ABSTRACT
Spiritualism as a sect originated in America in the year 1848. The story of its origin is a strange one. Spiritualism, as well as being a theory, is a religious belief which, like every religious belief, forms the spiritual core of a religious movement. In America, which swarms with local religious movements, the rise of spiritualism is understandable enough. In Paris, spiritualistic séances were held at the court of Napoleon III. In Europe, spiritualism took the form chiefly of an epidemic of tableturning. There was hardly an evening party or dance where the guests did not steal away at a late hour to question the table. This particular symptom of spiritualism was rampant everywhere. All phenomena which the spiritualists claim as evidence of the activity of spirits are connected with the presence of certain persons, the mediums themselves.
