

"

the same m agn etizer even wh ere t h e two are u nknown

t o each other .
4 06 MODERN MAG IC .

if they are at a considerable distan ce It is in this con .

dition that perso n s in magnetic sleep exhibit in the

highest degree th e magic phenomena o f magn etism .

The latter are gen erally accompanied by a sen sation o f

i nten se light which at times becomes alm ost pain ful
, ,

an d has to be allayed by the physician especially when ,

it threaten s to interfere w ith the un conscio us conversa

tion s of the patient This enj oymen t has however to
.
, ,

be paid for d early fo r it exhau sts the sl eeper and in

, ,

many insta n ces it so closely resembles the stru ggle o f

the soul when pa rting from the body i n death that ,

dissolution s eems to be impe n ding S omnambulists .

themselves maintain that such magnetic sleep shorten s ,

their lives by several year s and h as to be interrupted

,

in t ime to prevent it from becoming fatal Recollection .

rarely survives magn etic sleep but after a wakin g vagu e

, ,

an d indistinct impulses continu e which stand in some

,

connection with the incidents Of such sleep A well known .

m agnetiz er Mo u il le sau x on ce ordered a patient while

, , ,

s unk in magnetic sleep t o go o n the fo llowing day and

,

call on a person whom sh e did not like The prom .

ise was given relu ctan tly bu t not mention ed again afte r
,

sh e awoke To test the matter the physician wen t

.
, ,

a cco m pa n ie d b y a few friends on the n ex t day to that

'

, ,

person s hou se and to their great surprise the pati en t

’
, , ,

was seen to w al k up an d do wn anxiously before the

door and at last to enter visibly embarrassed M o uille
, ,
.

sau x at on ce follo wed her and explained the matter ;

she told him that from the momen t of her rising in the
 MAGNE TI SM . 407

morning she had been h aun ted by the idea tha t she
ought to go to this house t ill h e r n ervou sness h ad b e
, ,

come so painful as to force her to go on h er unwel come

erran d ( Exp ose deg Cu res et c iii p
.
,
.
, . .

The power to perceive things present without the use

'

of t h e o rdin ary organs an d to become aware of events

,

happening at a distan ce has been fr equently ascribed

,

to an additional sen se possibly the C ommon S ense of

,

A ristotle Its fainter operation s are see n in the almos t

.

m arvelou s power possessed by ha t s to fly through mi

n ute meshes of silk n ets stretched ou t for t h e pu rpose
, ,

even when dep rived of sight an d to fin d their way t o

,

’
t heir nests withou t a moment s hesitati on Cuvier .

as cribed this re m arkab l e po we r to their exquisitely

developed sense of touch which would make them ,

aware of an almost imperceptible pressure o f t h e ai r

but wh ile this might explain th e ir avoi ding walls an d
trees it could not well apply to slender silk threads
,
.

A nothe r familiar illustration is foun d in the perfectly

amazing ability often possessed by blin d or blind and
'

deaf person s who di stinguish visito rs by mean s neither

,

grante d nor known to th eir more fortun ate brethren .

It is generally believed that in such cases the missing

senses are supplied by a superior development o f the
remaining sen ses bu t even this assertion has never yet
,

b een fully proved nor if proved would i t supply a key

, ,

to s ome of the almost marvelo u s achievements of blin d

'

peopl e .

This new or general sen se seems on l y to awaken in .

4 08 M ODERN MAG IC .

exceptional cases and u nder pecu l iar circu ms ta n ces .

Tha t it n ever shows i t self ih healthy life is du e t o the

'

simple fact that it s power is th en obscured by the u n _

ceasing activity of the ordinary sen ses A peculiar a n d .

,

as yet un explained feature of this pow er is the tendency

t o ascribe its results n o t t o the o rdi nar y organs bu t by
, ,

a curiou s transposi tion to s ome o th er part of the body ,

so that person s in magnetic sleep believe as the mag ,

n e t iz e r may choose that they see or smell o r hear b y

, , ,

m ean s o f the fi n ge r ti ps the pit o f t he s t om ac h the

-

, ,

forehead o r even the b ac k o f the head It is true that

, .

savants like Alfred M aury ( Re v ue dos Deux Mo ndes 1 8 6 0 , ,

t 2 5 ) an d Dr M i ch ea as cri b e these n ew powers only to

'

. .

a n increas ed ac tivity o f the senses ; bu t n othing is

gain ed by this reas oning as such an as tounding increase
,

o f the irritabili ty o f the reti n a o r the tympan um is as

m uch of a magic phenomen on as t h e presumed new

se n se The simple explanation is that i t is n o t th e eye
.

which sees nor the ear which hears bu t that images ,

an d so und waves are carried by these organs to the

-

grea t nervous centre where we mu st look for the tr u e

,

sou rce o f all o ur pe rcepti on s If in magn etic sleep th e

.

same images an d waves can be conveyed by o t her

m ean s the r esult will be precisely the same as if the
,

patient was Observing with Open eyes an d ears .

A lady treate d by Desp in e th u s heard with the pal m

o f her hand and read by mean s of t h e fiuger tips which -

she passed rapidly over the l etters presented to her in

her sleep A t t h e same time she invar iably as cribe d
.
4 10 MODERN MAG IC .

persons The senses on the con trary cease to Operate

.
, , ,

an d man for a time b ecomes endowed with a higher

, ,

power whi ch is probably part a nd portion of his spirit

,

ual being as made after the image o f the M ost High

, ,

bu t obscured and rendered inoperative by the subj ee

tion o f the soul to the earthborn body N or is this .

power always u n der his control ; as if to mark its su

pern a tu ral character the patien t very often perceives
,

what is perfectly indi fferent to himself and is forced , ,

almost against his o w n will t o witn ess o r foresee

,

events the bearing o f which h e cannot discern G en

,
.

e rally the r efore th e importan ce of these revelation s i s

, ,

o f less interest than th e mann er in which they are

made which is invariably of the kind w e call m agic

,
.

This is still further attested by the di ffi culty whi ch is ,

almost al ways felt o f tran slating them as it were int o

, , ,

ordinary language an d hence t h e ma n

, y allegoric an d
symbolic forms under whi ch they are made known .

Future events are oft en not seen but read in a n e wspa

,

per o r heard asrecited by strangers ; in other cases

they are apparently imparted by th e Spirits of deceased
persons A very frequ ent form is the impression that
.

the soul leaves the body and pursu ing the track of a
,

person to whom the magn etizer points with all th e ,

fidelity and marvelous accuracy of a welh t rain e d dog ,

finally reaches h im an d sees him an d his surroundings .

N or is the di stance a matter of indifference ; like the

ordinary senses this n e w sense also seems to have it s
,

law s an d its limits and if the task is t o o heavy and t h e

,
 MAGNE TI SM . 41 1

dista nce too great the percepti on remain s vague an d

,

indefinite M ost importan t of all i s the fact that

.
,

unlike spiritual vision s magnetism never enables

,

the sleeper to go beyon d the limi ts of ou r earthly

home O n the other hand time is n o more an obsta
.
,

cle than space and gen uine somn ambulists have seen
,

past and future events as well as di sta n t scenes M is .

takes however occur here a s with all o u r other

, ,

senses ; as healthy persons see amiss or hear amiss so ,

m agnetic sleepers also are n o t u n freq ue n tly mistaken

errors to which they are all the more liable as the im
pressions received by magic powers have t o be translated
into the language adapted t o ordinary senses .

A mong somnambulists o f this class Alexis is one of

the be st known and has left u s an accoun t of many
,

expe riments in his Exp liea t ion da S omme il Magn ét ique .

Al exis was once pu t into magnetic sleep by a friend of

Dr M ayo an d then ordered to go to Boppard on the
.
, ,

Rhine an d look for him ; A lexis after some hesita

, ,

tion stated that h e had found him and described

, ,

—although he had never seen him before —his appear

ance an d dress not only but als o the sta te of min d in
, ,

which he was at that moment all o f which proved ,

afterward to be perfectl y correct Alexis declared.

that his perceptions varied ve ry much in clearness and ,

that his power t o see friends at a distan ce depended

largely o n the a ffectio n he felt for them In al l ih .

sta n ces his magic powers were far inferior to those of

his natural sen ses although they never misled him as
, ,
4l 2 MODERN MAG IC .

the latter had don e o ccasionally In the B ibliothégu e .

da Magn étism e An im a l ( vii p a remarkable case . .

is reported as attested by un doubted authority The .

E nglish consul Bald win was in 1 7 95 visited by an

, , , ,

Ita lia n improvisatore who happened to have a small

,

m edicin e chest with him In the con sul s kitchen was

-
.
’

a litt le A rab a scullion wh o su ffered of a h ar as sing

, ,

cough and whom h is master mag netized in order to

,

cure him While in his sleep t h e boy saw the medi cine
.

chest o f which he had known nothing before and

, ,

selected among the phials one with sugar o f ag ri

m o n iu m which relieved him of his troubles
, The .

Italian ther eupon as ked also to be magn etized ; fell

, ,

promptly asleep and wrote in this condition with

, ,

closed eyes a poem praising th e art o f magn etism

,
.

Haddock s famou s subj ect E mma actually accomplish

’
, ,

ed once th e crucial test of all magi c phenomen a—sh e

proved the value of magnetism in a qu estion of money .

In the year 1 849 three n otes amounting t o £ 65 0 had , ,

been deposited in a bank and disappeared i n the most ,

u naccountable manner O ne o f the clerks confessed

.
,

t hat although he h ad received them wrapped them up ,

i n paper an d placed them with a parcel of other n ote s

, ,

he had forgotten to enter them regularly in the books .

N o trace coul d b e discovered ; at last the magnetiz ed

subj ect was consulted an d after some little time
,

declared th at the notes were lyi n g in a certain room ,

in ser te d in a certain panel which she described so ,

accurately that upon search being in stitu ted the

414 M OD E RN MAG IC .

while sh e ex claimed : O h now I see she is dressed in ,

”
white ! It appeared afterward that the o l d lady h ad
been sitting in a deep arm chair oversh adowed by th e -

b ack of the chair the gas light being behin d he r ; j ust

,
-

at that momen t however N ap ier s wife had come up

, ,
’
,

the aunt had lean ed forwar d to speak t o her and th u s ,

being brought in to the light had revealed her white ,

n igh t dress This cas e is peculiarly in terestin g as

-
.

proving that the perception s of somnambuli sts are

depen dent u po n condition s similar to tho se which go v
'

cm t h e o rdin ar v senses ( Colquhoun p .

,
.

A ccording to such high authorities as Hufeland an d

others magnetic sleep en ables person s to see the in
,

t erio r o f the bodies of other s He him self heard on e of .

his female patients a woman withou t any knowledge o f

,

anatomy describe qu ite ac curately the inner structure

,

of the ear and o f cer tain o ther parts o f the body ( Ueber
, .

S y mp a th ie p , It seems to have be en well asce r

.

ta in e d that she had never had an opportunity of reading

su ch a desc ription even if her memory had been rete n

,

tive enough to en able h e r to recall and recite what she

h ad thus chan ced to read The clai rvoyan t Alexis .

on ce sa w through the clothin g of a vi si t or a scar an d ,

aft er gazing at it —ln h is sleep —for a long time h e came ,

to the conclu sion that i t was the e ffect of a dog s bite ’

,

an d fin ally sta te d all the facts attending the accident

o f which th e scar w as th e sole remaining evidenc e .

E ven histor i cal prediction s m ade in magnetic sleep are

n o t wanting The death o f a king o f W u rt e m b e rg was
.
 MAGNE TI SM . 15

thus foretold by t wo somnambulists who were under ,

medi cal treatment and who warned their physician s

, ,

wel l known and trustworthy practitioners of good

-

stan din g o f the approaching event The king s death

, .
’

t oo k place without being preceded by any serious illness ,

and in the manner min u tely predicted by o n e of the

patients ; a confirmation which was all the more strik
ing as the predi ction had been mad e in the presen ce of
,

a n umber of disting u ish ed men among whom were a ,

minister o f the king dom and several divines A nother .

case is that of the S wedish king G us t avus V asa who , ,

was as sassinated in 1 7 92 by An karst rom ,

Acco m pa .

n ied by his physician he on ce cal l ed as Cou nt Haga

, , ,

upon a patient treate d by A ubry a pupil o f M esmer , ‘

.

S he r ecognized him immedi ate l y although plu nged in ,

magne tic sleep to ld him that he su ffered of oppression s

,

o f the chest the e ffect of a broken arm

,
and foretold ,

him that h is life was in danger and that h e would be

murdered The king was deeply impressed an d as his
.
,

physician expressed doubt an d contempt in h is face he ,

desired that the latter should be put e n rapp ort wi th the

patient No soon er was this done than the physician s
’

eyes fell he sank into magnetic sleep and when after

, , ,

some time h e was ar ou sed h e left th e room in great

,

agitation ( A. G authier H.is t d a S o m.n a m b ii . .

,
.

p.

A n occasional phen omenon of magneti c sleep is th e

improvement of th e lan guage of patients ; this appea rs
not only in the case o f well edu ca ted persons whose
-

,
416 MODERN MAG IC .

diction assumes ofte n a high poetical form but far ,

more st rikingly in u n lettered an d ign orant patien ts .

wh o suddenly manifest an unexpected familiari t y with

the more r efined form of their native tongue and n ot ,

u nfrequently even with idioms o f which they h ave pre

v io u sl had n o knowledge whatever

y A ll these.di fferen t
symptom s have been au th enticated by numerou s an d
trustworthy witnesses Humble peasant women h ave
.
-

u sed the most elegant forms o f their nati ve la n guage ;

travelers have un expectedly recovered the use o f idioms
on ce kn own t o them but long sin ce forgotten ; an d
, ,

finally a real gift of langu ages has un mis ta kably enabled

,

patien ts t o u se idioms with which they had previously

n eve r come i n contact This ph enomenon develops
.

itself occasionally i n to poetical improvisation s o f con

side rab l e merit and the beautiful music wh ich man y
,

hear i n magnetic sleep o r j u st before dying as i f com

, ,

ing from another world is in like mann e r n othing

, , ,

bu t a product of their o wn mental exaltation Thu s .

persons who spoke merely a local dialect and were ,

acquai nted with n o other form o f their mother to n g ue -

when pla ced i n magnetic sleep would speak the best

E nglish o r G erman as if t h eir m in d freed from all
,
‘

fetters resumed on ce more th e original ta sk of forming

,

t h e language in accordance with their heigh te ned ca

p ac i t ies
. Little ch ildren whose education h a d scarcely
,

begun have been kn own to recite ve rs es or t o compose

,

speeches of which they would have been utterly in

,

capable in a health y sta t e an d of which they h ad

,
418 M ODERN MAG IC .

This h as often led to unwarrantable abu se ; physician s ,

u nder the pretex t o f scientific i nves tigation inflicting ,

severe i nj uries u pon their patients u t terly unmindful ,

of the fact that however gr eat the momentary in se n si

,

b ility m ay be the sen se o f pain returns at the in stan t

,

o f re awaking
-
O n the other h and physicians have
.
,

taken advantage o f this sta te o f uncon sciousness o f

pain in order to perform seriou s operations
, .

The first instance o f a surgical ope ration bein g at

tempted while th e patient was in mesmeric sleep was ,

that o f M adame Plan tin a l ady of sixty four years wh o

,
-

su ffered of can cer in the breast A M r Chapel ain pre . .

pared her by throwing her for several days into a tran ce by

means of the usual mesme ric passes S he then manifest .

ed the o rdinary symptoms o f somnambulism and con ,

versed ab out the impen ding dange r with pe rfect calm

n ess while she con templated it when conscious with
, , ,

the utmost horror an d apprehension O n the 1 2 t h o f .

A pril 1 824 she was again thrown into a tran ce an d

, , ,

the painful an d dangerous operation accomplished i n

less than a quarter o f an hou r wh ile sh e conversed w ith
,

th e surgeo n the famo u s D r Plo q u e t and showed in

,
.
,

her voice her breathing and her pulse not the slightest
, ,

sig n of ex citemen t o r pain When the wound was .

bou nd up sh e awoke but upon h earing what had taken

, ,

place sh e became so violen tly ex cited that the mag

,

n e t iz e r had to cau se h er on ce more to fall as leep under

h is pas ses A nd yet in spite of this brilliant success

.
, ,

when Dr Warren o f Boston asked the great su rgeon

.
 MAGNE TI SM . 419

why he had never repeated the experiment the latter ,

was forced to ackno wledge that h e h ad n ot dared do it ,

“
because the prej udice against mesmerism was so
strong in Paris tha t a repetition would have imperiled
his position an d his reputa t ion
S in ce that time mesmerism h as b ee n repeate dly and ,

al most always successfully employed as an an aesthetic ;

Dr James Esdal l chief surgeon o f th e presidency of
.
,

Calcutta having reduced the applicatio n t o a regular

,

meth od Dr Fo rbes reports t wo cases of amputa tion

. .

of the thigh in magnetic sleep which were succ essful , ,

a n d similar experimen ts have been made in E ngland ,

and in India with the same happy result

, .

It is probably a feature con n ected w ith this in se n si

b il it y that person s in magnetic sleep can with im pu
n it
y take unusually large doses o f medicine which they ,

prescribe for themselves For magnetic sleep seems to

.

develop as we have state d among other magic phenom

, ,

en a a peculiar in sight also into di seases and thei r

, ,

remedies Al t hough diseases may assume a variety of

.

d e ceptive forms the prediction s m ade b y magnetic

‘

pat ien ts many months in advan ce seldom fai l t o be

, ,

verified This i s a mere matte r of instinct for ignoran t

.
,

persons and young childre n possess the gift i n equal

degree with t h e best informed and most experien ced
-

patients The remedies are almost exclusively so cal led

.
-
‘

simples—a hint of some value to physicians— but

always prescribed with much j udgmen t and in a man ,

ner ev incing r are medical tact The d os e however is.

, ,
420 MODERN MAG IC .

generally twice o r three times as m uch as is ordinarily

given M ag n etic patien ts prescribe as su ccessfully for
.

others with whom they are placed en rapp ort as for

, ,

t h e m se l v e s sin ce a state o f perfect clai rvoyan ce enables

,
_

th em to j u dge o f other person s also with perfect accuracy .

O n e of the most re m arkable cases is mentioned by S cho

( Pare rga etc I p A con sumptive
“
p e n h au e r .
,
.
,
. .

patient in Ru ssia directed in her m agn etic sleep the, ,

atten din g physi cian to pu t h er for nine days into a sta te

o f syncope H e di d so relu ctantly but during th is
.
,

time her system seemed to e njoy pe rfect rest and by ,

this mean s sh e recovered Haddock also cured several

.
, ,

persons at a distance by followin g th e directio n s given

,

to hi m by a patien t o f his in her magnetic sleep ; he

han ded her a lock o f h air o r a few written lines which
, ,

suffi ced to pu t her en rapp ort with the absen t su fferers .

A mong th e magic phenomen a observed in magn eti c

sleep we mu st lastly men tion ecstatic elevation in the
air the giving o ut of peculia r sounds and t h e power t o
, ,

produce extraordinary e ffects at a distan ce E ven .

common so m n ambulists it is well known seem n o t t o

, ,

be in the same degree subj ect t o the laws o f gravity as

person s in a state o f wakefulness : h en ce their amaz ing
exploits i n walking o n roofs gliding alo n g n arrow ,

corn ices o r eve nrunn ing up pe rpendicula r walls Per

,
.

son s in m agnetic sleep h ave been kn own t o float o n

fresh wate r as well as in th e sea alth ough they were ,

unable to swim and sank if they went into the water

,

when a wake Dupo t el saw o n e o f h is patients running

.
42 2 MODERN MAG IC .

sm , however w succeeded by certain symptom s of

y a s ,

her disease S ome years aft erwards she imitated in like

.

mann er the soun ds of a pian o an d the tones of several

members of the family who were fond of singing i n ,

such a mann er th at each voice could be rea di ly an d dis

t inc tly recognized A nother year passed an d sh e con
.
,

versed with a you nger compan ion whom sh e fan cied sh e ,

w as instructing on topics o f political and re lig io n s in

t e re s t w ith surprising abilit y an d a frequen t display of
,

wit Hencefo rth sh e led two di fferent kin ds of life ;

.

when awake she w as stupid awkward i n her m ovements , ,

an d unable t o appreciate music ; i n her sleep she he

came clever an d showed amazing information an d great
m usical talents A t a critical poin t in her life when
.
,

sh e was twenty on e years old a complete change took

-

place in the poor girl her con versation in her magnetic

sleep lost all its attractio n s she m ixed with it impro per
remarks and a few mon ths later sh e had to be sent to
,

an in san e asylum .

It is only within the present generation that the

power possessed by some men t o magnetize animals has
been revived although it was no doubt fully known t o
,

th e an cients an d may in part explain the taming o f

,

ven omous serpents i n the E ast The most remarkable .

cas e is probably that o f M r Jan director of the Zo o l o g

.
,

ical G arden s at M ilan wh o charms se rpen ts and

,

lizards In the year 1 8 5 8 he w as requ es te d by a learn ed

.

V i sitor Professor E versmann t o allow him to wi t ness

, ,

some experimen ts ; he at on ce seized a lizard ( L viri .

 MAGNE TI SM . 423

dis ) behind the head and looked at it fixedly for a fe w

moments the animal lay quiet then became rigid an d , ,

remained in any position which he chose to make it as

sume Upon making a few p asses with his forefinger
.

i t closed its eyes at his command M r Jan disco v ered . .

his gift accidental l y on e day when a whole bagful o f

li zards ( L ocellata ) h ad escaped from him and he
.
,

forced them by his wi l l an d his eye to return t o h is ,

keeping ( Der Z oolog Ga r té n Fra nkfort 1 8 6 1 p

. . .
, , .

A Fren chman Trese au exercised the same power over

, ,

birds which h e exhibited in 1 8 6 0 in Paris He mag

, .

n e t iz e d them with his hand and his brea th but as ,

n ine tenths o f the poor creatures di ed before they he

-

came inured to such treatment n o ad vantage could be ,

derived from h is talent ( De s M ousseau x p

. A , .

coun t ryman of his Ja cques Pelissier is reported by the

, ,

same authority to have been able t o magnetize n ot

only birds which allowed themselves to be taken from
,

the trees but even hares so that they remained sitting

, ,

in their form s and were seized with the han d ( p .

SOMNAM B ULI SM .

It is well kn own that somnamb u lism in the ordinary ,

sen se o f the word designates the state of person s who

,

suffe r from an a ffection which disturbs their sleep and

causes them to perform strange or ordinary actions as ,

it may h appen in a state in which they are apparently

,

hal f awake an d half asleep Thi s disease is already

.

mentioned in the most ancien t au thors a nd its sym p ,

424 MODERN MAG IC .

toms are correctly reported i n A ristotle ( De Gen er . .

An im ) He states that the su fferers rise in their sleep

.
,

walk abou t an d converse that they distinguish obj ects

,

as if they were awake ascend trees pursue enemies

, , ,

perform tasks an d then quietly retu rn to bed The

, .

state o f somnambulism seems to b e i ntermediate b e

tween ordinary dreaming an d magnetic clairvoyan ce ,

and is probably the e ffect o f a se rious di sturban ce in

o ur physical life which cau ses t h e b ra in to act i n an
, ,

un usual an d abnormal man ner It has always been .

observed at night only an d most freq uen tly at full

,

moon sin ce the moon seems t o a ffect somnambulists

,

n o t mere l y by her light bu t in each of the di fferen t

,

phases in a peculiar man n er Th e imm e di ate causes .

o f night walking are oft en most trivial ; as M uratori for

-
,

i nstance tells us of a priest who became a so m n am b u

,

list whenever h e n eglecte d for more than t wo months

t o have his hair cut ! Richard ( T/zé o r ie dos S onges p ,
.

28 8 ) men tions an analogous case o f an old woman

whom h e kn ew to be s ubj ect to the same penalty .

While nightmares oppress u s and make apparently

all motion impossible somnambulis m on the contrary
, , ,

produ ces a peculiar facility of locomotion an d an irre

sist ib l e impulse to moun t eminences favo red either by ,

an actual dimin ution o f specific gra v i ty or by an in ,

crease o f power .This tenden cy lies again half way -

between t h e sensati on of flying which is quite common ,

in dr eams and the actual elevation from the ground

,

and su spen sion in t h e air whi ch occur in ex treme

.
,
426 MODERN MAG IC .

asleep and withou t ever opening their eyes The se n

,
.

sit iv e n e ss of the retin a could h ere n o t avail mu ch A

“

case is mention ed o f a father wh o rose at night took ,

h is child from the cradle an d with wide open eyes

,

carried i t up an d down the r oom seeing nothin g an d , ,

i n su ch a state o f u tter u nconscio usness that his wife ,

w alkin g by h is side could sa fely draw all h is secrets

,

from him withou t his becoming aware of the process o r

remembering it the n ext morning A t the age of forty .

fi v e h e ceased t o walk in his sleep bu t instead had , , ,

prophetic dreams which revealed t o him the occ u rren ces

o f the following day an d late r fu ture even ts B
( eer .
,

Observ ) G assendi ( P lay s 1 viii ch 8 ) mentions a

.
, . . .

youn g man living in Pr ovence wh o rose in his

, , ,

sleep dressed drew win e in the cellar wro t e up the

, , ,

accounts and in the darkest night never touche d

,

obj ects that were in his way If h e returned qu ietly t o

.

his bed he slept well and strangely enough recalled

, , ,

everything he had done in the night ; but if he was

suddenly aroused in the cellar o r in the street he was -

seized with violen t trembling and palpitation s of the

heart A t times he saw but imperfectly ; t hen he
.

fan cie d he h ad risen before daybreak an d lit a lamp ,

.

The E n cy clop édie Mét lzodiqu e reports the case of a

young priest who wrote his sermon s at night an d wit h ,

C losed eyes and then read each page aloud correc ting
, ,

a n d improving wh at he had written A sheet of paper .

held between his eyes and his manuscript did not

disturb h im ; n or did h e become aware of it if the latte r
 MAGNE TI SM . 42 7

was removed and blank paper was substituted ; in thi s

case he wrote the corrections precisely where they would
have been i nserted in the text Mac nish mention s .

”
O n S leep 1 4 8 ) the curiou s case o f an in nkeeper
,

in G erman y a huge mas s of flesh who fell asleep at all

, ,

times an d in all pla ces bu t who when this happened

, ,

while he was pl aying cards nevertheless continued to

,

follow suit as if he could see what was led In 1 83 2

,
.
,

when he was barely 50 years o ld he literally fell ,

as leep paralysis killing him instantly during one of

,

these attacks o f sleep The same author mentions

.

somn ambulists who in their sleep w alked to the sea

shore and swam for some distance without being waked ,

an d the c ase of a N orwegian wh o during hi s paro x

ysm s took a boat and rowed himself about for some
time He was cured of his affection by a tub full of
.

water which was so placed that he had to step in to it

,
'

when leaving his bed In S cotl and a peasant dis covered

.

from below the nest of a sea mew which hung at an -

in ac cessib l e h eigh t upon a steep ro ck ; some weeks

aft erwards he rose in his sleep and to the h orror o f h is
,

friends who watched h im from bel ow climbed to t h e

, ,

place took the birds an d safely retu rn ed to his cab in

, ,
.

In former ages somnambulists were repo rted to have

even committed murder in their sleep ; a Parisian t hu s
rose dressed h imself swam ac ross the S eine killed h is
,
-

, ,

enemy and returned the same way without ever awak

,

ing ; and an Englishman also is repo r ted to have mu r

dered a boy in a state of unconsciou sness while labor
, ,
428 M ODERN MA G IC .

ing under this a ffection M odern scie n ce howeve r

.
, ,

knows n othin g of such extreme cases an d th e plea has ,

n ot yet been used by astu te la wyers .

S imple somnambulism is n o t un frequently conn e cted

with magn eti c somnambulism and may occasionally be

,

seen even in tran ces durin g daytime In su ch cases .

person s wh o walk in their sleep may be questioned by

bystan ders and in their an swers prove themselves n o t
,

un frequently able t o forete ll future events o r t o state ,

what is occu rrin g at a di stan ce ; o r th ey perform tasks

i n their sleep which they would not be able to aecom
p lish when awake ; the y compose music write poetry , ,

and read works in forei gn languages without possessing ,

the requisi te knowledge an d training A poo r basket .

weaver in G ermany on ce heard a sermon which moved

him deeply ; several weeks later h e rose at night and ,

repeated the whole sermon from be gin ning to end his

wife t ri ed i n vain t o rou se him an d the n ex t morning
’

h e knew nothing o f what h ad happened Cases o f .

scholars wh o sorely pu zz l ed by diffi cult problems gave

, ,

them u pbefore retiring and then in the n ight rose in

, , ,

a state of somnambulism and solved them easily are

, ,

by no mean s un common .
43 0 MODERN MAGIC .

“
said to h ave been bound by S atan and when she ,

“ ”
was healed she was loosed from the bond ( Luke .

xiii
.

To this common faith must be added o n the pa rt o f

the physician an energetic will an d in the patien t an ,

ex cited imagination The history of all ages teaches

.
,

beyond the possibility o f doubt that where these ,

elemen ts are p r esent results h ave been obtain ed which

ex ci te the m a rvel of men by their astonishing prompt
ness an d their apparen t impossibility They seem
,
.

gen erally to be th e res ult o f certa in Symbolic bu t

extremely simple acts such as the imposition o f hands
,

—wh ich may possibly produ ce a con centration of

power— the utteran ce o f a blessing or merely a con tin ,

u ed fixed glance The main point however is o f

,
.
, , ,

course th e psychical energy wh ich is here mad e available

,

by a process as yet unknown Prayer is probably the .

simplest agen cy sin ce it n aturally en courages and

,

elevates the innermost heart of man an d fills h im with ,

that pe rfect hope and confiden ce which are n ecessary

fo r his recovery This hope is in the ease o f m iracu
.
,

lou s cu res performed at the shrines o f sain ts m aterially ,

strengthened by t h e collective force of all precedin g

c ures which tradition h as brought to bear upon the
,

min d while the sen ses are po we rfully im pre sse d at the
,
’

s ame time by the su rroundings an d especially the

, ,

votive o fferings t es tifying to the reality of former mir

acles In the c ase of relics where the Church sees
.
,

simply miracles many men believe in a con tinu ing

,
 MI RA C UL O U S C U RE s . 43 1

magic power perce ptible only to very sen siti v e pa

t ie n t s thus the great t heologian Th o l u k ascribes to the , ,

“ ”
handkerchiefs o r aprons which were brought fro m
the body o f S t Paul a nd drove away di sea ses and evil
.
,

spir its (A cts xix . a special curative power with

which they were impregn ate d ( Ve rm S chrzfl cn I . .
, , .

p. A t certain tim es when the mind of a whole

,

people i s ex cited and hen ce peculiarly predispose d t o

,

meet powerful impression s from specially gifted and

highly privileged perso ns such m iraculous cures are o f
, ,

co u rse most numerou s an d most striking This was

,
.

the case for in stan ce in t h e first days of Christian ity

, , ,

at the time of th e Re formation an d during t h e years ,

which saw the O rder o f Jesuits establish ed There is .

little t o be gained therefore b v confini ng the era o f

, ,

such phenomen a t o a ce rtain period to the days of the -

apostles when alone genuine mi racles were performed

, ,

as many divines believe or to th e first three centu ries

,

after Christ du ring wh ich Th o l u k an d o t hers still see

,

magic performances M agn etic an d miraculou s cures

.

di ffer not in th eir nature but on l y in their first cause

, ,

p recisely as the trance o f somnambulists is identical

with the tran ce o f rel i giou s en th usiasts The di fferen ce .

lies only in the faith which performs the cu re if it is

purely human th e e ffect will be only partial and i n
, ,

most cases ephem eral ; if divin e faith and the highest

power co operate as in genuin e miracles the e ffect i s
-

, ,

i nstan taneou s and permanen t Hen ce the con trast b e .

tween the man who at the Lord s bidding “ took up his ’

43 2 M ODERN MAG IC .

”
bed an d walked an d the coun tless cripples who have
thrown aside their cr u tches at the gr aves of sain ts only ,

to resume them a day o r t wo aft er ward when with the , ,

ex citement the newly acquired power also had disap

,

p eare d But hence also the resemblan ce bet ween

.
, ,

many acts o f the early Jesuit Fathers and thos e of the

apostles ; the intense energy o f the former suppor ted ,

by pure and un waveri n g faith produced results which ,

were to all in tents an d purposes miraculo u s With the .

death o f men like S t Xavier an d the rise o f worldly

.
,

ambi tion in the hearts o f the Fathers this power dis ,

app eared and m od ern miracles have become a snare and

,

a delusion to simple minded believers -

.

The faith in such psychical power possessed by a few

privileged person s is a s old as th e worl d Pythagoras .

performed cures by enchantmen t E li a s A ristides wh o ,

had con sulted learned physicians for ten years in vain ,

an d M arcu s A nton in us were b oth cured by incubation

,
.

Tacitus tells us that the E mperor V espasi an restored a

blind man s sight by moistening h is eye with saliva an d
’
,

to a lam e man the use of his feet by treading hard

u pon him ( Hist l iv c
. .Both cures were performed
. . .
.

be fore an immen se crowd in A lexan dria and i n both ,

cases the petitioners had themselves in dicated the m ean s

by which they were to be restored the empero r yielding ,

o nly very reluctantly to their prayers and the u rgent

r equests of his co urtiers ( Su e t o n Vim Vesp a s ) Pyr. .
,
.

rhus king o f E pirus had cured colic and diseases of

, ,

the kidneys b y placing the patien t o n his back an d touch

'
43 4 MODERN MAG IC .

the ruling dynasty in Persia claims to h ave inherited

t h e pow er of healing the sick from an early an cestor ,

the holy S hei k Seph y The great traveler Chardin

.

sa w patien ts hardl y able to crawl dragging themselves

to the feet of the S hah and beseeching him only to dip

,

the en d o f h is finger into a bowl o f water an d thu s to

.
,

bestow upon it healing power I t will ex cite little won .

der to learn th at those remarkable men wh o succeeded

by the fire o f their eloquen ce and the power of conta
gions enth usiasm to array one w orld in arm s against
another the au thors o f the C rus ades should have been
, ,

able to perform m irac ulou s cures Peter of A mien s .

an d B ernard o f C lairvau x obtained su ch a hold on the

minds of faithful believers that their curse produ ced ,

spasms an d fearful sufferin gs i n the guilty while their ,

blessing r es t ored speech to the dumb and health to the ,

sick Here also special power was attributed even to

.

their clothes an d many remarkable result s were obtained

,

by the mere touch S pain the home of fervent ascetic

.
,

faith aboun ds in saints wh o performed miracles th e

, ,

most successful o f whom was probably Raim u n dus

No rm at u s ( so called becau se not born of woman b ut ,

cut from his dead m ’

other s body by skillful physician s ) ,

wh o cured,during th e plague of 1 2 00 great numbe r s ,

o f men by the sign of the cross To this class of men .

belong also as men tion ed before the early fathers of the

, ,

S ociety of Jesus though their powers were as di fferent

,

as their ch aracters Ignatius Loyola who represented

.
,

the intelligen ce o f the n ew order performed few mirac ,

 MI RA C UL O U S C U RE s . 43 5

‘
nl o u scures ; Xavier on the contrary t h e m an of bril
, ,

liant fancy was successful in a great variety of cases

,
.

The first leaders li ke Lo in e z S almeron and Bobadilla

, , ,

had no magic power at al l but late r su ccessors li ke , ,

Och io a Carrera an d K epel disp layed it in a surpris ing

,

’
degree although Och io a s gifts were distinctly limited
,

to the healin g of the sick by the imposition of hands .

The whole per iod of this intense excitement extended

only over six t een years from 1 5 40 to 1 5 5 6 after which
, ,

the vivi d faith which had alon e m ade the cu res possible
, ,

disappeare d It is worth me ntioni n g that the Jesuits

.

themselves and most of their historians deny t hat they

ever had power to perform miracles an d ascribe the ,

cures t o the faith of th e patients alon e S t Xavier it . .

,

is well known brought the dead to life again an d even

, ,

if we assume that they lay only in syn cope an d had n o t

yet really died the recovery is scarce l y less striking
,
.

The most remarkable of t hese cas es is that o f a n only

daugh ter of a Japanese nobleman Her death stunned .

the father a grea t l or d possessed of immense wea l th

, ,

t o such a degree that his friends feared for his

reason ; at last they urged him to apply to th e great
missionary for help He did so the Jesuit filled with
.
,

compassion asked a brother priest to j o i n him i n prayer

, ,

an d both fell upon their knees and prayed with great

fervor Xav ier return ed to the paga n with j oyous face
.

and bade him take comfor t as h is daughter w as alive ,

and we ll The nobleman very unlike the father in

.
,

Holy Writ was indign ant th inki ng that the holy man
, ,
436 MODERN MAG IC .

eithe r di d no t believe his ch ild had died or refused to

assist him ; but as h e went home a page came running ,

up t o meet him b r inging the welcome message that

,

his daughter was really alive an d well S he told h im .

after his retu rn t h at her soul upon leaving the body

,

had been seized by h ideous sh apes an d dragged towards

an enormou s fire bu t that suddenly two excellent men
,

h ad interposed rescuing her from their hands an d lea d

, ,

ing her back to life The happy father immediate ly re

.

tu r ned with h e r to the holy man and as soon as his ch ild

,

beh eld Xavier and his companion she fell down at their ,

feet and declared that they were the frien ds who h ad

brought her back from th e lower world S hortly aft er .

wards the father an d his whole family became Christians .

( O rlandini, Hist S
. oc Jesu ix. 0 . The
, ease. .

seems t o be very simple and is on e o f the most in str uo

,

tive of modern magic The girl was n o t d e ad bu t lay

.
,

i n a cataleptic trance in which she had vis ion s of fear

,

ful scenes and tran sformed the fierce hold which the
,

diseas e had o n he r body into the grasp of hostile po wers fi

trying t o obtain possession o f h er soul At t h e same .

time sh e became clairvoyant and thu s saw Xavier an d

,

hi s companion di stin ctly enough to recognize them

afterwards The cure was accomplished by the Al
.

mighty i n answer to the fe rvent prayer of two pious

men filled with pure faith according to t h e sacred ,

“
promise : The e ffectual fervent prayer o f a righteou s
,

”
man availeth mu ch .All th e more is it to be regret ted
that even in th ose days of gen uin e piety and raptu rou s
43 8 MODERN MAG IC .

came so obscured by party spiri t that i t i s ex tremely

d iffi cult in our day t o separate th e truth from its
, ,

lar ge admixtu re o f u nreliable state ments A peculiar .

feature of these s cenes —admitte d in its full exten t by

adversa r ies even — w as the perfect in sen sibi li ty o f mo st
o f th e enthu siasts t h e so called Com u lsion na ires
,
-
'
.

J an se n ist s by convictio n t hese m e n calm an d cool in

, ,

th e ir ordin ary pu rsuits h ad been so wrough t up by re

,

ligio u s ex citement that they fell twenty o r more at a ,

time i n to violen t con vulsions an d demanded to be

,

beaten with huge irOn shod clubs In order t o be relieved

-

o f an u nbearable pressure upon the abdomen They .

en dured in this mann er blows inflicted upon the pit

, ,

o f the stomach which u nder or dinary circumstan ces

woul d have caused gr ievou s if not fatal con sequ en ces .

The above men tioned witn ess who sa w their almost

-

in credible su fl e rin gs Carré de M on tg eron states that

'

, ,

he himself u sed an iron club en ding in a ball and weigh

ing from twenty to thirty pou nds O ne o f the female .

enth u siasts complained that the ordinary blows we r e

n o t suffi cie n t t o give her relief whereu pon h e beat her
,

sixty t imes with all his stren gth B ut this also was .

un availing and a l arge an d more powerful man who was

,

s tanding near h ad to take th e fearful instrumen t an d

with h is strong arms gave h er a hundred additional
blow s ! The tension o f her mu scl es m u st have been
most extraordin ary fo r sh e n ot only bo re th e blows
, ,

which would have killed a stro n g person in natural

health bu t t h e wall against which she was leaning
,
 M I RA CUL O U S CU RE s . 43 9

actually began to tremble and tott er from the vi olent

concussion No r were the blows simply resisted by the
.

turgesce nce of the body ; the skin itself seem ed to have

been modified in a man ner unknown in a state of health .

Thus o n e o f the brothe rs M arion felt n o thing o f

thrusts made by a sharp pointed knife against his abdo
-

men an d the skin was in n o in stance inj ured To do .

this the trance in whi ch h e lay must necessarily have

.

induced an entire change of the organic atoms an d this ,

is o n e o f the most importan t magic phenomen a co n

n e ct e d with this clas s O f visions which wi l l be discu ssed
,

in another place .

It is well known that the cures perform ed at the gr ave

o f the Ab b e Paris an d the terrible scen e s enacted there

by these con v u lsion n a ires ex cited so mu ch atten t ion

that at last the king saw himself compelled to put a stop
to the proceedings A fter a careful investigation of the
.

whole matte r by men specially appointed for t h e pur

p o se the groun ds were guarded access was prohibited
, , ,

an d the wags o f Paris placed at the en trance the follow

ing announcement :
Déf e nse de pa r le Ro y Déf e nse d Dzeu
'

.
,

De f a ire m iracle e n cc lieu I

Ireland had in the seventeenth century h e r G reat

rakes who according to u nimpeachable testimo n y
, , ,

cured n ea rly every diseas e known t o man by his sim ple ,

to uch — and fervent prayer .

V alen ti n e Gre a t rake s of Wate rford in Ireland had

, , ,

dreamt in 1 6 6 2 that h e possessed the gift to cure goi

, ,
4 40 MODERN MAG IC .

tres by simple imposition o f hands afte r the man ner o f

,

the kings of E ngland and of Fran ce It w as howe v er .

, ,

only when th e dream was several times repea ted that he

heeded it and tried his power o n his wife The success .

he met with in his first e ffort encou raged him to at

tempt other cases also and soon his fame spread so far
,

that he was sen t fo r to come t o Lon don an d pe rform

some cures at Whiteh all He was invariably successful
.
,

but had m uch t o endu re from the sneers of the courtiers ,

as he insisted upon curing animals as well as men His .

cures were attested by men of high authority su ch as ,

Joh n G lanville chaplain to Charles II Bishop Rust o f

,
.
, ,

Dro m o r i n Ireland s everal physician s of great emin ence

, , ,

and the famo us Ro b e rt Boyle the presiden t of the Royal

,

S ociety A ccording t o their u niform testimony G reat

.

rakes was a simple hear t ed piou s man as far from im

-

, ,

posture a s from pretension who firmly belie v ed that

,

G od had entrusted to him a special power and su cceeded ,

in impressing others with t he sam e conviction Hi s .

method was ex tremely simple : h e placed his h ands upon

th e a ffected part o r rubbed it gently for some time
, ,

whereupon t h e pain s swellings or ulcers which h e

, ,

wished to cure first subsided and then disappeared e n

,

t irel y
. It is very rem arkable tha t here also all seemed
to depe n d on the n ature of the faith of th e patien t for ,

according to th e measu re of faith held hy the latter t h e

'

cure would be either almost instantaneou s o r less

prompt and in some cases requiring several days and
,

m a n y interviews .He was frequ ently accu sed of pra c

442 MODERN MAG IC .

means o f his marvelou s cu res and occasion al exorcisms

o f evil spirits He did not employ for the latter pu r
.

pose the u su al ritual o f the Catholic Church but simple ,

imposition o f hands an d invocati on of th e S aviou r .

N early all th e pat ien ts wh o were brough t to him he

declared t o be under the in fluence o f evil spirits and ,

divided t h em i n to three classes : circu m sessi who were ,

only at times attack e d obsessi o r be witch ed an d p os

, , ,

s essi wh o were really possessed

,
When a sick person
.

was brought t o him he first ordered t h e evil Spirit t o

,

show himself and to display all h is powers ; then he

prayed fervently an d comm an ded the de m on in th e ,

n ame o f the S aviour to leave h is victi m A plain n u

, .
,

preten ding man o f nearly fifty years he appeared dressed ,

i n a red stole after the fash ion prevailin g at that time in

his native land an d wore a cross contain ing a pa rticle o f
,

th e holy cross su spended from a silver ch ain aroun d his

n eck Th e patien t w as pl aced before him so th at t h e
.

light from the neares t window fell fully u pon his fea
ture s and the bystan ders who al ways crowded t h e room
, , ,

could easily watch all the proceedings Fr equently h e .

,
'

' ’
would pu t hi s stole upon the su fi e rers head seize th eir ,

brow and n eck with outstretched h ands and h olding ,

them fi rmly utter in a low voi ce a ferven t prayer

, .

Then after having given them his cross to kiss i f they

, ,

were Catholics b e dismissed them with some plai n

,

direction s as to treatm en t an d an earnest admoniti on to

remain ste adfast in faith Probably the mo st tru st
.

w o rthy accoun t o f this re m arkable m an an d h is truly

 m n AC U L o u s CU RES . 44 3

miraculous cures was publish ed by a learned and emi

nent physician a Dr S eb isel who ca l led upon the priest
,
.
,

with the open avowal that he came as a skeptic to ,

watch his proceedi n gs and examine his method He .

became so well convinced of Father Gassn er s powers ’

that he placed himself in his h ands as a patient was ,

cured of gou t in an aggravated form and excited the ,

u tmos t indignation o f h is profes sional brethren by can

didly avowing his conviction of the sincerity of t h e
priest and the genuineness of hi s cures .

There was however on e circumsta nce connected

, ,

with the excepti on al power of this priest which was .

even more striking than his cures ; His will was so

marvelou sl y en ergetic and his control over weaker minds
so pe rfect that he cou l d at pleasure ca use the pulse o f

his patients t o slac ken or to hasten to make them ,

laugh o r cry sleep or wake to see visions an d even to

, , ,

have epileptic attacks As may be expected the ma

.
,

j o rit y of hi s visi tors were women an d children but these ,

were lite ra l ly h elpless in struments in his han ds They .

not only moved and acted but even fel t and though t
,

as he bade them do an d in many cases they were

,

enabled to speak languages while un der his in fluen ce

o f which they were i gnorant before and after At .

Ratisbon a committee con sisti n g of two physicians and

two priests w as directed to examine the priest and his
cu res ; a professor of anatomy carefu l ly watched th e
o

pu l se and the nerves of the patients which were selecte d

at haphazard and al l co nfirmed the s t ate m en ts mad e
,
44 4 MODERN MAG IC .

before ; while three other professors who had v o l u n ,

teered to aid in t h e investigation concurred w ith him ,

in t h e conviction th at th ere w as neither collu sion n or

i m position to be suspected The priest who employed
.
,
'

n o other mean s b ut prayer an d the invocation Of G od

.

by the patients was declared t o be acti n g in good faith

, ,

from pu re motives an d fo r the b est pu rp oses his cures

,

w ere considered genu in e There was however in.

, ,
'

F ather Gassn e r s case al so an admixture o f obj ection

’

able elements whi ch mu st n o t be overlooked The -

.

desi r e for notoriety which enters largely in to all such

,

displays Of extraordin ary powers led many person s wh o

were perfectly soun d to preten d illn ess merely for t h e ,

purpose of becoming when cured obj ects of pu blic

, ,

wonder O n the other h and the good father himself

.
,

was n o doubt by his o w n unexpected success led to go

, , ,

farther than he would otherwise have done in his sim

plicit y and candor He formed a co m plete theory o f
.

his own to explain the miracles A ccording to h is view .

the first cause o f all such diseases a s had their origin in

’ “
possession were the prin cipalities powers rulers
, , ,

o f the darkness of this world an d spiritual wickedn ess ,

”
in high places whi ch the apostle mention s as enemies
,

”
more formidable tha n flesh and blood ( E phes vi . . .

These he believed dwelt i n t he air and by dist urbing

, , ,

th e atmosphere with e v il intent produced illness in th e ,

system an d delusions in the mind If a n umber com .

b in e d and w ith the permission of the Almighty poi

,

so n e d the air to a l arge ex ten t contagious diseases ,

446 MODERN MA G IC .

The heav i est pen alty he had to bear w as the co n de m n a

tion of his own Church which accompan ied an order
,

issued by the E mperor Joseph II peremp t orily forbid .

,

ding all further attempts The pope Piu s V IL who .

, ,
i

had directed t h e wh o l e subj ect to be examined by the

wel l known Co ngrega t zo S S Rit u um declared i n 1 7 7 7
'

-
.
, ,

’
upon their report that the priest s proceedings were
,

heretical and not any longer to be permitted an d o r ,

dered th e bishop under whose j urisdiction h e lived to

, ,

preven t any further exercise o f his preten ded powe r .

A ll these decrees of papal cou ncils an d these orders o f

imperi al O ffi cials could h owever not u n do what the
, ,

poor priest had al ready accomplished an d history has .

ta ught u s the relative value o f investigations h eld by

biased priests an d those carried o u t by men o f scien ce
, .

We may well doubt the j udgmen t o f an authority which

on ce condemn ed a G ali l eo an d even now den oun ces the
,

press as a curse ; but we h ave n o right t o suspect the

Opinion of men wh o as physicia n s an d scientists are
, ,

n aturally disposed to rej ect all claims Of su pern atural

o r even exceptio nal po wers .

In more recen t times a Prince Hohenlohe in G er

many claimed to ha v e performed a n umber of mirac
n l o u s cures beginn ing with a Princess S chwarzenberg
’

, ,

“
w h om he comman ded in the name o f Christ to be well
”
again . M any o f h is patien ts however were only cured , ,

for the momen t ; wh en t h e ir fa it h , ex cited to t h e ‘

utmost cooled down again their in fi rm itie s return ed ;

, ,

sti l l there remain facts eno u gh in his life to establish

 M I RA CUL O U S CU RES . 447

the marvelou s power Of h is strong will when brought,

to bear upon peculiarly receptive imagination s an d ,

aided by earnest prayer ( K ies Ar chiv IX ii :

.
, . .

S poradi c cases of similar powers ha v e of late shown

themselves in Paris in th e in terior of Russia an d i n
, ,

Ravenn a but t h e evidence upon which the statements

,

in public j ournals are made i s so clearly u n reli

able that n o importan t result can be hoped for fro m
their investigation The present is h ardl y an age o f
.

faith and enough h as surel y been said to prove that

,

withou t very gr eat and sincere faith mi raculou s cure s

cannot be performed .
 X .

M Y STI C I SM .

Cre do q u i a a b s u r dum e st .
”
— T ERTULLIAN .

ONE th e most rema r kabl e classes o f magic pheno

of

men a which combines almost all oth er known features

,

of trances with the peculiar ki n d cal led st igm at i

z a t io n i s kno wn a s M ysti cism in the more limi te d sense
,

o f that word It b ears this n ame mainly becau se it

.

designates attempts mad e to u nite in close communion

hu manity wi th divinity an d h owever imperfect t h e
,

su ccess of all th ese e fforts mav be on t h e whole it , ,

can n ot be denied that in in dividu al cases very startling

results h ave been obtained In order to attain th eir
.

lofty aim the mystics requ ire an utter deadening of all

,
'

h uman affection s and al l n a t u ral impulses an d a ,

t horough ch ange o f their usu al though ts and feelings .

A bove all the lust of the flesh th e lust o f the eye and
, , ,

the pri de of the heart are t o be kil l ed by pain h e n ce

the mystics are quite content to su ffer chastise the .
,

body deny themselves t h e simplest e nj oymen ts an d

, ,

rej oice in the actual infliction of woun ds an d mutila

tion s In return for this complete deadening Of hu man
.

a ffection s th ey are fill ed with an ineffable love of t h e

divin e S aviour the Bridegroom and the Holy Virgin
, , ,

t h e B ride o r even of purely abstract impalpable beings

, ,
.
45 0 M ODERN MAG IC .

their body as to reduce their life literally t o the mere , ,

operation s of sensation an d vision The su fferings pro .

du ce d by these e fforts to suppress all n atu ral vitality t o ,

kil l as it were t h e living body ren de ring the sen ses

, , ,

inactive w h ile still in the full vigor of their nat ural

,

condition are often n ot only painful bu t actu ally ap

, ,

palling A poor woman famous for her asceticism an d

.
,

her supernatural vision s M aria o f A greda was n ever

, ,

able to atten d to her devotions in th e dark withou t ,

endu ring actual agony Her spiritual ligh t would sud

.

den ly become extinguishe d fearful horrors fell upon h er

.

soul an d cau sed her u n speakabl e an guish terri ble im ,

ages as o f wild beasts an d fierce demon s su rrou n ded her ,

the air was filled with curses and un b earable b lasph e

mies and e v en h er body wa s seized with wild con vulsi v e
, ,

movements an d violen t spasms N o wonder therefore .

, ,

that nu mbers of th ese mystics have lost thei r reas on ,

an d others have fallen vi ctims to terrible diseases O n .

t h e other h an d it cannot be denied that ma n y also have

,

been emi n en t examples of self denial and matchless ( l e -

v o t io n o r genuin e heroes in combatin g for their sacred

,

faith an d the love of thei r brethren Thei r v e rv errors .

were so attractive that th e fu n damen tal mistak e w as

forgotten and all felt h o w little men who act u pon mere
, ,

ordinary motives are able to rise to th e same heigh t of self

,

sac rifi ce N or mu st i t be forgotten in j udging especially

.
,

the mystics of o u r days that their sincerity can n ever b e

,

doub ted : th ey have al ways acted and s till ac t upon gen ,

u in e conviction a n d in t h e firm belief that their work is

,
 M Y S TICI SM . 45 1

mer i t orious n ot in the eyes of men but before th e Al

, ,

mighty Th e ascetics of former ages are h ot so easi l y

.
'

u nderstood ; they were men who proposed not on l y to

limi t the amenities of life bu t to make o u r whole earthly
,

existen ce subs ervient to purely divine pu rposes ; and

thus for instan ce Fran cis of A ssisi prescribed absolute
, , ,

poverty as the rule of his order The principal magic .

phenomen a accompanying re ligious ecst as y are the in

sensibility of th e body to all even the most violent i n
,

j uries and the p e rception of mat t ers beyon d the re ach o f

,

o u r senses i n healthy li fe Rigid and long con t inued

.
-

fasting reduced sleep on a hard couch an d an utter ah

, ,

s t in e n ce from al l oth er though ts or sentiments but such

as con nect themselves directly with a higher life n ever .

fai l to produce the desired e ffect By su ch mean s the .

whole n ature o f man is finally changed n o t o n l v in t h e

legitimate relation s existing between body and min d b u t ,

also in those wh i ch connect man with nature : t h e

changes are therefore as mu ch ph y siological as ps y c h i
, ,

cal They result at las t in the acquisition of a power

.

which i n the eyes of the mystics is i den tical with that

promised in M ark xvi 1 8 “
They shall take up ser
. .

pents and if they drink any dead l y th ing it sha l l no t

, ,

”
hurt them E xtraordinary as the accounts of the suf
.

ferin gs an d the exceptional powers o f mystics appear to

us they are in many in stan ces too well authen ticated to
,

allow any serious doubt Thu s a famou s ascetic Rosa

.
,

O f Lima was actually inj ured by hea l thy food but o n

, ,

many occasions in stan taneously strengt hened by a m ere

452 MODER N MAG IC .

mouthful of bread dipped into pure water ; Bernard

o f Clairv aux lived for a considerable time on beech leaves -

boiled in water an d M aria of Oign ys on ce subsisted for

,

thirty fi v e days on the holy wafer of the s acrament which

-

sh e took daily M ystics who like th e latter derived

.
, ,

bodily sustenance as well as Spiritual comfort from the

E u cha rist are frequently mentioned in the ann als o f
,

the Church O thers again su cceeded by con stan t an d

.
, ,

extreme excitemen t t o b eat their blood t o su ch an extent

that they became insen sible to outw ard cold even when ,

the frosts of winter became in tolerable to others Th e .

heart itself seems to be affected by such extreme elation ;

in Catherin e of S ien a its viole n t palpitation s an d
convulsive j erkings could be both seen an d felt whe n she ,

was in a state o f ecstasis and th e heart Of Filippo N eri

,

was fo un d after death to have been con siderably e n

, ,

l arge d and actually to have broken t wo ribs by its

,

convulsive spasms .

Among the rar er but equally well established magic -

phenomena Of this class must be counted the temp e ra

y su spen sio n of the law of gravity Like the Brah
‘ ’

r .

min s of India wh o h ave long possessed the power of rais

,

ing themselves unaided from the ground and of remain

ing suspended in the air Ch ristian mystics als o have
,

been seen more than on ce to h ang as it w ere u n su p

, ,

ported high a b ove the ground They quote ih support .

,

o f their faith in such exception al powers the fac t that ,

Habakkuk also was seized by an angel and carried

away thro u gh the air while even the Saviour was taken
,
454 M ODERN MAG IC .

scien ce of medicin e also admits as possible inasmu ch ,

as similar r es ults are of not unfrequent occurrence at ,

least in newborn in fants whose bodies ar e marked in

,

con sequ en ce o f events which had recently made a pe

c ul iarly deep impres si on upon the mothers .

Unfortunately mysticis m also h as not been able t o

keep i ts votaries free fr om an admixtu re o f imposture .

False miracles are known to have o ccurred within the

Chu rch as well as without it and credulity h as accepted
,

many a statemen t th at could not have stood t he sim

ple e t investigation It becomes the careful student
.
,

therefore here also to distinguish with the utmost cau

,

tion gen uine and well authenticate d facts from reckless

-

o r willfully false statements E ven then however h e

.
, ,

ought not to forge t the words o f Pascal who in speak , ,

ing of the apostles said : I am quite willing to believe

stories for whose truthfulness the witnesses have su ffer
”
ed death .It is even by no means improbable that the
spiritual world may have i ts changi n g production s as
well as the material world and as the organisms of the
,

S ilurian period are impossible I n o ur day so called ,

-

magic results may h ave been obtained by certain for

mer generations which lie beyond the po wer of ou r
o wn . N o one can with certainty determine in this di ,

rection what is possible an d what is impossibl e ; the

,

po wer Of man is emphatically a relative on e an d each ,

exploit mus t in fairness be j udged with a view to all

, ,

the accompanying circumstances It is as impossible .

fo r the men o f ou r day to e rect pyramids such as th e

 M Y S TICI SM . 45 5

o ld E gyptians built as i t is for a n individual in good

,

health to perform feats o f strength of which he may

be capable under the influen ce of high fever or violent
paroxysms .

A curious feature in these phenomena is the intimate

relation in which sacred and so called demoniac in fl u
-

e n ce s seem t o stand with on e another Th e saints are

.

'

represen ted as tempted b y evil spiri ts whi ch ye t have

n o existence ex cept in their own heart and the pos ,

sessed on the other h and occasionall y ha v e piou s im

, ,

pulses an d holy thoughts In the former case it is the

.

innate sinfulness of the heart wh ich creates images of

demon s such as S t A ntho n y saw in the desert ; in the
.

latte r case the guardian angels of men are said to come

t o thei r rescu e
. There are even in stances on re co rd o f
,

men who have wantonly given themselves up to the

temporary influence of evil spir its — un der t h e impres
sion that they could thus please G od l— as travelers pur
po se ly su ffe r the evil e ffects o f opium or hash ee sh in o r
der to test their powers Thus mysticism finally de
.

vi sed a comple t e system o f angels saints and demons

, , ,

whose varied forms and peculiarities became famil iar to

votaries at an early period of their lives and filled their ,

mi n ds with im ages which afte rwards assum ed an ap

parent reality during the state of trance That the .

physical condition enters as a powerful elem en t in al l

these phenomena appears clearly from the fact that
wh enever women are liable to trances or vision s of thi s
kin d the latter vary regularly with their state o f health ,
456 MODERN MAG IC .

and in the m aj ority o f cases ce ase at a certain age .

This fact illu strates in a very characteristic mann er the

mutual relation s between body and soul ; the condition
o f the former is reflected in the soul by sentiment and

image and the soul in prec isely t he same manner im

,

press es itself upon the body G en erally this is limi t ed

.

to the face where the features in their expression re

,

produce more o r less faithfully what is going o n with

in ; but in exceptional cases the psychi ca l even t s
cause certain mechanical or physica l changes in the
body which n ow and then res ult in actual illness o r
become e v en fatal E xperience proves that if the im
.

a gin at io n is stimulate d to excessive activity it can pro ,

d uce changes in the nature o f the epidermis or even of

the mu cous membran e which resemble in everything
,

the symptoms o f genuin e disea ses There are men

.

wh o can by an energetic e ffo rt Of will cause red spots

, , ,

resembling inflammation to appear in almost e v e rv

,

part of the body In extreme cases this po wer ex ten ds

.

to the prod uction o f syncope i n which they become u t

,

t e rly insensible t o inj uries o f any ki n d lose all power ,

o f motion and e v en ceas e t o breath e

,
S t A ugu stin e. .

men tion s a number Of such cases ( De ci vit De l

’

. .
,

1 x iv ch
. . . Th e remarkable power Of Colonel
Town shen d o f falling into a state of sv n cope is too well
established to admit of any doubt ; h e b ecame icy cold
an d rigid his h eart ceas ed to beat and h is lungs to
,

breathe ; the fac e turn ed deadly pale the featu res grew ,

sharp an d poin ted and his eyes remain e d fixed By an

,
.
45 8 MODERN MAG IC .

G enuine stigm atiz ation that is the appea rance of the

, ,

fi v e wounds of o u r S aviour presents itsel f ordin arily

,

only after many year s o f co n st ant m e di tat io n o f his pas

sion combined with excessive fast ing an d other as ceti c
,

self to rm ent The first s tage is apt t o be a vision of

-
.

Ch ri st s su ffering accompanied by t h e offe r o f a wreath

’
,

o f flowers o r a crown o f thorns If t h e mystic choose s the

.

former th e r esult r emain s within the limi t s o f the gen

,

e ral e ffects Of asceticism should he however choose , ,

the crown o f thorns th e stigmas themselves are apt to

,

appear This occurs n aturally only in the very rare

.
, ,

cases where the mystic possesses that exceptional

,

energy and i ntense plastic power of the imagination

whi ch a r e r equisite in order t o suspen d the n atu ral
relation s o f soul and body Then the latter alr eady
.
,

thoroughly weakened and exhausted becomes so sus ,

cept ib l e t o the in fl uen ce o f the soul that it r eproduces , ,

spon taneously an d un con sciou sly th e impression s ,

deeply engraven o n th e mind an d during the n ex t ,

ecstatic visions the wounds show themselves suddenly .

Thei r appearan ce is invariably acco m pan i ed by violen t

pain ,which seems to r adiate in fiery burn ing darts from
th e wo un ds o f the im age of Ch rist A s the minds o f .

mystics di ffer infinitely in energy o f will and clear n ess

o f pe r ception the stigmas also are seen more o r less
,

di sti nctly ; and their n ature va ries from mere reddish

poin ts which be come v isible o n the head as t h e e ffect
, ,

o f a crown o f thorn s t o re al bleeding wo u

,
nds Th e .

former ar e apt t o disappea r as the ex ci tement subsides

 M Y S TICI SM . 45 9

or the will is weakened ; the latter however are peculiar , ,

in this that they do not continue to bleed an d yet also

, , , ,

do n ot heal up In wom e n only they are apt to break

.
, ,

o u t again at regular inte rvals for ins tan ce o n Fridays , , ,

when the mystic excitement ag ain reach es its highest

degr ee o r at oth er periods wh t n pressure of blood seeks
,

an outlet through these new Openings A s such a sta te .

can continue only by means o f lengthened in fl am m a

tion stigmatization is always accompan ied by violent
,

pains an d great su ffering especially during the bleed

,

ing .

The earliest o f all case s o f stigmatization— o f wh ich

n early seventy are fully authen ticated— was that o f
Fran cis of A ssisi wh o after ha v ing spent years in fer
, ,

ven t prayer for permission to share the su fferings o f the

S aviou r at last sa w a seraph with si x wings descen d
,

toward him and between the wings the form of a cruci

,

fi ed person A t the same momen t he felt piercing

.

pains an d wh en he recovered from his trance he found

,

his hands and feet as well as his side bleeding as from

, ,

severe wounds and strange dark ex crescences resem

, , ,

bling n ails protruding from the wounds in his e x t rem i

,

t ies. A s this was the first cas e o f stigmatization known ,

Fran cis of A ssisi was fille d with grave doubts con cern
ing the strange phenomenon and carefully concealed it ,

from all but his most intimate friends S till the wou nds .

were seen and felt by Pope Alexander an d a number o f

card inals du ring his lifetime and became an obj ect of ,

ca reful investigation after his death ( Ph ilale t h e s .

’
 46 0 MODERN MAG IC .

Div i na 00 mm , P a ra dise, p There is bu t o n e

.

othe r case as fully authen t icated in which a man was

, ,

thus stigmatized ; all othe r t r ustworthy in stan ces are

Ho wclose the connection is
.

related o f females .

between t he will and the appearance Of these phenom

en a m ay be seen fr om o n e o f th e best established -

cases that o f Joann a o f Burgos in S pain wh o h ad

, , ,

shed mu ch blood eve ry week fo r twen ty years in follow

ing the r ecital o f the passion o f o u r S aviou r Wh en .

sh e was seventy years o l d he r supe riors prevailed upon

,

h er by special a r gumen ts t o pray ferven tly fo r a

, ,

s uspen sion o f h er su ffe rings S he threw hersel f down

.

before a crucifix an d r emained there a day an d a night

,

in in ces sant p r ayer ; o n the n ext morning the wou nds

h ad closed , an d neve r agai n com m en ced bleeding .

A nother eviden ce o f this feature lies in the fact that

stigm atization occu r s mainly i n Italy th e land o f ,

imagination an d in S pain t h e lan d Of devotion ; in

, ,

G e r many only a few cases a r e known an d not o n e in ,

the N o r th o f E urope an d in Am erica .

A mong the famou s mystics wh o do n o t belong as

sai nts o r ma rty r s exclusively t o th e Church stan d first
'

“
an d foremost Hen ry S u so o f the Living Hear t and
, ,

John Ruysb ro ek the so cal led D octor ECst aticu s The

,
-
.

forme r wh o often had trances and on ce lay for a long

, ,

time in syn cope h as left behind him some of th e most

,

att rac t ive w orks eve r writt en by religiou s en thu sias t s .

He lived in the fo u r teenth century and when t wo , ,

h und r ed years late r his gr av e was opened th e body was

,
46 2 M ODERN MAG IC .

n ume rou s noblemen and ministe r s S imilar su ccesses .

we r e Obtain ed in almost eve ry lar ge town o f G erman y ,

till he was r ec alled t o the S outh when G ermany b e ,

came in debted to hi m and t o John Corvin fo r its dcliv

eran ce fr om the Turks an d the famou s vi ct o ry o f Bel

g rade in 1 456 D u ring hi s whole caree r h e continued to

.

h ave ecsta t ic vision s t o fall into tran c

, es o f con siderable
duration an d t o behold s t igmas o n his body— yet
, ,

withal he remain ed an emin ently p ra ctical man n ot

, ,

only conve rt ing many thou sands from th ei r r eligiou s

err o r s but tu rn ing th em also from vicious habits an d
,

c riminal pu r suits t o a life o f vi r tue'

A t the sam e .

time he r endered signal se r vices to his b rethren in mere

worldly matt ers no w pleading an d now figh ting fo r
,

them with an energy an d a s u ccess which alone woul d

secure h im a n ame in histo ry The ecstatic n ature o f
.

anothe r mys t i c Vin cen t io Fe rr e r p r oduced a sin gular

, ,

e ffect which has n ever b een noticed except in biblical

,

his t o ry He was a n ative o f V alencia and knowing n o

.
, ,

lan guage b ut th e local dialect o f his coun try b e co n ,

t inu e d th r oughou t life t o p r each in his mothe r tongu e

—an d yet he was un derstood by all wh o hea r d him !
This r esult was at leas t par tially explained by the
astoun ding flexibility o f his voi ce which at all times ,

ada pted itself so comple t ely t o his feel ings that its ,

ton es found a r esponsive echo in eve ry hea r t In vai n .

did the pope Ben edict XIII O ffer him first a bishopri c
, .
,

an d afte rw ar ds a Ca r dinal s h at ; the piou s monk refused

’

al l hono r s save o n e th e title o f Papal M ission a ry and

, ,
 M Y S TICI SM . 463

in this capacity he passed through nearly every land in

Christendom preaching and exhorting day an d night
, ,

ex citing everywhere the utmost enthu sias m and con

verting thousands from their evil ways His eloquence .

and fe rvo r were so great that even learn ed men and

fierce warriors declared he spoke wi th th e voice o f
an angel an d criminals o f deepest dye would fall down
,

in the midst o f gr eat crowds con fessing their misdeeds

,

and solemn ly vowing repentance and amen dment .

The greatest o f all mystics however was the before

, ,

mentioned Ifi lippo Neri a saint o f the Catholic Church

, ,

whose simple candor an d truly Christian humility have

p r o cured for him the esteem and t h e admiration o f
men o f al l creeds an d all ages E ven as a mere child .

he was already renowned for his extraordin ary gifts as

well as for his fe r ven t piety ; while still a layman he
h ad n u merous vision s and tran ces and wh e n in h is
‘

thirtieth year he h ad prayed for days and nights in the

Catacombs Of S t S ebastian his heart became suddenly
.
,

so enlarged that some of the intercostal mu scles gave

way an d a great swelling appeared o n the outside which

, ,

r emained the r e througho ut life although witho ut ca us ,

ing him any pain His inner fe rvor was so great as t o

.

keep his blood an d his whole system continually at

feve r heat and altho u gh he lived exclusively upon
,

bread herbs and olives he n ever we re warm clothes

, , , ,

even in the severes t winters al ways slept with open ,

doors an d w indows and prefe rred walking about wi t h

,
.

his breast uncovered D uring the last ten years o f h is

.
464 MODERN MAG IC .

life his body was n o longer able t o sustain h is ecstatic

soul ; wheneve r he attempte d t o read mass or to preach ,

h is fee l ings became so ex cited that hi s voice failed him ,

an d he fell in to a trance o f seve r al hour s duration It ’

.

was in this condition that he was frequen tly lifted u p ,

togethe r with the chai r o n whi ch he sat to a h eight o f ,

several feet fro m the groun d What re n de r s these

.

magic p h enomena peculiarly in teresting is the fact that ,

Filippo N eri n ot only attached n o special value to them ,

but actual ly did his best to con ceal them from th e eye s
o f the world . A s soon as they began to show t hem
Se l ves he ceased r eading mas s in th e presen ce o f others
, ,

and only allowed hi s atten dant t o re en ter his cell when

-

the latter h ad convin ced himself by peeping through a

,

narrow openin g in the door that the t ran ce was ove r

,
.

When others p r ai sed his piety and ma rveled at these

wonders he invariably smiled an d said : D on t you
,
“ ’

know that I am nothing bu t a fool a n d a dreamer ? ”

He added that he would infinitely rather do works

which should p rove his faith than be the r ecipient o f
mirac ulou s favors B ut his prestige was so great that
.

when ever he was p r evailed upon or thought it his du ty

to ex ert h is influence it was paramount and secu red
, ,

to him a powe rful control in historical even ts Thu s i t .

was when Pe pe G regory X IV had excommunicated

.

K ing Henry IV and his su cce ssor Clement V III

.
, , .
,

con tinued the fearful punishmen t i n spite o f all the

e n treaties of king and cou rtiers Filippo N eri fo re
.
,

s eeing the dange r s whi ch were likely to arise from such

46 6 M ODERN MAG IC .

spit e o f the remonstran ces of friends and o f brutal ill

trea t men t o n the part o f her brothers to enter a con
,

ven t O n her way there however she fel t he r steps

.
, ,

su ddenly arrested by superior force and saw in thi s

,

supernatural in terruption a h in t that she should leave

the world even mo re completely than she could h ave
don e as a nun o f the O rder of S t D ominick S he bu ilt
. .

herself therefore a little cell in her fathe r s garden an d

, ,
’
,

h ere led a life of ecstati c asceticism du ring whi ch she

,

oft en remained for days and weeks w itho ut food an d ,

became strangely intimate with birds and in sects .

When ever sh e to ok th e eu charist she felt marvelou s

,

happines s an d fell into trances ; in the in t e rvals h o w ,

ever sh e su ffered inten sely from that depression an d

,

utter despai r which in su ch cases are apt to result from

powe rful reaction S h e died qu ite young exhausted by
.
,

h er as cetic life and con tinued ex ci temen t and has eve r

,

since been r evered as the patron sain t o f Peru .

TH E END.
 P RO F S C H E L E V E RE S W O RK S
’

. DE .

O NDER S O F T HE DEEP .

By M S C H E L B DE V E RE Prof s or Of t he .
, e I1
v e r sity o f V irgi n ia Third e di t ion I z m o c l oth .
, , ,

I ll u strate d c l o t h gi l t $ 2 , , , .

C HIEF CO NT ENTS

L i gh t h
.

P l e ar s F bl M
C o ra s l
y Oy t F ac ts an d
0 a es e rc ur s e rs o u se s
A Pin h f S l t A G i d Th E t h i T t
. .

ht i A m f S
. . .

Fi h s n n r or c o a ra n o an e ar n ro u

m tim m t p p l
. . . .

O f th f h t m t
ne o i t ifi e d t th re s es os sc e n c, an a e sa e e os u ar
d —S t J h Tel g ph
o
d l igh t f l b k f t h ki d w h v
,
” ‘
e u oo s o e n e ave e e r rea . . o n s e ra .

Th ese ay m k l bl d di t i
ess t th ts d d li t t a f th ti
e a v a ua c a on o e s an ar e ra u re o e n
Th th
e au wh i f th p f
o r, d t i ti t f t h g d
o s o ne o f th e ro o un es sc e n s s o e a e an o ne o e in
b i ll i t
r yi t
an f th t yh
e ss a b gh t f m t h d p t h f t h
s s o v t t
e co u n r as ro u ro e e s o e o c ea n as s on
O f hi dd k w l dgen Th
no h m f h be k i the k il l f l d y e c ar o t e oo s e s u an e t 11
m l w y in wh i h p l in f t h b pt W w t d t w d th m
.

i t t d th i
a a c tt a ac s av e een u e e re a rac e o ar e
th i f wi th i t
.

h
e r re s d w f ll w i
n es s , an soo n e a re o o n on n e n se n e re s an en u s as
Th h pt
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"
d A Pi h f S lt
ea r s , d
"
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an
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.
, ,
”
fac t ,
n e ar a e o e rs are a so r n e re s n . e ar , . .
, e er .

T RA Y L EA V E S F RO M THE B OO K O F NA TU
Ne w e dition i ll ustrate d I z m o c l oth , .
, ,

Th b k i p ul i l y f
e oo i t i g —Ch icag J n l
s ec ar a sc n a n .
'
o o ur a .

Th
“
ti w k i f ll
e en ref h mi g d ip ti n d p l
or t i f m ti
s u o c ar n e s cr o an ea sa n n or a on .

T h i l i t t l b —k w i ll p v f
s e t i t h nd d f d i t wh
oo ro e o res se rv ce o u re s o rea e rs n o o
han d it m y f ll N w H n P d i m
s a a
”
e a ve a a

A b t t e w k f t h y g t h n h l f t h t y b k p b l i h d —R l M
. .

e r or or e o un a a e s or oo s u s e . ura
Yorker .

HE RO M A NCE O F AMERI C A N HI S T O RY .

I zm o , c l oth extra $ 1 ,
.

50 .

CO NT ENT S .

Lo ! t h e I di P oor n The an en ver Hid d Ri

O ur rs tFi R o m an c e A F e w To v
Ki K i L T L L d
. .

N Ki g
.

am e s a se rs , n s , and n gh ts o st o wns o st an s . . .

ly p f ll
.

“
W e ca n o n re ea t t h at it is i nt e n s e ly i n t e re s t iu g , a n d u o f in s i rn c t i
ma tt e r th t y Am i
a ever e r ca n sh o u m k e h m se
a ld i lf f l i i
a m i ar W t h ”
d
Tole o Co m me rcii .

I th
n l ti f e se e c on O ear ly h i t i l i i i th
s o r ca h h i d i
cur o s t e s e au t or a s e v n ce n ce (w
a nd ( act an d he i mi t d g th d i l bl t of l
—Am
o s se s se s n an e ne n e re e e ra re a n n v a ua e ar
ti f h i t y w i th m n ti l
.

”
v es ng t h e d ry e t ai ls o s or d h a ro a c co o r an ue . erw<
Athenwum .

O D ERN M A GI C .

Izmo , c loth .

CO NTENT S .

Wi t ch craft B l ack and W h it e M gic a Gh o s ts D ivin ati o

P io n Ma n e t i m M iracu l o us Cas e s My
. . .

o sses s .
g s . . s ti c i s m .

Q Fo r sa e l by all B o okse ll e rs or sent postpai d o n rc c e i

of pri ce by
G P PUT NAM S S O NS , Pu b lis he r s
’

. . ,
 IN COU RS E OF P U B L I C A TI O N .

Putnams E
lem tary and A
dvanced Science Series,
’
en O

Adapted to Me req u ire m e n t s o S t ude n ts in Scie n ce a nd Art Cla sses ,

f ( I/i d
H ighe r a n d M iddle Clas s Sc/zo o l r .

E L E M E NT A R Y S E RI ES .

P rin ted u n if orm ly in 1 6 7720 , f u lly I ll us t ra ted, clo t /i ex t ra ,

pr ice 6 5 ce n ts ear /z , .

I P R A CTI CAL PLAN E AND S O LI D G EO MET R Y B y H

. . .

A ge l I sl i n gt n S i e n c S h o o l Lo n do n
n o c e c

MA C H I N E C O N S T R U C TI O N AND D R AW IN G
, , .

2 . By E . .

T m k i Q ue e n Co ll e ge Li ve rp o l
o ns.
’
s o

G —
, .

3 A B U I L D IN C O N S T R U C T I O N STONE B RICK AND S LATE ,

W O RK B y R S B u m C E M ch e st e an r.

G —
. . . H
, ,

3 3 B U I L D I N CO N S T R U C T I O N T 1 MBER AND I RON W O RK By .

R S B urn C E M n h t e r a c es

H —
.
. .
, .
, .

4 NA
. V AL A R C IT E C T U R E SHIPBUILDING AND LAYING O FF .

By S .
J P T h e a rl e
. . , Lo n do n .

5 . PU RE MAT H E MAT I CS By B A . Le w i s S e rge a n t , . .

,

L o n do n .

6 . T H EO R ET I CAL MEC H AN I CS By W il li am R o ssi t e r .

,

L o n do n .

7 . APPLI ED MEC H AN I CS B y W i ll i am R o ssi t e r .

,

L o n do n
A CO U S TI CS LI G H T AND H EAT By W i ll i am L ee s A M
.

8 . ,
.
.
, .

L e c t u re r o n P hys i cs Edi n b u rgh

MA G N ETI S M AND EL EC T R I C ITY B y Jo h n An ge ll S e n i o r
, .

9
Sc i e n c e Ma st e r G ra m m a r Sch o o l Ma n c h e st e r
. .
,

IN O R GAN I C C H E MI S T R Y B y Dr W B K e m sh e ad
.
, ,

10 . . . . .
,

D ul w i ch C o ll e ge L o n do n
O R G AN I C C H E MI ST R Y
.
,

1 1 B y W Marshall W a t ts D SO ( Lo ud
G ra m m a r S cho o l G i ggle sw i ck
. . .
.
,

G EO L O GY B y W S Davi s LL D D e rb y
.
,

1 2
MIN E R AL O GY B y J H Co ll i n s
. . . . . .
, .

1 3 . R o yal Co rn w all Po ly
. . . ,

t e c h n i c S o c i e t y Fa lm o u t h
AN I MAL P H Y S I O LO G Y B y Jo h n A nge ll Se n i o r Sc i e n ce
.
,

1 4
G
. .
,

Mas t e r ra m m ar Sc h o o , Man ch e s t e r l
GY H
.
,

1 5 Z OO L O
. . By M a rb i so n , H e ad .
-
Mast e r Mo de l S ch o o l s,

Ne w to n a rds
G ETABL E AN AT O MY P H Y SI O LO GY H
.

1 6 VE. AND . By J
. .

B a lfo ur M D Ed i n b u rgh U n i ve rs i ty . ,

B y J H B al fo u r
. .
,

1 7 SY S T E MATI C AND ECO N O MI C B O TANY

. . . . ,

M D Ed i n b u rgh U n i ve rs i t y
1 9 METALLU R GY Gl asgo w
. . .
,

B y Jo h n May e r
N AV I G ATI O N B y H e n ry Eve rs LL D P lym o u t h
. . .
,

20 . .
, . ., .

2 1 N AU TI CAL A S T R O N O MY By H e n ry Eve rs LL D
2 2 A S T EA M AND T H E S T EA M E N G IN E—L AND AND MA RI NE
. .
. .
,

B y H e n ry Eve s LL D P l ym o u t h
.

S T EA M EN G IN E— L O COMO TI V E B y H e n ry
, . .
, .

2 2 13 S T EA M AND .

Eve rs LL D P lym o u t h
P H Y S I C AL G EO G R AP H Y B y Jo h n Ma c t u rk
.
, . .
,

23
P R A CT I C AL C H EMI S T R Y By Jo h n H o w a rd Lo n do n
. . ,

24 . .
, .