ABSTRACT
The ‘phenomena’ characteristic of Spiritualism find many parallels in other religions and thus may have a bearing upon the psychology of religion; and certain of the episodes which have marked its history present puzzles of interest both to the philosopher and the amateur detective. Mesmerism had a considerable press and a considerable public; and, when the potentialities of Spiritualism became clear, press and public, demonstrators and clairvoyants, readily attached themselves to it. A natural outcome of the rapprochement between Spiritualism and mesmerism was the metamorphosis of the ‘magnetic trance’ into the ‘mediumistic trance’ in which the ‘sensitive’ or medium is especially open to spiritual influence. What appears particularly odd to anybody versed in the ways of modern psychical researchers is that no one seems to have suspected the Fox girls, Margaretta and Catherine. The principal teachings of early Spiritualism can all be found in the mesmeric literature of the decades prior to 1848; though they are much older than that.
