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THE COMING SCIENCE

THE

COMING SCIENCE

HEREWARD CARRINGTON

AUTHOR OF "VITALITY, FASTING AND
NUTRITION," "THE PHYSICAL PHE-
NOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM," ETC.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

JAMES H. HYSLOP, Ph.D., LL.D.

FOBHBBLT PBOFESSOB OF LOOIC JiVT) ETHICS

COLUMBIA univkbsitt; authob of

• ' 8CIBNCB AND A FUTUBK LIFB, ' " ' PSYCHIC AI.
BBSSABCH AND THE BBSUBBSCTION, " ETC.

SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

BOSTON - - - MCMVIII

Copyright, 1908

J3i2 Small, /Bai^narD Si Company

(iHCOSrOBATKD)

Entered at Stationers* Hall

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PBBSBWOBK BY
I VKmUtSITT PBBSS, CAMBSIDeS, V.I.A.

TO

THE MEMORY OF

©ne

WHO POSSESSED THE CLEAREST VISION

THE SANEST AND THE PUREST

MIND I HAVE EVER

KNOWN

PREFACE

IN presenting the following book to the public, I
wish to say, first of all, that I must not be under-
stood as endowing or even as accepting all the views
and theories that are advanced, from time to time,
throughout the book. I have offered these merely
tentatively, and merely as possible explanations for
facts that, on the strength of existing testimony, I
have assumed to be established. Readers of my other,
more cautious books upon this and other subjects
will see that I have not been unwary in approaching
this question ; and I do not wish to draw upon
myself the charge of credulity merely because I
have presented certain theories in this book that,
from the standpoint of orthodox science, may appear
somewhat ' wild.' Having absolved myself in this
manner, I leave the reader to find in the text what-
ever he can of interest or profit.

A certain lack of connection and coherence may be
found in the chapters of the book, due to the fact
that some of these essays have appeared, in part
at least, in the Journal of the American Society
for Psychical Research, The Metaphysical Magazine^
and elsewhere. This is to be regretted, but could

vii

PREFACE

not very well be helped. The opening chapters are
devoted to a defence of the legitimacy of the study
and replies to various attacks from various sources.
This the reader will see for himself.

One word more. This book is not an attempt
to establish any of the facts, but is rather a dis-
cussion of theories that might be invoked in order
to explain the facts, once they have been established.
The reader who is unconvinced will find little to
convince him in this book ; the facts will be found
well summarised in Professor Hyslop''s four books,
in the publications of the English and American
Societies for Psychical Research (hereinafter referred
to as the S. P. R.), and in other works upon this
subject. Very little has been said, however, in ac-
cessible books, in the way of explanatory hypotheses ;
and these I have endeavoured to make the principal
factor in the present book. It is hoped that this
will be of interest to the public, for the very reason
that so little of an explanatory nature is said in the
current books.

My best thanks are due Prof. James H. Hyslop
for his kind Introduction.

H. C.

Vlll

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Coming Science 1

II. The Philosophy of Life : oh The Possibility

OF A Scientific Optimism 14

III. Psychical Research : Repues to Objections 43

IV. Haeckel's ' ' Law or Substance" and Immortality 90
V. The Origin and Nature of Consciousness . 114

Ensuing Correspondence 139

VI. The Problems of Hypnotism ...... 179

VII. The Problems of Telepathy ...... 192

VIII. The Problems of Sleep and Dreams . , . 204
IX. Modern Spiritualism : A Brief Historical

Resum^ 227

X. The Case of Mrs. Piper 239

XI. On the Influence upon the Communicator's

Mind of Objects Presented to the Medium 257

XII. The Nature of Apparitions , . 273

XIII. Experiments in Weighing the Soul , , , . 285

XIV. Haunted Houses : Theories 312

XV. Haunted Houses and their Cure .... 331

XVI. Premonitions : Facts and Theories .... 348
XVII. EusAPiA Paladino and the Physical Phenomena

OF Spiritualism 369

XVIII. Conclusion .•••••••••... 387

INDEX • 391

INTRODUCTION

MR. CARRINGTON. has asked me to write a
brief introduction to his book on psychic
research, and I am glad to comply with his request.
He has here covered in a very clear and intelligible
way the main points of interest in the problems which
concern the psychic researcher. The book assumes
that the facts are known or easily accessible to the
reader in the publications of the Society for Psychical
Research, and hence the main part of the author's
task is discussion of their real or possible meaning
and explanation. The chapter on telepathy I can-
not help thinking is a very conservative and cau-
tious one ; for the general public has used that
idea so freely that it is constantly assumed to be
a well-known and well-understood phenomenon. It
is far from this, and yet is the least that a psychical
researcher can accept in regard to certain facts.
Mr. Carrington brings out clearly that it is not
to be regarded as an explanation of anything, and
is only a name for facts requiring such an expla-
nation. This is of all things one of the most im-
portant qualifications with which the term is to be
used. Moreover, it is well to keep in mind that

xi

INTRODUCTION

even, as an alleged fact of the supernormal kind,
it is not a generally accepted phenomenon in the
scientific world. Only a few men seriously believe
in it, and others are willing to speak and think
of it tolerantly in order to escape a profounder
alternative. But no intelligent scientific man will
think or speak of it with that confidence of feeling
that he indulges in with i-egard to physical phe-
nomena, or think that he understands it. Whatever
it is, as a phenomenon to be explained, its meaning
and explanation are still subjudice for the scientific
world.

On the other topics of the book Mr. Carrington
furnishes no less interesting discussion, and I have
no doubt that readers will find the matter exceed-
ingly helpful in directing their reflections on them.
The whole subject has been left by the more
responsible educators of the community to a public
which has not been directed by the traditions of
science, and the consequence is that speculation
runs riot in theories for which there is no ade-
quate evidence. It is high time that some such
conservative discussion as this little book affords
should receive intelligent attention.

James H. Hyslop.

Zll

THE COMING SCIENCE

THE COMING SCIENCE

CHAPTER I

THE COMING SCIENCE

THE majority of persons, upon seeing the
title of this book, will at once ask: What is
the Coming Science? I do not doubt that many
will think that this consists of the newer discov-
eries in physics and radio-activity, about which we
are hearing so much to-day ; others will think that
it is biology ; others psychology ; others electricity,
and so on — in fact, each will construe the
title differently, according to his behef s in the pos-
sibilities of the subject mentioned and in propor-
tion to his interest in it. Thus the person inter-
ested in the newer discoveries in physics will think
that the first of the above-mentioned departments
of science will be the one most cultivated in the
future and that from which most is to be hoped
by coming generations ; those interested in psychol-
ogy will think that that is the subject of study
for the future; and so on, each one thinking that
some certain department of science will be the one
most in evidence in the coming years, though
never neglectful of nor blind to the possibilities

2 THE COMING SCIENCE

of the others. To my mind the Coming Science
will not be any of those just named, but will be
one that is not as yet recognised as a science at
all, properly speaking, by the majority of scien-
tists. I refer to what are known as psychic phe-
nomena, and the Coming Science is psychic re-
search. Although this statement may arouse
the ridicule of many of my readers, I think that
there are facts to support it and that far from
being irrational, this is the logical outcome of
modern thought and wiU represent an extension of
our present-day science in the right and logical di-
rection. I shall now attempt to lay before the
reader a few of the many reasons that have forced
me to believe this to be true, and shall endeavour
to show that the outcome is only what is to be ex-
pected from a close study of the facts.

In the process of time, the world has passed
through various stages of evolution. First of all,
there was the purely animal stage (I am referring
now only to man), and in that era brute force was
the ruling power; it was this that was most ad-
mired and upon which life depended. Then the
era of mind began to dawn. It was discovered
that cunning and skilled planning could over-
come the power of pure force, and man began to
cultivate and desire mind more than brute strength,
and evolution began to tend in that direction.

THE COMING SCIENCE 3

Less and less space within the organism was de-
voted to the digestive functions and other animal
propensities, and more to the higher thinking
and f eeHng and willing organs. A study of com-
parative anatomy will prove this. So, as man
ascended in the scale of evolution, mind became the
all-ruling and preponderating element, and animal
force became less prominent and less admired.
Mind was first of all devoted, probably, to the fur-
therance of the desires of the individual organism ;
but later it spread over wider areas and extended
to higher and broader spheres; pure, abstract
thinking became possible, and altruism, or thought
of others besides self, began to show itself through
the darkness that had until then reigned supreme
upon the world. And with this higher knowledge
began to develop that spiritual self and conscious-
ness of which we are just beginning to catch the
first signs, and which is doubtless in its very in-
fancy in the realm of higher knowledge. This
spiritual side of man, that is just becoming mani-
fest, may possess powers and potencies as great,
as relatively great when compared to the purely
mental world, as that was above the physical and
animal world. A creature living on the first plane
would be totally incapable of appreciating any
of the joys and possibilities of one living on the
second or thought-plane; and, by analogy, it is

4 THE COMING SCIENCE

more than probable that we, of the second plane,
cannot appreciate or understand the possibilities
and returns of those who have at least tasted or
faintly perceived the third or spiritual plane. The
aspirations would be different; the same joys would
not be sought by both; and those of the third
plane would be superior to many of the desires
and appetites of those living on the second or
mental plane — just as they in turn would be
superior to those of the first. This would seem
to be borne out by the fact that yogis, and per-
haps certain mediums, who have (so it is claimed)
risen beyond the second into the third plane, are
independent of many of the things felt to be neces-
sities by those on the second plane. Their desires
and aspirations are of a different order, and with
them what is most desired is spiritual growth and
development; material and mental growth are not
sought for and desired as they are with us. But
to desire that development it must first of all be
tasted, — in a trifling degree, perhaps, but still
tasted, — and the germs and the possibilities must
be present within the being of one capable of de-
siring such advancement. As Professor James
pointed out many years ago, a man is only jeal-
ous of one who excels him in his own line of work,
and although he (speaking for himself) would
feel ashamed if any man knew more psychology

THE COMING SCIENCE 6

than he, he did not at all mind if many men ex-
celled him in botany or billiards or prize-fight-
ing or in a number of other pursuits and studies,
though the botanist or the billiard-player or
the prize-fighter would feel ashamed to be beaten
by anyone else in his own special line of work or
occupation. This shows, merely, that we only de-
sire, ceteris paribus, what is an ideal possibility;
and if we are capable of feeling and experiencing
envy (in its best sense) for another more de-
veloped than ourselves in any certain direction, it
shows that we have some of that very thing in
us; and more, that we are, unconsciously perhaps,
striving to excel in that line of endeavour.

Now, I think that there are few of us who do
not admire, not to say envy, any man or woman
in whom this spiritual side is highly developed.
We wish that we also had their capacities in this
direction, and we endeavour to emulate their ex-
ample — often to the betterment of ourselves, as
we know. This shows us conclusively that there
is in each of us a hidden spiritual side, which
needs only to be developed in order to be brought
into full blossom — foregoing, perhaps, many of
the so-called delights and pleasures of this world
in the attempt, but, we may be assured, reaping
a reward at some time, in some place. A spiritual
side is latent in all of us, awaiting its development.

6 THE COMING SCIENCE

What is this unknown, spiritual side? Whence
came it, and what are its capacities? These are
some of the questions to which we must now ad-
dress ourselves.

During the past two hundred years, science has
been devoting her energies (rightly) to the phys-
ical sciences — physics, chemistry, anatomy, phys-
iology, astronomy, etc. It is only of late that
psychology has risen to a place among the other
sciences, while philosophy and metaphysics are
still laughed at by many scientists as mere idle
dreams or as pleasant ways of passing time that
might be more profitably spent in other pursuits.
It has never seemed to occur to these scientists that
the conclusions drawn from every one of their facts
are, at basis, metaphysical, and that all science,
inasmuch as it is systematic, must be philosophical !
This is now recognised, it must be admitted, to
some degree, and the old antagonism to these sub-
jects is fast disappearing; but they are yet looked
upon as in some way inferior, and dependent upon
the physical sciences for their value and existence.
Of course this is not true in the sense that it is
generally understood; but I think it quite right
that science should have devoted her early time
and energies to a close and systematic study of
the objective world, and to have ignored all else.
Only in that way could any real progress have

THE COMING SCIENCE 7

been made at a time when so little was known
of the universe in any part of its parts. But
there is no reason for continuing this resentful
and intolerant attitude now that we have placed
science upon a sure foundation ; and we are learn-
ing slowly but more and more surely every day
that behind and beyond this material, seen and
phenomenal world there is yet another world of
causes — that which produces the effects we per-
ceive. We find that every one of the physical
sciences comes to a point where it can go no fur-
ther, and this has proved to be the case even with
such material sciences as chemistry and physics.
Ten years ago it was one of the very funda-
mentals of science that the material atom was the
most minute particle of matter in the world, and
that from it this and all other worlds were built;
that it was indivisible, unchangeable and eternal:
it formed the very foundation stone of the uni-
verse. But now we find that these atoms have
been split up and divided ; we have now an ' elec-
trical theory of matter' which has verily ex-
plained away matter altogether, so that we are
no longer entitled to think of it as matter at all,
but as something else, itself immaterial ! This be-
ing so, it will be seen that we are entitled to doubt
whether any such thing as a material world exists
at all, in the sense in which it is generally under-

S THE COMING SCIENCE

stood, and that matter and the seen and tangible
world recedes into the unseen and intangible world
of force and causation. " Matter " no longer
means what it did a few years ago; it exists only
as a name; and soon we must begin to study the
forces that lie behind matter, of which it is the
active manifestation. The world of causes and
forces lies before us, an unopened book. In the
past we have been studying merely the world of
products and effects.

Let us take a simple example by way of illustra-
tion. Two chemical elements combine to form a
new substance (so-called) with properties different
from either. This has occurred because there has
been operative a certain force, called for conven-
ience chemical affinity, which has caused this great
change and brought these results to pass. The
effects of this force or of these forces have been
studied, the new product has been analysed,
weighed and classified ; but little attention has been
given to the force that produced these changes —
the chemical affinity. What is this force which
produced the change? It may be classed, with
others, in the Law of Conservation ; but does that
do aught but classify it ; does it in any way at-
tempt to explain it? Surely not! The law of
this force may have been determined, but the
nature of the force is still a mystery.

THE COMING SCIENCE 9

I contend then that the study of these forces
• — these noumena — should be that which most oc-
cupies our minds during the coming century ; it
will be a century for work in and study of causes
rather than effects. And more, the course of
science will swing round into a study of the mental
forces and powers of the universe; partly because
all other forces will be traced into an unseen world,
equally with consciousness; partly because this
world presents a wider field for inquiry than any
other, since it is in its infancy in every stage;
and thirdly because, I am assured, the key to
many other facts in the universe will be found in
this world of mental forces and causes. This is
too large a problem to discuss here; I mention it
merely by way of suggestion.

Let us now take up for discussion the most im-
portant factor of all (to us). We have been
speaking of the physical sciences, etc., without bear-
ing in mind that every fact known to us must be
acquired and retained in consciousness; that is,
in that side of man which raises him far above
the animal world in every respect, even enabling
him to overcome or offset its greater strength by
his mind alone. Consequently a study of con-
sciousness is by far the most important study of
all, for it is only by and through consciousness that
all else is understood and perceived. I have dis-

10 THE COMING SCIENCE

cussed the relation of consciousness to the organism
elsewhere, as well as some of the problems that
arise from a study of these facts, and they need
not and cannot be discussed here. I wish to touch
in this place upon only one side of it — what may
be called the religious consciousness — that side of
man which concerns itself with the origin and des-
tiny of the human being, or in academic phrase-
ology, of the ' soul.'

All religions are based upon the double idea
of some all-seeing deity, and upon the persistence
of consciousness or the " immortality of the soul."
But of late grave doubts have arisen in every
thinking man's mind as to whether either or both
of these facts are true; whether there is any such
deity, or if the soul continues to exist after the
destruction of the physical organism. The first
of these problems would lead us too far astray, and
we cannot now stop to consider it. We shall,
therefore, concentrate our attention on the other
problem, whether consciousness can and does per-
sist after the death of the physical body; and if
it be shown that it does so persist, then this prob-
lem will have been solved and one of the great
stumbling blocks removed. If it can be shown
that consciousness can persist apart from brain
activity and a nervous system, then materialism

THE COMING SCIENCE 11

will have been overthrown and another interpreta-
tion of the universe rendered possible.

As before stated, all religions are based, more
or less, upon this idea that the ' soul ' exists apart
from the physical body; but none of these re-
ligions offers us any evidence of that fact. For
the evidence we are referred back to certain facts
that happened many centuries ago, and no addi-
tional or contemporary evidence is vouchsafed.
Now materialism asserts that consciousness is
bound up with a material brain and that, apart
from such a brain, there can be no consciousness.
If it does so persist, says materialism, where is your
evidence for that fact? And apart from certain
phenomena called psychic, there is no evidence
whatever that materialism is not true. At least
we could never offset or disprove its claims. But
if it can be shown that certain facts actually oc-
cur which are inexplicable and cannot be accounted
for on any theory of materialism, then the exist-
ence of psychic facts will have been established
and the persistence of a soul of a conscious sort,
after death, also proved. It will be seen that this
subject at once assumes a look of gigantic im-
portance. Whether or not such facts occur is one
of the most important questions, if not the most
important question, before the world to-day, for

12 THE COMING SCIENCE

the reason that a whole world-philosophy is based
thereon. Psychical phenomena offer the only
proof that we can ever obtain that a soul or con-
sciousness can exist apart from brain functioning,
and it consequently becomes a matter of the first
importance to ascertain, if possible, whether such
facts actually exist, or whether they are one and
all hallucination and the results of fraud and a dis-
ordered imagination.

It is not the province of this book to establish
those facts. A much larger work would be needed
to accomplish it — if indeed it could be done.
Hundreds of volumes full of such evidence can
be obtained, and to these I would refer the reader
who is unconvinced of the facts. It is my pur-
pose merely, in the present volume, to point out
that this is, or should be, the problem or science
of the coming century — to ascertain as far as
possible how far these so-called ' facts ' are such
in reality, and then, granting for the sake of argu-
ment that the facts are really established, to dis-
cuss theories that would in some way account for
them. The establishment of the facts will neces-
sitate the work of many men over a period of
many years ; the present book is merely an attempt
to point out certain of the difficulties and problems
that must be faced and overcome in the investiga-
tion of such phenomena, and a general and

THE COMING SCIENCE IS

theoretical discussion of theories that must be ad-
vanced to account for the facts when once es-
tablished. It is one of the most interesting and
fascinating of fields for the worker — this border-
land between mind and matter — and may in truth
be called, at this stage of investigation, the Com-
ing Science.

CHAPTER II

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE: OR THE POSSIBILITY
OF A SCIENTIFIC OPTIMISM ^

THE laws of health, the great laws of hygiene,
are all very important — indeed, one might
say fundamentally important — because, unless one
knows what the laws of health are and consciously
or unconsciously obeys them, there can be no last-
ing health. Without health there can be no real
happiness — no true life ; for " good health "
does not mean only, as its consequent, a clean
physical organism, i, e., a healthy animal , but also
a more highly educated and advanced, a more moral
and spiritual individual, since the bodily health,
reacting upon the organism, does, without any
doubt, affect both the mental and the moral na-
tures of man ; and for this reason, if for no other,
a study of the laws of hygiene becomes of the ver^
highest importance.

But in these considerations we must never lose
sight of the fact that all these laws are but so
many means for the gaining and preserving of
perfect health; i. e,, they are not ideals in or of

1 An address before the Health Culture Club of New
York, read at the meeting of Sunday, Jan. 28, 1906.

14

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 15

themselves, any of them, but merely so many
means by which we can regain and preserve our
mental and physical equilibrium; while (and this
is a point which I wish particularly to emphasise,
since it may seem to some a rather novel aspect
of the case) health is not itself a real, ultimate
ideal, either! Good health is (or should be)
sought only to enable us to perform our daily tasks
and duties unhampered by physical disease; to
reach our highest mental and spiritual attainment
without the constant depressing influences and
harrowing, soul-racking infirmities with which bad
health and disease saddle us. Health is not an aim
or an end in itself ; it is merely a condition — that
condition which best enables us to perform, with the
best possible results, whatever of life's duties it may
be ours to undertake or attempt.

Of course, if we are actually diseased; if we are
not enjoying the best possible health; if we are
oppressed and weighed down with some bodily
infirmity, then health does become, for the time
being, a real and ultimate end and aim — in fact
the first and most important factor in our lives : for
if we do not recover our health, we are not free
to pursue our lives and achieve that which we set
out to do; but once restored to good health, we
should simply follow nature's laws — enabling us
to remain in that condition — and then forget the

16 THE COMING SCIENCE

body so far as possible. Health, once attained,
should be used for the purposes of our daily life.

The normal conditions having thus been re-
stored, being free to develop ourselves along our
chosen lines, the question now arises. What is it
that we are to develop? What should be our ob-
ject in life? In short, why are we here; for what
reason are we living at all? These are the im-
portant questions which I shall endeavour to answer
— in part at least — in the present chapter ; and
though my manner of treating the subject may not
meet with the approval of many of my readers, I
trust that we shall in the end find ourselves in no
lasting disagreement.

As I conceive it, then, our personality is the
thing we must consider, — the chief object of
our life being to attain its greatest possible de-
gree of development along some certain, definite
line of work. This should be our true end and aim
of life; but as I shall speak of this at greater
length later on, I must be content for the present
merely to state my position and to pass on to other,
prior considerations.

And first I would point out that before we can
possibly achieve the greatest development of our
personality, we must know something, at least,
about it. We cannot possibly obtain the best re-
sults from a machine about which we know nothing.

I

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 17

and most certainly this is true of our mental and
physical selves. So that our first consideration will
be this of attempting to understand our ' selves.'
But just here I would point out that throughout
all this we must be influenced by our conception
of the character of our own personality — in what
it consists — and this must, therefore, claim our at-
tention before aught else.

Our outlook, then, will be coloured by this con-
sideration: whether we consider ourselves the re-
sultant of mere physical forces and so-called mat-
ter — our mental and spiritual life being but the
offshoot of these (this being the position of ma-
terialism)— or as a spiritual essence or entity hav-
ing persistence. Our entire viewpoint will and
must be altered by whichever of these views we
adopt, for our philosophy of life must be shaped
and built upon either one of these two positions.
It accordingly becomes our duty to examine,
briefly, each of them in turn, in order that we may
arrive at some clear understanding of the problem
before us.

Now nearly everyone we meet grants himself
to be a spiritual entity, and would indignantly re-
pudiate the idea that he Is a materialist or in
any way materialistic in his outlook. Neverthe-
less his idea of a future life is beyond question very
vague, dim and uncertain; and above all, he

18 THE COMING SCIENCE

takes no active, vital interest in the matter one way
or the other. ^ The man-in-the-street never — or
hardly ever — allows these considerations to enter
into his life at all; he accepts them, yet never al-
lows them to interfere with or influence his daily
life and his actions in the slightest degree. He
utterly fails to see that the idea of continued sur-
vival — of a future life — and of his making here
and now the conditions of that life, must here and
now shape his life and mould his ideas. He never
allows the thought to be truly felt by him-
self, or to influence his life in the least. On Sun-
day, it is true, he attends church — more as a kind
of social function or duty than because any truly
religious spirit stirs him to go: birt throughout
the week his religion influences him and his life not
a particle ; he is blankly indifl^erent to both — a
truth which Robert Louis Stevenson so forcibly
pointed out in his beautiful " Christmas Sermon."
He has, in fact, been living the life of the material-
ist while professing to be a spiritualist (in the
broadest sense of the term), and yet all the while
he takes it for granted that he ' has ' a soul, and
that the fact is obvious and indisputable, and be-

1 Prof. F. C. S. Schiller conclusively proved, by means of
a statistical inquiry, how very indifferent the public, as
such, is on this question. See his paper on " Human Senti-
ment as to a Future Life," Proceedings S. P. R., Vol.
XVIII, pp. 416-53.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 19

comes highly offer ded if anyone, in the honest
search for Truth, ventures to doubt that fact, upon
what he considers good ground!

On the other hand — and as opposed to this
hypocritical and bigoted and narrow outlook —
the scientist has almost invariably made a close
personal study of this subject; and upon it he is
far more entitled to a hearing than the average
man or woman who has not taken the trouble to
investigate the question at all — taking the whole
thing for granted and settled. The scientist's re-
searches do not, as many think, confine him to the
investigation of ' dead ' matter at aU, but, if he is
a philosophic scientist (as nearly all are bound to
be nowadays), they will force him to consider the
greatest problems of death and futurity, and to
apply all his ability and ingenuity to an attempt
to solve them. As the result of these investiga-
tions he has often returned the verdict " Immor-
tality is a superstition — an impossibility ! "
And although he may not be ultimately right in
this verdict, I would point out that he is neverthe-
less entitled — not to sneers and ridicule as many
think — but to praise for his painstaking care
and zeal and earnestness in thus making a close,
personal study and taking a vital interest in those
subjects which the man-in-the-street (who accepts
a future life) does not take, and whose faith is

k

20 THE COMING SCIENCE

stich only, and not founded upon close study and
personal and painstaking investigation, as is that
of the scientist.

Now the reason why so many (in fact the
vast bulk) of the people accept a future life is,
I believe, because they have never considered the
scientific and philosophic objections to it — those
reasons which, to the scientific mind, are stumbling
blocks in the way of its acceptance. And since the
man of science is, as a whole, most impartial and
open-minded, and since he has doubtless studied
these questions more exhaustively and impartially
than the man who accepts the whole question as set-
tled before investigation, it behooves us at least to
consider those objections which, to the man of sci-
ence, are conclusive against any such possibility
as a life hereafter. I cannot now, of course, even
touch upon more than two or three of the leading
and most important objections to the possibility of
a future life; and in those cases but briefly.

To many minds, then, the now all but universally
accepted doctrine of evolution is a very great rea-
son for our non-acceptance of any future life in
any form; for on that theory our mental life is
directly traceable to, and is but the higher develop-
ment of, the mental life of the lower organisms —
from which it has ascended by a gradual chain,
a series of steps in the evolutionary process. And

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 21

the mental life may be traced in a continuous, al-
most unbroken chain, down, down the scale to the
very lowest animal forms — aye, even into the
vegetable world; and the vegetable life may be
traced, ultimately, into the inorganic world — to
simple chemical reaction ; so that the position of
many scientific men is that there is no more reason to
suppose that our own mental life continues to exist,
and that we are entitled to ' immortality,' than
that all animal and vegetable life, and even chem-
ical action, is entitled to ' immortality.' ^ And this
position is at least logical.

Another objection is found in the fact that our
mental life is, beyond a doubt, so intimately bound
up and associated with cerebral changes ; i. e., those
nervous changes that take place in the brain sub-
stance whenever we think. Mix poison with the
blood of any individual and see how quickly his
mental life will become unbalanced — even cease al-
together (apparently) ; while we know that, in many
types of disease, these same phenomena of mental
derangement occur. Above all — and the most
convincing argument to many minds — is the fact
that we can, by surgical operation, remove a cer-
tain portion of the brain-substance and with its

1 This statement is hardly quite accurate; it represents
only the very extreme school of which Professor Haeckel
may perhaps be considered the most noted champion. —
H. C.

22 THE COMING SCIENCE

removal will vanish a certain section or part of our
mental life. " Piece by piece, section by section,
as the physical and obviously material brain is re-
moved ; so bit by bit, and little by little, the mental
life disappears, until not a vestige of it remains." ^
All this " most certainly tends to show that our
conscious existence is absolutely dependent upon
our very material brain."

Finally, there is the objection that thought and
cerebral changes are, apparently, so inseparably
united that the one cannot possibly exist without
the other. For every thought we think, for every
mood, emotion or fact of consciousness, there is,
corresponding to it, a certain definite change in the
brain tissue ; and that that correspondence and cor-
relation has now been established beyond doubt,
there can be no question. We must accept it as a
proved fact, whatever view we adopt of our men-
tal life and the possibility of its persistence. But
this being the case, the materialist might, and in-
deed does say, " Well, since this equivalence and
correlation is always present, what proof have we
that mental states or so-called consciousness can ex-
ist apart from such cerebral changes.? That is,
when the brain ceases to exercise its functions, as it
most certainly does at death, what proof have we

iSee Chapter V on "The Origin and Nature of Con-
sciousness," below, pp. 114-78.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 23

that our mental life continues to exist ; in fact how
can it, since, in this life, it is always bound up with
and inseparable from these cerebral changes ? " In
fact the whole question can be resolved into this:
When the brain ceases to exercise its functions,
what evidence have we that the consciousness con-
tinues to exist? And if we have no such evi-
dence, then the presumption is certainly all against
our accepting such a thing as a future life of any
sort; for, since there is no positive evidence that
such is the case, and since consciousness cannot,
apparently, exist apart from the functioning of
nerve-tissue, then the idea of a future life must
remain an unproved dream, a figment of the imag-
ination, which the man of science must conse-
quently reject; and this position is, it appears to
me, a perfectly logical and conclusive one, so far
as it goes.

If this position is ever to be overthrown, there-
fore, the evidence must be scientific evidence, and
the reasons produced facts, since no amount
of theorising and no religious faith can possibly
influence the mind of the man of science, to whom
facts and evidence alone appeal. If immortality,
is to be proved, therefore, the man of science must
be met upon his own ground and definite facts
and evidence produced which will offset those ad-
vanced by the materialist — such as will definitely

24 THE COMING SCIENCE

establish, upon scientific grounds, the possibihty of
man's survival of bodily death; and this evidence
can only come from such facts as will tend to show
that consciousness does continue to exist after
death — where most certainly there is no brain
functioning for it to be associated with. If, there-
fore, we can produce certain facts and evidence
which seem to prove the operations of a conscious-
ness actively at work, and most certainly not con-
nected with any material brain, then we shall
have the right kind of evidence to take before the
materialist, and we can say to him, " Here is the
evidence you seek; here are certain recorded facts
that tend to show that consciousness can exist
apart from brain-function, and consequently that
immortality is not only possible, but certain and
demonstrable." And I must insist again upon the
fact that this is the only kind of evidence that will
ever be received by the scientific world as proof of
man's survival and of immortality. It is, in fact,
the only proof conceivable.

Now in the phenomena of psychical research
we find (and only here can we ever find) such evi-
dence ; for in these phenomena we have certain facts
brought before us which can certainly be explained
very readily upon the assumption that the con-
sciousness producing the facts or furnishing the
evidence is still existent, and are apparently most

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 25

hard, if not impossible, to explain in any other
manner. Into the quality and quantity and char-
acter of this evidence I cannot go here. Almost
all readers are probably too well aware of the gen-
eral phenomena and results of psychical research
to render such a detailed exposition necessary,
dealing as it does with supernormal mental states
and conditions: trance-mediumship, clairvoyance,
telepathy, dreams, apparitions, haunted houses and
the like. Such phenomena as these, carefully
studied, have supphed us with an abundance of in-
formation and of facts which, while they bear out
the spiritistic interpretation, certainly seem hard
to reconcile with the materialistic hypothesis.
They do, in short, present us with certain evidence
pointing, at least, to the conclusion that here, in
such phenomena, is the evidence — here are the
facts required — to prove beyond reasonable doubt
the fact that consciousness does and must exist
apart from brain-function, by producing such evi-
dence as will render the acceptance of that truth
unavoidable; and if such a definite and final con-
clusion has not yet been reached, it can only be said
that, in future years, such a proof seems well within
the bounds of possibility; and as this is, as I have
stated, the only conceivable evidence that can ever
be forthcoming in proof of a future life, I must
insist upon the vast importance of the study, and

26 THE COMING SCIENCE

upon the necessity of patiently and calmly and un-
ceasingly investigating these phenomena, realis-
ing that such an investigation, so far from deserv-
ing the scoffs and sneers of the public, is in one
sense " the most important investigation in the
world," as Gladstone so well said many years ago,
" by far the most important," since they form,
as has been repeatedly pointed out, the bridge, and
the only bridge possible, between the religious and
the scientific worlds.

And this evidence for a super-physical and
spiritual world which the phenomena of psychical
research furnish us, the fact that such phenom-
ena are constantly here and now happening
in our very midst, gives us a vivid impression of
the nearness, the presence, the all-inclusiveness of
such a world, and a sense of its nearness and reality
which few, if any, religious systems can furnish
or equal. This world which we thus come into
touch with, this inner, causal world may, after all,
be the real or ' noumenal ' world of which we but
perceive the phenomena, the effects, the shadows;
and that this is very probably true, at heart, is
certainly borne out and rendered most credible by
the general acceptance of the philosophic system
known as idealism — a very brief outline of which
I shall give here, as it is essential for our argu-
ment.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 27

It can readily be shown, and that without go-
ing further than the province of physiology,
that the world we see and know and live in is
not the real, outer world of physical things and
events at all, — which world we do not, in reality,
ever see or know or come in touch with; i. e., we
never can or do see the real, physical world! At
first sight this may appear rather a sweeping,
if not a ridiculous statement, but that this is
the truth can be readily proved as follows. When
I look at and apparently " see " a physical object,
what really happens is something like this. Ether
(light) waves passing from the object to my eye
have caused the eye to vibrate, and this vibration,
reaching the optic nerve through the vibration of
the vitreous humour of the eyeball, causes a nerve-
current to be set in motion, which travels along the
optic nerve, reaching ultimately the centre of
sight in the rear of the brain, where a certain brain-
change takes place (just what we are unable to say,
but probably some sort of nerve vibration), and
corresponding to this change and coincidental with
it is the sensation of sight — of the object at which
we happen to be looking at the time. But this
brain-change is not itself the object looked at, but
merely its counterpart, or duplicate, or symbol;
and therefore for every object we "see" there is
and must be this corresponding brain-change,

g8 THE COMING SCIENCE

varying with and corresponding to the various ob-
jects seen. There is thus a series or succession of
brain-changes, corresponding point for point with
the outer, external objects seen, of which tl oy
are merely the symbols. But the mental state,
the thought, does not in any case correspond with
and to the external object, but with the brain-
change (see p. 131); with this it corresponds,
with this it is intimately connected; and, if the
mind can be said to see any physical thing in the
world, so to speak, it is the brain-change and not
the object! But the brain-changes are, so far as
we can see, as entirely dissimilar from the external
object as possible; they are merely its counterparts,
or symbols, as I have before stated. So that we
do in reality live altogether in a world of symbols
■ — an inner, duplicate, mental world — which is
thus the only world we do or ever can know.^ So

i"That these objects [i. e., the objects we see and
know] are nothing but mental modifications may be dem-
onstrated, so to speak, ad oculos. Suppose I am looking at
a candle; the candle I am conscious of is a mental modifi-
cation. How may I convince myself of the fact? By the
simple process of closing my eyes. Something then ceases
to exist. Is it the real candle? Certainly not. Then it
must be the mental duplicate. By successively opening and
closing my eyes I may create and annihilate the perceived
candle. But the real candle continues unchanged. Then
what I am immediately conscious of when my eyes are open
must be the mental duplicate. If an original of that dupli-
cate exists outside the mind, it must be other than the candle
I perceive, and itself unperceived." — Prof. G. Strong, Why
the Mind Has a Body, p. 186.

t

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 29

that — and this is the practical conclusion I wish
to reach and point out to you — we all live in
an inner, mental world which is but the symbol
of the outer world, and which each one of us must
subjectively construct within himself.

The certain conclusion from this chain of ar-
gument is that each one of us constructs with-
in himself the world he lives in — which is, so
far as he is concerned, the only, or real world.
Thus, we literally make or create our own worlds
— the world we live in — in the very fullest sense
of the term : we live in our own created world —
the world we have made for ourselves. And, if
this is so, then, I suggest (since we can thus in-
fluence its construction) we might just as well
make for ourselves a good, cheerful, happy world
as a bad, gloomy, unhappy one — since the pro-
cess of construction must evidently enter into the
problem. Our mental world obviously does not
ordy correspond point for point with the outer
world that exists ; for if it did, then all minds must
necessarily be the same, and there would be no
' personal factor ' in the world ; but since we
know that individuals do not, at any time, see
things 'precisely alike, there must be a personal or
individual factor entering into the case also; and
this individual factor colours or shapes our mental
world, causing it to differ in each one of us.

30 THE COMING SCIENCE

How far this process of colouration and shaping
goes is readily seen when we look around upon
the world and see the varied types of individuals,
and how widely different are men and women of
every age and clime, — aye, even those of the same
land, the same city, house, family ! Thus the pro-
cess of colouration or individualisation becomes the
most important factor in our lives, and, in short,
determines our character and forms our true
« self.'

One practical conclusion follows from all this
— a conclusion of most fundamental and of great
importance. It is this: According to the view-
point we assume does the world change; i. e,, we
can alter or reconstruct the world me live in to suit
ourselves, and make it what we mil. Now that is
a consideration of truly immense importance, for
we can see that, in order to reconstruct our lives
and live a happier, better, more contented life, we
have not to change the world, but the viewpoint;
and when once this has been done the world will
assume its normal aspect ; things will become prop-
erly adjusted, and happiness and harmony, instead
of misery and discord, will ensue! How funda-
mentally important is this consideration is well il-
lustrated in that class of facts in which the coloura-
tion and viewpoint are so tremendously important
and all-inclusive as apparently to obliterate the

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 31

outer-world phenomena altogether, and even
change the course of those phenomena, causing
them to pursue some course, or achieve some end
\^ich they would not otherwise do; and that is a
very important consideration for us indeed. This
aspect of the problem is well brought out and il-
lustrated by Prof. William James in his Will to
Believe (p. 96—7), where he says:

" Suppose, for example, that I am climbing in
the Alps, and have had the ill-luck to work myself
into a position from which the only escape is by a
terrible leap. Being without similar experience I
have no evidence of my ability to perform it suc-
cessfully; but hope and confidence in myself make
me sure I shall not miss my aim and nerve my
feet to execute what without those subjective emo-
tions would perhaps have been impossible. But
suppose that, on the contrary, the emotions of fear
and mistrust preponderate; or suppose that, hav-
ing just read the Ethics of Beliefs I feel it would
be sinful to act upon an assumption unverified by
previous experience — why, then I shall hesitate
so long that at last, exhausted and trembling, and
launching myself in a moment of despair, I miss
my foothold and roll into the abyss. In this case
(and it is one of an immense class) the part of
wisdom clearly is to believe what one desires; for
the belief is one of the indispensable preliminary

32 THE COMING SCIENCE

conditions of the realisation of its object. There
are then cases where faith creates its own verifica-
tion. Believe, and you shall be right, for you shall
save yourself; doubt, and you shall again be right,
for you shall perish. The only difference is that
to believe is greatly to your advantage."

The practical consequences of all this are im-
mense. If faith can thus create its own verifica-
tion, where can we draw the line? How limit its
power for the fulfilment of worthy ambitions and
achievements which would otherwise be impossi-
ble.? Viewed from this standpoint, they may not
be impossible at all, but well within the possibil-
ity of achievement ; while, if we could get a larger
mental grasp of things, we might see that all our
set-backs and reverses are not such in reality, but
only temporary trials and obstacles to be overcome
— which may be, indeed, the very best thing that
could possibly happen to us, could we but see the
proper relations of that fact or happening to others
that have gone before or are about to follow. I
thus conceive that a " scientific optimism " is quite
possible, and that the old saying " All is good " may
be ultimately quite true, and may be proved to be
so from future experience as well as from philoso-
phy. And if it is possible, it is certainly alto-
gether desirable, both for the individual and for
those coming into close, personal contact with him,

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 83

since a happier and better life does not alto-
gether limit its influence to the individual living it,
but reacts, perforce, on all those who are closely,
associated with him. The only difficulty is in real-
ising the position that all may ultimately be for
the best, could we but see things in their proper
light and judge them with the eye of foreknowl-
edge and greater understanding. The great
trouble with us is that we cannot, at the time any
event is happening, see the relations of that event
to others that are to follow — only the event itself ;
in that we are swallowed up and absorbed. And
if this larger mental viewpoint or judgment were
possible, I am assured that our ultimate judgments
of many of life's happenings would be very diff*er-
ent — we looking upon them as blessings, rather
than curses ; as the inevitable consequences of trans-
gressed law, rather than as ' dispensations of
Heaven ; ' as trials to be overcome for our own ul-
timate good, rather than as useless and altogether
harmful events and occurrences that have taken
place in our lives. To a larger, enveloping con-
sciousness this may, indeed, be the light in which
these things are seen, and the event arranged
for the purpose, and with the object, of our
best ultimate benefit, though not suited and
adapted, perhaps, to our limited and narrow
outlook. And that such an overshadowing, all-

84 THE COMING SCIENCE

inclusive consciousness — call it God or what you
will — is at least a possibility cannot be over-
looked or dismissed as a scientific absurdity. As
Professor James so well expressed it (The Will to
Believe, pp. 57-8) : " That the world of physics is
probably not absolute, all the converging multitude
of arguments that make in favour of idealism tend
to prove ; and that our whole physical life may lie
soaking in a spiritual atmosphere, a dimension of
being that we at present have no organ for appre-
hending, is vividly suggested to us by the analogy
of the life of our domestic animals. Our dogs, for
example, are in our human life but not of it.
They witness hourly the outward body of events
whose inner meaning cannot, by any possible oper-
ation, be revealed to their intelligence, — events in
which they themselves often play the cardinal part.
My terrier bites a teasing boy, for example, and
the father demands damages. The dog may be
present at every step of the negotiations, and see
the money paid, without an inkling of what it all
means, without a suspicion that it has anything
to do with him; and he never can know in his nat-
ural dog's life."

To elaborate Professor James' idea a little fur-
ther: just as the dog's consciousness is contained in
ours, but we perceive, at the same time, many psy-
chological surroundings, meanings and relations to

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 35

the actual events, which the dog cannot possibly
see, so may our own consciousness be included and
surrounded by a vaster, cosmic consciousness, which
includes our own and much that we cannot possibly
know because of our limitations.

That some events, at least, now happening and
apparently altogether evil and harmful, may in
the end prove of the very greatest benefit to our-
selves is again suggested to us by the following
analogy. A dog has imbedded in his paw a
splinter, the removal of which is a painful opera-
tion. Knowing that it must be removed, however,
we hold the dog forcibly and have the splinter re-
moved— to his ultimate benefit, of course. But
during the operation, when the pain was at its
height, the dog could not possibly be supposed to
know that this was " for his own good," and to him
it must have seemed a very brutal and altogether
evil experience. But to us, who see — not only
the happening itself, but its future consequences
and relations; to our consciousness, which in-
cludes not only the dog's, but a great deal be-
sides, the event appears in an altogether different
light, and we perceive the ultimate effects to be
not detrimental and evil, but beneficial and the best
thing that could possibly happen. And so it may
be with ourselves. To a larger, more far-seeing
consciousness, the events wliich seem evil to us

S6 THE COMING SCIENCE

may ultimately appear to be those which are for
our greatest benefit, and of the greatest assistance
to our true progress.

Taking this more inclusive and larger point
of view, then, we come to see the pettiness,
the littleness of many of life's happenings, the
things we quarrel over and deem at the time to be
of such vast importance. These very things may,
and doubtless mU, ultimately prove to be of the
very least significance and worth ; in fact, when once
possessed, they may prove actually undesirable if
not actively detrimental. Take, for example,
money. Money does not bring happiness, nor
health, nor anything of real worth in life ; in fact
often the reverse, as has been confirmed by many
men who possess it. But apart from their testi-
mony, consider what must be the feelings of any
sensitive, intuitive man or woman who happens to
be immensely wealthy, and who sees around him the
crowds of men and women — ' friends ' — cluster-
ing as the bees about the hive! Would not his
thoughts be, " Do these men and women like Tne^
or do they like my money? If I were poor, would
they still cleave to me for myself, my own indi-
viduality? Or do they like me because of what
they can extract from me, in one form or an-
other? " Would not such thoughts as these make
life bitter, taking from it all its charm and spon-

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE ST

taneity and sweetness? The constant worry and
uncertainty must be ' hell on earth ' indeed to such
poor (literally poor) souls! Are we not, almost
all of us, better and happier without this money for
which the whole world strives? Is it not a false
ideal — a false goal ? And may not much greater
happiness be experienced without than with it?
That degeneracy and inability to do good work —
the work of genius — often goes with fame and
the inheritance of large sums of money is too well
realised to insist upon here; it is made the central
theme of Marie Corelli's truly fine book, The
Sorrows of Satan, And as a final reflection I
would point out that we do, in America, judge
all a man's abilities by his money-making ability.
His other qualities and qualifications we heed not
at aU, be he ever so great a man ; but if he is an
adept at gaining money (honestly or dishonestly)
then he is a * clever ' man, forsooth ! And yet this
ability to make money will surely be rated the very
lowest in the scale when the ultimate summing-up
shall follow.

The whole viewpoint and position toward the
question is wrong, I think, in this: that we can-
not, as it is generally supposed, add happiness
from withoutj — since we must find that with-
in ourselves; it must well up from the core of
our being. Just as we cannot add vitahty to our-

88 THE COMING SCIENCE

selves from without, but can only ' clear the
ground,' so to speak, for its free operation from
within; ^ just as we cannot force another soul to
perceive Truth (the recognition of which must
come from within — all facts and arguments
merely ' clearing the way ' of obstructions existing
between the seer and the Truth), just so must all
real happiness come from within ourselves ; it must
well up from within us, and cannot possibly be
forced in or supplied from without. Each individ-
ual must thus make and form his own mental life,
and must colour it as he may, according to the de-
gree of understanding and intuitive grasp of his
personality.

And thus, as the result of this long preamble,
we arrive at the true viewpoint in this matter,
— in perceiving that we can make ourselves, in
the truest sense of the term, and that we can,
in reality, create our own world and become the in-
dividual we choose to be. Our whole future, then,

1 " We cannot force plants to grow with greater rapidity
k . . all we can do is to supply the conditions (heat,
moisture, sunlight, and the proper amount of nutriment)
that are most favourable for the growth of the plant. The
conditions being supplied, growth becomes more easily pos-
sible; but it will be observed we are not actually adding to
the life- force of the plant, but merely supplying the condi-
tions that render the outward manifestations of this life-
force more favourable. The force, ihe energy of growth is
inherent, and the absurdity of tryi ig to force or 'manu-
facture ' this energy should be apparent."— Vitality, Fast-
ing and Nutrition, p. 253.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 39

rests not on some ' Divine Providence,' but in our
own hands; we must ourselves achieve any great
results that are achieved, any ambitions that
are fulfilled. What, then, is the object of life?
For what reason are we living? What should we
do with our lives, in short? For my own part, I
think that some definite and lastingly beneficial
work — achievement of some kind along some cer-
tain line — is our life's duty, and that this is the
great and the final end and aim of life — ^'^z., the
accomplishment of some set purpose through per-
sistent and continued work. And in considering
the matter, it appears more and more obvious, I
think, that this should be so. For what purpose
do we need rest and sleep and food other than to
recuperate and refresh and strengthen us for the la-
bours of the morrow ? Do we not simply recharge
ourselves with energy thereby for the purpose of
fitting ourselves for more and better work? And
in this connection, the true meaning and the phi-
losophy of recreation become clear to us also. As
Felix Adler so well said {Religion of Duty, p.
154?) : " Pleasure is intended as a recreation, a
cordial. We cannot do our work well if we are
relaxed, heavy and dull, surely not so well as when
our faculties are at their brightest, and when we go
about our tasks full of cheer, freshness and vigour.
Pleasure is justified to the extent that it renders

40 THE COMING SCIENCE

men more efficient workers." And this, it seems to
me, is an absolutely true statement. The main
thing in life is the work (not money-getting be it
understood, which I consider purely subsidiary,
and necessary only as a means for preserving life
while the life's real work is being accomplished)
— this definite object which we should all have,
and the accomplishment of which must be our sole
aim and end and purpose ; that, I conceive, is our
life's true goal, and, as compared with the accom-
plishment of that ideal, all else is really insignifi-
cant.

Thus it will be seen, I think, that the individ-
ual is quite secondary and unimportant as com-
pared with the achievement and completion of his
life's true work. So long as this is thoroughly
and well accomplished, I think that the individual
should be quite willing to be sacrificed — to suffer
his own insignificant personality to become obliter-
ated, if needs be, for the good of the human race,
and especially for those near and dear to him.
Compared with the results of a man's life the man
himself is, and should consider himself, quite unim-
portant, and as constituting merely the means to a
great end — the work achieved. I say he should
be willing to sacrifice himself; not that he must
necessarily do so. Provided a man keeps himself
in good health, there is absolutely no reason why

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 41

he should not produce a great amount of good
work and live a long and a happy life as well —
" a long life and a merry one," in fact. There is
no reason, I say, why these should not be combined
into one human lifetime, and I think they should
be so combined. For we know that in giving we
often experience the greatest happiness, and that
unselfishness often recoils in our own favour, and
that we invariably find good and happiness in so
sacrificing that which we hold dear; and so long
as we are producing good results — the fruit of
good work — I think we shall never feel the need of
other, external sources of happiness, or of those
things which the majority crave. As Horace
Fletcher so well said : " Happiness is the result
of conscious usefulness " — a statement as exquisite
as it is true. Each one of us, then, should take up
some definite line of work — • one which he or she
thinks most fitted to his or her particular bent and
life — and follow that work persistently, conscien-
tiously, unswervingly. No matter what the line
of work may be — so long as it is honourable — it
is bound to bring good into the world and happi-
ness to the person accomplishing it. Having in
mind, then, those things which are of real worth
in life (and bearing in mind that this life is not the
end of all things, so far as we are concerned, but
merely the very smallest fraction of our Life — as

42 THE COMING SCIENCE

it will doubtless ultimately prove to be), we should
choose and begin some definite work — the accom-
plishment of which should be our life's chief duty
— before which all else pales into insignificance, all
else must be sacrificed; and in thus striving, and
perhaps achieving, we shall find happiness and
health and true Life.

CHAPTER III
PSYCHICAL eeseaech: eepues to objections

AMONG men of scientific repute, and especially
among psychologists, no question of late
years has given rise to such bitter contests, to such
strong partisan feeling, as the legitimacy for se-
rious study of certain more or less sporadic
phenomena termed " psychic." By " psychical re-
search," as herein defended, is meant certain res-
idual phenomena which are as yet unrecognised by
any of the official sciences ; whose very existence is,
in fact, doubted by a large number of scientific
men. The existing diff^erences of opinion are only
natural, but when we come to examine the reasons
upon which the sceptic founds his doubts and res-
ervations, we find them generally invalid, and it is
the purpose of this chapter to examine the objec-
tions themselves. But that they should be open
to doubt at all, if actually existing, is, to some
persons, an irreconcilable drawback to their inves-
tigation. It seems to show that they are uncertain,
shifting, uncontrollable, and not subject to the scien-
tifically exact methods of laboratory experiment
prevailing at the present day. This uncertainty
is largely due, first, to the fact that here, unlike

44 THE COMING SCIENCE

any other scientific investigation in this respect,
fraud frequently enters into the question of evi-
dence, and has to be carefully excluded before any
deductions from the facts observed can be dra^^^ ;
second, because, even considering the genuine phe-
nomena, we are principally coping with that most
unstable and uncertain " quantity " — the human
mind. When we are dealing, not with carbon and
hydrogen, but with emotions and moods, we are
on far more debatable ground, in far more uncer-
tain surroundings than science, as such, is accus-
tomed to debate. Indeed, comparatively nothing
is known in reality about these mental phenomena,
even by the " orthodox psychologists ; " the whole
subject is enveloped in a cloud of exasperating ob-
scurity, and, such being the case, it is certainly un-
reasonable that the outlying, and perhaps still
more obscure phenomena, such as trance, clairvoy-
ance, telepathy, etc., should meet with a 'priori re-
jection and ridicule, instead of diligent study and
research. It is the above-named subjects then, to-
gether with such other debatable phenomena as ap-
paritions at the moment of death, second-sight, pre-
monitions, phantasms of the dead, and haunted
houses, together with the wide range of spiritistic
phenomena, which form the basis of this research;
a " new science " as Sir Oliver Lodge has said.
The opposition to any strikingly new idea; the

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 46

natural tendency to cling to long-seated dogmas
and prejudices, as distinguished from the perfectly
legitimate scientific caution with which every par-
tially demonstrated theory is received, all these
tend to arouse doubts and to promote antagonistic
ideas from the man of science. Looked at from
the other side of the question, however, it is some-
what surprising to find that in an age which has
produced so many brilliant " free-thinkers " along
theological and other lines of inquiry — it is some-
what surprising, I say, to find so few men who are
liberal enough to take up the investigation of
these subjects in a perfectly candid and unbiased
frame of mind ; to be willing, at the cost of a little
time and trouble, to sift the matter thoroughly,
and to find what truth, if any, is contained therein.
No call is made upon their credulity, no " ac-
ceptance of any particular explanation of the phe-
nomena investigated, nor any belief as to the opera-
tion, in the physical world, of forces other than
those recognised by physical science." The only,
plea entered by those who defend these subjects is
that they should be investigated, and not merely
scoffed at upon a priori grounds, and without any
knowledge either of the strength or the character
of the evidence attacked.

Surely no scientifically minded man can object to
these conditions. " Investigate for yourself ; form

46 THE COMING SCIENCE

your own opinions; by no means trust entirely to
the evidence presented by others : " this has almost
invariably been the advice of psychical researchers,
and, be it added in fairness to them, of the spiritists
also. And that scientific men have investigated
these questions, and that the vast maj ority of those
who have done so have become convinced that at
least occasionally phenomena occur which are not
dreamed of in our scientific philosophy, — this also
is a matter of historical record. Dr. Alfred Rus-
sel Wallace has, in fact, declared that " the whole
history of science shows us that, whenever the edu-
cated and scientific men of any age have denied the
facts of other investigators on a priori grounds of
absurdity or impossibility, the deniers have always
been wrong" ^

Without going quite so far as Dr. Wallace
has done in his somewhat sweeping, but generally
true statement, it is certain that the history of
scientific research is most dolefully bespattered
with records of almost fanatical scepticism. The
astronomers of Galileo's time, who hnew that he
was hopelessly wrong, yet refused even to put
their eyes to his telescope — " for fear of be-
ing convinced ; " the sceptical M.D. who " does
not believe that any spirit can come back, because

lA. R. Walkwe, Miracles and Modern Spiritualism, pp.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 47

he does not believe that there is any such thing
as a spirit to come back " (we shall return to this
argument later on) ; the skilled geologist who de-
clares (apropos of meteors) that " there are no
stones in the air, consequently none can fall out of
the air " — these are but a few examples of the
melancholy list which it would be no great task to
compile, all illustrating human error, prejudice and
fanaticism.

But in pointing out these defects and mistakes
made by scientific men, it must not be supposed
that science, or scientific method itself, is at fault
— far from it. It is to science that we owe what-
ever progress has been made towards a solution
of the various " riddles of the universe ; " and
strictly scientific method and rigorous logic are
only neglected by those who are incapable of un-
derstanding and properly appreciating their value.
The blatant credulity and astonishing ignorance
displayed by many of those following various spir-
itualistic creeds cannot be appreciated until seen.
Their utter contempt for anything constituting
valid evidence is simply amazing. But again, be-
tween these two entirely opposite classes — which
I have painted in somewhat vivid colours to make
the contrast the clearer — there are, happily, va-
rious intermediate stages, any one of which it is
perfectly legitimate to defend, and which are, in

48 THE COMING SCIENCE

fact, defended by men of eminently scientific re-
pute, ranging from the complete believers (Wal-
lace) to the equally complete disbelievers (Haeckel).
And if this be so, the question is : How is it possible
for the student to distinguish between these various
theories, and to obtain an unbiased review of the
facts and the arguments both pro and con? The
answer to this, of course, would be: first, experi-
ment for yourself, and secondly, read, without
bias, the standard books upon this subject.^

But, it may be objected, this will take much
time, and how am I to know whether, having done
all this, I shall be rewarded by anything at the
other end? In a field where imposture and credu-
lity run riot, as they most certainly do here, is it
worth while for scientific men to devote their time
to such dubious work as this, when it can most cer-
tainly be spent profitably in following up their
more orthodox scientific studies? What guarantee
is there of anything obtainable in this work —
anything, that is, of practical value? One can
hardly expect men like the late Lord Kelvin and
Thomas Huxley to go running about the country
investigating disturbances in " haunted houses "
which turn out to be caused by rats and the wind
in old water pipes ; to spend hours sitting round a

1 Especially the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical
Research.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 49

table in the dark for the pleasure of exposing some
humbug juggler! On the whole, it appears to be
mostly rubbish, and I cannot afford to waste ray
time making prolonged investigations of it!

These arguments, employed, as they are, by the
majority of scientific men to-day, and self-satisfy-
ing as they may be to the speaker, are yet lamen-
tably weak when analysed. How are we to know
if there be truth in any question without prolonged
investigation? Whether inexplicable phenomena
do or do not occur in certain cases, is simply a mat-
ter of evidence; and that there is much good evi-
dence for their occurrence in many instances is be-
yond question. The facts are there; the interpre-
tation of those facts is another question.

Now, taking the whole range of psychical re-
search into consideration, it is somewhat difficult to
determine exactly the grounds for objection which
the scientific man will choose. If I should go to
some " orthodox " psychologist, or physician, or
physicist, and pointedly ask him, " What are
your objections to the serious study of these phe-
nomena? Wliy do you despise them, and deem
them unworthy of credence? What are your rea-
sons for refusing to study these subjects? And,
more than all, why do you ridicule them, or ignore
them altogether?" his answer would probably be:
" Because they are altogether unworthy of serious

50 THE COMING SCIENCE

study; there is no respectable evidence in support
of any of them — none at all beyond that of a
few hysterical and credulous persons; the whole
thing is obviously humbug and rubbish from be-
ginning to end, and I don't want to waste my time
over it!" ^ Or, again, the objections may be on
theological or orthodox grounds; or, it may be
urged that this inquiry fosters superstition, or
encourages fraudulent practices, or that their study
tends to induce abnormal and morbid conditions,
detrimental alike to both health and morals. As
all these objections seem to carry weight in the
public mind, though their complete lack of all
foundation may be easily seen by anyone thor-
oughly conversant with these subjects, I shall pro-
ceed to answer them one by one, being as brief as
possible in each case.

OETHODOX AND THEOLOGICAL OBJECTIONS

The conflict between science and religion is
bound, in the natural order of events, finally to re-
sult in the complete triumph of science as opposed
to the crude speculations of many centuries ago.
It is a notorious fact that the Church has always

1 All this, it will be observed, is purely d priori, and will
be considered under that section. It is a sample of the
class of objections which the writer has often heard, how-
ever, and which show wilful prejudice and ignorance of this
subject.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 61

been opposed to new discoveries, to scientific ad-
vance; in fact to the enlightenment and education
of the masses in any form. That there should ever
have been such a thing at all as a " conflict between
science and religion " is, in itself, a most foul blot
upon the history of religion and a slur upon man's
reason and independence of thought — as it neces-
sarily indicates opposition to progress. Those
very persons who are the most bigoted and rabid
in their defence of the Bible miracles are, strangely
enough, the very ones who oppose most vehemently
all modern evidence upon the same subject. If
these extraordinary events ever occurred, it surely is
reasonable to suppose that they should continue to
do so, in more or less the same form; for the old
idea of a miracle — that it was a " direct interven-
tion on the part of providence " or a " suspension
of the laws of nature " — is absolutely discredited
by all thinking men of the present day. This is
not saying that no unaccountable phenomena took
place to give rise to these stories. It is highly
probable that supernormal ^ phenomena did exist ;
that is, natural phenomena, the causes for which are
as yet unknown. But the evidence for the newer

1 The word " supernormal " has, for some time past, been
used by the Society for Psychical Research to take the
place of the meaningless term " supernatural," it being
claimed that whatever happens is natural — be it even the
intervention of spirits.

62 THE COMING SCIENCE

" miracles " is infinitely superior to the old, and
that the former should be discredited and the latter
blindly accepted is beyond the comprehension of
the present writer. The credulity and ignorance
of the masses on religious topics is simply amazing ;
yet their blase attitude towards the vital questions
of death and futurity is beyond a doubt, unless
one should happen to step upon some orthodox
corn! A perusal of Haeckel's Riddle of the Uni-
'verse, for example, would do the majority of per-
sons a world of good. " What such persons most
need," as Prof. William James has justly said, " is
that their faiths should be broken up and venti-
lated; that the northwest wind of science should
get into them and blow their sickliness and bar-
barism away." ^

Finally, it is urged, " What is the use of seek-
ing.? You will find nothing. Such things are
God's secrets, which he keeps to himself." And to
this M. Flammarion rightly answers : " There al-
ways have been people, who liked ignorance better
than knowledge. By this kind of reasoning (had
men acted upon it) nothing would ever have been
known of this world. . . . It is the mode of
reasoning adopted by those who do not care to
think for themselves, and who confide to directors
(so called) the charge of controlling their con-

1 The Will to Believe, and Other Essays, p. x.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 63

" Faith," as Dr. Hyslop has reminded
us,2 " no longer charms with her magic wand, ex-
cept among those who do not accept or appreciate
scientific method, but whose flimsy standards afford
no criteria for defence against illusion and decep-
tion. Hence men who have been saturated, con-
sciously or unconsciously, with the scientific spirit,
either give up the hereafter or insist that their be-
lief shall have other credentials than authority."
Finally, that there should be any laws or phenom-
ena which it is illegitimate to study is utterly in-
credible, and that men should take this stand at
the present day is a sign of the most narrow-
minded bigotry, and utterly unworthy of the scien-
tific spirit of the age in which we live.

THE OBJECTION THAT IT FOSTERS SUPERSTITION

This objection, I take it, has a certain amount of
force, and is, to some extent, a valid one. That
many superstitions are kept alive; that almost un-
bounded credulity exists among various spiritis-
tic sects, and that a faith in all sorts of vagaries
is maintained by the flood of so-called " psychic "
literature upon the market — all this is undoubtedly
true. But it does not necessarily follow, as many

1 The Unknown, p. vii.

^Proceedings Society for Psychical Research, VoJL XVI,
p. 289.

]^4 THE COMING SCIENCE

think, that everyone who takes up the investiga-
tion of these subjects seriously is more or less de-
mented! It all depends upon the cast of mind of
the individual; and there is absolutely no reason
why these subjects should not be investigated in
precisely the same scientific spirit as any other
problem whatever. The present writer regards
the question of a future life or " spirit return "
as purely a matter of evidence, and its solution
a problem for experimental psychology to settle as
much as the nature of the earth's centre is a prob-
lem for geologists, or, to be more prosaic, the
composition of table-salt is one for the attention
of chemists. Nor is there any reason why the one
should not be investigated in precisely the same
calm, cool, scientific spirit as the other, the prin-
cipal difficulty being simply that in one case we
are dealing with far less known and more uncertain
phenomena than in the other. That a large num-
ber of persons have been grossly deceived, and
that others have, to a certain extent, lost their
reason while dwelling upon these problems, argues
nothing more than that these particular individ-
uals lacked a certain balance of mind, a scientific
cast of character which rendered them, unfortu-
nately, . incapable of investigating these partic-
ular subjects without detriment to themselves; but
the fault here lies obviously with the investigator

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 65

and not with the subject-matter investigated. It
is my contention that if these same individuals
had happened to become interested in any other
branch of science than the psychic, precisely the
same thing would have happened. It must not be
forgotten, in this relation, that many men have
become insane by long brooding over problems
which are now classed among the most " ortho-
dox " of sciences, mz,, physics.^ The individual
with that particular " make-up " is as likely to
become insane over any one unsolved problem as
another; and the only objection is that, in these
subjects, the faith and emotions are appealed to,
as they are not in the majority of other sciences.
But surely not more so than in various religious
creeds — where the most appalling extremes are
constantly held before the eyes of their followers!
In this case the parallel is striking, and conse-
quently the absolutely untrue and unjust state-
ment that " modem spiritualism has sent com-
paratively more people to the insane asylum than
everything else put together " may be refuted by
the fact that recent statistics have shown that a
larger proportion of the inmates of insane asylums
are religious lunatics than spiritualists.

But there is another point of view to be consid-
ered in relation to the objection we are discussing.

1 For example, " perpetual motion."

1^6 THE COMING SCIENCE

It has been assumed, by all those who oppose such
investigations as those relating to clairvo3^ance,
haunted houses, and so on, that these subjects are
all necessarily untrue; that there is no real founda-
tion for any of them ; consequently their investiga-
tion tends merely to propagate error. If such
were the case that would undoubtedly be so, but
let it once be granted for a moment that such
things do exist, and really are a part of nature,
though all unknown as yet, and their investigation
becomes a most imperative duty. The average
scientist would be willing to admit, I believe, that
if such phenomena really existed, their solution
would be highly important, and consequently must
take the stand that they do not really exist. But
they do exist! This I say not merely by way of
opinion, but on the authority of very many em-
inent men and investigators who have borne testi-
mony as to their reality, and whose cumulative
evidence is absolutely overwhelming and convinc-
ing. If the facts did not exist, why should these
men bear testimony thereto.'' Why should the evi-
dence be forthcoming? or, to quote Andrew Lang,
*' why do such stories come to be told.'' " On this,
I take it, everyone must form his own opinion,
which will be guided into one of three channels.
Either (i) the phenomena exist, as stated; or (ii)
the investigators were hallucinated, and only

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 57

thought they saw what they did. This theory is,
in many cases, excluded by the fact that some ma-
terial change has been left in the world, proving
that the phenomenon actually occurred, and was
not merely thought to have done so; or (iii) —
and this is the theory the majority of persons pre-
fer to believe — that the investigators were, in
some way, imposed upon and duped. Undoubtedly
this has occurred in some cases, but in others, such
as telepathic hallucinations, automatic writing,
etc., it seems incredible, and in many cases prac-
tically impossible to attribute the cause to fraud
and fraud alone. Such a theory would involve
the dishonesty of many of our leading scientists
and literary men, who claim either to have expe-
rienced or witnessed many of these phenomena
themselves, under circumstances which render that
hypothesis absolutely untenable; for any reason-
able man to hold it nowadays simply betrays lack
of knowledge of the evidence at hand. And if
they exist; if, amid this bewildering mass of evi-
dential matter, some phenomena, however slight
and obscure, are observed, which tend to show that
there are here some problems of nature as yet un-
solved, then the study of these very problems is
of the highest possible value, and the objection
that they tend to " foster superstition " is mean-
in jiless and absolutely without foundation.

68 THE COMING SCIENCE

THE OBJECTION THAT IT ENCOURAGES FRAUD

This objection is closely akin to the last one
and need not detain us here at any length. The
drawback it suggests is, again, a partially vital
one; as the continued patronage of mediums who
have been exposed in fraud is not only a very
great mistake, but a temptation held out to other
mediums to produce phenomena fraudulently also,
and thus obtain a living at the expense of their
dupes in the easy way suggested. All this is ad-
mitted. But it must be remembered, on the other
hand, that fraud such as this is only likely to
occur when investigating paid or professional me-
diums; and the Society for Psychical Research
has made it an almost invariable rule to refuse to
investigate the phenomena occurring in their pres-
ence, as being open to this very objection, and
have devoted their energies almost entirely to pri-
vate and unpaid mediums, in many cases with con-
vincing results. Further, be it observed, psychi-
cal research does not by any means confine itself
to the investigation of spiritistic phenomena, but
devotes its attention to many other problems —
apparitions, telepathy, etc. — some of which,
however much hallucination may occur, can
scarcely be set down to deliberate fraud, as such
an hypothesis would involve the connivance of hun-

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 59

dreds of cultured persons. Indeed, to the careful
observer, it would seem that, owing largely to the
public exposure of trick devices, and largely to the
laborious investigations of the Society for Psychi-
cal Research, fraud is far less in vogue, far less
practised at the present day than ever before; it
seems, in fact, as though it were gradually being
eliminated by the increase of knowledge in these di-
rections, so that, here again, the objection that
psychical research " tends to encourage fraud " is
absolutely erroneous and made in entire ignorance
of the evidence at hand.^

MORBIDITY AND ABNORMALITY

But one of the principal objections which has
always been raised against the study of these phe-
nomena is that they tend to induce abnormal and
morbid conditions, both mental and physical; and
this both in the subject and in the operator. And
as no impression relating to these topics seems to
have so great an influence over the public mind as
this, and as no one of them is, generally speaking,
more false or without foundation, it is well that this
objection should be met and answered here, if only
for the sake of completeness ; it has already been re-

1 See my Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism for a very
detailed account of the tricks and devices of fraudulent
mediums.

60 THE COMING SCIENCE

futed many times by pens far more competent than
mine. To state the objections, then, as briefly as
may be, it would seem that the pubHc at large
regard the investigators in these questions either as
partially demented — this state being invited
and induced by a continued dabbling in the
unknown and mysterious, a love of the marvellous
— or as taking actual pleasure in invoking
certain abnormal conditions for the purpose of
watching the subject in the course of the induced
paroxysm; just as an abnormally minded surgeon
might watch the struggles of a suffering animal in
a case of vivisection. To answer the first of these
objections it is only necessary to quote the names
of a few of those who have investigated these sub-
jects, and whose authority on any other topic what-
ever would not, for one moment, be disputed;
such men as Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Crookes,
Lord Rayleigh, Hon. A. J. Balfour (former
Premier of England), Professors William James,
Sidgwick, Barrett, Hyslop, Wallace, Balfour
Stewart, John Ruskin, Messrs. Myers, Gurney,
Andrew Lang, Schiller, Robert Louis Stevenson,
Lord Tennyson, Hon. W. E. Gladstone, the
Bishop of Ripon and Professor Langley (to quote
only a very few names most widely known as men
of science and letters ) : — these men most surely did
not engage in any such investigation as this for

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 61

the mere pleasure of beguiling away their other-
wise valuable time in worthless speculations on
subjects which do not really exist! The absurd-
ity of such a statement should be apparent without
further comment. These questions can be investi-
gated in precisely the same manner as any other
branch of investigation, without undue credulity
and without lacking that calm, sane, scientific spirit
which marks any other scientific investigation.

The second charge brought against the investi-
gators is, that they induce morbid conditions
merely for the opportunity of studying the results
attained in this manner. Now, I claim that this is
not the case. This side of the question turns upon
the supposed fact that morbid conditions are gen-
erally induced, while it can be shown that they are
not. This brings us to the subjects of investigation
themselves — the objection here resting upon the
supposed fact that, in the course of psychic studies,
unnatural and unhealthy conditions are constantly
evoked. This objection must obviously be confined,
in the first place, to eccperi/mental evidence, as over
spontaneous phenomena we exercise no apparent
control ; and be the effects in these cases what they
may, we cannot help them, as they occur whether in-
vestigated scientifically or not. To these may be
added many of the experimental phenomena, a
study of which has failed to produce any satisfac-

62 THE COMING SCIENCE

tory evidence as to any lasting evil effects result-
ing therefrom. In fact, the charges of abnormal-
ity or morbidity must be confined, it appears to me,
to the four following subjects:

(i) Experimental thought-transference,
(ii) Induced hallucinations and hallucination
in general.

(iii) Spiritism: the medium-trance, "posses-
sion," etc.

(iv) Hypnotic experiments.

I shall take them for discussion in the order indi-
cated.

(i) In telepathic experiments both the operator
and subject are, generally speaking, in a perfectly
normal condition; they act voluntarily and con-
sciously, and it is an extremely rare occurrence for
any untoward symptoms to manifest themselves,
either at the time or afterwards. Occasionally, a
slight headache is complained of, after the comple-
tion of the experiments, or a feeling of lassitude;
but these are only occasional, transitory, and
utterly insignificant compared with the importance
of the results attained. In the vast majority of
these cases this has been the sentiment of the sub-
jects themselves, even when those slight symptoms
follow, which, generally, is not the case.

(ii) Nothing could be a greater mistake than to
suppose that a hallucination of the senses invariably

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 63

indicates bad health or morbidity of temperament.
That it does so in many cases is an undoubted fact ;
but that isolated, transient hallucinations of the
sane should indicate any specially abnormal condi-
tion is wholly opposed to the results of the investi-
gations carried on of late years. The hallucina-
tions resulting from doses of opium and other
drugs; from illness; from defects in, or irritation
of, the sense-organs themselves, in the cortical cen-
tres, or in the nerves leading from the one to the
other — in all these cases an abnormal condition ex-
ists, and they are more a province of pathology
and psychology than of psychical research. Hallu-
cination itself is only discussed in this relation be-
cause of its frequent induction — in crystal-gaz-
ing, hypnotic suggestion, etc.; hence, granting
their morbidity, the opposition to these subjects on
this ground. But, as before stated, their morbid-
ity is by no means granted by modern investigators ;
and case after case could be quoted (did space
permit) containing some such sentence as the
following : " I was in perfect health at the time,
and cricket, rowing and swimming were part of my
daily exercises. . . ." The argument is very
neatly summed up by Mr. Podmore, from whose
book ^ I quote the following:

^Apparitions and Thought-Transference, pp. 207-8.

64 THE COMING SCIENCE

" Indeed, until recent years the tendency of even
well-instructed opinion has been to regard a sensory
hallucination as necessarily implying some physical
or mental disorder. This misconception — for it
is a misconception — has had some curious conse-
quences. Since it does occasionally happen that a
person admittedly sane and healthy reports to have
seen the likeness of a human figure in what was ap-
parently empty space, such reports have been by
some perforce scouted as unworthy of credence, and
by others regarded as necessarily indicating some
occult cause — as testifying to the agency of
ghosts. There was, indeed, the analogy of dreams
to guide us. Few educated persons would regard
dreams, on the one hand, as a symptom of ill-
health, or on the other as counterparts or revela-
tions of any super-terrestrial world; or, indeed, as
anything else than purely subjective mental images.
Yet dreams belong to the same order of mental
phenomena as hallucinations, and are commonly so
classed, such differences as exist being mainly due
to the conditions under which the two sets of phe-
nomena respectively occur. In fact, a hallucina-
Ijtion is simply a hypertrophied thought — the last
member of a series, whose intermediate terms are to
be found in the mental pictures of ordinary life, in
the vivid images which some artists can summon at
will, and in the faces in the dark which many

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 65

persons see before passing into sleep, with its more
familiar and abundant imagery."

Thus far as to hallucination in general; but
what of those individuals who are in the habit of
constantlz/ inducing these images? Here, if any-
where, we should find traces of some abnormal con-
dition were the phenomena in question dependent
upon morbidity in any form. But such is by no
means the case. In Mr. Myers' paper ^ on " Sen-
sory Automatism and Induced Hallucinations,"
there are printed statements of several of those so-
called " psychic " individuals who experience such
hallucinations almost daily. Of these " Miss X "
is probably the most frequent recipient living of
hallucinatory pictures, voices, etc., and her evidence,
supported, as it is, by all the other investigators
and subjects, must be taken as at least typical. On
this very subject, however, she has declared:

" In view of certain statements which are current
as to the physical conditions of crystal-gazing, I
wish to say, as emphatically as possible, that in my
own case these experiments are neither the cause nor
the effect of any morbid condition.

" I can say positively, from frequent experience,
that to attempt experiments when mind and body
are not entirely at ease is absolute waste of time.
1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. VIII, pp. 436-535.

66 THE COMING SCIENCE

The very conditions which might make crystal-gaz-
ing a fatiguing and exhausting process render it
impossible. I can with equal certainty disclaim,
for myself, the allegation that success in inducing
hallucinations of this kind is due in any way to an
etat maladif. The four years during which I have
carried on experiments in crystal-gazing have been
among the healthiest of my life."

In view of this definite evidence, then, it can
hardly be objected that this branch of the subject
is necessarily a sign of morbidity.

(iii) Objections have been raised to the study
of the so-called " medium-trance," with its accom-
panying phenomena of possession, obsession, etc.,
upon the ground of its abnormality. Upon no
topic is the medical and psychological world so un-
interested, and consequently so misinformed, as
upon this. The general impression existing, that
any trance condition is necessarily pathologi-
cal and injurious, seems to be so deeply inrooted,
and everywhere accepted without any inquiry as to
its legitimate foundation, that it cannot be com-
bated or refuted in a general review such as this.
I can but say that, generally speaking, this opinion
is wholly unwarranted and untrue, and I appeal to
the evidence existing upon these subjects to bear
out my statement. That such abnormal condi-

t

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 6T

tions exist together with trance is undoubtedly true
in many instances ; ^ but that such symptoms
should be considered as inseparable from the trance
state is just as erroneous a conclusion as the Char-
cot theory that " all hypnotisable subjects are hys-
terical." This theory has been exploded by point-
ing out the fact that the Charcot school experi-
mented solely upon hysterical subjects ! Naturally,
such a conclusion was the only one at which it was
possible to arrive. Moreover, they are entirely
alone in this theory, the vast majority of physi-
cians agreeing that it is entirely unsupported and
opposed to their own experience in this direc-
tion, and declaring that sound and healthy persons
make just as good or better subjects than those
with a predisposition to hysteria.

With regard to the medium-trance :

I can but appeal to the evidence extant and beg
my readers to refer thereto, and satisfy themselves
that my statement is correct when I say that true
pathological conditions are extremely rare in the
medium-trance. I shall refer to a single case —
the most noticeable of its kind on record — by way
of illustrating the point here made ; for it may rea-
sonably be argued that if the trance condition is
dependent upon any abnormal condition, those in-

1 See, e. g., Dr. Hammond's Spiritualism and A Hied
Causes and Conditions of Nervous Derangement and Dr.
Marvin's Philosophy of Spiritualism.

68 THE COMING SCIENCE

dividuals in whom the trance manifests itself most
frequently would be the ones in whom the conditions
would be most marked. Mrs. Piper — the now
famous Boston medium — has been almost con-
stantly studied since the autumn of 1885 — the
first report on her trance phenomena appearing
in July, 1886,^ over the signature of Prof. Wil-
liam James. Since that time this medium hac
been under almost constant observation, both here
and abroad, and at one time experienced as many
as two long trances a day, or even more. During
all the seventeen years, however, no noticeable path-
ological symptoms have ever been observed, though
her case has frequently been observed by medical
and other experts. She was chiefly studied by
the late Dr. Richard Hodgson, secretary of the
American Branch of the Society for Psychical Re-
search; and, in a review, he most emphatically re-
pudiated the suggestion that Mrs. Piper's trances
involved " the extreme cost of personal suffering,"
and that the symptoms frequently observed were
" the convulsed countenance, the gnashing teeth,
the writhing body, the clenched hands," by the
following statement:

" In a communication to Light , . . for
February 4, 1899, I pointed out that her asser-
tions on this matter were entirely baseless. I drew

1 American Proceedings S. P. R., p. 103.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 69

attention to the fact that ' the convulsive move-
ments which usually in past years marked Mrs.
Piper's going into and coming out of trance ' had
ceased two years previously. ... I also em-
phasised the fact that Mrs. Piper's trances did not
involve any personal suffering by quoting a state-
ment from Mrs. Piper herself that she had never
suffered any physical pain in connection with
her trances, and that during the past two years she
had experienced better health than before since she
was thirteen years old." ^

It would seem, then, that in this case also, the
charges of morbidity, etc., are entirely unfounded;
and, supported as the evidence is by that of Mrs.
Thompson and other and newer investigations of a
similar type, we must again conclude that the
charges brought against these subjects upon this
score represent, not so much the sound opinion
formed by a careful study of the available evidence,
as the hasty a priori objections of the old-school,
old-time practitioner, whose knowledge of these
subjects was gained years ago and whose opinion is
now practically valueless, as it represents a point
of view which is by no means up to date, nor even
in accordance with observed and admitted facts.

(iv) There is probably no branch of psychic
investigation which is more misinterpreted and

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XIV, p. 395. ;,

70 THE COMING SCIENCE

which has given rise to such misconception as hyp-
notism and hypnotic phenomena. From the dozens
of different theories put forward to explain this
state (all probably wrong) ; from the mass of rub-
bishy literature upon this subject now printed and
upon the market, and from the general fear with
which it is regarded, it would seem that the days of
witchcraft had returned, with their vagaries and
superstitious terrors. The average person is, I am
sure, absolutely afraid of being hypnotised, though
it would be hard for people, in the majority of
cases, to explain the cause for this dread. Some,
perhaps, would oppose it on theological ground,
claiming it to be the work of the Devil — which ac-
tually occurred, e. g.^ in 1842, when the Rev. James
McNeil attacked the phenomena upon that ground
in a sermon preached in Manchester, England.
This objection has already been answered many
times. Others, perhaps, would object upon the
ground that it would be liable to induce hysteria, or
some other morbid condition ; or that it " weakens
the will ; " or that an unlimited control might be
gained by the operator over the subject, thus en-
forcing the enactment of crimes, etc. ; or that, once
asleep, it might be impossible for the operator ever
to awaken the patient, thus inducing one of those
terrible cases of continued sleep, ending in death,
which we sometimes read of in the papers. I

I

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 71

can assure my readers that such cases actually exist
in the papers — and there only. There is abso-
lutely no respectable evidence of any kind forth-
coming that such a case as this exists or ever
has existed outside the fertile brain of the news-
paper reporter. Such stories must be absolutely
discredited, as there is not a single grain of
truth in any such statement as this. After
considerable personal experience in this work,
and after a careful perusal of practically all
the standard authorities upon this subject, I can
honestly say that not a single well-evidenced case
has been forthcoming. It may occasionally hap-
pen that a slight difficulty has been experienced in
awakening a particular subject; but in experienced
hands this is extremely rare; and even when this
does occur, no apprehension need be felt upon this
score, as, when left alone, a spontaneous awakening
will occur in every case — in from one to twenty-
four hours after treatment. It will thus be seen
how foolish and unfounded such stories are ; indeed,
they appear creditable at all only to those individ-
uals unacquainted with the fundamental nature of
hypnotism and its phenomena.

The other three objections require more con-
sideration, as although they are, as I believe, de-
cidedly untrue, the absurdity of the charges is not
so apparent, and the objections named have, ap-

7« THE COMING SCIENCE

parently, considerable weight in public opinion. I
hope, at some future time, to treat this question
at greater length, but for the present I must con-
tent myself with noting and briefly answering the
three following, and remaining, objections:

(a) Hypnotism induces hysterical and other
morbid conditions.

(b) The frequent induction of hypnotism
tends to " weaken the will."

(c) The operator may, in time, obtain complete
control of the subject's personality — his will —
and thus compel him to commit crimes, etc., merely
by commanding him to do so.

(«) This was the theory adopted by the Char-
cot School, and persistently defended by them for
a number of years. As it was defended by numer-
ous physicians on the Continent, and by Ernest
Hart ^ and others in England, those laymen who
defend this theory may well feel that their case is in
good hands, and be content to leave it there.
Consequently this objection either stands or falls
with the ability of these physicians successfully to
defend their theory. But, in the ensuing clash of
opinions, what has been the outcome? This old
thesis has been absolutely and completely exploded.
First, it was pointed out, as I have done above,

1 See Hypnotism, Mesmerism and the New Witchcraft.
By Ernest Hart. London, 1893.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 73

that the Charcot School experimented entirely upon
hysterical subjects, and consequently the only pos-
sible conclusion to be drawn from such an investiga-
tion was that hypnotic subjects were hysterical.
But when other investigators experimented upon
other and healthy subjects, hysterical symptoms
were found in very few instances ; on the contrary,
hypnotic suggestion completely cured many cases of
pronounced hysteria. And this extends also to
other morbid conditions. The supposed analogy
between hypnotism and hysteria is now shown to be
absolutely without foundation; it is one of those
old-time theories beyond which many medical men
have not progressed, but the fallacy of which any
intelligent student of these phenomena, who keeps
abreast of the times, may readily perceive. This
hypothesis is behind the times. Dr. Bramwell, in-
deed, declared that " as far back as the Interna-
tional Congress of Psychology of 1892 the Char-
cot theories had practically ceased to excite scien-
tific interest." ^ As this seems to be the opinion,
also, of the majority of other writers upon this
subject, I leave the final verdict to any unpreju-
diced reader.

(&) Nothing, in this connection, is more fre-
quently heard than the statement that hypnotism
tends to " weaken the will." It would be next to

■i^ Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XV, p. 102.

74 THE COMING SCIENCE

Impossible to refute that statement here, as such an
argument would involve much dispute as to the na-
ture of hypnotism itself, and other technical points ;
and I can but say in this connection, " Where is
the evidence for its ever having done so? Upon
what does this accusation rest? " If analysed, I
believe that this assumption would be found to rest
principally upon subjective bias and unconfirmed
rumour, occasionally supplemented, perhaps, by
some flaring newspaper article. In opposition to
this I may state that a careful perusal of the works
of Doctors Braid, Moll, Bemheim, Lloyd Tuckey,
Bramwell, William James, De Courmelles, Cocke,
and Messrs. Gurney, Myers, Sextus, Quackenbos,
Binet and Fere, De Mude, Anderson, St. Germain
and other writers has failed to produce any confir-
mation whatever of this theory, which must, there-
fore, be relegated to the list of " human errors,"
together with so many others relating to these
subjects.

(c) The subject of " criminal suggestion" is
one which is yet far from being definitely decided
to the satisfaction of all. The works of the old
mesmerists occasionally contained accounts of
crimes perpetrated by the unfortunate and unwill-
ing subject, but in the absence of any recent
evidence tending to confirm these stories, they must,
I am sure, be accepted largely cum grano, and as

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 75

being due partly to misunderstanding the existing
conditions, and partly to an ignorance of the power
of conscious and unconscious suggestion, I have
spoken of " the absence of any recent evidence
tending to confirm these stories." It is true that
pseudo-crimes are induced nearly every day by hyp-
notic suggestion ; that is, acts are performed in the
laboratory which would, if enacted in real life, con-
stitute crimes; but it is precisely this difference
which renders the latter most unlikely of perform-
ance — that they are " laboratory crimes." The
hypnotic consciousness of the subject, which never
sleeps, comprehends perfectly that a trial, a " test,"
is being made, and knows that however great the
similarity may be between this and a genuine crime,
he would not be permitted to commit a real crime
in the presence of his investigators, and it is this
feeling of security which allows him to perform any
act suggested to him. But let a real crime be sug-
gested, in which the subject is left to himself, and
in whom the responsibility, if caught, would rest,
and the suggestion invariably fails. This is the
experience of almost every person at the present
day who either practises hypnotism or is thor-
oughly acquainted with hypnotic phenomena. Dr.
Bramwell, in his exceedingly thorough and brilliant
article on " What is Hypnotism ? " ^ after a brief

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XII, pp. 204-58.

76 THE COMING SCIENCE

resum^ of the evidence for criminal suggestion sums
up the result of his investigations as follows;

" SUGGESTED CRIMES SUMMARY

"1. I have never seen a suggestion accepted in
hypnosis which would have been refused in the
normal state.

*' 2. I have observed that suggestions could be
resisted as easily in the lethargic as in the alert
stage.

" 3. I have frequently noticed increased refine-
ment in hypnosis: subjects have refused sugges-
tions which they would have accepted in the normal
condition.

" 4. I saw Camille refuse a suggestion from
mere caprice.

" 5. Examination of the mental condition in
hypnosis revealed the fact that it was unimpaired.

" 6. The arguments of Bernheim cannot be con-
sidered conclusive, as they are founded solely upon
two classes of facts, (a) Where a simple and
harmless act has been assumed to be thought crim-
inal by the subject, because the operator has
stated it to be so. (fe) Where the subject has
permitted something in hypnosis which he w^ould
probably have submitted to in the normal state." ^

iPp. 238-39.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 77

Such phenomena do not necessarily indicate the
presence of any abnormal or morbid condition.

Before leaving this section, one or two reflections
may be noted which tend to cast a somewhat
new light upon these subjects, and upon our point
of view regarding them. These phenomena are by
no means always degrading or abnormal in their
character. Are they ever elevating or ennobling
in this respect.'* May they not sometimes repre-
sent, not sub or abnormal phenomena alone, but
supernormal — tending toward a higher goal, and
occasionally betraying sparks of a more celestial
fire? There are symptoms and tokens which seem
to show that man's ephemeral personality is more
deeply set, more part of a greater and higher
" self " than we can conceive upon the materialistic
basis of physiolgical psychology. Such a concep-
tion, based upon its legitimate facts, is far from
being a premature speculation. Mr. Myers, speak-
ing on this very subject,^ has said:

" I claim that this substitution of personality , or
spirit-control, or possession, or pneumaturgy, is a
normal forward step in the evolution of our race.
I claim that a spirit exists in man, and that it is
healthy and desirable that this spirit should be thus
capable of partial and temporary dissociation from
the organism, thereby enjoying an increased free-

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XVII, p. 68.

78 THE COMING SCIENCE

dom and vision, and also allowing some departed
spirit to make use of the partially vacated organism
for the sake of communication with other spirits
still incarnate on earth. I claim that much know-
ledge has already been thus acquired, while much
more is likely to follow."

And again,^ in discussing the various fluc-
tuations of personality observable in the " me-
dium-trance " and kindred states, he goes on to
say, " It may perhaps be felt, by some at least of
the rising generation of psychologists, that few
tasks can be more interesting and important than
that of discovering, investigating, and comparing
as many as possible of these extraordinary varia-
tions in the ordinary human type — variations
which, although often degenerative, are also some-
times, in my view, distinctly and rapidly evolutive in
their tendency."

A PRIORI OBJECTIONS

I have left but little space for meeting the ob-
jections raised to the study of these subjects upon
a priori grounds; nor do I feel that such a de-
tailed defence is needed. Those individuals who
oppose the study of these subjects upon such
grounds alone are hopelessly prejudiced, and,

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XVII, p. 74.

I

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 79

in such cases, any defence whatever is absolutely a
waste of time. It is impossible to convince them;
they know beforehand that there is nothing of
advantage to be gained in pursuing these inves-
tigations ; and, as Miss X. pointed out,^ " it
is only what Macaulay called the ' cocksure ' from
which nothing is to be hoped." Fortunately, the
majority of persons are not of this stamp, and
have more or less definite grounds for opposing
their study.

There still remain certain objections of a more
or less valid character which could not be included
under any of the sections already discussed, and
consequently must be answered here. This section,
indeed, might well be headed " Miscellaneous Ob-
jections."

Firsts then, there is the objection that these phe-
nomena are " impossible." No matter how strong
the evidence may be in their favour ; no matter how
many scientific men testify to their reality, there
must be a mistake somewhere. They are contrary
to the laws of nature, they are impossible, conse-
quently their study will tend merely to divert at-
tention from legitimate scientific investigation.
Those who believe in them are mistaken — that is
all. " But," as Dr. Mason has well said, " the ob-
jector who refuses credence to well-attested facts on

1 Essays in Psychical Research, p. 11.

80 THE COMING SCIENCE

that ground alone, simply assumes that he is ac-
quainted with all the laws of nature." ^ And
again, Sir Oliver Lodge declared that :

" It is a question of evidence whether such things
have occurred; and opinions differ. For myself,
I think they have. Part of the extra difficulty of
accepting evidence for any unusual phenomena is
the d priori notion that such occurrences are con-
trary to natural law, and are therefore impossible.
We cannot, however, clearly tell that they are con-
trary to natural law; all we can safely say is that
they are contrary to natural custom ; or, safer still,
that they are contrary or supplementary to our
usual experience. The last statement is safe
enough; but between that and the adjective 'im-
possible,' or the equivalent phrase ' contrary to the
order of nature,' there is a vast and unfillable
gap." 2

All this is undoubtedly true. If, for example,
we should go to any chemist, or physicist, or physi-
ologist, or scientist in any line of work, and ask
him if he considers that everything is know^n re-
lating to that subject which ever will be known —
in other words, if the world's knowledge is complete
along that line of inquiry — he would most assur-
edly answer "No ! " How much more would this be

1 Telepathy and the Subliminal Self, p. 110.

2 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XVII, p. 43.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 81

the case in psychology, where next to nothing is
known, comparatively speaking, about the phenom-
ena it investigates. And, as psychical research
problems are, very largely, psychological problems,
whence the objection? If it be granted that there
are any problems in nature as yet unsolved, then
their solution becomes an imperative duty for the
scientist. All scientific inquiry is based upon that
very fact — that there are many problems as yet
unsolved and laws as yet unknown. Scientific in-
vestigation means simply an organised attempt to
discover these laws. Why, then, should some sub-
jects be investigated and not others? In fact, if
reduced to definite statements, those who oppose the
study of these phenomena upon the ground of a
priori objection must fall back upon the statement,
either that they are not investigated by scientific
men, or that they are not investigated in a proper,
thoroughly scientific spirit. As both of these
statements are absolutely false, I can but inquire
again, Whence the objection?

Second. If, then, we grant, for the sake of ar-
gument, that it is possible for such phenomena to
exist, the next question is, Do they exist ? This, of
course, is a question which every man must answer
for himself ; but, in view of the strength of existing
positive evidence, the point I wish to heye emphasise,
in fact the object of this entire chapter, is to

82 THE COMING SCIENCE

show that a negative answer to this question cannot
and must not be given upon a priori grounds alone.
It can only be answered after a lengthy personal in-
vestigation and course of study; and, even should
the final result be negative, it must be remembered
that it represents that one investigator's opinion
only; others may have met with very different re-
sults. One may encounter a hundred f radulent me-
diums before one is discovered who is honest; but
that is no reason for asserting that all are dis-
honest. In view of these facts, then, Professor
Huxley's letter to the Dialectical Society,^ declining
to join that commit,tee because " The only case of
' Spiritualism ' I have had the opportunity of ex-
amining into for myself was as gross an imposture
as ever came under my notice," assumes rather a
humorous aspect, coming, as it does, from the pen
of so profound a thinker as he. And, in viewing
the attitude assumed by the majority of persons
toward these subjects, one cannot help feeling how
irrational and dogmatic they almost invariably are.
Of course, we all consider ourselves the criterion and
standard of unprejudiced judgment, and feel, in
our conceit, " Oh, if others could only view the
study of these phenomena in the same unbiased yet
critical spirit that I do myself ! " Unfortunately,
others think in exactly the same way, yet hold very

1 See Report, p. 229.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 8S

different opinions regarding these phenomena!
And it is here that we have brought vividly before
us the extreme subjectiveness of our universe, and
appreciate, to its fullest extent, while studying these
phenomena, the necessity of granting every man his
own opinion, and the art of gracefully allowing
everyone to retain that opinion without either un-
due acceptance of the same, or a contemptuous re-
jection thereof. And, on the other hand, many
persons start about their investigations in a wrong
spirit. Apart from the fact that but few persons
possess a well-balanced mind — neither credulous
nor unduly sceptical — many others require to be
convinced that such phenomena are possible before
they will consent to investigate them! Thus Pro-
fessor Jastrow declares (apropos of thought-trans-
ference), " If telepathy means the hypothesis of
a new force, that is, the assumption of an as yet
uncomprehended mode of the output of energy, sub-
ject rigorously to the physical bonds of material
causation which make possible a rational conception
of psycho-physiological processes; and if, further,
someone will put forth a rational conception of
how this assumed action can take place apart from
the exercise of the senses, I am prepared to admit
that this hypothesis is (not sound, or strong, or in
accordance with the facts, or capable of explaining
the facts, or warranted by the facts, but) one which

I

84 THE COMING SCIENCE

it is legitimate, though perhaps not profitable, to
consider. If, however, telepathy is put forward as
a totally new and peculiar kind of action, which is
quite unrelated to the ordinary forces with which
our senses and scientific observation acquaint us,
and which is not subject to the limitations of the
material world of causation; if telepathy is sup-
posed to reveal to us a world beyond or behind or
mysteriously intertwined with the phenomena of this
world — a world in which events happen not in ac-
cordance with the established physical laws, but for
their perjonal significance even in defiance of those
laws — then it becomes impossible for the scientist
to consider this hypothesis without abandoning his
fundamental conceptions of law and science ; " ^
which amounts to saying, of course, " If you can
explain these phenomena to me, I will accept them,
but if you admit that they are quite inexplicable, I
shall have to reject them forthwith ! " Could any-
thing be more irrational? Does it not seem more
scientific to accept some sufficiently attested phe-
nomenon and endeavour to account for it after-
wards, than to declare a priori that the phenomenon
itself cannot and does not exist, however well at-
tested, merely because we cannot account for it in
our present state of knowledge? Similarly with
other subjects. Earlier in this chapter I cited the

' I Fact and Fable in Psychology, pp. 101-2.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 85

case of a doctor who refused to believe that a "spir-
it " could return — could " come back, because he
does not beheve that there is any such thing as a
spirit to come back." Obviously, the only way to
decide this question is, not to speculate a priori
upon the possibility of spirit existence, and reason
from that the possibility of its return, but to test
and establish the possibility of its return, from
which we can argue (should that be established)
that man has a spirit to return. Here, as before,
it is merely a question of evidence.

And, finally, if it be once admitted that such phe-
nomena do exist — if telepathy, e. g., be proved a
fact in nature — the pessimist is sure to arise with
his Cui bono? Granting their existence, what is
their use.? What practical benefit can they be to
mankind.? Such questions, I believe, are almost in-
variably asked by persons who are either uninter-
ested or uninstructed in scientific matters. No sci-
entist would, for one moment, be guilty of such a
preposterous question. What is the " use " of ani/
scientific investigation, except to find out facts gen-
erally unknown and unrecognised? Every new
truth acquired, every scrap of information gained
by persistent effort is of great importance in help-
ing us to understand and unravel the mysteries of
the universe which surround us on every side; and
especially is this the case in our attempts to under-

86 THE COMING SCIENCE

stand that by which and through which every phe-
nomenon is known and appreciated — the human
mind. Moreover, if these studies should result, as
now seems highly possible, in scientifically demon-
strating a future life, their value can hardly be fur-
ther questioned, even by those who now oppose them
most strenuously. And, as I have before stated,
this now looks well within the bounds of possibility ;
and it is a fact that many persons — previously
materialists — have become converted to that be-
lief through these very phenomena, scouted, ridi-
culed and rejected though the}^ be!

In every instance the attacks on this subject
may be successfully repelled; in every case the ob-
jections can be triumphantly refuted. A great deal
more might be said in this relation, but space does
not permit. I leave the final judgment to any un-
prejudiced reader. Meanwhile, one or two final re-
flections may be noted, which, self-evident as they
appear when pointed out, are not by any means seen
and appreciated individually by the majority of
persons :

First, there is the possibility that thoroughly
scientific investigation might tend to destroy the
existing evidence for supernormal phenomena by
exposing and " explaining " these occurrences and
by showing them to be merely misinterpreted
normal phenomena. At any rate, nothing is to be

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 87

lost by deciding this question definitely, one way
or the other. In the first Circular issued by the
American Society for Psychical Research the fol-
lowing sentence occurs, and, as it sums up, very
tersely, the point here under discussion, I may quote
it in full. It says :

" The Council of the American Society, there-
fore, feels that the duty can be no longer postponed
of systematically repeating observations similar to
those made in England, with a view of confirming
them, if true, of definitely pointing out the sources
of error in them if false. If true, they are of value,
and the tracing of their limits becomes a scientific
duty. If false, no time should be lost in publishing
their refutation; for, if allowed long to stand un-
contradicted, their only effect will be to re-enforce
powerfully the popular drift toward superstition."

Since this was written, much has been published
which tends to destroy the existing evidence, both by
exposing frauds and by discovering and eliminating
sources of conscious and unconscious error, never
before fully appreciated. But, on the other hand,
much has been published which establishes, beyond
all reasonable doubt, the fact that certain phenom-
ena do occasionally occur which may with impunity
be called " supernormal," inasmuch as they are most
certainly unexplained and inexplicable by modern
science as it stands to-day. I claim that this much

88 THE COMING SCIENCE

has been definitely accomplished, and that those who
deny this are merely ignorant of the existing evi-
dence. And if we analyse the objections of scien-
tific men — why they decline to investigate these
problems — we find that in every case their objec-
tions practically amount to a dislike for admitting
the unpleasant truth, " I don't know ! " How
absurd a statement in the present condition of the
world's knowledge! How hollow the ground be-
neath such dogmatic denial! How little is yet
known compared with what may yet be known!
As Prof. William James has so forcibly re-
minded us, ". . . an audience of some five or
six score people, if each person in it could speak
for his own generation, would carry us away to the
black unknown of the human species, to days with-
out a document or monument to tell their tale. Is it
creditable that such a mushroom knowledge, such
a growth overnight as this, can represent more
than the minutest glimpse of what the universe will
really prove to be when adequately understood?
No! Our science is a drop, our ignorance a sea.
Whatever else be certain, this at least is certain —
that the world of our present natural knowledge is
enveloped in a larger world of some sort of whose
residual properties we at present can have no posi-
tive idea." ^

1 The Will to Believe, etc., pp. 53-4.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 89

The words of the late Frederic W. H. Myers
upon this subject are especially apt. Mr. Myers
was a man whose perfect insight and philosophical
grasp of nature is seen but once in a generation,
and his death is deeply deplored by scientists the
world over. Pondering over these problems of
death and futurity, and, in so doing, letting his
glance rest for a moment upon such dogmatic as-
sertions as these on the part of his scientific breth-
ren, the spirit moved him to write, with his usual
strength and beauty of style, yet with his custom-
ary tenderness and pathos:

" And yet popular science sometimes speaks as
though nearly everything in human nature had
been observed already! As though normality had
been defined, aberrations classified, a mass of ex-
perience acquired which our successors will only
have to work out in detail! A vain conceit! a
monstrous prematurity! Rather let us remember
that only by an abiding consciousness of our own
inevitable childishness can we prevent those suc-
cessors from looking on our religions with pity,
and on our science with contempt, while they
analyse, with a smile, our rudimentary efforts at
self-realisation, remarking, How hard a thing
it was to found the race of man."

CHAPTER IV

THERE can be no question that the two great
fundamental laws of modern-day science are
the indestructibility of matter and the conserva-
tion of energy. No scientific hypotheses are con-
sidered to be more established than these; they are
the very foundation stones of Haeckel's philoso-
phy, e.g., and science is more proud of the sup-
posedly complete proof of these dogmas than of
any other achievements of the past century. I
think I may assume that all my readers are fa-
miliar with the central ideas of these two doc-
trines; and I shall not elaborate them here. I
wish only to call attention, in this place, to certain
aspects of the theories, in so far as they relate
to the problems under discussion, and particularly
the question of immortality. For, it will readily
be seen that, if materialism be true, if matter and
force fill all the universe, and there is no room in

1 By the " law of substance " Haeckel meant a compound
law, composed of the two generally recognised laws apply-
ing to matter — that of the indestructibility of matter and
the conservation of energy. Haeckel coined his term to
include and unify these two.

90

« LAW OF SUBSTANCE " 91

it for that " third thing " of Huxley's — con-
sciousness — after the organism we know ceases to
function; then immortality would be an impossi-
bility, beyond any doubt, and materialism would
stand proved. I shall, in this place, discuss these
two theories in relation to the problems under con-
sideration; the first briefly, the second at greater
length; and I shall attempt to show that these
dogmas, even if established, do not have the effect
that many persons think they do have; and that
immortality and the possibility of the occurrence
of psychic phenomena are not rendered impossible
thereby, as many persons suppose.

Modern science contends that matter is inde-
structible ; not that the ' individuality ' of matter
is preserved, so to say, in all its varied forms and
manifestations, but that the crude elements of mat-
ter persist unchanged, eternally and unchangeably.
Until the past year or two, no one dared even ques-
tion this statement and hope to be considered sane ;
but lately we have the astonishing phenomena of
radium and radio-activity, seemingly showing
that the elements themselves can be disrupted and
changed into other elements — radium into he-
lium, e.g,i as we hear on the authority of one
scientist, and copper into helium, as we hear from
Sir William Ramsey. This would seem to show
that the whole modern conception of the nature

92 THE COMING SCIENCE

of matter has been changed, and that the ideas
of the alchemists have been not only revived, but
demonstrated! Again, we see how unsafe it is to
dogmatise on any scientific question. The cor-
puscular theory of light, for instance, which for
years back had been discarded as superstition, and
so far disproved as to be not worth discussing,
has been revived (since the recent discoveries in
radio-activity), and now is not without its cham-
pions in the scientific world. Many of the
dreams of the alchemist are thus proving to be
more — far more — than the mere dreams of
visionaries; they are apparently becoming scien-
tifically grounded facts. How many more of
their teachings will prove to be similarly founded
on reality.?

And recently, Dr. Gustave Le Bon has claimed
that he has caused matter to actually disintegrate
and vanish altogether — without return ! Mat-
ter has been, not changed, but actually anni-
hilated! It has (apparently) been resolved back
again into that force or those forces of which it
is the manifestation, merely; and the dogma of
the indestructibility of matter can thus be
shown to be untrue. It is true that the scientific
world is not so shocked by the publication of
this fact as they would have been a dozen years
ago. Then, the facts would have been dismissed

« LAW OF SUBSTANCE " 93

as unworthy of discussion, or even consideration;
and the man who pubHshed such statements would
have been looked upon as a dreamer or insane!
But the recent discoveries in physical science have
been preparing the world for some such ' shock '
as this; and it is probable that these experiments
will soon be received by the world as authentic
and conclusive.

Ever since Lavoisier formulated his law of the
indestructibility of matter, which seemed as per-
manent as the heavens themselves, and which has
been held without exception for more than one hun-
dred years, no one had dared question it without
involving the ridicule and contempt of scientists the
world over. It was thought that the indestructi-
bility of matter was, if anything, even more sure
than the conservation of energy, — since more eas-
ily verified. And yet, the new physics asserts that
matter is not only destructible, but can be disso-
ciated, and caused to vanish from sight! In
the physical laboratory, we are told, matter can be
resolved back into the energy, of which it is the
manifestation, merely. And so matter can be
caused to become invisible, and, in fact, actually
cease to be matter altogether ! It is no longer mat-
ter, but energy. And science now seriously talks
of the materialisation and the dematerialisation of
matter! But let me quote from Dr. Gustave Le

94 THE COMING SCIENCE

Bon's Evolution of Matter, one of the latest and
most original of these works. Here he says, in
part;

" Matter can vanish without return.
Force and matter are two different forms of one
and the same thing. Matter represents a stable
form of intra-atomic energy ; heat, light, electricity,
etc., represent unstable forms of it. By the dis-
sociation of atoms, that is to say the dematerialisa-
tion of matter, the stable form of energy termed
matter is simply changed into those unstable forms
known by the name of electricity, light, heat, etc.
. . . The atoms of all substances can disappear
without return by being transformed into energy."

Well, here is a revolution indeed! What be-
comes of the old dogmas, so long cherished? Of the
law of substance and of the old laws of chemistry
and mechanics.? What indeed! M. Le Bon was
led to believe that there is a world between that of
matter and that of pure force, — a world of " im-
ponderable matter." (This reminds us of Andrew
Jackson Davis!) And the whole of Book IV. is
devoted to " The Dematerialisation of Matter " !
After this, there can surely be no a priori objection
to certain spiritistic phenomena — on the grounds
of " impossibility," etc. — as there always has been
in the past. It has simply become a matter of

"LAW OF SUBSTANCE" 95

fact and evidence. The old dogmatic objections no
longer hold good.

And not only that. Matter can be materialised
— long enough, indeed, for it to be photographed !
Thus, on p. 164, we read:

" Such equilibria can only be maintained a mo-
ment. If we were able to isolate and fix them for
good — that is to say, so that they would survive
their generating cause — we should have succeeded
in creating with immaterial particles something re-
sembling matter. The enormous quantity of
energy condensed within the atom shows the im-
possibility of realising such an experiment.

** But if we cannot with material things effect
equilibria able to survive the cause that gave them
birth, we can at least maintain them for a suffi-
ciently long time to photograph them, and thus
create a kind of momentary materialisation."

Photographs of this materiaHsed matter are
given, so that we may see it. And this, be it re-
membered, is said by a man who is, if anything,
opposed to spiritism and its phenomena ; who takes
" no stock " in Eusapia Paladino, and who is a
purely experimental scientist! What are we com-
ing to?

We are coming to this. That the old, Biblical
account of creation is probably at basis true, after

96 THE COMING SCIENCE

all! Matter and all that is in the universe
emerged from — nothing, and it returns to —
nothing. In the last pages of Dr. Le Bon's fas-
cinating book, we have sketched for us the probable
fate of the universe. It is this :

" I have demonstrated with regard to the ele-
ments of dissociated matter . . . that electric
atoms in motion are always accompanied by vibra-
tions in the ether. . . . These vibrations of
the ether, ever the companions of the electric atoms,
most likely represent the form under which these
vanish by the radiation of all their energy. The
electric particle with an individuality of its own
. . . would thus constitute the last stage but
one of the disappearance of matter. The last of
all would be represented by the vibrations of the
ether — vibrations which possess no more durable
individuality than do the waves formed in water
when a stone is thrown into it, and which soon dis-
appear. . .

" After these ephemeral vibrations, the ether re-
turns to its repose, and matter has definitely disap-
peared. It has returned to the primitive ether
from which hundreds of millions of ages and forces
unknown to us can alone cause it to emerge, as it
emerged in the far off ages when the first traces
of our universe were outlined in the chaos. The

« LAW OF SUBSTANCE " 97

beginning of things was, doubtless, nothing else

than a re-beginning. Nothing lends to the belief

that they had a real beginning, or that they can

have an end."

And so we have the universe traced back to a

homogeneous, primal ether in rest. Once this

ether receives an initial impulse, and all the rest

would follow — ethereal vibrations, electric atoms,

material atoms, worlds, the universe! And into

the ether all shall return. But what caused that

prime, initial impulse.? That we cannot say; nor

does Dr. Le Bon attempt to answer that question.

He says that " forces unknown to us " caused it

to emerge. Is there any force unknown to us that

could effect this first grand impulse other than

some human or divine Will? ^

1 Since the above was written, Dr. Le Bon has issued a
sequel to his Evolution of Matter in another work, entitled
The Evolution of Forces. This book, forming Volume XCI.
of the International Scientific Series, shows us that the
dogma of the indestructibility of energy is no more good
and valid than that of the indestructibility of matter was
proved to be. Throughout his book, and particularly in
the chapter devoted to " The Vanishing of Energy and the
End of Our Universe," Dr. Le Bon attempts to show us
that energy, too, can be made to vanish without return;
and that, in course of time, energy, like matter, will vanish
and cease to be; and when that shall have taken place, the
universe will have become stable, — practically resolved back
into that quiescent ' nothingness ' whence it sprang. Such
is the latest conception of science! His conclusions are
perfectly justifiable, inasmuch as Dr. Le Bon has furnished
us with the details of the experiments upon which he
founds them; so that any man who cares to may repeat
his experiments. The facts, at least, would seem to be

98 THE COMING SCIENCE

So we come to this : Certainly matter is not the
material, coloured, solid matter we think we see in
everj-day life. I have shown in another place
(p. 28) that the world we see is not the real ex-
ternal world at all ; what we see is but the duplicate
or double of such a world. We create a mental
world within ourselves, and that is the only ' real '
world for us, — and the only world we know and
directly come into contact with. The real world,
without, is different from it — of that we are as-
sured; and of its existence, in any such real sense
as the majority of persons imagine, there is very
grave doubt.

But physical science has always been concerned
with things as they seem to be, not things as
they really are. No matter whether the world
is, in its essence, such as we conceive it or not,
it says; that is nothing to do with us for our
particular experimental problems and for prac-
tical purposes. Even granting that the material
world we come into contact with is not such a

established beyond all question; at any rate the central fact,
which Dr. Le Bon formulates thus:

" Energy is not indestructible. It is unceasingly con-
sumed, and tends to vanish like the matter whidi repre-
sents one of its forms" (p. 99).

This at all events shows us that the second of the two
great dogmas of the past century has been called in ques-
tion, and, in fact, actually disproved! Before such as-
tounding revelations, one may well pause before pronouncing
any fact "impossible."

"LAW OF SUBSTANCE" 99

world as it has generally been supposed to be, still,
for our purposes and for the affairs of every-day
life, we have to take it as if it really were so, and
as if it existed in exactly the way that we perceive
it. That is very true, and physical science is per-
fectly justified in taking this stand, for exper-
imental purposes and arguments. Were she not
to do so, there could be no real science of physics ;
it would all be vague metaphysics. But even
then, we must not lose sight of the fact that phys-
ical science has recently been showing that matter
is no such solid substance as has always been sup-
posed — even for experimental purposes. Matter
having recently been resolved into electricity, it is
shown to be, not matter at all, but to consist of
centres or points of force. Again, this revives
ancient speculations — but this is a question that
cannot be discussed here.

Now, let us turn to the question of the con-
servation of energy. I shall not, in this place,
attempt to question this scientific hypothesis, ex-
cept in one respect. It is universally held, as my
readers doubtless know, that all the forces of the
universe — light, heat, motion, chemical affinity,
vital force, etc. — are in some manner interrelated
and capable of being transformed or changed, one
into another; and further, that the amount or

100 THE COMING SCIENCE

quantity of the force, when thus transformed, is
exactly equal to the quantity of the original force
or energy. That is, the quantity of force in the
universe remains constant, while its quality varies.

So far as this relates to the physical world, pure
and simple, this is probably correct, and I shall
not attempt to question it here. My plea is,
that lifCy or vital force, is wrongly placed in the
list of energies; that it is not capable of being
transformed from or into any other force what-
ever,— as is universally held. All the purely phys-
ical energies of the universe may be capable of
being thus transformed and transmuted, and to
them the law of conservation probably applies;
but I contend that the law does not apply to the
animal world and to vital force, and I shall now
state, very briefly, my reasons for thinking so.

In order to sustain the present system of in-
cluding the vital energies in the law of conserva-
tion, it is necessary to consider those energies as
capable of being derived from others, and capable
of being converted back into them under suitable
conditions. Thus, energy would be supplied to
the body, and in some manner converted into vital
energy in it; and this vital energy would be
given off by the body, and converted into other
energies, in doing the muscular and other work
necessitated. The way in which the body is sup-

"LAW OF SUBSTANCE" 101

posed to derive its energy is through the food
eaten; the chemical combustion of the food in-
gested supplying the body with its energy, in
precisely the same manner as the engine derives
its energy through and by means of the coal
burnt. The two cases (the steam engine and the
body) are thus supposed to be practically identi-
cal; the body derives its energy, supposedly, in
the same way that any engine derives its energy
— through the chemical combustion of the fuel
supplied; and the process is no more complicated
and mysterious in the one case than in the other.
That is the present theory, and the one I believe to
be essentially untrue.

I cannot now enter into all the reasons for
thinking this theory erroneous, as that would take
us into many obscure physiological problems, and
would be out of place in a volume such as this.
In my book. Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition, I
have discussed this question in great detail, and
shall here but summarise some of the arguments
and theories there advanced. Anyone who wishes
to obtain detailed knowledge of the facts is re-
ferred to the book mentioned, where my argu-
ments will be found in full.

If the energy of the body were derived from the
food eaten, then the process should be purely a
mechanical one, and the same amount of food,

lOa THE COMING SCIENCE

oxidised in the same way, should yield the same
or nearly the same amount of energy to all persons.
Yet we know that such is not the case ; the athletes'
and the weakhngs' bodies are built from the same
food and about the same amount of it; and yet
we know that one has twice or thrice or even ten
times the strength of the other. If our strength
were derived from the food by a purely mechanical
process of combustion, it is hard to see why this
should be so.

But we need not go beyond the limits of
every-day life and every-day experience in order
to see that this theory of the replacement of en-
ergy by food is a pure myth. For, " were the
generally held theory true, it would only be nec-
essary, when tired, to go first to the dining room,
and then to the gymnasium, in order to recuperate
our strength and energies. We should ingest more
food, then oxidise it off, and the process of its
internal combustion would add more energy to the
system; and so on ad infinitum. A truly pretty
theory, but unfortunately (for it) we all know
from actual practical experience that we must,
when weary, retire to bed, and not to the dining
room, in order to recuperate our energies; and
there comes a time when we can sustain ourselves
no longer, but must seek rest and sleep, or die ; and
this no matter how much food we may have eaten,

« LAW OF SUBSTANCE " 103

or how industriously we may have exercised and
breathed in order to oxidise it off. As a matter of
fact, we know that it is exceedingly unhygienic
and unwholesome to eat at all when exhausted by
the labours of the day, and that exercise at such
a time is most doubtfully beneficial, and that no
amount of deep breathing will succeed in indefi-
nitely postponing the oncoming of fatigue, exhaus-
tion and sleep.

" We are supposed to gain our energy through
the combustion of food, — just as a steam engine
gains its energy through the combustion of fuel;
and it is contended that the parallel, in the two
cases, is almost exact. But, unfortunately for the
theory, the parallel is not exact in just this way:
the human engine (the body) reaches a point where
it refuses to evolve energy, no matter how much
fuel (food) is forced into it, and no matter how
full a ' draught' is turned on (exercise and deep-
breathing taken). The engine does not recuper-
ate and restore itself, and the body does; the en-
gine continues to wear out, and can never replace
its own parts by new ones, and the body can."

Finally, I showed in my book, above referred
to, how patients, when fasting (and so going
without food altogether) did not get weaker, but,
on the contrary, stronger — and this in spite of
the fact that we supposedly derive our strength

io4p the coming science

from the food eaten! As the result of these and
many more facts and arguments, I think we may
safely come to the conclusion that life or vital
force is wrongly placed in the list, and that it is
not derivable from, nor in turn transmutable or
transformable into, any other of the physical
forces, but stands alone, separate, distinct, per se.

If this be true, we are in a better position to
appreciate the position of life and its relative posi-
tion in the other forces. It is not one of them,
but guides them, merely, in its association with
the body. It is not the product of any chemical
process of combustion, but an essence, apart from
any chemical or physical force in the universe. It
is something apart from and superior to these.

Now we are better enabled to understand the re-
lation of this idea — that life is not simply an or-
ganic product — than formerly and the relation
of the theory to the possibility of conscious im-
mortality and the possibility of psychic phenom-
ena. Let me illustrate. Professor Shaler, in his
book. The Individual (pp. 301-2), thus expresses
the current opinions :

" The functions of the body are but modes of
expression of the energy which it obtains through
the appropriation of food. As regards their
origin, these functions may be compared to the

"LAW OF SUBSTANCE" 105

force which drives the steam engine, being essen-
tially no more mysterious than other mechanical
forces. Now, the mind is one of the functions of
the body, a very specialised work of the parts
known as the nervous system. We can trace the
development of this mind in a tolerably continuous
series from the lowest stages of the nervous pro-
cesses, such as we find in the monera or kindred
protozoa to man. Thus it is argued that, though
the mental work of our kind is infinitely more ad-
vanced than that of the primitive animals, there
is no good reason to believe that it is other than
a function of the body; that it is more than a
peculiar manifestation of the same forces which
guide digestion, contract muscles, or repair a
wound. Furthermore, as is well known, at death
all the fimctions of the organic body fall away
together in the same manner and at essentially
the same time, so there is, in fine, no more reason
to believe that the functions of the brain persist
than that a like persistence occurs in the digestive
function or in the blood-impelling power of the
heart. All this, and much more, can be said to
show that the phenomenon of death appears to
possess us altogether when we come to die."

All this is perfectly logical and consistent. It
would seem to indicate that such is indeed the case,

106 THE COMING SCIENCE

were It not for this fact. We have seen that, upon
the theory defended, none of the bodily energies
are derived from the daily food, but from rest
and sleep only ; that the body is more Hke an elec-
tric motor, in construction, than it is like a steam
engine; and consequently the analogy does not
hold. As we have seen, " nervous or vital force is
not dependent upon food combustion at any time,
nor under any circumstances whatever; and conse-
quently mental energy — one form of nervous
energy — is not dependent upon this physiological
process either; it is altogether independent of it;
so that, when the process itself ceases, it is
no proof whatever — and there is not even a
presumption in favour of the argument — that
mental life ceases at the death of the physical or-
ganism. In fact, the presumption is all the other
way. So that this main, oft-quoted and central
argument against survival is no valid objection
at all. . . . Provided my theory be true, it
proves to have no foundation in fact. The possi-
bility of conscious survival of death is thus left
quite an open question — capable of scientific in-
vestigation or of philosophic dispute; but the
grand negative, physiological argument vanishes."
From the physiological point of view, therefore,
there can be no longer any objection against con-
scious survival or the existence of psychic phe-

" LAW OF SUBSTANCE " 107

nomena — at least the argument based upon the
supposed dependence of mind upon the organic
processes and energies. The old, materialistic no-
tion, which compared the body to a lamp, vitality
and life to the flame, which simply ceased to ex-
ist with the extinction of the lamp, is thus shown
to be invalid and based upon an incorrect inter-
pretation of the facts. Life is not the result of
any process of combustion or oxidation whatever,
but is, on the contrary, the guiding, controlling
principle, the real entity, for whose manifestation
the body was brought into being.

We have thus traced the vital or life-principle
to some external source, outside the body, and
have shown that, whatever its nature and ultimate
source, it is not made or ' manufactured ' within
the system by any process of chemical or other
combustion, but that it is derived from some all-
pervading energy. The manner of this connec-
tion I have also attempted to illustrate, briefly;
and that is as far as I attempted to carry the
problem in my Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition,
which was a purely physiological treatise, and in
which I did not wish to confuse the issue by intro-
ducing unnecessary and ultra-speculative attempts
at explanation of the nature or essence of this force.
Its essence I did not therein attempt to explain,
and indulged in no speculations as to what this

108 THE COMING SCIENCE

life or vital force might be. In a book such as
the present, however, where the limitations are re-
moved, so far as physical speculations are con-
cerned, and believing as I do that one of the most
prominent problems of the Coming Science will
be an attempt to find and isolate this life or vital
principle, I may state what I conceive to be the
nature of this life force, offering the following re-
marks as tentative only, and not as dogmatic state-
ments of what the real essence of life may be.
This is a most venturesome and bold undertaking,
I admit — this attempt to define life — but X do
so, as I before said, tentatively, and in the hope
that speculations, however crude, may at least help
in unravelling the mysteries that surround us on
every side.

Several times, during my discussion, I called at-
tention to the close analogy of the body to the
electric motor — at times using such language as :
". . . The body is not an exact parallel, in its
action, to the steam engine, as has heretofore been
contended, but is rather that of the electric motory
which has the power of recharging itself with
life or vital energy, just as the motor of the elec-
trician receives its energy from some external
source — the brain and nervous system being that
part of us which is thus recharged, and constitut-
ing the motor of the human body. . . ." But

"LAW OF SUBSTANCE" 109

I went on to say : " I do not pretend to say what
this source is, and I do not feel that I am called
upon to explain this any more than I am the
essence of vitality. Both must be, in a sense, ac-
cepted without explanation, like the connection of
mind and matter. I need only say that, to the
physicist, the theory should have no objections on
that ground, since the fact that such an all-per-
vading energy exists is becoming more and more
manifest. Says Mr. Thurston,^ ' All space is per-
vaded by heat, light, electricity and magnetism;
why not with vital and spiritual energies ? ' "

Having arrived so far in our investigations and
inquiry, the question at once arises. What is this
life? That it is in some way electrical in its na-
ture will probably at once suggest itself to my
reader. Numberless suggestions and speculations
have been advanced on these lines, but the same
objection might be raised to them all, mz.: If we
were to assume that life is in any way electricity,
how account for the facts of self -consciousness .?
Electricity, so far as we know it, is not conscious,
but on the contrary is a more or less ' physical '
and * material ' force, — just as all other forces are
' physical.' Carl Snyder ^ says that, " In the new
view, the ultimate cause of muscular action, and,

1 The Animal as a Prime Mover, p. 334.
^New Conceptions in Science, p. 209.

I

110 THE COMING SCIENCE

not improbably, of all life-processes, is electricity."
But if life is electricity, where does consciousness
come in? We seem to be as badly off as ever.

Now, I would begin by calling attention to cer-
tain facts in physical science. Electricity is, as
we well know, positive and negative. What nega-
tive electricity is we know pretty well. The atoms
of the universe are built up of it, — according to
modern science. But what of positive electricity.'*
Of that virtually nothing whatever is known.
Let me state the present position of science by
quoting from Dr. Kennedy Duncan's book. The
New Knowledge (pp. 188-9), as follows:

". . . What is positive electricity, as dis-
tinguished from negative, which consists of these
corpuscles.'* The answer is, We do not know. We
conceive of an atom as an aggregation of nega-
tive corpuscles arranged in a certain number in
a certain way, and surrounded by a sphere of
positive electricity which balances the negative elec-
tricity of the corpuscles within it. We can ac-
count for positive electrification as distinct from
positive electricity on the supposition that a posi-
tively electrified body is one which has lost some
of its corpuscles, while a negatively electrified body
is one which has gained corpuscles. But this does
not tell us what positive electricity actually is.

"LAW OF SUBSTANCE" 111

If it is made up of particles, these particles must
either have no mass at all, or very little, for the
mass of the whole atom seems to be simply the
sum of the masses of its negative corpuscles.
Positive electricity as apart from an atom does not
seem to exist. It never seems to fly free as the
corpuscle does. Its nature is, to-day, a mystery."
And again (p. MG) :

" What positive electricity is nobody knows :
unless the statement that it is a mode of manifesta-
tion of the all-pervading ether constitutes knowl-
edge, though even this we do not absolutely know."

Now, I boldly propose that the active phenom-
enal principle of what we call life is positive electric-
ity. Positive electricity may be the very life-prin-
ciple in operation — the phenomenal aspect of what
we call life — itself in action : life acting or func-
tioning, may be this very positive electricity. It
seems to surround and control all matter and yet
be no part of it! What is this power or force
which seems to play so powerful and yet so insig-
nificant and unmeasurable a part in the universe,
if it be not the controlling, regulating power of
the universe.'' And what may that be but life.''
That positive electricity is immaterial we have evi-
dence; and it is certain that no definite place has
been assigned to it, as yet. May not this positive
electricity, then, be the active life-principle of the

112 THE COMING SCIENCE

universe — that which charges our nervous

mechanisms during the hours of rest and sleep in

the manner I have suggested in my book? There

are many facts that might be adduced in favour

of such an hypothesis, but this is not the place to

produce them. I advance this merely by way of

a suggestion. If we could trace these other forces

of the universe back to one primary force, — they

being but its aspects, — and if we could in any

way identify this primary or fundamental cause

with life or mind, positive electricity being the

phenomenal aspect of this very mind in operation,^

we could begin to see the workings of this law — -

a law that would unify all science and explain in

1 It is improbable that mind can ever act directly upon
matter, but (upon the theory that it acts upon the brain
at all, and is not made by it and its functioning) upon
some intermediary — semi-material — which some persons
have conceived as an ' ethereal body.' This may be very
true, and the ethereal body may, in the last analysis, be
but a modification of the power I am discussing. Long ago
Dr. Dods pointed out that : " . . . Electricity is indeed
the connecting link between the mind and the body . . .
mind cannot come into direct contact with gross matter.
My mind can no more directly touch my hand than it can
the mountain rock. My mind cannot touch the bones of
my arm, nor the sinews, the muscles, the blood vessels, nor
the blood that rolls in them. In proof of this position, let
one hemisphere of the brain receive what is called a stroke
of palsy. Let the paralysis be complete, and one-half of
the system will be rendered motionless. In this case, the
mind may will with all its energies, — may exert all its
mental powers — yet the arm will not rise, nor the foot
stir. Yet the bones, sinews, muscles, and blood vessels are
all there, and the blood as usual continues to flow. . . .**
This passage has singular interest in this connection.

« LAW OF SUBSTANCE " 113

a rational manner all that we know of the organic
— no less than the inorganic — worlds. So far
as we can ever understand life at all, it is prob-
ably positive electricity; to us it will remain so,
though it is possible that this is itself but the phe-
nomenon of that which lies behind — the noum-
enon; and that may be wiU power — that which
creates and annihilates worlds: the dynamic force
of one, universal, all-pervading, omnipotent mind.

CHAPTER V

THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS ^

NOTHING, in psychical research, can either
help or hinder our progress so much as the
attitude of mind assumed, at the commencement of
our studies, toward these subjects, and the clearness
with which are formed our conceptions of what is
believable and what is not. Broadly speaking,
however, it may fairly be said that he who begins
his investigations with the least prepossession, with
the least clearly formed opinions — either for or
against — and with willingness to accept any new
fact, upon sufficient evidence, even if it should up-
set his previous convictions and beliefs; in short,
that person who possesses an abundance of what
Professor Sidgwick so happily termed the " higher
common sense," he it is from whom we may rightly
expect the greatest results; an impartial repre-
sentation of the evidence at hand, without either
dogmatic positive assertion, or a relapse into
that weak and effeminate position of assuming off-
hand that it is " unknowable." And most assur-

1 Paper read before the Minneapolis Society for Psychical
Research, June 6, 1902. A portion of this paper has pre-
viously appeared in print; see Psychic and Occult Views and
Reviews, May, 1903.— H. C.

114

I

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 115

edly no other point in our evidence will hinder us
more than setting a limit upon our own powers,
mentally, and of the view we take of our own per-
sonality. If we are to accept the fact (now
taught by most psychologists) that our mental life
depends simply and solely upon certain physical
processes within our brains, and consequently that
without these processes there can be no mental life,
we are indeed crippled and confined, in our out-
look, to a certain narrow field, viz., how far can
our senses be sharpened and our nervous system
trained to receive more fully certain fine — but
obviously physical — indications as to what is oc-
•curring around us?

Now, one great blow which this " narrow " out-
look upon the universe has received is the large
and constantly increasing acceptance of telepathy

— of the fact, that is, that certain impressions can
and do reach another mind quite independent of
the ordinary and recognised avenues of sense.
" But this fact," as Mr. Myers has admitted,
" does not in itself carry obvious proof of any-
thing in man which the materialistic hypothesis
might not cover. ' Brain waves ' might be a form
of ether waves, or in some way analogous thereto,'*

— though it has repeatedly been shown how im-
probable such a theory is. But, apart from this,
there are, indeed, very few facts incapable of being

116 THE COMING SCIENCE

classified (I will not say explained) in some way
under the materialistic hypothesis. So wide an ac-
ceptance is this latter theory receiving, in fact,
that the majority of Continental scientists have
given up all thought of mind existing apart from
matter, and consequently have come to the conclu-
sion that " a future life, of any sort, is hardly
worthy of serious consideration."

Now, such a position as this can only be met
upon its own ground, and answered by facts as
strong as those advanced by the materialistic
school. This subject, of such vast importance to
man, can no longer be argued from the same
standpoint as formerly; the subject of a future
life can no longer be based upon emotional crav-
ing or theological dogma; it must withstand the
test of evidence. Here, then, is a point which can
definitely be decided either one way or the other.
Are there, or are there not, among these problems
of psychical research, such evidential data as will
decide, more or less definitely, the question, by
producing such undeniable facts and evidence as
will tend to show that man's survival of bodily
death is indeed a great reality, and no mere fig-
ment of the imagination? Such evidence, the
strongest ever yet advanced, may be found in full
in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical
Research (S. P. R.), and repugnant as the idea

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS ll7

of an experimentally proved future life may be to
some, it is nevertheless the only evidence forthcom-
ing. It is upon such evidence as apparitions and
haunted houses; upon the hidden depths of man's
consciousness, as evoked under certain abnormal
conditions; but above all, upon the trance utter-
ances of the famous Boston medium, Mrs. Piper,
that those scientific men who have become con-
vinced of a future state of being base their con-
clusions and arguments, and I cannot too strongly
advise my readers to read and to study that evi-
dence in its complete and cumulative form.

But this chapter is not to be devoted to the evi-
dence itself, but rather to a consideration of cer-
tain d priori objections which have been raised
against this subject, and particularly to a dis-
cussion of the materialistic standpoint, in its rela-
tion to the phenomena of mind. For it must be
admitted that if science can show that such a thing
as a future life is an utter impossibility, then, no
matter what our previous opinions or convictions
may have been, we are bound, as lovers and follow-
ers of truth, to reject this long-coveted treasure,
however much our instincts or desires may be to
the contrary. And it is such a proof as this which
experimental psychology claims to have brought
forward. Its arguments are chiefly these: That
the brain and nervous system are those parts of

118 THE COMING SCIENCE

our being which form and compose our mental
life, and upon which the latter is wholly de-
pendent for its existence.^ For every thought
there is an accompanying physical change in the
brain substance — from which the obvious infer-
ence to be drawn is that when there is no more
brain there can be no more thought or conscious-
ness. Again, should you strike a man upon the
head with a bar of steel, consciousness ceases for
the time being — owing, apparently, to the de-
rangement of the brain's functions ; and should the
blow be dealt with more severity and greater struc-
tural damage take place, the man ceases to exhibit
thought or consciousness — not only for the pres-
ent, but for all time; he is, in fact, what we term
" dead." Again, should you mix poison with the
blood of any individual, and this be carried to
the brain through that medium, the correspond-
ing mental " states " or conditions invariably show
themselves; the organ of mind has been tampered
with, and consequently the mind itself is deranged.
But more than all this, it has been shown that in-
jury to, or removal of, certain portions of the
brain affect certain portions (if I may so express

1 A typical example of the position of the scientific world
is to be found in Lowell's Occult Japan, p. 312: "White-
heating of the cells (of the brain) we call consciousness.
Consciousness, in short, is probably nerve-glow."

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 119

it) of consciousness and thought. Piece by piece,
section by section, as the physical and obviously
material brain is removed; so bit by bit, and little
by little, the mental life disappears, until not a
vestige of it remains.

Now, all this most certainly tends to show that
our conscious existence is absolutely dependent
upon our very material brain, and consequently
the formula, " Thought is a function of the
brain," is so widely accepted and believed that al-
most any psychologist " will tell you," as James
humorously puts it, " that only a few belated
scholastics, or possibly some crack-brained theos-
ophist or psychical researcher can be found hold-
ing back, and still talking as if mental phenomena
might exist as independent variables in the world."
Now, all this is strictly common-sense and to the
point, and the fact is certainly there that for any
form of a future life we may postulate we must
of necessity take into account this undoubted brain
action, and subscribe, in one sense or another, to
the old psycho-physiological formula, " Thought
is a function of the brain." The question is, Does
this undoubted fact of neurosis or nervous change,
accompanying all thought, deter us finally from
accepting any such condition as a future life, for
the reason that thought and consciousness cannot

120 THE COMING SCIENCE

exist apart from matter? I venture to think that
it does not, and I shall now endeavour to justify
this statement and make good my position.

In the first place, then, " it would appear that
the supposed impossibility of its continuing comes
from too superficial a look at the admitted fact of
functional dependence. The moment we inquire
more closely into the notion of functional depend-
ence, and ask ourselves, for example, how many
kinds of functional dependence there may be, we
immediately perceive that there is one kind at least
that does not exclude a life hereafter at all. The
fatal conclusion of the physiologist flows from his
assuming off-hand another kind of functional de-
pendence, and treating it as the only imaginable
kind." I shall here briefly recapitulate these the-
ories for the sake of clearness, using the terse lan-
guage of Prof. William James in so doing :

". . . One cannot see more than two really
diflferent sorts of dependence of our mind on
our brain; either (i) the brain brings into being
the very stuffs of consciousness of which our mind
consists; or else (ii) consciousness pre-exists as an
entity, and the various brains give to it its various
specific forms.

" If supposition (ii) be the true one, and the
stuffs of mind pre-exists, there are, again, only two

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 1^1

ways of conceiving that our brain confers upon it
the specifically human form. It may exist:

"(a) In disseminated particles, and then our
brains are organs of concentration; organs for
combining and massing these into resultant minds
of personal form.

"(&) In vaster units (absolute 'world soul' or
something less), and then our brains are organs
for separating it into parts and giving them finite
form. . . . There are, thus, three possible
theories of the brain's function, and no more.
We may name them severally: (i) The theory of
production; (ii) the theory of combination, and
(m) the theory of separation." ^

Now, it is to the first of these theories that the
majority (but by no means all) of the psychologists
cling; and it is upon this theory that their argu-
ments are based; but in the absence of all definite
proof either for or against, we are surely entitled
to consider the two latter theories as possibilities
not to be summarily rejected. Indeed, apart from
the fact that one theory involves some such hy-
pothesis as " spirit " and the other does not, the
two theories are exactly on a par, neither being
exactly proved, explained, nor apparently prov-
able or explainable with our present knowledge

1 Human Immortality. By Prof. William James.

122 THE COMING SCIENCE

and data. And, apart from the above-mentioned
difficulty, the latter theories, involving some sort
of transcendental world, lend themselves very
naturally to the explanation and elucidation of
those psychical phenomena — so-called " miracu-
lous cures," telepathy, premonitions, and the like

— which are exceedingly difficult, if not impossi-
ble, to explain and classify on the " production
theory."

And now let us see how — in the latter theories
advanced — consciousness is to be conceived as
operating upon and through us; or rather our
brains, which are the " seats " of consciousness —
whatever view we take of our mental life. First
of all then, I shall assume, for the sake of argu-
ment, that consciousness may really exist apart
from our physical organism, but is only manifest
to us — to our senses — while operating through
that organism ; ^ and this I shall endeavour to illus-
trate by a simple analogy. In the accompanying
illustration we will suppose that the vertical divid-
ing line. A, represents an opaque wall; forming,
in this case, with the walls, B, C, D, a perfectly
air-tight chamber, into which no light can possibly
enter. In this wall, Ay a small opening has been
made and a glass prism, E, inserted — as shown

— upon which falls the light of the distant sun,

1 Save in telepathy, etc. — H. C.

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 123

F; and it is through this prism that light is re-
fracted into the enclosed chamber — > that being the
only light obtainable. Now, it will be observed
that, in this case, anyone living within that cham-

oer can have no idea or conception of the sun's
actual, unimpeded light — would have no knowl-
edge, in fact, of any light at all not obtained
through our prism ; and, had he always lived within
that chamber, would disbelieve in any other light
whatever. Further, if this prism should become
cracked or marred in any way, a corresponding
defect would be noticed in its refracting qualities;
and, with every additional crack or chip, its utility
would be still further impaired; in short, its f mic-
tion would he deranged.

And now suppose that this sun should represent

124 THE COMING SCIENCE

consciousness — free and unimpeded from all its
material limitations; that we should be the inhab-
itants of that chamber ; and that our brains should
represent this prism, by which and through
which consciousness manifests itself. Many
things fall into place on this analogy. First,
here is a full and complete answer to the material-
ist that, as the brain is injured, a corresponding
mental derangement takes place. This, as we have
seen, would be the case on the " transmission the-
ory," just outlined above. If a man loses con-
sciousness as soon as his brain is injured, it is
clearly as good an explanation to say that the
injury to the brain destroyed the mechanism by
which the manifestation of consciousness was ren-
dered possible as to say that it destroyed the
" seat " of consciousness. On the other hand,
there are facts which the transmission theory suits
the better. If, for example, as sometimes hap-
pens, a man after a time more or less recovers facul-
ties of which the injury to his brain deprived him,
and that not in consequence of a renewal of the
injured part, but in consequence of the inhibited
functions being performed by the action of other
parts, the easiest explanation certainly is that con-
sciousness constitutes the remaining parts into a
mechanism capable of acting as a substitute for
the lost parts. Again, this analogy would explain

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 125

and answer the difficulties raised, and the objec-
tions brought forward against this theory on the
ground that the mental faculties apparently grow
with the brain and decline with the brain's decay. ^
For, in that case, our prism would be small in
childhood, and consequently admit less light in
actual volume, but that light would be clearer and
purer than that refracted in later life, when the
glass or prism had become dulled and blurred with
constant use and exposure ; and, indeed, this proves
to be the case — for childhood's imagination and
impressionability are with difficulty stamped out
and replaced by the more prosaic and so-called
" rational " view of things necessary in our modern
civilisation.

And again, as to the effects of drugs upon the
brain, and arguments of that nature. The reply
is much the same for all these objections: if you
destroy the organ through which, or by which, con-
sciousness manifests itself, then certainly that con-
sciousness cannot manifest properly ; just as, in the
above case, if we injure or destroy our prism, then
its refracting properties are impaired. But we
do not injure the mind — the actual consciousness
— any more than we should, in the above case, de-
stroy the sun.

And yet again : it is hard to see, on the material-

1 Haeckel, The Riddle of the Universe, p. 147.

126 THE COMING SCIENCE

istic theory, how the mind can effect those wonder-
ful mental cures which have now become so nu-
merous ; for, from their point of view, the mind is
but a function of the brain, just as secreting bile
is a function of the liver ! But if we can conceive
ourselves — our real selves — acting upon our ma-
terial body through the brain, and directing the
other functions of that body, more or less, thereby,
by means of our will — a part of our mental life
— then we begin to see how these cures are ef-
fected; to have some faint inkling of the hidden
processes at work within ourselves which bring
these results to pass. And, finally, the above the-
ory is perfectly compatible with the general trend
of Evolution, for the reason that as the ma-
terial brain advances in development, so it admits
a correspondingly greater influx of mental life.
" If the material encasement be coarse and simple,
as in the lower organisms, it permits only a little
intelligence to permeate through it ; if it is delicate
and complex, it leaves more pores and exits, as it
were, for the manifestations of consciousness." ^
The above theory, then, contains nothing which is
absolutely opposed either to common-sense, philos-
ophy, or science.

Having now shown, as I trust I have, that these
other theories of consciousness — though purely

1 F. C. S. Schiller, Biddies of the Svhinx, p. 293.

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 127

theoretical and speculative — still contain nothing
which absolutely contradicts what is already known
of physiology or the physical sciences, I shall en-
deavour to combat, in the remaining portion of this
chapter, the materialistic or " production " theory
of consciousness, and to point out the many diffi-
culties to be taken into account in an acceptance of
that theory. For if it is hard for us to conceive
how the " combination " or " separation " the-
ories — spoken of above — actually operate, the
production theory presents just as great and in-
surmountable barriers. As before stated, then,
the materialistic standpoint is simply this: that
certain physical changes take place in the brain.
These changes give rise — in some unknown way
— to definite thought. What these changes actu-
ally are, and all the experiments made and infer-
ences drawn therefrom, may be found in the stand-
ard works on physiological psychology,^ and this
is not the time nor the place to discuss them. To
place, briefly, a few of the difficulties of the pro-
duction theory before you, I shall in the first place
quote the opinions of some of the world's greatest
scientists upon this very subject. Professor Tyn-
dall, for example, says:

" The passage from the physics of the brain to

1 See, e. g., Ferrier, Functions of the Brain; Bastian, The
Brain as an Organ of Mind; Ladd, Psychology, etc.

128 THE COMING SCIENCE

the corresponding facts of consciousness is un-
thinkable. Granted that a definite thought and a
definite molecular action in the brain occur simul-
taneously, we do not possess the intellectual organ,
nor apparently any rudiment of the organ, which
will enable us to pass, by a process of reasoning,
from the one to the other. Were our minds and
senses so expanded, strengthened and illuminated
as to enable us to see and feel the very molecules
of the brain ; were we capable of following all their
motions, all their groupings, all their electrical dis-
charges, if there be such, and were we intimately
acquainted with the corresponding changes of
thought and feeling, we should probably be as far
as ever from the solution of the problem: How
are these physical processes connected with the
facts of consciousness? The chasm between the
two classes of phenomena would still remain intel-
lectually impassable." ^

Hear also the words of Professor Huxley upon
this subject — a man who, by the way, has fre-
quently been charged with being a materialist.
He says :

" I understand the main tenet of materialism to
be that there is nothing in the universe but mat-
ter and force, and that all the phenomena of
nature are explicable by deduction from the prop-

1 Fragments of Science, 5th Ed., p. 420.

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 129

erties assignable to these two primitive factors.
But all this I heartily disbelieve. In the
first place, it seems to me pretty plain that there
is a third thing in the universe — to wit, con-
sciousness — which, in the hardness of my heart
or head, I cannot see to be either matter or force,
or any conceivable modification of either, however
intimately the manifestation of the phenomena of
consciousness may be connected with the phenom-
ena known as matter or force." ^

Finally, I give here a brief resume of an article
by Dr. Romanes on " The Fallacy of Material-
ism," which appeared in the Contemporary Reviem
many years ago. In doing so, however, I shall
quote also quite freely from Dr. Thomson's excel-
lent summary of this question — including a review
of the above-mentioned article — • in his clever
booklet entitled MaterialisTW and Modern Physiol-
ogy of the Nervous System. To return to Dr.
Romanes, however, I may state his argument as
follows :

Premising that when once the invariable asso-
ciation between material changes and mental
changes is recognised, there arises the question as
to the nature of this constant association, Dr.
Romanes proceeds to discuss the question: Can

1 Collected Essays.

130 THE COMING SCIENCE

the material changes in the brain cause the mental
changes? The affirmation to this he assumes to
be the contention of materialism, and he begins by
summarily ruling it out of court as having no
case to argue. For he says that where the ques-
tion becomes one, not as to the fact of the associa-
tion, but as to its nature, " Philosophy . . .
must pronounce that the hypothesis is untenable,
for the hypothesis of its association being one of
causality, acting from neurosis to psychosis —
that is, from nervous structure to mental processes
— cannot be accepted without doing violence not
merely to our faculty of reason, but to our very
idea of causation itself. For our idea of causa-
tion is not derived from without, but from within,
and what we call the evidence of physical causa-
tion is really only certain mental modifications fol-
lowing one another in definite sequence. Hence
we can have no evidence of causation proceeding
from object to subject. The mind, therefore,
cannot prove its own causation from matter or
motion, because all evidence of that must itself be
mental evidence, and nothing but mental; and
hence it is as impossible for the mind thus to prove
its own causation as it is for water to rise above
its source."

Having thus opened the argument, as is the
lawyer's custom, by showing that the materialists

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 131

really have no case at all, Dr. Romanes agrees,
however, to allow them a chance to say something
by remarking that they are fond of asserting that
the evidence of causation from neurosis to psy-
chosis is as good as such evidence can be proved
in any other case. But, without considering the
above-mentioned difficulty that there can be no
such real evidence at all, he says the statement can
be proved to be untrue by treating the problem
on the lower ground of the supposed analogy
itself. For the only resemblance between this sup-
posed case of causation and all other cases of cau-
sation consists in the invariability of the correla-
tion between cerebral processes and mental
processes. In all other points the analogy fails.
For in all cases of recognised causation there is a
perceived connection between the cause and the
effect; the antecedents are physical and the conse-
quents are physical. But in the case before us
there is no perceived or even conceivable connection
between cause and effect, for the causes are sup-
posed to be physical and the effects mental. And
this alone is enough to separate this case from all
other known cases of supposed causation, the dif-
ficulties being pointed out in the above extracts
from Tyndall and Huxley.

The next objection to materialism which Dr.
Romanes finds is that in all other known cases

132 THE COMING SCIENCE

there is an equivalency between cause and effect.
But, as between matter and motion on the one side,
and feeling and thought on the other, no such
equivalency is conceivable. Some few materialists,
he says, have sought to meet the difficulty in the
only way it can be met, by " boldly asserting that
thought and energy are more or less transmutable.
On this view thought becomes a mode
of motion and takes its rank among the forces as
identical in nature with heat, light, electricity and
the rest." But this view he regards as also in-
herently impossible. Mind presents absolutely no
point of real analogy with motion, because in-
volved with the essential idea of motion is the idea
of extension, for motion only means translation in
space of something itself extended. But thought,
so far as we possibly can know it, is known and
distinguished by the very peculiarity of not hav-
ing extension, and therefore, for motion to become
thought, it must cease to be motion, and thus cease
to be energy. Thought, consequently, instead of
being equivalent to so much energy, destroys en-
ergy, and would thus constitute a unique exception
to the otherwise universal law of the Conservation
of Energy. And therefore, for these and other
considerations of a more metaphysical kind, which
we have no time at present to quote. Dr. Romanes
finally concludes that, at the bar of Philosophy,

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 133

Materialism must be pronounced conspicuously in-
adequate to account for the facts.

But if matter cannot cause mind, or physical
changes cause mental changes, how then are brain
and thought associated? In answer to this ques-
tion. Dr. Romanes first discusses what he calls the
theory of Spiritualism. By this term he means
that view which conceives the mind as having an
independent existence, or substance apart from the
brain, and capable of acting upon it, and so using
the brain as the mechanism of its thought, — for
he uses the term " spirit " as interchangeable with
mind. This theory he also summarily rejects, be-
cause it seems to him to be merely the theory of
materialism inverted; and that, therefore, most of
the arguments adduced in his analysis of material-
ism are just as available against " spiritualism."
For he claims that in whatever measure it is incon-
ceivable that neurosis should cause psychosis, in the
same measure must it be inconceivable that psycho-
sis should cause neurosis; seeing that it is as
impossible to imagine mind affecting energy as it
is to imagine energy affecting mind.

This is a favourite way among this class of writ-
ers of disposing of mind; and it is obvious that
such a dictum leaves us in mid-air as to what any-
thing mental is — for, if physical changes cannot
cause mental changes, nor mental changes cause

134» THE COMING SCIENCE

physical changes, what are mental changes any-
way?

One answer to this question is — that mental
and physical phenomena, though apparently di-
verse, are really identical! The apparent dis-
similarity arises only because we perceive these
things in a different light, as it were; and that
they are double only in relation to our modes of
apprehension. Just as the tremors of a violin
string are phenomenally very different, according
to our mode of apprehending them, with the eye
or with the ear, so the tremors of a nerve are, both
physical and mental, apparently dual; the event
may be really singular, as, e. g., an air on the
violin is one with the vibrations of catgut, yet is
perceived by us as varying absolutely. " But,"
continues Dr. Romanes, " if the physical and the
mental are thus supposed to be identical in the
brain, the physical and the mental must be iden-
tical universally, for there is no reason to suppose
the physics of the brain differs from physics in
general. All physical processes, therefore, are
likewise mental! We have not, indeed, to suppose
that our physical processes (motions) think or feel
— we have only to suppose that all physical mo-
tions present the " raw material " of mind, which
has not, as yet, been wrought into feeling or
thought, just as the physics of crystallisation has

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 1S5

not proceeded so far in complexity or refinement
as the physics of Hfe." In support of this view —
namely, that we cannot draw anywhere a line be-
tween physics and psychics — Dr. Romanes quotes
a passage from what he terras " the most closely
reasoned and profound of Professor Clifford's phi-
losophical writings," which reads:

" Mind-stuff is the reality which we perceive as
matter. A moving molecule of inorganic matter
does not possess mind or consciousness, but it pos-
sesses a small piece of mind-stuff. When the
molecules are so combined together as to form the
film on the under side of a jelly-fish, the elements
of mind-stuff which go along with them are so
combined as to form the faint beginnings of sen-
tience. When the molecules are so combined as to
form the brain and nervous system of a vertebrate,
the corresponding elements of mind-stuff are so
combined as to form some kind of consciousness.
When matter takes the complex form of a living,
human brain, the corresponding mind-stuff takes
the form of a human consciousness, having intel-
ligence and volition." ^ Dr. Romanes, however,
decides that a fatal objection to this theory is that

1 See Professor Strong's recent work. Why the Mind Has a
Body (1903), which has appeared since the above was writ-
ten. See also Prof. William James's attack on the theory in
his Principles of Psychology, Vol. I, Chapter VI, "The
Mind-Stuff Theory," and references therein given.

136 THE COMING SCIENCE

it is unable to explain the fundamental antithesis
between subject and object — the perceiver and
the perceived — and concludes, as he began, by
stating that the relation between matter and mind
is inexplicable.

Thus, just as Herbert Spencer leaves us in the
great " Unknowable," and Huxley in the " Incon-
ceivable," so Dr. Romanes lets us find our final
intellectual rest in the " Inexplicable " ! Surely
when such diverse opinions and admitted ignorance
upon this subject, as here shown, are held by some
of the leading scientific minds of the day, no one
can dogmatise very much upon the subject either
one way or the other. And, whereas it must be
admitted that thought is, in one sense or another,
a " function " of the brain, a very diff*erent state-
ment of the case, from that generally held, may
be made as follows: Instead of consciousness or
thought being a function of the nervous tissue, the
perception of a sensation through nervous tissue is
a function of consciousness; that is to say, con-
sciousness is independent of nervous tissue, and
uses nervous tissue to perceive with. In this sense
our two brains — for we have two — would be
the instruTnents of consciousness, but are not con-
scious themselves; just as our eyes are the instru-
ments of sight, but do not themselves see; in the
same way that a microscope is the instrument for

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 137

magnifying minute atoms of matter, but cannot
itself see and appreciate the magnification. Why ?
Because it has no consciousness of its own.

And thus, out of a multitude of opinions, we
arrive very nearly at our starting-point, and have
merely found, in our circuitous route, that nothing
definite has been decided upon this point, either
for or against any particular theory ; ^ and it is,
very largely, merely a matter of personal opinion
which theory is accepted; and this will vary with
each individual according to his knowledge, envi-
ronment and outlook upon the universe in general
and upon these subjects in particular. Therefore,
in this state of uncertainty, let us investigate those
facts which tend either to prove or to disprove this
or that theory upon experimental and scientific
grounds. For it must be admitted that if a man's
so-called " spirit " can be isolated, and got into
communication with, after death — and many of
the world's greatest scientists say that it can, and
that they have actually done so — if this, I say, is
a fact, then it follows as a matter of course that
man has a " spirit " or " soul " to return ; which
would be positive, decisive evidence. But this can
only be decided, as before emphasised, by actual
experimental evidence. Let us, therefore, press
our investigations in this direction with as much

1 James, Psychology, Vol. I, pp. 134, 138, 154-8, 216, etc.

138 THE COMING SCIENCE

energy and zeal as in any other ; fearlessly tracing
to its fountain-head any evidence, any facts, seem-
ing to throw light upon these subjects, and follow-
ing up that evidence wherever it may lead us.
If we encounter difficulties and disappointments on
the road — these are to be expected in investiga-
tions such as ours; but they should only goad us
on to further efforts — for surely the subject is
interesting and important, from any point of view
whatever. And if, finally, there is, amidst all the
fraud, delusion and reeking superstition in which
psychical research is unhappily steeped, some
grain, however small, of a transcendental faculty
in man, which our science of to-day does not rec-
ognise, but of which, occasionally, faint glimpses
may be caught in investigations such as ours, —
then most assuredly we should pursue these inves-
tigations — this science — with a mind as free
from prepossession as it may be our fortune to
possess. We live in the hopes of a great dis-
covery, far-reaching and of vast import, and, in
such a cause as this, " worthy should be that effort
and great should be that hope ! "

ENSUING CORRESPONDENCE

Though the following discussion may not ap-
pear at first sight to have any direct bearing upon
the foregoing essay on Consciousness, or to follow
directly from it, it will become apparent as we
proceed that it is a more or less direct continuation
of that essay, inasmuch as I shall be called upon
later to defend the position I there occupied ; while
it makes clearer certain obscure points which
needed, perhaps, further elaboration. This dis-
cussion began by the publication in The Open
Court magazine for June, 1905, of the following
criticism of Dr. I. K. Funk's interesting book on
psychical research, The Widow's Mite, The fol-
lowing is the article (I quote verbatim) :

BY THADDEUS B. WAKEMAN

" As a people we are measured by the books we
read and what we think of them. Dr. I. K. Funk's
big book of over 500 pages, on ' The Widow's
Mite ' and the ' Spirit ' of Henry Ward Beecher,
has measured a great mass of readers to be far
back of this age of science — which is not won-
139

140 THE COMING SCIENCE

derful; has it not done the same for a large part
of our leading university professors and edu-
cators ? — a fact, if it be one, of the greatest
importance,

" The book tells of two little ancient coins, one
black and genuine, and the other light and dubious,
supposed to have been like those of the widow's
* mites ' mentioned in Mark and Luke. They
were borrowed by Funk and Wagnalls to be used
in the Standard Dictionary and then returned.
The spurious one was used by mistake, but both
were then put in the safe in an envelope. Dr. Funk
ordered the genuine one to be returned to its owner.
Professor West, a neighbour and friend of Henry
Ward Beecher and principal of a young ladies'
seminary on ' The Heights.' Nine years after
this, and after the death of Professor West and
Mr. Beecher, Dr. Funk was attending spiritualistic
seances in Brooklyn. At one of them the medium
suddenly gave a message to the Doctor, purport-
ing to be from the ' spirit ' of Henry Ward
Beecher, requiring of him the immediate return
of this borrowed genuine black coin to its owner.
The Doctor answered that it had been returned
years ago. The spirit replied that it had not;
but the medium could not learn to whom or where
it should be returned. Upon search the envelope
with both coins in it was found in the safe where

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 14*1

they had been placed, presumably, nine years be-
fore.

" Result : General surprise ! Was this at last
one genuine, decisive ' spirit test ' ? Everyone at
the Doctor's office who knew of the coin supposed
that it had been returned. The medium and all
connected with the seance swore that they never
knew or heard of any such occurrence before this
Beecher message. Professor West's son and ex-
ecutor certified that he is as certain as he can be
of an3rthing that passed in his father's mind
' that he, too, supposed that the coin had been
returned.' The coin was rare and of great value
— some say worth $2,500.00.

" Spiritualists claimed that the facts proved this
message to be indubitable, and that Mr. Beecher's
personal, living continuous consciousness, or spirit,
was a fact. They even obtained another message,
purporting to be from him, to the effect that he
had sent this message about a trivial matter be-
cause, from the nature of the facts, he saw that
' the test ' must be conclusive, and that he wished
to open the portals to the earth from the spirit
realm, from which he had most important matters
to communicate. But notwithstanding the per-
sistent efforts of Dr. Funk and of very many
mediums all over the earth, those ' most important
matters ' have wholly failed to appear. Finally

m THE COMING SCIENCE

even the mediums seemed to tire of their efforts,
and this message was ' received ' from Mr.
Beecher, who was bothered beyond celestial endu-
rance ; viz., ' The widow's mite bother Dr. Funk to
their hearts' content for aught I care. I will have
nothing more to do with the affair.' Thus the
Beecher wit came to his protection and relief;
which, as Dr. Funk adds, ' has at least something
of the old Beecher ring in it.'

" Thus this ' spirit ' incident ends in nothing, as
they all do, when it comes to anything of value or
use.^ But far otherwise is the revelation of the
consequences and moral of the story to those who
think. Dr. Funk was at first under a great vari-
ety of doubts and be-puzzlement. This big book
is his thrifty way of obtaining relief therefrom,
and also fame, a good ' ad.,' and then too ' shekels '
— worth far more than mites. Two of his ex-
perts intimate that it is also his ' jest ' and ' prac-
tical joke,' whereby his wit and humour also came
to his relief — a view in which many a reader may
concur, and to which finally the good Doctor may
contribute a smile.

" The gist of the book consists of a statement of
the case, which was submitted to forty-two experts,

1 This, it will be observed, is a mere dogmatic statement
or opinion; and is, I venture to think, not in accord with
the facts.— H. C.

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 143

chiefly professors of physics and psychics in our
leading universities and colleges, commencing with
the voluminous Professor James of Harvard.
Then follow their answers, mostly in the Appendix.
With all this we have an epitome of the best spirit-
ualistic literature — trying to make this revelation
and test seem probable, if not certain, as the work
of the continuous Mr. Beecher.

" The Doctor might have consulted others with
other results. For instance, many an impartial
counsellor-at-law would have given him the maxim
of old Horace: "Nee Deus intersit, nisi dignus
mndice nodits — 'Don't call in a God (or even a
Beecher), unless the knot is worthy of such an
untier.' That is, the supernatural is never in
order until the natural, relevant to the case, is all
known and exhausted in vain. Thus, it was not
natural or probable for a coin of that interest
and value to be unreturned and lost without being
talked over by West and Beecher in the circle of
their curious friends, some of whom were largely
spiritualistic. Some of the friends or visitors of
this resident medium would almost certainly hear
of the story, and the medium consciously or un-
consciously get it from them. Then, she may
have forgotten it during the nine years and re-
called it unconsciously in trance ; as is well attested
in similar cases, even of languages heard and

144 THE COMING SCIENCE

afterwards repeated in trance, by those at other
times ignorant of them. Then comes in explana-
tion the possible fraud or collusion of some of the
parties, including the medium. Indeed all of the
natural solutions suggested by Dr. Funk and oth-
ers in the book are to be taken as — i more prob-
able than any ' spirit ' from another state of
existence. This much the counsellor would say —
resting upon the common rules of evidence and
experience.

" But Dr. Funk says, in effect, that all such sup-
posing does not negative the possibility of ' spirit '
existence and communication. Well on this point
he might and should have consulted an up-to-date
biologist, as well as professors of physics and psy-
chics. And since he wandered all over the world
(including Japan) to find experts, why did he not
include Prof. Ernst Haeckel of Jena, or some like
scientist, without reserve in behalf of scientific
truth? 1

" Professor Haeckel is by many regarded as the
first scientist of our age in his department — the
one in which this question properly comes. In his
Thesis sent to the Congress of Liberals held at
St. Louis in October last, he gives, not his verdict,

1 Dr. Funk did include in his book the statements of
several men just as opposed to spiritism as Professor
Haeckel.

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 145

but that of up-to-date science on this very point
in these words ; znz. : ' The soul of man has been
recognised as the totahty of brain functions.
. . . This activity, of course, becomes extinct
in death; and in our days it appears to be per-
fectly absurd to expect, nevertheless, a personal
immortality of the soul.' That is, the scientific
and social immortality have become one, and they
take the place of the ' personal.' Thus science
says : ' Not possible ' ! And this not as the opin-
ion of one man or set of men, but the result of the
facts of biology — commencing with the simplest
protoplasm, and rising with all of its cellular com-
binations through all vegetative and animal forms
and convolutions to the brain of man, and the co-
operation of human societies.

" This induction from all of the facts is clinched,
he would say, by the two bottom laws of science —
that is, of the universe ; viz. : The laws of ' sub-
stance,' or ' correlation,' and the law of ' economy.'
By the first law, all mental activities and processes,
including the ' soul,' are the sequent or concomi-
tant correlates which are found to be the results
and equivalents of preceding correlative changes
occurring in protoplasmic organisms, and in those
only! By the law of economy, the fact that
these ' activities ' are the results of protoplasmic
changes and actions is conclusive that they are not.

146 THE COMING SCIENCE

and cannot be, produced or exist in any other
place or way. For every such activity is the re-
sult of equivalent correlations only, which cannot
be changed without a different result, and which
cannot cease without a ceasing of their activity at
the same time.

" After the death of Mr. Beecher there was,
therefore, no possible spirit, soul, or consciousness
of him extant to bother or be bothered about this
' widow's mite ' or anything else. Any other sup-
position is not only untrue, but ' absurd.' This
' recognised ' fact, as Professor Haeckel styles it,
is now ' the commonplace of science.' Thus, for
instance, it underlies all medical treatment of men-
tal ailments, except by frauds, quacks and the
uninformed.^ In one or the other of those un-
enviable classes must not those stand who, by
words, silence or otherwise, admit or imply that
Mr. Beecher's conscious spirit or soul was not
existent, so as to have possibly made this pretended
communication ^

" Now, Dr. Funk's book reveals this astonishing
fact; viz.: Not a single one of the said jury of
forty-two experts does other than to directly or

1 Here Mr. Wakeman shows ignorance himself of the
fact that, only in some instances, is any orcfanic change
discovered by post-mortem examinations of the brains of
insane persons.

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 147

implicitly or tacitly admit the then existence of
Mr. Beecher's soul, and its consequent ability to
communicate as claimed! But this fact is not
only astonishing: it is exceedingly important. Do
our universities and colleges exist for the purpose
of ' raying out darkness ' ? Was there not one
great professor who knew enough and dared
enough to tell Dr. Funk the plain truth — the
commonplace and bedrock of science.?

" What kind of leaders and teachers are we to
have for the next generation when those who are
' liberally educated ' in this accept only a practical
suppression of the truth as to the most important
matter that science has made known to a human
being — the nature, origin, duty and future of
himself .f* Let us all have the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth. For ' in that
only is there wisdom and safety,' as old Goethe
told us long ago.

" Aside from their bearing upon the substance of
Dr. Funk's book, those arguments of ' induction,*
' correlation ' and * economy ' are just now of ex-
traordinary importance, for Professor Haeckel has
seriously proposed to make them an important
part of the basis upon which the free-thinkers of
every country should organise. I have never been
able to answer those arguments, and never could

148 THE COMING SCIENCE

find anyone who could. If any such person ex-
ists, the occasion calls for him, and I believe The
Open Court will be open to him."

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL
A EEPLY TO MR. THADDEUS B. WAKEMAN

" Some time ago, Dr. Isaac K. Funk, of the well-
knowji publishing firm, submitted to us evidences
of spirit communication concerning an ancient He-
brew coin called ' the widow's mite,' which had
been used by Funk & Wagnalls for illustration in
their Standard Dictionary. Dr. Funk was re-
minded of the coin in a spiritualistic seance of an
unprofessional medium who spoke in the name of
the late Henry Ward Beecher, claiming that it had
never been returned to its owner. The medium's
claim (or shall we say the claim of Mr. Beecher's
spirit) was substantiated, for the coin was discov-
ered in the safe of Funk & Wagnalls, where it had
lain unheeded for nine years, and it was now duly
returned to the owner or his heirs.

" Dr. Funk submitted the case and its value as
evidences of genuine spirit communication to a
large number of scholars, scientists, experts, psy-
chologists, etc., and then published the whole ac-

1 Dr. Paul Cams. This " reply " appeared in the same
issue as the foregoing criticism. — H. C.

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 149

count, together with these opinions, in a book called
The Widow^s Mite, The case was also referred
at the time to the editor of The Open Court, but
his reply was too uncompromising to recommend
itself for publication. It admitted the strange-
ness of the occurrence, provided that there was
neither error in the facts, nor fraud, but it de-
clared that a cross-examination of the several per-
sons involved would be indispensable, and this be-
ing excluded we had to abstain from giving a
definite verdict on the merits of the case. The
book now lies before us, but the evidence being
still hedged in with ' if s ' and ' buts ' we cannot
regard it as convincing. Considering the unsat-
isfactory character of a negative verdict, we de-
layed our review and kept the book on our shelf
without being able to sum up the case in a state-
ment which would do justice to Dr. Funk's zeal
and circumspection, yet also point out the weak
spot of his argumentation.

" At this juncture Mr. Wakeman's article came
to hand and forced the issue again upon our
attention. His verdict is very direct and simple.
Quoting Haeckel he denies the possibility of the
occurrence, and hence refuses to consider the argu-
ment. There must be an error somewhere, and
thus the case is disposed of.

" Now we agree with Mr. Wakeman on the main

150 THE COMING SCIENCE

point. We, too, believe that there must be an
error somewhere; but we think it equally certain
that there must be a truth in a theory which, in
spite of its crudity, exercises an enormous influ-
ence over multitudes of people, among whom we
encounter men of business sense like Dr. Funk,
and scholars such as Hyslop and James. There
is a deep-seated natural longing for immortality,
and we believe that although untenable in the
shape in which it is commonly held, it is based
upon fact. There is an immortality of personal
character — different though it may be from the
popular conception.

" Professor Haeckel's argument that there is no
immortality is wrong and can easily be refuted.
He declares that soul is a function of the brain,
accordingly the soul is lost with the decomposition
of the body.

" Now, it is true that the soul is our thinking.,
feeling and willing. But we must bear in mind
that the soul is not the brain, but the purpose we
pursue in life and the meaning which our thoughts
possess, both being represented in certain forms
of brain operation. There is no thinking with-
out brain, but the brain is only the material con-
dition in which thinking is realised. The thoughts
themselves are not material.

" Let us use the analogy of a book. The book

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 151

itself, or rather the soul of the book, consists of
ideas which are expressed in the printed words.
Ideas cannot be communicated without some sen-
sory means, and a material of some kind is needed
as a substratum to render them somehow actual
and to convey them. We can bum a book, but we
cannot burn the ideas expressed in it. If a poet
writes a poem on a sheet of paper the writing may
become illegible, but the poem need not be lost; it
can be copied and it remains the self -same poem.

*' The same is true of the soul of man. Soul is
the meaning and purpose of some living sub-
stance. It is not the substance, but that unsub-
stantial something which gives character to it, and
anyone who declares that it is non-existent because
it is purely formal and relational, and not mate-
rial, would be driven to the paradoxical conclusion
that the non-existent is more important in the
material world than all the innumerable concrete
material objects. The essential part of our own
being is not the material aspect of our cerebral
activity, but the contents of our thought, the pur-
pose of our will, the leading motive of our senti-
ments, which factors in their bodily actualisation
are, of course, always of a definite structure.

" Now Professor Haeckel will not dispute this
point, but he insists that this cerebral structure
which is the physical aspect of the soul will be

152 THE COMING SCIENCE

destroyed, and being destroyed the soul is lost and
gone forever. But we claim the same kind of a
brain constitutes the same kind of a soul, and that
the reappearance of the same form of brain func-
tions denotes the rebirth of the same soul. Pro-
fessor Haeckel's arguments would be correct if
identity of soul depended upon an identity of the
bodily elements, but that is not so.

" We ought to grant that we are dying at every
minute and that a new soul is being born in place
of the other, for our cerebral substance is decom-
posed in the very act of thinking and the particles
that are now functioning are at once changed into
waste matter and are discarded from our system.
In a certain sense it is quite correct to say that
life is a constant dying — media in vita nos in
morte sumus; but in another sense, and with no less
truth, we can also say, ' There is no death ; what
seems so is transition.'

" It is well known that all the atoms of which
our bodies^ are composed will change in the average
within seven years. If the material elements, and
not the form in which they are grouped, be the
essential part of our existence, we ought to con-
sider ourselves new personalities as soon as the
last atom of our former existence has passed away.
The transition is slow and almost imperceptible,
but it takes place none the less, and that after all

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 153

we recognise our identity throughout all these
changes is the best evidence that the material por-
tion of our being is of secondary consideration.

" Birth and death are the limits of individual ex-
istences, but we know perfectly well that we have
not risen from nothingness and in the same way
that we originated from prior conditions and are
the continuation of former soul-life — so we are
not annihilated in death and shall continue in the
life of the generations to come.

" Neither is birth an absolute beginning nor
death an absolute finality. They are the limits of
a series the character and form of which is deter-
mined by former lives, and our life is again deter-
mining the life of the future. Every individual
is a link in the great chain of the whole life of
mankind. The life of the individual is formed
and in its turn is forming again, so as to produce
a continuity in which the old forms of life are
preserved, being modified only by receiving new
additions and being enriched with further details.
Thus the soul of Christ is a living presence in all
Christian souls, and Christ's promise is literally
fulfilled when He says : ' And lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world.' But in
the same sense a father and a mother live on in
their children, a teacher in his pupils, each one in
the memory of his friends, martyrs and heroes in

154 THE COMING SCIENCE

their cause, etc. And this immortality is not an
illusion, nor a mere phrase, but a living power
exercising a decisive influence upon the actions of
mankind.

" If Professor Haeckel were right, if the disso-
lution of the body ended all, constituting death a
finahty, we would not care what might occur when
we are gone. The truth is that people are not
indifferent to what will happen after their death.
According to their different characters they en-
deavour to perpetuate their souls — and in this
they succeed. Whatever a man does lives after
him according to the nature of his deeds, and
these deeds, the traces which they produce, the
memories which they leave, the effects in which
they are perpetuated, are nothing foreign to him,
but in them dwells the quintessence of his soul.
It is he himself.

" Just as an inventor who has built up a factory
to actualise his invention is a living presence in
every department of the plant, although bodily
he may be absent, so the soul of man remains an
efficient factor in life, although he may be over-
taken by death and rest from his labours.

" Now, we grant Mr. Wakeman that from our
standpoint a communication of a spirit through
a medium in the way described by Mr. Funk
should be considered an impossibility, but far from

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 155

ridiculing Mr. Funk's attempted investigation I
feel grateful to him for having ventured into the
desert of vain speculations — only to find out the
uselessness of his labours. He may not see the
result himself as yet, but others do; and it is cer-
tainly necessary that all avenues of advance should
be reconnoitred, even those which a sound scien-
tific prevision condemns as hopeless. Those who
undertake this thankless task are naturally enthu-
siasts and believers in the improbable. Their
work is certainly not useless, for they call atten-
tion to the one-sidedness of the opposite view, and
certainly deserve credit for the apagogic proof
of an untenable position.

" Mr. Funk's hope may prove an illusion, but
Mr. Wakeman will pardon us for saying that his
venture of establishing a proof of immortality —
albeit of a counterfeit soul — should not be
branded as a ' joke.' I myself made investiga-
tions along the lines of the Society for Psychical
Research in what now appears to me an immature
period of my life; but though I have surrendered
the expectation of finding anything in that waste
and sterile field, I deem it wise from time to time
to study critically the work of others and see
whether they have furnished the world with new
facts that would necessitate a revision of our pres-
ent views. Their views may be untenable from

156 THE COMING SCIENCE

the standpoint of science, yet our own view may
also stand in need of emendation, or at least modi-
fication.

" As to Mr. Funk's book I can only say that I
fail to be convinced by his arguments. I will
grant that the proof would be fairly complete if
there were not ample scope for doubt on many
points where a cross-examination of the persons
involved would throw new light upon the case. I
feel convinced that though it will impress the be-
liever favourably, it will never convert the scoffer;
and whether the impartial reader standing between
the two opposite positions will be affected, remains
to be seen.

" I have learned from the book to appreciate the
power of the belief in immortality, prompting a
business man to go out of his way and collect the
minutise of so slender an evidence. This yearning
for a personal immortality is as deep rooted as are
the instincts of animals and I believe, as set forth
above, it is well founded. Man feels that death
does not end all, and so he expresses the truth of
immortality in a mythical form, inventing the
ideas of heaven and hell and representing the soul
as a concrete being, built of some mysterious spir-
itual substance.

" Upon the whole it is even better that man
should beheve in a mythical immortality than that

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 157

he should deny the truth of the myth itself, for the
idea is not without importance and exercises a
practical influence upon our actions and our gen-
eral attitude in life. We conclude, therefore, with
the question : Is it better and wiser, or, even
merely more advisable, that a man should always
act as though the end of life were an absolute
finality, or, on the contrary, should he so act as
constantly to consider the part which his life and
all the results of his life will play in the world
when he is gone? I know that Professor Haeckel
himself cares very much for the after-effects of
his life.

" The period after death is certainly longer, as
Antigone says, than the brief span of our earthly]
career.

'' ' For longer time, methinks, have I to please
The dwellers in that world than those in this.'

And yet the mere duration is less important than
the dynamical aspect of our soul-life after death.
There is reason enough to say that if the idea of
immortality deserves any consideration, it should
furnish the ultimate tribunal before which all ques-
tions of importance should reach their final de-
cision. Indeed, I can give no better rule for test-
ing the correctness of moral actions than that a
man in doubtful cases should ask himself : * How

158 THE COMING SCIENCE

would you wish to have acted if your life were
completed and you had passed away from the
world below ? ' Anyone who is influenced by such
a thought believes in fact in the immortality of
the soul, though in his words he may flatly deny
and ridicule it."

To these articles I replied in The Open Court for
November, 1905, as follows:

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL ^
BY HEREWARD CARRINGTON

" The attitude of mind assumed by Mr. Wake-
man in his criticism of Dr. Funk's book, The
Widow^s Mite, is quite understandable, very hu-
man, and — from one point of view — thoroughly
justifiable. Mr. Wakeman's attitude may be
taken, I believe, as fairly representing the average
scientific mind of to-day; that of Dr. Carus as a
typical scientific-philosophical mind. I shall de-
vote a few words, first, to a consideration of the
remarks of each of these gentlemen, before stat-
ing my main contention — which is, namely, that
the majority of The Open Court readers do not
look at psychical research phenomena in the proper

1 A brief criticism of the articles on this subject by Thad-
deus B. Wakeman and the Editor of The Open Court in the
number for June, 1905.

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 159

spirit, or study them from the particular point
of view of the psychical researcher.

" Mr. Wakeman's main contention is, of course,
that the majority (not all, but the majority) of
scientific men, with the great Professor Haeckel
at their head, have pronounced against the possi-
bility of personal immortality; or of the existence
of any such thing as ' spirit ' or ' soul,' separ-
able from its material encasement. I quite under-
stand and appreciate the strength and the char-
acter of the evidence upon which Mr. Wakeman
relies for his dogmatic assertions — evidence un-
doubtedly strong, positive, abundant, and lending
a very strong impetus to the materialistic cause.
It is true that there is another way of viewing
these newer results of science — a method of inter-
preting them which tells, not in favour of mate-
rialism, but just the reverse; and it is also true
that there are many weighty philosophic and meta-
physical objections to the doctrine of materialism
(meaning by this any system which excludes
'spirit' as a separate essence or entity); but
on these I shall not dwell here. In the first place,
this is not the time or place for such a discussion;
and, in the second place, I am not at all sure my-
self that these objections should carry weight, or
even enter at all, into a scientific discussion. Sci-
ence deals with facts, and it is the fact of personal

160 THE COMING SCIENCE

immortality that we must now consider from that
particular scientific or critical attitude.

" I can quite appreciate the repugnance Mr.
Wakeman feels in discussing any such thing as
'spirit' — I have experienced just such feelings
myself and fully understand them. Let us, then,
eliminate ' spirit ' from our discussion and use the
expression ' persistence of personal consciousness.'
Having thus eliminated the objectionable term,
perhaps we may arrive at a basis for discussion.

" The great point is, of course, that conscious-
ness is indubitably bound up, in some way, with
brain function; and the scientific man asserts that
thought — and so consciousness — is in some man-
ner a product of this functioning, or, at least, so
inseparably bound up with it that any existence
apart from such functioning is unthinkable and
altogether unwarranted. He asserts that thought
is but one aspect of the nervous system's function-
ing, and that when that functioning ceases, there
is and can be, consequently, no more thought or
consciousness. The conclusion is obvious, there-
fore, it is claimed, that consciousness is obliter-
ated at death, and, as Mr. Wakeman puts it,
' After the death of Mr. Beecher there was, there-
fore, no possible spirit, soul, or consciousness of
him extant to bother or be bothered about his
" widow's mite " or anything else.'

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 161

"Now my claim is this: that in such reasoning
the cart has, figuratively speaking, been placed
before the horse; and that a wrong course of ar-
gument has been pursued. Instead of searching,
impartially, for the facts in the case, an a priori
denial of the possibility of such facts has been
made — and, of course, if a fact is impossible it
cannot exist! But how do we know that it is im-
possible? At the most we can only raise a pre-
sumption against its occurrence; and a dogmatic
denial of its possibility has led science into great
and preposterous blunders more than once. It is
only necessary to recall such cases as the experi-
ments of Galvani and, more recently, the questions
of meteors, hypnotism, etc., to be assured of the
accuracy of that statement. Of course, scientific
reserve in the face of new and strange facts is
always justifiable, but that is a diff*erent matter to
flat a priori denial. But the point is that instead
of searching for such facts as tend to prove man's
immortality, the majority of scientists content
themselves with declaring, without investigation,
that such a condition is impossible — quite forget-
ting the fact that logic shows us that it is impos-
sible to prove a negative!

" The psychical researcher also realises the
strength of the scientific presumption against a
future life of any sort, but says, ' Nevertheless,

162 THE COMING SCIENCE

here are certain well-evidenced facts which seem
to prove such survival. If I can obtain enough
and definite enough facts and evidence of this
character, then the presumption will be overthrown,
because we have certain facts which definitely prove
it to be incorrect.' In short, the only method
from which any conclusive result can follow is
that in which all presumption is laid aside and
deliberate experiment entered upon. That is the
attitude of the psychical researcher. As I wrote
some years ago, apropos of this very point,
' Obviously, the only way to decide this question
is, not to speculate a priori upon the possibility
of spirit existence and reason from that the pos-
sibility of its return, but to test and establish
the possibility of its return, from which we can
argue (should that be established) that man has
a spirit to return. Here, as before, it is merely a
question of evidence.'

" Now, of the character, the variety, and the
strength of this evidence I cannot, of course, speak
here. I must refer the interested reader to the
eighteen * printed volumes of the Proceedings of
the Society for Psychical Research (S. P. R.), or,
if this is too much to ask, I would suggest that the
reader peruse Professor Hyslop's very excellent
book entitled Science and a Future Life. Pro-
1 Eighteen at that time (1905).

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 163

fessor Hyslop handles this question in what is to
my mind an ideal manner, and I cannot too
strongly recommend it to the serious attention of
the readers of The Open Court,

" To turn to the article by Dr. Cams. I am not
quite sure that I fully understand his position in
the matter. I take it to be (but I stand open to
correction) that all personal or individual immor-
tality is denied, but that the impression or im-
print our life and personality has made upon
the human race — or rather those of the race with
whom we came into contact — constitutes the
after-effects, or immortality, of which Dr. Cams
speaks. Of course, no one would deny that
kind of immortality in any case, but I venture
to suggest that — for the individual concerned —
such an immortality practically amounts to
annihilation. Immortality without individuality
is no immortality at all. I cannot now go into
any detailed discussion of Dr. Cams' attitude,
but I can only say that it does not at all
appeal to me. Either the individual exists as
such, or he does not. If not, it is practically an-
nihilation so far as he is concerned. With this I
leave that branch of the discussion, and will add
a few final words as to the interrelation of brain
and mind and the inferences that are drawn from
the " admitted fact " of the correlation of mental

164. THE COMING SCIENCE

states and cerebral changes. For every thought
there is a corresponding change in the brain-sub-
stance — from which the conclusion is drawn that
' when there is no more brain there can be no
more thought or consciousness.' But does that
follow.? Because the two facts are always coin-
cidental, does it follow that the brain-change pro-
duced the thought.? By no means! We might
urge, on the contrary, that the brain-change was
merely the result of such thought; or that it was
merely coincidental in time, without the one affect-
ing the other, or that both are but aspects of
something else. This fact of functional depend-
ence has been looked at from one standpoint only.
As Prof. William James remarked in his Human
Immortality^ * it would appear that the supposed
impossibility of its (the soul's) continuing comes
from too superficial a look at the admitted fact
of functional dependence. The moment we in-
quire more closely into the notion of functional
dependence, and ask ourselves, for example, how
many kinds of functional dependence there may be,
we immediately perceive that there is one kind, at
least, that does not exclude a life hereafter at all.
The fatal conclusion of the physiologist flows
from his assuming off-hand another kind of func-
tional dependence and treating it as the only im-
aginable kind.' But this is altogether unwar-

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 165

ranted and unjustifiable. I have elaborated a
theory of consciousness, and of its relation to
brain function, in my article on * The Origin and
Nature of Consciousness,' ^ which accepts the fact
of dependence, but endeavours to account for it in
such a manner as would leave personality quite
possible and immortality an open question — one
that could then be determined by direct experi-
ment. Mr. Wakeman must not misunderstand me.
I am not arguing that the soul does exist, but
merely that it is possible for it to exist; and this
being the case, we should endeavour directly to
experiment in those directions which hold out some
hope of its proof as existent. Personally I do not
particularly care whether the soul lives after the
death of the body or not. To me, as I have
repeatedly stated, it is merely a question of evi-
dence— of verifiable fact. But I do object to the
attitude of men who assert off-hand and a priori
that such an existence is impossible, because I do
not think that such a conclusion is either justified
or warranted by the results of modem science,
especially in the face of evidence now accumulated
by the Psychical Research Society — of which I
am an unworthy member."

1 The Metaphysical Magazine, April-June, 1905, pp. 42-56.

166 THE COMING SCIENCE

" Though I do not characterise my position as
materialism, I feel convinced that Mr. Carrington
would be obliged to call me a materialist accord-
ing to his classification. According to my no-
menclature, materialism ^ is that view which at-
tempts to explain the world from matter and
motion, and omits the most essential character-
istic of existence — the significance and reality of
purely formal relations. But in spite of my ob-
jection to materialism as a philosophical principle,
I would not hesitate to deny the ghost existence of
the soul which means that spirits could lead an in-
dependent life without being somehow incarnated
into bodily actuality. I recognise the spiritual
and I claim that it alone possesses significance,
while the material part of the universe and even
energy amount to nothing unless guided by the
will of spiritual purpose. Further I wish to state
that Mr. Carrington has probably understood my
position correctly in appreciating the significance
of man's after-life, the reality of which, as he says,
no one would deny. But he does not grasp the
implications of this view, which might as well be

1 Appearing in the same issue. — H. C.

2 For details of my criticism as to the errors of the
materialism of Carl Voigt, see Fundamental Problems, pp.
350-54.

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 167

stated in a negative form, declaring that the indi-
vidual as a separate entity, a kind of thing-in-it-
self, after the Vedantist atman, does not exist at all,
so it could not survive. The first question to be
solved is not whether or not the personality of
man will live again, but what is the personality of
man, how does it originate, and whence does it
come? The solution of this will naturally an-
swer the other question. Whither does it fare? I
believe I have treated the subject with sufficient
plainness in my little book Whence and Whither.

" The negative aspect which denies that person-
ality is a thing-in-itself is misleading in so far as
it seems to deny the reality of personality. If our
soul is not a thing-in-itself it is still a fact of real
life, and though that congregation of ideas, im-
pulses, sentiments, and purposes which constitutes
myself at the present moment will be broken up in
death, it will nevertheless continue to constitute a
factor in the world of living and aspiring man-
kind, and it will continue to be accompanied by
the consciousness of living generations just as
much as my ideas are conscious in my own body.
We shall be preserved entire and nothing will be
lost in death of the essential features of our per-
sonality.

" This view may be unsatisfactory to many peo-
ple and may appear tantamount to extinction

168 THE COMING SCIENCE

from the standpoint of those who are under the
illusion that their personality is in the present ex-
istence a thing-in-itself, and I would not deny
that it is so; but I claim that kind nature has with
seeming intention clothed the truth in the lan-
guage of myth and has made mankind create dif-
ferent allegories as to the nature of immortality,
making it more or less materialistic and sensuous.
All the several religions present the truth of im-
mortality in an artistic form which is only untrue
if its symbolism is understood literally.^

" In Mr. Carrington's conception my views
would probably appear identical with those of Mr.
Wakeman, for like him I do not believe that spirits
of the departed can be consulted or communicated
with in the style of mediumistic seances, but I
object to Mr. Wakeman's position in so far as I
must emphatically declare that man's life is not
finished at his death, that the after-life consti-
tuted by the effects of life itself is a salient part
of the present life and has to be constantly con-
sidered in all our actions. A consideration of the
status of our being after we are gone should be
the supreme motive of all our principles, and I

1 When this discussion in The Open Court was in progress,
I sent copies of all the magazines to Dr. Hodgson, and
received from him a congratulatory letter, at the end of
which he characteristically remarked : " What Dr. Carus
calls 'immortality' has always amused me."

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 169

would not hesitate to say that it constitutes the
basis of all true morality.

" I have followed with great interest the work of
the Society for Psychical Research, but I must con-
fess that I do not deem its results as assured as do
many of its enthusiastic members. So far as I
can see they are of a negative nature and dispro-
portionately small to the enormous output of la-
bour and expense."

As this criticism merely reiterated certain con-
tentions which I deemed to be untenable — for the
reasons above pointed out — I did not write a
reply to it, since I did not think it necessitated
one. Mr. Wakeman, however, returned to the at-
tack, and in an article entitled " Human Immor-
talities, the Old and the New," he writes, in part,
as follows:

SCIENCE AND SENTIMENT

" That article ^ on The Widow*s Mite explained
and applied the laws of science to the belief in the
old immortality ; viz. :

" 1. The law of induction from the facts.

" 2. The law of equivalent, continuous correla-
tion.

1 1, e., the first criticism to which Mr. Wakeman had just
referred.

170 THE COMING SCIENCE

" 3. The law of economy, or non-repetition in
nature.

" It was shown that under these laws the old im-
mortality was an absolute impossibility, unless
their application could be avoided ; and the prayer
was that this (if possible) should be done at once,
or that intelligent people should drop the old and
turn to the new belief.

" This challenge has been before the public for
years without even an attempt at an answer; and
the default of the old belief had been taken there-
upon, as far as such a thing could be. But

" ' Truth can never be confirmed enough,
Though doubts did ever sleep.'

" It was very pleasing, therefore, to find in the
last November number of The Open Cowrt an ar-
ticle on * Immortality ' by Mr. Hereward Carring-
ton of the Society for Psychical Research, in which
he refers to my article as one of ' dogmatic asser-
tions,' but tells us that in the Metaphysical Maga-
zine for June last he had ' elaborated a theory of
consciousness and of its relation to brain function
which accepts the fact of dependence, but endeav-
ours to account for it in such a manner as would
leave personality quite possible and immortality
an open question — one that could then be deter-
mined by direct experiment.' He says that he

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 171

(does ' not argue that the soul does exist, but
merely that it is possible for it to exist.'

" When his article referred to appeared in that
magazine the author, or someone, kindly sent it
to me. Had it seemed to me to make the old im-
mortality ' possible ' I should so have announced
without delay, but it did nothing of the kind.

" That article contains an account of the errors
of scientists during the * unknowable,' ' inconceiv-
able,' and ' inexplicable ' stages of their attempts
to apply the correlative ' key law ' of the uni-
verse. Their struggles there shown with ' princi-
ples,' ' forces,' ' energy,' ' thing-in-itself ,' ' mind-
stuff,' ' spirits,' ' auras ' and ' entities ' generally,
show us what not to get befogged with, and that
a new and up-to-date edition of the late Prof. E.
L. Youman's book on correlation (published by
Appleton) is most desirable. Finally we reach
the author's said ' theory ' in these words :

" ' And, whereas it must be admitted that thought
is, in one sense or another, a " function " of the
brain, a very different statement of the case, from
that generally held, may be made as follows: In-
stead of consciousness or thought being a function
of the nervous tissue, the perception of a sensation
through nervous tissue is a function 6f conscious-
ness; that is to say, consciousness is independent
of nervous tissue and uses nervous tissue to perceive

172 THE COMING SCIENCE

with. In this sense our two brains — for we have
two — would be the instruments of consciousness,
but are not conscious themselves; just as our e^-es
are the instruments of sight, but do not themselves
see; in the same way that a microscope is the in-
strument for magnifying minute atoms of matter,
but cannot itself see and appreciate the magnifica-
tion. Why? Because it has no consciousness of
its own.'

" This ' theory ' or hypothesis seems to me to be
upset at the start and to be useless child's play ;
for it asserts that ' consciousness or thought ' —
treating them as one — are * independent,' * instead
of being functions of the nervous tissue.' Yet at
the start we read that ' it must be admitted that
thought is, in one sense or another, a function of
the brain.' But the brain is simply active nervous
tissue. This proven and admitted fact contradicts
and makes the proposed theory of an independent
consciousness impossible.

" Next we are told that the consciousness would
use ' the nervous tissue to perceive with.' But
that is immaterial. Consciousness may do that
and a thousand other things, and yet be the active
process and function of the brain's nervous tissues.
We are told that it would be ' just as our eyes are
the instruments of sight, but do not themselves
see.' But our sight is the seeing, is action, and

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 173

not a thing, and has no eyes as ' instruments.'
It is simply the activity of the nervous tissues of
the eyes and brain when light vibrations reach
them. Our consciousness comes about in a similar
way, from those and from countless other vibra-
tions. It is proven to be a correlating process —
a go and not a thing. It is rudimentary in some
plants, higher in animals, and highest as the action
of the human nervous tissues. That it survives
each plant, animal, or human being after death as
a ghost to be caught by the Society for Psychical
Research is, as Professor Haeckel says, ' perfectly
absurd ' — that is, too absurd for anything but
silence. It can only catch the ear of those who,
like Columbus' crew, wish to slink back to some
imaginary Eden, or heaven, instead of pressing
forward to enjoy and people the new and real
world."

To this I replied as follows :

ON THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONSCIOUS SURVIVAL^
BY HEREWARD CARRINGTON

" I should like to reply to that part of Mr.
Wakeman's article on ' Human Immortalities ' that
directly concerns my own position as stated in the
November number of The Open Court.

" I take exception to no portion of Mr. Wake-

1 The Open Court, April, 1906.

174 THE COMING SCIENCE

man's paper save that under the heading of * Sci-
ence and Sentiment,' and even here I can quite
see and appreciate Mr. Wakeman's attitude of
mind, which, as I before Stated, is thoroughly un-
derstandable. I would point out, however, that
Mr. Wakeman, in his reply, has in no wise an-
swered my objection to his position, as stated in
my own criticism, which was, namely : ' That the
majority of The Open Court readers do not look at
psychical research phenomena in the proper spirit,
or study them from the particular point of view of
the psychical researcher.'

" Mr. Wakeman confines his criticism of my pre-
vious article to my other article on ' The Origin
and Nature of Consciousness,' to which I referred
in my discussion, and has limited his criticism to
my viewpoint, as expressed in that article, and to
the theory I there maintained; and has not at all
answered the primary objection I raised in The
Open Court, as to the attitude of mind assumed by
himself and others towards the possibility of im-
mortality. Before discussing this at greater
length, I should like to reply briefly to the criti-
cism as raised by Mr. Wakeman of my theory of
consciousness, and its relation to brain-function.
In stating that ' it must be admitted that thought
is in one sense or another a function of the brain,'
I did not intend to imply, and in fact my whole

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 175

article was against the assumption, that the thought
was the product of the brain functioning, and I
then pointed out that the functioning might be
connected with states of consciousness in alto-
gether another way than in the relation of pro-
ducer and produced, and that it was at least con-
ceivable that this functioning, accompanying all
thought, is but coincidental with the thought —
not necessarily its producer, but conceivably the
produced, the thought being the real causal agency ;
or that both are but aspects of something else,
differing from both in its underlying reality,
just as the tremors of a violin string are perceived
by us as sound and as more or less visible vibra-
tions of catgut, according to whether the ear or
the eye interprets these vibrations; and, though
they appear to us as dissimilar as possible, they are,
it will be seen, but the differing aspects, or subjec-
tive methods of interpretation, by ourselves, of the
same physical cause. Thus it may be that con-
sciousness and brain functioning, though appar-
ently so dissimilar, are ultimately one and the
same thing at basis, the two being but the dif-
fering ways in which the same cause is interpreted.
I admit that the brain is simply ' active nervous
tissue ; ' but this simply states the condition of the
physical brain at the time of thinking — upon
which I would insist as much as Mr. Wakeman —

176 THE COMING SCIENCE

for it is always in connection with this activity that
thought is associated in this Hfe; but it does not
prove that the activity produced the thought, as
I have before pointed out, but merely that it Is co-
incidental with it. There is absolutely no proof
that the nerve activity produces the consciousness;
all we can ever say on this question is that they
are coincidental in point of time.

" I do not agree with Mr. Wakeman in his state-
ment that ' Sight is seeing, is action, and not a
thing, and has no eyes as instruments ; it is simply
the activity of the nervous tissues of the eyes and
brain when light vibrations reach them' (p. 109).
I must insist that the activity of the eyes has abso-
lutely nothing to do with the sensation of con-
sciousness ; that is associated only with the activity
of the sight-centre in the brain, and the eyes
merely transmit to that centre certain vibrations,
arousing in it a nervous activity with which the
sense of sight is associated, but the eyes have
nothing to do with the state of consciousness.
They are merely transmitters or instruments, as I
before insisted upon; and that the consciousness,
the idea of seeing, is associated only with activity
of the sight-centre in the brain is proved by the fact
that in hallucinations, when this sight-centre is
morbidly excited, the sensation of sight is expe-
rienced without vibrations reaching the sight-

ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS 177

centre through the eye, or without the rest of the
brain being involved in the shghtest degree. No
matter how the sight-centre is aroused into activity,
it is the activity with which thought is associated,
and with the activity of that centre only. I must
insist therefore, tliat eyes are ' instruments,' and
not in any way associated with, or producers of,
the conscious state known to us as the sensation of
sight. I do not see, finally, how Mr. Wakeman
can pronounce upon the " impossibility " of con-
sciousness persisting apart from brain functions,
unless he is omniscient, since all his arguments
can ever lead to is the scientific improbability of
such persistence, and this improbability will, in
turn, rest not on philosophic speculation, but on
the presence or absence of facts tending to show
that such persistence of consciousness, apart from
brain function, is a fact in nature.

" Mr. Wakeman says there is no such evidence ;
we psychical researchers say there is — not that the
evidence is absolutely conclusive, but that it is sug-
gestive, and at least renders such persistence of
personality a probability ; and this brings me to my
last point, to which I have been working through-
out this chapter. I do not think the question of
survival or non-survival can ever be settled by
philosophic or metaphysical speculation. Mr.
Wakeman might produce arguments against its

178 THE COMING SCIENCE

probability and I for it indefinitely, and we should
probably both, in the end, be all the more solidly;
grounded in our own beliefs.

" I think that the only way this matter can ever
be settled is by resolutely putting aside aU philo-
sophic and other preconceptions, and by turning to
direct investigation of evidence and of facts that
may be forthcoming — tending to show that such
persistence of consciousness is an actual fact. If
these facts are ever established, then all specula-
tion is mere child's play and conclusively disproved
by the evidence in the case.

" As a member of the Psychical Research Society
I must insist upon this being the only attitude in
which to approach this problem, and only by such
direct evidence can this fact ever be definitely set-
tled one way or the other."

CHAPTER VI

THE PROBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM

' ^ TUST as chemistry arose from alchemy j""*
^ says Dr. Bramwell,^ " astronomy from as-
trology, and the therapeutics of to-day were for-
merly represented by disgusting compounds whicK
were drawn from the living or dead human body,
so hypnotism had its origin in mesmerism.'*
Though mesmerism was characterised by many
absurd pretensions, and did not receive the accept-
ance of the scientific world in its day, hypnotism
now receives the serious attention of the great
majority of scientific men, — and, in fact, its phe-
nomena have now gained general recognition, as
facts. Just here, before discussion goes further,
it may be as well to point out the distinction
between mesmerism and hypnotism, and to make
clear the subject we are to discuss. Mesmer-
ism, as taught by Mesmer, from whom it re-
ceived its name, stated that there was a kind of
universal magnetism present in every living and
dead body, not only in this earth, but even in the
most distant stars in space throughout the uni-
verse, and that this magnetism might be collected

^Hypnotism, p. 3.

179

180 THE COMING SCIENCE

and centered by one individual, to a large extent,
and directed by him in a certain channel, for useful,
curative purposes. Mesmer conceived this mag-
netism to be more or less fluidic or semi-material in
its character, and in this respect it differs entirely
from hypnotism, which is regarded as a purely psy-
chological phenomenon by the majority of its inves-
tigators, and is in no way related to any physical
influence or affluence at all. This is the principal
mark of distinction between the two theories; one
stands for the physical influence, the other for the
purely psychical. The Abbe Earia, in 1814, first
suggested that the phenomena observed in the mes-
meric state were ahuost entirely subjective, i. e.
psychological, and not due to physical cause; but
his teachings were almost entirely lost sight of in
the next thirty years, during which period the
mesmeric school received a fresh impulse, owing to
the magnificent work of Drs. Elliotson and Esdaile,
who performed numerous operations during mes-
meric trance, having produced, apparently, com-
plete anaesthesia in their patients during such op-
erations. The theory was not revived until Dr.
Braid, of Manchester, England, published his fa-
mous book entitled Neurypnology, or the Rationale
of Nervous Sleep, In this book was advanced, for
the first time, the psychological theory of hypno-
tism in a thoroughly scientific manner, and though

THE PROBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM: 181

Dr. Braid received, of course, the sneers and oppo-
sition of the medical profession at the time, it may
be safely stated that the general acceptance of
hypnotic phenomena dates from the publication of
this work. Shortly after the attention of the
scientific world had been drawn by the evidence to
an investigation of hypnotic phenomena, however,
it was again forcibly diverted by the discovery, at
about this time, of chloroform and other anaesthet-
ics, which placed in the hands of the physician a re-
liable means of inducing this condition, without
attempting the uncertain methods that Braid advo-
cated for inducing the anaesthetic state; and al-
though hypnotism continued to be investigated by
individuals and to receive its staunch supporters,
especially in France and Germany, the interest in
the subject practically died out in England, and
was not revived until the announcement that Dr.
Charcot of La Salpetriere Hospital had become
convinced that there were displayed, in hypnotic
states, certain interesting nervous conditions which
claimed the attention of the scientific and medical
worlds, being undoubtedly genuine. This at once
revived the interest, and the medical world was
finally convinced that there was, in hypnotism,
more than trickery and charlatanism, and its scien-
tific investigation dates from that period. I can-
not, in this chapter, do more than refer to the ex-

182 THE COMING SCIENCE

cellent work that has been done since that time by
various continental workers, and especially by the
* Nancy School ' (the greatest modern advocates
of the theory of suggestion), but I shall confine
myself to the work that has been done in England
and America, largely by the Society for Psychical
Research, through whose influence the phenomena
of hypnotism were largely brought to public at-
tention, and through whose careful and painstaking
and most excellent work hypnotism received its just
appreciation and ultimate acceptance. In this field
the early experiments of Edmund Gurney and the
brilliant theoretical papers of Frederic Myers de-
serve the utmost commendation and whole-hearted
praise. The general phenomena of hypnotism are
now so well understood that it is hardly necessary
to refer to them in a paper of this character,
since there is hardly a reader, probably, who has
not some idea of their general nature as observed by
the outsider, or who has not seen such experiments
performed. Public entertainers delight in showing
the extent of the influence they exert over their
patients, inducing in them hallucinations and il-
lusions, as well as causing them to perform all
sorts of ridiculous antics which are absolutely value-
less, except to illustrate to the public mind the
extent of the power of hypnotism. Briefly, it may
be said that the uses of hypnotism are two: med-

THE PROBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM 183

ical and psychological. In the former case anaes-
thesia may be induced, alleviating pain or causing
the patient to become insensible to the surgeon's
knife or the dentist's forceps; thus enabling
many difficult surgical and dental operations to be
performed without the shock that would otherwise
accompany them — and this without the harmful
after-effects that would follow the administration
of any of the dangerous drugs that are used to-
day. And further, we know that the hypnotic
trance can, when supplemented by forceful sug-
gestions, greatly benefit all nervous and functional
diseases ; while it is asserted in some quarters that
organic diseases can also be cured in this manner
— though the majority of medical men would
doubtless take exception to this statement. The
power for good in hypnotism has also been well
illustrated in its ability to cure various habits and
vices that have been contracted and found impossi-
ble to eradicate by any other system of treatment.
Many such cases have been reported, and on these
grounds alone hypnotism should receive the wide
support and sympathy of the public, instead of
the intolerant prejudice and scepticism with which
it is now received.^

1 For cases that have been cured by this method of treat-
ment, see e. g., Hypnotism in Mental and Moral Culture,
by Dr. J. D. Quackenbos; Hypnotism and Suggestion, by
Dr. Osgood Mason; Psycho-Therapeutics, by Dr. C. Lloyd-

184. THE COMING SCIENCE

But to the psychologist or psychical researcher
the great interest is in its theoretical side; in its
ability to lay bare to us the inner workings of the
mind, and enable us to explore the most hidden
depths of man's personality. We know from
other, independent sources that there is in man a
subconscious stratum of mind that Mr. Myers
pleased to call the ' subliminal consciousness ' ( from
sub, beneath, and llmen, a threshold). This mind
is operative in dreams, in somnambulism, in trance,
in many cases of split personality and secondary
consciousness, etc., and, though these states may
not, of course, all originate in the same stratum of
the subconscious mind, they are all or almost all
reachable, apparently, by hypnotism; and in this
manner we have an experimental means of reach-
ing the various parts of our subconscious mind,
and, at will, investigating the workings of that
portion of our hidden ' selves.' This is a most im-
portant aspect of the problem. Of late there has
been considerable discussion as to whether there is
a continuous stream of consciousness active within
ourselves, or whether these indications of the work-
ings of a subconscious mind merely show that there
are, at certain times, flashes of intelligence, — mere

Tuckey; Suggestive Therapeutics, by Dr. Bernheim; Hypno-
tism, by Albert Moll; Psychic Treatment of Nervous Dis-
orders, by Paul Du Bois; etc.

THE PROBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM 185

sparks, as it were, thrown off from the wheel of con-
sciousness in its ordinary revolutions. The facts
which the Psychical Research Society have accumu-
lated prove conclusively, it seems to me, that this
stratum of consciousness is continuous, and is not a
mere flash of intelligence. Gurney proved this in
a very ingenious manner. He hypnotised a subject
and suggested to him that, after he was awakened
and again in his normal condition, his hand would
write out, automatically on a piece of paper, the
answers to certain mathematical problems that had
been set his hypnotic self. After this patient had
been aroused, therefore, and was again in his
normal state, and conversing freely, and at the
same time that he was discussing topics of general
interest, his hand was writing out the answers to
these mathematical problems — showing that some
portion of his mind was still actively at work in
figuring the problems that had been set just be-
fore he had been awakened; and in this manner it
has been possible to ' tap,' as it were, the subliminal
consciousness, and to ascertain that it is a contin-
uous stream, and not merely a fragment of our
mind which was enabled to operate only when our
normal consciousness was suspended. Another very
interesting proof is found in the fact that, in
many cases of double consciousness (where the mem-
ory has suddenly been lost, and revived again only

186 THE COMING SCIENCE

after an interval of some months, during which
period the person has been living an altogether dif-
ferent life — possessed, as it were, of another per-
sonality) memory of this state has been artificially
evoked through hypnotism, and the patient has been
enabled to remember all that transpired in his sec-
ondary state, and give an account of his actions,
though the events that had happened in the inter-
val were entirely unknown to, and unrecallable by,
his ordinary consciousness. Mr. Myers' idea was
that the hypnotic self was not a different self, but
merely the more inclusive ; it mcludes the conscious-
ness which we know and which is operative every
day within us — which latter consciousness he re-
garded merely as a special section, so to speak, of
our entire self — noted by us here more than any
other portion or section for the reason that it is best
adapted for the purposes of our every-day life.
He regarded the subliminal self as possessing a far
greater grasp of the mental and physical organism
than our ordinary consciousness possesses ; and
this must naturally be so, since the latter is but a
fragment of the former, according to him. This
would seem to agree with the statement made by
Dr. Bramwell.^ " The difference between the hyp-
notised and the normal subject, it appears to me
from a long series of observed facts, is not so much

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XII, p. 23T.

THE PROBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM 187

in conduct as in increased mental and physical
powers."

When we come to the explanations of the na-
ture of h3rpnotism, we encounter two opposite
schools, which I may call, for our present purposes,
the physiological and the psychological. Dr.
Charcot was the originator of the former school,
believing that hypnosis signified a more or less mor-
bid condition, observable only in the hysterical —
basing his theory upon the fact that in all the
cases he had himself noted the patients had marked
hysterical symptoms, and were more or less neurotic.
This theory was completely refuted in the first place
by Dr. Moll, who pointed out that all Charcot's
subjects were hysterical, — which obviously nega-
tived any results he might obtain, and forever dis-
posed of this theory. Further Dr. Liebeault found
that soldiers (presumably not a hysterical class)
made very excellent subjects; and Mr. Harry Vin-
cent has recently found that the same is true of
university graduates.

Dr. Heidenhain's physiological theory was dis-
proved conclusively, it seems to me, by Gurney
and Dr. Bramwell ; while Dr. Ernest Hart's theory
— of cerebral anaemia — carried with it its own in-
nate disproof, for, as Prof. William James pointed
out in his Psychology, decreased blood supply fol-
lows, and is not the cause of, decreased nervous ac-

188 THE COMING SCIENCE

tivity; while the reverse is also true: namely, that
increased blood supply is the result of and not the
cause of increased nerve activity. I cannot, in this
chapter, review the various psychological theories,
interesting as this might prove to be, but I shall
conclude by outlining briefly Mr. Myers' theory of
hypnotism, and its relation to the subliminal con-
sciousness.

First of all, it was pointed out that sugges-
tion does not cover all the facts of the case, as is
commonly supposed — since the success of sug-
gestion depends, not on the suggestion itself, but on
conditions inherent in the subject; that is, the op-
erator is merely the starter of the phenomena ob-
served, and not their real agent; the phenomena
are in reality the result of the inner workings of the
subject's own being. ^ The potentiality of hyp-
notic phenomena lie, therefore, in the subject and
not in the operator; and this fact Mr. Myers, in
his customary beautiful language, pointed out as
follows :

" I regard sleep as an alternating phase of per-
sonality — distinguished from the waking phase by
the shutting off of the supraliminal life of relation
of external attention, and by the concentration of

1 Compare Occult Japan, p. 296: "In all cases the sub-
ject really hypnotises himself. The art of the operator
simplj'' consists in getting him, more or less unwittingly, to
do this."

THE PROBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM 189

subliminal attention upon the profounder organic
life. To sleep's concentrated inward attention I
ascribe its unique recuperative power.
Trance is a further stage of sleep in the sense that
it accomplishes more powerfully sleep's characteris-
tic task; the subliminal plasticity is more marked,
the subliminal control intenser ; until hypnosis some-
times seems to be to sleep what sleep is to waking.
. . . But how, after all, is this fuller control
effected.? How is the subliminal plasticity, this
vis medicatrix naturae — actually reached.'' On
this question Dr. B ram well has demonstrated, with
the advantage of actual experience, what some of
us foreshadowed long ago — I mean the absolute
insufficiency at present of any purely physiological
explanation. No such explanation, indeed, now
survives with apparent vitality to be worth the
trouble of killing anew. The main consensus of
living hypnotists declares that hypnotic phenomena
are due to suggestion almost or quite alone. We
need not reject that dictum, but we must make it
our task to try and find out what that word ' sug-
gestion ' can mean. One thing the word certainly
cannot mean, if it is to have any explanatory value
at all ; and that is — mere ordinary persuasiveness.
Dr. Bramwell (to take his own instance) is not the
first person who has advised the dipsomaniac not
to drink. If he succeeds in reforming such a pa-

190 THE COMING SCIENCE

tient, it is because he has managed to touch, not
Lis supraliminal reason, but his subliminal plastic-
ity. He has set going some intelligent organic
faculty in the man which has lain dormant until
that moment, and which proves more effectual for
healing than the man's conscious will. How, then,
has he done this? He has either infused power, or
he has merely invoked it. Either he has added
power by some influence ... or else, in some
empirical way, not as yet understood, he has simplyj
started a self-suggestion; has unlocked, as I say,
some fountain of energy which was latent within
the man's own being. . . . Beneath the
threshold of waking consciousness there lies, not
merely an unconscious complex of organic pro-
cesses, but an intelligent vital control. To incor-
porate that profound control with our waking will
is the great evolutionary end which hypnotism, by
its group of empirical artifices, is beginning to
help us to attain."

The illusion that hypnotism is harmful or can in
any way weaken the mental or moral will of the
subject, or can in any way render him a ' tool in the
hands of an unscrupulous person ' must be thor-
oughly disposed of and discredited. There is not
one iota of evidence to show that such is, or ever has
been, the case. " I have never seen," says Dr.

THE PROBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM 191

Bramwell/ " an unpleasant symptom even of the
most trivial nature, follow the skilled induction of
hypnosis."

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XII, p. 209.

I

CHAPTER VII

THE PROBLEMS OF TELEPATHY

IF there is any one thing which the Society for
Psychical Research can be accused of " trying
to prove," it is most certainly Telepathy, since
all its earlier work was bent in the direction of ex-
perimenting in thought-transference, and the larger
part of the labours of the Society were devoted to
conducting experiments in this field. Since that
time it has been used freely as an explanatory hy-
pothesis in the Society's work, and, in spite of re-
peated statements by the Society (as such) that
it did not accept it as a proved fact, and especially
that it held no theory as to its modus operandi, the
public has appropriated this theory of telepathy,
and speaks of it as though it were a proved fact,
established beyond controversy; and further, as
though it were a definitely established principle that
the action of telepathy is mhratory. Now all this
is unwarranted, inasmuch as, even granting that
the early experiments proved the reality of some-
thing akin to thought-transference, no theory as
to its actual nature has ever been forthcoming —
none, at least, that has proved acceptable to the
scientific world. Telepathy, in fact, is not, strictly

192

THE PROBLEMS OF TELEPATHY 193

speaking, an explanation of anything; when we
use the term ' telepathy ' we do not imply any di-
rect explanation; it is merely a term used to ex-
press the fact that there is some causal connection
between two similar states of consciousness, occur-
ring at the same time, in different individuals and
not attributable to coincidence or chance — that
is, all that telepathy does is to state the problem
(that there is some connection between the two facts
observed other than chance) : it in no wise shows
what the explanation of this connection is. Of
course, we may build up theories as to the operation
of telepathy, and doubtless every one of us has some
vague idea as to its modus operandi, but I must in-
sist upon the fact that no such theory has received
scientific verification in any single case, and all the
talk we hear about " thought vibrations," etc., is
simply so much rubbish, put forward by men who
do not understand the real scientific problems in
the case, and who are using the term ' vibration '
to build upon the creduhty of the public, because it
is a term that has some scientific meaning, and ap-
pears to give some faint clue as to the method by
which telepathy might possibly operate ; ^ but there

1 A typical instance of this kind is Stocker's book Tele-
pathy and in the chapter on this subject in his Sub-
Consciousness. The fact that we know, as yet, nothing
whatever about the action of telepathy was most forcibly
pointed out by Miss Johnson, Journal S. P. R., Vol. IX,

194s THE COMING SCIENCE

is no scientific evidence, as I have before stated,
that telepathy actually does operate in this way
(even granting that it exists), and in fact, I might
point out that there are many weighty objections
to this theory of vibratory action. If we were to
pursue the analogy further than the first crude
statement (that vibration is the method of opera-
tion in the case), we should find ourselves in hopeless
difficulties, if not contradictions. Let us for a mo-
ment pursue this line of argument and see whither
it would lead us. In a wireless message, let us say,
there is a transmitter and a receiver, and the only
connection between the two is a species of ether
vibration. Granting that some portion of the
brain of one person might act as a transmitter of
telepathic messages, and that another portion of
another's brain might act as a receiver for these
(though we have as yet absolutely no physiological
evidence of this fact — but perhaps this would not
invalidate the argument), and granting, further,
that the ether might be capable of carrying such
infinitely fine vibrations from one brain to another,
there is still the practical difficulty, pointed out by
Mr. Snyder in his New Conceptions in Science,
that, though we can, by the aid of delicate instru-

pp. 169-70, and by Dr. Hyslop in his Psychical Besearch
and the Resurrection, pp. 305-31. It is only fair to myself
to state, however, that this chapter was written several
years ago, and before Dr. Hyslop's article had appeared.

THE PROBLEMS OF TELEPATHY 195

ments, detect vibrations almost infinitely rapid and
far beyond the range of our senses, yet these instru-
ments cannot detect any vibrations in the case of
thought. Still I do not admit the entire validity of
this objection, since, as Mr. Hutchinson points out
in his DreaTns and Their Meanings (p. 194), the
brain may be far more sensitive than any instrument
— though the senses are not. The chief objection
in my mind is that, in the case of the electrical mes-
sage, vibration is a purely mechanical process, and
in no wise carries intelligence with it; it is vibra-
tion pure and simple. Now in the case of a sup-
posed telepathic message, thought flashed from
one brain to another must be supposed to convey
with it intelligence of some sort; for if it were a
purely mechanical vibratory action, I ask. How is
it that this would impress another brain in such an
entirely different manner from all other vibrations
as to create in that brain, not only a thought, but
the precise kind of thought that originated in the
brain of the agent.? Granting that the vibrations
are but symbols, and that they are interpreted by
our brains as " things," the difficulty remains that,
in all other cases, such vibrations, no matter what
their intensity, convey to the brain the idea of ex-
ternal objects, or qualities of those objects, and do
not convey to it the idea of mind or intelligence.
How is it, therefore, that one particular species of

196 THE COMING SCIENCE

vibration, which, we must assume, would vary more
or less with each individual, can convey with it the
idea of thought, and that this vibration is associated
with mind, and in fact is thought, while all other
vibrations in the world are in no wise connected with
intelligence, and do not appear to us to be so con-
nected; and, further, how infinitely we should have
to vary the degree and type of vibration which
would have to correspond to all shades of thought
and feeling and emotion ! Sir William Crookes ^
strongly urged the possibility of this vibratory
theory of telepathy, but Mr. Myers' objections to
it ^ (to my mind) outweigh and render altogether
untenable this idea of the vibratory action of telep-
athy; but on this point I would refer the reader
to the book in question.

Let us now go back and review very briefly the
kind of evidence that exists in favour of telepathy.
There is first the experimental evidence, in which
one person, generally called an " agent," endeav-
ours to impress his thoughts upon another, gener-
ally called a " percipient." The percipient then
either describes or writes the impression he receives,
and if it coincides with the thought of the agent,
there is fair evidence for the action of telepathy.

1 Presidential address to the Society for Psjxhical Re-
search, in 1897.

2 Human Personality, Vol. I, pp. 245-^.

THE PROBLEMS OF TELEPATHY 197

Of course, before any such theory is established,
there are many sources of error that must be ehmi-
nated. In the first place, we must ascertain, by
mathematical calculations, that the results are more,
and very much more, numerous than can be ac-
counted for by chance, since it is necessary to estab-
lish, first of all, the fact that some law other than
chance has been operative. After this has once
been established, we must eliminate all ordinary
chances of error, — such as conscious and uncon-
scious fraud, muscle reading, hyperaesthesia, and
other such errors as the tendency of minds to run
in the same channel, — allowing a great number of
coincidences to take place, owing to the similar op-
erations of two minds acting quite independently
of one another, and in no way dependent upon the
operation of telepathy. After allowing for all of
these factors, and while taking sufficient precau-
tions to insure the fact that the results were not
due to any of the above-mentioned errors, or to
numerous others that will doubtless occur to the
reader, the Society for Psychical Research suc-
ceeded in obtaining results which are many hun-
dreds and thousands of times more numerous than
would have occurred if due only to chance ; it was,
therefore, almost inevitable that they should con-
clude that thought-transference was practically a
proved fact.

198 THE COMING SCIENCE

But thought-transference does not depend en-
tirely upon this experimental evidence, though
to the scientific world it must, of course, depend
very largely upon it. Telepathy is evidenced by
facts of every-day life, and by a multitude of indi-
cations all pointing in the same direction and inex-
plicable on any other theory. Without the experi-
mental evidence, we should certainly be unwarranted
in inventing that theory to explain the spontaneous
cases, but, granting that certain experimental evi-
dence for this faculty exists, we can extend it to
cover cases of spontaneous telepathy, and expect to
find many analogies. The great work that the
Society for Psychical Research has done is collect-
ing cases of such spontaneous telepathic action;
such cases being very largely the action of one
mind upon another at a supreme mental crisis —
for example, the moment of death. In Phantasms
of the Living alone were published some 702 such
cases; and these have been supplemented by many
thousands of cases since collected and printed in
the Proceedings and the Journal of the S. P. R.,
and in very many other books upon the subject that
have recently appeared. The most common evi-
dence of this kind is that afforded by apparitions
at the moment of death, when a figure of the dying
person is frequently seen by the percipient, who is
generally some friend or relative of the dying per-

THE PROBLEMS OF TELEPATHY 199

son and so, we might fairly assume, en rapport with
him. There is also evidence for a supernormal
— probably telepathic — action in the many cases
of automatic writing, in impressions and intuitions,
in haunted houses, in crystal-gazing, in the Piper
case, and in many other mediumistic cases, as well
as in many of the occurrences of daily life ; and it
might almost be assumed that telepathic action is
almost constantly taking place, unknown to us,
since it operates, apparently, in some portion of
our ^^Ticonscious mind and does not, except on
very rare occasions, reach our ordinary waking
consciousness. Of course, there is a tremendous
difference between experimental thought-transfer-
ence and spontaneous telepathy, for this very
reason; experimental thought-transference is di-
rected entirely by our conscious minds (though
it is probable that our conscious minds merely
convey to the subconscious self the message which
the latter carries), — but still there is a wide
gulf between the experimental and spontane-
ous cases. So great, indeed, is this apparent
difference that some persons have decided that
they do not belong to the same class, and are
not, in fact, subject to the same explanation at
all, the law operative in experimental and in spon-
taneous telepathy being entirely different. While
this difference is undoubtedly great, the difficulty is

200 THE COMING SCIENCE

lessened when we consider the fact that there are
several discernible states, stages or degrees be-
tween the two, and we can almost follow the pro-
cess step by step through the various " transi-
tional " cases, as they have been called, from the
experimental to the spontaneous type. Such cases,
for example, are those in which the agent has willed
an image or apparition of himself to appear to the
percipient, and, though this was consciously initi-
ated, the apparition did so appear at a time when
the agent was in some unusual condition, — in sleep
or hypnotic trance, etc. Here then we have a se-
ries of cases in which a figure is perceived, as in
spontaneous cases — the agent consciously willing
it to appear before passing into trance, as in ex-
perimental cases — while at the time of its actual
appearance he was unconscious of the manifestation
he was liimself producing, as in spontaneous cases ;
and such cases as these form a bridge between the
two groups or classes — suggesting that the law of
telepathy is equally applicable to both. Taking,
then, this mass of experimental evidence, which
the Society has accumulated in its Proceedings and
Journals, and the tremendous number of cases of
spontaneous telepathy, as well as the transitional
cases quoted above, and such other cases as have
been produced in dozens of other books, pamphlets,
magazines and periodicals of all kinds, the evidence

THE PROBLEMS OF TELEPATHY 201

for telepathy becomes, it seems to me, almost over-
whelming, especially in view of the fact that appar-
ently telepathic phenomena crop up in spiritistic
seances; while it explains many other supernormal
phenomena which are hardly explicable by any
other means — short of invoking some sort of
spiritism.

Now if the fact of telepathy he a fact in nature,
the problems opening before us in its investigation
are of the most wonderful character, as well as
of fascinating interest — taking us down to the
very fountain of our mental life — the very core
of our being. As I have before stated, however,
very little progress has been made toward an ex-
planation of the phenomena, the word ' telepathy '
simply implying a causal nexus and in no wise
actually explaining the connection. The vibratory
theory I have discussed briefly at the beginning of
this chapter, and though it may ultimately prove
correct, I am insisting upon the fact that we have
at present no proof that it is the explanation, or
that the vibratory theory can be used and said to
be, in any sense, explanatory.

TliA +heory has been advanced that all minds
are included in some vast cosmic consciousness or
' world-soul ' — to which all consciousnesses ulti-
mately lead as do the spokes of a wheel to the hub
— and consequently that there is a constant connec-

^02 THE COMING SCIENCE

tion or interrelation of mind at one point, if we
could but perceive such connection — it occurring,
of course, in the subconscious part of our being
and our conscious lives being but the offshoot of
such larger consciousness. The theory does not,
of course, state an impossibility, but the kind of
scientific evidence that must be produced in order
to prove it is almost inconceivable. We have been
practically forced to discard the idea of any
physical action of telepathy, in the ultimate analy-
sis, when discussing this problem, and Mr. Myers'
statement that telepathy indicates merely the
fact that " life has the power of manifesting to
life " is about all we can say on the problem by way
of explanation. Granting that mind can in some
manner manifest to mind, other than by material
means, how can such manifestation be conceived?
Does one consciousness stretch out, as it were, and
grasp the thought of the other mind (the per-
cipient being in reality, it will be perceived, the
active factor in such transmission, the agent be-
ing merely the subject from whose mind the fact
is grasped), or does the agent project the
thought from his brain and impress the mind of
the percipient with it, just as a bullet might be
shot from a rifle, or light waves radiate from
some centre? The first of these theories would
be somewhat akin to true mind-reading, the other

THE PROBLEMS OF TELEPATHY 203

thought-projection or transference, and if the lat-
ter theory be correct, is all thought directed into
one single channel — at a target, as it were — or
does it spread equally in all directions like all other
vibratory radiations? It may be conceived that
telepathy is a combination of the above two
processes, it being a kind of mutual action, a pro-
jection on the part of one, and a mental reception
or grasping on the part of the other. If this is
the case, we must conceive the thought as met,
as it were, in space, and in some way joined or
seized upon by the percipient thought; and how
can we conceive such seizing or such perception?
Speculations such as these would, of course, lead
us into regions of the deepest mystery, to the
most profound metaphysical speculation; and we
should find ourselves far removed from the domain
of science and critical philosophy. As it is not
the province of this chapter to deal with that as-
pect of the problem, I will leave the question of
telepathy for the present as it stands — which is no
more nor less than a statement of a scientific prob-
lem to he solved by scientific methods. What
might follow, were it to become an accepted fact
of science, and the deeply important considerations
into which we should be led in consequence, would
form a most interesting study, and is one which
I hope to consider at some future time.

CHAPTER VIII

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP AND DREAMS

FOR some unknown reason, it seems to be con-
sidered " superstitious " by the maj ority of
persons to consider or discuss sleep and dreams at
all. Why this should be so is indeed a mystery,
seeing that we spend a third of our lives asleep,
and that most of us dream continually. It may
not be known to the average layreader that the
problems of sleep and dreams are now receiving
thorough and scientific attention from some of the
best minds of our time, and that the psychology
of dreams is at present admitted to be a legitimate
study. This being so, it may prove of value and
interest to us to look into the question for a few
moments, and see how far the accepted theories of
sleep and dreams cover the facts, even of normal
dreams and the phenomena of sleep. We shall
then be in a better position to appreciate how lit-
tle is really known of the subject, and the great
interest, scientifically, that supernormal dreams
have in throwing light on the obscure physiologi-
cal and psychological processes involved.

Innumerable are the theories of sleep ! Until
lately, very little was known of the real nature of

g04

1

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP 205

sleep, and indeed it may be said that all that we
know now is purely phenomenal, and suggests
mere classification rather than explanation in the
strict sense of the term. We are beginning to
know fairly well some of the physiological pro-
cesses that take place during sleep, but of its psy-
chological aspects we are still in the blankest ig-
norance. We know that the ordinary normal self-
consciousness is absent; but whether this is in
some way withdrawn or is actually extinguished,
as a candle flame, we do not know. Then, too,
there is a great deal of ' consciousness ' about the
organism while asleep. Contrary to general be-
liefs, the body is not a mere aggregation of living
matter during the hours of rest and sleep, but is,
on the contrary, very actively conscious of stimuli
from without, and even of what is transpiring in
its immediate neighbourhood. This has fre-
quently been demonstrated by means of artificial
stimuli. The body of a sleeping man has been
pricked, slapped, scorched, sounds made in the
ear, scents held to the nostrils, etc., etc., and the
results noted. It was almost invariably found
that the dreams experienced by the sleeper were
the result of the external stimuli — these being
dramatised by the sleeping self and woven into a
complex and dramatic whole. This clearly shows
that there is some self or consciousness left, capa-

206 THE COMING SCIENCE

ble of responding to external stimuli, and hence
sleep cannot be the deep, ' consciousless ' thing* that
the majority suppose it to be. There Is some con-
sciousness still within and about the organism;
and yet it is not 5^Zf-consciousness. Here is evi-
dently a deep mystery. There is present, at such
times, a consciousness peculiar to itself, and which
we might call ' dream-consciousness.' Close at-
tention to the phenomena of sleep and dreams
might reveal something of the nature of this
dream-consciousness, its phenomena and extent;
and this I propose to discuss, very briefly, in the
present chapter. First of all, however, let us
turn our attention to the bodily conditions that
accompany sleep and see what these may be.

Some authors have suggested that sleep might
be due to the excessive functioning of the thyroid
gland, but this was disproved by the fact that
animals, in whom this gland was removed or atro-
phied through disease, slept just as well as other
animals. Then the theory was advanced that
sleep was due to cerebral hyperaemia — an ex-
cessive supply of blood in the brain, this being the
real cause of sleep. This idea was held for a
number of years, but was ultimately shown to be
quite untrue, and a reverse condition was proved
to be present during sleep — cerebral anaemia, or
lack of blood in the brain, being invariably pres-

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP 207

ent during all normal sleep. It was consequently
asserted that this was the cause of sleep — it be-
ing caused by the cerebral anaemia. But it was
pointed out, by Prof. William James and others,
that this fact of cerebral anaemia proved nothing,
inasmuch as the lessened blood supply would nec-
essarily follow, and would not precede, the on-
coming of sleep. That is, the nerve functioning
would invariably lessen "first, and the lessened
blood-supply would follow later. This being the
case, it is obvious that the theory of cerebral
ansemia explained nothing; it stated a condition
{one condition) that accompanied sleep, but did
not explain its cause. The cause of the lessened
nerve-functioning was still to be sought.

Then came the innumerable chemical theories
of sleep. It was held that certain poisons were
formed within the system, as the results of the
day's activities, and these poisons, acting upon
the nerves of the brain, prevented their proper
functioning; and this was consequently the real
cause of sleep. This is a theory still held by
many; but it does not explain many facts, it
seems to me, and is not in accord with others.
The fact that a mere effort of will can keep us
awake would seem to refute this theory ; and so do
the facts of hypnotic suggestion and the psy-
chological activities that take place during sleep.

208 THE COMING SCIENCE

— to say nothing of the supernormal powers ap-
parently possessed by many during this period.
Again, why is it that mere boredom or monotony
will induce sleep — and this when the patient may
have been up and awake only a short time?
Again, it has never been explained why it is that
bodily cleansing and eliminating measures would
not remove sleepiness — or the causes of sleepiness

— far more than any mere process of quiescence.
Sleep is not merely a negative condition, it must
be remembered, but a positive process — ' one in
which the most remarkable vital and physiological
adjustments take place. A moment's loss of con-
sciousness will sometimes refresh and invigorate
us more than hours of rest and mere lying down;
it is a period of great recuperation, and to assert
that this state is merely the result of poisons
formed within the body is simply nonsense. If
sleep were merely a process of eliminating poisons,
it is hard to see how such wonderful regenerative
and recuperative changes could take place; it
would take us every night to eliminate the poisons
of the previous day; we should never improve
at all, but, like Alice through the looking-
glass, it would take all our running to keep in
the same place! For these and other reasons
therefore, this theory cannot be maintained, and
we must seek elsewhere for a true explanation of

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP 209

sleep — which, I am convinced, will never be
found in any purely materialistic scheme. Mr.
Leadbeater, in his little book on Dreams has a very
ingenious theory of sleep to offer, which might be
summarised as follows:

" Clairvoyant observation bears abundant testi-
mony to the fact that when a man falls into deep
slumber the higher principles of the astral vehicle
almost invariably withdraw from the body, and
hover in its immediate neighbourhood. Indeed, it
is the process of this withdrawal that we com-
monly call ' Going to sleep.' " If this could be
established (or some very similar theory) it would
account for many of the facts of sleep and dreams,
and is at all events ingenious and worthy of in-
vestigation. This more mystical interpretation
of sleep would not be in opposition to any of the
more physiological interpretations of the phe-
nomena either. For example, I hold that " sleep
is that physiological condition of the organism in
which the nervous system of the individual (in
precisely the same manner as the electric storage
battery) is being recharged from without, by the
external, all-pervading cosmic energy, in which
we are bathed, and in which we live and move and
have our being." ^ This would enable us at least
to appreciate the fact that sleep is a far more com-

1 Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition, p. 309.

no THE COMING SCIENCE

plicated and mysterious process than it is univer-
sally thought to be; and so with this I pass on to
a consideration of sleep's chief characteristic — ■
dreams.

" The student of psychology," says Dr. Hy-
slop, " has no perplexities with our ordinary
dreams. He may not always be able to assign
the exact cause for the matter of men's dreams,
but he knows the general nature of the influences
that determine their occurrence." ^ It is well that
Dr. Hyslop used the guarded language he did,
because, claiming as many do, that we know all
about dreams and their causes, would be to claim
a knowledge we do not possess. Take, for exam-
ple, the common case of a dream, all the elements
of which are past visual memories or experiences.
Some of these are twenty years old, some ten days
old, some barely an hour; and yet these are in-
extricably bound together and intermingled, with
no space or time-relation between the incidents,
but all — old and new, false and true, vivid and
indistinct — are blurred together in the dream by
some law, or lack of law, that we cannot as yet
fathom. Why should time and space be disre-
garded in our dreams? I venture to think that
even this well-known and common fact is ex-
tremely suggestive — indicating that we are, in

^Enigmas of Psychical Research, p. 144.

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP 211

our sleep, closely in touch with a world in which
time and space are not — at least in any such
sense as we know them; and this is greatly
strengthened by the evidence which supernormal
dreams afford.

Before passing on to these, however, let us first
consider the psychology of certain dreams that
nearly every person experiences at one time or an-
other in his life. Mr. Horace G. Hutchinson
has written a very interesting book on this subject,
entitled Dreams and Their Meanrngs, and I pro-
pose to give a brief resume of the book before
passing on to consider supernormal dreams, as
the subjects dealt with are highly interesting and
important.

The first chapter in this book is devoted to
"What Science Has to Say About Them"
(dreams) and considers and summarises the vari-
ous theories that have been put forward to account
for normal dreams — conditions of blood supply,
sensory stimulation, bodily conditions, etc. — as
well as considering certain psychological ques-
tions of general interest. Of these, the most im-
portant are the length or duration of dreams, the
comparative vividness, the influence of the daily
life and thoughts upon the content of the dream,
etc. — all of which has been pretty fully discussed
elsewhere. One remark, however, calls for special

212 THE COMING SCIENCE

mention because of the important conclusion that
can be drawn from the statement made. It is:
" We cannot determine what they shall be about,
by fixing our mind on any particular subject be-
fore we drop off to sleep, nor can we, after waking
out of a pleasant dream, prolong it, by thinking
of its incidents, when we again fall to sleep. I
am well aware that there are exceptions to this rule
— people who claim, and no doubt justly, to be
able to influence in a great measure the course of
their dreaming thoughts, but they are in a very
small minority. . . ." This brings before our
minds clearly the fact that here is a world of
which we do not know the laws, and over which we
have practically no control. We cannot tell what
may or may not happen in that world, when once
we enter it, nor can we control our thoughts in it,
though we may be perfectly rational beings, and
capable of willing to do so. Just in a similar
manner it may be that, in the Piper case, e. g.y the
" controls " are alive and active, but when they
come in contact with the " light," and more or
less lose control of their faculty of thinking and
willing voluntarily, many things are apt to occur
over which they have no control, and for which
they are not responsible. The point I wish to
make is that we are not entitled to say what
" spirits " should or should not do in the next life,

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP 213

or when, how and what they ought to communi-
cate, without knowing anything of that other hfe
— its laws and possibilities and the amount of
control the various spirits (granting that they
exist) have over their own thoughts and actions.
.When communicating, they may be just as incap-
able of controlling their thoughts as we are our
dreams.

The question of the remembrance of dreams
is another question which Mr. Hutchinson has
touched upon in an interesting manner, though
all too briefly, considering the importance of the
problem. Many authors consider it a sign of
disease if we ever dream; others, on the contrary,
assert that we constantly dream during sleep,
and that no sleep is absolutely dreamless ! That
sleep which appears to be so is merely a sleep in
which the dreams are not remembered. On this
theory, we dream constantly, but only a few of
them are remembered, on waking. To dream,
then, is perfectly normal, and it might even be
urged that dreamless sleep is abnormal. Is it then
normal to dream or not? I myself have thought
about this question much, and it has occurred to
me that a possible solution of the problem is to be
found in the combination of both theories; i, e.,
both are right and both are wrong, to a certain
extent. It might be suggested that we do con-

^14 THE COMING SCIENCE

stantly dream during sleep, and that this is a nor-
mal process, the abnormal factor being its remem-
brance. Thus we should dream, but we should
not (normally) remember these dreams. The ab-
normal event would be the remembrance — and
this might be due to some sort of hyper-penetra-
bility of the " psychical diaphragm," as Mr.
Myers put it; the screen that usually exists, as a
wall, between the conscious and subconscious
lives. The abnormal penetrability of this is the
diseased state or condition to be rectified.

I now come to what is the real kernel of the book.
The author, Mr. Hutchinson, had found, some
years before, that certain dreams had a tendency
to occur far more frequently than others; and,
further, that almost every person who dreams at
all had experienced certain types of dreams at one
time or another in his life, and he conceived the
idea of collecting a large number of cases of just
such dreams, with the object of finding out, if
possible, their general form, their causes, varia-
tions, and general effects — in short to make a
careful study of these particular dreams.

The dreams that were found to occur most fre-
quently, and which were most carefully studied,
were the following :

1. The falling dream.

2. The flying dream.

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP 215

3. The dream of inadequate clothing.

4. The dream of not being able to get away
from some beast, or injurious person or thing,
that is pursuing.

5. The dream of being drawn irresistibly to
Bome dangerous place.

6. The dream that some darling wish has been
gratified.

7. The dream of being about to go on a jour-
ney, and being unable to get your things into
your trunks, etc.

As the author argues, since these dreams are so
frequent, there must be some uniformity of physi-
cal or mental conditions that would produce these
dreams in all persons alike; L e., there must be
some law at work. To find out what that law is,
was the object of the author, and it must be ac-
knowledged that if he had solved the problem, he
would have added much to our knowledge of
dreams and dream states.

Let us now consider some few of the cases that
were sent the author, before attempting to con-
sider their explanation or psychological signifi-
cance. Take first the ** falling dreams." It is
commonly supposed, at least it has frequently
been said, that, though many persons have dreamed
that they were falling, none have ever dreamed
that they arrived at the bottom of the fall — for

gl6 THE COMING SCIENCE

" if thej did, they would die." This would seem
to bear out the Irishman's remark that " it was not
the fall that hurt him, but the sudden stop at the
bottom." However, there appears to be as little
foundation for this current opinion as there is in
the majority of such beliefs, for Mr. Hutchinson
collected accounts of several cases in which the
dreamer had reached the bottom of the fall, and
even dreamed that he was smashed into little bits
as the result, — but yet lived to tell the tale ! This
is very instructive. The ego, which in this case
appears to have a kind of onlooker, " picked up
the pieces and glued them together again."

Many interesting cases of flying dreams are
given — these dreams being, for the most part,
cases in which the dreamer thinks he is skimming
along the ground in a horizontal position, with or
without a swimming movement of the arms. To
some, this sensation is like swimming, to some like
skating, to some like gliding, to others like flying
(proper), and in other cases it more nearly re-
sembles the falling dream. In some cases the
sensation is pleasant, in others distinctly un-
pleasant. But it would be impossible for me to
give instances of all the dreams here, since that
would take a book as big as the original. I can
only refer my readers to the book itself, assuring

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP 217

them that there is sufficient of interest in the book
to warrant its perusal.

What are the causes of such dreams, which oc-
cur so frequently and to so great a diversity of
people? It may be stated at once that the author
did hot succeed in tracing the causes of these
dreams in most instances or in showing clearly the
psychological laws that govern them. This was
due partly to lack of the requisite material, and
partly to the fact that not enough is yet known
about dreams, their causes and psychological laws,
to enable any such generalised explanation being
made. What the author has done, therefore, is
to collect the dreams, classify them, and then to
offer a number of possible explanations, — some
original, some gathered from other sources, — and
leave the reader to form his own conclusions in the
matter. After all, perhaps this is the wisest
course. Thus the book is disappointing in one
sense, as showing us how little is really known
about dreams and dream states, but very useful in
another, for the reason that it clears away many
of the prevailing erroneous beliefs connected with
the subject, and anything that does this is to be
commended.

Having said so much it but remains for me to
summarise the theories that have been advanced

218 THE COMING SCIENCE

by way of explanation of the various dreams,
though it cannot be hoped that this portion of the
subject will contain anything new or of great in-
terest to the psychologist. To the average reader,
however, some of the theories may be of interest,
since theories of dreams are not so well known as
they should be — I mean even normal dreams.

Take, then, the " falling dreams." These may
be due to a number of causes. The common ex-
planation is " indigestion " — this producing a
pressure on the heart and consequent sending of
blood to the brain in a jerk. But is this really
any explanation at all? Why should this give us
the sensation of falling from a great height,
since we none of us know what that sensation is?
It can readily be imagined that this would have
the effect of waking the dreamer with a start, but
why should it arouse the idea of falling? The
explanation evidently does not explain. Can it be
that we merely imagine ourselves falling (or fly-
ing as the case may be)? If it be contended that
this is the explanation, how can we imagine a
thing or a sensation we have never experienced,
since we cannot possibly tell what it would be like?
It may be pointed out, parenthetically, that these
dreams completely disprove the assertion so fre-
quently made that we cannot possibly dream about
any thing or sensation which we have not expe-

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP 219

rienced in our waking lives. As we have not
fallen from great heights or flown, while awake,
how are the dreams to be accounted for? One
ingenious correspondent suggests that this sensa-
tion is a relic of our prehistoric days, and repre-
sents experiences and memories carried over from
our " monkeyhood " state ! I shall not do more
than refer to the suggestion. The author rather
inclines to the belief that the eyes or optic nerves
play a great part in the explanation of such
dreams. They are supposed to give us the sensa-
tion of things moving upward past us, and this
would indirectly suggest the fact that we were
falling. The author contends that these sensa-
tions are frequently experienced in waking life,
and might be the basis of our dreams of falling,
when asleep. For reasons it would take too long
to specify here I can only say that this explana-
tion does not appear to me to cover all the facts,
or to explain many of the dreams in any complete
manner.

The most rational explanation of such dreams
is probably the following: By lying too long in
one position, the blood supply on the lower sur-
face of the body is cut off, producing a certain
peripheral anaemia, with loss of sensation in these
parts. This loss of sensation would be coupled
with the feeling that there was no support be-

220 THE COMING SCIENCE

neath the body, and hence the idea that the body
was falling through space. The imagination of
the dreamer would supply the rest of the dream
data, so long as the primary sensation was aroused.
There are, in addition to all the above dreams,
many on record much more remarkable — • dreams
which convey to the dreamer information un-
known to him until that moment — dreams ap-
parently telepathic, clairvoyant, prophetic. A
son appears to his mother, and announces to her
that he has just been killed in a railroad accident;
a dreamer sees with horror an accident befalling
a near and dear friend of his; or sees an incident
happening in the future — all of which turn out
to be absolutely accurate. How are we to account
for such dreams on the accepted laws of psychol-
ogy and physiology? Do not such dreams rather
suggest that we are, in sleep, in a world distinctly
different from this one, where it is possible for us,
occasionally at least, to see and hear that which it
is impossible for us to see or hear in our normal,
waking state? And how absurd the claim that
all dreams are but the results of past states of
consciousness, or past experience, in the face of
such experiences and such dreams! There are
many of them on record; so many that it would
be unnecessary to argue the point here. The only
remaining question that lies before us is. How

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP 221

are such dreams to be explained? Why do they
occur, and how?

The hint I have let fall in the preceding para-
graph will answer these questions in a large part —
at least so far as they can be answered in the pres-
ent state of our knowledge. Telepathy and clair-
voyance and premonition operate in sleep and
dreams as well or better than they do in the waking
state; and, if spirits exist, there is great reason to
suppose that their mental influences cause or in-
itiate a large number of dreams that appear to us
to be evidence of the faculties mentioned above, or
even of ordinary dreams. These faculties exist,
and they operate in sleep as they do in the waking
state — in fact, we seem to have proof that they
operate more perfectly and freely in the sleep-
state than in the waking state. This is also a
very suggestive point; for, if the materialistic
theory of consciousness and its relation to brain
activity be true, it should be that, the less the brain
activity the less the consciousness, whereas we find
that precisely the reverse of this is true; and that
the nearer the brain is to a state of complete in-
activity, the more intense and alive is that portion
of consciousness which is active during the sleep-
ing hours. Which, of course, suggests to us that
if, or rather when, the brain ceases to function —
as it does at death — the same consciousness (the

^22 THE COMING SCIENCE

soul?) is most free and most active — at least as
soon as it recovers from the shock and wrench of
death.

Much has been written of the similarity of sleep
and death, on the one hand, and the phenomena of
trance and hibernation, on the other. That there
are certain resemblances (notably the absence of
consciousness) cannot be doubted, but I am con-
vinced that the two states of sleep and trance
differ radically; and that both of these differ
from hibernation also. This is not the place to
discuss these theories, which are of more inter-
est to physiology than to psychology and psy-
chic research. I shall, on the other hand, conclude
this speculative chapter with some remarks upon
a question that is of intense interest, but which
has never been discussed in any detail, so far as I
am aware, except by Dr. Hyslop, years ago, in
the Journal of the English S. P. R. I refer to
the subject of the consciousness of dying. The
problem may be stated somewhat as follows:

From the materialistic point of view, it would
appear to be practically impossible for anyone
to have any distinct consciousness of dying. For,
if materialism were true, death must be the ex-
tinction of consciousness. It would seem to be
impossible, therefore, ever to be conscious of dy-
ing; that is, conscious that consciousness is being

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP

extinguished. Therefore, if it be true that per-
sons are conscious that they are dying, it would
apparently contradict materialism.

Of course the difficulty is to prove the fact that
the dying person is really conscious of the fact
he is dying. We cannot ever prove this by any in-
trospective process unless we die ourselves — and
that would shut off all direct means of imparting
the information to others in the future. We,
therefore, have to depend upon inferences from
observing dying persons. Dr. Hyslop founded
his observations and opinions upon his father's
case — who afterwards communicated through
Mrs. Piper, and confirmed many of these infer-
ences. It might be urged also, that we are fre-
quently conscious of going to sleep, and again,
that the dying person might simply infer that he
is dying, and not be really conscious of it. All
of which facts would make it hard to prove the
fact under discussion.

If consciousness were suspended entirely in sleep
(annihilated pro tern), it should be as impossible
for anyone to be aware of the fact that he is going
to sleep as of the fact that he is dying. But we
know that this is frequently the case. It is not
always the case, of course. Personally, I am
rarely or never conscious of going to sleep, and Dr.
Hyslop stated that he was never aware of it

224 THE COMING SCIENCE

either. But it will readily be seen that, even were
this the case, it would tend to prove only the fact
that sleep is a suspension of consciousness, and not
an annihilation of it; and if persons are conscious
of dying, it would tend to prove the same thing.
Therefore, this fact also would tend to show that
sleep is a time of the withdrawal of consciousness
from the organism, and not of its extinction. And
the argument that the dying person knows by in-
ference, merely, that he is dying may be met in
two ways, at least. In the first place, he cannot
infer anything without self -consciousness ; and the
presence of self-consciousness would prove its ex-
istence and active operation. It could not, there-
fore, be extinct. The second reason is this. " In-
ference is usually, if not always, in normal life,
connected with some previous experience which has
had the meaning inferred in the new case. But as
the subject has had no experience involving the con-
nection of a sensation with death, it would appear
remarkable that it should infer a fact which is in-
terpreted as extinction which it has not had. A
new experience of an extraordinary kind might, of
course, suggest death as its explanation, though
it might equally suggest mere wonder at its new-
ness, as strange sensations often do.

" That the explanation, in the consciousness of

THE PROBLEMS OF SLEEP 225

the subject having the experience, takes the form
of supposing the approach of death, might be sug-
gested by the a priori conception of death as the
departure of the soul from the body, ... If
we interpret sleep as the suspension of conscious-
ness, as I think we must do, under any theory what-
ever, then it would be quite probable, even sup-
posing the persistence of the subject after death,
that this suspension would generally, if not always,
take place at death, permanently of course, on the
theory of materialism, but temporarily, at least, on
the opposing theory. But there might be excep-
tions to this suspension at the moment of decease,
if death is not extinction. There might be cases
where the subject retains consciousness of the sev-
erance, similar to those experiences on record in
which the person says that he has seemed to leave
the body. It is simply a question of evidence,
whether we can determine the possibilities of such a
consciousness, or whether we find the facts either
without significance or disproving the hypothesis.
If we find phenomena, normal or abnormal, in the
existence of the living and resembling what we
might imagine to be at least an occasional phenom-
enon of the dying, we should give the problem the
attention it deserves, and endeavour to ascertain
whether the so-called consciousness of dying is

226 THE COMING SCIENCE

anything more than an inference, or like those ap-
prehensions about death that are so often illu-
sions." ^

Is death an " everlasting sleep," or is it a state
of the most intense active self -consciousness ? Time
will show.

1 Journal of the S. P. R., Vol. VIII, pp. S50-5S,

CHAPTER IX

MODERN spiritualism: A BRIEF HISTORICAI*
RESUME

NO attempt can here be made to trace in any
detail the history of spiritualism through the
various literatures of the nations, nor even to follow
the modem history of the subject. Any attempt
to do so would, of course, involve a treatise of sev-
eral volumes, and to even touch upon it lightly
would necessitate a ponderous essay. I shall
therefore, in this chapter, confine myself to a brief
outline of only the most important and significant
features of the subject that have been recorded,
and to touch upon those phenomena which have
received international reputation and significance.
Spiritualistic phenomena have, of course, been
recorded throughout all ages of the world's history.
In the very earliest times we find traces and records
of such occurrences, both biblical and in the tradi-
tions, mythology and religious beliefs of all coun-
tries, and there is no more interesting study than
the collection and comparison of such records.
The phenomena of witchcraft recorded through-
out the middle ages, both in Europe and in Ameri-
ca, and later the semi-mystical beliefs in ' magne-
«2T

228 THE COMING SCIENCE

tism,' revived by Mesmer and his disciples, were, as
Mr. Podmore clearly shows in his Modem Spirit-
ualism, the two chief, connecting links between
the mysticism of the middle ages and the modern
psychic phenomena observed in the middle of the
nineteenth century when modern spiritualism re-
ceived a sudden and tremendous revival.

This " cult " originated, strictly speaking, in
Hydesville, N. Y., when the Fox sisters suddenly
developed the surprising faculty of producing and
intelligently controlling knocks or rappings, and
inducing such rappings to answer questions put to
them. This certainly seemed to signify that some
intelligence was behind these manifestations, and
when questions were put, it was stated that an
Italian peddler who had died and been buried be-
low the basement of the house was the cause of
such rappings, — his spirit being restless, and he
returning to render his personality manifest in this
jnanner. Active measures were at once taken.
The floor of the basement was dug up, but no
body was discovered, nor has any body been un-
earthed answering to the description until within
the last year or two, when, it is stated, a body cor-
responding to the description given was discov-
ered, which seems a most interesting confirmation
of the original statement.

In these rappings originated modem spiritism.

I

MODERN SPIRITUALISM ^29

They were of course received variously by the com-
munity at the time — some accepting them as gen-
uine evidences of the spirit world, others asserting
that they were due to fraud and trickery, and de-
manding an instant investigation by scientific men.
Such investigation was, unfortunately, never forth-
coming, and to this day the Fox sisters remain an
" unknown quantity " in the history of Spiritual-
ism.

It is true that a partial investigation was con-
ducted by three doctors from Buffalo, N. Y., who
examined the sisters and returned a rather unfav-
ourable report, asserting that raps did not occur
when strict conditions were observed, and that only
when these were relaxed were the phenomena possi-
ble; but nothing was definitely proved, and these
rappings have always remained open to question.
As may be supposed, other mediums rapidly devel-
oped, raps occurring in the presence of male and fe-
male mediums throughout the country, and other
phenomena appeared in rapid succession. Slate
writing, materialisation, playing of musical instru-
ments, the appearance of spirit hands and feet,
" test " messages given, and various other phe-
nomena observed, with the consequence that spirit-
ism soon claimed its adherents by the thousand,
and within a few years various books and pam-
phlets appeared, and several journals were founded

«30 THE COMING SCIENCE

devoted entirely to these subjects, while mediums
continued to multiply to a bewildering degree.
Almost all of the newly developed mediums were
those in whose presence physical phenomena were
observed (as distinct from mental) ; and indeed, in
the early stages of spiritism, we find few mediums
who devoted their time solely to the mental side of
the question. There were, however, a few notable
exceptions ; among these the famous Andrew Jack-
son Davis, Emma Harding Brittain, and a few
other trance speakers in whose presence, if we re-
member rightly, no physical phenomena ever oc-
curred: but with them died almost completely the
exclusively mental phenomena so far as the more
reputable mediums were concerned ; and this state of
affairs continued until the case of Mrs. Piper was
brought to light, of which I shall speak presently.
Meanwhile, physical mediums had been multiply-
ing ad nauseam. The most famous of these was
doubtless Daniel Dunglas Home, whose reputa-
tion has remained undimmed for forty years, and
which will now doubtless continue so throughout all
time. This medium was one of the very few pro-
ducing physical phenomena against whom no def-
inite charge of fraud was ever brought — or, at
least, sustained. Home's fame in America was, of
course, great; but it was not until he made his
trip to England and Germany, following in the

MODERN SPIRITUALISM «31

wake of Mrs. Hayden in the former country, and
became a subject of investigation by Sir William
Crookes, that his fame became really great.
About the years 1865 to 1870 there was a great
impetus in English thought towards spiritism, and
at about that time Home visited England, giving
seances in various parts of the country, and arous-
ing tremendous excitement wherever he appeared,
because of the extraordinary phenomena witnessed
in his presence. So great was the excitement that
there arose a clamour on the part of the more en-
lightened of the scientific world that the phenomena
observed in this medium's presence should receive
due consideration and investigation at the hands
of competent observers; and when Sir William
Crookes undertook to investigate this medium,
solely in the interests of science, from a scientific
standpoint, and by scientific means, the journals
were unanimous in asserting that no better inves-
tigator could be found than the clear-headed, logi-
cal and sceptical Sir William Crookes. It was, in
fact, a test case — the first medium of his time to
be investigated by the most eminent scientist then
living in England! What wonder that the scien-
tific journals should rejoice because they consid-
ered that now the impostures of the infamous Home
would be brought to life and exploded; and what
wonder that the spiritists should rejoice since

232 THE COMING SCIENCE

they conceived that the phenomena observed
through Home's medlumship would finally receive
their just appreciation and be recorded as actual
scientific facts, instead of the mere assertions of
gullible laymen! And while these opinions were
clashing, the moderate and even-minded world was
awaiting the final verdict with interest.

For several years Sir William Crookes had the
opportunity of studying Home more or less di-
rectly, and in 1872 he published in his QuarterlTf
Journal of Science, of which he was then the editor,
his first lengthy report, entitled " An Experimental
Investigation of a New Force." In this article,
which is one of the most intensely interesting that
can be imagined, Sir William Crookes goes into
great detail in explaining the precautions he took
to guard against fraud, the apparatus used, the
methods employed, and the results attained. These
were entirely favourable to Home, and convinced
Sir William Crookes that there was, operative
through him, a force of some kind, which he provi-
sionally termed " psychic," capable of moving ma-
terial bodies without the direct contact of the me-
dium's body, and achieving other results in the
physical world. This famous essay was supple-
mented two years later by one that still more radi-
cally upset the scientific traditions of the age by
recording, as facts, such phenomena as direct writ**

MODERN SPIRITUALISM 233

ing, materialisation, and other astonishing phe-
nomena, which were pubHshed in an article enti-
tled " Notes on an Inquiry into the Phenomena
Called Spiritual." These articles brought upon.
Sir William Crookes' head, as might be im-
agined, the bitter criticism and hostility of the
scientific world, who now realised that the very
champion who, they had confidently hoped, would
smash and expose the ' fraud of spiritualism,'
had, as the result of his years of investigation, be-
come a firm believer in practically all the phenome-
na recorded; and indeed it may be said, parenthet-
ically that this is true of a very large number of
investigators who have taken the pains to study the
subject at first hand. Some of the phenomena re-
corded by Sir William Crookes and by others at
the time were, indeed, almost incredible, and we
can quite readily appreciate the hostility which
the publication of such records entailed. The
elongation of the medium's body, the possibility
of Home handling red hot coals, etc., without in-
jury to himself, and above all, the instances of lev-
itation — in which the medium's body was, as it
was asserted, lifted by some force (apparently
counteracting that of gravity) and carried about
the room, and even out of the window, at a distance
of some 70 feet from the ground — such phenom-
ena certainly seemed incredible ; and as yet their

«34i THE COMING SCIENCE

acceptance remains purely a personal matter,
each individual having to balance in his own mind
the alternatives of rejecting the statements of
trained scientific men, such as those whose names
are given, or of accepting the phenomena as genu-
ine. The acceptance of either alternative seems
impossible. It has been suggested that there is,
of course, another possible explanation which
would not necessitate either of the alternatives
named. This is, that the investigators were in
some way hallucinated, and that their senses de-
ceived them into thinking that events occurred
which did not actually take place. But in many,
cases, this explanation would not hold good, as
there was the material record left in the physical
world of actual events that had transpired, and Sir
William Crookes had, in many cases, invented appa-
ratus for mechanically marking such movements as
took place, having in mind this very objection,
and wishing to forestall it by producing the mate-
rial proofs given him by a mechanical instrument
which could not, we must suppose, have been de-
ceived.

I have dwelt thus at length upon the phenomena
obtained through Home's mediumship and the ex-
periments of Sir William Crookes for the reason
that they are the most important experiments
in the history of spiritism that have ever been

MODERN SPIRITUALISM 235

conducted, and almost the only ones that have
never been discredited by further investiga-
tions. In almost every other instance the physical
phenomena have been ultimately shown to be
frauds; but with the exception of Home and one
or two other, later, cases, it may be said that the
evidence for the physical phenomena of spiritism is
practically nil. We accordingly leave the physical
phenomena of spiritism and turn our attention to
the more interesting and positive proofs of the
doctrine afforded by mental manifestations.

As stated, the early history of spiritism affords
us few instances of the kind, and it was not until
Mrs. Piper began to receive the attention of the
scientific world that such phenomena began to
receive from scientists the attention they had al-
ways deserved. The first report on this case,
which has now a world-wide reputation, appeared
over the signature of Prof. William James of Har-
vard in 1886, being published in the Proceedings
of the American Society for Psychical Research.
For several years past Professor James had been
investigating this medium, and when Dr. Hodgson
arrived in this country some two years later, his
attention was at once drawn to the importance of
the investigation of this medium by Professor
James, and he at once began an investigation of
her powers.

236 THE COMING SCIENCE

It is not too much to say that the case of Mrs.
Piper is the most important that the history of
spiritism has as yet presented, and possibly ever will
present, as affording evidence of life after death,
and it is worth the centered and almost exclusive
attention that has been given it for the past twenty
years. Putting aside all the other phenomena of
psychical research, the evidence for a future life
may be fairly said to rest on this case of Mrs.
Piper, — partly for the reason that it affords far
better evidence than does any other case so far
published, and partly because it has received the
careful attention of a number of eminent scientists
and other qualified investigators for a number of
years past. A brief resume of the case may, per-
haps, be given as follows:

When Dr. Hodgson became convinced of the gen-
uineness of Mrs. Piper's power (which, I may add,
was only established after several years of detec-
tive work and the closest possible scrutiny and
observation of the medium), she was taken to
England by the English society and investigated
there by Sir Oliver Lodge, Mr. F. W. H. Myers,
Dr. Walter Leaf and others, — their reports be-
ing published in Vol. VI. Proceedings S. P. R.
Some of these reports were favourable, others unfa-
vourable, though almost unanimous in asserting
that Mrs. Piper was genuine, so far as the trance

MODERN SPIRITUALISM 237

went — opinions differing as to the value of the
communications received through her; and, indeed,
the sittings themselves varied most remarkably.
Dr. Hodgson's first report ^ left the matter still un-
determined, he stating that, while there were
many evidences of discarnate intelligence, still there
were many objections to it also, and he held his
judgment in suspense pending further investiga-
tion. His second report was published six years
later in 1898,^ and in this report Dr. Hodgson
came out, for the first time, as an advocate of the
spiritistic theory, he asserting that it was the
most rational explanation of the facts so far ob-
served, and publishing, for the first time, a sten-
ographic record of seances that certainly seemed to
justify, if not to prove, his contention. Shortly
afterward a brief Report was published ^ by Pro-
fessor Newbold, — this author also holding his
judgment in suspense and offering no definite the-
ory by way of explanation. Soon after this Pro-
fessor Hyslop obtained his series of seventeen sit-
tings, and published his Report, with great detail.*
Professor Hyslop considered, in the first part of
his Report, the various theories that have been
put forward, by way of explanation of this case,

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. VIII.

2 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XIII.

3 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XIV.
* Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XVI.

238 THE COMING SCIENCE

and the difficulties and objections of each theory.
He was himself, however, entirely in favour of
the spiritistic explanation, having been converted
to that belief, from materialism, through Mrs.
Piper's trance-mediumship. Since that time no
elaborate reports have appeared, though several
criticisms and minor essays have been published,
and the world at present awaits further evidence
with intense interest.

I shall, in the next chapter, discuss the various
theories that have been brought forward to explain
the phenomena obtained through this remarkable
medium. Here it is only necessary to state that in
this case of Mrs. Piper is focussed and concen-
trated, one might say, the whole issue of spiritism
so far as personal identity and proof of life after
death is concerned ; and the importance of the case
cannot, consequently, be too strongly insisted
upon.

CHAPTER X

THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER

MRS. PIPER first gained the attention of the
pubHc in 1886, when Prof. William James
published a Report in the American Proceedings
S. P. R., stating that, owing to his personal inves-
tigation, he was convinced that there was, in this
case, 'prima facie evidence of supernormal faculty,
and that fraud was apparently out of the questionj
owing to the precautions he had taken to exclude
it. Various individuals were sent by Professor
James to Mrs. Piper, who had sittings during three
or four ensuing years, but no serious and syste-
matic attempt at investigation was made until Dr.
Hodgson arrived in this country in 1887, making
Mrs. Piper's acquaintance about two weeks after
his arrival in Boston.

*' I had several sittings myself with Mrs. Piper,"
writes Dr. Hodgson, at this period, " at which much
intimate knowledge, some of it personal, was shown,
of deceased friends or relatives of mine; and I
made appointments for sittings for at least fifty
persons whom I believed to be strangers to Mrs.
Piper, taking the utmost precautions to prevent
her obtaining any information beforehand as to
239

240 THE COMING SCIENCE

who the sitters were to be. The general result was
the same as in my own case. Most of these persons
were told facts through the trance-utterance which
they felt sure could not have become known to Mrs.
Piper by ordinary means. For several weeks,
moreover, at the suggestion of one of the members,
detectives were employed for the purpose of ascer-
taining whether there were any indications that
Mrs. Piper or her husband, or other persons con-
nected with her, tried to ascertain facts about possi-
ble sitters by the help of confederates, or other or-
dinary methods of inquiry, but not the smallest in-
dication whatever of any such procedure was dis-
covered. My own conclusion was that — after al-
lowing the widest possible margin for information
obtainable under the circumstances by ordinary
means, for chance coincidence and remarkable
guessing, aided by clues given consciously or un-
consciously by the sitters, and helped out by sup-
posed hyperaesthesia on the part of Mrs. Piper —
there remained a large residuum of knowledge
displayed in her trance state which could not be
accounted for except on the hypothesis that she
had some supernormal power; and this conviction
has been strengthened by later investigations."

As a further precaution against fraud, however,
and in order to study the case more satisfactorily,
Mrs. Piper was taken to England for experiment

THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 241

by a group of investigators, which comprised such
men as Prof. Henry Sidgwick, of Cambridge
University ; Sir Oliver Lodge, F. W. H. Myers, Dr.
Walter Leaf and others. Mrs. Piper arrived in
England, November 1889, and was met at Liver-
pool by Sir Oliver Lodge. Throughout her stay
in England she was under close observation during
the entire time, being the guest of one or more of
the above-mentioned men throughout this period
and until her departure for America some three
months later. At this period Dr. Hodgson again
resumed his investigation, and the case remained
under his personal observation from that date until
his lamentable death in December, 1905.

Before I proceed further, let me make plain the
class of phenomena that appear through Mrs.
Piper's mediumship, as this is a point which is ap-
parently much misunderstood. In the Piper case
there are no materialisations, no slate writing, no
rope tying, no dark seances, nothing of the kind
that could in any way suggest conscious physical
trickery. Mrs. Piper merely sits at a table and,
while conversing, falls into a trance condition, in
which the body, to all intents and purposes, dies
for some few seconds, — consciousness being en-
tirely obliterated, — and, indeed, her own conscious-
ness does not return so long as the trance lasts.
The head falls forward and is supported by cush-

J842 THE COMING SCIENCE

ions on the table; her whole body becomes inani-
mate. Shortly after this, the right hand and arm
seem to gain a consciousness of their own.^
The fingers seize a pencil (presented by the sit-
ter) and begin to write on a pad placed on the
table in readiness — just as would be the case were
the medium in her ordinary conscious state — the
whole seance, occurring, of course, in full daylight,
and, so far as the writing is concerned, there is
nothing unusual about it, to all appearances, and
no proof whatever that it is not directed by Mrs.
Piper's own consciousness ; and whether or not there
is any evidence for the supernormal would depend,
therefore, not on the physical characteristics of
the case, but on the actual content of the written
message; that is, whether such a message contains
any fact or piece of information, or knowledge,
that is unknown to the sitter, or known only to the
intelligence communicating that fact.

This is the kind of evidence that the Society has
been for many years endeavouring to procure, and
I wish just here to make clear what the problem is
that confronts us in the Piper case. Mrs. Piper's

1 A most interesting fact, in this connection, is the fol-
lowing: Mr. Lowell found, in his study of the Japanese
trance possession cases, that the hands and arms are the
first and last parts to bc'ome ' possessed.' All students of
psychic phenomena shoulf? read this book, as the similarities
of the «Japanese possession cases to the Piper case are fre-
quently very striking. (Occult Japan, pp. 179, 180, 35^79.)

THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 243

hand is controlled by some intelligence, that in-
telligence claiming to be sometimes a deceased per-
son (possibly the friend or relative of the sitter)
and at other times an intermediary, who undertakes
apparently to speak for such friend or relative.
Whether or not the intelligence is what it claims to
be is, of course, the problem to be solved, and of this
we shall speak later. There is doubtless an intelli-
gence or agent of some sort at work, and the ques-
tion is: Is this intelligence what it claims to be, —
that is, a discarnate spirit, — or is it merely the re-
sult of the activity of Mrs. Piper's subconscious-
ness dramatically acting out the part and falsely
passing itself off as the spirit it claims to be?
That is the difficulty that is to be solved in this
case. The trouble is that we can never get into
closer contact with the intelligence communicating
than is afforded by the automatic writing. Sup-
pose for a moment that a relative had started,
twelve or fifteen years ago, on an expedition to
Alaska; and suppose that we one day received a
telephone message, stating that the speaker was the
relative in question, returned from his trip. Verifi-
cation, in this case, could be readily obtained by
meeting and recognising such a person. But sup-
pose that such meeting and recognition were never
possible, the only method of communication thence-
forward being confined to telephone messages ?

244 THE COMING SCIENCE

Now the problem would be: How can the intelli-
gence at the other end of the wire prove that he is
what he claims to be, — namely, your own relative,
— and that he is not an impostor passing himself
off as such for financial or other gain? What
would be the method we should pursue in such a
case? We should probably say to him: "Well,
how do I know that you are so-and-so? Can
you produce any evidence to show that you are
the person you claim to be? " And in order to
prove his identity, such person would have to
bring forward certain facts which were known
only to himself and to the person receiving the
message, as, if facts were given which a num-
ber of persons knew, it would be no test-evidence,
as any one of those persons might have been
communicating. Still better evidence would be af-
forded were the communicator to furnish some in-
formation that was unknown, even to the receiver
of that message or to anyone other than the person
communicating, such information afterwards be-
ing verified by letter or reference to written docu-
ments, etc. If the evidence in such cases was con-
clusive, there would be a very clear presumption
that the intelligence giving the message was ac-
tually what it claimed to be, — namely, the relative
in question, — and that his own intelligence and
none other was active at the other end of the line.

THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 245

Now this is precisely the problem before us in the
Piper case. The communications are, as stated,
limited to the automatic writing, and in this man-
ner only can we get in touch with the communicat-
ing intelligence, whatever it may be. Whether
such intelligence is what it claims to be, therefore,
must depend on evidence of this kind; and this is
precisely the sort of evidence which the S. P. R.
has been endeavouring to procure for a number of
years past. Test cases of the kind have been made
as follows: A person has written a letter which
was sealed and sent to Dr. Hodgson for safe-keep-
ing, the letter not to be opened until after the
death of the person writing it, who was, conse-
quently, the only person in the world who was
in possession of the knowledge of the contents of
that letter. Now when this person died and his
soi-disant spirit claimed to communicate, if he
was enabled to tell accurately the contents of this
letter, there would be very good evidence that his
intelligence was still alive and active. Such ex-
periments have, however, as yet been limited in
number and inconclusive in result, though there
should be doubtless many interesting developments
within the next few years, as the result of experi-
ments of this kind, as the writers of the letters (of
which Dr. Hodgson had a great number on hand)
die off. For the present, evidence has been con-

246 THE COMING SCIENCE

fined to somewhat less strictly experimental meth-
ods, in which information has been given of a pri-
vate character, and indeed a great part of the
records in the Piper case could never be published
owing to the fact that they are of such a private
nature that the persons who receive the messages
have refused to allow their publication. From a
scientific standpoint this is most unfortunate, but
quite understandable, and perhaps only natural.
One very interesting point was that one spirit, call-
ing himself George Pelham, recognised, out of hun-
dreds of sitters, only those who were known to him
in life and greeted each of these with the 'proper
degree of familiarity; that is, he continued his rela-
tions with them on precisely the same footing as he
would were he still alive ; and this is a most interest-
ing fact when we consider that, in all other cases,
he did not claim any knowledge of the sitters, and
had to be introduced to them, frequently, before the
communications could begin. These shades of rec-
ognition are most interesting and form a very
strong presumption in favour of the spiritistic hy-
pothesis. One other strong reason for believing
this theory to be correct is found in the fact that in
many cases messages have been given through one
medium and broken off while incomplete, and after-
wards furnished through another medium, in a dif-
ferent part of the country, or even in a diff^erent

THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 247

country. For example, in the case of the late F.
W. H. Myers, a message was given through a
private medium in England — a lady and a teacher
in Cambridge University — and finished three
days later through Mrs. Piper in Boston, the
spirit coming back with the remark : " I am afraid
I did not make myself clear three days ago with ref-
erence to so-and-so ; what I meant was this , , ,'*
and the message was completed in more intelligible
form.

Now that the reader has a general idea of
the character of the phenomena, and the problems
that are to be solved, the question of explanatory
theories must be discussed, without going into great
detail. It may be stated that such explanatory
theories are three: (1) Fraud; (2) Telepathy;
and (3) Spirits. Of course fraud must first be
eliminated before any other considerations are al-
lowable. But I cannot go into the question at
great length here because the theory has been
practically disposed of for many years, in the
minds of practically all men who have had any per-
sonal contact with Mrs. Piper, or who have even
carefully studied the reports of the Society. That
information is frequently obtained by personal
inquiries and by the employment of paid detectives
is well known ; also that there is a system, or kind
of " bureau of information," among paid mediums

2248 THE COMING SCIENCE

which allows them to exchange information ob-
tained about sitters ^ — all this was well known and
recognised by the Society, and allowances were
made for all such possibilities. Detectives were
employed at one time to watch Mrs. Piper, her cor-
respondence was frequently intercepted, and sitters
were introduced at the last moment, just before
Mrs. Piper went into the trance, or, in some cases,
even after she had gone into trance, — -Mrs. Piper
herself never having seen the sitter before, and the
whole arrangement being made through Dr. Hodg-
son, without any knowledge on Mrs. Piper's part
as to who the sitter was to be. Further, Mrs.
Piper was, as stated, taken to England in 1889 and
studied there for some months, largely to exclude
the possibilities of fraud. For all of which rea-
sons I must ask my reader to assume that fraud
has been excluded in the case, and shall proceed to
discuss the other two theories above mentioned.

The telepathic hypothesis assumes that the dra-
matic play of personality is explainable on the as-
sumption that some subconscious part of Mrs.
Piper's mind is acting out, as it were, the personal-
ity it claims to be, — being a case of secondary per-
sonality, which has received many confirmatory

1 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism, by the present
writer, pp. 312-18; also my Report on Lily Dale, Proceed-
ings Amer. S. P. R., Vol. II, Part I, pp. 106-16.

THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 249

proofs in the recent cases of split personality, sec-
ondary consciousness, etc., studied by medical and
other scientific men. This would be the ready ex-
planation and account for all the facts in the case,
were it not that evidence is continually given wliich
such personality could not be supposed to possess.
Just here it is assumed that telepathy is operative,
keeping such personality supplied with facts that
have been obtained from the mind of the sitter, or
from other minds in the world elsewhere, and offer-
ing these facts as though they were obtained from
the intelligence in question, when they are, as a
matter of fact, only such facts as are obtained
telepathically from living minds. Such a theory
would be hard to disprove, and, in fact, there are
many indications that it is possible, some of which
I myself pointed out in a criticism of Professor
Hy slop's report.^ Since this was published, I have
totally changed my views on the Piper case, how-
ever, and would now no longer defend the view I
there advanced.

The objections to the telepathic hypothesis have
been summarised with great force by Professor
Hyslop in his recent book, Science and a Future
Life, and I might perhaps take the argument very
largely from his book. I would but point out first
that telepathy, of the kind necessary to explain

1 Proceedings S. P. R., VoL XVII, pp. 337-59.

250 THE COMING SCIENCE

this case, has never received acceptance by the
scientific world — that is, we are using telepathy, as
against spiritism, while telepathy in itself is no ex-
planation at all, merely the name of a connection
of some sort between two minds, which connection
itself requires explanation (p. 193) ; and further
that the scientific world has not accepted telepathy
at all, so that we are using an unaccepted theory to
explain certain facts. But Professor Hyslop goes
on to argue that, even supposing that telepathy
has been proved to be a fact, the only experimental
evidence we have is limited strictly to conscious
mental states, and in order to apply it to the Piper
case, we should have to stretch this to cover wwcon-
scious mental states ; and this, not only in the sitter,
but in other minds, active elsewhere in the world, —
and for this kind of telepathy we have no evidence
whatever. Even granting the possibility of such
telepathy, however, and that it is powerful enough
to abstract from any consciousness anywhere in the
world a certain fact and convey it, as it were, to
Mrs. Piper's subconscious self, then, Professor Hys-
lop urges, such a power would be practically om-
nipotent, and telepathy should be enabled to obtain
facts from the minds of practically any person in
the world, — and not only trivial facts, but impor-
tant and personal and detailed evidence, — and this
is precisely what has not been obtained. On the

THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 251

contrary, only personal, and, to the world at large,
trmial incidents have been given, which is precisely
what we should expect if spiritism were true, but
precisely what we should not expect if this kind of
telepathy were operative, which, we might sup-
pose, would be enabled to obtain facts of any de-
scription, at any time. Thus the triviality of the
messages, in the Piper case, argues, not against
spiritism, but in favour of it, since we know that
living consciousnesses do deal in trivialities almost
entirely; and as Professor Hyslop experimentally
proved previously, trivial messages are voluntarily
chosen by individuals who attempt to prove their
identity by means of telegraphic or other com-
munications where personal contact and speech is
impossible. Many other objections to the tele-
pathic hypothesis might be advanced, but I cannot
at this time attempt to mention them, merely re-
ferring the reader to Professor Hyslop's book be-
fore quoted, and to M. Sage's most readable book,
Mrs. Piper and the Society for Psychical Research.
I shall, in conclusion, consider two other points
of interest in connection with the Piper case; one
deals with the character of the mistakes and confu-
sions, the other with the triviahty of the messages.
This question of the mistakes and confusions is a
large one, and I cannot do more than briefly refer
to it. I might state, however, in this connection,

252 THE COMING SCIENCE

that although it is, in one sense, a great objection
to the spiritistic hypothesis that such mistakes
should occur, the communicator apparently giv-
ing wrong information on subjects well known to
him in life, such mistakes are, on the other hand,
a great argument in favour of spiritism, for
the reason that in the average individual we find a
consciousness that frequently lapses into moments
of f orgetf ulness — and this of even most im-
portant things — things, too, which we think
should be well remembered — and this in their or-
dinary life and under conditions and in the envi-
ronment to which they are most used. Taking into
account, therefore, the vastly greater difficulties
that must be experienced in recollecting and com-
municating such past events through another's
brain, and the lapses of memory that frequently
happen in human beings, we can quite conceive
that, even should a real spirit be communicating,
as it is claimed, the difficulties would be such that
frequent errors of memory would be made, and
erroneous facts stated, on subjects that would be
well known to the individual, were he still alive.
The difficulty might be just as great as, e. g., con-
trolHng our dreams by voluntary effort, and we
know that the individuals who can do that are few
and far between.^
1 See p. 212.

THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 253

Finally there is the objection as to the triviality
of the messages, this being, to many minds, the
most important objection to the Piper case. " If,"
they say, " the intelligences are really what they
claim to be, — that is, spirits, — why do they not
tell us something of real utility or permanent
value, something that could be of some real usef
Why do they not tell us some scientific facts, or
leave us some ennobling teaching, or some state-
ment that could be verified as other than contained
in living minds, thus showing that there was some
independent consciousness at work.? The answers
to this objection are manifold. In the first place.
Professor Hyslop showed by direct experiment
that even the most intelligent men, when directed
to establish their identity by means of telegraphic
communications, deliberately chose trivial, personal
incidents, and did not select any important scien-
tific facts or any message that would convey the
idea that the intelligence communicating was above
the average, though they were, in fact, univer-
sity professors. The next answer is that we have
no scientific knowledge, and, indeed, the presump-
tion is all against the fact, that the moment we die
we gain greatly enlarged spiritual insight and
foresight ; i, e., immediately upon our death. This
is the great stumbling block, especially with those
persons who are influenced by religious teaching.

254 THE COMING SCIENCE

They are still under the impression that the mo-
ment death occurs we gain almost unlimited knowl-
edge, and that the stores of the world's wisdom are
laid open to us ! This is, I think, a very erroneous
viewpoint. I can see no reason to suppose that
simply because of a person's death that person
should gain a larger mental grasp of things or be
possessed of a wider knowledge than he possessed
at the moment of his death. Such increase of
knowledge can only come as the result of a gradual
process of evolution, or the result of work, the
same as in this life, and we have, I think, no
proof at all of the fact that the communicating in-
telligence (even granting it to exist and to be the
person it claims to be) could give us any further
information than that person was enabled to give
when alive; and even supposing that he were, such
information would be absolutely valueless, for the
reason that until proof exists of the reality/ of the
communicating intelligence, such statements might,
and doubtless would be taken as a mere fabrication
of Mrs. Piper's subconscious self, and would have
no scientific weight whatever. Volumes and vol-
umes exist of statements made by spirits as to their
existence, mode of life, work, etc., but such state-
ments have never received the credence of the scien-
tific world for the reason that we have no proof
of the fact that such statements were made by the

THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 255

intelligences who claimed to make them, or that
they were other than workings of the subconscious
self of the medium ; so that in the Piper case, such
statements have always been set aside, and the
whole interest in it centered around the scientific
problem of * personal identity ' or the persistence
of individual consciousness. This brings me to a
final reflection ; it is this, which I quote from Pro-
fessor Hyslop. It is in answer to those persons
who refuse to accept the evidence in the Piper case
for the reason that the sort of hereafter they por-
tray is not a " desirable " one !

" If the facts," says Professor Hyslop,^ " make
the spiritistic theory the only rational supposition
possible to explain them, it has to be accepted
whether desirable or not. Our business as scientists
is not with the desirability of the next life, but with
the fact of it. We have to accept the life to come,
if it be a fact, without any ability to escape it, and
its degenerate nature would not affect the evidence
for the fact of it. Its being a madhouse or an
as,ylum for idiots would not weaken the evidence
for its existence. . . . The desirability or un-
desirability of a future existence has nothing to do
with the scientific question as to whether it is a
fact." With this reflection I shall close the pres-
ent discussion, which might, of course, be continued
1 Science and a Future Life, p. 299.

256 THE COMING SCIENCE

indefinitely, taking up, in turn, all the difficul-
ties and objections to each theory and applying
them in detail to the records and the theories as
advanced; but such considerations would require
another chapter. I shall conclude by saying that
the Piper case contains the most important and, in
fact, the only scientific evidence that we at present
possess in favour of a future life; and the impor-
tance of the case from this point of view is very
great indeed ; in fact, as I have elsewhere stated, it
cannot be overestimated.

CHAPTER XI

ON THE INFLUENCE UPON THE COMMUNICATOR'S
MIND OF OBJECTS PRESENTED TO THE MEDIUM

I PROPOSE to lay before the reader, in this
chapter, a few remarks upon a subject that has
been very little discussed, from a theoretical stand-
point, though the fact itself is hardly questioned
by those who have made a careful and critical study
of the evidence for supernormal phenomena in the
Piper and other similar cases. I refer to the fac-
ulty (apparently possessed by the medium or the
intelligences who purport to communicate through
her) of coming into closer touch with the mental
and spiritual life of the sitter, and of being better
enabled to remember a number of forgotten
facts simply because they are enabled to hold
(through the medium's hand) certain material ob-
jects which they previously wore, or handled, and
which the sitter had brought with him or her in
order to " assist in clearing the communicator's
mind." In both Dr. Hodgson's Report and that
of Dr. Hyslop are to be found many references
to this fact — the importance of some material ob-
ject to act as a means of clearing the communi-
cator's mind and insuring better and clearer com-
257

258 THE COMING SCIENCE

munications — though it was only after long years
of experimenting with the trance that the real im-
portance of having these objects began to dawn
upon the experimenters. It was only natural that
this comprehension should be slow in coming, when
we know that so much fraud is frequently con-
nected with this very factor — mediums asking to
hold a letter against their foreheads, e, g., in or-
der to catch a glance at its contents, and so
on. So when objects were brought to the medium
at first, it was only right that they should have
been carefully wrapped up and concealed from the
medium, though we now know that many of the
results that might otherwise have been obtained
were in all probability vitiated or ruined by the
very precautions employed. Still, in the early
stages of the investigation, and especially before
the honesty of the medium was proved to the sat-
isfaction of all, it was only natural that such pre-
cautions should be taken; and most unscientific
would have been the procedure if they had not.

But now that the facts are all but universally
recognised — at least among those who have made
a careful study of the phenomena — the ques-
tion arises: What is the explanation of the ob-
served fact.f* If, e. g.y a. sitter should bring a lock
of hair to a sitting and place it in the medium's
hand when the person from whose head that lock

I

INFLUENCE UPON THE MIND 259

of hair had been cut, when alive, was communicat-
ing; and if the communications at once became
clear and relevant, instead of confused and er-
roneous; if, again, a pen-knife or a piece of stone
were placed in the hand with the same results, or
with the result of inducing a sudden rush of super-
normal information, what would be the modus
operandi of this clearer and greatly facihtated
communication? In what way have these objects
assisted in the acquisition of the information im-
parted? That they must have assisted in some
way is evident from the very fact that the commu-
nications did become clearer and more correct and
precise. In what manner have they influenced or
aff'ected the medium or the communicator in order
to bring about these unlooked-for results?

That is certainly a most baffling question, one
that I shall not attempt to answer, of course, be-
cause its entirely correct solution will not, in all
probability, be forthcoming for many years yet
— until a far better comprehension and grasp of
psychic phenomena be prevalent than is prevalent
today. But, if only for the purpose of clearing
away some popular misconceptions on this subject,
and in order to stimulate reflection among members
of the S. P. R. and others who think upon these
questions, I may, perhaps, be permitted to off'er
the following tentative remarks.

260 THE COMING SCIENCE

It is generally conceived that the object carries
with it some subtle physical influence or " aura "
which, in some manner, influences the medium or
the intelligence communicating through her.^
This belief is the basis of all " psychometric " read-
ings, of course, and is a very convenient one to
hold, and can be made a very plausible one. So
far back as 1885, Mrs. Henry Sidgwick off'ered a
somewhat similar view — or rather hypothesis —
as one of four explanations of haunted houses,
conceiving it possible that some such influence
might cling to the atmosphere of a house —
much as its physical atmosphere clings to it — ■
and in some manner might influence the minds and
senses of those who lived in such a house thence-
forward, or at least for some considerable time,
until the influence might be supposed to " wear
off^." Similarly, it might be that every object,
worn by a person, or closely associated with him,
physically, might in some manner be influenced by
him or impregnated with his " psychic atmos-
phere," and so might be the means of bringing
that person or influence to the medium to commu-
nicate; or assist him to communicate, while there,

1 For the sake of clearness of expression, I shall speak,
throughout, of the " communicators " as if they were real
intelligences or personages. This is for the sake of con-
venience, merely, and must not be understood as carrying
witli it any adhesion to the aefinitely spiritistic view.

INFLUENCE UPON THE MIND 261

by bringing him in touch, as it were, pro tern,
with old influences and associations. And this
idea is still further supported by the fact that arti-
cles brought to the seance for the purpose of
" holding " a communicator and rendering his
communications more clear and intelligible are
far more potent and influential if they have been
previously wrapped up in oil or rubber cloth and
carefully protected from all external influences —
the touches of, and handling by, another person
particularly; if, indeed, such handling does not
ruin the influence altogether. These facts, then,,
would seem to indicate that some such physical in-
fluence exists, in fact, and that it has, in some man-
ner, the power ascribed to it.

Granting, then, for the sake of argument, that
such an influence does exist, how are we to conceive
it as stored in the object handled? how does it in-
fluence the medium.? how the communicator.? how
recall incidents forgotten by him until that mo-
ment? and how facilitate communication? Such
are some of the puzzling questions that arise as
soon as we begin to put our theory to the test and
see how far it assists us in clearing up the present
difficulties.

Are we to conceive this influence, this emana-
tion, this " aura," as in some sense magnetic or
electrical? If so, then how are we to diff*erentiate

262 THE COMING SCIENCE

the magnetism or the electricity of one person from
that of another; for magnetism and electricity
are not supposed to be in any sense " personal " in
their nature, but rather universal, and intimately
associated with every particle of matter in the uni-
verse — living and not-living. Evidently, there
must be some means of differentiating the influence
of one person from that of another, and this would
render the influence " personal " and distinguish it
from the ordinary magnetism or electricity, of
which we are accustomed to speak. Is it, then, to
be conceived as in some sense mtal in character —
consisting in, or partaking of, the vital energy of
the person to whom the article formerly belonged .f*
Well, what is this vital energy.? Has it ever been
measured, ever detected by any of the delicate in-
struments which science has perfected — instru-
ments so delicate that they can measure the energy
of light waves, or detect the heat of a candle at
the distance of half a mile.^* Have such instru-
ments ever detected the existence of any vital force
or vital energy — * semi-material, or semi-fluidic, in
character? We know that they have not. It is
true that the early mesmerists contended that such
an influence actually existed, and produced many
facts in support of their contention; but these
facts have now all been accounted for by the laws
of conscious and unconscious suggestion; and,

INFLUENCE UPON THE MIND 263

tliough I should be the last to contend that such
an influence does not and cannot exist, the in-
fluence will never be proved by mesmeric experi-
ments, but must have other, independent facts in
its support if it desires to be accepted by the sci-
entific world.

Granting, again, for the sake of argument, that
such an influence or effluence does exist, in spite of
the fact that it has never been detected, how are
we to conceive it as stored within the object han-
dled or worn? Is it merely contained within its
structure, like water in a sponge; or does it be-
come an actual part or property of the object, like
gravitation? One cannot well conceive it to be
the latter; and it seems to be definitely disproved
by the fact that it can be lost or dissipated, for
which reason the articles in question are wrapped
up in oil or rubber cloth, and otherwise protected.
If it is merely present within the article, again, as
water is present in a sponge, how does it influence
the medium and the communicator? Is the in-
fluence lost or dissipated by much handling, or
does it remain forever in the object? Experi-
mental evidence would seem to point to the former
conclusion, though nothing definite can be said, as
yet. The evidence aff*orded by the oil or rubber
cloth might again be cited in support of the theory
that it is lost through handling.

264 THE COMING SCIENCE

Still, granting that such a physical, or vital
effluence or influence exists, how does the medium
become aware of its existence? We should have to
suppose it is by means of the sensory nerves, and
of these, the nerves of touch are the ones involved,
since all the other senses are more or less dormant
or incapable of rendering assistance in the detec-
tion and recognition of such an influence. If,
then, this influence were in some manner transmitted
along the nerves of touch to the brain, and there
associated with other impressions, we might begin
to form some faint idea of the process involved
were it not for certain difficulties, which the casual
reader invariably overlooks. Among these are the
following.

In order that the incoming nervous impulse or
sensation may be distinguished from any other
tactile sensation, it must possess some peculiarity
distinctly its own, for otherwise it would be merely
registered in the brain as is any other tactile sen-
sation whatever, and would excite no especial psy-
chic impression one way or the other. The sensa-
tion would be carried along the nerves to the brain,
as is any other tactile sensation, and would not
appear to be essentially distinct from these. But
if the nervous impulse conveyed from the hand to
the brain be along the medium's own nerves, we
must surely conclude that this nervous impulse is

INFLUENCE UPON THE MIND 265

the medium's also; for otherwise we should have
to assume that an altogether alien and foreign
nerve-fluid of some sort was introduced into the
nerve channel (inoculated, as it were), and that
this impulse, travelling to the brain, influenced it
in its own peculiar way. This imparted nervous
impulse bearing the characteristics of the nervous
system of the other person (the person deceased,
on our present hypothesis) and belonging to that
person's nervous system, we might conceive that it
would act upon the medium's brain (as a tactile
sensation ) in a manner somewhat peculiar, and
diff'erent from, the ordinary tactile sensations of
the medium, and would excite the brain and nervous
system in a diff'erent way. That is, the brain
would, pro tern, function in a manner familiar to
the communicator, but unfamiliar to the medium.
Of course, this is all conjecture, pure and simple,
and is based upon the supposition that some sort of
nerve impulse is passed from the object itself into
the nerves of the hands, and by them conveyed to
the medium's brain — a fact for which we have no
confirmatory evidence whatever. I am not saying
that such might not be possible ; for if we can con-
ceive the nervous mechanism of the medium's body
(as, on the " possession " theory, we are bound to
conceive) usurped and controlled by a spirit, we
can imagine or conceive many things. And cer-

266 THE COMING SCIENCE

tainly this theory is as rational as any other; none
other accounting for the facts equally well.
What we should have to conceive, then, on this
theory, is that this peculiar and characteristic ner-
vous impulse reached the medium's brain while still
carrying with it its own peculiarities, and that it
impressed that brain in its own peculiar way, and
that this impression was recognised by the intelli-
gence controlling the brain and utilising it for the
time being — all of which, taken together, seems
to me to be a pretty good strain upon one's credu-
lity." We have the facts to account for, however,
which are an equal strain upon our credulity and
must be explained in one way or another, or the
problem given up altogether.

The manner in which such objects might be sup-
posed to influence the medium's brain is now clear,
and we can conceive that the controlling intelli-
gence, acting upon the brain and nervous mechan-
ism of the medium, might be influenced by the
peculiarly familiar functioning of a certain centre
or set of centres, and so arouse in him the associa-
tions which were previously lacking, or enable him
to recall certain facts, before forgotten. In this
way communication would be facilitated to just
that extent, and so render the communications
clearer and more relevant to the occasion.

It is true there is another way of accounting

INFLUENCE UPON THE MIND 267

for the observed facts, or a very large portion of
them. To this view very few of the objections
formerly raised can be said to apply, because we
are not led into any of the intricate speculations
which the former and commonly held theory
necessitated. In this case, we might conceive that
the influence is purely psychological, and that the
communicator merely remembers more facts con-
nected with a certain person, place or thing by
reason of his seeing the article in question. This
would involve nothing more occult than a simple
association of ideas, the sight of the object
bringing up to the mind of the communicator a
chain of thoughts until then latent, of memories
long forgotten. This would dispose of the physi-
cal-influence theory and all the difficulties it pre-
sents, and is consequently much to be preferred,
if it covers and explains all the facts. It is doubt-
ful, however, if it does so. Thus, in those cases
where an article is brought and placed upon the
table or in the medium's hand, which the supposed
control did not know when alive (and hence could
not recognise and associate with anything), the
explanation can hardly be said to apply. For this
article, too, seems to greatly facilitate the commu-
nications and to better them (to say nothing of
the well-attested phenomena of psychometry), and
this would be far more easily explicable on the

^68 THE COMING SCIENCE

physical-influence theory than on the mental-asso-
ciation theory. And this objection would also
apply to those cases in which objects belonging to
other persons were presented to the medium and
the communications facilitated in like manner.
Again, if the mental-association theory were the
true one and sufficient to account for the facts,
why should we have to wrap up the articles pre-
sented so carefully; for if physical influences had
nothing to do with the article or the medium's
impressions therefrom, it should make no difference
to either medium or communicator whether the
articles were exposed to the atmosphere and mis-
cellaneous handling or not. Yet, so far as I have
been enabled to learn, there is a decided difference
— so great, in fact, as to altogether annul the ef-
fects of the experiment altogether. So that, while
there are many points in favour of the mental-
association theory, it has not everything its own
way, as some persons think; and, indeed, it is
doubtful if it really explains many of the facts in
the case at all.

There is yet another objection to the mental-
association theory which I might urge in this place.
It is this: it would have to be assumed that the
communicator could actually see the object pre-
sented, for otherwise the theory would not hold.
If he had to depend upon touch alone, all the diffi-

I

INFLUENCE UPON THE MIND 269

culties above enumerated would at once present
themselves for solution. No; he must see the ob-
ject, as with the physical eye, in order to associate
it with any scenes, events, or persons in his past
life. Now, we have very little evidence that spirits
can see our material world, as we see it, at all ; the
spirits themselves state this, on numerous occasions ;
their failure to procure information, read books,
etc., is a further indication of this; and it is in
fact admitted by all those who have closely studied
and brought in reports upon the Piper case. Cer-
tainly they do not see when communicating , though .
they may possibly see, very dimly and indistinctly,
at other times. This is a subject that will stand
working out in greater detail, on another occasion ;
but as I cannot do so here, I leave that branch of
the discussion, merely calling attention to the
fact that all the objections formerly raised to this
theory still apply: the communicator can only
associate with other things an object which is
familiar to him and which suggests such associa-
tions, and any unfamiliar object would never
arouse these associations, and never could.

It may be contended that I have been too " ma-
terialistic " in my treatment of the problem, in the
above discussion, and failed to take account suffi-
ciently of the purely ' psychic ' or * spiritual '
sense or discernment with which mediums and psy-

270 THE COMING SCIENCE

chics are theoretically endowed. It may be con-
tended that such material things as nerves and
brain centres and sensory perceptions are not in-
volved in the case at all, but that the knowledge is
gained by some purely psychic or spiritual per-
ception. I confess that I cannot see or even con-
ceive how this can take place. If the object were
a consciousness, then I could understand that such
close association might well effect the results; but
when the tiling touched is an inanimate object, I
confess that such an " explanation " does not
really explain, when we come to apply it in de-
tail. For the idea that the actual past thought of
a person should be registered in the object in some
way, as a thought, is absolutely incomprehensible
to me; even preposterous. But it might be con-
tended that the object is charged with a sort of
vital magnetism by the person originally handling
and wearing such object, and that this influence
might afford a sort of vital-association with the
sitter's thought, in some transcendental world.
Let me illustrate what I mean a little more fully.
It is contended by a certain school of mystics that
every thought is registered upon " the Absolute "
in somewhat the same way that a spoken word is
registered upon a wax cylinder, and that it re-
mains there forever; that it is possible to regain
and re-read that thought, by suitable means, un-

INFLUENCE UPON THE MIND 271

der appropriate conditions. Such is the theory.
Now if this be true (let us assume its truth for
the sake of argument, pro tern), then it might be
that every thought, thus registered, would bear on
it the stamp or impress of the individual thinking
it ; it would " belong " to him or her and to none
other. It would belong to him for the reason that,
between him and the registered thought, there was
an intimate and more or less perfect rapport.
Now we can conceive that (if this were the case)
the communicating intelligence might be, in some
way, brought into more perfect rapport with the
previously registered thought when the object
previously worn was presented to it, for the rea-
son that this object would bring back to the mind
certain thoughts and associations belonging to the
period when that thought was " registered," and
we all know that association is a very large part of
memory. In other words, a certain thought or
set of thoughts was registered upon the Absolute,
let us say, upon a certain occasion, and there were
many associations linked with such thought. If
now this object were the means of bringing the
mind of the communicator into rapport with the
previous state or condition of memory, in which it
was enabled to re-read the thoughts previously
"registered" in the manner suggested (because
of the rapport supposed), then we might on this

272 THE COMING SCIENCE

theory have some faint idea of the modus operandi
involved. But as the whole idea of the Absolute
is purely speculative and theoretical, I do not think
that such explanations can ever be seriously ad-
vanced, unless some proof be adduced of the cor-
rectness of the theory and of the existence of the
postulated Absolute. We look with mingled in-
terest and impatience for such proof.

It will be seen, then, as the upshot of this dis-
cussion, that the popular impression (that some
" aura " emitted from the object impressed the ner-
vous mechanism of the medium and influenced the
controlling intelligence through it) is not nearly
so simple an explanation as at first sight appeared,
but one that is highly detailed and complex, and,
when analysed down to its core, is not really intel-
ligible at all, unless we are prepared to make
some monstrous assumptions and advance hypoth-
eses for which we have no adequate evidence and
for which there is no analogy in the physical or
mental worlds. But, as before pointed out, the
facts must be explained, in any case, and the field
is open for explanations that will really explain.
Perhaps some of my readers may be enabled to
throw some light on this question; for my own
part, I must confess it is to me a baffling and as
yet an insoluble mystery that confronts us and
defies adequate explanation.

I

CHAPTER XII

THE NATUKE OF APPAEITIONS

IF we take up any book dealing with the history
of the ' supernatural,' we find that the vast ma-
jority of the phenomena observed and recorded
deal with cases of apparitions or haunted houses.
As, however, I have discussed this question of
haunted houses in another chapter, and as they
are, in one sense, simply * localised ' apparitions,
— that is, apparitions that have been seen by a
number of successive individuals in one particular
locality, or by a number of individuals at one time
in that locality, — I shall in the present chapter
dismiss that branch of the subject and confine
the discussion to cases of apparitions that have
been observed at various times, the various types
of apparitions, and a discussion of the theories
that have been advanced by members of the S. P. R.
and others by way of explanation. In spite of
the fact, however, that apparitions have been re-
corded with greater frequency than any other class
of psychic phenomena, as I have said before, they
have doubtless received a greater amount of ridi-
cule from the world at large, and are less believed
in than almost any other branch of psychic inves-
a73

274 THE COMING SCIENCE

tigation. From one point of view, it is hard to see
why this is the case; but looked at from another
standpoint, it is quite natural. When a figure is
seen, and suddenly vanishes, there is no proof that
this figure is not a mere subjective hallucination,
similar to those figures seen in feverish conditions,
in delirium tremens, etc. ; and in fact, the scientific
and medical worlds have always recorded them as
simple hallucinations or illusions, and while inter-
esting in a sense, from a psychological standpoint,
are certainly not worthy of serious consid-
eration as aff^ording any evidence of the super-
normal; and this position, so far as it goes, is per-
fectly logical and justifiable. Since we know that
hallucinations of the kind do occur, what proof
have we in any case that the figure seen is not a
hallucination, the result, perhaps, of a disordered
mind, or a morbid physiological state? But apart
from the phenomena presented in haunted houses,
there are many facts tending to show that the fig-
ures seen are not, in many cases, mere subjective
hallucinations, such facts seeming to indicate that
the figure has some cause or source other than
the mind of the seer. One of the first indications
is the fact that, in numerous instances, the figure
or phantom is seen by two or more persons at the
same time, which would seem to prove that there
is some outstanding entity, or some cause acting

THE NATURE OF APPARITIONS 275

upon two minds, causing them each to perceive the
figure in the same manner and at the same time,
since, if such figure were purely subjective, how is
it that such coincidence occurred? Many psy-
chical researchers contend, indeed, that the figure
seen in such cases is an actual, outstanding en-
tity, and is not subjective or ' psychological ' at all.
This brings us, of course, to a consideration of the
nature of the figure seen, — some contending that
it is a more or less material, fluidic, ethereal body;
others that the explanation is solely psychological,
and that the explanation is to be found in this
field, rather than in the physical world. Between
these two schools there is an ' impassable gulf,'
and the S. P. R. set out in its career with the in-
tention of seeing if this gulf could not be bridged
and a rational explanation of such apparitions put
forward, — if, i, e., the reality of such facts could,
in one sense or another, be proved. Many such
cases of apparitions were, consequently, collected,
and, since the founding of the Society, it may be
said that such cases have now run into the thou-
sands. Very soon it began to be noted that there
was a connection, in a very large percentage of
cases, between the figure seen and the death of the
person represented by such figure, and that there
was, apparently, some coincidence between the death
and the apparition seen. Now what is this coinci-

276 THE COMING SCIENCE

dence? It was at this period that Messrs. Gurney
and Myers came forward with their ingenious
theory of ' telepathic hallucinations,' extending
the theory of thought-transference, which had been
practically demonstrated by experimental means,
to cover such ' spontaneous ' cases, as they were
called. Let me make clear just here, in brief out-
line, what that theory is. I quote from an earlier
article of mine, entitled " A Study of Appari-
tions," ^ as follows :

" We have two persons, A and B, whose honesty
we will take for granted. A is the " agent," B
the " percipient." B is taken into one room,
while A remains in a different part of the house,
thus absolutely severing any connection between
the agent and the percipient. A pack of cards
is now shuffled and one drawn at random. It Is,
say, the nine of clubs. A fixes his eyes and
thoughts on this card, and (sometimes) after more
or less time spent in the operation, B perceives
(more or less clearly) an image of the card chosen.
The image may form before the eyes in space, or,
if looking at a blank sheet of paper, the number
of figures, or whatever the chosen article Is, may
appear as if written on the paper, to the percipient,
and may be traced. So vivid is this mental pic-

1 Published in the Psychic and Occult Views and BS'
views, December, 1902, and January, 1903.

THE NATURE OF APPARITIONS 277

ture to some people (those who are credited with
exceptional powers of visualisation, or thought-
transference) that it actually appears enlarged
when viewed through a magnifying glass, and is
reflected in a mirror. These figures are obviously
as objective to the seer as any real external object
is, for the time being; nevertheless, they are hal-
lucinations, and purely subjective; so that the the-
ory of the objective phantom being proved to be
an outstanding entity because it is seen (sometimes)
to be reflected in a mirror is, obviously, inconclu-
sive. Any drawing or visible article may be thus
reproduced in a good subject, the object appearing
as if real to the percipient. Now, if a picture may
be thus mentally transferred from one mind to an-
other, why not the mental picture of some person?
A sits down and wills that a mental image (an hal-
lucination) of himself may appear to B. This
" thought-image " actually does come into B's
mind, and, taking the form of a visual hallucina-
tion, leaves the percipient under the impression
that he has seen a " ghost." That this has been
successfully attempted several times, the English
Society for Psychical Research most positively as-
sures us, and the cases may be read in full, to-
gether with the discussion to which this question
has, very naturally, given rise.

" Now, all this falls under the head of " experi-

278 THE COMING SCIENCE

mental thought-transference," and it may very
naturally be argued that when a man is dying,
however much he may be thinking of home, he will
not spend his time in trying to cause a " double "
of himself, a " telepathic hallucination," to be per-
ceived by those who are near and dear to him.
Much less is this the case where instantaneous
death puts an abrupt termination to all thought,
so far as we know. The apparition appearing in
this case is the result of spontaneous telepathy,
and over this we exercise no control. This phe-
nomenon, however, very rarely exhibits itself ex-
cept under great mental stress, which would be the
case, most assuredly, at the moment of death, This,
then, is the generally accepted explanation of
apparitions seen at the moment of that physical
change which is known to us as death."

Of course this theory was valueless so long as it
was not proved beyond question that such coin-
cidences occurred with greater frequency than
chance could account for. Whether or not they
did occur had to be proved mathematically, and
Mr. Gurney set out upon the immense task of
demonstrating this, and to all fair minds succeeded
beyond question in proving, in his monumental
work. Phantasms of the Living, that coincidences
occurred with greater frequency than chance
could account for. But, in order to make as-

THE NATURE OF APPARITIONS ^79

surance doubly sure, the Society continued its
efforts, organising an international statistical
inquiry, and obtained some thirty thousand an-
swers in response to its inquiries relative to figures
seen, death coincidences, etc. The result of its
labour was published in Volume X, Proceedings
S. P. R., occupying the entire volume as the Re-
port of the Committee on the Census of Hallucina-
tions. In this it was proved beyond question that
such coincidences did occur with greater frequency
than could be accounted for by chance, and from
that day it may fairly be said that practically all
impartial minds who have studied the evidence have
become convinced that there is some causal conr
nection between deaths and apparitions of the dying
person, which, as the Committee stated, they re-
garded as a ' proved fact ' ! This telepathic theory
,also is used to explain ' collective hallucinations '
(i. e.y those appearing to two or more persons at
the same time), the theory being that the mind
of the dying person has either affected both minds
equally, or that he has affected the mind of one
seer, who, in turn, has affected the mind of his fel-
Jow percipient, causing them both to perceive
the phantom in the same manner and at the same
time. This explanation may appear to some a lit-
tle far-fetched, of course, but there is certain ex-
perimental evidence in its favour. However, this

280 THE COMING SCIENCE

is a question into which we cannot at present go,
as it would necessitate too lengthy a discussion of
detailed and technical points. It is true that the
coincidence, in such cases, has not always been ex-
act; in many cases the figure is seen some min-
utes or even hours after the person the phantom
represented had died, and in such cases, if we dis-
card the theory of spirit influence acting telepath-
ically upon the mind of the seer, we are forced to
assume that the telepathic message was sent at the
moment of the death of the person the phantom
represented, but that such message remained ' la-
tent,' as it were, for some time, until a favourable
opportunity had been presented for its perception
or ' extemalisation.' The length of time that
such a message can lie latent is, of course, very un-
certain, but, for statistical purposes, twelve hours
were allowed; beyond that time the coincidence
was not reckoned, and the figure was treated as a
*' phantasm of the dead," instead of " the living."
As this again brings us to the subject of haunted
houses, I shall leave this aspect of the problem for
the present.

There is one most interesting fact in this connec-
tion that we must now consider; namely, the ap-
parition that materially aff^ects the world; i. e.,
some phantoms apparently occasion some defi-
nite physical changes that are left after their dis-

THE NATURE OF APPARITIONS 281

appearance, — seeming to prove beyond question
that such figures are in the nature of a real definite
outstanding entity, and are not by any means sub-
jective or the creation of the seer's own mind. In-
stances are on record in which not only footsteps
have been heard, but doors have been opened and
shut, handles turned, door bells rung, furniture
upset, etc., and such cases present a very delicate
problem indeed for us to solve. Some investiga-
tors assert that the phantom is, in many cases,
definite and material enough to be perceived by
natural means and actually photographed; others
assert that such photographs have never been taken
under sufficiently stringent conditions to insure
their absolute genuineness. It is, of course, con-
ceivable that a thought may be enabled to assume
a more or less material form, such ' thought
bodies ' being the extemalisation of the inner
thought — one phase, perhaps, of materialisation.
This, however, is a subject that cannot be consid-
ered in the present chapter, being altogether too
detailed and intricate for a general discussion such
as this.

There remains one interesting branch of the
study of apparitions of which I have not as yet
spoken. These are the so-called ' reciprocal ' cases,
where a figure of the agent is seen by the per-
cipient and, at the same moment, the agent is

282 THE COMING SCIENCE

aware that he is manifesting, and actually sees the
percipient and his surroundings, — -being, appar-
ently, clairvoyant himself. One most interesting
case of this kind was reported in Phantasms of
the Living, when the Rev. P. B. Newnham ap-
peared to his fiancee and was seen by her and she
felt him put his arm around her, but a moment
later the figure had vanished and she became aware,
for the first time, that the figure she had seen was
not Mr. Newnham himself, but an apparition.
At that same moment Mr. Newnham had himself
experienced precisely the same sensations that he
would have experienced had he been there in the
flesh, — and had seen, clairvoyantly, her surround-
ings. This is a typical case and illustrates, in a
most interesting manner, this class of reciprocal or
mutual psychic action, of which the S. P. R. has
now collected a number of cases. The natives of
West Africa assert indeed that they are enabled to
perceive clairvoyantly scenes transpiring many
miles away, at the moment that they are actually
happening, and, at the same time, to ' materialise,'
as it were, at the other end, being visible and tangi-
ble to the percipients who may happen to see the
figure. This materialisation or figure is, they as-
sert, material enough to move objects and effect
other changes in the physical world. We are at
present unable to assert that this is an impossibil-

THE NATURE OF APPARITIONS 283

ity, though the S. P. R. has as yet collected no
well authenticated case of this character. Still,
cases are on record which in some ways approximate
this and enable us to assert that it is not an in-
herent absurdity or in any way impossible.

And this brings us to a final reflection, with
which I will close. It is well known that cases of
double consciousness exist in which two distinct
and separate mental lives are lived by the individ-
ual, each possessing its own stream of thoughts,
its own personality and character.

These ' selves ' are doubtless fractions of the
total self, each one being a portion of the sublim-
inal self — that portion of our psychic being in
which telepathy, clairvoyance, etc., operate. Now
if we can conceive each personality — distinct in
itself — possessing the power to project itself, as
it were, and in some sense materialise during such
projection, forming a phantom or ' double ' of
that self (which we might possibly conceive it to
symbolise in its physical aspect), we should have
a case of the actual projection of that portion of
our personality that was active at the time; and
if we could conceive further that, in any definite
individual, there is massed into one such person-
ality all the evil traits, and into another person-
ality all the good — the two mental lives being dis-
tinct and each being enabled to project its own

284 THE COMING SCIENCE

image or double as above suggested — we should
have here the first glimpses of the possible scien-
tific explanation of such cases as Stevenson's " Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Such speculations are,
of course, purely theoretical and tentative, and
we might say that as yet we have no evidence that
such cases are actual facts ; but the evidence may yet
be forthcoming that would warrant our formulat-
ing some such theory, and it is as well, perhaps,
to be prepared for whatever evidence we may re-
ceive. The study of apparitions from a scientific
standpoint has, of course, only begun. In fifty
or one hundred years from now, we may know
something of them ; but at present there is next to
nothing known as to their essence or causation,
nor is much knowledge likely to be gained until the
present bigoted and prejudiced manner of treat-
ing these subjects has been overcome, and they
are discussed, not as mere superstitions or the re-
sults of a disordered brain, but as scientific facts,
to be studied by scientific men in a scientific man-
ner.

CHAPTER XIII

EXPERIMENTS IN WEIGHING THE SOUL

\ X 7E have seen, in the preceding chapter, that a
» ▼ figure can be apparently seen and possibly
even photographed, under appropriate conditions,
by certain individuals. Such experiments and such
experiences tend to convince us that the figure
seen, whether it be soul, double, spirit, astral
body, or what not, is apparently a far more ma-
terial body than we have been in the habit of sup-
posing. Were we to accept the facts as such, and
interpret them as they are f requenty interpreted by
a large body of investigators, and as they cer-
tainly appear to be (on their face value), we
should be forced to come to the conclusion that the
apparitions frequently seen are semi-material in
their nature, and are by no means purely halluci-
natory. If such were the case, and spirits were
indeed composed of some sort of semi-material
bodies, capable of reflecting light, then these bodies
must not only be space-occupying, but must have
weight. Thus reasoned Dr. Duncan MacDougall,
whose experiments in " weighing the soul " created
such a stir when first they were published in the
newspapers. We obtained from Dr. MacDougall,
1^85

286 THE COMING SCIENCE

at the time, all the original documents in connec-
tion with his experiments, and these were pub-
lished in the Journal of the American Society
for Psychical Research.^ I shall quote a part of
these records, since they have never as yet reached
the public, beyond those few individuals (compara-
tively) who are members of the Society. I shall
also quote parts of my criticism of these experi-
ments, together with portions of the correspon-
dence that followed the publication of these rec-
ords. I cannot but think that this will be of inter-
est to my readers, since these are the only authentic
experiments that have ever been tried in this direc-
tion, so far as I know.

Dr. MacDougall's article, entitled " Hypothesis
Concerning Soul Substance, Together with Exper-
imental Evidence of the Existence of Such Sub-
stance," reads, in part, as follows:

" If personal continuity after the event of bodily
death is a fact, if the psychic functions continue
to exist as a separate individuality or personality
after the death of brain and body, then such per-
sonality can only exist as a space-occupying body,
unless the relations between space objective and
space notions in our consciousness, established in
our consciousness by heredity and experience, are

1 May, 1907.

WEIGHING THE SOUL 287

entirely wiped out at death and a new set of rela-
tions between space and consciousness suddenly es-
tablished in the continuing personality, which would
be such a breach in the continuity of nature that
I cannot imagine it.

" It is unthinkable that personality and con-
sciousness continuing personal identity should ex-
ist, and have being, and yet not occupy space. It
is impossible to represent in thought that which
is not space occupying as having personality, for
that would be equivalent to thinking that nothing
had become or was something, that emptiness had
personality, that space itself was more than space,
all of which are contradictions and absurd.

" Since, therefore, it is necessary to the continu-
ance of conscious life and personal identity after
death that they must have for a basis that which
is space-occupying or substance, the question arises,
Has this substance weight; is it ponderable.''

" The essential thing is that there must be a sub-
stance as the basis of continuing personal identity
and consciousness, for without space-occupying
substance, personality or a continuing conscious
ego after bodily death is unthinkable.

" According to the latest conception of science,
substance or space-occupying material is divisible
into that which is gravitative — solids, liquids,
gases, all having weight — and the ether which is

288 THE COMING SCIENCE

non-gravitative. It seemed impossible to me that
the soul substance could consist of ether. If the
conception is true that ether is continuous and not
to be conceived of as existing or capable of exist-
ing in separate masses, we have here the most solid
ground for believing that the soul substance we
are seeking is not ether, because one of the very
first attributes of personal identity is the quality or
condition of separateness. Nothing is more borne
in upon consciousness than that the you in you
and the me in me, the ego, is detached and separate
from aU things else — the non-ego.

" We are therefore driven back upon the assump-
tion that the soul substance so necessary to the con-
ception of continuing personal identity, after the
death of this material body, must still be a form of
gravitative matter, or perhaps a middle form of
substance neither gravitative matter nor ether, not
capable of being weighed and yet not identical with
ether. Since, however, the substance considered
in our hypothesis must be linked organically with
the body until death takes place, it appears to me
more reasonable to think that it must be some
form of gravitative matter, and therefore capable
of being detected at death by weighing a human
being in the act of death.

" The subjects experimented upon all gave their
consent to the experiment weeks before the day of

WEIGHING THE SOUL ^89

death. The experiments did not subject the pa-
tients to any additional suffering.

" Mj first subject was a man dying of tuberculo-
sis. It seemed to me best to select a patient dying
with a disease that produces great exhaustion, the
death occurring with little or no muscular move-
ment, because in such a case the beam could be
kept more perfectly at balance and any loss oc-
curring readily noted.

" The patient was under observation for three
hours and forty minutes before death, lying on a
bed arranged on a light framework built upon
very delicately balanced platform beam scales.
The patient's comfort was looked after in every
way, although he was practically moribund when
placed upon the bed. He lost weight slowly at the
rate of one ounce per hour, due to evaporation of
moisture in respiration and evaporation of sweat.

" During all three hours and forty minutes I
kept the beam end slightly above balance near the
upper limiting bar in order to make the test more
decisive if it should come.

" At the end of three hours and forty minutes he
expired, and Suddenly, coincident with death, the
beam end dropped with an audible stroke, hitting
against the lower limiting bar and remaining there
with no rebound. The loss was ascertained to be
three-fourths of an ounce.

^90 THE COMING SCIENCE

" This loss of weight could not be due to evapor-
ation of respiratory moisture and sweat because
that had already been determined to go on, in his
case, at the rate of one-sixtieth of an ounce per
minute, whereas this loss was sudden and large —
three-fourths of an ounce in a few seconds.

" The bowels did not move ; if they had moved
the weight would still have remained upon the bed,
except for a slow loss by the evaporation of mois-
ture, depending, of course, upon the fluidity of
the fasces. The bladder evacuated one or two
drachmes of urine. This remained upon the bed
and could only have influenced the weight by slow,
gradual evaporation, and therefore in no way could
account for the sudden loss.

" There remained but one more channel of loss to
explore, the expiration of all but the residual air in
the lungs. Getting upon the bed myself, my col-
league put the beam at actual balance. Inspira-
tion and expiration of air as forcibly as possible by
me had no eff^ect upon the beam. My colleague
got upon the bed and I placed the beam at balance.
Forcible inspiration and expiration of air on his
part had no eff^ect. In this case we certainly have
an inexplicable loss of weight of three-fourths of
an ounce. Is it the soul substance? How else shall
we explain it?

WEIGHING THE SOUL 291

" My second patient was a man moribund from
consumption. He was on the bed about four hours
and fifteen minutes under observation before death.
The first four hours he lost weight at the rate of
three-fourths of an ounce per hour. He had much
slower respiration than the first case, which ac-
counted for the difference in loss of weight from
evaporation and respiratory moisture.

" The last fifteen minutes he had ceased to
breathe, but his facial muscles still moved convul-
sively, and then, coinciding with the last movement
of the facial muscle, the beam dropped. The
weight lost was found to be half an ounce. Then
my colleague auscultated the heart and found it
stopped. I tried again, and the loss was one ounce
and a half and fifty grains. In the eighteen min-
utes that elapsed between the time he ceased breath-
inor until we were certain of death, there was a
weight loss of one and one-half ounces and fifty
grains, compared with a loss of three ounces during
a period of four hours, during which time the
ordinary channels of loss were at work. No bowel
movement took place. The bladder moved, but the
urine remained upon the bed and could not have
evaporated enough through the thick bed clothing
to have influenced the result.

" The beam at the end of eighteen minutes of

892 THE COMING SCIENCE

doubt was placed again with the end in slight con-
tact with the upper bar and watched for forty
minutes, but no further loss took place.

" My scales were sensitive to two-tenths of an
ounce. If placed at balance one-tenth of an ounce
would lift the beam up close to the upper limiting
bar, another one-tenth ounce would bring it up
and keep it in direct contact, then if the two-tenths
were removed the beam would drop to the lower bar
and then slowly oscillate till balance was reached
again.

" This patient was of a totally different tempera-
ment from the first, his death was very gradual, so
that we had great doubt from the ordinary evi-
dence to say just what moment he died.

" My third case, a man dying of tuberculosis,
showed a weight of half an ounce lost, coincident
with death, and an additional loss of one ounce a
few minutes later.

" In the fourth case, a woman dying of diabetic
coma, unfortunately our scales were not finally
adjusted and there was a good deal of interference
by people opposed to our work, and although at
death the beam sunk so that it required from three-
eighths to one-half ounce to bring it back to the
point preceding death, yet I regard this test as of
no value.

" With my fifth case, a man dying of tuberculo-

WEIGHING THE SOUL 293

sis, there showed a distinct drop in the beam requir-
ing about three-eighths of an ounce which could
not be accounted for. This occurred exactly simul-
taneously with death, but peculiarly on bringing
the beam up again with weights and later removing
them, the beam did not sink back to stay back for
fully fifteen minutes. It was impossible to ac-
count for the three-eighths of an ounce drop, it
was so sudden and distinct, the beam hitting the
lower bar with as great a noise as in the first case.
Our scales in the case were very sensitively balanced.

'* My sixth and last case was not a fair test.
The patient died almost within five minutes after
being placed upon the bed, and died while I was ad-
justing the beam.

" In my communication to Dr. Hodgson I note
that I have said there was no loss of weight. It
should have been added that there was no loss of
weight that we were justified in recording.

" My notes taken at the time of experiment show
a loss of one and one-half ounces, but in addition it
should have been said the experiment was so hur-
ried, jarring of the scales had not wholly ceased
and the apparent weight loss, one and one-half
ounces, might have been due to accidental shifting
of the sliding weight on the beam. This could not
have been true of the other tests, as no one of them
was done hurriedly.

294 THE COMING SCIENCE

" My sixth case I regard as of no value from this
cause. The same experiments were carried out on
fifteen dogs, surrounded by every precaution to
obtain accuracy, and the results were uniformly
negative: no loss of weight at death. A loss of
weight takes place about twenty to thirty min-
utes after death, which is due to the evaporation of
the urine normally passed, and which is duplicated
by evaporation of the same amount of water on
the scales, every other condition being the same,
e, g,y temperature of the room, except the presence
of the dog's body.

*' The dogs experimented on weighed from fifteen
to seventy pounds and the scales with the total
weight upon them were sensitive to one-sixteenth
of an ounce. The tests on dogs were vitiated by
the use of two drugs administered to secure the
quiet and freedom from struggle necessary to keep
the beam at balance.

*' The ideal test on dogs would be obtained in
those dying from some disease that rendered them
much exhausted and incapable of struggle. It was
not my fortune to get dogs dying from such sick-
ness.

" The net result of the experiments conducted on
human beings is that a loss of substance occurs
at death not accounted for by known channels of
loss. Is it the soul substance.'* It would seem to

WEIGHING THE SOUL 295

me to be so. According to our hypothesis such a
substance is necessary to the assumption of con-
tinuing or persisting personality after bodily
death, and here we have experimental demonstra-
tion that a substance capable of being weighed
does leave the human body at death.

" If this substance is a counterpart of the physi-
cal body, has the same bulk, occupies the same di-
mensions in space, then it is a very much lighter
substance than the atmosphere surrounding our
earth, which weighs about one and one-fourth
ounces per cubic foot. This would be a fact of
great significance, as such a body would readily as-
cend in our atmosphere. The absence of a weigh-
able mass leaving the body at death would of
course be no argument against continuing person-
ality, for a space-occupying body or substance
might exist not capable of being weighed, such as
the ether.

" It has been suggested that the ether might be
that substance, but with the modern conception of
science that the ether is the primary form of all
substance, that all other forms of matter are merely
differentiations of the ether having varying densi-
ties, then it seems to me that soul substance, which
in this life must be linked organically with the
body, cannot be identical with the ether. More-
over, the ether is supposed to be non-discontinu-

296 THE COMING SCIENCE

ous, a continuous whole and not capable of existing
in separate masses as ether, whereas the one prime
requisite for a continuing personality or individ-
uality is the quality of separateness, the ego as
separate and distinct from all things else, the non-
ego.

'* To my mind, therefore, the soul substance can-
not be the ether as ether, but if the theory that
ether is the primary form of all substance is true,
then the soul substance must necessarily be a differ-
entiated form of it.

" If it is definitely proven that there is in the hu-
man being a loss of substance at death not ac-
counted for by known channels of loss, and that
such loss of substance does not occur in the dog,
as my experiments would seem to show, then we
have here a physiological difference between the
human and the canine at least and probably between
the human and all other forms of animal life.

" I am aware that a large number of experiments
would require to be made before the matter can
be proven beyond any possibihty of error, but if
further and sufficient experimentation proves that
there is a loss of substance occurring at death and
not accounted for by known channels of loss, the
establishment of such a truth cannot fail to be of
the utmost importance.

'* One ounce of fact more or less will have more

WEIGHING THE SOUL «97

weight in demonstrating the truth of the reahty of
continued existence with the necessary basis of sub-
stance to rest upon than all the hair-splitting the-
ories of theologians and metaphysicians combined.

" If other experiments by other experimenters
prove that there is a loss of weight occurring at
death, not accounted for by known channels of loss,
we must either admit the theory that it is the hy-
pothetical soul substance, or some other explana-
tion of the phenomenon should be forthcoming.
If proven true, the materialistic conception will
have been fully met, and proof of the substantial
basis for mind or spirit or soul continuing after
the death of the body, insisted upon as necessary
by the materialists, will have been furnished.

" It will prove also that the spiritualistic concep-
tion of the immateriality of the soul is wrong.
The postulates of religious creeds have not been a
positive and final settlement of the question.

" The theories of all the philosophers and all the
philosophies offer no final solution of the problem
of continued personality after bodily death. This
fact alone of a space-occupying body of measure-
able weight disappearing at death, if verified, fur-
nishes the substantial basis for persisting per-
sonality or a conscious ego surviving the act of
bodily death, and in the element of certainty is
worth more than the postulates of all the creeds

298 THE COMING SCIENCE

and all the metaphysical arguments combined.
" In the year 1854 Rudolph Wagner, the physi-
ologist, at the Gottingen Congress of Physiolo-
gists proposed a discussion of a " Special Soul-
Substance." The challenge was accepted, but no
discussion followed, and among the five hundred
voices present not one was raised in defence of a
spiritualistic philosophy. Have we found Wag-
ner's soul substance ? "

These speculations cannot fail to have great in-
terest to my readers, of that I am assured. Dr.
MacDougall's speculations as to the nature of the
soul are beside the question, for our present pur-
poses, and I shall not stop to consider them now.
After all, the proof or the disproof of Dr. Mac-
Dougall's theories, or even of his facts, would have
no final and conclusive bearing upon the prob-
lems of psychical research one way or the other.
As Dr. Hyslop said at the time : " It should be
observed that the problem of psychic research is
not affected by either success or failure in such ex-
periments as Dr. MacDougall's. One might even
contend that success in proving the loss of weight
by death in some way not ordinarily accountable
by physical theories would not prove that the resi-
duum was a soul. It might be some vital energy,
and the soul yet remain an imponderable form

WEIGHING THE SOUL ^99

<i

of substance. It might even be that vital force,
if such there be other than the orthodox chemical
theory of life, is also imponderable, and that the
residuum in such experiments as Dr. MacDougall's
would be some form of matter not yet known. All
that successful experiments would prove would be
that there was some form of energy unaccounted
for by known agencies, and not necessarily that
this residuum was the subject of consciousness.
The problem of psychic research, in so far as it
represents the search for a soul, concerns the evi-
dence that consciousness survives death, and that
is a psychological, not a physical problem. Even
after we proved that something survived death, we
should still have to prove that it was conscious and
also to prove that it was the same consciousness
that we had once known as a living human per-
son. That can be determined only by communi-
cation with the discarnate, and any conclusion es-
tablished by that method would be indifferent to
the question whether the subject of consciousness
was ponderable or imponderable. Failure to
prove that the residuum in such experiments as
Dr. MacDougall's is ponderable would not affect
this question of personal identity. It would re-
main a legitimate suit or question in any case, es-
pecially as we are privileged to assume imponder-
able and space-occupying substances. As for

800 THE COMING SCIENCE

myself, I have no objections to the Leibnitzian or
(Boscovitchian point of view, which is that the ulti-
mate nature of substance is spaceless. I do not ac-
cept that view, but I have no facts or philosophy
that require me to contradict it. I simply ascer-
tain facts and accept the conclusions which they
make imperative, and hence I make no a priori as-
sumptions as to what the substance of the soul or
of anything else must be. That has to be deter-
mined by the facts, not by hypotheses antecedent
to facts."

At the time these experiments were published, I
advanced some adverse criticisms, bearing upon
this question, and at the same time corrected cer-
tain newspaper stories that had been going the
rounds, — certain statements having been attributed
to me which I had never made. I went on to say
that such experiments as these would have to be
repeated a number of times before they could gain
recognition from the scientific world, especially as
all former experiments in this direction seem to have
yielded opposite and contrary results. Thus:

*' It has very frequently been asserted that this
experiment has been tried, and in Hibbert's Life
and Energy will be found a Chapter entitled ' Is
Life Matter? ' in which this question is consid-
ered and the author comes to the immediate con^

r

WEIGHING THE SOUL SOI

elusion that life is not matter owing to this very
fact — that the dead body does not weigh less than
the same body, alive. I am unaware of any first-
hand accounts of such a series of experiments hav-
ing been made, however, and it would be amusing
if it should turn out that such experiments never
had been made — after science has stated so dog-
matically for so many years that the question had
already been settled past all dispute!

" For, after all, the whole question is one of ac-
tual experiment, and can never be settled by specu-
lations of any sort — ■ philosophic or otherwise.
Whether the soul is or can be a space-occupying
body or not is beside the question, it seems to me,
and should not enter into any argument based upon
observed facts; or, if so, it should be allowed
weight only as a personal opinion, and in no wise
influence the conclusions drawn from a study of
the facts. Taking the experiments, then, as Dr.
MacDougall has described them, the question
arises: Granting that the facts exist, as stated,
would these results prove the contention that the
observed loss of weight was due to the exit from
the body of some hypothetical soul substance, or
may the facts (granting them to exist, as stated)
be explained in some such manner as to render Dr.
MacDougall's hypothesis unnecessary.?

" I must say that Dr. MacDougall seems to have

302 THE COMING SCIENCE

provided pretty thoroughly against all normal
losses of weight. His papers indicate this clearly.
The only channel that need be taken seriously into
account is the lungs ; L e., the loss of weight due to
expired air. It therefore becomes a question of
the amount of air the lungs may contain, and its
consequent weight, — granting, for the sake of ar-
gument, that every particle of air is forced out of
the lungs at death. A cubic foot of air, at the or-
dinary temperature, and at sea-level, weighs about
one and one-fourth ounces, we are told — a state-
ment that is confirmed by the Encyclopcedia Bri-
tannica and other authorities. In the cubic foot
there are 1728 cubic inches. Now, we know that
the average capacity of the lungs of a healthy
human being is about 225 to 250 cubic inches ; ^
but let us say 300 cubic inches to be on the safe
side. This is, as nearly as possible, one-sixth of an
ounce, granting that all the air is expired at death
• — for which we have no evidence — and that the
lungs contained as much as 300 cubic inches of air.
This is also a practical impossibility, in such cases
as those quoted, for the reason that this represents
the state of healthy lungs at the moment of
the fullest inspiration. The majority of persons,
however, could not inhale 200 cubic inches (the
twelfth of an ounce), while consumptive patients,
1 Kirke, Physiology, p. 262.

WEIGHING THE SOUL 303

dying, and in the last stages of the disease, would
not contain within their lungs anything like 100
cubic inches — the eighteenth of an ounce. When,
therefore, Dr. MacDougall tells us that more than
a whole ounce is lost instantaneously, at the mo-
ment of death, we must seek elsewhere than in this
direction for the explanation of the facts.

" First of all : May it not be that there are some
etheric or electrical conditions of the body which
are no longer present after death, ceasing at that
moment, yet in no way connected with any form of
thought or consciousness? It does not seem to
have occurred to Dr. MacDougall that, coincident
with life, there may be present certain electric or
other activities of the body, which cease at the mo-
ment of death, but are in no sense causal of the
thought and consciousness, that are also coinci-
dental with life in the body. Both conditions may
be present in a living body, though one may not be
causal of the other in any degree. Both are merely
coincidental. It is quite possible — not to say
probable — that consciousness acts on some sort
of etheric medium, which in turn acts upon the
nervous mechanism, and that, at death, conscious-
ness (itself spaceless and weightless) withdraws at
once from the organism, while the etheric medium
withdraws more or less gradually, according to the
condition of the organism at the time — this, in

304. THE COMING SCIENCE

turn, determined by the duration and the severity
of the attendant disease. In some cases, such as
consumption, where we might almost say the body
has died before it dies, we might assume that this
etheric medium would leave the body rapidly and
be noticed immediately, while in other diseases this
withdrawal would be much slower, and would not be
registered by the balance until some considerable
time after the death, and in such cases would have
no evidential value, since (like apparitions of the
dead, as opposed to apparitions of the living)
there would be no coincidence to form the striking
event. Such a withdrawal would account for the
facts, perhaps, without resorting to the supposition
that consciousness was in any way that which
caused the loss of weight indicated by the balance.
" However, all the above speculations are purely
hypothetical, of course, and would have no weight
with the materialist — who does not accept either
consciousness as an entity, or the hypothetical
etheric medium I have postulated. He has, how-
ever, to explain the facts, which seem to be pretty
well established. Is it possible to form some sort
of explanation without even resorting to the ' bio-
logical metaphysics ' in which I have just in-
dulged.? Some experiments I have made, and some
observations of certain cases, cause me to think that
these losses and gains of weight might, perhaps.

I

WEIGHING THE SOUL 305

be accounted for in other ways. I present some
facts for the reader's consideration,

" I have been enabled to watch the progress of a
number of cases of patients who have had their
health restored to them by means of the Fasting
Cure ; i. e,, the process of abstaining entirely from
all solid and liquid food for a number of days
— thirty, forty, fifty, and longer — with the al-
most uniform result that health has been restored
to these persons, though they had previously been
given up to die by the physician in charge of the
case. I have embodied the results of these obser-
vations in my book. Vitality, Fasting and Nutri-
tion. One chapter — the one that concerns us
here — is devoted to ' The Loss and the Gain in
Weight.' I found that, by comparing a num-
ber of cases suffering from a number of different
diseases (or, as I hold, different aspects of the
same underlying cause), an average loss of weight
was noticed which I calculated was as nearly as
possible one pound per diem. We might assume,
therefore, it would seem, that sixteen ounces was the
' ideal ' loss of weight, so to speak, were it not
for the fact that all the persons undergoing the
fast were more or less diseased, and I had pre-
viously shown that all diseased persons (as a rule)
lose more weight than the same persons in health.
After some further discussion, I was forced to the

306 THE COMING SCIENCE

conclusion that twelve ounces represented the aver-
age daily loss of weight of persons in health, or
one-half an ounce each hour. This would seem
to coincide to some extent with the results of Dr.
MacDougall, conducted on other lines for different
reasons. But all this and other discussion does not
concern us so much here, for the reason that all
such losses and gains in weight are intelligible and
can be explained by the known laws of physiology.
The interesting point, in this connection, is this:
I noted that, on several occasions, losses and gains
of weight were noted that could not so readily be
accounted for — and losses and gains not of
ounces, merely, but of pounds. Let me give some
illustrations. There was held, at the Madison
Square Garden, New York, an athletic contest,
all the participants in the contest having to enter
upon it after having fasted, absolutely, for seven
days. The object was to show that we do not lose
strength while fasting in the way that most per-
sons think we do, and so successful was the demon-
stration that several of the contestants actually
made world's records at that time. However, this
is not the place to call attention to those facts.
What I wish to say, particularly, is that, during
this week, one of the contestants, a Mr. Estrapper,
' instead of losing weight, actually gained three-
quarters of a pound! . . . This weight was

WEIGHING THE SOUL 307

very accurately ascertained, and there was no pos-
sible source of error through which a mistake could
have been made. . . . The measurements and
weights were taken with the greatest care, and the
contestants were under the strictest surveillance
throughout the whole period, and were frequently
observed and examined by New York physicians
and others.' Mrs. Martin, of Stapleton, S. I.,
gained weight during a fas't of eight days. Dr.
Rabagliati has recorded one case in which the pa-
tient gained one and one-half pounds in three
weeks, on a diet of less than eight ounces of food a
day, ninety per cent, of which was water. ^ I my-
self have observed several cases almost or quite as
remarkable. Mrs. B. (after a four days' fast)
gained eight pounds on three meals and one plate
of soup. Each of the three meals was very light,
and certainly did not weigh anything like a pound
each. Mrs. C. again (after a twenty-eight days'
fast) gained ten pounds in six days, on no solid
food whatever — liquid food only being allowed
during this period. The food consisted in broths
and fruit juices, and a very little milk. Dr. T. L.
Nichols has recorded a case in which a patient of
his gained weight on less than three ounces of solid
food each day." ^

1 Air, Food and Exercises, pp. 204-5.

2 The Diet Cure, p. 20.

308 THE COMING SCIENCE

Here, then, we have certain cases in which weight
is gained by some means, through some channel,
other than that recognised by physiologists — at
least, so it would appear. The fact that certain
persons gained more weight than the food they ate
certainly seems a physiological paradox, for the
reason that we are supposed to increase our flesh
and weight solely from the food we eat. And if
more weight is gained than the food eaten, how are
we to account for the facts? In such cases, are
we to attribute the gain in weight to added soul
substance? We might be tempted to do this, yet a
long study of these cases has convinced me that such
a course would not be necessary. It is possible to
have some sort of hypothetical explanation of the
facts — paradoxical as they may seem — on other,
normal grounds. In some cases great denseness of
tissue is present — it is obstipated, as it is called — •
and when such a person fasts, he or she oxidizes off
a part of this too-solid tissue and fills in the inter-
stices with water, which the patient is at liberty to
drink, always, during the fast. This is, at least,
the explanation which I have been driven to adopt,
none other seemingly covering the facts.

There are also cases in which an extraordinary
loss of weight has been noticed. I have known of
one case in which the patient lost forty pounds in
three weeks, while fasting three days at a time, and

WEIGHING THE SOUL 309

eating one meal on the fourth. More remarkable
still is another case in which the patient lost
seventy-five pounds in twenty-one days of an ab-
solute fast — an average of almost three and one-
half pounds per diem. Still, these cases might per-
haps be accounted for, since the patients were both
very stout women, and, in all such cases, weight is
very rapidly lost. Still, how are cases to be ex-
plained in which great loss of weight is noted
through purely mental trouble, though the per-
son may have, throughout this period, all the food
he cares to eat; and loses weight, moreover, at a
greater rate than if he ate nothing at all? Prob-
ably the most remarkable case of this kind — one
that cannot be explained by any of the ordinary
laws of physiology — is that recorded by Rear-
Admiral George W. Melville, U. S. N., and pub-
lished in his Report to the Smithsonian Institute.
The passage runs as follows:

" It is on record that one individual in a New
England town several months ago actually entered
a metallic burial casket and was sealed up for a
period of one hour. He simply demanded that the
glass plate over the head-piece be not covered, and
that the individuals conducting the test should look
through the head-plate at intervals, so that he
could smile at them. It was rather a ghastly test,
but it was a successful one, although the individual

810 THE COMING SCIENCE

undergoing the operation lost five pounds in the
undertaking! In this test the man did not prob-
ably have two cubic feet of air to draw upon.^
Here, then, we have a loss of weight that, if re-
corded correctly, cannot be explained by known
laws of physiology, since the person undergoing
the test took no bodily exertion, and the loss can-
not be due to any of the known channels of loss.
Would such a test indicate that soul substance had
been lost? Evidently not, since the man continued
to live. In such a case, then, we have a decrease
in weight that cannot be explained by present-day
physiology ; and, until such cases are in some meas-
ure accounted for, it is at least premature to assert
or even propose that an observed loss of weight, at
the moment of death, is due to any soul substance,
or that it has any necessary connection with soul
or consciousness at all. While, then, I think that
Dr. MacDougall has certainly made some most in-
teresting and important discoveries, and that
further experiment along these lines is greatly to
be desired, we cannot hold out much hope that we
shall, by such means, ever demonstrate that the
human soul weighs an ounce, even though the
reality of the losses be proved. The conditions at-
tendant upon death are so little known, and the hu-
man organism is subject to such queer variations

1 The Submarine Boat, p. 723.

WEIGHING THE SOUL 311

in weight, even when aHve, that many and positive
proofs will have to be forthcoming before his in-
terpretation of the facts, even though they them-
selves should be estabHshed, can be accepted by sci-
ence."

When the above criticism was pubHshed, Dr.
MacDougall issued a rejoinder, stating that my
explanations did not explain, and that the case
quoted by me, of the immense loss of weight when
shut in the coffin, could be accounted for by reason
of the fact that such a body would perspire pro-
fusely, and would in all probability lose weight in
that way. I think that this is quite probable, but
the case cannot be settled now for want of confirma-
tory evidence. The experiments are likely to re-
main in their present position of isolation and
uniqueness until a further series of experiments are
tried — which, let us hope, will be in the near fu-
ture.

CHAPTER XIV

HAUNTED houses: THEORIES

THERE is probably no more interesting branch
of psychical research, yet none about which
the public is more misinformed, than the subject of
haunted houses. Cases of ' hauntings ' have oc-
curred, or at least have been reported, through-
out the history of all ages, with probably greater
frequency than any other phenomena of this char-
acter; but though the early literature of the sub-
ject contains very numerous accounts of such
cases, the S. P. R. has been unable ever to definitely
bring to light more than four or five well authenti-
cated cases, that would stand the test of impartial
and exact scrutiny. Still, such cases form a
nucleus around which may gather those of more
dubious origin, and, providing these are definitely
proved to exist, the other cases receive more or less
greater impetus towards credibility, and, should
Buch cases be collected in sufficient numbers, would
necessitate our accepting haunted houses as more
or less definitely established facts of nature,
though as yet it must be acknowledged that this
certainty has not been achieved. Still, there are
enough Vvcll-attested cases en hand to warrant the
312

HAUNTED HOUSES 313

average psychical researcher in accepting the fact
of their existence in some form or another, without
definitely accepting any theory as to their explan-
ation, and I think that any impartial mind who
has studied the evidence will accept the fact of the
haunting in some cases, at least, whatever theory
of the facts is held, or whatever construction may
be put upon the phenomena observed.

The typical " haunted house " is too well known
to need description; more or less vague visions be-
ing seen by one or more members of the household,
footsteps in different parts of the house, sighs,
sobs, moans, and fragments of sentences being
heard, more or less distinctly, — and sometimes
even touches, and other more material evidences be-
ing recorded, — serving to establish, apparently,
the objectivity of the ghost. Those of my read-
ers who are interested in such phenomena I would
refer to Mrs. Crowe's Night Side of Nature, or
to two modem cases, one ^ by Miss Morton, en-
titled " Record of a Haunted House," and one a
book by Miss X., entitled The Alleged Haunt-

ing of B House, It is not the province

of this paper to go into the alleged facts in
such cases, since I shall take it for granted that
the majority of my readers are familiar with the
phenomena of haunted houses, as they are gener-

r Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. VIII, pp. 311-32.

314 THE COMING SCIENCE

ally reported, and shall here but briefly consider
the various theories that have been advanced by
way of explanation.

Mrs. Sidgwick in her most interesting article on
" Phantasms of the Dead " ^ advanced, tentatively,
four theories in explanation of haunted houses.
Briefly, and in outline, they are as follows :

Theory 1. The ghost is an outstanding, ob-
jective entity — a real, more or less material be-
ing which actually exists in the material world, and
exists whether perceived by a seer or not. That is,
a ghost is a separate entity, and exists whether or
not the seer is present to perceive it. This, of
course, is the commonly accepted theory and the
one the public conceives as the true explanation of
all cases of so-called haunted houses, involving a
more or less material being — a ' materialised soul,'
so to speak. To this theory there are, of course,
various objections. In the first place, it is taken
for granted that there is such a thing as a soul to
exist, which is precisely what we set out to prove
in investigating all such cases, and to accept it as
already proved is a monstrous assumption. An-
other objection is that, were the so-called ghost
really to exist independently, it would doubtless be
seen by two or more persons at the same time ; but
this is very rarely the case, even when several per-

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. Ill, np. 69-150.

HAUNTED HOUSES 315

sons are together, — though this has sometimes
happened, — and in any case the objection is not
altogether valid for reasons that have been ad-
vanced in the last chapter. The great and most
crushing objection to this idea of the ghost is the
old argument as to the ghost's clothes. Ghosts in-
variably appeared clothed, and, if they are real
outstanding entities, their clothes must be ghostly
counterparts of their material raiment also, since
they are part and parcel of the figure and insep-
arable from it! This old objection has never been
satisfactorily answered by the advocates of the ex-
ternal objectivity of apparitions, and I shall merely
state it and pass to the next theory advanced in
explanation of haunted houses.

Theory 2. This theory was, I believe, origi-
nated by Mr. Podmore, or at least elaborated by
him, and he is its staunchest defender. The the-
ory in brief is this: that one occupant of the
house has experienced a subjective hallucination,
visual or other, consequent upon the abnormal
mental condition of the percipient, or person see-
ing the ghost, which mental condition may have
been engendered by purely material causes being
misinterpreted — such as the dropping of water,
perceived as footfalls, etc. — or have a purely sub-
jective origin in the morbid imagination of the
seer. Raving once conjured up this imaginary

316 THE COMING SCIENCE

figure, which would, in this case, it must be ob-
served, be nothing more than a hallucination, this
figure might appear again to the same percipient,
owing to the association of ideas, or to other mem-
bers of the house, the mental condition being then
communicated by thought-transference from the
original seer; and, when these occupants move and
others occupy the house, the thoughts of the for-
mer occupants might, by thought-transference, so
affect the minds and senses of the then inhabitants
as to predispose them to perceive the images for-
merly beheld by the occupants first perceiving
them!

The objections to this theory are also, of course,
many. In the first place, we should have to assume
(and this is a monstrous assumption) that the
mind of the first seer was in some manner morbidly
affected before he saw the ghost in the first in-
stance, and of this, in many cases, we have abso-
lutely no proof. And further, we should have to
assume (and this is again a monstrous assumption)
that this person could, all unconsciously, affect the
minds of the following tenants, by telepathy, to
such an extent as to predispose their minds to be-
hold the same apparitions. And why should the
two series of apparitions agree in appearance, as
they apparently do.? As Mr. Andrew Lang has

HAUNTED HOUSES «1T

so humorously remarked : ^ " Surely the peace of
us all rests on a very uncertain tenure ! "

Theory 3. This theory assumes that there is,
in the house, some " subtle physical influence,"
abiding either in the walls, in the atmosphere, or in
some article of furniture in the house, which is
capable of aff^ecting, in turn, each tenant, caus-
ing them to be affected, to a certain extent, in some-
what the same manner. The * atmosphere ' spoken
of is, of course, psychic, not physical ; and I think
there is a great deal to be said in favour of this
theory, and that not enough consideration has
been given to it in the records of psychical re-
search. That persons do carry with them their
own individual ' aura ' or atmosphere, there can be
no doubt ; and though it is, of course, quite intangi-
ble, it is nevertheless distinctly felt by those psy-
chics attuned to receive and appreciate such influ-
ences. The spontaneous aversion of two persons
one to the other, or the case of " love at first sight "
might, it has been pointed out, be explained upon
this theory of the mutual blending or repulsion of
the psychic aura of the individuals. And that this
extends to the so-called inanimate world, to a lesser
extent, is, it seems to me, undoubtedly true. Cer-
tain subjects can collect and retain such impres-

1 Cock Lane and Common Sense, p. 149.

318 THE COMING SCIENCE

sions, and be capable of arousing in the sensitive
the same impressions as those with which they are
charged, when handled again by such psychics ; and
of this fact we have constant proof in the phenom-
ena of psychometry and trance-mediumship — for
example, the case of Mrs. Piper. As Miss X so
well remarked,^ " A house might perhaps be de-
scribed as being in a ' haunted atmosphere.' This
question of atmosphere is so exceedingly subjec-
tive that the sensation is difficult to analyse. It
is one of which all ' sensitives ' are conscious,
both as to places and persons, and I am inclined to
think that in both cases the emotion is telepathic.
Most of us know, in some degree, the overwhelming
sensation of the presence of Westminster Abbey,
or whether we chance to be very loyal or no on
hearing ' God Save the Queen ' sung by a thous-
and voices, or the sight of a lifeboat, or a relic
of Prince Charlie, or a warhorse that has been in
action, or the colours used at Waterloo or Bala-
klava, or of the mast of the Victory. We may dis-
miss the emotion as simply ' cosmic,' but I venture
to think that we are, some of us, overwhelmed be-
cause we are for the moment the subject of the
emotions of others as well as of our own."

And in other, subtler ways we feel such impres-

i Essays in Psychical Research, pp. 41-2.

HAUNTED HOUSES 319

sions. I have myself, for instance, when entering
a certain room, found myself humming an air, all
unconsciously, which I had been humming in that
same room on the last two or three occasions in
which I had been in it, and at no other times;
that is, the atmosphere of the room had, appar-
ently, in some way influenced my unconscious mind
to the extent of associating with it, and with it
only, that particular tune. And it seems to me
that this same influence might extend to a greater
degree, and in a more forcible manner, in arous-
ing, in our subliminal consciousness, thoughts and
associations of a more subtle, psychic character,
which might tend to externalise themselves, when-
ever in that room, in phantasms — visual, auditory
or tactile.

The objections to this theory are, of course, al-
most too apparent to be pointed out, and I shall
not dwell upon them here. That an influence of
this character must involve more or less mentality
or consciousness is obvious; and if mentality is in-
volved, then this mentality is either that of some
all-pervading consciousness, or of some individual
either known or unknown to the beholder; and if
the latter is the case, it involves a consideration of
the fourth theory, which I outline herewith.

Theory 4. Mr. Myers, in his article on " Rec-

320 THE COMING SCIENCE

ognised Apparitions Occurring More Than a
Year After Death," ^ has so beautifully stated this
theory that it would be impossible for me to do
better than quote herewith ; but owing to the length
at which the theory was there elaborated, it is im-
possible for me to do so at sufficient length to jus-
tify quotation, and I shall consequently give a
brief resume of his theory.

Mr. Myers, then, started with the admitted fact
of telepathy, or thought-transference between the
living. He endeavoured to show that its action was
that of soul to soul; that is, that it was an imma-
terial, non-physical thing, and belonged solely to
the immaterial, psychic or spiritual world. Conse-
quently, he argued, telepathy was, in all probabil-
ity, the mode of communication between soul and
soul when disembodied, — that is, spirits thus com-
mune with one another; and this agrees with the
statements made by ' spirits ' who have, according
to their own account, returned to tell us of the con-
ditions ' on the other side.' From this Mr. Myers
goes on to argue that it is more than probable that
it is the mode of communication between spirits
either embodied or disembodied, and that one may
be embodied — that is, alive, — and the other may
be disembodied — that is, dead — and yet telepathy
be the means of communication between them. Now

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. VI, pp. 13-65.

I

HAUNTED HOUSES 321

if this be true, telepathy is the means by which the
spirit communicates or sends messages or impres-
sions to those still in the flesh, and this impression
may be in the form of a message, warning, intui-
tion or ' internal voice,' or in the more externalised
forms of the vision, the voice, or the touch. They
all originate from the same source, the differences
being in us — in our mode of apprehension — and
in the manner in which the message is externalised
by us, or rendered capable of perception by our or-
dinary consciousness. Thus we see that the spirit
of the departed person (supposing it exists and re-
tains its personal identity) may impress the sub-
liminal consciousness of one still living with an
imprint or impress of its individuality; and this
thought may take form or become externalised as
a visionary image or figure, constituting what is
popularly known as a " ghost." It will thus be
seen that haunted houses may really exist in so
far as they actually do affect the persons residing
in them, and that figures really are seen and voices
heard, though they do not themselves have an ex-
ternal or actual existence. They really exist so far
as the mind of the seer goes, and it is not right to
say that they have no existence at all, since they
are mental states as truly as any other mental
states, and all that we know of the external world
is, after all, but a series of mental states or condi-

S22 THE COMING SCIENCE

tions. It is true there is no corresponding physical
counterpart to the apparition or figure seen, and
that the figure exists purely in the mind of the
person seeing it, but the origin of such figure has a
real external existence — in the mind of a deceased
person ; and to say that haunted houses do not ex-
ist is, therefore, obviously incorrect. It is only
correct if we think of haunted houses in the popu-
lar sense of the term, — ■ that is, as houses in which
appear more or less material, externalised figures
wrapped in sheets and parading about in more or
less material form. Such, of course, is a crude
materialistic conception, which cannot be enter-
tained; but that real influences are at work in cer-
tain houses, affecting the minds, senses and the
subliminal consciousness of those residing within
them is beyond question, and to deny it is to deny
well-recorded facts, which would be a most unwar-
ranted proceeding.

Provisionally accepting, then, this last explana-
tion as the true one, so far as it goes (or at least
in combination with one or other of the three for-
mer theories, elaborated above), let us now con-
sider one or two of the complex problems into which
we are led in accepting this theory as the true one.

There are some cases on record where the inhab-
itant of a haunted house has been (apparently)
prevented by some unseen but supposedly physical

HAUNTED HOUSES 323

force from accomplishing some act or purpose —
such, for example, as reaching forth the hand and
obtaining possession of the matches, etc. In such
cases, the individual so attempting to reach forth
his hand has had it grasped or restrained by some
unseen hand or force, so much stronger than the
seer's volition that he has been unable to reach
them. That, at least, is what the sensation expe-
rienced is like. This is one very interesting phe-
nomenon that has been frequently recorded by
visitors to haunted houses, and I think the ex-
planation of such occurrences can now be found,
though I have never seen the explanation I bring
forward elsewhere. Its rationality must be judged
by the reader. I merely oifer it as a provisional
theory, which explains the facts without undue
straining of the intelligent person's powers of
credulity.

As previously stated, cases of this character are
more or less abundant, and are to be found scat-
tered throughout psychic literature. William T.
Stead mentions a case of this sort in his Real Ghost
Stories. But, to illustrate my point, and at the
same time to render the story credible, I quote a
case observed by a trained psychical researcher, a
lady known to all readers of psychic literature,
an acute observer, and possessing an analytical and
scientific mind, as all who have read the lady's book

SM THE COMING SCIENCE

will testify — I refer to Miss Goodrich-Freer, or
" Miss X." ^ Miss X. was sleeping, on the night
in question, in historic Hampton Court, and had
gone peacefully to sleep, after reading an article
in the National Review (on " Shall we Degrade
our Standard of Value?"). The account goes on:

" Nearly three hours later I was suddenly
awakened from dreamless slumber by the sound of
the opening of a door against which some heavy
piece of furniture was standing, in, as it seemed,
the empty room to my right. I remembered the
cat [previously mentioned] and tried to conceive
by what kind of * rampaging ' she could contrive
to be so noisy. A minute later there followed a
* thud,' apparently on this side of the folding-
doors, and too heavy for even the prize animals of
my home circle, not to speak of a mongrel stray,
newly adopted and not yet doing credit to her keep.
' A dress fallen in the wardrobe ' was my next
thought, and I stretched out my hand for the
match-box, as a preliminary to inquiry.

" I did not reach the matches. It seemed to me
that a detaining hand was laid on mine.^ I with-
drew it quickly and gazed around into the darkness.
Some minutes passed in blackness and silence. I

1 1 quote the following narrative from her Essays in
Psychical Research, p. 33.
2 The italics are mine. — H. C.

HAUNTED HOUSES 825

had the sensation of a ' presence ' in the room, and
finally, mindful of the tradition that a ghost should
be spoken to, I said gently, ' Is anyone there ? '
" There was no answer — no sound of any kind ;
and, returning to the theory of the cat and the
fallen dress, though nevertheless so far influenced
by the recollection of those detaining fingers as
not to attempt to strike a light, I rose and walked
around my bed, keeping the right hand on the edge
of my bedstead, while, with my left arm extended,
I swept the surrounding space. As the room is
small, I thus fairly well satisfied myself that it con-
tained nothing unusual."

Miss X. then goes on to relate that, having as-
sured herself that the room contained ' nothing
unusual,' she prepared herself to go to sleep again,
when " a soft light " began to glow in the dark-
ness. This gradually increased in brightness and
extent until a tall, slight woman stood before her,
who passed through the room slowly, finally rais-
ing her hands to her face in the attitude of prayer,
" when quite suddenly the light went out, and I was
alone in the darkness."

" I felt that the scene was ended, the curtain
down, and had no hesitation in lighting the candle
at my side " (p. 34).

Now, there are several interesting points in the

326 THE COMING SCIENCE

above narrative. Miss X. knew, of course, that
Hampton Court has the reputation of being a
" haunted house," but that would not in any way
affect an investigator of her sane and sceptical turn
of mind. It must be remembered that Miss X.

spent several weeks in ' B House ' for

the express purposes of studying the phenomena
there, on behalf of the Society for Psychical Re-
search, and anyone who reads her book will recog-
nise that she is a calm, cool, clear-headed witness,
who regards the phenomena observed as scien-
tific facts, calling for careful, exact observation.
But let us suppose that the figure now seen was
nothing but the result of expectancy and sugges-
tion ; that the figure was no more than a hallucina-
tion. I am willing to admit all that, for the mo-
ment. The point to which I wish to call particular
attention, in the above narrative, is the fact that
the fingers were apparently detained by some un-
seen hand, and that, when the figure had vanished,
and the " haunt " ended, the seer experienced no
difficulty in reaching the matches and lighting one.
This most interesting phenomenon has been re-
corded in several stories of haunted houses, and is
one well worthy of our careful consideration.^

1 Bulwer makes use of this idea in his Haunters and the
Haunted, but the phenomenon has been observed carefully
several times, within the past few years.

I

HAUNTED HOUSES 327

The first crude theory that an actual disembodied
spirit is present, and places his detaining fingers
on the seer's hand, will hardly receive a hearing
from the scientific world, even that part of the
scientific world which accepts telepathy and even
spirit-communication as realities. We must, ac-
cordingly, find some theory or explanation which
will render the facts intelligible, and at the same
time not strain too far our ideas or beliefs in the
matter. In short, we must seek some theory that
will explain the facts in the case, and at the same
time depart as little as possible from the " known,"
i, e.f the facts and theories that are already ac-
cepted by all psychical researchers.

In order to do so, it will be necessary for us to
' go back,' for a few moments, and consider the
phenomena of hypnotism — the reason for this
will appear as we proceed.

One of the most common experiments performed
in hypnotic exhibitions is the inhibition of the sub-
ject's will in some certain line, — the preventing of
the subject from saying some word or accomplish-
ing some act he had it in mind to do. In such
cases, the operator or hypnotist suggests to his
subject that he cannot possibly perform some cer-
tain act requiring volition (such as stepping over
a crack in the board floor, for example), and the
subject finds himself utterly unable to do so. Here

3^8 THE COMING SCIENCE

we have a case of direct inhibition of voluntary
movement by hypnotic suggestion. The com-
mand is, however, spoken by the hypnotist, and the
subject hears with his ears in the normal way.

Now, we know that telepathy is a fact in nature
— at least, most psychical researchers believe it to
be a fact. We know that thoughts and commands
can be carried by this process from one mind to
another, by other means than through the five
senses. Such being the case, it is only natural to
suppose that there might be such a thing as
telepathic hypnotism in the world — i. e,y hypnosis
induced by telepathic means instead of by the
spoken word. With these thoughts in mind, a
number of experiments were tried in France,^ and
with entire success. The subject was sent to sleep
by the operator when he was at a distance, the
time at which the subject fell into trance corre-
sponding to the time the ' willing ' was in progress
at the operator's end. There could be no decep-
tion in these experiments, since the subject did not
know when they were to be tried; and she was
certainly not in collusion with the operators, who
were none others than Prof. Pierre Janet, Mr. F.
W. H. Myers, and Mr. Gurney. The experi-
ments must therefore be considered conclusive so
far as they go, and seem to establish telepathic

1 Recorded in Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IV, pp. 127-88.

HAUNTED HOUSES 829

hypnotism as a fact in nature, whether understood
and explained or not.

Now, if all this is so, it seems highly probable
that the dead (granting that they exist at all)
might also exert some telepathic influence on the
minds of the living, as suggested above, and this
influence, inasmuch as it is operative at all, is prac-
tically hypnotic in character, since it aff'ects the
minds of the living, causing them to see and do
things they would not see and do otherwise. If the
telepathic suggestion from the dead is that the
subject perform a certain action, he does so, with-
out knowing the cause of this silent prompting or
command. If, on the other hand, the suggestion
from the mind of the dead person is to the efl*ect
that a certain action be not performed, then the
subject is unable to perform that action, without
his being aware of the cause of his inability to
perform it. In short, just as the subject, in the
hypnotic exhibition, is rendered incapable of per-
forming some act of volition because of the opera-
tor's suggestion, so, I suggest, may the hand of the
' seer ' or subject, in such cases as that quoted
above, be rendered unable to reach the matches, or
perform some other similar act of volition, — he is
prevented from doing so by the telepathic sugges-
tion from the mind of the dead operator. In such
cases as the above, in short, the hand is restrained.

S30 THE COMING SCIENCE

not by the fingers of some external phantom, but
by a species of post-mortem telepathic hypnotism^
which inhibits the action, just as the action would
be inhibited by a spoken or telepathic suggestion
from the living.

I offer the above theory, believing that it con-
tains at least a grain of truth, though I have never
seen it worked out in detail before and used as an
explanation of the recorded phenomena.

CHAPTER XV

HAUNTED HOUSES AND THEIR CUEE

GRANTING that houses surnamed " haunted "
exist, it becomes a legitimate part of any in-
terested man's duty to investigate the causes of
such haunting — to ascertain, so far as possible,
what the nature of the influence about the house
may be, and if disagreeable to remove it, or at
least attempt to do so. That these influences are
at times malign and evil cannot be doubted by any-
one who has examined the mass of evidence that
exists upon this subject; and it is true that many
persons inhabiting haunted houses would give
much to be relieved from the influence that hovers
about them, and in no wise encourage or like the
ghostly visitations of which they are the recipients.
It would be unnecessary to adduce any great show-
ing of proof upon this point, since it may be said
to apply to all inhabitants of haunted houses,
except those few individuals who may be residing in
the house, temporarily or permanently, in order
to study the phenomena for scientific purposes.
It is true that many of these cases turn out to be
due, not to supernormal action or influence at all,
but to trickery, hallucination, or other purely
331

S32 THE COMING SCIENCE

natural causes; but there are cases on record, be-
yond a doubt, in which some influence of a psy-
chical sort exists in and about the house; and it is
almost certain that this influence is at times evil
and malevolent.

One need but call to mind such a case as The
Great Amherst Mystery (in which fires were
lighted in various parts of the house, the medium
was cut and stuck full of pins, etc.), or — if the
physical manifestations arouse incredulity — such
a case as that studied by Miss X. and the Marquis
of Bute, where, after some weeks' stay in the
house, Miss X. was forced to write : " The gen-
eral tone of things is disquieting. Hitherto, in
our first occupation, the phenomena affected one
as melancholy, depressing, and perplexing, but
now all, quite independently, say the same thing —
that the influence is evil and horrible — even poor
little Spooks [dog] was never terrified before as
she has been since our return here. The worn
faces at breakfast are really a dismal sight." ^
The nature of these influences so impressed the Hon.
John Harris that he imagined a band of hypnotists
were attempting to influence the inmates of the
house by hypnotic telepathic suggestion ! ^

1 The Alleged Haunting of B House, p. 210.

2 See Inferences from Haunted Houses and Haunted
Men.

CURE FOR HAUNTED HOUSES 333

In many other cases, also, the influence im-
presses the owners of the house in the same manner ;
and in nearly every instance would the owner be
glad to rid the house of its ghostly occupants.
This being the case, the question arises: How
may we so rid it? Are there any forces and laws
we may put into operation that would drive the
haunting intelligences from their home? Can we
devise any apparatus or any plan that would be
instrumental in driving the influences from the
house in question, leaving it free for its fleshly
occupants? If so, such a knowledge would be in-
valuable to the resident of the house, and the plan
might at all events be tried — perhaps with com-
plete success.

At all events, I propose to lay before the reader
some theories and ideas that I have recently formu-
lated in my own mind, and, wrong and crude as
they may be, they may yet, nevertheless, be of
some assistance to persons dwelling in houses of
the kind under discussion who feel that they are as
impotent to cope with the forces and influences
into which they are thrown as is the diver who feels
about his body the supple arm of the giant octopus.

First, what is the nature of these influences?
My subsequent account will have a tendency to set-
tle this point. There are, roughly speaking, four
theories. (1) Telepathic influences from the liv-

334 THE COMING SCIENCE

ing; (2) telepathic influences from the dead; (3)
some physical influence or " aura " that exists in
and about the house, aff'ecting the minds of those
who dwell in it ; ( 4 ) spirits as entities. It is need-
less to say that the fourth of these is by far the
simplest, and the one which covers and explains all
the facts in the most rational and comprehensive
manner, if spirits, as such, are ever proved to
exist. Although there are certain arguments in
favour of all the other theories mentioned, I shall
adopt the last-named, for the present purposes, and
try it as a working hypothesis.^ It is true that
there is much to be said against this view of the
matter and in favour of the other theories — that
I do not deny ; indeed there are certain facts going
to show that a simple suggestioriy if properly de-
livered, will rid the house once and for all from in-
fluences of the sort mentioned above. Aside from
regular exorcisms, incantations, sprinkling with
holy water, etc., which may be considered
" bread pills," and so suggestions, for all prac-
tical purposes, there are such cases as the follow-
ing, given by Miss X. in her Essays in Psychical
Research. The passage seems to me to be one of
the most interesting and suggestive ever penned.

1 This does not conflict with the theory advanced in the
last chapter, as will presently appear. For our present dis-
cussion, theories (2) and (4) may be merged into one.

CURE FOR HAUNTED HOUSES 335

After describing a haunted house of the typical
sort, the vain efforts to get rid of the ghost, etc.,
Miss X. goes on to say :

" Not satisfied with his preliminary researches,
he [the investigator] next morning invited his
hostess to conduct him once more over the house,
already explored from cellar to attic. He had not
gone into detail as to the box-room and its con-
tents, and Mrs. Z.'s travelling boxes, the chest con-
taining, let us suppose, the summer clothes and the
muslin curtains, the deck chairs for the garden,
the extra mats and blankets were all simple enough.
The house was new, and there was not the accu-
mulation of rickety tables, chairs without casters,
jugs without handles — the melancholy record of
time and of housemaids.

" But one piece of spare furniture stood sug-
gestively in the corner of its adoption, a wooden
bedstead, an ugly unsanitary anachronism, a splen-
did text for a suggestion. Its origin was obscure,
vague, easily represented as mysterious.

" * Clear out this room,' prescribed the special-
ist, ' clean it, whitewash it, put back all else, if you
will, but bum that bedstead! '

" It may have been a fetish, a point de repere of
evil, filled with the germs of thought-transference,
the microbe misnamed ' psychometric,' the bacilli

336 THE COMING SCIENCE

of astral and elemental forms; or the order may
have been merely a suggestion, a bread pill; but
when the bedstead was burnt, that ghost was
laid."

In a case such as the above, there can be no ques-
tion that the cure was brought about merely by
suggestion. But there would appear to be numer-
ous other cases that cannot be thus explained away
— cases, in fact, in which the ghost refused to de-
part because of any such measures, but clung to
the house with grim tenacity, and ultimately drove
the earthly tenants from the doors! This can
hardly be ascribed to suggestion, nor, it seems to
me, to any thought-transference theory, and would
seem to indicate that some force or influence is
operative which is sufficiently independent of the
minds of those in the house to defy and over-rule
them. Readers of Bulwer Lytton's powerful story,
The House and the Brain^ will recall the feeling
of intense, masterful Will that the visitant en-
countered; and, although this story is, of course,
a work of fiction, it is more or less closely paral-
leled by other cases of a similar type — some of
which are not as yet in print, but which I have had
the opportunity to read. Such being the case, the
question arises: How can we ascertain what these
intelligences are.'' and, if discovered, how can we

CURE FOR HAUNTED HOUSES 337

cope with them? These are the problems we must
now discuss.

I would begin by saying, once again, that I
shall, for the sake of argument, assume that the
intelligences manifesting in haunted houses are in
reality spirits of the departed, and use that as a
working hypothesis. The problem for us to solve,
then, is this : Can we in any way come into touch
with these intelligences ? and, if so, how ?

Students of psychic matters will remember that
efforts have been made in this direction before.
Thus, the clairvoyant " Jane " was directed to the
haunted Willington Mill in her clairvoyant trance,
and described the influences about the house and
the spirits that were said to haunt it. These de-
scriptions agreed to a certain extent with the de-
scriptions of those who had lived or spent certain
nights in the haunted mill.^ Again, automatic
writing, crystal-gazing, seances, etc., were held in
the haunted B House, but nothing conclu-
sive was arrived at. Certainly the investiga-
tors were on the " right track " in that case, how-
ever. Just such experiments may be expected to
throw a flood of light on cases of this kind, es-
pecially in view of the fact that automatic writing,

1 For details of this, see Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. VII,
pp. 54, 82-4, 86, 87, and Journal S. P. R., Vol. V, pp. 331-
53.

338 THE COMING SCIENCE

etc., is occasionally obtained, and only obtained,
in certain so-called haunted houses, as I happen to
know. This is a most significant fact, and one
well worthy of further inquiry and investigation.
I now come to my theory of the manner for clear-
ing haunted houses of the influences that are sup-
posed to remain within them. Certain it is that
the influences, whatever they are, cannot be dealt
with upon material lines. The man who goes to a
haunted house with a watch-dog and a loaded re-
volver is not the sort of investigator who is likely
to reveal much of interest to science ! No ; the in-
telligences or influences must be dealt with upon
psychical lines; they must be, so to speak, beaten
at their own game. Methods such as crystal-
gazing, automatic writing, etc., are very useful as
indicating what the influences are in any certain
house ; they are " methods of diagnosis." But
when we have ascertained that a certain spirit is
haunting a house, e, g,, what are we to do to make
it leave that house.? As before stated, material
agencies would be of no use; we must resort to
psychical influences. A medium must be employed
— one who has around him or her a number of
tried and trusted controls or " guides," in whom
he or she can place the strictest reliance. With the
aid of such a medium, might we not, through his
or her controls or guides, come into contact with

I

CURE FOR HAUNTED HOUSES 839

the intelligences invading the house in question,
and, through them, carry on a warfare with the
unruly intelligences manifesting within the house?
The suggestion is at least plausible, and the experi-
ment worth trying. Nay, more, it has been tried,
and with success. Some time ago, I had sent to
me a long letter by Georgia Gladys Cooley — a
Inedium in whom I have perfect confidence, so far
as honesty and reliability go, and who has had a
number of most remarkable experiences, the fol-
lowing being one of these. At my request she
wrote out this account and sent it to me. I here-
with present it to my readers, feeling assured that
it will prove of great interest — no matter whether
the statements are accepted as true, or not. They
at least afford room for thought, and give us a
clue for the direction in which to look for more
light in the investigation of this exceedingly dark
and complex problem.

" Something over fifteen years ago, an expe-
rience of rather an extraordinary nature came my
way.

" In the city of Stockton, Cal., where I was lec-
turing at the time, a lady came to me, claiming to
be greatly annoyed by hearing a voice almost con-
stantly talking to her. The voice purported to be
that of her first husband, who had passed from

I

340 THE COMING SCIENCE

earth several years before. At times it spoke in
most endearing tones, and again quite severely —
presuming to be interested in all her earthly affairs
and quite dictatorial regarding them. It spoke
of relatives gone on, and of many things in her
past life which led her to believe, at times, that it
might be the voice of her departed companion; at
other times she felt that it could not be he.

" The attendance of this queer visitor grew
more constant as the days passed, and became a
great source of annoyance, as it interfered with
the woman's rest — the voice often keeping up its
chattering the greater part of the night. The
lady, who knew nothing of spiritualism or the oc-
cult, was sorely upset. On looking into her case,
I found it was not imagination nor hallucination
on her part, as I discovered an individual in spirit
form hovering near her. He was low in stature,
crass in appearance, and had an exceedingly low
forehead, covered with dark and coarse looking
hair. Heavy, dark eyebrows, which met, added to
his unprepossessing appearance. There were days
when he would scold her for being over-liberal, and
perhaps the next day he would call her stingy, etc.

" I could not now relate a hundredth part of
what he did and said in order to annoy this good
woman; and, in time, a new phase of his actions
manifested itself. The lady felt at times a sen-

CURE FOR HAUNTED HOUSES 841

sation as of someone pinching her, and soon there-
after a bruised spot would appear upon the flesh.
I must not forget to state that the description of
this man, as given by myself, did not tally with
that of the departed husband. While living, her
husband had always been very good and kind to
her.

" It was an impostor, endeavouring to pass him-
self off as the departed one. He was low in spir-
itual development, as well as in intellectual growth,
and seemed bent upon mischief. With the help of
wise and generous loved ones of the higher spheres,
we undertook to rid the lady of her annoying and
misleading visitor, but found it by no means an
easy task. He was cynical at first, then grew re-
bellious, and refused to listen to pleading or kind-
ness. He was hard to awaken spiritually, and it
was trying indeed; cunning and shrewdness were
fully developed, and altogether it was a sad yet
interesting case that lay before us.

" When he refused to listen to all kindness and
pleading, force was called into play. I shall state
immediately how this was done. I cannot go into
detail now, but will give the essentials of the case,
which is of great interest, no matter how we choose
to interpret it.

" Shortly after retiring one night, and having
had one nap, I was awakened by some strange

842 THE COMING SCIENCE

vibrating force, and saw several forms in the room,
as though they had just passed through the door.
Two were leading or pulling by either arm the
form of the man that had become so familiar to me ;
and directly back of the form was a third spirit
known to me as Uncle Eli, who was making passes
over the head or back of the head of the spirit
that was being dragged in. They had hypnotised
him, and by force pulled him from the house !

" A pallet was improvised in the corner of the
room, and the poor, helpless fellow placed upon it.
I knew then that a victory had been won. I
watched the good friends work on him for a time,
and then fell asleep — to be awakened in the morn-
ing to see the same form quietly lying where he
had been placed. I was informed later in the day
that the lady had had her first full night's sleep in
three months.

" From that night on she was little disturbed —
the visitor returning but a few times, and upon
each occasion was taken away immediately. He
learned to dislike me very much, feeling that I was
in some way responsible for his losing something
he felt it his right to possess. He often came to
me with threats, trying hard to intimidate me,
but I was too well guarded to fear him. I felt that
in time he would understand that I was his friend.

" In his most furious states, he would forbid my

CURE FOR HAUNTED HOUSES 343

entering the lady's house, which recalls to my
mind one strange and almost weird experience I
had in this connection.

" I had an appointment with the lady one even-
ing, and was on my way to her home. When
about two blocks from her house, I saw the Salva-
tion Army people holding a meeting. I felt im-
pelled to stop and listen to their remarks, and was
greatly impressed with their sincerity. When the
time came to pass the tambourine for offerings, a
familiar voice said to me, ' Drop a dollar in,' and I
followed the suggestion. I turned away and
crossed the street, when suddenly a man appeared
before me, put his hand to my throat, and said:
' If you go to that house, I'll kill you.' Until
that moment I thought it was a man of flesh, but
instantly everything was clear to me. I drew back
in a most positive manner, and declared : * / am
going, and you will not harm me I ' At this the
figure passed from sight, and I saw it no more
until I stepped up to the door, when he followed me
in, took up a position at my right, and stood there,
apparently listening to everything I said. He
made several threatening remarks, which I did not
heed.

" After I had been in the house a short time, I
was impressed to form a small circle, which con-
sisted of the lady in question, her husband, Mr.

344f THE COMING SCIENCE

Cooley, and myself. To our surprise the lady was
influenced by someone who went through the per-
formance of playing a cornet; this influence lasted
about ten minutes. I then became very clairvoy-
ant, seeing many familiar spirits and a great many
unfamiliar ones. Benches were around the en-
tire room, next the wall, and all were filled with
(what seemed to me) real himian beings — my
judgment leading me to believe of rather a low
type, as the clothing of some of the men was torn
almost to tatters. Their hair was dishevelled, and
one man had a large, ugly scar over his right
cheek. The annoying friend was still at my right.
" I was next entranced by Uncle Eli, who gave a
very interesting and encouraging talk, in which he
told a great many things, of which I was entirely,
ignorant — one in particular I learned of. He
addressed the lady I had gone to see, and stated:
' Not only yourself but this house is obsessed by a
class of poor, unfortunate, discarnate spirits, and
if it were not for your law, we should advise that it
be burned to the ground. When you bought this
house, you thought you got a great bargain, but
you got much more than you bargained for. You
have become sensitive and receptive to outside in-
fluences, and consequently are afi^ected by these
unseen inhabitants: but fear not, no harm shall
come to you, as we have brought help this even-

CURE FOR HAUNTED HOUSES 345

ing, and many of them will be released from their
imprisoned condition.'

" He then withdrew, and instantly 1 was con-
trolled by a Salvation Army girl who gave the
name, I believe, of Sarah or Sadie Jones. She
poured forth a regular Salvation Army lecture,
imploring the poor souls to go with her, etc., reach-
ing out her hands as in the act of drawing some-
thing over to her, encouraging them for their
bravery, and for an hour worked as any true
woman of her rank can work, sometimes gently
yet positively upbraiding someone for daring to
hold another back; finally turning to the mortals
and assuring them that all was well, and that those
who were to go with her would be on another plane,
with new interests and surroundings, never again
to return to their earth-bound state.

" She then gave the lady some advice as to the
care of herself and her house and withdrew, leav-
ing a most hallowed and beautiful influence behind
her.

" During the entire evening I was a silent wit-
ness, having seen and heard all, and seemed like a
second person, distinctly outside my own body, see-
ing it used by those who manipulated it for the
purpose of bringing peace and joy to others.

" I was informed by the lady that the house,
though large, clean, and new in appearance, had

346 THE COMING SCIENCE

been purchased by her and moved to its present
locahty. It had, she said, been used as a saloon
for many years, before being altered and partly
rebuilt, which no doubt accounted for its unseen
inhabitants, they having been frequenters of the
haunt in all probability.

" Uncle Eli also informed me that it was he who
impressed me to stop and listen to the Salvation
Army, as well as advised me to help them, as it
drew their attention to me, and in return they had
aided him, as he felt that they were the only class
who could readily reach these poor unfortunates.
Thus we learned that each class of spirits has their
work to do, and ' in unison there is strength.'

*' It was, indeed, a great experience for me, one
which money cannot buy, as the knowledge derived
therefrom has been of great value. Perhaps there
will be many opinions expressed as to the cause of
such an experience, the nature of the influence,
etc. — each one having his own theory, as he has
a right to — but I wish it remembered that, while
I am a psychic, I think I am a rational being, with
an average amount of intelligence, not given to
imagination, but, like the Missourian, being prac-
tical, I must be shown — as, indeed, I was shown.
" Yours for truth and progress,

" Geoegia Gladys Cooley."

CURE FOR HAUNTED HOUSES 347

The above account speaks for itself, and I can-
not add anything to it that would be half so
interesting as the account itself. It may appear
fanciful to some of my readers, but when we are
in the realm of spirit who shall say where the
" possible " ends and the " impossible " begins ?
All theories apart, however, my object will have
been attained if the above article serves to direct
reflection and experiment into a channel hitherto
all but neglected, but which is, none the less, one
of the most interesting in the whole province of
psychic research.

CHAPTER XVI

PEEMONITIONS : FACTS AND THEORIES

T I IHERE is always a charm and a fascination
-■- about the future that will continue to attract
the minds of men so long as the world shall last;
so long as it remains hidden from man, a mys-
terious and unknown region, so long will man en-
deavour to pierce it by every means in his power.
This desire to peer into the unknown is perfectly
intelligible, and is only another expression of that
inquiring spirit which has enabled man to know
as much as he does of the physical world in which
he lives. There is a semi-formulated idea in the
minds of many persons that it is in some way harm-
ful or wrong to endeavour to pierce the future,
since it is " one of God's mysteries," and hence too
sacred to touch or inquire into! I need hardly
say that it was this same spirit — the idea that it
was wicked to inquire too closely into the workings
of the universe — that hindered the growth of
science and all true progress, and is a perfectly
unreasonable attitude to take, in view of what has
occurred in the past. For we are endowed with
intellect and senses provided for the express pur-
pose of delving as deeply into nature as it may
348

PREMONITIONS 349

be our good fortune to penetrate; and there is no
reason to suppose — nothing to indicate — that
any one portion of the universe (mental, spiritual,
or physical) should be investigated and inquired
into and another neglected. It may be quite im-
possible to see into the future, — that much may
be granted, for the sake of argument, — but that
does not affect the question of the legitimacy of
inquiring into it." Granted that there is here a
legitimate field of inquiry, therefore, let us turn
our attention to the facts, and see whether there is
any real evidence that man ever has pierced the
veil ; if so, to what extent ; and again, if so, how is
such foresight to be explained?

There are many interesting cases that might be
cited in this connection, all illustrative of the
faculty of foresight, but we must content ourselves
in this chapter with a few by way of illustration,
as it would be quite impossible to prove any such
thing as a faculty of this kind in a work of this
general character. The following case is a good
example of the type of spontaneous case we are apt
to meet with in inquiries such as ours :

" I was staying with a friend, a clergyman, in
South Carnarvonshire in March, 1877 I think, and
dreamt that I was one of a shooting party. One
of the party shot a woodcock. When I awoke I

850 THE COMING SCIENCE

was impressed with a very vivid recollection of ray
dream and its locality, which, as it appeared to me,
I had never seen before.

" I had no occasion to mention the dream until
the afternoon, when the following circumstance
occurred. Returning with my friend from a long
walk, in the neighbourhood of Madym Park, we
chanced to fall in with the squire's gamekeeper
carrying his gun on his shoulder. My friend with
the keeper walked on some fifty or sixty yards in
advance of me.

" They presently turned off the road at right
angles, and disappeared from my view. When I
came to the spot where they had left the road, I
saw them following a path through a dingle.
Though I had never been in the neighbourhood
before, I felt that the scene was familiar to me.
I stopped to collect my thoughts and reconcile the
inconsistency. In a moment it flashed upon me
that this was the scene of my last night's dream.
I had a strange feeling of expectation; the iden-
tity of the scene became every moment clearer and
clearer; my eyes fell upon the exact spot where
the woodcock of my dream had risen; I was cer-
tain the event of my dream would be inevitably
re-enacted. I felt I must speak, and there was not
a moment to lose. I shouted to my friend : ' Look

PREMONITIONS 351

out. I dreamt I shot a woodcock here last night.'
Mj friend turned and replied, ' Did you? '

" The words were hardly out of his mouth and
the gun off the keeper's shoulder (I was still in-
tently gazing at the very foot of ground), when
up gets a woodcock — the woodcock of my dream
— and falls to the keeper's gun — a capital snap
shot. We were all not a little astonished, the
keeper, moreover, remarking that he thought all
the woodcocks had left the country some weeks be-
fore.

" I am, sir, etc.,

" Thomas Warren Trevor."

In reply to further inquiries, Mr. Trevor stated
that he had never had any similar experience in his
life, and that woodcocks were rare at the time the
dream was fulfilled. The Rev. Cannon Johnson,
in a letter to Mr. Trevor, corroborated the incident
in full.i

This case is very interesting, as, although it was
a dream (and so open to the old objection that in-
cidents of the kind occur frequently which are not
fulfilled), it certainly did not happen frequently to
this 'particular man; in fact, he explicitly states
that he had never before experienced anything of
1 See Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. V, pp. 316-17.

352 THE COMING SCIENCE

the kind. The old and generally absurd objection
of ' pseudo-presentiment ' — i.e., a mere illusion
on the part of the percipient that he had ex-
perienced such-and-such an event — would not hold
good in this case, since the coming event was pre-
dicted again, just before its occurrence, and cor-
roborated by another witness. Assuming the truth
of the witnesses, it is hard to see how chance alone
could account for such a case as this — a sample
case, merely, and one much inferior, in strength
and detail, to many that might be cited, hun-
dreds and thousands of such cases of both sleeping
and waking premonitions existing, premonitions
foreshadowing all kinds of future events, and seem-
ing to prove conclusively that what we know as the
future may (under certain circumstances and con-
ditions of which we at present know nothing)
penetrate into the future and foresee scenes and
events that are about to happen. This is not the
place to attempt any defence of this position ; I
shall assume that it is possible and in fact occa-
sionally an actuality, and so shall proceed to the
interesting question that must be raised at this
point; viz.. How are we to explain such facts?
If it be possible to see into the future in this man-
ner, why not make a fortune over night in stocks?
In any case, what are the processes involved, what
laws are put into operation?

PREMONITIONS 353

I shall not enter into the question of why it is
that persons possessing this peculiar power do not
make use of it to make a fortune over night, as
suggested, for the reason that those who advance
this suggestion do not know what they are talking
about, or in any way understand the problem.
Visions of this kind, apparently seeing into the
future, are not to be summoned at will, but occur
— when they occur at all — spontaneously ^ and
not in accord with any special laws or rules with
which we are familiar. They merely crop up
spontaneously, and cannot be summoned at will.
As M. Flammarion insisted, there are two
methods of investigation in all sciejjtific problems:
that of observation and that of experiment. Al-
most all psychic problems have to be investigated
by the former of these two methods; we have to
observe them as we may, and we cannot control
them at will. Such being the case, we can very
easily see why it is that persons cannot make for-
tunes by the aid of their foresight; such things
do not act in any such concise and systematic man-
ner at all, and may occur but once in the individ-
ual's life, if then.

But when we come to the question of how such
things can be — the modus operandi involved —
that is a legitimate, but a most difficult question to
answer. At once the question rises in the mind:

354» THE COMING SCIENCE

Can it be possible that the veil of the future can
really be torn, so that it actually becomes the pres-
ent and the real to the onlooker? How can such
things be? Or is there not rather some illusion,
which, if discovered, would reveal to us the simple
explanation of all such facts, and explain them in
a perfectly intelligible and natural manner?

If there were but a few facts of this character in
existence, to weigh against all human experience,
that would be, doubtless, the most rational ground
to take ; but when we find hundreds of facts of this
character — all detailed and apparently recorded
with care — it is more difficult to dismiss them in
that summary manner, and in fact one finds one-
self gradually becoming more and more convinced
that some such process is in actual existence, when
we come to weigh and measure the evidence in its
favour. But if the fact can once be established,
if one single fact can be shown to be due to some
cause other than chance, what a recasting of our
views, what a remoulding of science would be neces-
sary in order to fit it into our present scheme of the
universe !

Now let us see, for the moment, if some conceiv-
able explanation of such facts might not be possi-
ble. Granting, for the sake of argument, that
genuine premonitions sometimes occur, how are we
to account for them? The fact of seeing into the

PREMONITIONS 355

future is such an apparent impossibility that any
explanation of the facts would seem at first sight
utterly hopeless; and yet such might not be the
case. Let us see how far certain legitimate spec-
ulations might carry us in this explanatory theory.
First of all, it must be pointed out that there is
some amount of foresight or ' premonition ' in our
ordinary normal life; we are enabled to foresee
certain events that are about to happen; that, for
example, the lamp is about to fall, or that our pet
dog is about to die. Here it is clear that we see
further than the object or the animal, though (in
the latter case) he is himself the personality in-
volved. Again, we can frequently foresee how cer-
tain lines of action would bring certain definite re-
sults, and we can frequently tell, almost exactly,
how any event is going to terminate. If we see
two men engaging in a wordy war, we feel assured
that they will ultimately end up with blows ; if we
see a man walking down the street, we know that he
will eventually reach the street comer, and if we
know (what he does not) that there is a powerful
wind blowing down the street, we can predict with
some degree of certainty that his hat will be blown
off as soon as he arrives at that comer and the wind
strikes him. Or again, to use an old example, if
we see a spider walking across the table, we can pre-
dict with a fair degree of certainty that when the

356 THE COMING SCIENCE

spider reaches the edge of the table he will fall off.
Yet the spider is quite unaware of any such danger
awaiting him. In all the above examples, it will
be seen that greater knowledge of the surround-
ings or environment, mental or physical, of the
recipient of the disaster enables the onlooker to
foresee the impending danger, and, if he chooses,
to save such recipient from it. A larger mental
grasp of circumstances and a clear view of tendeu"
cies will frequently enable one to foresee what is
quite invisible to another. And might we not
suggest that, by analogy, some of our friends in
a spiritual world, seeing the tendencies of certain
of our actions more clearly than we, would warn
us, by dream or telepathic action, and so reveal to
us what we should never otherwise perceive ? Hav-
ing a clearer and larger grasp of our environment
than we, would it not be quite possible for them to
foresee, and so to warn us of impending dangers in
this manner.'*

Again, there is another whole set of phenomena
of this character which might be explained on other
lines altogether. A physician can foresee cer-
tain tendencies in himself and in others which
would be invisible to the average man, who has not
been trained in these special lines. He can fore-
tell what will happen far in advance of the actual
event, — what is likely to happen to any individual.

PREMONITIONS 857

— and so, in the broader sense, this might be
termed * premonitory.' In like manner, it is prob-
able that our own subconscious mind can foresee
bodily states far more readily than can our ordinary
wake-a-day consciousness, and so apprise us in
advance of oncoming disastrous symptoms. This
knowledge might be dramatised and symbolised in
a dream; so again, the appearance might be sug-
gestive of the supernormal, though, it will be seen,
it is not strictly so. Foretelling deaths, etc., may
be due to this cause. But at all events it will be
apparent that none of the explanations so far ad-
vanced will explain the detailed incident — such
as that recorded above — in which the woodcock
was shot, as foreseen. How are we to account for
such a case as that?

Let it be admitted that we cannot explain it at
all, in the present state of our knowledge. We
can but guess at the modus operandi involved, and
doubtless very ineffectually. It is not to be be-
lieved that spirits (granting that they exist, and
that they can foresee tendencies and coming events
with greater foresight than do we, because of their
clearer and more extended outlook, so to speak)
still, it is not to be believed that they can really
foresee all the details of any coming event, as that
would be tantamount to saying that the event it-
self was planned out in advance and merely enacted

358 THE COMING SCIENCE

at the proper moment — a form of fatalism. We
might conceive this, of course, but it would not be
proof. In lieu of any better theory, however, let
us pursue this line of thought for the moment, and
see whither we are led. I quote from a previous
article of mine on " Omar Khayyam and Psychical
Research." ^ In part it runs as follows :

". . . That Omar was a fatalist goes with-
out saying, the idea of extreme fatalism running
throughout his verse and rendering it at times
almost despairing in tone, at others rendering it
indignant or scornful. Fatalism is a different
thing from the modem philosophical doctrine of
determinism, though both are opposed to free-
will. We have, apparently, of course, free choice
in all our actions; that is, we are enabled to do
what we want to do ; but determinism says that we
are not enabled to do anything of the kind. The
fact that we can apparently do so is mere illusion,
and that our action is in every case determined by
our previous actions, environment, mode of life and
external and internal influences and causes ; so
that, when any action is performed, it is the result
of these influences and their necessary result; i. e.,
we are never enabled to choose freely, or perform
any action that is other than the direct and in-

i Journal of the A. S. P. R., July, 1907.

PREMONITIONS 359

evitable result of previous actions, thoughts and
environment. If we could get a large enough
mental perception and grasp, as it were, of such
forces acting upon ourselves, we could see how it
is that in all cases our action is necessitated, and
not the result of deliberate choice or free will,
though the illusion of free will would always be
present. This differs from fatalism, as I under-
stand it, in that it does not necessitate the planning
or intervention of any external mind or Deity other
than the mental and physical forces of the universe ;
while fatalism supposes an external mind which has
planned everything from the beginning, and each
action and event as it occurs is consequently in-
evitable and has been planned from the very crea-
tion of things. Doubtless such thoughts prompted
Omar to write Verse 73:

" ' With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man

knead,
'And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:

And the first Morning of Creation wrote
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.'

" This idea that the universe is planned out, as
it were, in advance is somewhat different from the
doctrine which maintains that everything has, in
a sense, actually happened, — we merely perceiv-

360 THE COMING SCIENCE

ing sucli actions as we reach certain states or stages
in our journey through life; that is, all future
events are actually existent at present, but the rea-
son that we do not perceive them is that we have
not yet arrived at the point of view that enables
us to perceive them, — nor will we until the appro-
priate time has arrived. Perhaps w^e may be en-
abled to grasp this idea a little more fully when
we consider the following simple analogy. Let us
suppose ourselves on the hind platform of the rear
car of a train which is travelling at a more or less
rapid rate of speed. As the train moves, we per-
ceive, at either side of us, altered scenery, and the
country seems suddenly to be changed, — new scenes
coming into view and others vanishing. But it will
be seen that in this case the landscape newly per-
ceived is not actually created; it does not come into
being at the moment we perceived it ; it has always
existed, and the reason why it has not existed for us
before is that we have not been in a position to per-
ceive it until that moment ; and when the landscape
recedes in the distance, it is not annihilated, but
remains unaltered; but for us it has vanished —
for the reason that we are no longer in a position to
perceive it. Thus it is that events may perhaps
exist in some real or " noumenal " world which are
only perceived by us, as phenomena, at certain
definite stages or times for their perception."

PREMONITIONS 361

Such a conception of the universe would at least
enable us to understand much and make clear to
us the apparent facts of so-called premonition.
There is something awesome and stupendous in this
conception of the cosmos, and perhaps I cannot
do better, by way of illustration of this, than to
quote a page from Mr. Mitchell's charming little
story, Amos Judd, where he vividly portrays for
us the all-pervading intelligence and the omnipo-
tence of the moral force that rules the universe,
and man's impotence when opposed to it. Under
the mask of fiction, we find one of the most striking
conceptions of fatalism known to me. Amos, the
hero of the story, being gifted with the unwelcome
capacity of seeing into the future, had predicted
that Mr. Cabot was to perform certain acts the
next day at a certain time. Just at the time speci-
fied, Mr. Cabot found himself doing (quite natur-
ally, apparently) those very acts! This calls
forth conscious-resistance on his part, — the result
being a dramatic picture of a one-sided duel be-
tween the mind of man and that of some all-per-
vading fate. But I leave the author to tell his own
tale.

"... Mr. Cabot, as he strode rapidly to-
ward the village, experienced an elasticity and ex-
hilaration that recalled his younger days. He felt

362 THE COMING SCIENCE

more like dancing or climbing trees than plodding
sedately along a turnpike. With a quick, youthful
step he ascended the gentle incline that led to the
Common, and if a stranger had been called upon to
guess at the gentleman's age as he walked jauntily
into the village with head erect, swinging his cane,
he would more likely have said thirty years than
sixty. And if the stranger had watched him for
another three minutes he would have modified his
guess, and not only have given him credit for his
full age, but might have suspected either an ex-
cessive fatigue or a mild intemperance. For Mr.
Cabot, during his short walk through Daleford
Village, experienced a series of sensations so novel
and so crushing that he never, in his inner self, re-
covered completely from the shock.

" Instead of keeping along the sidewalk to the
right and going to the post-office according to his
custom, he crossed the muddy road and took the
gravel walk that skirted the Common. It seemed
a natural course, and he failed to realise, until he
had done it, that he was going out of his way.
Now he must cross the road again when opposite
the store. When opposite the store, however, in-
stead of crossing over, he kept along as he had
started. Then he stopped, as if to turn, — but his
hesitation was for a second only. Again he went
ahead, along the same path, by the side of the

I

PREMONITIONS 363

Common. It was then that Mr. Cabot felt a mild
but unpleasant thrill creep upward along his spine
and through his hair. This was caused by a start-
ling suspicion that his movements were not in obedi-
ence to his own will. A moment later it became a
conviction. The consciousness brought the cold
sweat to his brow, but he was too strong a man, too
clear headed and determined, to lose his bearings
without a struggle or without a definite reason.
With all the force of his nature he stopped once
more to decide it, then and there: and again he
started forward. An indefinable, all-pervading
force, gentle but immeasurably stronger than him-
self, was exerting an intangible pressure, and never
in his recollection had he felt so powerless, so weak,
so completely at the mercy of something that was no
part of himself; yet, while amazed and impressed
beyond his own belief, he suffered no obscurity of
intellect. The first surprise over, he was more puz-
zled than terrified, more irritated than resigned.

" For nearly a hundred yards he walked on, im-
pelled by he knew not what; then, with deliberate
resolution, he stopped, clutched the wooden railing
at his side, and held it with an iron grip. As he
did so, the clock in the belfry of the Unitarian
Church across the road began striking twelve. He
raised his eyes and, recalling the prophecy of Amos,
he bit his lip, and his head reeled as in a dream.

364. THE COMING SCIENCE

* To-morrow, as the clock strikes twelve, you will
be standing in front of the Unitarian Church,
looking up at it.' Each stroke of the bell — and
no bell ever sounded so loud — vibrated through
every nerve of his being. It was harsh, exultant,
almost threatening, and his brain in a numb, dull
way seemed to quiver beneath the blows. Yet, up
there, about the white belfry, pigeons strutted
along the moulding, cooing, quarrelsome, and im-
portant, like any other pigeons. And the sunlight
was even brighter than usual; the sky bluer and
more dazzling. The tall spire, from the moving
clouds behind it, seemed like a huge ship, sailing
forward and upward as if he and it were floating
to a different world.

" Still holding fast to the fence, he drew the other
hand sharply across his eyes to rally his wavering
senses. The big elms towered serenely above him,
their leaves rustling like a countless chorus in the
summer breeze. Opposite, the row of old-fash-
ioned New England houses stood calmly in their
places, self-possessed, with no sign of agitation.
The world, to their knowledge, had undergone no
sudden changes within the last five minutes. It
must have been a delusion: a little collapse of the
nerves, perhaps. So many things can affect the
brain: any doctor could easily explain it! He
would rest a minute, then return.

PREMONITIONS 365

" As he made this resolve, his left hand, like a
treacherous servant, quietly relaxed its hold and he
started off, not toward his home, but forward, —
continuing his journey. He now realised that the
force which impelled him, although gentle and
seemingly not hostile in purpose, was so much
stronger than himself that resistance was useless.
During the next three minutes, as he walked me-
chanically along the sidewalk by the Common, his
brain was nervously active in an effort to arrive at
some solution of this erratic business ; some sensible
solution that was based either on science or on com-
mon-sense. But that solace was denied him. The
more he thought the less he knew. No previous
experience of his own, and no authenticated expe-
rience of anyone else, at least of which he had ever
heard, could he summon to assist him. When op-
posite the house of Silas Farnam, he turned and
left the sidewalk, and noticed with an irresponsible
interest as he crossed the road that with no care of
his own he avoided the puddles and selected for his
feet the drier places. This was another surprise,
for he took no thought of his steps; and the dis-
covery added to the overwhelming sense of helpless-
ness that was taking possession of him. With no
volition of his own he also avoided the wet grass be-
tween the road and the gravel walk. He next
found himself in front of Silas Farnam's gate and

366 THE COMING SCIENCE

his hand reached forth to open it. It was another
mild surprise when his hand, Hke a conscious thing,
tried the wrong side of the httle gate, then felt
about for the latch. The legs, over which he had
ceased to have direction, carried him along the
narrow brick walk, and one of them lifted him upon
the granite doorstep.

" Once more he resolved, calmly and with a se-
rious determination, that this humiliating comedy
should go no further. He would turn about and
go home without entering the house. It would be
well for Amos to know that an old lawyer of sixty
was composed of different material from the impres-
sionable enthusiast of twenty-seven. While making
this resolve the soles of his shoes were drawing
themselves across the iron scraper; then he saw
his hand rise slowly toward the old-fashioned
knocker and, with three taps, announce his pres-
ence. A huge fly dozing on the knocker flew off
and Ht again upon the panel of the door. As it
adjusted its wings and drew a pair of front legs
over the front of its head Mr. Cabot wondered if,
at the creation of the world, it was foreordained
that this insect should occupy that identical spot
at a specified moment of a certain day, and execute
this trivial performance. If so, what a role human-
ity was playing! The door opened and Mrs.
Famam, with a smiling face, stood before him.

PREMONITIONS 367

How do you do, Mr. Cabot? Won't you step

mr

? »

"As he opened his hps to decline, he entered the
little hallway, was shown into the parlour, and sat
in a horse-hair rocking chair, in which he waited for
Mrs, Farnam to call her husband. When the hus-
band came, Mr. Cabot stated his business and found
that he was once more dependent upon his own voli-
tion. He could rise, walk to the window, say what
he wished, and sit down again when he desired."

So, for him, ended the most remarkable expe-
rience of his life.

Before such an all-pervading, all-powerful voli-
tion as this we pause, awestruck. Is it conceiv-
able that this universe is planned out and pre-
arranged in any such manner.'' It seems hardly
credible; and yet, how otherwise are we to account
for those obstinate facts that keep coming before
our attention, demanding an explanation, no mat-
ter what views we may care to hold of the uni-
verse, or their possibility? Premonitions are the
most baffling of all psychic phenomena, and, if ever
established scientifically and accepted as actual
facts, they will necessitate more recasting of old
theories and conceptions than any other character
of phenomena whatever. In conclusion I can only
repeat a wise saying, which is not without its sense

368 THE COMING SCIENCE

of humour and which might be fitly quoted in this
place. Two philosophers were arguing about the
possibility of a certain fact — one from experimen-
tal evidence, the other from d priori conceptions.
The latter had wound up his argument with a very
self-satisfying proof. " So you see it's an utter
impossibility, don't you ? " To which his friend
wisely replied : " My dear sir, I never said it was
possible, I said it was a fact! " Might we not ap-
ply this to premonitions.''

CHAPTER XVII

EUSAPIA PALADINO AND THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA
OP SPIRITUALISM

FOR the benefit of those of my readers who may
not have read many books upon psychic sub-
jects I may state that Eusapia Paladino is the name
of a woman, living in Naples, Italy, who is, it is
claimed, a most remarkable " physical medium ;"
i.e., that there occur in her presence movements of
objects without contact, tips of, and raps upon,
tables, playing of musical instruments without any
human hands, and a number of other manifesta-
tions, still more remarkable, which I shall outline in
brief immediately. I have, until now, withheld
from mentioning the physical phenomena, for the
reason that they are so much more open to doubt
and suspicion than are the mental or psychical phe-
nomena proper, — which are far more numerous and
more easily proved than are the physical facts. So
many mediums have been detected in fraud, in the
production of physical phenomena, that, whenever
they occur, there is immediately a suspicion, in the
minds of most persons, that fraud was in some
manner connected with the production of the phe-
nomena ; and this applies also to the medium under
369

370 THE COMING SCIENCE

discussion. It is well known to all the scientists
and other persons who investigate Eusapia that
she will deceive whenever she can do so; and that
unless fraud has been rendered impossible, she will
invariably produce the phenomena by fraudulent
means. If the statements of those scientists who
have carefully investigated this medium are to be
implicitly relied upon, there are very good reasons
why Eusapia should resort to fraud whenever she
can. It is asserted that whenever phenomena of the
kind under discussion are produced in a genuine
manner, the medium is left more or less exhausted ;
there is a certain nervous ' tiredness,' which follows
upon the production of phenomena of this sort. It
is only natural to suppose that, if the medium could
obtain the same results by fraudulent means, she
would do so, and thus save herself the consequent
fatigue. This, it is asserted, is the chief reason
why Eusapia (and kindred mediums) resort to
cheating, and, whether true or not, the explanation
is at least conceivable.

Let us now turn to a consideration of the phe-
nomena themselves, that are alleged to occur in the
presence of this medium. I shall quote from the
various reports concerning her mediumship
that have been brought in, reserving any re-
marks or discussion of the results until after-
wards. I quote a typical Report, taken from

PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM 371

M. Flammarion's fascinating book, Mysterious
Psychic Forces, where, after describing several re-
markable manifestations, he goes on to say : •

"A round centre table, placed at my right,
comes forward without contact towards the table,
always in full light, be it understood, as if it would
like to climb up on it, and falls down. Nobody
has moved aside or approached the curtain, and no
explanation of this movement can be given. The
medium has not yet entered into a trance and con-
tinues to take part in the conversation.

" Five raps in the table indicate, according to a
convention arranged by the medium, that the un-
known cause asks for less light. This is always an-
noying. . . . The candles are blown out, the lamp
turned down, but the light is strong enough for us
to see very distinctly everything that takes place in
the room. The round table, which I had lifted and
set aside, approaches the table and several times
tries to climb up on it. I lean upon it in order to
keep it down, but I experience an elastic resistance
and am unable to do so. The free edge of the
round table places itself on the edge of the rec-
tangular table, but, hindered by its triangular foot,
it does not succeed in clearing itself sufficiently to
climb upon it. Since I am holding the medium,
I ascertain that she makes no effort of the kind that

Sn THE COMING SCIENCE

would be needed for this style of performance.

" The curtain swells out and approaches my
face. It is at this moment that the medium falls
into a trance. She utters sighs and lamentations
and only speaks now in the third person, saying
that she is John King. . . . Five new raps
ask for still less light, and the lamp is almost com-
pletely turned down, but not extinguished. The
eyes, growing accustomed to the clare-obscure, still
distinguish pretty well what is taking place.

" The curtain swells out again, and I feel that
I am touched on the shoulder, through the stuff of
the curtain, as if by a closed fist. The chair in
the cabinet, upon which are placed the music-box
and the bell, is violently shaken, and the objects
fall to the floor. The medium asks again for less
light, and a red photographic lantern is placed
upon the piano, and the light of the lamp com-
pletely extinguished. The control is rigorously
kept up, the medium agreeing to it with the great-
est docility.

" For about a minute the music-box plays inter-
mittent airs behind the curtain, as if it were turned
by some hand. The curtain moves forward again
toward me, and a rather strong hand seizes my
arm. I immediately reach forward to seize the
hand, but I grasp only the empty air. I then
press the two legs of the medium between mine and

PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM 373

I take her left hand in my right. On the other
side, her right hand is firmly held in the left hand
of M. de Fontenay. Then Eusapia brings the
hand of the last named toward my cheek and imi-
tates upon the cheek, with the finger of M. de
Fontenay, the movement of a little revolving crank
or handle. The music-box, which has one of these
handles, plays at the same time behind the curtain
in perfect synchronism. The instant that Eusa-
pia's hand stops, the music stops: all the move-
ments correspond, just as in the Morse telegraph
system. We all amused ourselves with this. The
thing was tried several times in succession, and
every time the playing of the finger tallied with the
playing of the music.

" I feel several touches on the back and on the
side. M. de Fontenay receives a hard slap on the
back that everybody hears. A hand passes
through my hair. The chair of M. de Fontenay is
violently pulled, and a few moments afterwards he
cries, ' I see the silhouette of a man passing be-
tween M. Flammarion and me, above the table,
shutting out the red light ! '

" This thing is repeated several times. I do
not myself succeed in seeing the silhouette. I then
propose to M. de Fontenay that I take his place,
for in that case, I should be likely to see it also.
I soon distinctly perceive a dim silhouette passing

374 THE COMING SCIENCE

before the red lantern, but do not recognise any
precise form. It is only an opaque shadow (the
profile of a man) which advances as far as the
light and retires. In a moment, Eusapia says
there is someone behind the curtain. After a
slight pause she adds : ' There is a man by your
side, on the right; he has a great soft, forked
beard.' I ask if I may touch this beard. In fact,
while lifting my hand, I feel rather a soft beard
brushing against it. . . .

" The little round table, placed outside the cabi-
net, at the left of the medium, approaches the table,
climbs clear up on it and lies across it. The
guitar in the cabinet is heard moving about and
giving out sounds. The curtain is puffed out, and
the guitar is brought upon the table, resting upon
the shoulder of M. de Fontenay. It is then laid
upon the table, the large end towards the medium.
Then it rises and moves over the heads of the com-
pany without touching them. It gives forth sev-
eral sounds. The phenomenon lasts about fifteen
seconds. It can readily be seen that the guitar is
floating in the air, and the reflection of the red
lamp glides over its shining surface. A rather
bright gleam, pear-shaped, is seen on the ceiling
in the other corner of the room. . . . John is
spoken to as if he existed, as if it was he whose
head we perceived in silhouette ; he is asked to con-

PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM 375

tinue his manifestations and to show the impression
of his head in the putty, as he has already several
times done. Eusapia replies that it is a difficult
thing and asks us not to think of it for a moment,
but to go on speaking. These suggestions of hers
are always disquieting, and we redouble our atten-
tion, though without speaking much. The medium
groans, pants, writhes. The chair in the cabinet
on which the putty is placed is heard to move.
The chair comes forward and places itself by the
side of the medium, then it is lifted and placed
upon the head of Mme. Z. Blech, while the tray is
lightly placed in the hands of M. Blech, at the
other end of the table. Eusapia cries that she sees
before her a head and bust, and says, " E fatto "
("It is done"). We do not believe her, because
M. Blech has not felt any pressure on the dish.
Three violent blows as of a mallet are struck upon
the table. The light is turned on, and a human
profile is found imprinted upon the putty.

" Mme. Z. Blech kisses Eusapia upon both
cheeks, for the purpose of finding out whether her
face has not some odour (glazier's putty having a
very strong odour of linseed oil which remains for
some time upon the fingers). She discovers noth-
ing abnormal." ^

There are many cases, as interesting as this one,

iPp. 70-75.

376 THE COMING SCIENCE

running through the book. I have merely picked
out a typical seance, in which a number of repre-
sentative phenomena are said to have occurred.
Upon other occasions, these casts were obtained
in the putty, placed in the cabinet, the medium sit-
ting in the circle, and holding or held by members
of the circle in such a way as to render escape
(apparently) impossible; on other occasions, musi-
cal instruments have been seen to float about the
room, playing of their own accord, and, when a
light was struck, the instrument was seen to be in
a position in midair, as, for instance, in the fol-
lowing case:

" The light was extinguished and the experi-
ments begun again. While, in response to a unani-
mous wish, the little bell was beginning again its
tinklings and its mysterious aerial circuits, M.
Ascensi, taking his cue, unknown to us, from M.
Tamburini, went (unperceived, owing to the dark-
ness) and stood on the right of the medium, and
at once with a single scratch lighted a match, so
successfully, as he declared, that he could see the
little bell, while it was vibrating in the air, sud-
denly fall upon a bed, about six feet and a half
behind Mme. Paladino.'*

It would be unnecessary to repeat stances and de-

PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM 377

tails of such phenomena in this place, where space
is limited. Suffice it to say that phenomena of
this character have been taking place in the pres-
ence of Eusapia for a number of years past, and
she has now succeeded in convincing a very large
number of French and Italian, and some of the
finest English, scientists of the fact that the phe-
nomena are genuine, and are not the result of any
known process or known law. Apparently, Eu-
sapia is a second Home, whose advent has been so
long awaited, and this time she is being thoroughly
studied by some of the first scientific men of the
time, and not left to the care of one scientist, as
Home was practically left to Sir William Crookes.
In many of these seances, the light has been suffi-
ciently good to see the medium at the time that the
manifestations were actually in progress, and she
has been tied and held in such a manner as to ab-
solutely prevent any possibility of fraud. Of
course upon this question of possible fraud hangs
the whole case. I cannot attempt, in this place,
to refute that theory; indeed, we know that Eu-
sapia will cheat whenever she can, as already said.
But I quote a passage ^ which seems to challenge
explanation by any theory of fraud, and Is one of
the most Interesting documents that I have ever
come across, whatever theory we may choose to

1 Annals of Psychical Science, May, 1907.

378 THE COMING SCIENCE

hold by way of explanation of the phenomena.
At the seance in question, which took place in the
psychological laboratory of one of the three scep-
tical doctors who were holding the seance (also
the medium), the following took place:

" After table No. 1 had stood upright, Dr.
AruUani approached it, but the piece of furniture,
moving violently towards him, repulsed him; Dr.
A. seized the table, which was heard to crack in
the struggle. It was a strong table of white wood,
about 2 ft. 9 in. high, and 3 ft. long by 22 in.
broad, weighing 17 lbs.

" Dr. A. asked that the hand behind the curtain
should grasp his; the medium replied in her own
voice, ' First I am going to break the table, then I
will give you a grasp of the hand.' This declara-
tion was followed by three fresh, complete levita-
tions of the table, which fell back each time heavily
onto the floor. All those who were on the left of
the medium could observe, by a very good red
light, the various movements of the table. The
latter bent down and passed behind the curtain,
followed by one of us (Dr. C. Foa), who saw it
turn over and rest on one of its two short sides,
whilst one of the legs of the table came off vio-
lently, as if under the action of some force pressing
upon it. At this moment the table came violently

PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM 379

out of the cabinet and continued to break up under
the eyes of everyone present; at first its different
parts were torn off, then the boards themselves went
to pieces. Two legs which still remained united by
a thin slip of wood floated above us and placed
themselves on the seance table."

It would seem almost impossible to explain such a
case by fraud, and would seem to establish the
genuineness of the phenomena, however incredible
they may appear. Assuming, for the sake of
argument, that these phenomena are really facts,
that they actually happened, as stated, how are we
to account for them ?

When we come to explanatory hypotheses, there
have been a number brought forward to explain
the facts, and it must be said at once, not very
satisfactorily.

There is first of all the theory that the nervous
fluid or forces of the medium are in some manner
externalised beyond the periphery of the body,
and, operating in space, produce the results men-
tioned. As M. Flammarion expressed it : " The
vital force of the medium might externalise itself
and produce in a point of space a vibratory system
which should be the counterpart of itself, in a more
or less advanced degree of visibility and solidity."
A number of the minor facts could be accounted for

380 THE COMING SCIENCE

in this manner, such as the mere movements of
objects without contact, and would seem to be
strongly borne out by certain facts — e. g.^ the
current of cold air (?) that is felt to proceed from
the scar on the medium's temple when the phe-
nomena are in full swing; and this would also
seem to tell strongly against fraud. (Of course
there is the possibility of hallucination to be
reckoned with, in a case of this character, but in
view of the facts, I do not think it need be seriously
considered.) In a word, then, this theory of the
extemalisation of nervous fluid or force has much
to recommend it; and there are many phenomena
in physical science (radiation, etc.) with which to
compare it ; but there seem to me to be very many
facts that such a theory would not account for at
all. Take the cases of playing upon musical in-
struments, for instance: this implies intelligent
action, and fingers to manipulate the keys, in the
majority of cases; how is any " external force " to
account for these facts.? It seems to me that, while
this theory has its uses, and may be the correct one
to account for many of the phenomena, it cannot
be the true explanation of all the facts, as we
shall see more fully later on.

There has been another theory advanced, which
is far more daring than that just proposed. It is
that there is a sort of " fluidic prolongation of the

PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM 381

limbs " — the real hands and arms and legs, e, g.y
being in some manner duplicated in the " astral "
or fluidic or shell form and extended beyond the
limits of the medium's body. " This prolongation
is real," says M. Flammarion, " and only extends
to a certain distance from the medium, — a distance
which can be measured, and which varies according
to circumstances. . . . We are forced to ad-
mit that this prolongation, usually invisible and
impalpable, may become visible and palpable —
take, especially, the form of an articulated hand,
with flesh and muscles, and reveal the exact form of
a head or a body."

It will be seen that such a theory is closely allied
to the facts of materialisation ; and, if we could
accept such facts and the conclusions to which they
legitimately lead, we should have no difficulty what-
ever in accepting the phenomena of materialisa-
tion. But it is also closely allied to the astral-
form theory of the theosophists, and it is hard to
tell which of these would be correct, were it not for
the fact that the forms that appear, while they are
often duplicates of the medium, in one or more
ways, are also entirely different forms, upon occa-
sion — being the forms of men, e. g.^ with large
hands and a beard, etc. It is difficult to see how
any astral-body theory could account for these
facts — unless, indeed, we are prepared to admit

382 THE COMING SCIENCE

the possibility of astrals of discarnate spirits ; and
if that is done, how are we to distinguish them,
evidentially or in any other way, from materialisa-
tions ?

It will thus be seen that we have been led to the
spiritistic hypothesis almost without knowing it,
as an explanation of the facts under consideration;
and in many ways it is by far the most intelligible
explanation, and explains a far larger number of
the facts than does any other theory. On the
other hand, there are many objections to such an
hypothesis — the most formidable of which is the
fact that it assumes a * soul ' capable of function-
ing— ■ which is the very fact psychical researchers
are attempting to prove, and so begs the question.
If a soul were proved to exist, apart from such
phenomena as those under discussion, then we
should be entitled to speculate upon its potentiali-
ties and possible powers ; but we can hardly prove a
soul by such physical phenomena as those we have
been discussing. The fact of the soul's survival
must first of all be established by other facts than
these; and then, that once established, we should
be in a position to argue as to its possible powers
and limitations. Personally, I think that it is
premature to speculate on the origin and nature of
such phenomena as those presented by Eusapia
Paladino. The facts are not yet sufficiently well

PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM 383

established to warrant any speculations of the
kind, though one can well see how it would be a
temptation to offer such speculations when one has
been thoroughly convinced of the nature and gen-
uineness of the phenomena. There is always a
temptation to try and explain facts that are new,
to dovetail them into our present knowledge; and
in a sense that is perfectly right and legitimate.
It is only that the phenomena, in this case, are
so remarkable, so take one's breath away, that
one is inclined to cry " Halt " before any explana-
tions are offered of facts which, in themselves, seem
incredible beyond belief.

I shall end this discussion of the case by a quota-
tion from one of Sir Oliver Lodge's addresses be-
fore the Society for Psychical Research, in Lon-
don, when these phenomena first came to the atten-
tion of that Society and Dr. Lodge brought in
his report on the case. True or not, these specu-
lations seem to me to be highly interesting and sug-
gestive, and well worthy of being preserved. In
part they run as follows :

" The fact . . . that the medium's body
undergoes sympathetic or corresponding move-
ments or twitches is very instructive and interesting.
Sometimes, when she [the medium] is going to
push a distant object, she will make a little sudden

384 THE COMING SCIENCE

push with her hand in this direction, and imme-
diately afterward the object moves. Once this was
done for my edification with constantly the same
object, viz.y a bureau in the corner of the room.
When six or seven feet away the time-
interval (between the push and the movement
of the object) was something like two seconds.
When the accordion is being played, the fingers of
the medium are moving in a thoroughly appro-
priate manner, and the process reminds one of the
twiching of a dog's legs when he is supposed to be
dreaming that he is chasing a hare. It is as if
Eusapia were dreaming that she was fingering the
instrument, and dreaming it so vividly that the
instrument was actually played. It is as if a dog
dreamt of the chase with such energy that a distant
hare was readily captured and killed, as by a
phantom dog; and, fanciful as for the moment it
may seem^ and valueless as I suppose such specula-
tions are, I am, I confess, at present more than half
disposed to look in some such direction for a clue
to these effects. In an idealistic conception of na-
ture it has by many philosophers been considered
that thought is the reality, and that material sub-
stratum is but a consequence of thought. So, in
a minor degree, it appears here; it is as if, let us
say, the dream of the entranced person were vivid
enough physically to effect surrounding objects

PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM 886

and actually produce objective results; to cause
not only real and permanent movements of ordinary
objects, but also temporary fresh aggregations of
material particles into extraordinary objects —
these aggregations being objective enough to be
felt, heard, seen, and probably even photographed
while they last."

I think the reader will agree with me in feeling
that these remarks open before us a world of pos-
sibilities, and incline us to the belief that we are
" but shadows " after all, as Omar said, and that
behind and beyond this world of matter there is
another world of causes and forces, of which we are
just beginning to see and realise the effects, and
consequently which we are only just beginning to
investigate. It is the world of noumena^ of causes,
that modern science must begin to investigate in
this new century, just as the science of the last
century devoted its energies to the world of phe-
nomena or effects. When this has been realised
and the energies and ingenuity of scientific men
are turned in this direction, then we may begin to
look for progress indeed; for development along
lines hitherto all but neglected; for a wider and
deeper and broader view of the universe. And it is
this research into the world of causes which is,
largely, the legitimate problem of psychical re-

386 THE COMING SCIENCE

search ; it opens before us a new vista of latent pos-
sibilities and shows us that here is, waiting to be
developed, indeed a new science; the science of the
coming century — the Coming Science.

I

CHAPTER XVIII

CONCLUSION

T HAVE attempted, in the preceding pages, to
■^ give a very rapid survey of the field of psy-
chic research and of the chief theories that might
be advanced by way of explanation of the facts.
As before stated, I have not attempted to cite any
large number of cases or make any great showing
of proof, for the reason that that field has been
covered in many volumes on this subject: I have
devoted myself rather to possible explanations of
facts which must, some day, be recognised as a
part of legitimate science. Once the facts are
accepted, their explanation becomes of prime im-
portance; and it will not be any disadvantage to
the average person to be in possession of those
ideas and theories that have been advanced, from
time to time, by way of explanation of these facts.
There is no more fascinating field than this —
the borderland of the Unknown; the dim, obscure
region that lies between mind and matter, between
physical and spiritual forces and energies, between
the noumenal and the phenomenal worlds. The
phenomena presented for our consideration are
themselves the most fascinating and the most vital
387

888 THE COMING SCIENCE

that can ever be discussed; while the immense sig-
nificance of their interpretation must be apparent
to those who think and reflect at all. Whether the
universe is at basis material or spiritual is the
greatest question that can ever be raised; it lies
at the root of all moral law, no less than philoso-
phy and science (in the generally accepted sense
of the word), and is the most important question
before the world today, without a doubt. Upon
such facts as these must rest all future religion;
for, apart from the facts of psychic research, what
evidence have we that the soul exists after the
death of the body at all ? I have elsewhere pointed
out that we have no such evidence ; so that upon the
outcome of this investigation may be said to hang
the whole future spiritual evolution of the race.
Materialism must ultimately triumph, if no facts
can be brought forward to prove it erroneous ; and
that would mean the sacrifice and the abolition of
the religious consciousness of the age. The
societies for psychical research have long realised
this point and insisted upon the immense impor-
tance and significance of the work in hand — a
work that should be endowed a thousand times more
lavishly than any of the churches, since it is
(or soon will be) the only means and the sole
weapon with which successfully to combat material-
ism. The issue once fairly raised, and the great

CONCLUSION 389

world-problems once grasped by the average man,
this will become apparent, and then, it is to be
hoped, the much needed and shamefully neglected
support will be forthcoming.

I repeat: let one single fact which the psychical
researcher defends be proved true and the funda-
mental conceptions of science, as at present held,
must be completely shaken. It will not be neces-
sary to retract any of the laws or facts which have
been won with such great exertion, at such a cost,
but merely to remodel our conceptions of science
and enlarge its boundaries so as to include the
new facts — and possibly to include a spiritual
universe, a world of forces and causes, of which
we see the resultants merely. We should open
communication with a world of spiritual intelli-
gences, they apparently producing phenomena
which we are called upon to study; and the solu-
tion of these phenomena will, without doubt, form
the Coming Science.

THE END

INDEX

Abnormality, question of, 59-

78.
Absolute, the, 2T0-72.
Adler, Dr. Felix, 39.
Anderson, Dr., 74.
Apparitions, nature of, 273-

84.. *

Arullani, Dr., 378.
Ascensi, M., 376.
" Atmosphere," 317-19.

Balfour, A. J. , 60.
Barrett, Prof. W. F., 60.
Belief, value of, 30-32.
Bernheim, Dr., 74.
Binet, A., 74.
Blech, M., 375.
Braid, Dr., 74, 180-81.
Bramwell, Dr. Milne, 73, 74,

75, 76, 179, 186-7, 189, 191.
Bulwer, Lord Ly tton, 326, 336.

Carus, Dr. Paul, 148-58, 166-9.
Census of Hallucinations, 279.
Charcot. Dr., 67, 72. 73. 181,

187.
Clifford, Prof. W. K., 135.
Clothes of ghosts, 315.
Cocke, Dr., 74.
Coming Science, defined, 2-13,

386, 389.
Confidence, importance of,

30-32.
Consciousness, inclusive, 34-5 ;

nature of, 118; relation of,

to body, 122-6, 129-36.
Consciousness of dying, 222-6.

Cooley, Georgia Gladys, 339-

46.
Crookes, Sir William, 60, 196,

231-4, 377.
Crowe, Mrs., 3ia
Criminal suggestion, question

of, 74-6.
Crystal-gazing, 65-6.
Cui Bono ? 85-6.

Davis, Andrew Jackson, 94,

230.
De Courmelles, 74.
De Mude, 74.

Devil theory of hypnotism, 70.
Duncan, Dr. Kennedy, 110-11.
Dods, Dr. J. B., 112.
Dreams, nature and character

of, 210-22.
Dying, consciousness of, 222-6.

Electricity and life, 109-13.

Elliotson, Dr., 180.

Energy, vanishing of, 97-8;

conservation of, 99-104.
Esdaile, Dr., 180.
Evolution of mind, 2-3; of

spirit, 3.

Faria, Abb^, 180.

F^re, Dr., 74.

Flaramarion, Camilla, 52, 353,

371-5, 379, 381.
Fletcher, Horace, 41.
Foa, Dr. C, 378.
Fonteney, de, 373.
Fox Sisters, 228-9.

392

INDEX

Funk, Dr. I. K., 139. 144.
Future life, indifference to,
18-19 ; objections to, 20-23.

Gladstone, Hon., 26.
Gurney, Edmund, 60, 74, 182,
185, 187, 276, 278, 328.

Haeckel, Ernst, 48, 52, 90, 125,

144, 146.
Hallucinations, natureof, 63-6;

Census of, 279.
Happiness, defined, 41.
Harris, Hon. John, 332.
Hart, Dr. K, 72, 187.
Hayden, Mrs., 231.
Health, value of, 14-15.
Heidenhain, Dr., 187.
Hodgson, Dr. Richard, 68-9,

168, 235, 236, 237, 239-40,

241, 245, 248, 257.
Home, D. D., 230-35.
Hutchinson, Horace G., 195,

211, 214, 216.
Huxley, Prof. Thomas, 82,

91, 128-9, 136.
Hypnotism, nature of, 69-76,

187-90; vs. mesmerism, 179-

80.
Hyslop, Dr. James H., 53, 60,

194, 210, 222-6, 237, 249,

250, 251, 253, 255, 257, 298-

300.
Hysteria, 73.

Idealism, 27-8.

James, Prof. William, 4, 31,
34, 52, 60, 68, 74, 88, 119,
120-21, 135, 137, 187, 207,
235, 239.

Janet, Pierre, 328.

Jastrow, Prof. Joseph, 83-4.

Johnson, Miss Alice, 193-4.

Lang, Andrew, 56, 60, 316-17.
Langley, Professor, 60.
Lavoisier, 93.

Leadbeater, C. W,, 209.
Leaf, Dr. Walter, 236, 241.
Le Bon, Dr. Gustave, 92, 93-7.
Li^beault, Dr. , 187.
Life, meaning of, 39-42 ; nature

of, 108-13.
Lloyd-Tuckev, Dr., 74.
Lodge, Sir Oliver, 44, 60, 80.

236, 241, 383-5.
Lowell, Prof. Percival, 118,

188, 242.

MacDougall, Dr. Duncan, 285,

286-98.
Mason, Dr. Osgood, 79.
Materialisation, possibility of,

95.
Matter, nature of, 94-5.
Melviile, Rear Admiral G. W.,

309-10.
Mesmer, Anton, 179, 228.
Mesmerism vs. hypnotism,

179-80.
Metaphysics, necessity for, 6.
Mind, evolution of, 2-3.
Mind-stuff theory, 135.
Mitchell, J. A., 361-7.
Moll, Dr. Albert, 74, 187.
Morbiditv, 59-78.
Myers, F. W. H., 60, 65, 74,

77, 89, 115, 182, 184, 186,

188-90, 196, 202, 214, 236,

241, 247, 276, 320-21, 328.

Newnham, Rev. P. B., 282.
Nichols, Dr. T. L., 307.

Omar Khayyam, 358, 359.
Orthodox objections, 50-53.

Paladino, Eusapia, 369-86.
Piper, Mrs., 68-9, 235-8, 239-

56 257.
Podmore, Frank, 63-4, 228,

315.
Positive electricity, and life,

109-14.

INDEX

89S

Prejudice, examples of, 46-7.
Premonitions, theories of, 353-

68.
Psychical phenomena, value

of, 24-6.

Quackenbos, Dr., 74.

Rabagliati, Dr. A., 307.
Ramsey, Sir William, 91.
Rayleigh, Lord, 60.
Ripon, Bishop of, 60.
Romanes, J. G., 129-36.
Ruskin, John, 60.

SchiUer, F. C. S., 18, 60, 126.
Shaler, Prof. N., 104-5.
Sidgvvick, Prof. Henry, 60,

114, 241.
Sidgwick, Mrs. Henry, 260,

314.
Sleep, theories of, 204-10.
Snyder, Garl, 109, 194.
Spencer, Herbert, 136.
Spirit, evolution of, 3.
Stead, William T., 323.
Stevenson, R. L., 18, 60.
Stewart, Balfour, 60.
Strong, Prof. G., 28, 135.
Superstition, 53-7.

Tamburini, Professor, 376.

Telepathy, nature of, 115,
192-6, 201-3 ; evidence for,
196-201.

Theological objections to psy-
chical research, 50-53.

Thompson, Mrs., mediumship
of, 69.

Thomson, Dr. Hanna, 129.

Thurston, H., 109.

Time-relations, in dreams, 210-
11.

Trance, description of, 241-2.

TyndaU, Professor, 127-8.

Universe, end of, 95-6; be-
ginning of, 96-7.

Vincent, Harry, 187.

Vitality, impossibility of add-
ing to, 37-8; and law of
conservation, 99-104, source
of, 101-4.

Wagner, Rudolph, 298.
Wakeraan, Thaddeus B., 139-

48, 169-73.
Wallace, Prof. A. R.,46, 48,60.
Will, weakened, 73.
WilUngton Mill, 337.

X, Miss, 65, 79, 313, 318,
324^, 326, 332, 334-6.

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