as I approached, was covered with a
thin web resembling that of a spider. The apex of this dome was
surmounted by a globe representing the planet earth, with its continents
and seas. Openings corresponding to the different continents admitted
persons into the globe. We entered that corresponding to the continent of
North America. Each of these entrances, I was told, was particularly
adapted to the admission of the inhabitants of the different localities
they represented. On looking down I beheld the apartment I had first
entered. It was no longer vacant--each gallery was filled with
spectators. On the lily-shaped rostrum stood Henry Clay and George
Washington--Washington speaking to the people. "You observe," said my
guide, "a secondary stem from that lily branches off and extends to this
point. It appears to you a mere ornament, but it transmits the thoughts
and words of the speaker to the city of Washington. Other branches, as
you notice, lead in other directions. If the speaker desires his thoughts
to be transmitted to any given point, he leans toward the stem leading to
that point. This silken web which you have admired, is a sensitive
electric telegraph. It is composed of the elements of mind; in the world
you have lately inhabited it would be intangible, but it has a subtle
connection with the human brain, and spirit thoughts directed through it
go with the promptness of electricity to their destination. Thought is
electric, but its power of transmitting itself is, like that of the human
voice, limited; the voice requires the artificial assistance of a
speaking-trumpet to throw its sound beyond the ordinary distance; thought
requires a similar artificial conductor. You remember," said Franklin,
"in my early experiments with the kite and key, I could not obtain the
spark until I had established the necessary attraction, although the air
was filled with the electric current. So of the thought-electricity,
which is constantly flowing; we have to apply means to concentrate it and
give it form and expression. On earth, word and gesture are media for
thought, but the savans have not yet discovered the means by which
unspoken thought can take form and expression. No galvanic wire nor
chemical battery has yet been invented by them, through which these
electric sparks may be drawn down from their unseen habitations among the
clouds; but in the world of spirits this great discovery, as I have shown
you, has been made. In th