I will here relate an experiment when on the Kennebec [The Kennebec River is a 150-mile (240 km) river in the state of Maine in the northeastern US]. I had my subject in the sleep. I then requested any of the company to bring me the name of any individual dead or alive, and the subject would find him. A name was accordingly handed me. I passed it to the subject. He took the paper on which the name was written and read the name aloud. At this time the subject was blindfolded so that it was impossible for him to see with his natural eyes. I then told him to find the person.
I will relate his own story.
He said, "This is a man."
"Well," said I, "find him and talk with him."
In a short time he said, "I have found him."
I asked, "What does he say?"
He answered, "He was a married man, had a wife and three children, was a joiner by trade; left his tool chest in a barn, and left between two days, went to Boston, stopped a time, left for the state of New York, worked there for three years, and then died; he has been dead three years."
I told him to bring him here and describe him. He went on to give a general description of a man, and I told him that if there was anything peculiar in his appearance that differed from all others to describe him.
"Well," said he, "there is one thing in which he differs from anyone else in the room. He has a harelip."
This was a fact.
Now as there is no knowledge among the people of the principle by which this was done, the people were left to their own judgment. So I left them arguing, some trying to prove it was the man's spirit, some calling it humbug and collusion. Others went away and told what they saw and heard.
This kind of an experiment I was trying almost every day for over four years. I then became a medium myself, but not like my subject.
I retained my own consciousness and at the same time took the feelings of my patient. Thus I was able to unlock the secret which has been a mystery for ages to mankind. I found that I had the power of not only feeling their aches and pains, but the state of their mind. I discovered that ideas took form and the patient was affected just according to the impression contained in the idea.
For example, if a person lost a friend at sea, the shock upon his nervous system would disturb the fluids of their body and create around them a vapor like a cloud and in this cloud they create the essence of their trouble. This cloud being a part of their nervous system acts upon the body. Now unless the scene can be destroyed, it will destroy the body. This cloud embraces all the phenomena of spiritualism, mesmerism and all other excitements differing according to circumstances.
Every person has around them this cloud or vapor and in that are all their ideas, right or wrong. This vapor or fluid contains the identity of the person. Now when I sit down with a diseased person, I see the spiritual form, in this cloud, like a person driven out of his home. They sometimes appear very much frightened, which is almost always the case with insane persons. I show no disposition to disturb them and at last they approach me cautiously, and if I can govern my own spirit or mind I can govern theirs. At last I commence a conversation with them. They tell me their trouble and offer to carry me spiritually to the place where their trouble commenced.
I was sitting by a lady whom I had never seen before until she called upon me with her father to see if I could help her. The lady had all the appearance of dropsy[1]. I took her by the hand. In a short time it seemed as though we were going off some distance. At last I saw water. It seemed as though we were on the ocean. At length I saw a brig in a gale. I also saw a man on the bowsprit, dressed in an oilcloth suit. At last he fell overboard. The vessel hove to and in a short time the man sank. This was a reality, but it happened five years before.
My explanation is this: The lady lost her husband five years before. He was in a brig off the Bahamas and lost as I described. On hearing of the death of her husband, it produced a nervous shock, producing a chemical action upon her system, which threw off this heat and in this heat, as vapor, she created the cause of her trouble. This was to her the remembrance of some trouble which she could not be reconciled to. This heat is the secret of all the phenomenon that has heretofore been a mystery to mankind. It shows itself in a thousand ways. It is the foundation of all superstition and ignorance. Out of this men form images that frighten them. Persons in fevers create all the scenes that trouble them. It is the material used to create all the ideas and forms of all our false ideas. This is taken for the spirits of the dead. This the spiritualists jump over.
[1] Edema or oedema , formerly known as dropsy or hydropsy, is an abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin or in one or more cavities of the body.
Now to cure the lady was to bring her from the scene of her troubles. This I did and the lady recovered.
I will relate his own story.He said, "This is a man."
"Well," said I, "find him and talk with him."
In a short time he said, "I have found him."
I asked, "What does he say?"
He answered, "He was a married man, had a wife and three children, was a joiner by trade; left his tool chest in a barn, and left between two days, went to Boston, stopped a time, left for the state of New York, worked there for three years, and then died; he has been dead three years."
I told him to bring him here and describe him. He went on to give a general description of a man, and I told him that if there was anything peculiar in his appearance that differed from all others to describe him.
"Well," said he, "there is one thing in which he differs from anyone else in the room. He has a harelip."
This was a fact.
Now as there is no knowledge among the people of the principle by which this was done, the people were left to their own judgment. So I left them arguing, some trying to prove it was the man's spirit, some calling it humbug and collusion. Others went away and told what they saw and heard.
This kind of an experiment I was trying almost every day for over four years. I then became a medium myself, but not like my subject.
I retained my own consciousness and at the same time took the feelings of my patient. Thus I was able to unlock the secret which has been a mystery for ages to mankind. I found that I had the power of not only feeling their aches and pains, but the state of their mind. I discovered that ideas took form and the patient was affected just according to the impression contained in the idea.For example, if a person lost a friend at sea, the shock upon his nervous system would disturb the fluids of their body and create around them a vapor like a cloud and in this cloud they create the essence of their trouble. This cloud being a part of their nervous system acts upon the body. Now unless the scene can be destroyed, it will destroy the body. This cloud embraces all the phenomena of spiritualism, mesmerism and all other excitements differing according to circumstances.
Every person has around them this cloud or vapor and in that are all their ideas, right or wrong. This vapor or fluid contains the identity of the person. Now when I sit down with a diseased person, I see the spiritual form, in this cloud, like a person driven out of his home. They sometimes appear very much frightened, which is almost always the case with insane persons. I show no disposition to disturb them and at last they approach me cautiously, and if I can govern my own spirit or mind I can govern theirs. At last I commence a conversation with them. They tell me their trouble and offer to carry me spiritually to the place where their trouble commenced.
I was sitting by a lady whom I had never seen before until she called upon me with her father to see if I could help her. The lady had all the appearance of dropsy[1]. I took her by the hand. In a short time it seemed as though we were going off some distance. At last I saw water. It seemed as though we were on the ocean. At length I saw a brig in a gale. I also saw a man on the bowsprit, dressed in an oilcloth suit. At last he fell overboard. The vessel hove to and in a short time the man sank. This was a reality, but it happened five years before.
My explanation is this: The lady lost her husband five years before. He was in a brig off the Bahamas and lost as I described. On hearing of the death of her husband, it produced a nervous shock, producing a chemical action upon her system, which threw off this heat and in this heat, as vapor, she created the cause of her trouble. This was to her the remembrance of some trouble which she could not be reconciled to. This heat is the secret of all the phenomenon that has heretofore been a mystery to mankind. It shows itself in a thousand ways. It is the foundation of all superstition and ignorance. Out of this men form images that frighten them. Persons in fevers create all the scenes that trouble them. It is the material used to create all the ideas and forms of all our false ideas. This is taken for the spirits of the dead. This the spiritualists jump over.
[1] Edema or oedema , formerly known as dropsy or hydropsy, is an abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin or in one or more cavities of the body.
Now to cure the lady was to bring her from the scene of her troubles. This I did and the lady recovered.
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