The Missing Link In Modern Spiritualism Part 28

This meeting, to my mind, was very unsatisfactory. I was astonished and disappointed at the course which the professors pursued. Astonished at their seeming ignorance of all laws of order and harmony, and disappointed to find that they had met, determined to establish some appearance of carrying their point, right or wrong.

They fell far beneath the degree of intelligence we had met on so many former occasions, in connection with the phenomenal manifestations a.s.sociated with Spiritualism. Our investigating committees had always heretofore been chosen with reference to their intellectual competency and honorable character; whose reports were expected to enlighten thousands who were unable to make such experiments themselves. But I am quite sure, from the experience I have had, that a great majority of those highly conceited professors, many of whom were of quite ordinary talent, had, to some extent, overcome the deficiencies of nature by turning their attention in one direction of specific study only.

On all other subjects, they are ordinary, and often very ordinary men.

Professor Aga.s.siz conversed with me pleasantly, and I was attracted to him, and admired him greatly; _but I knew he was wanting in courage_, the courage of being ready to forfeit or endanger his great _position_ in Harvard and the country. I incline to the theory presented by Mr.

Allan Putnam in 1874, in his pamphlet on "Aga.s.siz and Spiritualism,"

that Aga.s.siz at this investigation was in a false position, which gives him claims to our indulgence. In his earlier life, when a professor in Switzerland, he had been thrown under the mesmeric spell by the Rev.

Chauncy Hare Townshend, and at this investigation was under mysterious conflicting influences, of which his better self was perhaps unconscious, and for which it was not responsible. (See the pamphlet referred to, published by Colby and Rich, Boston.)

He said to me, "Mrs. Brown, I have seen the day I could do everything you do." I replied to this, "Very well, Professor: if you can do all that is done through me, you are a Medium," and I at once challenged him, in friendship and good-will, to take the stand (in the presence of their committee) with me, and submit himself to the same tests I would, adding that unless he could do all that the Spirits could do through me, I should claim the victory.

He replied, "My physical condition is much changed now." I did not at that time know that he had formerly been a mesmeric subject, and had been made clairvoyant, and given positive proof of his mediumship long years before I knew anything about Spirit rappings, magnetism, or anything relating to the subject. He positively refused to have anything to do further in connection with the examination at that time, and remained with me, aside, during the investigation going on at the time with others.

Prof. Aga.s.siz noticed that my attention was somewhat absorbed in the movements of Prof. Pierce (as he wandered about so restlessly, and seemed very much troubled; I trying to study him out), and said to me, "Mrs. Brown, what do you think of Prof. Pierce?" I replied, "If he were boxed up in such a way that I could see nothing but his lower extremities, and the manner in which he plants his feet on the ground, I could read his character correctly." He laughed and said, "I think you do not read him favorably." "No," I said, "he is not an honest man."

Prof. Aga.s.siz did not dare to sit in a circle and subject himself to the influence or power of magnetism, as may be seen in a quotation from "Facts of Mesmerism," by Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend, an article written by himself and consequently correct, from which the following is extracted:

"Desirous to know what to think of mesmerism, I for a long time sought for an opportunity of making some experiments in regard to it upon myself, so as to avoid the doubts which might arise on the nature of the sensations which we have heard described by mesmerized persons.

M. Desor, yesterday, in a visit which he made to Berne, invited Mr.

Townshend, who had previously mesmerized him, to accompany him to Neufchatel and try to mesmerize me.

"These gentlemen arrived here with the evening courier, and informed me of their arrival. At eight o'clock I went to them. We continued at supper till half-past nine o'clock, and about ten Mr. Townshend commenced operating on me. While we sat opposite to each other, he, in the first place, only took hold of my hands and looked at me fixedly.

I was firmly resolved to arrive at a knowledge of the truth, whatever it might be; and therefore, the moment I saw him endeavoring to exert an action upon me, _I silently addressed the Author of all things, beseeching him to give me the power to resist the influence, and to be conscientious in regard to myself, as well as in regard to the facts._

"I then fixed my eyes upon Mr. Townshend, attentive to whatever pa.s.sed.

I was in very suitable circ.u.mstances: the hour being early, and one at which I was in the habit of studying, was far from disposing me to sleep. I was sufficiently master of myself to experience no emotion, and to repress all flights of imagination, even if I had been less calm; accordingly it was a long time before I felt any effect from the presence of Mr. Townshend opposite me. However, after at least a quarter of an hour, I felt a sensation of a current through all my limbs, and from that moment my eye-lids grew heavy. I then saw Mr. Townshend extend his hands before my eyes, as if he were about to plunge his fingers into them; and then make different circular movements around my eyes, which caused my eye-lids to become still heavier.

"I had the idea that he was endeavoring to make me close my eyes, and yet it was not as if some one had threatened my eyes, and in the waking state I had closed them to prevent him. It was an irresistible heaviness of the lids which compelled me to shut them, and, by degrees, I found that I had no longer the power of keeping them open, but did not the less retain my consciousness of what was going on around me, so that I heard M. Desor speak to Mr. Townshend, understood what they said, and heard what questions they asked me, just as if I had been awake, but I had not the power of answering. I endeavored in vain several times to do so, and, when I succeeded, I perceived that I was pa.s.sing out of the state of torpor in which I had been, and which was rather agreeable than painful.

"In this state, I heard the watchman cry ten o'clock; then I heard it strike a quarter-past; but afterward I fell into a deeper sleep, although I never entirely lost my consciousness. It appeared to me that Mr. Townshend was endeavoring to put me into a sound sleep. My movements seemed under his control; for I wished several times to change the position of my arms, but had not sufficient power to do it, or even really to will it; while I felt my head carried to the right or left shoulder, and backward or forward, without wishing it, and, indeed, in spite of the resistance which I endeavored to oppose; and this happened several times.

"I experienced at the same time a feeling of great pleasure in giving way to the attraction which dragged me sometimes to one side, sometimes to the other; then a kind of surprise on feeling my head fall into Mr.

Townshend's hand, who appeared to me from that time to be the cause of the attraction. To his inquiry if I were well, and what I felt, I found I could not answer, but I smiled; I felt that my features expanded in spite of my resistance. I was inwardly confused at experiencing pleasure _from an influence which was mysterious to me_. From this moment I wished to wake, and was less at my ease; and yet, on Mr. Townshend asking me whether I wished to be awakened, I made a hesitating movement with my shoulders. Mr. Townshend then repeated some frictions which increased my sleep, yet I was always conscious of what was pa.s.sing around me.

"He then asked me if I wished to become lucid, at the same time continuing, as I felt, the frictions from the face to the arms. I then experienced an indescribable sensation of delight, and for an instant saw before me rays of dazzling light, which instantly disappeared. I was then inwardly sorrowful at this state being prolonged. It appeared to me that enough had been done with me. I wished to awake, but could not; yet when Mr. Townshend and Mr. Desor spoke, I heard them. I also heard the clock, and the watchman cry, but I did not know what hour he cried. Mr.

Townshend then presented his watch to me, and asked me if I could see the time, and if I saw him; but I could distinguish nothing. I heard the clock strike the quarter, but could not get out of my sleepy state. Mr.

Townshend then woke me with some quick transverse movements from the middle of the face outward, which instantly caused my eyes to open; and at the same time I got up, saying to him, 'I thank you.' It was a quarter past eleven. He then told me--and M. Desor repeated the same thing--that the only fact which had satisfied them that I was in a state of mesmeric sleep was the facility with which my head followed all the movements of his hand, although he did not touch me, and the pleasure which I appeared to feel at the moment when, after several repet.i.tions of friction, he thus moved my head at pleasure.

"(Signed) AGa.s.sIZ."

On the above quoted statement of Aga.s.siz himself, Mr. Allan Putnam, in his pamphlet on "Aga.s.siz and Spiritualism," remarks:

"We are distinctly taught, in the above (see pages 6, 7, 8, and 9), that as philosopher and scientist, then in the full vigor of manhood, Aga.s.siz 'had for a long time sought' for such an opportunity to be mesmerized as Dr. Townshend's visit afforded. This professor, even then eminent--this man, gifted with gigantic mental and strong physical powers--reverently and prayerfully, as well as philosophically, sat calmly down, not to welcome and imbibe, but '_to resist the mesmeric influence_.' Then Greek met Greek, scientist met scientist, in calm but resolute measurement of the strength and efficiency of their respective weapons and forces.

Aga.s.siz says his purpose was to _resist_. The whole tone of his account, however, indicates that his resistance was in no degree captious, but designed simply to measure the strength and enable him to note the action of mesmeric force. The vigorous professor then called into exercise all his own great inherent powers of resistance, and such further aid as his earnest aspiration could bring to his support, and yet was forced to yield up to another's will all command over his own physical organs. A stronger than he entered and ruled over his peculiar domain. The Author of all things, though besought, did not so co-operate as to countervail the legitimate action of natural powers. Invisible forces, emitted and directed by another man's mind, against which his own robust intellect was planted in calm and firm resistance, penetrated even the compact Aga.s.siz, and caused him,

"1st. To feel the sensation of a current through all his limbs.

"2d. To close his eye-lids from necessity.

"3d. To lose his powers of utterance.

"4th. To lose power to change the position of his arms.

"5th. To lose power to even _will_ to move his arms.

"6th. To lack power to prevent movements of his own head by another's will.

"7th. To experience great pleasure in giving way to the attraction upon him.

"8th. To feel surprised at the contact of his head with another's hand.

"9th. To find the operator the cause of the attraction.

"10th. To be confused at experiencing _pleasure_ from an influence that was _mysterious_ to him.

"11th. To see for an instant dazzling rays of light.

"12th. To be unable to awake, even though he wished to.

"Similar experiences have become so common that they are now devoid of strangeness. Thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, have had their like since 1839. But no other Aga.s.siz has described the sensations and facts attending the subduing operations. The character of their reporter gives his experiences exceptional value.

"It is true and readily admitted that this keen and exact observer was then dominated by _mesmeric_, which many a.s.sume to be widely different from _Spirit_, force. The belief is prevalent to-day that those two adjectives describe one and the same thing. Few persons who have sought to discover the relations between mesmerism and Spiritualism, hesitate to indorse the following statement, made by Cromwell F. Varley before a committee of the London Dialectical Society, which was substantially this, viz., 'I believe that the mesmeric force and the Spiritual force are the same--the only difference being that in one case the producing agent is in a material body, and in the other is out of such a body.'

Mr. Varley's competency to give a valuable opinion may be inferred from the fact that the great Atlantic Telegraph Company elected him from among England's eminent electricians, to supervise and control the constructors and operators of their vast and delicate apparatus for flashing knowledge under the waters, from continent to continent, and he made their project a success. We add, that Spiritualism had, for years, been manifested in striking forms and much distinctness, both through himself and other members of his own family, and that he had been an extensive observer and scientific student of its phenomena, and a careful tester of its forces. He had reached the conclusion, not only that the chief force employed in producing both the mesmeric and the Spiritualistic entrancement was the same, but also that it was distinct from either electricity or magnetism. From Mr. Varley's views the conclusion may be fairly deduced that Aga.s.siz, in middle life, experienced much that is undistinguishable from the sensations and perceptions of modern mediums, and that he was subdued by use of the same force by which they are controlled. As a general rule, though possibly subject to a few exceptions, persons who have once yielded to mesmeric, afterward are very liable to succ.u.mb to Spirit force. This rule will have important bearings when we come to view the deportment of Aga.s.siz as a member of the Harvard investigating committee. What we have already adduced suggests the probability that, if unresisted by himself, Spirits could have controlled him with much facility, had he consented to be calm and unresisting while he was within the auras or spheres of persons whose emanations and const.i.tuent elements were helpful to the control of physical forms by Spirits."

The great naturalist probably was mesmerized at other times than the one of which his own pen furnished an account. For Townshend, p. 344, says: "Prof. Aga.s.siz, who, when mesmerized, could not of himself stir a muscle, moved like an automaton across the room when impelled by me.

Even while retaining his consciousness enough _to resist my efforts_ to move his limbs by mere gestures, without contact of any kind, he subsequently owned that he was actually compelled into such motions as I wished him to perform."

CHAPTER XXII.

BOSTON AND THE HARVARD PROFESSORS (_Continued_).

DISINTERESTED JUDGMENTS UPON THE SHAM INVESTIGATION--OUR PART IN THE PROCEEDINGS--MORE FAIR INVESTIGATION BY THE COLLECTIVE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NEW ENGLAND PRESS--INVESTIGATION BY A BODY OF UNITARIAN CLERGYMEN--OUR TRIUMPHANT RETURN HOME--THEODORE PARKER.

Not only would Prof. Aga.s.siz not sit in circle with us, saying that he had vowed never again to sit in a circle, but he would not even consent to go into a private room with the medium, Mr. Redman, who invited him to do so when he found that the powerfully adverse influence of hostile wills and feelings strained against him, in the room in which sat the professors and the representative of _The Courier_, paralyzed his ability to exhibit the phenomena which, under normal circ.u.mstances, were familiar and invariable with him.

It is evident that all this was a mere sham "investigation." _The Boston Traveller_ said after it, that "It is _the unanimous opinion_ of those who witnessed the whole proceedings, with the exception of the representative of _The Courier_, that the whole affair was in no sense of the word an investigation, and that nothing was proved or disproved by it." And without quoting from other (non-Spiritualist) papers, I will only add from _The Cambridge Chronicle_ of July 11th, issued under the shadow of old Harvard's edifices, and circulated through its halls and dormitories, the following comments by a correspondent: "It is patent to observation that the committee approached the subject with preconceived views. They seem to have taken for granted that they knew more on the subject, even without investigation, than the unscientific Spiritualists with all their long experience and heart interest in it; and they erroneously judged that the public would take their _ipse dixit_ with unreasoning deference. Because a man knows a rock, does it follow that he knows a star? or if he knows a star, does he know a Spirit? Their professors have shown their ignorance in this 'investigation,' nothing more," etc.

I may say, with specific reference to the part of the "two Fox sisters,"

that in spite of the bad influences upon us of the bitterly hostile spirit which ruled the so-called "investigation," and the contemptuous ill-temper often manifested by some of the committee, I had no reason to be dissatisfied with the part played by our Spirit friends. Our rappings came, if not as profusely as usual, yet abundantly, both low and loud, in spite of our being moved to different parts of the room, of our being placed standing on cushions and on the stuffed spring seat of a sofa, etc. Their demonstrative effect was broken by Aga.s.siz's a.s.surances that he could show how these could be produced by natural physiological means, and his pledge that he would do so, a pledge given in the collective form of "we," and therefore binding on the body whose silence was a.s.sent to them. And yet on the last day, after he had in haste left the room, and when Dr. Gardner called for the fulfilment of this engagement, Prof. Pierce, who had presided, wriggled out of it by the plea that that was only an individual promise by Prof. Aga.s.siz, and _not one by the committee_. Of course it would have been easy to recall Aga.s.siz, or to hold another meeting for the purpose. Nor was that pledge ever after redeemed, in spite of the calls of the Spiritualist press.

Nor could the great Aga.s.siz have more eloquently admitted the impossibility of its fulfilment, than he did by such silence under such circ.u.mstances.

On the 10th of July, 1857, Mr. Allan Putnam, of Roxbury, published a statement from which I extract the following: