DAVIS

davis, andrew jackson (1826-1910), american spiritualist, was born at blooming grove, orange county, new york, on the 11th of august 1826. he had little education, though probably much more than he and his friends pretended. in 1843 he heard lectures in poughkeepsie on "animal magnetism," as the phenomena of hypnotism was then termed, and found that he had remarkable clairvoyant powers; and in the following year he had, he said, spiritual messages telling him of his life work. for the next three years (1844-1847) he practised magnetic healing with much success; and in 1847 he published _the principles of nature_, _her divine revelations_, and a _voice to mankind_, which in 1845 he had dictated while in a trance to his "scribe," william fishbough. he lectured with little success and returned to writing (or "dictating") books, publishing about thirty in all, including _the great harmonia_ (1850-1861), an "encyclopaedia" in six volumes; _the philosophy of special providences_ (1850), which with its evident rehash of old arguments against special providences and miracles would seem to show that davis's inspiration was literary; _the magic staff: an autobiography_ (1857), which was supplemented by _arabula: or the divine guest, containing a new collection of new gospels_ (1867), the gospels being those "according to" st confucius, st john (g. whittier), st gabriel (derzhavin), st octavius (frothingham), st gerrit (smith), st emma (hardinge), st ralph (w. emerson), st seiden (j. finney), st theodore (parker), &c.; and _a stellar key to the summer land_ (1868) and _views of our heavenly home_ (1878), each with illustrative diagrams. davis was much influenced by swedenborg and by the shakers, who reprinted his panegyric of ann lee in an official _sketch of shakers and shakerism_ (1884).