INTRODUCTION.

consultation; and each will testify to portions of the book being delivered in his presence by Mr. Davis while under the influence of magnetism original: "magnetism"; here referring to animal magnetism or mesmerism, a precursor to modern hypnosis—to the original manuscripts of which portions (which are carefully preserved) they may find their signatures attached.

The number of witnesses whose names are mentioned were deemed sufficient. If their testimony is not received—especially when it is ascertained that they (or at least as many of them as we are familiarly acquainted with) are men of irreproachable character—it is not probable that the testimony of a thousand others would share a fate essentially different. During the delivery of each lecture, the clairvoyant required that the utmost tranquility, both mental and physical, should be preserved in the room. While in the "sphere of the body" a phrase to be explained later in the text, referring to the physical state of consciousness, excitement of any kind always disturbed him, as did also the presence of persons whose "spheres" the personal energy or aura surrounding an individual were uncongenial. Hence, an indiscriminate admittance of persons to the lectures would have been as impracticable as it was unnecessary. Yet, such applicants as were motivated by a supreme desire to know the truth, regardless of their previous opinions, were generally admitted in numbers ranging from one to six, whether they were believers or unbelievers in clairvoyance; and such persons were always instantly distinguished by the lecturer while in his superior state.

Shortly after the lectures commenced, and several times during their progress, accounts of them and the nature of some of the developments were published in various journals, and investigation was invited from all persons who might feel disposed to inquire into the facts stated. Our rooms, when the clairvoyant was not lecturing, were freely accessible to all persons from seven o’clock in the morning until ten o’clock in the evening, including the hours of medical examinations. All questions were promptly and candidly answered, and the clairvoyant’s manuscripts were always open to the inspection of the curious. Among the thousands who called on us from all parts of the United States during the fifteen months while the book was in progress, no responsible person ever discovered the extensive volumes and equipment of a profound student into the mysteries of the whole material and spiritual Universe. Nor was Mr. Davis ever discovered in the act of receiving scientific or philosophical instruction from those capable of even half the range of thought and consistent, consecutive argument displayed in this book.

Shortly informed of a triumph of clairvoyance through the celebrated Mr. Davis, which millions will be totally unprepared for. During the past year, this uneducated, unsophisticated, and amiable young man has been delivering verbally, day by day, a comprehensive, well-planned, and extraordinary Book—relating to all the vast questions of the age, to the physical sciences, to Nature in all her infinite ramifications, to Man in his innumerable modes of existence, and to God in the unfathomable abysses of His Love, Power, and Wisdom. No human author, in any department of literature or science, has ever electrified mankind to the degree that these eloquent yet simple reasonings and lofty, sublime disclosures will, which constitute this great compendium of universal philosophy. Perhaps over four thousand different persons who have witnessed him in his medical examinations or in his scientific disclosures live to testify to the astonishing exaltation of mind possessed by Mr. Davis in his abnormal state. The two new planets of our system recently conjectured likely referring to the discovery of Neptune in 1846 and the search for other celestial bodies were described in Davis’s manuscripts fourteen months ago [March 15 and 16, 1846]. I have seen him discoursing in a most angelic manner for more than four hours in succession.