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to believe the 'departed' are really at hand, not ignorant and unobservant of the poor struggling pilgrims they have left behind. In a word, I confess I want to believe that my oldest friends are about me now. This confession may tell against me; I cannot help it. It will not touch my 'facts,' however; it will only help to account for my opinion that it is neither absurd nor monstrous to say that the so-called dead are near us still, and that (not by miracle, but in accordance with laws of our being not yet understood, or even believed in by us) they are, in certain conditions, able to prove their presence and their power.

"I have already admitted that much which happens or that is 'given' at these spiritual séances' is frivolous and unsatisfactory; I might, indeed, say, repulsive and disheartening; but, after all, that is only what the chemist in his laboratory has admitted for 3,000 years; it is what he admits to-day. They who are seeking in untried paths, they who are exploring on the confines of the unknown, must not mind disappointments and shadows. They must, at first, expect to see men as trees walking,' knowing well that the darkness is in them, and that, as they press on and become wise, the truth will be seen.

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"This preliminary explanation will serve to shew what I mean by the other side,' and why such facts as you reported to us from Scotland, however they may distress, do not deter me, or cause me to 'disbelieve.'

"The spiritual phenomena' is very varied in its character, and what is called 'mediumship' is, of course, as varied in its nature. A 'medium' is, as we all know, a person to be suspected as an impostor, or ridiculed as a fool. This is the theory of the public and the press. Men ask-Why this need of 'mediums?' They might as well ask why this need of telescopes in astronomy, or crucibles and retorts in chemistry, and of a battery or something equivalent in telegraphy? Spiritualists say that a 'medium' is simply a person whose natural organism is susceptible to spirit influence. That is the long and short of it. There is no "miracle' in the case. It is all in accordance with settled though at present imperfectly understood law. It would, indeed, be a rather suspicious circumstance if all 'mediums were professors or adepts, but the truth is that ninety-nine out of a hundred, probably nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand, 'mediums' are the sons, the daughters, the sisters, the brothers, the husbands, or the wives of Spiritualists. Many of these I know; and I know that they are, as a rule, well-bred, intelligent, healthy, cheerful, and virtuous persons, incapable of lying and not likely to be self-deceived.

"But, in truth, the phenomena relied upon are not of a character that makes demands upon our 'faith.' Given, a scene

and circumstances that shut out the possibility of deliberate imposture, which would be as marvellously clever as it would be hideously wicked, and the case is at an end; inasmuch as, for what happens, you are not called upon to confide in the 'medium.' I shall now proceed to make this clear. I was, some time ago, in the house of a gentleman nearly 200 miles from my own home. A 'medium' was present a bright, intelligent, but imperfectly educated girl or young woman. She knew nothing of me, and had only seen me for a few minutes on the previous day. Without asking me a single question, she presently told me she could 'see' something she would like to describe to me. She did so in a quiet and gentle mannerdeliberately, and yet without hesitation. What she described was what happened to me 20 years ago, when I was a mere boy, what passed in my little study between me and a favourite little sister, who was very dear to me then, and whose childish love is not forgotten by me now. The incidents described were of a nature so peculiar, and, what the outward world would call so trivial, that I deemed it utterly impossible this stranger, of her own knowledge, could have been acquainted with them. They were incidents I think I have never spoken of to any one, and which no one would be likely to know or remember but myself. But her descriptions as to time, places, events, and persons were marvellously minute and accurate. She might have had a series of photographs before her, which she slowly turned over and described one by one. What she said was that she saw it all in a series of delicate pictures which my 'spirit-sister' showed her. I was not a 'believer' at the time; but, from first to last, the whole thing was so exquisitely touching, so beautiful, so charming in its method of identification if the thing were true, that I should have felt a thrill of horror if anyone had called the "medium" an impostor or a fool.

"On another occasion, in an unconscious or trance state (into which she passed at once and without solicitation or aid from without), this same young lady spoke to me in the name of this sister; and, for nearly half-an-hour, touched and delighted everyone present by the simplicity and beauty of her language. At another time, in another place, and in presence of another 'medium,' phenomena of another character presented themselves. I sat with the medium at a very small table, without a shred of covering on it, in the middle of a large and well-lighted room. The medium did not know my name, and had never seen me before. Without preliminary conversation we sat down, and before we had been seated three minutes we heard gentle but very distinct sounds (those who want to laugh can call them 'raps;' I should prefer to call them signals produced by those

who, as spiritual beings, are at the very fountain-head of the marvellous magnetic forces of the universe). The medium said, 'I think it indicates the presence of a little child.' Suffice it to say that, as fast as I could ask questions, I got names, dates, and descriptions of almost every kind, which I had not to credit the veracity of the 'medium' for; the wonderful correctness of which I alone knew. One of the strangest things given to me was an exact copy of an unusual inscription on a tiny stone which had only just been placed in a country churchyard, nearly two hundred miles away. The touching "messages," with their suggestions so full of meaning to myself, and so little understood by the medium,' I cannot give you. I can only say, my heart worshipped the Great Spirit that day as it had seldom done before. On this occasion two or three things happened, however, which were more singular and demonstrative than touching and graceful. For two or three minutes the little table rose up under my hands, and rose up so high that even with standing up, I could hardly keep my hands on. This happened after a very odd occurrence in the spelling out of 'messages.' All at once we had these letters signalled-P I LI F. It was our first piece of what seemed nonsense,' and the 'medium' seemed a little annoyed at so absurd a reply to what I believe was a grave question; and said-'Let us go on to something else.' I declined, and began casting about to find what 'Pilif' could mean. At last, I asked,-What or who is 'Pilif?' The answer came at once-Uncle. I saw at once what was meant. One of the very first playthings my little child ever had was an old portrait of "Uncle Philip," whose name she learnt amongst her first half-dozen words. Does it not seem ridiculous that a little child in heaven' (so runs the phrase!) should 'come down' to talk to me through a table? Well, I am hardly sure. I think if she loved me, she would desire to be near me if she could. And, if she was near me that day, and by some natural law, aided by her spirit friends, could 'communicate,' I think it very probable she would do or say something as like her old self as possible. It was an absurd-looking incident, I admit, but it was intensely human, and it put out of court the charge of imposture, for when the letters came no one was pleased, and no one knew what they meant. It was when I discovered their meaning that the table rose up as I have described. I cannot help it if the scornful laugh at all this. I know it all happened in broad daylight, and that thousands and tens of thousands have had experience of similar things.

"But, as for 'table lifting,' if that is what men want as 'proof,' let me tell what I saw with my own eyes in the house of a friend whom I know to be intelligent, honest, and religious.

A large dining table, round which twenty persons could sit, rose up from the floor two or three feet without a hand touching it, and, after oscillating for a while, gently descended to the floor. This was done, we were told, not because the unseen ones cared for such experiments, but because we sought and needed such 'proofs.' When I saw this I was not excited; and the event happened in presence of fourteen persons, who met together in an earnest and devout manner, and agreed to open their 'séance' with a reading from the Scriptures and prayer; and what happened that evening has occurred a hundred times before and since. A clergyman who once saw it said it was of 'the devil.' I for one am not disposed to be positive either way as to the heavenly or hellish origin of these phenomena. All I know is they occur. Let us get the facts first, whether they please us or not; and then let us pass on to account for them by educing laws, after due classification of phenomena.

"In my own house, with only two or three persons present, we have had in the quiet of our own room, sounds, soft and low, or rapid and loud, for an hour together. These sounds were wonderfully modulated to represent every kind of motion or thought. They gave rapid answers to questions, and more than once kept admirable time (I could almost say tune), to our subdued singing, or without our company. I shall not easily forget the playing, by these sounds alone, in the quiet of the night, a beautiful melody. Three of us sat in the centre of the room, and the sounds were produced four or five feet from where we sat. This, I know, is only vulgar 'spirit-rapping.' I cannot help it. It happened; and I do not know why I should not substitute for the phrase 'spirit-rapping' the better phrase, 'spirit-telegraphy.' It is true we who are so clumsy in our clay houses, need wires and an apparatus to get command over the current; but the supposition is quite reasonable that a man out of the flesh does not need all this material tackle to put him at once en rapport with what I have already called 'the marvellous magnetic forces of the universe.'

"On several occasions, I have sat with a number of persons, strangers to one another and to the 'medium,' who nevertheless, described departed friends and scenes in their past life in a most astonishing manner. On one occasion, for more than an hour, we were all inexpressibly impressed by such an analysis of character as I have never heard from other lips. The 'medium,' in a half trance, took us one by one to pieces; and, in a low and serious voice, described the characters, the peculiarities, and the lives of each one. Some of us themedium' had never seen at all; for these had been taken into the half-darkened rooin after the 'séance' had commenced, having arrived late. On one

of these occasions (in Manchester) a gentleman entered the room, and the 'medium,' who was at that moment in a trance state, at once took a pencil, wrote a message, signed it with initials, and pushed it past twenty persons, to the new-comer, who immediately recognised the initials and confessed the appropriateness of the message. This was at once followed by a description of the sender of the message, and a vivid and minute account of her last days; with not one word to distress or repel but much to soothe and win. The gentleman, though very exacting, acknowledged the singular accuracy of the description. The eyes of the 'medium' were closed, she was unconscious, and when she "came to herself,' she knew nothing of what had occurred. I ought to add that she was between one and two hundred miles from home, and that she had never been within a hundred miles of the place before.

In this

"In my own house, some of my own kindred and friends have been used' as 'mediums.' One, a student of divinity, in a trance state, speaks, in language earnest and well chosen, of noble themes, only calculated to elevate and instruct. Others have their hands moved to write with extraordinary rapidity. The characters are utterly unlike any they themselves employ, and, in many cases, they cannot even imagine the subject of what they have written. It seldom matters whether the eyes are shut or open, whether it is dark or light. Once I suddenly put the lights out, but the writing went on all the same. way we have had some correct and graceful poetry, and much spirit-stirring counsel given to us; and, in very many cases, the medium,' if not following the pencil, is unable to say whether what is written is poetry or prose, a jest or a prayer. Sometimes the writing is done with such force and rapidity that it takes some minutes to decipher it; and on these occasions we have had surprising results. In one case, I well remember, the 'medium' was a cultured and intelligent lady, who knew very little of Spiritualism,' and who was as much startled as any of us at what proceeded, time after time, from her hand, forcibly moved and used beyond her control, to write that which she knew not; for, in this way, in answer to questions, we have h particulars given of which the 'medium' knew nothing.

"In other cases, an alphabet and a pointer are used. hand is forcibly or gently moved to point out letters, as other instance it is moved to write them. My own sister 'used.' At one séance,' I remember, the message her to tears, for she was observing it. She then hid her her left hand, but allowed the right hand to go on finishi 'message,' the pointer flying from letter to letter almos than I could take them down. The latter portion of w