REVIEWERS REVIEWED.

BY THOMAS BREVIOR.

"BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE."

Blackwood's Magazine for March last has an article on the Powers of "The Air," in which the writer reports some recent facts of spirit-manifestation; and presents his views on the subject of modern Spiritualism. These facts though remarkable in themselves, are of a kind with which the readers of the Spiritual Magazine are sufficiently familiar, and with which therefore I need not detain them. His reflections and conclusions make no pretension to be either very original or profound. But he is no bigot; and if he is not particularly well informed on the subject, at least he is disposed to give it fair and candid consideration; and this is the more noteworthy in a reviewer in a magazine so eminently respectable and conservative as Blackwood's; and is decidedly in advance of many reviewers of loud liberal profession.

Our reviewer candidly avows he has no great love for Spiritualism, and would not regret were it proved a delusion; but, he adds, "if the weight of sound credible evidence is in support of it, I must, notwithstanding that a mass of roguery and imposture may also have collected around it, yield it belief." And he lays down the sound premise that-" If unimpeachable testimony of the existence of these spirits can be adduced, we must not put it aside except on still stronger testimony which can show the first to be mistaken." He acknowledges that "the evidence for it seems strong and has never been fairly rebutted;" and he makes the further admission that-" the more one thinks on Spiritualism simply as a fact, and putting aside what spirits may pretend to teach, the more one is persuaded of it being in nowise repugnant to the teachings of Holy Writ."

Our reviewer owns to have had no personal experiences of Spiritualism, but he has been much impressed by the weight of testimony in its favour; especially by experiences personally communicated to him by intelligent credible witnesses of marvellous phenomena, and while the events were still fresh and vivid in their memory. He does not dispute that such facts so attested really happen; nor that they are due to spiritual agency of some kind. The question with him is-of what kind? Are the spirits good or evil? Are they departed souls? or are they of an order distinct from Humanity? He does not overlook their testimony that they are human; but he thinks

there is question of their credibility. He tells us "The fondness of the spirits for darkened rooms, their decidedly mysterious proceedings, their sparing and unsatisfactory communications, and the utter uselessness of many of their most startling deeds, are fatal to confidence."

Although these objections have been urged and answered again and again, yet it is due to so candid a critic to once more pass them briefly under review; so far at least as they bear on the immediate point at issue. In all endeavour to pierce into what to us is superlatively the "realm of mystery," and in all attempt of the dwellers in that realm to manifest their presence to, and hold converse with us, we might reasonably expect that there would be "decidedly mysterious proceedings." Whatever Spiritualism reveals to us of the spirit-world is so much reclaimed from the domain of mystery, and a stimulus to further exploration in what has been the great terra incognita of the ages. And if as we proceed new mysteries open before us, this is only what happens with every advance of knowledge. It is instructive to note in passing, that there are theologians who denounce all such investigation as a laying of profane hands on sacred things, an unlawful prying into Divine arcana providentially concealed from us. If there are spirits who have had no experience of earthly life, many of our proceedings must be as "decidedly mysterious" to them as theirs can possibly be to us.

The alleged fondness of the spirits for darkened rooms is an imputation based on exaggeration and misconception. It is only a fraction of the physical manifestations of spirits for which darkness partial or total is required. The most ample and convincing proofs of spirit agency may be obtained independently of this condition. Constant experiments are made by those who co-operate on either side the veil to eliminate it as far as possible; but spirits and men are alike subject to the laws of their environment, and must patiently conform to the conditions imposed by limited knowledge, and which experience has proved most effective. It would need to be proved that spirits voluntarily, wilfully, and of preference, shroud themselves and their doings in darkness and mystery, ere these concomitants can fairly be held to invalidate their testimony. I am not aware that this has ever been attempted; certainly it is not attempted by our reviewer.

That spirit-communications are sparing and unsatisfactory, is a vague, sweeping, and over-hasty generalisation. Sparing they assuredly are not, as witness the voluminous communications through Judge Edmonds, Nature's Divine Revelations through A. J. Davis, the trance messages through Mrs. Conant, and the inspirational discourses through Emma Hardinge and Cora

Tappan. As to their satisfactory or unsatisfactory nature, that is a matter of opinion and degree: they are of various merit, and should be judged separately, not lumped together, after the rough and ready but unscientific fashion of our reviewer.

As to the alleged "utter uselesness of many of the most startling spirit-manifestations, it might be urged that one important purpose they serve is this of startling an unspiritual and conceited generation by marvels that transcend and seem to contravene those laws of Nature with which we are acquainted, and which we are so often told " are never departed from ;" and by a class of facts with which it was unfamiliar, open a new method for the investigation of important problems which may largely influence the philosophy of our time. But we need not travel beyond the limits of the article in hand for an answer to the cui bono of spirit manifestations? Our reviewer admits that they have brought home to his mind with fresh and startling force forgotten experiences of early life; that they check the spread of materialism; that they throw a new flood of light on old stories of mesmerism and magic, sorcery and witchcraft, dreams and divination; and that "possession by spirits as exhibited in the New Testament no longer looks obsolete, but is once more frightfully real and modern to the mind when we reflect that there are spirits continually about us whose nature permits them to meddle freely with matter." Spiritual healing of disease, premonition, and other forms of beneficent spirit action, our reviewer has not taken into account.

The reader can now judge how far our reviewer has made out a case "fatal to confidence" in the spirits, and the belief in their human origin. They are, at all events, likely to be better informed on the latter point than an anonymous reviewer who has never been at a séance with them, nor witnessed any of their manifestations. They do not ask unlimited confidence, nor would it be wise to give it; but to charge them all with bad faith would be at least equally rash. David confessed—" I said in my haste, all men are liars!" and we may well hesitate and reflect ere we, at our leisure, bring against the spirits the same railing accusation. There are, moreover, one or two considerations which strongly confirm the truth of their averment. If consistency be a test of truth, their continuous, concurrent, and unvarying testimony that they are human, may be fairly regarded as good evidence on the point. But this is not all: they manifest all the qualities and characteristics we find in Humanity, and nowhere else. Their thoughts, sympathies, affections, memories, are all human. They speak the speech of men; they revive the recollection of past incidents in the lives of others, and of their own earthly existence; they sing,

play music, draw pictures, write messages, appear in materialized form, visibly and palpably human, leave in wax the mould of the materialized hand, foot, or face; and imprint their portrait on the photographic plate; and in these several ways are often identified by their surviving friends. If all this does not prove them human, I am at a loss to conceive what could do so.

Our reviewer naively confesses-"I never in my life attended a séance, or witnessed any medium's performances." I think this ingenuous avowal gives the key to the situation. Had he done so, and persevered in his investigations, his difficulties and objections would probably have been removed. That he is frank and tolerably free from prejudice is freely conceded; but is this the only requisite qualification in a public instructor? Is it too much to expect that a reviewer should first be a viewer that the teacher should himself have learned? What would the editor of Blackwood's Magazine think of an article on Chemistry containing the admission, "I never in my life entered a laboratory or witnessed any chemical experiments!" Wherefore should Spiritualism be treated differently to Chemistry, or any other science? If the aforesaid editor required an article on Biology he would probably apply to Professor Huxley or Mr. Spencer, if one on Heat to Professor Tyndall, if on the Radiometer to Mr. Crookes; and if without offence I might offer a suggestion, it would be to consider whether he might not with advantage follow in the wake of the Contemporary Review in inviting Mr. Alfred Russell Wallace, Mr. William Howitt, or Dr. Sexton, to contribute an article on Spiritualism to its pages. Either of these gentlemen would be well qualified for the task by ample knowledge and careful study of the subject.

Blackwood again recurs to the question of Spiritualism in its number for July; in an article (evidently by another hand) entitled "In a Studio-a Conversation," reference to Cagliostro leads to the subject of magic; and the dialogue thus proceeds:Belton: Have you ever looked up the subject of magic?

Mallett: Yes, a good deal; and very curious is the literature on this subject. Some of the old writers give you, for instance, complete formulas to raise spirits of various kinds, and seem to have had an absolute belief in their efficacy. It seems to be pretty clear that they did have faith in these invocations; for it is impossible to believe that such men as Cardanus and Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, Johannes Bodinus, Pietro Abana, Hieronymus Fracastorius, Torreblanca, Debris, Pomponatus, and Vairus, and men of that stamp, should have wilfully endeavoured to palm off on the world, with such calm seriousness, statements which they knew to be lies. At all events they clearly profess their faith in the power of man, by magical processes, to raise the dead, and evoke spirits by incantation; and various receipts are given by them to effect such purposes.

Belton: I suppose that at the present day no one would believe in this. These men flourished in ignorant ages, when science was in its infancy, and when superstition was at its height.

Mallett: You are very much mistaken if you believe that the day of the magicians is entirely past. The magical art is still cultivated, though in secrecy; and there are numbers of persons who still study it, practise it, and have faith in it. So, at least, I have been assured by men in whom I cannot but place trust, and who have declared to me that they themselves have attended magical séances, and employed the formulas of the magical books with successful results. Certain it is that the Abbé Constant devoted himself to the study of the magical arts and occult sciences, and, under the pseudonym of Eliphas Levi, wrote some remarkable books on the subject, and specially one on La Haute Magie, which I recommend to you, if you are curious in such matters. There is no doubt, too, that a few persons were and are his disciples and pupils in France, and among them may be mentioned Desbarolles, the author of Les Mystères de la Main. I must confess, however, that after reading La Haute Magie I was not very much enlightened on the subject. A great deal was hinted and insinuated and vaguely indicated, but comparatively little directly taught either as to the theory or the practice of magic.* A very accomplished and distinguished writer, who lately died, assured me that he himself, on one occasion, by following certain prescribed formulas, evoked one of the spirits held by those who believe to be very dangerous-understand me, not by means of any medium, but by his own practice-and that he satisfied himself by this and other experiments that the prescribed processes were not by any means delusions or follies. This same gentlemen also told me, when I made a remark similar to yours, that I supposed no one in the present day believed in magical art, that, on the contrary, he knew many who studied it, and believed in it. "Che volete," as the Italians say. You may make out of this what you choose; I merely repeat what I have been told.

Belton: Was he not making a fool of you, and trying to see if he could hoax you?

Mallett: By no means. He was very serious; and, after giving me book and chapter for what he said, he finished by drawing my own horoscope very cleverly, thus showing that, at all events, he had studied the matter.

Belton: What did he prophesy about you?

Mallett: No matter; I shall not give you the chance of laughing at me. Belton: You stimulate my curiosity. I think I should like to try some of these evocations and incantations, but I am sure nothing would come of them. Is there any difficulty in performing them?

Mallett: No; there is no real difficulty; but numerous materials and objects are required which are not to be obtained without trouble and expense, and certain arrangements must be made which are sometimes not easy; and though, if any one were seriously inclined to try the experiments, any little obstacles could be easily overcome; yet it requires a certain patience, seriousness, determination, and trouble that few persons would take in the vague hope of arriving at results in which they have a complete distrust. I have often thought of trying the experiments myself; but I have, to begin with, no faith, and therefore I shrank before the little obstacles of trouble, expense, and time. Besides, I don't know precisely what I should do with a demon, or even a spirit, after I had raised it. I am more used to men and women, and I like them better. That is, I like a spirit plus a body more than a spirit minus a body. I talk and act more freely with them. As for the spirits that are said to come up at tables by the late processes of incantation, they are generally so badly educated, and speak such bad grammar, that I don't care for their company. I could stand any amount of bad grammar, if they would only tell me something that we all of us do not know, and that we desire to know. To rap out, by tedious processes, feeble common-places of morality and tawdry statements of future existence, which correspond solely to the vulgarest notions, or to advise us as to our conduct in copy-book phrases of evil communications corrupting good manners, does not pay. If what they said were really worth saying, I would endure even the tediousness of their methods; but I cannot see that they have added to our literature anything very valuable. Shakespeare has so terribly

* Since writing this, we have seen the death of the Abbé Constant announced in the Paris journals. 2 B

T.S.-II.