namely, whenever she was placed in a bath by her attendants, they had a great deal of labor to immerse her body beneath the surface. The specific gravity of her upper and lower limbs, and of her chest, seemed to be more like that of a cork, or a bladder of air, than that of muscle, nerve and bone. Something seemed to pervade her body, or to act upon it, so entirely opposite to the centripetal action of the earth, as to counteract this law of force in the most marked manner.

145. This fact suggested to Dr. Kerner a curious experiment, which resulted in the development of another important phenomenon. He had concluded that, as all these phenomena had taken place more or less in conjunction with those usually termed magnetic or mesmeric, there might be some relation of the forces in both, or, indeed, they might be identical. To test this matter, he at one time placed his fingers against hers, when he found at once there. existed a mutual attraction, as between two magnets; and now, by extending his hands upward, he found he had raised her clear from the ground; thus she was suspended as a magnet suspends a piece of iron, or another magnet, simply by a polar force. This was repeated several times, and afterward his wife did quite the same thing.

146. We have already spoken of the action which the sun's light had upon her in producing physical effects. Amongst others we have not yet noticed, Kerner mentions that the different colored rays produced each a specific effect. The light of the moon, also, when she looked at it, produced coldness and shivering, with melancholy.

147. "On touching her," says Kerner, "with a finger, during an electrical state of the atmosphere, she saw small flashes, which ascended to the ceiling; from men these were colorless, from women blue; and she perceived emanations of the same sort, and with the same variation of color, from people's eyes. Rain-water, fallen during a storm, she could not drink, on account of the heat it occasioned; but at other times it was agreeable to her.

148. "She was extremely sensible of all contagious and epidemic influences. The higher she was in space, the

more abnormal and magnetic was her condition; this was observable, even in the different floors of a house. In a valley, she felt oppressed and weighed down, and was attacked by convulsions. She was affected by wind, especially when it was gusty; and, though shut up in a room, could tell from what point it blew."

7*

CHAPTER IV.

Phenomena of rapping and other sounds, also movement of objects at a distance. Dr. Kerner's investigations. Results upon the trials of mineral agencies upon her system. -Reichenbach's inquiries. Physical phenomena at the residence of Kerner, also at the residence of those who had come into rapport or special relation with Frederica. Classification of these phenomena.

149. HAVING thus presented those phenomena, in the case of this unfortunate woman, which demonstrate the action of mundane agencies upon her susceptible organism, and especially of that which we are investigating in particular, we will view more thoroughly those physical phenomena which are produced by the action of this agent in the organism, when acting outwardly. We have already given a few specimens, and alluded to the power possessed in the nerve-centres of this woman to produce sounds, even at a distance.

150. The following is the language of Dr. Kerner on this point; after giving which, we shall consider some examples, of the same character, which took place in relation to those who had come into rapport with her.

151. "As I had been told by her parents, a year before her father's death, that at the period of her early magnetic state she was able to make herself heard by her friends, as they lay in bed at night, in the same village, but in other houses, by a knocking, as is said of the dead, I asked her, in her sleep, whether she was able to do so now, and at what distance. She answered that she would sometimes do it. Some time after this, as we

were going to bed,- my children and servants being already asleep,- we heard a knocking, as if in the air over our heads. There were six knocks, at intervals of half a minute. It was a hollow, yet clear sound,— soft, but distinct. We were certain there was no one near us, nor over us, from whom it could proceed; and our house stands by itself. On the following evening, when she was asleep,-when we had mentioned the knocking to nobody whatever, she asked me whether she should soon knock to us again; which, as she said it was hurtful to her, I declined."

152. And yet, at no great interval after this, Kerner gives the following as having taken place at his house:

"On the morning of the 23d (of March, 1837), at one o'clock, I suddenly awoke, and heard seven knocks, one after another, at short intervals, seeming to proceed from the middle of my chamber. My wife was awakened also; and we could not compare this knocking to any ordinary sound. Mrs. H-(the seeress) lived several houses distant from us."

as

153. On the 30th of the same month, Rev. Mr. Herrmann came into rapport, or special relation,* with the seeress through the medium of psychological sympathy, well as through the physical influence. Previous to this he had not been troubled with strange sounds at his house; but after that period he was awakened every night, at a particular hour, "by a knocking in his room,- sometimes on the floor, and sometimes on the walls, which his wife heard, as well as himself."

154. Such facts as these, coming side by side, are hints

* In order to show this special relation that was established, we would here name the fact that Mrs. H. was, in a great part of her magnetic state, under a species of religious excitement, and at prayer. Mr. Herrmann sympathized with her in this; and now, to see the sympathetic reflection, we would add that, simultaneously with the commencement of this rapping in his room, he experienced an involuntary disposition to pray. Thus showing a double influence from Mrs. H.:

First, That of mere physical power.

Second, That from the psychological centres. Many very curious facts of the latter, in conjunction with the former, will be given when we come to treat of them in relation to each other.

of nature too important to be slighted. And we shall find a great many others, before we have finished these investigations. They have a language, however, which the deaf will not hear.

155. Another instance is given by Kerner, which took place while at the house of Mrs. H. "On the evening of the nineteenth, Mrs. H. being in bed, and I writing at a table near her," says he, "I suddenly heard a noise, like the rustling of paper, on the commode behind me, where there was nothing of that sort. I arose instantly to examine the cause, but could find none whatever; and Mrs. H.'s bed was at a considerable distance from the spot. The next day the same thing happened on the table, instead of the commode."

156. The reader, by referring to $$ 138, 139, 140, will notice that there was a peculiar relation between the agent associated with silicious substances, such as glass, crystals of this substance, and sand, gravel, &c. This species of phenomena should now be placed by the side of the following, which occurred several times.

157. On the twenty-first of April, just after that phenomenon with regard to the papers we have just noticed, and when Dr. Kerner was at the house of Mrs. H., the window being open, he saw a quantity of gravel come in the window, which he "not only saw," as he says, "but picked up!" To be certain that no one threw it in, he immediately looked out. On comparing it, he found it to be such gravel as lay in front of the house. Sounds, also, were produced in the room soon after, of the character already described.

158. As the new agent acted in the case of Angelique Cottin, so it exhibited in the case of Frederica its centrifugal power on particular bodies, superior to that of the centripetal of the earth. In the case of Angelique, it raised a heavy tub, or trough, with a man in it. În the case of Frederica H., it raised a cricket to the ceiling, without human hands touching it.

159. Let the reader now take the following details of phenomena of this class witnessed by Mr. Wells, of the