The Spiritualist newspaper > No.140, April 30th 1875

206
THE SPIRITUALIST.
Apkil 30, 1875.
but to the actiou of radiant heat; and, in working
further at the new discovery, Mr. Crookes has been
able to make fresh revelations to the world relating to
light. These discoveries are the most important upon
this branch of science made since the days of Newton;
they will cause an agitation throughout the most in¬
fluential portion of intellectual Germany, they will also
form an important addition to the honours already pos¬
sessed by English science; and, to crown all, Spirit¬
ualism may fairly claim that it has been the means of
bringing about these results perhaps a century in ad¬
vance of their natural time.
The following quotation is from the Daily Telegraph
of last Tuesday;—
At the ordinary weekly meeting of the Royal Society at Bur¬
lington House, Mr. John Evans, F.R.S., president of the
Geological Society, occupied toe chair. Among those present
were the two secretaries, Professor G. G. Stokes, F.R.S., and
Professor Huxley, F.R.S.: also Dr. William Huggins, Dr. W.
B. Carpenter, Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, Mr. C. W. Siemens,
Mr. Warren de la Rue, Dr. J. H. Gladstone, and Mr. Francis
Gallon.
The Right Hon. Russell Gurney, Recorder of the City of
London, was elected a fellow of the society.
Mr. Walter Noel Hartley, F.C.S., read a paper on “ The
Chemical Constitution of Saline Solutions.”
Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S., then read a paper on some
new discoveries of his relating to the action of light, illustrat¬
ing his remarks by experiments. It had been supposed that no
direct mechanical effect could be produced by light when
luminous rays were allowed to fall upon one end of a most
delicately balanced lever arm suspended in vacuo; but Mr.
Crookes has proved by experiment that, when the compara¬
tively perfect vacuum producible by the Sprengel air-pump is
used, a delicate balance with pith terminals is repelled by heat
and attracted by ice. He exhibited a new instrument called
a Radiometer, by which the intensity of the rays of light fall¬
ing on it from all or either side can be measured as accurately
as heat rays can be measured by a thermometer. It consists
of four pith discs, fixed at the extremities of two crossed
arms of straw, balanced upon a pivot at the point where the
straws cross each other, so that they can spin round on the
pivot. The pith discs at the extremities of the four arms were
white on one side and covered with lamp black on the other.
The whole of this arrangement was enclosed in a glass bulb,
from which the air was removed by the aid of the Sprengel
pump. The discs and arms spun round rapidly when sub¬
mitted to the action of the light of a candle, but did not rotate
when submitted to the action of dark radiant heat. When
a plate of alum, which cut off from luminous sources 95 per
cent, of the heat rays that act upon a thermometer, was placed
between the light and the bulb, the discs still rotated, but
with slightly diminished velocity. The blackened and not
the white surfaces of the discs were repelled by light, although
it might have been supposed that the white surfaces, which
reflected or caused a rebound of the light, would have been con¬
sequently repelled rather than the dark ones. Professor
Osborne Reynolds having some time since suggested that the
effect of repulsion might be due to residual vapour in the
bulbs, and not directly to radiation, Mr. Crookes exhibited
the effects with a bulb containing a lever arm of aluminium
suspended by a wire of platinum, the whole of which arrange¬
ment had been heated to redness again and again during
thirty-six hours of exhaustion by the Sprengel pump, so that
it was difficult to suppose that any residual vapour competent
to produce the observed effects remained in the bulb. Mr.
Crookes further said that in some refined experiments made by
Dr. Balfour Stewart at Kew Observatory, when rapid motion was
produced in vacuo, radiation was obtained outside, whereas in
his (Mr. Crookes’) experiments radiation was applied out¬
side and motion produced in the vacuum, so that the experi¬
ments appeared to be the converse of each other. The lever
arms used in some of the experiments were suspended upon
single fibres of glass, so thin that when one end of one of the
fibres was held in the hand, the other portion would float
about like a spider’s thread, and usually rise till it took a
vertical position; indeed, the whole of the apparatus was
of the most delicate description, made with much skill by his
assistant, Mr. Gillingham. The results given by the experi¬
ments were inexplicable by theory in the present state of
scientific knowledge.
Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., made a few remarks upon a
telegram received from Siam about observations of the recent
eclipse of the sun, which, he said, might, if verified, tend to
prove that outside the great hydrogen atmosphere of the
corona was another and large atmosphere of some compound
substance.
THE FREEING OF MEDIUMS FROM BONDS BY
SPIRIT POWER.
Abridged from “ The Banner of Light” (Boston, April 3).
The undersigned left Boston on the evening of March 13th,
and arrived at Havana, N.Y., on the evening of the loth, for
the purpose of having private seances with Mrs. Compton, the
lady in whose presence very unusual manifestations have
recently taken place. In the presence of Mrs. Compton one
instinctively feels that she is a woman genuinely sincere,
reliable, and honest. No trait of deception marks her charac¬
ter. She is forty-six years old, of good medium size, with
dark hair and eyes. The nervous temperament predominates.
She has always been in very straitened circumstances; has
six children living, the eldest being married.
The circle-room is on the second floor, of medium size, is
uncarpeted, and the windows have closely-fitting inside wooden
shutters, which effectually shut out the light. The cabinet,
triangular in shape, is formed by a partition five feet long,
built across one of the angles of the room. Its sides and over¬
head are blank wall, lathed and plastered. In the centre of
the walled partition is a wooden door, which reaches nearly
to the ceiling, leaving an open space, say fourteen by twenty-
eight inches, over which hangs a dark-coloured muslin curtain.
Within the cabinet is a single chair, with just additional room
enough left for the door to swing open on the inside. One of
our party had previously had a portion of the floor within the
cabinet taken up and carefully examined. The walls also
were thoroughly inspected. The cabinet is not connected
with any other room.
Having previously procured a lot of black cotton lace and
had it made into a sack, we further provided ourselves with
sealing-wax, white cotton twine of small size, and a large
platform scale, on which Mrs. Compton weighed one hundred
and twenty-one pounds. These scales were placed close to the
left side of the door. We then entered the cabinet and com¬
pletely enveloped Mrs. Compton—excepting her head—with
the sack, closely fastening it around her neck, tying it securely
in hard knots to the back of the chair, sealing them with wax
and leaving a piece of silver embedded in it. The lower portion
of the sack, which enclosed her feet, was likewise fastened,
tied, and sealed. It was therefore impossible for her to move
the distance of two inches without detection, or breaking the
twine. Leaving her sitting alone in the chair, within the
cabinet, the door was closed and latched. We then took our
designated places, as before, the writer beside the scales, to the
left of the door. On the right, and three feet from the door,
sat Dr. Storer, while directly in front, perhaps five feet from
the door, sat Judge Freer. All the others formed a semicircle
and joined hands, save us two, who were purposely left free to
watch and more fully test the proceedings. The light was
lowered, singing ensued, and, in about fifteen minutes’ after,
delicate and ghostly hands of various sizes appeared at the
aperture over the door. More singing followed, and, after
another interval of several minutes, a masculine voice—which
purported to be that of Mr. Webster—from within the cabinet,
announced that Katie (not King) would come out, and that,
when she was out, Mr. Bacon was requested to enter the cabinet
and report the result. The latch raised, the door slowly
opened, and in the dim light of the room a white figure stood
partially revealed before us. Retreating within the cabinet for
a moment, as if to accustom herself to the light, she again
stepped out, this time in full view of all present. Instead of
the Mrs. Compton with a much-worn black alpaca dress on,
enclosed in a black sack, fastened, as we had left her but
a few minutes before, this form was clothed in radiant white,
with dress en train, with flowing dark hair, a white, gauze-like
veil over her head, dropping over her face, a mantle of delicate
fabric, also white, resting on her shoulders, and a dark silk
girdle around her waist. Standing before the open door, the
form presented the appearance of a veritable, beautiful female.
She first approached those nearest to the door, then turned
and stood upon the scales, leisurely remaining there till she
was weighed—balancing at ninety-two pounds, twenty-nine
less than the weight of Mrs. Compton. Stepping off, she
walked round a few steps and then entered the cabinet, evi¬
dently to regain power.