MESMER VE SWEDENBORG 1

 

MESMER AND SWEDENBORG; OR, THE RELATION OF THE DEVELOPMENTS OF MESMERISM TO THE DOCTRINES AND DISCLOSURES OF SWEDENBORG

MESMER VE SWEDENBORG VEYA MESMERİZM GELİŞMELERİNİN SWEDENBORG ÖĞRETİMLERİ VE AÇIKLAMALARIYLA İLİŞKİSİ

 

“İnsanlar birbirleriyle mevcudiyette olduklarında, bedenden bedene olduğu gibi, ruhtan ruha bazı ışık akışlarının olduğu akıl yargısına kesinlikle uygundur.”  -Bacon-

Yazan: GEORGE BUSH

Not: Bu resmin ne olduğunu yazıyı translate ederek öğrenin, hayret edeceksiniz...

PREFACE.

The object aimed at in the present work is to elevate the phe­nomena of Mesmerism to a higher plane than that on which they have been wont to be contemplated. The fundamental ground as­sumed is, that the most important facts disclosed in the Mesmeric state are of a spiritual nature, and can only receive an adequate solution by being viewed in connection with the state of disem­bodied spirits and the laws of their intercourse with each other. Perhaps the first impression would be, that the world of spirits is so far beyond our ken—that everything pertaining to it is so shad­owy, dim, and delusive—that it were idle to think that any certain light can be reflected from it upon the psychological constitution of our nature in the present life. It remains to be seen whether this judgment be not premature. It is at any rate claimed in be­half of Emanuel Swedenborg that he was in spirit intromitted into that world, and has made a faithful revelation of the state of its inhabitants and of the general laws and conditions of spiritual being. It is essentially involved in these disclosures that man, in this world, is a spirit clothed with a body—that in his interior prin­ciples he is so constituted as to be even now a denizen of the spiritual world and constantly associated with kindred spirits—that the laws of his intellectual life, which are operative here, are ope­rative there also—and that consequently his future state is merely the normal and necessary result of the working of those elements, psychical and moral, which distinguish him in his bodily life. It is claimed, moreover, that many of the leading interior princi­ples of his nature are developed, under a new aspect, in the Mes­meric condition, and that we are at full liberty to bring these de­velopments into juxtaposition with those of Swedenborg to see how far they coincide. If they are found to be in the most marked and striking harmony with each other, it is surely difficult to resist the conclusion, that Swedenborg is entitled to our credence as a truth­ful reporter of the facts and phenomena of the spirit-world. If not an apostle to others, he certainly is to those who are satisfied of the reality of the facts elicited in the Mesmeric state.

My object then is to show to what extent these coincidences ex­ist. I propose to display the dominant phenomena of Mesmerism by the side of the spiritual disclosures of Swedenborg. The rea­der will thus have before him the adequate means of forming a judgment on the grand question. It is not to be disguised that very momentous issues hang upon the result of the investigation. If, upon a rigid interrogation of the.laws of our mental being, it turns out that what have been incredulously termed the reveries and dreams of the Swedish Seer are in fact no other than the eternal verities of things, a new complexion is at once put upon the sublime system of disclosure which he has been made the instrument of imparting to the world. His solemnly asserted claims are no longer an idle pretence. Though not professedly confirmed by miracles, as miracles are usually un­derstood, yet they must be considered as hereby receiving the direct seal and stamp of the authority of Heaven, and it can be no light matter to pass them by unheeded. As he came avowedly not to usher in a new religion to the world, but to develope the interior and spiritual genius of one already given, his mission could only be authenticated by an appeal to the universal reason of man acting upon the alleged accordance between its soundest inductions and the intrinsic character of his expose. It is by this test that his ad­herents are supremely desirous that the truth of his mission should be tried. They refuse to admit that they have yielded their cre­dence to it on any other ground, and they are unable to see why the evidence which has satisfied them should not satisfy others, provided they will entertain it with equal fairness and candor; and considering the magnitude of the interests at stake, in case it should prove to be true, they are at a loss to conceive that it should not be entitled to the most diligent examination. If the system bore upon its face the self-evident marks of imposture and delusion—if it contravened any settled first-truths of the reason—if it arrayed itself in obvious antagonism with the purport of the Christian Scrip­tures—if, in a word, it had only to be looked at to be at once war- rantably rejected—then indeed every plea in its behalf would be a useless labor, if treason against Truth be not the more appropri­ate appellation. But we confidently affirm that no man can in­telligently pronounce such a verdict upon the alleged revelations of Swedenborg. Apart from all the collateral confirmations which we propose to exhibit in the ensuing pages, they commend them-

selves, by their internal evidence, to the calmest and profoundest reflection of every enlightened mind. The criterion to which they refer themselves is the intrinsic nature of man and the report of his clearest intuitions. If they do not abide this ordeal, let them be re­jected, and consigned for ever to the contempt which has tempo­rarily been their lot. But we have no fears for the grand issue. The evolutions of Providence may justly be expected to enhance the testimony of truths which its counsels have purposed to bestow upon the world. From a source but little anticipated, this witness is now forcing itself upon the human mind with an energy which cannot be resisted. A new phasis of our nature has been recently developed, and its plain bearing is to fortify the conclusions of the reason by a demonstration made to the very senses.

It will be seen that in the ensuing discussion I have little to say of the purely physical effects of Mesmerism, and that I propose no theory of the nervous influence, or any other, by which to account for the phenomena. I trust this may not be set down to the ac­count of a defective mode of treating the subject. My aim is alto­gether different. It involves no attempt to solve the physiological problems connected with the processes and results in question. I do not underrate such inquiries, nor do I doubt that a continual progress is making towards the discovery of the physical laws upon which the physical manifestations of Mesmerism depend. That many, or most, or all of them, maybe resolved into the constitution of the nervous system, is in the highest degree probable. But at present we know very little of the interior economy of this part of our organism, and to say that a particular phenomenon is to be traced to the action of the nervous influence is merely stating a fact without explaining it. We are not thereby advanced in our knowledges of causes. The department I have chosen to consider is that of psychology, and not of physiology. I wish to show that certain psychological facts are strikingly illustrated by the state­ments of Swedenborg in regard to the phenomena of the spiritual world. These facts undoubtedly rest in a measure in a physiolog­ical basis, but this we have not yet compassed, noris it our impres­sion that it will be compassed, except by the light reflected back upon it from, the spiritual sphere into which we are conducted by Swedenborg’s illuminated guidance. He alone, we conceive, has set before us the true point of contact between the spiritual and the physical, and shown how the one flows into, governs, and moulds the other. Nothing, in my view, is more idle than the 1*

attempt to refer the Mesmeric effects, in the light in which I con­sider them, to physical or natural causes. They inevitably con­duct us to a higher sphere. It is only the condition of spirit out of the body that can unfold to us the laws and operation 6f spirit in the body, and the fixed relation that subsists between them. Cor­rect knowledge upon this point is the universal desideratum of the human mind. Nothing does it more earnestly covet than an in­sight into the mystery of the connexion between matter and mind. The solving of this mystery is one of the grand ends of Swedenborg’s mission. For this he was providentially prepared by those profound researches in the whole field of science and philosophy, which had conducted him to such splendid results prior to his illumination. His spiritual illumination, however, was the crown of his prerogatives, and subsequent to that epoch the speculations of the Sage gave place to the oracles of the Seer. This we are willing should stand for the present as a simple asser­tion ; the sequel will discover, in some good degree, upon what grounds it is made. But the body of his works must be consulted for the full establishment of his claim.

It can hardly fail to be gathered, from the entire air of the present work, that its ulterior object is to present, under a new form, a plea for the truth of Swedenborg’s revelations. The author has no motive to disguise this as the real animus of the undertaking. In this he regards himself as entering into direct co-operation with the designs of Providence. He has no scruple to avow it as his firm conviction that the phenomena of Mesmerism have been developed in this age with the express design of confirming the message of Swedenborg—of testifying, by external evidence, to the absolute truth of the disclosures and the doctrines which he has promulgated to the world. If they are of God they are worthy of special authentication at his hand. This, we think, is afforded in the extraordinary results which have grown out of the first dis­covery of Mesmer.

Let me, however, on one point be distinctly understood. I do not place the main evidence of Swedenborg’s truth on the basis of the discoveries made through Mesmerism. They are held to rest upon the immovable ground of their internal character—of their accordance at once with the voice of Reason and the voice of Rev­elation. The Church of the New Jerusalem, to which his an­nouncements have, under God, given birth, is not to be considered as compromised, in any point of its faith, by what is in these pages given to the world. It is but justice to the members of that body to say, that they have never consented to assume any peculiar responsi­bility on the score of the alleged phenomena, as though the system of doctrines they have embraced were in any way pledged for the verit­able character of the Magnetic developments. So far as any palpable and undeniable truth is brought out in connection with them—truth which spontaneously allies itself with the laws of spiritual being un­folded by Swedenborg—they, of course, willingly accept it. While they uniformly, I believe, stand aloof from all public and promiscuous exhibitions of the marvels of the Mesmeric trance, and while upon their own principles they can readily account for all the delusions that may be mixed up in the. clairvoyant reports, yet they do not hesitate to acknowledge anything in them that is absolutely true ; and if, at the same time, it affords a proof of the grander truths of Sweden­borg’s teachings, they gratefully recognize it as a providential attes- - tation which may be of service to those who are not convinced, as they are, upon other and higher grounds.[*]

While I thus desire to be viewed as occupying a position which shall in no way commit the interests of the New Church with the issues of what may be deemed an uncertain science, I would also

tained by the Divine Omnipotence. ⁶ For the divine sphere pro­ceeding from the Lord is omnipresent, and constantly sees where anything is in danger; whereas an angel only sees what is near him, and cannot so much as perceive, within himself, what is passing in his own society.⁵ And then may we not ask, in relation to the de­velopment of this vital action, Can any gift or power be given to man for good and use, within the sphere of his operation, which it is not his duty to accept and wisely adopt ? It is unnecessary to add any more remarks at present upon this supposition and gratuitous as­sertion, which requires proofs of its solidity, from the writings of our author. It is presumed, however, that in the theological writings of Swedenborg, we have confirmatory proofs of the existence, and of some of the distinguishing properties, of this principle of vital influ­ence. Its discovery is coincident in manifestation and concurrent in its effects. We therefore make our appeal to Swedenborg in proof or testimony to the existence and to the order of this principle, for it is the living principle in man, and of which, as an organized form, he is the proper recipient, and in different or distinct degrees; because all the distinguishing qualities of his character, as a human being, are the results of its manifestation, in the varieties of its development, in the growth of his mind, in the arrangements, classification, and regeneration of all his active powers : in every moment of his exist­ence, dependent and constantly receptive of its influence, and this both mediately and immediately. It is the accommodated medium or agent by which all activity and power originates, even all the forces in the universe, and from which they subsist and continually exist. To be thoroughly grounded in this conviction, the reader of Sweden­borg must not only study the little treatise on Influx, as an introduc­tion, to gain some general ideas upon the subject, but he must take a more extensive range in the deep study of the numbers of the Ar­cana Celestia, wherever the index refers to the terms Influx and Life. And the reader of Swedenborg who has time and leisure to digest these points in our author, and then to compare them impartially with the recent discoveries of the properties of this vital fluid in man, and even with the wonders and phenomena of somnambulism, will see nothing frightful, or repugnant, or contrary to our principles and doc­trines, but all consistent, confirmatory, and in harmony with Sweden­borg. For it is from him that we are instructed concerning the con­tinual influx, passing from the spiritual into the natural world ; the inflowing of life into organized forms adapted to its reception, and founded in the nature of things, and in harmony with all the laws of order in the great system of the divine economy, and no less in har­mony with the common influx, which descends by low’er degrees* equally separate and distinct, into the life of animals, and the sub­jects of the vegetable kingdom.”—Mesmeric Phenomena, p. 25-27. deprecate the inference that I approve of the indiscriminate practice of Mesmerism from motives of mere idle curiosity or public enter­tainment, especially by novitiate hands. Indeed, I know of nothing more calculated to bring the whole theme into contempt with the sober-minded than such Lectures as are frequently advertised by itin­erant Magnetizers, who are willing to demean themselves to making gain from the public exhibition of a power which can never be right­ly regarded but as a most sacred endowment, that is positively pro­faned by being turned to any account independent of use and un­prompted by benevolent motive. Moreover, when physically applied, it is frequently a perilous agent in its effects upon the nervous sys­tem, and though its curative powers in disease are oftentimes emi­nently great, yet it is a law of its operation that its success shall de­pend upon the character of the motive by which it is applied, and the general discretion which governs its ministry. Regarded from a still higher point of view—as the development of an interior state which, puts the subject into a new relation with the spiritual world—it is fraught with a sanctity with which no right mind will trifle. The highest moral and religious conditions are here requisite in both par­ties, as the only guaranty not only against the most pernicious physi­cal effects, but also against the liability to the most egregious delu­sions, and a dangerous abuse of the moral sentiments.

I venture to express the hope that the copiousness of the quotations, made necessary by the plan of the work, will not mar the reader’s in­terest in the perusal. Apart from their direct bearing on the general scope, they will be seen to possess an intrinsic value from the character of the psychological and moral principles which they embody. The extracts from the various works on Mesmerism present an interesting view of the main phenomena, while those from Swedenborg will be seen to be entitled to the profoundest consideration, in whatever light they are viewed, whether as confirming the truth of the former or not.

Nor would I have it overlooked, that, for the most part, I make no account whatever of the claims of clairvoyants to direct intercourse with spirits. Without denying the possibility of the fact, or its oc­casional actual occurrence, still I do not aim to establish the truth of Swedenborg’s revelations by the similar revelations of Magnetic sub­jects. Their alleged visions may, for aught that concerns the scope of my discussions, be justly regarded as artificial dreams, produced by the excitement of the cerebral organs. On this head I have no­thing to affirm—nothing to deny. I take simply the manifestations, as developed in the ordinary state, and as evincing a peculiar mental relation between the parties, and endeavor to show that these facts receive their true and only explanation from what Swedenborg has disclosed of the laws of spiritual intercourse in the other life. The ground of this is his own grand position—that “ man is a spirit as to his interiors,” and in virtue of that fact, is unconsciously associated with spirits, and governed, as to his mental workings, by the same laws with them. The denial and refutation of this principle will be seen to be absolutely requisite to the rejection of the results which I have affirmed to flow from it.

In relation to the extraordinary case of A. J. Davis, given in the Appendix, I have indeed been compelled to view its phenomena in a higher light than that pertaining to any other sample of the clair­voyant power. It will be seen at once to be a case altogether unique and unprecedented. Still even this is not a case of direct revela­tion of the facts of the spiritual world, like those of Swedenborg. It is one where a supernatural knowledge is displayed on subjects of which he was previously ignorant, and which can only be explained on the ground of the influx of the minds of spirits into his mind. This circumstance renders his state a remarkable illustration, or de­monstration rather, of the truth of Swedenborg’s disclosures, and how vastly is the evidence of this heightened, when we find him uncon­sciously reproducing Swedenborg’s own philosophy, and making long verbal quotations from his works—works of which he had never read a solitary page ! The narrative I have given relative to this young man will doubtless encounter the most stubborn unbelief, but the facts by which it is fortified are beyond dispute, and I offer it to the world without the slightest misgiving on the score of its possible future expo­sure as an idle tale of imposition or delusion. That it will carry conviction to the mass of my readers,! do not venture to say; but that it defies contradiction in the form in which I have given it, I unhesi­tatingly affirm. Upon the evidence of the facts in the affair will de­pend the soundness of the conclusion I draw from them. If, with the impregnable array of the facts before them, my readers can draw any other conclusion, I am assuredly somewhat curious to learn what it is.                                               

G. B.
New-York, Nov. 19,1846.

ABBREVIATIONS.

The various works of Swedenborg are usually cited by the fol­lowing abbreviated titles, which are adopted in the ensuing pages.

A. C.            ...	- Arcana Celestia.
A. E. -             -       -       -	- Apocalypse Explained.
A. R.           ...	- Apocalyse Revealed.
T. C. R. -        -       -      -	- Trite Christian Religion.
C. L.           ...	- Conjugial Love.
H. & H. -        -      -      -	- Heaven and Hell.
D. L. &W. -         -       -	- Divine Love and Wisdom,
D. P. -            -       -       -	- Divine Providence.
S. D. -          -       -       -	- Spiritual Diary.
E. U. -            -       -       -	- Earths in the Universe.
Ath. Creed ...	- Athanasian Creed

 

ERRATA.

*

The reader is requested to note the two following correc­tions, which are important to a right view of the author’s meaning.

On page 163, seventeenth line from the top, instead of— “ when the only things,”—read “ when the very things.”

On page 252, near the bottom, read the whole sentence thus:—“But a spiritual idea is one that excludes space and time; and as death introduces a good spirit into a sphere in which time and space are unknown, such a spirit comes, of course, into a spiritual perception of the internal contents of the Word.” In the printing the word good was inadvertently omitted, and universal was erroneously written for internal A few other trifling errors of type occur.

INTRODUCTION.

The progress of scientific research at the present day has distinguished itself not less by the wideness of the field over which its triumphs have spread, than by the soundness and certainty of the inductions by which it is sustained. The bare mention of the sciences of Astronomy, Geology, Physi­ology, and Chemistry, indicates the vast extent to which dis­covery has pierced with penetrating eye; and though the ultimatum of its conquests has left new worlds of truth to be explored, yet it is impossible, on good grounds, to deny that its main results have been established on the impregnable basis of cautious observation and sound reasoning. This claim, however, does not preclude the admission, that theo­ries of causation are still broached, in many departments, which future and farther investigation will set aside or greatly modify; but that an immense accession has been made, in modern times, to the store of facts and phenomena previously gathered, cannot be questioned. Equally indisputable is it, that we are continually approximating the true philosophy which underlies the enlarged and enlarging experience of the current age. That this philosophy, when reached, will con­duct us into the sphere of the spiritual, as the true region of causes, and disclose new and unthought of relations between the worlds of matter and of mind, is-doubtless a very rea­sonable anticipation, and one which is even now widely though vaguely entertained. To multitudes of minds the surprise will then probably be great to learn, that this result had been long since not merely predicted, but actually attained, in the sublime system of conjoint philosophy and theology embodied in the works of Swedenborg—a system which fully meets the present demand of the human mind in this department, and supplies all the desiderata which will be felt for ages to come.

It is of course by the limited few only who understand the system in its length and breadth, that a concession answera­ble to so large a claim will be made; by them, however, it w^Till be made intelligently and cordially. They know that the gulf of separation between the natural and the spiritual world has been bridged by the disclosures of Swedenborg. They are assured, too, that the conviction of this truth has come to them in the only legitimate way—by a calm, careful, and diligent pondering of its internal evidence. Nor can their confidence in the results which they have reached be, by any possibility, shaken, except by a process of reasoning which shall show that the fundamental principles of the system are not the fundamental principles of human nature, and that the clearest intuitions of their minds are not the intuitions of the minds of other men. A priori objections go with them for nothing, so long as the specific testimonies of Swedenborg’s truth are not encountered upon their own grounds.

Meantime, as his adherents with one consent find them­selves forced to recognise a divine origin in these revela­tions—as they refuse for one moment to regard them as the outbirth or excogitation of any mere human intellect, how­ever exalted its order, however grand its endowments, how­ever rich its resources—they naturally stand in watchful pos­ture, looking for such incidental confirmations of the truth as the Divine Providence may see fit to bestow, for the sake of those whose faith can only be yielded to higher verities by being previously extorted to lower. Noris it at all unreason­able to suppose, that the same considerations which have dictated the bestowment of a new revelation to the world, should operate to the gradual bringing forth of a mass of tes­timony that shall go to authenticate its claims. In this light the recent marvellous developments of Mesmerism are un­doubtedly to be viewed. These phenomena constitute a very interesting theme of study, considered simply in their grosser physical relations, as pertaining to the human organ­ism ; but this is not the plane on which they prefer their highest claims to investigation. They bear as directly on psychology as upon physiology. They come into the sphere of Anthro­pology just at the point where Anthropology weds or welds itself to Theology. These two departments we hold it im­possible fairly to separate. The truths of Anthropology are the truths, which take hold of the physical and psychical nature of man. They ascertain the constituent elements of his being. They develope the laws, corporeal and mental, by which he is governed in reference to the end of his being. Theology also deals with man as appointed to a destiny which shall be developed on the ground of his constitution as a creature, as well as of his character as a moral agent. In conducting inquiry on this head, we assume it as a postu­late, that the facts of man’s nature in the present world, are to be regarded as a criterion of the facts of his nature in the other world; or, in other words, that what man is in the present life, as far as his spirit is concerned, is to be consid­ered as an exponent of what he is to be in the other life ; for we hold it to be impossible to conceive, that he shall be substantially different in the one state of his being from what he is in the other. He lays aside indeed, at death, his gross material body, but the true man is the internal man, or the soul, which survives the body, and goes into the spiritua world in the full possession of all the essential powers and faculties by which he is distinguished here. His thoughts, his memory, his affections, go with him when he forsakes the earthly tenement, for they are the elements which constitute his essential and identical self; and this, we say, must remain substantially the same both before and after death.

It follows, then, from this, that whatever goes to throw light upon the inner constitution and laws of our intellectual being, while sojourning in the body, tends at the same time to elucidate the conditions of our future existence. The more we know of ourselves here, the more we know of what we shall be hereafter. This knowledge is continually being aug­mented by the results of physiological and psychological research, and in this field of science it cannot be questioned that the phenomena of Mesmerism have unfolded a new phasis of our nature, replete with novel, striking, and momentous bearings upon the philosophy of mind. What­ever else may be said of them, they do assuredly disclose an entirely new class of facts in the department of psychology— facts, the reality of which it is impossible to explain away, and the importance of which it is impossible to overrate. After every abatement on the score of delusion, whether vol­untary or involuntary—after the fullest concession that may be demanded as to the unhappy auspices under which the facts have often been exhibited to the world—yet we confi­dently affirm that the leading phenomena, both physical and mental, have been clearly established; and the rejection of the evidence of this, so largely accumulated, affords one of the most astounding proofs of incorrigible scepticism and direct hostility to truth that stands on record in the annals of the human mind.

It falls not within the scope of the present essay, to attempt the proof of the dominant facts of Mesmerism, nor to deal ■with the physical branch of the subject, any further than may be requisite to the adequate exhibition of the higher and more spiritual phenomena. The general truth of the Mesmeric in­fluence we shall take for granted, because we consider it incontestably established ; and we shall address our remarks to those who share with us in this conviction. For ourselves we have seen, heard, read, examined, and experimented, and having, in common with thousands of others who have gone through the same process, become perfectly satisfied as to the leading facts in the case, we come before the world with the results of our induction in our particular department of the subject—the psychological or spiritual. To those who are inveterately skeptical on the whole theme, we can pro­mise neither satisfaction nor entertainment. We shall proba­bly be barbarians to all such. They must first cross the ves­tibule before they can take their place in the temple. We speak to those who can understand us, and of these happily the number is not small. Among them we have the inward assurance, that there are multitudes who are darkly groping for the light which we hope to proffer them. They have be­come acquainted with phenomena of a new and astounding character, and which they are confident are to be referred to some grand and fundamental law of our being that has hith­erto escaped detection. They are therefore eagerly looking for some clew that shall guide them to a true solution of the many marvels which cluster upon them. We have a strong conviction that this clew maybe afforded. Not perhaps that every mystery pertaining to the subject shall be fully cleared up, but we are still firm in the belief that the curtain may be in a good degree lifted from the hidden things of this science. This we propose to attempt; and that, too, by bringing the subject into juxtaposition with the spiritual disclosures of Swedenborg. The main phenomena of Mesmerism are men­tal. They involve the laws of mentals communication between one spirit and another. They bring us, therefore, into pre­cisely that sphere of phenomena which Swedenborg pro­fesses to unfold. His claim, it is well known, is to have been sup ernaturally put into a condition that enabled him to hold converse with the spiritual world, and to lay open to human view its otherwise inscrutable mysteries.

This, we readily grant, is a high claim, and one that is to be substantiated by adequate evidence. Whatever may be our estimate of the intellectual endowments or moral worth of the man, his own bare assertion will be insufficient to beget faith in his revelations. The requisite evidence must either be that of miracles, or an internal evidence pertaining intrinsically to the disclosures themselves, by which they shall so approve themselves to our reason—so seize upon and command our convictions—that the necessity of farther testimony shall be superseded. It cannot be doubted that this latter kind of evidence is by far the most valuable and important; for though we do not hesitate to affirm that mira­culous testimony can be adduced in favor of Swedenborg’s revelations, yet it is equally certain that those miracles would be explained away by the incredulous philosophy of the present age, nor have we any reason to suppose that they would have been admitted by the mass of men, even though they had occurred before their own eyes. They would have found some mode of accounting for them other than that ■which implied their truth, just as the Jews did in regard to the miracles of the Saviour. The intrinsic evidence of truth is no sufficient guaranty of its admission where the fitting moral conditions are wanting. Accordingly Swedenborg himself never relied on them or referred to them in proof of the authority of his mission. He built his claims to credence on entirely another basis. He appealed exclusively to the intrinsic character of the things declared to be revealed to him. He submitted the whole matter to the intuitions of the human mind in regard to the fundamental principles involved in it. He left it wholly to the decisions of the universal rea­son of man, judging from internal evidence, to authenticate or annihilate the truth of his pretensions. He is indeed to be considered as virtually, though not formally, making one simple demand, which 'will be conceded to be entirely rea­sonable in itself, viz. that sufficient time should be allowed for the maturing of that evidence on which a portion of his disclosures rested, and by which they were ultimately to be established. This, I say, was a reasonable demand, and so it will appear if it be considered that he grounded his dis­closures of man’s destiny hereafter upon the truth of man’s essential nature here. But this nature was not fully developed in the age in which he lived. The true science of man, like all other sciences, is progressive. His bodily and mental constitution was not then sufficiently unfolded to afford all the test of the truth of his averments of which it was capa­ble ; nor is it yet by any means fully developed. But in the space of eighty or a hundred years since Swedenborg made his revelations, great advances have been made in the field of Anthropology, and we have at least neared the time when we are justly authorized to submit his claims to the appro­priate test.

It strikes us that this condition is entirely equitable, and that upon the grounds of it a perfectly fair issue is made. A man rises up in the middle of the eighteenth century, and assures the world that for moral ends of the utmost moment to mankind, he has been intromitted, in a supernatural way, into the spiritual world, and been thereby enabled to make known to his fellow-creatures the essential nature of Heaven and Hell, or, in other words, the veritable state of human spirits after their departure from the body. He most expli­citly declares that the future destiny of every individual is the natural, normal, and necessary result of those laws, whe­ther physical, psychical, or moral, by which he is distinguish­ed in the present life. At the same time, he goes on the tacit assumption that a portion of those laws were not yet, in his life-time, disclosed with sufficient clearness to make the truth of his revelations at once universally apparent. But the time was to come when the great facts of Anthro­pology would be so investigated and established as inevita­bly to compel the inference, that just what he has stated of the other life is true, and that no other conclusion can possi­bly be drawn. When this state of things is reached he may justly be entitled to say, “ From the evidence afforded I claim to be received as a truthful reporter of the facts of the spirit­ual world; and if the facts are sustained by the evidence, then I demand a statement of the grounds on which my claims to the character of a commissioned messenger from Heaven are denied. Could I have revealed the facts if I had not been divinely empowered to do it?” Can anything be more fair and reasonable ? Can any just exceptions be taken to the criterion thus propounded ? The test is before us; we have only to apply it.

Here then is the point where the phenomena of Mesmerism come into contact with the professed revelations of Sweden­borg—and the object we now have in view is to point out, with as much distinctness as possible, the coincidences be­tween them. It will, we think, be granted that if it can be satisfactorily shown that the leading facts of Mesmerism, in what may be termed its higher or spiritual manifestations, are precisely those which we should be led to anticipate, pro­vided Swedenborg’s announcements of the nature of spirits and the laws of their intercourse are true, the inference can­not well be resisted that they are true. It is certainly upon no different principle that we receive and rest in the New­tonian theory of the great law of gravitation, viz. that the facts which come under our observation are just such facts as would occur on the assumption that the theory is a sound one. The theory accounts, and accounts satisfactorily, for the facts.

I know, indeed, that the asserted facts of Mesmerism are regarded by multitudes as no facts at all. They contend that the evidence adduced in their support is inconclusive, and that whatever effects of this nature may really have been produced, are due to other causes, and are capable of some other solution, than one which supposes the absolute truth of the alleged influence. With such persons I propose to have no controversy. The object of the present discussion will not allow of any such diversion as would be requisite to meet and answer inextenso the objections urged on this score. To those who are candidly in pursuit of evidence, I can only say they will find it in large abundance in the numerous pub­lications—now amounting to at least 2000—devoted to the subject; and if this does not satisfy them, the way is open to put the matter to the test of their own personal experiments, as there is no mystery in the process, and no privileged caste to whom the phenomena are laid open.

In accomplishing the object I have before me, it will be ex­pedient, on the one hand, to display the prominent facts and phenomena which usually reveal themselves in the Mesmeric experiments; and, on the other, to adduce such portions of the disclosures of Swedenborg as obviously coincide with them, and explain them; and thus show that the two classes of developments belong to the same order of phenomena. My ultimate scope is to evince that all the higher or mental manifestations brought out in the Mesmeric processes were well known, though not under this name, to Swedenborg;— that he has fully and perfectly described them ;—and conse­quently, that whatever there is of the character of fact in the Mesmeric results, it reflects the character of truth upon Swe­denborg’s revelations; for it is impossible, when the evidence is presented, not to see that we are brought in both into con­tact with precisely the same class of phenomena. When this is shown beyond dispute, it will remain for a skeptical world_} so long habituated to ridicule Swedenborg’s disclosures as the dreams and visions of a crazed enthusiast, to reconsider the verdict which it has so self-complaisantly pronounced. It will remain to be accounted for, how the ravings of a wild monomaniac should have uttered themselves, with scien­tific exactness, in the language of the soundest philosophy. Nor is it to be forgotten, that the facts which have now be­came science, were at the outset, upon their first annuncia­tion, rejected and ridiculed with just as hearty a good will as the reputed idle dreams of Swedenborg, which those very facts are now turning into philosophical verities.

As, in the prosecution of my argument, I shall have fre­quent occasion to refer to my own experience, I beg leave, in the outset, to bespeak a charitable and favorable opinion, on the part of my readers, as to the intrinsic reliableness of my statements. I am indeed willing that he should make all the abatement he deems necessary, on the score of the propen­sity which every man has to plead strongly in behalf of any conviction that has sprung up and become established in his own mind. But in regard to the process by which this conviction was originally produced, I am emboldened to de­mand that I should be considered as having been governed by adequate evidence, and as having taken all due precau­tions to guard against imposition and delusion. So far as my own consciousness may be appealed to, I can say that I was prompted in the first instance to inquiry by the simple desire to attain the truth. I cannot concede that I was ac­tuated by any other motive than would naturally influence any candid and reflecting reader of these pages, to institute an impartial inquest into the alleged facts of Mesmerism. Having no personal interests to warp my judgment, and being well aware of the need of caution in dealing with develop­ments of so strange a character, I proceeded, as I think any careful inquirer would do, to submit the matter to repeated and rigid tests, and that in a great variety of forms and in an extended list of cases. Many of them were cases in which he subjects had never before been brought under the influ­ence, and who were of a general character such as utterly to preclude the idea of any thing like trickery or deception. As to deception on my own part it was wholly without an object, and in many instances I had no one to deceive beside ihyself and the unconscious subject, with perhaps a mother or sister sitting by.

If, then, any one can conceive himself as carrying on such a process of experiment in a fair and rational manner, with­out a predetermination to believe, and without a special lia­bility to be duped by his own senses, I trust he will be willing to allow to me the capability of pursuing the same course under the same conditions; and if he would deem it an inju­rious reflection, to be charged with a weak credulity, when perfectly conscious that he had only yielded to the impera­tive force of evidence, let it not be thought strange that I also confess to some degree of sensitiveness on this score. I ask, therefore, of my reader, that he grant to me what he would deem it equitable should be granted to himself in like circum­stances.

CHAPTER I.

SWEDENBORG’S OWN STATE PSYCHOLOGICALLY VIEWED.

It would doubtless be a very natural a priori inference, that if Swedenborg, in virtue of his being brought into a preter­natural state of extacy or trance, has been enabled to disclose the peculiar phenomena elicited by Mesmerism, his state must itself have been in reality Mesmeric. The probability of this may also be said to be heightened by the fact, that the reports of clairvoyants, wherever they touch upon the mar­vellous things of the spirit-world, are usually found to be in marked analogy, so far as they go, with what Swedenborg himself says in regard to the same class of subjects. All this would seem to imply a community of condition in the re­spective cases; and advantage has sometimes been taken of the coincidence to throw a disparaging cloud over the claims of Swedenborg. He has been termed a self-mesmerised clair­voyant, although of a very high order, and his revelations held to differ only in degree from those which are frequently elicited from other subjects, less gifted, indeed, but, in their measure, no less truly illuminated. An admission to this effect would strike at once at the root of all the peculiar au­thority claimed for his disclosures and doctrines, which makes it important that the truth on this head should be set in a clear light.

The point at issue can only be determined by presenting the ordinary characteristics of the Mesmeric state by the side of those which distinguished the case of Swedenborg. The main facts in the usual processes are, the agency of one per­son in producing what is termed the magnetic sleep in ano­ther, by means of certain manual and mental operations, and the complete subsequent oblivion, in the subject, of every­thing that had occurred during the trance. The case of Swe­denborg, in all these respects, was entirely the reverse. His state was not a state of sleep—it was not one which any other human being had any agency hi producing—nor was it marked by the least absence of recollection upon coming out of it, if indeed there was any such thing as coming out. On the contrary, he was hi the perfect possession of his con­sciousness during the whole time. Unlike the magnetic seers who are in a state of internal but not, at the same time, of external consciousness, Swedenborg was in both at once. His prerogative was the opening of a spiritual sight which left him still in the full enjoyment of his natural sight. “ Hence he could know and distinctly describe, in his state of external consciousness, what he saw with his spiritual eyes, and could know, with perfect accuracy, free from all illusion, what was going on around him in the natural world, at the same time that he perceived what was transpiring in the spiritual world. And so perfectly was he in the possession of external consciousness while in the exercise of his spiritual perceptions, that on one occasion, when moving in a funeral procession, he was actually engaged in conversation with the spirit of the person whose body he was following to the grave.⁵⁵[†] So wide is the interval that separates the state of ordinary clairvoyants from that of the illuminated herald of the New Jerusalem. There is, we conceive, just the same ground for affirming that Isaiah, and Daniel, and John were Mesmerised, as that Swedenborg was.

Our main proof in regard to this position is to be derived from Swedenborg’s own statements respecting the condition into which he was brought in order to be made a medium of divine communications. His works are rich in references to the psychical peculiarities of his own case, as if from a foresight of the very natural and proper curiosity which would be entertained respecting it; and the citations will be found highly interesting from the fact that, in making the re­quisite discriminations between his own and all similar states, he has evinced a minute acquaintance with the prominent

Mesmeric phenomena, and that at a time when these dis­coveries, under the name, were as yet unknown to the world.[‡]

No one acquainted with the Mesmeric effects can fail to recognise a most distinct portraiture of them in the following extract:

“ There are two kinds of visions, differing from those which are ordinarily experienced, and which I was let into only that I might know the nature of them, and what is meant by its being said in the Word, that they were taken out of the body, and that they were carried by the spirit into another place. As to the first, viz. the being taken out of the body, the case is this: man is reduced into a certain state, which is mediate between sleeping and waking; when he is in this state, he cannot know but that he is wholly awake, all his senses being as much awake as in the most perfect state of bodilv wakefulness, not only those of sight and hearing, but what is wonderful, that of touch also, which is then more exquisite than it is possible for it to be in bodily wakefulness. In this state also spirits and angels are seen to the life, and are also heard, and, what is wonderful, are touched, scarce anything of the body then intervening. This is the state described as being ^c taken out of the body,’ and in which they know not whether they are in the body or out of the body. I have only been let into this state three or four times, just in order that I might know the nature of it, ahd that spirits and an­gels enjoy every sense, even touch, in a more perfect and exquisite degree than that of the body. As to the other kind, viz. the being carried by the spirit to another place, the nature of this also was shown me, by lively expe­rience, but only twice or three times. I will merely re­late the experience. Walking through the streets of a city, and through the country, and being at the same time in discourse with spirits, I was not aware but that I was equally awake, and seeing as at other times, consequently walking without mistaking my way. In the meantime I was in vision, seeing groves, rivers, palaces, houses, men, and*other objects : but after walking thus for some hours, on a sudden I was in bodily vision, and observed that I was in another place. Being greatly amazed at this, I perceived that I had been in such a state as they were, of whom it is said, that they were carried by the spirit to another place. It is so said, because, during the continuance of this state, there is no reflection on the length of the way, were it even many miles; nor on the lapse of time, were it many hours or days; nor is there any sense of fatigue : the person is also led through ways which he himself is ignorant of, until he comes to the place intended. This was done that I might know also that man may be led by the Lord without his knowing whence or whither. But these two species of visions are extraordinary, and were shown me only with this intent, that I might know the nature and quality of them. But the views of the spiritual world ordinarily vouchsafed me, are all such as, by the divine mercy of the Lord, are related in the First Part of the present work, being annexed to the beginning and end of each chapter. These however, are not visions, but things seen in the most perfect state of bodily wakeful­ness, and now for several years.”—A. C. 1882-1885.

It cannot be questioned that this is a very striking descrip­tion of the leading phenomena of Mesmerism. Yet the fol­lowing extracts will show that the state induced upon Swe­denborg himself was altogether of a superior nature.

“ Since by the spirit of man is meant his mind, therefore, by being in the spirit, which is sometimes said in the Word, is meant a state of the mind separate from the body; and be­cause, in that state, the prophets saw such things as exist in, the spiritual world, therefore that is called the vision of God. Their state then was such as that of spirits themselves is, and angels in that world. In that state, the spirit of man, like his mind as to sight, may be transported from place to place, the body remaining in its own. This is the state in which I have now been for twenty-six years, with this difference, that I have been in the spirit and at the same time in the body, and only several times out of the body. That Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel, and John when he wrote the Revelation, were in that state, is evident.”—T. C. R._} 157.

“Instead of miracles, there has taken place at the present day an open manifestation of the Lord Himself, an intromis­sion into the spiritual world, and with it illumination by immediate light from the Lord hi whatever relates to the inte­rior things of the church, but principally an opening of the spiritual sense of the Word, in which the Lord is present in his own Divine Light. These revelations are not miracles, because every man as to his spirit is in the spiritual world, without separation from his body in the natural world. As to myself, indeed, my presence in the spiritual world is attended with a certain separation, but only as to the inteL lectual part of my mind, not as to the will part. This mani­festation of the Lord, and intromission into the spiritual world, is more excellent than all miracles; but it has not been granted to any one since the creation of the world as it has been to me. The men of the golden age indeed conversed with angels; but it was not granted to them to be in any other light than what is natural. To me, however, it has been granted to be in both spiritual and natural light at the same time; and hereby I have been privileged to see the wonderful things of heaven, to be in company with angels, just as I am with men, and at the same time to pursue truths in the light of truth, and thus to perceive and be gifted with them, consequently to be led by the Lord.”—Hobart's Life of Swed., p. 42.

“ I foresee that many, who read the Relations after the chapters, will believe that they are inventions of the imagi­nation ; but I assert in truth, that they are not inventions, but were truly seen and heard; not seen and heard in any state of the mind buried in sleep, but in a state of full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me, and to send me to teach those things which will be of his New Church, which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Reve­lation; for which end He has opened the interiors of my mind or spirit, by which it has been given me to be in the spiritual world with angels, and at the same time in the natu­ral world with men, and this now for twenty-seven years. Who in the Christian world would have known anything concerning Heaven and Hell, unless it had pleased the Lord to open in some one the sight of his spirit, and to show and teach?”—T. C. R„ 851.

“After that the problem concerning the soul was canvassed and solved hi the gymnasium, I saw them coming forth in order, and before them the chief teacher, after him the elders; in the midst of them were the five youths who replied, and after these the rest; and when they were come forth, they went apart to the environs about the house, where were piazzas encompassed with shrubs ; and being there gathered together they divided themselves into small companies, which were so many assemblies of youths discoursing together on subjects of wisdom, hi each of which was one wise person­age from the orchestra. These being seen by me from my lodging, I became in spirit, and in spirit I went forth to them, and came near to the chief teacher, who had lately proposed the problem concerning the soul. He, on seeing me, said, ‘ Who art thou ? I was surprised as I saw thee approaching in the way, that at one instant thou earnest into my sight, and the next instant thou wentest out of it, or that one while thou wast seen by me, and suddenly thou wast not seen; certainly thou art not in the same state of life that we are in.’ To this I replied smiling, ‘ I am not a puppet nor a Vertumnus, but I am alternate, one while in your light, and another while in your shade, thus a foreigner and also a native.’ Hereupon the chief teacher looked at me, and said, ‘ Thou speakest things strange and wonderful; tell me who thou art.’ And I said, ‘ I am in the world in which ye have been, and from which ye have departed, which is called the natural ivorld, and I am also in the ivorld into which ye have come, and in which ye are, which is called the spiritual world ; hence it is, that I am in a natural state, and at the same time in a spiritual state, in a natural state with men of the earth, and in a spiritual state with you; and when I am in a natural state I am not seen by you, and when I am in a spiritual state, I am seen; that such should be my condition, was given of the Lord. It is known to thee, 0 illustrious man, that a man of the natural world doth not see a man of the spiritual world, nor vice versa; wherefore when I let my spirit into the body, I was not seen by thee, but when I let it out of the body, I was seen.”—C. J., 326.

From these paragraphs it is obvious, that Swedenborg’s extatic state was of a vastly higher order than any that come under the ordinary denomination of Magnetic or Mesmeric. As he claims—and that, as we believe, on valid grounds—to have been selected by the Most High himself, to be the de­positary of the most momentous revelations respecting the world of spirits, and the laws of its intercourse with the natu­ral world, it is reasonable to suppose that he should have been gifted with an interior illumination far transcending that which is ever witnessed in those psychical phenomena that are every day elicited under the hands of professed magneti- zers, and which are as easily exhibited as the commonest experiments in chemistry or natural philosophy. At the same time we are ready to concede, that there is not only a resem­blance, but an actual and intimate relation, between the states of the clairvoyants and of Swedenborg. They both rest to such a degree on the common laws or potentialities of our nature, that the case of the former makes that of the latter alto­gether credible. There is in both a species of awakening of an interior spiritual faculty; or, as it is more frequently termed, the opening of an interior spiritual sense, which doubtless de­pends upon the operation of a common law. We do not see, at any rate, how any one who has, or has had, before him a clear case of the Mesmeric extase, can doubt the possibility of Swedenborg’s having been in precisely the condition he affirms of himself; and the admission of the bare possibility of the fact removes perhaps the grand objection to its actual occurrence. At the same time, it would be eminently unjust to overlook the marked distinctions which he himself lays down between them, and to confound the lower with the higher manifestations. It is obvious that Swedenborg recog­nised an immense difference between the power with which he was gifted, and that which is developed in the case of ordinary clairvoyance. He speaks with the knowledge of one who had experienced both; for he tells us that although he was three or four times “let into” what was virtually the magnetic state, it was only that he might know the nature of it, while his ordinary state was incomparably more elevated, as was plainly required by the ends which were to be an­swered by it. He is therefore fully competent to speak upon the subject “as one having authority and considering the stupendous order of his intellect, and the distinguished sanc­tity of his private Efe, no man was ever less likely to be im­posed upon by the hallucinations of fancy or the illusions of sense. That he actually needed all the securities derivable from these sources, in order to guard him from the invasion of those delusive and phantastic influences which would have rendered him, what multitudes still deem him, a dream­ing visionary, is clear from his own statements,

“ Something shall now be said concerning the discourse of spirits with man. It is believed by many that man may be taught of the Lord by spirits speaking with him; but they who believe this, and are willing to believe it, do not know that it is connected with danger to their souls. Man, so long as he lives in the world, is in the midst of spirits as to his spirit, and yet spirits do not know that they are with man, nor doth man know that he is with spirits ; the reason is, because they are conjoined as to affections of the will immediately, and as to thoughts of the understanding mediately; for man thinks naturally, but spirits think spiritually ; and natural and spi­ritual thought do not otherwise make one than by corres­pondences : a union by correspondences causes that one doth not know anything concerning the other. But as soon as spirits begin to speak with man, they come out of their spiritual state into the natural state of man, and in this case they know that they are with man, and conjoin themselves with the thoughts of his affection, and from those thoughts speak with him: they cannot enter into anything else, for similar affection and consequent thought conjoins all, and dissimilar separates. It is owing to this circumstance, that the speaking spirit is in the same principles with the man to whom he speaks, whether they be true or false, and likewise that he ex­cites them, and by his affection conjoined to the man’s affec­tion strongly confirms them: hence it is evident that none other than similar spirits speak with man, or manifestly ope­rate upon him, for manifest operation coincides with speech. Hence it is that no other than enthusiastic spirits speak with enthusiasts; also, that no other than Quaker spirits operate upon Quakers, and Moravian spirits upon Moravians; the case would be similar with Arians, with Socinians, and with other heretics. All spirits speaking with man are no other than such as have been men in the world, and were then of such a quality; that this is the case hath been given me to know by repeated experience. And what is ridicu­lous, when man believes the Holy Spirit speaks with him, or operates upon him, the spirit also believes that he is the Holy Spirit; this is common with enthusiastic spirits. From these considerations it is evident to what danger man is exposed, who speaks with spirits, or who manifestly feels their operation. Man is ignorant of the quality of his own affection, whether it be good or evil, and with what other beings it is conjoined; and if he is in the conceit of his own intelligence, his attend­ant spirits favor every thought which is thence derived; in like manner if any one is disposed to favor particular principles, enkindled by a certain fire, which hath place with those who are not in truths from genuine affection; when a spirit from similar affection favors man’s thoughts or principles, then one leads the other, as the blind the blind, until both fall into the pit.”—A. E. 1182.

“ Those who think much on religious subjects, and are so intent upon them as to see them as it were inwardly in them­selves, also begin to hear spirits speaking with them; for the things of religion, whatever they are, when man from him­self dwells upon them, and does not modify them by the va­rious things which are of use in the world, go interiorly, and there subsist, and occupy the whole spirit of the man, and enter the spiritual world, and move the spirits who are there ; but such persons are visionaries and enthusiasts, and whatever spirit they hear, they believe to be the Holy Spirit, when yet they are enthusiastic spirits. Those who are such see falses as truths; and because they see them, they per­suade themselves, and likewise persuade those with whom they flow in.”—H. § H. 249.

“ They who are simply called spirits infuse falses, inas­much as they reason against the truth, and are in the delight of their life, when they can make what is true to appear as false, and what is false to appear as true ; but they, who are called genii, infuse evils, act into the affections and concupi­scences of man, and scent in a moment what man desires ; if this be good, they bend it most cunningly into evil, and are in the delight of their life, when they can make good to be apperceived as evil, and evil as good. It was permitted them to act into my desires, that I might know of what na­ture they are, and how they act; and I can confess, that unless the Lord had guarded me by angels, they would have perverted my desires into concupiscences of evil, and this in a manner so hidden and silent, that I should scarcely have apperceived anything about it.—A. C. 5977.

“ That spirits relate things exceedingly fictitious, and lie. When spirits begin to speak with man, he must beware lest he be­lieve them in anything; for they say almost anything; things are fabricated by them, and they lie: for if they were permit­ted to relate what heaven is, and how things are in the hea­vens, they would tell so many lies, and indeed with solemn affirmation, that man would be astonished; wherefore, when spirits were speaking, I was not permitted to have faith in the things which they related^ZFor they are extremely fond of fabricating; and whenever any subject of discourse is pro­posed, they think that they know it, and give their opinions upon it one after another, one in one way and another in another, altogether as if they knew; and if man then listens and believes, they press on, and deceive and seduce in divers ways: for example, if they were permitted to tell about things to come, about things unknown in the universal heaven, about all things whatsoever that man desires, yet [they would tell] all the things falsely, while from themselves : wherefore let men beware lest they believe them. On this account the state of speaking with spirits on this earth is most perilous, unless one is hi true faith. They induce so strong a persua­sion that it is the Lord Himself who speaks and who com­mands, that man cannot but believe and obey.”—S. D. 1622.

^<e That the things which I learned in representations, visions, and from discourses with spirits and angels, are from the Lord alone. Whenever there was any representation, vision, and dis­course, I was kept interiorly’and most interiorly in reflection upon it, as to what thence was useful and good, thus what I might learn therefrom; which reflection was not thus attend­ed to by those who presented the representations and vis­ions, and who were speaking; yea, sometimes they were indignant, when they perceived that I was reflecting. Thus have I been instructed; consequently by no spirit, nor by any angel, but by the Lord alone, from whom is all truth and good : yea, when they wished to instruct me concerning va­rious things, there was scarcely anything but what was false: wherefore I was prohibited from believing anything that they spake ; nor was I permitted to infer any such thing as was proper to them. Besides, when they wished to persuade me, I perceived an interior or most interior persuasion that the thing was such, and not as they wished; which also they wondered at: the perception was manifest, but cannot be easily described to the apprehension of men.”—& D. 1647.

“ That spirits speaking are little to be believed. Nothing is more familiar to spirits who are speaking, than ro say that a thing is so or so ; for they think that they know everything, and indeed solemnly assert that it is so, when yet it is not so.

From experiments made several times, it may be evident of what quality they are, and how they are to be believed: when it is asked [of them] whether they know how this or that is, then one after another says that it is so, one different­ly from another; even if there were a hundred, one would say differently from another; and indeed for the time with confidence, as if it were so, when yet it is not so. As soon as they notice anything which they do not know, they im­mediately say that it is so: besides very many other proofs that they speak as if they knew, when yet they do notknow.” S. D. 1902.

“ That spirits may be induced, who represent another person ; and the spirit, as also he who was known to the spirit, cannot know otherwise than that he was the same. This has many times been shown to me, that the spirits speaking with me did not know otherwise than that they were the men who were the subject of thought; and neither did other spirits know otherwise ; as yesterday and to-day, some one known to me in life [was represented by one] who was so like him, in all things which belonged to him, so far as they were known to me, that noth­ing was more like: wherefore, let those who speak with spi­rits beware lest they be deceived, when they say that they are those whom they know, and that they are dead.

“ For there are genera and species of spirits of a like facul­ty ; and when similar things are called up in the memory of man, and are thus represented to them, they think that they are the same person: then all the things are called forth from the memory which represent those persons, both the words, the speech, the tone, the gesture, and other things ; besides that they are induced to think thus, when other spirits inspire them; for then they are in the fantasy of those, and think that they are the same.—S. D. 2860, 2861.

From all this the grounds will be apparent on which the men of the New Church unanimously refuse to admit, that Swedenborg’s extatic state, psychologically considered, is to be regarded as but a peculiar form or phase of the ordinary Mesmeric state, and therefore that his visions are no more to be deemed the embodiment of revealed verities, clothed with the authority of heaven, than those of the Seeress of Provost, or any other lucid subject of these mysterious workings of the inly awakened spirit. To their estimate he stands before the world in entirely another character. Although they profess not to comprehend the real intrinsic nature of the effect wrought upon his spirit, to enable him to hold converse with the spiritual world, yet they have no hesitation to declare, that they regard it as substantially the same as that which distinguished the ancient prophets, when ⁶⁶ their eyes were opened and they beheld the visions of God.” The intuitions of clairvoyance they put in entirely another category. Though referable in the first instance to the same inherent capability —the same psychical potency—with that on which the exta- cies of the prophets rest, yet the conditions under which the faculty is developed in the respective cases, puts a heaven­wide difference between them and also between their results.

• CHAPTER II.

THE MORE OBVIOUS MENTAL PHENOMENA OF MESMERISM.—TRANS­

FER OF THOUGHT.

It is not, perhaps, an easy matter to draw the exact line of demarcation between those effects of the Mesmeric agency which may be denominated physical, and those that are usu­ally classed under the head of or spiritual. What are in ordinary parlance termed bodily sensations, are doubtless, in strict propriety, to be referred, not to the body, but to the spirit; for the body being in itself a mass of dead matter, can • not in truth be the subject of sensation. A lifeless corpse feels nothing, although the material organism remains as perfect as before. The body plainly derives all its sensitive power from the animating soul or spirit. When, therefore, we per­ceive the evidence of a certain relation established between the Mesmeriser and his subject, in virtue of which a sympa­thy or community of sensation is manifestly seen to take place, we are doubtless dealing with phenomena which pro­perly pertain to the mental sphere. That facts of this nature perpetually occur in the magnetic processes, is well known to all those who are conversant with the subject. Indeed they constitute a leading part of their most familiar experi­ence. The operator, unseen by his subject, puts a pungent substance into his mouth; the Mesmerisee immediately tastes it, and will usually designate the article. So let the mag- netiser receive a prick from a pin on his hand or any part of his person, and the subject will complain of being hurt, fre­quently in the part affected, but if not there, will still evince by uneasy and wincing movements, that a sensation of pain is experienced. And what renders the fact still more astound­ing is, that in these cases the subject is in his own person usually altogether or partially insensible to pain from any source.[§] This, in a variety of forms, has fallen so often within the range of my own observation, and frequently while being myself in a different room from the subject, that not a shadow of doubt as to the grand fact remains. It has been repeatedly tried in the presence of witnesses who were in­vited, when in another room, to submit the matter to any test they pleased, and whose peculiar mode of producing sensa­tions in the magnetizer was extemporaneously suggested to their own minds, and could not therefore have been in any way the result of collusion.

But upon this class of phenomena I do not propose to dwell, although I cannot but regard them as being intrin­sically as wonderful as anything within the range of the Mesmeric developments. For what can be more surprising than this unsignalled transfer of sensation ? Yet as they will not be regarded as falling within the range of the more purely spiritual characteristics of the state, I for the present pass them by; and so also with respect to the effect of volition upon the muscular organization of the other party. This is one of the most obvious among the mesmeric manifestations. The move­ment of the head, hands, and arms, will generally, especially in fresh subjects, be found to be obedient to the will of the magnetizer.[**] The cause of this we pretend not to explain, any farther than to say, that it depends upon the peculiar psychological relation which subsists, for the time, between the parties, and upon this a strong light at least will be cast, by what we shall by and by adduce from Swedenborg, respecting the influence of spheres.

In relation to both these classes of phenomena, I would here however observe, that if the asserted facts are true, Mes­merism is true. The great gulf of admission is shot when the evidence is conceded to be sound, that one person comes into such a peculiar relation to another, that his sensations and volitions, without the medium of vocal or ocular, or any other outward signs, are reflected from the corporeal organ­ism of the other. There are in fact no subsequent develop­ments which tax credulity any more than this. If my sen­sations may thus be made to pass into another corporeal sys­tem, and be there reproduced—if my volitions can be made to act on the nerves and muscles of another frame, and be there followed by the same effects as in my own—then it is per­fectly easy to conceive that my thoughts also may be, in like manner, transferred from my own mind to that of another. For it is plain that neither my sensation nor volition fall simply upon dead matter. They come into contact with that inte­rior psychical apparatus which animates and orders the phy­sical organism, and which is equally the seat of thought. How can it be any more difficult for my thought to be repro­duced in another than my taste, my smell, or my sense of pain ? Are not these all really mental phenomena ? I say, if these facts are true, the grand conclusion results that the substantial claims of Mesmerism are established. And surely alleged facts of this nature are worthy the investigation of scientific minds. They ought to be put to the test, and their truth or falsehood unequivocally settled. The process is perfectly simple, involving nothing operose or ambiguous. There are hundreds of individuals in the community, having control of Mesmeric subjects, who would be most happy to afford every facility to any commission of medical or scientific men, to­wards submitting the matter to the most rigid and satisfac­tory test. They are willing to do it under circumstances which shall preclude the possibility of their own collusive agency in any one step of the process. They will consent to leave the specific arrangements very much to the choice and dictation of the arbiters, with however one clause of excep­tion, viz. that the object of the inquest shall be, at any given time, a single class of phenomena only. They will not consent that what are called the physical and the mental shall be indis­criminately mixed up in the investigation, so that a failure in clairvoyance, for instance, shall nullify, as it will be very apt to do, the evidence of the truth of sympathetic sensation. As they have not a command over the laws and influences which often modify or frustrate the mental effects, they deem it due to themselves not to peril the judgment of the whole by the possible non-success of a part, when their experience teaches them that this will invariably be the result. The success of one class of experiments will next to never be admitted, if there is the least failure in another. Their ground, therefore, which is perfectly fair, is this—they will say to any commis­sion:—“ Gentlemen, we profess ourselves able and entirely willing to afford you conclusive proof that our sensations and volitions are reflected, without the use of any intermediate signs whatever, in the person of the Mesmerised subject. We pledge ourselves to this and to nothing more. If you are satisfied with the evidence, we are willing to leave it to you to draw the legitimate inference Trorn the facts established, as to the possibility and probability of such higher manifesta­tions of the state as are often said to be witnessed, and as we are assured are witnessed, but which we do not see fit to en­gage to produce, and that simply for the reason that we some­times find hidden causes at work, over which we have no control, that prevent them. Among these is a certain impres­sion of sacredness in the minds of subjects as to the intended use of these remarkable powers, which is not favorable to exhibitions aiming solely to gratify curiosity. But we claim, that if the one class of phenomena be true, the other may be also ; and not only so, but that the fair inference is, that they are true, inasmuch as the same psychical principles are brought into play in both.” Multitudes of endorsers to this challenge are ready at any time to step forth. But will it be accepted ? Yes, when a pure unadulterated Love of Truth shall over­sway the paltry pleadings of self-interest, as controlled by popular prejudices.

As the evidence of the transfer of thought in the Mesmeric relation is conclusive to the minds of all who are conversant with the subject, I shall make that the theme of my present remarks. It is to this feature of the phenomena that Sweden­borg’s elucidations pre-eminently apply. In adducing the proofs of the fact I shall draw in part from my own experi­ments, and in part from the relations of others, the truth of which I know no reason to question, since thousands of sim­ilar testimonies could easily be brought together. Should this be deemed a loose and unscientific method of procedure-^a hasty endorsement of apocryphal narratives—and that too in a department of inquiry where nothing ought to be taken for granted—I can only repeat in reply, that I write not to con­vince skeptics, but to inform believers. I have those in my eye who know the grand asserted facts.to be true; and even if the particular accounts cited should be in some points, upon strict investigation, liable to doubt, still there remains an immense amount of statements of a similar character, sufficient to establish the main position. The object of the present work being to explain facts, and not to substantiate them, I feel entirely at liberty to adduce such instances as shall subserve that design, without entering into a critical estimate of their authenticity. I repeat, if they are not true, thousands of similar ones are. As to my own statements of facts, xhey may be relied on as punctiliously true. The reader, however, will of course exercise his own discretion as to the degree of credit to which he may think them entitled, and so also as to the inferences he may be constrained to draw from them. [††]1 have little concern as to the verdict of another’s judg­ment, when fortified by that of my own conscience. .

While engaged in writing the work on the ^te Resurrection of the Body,” I was put in communication with a lady in the magnetic state, to whom I proposed the question, whether she would mentally visit my study—which, by the way, as my friends can testify, does not afford a very remarkable specimen of orderly arrangement. She alluded to this cir­cumstance—spoke of the queer appearance of my books—that many of them were old, some open, and some shut, but that they were in such strange languages that she could scarcely read one of them. I then asked her if she could see my manuscript papers ? ^ee Yes,” she replied,^ce but I do not see how you are ever going to get them printed, unless you put them together. Why don’t you arrange them better ? ” I had said nothing about any intention of printing. I then proposed the question, -whether she could tell me the subject I was writing upon, of which I am perfectly confident she had not the least intimation.* After a short pause she said, in a solilo­quizing way, “ Raised up—the raising of the dead—the dead raised up.” To this she added that she had never before heard of any such ideas on the subject as those she perceived in my mind, nor had she ever known any one who had. She was of the Episcopal Church, and had never been in contact with those who had called in question the literal resurrection of the body.[‡‡]

On several subsequent occasions I put this power of fol­lowing my thoughts to still further tests. I once took her to the interior of a cotton factory, which she first thought to be a church from the number of people collected there, but after­wards said she saw them taking off something white, and then remarked that there was so much noise and confusion that she could not stay there. On coming out she described the surrounding scenery with great correctness, though she had never been within several hundred miles of the place. At another time I took her in the same way to the Falls o Niagara. She described the fall of water; and said she should become deaf if she staid near it. On still another oc­casion I requested her to describe what I was then contem­plating in my own mind,—a torch-light procession in Broad­way. She spoke of the banners, the mottoes of which she tried to read, the horses, and the multitudes of people, say­ing, “ There’s no end to them.” In all these cases she had no clew whatever to my thoughts, except the thoughts them­selves.

With this subject I have tried scores of similar experiments with similar success. Her answers were not in all cases given with the same precision, but there was still evidence that her thoughts were controlled by mine, and though the impression was somewhat obscure, yet the original prompt­ing idea was plainly to be recognised. And I may here re­mark, that nothing is more unreasonable than to make the degree of the reflection of thought the criterion of its reality. The great question is, whether there is decisive evidence that the silent action of one mind is made in any degree to bear upon that of another. If so, Mesmerism is true. There are a thousand secret influences which prevent the perfect transfer of mental conceptions. But the claim ought to be conceded if the phenomena be witnessed even in the smallest degree. If a certain effect is, in full view of all the conditions, fairly to be attributed to but one cause, that cause is entitled to be recognised as the true one.[§§]

The following cases, taken from different authorities, will be seen to be of the same character. If they are doubted, it will be by those who would doubt any statements of a simi­lar kind, no matter by what testimony supported. With such we have no argument to maintain. We refer them to their own senses.

“On a great number of small cards there were written be­forehand the different movements which the persons present may make the somnambulist perform, by presenting to the Magnetizer such of the cards as may express their desire. M. Ricard, after this plain admonition, repeated each time, Callixte, my friend, pay attention, I am going to speak to you; reads mentally the phrase, or phrases, which were just pre­sented to him, adds not a word, makes no gesture, and Cal- lixte, who constantly has the bandage on him, obeys his thought.

“ a. The first card presented to M. Ricard bears this phrase : Let the somnambulist raise, at the same time, his two legs. The Magnetiser, after his usual admonition, proceeds, but Callixte does not comprehend; his lower extremities are agitated by different movements, but his feet do not quit the ground.

“ b. The second card bore this phrase : Let the somnambulist raise the left arm. The mental order is given; Callixte performs it, and raises mechanically the left arm, saying, with a tone of impatience, that he does not understand.

“ c. The third card : Let the somnambulist rise, take four steps, and touch with his right hand the chest of his Magnetizer. The same procedure on the part of M. Ricard; Callixte reflects an instant, rises, walks, counting his steps, hesitates some sec­onds, then finishes by completing the performance of the mysterious order which he has received.

“ d. Callixte is seated at the extremity of the room, in such a manner as to turn his back to us ; an organ is going to play an air in the ante-chamber, and M. Ricard says to me, ⁴ When you will make me the signal, the somnambulist shall beat the time of the air which is going to be performed, and he will cease to beat when you will express to me the wish that he should do so by another signal.- This being agreed on, the organ commences; I make a signal to M. Ricard, and Callixte beats the time: some minutes after, make my second signal, and Callixte ceases to beat the time. I recommence, he recommences ; I wish him to stop again, and he stops; quicker than lightning my thought flies from me to the Magnetizer, and from the Magnetizer to the som­nambulist.

“ e. I myself draw at hazard three of the cards from a hat where they were mixed; their united sense forms this phrase : Let the somnambulist rise, mount on a chair, and let himself fall backwards into the arms of his Magnetizer. The cards being presented to the Magnetizer, Callixte rises, mounts on a chair, hesitates, then lets himself fall all at once into the arms of M. Ricard, who fancies himself upset by the violence of the shock.

“ These are the facts such as they occurred, without any change, exaggeration, or addition by me; fifty-nine persons would be there to convict me of a lie if I acted otherwise. I know already what consequences disinterested readers will draw from them. With respect to medical men most of them will not believe them, because that, as they do not under- \ stand them, the whole is either a self-deception or a decep­tion of them. To explain common facts, as they explain everything, and to deny extraordinary facts, that is their eter­nal system, the vicious circle, around which their incredulity has been running for the last sixty years.”—Teste An. Mag., pp. 124-126.

“ The singular faculty with which certain extatics, and a small number of somnambulists, are endowed of penetrating into the thoughts of the persons around them before these thoughts have assumed a sensible form, is one of those which have excited the greatest share of incredulity. However, even before direct observation had convinced me of the ex­istence of this faculty, the testimonies which go to establish it are so numerous, and seem to me so respectable, that I felt myself rather disposed to believe in it. In fact, since the Middle Ages, at the time of those epidemic extasies, which Professor Andral was the first to consider in a truly philo­sophical point of view by ranging them in the number of pathological facts ; from the time of the convulsionaries and of the possessed, the communication of thought was an admitted fact, so much so, that it constituted the pathognomonic cha­racter of possession, and it was not permitted to proceed to exorcisms before its existence was ascertained. Father Surin, when charged to recapitulate the proofs of the possession of the religious ursulines of Loudun, presents us one of the most indisputable, that they told the most secret thoughts. ‘ The day after my arrival,’ writes this candid ecclesiastic,⁶ there was at the exorcism a man who expressed to me a desire to see if the demon knew our thoughts. I bid him to form a com­mand in his mind, and, after he had made it, I pressed the demon to do that which the man had commanded him; after having refused for some time, he went to take on the altar the case where the Gospel of St. John was, and this man stated positively that he had commanded in his mind the demon to show the last gospel which had been said at mass.

“ ‘ One of our fathers, wishing to try if it was true that the demon knows our thoughts, formed another command within his breast for the demon, who was on duty, and then formed another,—in a word, within the space of an instant, he formed five or six commands, and, revoking them one after the other, he tormented the demon by saying, obediat ad mentem. The demon repeated quite aloud all the commands which this father had formed in his mind for him. He commenced at the first, then said, “ But monsieur does not wish it.” Being at the seventh, he said, “We’ll see whether we shall execute this,” where he has at length fixed.’

“In a case communicated by M. Barrier, a physician of Privas, to Dr. Foissac, the subject of it was a young extatic female, named Euphrosine, who possessed so perfectly the gift of divining the thoughts of the person with whom she happened to be, that she readily kept up a very well-con­nected conversation, in which one of the interlocutors spoke but mentally. ‘At the time of my second visit,’ says M. Bar­rier, ^e I found Euphrosine, with her body forming the arch of a circle, in the middle of her room. She rested on the ground by the heels and the top of her head ; more than twenty per­sons were around her; all observed the most religious silence. I approached, came up close to her, and wished the patient good morning, carefully checking my tongue and lips.

“⁶ Good morning, Monsieur Barrier,’ she replied.

“ ‘ When will you come to La Voutte ? ’

“ ‘ As soon as ever it is possible.’

“ I turned towards the mother, and said to her,—

“ ‘ Your daughter divines the thoughts, place yourself in ’ contact with her and try.’ We soon heard Euphrosine pro­nounce these words, ‘ To Alissas.’ A moment after, she re­peated, in a sprightly manner, ‘ No, to Alissas, I told you.’ Madame Bonneau had proposed to her daughter to go the following day to Cous to walk with her; the second time she pressed the same place for a walk. A friend of hers placed herself in contact with her, and presently we collected these words, ‘ Eh, fool, do you think I do not know that you are to go to Vernoux ?’ The friend grew pale, but recommenced her questions. ⁶ No, it is very far from that,’ replied Euphro­sine. This lacfy stated to us that she had said to the patient, mentally, that she had to go the next day the journey to 3*

Vasence, and that she would execute her commissions if she had any to give her; ‘ at her second question, she asked her if she should find her husband at Vernoux. Three or four days after, I met this person at Vernoux; she c omes up to me, and, with a terrified air, she told me of the absence of her husband. A wagoner then comes, and immediately we heard the words, ⁶ No, to la Voutte.’ This man had proposed to her to bring her to Aubenas. The greater part of those present addressed mental questions to her; she answered firmly and instantaneously with the greatest precision. Some children also wished to make trials, but she sent them away good-humoredly, calling each by name.’

⁴⁴ Cases similar to that now stated are, no doubt, very nu­merous in the annals of the medical sciences, and we might readily adduce proofs of it if we were not afraid to augment" our work by two many quotations ; but a matter which it. is of importance to us to observe is, that solely to the existence of this faculty of mental penetration must be referred the sup­position, formerly asserted by exorcists and magnetisers, viz. that the possessed of the one, and the somnambulists of the others, understood all languages.* We shall take the oppor­tunity at another time of recurring to this subject.

⁴⁴ The communication of thoughts is observed less frequently hi magnetic somnambulists than in extatics; and yet, what is somewhat remarkable, it is one of the first faculties noticed by the magnetizers of Mesmer’s time, who set it down as a characteristic trait of the Magnetic sleep. Thus we read in the letter of the Marquis of Puysegur, partly transcribed in our introduction, that he made the peasant Victor dance in his chair by singing an air to him mentally.

“ For my part, I have seen but a very small number of somnambulists who were endowed with this faculty; I have, however, seen some, and among the modern Magnetizers several respectable writers also quote instances of it.

“Alexander Bertrand, among others, relates,[***] that, on un­magnetizing the first somnambulist he ever had an opportu­nity of observing, he had one day, at the same time, the determined wish that she should not awake. Convulsive movements were immediately observed in the somnambulist.

“ ‘ What ails you ? ’ said the Magnetizer to her.

“ ‘ Why,’ answered she, ‘ do you tell me to awake, and you do not wish that I should awake ? ’

“ M. Bertrand again cites in the same work f the example of a poor woman, uneducated, not even knowing how to read, and who, nevertheless, was capable, in a state of som­nambulism, of understanding the meaning of words, the sig­nification of which was wholly unknown to her in her waking state. This woman explained to him, in the most accurate and ingenious manner, what was understood by the term encephalon, which he proposed to her,—‘A phenomenon,’ adds Bertrand, ⁶ which, if people will not see in it a chance as difficult, perhaps, to be admitted as the faculty which it supposes, can only be explained by acknowledging that this woman read in my very thoughts the signification of the word on which I questioned her.”—Teste Am. Mag.,pp. 117-122.

“When a somnambulist has anything in his hand, the Magnetizer may will him to give it to any person in the room, and it will be done accordingly, though not a word be said by any one. If another individual attempt to take it by grasp­ing it, or by insinuating his hand between the object and the hand of the person to whom it is offered, the somnambulist evades him with the rapidity of thought, and places it where he was requested to place it. I have seen several persons try in this manner, all at a time, to seize the object, but with­out success. With almost inconceivable dexterity of evasion, the somnambulists retained their own hold, and conveyed the charge in safety.

“ What is equally singular, was related to me by Mr. Pot­ter. A patient of his with whom I am acquainted, when she is in the somnambulic state, though she does not see, that is, has no clairvoyance, when requested to hand any object to another, though the Magnetizer endeavor to exert no influ­ence at the time, will not give it up to any but the person designated. She does not offer any explanation of this her­self, but says she always knows when the right person pre­sents his hand, even when he says nothing. This has been witnessed by several of my friends.”—Deleuze An. Mag., Ap­pendix^. 68.

We have now to direct our inquiry to the pages of Swe­denborg, to see how far this striking fact receives illustration from his disclosures. It is obvious that the laying aside of the material body must, in the nature of the case, effect a great alteration in the mode of intercourse with other beings. Spirit then comes into more immediate contact with spirit, and the transmission of thought and feeling naturally becomes more direct and sensible. As the very elements of their being are Affection and Intellect, they, according to him, mutually impress themselves upon each other in such a manner, that the mental workings of one are distinctly made known to another. Nothing can be more express to this point than the following extracts:

^ee Souls are surprised, on their entrance into another life, that there is such a communication of the thoughts of others, and that they instantly know, not only the character of ano­ther’s mind, but also that of his faith. But they are told, that the spirit has its faculties much improved when it is sepa­rated from the body. During the life of the body there is an influx of sensible objects, and also of phantasies, arising from those things which thence inhere in the memory: there are also anxieties about the future, various lusts excited by things external, cares respecting food, raiment, habitation, children, and other things, which are not at all thought of in the other life: wherefore on the removal of these, as it were, clogs and hindrances,-together with the corporeal organs, which are of a gross sensation, the spirit must needs be in a much more perfect state. The same faculties remain, but much more perfect, more lucid, and more free ; especially with those who have lived in charity and faith in the Lord, and in innocence. The faculties of these are immensely elevated above what they had in the body, even at length to the angelic nature of the third heaven.

“ Nor is there only a communication of another’s affections and thoughts, but also of his knowledge, and that so com­pletely, as for one spirit to think that he knew whatever another knows, although he had before no knowledge of such things. Thus all the attainments of one are communi­cated to others. Some spirits retain what they are thus made acquainted with, but others do not. Communications are effected, both by the discourse of spirits with each other, and by ideas accompanied with representations : for the ideas of their thoughts are representative at the same time, and hence all things are abundantly presented to view. More may be represented by a single idea, than can be expressed by a thousand words. But the angels perceive what is within 4n every idea; what is the affection, what is the origin of that affection, what is its end; with many things beside of an in­terior nature.

“ hi the other life delights and felicities are also wont to be communicated from one to others by a real transmission, which is wonderful; and then others are affected by them in the same manner as himself: nor does he experience any diminution of them from their communication to others. It has also been granted me thus to communicate enjoyments to others by transmissions. Hence may appear the quality of the happiness of those who love their neighbor more than themselves, and who desire nothing more ardently than to transfer their own happiness to others. This tendency to communicate derives its origin from the Lord, who thus com­municates happiness to the angels. Communications of happiness are continual transmissions of this kind; which are effected without any reflection on them as proceeding from such an active origin, and from a sort of open determi­nation of the will.”—A. C. 1389-1392.

“ A certain spirit came to me not long after his deceased It was perceived that he had been devoted to studies, con­cerning which I conversed with him; but then suddenly he was taken up on high. Thence he discoursed with me, say­ing that he saw things of such sublimity as no human mind could comprehend. * * * He said, moreover, that from thence he was able to penetrate thoroughly into my thoughts and my affections, in which he could perceive more things than he could express ; such as causes, influxes, the origins thereof, and how ideas were mixed with earthly things, and that they were to be altogether separated; with other particulars.” —A. C.1760.

“It is one of the wonders of the other life, which scarce any one in the world can believe, that, as soon as any spirit comes to another, he instantly knows his thoughts and affections, and what he had been doing to that time, thus all his present state, exactly as if he had been with him ever so long; such is the nature of communication.”—A. C. 5385.

“ Because spirits possess all the things which are of man’s thought and will, and angels the things which are yet more inward, and thereby man is most closely conjoined to them, therefore man cannot otherwise apperceive and feel, than that it is himself who thinks and wills; for so the case is with communications in the other life, that in a society containing similar spirits, every one believes that to be his own, which is another’s; wherefore the good, when they cotne into a heavenly society, enter instantly into all the in­telligence and wisdom of that society, insomuch that they do not know otherwise, than that those things are in them­selves ; so also it is with a man, and with a spirit with him. As often as anything has fallen into the thought, and into the desires of the will, the source of which I have not known, so often, when I have willed to know it, it has been shown me, namely, from what societies it came, and sometimes by what spirits as subjects; and also then they have discoursed with me, and confessed that they thought the thing, and likewise that they knew that it flowed in with me, and appeared to myself as in me. The deceitful, who appear directly above the head, have occasionally flowed in with me with such subtlety, that I knew not whence the influx was, and also that I scarcely perceived any otherwise, than that what flowed in was in myself, and from myself, as is the usual perception with others ; but because I knew of a certainty it was from another source, perception was given me from the Lord so exquisite, that I apperceived^ each single influx of them, also where they were, and who they were ; when they observed this, they were exceedingly indignant, especially that I reflected upon what came from them; that reflection flowed in through the angels. Those deceitful ones princi­pally insinuated such things as were contrary to the Lord; and then it was also given to reflect upon this, that no one in hell acknowledges the Lord, but that on the contrary they treat Him with indignity so far as it is allowed them; yet that they are not displeased to hear mention made of the Father, the Creator of the universe.”—A. C. 6193, 6197.

“ How difficult it is for man to believe that spirits know his thoughts, might be manifest to me from this. Before I dis­coursed with spirits, it happened that a certain spirit accosted me in a few words concerning the subject of my thoughts: I was amazed hereat, that a spirit should know what I was thinking about, because I supposed that such things were deeply concealed, and known to God alone. Afterwards when I began to speak with spirits, 1 was indignant that I could not think anything but what they knew, and because this might be troublesome to me; but afterwards by some days’ habit it became familiar to me. At length it was also known, that spirits not only apperceive all things of man’s thought and will, but even many more things than the man himself; and that the angels apperceive still more, namely, intentions and ends, from the first through the middle to the last. And that the Lord knows, not only the quality of the whole man, but also what his quality will be to eternity. Hence it may be manifest, that nothing at all is hidden, but what man inwardly thinks and devises is open to view in the other life, as in clear day.”—A. C. 6214.

“ That innumerable things are in one idea, mighj also be manifest to me from this, that angels perceive in a moment the life appertaining to a spirit and to a man, on merely hear­ing him speak, or on looking into his thoughts."—A. C. 6617.

In various other parts of the disclosures, Swedenborg speaks of the extension of thought into societies, in such away as to lead to the impression that there is, in the other world, a diffused element of thought not unlike that of light in the present world. There is an incessant mental radiation—a perpetual efflux of thoughts—into which, as an intellectual atmosphere, all spirits come, and apart from which their minds cannot act. “ There was a certain spirit,” says Swe­denborg, “ who believed that he thought from himself, and thus without any extension out of himself, or any consequent communication with societies which are out of him ; to con­vince him that he was in error, all communication with the societies nearest him was taken away, in consequence of which he w^Tas not only deprived of thought, but fell down as if dead, except that he threw his arms about like a new-born infant.”—H. fy        203. The Mesmeric process brings the

spirit, in a degree, into this general sphere of thought, in the spiritual world, in which is every one’s mind even in the present world; and as the Magnetizer’s is in more definite communication with his, it is with that that his own more especially assimilates.

But this feature of the revelations is more fully developed in what follows.

“ An arcanum concerning the state of faith and of love with man in this world, and afterwards in the other, into which he comes after death, shall be made known. The arcanum is this, that all the thoughts of man diffuse themselves into the spiritual world, in every direction, not unlike the rays of light .diffused from flame. Inasmuch as the spiritual world con­sists of heaven and hell; and heaven consists of innumera­ble societies, and in like manner hell, hence the thoughts of man must needs diffuse themselves into societies; spiritua thoughts, which relate to the Lord, to love*and faith in him, and to the truths and goods of heaven and the church, into heavenly societies; but thoughts merely natural, which re­late to self and the world, and the love thereof, and not to God at the same time, into infernal societies. That there is such an extension and determination of all the thoughts of man, has hitherto been unknown, because it was unknown what the- quality of heaven is, and what the quality of hell, thus that they consist of societies, consequently that there is an extension of the thoughts of man into another world than the natura], into which latter world there is indeed an exten­sion of the sight of his eyes ; but it is the spiritual world into which thought extends itself, and it is the natural world into which vision extends itself, since the thought of the mind is spiritual, and the vision of the eye is natural. That there is an extension of all the thoughts of man into societies of the spiritual world, and that no thought can be given without such extension, has been so testified to me from the experi­ence of many years, that with all faith, I can assert it to be true. In a word, man with his head is in the spiritual world, as with his body he is in the natural world : by head is here meant his mind, consisting of understanding, thought, will, and love ; and by body is here meant his senses, which are seeing, hearing, smelling, taste, and touch: and whereas man as to his head, that is, as to his mind, is in the spiritual world, therefore he is either in heaven or in hell, and where the mind. is, there the whole man is with head and body, when he becomes a spirit; and man is altogether of a quality agreeable to his conjunction with the societies of the spiritual world, being an angel of a quality agreeable to his conjunc­tion with the societies of heaven, or a devil of a quality agree­able to his conjunction with the societies of hell. From what has been said, it is evident that the thoughts of man are ex­tensions into societies either heavenly or infernal, and that unless they were extensions they would be no thoughts ; for the thought of man is as the sight of his eyes, which, unless it had extension out of itself, would either be no sight or be blindness.—Ath. Creed, 2, 3.

“ One morning it was shown manifestly, that in every idea and minute affection were contained things innumerable, also that these ideas and affections penetrated into societies. I was kept for some time in a certain affection and consequent thought, and then it was shown how many societies con­curred; there were five societies, which manifested them­selves by living discourse : they said what they thought, and also that they apperceived that those thoughts appertained to me ; moreover that they knew also, to which I did not at­tend, the causes of the things which were thought, and also the ends: the rest of the societies, which were several, to which the thought was extended, were not so manifested ; they were also more remote. With the extension of thought from the objects which are the things thought of, the case is as with the objects of sight: from these diffuses itself a sphere of rays to a considerable distance, which falls into the sight of man, and this to a greater and lesser distance according to the sparkling and flaming property in the object; for if it be flaming, it appears at a much greater distance than what is cloudy and dusky. The case is similar with the internal sight, which is that of the thought, in regard to its objects : the objects of this sight are not material, like the objects in the world, but they are spiritual, and therefore they diffuse themselves to such things as are in the spiritual world, thus to truths and goods there, consequently to the societies which are therein; and.as what is flaming in the world spreads itself to the greatest extent, so does good and its affection in the spiritual world, for flame corresponds to the affection of good. From these things it may be manifest, that the quality of man’s life is altogether according to the societies into which his thought SRid affection extend themselves, and ac­cording to the quality and quantity of the extension.

“ That the spheres of the thoughts and affections extend themselves around into the spheres of societies which are far off thence, might be made manifest to me also from this, that whilst I was thinking from affection concerning such things as particularly moved a society at a distance, they then dis­coursed with me on the same subject, telling what their sen­timents were. This has repeatedly been done.”—A. C. 6601­6602.

“ I have observed when discoursing with angelic spirits, that the affections and thoughts appeared like a stream round about, and the object of the thought was in the midst encom­passed with that stream, and that this was thence extended in all directions. From this also it has been made manifest, that the thoughts and affections extended themselves on all sides to societies.”—A. C. 6606.

⁽ⁱ It has been shown by living experience, how angelic ideas flow-in into the ideas of the spirits, who are beneath, and therefore in grosser ideas. A store of ideas from the angelic heaven was presented visible as a bright cloud distinguished into little masses; each little mass, which consisted of things innumerable, produced one simple idea with a spirit, and it was afterwards shown, that a thousand and a thousand things were in it, which were also represented by a cloud to

the eye of the spirits. I afterwards discoursed on these things with the spirits, showing, that they may be illustrated by the objects of sight, inasmuch as one object, which appears sim­ple, when it is viewed through an optic glass, immediately presents to the sight a thousand thmgs which were not be­fore visible ; as in the case of the lesser worms which appear as one obscure object, but when viewed in a microscope not only are several, but each is seen in its form; and if they be subjected to still more minute examination, there are pre­sented to view organs, members, viscera, and also vessels and fibres. So likewise the case is with the ideas of thought, a thousand and a thousand things being contained in each of them, although the several ideas together, whereof thought is composed, appear only as a simple object. But yet in the ideas of the thought of one person there are more things con­tained, than in the ideas of the thought of another; the abun­dance of ideas contained is according to extension into socie­ties.”—^. C. 6614.                              .

⁴⁴ I have spoken with spirits concerning influx into the ideas of thought, that men cannot in any wise believe that such innumerable things are contained therein, for they conceive thought to be merely what is simple and single; thus they judge from the exterior sensual. The spirits with whom I then discoursed, were in the opinion, that there was not anything within in ideas; this they impressed upon them­selves in the life of the body. But that they might compre­hend that they perceived Innumerable things as one thing, it was given to say, that the motions of myriads of moving fibres concur to one action, and that also at the same time for that action all things in the body move and adapt themselves, both in general and in particular, and yet that little action appears simple, and single, as if nothing of the sort were in it. In like manner that innumerable things concur together to form one expression of the voice, as the folding of the lips and of all the muscles and fibres thereof: also foldings of the tongue, of the throat, of the larynx, of the windpipe, of the langs, of the diaphragm, with all the mus­cles thereof in general and in particular: since man apper- ceives one expression thence, merely as a simple sound which has nothing in it, it may be manifest how gross is the per­ception derived from the sensual; what then must be the perception from the sensual concerning the ideas of thought which are in a purer world, and thus more remote from the sensual.

⁴⁴ Inasmuch as things so innumerable are in the ideas of thought, the angels can know, merely from a single expres­sion which proceeds from the thought, w’hat is the quality of the spirit, or what is the quality of the man. This also has been confirmed by experience: when truth was also named, as was done by several spirits successively, it was instantly heard whether hardness, or harshness, or softness, or infan­tility, or tenderness, or innocence, or fulness, or emptiness, or falsity, was therein; also whether it was pretended, or closed, or open, and in what degree it was so ; in a word, the very quality of the idea was heard, and this only in what was general; what then must be the case in the particulars which the angels perceive ?

“Inasmuch as man thinks from the sensual, such things are obscure to him, yea so obscure, that he does not know what an idea is, and especially that thought is distinguished into ideas, as speech is into expression; for thought appears to him to be continuous, and not discrete, when yet the ideas of thought are the expressions of spirits, and ideas of more interior thought are the expressions of angels. Ideas, inas­much as they are the expressions of speech, are also sono­rous among spirits and angels; hence the tacit thought of man is audible to spirits and angels, when it so pleases the Lord. How perfect the ideas of thought are in comparison with the expressions of speech, may be manifest from this, that a man can think more things within a minute, than he can utter or write in an hour: it might also be manifest from discourse with spirits and angels, for then in a moment I have filled a general subject with singulars, affection being adjoined, whence the angels and spirits distinctly comprehended all things, and many more, which appeared about that subject

. as a cloud.”—A. C. 6622-6624.

The fact which we have above considered—the transfer of thought—may perhaps be regarded as the cardinal fact of the Mesmeric developments. In the whole category of its marvels there is nothing more wonderful—nothing more diffi­cult to believe, yet nothing more easy to prove. Still farther evidence of the truth of the phenomenon will be adduced in the succeeding chapter on Phantasy, and in a subsequent one on Memory. Indeed nearly all the mental effects resolve themselves ultimately into some form of this. Two minds come, in such a way, into conjunction, that the operations of one are reproduced or reflected in the other. Yet the result is not reciprocal. The mind of the agent does not take on the internal workings of that of the subject. The grossness of the bodily apparatus interposes a barrier to their access to the consciousness. Yet it is easy to conceive, that if both were disembodied the interchange would be mutual, or at least more mutual. The predominance of sphere might give one an advantage over the other, but the law of the relation is clearly indicated by the facts displayed, and we see no possibility of denying that Swedenborg has laid open the heart of the mystery. Is not the coincidence of the phe­nomena too palpable to be questioned ? Where then is the basis on which to found a doubt that he was truly admitted into the very penetralia of the spirit-world ? But if this be con­ceded, what inference more legitimate, than that the Divine Wisdom had special ends of the utmost moment to the world to accomplish, by thus translating the spirit of this remarka­ble man into the sphere of spirits ? And do we not read these ends in the uses actually achieved by them ? Has he not unveiled the hidden world of souls, and shown its thousand­fold points of contact with the world of bodily being ? Is not this a great mission ? Is it not a stupendous discovery to acquaint us with the laws and conditions of the future life— to disclose the forms of destiny—to expound the essential nature of heaven and hell ? Do revelations, thus fraught with the characters of intrinsic truth, bear the impress of dreaming phantasy ? Do madmen rave in reason, and dream out sublime systems of philosophy? Who would not crave to be de­mented if such are its issues—-if the ruin and chaos of a wrecked intellect not only afford the materials, but sponta­neously rear themselves into a splendid and symmetrical Temple of Truth! We look for wonders both in coming time and in eternity, but we anticipate very few that shall surpass that which we every day behold in the absurd solutions given to the greatest moral problem that has ever addressed itself to the intelligence of the human race.

CHAPTER III.

PHANTASY.

The phenomena developed in the present chapter differ not essentially from those detailed in the preceding. The psy­chological principles on which they rest are the same. They illustrate, however, the power of a peculiar form of thought to reproduce itself in another mind. They show that the most arbitrary and phantastic creations of one intellect may be mysteriously infused into another, and then be recognized as bona fide realities. The veriest gambolings of imagination shall become, when thus transferred, the most assured truths to the mind of the other party. A handkerchief thrown into the lap shall be transformed, at the will of the operator, into an infant, a kitten, a bird, or a serpent which shall be rejected with horror. No fact of this condition is better established or more familiar than that to which we now allude. In the cases which follow, this law of the Mesmeric state is dis­played in a most striking manner, and, in some of them, in a higher form than is usually witnessed. We are unable of course to verify the truthfulness of the report, but facts which have been a hundred times verified authorize us to rely im­plicitly upon it.

“Dr. C. then requested a tumbler of water to be brought; and after drinking about half of it himself, he roused Miss B., who had apparently sunk into a profound and quiet sleep, as she afterwards did repeatedly, and requested her to drink some of it. She did so, when Mr. H. drew to a corner of the room, and, after writing on a slip of paper, beckoned me to him and simply held the paper before me, on which was written ‘ Will the contents of the tumbler to be castor oil,’ or words to that effect. He then beckoned to Dr. C., who went to him, an& reading the sentence, indicated by a nod that he would cheerfully do it, and retaking his seat, which was placed between two and three feet before Miss B., he said, without moving a limb, or uttering a syllable more, ⁽ Come, Lurena, drink a little of this, and you will feel better, I think.’ Al- lading, as I supposed, to a severe headache, of which she had spoken to us in the course of our conversation, before the Doctor’s entrance. She raised the tumbler to her lips, and suddenly replaced it in her lap, with evident nausea and aver­sion. Dr. C. ‘ Come, drink a little of it. It is very good.’ Miss B. ‘ Good! ’ moving her lips, ⁶ you know it is not good! ’ Dr. C. ⁶ Why?’ MissB. ‘Why? It makes me sick.’ Dr. C. ‘ 0, no; drink one mouthful.’ She did so; and had she wit­nessed the ceremony of taking pure castoi a thousand times, the apparent effect on her could not have been more true to nature. Mr. H. again summoned the Doctor, and whispered too low to be heard by any other person in the room, ‘ Will, now, that it is snuff.³ He returned, and repeated only words resembling those used in the first experiment. On looking into the tumbler, she seemed to smile ironically, and said, ⁱ Drink this! drink this! you know I cannot;’ with an ex­pression of countenance which any one, seeing snuff to be the contents of a tumbler about to be drank off, must have assumed. I then requested Dr. C. in the same manner, to ‘ will it to be pleasant lemonade³ After long persuasion, without a word or gesture, however, which could have indicated the nature of my request, on Dr. C.’s part, she put the tumbler cautiously to her lips, and tasting, drank the whole of the wa­ter that remained. Dr. C. ‘ Well, Lurena, how do you like that?’ MissB. ‘Why, it*s very good, but a little too'sour.³ Some one of the strangers present now requested in a whis­per that he would ‘ will the tumbler to be filled with an ice cream³ I sat at Aliss B.’s elbow, and watched both her countenance and Dr. C.’s words and motions. Collusion, or anything like a secret understanding between them in what followed, I believe to have been impossible. Dr. C. ‘ Come, Lurena, drink what I have got for you now. You will find it very good.’ Rousing she looked into the empty tumbler, and continued silent. On further inquiry, she said, ‘ You know I cannot drink it.’ Dr. C. ‘ Why ? ’ Miss B. ‘ I³ve been waiting for a spoon this half hour³ k spoon w^Tas then brought and given her. She raised the tumbler, and imitating to perfection the manner of a lady taking an ice cream in a fashionable and elegant circle, she finished it, and replaced the tumbler in her lap, as one waiting for a servant to take it. Dr. C. ‘ Well, is not that good ?’ Miss B. ‘ Yes, it’s very good, but a little too highly flavored for me.’ I should have mentioned that while eating it, she put her hand to her face in apparent pain. Dr. C. ‘ What is the matter with your face ? ’ Miss B. ‘ Whff, it makes my teeth ache, it’s so cold³ I then requested Dr. C. to take the tumbler from her, and, in a whisper scarcely audible to him, to ‘ will a black kitten to be in her lap.³ He assented, and, taking his seat before her, as I did mine at her side, he said, without previously uttering a syllable even in whisper to any one, or making the least motion, ⁴ Lurena, come, wake up and see what you have in your lap.’ She seemed gradually to wake. ^t What have you in your lap ?’ Looking down, she instantly began to draw her arms up with aversion at the object seen, but remained silent. Dr. C. ⁴ What is the matter ? Is it not pretty ? ’ Drawing her arms still further up, she said, evidently offended, ⁴ Pretty ? no. What have you put that in my lap for ? I sha’nt take it! I wont! ’ Dr. C. ⁴ O, yes, take it.’ Miss B. ⁴1 wont.’ Dr. C. ⁴ Well, if you do not like it, give it to me.’ Lifting it precisely as one would by the nape of the neck, and tossing it, she said, ⁴ There, take the dirty black thing!³ The preceding experiments were tried, in conse­quence of our having heard that similar ones had been made without failure in any instance ;* and I am as certain as I am of being able to see or hear anything directly before me, that no direction, either by a whisper, pause, or gesture; was given by the magnetizer to the magnetized ; and I know that the directions I gave D. C. could not have been anticipated by him or any one else.”—Deleuzes An. Mag. Append, p. 131-134.

The subjoined narrative exhibits this feature of the subject in a somewhat higher light. In reading it, it is important to bear in mind that what the author terms magnetizing an in­animate object, is really a mental process by which he im­agines or wills such and such transformations to take place as are alluded to.

⁴⁴ Rosalia, on whom the following experiments were made, is a young girl of about eighteen years of age, of a somewhat sanguineous temperament. Her nervous system does not appear to be too much developed. She would enjoy very good health, if, from the age of puberty, she did not suffer, from time to time, rather violent pains in the stomach. Her education is that of a poor artisan, solely occupied in sup­porting by the labor of her hands an aged and feeble mother. To this must be added, in order to have a physical and mora. appreciation of the subject, that Rosalia never left a province which was very distant from Paris.

⁴⁴ Rosalia being in a state of somnambulism in a separate and well-closed closet, a ball of wool is magnetized by the person who put her to-jsleep, and placed in one of the hats of the men, which were thrown carelessly in a corner of the room. The somnambulist is then introduced into the apart­ment, and invited to seek out an object, without giving this ob­ject any other designation. She begins by walking around the room, touclies different* pieces of furniture, but stops not; then, at length, after having carried her examination towards the corner above mentioned, she discovers the ball of wool, which she brings with her without hesitation.

“ Rosalia is asleep for some minutes. An incredulous doctor, with the intention of satisfying himself, as to whether the mag­netic action maybe really concentrated on inanimate objects, carries away the Magnetizer out of the room, and proposes to him to operate on a step of the stairs—the tenth was the one chosen by the doctor. The tenth step, setting out from the bottom of the stairs, receives the magnetic passes. At the moment of withdrawing, the Magnetizer wishing, in his turn, and at the same time, to make an experiment of his own, declares that he mentally places a barrier above the tenth step, to prevent Rosalia from continuing her route. Things thus prepared, the doctor leads back the Magnetizer, whom he no longer quits, to the somnambulist still asleep. Ac­cording to his express wish, she is aroused without being touched, and merely by some gestures made at a distance. It is only after a serious examination of the perfectly normal state of the young girl, that, on the order of the incredulous doctor, Rosalia takes a taper hi order to go to bed. In so do­ing she must necessarily pass by the stairs to the magnetiz­ed step. After five or six minutes they go in pursuit of her; the doctor passes first, and what is his astonishmemt, when having arrived at the bottom of the stairs, he perceives the young girl standing up and immovable on the tenth step. The following dialogue then takes place:—

^{44 4} Rosalia, what, then, are you doing there ? ’ ⁴1 am asleep, sir.’ ⁴ And who has put you to sleep ?’ ⁴ The step on which I stand: there escapes from it a hot vapor, which has as­cended to my legs, and has put me to sleep.’ ⁴ Well, then, since you are asleep, are you going to bed ?’ ⁴1 cannot, sir, because there is a barrier which prevents me from passing.’

⁴⁴ Rosalia, being asleep, was placed at the extremity of a room, with her head turned towards the wall. An incredu­lous person requires that the Magnetizer, placed at the dis­tance of several feet from the somnambulist, should break one of the feet of the chair on which she was sitting. Scarce­ly were two or three passes directed towards the object de­signed, than Rosalia rises abruptly, and cries out, ⁴ My God I I am a going to fall, my chair has but three feet.’ Another time, in the absence of Rosalia, the floor of the room was magnetized, with the intention of changing it into ploughed land. When the girl, who is fast asleep, was introduced, she refuses to advance, and pretends that the furrows prevent her from walking, and that she knows not where to place her feet. The same floor also assumes the appearance of a fro­zen river, &c., according to the demand made on it.

The following facts consist in proving that Magne­tism may give to matter a virtue which it does not possess of itself. Examples :—Rosalia is in a closet adjoining that in which her magnetiser is, and in a state of somnambulism. Before a bracket are placed, casually, two chairs, one of which is very light. This is precisely the one which the Magnetiser is requested to load with a considerable weight, which he sets about doing by means of numerous passes. The opera­tion being over, the somnambulist is introduced. After some experiments of another kind, she is asked to take one of the chairs and to sit near the fire. Chance made her select that one of the two which was really the heavier. Rosalia brings it with ease up near the fire. A lady being in want of a seat, Rosalia is asked to go for the other. She goes up to it, takes it with her two hands, then seems to make a violent effort to raise it; the chair remains immovable. At the request of those around her she tries again, but still without success; however, her muscles are tense, her face is flushed ; at last, she cries out, with a voice, altered, as it were, by the violent efforts she had made, ⁴ My God ! I never shall be able, it is too heavy.’ A book was magnetised on the chimney-piece, with the intention of making it adhere to the marble. At the request made to Rosalia, she goes to bring it, but her efforts to raise it are unavailing; only, as the will of the magnetiser had no other end than to affix to the marble that part of the cover in contact with it, Rosalia opens the book, turns over the leaves, but without being any more able to tear it from the chimney-piece, than if one of the sides of the covers were really affixed to it. Thus, again, a saucer having been mag­netised, Rosalia is requested to take and carry it. At the mo­ment she presents it, her fingers were contracted tightly on the china, and she declares that she cannot let it go. Such was the will of the magnetiser, communicated through the medium of the object.

“We now come, we might almost say; by an insensible transition, to a series of facts which still constitute a particu­lar class. For we have seen that the modifications occa­sioned in the form of objects were such in the experiments of the ploughed land and of the frozen river, that they may be well considered as creations completely new. It will be un­derstood then, at least by analogy, that the magnetic action may create objects entirely imaginary. Here are some exam­ples of it. Rosalia, in a state of somnambulism, converses with some persons. An incredulous spectator entreats the .magnetiser to place on an unoccupied seat an open pair of scissors. Some passes are made on the seat pointed at. After about a quarter of an hour the somnambulist is made to rise; then, as if brought by mere chance, she is invited to sit 4

on the seat which has just been magnetised: Rosalia refuses ⁴Why, then, will you not sit down ?’ they ask her. ⁴ Because I do not wish to hurt myself.’ ⁴ Come, now, do sit down.

⁴ No, sir, there are scissors there that would hurt me.’

⁴⁴ Another time, at the request of a person who does not yet believe, a wooden pillar was raised magnetically in the centre of the room: there is attached to it mentally a cord which is to go round the neck of the somnambulist. Rosalia cries out almost at the instant: ⁴ Ah ! sir, how this squeezes my neck.’ ⁴ What then ? ’ ⁴ The cord fastened to this wooden pillar.’ On asking her where this pillar is, after she was freed from the imaginary tie of which she complained, she gets up and points with her finger to the very place where the mag- netiser had raised his fantastic pillar.

⁴⁴ Rosalia is sleeping her magnetic sleep calmly on the sofa. Her magnetiser raises her feet, then passes his hand between them and the floor. This signal, according to the request made of him, is to place a stool under the feet of the som­nambulist. Actually, from this moment the two feet of Ro­salia remain in the air as if they were supported by an object placed beneath them. When strong pressure is made on them, they are forced to yield ; but then the entire body fol­low's the movement, and instantly as the action ceases the two feet rise together in the position given them by the magnet­iser. This is somewhat the effect experienced by a person jolted in a vehicle ; the point of support on which the feet rest, rises and falls, without, however, the relations of posi­tion of the different parts of the body being sensibly changed. After having remained a long time in this way without evinc­ing any fatigue, Rosalia is asked why she keeps her feet raised. ⁶ Because,’ says she, ⁴ I have placed them on a stool.’ Without enumerating a greater number of facts of the same kind, in order to terminate this order of phenomena, here is a case, which it is useful to notice, because we shall have oc­casion to recur to it. Rosalia is in a closet adjoining a draw’- ing-room in a state of somnambulism; the communication between these Mvo apartments is closed, but another door giving egress from the drawing-room to a staircase has re­mained open. The magnetiser places a barrier there mag­netically; then Rosalia is introduced by a stranger. She is then requested to go out to the staircase; but she declares that she cannot do so, ⁴ because,’ says she, ⁴ this door is barred' In order that she may pass through, it is necessary that the magnetiser should, in a manner, break the charm.

⁴⁴ Not only, as has been just seen by the above examples, can the magnetic action create for Rosalia objects completely imaginary, but, further, at the will of the magnetiser, it de­prives her of the power of seeing objects which really exist, and which are placed in states so as to be perfectly distinct to her in the ordinary state. Thus a simple magnetic pass is sufficient for a piece of furniture, a person, a portion of a room, to disappear from the eyes of a somnambulist. Ques­tion her by surprise, lay for her all the snares you will, never will she see any of the persons or things that her magnetiser shall have rendered invisible, and what should scarcely leave any apprehension of fraud in this experiment is, that those who may be so disposed with respect to the subject of invisi­bility will try in vain to call forth in the somnambulist a laugh, astonishment, fright, &c., &c., or any other impression what­ever.

“ All those who have given their attention to magnetism have remarked, that one of the characters of somnambulism is not to leave any recollection on awaking, except, how­ever, the magnetiser may have had the intention of making an idea survive the cessation of the magnetic effect. Then the thought conceived under the sway of the agent is con­tinued in the ordinary state, and almost always produces the expected result. This observation must necessarily incline one to think, that perhaps it might be possible to transport into the natural life of somnambulists some other phenome­non of their magnetic existence. With respect to invisibility, numerous experiments have left no doubt of this possibility. We shall content ourselves by quoting merely the following fact. Rosalia is asleep. A thick layer of carded cotton is ap­plied to her, covered with a bandage fastened behind her head. In this state she is brought into the midst of people whom she does not know. Among these, they select, for the pur­pose of rendering invisible, a strange person whom she never could have seen. After some magnetic passes, this person goes with two others clad in the same manner behind a screen. The bandage is then taken from Rosalia,—she is demagnetised. She resumes her habitual countenance, con­verses as usual with those around her. Suddenly an arm rises above the screen. Rosalia is one of the first to perceive it; a second arm then appears,—she sees it again ; but when the third is raised near the others, she persists in saying that she sees but two. The third arm is really that of the person rendered invisible. This experiment is repeated ten times, twenty times, always in a different way; never does Rosalia perceive the person that had been rendered invisible, though that person changed clothes with those who were placed be­hind the screen with him. .

⁽⁽A fact of the same kind took place with respect to the barriers of which I have spoken. Whilst Rosalia is in a state of somnambulism the entrance-door of the closet in which she is was shut magnetically, though in reality it is open. At the conclusion of the sitting, when Rosalia is entirely awake, she takes leave and prepares to go out; but on ap­proaching the door, she says she sees a cloud which, accord­ing to her own expression, obstructs her, and prevents her from passing. In vain does the magnetiser strive to dissipate this apparition: he cannot succeed until after having put the girl to sleep again.

“ W e now come to the last exp eriment, the object of which, as of the preceding, is to make the fantastic creations of mag­netism pass into real life; and this time, as the case is not my own, I quote from the original, so as to omit no detail:—

“‘After having magnetised Rosalia in the little closet of Madame ***, I ask what it is they desire I should make her see. “A little girl,” replied one of the bystanders. I then approach a chair, and strive in making some passes to fix my idea to it, as we have often done together. Rosalia, whom I bring right before me, after a moment’s hesitation, concludes by saying to me, “ It is little Hortense.” Having sent her into another room, I remove the chair from its place, in order that she may not recognise it; but I hesitate, and place it in seve­ral different places before fixing it. I then go to awake Ro­salia in the closet of Madame ***, then I proceed with her into the little room. Now that she is well awake, what does she see ? Not one little girl, but six little girls, to my great aston­ishment. In vain I endeavor by transverse passes to abolish my manifold creation; 'tis quite impossible. Curious to have an explanation of all this, I again put Rosalia to sleep, and ask her the solution of the enigma. “ In good faith, sir,” re­plies the girl, “ you need not have removed the chair from its place ; then I should have seen but one child; but every where you put it down, the fluid passed through, and formed a child quite like to that one which is above.” “ What is that fluid ? ” “A slight wind passing out of your fingers ? ” ’—Teste on An, Magnetism, p. 218-225.

Such, then, are among the undeniable mental effects wrought in connection with the Mesmeric state. The state is such that what is subjective to one mind becomes objective to an­other. In other words, mental phantasies are transferrable, and become real entities to the recipient. Their nature is sufficiently obvious without explanation. The question is, how far this fact _xis confirmed or illustrated by Swedenborg in his disclosures of the laws of spiritual operation. A very limited acquaintance with his works will suffice to show, that it is continually recognised by him in his relations of the phenomena of the other life. It is among the most familiar experience which he is all the time giving forth of his com­merce with the world of spirits, that spirits act upon each other by the infusion of their phantasies, and that a great por­tion of the misery of the wicked is derived from this source. The extracts that follow contain not a hundredth part of the testimony, all equally pertinent, which might be adduced from his revelations, bearing on the point in hand.

“ The way in which visions take place, and what visions are genuine, is known to few : and because I have now for several years been almost continually with those who are in the other life, as may abundantly appear from the First Part of this work, and have there seen stupendous things; so also I have been informed concerning visions and dreams by lively experience, and am at liberty to relate the following particu­lars respecting them. The visions of some are much spoken of, who have said that they have seen many things : they did see them, it is true, but in phantasy. I have been instructed concerning those visions, and it was likewise shown me how they exist. There are spirits who induce such appearances by phantasies, that they seem as if they were real. For ex­ample ; if anything is seen in the shade, or by moonlight, or even in open day if the object be in a dark place, those spirits keep the mind of the beholder fixedly and unceasingly in the thought of some particular thing, either of an animal, or a monster, or a forest, or some such thing; and so long as the mind is kept in this thought, the phantasy is increased, and that to such a degree, that the person is persuaded, and sees, just as if the things were really there; when, nevertheless, they are nothing but illusions. Such occurrences take place with those who indulge much in phantasies, and are in in­firmity of mind and hence are rendered credulous. Such are visionaries. Enthusiastic spirits are of a similar nature: but these have visions about matters of faith, by which they are so firmly persuaded, and persuade others, that they will swear what is false to be true, and what is fallacious to be real. Concerning this kind of spirits many things might be here related from ^experience; but, by the divine mercy of the Lord, we shall speak specially concerning them. They contracted that nature from the persuasions and principles of the false, when they lived in the world. Evil spirits in the other life are scarce anything but lusts and phantasies, hav­ing acquired to themselves no other life. Their phantasies are such, that they perceive no other than that the thing is as they fancy. The phantasies of men cannot be compared with theirs, for spirits are in a more excellent state even as to such things. Such phantasies are perpetual with the infer- nals; and thereby they miserably torment one another. By genuine visions are meant visions, or sights, of those objects which really exist in the other life, and which are nothing but real things, which may be seen by the eyes of the spirit, but not by the eyes of the body, and which appear to man when his interior sight is opened by the Lord. This interior sight is that of his spirit; into which, also, he comes, when, being separated from the body, he passes into the other life: for man is a spirit clothed with body.. Such were the visions of the prophets. When this sight is opened, then the things which exist amongst spirits are seen in a clearer light than that of mid-day in this world, and not only are representatives seen, but also the spirits themselves, accompanied with a perception who they are, and likewise of what quality they are, where they are, whence they come, and whither they go, of what affection, of what persuasion, yea, of what faith they are, all confirmed by living discourse altogether like that of men, and this without any fallacy.”—A. C. 1966-1970.

“ There was a certain person with whom I was acquainted in the life of the body, but not as to the mind [animus] and interior affections: he occasionally conversed with me in the other life, but a little at a distance ; in general he manifested himself by pleasant representatives, for he could present things which delighted, as colors of every kind, and beautiful colored forms, and could introduce infants beautifully deco­rated as angels, and very many like things which were plea­sant and delightful.”—A. C. 4412.

“ The punishment of the veil is a very common one, and is in this manner. The offender seems to himself, in conse­quence of the phantasies whereby he is impressed, to be under a veil, stretched out to a great distance: it is as it were a cohering cloud, which is condensed according to the cul­prit’s phantasy : under this cloud the sufferers run here and there, with a most eager desire to make their escape, and with different velocities, until they are wearied out; this generally continues for the space of an hour, more or less, and is attended with divers degrees of torture according to the degree of their desire to extricate themselves. The pun­ishment of the veil is inflicted on those who, although they see the truth, yet are rendered by self-love unwilling to ac­knowledge it, and are angry to think that it is truth. Some spirits have such anxiety and terror under the veil, that they despair of ever being set at liberty, as I was informed by one who had been led out.

“ There is also another kind of veil, wherein the offender is wrapped up as in a sheet, so that he seems to himself to be bound as to his hands, feet, and body, and at the same time is impressed with a strong desire to extricate himself: this he imagines may be easily effected, inasmuch as he is only wrapped up with a single fold; but when he attempts to undo it, the more he unfolds of it, the longer it grows ; until he is driven at last to despair.”—A. C. 963-964.

“ There were with me some who were without subjects, but yet attempted to flow in by the foulest ideas. Wherefore they made their ideas visible with me, which often happens in the other life, viz. that ideas should be set forth as visible, or that they should be able, by phantasies, to present any­thing as visible in another place, when yet it is really nothing else than a phantasy. Accordingly a certain female spirit pre­sented before me in idea an infant, which it was given to per­ceive was only the phantasy of something thus made visi­ble.”—#. D. 3869.

*^c It is wonderful that the phantasies of evil spirits should ap­pear as altogether real, as for instance that they should deem themselves clothed with garments, with hair, and the like; nay, when these garments were spoken of, they touched them, saw them, and said they were real, and yet they can be taken away by phantasies, and others substituted in their place. They are even made to believe, that instead of two arms they have many, and say that such is the fact. The ‘ illusions of the kind which I have seen are innumerable, and when it has been given me to speak with them, and to say that they were phantasies, they still thought them real.”— #. D. 4339.

“ I have seen and been instructed as to the state of the hells in general. Phantasies are what rule them, and they appear real to the life, because those who are there are in phantasies, and have no other life than that of phantasies. * * * Their genera and species are very numerous, agreeing with the number of the hells, and (attended) with living pain, torment, and perception. I have seen how they mutually torment each other in the hells by means of phantasies. One would bind another so tightly with cords, that the spirit knew no otherwise that he was actually bound as to his hands and feet, and was thus cast whenever the other saw fit. They would then turn him into a wild animal, a bear or some­thing else, and bind him by the neck and head, and even by the teeth, and draw him, if he lagged, and that with sensible pain. I have seen also that they would project a serpent, and he would wt>und them in the feet, whence the blood would be seen flowing over the place on which they stood. By these and such like phantasies one tortures another, and he who inflicts it is sent into similar tortures. The genera and species of phantasies are innumerable, according to their hells.”—£ D. 4381.

“ Evil and infernal spirits who are let loose to serve men, thus who are in the world of spirits, know how to lead all those who think (solely) of themselves, and they do lead them whithersoever they will, even to whatever is infernal, in so far as they can turn their thoughts in upon themselves; but those who do not regard themselves, but others whom they deem as worthy as themselves, and particularly who look to the Lord supremely, they cannot move. Evil and infernal spirits know how, by various acts, to turn the thoughts of another spirit upon himself, and thus to lead him wherever they wish, some by magical art, some by phan- tastic art, some by communication of thoughts, and then by influx from themselves.”—<8. D. 5463.

“ These things may be further illustrated by what takes place amongst spirits; for they present to view palaces almost like those in the heavens, also groves and rural ob­jects nearly resembling those presented by the Lord amongst good spirits ; they adorn themselves with shining garments, yea, the syrens also induce a beauty almost angelical; but all these things are the effect of art by phantasies.”—A. C. 10,286.

From this it is obvious that the same phantastic phenomena occur in the other life, which are here witnessed in the Mes­meric condition. The creations of one mind are transferred to another, and nothing is more obvious than that the state in­duced by the process of Magnetization, is one which ap­proximates closely to that of a disembodied spirit. It is this fact which brings it into such intimate relation to the devel­opments of Swedenborg. The grand objection hitherto made to his claims, has been founded on the lack of competent evidence as to the truth of his revelations. “ What have we,” it has been said?“ but his simple assertion in proof that he saw and heard the wonderful things of heaven and hell?” The evidence of this has indeed approved itself as sound and satisfactory to multitudes of minds, apart from any external

testimony. They have been fully convinced that his mar­vellous relations carried their own evidence with them to every one who could be persuaded to a candid and careful examination of his disclosures as a whole. But the Divine Providence is now accumulating an entirely new mass of tes­timony. The indubitable facts of Mesmerism are affording to the very senses of man a demonstration which cannot be resisted, that Swedenborg has told the truth of the other life. The "denial of his claims has now to encounter something more than the intrinsic character of his statements. It must meet, and, in order to be successful, must overcome, the strong array of facts planted around it by the progress of Mes­meric discovery. These facts are intuitively seen to connect themselves indissolubly with the whole tissue of Sweden­borg’s relations, as to the laws and phenomena of the spiritual world. The result is inevitable. If Mesmerism is true, Swe­denborg is true. Can the farther inference be resisted, that if Swedenborg is true, he is a divinely commissioned messen­ger from heaven to man ? It avails not to say in reply that his revelations may have been merely Mesmeric, and conse­quently are no more authoritative than those elicited from persons in ordinary Magnetic extase. We have already shown that his state differed from that of ordinary Mesmeric sub­jects—that while there are certain points of resemblance and relation between them, his psychological condition was dis­tinguished by peculiarities which elevated it immeasurably above theirs. The repetition of our proofs on this head will be unnecessary here. We content ourselves with the simple affirmation, that it is impossible to deny, on intelligent grounds, that the higher Mesmeric phenomena fall into the same cate­gory with the relations of the Swedish seer, and that the truth of the former establishes that of the latter. The con­verse, however, we do not admit as holding good—viz. that if Mesmerism be false, Swedenborg is false. The evidence of his truth we contend to be irrefutable, when judged upon its own grouifds, and independent of all relation to other facts and inferences, although capable of being vastly corroborated by them.

SPHERES.

It is well known to those who are conversant with the facts of the Mesmeric state, that one of the most common manifes­tations is a peculiar and painful sensitiveness to the proximity, and especially to the touch, of any other person than’the Mesmerizer, or of one with whom the subject is put in rap­port or communication. This is pre-eminently the case with fresh subjects. They almost universally affirm, that it is im­possible to describe the disagreeableness of the sensation pro­duced by the contact or the near approach even of their dearest friends and relatives, when the requisite communica­tion has not been established ; and with some it is almost im­possible to establish it at all.[†††] I was once upon the point of being thus put in rapport with a subject, and moved my seat near her for the purpose, when she requested me to wait awhile till she became a little habituated to my sphere, say­ing at the same time that the sphere of some persons was so uncongenial, repugnant, and distressing to her, as to throw her into convulsions. This, however, was a degree of sensi­bility, arising from a very exquisite nervous temperament, which is but seldom found to exists But nothing is more usual than to witness a striking effect of a nervous kind indi­cated by shrinkings and tremors which the Mesmerisee is unable to control, however much he may try.

Now there can be no doubt whatever that this effect is owing to the influence of spheres. Every one is surrounded by an invisible aura or atmosphere, which is constantly ex­haling from his person and spreading to some distance on every side, and bearing to him somewhat the same relation that the aerial atmosphere does to the earth. The first effect of the Magnetic condition is to produce a blending or conge­nial inter-relation of the respective spheres of the operator and the subject, and the more perfect is the moral affinity of the parties, the more complete is the amalgamation in this respect; for the sphere is not merely the efflux of the corpo­real system, but it emanates also from the interior spirit, the seat of sentiments and intellectual sympathies. A very de­cided opposition or antipathy of internal spheres is extremely unfavorable to the Mesmeric influence, and often avails to counteract it altogether.

It is unnecessary, however, for one to be brought into the Magnetic state in order to be assured of the existence and operation of internal spheres. It is a matter of waking as well as of sleeping experience. We perceive it in the instinc­tive likes and dislikes by which we are drawn to some per­sons and repelled from others, even when the judgment does not recognise a particular cause for either.[‡‡‡] It is the going forth of the inner man—of the inner life—which produces- the effect. Of the effect itself every one is conscious, though he may know nothing about the philosophy of it. This effect, it will be observed, is produced in the present life, and even through the interposing medium of the gross fleshly body. But suppose the body to be laid aside and the obstacles thence arising to be done away, is it not reasonable to believe that this emanating sphere will then manifest itself in a still more signal manner ?[§§§] [****] Now in the magnetic sleep the body, though not laid aside, is comparatively in abeyance, and of­fers less obstruction than usual to the free operations of the soul, hence the more obvious the attraction and repulsion of spheres in that state. The spirit is developed in proportion as the body is quiescent; it is enabled therefore to assert it­self more fully under its appropriate laws as a spirit.

Now on the supposition that Swedenborg has made a true discovery of the state of spirits after death, should we not be authorized to expect that this fact of the existence and opera­tion of spheres would be laid open to us ? Has he done it ? Does he throw any light upon this part of the wonderful economy of our being ? This question receives an instanta­neous answer upon the most casual opening of any one of his volumes. No subject holds a more prominent place in his revealed psychology than the doctrine of spheres, nor is any part of the system more remarkable. The ensuing ex­tracts will be full of meaning to any who has made himself conversant with the phenomena of the Mesmeric state.

In speaking of the spiritual sun as an emanation from the Lord he says:

“It is called a proceeding,because that sun was produced from divine love and from divine wisdom, which in them­selves are substance and form, and by it the divine proceeds. But because human reason is such, that it does not acqui­esce, unless it sees a thing from its cause, thus unless it also perceives how, here how the sun of the spiritual world, which is not the Lord, but a proceeding from Him, was pro­duced ; therefore, concerning this also something shall be said. On this subject I have spoken much with the angels, who said, that they perceive this clearly in their spiritual light, but that they can hardly set it before man in his natu­ral light, because there is such a difference between the two lights, and the thoughts thence. They said, however, that this is similar to the sphere of affections, and of thoughts thence, which encompasses every angel, whereby his pre­sence is manifested to those who are near and remote; and that this encompassing sphere is not the angel himself, but that it is from all and everything of his body, from which substances continually emanate, as a stream, and the things that emanate surround him, and that these substances being contiguous to his body, and continually actuated by the two fountains of the motion of his life, the heart and the lungs, excite the atmospheres into their activities, and thereby pro­duce a perception as of his presence with others; and thus that there is not another sphere of affections, and of thoughts thence, although it is so called, which goes forth and is con­tinued, because the affections are the mere states of the forms of the mind in him. They said, moreover, that there is such a sphere around every angel, because it is around the Lord, and that that sphere around the Lord is in like manner from Him, and that that sphere is their sun, or the sun of the spi­ritual world

“ It has often been given to perceive that there is such a sphere around an angel and a spirit, and also a common sphere around many ifl society; and it has also been given to see it under various appearances; in heaven sometimes under the appearance of thin flame, in hell under the appear­ance of a thick fire ; and sometimes in heaven under the ap­pearance of a thin and bright cloud, and in hell under the ap­pearance of a thick and black cloud; and it has also been given to perceive those spheres under various species of odors and stenches.—From which I was confirmed, that there is diffused around every one in heaven, and every one in hell, a sphere consisting of substances resolved and sepa­rated from their bodies.

“It was also perceived, that a sphere diffuses itself, not only from angels and spirits, but also from all and each of the things which appear in that world, as from the trees and from their fruits there, from shrubs and from their flow­ers, from herbs and from grasses, yea, from earths and from everything of them; from which it was evident, that this is universal as well in things living as dead, that everything is surrounded by something similar to that which is within in it, and that this is continually exhaled from it. That it is similar in the natural world, is known from the experience of many of the learned; as that a continual stream of effluvia flows forth from a man, also from every animal, and likewise from trees, fruits, shrubs, flowers, yea, from metals and stones. This the natural world derives from the spiritual world, and the spiritual world from the Divine.”—JD. L. fy D. W. 291-293.

“ There flows forth, yea, overflows, from every man a spi­ritual sphere, derived from the affections of his love, which encompasses him, and infuses itself into the natural sphere derived from the body, so that the two spheres are conjoined. That a natural sphere is continually flowing forth, not only from man, but also from beasts, yea, from trees, fruits, flowers, and also from metals, is a thing generally known; the case is the same in the spiritual world; but the spheres flowing forth from subjects in that world are spiritual, and those which emane from spirits and angels are altogether spiritual, because there appertain thereto affections of love, and thence perceptions and interior thoughts; all of sympathy and anti­pathy hath hence its rise, and likewise all conjunction and disjunction, and according thereto presence and absence in the spiritual world, for what is homogenous or concordant causes conjunction and presence, and what is heterogenous and discordant causes disjunction and absence, wherefore those spheres cause distances in that world. What those spiritual spheres operate in the natural world, is also known to some. The inclination of conjugial partners one towards the other is from no other origin than this ; such partners are united by unanimous and concordant spheres, and dis­united by adverse and discordant spheres; for concordant spheres are delightful and grateful, whereas discordant spheres are undelightful and ungrateful. I have been in­formed by the angels, who are in a clear perception of those spheres, that there is not any part within in man, nor any without, which doth not renew itself, and'that this renewal is effected by solutions and reparations, and that hence is the sphere which continually issues forth.”—C. L. 171.

“ The sphere of a spirit is, as it were, his image extended without him, and is indeed the image of all things appertain­ing to him. But what is exhibited visibly or perceptibly in the world of spirits, is only a something general: its quality, however; as to its particular, is discerned hi heaven; but its quality as to its particulars of particulars, no one knows but the Lord alone.”—A. C. 1505.

^<e Every spirit, and still more every society of spirits, has its own sphere proceeding from the principles and persua­sions imbibed, which is a sphere of those principles and per­suasions. Evil genii have a sphere of lusts. The sphere of principles and persuasions is such, that, when it acts upon another, it causes truths to appear like falses, and calls forth all sorts of confirmatory arguments, so as to induce the belief that things false are true, and that things evil are good. Hence it may appear, how easily man may be confirmed in falses and evils, unless he believe the truths which are from the Lord. Such spheres have a greater density according to the nature of the falses. These spheres can in no respect accord with the spheres of spirits who are in truths; if they approximate each other, there arises a conflict; if, by per­mission, the sphere of the false prevails, the good come into temptation, and into anxiety. There was perceived also a sphere of incredulity, which is of such a nature, that the spi­rits from whom it proceeds believe nothing which is told them, and scarcely what is exhibited to their view.”—A, C, 1510.

“ The spheres of charity and faith, when perceived as odors, are most delightful; the odors are sweet and pleasant, like those of flowers, lilies, and species of divers kinds, with an indefinite variety. Moreover, the spheres of the angels are sometimes rendered visible like atmospheres, or aurae, which are of such beauty, pleasantness, and variety, as to admit of no description.”—A. C. 1519.

“Man does not know, that according to the life of his af­fections, a certain spiritual sphere encompasses him, which sphere is more perceptible to the angels, than a sphere of odor is to the most exquisite sense in the world. If his life has been in externals alone, namely, in pleasures derived from hatreds against his neighbor, from revenges and from cruelty thence, from adulteries, from self-exaltation, and thence contempt of others, from clandestine rapines, from avarice, from deceits, from luxury, and the like, the spiritual sphere which encompasses him is as foul and offensive, as is in the world the sphere of odor from dead bodies, from dunghills, from stinking filth, and the like. The man. who had led such a life, carries with him this sphere after death; and because he is wholly and entirely in that sphere, he can­not be anywhere but in hell, where such spheres are. But they who are in internal things, namely, who have had delight in benevolence and charity towards the neighbor, and especially who have had blessedness in love to the Lord, are encompassed with a grateful and pleasant sphere, which is essentially heavenly, on which account they are in hea­ven. The spheres which are perceived in the other life, all arise from the loves and affections thence, in which they had been, consequently from the life, for the loves and affections thence make the life itself.”—A. C. 4464.

“ The spiritual sphere appertaining to man or to a spirit is the exhalation flowing forth from the life of his loves, from which it is known at a distance what is his quality; accord­ing to spheres all are conjoined in the other life, even socie­ties among themselves; and are also dissociated, for oppo­site spheres are in collision, and mutually repel each other; hence the spheres of the loves of evil are all in hell, and the spheres of the loves of good are all in heaven, that is, they who are in those spheres.”—A. C. 6206.

“ How the case herein is, is evident from those things which manifest themselves in the other life; every spirit, and espe­cially every society, have about them the sphere of their faith and their life, which sphere is a spiritual sphere; hereby a spirit is distinguished, and especially a society, as to their quality, for it is perceived by those who are in perception, sometimes at a considerable distance ; and this although they are in concealment, and neither communicate by thought nor by speech: this spiritual sphere may be compared to the material sphere which encompasses the head of a man in the world, which sphere is a sphere of effluvias exuding from him, and is sensibly smelt by sagacious beasts. From what has been said concerning the spiritual sphere, or the sphere of faith and life, which exhales from every spirit, and especial­ly from a society of spirits, it may further be manifest, that there is nothing at all concealed, but everything is in mani­festation, whatsoever man in the world has thought, has spoken and done, for these are the things which constitute that sphere : such a sphere also exudes from the spirit of a man whilst he is in the body in the world ; hence also it is known what this quality is : let it not therefore be believed, that what things a man thinks in secret, and what things he acts in secret, are secret, for they are as manifest in heaven, as the things which appear in mid-day light, according to the Lord’s words in Luke, ‘ There is nothing concealed,which shall not be revealed, or hidden, which shall not be known; therefore whatsoever things ye have said in darkness, shall be heard in light, and what ye have spoken into the ear in closets, shall be preached upon the tops of houses,’ xii. 2, 3.” —A. C. 7454.

“ The reason why to touch denotes communication, trans­lation, and reception is, because the interiors of man put themselves forth by external things, especially by the touch, and thereby communicate themselves with another, and transfer themselves to another, and so far as the will is in further agreement, and makes one, they are received; whe­ther we speak of the will or the love, it is the same thing, for what is of the love of man, this also is of his will. Hence also it follows that the interiors of man, which are of his love and of the thought thence derived, put themselves forth by the touch, and thus communicate themselves with another, and transfer themselves into another; and so far as another loves the person or the things which the person speaks or acts, so far they are received. This especially manifests it­self in the other life, for all in that life act from the heart, that is, from the will or love, and it is not allowed to act from gestures separate from thence, nor to speak from the mouth according to pretence, that is, separately from the thought of the heart; it is there evident how the interiors communicate themselves with another, and transfer themselves into ano­ther by the touch; and how another receives them according to his love. The will or love of every one constitutes the whole man there, and the sphere of the life thence flows forth from him as an exhalation or vapor, and encompasses him, and makes as it were himself around him; resembling in a great measure the effluvia encompassing vegetables in the world, which is also made sensible at a distance by odors ; also that encompassing beasts, of which a sagacious dog is exquisitely sensible; such an effluvium also diffuses itself from every man, as is moreover known from much ex­perience. When, however, man lays aside the body, and becomes a spirit or an angel, then the effluvium or expira­tory principle is not material, as in the world, but is spiritual, flowing forth from his love ; this then forms a sphere around him, which causes his quality to be perceived at a distance by others. Now as this sphere communicates with another, and is there transferred into him, and is received by another according to his love, hence many wonderful things there exist which are unknown to man in the world: as 1st, That all presence is according to similitudes of loves, and all ab­sence according to their dissimilitudes,. 2dly, That all are consociated according to loves; those who are in love to the Lord from the Lord, consociate in the inmost heaven; those who are in love towards the neighbor from the Lord, conso­ciate in the middle heaven; those who are in the obedience of faith, that is, who do the truth for the sake of the truth, consociate in the ultimate heaven; but those who are in the love of self and of the world, that is, who do what they do for the sake of themselves and the world as ends, consociate in hell. When an angel of heaven determinates his sight to others, in such case his interiors are communicated and trans­ferred into them, according to the quantity and quality of his love ; and are received by them according to the quality and quantity of their love; wherefore if by an angel of heaven the sight be determined to the good, the effect is gladness and joy; but if to the evil, the effect is grief and torment. The reason, moreover, why by the touch of the hand is also sig­nified communication, translation, and reception, is because the active principle of the whole body is brought together into the arms and into the hands, and interior things are ex­pressed in the Word by exterior. Hence it is that by the arms, by the hands, and especially by the right hand, is sig­nified power.”—A. C. 10,130.

“ In heaven there are spheres of love and of faith, which are manifestly perceived: spheres are of such a nature, that when a good spirit or angel, or a society of good spirits or angels, approaches, it is then instantly perceived, as often as it seems good unto the Lord, what is the quality of the spirit, angel, or society, in regard to love and faith; and this at a distance, but more particularly as they approach nearer: this is incredible, but still it is most true: such is the com­munication which prevails in another life, and such the per­ception; wherefore, when it seems good unto the Lord, there is no need of much examination as to the quality of a soul, or spirit, for it may be known at the first approach. To these spheres the spheres of odors in the world correspond ; that they correspond, may appear from this, that the spheres of love and faith, whenever it seems good unto the Lord, are manifestly changed in the world of spirits into spheres of delightful and sweet odors, and are sensibly perceived.”—A. C. 925.

“ That the truth or the false which are derived from man’s loves, encompass him and also flow forth from him, may appear from this consideration, that all things which are in the world, as well animate as inanimate, pour forth from themselves a sphere, which is sometimes perceivable to the senses at a considerable distance, as from animals in the woods, which dogs exquisitely smell out, and pursue by the scent from step to step ; likewise from vegetables in gardens and forests, which emit an odoriferous sphere in every direc­tion ; in like manner from the ground and its various mine­rals; but these exhalations are natural exhalations. Similar is the case in the spiritual world, where from every spirit and angel flows forth a sphere of his love, and of its derivative truth or false, and this in every direction; hence it is that all spirits may be known as to their quality, from the spiritual sphere alone which exudes from them, and that according to those spheres they have conjunction with societies which are in similar love, and thence in a similar truth or false. They who are in the love of good and thence of truth, are conjoined with the societies of heaven, and they who are in the love of evil and thence of the false, are conjoined with the societies of hell. I can assert that there is not even a single thought appertaining to a spirit, and also to a man, which does not communicate by that sphere with some society : that this is the case, has not hitherto been known to man, but it has been made evident to me from a thousand instances in the spiritual world, wherefore also when spirits are explored as to their quality, it is traced out whither their thoughts extend themselves, whence it is known with what societies they are conjoined, and thus their quality is ascer- tamed, and that the evil are conjoined with societies of hell, and the good with societies of heaven ?”—A. E. 889.

This doctrine of spheres as pertaining to spirits in the other world, is exceedingly important and wonderful, asTnay be seen from Swedenborg’s development of it in the Arc. Celes. 1504-1520. He remarks, it will be seen, that the interiors of man are in a certain unknown activity, by means of which the character of a spirit is perceivable, and that the sphere of such activity not only extends itself to a considerable dis­tance around him, but is occasionally made manifest by beautiful variations of light, and in some cases by being con­verted into a peculiar odor. This odor, though of the most exquisite fragrance in the case of good spirits, is so offensive to the evil that the very perception of it fills them with un­utterable distress and anguish. This constitutes one among other reasons why the wicked cannot dwell in heaven. They cannot abide the celestial aura. The inhaling the least portion of it puts them into a frenzy of torment, while every kind of foul and fetid odor is to them an aroma of delight.[††††]

But the nature of spheres becomes peculiarly hiteresting from the mental phenomena connected with them.f The sphere of a spirit, according to Swedenborg, is his image extended without him, and to the keen perception of another spirit, immediately reveals his internal quality, and, still more, indu­ces a recognition of his identity, if he had been before Imo wn. A parallel to this we see again in the facts of Mesmerism. A subject in that state, with his eyes hermetically sealed, and it may be, bandaged, will indicate by name a person of his acquaintance who unexpectedly enters the room ; and this is often referred to a preternatural power of vision with which he is then endowed. Without denying the fact of such vision, we presume the truth to be, that they generally tell the per­son by his sphere. Sight is superseded by sensation, unless indeed this perception of spheres is their vision. I once in­terrogated a Mesmeric subject on this point, how she dis­criminated different individuals when blindfolded—whether she actually saw them. “No,” she replied, “I do not see them, I feel them.” They are revealed by their sphere. In accordance with this, Swedenborg remarks, that, “ When any spirit is coming towards others, although he is yet at a distance, and not manifest to the sight, his presence is per­ceived, as often as the Lord grants, from a certain spiritual sphere.”[‡‡‡‡]

As these spheres are the grand media of conjunction be­tween spirits, being the emanations of their interior affections, we see in them the ground of that peculiar attachment which, for the time being, is evinced by the Mesmerised towards his Mesmerisee, and which undoubtedly tends to fix itself as a permanent sentiment, except as circumstances and higher promptings, may exercise their due control over the emotions.f The influence exerted, however, in this manner, doubtless throws a strong light upon the operation of love and the na­ture of the unions which it prompts in the other life. It would appear that when the requisite moral affinity exists, souls come into a sublimated magnetic communication or rapport with each other, which binds them far more closely together than the mere attraction of kindred sentiment, as we see its effects manifested in the present world. Congeniality of sphere is the celestial cement which unites together all spirits that are inwardly in unison.[§§§§] And what is remarka­ble, Swedenborg informs us, that the spheres of friendship which are often formed in the present life between those who are not in deep moral affinity with each other become so firmly established—so inwrought into the nature—that they follow the parties after death, and frequently prove very de­trimental in their influences. The following is, in this view, very striking.

“ That the friendship of love is detrimental after death, may be evident from the state of heaven, from the state of hell, and from the state of the spirit of man respectively. As to the state of heaven ; it is distinguished into innumerable so­cieties, according to all the varieties of the affections of the love of good ; hell also is divided into societies, according to all the varieties of the affections of the love of evil; and man, after death, who then is a spirit, according to his life in the world, is presently assigned to the society where his reigning love is; to some heavenly society, if love to God and love towards the neighbor had made the head of his loves ; and to some infernal society, if the love of self and the world had made the head of his loves. Presently after his entrance into the spiritual world (which is made by death and the rejection of the material body into the sepulchre), man is for some time being prepared for his society to which he has been as­signed, and the preparation is made by the rejection of the loves which do not agree with his principal love ; wherefore one is then separated from another, friends from friends, clients from patrons, and also parents from their children, and brother from brother ; and each of them is joined to his like, with whom he is to live a life in common with them and properly his own to eternity. But, at the first time of the preparation, they meet together and converse in a friend­ly manner, as in the world ; but by degrees they are sepa­rated, which is done insensibly.

“ But those who in the world have contracted friendships of love one with another, cannot, like others, be separated according to order, and assigned to the society correspond­ing to their life; for they are inwardly, as to the spirit, tied, nor can they be torn asunder, because they are like branches ingrafted into branches ; wherefore, if one, as to his interiors, is in heaven, and another, as to his interiors, in hell, they co­here scarcely otherwise than as a sheep tied to a wolf or as a goose to a fox, or as a dove to a hawk; and he whose in­teriors are in hell breathes his infernal influences into him whose interiors are in heaven; for among the knowledges which are in heaven, this also is one, that evils may be in­spired into the good, but not goods into the evil. The reason is, because every one, by birth, is in evils; thence the interi­ors of the good, who thus cohere with the evil, are shut up, and both are thrust down into hell, where the good suffer hard things ; but at length, after a certain space of time, they are taken out, and then they first begin to be prepared for heaven. It has been given me to see such tyings, particularly between brothers and relations, and also between patrons and clients, and of many with flatterers, who possessed contrary affec­tions and diverse dispositions.

“ The case is altogether otherwise with those who love the good in another, that is, who love justice, judgment, sincer­ity, benevolence from charity, especially who love faith and love to the Lord; those, because they love the things which are within a man abstracted from those which are without him, if they do not observe the same qualities in the person after death, immediately break off friendship, and are asso­ciated by the Lord with those who are in similar good. It may be said that no one can explore the interiors of the mind of those with whom he is associated and connected ; but this is not necessary; only let him be cautious of forming a friendship of love with every one ; external friendship, for the sake of various uses, is not hurtful.⁵’—T. C. R. 447-449,

Everything relative to the subject of spheres goes to evince that there is a physiology of psychology—that the true basis of everything mental and spiritual is to be found in those sub­tle elements of our being which come as truly under the op­eration of fixed law, as do any of the processes of attraction and repulsion in the physical world. The interior essence of these elements we may be as yet unable to grasp, but that mental phenomena are in some mysterious manner connect­ed with the influences and agencies, electric and magnetic, which, in some of their forms, come under the cognizance of the senses, is beyond a doubt. The Mesmeric state is as much distinguished by mental as by physical phenomena Yet this state is induced by physical means, that is to say, by manual movements or passes made in a downward direc­tion, and it is removed by passes made in the reverse direc­tion. By precisely the same process, a bar of steel is first magnetized and then demagnetized. These are the facts in the two cases. Let him, who can, resist the evidence of a close and indissoluble relation—of the operation of a kindred law—in the respective classes of phenomena. The assertion of this inference is not the propounding of a theory. We know nothing of the intrinsic nature of the principle involved in either case. All that we affirm is the fact of an analogy in the respective phenomena so striking as to warrant the con­clusion, that the same hidden law is at work in both. If this suggestion shall be taxed as savoring of the heresy of mate­rialism, we shall meekly allow the authors of the charge to glory over us in the imputation, provided they will define the precise boundaries that separate the domain of matter from that of mind. Let them say how much of the purely physical, and how much of the purely spiritual, there is in the process by which one person, employing at the same time volition and manipulation, puts another into the mag­netic sleep.* Is he prepared to say that his mind and his hands do not deal with precisely the same agent in its trans­mission to the subject organism ? And what will he make of the fact, that in transmitting this agent, which is palpably removed by upward passes purely mechanical, he has trans­ferred his own thoughts and volitions to the psychical element of the other party ? AH’this is matter of indubitable/acZ, com­ing within the range of every day experience, and we submit whether the simply charge of materialism is a sufficient reply to the evidence of facts which appeal as directly to the ob­jector’s reason as to ours.

MEMORY.

A striking phasis of the Mesmeric wonders displays itself in the evidence afforded that the records of Memory are equally transferrable in that state with the present train of thought and the arbitrary creations of fancy. The one fact is

♦ “ By an impulsion of my will I convey the fluid to the extrem­ity of my hands; by the same act of volition I impress it with a determinate direction, which communicates the motion of my fluid to that of the diseased person. Nothing prevents me from emit­ting it ; but there may be in the individual upon whom I act, some obstacle which prevents the effects I intend to produce ; and then I experience a greater or less resistance, in the same manner as when I employ my strength to lift a burden that is too heavy: this resistance may even be invincible. The magnetical fluid is con­tinually escaping from us, and it forms an atmosphere round our bodies, which having no determinate direction, does not percep­tibly act upon the individuals who are about us, but it is impelled and guided by our will; it moves forward with the whole of that force which we have imparted to it, like the luminous rays which issue from ignited substances. The principle which sets it in action exists in our souls, in the same way as that which commu­nicates strength to our arm, and its nature is similar.”—Deleuze Hist. Crit. du Magnet. Vol. I. p. 93.

not perhaps in itself any more marvellous than the other. Our present thoughts are always more or less connected with our past memories, and if the operations of mind in general may be reflected in the manner we have above described, we see nothing incredible in the idea that, by the law of mental association, the chain of reminiscences may be vividly awakened in the subject intellect. However it may be accounted for, the fact is undoubtedly so. You recal to mind a past event, or a remembered locality, and the clairvoy­ant describes it as if actually passing before his own mind. And it is remarkable that in many cases where you have failed to recollect correctly the features and circumstances of a particular occurrence, the descriptions thus elicited will agree with the truth rather than with your impressions. This has been frequently tested. Thus, for instance, you have in your mind’s eye a picture representing a person sitting by a table with a letter in his hand, but in regard to which you have in some way taken up the impression that the letter lies on the table instead of being in the hand of the person por­trayed. You request the subject to describe the painting. He assures you the letter is in the hand. You are quite con­fident that he is mistaken, but he insists that he is right. On repairing to the room and consulting your eyes, you find, to your surprise, that the describer was right and that you were wrong. The letter is in the hand and not on the table. How is this to be accounted for ? So far as you were conscious, you conceived the letter as lying on the table, and if the conception of your mind was transferred to the other, -why did not the image in both cases correspond ? The disagreement in in­stances like this has led many persons to suppose that the clairvoyant’s spirit, in some mysterious Avay, emerged from the body and went actually to the place, and there examining the picture for itself, reported the fact as it was. Without deny­ing the possibility of this, I still venture to think there is an­other and better solution. I believe the impression was taken, and taken correctly, from your mind. The process, if 1 mis­take not, was this. When you first saw the painting, you saw it as it was. It impressed itself in its true features on the tablet of your mind. It painted itself there in its genuine traits as really as the colors and forms were impressed upon the canvass by the hand of the artist. And so, it is probable, the impression for some time remained. Subsequently, from some inexplicable cause, the error crept into your mind in regard to the position of the letter. But this mere error of judgment did not obliterate the true underlying impression originally made. The senses then did their duty and made a veritable report. The image then daguerreotyped upon your mind in fact remains there still, unconsciously to your­self, and from this image the corresponding image in the mind of the mesmerisee is derived. All this is indeed won­derful, but the elucidations we are about to give from Swe­denborg will probably evince that it is the true explanation of the fact.

Previously, however, we exhibit some attested instances of the phenomena in question as developed in Mesmerism. The first is a case directly in point, in illustration of the re­marks just made.

“ Calixte being in the state of Extase (to be hereafter de­scribed) reproached himself severely for the levity of his ha­bitual conduct. He spoke to himself, as if addressing anoth­er, and discoursed with a tone and a facility which would have been worthy of one of the doctors of the Sorbonne.

“ Being brought back to the state of simple somnambulism, Calixte obeyed the orders which were mentally given him by his magnetizer. The latter, among many other convincing proofs, tacitly commanded him, on the suggestion which had been made to him by a third person, to go to a certain table, and take from it a glass full of water, and to place it upon a little box containing phosphorus, which had been placed, with several other things, upon the chimney-piece. Then walking very fast, the somnambulist went to take up the glass full of water, carried it, and placed it rapidly upon the said little receptacle, where it rested with perfect security, to the great astonishment of those present, who having afterwards tried to do the same thing could never find the perfect equi­librium.

“ M. S., a solicitor, then wished to be placed ‘ en rapport ’ with the somnambulist, and to induce him to explore his house.      .

“ⁱ Will you see my house, and tell me the arrangement of the ground floor ? ’

“ ‘ Most willingly. I am there. I enter by a door with two leaves into a large hall; I see two doors on the right, two doors on the left, a great staircase at the bottom, and a little to the left;—and near to, and on the right of the staircase, a little door which opens into the court.’

“ ‘ Very well; go up stairs to the first floor, and into the first room on the left.’

“ ‘ I am there. It is your library. I see everywhere books and papers. I will go round the room beginning on the right side, and will tell you what it contains. Come then— follow me. Here, near to the door, is your book-case, occu­pying the whole side : there, are four chairs, there is the chimney-piece, on which stands a bronze dial: there are also two candles,—a book open and some papers: further on a writing-table :—there, opposite to the book-case, two windows,—between the two, there is nothing except a sofa. The window blinds are of blue silk—and the curtains are white and embroidered: there, opposite to the chimney, are four easy chairs. In the middle of the room is a large library table furnished with a covering of green cloth, ornamented with yellow fringe; upon it there are only some papers, an inkstand, and       and a box, the top of which is painted, and

represents a landscape.’

“ ‘ All that you have said is perfectly correct, except in one particular; that is the last which you have mentioned, there is no box on my usual study table.’

“‘There is no box, do you say? you are wrong: lam certain that there is a box there, I see it distinctly still. Look now, there, at the place where you write. Do you not see it ? That is astonishing, for it is of considerable size.’

“ ‘ I assure you, my friend, it is you who are wrong and not I:—but enough of this, besides I am quite satisfied with you, and I thank you.’

“The somnambulist appeared much disconcerted relative to the box, and besides he was fatigued; the magnetizer awakened him, and sent him to breathe the fresh air.

“Then several persons inquired of M. S—, if he was quite sure, that there was no box upon his table ; he again affirm­ed that there was nothing of the kind, and added: ‘ I possess indeed a box answering to the description which the som­nambulist has given of the one he affirmed to see, but it is invariably kept in my bedroom.’ This avowal of M. S— that he possessed a box greatly resembling the one described by Calixte, induced*the magnetizer to ask M. S— to make himself quite sure when he returned home with regard to

the fact in doubt. M. S— then proposed to several persons, and to the magnetizer himself, to accompany him home, in order to verify the error, which according to his belief the somnambulist had committed. This was agreed upon, and on entering the library of M. 8— every one immediately re­cognized that the lucidity of Calixte had not been at fault, but the memory of M. S—; for there stood the box in the identical place pointed out by the magnetized. M. S—, thoroughly satis­fied by the sight, now recollected, that in the morning he had had occasion to open the box, and that his mind being pre­occupied with other business, he must have brought it in, and left it in its unwonted position.”—Newnharris An. Mag. p. 262—265, Lond. Ed.

The annexed letter from Mr. Church W’e insert from the ap­pendix to Deleuze’s Animal Magnetism, translated by Mr. Hartshorn, who has embodied a large supplementary mass of facts of a very interesting character, and from sources of the highest respectability.

“ Sir—In a conversation with you a few evenings ago, you asked of me a short sketch of what I had seen of the phenomenon called somnambulism.

“ In reply, I can only say that my observation has been confined principally to one case, and that of a young lady of this city known to you. I first saw her the latter part of May, and having previously heard much, but seen nothing, I was like most others, rather incredulous respecting the facts related to me by those who had witnessed them. After see­ing her put into an apparently sound and quiet sleep, from wdiich she could not be awakened by any of the means usu­ally employed to rouse sleeping persons, the magnetizer pro­ceeded to show the influence of his will, by causing her to see things, which existed only in imagination. For instance, to drink water from an empty cup, and to eat bread, fruit, cake, &c. from an empty plate. She was also made to see and describe distinctly the number of persons in the room, articles of small size wrapped in many thickness ess of cloth, or in the pockets of the persons present. Having known of her being sent abroad and describing persons and things, and having found her descriptions to be generally correct, where proof was to be had, I was once induced to request her being sent to the island of Cuba, knowing that if she could describe things there of which neither she nor any one present, save myself, had the most remote conception, it would, in my mind, put the matter of l|er spiritual vision be­yond the possibility of a doubt. The request was complied with, by sending her along the sea coast in a southwesterly direction, until she came to the peninsula of Florida. She was then directed to go directly south over the sea until she came to land. Not more than half a minute elapsed before she announced her arrival. She was then told to seek a city. It was almost immediately found, and on being called on to describe the entrance from the sea, I was satisfied she was at Matanzas. Wishing at that time to have her at Ha- vanna, she was directed to go west about sixty miles, until she came to another city, which she did. Being told to enter it by the harbor, and relate what she saw, on the right hand side going in, she described a large stone building, unfinish­ed, which I knew to be a new prison then building,-likewise the city walls, mounted with cannon, the shipping and the harbor generally, with the forts on the opposite side of the entrance, Moro Castle, Castle Blanco, the light-house, &c. Leading questions were of course avoided.

⁴⁴ She also described correctly the quay, the launches load­ing from an open shed, with many persons there collected, standing smoking, &c.; which place is used as a kind of Ex­change, where the ⁴ merchants do most congregate.⁹

“ She was then directed to enter a large building in that vi­cinity, the Cathedral, and her description of it was very mi­nute, and so far as my memory served, was very correct. Being asked what kind of church it was, she replied she did not know, having never seen anything of the kind before. Observing a number of priests officiating at the altar, her at­tention was directed to them. On being asked their probable age, she said that⁴ two were nearly bald, and three, although very young, were beginning to be so,’ fully satisfying me, that she recognized the ‘priest with the shaven crown’ She saw one bearing a bright vessel, suspended by a chain, from whence issued a smoke, which he swung before; and others engaged apparently at prayer and kneeling before the altar. Occasionally a lid would close over it and the smoke cease, when it would be handed to a boy in attendance, then taken back again, and so used several times during the ceremony. She described with exactness the organ as being very small for so large a building, and much out of place, which is the fact, being situated in an arch of the ceiling above the capi­tals of the columns; the floor of the altar as being beautifully inlaid with marble in Mosaic; also the many and splendid paintings on the walls.

⁴⁴ At another time she visited Matanzas, describing the ves­sels in the harbor with sufficient exactness for me to identify one in which I was interested j'the quay or landing; the pub­lic square, with orange trees on the border; and a marble statue in the centre; the church at that place with the pe­culiar architecture and location of the town; together with the interior of the church, the altar, statues, ornaments, &c., including a miniature brig suspended from the ceiling, by some pious individual, who had been saved from shipwreck, by praying heartily to his patron saint, and thus fulfilled his vows by dedicating the said vessel to his or her glory.

“I recognized by her description three ladies of my ac­quaintance at their residence. And her whole description, so far as my memory could be relied on, was strictly correct. I would observe, that on being first sent to Cuba, no name of place was given her, and nearly ten days elapsed before I met her again, when she asked me "where she had been sent; as she knew it must have been in a foreign country, the ap­pearance of things being so entirely different from anything she had before seen.

“I close by giving you the assurance of my most implicit belief in what Ihave witnessed, only stating facts, and not at­tempting to account for them.

Respectfully yours,

FREDERICK S. CHURCH.’’
[Deleuze on An. Mag. p. 147-150.

The following extract is from a London periodical, entitled “The Zoist,” which is mainly devoted to the interests of psychological science in every department, and especially in that of Mesmerism. It will be seen to be very pertinent in illustration of what we have said of memory.

“ The first I heard of Alexis was Colonel Gurwood’s inter­views with him at Paris. The Colonel at his own house one day read to me his notes of various interviews with Alexis, written the same evening or the next morning after each inter­view. If the Colonel was astounded and satisfied so was I: be­cause he is known to all the "world as a man of perfect pro­bity, a plain and straightforward soldier and gentleman, without any freaks of fancy or hastiness of opinion. He had never accompanied his family to my house to witness my mesmeric experiments, and he doubted the truth of mesmer­ism altogether, when he at length gave way to the entreaties of a friend in Paris to visit Alexis. I do not hesitate to men­tion briefly some particulars of the many he read to me be­cause the reports are in the mouth of all the fashionable world, and I heard nothing from him that I have not since heard from others in general society. Alexis was led by him to his house in Lowndes Square; and the character of the roads and houses on landing in England, the statue at Charing Cross, the Queen’s palace, and the situation and number of the Colonel’s house, then the interior, the stairs, landing-place, drawing rooms, and the persons actually in it at the time, as was proved afterwards by a letter received from Mrs. Gur- wood, he described admirably. He described the Colonel’s own room, the number of engravings hanging on the wall, maintaining there were seven, whereas the Colonel declared they were but six and found himself wrong on returning to England: the subject of the engraving over the fire-place: a box in the room, and a very handsomely-bound volume in it, wrapped up, with French words upon the cover—(a volume of the Duke's Despatches, bound in green morocco and gilt, with the garter and French motto on the cover): the book closets on each side of the fire-place, and the very confused state of the books in one : an inner room, with a closet at the further end, and two swords hanging in it, one from a very distant country, the point of one rusty: an eastern inscription upon one (a Damascus blade with Persian or Arabic charac­ters) : the relation of the Colonel’s apartment in the Tower to other rooms : a Hebrew inscription on one of the walls of one of the rooms : the relations between the Duke and the Colonel, and many particulars respecting them and others, which could not be generally known, and which he of course did not read to me, were exact. He was taken to periods of the Colonel’s life in the Peninsula: and saw him save a Frenchman’s life after battle ; saw him disinterring the corpse of a friend ; and enabled him to trace out persons afterwards, ■who supplied him with testimony which he had long been hi want of. The Colonel had prevented the murder of a French officer after battle: and, on a subsequent visit to Spain, disinterred the body of a dear friend who had been thrown into the earth with others, and given him honorable burial. I cannot re­member half or a quarter: nor do I pretend to perfect accu­racy. He told the Colonel that the latter was going to dine in such a street and ivould go to the opera in the evening. The Colonel was going to dine in that street with Lord Cow- _kley; but had no idea of going to the opera: however in the evening Lord Cowley proposed their going, and they went.”

f^{ In Vol. II. of The Zoist, p. 482, after slightly mentioning a number of facts witnessed, and detailed to me from his notes, by Colonel Gur wood, proving beyond all doubt the extraordi­nary powers of Alexis, I stated that the Colonel had promised to give me a full account for publication, but afterwards ex­cused himself. I consider him on every account very wrong: and am now enabled, notwithstanding the non-fulfilment of his promise, to furnish your readers, in a circuitous way, with his own account of the extraordinary revelations made to him by Alexis respecting some testimony of which he had long stood in need to do justice to himself. Tn the Journal de Havre, last August, 20th, is an extract from the Journal Pandore, containing an account by a gentleman of his journey in the Malle Poste from Bordeaux to Paris, accidently with Colonel Gurwood, on the 24th of last November. After a time, the conversation turned upon mesmerism, in which the gentleman was a decided unbeliever, while Colonel Gur­wood, who till two years ago had been a despising sceptic too, declared his firm conviction of its truth. A friend, he said, had with difficulty prevailed upon him at Paris to visit a sleep-waker and mesmeriser. I give you the rest of the account in the writer’s words, translated in the Cheltenham Free Press, of September 6th.

“The mesmeriser was M. Marcillet, the patient Alexis Didier.

“ I shall pass over without notice a game of cards played between me and Alexis, and gained by him through his nam­ing the cards, although I had myself attached a triple band­age over his eyes. I shall not observe either upon the tetanic state of his legs, which were stiff and insensible, under the influence of the fluid. I hasten to come to the statement of facts personal to myself.

“ After several experiments, I seated myself by the side of Alexis, my hand in his, and there we were chatting.

“ ⁶ My friend,’ said I to him, ‘ I am incredulous, but I am so with good faith; so do not fear on my part a systematic opposition.’

“ ‘ Oh! I know that well! you have too much good sense to deny evidence, and too much heart not to love those who love you—and I love you much myself, Englishman as you are ; I love you because you generously saved the life of a Frenchman!’

“ Singularly struck by this remark, I begged him to continue.

“‘ Yes,’ continued Alexis, ‘ it is a long time ago ! It is,’ added he, after a pause, ⁽ thirty years ! The affair took place there away, in the south, during the winter. The country is wild. There, see, the night, and your troops, provided with scaling-ladders, appearing under the walls of a strong place. My God, what a noise ’ what a battle! Poor man, you were wounded,’ said Alexis, placing his hand on my head; ‘ it was there that the blow fell—but your wound did not stop you. I see you farther on, mounting to the assault—on the breach. Stifled cries come to your ears: some English soldiers sur­round a Frenchman, whom they wish to kill. You run bravely. You lift up with your arms the weapons that menace his head, and you command them to respect his life.

Oh ? come, I love you, indeed. The officer follows you to a square tower, where several of his comrades are made prisoners. You traverse the town to find your general, to whom, by your orders, the French general surrenders his sword.’

“⁶ And what became of this sword ?’

“ ‘ Your general presented it to you—and you have it still in London, suspended to the wall of your room; the blade only is the same; the scabbard was changed in 1827.’

“ ^e And does the officer, whose life I saved, still exist ?’

“ ‘ Yes, he exists; and for a long time you have made use­less researches to find him again. But have good hope, come again to-morrow, and we will discover him.’

^ce Struck, affected by what I had just heard, I went out from M. Marcillet’s with my head all on fire, not knowing what to think or believe; for, in fine, Alexis has said what was the truth.”

We are now prepared to submit these narratives to the test of Swedenborg’s averments respecting the transfer of memory in the other life. As the subject is full of interest from its relations to the law of mind and the developments of destiny in the world to come, we shall be ample in our extracts:

“ I imagined, like other people, before I was instructed by living experiences, that it was absolutely impossible for any spirit to know what was in my memory, and in my thought, those things being solely with myself, and concealed : but I can assert, that spirits, who are with man, know and observe the minutest particulars of his memory and thoughts, and this more clearly than man himself does; and that angels know and observe the very ends, how they bend themselves from good to evil, and from evil to good, and many more things than man knows, as those things which he has im­mersed in delights, and thereby as it were in nature, and natural propensities, and when this is done, they no longer appear, because he no longer reflects upon them. Let not man therefore any longer believe, that his thoughts are con­cealed, and that he must not give an account of his thoughts, and of his actions according to the quantity and quality of the thoughts which were in them; for actions have their quality from the thoughts, and thoughts have their quality from the ends.”—A. C. 2488.

“ It has been shown me to the life, in what manner spirits flow in with man; when they come to him, they put on ah things of his memory, thus all things which the man has learned and imbibed from infancy, and the spirits suppose these things to be their own, thus they act as it were the part of man with a man; but it is not allowed them to enter fur­ther with man, than to his interiors which are of the thought and will, not to the exteriors which are of the actions and speech; for these latter things come into act by a general influx from the Lord without the mediation of particular spi­rits and angels. But spirits, although they act the part of man with a man, as to those things which are of his thought and will, still however they do not know that they are with man, by reason that they possess all things of his memory, and believe that those things are not another’s buttheir own; and by reason also, lest they should hurt man; for unless the spirits who are with man from hell believed those things to be their own, they would attempt by every method to destroy man as to the body and as to the soul, for this is infernal de­light itself.”—A. C. 6192.

“Because spirits possess all the things which are of man’s thought and will, and angels the things which are yet more inward, and thereby man is most closely conjoined to them, therefore man cannot otherwise apperceive and feel, than that it is himself who thinks and wills; for so the case is with communications in the other life, that in a society containing similar spirits, every one believes that to be his own, which is another’s; wherefore the good, when they come into a hea­venly society, enter instantly into all the intelligence and wis­dom of that society, insomuch that they do not know other­wise, than that those things are in themselves; so also it is with a man, and with a spirit with him.”—A. C. 6193.

“ How difficult it is for man to believe that spirits know his thoughts, might be manifest to me from this. Before I dis­coursed with spirits, it happened that a certain spirit accosted me in a few words concerning the subject of my thoughts : I was amazed hereat, that a spirit should know what I was thinking about, because I supposed that such things were deeply concealed, and known to God alone. Afterwards when I began to speak with spirits, I was indignant that I could not think anything but what they knew, and because this might be troublesome to me; but afterwards by some days’ habit it became familiar to me. At length it was also known, that spirits not only apperceive all things of man’s thought and will, but even many more things than the man himself; and that the angels apperceive still more, namely, intentions and ends, from the first through the middle to the last. And that the Lord knows not only the quality of the whole man, but also what his quality will be to eternity. Hence it may be manifest, that nothing at all is hidden, but what man inwardly thinks and devises is open to view in the other life, as in clear day.”—A, C, 6214.

“ When spirits come to man, they enter into all his memo­ry, and excite thence whatever suits themselves ; yea, what I have often observed, they read the things contained there­in as out of a book.”—E. U, 13.

“ The spirits which have intercourse with man, enter into all his memory, and into all the sciences of memory which man possesses ; thus they put on all things which are man’s, insomuch that they know not otherwise than that those things are theirs; spirits have this prerogative above man. Hence it is, that all things which man thinks, they think, and that all things which man wills, they will; and reciprocally, all things which those spirits think, man thinks, and all things which those spirits will, man wills ; for they act as one by conjunction ; yet it is supposed by both, that such things are in themselves, and from themselves ; so spirits suppose, and so men, but this is a fallacy.”—A, C. 5853.

“ Inasmuch as men after death are in the interior memory, which was of their rational, hence it is, that they who have been distinguished in the world for their skill in languages, are not able to call forth into utterance a single expression of those languages; and that they who have been distinguished for skill in the sciences, are not able to recollect anything of scientifics, and that these are sometimes more stupid than others. But whatever they have imbibed by languages or by sciences, this, because it has formed their rational, is brought forth into use ; the rational thence procured, is that, from which they think and speak; he who has imbibed falses by languages and sciences, and has confirmed himself therein, reasons only from falses, but he who has imbibed truths, reasons and speaks from truths ; the affection is what gives life, the affection of evil what gives life to falses, and the affection of good what gives life to truths, for every one thinks from affection, and no one without affection.”[*****]—A. C. 2480.

We are at a loss to conceive what ground there can be for questioning the truth of the coincidences here pointed out. The Mesmeric fact of the transfusion of memory is obvious, and‘the spiritual phenomena detailed by Swedenborg evince the operation of precisely the same law in the intercommuni­tions of the other world. Kindred spirits come into each, other’s memory. We have indeed become somewhat prepared for such a development by what is previously shown respecting the transfer of present thought, and yet the revelation is full of wonder. We can easily appreciate the incredulity which Swedenborg’s announcement of the fact would be likely to encounter at the period when it was made, which was many years prior to the discovery of Mesmerism. Yet the light thrown by this discovery on the hidden powers of our nature, has afforded a sustaining proof of the truth of his disclosures. Why should not this fact be allowed to plead strongly in be­half of all his alleged revelations ? Are they intrinsically any more incredible than the present? Was a higher illumina­tion requisite to the unveiling of all the phenomena he has made known than of any part of them ? Do not the same reasons which moved the Divine Wisdom to open to him a part of the truths he has unfolded, apply to the whole ? We pause for a reply.

The bearings of these mnemonic phenomena upon the sub­ject of judgment and destiny in the other life are very impres­sive. It appears, if the above disclosures are true, that the records of memory are indestructible—that the faintest lines traced by the most transient impressions are as indelible as if “ engraven with the point of a diamond in the lead and rock for ever.” There they are in everlasting permanence. And yet so aerial are they in their nature that even in the present life they may be transferred by the mystic magnetic com­munication and reproduced in all their original freshness and truth, in another mind! How luminously clear and une­quivocal then must be the unveiling of spirit to spirit in the world of perfect vision! What a mystery of mys­teries is the intellectual and moral nature of man! What eternal elements of happiness or misery are laid up in the stores of his memory ! The process of judgment is but the plenary revelation of the internal man, not to the eye of Jehovah, to whom it was always known, but to his own and to that of associated spirits in whose presence he cannot but be.[†††††] His entire moral history is written on his memory, which is one with the perpetuity of his life, and this life is reproduced in its minutest items hi the future world, and as it is reproduced, it is read as a present reality, and not merely asa recital of past events. A man’s life on earth is lived for ever. How momentous the witnessings to this effect con­tained in the ensuing extracts :

“ The interior memory therefore, is such, that there are in­scribed in it all the particular things, yea the most particular, which man has at any time thought, spoken, and done, yea which have appeared to him as a shadow, with the most minute circumstances, from his earliest infancy to extreme old age. Man has with him the memory of all these things when he comes into another life, and is successively brought into all recollection of them; this is the Book of his Life, which is opened in another life, and according to which he is judged; man can scarce believe this, but still it is most true: all his ends, which were to him in obscurity, all that he had thought, and likewise all that he had spoken and done, as derived from those ends, are to the most minute point, in that book, that is, in the interior memory, and are made manifest before the angels, in a light as clear as day, whenever the Lord concedes it: this has at times been shown me, and evidenced by so much and various experience, that not the least of doubt is left.

“ It is known to no one hitherto, what the state of souls after death is in respect to the memory; but it has been given me to know, by much and daily experience now during seve­ral years, that man after death does not lose the least of those things which have been in his memories, as well in the exte­rior, as in the interior, so that no circumstance can be con­ceived so small or trifling, that it is not reserved with him; he leaves nothing at all therefore behind him at death, but only bones and flesh, which, while he lived in the world, were not animated of themselves, but by the life of his spirit, which was his purer substance annexed to corporeals.” —A. C, 2474-2475.

“ That men have with them in another life all and single things of the corporeal memory, was also very frequently made manifest to me from those, whom I had known in their lifetime, in that, when I spoke with them, they recol­lected all and single things which they had done when I Avas present, and which they had spoken, and which at such times they had thought. From these, and many other expe­riences, it has been given me to know certainly, that man carries with him into another life all things pertaining to the exterior or corporeal memory.”—A. C. 2486.

The following has respect especially to the relation of the records of memory to the process of judgment in the other life.

“ That man, when he passes out of the world, has also with him all his memory, has been shown by many circum­stances : concerning which many things worthy to be men­tioned have been seen and heard, some of which I will relate in order. There were those who denied their crimes and villanies which they had perpetrated in the world; where­fore, lest they should be believed innocent, all were disclosed, and were recounted from their memory in order, from their earliest age to the latest; they were principally adulteries and whoredoms. There were some who had deceived others by wicked arts, and who had stolen : their deceits and thefts were also enumerated in a series, many of which were known ,o scarcely any one in the world, except to themselves alone; fliey also acknowledged them, because they were made manifest as in the light, with every thought, intention, de­light, and fear, which then together agitated their minds. There were some who had accepted bribes, and had made gain of judgment: they from their memory were in like man­ner explored, and from it were recounted all things, from the first period of their office to the last; every particular, as to quantity and quality, together with the time, and their state of mind and intention, all which things were at the same time brought to their recollection, and shown to their sight, which were more than several hundreds. This was done with some; and what is wonderful, their memorandum­books themselves, in which they had written such things, were opened and read before them, from page to page. There were some who had enticed virgins to acts of fornica­tion, and who had violated chastity, and they were called to a similar judgment; and every particular of their crimes was drawn forth and recited from their memory: the very faces of the virgins and women were also exhibited as present, with the places, conversation, and purposes, and this as sud­denly as when anything is presented to view; the manifest­ations continued sometimes for hours together. There was one who had esteemed backbiting ^thers as nothing, and I heard his backbitings recounted ‘in order, and defamations also, with the very words, the persons concerning whom and before whom; all which were produced and presented to the life at the same time; and yet everything was studiously con­cealed by him when he lived in the world. There was a certain one who had deprived a relative of his inheritance, under a fraudulent pretext: he also was in like manner con­victed and judged, and what was wonderful, the letters and papers which passed between them, were read in my hear­ing, and it was said that not a word was wanting. The same person also, shortly before his death, clandestinely destroyed his neighbor by poison, which was disclosed in this manner. He appeared to dig a hole under feet, from which a man came forth, as out of a sepulchre, and cried out to him, What hast thou done to me ? Then everything was revealed, how the murderer talked with him in a friendly manner, and held out the cup, also what he thought before, and what afterwards came to pass; which things being dis­closed, he was sentenced to hell. In a word, all evils, vil- lanies, robberies, artifices, deceits, are manifested to every evil spirit, and brought forth from their very memory, and they are convicted; nor is there any room given for denial, because all the circumstances appear together. I have heard also from the memory of a certain one, when it was seen and surveyed by the angels, what his thoughts had been during a month, one day after another, and this without fal­lacy ; which were recalled as he himself was in them on those days. From these examples it may be manifest, that man carries along w^Tith him all his memory, and that there is nothing so concealed in the world, that it is not manifested after death; and this in the company of many, according to the Lord’s words : ⁴ There is nothing hidden which shall not be uncovered, and nothing concealed which shall not be known; therefore the things which ye have said in darkness shall be heard in light, and what ye have spoken into the ear shall be preached on the house-tops ’ (Luke xii. 2, 3).”

“ When man’s acts are disclosed to him after death, the an­gels to whom is given the office of inquisition, look into his face, and the search is extended through the whole body, beginning from the fingers of one hand, and of the other, and thus proceeding through the whole. Because I wondered whence this was, it was disclosed to me, namely, that as all things of the thought and will are inscribed on the brain, for their principles are there, so also they are inscribed on the whole body ; since all the things of thought and will proceed thither from their principles, and there terminate, as in their ultimates. Hence it is, that the things which are inscribed on the memory, from the will, and thence its thought, are not only inscribed on tlie brain, but also on the whole man, and there exist in order, according to the order of the parts of the body. Hence it was made evident, that man in the whole is such as he is in his will and thought thence, so that an evil man is his own evil, and a good man his own good. From these things also it may be manifest what is meant by the book of man’s life, spoken of in the Word, namely, this, that all things, both which have been acted and which have been thought, are inscribed on the whole man, and that they appear as if read in a book when they are called forth from the memory, and as if seen in effigy, when the spirit is view­ed in the light of heaven. To these things I would add some­thing memorable concerning the memory of man remaining after death; by which I was confirmed, that not only general things, but also the most singular, which have entered the memory, remain, and are never obliterated. There appeared to me books with writings therein as in the world, and I was instructed that they were from the memory of those who wrote, and that there was not a single word wanting there, which was in the book written by the same person in the world; and that thus from the memory of another may be taken the minutest particulars, even those which he himself in the world had forgotten. The reason was also disclosed, namely, that man has an external and an internal memory, an external memory which is of his natural man, and an inter­nal memory which is of his spiritual man; and that everything which man has thought, willed, spoken, done, also which he has heard and seen, is inscribed on his internal or spiritual memory: and that the things which are there are never erased, since they are inscribed at the same time on the spirit itself, and on the members of its body, as was said above; and thus that the spirit is formed according to the thoughts and acts of its will. I know that these things appear as para­doxes, and thence are scarcely believed, but still they are true. Let no man therefore believe, that anything which a man has thought in himself, and has done in secret, is con­cealed after death: but let him believe that each and all things then appear as in clear day.”—H. fy H. 462-463.

Such is the process of judicial exploration in the other world—a process upon which the spirit enters, not at some indefinitely distant period called “ the end of the world,” but immediately upon its emergence from the earthly tenement. But the judgment of each individual cannot occur prior to his resurrection. The resurrection therefore must be simul­taneous with his departure from the flesh. It is in fact mere­ly his resuscitation into the new life of the spirit-world, and it is by this name that it is mostly called by Swedenborg. The true judgment and the true resurrection are both to be referred to the same era of man’s existence. Both take place immediately after death, and the reason why both these events have been deferred by theologians to the so-called “ end of the world ” is because they have suffered themselves to be governed by the sense of letter of the Word, as express­ed in certain texts, instead of forming their conclusions from the general tenor of the whole, as elicited by a diligent compari­son of Scripture with Scripture; to which we may add an almost total neglect of the study of the psychological nature of man under the influence of the false and pernicious tenet, that in regard to all the profoundest themes of revelation, the understanding is to be held subject to faith. A new view of hu­man destiny must inevitably be adopted when it is seen, as it eventually will be, that Swedenborg’s disclosures rest upon principles which carry with them as much evidence of truth as it is possible for the literal announcements of the Scrip­tures to do. If the nature of man is intrinsically such that all his words, actions, and thoughts are indelibly inscribed upon the very essential elements of his being, and the record is capable of being intuitively read by the eyes of spirits, his judgment, in the exploration of his interiors, must necessari­ly ensue upon his being introduced into the sphere of spirit­ual communication.

CHAPTER VI.

MAGNETIC VISION.

Whatever else may be regarded as, doubtful in reference to the effects produced by the Mesmeric action, it is clearly beyond question, that a new mode of vision is developed in its subjects. They give evidence of a species of sight which does not. depend upon the functions of the outward organ. With their eyes bandaged, or in the darkest room, they will often read, either from printed or manuscript matter, will de­tect the true time by a watch, and accurately describe per­sons and objects which no other one present can by any pos­sibility perceive. Facts of this kind, though doubtless of an abnormal character, are rendered credible by similar phe­nomena often witnessed in natural somnambulism, as in fact are nearly all the distinguishing features of Mesmerism.[‡‡‡‡‡] Of the philosophy of this we do not at present speak. The reader will shortly see the solution of the problem on the principles laid down by Swedenborg, as to which he will be able to judge for himself whether any better has been or can be proposed. As a suitable introduction to this we present the following array of testimonies as to the alleged fact.

“I have already stated that I have seen sleepwakers descry objects when their eyes were, to all appearance, perfectly closed ; but my experiments on this head were not so rigor­ous but that it might still be objected that mesmeric patients, like certain politicians,

“ See through all things with their half-shut eyes.”

“I now proceed to show that, in many cases, such a sup­position is untenable, and that the mesmeric sleepwaker may have a mode of vision to which the usual conditions of sight are altogether wanting.

“ The first time that I mesmerized Anna M----------------- ₉ a work­

box, which she had never seen before, was held before her. She stooped her forehead towards it in a manner that struck

♦

me, and immediately named what it was. The box having been opened, the sjeepwaker again bent her forehead till it was nearly parallel with its surface, then rapidly named the various objects it contained, and,, taking them up one by one in her hand, seemed desirous of examining them more par­ticularly. But, to my surprise, she waved the articles about before her, as if trying in what point of view she could best descry them, holding them to various parts of her face and forehead, and exclaiming, as if perplexed, ⁶ Where, then, arg my eyes ?³ At length she seemed best satisfied when hold­ing objects before her forehead, at the distance of a few inches, declaring that she saw them most distinctly there. In order to put her assertions to the proof, I held my watch before the forehead of the sleepwaker, without descending it to the level of her eyes. She took it from me, and, not lowering it in the least, held it so turned as that it formed an acute angle with her forehead, immediately above her eyebrow. It is to be remarked that she thus presented the watch to her fore­head, first on the right side, then on the left, as if to submit it to the scrutiny of a double organ. After this she named the exact hour and minute. The hands having been altered, she found the time with equal correctness.

“ A poppy being held before her forehead, she said, ^e I see a red flower, but I do not exactly know its name.’

“ Remembering that an experienced mesmerizer had told me that sleepwakers in general perform most readily any­thing which gives them pleasure in their waking state, and observing, in conformity with this statement, that Anna M           , who was an expert needle-woman, took particular

interest in the workbox and its appendages, I proposed to her to proceed with a piece of work which was at hand. She immediately took the work, and, holding it always on a level j with her forehead, went on methodically with the hem of the piece of muslin I had given her. When necessary, she turned down a new fold, and in every respect performed her task as well as she could have done awake. The work, sub- । mitted to female judgment, was pronounced to be a capital piece of sempstress-craft, the stiches being even, and not one * of them dropped.

“After this we often gave Anna M----------------- work to do in the

mesmeric state, when parties of ten or twelve persons have been present, to witness her extraordinary development of ' vision. She continued to hold everything to her forehead ; and with her hands raised to that level, in a position which, ¹ under ordinary circumstances, would be difficult and painful, (t has embroidered delicate flowers upon muslin, and even II threaded her needle, without apparent effort.

106                     • MESMER AND SWEDENBORG.

*

^i: As it is my sincere desire to give a correct picture of mesmeric sleep waking, I would on no account represent this power of vision as greater than it really was, or omit the in­consistencies which attended its exercise. That it was by no means even or constant cannot but be acknowledged, though I am by no means prepared to develope the cause of its caprices. Thus Anna, though giving incontestable proofs of vision by the forehead, could not be brought to distinguish printed or written letters in the mesmeric state except on one occasion, when she read her own name, which I had written in a large hand, and held at once before her forehead. It seemed to me that her new visual faculty was always in its best condition when spontaneously exerted, and that any ef­fort on her part, any over-anxiety to fulfil our requisitions, marred it altogether. I have often asked her to name an object, which I have allowed her to examine as she would ; but she has not named it, though apparently striving earnestly to do so. Again, she has indicated other things spontaneously when it was quite impossible for her to have discerned them in the ordinary manner. It was when she was sitting quietly, and apparently forgetful that she was an object of observa­tion, that she displayed the most remarkable phenomena of vision. One instance, however, is better than a thousand as­sertions. She was sitting with her head so much bent down as to bring the upper part of her forehead parallel to the wall of the apartment. In this position, with her eyes closed, it was impossible for her to have seen, in any usual way, ob­jects that were immediately fronting her. So placed, I observ­ed her smile, and asked her why she did so. ‘ I am smiling,’ she said,⁶ because I am pleased to see Mrs.           opposite to

me.’ ‘ You see her, then, well ?’ I inquired. ⁶ Yes ; she has a cup of tea in her hand.’ Upon this the lady in question adroitly changed the cup of tea for a book; upon which Anna immediately remarked, ^c But now she has taken a book.’ The lady then opened the book, and held it by the two sides, spread out exactly on a level with the forehead of the sleep­walker, who said directly, ^c Oh! she holds the book quite open by its two ends.’

“ This experiment, neither suggested nor in any way con­ducted by myself, was interesting to me in no trifling degree, and was convincing to all who witnessed it.

“ Another singular circumstance was, that no one could put on an ugly mask that lay about the room, and to which Amia, in her mesmeric state, had a great aversion, without her testifying, by faces expressive of dislike, that she was aware of the circumstance. We have tried this when the sleepwaker was occupied by other things, and with every precaution of making no noise, &c., yet the result was al­ways the same.

⁴⁴ When placed before a looking-glass, she could indicate, more correctly than at any other time, the gestures of persons standing near her and seen by reflection. I have pulled out her comb, and she has arranged her hair again perfectly be­fore a mirror, holding her forehead parallel to its surface. Being asked if she saw herself with her eyes open or shut, she replied, ⁴ Open, to be sure;’ and, when I reasoned with her on this point, she replied, ⁴ I see as if my eyes were open; and so they must appear to me open.’ It is singular that another sleepwaker gave me exactly the same answers under the same circumstances. I shall refer again to the subject, which is of metaphysical importance.

⁴⁴ A gentleman who was once present during a mesmeriza- tion of Anna M       , being placed ⁴ en. rapport’ with her, laid

his hand upon her forehead, when she exclaimed, ⁴ Why do you cover my eyes ? ’ He then touched her eyes, and asked, ⁴ What part of your face am 1 touching now ?’ The sleepwaker seemed perplexed, and at length answered, ⁴ It is a part of my cheek, is it not ? ’

⁴⁴ When asked to point out where different persons were placed in the apartment during her sleep waking, she never failed to do so, however their respective positions might be changed, leaning her forehead forward all the time, and pre­senting it to each individual. At the instant of recognising each person she always gave one or two convulsive starts, _w as if her forehead came in contact with some invisible thing.

⁴⁴ The account that she gave of her visual perceptions was sufficiently confused. These are her own words relative to this subject, taken down on one occasion by a friend: ⁴ It is all clear through my forehead. Sometimes I see so clear I But then, again, there is a sort of light cloud that comes over the clearness, and then I can hardly see anything. I do not see as with two eyes, but here (passing her hand across her fore­head), with my brain.’

⁴⁴ Already, in various accounts of experiments, I have men­tioned E. A    , a boy aged fifteen, whom I had opportuni­

ties of frequently mesmerising. This patient, of all whom I have ever seen, manifested in sleepwaking the most extraor­dinary development of visual power.

⁴⁴ Though the power of vision was greatest in the forehead, yet at times, and especially when he was excited, and not in any way called upon to exhibit (for such requisitions often seemed to fetter his faculties), he seemed to see on every side of him, as if his head were one organ of visual perception. This is no exaggeration, as the following instance will show:

He was once sitting on a sofa in the mesmeric state, when a gentleman with whom he was well acquainted came behind the sofa and made all kinds of antics. On this the sleep - waker exclaimed,⁴ Oh, Mr. D       ! do not suppose I cannot

see you : you are now doing so and so ’ (describing all Mr. D  ’s gestures). ‘ You have now taken a paper-cutter into

your hand, and now a knife. Indeed, you had better go away, and not make yourself so ridiculous.’ Another time he was sitting at a table, writing music, with his back to the door, when a servant entered the apartment: ⁶ Oh, Mademoi­selle L    ’ is that you ?’ he said. ⁴ How quietly you stand

there with your arms folded.’ He was quite correct in all he said. Directly after this I took up a bottle from a table be­hind the patient, and held it up to the back of his head, ask­ing him if he knew what I held. He instantly replied, ⁴ A bottle to be sure.’

⁴⁴1 have tried various methods of bandaging the patient’s eyes. I have tied a broad and thick silk handkerchief over them, and then I have held down with my fingers or the palms of my hands the whole of the bottom part of the band­age. This method seems to me as perfect as any. It did not at all impede the sleepwaker’s vision. In addition to this (the same result always ensuing), I have laid strips of wadding over the eyes before applying the handkerchief, and I have firmly secured every possible interstice between it and the cheek with cotton. In the presence of Dr. Foissac, strips of diachylum were added to all the above apparatus, in order * to fasten down the edges of the handkerchief to the cheek; but the sleepwaker saw as well as ever. On several occa­sions I bandaged his eyes, adding the cotton and the wadding before beginning to mesmerize him, when he assured me that he could not distinguish day from night. Then, having passed into sleepwaking, he has immediately given proofs of perfect vision, quite as perfect, indeed, as that enjoyed by persons whose eyes are open and unbound. Again, on awaking (the bandage never having been stirred during the whole period of his sleepwaking), he has found himself in perfect dark­ness. The transition was marked. One moment, drawn by the strong attraction of my presence, he was following me about the room, through intricacies of chairs and tables, with perfect ease ; the next, he was standing helpless, not caring to be near me, and if called upon, unable to move, except with the groping hesitation of a blindfold person. I remark­ed that he did not wake so easily with the bandage on as when he had no bandage. The action of the transverse passes that I used to that effect seemed modified by the in­terposing substance. The striking proofs of vision that the patient gave when properly bandaged were, that he read in books, and distinguished cards, their colors, suit, &c., often playing with me at various games upon them. I remarked that in sleep waking he was quite adroit at the game of cas- sino, which I had almost vainly tried to teach him in the wak­ing state. It will be allowed that for a person, even bandaged in a slovenly manner, to perceive at a glance the combina­tions on the board, would be no easy matter; yet this he did with rapidity, completely bandaged as he was.

“ Remembering that E. A---------- , on his father’s testimony,

had, in natural sleep waking, seemed to perceive objects in total darkness, I was curious to see whether, in mesmeric sleep waking, he would manifest a similar phenomena of sen­sation. I therefore, having mesmerised him, took him with me into a dark press or closet, of which I employed a friend to hold to the door in such a manner as that no ray of light should penetrate through the crevice or keyhole. Then, like the hero ofⁱ The Curse of Kehama.’

¹1 open’d my eyes and I closed them, And the blackness and blank were the same.’

“ My utmost efforts to see my hand only produced those sparks and flashes, that waver before the eye in complete ob­scurity. Having thus ascertained the perfect darkness of the closet, I drew a card at hazard from a pack with which I had provided myself, and presented it to the sleep waker. He said it was so and so. I repeated this to my friend, whom I then told to open the door. The admission of light established the correctness of the sleep waker: it was the card he had named. The experiment repeated four times gave the same satisfacto­ry result. This peculiar development of vision was, like the other faculties of the sleepwaker, capable of improvement through exercise. At first he seemed unable to read in the dark; then, like a person learning the alphabet, he came to distinguish large single letters, which I had printed for him on card, and at length he could make out whole sentences of even small print. While thus engaged in deciphering letters or in ascertaining cards, the patient always held one of my hands, and sometimes laid it on his brow, affirming that it increased his dair-voyance. He would also beg me to breathe upon the objects which he desired to see. He used to de­clare that the more complete the darkness was, the better he could exercise his new mode of perception; asserting that, when in the dark, he did not come to the knowledge of ob­jects in the same manner as when he was in the light: * Quand je suis dans 1’obscurite,’ he said, ‘ il y a une lumiere qui sort de mon cerveau, et qui tappe justement sur 1’objet; tandis que, dans la lumi&re, 1’impression monte depuis 1’objet jusqu’ a mon cerveau.’ Often, when I could not see a ray of light, he used to complain that the closet was not dark enough, and, in order to thicken the obscurity, he would wrap up his head in a dressing-gown which hung in the closet. At other times he would thrust his head into the remotest corner of the press. His perception of colors, when exercis­ed in obscurity, sustained but little alteration. He has named correctly the different tints of a set of colored glasses. It was, however, worthy of remark, that he was apt to mistake be­tween the harmonic colors green and red, not only when he was in the dark, but when his eyes were bandaged.

⁴⁴ Many persons can bear testimony to the accuracy of the above experiments; and I refer to the Appendix for proofs that I sought for witnesses and invited scrutiny, feeling that such things as I had to narrate could scarcely be credited on the word of a single person.”—Townshend's FactSip. 160-175.

⁴⁴ Sir,—Since the account of the phenomena of clairvoyance, exhibited by Mr. Alexis, appeared in your columns of last week, another private party have witnessed a similar exhibi­tion at the house of Dr. Elliotson, at which I had the honor of being present; and the following plain statement of what I then saw will, I think, be interesting to your readers. I must premise, that I had never before seen any experiments whatever in animal magnetism, &c.; that I was totally unac­quainted with Dr. Elliotson, Mr. Marcillet, and Mr. Alexis; and that I went,note-book in hand, prepared to watch and observe as accurately as possible, and that this account is drawn up from the notes 1 then made. Alexis having seated himself hi a large easy chair, Mr. Marcillet stood hi front of him, and after fixing his eyes upon him for about four mi­nutes the magnetic sleep was produced. During this opera­tion there were convulsive motions of the limbs and muscles of the face, and every now and then Alexis turned his eyes towards the operator, as it seemed to me, with an expression of pain, and almost entreaty to desist. The convulsive mo­tions subsided after a few passes by the operator, and then the phenomena of catalepsy were shown. His hands were extended, and became quite rigid, and were again relaxed by Mr. Marcillet passing his hand once or twice over them. His legs were then stretched out, and, to test their rigidity, a gentleman, weighing at least 14 stone, stood upright upon them, Alexis’ body being kept balanced by two gentlemen pressing on his shoulders. Alexis is by no means strong in appearance ; but I apprehend the strongest man would find the above feat difficult. It was then proposed to bandage his eyes. A quantity of cotton wool was placed over them, and kept down by three handkerchiefs, one encircling the head, the other two placed diagonally. The gentleman—a visitor, like myself—who undertook the tying, did not seem to do it to Alexis’ satisfaction, for he said, ⁶ Serrez fort, serrez fort’ (tie it tight), and, still being dissatisfied, he seized the ends of the handkerchief, and tied them himself. The visitors were then asked to examine the handkerchiefs, and each per­son who did so was satisfied that vision was impossible. A pack of cards was then brought, which, it should be remark­ed, had glazed and ornamented backs, so that it would have been more than ordinarily difficult to see through them, even with a strong light behind. A visitor came forward to play, and Alexis seated himself at the table which was in the mid­dle of the room, so that there was a cross light. He seized the cards, a full pack, in a quick, hurried manner, and sorted them for ecarte. He did this with great rapidity, and made but one mistake. Several games w^rere played, during which he frequently told his adversary what cards he had in his hand, as on one occasion that he had three tens, on another that he had four trumps; and again he called for the cards seriatim which his adversary was to play. Once or twice he made mistakes, as saying the nine of hearts instead of the seven, but in the great majority of instances was right. Anoth­er person then took the cards, and the same wonders were repeated. He them moved away from the table, and played at the distance of about four yards from his adversary, but he still told the cards as before, and played his own frequently without looking at their faces. During the whole of this time Mr. Marcillet stood at some little distance, and from time to time repeated the passes. Dr. Elliotson took no part in the proceedings. Alexis was then asked to read, and a volume of Le Moyen, Age Pittoresque, was placed before him. The wool and bandages were still, unmoved, but he read off from the page wherever he was told by any of the visitors, and by myself amongst the rest. On one occasion he continued to do so, although two hands were placed before his face and the type. He seemed, however, to find this somewhat more difficult. He was very animated, and talked rapidly as he turned over the pages, as if pleased with his own exploits. Whilst doing this, and just as he had said, in answer to a question, that the picture was a catliedraL, I interrupted him hastily with, ⁴ Mais quelle cathedrale 2’ He replied, ⁴ C’est une bonne question,’ and placing his hand upon the letter-press, in­stantly said, ⁴ Notre dame de Chalon,’ which was quite correct. He also accurately described some figures in armor. He then, of his own accord, offered to read a line five pages off; but in this he failed. A volume of Bossuet was then brought from Dr. Elliotson’s library, no visitor hawing brought one. He took my hand and asked me to show him what to read, and read several times correctly. In one instance he read the two following lines,—⁴ C’est encore pour eux un grand cm- barras devoir que (le) prophete fasse alter le temps du Christ (Jesus).’ He however insisted that it was ⁴ le’ and not ⁴ ce’ and read ⁴ Jesus Christ’ instead of⁴ Christ’ only. On this part of the ex­periments no greater stress can be laid, as after the Bossuet was brought he complained of the great heat and threw off the handkerchiefs, so that his eyes were only closed as in sleep. He then said, separating about 150 pages of the vol­ume, and holding them firmly together, that he would read some words on whichever part of the page I pleased, but would not undertake to say how far off the words were. I then pointed out the side and part of the page that I wished, and he gave the words ⁴ Tite-Live³ and ‘ Romulus; ’ saying that each commenced a paragraph. This was not done" im­mediately, but the leaves were not opened at all. I examin­ed the book, and found about 80 pages on the words ⁴ Tite- Live,³ and about 150 the word ⁶ Romulus,³ each in the place and position required by me, and each commencing a para-^ graph. He then seated himself in the large chair once more, and a stranger (I believe, Dr. Castle of Milan) sat down by him, and put himself en rapport with him. I did not hear the conversation, but Dr. Castle afterwards stated to those present, that Alexis had described to him accurately how he (Dr. Cas­tle) had passed the preceding night, and the nature and seat of the pain that he had suffered from. But further and.more satisfactory proofs of clairvoyance were given. Alexis read a word (content) that was enclosed in a card-board box, and presented to him for that purpose by a visitor. He made out the letters o n first, and the others after some difficulty. But in a case of this kind, every one naturally distrusts every ex­periment not made by himself. I therefore took out my pocket-book and wrote three words; but being asked to put one only, I wrote in another place ⁴ ami.³ I showed this to no one, but turning a leaf over it, said 1 had written a ‘word which I wished him to read. It was one of Penny’s metallic pocket-books, so that any of your readers may test the prac­ticability of seeing a light pencil-mark through. I kept the leaf pressed firmly over the word, and upon the body of the book, and held it in his hand. Directly he placed his hand in my other hand, he said, merrily, ⁴ Que vous etes bon! Il n³y a que trois lettres³ (How kind you are—there are but three let­ters). I assented. He then wrote nearly, but not exactly over it, the letter a, then turned to me, and said, ⁴ That is right.’ I assented. He then wrote m, and inquired in the same way. I said nothing. He repeated the question. I re­mained silent. He then said in a jocose half-bantering tone —(to this effect)—⁴ You may just as well say so, because you know it is.’ I then said ‘ Oui.’ He repeated it after me in high glee, and added instantly the i, scratching a fine flourish underneath to show that he had succeeded. I showed the pocket-book to those present, and all were satisfied that they could not have read it. It is now in my possession, and I would show it to any one who might wish to see it.

“ I make no comments on the above facts, I attempt no ex­planation ; but it is right to add, that all present, and among them were several medical men, were perfectly satisfied of the fairness of the experiments. No one would suggest any possible plan of collusion. I can be surprised at no one be­ing incredulous until he has seen the experiments with his own eyes. For even now, without again scrutinizing anoth­er series of experiments, I could not honestly say that I was altogether convinced. I only say, that if there be deception, the deception would be almost more wonderful than the re­ality. I send you my name and address, and remain,

Sir, your obedient servant,

An Inquirer after Truth.”

[The Zoist,p. 496-499.

Such is a very small portion of the evidence capable of be­ing adduced in support of the fact, that Mesmeric subjects are frequently able to see without the use of their eyes. “ Vision,” says M. Teste, “ through the closed eyelids and through opaque bodies, is not only a real fact, but a very fre­quent fact. There is no magnetiser who has not observed it twenty times, and I know at the present day, in Paris alone, a very great number of somnambulists who might furnish proofs of it. The fact of reading under the same conditions, a fact which, in the whole, is just the same, is met much more seldom, which may readily be conceived ; this is the phenomenon in all its perfection.”

On turning to the pages of Swedenborg a new and sublime philosophy of visual sensation is opened before us. Accord­ing to his profound teaching, the sight of the eye is in fact the sight of the intellect going forth, as it were, through the por­tal of the outward sense, and thus holding converse with the material world. This power is usually and normally exer­cised through the medium of the optic apparatus, but is not absolutely dependent upon it, for there is in fact an interior eye—an eye of the spirit—and this eye sees by another light than that of the natural sun. As the internal eye ordinarily acts in this life in conjunction with the external, so that man cannot discriminate between the functions of the one and those of the other, in like manner the element of spiritual light is invisibly interfused within that of natural light, and it is only by an abnormal process that this interior vision is ’opened and that objects previously hidden come to the mind’s knowledge. Such an effect is, to a greater or less extent, produced in the somnambulic or Mesmeric state. All men possess the power in potency, but is is only in given conditions that it is developed. It is a faculty into which all come in the other life, and it is because the Mesmeric state has so near an affinity with the state of disembodied spirits that it is so strikingly evinced in the subjects of that state.[§§§§§]

The pertinency of the following paragraphs to the subject before us will strike the reader at once.

“ The intellectual in general is the visual of the internal man, which sees from the light of heaven which is from the Lord, and what it sees, is all spiritual and celestial; but the sensual in general is of the external man, here the sensual of sight, because this corresponds and is subordinate to the intellectual; this sensual sees from the light of the world which is from the sun, and what it sees, is all worldly, corpo­real, and terrestial. There are given hi man derivations from the intellectual, which is in the light of heaven, to the sen­sual which is hi the light of the world; unless these were given, the sensual could not have any life, such as the human life is: the sensual of man has not life in consequence of see­ing from the light of the world, for the light of the world has in it no life, but in consequence of seehig from the light of heaven, for this light has life in it; when this light falls with . man into those things which are from the light of the world, then it vivifies them, and causes him to see objects intellec­tually, thus as a man; thence man, from the scientifics which had their birth from those things which he had seen and heard in the world, consequently from those things which had en­tered by sensuals, has intelligence and wisdom, and from this latter, civil, moral, and spiritual life.”—A. C. 5114,

“ I have discoursed with some within a few days after their decease, and because they were then recently come, they were in a light there, which differed little in their sight from the light of the world. And because the light appeared such to them, they doubted whether they had light from any other source, wherefore they were taken into the first of hea­ven, where the light was still brighter, and from thence speak­ing with me, they said, that they had never before seen such a light; and this took place when the sun was already set. They then wondered, that spirits had eyes by which they saw, when yet they believed in the life of the body, that the life of spirits was merely thought, and indeed abstractly with­out a subject, by reason that they had not been able to think of any subject of thought, inasmuch as they had not seen any; and this being the case, they had not then perceived otherwise, than that because it was mere thought alone, it was dissipated, together with the body in which it was, just as any aura or any fire, unless it should miraculously be kept together and subsist from the Lord. And they saw then how easily the learned fall into, error concerning life after death, and that they more than others do not believe except in things which they see. Therefore they were surprised now, that they not only had thought, but also sight, and likewise the other senses; and especially that they appear to themselves altogether as men, that they mutually see and hear each other, converse together, feel their own members by the touch, and this more exquisitely than in the life of the body. Hence they were amazed that man is altogether ignorant of this, while he lives in the world; and they pitied the human race, that they know nothing of such things, because they believe nothing, and more especially they who are in supe­rior light, namely, they who are within the church, and have the Word. Some of them believed no otherwise, than that men after death would be as ghosts, hi which opinion they confirmed themselves from the spectres of which they had heard; but hence they drew no other conclusion, than that it was some gross vital principle, -which it first exhaled from the life of the body, but which again falls back to the dead body, and is thus extinguished. But some believed, that they were first to rise again at the time of the last judgment, when the w^rorld was to perish, and then with the body, which, though fallen into dust, would be then collected to­gether, and thus they would rise again with bone and flesh. And whereas mankind have in vain for many ages expected that last judgment or destruction of the w^Torld, they have fall­en into the error that they should never rise again; thinking nothing hi this case of that which they have learned from the Word, and from which they have also sometimes so spoken, that when man dies, his soul is in the hand of God, among the happy or unhappy according to the life which he had acquainted himself with, and was become familiar to ; nei­ther of what the Lord said concerning the rich man and Lazarus. But they were instructed, that every one’s last judgment is when he dies, and that then he appears to himself endowed with a body as hi the world, and to enjoy every sense as in the w^rorld, but more pure and exquisite, inasmuch as corporeal things do not hinder, and those things which are of the light of the world do not overshadow those which are of the light of heaven; thus that they are in a body as it were purified; and that after death, the body cannot possi­bly partake of what is bony and fleshy such as it had in the world, because this would be to be again encompassed with earthly dust. With some I conversed on this subject on the same day that their bodies were entombed, wflio saw through my eyes their own corpse, the bier, and the ceremony of burial; and they said, that they reject that corpse, and that it had served them for uses in the world in which they had been, and that they live now in a body which serves them for uses in the world in which they now are. They wished also, that I should tell this to their relations who were in mourning; but it was given to reply, that if I should telf them, they would mock at it, inasmuch as what they cannot themselves see with their own eyes, they believe to be noth­ing, and thus they would reckon it among the visions which are illusions. For they cannot be brought to believe, that as men see each other with their eyes, so spirits see each other with theirs, and that man cannot see spirits unless with the eyes of his spirit, and that he then sees them when the Lord opens the internal sight, as was done to the prophets, who saw spirits and angels, and also many things of heaven. Whether they who live at this day would have believed those things, if they had lived at that time, there is room to doubt.”—A. C. 4527.

“It is surprising that man does not as yet know, that his intellectual mind is in a certain light, which is altogether dif­ferent from the light of the world : but such is the constitu­tion of things, that to those who are in the light of the world, the light of heaven is as it were darkness, and to those who are in the light of heaven, the light of the world is as it were darkness; this arises principally from the loves, which are the heats of light; they who are in the loves of self and of the world, thus in the heat only of the light of the world, are only affected with evils and falses, and these are the things which extinguish truths, which are of the light of heaven; but they who are in love to the Lord and in love towards the neighbor, thus in spiritual heat, which is of the light of hea­ven, are affected with goods and truths, which extinguish falses.”—A. C. 3224.

“ That the light of heaven has in itself intelligence and wisdom, and that it is the intelligence of truth and the wis­dom of good from the Lord, which appears as light before the eyes of the angels, has been given me to know by living experience. I have been elevated into the light, which glit­tered like the light radiating from diamonds; and while I w^ras kept in it, I seemed to myself to be withdrawn from cor­poreal ideas, and to be led into spiritual ideas, and thus into those things which are of the intelligence of truth and good. The ideas of thought, which derived their origin from the light of the world, then appeared removed from me, and as it were not belonging to me, although they were obscurely present. Hence it was given to know, that so far as man comes into that light, so far he comes into intelligence. Thence it is, that the more intelligent the angels are, in so much greater and more illustrious light are they.”—A. C. 4413.

“ Recent souls, or novitiate spirits, namely, those who some days after the death of the body come into the other life, are greatly surprised that there is light in the other life; for they bring along with them the ignorance that light is from any

other source than from the sun, and from material flame; and still less do they know, that there is any light which illu­minates the understanding, for they have not apperceived this in the life of the body ; and still less, that that light gives the faculty of thinking, and by influx into the forms which are from the light of the world, constitutes all things which are of the understanding. These, if they have been good, that they may be instructed, are elevated to heavenly socie­ties, and from society into society, that they may perceive by living experience, that in the other life there is light, and this more intense than is anywhere given in the world, and that at the same time they may apperceive, that so far as they are in the light there, so far they are in intelligence. Some, who were taken up into spheres of celestial light, spoke with me thence, and confessed that they had never believed anything of the kind, and that the light of the world is respectively darkness. They also looked thence through my eyes into the light of the world, and this they do not perceive other­wise than as a dark cloud; and from commiseration said, that man is in such a cloud. From what has been said it may also appear, why the celestial angels are in the world called angels of light; and that the Lord is the light and thence the life of men. John i. 1 to 9 ; chap. viii. 12.”—A. C. 4415.      .

“ • Thou God seest me,⁵—That it signifies influx, may ap­pear from what has now been stated. Intuition from the superior into the inferior, or, what is the same, from the in­terior into the exterior, is called influx, for it is effected by in­flux ; as the interior vision with man, unless it flowed con­tinually into his external vision, or that of the eye, it would be impossible for the latter to take in and discern any object; because it is the interior vision which, through the eye, takes in those things which the eye sees, and not the eye itself, al­though it so appears. Hence also it maybe seen, how much that man is involved in the fallacies of the senses, who be­lieves that it is the eye that sees, when yet it is the sight of his spirit, which is interior sight, that sees through the eye. The spirits who were with me saw through my eyes the ob­jects of this world, as perfectly as I; but some of them, who were still in the fallacies of the senses, supposed that they saw them through their own eyes; but it was shown them that it was not so, for when my eyes were shut they saw nothing in this atmospherical world. The case is similar with man: it is not the eye which sees, but his spirit through the eye. The same may also appear from dreams, in which sometimes man sees as in open day. But this is not all: the case is similar with this interior sight, or that of the spirit. This does not see of itself, but from a vision still more interior, or that of its rational: yea neither does this see of itself, but there is a sight still more interior, which is that of the inter­nal man : but not even does this see of itself: but it is the Lord, through the internal man, who alone sees, because he alone lives; and he gives to man that he may see, and that it may appear as if he saw from himself. Thus it is in re­gard to influx.*’—A. C. 1954.

^c< That the light in the heavens is spiritual, and that that light is divine truth, may be concluded also from this, that man also has spiritual light, and from that light has illustra­tion, as far as he is in intelligence and wisdom from divine truth. The spiritual light of man is the light of his under­standing, the objects of which are truths, which he dis­poses analytically into orders, forms into reasons, and from them concludes things in a series. That it is real light, from which the understanding sees such things, natural man does not know, because he does not see it with the eyes, nor per­ceive it with the thought; but many still know it, and also distinguish it from natural light, in which those are who think naturally and not spiritually: those think naturally, who only look into the world and attribute all things to na­ture ; but those think spiritually, who look to heaven and at­tribute all things to the Divine. That it is true light, which enlightens the mind, plainly distinct from the light which is called natural light [lumen], has many times been given me to perceive, and also to see. I have been elevated into that light interiorly by degrees, and as I was elevated, my under­standing was enlightened, so that at length I perceived what I did not perceive before, and at last such things as I could not even comprehend by thought from natural light: I was sometimes indignant that they were not comprehended, when yet they were clearly and perspicuously perceived in heavenly light. Because the understanding has light, there­fore the like is said concerning it as concerning the eye, as that it sees and is in the light, when it perceives, and that it is obscure and in the shade, when it does not perceive; and other like things.”—H. fy H. 130.

It must be admitted to be somewhat difficult, accustomed as we are to derive our thoughts from the material world, to conceive of the relation of Light to the Intellect, though we are in the constant use of the same language in a metaphorical sense, and though the relation of Heat to Affection is the same. Yet the philosophy is undoubtedly sound, and it is in effect recognised by intelligent clairvoyants, for they usually say that they do not so much see the objects of their percep­tion as know them. They find great difficulty in conveying to others a precise idea of the nature of their vision, and one once remarked to me that though she used the word see, yet she wished to have it understood that the process was not like that of seeing with the outward eye. She employed the term because she knew no other that came so near to an ad­equate expression of the fact. If Swedenborg has correctly developed the theory of the visual sensation of spirits, it ap­proximates so nearly to intellection that it is not easy for us to draw the distinction, and the case is the same with magnetic vision. I am aware it may be said, that we are still left with­out any clear conceptions of the rationale of the phenomenon[******] but the inevitable vagueness arises from the nature of the sub­ject. Until we have gained a deeper knowledge of the spirit­ual hi contradistinction from the material, and of the mode of influx from the one into the other, we shall doubtless con­tinue to labor under the same difficulty.

CHAPTER VIL

CLAIRVOYANCE,

From the tenor of the preceding chapter it must undoubted­ly appear, that the mental relation of the parties in the Mes­meric communication is such, that the tram of thought in the one governs, more or less, that of the other. In virtue of the mysterious intercourse established, the mind of the one is led by that of the other to the contemplation of whatever scenes and objects it is pleased to array before it.* The evidence of

this, as a matter of fact, is altogether too strong to be resisted, and to this extent the claims of what is termed Clairvoyance are by multitudes admitted. But hesitation immediately en­sues when we go beyond this, and affirm the possibility of a sight or perception on the part of the subject entirely trans­cending the range of the operator’s knowledge or his ac­tual imaginings. This, it is said, brings us at once into the region of the incredible, as it invests the spirit with the pow­er of emerging from the body, and in that state of possessing a kind of ubiquitous presence which can only be ascribed to the Deity. All objections, however, of this nature must give way before the clear evidence of facts, and facts may be adduc­ed in abundance to show that the range of clairvoyant vision is not limited by the conceptions of the guiding mind. We do not say that this power is capable of being elicited in every instance in which the subject gives proof of being cognziant of the thoughts of another, and is able to describe the scenes and objects on which his mental eye is fixed. But that that which is frequently termed the faculty of independent clairvoyance does exist, and that incontestable proofs of it are often afforded, we affirm without hesitation. Both the private experience and the public vouchers of those who are conversant with the subject, are rich in testimonies on this head.

A remarkable form of this power is evinced in _tthe knowl­edge which magnetic subjects when in that state, however locally and bodily remote, have of each other. The fact is beyond question, as will be attested by all those who are fa­miliar with the phenomena, and can only be accounted for on the ground of the truth of Swedenborg’s assertion, that real space is non-existent in the spiritual world, and that nothing more is needed to bring spirits into conjunction with each other than similarity of states coupled with a desire to that ef­fect. “ It has been given to see how similitude of state con­joins and contracts the extension of space or distance, and how dissimilitude separates and produces extension of space or distance. There they who to appearance are at the distance of a thousand miles from each other, can be present in a mo­ment when the love of one to the other is excited, and on the other hand, they who are discoursing together, can be sep­arated in like manner the moment any aversion is excited.” —Ath. Creed, 106. If this is the law of conjunction between spirits in the other life, it is not perhaps difficult to conceive that it should be somewhat strikingly realized in the case of two Mesmeric subjects coming as they do, in good measure, into the spiritual sphere.

Yet it is to be remarked, that the exhibition of the power is usually governed by some hidden laws that have reference to use. The phenomena are perhaps most frequently evinc­ed in cases where the object is to indicate the nature or the cure of disease. Nothing is more common than to submit to a subject the case of one, removed it may be to the distance of hundreds of miles, who is laboring under any particular malady, which however is not known in any of its particu­lars, to the consulter, but which he wishes to have investigat­ed. A correct report is often made of such cases, and that with­out the slightest previous knowledge of the person or his ail­ment—a fact which cannot be accounted for but upon the supposition of some kind of going forth of the spirit, which at the same time is not incompatible with its still adhering to the body to which it belongs. The mind of the clairvoyant does undoubtedly in some way come in contact with the essential being of the person in question, and through that is made acquainted with the condition of the material organism, which stands in indissoluble relation to the soul that per­vades and animates it. That there is an actual cognizance of the individual thus spiritually visited is evident from the fact that when such a person is subsequently brought into the presence of the clairvoyant when in the Mesmeric state, he will immediately recognise him as one whom he has seen before, and will minutely describe all the par­ticulars of the previous vision. We by no means affirm that these phenomena occur with every clairvoyant, but they nevertheless occur, as I have often witnessed, and more es­pecially if the Mesmeric seer is furnished with a lock of hair, or any article of dress or ornament worn upon the person of the other party, which may serve as a medium for establish­ing the mysterious communication between them. The fact is doubtless very astonishing, but is rendered much more credible by Swedenborg’s teachings respecting the nature of spirits and the modes of their intercourse, a portion of which we shall soon present to the reader.

But the first step is to adduce evidence of the fact.

“ For six years I have made repeated trials with numerous patients of my own: but never have found one who I was satisfied could even see the objects about them with the eyes closed, or look into the interior of the bodies of others and state their condition and prescribe for them. But among my searches after clairvoyance I have at length found one exam­ple of the highest kind, just mentioned in the last paragraph, though she disclaims all clairvoyance of the inferior kind mentioned in the present paragraph. This patient is the per­fection of integrity and every other moral excellence. Her word is a fact: and her truth is not less absolute than her freedom from vanity. She dislikes to exert her clairvoyance, and though, I have no doubt, long possessed of it, never men­tioned it till I tried and urged her to exert it: nor would she ever exert it but from a desire to oblige me, nor does she if aware of the presence of others.

“ She will accurately describe who are in a particular room at her father's house ata particular moment, and the arrange­ment of the furniture, &c.—a distance of above fifty miles : or she will search for and see a member of her family, and describe the place in which he or she is, and the others also present. I at length succeeded in prevailing upon her to see some others, not members of her family, or known to them or to herself, and whose names even I did not mention, but only a very few particulars about them. She has described their persons most accurately, the places in which they were, their occupations at the moment; and told what others were in the same room with them : and all this when I knew no­thing of the truth at the time, and had to verify it afterwards,³ Far more than this she would tell: and tell with perfect ac­curacy: and predict numerous things relating to others which have since exactly taken place. But I will not ven­ture to add more at present. I am anything but supersti­tious ; am indeed very skeptical of human testimony on all matters of a wonderful nature : but these points I have labo­riously and rigidly looked into, and can speak positively. In exerting this power, she knits her brows and wrinkles her forehead vertically, evidently making a great cerebral exer­tion. The part at which she says she sees, so to speak, clair- voyantly, is the centre of the forehead, midway between the temples, but a little lower than half-way between the root of the nose and the top of the forehead,—exactly at the spot called by some cerebral physiologists the organ of Eventuality.

⁽ⁱ I need hardly say that in perceiving absent and distant persons and things, it makes no difference what may be the direction of her face. Her seat may be placed against any of the walls of the room without altering her ability.

“ Whether from her being in a very delicate state of health or not, she exerts the power with great effort, and often re­quires repeated efforts in the same direction at successive sittings before she sees what I desire her to see. Any tem­porary increase of debility, any headache, or other distress­ing sensation, or the slightest uncomfortable emotion, prevents its exertion to much purpose or altogether. Before she could discern persons who are strangers to her, many attempts for very many days were required. She then saw them more clearly every day. Sometimes she can see persons but for an instant at a time and sometimes not more than once in this momentary manner during my visit. She seldom saw the whole of a room at once.”—The Zoist, Vol. II. p. 478-481.

“ Mademoiselle W., whose disease and its treatment have been minutely reported by Dr. Klein, her physician, appears to have been one of the most extraordinary natural somnam­bulists and clairvoyants upon record. The following facts concerning her, which Dr. Klein has slightly alluded to from motives of delicacy towards the family, are related in the third volume of the JBibliotheque du Magnetisme Animal, by an eye-witness whois worthy of all credit.

“ After Mademoiselle W. had arrived at the house of M. St.          , a respectable and opulent man, whose family is one

of the most distinguished in the country, this gentlemen, who had previously heard of the accidental somnambulism of this young lady, looked upon her as a very extraordinary person, and requested her to give him, as she had already done on several former occasions, some proofs of the accuracy and extent of her magnetic telescope, and to direct it towards his son, an officer in the army, at that time serving in Russia. From that moment, Mademoiselle W. directed her thoughts to this young man, and in all her paroxysms, although she had never seen him, she drew his portrait exactly as if she had him before her eyes. She said that he was constantly pre­sent to her mind—she accompanied him in all his military movements, and observed that, naturally brave, he exposed himself too inconsiderately to danger. She frequently asked the sister of this young officer, whether she did not see him in a corner of the room; and, one day, upon receiving a negative answer, she said, ‘Well, then, ask him any ques­tions you please, and I shall return his answers.’ The sis­ter, having consented, asked all sorts of questions relative to family matters, which were unknown to the somnambulist, who answered them all in a manner so precise and so accu­rate, that the interrogator afterwards declared that she felt herself seized with a cold perspiration, and was several times on the point of fainting with fright, during what she called the dialogue of the spirits.

“ In another scene, the somnambulist declared to the fath­er, that she saw his son at the hospital, with a piece of white linen wrapt round his chin—that he was wounded in the face—that he was unable to eat, but, at the same time, that he was in no danger. Some days later, she said that he was now able to eat, and that he was much better.

“ The family soon ceased to pay much attention to these visions, probably putting little faith in them, when, some weeks afterwards, a courier arrived from the army. M. St. immediately went to Count Th. to inquire what news he had received. The latter, at once, set his mind completely at ease, by informing him that his son’s name was not in the list of the wounded, &c. Transported with joy, he returned home, and said to Mademoiselle W., who was, at that time, in her somnambulic sleep, that, for once, she had not divined accurately, and that, fortunately for his son and himself, she had been completely deceived. At these words—divined, deceived—the young lady felt much offended, and, in an angry and energetic tone, assured the father that she was quite cer­tain of the truth of what she had said—that, at the very mo­ment, she saw his son at the hospital with his chin wrapt in white linen, and that, in the state in which she then was, it was quite impossible she could be deceived. Soon after­wards, there came a note from Count Th. ; which, after some expressions of politeness and condolence, contained the fol­lowing intelligence. That a second list of the wounded had arrived, in which was the name of his son, who had been struck by a musket-ball on the chin, and was under medical treatment in the hospital, &c.

“ According to my information, the veracity of the persons, upon whose authority the preceding narrative has been given, lies under no suspicion.”—Isis Revelata, Vol, II., p. 93-96.

“Madame Bussfere, being magnetised at eleven o’clock in the morning, told me that she was better—but that she could not think about herself—having something upon her mind, which distracted her thoughts; and not being able to see the cause of this presentiment, she asked me to assist her. I did so by the means usually employed under such circumstan­ces. She retired within herself:—an instant afterwards she burst into tears, and said to me, ^eI see my brother-in law, who is at Libourne: he has inflammation of the lungs; his wife wrote to me yesterday to inform me of this event, and the letter will arrive this evening:—she requests me to go to Libourne.⁵ After a minute’s silence; ⁶1 am unwell, and I fear that this letter, when it arrives, will make me worse. I beg of you, on my awaking, to inform me of this, but with cau­tion ; especially tell me, that I dare not be absent at the most more than twelve days, because I shall require to be mag­netised from that period until the next constitutional crisis, which will be the last. I cannot tell you on what day it will happen ; I cannot see this till the evening before.⁵

“Having awakened her, I did as she had directed me, in­sisting strongly on the necessity of her returning on the 26th, on account of her health.

“In the evening her husband sent me the letter announced during her sleep ; its contents were precisely those which Madame Bussi&re had told me.⁵⁵—Newnham’s An. Mag. p. 277­278.

Cases of a similar character to the foregoing could be easi­ly multiplied, but to the skeptic they would probably be un­availing, and to the believer useless. Our object will have been answered if we have succeeded in presenting the evi­dence of a mental phenomenon, which finds its solution in the parallel developments of Swedenborg. Our drift is all along to explain facts by laws. The facts may be doubted or denied by those who have witnessed nothing like them, but we have much less solicitude for those who deny the facts than for those who, upon satisfactory proof, admit the facts, but have hitherto been ignorant of the laws. It will be seen from what follows that nothing more is developed in the facts than the laws of spiritual existence give us reason to antici­pate. Everything involved in the phenomena rests upon the grand principle, that “man is a spirit as to his interiors,” and that his spiritual nature in the body often manifests itself ac cording to the laws which govern it out of the body.

“ The spirits who are thought of by others (as those who have been in any degree acquainted together during the life of the body) are present in a moment, when it is granted by the Lord, and so very near that they can hear and touch each other, or at any little distance, notwithstanding they might have been thousands of miles distant, yea, even at the stars; the reason is, because distance of place does not operate in the other life.”—A. C. 1274.

“All conjunction in the spiritual world is done by looking: when any one there thinks concerning another from an affec­tion of speaking with him, the other becomes present on the spot; and one sees the other face to face : the like is done when any one thinks concerning another from an affection of love; by this affection conjunction takes place, but only presence takes place by the other: this is peculiar to the spiritual world: the reason is, because all there are spiritual; it is otherwise in the natural world in which all are material: in the natural world the like takes place with men in the af­fections and thoughts of their spirit; but because in the na­tural world there are spaces,but in the spiritual world spaces are only appearances, therefore in the latter world that takes place actually which takes place in the thought of any spirit.” —D. P. 29.

“ Since angels and spirits are affections which are of love, and thoughts thence, therefore neither are they in space and time, but only in the appearance of them: the appearance of space and time is to them according to the states of the af­fections and thence of the thoughts: wherefore, when any one thinks about another from affection, with the intention that he wishes to see him, or to speak with him, he is set forth­with present. Hence it is, that spirits are present with every man, who are in like affection with him; evil spirits with him who is in the affection of like evil, and good spirits with him who is in the affection of like good: and they are so present, as when one is included in society: space and time make nothing towards presence, for the reason that affection and thence thought are not in space and time; and spirits and angels are affections and thence thoughts. That it is so, has been given to know from a living experience of many years; and also from this, that I have spoken with many after death, as well with those who are in Europe and its various king­doms, as with those who were in Asia and Africa and their various kingdoms ; and they were all near me; wherefore, if there had been space and time to them, journeying and the time of journeying would have intervened. Yea, every man knows this from what is implanted in himself or in his mind ; which became evidenced to me by this, that no one thought of any distance of space, when I related what I have spoken with any one deceased in Asia, Africa, or Europe ; as, for ex­ample, with Calvin, Luther, Melancthon, or with any king, officer, or priest, in a distant country; and it did not at all fall into their thoughts, how one could speak with those who lived there, and how’ they could come to and be present with him, when yet lands and seas intervene : from this it has also been manifest to me, that no one thinks from space and time, when he thinks concerning those who are in the spiritual world.”—D. P. 50.

“Although all things in heaven appear in place and in space just as in the world, still the angels have no notion and idea of place and space. Because this cannot but appear as a paradox, I wish to present the subject in a clear light, be­cause it is of great importance.

“ All progressions in the spiritual world are made by changes of the state of the interiors, so that progressions are nothing else than changes of state; thus also I have been conducted by the Lord into the heavens, and likewise to the earths in the universe, and this as to the spirit, while the body remained in the same place. Thus all the angels move ; hence to them there are no distances, and if there are not distances, neither are there spaces, but instead of them states and their changes.

“ Because progressions are made thus, it is evident that approximations are similitudes as to the state of the interiors, and that removals are dissimilitudes. Thence it is that those are near to each other who are in a similar state, and those at a distance, who are in a dissimilar state ; and that spaces in heaven are nothing else than external states corresponding to internal. It is from no other source that the heavens are distinct from each other, and also the societies of each heaven, and every one in the society. Thence likewise it is, that the hells are entirely separated from the heavens, because they are in a contrary state.

“From this cause also it is, that in the spiritual world one is exhibited as present to another, if he only intensely desires his presence, for thus he sees him in thought, and puts him­self in his state; and conversely, that one is removed from another as far as he is averse to him. And because all aver­sion is from contrariety of the affections and from disagree­ment of the thoughts, thence it comes to pass, that several who are in one place there appear to each other so long as they agree, but as soon as they disagree they disappear.”— H. fy H. 191-194.

ⁱ⁽ Interior sight in the spiritual world conjoins; interior sight is thought, and in a society there, when several act as one, and also in choirs, what one thinks another also thinks, thus thought conjoins ; and likewise when any one thinks of another, he is presented to view, thus also thought con­joins.”—A. C. 5975.

^s< Man at this day, to whom the interiors are closed, knows nothing of those things which exist in the spiritual world or heaven: he says indeed from the Word and from doctrine, that there is a heaven, and that the angels, who are there, are in joy and in glory, and he knows nothing besides. He wishes indeed to know how the case is there, but when he is told, he still believes nothing, by reason that in heart he de­nies the existence of such things : when he wishes to know, it is only because then he is in curiosity from doctrine, not in delight from faith; and they who are not in faith, deny also in heart. But they who believe, procure to themselves ideas concerning heaven, its joy and glory, from various things, every one from such things as are of his own science and in­telligence ; and the simple from sensitive things which are of the body.

^£J Nevertheless most persons do not apprehend that spirits and angels have sensations much more exquisite than men in the world; namely, sight, hearing, smelling, something analogous to taste, and touch, and especially the delights of the affections. If they had only believed that their interior essence was a spirit, and that the body, together with its sen­sations and members, is only adequate to uses in the world, and that the spirit and its sensations and organs are adequate to uses in the other life, then they would come of themselves and almost spontaneously into ideas concerning the state of their spirits after death. For then they would think with themselves, that his spirit is the very man himself who thinks, and who lusts, who desires and is affected, and further that all the sensitive, which appears in the body, is properly of its spirit, and of the body only by influx : and these things they would after wards confirm with themselves by many things, and thus at length would be delighted with those things which are of their spirit, more than with those which are of their body. In reality also this is the case, that it is not the body which sees, hears, smells, feels, but its spirit; wherefore when the spirit is freed from the body, it is then in its own sensations, in which it had been when in the body, and indeed in those much more exquisite; for corporeal things, because respectively gross, rendered the sensations obtuse, and still more obtuse, because it immersed them in earthly and worldly things.

“This I can assert, that a spirit has much more exquisite sight than a man in the body, and also hearing, and what will seem surprising, more exquisite sense of smell, and especially sense of touch, for they see each other, hear each other, and touch each other. This also he who be­lieves a life after death, might conclude from this, that no life can be given without sense, and that the quality of the life is according to the quality of the sense; yea, that rhe intellectual is nothing but an exquisite sense of interior things, and the superior intellectual of spiritual things; hence also the things which are of the intellectual and of its per­ceptions are called the internal senses. With the sensitive of man immediately after death, the case is this. As soon as man dies, and the corporeal things with him grow cold, he is raised up into life, and then into the state of all sensations, insomuch that at first he scarcely knows otherwise than that he is still in the body; for the sensations in which he is, lead him so to believe. But when he perceives that he has more exquisite sensations, and this especially when he begins to speak with other spirits, he then takes notice that he is in another life, and that the death of his body was the continua­tion of the life of his spirit. I have spoken with two with whom I had been acquainted, on the same day that they were buried, and with one who saw through my eyes his own coffin and bier, and inasmuch as he was in every sen­sation in which he had been in the world, he talked with me about the obsequies, when I was following his funeral, and also about his body, saying, that they reject it because he himself lives.

⁶‘ But it is to be known, that they who are in the other life, cannot see anything which is in the world through the eyes of any man; the reason why they could see through my eyes was, because I nm in the spirit W’ith them, and at the same time in the body with those who are in the world. And it is further to be known, that I did not see those with whom I dis­coursed in the other life, with the eyes of my body, but with the eyes of my spirit, and still as clearly, and sometimes more clearly than with the eyes of my body, for, by the divine mercy of the Lord, the things‘which are of my spirit have been opened.

“ But I am aware that the things which have been hereto­fore said, will not be believed by those who are immersed in corporeal, terrestial, and worldly things, that is, by such of them as hold those things for an end, for these have no ap­prehension of other things than those which are dissipated by death. I am aware also, that neither will they believe, who have thought and inquired much about the soul, and have not at the same time comprehended that the soul is man’s spirit, and that his spirit is his very man which lives in the body. For these cannot conceive any other notion about the soul, than that it is something cogitative, or flamy, or ethere­al, which only acts into the organic forms of the body, and not into the purer forms which are of its spirit in the body, and thus such that it is dissipated with the body; and this is especial­ly the case with those, who have confirmed themselves in such notions by views puffed up by the persuasion of their own superior wisdom.”—A. C. 4622.

“ The divine omnipresence may be illustrated by the won­derful presence of angels and spirits in the spiritual world. In this world, because there is no space, but only an appear­ance of space, an angel or a spirit may, in a moment, become present to another, provided he comes into a similar affection of love, and thence thought, for these two make the appear­ance of space. That such is the presence of all there, was manifest to me from this, that I could see Africans and Indians there very near me, although they are so many miles dis­tant upon earth; nay, that I could become present to those who are in other planets of this system, and also to those who are in the planets in other systems, out of this solar sys­tem. By virtue of this presence, not of place, but of the ap­pearance of place, 1 have conversed with apostles, deceased popes, emperors and kings ; with the founders of the present church, Luther, Calvin, Melancthon; and with others from dis­tant countries. Since such is the presence of angels and spi­rits, what limits can be set to the Divine presence in the uni­verse, which is infinite’ The reason that angels and spirits have such presence, is, because every affection of love, and thence every thought of the understanding, is in space with­out space, and in time without time : for any one can think of a brother, relation or friend in the Indies, and then have him, as it were, present to him ; in like manner, he may be affected with their love by recollection. By these things, be­cause they are familiar to every one, the divine omnipresence may, in some degree, be illustrated; and also by human thoughts, as, when any one recalls to his remembrance what he has seen upon a journey in various places, he is, as it were, present at those places. Nay, the sight of the body emulates that same presence ; the eye does not perceive dis­tances, except by intermediate objects, which, as it were, measure them. The sun itself would be near the eye, nay, in the eye, unless intermediate objects discovered that it is so distant: that it is so, writers on optics have also observed in their books. Such presence has each sight of man, both in­tellectual and corporeal, because his spirit sees through his eyes/’—T. C. R. 64.

With these citations before us, ■what doubt can possibly re­main, that Swedenborg has developed the rationale of the manifestations of which we are now treating ? Is not the parallelism as obvious as the facts ? and are not the facts sus­tained by competent testimony ? Our appeal, however, is to those who admit the facts, and to all such we propose the query, whether the evidence is not conclusive, that Sweden­borg has penetrated the mystery of these startling phenom­ena ? Has he not lifted the curtain and exposed to view the spiritual machinery, so to speak, upon w’hich these marvel­lous results depend ? Here are adequate causes assigned for obvious effects, and what is the ground, we ask, on which Swedenborg is to be written a dreaming visionary, merely for affirming a psychology which completely solves the problems of experience ? Surely, if we behold in Mesmerism phenom­ena which irresistibly refer themselves to a spiritual world— if we admit that such a world exists—if the mind of man were while sojourning in the body, is really a denizen of that world—then we feel at liberty to claim that Swedenborg has been admitted into it, and has laid open its hidden laws. How could such a claim be substantiated otherwise than by the very evidence which is set before our eyes, to wit, the accordance of known facts with the asserted law ?

We may here advert to another phase of the Mesmeric marvels of a similar character to the preceding. It is known that clairvoyant subjects are sometimes sent on an ideal ex­cursion to the moon or to the various planets of the system. As to the accuracy of their reports we have nothing to say,

for we have no doubt that, owing to causes which Sweden­borg has also unfolded, there is frequently a large admixture of the fanciful and the illusive in the impressions received by_r Mesmeric subjects. This circumstance, however, does not countervail the equally clear evidence of truth in regard to many of their statements, and in the present case we have to do with the simple possibility of the thing itself. Does the clairvoyant state enable one to visit mentally the distant re­gions of the universe ? It is not, perhaps, easy to limit the capability disclosed in the foregoing extracts. If mind or spirit really rises superior to all relation to space—if the sole condition of being present to another person in any part of the globe be the wish to that effect—then we may doubtless conceive that by the same law one may be transported, so to speak, to the remotest bounds of creation. On this sub­ject Swedenborg speaks as follows :

“ They who are in heaven can discourse and converse with angels and spirits, who are not only from the earths in this solar system, but also from other earths in the universe out of this system ; and not only with the spirits and angels there, but also with the inhabitants themselves, only, how­ever, with those whose interiors are open, so that they can hear such as speak from heaven: the same is the case with man, during his abode in the world, to whom it has been given of the Lord to discourse with spirits and angels; for man is a spirit as to his interiors, the body which he carries about in the world only serving him for the performing func­tions in this natural or terrestrial sphere, which is the ultimate of all spheres. But it is given to no one to discourse as a spi­rit with angels and spirits, unless he be such that he can con- sociate with angels as to faith and love; nor can he so con- sociate, unless he have faith and love to the Lord, for man is joined to the Lord by faith and love to him, that is by truths of doctrine and good principles of life derived from him; and when he is joined to the Lord, he is secure from the assaults of evil spirits from hell: with others the interi­ors cannot be so far opened, since they are not in the Lord. This is the reason why there ate few at this day, to whom it is given to speak and converse with angels ; a manifest proof whereof is, that the existence of spirits and angels is scarce believed a.t this day, much less that they are attend­ant on every man, and that by them man has connection with heaven, and by heaven with the Lord; still less is it believed, that man, when he dies as to the body, lives a spi­rit, even in a human form as before.

^££ Inasmuch as there are many at this dayjn the church who have no faith concerning a life after death, and scarce any concerning heaven, or concerning the Lord as being the God of heaven and earth, therefore the interiors appertaining to my spirit are open by the Lord, so that I am enabled, dur­ing my abode in the body, to have commerce with the an­gels in heaven, and not only to discourse with them, but also to see the astonishing things of their kingdom, and to describe the same, in order to check from henceforth the cavils of those who urge, ^£ Did ever any one come from heaven and assure us that such a place exists, and acquaint us with what is doing there ?⁵ Nevertheless I am aware, that they who in heart have heretofore denied a heaven and a hell, and a life after death, will even still continue in the obstinacy of unbe­lief and denial; for it is easier to make a raven white, than to make those believe, who have once in heart rejected faith; the reason is, because such persons always think about mat­ters of faith from a negative principle, and not from an affir­mative. May the things, however, which have been hither­to declared, and which we have further to declare, concern­ing angels and spirits, be for the use of those few who are principled in faith! whilst it is permitted, in order to bring others to somewhat of acknowledgment, to relate such par­ticulars, as delight and engage the attention of persons desi­rous of knowledge; for which purpose we shall now pro­ceed to give an account of the earths in the starry heaven.” —Earths in the Universe, p. 123-124.

^££ I was led by angels from the Lord to a certain earth in the starry heaven, where it was given to take a view of the earth itself, yet not to speak with the inhabitants, but with spirits who came from thence (for all the inhabitants or men of every earth, after finishing their course of life in the world, become spirits, and remain near their own earth): from these however 1 received information concerning the earth, and concerning the state of the inhabitants thereof; for men, when they leave the body, carry with them all their former life, and all their memory. To be led to earths in the uni­verse, is not to be led and translated thither as to the body, but as to the spirit, and the spirit is led by variations of the state of interior life, which appear to it as progressions through spaces. Approaches, or near advancements, are also effected according to agreements or resemblances of states of life, for agreement or resemblance produces con­junction, whereas disagreement and dissimilitude produces disjunction. Hence it may appear how translation is effect­ed as to the spirit, and its approach or near advancement to things remote, whilst the man still remains in his own place. But to lead a spirit, by variations of the state of its interiors, out of its own orb, and to cause the variations successively to advance even to a state agreeing with or like to those to whom it is led, is in the power of the Lord alone; for there must be a continual direction and foresight from first to last, both in advancing and returning back again; especially when the translation is to be effected with a man, who is still, as to the body, in the natural world, and thereby in space. That such a translation has been effected, will appear incredible to those who are immersed in the sensual corporeal life, and whose thoughts originate in sensual corporeal things, nor can they be induced to believe it; the reason is, because the sensual corporeal life cannot conceive of progression with­out space ; but they who think from the sensual principle of their spirit, somewhat removed or withdrawn from the sen­sual principle of the body, consequently who think from an interior principle hi themselves, may be induced to believe and to conceive it, since in the idea of interior thought there is neither space nor time, but instead thereof the original principles whence spaces and times had birth. For the use of these latter the following account is written respecting the earths in the starry heaven, and not for the former, (viz. such as are immersed in the sensual corporeal life,) unless they be in a state to suffer themselves to be instructed.”—E. U. 127.

“ Those who are in heaven can discourse and converse with angels and spirits, who are not only from the earths in this solar system, but also with those who are from earths in the universe out of this system ; and not only with spirits and angels thence, but also with the inhabitants themselves whose interiors have been opened, so as to be able to hear those who speak from heaven. A similar privilege is grant- ' ed to man, during his life in the world, to whom it has been given by the Lord to discourse with spirits and angels, for man is a spirit and angel as to his interiors, the body which he carries about>with him in the world serving him only for functions in this natural or terrestrial sphere, which is the ul­timate. But it is given to no one as a spirit and angel to speak with angels and spirits, unless he be of such a quality that he can consociate with them as to faith and love ; nor can he consociate unless the faith be directed to the Lord and the love to the Lord, inasmuch as man by faith in Him, thus by truths of doctrine, and by* love to Him, is conjoined, and when lie is conjoined to Him, he is secure from the insult of evil spirits who are from hell. With others the interiors can­not be opened at all, for they are not in the Lord. This is the reason why there are few at this day, to whom it is given to discourse and converse with angels; a manifest proof of which circumstance is, that it is scarcely believed at this day that spirits and angels are, still less that they are attendant upon every man, and that by them man hath connexion with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; and that it is still less believed that man when he dies as to the body, lives a spirit, also in a human form as before.”—A. C. 9438.

“ The reason may indeed be declared why going, journey­ing, and sojourning have such significations, but that reason is such, that it can hardly be received by those who do not know how the case is with motions in the other life. Mo­tions there and progressions, are nothing else, because from no other source, than changes of state of the life, which changes appear in externals altogether as progressions from place to place : that this is so, may be confirmed from much experience in the other life ; for I have walked there in spi­rit with the inhabitants, and among them, through several of their abodes, and this notwithstanding I had-remained in the same place as to the body. I have also discoursed with them as to how this could be, and have been instructed, that there are changes of the state of the life, which cause pro­gressions in the spiritual world ; which was also confirmed by this, that spirits, by changes induced in the state, can be presented on high, and in a moment in the deep, also far westward, and in a moment eastward, and so forth. But, as was said, this cannot fail to appear strange to him, who knows nothing concerning life in the spiritual world ; for in that world there are not spaces, nor times, but instead of them states of the life ; these states in externals produce an appear­ance altogether living of progressions and of motions; this * appearance is as living and real as is the appearance of life itself, namely, that life is in us, and thus ours, when yet it flows in from the Lord, who is the fountain whence comes the all of life.”—A. C. 5605.

►

“ All progressions in the spiritual world are made by changes of the state of the interiors, so that progressions are nothing else than changes of state: thus also I have been conducted by the Lord into the heavens, and likewise to the earths in the universe, and this as to the spirit, while the body remained in the same place. Thus all the angels move ; hence to them there are no distances, and if there are not

distances, neither are there spaces, but instead of them states and their changes.”—H. fy H. 192.

The absolute truth of the revelations made in this depart­ment cannot, of course, except in the case of Swedenborg, be the ground of much confidence. As to him, we rest in the assurance of his reliability, because he has clearly de­veloped the law which ascertains the possibility of the fact, and because he has given so much evidence of truthfulness in other respects. As to others, we confide in their reports only so far as they agree with his. As a general fact, how­ever, we deem their statements of little value, from the cir­cumstance that we are convinced their state is one which renders them liable to numberless involuntary delusions from sources which Swedenborg has fully disclosed.

On the whole it must, we think, be admitted, that the phenomena of Mesmerism, taken in conjunction with the de­velopments of Swedenborg, open a new chapter in the phi­losophy of mind and in man’s relation to a higher sphere. It would seem that the veil was about being removed which has hitherto shrouded in darkness the deep arcana of the spirit-world. We awake with amazement to the conviction that what have hitherto been regarded as the wildest vaga­ries of a disordered fancy are in fact assuming the character of the most profound psychological truths. But what are these disclosures, sublime as they are, compared with the an­nouncements of this enlightened seer relative to the great moral doctrines which he has promulgated from the same sphere, and which take hold at once of the psychological nature, the most sacred duties, and the eternal destiny of man ! Nothing that we have thus far brought to view in the foregoing ex­tracts can give the reader any adequate idea of the magnifi­cent system of moral truth embodied in his writings. We can only say of it that it is quite as far in advance of the the­ology, as it is of the philosophy, of the world, and more it would not be easy to say. Yet we say this well aware that the same causes which have hitherto prevented, and will probably still prevent, except to a limited extent, the admis­sion of the truth of the philosophy, will doubtless operate, for some time to come, to prevent the recognition of the truth of the theology. It is not only in too obvious antagonism with the favorite dogmas of the church, but it is too pure, too holy, too heavenly—it makes too uncompromising de­demands upon life—it discovers heaven and hell in too close proximity with the human heart in its ruling loves—to allow the hope of its general reception till the movements of the Divine Providence have wrought stupendous changes in the state of the general mind of Christendom. The reign of an overspreading sensualism must first be shaken to its centre, before the plea of a spiritual philosophy can gain a hearing But it would prove us recreant to the solemn interests of Truth did we permit ourselves to despair of its final triumphs. It will eventually come with resistless rebuke to all the falsi­ties which have opposed its progress and laden with abun­dance of blessing to its humble and hearty recipients.

CHAPTER VIL

MAGNETIC HEARING.

The condition of all the senses is materially affected by the Magnetic process. The results connected with vision are perhaps the most remarkable and astounding, but the phe­nomena developed in regard to the auditory functions in that state are very striking. As a general fact, the subject be­comes insensible to any sound except that of the voice of the magnetizer or of the party in communication. His slight­est tones are audible, and even his whisper, and that too from a distance at which it could not be heard in his wak­ing state. All attempts by others to awaken him—even the loudest shoutings or the report of a pistol close by the ear—have for the most part no effect. Yet a single word from the operator will often suffice to break the spell of som­nolence and restore the sleeper to his waking consciousness. Cases indeed occasionally occur in which the state of mag­netic isolation is so complete, that even the word of the op­erator himself fails to be heard, and when all intercourse is as effectually precluded with him as with others. But as a gen­eral fact, there is no impediment to the most free and familiar converse with the individual, whether the magnetizer or an­other, with whom the subject is in communication, while to others the organ of hearing seems to be hermetically sealed. Yet it is obvious that the effect produced by the percussion of the air on the tympanum of the ear is the same in the case of those with whom he is not in communication as of those with whom he is. Yet the one is heard while the other is not.

“Upon first passing into the mesmeric state,Theodore seem­ed absolutely insensible to every other than the mesmerizer’s voice. Some of our party went close to him and shouted his name, but he gave no tokens of hearing us until Mr. K------- ,

taking our hands, made us touch those of Theodore and his own at the same time. This he called putting us ⁴en rapport’ with the patient. After this Theodore seemed to hear our voices equally with that of the mesmerizer, but by no means to pay an equal attention to them.”—Townshend, p. 57.

“ Even after having been placed ^cen rapport’ with all pre­sent, the patient seemed incapable of hearing any voice but mine, unless the person who spoke were in actual contact with me and with herself at the same time. On one occa­sion, when I was asking her if she knew what some object was that I held before her, her father told her very loudly that it was a wine-glass (which it actually was), but the pa­tient did not profit by the intelligence; for, on being again questioned, she said impatiently, ⁴1 do not know; I cannot tell.’ Her name, shouted closed to her ear by different mem­bers of her family, seemed to make no impression whatever upon her organs of hearing; while, on the contrary, she at­tended to the slightest word that I addressed to her.”—Town­shend, p. 77.

“ In proportion as persons sink deeper into mesmeric sleep­waking, their external senses seem blunted, one by one, and so far there is certainly a relation between the mesmeric and the natural sleep. The eye, as we have seen, yields, first to the slumbrous influence. Long after this organ has ceased to act, the hearing retains all its acuteness, and the sleep waker

is able to indicate what sounds are going on around; but at length the ‘porches of the ear⁵ are closed as well as the⁶ cur­tain of the eye,’ and the patient, though still alive to feeling, is dead to every sound save that of the mesmerizer’s voice. I have proved this times innumerable; so frequently, indeed, that is better to give the general results of the experiments I have witnessed than to state one in particular. Often have the members of my family, or visiters, who, perhaps, were but little inclined to believe in Mesmerism, tried to awaken Mademoiselle M  , or to startle her by sudden noises.

Logs of wood have been dashed against the floor: plates­have been suddenly broken ; her name has been shouted out close to her ear, in vain. Other persons present have shown that they were startled, but not the sleepwaker. Once or twice, indeed, on such occasions, when asked if she heard any tiling, she has replied, ‘ No, I heard nothing; but I thought, just now, something pushed against my chair;’ a mode of expression which deserves to be remarked, as analogous to that used by deaf persons to describe the sensations given them by the concussion of the air produced by great sounds.” —Townshend, p. 102.

“ The scientific person to whom I have once before alluded, and w^Those testimony is valuable, inasmuch as his habits of mind led him ever to separate illusion from truth, assured me, when in the mesmeric state, that he could hear no sound whatever except my voice. I made another person speak who was in the room on that occasion, and the sleepwaker was ^unaware that anything had been said.

“ Another patient (E. A---------- , to whom I shall have occa­

sion to allude hereafter) said, when I was singing, ‘ You should ask Mr. V          -’ (a musician w^Tho was in the room) ‘ to

accompany you.’ I did so; but, though Mr. V----------- made a

loud accompaniment to my voice, E. A. kept calling out, « Why does he not play ? ’ ”—Townshend, p. 104.

The facts thus reported we venture to deem unquestiona­ble, especially as they may easily be confirmed by scores of similar cases, afforded by the experience of all who are fa­miliar with the Magnetic phenomena. How are they to be accounted for ? We submit that the effects refer us to the laws of the spiritual sphere for a development of the cause, and that no other solution than that which Swedenborg has given is adequate.

“ Ideas, inasmuch as they are expressions of speech, are sonorous among spirits and angels, hence the tacit thought of men is audible to spirits and angels, when it so pleases the Lord.”—A. C. 6624.

“ The speech of an angel or a spirit with man is heard as sonorously as the speech of a man with a man; yet it is not heard by others who stand near, but by himself alone; the reason is, because the speech of an angel or spirit flows first into the man’s thought, and by an internal way into his organ of hearing, and thus moves that from within; but the speech of man with man flows first into the air, and by an external way into his organ of hearing, and moves it from without. Hence it is evident that the speech of an angel and of a spirit with man is heard in man, and, because it equally moves the organs of hearing, that it is also equally sonorous. That the speech of an angel and of a spirit flows down even into the ear from within, was evident to me from this, that it also flows into the tongue, and excites in it a slight vibration, but not with any motion, as when the sound of speech is articu­lated by it into words by the man himself.”—H. fy H. 248.

The latter of the above extracts speaks indeed of the vocal communication of angels and spirits with man while sojourn­ing in the body, but it still illustrates the point before us, viz. the mode of hearing in the Mesmeric state; for as a spiritual sensation is developed in the subject, the utterance of the out­er man, by means of the vocal organs, is as really heard as the speech of the inner man, which is, in a great degree, inde­pendent of audible sounds. We say—hi a great degree—be­cause it is unquestionable that the accompaniment of the speaker’s voice does in some way essentially aid the inner hearing of the subject, although the idea is communicable without it.

“ What is the nature of the correspondence between the soul and the body, or between those things which are of the spirit which is within man, and those which are of the body which are out of him, may appear manifestly from the cor­respondence, influx, and communication of the thought and apperception which are of the spirit, with the speech and hearing which are of the body. The thought of a man speak­ing is nothing but the speech of his spirit, and the appercep­tion of speech is nothing but the hearing of his spirit; thought, when man speaks, does not indeed appear to him as speech, because it conjoins itself with the speech of the 7* body, and is in it; and apperception, when man hears, does not appear otherwise than as hearing in the ear. Thence it is, that most people, who have not reflected, do not know otherwise, than that all sense is in the organs which are of the body, and consequently that when those organs fall to decay by death, nothing of sense survives, when yet man, that is, his spirit, then comes into his veriest sensitive life. That it is the spirit which speaks and which hears, Was made manifest to me from conversations with spirits. Their speech, communicated to my spirit, fell into my interior speech, and thence into the corresponding organs, and there terminated in an effort closed into a conatus, which occasion­ally I have manifestly perceived. Hence their speech was heard by me as sonorously as the speech of man. At times, when spirits have spoken with me in the midst of a compa­ny of men, some of them have supposed, because their speech was heard so sonorously, that they would be heard also by those who were there present; but reply was made, that it is not so, inasmuch as their speech flowed into my ear by an internal way, and human speech by an external way. Hence it is evident, how the Spirit spake with the prophets, not as man with man, but as a spirit with a man, namely, in him, Zechariah i. 9, 13; chap. ii. 2, 7; chap. iv. 1, 4, 5 ; chap. v. 5, 10 ; chap. vi. 4; and in other places. But I know that these things cannot be comprehended by those, who do not believe that man is a spirit, and that the body serves him for uses in the world; they who have confirmed themselves in this, are not indeed willing to hear of any correspondence, and if they hear, inasmuch as they are in the negative prin­ciple, they reject; yea, they are also made sad that anything is taken away from the body.”—A. C. 4652.

“ It is known from the Word of the Lord, that many per­sons formerly conversed with angels and spirits, and that they heard and saw many things which exist in the other life ; but that afterwards heaven was as it were shut up, in­somuch that at this day it is scarcely believed that spirits and angels exist, still less that any one can converse with them, from an idea that it is impossible to converse with those who are invisible, and whom in their heart they deny. But where­as, by the divine mercy of the Lord, it has been granted me now for some years almost continually to hold discourse with spirits and angels, and to be in their company as one of them, it is permitted me to relate what it has been given me to know concerning their speech among themselves.

“The speech of the spirits with me, was heard and per­ceived as distinctly as the speech of men; nay, when I have discoursed with them whilst in company with men, it was

observed, that as I heard the men sonorously, so I heard also the spirits; insomuch that the spirits sometimes wondered that their discourse with me was not heard by others; for, as to hearing, there was no difference at all. But as the in­flux into the internal organs of hearing is different from the influx of speech with men, it could be heard by none but myself, to whom these organs, by the divine mercy of the Lord, were open. Human speech flows in through the ear, by an external way, by the medium of the air; whereas the speech of spirits does not enter through the ear, nor by the medium of the air, but by an internal way, into the same or­gans of the head or brain: hence the hearing is similar.”— A. C. 1634-1635.

“The speaking of spirits with man, as has been stated above, is effected by vocal expressions : but the speaking of spirits with each other is by ideas, wherein vocal expres­sions originate, such as are the ideas of thought: these, how­ever, are not so obscure as are those of man during his life in the body, but are distinct, after the manner of speech. Hu­man thought, after the decease of the body, becomes more distinct and clear, and the ideas of thought become discrete, so as to serve for distinct forms of speech: for the obscurity is dissipated with the body, and thus the thought, being freed as it were from the shackles with which it was encumbered, consequently, from the shadows hi which it was involved, becomes more instantaneous; and hence the intuition, per­ception, and utterance, of every particular is rendered more immediate.”—A. C. 1757.

Commentary is scarcely needed upon the above elucida­tions. The evidence is decisive that Swedenborg has given an expose of the law of spiritual acoustics which applies directly and unequivocally to the corresponding peculiarities of the magnetic condition. It is but another item hi his ac­cumulation of proofs that the all of sensation (excepting taste) which man enjoys here he enjoys also in the other world, only in a more exquisite degree, as pertaining to the mor© interior principles of his nature. It adds also another link in the chain of evidence which goes to establish the marked affinity between the internal state of a mesmerized subject and that of a spirit free from the bondage of the body. What can be more palpable than the points of resemblance between the phenomena of hearing in the two cases ?

---

[*] I insert in the present connection the following paragraph from a pamphlet recently published in London, from the pen of a New Churchman, to the leading sentiments of which I fully subscribe :— <« It is therefore impossible for the members of the New Church to re­main silent and indifferent upon this interesting question. Can they resist the inquiry thus forced upon them—What is the affinity or connection which exists between the principles of Swedenborg and the science denominated Animal Magnetism ? Can any serious reader of our author’s theological works be persuaded that its principles are irrelevant, or not interwoven, or do not form a prominent part of all his doctrines ? And if it is so, how vain the attempt to smother and silence all inquiry and examination—to put a veto upon our lips and to stay all future correspondence upon a point in which the char­acter of our author’s doctrines is so deeply implicated ! The read­ers of Swedenborg are not to be terrified by any gratuitous supposi­tion about one finite mind interfering with the will and consciousness of another, so as to bring it into a state or condition ⁽in which it is not accountable, either in bodily words or works.’ Such a case is entirely suppositious, and not possible. It cannot happen ; nay, a cherubic guard is ever ready to prevent it. ‘ In the natural world, that which acts and that which reacts, is called a force and an effort; but in the spiritual world, that which acts and that which reacts, is called life and will. Life is then a living force> and will is a living effort; and the equilibrium is called liberty or freedom.’ Now, under any possibility, can this equilibrium be ever frustrated or remain quiescent, even while its bodily or external sen­sations have that appearance ? There is a cherubic guard, as said be­fore, ever ready to prevent it, conducted by laws of order, and sus-

[†] New Churchman, Vol. I. p. 33.

[‡] The following passage contains what is to be regarded as little short of a direct and formal enunciation of the remarkable power which has been so clearly developed since his day. The work from which it is taken was published in 1763 ; the clairvoyant fac­ulty was discovered, not by Mesmer, but Puysegur, in 1784.

“ Human wisdom, which is natural so long as a man lives in the world, cannot possibly be exalted into angelic wisdom, but only into a certain image of it; but still the man in whom the spiritual degree is open, comes into that wisdom when he dies, and may also come into it by laying asleep the sensations of the body, and by influx from above at the same time into the spiritual (principles) of his mind.”—D. L. $ W. 257.

Something very similar appears also in the following passage :— “ Even with the wicked corporeal and worldly things may be laid asleep, and they are then capable of being elevated into something heavenly; as is sometimes done with souls in the other life, par-^ ticularly such as are recently arrived, who have an intense desire to see the glory of the Lord, because they had heard so much about heaven when they lived in the world. Those external things with such are then laid asleep, and they are thus raised into the first hea­ven, and enjoy their desire.”—A. C. 2041.

A more distinct allusion to the fact of spirits’ sleeping in the other world may be seen, H. H. 411: “ Certain spirits, not of an evil sort, sunk into rest, as into sleep, and thus as to the interiors, which are of their mind, they were translated into heaven; for spirits, before their interiors are opened, can be translated into heaven, and be instructed concerning the happiness of those who dwell there ; I saw them when they had thus rested for half an hour, and were afterwards conveyed back into the exteriors in which they before were, and at the same time also into the recollection of what they had seen: they said that they had been amongst angels in heaven, and that they had there seen and perceived things stu­pendous, all shining as of gold, silver, and precious stones, in won­derful forms, which were admirably varied; and that the angels were not so much delighted with the external things themselves, as with those which they represented, which were divine, ineffable, and of infinite wisdom, and that these things were to them a source of joy; besides innumerable things which could not be expressed in human languages, not even as to a ten thousandth part, nor be admitted into ideas containing any thing material.”

restored to their functions. Once an incredulous person came near me unawares and trod upon my foot, which was quite, hidden under a chair. The sleepwaker instantly darted down her hand and rubbed her own foot, with an expression of pain. Again, if my hair was pulled from behind, Anna directly raised her hand to the back of her head. A pin thrust into my hand elicited an equal demonstration of sympathy.

^<e I have already remarked that, when the mesmeriser eats, or drinks, or smells anything, his patients go through the same mo­tions, as if the impact of the substances were on their own nerves. But this, it may be said, might be referred to the simultaneity of motion which I have shown to exist occasionally between the sleep­waker and the Mesmeriser. I have, however, a very strong proof that the former has really an impression on the nerves of taste cor­responding with that of the latter. Three of my sleepwakers (on whom alone I tried the experiment) could in no way distinguish substances when placed in thpirown mouths, nor discriminate be­tween a piece of apple and a piece of cheese; but, the moment that I was eating, they, seeming to eat also, could tell me what I had in my mouth. Once I tried this, before many witnesses, on the sister of Theodore, with some pieces of fig which I had care­fully concealed, and the experiment answered perfectly.

“ Again, Anna M-------- heard my watch ticking when I held it to

my own ear, though not when she held it to her own. In the former case, she assured me that she heard the sound exactly as if the watch were close to her own ear.”—Townshend’s Facts in Mes* merism, p. 150.

[**] The truth of this may easily be put to the test by a very simple experiment. Select a person who has a soft moist hand. Let him lay it with the inside of the palm upwards upon his knee. Let the operator draw his own palm several times over it with considera­ble vigor. If he then holds his hand over it, gradually elevating it as with the purpose of raising the other hand, it will often be found to yield to the attraction and follow it, as the metal does the mag­net, to a greater or less height. When this experiment succeeds, the same effect may usually be produced by simply willing the hand to rise.

[††] I am well aware of the futility of all attempts, in cases like the present, to convince the skeptical reader of the previous ignorance, on the part of the subject, of the facts adverted to. He will per­sist in believing that this young lady, for instance, had in some way became apprised of my intention of publishing a work on the Resurrection, and of the particular views it was designed to advo­cate. To this I can only oppose my own absolute assurance, that this was not the case. She was then almost an entire stranger to me, moving in an entirely different walk in life—I had never before seen her but twice or three times—there were no circumstances that could tend to make her acquainted with my private purposes of writing—and at a period when many of my intimate friends were not aware of my being engaged in the work alluded to, it is very unlikely that an obscure milliner girl should have obtained the knowledge of it. There was intrinsically just as much reason for the supposition, that five hundred other young ladies, in the same vocation in the city of New York, should have known of my purpose and my subject, as that she should. I say this, however, with very slender hope that any assertion or asseveration to this effect, will have the least weight with the majority of persons who have never witnessed any thing similar.

[‡‡] I adduce in this connection the following extract from Miss Martineau’s Letters, to which the reader will give as much or as little weight as he may deem it to deserve. I think I may state it, however, as a general fact, that Mesmeric subjects, whatever were their previous opinions, know in that state nothing of the resurrec­tion of the body.

“ On Saturday, October 12, she had told us that she now ⁶ saw the shades of things’ that she wanted to know, and that she should ⁴ soon see clearer.’ The next evening, she went into a great rap­ture about the ⁶ gleams ’ becoming brighter, so that she should soon see all she wished. The light came through the brain,—not like sunlight, nor moonlight; ‘ No, there is no light on earth like this: ’ the knowledge she got ⁶ comes astonishingly—amazingly—so pleas­antly!’ ‘How is the Mesmerizing done which causes this V ‘ By . all the powers at once.’ ‘What powers'?’ ‘The soul, and the mind, and the vital powers of the body.’ Then, as we inquired— ‘The mind is not the same as the soul. All are required in Mes­merizing, but the mind most, though Mesmerism is still something else.’ ‘ Those three things exist in every human being, (the soul, the mind, and the body,) separate from one another; but the faculties belonging to them are not the same in everybody; some have more, some less. The body dies, and the mind dies with it; but the soul lives after it. The soul is independent and self-existent, and therefore lives for ever. It depends upon nothing.’ Here T prompted the question, ⁶ What then is its relation to God I ’ She hastily replied, ‘ He takes care of it, to reunite it with the body at the day of judgment.’ Here I was forcibly and painfully struck with the incompatibility of the former and latter saying, not (as I hope it is needless to explain), from any waiting on her lips for revelations on this class of subjects, but because it was painful to find her faculties working faultily. As I felt this disappointment come over me, an expression of trouble disturbed J.’s face, so inef­fably happy always during her sleep. ‘ Stop,’ said she, ‘ I am not sure about the last. All I said before was true—the real Mesmeric truth. But I can’t make out about that last; I heard it when I was awake—I heard it in church—that all the particles of our bodies, however they may be scattered, will be gathered together at the day of judgment; but I am not sure.’ And she became excited, saying that it ‘ bothered her,’ what she knew and what she had heard being mixed up.”—Miss Martineau's Letters on Mesmerism, p. 12.

principal female part, and which the Mesmerisee had never read or heard described* The fact of the relation of the plot can be attested by five witnesses of most unquestionable integrity, and the character of the young _ lady is a sufficient voucher with all who know her for the truth of her statement, that she had never read the play.

[***] Traitedu Somnambulisme, Paris, 1823. P. 247. f P. 729.

[†††] The following is a translation from the German of Werner.

“After some time my mother entered the chamber, and her (the patient’s) whole body began to tremble, as had happened before when any brother came in. I then asked her, ⁴ Can you not do something to prevent this trepidation upon the entrance of other persons into the roomf She answered, ⁶ Nothing in this case can be done; I cannot prevent it. You know so little; it is the consequence of my excitable condition. It always causes me pain when other persons besides yourself approach me, be they who they may. But especially painful and afflictive to me are those whose influence upon my nerves does not correspond with yours; spasms then immediately ensue. The principle which animates my nerves seems not to be in harmony with that which animates theirs. What this is I cannot say, still less can I define the nature of the difference, but this I have from my Albert (her guardian spirit) to whom I refer it, that the source of it is to be traced both to the body and the spirit. The general state of health and the mode of life has an influence also, and so has the disposi­tion and principles.’ ⁶ But how can you experience pain from others, when they only approach you at a distance V ⁶ Every man, when awake and in good health, has an atmosphere which possesses a certain extension. That of magnetized persons is wider than that of the healthy. When they both come in con­tact and mingle, there arises to me, because I am much more susceptible in my present condition, a distressing sensation, to which I can give no name ; the healthy know nothing of it. With you, however, it is the reverse; I am comfortable in your proxim­ity, because the animating principle of our nerves is in harmony.” ’ —Die Schutzgeister {Guardian Angels) of H, Werner, p. 70.

[‡‡‡] It is on the same principle that the spheres of certain animals are so unendurably repugnant to persons of a particular tempera­ment. I once knew a clergyman who was thrown into convulsions by a cat’s leaping upon his bed, and his idiosyncrasy in this re-

sped was so well known among his people, that wherever he made a call the first preliminary was to remove all the cats to private quarters till he had retired.

[****] “Sympathies and antipathies are nothing else than exhalations of affections, from minds which affect one another, according to similitudes and excite aversion according to dissimilitudes. These, although they are innumerable, and are not sensibly perceived by any sense of the body, are yet perceived by the sense of the soul as one; and according to them all conjunctions and consociations in the spiritual world are made.”—T. C. R. 365.

“When those who in the natural world have been adulterers from a confirmed principle perceive a sphere of conjugial love flowing down from heaven, they instantly either flee away into caverns and hide themselves, or, if they persist obstinately in con­trariety to it, they grow angry with rage, and become like furies. The reason why they are so affected is, because all tilings of the affections, whether delightful or undelightful, are perceived in that world, and in some cases as clearly as an odor is perceived by the sense of smelling; for the inhabitants of that world have not a material body which absorbs such things.”—C. L. 425.

“They were unwilling to think at all about their body, or even about anything corporeal and material, contrary to the spirits from our earth; hence it was that they were not willing to ap­proach, for spirits consociate and dissociate according'to affections and the thoughts thence derived; nevertheless after the removal of several spirits from our earth, they came nearer and discoursed with me. But on this occasion there was felt an anxiety arising from the collision of spheres : for spiritual spheres encompass all spirits and societies of spirits, flowing forth from the life of the af­fections and of the thoughts thence derived: wherefore if the af­fections be contrary, collision takes place, whence comes anxiety.” —4. C. 10,312.

account for the wonderful presentiments which people of extraor­dinary piety have had of approaching calamities, the sickness or death of relations and friends, &c. Their spirits, which are their real selves, were as much influenced by the spheres of others as if they had been bodily present, for spirits are not confined to time or place ; although in general this influence is by far the strongest, and in some cases not easily to be overcome, when the person is actually present: hence that visible uneasiness which is felt in the company of certain persons; the breast as it were contracts, the power of conversation is suspended, and you do not recover your ease and spirits until they are removed. Some men of loose and profligate lives have been uncommonly deranged and distressed when in the company of persons of eminent piety : for a time they are not themselves. The professed Jibertine, who has forgot to blush, has been discomposed and confounded at the simplicity and innocence of a young girl. Such are the powers of virtue ; and such is the respect which vice must involuntary pay to it. Virtue, meekness, forbearance, and humanity appear to be weak, yet are they founded on eternal strength; whereas profligacy and vice vaunt of their strength, when they are only forms of weakness and death. Every principle of truth applies to the good of life. The doctrine here laid down is of great practical import. We see a deep ground for being peculiarly careful ©f the company we keep; when we associate with them by choice and unreserve, we imme­diately expose ourselves to the influence of their sphere, which may corrupt not only good manners, but good principles. We are wonderfully combined together; therefore we cannot be too watchful over ourselves, or too circumspect of our companions. Man is no independent being; he experiences a healthful sympa­thy or a morbid .contagion from those who surround him; perhaps he is alway rendered better or worse by every company in which he is; and our companions in this world prepare us for our com­panions in the next.”’—New Jerusalem Mag. 1790 p. 193.

[‡‡‡‡] This may perhaps afford a solution of the circumstance of which nearly every one has been at some time conscious, viz. that when suddenly led to think of an absent person who has not for a long time been in his thoughts, he as suddenly meets him in the street or elsewhere. May not this be owing to the sphere which is sent before him 7

t It is proper, however, to say in this connexion that it is no other than the purest iorm of this tender sentiment which is in these circumstances awakened. “The attraction towards the mesmeriser testified by the patient is of a nature totally distinct from the prompting of passion. If compared to any love, it must be likened to self-love; for it seems to result from the identification of the vital and nervous system of the two parties.” * * * “When we consider these and other proofs displayed by sleepwakers of sensitive and motive sympathy with their mesmeriser ; when we reflect that they are actually heedless of injuries inflicted on them­selves, but tremblingly alive to all that he is made to suffer, we may well imagine that he stands to them in a very peculiar and vital relation : nor can it seem wonderful that, when severed from him, that they should acknowledge a schism in their being, and seem out of all unity with themselves.” * * * “ Nothing can be more evident than that it is an instinct, not a passion: the springs of life are touched, and the powerful inpulse of self-preservation is set in play. So, also, the repulsion from all others than the mesmeriser is but a measure of the attractive force which draws the patient there, where he exists even more than in himself.”— Townshend.

[§§§§] ⁱ⁶ The somnambulist has no perception of anything in the visi­ble world, with the exception of the souls of those individuals that are brought into a corresponding connexion, or into rapport with him : through these he learns what passes in the visible world. The soul, after death, enters into connexion with those that bear the greatest affinity to its own nature : if it enter into this kind of con­tact with others, it feels a pain, the extent of which corresponds with the degree of difference. O happy they that have approach­ed so near to the character of the Redeemer, as to come into con­nexion with him, that is, attain to the felicity of beholding him; they will then be in communion also with all his saints ! In this manner also, those friends, who much resemble each other in their moral character, will there abide together, in eternal connexion and harmonious union". From the preceding observations, we may therefore comprehend what will be the nature of communi­cation in the world to come. The somnambulist reads in the soul of him with whom he is placed in rapport; there is no need of language for the purpose, and such also is the case after death, the one reads in the soul of the other.”—Stillings Pneumatology, p. 63.      '

language de novo. The recollection, however, of his former at­tainments occurred to him suddenly, and everything was t once restored. But had he never recovered from his trance, he never would have regained the use of this, his corporeal memory. His state was very near death, and he experienced in part what others experience in full when they pass from the present to the future life. His case is given in the Appendix.

[†††††] “The damnation of those who are in evils is not effected in a moment, when they come into the other life, but after they have been first visited, that is, explored. Explorations are made to the intent that they themselves may apperceive that they must needs be damned, because they have not lived otherwise; also that spirits and angels may know that they have been of such a quality ; thus they can no longer be exculpated by either themselves or others.”—A. C. 7273.

[‡‡‡‡‡] An extended recital of facts of this nature will be found in Bertrand’s work on the Exlase Magnetique, Paris, 1826.

[§§§§§] It is, however, to be remarked, that spirits fully disembodied do not see material objects unless it be through the eyes of those whose spiritual sight is opened in the present life. That such ob­jects are visible to the magnetised is doubtless owing to the fact, that they are still so far connected with the corporeal that their visual functions follow, in this respect, the usual law, although the mode of their seeing is, notwithstanding, different, as the light does not reach the sensorium through the same medium. It is, more­over, doubtless true, that the clearness with which material objects are perceived in the Mesmeric state is not a test of the superiority of the clairvoyant vision. This power usually becomes diminished in proportion as the subject rises into the region of pure spiritual discernment. He then approximates more nearly the state of a spirit fully emancipated from the flesh. It is for the most part from recent and novitiate subjects that the very striking descrip­tions are elicited of persons and objects and scenery pertaining to the material world. By degrees they come to consider everything of this nature comparatively trifling and as not altogether consis­tent with the high and sacred uses to which the power is to be applied.

was with me, whom I had not known in the life of the body, and when I asked him whether he knew whence he was, he did not know, but by means of the interior sight he was led by me through cities where I had been, and at length through the city whence he came, and then through the streets and public squares, all which he was acquainted with, and at last to the street where he himself dwelt; and if I had known the houses, how they were situated, I might also have known his house.”—A. C. 2485,