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The most ancient writing
extant in which this theory
I of emanations may be traced is ascribed to Timaeus of
Locris in which he ascribes the creation of the universe
to the divine emanations of God, an imparting of His being
to unformed matter. By this union a world-soul was created
which vitalises and regulates all things. Claudian in his
Idyl of the Magnet uses it as a symbol of the informative
spirit of things, the laws of nature, creative and
existent.
The mysticism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
mainly depends on these ideas of radiations emanating from
all things but especially the stars, magnets and human
beings, of a force which would act on all things and was
controlled by the indwelling spirit. The writings of
Paracelsus abound with instances of the theory. He asserts
that every substance in itself contains something of the
nature of the loadstone; that the astral light, which is
one of the finer media of nature, finer than the
lumin-iferous ether, exists throughout planetary space
especially around the brain and spinal cords of human
beings; (See. article Aura) that we are all but organised
magnets having each our poles which attract and repel;
that our thoughts are magnetic emanations escaping from
our brains. His theory of the universe was that it
emanated from a great first Being and there was a
reciprocity in all things. In man too there exists an
astral quality, emanating from the stars, which, whether
physical or not, when compared with the physical body may
be considered a spirit. This life stands in connexion with
the stars from which it sprang and draws to it their power
like a magnet. He calls this Sidereal life the magnes
microcosmi and makes use of it to explain the
manifestations of nature—it glows in the flower, glides in
the stream, moves in the ocean and shines in the sky. Van
Helmont speaks of an ethereal spirit, pure and living,
which pervades all things. Robert Fludd explained sympathy
and antipathy by the action of the emanatory spheres
surrounding man—in sympathy the emanations proceeding from
the centre, in antipathy the opposite movement taking
place. He maintained that these sensitive emanations are
to be found also amongst animals and plants, drawing an
argument from the fact that if dead and inert substances,
such as the earth and magnet seem to be, should have their
emanations and their poles, their living forms must needs
have them likewise. In the writings of Maxwell, a Scotch
physician, is to be found the statement: " There is a
linking together of spirits, an incessant outpouring of
the rays of our body into another." Athanasius Kircher
elaborated the theory deriving all natural phenomena from
the action of magnetic radiation; the arts and sciences
being also emanations. Wirdig, Bartholin and many more
pursued and developed their philosophical investigations
along these lines.
Descartes asserted that all space is filled with a fluid
matter which he held to be elementary, the foundation and
fountain of all life, enclosing all globes and keeping
them in motion. In Newton's doctrine of attraction, which
he called the Divine Sensorium, the idea of emanation and
magnetism is found. The following quotation is from his
Fundamental Principles of Natural Philosophy : " Here the
question is of a very subtle spirit "which penetrates
through all, even the hardest bodies and which is
concealed in their substance. Through the strength and
activity of this spirit, bodies attract each other and
adhere together when brought into contact. Through it
electrical bodies operate at the remotest distances as
well as near at hand, attracting and repelling; through
this spirit the light also flows and is refracted and
reflected and warms bodies." Mesmer enunciated the
following propositions: " Between the heavenly bodies, the
earth and human beings, there exists a mutual or
interchangeable influence. The medium of this influence is
an universally distributed fluid which suffers no vacuum,
is of a rarity with which nothing can compare and has the
property of receiving and transmitting all impressions of
movement. Animal bodies experience the mutual effect of
this agent, because it penetrates the nerves and affects
them directly. In the human body particularly are observed
properties analagous to those of the magnet. It is shown
by experiment that a matter flows out so fine that it
penetrates all bodies without apparently losing any of its
activity. This maybe communicated to other bodies, animate
or inanimate, such as mirrors ; it is communicated,
propagated, augmented by sound. Its virtues may be
accumulated, concentrated and transported." On this theory
he based his famous " Animal Magnetism " (q.v.) and its
practice for the cure of disease, in fact all human
ailments. Baron von Reic hen bach, a nun of scientific
attainments, a chemist and metallurgist of some repute,
conducted a series of experiments to investigate this
theory. He procured the aid of a large number of
sensitives, clairvoyants and mediums. These persons he
placed in dark rooms, and then submitted to their
spiritual sight magnets, shells, crystals, minerals,
animals, human hands and a great variety of animate and
inanimate objects, known only to himself but detected by
the sensitives through the luminous emanations given forth
by each substance. These emanations or flames differed in
colour, size and intensity according to the nature of the
object examined. The sensations experienced seemed mainly
of two kinds— temperature and perceptions of light and
colour. The poles of the magnet emitted flames, reddish
yellow from the south pole, bluish green from the north; a
similar polarity was observed in the luminous emanations
from crystals. The human fingers radiated light.
Elementary substances each had their distinctive light and
colour, the metals giving the most vivid impressions.
Iron, copper, bismuth, mercury and others gave off a red
glow, each differing from the others; the flames emitted
by lead, cobalt and palladium were blue; those of silver,
gold, cadmium, diamond were white. The clairvoyants also
perceived the luminous matter over the bodies of the sick
in hospitals ; and a column of misty vapour hovering over
a newly made grave. This radiance emitted by the various
substances, was capable of illuminating other objects. It
could be concentrated by a lens, reflected by a mirror but
produced no effect on a thermometer and was liable to be
absorbed by the glass of the percipient's spectacles. A
large number of the sensitives fully corroborated each
other's statements and observations, two artists amongst
them sketching their clairvoyant visions. These
experiments of the Baron's were conducted for years with
the most persevering attention and he arrived at the
conclusion that front every object in the human, animal,
vegetable and mineral kingdom there emanated a force which
could be detected under favourable conditions as flames or
luminous radiations. Some observers defined these as the
universal life of things. Reichenbach in his writings and
descriptions of the experiments called them the " Od
Force" or " Odyle." Modern Spiritualism claims that all
physical phenomena such as materialisations, (q.v.)
levitation, (q.v.) apports, (q.v.) table-rapping etc. are
produced by the spirits' manipulations of the medium's
more physical emanations in such a way as to give them
power to manifest materially and control matter. The finer
phases of mediumship are traced to a similar use of the
psychic aura or force emitted from the medium's
personality. Theosophy has elaborated the theory of
emanations into grandiose conceptions of astral light,
influences, auras, etc- In Paris, in 1901, a peculiar
phenomenon produced through the agency of a young
Roumanian gentleman was investigated by Dr. Rozier.
Broussay could occasion a gaseous bubbling of water when
this was enclosed in a bottle and over this ebullition he
had more or less control. In Dr. Roner's presence this was
carried out by the following process. A white glass bottle
was taken, a quarter filled with water, and the neck of
this was firmly closed up by Broussay's hand. It was tben
turned upside down and held tightly so that no moisture
could possibly escape. On watching the water thus brought
into touch with the hand minute air bubbles formed rapidly
and rose in threadlike lines to the surface. After lapse
of a minute or two the appearance intensified and the
bubbles rose in greater number until the effect resembled
soda water in effervesence. When the experiment was at its
height the bubbles seemed to fly from every part of the
hand which was exposed to the water and gathered round the
neck of the bottle while a crackling sound was audible.
Light had no effect on the experiment and the temperature
of M. Broussay was normal, 37deg. to 38deg. at most. This
experiment js similar to a favourite performance given by
Indian jugglers, who will boil an egg in from five to ten
minutes at most without fire to heat the water. An
explanation of this phenomenon is given as being due to
the electric vibrations passing along the surface of the
skin and raising the temperature of the water above,
boiling point—the definition of electricity in this case
being that as it is neither matter nor energy, though
energy may be expended in moving or creating it, it is
quite probably generated by the brain cells, a
manifestation of cerebral force and will vibrations. Later
investigations in the subject of emanations were set in
motion by certain results detected in connection with a
stud}' of the famous " X " rays, when it was found that a
new species of radiations was emitted by the focus tube,
which traversed aluminium, black paper, wood, etc. These
new rays were plane-polarized from the moment of their
emission ; were susceptible of rotatory and elliptic
polarization ar.d could be refracted, reflected and
diffused. The wave-lengths of the "N" rays are much
smaller than those of light and they also appear to be
without heat. They can be obtained from various sources
other than the Kontgen tube, and certain bodies seem to
have the property of retaining or storing the rays for a
considerable time. The human body is said to emit them
unceasingly. Though non-luminous in themselves the rays
will, if allowed to fall upon a phosphorescent body,
increase its glow. A small spark or flame is similarly
influenced. In photography the existence of the " N " rays
is well demonstrated, those pictures taken without the
rays being very faint while those obtained while the " N "
rays were in action were much stronger. Pebbles exposed to
sunlight spontaneously emit " N " rays and bodies such as
Rupert's drops, hardened steel, hammered brass, etc, are
permanent sources of the rays. These rays were named after
the initial letter of the town of Nancy where the
researches were made that led to their discovery by
Professor Blondlot. Further experiments proved that all
matter possesses the power of radiation and those
potentialities can be seen and registered by a fluorescent
screen just as those of the animal and human organism.
Whenever muscular and nerve energies are manifesting rays
are emitted, and it was found that they would pass through
certain substances whereas others would intercept and
store them. For example, they passed through an oak board
three or four centimetres thick, black paper, aluminium,
etc, but water stopped them or even a cigarette paper if
wet. Fresh water intercepted them but if the liquid were
salt the rays passed through. Dr. Baraduc for many years
pursued his studies in the emission of human fluidic
forces and used the bio-metre for registering vibrations
emitted from human bodies. This instrument consists of a
needle suspended by a fine thread and covered with a glass
shade. When the hand approaches this shade, without
touching it the needle is deflected. As the result of long
observation he formed the opinion that the variations in
the movements of the needle were caused by various
conditions, physical, mental and moral in the persons who
approached it and that by
these means he was able to estimate those conditions. Dr.
Baraduc also experimented in photography on these lines.
He took photographs of the emanations given off from the
hands of persons in varied, mental, moral and physical
states. In these the lines of radiation varied
considerably. In one, described by him as a psychic hand,
the luminosity seemed to radiate from the lower base of
the palm; another, where all the lines were confused, was
a photograph taken from the hand of a man in mental
distress. Dr. Baraduc also photographed some stones which
were said to have been used in the initiation rites of
pre-Christian religions and the stream of rays emanating
from these stones was distinctly visible on the plates ;
also some holy water at Lourdes just after a miraculous
cure had been effected, and there again the influence was
strong. He photographed with similar result the sacred
wafer during the moment of elevation in a Roman Catholic
Church. He also photographed both his son and his wife,
the one four minutes after death and the other twenty-four
hours after death, and in each instance there was seen
stretching from the lifeless body a great stream of force
which extended right up to the ceiling of the room and
then turned down again. In the one case the face of the
son could be recognised by anyone who had known him and
could be seen close to the body. In the other case the
profile of Dr. Baraduc's wife was to be seen halfway up
the room.
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