Author: Henry Gibbons

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-10-05

Total Pages: 30

ISBN-13: 9781396635984

Excerpt from Annual Address Before the San Francisco Medical Society: Delivered December 21st, 1874 I propose to make a few observations on the present occa sion, in reference to a pursuit which is Operating extensively on the bodies and minds of individuals in America and in Europe, and which can not be ignored in the contemplation of hygienic influences. I allude to what is called Spiritual ism, and which I prefer to call Spiritism, and I shall en quire whether the practices connected with this subject are not inimical to the bodily and mental organization. In the first place, look at what is called a seance. A. Number of individuals sit around a table, with their hands resting on it. They expect or desire to witness some extra ordinary phenomenon, having relation to departed friends. Their minds are solemnized by the nature of the occasion, and indeed the direction of their thoughts towards another world is considered essential in some' degree to the success of the experiment. In this state of anticipation and sus pense they sit for an hour - sometimes for two hours or even longer. It is evening - it is night - it is midnight. It is the hour when nature calls for sleep. There they sit, transfixed almost as statues, in solemn silence, in breathless expecta tion, in anxious anticipation, the reason in abeyance and the imagination wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement. Will any sane man or woman assert that all this is compati ble with the normal and healthful action of the brain and nervous system? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.