Punch,  47 (1864), 207.

The Oracle of the Delphi Company (Limited)

Anon

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Commerce, Spiritualism, Imposture, Religion, Mental Illness


    Introduces the Delphi Company as a 'Society' for taking money 'from the pockets of the confiding public, and performing the wondrous operation of raising the wind by spiritual agency'. Proceeds to compare modern with ancient spiritualism, and explains that the medium employed by their firm is a latter-day 'Pythoness' who sits on a 'three-legged stool', and thus constitutes an 'Oracle'. Stresses that the number of spiritualists who have entered lunatic asylums will answer shareholders' questions about the uses of spiritualism, and that the spiritual provenance of the medium's power should not offend 'religious convictions'. Concludes by insisting that the 'respectability of its projectors will preclude any idea' that they, unlike William H H Davenport and Ira E Davenport, will 'bolt with the money'.



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