aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

CBTOTESB RELIGIONS ANI^ INSTITUTIONS. 175
to a society or company established for facilitating such consultations.
Upon these occasions, the means employed
consist in the use of a willow or bamboo pen, placed upon
the top of the hand over a table of white sand ; the arm
becomes tremulous, and the writing is produced. And still
another course is " for the female medium to sit by a table on
which are two lighted candles, and three sticks of burning
incense. After inquiring the names of the deceased, and
the time of their death, she bows her head upon the table
with the face concealed. Soon lifting it, the eyes closed,
the countenance changed, the silence profound, she is supposed
to be possessed by the spirit of the dead individual,
and begins to address the applicant ; in other words, the dead
has come into her body, using her organs of speech to communicate
with the living. . . . Sometimes these mediums
profess to be possessed by some specified god of great healing
powers, and in this condition they prescribe for the sick.
It is believed that the god or spirit invoked actually casts
himself into the medium, and dictates the medicine."
. Rev.
Mr. Nevius in his work, " China and the Chinese,"
declares that " volumes might be written upon the gods,
genii, and familiar spiiits supposed to be continually in communication
with the people. The Chinese have a large*
number of books upon this subject, among the most noted
of which is
the Liaii-chai-che-i, a large work of sixteen volumes.
. . . Tu Sien signifies a spirit in the body. And
there are a class of familiar spirits supposed to dwell in the
bodies of certain Chinese who became the mediums of communication
with the unseen .world. Individuals said to be
possessed by these spirits are visited by multitudes, particularly
those who have recently lost relatives by death, and
wish to converse with them. . . . Remarkable disclosures
and revelations are believed to be made by the involuntary
movements of a bamboo pencil, and through those that
claim to see in the dark. Persons considering themselves
endowed Avith superior intelligence are firm believers in
those and other modes of consulting spirits."