wrongly in calling him an impostor when he really knew nothing of him. He then spent some time in investigating the phenomena of Spiritualism aided by the sons of his friend Dr. Symes. The result was that he expressed his conviction of the truth of the phenomena, and became a sincere Christian, whose handbook henceforth was his Bible. Some time after this he said he had been living all his life in darkness, and had thought there was nothing in existence but the material; but he now had a firm hope which he trusted he would hold while on earth."

We may add to the foregoing notice, that not only was Dr. Elliotson for the greater part of his life-until he became a Spiritualist—an unbeliever in revelation, but a Materialist of the most uncompromising and determined type, the acknowledged head of that school of Physiology of which Lawrence and Engledue were the champions-which regards man as a merely corporeal being,-the faculties of the mind as synonymous with functions of the brain, and in what is usually regarded as evidence of his spiritual nature sees only the results of cerebral action. These views he set forth with great force in his elaborate work on Human Physiology; and they were eagerly caught up by the atheistic secular party in this country, and reproduced in lectures, articles, and tracts; and his name (which since he became a Spiritualist they appear to have almost forgotten) was constantly in their mouths as that of an eminent authority on the subject. When Modern Spiritualism was introduced into this country, Dr. Elliotson was one of the sturdiest and most scornful of its opponents. Not only did he denounce it in the Zoist, but he gave a series of wood-cuts in that Journal to accompany the text, showing how the "rappings" were effected. On this question of Spiritualism, he joined issue with, and separated himself from his old friend and colleague in Mesmerism, and in the establishment and management of the ZoistDr. Ashburner; to whom it must have been a source of great satisfaction after years of estrangement, that Dr. Elliotson's conviction of the truth of Spiritualism was the means of re-establishing their former intimacy and friendship.

Spiritualism was not with Dr. Elliotson a conviction barren of results. It revolutionized the philosophy of a lifetime, as he was always ready to avow, bitterly lamenting the misdirected efforts he had made, however conscientiously, in the promulgation of materialistic principles. He became a thoroughly changed man, and changed in all respects for the better. Humbled by the recollection of past errors, his nature became softened, his demeanour more gentle, and he bore his losses and sufferings with patience and fortitude.

1

Some of our correspondents have expressed doubts of the efficacy of prayer. Dr. Elliotson affirmed that he could no longer entertain any question of it, as he had personal and constant evidence of the efficacy of prayer in his own experience.

To those who question as to the strength of evidence which Spiritualism presents to the scientific investigator, or as to its origin and effects, this brief record may be useful. Let the tree be judged by its fruits.

NOTES AND GLEANINGS.

MOURNING COSTUME.

On this subject the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher has the following sensible remarks: we commend them to the consideration of Christians generally, and of Spiritualists in particular.

"It is a matter of education. In so far as high colours have come to signify gaiety and pleasure, there may be a good reason for dismissing them. If one would mark one's grief, why not by the colour chosen by the Bible to express spiritual things? White signifies purity, triumph, spiritual gladness, and this ought not to be uncongenial to the moods of Christian grief.

"It is not the custom of our people to symbolize their feelings by a change of dress, with this solitary exception. If a man becomes bankrupt, or has his house burned down, or loses heavily in commercial operations, or has a son in disgrace, or a child misled by evil company, or any other experience of grief, he does not change his garb. The one solitary and exceptional case is bereavement! But there is in domestic sorrow a delicacy, or ought to be, which would shrink from an ostentatiousness such as mourning apparel cannot fail to have. No one has a right so to express his sorrows as to intrude them upon every eye wherever he goes. Custom has justified it, otherwise it would be esteemed an indelicacy for one to be a walking advertisement of one's own private griefs. But, even if one were permitted to announce this one side of domestic experience by change of garb, the question still remains whether expression should be given to the weakness of natural feeling, or the triumph of Christian faith. Whether we should symbolize the darkness of the grave as unenlightened nature shews it, or the grave made by the trium ph of our Saviour and the glories of immortality beyond it? We may be sure there is something wrong

in a Christian community where death is surrounded with associations of terror, where the young are reared to a horror of the sepulchre, where present grief rises up like a dark cloud and shuts out the heaven; where-in sermon, service, conversation, and dress-everything conspires to shroud death and the grave with darkness. Has sorrow a right to be selfish? May it bear false witness against immortality? Has a Christian under bereavement a right to declare by his conduct, "There is no light in the grave, none beyond it, and no comfort for the bereaved, but only black, black sorrow ?" I never met one muffled in black from head to foot without a certain horror. The smell of crape is to me like the smell of a charnel-house. Did it never occur to mourners to ask, what, if those for whom I grieve were to speak to me out of their blissful abode in heaven, would be their choice that I should be shrouded like one in despair, or robed as one who mourns, but with Christian hope?"

MR. D. D. HOME.

We are glad to find that Mr. Home has been well received by his old and influential friends in Germany, where he has recently been staying for a few weeks. It is a practical and pleasant commentary on the injustice done him by the public and the press in England. As soon as the Emperor of Russia heard of his arrival in Germany, he sent an aide-de-camp to him, to desire him to come and stay with him. He has already paid a short visit to the Emperor, and was to repeat it after a few days' interval.

THE MUCHELNEY DISTURBANCES.

We give in this number a detailed and very ably written account of a visit to the scene of these remarkable occurrences, which are creating quite an extraordinary sensation in the neighbourhood, and indeed far beyond it. The local press teems with paragraphs and articles on the subject.

Pulman's News gives several articles on the subject. In one of the latest we have seen, it relates that a large table in the passage, which had been frequently overturned without visible agency, was "again upset and broken to pieces in open day, and in the presence of several persons;" and it mentions, as a new phenomenon in the case, that

Miss Hawker, while sitting in the dining-room, suddenly felt herself pushed, as it were, out of her chair. She jumped up, and the chair fell completely over. She had felt this once before, some weeks ago, but considered that it might have been caused by some movement of her own. This time, however, she was convinced that such could not be the case, for in a few seconds one of the empty arm chairs suddenly performed a similar somersault. The servant was then in the kitchen.

The editor says:

Numerous intelligent people have carefully but vainly endeavoured to elucidate the mystery. The unanimous testimony is, that, whatever the cause, there are no grounds whatever for the suspicion of trickery and collusion. Mr. Travis himself, we would stake our reputation, is too respectable and too honourable a man to be a party to any trickery. The two ladies, his relatives, are totally above anything of the kind. The servant, an intelligent-looking girl, is often not in the house when the mysterious noises are heard and the furniture is knocked about. Moreover, these things happen in broad daylightrarely at night-and often in the presence of several people who could not fail to detect collusion, and whose testimony is in all cases exactly similar. We feel most throughly convinced of the good faith of the entire household, and should not once refer to it but for the satisfaction of those distant readers who, being personally strangers, perhaps not unnaturally are suspicious of the bona fide nature of the marvellous things about which they have read.

Another local journal relates that :

One gentleman, who is well known at most of the markets in the county as a corn merchant, had his curiosity gratified a night or two ago by being allowed to remain in the house. In the dead waist and middle of the night the noises came on so violently that he hastily quitted the premises, and refused to go home alone, so frightened was he. Consequently he had to be conveyed to his residence, and has since been relating his experience to numerous circles. Religious zealots have visited the house, and three of them have held special meetings to exorcise the hobgoblins.

The Bristol Daily Post says:

Correspondents assert that the house is undoubtedly haunted; indeed, it appears from their several statements that the invisible powers have everything their own way, for it is said that even the walls shake at times, while the doors and windows are opened and closed again very frequently in a most forcible manner. Beds shake so violently as to cause the inmates of the house to get up in the middle of the night; pillows and bolsters are taken from beneath the drowsy occupants of said beds; noises, ranging from the reports of many muskets to the distant boom of a field-piece, are heard in different parts of the house, and, in short, the inmates have been horrified almost to death's door. . . However extraordinary it may appear, scores of persons attest the accuracy of the statements made above. A large number of persons from this town and from all the neighbourhood have visited the house to hear the noises and to see the strange pranks. Most of them avow, without the least hesitation, that no human agency could do what they have seen done and escape detection.

And it adds:

If there be really anything true in the doctrines which they (the Spiritualists) preach, they may make converts by the hundred in this neighbourhood, for scores of persons have become favourably disposed towards them in consequence of what has taken place at Muchelney.

MYSTERIOUS BOMBARDMENT OF A HOUSE IN LIVERPOOL.

The Muchelney farm house is not the only place recently subjected to mysterious annoyances. The Liverpool Mercury gives an account of the bombardment of a house "near the junction of Hutchinson Street with Baker Street." It seems that lately, about 2 o'clock one Tuesday afternoon, the inmates of the house were startled by a stone crashing through a pane of glass in the kitchen window, which looks out into the backyard.

At first it was thought the stone must have been thrown by some child, and no particular notice was taken of the matter; but presently another missile struck the window and broke another pane of glass. At short intervals throughout the rest of the day, up till nearly 11 o'clock at night, stones, pieces of coal, and other missiles were thrown at the window, until almost every pane of glass that it contained had been battered out. The occupiers of the house, unable themselves to discover the quarter from whence the stones, &c., came, communicated with the police, and several constables appeared upon the scene. They were equally unsuccessful in their endeavours to discover the author of the mischief. Visits were paid to several of the neighbouring houses, but without in any way clearing up the mystery, and numerous stones were thrown while the officers were actually standing by the window at which the missiles were aimed, without their being able to tell from which direction they came. Yesterday, the bombardment of the window-or rather, of the shutters, which had to be closed-was resumed, though not so continuously as on the previous day. Half a dozen detectives were sent up from the police-office in the course of the morning, in the hope that they would pounce upon the offender, but they were obliged to depart baffled in the object of their visit, and the mystery which surrounds the affair is not yet cleared up. One singular feature about the affair is, that although there are numerous other windows equally within range, only this particular one appears to have been selected as a mark."

DR. HOOKER AND MR. ALFRED R. WALLACE.

The following mention of Mr. Alfred R. Wallace was made by Dr. Hooker, the President, in his opening address, at the meeting of the British Association at Norwich, in August, this year. Speaking of Darwin's theory of continuous evolution and natural selection, he said:-

"I long ago arrived at the conclusion so well put by Agassiz, when he says, 'We trust that the time is not distant when it will be universally understood that the battle of the evidences will have to be fought on the field of physical science, and not on that of the metaphysical.' Many of the metaphysicians' objections have been controverted by that champion of natural selection, Mr. Darwin's true knight, Alfred R. Wallace, in his papers on Protection,' in the Westminster Review, and 'Creation by Law,' in the Journal of Science, October, 1867, &c., in which the doctrines of 'Continual Interference,' the 'Theory of Beauty,' and kindred subjects, are discussed with admirable sagacity, knowledge and skill; but of Mr. Wallace, and his many contributions to philosophical biology, it is not easy to speak without enthusiasm; for, putting aside their great merits, he, throughout his writings, with a modesty as rare as I believe it to be in him unconscious, forgets his own unquestionable claims to the honour of having originated, independently of Mr. Darwin, the theories which he so ably defends."

Mr. Wallace's testimony to the facts of Spiritualism is therefore that of a competent scientific man of the highest reputation, and we hope it will be accepted as such by the other scientific men of the day.