BUCHANAN’S
JOURNAL OF MAN.

Vol. I.

January, 1888.

No. 12.


The Pursuit of Truth.

“To be loyal to the truth is of more account than to be merely successful
in formulating it.”—Popular Science Monthly for December.

Indeed it is; for loyalty to truth is the prior condition of success
in formulating or stating it, and that loyalty not only precedes the
special success in formulating it, but is the prior cause of universal
success
in its attainment. Special perceptive powers and favorable
opportunities may enable scientists to ascertain certain truths, as a
lamp may enable them to discover a few objects near them which
darkness hides from others, but loyalty to truth reveals, like daylight,
all that lies within our horizon, for it opens widely all the
avenues between the mind and universal nature, and prevents our
mental transparency from being darkened in any direction or relation.
He who has this loyalty dominant in his nature never pronounces
anything false which subsequent investigation, or the investigation
by others, proves true. He never becomes an obstacle to the spread
of any truth. He is always the first to welcome a new truth and the
last to falter in sustaining it. He is always ready to recognize the
same sincerity and fidelity in others, and to give a kindly welcome to
the labors and discoveries of other followers of truth. As brave men
readily recognize and honor each other, so do the soldiers of truth
meet in quick sympathy and cordial co-operation.

The labors, the discoveries and promulgations of such men ever
become criteria by which to test the loyalty and truthfulness of
others, for, wherever they are presented, all who live in loyalty to
truth are at once attracted and realize their harmony with the truth.
As the magnetized iron attracts the unmagnetized, so does the loyal
soul charged with truth attract all other loyal souls.

But all through human history we find that inventions, discoveries
and, above all, momentous truths uniformly fail to attract the masses,
either of the learned or the unlearned, as was illustrated in our
December number, and hence we must conclude that, in the present
early or juvenile stage of human evolution, loyalty to truth is one of
the rarest virtues of humanity.

And yet, how often do we meet in literature expressions which
would indicate that the writers were entirely loyal. They mistake
loyalty to their own self-esteem, loyalty to their own dogmatic convictions,
mental limitations, prejudices, and prepossessions for loyalty
to truth, which is a passionless, modest, lovely and noble quality.

 No doubt the contemporaries of Galileo, Newton, and Harvey
indulged in the same self-gratulations. The bigot and dogmatist in
all ages have entertained no doubt of their own loyalty to truth;
but it was loyalty to their own very limited perceptions, and to their
profound conviction that all outside of their own sphere of perception
was falsehood or nonentity, and should be received with supercilious
scorn or crushing blows whenever presented.

Men’s minds are thus narrowed in the base contests of selfishness,
jealousy, and fraud; but of all the demoralizing influences that
darken the mind by closing up permanently its most important
inlets, none have had such a wide-spread and far-reaching power for
evil as the false theology which demands the absolute surrender of
reason to self-evident absurdities.

Benumbed by countless centuries of superstition and passive surrender
to false education, to social influences, to pre-natal conditions,
to the terrors of law and custom, and to the lurid threats and horrors
of the imaginary drama of eternity, the mass of mankind have
lost the power of the dispassionate philosophical reasoning demanded
by loyalty to truth, and they do not know how to appreciate it when
they see it.

Rebelling now against this limitation and slavery, they still carry
in their rebellion the marks of their slavery, and in their honest
agnosticism they still fail to reason fairly in loyalty to truth, and
indulge in the same dogmatism, narrowness or prejudice as when
they were slaves to priestly dogmas.

It is true that in the agnostic scientific classes there is far more
independent reasoning capacity generally than among those who
dwell in the theological limitations, but their independence has not
relieved them from the dogmatism which has so long been cultivated
in the human race by all religious systems. The dogmatism of the
medical college, and of most scientific associations, rivals that of theological
sectarianism.

The Popular Science Monthly, from which the above expression
in behalf of loyalty to truth was taken, is itself a striking illustration
of disloyalty, and rigidly confines itself to the fashionable doctrines of
the schools, excluding from its pages whatever differs from the
prevalent scientific dogmatism, and while denouncing the dogmatism
of theology, exhibiting itself a dogmatism equally blind, unreasoning
and regardless of facts. Experimental demonstrations and scientific
facts, which transcend the limits of their arbitrary theories, receive
as little attention from the dogmatists trained in medical schools, as
they would from a college of cardinals.

The Journal of Man, in the presentation of new truths, attracts
only the candid, loyal and progressive. It does not hope to conquer
the results of inheritance, pre-natal influence and old institutions, or
force any truth upon reluctant and disloyal minds, but it knows that
there is an important and growing class who sympathize with loyalty
and prefer the glowing future to the decaying remains of the past.

To the party of progress, this magnificent republic opens a free
and ample field. The domination of habit and transmitted dogmatism
 is growing continually weaker, fading away in churches and
colleges. The pulpit of today is tolerant indeed in comparison with
the pulpit of our fathers, and the bright, free thought of the advanced
people surrounds the colleges with an atmosphere which is
gradually penetrating their walls and modifying their policy. An
important duty devolves upon every loyal, progressive thinker,—the
duty of speaking out firmly, manfully and distinctly, to swell the
volume of thought which carries mankind onward to a nobler
future.


Occultism Defined.

My own claims to be considered as an exponent of true Occultism
are founded upon the following grounds: When quite young, in
fact, before I had attained my thirteenth year, I became acquainted
with certain parties who sought me out and professed a desire to
observe the somnambulic faculties for which I was then remarkable.
I found my new associates to be ladies and gentlemen, mostly persons
of noble rank, and during a period of several years, I, and
many other young persons, assisted at their sessions in the quality
of somnambulists, or mesmeric subjects. The persons I thus came
into contact with were representatives of many other countries than
Great Britain. They formed one of a number of secret societies,
and all that I am privileged to relate of them is, that they were
students of the two branches of Occultism hereafter to be described;
that they claimed an affiliation with societies derived from the
ancient mysteries of Egypt, Greece, and Judæa; that their beliefs
and practices had been concealed from the vulgar by cabalistic
methods, and that though their real origin and the purpose of their
association had at times been almost lost, it had revived, and been
restored under many aspects. They claimed that alchemy,
mediæval Rosicrucianism, and modern Freemasonry were off-shoots
of the original Cabala, and that during the past 150 years new
associations had been formed, and the parties who had introduced
me into their arcanum were a society in affiliation with many
others then in existence in different countries. These persons,
deeming that the intrusion into their ranks of unprepared minds
would be injurious to the harmony necessary for their studies, carefully
avoided assuming any position of prominence in reference to
the society, so that they might never be solicited to admit those
whose presence might be prejudicial. Indeed it was one of their
leading regulations never to permit the existence of the society to
be known or the members thereof named, until they passed from
earth to the higher life. It is in virtue of this last clause that I am
at liberty to say that Lord Lytton, the Earl of Stanhope, and Lieut.
Morrison (better known as “Zadkiel”), and the author of “Art
Magic,” belonged to this society.

 I should have known but little of its principles and practices, as I
was simply what I should now call a clairvoyant, sought out by the
society for my gifts in this direction, had I not, in later years, been
instructed in the fundamentals of the society by the author of “Art
Magic.” When modern spiritualism dawned upon the world, for
special reasons of my own, the fellows of my society gave me an
honorary release from every obligation I had entered into with them
except in the matter of secrecy. On that point I can never be released
and never seek to be; but in respect to the statements I am
about to make, my former associates,—deeming their publication
might serve to correct some of the erroneous opinions that are put
into circulation by individuals who arrogate to themselves a knowledge,
of which they have not the slightest iota,—not only sanction,
but command me to present to the candid inquirer the following
brief definition of genuine practical

OCCULTISM—ANCIENTLY WRITTEN IN “CABALA.”

Occultism is a study and application of the occult, or hidden
principles and forces of the Universe, or, in its more limited sense,
of Nature.

The study of occultism is called speculative. The application of
that study is practical occultism.

Speculative occultism includes opinions and teachings, often so
widely at variance with commonly received beliefs that it would be
extremely unwise to subject it to the criticism of persons generically
called the world. Speculative occultism of course might be regarded
as speculative only, were it not possible by the aid of practical
occultism to demonstrate its truths.

The subjects which engage the attention of the speculative
occultist are The Creator, or creative power; World Building,
and the order and design of the earth and its spirit spheres; Man,
and his relations to the Creator, the earth, and his fellow-man.

Descent of Spirit into matter, and its growth through embryotic
stages, during which period it is first elemental, then animal, then man.

Ascent of Spirit out of matter, and its progress through future
stages of growth as planetary and solar spirits.

Besides these purely theoretical subjects are suggestions concerning
the best methods of communing with spiritual existences, and
of receiving information from lower and higher states than man.
These, together with some mental exercises and practices, form the
main themes of consideration in the colleges of speculative occultism.
Spirit Communion, together with Astronomy, Astrology,
Mathematics, Geometry, Music, Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology,
and Psychometry, are all kindred branches of study which must
engage the attention of the true occultist.

PRACTICAL OCCULTISM.

Practical Occultism consists, first, of a perfect mastery of the
individual’s own spirit. No advance whatever can be made in acquiring
power over other spirits, such as controlling the lower or
 supplicating the higher, until the spirit within has acquired such perfect
mastery of itself, that it can never be moved to anger or emotion—realizes
no pleasure, cares for no pain; experiences no mortification
at insult, loss, or disappointment—in a word, subdues every emotion
that stirs common men’s minds.

To arrive at this state, severe and painful as well as long continued
discipline is necessary. Having acquired this perfect equilibrium,
the next step is power. The individual must be able to
wake when he pleases and sleep when he pleases; go in spirit
during bodily sleep where he will, and visit—as well as remember
when awake—distant scenes.

He must be enabled by practice, to telegraph, mentally, with his
fellow associates, and present himself, spiritually, in their midst.

He must, by practice, acquire psychological control over the
minds of any persons—not his associates—beneath his own calibre
of mind. He must be able to still a crying infant, subdue fierce
animals or angry men, and by will, transfer his thought without
speech or outward sign to any person of a mental calibre below
himself; he must be enabled to summon to his presence elementary
spirits, and if he desires to do so (knowing the penalties attached),
to make them serve him in the special departments of Nature to
which they belong.

He must, by virtue of complete subjugation of his earthly nature,
be able to invoke Planetary and even Solar Spirits, and commune
with them to a certain degree.

To attain these degrees of power the processes are so difficult that
a thorough practical occultist can scarcely become one and yet continue
his relations with his fellow-men.

He must continue, from the first to the last degree, a long series of
exercises, each one of which must be perfected before another is
undertaken.

A practical occultist may be of either sex, but must observe as the
first law inviolable chastity—and that with a view of conserving all
the virile powers of the organism. No aged person, especially one
who has not lived the life of strict chastity, can acquire the full sum
of the powers above named. It is better to commence practice in
early youth, for after the meridian of life, when the processes of
waste prevail over repair, few of the powers above described can be
attained; the full sum never.

Strict abstinence from animal food and all stimulants is necessary.
Frequent ablutions and long periods of silent contemplation are
essential. Codes of exercises for the attainment of these powers can
be prescribed, but few, if any, of the self-indulgent livers of modern
times can perform their routine.

The arts necessary for study to the practical occultist are, in
addition to those prescribed in speculative occultism, a knowledge
of the qualities of drugs, vapors, minerals, electricity, perfumes,
fumigations, and all kinds of anæsthetics.

And now, having given in brief as much as is consistent with my
position—as the former associate of a secret society—I have simply
 to add, that, whilst there are, as in Masonry, certain preliminary
degrees to pass through, there are numerous others to which a
thoroughly well organized and faithful association might advance.
In each degree there are some valuable elements of practical occultism
demanded, whilst the teachings conveyed are essential preliminaries.
In a word, speculative occultism must precede practical
occultism; the former is love and wisdom, the latter, simply power.

In future papers I propose to describe the two Ancient Cabalas,
and the present attempts to incarnate their philosophy in modern—so-called—Theosophy.

Sirius.


In the foregoing essay, taken from the first number of The Two
Worlds
, edited by Mrs. E. H. Britten, we have the best exposition of
Occultism that has been published. It shows that Occultism,
theoretic and practical, is a matter of intellectual ambition—ambition
to understand the mysteries of nature, and to wield the power
which such understanding gives. It exhibits no ulterior purpose of
using its knowledge for the benefit of mankind, or even of diffusing
it. Its aim is selfish, and the secrecy which it has maintained is not
justifiable in the present condition of our civilization.

Anthropology, which I am endeavoring to introduce for the
benefit of mankind, comprehends the whole of the theory and practice
of Occultism, and there is no need for seeking mysterious societies
for a species of knowledge which is no longer a secret, and which
will be fully illustrated in my future publications.

“Practical Occultism,” as defined by Sirius, is perfectly intelligible
to one who understands the science of the brain. It is an effort to
cultivate into abnormal predominance the heroic, firm, hardy, and
spiritual regions of the brain, to the neglect if not suppression of its
nobler powers. In suppressing sympathy and sensibility, it impairs
the foundation of our most amiable virtues, isolates man from the
companionship and love of his fellow-beings and comes dangerously
near to misanthropy and black magic, or the attempt to use spiritual
powers and the spiritual realm for purely selfish purposes.

Bulwer, it is stated, was one of the occult society. In his case the
pursuit was one of pure selfishness; his motives in his literary career
were selfish and avaricious; his domestic life was detestable, and the
use that he made of his knowledge in his literary labors was meretricious
and fantastic. That noble-minded woman and gifted
medium, the late Mrs. M. B. Hayden, M. D., was received by him at
Knebworth, and gave him ample evidence of truths which he never
publicly sustained.

Whatever withdraws us from society and from the duties to fellow-beings
which are incumbent upon all, is unworthy of encouragement.
The noblest cultivation is symmetrical, and in its symmetry
maintains the supremacy of the ethical sentiments, which recognize
human fraternity.

Nevertheless, this “practical occultism,” abnormal and egotistic
though it be, may develop marvellous powers, at which we may wonder
as we do at the skill of an acrobat or the pugilism of Sullivan.
 It cultivates a will power and a spirituality by which miraculous
phenomena may be shown, but they are of little real value compared
to the nobler miracle of healing those whom physicians have surrendered
to death, and bringing to the knowledge of mankind the
entire truth concerning the future life, and the ennobling lessons
derived therefrom, which bring earth life nearer to heaven.


Psychic Phenomena.

The New York World publishes a narrative of psychic experiments
by its correspondent at Washington which may interest those
who have not witnessed anything like it. They are just such as
have been on exhibition publicly in this country for more than forty
years, but owing to conservative prejudice have not received their
due attention from the press. But as newspaper correspondents and
reporters are a privileged class, they can bring before the public
marvellous phenomena which would not be welcomed from other
sources. The following is the letter from Washington:

“You know what an excitement there has been about mesmerism
in Paris this summer? A lion tamer, who was also a mesmerist,
took into his cages a young lady whom he had mesmerized, and
made his dentate pets jump over her on the floor. There was great
excitement about it, and a law was passed in the French Congress,
I believe, forbidding such exhibitions, even where the consent of the
subject had been obtained previously to losing consciousness.

“This letter will be in the nature of a confession. Last spring,
discovering by accident that I could mesmerize, I took up mesmerism
as a diversion for the amusement of myself and friends. I had
long believed in it entirely and carefully watched its processes, but
I wished to study its philosophy and find out, if I could, the cause
and the limits of its mysterious phenomena.

“I first found that I could, by placing my hand on the forehead
of a young acquaintance and accompanying the slight pressure with
an imperative command, close his eyes and keep them firmly closed
against all efforts of his will. I could compel him to dance or keep
him from moving from his tracks; could prevent his rising from his
chair; prevent his striking his hands together, and, at last, could
prevent him from speaking. In fact, I absolutely controlled his
voluntary muscles in every respect, and could compel him to do
anything that he was physically capable of doing.

“Extending the experiments, I obtained the same control over
others, both men and women, till I had quite a class of sensitives so
responsive that I could control them with ease. Up to this time
they were all perfectly conscious and without any hallucinations;
they knew who they were, where they were and what they were
doing, and they laughed as heartily at the absurd results obtained as
any spectator. Up to this time, too, I had no means of ascertaining
whether the apparent results were genuine. I might be the dupe of
cunning people who were conspiring to fool me, for, in these early
stages, there seems to be no way of scientifically proving it.

 “It was some time before I was able to carry the experiments
further and get control of the consciousness and senses of my class.
At last success came. I made them see and hear mosquitoes and
fight the tormentors with great energy. At this point they became
dazed, and it was easy to command their senses in other respects.
At a suggestion they heard music, the noises of a riot, a thunderstorm,
the roaring of lions, a speech by Col. Ingersoll, and they gradually
came to see vividly anything to which I directed their attention. In
this world of hallucination they lost consciousness—or, rather, they
abandoned their real existence and assumed an abnormal existence,
as one does in a dream.

“I am not yet certain whether this strange condition is imposed on
them by my will, or whether it is self-imposed, subjective, and the
result of expectation on their part. I am inclined to believe the
latter theory is true, because, when I direct their attention to a
horse, for instance, each one sees a different sort of horse, and his
head is in different directions.

“By a few additional passes I can induce a cataleptic state, in
which the sensitive becomes perfectly rigid and can be laid out between
two chairs, his head on one and his heels on another, like a
log. They can also be easily made insensible to pain, so that pins
are stuck through their hands, teeth drawn, and painful but harmless
acids put in the eye, without extorting a sign of feeling. In this
way, and others even more conclusive, I have demonstrated the
good faith of my class.

“I have given several receptions for the entertainment of my
friends, and record here some results for the benefit of those in other
cities who choose to try similar experiments.

“The available class now consists of eight—four gentlemen and
four ladies, from seventeen to forty years of age. Two of these
(both ladies) I have never been able to take into the region of hallucinations.
I can control them physically, can prevent their unclasping
their hands, or laying down a fan, or rising from their chairs, or
pronouncing their own names; but here my influence stops. I cannot
make them think that the room is hot or cold, or that mosquitoes
are prevalent, or disturb the testimony of their senses in any way.

“The other six are lost to the realities of life the instant I touch
them. One of them I can put into a sound sleep in a second, and
he will sleep until I awaken him.

“It should be stated here that these sensitives are above the average
of intelligence and mental activity. Three of them are clerks
in the departments, one, who took the valedictory in college, being
an artist in the Smithsonian. Two are in business for themselves;
one of them, a shrewd, sagacious and level-headed man as one would
meet anywhere, with a sharp commercial turn of mind. This man
differs from the others in being keenly incredulous—sceptical of
his hallucinations when they seem unreasonable.

“For instance, at a reception the other evening, at which the members
of the Cabinet were present with their families, I introduced to
my sensitives a learned pig.

 “‘See here!’ I said, when they were all in the mesmeric trance;
‘here you are in my dime museum. Let me show you my educated
pig.’

“They all wanted to see it, and I whistled, snapped my fingers,
and called their attention to the fine animal before them. They
evidently saw it.

“‘A lovely little white pig!’ said a young lady.

“‘Only it isn’t little and it isn’t white,’ said the silversmith; ‘it
is a big black fellow,’ and he appealed to the others.

“I explained that it was a scarlet pig, and told them it could read
and sing.

“‘Sing! Oh yes, we hear you!’ said the incredulous man sarcastically.

“I snapped my fingers. ‘There he goes!’ said the artist,
‘singing ‘Wait till the Clouds Roll By.’’

“‘I hear singing,’ said Incredulous, turning to me. ‘‘Titwillow,’
isn’t it? How do you work him—the machinery, I mean?’

“The others laughed at him. ‘Why, the pig sings,’ said the
young lady; ‘can’t you hear him sing? can’t you see him sing?’

“‘He looks as if he sang. I see his jaws move, and he sounds as if
he sang,’ persisted Incredulous; ‘but he doesn’t sing. Pigs don’t sing.’

“‘Very well, what is it, then?’ asked one of the clerks, triumphantly.

“‘A tube and a hole in the floor, may be; it’s well done, though,’
said the doubter.

“‘Suppose you go and find the tube,’ suggested the artist.

“He went and kicked around where he supposed it to be, tore up
a piece of the carpet and looked nonplussed.

“‘Yonder’s the pig over by the entrance, singing ‘A Warrior
Bold,’’ said the artist, amid laughter.

“The scoffer came back to his seat and said,

“‘It’s probably ventriloquism.’

“‘Aw!’ said the silversmith derisively, ‘you can’t throw the
voice any such distance nor make it sound clear and sweet like
that. I’ve made a study of ventriloquism.’

“‘Well, I’ve made a study of pig,’ said Incredulous obstinately.

“Then I changed the illusion by making the pig’s ear grow out
three feet long, and then turning him into an elephant with one leg
and four tails.

“Sometimes I turn my class into infants and have them ‘play
school,’ with infinite fun; sometimes I transport them over the seas
to Africa or Japan on my enchanted carpet, where for a brief space
they enjoy all the delights of travel; sometimes we participate in battles,
sometimes visit famous picture galleries, sometimes the artist
enjoys a quiet talk with Socrates, or Moses or Confucius, providing
both questions and answers in a curious dual action of the mind
highly entertaining to the audience.

“The other evening I transformed my artist into President Cleveland.
He assumed the character with quiet dignity, but said he had
had a hard day’s work and was tired.

 “‘Queen Victoria will visit you this evening, you know,’ I said.

“‘No!’ he exclaimed with surprise. ‘I didn’t know she was in
this country. When did she come?’

“‘Yesterday, on the Aurania; here she comes, now.’

“He straightened up as I spoke and received her imaginary Majesty
with real dignity and tact. After bowing and shaking hands he
said:

“‘I have heard with unfeigned pleasure of your Majesty’s approach
to the capital of the republic, and it is my agreeable privilege to extend
to you the freedom of this city and country in behalf of sixty
millions of people. Dan, get the lady a chair!’

“As she seemed to seat herself he listened a moment, smiled and
said: ‘I reciprocate those feelings, as do all Americans, and I trust
that the amicable relations so long preserved between this republic
and the mighty realm of which you are the honored and beloved
ruler may never be broken.’

“‘Where can the lady hang her crown?’ I asked him. ‘It must
have a peck of diamonds in it. Can’t I take it?’

“He looked scornfully at me and I added: ‘Can’t the boys manage
to get it away from her Majesty when she goes down stairs?’

“‘You are a disgrace to this administration, Dan, and have got to
be fired out!’ the President exclaimed angrily to me, and then he
humbly apologized to the Queen.

“He casually added that the fisheries dispute might lead to trouble,
and she would be prudent to let our boys get bait along shore where
it seemed handiest.

“I know of no other thing in which there is so much entertainment
as mesmerism. For the benefit of those who desire to experiment
I append certain conclusions from my own experiments
here:

“1. About one person in ten can be mesmerized.

“2. The proportion of people who have the ‘power’ to mesmerize,
if it be a power, I do not know.

“3. Mesmerism is a trance and seems to me almost identical with
somnambulism.

“4. It is as harmless as sleep. My sensitives occasionally come to
me in the daytime to be put to sleep for the purpose of obtaining
rest.

“5. Hallucinations that take place under mesmerism are seldom
remembered in a subsequent waking state, but are generally recalled
with vividness in a subsequent mesmeric state.

“6. Mesmerized subjects do not see the objects or people in the
room, or hear any noise whatever except the voice of the operator.

“7. My sensitives could have an arm or a leg amputated, I have
no doubt, without suffering any pain.

“8. Some of my sensitives are able to tell what goes on behind
them and where they cannot see it, by some occult sense of which I
am ignorant. I am at present pursuing study along this line.

“Others here are now experimenting, and I think mesmerism is
the coming fashionable ‘fad.’

W. A. Croffut.

 Animal Magnetism.—Methinks that if some of our eminent (?)
scientists were to investigate this much abused subject (as all of
them might) they would soon find themselves hors de combat in
relation to their premises that all manifestations of mind are nothing
but products of matter. Huxley, for instance, that the “mind is a
voltaic pile giving shocks of thought,” and many other quotations
equally as absurd by other materialistic philosophers (?) who claim
prominence as such.

As long ago as 1843 I was induced to investigate and try this
phenomenon mainly for a hygienic purpose and afterwards led on by
curiosity. I had no teacher, consulted no works on the subject, but
derived all I learned in relation thereto by my own individual experiments,
and in parenthesis say that what I learned I hold as above all
price in settling in my mind the vexed question, “to be or not to be.”

In 1847 I was in Wisconsin, and for the satisfaction of others I
was induced to a renewal of experiments in magnetism. I was
located with several other families with a view of forming a co-operative
colony, so that excepting myself the rest had their
residences closely together, whilst mine was half a mile from the
rest. The subject at one time was brought up for discussion, and an
earnest desire on the part of many to see something of it resulted in
my finding a subject to experiment with at once, and fortunately he
proved to be an extraordinary one. The finding of property through
him in a mesmeric condition was a thing of common occurrence, and
in some instances he seemed to be conscious of the mental conditions
under which the property was lost. I found that he could take
cognizance of what was occurring out of his sight, by pre-arrangements
to test him.

One evening I mesmerized him, and in imagination took him to
England, and prepared as I was to accept the marvellous, I was considerably
surprised at the probabilities of some statements from a
letter received afterwards. Telling of this to my neighbors, they
suggested the institution of a series of experiments to thoroughly
test the matter. The course pursued was this: His brother would
magnetize him, distant from me one-half a mile, and in the evening,
according to arrangements, my family were to be engaged at anything
suggested to our minds at the time, something for instance
somewhat out of the ordinary routine of family occupation, to make
it more apparent, and by comparing notes it was evident that through
some mysterious law or power of mind he was with us taking
cognizance of our actions. This was so thoroughly demonstrated
that the parties concerned would have subscribed and sworn to the
same before any officer qualified to administer an oath.—A. Lansdell,
in Golden Gate.

Good Clairvoyance.—Dr. E. S. Packard, of Corunna, Me.,
in the Eastern Star, states that Mr. David Prescott, of South Sangerville,
over ninety years of age, “wandered away into the woods,
and not returning, a crowd of over a hundred men hunted for him
nearly two days; the mill pond near his house was drained. Search
was made in every direction but to no success.

 “A gentleman of that place decided to call in the aid of Mrs. Stevens;
she told him somebody was lost, and not being able to visit the
place she drew a map or chart of the locality, giving directions, by
which, on his return he was immediately found alive, but died the next
day. The day following I was at South Sangerville, and stopping at
this gentleman’s house, examined the map, which was perfect in
every respect. The house and shed were correctly drawn, the mill
and pond near the house were marked, the field and woods, two
fences over which Mr. Prescott must climb, even to the swinging of
the road by the house was definitely given.

“The spot where she said he was, was shown by a large black mark,
and he was found exactly in that place. When we consider that
Mrs. Stevens never saw this place in her normal condition, it is to
me a wonderful test of spirit power.”

Hypnotism in Insanity.—We learn from the German periodical,
Sphinx, that hypnotism has been used in an insane asylum near
Zurich since March, 1887, in 41 cases, a report of which has been
made by Dr. Forel. In fourteen cases there was a failure, but in
twenty-seven there was a degree of success without any unfavorable
results afterwards. In four of the cases due to intemperance a cure
was effected and the patients joined the temperance society. A
morphine eater was cured in the same manner in six weeks and dismissed
from the asylum.


The Ancient Iberians.

THEIR STATION IN CANADA DESCRIBED BY THE REV. W. H. H.
MURRAY.—A PSYCHOMETRIC REPORT ON AN ANCIENT RACE.

The Rev. W. H. H. Murray, the eloquent minister who was once
so conspicuous in Boston, on a yacht excursion to Canada recently
wrote from Tadousac to the Boston Herald as follows:

“At that point of time touched by the earliest ray of historic
knowledge, the eye of the student of human annals sees, occupying
the Spanish peninsula, a race of men called Iberians. These old
Iberians were not a tribe or clan, but a people, numerous and potential,
with a fully developed and virile language, skilled in arms and
the working of precious metals, and industriously commercial. This
much can be clearly inferred from the extent of their territory and
the remnant of them, with their characteristics and habits, which
still remain. This old people, themselves a colony from some other
country, once existent and highly civilized in the remote past, spread
from the Mediterranean Sea to the slopes of the Pyrenees, and all
over southern Gaul as far as the Rhone, and flowed westward with
a movement so forceful that it included all the British Islands. All
this happened 4000 to 5000 B. C. They are older than the Egyptians
probably by 1000 years, and were strong enough to attempt the
conquest of the known world.

 “These Iberians colonized Sicily. They were the original settlers
in Italy and pushed their way northward as far as Norway and
Sweden, where can still be found among the present inhabitants
their physical characteristics—dark skin and jet black hair. This
ancient people were not barbarians, but highly civilized. They had
the art of writing and a literature. Poetry was cultivated. Their
laws were set in verse; and for these laws thus written they claimed
an antiquity of 6000 years.

“This ancient race has passed away, as all great races do. The
rise and decline of a people are as a day. They have a sunrise, a
noon, a sunset, and there remains of them and their splendor nothing
but a gloaming, a twilight of a thousand years, perhaps, and after
that

OBLIVION’S STARLESS NIGHT.

“This old Iberian, world-conquering race came to its sunset hour
a thousand years ago, and the gloaming after their sunset is deepening
into that gloom which hides all. Only a remnant, a hint of the
old-time radiance, remains up to this day.

“In Southern Europe, the remnant of this antique race, the fragment
of a root with the old-time vigorous sap in it, may still be
found. There, on the Spanish peninsula where its cradle was rocked,
the grave of a once powerful race is being slowly sodded; for there
still live that strange people called the Basques. It matters not today
what they are—chiefly mountaineers, I think—but they are of
the old Iberian stock, and the Iberians were colonists from some
unknown land, pre-historic, undiscoverable by us. Colonists and
colonizers also. From some unknown land, hidden from us in the
gloom of ages, these Iberians came to Southern Europe in ships. To
Sicily they went in ships; to Britain and Ireland; to Norway also,
and where else, or how far or for what, is left to conjecture. But
being strong in numbers, ambitious to conquer, skilled in navigation,
we can well believe that they pushed their flag and commerce nigh
to the ends of the world.

“Now these Basques, to-day mountaineers, they tell me, were
once, nor long ago, great sailors. In instinct and habit, they were
true to the old Iberian stock, to which they were as the last green
leaf on a dying tree. They were of a world-conquering race, and
they sailed the seas of the world, seeking profit fearlessly. Four
hundred years ago Jacques Cartier, himself a Breton, with the old
Basque or Iberian blood warm in him—for the Bretons were of the
old Iberian stock, with the same temper and look of face—sailed
into the gulf of the St. Lawrence, and found—what?

THE BASQUES BEFORE HIM.

Not one Basque ship, but many. Engaged in what? In hunting
whales. Whalers they were, and whalers they had been in these
parts for years and centuries.

“How know I this? Because—the records are scanty, and pity it
is that they are not fuller—Cartier himself, and other of the old
navigators to these waters, found not only the Basque whaling ships
 before them, but the nomenclature of all the shores and of the fish
in the waters purely Basque. Bucalaos is the Basque name for codfish,
and the Basques called the whole coast Bucalaos land, or codfish
land, because of the multitudes of codfish along the coast. And up
to this day, underlying the thin veneer of saint this and saint that,
which superstitious piety has given to every bay and cape and natural
object in gulf and on river, you find the old Basque names of
places and things—the solid oak beneath the tawdry coating applied
by priestly brush for churchly purposes. There is Basque harbor,
Basque island, and old Basque fort, and a place known as the
spot where these old-time whalers boiled their blubber and cured
their catch of fish. It was from these old Basque whalers, whose
fathers and forefathers for a thousand or thousands of years had visited
this coast in commerce, and who knew every cape, bay, island,
shoal, and harbor from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Tourmente, as
well as from the old Icelandic pilots, that Columbus learned of the
existence of this Western Continent; and when he sailed from Lisbon
on his ‘world-seeking voyage,’ I make no doubt that he as
surely knew, by actual information, of America, as I know that the
island of Anticosti is but 200 miles below me. And yet I read in a
paper somewhere lately that some wise dunce had proposed to ‘celebrate
the fourth centennial of the discovery of America by Columbus’!
That’s rich!

“To-night the yacht Champlain is swinging at anchor in the harbor
of Tadousac, and I am writing in her little cabin with a profound
conviction that, a thousand years

BEFORE COLUMBUS WAS BORN,

a little group of men, Basques by name, then living in southern
Europe, a remnant of the old Iberian race, anchored their ships in
the same harbor in the month of August annually. Only half a
mile to the west of me, the Saguenay, whose bottom is one hundred
fathoms deeper down than the bed of the St. Lawrence, pours its
gloomy current between the stupendous cliffs of rock which make
for its resistless passage an awful portal. These monstrous cliffs of
bare, gray rock have not changed in form or color or appearance
since some force, next to that of the Almighty, lifted them from the
under world and placed them to stand eternal sentinels at the entrance
to this strange, impressive, awe-inspiring river—for the wind
and wear of unnumbered centuries have left them cold and bare,
soilless and treeless, save where some stunted shrub, with a single
root, has spiked itself into a crevice, and there stands starved and
dying, as it lives its withered life.

“As it is to-night to eye and ear, so was it centuries ago; and so
the old Basque whalers saw it while yet the great continent to the
west was a trackless wilderness from ocean to ocean and gulf to gulf.
And Columbus and Jacques Cartier and Champlain were not, by five
hundred years, yet born.

“The harbor of Tadousac is a basin shaped like a sickle. On the
west the mountain wall of the Saguenay protects it. The eastern
 curve is sheltered by vast sand lanes, scoured from the sea bottom
and whirled upward by some mighty eddy in geologic ages. To the
north are mountains of stone, their gray surface flecked here and
there by stunted fir and cedar or dwarfed birches. Between these
mountains of rock and the water of the harbor or basin is a short,
narrow plateau, lifted some fifty feet above the water line, every foot
of which is historic to a degree. On no other bit of ground of equal
size on the American continent has so much been done and suffered
which can interest the curious, touch the sensibilities, or kindle the
imagination and fan it into flame.

There is reason to think that before the Christ was born the old
Iberian ships were here; and their descendants, the Basques, continued
the commerce which their progenitors had established and
which rendezvoused here 1,500 years after the Galilean name had
conquered kingdoms and empires. The Norsemen were here, we
know, a thousand years ago, and many a night the old sea kings of
the north drank out of their mighty drinking horns good health to
distant ones and honors to Thor and Odin. Then, late enough
to have his coming known to letters, and hence recorded, Jacques
Cartier came, himself a Breton, and hence cousin in blood to the
Basque whalers, whom he found here engaged in a pursuit which
their race had followed before Rome was founded or Greece was
born, before Jerusalem was builded, or even Egypt, perhaps, planted
as a colony. St. Augustine, Plymouth rock, Quebec—these are
mushroom growths, creations of yesterday, traditionless, without a
legend and without a fame, beside this harbor of Tadousac, whose
history, along a thin but strong cord of sequence, can be traced
backward for a thousand years, and whose connection with Europe
is older than the name!

PSYCHOMETRY AND ARCHAEOLOGY.

Whether “the thin but strong cord” by which Mr. Murray pulls
the old Iberians to these shores be mainly historical or imaginative,
I have not attempted to decide; but as to the old races of Southern
Europe there are relics already sufficient to evoke their history by
psychometric exploration.

The Popular Science News of Boston gives a sketch of some old
relics from “La Nature” which I quote as follows:

“Recent explorations in Spain by two Belgian scientists, the
Messrs. Siret, have resulted in some very interesting discoveries.
Relics of a prehistoric race have been found in great abundance,
ranging from the stone age to that of bronze and metals. These people
buried their dead not only in stone graves or cells, but also in
great jars of burnt clay, accompanied by pieces of pottery and other
articles of use and value. This form of jar-burial is very widespread,
and examples have been found from Japan to Peru. These relics
are supposed to belong to that ancient race which lived in Europe
previous to the Aryan immigration, the various branches of which
are known as Iberians, Pelasgians, Ligurians, etc., according to the
country in which they lived.

 “Several skeletons were found adorned with silver and gold ornaments.
One of the most remarkable is illustrated here. It is a
female skull encircled by a band of silver, to which is attached a
thin plate of the same metal. It is not known whether it was originally
worn in the position as when found, or, as is most likely, had
been accidentally displaced after burial. This skull was found in a
cave near the station of Fuente-Alamo, where gold and silver are
found in small quantities in the soil; and it is quite possible that in
those ancient times the mining of the precious metals was a regular
occupation of the inhabitants.”

The skull described above.

Psychometric Description.—Mrs. Buchanan, describing the
subject from this engraving, without seeing it or knowing what it represented,
spoke as follows:

“This is far away; it is remains of some kind; remains of a human
being, of a very remote type of female. Her surroundings
were very rude. She was of a race of strong animal instincts—a
large people. She seems something like a squaw. (What of their
habitations?) They were very rude, as much like caves as anything.
I think they lived in caves and rocks. They hunted and fished.
Their weapons were of stones, but they had some kind of metal
which they could hammer out. They dried their food in the sun—fishes
and meats. They had very little agriculture. They had a
process for making things they wanted for domestic use, and for
weapons, as well as stone implements. They may have used the
precious metals, not as money but for ornaments. It was not a numerous
race, did not propagate fast. They have all died out. There
is no vestige of them on the earth. They were a brown, dark colored
race. Their heads were low and faces large; jaws prominent.”

Evidently this is not the race of which Mr. Murray speaks—neither
Iberian nor Basque.


 The Star-dust of the Universe.

The distinguished astronomer, Norman Lockyer, has lately read a
paper before the Royal Society (London) under the title of a “Preliminary
Note on the Spectra of the Meteorites,” which advances
some of the boldest theories and suggestions ever offered concerning
the Universe, which cannot fail to interest the readers of the Journal
of Man
.

According to Mr. Lockyer the meteors which we have been accustomed
to consider trivial or incidental matters in planetary and stellar
systems, no more important than the dust which the housewife raises
from parlor and chamber, are really fundamental and basic elements
of the Universe, capable of generating comets, planets, suns and stars.

If this idea can be entertained, meteors must be vastly more numerous
than the world has supposed. Cosmical space, according to Mr.
Lockyer, is filled with meteorites of various sizes, flying in many
directions with enormous velocities and moving in certain orbits like
larger bodies. Many observations have been made to determine the
number of these meteorites. Dr. Schmidt, of Athens, in seventeen
years of observation concluded that in a clear dark night an observer
would see on an average fourteen an hour at one station. Other
astronomers have calculated that if observations were made over the
whole earth, ten thousand times as many would be seen as could be
seen by a single observer. Calculating thus, it has been inferred
that about 20,000,000 luminous meteors fall on the earth every twenty-four
hours, besides the innumerable amount of minute bodies too small
to be seen by telescopes—which some suppose to be twenty times as
numerous as the visible.

Prof. H. A. Newton makes some astounding estimates on this subject—that
the orbit of the earth is filled with meteorites, about 250
miles apart, making a group of about 30,000 in a space equal to that
of the earth. If such calculations are reliable, the query must arise,
How much effect can such a meteoric shower every day in the year
exert on the orbital motion of the earth, in retarding its velocity?
The effect must be greatly increased if, according to Prof. Newton,
the velocity of meteors striking the earth is about thirty miles a
second, varying from ten to forty.

From such a basis as this rises the grand hypothesis of Mr. Lockyer,
who is a courageous theorist, that all cosmic space is filled with
meteorites, that they go in swarms, and that not only comets but
stars are formed by conglomerate aggregations of meteorites.

Schiaparelli, in 1866, demonstrated that the orbit of the August
meteors was the same as that of the comet of that year. It is in
August and November of each year that we have the most brilliant
display of meteors in two distinct groups, or orbits. Those of August
come from a point in the constellation of Perseus and those in
November from a point in the constellation Leo. They are believed
to fill two distinct orbits or rings making an elliptical orbit round
the sun. In such orbits, comets are believed by astronomers to be
formed by a concentrated swarm of incandescent meteorites rendered
 luminous by collisions. But this hypothesis of innumerable collisions
between meteorites travelling in the same orbits does not appear
very plausible.

This doctrine of the genesis of comets, advanced by Schiaparelli,
is extended by Mr. Lockyer to the genesis of all great luminous
bodies. Nebulæ, comets, stars, variable and temporary stars, are
all thus brought under a general law and method of genesis. The
increasing approximation and condensation of the meteorites is
seen in different classes of stars. Stars of the class iii.a are not so
far advanced as others.

The next step in the hypothesis is that in the extreme approximation
and condensation of the meteorites a degree of heat is generated
which converts the whole into a mass of incandescent vapor, at
a “transcendental temperature.” The maximum temperature being
thus attained, a cooling process begins, which is seen in our sun and
other stars of the second class. Other stars, according to Mr.
Lockyer, of class iii.b exhibit spectra which show that their temperature
is not so high, and the last stage is attained by stars and other
bodies which have ceased to be luminous, and, therefore, are not
seen, but may be recognized by the perturbations which they produce
in the movements of other bodies.

According to this hypothesis our solar system was once but a
mighty swarm of meteorites, extending as far as the farthest planet
at present. We may as well suppose its materials to have been a
swarm of meteorites as to suppose a chaotic fire-mist. Mr. Lockyer
supposes the clash of meteor swarms to have produced new stars, and
suggests the possibility of stellar or planetary bodies coming into
collision, though no observations ever made yet give an example.

The destroyed planet, Sideros, discovered by Prof. Denton, illustrates
that the universe has its disorder and tragedy as well as our
own sphere. The time is coming when all these mysteries are to be
cleared up—it will be when Psychometry is added to our telescopic
and spectroscopic methods. Then will astronomy and all other
sciences receive their grandest enlargement. In this task I cannot at
present engage, for the limitless field of Anthropology alone is too
much for a solitary scientist laboring for the advent of “The New
Civilization
.”


Miscellaneous.

Bright Literature.—New publications have just been received
which express the bright mental activity of the present time. The
first number of The New Christianity, which has just appeared, bears
the editorial names of B. F. Barrett and S. H. Spencer, and is issued
by the Swedenborg Publishing Association, Philadelphia, published
every Thursday in sixteen large pages, at $2 per annum. At so
moderate a price it should have a large circulation. The name of
Rev. B. F. Barrett is a sufficient guarantee of the literary excellence,
profound thought and liberal aims of this weekly. The Association,
of which Mr. Barrett is president, holds “the good of life to
 be paramount to the truth of doctrine; charity superior to faith;
doctrine (though it be from the Lord out of heaven) to be of no
value save as a means to this divine end—purity of heart and righteousness
of life.” Hence, they have been more intent on diffusing
their principles than building up a religious establishment. The
Association has condensed Swedenborg’s writings into ten small volumes,
in about one-tenth of the compass of the unabridged works,
and has sold about 37,000 volumes, besides many thousands given
away.

The Boston Herald says of this publication that it “deserves a
cordial welcome as an attempt to express, through the religious
press, a wider interest in the things of this world than most of the
New Church papers have aimed at, … a broader treatment of
what concerns our common Christianity than has been heretofore
attempted in this religious connection, and thus satisfy the New
Church people, who realize that they are still in the world, as well
as the no-church people, who prefer smaller doses from the abstract
writings of Swedenborg, and more of the thought of New Churchmen
about what all men are thinking of.”

The Two Worlds, published weekly, at 61 George Street,
Chatham Hill, Manchester, England, at 2d. a number, 2s., 2d. for
thirteen weeks, or 8s., 8d. per annum in advance, is under the editorial
control of Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten and E. M. Wallis. The
first number is dated Nov. 18, 1887. The names of its editors are a
sufficient guarantee of its ability and its noble aims. They are
admired and honored in America as well as Europe, and have thousands
of friends. The first number fully sustains the expectations
raised by their names. There is a brightness, vigor, independence
and eloquence in the editorials which are refreshing. The salutatory
says: “We do not propose to inflict on readers searching for light
from the higher world matter beneath instead of beyond the reader’s
previous status of thought and education. The spiritual rostrum
should be the sphere of instruction alike to listener and reader,—not
the school in which unfledged and half-developed mediums seek
to entertain their audiences by practicing the A B C of the oratorical
art.”

They say, also, “That the scope of this journal may not be misunderstood,
we desire to state at once, and in advance of our future
issues, that we propose to traverse, as far as possible, the wide and
varied fields of human interests that might be vitalized and exalted
by that knowledge of the life hereafter, which spirits alone can
demonstrate. Instead of confining ourselves, therefore, to the
relation of phenomenal facts and speculative philosophy, we shall
endeavor to show how beneficially the spiritualistic revelations of the
nineteenth century might operate through such departments of earth
life as reform, science, theology, politics, occultism and the only true
and practical religion, viz.: goodness and truth in the life here as a
preparation for heaven and happiness in the life hereafter.” As to
Occultism and Theosophy, they say: “Every article that will appear
in these columns will be written by one who knows, and who will
 deal with those subjects from the standpoint of practical experience.”
The article on this subject in the first number is extremely
interesting and instructive, in fact, the first clear and satisfactory
statement that has been published. Among other facts it mentions
that “Lord Lytton, the Earl of Stanhope, and Lieut. Morrison (better
known as Zadkiel), and the author of Art Magic, belonged to this
society,”—a secret Occult society in England, successor to the
ancient societies of Egypt, Greece and India.

There is no reason to doubt that the Two Worlds will have a brilliant
career, and do much to elevate the tone and enhance the reputation
of spiritual science. The inspiration of Emma Hardinge
Britten is of a high order, and flows into a mind which has also
a strong grasp on external life. Either on the rostrum or through
the press she is a distinguished leader in the spiritual movement.
Mr. Wallis has also earned a high rank as an exponent of Spiritualism
on its highest ethical plane.

Foote’s Health Monthly.—If any of my readers are not
already acquainted with Foote’s Health Monthly, published at New
York, at 50 cents a year, they will find it worthy of their attention.
Dr. E. B. Foote is one of the most conspicuous and worthy of
America’s medical reformers. His “Plain Home Talk,” when first
issued on a smaller scale as “Medical Common Sense,” sold to the
amount of 250,000 copies, now under the title of “Plain Home
Talk,” containing 935 pages, with 200 illustrations, the publishing
company say that they issue 2000 or more copies every month. Its
vast circulation is not surprising when we consider that it is almost
a cyclopedia of medical information for the people at the amazingly
low price of $1.50. Copies of this valuable work may be obtained
from the editor of the Journal of Man, or from Dr. E. B. Foote,
120 Lexington Avenue, New York. The people need medical information,
and Dr. Foote has for many years been the leader in popular
medical enlightenment.

Psychic Theories.—An esteemed correspondent says, “I trust
you will soon have space and time in which to fully discuss theosophy,
and its bold assertion that Spiritualism is but the manifestation
of dangerous elementals or of the souls of those sent untimely
from this life as suicides and executed criminals, who until their selfish
desires are gratified, make use of ‘astral shells’ of the real
spirits of our dead friends, in order to wickedly deceive us, a discouraging
view.” Theosophy or divine wisdom does not make such
assertions. They are but traditional dogmas which did not
originate in scientific investigation. Those who make such assertions
may call themselves theosophists, but they have no exclusive
right to such a name, which belongs to all seekers of divine wisdom.
American theosophy as represented by the Journal of Man
makes no such assertions, and relies upon investigation, never receiving
the speculative notions of darker ages without evidence, whether
they relate to Metempsychosis, or the garden of Eden, the burning
hell, the purgatory, or the various pictures of the infernal
 and supernal regions which had been current in the old world before
such realms were ever investigated.

When my readers hear any such theories advanced, let them
quietly ask for the evidence, what are the facts on which such opinions
are based, when were they discovered, who were the investigators,
and what was their method of investigation? If such questions
cannot be answered, the theories deserve little attention.

Twentieth Century Science, Dawning at the end of the
Nineteenth.
—In the 20th century, Psychometry will become
the guide of the nations. The world will understand itself. Every
mile on the surface of the globe will be familiarly known.

An important event anywhere will be immediately known everywhere.
The planets and their inhabitants will be known, and much
more known that need not be mentioned at present. The healing
art will approximate perfection. Criminals will be reformed. Their
number will be diminished. The juvenile nations of the earth will
be more or less under the care of the adolescent and peace will be
maintained.

These are not psychometric forecasts, but rational inferences, from
our increasing rate of progress.

Comparative Speed of Light and Electricity.—The French
physicist Fizeau calculated the velocity of light at 185,157 miles a
second; Cornu, another Frenchman, calculated it at 185,420, and
Michelson obtained 186,380 as the result of his calculation. Wheatstone,
the English electrician, found that free electricity travelled
288,000 miles a second; Kirchoff concluded, from theoretical considerations,
that an electrical current sent through a wire in which it
meets no resistance has the velocity of 192,924 miles a second.
The velocity of an electric current sent through iron wire is 62,100
miles a second; through copper wire, 111,780 miles. We think justice
will be done by deciding that electricity is the faster.—N. Y.
Sun.

Yet practically speaking, electricity in wires is much slower. Prof.
Gould found that telegraph wires at a moderate height, transmit signals
at the rate of 12,000 miles a second; but if the wires are suspended
high enough, the velocity may be raised to 16,000 or even
24,000 feet a second. Subterranean wires and submarine cables
transmit slowly. Wheatstone’s experiments were made fifty-four
years ago, and have not since been confirmed. I would say light
is the faster, for electric currents are always retarded by the
medium.

Wonderful Photography.—Dr. H. G. Piffard exhibited in
New York to a society of amateur photographers a new method of
taking instantaneous photographs by means of a brilliant light made
by sprinkling ten or fifteen grains of magnesium powder on about
six grains of gun-cotton. When this is flashed in a dark apartment
it gives light enough to take a good photograph. It will do the same
if flashed out of a pistol; so that a citizen may have his revolver with
a small camera on the barrel and by flashing the gun-cotton out of
 his pistol he can make a photograph of any burglar or robber in the
dark before he fires a bullet.

Wooden Cloth.—An Austrian has patented a process for boiling
wood and cleaving it into fibres that may be spun into threads
which may be woven.

The Phylloxera pest, which has wrought such havoc among
vineyards throughout Europe, has invaded California also. France
has lost many millions, and has offered a reward of 300,000 francs for
the discovery of a remedy. A Turkish farmer is said to have discovered
accidentally that the remedy is to plant Sorghum or sugar-cane
between the vines, which draws the phylloxera from the grapevines.
It is said to have been successfully adopted already in Turkey,
Croatia, Dalmatia and Eastern Italy.

Falling Rents, in England.—While landlords are battling for
rents foreign rivalry is destroying rent, and it is still going down.
Large estates have a difficulty in getting either tenants or purchasers.
The fall in prices and rents extends all over England. On
a farm of 2,700 acres, in Lancashire, the tenant had been paying five
dollars an acre, but he refused to take it for 1887 at two dollars and
a half. Lands in 1876 were commonly valued at $260 per acre; but
they would not bring over $150 to-day. The Court Journal says:

The depreciation in the value of English land is witnessed by one
or two statements published last week. We are, in the first place,
told that within a radius of twelve miles around Louth, in Lincolnshire,
there are now 22,400 acres of land without tenants. In the
same shire the largest farm in England has been thrown on the owner’s
hands. It is 2,700 acres in extent and the tenant paid £1 per acre.
This year a reduction of 50 per cent was made to him, but finding
that although an experienced and energetic farmer, that even at this
reduction he could not make two ends meet, he has thrown up his farm.

Boston Civilization.—During the four years ending Sept. 30,
1884, there were 971 liquor sellers condemned for violating the law,
who appealed to the superior court. Of the entire number, only 19
were fined, and 729 were allowed to escape by dropping the prosecution.
But the law against preaching on the Boston Common is enforced
with faithful severity, and Rev. W. F. Davis has been
sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for preaching without a permit.
Evidently rum-selling is more popular than Protestant preaching,
and pugilism is more popular than either, as the mayor and some
councilmen participated in putting a $10,000 belt on John L. Sullivan,
the slugger, before the largest audience the Boston Theatre
would hold, on the 9th of August, 1887. But perhaps other cities
are no better. Cincinnati has one liquor-selling shop to every
twenty voters. The cities will not tolerate prohibition, but it is
successful elsewhere.

Psychic Blundering.—The Psychical Research Society held a
meeting a few weeks since in Boston. Their first communication
was on Thought Transferrence, by Dr. H. B. Bowditch.

 “It was stated that a large number of experiments had been made,
but the results were of a negative value. The attempt to establish
the reality of thought transferrence had not been very successful.”
What else but negative results are to be expected from negative
people,—people who have been in this matter mere negations for forty-five
years, during which discoveries have been in progress all around
them, which they have refused to look at, and refused to test by
experiment. Still, if the march of mind for half a century can finally
rouse the sluggard class, it is well. For “while the lamp holds out
to burn,” etc. It was a Dr. Bowditch who, in 1843, certified as
secretary of a committee to the facts which demonstrate the science
of Anthropology, and then relapsed into an agnostic slumber and
forgot all about it.

Beecher’s Mediumship.—It has been generally believed in
spiritual circles that Henry Ward Beecher had the inspiration which
belongs to mediumship. This quality appears to have been inherited
from his mother. On one occasion she was suddenly impelled to
leave her apartment and rush out to an old carriage house, where
she arrived in time to save the life of her youngest child, which had
fallen through a carriage top and was caught in such a way that if
she had not arrived then he would have been strangled.

A Scientific Cataract.—The blindness of the old school medical
profession to modern progress is due to what may be called a
cataract formed by medical bigotry. It will require half a century
to remove this cataract. We are reminded of its existence by a
paragraph in the Boston Herald speaking of the cancer in the throat
of the crown prince of Germany, which the faculty expect to prove
fatal, which it calls “a physical disorder for which medical science
has yet to discover a remedy; it is not at all likely that this fortunate
discovery will occur soon enough to be of service to the heir-apparent.”
This flat denial of the curability of cancer is in the
same columns in which an enlightened correspondent gave ample
proof of cures with names and dates. Such denials are published in
a city where a diligent inquiry would reveal about three hundred
cases of successful cure of cancer well attested. But alas! these
cures were not made under the authority or by the disciplined followers
of the old school American Medical Association and therefore they
cannot be recognized or heard of. There is a dignity which cannot
see or feel anything it does not wish to see or feel; which reminds
us of a story of two ladies. Said Madam F., a Swiss lady, to Madam
R., a French woman, “I was surprised to see you walking with Col.
M. yesterday. Do you not know that he was publicly horsewhipped
by Capt. D. of the Infantry?” “I do not mind such remarks at all
(said Madam R.,) for I know that Col. M. is a man of honor and too
dignified a gentleman to notice anything going on behind his back.”

Speaking of cancer, the press and the political world are greatly
concerned at the probable fate of the crown prince of Germany,
attacked with cancer in the larynx, and with little or no hope of
surviving. They announce as the result of the great scientific investigation
 prompted by this fact, a “great discovery concerning cancer.”
Is it a discovery of a cure—oh no, they think they have discovered
the cancer bacillus. That is science, but as for destroying the cancer
bacillus they leave that to the physicians whom they call quacks
for curing what the professors cannot cure.

Obstreperous and Pragmatic Vulgarity.—The house of
Knoedler & Co., leading art dealers in New York, has been arrested
by Comstock for selling photographs of celebrated paintings from
the art galleries of Paris. It is a foul mind which sees obscenity in
that which cultivated people admire, and the Hoboken Evening
News says very appropriately, “Of all the cranky Pharisees allowed
to run at large, Anthony Comstock is the chief. He is a most unmitigated
nuisance and requires most emphatic and summary suppression.”

The N. Y. Home Journal, in a well considered editorial, says:

“The need of a revision of the law regarding immoral publications
in literature and art becomes every day more manifest. There is required
especially a precise definition of what the statute is designed
to prohibit. At present there is no uniform criterion. It is just
what the local Dogberry and the scratch jury happen to find. Books
that have had an established place in literature for generations and
are found in all the great libraries of the world; pictures that represent
the highest skill attained in the leading schools of Europe; reproductions
of works that adorn the national and royal galleries
cherished as monuments of genius to reflect the glory of the time,—these
are quite likely to be brought up and solemnly condemned by
our tribunals as unfit for the contemplation of our superior American
virtue. But the real injustice of the proceeding follows in the infliction
of fines or imprisonment on the unsuspecting vendors of the
works, who naturally imagine that merchandise current in all the
other markets of the civilized world would be current also here. The
most respectable houses, known throughout the length and breadth
of the country for their honorable dealings, are exposed to legal prosecution
any moment that an officious fanatic or jealous rival pleases
to bring a charge that certain works in their store have an immoral
tendency.”

Judge Brady, of the Supreme Court, says, “If I had been a legislator
I would never have voted for this law…. It is evident that
mere nudity in painting and sculpture is not obscenity. It is a false
delicacy and mere prudery which would condemn and banish from
sight all such objects.” Public opinion should be directed against
the vice society which employs and pays such a tool as Comstock.
The prosecution which he instigated against Mrs. Elmina Slenker, of
Virginia, resulted in her acquittal.

The N. Y. Evening Post says, “If there is to be a prosecution in
this Knoedler case, and these prints should send some one to jail, we
for our part think Anthony Comstock should be the man.”

Hygiene.—Sir Spencer Wells, in an address to the Medico-Chirurgical
Society of Nottingham, England, referred to sanitary
 improvements which had reduced the annual death rate from
twenty-nine in a thousand to nineteen, and said that it ought to be
reduced to fifteen or twelve. He then said, “And if we have—as we
really have—seen the average duration of human life in Great
Britain advance from thirty years (which it was half a century ago)
to forty-nine years (which it is now, according to life tables), why
may we not witness a still further advance? Why should seventy
or eighty years remain as the usual limit of human life? Why
should its natural duration under perfectly healthy surrounding conditions
not be at least 100 years, with an occasional extension of
some ten or fifteen years more?”

“When people are made to understand that at least nine-tenths of
the deaths in England are premature, the representatives of the most
parsimonious rate payers will be compelled by the criticism of the
public to remember that they also represent the more sacred interests
of human life and happiness, and that resistance to sanitary improvements
is punished by preventable disease and premature death.
High local mortality is largely due to want of local information.
For the tens or hundreds who are killed by murder or manslaughter,
or by accident, or in battles on land or sea, thousands and millions
are victims of preventable disease. When this is fully understood,
no imperial Government, no local authority, will dare to incur the
responsibility of such a national disgrace.”

Dr. Wells then forcibly illustrated the dangerous and pestilential
results of our system of burying the dead, planting the germs of diseases
in the ground to come forth again, and corrupting the water
supply. London alone uses 2,200 acres of land for cemeteries, and
England and Wales have 11,000 cemeteries, costing for the land
over $600 per acre, all dangerous to health, while about $25,000,000
are annually expended on funerals. For all this cremation was the
remedy.

A distinguished English physician, addressing the International
Hygiene Society at Vienna, said that the gain to England in the
last fifty years from improvement in health was equal to $1,500,000,000.

Quinine.—This famous drug, which was once as high as $5 an
ounce, has become very cheap by preserving the trees which were
formerly destroyed in gathering “Peruvian Bark.” The drug may
now be purchased in quantities at half a dollar an ounce. The trees
now yield a crop of bark every year. The fashionable sulphate of
quinine, which is most extensively used, I consider the most objectionable
form of the drug. My favorite form is the dextro-quinine,
made by Keasby & Matteson, Philadelphia. But quinine is not at
all a necessity. It could be satisfactorily replaced by Declat’s syrup
of Phenic Acid, a French preparation, which is free from the objectionable
qualities of quinine. But even that is not necessary, for we
have in the willow, the dogwood, and the apple tree, three American
barks, which might well replace Peruvian bark by their fluid
extracts and alkaloids. To these we may add Gnaphalium (or
Life Everlasting), an admirable remedy in fever, and other medicines
 and combinations of value. Our slavish dependence on Peruvian
bark has been due to our ignorance.

Life and Death.—Perilous is the fisherman’s life. In the
past year, ending October, 1887, Gloucester, Mass., has lost 17
vessels and 127 lives of fishermen, leaving 60 widows and 61 fatherless
children.

The Mayville family of Wakefield, Mass., begin small. Mrs. Mayville
weighed but two pounds when born. Her son of 17 years,
weighing 160 pounds, weighed but 24 ounces when born, and she
has lately had a male baby, weighing only eight ounces. It was born
Nov. 13, and appeared dead, but was revived. It was ten inches
long and measured eight inches round the head and was perfectly
formed. It died in two weeks, from irritation of the bowels.

Mrs. Charlotte Tubbs of Caroline County, Md., recently gave
birth to four babies, all of whom are alive. This addition to her
family makes her the mother of nine children, all of whom were
born within five years. Among the older children are two pairs of
twins.—Cin. Enq.

Mrs. Wm. Wright, of New Castle, Ind., recently gave birth to
four children, making in all a family of fourteen children, including
five pairs of twins. Who was it said that he’d rather be Wright than
be President? We wouldn’t.—Norristown Herald.

Dorothea L. Dix.—This noted philanthropist, whose labors
in establishing asylums for the insane in America and Europe were
never equalled, died last summer in New Jersey. An interesting
tribute to her memory was delivered in Boston by the Rev. James
Freeman Clarke
, and I regret that the limited space of the Journal
forbids its full republication. I can only quote this. “Being
asked how she achieved such noble results in her work, she answered
that she went to those whose duty it was to aid in any particular
work, and was always sure that though at first they might refuse to
do what they were asked, they would gradually become interested
and end by doing whatever was needed.” May her example in this be
followed by all friends of progress.

The Drift Of Catholicism.—The purpose of the Catholic
party to break up our unsectarian school system has been realized in
Stearns Co., Minnesota, where their church property exceeds a million
of dollars. The Catholic catechism is taught daily in nearly three-fourths
of the public schools. Many of the schools are conducted in
the German language, and some of the schools taught by the Benedictine
sisters.

Juggernaut.—It is a singular fact that at the late procession
of the idol Juggernaut in India, instead of the thousand devotees
who used to drag at the ropes to haul his chariot from the temple to
the river, hired coolies had to be substituted, and the victims who
willingly threw themselves under the ponderous wheels to be crushed
to death, were entirely wanting.—Commonwealth.


 Chap. XI.—the Principal Methods of Studying the Brain.

Cranioscopy, Pathology, and Vivisection, their failures recognized—Limitations
of Craniology and its stationary condition—Human
Impressibility explained—Its prevalence in different climates—Method
of testing it.

In what manner shall we proceed to study the brain? All must
admit the necessity of a thorough study of its anatomy; yet, unless
we learn something of its functions, this anatomy is profitless and
uninteresting; hence cerebral anatomy was crude and erroneous
until, revolutionized by Gall and Spurzheim, it assumed a philosophical
character and became connected with a doctrine of the
cerebral functions.

For the study of these functions three principal methods have
been adopted by eminent scientists: 1st. The method of Cranioscopy,
practiced by Gall and his followers. 2d. The study of
Pathological Anatomy. 3d. The mutilation of the brains of living
animals. But neither Cranioscopy, Pathology, nor Vivisection has
given satisfactory demonstrations, nor does the whole scope of the
alleged results of all embrace more than half of the cerebral
functions.

The results of Vivisection have been unsatisfactory. But it has
shown that slicing away the anterior and upper parts of the brain of
an animal produces a state of partial stupor—a loss of its intelligence
and mental characteristics, without producing any great
detriment to its muscular and physiological functions; while injuries
inflicted upon the basilar parts of the brain produce evident derangements
of muscular action, and are more dangerous to life. Vivisection
has been almost entirely fruitless for the discovery of psychic
functions, but in the hands of Prof. Ferrier and the continental vivisectors
it has thrown much light upon cerebral psychology, and as I
shall hereafter show, has confirmed my own discoveries.

Pathological Anatomy, too, has been extremely unprofitable.
“The results of Pathological Anatomy (says Muller) can, however,
never have more than a limited application to the physiology of the
brain. We are unacquainted with the laws according to which the
different parts of the organ participate in the functions of each other,
and we can only, in a general way, regard as certain that organic
diseases in one part of the brain may induce changes in the function
of other parts; but from these facts and the results of Pathological
Anatomy, we cannot always draw certain conclusions.” Mr.
Solly, after commenting on the general failure of Vivisection, remarks,
“From pathology we might naturally expect surer evidence;
but even here the physiologist who carefully examines its records is
doomed to disappointment. As will be proved hereafter, no certain
light has yet shone on physiology from this source.” Cerebral pathology
will not continue to be so barren a study when we have a true
 cerebral physiology to guide us. I find all pathological cases instructive
as confirmations and illustrations of true cerebral science.

The method of Dr. Gall—studying the growth and development
of the different parts of the brain, as indicated by the cranium—is
the most simple, rational and successful of all the methods adopted
up to the present time. In his hands it has elicited a valuable and
practical, though rude, system of phrenology. But Craniology or
skull-study cannot perfect, nor can it positively demonstrate, the
science.

The observations of the craniologist are continually liable to
error. The irregular thickness of the skull constitutes a great difficulty
in the way of exact observations. By great expertness and
accuracy of observation, he may overcome this difficulty in a great
degree, but whenever the brain is subject to any remarkable influence,
increasing or diminishing the activity and size of particular
organs, the external form fails to indicate the internal condition,
because it can change but slightly, and with slowness, after the skull
is fully developed and ossified. Were the skull composed of more
pliable materials, cranioscopy would be more accurate in its facts,
but while it preserves a uniform exterior, the interior often undergoes
remarkable changes. Convolutions that are frequently called
into action become better supplied with arterial blood, expand and
grow, while the adjacent portion of the inner plate of the skull
becomes absorbed, and presents a remarkable indentation. Convolutions
that are seldom in action shrink in size, and the adjacent bone
grows in upon them. Thus the skull becomes thinner at the site of
every active organ, and thicker over every convolution that is inactive.
The translucency or opacity of the different parts of the skull,
when a light is placed in its interior, generally indicates the active
and inactive organs. Hence, many skulls of fine exterior reveal,
upon interior examination, a degenerate character. Criminal heads
generally present remarkable opacity and thickness in the region of
the moral organs, with distinct digital impressions from the convolutions
of the lower organs.

Thus all craniological observations are liable to inaccuracy, even
as regards development, and much more in regard to functional
power. The activity, power and predominance of an organ may be
essentially changed, without making any perceptible impression
upon the interior of the skull, for an indefinite period. Changes in
excitement and circulation, that revolutionize the character, may
leave but a slight impression upon the interior, and none upon the
exterior of the cranium. The external configuration of the skull is
therefore not a true criterion of character when the influences of
education, society, food, drink and disease have greatly changed the
natural bias, although reliable in a strictly normal condition of brain
and cranium.

Organs which easily expand laterally by encroachment upon their
neighbors, which is a common effect of local excitement, must be
slow to make any impression upon the superjacent bone of the
cranium. Cranioscopy, moreover, is incompetent to indicate the
 development of small regions or portions of a convolution; it gives
but a rude survey of development. Being thus incapable of minuteness,
accuracy and certainty, it cannot be considered a proper and
sufficient basis for cerebral science. In the hands of Gall and
Spurzheim, it had already very nearly attained its limits as regards
the subdivision of organs, and the progress of their followers in
discovery has been unimportant or fallacious.

To what, then, can we resort, when the failures of Pathology and
Vivisection are admitted, and we perceive the limited extent of the
uncertain results of Craniology? Shall we not be compelled to
resort to the same methods of investigation in the brain, which have
been so successful in establishing the physiology of the nerves, viz.:
direct experiment in exciting and arresting the action of the various
masses of nervous fibre. Every sound physiologist must perceive
that we are compelled to resort to experiment, or else to rest contented
in ignorance of the true cerebral physiology. Muller, perceiving
this, remarks, “The principle for the advancement of the
physiology of the nerves then remains the same, viz.: experiment on
the living nerves.”

We therefore experiment on the living brain in that class of persons
who are susceptible of being thus influenced; hence arises the
last and most perfect method of cultivating Anthropology, by means
of HUMAN IMPRESSIBILITY.

Our system of Anthropology relies, for its demonstration, upon
human impressibility. Impressibility in its general sense, or the
power of being affected by external agents, is proportional to the
development of life. Inorganic matter is affected only mechanically
or chemically—vegetation is powerfully affected by causes
which would have no perceptible influence on stones or metals,
and animals are affected by remote objects, by sounds, by the voice,
and by other influences which do not affect vegetables. Animals of
a higher grade are affected by many moral influences which produce
no effect on the inferior classes, and man, having the fullest development
of all, is continually receiving a variety of influences from
nature and society, to which animals are wholly insensible. As man
is superior to animals in impressibility, so is the man of genius or
the man of superior moral sentiments more easily affected by everything
that addresses the intellect or the sentiments, than the ignorant
and selfish classes of society. Superior impressibility is then the
result of a superior development of the organs which feel the various
impressions. In the highest order of genius capacities exist which recognize
a thousand subtle influences and beauties in Nature of which
common minds are unconscious, and the psychic influence of a human
being is instantly and thoroughly recognized.

For the purpose of analytical experiments upon the human functions,
we require the development of a faculty which shall feel the
influences we use. We look to the various forms of Sensibility.
The organ of physical sensibility is situated in the temples, immediately
over the cheek bone. It feels the influences of the various
objects which affect the sense of feeling in all its modifications.
 Heat and cold, moisture and dryness, sound, light, and all the imponderable
fluids produce their effects upon this region, and the more
it is developed, the more powerfully are we affected by such
agencies.

The portion of Sensibility which feels the influences of the human
nervaura, is the highest portion of the organ, where it connects with
Modesty, Somnolence, and Ideality. This we regard as the special
organ of Nervauric Impressibility, because it renders the system
so sensitive to the nervaura, as to be strongly affected whenever it is
applied.

Mental impressibility is dependent upon intellectual organs, which
feel the influences of mind. The power of recognizing mental
action is dependent upon the internal part of the front lobe, located
just above the root of the nose. This organ gives physiognomical
talent, and a ready tact in appreciating the expression of mind
through the eye, countenance, and gestures. It is a channel of mental
sympathy, as displayed in the intercourse of society, and in the
experiments of animal magnetism. By means of this organ, a general
relation is established between the mind of the operator and that
of the subject, which may exist without the capacity for local impressions,
which would develop particular organs. It is devoted,
however, to active perception rather than to passive impression. The
faculty of being mentally impressed depends also upon the region of
Spirituality and Marvellousness.

Mental and nervous impressibility being dependent upon these
organs, it follows that a large development of the front lobe favors
Impressibility, and that the occipital organs tend to diminish it.
Impressibility lies in a group of organs which sustain it, and may be
expected to accompany its development. Sensibility, Somnolence,
Dreaming, Ideality, Modesty, Humility, Organic Sensibility, Relaxation,
etc., are its natural accompaniments; hence it will be found
most abundantly in those classes of society which are most remarkable
for refinement, sensitiveness, modesty, diffidence, humility, or
submissiveness, disease, languor, debility, and intellectual excitement.
Religious excitement, love, mirthfulness, thoughtfulness, imagination,
benevolence, sympathy, sincerity, faith, philanthropy, hope, epicurism,
intemperance, ardor, spirituality, effeminacy, imitation, romance
and, in short, all amiable, sensitive, intellectual, refining, relaxing
influences may be regarded as promotive of impressibility, and their
opposites as calculated to destroy it.

It is fortunate that disease promotes impressibility, for it enables
the sick to be relieved by manipulation, and it causes medicines to
operate more efficiently upon morbid constitutions or organs, which
has been fully demonstrated by the Homœopathic School of therapeutics.
But impressibility does not imply disease, although it may
make the system more accessible to slight morbific agencies. We
find individuals occasionally, of the highest tone of health and bodily
vigor, who are highly impressible. Nor does it imply mental weakness,
for it is highly congenial to intellectuality, and is occasionally
found among the strongest and most cultivated minds. Nervous
 Impressibility is that condition in which the nervaura has a powerful
influence—in which the action of the brain and all the vital functions
of the constitution may be controlled and indefinitely changed
by the application of the hands of another individual—in which we
are susceptible of being totally revolutionized in character by application
of the fingers to the various organs, so as to become, for the
time being, miserable or gay, philosophical, felonious, murderous,
angry, stupid, insane, idiotic, drowsy, hot, cold, credulous, sceptical,
timid, courageous, vain, indolent, sensual, hungry, diffident, haughty,
avaricious, etc.; and in which the muscular strength, secretions, circulation,
pulse, respiration, senses, and morbid or healthy conditions
of the frame may be changed or controlled by the nervaura emitted
from the hand of the operator acting upon the brain of the subject.

The number of individuals who can be thus affected is different
in different places. In southern climates they are more numerous
than in northern—in the pleasant weather of summer more than
in winter—in lecture rooms, ball rooms and places of fervid religious
worship, more than in the street and market place, where the intellectual
and moral faculties are less predominant. In the Southern
States of the Union, thirty or forty per cent. of the population
will give at once distinct evidence of impressibility. In the
more northern, about ten per cent. will give indications of an influence
from the hand. A moderate degree of impressibility which
is almost universal in the South, belongs to more than half in the
North.

Impressible subjects may be selected by the development of the
organs of Impressibility, and the general predominance of the frontal
and coronal regions of the brain over the occipital. The qualities
already mentioned as favoring impressibility may be studied in the
character, or observed in the development, as they occupy the entire
anterior half of the head, giving breadth to the temples, with
height and projection to the forehead. An enlarged pupil of the
eye will be one of the best symptoms, and, in connection with a calm,
spiritual, gentle expression of countenance rarely fails to indicate
impressibility.

To test impressibility apply the fingers upon the organ of Somnolence,
an inch horizontally behind the brow, with a very gentle
contact; your subject, after a few minutes, will manifest a sensitiveness
of the eye, and will wink oftener than usual—his winking
will be repeated and prolonged, until his eyelids droop or remain
closed—he is now somnolent and dreamy; and this condition may
be prolonged until it becomes the Mesmeric Somnolence, or may
be promptly removed by brushing the excitement off with the
fingers.

A very simple test of impressibility consists in passing the ends of
the fingers over the palm of the hand of the subject, within one or more
inches, and ascertaining whether he can recognize its passage by any
impression. If impressible he will perceive a cooling sensation as the
fingers pass. A more perfect demonstration is to let your subject
 stand erect before you, and apply both hands gently over the forehead
and moral organs, or upon the temples; then very slowly withdraw
them, and continue this process until you perceive that as your hand
is withdrawn, the head seems inclined to follow it as if attracted;
some will move thus but an inch or two, others will be drawn forward
and compelled to follow you wherever you go, or may be drawn
down and prostrated upon the floor. You may accomplish the same
upon the back of the head or body—the hand or any other part
which is free to move; but the forehead is the best region, because
the front lobe is the seat of Impressibility, and the operation cultivates
that quality, by drawing excitement into the brain, and especially
the front lobe, thus debilitating the muscular system and power
of resistance.

Apply the fingers upon the organ of Relaxation, below the cheek
bone, and your subject, if standing, will become enfeebled, unsteady
in attitude, and incapable of supporting as great weight as before in
his extended hand. This will be counteracted by touching the
region of Energy.

The most painful experiments may be made by placing the hands
upon the temples and face, so as to cover the regions of Sensibility,
Disease, Relaxation, and Irritability—the effect of which would be
to produce bodily weakness, sickness, pain, distress and general prostration;
a condition, which if not relieved, might result in severe
disease, but which may be counteracted by dispersing the excitement
upward and backward, and by stimulating Health, Energy and
Hardihood.

By grasping a metallic rod firmly in the hand while the other end
of it rests in the relaxed hand of an impressible person, you may
transmit a current of nervaura, which he will recognize gradually
entering his arm at the hand, passing slowly up to the shoulder, and
then diffusing itself over the body.

One may test his own impressibility by placing the palm of the
hand in contact with any portion of the head or body of a vigorous
constitution for about twenty minutes, and observing the different
impressions imparted by different localities. If the hand be held in
contact with an individual suffering from some active form of disease,
resting upon the forehead or the pit of the stomach, the morbid symptoms
will be very perceptibly transferred to any one of an impressible
constitution; but I would not recommend the experiment to any
but those who are embarrassed by a constitutional scepticism,
which hinders their believing anything which is not impressed upon
their own senses.

An easy method of testing our susceptibility is by holding some
active medicinal substance between the hands while sitting at ease
(without knowing what the properties of the substance are), and
holding other active substances at different times, to compare the
effects which they produce upon the constitution. After such experiment,
if the effects should in any case be greater than we desire, the
influence should be removed by dispersive passes on the hands and
down the arms.


 JOURNAL OF MAN FOR 1888. $1.

In view of all the circumstances I have very
reluctantly decided to postpone the enlargement of
the Journal to 1889. The demand for promised
volumes is more urgent than the necessity for
enlargement, and the demand for personal instruction
in the new therapeutics also consumes a great
deal of time.

The appeal to readers has elicited a most cordial
and cheering response. No periodical ever had so
appreciative a circle of readers, for no periodical
ever occupied the vast, untrodden field of the new
sciences as does the Journal of Man,—a solitary
pioneer of the new civilization. I shall continue
publishing the cheering words of readers, which
are too numerous to be given in any one number of
the Journal. Many of the responses express the
purpose of extending its circulation by new subscribers,
which is the most important act of friendship
for a new journal.

RESPONSES OF READERS.

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as long as published.—Dr. P. P. L. My wife
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Man
.—S. L. R. It contains so many startling
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long as there is breath in his body.—C. F. B. I
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long as you publish it.—D. D. B. A constant
supporter though its price is trebled.—A. J. B.
With great delight.—J. A. D. Steadfast among
your studious readers.—W. C. E. I perceive fully
its important mission.—M. F. Can’t very well
get too much of such a periodical as the Journal.—F.
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subscriber till death.—A. H. It is a gem—it takes
the palm from them all.—T. M. More than
pleased—I can truly say delighted.—I. C. D.
I am with you at any price.—Dr. J. D. M. Glad
to double.—A. M. J. Looking forward with
pleasurable anticipation to the enlargement.—W.
F. B. Anxious to see it enlarged.—J. L. A., M.D.
Cerebral science is by far the best portion of your
publications.—Dr. D. E. E. Increase its size to a
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the Journal above all other publications.—W.
D. I. Put my name down for a life membership.—P.
J. M. To all the popular journals of the
day the Journal of Man is as the electric light
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than pleased.—B. I. T. I hope the day is not
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Leaders” is alone worth more than the whole
year’s subscription.—J. H.

BUSINESS NOTICE.

The January Number ends the first volume of the
Journal of Man. Back numbers can be supplied
to new subscribers who do not delay too long.
Number 1, Volume 2, for February, will be sent to
all subscribers, but a remittance will be expected
before the March number is sent.

PSYCHOMETRIC PRACTICE.

Mrs. C. H. Buchanan continues to apply her skill
in the description of character and disease, with
general impressions as to past and future. Her
numerous correspondents express much gratification
and surprise at the correctness of her delineations.
The fee for a personal interview is $2; for
a written description $3; for a more comprehensive
review and statement of life periods, with directions
for the cultivation of Psychometry, $5.

MEDICAL ORTHODOXY

Is realizing the reaction of public opinion against
all forms of monopoly. There is some plausibility
in the demand that all who heal should educate
themselves, if we had a true system of education,
which we have not. But there is no justice in the
demand that those whom nature has gifted with
great healing powers should be prohibited from exercising
their natural gifts, or giving advice to their
neighbors, whenever they happen to know anything
that is useful. To interfere with such acts
of benevolence, which are really the performance
of a religious duty, is a crime, and it is none the less
criminal when it is the act of legislators, who are
careless enough to allow themselves to be made the
tools of an avaricious monopoly, which would
make it a crime for a farmer’s wife to give her
neighbor’s children a blackberry cordial or hoarhound
syrup. When the law makes benevolence
a crime, laws and legislators become objects
of contempt, and a dangerous spirit of rebellion is
fostered.

In Illinois a law has been obtained from a careless
and unthinking legislature, which makes all
healing a crime, when not performed by graduated,
licensed and registered practitioners, but the law
is so odious that it is not enforced against those
who are not administering medicines. In Iowa an
equally disgraceful law has been obtained, designed
to establish a similar monopoly, but the prosecution
against a lady for assisting a patient with her
prayers resulted in her acquittal, and the medical
societies have been paralyzed as to its enforcement.
Dr. R. C. Flower, of Boston, has made several
addresses to large audiences in that State, in
opposition to medical legislation, and the report of
his very spirited and effective lecture in the Des
Moines Register shows that he carried his audiences
with him, and roused enthusiasm in opposition to
the law. Dr. F. related some terrific cases of
malpractice by eminent physicians, and portrayed
the horrible effects of the law in upholding
quackery.

The present law of Mississippi is a disgrace to the
civilization of that State. It would authorize the
prosecution of any one who helped the sick, even
by prayer, if the benevolent party was not protected
by a medical license.

In Alabama the law gives to the old school State
medical association the entire control of medical
practice, and the power to examine and license
every one who does any practice. Under this law
graduates of Eclectic colleges who are outside of
the medical ring, have been prosecuted for non-compliance
with the law, but the prosecution was
defeated. Mississippi and Alabama need to be
Americanized. Medical bigotry has carried them
back to the dark ages, for there is not a country in
Europe to-day which is not more enlightened and
liberal in its medical legislation than these two
States.

Monopoly is one of the most formidable enemies
of American liberty. It is now assuming the
form of “Trust” combinations to raise prices, but
there is no monopoly so grasping as the medical,—none
which assumes to suppress competition by
law.

The plea of promoting education is as false as a
proposal to elevate the pulpit by compelling
every clergyman to pass through a Roman Catholic
college. The existing medical colleges hold the
same relation to the practice of the healing art as
the Sectarian Theological Seminary to the practice
of Christianity. One may be a very good Christian
without the help of a theological seminary, or a
very good doctor without the help of a medical
college, but no one can be a first-class physician
who goes through a medical college and adheres
strictly to all the knowledge and all the ignorance
administered by professors, without learning anything
from other sources.

 MAYO’S ANÆSTHETIC.

The suspension of pain, under dangerous surgical
operations, is the greatest triumph of Therapeutic
Science in the present century. It came
first by mesmeric hypnotism, which was applicable
only to a few, and was restricted by the jealous
hostility of the old medical profession. Then
came the nitrous oxide, introduced by Dr. Wells,
of Hartford, and promptly discountenanced by the
enlightened (?) medical profession of Boston, and
set aside for the next candidate, ether, discovered
in the United States also, but far interior to the
nitrous oxide as a safe and pleasant agent. This was
largely superseded by chloroform, discovered much
earlier by Liebig and others, but introduced as an
anæsthetic in 1847, by Prof. Simpson. This proved
to be the most powerful and dangerous of all.
Thus the whole policy of the medical profession
was to discourage the safe, and encourage the more
dangerous agents. The magnetic sleep, the most
perfect of all anæsthetic agents, was expelled from
the realm of college authority; ether was substituted
for nitrous oxide, and chloroform preferred to
ether, until frequent deaths gave warning.

Nitrous oxide, much the safest of the three, has
not been the favorite, but has held its ground,
especially with dentists. But even nitrous oxide is
not perfect. It is not equal to the magnetic sleep,
when the latter is practicable, but fortunately it is
applicable to all. To perfect the nitrous oxide,
making it universally safe and pleasant, Dr. U. K.
Mayo, of Boston, has combined it with certain
harmless vegetable nervines, which appear to control
the fatal tendency which belongs to all anæsthetics
when carried too far. The success of Dr.
Mayo, in perfecting our best anæsthetic, is amply
attested by those who have used it. Dr. Thorndike,
than whom, Boston had no better surgeon, pronounced
it “the safest the world has yet seen.”
It has been administered to children and to patients
in extreme debility. Drs. Frizzell and Williams,
say they have given it “repeatedly in heart disease,
severe lung diseases, Bright’s disease, etc., where
the patients were so feeble as to require assistance
in walking, many of them under medical treatment,
and the results have been all that we could
ask—no irritation, suffocation, nor depression.
We heartily commend it to all as the anæsthetic of
the age.” Dr. Morrill, of Boston, administered
Mayo’s anæsthetic to his wife with delightful
results when “her lungs were so badly disorganized,
that the administration of ether or gas
would be entirely unsafe.” The reputation of this
anæsthetic is now well established; in fact, it is
not only safe and harmless, but has great medical
virtue for daily use in many diseases, and is coming
into use for such purposes. In a paper before
the Georgia State Dental Society, Dr. E. Parsons
testified strongly to its superiority. “The nitrous
oxide, (says Dr. P.) causes the patient when fully
under its influence to have very like the appearance
of a corpse,” but under this new anæsthetic
“the patient appears like one in a natural sleep.”
The language of the press, generally has been highly
commendatory, and if Dr. Mayo had occupied so
conspicuous a rank as Prof. Simpson, of Edinburgh,
his new anæsthetic would have been adopted at
once in every college of America and Europe.

Mayo’s Vegetable Anæsthetic.

A perfectly safe and pleasant substitute for chloroform,
ether, nitrous oxide gas, and all other
anæsthetics. Discovered by Dr. U. K. Mayo, April,
1883, and since administered by him and others in
over 300,000 cases successfully. The youngest child,
the most sensitive lady, and those having heart
disease, and lung complaint, inhale this vapor with
impunity. It stimulates the circulation of the
blood and builds up the tissues. Indorsed by the
highest authority in the professions, recommended
in midwifery and all cases of nervous prostration.
Physicians, surgeons, dentists and private families
supplied with this vapor, liquefied, in cylinders of
various capacities. It should be administered the
same as Nitrous Oxide, but it does not produce
headache and nausea as that sometimes does. For
further information pamphlets, testimonials, etc.,
apply to

DR. U. K. MAYO, Dentist,
378 Tremont St., Boston, Mass.

THE OPEN COURT.

PUBLISHED BY

The Open Court Publishing Company,

Rooms 41 and 42,

169-175 LA SALLE STREET,
CHICAGO.

B. F. Underwood,
Editor and Manager.
Sara A. Underwood,
Associate Editor.

The Open Court is a high-class, radical free-thought
Journal, devoted to the work of exposing
religious superstition, and establishing religion upon
the basis of science.

It is opposed to all forms of sectarianism, and
discusses all subjects of interest in the light of the
fullest knowledge and the most matured thought of
the age.

It has for contributors the leading thinkers and
writers of the old and new world. Among those
who contribute to its columns are the following
writers:—

  • Prof. Max Muller, of Oxford.
  • Richard A. Proctor.
  • Albert Revielle.
  • Edmund Montgomery, M.D.
  • Prof. E. D. Cope.
  • Col. T. W. Higginson.
  • Prof. Leslie F. Ward.
  • Prof. Henry C. Adams.
  • Jas. Parton.
  • Geo. Jacob Holyoake.
  • John Burroughs.
  • S. V. Clevenger, M.D.
  • John W. Chadwick.
  • M. J. Savage.
  • Moncure D. Conway.
  • Daniel Greenleaf Thompson.
  • Prof. Thomas Davidson.
  • Gen. J. G. R. Forlong.
  • Prof. W. D. Gunning.
  • Gen. M. M. Trumbull.
  • W. M. Salter.
  • Wm. J. Potter.
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
  • Frederick May Holland.
  • Anna Garlin Spencer.
  • B. W. Ball.
  • Felix L. Oswald, M.D.
  • Theodore Stanton.
  • Mrs. Celia P. Wooley.
  • E. C. Hegeler.
  • Dr. Paul Carus.
  • Lewis G. James.
  • Mrs. Hypatia B. Bonner.
  • Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Jr.
  • M. C. O’Byrne.
  • Samuel Kneeland, M.D.
  • Prof. Van Buren Denslow.
  • Mrs. Edna D. Cheney.
  • Wm. Clark, A.M.
  • Clara Lanza.
  • C. D. B. Mills.
  • Alfred H. Peters.

Those who wish a first-class journal, devoted to
the discussion of scientific, religious, social and
economic questions, should send at once for a sample
copy of this great journal.

Terms, $3 per year. Single copies, 15 cents.

Make all remittances payable to the order of
B. F. Underwood, Treasurer; and address all
letters to Open Court, P. O. Drawer F., Chicago, Ills.

“FORTY PATIENTS A DAY”

is the name of a pamphlet Helen Wilmans has
written on her practical experience in healing. No
one seems to have had better opportunity of demonstrating
the truth of mental science than Mrs.
Wilmans has had in her Southern home, where the
report of her skill was carried from mouth to
mouth, until patients swarmed to her from far and
near. Send 15 cents for the pamphlet. Address:
Mrs. Helen Wilmans, Douglasville, Georgia.

Transcriber’s Note: The Table of Contents was copied from
the index to the volume.

 

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