The Spiritualist newspaper > No.413, July 23rd 1880

42
THE SPIRITUALIST. July 23. 1880
dared that if he did get entranced he hoped
that he should make a political* speech. Ac¬
cordingly, while in the trance, he actually
made a violent democratic harangue. When
he awoke, he declared, upon his honour, that
he did not recollect speaking at all. Several
members of the society who were known to be
susceptible, and 'who had been mesmerised
before, demonstrated by repeated experiments
that they could lay down a programme of
proceedings beforehand, and go into.the trance,
and perform it, neither more nor less, and
then, when awake, have no recollection of
what they had done. They could also awake
at a time previously agreed upon. One young
gentleman, named Davis, who was a good
subject, on one occasion when I was present,
said to the company, ‘ 1 will try to go into the
trance, hop all around the room on one foot,
and sing a comic song, and in ten minutes
awake, and not recollect anything that I have
done.’ To the great amusement of his friends
he carried out the programme, and when he
awoke he turned and asked, (Did I really do
it all ? He then solemnly declared that he
had no recollection of it. He then tried the
experiment again, with a determination ex¬
pressed beforehand that he would recollect it;
and he did so.” F. P. T.
Towanda, Pennsylvania, United States of America, July
2nd,1880.
SPIRITS AND WATER LILIES.
BY CATHERINE WOODFORDE.
On Saturday afternoon, the 17th inst., while
sitting at a seance with a lady visitor and Mr.
JT. C. Husk, we had three water lilies brought
by the spirits. The doors and window were
securely closed, and curtains drawn, and I can
certify there were no flowers of the kind in the
house, nor have there been previously this
year. The lilies thus brought through the
closed doors were evidently fresh from their
watery bed, without a single blemish or bruise
upon their immaculately pure white petals,
which were still covered with tiny water drops
when we lighted the candles. The table be¬
neath our- fingers was wetted by the contact of
the flowers, and their stems, which were fully
eight or nine inches in length, and the petals
firm as if made of wax : a proof of the perfect
manner in which this manifestation was accom¬
plished, for everyone knows how extremely
delicate are water lilies, and how soon they
begin to droop and fade.
We have had flowers brought through Mr.
Husk’s mediumship before, but not in such
absolute perfection and freshness as on this
)| occasion. As John King says he is u a slave
to conditions,” the conditions for such a mani¬
festation were doubtless especially favourable.
4, Eeppel Street, London, July 18th, 1880.
NEW EXPERIMENTS.
Si BY R. FRIESE, PH.D.
The extraordinary effect which breathing
?! against the forehead has in cases of nervous
;| headache, is well known to those who are
S! versed in mesmeric treatment. Heither the
laying on of hands nor passes seemed to mo of
such wonderful power as this simple remedy,
>| in relieving a poor sufferer from one of the
S| worst kind of attacks, and my personal ex-
v perience in this line was quite sufficient to
<j induce me to try some physical experiments
| with a view to prove ad oculos the efficacy of a
)\ fluid, the existence of which science denies
l\ and the spirits aver. A few months ago, I
)| gave an account in The Spiritualist, of a very
>| extraordinary power of attraction, which I dis-
covered in the hands of my Breslau medium.
<j I made use of a very simple pendulum, con-
?| sistingof a small wooden ball of the diameter of
>i 7 centim. suspended by a horsehair of one meter.
>1 When in good health, the medium was capable
of drawing this pendulum to about 35, and
?i even 40 degrees, out of its perpendicular posi-
>| tion by approaching her hands to within 10
)j or 12 centim. A modification of this ap-
>] paratus, consisting of two wooden balls of
/j equal size, joined by a tiny stick, proved much
>! more adapted to trace small amounts of this
,1 power, which evinced the following properties.
If the balls had not been previously touched,
) and one of the medium’s hands approached one
>1 of them, the fluid had a weak repulsive power:
}! when touched, or rather grasped by both hands
?! for one minute, it had a strong attractive
> power. This result I turned to account in
trying the effect of breathing. The centres of
a the two balls lying in one horizontal plane,
?| would describe a circle if the whole system
>| were turned in this plane round the point of
s equilibrium. I first asked the medium to
approach the one ball with stretched-out
?! fingers, holding her hand horizontally. A
>| slight repulsion ensued at a distance of 2
)\ centim. Then I breathed gently in the direc-
?! tion of the connecting rod, taking great care
?! not to impart any motion to the balls. When
vj now the medium approached her fingers to
u within 20 centim., a sudden and violent attrac-
?j tion took place, which surprised us so much,
>j that the lady was frightened. She then put
j! her one hand above this ball and it rose per-
]\ pendicularly into the air, following her hand