ence I readily yielded, and passed directly into the superior condition. And, as solid substances cannot retard the penetration of spiritual perceptions (see "Great Harmonia," vol. 1, p. 381), I directed them upon the man in the well. He was beyond all pain and distress. The heavy load of material had crushed his natural body, and he was dead! This event took place several months previous to my general investigations into the principles of Nature; and hence this question, at that time, arose in my mind-"how can the human spirit escape from such a condition?" With novel sensations I watched the process before me. First, I observed, with regard to the buried man, an entire suspension of his consciousness-a fusion, so to speak, of all the elements and ethereal constituents of his spiritual constitution-like many substances melted into one bright fluid, having neither form or harmony. The brain of the dead man was surcharged with this brilliant liquid, which seemed also partially to permeate the lower extremities. Immediately, however, this glowing, luminous, most refined kind of fluidity began ascending from the brain through the solid substances above it, still passing upward between the workmen (who were laboring to extricate their companion), into the atmosphere some six feet above the heads of the men. Here the spiritual element ceased to ascend. And I now directed my observations to this point, where a space of about three feet in diameter became rapidly more and more brilliant. And this spot of dazzling light seemed to pulsate with an indwelling animation. It appeared like a great heart, composed of thinking elements. A soft, mellow halo continued to accumulate around it, still emanating from the body in the well; and thus this seeming heart was provided with a kind of ethereal pericardium, or covering, which was very beautiful and physiological. Now this sublime process was going on while the workmen were putting forth every possible exertion to rescue their fellow laborer from his awful position. They were not aware of the (to them) invisible operations of those very elements of animation and intelligence, which only forty minutes before had made the now buried man a thinking, working being in their midst. That same essence was now ascending between them and above them, and they knew it not. But I saw it all! Had they rescued that being, ere it had escaped the natural body, how different would have been its resurrection! They could not behold this glorious ascension. But while they lovingly and anxiously continued their exertions to save him, I still watched with calm delight that palpitating, living combination of elements in the air; and very soon I discovered, in the center of the pulsating mass, so redolent with life, as it was, the distinct outlines of a symmetrically constructed head. A beautiful progression was visible throughout the whole phenomenon. Particle sought particle, atom sought atom, element sought element, principle sought principle, in accordance with the principles of association, progression and

development; and the whole process of organization went on with that silent order and undeviating precision which characterize the growth of trees and the development of flowers! In due order of progression I saw developed (as I have already described in another instance, see "Great Harmonia," vol. 1, p. 170) the perfect development of the head, body, limbs, etc., of the new and indestructible organization into which the spiritual elements of that laborer ultimated themselves; and I beheld a form finely wrought a body beautifully, organically and symmetrically constructedadapted to that glorious land where Divine love and wisdom envi

ron the soul forever.

The whole process of this interesting phenomenon occupied about three hours. At the end of that time the spirit was completely liberated from the "dominion of the flesh" by a sudden separation of that thread of vital electricity which I have elsewhere compared to the umbilical cord of the natural birth, which gradually more attenuated thread of glittering light, reaching from the body in the depths of the well, until that moment connected the material and the ultimate organisms together. This thread parted, and the spirit was born! His consciousness was now restored, but what an emancipation! The toiling slave was free! The world-neglected, the down-trodden workman-the poor, despised, but honest Irishman-now, from where he stood, a glorified form, looked down and beheld his former companions still laboring to rescue what, by this time, they felt could be only a dead body. His spiritual perceptions, gazing still deeper, readily pierced to where lay the crushed remains. But the torn and bleeding body, and the tattered poor man's clothes, were alike objects of interest to him; he had put off both, never again to resume them! He could speak no farewell word to his friends, through their dull sense of material hearing, and he readily perceived and comprehended that he was invisible to their gross natural sight; so turning from them with a passive and calm joy, he submitted himself to the attractions which were sent down to him from the second sphere, and passed on, away from the earth!

The exceeding beauty of this transfiguration evidenced the soul of a good man-one in whom the moral virtues had grown almost up to the stature of a pure spirit. Truth, Justice, Love, Purity of heart and action, such are the imperishable adornments of the immortal being. But in this life, these rich possessions are too often shrouded by poverty; the world sees them not beneath the torn garb of the laborer, whom circumstances chain, as it were, to the oar-his existence being one continued pull against the tide of adversity. In the present structure of society, no time is given him for outward display, wherewith to dazzle the world, nor for the proper rest of his body and cultivation of his mind; but there is an inward accumulation of patience, of gentleness, of love, which, though silent and hidden, is ever brightening more for future glory

Familiar Table Talk.

CLAIRVOYANCE DEMONSTRATED.-The recent demonstrations of clairvoyance in New York by two gentlemen just arrived from France, are of the most satisfactory character.

The French newspapers for some time past have given numerous accounts of the performances of M. A. Gandon and his young nephew, M. Gohenant, who seem to have established a sympathetic relation between themselves, by which the latter perceives whatever is seen by the former. Several New York editors have witnessed their powers and testify to their success. The editor of the New York Mirror says: "We have heard of persons possessing the gift of "second sight," and being enabled to read by some mysterious agency, without even looking at what was written; and if we are to believe the evidence of our senses, the youth in question pos sesses that power. It appears that whatever his uncle reads, or is told, he is able to repeat; but even the uncle is not at all times the direct medium of communication with the youth, though it appears to be necessary, that he should first be made acquainted with the fact to be told. Thus, he repeated what we had written at our desk, although he was placed at the other end of the room, with his face turned from us; he told to a second, the time by our watch-the dates of several of our exchange papers, and the places where published-described the various letters taken by his uncle from the cases of the compositors, although they were then in different rooms, etc., etc.

"We state simple facts, and can only express the astonishment which every one must feel, on witnessing the experiments."

The Home Journal of April 12th (edited by N. P. Willis and G. P. Morris) says: "That one mind can be divided and inhabit two bodies-one body knowing at least, everything that the eyes of the other body see-we saw proved incontestably, and to our great astonishment yesterday. At one end of a room, forty feet long, we wrote, at a desk, with Monsieur Gandon looking over us. The nephew of this gentleman stood with his back to us, at the other end of the room, forty feet off, and without his uncle's turning towards him or speaking a word, read what we wrote. We tried it with words and arithmetical figures, and with chance-opened passages of books on the table. We tried it with a wall between. All that one saw the other instantly read. There is to be a public exhibition of this unexplained phenomenon, and no person of ordinary curiosity will fail to go and see its experiments. M. Gandon has been a sub-officer of the French army, and his nephew is an interesting looking lad of seventeen. Blindess would literally be no deprivation of sight to this boy-he sees with the eyes of another, as with his own. Were we blind, we should lose no time in trying whether this seeing by proxy is not one of Nature's cultivatable secrets.” After this, what is to become of those incorrigible infidels who still denounce clairvoyants as impostors? Can they not take one step lower in the realms of stupidity? Can they not prove that ciairvoyance arises from dislocating the knee-joint as did the Buffalo savans? Or will they do as some have done in reference to Mesmerism, who declared they would not believe until they were mesmerized themselves? Let our learned professors declare that they will not believe until they are made clairvoyant themselves, and they will occupy an impregnable position!

The Home Journal of April 19th, contains the following interesting particulars in reference to M. Gandon, derived from M. Trobriand, a gentleman of distinguished literary ability:

"A letter written by our friend, M. de Trobriand, who accompanied them in their visit to us, has since appeared in the French Journal of this city, however, and from this we will translate one or two of the leading data. It is a letter, by the way, not intended for publication-addressed by M. de Trobriand to 'Madame la Comtesse de ***,' at Paris-and obtained with difficulty for print, by his co-Editor, who states this in an introduction. It is an epistolary essay on the subject; in fact written with the charming grace and well-bred elegance so well known to the readers of the Etats-Unis, and though we had fully intended to translate it all, we have time only to jot down the mere additional information it conveys.

"Before coming to this country, M. Gandon had travelled through France aud Belgium, giving representations of this miracle to the scientific and curious. The phenomena seems to have been as much a surprise and mystery to himself as to any one else. One or two instances of his own first experiences are given. He had left Marseilles to give an exhibition at Toulon, leaving an order at the Hotel where he had been staying, to receive and reserve any letters which might be addressed to him there. Arrived at Toulon, he was lying on a sofa, reading, after dinner, when he suddenly saw a sealed letter on the page of the book. Rising and walking about, to be sure that he was not the subject of some passing illusion, he again opened the book, and saw an unfolded letter, in which was written the announcement that his wife was dangerously ill. He made these phenomena known to persons of respectability, postponed the intended lecture, and left immediately for Marseilles, where he found a sealed letter waiting for him, precisely like the one of which he had seen a vision, and containing precisely the words he had before read. He hastened to Paris, and arrived only in time to see his wife a few minutes before her death.

"But the most curious fact given by M. de Trobriand is, that, between the power of Monsieur Gandon and that of ordinary magnetism and clairvoyance, there is a strange antagonism! He seems to possess the power of neutralizing or exorcising the magnetic influence, and his mere presence throws a clairvoyant into indescribable terror. At Brussels, a lady of high rank and great intelligence, wished to have a clairvoyant questioned as to the nature of his power. She asked his consent-he gave it and a Catholic clergyman put the daughter of the lady into a magnetio slumber, as he had often done before for experiments in clairvoyance. The moment the sleeper was requested to place herself in spirit-communication with the stranger, she was seized apparently with uncontrollable fear, fell into violent convulsions, bade him be gone, with loud screams, and so agitated and terrified M. Gandon himself that he quitted the house, without further pursuance of the experiment.

"On arriving at his hotel, overwhelmed with what was a complete mystery to himself as well as to others, it occurred to him to make a trial of his power over the mind of the other, even when separated. With a strong effort, he concentrated his thoughts, and willed that she should rise and go into the garden which he had seen attached to the house she resided in. The day following he called to make inquiries, and was informed, that, after his departure, she had remained convulsed by spasms for fifteen or twenty minutes, but that she had suddenly arisen and walked to the garden, where the agitation seemed to cease, and she had been led thence to her room, without further symptoms. Questioned afterwards as to what she saw terrible in the stranger, the young lady stated that he had appeared to her enveloped in flames!-Possibly from the priest's imagination.-Ed. Jour. Man.]

"In Paris, the most successful magnetisers have assembled for the same kind of experiment, but even those who ordinarily find no difficulty in putting persons into a magnetic sleep, were wholly unable to produce the effect upon their most accustomed subjects in M. Gandon's presence. The only instance of magnetism he has ever witnessed was the one above described.

"M. de Trobriand thus concluded his letter to the Countess :

"If I were not soon to see you, long as my letter is, it would be but the preface of what I have to communicate on this subject; but I sail for France in the coming month, and I will narrate to you, myself, many a circumstance upon which your own mysterious faculties will aid to enlighten me. The wayward destiny, which, of late years, has sent me to traverse seas and dwell in far lands, has brought me in contact with many men and many events. In this adventurous wandering, I have three times encountered inexplicable revelations of a supernatural character. We will discourse of these. But, from now till then, there are of course chances that we may be parted by death. The sea is deep, and life is uncertain. If, then, before I come, you are first called to another world, I demand of you that, whatever you may have become, and if it be not rendered utterly impossible by the laws beyond the grave, you will reveal yourself to me-under whatever form and in whatever way it is permitted-and mingle your life with mine by supernatural communication and influence. In whatever time or place it may be, I shall be ready. So-living or dead-to meet again in this world.""

PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT RAPPINGS.-Under this caption we find, says the Pittsburgh Post, in the Cleveland Plaindealer, of the 14th inst., part of a lecture (13th of a course,) delivered at the Prospect Street Church, in Cleveland, April 13th, 1851, by Joel Tiffany, Esq. The Plaindealer states that the lectures "have been attended

by large audiences, and the interest is constantly increasing." We publish below a short extract from the lecture before us, for the special benefit of those who believe that "Spiritual Rappings" are either the work of the devil, or cunning imposton and necromancers:

"Here, on careful examination, we can find all the conditions necessary for producing these phenomena, and below this point we cannot-a single observation is sufficient to illustrate this point. When Professor Mitchell went to investigate these manifestations in Rochester or Auburn, and I forget which, he endeavored to obtain certain indications of intelligence which hể knew to be beyond the power of one mind in a hundred thousand to give. He called for the spirit of La Place, the celebrated mathematician and astronomer, and directly the spirit responded to his call.

"Now, said Prof. Mitchell, if you are the spirit of La Place, you can demonstrate a problem to me in such a book of your Mechanique Celeste.' The spirit responded by giving him the desired demonstration-a demonstration which he knew no person about him could even understand, after it was given. He took down the demonstration, not being certain that was the particular problem called for, and when be returned home, he compared it with the work itself, and found the demonstration true.

"Here was an exhibition of intelligence, not only above the highest developments of sensation, but even emanating from the highest sphere of intellectual development of mind while in the body; and Prof. Mitchell was satisfied, with that single experiment, of the highly intellectual source from which those sounds proceeded.

"I might go on to multiply examples involving the same and similar tests to almost an indefinite extent. But time will not permit me to do so. Suffice it to say, that, independent of any philosophy on this subject, facts enough have fallen under my own observation, to render me perfectly inexcusable for rejecting either of the following propositions:

"First-that these sounds are produced without any voluntary agency on the part of the mediums or any other persons present.

"Second-the medium does not and cannot dictate the answers which are given to the questions propounded, and the answers are as liable to be adverse to the belief or desires of the medium as of any other person present.

"Third-these sounds are produced through the voluntary agency of invisible intelligences or spirits, which differ in degrees of intelligence and truthfulness almost, if not quite as much as persons inhabiting the body, and in a similar manner are liable to be misunderstood by us and mistaken in themselves.

"Fourth-that we can associate and converse with enlightened or truthful spirits, or with ignorant and false spirits, just as we choose; and can have the means of knowing whether we are conversing with the one or with the other.

"Fifth--that the spirits with whom we converse know the most secret thoughts and motives of our souls; and that from their knowledge nothing can be hid. "Of the truth of these things, from my own observation and experience, I cannot doubt. In fact, if I know anything in existence to be true, I know these things to be so. If the evidence I have on these points is not sufficient evidence to convince me, then indeed, I have not sufficient evidence to satisfy me that I am now standing before you, and addressing you."

FRIENDLY CORRESPONDENCE.-Prof. Caldwell, of Louisville, says, (March 21st.): "Numerous and diversified engagements have prevented me, until now, from addressing to you a line or two on the January number of your Journal of Man.

"Though each number contains matter to me highly pleasing, interesting, and instructive, I value more highly the one just specified, than either of the three or four that preceded it.

"Your constitution of a good head is far the ablest paper on that subject I have ever seen; and I believe much the best that has ever been written. In truth, few men have themselves either the constitution of head, or the amount and kind of knowledge necessary to fit them to write on that subject. They possess neither the power of analysis nor of combination requisite for such a task. And yet, when knowingly and sagaciously examined, as you have done, it becomes one of the most plain and common sense topics that can present itself.

"Your Mormon paper is equally curious and striking, and tends more to confirm what is already an adage-that fact is often more extraordinary than fiction or