totally unable to conceive. It was in the dream-state that many of the visions of the old prophets, foreshadowing the future of God's dealings with mankind, were given; and in the pages of profane as well as sacred history, the instances of such prescience (subsequently verified) are very numerous. And perhaps it may be safely asserted that more than one-half of persons in our own day, at some time during their lives, receive, in the same way, true impressions of more or less importance concerning the future. We have not deemed it necessary to cite actual facts under these various heads demonstrative of the positions assumed, as such facts are presumed to be well known to all who are familiar with psychological literature, and many of our readers have more or less knowledge of them from their own personal experience. What objection, then, even in the absence of farther and confirmatory considerations, can there be to our regarding that state of partial and temporary death to the external and life to the internal world which occurs in sleep and dreams, as a sure indication of the nature and modus of that more perfect sleep of the external and wakefulness of the internal which occurs when the partnership between the soul and body is thoroughly and finally dissolved? Surely we have in these marks of a superior liveliness and exaltation of the faculties that which, at least in a great measure, satisfies the highest ideal we can now form concerning the nature of the transmundane life. man, But to all these considerations may be added the fact, that in the dream-state persons have sometimes been actually conscious of spiritual scenes, and of holding converse with spiritual personages. Of this character of mental cognitions was most of the correspondential scenery that appeared to the ancient prophetic dreamers. An example of an actual spirit-apparition and communication in a dream is found in the sublime language of Eliphaz the Temanite, in his reproof of Job, in which he says: Then "In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on man, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. a Spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. An image was before mine eyes; there was silence, and I heard a voice saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?" &c.-Job iv., 13—17. It was "in a dream" that "the angel of the Lord" appeared to Joseph in several instances, and gave him instructions concerning the child Jesus. It was in a dream or night vision that Paul was invited by a spirit or angel to visit Macedonia (Acts xvi., 9), and in a similar manner he was, on another occasion, comforted concerning the perils of his voyage to Rome (Acts xxvii., 23); not to speak of other and similar cases recorded in the Bible. In farther confirmation of our main position, at least to the minds of Spiritualists, we may cite the fact that the dream-state is in unmistakable analogy and modified identity with states that are expressly recognised by many people to be spiritual, or at least semi-spiritual. We have already intimated that the state of natural somnambulism is but the ordinary dream-state intensified, with the mind in that intimate conjunction with the body whereby it is still able to use it as its instrument. Now, the state of magnetic clairvoyance is precisely identical with this, except that it is induced and controlled by an operator in the external, and is thus rendered more versatile and extensive in its operations. And so it may be safely asserted that the somnambulism, or trance and clairvoyance produced by the magnetic action of Spirits, is still but another modification of the same state. If, therefore, Spirituality may be, à fortiori, predicated of these latter states, it must in some degree be predicated at least of the more favourable developments of those states ordinarily known as dreaming. You "But," says one, "is it so, then, that we are to consider the spirit and the spirit-world as made up of the unreal stuff that dreams are made of?" Unreal stuff! Pray tell us, kind sir, how do you know that the world you are now in is made up of real stuff, while the constituent objects and scenery of the fully developed life we have been describing, are unreal? How do you know that the trees, the flowers, the landscape, the rivers, the lakes by which you appear to be surrounded in this world, are real objects, and not mere appearances caused by the internal states of your own mind, as some have contended? perceive them by your senses, do you? And is that your best evidence of their real existence? Then you should know that by the same evidence precisely (with something deeper than all this), does the spirit, in the perfectly developed mental state we have been endeavouring to illustrate, know that the trees, flowers, landscapes, rivers, lakes, cities, &c., of its own world are realeven more real and substantial than the fleeting and everchanging things of this life; for there it may be said in an important sense that outer objects never change, though the spirit's perceptions of them change according to states. It may, however, be said, that to the exclusively external conceptions of man in this world, a tree (for example) in the spirit-world is unreal; while to the spirit's conceptions, totally abstracted from its previous natural state, a tree in this world would be still more unreal; for we have already intimated that the objects of one degree of being are real to the other only by correspondence. RECENT AND REMARKABLE MANIFESTATIONS IN AMERICA. SPIRIT-HANDS AND FACES, SPIRIT-VOICES, SPIRITS DURING the past year, some extraordinary manifestations of the presence and power of spirits have taken place in the United States, more especially at the house of a Mr. Morris Keeler, a substantial well-to-do farmer, in the village of Moravia, Cayuga County, New York. We are told that "He became interested in Spiritualism twenty years ago, since which time his house has been the head-quarters of all the believers of that school for miles around. On Sundays especially they crowded upon his hospitality, coming on foot and in wagons, relying on Mr. Keeler for forage for their animals as well as food for themselves, until at last his friends became alarmed lest he should be eaten out of house and home, and become a burden upon them." The medium is a Mrs. Andrews; she entered Mr. Keeler's service when twelve years of age. Two years after she gave evidence of being a medium, and the cabinet in which the manifestations are given was made according to spirit-directions. These manifestations have caused so much excitement, that a New York daily paper sent a special reporter to thoroughly investigate the matter. His report was published in the New York Sun of September 29, 1871, and occupies about as much space as a page of the Daily Telegraph. He fully describes the house and séance room, and gives an engraved ground plan of the latter. While the séances were going on, he examined the exterior as well as the interior of the séance room. He tells us that "The spirits are brought face to face with all seekers, whether believers or sceptics; and that no time nor season, daylight nor darkness, disturbs the coming or interferes with the utterances of these strange visitors from another world." The editor of the Banner of Light, and several independent and reliable correspondents of that journal, also relate what they severally witnessed. Mrs. H. F. M. Brown, a well-known public journalist, says "The spirits stood before us just as real as in life." In many cases they were recognised by visitors from a distance, and clearly identified as departed friends or kindred. They joined in singing, and took part in conversation. They frequently related private facts of family history, and sometimes showed objects by way of test. A gentleman who was addressed by a spirit, and whom he recognised, requested as a sign that his cameo pin might be brought. "Soon a fair girlish hand was outstretched, holding a cameo pin." To a lady who requested flowers, "a hand was thrust out holding roses and pinks." But instead of further citing detached incidents, we give in full the letter of a New York physician, which appeared in the Banner of Light, of October 14, 1871, as a fair specimen of the rest: 66 Brooklyn, Sept. 28th, 1871. "Dear Sir,-Yours of the 29th is at hand, and as I have a few hours' leisure, I will answer your letter at once, and do so with much pleasure, as I feel it a duty to add my testimony to that of others in making known the wonderful proofs of spiritual intercourse and presence which are daily being given through Mrs. Andrews, at Moravia, Cayuga County, N.Y. Having seen a letter from a gentleman who had just made a visit to this medium, in which some remarkable occurrences were related, I determined to visit her myself, and arrived at Moravia, June 6th, 1871. I found myself in a plain farmhouse, half-a-mile from the town, with my host and hostess, a plain farmer and his wife, both inured to hard work, with no children, and the medium, now a married woman, with three young children, residing in the town. Her husband is a steady, uneducated working man. "As soon as I arrived, my host, Mr. Keeler, sent for Mrs. Andrews; and when she arrived I was introduced to a woman about twenty-eight years of age, with large pale blue eyes, fringed with long black lashes, good features, with a modest, serious look. She expressed her willingness to give me a séance, and I was conducted to an upper room, which was dedicated to spiritual manifestations. This room was furnished with half-a-dozen chairs and a piano. One side was partitioned off with plain boards enclosing a space the length of that side of the room, by perhaps five feet in depth. I asked permission to inspect the room, and also the portion enclosed, which was freely granted. After examining everything in and about the main room, I entered the partitioned space or cabinet, which was intensely dark, every crevice being covered with newspapers. I then took a bright coal-oil lamp, and carefully inspected every inch of wall, partition, ceiling, and floor, using my eyes, fingers, and knife, and continued this examination alone until I became satisfied, when I left the cabinet. "At that séance there were present Mr. and Mrs. Keeler, Mr. and Mrs. H., another gentleman and myself—all but the former two being visitors, like myself. We were seated in a semi-circle facing the cabinet, in the middle of the partition of which was a square opening, perhaps fourteen inches in diameter, covered by a black cloth curtain suspended from the inside, The medium entered the cabinet by a door at one end, and seated herself on a chair placed in the corner. The door was then secured with two buttons by Mr. Keeler. The coal-oil lamp was placed in a corner of the main room upon the piano, and nearly in contact with the partition, and a screen placed before the lamp, so that the audience was in the shadow; but the full glare of the light was thrown sideways upon the partition, rendering every part of this latter luminous, so that any object which projected from the little opening or window, caught the full effect of the lamp. "I have been thus particular in the description of the arrangements of the room, &c., because much depends upon a proper understanding of the surroundings in these séances; but space will not permit me to be equally specific in relating what there occurred, as my notes of my séances during this and my subsequent visit would, if copied, fill perhaps four sides of the Banner of Light. I shall, therefore, only refer to a few points of interest, among the many there recorded. "I will digress once more, and say that upon my first visit no soul in that part of the country had any knowledge of me; that I had purposely left my card-case at home; that I announced myself as a person desirous of witnessing the phenomena through the medium-gave no name-and that not a question was asked me relating to myself or habitation. "After sitting a few minutes, suddenly an arm was thrust from the opening. It was clothed with the sleeve of a nightdress. The hand was that of a female, plump, with taper fingers. The lady visitor present inquired if the spirit had any friend present, when the forefinger pointed to me. I inquired whether the arm belonged to the person I was then thinking of, when the hand waved up and down three times, accompanied with raps. It occurred to me that the medium herself might do all this, and I requested her to withdraw her arm, and again present it in a black silk sleeve. It immediately disappeared, and in less than a minute re-appeared, enveloped in black silk. I will here add that, after the séance, at my request the medium showed me her hands, and they presented in full degree the usual effects of hard labour, viz., enlarged finger ends and knuckles, and bearing little resemblance to the hand exhibited. The hand then vanished, and was followed by the appearance of five little hands, ranged along and above the lower border of the opening, every finger in motion, the full hands to the wrists plainly in view, and in addition two tiny fingers peeping from the upper corner, representing the sixth hand. The hands differed in size, from those of an infant to |