{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_31417/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_31417","id":"gutenberg_31417","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31417","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","Parapsychology"],"text":"Produced by Robert Baruch and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    PSYCHIC\n    PHENOMENA\n\n    A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE PHYSICAL\n    MANIFESTATIONS OBSERVED IN\n    PSYCHICAL RESEARCH\n\n    WITH FACSIMILE ILLUSTRATIONS OF\n    THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE DRAWINGS\n    AND AUTOMATIC WRITING\n\n\n    BY\n    EDWARD T. BENNETT\n\n    ASSISTANT-SECRETARY TO THE SOCIETY OF\n    PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, 1882-1902\n\n\n    WITH A FOREWORD BY\n    SIR OLIVER LODGE\n\n\n    NEW YORK\n    BRENTANO'S\n    MCMIX\n\n\n\n\nNOTE\n\n\nThe writer desires to express his sincere thanks to the Council of the\nSociety for Psychical Research for the permission given to make extracts\nfrom the _Proceedings_ of the Society, from the privately printed\n_Journal_, and from \"Phantasms of the Living\"; and for allowing the\nreproduction of a series of THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE DRAWINGS. Also best\nthanks are due to Mrs. Myers, and to Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co., for\npermission to make quotations from Mr. F. W. H. Myers' great work,\n\"Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death.\" Also to Mr. J.\nBurns and his brother, for freely granting permission for any use to be\nmade of the James Burns 1873 Edition of the \"Report of the Committee of\nthe Dialectical Society.\"\n\n    E. T. B.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    CHAP.                                                 PAGE\n\n       I. INTRODUCTORY                                      11\n\n      II. THE MOVEMENT OF OBJECTS WITHOUT ANY APPARENT\n            PHYSICAL CAUSE                                  16\n\n     III. THE PRODUCTION OF SOUND WITHOUT ANY APPARENT\n            PHYSICAL CAUSE                                  31\n\n      IV. THE APPEARANCE OF LIGHT WITHOUT ANY APPARENT\n            PHYSICAL CAUSE                                  35\n\n       V. PHYSICAL PHENOMENA IN THE PRESENCE OF\n            DANIEL DUNGLAS HOME                             41\n\n      VI. PHYSICAL PHENOMENA IN THE PRESENCE OF W.\n            STAINTON MOSES                                  58\n\n     VII. THE DIVINING ROD                                  76\n\n    VIII. THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE DRAWINGS                     89\n\n      IX. MATERIALISATIONS                                 109\n\n       X. \"SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY\"                             113\n\n      XI. THE SUMMING UP OF THE WHOLE MATTER               121\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nBY SIR OLIVER LODGE\n\n\nConsulted by the publishers as to the production of a small popular\ntext-book, which should constitute a summary indication of the\nnature of the evidence for ultra-normal physical or meta-psychical\nphenomena, I suggested Mr. E. T. Bennett as the right man for the\ntask. I have now seen the proof sheets, and--without making myself\nin any way responsible for details--perceive that he has done the\nwork well, and has presented a satisfactory outline of the testimony\nfor whatever it may be worth. Concerning its value I will only say\nthat to my mind there comes a stage at which belief in gratuitous\ninvention and false statement becomes forced and irrational. With\nmost of the evidence here adduced I have of course been familiar for\nyears, in its original sources, and am well aware of the extreme\ndifficulty or impossibility of understanding some of the alleged\nfacts in any physical or physiological sense; nevertheless if I am\nasked whether such impressions can be actually received and honestly\nrecorded by sane people, and whether I recommend experiment by\ncareful and competent and unsuperstitious observers as if a _prima\nfacie_ case had been made out--that is to say, as if some of these\nunusual and hitherto quite unexplained occurrences might possibly\nturn out to be true--having laws of their own and constituting an\nunopened chapter of science, or rather a new science, uniting\ncharacteristics from physical, chemical, physiological, and\npsychological sciences, and throwing new light on the connection\nbetween mind and matter--then, though doubtless the answer will be\nreceived with scorn, I answer unhesitatingly yes.\n\n\n\n\nSPIRITUALISM\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nINTRODUCTORY\n\n\nA short title to a book has its advantages. It has also its\ndisadvantages. It is almost inevitable that it should, on the one hand,\nseem to include much more than is intended, and, on the other hand, fail\nto convey the purpose of the author. \"Geology\" would be a tolerably\nlarge subject. \"Astronomy\" would be vastly larger. But \"Spiritualism\" is\nan infinite subject compared with either, and to suggest that its claims\nto scientific study be considered within the compass of a small volume\nof not much over a hundred pages seems the height of presumption!\n\nIt will therefore be well at the outset to indicate exactly what it is\nproposed to include in the present investigation into \"Spiritualism.\"\nThe alleged phenomena of Spiritualism may be roughly divided into two\nclasses--physical and mental. Those which belong entirely to the latter\nclass are outside the scope of this book. It is proposed to examine\nthose phenomena of the former class, the reality of which may fairly be\nassumed to be proved by scientific evidence. The scope of the work is\nthus reduced to reasonable proportions. There are several groups of\nphenomena which appear to violate, or at least to extend in a striking\nmanner, laws recognised by Physical Science. The evidence to be relied\non will be that of scientific men of high standing, and of other persons\nof unquestioned literary and social position.\n\nThere is, however, an important respect, in regard to which this inquiry\nis placed in an entirely different position to any ordinary scientific\ninvestigation, and one which adds greatly to the difficulties of the\nstudent. Ordinary experiments conducted in a physical laboratory can be\nrepeated again and again under similar conditions, and similar results\nwill follow. If attempts are made to reproduce the phenomena of\nSpiritualism, under what appear to be precisely similar conditions, by\nmeans which have previously been successful, failure to obtain the\nwished-for results may very probably follow. It is no use to rebel and\nto feel inclined to abandon the pursuit as useless! That would be most\nunscientific! The inquirer finds himself in the presence of a subtle\nelusive influence, which he seems unable to control, and which refuses\nto submit to the laws which govern physical experiments. On the other\nhand, perseverance may be richly rewarded. An unexplored field of\nscientific research of unlimited extent may open itself to view.\nSomething of that joy may be experienced which the search into the\nunknown alone can give.\n\nMr. Arthur James Balfour, in an address on the occasion of the annual\ndinner of the Royal Literary Fund, in 1893, said:--\n\n\"My friend, Lord Kelvin, has often talked to me of the future of\nscience, and he has said words to me about the future of science which\nare parallel with the words I have quoted to you about the future of\nart, and with the hope which I have expressed to you with respect to\nliterature. He has told me that to the men of science of to-day it\nappears as if we were trembling on the brink of some great scientific\ndiscovery which should give to us a new view of the great forces of\nNature, among which and in the midst of which we move. If this prophecy\nbe right, and if the other forecasts to which I have alluded be right,\nthen indeed it is true that we live in an interesting age; then indeed\nit is true that we may look forward to a time full of fruit for the\nhuman race--to an age which cannot be sterilised or rendered barren even\nby politics.\"\n\nThere are some advantages which the study of this subject possesses over\nmost branches of scientific inquiry. In its present early and incomplete\nstage the most important thing is the accumulation of carefully observed\nand recorded facts. Even as regards Thought-Transference, in which the\nnumber of careful experiments that have been made is far greater than in\nany other class of phenomena, it is still most important to multiply the\nquantity of the evidence. In most of the branches of the subject no\nexpensive apparatus is required, and no special scientific or\nintellectual training. Accurate observation and careful recording, at\nthe time, of all that occurs, without prejudice, and without\ndiscouragement at apparent failure, are the chief requisites. Any\nperson, or small group of persons of ordinary intelligence, can train\nthemselves to be equal to this. A very simple instance occurred in the\nearliest experiences of the writer. After three or four sittings round a\nsmall table with two friends, at which there was meaningless tipping,\nand nothing better than commonplace sentences, the following was tipped\nout: \"Try no more to move\"--then this succession of letters--\"a t a t\na.\" It seemed useless to go on with nonsense, but one of the party\nsuggested perseverance; when the following conclusion converted seeming\nnonsense into sense: \"b l e take a pencil and write.\" The result was\nthat one of the party rapidly developed into an interesting automatic\nwriter.\n\nIt is quite impossible to foretell the extent of the aid that may not be\ngiven, in the explanation of some of these phenomena, by the persevering\nexperiments of intelligent inquirers.\n\nIn the following chapters facts relating to several different kinds of\nphenomena are put before the reader, as to which the guarantee of\nauthenticity and the quality of the evidence are both unimpeachable.\n\nIt is not proposed to travel all over the world in search of evidence;\nthe illustrations will be drawn almost entirely from home sources. With\nall due respect to friends in distant parts, it will doubtless be a\nsatisfaction to some readers to know that in these pages they will not\nmeet with Mrs. Piper on the one hand, nor with Eusapia Paladino on the\nother.\n\nWith these few introductory remarks a calm and dispassionate\nconsideration of the evidence presented is invited. First of all, three\nclasses of phenomena will be taken up in the following order:--\n\n(1) The Movement of Objects without any apparent Physical Cause.\n\n(2) The Production of Sound without any apparent Physical Cause.\n\n(3) The Production of Light without any apparent Physical Cause.\n\nTwo chapters will then be devoted to a study of the phenomena exhibited\nin the lives of two of the most noted \"mediums\" of modern times--Daniel\nDunglas Home and William Stainton Moses. Both present manifestations of\nphenomena belonging to the three classes above-named, as well as\nstriking examples of other kinds. A chapter on the \"Divining Rod\" will\nfollow. Then a chapter on one of the forms of Thought-Transference, one\nwhich allows of its being included among physical phenomena. Two brief\nchapters will come next on \"Spirit Photography\" and on\n\"Materialisations.\" It is explained that these are included, not because\nof any scientific evidence in their favour which can be quoted, but\nbecause of the extreme interest and importance of the subjects\nthemselves, and also because the strong testimony and moral evidence in\nsupport of their reality seem to promise a tempting field for the\nscientific explorer, and to warrant a confident belief that the evidence\nhe desires will be forthcoming. In a final chapter an endeavour is made\nto sum up results and conclusions.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE MOVEMENT OF OBJECTS WITHOUT ANY APPARENT PHYSICAL CAUSE\n\n\nTHE COMMITTEE OF THE DIALECTICAL SOCIETY\n\nSo far as I am aware, the first systematic or scientific attempt to\ninvestigate the alleged phenomenon of the movement of objects without\nany apparent physical cause was made by the London Dialectical Society\nin the year 1869. On the motion of Dr. James Edmunds, a Committee was\nappointed \"to investigate the Phenomena alleged to be Spiritual\nManifestations, and to report thereon.\" The names of twenty-eight\nmembers were proposed. Three of these declined to act. Eight more names\nwere added, so that the Committee, as finally constituted, consisted of\nthirty-three, three of whom were ladies. Among the best-known names were\nH. G. Atkinson, F.G.S.; Charles Bradlaugh; E. W. Cox, serjeant-at-law;\nRev. C. Maurice Davies, D.D.; Charles R. Drysdale, M.D.; James Edmunds,\nM.D.; Robert Hannah; H. D. Jencken, barrister-at-law; William Volckman;\nand Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S. It is believed that Robert Hannah\nand Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace are the only survivors.\n\nIn order to investigate the phenomena in question by personal experiment\nand test, the Committee resolved itself into six Sub-Committees. In May\n1870 the Committee appointed an Editing Committee to prepare a joint\nreport, based solely on the evidence that had been before it. A month\nlater the Editing Committee presented a draft report, which with some\ntrifling verbal alterations was adopted _nem dis_. A resolution was then\ncarried that a copy be forwarded to the Council of the Dialectical\nSociety, with a recommendation that it be printed and published. This\nthe Council declined to do. Upon this the Committee met and passed the\nfollowing resolution:--\n\n\"That the Report be referred to the Editing Committee, and that they be\nrequested to prepare it for publication, together with any supplementary\nor counter reports that may be received from members of the Committee,\nand appending thereto the reports of the Sub-Committees, and the\nevidence, oral and verbal, that has been collected; the entire work,\nwhen ready for publication, to be submitted for approval to the\nCommittee.\"[1]\n\nSuch is the origin of the volume from which the following extracts are\nmade.[2] Considerations of space necessitate dealing with the work of\none Sub-Committee only. The essential part of the REPORT OF\nSUB-COMMITTEE NO. 1 is as follows:--\n\n\"Since their appointment on the 16th of February 1869, your\nSub-Committee have held forty meetings for the purpose of experiment and\ntest.\n\n\"All of these meetings were held at the private residences of members of\nthe Committee, purposely to preclude the possibility of pre-arranged\nmechanism or contrivance.\n\n\"The furniture of the room in which the experiments were conducted was\non every occasion its accustomed furniture.\n\n\"The tables were in all cases heavy dining-tables, requiring a strong\neffort to move them. The smallest of them was 5 feet 9 inches long by 4\nfeet wide ... and of proportionate weight.\n\n\"The rooms, tables, and furniture generally were repeatedly subjected to\ncareful examination before, during, and after the experiments, to\nascertain that no concealed machinery, instrument, or other contrivance\nexisted by means of which the sounds or movements hereinafter mentioned\ncould be caused.\n\n\"The experiments were conducted in the light of gas, except on the few\noccasions specially noted in the minutes.\n\n\"Your Committee have avoided the employment of professional or paid\nmediums, the mediumship being that of members of your Sub-Committee,\npersons of good social position and of unimpeachable integrity, having\nno pecuniary object to serve, and nothing to gain by deception.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"Your Committee have confined their Report to _facts_ witnessed by them\nin their collective capacity, which facts were _palpable to the senses,\nand their reality capable of demonstrative proof_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"The result of their long-continued and carefully-conducted experiments,\nafter trial by every detective test they could devise, has been to\nestablish conclusively:--\n\n\"First: That under certain bodily or mental conditions of one or more of\nthe persons present, a force is exhibited sufficient to set in motion\nheavy substances, without the employment of any muscular force, without\ncontact or material connection of any kind between such substances and\nthe body of any person present.\n\n\"Second: That this force can cause sounds to proceed, distinctly audible\nto all present, from solid substances not in contact with, nor having\nany visible or material connection with, the body of any person present,\nand which sounds are proved to proceed from such substances by the\nvibrations which are distinctly felt when they are touched.\n\n\"Third: That this force is frequently directed by intelligence.\n\n\"At thirty-four out of the forty meetings of your Committee some of\nthese phenomena occurred.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"In conclusion, your Committee express their unanimous opinion that the\none important physical fact thus proved to exist, that _motion may be\nproduced in solid bodies without material contact, by some hitherto\nunrecognised force operating within an undefined distance from the human\norganism, and beyond the range of muscular action_, should be subjected\nto further scientific examination, with a view to ascertaining its true\nsource, nature, and power.\"[3]\n\nOne selection is now given from the Minutes of this Sub-Committee,\nillustrating the nature of the Evidence that came before them:--\n\n\"EXPERIMENT XXXVIII., Dec. 28th [1869].--Eight members present.\n_Phenomena_: Rapping sounds from the table and floor, and movements of\nthe table, with and without contact. The alphabet was repeated, and the\nfollowing letters were rapped: 'A bad circle--want of harmony.' At the\nletter f, the table tilted three times, and at the letters a, r, gave\nseveral forcible horizontal movements, tilting at either end.\n\n\"Raps, with slight tiltings of the table, beating time to the measure of\na song. Two or three poems were recited, to the measure of which there\nwere loud raps from the table and floor, and the table also marked the\nmetre by various horizontal movements and tiltings.\n\n\"Hood's Anatomy Song being repeated by one of the members, the knocking,\nrapping, and tilting sounds, with various horizontal, trembling, and\nvibratory movements of the table, accompanied it, in exact harmony with\nthe measure, added to which were strange movements, in accordance with\nthe character of the verses. In one instance the table shifted its\nposition several feet, the tips of the fingers only being in contact\nwith it.\n\n\"MOVEMENTS WITHOUT CONTACT.--Question: 'Would the table now be moved\nwithout contact?' Answer: 'Yes;' by three raps on the table. All chairs\nwere then turned with their backs to the table, and nine inches away\nfrom it; and all present knelt on the chairs, with their wrists resting\non the backs, and their hands a few inches above the table.\n\n\"Under these conditions, the table (the heavy dining-room table\npreviously described) moved four times, each time from four to six\ninches, and the second time nearly twelve inches.\n\n\"Then all hands were placed on the backs of the chairs, and nearly a\nfoot from the table, when four movements occurred, one slow and\ncontinuous for nearly a minute.\n\n\"Then all present placed their hands behind their backs, kneeling erect\non their chairs, which were removed a foot clear away from the table.\nThe gas also was turned up higher, so as to give abundance of light; and\nunder these test conditions, distinct movements occurred, to the extent\nof several inches each time, and visible to every one present.\n\n\"The motions were in various directions, towards all parts of the\nroom--some were abrupt, others steady. At the same time, and under the\nsame conditions, distinct raps occurred, apparently both on the floor\nand on the table, in answer to requests for them.\n\n\"The above-described movements were so unmistakable, that all present\nunhesitatingly declared their conviction, that no physical force,\nexerted by any one present, could possibly have produced them; and they\ndeclared further, in writing, that a rigid examination of the table\nshowed it to be an ordinary dining-table, with no machinery or apparatus\nof any kind connected with it. The table was laid on the floor with its\nlegs up, and taken to pieces so far as practicable.\"[4]\n\n\nTESTIMONY OF W. F. BARRETT, F.R.S., PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS IN THE ROYAL\nCOLLEGE OF SCIENCE FOR IRELAND.\n\nNo endeavour appears to have been made by any of the members of the\nCommittee of the Dialectical Society to follow up the results which they\nhad obtained. The individual members who had previously been active in\nsuch matters continued to take an interest in them, but there is no\nevidence that a single new inquirer was gained. The next event of any\nimportance, in the direction of scientific inquiry into the subject, was\nthe reading by Professor W. F. Barrett of a paper before the meeting of\nthe British Association at Glasgow in 1876. This paper was entitled \"On\nSome Phenomena Associated with Abnormal Conditions of Mind,\" and dealt\nmainly with what was subsequently designated \"Thought-Transference.\"\nProfessor Barrett also referred to some \"physical phenomena\" which had\ncome under his notice. He says: \"I am bound to mention a case that came\nunder my own repeated observation, wherein certain inexplicable physical\nphenomena occurred in broad daylight, and for which I could find no\nsatisfactory solution either on the ground of hallucination or\nfraud.\"[5]\n\nIn a paper read before the Society for Psychical Research in 1886,\nentitled \"On Some Physical Phenomena commonly termed Spiritualistic,\nwitnessed by the Author,\" Professor Barrett describes in detail the\nphenomena he referred to in the paper read ten years previously at the\nBritish Association, and the circumstances under which they occurred.\nThe following paragraphs give the important features:[6]--\n\nMr. C., a solicitor, with his wife and family, had come to reside for\nthe season in the suburban house of a friend and neighbour of Professor\nBarrett's. He was an Irish country gentleman who had an utter disbelief\nin spiritualism. Professor Barrett was therefore not a little amused on\nmaking Mr. C.'s acquaintance, to find that he had in his own family what\nappeared to be spiritualistic phenomena then and there going on. Mr. C.\ngave Professor Barrett every opportunity of close and frequent\ninvestigation. The sittings extended through the months of August and\nSeptember 1875. There were present besides Professor Barrett, Mr. and\nMrs. C., and their young daughter Florrie, a bright, frank, intelligent\nchild, then about ten years old. They sat at a large dining-room table,\nfacing French windows, which let in a flood of sunlight. Shortly,\nscraping sounds, raps, and noises resembling the hammering of small\nnails, were heard. Florrie's hands and feet were closely watched, and\nwere observed to be absolutely motionless when the sounds were heard.\nBesides knocks, there were occasional movements of the furniture. Seated\none day at a large dining-room table in full sunlight, Florrie, and Mr.\nand Mrs. C., and Professor Barrett being the persons present, all their\nfingers visibly resting on the surface of the table, three legs of the\ntable rose off the ground to a sufficient height to allow Professor\nBarrett to put his foot easily beneath the castor nearest him. The\nimportance of the comparatively small amount of \"movement\" phenomena in\nthis case is increased by their association with \"sound\" phenomena of\ngreat variety and frequency. These will be fully described in the next\nchapter.\n\nAnother case which Professor Barrett cites in the same paper may be thus\nsummarised as far as phenomena of movement are concerned:[7]--\n\nThe sitters were Mr. L., a well-known photographer in Dublin, his niece,\nMiss I., and Professor Barrett. While noticing the raps and knocks,\nProfessor Barrett observed a frequent uneasy movement of the entire\ntable, which was a moderately large and heavy one, four feet square. It\nsidled about in a most surprising manner. Lifting their hands completely\noff the table, the sitters placed themselves back in their chairs, with\ntheir hands folded across their chests. Their feet were in full view.\nUnder these conditions, and in obedience to Professor Barrett's request,\nthe table raised the two legs nearest to him off the ground eight or ten\ninches, and then suspended itself for a few moments. A similar act was\nperformed on the other side. Then a very unexpected occurrence happened.\nTo quote Professor Barrett's own words:--\n\n\"Whilst absolutely free from the contact of any person, the table\nwriggled itself backward and forward, advancing towards the armchair in\nwhich I sat, and ultimately completely imprisoning me in my seat.\nDuring its progress it was followed by Mr. L. and Miss I., but they were\nat no time touching it, and occasionally were so distant that I could\nperceive a free space all round the table whilst it was still in motion.\nWhen thus under my very nose, the table rose repeatedly, and enabled me\nto be perfectly sure, by the evidence of touch, that it was off the\nground, and further, that no human being, consciously or unconsciously,\nhad any part in this movement.\"\n\nProfessor Barrett, with his accustomed caution, comments thus:--\n\n\"The results, it is true, were very remarkable and unaccountable; but\nthough I had not the slightest doubt of the good faith of Mr. L. and\nMiss I., yet I do not adduce this evidence as unexceptionable. I should\nhave preferred to have taken precautions which were not so easy to\nimpose on a lady, and I should also have preferred to have had the\nseance at my own house.\"\n\nThis latter objection was met by Mr. L. and Miss I. going to Professor\nBarrett's house shortly afterwards, no one else besides Professor\nBarrett being present. Some remarkable sounds were again heard. Then,\nthis happened--again quoting Professor Barrett's own words:--\n\n\"Suddenly, only the tips of our fingers being on the table, the heavy\nloo-table at which we were sitting made a series of very violent\nprancing movements (which I could not imitate afterwards except by using\nboth hands and all my strength); the blows were so heavy that I\nhurriedly stopped the performance, fearing for the safety of the gas\nchandelier in the room below. Here, too, I cannot avoid the conclusion\nthat the phenomena described are inexplicable on any known hypothesis.\"\n\nAfter discounting the \"pious platitudes\" spelt out by the tilts of the\ntable, and the possibility, and even probability, that \"unintentional\nmuscular movements\" were the cause of these, and after recognising the\nimpossibility of keeping up a continuous vigilant watch on the hands and\nfeet of any person, and after supposing that Miss I. had some ingenious\nmechanism concealed about her person, whereby she could produce the\nsounds that were heard, Professor Barrett says: \"This would fail to\naccount for the undoubted motion of a heavy table, free from the contact\nof all present. After giving due weight to every known explanation, the\nphenomena remain inexplicable to me.\"\n\n\nTESTIMONY COLLECTED BY FREDERIC W. H. MYERS.\n\nNext in order of time come two papers by Mr. F. W. H. Myers, under the\ntitle of \"Alleged Movements of Objects without Contact, occurring not in\nthe Presence of a Paid Medium.\" They are published in vol. vii. of the\n_Proceedings_ of the Society for Psychical Research.[8] The first\narticle goes over most of the ground traversed in the earlier part of\nthis chapter, but devotes twenty lines only to the Report of the\nCommittee of the Dialectical Society, and refers only to Professor\nBarrett's cases as having been already published. A number of other\ncases are, however, described in detail. The evidence in these scarcely\ncomes up to the level of scientific, and unless it had been sifted by\nso careful a critic as Mr. Myers, who convinced himself of the reality\nof the facts, could hardly be considered of much value. The two\nfollowing cases in the first article present the strongest evidence.\n\n(1) THE ARMSTRONG CASE.--Mr. George Allman Armstrong, of 8 Leeson Place,\nDublin, and Ardnacarrig, Bandon, writes an account dated 13th June 1887.\nAfter vouching for the perfect good faith of the small group of\nexperimenters, he describes in detail the movements of a table. The\n\"rising\" was generally preceded by a continuous fusillade of \"knocks\" in\nthe substance of the table. When the knocks had, as it were, reached a\nclimax, the table slowly swayed from side to side like a pendulum. It\nwould stop completely, and then, as if imbued with life, and quite\nsuddenly, would rise completely off the floor to a height of twelve or\nfourteen inches at least. It nearly always came down with immense force,\nand on several occasions proved destructive to itself, as the broken\nlimbs of the table used at Kinsale could testify. The table was a round,\nrather heavy walnut one, with a central column standing on three claw\nlegs. Mr. Armstrong says that on several occasions he succeeded in\nraising the table without contact. It rose to the fingers held over it\nat a height of several inches, like the keeper of a strong\nelectro-magnet.[9]\n\n(2) A BELL-RINGING CASE.--Mr. Myers, in introducing this case, says:\n\"The usual hypotheses of fraud, rats, hitched wires, &c., seem hard to\napply. The care and fulness with which it has been recorded will enable\nthe reader to judge for himself more easily than in most narratives of\nthis type. Our informant is a gentleman [Mr. D.], occupying a\nresponsible position; his name may be given to inquirers.\"[10] The\ndetailed report of the occurrences occupies no less than twelve pages,\nthe greater part of which consists of a long letter addressed by Mr. D.\nto the Society for Psychical Research. He explains that he is writing in\nthe main from notes taken at the time and not from memory. The following\nis an abstract:--\n\nOn Friday, 23rd September 1887, he took his four pupils to a circus, his\nlady housekeeper also going, leaving two servants at home. They left at\nabout 2 P.M. All but himself returned about 5.30 P.M. The two servants\nwere on the doorstep, telling the boys not to go in by the area\ndoor--the kitchens being below ground--and explaining that all the bells\nwere ringing violently, no one touching them, and that they had been\ndoing so almost ever since half-past two. When the master of the house\ncame home, he found the same state of things, the servants almost in\nhysterics and the bells ringing. Nine bells hung in a row just inside\nthe area door, opposite the kitchen door, and there was one bell--a call\nbell--on the landing at the top of the house.\n\nMr. D. frequently saw several of these bells ringing at once, the\nringing being sudden and very violent, louder, he believed, than they\ncould be rung by pulling the handles. One bell was more than once pulled\nover, so that it could not return to its normal position. Several of\nthe upstairs bells had no bell-pulls. The bellhanger was several times\nsummoned to the premises. He showed that the wires could not have been\nentangled, and entirely agreed that it would be an utter impossibility\nfor any animals, such as cats or rats, to ring the bells as they were\nrung. The house was quite a new one, standing alone, surrounded by\nunoccupied plots of building land.\n\nAs to the question of trickery. There seemed no possibility of that\nbeing the explanation. The phenomena occurred when the housekeeper and\npupils were all away; also when the cook was away; also when only the\ntwo servants and the master were in the house, and both of them in his\nsight. For instance, he says he stood in the passage in front of the\nnine bells watching them ring, with both the servants close by. Once in\nparticular he watched the housemaid on her knees in the middle of the\nwash-house scrubbing the tiles, while the front door, area door, and\nbath-room bells were pealing violently. The ringing was also heard by\ntradesmen, and by men working in the gardens near. The wires of the\nbells were distinctly moved, not only the bells and the clappers. The\nbell-handles were never observed to be moved. The ringing lasted between\nthree and four weeks, and then ceased. Knockings in considerable variety\nwere also heard, and a few cases of the movement of chairs and small\narticles, without any contact, also occurred.\n\nMr. D. was at one time disposed to think that the housemaid was in some\nway connected with the disturbances, but he could trace no evidence.\nShe was a young girl who had not been out to service before. She got\ninto such a state of nervous excitement about the occurrences, that\nbrain fever or something serious was feared. She had only been in the\nhouse a few weeks previous to the commencement of the manifestations,\nand nothing occurred after she left. Mr. D. was, however, perfectly\nconvinced that she had nothing to do voluntarily with the\nbell-ringing.[11]\n\nThe second paper by Mr. Myers is devoted exclusively to some \"strange\nexperiences\" which occurred several years previous to 1891, at the\nvillage of Swanland, a few miles from Hull, in the East Riding of\nYorkshire. The evidence is that of John Bristow, who states he was an\neye-witness. There were no intellectual phenomena, nothing but the\napparently meaningless throwing about of pieces of wood--directed,\nhowever, by some intelligence, so as to attract attention without doing\nharm. Here again what value the case has rests almost solely on its\nhaving received the critical study of Mr. Myers.[12]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Report of the Committee of the London Dialectical Society, p. 228.\n\n[2] Report on Spiritualism of the Committee of the London Dialectical\nSociety, together with the Evidence, Oral and Written, and a Selection\nfrom the Correspondence. Two editions have been published. Both are out\nof print.\n\n[3] Report, &c., pp. 7-13.\n\n[4] Report, &c., pp. 390-391.\n\n[5] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. i. p. 240\n\n[6] See _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. iv. pp. 29-33.\n\n[7] See _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. iv. pp. 33-35.\n\n[8] Vol. vii. pp. 146-198 and pp. 383-394.\n\n[9] For full account see _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. vii. pp. 159-160.\n\n[10] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. vii. p. 160.\n\n[11] See the full account in Part XIX. of the _Proceedings of the\nS.P.R._, which part is included in vol. vii., and may be obtained\nseparately for 2s. 6d.\n\n[12] See _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. vii. pp. 383-394.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE PRODUCTION OF SOUND WITHOUT ANY APPARENT PHYSICAL CAUSE\n\n\nIf the tipping of small tables when the hands of the sitters are in\ncontact is excepted--under which circumstances it is generally\nimpossible to determine whether the result is psychical, or due merely\nto muscular action unconsciously exercised--the production of raps and\nother sounds is the most frequent of the phenomena under consideration.\nThey are, however, generally so intermixed with other phenomena that it\nis difficult to treat them separately.\n\n\nTHE DIALECTICAL SOCIETY.\n\nIn the extracts from the Report of the Committee of the Dialectical\nSociety given in the preceding chapter, it will be remembered that raps\nand other noises are referred to as being frequently heard, and also as\napparently produced by an intelligent agency.\n\n\nTESTIMONY OF PROFESSOR W. F. BARRETT, F.R.S.\n\nThe reader is asked to refer to the general conditions of the case of\nMr. C. testified to by Professor Barrett in the previous chapter. He\nsays:--\n\n\"They (the sounds) came more readily and more loudly when music was\nplayed, or a merry song struck up. Usually they kept time with the\nmusic, and altogether displayed a singular degree of intelligence.\nSometimes a loud rhythmic scraping, as of a violoncello bow on a piece\nof wood, would accompany the music. Again and again I placed my ear on\nthe very spot on the table whence this rough fiddling appeared to\nproceed, and felt distinctly the rhythmic vibration of the table, but no\ntangible cause was visible either above or below the table.... On one\noccasion, when no one else was in the room, ... I asked my young friend\nthe medium to put her hands against the wall, and see how far she could\nstretch her feet back from the wall without tumbling down. This she did,\nand whilst in this constrained position--with the muscles of arms and\nlegs all in tension--I asked for the knocks to come. Immediately a brisk\npattering of raps followed my request. All the while the child remained\nquite motionless. My reason in making this experiment, was to test the\nlate Dr. Carpenter's muscular theory of the cause of the sounds. Had Dr.\nCarpenter been present, I feel sure he would have admitted that here at\nany rate that theory fell through.\"[13]\n\nProfessor Barrett sums up his conclusions on this case thus:--\n\n\"A long and careful examination convinced me that trickery on the part\nof the child was a more improbable hypothesis than that the sounds\nproceeded from some unknown agency. Nor could the sounds be accounted\nfor by trickery on the part of the servants in the house, for in\naddition to my careful inquiries on this point, Mr. C. informed me that\nhe had obtained the raps on the handle of his umbrella out of doors,\nwhen the child was by his side; and that the music-master complained of\nraps proceeding from inside the piano whenever the child was listless or\ninattentive at her music lesson. Mrs. C. told me that almost every night\nshe heard the raps by the bedside of the child when she went to bid her\ngood-night; and that after she had left the room and partially closed\nthe door, she would hear quite an animated conversation going on between\nher daughter and her invisible companion, the child rapidly spelling\nover the alphabet, and the raps occurring at the right letters, and the\nchild thus obtaining with surprising rapidity a clue to the words spelt\nout.\n\n\"Still more violently improbable is the supposition that the parents of\nthe child were at the bottom of the mystery, stimulated by a desire to\nimpress their friends with the wonderful but imaginary gifts their child\npossessed. The presence of the parents was not necessary for the\noccurrence of the sounds, which, as I have said, often took place when I\nwas the only person in the room besides the child.\n\n\"Hallucination was the explanation which suggested itself to my own mind\nwhen first I heard of the phenomena, but was dismissed as wholly\ninapplicable after the first day's inquiry; nor do I think that any one\ncould maintain that different people, individually and collectively, for\nsome weeks, thought they heard and saw a series of sounds and motions\nwhich had no objective existence.\n\n\"No! I was then, and am still, morally certain that the phenomena had a\nreal existence outside oneself, and that they were not produced by\ntrickery or by known causes. Hence I could come to no other conclusion\nthan that we had here a class of phenomena wholly new to science.\"[14]\n\nAfter some three months the sounds ceased as unexpectedly as they had\ncommenced.\n\nThere is one form of sound manifestation to which no allusion has been\nmade--what is called the \"Direct Voice.\" It is alleged to be of frequent\noccurrence in spiritualistic circles. Articulate words are, it is\nstated, spoken \"direct,\" not through the voice organs of any person\npresent. The phenomenon, so far as I have heard, occurs only in\ndarkness--and is an objective voice audible alike to every one present.\nIt corresponds to the phenomenon of \"direct writing.\" But no attempt\nthat I am aware of has been made to treat the matter scientifically. One\nof the earliest alleged occurrences of this phenomenon took place in\nLondon, at a private seance at which I was present at the house of Mr.\nThos. Everitt, who departed this life in August of last year, and who\nwas one of the most prominent London spiritualists, Mrs. Everitt being\nthe medium. Some little time later, at a similar seance at the same\nhouse, the sitting was terminated by the singing of a hymn by three or\nfour soft, gentle voices, purporting to be \"direct\" voices, which\nsounded as if they proceeded from the top of the room close to the\nceiling. They were certainly not the voices of any of the company\npresent. It was one of the most beautiful and touching manifestations I\never experienced. I can only compare it to the singing of a choir of\nboys' voices, high up out of sight in Truro Cathedral, which I had heard\nmany years before. The seances at Mr. Everitt's were conducted in an\nexclusively religious tone, and afforded no opportunity for obtaining\nscientific evidence. It is much to be desired that a careful inquiry\nshould be made into the reality of so interesting a phenomenon.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[13] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. iv. pp. 29-30.\n\n[14] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. iv. p. 31.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE APPEARANCE OF LIGHT WITHOUT ANY APPARENT PHYSICAL CAUSE\n\n\nThe appearance of Lights at Spiritualistic circles, apparently not due\nto any physical cause, is very widely asserted. The character of the\nLights is as varied as it is possible to imagine. Faint, cloudy,\nindefinite luminous appearances--brilliant stars which move or hover\namong the sitters--globes or balls of light, like illuminated ostrich\neggs, or spheres of mother-of-pearl lit up from within--pillars of\nlight--are some of the many forms which this manifestation takes. But\nanything approaching to scientific evidence of the reality of the\nphenomenon is singularly scarce. And I am not aware that anything has\never been done towards testing or endeavouring to ascertain the nature\nof the light. One reason for this is, no doubt, that to investigate\nlight phenomena, the exclusion of other light is obviously requisite.\nHence the necessity for dark seances. The objection to a dark seance in\nitself can of course have no scientific basis. But a strong feeling\nagainst dark seances has arisen from the abuses to which they have led.\nIt is possible that the extent of the evil has been exaggerated, and has\nthus produced an exaggerated prejudice against darkness as a condition.\nIt is, however, safe to say, that, even if promiscuous seances are ever\nuseful or wise, a promiscuous dark seance should never be sanctioned by\nan earnest inquirer.\n\nOrthodox science has not yet condescended to bestow any attention on\n\"spirit lights.\" I had the privilege of private acquaintance with Dr.\nTyndall, and once acted as his assistant at some lectures he gave in a\ncountry place. I remember sending him a report of some rather remarkable\nmanifestations of light witnessed at a private seance in London, under\nfairly good test-conditions. Dr. Tyndall was at the time engaged in some\nspecial optical investigations, and I asked him to spend five minutes in\nreading the notes enclosed. Dr. Tyndall's reply, in his laconic, jocular\nstyle, was to this effect--\"I have spent five minutes as you desired,\nand it is a long time since I spent five minutes so badly!\"\n\nThe best series of \"light\" phenomena, both as regards their varied\ncharacter, and as regards the observers, and the care with which\nrecords at the time were made, occurred in the presence of Mr. W.\nStainton Moses. A special chapter is devoted to his general\nexperiences later on, but I will deal with the phenomena of lights\nhere, and make this the only illustration of this branch of the\nsubject. For the general credibility of the W. Stainton Moses\nphenomena the reader is referred to the opening paragraph of Chapter\nVI. The following pages are taken, by way of either extract or\nabstract, from two articles on Mr. W. Stainton Moses by Mr. F. W. H.\nMyers. They thus have the advantage of Mr. Myers' moral certificate,\nso to speak, as to their value. The articles were published in the\n_Proceedings_ of the Society for Psychical Research.[15]\n\nMr. Stainton Moses says that the first occasion on which large luminous\nappearances were seen at the circle consisting of Dr. and Mrs. Speer and\nhimself was on 7th June 1873. They had become familiar with floating\nmasses of luminous vapour; and on several occasions, the masses\ncondensed, so to speak, until a distinct objective light was formed. On\nthat evening, however, a number of cones of soft light similar to\nmoonlight appeared in succession. There was a nucleus of soft yellow\nlight surrounded by a haze. They sailed up from a corner of the room and\ngradually died out. They seem to have been carried in a materialised\nhand, a finger of which was shown at request, by placing it in front of\nthe nucleus of light.[16]\n\nSubsequently they saw another kind of light altogether. It was\napparently a little round disc of light which twinkled like a star. It\nflashed with great rapidity, and answered questions by the usual code of\nsignals. On about half-a-dozen occasions a bright scintillating light\napparently resting on the mantelshelf was seen. It was about the size of\na pigeon's egg, and looked like a large diamond lit up with strong\nlight.[17]\n\nMr. Stainton Moses gives a description of \"a most remarkable light, of\nquite a different kind from any that he had ever heard or read of.\" It\nappeared six times, diminishing in brilliancy on each occasion. Mr.\nStainton Moses says: \"The light was first observed directly behind us--a\ntall column about half an inch or rather more in width, and six or seven\nfeet high. The light was of a bright golden hue, and did not illuminate\nobjects in its neighbourhood. For a minute a cross developed at its top,\nand rays seemed to dart from it.\" Dr. Speer, who had been watching the\nstrange phenomenon with absorbing interest, asked permission to examine\nit more closely. Leave being given, he went to the light, put his face\nclose to it, and passed his hand through it. He detected no odour, and\nthe light did not disappear. No warmth came from it, nor did it\nperceptibly light up the room. It remained visible until the seance was\nconcluded.[18]\n\nThe following graphic description shall be given in Mr. Stainton Moses'\nown words:--\n\n\"The room, which had been filled (especially round me) with floating\nclouds of light, grew suddenly dark, and absolute stillness took the\nplace of the previous loud knockings. It would have been a strange scene\nfor an ear-witness. The table, isolated, with no human hand touching it,\ngiving forth a series of mysterious thuds of varying intensity, some of\nwhich might have been made with a muffled sledge-hammer, all indicating\nintelligence--an intelligence that showed itself by deliberation, or\neagerness, or stately solemnity according to the nature of the\ncommunication. Around the table three persons sitting with a hush of\nexpectation, and faces (if they could have been seen) of awe-stricken\nearnestness.... The room shrouded in darkness, except at one end, where\nshifting masses of luminous vapour now and again gathered into a pillar\nwhich dimly outlined a form, and again dispersed, and flitted round the\nhead of one of the sitters. No scene could be imagined more calculated\nto strike a novice with awe, none more solemn and impressive for those\nwho participated in it.\"[19]\n\nMr. W. Stainton Moses thus describes the formation of the lights at a\nsitting on 9th August 1873:--\n\n\"I witnessed the formation of some eight or nine very beautiful spirit\nlights. They formed quite close to me, and near my left hand, about a\nfoot from the floor, floating upwards till they reached the level of the\ntable and became visible to Dr. Speer. They were expressly made at my\nside, instead of, as usual, at my back, so that I might see them. They\nseemed to develop from a very bright speck, about the size of a pea,\nuntil they attained the size of a soda-water tumbler, and showed a soft\nluminosity like pale moonlight. They seemed to be covered with drapery\nand to be held by a hand. They faded slowly out, remaining visible about\nthirty or forty seconds, or perhaps a minute. The largest would be\nabout eight inches long.\"[20]\n\nOn 14th April 1874, Dr. Speer and Mr. Stainton Moses held a sitting by\nthemselves. Mr. Stainton Moses thus describes what happened:--\n\n\"To-night lights commenced again, but of a quite different character to\nany we had seen before. They darted about like a comet, coming from the\nside by the harmonium, or near the fireplace. They were evanescent, and\napparently of diffuse luminosity, within which was a nucleus of light,\nnot, however, visible to me. We had some ten or twelve of these, some\nmore brilliant than others, some visible both in the looking-glass and\nin the glass of the book-case, and they were showing a trail of\nreflected light on the table, when suddenly there arose from below me,\napparently under the table, or near the floor, right under my nose, a\ncloud of luminous smoke, just like phosphorus. It fumed up in great\nclouds, until I seemed to be on fire, and rushed from the room in a\npanic. I was fairly frightened, and could not tell what was happening. I\nrushed to the door and opened it, and so to the front door. My hands\nseemed to be ablaze, and left their impress on the doors and handles. It\nblazed for a while after I had touched it, but soon went out, and no\nsmell or trace remained. I have seen my own hands covered with a lambent\nflame; but nothing like this I ever saw.... The lights were preceded by\nvery sharp detonations on my chair, so that we could watch for their\ncoming by hearing the noise. They shot up very rapidly from the\nfloor.\"[21]\n\nThis sensational experience must conclude the evidence respecting the\nlights, for the present. One more selection has, however, been made,\nwhich is deferred to the special chapter on Mr. Stainton Moses'\nexperiences as a whole. The present chapter must be read in connection\nwith that chapter. It is admitted that the testimony quoted with regard\nto the Lights does not reach the level of scientific evidence. At the\nsame time, when due consideration is given to the existing contemporary\nrecords, and to the careful way in which Mr. Myers examined the whole\ncase, it is difficult to avoid the conviction that the Lights were\nobjective phenomena, not produced by any known physical cause. It is\nmuch to be regretted that efforts were not made to secure a critical\nstudy of the Lights by a competent scientific man.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[15] Vol. ix. pp. 245-352, and vol. xi. pp. 24-113.\n\n[16] See ibid., vol. ix. pp. 273-274.\n\n[17] See _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. p. 276.\n\n[18] See ibid., pp. 276-277.\n\n[19] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. p. 290.\n\n[20] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. p. 319.\n\n[21] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xi. pp. 44-45.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nPHYSICAL PHENOMENA ALLEGED TO HAVE OCCURRED IN THE PRESENCE OF DANIEL\nDUNGLAS HOME\n\n\nScientific evidence of the reality of the Physical Phenomena alleged to\nhave occurred in the presence of D. D. Home is scarcely to be looked for\nin the two volumes written by himself, nor even in the two volumes\npublished after his death by Madame Home. The alleged phenomena failed\nto attract the attention of more than a very few men of science during\nHome's lifetime. Of these the most eminent is Sir William Crookes,\nF.R.S. With regard to Sir William Crookes' evidence the reader is\nreferred to two paragraphs on page 124.\n\n\nTHE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE DIALECTICAL SOCIETY.\n\nAgain, the Report of the Committee of the Dialectical Society, or rather\nthe documents which accompany it, supplies some good evidence. Home had\nfour sittings with one of the Sub-Committees, but the phenomena were of\na trifling and inconclusive character. This was attributed to the state\nof Home's bodily health. He was on the eve of a severe illness. Several\npersons subsequently sent to the Committee statements of what they had\nseen and heard in Home's presence. The only one of these which can be\nsaid to possess scientific value is a report of a seance held with Lord\nLindsay--now the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres--and Mrs. Honywood, and\ntwo other persons. The report is as follows. It is written by Mrs.\nHonywood, and Lord Lindsay adds a few words, his own personal testimony.\n\n    \"I met Mr. Home at the house of a friend on the 17th March 1869.\n    We sat down, five in number, at a round table in the back\n    drawing-room. There was an oil lamp on a table in the front\n    drawing-room, and fires in both grates. After a while Mr. Home\n    became entranced, walked into the front room, and stood on the\n    hearth-rug. He began to dance slowly, raising first the one foot\n    and then the other, his hands hanging loosely as I have read of\n    Easterns and Indians, moving in time to music. He then knelt\n    down, rubbing and clasping his hands together in front of the\n    fire. I asked, 'Are you a fire worshipper?' He nodded and looked\n    pleased. 'Are you a Persian?' He smiled and nodded assent, after\n    which he rose and placed four chairs in a row near the folding\n    doors, signing to us to sit there. He now went to the table on\n    which stood the moderator lamp; taking off the globe, he placed\n    it on the table, and deliberately grasped the chimney of the\n    lamp with both hands; then, advancing to the lady of the house,\n    he asked her to touch it, but she refused, knowing it was hot.\n    Mr. Home said, 'Have you no faith? Will you not trust in Dan if\n    he says it is cool?' She replied, 'Certainly,' and placed her\n    finger on the glass, exclaiming, 'Oh, it is not at all hot!'\n    This was corroborated by Lord Lindsay and myself, who in turn\n    both laid our finger on the glass several times to test it. Mr.\n    Home laughed and said, 'I will make it hot for you, old fellow,'\n    and holding it towards Mr. ----, he turned, apparently\n    addressing some one, and said, in a sad tone of voice, 'It is\n    necessary to confirm the faith of others that the glass should\n    be made hot for him.' Mr. ---- now touched it, and exclaimed,\n    'You have indeed,' shaking his hand and showing me a red mark.\n    So hot was the glass when a fourth person touched it, that it\n    raised a blister, which I saw some days subsequently, peeling.\n    I leave it for the scientific to determine how the heat was\n    re-imparted to the glass, after being withdrawn.\n\n    \"Mr. Home now returned to the fireplace, and thrust the chimney\n    into the red-hot coals, resting the end on the top bar; he left\n    it there about four or five minutes, then, lifting it, he\n    clasped it in both hands, went to the table, took a lucifer\n    match from a box, and handing it to the lady of the house,\n    desired her to touch the glass--the match instantly ignited; and\n    having called our attention to this fact, he observed, 'The\n    tongue and lips are the most sensitive parts of the body,' and\n    thrust the heated glass into his mouth, applying, especially,\n    his tongue to it. He once more returned to the fire, and again\n    placed the chimney on the upper bar, the end of the glass\n    resting amidst the red coals. He left it there and walked about\n    the room, selected a small fern-leaf from a vase of flowers, and\n    raising the chimney, placed it within, and replaced the chimney\n    among the coals. After a few moments he told us to observe very\n    carefully, as the experiment would be very pretty. Mr. Home now\n    held up the glass, and we perceived the fern-leaf within\n    apparently on fire. He replaced it after a few seconds, and\n    holding it up again, exclaimed, 'Is it not pretty?' The fern\n    appeared red-hot; each little leaf edged with gold, yet\n    flameless, like clouds at sunset--rich glowing crimson tinged\n    with molten gold. After we had all looked at it and admired it,\n    he advanced to Mrs. ----, and laughingly shook it out on her\n    muslin dress. I expected to see it crumble away; but no, it was\n    still green, though dry and withered. Unfortunately it was not\n    preserved.\n\n    \"Again Mr. Home returned to the fire, and once more placed the\n    glass on the coals, where he left it, and walked about the room;\n    going to the lamp, he passed his hand slowly backwards and\n    forwards through the flame, not an inch from the wick; returning\n    to the fireplace, he lifted the chimney, and moving the coals\n    about with his hand, selected a small flat red-hot coal, and\n    placed it in the chimney--shook it up and down, and advancing to\n    us, playfully said, 'H----, here is a present for you,' and\n    threw out the coal on her muslin dress. Catching it up in\n    dismay, she tossed it to Lord Lindsay, who, unable to retain it\n    in his hand, threw it from palm to palm till he reached, the\n    grate and flung it in. While we were all looking at the muslin\n    dress and wondering that it was neither soiled nor singed, Mr.\n    Home approached, and in a hurt tone of voice said, 'No, no, you\n    will not find a mark; did you think that we would hurt your\n    dress.' Mr. Home then selected a small spray of white flower,\n    and going to the lamp, he passed it two or three times through\n    the flame, then carried it to the grate, and held it first in\n    the flame and then in the smoke above the coals, moving it\n    gently about. He now brought it back to us, asking us to look at\n    it and smell it, calling our attention to the fact that the\n    flower did not smell of smoke, and that it was unchanged by the\n    heat and flame of lamp and fire. He then bid us notice that his\n    hand which held the flower smelt of smoke, while the flower\n    remained uninjured. Then addressing us, he said, 'The spirit now\n    speaking through Dan, and that has enabled him to show you these\n    curious fire-tests, in which he hopes you have all felt\n    interested, is the spirit of an Asiatic fire-worshipper, who was\n    anxious to come here to-night, as he had heard of seances held\n    here. He now bids you farewell, as he will return no more.'\n\n        \"After this Mr. Home awoke.\n                                               \"BARBARA HONYWOOD.\"\n\n    \"I was present at this seance, and can corroborate the truth of\n    the above statement.\n\n                                         \"LINDSAY.\"[22]\n                             [NOW EARL OF CRAWFORD AND BALCARRES.]\n\n\nTESTIMONY OF THE EARL OF DUNRAVEN.\n\nLord Dunraven--then Lord Adare--had a number of sittings with Home. He\nprinted a small volume--for private circulation only--under the title of\n\"Experiences in Spiritualism with Mr. D. D. Home.\" This volume is\nexceedingly scarce.\n\n\nAN INQUIRY BY PROFESSOR W. F. BARRETT, F.R.S., AND MR. F. W. H. MYERS.\n\nIn the year 1889, Professor Barrett and Mr. Myers undertook an \"Inquiry\ninto the Evidence for the Mediumship of D. D. Home.\" They collected the\ntestimony of a large number of persons who were witnesses of the Home\nphenomena, carefully examined its evidential value, and summarised it in\na Joint Report. This was printed in the _Journal_ of the Society for\nPsychical Research for July 1889.[23] It is to be regretted that the\nSociety has not seen its way to publish this Report in a form accessible\nto the general public. It is true that in his great work, \"Human\nPersonality, and its Survival of Bodily Death,\" Mr. Myers gives a brief\nsummary of the Report; but he condenses the thirty-six pages of the\noriginal Report and its appendices into four pages of \"Human\nPersonality,\" which are quite insufficient to convey an adequate idea of\nthe Report itself. Also, the cost of Mr. Myers' book debars from it the\nmass of readers. This Report was followed up a little later by a brief\narticle by Mr. Myers, forming an important supplement.[24]\n\nIn the Report itself its joint authors say: \"We propose the\nquestion--Have Home's phenomena ever been plausibly explained as\nconjuring tricks, or in accordance with known laws of nature? And we\nanswer--No; they have not been so explained, nor can we so explain\nthem.\"[25] In commenting on the Joint Report, by Professor Barrett and\nhimself, Mr. Myers puts the problem as to Home in this form: \"There is\nthus a considerable body of evidence as to Home, which enables us to\ndiscuss the three questions: (1) Was he ever convicted of fraud? (2) Did\nhe satisfy any trained observer in a series of experiments selected by\nthe observer and not by himself? (3) Were the phenomena entirely beyond\nthe scope of the conjurer's art?\"[26]\n\nIn the Joint Report the writers say--(1) As to fraud: \"We have found no\nallegations of fraud on which we should be justified in laying much\nstress. Mr. Robert Browning has told to one of us the circumstances\nwhich mainly led to that opinion of Home which was expressed in 'Mr.\nSludge, the Medium,' It appears that a lady (since dead) repeated to Mr.\nBrowning a statement made to her by a lady and gentleman (since dead),\nas to their finding Home in the act of experimenting with phosphorus on\nthe production of 'spirit lights,' which, so far as Mr. Browning\nremembers, were to be rubbed round the walls of the room, near the\nceiling, so as to appear when the room was darkened. This piece of\nevidence powerfully impressed Mr. Browning; but it comes to us at\nthird-hand, without written record, and at a distance of nearly forty\nyears.\n\n\"We have received one other account from a gentleman of character and\nability, of a seance in very poor light, when the 'spirit-hand' moved in\nsuch a way as to seem dependent on the action of Home's arms and legs.\nThis account is subjoined [in the Report] as Appendix D. We may add that\nfew, if any, of the lights seen at Home's seances could (as they are\ndescribed to us) have been contrived by the aid of phosphorus.\n\n\"There is also a frequently repeated story that Home was found at the\nTuilleries (or at Compiegne, or at Biarritz) to be using a stuffed hand,\nand was consequently forbidden the Imperial Court. We have tried in\nFrance to get at the fountain-head of this story, but without\nsuccess.\"[27]\n\n(2) \"With regard to our second question--whether his powers were tested\nby competent observers\"--Mr. Myers says: \"Home in this respect stands\npre-eminent; since we have the evidence of Sir William Crookes,\ncorroborated by the testimony of the Master of Lindsay (now Earl of\nCrawford and Balcarres), himself a _savant_ of some distinction, and the\nprivately printed series of careful observations by the present and the\nlate Lords Dunraven.[28]\n\n(3) \"As to our third question--whether the phenomena could have been\nproduced by conjuring\"--Mr. Myers says: \"Many of them, especially the\nfire-tests, and the movements of large untouched objects in good light,\nseem inexplicable by this supposition. The hypothesis of collective\nhallucination on the part of the sitters seems very improbable, because,\nin most cases, all those present saw the same thing; and often without\nreceiving from Home any audible suggestion as to what was about to\nhappen.\"[29]\n\nIn the Joint Report by Professor Barrett and Mr. Myers, a considerable\nspace is devoted to a discussion as to conjuring being the explanation\nof the Home manifestations. It is dismissed as utterly inadequate. In\nconclusion, the authors of the Report say: \"And we find that experts in\nconjuring (several of whom we have consulted), however little they may\nbelieve in Home's pretensions, are disposed rather to reject wholesale\nthan to explain in detail the more remarkable records.\"[30]\n\nProfessor Barrett and Mr. Myers proceed to quote thirty-five cases of\nthe identification of alleged communicating spirits from Madame Home's\nbook, entitled \"D. D. Home, His Life and Mission.\" They remark, \"This\nlist of identifications is a long one, and quite unique in the history\nof Spiritualism.\"[31] After analysing this list of cases, they say near\nthe conclusion of their Report, as implying their final verdict: \"If our\nreaders ask us--'Do you advise us to go on experimenting in these\nmatters as though Home's phenomena were genuine?'--we answer, 'Yes.'\"[32]\nIn the supplementary article above referred to sixteen more cases of\nidentification are added to the thirty-five.\n\nIn Appendix E to the Report is given some striking testimony to the\nreality of the \"fire-test.\" The following letter from Mr. W. M.\nWilkinson, the well-known solicitor, is included:--\n\n    \"As you ask me to write to you of what occurred at our house at\n    Kilburn, where we were living in 1869, with reference to the\n    handling of red-hot coal, I will merely say that one Sunday\n    evening in the winter of that year, I saw Mr. Home take out of\n    our drawing-room fire a red-hot coal a little less in size than\n    a cricket ball, and carry it up and down the drawing-room. He\n    said to Lord Adare, now Lord Dunraven, who was present, 'Will\n    you take it from me? It will not hurt you.' Lord Adare took it\n    from him, and held it in his hand for about half a minute, and\n    before he threw it back in the fire I put my hand pretty close\n    to it, and felt the heat to be like that of a live coal.--Yours\n    very truly,                              W. M. WILKINSON.[33]\n\n         44 LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS,\n    LONDON, W.C., _February_ 7, 1869.\"\n\nAppendix M to the Report consists of some particulars verbally given to\nMr. Myers by Mrs. Honywood, of 52 Warwick Square, London, in further\nexplanation of her printed testimony to phenomena she had witnessed in\nHome's presence. She was well acquainted with him for twenty-five years,\nattended many seances, and took notes of them at the time. In the early\npart of this chapter, a statement she sent to the Dialectical Society\nhas already been quoted. She told Mr. Myers that most of her friends\nwere complete disbelievers in Spiritualism, and that they frequently\nrepeated to her rumours to the discredit of Home. But she never heard\nany first-hand account of any kind of trickery on his part. She\nconsidered him a man of open childlike nature, thoroughly honest and\ntruthful, and that in her opinion his utterances in the trance state\nwere much superior in thought and diction to his ordinary talk. She said\nshe should like to give Mr. Myers a few additional details with regard\nto the fire phenomena reported in Madame Home's book, \"D. D. Home, His\nLife and Mission,\" on her authority. Madame Home's secretary, she said,\nhad slightly abbreviated her words in a way which made the occurrences\nseem rather less wonderful than they actually were. Mr. Myers gives the\nfollowing, as having been signed \"BARBARA HONYWOOD, June 1889.\"\n\n\"As to the burning coal placed in my hand. I saw Mr. Home take this coal\nfrom the fire, moving his hands freely among the coals. It was about the\nsize of a coffee cup, blazing at the top, and red-hot at the bottom.\nWhile I held it in my hand the actual flame died down, but it continued\nto crackle, and to be partially red-hot. I felt it like an ordinary\nstone, neither hot nor cold. Mr. Home then pushed it off my hand with\none finger on to a double sheet of cartridge paper, which it at once set\non fire. I am quite certain that I was in my usual condition at the\ntime....\n\n\"As to the hot lamp-chimney which I touched. There was a row of four or\nfive persons sitting side by side, and Mr. Home asked us each in turn to\ntouch the glass. When I touched it, I felt as though a wave of heat were\nreceding before me....\n\n\"I have repeatedly taken Mr. Home in my own carriage to the houses of\nfriends of mine who were strangers to him, and have there seen the\nfurniture at once violently moved in rooms which I knew that he had\nnever entered till that moment. I have seen heavy furniture moved; for\ninstance, a heavy sofa in my own drawing-room, with myself upon it, and\na heavy centre table, moved several feet away from Home, and then back\nagain, in the light, while his hands and feet were visible. Not\nhorse-hairs, but ropes, would often have been necessary to pull the\nfurniture about as I have seen it pulled.\"[34]\n\nA brief reference must now be made to what is perhaps the most\nsensational alleged event in Home's mediumistic career, the one which is\nmost frequently spoken of by the general public, with more or less\nforcible expressions of scornful incredulity; his \"levitation\" out of\nthe window of a room at a great height from the ground, and in at a\nwindow of the next room on the same story. In the Report by Professor\nBarrett and Mr. Myers, no detailed account of this is given. The Report\nsays: \"Lords Lindsay and Adare had printed a statement that Home floated\nout of the window and in at another in Ashley Place (Victoria Street),\nS.W., 16th December 1868.\"[35] At a meeting of the Committee of the\nDialectical Society, held on 6th July 1869, a paper was read from Lord\nLindsay, describing some of his personal experiences with Home. This\npaper makes no reference to the above case of levitation. But at the\nsame meeting of the Committee, Lord Lindsay and others gave evidence as\nwitnesses, and Lord Lindsay thus described this particular case:--\n\n\"I saw the levitations in Victoria Street, when Home floated out of the\nwindow; he first went into a trance, and walked about uneasily; he then\nwent into the hall; while he was away, I heard a voice whisper in my\near, 'He will go out of one window and in at another.' I was alarmed and\nshocked at the idea of so dangerous an experiment. I told the company\nwhat I had heard, and we then waited for Home's return. Shortly after he\nentered the room, I heard the window go up, but I could not see it, for\nI sat with my back to it. I, however, saw his shadow on the opposite\nwall; he went out of the window in a horizontal position, and I saw him\noutside the other window (that in the next room) floating in the air. It\nwas eighty-five feet from the ground. There was no balcony along the\nwindows, merely a strong course an inch and a half wide; each window had\na small plant stand, but there was no connection between them. I have no\ntheory to explain these things. I have tried to find out how they are\ndone, but the more I studied them, the more satisfied was I that they\ncould not be explained by mere mechanical trick.\"[36]\n\nThere is one episode in the career of D. D. Home which, although it does\nnot affect the reality of the phenomena alleged to have taken place in\nhis presence, claims a brief mention. The gift to Home by Mrs. Lyon of a\nlarge sum of money, the subsequent lawsuit, and the judgment in\naccordance with which the money was returned to its original owner,\nexcited much attention at the time. Public opinion frequently takes up\nsensational occurrences in a most illogical and unscientific manner. But\na permanent effect may thus be produced, which is extremely difficult to\neradicate, even if shown to be unjustifiable. This episode with Mrs.\nLyon has probably had more effect than any other circumstance in causing\nthe feeling of aversion with which large numbers of people regard Home\nand all his doings. He is looked upon, and spoken of, as if he were an\nunprincipled adventurer, convicted of fraud, and of obtaining money\nunder false pretences.\n\nThe remarks at the end of this chapter are based mainly upon Appendix\nIII. to the Report by Professor Barrett and Mr. Myers, and which deals\nwith the case of Lyon _v._ Home.[37] The Appendix commences thus: \"Our\ncolleague, Mr. H. Arthur Smith [barrister-at-law], author of 'Principles\nof Equity,' has kindly furnished us with the following review of the\ncase of Lyon _v._ Home.\" The following are a few extracts from this\nreview:--\n\n    \"I have looked carefully into the case of Lyon _v._ Home as\n    reported in the Law Reports (6 Equity, 655), ... and perhaps the\n    following comments may be useful to you.\n\n    \"It is certainly the fact that the judge discredited the\n    evidence of Mrs. Lyon. He said: 'Reliance cannot be placed on\n    her testimony.... It would be unjust to found on it a decree\n    against any man, save in so far as what she has sworn to may be\n    corroborated by written documents, or unimpeached witnesses, or\n    incontrovertible facts.'\n\n    \"Having, then, eventually decided against Home, it follows that\n    the judge must have considered that her evidence was\n    corroborated in some or other of the ways mentioned.\"\n\nMr. H. Arthur Smith further says: \"There was also an admitted letter\nfrom Mrs. Lyon to Home, in which she stated that she presented him with\nthe L24,000 as an '_entirely free gift_.' This, she said, was written by\nher at Home's dictation, under magnetic influence.\"\n\nMr. H. Arthur Smith proceeds to discuss the \"corroborative evidence\nwhich led to the judge's final opinion.\" He then remarks:--\n\n    \"Now it must, I think, be admitted that considering the\n    extraordinary character of Mrs. Lyon's conduct, and the\n    swiftness with which she reached her decision to transfer her\n    property to Home, such evidence as the above may reasonably be\n    deemed corroborative of her assertion that she was induced to\n    act as she did by the effects of Home's spiritualistic\n    pretensions.... There was sufficient ... in my opinion, to\n    establish the plaintiff's case. It is not then true that 'Home\n    was made to restore the money, because, being a professed\n    medium, it was likely that he should have induced her in the way\n    he did.' The Court held the law to be that such transactions as\n    those in question cannot be upheld, 'unless the Court is quite\n    satisfied that they are acts of pure volition uninfluenced.' ...\n    There was evidence of considerable weight, that as a matter of\n    fact ... Home did work on the mind of Mrs. Lyon by means of\n    spiritualistic devices, and further that he did so by suggesting\n    communications from her deceased husband. Whether this is to\n    Home's discredit or not of course will be decided according to\n    one's belief in Spiritualism and the reality of her husband's\n    interference....\n                                                  H. ARTHUR SMITH.\n    1 NEW SQUARE, LINCOLN'S INN,\n        _October_ 19, 1888.\"\n\nIn order that this episode should have its rightful effect, and no more,\nit is needful that several things should be borne in mind. In the first\nplace, the action was in a Court of Equity. It was not a prosecution in\na Criminal Court. The decision of the Court was not a verdict of guilty\nagainst a prisoner, to be followed by punishment for wrong-doing, but an\norder to refund certain money. In ordinary circumstances a judgment of\nthis kind does not brand a man with infamy, nor affect his character and\nposition in the eyes of society. Again, after the judgment of the Court,\nHome promptly repaid the money. He had not appropriated or expended any\npart of it. What more could he have done?\n\nMr. Myers' remark in \"Human Personality\"--\"The most serious blot on\nHome's character was that revealed by the Lyon case\"[38]--seems,\ntherefore, rather severe under the circumstances. Especially as Mr.\nMyers has expressed himself so strongly in favour of the reality of the\nHome phenomena, and has said, in conjunction with Professor Barrett,\nthat they found no allegations of fraud on which they were justified in\nlaying much stress. Much more to the purpose is Mr. H. Arthur Smith's\ncomment: \"Whether this is to Home's discredit or not of course will be\ndecided according to one's belief in Spiritualism and the reality of her\nhusband's interference.\"\n\nHad this Report of Professor Barrett's and Mr. Myers', with its\nAppendices, been placed before the public, it might have mitigated the\nprejudice which hangs about the name of D. D. Home in the minds of so\nmany. The unique position which Home occupies in regard to the Physical\nPhenomena of Spiritualism seems a sufficient reason for dwelling\nsomewhat fully on this episode as it affects his character as a man.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[22] Report of the Committee of the London Dialectical Society, pp.\n360-363.\n\n[23] Vol. iv. pp. 101-136.\n\n[24] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. iv. pp. 249-252.\n\n[25] Ibid., p. 115.\n\n[26] \"Human Personality,\" vol. ii. p. 579.\n\n[27] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. iv. p. 102.\n\n[28] \"Human Personality,\" vol. ii. pp. 580-581.\n\n[29] Ibid., p. 581.\n\n[30] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. iv. p. 107.\n\n[31] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. iv. p. 114.\n\n[32] Ibid., p. 115.\n\n[33] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. iv. p. 122.\n\n[34] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. iv. pp. 135-136.\n\n[35] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. iv. p. 108.\n\n[36] Report of the Committee of the Dialectical Society, p. 214.\n\n[37] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. iv. pp. 117-119.\n\n[38] \"Human Personality,\" vol. ii. p. 580.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nPHYSICAL PHENOMENA ALLEGED TO HAVE OCCURRED IN THE PRESENCE OF WILLIAM\nSTAINTON MOSES\n\n\nIt is mainly due to the labours of Mr. F. W. H. Myers, after Mr.\nStainton Moses' death, that the Physical Phenomena alleged to have\noccurred in his presence can be included among those for which evidence\nof a scientific character is claimed. It is much to be regretted that,\nduring Mr. Stainton Moses' lifetime, although phenomena of a very varied\ncharacter were alleged to have occurred with great frequency during many\nyears, no scientific man of eminence appears to have joined in the\nseances, except on one or two occasions. Perhaps the primary reason for\nthis was that Mr. Stainton Moses' own attitude of mind towards the\nsubject did not court critical and scientific investigation of the\nphenomena. But even during the last ten years of his life, subsequent to\nthe formation of the Society for Psychical Research, of which he was an\noriginal member, and not only that, but for nearly five years a\nVice-President and a member of the Council, so far as I know, no\nsittings were held with him on behalf of the Society, and no first-hand\nauthentic records of the alleged phenomena in earlier years were placed\nbefore it. One reason for this probably was that the Council of the\nSociety informally adopted a sort of understanding that its earlier\ninvestigations should not be directed towards \"Spiritualism,\" but mainly\ntowards those branches of the great subject which were, so to speak,\njust outside the field of recognised scientific inquiry--such, for\ninstance, as Thought-Transference and Hypnotism. In this course there\nwas doubtless a certain amount of wisdom, but to it was due the apathy\nand the ultimate secession of a few members who took great interest in\nthe formation of the Society. Chief among these was W. Stainton Moses\nhimself. In November 1886 he withdrew from the Society, considering that\nthe evidence of phenomena of the genuine character of which he had\nsatisfied himself beyond doubt, was not being properly entertained or\nfairly treated.\n\nMr. W. Stainton Moses entrusted by will his unpublished MSS. to two\nfriends as literary executors, Mr. Charles C. Massey and Mr. Alaric A.\nWatts. At the earnest request of Mr. Myers, these gentlemen permitted\nhim to see a large number of them. Thirty-one note-books were placed in\nhis hands. Permission was further given to Mr. Myers to make selections\nfrom these note-books for publication in the _Proceedings_ of the\nSociety. These selections form the substance of two long articles.[39]\nThe thirty-one books comprise twenty-four of Automatic Writing, four\nRecords of Physical Phenomena, and three of retrospect and summary. Two\nof these recapitulate physical phenomena, with reflections.\n\nMr. Stainton Moses' most intimate friends were Dr. and Mrs. Stanhope T.\nSpeer. They, with the occasional attendance of another intimate friend,\nMr. F. W. Percival, barrister-at-law, and Examiner in the Education\nDepartment, were generally the only members of the small group who\nwitnessed the phenomena. Mr. Stainton Moses' note-books had been kept\nextremely private. It seems probable that no one had seen them until\nthey were placed in Mr. Myers' hands. Two note-books and other MSS. by\nDr. Speer were also handed to Mr. Myers, which he says contained\nindependent contemporary records of much evidential value. With regard\nto Dr. and Mrs. Speer, Mr. Myers says: \"Their importance as witnesses of\nthe phenomena is so great, that I must be pardoned for inserting a\n'testimonial' to the late Dr. Speer (M.D., Edinburgh), which shall not,\nhowever, be in my own words, but in those of Dr. Marshall Hall, F.R.S.,\none of the best-known physicians of the middle of this century. Writing\non 18th March 1849, Dr. Marshall Hall says (in a printed collection of\nsimilar testimonials now before me): 'I have great satisfaction in\nbearing my testimony to the talents and acquirements of Dr. Stanhope\nTempleman Speer. Dr. Speer has had unusual advantages in having been at\nthe medical schools, not only of London and Edinburgh, but of Paris and\nMontpellier, and he has availed himself of these advantages with\nextraordinary diligence and talent. He ranks among our most\ndistinguished rising physicians,'\"[40] Dr. Speer practised as a\nphysician at Cheltenham and in London, and at different times held\nvarious important hospital posts. He had scientific and artistic tastes,\nand being possessed of private means, he quitted professional work at\nthe age of thirty-four, and spent his subsequent life in studious\nretirement. Mr. Myers says that his \"cast of mind was strongly\nmaterialistic, and it is remarkable that his interest in Mr. Moses'\nphenomena was from first to last of a purely scientific, as contrasted\nwith an emotional or religious nature.\"[41] Mrs. Stanhope Speer also kept\ncareful records of the sittings. Over sixty instalments were published\nin the weekly journal, _Light_, under the title of \"Records of Private\nSeances, from Notes taken at the time of each Sitting.\"\n\nMr. Stainton Moses was born in Lincolnshire in 1839. He studied at\nOxford, and was ordained as a clergyman of the Church of England. After\na few years of active life as a parish clergyman, he was offered a\nMastership in University College School, London, which post he held\nuntil about three years before his death, which took place in 1892. As\nto the \"fundamental questions of sanity and probity,\" Mr. Myers says:\n\"Neither I myself, nor, so far as I know, any person acquainted with Mr.\nMoses, has ever entertained any doubt.\"[42] Mr. Charles C. Massey says:\n\"However perplexed for an explanation, the crassest prejudice has\nrecoiled from ever suggesting a doubt of the truth and honesty of\nStainton Moses.\"[43] Mr. H. J. Hood, barrister-at-law, who knew him for\nmany years, writes: \"I believe that he was wholly incapable of\ndeceit.\"[44] The principal published works of Mr. Stainton Moses\nare--\"Researches in Spiritualism,\" issued in _Human Nature_, a\nperiodical now extinct; \"Spirit Identity\" (1879), recently republished;\n\"Spirit Teachings\" (1883), of which a new edition has lately appeared\nwith a biography by Mr. Charles Speer (son of Dr. S. T. Speer). Mr.\nStainton Moses was also Editor of _Light_ during its earlier years.\n\nIt has seemed important, in view of what is to follow, that the reader\nshould be in possession of this somewhat explicit account of Mr.\nStainton Moses, his life, his work, and his intimate friends.\n\nHaving briefly treated of these external matters in the first of his two\narticles in the _Proceedings of the S.P.R._, Mr. Myers goes on to say:--\n\n\"But now our narrative must pass at a bound from the commonplace and the\ncredible to bewildering and inconceivable things. With the even tenour\nof this straightforward and reputable life was inwoven a chain of\nmysteries which, as I have before said, in whatever way soever they be\nexplained, make that life one of the most extraordinary which our\ncentury has seen. For Stainton Moses' true history lies, not in the\neveryday events thus far recorded, but in that series of physical\nmanifestations which began in 1872, and lasted for some eight years, and\nthat series of automatic writings and trance-utterances which began in\n1873, received a record for some ten years, and did not, as is\nbelieved, cease altogether until the earthly end was near.\"[45]\n\n\nTHE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA.\n\nThis inquiry concerns physical phenomena only. The wealth of material to\nselect from is enormous. It is proposed to give one or two examples of\neach of the important classes of physical phenomena. In doing so such\nexamples only will be quoted as have been selected by Mr. Myers to\ninclude in his articles in the _Proceedings of the S.P.R._ The reader\nwill therefore know that the following records have been under Mr.\nMyers' scrutiny, and have been considered by him as of evidential value.\nThis will also simplify references, as it will be needful to refer only\nto Mr. Myers' articles which are easily accessible, and not to the\noriginal sources.\n\n\nMOVEMENTS WITHOUT CONTACT.\n\nAfter recording some movements of a table, Mr. Stainton Moses says: \"All\nthat I have described occurs readily when the table is untouched.\nIndeed, when the force is developed, we have found it better to remove\nthe hands and leave the table to its own devices. The tilting above\nnoticed has been even more marked when the sitters have been removed\nfrom it to a distance of about two feet. It has rapped on the chair and\non the floor, inclined so as to play into a hand placed on the carpet,\nand has been restored to its normal position when no hand has touched\nit. The actual force required to perform this would be represented by\nvery considerable muscular exertion in a man of ordinary strength.\"[46]\n\nThe following account, besides being a record of physical phenomenon, is\na curious illustration of the result of not following alleged\ninstructions. Mr. Stainton Moses writes:--\n\n\"We had ventured on one occasion, contrary to direction, to add to our\ncircle a strange member. Some trivial phenomena occurred, but the usual\ncontrolling spirit did not appear. When next we sat he came; and\nprobably none of us will easily forget the sledge-hammer blows with\nwhich he smote the table. The noise was distinctly audible in the room\nbelow, and gave one the idea that the table would be broken to pieces.\nIn vain we withdrew from the table, hoping to diminish the power. The\nheavy blows increased in intensity, and the whole room shook with their\nforce. The direst penalties were threatened if we again interfered with\nthe development by bringing in new sitters. We have not ventured to do\nso again; and I do not think we shall easily be persuaded to risk\nanother similar objurgation.\"[47]\n\nThe following account of some impromptu occurrences is written by Mr.\nSerjeant Cox, and is quoted by Mr. Myers from the second volume of\nSerjeant Cox's work, \"What am I?\" The scene was also orally described to\nMr. Myers by Serjeant Cox, who, as Mr. Myers remarks, was not himself a\n\"Spiritualist,\" but ascribed these and similar phenomena to a power\ninnate in the medium's own being.\n\n\"On Tuesday, 2nd June 1873, a personal friend [Mr. Stainton Moses] came\nto my residence in Russell Square to dress for a dinner party to which\nwe were invited. He had previously exhibited considerable power as a\nPsychic. Having half an hour to spare, we went into the dining-room. It\nwas just six o'clock, and of course broad daylight. I was opening\nletters; he was reading the _Times_. My dining-table is of mahogany,\nvery heavy, old-fashioned, six feet wide, nine feet long. It stands on a\nTurkey carpet, which much increases the difficulty of moving it. A\nsubsequent trial showed that the united efforts of two strong men\nstanding were required to move it one inch. There was no cloth upon it,\nand the light fell full under it. No person was in the room but my\nfriend and myself. Suddenly, as we were sitting thus, frequent and loud\nrappings came upon the table. My friend was then sitting holding the\nnewspaper with both hands, one arm resting on the table, the other on\nthe back of a chair, and turned sideways from the table, so that his\nlegs and feet were not under the table, but at the side of it. Presently\nthe solid table quivered as with an ague fit. Then it swayed to and fro\nso violently as almost to dislocate the big pillar-like legs, of which\nthere are eight. Then it moved forward about three inches. I looked\nunder it to be sure it was not touched; but still it moved, and still\nthe blows were loud upon it.\n\n\"This sudden access of the Force at such a time, and in such a place,\nwith none present but myself and my friend, and with no thought then of\ninvoking it, caused the utmost astonishment in both of us. My friend\nsaid that nothing like it had ever before occurred to him. I then\nsuggested that it would be an invaluable opportunity, with so great a\npower in action, to make trial of _motion without contact_, the presence\nof two persons only, the daylight, the place, the size and weight of the\ntable, making the experiment a crucial one. Accordingly we stood\nupright, he on one side of the table, I on the other side of it. We\nstood two feet from it, and held our hands eight inches above it. In one\nminute it rocked violently. Then it moved over the carpet a distance of\nseven inches. Then it rose three inches from the floor on the side on\nwhich my friend was standing. Then it rose equally on my side. Finally\nmy friend held his hands four inches over the end of the table, and\nasked that it would rise and touch his hand three times. It did so; and\nthen in accordance with the like request, it rose to my hand held at the\nother end to the same height above it and in the same manner.\"[48]\n\nLEVITATION.--The wonderful phenomenon of levitation must be included in\nthe category of \"movements without contact\"! Some of Mr. Stainton Moses'\nexperiences of this kind are much more explicitly and circumstantially\ndescribed than those alleged to have occurred with D. D. Home. Mr.\nStainton Moses gives the following account of his first personal\nexperience of this nature:--\n\n\"My first personal experience of levitation was about five months after\nmy introduction to spiritualism. Physical phenomena of a very powerful\ndescription had been developed with great rapidity. We were new to the\nsubject, and the phenomena were most interesting.... One day (30th\nAugust 1872) ... I felt my chair drawn back from the table and turned\ninto the corner near which I sat. It was so placed that my face was\nturned away from the circle to the angle made by the two walls. In this\nposition the chair was raised from the floor to a distance of, I should\njudge, twelve or fourteen inches. My feet touched the top of the\nskirting-board, which would be about twelve inches in height. The chair\nremained suspended for a few moments, and I then felt myself going from\nit, higher and higher, with a very slow and easy movement. I had no\nsense of discomfort nor of apprehension. I was perfectly conscious of\nwhat was being done, and described the process to those who were sitting\nat the table. The movement was very steady, and occupied what seemed a\nlong time before it was completed. I was close to the wall, so close\nthat I was able to put a pencil firmly against my chest, and to mark the\nspot opposite to me on the wall-paper. That mark when measured\nafterwards was found to be rather more than six feet from the floor,\nand, from its position, it was clear that my head must have been in the\nvery corner of the room, close to the ceiling. I do not think that I was\nin any way entranced. I was perfectly clear in my mind, quite alive to\nwhat was being done, and fully conscious of the curious phenomenon. I\nfelt no pressure on any part of my body, only a sensation as of being in\na lift, whilst objects seemed to be passing away from below me. I\nremember a slight difficulty in breathing, and a sensation of fulness in\nthe chest, with a general feeling of being lighter than the atmosphere.\nI was lowered down quite gently, and placed in the chair, which had\nsettled in its old position. The measurements and observations were\ntaken immediately, and the marks which I had made with my pencil were\nnoted. My voice was said at the time to sound as if from the corner of\nthe room, close to the ceiling.\"[49]\n\nMr. Stainton Moses says that this experience was repeated, with\nvariations, on nine other occasions. Once he suddenly found himself on\nthe table--his chair being unmoved. This, \"under ordinary\ncircumstances,\" he says, \"is what we call impossible.\" On another\noccasion he was placed on the table standing. But he discouraged these\nphenomena of levitation as much as possible, from a dislike to violent\nphysical manifestations.\n\nMOVEMENT OF OBJECTS IN A CLOSED ROOM, NO ONE BEING PRESENT.--I am not\naware of any other well-attested instances of a curious phenomenon\nstated to have occurred when Mr. Stainton Moses was near but not\npresent. He thus describes the \"first startling manifestation\" of this\nkind. It was on Sunday, 18th August 1872. Simple phenomena of raps and\nmovements of the table commenced at breakfast-time. Mr. Stainton Moses\nwent to church with his friend. On entering his bedroom afterwards, his\nattention was drawn by loud rappings which followed him round the room,\nto three articles so placed on the bed as to form an imperfect cross.\nWhile he was in the room another article was added. He called his friend\nwhose guest he was. To avoid the possibility of children or servants\nplaying tricks, in case anything more happened, they well searched the\nroom--it contained no cupboard--bolted the window, locked the door on\nleaving, and the host put the key in his pocket. After lunch two more\narticles were found to be added. Another visit discovered other\nadditions. This went on till 5 P.M., \"when a complete cross extending\nthe whole length of the bed was made entirely of little articles from\nthe toilet-table.\" The position of the room, and the whole\ncircumstances, convinced Mr. Stainton Moses and Dr. and Mrs. Speer, with\nwhom he was staying, beyond any doubt that human intervention was\nimpossible. A very detailed account of this incident exists in the\nhandwriting of Dr. Speer.[50]\n\nTHE CARRYING OF OBJECTS INTO A LOCKED ROOM, AND THE PASSAGE OF SOLID\nOBJECTS THROUGH MATERIAL OBSTACLES.--During the two or three weeks\nsubsequent to the above, over fifty instances occurred in which objects\nfrom different parts of the house were placed upon the table round which\nMr. Stainton Moses and Dr. and Mrs. Speer were sitting in a locked dark\nroom. The gas was always left burning brightly in the adjoining\ndining-room, and in the hall outside, so that if either of the doors had\nbeen opened, even for a moment, a blaze of light would have been let\ninto the room in which they sat. Mr. Stainton Moses remarks--\"As this\nnever happened, we have full assurance from what Dr. Carpenter considers\nthe best authority, common sense, that the doors remained closed.\" On\none occasion a small edition of \"Paradise Lost\" was placed on the\ntable, and at the same time the words \"to convince\" were spelt out by\nraps. This little book had been in the hands of all of them during the\nevening, and they could testify to the position on a bookshelf where it\nhad been left. One evening seven objects in different rooms were brought\nin; among them a little bell from the dining-room. They heard it begin\nto ring, the sound approached the door, they were astonished soon to\nhear the sound in the room where they sat, round which the bell was\ncarried, close to the faces of all, and finally placed on the table,\nhaving been ringing loudly all the time. A curious incident occurred at\na later date, the circle of three sitting alone. A small Parian\nstatuette from an upper room was placed upon the table. One of the party\nrequested that a friend who usually communicates might be fetched. \"We\nare doing so\" was spelt out by raps. This was taken to be the complete\nanswer, and they ceased to call over the alphabet. However, the alphabet\nwas called for again, and \"mething else\" was spelt out. No idea could be\nformed as to the meaning of this. At request it was exactly repeated.\nAfter much puzzling it occurred to one of the party to join it on to the\nprevious message--when the meaning became apparent. Mr. Stainton Moses\nsarcastically remarks--\"What a clear case of 'unconscious cerebration'\"!\n\"Very soon an odour like Tonquin bean was apparent to all of us.\nSomething fell on the table, and light showed that a snuff-box which had\ncontained Tonquin bean had been brought from Dr. Speer's dressing-room.\nThe box was closed, and the odour was remarked before any of us had the\nremotest idea that the box was in the room.\"[51]\n\n\nPERFUMES AND WAVES OF SCENT-LADEN AIR.\n\nThis phase of the phenomena must be passed rapidly over, though\nmanifested to a much greater extent and in greater variety in Mr.\nStainton Moses' case than in any other with which I am acquainted. In\nhis circle music and singing were never introduced as a means of\nharmonising the conditions. Mr. Stainton Moses says: \"In our circle this\nharmonising is effected by means of perfumes and waves of cool-scented\nair.\" \"If a new sitter is present, he or she is censed (if I may adopt\nthe expression), and so initiated.\" \"If a new intelligence is to\ncommunicate, or special honour to be paid to a chief, the room is\npervaded by perfumes which grow stronger as the spirit enters.\"\nSometimes the scent was in a liquid form, and apparently sprinkled down\nfrom the ceiling. Sometimes dry musk was thrown about in considerable\nquantities. A striking instance is given in the form of a statement from\nMr. F. W. Percival, mentioned at the commencement of this article--a\nvery occasional sitter. He says: \"In compliance with your request, I\nwill describe as briefly as possible what occurred at the dark seance\nheld on the evening of 18th March 1874, when scent was produced so\nabundantly in the presence of Mrs. Speer and myself, while you [Mr. S.\nM.] were in a state of trance. The controlling spirit began by speaking\nthrough you at some length, and we were told to expect unusual\nmanifestations. They commenced with a strongly scented breeze, which\npassed softly round the circle, its course being marked by a pale light.\nIn a few minutes it suddenly changed, and blew upon us with considerable\nforce, as if a pair of bellows had been employed, and the temperature of\nthe room was perceptibly lowered. After this liquid scent was sprinkled\nupon us several times; it appeared to come from the top of the room, and\nfell upon us in small drops. Finally we were told that a new\nmanifestation would be attempted, and that we were to prepare for it by\njoining hands and holding the palms upwards. In this position we waited\nfor two or three minutes, and then I felt a stream of liquid scent\npoured out, as it were from the spout of a teapot, which fell on one\nside of my left hand, and ran down upon the table. The same was done for\nMrs. Speer; and to judge from our impressions at the time, and from the\nstains on the table, a very considerable quantity must have been\nproduced. I may remark in conclusion that there was no scent in the room\nbefore the seance, and that we could distinguish several different\nperfumes which made the atmosphere so oppressive that we were glad to\nseek a purer air so soon as the seance came to an end.\"[52]\n\n\nLIGHTS WITHOUT APPARENT PHYSICAL CAUSE.\n\nThe phenomenon of Light without any apparent physical cause was a\nfrequent one with Mr. Stainton Moses, and the manifestations were of a\nvery varied character. Several of these were described in Chapter IV.\n\nAn account is now given of some remarkable phenomena which occurred at\nfour consecutive seances on the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th of August\n1873. Mr. Stainton Moses was on a holiday excursion with Dr. and Mrs.\nSpeer in the North of Ireland. The days were spent in orthodox holiday\nfashion. The following is condensed from notes written in detail at the\ntime by Dr. Speer:--\n\nOn the 10th of August, after some other phenomena had occurred, a large\nglobe of light rose opposite to me, sailed up to the level of our faces,\nand then vanished. Several more followed. By request one was placed in\nthe centre of the table. It was surrounded with drapery. A light came\nand stood on the table close to me. \"Now I will show you my hand\" was\nrapped out. A large very bright light then came up, and inside of it\nappeared the materialised hand of the spirit. The fingers moved about\nclose to my face; the appearance was as distinct as can be conceived. I\nwas told to write an exact account of what had been done. The next\nevening I placed the account I had written and a pencil on the table,\nand asked that the light might be brought down upon it. This was done. I\nthen asked that if possible the spirit would append his signature. The\nspirit said he would try. After other lights had been produced, the hand\nappeared outside the drapery, I heard the pencil moving, and repeating\nhis instruction of the previous evening, he departed, leaving on the\npaper a specimen of direct spirit caligraphy. On these two evenings no\nother sitter was present but myself.[53]\n\n\nDIRECT WRITING.\n\nAs has already been remarked, the wealth of material is so great that\nselection is a matter of difficulty. There is much more I should like to\nhave included in this chapter, but it must be drawn to a close with a\nbrief detailed account of a case of \"Direct Writing.\" There is perhaps\nno phenomenon more incredible to the \"beginner\" in these studies, than\nthat legible and intelligent writing should be produced without human\nagency, and yet there seems no other way of explaining the facts. The\nfollowing is an account, by Mr. Stainton Moses himself, of a seance held\non 19th September 1872, the last held before a break in the series\nduring the autumn of that year. \"Imperator\" had recently announced\nhimself as the leading guide or director of the phenomena.\n\n[Illustration: Facsimile reduced from original. The paper was blue, with\nfaint blue lines. The corner at the top right hand was torn off for\nidentification of the paper.]\n\n\"We darkened the seance room, leaving the gas burning brightly in the\nadjoining dining-room. Dr. and Mrs. Speer and I sat at the table. On the\nfloor under the table we put a piece of ruled paper and a pencil. A\ncorner of the paper I tore off, and handed it to Dr. Speer to identify\nthe sheet of paper if necessary. Various raps, some objects brought in,\nand a noise rather like sawing wood. When light was called for, Mrs.\nSpeer stooped down and picked up the paper. The upper surface was blank.\nHer endorsement on the back of the paper, afterwards written, reads: 'I\ntook the paper from under the table with the writing downwards,' _i.e._\non the surface touching the carpet. Dr. Speer and I wrote and signed\nthis endorsement: 'The above corner was torn by me (S. M.) before the\nlight was put out, and was given to Dr. S.' I (S. M.) afterwards put the\ntwo pieces together. They fit exactly, and are secured by a couple of\nhalfpenny stamps, with the initials of Dr. S. and myself upon them. The\nmessage follows the rules exactly. A facsimile is appended, omitting\nonly the initials of a deceased friend. It will be noticed that the\nwriting is clearly and laboriously executed on the ruled lines. In no\ncase are the lines deserted. I fancy the message is written backwards.\nImperator's signature is of his usual decided type, very like what is\nautomatically written by my hand. I suspect that the message was written\nby two hands.\"[54]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[39] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. pp. 245-352, and vol. xi. pp.\n24-113. Reference should also be made to an obituary notice of Mr.\nStainton Moses by Mr. Myers, in _Proceedings_, vol. viii. pp. 597-601.\n\n[40] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. pp. 247-248.\n\n[41] Ibid., p. 248.\n\n[42] Ibid., p. 247.\n\n[43] Ibid., p. 247.\n\n[44] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. p. 247.\n\n[45] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. p. 252.\n\n[46] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. p. 259.\n\n[47] Ibid.\n\n[48] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. pp. 259-260.\n\n[49] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. p. 261.\n\n[50] See _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. pp. 263-266.\n\n[51] See _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. pp. 266-267.\n\n[52] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. pp. 267-273.\n\n[53] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. pp. 274-276.\n\n[54] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. pp. 284-286.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\n\"THE DIVINING ROD\"\n\n\nThe reality or otherwise of the pretensions of the \"Divining Rod\" come\nlegitimately within the scope of the present inquiry. The physical\nresults which, it is alleged, follow the use of the \"Divining\" or\n\"Dowsing\" Rod in certain hands are unexplained by recognised physical\nscience. The main fact of the success of the Rod, as a means of finding\nwater where all ordinary methods have failed, is, however, so widely\nacknowledged among intelligent persons, including many business men,\nthat it will be unnecessary to devote much space to this chapter. I\nshall not do more than briefly refer to the scientific inquiry into the\nwhole subject which has been made in recent years, and quote a few cases\nwhere success has attended the use of the Rod after other means had\nfailed.\n\nHere again we are mainly indebted to a member of the Society for\nPsychical Research for what has been done. In the early days of the\nSociety, two or three members, especially the late Mr. E. Vaughan\nJenkins, of Oxford, had assiduously collected the best testimony they\ncould obtain as to the successful use of the Rod. This was placed at the\ndisposal of the Society in 1884, and was amply sufficient to show that a\nstrong _prima facie_ case for fuller investigation existed.[55] In 1891,\nat the request of the Council of the Society, Professor W. F. Barrett,\nF.R.S., of Dublin, undertook to submit the whole subject to a thorough\nscientific and experimental research. The results of Professor Barrett's\nindefatigable industry over a number of years are embodied in two\nlengthy Reports, published in the _Proceedings_ of the Society.[56] The\nfollowing cases are quoted from Professor Barrett's records as examples\nof the work of different professional \"dowsers.\"\n\nI. Mr. B. Tompkins, of Pipsmore Farm, Chippenham, Wilts, was the\n\"diviner\" in this case. Prior to 1890, Mr. Tompkins was a tenant farmer.\nHaving been at some expense in endeavouring to obtain a good supply of\nwater for his cattle, without success, he sent for Mr. Mullins, who came\nand found a spot where he said a plentiful supply of water existed at a\ndepth of less than 30 feet. A well was sunk, and at 15 feet deep a\nstrong spring was tapped which has yielded an unfailing supply ever\nsince. Mr. Tompkins finding that the forked twig moved in his own hands,\ntried some experiments on his own account which proved successful. He\nwas then asked by Messrs. Smith and Marshall, of Chippenham, agents to\nthe late Lord Methuen, to try and find a spring on Lord Methuen's\nestate, as a well already sunk had proved useless. After a long search\nthe rod moved at a certain spot on a hillside where Mr. Tompkins\npredicted a good supply of water would be found. Nine feet of solid rock\nhad to be blasted, but at 18 feet a spring was struck which rose 9 or 10\nfeet in the well. Messrs. Smith and Marshall subsequently wrote thus to\nMr. Tompkins:--\n\n        \"CHIPPENHAM, WILTS, and\n            7 WHITEHALL PLACE, LONDON,\n                _November_ 24, 1891.\n\n    \"The decision you arrived at was perfectly correct, and it is\n    our opinion that if we had made the well 6 feet either way to\n    the right or left of the spot you marked, we should have missed\n    the water, which is now abundant.         SMITH AND MARSHALL.\"\n\nThis is by way of introduction to case 99 in Professor Barrett's Report.\n\n\"No. 99. Mr. Charles Maggs, who is a Wiltshire county magistrate, and\nproprietor of the Melksham Dairy Company, required a large supply of\npure water for his butter factory, and, after ineffectual attempts to\nobtain it, wrote to Mr. Tompkins to come over and try the divining rod.\nThis was done, and subsequently Mr. Maggs writes to Mr. Tompkins as\nfollows:--\n\n                                         \"'MELKSHAM DAIRY COMPANY,\n                                            _November_ 10, 1890.\n\n    \"'We found water at 30 feet, as stated by you at time of finding\n    the spring--a very strong spring. Our hopes had almost gone, and\n    faith was all but spent....                   CHARLES MAGGS.'\"\n\nProfessor Barrett wrote to Mr. Maggs, and received the following\ninteresting letter in reply:--\n\n                                       \"BOWERHILL LODGE, MELKSHAM,\n                                             _March_ 8, 1897.\n\n    \"Briefly the facts are:--I sunk a well to find water for my\n    dairy and found none. Then I wrote to Mr. Tompkins, who came the\n    following day. He cut a forked stick out of the hedge, and\n    having placed it over the well, said, 'There is no water here,'\n    but found a slight spring within 10 feet, too small to be of any\n    service, he reported. He walked all over the field, and said he\n    had not come across any spring at all. However, in the extreme\n    corner of the field, a bunch of nettles was growing, and he\n    entered this, and instantly exclaimed--'Here it is; and a good\n    head of water, too! Not running away, but just ready for\n    tapping, and as soon as you strike it, it will come surging up.'\n    'How deep?' 'Not over 25 feet.' He cut out a turf to indicate\n    the spot, and we commenced sinking next day. The person employed\n    was an old well-sinker, and he came to me two or three times\n    whilst engaged in sinking, showing specimens of the soil or\n    marl, assuring me there never was water where such existed, and\n    it was worse than useless to go further. I told him to go on if\n    he had to get to New Zealand--it was my money, and he need not\n    regard me nor my pocket. When he had gone about 22 feet, his\n    pickaxe tapped the spring and the water came up like a fountain,\n    and at such a rate he feared he should be drowned before he\n    could get pulled up--his mates being away! The water rose\n    rapidly to within 12 or 15 inches of the surface. We put in\n    pumps and kept the water down whilst he went a little deeper,\n    but the rush of water was such that we had to desist going\n    lower. Since then we have had a splendid supply....\n                                                 CHAS. MAGGS.\"[57]\n\nII. Mr. John Mullins and Mr. H. W. Mullins, father and son, Colerne,\nChippenham, Wilts.\n\nMr. Mullins, sen., who died rather more than ten years ago, was for\nthirty years engaged all over Great Britain and Ireland in finding water\nby means of the divining rod. He was a professional well-sinker. His\nsons carry on their father's business. One of them, Mr. H. W. Mullins,\ninherits his fathers faculty.\n\nCases Nos. 62 and 63 in Professor Barrett's Report illustrate the powers\nof both father and son.\n\nMr. E.G. Allen writes:--\n\n                                         \"HIGHFIELD, METHERINGHAM\n                                        LINCOLN, _March_ 25, 1893.\n\n    \"Having frequently availed myself of Mr. John Mullins' services\n    during the last twenty years, I can say I have never known him\n    to fail. I have sunk six wells, two on a heath farm about 30\n    feet deep (surrounding wells measuring about 70 feet) in\n    limestone rock, thus saving a great expense in sinking. I took\n    him one morning to a farm which was at that time farmed by the\n    owner, the Right Hon. H. Chaplin, M.P. The well in the yard\n    (nearly always dry) was about 30 feet deep. In a few minutes,\n    Mullins, carrying in his hand his twig, found a good spring a\n    very short distance from the old well. A new well was sunk, and\n    at 10 feet a splendid supply of water was found. It has never\n    failed, and has supplied the yards, &c., with water ever since.\n\n    \"Being in want of water for a large grass field, called 'Catley\n    Abbey Field,' I went with Mullins, who placed down a peg to\n    denote a spring. We sunk a well, and bored 70 feet obtaining a\n    good supply of water. Being struck with a peculiarity in its\n    taste, it was submitted to Professor Attfield, Ph.D., who\n    pronounced it to be the only natural seltzer spring in the\n    kingdom.                                     E. G. ALLEN.\"[58]\n\nThe next case in Professor Barrett's collection, No. 63, forms an\ninteresting sequel to the above. The following is abridged from a long\nreport, in the _Lincolnshire Chronicle_ of 8th June 1895, of a visit of\nMr. H.W. Mullins, son of Mr. John Mullins, to Catley Abbey:--\n\n\"The object of the Catley Abbey Company in sending for Mr. Mullins was\nto secure a well of pure water for bottle-washing. A well on the\nadjoining farm of Mr. Allen had run dry, and recently the seltzer water\nhad been used for the purpose of bottle-washing. Eight years ago, Mr. J.\nMullins, the father of the family, located the spot at Catley, where now\nstands the only natural seltzer spring in Britain.... Proceeding to the\nsite of the dried-up well, Mullins took out a =V=-shaped twig, the forks\nof which were each about a foot long, and walked slowly along the ground\na short distance from the well. Suddenly the twig revolved ... and\nMullins confidently asserted that he was standing over a subterranean\nwatercourse. Proceeding to the other side of the well, he traced, or\nprofessed to trace, the course of the hidden stream, and marked a spot\ncontiguous to the buildings where he asserted a good spring would be\ntapped at a depth of from 120 to 130 feet, and he advised that a well\nshould be sunk there.\n\n\"It was told to Mullins that his father asserted the seltzer spring\nflowed under a hedge on the other side of the field in which we were\nthen standing, and he was asked to indicate the place. Starting at one\nend of the field, he walked close by the hedge side. He had gone about\n100 yards when the twig began to play, and digging his heel in the\nground, he thus marked the spot. Mr. Allen, who was present when\nMullins, sen., also located the spring, sent a man for a spade, and a\nstake was dug up which eight years ago was driven in by Mr. Allen to\nmark the place. Mullins, jun., had touched the spot exactly.\"\n\nThe same newspaper of 23rd August 1895 announces the result of digging\nin the spot indicated as follows:--\n\n\"Our readers will remember that a few weeks ago our columns contained an\narticle relative to the finding of water at Catley Abbey by means of\nhazel twigs in the hands of Mr. Mullins, the eminent 'dowser.' We are\nnow able to state that a well having been sunk in the position indicated\nby Mr. Mullins, a valuable supply of water has been obtained, and that\nat a depth of about 5 feet less than that mentioned by him.\"\n\nProfessor Barrett says: \"I sent Mr. Allen the foregoing account, and\nasked if it were correct. He replies that it is perfectly accurate, the\nfacts being most interesting, and occurred as stated in the letter and\nnewspaper report.\"[59]\n\nIII. Mr. Leicester Gataker, Crescent Gardens, Bath, who is a gentleman\nby birth and education, soon after leaving Bath College, discovered to\nhis surprise that a forked twig revolved in his hands in the same way as\nit did with a local \"diviner.\" The following is Case 123 in Professor\nBarrett's Report:--\n\n\"Mr. Gataker states that, being engaged by Messrs Ruscombe Poole & Son,\nthe well-known solicitors of Bridgwater, he found a spring less than 14\nfeet deep, and within 3 or 4 yards of a useless well, 20 feet deep, sunk\nprior to his visit. In corroboration he encloses the following letter:--\n\n                              \"'BRIDGWATER, SOMERSET, _July_ 1896.\n\n    \"'We have sunk a well in the garden, and a copious spring has\n    been found at 13 feet 6 inches, which amply verifies your\n    prediction.                       \"'J. RUSCOMBE POOLE & SON.'\"\n\nProfessor Barrett says: \"I wrote to Mr. Ruscombe Poole, and asked him if\nMr. Gataker's statements were correct, and he replies:--\n\n                                 \"'BRIDGWATER, _January_ 15, 1897.\n\n    \"'We return the paper you sent us. As regards the statement that\n    there was a well about 20 feet deep which was useless, this is\n    perfectly true, because the water in it was foul and smelt\n    badly. The supply found is a very much more copious one than the\n    old well, which contained very little water.'\"[60]\n\nThe Index to Professor Barrett's Reports enumerates between three and\nfour hundred persons with whom experiments with the Divining Rod are\ndescribed. A list of the names of \"dowsers\" is also given. This list\nincludes the names of about seventy professional \"dowsers,\" and of\nnearly as many amateur \"dowsers.\" These figures show the extent to which\nthe use of the rod prevails, and also the work which the preparation of\nthe Reports involved. As a specimen of the kind of evidence presented by\nProfessor Barrett from miscellaneous sources, the following may be\nquoted:--\n\n\"In the present Report numerous independent witnesses of unimpeachable\nintegrity, and some with high scientific attainments, testify to the\nsame class of facts, viz.:--(1) The automatic and apparently\nirresistible motion of the twig in the hands often of a complete novice;\nand (2) that, when the forked twig does _not_ move in a person's hands,\nif the dowser takes one link of the twig, or even places his hand on the\nwrist of the insensitive person, the previously inert twig now turns\nvigorously and often breaks in two in the effort to resist its motion.\nAs regards (1), see the letter from the President of the Royal\nGeological Society of Cornwall on p. 219,[61] who states that the Clerk\nof his Parish Council, on finding the rod suddenly twist in his hands,\ncalled out--'It is alive, sir, it is alive!' Mr. Enys adds: 'This\nexactly describes the sensation when the rod moves.' ... Mr. Bennett, of\nOxford, on p. 176, refers to the frantic motion and the ultimate\nbreaking of the twig 'held firmly' in the dowser's hands.... As regards\n(2), see Mr. Morton's letter to _The Engineer_, given on p. 172; Mr.\nMorton found the rod would not move in his hands, but when the late John\nMullins, the dowser, 'laid his hands on my wrists and grasped them\nfirmly, then the twig instantly began to turn, and continued turning\ntill he removed his hands. He never touched the twig while it was in my\nhands.' Mr. Montague Price in his letter on p. 181 states: 'I held one\nside of the forked rod myself and the diviner the other, and when we\ncame to water [alleged underground water] the strain was so great on my\nfingers I was obliged to ask him to stop. From the position of the rod\nit was almost impossible for him to produce the pressure, which\nincreased with the strength of the stream.' ...\n\n\"The usual practice, after watching a dowser at work, is for some of\nthe onlookers to try if the forked twig will move in their hands.\nGenerally speaking, one or more, out of perhaps ten or twelve persons,\ndiscover, to their astonishment, that the twig curls up in their\nhands--at the same places at which it did with the dowser. Here is such\nan experience. Mrs. Hollands writes to me as follows:--\n\n                        \"'DENE PARK, TONBRIDGE, _October_ 9, 1899.\n\n    \"'In answer to your note of inquiry about the divining rod, the\n    whole thing is rather a long story, but the practical result of\n    the water dowser's visit was to find water which now supplies\n    the house. One of my daughters found she had the strange power\n    which moves the divining rod, and it works for her now quickly\n    over any spring. It is most interesting, as you can feel the rod\n    move if you take one side of it, and take one of her hands, she\n    holding the other end of the rod--it struggles up, and would\n    break off altogether if you did not allow it to move. My\n    daughter has since found several springs on the estate, where we\n    have sunk wells. They have stood us in very good stead these\n    last dry seasons.                            MINNIE HOLLANDS.'\n\n\"A similar experience is given by Miss M. Craigie Halkett, who published\nsome excellent photographs of a dowser at work in _Sketch_ for 23rd\nAugust 1899. Miss Halkett writes to me as follows:--\n\n                                     \"LAURISTON, NEW ELTHAM, KENT,\n                                          _September_ 8, 1899.\n\n    \"The man depicted in the photographs is not a water-finder by\n    profession. He is a tenant farmer residing at Catcolt, a\n    village near Bridgwater, and merely exercises the art to oblige\n    his neighbours. Several of the country people in this\n    neighbourhood (Somerset) have the gift. It has never been known\n    to fail. Personally I was rather sceptical on the subject, but\n    was converted by the stick turning in my hands when standing\n    over a spring. There were about six persons present at the time;\n    all tried it, but it would turn for no one excepting the man in\n    the picture and myself. I experienced a sort of tingling\n    sensation in my arms and wrists, but otherwise was quite unaware\n    when the forked stick began to turn, it seemed to go over so\n    quickly.                             \"'MAUDE CRAIGIE HALKETT.'\n\n    \"Miss Halkett does not say how she knew she was 'standing over a\n    spring' when the twig turned in her hands; this statement is\n    very characteristic of many others that have reached me.\"[62]\n\nProfessor Barrett's views as to the source of the power which moves the\nrod are entitled to more attention than those of any one else. In a\nchapter on \"Theoretical Conclusions\" in the first of his two Reports, he\nsays: \"Few will dispute the proposition that the motion of the forked\ntwig is due to unconscious muscular action.\" He then gives a summary of\nthe causes which, he believes, determine that action. Among these he\nenumerates, impressions from without unconsciously made upon the\ndowser's mind from his own trained observation and practice, and from\nbystanders. He also believed that in some cases an impression appears\nto be gained through Thought-Transference. He did not, however, think\nthis covered the whole ground. A peculiar pathological effect is\nproduced on the dowser; but to what this is due can only be ascertained\nby persevering and unbiassed investigation.\n\nProfessor Barrett's second Report contains a long and interesting\ndiscussion of this problem. His views had undergone some modification.\nHe adheres to his previous view that the \"curious phenomena attending\nthe _motion_ of the so-called divining rod are capable of explanation by\ncauses known to science\" (_e.g._ involuntary muscular action). But he\nhas become more impressed with the view that the suggestion may arise\n\"from some kind of transcendental discernment possessed by the dowser's\nsubconscious self.\" And he further says: \"For my own part, I am disposed\nto think that this cause, though less acceptable to science, will be\nfound to be a truer explanation of the more striking successes of a good\ndowser.\" In conclusion Professor Barrett says still more definitely:\n\"This subconscious perceptive power, commonly called 'clairvoyance,' may\nprovisionally be taken as the explanation of those successes of the\ndowser which are inexplicable on any grounds at present known to\nscience.\"[63]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[55] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ii. pp. 79-107.\n\n[56] Ibid., vol. xiii. (Part XXXII.), pp. 2-282, and vol. xv. (Part\nXXXVI.), pp. 130-383.\n\n[57] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xiii. pp. 145-148.\n\n[58] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xiii. pp. 88-89.\n\n[59] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xiii. pp. 89-90.\n\n[60] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xiii. p. 182.\n\n[61] The pages in _this_ paragraph refer to the present Report (_i.e._\n_Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xv. pp. 130-383).\n\n[62] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xv. pp. 279-281.\n\n[63] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xv. p. 314. See also the whole\ndiscussion of which this page is the conclusion.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE DRAWINGS\n\n\nThere is one, and perhaps only one phase of the great subject of\nThought-Transference or Telepathy the manifestations of which can\nlegitimately be included among physical phenomena. Involuntary drawing\nor scribbling is a phenomenon of very common occurrence. But when such\nan involuntary drawing turns out to be a more or less exact copy of a\ndrawing which the involuntary draughtsman has never seen; and still\nfurther when it turns out that the original drawing has been drawn by\nanother person with the deliberate purpose of impressing it on the\nmind of the involuntary draughtsman, the subject assumes an entirely\nnew interest. This, however, is the history of those series of\n\"Thought-Transference Drawings\" which have been published by the\nSociety for Psychical Research. They are scattered through several\nvolumes of its publications. Through the kindness of the Council of\nthat Society I am able to put before the reader the largest selection\nof these drawings which has appeared. The drawings are the results of\nseveral different groups of experimenters in different parts of the\ncountry; and the selection has been made from as many groups as\npossible. In all cases facsimiles of the original drawing and of the\nreproduction are given. The earlier series done under the auspices of\na Committee of the Society do not represent successes picked out of a\nlarge number of failures, but include all the attempts made at the\ntime. The number that can be considered total failures in any of the\ntrials is exceedingly small. Any conceivable chance or coincidence is\nentirely inadequate to account for the similarity in the great\nmajority of cases.\n\nThe \"First Report on Thought-Reading\" was written by Professor W. F.\nBarrett, Mr. Gurney, and Mr. Myers, and was read at the first General\nMeeting of the Society on 17th July 1882. In order to illustrate the\nthen state of scientific opinion, the writers say: \"The present state of\nscientific opinion throughout the world is not only hostile to any\nbelief in the possibility of transmitting a single mental concept except\nthrough the ordinary channels of sensations, but, generally speaking, it\nis hostile even to any inquiry upon the matter. Every leading\nphysiologist and psychologist down to the present time has relegated\nwhat, for want of a better term, has been called \"Thought-Reading\" to\nthe limbo of explored fallacies.\"[64] A second Report by the same writers\nwas read at a meeting of the Society in the same year. In this Report\nthe first series of \"Thought-Transference Drawings\" was described.\n\nThe method of proceeding was as follows:--A. makes an outline sketch of\na geometrical figure, or of something a little more elaborate. B. sees\nthis sketch, and carrying it in his mind goes and stands behind C., who\nsits with a pencil and paper before him and draws the impression which\narises in his mind. Precautions are taken against the conveyance of\ninformation by any ordinary means. Except in a few of the earliest\ntrials no contact between any of the parties was permitted. B. and C.\nare called respectively \"transmitter\" and \"receiver.\"\n\nIn December 1882, Mr. Myers and Mr. Gurney paid a visit to Brighton to\npersonally investigate some joint experiments of Mr. Douglas Blackburn\nand Mr. G. Albert Smith. Both Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Smith were then, or\nsoon after became, members of the Society for Psychical Research. The\nexperiments were made in Mr. Myers' and Mr. Gurney's own lodgings. The\nfollowing plan, arranged in regard to some experiments made on 4th\nDecember, is thus described by Mr. Myers: \"One of us completely out of\nsight of S. [Mr. Smith] drew some figure at random, the figure being of\nsuch a character that its shape could not be easily conveyed in\nwords.... The figure, drawn by us, was then shown to B. [Mr. Blackburn]\nfor a few moments, S. being seated all the time with his back to us, and\nblindfolded, in a distant part of the same room, and subsequently in an\nadjoining room. B. looked at the figure drawn; then held S.'s hand for a\nwhile; then released it. After being released, S. (who remained\nblindfolded) drew the impression of a figure which he had received....\nIn no case was there the smallest possibility that S. could have seen\nthe original figure; and in no case did B. touch S., even in the\nslightest manner, while the figure was being drawn.\"\n\nThe whole series of drawings done in this way, on that occasion, is\ngiven in the Report in the _S.P.R. Proceedings_. They were nine in\nnumber. We have selected two, Nos. 5 and 9.\n\nNo. 5 calls for no special remark.\n\n[Illustration: NO. 5.\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION]\n\n[Illustration: NO. 9.\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION]\n\nWhen the reproduction of No. 9 was drawn, Mr. S. touched the spot to\nwhich the arrow points, and said: \"There is something more there, but I\ncannot tell what it is.\"\n\nIn the experiments made subsequently to these, the conditions were still\nmore stringent, and no contact whatever was allowed between Mr.\nBlackburn and Mr. Smith; and it will be seen that striking and\nsuccessful results were obtained.\n\nA few weeks later, in January 1883, at the invitation of the Committee\nof the Society for Psychical Research, Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Smith came\nfrom Brighton, and a series of experiments was conducted at the Rooms\nthe Society then occupied in Dean's Yard, Westminster. For the Report\nembodying the results of these experiments, Mr. Myers, Mr. Gurney, and\nProfessor Barrett are specially responsible. Two drawings, Nos. 10 and\n11, are selected from a series of twenty-two made on this occasion.\n\nAs to No. 10, Mr. S. had no idea that the original was not a geometrical\ndiagram. Nor had he any clue given him as to the character of No. 11. He\nadded the line marked _b_ some time after he had drawn the line marked\n_a_, saying that he saw \"a line parallel to another somewhere.\"\n\nThe authors of this Report say: \"It is almost needless to point out that\nin these observations so foreign to our common experience, it is\nindispensable to be minutely careful and conscientious in recording the\nexact conditions of each experiment.\" The reader is referred to the\nReport itself to show how this was carried out; and also to show how\nexhaustively every possibility was considered by means of which\ninformation could be conceived to be conveyed through any recognised\nchannel.\n\n[Illustration:\n\nNo. 10.\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION\n\nNo. 11.\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION\n\nMr. Smith had no idea that the original was not a geometrical diagram.\nHe added line _b_ some time after he had drawn line _a_, \"seeing a line\nparallel to another somewhere.\"]\n\n[Illustration:\n\nNo. 2.\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION\n\nMr. Guthrie and Miss E. no contact.]\n\nAn entirely different group of experimenters set to work in Liverpool.\nMr. Malcolm Guthrie, J.P., was a partner in one of the large drapery\nestablishments, and Mr. James Birchall was the Hon. Secretary of the\nLiterary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool. Their interest was\naroused in the subject of Thought-Transference, and they carried out a\nvery large number of experiments with some of the young ladies employed\nin Mr. Guthrie's establishment, who, \"amusing themselves after business\nhours, found that certain of their number, when blindfolded, were able\nto name very correctly figures selected from an almanack suspended on\nthe wall of the room, when their companions having hold of their hands,\nfixed their attention on some particular day of the month.\" This led to\nserious experiments, including about one hundred and fifty\nThought-Transference Drawings. The conditions were carefully guarded,\nand in the majority of cases no contact was permitted. There were many\nfailures, but a large number of successes. Assistance as \"transmitter\"\nwas also given by Mr. F. S. Hughes, a member of the Society for\nPsychical Research. In a report by Mr. Guthrie, published in the\n_Proceedings_ of the Society, sixteen of these drawings are given. NOS.\n2 and 15 are selected. In neither of these was any contact between\n\"transmitter\" and \"receiver\" permitted. In NO. 2, Mr. Guthrie was\n\"transmitter\" and Miss Edwards \"receiver.\" In NO. 15, Mr. F. S. Hughes\nwas \"transmitter\" and Miss Edwards \"receiver.\" With regard to the\nsecond, Miss Edwards said, \"It is like a mask at a pantomime,\" and\nimmediately drew the reproduction.\n\n[Illustration:\n\nNo. 15.\n\n    ORIGINAL\n    Mr. Hughes and Miss E. no contact.\n\n    REPRODUCTION\n    Miss E. said, \"It is like a mask at a pantomime,\"\n    and immediately drew as above.]\n\nMr. Malcolm remarks in his Report: \"The drawings must speak for\nthemselves. The principal facts to be borne in mind are that they have\nbeen executed through the instrumentality as agents [transmitters] of\npersons of unquestioned probity, and that the responsibility for them is\nspread over a considerable group of such persons, while the conditions\nto be observed were so simple--for they amounted really to nothing more\nthan taking care that the original should not be seen by the subject\n[receiver]--that it is extremely difficult to suppose them to have been\neluded.\"\n\nMr. Guthrie, having satisfied himself as to the reality of the phenomena\nof Thought-Transference, as manifested by the drawings, and in other\nways, endeavoured to interest the scientific men of Liverpool. He\nnaturally appealed among others to Sir Oliver Lodge, who was then\nProfessor of Physics in University College, Liverpool. He accepted the\ninvitation, and subsequently gave \"An Account of Some Experiments in\nThought-Transference\" to the Society for Psychical Research, of which he\nwas already an unofficial member, and which account is published in the\nSociety's _Proceedings_.\n\nThe Report commences with a tribute, \"since it bears on the questions of\nresponsibility and genuineness,\" to the important position Mr. Guthrie\nheld in Liverpool, as an active member of the governing bodies of\nseveral public institutions, including the University College. Sir\nOliver Lodge then says:--\n\n\"After Mr. Guthrie had laboriously carried out a long series of\nexperiments ... he set about endeavouring to convince such students of\nscience as he could lay his hands upon in Liverpool; and with this\nobject he appealed to me, among others, to come and witness, and within\nlimits modify, the experiments in such a way as would satisfy me of\ntheir genuineness and perfect good faith. Yielding to his entreaty, I\nconsented, and have been, I suppose, at some dozen sittings, at first\nsimply looking on so as to grasp the phenomena, but afterwards taking\ncharge of the experiments.... In this way I had every opportunity of\nexamining and varying the minute conditions of the phenomena, so as to\nsatisfy myself of their genuine and objective character, in the same\nway as one is accustomed to satisfy oneself as to the truth and\ngenuineness of any ordinary physical fact.\n\n\"I did not feel at liberty to modify the experiments very largely, in\nother words to try essentially new ones.... I only regarded it as my\nbusiness to satisfy myself as to the genuineness and authenticity of the\nphenomena already described by Mr. Guthrie. If I had merely witnessed\nfacts as a passive spectator I should most certainly not publicly report\nupon them. So long as one is bound to accept imposed conditions and\nmerely witness what goes on, I have no confidence in my own penetration,\nand am perfectly sure that a conjurer could impose upon me, possibly\neven to the extent of making me think that he was not imposing on me;\nbut when one has the control of the circumstances, can change them at\nwill, and arrange one's own experiments, one gradually acquires a belief\nin the phenomena observed quite comparable to that induced by the\nrepetition of ordinary physical experiments.\"\n\nSir Oliver Lodge then describes in detail the method of procedure, in\nthe course of which he says:--\n\n\"We have many times succeeded with agents ['transmitters'] quite\ndisconnected with the percipient ['receiver'] in ordinary life and\nsometimes complete strangers to them. Mr. Birchall, the headmaster of\nthe Birkdale Industrial School, frequently acted; and the house\nphysician at the Eye and Ear Hospital, Dr. Shears, had a successful\nexperiment, acting alone, on his first and only visit. All suspicion of\na pre-arranged code is thus rendered impossible even to outsiders who\nare unable to witness the obvious fairness of all the experiments.\"\n\nSir Oliver Lodge then gives the details of twenty-seven experiments.\nFrom these four are selected. Descriptions, in Sir O. Lodge's own words,\nare condensed.\n\n(1) \"Mr. Birchall, agent--Miss R, percipient, holding hands. No one else\npresent except myself. A drawing of a Union Jack pattern. As usual in\ndrawing experiments, Miss R. remained silent for perhaps a minute; then\nshe said, 'Now I am ready.' I hid the object; she took off the\nhandkerchief and proceeded to draw on paper placed ready in front of\nher. She this time drew all the lines of the figure except the\nhorizontal middle one. She was obviously much tempted to draw this, and\nindeed began it two or three times faintly, but ultimately said, 'No,\nI'm not sure,' and stopped.\"\n\n[Illustration:\n\nNo. 1.\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION]\n\n(2) \"Double object. I arranged the double object between Miss R----d and\nMiss E., who happened to be sitting nearly facing one another. Miss\nR----d and Miss E. both acting as agents. The drawing was a square on\none side of the paper, and a cross on the other. Miss R----d looked at\nthe side with the square on it, Miss E. looked at the side with the\ncross. Neither knew what the other was looking at--nor did the\npercipient know that anything unusual was being tried. There was no\ncontact. Very soon, Miss R. (percipient) said, 'I see things moving\nabout.... I seem to see two things.... I see first one up there and then\none down there.... I can't see either distinctly.' 'Well, anyhow, draw\nwhat you have seen.' She took off the bandage and drew first a square,\nand then said, 'Then there was the other thing as well, ... afterwards\nthey seemed to go into one,' and she drew a cross inside the square from\ncorner to corner, adding afterwards, 'I don't know what made me put it\ninside.'\"\n\n[Illustration:\n\nNo. 2.\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION]\n\n[Illustration:\n\nNo. 3.\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION]\n\n(3) \"Object--a drawing of the outline of a flag. Miss R. as percipient,\nin contact with Miss E. as agent. Very quickly Miss R. said, 'It's a\nlittle flag.' And when asked to draw, she drew it fairly well but\nperverted. I showed her the flag (as usual after a success), and then\ntook it away to the drawing place to fetch something else. I made\nanother drawing, but instead of bringing it I brought the flag back\nagain and set it up in the same place as before, but inverted. There\nwas no contact this time. Miss R----d and Miss E. were acting as agents.\nAfter some time Miss R. said, 'No, I cant see anything this time. I\nstill see that flag.... The flag keeps bothering me.... I shan't do it\nthis time.' Presently I said, 'Well, draw what you saw anyway.' She\nsaid, 'I only saw the same flag, but perhaps it had a cross on it.' So\nshe drew a flag in the same position as before, but added a cross to\nit.\"\n\n(4) \"Object--a teapot cut out of silver paper. Present--Dr. Herdman,\nMiss R----d, and Miss R. Miss E. percipient. Miss R. holding\npercipient's hands, but all thinking of the object. Told nothing. She\nsaid, 'Something light.... No colour.... Looks like a duck.... Like a\nsilver duck.... Something oval.... Head at one end and tail at the\nother.' ... The object being rather large, was then moved further back,\nso that it might be more easily grasped by the agents as a whole, but\npercipient persisted that it was like a duck. On being told to unbandage\nand draw, she drew a rude and perverted copy of the teapot, but didn't\nknow what it was unless it was a duck. Dr. Herdman then explained that\nhe had been thinking all the time how like a duck the original teapot\nwas, and in fact had been thinking more of ducks than teapots.\"\n\n[Illustration: No. 4.\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION]\n\nIn the autumn of 1891 Sir Oliver Lodge was staying for a fortnight in\nthe house of Herr von Lyro at Portschach am See, Carinthia. While there\nhe found that the two adult daughters of his host were adepts in the\nso-called \"willing game.\" The speed and accuracy with which the willed\naction was performed left little doubt in his mind that there was some\ngenuine thought-transference power. He obtained permission to make a\nseries of test experiments, the two sisters acting as agent and\npercipient alternately. He hoped gradually to secure the phenomena\nwithout contact of any kind. But unfortunately contact seemed essential,\nthough of the slightest description, for instance through the backs of\nthe knuckles. Sir Oliver Lodge says: \"It was interesting and new to me\nto see how clearly the effect seemed to depend on contact, and how\nabruptly it ceased when contact was broken. While guessing through a\npack of cards, for instance, rapidly and continuously, I sometimes\nallowed contact, and sometimes stopped it; and the guesses changed, from\nfrequently correct to quite wild, directly the knuckles or finger tips,\nor any part of the skin of the two hands ceased to touch. It was almost\nlike breaking an electric circuit.\"\n\nAs Sir Oliver Lodge remarks, it is obvious how strongly this suggests\nthe idea of a code, and that therefore this flaw prevents these\nexperiments from having any value as tests, or as establishing _de novo_\nthe existence of the genuine power. But apart from the moral conviction\nthat unfair practices were extremely unlikely, Sir Oliver Lodge says\nthat there was a sufficient amount of internal evidence derived from\nthe facts themselves to satisfy him that no code was used. As examples,\ntwo from a series of twelve drawings are given.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTIONS]\n\nIn 1894, Mr. Henry G. Rawson, barrister-at-law, made a long and\ninteresting series of experiments in Thought-Transference, a Report of\nwhich was published in vol. xi. of the _Proceedings_ of the Society for\nPsychical Research. The Report includes fifteen originals and\nreproductions of drawings. Two sisters, Mrs. L. and Mrs. B., were the\noperators; and on the two evenings when the two series of drawings were\nexecuted, from which the accompanying selections are made, Mr. Rawson\nwas the only other person present. On both occasions, Mrs. L. sat on a\nchair near the fire, Mrs. R. sat at a table many feet off, with her back\nto Mrs. L., and Mr. Rawson stood or sat where he could see both ladies.\n\n[Illustration: 5\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION]\n\n[Illustration: 6\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION]\n\nNos. 5 and 6 of the first series are here reproduced.\n\nThe following selection is from the second series. Mr. Rawson says\nrespecting it: \"Mrs. L. began drawing within ten to fifteen seconds, and\npresently said, 'I am drawing something I can see.' The clock was in\nfront of her on the mantelpiece.\" It would seem as though the idea of a\nclock was thought-transferred at once; but that the working out of the\nidea in the mind was modified by what the percipient happened to see\nbefore her.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n    ORIGINAL      REPRODUCTION]\n\nA final selection of Thought-Transference Drawings will be taken from\nthe records of several series of experiments of different kinds made in\n1897 and 1898 by Professor A. P. Chattock, of University College,\nBristol. The drawings were made with two old students of Professor\nChattock's, Mr. Wedmore and Mr. Clinker.\n\n[Illustration: No. 6.\n\n    ORIGINAL\n\n    REPRODUCTION (1).]\n\n    REPRODUCTION (2).]\n\nNo. 6 of a series done at Harrow, September 1897. Agents, Professor\nChattock and R. C. Clinker. Percipient, E. B. Wedmore. E. B. W. about\nthree yards from agents, with lamp and table between. To reproduction\n(1) these words are added: \"I thought of these, and then suggested we\nshould try three musical notes.\" And to reproduction (2) these words are\nadded: \"Got this result.\"\n\n[Illustration: No. 1.\n\n    ORIGINAL\n    Agent, E. B. Wedmore.]\n\n    REPRODUCTION\n    Percipient, R. Wedmore.]\n\nNo. 1 of a series done in London, a little later. The reproduction was\ndrawn in about one and a half minutes after the sitting commenced.\n\nThe Report of the various series of experiments is printed in the\n_Journal_ of the Society for Psychical Research for November 1898.\n\nInstead of giving detailed references to all the quotations in the\ndescriptions of these various Thought-Transference Drawings, a list of\nthe several Reports is appended. They can be referred to for further\ninformation.[65]\n\n    Second Report of the S.P.R. Committee. _Proceedings_, vol. i.,\n    part ii., 1882. See p. 92.\n\n    Third Report of the S.P.R. Committee. _Proceedings_, vol. i.,\n    part iii., 1883. See pp. 94, 95.\n\n    Experiments in Thought-Transference, by Malcolm Guthrie.\n    _Proceedings_, vol. ii., part v., 1884. See pp. 96, 97.\n\n    Experiments in Thought-Transference, by Oliver J. Lodge, D.Sc.\n    _Proceedings_, vol. ii., part vi., 1884. See pp. 100-102.\n\n    Some Recent Thought-Transference Experiments, by Oliver J.\n    Lodge. _Proceedings_, vol. vii., part xx., 1891. See p. 104.\n\n    Experiments in Thought-Transference, by Henry G. Rawson.\n    _Proceedings_, vol. xi., part xxvii., 1894. See pp. 105, 106.\n\n    Experiments in Thought-Transference, by Professor A. P.\n    Chattock. _Journal S.P.R._, vol. xiii., No. 153, Nov. 1898. See\n    p. 107.\n\nDuring the last few years no important addition appears to have been\nmade to the series of Thought-Transference Drawings. A revival of\nsimilar experiments would be of great interest and value.\n\nThe question may fairly be asked, What have these Thought-Transference\nDrawings to do with the Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism? A reply is\neasily given. The reader is referred to a passage in the concluding\nchapter, quoted from Mr. Myers, in which he claims an exalted position\nfor Telepathy, as almost the fundamental doctrine of Spiritualistic\nPhilosophy. He speaks of the beginning of Telepathy as a\n\"quasi-mechanical transference of ideas and images from one to another\nbrain.\" The Thought-Transference Drawings constitute the primary\nevidence of this. They may be looked upon as constituting the physical\nbasis of a belief in Thought-Transference, and therefore as the physical\nbasis of a belief in Telepathy, the action of which, as Mr. Myers says,\n\"was traced across a gulf greater than any space of earth or ocean--it\nbridged the interval between spirits incarnate and discarnate.\" Thus we\nmay look upon these Thought-Transference Drawings as supplying the\nchief--perhaps the only--physical basis for a belief in one of the main\ndoctrines of spiritualism. Hence they legitimately find a place in the\npresent examination.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[64] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. i. p. 13.\n\n[65] A list of all the publications of the Society for Psychical\nResearch, with prices of the different volumes and parts, can be\nobtained from the Secretary, at the Society's Rooms, 20 Hanover Square,\nLondon, W.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nMATERIALISATIONS\n\n\nBy \"materialisation,\" in this chapter, is not meant the production of\nmore or less complete portions of the human body--generally hands--a\nphenomenon alleged to be frequent in spiritualistic circles. A\n\"materialisation\" of the whole figure is meant, the production of a\nfigure which to the spectator appears as a new human being, so to speak,\noccasionally exhibiting signs of independent organic life. Such a\nphenomenon would be the most astounding that can well be imagined. I am\nnot in a position to offer any scientific evidence in its support. By\nfar the majority of the accounts which have been published of full form\n\"materialisations\" are destitute of any evidential value, and in many\ncases the circumstantial evidence for fraud is strong. Were it not for a\nsmall number of cases which present _prima facie_ evidence of a\ndifferent character, the question of the reality of this phase of\n\"mediumship\" would be scarcely worth raising. But the existence of even\na small amount of evidence of such a kind raises the question into a\ndifferent position, to one which reasonably demands the searching\ninvestigation of scientific men. I propose to give one illustration only\nof this better class of evidence, but it is one in which common-sense\nprecautions against deception seem to have been carefully taken.\n\nThe following extracts are from a report made by Mr. J. Slater, and\npublished in _The Two Worlds_ of 15th February 1895:--\n\n    \"IS MATERIALISATION A FACT? YES. SCIENTIFIC PROOF.\n\n    \"After the recent suspicions and exposures of materialising\n    mediums, I determined to take the first opportunity of applying\n    further and more stringent tests, which should absolutely\n    preclude the possibility of deception. For this purpose I wrote\n    to the Middlesbro' materialising medium, asking for a test\n    sitting, and stating the conditions--which he readily\n    accepted....\n\n    \"The conditions were that he should strip to the skin 'naked as\n    he was born,' and in the presence of witnesses dress in clothes\n    to be supplied by me....\n\n    \"I made him understand that after he had dressed in the clothes\n    supplied by me, he must consider himself in my charge, and must\n    not attempt to do or touch anything, or go anywhere except to\n    the chair provided for him. He readily agreed to this, and\n    imposed upon himself a still further test, viz. that as soon as\n    the phenomena had ceased, he would instantly place himself in\n    our charge, to be held fast until the light was turned up, and\n    the company had retired to the next room, the same process of\n    undressing being gone through.\"\n\nThis was all carried out preliminary to a seance, and a final\nexamination of the room was made.\n\n\"The light was then lowered so that we could just see each other--the\ncompany sang a hymn, a prayer was offered, and then came the crisis--to\nbe or not to be? In less than a minute a form of exceeding whiteness\nappeared at the opening of the curtain; I should judge the height to be\nthree feet six inches or a little more. We could not distinguish the\nface. The form appeared twice. Then a child form appeared, its raiment\nwhite, luminous and very distinct. Then came the well-known and lively\nblack child, opening the curtain with her small arms and bowing\nrepeatedly to us. This child would be about two and a half feet in\nheight. The folds of shining drapery hung from her head in gipsy\nfashion, which she opened for us to see her round black face. I was\nquite close to her, but did not pat her face and woolly head as I have\ndone before. She climbed upon the medium's knee, and then came close to\nus again, and then disappeared....\n\n\"The meeting then concluded with prayer and doxology. We then seized\nhold of the medium's hands, and held him until the company retired, and\nthen went through the undressing and dressing process as before, every\narticle of clothing being rigidly examined as removed. We then searched\nthe corner as before, and found all intact, and not a sign anywhere of\nthe abundance of drapery we had seen.\"\n\nSixteen ladies and gentlemen present at the meeting allowed their names\nto be published as a testimony to what they saw. The evidential value of\nthe seance depends entirely on the honesty and truthfulness of Mr.\nSlater and of the two friends who assisted him in the carrying out of\nthe precautions taken.\n\nMr. Slater had been in the York Post Office for over thirty years, and\nfor nearly seven years before his death in 1902 had occupied the\nposition of superintendent. Mr. Slater was a frequent contributor to the\nnewspaper press of his own district, and also occasionally to other\nperiodicals. He appears to have been a man of considerable intelligence\nand force of character, and to have been widely respected. I am informed\nby Mr. J. P. Slater, a son of Mr. J. Slater, and who is in the Post\nOffice at York, that the name of the \"Middlesbro' medium\" was Kenwin,\nand that he was an \"ordinary working man\" in some steel works. He died\nsix or seven years ago.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\n\"SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY\"\n\n\nFor over thirty years photographs have been taken in London, on which,\nwhen they were developed, figures appeared for the presence of which\nthere seemed to be no physical cause. They appeared both with\nprofessional photographers and in private studios. Two or three\nprofessional photographers laid themselves out to encourage such\nappearances. Others were annoyed by them. One in particular, whom I knew\npersonally, was greatly annoyed in this way, fearing it might injure his\nbusiness. Naturally, but unfortunately, the term \"spirit photographs\"\nwas invented. Unfortunately, because, granting the reality and\ngenuineness of some of the results, it by no means follows that a\n\"spirit\" stood or sat for its portrait, as a human sitter does.\nNaturally also, various explanations were soon alleged, two being,\neither that the plates had been used before, and had been imperfectly\ncleaned, or that the results were produced by deliberate artifice and\nfraud on the part of the photographer. There is no doubt that artificial\nresults can be obtained in a variety of ways, which are extremely\ndifficult, if not impossible to distinguish from the professed genuine\narticle. It may therefore be said that no examination of a professed\n\"spirit photograph,\" or as we should prefer to call it, a \"psychic\nphotograph,\" is sufficient to determine its nature and origin. The true\ntest must be sought for in the conditions under which the photograph was\ntaken. Very few of those who have had to do with \"spirit photography\"\nhave possessed the necessary technical knowledge, and also been\nsufficiently careful, in the various stages of the process. The result\nis that scarcely any of the photographs shown as \"spirit photographs\"\npossess any evidential value. In common with several other alleged\nphenomena, but little attention has been given to the subject by\nscientific men, or by trained experimenters.\n\nThe most notable exception to this which I am able to quote is that of\nthe late Mr. J. Traill Taylor, who was for a considerable time the\neditor of the _British Journal of Photography_. The following quotations\nare from a paper on \"Spirit Photography\" by Mr. Taylor. It was\noriginally read before the London and Provincial Photographic\nAssociation in March 1893, and was reprinted in the _British Journal of\nPhotography_ for 26th May 1904, shortly after Mr. Taylor's death.\n\n\"Spirit photography, so called, has of late been asserting its existence\nin such a manner and to such an extent as to warrant competent men in\nmaking an investigation, conducted under stringent test conditions, into\nthe circumstances under which such photographs are produced, and\nexposing the fraud should it prove to be such, instead of pooh-poohing\nit as insensate because we do not understand how it can be otherwise--a\nposition that scarcely commends itself as intelligent or philosophical.\nIf, in what follows, I call it 'spirit photography' instead of psychic\nphotography, it is only in deference to a nomenclature that extensively\nprevails.... I approach the subject merely as a photographer.\"\n\nMr. Traill Taylor then gives a history of the earlier manifestations of\n\"Spirit Photography,\" and goes on to explain how striking phenomena in\nphotographing what is invisible to the eye may be produced by the agency\nof fluorescence. He quotes the demonstration by Dr. Gladstone, F.R.S.,\nat the Bradford Meeting of the British Association in 1873, showing that\ninvisible drawings on white cards have produced bold and clear\nphotographs when no eye could see the drawings themselves. Hence, as Mr.\nTaylor says, the photographing of an invisible image is not\nscientifically impossible.\n\nMr. Taylor then proceeds to describe some personal experiments. He says:\n\"For several years I have experienced a strong desire to ascertain by\npersonal investigation the amount of truth in the ever-recurring\nallegation that figures other than those visually present in the room\nappeared on a sensitive plate.... Mr. D., of Glasgow, in whose presence\npsychic photographs have long been alleged to be obtained, was lately in\nLondon on a visit, and a mutual friend got him to consent to extend his\nstay in order that I might try to get a psychic photograph under test\nconditions. To this he willingly agreed. My conditions were exceedingly\nsimple, were courteously expressed to the host, and entirely acquiesced\nin. They were, that I for the nonce would assume them all to be\ntricksters, and to guard against fraud, should use my own camera and\nunopened packages of dry plates purchased from dealers of repute, and\nthat I should be excused from allowing a plate to go out of my own hand\ntill after development unless I felt otherwise disposed; but that as I\nwas to treat them as under suspicion, so must they treat me, and that\nevery act I performed must be in the presence of two witnesses; nay,\nthat I would set a watch upon my own camera in the guise of a duplicate\none of the same focus--in other words, I would use a binocular\nstereoscopic camera and dictate all the conditions of operation....\n\n\"Dr. G. was the first sitter, and for a reason known to myself, I used a\nmonocular camera. I myself took the plate out of a packet just\npreviously ripped up under the surveillance of my two detectives. I\nplaced the slide in my pocket, and exposed it by magnesium ribbon which\nI held in my own hand, keeping one eye, as it were, on the sitter, and\nthe other on the camera. There was no background. I myself took the\nplate from the dark slide, and, under the eyes of the two detectives,\nplaced it in the developing dish. Between the camera and the sitter a\nfemale figure was developed, rather in a more pronounced form than that\nof the sitter.... I submit this picture.... I do not recognise her or\nany of the other figures I obtained, as like any one I know....\n\n\"Many experiments of like nature followed; on some plates were abnormal\nappearances, on others none. All this time, Mr. D. the medium, during\nthe exposure of the plates, was quite inactive....\n\n\"The psychic figures behaved badly. Some were in focus. Others not so.\nSome were lighted from the right, while the sitter was so from the left;\nsome were comely, ... others not so. Some monopolised the major portion\nof the plate, quite obliterating the material sitters. Others were as if\nan atrociously-badly vignetted portrait ... were held up behind the\nsitter. But here is the point:--Not one of these figures which came out\nso strongly in the negative, was visible in any form or shape to me\nduring the time of exposure in the camera, and I vouch in the strongest\nmanner for the fact that no one whatever had an opportunity of tampering\nwith any plate anterior to its being placed in the dark slide or\nimmediately preceding development. Pictorially they are vile, but how\ncame they there?\n\n\"Now all this time, I imagine you are wondering how the stereoscopic\ncamera was behaving itself as such. It is due to the psychic entities to\nsay that whatever was produced on one half of the stereoscopic plates\nwas produced on the other, alike good or bad in definition. But on a\ncareful examination of one which was rather better than the other, ... I\ndeduce this fact, that the impressing of the spirit form was not\nconsentaneous with that of the sitter. This I consider an important\ndiscovery. I carefully examined one in the stereoscope, and found that,\nwhile the two sitters were stereoscopic _per se_, the psychic figure was\nabsolutely flat. I also found that the psychic figure was at least a\nmillimetre higher up in one than the other. Now, as both had been\nsimultaneously exposed, it follows to demonstration that, although both\nwere correctly placed vertically in relation to the particular sitter\nbehind whom the figure appeared, and not so horizontally, this figure\nhad not only not been impressed on the plate simultaneously with the two\ngentlemen forming the group, but had not been formed by the lens at all,\nand that therefore the psychic image might be produced without a camera.\nI think this is a fair deduction. But still the question obtrudes: How\ncame these figures there? I again assert that the plates were not\ntampered with by either myself or any one present. Are they\ncrystallisations of thought? Have lens and light really nothing to do\nwith their formation? The whole subject was mysterious enough on the\nhypothesis of an invisible spirit, whether a thought projection or an\nactual spirit, being really there in the vicinity of the sitter, but it\nis now a thousand times more so....\n\n\"In the foregoing I have confined myself as closely as possible to\nnarrating how I conducted a photographic experiment open to every one to\nmake, avoiding stating any hypothesis or belief of my own on the\nsubject.\"\n\nTwo years later, in May 1895, the spiritualists held a General\nConference in London, the proceedings of which extended over several\ndays. At one of the meetings Mr. Traill Taylor read a paper under the\ntitle--\"Are Spirit Photographs necessarily the Photographs of Spirits?\"\nAn abstract of this paper appears in _Light_ (18th May 1895), and it is\nprinted in full in _Borderland_ (July 1895). At the commencement of the\npaper, Mr. Taylor explained that light is the agent in the production of\nan ordinary photograph; but he says: \"I have ascertained, to my own\nsatisfaction at any rate, that light so called, so far as concerns the\nexperiments I have made, has nothing to do with the production of a\npsychic picture, and that the lens and camera of the photographer are\nconsequently useless incumbrances.\" Following this up, Mr. Taylor says:\n\"It was the realisation of this that enabled me at a certain seance\nrecently held, at which many cameras were in requisition, to obtain\ncertain abnormal figures on my plates when all others failed to do so.\nAfter withdrawing the slide from the camera, I wrapped it up in the\nvelvet focussing cloth and requested the medium to hold it in his hand,\ngiving him no clue as to my reason for doing so. A general conversation\nfavoured the delay in proceeding to the developing room for about five\nor more minutes, during which the medium still held the wrapped-up\nslide. I then relieved him of it, and in the presence of others applied\nthe developer, which brought to view figures in addition to that of the\nsitter.\"\n\nIn making a categorical reply to the question which forms the title of\nhis paper, Mr. Taylor replies--\"No\"--and gives various \"surmises\" to\naccount for recognisable likenesses having been obtained. At the end of\nhis paper Mr. Taylor says:--\n\n\"The influence of the mind of the medium in the obtaining of\npsychographs might be deduced from the fact of pictures having been\nobtained of angels with wings, a still popular belief of some, as\nridiculous in its conception as it is false in its anatomy, but still no\nless true in its photo-pictorial outcome. This does not in the slightest\ndegree impair the genuineness and honesty of the medium, but it inspires\nme, a disbeliever in the wing notion, with the belief that\nspirit-photographs are not necessarily photographs of spirits.\n\n\"A concluding word: A medium may, on passing through a picture gallery,\nbecome impressed by some picture which, although forgotten soon after,\nmay yet make a persistent appearance on his negative on subsequent\noccasions. My caution is that if such be published as a spirit\nphotograph, care must be taken that no copyright of such picture is\ninfringed. I have cases of this nature in my mind's eye, but time does\nnot permit of this being enlarged upon, else I could have recited\nseveral instances.\"\n\nIt would be extremely interesting if we could have had these \"several\ninstances\" recited. At all events, what Mr. Traill Taylor says is\nsuggestive, and is well worth being borne in mind by any one\ninvestigating the subject. Some careful experiments have been made of\nlate years, mostly, so far as I have heard, with inconclusive, or\ndiscouraging results. But I am not aware of any serious sustained study\nof the question by any English photographer since Mr. Traill Taylor's\ndeath.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE SUMMING UP OF THE WHOLE MATTER\n\n\nIn the preceding chapters the chief endeavour has been to present the\nscientific evidence in favour of the reality of a mass of alleged\nphenomena, so far unrecognised by science as facts. The chief object is\nto arouse interest, and to excite inquiry and investigation. It is\ndifficult to imagine a more attractive undiscovered country than that\nwhich lies just outside the realm of recognised science, in the\ndirection of such phenomena as have been under consideration. It is a\ncountry teeming with wonders, and with miraculous occurrences of endless\nvariety. Miraculous to us, inasmuch as they are not subject to any \"Laws\nof Nature\" which we have discovered. The marvel is that there is not a\nrush of explorers into fields incomparably more fascinating than North\nor South Pole can present, and containing more treasure than gold-fields\nor diamond mines can ever yield.\n\nThe two chapters devoted to phenomena occurring in the presence of D. D.\nHome and W. Stainton Moses demand special reference. It is difficult to\nimagine two men differing more widely in almost every respect. Mr. Myers\ndescribes the even tenour of Mr. Stainton Moses' \"straightforward and\nreputable life\" as \"inwoven with a chain of mysteries, which ... make\nthat life one of the most extraordinary which our century has seen.\"[66]\nHe was a scholar, a literary man, and a clergyman of the Church of\nEngland. He had no worldly ambition or fondness for what is called\n\"Society.\" Mr. D. D. Home, on the contrary, does not appear to have been\na man who could have been termed a religious character, or\nspiritually-minded, nor did he give evidence of intellectual talent. But\nhe had gained access to some of the highest society in Europe. And yet\nboth men were \"mediums\" for these curious phenomena, to a wonderful\nextent, both as regards the amount and the variety of the\nmanifestations. Although the two men were so different, there is a\nparallelism in the phenomena in so many respects, that a similar origin\nor source seems inevitably suggested. There were peculiarities special\nto each, but untouched movements of heavy articles, \"levitations,\"\nlights, and sounds, were phenomena common to both. From whence does this\n\"chain of mysteries\" come? Is the source to be sought for in\nundiscovered powers and faculties of the men themselves, or in the\naction of other intelligences? That is a problem which must be left. It\nis outside the scope of this inquiry, which deals solely with the\nestablishment of physical facts. But where can any other field be found\nof equal interest? Difficulties and perplexities meet the explorer in\nabundance. But they exist in order to be overcome by the same steady\npersistence which has attained its reward in many another direction.\n\nWith regard to two other chapters I desire also to make a special\nremark--those on \"Materialisations\" and \"Spirit Photography.\" Both are\nphysical phenomena. But I desire to make it plain that no claim is made\nof being able to present evidence with regard to either of these\nsubjects which should satisfy the reasonable demands of science. It may\nbe asked--Why then introduce them at all? For two reasons: (1) Because\nthe evidence in favour of both is only just outside the boundary of\nscientific demonstration. (2) Because of the extreme interest of the\nphenomena themselves.\n\nAs to \"Materialisations.\" Out of an immense mass of testimony, most of\nit of no evidential value, one case has been selected where more than\nordinary care seems to have been taken. But the phenomenon is so\nmarvellous, especially in its more perfect alleged phases, when the\n\"materialised\" form is scarcely distinguishable from a living breathing\nhuman being, that the inquirer is bound to hold his judgment in suspense\nuntil the last possible moment.\n\nAgain as to \"Spirit Photography.\" The term \"Psychic Photography\" would\nbe far preferable, as implying no theory. The experiences of Mr. J.\nTraill Taylor, which I have selected as the sole illustration, appear to\nleave no moral doubt but that under certain circumstances photographs\nare produced which known laws are unable to explain. Definite and\nrecognisable human figures and faces are thus obtained. But this is a\nvery long way from proving that \"spirits\" sit or stand before the camera\nfor their photographs to be taken!\n\nIf some trained experimenter in scientific research, who possesses an\nunbiassed mind, would devote himself for two or three years to the study\nof either of these classes of phenomena, it is almost a certainty that\nhe would be richly rewarded. Is there no one who will enter upon the\ntask?\n\nThere is one large group of evidence, embracing most of the phenomena\nwhich have been under consideration, from which I had hoped to make\ncopious selections, with pleasure to myself, and with interest to the\nreader. No living scientist has bestowed so large an amount of study on\n\"certain phenomena usually termed spiritualistic\" as Sir William\nCrookes. As long ago as the year 1874, Sir William Crookes gave\npermission for the reprint of a limited number of copies of various\narticles which he had contributed to the periodical literature of the\nday. These, with some other original matter, were published under the\ntitle of \"Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism.\" That volume has\nlong been out of print. In 1890, an article by Sir William Crookes,\nunder the title of \"Notes of Seances with D. D. Home,\" was published in\nvolume vi. of the _Proceedings_ of the Society for Psychical Research.\nHe also referred to his experiences with D. D. Home, in two addresses\ndelivered at meetings of the Society in 1894 and in 1899. These are\nreported in the _Journal_ of the Society. Sir William Crookes also\ndevoted a portion of his address, as President of the British\nAssociation in 1898, to a reference to the part he took many years\nbefore in psychical research. This portion of the address was reprinted\nin volume xiv. of the _Proceedings_ of the Society.\n\nConsiderations, which cannot be entered into here, compel me, however,\nto be content with referring the reader to the publications mentioned,\na study of which will, I think, bring conviction that the scientific\nevidence they contain would, even if it stood alone, be amply sufficient\nto prove the reality of the alleged phenomena.[67]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe are now warranted in the assertion that we have arrived at this\nposition: That the careful reader is compelled to admit that the\nevidence in favour of a variety of alleged physical phenomena being\nundoubted facts, is too strong to be resisted. We are accustomed to say\nin ordinary life, the proof of this or that is complete. The man of\nscience is accustomed to say in his own sphere of inquiry, the proof of\nthis or that is complete. Applying the same rules of evidence to\nphysical phenomena generally called spiritualistic, we are bound to\nadmit that in regard to many of them the proof of their reality is\ncomplete. Yet these facts are not recognised by the world of science,\nand are scarcely deemed worthy of any serious attention by the majority\nof intelligent people.\n\nIt may be worth while to consider for a few moments the mode in which\nnew knowledge enters the mind. By new knowledge is meant not extension\nof existing knowledge, but facts of a new order, such, for instance, as\nthe rising of a heavy dining table into the air without any recognised\nphysical cause being apparent. The difficulty of admitting new facts of\nthis kind to the mind is not confined to any one class of people.\nIndeed the difficulty appears to be greater in the case of highly\neducated people than among the comparatively uninformed. Sir Oliver\nLodge has recently said: \"What does a 'proof' mean? A proof means\ndestroying the isolation of an observed fact or experience by linking it\non with all pre-existent knowledge; it means the bringing it into its\nplace in the system of knowledge; and it affords the same sort of\ngratification as finding the right place for a queer-shaped piece in a\npuzzle-map. Do not let these puzzle-maps go out of fashion; they afford\na most useful psychological illustration; the foundation of every\norganised system of truth is bound up with them.... It is because a\nnumber of phenomena, such as clairvoyance, physical movement without\ncontact, and other apparent abnormalities and unusualnesses, cannot at\npresent be linked on with the rest of knowledge in a coherent stream--it\nis for that reason that they are not, as yet, generally recognised as\ntrue; they stand at present outside the realms of science; they will be\npresently incorporated into that kingdom, and annexed by the progress of\ndiscovery.\"[68]\n\nMr. F. C. S. Schiller, in an article in the _Proceedings_ of the Society\nfor Psychical Research, expresses a similar thought in a different\nmanner. He says:--\n\n\"A mind unwilling to believe, or even undesirous to be instructed, our\nweightiest evidence must ever fail to impress. It will insist on taking\nthat evidence in bits, and rejecting it item by item. The man therefore\nwho announces his intention of waiting until a single absolutely\nconclusive bit of evidence turns up, is really a man _not_ open to\nconviction, and if he is a logician, _he knows it_. For modern logic has\nmade it plain that single facts can never be 'proved,' except by their\ncoherence in a system. But as all the facts come singly, any one who\ndismisses them one by one, is destroying the conditions under which the\nconviction of new truth could arise in his mind.\"[69]\n\nMr. Myers, in summing up the evidence in the case of Mr. Stainton Moses,\ndwells on the importance of simple repetition. This, though practically\neffective, is scarcely a scientific consideration. A fact is none the\nless a fact on account of the rarity of its occurrence, any more than\nthe existence of a rare animal or plant is rendered questionable by the\nfewness of the number of specimens which have been found.\n\nAn interesting chapter might be written under the title of \"The\nHistory of the Growth in the Belief in Hypnotism during the last\nTwenty-five Years.\" One episode that would be included in such a\nhistory may be worth quoting here as illustrating the present subject.\nAs recently as 1891, the British Medical Association appointed a\nCommittee, consisting of eleven of its number, \"to investigate the\nnature of the phenomena of hypnotism, its value as a therapeutic\nagent, and the propriety of using it.\" This Committee presented a\nReport at the Annual Meeting in the following year. In the first\nparagraph they solemnly stated that they \"have satisfied themselves of\nthe genuineness of the hypnotic state\" (!). They also expressed the\n\"opinion that as a therapeutic agent hypnotism is frequently effective\nin relieving pain, procuring sleep, and alleviating many functional\nailments\" (!). They are also of opinion that its \"employment for\ntherapeutic purposes should be confined to qualified medical men.\"\n\nThe Association referred this unanimous Report of its Committee back for\nfurther consideration. In 1893 the Committee presented it again, with\nthe addition of an important Appendix, consisting of \"some documentary\nevidence upon which the Report was based.\" On this occasion it was moved\nand seconded, that the Report should lie on the table. It was suggested\nthat the amendment to this effect be so altered as to read that the\nReport be received only, and the Committee thanked for their services.\nFinally, a resolution to this effect was carried. The most strongly\nworded recommendation of the Report was that some legal restriction\nshould be placed on public exhibitions of hypnotic phenomena. This was\nonly twelve years ago, and was five or six years subsequent to the\npublication of some of Mr. Edmund Gurney's most important series of\nexperiments in hypnotism in the _Proceedings_ of the Society for\nPsychical Research. The \"reception only\" of the Report was also two or\nthree years subsequent to a demonstration of hypnotic anaesthesia which\nDr. J. Milne Bramwell gave at Leeds to a large gathering of medical men.\nOne result of that gathering was that Dr. Bramwell decided to abandon\ngeneral practice and devote himself to hypnotic work. Dr. Bramwell\nsays:--\n\n\"As I was well aware of the fate that had awaited earlier pioneers in\nthe same movement, I naturally expected to meet with opposition and\nmisrepresentation. These have been encountered, it is true; but the\nfriendly help and encouragement received have been immeasurably greater.\nI have also had many opportunities of placing my views before my\nprofessional brethren, both by writing and speaking;\" to which Dr.\nBramwell somewhat naively adds--\"opportunities all the more valued,\nbecause almost always unsolicited.\"[70]\n\nAn incident which occurred in connection with the most sensational case\nof \"levitation\" recorded of D. D. Home, is very instructive as\nillustrating the great care that is needful in estimating the value of\ntestimony regarding spiritualistic phenomena, even of statements made by\npersons of established reputation and position.\n\nThe Joint Report of Professor Barrett and Mr. Myers, from which extracts\nwere made in Chapter V., says:--\n\n\"Lords Lindsay and Adare had printed a statement that Home floated out\nof the window, and in at another, in Ashley Place, S.W., 16th December\n1868. A third person, Captain Wynne, was present at the time, but had\nwritten no separate account. Dr. Carpenter, in an article in the\n_Contemporary Review_ for January 1876, thus commented on the\nincident:--\n\n\"'The most diverse accounts of the _facts_ of a seance will be given by\na believer and a sceptic. A whole party of believers will affirm that\nthey saw Mr. Home float out of one window, and in at another, while a\nsingle honest sceptic declares that Mr. Home was sitting in his chair\nall the time. And in this last case we have an example of a fact, of\nwhich there is ample illustration, that during the prevalence of an\nepidemic delusion, the honest testimony of any number of individuals on\none side, if given under a prepossession, is of no more weight than that\nof a single adverse witness--if so much.'\n\n\"This passage was of course quoted as implying that Captain Wynne had\nsomewhere made a statement contradicting Lords Lindsay and Adare. Home\nwrote to him to inquire; and he replied ... in the following terms:--\n\n\"'I remember that Dr. Carpenter wrote some nonsense about that trip of\nyours along the side of the house in Ashley Place. I wrote to the\n_Medium_ to say that I was present as a witness. Now I don't think that\nany one who knows me would for one moment say that I was a victim to\nhallucination or any other humbug of the kind. The fact of your having\ngone out of the window and in at the other I can swear to.'\"\n\n\"It seems, therefore, that the instance selected by Dr. Carpenter to\nprove the existence of a hallucination--by the exemption of one person\npresent from the illusion--was of a very unfortunate kind; suggesting,\nindeed, that a controversialist thus driven to draw on his imagination\nfor his facts must have been conscious of a weak case.\"[71]\n\nIt may be interesting, in concluding this brief examination into one\nbranch of the great subject of \"Spiritualism,\" to bring together a few\nof the impressions produced on the minds of some of the leading\ninvestigators. It should not be forgotten that the branch of the subject\nwhich we have been studying may be looked upon as representing the\nlowest steps only of a great staircase which ascends, until, to our\ngaze, it is lost in unknown infinite heights. It is only the foot of a\nladder, to use another simile, resting on the material earth, which we\nhave been considering; at most the two or three lowest rungs. But to the\neyes of some, even now and here, glimpses of angels ascending and\ndescending are visible.\n\nFive names stand out prominently before all others among the earlier\ninvestigators of the last thirty years--Sir William Crookes and\nProfessor W. F. Barrett, who are still with us; and Professor Henry\nSidgwick, Edmund Gurney, and F. W. H. Myers, who have gone. Sir William\nCrookes' work in other directions has been all-absorbing, so that all he\nhas been able to tell us during the last few years, in relation to our\npresent subject, is that he had nothing to add to, and nothing to\nretract from what he has said in the past. In his address as President\nof the British Association in 1898, Sir William Crookes said, after\nreferring to his work of thirty years ago:--\n\n\"I think I see a little further now. I have glimpses of something like\ncoherence among the strange elusive phenomena, of something like\ncontinuity between those unexplained forces, and laws already known....\nWere I now introducing for the first time these inquiries to the world\nof science, I should choose a starting-point different from that of old.\nIt would be well to begin with Telepathy; with the fundamental law, as I\nbelieve it to be, that thoughts and images may be transferred from one\nmind to another without the agency of the recognised organs of\nsense--that knowledge may enter the human mind without being\ncommunicated in any hitherto known or recognised ways.\"[72]\n\nFor Professor Barrett's present views the reader is referred to his\naddress as President of the Society for Psychical Research delivered in\nJanuary 1904.[73] It is full of interest, but is not easy to quote from.\nSpeaking of \"spiritualistic phenomena,\" he says: \"We must all agree that\nindiscriminate condemnation on the one hand, and ignorant credulity on\nthe other, are the two most mischievous elements with which we are\nconfronted in connection with this subject. It is because we, as a\nSociety, feel that in the fearless pursuit of truth, it is the paramount\nduty of science to lead the way, that the scornful attitude of the\nscientific world towards even the investigation of these phenomena is so\nmuch to be deprecated.... I suppose we are all apt to fancy our own\npower of discernment and of sound judgment to be somewhat better than\nour neighbours. But after all, is it not the common-sense, the care, the\npatience, and the amount of uninterrupted attention we bestow upon any\npsychical phenomena we are investigating, that gives value to the\nopinion at which we arrive, and not the particular cleverness or\nscepticism of the observer? The lesson we all need to learn is, that\nwhat even the humblest of men _affirm_, from their own experience, is\nalways worth listening to, but what even the cleverest of men, in their\nignorance, deny, is never worth a moment's attention.\"[74]\n\nAs regards Professor Sidgwick, the experimental work of the Society for\nPsychical Research soon convinced him that Thought-Transference, or\nTelepathy, was a fact. In an address in 1889, after speaking of the\nprobabilities of testimony given being false, he says:--\n\n\"It is for this reason that I feel that a part of my grounds for\nbelieving in Telepathy, depending as it does on personal knowledge,\ncannot be communicated except in a weakened form to the ordinary reader\nof the printed statements which represent the evidence that has\nconvinced me. Indeed I feel this so strongly that I have always made it\nmy highest ambition as a psychical researcher to produce evidence which\nwill drive my opponents to doubt my honesty or veracity; I think there\nare a very small minority who will not doubt them, and that if I can\nconvince them I have done all that I can do: as regards the majority of\nmy own acquaintances I should claim no more than an admission that they\nwere considerably surprised to find me in the trick.\"[75]\n\nI am not aware that Professor Sidgwick ever expressed any opinion as to\nthe reality of the ordinary physical spiritualistic manifestations. It\nis clear that he believed a large proportion to have been fraudulently\nproduced. As to some psychical phenomena, his convictions were very\nstrong. For instance, in the final paragraph of the \"Report on\nHallucinations,\" which occupies the whole of the tenth volume of the\n_Proceedings_ of the Society, and to which he appended his name, these\ntwo sentences occur: \"Between deaths and apparitions of the dying person\na connection exists which is not due to chance alone. This we hold as a\nproved fact.\"[76] And Professor Sidgwick speaks of this as corroborating\nthe conclusion already drawn by Mr. Gurney nearly ten years earlier.\n\nMr. Edmund Gurney's name stands next. His earthly work came to a sudden\ntermination in 1888. \"Phantasms of the Living\" is his enduring memorial.\nAlthough two other names are associated with his on the title-page, the\ngreater part of the two volumes was written by him alone. For most of\nthe views expressed Mr. Gurney is solely responsible. In a chapter\ndevoted to \"The Theory of Chance-Coincidence\" as an explanation of the\norder of natural phenomena to which \"Phantasms of the Living\" belong,\nMr. Gurney says:--\n\n\"Figures, one is sometimes told, can be made to prove anything; but I\nconfess I should be curious to see the figures by which the theory of\nchance-coincidence could here be proved adequate to the facts. Whatever\ngroup of phenomena be selected, and whatever method of reckoning be\nadopted, probabilities are hopelessly and even ludicrously\noverpassed.\"[77]\n\nThis is the conclusion referred to above by Professor Sidgwick. With\nexclusively physical phenomena Mr. Gurney did not much concern himself.\n\nThe last of the five names mentioned is that of Mr F. W. H. Myers. The\nwritten testimony he has left behind enables us to obtain a much clearer\nview of his conclusions as a whole, than is attainable in the case of\nProfessor Sidgwick and Mr. Gurney. The convictions which he came to in\nregard to the two most notable \"mediums\" in the history of modern\nspiritualism--D. D. Home and W. Stainton Moses--are evidence that he\nbelieved in most of the alleged phenomena being proved realities. These\nconvictions are so important from such a careful and competent student\nof the subject that it is best to quote them in his own words. Of D. D.\nHome he said: \"If our readers ask us--'Do you desire us to go on\nexperimenting in these matters, as though Home's phenomena were\ngenuine?'--we answer 'Yes.'\"[78] Of the phenomena which occurred in the\npresence of W. Stainton Moses, Mr. Myers said: \"That they were not\nproduced fraudulently by Dr. Speer or other sitters I regard as proved\nboth by moral considerations and by the fact that they are constantly\nreported as occurring when Mr. Moses was alone. That Mr. Moses should\nhave himself fraudulently produced them, I regard as both morally and\nphysically incredible. That he should have prepared and produced them in\na state of trance, I regard both as physically incredible, and also as\nentirely inconsistent with the tenour both of his own reports and of\nthose of his friends. I therefore regard the reported phenomena as\nhaving actually occurred in a genuinely supernormal manner.\"[79]\n\nAt the same time Mr. Myers believed in the existence of a large amount\nof conscious and wilful fraud, especially in professional mediumship.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere will be no fitter conclusion to this volume than a few passages\nfrom the last chapter, entitled \"Epilogue,\" of \"Human Personality,\" by\nMr. F. W. H. Myers. To a large extent they are appropriate to the\nevidence presented in the preceding pages.\n\n\"The task which I proposed to myself at the beginning of this work, is\nnow, after a fashion, accomplished. Following the successive steps of my\nprogramme, I have presented--not indeed all the evidence I possess, and\nwhich I would willingly present--but enough at least to illustrate a\ncontinuous exposition.... Such wider generalisations as I may now add,\nmust needs be dangerously speculative; they must run the risk of\nalienating still further from this research many of the scientific minds\nwhich I am most anxious to influence....\n\n\"The inquiry falls between the two stools of religion and science; it\ncannot claim support either from the 'religious world' or from the Royal\nSociety. Yet even apart from the instinct of pure scientific curiosity\n(which surely has seldom seen such a field opening before it), the\nmighty issues depending on these phenomena ought, I think, to constitute\nin themselves a strong, an exceptional appeal. I desire in this book to\nemphasise that appeal; not only to produce conviction, but also to\nattract co-operation. And actual converse with many persons has led me\nto believe that in order to attract such help, even from scientific men,\nsome general view of the moral upshot of all the phenomena is needed....\nThe time is ripe for a study of unseen things as strenuous and sincere\nas that which Science has made familiar for the problems of earth.\"\n\nComing now to more definite considerations, Mr. Myers writes thus of\nTelepathy, lifting it on to an altogether higher plane: \"In the\ninfinite Universe man may now feel, for the first time, at home. The\nworst fear is over; the true security is won. The worst fear was the\nfear of spiritual extinction or spiritual solitude. The true security\nis in the telepathic law. Let me draw out my meaning at somewhat\ngreater length. As we have dwelt successively on various aspects of\nTelepathy we have gradually felt the conception enlarge and deepen\nunder our study. It began as a quasi-mechanical transference of ideas\nand images from one to another brain.\" This is illustrated by the\nseries of Thought-Transference Drawings; almost the only telepathic\nmanifestation which strictly comes within the scope of our inquiry\ninto physical phenomena. \"Presently we find it assuming a more varied\nand potent form, as though it were the veritable influence or invasion\nof a distant mind. Again, its action was traced across a gulf greater\nthan any space of earth or ocean, and it bridged the interval between\nspirits incarnate and discarnate, between the visible and the\ninvisible world. There seemed no limit to the distance of its\noperation, or to the intimacy of its appeal....\n\n\"Love ... is no matter of carnal impulse or of emotional caprice....\nLove is a kind of exalted but unspecialised Telepathy;--the simplest and\nmost universal expression of that mutual gravitation or kinship of\nspirits which is the foundation of the telepathic law. This is the\nanswer to the ancient fear; the fear lest man's fellowships be the\noutward, and his solitude the inward thing.... Such fears vanish when we\nlearn that it is the soul in man which links him with other souls; the\nbody which dissevers even while it seems to unite.... Like atoms, like\nsuns, like galaxies, our spirits are systems of forces which vibrate\ncontinually to each other's attractive power.\"\n\nFor the further working out of these thoughts the reader must be\nreferred to Mr. Myers' book itself. After a few pages Mr. Myers\nproceeds:--\n\n\"Our duty [the duty of Psychical Researchers] is not the founding of a\nnew sect, nor even the establishment of a new science, but is rather the\nexpansion of Science herself until she can satisfy those questions,\nwhich the human heart will rightly ask, but to which Religion alone has\nthus far attempted an answer.... I see our original programme completely\njustified.... I see all things coming to pass as we foresaw. What I do\n_not_ see, alas! is an energy and capacity of our own, sufficient for\nour widening duty.... We invite workers from each department of\nscience, from every school of thought. With equal confidence we appeal\nfor co-operation to _savant_ and to saint.\n\n\"To the _savant_ we point out that we are not trying to pick holes in\nthe order of Nature, but rather by the scrutiny of residual phenomena,\nto get nearer to the origin and operation of Nature's central mystery of\nLife. Men who realise that the ethereal environment was discovered\nyesterday, need not deem it impossible that a metethereal\nenvironment--yet another omnipresent system of cosmic law--should be\ndiscovered to-morrow. The only valid _a priori_ presumption in the\nmatter, is the presumption that the Universe is infinite in an infinite\nnumber of ways.\n\n\"To the Christian we can speak with a still more direct appeal. You\nbelieve--I would say--that a spiritual world exists, and that it acted\non the material world two thousand years ago. Surely it is so acting\nstill. Nay, you believe that it is so acting still, for you believe that\nprayer is heard and answered. To believe that prayer is heard is to\nbelieve in Telepathy--in the direct influence of mind on mind. To\nbelieve that prayer is answered is to believe that unembodied spirit\ndoes actually modify (even if not storm-cloud or plague-germ) at least\nthe minds, and therefore the brains, of living men. From that belief the\nmost advanced 'psychical' theories are easy corollaries.\"\n\nA few more lines in conclusion:--\n\n\"It may be that for some generations to come the truest faith will lie\nin the patient attempt to unravel from confused phenomena some trace of\nthe supernal world;--to find thus at last 'the substance of things\nhoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' I confess, indeed, that I\nhave often felt as though this present age were even unduly\nfavoured;--as though no future revelation and calm could equal the joy\nof this great struggle from doubt into certainty;--from the materialism\nor agnosticism which accompany the first advance of Science into the\ndeeper scientific conviction that there is a deathless soul in man. I\ncan imagine no other crisis of such deep delight.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[66] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. ix. p. 252.\n\n[67] The references to these contributions are: _Proceedings S.P.R._,\nvol. vi. pp. 98-127; _Journal S.P.R._, vol. vi. pp. 341-345, and vol.\nix. pp. 147-148; _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xiv. pp. 2-5. \"Researches in\nthe Phenomena of Spiritualism\" will be found in the Libraries of the\nSociety for Psychical Research, and of the London Spiritualist Alliance.\n\n[68] \"School Teaching and School Reform,\" by Sir Oliver Lodge, pp. 89,\n90.\n\n[69] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xviii. p. 419.\n\n[70] See \"Hypnotism: Its History, Practice, and Theory,\" by J. Milne\nBramwell, M.B., C.M., 1903, pp. 36-39.\n\n[71] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. iv. pp. 108-109.\n\n[72] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xiv. p. 3.\n\n[73] Ibid., Part XLVIII., 1s. (included in vol. xviii. pp. 323-351).\n\n[74] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xviii. pp. 340-341.\n\n[75] Ibid., vol. vi. p. 5.\n\n[76] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. x. p. 394.\n\n[77] \"Phantasms of the Living,\" vol. ii. p. 21.\n\n[78] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. iv. p. 115.\n\n[79] _Proceedings S.P.R._, vol. xi. pp. 24-25.\n\n\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n    Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON, & CO.\n    Edinburgh & London","title":"Psychic phenomena : $b a brief account of the physical manifestations observed in psychical research","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":32471}