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THERE WERE many notable and some notorious mediums in the period from 1870 to
1900. Of these D. D. Home, Slade, and Monck have already been mentioned. Four
others, whose names will live in the history of the movement, are the American,
C. H. Foster, Madame d'Esperance, Eglinton, and the Rev. W. Stainton Moses. A
short account of each of these will now be given.
Charles H. Foster is fortunate in having a biographer who was such an admirer
that he called him "the greatest spiritual medium since Swedenborg." There is a
tendency on the part of writers to exaggerate the claims of the particular
sensitive with whom they have been brought in contact. None the less, Mr. George
C. Bartlett in his "The Salem Seer" shows that he had close personal
acquaintance with Foster, and that he really was a very remarkable medium. His
fame was not confined to America, for he travelled widely and visited both
Australia and Great Britain. In the latter country he made friends with Bulwer
Lytton, visited Knebworth, and became the original of Margrave in "A Strange
Story."
Foster seems to have been a clairvoyant of great power, and had the peculiar
gift of being able to bring out the name or initials of the spirit which he
described upon his own skin, usually upon his forearm. This phenomenon was so
often repeated and so closely examined that there can be no possible doubt as to
the fact. What may have been the cause of the fact is another matter. There were
many points about Foster's mediumship which suggested an extended personality,
rather than an outside intelligence. It is, for example, frankly incredible that
the spirits of the great departed, such as Virgil, Camoens and Cervantes, should
have been in attendance upon this unlearned New Englander, and yet we have
Bartlett's authority for the fact, illustrated with many quotations, that he
held conversations with such entities, who were ready to quote the context in
any stanza which might be selected out of their copious works.
Such evidence of familiarity with literature far beyond the capacity of the
medium bears some analogy to those book tests frequently carried out of late
years, where a line from any volume in a library is readily quoted. They need
not suggest the actual presence of the author of such a volume, but might rather
depend upon some undefined power of the loosened etheric self of the medium, or
possibly some other entity of the nature of a control who could swiftly gather
information in some supernal fashion. Spiritualists have so overpowering a case
that they need not claim all psychic phenomena as having necessarily their face
value, and the author confesses that he has frequently observed how much that
has somewhere, some time, been placed on record in print or writing is conveyed
back to us, though by no normal means could such print or writing be consulted
at any time by the medium.
Foster's peculiar gift, by which initials were scrawled upon his flesh, had some
comic results. Bartlett narrates how a Mr. Adams consulted Foster. "As he was
leaving, Mr. Foster told him that in all his experience he had never known one
individual to bring so many spirits ... the room being literally packed with
them, coming and going. About two o'clock the next morning Mr. Foster called to
me ... saying: 'George, will you please light the gas? I cannot sleep; the room
is still filled with the Adams family, and they seem to me to be writing their
names all over me.' And to my astonishment a list of names of the Adams family
was displayed upon his body. I counted eleven distinct names; one was written
across his forehead, others on his arms, and several on his back." Such
anecdotes certainly give a handle to the scoffer, and yet we have much evidence
that the sense of humour is intensified rather than dulled upon the Other Side.
The gift of blood-red letters upon Foster's skin would seem to compare closely
with the well-known phenomenon of the stigmata appearing upon the hands and feet
of devout worshippers. In the one case concentration of the individual's
thoughts upon the one subject has had an objective result. In the other, it may
be that the concentration from some invisible entity has had a similar effect.
We must bear in mind that we are all spirits, whether we be in the body or out,
and have the same powers in varying degree.
Foster's views as to his own profession seem to have been very contradictory,
for he frequently declared, like Margaret Fox-Kane and the Davenports, that he
would not undertake to say that his phenomena were due to spiritual beings,
while, on the other hand, all his sittings were conducted on the clear
assumption that they were so. Thus he would minutely describe the appearance of
the spirit and give messages by name from it to the surviving relatives. Like D.
D. Home, he was exceedingly critical of other mediums, and would not believe in
the photographic powers of Mumler, though those powers were as well attested as
his own. He seems to have had in an exaggerated degree the volatile spirit of
the typical medium, easily influenced for good or ill. His friend, who was
clearly a close observer, says of him:
"He was extravagantly dual. He was not only Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but he
represented half a dozen different Jekylls and Hydes. He was strangely gifted,
and on the other hand he was woefully deficient. He was an unbalanced genius,
and at times, I should say, insane. He had a heart so large indeed that it took
in the world; tears for the afflicted; money for the poor; the chords of his
heart were touched by every sigh. At other times his heart shrunk up until it
disappeared. He would become pouty, and with the petulance of a child would
abuse his best friends. He wore out many of his friends, as an unbreakable horse
does its owner. No harness fitted Foster. He was not vicious, but absolutely
uncontrollable. He would go his own way, which way was often the wrong way. Like
a child he seemed to have no forethought. He seemed to live for to-day, caring
nothing for to-morrow. If it were possible, he did exactly as he wished to do,
regardless of consequences. He would take no one's advice, simply because he
could not. He seemed impervious to the opinions of others, and apparently
yielded to every desire; but after all he did not abuse himself much, as he
continued in perfect health until the final breaking up. When asked "How is your
health?" his favourite expression was, "Excellent. I am simply bursting with
physical health." The same dual nature showed itself in his work. Some days he
would sit at the table all day, and far into the night, under tremendous mental
strain. He would do this day after day, and night after night. Then days and
weeks would come when he would do absolutely nothing - turn hundreds of dollars
away and disappoint the people, without any apparent reason, save he was in the
mood for loafing."
Madame d'Esperance, whose real name was Mrs. Hope, was born in 1849 and her
career extended over thirty years, her activities covering the Continent as well
as Great Britain. She was first brought to the notice of the general public by
T. P. Barkas, a well known citizen of Newcastle. The medium at that time was a
young girl of average middle-class education. When in semi-trance, however, she
displayed to a marked degree that gift of wisdom and knowledge which St. Paul
places at the head of his spiritual category. Barkas narrates how he prepared
long lists of questions which covered every branch of science and that the
answers were rapidly written out by the medium, usually in English, but
sometimes in German and even in Latin. Mr. Barkas, in summing up these séances,
says:(1)
(1) Psychological Review, Vol. 1, p. 224.
"It will be admitted by all that no one can by normal effort answer in detail
critical and obscure questions in many difficult departments of science with
which she is entirely unacquainted; it will further be admitted that no one can
normally see and draw with minute accuracy in complete darkness; that no one can
by any normal power of vision read the contents of closed letters in the dark;
that no one who is entirely unacquainted with the German language can write with
rapidity and accuracy long communications in German; and yet all these phenomena
took place through this medium, and are as well accredited as are many of the
ordinary occurrences of daily life."
It must be admitted, however, that until we know the limits of the extended
powers produced by a liberation or partial liberation of the etheric body, we
cannot safely put down such manifestations to spirit intervention. They showed a
remarkable personal psychic individuality and possibly nothing more.
But Madame d'Esperance's fame as a medium depends upon many gifts which were
more undoubtedly Spiritualistic. We have a very full account of these from her
own pen, for she wrote a book, called Shadow Land, which may rank with A. J.
Davis's Magic Staff and Turvey's The Beginnings of Seership, as among the
most remarkable psychic autobiographies in our literature. One cannot read it
without being impressed by the good feeling and honesty of the writer.
In it she narrates, as other great sensitives have done, how in her early
childhood she would play with spirit children who were as real to her as the
living. This power of clairvoyance remained with her through life, but the rarer
gift of materialization was added to it. The book already quoted contained
photographs of Yolande, a beautiful Arab girl, who was to this medium what Katie
King was to Florence Cook. Not unfrequently she was materialized when Madame
d'Esperance was seated outside the cabinet in full view of the sitters. The
medium thus could see her own strange emanation, so intimate and yet so
distinct. The following is her own description:
"Her thin draperies allowed the rich olive tint of her neck, shoulders, arms and
ankles to be plainly visible. The long black waving hair hung over her shoulders
to below her waist and was confined by a small turban-shaped head-dress. Her
features were small, straight and piquant the eyes were dark, large and lively;
her every movement was as full of grace as those of a young child, or, as it
struck me then when I saw her standing half shyly, half boldly, between the
curtains, like a young roe-deer."
In describing her sensations during a séance, Madame d'Esperance speaks of
feeling as if spiders' webs were woven about her face and hands. If a little
light penetrated between the curtains of the cabinet she saw a white, misty mass
floating about like steam from a locomotive, and out of this was evolved a human
form. A feeling of emptiness began as soon as what she calls the spider's web
material was present, with loss of control of her limbs.
The Hon. Alexander Aksakof, of St. Petersburg, a well-known psychical researcher
and editor of Psychische Studien, has described in his book, A Case of Partial
Dematerialization, an extraordinary séance at which this medium's body was
partly dissolved. Commenting on this, he observes: "The frequently noted fact of
the resemblance of the materialized form to that of the medium here finds its
natural explanation. As that form is only a duplication of the medium, it is
natural that it should have all her features."
This may, as Aksakof says, be natural, but it is equally natural that it should
provoke the ridicule of the sceptic. A larger experience, however, would
convince him that the Russian scientist is right. The author has sat at
materializing séances where he has seen the duplicates of the medium's face so
clearly before him that he has been ready to denounce the proceedings as
fraudulent, but with patience and a greater accumulation of power he has seen
later the development of other faces which could by no possible stretch of
imagination be turned into the medium's. In some cases it has seemed to him that
the invisible powers (who often produce their effects with little regard for the
misconstructions which may arise from them) have used the actual physical face
of the unconscious medium and have adorned it with ectoplasmic appendages in
order to transform it. In other cases one could believe that the etheric double
of the medium has been the basis of the new creation. So it was sometimes with
Katie King, who occasionally closely resembled Florence Cook in feature even
when she differed utterly in stature and in colouring. On other occasions the
materialized figure is absolutely different. The author has observed all three
phases of spirit construction in the case of the American medium, Miss Ada
Besinnet, whose ectoplasmic figure sometimes took the shape of a muscular and
well-developed Indian. The story of Madame d'Esperance corresponds closely with
these varieties of power.
Mr. William Oxley, the compiler and publisher of that remarkable work in five
volumes entitled "Angelic Revelations," has given an account of twenty-seven
roses being produced at a séance by Yolande, the materialized figure, and of the
materialization of a rare plant in flower. Mr. Oxley writes:
"I had the plant (ixora crocata) photographed next morning, and afterwards
brought it home and placed it in my conservatory under the gardener's care. It
lived for three months, when it shrivelled up. I kept the leaves, giving most of
them away except the flower and the three top leaves which the gardener cut off
when he took charge of the plant."
At a séance on June 28, 1890, in the presence of M. Aksakof and Professor
Butlerof, of St. Petersburg, a golden lily, seven feet high, is said to have
been materialized. It was kept for a week and during that time six photographs
of it were taken, after which it dissolved and disappeared. A photograph of it
appears in "Shadow Land (facing p. 328).
A feminine form, somewhat taller than the medium, and known by the name of
Y-Ay-Ali, excited the utmost admiration. Mr. Oxley says: "I have seen many
materialized spirit forms, but for perfection of symmetry in figure and beauty
of countenance I have seen none like unto that." The figure gave him the plant
which had been materialized, and then drew back her veil. She implanted a kiss
on his hand and held out her own, which he kissed.
"As she was in the light rays, I had a good view of her face and hands. The
countenance was beautiful to gaze upon, and the hands were soft, warm, and
perfectly natural, and, but for what followed, I could have thought I held the
hand of a permanent embodied lady, so perfectly natural, yet so exquisitely
beautiful and pure."
He goes on to relate how she retired to within two feet of the medium in the
cabinet, and in sight of all "gradually dematerialized by melting away from the
feet upwards, until the head only appeared above the floor, and then this grew
less and less until a white spot only remained, which, continuing for a moment
or two, disappeared."
At the same séance an infant form materialized and placed three fingers of its
tiny hand in Mr. Oxley's. Mr. Oxley afterwards took its hand in his and kissed
it. This occurred in August, 1880.
Mr. Oxley records a very interesting experience of high evidential value. While
Yolande, the Arab girl, was speaking to a lady sitter, "the top part of her
white drapery fell off and revealed her form. I noticed that the form was
imperfect, as the bust was undeveloped and the waist uncontracted, which was a
test that the form was not a lay figure." He might have added, nor that of the
medium.
Writing on "How a Medium Feels During Materializations," Madame d'Esperance
throws some light on the curious sympathy constantly seen to exist between the
medium and the spirit form. Describing a séance at which she sat outside the
cabinet, she says:(2)
(2) Medium and Daybreak, 1893, p. 46.
"And now, another small and delicate form appears, with its little arms stretched
out. Someone at the far end of the circle rises, approaches it, and they
embrace. I hear inarticulate cries, "Anna, oh, Anna, my child, my dear child!
"Then another person rises and throws her arms around the spirit; whereupon I
hear sobs and exclamations, mingled with benedictions. I feel my body moved from
side to side; everything grows dark before my eyes. I feel someone's arms around
my shoulders; someone's heart beats against my bosom. I feel that something
happens. No one is near me; no one pays the slightest attention to me. Every eye
is fixed upon that little figure, white and slender, in the arms of the two
women in mourning.
"It must be my heart that I hear beating so distinctly, yet, surely, someone's
arms are around me; never have I felt an embrace more plainly. I begin to
wonder. Who am I? Am I the apparition in white, or am I that which remains
seated in the chair? Are those my arms around the neck of the elder woman? Or
are those mine which lie before me on my lap? Am I the phantom, and if so, what
shall I call the being in the chair?
"Surely, my lips are kissed; my cheeks are moist with the tears so plentifully
shed by the two women. But how can that be? This feeling of doubt as to one's
own identity is fearful. I wish to extend one of the hands lying in my lap. I
cannot do so. I wish to touch someone so as to make perfectly certain whether I
am I, or only a dream; whether Anna is I, and if I am, in some sort, lost in her
identity."
While the medium is in this state of distracted doubt another little spirit
child who had materialized comes and slips her hands into those of Madame
d'Esperance.
"How happy I am to feel the touch, even of a little child. My doubts, as to who
and where I am, are gone. And while I am experiencing all this, the white form
of Anna disappears in the cabinet and the two women return to their places,
tearful, shaken with emotion, but intensely happy."
It is not surprising to learn that when a sitter at one of Madame d'Esperance's
séances seized the materialized figure, he declared it to be the medium herself.
In this connexion Aksakof's views(3) on the general question are of interest:
(3 A Case of Partial Dematerialization,
p. 181.
"One may seize the materialized form, and hold it, and assure himself that he
holds nothing except the medium herself, in flesh and bone; and it is not yet a
proof of fraud on the medium's part. In fact, according to our hypothesis, what
could happen if we detain the medium's double by force, when it is materialized
to such a degree that nothing but an invisible simulacre of the medium remains
in the seat behind the curtain? It is obvious that the simulacre - that small
portion, fluid and ethereal - will be immediately absorbed into the already
compactly materialized form, which lacks nothing (of being the medium) but that
invisible remainder."
M. Aksakof, in the Introduction he has written for Madame d'Esperance's book,
"Shadow Land," pays a high tribute to her as a woman and as a medium. He says
she was as interested as himself in trying to find the truth. She submitted
willingly to all the tests he imposed.
One interesting incident in the career of Madame d'Esperance was that she
succeeded in reconciling Professor Friese, of Breslau, to Professor Zöllner, of
Leipzig. The alienation of these two friends had occurred on account of
Zöllner's profession of Spiritualism, but the English medium was able to give
such proofs to Friese that he no longer contested his friend's conclusions.
It should be remarked that in the course of Mr. Oxley's experiments with Madame
d'Esperance moulds were taken of the hands and feet of the materialized figures,
with wrist and ankle apertures which were too narrow to allow the withdrawal of
the limb in any way, save by dematerialization. In view of the great interest
excited by the paraffin moulds taken in 1922 in Paris from the medium Kluski, it
is curious to reflect that the same experiment had been successfully carried
out, unnoticed save by the psychic Press, by this Manchester student so far back
as 1876.
The latter part of Madame d'Esperance's life, which was spent largely in
Scandinavia, was marred by ill health, which was originally induced by the shock
that she sustained at the so-called "exposure" when Yolande was seized by some
injudicious researcher at Helsingfors in 1893. No one has expressed more clearly
than she how much sensitives suffer from the ignorance of the world around them.
In the last chapter of her remarkable book she deals with the subject. She
concludes: "They who come after me may perchance suffer as I have done through
ignorance of God's laws. Yet the world is wiser than it was, and it may be that
they who take up the work in the next generation will not have to fight, as I
did, the narrow bigotry and harsh judgments of the unco' guid.'"
Each of the mediums treated in this chapter has had one or more books devoted to
his or her career. In the case of William Eglinton there is a remarkable volume,
Twixt Two Worlds, by J. S. Farmer, which covers most of his activities.
Eglinton was born at Islington on July 10, 1857, and, after a brief period at
school, entered the printing and publishing business of a relative. As a boy he
was extremely imaginative, as well as dreamy and sensitive, but, unlike so many
other great mediums, he showed in his boyhood no sign of possessing any psychic
powers. In 1874, when he was seventeen years of age, Eglinton entered the family
circle by means of which his father was investigating the alleged phenomena of
Spiritualism. Up to that time the circle had obtained no results, but when the
boy joined it the table rose steadily from the floor until the sitters had to
stand to keep their hands on it. Questions were answered to the satisfaction of
those present. At the next sitting on the following evening, the boy passed into
a trance, and evidential communications from his dead mother were received. In a
few months his mediumship had developed, and stronger manifestations were
forthcoming. His fame as a medium spread, and he received numerous requests for
séances, but he resisted all efforts to induce him to become a professional
medium. Finally, he had to adopt this course in 1875.
Eglinton thus describes his feelings before entering the séance room for the
first time, and the change that came over him:
"My manner, previous to doing so, was that of a boy full of fun; but as soon as I
found myself in the presence of the "inquirers," a strange and mysterious
feeling came over me, which I could not shake off. I sat down at the table,
determined that if anything happened I would put a stop to it. Something did
happen, but I was powerless to prevent it. The table began to show signs of life
and vigour; it suddenly rose off the ground and steadily raised itself in the
air, until we had to stand to reach it. This was in full gaslight. It afterwards
answered, intelligently, questions which were put to it, and gave a number of
test communications to persons present.
"The next evening saw us eagerly sitting for further manifestations, and with a
larger circle, for the news had got widely spread that we had "seen ghosts and
talked to them," together with similar reports.
"After we had read the customary prayer, I seemed to be no longer of this earth.
A most ecstatic feeling came over me, and I presently passed into a trance. All
my friends were novices in the matter, and tried various means to restore me,
but without result. At the end of half an hour I returned to consciousness,
feeling a strong desire to relapse into the former condition. We had
communications which proved conclusively, to my mind, that the spirit of my
mother had really returned to us... I then began to realize how mistaken - how
utterly empty and unspiritual - had been my past life, and I felt a pleasure
indescribable in knowing, beyond a doubt, that those who had passed from earth
could return again, and prove the immortality of the soul. In the quietness of
our family circle ... we enjoyed to the full extent our communion with the
departed, and many are the happy hours I have spent in this way."
In two respects his work resembles that of D. D. Home. His séances were usually
held in the light, and he always agreed willingly to any proposed tests. A
further strong point of similarity was the fact that his results were observed
and recorded by many eminent men and by good critical witnesses.
Eglinton, like Home, travelled a great deal, and his mediumship was witnessed in
many places. In 1878 he sailed for South Africa. The following year he visited
Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. In February, 1880, he went to Cambridge University
and held sittings under the auspices of the Psychological Society. In March he
journeyed to Holland, thence proceeding to Leipzig, where he gave sittings to
Professor Zöllner and others connected with the University. Dresden and Prague
followed, and in Vienna in April over thirty séances were held which were
attended by many members of the aristocracy.
In Vienna he was the guest of Baron Hellenbach, the well-known author, who in
his book, "Prejudices of Mankind," has described the phenomena that occurred
there. After returning to England, he sailed for America on February 12, 1881,
remaining there about three months. In November of the same year he went to
India, and after holding numerous séances in Calcutta, returned in April, 1882.
In 1883 he again visited Paris, and in 1885 was in Vienna and Paris. He
subsequently visited Venice, which he described as 96 a veritable hotbed of
Spiritualism."
In Paris, in 1885, Eglinton met M. Tissot, the famous artist, who sat with him
and subsequently visited him in England. A remarkable materializing séance at
which two figures were plainly seen, and one, a lady, was recognized as a
relation, has been immortalized by Tissot in a mezzotint entitled "Apparition
Medianimique." This beautiful, artistic production, a copy of which hangs at the
offices of the London Spiritualist Alliance, shows the two figures illuminated
by spirit lights which they are carrying in their hands. Tissot also executed a
portrait etching of the medium, and this is to be found as the frontispiece to
Mr. Farmer's book, "'Twixt Two Worlds."
A typical example of his early physical mediumship is described(4) by Miss Kislingbury and Dr. Carter Blake (Lecturer in Anatomy at Westminster Hospital):
(4) The Spiritualist, May 12, 1876, p. 221.
"Mr. Eglinton's coat-sleeves were sewn together behind his back near the wrist
with strong white cotton; the tying committee then bound him in his chair,
passing the tape round his neck, and placed him close behind the curtain (of the
cabinet) facing the company, with his knees and feet in sight. A small round
table with various objects upon it was placed before the medium outside the
cabinet and in view of the sitters; the little stringed instrument known as the
Oxford Chimes was laid inverted across his knees, and a book and a hand-bell
were placed upon it. In a few moments the strings were played upon, though no
visible hand was touching them, the book, the front of which was turned towards
the sitters, opened and shut (this was repeated a great number of times, so that
all present saw the experiment unmistakably), and the hand-bell was rung from
within, that is, without being raised from the board. The musical box placed
near the curtain, but fully in sight, was stopped and set going, while the lid
remained shut. Fingers, and at times a whole hand, were now and then protruded
through the curtain. An instant after one of these had appeared, Captain
Rolleston was requested to thrust his arm through the curtain and ascertain
whether the tying and sewing were as at first. He satisfied himself that they
were, and the same testimony was given by another gentleman later on."
This was one of a series of experimental séances held under the auspices of the
British National Association of Spiritualists, at their rooms, 38 Great Russell
Street, London. Referring to these, The Spiritualist says:(5)
(5) May 12, 1876.
"The test manifestations with Mr. Eglinton are of great value, not because other
mediums may not obtain equally conclusive results, but because in his case they
had been observed and recorded by good critical witnesses whose testimony will
carry weight with the public."
At the beginning Eglinton's materializations were obtained in the moonlight,
while all present sat round a table, and there was no cabinet. The medium, too,
was usually conscious. He was induced to sit in the dark for manifestations by a
friend who had been to a séance with a professional medium. Having thus started
he was apparently obliged to continue, but stated that the results obtained were
of a less spiritual character. A feature of his materializing séances was the
fact that he sat among those present and that his hands were held. Under these
conditions full-form materializations were seen in light which was sufficient
for the recognition of those appearing.
In January, 1877, Eglinton gave a series of non-professional séances at the
house, off Park Lane, of Mrs. Makdougall Gregory (widow of Professor Gregory, of
Edinburgh). They were attended by Sir Patrick and Lady Colquhoun, Lord Borthwick,
Lady Jenkinson, Rev. Maurice Davies, D. D., Lady Archibald Campbell, Sir William
Fairfax, Lord and Lady Mount-Temple, General Brewster, Sir Garnet and Lady
Wolseley, Lord and Lady Avonmore, Professor Blackie, and many others. Mr. W.
Harrison (editor of The Spiritualist) describes one of these séances:(6)
(6) The Spiritualist, Feb. 23, 1877, p. 96.
"Last Monday evening ten or twelve friends sat round a large circular table, with
their hands joined, under which conditions Mr. W. Eglinton, the medium, was held
on both sides. There were no other persons in the room than those seated at the
table. An expiring fire gave a dim light, permitting only the outlines of
objects to be visible. The medium sat at that part of the table which was
nearest to the fire, consequently his back was to the light. A form, of the full
proportions of a man, rose slowly from the floor to about the level of the edge
of the table; it was about a foot behind the right elbow of the medium. The
other nearest sitter was Mrs. Wiseman, of Orme Square, Bayswater. This form was
covered with white drapery, but no features were visible. As it was close to the
fire, it could be seen distinctly by those near it. It was observed by all who
were so placed that the edge of the table or intervening sitters did not cut off
the view of the form; thus it was observed by four or five persons altogether,
and was not the result of subjective impressions. After rising to the level of
the edge of the table, it sank downwards, and was no more seen, having
apparently exhausted all the power. Mr. Eglinton was in a strange house and in
evening dress. Altogether it was a test manifestation which could not have been
produced by artificial means."
One sitting described by Mr. Dawson Rogers showed remarkable features. It was
held on February 17, 1885, in the presence of fourteen sitters, under test
conditions. Though an inner room was used as a cabinet, Mr. Eglinton did not
stay there, but paced about among the sitters, who were arranged in horseshoe
formation. A form materialized and passed round the room shaking hands with each
one. Then the form approached Mr. Eglinton, who was partially supported from
falling by Mr. Rogers, and, taking the medium by the shoulders, dragged him into
the cabinet. Mr. Rogers says: "The form was that of a man taller by several
inches and older than the medium. He was apparelled in a white flowing robe, and
was full of life and animation, and at one time was fully ten feet away from the
medium."
Particular interest attaches to that phase of his mediumship known as
Psychography, or slate-writing. With regard to this there is an overwhelming
mass of testimony. In view of the wonderful results he obtained it is worthy of
note that he sat for over three years without receiving a scratch of writing. It
was from the year 1884 that he concentrated his powers on this form of
manifestation, which was considered to be most suited to beginners, especially
as all the séances were held in the light. Eglinton, in refusing to give a
séance for materialization to a party of inquirers who had had no experience of
this phase, wrote giving the following reason for his action: "I hold that a
medium is placed in a very responsible position, and that he has a right to
satisfy, as far as he possibly can, those who come to him. Now, my experience,
which is a varied one, leads me to the conclusion that no sceptic, however
well-intentioned or honest, can be convinced by the conditions prevailing at a
materialization séance, and the result is further scepticism on his part, and
condemnation of the medium. It is different when there is a harmonious circle of
Spiritualists who are advanced enough to witness such phenomena, and with whom I
shall always be delighted to sit; but a neophyte must be prepared by other
methods. If your friend cares to come to a slate-writing séance I shall be happy
to arrange an hour, otherwise I must decline to sit, for the reasons stated
above, and which must commend themselves to you as to all thinking
Spiritualists."
In the case of Eglinton, it may be explained that common school slates were used
(the sitter being at liberty to bring his own slates), and after being washed, a
crumb of slate pencil was placed on the upper surface and the slate placed under
the leaf of the table, pressed against it and held by the hand of the medium,
whose thumb was visible on the upper surface of the table. Presently the sound
of writing was heard, and on the signal of three taps being given, the slate was
examined and found to contain a written message. In the same way two slates of
the same size were used, bound tightly together with cord, and also what are
known as box slates, to which a lock and key are attached. On many occasions
writing was obtained on a single slate resting on the upper surface of the
table, with the pencil between it and the table.
Mr. Gladstone had a sitting with Eglinton on October 29, 1884, and expressed
himself as very interested in what took place. When an account of this sitting
appeared in Light it was copied by nearly all the leading papers throughout the
country, and the movement gained considerably by this publicity. At the
conclusion of the séance Mr. Gladstone is reported as saying: "I have always
thought that scientific men run too much in a groove. They do noble work in
their own special lines of research, but they are too often indisposed to give
any attention to matters which seem to conflict with their established modes of
thought. Indeed, they not infrequently attempt to deny that into which they have
never inquired, not sufficiently realizing the fact that there may possibly be
forces in nature of which they know nothing." Shortly afterwards Mr. Gladstone,
while never professing himself to be a Spiritualist, showed his sustained
interest in the subject by joining the Society for Psychical Research.
Eglinton did not escape the usual attacks. In June, 1886, Mrs. Sidgwick, wife of
Professor Sidgwick, of Cambridge, one of the founders of the Society for
Psychical Research, published an article in the Journal of the S.P.R. entitled
"Mr. Eglinton,"(7) in which, after giving other people's descriptions from over
forty séances for slate-writing with this medium, she says: "For myself, I have
now no hesitation in attributing the performances to clever conjuring." She had
no personal experience with Eglinton, but based her belief on the impossibility
of maintaining continuous observation during the manifestations. In the columns
of Light(8) Eglinton invited testimony from sitters who were convinced of the
genuineness of his mediumship, and in a later special supplement of the same
journal a very large number responded, many of them being members and associates
of the S.P.R. Dr. George Herschell, an experienced amateur conjurer of fourteen
years' standing, furnished one of the many convincing replies to Mrs. Sidgwick.
The Society for Psychical Research also published minute accounts of the results
obtained by Mr. S. J. Davey, who professed to obtain by trickery similar and
even more wonderful results in slate-writing than those occurring with Eglinton.(9)
Mr. C. C. Massey, barrister, a very competent and experienced observer, and a
member of the S.P.R., embodied the views of many others when he wrote to
Eglinton in reference to Mrs. Sidgwick's article:
(7) June, 1886, pp. 282-324.
(8) 1886, p. 309.
(9) S.P.R. Proceedings, Vol. IV, pp. 416-487.
"I quite concur in what you say that she "adduces not one particle of evidence"
in support of this most injurious judgment which is opposed to a great body of
excellent testimony, only encountered by presumptions contrary, as it seems to
me, to common sense and to all experience."
On the whole, Mrs. Sidgwick's rash attack on the medium had a good effect,
because it called forth a volume of more or less expert testimony in favour of
the genuineness of the manifestations occurring with him.
Eglinton, like so many other mediums for physical manifestations, had his
"exposures". One of these was in Munich, where he had been engaged to give a
series of twelve séances. Ten of these had proved very successful, but at the
eleventh a mechanical frog was discovered in the room, and though the medium's
hands were held, he was charged with fraud because the musical instruments,
having been secretly blackened, black was afterwards found on him. Three months
later a sitter confessed that he had brought the mechanical toy into the room.
No explanation of the blackening was forthcoming, but the fact of the medium's
hands being held should have been sufficient refutation.
A fuller knowledge since that time has shown us that physical phenomena depend
upon ectoplasm, and that this ectoplasm is reabsorbed into the body of the
medium carrying any colouring matter with it. Thus, in the case of Miss Goligher
after an experiment with carmine, Dr. Crawford found stains of carmine in
various parts of her skin. Thus, both in the case of the mechanical frog and of
the lamp-black, it was, as so often happens, the "exposers" who were in the
wrong and not the unfortunate medium.
A more serious charge against him was made by Archdeacon Colley, who declared(10)
that at the house of Mr. Owen Harries, where Eglinton was giving a séance, he
discovered in the medium's portmanteau some muslin and a beard, with which
portions of drapery and hair cut from alleged materialized figures corresponded.
Mrs. Sidgwick, in her article in the S.P.R. Journal, reproduced Archdeacon
Colley's charges, and Eglinton, in his general reply to her, contents himself
with a flat denial, remarking that he was absent in South Africa when the
charges were published and did not see them until years after.
(10) Medium and Daybreak, 1878, pp. 698, 730.
The Spiritualist, 1879, Vol. XIV, pp. 83, 135.
Discussing this incident, Light in a leading article(11) says that the charges
in question were fully investigated by the Council of the British National
Association of Spiritualists and dismissed on the ground that the Council could
by no means get direct evidence from the accusers. It goes on:
(11) 1886, p. 324.
"Mrs. Sidgwick has suppressed very material facts in her quotation as printed in
the Journal. In the first place the alleged circumstances occurred two years
previous to the letter in which the accuser made his charge, during which time
he made no public move in the matter, and only did so at all in consequence of
personal pique against the Council of the late B.N.A.S. In the second place, the
suppressed portions of the letter quoted by Mrs Sidgwick bear upon their face
the mark of utter worthlessness. We affirm that no one accustomed to examine and
weigh evidence in a scientific manner would have accorded to the correspondence
the slightest serious attention without the clearest corroborative testimony."
None the less, it must be admitted that when so whole-hearted a Spiritualist as
Archdeacon Colley makes so definite a charge, it becomes a grave matter which
cannot be lightly dismissed. There is always the possibility that a great
medium, finding his powers deserting him - as such powers do - should resort to
fraud in order to fill up the gap until they return. Home has narrated how his
power was suddenly taken from him for a year and then returned in full
plenitude. When a medium lives on his work such a hiatus must be a serious
matter and tempt him to fraud. However that may have been in this particular
instance, it is certain, as has surely been shown in these pages, that there is
a mass of evidence as to the reality of the powers of Eglinton which cannot
possibly be shaken. Among other witnesses to his powers is Kellar, the famous
conjurer, who admitted, as many other conjurers have done, that psychic
phenomena far transcend the powers of the juggler.
There is no writer who has left his mark upon the religious side of Spiritualism
so strongly as the Reverend W. Stainton Moses. His inspired writings confirmed
what had already been accepted, and defined much which was nebulous. He is
generally accepted by Spiritualists as being the best modern exponent of their
views. They do not, however, regard him as final or infallible, and in
posthumous utterances which bear good evidence of being veridical, he has
himself declared that his enlarged experience has modified his views upon
certain points. This is the inevitable result of the new life to each of us.
These religious views will be treated in the separate chapter which deals with
the religion of Spiritualists.
Besides being a religious teacher of an inspired type, Stainton Moses was a
strong medium, so that he was one of the few men who could follow the apostolic
precept and demonstrate not only by words but also by power. In this short
account it is the physical side which we must emphasize.
Stainton Moses was born in Lincolnshire on November 5, 1839, and was educated at
Bedford Grammar School and Exeter College, Oxford. He turned his thoughts
towards the ministry, and after some years' service as a curate in the Isle of
Man and elsewhere he became a master at University College School. It is
remarkable that in the course of his wanderjahre he visited the monastery of
Mount Athos, and spent six months there - a rare experience for an English
Protestant. He was assured later that this marked the birth of his psychic
career.
Whilst Stainton Moses was a curate he had an opportunity of showing his bravery
and sense of duty. A severe epidemic of smallpox broke out in the parish which
was without a resident doctor. His biographer says: "Day and night he was in
attendance at the bedside of some poor victim who was stricken by the fell
disease, and sometimes after he had soothed the sufferer's dying moments by his
ministrations he was compelled to combine the offices of priest and gravedigger
and conduct the interment with his own hands." It is no wonder that when he left
he received a strongly worded testimonial from the inhabitants, which may be
summed up in the one sentence, "The longer we have known you and the more we
have seen of your work, the greater has our regard for you increased."
It was in 1872 that his attention was drawn to Spiritualism through séances with
Williams and Miss Lottie Fowler. Before long he found that he himself possessed
the gift of mediumship to a very unusual extent. At the same time he was
prompted to make a thorough study of the subject, bringing his strong intellect
to bear upon every phase of it. His writings, under the signature of "M.A.
Oxon.," are among the classics of Spiritualism. They include "Spirit Teachings,"
"Higher Aspects of Spiritualism," and other works. Finally, he became editor of
Light, and sustained its high traditions for many years. His mediumship steadily
progressed until it included almost every physical phenomenon with which we are
acquainted.
These results were not obtained until he had passed through a period of
preparation. He says:
"For a long time I failed in getting the evidence I wanted, and if I had done as
most investigators do, I should have abandoned the quest in despair. My state of
mind was too positive, and I was forced to take some personal pains before I
obtained what I desired. Bit by bit, here a little and there a little, the
evidence came, as my mind opened to receive it. Some six months were spent in
persistent daily efforts to bring home to me proof of the perpetuated existence
of human spirits and their power to communicate."
In Stainton Moses's presence heavy tables rose in the air, and books and letters
were brought from one room into another in the light. There is independent
testimony to these manifestations from trustworthy witnesses.
The late Serjeant Cox, in his book What am I? records the following incident
which occurred with Stainton Moses:
"On Tuesday, June 2nd, 1873, a personal friend, a gentleman of high social
position, a graduate of Oxford, came to my residence in Russell Square, to dress
for a dinner party to which we were invited. He had previously exhibited
considerable power as a Psychic. Having half an hour to spare we went into the
dining-room. It was just six o'clock and, of course, broad daylight. I was
opening letters, he was reading The Times. My dining table is of mahogany, very
heavy, old-fashioned, six feet wide, nine feet long. It stands on a Turkey
carpet, which much increases the difficulty of moving it. A subsequent trial
showed that the united efforts of two strong men standing were required to move
it one inch. There was no cloth upon it, and the light fell full under it. No
person was in the room but my friend and myself. Suddenly, as we were sitting
thus, frequent and loud rappings came upon the table. My friend was then sitting
holding the newspaper with both hands, one arm resting on the table, the other
on the back of a chair, and turned sidewise from the table so that his legs and
feet were not under the table but at the side of it. Presently the solid table
quivered as if with an ague fit. Then it swayed to and fro so violently as
almost to dislocate the big pillar-like legs, of which there are eight. Then it
moved forward about three inches. I looked under it to be sure that it was not
touched; but still it moved, and still the blows were loud upon it.
"This sudden access of the force at such a time and in such a place, with none
present but myself and my friend, and with no thought then of invoking it,
caused the utmost astonishment in both of us. My friend said that nothing like
it had ever before occurred to him. I then suggested that it would be an
invaluable opportunity, with so great a power in action, to make trial of motion
without contact, the presence of two persons only, the daylight, the place, the
size and weight of the table, making the experiment a crucial one. Accordingly
we stood upright, he on one side of the table, I on the other side of it. We
stood two feet from it, and held our hands eight inches above it. In one minute
it rocked violently. Then it moved over the carpet a distance of seven inches.
Then it rose three inches from the floor on the side on which my friend was
standing. Then it rose equally on my side. Finally, my friend held his hands
four inches over the end of the table, and asked that it would rise and touch
his hand three times. It did so; and then, in accordance with the like request,
it rose to my hand, held at the other end to the same height above it, and in
the same manner."
At Douglas, Isle of Man, during a Sunday in August, 1872, a remarkable
exhibition of spirit power was given. The facts related by Stainton Moses are
corroborated by Dr. and Mrs. Speer, at whose house the phenomena occurred, and
they lasted from breakfast-time until ten o'clock at night. Raps followed the
medium wherever he went in the house and even at church he and Dr. and Mrs.
Speer heard them while sitting in their pew. On returning from church Stainton
Moses found in his bedroom that objects had been moved from the toilet table and
laid on the bed in the form of a cross. He went to summon Dr. Speer to witness
what had taken place, and on returning to the bedroom discovered that his
collar, which he had removed a minute or so before, had in his absence been
placed round the head of the improvised cross. He and Dr. Speer locked the door
of the bedroom and adjourned to lunch, but during the course of the meal loud
raps occurred and the heavy dining-table was moved three or four times. On a
further inspection of the bedroom they found that two other articles from the
dressing-case had been added to the cross. The room was again locked, and at
three subsequent visits fresh objects had been added to the cross. We are told
that on the first occasion there was no one in the house who was likely to play
a trick, and that afterwards adequate precautions were taken to prevent such a
thing from happening.
Mrs. Speer's version of this series of events is as follows:
"During the time we were at church, raps were heard by each member of the circle
in different parts of the pew in which we were all sitting. On our return Mr. S.
M. found on his bed three things removed from his dressing table, and placed in
the form of a cross on his bed. He called Dr. S. into his room to see what had
taken place during our absence. Dr. S. heard loud raps on the footboard of the
bed. He then locked the door, put the key in his pocket, and left the room
vacant for a time. We went to dinner, and during our meal the large
dining-table, covered with glass, china, etc., repeatedly moved, tilted and
rapped; it seemed to be full of life and motion.
"Raps accompanied the tune of a hymn our little girl was singing, and intelligent
raps followed our conversation. We paid several visits to the locked-up room,
and each time found an addition had been made to the cross. Dr. S. kept the key,
unlocked the door, and left the room last. At last all was finished. The cross
was placed down the centre of the bed; all the dressing things had been used
that our friend had in his travelling dressing-case. Each time we went into the
room raps occurred. At our last visit it was proposed to leave a piece of paper
and pencil on the bed, and when we returned again we found the initials of three
friends of Mr. S. M.'s, all dead, and unknown to anyone in the house but
himself. The cross was perfectly symmetrical, and had been made in a locked room
that no one could enter, and was indeed a startling manifestation of spirit
power."
A drawing showing the various toilet articles in their arranged form is given in
Arthur Lillie's Modern Mystics and Modern Magic (p. 72). Further examples are
given in the Appendix.
At his sittings with Dr. and Mrs. Speer many communications were received,
giving proofs of the identity of the spirits in the form of names, dates, and
places, unknown to the sitters, but afterwards verified.
A band of spirits is said to have been associated with his mediumship. Through
them a body of teaching was communicated by means of automatic writing,
beginning on March 30, 1873, and continuing to the year 1880. A selection of
them is embodied in Spirit Teachings. In his Introduction to this book Stainton Moses writes:
"The subject-matter was always of a pure and elevated character, much of it being
of personal application, intended for my own guidance and direction. I may say
that throughout the whole of these written communications, extending in unbroken
continuity to the year 1880, there is no flippant message, no attempt at jest,
no vulgarity or incongruity, no false or misleading statement, so far as I know
or could discover; nothing incompatible with the avowed object, again and again
repeated, of instruction, enlightenment and guidance by Spirits fitted for the
task. judged as I should wish to be judged myself, they were what they pretended
to be. Their words were words of sincerity, and of sober, serious purpose."
A detailed account of the various persons communicating, many of them having
renowned names, will be found in Mr. A. W. Trethewy's book, The Controls' of Stainton Moses (1923).
Stainton Moses aided in the formation of the Society for Psychical Research in
1882, but resigned from that body in 1886 in disgust at its treatment of the
medium William Eglinton. He was the first president of the London Spiritualist
Alliance, formed in 1884, a position he retained until his death.
In addition to his books Spirit Identity 1879), Higher Aspects of Spiritualism
(1880), Psychography (2nd ed. 1882), and Spirit Teachings (1883), he
contributed frequently to the Spiritualist Press as well as to the Saturday
Review, Punch, and other high-class journals.
A masterly summary of his mediumship was contributed to the Proceedings of the
Society for Psychical Research by Mr. F. W. H. Myers.(12) In an obituary notice
of him Mr. Myers writes: "I personally regard his life as one of the most
noteworthy lives of our generation, and from few men have I heard at first hand
facts comparable in importance for me with those which I heard from him."
(12) Vol. IX, pp. 245-353, and Vol. XI, pp. 24-113.
The various mediums treated in this chapter may be said to cover the different
types of mediumship prevalent during this period, but there were many who were
almost as well known as those which have been quoted. Thus Mrs. Marshall brought
knowledge to many; Mrs. Guppy showed powers which in some directions have never
been surpassed; Mrs. Everitt, an amateur, continued throughout a long life to be
a centre of psychic force; and Mrs. Mellon, both in England and in Australia,
excelled in materializations and in physical phenomena.
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