esentation of the evidence.
_The question must soon be met, What is the source of the power and
intelligence thus manifested?_ But this may properly be held in abeyance
till we take a glance at:

The Progress of Spiritualism.

during the fifty years of its modern history. It began in a way to excite
the wonder and curiosity of the people, the very elements that would give
wings to its progress through the land. Men suddenly found their thoughts
careering through new channels. An unseen world seemed to make known its
presence and invite investigation. As the phenomena claimed to be due to
the direct agency of spirits, the movement naturally assumed the name of
"Spiritualism." It was then hailed by multitudes as a new and living
teacher, come to clear up uncertainties and to dispel doubts from the
minds of men. At least an irrepressible curiosity was everywhere excited
to know what the new "ism" would teach concerning that invisible world
which it professed to have come to open to the knowledge of mankind.
Everywhere men sought by what means they could come into communication
with the spirit realm. Into whatever place the news entered, circles were
formed, and the number of converts outstripped the pen of the enroller. It
gathered adherents from every walk of life--from the higher classes as well
as the lower; the educated, cultured, and refined, as well as the
uncultivated and ignorant; from ministers, lawyers, physicians, judges,
teachers, government officials, and all the professions. But the
individuals thus interested, being of too diverse and independent views to
agree upon any permanent basis for organization, the data for numerical
statistics are difficult to procure. Various estimates, however, of their
numbers have been formed. As long ago as 1876, computations of the number
of Spiritualists in the United States ranged from 3,000,000 by Hepworth
Dixon, to 10,000,000 by the Roman Catholic council at Baltimore. Only five
years from the time the first convert to Modern Spiritualism appeared,
Judge Edmonds, himself an enthusiastic convert, said of their numbers:--

"Besides the undistinguished multitudes, there are many now of
high standing and talent ranked among them,--doctors, lawyers, and
clergymen in great numbers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and
reverend president of a college, judges of our higher courts,
members of Congress, foreign ambassadors, and ex-members of the