(c.) It is also noticed, in some cases, that under peculiar circumstances this force acts from the organism of those affected with greater energy in some localities than in others (without reference to surrounding persons).

Third, It is evident, therefore, that the dynamic influence from the substances of the earth (under such circumstances) has more or less influence upon the organism of such persons, and consequently upon the action of this particular agent.

(d.) In some instances of these phenomenal developments, the presence of other persons has had a very marked influence upon the phenomena; sometimes diminishing their intensity, in other instances increasing it.

Fourth, This shows plainly that when the conditions are favorable surrounding persons do have an influence in modifying or developing this wonderful agency, and therefore that it is common to all men.

(e.) In all instances, when the normal tone of the nervous system is perfectly restored, the nervous symptoms have ceased, together with the phenomena in question.

Fifth, It follows, therefore, that the latter depend in all cases upon an abnormal condition of the nervous system.*

(f) The Will and the Reason have no control of this force in its action from the nerve-centres in their abnormal condition, and it acts from the person without cognizance of the consciousness. (The reverse is the case in normal conditions.) The patient cannot prevent being affected by the objective or external agent.

Sixth, It is, therefore, the opposite of the spiritual power, which is made independent of it. The physical agent belongs to the nerve-centres and the outer world, relating the one to the other.

95. Now, it is the most evident thing possible, if we were to attempt by a course of experiments to develop

*There may be also abnormal conditions of other parts of the organism necessary, such as that of the blood; but these are not yet made so apparent. The muscular conditions depending on those of the sympathetic ganglia we shall by and by notice.

these phenomena from a person,-if we wished to obtain the movement of objects without contact, or by the mere touch, and the production of sounds without the use of the usual instruments, we should be obliged, from a law of nature, to choose one whose susceptible nervous system may be thrown into precisely that abnormal condition. And, in order to develop a large field of this kind, there could be no better plan than to have a great many persons experimented upon, in various sections, in order to test the geological conditions, so to speak. They should be experi.mented on during various periods of the day, to determine their proleptical character. Nice experiments as to the influence of mineral emanation should be made. The person experimented on should be subjected to the influences arising from the presence of numerous and various persons. All this labor could not be effected by one man, nor a dozen, only by a large number.

96. Now, it so happens that we have many cases where experiments have been made, some of them with remarkable results. If all had been Aragos, we might have had much more that is scientific, and less that is fanatical. We will not complain, however; but thank God for the facts that are given, which might not have been elicited had the Aragos been engaged in the work.

97. It is not our object here to enter into a detail of the phenomena of the present day. We should collect others before these those belonging to other ages_and other climes. Some of the most interesting cases have been observed in Germany; we will now notice one,— observing, however, only the physical phenomena, and leaving the psychological characteristics for their proper place, as these involve another question.

CHAPTER III.

NEW AGENT, AND ITS PHENOMENA.

Physical phenomena in the case of Frederica Hauffe. - Influence of mundane agents upon her organism. - Nervous susceptibilities of this person. Action of forces from the nerve-centres, producing physical effects without the usual instruments.

98. No single case has perhaps excited so much interest and attention as that of the Sceress of Prevorst. Certainly there is no case which presents so great a variety of this class of phenomena, in connection with many others which belong to this field of inquiry. We might safely say, in fact, that the wonderful phenomena presented in this lady's life cover nearly, if not the whole field, of the present "manifestations," and extend much beyond. The learned observer of her case-Dr. Kerner has presented us very full details of her life. The experiments he made, in various ways, to develop the phenomena in every possible form, have placed within reach of the inquirer a large body of the most valuable facts.

99. The reader, by referring back to § 94, third deduction, will notice the important fact relating to the influence of geological localities on the conditions of the development of this force. This will now be corroborated; as also all the deductions under $ 94. We shall notice these as we pass along.

100. The town of Prevorst is a little village, of rather more than four hundred inhabitants, and is located in the mountainous parts of Germany. While the people on these mountains are free from intermittent fevers, to which the Lowlanders are subject, they are strongly pre

disposed to periodical nervous disorders, ghost-seeing, rhabdomancy, &c. It should follow, then, that in such a region we ought to find a seer or a seeress, certainly. It was here, amid these mountain wilds, that Frederica Hauffe was born; in those regions where, as her biographer states, "a sort of St. Vitus' dance becomes epidemic, so that all the children of the place are seized with it at the same time;" and who, like persons in a magnetic state, are aware of the precise moment that a fit will seize them;" thus, if they are in the fields when the paroxysm is approaching, they hasten home, and immediately fall into convulsions, when very soon they rise upon their feet, and move for an hour or more with the most surprising regularity, keeping measure like an accomplished dancer." They then "awake as out of a magnetic sleep, without any recollection of what has happened." "It is also certain," continues Dr. Kerner, "that these mountaineers are peculiarly sensible to magnetic influences, amongst the evidences of which are, their susceptibility to sympathetic remedies, and their power of discovering springs by means of the divining-rod."

It was among such susceptible human beings, where the material agencies had such powerful influences upon the nerve-centres of an otherwise hardy people, that Frederica Hauffe was born and reared. Early in childhood she disclosed a very high degree of the same susceptibilities.

101. Thus it was found, as Kerner remarks, that "in her hands, at a very early age, the hazel wand pointed out metals and water."

102. Then again it was found that in certain localities, among these mountains, the influences from the earth had a very powerful effect upon her susceptible nerves.†

*Herein we see the automatic action of the nerve-centres, and the play of certain psychological centres of the brain under mundane influence. A subsequent chapter presents some of the most singular instances of this.

These are no trifling facts,-neither are they the mere whim of superstition and ignorance. He who has studied Reichenbach will see at once the importance of every fact of this character.

103. Thus it was frequently observed, by the person whom she often accompanied in his walks through solitary places, that, though she was skipping ever so gayly by his side, at certain spots a kind of seriousness and shuddering seemed to seize upon her, which, for a long time, he could not comprehend. He also observed that she experienced the same sensations in church-yards, and in churches where there were graves; and that, in such churches, she could never remain below, but was obliged to go to the galleries.

Superstition, it is true, has always claimed such facts. as parts of her ghostly superstructure; but they are too material for this.

104. Such was the early childhood of this ill-fated personage, with regard to her susceptibilities to mundane agencies. There was also discovered, in her early years, a very high degree of susceptibility to the influence of particular persons. Some very curious facts are connected with this period of her life, some of which belong to another class of phenomena. She was rendered still more sensitive, at a little later period, by the watching and anxiety to which she was subjected by the sickness of her parents. Their dangerous illness for a whole year kept her in a continual excitement. She often passed into an abnormal state, wherein the mundane agencies seemed to have an hundred-fold greater influence upon the nervecentres. Thus (to give an instance which contains also psychological characteristics), she was almost constantly in a magnetic state; and in this condition frequently communicated what was taking place at a distance, in which also she was aware of producing sounds in space, and some ways off, but, this being found to materially injure her, the habit was removed. This important fact will be more particularly noticed, by and by.

105. At the age of nineteen, two events occurred which seemed to bear away and destroy the last remaining power of self-control and conscious self-possession. The first was her engagement of marriage. With this she sunk at once into a state of depression, for which her friends could in