Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism: In Accordance with the Request of the Late Henry SeybertUniversity of Pennsylvania. Seybert Commission for Investigating Modern Spiritualism
Religion
Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism: In Accordance with the Request of the Late Henry Seybert
University of Pennsylvania. Seybert Commission for Investigating Modern Spiritualism
Parapsychology -- Investigation; Spiritualism
His method of work, as described by several highly intelligent
observers, is somewhat as follows:--There are two tables in the room of
séance, at one of which sits the Medium, at the other the visitor. The
visitor at his table writes his question in pencil at the top of a long
slip of paper, and, after folding over several times the portion of the
slip on which his question is written, gums it down with mucilage and
hands it to the Medium, who thereupon places on the folded and gummed
portion his left hand, and in a few minutes with his right hand writes
down answers to the concealed questions; these answers are marvels of
pertinency, and prove beyond a cavil the Clairvoyant or Spiritual powers
of the Medium. So remarkable are the results of this phase of
Mediumship, that through them and through the high standing and
intelligence of those who believe in him, this particular Medium is a
tower of Spiritualistic strength. Examine my informants as narrowly as
possible, there appeared to be no possibility of fraud. The impression
had gradually deepened in my mind that here is an instance of genuine
Spiritual power. But the fraudulent character of his dealings with the
sealed letters made me fear that _falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus_.
On the 14th of May, 1885, I called on Dr. Mansfield at his house, No. 28
Dartmouth Street, and was ushered into the second story front room--a
bedroom. There were, I think, three front windows looking on the street;
at the farthest was the Medium's table, so placed sideways to the
window, and close to it, that the full light fell on the Medium's left
hand, as he sat at it, and faced the middle of the room. In front of the
Medium, as he sat at the table with his back to the wall, were the usual
writing materials, lead pencils and mucilage bottle, and beyond them, on
the edge of the table farthest from the Medium, and between him and the
rest of the room, was a row of books, octavos, etc., extending the whole
length of the table and terminating in a tin box, like a deed box, with
pamphlets on it. When the Medium sits at his table, this row of books is
between him and his visitor. The table for the visitor is a small one,
near one of the other windows and six or seven feet from the Medium. On
this table were a number of strips of paper and a pencil.
The Medium, who did not ask my name, bade me take a seat at the small
table and write my question on one of the strips of paper, and then to
fold down the paper two or three times.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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