ng the future life, and the ennobling lessons derived
therefrom, which bring earth life nearer to heaven.

PSYCHIC PHENOMENA.

The _New York World_ publishes a narrative of psychic experiments by
its correspondent at Washington which may interest those who have not
witnessed anything like it. They are just such as have been on
exhibition publicly in this country for more than forty years, but
owing to conservative prejudice have not received their due attention
from the press. But as newspaper correspondents and reporters are a
privileged class, they can bring before the public marvellous
phenomena which would not be welcomed from other sources. The
following is the letter from Washington:

"You know what an excitement there has been about mesmerism in
Paris this summer? A lion tamer, who was also a mesmerist, took
into his cages a young lady whom he had mesmerized, and made his
dentate pets jump over her on the floor. There was great
excitement about it, and a law was passed in the French
Congress, I believe, forbidding such exhibitions, even where the
consent of the subject had been obtained previously to losing
consciousness.

"This letter will be in the nature of a confession. Last spring,
discovering by accident that I could mesmerize, I took up
mesmerism as a diversion for the amusement of myself and
friends. I had long believed in it entirely and carefully
watched its processes, but I wished to study its philosophy and
find out, if I could, the cause and the limits of its mysterious
phenomena.

"I first found that I could, by placing my hand on the forehead
of a young acquaintance and accompanying the slight pressure
with an imperative command, close his eyes and keep them firmly
closed against all efforts of his will. I could compel him to
dance or keep him from moving from his tracks; could prevent his
rising from his chair; prevent his striking his hands together,
and, at last, could prevent him from speaking. In fact, I
absolutely controlled his voluntary muscles in every respect,
and could compel him to do anything that he was physically
capable of doing.

"Extending the experiments, I obtained the same control over
others, both men and women, till I had quite a class of
sensitives so responsive that I could control them with ease. Up
to this time they were all perfectly consci