OUTLINES OF TEN YEARS' INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE PHENOMENA OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM, EMBRACING LETTERS, LECTURES, &c. BY THOMAS P. BARKAS. "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, &c."-1 John, iv., 1. "If an angel or a spirit hath spoken to him, let us not fight against "In the latter days some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to "Star unto star speaks light, and world to world To God; the name of Christ-the one great word, LONDON: FREDERICK PITMAN, PATERNOSTER ROW. NEWCASTLE: T. P. BARKAS. 1862. 250.g.219. DEDICATION. To truth seekers everywhere, this sincere but imperfect attempt to evolve the truth, contained in the profusion of mysterious phenomena, popularly designated Modern Spiritual Manifestations, which, during the past fifteen years, have presented themselves for investigation to candid and enquiring minds in all countries, is respectfully dedicated by the Author, with the hope that it may be the means of directing the attention of honest and capable investigators to a subject which embraces within itself many extraordinary physical and psychological phenomena, the proper analysis and classification of which are of the utmost importance, in order that the cause, or causes, may be properly understood, and unjustifiable scepticism be removed on the one hand, and pernicious credulity on the other. INTRODUCTION. Without controversy this endeavour to describe the truth, and expose the errors contained in the physical, physiological, and psychological phenomena, designated "Modern Spiritual Manifestations," and the inferences drawn from them, will be received with indifference, if not with contempt, by the majority of those who open the pages of this work. That reception will not surprise any one who has studied the histories of remarkable discoveries. Truth has invariably to fight its way into favour. The course of probation may be long, but success is the inevitable result of patient and well directed effort. The writer of a leading article, in the "Times" of March 3rd, asks a very pertinent question when he says, "How often must a great truth come forth to light, and be revived and overborne, and lapse back into obscurity, before it achieves general acceptation ?" Cuvier boldly withstood the theory of Buckland, that mammalian animals existed in a low form of sedimentary rock; and Cuvier in his turn was opposed by the savants of Paris, when he contended that opossum-like creatures had, in remote ages, lived in the neighbourhood of that city, and that the teeth of them had been found in Montmartre Quarries. Both facts are now universally admitted. In the present work I have endeavoured to condense a description of ten years' enquiries into mysterious phenomena; and now for the first time I express my convictions as to their specific origin, the personality, and identity of the agents producing the effects, and the value of these modern events as moral and religious agencies. |