528 THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE. Correspondence. SHALL WE HAVE AN EXHIBITION OF SPIRIT DRAWINGS? To the Editor of the "Spiritual Magazine." SIR, Will you allow me once more to revert to your suggestion for an extended Exhibition of Spirit Drawings, as I find there are many persons who look upon it as a very desirable step; and I have, therefore, endeavoured to gain all the information I could as to the method by which it may be accomplished. Mr. Mc Nair, who has acted as manager and secretary for my exhibition, and has had much experience in similar arrangements, would be willing to undertake the working details, and he tells me that the usual plan is for a sum to be guaranteed sufficient to meet the expenses, say by subscribers of £5 each; then there must be one gentleman who will undertake the duty of treasurer, and at least three or five who will finally form themselves into a hanging committee, and perhaps for that purpose, some artists may kindly volunteer, who already have experience in that line. It will also be requisite to know if the pictures will be forthcoming, and whether the numerous artist mediums will kindly do their utmost to ensure a successful result by contributing their works for the purpose. I shall be happy to send, perhaps, a dozen of mine, or more if they should be wished for, and I have also six or seven drawings by other mediums, which I shall have much pleasure in lending, and perhaps other Spiritualists may be able to do the same, even if not artists themselves. The more I have heard on the subject during the four months that my gallery has been open, the more convinced I am that a very interesting collection may be made, and I would still urge its being held annually, when we may hope that Spiritualists from all parts of the world will unite in contributing to it. Some persons may question the utility of spiritual art, or indeed art of any kind, whether poetry, painting, or music, spiritual or unspiritual, but we need in this world something more than mere food and clothing, and drawing is one method by which our invisible friends have illustrated many new thoughts. I remember that Mr. Varley, in the latter end of 1863, put some question with reference to comets (while he and I were sitting alone), and through my hand a pencil drawing was executed, which I did not at all comprehend, but he said he did, and that it answered his question. In this month's Magazine, allusion is made to a suggestion in the Medium that works of art, not executed mediumistically, should also be admitted to the same exhibition, but I think it ought to be confined exclusively to spirit drawings or paintings, there being plenty of other galleries for this-world artists. May I ask such of your readers as are willing to co-operate in this undertaking to send a few lines to R. F. Mc Nair, Esq., Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, either as contributors of pictures, and how many, or as guarantors to the extent of £5 (which will not be required until 1872), and perhaps in the course of the next month some idea may be formed as to whether there is any probability of the plan being really brought to an issue, not forgetting the necessity for working volunteers as committee, &c. 20, Delamere Crescent, W., October, 12th, 1871. GEORGIANA HOUGHTON. THE Spiritual Magazine. DECEMBER, 1871. DR. CARPENTER ON SPIRITUALISM.* THOUGH painful in some respects, our experience of the world as Spiritualists is instructive and wholesome, and not without amusement. Our judgment stands us in good stead in ordinary affairs, and our senses are as trustworthy as our neighbours', but having been more or less familiar with phenomena commonly described as "supernatural," we find ourselves denounced by Sir William Thomson as victims of "grovelling superstitions," and tabooed by Dr. Carpenter as "no more to be argued with than insane patients." We are aware that neither Sir William Thomson nor Dr. Carpenter mean what they say, but are "swearing at large" in anger at our persistency, hoping by an affectation of contempt to cover the consciousness of their own impotence. It is no doubt highly exasperating that after all the exposures" and "explosions" we have been subjected to, that we should be still alive, and not only alive, but prospering and multiplying and gaining a firmer hold of the world year by year. As Dr. Carpenter admits Under the designation of Spiritualists a great and increasing sect has arisen both in the United States and in our own country, which numbers amongst its members not only a large aggregate that may be considered as representing the average intelligence of our social community, but some of the most cultivated men and women of our time; whilst distinguished representatives of various departments of science have attested the reality of some of the most extraordinary manifestations of the occult power exerted through the chiefs of the sect, though without committing themselves to any hypothesis as to its source. Dr. Carpenter's article in the Quarterly has been widely discussed, and extolled as "a masterly annihilation of imposture," but it is no better than dozens of similar " annihilations," whereby the truth has been magnified; and indeed the very * The Quarterly Review. No. 262, October, 1871. Article I.-"Spiritualism and its recent Converts.". N.S.-VI, 2 K 530 THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE. elaboration of the article serves to display its essential poverty. For, be it known, Dr. Carpenter is (what he accuses Spiritualists of being) "the slave of a dominant idea." He assumes credit for the discovery of "Unconscious Cerebration," accompanied with "Unconscious Muscular Action," taking pains to assure his readers that his views thereon were published in 1853-antecedent, therefore, to the Spiritual propaganda― The doctrine, therefore, was not invented to account for the phenomena in question; but may be legitimately applied to explain them. Now let it be clearly understood that we neither deny the reality of" Unconscious Cerebration," nor disparage Carpenter's investigations into its conditions and manifestations. As Sir William Hamilton observes The infinitely greater part of our spiritual treasures lies always beyond the sphere of our consciousness, hid in the obscure recesses of our mind; so that if we have ever known a thing, the question whether we can be said to know it at any particular time is simply whether we can readily reproduce it from the storehouse of our memory. And yet more will we concede-namely, that probably much that has passed and passes for "Spiritual Manifestations" among the less experienced is "Unconscious Cerebration," but to follow Dr. Carpenter and register the whole phenomena of Spiritualism under that head is, as people say, "to ride a hobby to death." To what lengths a philosopher under the craze of a "dominant idea" may go appears in the following deliverance— Our position is that the so-called spiritual communications come from within, not from without, the individuals who suppose themselves to be the recipients of them; that they belong to the class termed "subjective" by physiologists and psychologists; and that the movements by which they are expressed, whether the tilting of tables or the writing of planchettes, are really produced by their own muscular action, exerted independently of their own wills and quite unconsciously to themselves. And of the truth of this position we hope to be able to satisfy every unprejudiced reader, though we entirely despair of convincing such as have already surrendered their common sense to the delusions of a credulous imagination. Into what depths of absurdity he is prepared to plunge from this his "position" appears with grotesque effect in his account of the famous apparition of Mrs. Guppy on the centre of the table at a séance in Lamb's Conduit Street. Thus he explains the circumstances by his doctrine of "Unconscious Cerebration " It is obvious that the party of eleven persons who were sitting in the dark in Mr. Herne's apartments were in that state of "expectant attention" which is well known to physiologists to be productive of "subjective sensations," as well as of movements; and just as, in a circle of table-turners, when one leads off all the others follow suit, so any one who heard or felt anything (seeing being out of the question) which could be fancied to indicate Mrs. Guppy's presence on the table would readily excite the same belief in the minds of the rest; just as Theodore Hook, in his celebrated experiment on popular credulity, persuaded a London crowd not merely that he, but that they, could see the lion THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE. 531 on the top of Northumberland House wag his tail. How, in a dark séance, it was ascertained not merely that Mrs. Guppy was present, but that she was in a state of déshabille, and that the ink was still wet in her pen, we are not informed. What a case of substitution of fancy for fact! By whatever means Mrs. Guppy got upon the table, there she was certainly found in broad light, and was accompanied to her house in Highbury by several of the party whom she had surprised. Dr. Carpenter, after picking holes (to his own satisfaction) in Lord Lindsay's testimony in favour of Mr. Home ventures to inquire, "what need we more?" If we chose to be equally unwise, we might dismiss him with a sneer, as a victim of Unconscious Cerebration; but as there remain sundry valuable lessons to be had out of our sapient critic we restrain our instinctive contempt. Towards Mr. Crookes he displays much virtuous indignation for having accused men of science of shirking the investigation of Spiritualism. Mr. Crookes ought to have known better For ourselves, we can say that we took every opportunity within our reach, for more than a dozen years of witnessing the higher phenomena of Spiritualism; and it was only after a repetition of results which were entirely unsatisfactory, that we, and the scientific friends associated with us, abandoned the pursuit, as involving a waste of time and power that might be profitably employed upon worthier objects of investigation. As far as regards the physical manifestations we were forced to the conclusion, that there was nothing left to investigate, except the knavery of one set of performers and the self-delusion of others. The regret and surprise we should naturally feel over the fruitless investigations "of more than a dozen years" is largely mitigated when he emphatically assures us that— What will only take place in a dark séance, or when hidden under a table, we do not feel called upon to treat as anything else than as a piece either of jugglery or of self-deception. An investigator who sets out in such a temper is not likely to make much speed. He has prejudged Nature, he has defined what is possible, and every reverent student of creation knows that realities rarely answer to his prepossessions or predictions. He that would ascertain the truth must take truth on its own terms, in the dark, or hidden under a table, or, in a word, anyhow. Dr. Carpenter is candid enough to relate his experiences under six heads, and as we peruse them it is easy to see how he was bound at the outset to a certain verdict. He was never an inquirer, but only an expectant detective, satisfied that what was not illusion was knavery, and what was not knavery was illusion. Moreover having taken out a patent for Unconscious Cerebration, he is, like the generality of patentees, remarkably indifferent to all considerations that do not tend to the pro 532 THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.. motion of his invention. His interest in Spiritualism has been purely selfish. He resolved to annex its phenomena as illustrations of Unconscious Cerebration, and whatever cannot be so annexed and stuffed into his patent box is pronounced fallacious and worthless. His description of his quest betrays at every turn the commercial instinct-the bagman in search of private gain. Whenever he comes in sight of anything that does not suit his purpose, he shuts his eyes and wheels round. with an alacrity that would do credit to a Romanist with a horror of heresy. Of course, any evidence of imposture or illusion (inevitable where human nature is concerned) is expanded to the uttermost and applied to discredit what cannot otherwise be impugned. Possessed with such a spirit and such a purpose, Dr. Carpenter is obviously untrustworthy as a witness, and the relation of his experiences must be received with hesitation; and indeed wherever it is possible to check him as to matter-of-fact he is found unfair and inaccurate. Take for instance his account of the Davenport Brothers, and mark how he manages to pervert the simple facts of the case, unconsciously, we dare say, but none the less mischievously We were requested to join a committee for investigating the supposed "occult powers" possessed by the Davenport Brothers. Being informed that the members of the Committee would be required, like ordinary attendants at the Brothers' performances, to join hands in a "circle," and that the essential parts of the performances, themselves, took place either within a cupboard into which no one was permitted to look, or in a dark room, we replied that we did not consider these performances to be proper subjects of scientific inquiry; for that no scientific man could consent to forego the use of his eyes and his hands, the most valuable of all his instruments for the investigation of objective truth. Whoever was present at a Davenport séance will perceive at a glance the misrepresentation. The spectators were not required to join hands in a circle, nor to sit in the dark. They witnessed the performance as they might witness an experiment in any lectureroom. A committee was appointed by the audience to bind the Brothers as efficiently as they could, to inspect and exhibit the cabinet to all present, and to see the Brothers properly seated therein. Frequently ere the doors of the cabinet were closed the manifestations began, and hands and arms were projected from within. Granting darkness as a condition of certain modes of spiritual action (and any familiar with the powerful and subtle influences of light should not hesitate to do so), nothing, we maintain, could be fairer than the limit the Davenports set to it. They required darkness, but accepted it with every precaution that sceptical ingenuity could suggest. It is true that at a subsequent and independent séance they took their visitors into a room that was darkened on occasion-in fact, invited them into a larger cabinet, and required them to join hands as a precaution against |