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 278 SPIRITUALISM feet have been common. Instruments have been floated around and spirit voices heard, phenomena supposed to be produced by the exercise of the materializing power. But not- withstanding the accumulated assumed testi- mony in regard to spirit photographs and materializations, spiritualists themselves are not yet unanimous in admitting them among what they believe to be fully verified phenom- ena. Besides the thousands in every grade of society, throughout the civilized world, who are more or less influenced by a belief in the supernatural origin of the manifestations, many persons in Europe and America, distin- guished in the walks of science, philosophy, literature, and statesmanship, have become avowed converts, or have admitted the phe- nomena so far as to believe in a new force not recognized by science, or have testified that the manifestations they have witnessed are not capable of explanation on the ground of imposture, coincidence, or mistake, or at least have considered the subject worthy of serious attention and careful consideration. Among these are : Alexander Aksakoff, Robert Chambers, Hiram Corson, Augustus De Mor- gan, J. W. Edmonds, Dr. Elliotson, I. H. von Fichte, Camille Flammarion, Hermann Gold- schmidt, Dr. Hofl5e, Robert Hare, Lord Lynd- hurst, Robert and Robert Dale Owen, W. M. Thackeray, T. A. Trollope, Alfred Russel Wallace, Nicholas Wagner, and Archbishop Whately. As the organized bodies of spirit- ualists include but a small proportion of those who wholly or partially accept these phe- nomena, it is impossible to make even an ap- proximate estimate of their numbers. While spiritualism has its converts from every reli- gious denomination, no small proportion of its advocates are from the ranks of those who previously doubted or totally disbelieved the immortality of the soul, and who affirm that they carry their skeptical tendencies into the investigation of this subject. On matters of speculative theology, there seems to be among them the widest latitude of opinion, though a majority of them perhaps are in their specula- tions inclined to what may be termed a subli- mated naturalism. They tell us that it is not the object of the spirits to teach theological dogmas as by any authority superior to that of man, but rather, by the mental and physical phenomena incidentally presented in the course of their manifestations, to furnish those ele- ments of reasoning from which each one may work out his own conclusions ; while we are told that the main object of their manifesta- tions is to furnish actual demonstration of the immortality of the soul and of some of the conditions and laws of the post mortem exis- tence. The books relating to spiritual manifes- tations may be reckoned by hundreds. The following are a few of the more important: J. Kerner, Die Seherin ton Pretorat (Stutt- -29 ; translated by Mrs. Crowe, London, 1845) ; Allan Kardec, Le livre des esprits (Paris, SPITZBERGEN 1853), with a supplementary work, Le livre des mediums (1863), the first translated into Eng- lish by Anna Blackwell under the title, " The Spirits' Book" (Boston, 1875), and the second by Emma A. Wood, " The Book of Mediums" (Boston, 1875); S. B. Brittan and B. W. Rich- mond, "A Discussion of the Facts and Phi- losophy of Ancient and Modern Spiritualism". (New York, 1858) ; John W. Edmonds and G. f. Dexter, " Spiritualism " (2 vols., New York, 1854-'5) ; Charles Linton, " The Healing of the Nations," with an introduction and appendix by N. P. Tallmadge (New York, 1855) ; Hud- son Tuttle, " Scenes in the Spirit World, or Life in the Spheres " (New York, 1855) ; E. W. Capron, "Modern Spiritualism, its Facts and Fanaticisms " (Boston, 1855) ; Robert Hare, "Experimental Investigations of the Spirit Manifestations" (New York, 1856); Louis de Guldenstubbe, La realite des esprits et le pke- nomene merveilleux de Tecriture directe demon- tres (Paris, 1857) ; Catharine Crowe, " Spirit- ualism and the Age we Live in " (London, 1859) ; Robert Dale Owen, " Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World" (Philadelphia, 1860), and "The Debatable Land between this World and the Next " (New York, 1872) ; D. D. Home, "Incidents of my Life" (London, Paris, and New York, 1862; a second volume with the same title, 1872, and a third an- nounced in 1875) ; Mrs. A. De Morgan, " From Matter to Spirit" (London, 1863); J. E. de Mirville, Question des esprits et de leurs mani- festations diverses (Paris, 1863) ; William How- itt, " History of the Supernatural in all Ages and Nations" (London, 1863); C. W. Upham, " Salem Witchcraft, and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects " (2 vols., Boston, 1867); Epes Sargent, "Planchette, or the Despair of Science" (Boston, 1869), and " The Proof Palpable of Immortality" (1875); Emma Hardinge, "Modern American Spirit- ualism " (New York, 1870) ; William Crookes, " Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritual- ism " (London, 1874) ; A. R. Wallace, u On Mi- racles and Modern Spiritualism, three Essays " (London, 1875); and H. S. Olcott, "People from the Other World" (Hartford, 1875). 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 pe- riodicals devoted to that subject, the num- ber of which in 1875, in Europe, America, and Australia, was at least 60. SPITZBERGEN, a group of islands in the Arc- tic ocean, between lat. 76 30' and 80 30' N., and Ion. 10 and 28 E., and nearly midway between Greenland on the west and Nova Zembla on the east ; area estimated at 30,000 sq. m. The principal islands are Spitzbergen, Northeast land, Prince Charles, Edge, and Ba- rentz. Spitzbergen proper, the largest of the islands, is nearly divided N. and S. by two arms of the sea, Weyde bay and Ice fiord, which stretch so far inland that their heads are separated by only a narrow peninsula 5