CHAPTER V. MEDIUMSHIP-MODES OF INFLUENCE. HOUGH a kind of resemblance between the mes THOUGH meric and spiritual phenomena could not escape notice when our experiments were first made, I had no idea whatever of the real connection between the two processes, nor of the nearness to identity of the agencies employed. But as soon as it appeared that several of our friends were sufficiently under the control of the invisible power to give answers apparently independent of our thoughts, I began to make enquiries as to the nature of the influence and the manner of using it. A young man, sitting in a circle, had his arm shaken with irresistible violence, making innumerable curves and lines. When this had gone on some time, a very intelligent person in the party, who had been observing all that passed, said, 'I am sure that all this is some action of electricity.' Instantly the hand wrote, with exceeding rapidity, and no spaces between the words, "Youarerightitiselectricitythatmovesthehandbutthereisa spiritthatguidestheelectricity.' Another time, I asked a young writing-medium, quite unconnected with the one above mentioned • How do spirits write through mediums?' 6 Q. If you take hold of the wrist, and so produce a mechanical movement of the hand, how is it that the answers come in the language of the medium?' 6 Ans. Because we do not take hold of it in your way.' Ans. It is done by the spiritual fluid, which comes from the brain to the hand.' At this point of the dialogue, it appeared as if our informant could not tell us all we wanted to know by writing, and a sketch was drawn (Fig. 1), which, strange and grotesque as it is, by the hand of a child. who could not draw, conveys the idea required. The good spirit above is throwing the influence through the higher portions of the brain, namely, the organs of veneration, benevolence, ideality, and the intellectual portion. The evil spirit, nearer to earth, is trying to mesmerise the base of the brain. I cannot help connecting this illustration through a quite uninformed medium with some experiments in writing made through my friend Miss L-, who has sometimes been obliged to leave off, from the character of the writing, the pain in the nape of the neck, and a chill which she frequently feels, and which always gives her the idea of an earthly or evil influence. The illustration in the diagram was afterwards con firmed by the hand of another medium, with the additional intelligence that Spirits often influence through each other.' I asked for a drawing of the process, when two persons' hands were joined, and the drawing No. 2 was made. These two sketches, strange as they are, are nearly fac-similes of the original, which was, however, too large for this page. According to the law of symbolism always in operation, by which it appears that the character of the representative imagery used through my friend Miss L-, who has sometimes been obliged to leave off, from the character of the writing, the pain in the nape of the neck, and a chill which she frequently feels, and which always gives her the idea of an earthly or evil influence. The illustration in the diagram was afterwards confirmed by the hand of another medium, with the additional intelligence that Spirits often influence through each other.' 6 I asked for a drawing of the process, when two |