The Spiritualist newspaper > No.318, September 27th 1878

150
3?HE SPIRITUALIST.
Sept. 27, 1878.
then, as formerly in the case of the string, secured with my
own seal.
|i When Slade and I were seated at the table in the usual
manner, I placed my two hands over the upper end of the
sealed cat-gut, as shown in the plate, photographed from
life.* The small round table, already referred to, was placed
shortly after our entry into the room, in the position shown
in the picture.
“ After a few minutes had elapsed, and Slade had asserted,
repeated tricks. The same rule holds good as in all other
scientific work. The impartial and cool observer, who con¬
tinues patiently watching the operations of nature, is more
likely to be rewarded than he who disturbs them by trying
to impose his own conditions. As Goethe says:—
‘ Mysteriously in garish day,
Does Nature hide herself, her beauty veiling,
And when she wills not secrets to betray,
Nor screws nor levers will be found availing.’ ”
as usual during physical manifestations, that he saw lights, [\
a slight smell of burning was apparent in the room; it $
seemed to come from under the table, and somewhat recalled K
the smell of sulphuric acid. Shortly afterwards we heard a | ?
rattling sound, at the small round table opposite, as of pieces IS
of wood knocking together. When I asked whether we I?
should close the sitting, the rattling was repeated three K
times consecutively. We then left our seats, in order that j?
we might ascertain the cause of the rattling at the round is
table. To our great astonishment we found the two wooden j?
rings, which about six minutes previously were strung on is
the catgut, in complete preservation, encircling the leg of I?
the small table. The catgut was tied in two loose knots, |s
through which the endless bladder band was hanging un- j?
injured. |s
“ Immediately after the sitting .... Slade fell into one |?
of his usual trances, and informed us that the invisible is
beings surrounding him had endeavoured, according to my \)
wish, to tie some knots in the endless band, but had been K
obliged to abandon their intention, as the band was in j?|
danger of ‘melting’ during the operation under the great js!
increase of temperature, and that we should perceive this by ! ? I
the whiteness of a spot on the band. j s j
“ Having taken the band into my own hands immediately j?|
after the sitting, and held it up to the moment of Slade’s jsl
communication, I felt great interest in testing the correct- j ? |
ness of this assertion. There was, in fact, a white spot as m
indicated, and when we took another piece of exactly the |?j
same material and held it over a lighted candle, the effect is
of the increased temperature was to produce precisely such m
another white spot. This fact, in connection with the Isj
burning smell perceived during the sitting, as well as the \\\
increase in temperature in a former experiment (related on isj
p. 925, Wiss. Abk.), will be worth bearing in mind in further I? I
experiments with four-dimensional movements of bodies. ... js j
“ From the foregoing it may be seen that my prepared j?j
experiments did not succeed in the manner expected by me. jsj
For example, the two wooden rings were not linked together, j? I
but instead were transferred from the sealed cat-gut to the j s |
leg of the round birchen table. The seal was not loosened, j ? j
nor was the top of the table at any time removed ; and it jsl
still remains tightly fastened.” j)j
Professor Zollner concludes with some remarks on the jsj
necessity of complete passivity on the part of the observer j ? j
as regards the conditions under which these manifestations j s j
occur, and points out that their unexpected variety, and the j ? I
fact that the same things are not repeated at will, even jsj
when most desired by the sitters, are additional arguments j?j
why Slade cannot be credited with doing them himself, jsj
since a conjuror has always the greatest success with oft- j)j
THE GHOST OF A DOG.
BY THE BARONESS ADELMA VON VAT (COUNTESS 'WURMBRAND).
I have an interesting story to tell you. A lady of my
connection has written to me such a curious story about a dog’s
ghost, and as you have already mentioned in The Spiritualist
journal occurrences of spectral appearances of animals, I
will tell you this one too. The lady writes to me from
Kempten, in Bavaria; she says :
In my vicinity dwells a very respectable and wealthy
family, Mr. and Mrs. X. When newly married they dwelt
at Munich, in the second floor of a house. Mr. X.' had a
Pomeranian dog, who seemed to be very jealous of the young
wife; he often tried to bite her, and growled continually at
her, especially in the absence of her husband. Once, as she
lay in bed, when her husband was away, the dog sprang at
her throat; she had only time and presence of mind enough
to cry aloud, ‘ The master comes !’ at which words the dog
crawled growling away. After this, Mr. X. resolved to give
away the dog. From that moment the Pomeranian pined
away, fell sick, howled dreadfully, and one morning, at four
o’clock, was found dead. Beginning from that day, Mr. and
Mrs. X. regularly heard, at four o’clock every morning, a
jumping about and a howling just in the same way that the
dog used to do. The other people who dwelt in the house
began to complain about the noise on the premises, and
begged Mr. X. to leave the lodgings. After a time Mrs. X.
dreamed she saw the horrid dog on the stairs showing her
his teeth in bitter wrath. Another day Mr. and Mrs. X.
made a little excursion into the country, when a heavy
thunderstorm and rain set in; so they drove homewards,
and on reaching their house a loud crash of thunder took
place, accompanied by a blaze of lightning; they thought
the house was nearly on fire. On reaching the stairs the
lightning had fallen just in the place where Mrs. X. had
seen the dog seated in her dream. Mrs. X. was so terrified
that they immediately gave up their lodgings in that house.
They were never more disturbed in their new dwelling.”
Before closing I may mention that the President of the
Spiritist Society of Pest, Dr. Adolf Griinhut and his noble
wife, Mrs. Johanna Griinhut, had on the 30th August their,
as we call it, “ silver wedding,” the twenty-fifth anniversary
of their marriage day. The society of Pest presented them
with a beautiful silver drinking cup. They had a seance in
Dr. Griinhut’s rooms that evening, and listened to beautiful
trance addresses through three of their mediums. The
whole was a very touching scene ; the deep religious feeling
of all gave a truly heavenly hue to that soiree.
Gonobitz, Austria.
Signor Rondi has gone to Paris. Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher have returned
to London, and will receive their friends as usual on Monday next.
* The annexed woodcut is an exact copy.