King, (Dan\ *»»»> SPIRITUALISM delist king, m. r>, « »»» > SPIRITUALISM, AN ADDRESS, TO THE BRISTOL COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY, BT DAN KING, M, D s-^N9/^/^@\§ye^»^ TAUNTON, PRINTED BY C. A. HACK, 5 MAIN STREET, 1857. ADDRESS. Gentlemen,—One of the most exciting topics of the present time, is what is now called Spiritualism. Al- though not strictly a subject of medical inquiry, yet as it concerns our intellectual as well as moral being, we may properly consider it to be within our province; and and its extraordinary pretentions seem to demand a serious consideration. "Man know thyself," is one of the highest injunctions of both medical and moral phi- losophy, and he is most skilful in either department who best obeys this command. The nineteenth century boasts of intelligence, and knowledge surpassing all former times: and this in some respects, may be true; when we consider the numerous important scientific discoveries, and wonderful perfor- mances by machinery, which have been made, in the present age ; whether we contemplate the flying au- tomaton as he courses over his iron path, breathing fire and making a meek of distance, or the floating palace with all her dazzling appendages, traversing the ocean and defying the elements, or that stupen- dous chain which is to bind continents together, and become a highway for the lightning; we are lost in admiration of the wonderful achievments of human ingenuity and readily award to the present age her most extravagant demands. But if we retire from these contemplations, and endeavor to take a view of 4 the human mind itself, we shall soon find reason to humble our pride, and check our boastings. Man's in- nate, intellectual capacities, have not increased to that degree that his works would seem to imply, and at last we are led to the conclusion, that all the boasted improvements of the present time, are little more than the aggregate, and necessary results of former discov- eries. The mind still gropes in metaphysical darkness, and becomes an easy prey to delusions. Man himself is an enigma which he can never fully understand. Ush- ered into life, he looks around him and beholds much to admire, yet little that he can comprehend. Him- self a mere atom in the universe—confined to a sin- gle point—shut in on all sides—every where surround- ed by high impervious walls—endowed with a brief existence, and limited intellectual capacities, and yet possessing an insatiable thirst for knowledge; the mind like a caged bird, is ever striving to break through the barriers that are placed around it, and to expand its wings in boundless intelligence. A strong desire to pertb through the meshes of that veil, which hides everything future from mortal ken, has always everywhere existed, and led to numerous devices for the attainment of that great object. Not satisfied with the light of Revelation, nature has been put upon the rack to make her disclose her arcana. Dreams and visions, the flight of birds and the . motions of an- imals, and the ever varying phenomena, of the natu- ral world, have all been regarded as exponents of fu- ture events. From evening till morning, night after night, and year after year, the devoted Egyptians gazed upon the Heavens, and watched the stars. Upon that cerulean scroll astrology thought to find inscrib- 5 ed the destiny of every human being. Greece, Rome and Egypt had their oracles. Throughout those re- fined and populous kingdoms,—the homes of the arts and the cradles of science,—where Homer wrote his Hiad,—where Caesar commanded his legions and Cic- ero moved his senates; spacious temples dedicated to imaginary deities reared their lofty domes, and dis- played their gilded minarets. In each of these tem- ples, some deity was supposed to reside. Here the people paid their morning and evening sacrifices, and here, they resorted, to gain a knowledge of future events. For centuries no important undertaking was made, without first enquiring of some oracle. Princes went to war, or made peace, invaded anothers territo- ry or abandoned their own, as the oracle dictated. The pagan priests had entire control of the oracles, and all who dared to disbelieve them were charged with infi- delity, although it was allowed that a portion of these oracular deities, were evil spirits, and often gave false responses. The masses believed, worshipped, and adored alike, the good, and the bad. Ceuttfry after century these temples controlled the destinies of Asia. A single response was enough to make a nation quake with fear, or become frantic with joy. The wretched minions of pagan priesthood who were enshrined in these temples and gave out the answers, were some of the vilest of beings, whose only knowledge consisted in framing equivocal and ambiguous answers to all in- to rogations. But this mighty delusion at length came to an end—its priests passed away, their shrines were abandoned, and their temples fell; and all the world decided that there never was any truth in them. Is the testimony adduced to prove Spiritualism now 6 stronger or better, than that which supported it in an- cient times? The human mind is the same in all ages, and to a certain extent, under all circumstances. In- tellectual and moral culture may do much towards dispelling the delusions of superstition, but they have never yet been able to eradicate that insatiable love of the marvellous with which all men seem to be en- dowed. Many of the means made use of two thous- and years ago in aid of Spiritualism are resorted to now to give weight and verity to its exhibitions. As if Spirits were afraid of light, the darkness of night has ever been chosen for their manifestations. Soli- \« tary places have been preferred, and the Genii of for- ests and grave yards have been invoked. More than two thousand years ago those who practised the art of divination pretended to recieve spiritual communica- tions whilst they slept, and the clairvoyant of the present time makes the same pretensions. The an- cient diviners gave responses by various ambiguous signs and noises, they also pretended to have inter- course with departed Spirits, and the united acclama- tions of confiding thousands attested to the truth of their declarations. What more can modern Spiritual- ism claim ? The silly pretexes by which she endeavors to sus- tain herself sink into insignificance when compared with the imposing array of testimony in support of Grecian and Roman oracles. Whoever will take the trouble to inquire may easily satisfy himself that there is nothing new in modern Spiritualism. It is only the same old hobby that has been ridden to market hun- dreds of times before; the ears may have been cropped and the caparison changed, but after all it is 7 the very same old jade, on the same errands. And if time cannot convert a falsehood into truth, that which was a fraud and delusion two thousand years ago re- mains a falsehood still. Unerring truth is the attri- bute of Deity. Through the entire universe perfect order and regularity everywhere prevails, and noth- ing ever occurs, or can occur, to disturb that harmony. Therefore every pretended Spiritual manifestation which impugns that harmony must be false, and we are well assured that in all the farrago of Spiritual manifestation nothing has ever taken place, or can take place, which scientific investigations cannot account for. Men talk about Spirits as though they were ordina- ry things, well known and understood. But what are Spirits ? Who has seen a Spirit or can describe such an incorporeal existence ? We cannot even in imagi- nation have any conception of an immaterial being, because, we have no faculties by which we can recog- nize such existences. All experience proves that our knowledge of the external world is acquired wholly through the medium of bodily organs. Each organ has its distinct and separate task, and can never per- form any vicarious duty. The optic nerve is the sole organ of vision, and when wholly destroyed, total blind- ness ensues. The sense of hearing comes through the auditory nerves; when these are destroyed or wanting we have no means of acquiring a knowledge of sounds, and perfect deafness is the consequence: so of every other organ by which we become acquainted with ex- ternal objects. Therefore when we are told, upon no matter what authority, that any individual can see without eyes, or has the faculty of any other sense 8 without its appropriate organ, we are bound to consider all such testimony false. But we are told that one in- visible Spirit may operate upon the Spirit of another living being, and make use of his bodily organs as means of communication ; and this we are informed is the modus operandi of Spiritual manifestations. Pre- cisely in the same way the ancient oracles pretended to operate. The man in the temple was the medium, and the invisible Spirits were supposed to manifest themselves through him. Their Spirits however did not always make use of human beings as media, some- times birds, sometimes insects, and sometimes a bull calf brought the intelligence; and sometimes the will of their deities was made known by the casting of lots. \ A review of history proves conclusively that the Spir- itualism of the nineteenth century is essentially the very same thing that existed in the dark ages long be- fore the christian era. Indeed it has always existed in some form, and under some name, and the strong love of the marvellous which is a component part of our intellectual being, seems to have made provision for its everlasting perpetuity. This mental proclivity is often unhappily increased by morbid impressions and erro- neous teachings in early life. From our cradles up- wards we have been entertained by nurses, Grandmoth- ers and great Grandmothers, with histories of witches, Ghosts and apparitions of a thousand forms. Tradition has brought an army of these beings from the remotest ages, and will carry them down to coming generations, though it is to be hoped with less, and less power. By such means the dark delusions of ages far back on the page of history cast their lurid shadows upon the present generation. 9 ' A morbid state of the sensorium if not indispensa- ble is certainly favorable to spectral delusions. This is shown not only in cases of hysteria, but also in oth- er disorders which derange the mental organism; cloud the intellect, and impair the functions of the brain. The votaries of Spiritualism often point you to men once eminent in the professions, venerable clergymen and Hon. Judges, who have become converts to this .doctrine. But all such examples instead of giving weight and authority to the delusion, only go to con- firm the truth of my proposition, viz: that a morbid condition of the intellect favours its development. Examine these instances and you will find that those giant minds have suffered deterioration, and have be- come weakened by age and infirmities, the noble ship once proof against all the assaults of the elements lies stranded upon a lee shore, the machine whose giant power once worked wonders, now lies in scattered fragments, the mammoth clock that for ages crowned the summit of some lofty dome, and uninfluenced by the vicissitudes of time or season told every hour cor- rectly, has at length become worn out, its wheels are out of geer, and it tells false time. In like manner time has laid her hand upon the man and he is once more a child. His harp is unstrung and hangs upon the willows. Nearly all the believers in Spiritualism are persons of a peculiar nervous temperament. They are unsta- ble, restless, fickle minded and extremely sensitive fond of novelties and always catching at every new phantom that makes its appearance. They have strong imaginations, and weak reasoning powers. 10 They may succeed well and even become eminent in some one branch of business, but they do not reason soundly upon every subject, and therefore are very li- able to be led astray by the force of their own imagi- nation, and fall into gross errors. They are the foam and the spray, that rise upon the surface of the stream to bubble and flash and disappear. At best there is no perfection in the human mind. Every one has failings and imperfections. The sound- est and most reliable often show their weak sides, and the man who is very wise in some things, often shows himself a fool in something else. He may be a very learned divine but a very poor mechanic, he may be a great politician, yet a poor moralist, or he may know how to get and keep money, and yet know very little of anything else. Therefore it is wrong to sup- pose that because an individual holds a respectable position in some department of business he is equally reliable in everything else. To sound well informed minds, in their calm reas- oning moments, departed spirits never make their ap- pearance, and if all men were of this class we should hear no more of the self exhumed corpses dancinc upon their graves in winding sheets. Frightful spec- tres would cease to visit the bedrooms of innocent fe- males at the solemn hour of midnight, and every pre- tence to intercourse with the Spirits of the dead would be regarded as it should be, as an impious falsehood. The Roman priests not being always satisfied with the responses of the good deities declared, that if God would not communicate his secrets to men, it was per- fectly right to seek information of the devil. Hence many of their oracular deities were of that class. But 11 in more modern times a different sentiment has pre- vailed, and an intercourse with evil spirits has been supposed to imply a deep moral depravity, and the laws of most civilized nations have made it a capital offence. Great numbers in Europe and some in this country have been put to death because they were supposed to have intercourse with evil spirits- And although we regret the morbid credulity and infatua- tion that led to such convictions, we are bound to res- pect those sacred principles of morality that looked with detestation and abhorrence upon such vile per- formances. Those who are endeavoring to make cap- ital out of this delusion, and their benighted followers charge all who will not believe them with infidelity. But there is nothing new in this, it has been a stand- ing accusation from the remotest periods, and has been made a thousand times by the vilest of imposters against the wisest and best of men. Long before Christianity was known the pagan priests charged all with infidelity who would not believe in their super- natural endowments, and since the advent of Christi- anity the same old accusation has been continually reiterated. The investigations of science and philoso- phy and all experience prove conclsively, that the whole universe and every atom of which it is com- posed, is governed by immutable laws, as perfect and unerring as Jehovah himself. Upon those fixed laws the earth, and all things animate and inanimate per- taining to it depend for their very existence, and he who denies this, might as well deny hvis