an intellectual plane, it meets a corresponding spiritual race. To expect that the brilliant company that used to meet in George Eliot's drawing-room at St. John's Wood could descend and hold like intercourse with the inhabitants of St. Giles', is to suppose an impossibility. It is not the law of things. Embodied men and women gravitate to each other by a subtle law of attraction. Carlyle vegetates at Craigenputtock, but that lonely house on the Dumfries' moors soon draws to itself such intellects as Emerson and Lord Jeffery. Now, that principle rules with iron sway the spiritworld. A Carlyle or an Emerson could at times converse with a clodhopper. The gross earth-body seems to dull the intensity of spirit-laws. But in the heavens, where the body is accurately adjusted, and responsive to the inner spirit-life, where every passion and idea is felt in all its intensity, such promiscuous intercourse is impossible. That being so, it will be seen how subtle or delicate the laws of spirit-converse, between earth and heaven, really are. We have endeavoured to show the bodily conditions essential, but now we are entering the real difficulties of the case. Intellectual culture is not the highest form of spiritbeing. It can be developed with all but entire absence of moral purity, and a soul that, if not hateful, is a negation of love. Evil spirits are not necessarily mental fools. Moses met the soothsayers of Egyptno doubt mediums, too,--and found himself equally matched in nearly every wonder that he produced before Pharoah. The spirits who controlled the wise men of Pharoah's court were evidently as well versed in the laws of nature as the powers with whom Moses was dealing. The awful spirit called Satan, in the New Testament (and in mentioning him, we are not expressing any belief in the orthodox devil) was one of uncommon intellectual powers. A meeting with the logic of that spirit was a cause of wrestle and temptation to the Christ. There are thousands of highly cultured intellects living and dying among us, utterly bereft of moral principle. A Talleyrand was great, comprehensive and subtle in mind, though altogether vitiated in morals. The Order of Jesus is highly developed in intellect, with a complete distortion of the moral faculty. A diplomatist like Dalling Bulwer was great in intellect, yet otherwise a proud aristocrat, and such a dandy that he could sit for five hours in his dressing-room, arrayed in the full costume of a Knight of the Garter, lost in self-admiration. Such individuals enter the unseen, and are there without any of the accidents of birth, prestige, or social influence which gave them their place and dignity on earth. They do not rise far above the earth-plane of spirit-life, if at all. Earthly in all their ideas, they, in spirit-life, grovel unseen in their old haunts and with their former passions, and directly acting in the politics and affairs of earth. Hence, we would speak this caution in the study of intellectual conditions. Bodily and intellectual conditions, of the best kind supplied, will only mean that the sitters in a seance become en rapport with intellectually developed spirits, unless they are differentiated by moral culture and religious feelings. Intellectual culture played a high part in Bible Spiritualism. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Paul, John, were intellects of a superb kind. The minor prophets' writings-the productions of ruder intellects are drivel to the sublime soarings of these leading geniuses. Each of them represented the best culture of their age. Abraham lived for years in intimacy with the court of Egypt, which four hundred years after was at the blaze of intellectual grandeur. Job, whenever he lived, produced a book that the loftiest minds of the 19th century recognise as peerless in philosophic insight. Moses was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egygtians," and our Egyptologists are all agreed, and the ruins of Thebes, Karnac, and the Pyramids testify, to the splendour of its attainments. David was not only a genius of soaring poetic power, but a brilliant general, a profound statesman, and a perfect monarch of men. Where Saul fails, David, like another Napoleon, has the intellectual supremacy which gathers to itself the mind and genius of its time. Paul was trained not only in Rabbinic learning, but in the best Grecian culture. The man who "turned the world upside down" was not a humble fisherman, nor even an intuitive genius like John the Divine, but the man of promise in the Sanhedrim of his day, and the greatest hope of Israel. His writings proclaim him, if not a genius, a man of high and trained intellect. All this shows that spirit-intercourse, intellectually considered, is the same as on earth, except that it is a more rigorous law. It would be idle to teach logarithms in a Board School. There is not the intellectual substratum for such ideas. And a necessary requisite for the imparting of great ideas by the spirit-world is high intellectual response on the part of earth. There is something more. Intellect, in different men, may be equally great in power but varied in its tendency. A Wordsworth is not a Newton, nor a Leibnitz a Schiller, nor a Voltaire a Faraday. Moses could not have produced the splendid and fervid imagery of Isaiah's prophecy. Bible Spiritualism presents great, but variable intellectual forms. There is such a thing as intellectual sympathy, apart from other sympathies altogether. The methodic Southey, the disorderly Coleridge, and the intuitional Wordsworth, live side by side in the Lake district. There is something touching in the meeting of Carlyle and Goethe, though the former is a martinet in morals and the latter an avowed sensualist. Sweeter still, to my mind, is the more equal friendship of Huxley and Tyndall. Intellectual similarity evidently rules the form and manifestation of Bible Spiritualism. At one time it is a religious thinker like Abraham and Job; at another a brilliant statesman like Moses; at another a poet-king like David; at another a stern prophet like Elijah; at another a man like Paul, who thinks only in syllogisms; at another one like John, who dwells in intuitions. There is one marked feature about the intellectualism of these Bible heroes-their complete independency in relation to previous and collateral ideas. If we had a Sartor Resartus of each one we might find the torture of getting to the "Everlasting No" before they gained the sublime conviction of the "Everlasting Yea." It is a pity we have no record of Abraham's prior thinkings before he left Ur of the Chaldees for Canaan; or of that forty years of solitude in the case of Moses, before the burning bush calls him to his life-work; or of Elijah, previous to the revolution of Carmel; or of Paul's three years in the desert of Arabia. The intense after-conviction of each one proves the tremendous chaos and upheaval that preceded. The Almighty hovered over each soul in its chaos and ruin before He uttered the majestic word "Let there be light." These men wrestled, as the Grecian giant with the serpent coils, with old ideas and outworn faiths. In each one there was that intellectual vitality that made the Use and Wont theory an impossibility. They could take nothing on mere authority. Reason and conscience were paramount in them. Perhaps no attitude is more essential than this in the study of Spiritualism. The enquirer must not ask is it accordant with pre-existent things, but is it accordant with reason and conscience, man's final bar of judgment. Nothing is more sure than that a man's environment will be in exact accord with his inner principles. If he be dead in reason and yet religious in craving, he will become a slave of some authoritative system. If he be alive in reason and conscience, and religious craving, he will be reverent to the past, knowing that in its form there is entombed a truth on which others lived, and yet fearless in his search after a more exact expression and new facts. One more fact about Bible Spiritualism. It is evident that the intellectual tone and bias of one age is different from another. Moses' age produces a political form of Spiritualism, in combination with the religious. That of the Judges ending with Samuel in battle with foes for the very existence of national life. That of the Exilian prophets, that of mediumistic heraldings of a brighter future. The heavenly world cannot give more than an age can take. It gives a statesman, prophet, poet, king, reformer, logician, preacher, as the age requires. This being so, no age certainly presents more promise of a healthy Spiritualism than this. It is an age of wide culture and exact knowledge. "The schoolmaster is abroad" in a sense such as never was before. It is an age of deeper spirit-life than ever was seen before. Knowledge is not only deepened but diffused. It has superficies as well as depth collateral with it. Hence mediumship can be multiplied. Your sons and daughters shall prophecy," and "all shall know the Lord," was the foresight of the old seer, as he peered into the future. Surely the time we live in supplies the substratum spiritual life for the fulfilment of that old promise. Mediumship was a rarity in Bible times. It could be none other. In our day it may be a household fact. But Spiritualists must never forget the law-As we are, bodily and intellectually, will be our intercourse with the spirit-world. Like to like is the unbending mandate. It is idle to expect a spirit Newton to pour through the mind of a rhapsodical medium the scientific laws of this awful universe. The exhortation of Bible Spiritualism so far investigated, if we are to have successful seances, is-Culture, intellect and body. Thus, when a true response is made by earth to the spheres, we may expect them to teach us from their higher plane of life, just as the higher intellects of earth sit in our professorial chairs and instruct us below. It will be as natural in the one case as the other. We shall have epoch books pouring in from the spirit-spheres like Bacon's "Novum Organum," Grove's "Correlation of Forces," and Smith's "Wealth of Nations." The lecture-room of the Royal Society will mingle its thoughts with lecture-rooms of a higher world, and if this rule be kept in mind, every home may become a school, and every seance a class-room of advancement. OURANOI. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. AM I A MEDIUM? We receive a great many letters, the answering of which is an important duty, asking questions respecting the development of mediumship. In most cases we have to write, making inquiries as to conditions, and in some cases asking for a portrait. The following reply was recently sent to a lady. The suggestions it contains may be so widely useful that we give them publicity : It does not seem that you are adapted to be a medium. You have great mental energy but a deficiency of vitality, and when you sit in circle the more powerful organisms will absorb your vitality from you. All that you receive from the spirit-world will come through your own consciousness. You should cultivate your intuitions. Sit quietly and entertain any ideas that flow into your mind, and when they appear vivid enough write them down. You may thus give expression to many good things. Sit alone: you will find the presence of others impede you and perhaps give you headache. You could be a speaker-not in the unconscious state, but by impression. You would make an excellent spiritual worker, to plan and carry out anything that needed to be done for the advancement of a Cause; or you could understand the principles of Spiritualism and teach them to others in conversation. There are many ways in which we can help on Spiritual Truth, and even co-operate with the spirit-world, without being mediums in the phenomenal sense. We are not less, on that account, the means whereby the thoughts of spirits reach the external sphere. The greatest need in this Movement is that of spiritual advisers, spiritual teachers, or developing mediums, who would in every district give to inquirers of this kind, and circleformers in general, personal and practical instruction, as to what they could best do and how to do it. We would gladly give the rooms at the Spiritual Institution one evening in the week for that purpose. Who will act as medium or teacher? SPIRITUAL SCIENCE AND THE "FOURTH DIMENSION." To the Editor,-Dear Sir,-In replying to the letter of your correspondent "Pericles," in which he does me the honour to ask my opinion on a few facts," I thank him, more especially as he seems to misunderstand the general import of my paper on velocity. "Pericles" asks what would be the heat of water that had been in a state of motion for half-an-hour by means of a paddle revolving six times in one second, and what would be the heat of the same if the paddle was revolving twenty-four times in one second? If we make no allowance for the friction of the shaft, and for the friction of the water on the sides and bottom of the tub, and on the blades of the paddle-for this would resist the motion of the water and of course evolve heat-the heat of the water at the end of both experiments, when the motion of the water had ceased, would be exactly what it was before the water was set into motion by the revolving paddle. But if we give to the tub a diameter of three feet, and let 2910-3 represent the heat of the water before commencing the experiment, in the first instance when the paddle has reached its maximum of six revolutions per second, and while it is still moving at that velocity the heat of the water will be 2910-05 ; and in the second instance, when the paddle has reached its maximum of twenty-four revolutions per second, the heat of the water will be 2909-3, so that the quicker the paddle revolves the less the heat of the water. Heat to the amount of the difference of the velocities of the water before and after the paddle is set in motion becoming latent in the water. This "Pericles" may prove for himself without a cumberous arrangement like that suggested, if he procures a small thermometer and attaches to it a piece of string about one yard long, and selects a room with no fire and free from draughts, in which to carry out the experiment. Hang the thermometer in the room for a little, until it registers the correct temperature, then take the string by the end and swing the thermometer around as quickly as possible. In this way he will be able to contract the mercury about two degrees F. I would farther point out to "Pericles" that when his paddle was moving at twenty-four revolutions he had only increased the velocity of the water one 2909-3th part, for, the water to commence with was moving at the velocity of the earth— twenty-four miles per second. "Pericles" further says that "the velocity has become transmuted into heat: the greater the velocity the greater the heat." But how can the velocity be transmuted into heat, unless the force that is the cause of the velocity be active after the velocity has ceased? Milk may be made into cheese or butter, but when you have only a certain quantity of milk the more cheese you make out of it the less you will have to make butter with. Force may be transmuted into either heat or velocity, but if you put it into velocity you cannot get it in heat. "Pericles'" second "fact" is a "piece of burning coal," and as this and the third "fact" have nothing to do with the question at issue, I do not think I should interfere farther than to point out what I mean by velocity:-If you take two balls of iron, heat one until it is red hot, use the same amount of heat in moving the other through space, these two balls will then be possessed of equal force; but what the one wants in velocity of its mass it has in heat, and what the other has in the velocity of its mass it wants in heat. Heat is expressed in "degrees," velocity by "foot pounds," and is always applied to a body moving in mass.-yours truly, 8, Silvergrove Street, Calton, Glasgow. March 29, 1881. JAMES MCDOWALL A MEDIUMISTIC THORN.-The Holy Thorn is the popular name in Somerset for the Glastonbury thorn, and there seems to have been this year something like a revival in the public mind of the belief that it would expand its first flowers immediately on Old Christmas Day being ushered in. In a village near here there is a tree that was raised from a shoot taken from the Glastonbury tree, and it is commonly believed that this tree produces its first flowers exactly at midnight. This year, so I am assured by an eye-witness, quite a large crowd assembled round the tree immediately before 12 o'clock on the eve of Old Christmas Day to witness the opening of the first bloom of the reputed miraculous tree. Many of those who assembled carried lights, some probably to see whether Joseph of Arimathea would be present to do homage to the tree. Whether those who assembled on this occasion were satisfied with what they saw I cannot say, but it appears strange that the legend of this thorn should still retain such a firm hold upon the minds of the people when there are so many other examples of the the thorn in the neighbourhood, of which no notice is taken. I have seen this particular tree both in and out of flower, and I know of no reason why it should be regarded with exceptional interest, as it is only in mild winters like the present that it shows signs of flowering at this early date. But it is evident that the story as to the date of the flowering is handed down from one generation to another, and so retains a hold upon a certain class of the community.-J. C. CLARKE, in the "Gardener's Magazine." CIRCLE & PERSONAL MEMORANDA. MR. WRIGHT will discourse at Liverpool on Sunday evening; subject: "Is Man Immortal?" in reply to Mrs. Besant's lecture on the same subject. CORRESPONDENTS in the south side of London cougratulate themselves in having Mr. Towns amongst them. There is every prospect of his gifts being put to abundant use. Mr. W. J. TIPPET, 30, Eton Street, Hessle Road, Hull, would be glad to hear from local Spiritualists with the view to forming a circle. Ar the request of the Goswell Hall friends Miss Samuel has prolonged her stay in town an additional week. The Brighton address is 44, Brunswick Place, The Level, Brighton. On Friday evening Mr. Towns gave a sitting at the Spiritual Institution, and on Monday evening another, the collection being for the benefit of a widow lady in depressed circumstances. THE seance at the Spiritual Institution on Monday evening was largely composed of mediums. Miss Samuel, Mr. Duguid, Mr. Howell, and others, in addition to Mr. Towns, also Mr. Armstrong of Newcastle, were present. It was a pleasant social reunion independent of mediumship. S. C. Hall's letter: "Left Earth Life," becomes more popular daily. It is sent for in hundreds. Those who conduct Sunday meetings should have a quantity with the meetings announced at the foot. It would bring in many visitors,—try it. SPIRITUALIST and Reform Literature. We are requested to say that parcels of periodicals and tracts will be sent to earnest reformers for distribution on payment of carriage only. Preference given to those who are about to emigrate and would distribute on board ship. Address "T" at this office. A correspondent writes admiringly of the spiritual gifts and self-sacrifice of Mrs. Walker, who sits repeatedly each week with Mrs. Ayers, 45, Jubilee Street, Mile End Road. Mrs. Walker is a physical and clairvoyant medium and proves of service to many anxious sonls destitute of the means to make her the slightest recompense. EASTER is a great time for spiritual anniversaries: our Lancashire friends seldom over-look the opportunity. We are glad to see that the Oldham programme is a spiritual one. There are plenty of speculators in mere amusement without Spiritualists going in for that kind of thing. "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men," but let us by all means have nonsense seasonably interspersed with wisdom. We have been very pleased to receive a succession of pleasant visits from Mr. Armstrong during the week, who has enlivened us with his cheerful and hearty influence. We wish we knew as much as he does of the practical facts of mediumship. There is no man in the Movement better qualified to write a work on the subject. We have also had a call from our old friend Mr. Blake, who is as staunch as ever in his appreciation of spiritual truth. There are hopeful times coming for Spiritualism in the "Canny Toon." QUEBEC HALL, Marylebone Road.-On Sunday evening, the subject treated by Mr. Macdonnell was "External show," first having read the 23rd chapter of Matthew. There was a number of selections from Shakespeare and other poets read, bearing on the subject, and after a review of the uses and powers of the senses, their abuse was to be recognised when acting independent of reason. The moral aspect of the question was applied to the religious display of to-day, which was in strict parallel with the gross hypocrisy of the Jews 2000 years ago. The attendance was not quite so full as usual as the debate which generally follows was on this occasion dispensed with to settle business matters connected with the hall. OLDHAM.-ANNUAL TEA PARTY AND ENTERTAINMENT. MEETING ROOM, 176, UNION STREET, OLDHAM. Instead of holding our annual festival on Good Friday as usual, we shall hold it on the following day, Saturday, on account of many of the mills and workshops being kept open on Good Friday, and many of our people being at work. Tea on the tables at 4-30 p.m. Tickets 9d. each; children under 12 4d. each. The entertainment will consist of songs, glees, readings, recitations, dialogues, and short addresses, by the members and friends of the Cause. Admission to the entertainment alone 3d. each, if room permit. On the following day, Sunday, the 17th, being the 7th anniversary of the public work of Spiritualism at Oldham, we intend to have a Spiritualist service of song, when choice selections from the "Spiritual Harp" will be readered by the choir, interspersed with short addresses by members and friends of the Cause. Friends from neighbouring towns will be heartily welcomed on both occasions. Tea provided in the room between afternoon and evening meetings at 6d. each. Meetings commence at 2-30 and 6 p.m. 6, Fielding Street, Oldham. JOSHUA WOOD. SPIRITUALISM, THE BIBLE, AND TABERNACLE PREACHERS. A Discourse by J. BURNS, of the Spiritual Institution, London, Delivered at Doughty Hall, Bedford Row, London, on Sunday Evening, April 18, 1875, In reply to a Sermon entitled "THE RELIGION OF GHOSTS," by the Rev. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D., preached at the Tabernacle, Brooklyn, New York. PRICE TWOPENCE. 13 copies, post free, 1s. 9d.; 100 copies, 10s., carriage extra, 1,000 copies, £4, carriage extra, CONTENTS. The Transfiguration of Jesus: What it Taught. The Materialisation and Dematerialisation of Jesus after His Crucifixion. The Permeability of Matter by Matter Illustrated by Jesus. True Nature of Jesus' Post-mortem Body. 'ests of Identity given by the Arisen Jesus. dodern 8piritualism, a Supplement of the Apostolic Age. Christian Prayer; to whom Addressed? The Witch of En-dor Libelled. The Genuineness of her Mediumship Jewish Ignorance of Immortality. The Spirit-form of Samuel; His Denunciation of Saul. Identity of the Spirit Samuel shown. Generosity of the Woman of En-dor towards Saul. Baul's Interview with Samuel not an exact Type of Modern Spiritualism. The Early History of Modern Spiritualism Misrepresented. Alliance of Christians and Infidels in Fighting against God. Modern Spiritualism a part of the Plan Origin of Jewish Law, Religion, and The Degrading Sacrifices of the Jews; Perversion and Simulation of Spiritual Phenomena. The Preacher's Lince Pie-ety. Influence of Spiritualism on Bodily Health. Remedial Effects of Mediumship. The "Rich Man and Lazarus," a Recog nition of Spirit Communion. The Latter Days." The Blood of Atonement, a Rello of Ancient Paganism. The Efficacy of Prayer. Purity of Soul the Aim of 8piritualism LONDON: J. BURNS, PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY AND SPIRITUAL INSTII ION, The Consolations of Spiritualism in Trouble. 15, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, W.C. MOTTO.-The Discovery of Truth, the Diffusion of Truth, and the Application of Truth to the Welfare of Humanity. OBJECT.-To supply Educational Agencies to Spiritual Workers and Inquirers, and in all possible ways to promote a knowledge of Spiritual Science, and dispense such teachings as will benefit mankind morally and spiritually, inducing a better state of society, and a higher religious life. CONSTITUTION. - On the voluntary principle, free, and unsectarian, and independent of party, society and human leadership. We work with all who see fit to work with us, allowing every Spiritualist to take advantage of our agencies, whatever his opinions, societary relations, or position may be. POLITY. No officials, no salaries. Those engaged in the work, after earning their living by industry give their whole time to the Cause free of charge; the expenses, in addition, which are heavy, are partly met by voluntary contributions from Spiritualists in Great Britain and other countries. Contributors are earnestly desired to take out the value of their contribution in the use of books from the Library for perusal, or to lend to inquirers. GOSWELL HALL SUNDAY SERVICES. 290, Goswell Road, near the "Angel," Islington. Da Sunday evening last we had an inspirational address from Miss Keeves's guides. It was a perfect oration. All were pleased and delighted. The manner the questions were answered was astounding. Next Sunday morning, at 11, conference, in which all are welcome and invited to take part. In the evening, at 7 p-m, Miss Samuel will address the meeting. 161, Manor Place, Walworth Road, S.E. W. Towns, Sec. LADBROKE HALL, NEAR NOTTING HILL RAILWAY STATION. Sunday, April 10, Mr. Macdonnel, at 7 o'clock. On Sunday, 17th, Mr. J. Holmes, morning at 11-30 and evening at 7 o'clock. On Good Friday, tea and entertainment. Tea at 5 o'clock; entertainment at 7 o'clock. Miss Samuel occupied the platform on April 3, and gave a very excellent address; subject: "Man Animal, and Man Spiritual." The ball was well filled. F. O. Matthews followed with clairvoyant tests, mostly received by strangers, who acknowledged them to be correct. Mr. Matthews follows each speaker with elairvoyance at the Sunday evening lectures. 126, Kensington Park Road, W. F. O. MATTHEWS. QUEBEC HALL, 25, GREAT QUEBEC STREET. Sunday, April 10, at 7 prompt, Mr. Veitch, in the absence of Mr. Macdonnell, will discours on "The New Testament." Monday, 11th, at 8-30, the monthly meeting of Comprehensionists, when a paper will be read. Wednesday, at 8-30, Mr. F. O. Matthews, clairvoyant descriptions, &c.; admission 6d. to this meeting. He has also formed a circle on Friday evenings at 8-30 for development. Dear Mr. Editor,-I shall feel obliged by your affording me space to announce that on Tuesday, 26th, at 8, there will be an entertainmentmusical and elocutionary-in the hall, when the child elocutionist (age 7 years), known as Little Salvini, will, through his parents' consent, give three recitations. The charges for admission will be 61. and 1s., to assist in paying ror chairs and pianoforte. J. M. DALE, Hon. Sec. LEICESTER.- SILVER STREET LECTURE HALL. On Sunday last Mr. Holmes gave two lectures. The subject for the morning was, "Actious in Christ's Life Worthy of Imitation"; the evening subject was, "Spiritualism, the Foundation of a Nobler Present and Future Life than Secularism or Orthodoxy." On Easter Monday there will be a soiree in the above hall, when tea will be provided at 6 o'clock; tickets 9d. each. We give a hearty welcome to all Spiritualists and friends to rally round us with their presence on that occasion. 56, Cranbourne Street, Leicester. April 5, 1881. R. WIGHTMAN, Sec. A MANUAL OF PHRENOLOGY. With numerous Illustrations. By ALFRED T. STORY, THE LONDON SOCIETY FOR THE ABOLITION OF COMPULSORY VACCINATION, Gray's Inn Chambers, 20, High Holborn, W.C. OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY. I.-The abolition of Compulsory Vaccination. II.-The Diffusion of Knowledge concerning Vaccination. CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEE. TREASURER. WILLIAM TEBB, Esq., 7, Albert Road, Regent's Park, N.W. CORNELIUS PEARSON, Esq., 15, Harpur-street, Red Lion-sq., W.C. WALTER HASKER, Esq., Gray's-inn-chambers, 20, High Holborn, W.C HON. SECRETARY. I should feel greatly obliged if any of the readers of the MEDIUM could give me the names of any towns in England, ruled by Leo, other than those mentioned in Zadkiel's Almanac. J. T. Dales, Cobden Road, South Norwood, S. E. ANTI-VACCINATION.-We hope to be able to give a report of the important Anti-Vaccination meetings held in Brighton on Wednesday and Thursday last. Mr. P. A. Taylor, M P., Mr. W. Tebb and several leading opponents of the medical imposture from London and the provinces were expected to take part in the proceedings. RULES AND CONDITIONS FOR THE SPIRIT-CIRCLE. ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS.-The phenomena cannot be successfully elicited very warm, sultry weather, in extreme cold, when thunder and lightning and magnetic disturbances prevail, when the atmosphere is very moist, or when there is much rain, or storms of wind. A warm, dry atmosphere is best, as it presents the mean between all extremes, and agrees with the harmonious state of man's organism which is proper for the manifestation of spiritual phenomena. subdued light or darkness increases the power and facilitates control. LOCAL CONDITIONS.-The room in which a circle is held for development or Investigation should be set apart for that purpose. It should be comfortably warmed and ventilated, but draughts or currents of air should be avoided. Those persons composing the circle should meet in the room about an hour before the experiments commence; the same sitters should attend each time, and occupy the tame places. This maintains the peculiar magnetic conditions necessary to the production of the phenomena. A developing circle exhausts power, or uses it up. PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS.-The phenomena are produced by a vital force emanating from the saers, which the spirits use as a connecting link between then selves and objects. Certain temperaments give off this power; others emit an opposite influence. If the circle is composed of persons with suitable temperaments, manifestations will take place readily; if the contrary be the case, much perseverance will be necessary to produce results. If both kinds of temperament are present, they require to be arranged so as to produce harmony in the psychical atmosphere evolved from them. The physical manifestations especially depend upon temperament. If a circle does not succeed, changes should be made in the sitters till the proper conditions are supplied. MENTAL CONDITIONS.-All forms of mental excitement are detrimental to success. Those with strong and opposite opinions should not sit together: opinionated, dogmatic, and positive people are better out of the circle and room. Parties between whom there are feelings of envy, hate, contempt, or other inharmonious sentiment should not sit at the same circle. The vicious and crude should be excluded from all such experiments. The minds of the sitters should be in a passive rather than an active state, possessed by the love of truth and of mankind. One harmonious and fully-developed individual is invaluable in the formation of a circle. THE CIRCLE should consist of from three to ten persons of both sexes, and sit round an oval, oblong, or square table. Cane-bottomed chairs or those with wooden seats are preferable to stuffed chairs. Mediums and sensatives should never sit on stuffed chairs, cushions, or sofas used by other persons, as the influences which accumulate in the cushions often affect the mediums unpleasantly. The active and quiet, the fair and dark, the ruddy and pale, male and female, should be seated alternately If there is a medium present, he or she should Occupy the end of the table with the back to the north. A mellow mediumistic person should be placed on each side of the medium, and those n. st positive should be at the opposite corners. No person should be placed behind the medium. A circle may represent a horseshoe magnet, with the medium placed between the poles. CONDUCT AT THE CIRCLE.-The sitters should place their hands on the table, and endeavour to make each other feel easy and comfortable. Agreeable conversation, singing, reading, or invocation may be engaged in-anything that will tend to harmonise the minds of those present, and unite them in one purpose, is in order. By engaging in such exercises the circle may be made very profitable apart from the manifestations. Bitters should not desire anything in particular, but unite in being pleased to receive that which is best for all. The director of the circle should sit opposite the medium, and put all questions to the spirit, and keep order. A recorder should take notes of the conditions and proceedings. Manifestations may take place in a few minutes, or the circle may sit many times before any result occurs. Under these circumstances it is well to change the positions of the sitters, or introduce new elements, till success is achieved. When the table begins to tilt, or when raps occur, do not be too impatient to get answers to questions. When the table can answer questions by giving three tips or raps for "Yes," and one for "No," it may assist in placing the sitters properly. The spirits or intelligences which produce the phenomena should be treated with the same courtesy and consideration as you would desire for yourselves if you were introduced into the company of strangers for their personal benefit. At the same time, the sitters should not on any account allow their judgment to be warped or their good sense imposed upon by spirits, whatever their professions may be. Reason with them kindly, firmly, and considerately. INTERCOURSE WITH SPIRITS is carried on by various means. The simplest is three tips of the table or raps for "Yes," and one for "No." By this means the pirits can answer in the affirmative or negative. By calling over the alphabet the spirits will rap at the proper letters to constitute a message. Sometimes the hand of a sitter is shaken, then a pencil should be placed in the hand, when the sp'its may write by it automatically. Other sitters may become entranced, and the spirits use the vocal organs of such mediums to speak. The spirits sometimes impress mediums, while others are clairvoyant, and see the spirits, and messages from them written in luminous letters in the atmosphere. Some times the table and other objects are lifted, moved from place to place, and even through closed doors. Patiently and kindly seek for tests of identity from loved ones in the spirit-world, and exercise caution respecting spirits who make extravagant pretensions of any kind. BEFORE proceeding with their investigations, inquirers into Spiritualism should correspond with Mr. Burns, Proprietor of the Spiritual Institution, 15, Southampton Row, London, W.O., who will gladly forward a packet of public tions and useful information gratis. Stamps should in all cases be enclosed for return postage. Deputations of mediums or lecturers may be arranged for te disit any locality where public meetings or seances can be instituted HYMNS AND TUNES FOR SPIRITUAL CIRCLES AND MEETINGS. HYMN No. 63 in the "SPIRITUAL LYRE." JERUSALEM. REMARKS ON THE TUNES. "All Saints" is too well known to require much comment. It expresses an enthusiastic and appreci ative feeling, and is well placed in combination with an address to a spiritual being or the spirit-world. It should be sung with fulness of expression, but not too slow so as to drag. The time is three beats to the bar-one for the minim, two for the semibreve; the two crotchets with the slur come in with one beat. Those singers who do not estimate time methodically are apt to make a blunder in the last line of the verse, at "sunbeams." When a long rambling succession of sounds is introduced in place of the proper notes it mars that which in other respects may be a passable performance. By making one beat for each of the slurred minims over sun-", and one beat for the two crotchets that follow them, over"-beams," the proper expression may be practiced till due efficiency is attained. 66 Need we urge on all the necessity for daily practice? By going over the three tunes carefully each week in a family group, they may be so well implanted in the memory as to be at all times of service when singing is required in a meeting. Spiritual minstrelsy fulfils a wider use than as a portion of a Sunday service, or a diversion at a seance. The hymns contain spiritual teachings in every form, and all true Spiritualists should make it their duty to commit the whole of the hymn book to memory, with appropriate tunes, and thus fill up a void in the mind, which, if left vacant, may become the abode of detricrating influences. The following tunes have already appeared in this department: HYMN No. 42 (continued). 2 There is no death in God's wide world; 3 And when the spirit leaves its frame, 4 Then let us speak not of "the dead,” HYMN No. 120 (continued). 2 O stream of Time, on whose sweet wave, 3 O land of Fruit, that hangs so rich, O when shall I beneath thy shade 4 And with these rapturous eyes behold 5 And with me too, the beings loved, When shall these tearful partings cease 6 And by those living streams may pluck The amaranth and rose, And drink the nectar from the streams |