or any mixture of these with decomposed organic matter; indeed, that with any substance in a moist state electric currents suffer no interruption." 193. "The electricity of mineral veins has attracted the attention" of some of the first philosophers of Europe, and has led to some highly-interesting experiments with regard to the action of this important agent in the formation, disposition and direction, of rocks and mineral veins. M. Becquerel and others have made use of these currents successfully, in imitating nature in her processes of making crystals and other mineral formations. 194. It is not, however, necessary to suppose that the agent of which we are treating particularly requires a chemical action to develop it, or the action of the electric force. Experiments have proved that it is developed in every form of material action; that even the substances of the earth, without sensible alteration, exert this force. To this agent the sensitive nerve-centres are extremely susceptible. 195. The phenomena which betray this as a fact of nature have been observable from the earliest ages. It is certain, however, that local causes often give development to such strange phenomena that it requires all the science that can be mustered to keep back the tide of superstition which will be thus aroused in the breasts of those unacquainted with the action of agents. Take the following very curious instance: 196. In the years 1849-50, certain highly-respectable houses in the city of New York seem to have been all at once unaccountably beset with a strange power, which seized upon particular parts, and would not allow any one, not even the members of the families, to touch those seemingly consecrated things. Whenever this was attempted, a loud, sharp sound would be instantly given, accompanied with a sharp and spiteful flash of light, as if the agent was determined to protect that which it had seized upon. But this was not all; it would smartly shock the intruder with *We have found one of these to develop an important fact, which we shall give in another connection. It even a blow, as if with an unseen fist, or the like. seized upon the members of these families at times, and would, so to speak, make them apparently strike one another in an unseen manner simultaneously. It was often the case that a stranger could not call at the door without being instantly struck on the wrist or elbow, on touching the knob of the door-bell; and he would see, at the same instant, an angry flash of light, as if from some demon's eye. The ladies were not allowed to kiss each other, without each receiving, on the approach of their lips, a fiery smack, as from a spirit's lips. The dear little ones of these families were prevented from giving their mothers the parting salutation, on retiring for the night. There seemed to be a great deal of cunning shown by this agency. If the lady of the house did not think to pay all due deference to its rules when she wished to give orders to the servants below through the metallic speakingtube, she was sure to receive an unseen blow in the mouth, almost sufficient to stagger her; at the same instant she would see the flash of what might have been taken, certainly, for a "fiery," if not for an evil eye." 197. Professor Loomis visited these dwellings, and observed these phenomena. He perceived the flash whenever the hand was brought near to the knob of the door; also to the gilded frame of a mirror, the gas-pipes, or any metallic body; especially when this body communicated freely with the earth. "In one house," says this scientific gentleman, in his description before the American Scientific Association at New Haven,-"in one house, which I have had the opportunity to examine, a child, in taking hold of the knob of a door, received so severe a shock that it ran off in great fright. * * In passing from one parlor to the other, if she (the lady of the house) chanced to step upon the brass plate which served as a slide for the * See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1851, page 129. Every man of sense, if he knew the worth of this Annual, would not go a year without it. folding doors, she received an unpleasant shock in the foot. When she touched her finger to the chandelier, there appeared a brilliant spark, and a snap." * 198. "After a careful examination of several cases of this kind, I have come to the conclusion that the electricity is created [excited] by the friction of the shoes of the inmates upon the carpets of the house." Whether Professor Loomis is correct or not in his conjecture as to the cause, the phenomena were every whit electrical; hence we are led by them to see that when local circumstances are favorable, an agent may be developed in our midst, which may play the most singular pranks, which, it is more than probable, will be attributed to supernatural, and even spiritual powers, if the witnesses are ignorant of those characteristics which identify them with a well-known agent. 199. Had the characteristics in the above been contrary to those of any known agent, although the phenomena had been entirely physical, how many would have leaped to the conclusion, without a moment's thought, that the force was a power of the "invisible spirit world"! 200. Hence the precipitate conclusion with regard to the phenomena of the present day. The physical phenomena exhibit none or but few of the characteristics of any known physical agent. The attempt to account for them by a reference to the agency of electricity has signally failed, as the most important characteristics of this agent cannot be found to agree with the phenomena. 201. But no one has attempted to arrange the facts, and to give them a classification, without reference to the pre-conceived idea of a supernatural cause. Reason has been entirely set aside, on the one hand; while those who have held fast to its principles, throughout this excitement, have been, on the other, indiscriminately classed with * It should follow, if this was the cause, that every house with similar carpets should become electrized, and exhibit similar phenomena; in which case we should have observed their appearance at a much earlier period, and the occurrences would have been presented much more frequently and extensively those who, out of a mere negative state of mind, have denied the phenomena as anything more than a species of legerdemain. We protest against this, and show at once our claim to a faithful observation of the phenomena in question. CHAPTER VI. ELECTRICAL FORM OF AGENCY. The electric girls of Smyrna. - Movement of objects without contact. Effect of iron. Effect of the atmosphere. The same in cases of the phenomena of the present day. Is the agent in this case electric? Analogy of this case with that of Angelique Cottin.-Shocks given by the latter. - Shocks by clairvoyants. - Capron and Barron's statements.- Mrs. Tamlin. Wm. T. Coggshall's statements. - Electricity of the organism not the vital agent. - Dr. Wm. F. Channing.Electric girl of Strasburg. - Physical effect at a distance by her electric action. Electric lady. - Natural insulation. -Deductions. Every form of agency should have some distinct name. — Odyle of Reichenbach. Conclusion. - 202. It would seem necessary, to a thorough inquiry in the field we have chosen, to take some notice of the cases which present those phenomena bearing closer analogy to those of electricity than such as we have been considering. There is such a form of agency presented in a few cases we have collected, and they seem to show us that there is a transition of the agent, from the Odyle of Reichenbach, to the pure form of electricity. 203. The first we shall speak of is that of the two Smyrna girls, who visited France in the year 1839, and exhibited what was called their electrical powers in moving tables without contact. The following account we take from the Boston Weekly Magazine for December 28th, 1839. The two girls landed at Marseilles, about the first of November, 1839. "In hopes of realizing a splendid for |