Lecture on spiritualism : delivered before an audience of three thousand, at the Tabernacle, in the City of New York, in November 1855 : comprising an account of the manifestations which induced the author's conversion to spiritualism, and confirmed his hope of immortality / by Professor Hare ; [introductory remarks by Mr. Brittan].

  • Hare, Robert, 1781-1858.
Date:
[1855?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lecture on spiritualism : delivered before an audience of three thousand, at the Tabernacle, in the City of New York, in November 1855 : comprising an account of the manifestations which induced the author's conversion to spiritualism, and confirmed his hope of immortality / by Professor Hare ; [introductory remarks by Mr. Brittan]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, BY MR. BRITTAN. Judge Edmonds, who had been invited to preside at the meeting, was not present, and the duty was therefore assigned to S. B. Brittan, who, at the appointed hour, addressed the assembly, in substance, as follows: Ladies and Gentlemen : In the absence of Judge Edmonds, the duty of supplying his place has unexpectedly devolved on me. It is not my purpose to occupy your time by any extended remarks, but in rising to introduce the vener- able Friend who is to address you on this occasion, you will perhaps indulge me for a moment. . It is often alleged that the converts to Spiritualism are people of uncultivated minds; that they have not been trained in the severe school of modern science and philosoph}'—that they are wanting in the educa- tion and discipline necessary to the exercise of an intelligent discrimina- tion and a reliable judgment. If this is true, in any degree, the reason is equally manifest. Few, comparatively, who have occupied distin- guished positions in the church or the state, in the schools of science, or the walks of literature and art, have ventured to engage in the investi- gation. If among these a still smaller number have publicly avowed their acceptance of the spiritual idea, it is, perhaps, because very few have had the moral courage to meet the combined opposition of this material age. It is hardly necessary to observe that in the case of Dr. Hare, we have a noble exception to this rule. His attention was especially called to the subject about the time that Prof. Faraday published his opinion— a hasty judgment, founded on a partial investigation of a single phase of the manifestations—and our friend speedily arrived at a similar con- clusion. But the interest awakened in this country continued to increase as the facts became more diversified, startling and universal. In order to explode the spiritual claims of the phenomena, Dr. Hare proceeded with his experiments. He constructed and applied various mechanical instruments, with a view to preclude the occurrence of any result from muscular action, and to cut off all direct connection between the mind C33