although seeing no signs of a gale of wind, and not inclined to be superstitious, concluded it best to be on his guard, and charged the man forward to keep a strict watch. The wind was now increasing, with a heavy sea rising, and at half-past one a.m. the vessel was about five miles from Georges Banks. She was hove to under a close-reefed foresail, and they were furling the balance reef, when a white light was observed to leeward, supposed to be on board a fisherman lying at anchor. Suddenly one of the crew sang out from the forecastle, "The vessel is filling with water!" Telling him not to alarm the men, the captain went down and found six inches of water on the top floor. The pumps were immediately manned, and baling with buckets commenced, after which the captain went sounding around in the hold to find the leak, but the vessel was rolling so hard and the water made so much noise among the barrels and in the ice-house that it was impossible to hear anything else. . . . They spoke the schooner Pescador and told them their condition. With all their pumping and baling they could not gain on the leak, and the crew were determined not to remain on board another night. The tide swept them down to leeward of the Pescador, and efforts were made to speak her again, but they could not reach her. Their movements were seen on board the Pescador, and upon asking them to send their boat to take them off, they did so at once. . . . At two p.m. the Sachem rolled over on her side, raised herself once, then plunged under head foremost, the master and crew feeling thankful to God that they had escaped and were safely on board the good schooner Pescador. These are the facts, and our readers can account for the dreams and the disasters in any manner that best pleases them. We publish the statement because we consider it somewhat remarkable that the dreams should be the harbingers of disaster on three occasions.Boston Herald, November 13th, 1871.

SPIRITUALISM IN CAIRO.

A Society of Spiritualists has been formed in Cairo, Egypt, under the direction of Madame Blavasky, a Russian lady, assisted by several mediums. Séances are held twice a week, namely, on Tuesday and Friday evenings, to which members alone are admissible. It is intended to establish, in connection with the Society, a lecture room, and a library of Spiritualistic and other works, as well as a journal under the title La Revue Spirite du Caire, to appear on the 1st and 15th each month.

A STRANGE STORY.

The following strange story is taken from The South London Courier of Saturday, March 2nd, 1872. It is printed in that journal in large type, and on the leading article page:

But

In the present day it is rare to hear of a bona fide ghost; but the following story is authenticated in a private circle of friends, to some relations of whom the ghost made his attentions particularly disagreeable. It is, of course, impossible to vouch for the exact truth of every detail of the ghostly story; but the facts are fully believed and certified by the circle above alluded to. The facts are as follows:-A few months ago a couple about to be married took a house in Berkeley-square, and upon concluding the transfer, &e., they were solemnly warned by the agent that a certain room in the house was haunted by a ghost. Of this they thought nothing, however, but, partly out of curiosity and partly out of necessity, the mother of the bride said she would have no fear to sleep in the haunted room, as she was at the house superintending the arrival of furniture, &c. The brave lady was not alone in the house at the time of her venture, as there were servants also sleeping there. At the usual time the lady retired. Nothing alarming was heard by the servants during the night, but the next morning, when they went to call up their mistress, they found her dead-in her bed-with open eyes wildly staring at the ceiling. A medical man, who was called in, could give no satisfactory cause of death, which seemed to have taken place through some violent shock to the brain and nerves. the newly-married couple, much shocked as they were by the untimely death of their relative, were quite incredulous as to its having been caused by any supernatural agency, or that the supposed ghost had anything to do with it; nay, even the husband of the lady said that the would have no objection to sleep in the haunted room, and he at length prevailed upon his wife to consent to his making trial of the powers of the ghost. But the lady stipulated that she should sleep outside the room in the adjoining passage, and that she should have the protection of a fierce bulldog and a pair of pistols, while two policemen were to be within call in another room. The gentleman retired to rest without any anxiety, the only precaution he took being the taking with him a pair of revolvers, in case of any emergency. He also agreed to ring a bell twice should the ghost appear, and he require the assistance of the police. About half-past twelve p.m. the anxious wife heard the bell ring, first rather rapidly, and then faintly and feebly. She flew into the haunted room and found her husband dead, with his eyes fixedly gazing at the ceiling. Such are the facts. We have not inserted a story merely to gratify our readers, but we have simply recounted the facts as they actually happened. We do not believe in ghosts, and we have no doubt that the whole mystery will ere long be cleared up; but, until we hear the explanation, we cannot help thinking the story a very remarkable one.

The editor of the Spiritualist after quoting the above, adds:

:

We wrote to the editor of the South London Courier, Mr. J. E. Muddock, of 121, Fleet-street, E.C., and asked him for information which would enable us to inquire into and verify the strict accuracy of the narrative. Last Monday we received a reply in which he stated:-"While not being able to give you names and particulars at present respecting the Berkeley-square ghost, I vouch for the accuracy of the facts as narrated, and you are at liberty to use my name, if you think proper." In a subsequent letter, Mr. Muddock says:-"I believe that in each case a coroner's inquest was held, and the verdict returned was' Died by the Visitation of God.'"

The story seems to be the same as that which some time ago appeared in Temple Bar, under the title of "The Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth."

N.S.-VII.

M

INTERVIEWING THE SPIRITS.

Under this head the New York Evening Standard of January 17th, gives a long account of séances with Dr. Henry C. Gordon, of that city written by one of its staff. One of the séances is thus described :—

This séance took place in the day-time. He and I alone sat at the table which was an ordinary round dining table, covered with a striped teacloth. On the table were a Bible, a small hand-bell, a tray of pencils, some common reporting paper, and a small portfolio. The medium and I sat facing each other at opposite sides of the table, and sideways to the light. After sitting a moment he became influenced, and after a process of jerks and spasmodic contortions, passed into what is supposed to be the "trance." He knew neither my name nor occupation, but immediately reaching across the table put his hand on mine, and calling me by name, saluted me as "brother." "Who are you?" I asked. "Do you not know?" he answered, giving the name of a little sister who died many years ago. The name was a common one, and this "test" did not affect me much. Next, the medium drew himself up, and with a' peculiar motion of the head and drawing down of the moustache, that strongly reminded me of a friend recently deceased, commenced writing rapidly. Page after page of the paper was filled; at the bottom of the fifth he signed a name and shoved the script across to me. The communication began with a term of endearment with which my friend, whom he had appeared to personate, used to address me. I glanced at the signature, and there was the name of my friend in full and fac simile of his own sign-manual. The contents of the communications were such as I would have supposed could be addressed me by no one but my friend. They referred to matters which I have every reason to believe were known to none but ourselves. I sat considering a moment, when the medium said: "If you do not believe that I (my friend) am present, if you have not faith after this test, you may ask and we will try to give you a test that shall satisfy you." "May I ask mentally ?" "Yes." The band-bell was just before me, and I involuntarily wished that it might be rung without hands; the wish was hardly out of my mind ere the bell arose about six inches from the table, was rung twice, and then gently descended to its place. This closed the séance, the doctor opened his eyes, came to himself, and not being engaged for the moment, very cheerfully answered the questions I asked.”

THE POLICE BAFFLED.

The Gazetta de Toreno relates the following:-"Not far from Savigtiano, is a house owned by M. Mussa, which, forsome time has been nightly disturbed by spirits of very turbulent and disorderly character. Windows are stoned, and crockery is hurled at visitors by unseen hands. These disturbances at length reached the ears of the prefect of police, who sent four carabiniers with a marshal to install themselves in the house and arrest the disturbers. The poltergeists, however, paid no respect to official dignities or police authority, and went on as usual, broke the windows and crockery, tipped over the tables, and did all sorts of mischief. Under these circumstances, what was the poor marshal to do? His orders were peremptory to arrest the disturbers of the peace. Not having fulfilled his instructions, he was liable to the military rules for disobedience."

THE QUESTION OF IMMORTALITY AMONG

SCIENTISTS.

By MARY F. DAVIS.

It is a generally conceded proposition, that some idea of a future life is so prevalent, even among rude and barbarous nations, that it may be claimed as universal. Huxley says: "There are savages without God in any proper sense of the word, but none. without ghosts." C. O. Whitman, in the August Radical, disputes the validity of this claim, and cites examples of such mental darkness among the lowest savage tribes, as would preclude any idea of immortality. "Is it any wonder," he says, that such hopeless stolidity never indulges speculation about eternal existence ?" Nay, verily. But it is a wonder that our author should take the absence of such speculation on the part of these savage beings as an index of the universal native conviction of the mind on this question. He seems not to be aware that, by showing the lack of ideas on all subjects in these undeveloped minds, he fully explains their lack of the idea of immortality.

Creatures so low in the scale of being as not to understand "the simplest arithmetical calculations," are scarcely the ones to illustrate the sweep of human reason in its normal activity. The author says: "Children and idiots have no conception of immortality." Have children and idiots any conception of other ideas which we find ourselves possessed of when the powers of the mind, which are latent in infancy, and dormant in idiocy and among the lowest savages, come to reveal themselves more fully? If children do not enunciate the axioms of mathematics, does this prove that these axioms have no lodgment in the mind? And if they express no thought of the moral law, does this show that it is not written on the heart? "That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual." A certain amount of mental activity must precede even self-consciousness, and the actual contents of consciousness cannot be discovered until such command of the faculties is attained, as to make introspection possible. Therefore the assertion that "whatever is innate appears clearest in children, idiots, and the lowest savages," is necessarily without foundation, and the apparent absence of any special intuition from a mind wholly unawakened, forms no basis on which to predicate the theory that it is actually destitute of such intuition.

But the whole doctrine of " innate ideas " is called in question by modern science. The theory of "evolution" is rapidly superseding it. In fact, mind itself is considered by materialistic scientists as evolved from matter. The phenomena of

thought, reason, affection, and moral ideas are regarded as caused by the various forces operating upon matter in the human form of organization. Carl Vogt considers that the brain secretes thought as the liver does bile; and others aver that soul is a product of matter. C. O. Whitman says: "Is the mind a distinct and independent entity or a mere attribute of matter? This is the real question that awaits a scientific answer. Assumption cannot settle it; speculation cannot solve it; intuition cannot grasp it; reason cannot compass it; dark circles can shed no light upon it; reported resurrection cannot determine it." Thus the board is swept elean, and we are left to await the slow processes of scientific inquiry for a settlement of our doubts. The affirmations of reason, which is "the flower of the mind," are to pass for nothing; the intuitions which have an outlook toward the hidden realm of causes, are to have no voice; the testimony of the senses, those swift messengers of the soul, which constitute the primal dependence of science itself, must be cast aside. Yet to the ear of the spirit, thus prone and abject, comes a voice saying: "We lie open on one side to the deeps of spiritual nature, to the attributes of God." Reason is not doomed to remain under the sway of the understanding. It would fain stand abreast of science, but it will accept its fiat only after it has explored the whole field of investigation.

A poet-philosopher of our day, Mr. Emerson, has uttered the following memorable words: "All goes to show that the soul in man is not an organ, but animates and exercises all the organs; is not a function like the power of memory, of calculation, of comparison, but uses these as hands and feet; is not a faculty, but a light; is not the intellect or the will, but master of the intellect and the will; is the background of our being, in which they lie-an immensity not possessed, and that cannot be possessed.' This is an affirmation of the higher consciousness, and is as valid, to those who "dwell in the same thought on their own part," as the declarations of science are to its earnest investigators.

In this view, mind is something far other than "a mere attribute of matter;" and, strange to say, the fundamental assumptions of modern science unwittingly confirm this high claim of deductive philosophy for the spiritual nature of man. These primary assumptions are, first, matter; second, spontaneous molecular activity; and hence, as one writer asserts, a latent pantheism lurks in the scientific system. แ Comprehensively stated, humanity represents the highest self-consciousness of matter; and if self-consciousness is a mode of molecular motion, then molecular motion is latently conscious." In