Memoirs of an editor : fifty years of American journalism / Edward P. Mitchell.

MEDDLINGS WITH THE OCCULT

169

there must be in nature an immeasurable reservoir of
unused force available for the practical purposes of living
humanity, if the word of command could be discovered
to secure the intelligent co-operation of the departed.
Could we hook our machinery on to this omnipotent motor
there would be no reason for apprehending what may
happen after the exhaustion of the world's stock of coal
and mineral oil. This would be true whether we follow
Sir William Thomson or Sir William Crookes or Nicola
Tesla into the vortices of molecular physics or boldly
adopt Sir Oliver Lodge's theory of emanations that have
got through by means of selective absorption. The mighty
aid of the energizing dead would leave small need of
manual labor by the surviving.
At a seance in a private house at the South End of
Boston I once had a striking illustration of the terrific
power latent in the selective absorptions. The medium,
to the best of recollection, was one of the Eddys. All the
assistants but myself, I think, were convinced beforehand of the verity of these manifestations; and without
reservation I was invited to test them. I helped in the
tying of the medium. Bound in the customary way to
his chair by ankles and wrists, he sat in a cabinet improvised with curtains in one corner of the parlor. The rest
of us, except the man at the melodeon, were arranged in
a circle, each with crossed hands clasping those of the
neighbors at the right and the left. The lights were turned
down, there was soft music of the kind supposed to be
alluring to spirits, a guitar apparently floated over our
heads twanging gently as it floated, and touches were felt
on our foreheads and cheeks. After a while, when communication had been perfected, dim hands were seen extending

from the closed drapery of the cabinet and rappings bade
one after another of the circle to go up and be greeted by
some definitely announced visitant from the beyond. It
was extremely pathetic to behold a daughter or a widow