MOVING PONDERABLE BODIES BY OCCULT AGENCY.
“‘When they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried, and said (to Elisha), ‘Alas, master!’ for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, ‘Where fell it?’ And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it thither; and the iron did swim.’ (2 Kings vi. 4-6.)
“The raising from the ground of weighty substances, or the moving of these from place to place, is one of the most common, and most easily verified, of physical manifestations. I have elsewhere given many examples of it. (See ‘Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World.’) Here I shall add but two or three out of the numerous cases that have come under my eye during Spiritual sessions.
“A most satisfactory test of the power, by occult agency, to raise ponderous substances was suggested to me by that practical thinker, the late Robert Chambers, the well-known author and publisher, during his visit to the United States, in the autumn of 1860; and we carried it out on the thirteenth of October of that year.
“On the evening of that day we had a sitting in Mrs. Underhill’s dining-room; there being present Mr. and Mrs. Underhill, Kate Fox, Mr. Chambers, and myself. In this room we found an extension dinner-table of solid mahogany, capable of seating fourteen persons. This we contracted to the form of a centre-table, and, having procured a large steelyard, we found that it weighed in that form a hundred and twenty-one pounds. We suspended this table by the steelyard, in exact equipoise and about eight inches from the floor. Then we sat down by it; and while our experiment proceeded, Mrs. Underhill sat with the points of both feet touching one of mine and Kate in the same relation to Mr. Chambers. This was done at their suggestion, so as to afford us proof that they had no physical agency in the matter. Their hands were over the table, near the top, but not touching it. There was bright gas-light. Thus we were able to obtain a
CRUCIAL TEST,
the table remaining suspended, with the constant weight at the figure of 121. We asked that it might be made lighter. In a few seconds the long arm ascended. We moved the weight to the figure 100: it still ascended; then to 80; then to 60. Even at this last figure the smaller arm of the steelyard was somewhat depressed, showing that the table, for the moment, weighed less than sixty pounds. It had lost more than half its weight, namely, upward of sixty-one pounds. In other words there was a power equal to sixty-one pounds sustaining it. Then we asked that it might be made heavier; and it was so; first, as the figures indicated, to 130, and finally to a hundred and forty-four pounds.
“The change of weight continued, in each instance, from three to eight seconds, as we ascertained by our watches; and during the whole time the ladies maintained the same position of feet and hands; Mr. Underhill not approaching the table.
“We had given Mr. Underhill no notice of our intention to ask for this experiment. The heavy steelyard was bought for the occasion from a hardware-store in the neighborhood. How much a Jewish axe-head commonly weighed, in the days of Elisha, I know not; it could be but a few pounds. Our miracle (dynamics) exceeded that of the prophet, as far as regards the weight of the body that was made lighter. But the Hebrew seer was at a greater distance from the object raised than were our mediums. On the evening just preceding that on which we tried the above experiment I had a sitting at Mr. Underhill’s, with very satisfactory result.”