27 AUGUST 1864, Page 23

- The Principles of Spiritualists Exposed. (Hamilton, Adams, and Co.) —

This pamphlet contains the substance of two lectures delivered in the United States. The author attributes a great deal more truth to mesmerism than we are disposed to do. But if it be true that no medium knows anything which is not known to the mesmeriser, that does not disprove spiritualism. Mr. Home, for instance, has nothing to do with mesmerism, and employs no medium. Whether all the hard things said here about spiritualist morality are true we cannot pretend to say, but it is certainly to be regretted that the author does not give us some authority for his statements on this head as well as on the subject of mesmerism. He lays great stress on Arago's report with reference to the case of Angelique Cottin, but there were circumstances discovered subsequent to that report which mainly cut the ground from under it. If it could have been withdrawn, it would have been, in all probability. At all events we believe Arago greatly modified his judgment.