The Spiritualist newspaper > No.134, March 19th 1875

March 19, 1875.
THE SPIKITUALIST.
137
SPIRITUALISM IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
Physical manifestations seem to be gaining ground
on the Continent. The experiments of the Baroness
Yon Yay in Austria, with Mme. Pucher in the cabinet,
as already relatedin this journal, are being continued
with success ; and in Paris, at the circles of Mr. Fir¬
man, the ordinary movements of objects, playing of
various musical instruments, hand-touching and similar
well-known phenomena, are being produced with regu¬
larly increasing power. A little Indian spirit is also
said to appear sometimes in the light through Mr.
Firman’s medium ship. A Russian gentleman, M. N.
de LvofF, obtained from the Comte de Bullet the assur¬
ance that he had, after sitting daily with Mr. Firman
for several months, seen in a lighted room, the complete
materialised forms of five members of his own family,
who came and pressed his hand, talked familiarly of
their private affairs, and presented him with bouquets
of flowers materialised by them. M. de Lvoff deter¬
mined to follow the example of the Count, and after
sitting fifteen consecutive days with Mr. Firman, had
the pleasure of seeing the complete form of his sister,
whom he was permitted to kiss on the hands and cheek,
while “ she pressed her cheek against mine, and tried
to calm my joy, which amounted almost to pain.’’
It would be of paramount interest and a gain to the
science of Spiritualism if some reliable observer who
has witnessed the materialisations in London through
Miss Cook and Mr. Williams, could observe and report
with equal accuracy on the points of similarity and
difference in these alleged full-form manifestations in
the French capital.
The second edition of the Baron du Potet’s book,
Magie, is about to appear, with a preface in which he
tells men of science that they are welcome to matter as
their monopoly, since he has perceived in nature that
agency which they ignore, that secret law which alone
can prove to men of sense the immortality of the soul
and the existence of a God. The German translation
of Mr. A. R. Wallace’s Defence of Modern Spiritualism,
published in the Fortnightly Review, is appearing in
monthly parts in the Psychic Studies. A correspondence
in the same journal between Mr. Christian Reimers, of
Manchester, and Mr. G. C. Wittig, on the subject of
the ring-test so frequently given in our spiritual circles,
but which the Leipsic writer thinks is too much to
believe, is illustrative of the lack, in Germany, of those
ordinary phenomena with which investigators in Eng¬
land are becoming so familiar. It would surely be
worth the while of such mediums as Messrs. Bastian
and Taylor to make a lengthened tour on the Continent,
so as to bring our hard-working German brethren up
to a level with ourselves in the matter of phenomena.
They would then be able to give us invaluable aid in
working out the problem of Spiritualism from the
mental side, the leaning of the German school of
thought being towards the philosophic, as ours is
towards the practical, solution of things. The second
part of the Report of the Dialectical Society, translated
by Mr. G. C. Wittig, has just been published by M.
Alexander Aksakof.
The Annali dello Spiritismo in Italia, edited by
Niceforo Filalete, and published at Turin, takes as its
motto the dictum of Arago: “ He who asserts that,
outside of the domain of pure mathematics, anything
i s impossible, lacks a knowledge of the first principles
of logic.” The Annali is a thoughtfully-written
journal, from which we hope to give some extracts in a
future article.
ararrapimTience.
[Gnat freedom is given to cor respondents, who sometimes express opinions
diametrically opposed to those of this journal and its reader s.l
REMARKABLE EVIDENCE 0E SPIRIT IDENTITY.
Sib,—In The Spiritualist of Dec. 11th, 1874, you printed a
letter from me, a letter the main portion of which, in view of
the information elicited by it, I will ask you to reproduce:—
In the month of August last, I was staying with Dr. Speer, at Shanklin,
Isle of Wight. We had a number of sittings, and at one of them a spirit
communicated, who gave his name as Abraham Florentine. He said that
he had been concerned in the war of 1812, and that he had lately entered
spirit-life at Brooklyn, U. S. A., on August Sth, at the age of eighty-three
years, one month, and seventeen days. We had some difficulty at first in
making out whether the month and days referred to the age or to the
length of his illness, but he returned on the following evening, and cleared
up the difficulty.
The manner in which the communication was made was most singular.
We were seated, three in number, round a heavy loo-table, which two
persons would'move with difficulty. Instead of raps, to which we are ac¬
customed, the table commenced to tilt. So eager was the communicating
spirit, that the table rose some seconds before the required letter was
arrived at. In order to mark T it would rise, quivering with excitement,
in a manner perfectly indescribable, about K, and then descend at T with a
thump that shook the floor. This was repeated until the whole message
was complete, but so eager was the spirit, and so impetuous in his replies,
that he bewildered Dr. and Mrs. Speer completely (I was in deep trance)
and caused the process to be prolonged over the whole sitting. If I may
venture On a guess, I should say that Abraham Florentine was a good
soldier, a fighting man not nice to meet, and that he retains enough of his
old impetuosity, to rejoice at his liberation from the body which (if I may
guess again) had become a burden to him through a painful illness.
Will the American papers copy and enable me to verify my facts and
guesses ? M. A. (Oxon.)
Mr. Epes Sargent, to whom I privately communicated the
facts of the case, was kind enough to insert for me a para¬
graph in the Banner of Light of Dec. 12th, 1874, embodying
the same [inquiry. The result was to elicit what the Banner
calls “ one of the most singular and well attested evidences of
spirit return which it has been our good fortune to chronicle
during a long experience.” The matter may best be stated in
the words used by the writer in the Banner of Light of Feb.
18th, 1875. It will be observed that a misconception as to the
meaning of the words “ a month and seventeen days” occurs
at first, but this is subsequently cleared up, though, according
to the widow’s account, the age should have been 88 years, 1
month, 27 days. This, however, does not affect the case of
identity.
The original inquiry in the Banner was this, and the result
is quoted direct from that newspaper:—
“ At a seance in England lately a spirit-communication was
received by means of the tilting of a heavy table. The whole
table seemed alive, and as though it were being disintegrated
in the very fibres of the wood. The gist of the communication
was that the spirit was one Abraham Florentine, who died at
Brooklyn, N. Y., August Sth, 1874. He said he was in the war
of 1812, and then, after an interval, added, ‘a month and
seventeen days.’ Can any of our Brooklyn friends inform us
whether they ever heard of Abraham Florentine ?
“ No sooner had that issue of our paper found its way to the
public, than we received by due course of mail the following
reply, which speaks for itself:—•
To the Editor of the “ Banner of Light."
In the Banner to-day received here, is a paragraph concerning a spirit
who manifested through the medium 'of a dining-table at some place in
England, and gave the name of Abraham Florentine, a soldier m the war
of 1812. You make inquiry whether any one ever heard of Abraham
Florentine. I cannot specifically answer that question, but having been
engaged some fourteen years since in auditing the claims of the soldiers of
1812, in the State of New York, I am yet in possession of the records of all
such who made claims for service in that war. In those records appears
the name of Abraham Florentine, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and a full record of
his service can be obtained in the office of the AdjutantrOeneral of the
State of New York, in claim No. 11,518, war of 1812. I think, however,
that he there claimed for a longer term of service than that he gave in
England, his allowance being for 58 dollars. Let your light shine.
Wilson Millar, Claim Agent.
Washington, D.O., Deo. 13th, 1874.
“Pursuant to the advice of our legal correspondent we
addressed a letter to the Adjutant-General S. N. Y., asking for
the facts, without, however, giving any reason for our request,
and received the following courteous reply
General Head-quarters, State of New York, Adjufant-General’s Office,
Albany, Jan. 25th, 1875.
Colby and Rich, No. 9, Montqomery-place, Boston.—Sirs,—In
eply to your communication dated January 22, I have to furnish you the