SPIRITUALISM, a term formerly used to designate the doctrines and religious life of a class of mystics who professed to be under the sensible guidance of the Divine Spirit, and who were distinguished by a habit of spiritualizing the Sacred Scriptures. Jacob Böhme, Mme. Guyon, Miguel de Molinos, and Mme. de Bourignon, though not all ostensibly of the same communion, are representatives of the somewhat numerous class of religionists, particularly of the 17th century, to whose teachings and practice the appellation of spiritualism has been applied. Latterly, however, especially in the United States, the word has been employed exclusively to designate the belief in and practice of open intercourse with the spiritual world. This alleged intercourse has attained an extraordinary development in recent times, and especially since about the year 1848. Although it was not until that period that the so called spiritual manifestations assumed a form and conspicuousness which forced them into universal notice, it is asserted that many startling instances of them, as precursors and prophets of the more signal wonders, had been in the course of development during many years previous; and that, in fact, the spiritualism of the day is the growth of a century. We are referred to the alleged fact that 100 years ago Emanuel Swedenborg was in full and open communication with the spiritual world, and in daily converse with spirits and angels, with all the familiarity with which man converses with man. There is also a tradition that while Swedenborg was on his deathbed, he was asked by a friend whether in that solemn hour he still adhered to the statements and doctrines set forth in his books; when he answered emphatically in the affirmative, adding that in about 80 years from that time events would occur that would greatly tend to bring his teachings into general notice. It is noted by spiritualists as a singular coincidence that the 80 years from that time (1772) expired in 1852, at which time the alleged spiritual phenomena, corroborating in many respects what Swedenborg had taught concerning spirits and the spiritual world, were exciting universal attention. In his book on VOL. XV.-1

"Divine Love and Wisdom" (paragragh 257) Swedenborg avers that a man in whom the spiritual degree of the mind is open may come into angelic wisdom "by laying asleep the sensations of the body, and by influx from above at the same time into the spirituals of his mind."-Clairvoyance appears to have played an important part in the introduction of modern spiritualism, and a historical sketch of the latter, to be complete, must include some notice of the former. Jung-Stilling, in his various writings on pneumatology early in the present century, appears to have been the first to notice that clairvoyants, during their more exalted states of ecstasis, professed, with what seemed to him satisfactory evidence, to be in converse with invisible intelligences. The same claims to open intercourse with the spiritual world, with many phenomenal evidences which he regarded as establishing their truth, were afterward noted by Dr. Justinus Kerner, and detailed at large in his biography of one of his patients, Frederica Hauffe, more familiarly known as the seeress of Prevorst, and who is said to have been in a magnetic state for most of the time during the last 7 years of her life, describing the persons and repeating the language of what she represented to be spirits, and being often accompanied with mysterious rapping sounds. Many similar instances of alleged intercourse with the invisible world through clairvoyance subsequently occurred, not only in Germany and other parts of Europe, but in the United States; but none of these phenomena were of so remarkable a character as those presented in the case of Andrew Jackson Davis. (See DAVIS, ANDREW JACKSON.) Thrown into an abnormal state of mind and body by the process of magnetism, this young man, while professing to be in immediate converse with the spiritual world, dictated a large 8vo. volume which was published under the title of "The Principles of Nature, her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind." In a portion of this book that was dictated in the autumn of 1846 (pp. 675-'6) the entranced author distinctly predicted that the communication with the spiritual world would ere long assume "the

form of a living demonstration." The same The same prediction is said to have been frequently repeated by the young clairvoyant in his interviews with his visitors. Another event is spoken of as possessing some significance in connection with this history. In the spring of 1843, the societies of Shakers at New Lebanon and Watervliet, N. Y., and several other communities of that fraternity, almost simultaneously became the subjects of strange psychological experiences, during which certain of the members would lose all personal consciousness, while influences purporting to be the spirits of persons of different nations, and who had lived in the world in different ages, took possession of their bodies, and spoke through their vocal organs. Shakers who personally witnessed these phenomena describe them as being very impressive, and a constant burden of their communications was: "Treasure these things up in your hearts; say nothing of them, for the present, to the world's people, but the time is not far distant when these same wonders which you now behold shall be witnessed extensively in the world.” These manifestations continued for a year or more, when they suddenly ceased, the alleged spirits bidding the "brethren" farewell, with a promise to come again before many years, when their manifestations should be addressed not merely to a select few, but to the world in general.-The commencement of the 'spirit-rapping" phenomenon was as follows: Some time in the year 1847 the attention of Mr. Michael Weekman, who resided in the little village of Hydesville in the township of Arcadia, Wayne co., N. Y., was called to certain rapping sounds upon the door of his house, which he was unable by the most diligent efforts to trace to any visible cause. Mr. Weekman soon afterward vacated the house, and the family of Mr. John D. Fox moved into it. In the latter part of March, 1848, this family was startled by mysterious rappings that were heard nightly upon the floor of one of the bedrooms, and sometimes in other parts of the house. They endeavored to trace the sounds to their cause, but failed. On the night of March 31, having been broken of their rest for several nights previous, they retired to bed earlier than usual, hoping to be permitted to sleep without disturbance. The sounds, however, were resumed, and, occurring near the bed occupied by two of the daughters, the youngest girl, then about 10 years old, attempted to imitate them by the snapping of her fingers. Whenever she would snap her fingers, the raps would immediately respond by the same number of sounds. One of the girls then said: "Now do as I do; count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6," at the same time striking her hands together. The same number of raps responded, and at similar intervals. The mother of the girls then said: "Count 10;" and 10 distinct raps were heard; "Count 15," and that number of sounds followed. She then said: "Tell us the age of Cathy [the youngest daughter] by rapping one for each year," and the

number of years was rappd correctly. Then, in like manner, the age o each of the other children was by request inicated by this invisible agent. Startled and omewhat alarmed at these manifestations of inteirence, Mrs. Fox asked if it was a human being that wasaking that noise, and if it was to manifest it by k ing the same noise. There was no sound. then said: "If you are a spirit, make two distinct sounds." Two raps were accordingly heard. The members of the family by this time had all left their beds, and the house was again thoroughly searched, as it had been before, but without discovering any thing that could explain the mystery; and after a few more questions, and responses by raps, the neighbors were called in to assist in further efforts to trace the phenomenon to its cause; but these persons were no more successful than the family had been, and they confessed themselves thoroughly confounded. For several subsequent days the village was in a turmoil of excitement, and multitudes visited the house, heard the raps, and interrogated the apparent intelligence which controlled them, but without obtaining any clue to the discovery of the agent, further than its own persistent declaration that it was a spirit. About 3 weeks after these occurrences, David, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Fox, went alone into the cellar where the raps were then being heard, and said: "If you are the spirit of a human being, who once lived on the earth, can you rap to the letters that will spell your name? and if so, rap now 3 times." Three raps were promptly given, and David proceeded to call the alphabet, writing down the letters as they were indicated, and the result was the name "Charles B. Rosma," a name quite unknown to the family, and which they were afterward unable to trace. The statement was in like manner obtained from the invisible intelligence, that he was the spirit of a peddler who had been murdered in that house some years previous. At first, we are told, the raps occurred in the house even when all the members of the family were absent, but subsequently they occurred only in the presence of the two younger daughters, Catharine and Margaretta. Soon after these occurrences the family removed to Rochester, at which place the manifestations still accompanied them; and here it was discovered, by the rappings at the letters of the alphabet in the manner before described, that different spirits were apparently using this channel of communication, and that in short almost any one, on coming into the presence of the two girls, could get a communication from what purported to be the spirits of his departed friends, the same often being accompanied by tests which satisfied the interrogator as to the spirit's identity. A new phenomenon was also observed in the frequent movement of tables and other ponderable bodies without appreciable agency, in the presence of these two young girls. These manifestations, growing more and more remarkable, attracted

furnish those elements of reasoning from which each one may work out his own conclusions; while we are told that the main object of their manifestations is to furnish actual demonstration of the immortality of the soul and of some of the conditions and laws of the post mortem existence.-Spiritualism has also made considerable progress in Europe, especially in England and France. In England, it is stated, many of the nobility as well as of the intelligent middle classes are believers in it, and hold communications with their departed friends through mediums in their own families. Several books and pamphlets have been published on the subject in that country, and a semi-monthly periodical is issued in London devoted to its facts and philosophy. In France its believers are still more numerous. Several able journals devoted to the subject are published in Paris, and read throughout France, Switzerland, and Belgium. Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, and in short nearly every nation of Europe, appears to have its devotees of spiritualism, in greater or smaller numbers. Travellers in the north of Africa tell us that it has made considerable progress in the Barbary states; and reports from China represent it as having very distinctly appeared at several localities within that empire, and especially at the city of Shanghai, about the time of its first advent in America. For specimens of the better kind of spirit communications, considered as literary productions, see "Spiritualism," by the Hon. John W. Edmonds and G. T. Dexter, M.D. (2 vols. 8vo., New York, 1854-5); "The Healing of the Nations," by Charles Linton, with introduction and appendix by N. P. Tallmadge, late U. S. senator and governor of Wisconsin (8vo., New York, 1855); "Scenes in the Spirit World, or Life in the Spheres," by Hudson Tuttle, medium (12mo., New York, 1855). Among books produced in the ordinary manner, the following may be consulted: "Experimental Investigations of the Spirit Manifestations," by Prof. Robert Hare (8vo., New York, 1856); "A Discussion of the Facts and Philosophy of Ancient and Modern Spiritualism," by S. B. Brittan and B. W. Richmond, M.D.; 'Modern Spiritualism, its Facts and Fanaticisms," &c., by E. W. Capron (8vo., Boston, 1855). With the exception of these and a few other books, the best portion of the literature of spiritualism is to be found in the various periodical publications devoted to that subject. SPITZBERGEN, a group of 4 principal and several smaller islands in the Arctic ocean, the northernmost land yet discovered, between lat. 76° 30′ and 80° 30′ N. and long. 9° and 22° E., and about midway between Greenland on the W. and Nova Zembla on the E.; area, about 22,000 sq. m. The large islands are Spitzbergen, North-East Land, South-East Land, and Charles. On the E. of Spitzbergen proper is a peninsula called New Friesland or East Spitzbergen. The island is very mountainous, some of the peaks rising to the height of 3,000 or 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. On

Im

Charles island are 5 summits ranging from 4,000 to 4,500 feet high. The N. shores of Spitzbergen and North-East Land are more level, and here and on several of the smaller islands some soil is found, in which a few very diminutive plants spring up and mature in a month or 6 weeks of the short summer. mense glaciers abound, and the islands are almost covered with perpetual snow. The mean temperature of the 3 warmest months is 34.5°. For 4 months of the year the sun does not rise, but the long night is relieved by a faint twilight, and the occasional brilliant light of the aurora borealis; the moon and stars also shine here with great brightness. The islands are frequented by great multitudes of sea fowl, as well as by polar bears, foxes, and reindeer. Marble and coal of a good quality are found. The neighboring seas abound with whales, seals, and walruses, which are taken in large numbers by the vessels that visit this inhospitable region; and Russian whalers have lived for years on the islands.-These islands are supposed to have been first discovered by Willoughby in 1553; but their discovery is generally dated from the visit of Barentz, the Dutch navigator, in 1596, in his search for a N. E. passage to the Pacific, who named the principal island Spitzbergen (pointed mountains) from its numerous sharp peaks. Their sovereignty is claimed by Russia. A Swedish scientific expedition under Prof. Torell explored Spitzbergen in the summer of 1861, whose report is expected to form an important addition to the previous knowledge of that region.

SPLEEN (Gr. σлλŋν), the largest of the vascular or ductless glands, whose probable functional office is subsidiary to the process of sanguification. It is situated in the left hypochondriac region, below the diaphragm, above the descending colon, between the cartilages of the false ribs and the cardiac extremity of the stomach, to which it is united by short vessels. It is in health from 3 to 4 inches long and 2 thick, of an elongated flattened form, and about 7 oz. in weight; on the inner surface is a longitudinal groove in which are situated the blood vessels, posteriorly resting on the vertebral column; below it is in relation with the left kidney and capsule, and with the pancreas behind. It is soft, spongy, and dusky red; the external surface is covered with the peritoneum; beneath this is a coat of white fibrous tissue with some elastic fibres, from the inner surface of which extends through the entire organ a network of fibrous bands and threads, the trabecular tissue. The splenic artery comes from the cœliac axis, the trunks not anastomosing, but subdividing like the branches of a tree, to which the Malpighian corpuscles are attached as fruits on short peduncles, ending generally in capillaries with very thin walls, passing in every direction through the organ and into the interior of the corpuscles; but in man, according to Mr. Gray, the capillaries frequently disappear, and the blood passes from

arteries to veins through lacunæ or mere channels in the pulp tissue. The veins are branched like the arteries, have no valves, and the principal stem is one of the trunks of the vena porta; the nerves form the splenic plexus, and proceed from the solar plexus; the lymphatics are few and superficial. The parenchyma consists of a homogeneous mass of colorless nucleated corpuscles and cells imbedded in a granular plasma, in various stages of rapid development and change; this is in the greatest quantity toward the end of the digestive process, when a large amount of fresh alimentary material is introduced into the circulation. The splenic corpuscles, or Malpighian bodies of the spleen, are whitish spherical bodies, varying in diameter from to of a line, largest and most numerous in healthy and well fed individuals and animals. There are colored cells in the spleen pulp, chiefly red blood corpuscles in various stages of degeneration, and a few pigment cells. It is proportionately the largest and most active in early and vigorous manhood; it is found in all classes of vertebrates, and of various shapes and sizes. The great amount of blood sent to the spleen, its minute distribution, and the contents of the glandular vesicles, show that cell growth proceeds rapidly in its substance; their products, however, are returned in an altered state to the blood, passing through the liver before entering the vena cava. It is probably a storehouse of albuminous nutritive material for the formative operations, which may be drawn upon as the system requires it, and with the absorbent glands probably assists in supplying the germs of the blood corpuscles. It is also generally believed to serve as an organ for the relief of the portal circulation, preventing undue accumulation of blood in the liver by the ease with which its vessels are distended. Obstruction of the circulation in the liver affects the spleen directly; when the alimentary canal is distended with food, were it not for the spleen the portal system would be gorged with blood; the general internal venous congestion which results from the cold stage of intermittent fever, it is well known, causes a permanent enlargement of the spleen. Its presence is not essential to life, at least in the adult; it has often been removed in animals, and in a few instances in man, without apparent ill consequences, its functions probably being performed by the other ductless or even the lymphatic glands. (See GLAND.) Almost every one has experienced a sharp pain or stitch under the ribs of the left side, after violent or long continued running and active exercise; this is caused by distention of the spleen by the blood obstructed in its passage through the liver; a similar pain is felt in the cold stage of fever and ague. It is sometimes greatly enlarged, as in the last mentioned disease and in typhoid fever, and it is engorged and softened in scurvy; in its chronic diseases, the face is apt to assume a dull ashy white color, seen also in

the eyes; it is subject to inflammation, generally from external injury, with pain, tenderness on pressure, and fever, requiring antiphlogistic treatment. The spleen was by the ancients supposed to be the source of black bile, which predisposed to and produced the melancholy temperament; and the terms spleen" and 'splenetic" are to this day employed to describe the ill-natured, fretful, and desponding state of mind commonly called "the blues;" it is hardly necessary to say that there is no connection between the spleen and the above temperament.

SPOHR, LUDWIG, a German composer, born in Brunswick, April 5, 1784, died there, Oct. 22, 1859. In early youth he devoted much attention to the study of the violin, his skill in performing on which, when practically tested at the congress of Vienna in 1814, was declared superior to that of any of his rivals. Subsequently he gave concerts for several years in various parts of Europe, and in 1822 established himself in Cassel as chapelmaster of the elector, in whose service he remained until near the close of his life. He produced a great number of orchestral symphonies, concertos, quartets, and other instrumental works, and cantatas, songs, ballads, and other vocal pieces, which are popular throughout Germany; but his reputation rests chiefly on his operas, "The Mountain Spirit," "The Alchemist," "The Crusaders," "Jessonda," “ Faust," “Zemira and Azor," and "Pietro of Abano;" and on his oratorios, "The Last Judgment,' "The Crucifixion," and "The Fall of Babylon," which are among the finest works of their class produced since the time of Handel. His symphony entitled "The Consecration of Tones" is also a great favorite in the concert room. Forty years before his death he discontinued performing on the violin, but left to violin players an admirable treatise on the subject, entitled "The Violin School." During the latter years of his life he composed little.

SPOLETO, formerly a delegation of the Papal States, now belonging to the kingdom of Italy, bordering on the Neapolitan territory; area, 1,130 sq. m.; pop. in 1853, 134,939. It is drained by the rivers Tronto, Tiber, Nera, Corno, and Velino. The valley of Spoleto is very fertile, and produces large quantities of maize, wine, olives, melons, and silk. Under the new organization Spoleto is a district of reduced size in the province of Umbria; pop. 70,011.-SPOLETO (anc. Spoletium or Spoletum), the capital, is situated on the side of a mountain overlooking the Tessino, about 75 m. N. from Rome; pop. about 7,000. It is defended by a strong castle, which is separated from the city by a very deep and narrow ravine crossed by a single bridge of great height. The city has a fine cathedral of marble, in the style of the early renaissance. Among its numerous ruins are those of an ancient theatre, of a tem-` ple of Concord, and a palace of Theodoric. There is also an old aqueduct attributed to the