56
PLANCHETTE.
able mechanical apparatus ; the production of lights of various
colors, sizes, shapes, degrees of brilliancy, and duration of in¬
candescence, in every case without the presence of any chemical
agents or apparatus known to or usable by man ; and. lastly, the
reproduction of living material bodies, through which extempo¬
raneous, but real and tangible physical organizations, the spirits
have re-appeared to their friends on earth, expressing their pecu¬
liarities of physical form and movement, and likewise their
peculiar and distinctive modes of apprehension, feeling, and
intellection. Through these temporarily organized effigies of
their former earth-bodies, they have (as I know from several
instances of recent date) spoken to and sung with their relatives
here, and have given many other equally palpable proofs of their
ability to reconstruct and inhabit a physical form.
u II. Phenomena of a mental nature not referable to earthly
volition and intelligence; such as the contrivance and produc¬
tion of the physical phenomena above cited; the production of
writings in various ancient and modern languages, wholly un¬
known to those in whose presence they have been executed ; the
utterance of prophecy; the narration of events, and the recital
of mental facts that are transpiring in distant places, often
across broad oceans; thfe improvisation and incredibly l'apid
production of symbolic drawings and elaborate pictures by per¬
sons not versed in the pictorial art, and unable to explain the
symbols they have executed and combined in such a way as to
convey a good lesson of life, or renew a long-buried personal
reminiscence; lastly, the felicitous and accurate impersonation
of persons long departed this life, and who were wholly un¬
known to and unheard of by the personators.
u The philosophy of spirit-intercourse sheds a mellow light
over human history and human science. It founds a positive
psychology, and teaches where to look for wellsprings of inven¬
tion and progress; and it reconciles us to the hard ministry of
sin and sorrow, of ignorance and suffering.”
In i860, Mr. . ........ an opulent and well-known
banker of New York (formerly of the firm of L..... &