rabbit burrows near Rosamund's Well. A candle was lit and set between the two chambers in the doorway, and the spirits were asked, in the name of God, what they wanted, but the only answer was the apparition of a hoof, which kicked down the candle, and with three scrapes snuffed it out. One of the company drew his sword, but it was immediately wrested from him, and he was stunned by a blow from the pummel. They then went to prayers, but the most frightful noises continued the whole time, and these funny manifestations continued more or less till Tuesday, the 5th of November, when the Commissioners left.

It is clear that no human means could achieve all these things in full light, and in the assembled presence of the Commissioners and their servants. Offended Royalty must have assembled all its invisible forces, and burst forth in victorious vengeance over the heads that had triumphed over it in their secular contest.

Scarcely less extraordinary were the demoniacal manifestations that took place in the family of one Gilbert Campbell, a weaver of Glenluce, in Galloway, Scotland. This account was published by Mr. George Sinclair at the end of his Treatise of Hydrostatics, and confirmed by Bishop Burnet, the historian of the Reformation, who had made personal inquiry into the facts, and found them well known to all the people about that part of Scotland, and thoroughly attested as true.

In this case stones were thrown at Campbell's doors and windows and down his chimney, by unseen hands; but still worse, his working instruments were broken, and the web in his loom cut to pieces as with scissors; clothes, hats, bonnets, and shoes were similarly cut and destroyed. When he replaced his tools they were snatched away invisibly, and hidden in holes and corners where it was difficult to find them. Eventually, they were compelled to quit the house. The minister of the parish, however, persuaded him to return, and seek to get rid of the enemy by prayer, but it did not succeed; the cutting and destroying went on as before; and a voice began to speak to them, and threatened to burn down the house. The spirit called the devil his father, and when they prayed to have him cast out, he replied by referring them to the 9th chapter of Mark, where the disciples could not cast out an evil spirit. Presently a hand and arm, from the elbow downwards, was seen striking on the floor till the house shook. This base spirit mixed filth with their food, as was done at a clergyman's house in Germany mentioned in the former Paper on "Stonethrowing." It not only threatened to burn down the house, but actually set fire to one of the beds. Such was the audacious violence of this demon that the poor weaver applied to the Synod of Presbyters, who appointed a meeting of the Synod at

Glenluce in February, 1656, and solemn prayers were offered for the relief of the afflicted family. The demoniacal visitation began in October, 1654, and did not cease till August, 1657, or till after nearly three years' duration.

I

There are some other relations of a like character in this book of the Rev. Joseph Glanvil, but none of equal importance; for instance, such as happened at the house of a Mr. Medcalfe, of Lessingham, in Lincolnshire, and at that of Sir William York of the same place. 1 quote these cases to make more complete the former list of such given in this Magazine. And may add that there appears no more reason to doubt the reality of these cases than there is that of those in our own time so fully attested by many persons of unquestionable credit now living. Extremely disagreeable as are the manifestations of this species, they are only the more convincing on this account. Nobody can be accused in these cases of "seeking to the dead," so favourite an objection with many anti-Spiritualists. They came of themselves, and the afflicted parties only seek to be rid of them, often with very little success. Bad as these spirits are, they are made the most effective demonstrators of the actuality of spirit-life; and however difficult it may be to conceive them left so much at liberty to annoy and do damage to innocent people, they by that very fact dispose of the favourite doctrine of the advocates of an immediate hell whence none can again escape; for here are troops of the most disorderly sprites rollicking at will upon earth, utterly unfit for heaven and uncondemned to "the other place." They, therefore, settle the question for us of a Hades, that is, of regions neither heavenly nor infernal, where it is to be hoped, and may be confidently believed, that they will be eventually taught better manners. W. H.

PSYCHOMETRY:

ITS ORIGIN AND SCOPE-WITH PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING MEDICINE, PHRENOLOGY, SPIRITUAL INTERCOURSE AND FUTURE PROGRESS.

(From the Banner of Light.)

IT is nearly thirty years since I found it necessary to coin a new word to name the marvellous art or process, then just discovered, by which we are enabled to measure the mind or character of man, and to investigate by sympathetic, yet critical analysis, the interior nature of any one, present or absent, living or dead, whom we desire to know more trully or intimately than history or society can inform us.

For this investigation and mensuration of mind I found no adequate term in use, and was therefore obliged to construct from the Greek the word PSYCHOMETRY (soul-measuring) as the proper term. The currency which this word has since obtained, entitles it to be recognised as an established portion of our language, representing an established science and art known to millions, and practised by many as a professional employment.

These facts which I discovered in the winter of 1842-3, were so marvellous, that I made no publication on the subject until 1849, when I gave a full account of them in my Journal of Man, published at Cincinnati. Meantime, however, I had taught the art of Psychometry in my lectures in Boston and other cities, and instructed a number of intelligent pupils in the art, whose beautiful and interesting descriptions of character interested many, and gradually extended a knowledge of Psychometry to thousands who had no knowledge of its origin or principles.

As this may be read by many to whom this subject is almost or entirely new, I must give a brief explanation of it. Psychometry, or soul-measuring, implies the use of mind to measure mind, as by a rod we may measure length, or by weights and levers determine the weights of heavy bodies. Mind affects mind, and emotion affects emotion, when brought into contact. Impressibility, which springs from a higher form of sensibility, enables us to feel or receive emotional and mental impressions.

The discovery which I perfected in 1842 was substantially this:-That all substances, material or spiritual, have their dynamic sphere or range of action, and that the constitution of man is endowed with subtler faculties and organs than any previously known to physiologists or phrenologists, by which the dynamic sphere of any substance might be appreciated. The organs of these subtler senses I found at the base of the front lobe of the brain, and the anterior margin of the middle lobe near the fissure of Sylvius, appearing internally in the temples, on a horizontal line, behind the external angle of the brow; also at the lower interior surface of the front lobe, adjacent to the falx, which separates the hemispheres on the median line.

By the former organs we catch impressions of a physical and emotional nature, and by the latter, mental impressions which in their transcendent delicacy seem to know no limit to their subtlety and penetration.

The former organs, largely developed in the late Bishop Polk, made him so exquisitely sensitive that he never touched a piece of brass, even unconsciously, without perceiving its taste in his mouth. I found that persons with this endowment could easily recognize the taste of any substance passively held in the

hand, or could obtain the entire medicinal impression of any drug, and feel its constitutional influences, by simply holding it in the hand, even when enveloped in paper, and when they had no idea of the name or nature of the substance. To a large number of readers, this will prove to be a valuable method of using medicines. All impressible persons may medicate themselves without any danger of drug poisoning through the stomach, by quietly holding in their hands the medicine that they need, as long as its influence is desirable, and thus testing the influence of various articles until they select that which is most beneficial, with a skill which even medical science cannot equal. For more persistent effects, the medicinal package may be suspended in contact with the skin, over the roundish depression at the lower end of the (breast bone) sternum.

But the living being is as potent a source of impressions as inanimate matter. By contact with the organs of the head, those of high impressibility are able to feel the influence of each organ of the brain, and nothing could surpass the delicacy and promptness with which my pupil, Mr. Charles Inman, would feel and describe the action of every organ of the brain by its impressions upon himself. This method so far transcended the crude results of Craniology as to render the latter of little comparative value in the thorough investigation of character. Indeed, the best practical phrenologists are those who, instead of following Craniology strictly, are guided by impressions derived from contact and sympathy.

When I had established the proposition that impressible persons may feel and describe by impression that with which they come in contact, I carried it further by showing that the AURA of any cerebral organ may be transmitted through a short conductor and felt by the impressible, or might be imparted to substances held in contact with the head for a few minutes, and then recognised in that substance by impressible persons.

The inference was easily drawn, that any substance with which we come in contact may become charged with our AURA, and may convey to an impressible person a distinct idea of the impression we have made. My experiments with Mr. Inman to verify this idea were perfectly successful. Selecting four letters from persons of marked character, I placed them successively in his hands and requested him to sit passively and describe the impressions which they produced in his mind. He gave me a full description of each as correctly as he could have given it from personal knowledge-not only portraying their characters, but comparing them together and describing their relations to each other.

The impressibility of Mr. I. was so exquisite and wonderful,

that I merely placed the manuscript in his hand, as he had been trained to catch impressions in that manner. But in further investigation, I found that it was preferable, for promptness and clearness of impression, to bring the manuscript into contact with the forehead, that the impressions might reach the brain without passing through the arms. My pupils were directed to sit passively, holding a portion of manuscript lightly in contact with the forehead, just above the nose, and while watching their internal consciousness to describe whatever impressions or ideas arose in their minds. In this way, I found persons of good psychometric capacity in every class attending my lectures, and in experiments upon medicines I found forty-three medical students out of a class of one hundred and thirty, (some of whom have since been medical professors,) capable of recognizing medicinal impressions. It appeared indeed that five or ten per cent. of the entire community possessed this psychometric capacity to a sufficient extent to make their experiments instructive and interesting.

Persons of superior endowments, in this respect, would catch impressions with considerable readiness, and would gradually describe a character as a painter finishes a portrait, by successive touches, so minutely, so delicately, and so appreciatively, that none but the most intimate friends could have rivalled this portraiture of the soul.

The Rev. Mr. Pierpont, who attended my anthropological lectures in 1844, was deeply interested in this class of experiments, and regarded them as a species of mental photography of the highest import. In his famous poem on Progress, descriptive of the great developments of the century, he compared psychometry and photography, regarding the portraiture of the soul as a nobler art than the portraiture of the body; and speaking of Daguerre as having taught "Phoebus, the god of light," to paint portraits at a glance, he continued:

But much, Daguerre, as hath thy genius done,
In educating thus Latona's son,

Send you a note to China or the Pole,

Where'er winds blow or waters roll,

That note conveys the measure of your soul.

If this autographic Psychometry then gives us the key to all cotemporary character, and to the innumerable characters and thoughts attached to all extant manuscripts, it may be a calcium light to penetrate the darkest recesses of history, as well as a domestic lamp by which to see the faces of ourselves and friends.