A RARE CHANCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1248, 30 October 1875, Page 10

A RARE CHANCE.

We shall probably get at the truth at last in regard to Spiritualism. ''The Imperial Society of Experimentalistsin Physics attached to tho University of St. Petersburg " has appointed a " scientific commission to investigate spiritual phenomena." This commission, composed of " nearly all the University professors and quite a number of young scientist;*," will commence its investigations in September r.ext, and continue them during eight months, unless sooner satisfied j and in order that the commission may be furnished with abundant and excellent material for their examinations, the Riußian spiritualists have sent letters to their confreres in. this country and in America, requesting them to select any number of their best " physical mediums'' and to forward them to St. Petersburg. No less a personage than M. Alexandra iirsakoff, "Chancellor of State in the imperial Chancellery of St. Petersburg," is the writer of these letters ; and M, Arsakoff seems to bo very earnest in the matter. " Bear in mind," he writes, " that money is no object with us, and that, for my own part, I am ready to undergo any amount of personal sacrifice, if thereby I can only see truth triumphant." *' Use all your influence to get us good mediums," he .urges j " begin the work at once, and advise me without loss of time." The commission at the beginning "will occupy itself principally with the fundamental type of these phenomena, comprising the movement of inanimate objects withont the application of any known mechanical force ; " and it is for this reason that for "our first experiments we would prefer mediums for simple but strong physical manifestations in ,the light." toymt, therefore, who can mvk*

a table dance round a room/ without touching it, and " whose personal good character is satisfactorily shown," may enjoy a visit to St. Petersburg, not only without cost to himself, but even with pecuniary profit," for, as M. Arsakoff delicately puts it, "as to those who would not be able to accept this invitation except under particular conditions," M. Arsakoff will himself "do his best to remove any material difficulty, and amply recompense, those who may thus aid him in securing the " triumph of truth." This is, indeed, a splendid opportunity for "mediums," who, we believe, are for the most part a rather impecunious, although estimable, set of people ; and they are not the men and women we takethem to be if they do not avail themselves of M. Arsakoff' s kind invitation to such an extent as to cause a rather heavy drain upon the purse of that enthusiastic gentleman. One would hav3 thought in Russia, where superstition and mysticSsin nourishes as they do in no other country, there would not have been any necessity for sending to other lands for mediums. Perhaps the present Lord Provost of Glasgow, who was the first in this city to call attention to the sublime faith of Spiritualism, will be able to assist the Russian Chancellor. If he were to do so, he might probably be rewarded with the decoration of some exalted order of Russian chivalry, which would in itself be a great consideration. At all events, Holy Russia is evidently the place for Spiritualists, whether they be Lord Provosts or mere plebeian cattle. When modern Spiritism was first introduced into RussiabyMrHome andhis colleagues, it found there a congenial soil ; and. the growth of the new faith was rapid. But it now appears that there is a scarcity of Russian mediums who are capable of producing " simple but strong physical manifestations in the light," and that, in ord er that ' 'truth may be made triumphnt, " a supply of persons thus gifted must be imported. We are rather inclined to fear that the words "in the light," may cause some embarrassment among the British and American mediums. The most of them can do anything in the dark, but when they are asked to perform in the light, they too often find that " the conditions are not favourable." There is something in an old Book about a certain, class loving the darkness rather than the light ; but, of course, this ia not applicable to the Spiritualists, as they did not exist some eighteen centuries ago. — Glasgow Sentinel.