BUCHANAN'S JOURNAL OF MAN.

VOL. I. JANUARY, 1888. NO. 12.



CONTENTS OF JOURNAL OF MAN.

The Pursuit of Truth Occultism defined Psychic Phenomena The Ancient Iberians The Star Dust of the Universe MISCELLANEOUS—Bright Literature; The Two Worlds; Foote's Health Monthly; Psychic Theories; Twentieth Century Science, Dawning at the end of the Nineteenth; Comparative Speed of Light and Electricity; Wonderful Photography; Wooden Cloth; The Phylloxera; Falling Rents; Boston Civilization; Psychic Blundering; Beecher's Mediumship; A Scientific Cataract; Obstreperous and Pragmatic Vulgarity; Hygiene; Quinine; Life and Death; Dorothea L. Dix; The Drift of Catholicism; Juggernaut The Principal Methods of Studying the Brain Responses of Readers—Medical Orthodoxy



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.

BY ONE WHO KNOWS.

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 Judaea; 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, mediaeval 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 anaesthetics.

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."



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. Nebulae, 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 L1 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 Homoeopathic 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.