"From the effects of the humidity of the atmosphere, some may conclude that the agent must have been electricity, inasmuch as the same state of the atmosphere produces a like effect upon the action of friction electricity. Let us allow this, and turn to precisely the same phenomenon, as it has been manifested in the cases of numerous 'mediums' for the so-called 'spiritual manifestations.'"
"We will not state it upon our authority alone, but also upon that of a large number of intelligent believers in the spiritual origin of these phenomena, that the electrical condition of the atmosphere enters into the circumstances of their evolution; that in a humid state of the weather it is not only difficult, in many instances, but sometimes it is absolutely impossible, to obtain them under such a condition." We know that many of the less informed "mediums" attribute these failures to the capriciousness of the spirits, and frequently scold them soundly for their misdemeanors, though at other times they seem to pity them because they get so weary and fatigued in answering so many inquiries, and being so long "on duty."
"It was thought by some who witnessed the case of Angelique Cottin, that the agent which acted so powerfully from her organism, overthrowing tables, twisting chairs out of stout men's hands, raising a man in a heavy tub, was electricity. C. Crowe says it did cause the deviation of the magnetic needle; but M. Arago, who knows more about this abused agent than a nation of theorizers, could not detect the least signs of it by the nicest tests. And yet it would give the person who touched her or her dress a powerful shock, as if it were electricity. Still, it may be the same agent that is ground out of plate glass, that propagates news from city to city on iron wires, and that thunders in the material heavens."
"It has been supposed that because, in many instances, 'mediums' have given shocks like those given by electrized bodies, the two agents must be identical. Not long since, a young lady, about sixteen years of age, Miss Harriett Bebee, was placed in a magnetic state, in company with Mrs. Tamlin, both being of a clairvoyant character. The sounds were heard while they were in that state. Every time these occurred a very sensible jar, like an electric shock, was experienced by Miss Bebee. In answer to a question, she stated that at each sound she felt as if there was electricity passing over her. Several of the persons, in whose presence these sounds are heard, always receive a slight shock, so that there is a slight jar, which has sometimes been so plain as to lead persons, ignorant of the facts and the phenomenon, to accuse them of making it themselves." Says a writer upon this subject, "This feeling of electricity seems to pervade nearly every thing connected with these phenomena. When the rapping is heard, the peculiar jar is felt, differing from the jar produced by a blow; and in various other ways we are reminded of the use of this subtile agent. We often see, in a dark room, bright electric flashes on the wall and other places."
The same writer observes, "Persons sometimes feel a sensation of electricity passing over their limbs when they stand in the vicinity of those who get the sounds most freely, although the particular persons who seem to be the mediums feel no sensation at all. In one or two instances we have seen a perceptible shock, as if caused by a galvanic battery, especially when the persons were under the influence of magnetism."
"In a work published in Cincinnati, by "William T. Coggshall, the author says, "We have felt positive electrical influences from clairvoyants. At the present time," he continues, "what is termed 'electrical circles' are being formed every week in Cincinnati, for the benefit of persons whose systems require additional electrical power. We have seen several women so powerfully electrized in these circles, that the same effects were produced upon them which would have been had they been isolated in connection with a galvanic battery." So it has been seen that, on touching Angelique Cottin, a person would receive a "true electric shock." This kind of shock was experienced by Campeti and Bleton, in passing over mineral veins and subterraneous streams, as mentioned by Dr. Ashburner. "Many somnambulic persons," says C. Crowe, "are capable of giving an electric shock; and I have met with one person, not somnambulic, who informed me that he has frequently been able to do it by an effort of the will."
"When an iron plate was brought near to one of Reichenbach's patients, and a crystal brought in contact with it, the effect upon it was like an electric shock, which even ascended from the elbow to the shoulder." Many other cases might be cited to the same purpose. The magnet and iron have a specific action upon the nervous system; and the same agent acts also from crystals, vegetable substances, and the human hand, nay, from the earth itself." The second number of Mr. Rogers's work contains some interesting facts of this character.
"Vitality," says Dr. W. E. Channing, in his Notes on Electricity, "is dependent on physical conditions, and performs its functions by the agency of physical forces." The Rev. Thomas Hill, in his Fragmentary Supplement to the Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, observes that "all bodies are moved through the agency of other bodies, and we see nowhere a motion which is not dependent upon physical causes, that is, which is not produced by physical agents. Our will employs, unconsciously, the aid of nerve and muscle; the supreme will employs, with wise designs, the intervention of the laws of impulse, attraction, and repulsion." "When, in the course of ages, the comparative easy problems of astronomy were solved, problems of more difficulty were brought to view. Phenomena which were not obvious, not pictured alphabet, but the fine print of creation, electrical, optical, and chemical phenomena, led men into more hidden knowledge."
"The agents employed by the animal organization," says Dr. Channing, "are principles found UNIVERSALLY IN NATURE, and, in addition to these, a force which is peculiar to living structures—the special agent of vitality." "Now, it might reasonably be expected, that if electricity, among other agents found "universally in nature," is also associated with the agent of the animal economy, it might, under favorable conditions, exhibit its characteristic phenomena. These conditions would, of course, be owing to a variation of the organism from its normal standard. The following case, given by Dr. Ennemoser, of Germany, exhibits some of these characteristics:—
The case was that of a young woman, sister of a professor at Strasburg. Immediately on a sudden fright, she was seized with a nervous malady, which continued for a long period, and finally terminated in her death. Among the remarkable symptoms in her case were the following:—