an unconscious state, and could be restrained upon her bed only by the combined strength of her attendants. After the subsidence of the paroxysm, she slept quietly until morning. For several days she remained in a very excited state, and on the nights of the 15th and 17th there was a return of the paroxysm, but without a loss of consciousness. These attacks were not characterized by any very peculiar symptoms, excepting, perhaps, a very distressing sensation referred to the base of the brain. From time to time she would seize the hand of her attendant, and press it upon the back of her head, and at the same time complain of strange noises. She also had severe attacks of bleeding at the nose, which seemed in some measure to relieve her.

"From the date of her prostration until her removal to an asylum, on the 18th, no phenomena occurred. At the end of three weeks she was thought to be sufficiently recovered to return to her work; and pity for her condition, as well as curiosity to observe if the phenomena would return, induced the family to receive her back to service again. She returned in a very happy frame of mind, and comparatively calm; but it was noticed that she was quite nervous, and would start suddenly at any little noise at all resembling the rappings or movements of furniture which had formerly so much annoyed her, and driven her to the verge of insanity. But none of the phenomena ever again occurred. She seemed very well, grew very fleshy, and performed her duties with alacrity. Being desirous of learning to read and write, a member of the family undertook the task of teaching her. She proved a very apt scholar, and made remarkable progress. At times, however, she complained of great distress in her head; but nothing of a serious nature occurred until some six weeks after her return, when, on the night of the 28th of November, she had an attack of somnambulism, it being the first instance of the kind since coming to this country. She arose and dressed herself, went to the room of her mistress, and asked permission to go out to clean the outside of the windows. Her condition was at once discovered, and she was with some difficulty induced to go back to bed. She remembered nothing of this in the morning. On the following and for five consecutive nights this was repeated. At about the same hour of the night she would get up, go downstairs-usually in her night-dress, with no light-and go about her work. She would sweep rooms, dust clothing, scour knives, go out of doors (cold weather as it was), and brush the steps, sit down in the darkness and study her reading and spelling lesson, and finally, in an hour or two, return to bed. On the fifth night, however, nature gave out, and she again passed into the condition of

hysteria. She was again conveyed to the asylum, where she now remains, though she seems to have entirely recovered, and is there employed as a housemaid. So much for the facts in this extraordinary case,-facts well attested and beyond contravention. As to a theory of the 'moving cause' we have none. But we now proceed to give results of observations and experiments bearing upon the case, referring their explanation to those competent to give an opinion. At an early stage of the phenomena we sought to trace their production to electricity, and the results of some experiments seemed to give support to this theory. It has already been stated that the rappings were repeatedly heard in the girl's room by members of the family who went in after she was asleep. The noises seemed to be on the doors, and sometimes on the footboard of the bedstead; and at times, as they came very loud, she would start in her sleep, and scream as though in the utmost terror.

"Conceiving the idea that the sounds might be produced electrically, the writer caused the bedstead to be perfectly insulated by placing the posts upon glass. The effect was all that could be desired. Although the raps continued to follow her all day from room to room and to her chamber at night, yet, so soon as she was fairly in bed, everything of the kind ceased. For six weeks or longer the bedstead was kept thus insulated; and no raps were ever heard, except once, when an examination showed the insulation to be destroyed, one of the posts having slipped off the glass. It was replaced with the same effect as before. Another experiment, similar to the one described was tried. The cherry table in the kitchen before alluded to, at which Mary took her meals, was nearly always agitated when she sat down to eat. At such times, also, the rappings were very loud and frequent, troubling her so much that she had no desire to eat. On one or two occasions this was peculiarly the case, and a remedy for it was sought in insulation. The table and her chair were placed on glass; but before she was ready to sit the former suddenly jumped off the insulators but was at once replaced, when she took her seat and was able to finish her meal in peace, there being no movements and no raps. This was afterwards repeated with the same success. It was evident that, whatever force this might be,-whether electricity or not,-there did seem to be some sort of attraction between the girl and these inanimate objects of wood, stone, iron and other material, which set them in motion whenever she was near them, and they were not insulated. In this connection it should be noticed that the movements of furniture, &c., seldom occurred in rooms with woollen carpets on the floors, but were mostly confined to rooms with bare floors or oil carpets and

matting. The raps, also, were more frequent and louder in such rooms. In the daily journal, which was kept, the state of the weather each day was carefully noted, and for a time it was thought that the phenomena were much more frequent on a clear day than on a damp or sultry one; but a careful study of that record shews that some of the most marked and violent demonstrations actually occurred on very rainy days, though the latter were generally more quiet than the days of fair weather. Thus it would seem that the phenomena, though appearing in some degree electrical, did not in all cases follow the known laws of electricity.

"The writer has heretofore stated that he is a thorough sceptic concerning the so-called doctrine of Spiritualism. The same may be said of every member of the large family (ten persons) in which these things occurred. With the exception of the girl herself, no one of the household ever became in the least degree nervous, much less inclined to believe that the spirits of the departed had returned to earth only to make their presence known by means so palpably ridiculous. But the Spiritualists, of whom there are many in the community where these occurrences took place, became very much exercised about the matter. The family were excessively annoyed at frequent applications from this class of persons for the privilege of coming in to witness the 'manifestations,' as they call them, and to see the girl. But not one of them was ever admitted, nor has the girl ever yet held any communication with a person of this character. Of Spiritualism she had never heard in the old country, and when any one spoke of mediums,' she seemed to have an idea that they were something dreadful to contemplate. But although no Spiritualists were invited to enlighten us, we did on three occasions hold 'circles' among ourselves, being willing to test the matter. At such times, seated around a large dining-table with the poor simple-hearted and terror-stricken girl in the midst, we in all seriousness went through the farce of inviting communications from the spirits present. Occasional raps were heard, questions were put, and the alphabet used after the most approved manner of those mysterious circles, but without ever eliciting the first gleam of intelligence; and the conclusion was reached, that, if there were any spirits present, their education must have been sadly neglected while on the earth, and that no improvement had been made since they had passed into the other world. But this folly was soon given up, having only resulted in highly exciting the girl, whose nervous system had now reached a terrible state. Day by day she became more and more excited and rapidly lost flesh. She would complain of great distress in her head and of

great noises in her ears. At times she would sink into a sort of lethargy bordering upon the 'trance state.' But she still kept about her work. One of the ladies of the house was in the habit of going to church to practise organ-playing, and sometimes took Mary to blow,' with which she was quite delighted; but the great difficulty at such times was to keep her awake, the music made her so sleepy; and this peculiarity was noticed, that, so long as the organ was played softly, she was wakeful, and performed her part at the bellows,' but when the loud playing commenced, she invariably became sleepy, and the failing wind would soon give notice that she had sunk into slumber. At night, in her sleep, she would sing for hours together, although she had never been heard to sing in her wakeful moments, being in a very unhappy frame of mind.

"We have spoken of her somnambulistic habits. To this should be added still another accomplishment, that of 'clairvoyance.' The most marked instance of the latter was shown in a declaration by her, that a young lady member of the family, who had been absent in a distant city for several weeks, was sick. She seemed in great distress of mind about it, but was assured that she had just been heard from and was quite well. But she would not be quieted, and declared that the young lady was ill, and suffering much from a very bad sore upon her hand. And this proved to be exactly as she had stated, and is only another evidence of this extraordinary power, of which science now allows the existence, though it cannot fully explain it. These things are mentioned here simply on account of the possible bearing they may have on the physiological aspect of this remarkable case. The question may be asked, Why during the long continuance of these strange phenomena, which occurred nearly every day for a period of ten weeks, was no scientific investigation instituted? We answer, that such a one was sought for by the family and others interested. At the end of four weeks from the commencement of the phenomena a plain statement of facts was made in writing, and submitted with proper indorsement to two of the learned professors of one of our educational institutions, with the request that some proper person might be sent to witness and experiment. To our surprise the communication was treated with contempt, and returned with the statement that we were being imposed upon; that such things could not take place save through the agency of some person; they advised constant watchfulness in order to discover the 'trickery.' As may be supposed, after meeting with such a rebuff, a second attempt to invoke the assistance of these wise men would not soon be made. However, acting upon the only advice they did volunteer, 'constant watchfulness' was maintained; the girl being watched in every available manner to detect the

tricks, if any were attempted. It is sufficient to say that the question of her honesty and innocence in the matter was put beyond a shadow of doubt. It was at this time that a daily journal of the occurrences was commenced, and continued so long as the phenomena lasted; and from this journal the instances noticed in these pages are taken.'

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Were this case now first published in the Spiritual Magazine, we should expect it to be received with the same scornful incredulity with which other narratives we have given, knowing them to be true, have been encountered. But as it appears the Atlantic Monthly, the leading magazine on the American Continent, and in high repute among ourselves, it will perhaps command a little more attention. The case is similar to that of Angelique Cottin, of which the account given by Arago, has been often quoted; and to that of Charlotte Smith, the "Infant Magnet," as she was called, which excited much attention a few years ago;-by simple contact, and without the slightest effort, she would lift heavy irons, chairs and other articles, despite the efforts of the strongest men to prevent it; but when completely insulated the power altogether ceased. We do not say that these physical phenomena are of spiritual origin; so far as reported there is no evidence to connect them with intelligence. That Mary Carrick is a natural medium (as Charlotte Smith has proved to be) we do not doubt, and had she been placed under the care of intelligent Spiritualists the links wanting to complete the chain of evidence would in all probability have been supplied. That no intelligence was elicited at the sham circle held by the family in which she was the servant is no presumption to the contrary, when we consider that the primary conditions were wanting, that instead of being at ease in a passive or receptive state, the poor simple-hearted girl was seated, "highly excited," and "terror-stricken," in the midst of a circle sceptical and hostile to the belief in spirit-communication, who regarded it as "folly," and who, the writer tells us, "in all seriousness went through the farce of inviting communications from the spirits present."

It is amusing to note the simplicity with which the writer records "our surprise" at "the contempt" with which "the communication was treated" by the "learned professors" to whom a plain statement of the facts with proper indorsement had been submitted; apparently quite oblivious to the circumstance that they were only treating it in the same spirit manifested by himself "concerning the so-called doctrine of Spiritualism," and which he displayed to those Spiritualists who applied for the privilege of being admitted to see the girl and witness the phenomena. His testimony, however, to the facts-being that of