Having its foundations in truth, there have not been found wanting, in the remote past as in the present, unscrupulous persons ready to erect on those foundations the most stupendous frauds.
The mental phenomena which have given rise to what is called spiritualism are daily exhibited in some form or other in the life and experience of almost every one. But the simplest and perhaps the most interesting method of exhibition is by means of the little toy called Planchette; a brief account of some experiments with which will best serve to illustrate the nature of the phenomena in question.
The writer and a lady friend placing the tips of their fingers lightly on the board, the following words were traced on the paper upon which it was placed:
"You will be beset by foes within and without."
On being asked to whom this applied, it answered:
"The heart that needs it will understand."
A question was then put by a bystander; but instead of answering, it went on as though continuing the former train of thought:
"Hope and trust. You will have trials you know not of." And again, "Hope and trust."
Here another question was put by a bystander, but instead of answer came the words:
"You will find important letters awaiting you from home. Hope and trust."
I then asked: "To whom are these words addressed?"
_Ans._--Soon enough you will know. Hope and trust.
To a question given mentally by a bystander it answered:
Not being able to decipher this clearly, it repeated:
"With God all things are well. Trust Him."
I confess to having been impressed with these words, so solemn were they, so oracular, and, as it then appeared, so fitly spoken. At the time of making these experiments I was on board one of the Pacific Mail steamships, on my way to San Francisco; and I had reason to be particularly solicitous in regard to my future. But my companion, in these my first experiments, just entering a new and untried field, had far more cause of anxiety than myself in regard to the future. To her these warnings seemed singularly applicable. Satisfied that my coöperator exercised no voluntary control over the board, absolutely certain the words were not emanations of my own mind, and impelled by curiosity, I determined to try the effect of a few test questions, and, ridiculous as it may appear, ascertain from the instrument itself something of its nature.