SECTION VIII.

MENTAL LIFE ATMOSPHERE, CURRENTS AND

STORMS.

In the last section, towards its close, I gave out the idea of a belief-a belief which is general, streaming through society, though but seldom expressed; that there are fortunate and unfortunate days in man's life: personally, until lately, I considered this belief foolishness. I did so, because, having had no experience, and not having my attention particularly directed towards it, I was ignorant, and did as ignorant people often do. I judged, without examining evidence, but the mass of facts which have clustered round me on the subjects of spirit manifestations, clairvoyance, &c. ; have borne with them collateral facts on times and seasons which have surprised me; and if life be spared, I may at a future time enter into a more full investigation of the phenomena evolved by those times and seasons. At present I propose to give a short section, so as to direct attention to the subject, and submit a THEORY I think truthful, but which at present I cannot prove; because above, beyond me, possibly hereafter, when the unseen elements of ether, and electricity, odic and ozone are understood, they may deliver up the key which will unlock the secret to human perception; and if I be like Sir Walter Scott, when he declared his belief that the regalia of Scotland was locked up in a dungeon-room which he pointed out, which had not been opened within the memory of any living; and after rousing up the proper authorities, the rusty key that would fit the ward was found; and on opening the door of that dark chamber, there they were found—crown, sceptre, jewels, &c., rousing the nation to wonder and joyso may the heading of this section be the key to unlock the dark chamber of Man. I will therefore briefly state the problem, and give the solution.

What produces the singular Coincidences in National and Family histories, producing at average-given periods, national

and family perturbations, affecting those interests for good or for evil?

Solution: There exists a LIFE ATMOSPHERE surrounding the surface of the earth, acting under laws as fixed as those which govern the atmospheres and electricity, producing MENTAL calms and storms, and their intermediate influences, as in the elements just referred to. That the Life Atmosphere is as existant and operative as electricity or air; that Mental Storms passing over portions of the earth's surface, embrace towns, counties, kingdoms, and empires, and are as necessary for mental energy and healthfulness, as the storm-sweep of Air; that the storms in the Life Atmosphere move in circles, having a spiral action as in sea storms. That if the crew and captain, or in other words, the statesmen and king, be prudent, and guide the vessel of state when the life-storm is on, they may pursue their voyage successfully; but if witless of the laws, and without skill to guide, they and their ship will be lost among the nations. The same will occur in business and in families. It is desirable that we produce a portion of the evidence which has caused this Idea, and the analogies we perceive in the elements around us, and their action on man's physical structure for health, or for sickness: we will take the last first. The Wind is felt, but unseen; sometimes there is a dead calm, at others a tempest. We have the trade winds, lasting several weeks by blowing in one direction for that period of time. We have the simoon occurring at stated intervals, sweeping over the desert, and depriving man of life, unless he buries his head in the sand. We have our equinoctial gales sweeping over land and sea at regular intervals. Other atmospheric phenomena we observe by their effects on us or on other physical objects-all is in order, ALL IS ORDER in its magnitude; but, to the uninstructed boy or man, the upset of a hayrick, or the uptearing of a tree, creates in his mind the opposite, of usefulness or of order. Some countries, or portions of countries, appear to suffer less from these stormsweeps than others; scientific research proves that geological

formation modifies storms: Thus for instance, London has fewer storms than other districts of Europe, with one or two exceptions-so throughout the world. The spiral sweeps in its regular career, sometimes only slightly, by its less dense power at the outer edge, making its presence known; at others, the spiral bend, produces destruction on the physical objects it comes in contact with.

Some human beings are very susceptible to atmospheric changes-let them have been under a course of calomel—and days before the appearance of change, do these living barometers rise and fall in their sensations. Others delicately constitutioned, feel in the same manner, producing discomfort and irritability; cats, birds, and other animals, are also susceptible to atmospheric changes; so that it is received as law, that “We are to have a severe winter,” if certain birds are seen in agricultural districts. Science has thrown a tarpaulin over nature: brings a spadeful out now and then, smells it, analyses it, burns it; its changes of appearance, and modifications of form, are called by new names, and then labelled, and shelved in the laboratory of science to make way for a fresh sample; while for many years the powerful action of essences or atmospheres, as acting upon man, and the phenomena they produce, has been grievously overlooked. Look for a moment at the power of electricity, not in its diffusive energy in nature, but as collected and developed in galvanism; charge the jar, and in darkness light is produced, thousands of flashes are discharged; let the light of day hide the phenomena, and let the unsuspecting looker-on place his hands firmly on the brass conductors, and he will by his manner, his feelings, and his voice, quickly give proof that an unseen power has entered and quivered every muscle in his body; and so energetic is that power, that physical though he be, yet the unseen holds him fast, a writhing, discontented prisoner.

Ozone has lately found an existence in the scientific world; its unseen powers are acknowledged to be of a vital character. Epidemics: Appear to rise in certain latitudes, and at so

many miles per day pass over certain countries, producing on thousands upon thousands of our fellow men sickness and death. I remember the course of the cholera when first its slow, but certain foot-fall came step by step from Russia; the march was certain and regular, so regular that the very day was calculated on which it would reach England. True to its power and regularity; like a spirit, it walked the waters of the German ocean, and its noiseless foot-tread was followed by the death throes at Gateshead; consternation seized the people; known science was powerless-the death shroud and the grave hid the victims of a power unseen, but as regular in its progress as the sun and the moon. Other kinds of influences or etherealities are as self-existent and powerful in their energy, as the physical substances we are apt to consider the only powers in nature.

There are degrees of ethereality; there are currents of ethereality, as distinct as those we observe in the sky above us, by means of the clouds that float along; and as distinct as those of waters in the Atlantic Ocean-each has its power, its duty, in the mighty army of nature; as we have in our infantry, cavalry, and artillery brigades. As our soldiers are drilled, and subservient to the command of their superiors, so the elements are drilled and subservient to the command of their superiors. There are certain laws or arrangements which control their movements; as the laws and arrangements of our army control the duties and arrangements of our horse and infantry forces. The individual power of the unseen elements on the physical construction of man, is vividly exemplified by the powerful effects produced upon invalids on returning to their "native air"-why native? They left home in childhood or youth, and have been away many years, yet the native air is prescribed by the physician; the native air invigorates, restores, when other tried airs have failed-why is this? The first breath drawn by the child, by which it lives, enters the very constitution of the child, and unconsciously influences that child for life. The particular chemical atmo

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sphere then passing over the place of his birth, will influence him during life, be it a calm, a storm, or an epidemic: and when that calm, storm, or epidemic, in its regular circle of time, again passes over him, he feels its influence; so that if he be born when one of the mental life-storms is raging over the district, he, as an individual, will be subject to its laws and influences so long as he lives. As regular as in its circuit, the life-whirlwind, or storm, sweeps in and through its more inert nature, so will the child—the man be influenced; and if he does not, by mental training, or organization, guide his powers, he will rush into some wild career, which, while surprising his friends and others, may damage his position socially for life. Hence one of the causes of periodical occurrences in the mental life of individuals; and as hereditary disease, inclinations, and repugnances, are inherited, or inherent in the child, through the parents-the parent's antecedents seem continued in the child, and are called by many "destiny."

Periodical changes upon man are observed in sicknessdiseases have periods in their action on the physical condition of man.

Take a family of children, and the parents. You will find that the father has a period of days in illness, say five days; the mother seven days, and the children-according to the predominance of the father or mother in their constitution and character, so will follow the five or seven days' crisis. When the characteristics of both parents are blended in one, the crisis day, alters in that child to, say, the third day or ninth day. I have had thirteen children, and the natural bent of my mind being towards analysis, I have watched the progress of health and sickness-and found each child had its regular crisis days-three-five-or seven. If I were writing a book on physical periods, a new and startling chapter would open itself to our gaze; a chapter which would unveil a series of apparent fates, and destinies in families;-an involuntary drifting into periods of births, marriages, and deaths; as regular as the action of the involuntary nerves, and the play of the