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TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 


BALLANTVNE.    HANSON    AND  CO 
KUINUl/ROIl    ANU    LONDON 


TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 


^n  Srrount  of  ^xprrimrntal  3?nof5:tigaticns. 
JFrom  tJjr  Scicnttttr  ^Trratisrs 


JOHAXX  GAEL  FEIEDEICH  ZOLLNEE, 

'I 

Professor  of  Physical  Astronomy  at  the  University  of  Leijysic  : 

Member  of  the  Royal  Saxon  Society  of  Sciences  ; 

Foreign  Member  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society  of  London ; 

of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Natural  Philosophers  at  Moscow  : 

Honorary  Member  of  the  Physical  Association  at  Franlfort-on-the-Main  . 

of  the  "  Seient(^^  Society  of  Psychological  Studies,"  at  Paris: 

and  of  the  "  British  National  Association  of  Spiritualists,"  at  London. 


(ZCransIateu  from  tije  (Serman,  iuitl)  a  iprefacc  anH  appcntJices,  bp 
CHAELES  CAELETOX  MASSEY, 

OF   I.IKCOLS'S    INK,    BARRISTER-AT-I.AW. 


LONDON: 
W.  H.  HAEEISON,   33  MUSEUM    STEEET,  W.C. 

1880. 


■AIN  UBRAftV 
JOHN  FRYER 
CHINESE  LIBRARY 


BIOLOC 


£D 

WMor 


CONTENTS. 


Translator's  Preface .    xvii 

Author's  Dedication  to  Mr.  William  Crookes,  F.R.S.    .       .     xlv 

CHAPTER  I. 

Gauss's  and  Kant's  Theory  of  Space — The  Practical  Application  of 
the  Theory  in  Experiments  with  Henry  Slade — True  Knots  pro- 
duced upon  a  Cord  with  its  ends  in  view  and  sealed  together    .         i 

CHAPTER  IT. 

Magnetic  Experiments — Physical  Phenomena — Slate-Writing  under 

Test  Conditions 22 

■4' 
CHAPTER  III. 

Permanent  Impressions  obtained  of  Hands  and  Feet — Proposed 
Chemical  Experiment — Slade's  Abnormal  Vision — Impressions 
in  a  Closed  Space — Enclosed  Space  of  Three  Dimensions  open 
to  Four-Dimensional  Beings 48 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Conditions  of  Investigation — Unscientitic  Men  of  Science — Slade's 

Answer  to  Professor  Barrett 62 


751656 


roN'TENTS. 


<  M.MTKK  \ 


Pruiliictiitn  «f  Knots  in  iin  KntllcHH  Strin;; — Further  Experinientn  — 
Miitorinlisiition  of  HantlH— DiHnppcnrnnco  and  HenpiH^nranco  of 
Solid  OhjrctM  —  A  Table  Vanislu-s,  and  afterwards  IVscondo 
from  tlio  Cciliii;;  in  Full  Li<rlit     ....... 


CILM'TKi;    \"l 

'I'iu'tiretiial  ("onsidcralions— I'rojccted  Exporinient*  for  I'nMtf  uf 
the  Konrth  DinioMsioii  — The  rnexpectod  in  Nature  and  Life — 
Schn|icnhaiici'.'«  "  Traiisrciident  I'atc  "         .....        93 

CHAI'TEH  VII. 

A'arious    Instance-"    of    the    .so-ealled    ras.«a;.'e    of    Matter    throu;,di 

Matter 103 

Cli.M'THU  \III. 

The  Phenomena  suitable  for  Scientific  Research — Their  Ueprodue- 
tion  at  Different  Times  and  Places — Dr.  Fricse's  and  Professor 
Wa;,nier's  E.xperinients  in  Confirmation  of  the  Author's     .  130 

CHAPTKl!   IX. 

Theoretical;  "The  Fourth  Dimension' — Professor  Hare's  E.vpcri- 
mcnts— Further  Experiments  of  the  Autiior  with  Siade — Coins 
Transferred  from  Closed  and  Fastened  Hoxcs — Clairvoyance  149 

CHAI'TKi:  X. 

An  Experiment  for  Sceptics — A  Wager — Slade's  Scruples— A 
Rebuke  by  the  Spirits — An  Unexpected  Result— Captious 
Oltjections    .  .         .         .         .  ,  •75 

CII.MTKK   XI. 

Writing  through  a  Table — A  Test   in   Slate-Writing  conclusively 

Disproving  Slade's  Agency 191 


CONTENTS.  XI 


CHAPTER  XII. 

fAliK 

'Fault  "  in  the  Cable— A  Jet  of  Water— Smoke— "  Fire  Every- 
where"— Abnormal  Shadows — Explanation  upon  the  Hypo- 
thesis of  the  Fourth  Dimension — A  Seance  in  Dim  Li^lit — 
Movement  of  Objects — A  Luminous  Undy 204 


CHAPTER  XIH. 

Plunomena  Described  bv  Others 219 


A  r  P  E  N  I)  I  C  E  S. 

Appendix  A.— Tlie  Value  of  Testimony  in  Matters  Extraordinary  237 
Appendix  B. — Evidence  of  Sanuiel  Bellachini,  Court  Conjurer  at 

Berlin  ...:..••  259 
Appendix  C— Admissions  by  John  Nevil  Maskelynr,  and  otlitr 

Professional  Conjurers 262 

Appendix  D. -Plate  X 265 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Frontispiece. — The  room  at  Leipsic  in  Avhich  most  of  the  Experi- 
ments were  conducted. 

Plate  I.— Experiment  with  an  Endless  String        ....       15 

,,       II. — Leather   Bands   Interlinked   and   Knotted   under   Pro- 
fessor ZoUner's  Hands 83 

,,     III. — Experiment  with  an  Endless  Bladder-Band  and  Wooden 

Rings 107 

,,     IV. — Result  of  the  Experiment        ......     109 

,,       V. — Ditto,  on  an  Enlarged  Scale iii 

,,     VI. — Experiment  with  Coins  in  a  Secured  Box       .        .      160,  161 

,,    VII. — The  Representation  of  Conditions  under  Avhich  Shite- 

Writing  was  obtained         .        .        .         .        .        -193 

,,  VIII. — SI  ate- Writing  Extraordinary 200,  201 

,,     IX. — Slate-Writing  in  live  Different  Languages      ,         .      230,231 

,,       X. — Details  of  the  Experiment  with  an  Endless  Band  and 

Wooden  Rings    ........     266 


s 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 


"  These  things,  O  Asclepius,  will  appear 
to  be  true  if  thou  understaudeth  them, 
but  if  thou  understaudeth  them  not,  in- 
credible.  For  to  understand  is  to  believe, 
but  not  to  believe  is  not  to  understand." — 
The  Divine  Pimander. 


TRANSLATOR'S   PREFACE. 


*'  Teanscendental  Physics  "  is  the  title  of  the  third 
volume  of  Professor  ZoUner's  Scientific  Treatises. 
Some  of  the  parts  comprised  in  the  following  trans- 
lation belong  to  the  earlier  volumes,  where  the  facts 
recorded  are  introduced  in  connection  with  the 
author's  phj^sical  speculations.  It  is  with  some  con- 
cern that  the  translator  has  been  compelled  to  forego 
a  full  presentation  of  the  latter ;  but  it  is  hoped  that 
enough  is  given  to  show  their  bearing  upon  facts, 
the  public  recognition  of  which  is  the  principal  object 
in  view.  With  such  assistance  as  is  afforded  by  the 
author's  occasional  explanations,  the  English  reader 
must  be  left  to  grapple,  as  best  he  can,  with  the 
unfamiliar  conception  of  the  fourth  dimension  of 
space.  Professor  Zollner  traces  this  hypothesis 
historically  in  the  writings  of  some  of  the  most 
eminent  philosophers  and  mathematicians  ;  but  it 
was  not  possible  to  disengage  this  account  from  other 
metaphysical  and  scientific  disquisitions,  or  from  con- 
troversial topics,  in  which  it  is  involved.     A  very 

general  abstract  is  given  in  the  first  chapter,  which 

b 


XVlil  TRANSLATOKS    rUKFACE. 

is  a  reprint,  by  permission  of  Mr.  Crookes,  F.R.S., 
of  au  article  puMislied  iu  the  Quarievhj  Journal  of 
Science,  of  April  1S7S,  on  the  appearance  of  the  first 
volume  of  the  author's  treatises. 

The  writer  ventures  to  hope  that  this  English 
version  of  facts  so  well-attested  may  be  read  by  those 
to  whom  the  intellectual  worth  and  achievements  of 
the  principal  witnesses  are  already  known.  But  for 
the  information  of  the  general  public,  the  following 
j^articulars  concerning  them  are  here  given. 

Professor  Zollner,  the  author  and  chief  deponent, 
in  whose  house  many  of  the  facts  he  records  occurred, 
was  born  in  1834,  and  is  thus  in  the  mature  vigour 
of  his  intellectual  life.  He  is  Professor  of  Physics 
and  Astronomy  in  the  University  of  Leipsic,  and  has 
taken  place  in  the  front  ranks  of  the  scientific  men 
of  Europe.  He  has  published  many  works,  among 
which  are  Sketches  of  a  Universal  Photometry  of  the 
Starry  Heavens,  Physical  Nature  of  the  Heavenly 
Bodies,  The  Nature  of  Comets,  and  these  treatises. 

"William  Edward  AVeber,  born  1804,  i^  ^  Professor 
of  Physics,  and  known  as  the  founder,  in  common 
with  his  brother,  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Vibration  of 
Forces.  He  has  published  an  exhaustive  work  on 
Electro-Dynamic  Measurement  (4  vols.  1 846-1 854). 
No  scientific  reputation  stands  higher  in  Germany 
than  that  of  Weber. 

Professor  Schcibncr,  of  Leipsic  University,  is  a 
well-known  and  highly  distinguished  mathematician. 

Gustave  Theodore  Fechner,  born   iSoi,  is  eminent 


TRANSLATORS   PREFACE.  XIX 

as  a  natural  pliilosopher,  and  is  likewise  Professor  of 
Physics  at  Leipsic.  Among  his  works  are  The  Soul 
of  Plants,  The  Zendavesta,  The  Things  of  the  Future^ 
Elements  of  Psycho-Physics,  The  Problem  of  the  Soul, 
and  About  the  Life  Hereafter. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  testimony  of  these 
men,  publicly  given  to  such  facts  as  those  described 
in  the  following  pages,  has  caused  much  excitement 
and  controversy  in  Germany.  The  indisposition  to 
see  in  the  alleged  phenomena  of  Spiritualism,  as 
regards  their  reality  and  independence  of  known 
causes,  a  simple  question  of  evidence,  has  been  every- 
where apparent.  Nevertheless,  it  is  just  from  this 
point  of  view  that  the  public  must,  by  degrees,  be 
brought  to  regard  the  subject.  The  irrelevance  of 
any  other  mode  of  treating  it  will  sooner  or  later  be 
recognised.  The  value  of  human  testimony  is  deter- 
minable by  known  criteria,  which  can  only  be  applied 
by  a  critical  examination  of  the  statements  made, 
having  regard  also  to  what  is  ascertained  about  the 
witnesses.  Supposing  the  veracity  and  intelligence 
of  the  latter  to  be  above  suspicion,  we  have  to  con-, 
sider  what  were  their  opportunities  for  exact  obser- 
vation, with  reference,  of  course,  to  the  nature  of  the 
fact  observed.  The  latter,  indeed,  is  the  main  point, 
because  we  know  that  the  faculty  of  accurate  obser- 
vation differs  widely  in  different  people,  and  we 
cannot  have  the  same  confidence  in  this  special 
capacity  of  the  witness  that  we  may  have  in  his 
general  intelligence.     For  example :  during  the  pro- 


XX  TRANSLAToKS    I'KKFACE. 

secutioii  of  Shulc  nt  Bow  Street  in  1876  by  Professor 
Laiikester,  the  latter  tleclared  himself  unable  to  say 
on  which  side  of  a  slate,  pressed  by  Slade  against  the 
under  surface   of   the   table,    a   certain  writing  was 
produced ;    remarking,    that    the    slate   might   have 
been  reversed  on  witlidrawal  by  sleight  of  hand,  and 
that  it  was  part  of  the  art  of  a  conjurer  to  effect 
such  a  change  without  observation.     That  there  was 
some  force  in  this  su^Tjijestion  could  not  be  denied  ; '''" 
and  had  a  witness  in  support  of  Slade  stated  that 
the  writing,  produced  under  the  conditions  described, 
appeared  on  the  side  of  the  slate  which  was  pressed 
against  the  table,  the    accuracy  of   his  observation, 
and  therefore  the  value  of  his  testimony,  might  have 
been  challenged  on  this  ground.     How  far  a  similar 
criticism    is    applicable   to    any   of    the    facts    here 
recorded  by  Professor  Zollner,  to  any  of  them,   at 
least,  which  he  lays  stress  upon,  and  thinks  it  worth 
while  particularly  to  describe,  the  reader  must  judge 
for  himself.     But  take,  for  instance,  those  of  which 
circumstantial  accounts  are  given  at  pages  14,  34,  and 
91,  and  contrast  them,  in  relation  to  this  all-important 
point,  with  the  one  just  mentioned.     If  in  the  latter 
case,  average  powers  of  observation  might  possibly 
be  baflBled,  in  the  others,  the  nature  of  the  phenomena 
was  such,  that  so  far  as  Slade's  physical  instrumen- 
tality in  them  is  in  question,  the  suggestion  that  it 

*  The  writer  tested  it  afterwards,  by  making  Slade  withdraw  the  slate 
very  slowly,  inch  hy  inch,  as  soon  as  the  sound  of  writing  ceased,  when 
the  writing  appeared  in  successive  lines  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  slate 
(that  a^^aiust  the  table). 


TRANSLATORS   PREFACE.  Xxi 

might  have  eluded  observation  will  be  felt  to  trans- 
gress tbe  limits  prescribed  by  candour  and  common 
sense. 

Tlie  evidence  of  testimony  is  tlie  evidence  of  tbe 
senses,  or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  of  sense-impres- 
sions as  interpreted  by  the  mind,  one  degree  removed. 
The  only  elements  of  fallacy  possibly  added  by  testi- 
mony to  original  observation  are  such  as  may  result 
from  defects  of  veracity,  defects  of  memory,  defects  of 
judgment  as  to  what  is  material  to  be  mentioned, 
and  defects  of  language,  or  the  understanding  of 
it  by  the  recipient  of  the  testimony.  In  short, 
the  peculiar  infirmity  of  proof  by  testimony  is  the 
uncertainty  whether  it  conveys  to  the  mind  an  exact 
or  sufficient  transcript  of  the  fact  as  it  was  perceived 
by  the  original  observer.  For  whatever  concerns 
defects  of  observation  belougs  to  the  j)erception,  and 
not  to  the  transmission  of  facts  by  testimony.  Even 
if  we  could  be  satisfied  that  we  had  got  a  perfect  copy 
of  the  original  objective  impression  made  upon  the 
witness,  we  still  could  not  be  sure  that  the  fact  so 
conveyed  to  us  would  not  have  contained  more  or 
less  for  ourselves  had  we  been  in  his  place.  In  all 
matters  requiring  skilled  observation,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  testimony  of  an  expert  has  far  higher  value 
as  evidence  for  those  who  are  not  experts  than  their 
own  observations  would  have. 

In  considering  what  is  the  particular  risk  of  any 
of  the  above-mentioned  fallacies  of  testimony,  except 
the  first,  attaching  to  a  statement  of  facts,  the  same 


XXll  TRANSLATORS    PREFACE. 

remark  is  applicable  as  has  been  already  made  in 
speaking  of  the  value  of  original  observations.  Assum- 
ing the  veracity  of  the  witness,  we  must  have  especial 
regard  to  the  nature  of  the  facts,  and  of  the  state- 
ments concerning  them.  Are  the  latter  so  full, 
precise,  and  intelligible,  as  to  evince  that  the  witness 
is  speaking  from  a  strong  recollection,  with  a  clear 
nj^preciation  of  what  is  necessary  to  be  known,  and 
with  a  faculty  of  expression  sufficient  to  convey  dis- 
tinct and  unmistakable  meanings  to  an  ordinary 
understanding  ?  In  order  to  know  whether  the  state- 
ments are  really  sufficient  in  these  respects,  we  have  to 
consider  what  is  the  fact  to  he  proved  from  the  parti- 
cular facts  described, — as  in  the  following  accounts  the 
fact  to  be  proved  is,  that  Slade  had  no  active  physical 
participation  in  the  production  of  what  occurred.  Just 
as  the  probative  force  of  original  observation  depends 
on  the  supposition  that  no  circumstance  which  could 
have  escaped  ohservation  would  impair  the  demonstra- 
tion, so  the  probative  force  of  testimony  (veracity 
being  granted)  is  additionally  less  in  so  far  only  as  a 
similarly  important  circumstance,  actually  observed, 
could  have  escaped  the  memory,  or  be  regarded  in 
the  judgment  of  the  witness  as  too  unimportant  for 
mention.  As  the  faculty  of  observation  differs  in 
different  persons,  so  also  differ  the  memory  and  intel- 
liirence.  But  as  there  are  limits,  which  it  would  be 
contrary  to  all  experience  to  suppose  exceeded,  to  the 
fallibility  of  observation,  so,  likewise,  we  cannot  ascribe 
to  memory  and  intelligence,  in  reference  to  deliberate 


TRANSLATORS  PREFACE.  XXUl 

statements,  defects  so  gross  that  we  sliould  infer  with 
far  more  probability  intentional  untruth. 

The  validity  of  testimony  to  facts  of  such  a  nature, 
that  conceivable  errors  of  observatiou,  memory,  and 
judgment  may  be  left  out  of  account  in  concluding 
from  them,  is  thus  reduced  to  a  question  of  veracity. 
There  is  no  issue  so  studiously  shirked  as  this  by  the 
people  who  heap  contempt  on  all  evidence  in  favour 
of  occult  phenomena.  The  imputation  of  lying  is  felt 
to  be  too  crude,  coarse,  and  unintelligent  a  way  out 
of  the  difficulty.  And  so  we  hear  a  great  deal  of  the 
folly  and  credulity  of  the  witnesses,  and  of  their  unac- 
quaintance  with  the  wiles  of  the  conjurer,  but  hardly 
at  all  of  their  mendacity.  And  yet  no  testimonies, 
taken  singly  at  least,  to  such  things  are  worth  much, 
unless  the  issue  can  be  narrowed  to  this  of  veracity. 
If  there  is  any  chance  or  possil)ility,  consistently  with 
the  witnesses'  truth,  of  the  whole  thing  being  only  a 
more  or  less  skilful  trick,  the  testimony  is  scarcely 
worth  adducing  at  all. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  demand,  that  trickery  and 
conjuring  shall  not  be  suggested  at  large,  without 
regard  to  the  nature  of  what  occurs,  or  to  the  condi- 
tions of  its  occurrence,  as  affording  or  not  affording 
opportunities  for  the  exercise  of  these  arts,  does  not 
require  from  the  critic  of  the  evidence  an  exposition 
of  the  particular  modus  operandi  of  the  supposed  con- 
jurer, which  only  the  latter  could  supply.  No  one, 
for  example,  is  called  upon  to  explain  the  modus 
operandi  of  Psycho's  performances  at  the  Egyptian 


XXIV  TRANSLATORS  PREFACE. 

Hall,  or,  as  the  alternative,  to  atlmit  that  some  occult 
agency  is  concerned  in  them.  It  is  enough  that  on 
Messrs.  Maskelvne  and  Cooke's  own  stage,  commiinica- 
tion  with  the  automaton,  by  moans  known  to  science, 
is  possible,  thou;;h  Mr.  Maskelyno  stands  at  a  dis- 
tance from  it,  and  no  assistant  is  visible.  Ikit  trans- 
port Mr.  Maskelyne  and  his  automaton  to  a  private 
house,  to  a  room  which  the  conjurer  has  never  entered 
before,  or  which  he  has  had  no  facilities  for  adapting  to 
his  purposes  ;  let  him  be  unaccompanied  by  any  assist- 
ant, and  stand  aside  under  close  observation  while 
Psycho  plays  his  intelligent  hand  at  whist  with  some 
of  the  company,  or  works  out  the  sums  in  arithmetic 
which  they  set  him.  There  would  then  arise  a  question 
for  science  the  importance  of  which  it  could  not  affect 
to  undeiTate.  For  on  the  assumption  that  i\rr. 
Maskelyne  was  directly  and  consciously  instrumental 
in  what  occurred,  it  must  be  that  he  had  discovered 
a  method  of  applying  and  directing  natural  forces  at 
a  distance,*  while  apparently  himself  inactive,  which 
would  be  capable  of  the  most  practically  important 
uscs.t 

If,  now,  the  production  of  the  true  knots  in  an  end- 
less string,  the  rending  of  Professor  Zollner's  bed- 
screen,  the  disappearance  of  the  small  table  and  its 
subsequent  descent  from  the  ceiling,  in  full  light,  in 
a  i>rivate  house,  and  under  the  observed  conditions, 


•  That  Psycho  is  not  worked  by  Mr.  Ma.skeljTie  himself  from  the  stage 
hy  means  of  a  ma^'iict  lias  been  repeatedly  demonstrated. 
t  See  Appendix  C. 


TRANSLATORS    PREFACE.  XXV 

of  wliicli  the  most  noticeable  is  the  apparent  pas- 
sivity of  Slade  during  all  these  occurrences,  are  to  be 
ascribed  to  any  conscious  operation  of  his,  we  can 
hardly  avoid  attributing  to  him  scientific  discoveries, 
or  the  possession  of  secrets  of  nature  at  least  equally 
remarkable.  But  in  that  case  he  could,  and  it  would 
clearly  be  his  interest  to  produce  these  and  similar 
astonishing  effects  with  constant  regularity.  Pro- 
fessor Lankester  would  have  witnessed  them  no  less 
than  Professor  Zollner,  and  Slade  would  long  ago 
have  amassed  a  fortune  by  his  exhibitions.  The  fact 
that  he  cannot  command  these  phenomena,  at  least 
the  most  striking  of  them,  at  will,  points  to  conditions 
of  their  production  varying  with  his  own  physical 
and  mental  states,  and  probably  with  those  also  of 
the  persons  resorting  to  him.  And  this  is  the  reason 
why  these  phenomena,  though  as  capable  of  verifica- 
tion by  scientific  men  and  trained  observers  (by 
whom  they  have  in  fact  been  repeatedly  verified),  as 
by  any  one  else,  are  not  exactly  suitable  for  scientific 
verification.  There  is  a  clear  distinction  between  the 
two  things.  Scientific  verification  supposes  that  the 
conditions  of  an  experiment  are  ascertained,  that 
they  can  be  regularly  provided,  and  the  experiment 
repeated  at  pleasure.  One  hears  occasionally  of  offers 
from  men  of  science  to  investigate  and  attest  certain 
phenomena  of  Spiritualism,  selected  by  themselves, 
provided  they  can  witness  them  under  conditions  of 
their  own  prescribing.  These,  in  some  cases  well- 
meant  overtures,  proceed  on  the  assumption  that  the 


XXVI  TRANSLATORS  PREFACE. 

l>lionomonn,  if  gcnuiiio,  reqiiirc  nothing  but  the  mere 
physical  presence  of  the  medium,  and  that  it  is  only 
necessary  to  take  adcfpiate  precautions  (no  matter 
^vhat  these  are)  against  deception  hy  tlie  latter,  in 
order  to  obtain  a  scientific  demonstration.  When 
such  an  offer  is  rejected  or  neglected,  the  inference  of 
course  is  drawn  that  tlje  ** phenomena"  only  occur  when 
facilities  for  their  fraudulent  production  are  allowed. 
Yet  it  is  equally  consistent  with  the  medium's  know- 
ledge that  the  conditions  (of  which  he  is  himself 
ignorant)  cannot  be  controlled,  and  with  his  con- 
sequent indisposition  to  be  put  upon  a  formal  trial 
which  may  result  in  failure  and  discredit.  Syste- 
matic investigation  of  this  subject  by  men  of  science 
is  much  to  be  desired,  but  it  must  not  be  undertaken 
in  a  magisterial  spirit,  with  the  imposition  of  a  test, 
and  the  demand  of  an  immediate  result.  The  only 
claim  which  spiritualists  make  upon  scientists  is  tliat 
they  shall  not,  in  entire  ignorance  and  contempt  of 
the  evidence,  sanction  and  encourage  the  public  pre- 
judice by  their  authority.*  But  even  this  claim  can- 
not be  preferred  with  confidence.  Since  the  Council 
of  the  Royal  Society  refused,  by  its  rejection  of  J\Ir. 
Crookes's  paper,  *'  On  the  Experimental  Investigation 
of  a  new  Force,"  to  be  informed  of  the  evidence,  it 
must  be  considered  that  the  Fellows  of  that  distin- 
guished body  do,  in  general,  dispose  of  the  question 
on  a  priori  grounds,  and  hold  that  no  quantity  or 

♦  For  example,  by  (lcscril)inp;  Spiritualism  as  "a  kiud  of  intellectual 
whoredom."— I'rofcssor  Tyndall. 


TRANSLATORS  PREFACE.  XXVU 

quality  of  Iniinan  testimony  can  suffice  to  establish 
facts  of  this  description,  or  even  ii  prima  facie  case  in 
favour  of  them.  So  far  as  this  peremptory  rejection 
appeals  to  the  principle  of  incredulity  expounded  in 
Hume's  celebrated  Essay  on  Miracles,  it  shows  an  utter 
ignorance  of  the  reasoning  by  which  that  monstrous 
fallacy,  and  the  contradictions  in  which  its  author 
involved  himself,  have  been  repeatedly  exposed. 
This  has  never  been  better  done  than  in  the  intro- 
duction to  Mr.  Alfred  Eussel  Wallace's  book,  entitled 
"  Miracles  and  Modern  Spiritualism."  There  is,  how- 
ever, another  proposition  commonly  put  forward  to 
dispose  a  iJriori  of  unacceptable  testimony,  substan- 
tially, but  not  logically,  equivalent  to  Hume's,  and 
which  embodies  a  fallacy  no  less  demonstrable,  though 
so  widely  prevalent  as  to  necessitate  particular 
examination.  This  proposition  is,  that  evidence,  to 
command  assent,  should  be  proportional  to  the  pro- 
bability or  improbability  of  the  fact  to  be  proved. 
Two  years  ago  the  writer  dealt  with  it  at  some  length 
in  a  paper  read  before  the  Psychological  Society,  and 
which  is  reprinted  in  an  Appendix  at  the  end  of  this 
volume.*  Inasmuch  as  the  fallacy  in  question,  and 
the  loose  and  inaccurate  phrases,  applied  to  the  whole 
class  of  facts  now  in  evidence,  are  in  the  nature  of 
preliminary  objections  to  the  testimony  about  to  be 
adduced,  the  reader  is  urgently  referred  to  that  essay, 
which  cannot  be  conveniently  comprised  within  the 
limits  of  a  preface. 

*  Appendix  A.    "On  the  value  of  testimony  in  matters  extraordinaiy." 


-XXVlll  TRANSLATORS   PREFACE. 

Every  opponent  who  recognises  the  oLligalion  of 
dealing  seriously  with  evidence,  whether  by  explicitly 
ohjocting  to  its  admissibility,  or  by  questioning  its  in- 
trinsic value,  must  be  fairly  and  squarely  encountered. 
To  writers  in  the  press  who  never  miss  an  oppor- 
tunity of  discrediting  Spiritualism,  by  derisive  articles 
on  the  "exposures,"  real  or  reputed,  of  mediums, 
and  on  the  occasional  follies  of  spiritualists,  only  a 
l)assing  word  can  be  spared.  To  the  present  writer,  at 
least,  so-called  Spiritualism  represents  no  religious 
craze  or  sectarian  belief,  but  an  aggregation  (not  yet 
to  be  called  a  system)  of  proven  facts  of  incalculable 
importance  to  science  and  speculation.  Those  who 
so  regard  the  subject  would  be  unmoved  in  their 
convictions  of  its  truth  and  importance  though  it 
were  proved  that  every  medium  was  a  rogue,  and 
that  many  spiritualists  were  their  willing  dupes. 
Much  of  the  evidence  on  which  they  rely  has  pro- 
ceeded on  tljat  very  assumption,  and  on  the  precau- 
tions which  wore  accordingly  taken,  lii  none  of  it 
which  is  imparted  to  the  public  does  the  element  of 
personal  confidence  in  the  medium  enter  in  the 
smallest  deforce,  thoufjh  that  feelinfr  doubtless  does 
and  must  often  exist,  especially  when  the  manifes- 
tations occur,  as  they  often  do,  in  private  families, 
and  with  persons  whose  characters  are  beyond  all 
suspicion. 

As  regards  the  medium,  Henry  Sladc,  with  whom 
Professor  Zollner's  investigations  were  carried  on,  all 
the  world  knows,  or  did  know  a  few  years  ago,  that  he 


TRANSLATORS   PREFACE.  XXIX 

was  convicted  at  Bow  Street  Police  Court,  under  the 
fourth  section  of  the  Vagrant  Act,  of  using  "  subtle 
crafts  and  devices,  by  palmistry  or  otherwise,"  to 
deceive  Professor  E.  Kay  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  and  cer- 
tain others ;  that  he  was  sentenced  by  Mr.  Flowers, 
the  magistrate,  to  three  months'  imprisonment  with 
hard  labour  ;  and  that  the  conviction  was  afterwards 
C[uashed  on  appeal  to  the  Middlesex  Sessions,  for  a 
formal  error  in  the  conviction,  as  returned  to  tliat 
Court.  Professor  Zollner  gives  the  whole  report  of  the 
various  proceedings  from  beginning  to  end,  at  length, 
in  his  book,  but  it  has  not  been  thought  necessary 
to  reproduce  it  here.  It  may  be  stated  generally 
that  Professor  Lankester  had  two  sittins^s  with 
Slade,  at  each  of  which  he  believed  himself  to  have 
detected  the  mode  in  which  the  writing  was  produced 
on  the  slate.  On  the  second  occasion  he  was  accom- 
panied by  a  friend.  Dr.  Donkin,  whose  evidence 
agreed  with  his  own.  The  modus  operandi,  accord- 
ing to  these  gentlemen,  was  this  :  Slade  took  one  of 
his  own  slates,  and  held  it  for  a  time,  concealed  from 
the  view  of  his  visitors,  between  himself  and  the  table, 
before  placing  it  "  in  position,"  that  is,  pressed 
against  the  under  surface  of  the  corner  of  the  table, 
for  the  pretended  purpose  of  obtaining  "  Spirit- 
writing."  During  this  interval  the  observers  de- 
tected sounds  as  of  writing,  and  observed  motions  of 
Slade's  arm,  suggestive  that  he  was  employed  in  writ- 
ing on  the  slate,  held,  probably,  between  his  legs. 
As  to  other  "  messages,"  obtained  while  the  slate  was 


ZXX  TRAXSLATOUS   PUliFACE. 

in  position,  tlu'y  supposed  Slatlc  to  'iudite  them  liy 
mciius  of  a  bit  of  pencil  stuck  in  the  nail  of  one  of 
his  fingers.  At  length,  after  hearing  writing  as  first 
described,  Professor  Lankester  snatched  tlie  shite 
from  Blade's  hand  as  soon  as  it  was  phiccd  against 
the  table,  and  found  the  message  already  inscribed 
upon  it. 

Such  was  the  clumsy  trick — if  trick  indeed  proceed- 
ings so  imperfectly  disguised  can  be  called — of  which 
a  man  who,  if  not  a  "  medium,"  is  unquestionably  the 
most  wonderful  conjurer  and  illusionist  in  the  world, 
was  convicted,  by  inference,  to  use  the  magistrate's 
expression,  "  from  the  known  course  of  nature,"  And 
there  the  matter  miiiht  be  left  to  the  reader's  reflec- 
tions.  Some  few  additional  facts  must,  however,  bo 
stated.  Previous  to  Professor  Laukcster's  visit  to  him, 
Slade  had  been  two  months  in  London,  being  on  his 
way  to  St.  Petersburg,  where  he  was  under  an  engage- 
ment with  a  scientific  committee  of  the  Imperial 
University  of  that  city.  During  this  time  he  had 
been  giving  sittings  to  all  comers,  including  not 
a  few  of  literary  and  scientific  attainments.  We 
may  safely  conclude  that  the  great  impression  he  had 
produced  was  not  the  result  of  proceedings  such  as 
those  described  by  his  accusei*s.  Among  those  named 
in  the  information  against  him,  and  whom  he  was 
charged,  contrary,  it  was  understood,  to  their  express 
wish,  with  having  deceived,  were  several  well-known 
gentlemen.  Dr.  W.  B,  Carpenter,  F.R.S.,  being  one. 
Only  one  of  these  gentlemen,  Mr  11  H.  Huttou,  was 


TRANSLATOR  S  PREFACE.  XXXI 

called  as  a  witness  by  the  prosecution.  His  evidence 
was  on  the  whole  favourable  to  the  accused.  Of 
other  witnesses  called  by  the  prosecution,  not 
one  professed  to  have  detected  trickery,  though  all 
seemed  to  suspect  it.  For  the  defence,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  call  a  number  of  witnesses  of  education  and 
intelligence,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  evidence  of 
phenomena — slate-writing  and  other — witnessed  by 
them  in  Slade's  presence,  of  a  character  and  under 
conditions  wholly  inconsistent  with  any  agency  of 
his.  Four  only  were  allowed  to  give  evidence,  one 
of  them  being  Mr.  A.  R.  Wallace,  the  eminent 
naturalist.  The  present  writer  had  been  called  by 
the  prosecution  (he  being  counsel  in  the  case  for 
another  defendant),  but  believes  that  his  evidence 
could  not  have  been  entirely  satisfactory  to  that  side. 
The  effect  of  the  evidence  for  the  defence  was 
described  by  the  magistrate  from  the  bench  as  "  over- 
whelming ; "  but  in  giving  judgment  he  expressly 
excluded  it  from  consideration,  confining  himself  to 
tlie  evidence  of  the  complainant,  Professor  Lankester, 
and  of  Dr.  Donkiu,  and  basing  his  decision  upon 
"  inferences  to  be  drawn  from  the  known  course  of 
nature  " — a  main  question  in  the  case  being  whether 
there  are  not  some  operations  in  nature  not  "generally 
known."  An  attempt  had  been  made,  with  the 
wholly  irregular  assistance  of  Mr.  John  Nevil 
Maskelyne,  the  professional  conjurer,  to  show  that 
the  table  used  by  Slade,  and  which  was  produced  in 
Court   by   the   defence,    was    a    "  trick   table,"    and 


XXXll  TIIANSLATOU  S    rUEFACE. 

expressly  constructed  to  assist  iu  the  effects  at  the 
sCitnccs.  This  attempt  utterly  broke  down.  In  order 
to  allow  room  for  the  slate  to  be  placed  in  the 
position  usual  for  obtainini^  writinf^,  a  single  central 
support  was  used  for  the  tlap  of  the  table  instead  of 
side  ledges.  A  wedge  inserted  at  the  pivot  of  this 
suj^port  had  been  pointed  out  as  a  most  suspicious 
feature  ;  it  was  explained  by  the  carpenter  that  he 
had  inserted  it  himself,  without  orders,  for  the  simple 
purpose  of  remedying  a  defect  in  his  own  construc- 
tion of  the  table.  Professor  Lankester,  in  his  evidence, 
had  described  the  tal)le,  before  its  production  in. 
Court,  as  without  a  frame,  and  as  thus  enabling  Siade 
to  move  his  legs  and  knees  under  it  with  greater 
facility.  It  turned  out  that  the  table  had  a  frame 
of  rather  greater  depth  than  usual.  1'he  table  was 
impounded,  and  remained  for  several  months  in  the 
custody  of  the  Court,  and  open  to  inspection  and 
examination  for  concealed  magnets,  and  so  fortli. 
None  were  discovered,  and  the  table  is  now  at  the 
rooms  of  the  British  National  Association  of  Spiri- 
tualists, at  38  Great  Russell  Street,  where  it  can  be 
seen  by  the  curious. 

Nothing  was  more  prejudicial  to  Slade,  or  more 
tended  to  produce  the  impression  that  he  was  an 
impostor  than  his  ascribing  the  **  messages  "  on  his 
slates  to  spirits  of  the  dead.  "  AUie,"  his  deceased 
wife  ;  Professor  Lankester's  fictitious  "  Uncle  John  :  " 
the  random  names  that  came,  and  the  messages  of 
recognition    to    which    they    were    signed,    naturally 


TKANSLATORS  PREFACE.         XXXUl 

seemed  to  the  public,  little  accustomed,  or,  in  this 
case,  disposed  to  distinguish  issues,  even  more  indica- 
tive of  fraud  than  the  direct  evidence.     The  writer, 
from  the  intimate  kno\Yledge  he  acquired  of  Slade,  is 
satisfied  that  the  latter  really  believed  in  the  identity 
of  his  "  spirits."     Nor  was  this  belief  at  all  unnatural. 
A  large  proportion  of  his  visitors  do  obtain  writing 
signed  by  the  names  of  deceased  friends  of  whom 
usually  Slade  has  never  heard  ;  this  being  often  the 
case  with  strangers  visitino'  him  for  the  first  time. 
That  there  is  any  "pumping  "  process  applied  to  his 
visitors  before  sitting  for  the  writing  is  utterly  untrue. 
This  suggestion  was  put  forward  as  part  of  the  case 
of  the  prosecution  in  the  opening  statement ;  and  it 
had   its   efi'ect   on   the    public   mind ;   but   not   one 
particle  of  evidence  was  adduced  in  support  of  it ;  on 
the  contrary,  all  the  witnesses,  upon  cross-examina- 
tion, admitted  that  no  questions  were  put  to  them,  nor 
was  any  attempt  made  to  draw  them  into  conversa- 
tion before  the  sittings  ;  and  it  was  on  this  ground 
that  a  charge  of  conspiracy  against  Slade  and  another 
defendant,  Simmons,  broke  down  and  was  dismissed. 
It  was  a  suo-aestion  which  seems  to  have  been  made 

CO 

simply  because,  on  the  assumption  that  Slade  was  an 
habitual  impostor,  it  ought  to  have  been  true,  and 
perhaps  it  was  expected  that  something  of  the  sort 
would  turn  up  in  the  evidence. 

To  the  writer,  it  has  always  appeared  that  the 
presence  of  a  departed  friend,  in  proprid  persond,  is 
very  insufficiently  proved  by  communications   pur- 


XXXIV  TKAN.SLATOU  S    PUKFACE. 

I)ortiug  to  be  thus  (Icrivcd,  even  when  all  knowledge 
1)}'  the  nicdium  of  the  name  of  the  deceiosccl,  or  of  the 
circumstances  callrd  to  the  recollection  of  the  sur- 
vivor by  way  of  identification,  can  be  conclusively  dis- 
proved. We  are  so  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  deeper 
mysteries  of  life,  that  in  this  region  we  arc  not 
entitled  to  accept  an  explanation  as  true  simply 
Ijeciiuse  it  is  sufficient,  and  because  we  cannot  repre- 
sent to  ourselves  any  other.  Usually,  in  the  writer's 
experience  invariably,  in  these  communications  any 
attempt  to  pursue  the  test  by  further  probing  the 
memory  and  intelligence  of  the  supposed  spirit  results 
in  failure.  And  the  frequency  of  admittedly  deceptive 
communications  proves  at  least  that  there  are  mixed 
influences  abroad,  and  that  the  hospitality  of  the 
medium's  spiritual  neighbourhood  is  shared  by  very 
questionable  guests.  Some  time  before  the  com- 
mencement of  the  proceedings  against  Slade,  the 
writer,  being  extremely  sceptical  of  spirit-identity, 
wrote  a  fictitious  name  on  the  back  of  a  slate  (care- 
fully concealing  the  side  on  which  he  wrote,  and  the 
motions  of  the  peucil),  and  handiug  the  slate,  clean 
side  uppermost,  to  Slade,  requested  that  tlie  indi- 
vidual whose  name  was  written  would  communicate, 
if  present.  Slade  took  the  slate  without  reversing 
it,  and  laid  a  morsel  of  pencil  upon  it ;  then  at  once 
jtressed  it  against  the  under  surface  of  the  corner  of 
the  table,  so  that  the  clean  side  was  in  contact  with 
that  surface,  the  side  on  which  the  name  was  written 
being  the  lower  one.     Writing  was  heard  directly, 


TRANSLATORS    PREFACE.  XXXV 

and  the  slate  being  withdrawn  and  immediately 
inspected,  on  its  upper  side  was  found  a  kind  little 
message  of  friendly  remembrance  signed  by  the 
fictitious  name.  Never  was  the  writer  more  satisfied 
of  Slade's  integrity  than  on  this  occasion,  and  the 
circumstance  is  only  mentioned  here  to  show  how  dis- 
tinct are  issues  which  were  confused  in  the  Slade  pro- 
secution. Such  experiments,  however,  are  regarded  by 
spiritualists  as  highly  objectionable.  They  believe, 
and  they  have  some  grounds  in  experience  for  their 
belief,  that  fraud  in  the  investigator  will,  by  a 
subtle  attraction,  elicit  fraud  in  the  manifestations. 
Some  go  further,  and  maintain  that  the  strong 
animus  of  prejudice,  unconsciously  but  powerfully 
willing  the  very  appearances  it  expects,  may  mes- 
merically  control  the  sensitive  medium,  and  force  his 
actions  in  the  direction  it  dictates. 

But  to  return  from  this  disgression  : 

Immediately  after  the  conviction  was  quashed,  Pro- 
fessor Lankester  applied  for  and  obtained  a  fresh  sum- 
mons against  Slade,  as  it  was  stated,  **in  the  interests 
of  science."  (He  had  already,  in  the  '*  Times,"  described 
the  proceedings  of  the  British  Association  as  having 
been  "degraded"  by  the  introduction  of  the  subject 
of  Spiritualism,  on  which  Professor  Barrett  had  read  a 
paper.)  But  meanwhile,  Slade  had  broken  down  under 
the  pressure  of  anxiety,  and  the  agitation  caused  by 
public  contumely  and  his  own  indignant  sense  of 
wrong.  He  had  resolutely  refused  to  listen  to  sugges- 
tions that  he  should  leave  the  country,  by  consent  of 


XXXVl  TRANSLATORS    PREFACE. 

his  bail,  before  the  appeal  case  came  on.  As  tlic  time 
approached,  ho  had  a  slight  attack  of  bruin-fever,  as 
was  certified  by  two  physicians.  During  its  continu- 
ance he  wjis  occ.'Lsionally  delirious,  and  the  writer  saw 
him  in  this  condition.  Partially  recovered,  he  with 
ditli«ulty  draggid  himsc.'lf  to  the  Court;  he  appeared 
apathetic  and  almost  unconscious  during  its  critical 
proceedings.  It  was  the  belief  of  his  friends  that 
further  persecution  would  kill  him  outright;  but 
independently  of  this,  immediate  change  of  scene  and 
a.«sociations  was  imperatively  necessary  to  his  recovery, 
lie  left  Entrhuid  with  his  niece  and  with  his  friend 

o 

!Mr.  Simmons  a  day  or  two  after  the  appeal  case  was 
determined.  From  The  Hague,  after  a  rest  of  a  few 
months,  he  addressed,  through  j\Ir.  Simmons,  the 
followinir  offer  to  his  accuser  : — 

O 

'*  Professor  E.  R.  Lankester — Dear  Sir, — Dr.  Sladc 
liaving  in  some  measure  recovered  from  his  very  severe 
illness,  and  his  engagement  to  St.  Petersburg  having 
been  postponed  (by  desire  of  his  friends  there)  till  the 
autumn,  desires  me  to  make  the  following  offer : — 

"  He  is  willing  to  return  to  London  for  the  express 
and  sole  purpose  of  satisfying  you  that  the  slate-writ- 
ing occurring  in  his  presence  is  in  no  way  produced 
by  any  trickery  of  his.  For  this  purpose  he  will 
come  to  your  house  unaccompanied  by  any  one,  and 
will  sit  with  you  at  your  own  table,  using  your  owu 
.slate  and  pencil ;  or,  if  you  prefer  to  come  to  his  room, 
it  will  suit  him  as  well. 


translator's  preface.  xxxvii 

"  In  tlie  event  of  any  arrangement  being  agreed 
upon,  Slade  would  prefer  that  the  matter  sliould  be 
kept  strictly  private. 

"As  be  never  can  guarantee  results,  you  sball  give 
him  as  many  as  six  trials,  and  more  if  it  shall  be 
deemed  advisable.  And  you  shall  be  put  to  no  charge 
or  expense  whatever. 

"  You  on  your  part  shall  undertake  that  during  the 
period  of  the  sittings,  and  for  one  week  afterwards, 
you  will  neither  take  nor  cause  to  be  taken,  nor 
countenance  legal  proceedings  against  him  or  me. 
That  if  in  the  end  you  are  satisfied  that  the  slate- 
writing  is  produced  otherwise  than  by  trickery,  you 
shall  abstain  altogether  from  further  proceedings 
against  us,  and  suffer  us  to  remain  in  England,  if 
we  choose  to  do  so,  unmolested  by  you. 

"If,  on  the  other  hand,  you  are  not  so  satisfied, 
you  shall  be  at  liberty  to  proceed  against  us,  after  the 
expiration  of  one  week  from  the  conclusion  of  the  six 
or  more  experiments,  if  we  are  still  in  England.  You 
will  observe  that  Slade  is  willing  to  go  to  you  without 
witnesses  of  his  own,  and  to  trust  entirely  to  your 
honour  and  good  faith. 

"  Conscious  of  his  own  innocence,  he  has  no  malice 
against  you  for  the  past.  He  believes  that  you  were 
very  naturally  deceived  by  appearances  w^hich  to  one 
who  had  not  previously  verified  the  phenomena  under 
more  satisfactory  conditions  may  well  have  seemed 
suspicious.  Should  we  not  hear  from  you  within  ten 
days  from  this  date,  Slade  will  conclude  that  you 


XXXVlll  TRANSLATORS   PREFACE. 

have  declined  his  offer. — I  have  the  honour  to  1)0,  Sir, 
your  ohcdient  servant,  J.  Simmons." 

"  37  Spui  Stbkct,  The  Haouk,  i/ay  jth,  1877. 

']'«)  this  h'ltor  no  nnswer  was  ever  received. 

After  a  h)ng  rest  on  the  Continent,  Sladc  was  able 
to  jjive  the  wonderful  s6anccs  recorded  in  this  volume. 
He  went  on  to  St.  Petersburg  and  fulfilled  his  engage- 
ment there.  Returning  to  London  for  a  day  or  two 
in  1878,  he  embarked  for  Australia,  and  made  a  great 
impression  in  the  colonies.  He  returned  to  America 
by  San  Francisco  last  year,  and  is  now^  once  more  iii 
New  York.  During  his  travels  after  leavinfj  England, 
he  is  said  to  have  suffered  from  a  partial  paralysis, 
induced  by  his  troubles  here. 

"With  Slade,  as  with  no  other  medium  known  to 
the  writer,  the  conditions  of  investigation  arc  essen- 
tially  simplified  by  the  fact  that  he  invariably  sits 
with  his  visitors  in  a  full  light.  "  In  the  interests  of 
science "  it  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that  he  may  be 
able  to  revisit  London,  liberated  by  an  imj^roved 
state  of  public  opinion  from  all  danger  of  molestation. 
We  who  urge  the  truth  of  these  things  are  only 
anxious  that  the  investigation  should  be  conducted 
in  the  light  of  day,  and  by  the  most  competent 
persons.  So  strong  is  this  feeling,  that  it  is  believed 
a  fund  would  easily  be  raised  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  Slade  over  to  England  and  placing  him  in 
the  hands  of  a  scientific  committee  who  should 
examine  this  question  of  the  slate-writing  with  the 


TRANSLATORS   PREFACE.  XXX IX 

facilities  suo^orested  iu  the  offer  of  Slade  to  Professor 
Lankester.  That  the  Slade  prosecution  was  designed 
to  deal  a  blow  at  SjDiritualism,  or  rather  at  the  serious 
investigation  of  facts  which  are  usually  included  in 
that  term,  will  hardly  be  doubted.  But  without  in 
the  least  questioning  that  Professor  Lankester  had 
in  his  own  belief,  as  in  that  of  the  vast  majority  of 
the  public,  the  strongest  justification  for  the  course  he 
took,  it  is  to  be  trusted  that  a  truer  appreciation  of 
the  interests  of  science  will  shortly  prevail.  Professor 
ZoUner  in  these  volumes,  speaking  from  the  point  of 
view  of  a  true  man  of  science,  expresses  his  indigna- 
tion at  these  transactions  in  England,  and  at  the 
unmeasured  abuse  of  Slade  in  the  German  press,  in 
strong  terms.  The  translator  has  thought  it  better 
to  omit  all  this,  leaving  the  facts  to  speak  for  them- 
selves, and  in  the  assurance  that  hereafter,  if  not  at 
present,  public  opinion  will  pronounce  a  just  judgment 
upon  them. 

Professor  Zollner's  polemic,  referred  to  in  his 
dedication  to  Mr.  Crookes,  has  a  far  wider  scope  and 
application  than  will  be  apparent  from  the  following 
translation.  He  has  set  himself,  in  the  course  of 
these  treatises,  to  encounter  with  unspariug  force 
certain  tendencies  among  men  of  science,  and  in  the 
Press,  which  he  regards  as  demoralising  in  the  highest 
degree.  All  particular  reference  to  these  subjects  is 
here  avoided.  This  is  almost  exclusively  a  volume 
of  evidences,  and  the  introduction  of  other  topics  of 
controversy  might  not  be  favourable  to  the  judicial 


xl  TIlANSLATOIl's   PUEFACE. 

calmness  with  which  the  former  should  be  considerccl. 
Ncvcrthcles.%  the  belief  may  bo  avowed  that  the 
substantiation  of  the  facts  before  us,  in  scientific  and 
public  opinion,  cannot  fail  to  liiivi-,  iiulircctly,  a 
revolutionary  effect  on  many  dcpartuK-nts  of  specula- 
tion and  practice.  All  that  i.s  asked  at  present,  how- 
ever, is  a  fair  judgment  on  the  facts  themselves, 
without  regard  to  the  possible  extent  of  their  signifi- 
cance. For  further,  and  very  striking  evidences  of 
the  phenomenon  of  writing  l)y  unknown  agencies, 
the  reader  is  referred  to  a  small  volume  entitled 
"  Psychography,"  by  M,  A.  (Oxon):  (Harrison,  London, 
1878). 

Although  the  popular  suggestion,  that  the  pheno- 
mena of  Spiritutdism  arc  merely  conjuring  under  false 
pretences,  will  not  find  acceptance  with  any  one  who 
seriously  considers  the  evidence,  it  has  been  thought 
worth  while  to  meet  it  additionally  by  the  testimonies 
of  some  well-known  experts  in  the  arts  of  illusion. 
These  will  be  found  in  Appendices  B  and  C ;  the 
evidence  of  Bellachini,  Court  conjurer  at  Berlin,  who 
was  employed  to  conduct  a  systematic  investigation 
of  the  phenomena  in  Sladc's  presence,  is  especially 
remarkable. 

The  literary  niorit  of  the  following  translation  is 
of  such  infinite  unimportance  in  coniparison  with  the 
matter  that  the  writer  hardly  cares  to  disarm  criticism 
on  this  point,  provided  the  substantial  accuracy  of 
the  rendering  is  not  impugned,  lie  is  quite  sensible 
of  its  other  defects,  and  has  only  to  plead  that  he  is 


teanslator's  pbeface.  xli 

almost  entirely  self-tauglit  in  German,  having  never 
visited  countries  in  which  it  is  spoken,  or  studied  for 
any  length  of  time  under  a  master.  He  has  only 
undertaken  the  work  because  it  seemed  that  other- 
wise it  would  not  be  done  at  all,  or  at  least  not  yet. 
Nor  has  he  any  pecuniary  interest  in  it.  He  now 
gives  it  to  the  English  j)^^blic,  in  the  hope  that  it 
may  conduce  to  a  more  rational  appreciation  and  to 
a  juster  treatment  of  evidence  on  this  subject  than 
has  hitherto  prevailed. 


AUTHOR'S  DEDICATION. 


AUTHOR'S    DEDICATION 


To  WILLIAM  CEOOKES,  RE.S. 

With  the  feeling  of  sincere  gratitude,  and  recogni- 
tion of  your  immortal  deserts  in  the  foundation  of  a 
new  science,  I  dedicate  to  you,  highly  honoured  col- 
league, this  Third  Volume  of  my  Scientific  Treatises. 
By  a  strange  conjunction  our  scientific  endeavours 
have  met  upon  the  same  field  of  light,  and  of  a 
new  class  of  physical  phenomena  which  proclaim  to 
astonished  mankind,  with  assurance  no  longer  doubt- 
ful, the  existence  of  another  material  and  intelligent 
world.  As  two  solitary  wanderers  on  high  mountains 
joyfully  greet  one  another  at  their  encounter,  when 
passing  storm  and  clouds  veil  the  summit  to  which 
they  aspire,  so  I  rejoice  to  have  met  you,  undismayed 
champion,  upon  this  new  province  of  science.  To 
you,  also,  ingratitude  and  scorn  have  been  abundantly 
dealt  out  by  the  blind  representatives  of  modern 
science,  and  by  the  multitude  befooled  through  their 
erroneous  teaching.  May  you  be  consoled  by  the 
consciousness  that  the  undying  splendour  with  which 
the  names  of  a  Newton  and  a  Faraday  have  illus- 


XlVl  Al   rUdltS    DKIUCATKiN. 

tratecl  the  history  of  the  English  people  can  be 
obscured  by  nothing,  not  even  by  the  political  decline 
of  this  great  nation  :  even  so  will  your  name  survive 
in  the  history  of  culture,  adding  a  new  ornament  to 
those  with  which  the  English  nation  has  endowed 
tlie  huniau  race.  Your  courage,  your  admirable 
acuteness  in  experiment,  and  your  incomparable  per- 
severance, will  niise  for  you  a  memorial  in  the  hearts 
of  grateful  posterity,  as  indestructible  as  the  marble 
of  the  statues  at  Westminster.  Accept,  then,  this 
work  as  a  token  of  thanks  and  sympathy  poured  out 
to  you  from  an  honest  German  heart.  If  ever  the 
ideal  of  a  general  peace  on  this  earth  shall  be  realised , 
this  will  assuredly  be  the  result  not  of  political 
speeches  and  agitations,  in  which  human  vanity 
always  demands  its  tribute,  but  of  the  bond  of 
extended  knowledge  and  advancing  information,  for 
which  w^e  have  to  thank  such  heroes  of  true  science 
as  Copernicus,  Galileo,  Kepler,  Newton,  Faraday, 
Wilhelm  Weber,  and  yourself.*  =5=  -:=  * 

In  the  first  place  it  is  necessary  that  the  truth 
should  be  regardlessly  outspoken,  in  order  to  encoun- 
ter lies  and  tyranny,  no  matter  under  what  shape 
they  threaten  to  impede  human  progress,  with  energy 
and  effect.  In  this  sense  1  beg  you  to  judge  my 
combat  against  scientific  and  moral  offences,  not  only 
in  my  own,  Init  also  in  your  country. 


*  Hero  fdllow  references  to  subjects  of  controversy  foreign  to  the  pnr- 
jmsc  uf  this  translatictii,  and  whicli  occnpy  much  of  this,  as  of  the  pre- 
ceding volumes  of  the  treatises. 


author's  dedication.  xlvii 

Every  polemic,  even  the  justest,  has  in  it  some- 
thing uncongenial,  like  the  sight  of  a  battle  or  of  a 
bloody  battle-field.  For  hereby  is  man  reminded 
impressively  of  the  imperfections  and  faults  of  his 
earthly  existence.  And  yet  are  gathered  the  noblest 
blossoms  of  the  human  heart,  in  its  self-renouncing 
devotion  of  the  dearest  to  the  Fatherland,  round  the 
graves  of  the  fallen  warriors.  The  poetry  and  his- 
tory of  all  peoples  glorify  these  blood-saturated  spots 
with  their  noblest  breath,  and  the  returning  spring 
sees  crosses  woven  with  roses  and  ivy,  where  a  year 
before  the  battle  raged.  So,  hereafter,  will  this 
literary  battle-field  appear  to  the  generation  growing 
up.  They  will  have  understood  the  moral  necessity 
of  the  strife,  and  in  the  morning  splendour  of  a  new 
epoch  of  human  culture  will  have  forgotten  the 
repulsiveness  {das  Unsympathische)  of  my  polemic. 

But  united  England  and  Germany  may  always  re- 
member the  words  of  your  great  physicist.  Sir  David 
Brewster,  who,  in  his  "  Life  of  Newton,"  reminds  us 
of  the  indestructibility  and  immortality  of  the  works 
of  human  genius  : — 

"  The  achievements  of  genius,  like  the  source  from 
which  they  spring,  are  indestructible.  Acts  of  legis- 
lation and  deeds  of  war  may  confer  a  high  celebrity, 
but  the  reputation  which  they  bring  is  only  local  and 
transient ;  and  while  they  are  hailed  by  the  nation 
which  they  benefit,  they  are  reproached  by  the  people 
whom  they  ruin  or  enslave.  The  labours  of  science, 
on  tlie  contrary,  bear  along  with  them  no  counterpart 


xlvui  ArrnoKs  I)i:i»I("ati«»n, 

of  evil.  Tlioy  tire  the  liberal  bequests  of  great  minds 
to  every  indiviilual  of  their  race,  and  wherever  they 
are  welcomed  ami  honoured,  they  become  the  solace 
of  private  life,  and  the  ornament  an<l  bulwnrk  of  the 
commonwealth." 

With  these  consolatory  words  of  one  of  your  cele- 
brated countrymen,  accept,  my  honoured  friend,  the 
present  work  as  a  token  of  the  sincere  esteem  of  the 
Author. 

LeipsIC,  October  itl,  1879. 


TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 


Chapter  jTir^t 

ON  SPACE   OF   FOUR   DIMENSIONS.  "^^ 

gauss's  and  Kant's  theory  of  space— the  practical  application  of  the 
theory  in  experiments  with  henry  slade— true  knots  produced  upon 
a  cord  with  its  ends  in  view  and  sealed  together. 

In  the  first  treatise  tlie  author  shows  that  both  New- 
ton  and  Faraday  were  advocates  of  the   theory  of 

*  This  first  chapter  consists  of  an  article  which  appeared  in  the  Quar- 
terly Journal  of  Science,  April  1878,  and  is  reprinted  here  by  permission 
of  Mr.  William  Crookes,  F.R.S.  The  facts  are  from  "  Wissenschaft- 
liche  Abhandlungen  von  Joh.  Carl  Friedrich  ZoUner,  Professor  der 
Astrophysik  an  der  Universitat  zii  Leipzig.  Erster  Band.  Leipzig : 
L.  Staackmann,  1878.  (With  portraits  and  facsimiles  of  Newton,  Kant, 
and  Faraday.    8vo,  732  pages.) " 

CONTENTS. 

1.  On  Action  at  a  Distance. 

2.  Emil  du  Bois  Reymond  and  the  Limits  of  Natural  Knowledge. 

3.  Newton's  Law  of  Gravitation,  and  its  Derivation  from  the  Static 

Effects  of  Electricity. 

4.  The  Laws  of  Friction,  and  their  Deduction  from  the  Dynamic 

Effects  of  Electricity. 

5.  As  to  the  Existence  of  Moving  Electric  Particles  in  All  Bodies. 

6.  Adhesion  and  Cohesion  as  deducted  from  the  Dynamic  Forces  of 

Electricity. 

7.  8,  9.  The  Mechanical,  the  Magnetical,  and  the  Electrical  Effects  of 

Light  and  of  Radiant  Heat. 

10.  Radiometrical  Researches. 

1 1,  12.  On  the  Theory  of  Electric  Emission  and  its  Cosmical  Application. 
13.  Thomson's  Demons  and  the  Phantoms  of  Plato. 

A 


2  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

tliroct  action  at  a  (.listance  through  a  vacuum,  in 
oppositiou  to  theyi'^ws'  of  many  modern  scientific 
men  In  ■  tjbe '  Ittit  tx'cotise,  which  is  of  the  highest 
interest,  tlie  author  (Tescribes  experiments  which  lie 
made  in  Leipzig,  in  December  1877,  with  Mr.  Henry 
81adc,  the  American.  These  experiments  were  only 
the  practical  application  of  Gauss's  and  Kant's  theory 
of  space,  which  these  two  eminent  men  imagined 
mijrht  contain  more  than  three  dimensions.  The 
author  will  try  to  give  to  the  readers  of  the 
Quarterhj  Jou7^}al  of  Science  an  idea  of  this 
theory,  though  he  must  of  course  refer  to  the  work 
itself  for  a  more  ample  explanation  of  it. 

In  accordance  with  Kant,  Schopenhauer,  and 
Helmholtz,  the  author  regards  the  application  of  the 
law  of  causality  as  a  function  of  the  human  intellect 
given  to  man  d  2^^^ioii,  i.e.,  before  all  experience. 
Tlie  totality  of  all  empirical  experience  is  communi- 
cated to  the  intellect  by  the  senses,  i.e.,  by  organs 
which  communicate  to  the  mind  all  the  sensual 
impressions  which  are  received  at  the  surface  of  our 
bodies.  These  impressions  are  a  reality  to  us,  and 
their  sphere  is  tw^o-dimensioual,  acting  not  in  our 
l)ody,  but  only  on  its  surface. 

We  have  only  attained  the  conception  of  a  world 
of  objects  with  three  dimensions  by  an  intellectual 
process.  What  circumstances,  we  may  ask,  have 
compelled  our  intellect  to  come  to  this  result  ?     If  a 


ON    SPACE    OF   FOUR   DIMENSIONS.  3 

cliild  contemplate  its  hand,  it  is  conscious  of  its 
existence  in  a  double  manner — in  tlie  first  place  by- 
its  tangibility,  in  the  second  by  its  image  on  the 
retina  of  the  eye.  By  repeated  groping  about  and 
touching,  the  child  knows  by  experience  that  his 
hand  retains  the  same  form  and  extension  through 
all  the  variations  of  distance  and  positions  under 
which  it  is  observed  ;  notwithstanding  that  the  form 
and  extension  of  the  image  on  the  retina  constantly 
change  with  the  difiereut  position  and  distance  of 
the  hand  in  respect  to  the  eye.  The  problem  is  thus 
set  to  the  child's  understanding,  How  to  reconcile 
to  its  comprehension  the  apparently  contradictory 
facts  of  the  invariahleness  of  the  object,  together 
"with  the  variableness  of  its  appearance.  This  is  only 
possible  within  space  of  three  dimensions,  in  which, 
owing  to  perspective  distortions  and  changes,  these 
variations  of  projection  can  be  reconciled  with  the 
constancy  of  the  form  of  a  body. 

So,  likewise,  in  the  stereoscope,  the  representation 
of  the  corporeality — i.e.,  of  the  third  dimension — 
springs  up  in  our  mind  when  the  task  is  pre- 
sented to  our  intellect  to  refer  at  once  two  different 
plane  pictures,  without  contradiction,  to  one  single 
object. 

Consequently  our  contemplation  of  a  three-dimen- 
sioned space  has  been  developed  by  means  of  the 
law  of  causality,  which  has  been  implanted  in   us 


4  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

d  pnori,  and  wo  have  come  to  the  idea  of  the  third 
dimeusiou  in  order  to  overcome  the  apparent  incon- 
sistency of  facta,  of  the  existence  of  which  experience 
daily  convinces  us. 

The  moment  wc  o1)sen'e  in  three-dimensioned 
space  contradictory  facts,  i.e.,  facts  which  would 
force  us  to  ascribe  to  a  body  two  attributes  or  qualities 
which  hitherto  we  thought  could  not  exist  together, 
— the  moment,  I  say,  in  which  we  should  observe 
such  contradictory  facts  in  a  three-dimensioned  body, 
our  reason  would  at  once  be  forced  to  reconcile 
these  contradictions. 

There  would  be  such  a  contradiction,  for  example, 
if  we  were  to  ascribe  to  one  and  the  same  object  at 
once  mutability  and  immutability,  the  most  universal 
attribute  of  a  body  being  the  quantity  of  its  ponder- 
able matter.  In  conformity  wuth  our  present  experi- 
ence we  consider  this  attribute  as  unalterable.  As 
soon,  however,  as  phenomena  occur  which  prove 
it  to  be  alterable,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  generalise 
our  representation  of  the  ideality  of  a  body  so  as 
to  bring  the  observed  change  in  the  quantity  of  its 
matter  in  accordance  with  its  hitherto-imagined 
unchangeableness. 

On  page  235  of  his  book  the  author  quotes  the 
celebrated  mathematician  Riemanu,  who  says  in  his 
work  Concerning  the  Hypotheses  upon  ichich  Geo- 
metry is  founded : — 


ON   SPACE   OF   FOUR   DIMENSIONS.  5 

"  The  explanation  of  these  facts  can  only  be  found 
by  starting  from  the  actual  theories  of  the 
appearance. of  all  phenomena  which  are  con- 
firmed by  experience,  and  of  which,  as  they 
now  are,  Newton  has  laid  the  foundation. 
Urged  forward  by  facts,  which  we  cannot 
explain  through  our  hitherto- conceived  theo- 
ries, we  slowly  remodel  our  conceptions.  If 
phenomena  occur  which,  according  to  our 
conception,  were  to  be  expected  with  proba- 
bility, our  theories  are  confirmed,  and  our 
confidence  in  them  is  founded  upon  this  con- 
firmation by  experience.  If,  however,  some- 
thing occurs  which  we  do  not  expect,  which 
according  to  our  theory  was  improbable  or 
impossible,  the  task  is  imposed  on  us  to 
remodel  our  theory,  in  order  to  make  the 
observed  facts  cease  to  be  in  contradiction 
with  our  improved  theory.  The  completion 
of  oujj,  system  of  ideas  forms  the  explanation 
of  the  unexpected  observation.  Our  concep- 
tion of  nature  by  this  process  grows  slowly 
to  be  more  complete  and  more  just,  at  the 
same  time  it  retreats  more  and  more  beneath 
the  surface  of  appearances." 
I  now  proceed  to  apply  the  higher  conception  of 
space  to  the  theory  of  twisting  a  perfectly  flexible 
cord.    Let  us  consider  such  a  cord  to  be  represented 


0  TIEANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

by  a  h,  showing  us,  when  stretched,  a  development 
of  space  in  one  dimension — 

(a h) 

If  the  cord  is  bent  so  that  during  this  action  its  parts 
always  remain  in  the  same  plane,  a  development  of 
space  in  tivo  dimensions  will  be  required  for  this 
operation.  The  following  figure  may  be  given  to 
the  cord : — 

(a S 


and  all  its  parts,  if  conceived  of  infinite  thinness, 
may  be  considered  as  lying  in  the  same  plane,  i.e., 
in  a  development  of  space  in  two  dimensions.  If  the 
flexible  cord,  without  being  broken,  has  to  be  brought 
back  into  the  former  figure  of  a  straifjht  line,  in  such 
a  manner  that  during  this  operation  all  its  parts 
remain  in  the  same  plane,  this  can  only  be  effected 
by  describing  with  one  end  of  the  cord  a  circle 
of  360°. 

For  beings  with  only  <i(;o-dimensional  perceptions 
these  operations  with  the  cord  would  correspond  to 
what  we,  with  our  /^?'e<'-dimensional  perception,  call 
a  knot  to  the  cord.  Now  if  a  being,  limited  on 
account  of  its  bodily  organisation  to  the  conception 
of  only  two  dimensions  of  space,  possessed,  neverthe- 
less, the  ability  of  executing  by  his  will  operations 
with  this  cord  which  are  only  possible  in  the  space 


ON   SPACE   OF   FOUR   DIMENSIONS.  7 

of  three  dimensions,  such  a  being  would  be  able  to 
undo  tbis  two-dimensional  knot  in  a  much  simpler 
way.  Merely  the  turning  over  of  part  of  tbe  cord 
would  be  required,  so  that  after  the  operation,  when 
all  parts  again  lie  in  the  same  plane,  the  cord  would 
have  passed  through  the  following  positions  : — 


By  the  same  operations,  but  in  an  inverted  sense, 
such  a  being  would  be  able  again  to  form  the  knot 
without  needing  that  circumstantial  process,  during 
which  all  parts  of  the  thread  have  to  remain  in  the 
^^t'O- dimensional  space  of  perception. 

If  this  consideration,  by  way  of  analogy,  is  trans- 
ferred to  a  knot  in  space  of  three  dimensions,  it  will 
easily  be  seen  that  the  tying  as  well  as  the  untying 
of  such  a  knot  can  only  be  effected  by  operations, 
during  which  the  parts  of  the  cord  describe  a  line  of 
double  curvature,  as  shown  by  this  figure — 


We  three-dimensional  beings  can  only  tie  or  untie 
such  a  knot  by  moving  one  end  of  the  cord  through 
360°  in  a  plane  which  is  inclined  towards  that  other 
plane  containing  the  two-dimensional  part  of  the 
knot.  But  if  there  were  beings  among  us  wlio  were 
able  to  produce  by  their  will  four-dimensional  move- 


8  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

mcnts  of  material  8u))stances,  they  could  tie  and 
untie  such  knots  in  a  much  simpler  manner  by  an 
operation  analogous  to  that  described  in  relation  to 
a  two-dimensional  knot. 

It  is  by  no  means  necessary  —  nay,  not  even 
j)rohahh — that  such  beings  should  have  a  contem- 
l)lative  consciousness  of  these  actions  of  their  will. 
For  all  our  conceptions  in  relation  to  the  movements 
of  our  limbs,  and  to  those  produced  by  their  means 
in  other  bodies,  have  been  acquii-ed  by  us  solely  by 
way  of  experience.  Having  observed  from  childhood 
that  a  voluntary  movement  of  our  limbs  is  always 
connected  with  a  corresponding  change  in  our 
visional  impressions,  accompanying  the  action  of  our 
will,  it  is  only  in  this  way  that  we  are  now  able  to 
connect  the  movements  of  our  body  or  of  other 
objects  with  a  corresponding  conception  of  such 
motion. 

Berkeley  demonstrated  this  truth  in  the  year  1 709, 
in  his  Essay  Towards  a  new  Theory  of  Vision 
and  in  his  Principles  of  Human  Knowledge.  In 
the  last-mentioned  treatise  he  remarks,  on  the  rela- 
tion of  our  visional  perceptions  to  the  sensations  of 
touch  : — 

**  So  that  in  strict  truth  the  ideas  of  sight,  when 
we  apprehend  by  them  distance,  and  things 
placed  at  a  distance,  do  not  suggest  or  mark 
out  to  us  things  actually  existing  at  a  dis- 


ON   SPACE   OP   FOUR   DIMENSIONS.  9 

tance,  but  only  admonish  us  what  ideas  of 
touch  will  be  imprinted  in  our  minds  at  such 
and  such  distance  of  time,  and  in  consequence 
of  such  or  such  actions." — Berkeley,  Prin- 
ciples of  Human  Knowledge  (Fraser's  Edi- 
tion, vol.  i.  p.  177). 
Lichtenberg,  in  1799,  expresses  himself  in  like 
manner  when  he  says  : — 

*'  To  perceive  something  outside  ourselves  is  a 
contradiction  ;  we  perceive  only  within  us ; 
that  which  we  perceive  is  merely  a  modifica- 
tion of  ourselves,  therefore,  tmthin  us.  Because 
these  modifications  are  independent  of  our- 
selves, we  seek  their  cause  in  other  thino^s 
that  are  outside,  and  say  there  are  things 
hegond  us.  We  ought  to  say  'prceter  nos ; ' 
but  for  *  |37'flp^er '  we  substitute  the  preposition 
*  extra,'  which  is  something  quite  different, 
i.e.,  we  imagine  these  things  in  the  space 
outside  ourselves.  This  evidently  is  not  per- 
ception, but  it  seems  to  be  something  firmly 
interwoven  with  the  nature  of  our  sensual 
perceptive  poAvers ;  it  is  the  form  under  which 
that  conception  of  the  *  jprceter  nos '  is  given 
to  us — the  form  of  the  sensual." 
The  want  of  these  conceptions  w^ould  necessarily 
be  felt  by  us,  if  in  some  individuals,  and  these  only 
occasionally,  the  will  should  be  capable  of  producing 


lO  TRANSCENDENTAL    I'HYSICS. 

}»hysical  movements,  for  whose  geomctro-mathematical 
definition  a  four-dimensional  Rystem  of  co-ordinates 
is  neccssar}\ 

To   my  knowledge  Gauss  was   the   first  to  direct, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  "  Geometria   Situs," 
his  attention  to  the  theory  of  the  twistings  of  flexible 
cords.    In  his  manuscripts  left  behind  (Gauss's  Werke, 
Vol.  V.  p.  605)  we  find  the  following  remarks  : — 
*'  Of  the  Geometria  Situs  which  Leibnitz  foresaw, 
and  on  which  to  tlirow  a  feeble  glance  was 
allowed  only  to  a  few  mathematicians  (Euler 
and  Vandermoude),  we,  after  a  lapse  of   150 
years,  know   and   possess   hardly  more   than 
nothing.     One   of  the  principal  problems  on 
the  boundary  of  the  Geometria  Situs  and  the 
Geometria  Magnitudinis  will  be  to  calculate 
the  number  of  the  twistings   of  two   closed 
and  endless  cords." 
In  my  first  treatise,  On  Action  at  a  Distance,  I 
have  discussed  in  detail  the  truth,  first  discovered  by 
Kant,  later  by  Gauss  and  the  representatives  of  the 
anti-Euclidian  geometry,  viz.,  that  our  present  con- 
ception of  space,  familiar  to  us  by  habit,  has  been 
derived  from  experience,  i.e.,  from  empirical  facts  by 
means  of  the  causal  principle  existing  a  priori  in  our 
intellect.     This    in   particular   is   to    be  said  of   the 
three  dimensions  of  our  present  conception  of  space. 
If  from  our  childhood  phenomena  had  been  of  daily 


ON   SPACE   OF   FOUR  DIMENSIONS.  II 

occurrence,  requiring  a  space  of  four  or  more  dimen- 
sions for  an  explanation  which  should  be  free  from 
contradiction,  i.e.,  conformable  to  reason,  we  should 
be  able  to  form  a  conception  of  space  of  four  or 
more  dimensions.  It  follows  that  the  real  existence 
of  a  four-dimensional  space  can  only  be  decided  by 
experience,  i.e.,  by  observation  oi facts. 

A  great  step  has  been  made  by  acknowledging 
that  the  possibility  of  a  four-dimensional  development 
of  space  can  be  understood  by  our  intellect,  although, 
on  account  of  reasons  previously  given,  no  corre- 
sponding image  of  it  can  be  conceived  by  the  mind. 
(Dass  die  moeglichkeit  eines  vierdimensionalen  Raum- 
gebietes  hegrifflich  ohne  Widerspruch  denkhar,  wenn 
auch  nicht  anschaulich  vorstellhar  ist.) 

But  Kant  advances  one  step  farther.  From  the 
logically  recognised  possibility  of  the  existence  of 
space  having  more  than  three  dimensions,  he  infers 
their  "  very  probably  real  existence  "  when  he  verb- 
ally remarks : — 

"If  it  is  possible  that  there  be  developments  of 
other  dimensions  in  space,  it  is  also  very 
probable  that  God  has  somewhere  produced 
them.  For  His  works  have  all  the  grandeur 
and  variety  that  can  possibly  be  comprised." 
"  In  the  foregoing  I  have  shown  that  several 
worlds,  taken  in  a  metaphysical  sense,  might 
exist  together,  but,  at  the  same  time,  here  is 


12  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

the  condition,  which,  according  to  my  belief, 
is  the  ouly  one  wliich  makes  it  probable  that 
several  such  worlds  really  exist." — (Kaut'a 
Works,  vol.  V.  p.  25.) 

I  may  further  cite  the  following  observations  of 
Kant : — 

"  I  confess  I  am  much  inclined  to  assert  the 
existence  of  immaterial  beings  in  this  world, 
and  to  class  my  soul  itself  in  the  category  of 
these  beinfrs." 

"  We  can  imagine  the  possibility  of  the  existence 
of  immaterial  beings  without  the  fear  of  being 
refuted,  though,  at  the  same  time,  without 
the  hope  of  being  able  to  demonstrate  their 
existence  by  reason.  Such  spiritual  beings 
would  exist  in  space,  and  the  latter  notwith- 
standing would  remain  2)enetrable  for  material 
beings,  because  their  presence  would  imply 
an  acting  power  in  space,  but  not  a  filling  of 
it,  i.e.,  a  resistance  causing  solidity." 

"  It  is,  therefore,  as  good  as  demonstrated,  or  it 
could  easily  be  proved,  if  we  were  to  enter  into 
it  at  some  length ;  or,  better  still,  it  will  he 
l^roved  in  the  future — /  do  not  know  where 
and  when — that  also  in  this  life  the  human 
soul  stands  in  an  indissoluble  communion 
loith  all  the  immaterial  beings  of  the  spiritual 
ivorld;  that  it  produces  effects  in  them,  and 


EXPERIMENTAL  ILLUSTRATIONS.         I  3 

in  exchange  receives  impressions  from  them, 
without,  however,  becoming  humanly  conscious 
of  them,  so  long  as  all  stands  ivell." 
"  It  would  be  a  blessing  if  sucb  a  systematic  con- 
stitution of  the  spiritual  world,  as  conceived 
by  us,  bad  not  merely  to  be  inferred  from  the 
— too  hypothetical — conception  of  the  spiri- 
tual nature  generally,  but  would  be  inferred, 
or  at  least  conjectured,  as  probable  from  some 
real  and  generally  acknowledged  observation." 
— (Kant's  Works,  vol.  vii.  p.  32.) 
I  have  already  in  the  above-cited  treatise  discussed 
some  physical   phenomena,  which  must  be  possible 
for  such  four-dimensional  beings,  provided  that  under 
certain   circumstances   they  are   enabled  to  produce 
effects   in   the   real   material   world  that   would   be 
visible,    i.e.,    conceivable    to    us    three-dimensional 
beings.     As  one  of  these  effects,  I  discussed  at  some 
length  the  knotting  of  a  single  endless  cord.     If  a 
single  cord  has  its  ends  tied  together  and  sealed,  an 
intelligent  being,  having  the   power  voluntarily  to 
produce  on  this  cord  four-dimensional  bendings  and 
movements,  must  be  able,  without  loosening  the  seal, 
to  tie  one  or  more  knots  in  this  endless  cord. 

Now,  this  experiment  has  been  successfully  made 
within  the  space  of  a  few  minutes  in  Leipzig,  on 
the  J 7th  of  December  1877,  at  11  o'clock  a.m.,  in 
the   presence   of  Mr.    Henry    Slade,    the   American. 


14  TUANSCENDKNTAL    PHYSiaS. 

The  accompanying  engraving  (Plate  I.)  sLows  tbe 
Btrong  cord  with  the  four  knots*  in  it,  as  well 
as  the  position  of  my  hands,  to  which  Mr.  Slade's 
left  hand  and  that  of  another  gentleman  were  joined. 
While  the  seal  always  remained  in  our  sight  on  the 
table,  the  unknotted  cord  was  firmly  pressed  by  my 
two  thumbs  against  the  table's  surface,  and  the 
remainder  of  the  cord  hung  down  in  my  lap.  I  had 
desired  the  tying  of  only  one  knot,  yet  the  four 
knots — minutely  represented  on  the  drawing — were 
formed,  after  a  few  minutes,  in  the  cord. 

The  hempen  cord  had  a  thickness  of  about  i  milli- 
mbtre  ;  it  was  strong  and  new,  having  been  bought 
by  myself.  Its  single  length,  before  the  tying  of 
the  knots,  was  about  148  centimetres;  the  length 
therefore  of  the  doubled  string,  the  ends  having  beeu 
joined,  about  74  centims.  The  ends  were  tied 
together  in  an  ordinary  knot,  and  then — 2)rotruding 
from  the  knot  by  about  1.5  centims. — were  laid  ou 
a  piece  of  paper  and  sealed  to  the  same  with  ordinary 
sealing-wax,  so  that  the  knot  just  remained  visible 
at  the  border  of  the  seal.  The  pajier  round  the  seal 
w'as  then  cut  off,  as  shown  in  the  illustration. 

The  above  described  sealing  of  two  such  strings, 
with  my  own  seal,  was  cH'ucled  by  myself  in  my 
apartments,  on  the  evening  of  December  i6th,  1877, 

•  In  the  enlarged  drawings  the  knots  have  been  represented  by  mis- 
take symmetrical ;  tlicy  were  tied  ou  one  side,  iu  accordance  with  the 
buiull  ligurc  of  the  cord. 


Plate  L 


OCCULT   FORMATION    OF   KNOTS.  1/ 

at  9  o'clock,  under  the  eyes  of  several  of  my  friends 
and  colleagues,  and  not  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Slade. 
Two  other  strings  of  the  same  quality  and  dimen- 
sions were  sealed  by  Wilhelm  Weber  with  his  seal, 
and  in  his  own  rooms,  on  the  morning  of  the  i  ytli 
of  December,  at  10.30  a.m.  With  these  four  cords  I 
went  to  the  neighbouring  dwelling  of  one  of  my 
friends,  who  had  offered  to  Mr.  Henry  Slade  the 
hospitalities  of  his  house,  so  as  to  place  him  exclu- 
sively at  my  own  and  my  friend's  disposition,  and 
for  the  time  withdrawing  him  from  the  public.  The 
seance  in  question  took  place  in  my  friend's  sitting- 
room  immediately  after  my  arrival.  I  myself  selected 
one  of  the  four  sealed  cords,  and,  in  order  never  to  lose 
sight  of  it  before  we  sat  down  at  the  table,  I  hung  it 
around  my  neck — the  seal  in  front  always  within  my 
sight.  During  the  seance,  as  previously  stated,  I 
constantly  kept  the  seal  —  remaining  unaltered  — 
before  me  on  the  table.  Mr.  Blade's  hands  remained 
all  the  time  in  sight ;  with  the  left  he  often  touched 
his  forehead,  complaining  of  painful  sensations.  The 
portion  of  the  string  hanging  down  rested  on  my 
lap, — out  of  my  sight,  it  is  true, — but  Mr.  Blade's 
hands  always  remained  visible  to  me.  I  particularly 
noticed  that  Mr.  Blade's  hands  were  not  withdrawn 
or  changed  in  position.  He  himself  appeared  to  be 
perfectly  passive,  so  that  we  cannot  advance  the 
assertion  of  his  having  tied  those  knots  by  his  con- 

B 


1 8  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

scious  will,  l)ut  only  that  they,  under  thcac  detailed 
circumstances,  were  formed  in  his  presence  without 
tnsihle  contact,  and  in  a  room  illuminated  by  bright 
daylight. 

According  to  the  reports  so  far  published,  the 
above  experiment  seems  also  to  have  succeeded  in 
Vienna  in  presence  of  Mr.  Slade,  although  under 
less  stringent  conditions.^'*'  Those  of  my  readers 
who  wish  for  further  information  on  other  physical 
phenomena  which  have  taken  place  in  Mr.  Blade's 
presence,  I  refer  to  these  two  books.  I  reserve  to 
later  publication,  in  my  own  treatises,  the  description 
of  further  experiments  obtained  by  me  in  twelve 
seances  with  Mr.  Slade,  and,  as  I  am  expressly  author- 
ised to  mention,  in  the  presence  of  my  friends  and  col- 
leagues, Professor  Fechner,  Professor  Wilhelm  Weber, 
the  celebrated  electrician  from  Gottingen,  and  Herr 
Scheibner,  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Leipzig,  who  are  perfectly  convinced  of 
the  reality  of  the  observed  facts,  altogether  excluding 
imposture  or  prestidigitation. 

At  the  end  of  my  first  treatise,  already  finished 
in  manuscript  in  the  course  of  August  1877,  I  called 
attention  to  the  circumstance  that  a  certain  number 
of  physical  phenomena,  which,  by  "  synthetical  con- 

•  Mr.  Slade'a  "Aufcnthalt  in  Wicn:  Ein  ofTenor  Brief  an  nicincFieunde." 
Wien  :  I.  C.  Fificher  &  Co.,  1878.  "Dcr  InilividnalisinuH  iu  Liclitc 
dcr  Bi()lo;;ie  und  riiilosuphio  dcr  (acgcuwurt  vou  Laz;ir  B.  IlcUcubach." 
Wit'U  :  Brauuiiiller,  1876. 


OBJECTIVE   AND   SUBJECTIVE.  1 9 

elusions  a  priori,"  miglit  be  explained  through  the 
generalised  conception  of  space  and  the  platonic 
hypothesis  of  projection,  coincided  with  so-called 
spiritualistic  phenomena.  Cautiously,  however,  I 
said  : — 

"  To  those  of  my  readers  who  are  inclined  to  see 
in  spiritualistic  phenomena  an  empirical  con- 
firmation of  those  phenomena  above  deduced 
in  regard  to  their  theoretical  possibility,  I 
beg  to  observe  that  from  the  point  of  view 
of  idealism  there  must  first  be  given  a  precise 
definition  and  criticism  of  objective  reality. 
Indeed,  if  everything  perceivable  is  a  concep- 
tion produced  in  us  by  unknown  causes,  the 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  objective 
reality  from  the  subjective  reality  (phantasma) 
cannot  be  sought  in  nature,  but  only  in 
accidental  attributes  of  that  process,  producing 
conceptions.  If  causes  unknown  to  us  pro- 
duce simultaneously  in  several  individuals  the 
same  conception,  only  subject  to  those  dis- 
tinctions which  depend  upon  difierences  in 
the  position  of  the  observers,  we  refer  such 
conception  to  a  7'eal  object  outside  of  us  ;  tbis 
conception  not  taking  place,  we  reler  that 
conception  to  causes  ivithin  us,  and  call  it 
hallucination. 
"  Now,  whether  the  spiritualistic  phenomena 


30  TRANSCENDENTAL    rHYSICS. 

belong  to  the  first  or  to  the  second  category 
of  these    conceptions,    I    do    not   venture   to 
decide,   so  far    never  having  witnessed   such 
phenomena.     On   the    other  hand,   I  do   not 
})os.sc.ss,    witli    regard    to   men   like   Crookes, 
AVallace,  and  others,  such  an  exalted  opinion 
of  my   own    intellect,    as   to   believe   that   I 
myself,  under  similar  conditions,  should  not 
be  subject  to  the  same  impressions."    (Written 
in  August  1877.) 
This  supposition  received,  four   months  after  my 
writing  it  down,  a  full  confirmation  by  the  above- 
mentioned    experiments    with    the    American,    Mr. 
Henry  Slade.     In  making  them  I  was  intent  upon 
giving  full  consideration  to  the  above-cited  distinc- 
tion between  a  subjective  phantasma  and  an  objective 
fact.     The  four  knots  in  the  above-mentioned  cord, 
with  the  seal  unbroken,  this  day  still  lie  before  me ; 
I  can  send  this  cord  to  any  man  for  examination ;  I 
might  send  it  by  turn  to  all  the  learned  societies  of 
the  world,  so  as  to  convince  them  that  not  a  subjec- 
tive phantasma  is  here  in  question,  but  an  objective 
and  lasting  efiect  produced  in  the   material   world, 
which  no  human  intelligence,   with   the  conceptions 
of  space  so  far  current,  is  able  to  explain. 

If,  nevertheless,  the  foundation  of  this  fact,  deduced 
by  me  on  the  ground  of  an  enlarged  conception  of 
space,    should   be    denied,   only    one   other   kind    of 


SLADE   AND   HIS   ACCUSEES.  21 

explanation  would  remain,  arising  from  a  moral  mode 
of  consideration  that  at  present,  it  is  true,  is  quite 
customary.  This  explanation  would  consist  in  the 
presumption  that  I  myself  and  the  honourable  men 
and  citizens  of  Leipzig,  in  whose  presence  several  of 
these  cords  were  sealed,  were  either  common  impostors, 
or  were  not  in  possession  of  our  sound  senses  sufficient 
to  perceive  if  Mr.  Slade  himself,  before  the  cords 
were  sealed,  had  tied  them  in  knots.  The  discussion, 
however,  of  such  a  hypothesis  would  no  longer 
belong  to  the  dominion  of  science,  but  would  fall 
under  the  category  of  social  decency. 

Some  other  still  more  surprising  experiments — 
prepared  by  me  with  a  view  to  further  testing  this 
theory  of  space — ^have  succeeded,  though  Mr.  Slade 
thought  their  success  impossible.  The  sympathising 
and  intelligent  reader  will  be  able  to  understand  my 
delight  caused  thereby.  Mr.  Slade  produced  on  me 
and  on  my  friends  the  impression  of  his  being  a 
gentleman  :  the  sentence  for  imposture  pronounced 
against  him  in  London  necessarily  excited  our  moral 
sympathy,  for  the  physical  facts  observed  by  us  in  so 
astonishing  a  variety  in  his  presence,  negatived  on 
every  reasonable  ground  the  supposition  that  he  in 
one  solitary  case  had  taken  refuge  in  wilful  imposture. 
Mr.  Slade,  in  our  eyes,  therefore,  was  innocently 
condemned — a  victim  of  his  accuser's  and  his  judge's 
limited  knowledge. 


Cfjaptcr  ^cconD. 

MAGNETIC  KXrKUIMEKTS— PHT8ICAL  PHENOMENA— 8LATE-WRITIKO  UNOEB 
TEST  CONDITIONS. 

The  facts  tcstiBed  to  by  Mr.  Wallace  and  other 
well-known  Englishmen,  as  observed  by  them  in  the 
presence  of  Sladc,  I  can  fully  confirm  on  the  ground 
of  an  investigation  of  more  than  eight  days  with  the 
latter  in  my  own  house.  As  witnesses  of  the  pheno- 
mena then  observed,  and  about  to  be  particularly 
described,  I  am  expressly  authorised  to  cite  my 
friends  Professor  Fechner,  Professor  Wilhelm  Weber, 
and  Professor  W.  Scheibner. 

On  the  15th  November  1877,  at  five  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  Slade  came  to  Leipzig  for  the  first  time, 
and  took  a  room  in  the  Palmtree  Hotel  (Pahnhaiim), 
which  had  been  ordered  for  him  by  two  of  my  friends, 
at  whose  invitation  he  had  come  here  from  Berlin. 
AlthouGfli  I  was  not  a  stranorer  to  the  literature  of 
Spmtualism,  I  had  hitherto  declined  to  occupy  myself 
personally  with  its  asserted  phenomena,  because,  in 
the  first  place,  I  was  quite  satisfied  to  leave  these  for 
the  present  in  the  hands  of  two  such  excellent  and 
unprejudiced  observers  as  Crookes  and  Wallace  ;  and, 


SLADe's   first   visit   to   LEIPZIG.  23 

secondly,  because  my  time  was  abeady  fully  occupied 
witli  my  physical  researches.  Still,  I  had  no  reason 
for  refusing  the  request  of  my  friends  to  use  so  con- 
venient an  opportunity  as  the  present,  and  at  least  to 
have  a  look  at  Slade.  I  therefore  accompanied  my 
two  friends  on  a  visit  to  him  on  the  evening  of  his 
arrival,  without  the  least  intention,  however,  of  taking 
part  in  a  sitting,  or  even  of  arranging  one. 

Slade  came  alone  to  Leipzig.  He  had  left  his 
niece  (the  daughter  of  his  deceased  wife's  sister)  as 
well  as  his  secretary,  Mr.  Simmons,  and  his  daughter — 
which  three  persons  accompanied  him  on  his  travels — 
in  Berlin,  at  the  Hotel  Kronprinz ;  these  persons 
are,  therefore,  wholly  unknown  to  me. 

The  personal  impression  which  Slade  made  upon 
me  was  a  favourable  one.  His  demeanour  was  modest 
and  reserved,  and  his  conversation  (he  spoke  only 
English)  was  quiet  and  discreet.  The  conversation 
soon  turned  upon  Laukester  s  accusation,  and  his 
manner  and  language  indicated  moral  indignation 
at  the  proceedings  against  him  in  England.  To 
change  the  subject,  I  asked  him  whether  he  had  ever 
tried  to  influence  a  magnetic  needle,  for  I  remembered 
that  Professor  Fechner  had  observed  a  similar  pheno- 
menon with  Erdmann,  late  professor  of  chemistry 
at  the  Leipzig  University,  in  the  presence  of  a  certain 
Madame  Euf,  a  sensitive  whom  Reichenbach  had  in- 
troduced to  those  gentlemen. 


24  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

To  give  my  readers  here  tbc  interesting  result  of 
tliat  investigation,  the  following  is  quoted  from  Fecli- 
ner's  small  pamphlet,  "  Recollections  of  the  Last  Days 
of  the  Science  of  Od  and  its  Authors,"  which  appeared 
two  years  ago  (Leipzig,  Breitkopf  k  Iliirtcl,  1876), 
under  the  heading,  "  Exjieriments  with  Madame  Ruf." 

Fechner^s  Magnetic  Experiments  with  a  Sensitive. 

"  Saturday,  4tli  July  i  S67. —  Early  to-day  Herr 
von  Breichenbach  surprised  me  with  a  visit.  To  my 
repeated  refusal  by  letter  to  join  in  his  experiments, 
after  I  had  been  unable  to  obtain  a  commission  from 
my  colleagues  to  examine  the  same,  and  the  experi- 
ment with  the  pendulum  had  come  to  nothing,  he 
had  replied  that  he  would  come  notwithstanding, 
and  would  even  bring  with  him  a  sensitive  to  show 
me  the  experiments,  without  claiming  from  me  a 
public  judgment  upon  them,  naturally  presuming  that 
I  would  not  avoid  giving  it  if  called  upon  by  him  for 
it,  supposing  only  that  I  had  first  convinced  myself. 

"  I  received  him  very  coldly,  explained  to  him  again 
that  I  had  desired  to  abstain  from  a  participation  in 
his  experiments,  of  which  nothing  would  come  even 
for  himself :  but  as  he  was  there,  I  went  with  him  to 
his  hotel,  where  he  introduced  to  me  his  sensitive,  a 
large  but  rather  lean  w^oman,  between  forty  and  fifty 
years  old,  who  might  once  have  been  handsome ;  and 


PROFESSOR   FECHNERS   EXPERIMENTS.  25 

I  saw  a  table  on  which  he  had  laid  out  all  possible 
preparations — magnets,  sulphur  and  metals  melted 
down  in  pipes,  a  raw  and  a  boiled  egg,  and  so  forth, 
as  far  as  I  knew. 

"  The  sensitive  explained  that  she  was  not  quite  well, 
and  her  sensibility  was  not  very  highly  developed 
this  day. 

"An  experiment  which  Eeichenbach  himself  con- 
ducted, while  I  was  with  him  at  the  hotel,  surprised 
me,  and  I  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  it.  A 
common  box-compass,  with  a  needle  some  inches 
long,  under  glass,  was  placed  on  the  table.  He  caused 
the  sensitiA'e  to  move  a  finger  to  and  fro  before  one 
of  the  poles  (not  over  the  glass,  but  in  front  of  the 
case),  and  thereby  the  needle  began  to  oscillate,  as 
if  an  iron  or  magnetic  rod  had  been  similarly 
passed  before  the  same  pole.  These  oscillations  were 
not  inconsiderable,  and  the  experiment  succeeded  with 
each  repetition,  even  when  Eeichenbach  was  in  other 
parts  of  the  room,  and  also  when  the  finger  alter- 
nately approached  and  removed  from  the  pole.  Trying 
the  experiment  in  like  manner,  myself,  the  needle 
remained  quite  motionless.  Eeichenbach  said  the 
phenomenon  was  weak  that  day ;  at  times  the 
sensitive  had  drawn  the  magnetic  needle  completely 
round.  I  examined  the  finger  in  its  extent  and  under 
the  nails  as  closely  as  possible,  caused  the  arm  to  be 
bared  to  above  the  elbow,  in  order  to  discover  any  iron 


26  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

(•r  puncture  through  which  neetUcs  could  be  passed 
under  the  skin  ;  in  vain.  However,  I  reserved  my- 
self for  re-examinatiou  of  this  experiment. 

"July  13th. — Since  the  hist  experiments,  the  sensi- 
tive had  fallen  into  such  a  condition  of  insensibility, 
that  Reichenbach,  as  he  wrote  me,  could  stick  needles 
down  to  the  blood  in  her  limbs  without  her  feeling 
anything.  Early  to-day  he  came  to  me,  and  said  his 
sensitive  was  not  sufficiently  recovered  for  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  experiments  with  the  horse-shoe,  bar- 
magnet,  or  pendulum ;  but  the  deviation  of  the 
maf]fnetic-ueedle,  which  had  ceased  durinfj  her  state 
of  insensibility,  again  succeeded ;  and  he  begged  me 
to  satisfy  myself  of  it  immediately,  as  he  was  not 
sure  of  the  continuance  of  the  existing  conditions. 
So  I  went  with  him.  The  magnetic  experiments,  to 
which  I  confined  myself,  were  so  successful,  that  my 
understanding,  so  to  speak,  was  in  suspense,  notwith- 
standing I  endeavoured  to  exclude  all  possible  means 
of  deception. 

"  In  the  foregoing  experiments,  the  sensitive  had 
sat  in  front  of  the  magnetic  needle  ;  this  time  I  made 
her  sit  at  the  side.  If  the  sensitive  had  had  a  macfnet 
under  her  clothes,  a  suspicion  which  could  be  enter- 
tained and  was  all  the  more  to  be  reckoned  with, 
as  it  had  been  very  seriously  suggested  from  highly 
respectable  quarters,  this  would  have  established 
quite  different  conditions  of  motion  of  the  needle 


PROFESSOK   FECHNERS   EXPERIMENTS.  27 

from  the  former,  and  rendered  generally  impossible 
the  regular  phenomena  which  I  observed  ;  and  even 
without  the  pointing  of  the  finger  must  of  itself 
have  produced  irregularities  in  the  motion  of  the 
needle, — nothing  of  which  happened.  Such  a  sus- 
picion after  this  could  not  be  maintained.  I  through- 
out examined  whether  the  motion  of  the  magnetic 
needle  indicated  attraction  or  repulsion,  and  it  gene- 
rally appeared  that  whatever  part  of  the  left  or  right 
hand  or  of  the  arm  was  applied,  the  south  pole  of 
the  needle  was  repelled,  the  north  pole  was  attracted  ; 
notwithstanding  Reichenbach,  who  appears  to  have 
instituted  the  experiment  with  the  magnetic  influ- 
ence quite  superficially,  to  my  question,  whether  the 
polar  characteristics  were  distributed  to  the  right  and 
left  respectively,  so  that  the  one  attracted  what  the 
other  repelled,  equilibrium  resulting  from  their  joint 
action,  had  replied  that  would  indisputably  so  ap- 
pear ;  whereas,  in  fact,  right  and  left  were  quite  alike 
in  this  respect,  only  the  left  seemed  to  act  more 
strongly  than  the  right.  A  proof,  at  any  rate,  that 
Reichenbach  himself  had  nothing  to  do  with  any 
trick ;  the  phenomenon  contradicting  his  theory,  and 
he  being  unable  to  give  any  definite  explanation  of 
it.  Reichenbach  stood  throughout  so  quietly  and  at 
such  a  distance  that  there  was  nothing  to  guard 
against  from  him ;  and  as  to  the  sensitive,  I  never 
remarked   a    motion   of    the   body   to   support   the 


38  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

Buspicion  that  she  had  a  magnet  under  licr  clothes, 
by  the  motion  of  which  tlie  results  were  brought 
about.  ^Moreover,  I  frequently  made  her  try  the 
experiment  only  with  the  finger,  expressly  bidding 
her  keep  her  whole  body  at  the  same  time  as  quiet 
as  possible ;  nor  could  I,  with  the  closest  attention, 
perceive  that  she  disobeyed  me. 

"After  all,  one  cannot  suppose  that  the  woman  had 
stuck  needles  under  the  skin  in  all  her  fingers,  and 
up  to  the  elbow ;  and,  moreover,  only  magnetic 
needles,  and  these  everywhere  with  a  like  direction 
of  the  pole.  Again,  as  to  the  suspicion  that  she  con- 
trived the  magnetic  phenomena  of  the  needle  by  the 
motion  of  a  magnet  under  the  clothes,  that  is  entirely 
excluded,  for  the  reason  that  the  incrciise  or  disturb- 
ance of  the  oscillations  of  the  needle,  according  to 
the  approximation  or  removal  of  the  finger  (with  the 
jirinciple  of  which  act  the  sensitive  was  unac- 
quainted, Reichenbach  himself  not  knowing  the  right 
application),  were  exactly  such  as  they  must  have 
been  supposing  a  magnetic  property  in  the  finger ;  a 
result  which  could  not  have  been  produced  by  art, 
even  if  the  sensitive  had  known  the  principle. 

"July  14th. — At  eleven  o'clock  this  morning  I 
repeated  the  experiment  with  the  magnetic  needle, 
in  company  with  Professor  Erdmann,  whom  I  had 
in  the  meanwhile  been  able  to  induce  to  take  part  in 
it.     It   resulted  as   before,   and   Professor   Erdmann 


PROFESSOR   FECHNERS   EXPERIMENTS.  29 

was  impressed  as  well  as  myself.  Any  means  of 
deception  could  be  discovered  to-day  as  little  as  on 
former  occasions.  I  had  before  asked  the  sensitive 
whether  she  had  not  iron  about  her,  and  she  had  said 
she  had  not,  but  neither  she  nor  I  had  then  thought 
of  her  crinoline ;  to-day,  however,  she  mentioned  of 
her  own  accord  that  the  experiment  succeeded  just 
as  well  without  the  crinoline  as  with  it,  and  offered, 
as  she  then  had  it  on,  to  take  it  off,  which  she  did 
in  the  room.  And  in  fact,  the  experiment  was  as 
completely  successful  as  before.  Moreover,  it  will  at 
once  be  seen  that  the  earlier-described  results,  even 
if  possibly  influenced  by  the  crinoline,  would  much 
rather  have  been  disturbed  in  their  regularity  than 
induced  by  it.  In  addition,  Reichenbach  declared 
that  he  was  ready  to  let  the  experiment  be  under- 
taken by  ladies  whom  we  might  appoint,  the  sensitive 
being  wholly  divested  of  her  clothes. 

^'Postscript. — The  following  day  the  woman  became 
so  ill  that  Reichenbach  was  obliged  to  send  her  back ; 
and  even  later  on,  she  was  not  fit  for  the  experi- 
ments. At  her  second  visit  here  I  recommended  her, 
if  the  magnetic  power  returned  to  her,  to  introduce 
herself  to  some  physicist  or  physiologist  by  profession, 
for  the  purpose  of  experimentation,  and  she  might 
thus  become  a  celebrated  person ;  but  I  have  heard 
nothing  more  of  her. 

"  Yet  are  the  magnetic  results  obtained  with  Madame 


30  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

Ruf  generally  so  novel  (unenoartct),  that  with  regard 
to  the  hitherto  proved  impossibility  of  reproducing 
them  witli  others,  every  doubt  of  their  genuine 
character  must  bo  permitted.  Was  there  actually 
no  deception  in  tlicni  ?  That  Reichenbach  himself 
was  incapalile  of  wilful  deception  every  one  will 
admit,  wlio  from  personal  intercourse  with  him,  or 
from  reading  his  writings,  knows  that  he  was  much 
too  possessed  with  the  reality  of  the  fads  adduced 
by  him  to  hold  it  necessary  to  resort  to  any  artifices 
in  support  of  their  credibility  ;  and  that  even  the 
sensitive  herself  was  not  intentionally  deceiving, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  she  throughout 
presented  herself  only  as  a  passive  instrument  of 
Reichenbach  in  the  experiments,  and  manifested 
rather  a  passive  than  an  active  interest  in  them,  as 
appears  from  the  above  accounts.  But  even  should 
the  intention  to  deceive  be  presupposed  either  in  him 
or  her,  I  am  absolutely  at  a  loss  how  such  deception 
could  have  held  out  against  the  altered  conditions  of 
the  experiments,  as  I  have  described  them.  Could 
the  experiments  have  been  continued,  doubtless  yet 
other  means  of  control  would  have  been  instituted  ; 
hut  at  least,  for  my  own  2^art,  I  confess  myself  con- 
vinced already  by  that  which  I  have  been  able  to 
communicate  hereupon.  It  may  be  thought  an  hal- 
lucination on  my  part,  and  indeed  I  asked  myself 
repeatedly    whether    I   saw   rightly ;    but   Professor 


PROPOSED   EXPERIMENTS   WITH   SLADE.  3 1 

Eidmann,  whom  uDfortunately,  since  his  departure,  I 
can  no  longer  call  as  a  witness,  must  have  shared  it 
likewise." 

The  above  fact,  established  by  two  well-known 
reliable  witnesses  (Professor  Fechner  and  Professor 
Erdmann),  of  an  influence  exercised  by  a  human 
being  upon  a  magnetic  needle,  is  so  remarkable,  and 
stands  so  wholly  outside  our  ordinary  experience, 
that  it  must  be  a  matter  of  the  highest  interest  to 
every  true  investigator  of  nature  to  be  able  to  con- 
firm and  repeat  this  fact  with  another  individual.  I 
therefore  put  the  question  to  Mr.  Slade,  whether 
he  experienced  anything  similar  in  himself.  Slade 
answered  me  that  last  Sunday  ( 11  th  November 
1877)  he  had  been  examined  as  to  this  peculiarity  by 
a  Berlin  professor  (whose  name  he  did  not  remem- 
ber), and  on  that  occasion,  the  power  which  he  did 
not  know  himself  to  possess,  of  diverting  a  magnetic 
needle  and  putting  it  in  lively  oscillation,  had  mani- 
fested itself.  This  account  first  awakened  in  me  the 
desire  to  experiment  with  Mr.  Slade  in  like  manner 
as  Fechner  had  done  ten  years  before  with  the  above- 
mentioned  Madame  Euf. 

As  I  was  expecting  Fechner  and  Wilhelm  "Weber 
on  the  following  evening  (Friday,  1 6th  November)  at 
a  small  party  of  friends  who  assembled  every  week  at 
my  house,  I  invited  Mr.  Slade  to  come  and  take  a 
cup  of  tea  with  us.     I  explained  to  him   that   we 


32  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

sliould  1)C  quite  satisfied  if  lie  could  produce  nothing 
but  the  divergence  of  a  magnetic  needle  under  condi- 
tions which  would  preclude  all  notion  of  suspicion 
even  for  the  most  distant  bystanders.  Slade  accepted 
my  invitation,  and  was  even  ready  to  come  at  once 
to  my  house  in  company  with  one  of  my  friends.  I 
wished  to  make  sure  of  the  experiment  that  evening, 
in  order  to  guarantee  its  success  the  following  day 
in  the  presence  of  my  friends.  This  intention  I,  of 
course,  did  not  intimate  to  Slade. 

Arrived  at  my  dwelling,  my  friend  asked  whether 
I  had  a  compass  at  hand.  I  brought  a  celestial 
globe  in  the  stand  of  which  a  compass  was  fixed,  and 
placed  it  on  the  table.  At  our  request  Slade  moved 
his  hand  horizontally  across  the  closely-fitted  glass 
cover  of  the  magnet  case.  The  needle  remained 
immovable,  and  I  concluded  from  this  that  Slade  had 
no  magnet  concealed  beneath  his  skin.  On  a  second 
trial,  which  was  made  immediately  afterwards,  in  the 
manner  stated,  the  needle  was  violently  agitated  in  a 
way  which  could  only  be  the  result  of  strong  mag- 
netic power. 

This  observation  decided  my  position  towards  Mr. 
Slade.  I  had  here  to  do  with  a  fact  which  confirmed 
the  observations  of  Fechuer,  and  was,  therefore,  worthy 
of  further  investigation. 

The  next  evening  (Friday,  November  i6th,  1877) 
I    placed   a   card-table,  with   four  chairs,   in   a   room 


PHYSICAL   MANIFESTATIONS.  33 

wliicli  Slade  had  not  yet  entered.  After  Fecbner, 
Professor  Braune,  Slade,  and  myself  were  seated,  and 
had  placed  our  interlinked  hands  upon  the  table, 
there  were  raps  on  the  table.  Two  hours  previously 
I  had  bought  a  slate  and  marked  it ;  on  this  the  writ- 
ing began  in  the  usual  manner.  My  pocket-knife, 
which  I  had  lent  to  Slade  to  cut  off  a  fragment  of 
pencil,  was  laid  upon  the  slate,  and  while  Slade  was 
placing  the  slate  partially  under  the  flap  of  the  table, 
the  knife  was  suddenly  projected  to  the  height  of  one 
foot,  and  then  thrown  down  upon  the  table,  but,  to 
our  extreme  surprise,  was  open.  The  experiment 
was  several  times  repeated  with  like  result,  and  for 
proof  that  the  knife  was  not  projected  by  any  move- 
ment of  the  slate,  Slade  laid  at  the  same  time  as  the 
knife  a  bit  of  slate-pencil  on  the  slate,  and,  to  fix  its 
position,  made  a  small  cross  on  the  place.  Imme- 
diately after  the  knife  had  been  projected,  Slade 
showed  us  the  slate,  on  which  the  bit  of  pencil 
remained  unmoved  near  the  mark. 

The  double  slate,  after  being  well  cleaned  and  a 
piece  of  pencil  placed  in  it,  was  then  held  by 
Slade  over  the  head  of  Professor  Braune.  The 
scratching  was  soon  heard,  and  when  the  slate  was 
opened,  a  long  piece  of  writing  was  found  upon  it. 

While  this  was  going  on,  a  bed  which  stood  in  the 
room  behind  a  screen  suddenly  moved  about  two  feet 
froin  the  wall,  pushing  the  screen  outwards.     Slade 


34  TRAKSCEXDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

waa  more  than  four  feet  distant  from  the  bed,  had  liis 
back  turned  towards  it,  and  liis  legs  crossed,  always 
visible,  and  towards  the  side  away  from  the  bed.  I 
then  returned  the  bed  to  its  original  place. 

A  second  sitting  took  place  immediately  with 
Professor  Weber,  Scheibner,  and  myself.  While 
experiments  similar  to  those  first  described  were 
being  successfully  made,  a  violent  crack  was  sud- 
denly heard,  as  in  the  discharging  of  a  large  battery 
of  Leydeu  jars.  On  turning,  with  some  alarm,  in  the 
direction  of  the  sound,  the  before-mentioned  screen 
fell  apart  in  two  pieces.  The  strong  wooden  screws, 
half  an  inch  thick,  were  torn  from  above  and  below, 
without  any  visible  contact  of  Slade  with  the  screen. 
The  parts  broken  were  at  least  five  feet  removed 
from  Slade,  who  had  his  back  to  the  screen ;  but 
even  if  he  had  intended  to  tear  it  down  by  a  cleverly- 
devised  sideward  motion,  it  would  have  been  neces- 
sary to  fasten  it  on  the  opposite  side.  As  it  was,  the 
screen  stood  quite  unattached,  and  the  grain  of  the 
wood  being  parallel  to  tlie  axis  of  the  cylindrical 
wooden  fastenings,  the  wrenching  asunder  could  only 
be  accomplished  by  a  force  acting  longitudinally  to 
the  part  in  question.  We  were  all  astonished  at  this 
unexpected  and  violent  manifestation  of  mechanical 
force,  and  asked  Slade  what  it  all  meant ;  but  he 
only  shrugged  his  shoulders,  saying  that  such  pheno- 
mena occasionally,  though  somewhat  rarely,  occurred 


A   SPIRIT   APOLOGY.  35 

in  his  presence.  As  lie  spoke,  he  placed,  while  still 
standing,  a  piece  of  slate-pencil  on  the  polished  sur- 
face of  the  table,  laid  over  it  a  slate,  purchased  and 
just  cleaned  by  myself,  and  pressed  the  five  spread 
fingers  of  his  right  hand  on  the  upper  surface  of  the 
slate,  while  his  left  hand  rested  on  the  centre  of  the 
table.  AVritino^  bec^an  on  the  inner  surface  of  the 
slate,  and  when  Slade  turned  it  up,  the  following 
sentence  was  written  in  English  :  "  It  was  not  our 
intention  to  do  harm ;  forgive  what  has  happened." 
We  were  the  more  surprised  at  the  production  of  the 
writing  under  these  circumstances,  for  we  particu- 
larly observed  that  both  Slade's  hands  remained  quite 
motionless  while  the  writing  was  going  on. 

The  above-mentioned  phenomena,  which  we  wit- 
nessed at  our  first  meeting  with  Slade,  appeared  to 
me  and  my  friends  so  extraordinary,  and  so  much  at 
variance  with  all  our  former  conceptions,  that  William 
Weber  and  myself  resolved  to  give  some  of  our  col- 
leagues the  opportunity  of  testifying  to  them.  We 
therefore  went  the  next  day  to  Professor  C.  Ludwig 
and  informed  him  of  the  facts.  The  interest  which  he 
took  in  the  subject  encouraged  me  to  invite  two  other 
friends  to  come  to  my  house  the  next  day  (Sunday, 
November  1 8th),  to  judge  for  themselves  in  the  presence 
of  Slade.  I  proposed  my  colleagues,  Herr  Geheimrath 
Thiersch,  surgeon,  and  Herr  Wundt,  Professor  of  Philo- 
sophy, in  which  choice  Herr  Ludwig  fully  concurred. 


36  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

On  Sunday,  the  iSth  November,  at  three  o'clock 
in  tlic  afternoon,  these  three  gentlemen  met  at  my 
house.  I  liad  purchased  the  previous  day  a  iieiu 
walnut-wood  card-table  from  a  cabinetmaker  in  this 
town,  named  J.  G.  Rittcr,  and  liad  put  it  in  the 
place  of  the  table  used  at  the  former  sitting.  The 
slates,  single  and  folding,  which  we  placed  at  Blade's 
disjiosal  were  bought  by  myself  and  my  friends,  and 
were  marked  by  us.  There  were  present  at  the 
stance  only  Ilerr  Geheimrath  Thiersch,  C.  Ludwig, 
and  Professor  Wuudt :  after  half  an  hour's  sitting, 
they  left  the  room.  Of  the  phenomena  observed  by 
them  I  will  only  mention  that  related  to  me  by  Herr 
Thiersch,  viz.,  a  successful  experiment  similar  to  my 
own  ■with  my  pocket-knife,  and,  in  addition,  that 
between  the  folds  of  a  double  slate,  which  Slade  held 
in  his  rijrlit  hand  over  the  table  in  view  of  all,  three 
sentences  were  written  in  the  English,  French,  and 
German  languages,  each  one  in  an  entirely  diflferent 
handwriting.  The  slate  remains  in  my  possession, 
and  affords  opportunity  for  investigation  with  regard 
to  the  question  of  previous  preparation. 

It  is  to  be  understood  that  the  present  relation  of 
facts  in  no  way  presupposes  a  judgment  in  the  minds 
of  my  colleagues  as  regards  the  causes  of  the  pheno- 
mena. I  perfectly  agree  with  the  Imperial  Court  con- 
juror, Herr  Bellachini,  whose  testimony  concerning 
Slade  begins  with  the  following  words : — 


FURTHER    PHENOMENA.  37 

"  I  hereby  declare  it  to  be  a  rash  act  to  form  any 
conclusion  with  regard  to  the  objective  mediumistic 
performances  of  the  American,  Mr.  Henry  Slade,  even 
with  the  minutest  observation,  after  one  sitting 
only."     [See  Appendix  B.] 

Slade  returned  the  same  afternoon,  about  six 
o'clock,  to  Berlin.  All  that  had  been  observed  in 
his  presence  apj)eared  to  me  and  my  friends  to  be  of 
so  interesting  a  nature,  and  so  entirely  worthy  of 
further  investigation,  that  we  thankfully  and  will- 
ingly accepted  the  offer  of  my  friend,  Mr.  Oscar  von 
Hoffmann,  to  invite  Slade  to  spend  a  longer  time  in 
Leipsic  as  his  guest,  that  he  might  be  thus  with- 
drawn from  all  publicity,  and  placed  entirely  at  our 
disposal  for  the  purposes  of  scientific  research.  In 
consequence  of  this  invitation,  Slade  came  a  second 
time  alone  to  Leipsic,  on  Monday,  loth  December 
1877,  and  took  up  his  appointed  quarters  in  the 
house  of  my  friend. 

Next  morning  (Tuesday,  nth  December)  at  half- 
past  eleven  Slade  came  to  my  house.  This  was  high 
and  detached,  and  I  had  placed  the  above-mentioned 
card-table  in  a  corner-room  which  had  four  large 
windows,  three  to  the  south,  and  one  to  the  west. 
Professor  W.  Weber,  Professor  Scheibner,  Slade,  and 
I,  seated  ourselves  forthwith  at  the  card-table,  which 
was  quite  detached,  and  placed  in  the  middle  of  the 
room.     "Weber  was  opposite  to  me,  Scheibner  at  the 


3o  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

left,  Sladc  at  the  right.  "Wliilc  our  eight  hands  were 
upon  tlie  tabic,  in  contact,  and  Blade's  feet,  crossed 
sideways,  were  continually  observed  by  tlie  sitter  at 
the  side  next  liim,  a  large  hand-bell  which  had  been 
i>ut  under  the  table  suddenly  benran  to  rins:,  and  was 
then  violently  projected  before  all  our  eyes  about 
ten  feet  distance  horizontally  upon  the  floor.  After 
a  short  pause,  in  which  phenomena  similar  to  those 
already  described  took  place,  a  small  note-table,  fixed 
to  a  door-post  by  a  movable  iron  support,  began 
suddenly  to  move,  and  so  violently,  that  a  chair 
standing  in  front  of  it  was  thrown  down  with  a  great 
noise.  These  objects  were  behind  Slade,  and  at  least 
five  feet  from  him.  At  the  same  time,  and  at  the 
like  distance,  a  book-case,  loaded  with  many  books, 
was  violently  agitated.  A  small  paper  thermometer- 
case  was  laid  on  the  slate,  which  Slade  held  half 
under  the  edge  of  the  table.  This  disappeared,  so 
that  Slade  could  show  the  slate  empty  ;  after  about 
three  minutes  it  came  again  into  view  upon  the  slate. 
Both  here,  and  in  the  following  account,  I  take  no 
notice  of  the  continually  repeated  writing  between 
the  slates. 

On  the  same  day,  the  same  persons  assembled  in 
the  same  room  for  a  second  sitting.  W.  Weber 
placed  on  the  table  a  compass,  enclosed  in  glass,  the 
needle  of  which  we  could  all  observe  very  distinctly 
by  the  bright  candlelight,  while  we  had   our  hands 


EXPERIMENTS   WITH   A   COMPASS.  2)9 

joined  with  those  of  Slade  (which  were  both  visible, 
and  over  a  foot  distant  from  the  compass).  After  about 
five  minutes  the  needle  began  to  swing  violently  in 
arcs  of  from  40°  to  60°,  till  at  length  it  several  times 
turned  completely  round.  Slade  now  got  up,  and 
Avent  from  the  table  to  the  window  ;  he  hoped  that 
the  movements  of  the  needle  (which  were  especially 
remarkable  by  reason  of  the  frequent  sudden  revolu- 
tions and  the  resting  points)  would  be  continued  in 
his  absence :  this,  however,  did  not  happen.  But 
when,  standing,  he  again  put  his  right  hand  with 
ours  (always  joined  to  his)  in  motion  (Slade's  hand, 
however,  remaining  at  least  a  foot  and  a  half  from 
the  compass),  the  peculiar  agitations  of  the  needle 
suddenly  recommenced,  and  were  finally  changed 
into  rotations. 

In  order  to  repeat  some  observations  with  an  accor- 
dion, in  the  presence  of  Home  (which  were  made  and 
published  by  Crookes  and  Huggins),  besides  the  above- 
mentioned  large  hand-bell,  an  accordion  had  been 
brought  by  one  of  my  friends.  The  bell  was  placed 
under  the  table,  as  in  the  morning,  and  Slade 
grasped  the  keyless  end  of  the  accordion  (which  he 
had  never  had  in  his  hands  before,  but  saw  now  for 
the  first  time)  above,  so  that  the  side  with  keys  hung 
down  free.  "While  Slade's  left  hand  lay  on  the  table, 
and  his  right,  holding  the  upper  part  of  the  accordion 
above  the  table,  was  visible  to  us  all,  the  accordion 


40  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

began  sudclouly  to  pluy,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
bell  on  tlie  floor  to  ring  violently.  The  latter  could 
thus  not  be  touching  the  floor  with  its  edges  during 
the  ringing.  ITorcupon  Slade  gave  the  accordion  to 
Professor  Scheibner,  and  re(juested  him  to  hold  it  in  the 
manner  above  described,  as  it  might  possibly  happen 
that  the  accordion  would  play  in  his  hand  also,  with- 
out Slade  touching  it  at  all.  Scarcely  had  Scheibner 
the  accordion  in  his  hand,  than  it  began  to  play  a 
tune  exactly  in  the  same  way,  while  the  bell  under 
the  table  again  rang  violently.  Slade's  hands  mean- 
while rested  quietly  on  the  table,  and  his  feet,  turned 
sideways,  could  be  continually  observed  during  this 
proceeding. 

Encouraged  by  tlie  success  of  this  exactly-des- 
cribed experiment,  Slade  renewed  the  repeated 
attempt,  hitherto  in  vain,  to  obtain  writing  on  a 
slate  held  by  another,  and  not  touched  at  all  by 
himself.  He  therefore  handed  to  Professor  Scheibner 
one  of  the  slates  purchased  by  myself  and  kept  in 
readiness,  requesting  him  to  hold  it  at  first  with  his 
left  hand  under  the  table,  while  Slade  held  it  firmly 
at  the  edge  with  his  rifjht  hand  :  Scheibner  could 
thus  always  judge  from  a  pull  or  pressure  whether 
Slade  was  holding  the  slate  close  under  the  table. 
Scheibner's  right  hand  and  Slade's  left  rested  mean- 
while on  the  table.  After  waiting  vainly  for  a  short 
time,    Slade    remarked   that   he   felt   a  damj)   body 


APPARITION    OF   A   HAND.  4 1 

touching  the  hand  that  held  the  slate,  and  at  the 
same  time  Professor  Scheibner  also  testified  to  the 
same  sensation,  which  he  likened  to  the  touch  of  a 
piece  of  damp  felt-cloth.  Scheibner  then  withdrew 
the  slate,  which  in  fact  was  freely  moistened  on  the 
upper  side,  both  in  the  centre  and  at  the  edges  for 
a  breadth  of  from  two  to  three  inches,  as  were  also 
the  hands,  both  of  Scheibner  and  Slade,  which  had 
held  the  slate. 

While  we  were  conjecturing  in  what  conceivable 
manner  this  moistening  could  have  happened,  and  all 
our  hands  were  on  the  table,  there  appeared  suddenly 
a  small  reddish-brown  hand  at  the  edge  of  the  table, 
close  in  front  of  W.  Weber,  and  visible  to  us  all, 
which  moved  itself  vivaciously  and  disappeared  after 
two  seconds.  This  phenomenon  was  several  times 
repeated. 

In  order,  conclusively,  to  establish  the  elevation 
above  the  floor  of  one  body  sounding  against  another, 
I  had  suspended  a  steel-ball,  of  about  three-quarters  of 
an  inch  diameter,  by  a  silk  thread  inside  a  cylindrical 
glass-bell  of  one  foot  in  height  and  one-half  foot  dia- 
meter. The  bell  so  formed  was  placed  under  the  table 
instead  of  the  other  bell,  and  very  soon  there  began  a 
lively  tinkling  with  unmuffled  tones  as  the  steel-ball 
struck  against  the  glass  side.  As  Slade's  hands  were 
on  the  table,  and  his  feet  were  observed ;  and  even  in 
case  of  an  application  by  the  latter,  the  tone  of  the  bell 


42  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

would  have  been  afTected  by  the  contact  of  another 
body ;  this  phenomenon  couhl  only  be  brought 
about  by  an  elevation  of  the  bell  to  freedom  from 
contact. 

On  the  next  day,  tlic  13th  December  1877,  Slade 
proposed  to  us  himself  that  we  should  make  a 
direct  observation  of  the  movement  of  the  said 
bell  under  the  table,  and  thereby  make  sure  that  this 
movement  happened  without  any  contact  on  his 
part.  With  this  view  we  sat  at  a  distance  of  about 
four  feet  from  the  table  ;  by  means  of  candles  suit- 
ably placed  we  could  conveniently  observe  everything 
which  happened  under  the  table.  The  glass-bell  was 
now  jilaced  under  the  table,  and  indeed  towards  the 
side  facing  us,  about  in  the  line  between  the  two 
feet  of  the  table  which  were  nearest  us.  Slade  sat  on 
the  opposite  side,  and  had  his  feet,  visible  to  us  all, 
drawn  back  under  his  chair,  so  that  they  were  about 
three  feet  from  the  bell.  After  a  short  time  the  bell, 
without  any  touching  on  Slade's  part,  began  moving 
violently,  rolling  about  in  an  oblique  position  upon 
the  lower  glass  edge,  the  steel  ball  thereby  grinding 
against  the  glass  side. 

On  this  ev^ening  occurred  writing  between  a  double 
slate,  bound  cross-wise  by  a  tight  knot,  and  laid  on 
a  corner  of  the  table,  and  which  7io  one  touched. 
This  result  may  be  compared  with  that  obtained  at 
SSt.  Petersburg,  recorded  in  an  English  journal,  The 


SLADE    AND    THE    GRAND    DUKE    CONSTANTINE.      43 

Spimtualist  of  March  ist,  1878,  which  contains  the 
following  paragraphs  under  the  title,  "Dr.  Blade's 
Seances  with  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine  : " — 

"  On  Wednesday  last  week,  Dr.  Slade,  accompanied 
by  M.  Alexandre  Aksakow  and  Professor  Boutlerof, 
gave  a  seance  to  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine.  The 
Duke  gave  them  a  cordial  reception,  and  after  a  few 
minutes'  conversation,  the  manifestations  began  with 
great  power.  The  Duke  held  a  new  slate,  alone,  and 
obtained  independent  writing  upon  it. 

"The  Grand  Duke  Constantine  has  before  this 
shown  his  appreciation  of  new  branches  of  science. 
AVhen  Lieutenant  Maury  was  obliged  to  flee  from  the 
United  States  during  the  late  civil  war,  the  Duke 
recognised  the — then  scarcely  appreciated — value  of 
his  researches  on  the  physical  geography  of  the  sea 
and  oceanic  currents,  so  oflered  him  a  home  and  a 
welcome  in  Russia. 

"  Dr.  Slade  is  fully  engaged  in  St.  Petersburg,  and 
sometimes  obtains  messages  in  the  Russian  language. 
At  one  of  his  sittings  last  week  he  obtained  writing 
in  six  languages  upon  a  single  slate." 

The  above  fact  is  additionally  confirmed  by  the 
following  public  testimony  by  M.  Aksakow,  Imperial 
Privy  Councillor : — 

"  I  can,  as  a  witness,  testify  that  the  writing  was 
produced  upon  a  slate  which  the  Grand  Duke  alone 
held  under  and  close  to  the  table,  while  Slade's  hands 


44  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

were  on  the  tabic  and  did  not  touch  the  slate.  Slade 
has  since  had  the  honour  of  being  invited  to  two 
stances  by  the  Grand  Duke. — Aksakow." 

The  above  ex[)criment,  described  as  succeeding 
with  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  was  never  success- 
ful in  my  sittings,  altiiough  Mr.  Slade  with  this 
object  has  repeatedly  given  the  slate  to  be  held 
alone  by  Professor  W.  Weber  and  Professor  Scheib- 
uer.  On  the  other  hand,  tliat  of  the  evening  in 
question  (ijtli  December  1877)  which  succeeded 
with  AV.  Weber  and  me  was  yet  more  remarkable. 
Two  slates  were  bought  by  myself,  marked,  and  care- 
fully cleaned.  They  were  then — a  splinter  of  about 
three  millimbtrcs  thickness  from  a  new  slate-pencil 
having  first  been  put  between  them — bound  tightly 
together,  cross-wise,  with  a  string  four  millim5tres 
thick.  They  were  laid  on,  and  close,  to  the  corner  of  a 
card-table  of  walnut  wood  which  I  had  shortly  before 
purchased  myself.  While,  now,  W.  Weber,  Slade, 
and  I  sat  at  the  table,  and  were  busied  with  magnetic 
experiments,  during  which  our  six  hands  lay  on  the 
table,  those  of  Slade  being  two  feet  from  the  slate, 
very  loud  writing  began  suddenly  between  the 
untouched  slates.  When  we  separated  them,  there 
was  upon  one  of  them  the  following  words,  in  nine 
lines,  **  We  feel  to  bless  all  those  that  try  (?)  to  in- 
vestigate a  subject  so  unpopular  as  the  subject  of 
Spiritualism    is   at   the   present.      But   it    will   not 


TEST   EXPERIMENT   IN   SLATE- WRITING.  45 

always  be  so  unpopular ;  it  will  take  its  place  among 
the  .  .  .  (?)  of  all  classes  and  kinds."  The  slate  had 
the  mark  (H.2)  previously  placed  by  me  upon  it. 
There  can  be  no  talk  here  of  a  trick  or  of  antecedent 
preparations. 

In  addition,  the  large  hand-bell  which  was  laid  on 
the  floor  at  the  side  of  the  table  opposite  to  me,  was 
placed  quietly  and  slowly  in  my  left  hand,  which  I 
held  close  under  the  table ;  during  this  proceeding 
also,  Slade's  hands  were  both  visible,  and  his  feet 
were  under  our  control.  Finally,  Mr.  Slade  himself 
proposed  an  experiment  which  should  serve  as  proof 
that  the  slates  were  not  previously  prepared  and  the 
writing  already  present  on  them,  invisibly,  before 
the  apparent  production  of  it.  He  took  as  usual  the 
slate  which  came  to  hand,  laid  a  bit  of  slate-pencil  of 
the  size  of  a  pea  upon  it,  and  asked  me,  while  he  pushed 
the  slate  half  under  the  edge  of  the  table  (so  that  his 
hand  could  be  continually  observed),  what  should  be 
written  upon  it.  I  said  "  Littrow,  Astronomer."  The 
usual  scribbling  began  immediately,  and  when  Slade 
drew  out  the  slate,  the  two  above  words  were  per- 
fectly distinct  upon  it,  with  the  letters  widely  apart. 
If  Slade  did  not  write  the  words  himself  (at  the 
time),  which  from  the  position  of  his  hand  and  of 
the  letters  upon  the  slate  w^as  impossible,  so  likewise 
could  these  words  certainly  not  have  been  produced 
by  means  of  a  previous  preparation  of  the  slate,  since 


46  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

the   words    themselves    had    occurred   to   me   f|uitc 
suddenly  for  the  first  time. 

Friday,  14th  December  1877  (i  i.io  to  11.40  a.m.). 
To-day,  first  one  of  the  slates  kept  always  in  readi- 
ness, which  I  myself  selected  and  cleaned,  was  laid 
open  with  a  bit  of  slate-pencil  upon  the  floor  under 
the  taljle.  Now,  while  Slade  had  both  his  hands 
linked  with  ours  upon  the  table,  and  his  legs,  turned 
.sideways,  were  continually  visible,  writing,  loudly 
perceptible  by  us  all,  began  on  the  slate  lying  be- 
low. "When  we  raised  it,  there  were  on  it  the  words — 
"Truth  will  overcome  all  error  1"  Next,  two  magnetic 
needles,  a  larger  and  a  smaller  one,  both  completely 
enclosed  in  glass  cases,  were  placed  close  in  front  of 
AV.  AVeber.  Our  hands  were  linked  upon  tlie  table 
with  those  of  Slade  in  the  usual  manner,  and  were 
at  least  one  foot  from  the  magnetic  needle.  Suddenly 
the  small  needle  began  to  oscillate  violently,  till  it  got 
into  constant  rotation,  while  the  larger  one  showed 
only  slight  agitations,  which  appeared  to  proceed  from 
a  shaking  of  the  table.  Since  here,  forces  were  mani- 
festly at  work  (no  matter  what  their  origin)  which  were 
able  to  act  upon  the  magnetism  of  bodies,  I  suggested 
to  Slade  the  attempt,  permanently  to  magnetise  an  un- 
magnetic  stecl-ncedle.  Slade  hesitated  at  first,  and 
seemed  to  think  our  success  doubtful.  However,  he 
was  at  once  ready  to  consent  to  the  proposition.  I 
fetched  a  large  number  of  steel  knitting-needles,  and 


MAGNETIC   EXPERIMENT.  47 

W.Weber  and  I  chose  from  them  one  which,immed{ately 
before  the  experiment  (on  the  table  at  which  we  sat), 
was  ascertained  by  means  of  the  compass  to  be  wholly 
immagnetised,  inasmuch  as  both  poles  were  attracted. 
Slade  laid  this  needle  upon  a  slate,  held  the  latter 
under  the  table  just  in  the  same  way  as  for  writing, 
and  after  about  four  minutes,  when  the  slate  with 
the  knitting-needle  was  laid  again  upon  the  table, 
the  needle  was  so  strongly  magnetised  at  one  end 
(and  only  at  one  end)  that  iron  shavings  and  sewing- 
needles  stuck  to  this  end ;  the  needle  of  the  compass 
could  be  easily  drawn  round  in  a  circle.  The  origin- 
ated pole  was  a  south  pole,  inasmuch  as  the  north 
pole  of  the  (compass)  needle  was  attracted,  the  south 
pole  repelled.  The  needle  is  still  in  my  possession, 
and  can  at  any  time  be  tested. 


(     48     ) 


Cljaptcr  CfjtrD. 

PXRUAKSyT  IMPRESaiONS  OBTAINKD  Of  HAKD9  AND  FEET— PE0PO8KD  CHEmCAL 
EXPEHrMKNT— HLADE'S  ABNUKUAL  VISION— 11IPUESSI0N8  IN  A  GLOBED  SPACE 
—  KNCLOaSD  bPACK  OF  THKKS  DIUKNSIONH  OPKN  TO  POUB-IUUEMblONAL 
BEINGS. 

As  almost  regularly  at  all  the  sittings  (while  Slade's 
hands  rested  on  the  table,  visible  to  all  present, 
and  his  feet,  in  the  sideways  position  frequently 
mentioned,  could  be  at  any  time  observed)  we  felt 
the  touch  of  hands  under  the  table,  and,  as  above 
remarked,  had  even  seen  these  transiently  under  the 
same  conditions,  I  desired  to  institute  an  experiment 
by  which  a  convincing  proof  of  the  existence  of 
these  hands  could  be  afforded.  I  therefore  proposed 
to  Mr.  Slade  to  have  placed  under  the  table  a  flat 
porcelain  vase  filled  up  to  the  edge  with  wheat 
flour,  and  that  he  should  then  request  his  "  spirits  " 
to  put  their  hands  in  the  flour  before  touching  us. 
In  this  manner  the  visible  traces  of  the  touching 
must  be  shown  on  our  clothes  after  the  contact,  and 
at  the  same  time  Slade's  hands  and  feet  could  be 
examined  for  remains  of  flour  adhering  to  them. 
Slade  declared  himself  ready  at  once  for  the  proposed 
test.     I  fetched  a  large  porcelain  bowl  of  about  one 


A    TEST   WITH   FLOUE.  49 

foot  diameter  and  two  inclies  deep,  filled  it  evenly 
to  the  brim  with  flour,  and  placed  it  under  the  table. 
We  did  not  trouble  ourselves  at  first  about  the 
eventual  success  of  this  experiment,  but  continued 
for  over  five  minutes  the  magnetic  experiments, 
Slade's  hands  being  all  the  time  visible  upon  the 
table ;  when  suddenly  I  felt  my  right  knee  power- 
fully grasped  and  pressed  by  a  large  hand  under  the 
table  for  about  a  second,  and  at  the  same  moment,  as 
I  mentioned  this  to  the  others  and  was  about  to  get 
up,  the  bowl  of  meal  was  p-^shed  fo-rward  from  its 
place  under  the  table  about  fcur  feet  on  the  floor. 
Upon  my  trousers  I  had  the  impression  in  meal  of  a 
large  strong  hand,  and  on  the^  meal-surface  of  the 
bowl  were  indented  the  thumb,  and  four  fingers  with 
all  the  niceties  of  structwe  and  folds  of  the  skin 
impressed.  An  immediate  examination  of  Slade's 
hands  and  feet  showed  not  the  slightest  traces  of 
flour,  and  the  comparison  of  his  own  hand  with  the 
impression  on  the  meal  proved  the  latter  to  be  con- 
siderably larger.  The  impression  is  still  in  my 
possession,  although  through  frequent  shakings  the 
delicacy  of  the  lines  is  becoming  gradually  obliterated 
by  the  falling  together  of  the  particles  of  meal. 

Slade  was  highly  pleased  at  the  success  of  the 
magnetic  experiments,  particularly  the  magnetising 
of  the  knitting-needle,  an  attempt  which  we  oftcu 
repeated  on  the  following  day  with  always  the  like 

D 


50  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

result.  He  expressed  in  warm  terms  his  liappineps, 
that  lie  had,  for  the  first  time,  succeeded  in  interesting 
men  of  sincere  inclination  to  truth  for  his  peculiar 
endowments,  in  such  a  degree  that  they  had  resolved 
to  institute  scientific  experiments  with  him. 

I  was  now  sufticiently  encouraged,  gradually  to 
set  on  foot  those  experiment.s  which  I  had  prepared 
from  the  stand-poiut  of  my  theory  of  a  space  of  four 
dimensions.  Since  the  magnetic  experiments  had 
proved  that  under  the  influences  which  invisibly 
surrounded  Slade,  the  molecular  currents,  present  in 
the  interior  of  all  bodies,  could  be  turned,  that  is, 
altered  in  their  position  (whereon,  according  to 
Ampere's  and  Weber's  theory,  the  magnetising  of 
bodies  principally  depends),  I  entertained  the  hope 
that  an  experiment  indicated  in  the  first  volume  of 
my  Scientific  Treatises  would  succeed ;  viz.,  the  con- 
version, by  a  four-dimensional  diversion  of  mole- 
cules of  tartaric  acid,  which  diverts  the  plane  of 
polarised  light  to  the  right,  into  racemic  acid,  which 
diverts  it  to  the  left.  To  this  end  I  had  kept  in 
readiness  one  of  JMitchell's  simple  polarising  saccharo- 
meters,  the  tube  of  which  contained  a  concentrated 
solution  of  tartaric  acid.  The  diversion  of  the  plane 
of  polarisation  amounted  to  about  5°.  I  intended 
that  the  glass  tul)e  (200  millimetres  long  and  15  outer 
diameter),  filled  with  the  solution,  should  be  laid  on 
the  slate,  the  latter  being  held  by  Slade  under  the 


ABNORMAL   VISION.  5  I 

table,  as  in  the  case  of  the  knitting-needles  wbich  were 
to  be  magnetised ;  in  the  expectation  that  after  the 
experiment  I  should  see  the  tartaric  acid  changed  into 
racemic  acid.     Wishing  first  to  explain  to  Mr.  Slade 
the  meaning  of  the  experiment,  I  began  by  pointing 
out  to  him  in  the  apparatus  itself,  after  removing  the 
tube,  the  optical  effect  of  two  crossed  Nicol's  prisms. 
I  desired  him,  while  sitting  in  his  chair,  to  fix  his  eye 
on  the  front  prism,  and  then  to  look  with  the  apparatus 
at  the  clear  sky  (the  experiment  took  place  at  my  house 
at  II.  45  in  the  morning  of  the  14th  December  1877), 
while  I  slowly  turned  the  front  Nicol.     I  now  asked 
Slade,  when  the  two  prisms  were  about  crossed,  if  he 
observed  the  gradual  darkening  of  the  field  of  view. 
To  my  great  surprise,  he  said  he  did  not.     I  supposed 
him  to  be  deceived  by  the  side  light,  and  therefore 
disposed  the  two  prisms  from  the  front  at  right  angles, 
so  that  neither  I  nor  my  friends  could  see  through  at 
all.     Slade  still  asserted  that  he  did  not  perceive  the 
least  change  in  the  clearness  of  the  sky ;  and  as  proof 
he  read  an  English  writing,  placed  before  the  two 
crossed  Nicol's,  covering  his  left  eye,  as  we  saw,  with 
his  left  hand.     I  was  not,  however,  contented  with 
this  proof  of  the  fact.     Next  morning,  when  we  were 
again  assembled  at  my  house,  I  had  two  very  large 
Nicol's  prisms  (for  the  production  of  a  greater  field  of 
view)  fixed  to  turn  closely  one  over  the  other,  and  a 
large  circular  screen,  which  completely  covered  the 


52  TIlANSCENDENTAL   PnYSTCS. 

BJ^Wit  of  tlje  observer,  so  placed  in  connection  witli  tlie 
prisms,  that  external  objects  could  only  be  perceived 
through  tlio  two  Nicol's  prisms.  I  then  took  an 
English  book,  Tyndall's  Faraday  as  a  Discoverer, 
and  in  Sladc's  absence  markod  by  interlineations  the 
following  words  on  page  8i  : — "The  burst  of  power 
uhich  had  filled  the  four  preceding  years  with  an 
amount  of  experimental  work  unparalleled  in  the 
history  of  Science."  "When  I  again  made  Slade  look 
through  the  two  crossed  Nicol's  at  the  sky,  and 
he  declared,  as  on  the  day  before,  that  he  did  not 
remark  the  least  change  in  the  clearness  of  the  sky 
when  the  prisms  were  turned,  I  requested  him  to 
sit  on  a  chair,  and  to  read  to  me  the  underlined 
words  from  the  book,  held  at  a  distance  of  about  two 
feet  from  his  sight.  To  the  great  astonishment  of 
us  all,  he  immediately  read  the  above  w^ords  with 
perfect  accuracy.  When,  about  ten  minutes  later,  I 
held  the  two  prisms  crossed  again  before  Slade's  eye, 
he  was  no  longer  able  to  sec,  and  the  experiment 
was  not  more  successful  in  the  evening  of  the  same 
day  by  candlelight.  He  informed  me  that  in  the 
morning,  soon  after  the  experiment  in  question,  he 
had  perceived  "an  influence,"  to  which  he  ascribed 
the  change  of  his  condition.  In  connection  with  what 
lias  been  quoted  above,  from  Professor  Fechner,  wuth 
reference  to  the  change  in  the  magnetic  condition  of 
a  sensitive,  this  alteration  in  Slade's  oj^tical  powera 


FALL   OF   OBJECTS.  53 

may  afford  an  interesting  confirmation  of  tlie  transitory 
■character  of  such  anomalous  organic  functions.  The 
originally  intended  experiment  with  the  tartaric  acid 
was  discontinued  in  consequence  of  the  above  extra- 
ordinary observations.  I  purposed  to  carry  it  out  at  a 
future  investigation  of  Slade's  peculiarities. 

On  Saturday,  the  15th  December  1877,  at  eleven  in 
the  morning  we  assembled  again  at  my  house.  While 
we  were  taking  a  small  breakfast,  standing  in  my 
work-room,  and  I  was  talking  to  Slade  near  my  book- 
case, some  twenty  feet  from  the  stove,  about  the  ex- 
periment with  the  crossed  Nicol's  prisms  (which  Slade 
designated  a  "clairvoyant  experiment"),  there  fell 
suddenly  from  the  ceiling  of  the  room  a  piece  of  coal 
the  size  of  a  fist.  A  similar  incident  happened  half- 
an-hour  later,  when  my  colleague  Scheibner,  in  con- 
versation with  Slade,  was  on  the  point  of  leaving  the 
sitting-room ;  a  piece  of  wood,  instead  of  coal,  falling 
suddenly  from  the  ceiling.  On  the  morning  of  the 
I  ith  December  w^hen  we  stood  talking,  after  the  sitting, 
and  I  was  standing  near  Slade,  we  suddenly  saw  my 
pocket-knife,  fortunately  shut,  fly  through  the  air,  and 
strike  the  forehead  of  my  friend  Scheibner  with  some 
force,  the  scar  remaining  visible  on  the  following  day. 
Since  at  the  time  of  the  incident  I  was  conversing 
with  Slade,  and  the  latter  had  his  back  turned  to  my 
friend  at  a  distance  of  about  ten  feet,  Mr.  Slade,  at 
any  rate,  could  not  have  thrown  the  knife  at  my 


54  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

friend's  head.  I  only  cito  this  incident  because  it 
appears  to  me  to  Ixjlong  to  the  same  class  as  tlie 
above-mentioned  facts. 

Those  experiments  seem  to  me  far  more  important, 
liowever,  in  which  permanent  impressions  of  contact 
were  left  behind,  as  was  tlie  case  with  the  impression 
of  tlie  hand  in  the  bowl  of  flour. 

With  this  view  I  stuck  half  a  sheet  of  common  letter- 
paper  upon  a  somewhat  larger  board  of  wood  ;  it  was 
the  cover  of  a  wooden  box,  in  wliich  Herr  Merz  had 
sent  me  some  large  prisms  for  spectroscopic  purposes 
from  Munich  four  days  before.  By  moving  the  paper 
over  a  petroleum  lamp  without  a  cylinder  it  was  spread 
all  ov(  r  with  soot  (lamp  black),  and  then  placed  und«^r 
the  t;ible  at  which  W.  "Weber,  Slade,  and  I  had  taken 
out  seats.  Hoping  to  obtain  upon  the  sooted  paper 
the  impress  of  the  hand,  as  on  the  previous  day,  we 
at  first  directed  our  attention  again  to  the  majr- 
netic  experiments.  Suddenly  the  board  was  pushed 
forward  with  force  under  the  table  about  the  distance 
of  one  meter,  and  on  my  raising  it,  there  was  on  it 
the  impression  of  a  naked  left  foot.  I  at  once  desired 
Slade  to  stand  up  and  show  me  both  his  feet.  He 
did  this  most  willincflv  ;  after  he  had  drawn  off  his 
shoes,  we  examined  the  stockings  for  any  adhering 
particles  of  soot,  but  without  finding  anything  of  the 
sort.  Then  we  made  him  put  his  foot  on  a  measure, 
from  which  it  appeared  that  the  length  of  his  foot 


IMPRESSION    OF   A   FOOT.  55 

from  the  heel  to  the  great  toe  was  22*5  centimetres, 
whereas  the  length  of  the  impression  of  the  foot  be- 
tween the  same  parts  amounted  only  to  i8'5  centi- 
metres. 

Two  Jays  later,  on  the  17th  December  1877,  at 
eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  I  repeated  this  experiment, 
only  with  the  difference  that  instead  of  a  board  46 
centimetres  long  by  22  broad,  a  slate  was  used, 
whose  surface,  not  covered  by  the  wooden  frame,  was 
1 4 '5  centimetres  broad  and  22  long.  Upon  this 
free  surface  I  stuck  a  half  sheet  of  letter-paper  (Bath) 
cut  down  to  exactly  the  same  dimensions.  Immedi- 
ately before  the  sitting,  I  myself,  in  the  presence  of 
witnesses,  sooted  the  paper  in  the  manner  above  des- 
cribed. The  slate  was  then,  as  before  the  board,  laid 
under  the  table  at  which  we  sat,  with  the  sooted  side 
uppermost.  Upon  a  given  sign  we  got  up  after  about 
four  minutes,  and  upon  the  slate  was  again  the  im- 
pression of  the  same  left  foot  which  we  had  obtained 
two  days  earlier  upon  the  board.  I  have  had  this  im- 
pression reproduced  photographically  on  a  reduced 
scale. 

I  learned  subsequently,  from  my  colleague  Coun- 
cillor Thiersch,  that  the  method  of  taking  impressions 
of  human  limbs  on  sooted  paper  was  already  fre- 
quently applied  for  anatomical  and  surgical  purposes. 
In  the  judgment  of  Herr  Thiersch,  who  had  taken  a 
great  number  of  such  impressions  of  feet  of  different 


56  TKANSCENDLNTAl.    I'llVSlCS. 

persons  for  comparison  with  that  obtained  by  us,  the 
impression  produced  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Shule  is 
that  of  n  man's  foot  wliioli  had  been  tightly  compressed 
by  the  make  of  the  shoo,  so  tliat,  as  often  liappens, 
one  toe  is  pressed  over  the  two  next,  and  thus  only 
four  toes  touch  the  sooted  surface  on  imposition  of  the 
foot,  as  is  also  the  case  on  the  photograpl).  Ilorr 
Thiersch  showed  me  the  impression  of  a  human  foot  in 
which  likewise  only  four  toes  appeared  in  the  way  de- 
noted. To  fix  these  soot-impressions,  it  is  only  requisite 
to  pass  them  through  a  thin  alcoholic  solution  of  shell- 
lac.  With  reference  to  the  greatly  abbreviated  length 
of  the  foot  in  proportion  to  its  breadth,  Herr  Thiersch 
remarked  that  this  could  be  efTectcd  by  not  putting 
down  the  heel  and  the  fore  part  of  the  foot  at  the 
same  time.  In  fact,  he  showed  me  an  impression  of 
a  foot  in  which  a  nearly  similar  abbreviation  had  been 
produced  in  this  way.  If  ui)Oii  these  observations  it 
should  be  supposed  that  Mr.  Slade  had  himself  pro- 
duced the  impression  by  putting  on  his  foot  in  this 
way,  it  must  first  be  assumed  that  he  was  able  to 
draw  oflf  and  on  his  shoes  and  stockings  without 
application  of  his  hands  (which  were  all  along 
observed  by  us  upon  the  table) ;  and  secondly,  that  he 
was  so  expert  in  the  imposition  of  his  foot  on  a 
narrowly  limited  space  (the  surface  of  the  slate),  that, 
without  seeing  this  surface,  he  could,  nevertheless, 
always  hit  upon  it  with    accuracy.     Tiiis,  certainly, 


SLADE   NOT   AN    ''EXPERT.  57 

would  presuppose  a  large  practice  in  Mr.  Slade  for  tlie 
object  intended,  and  thereby  it  must  be  conjectured 
that  lie  bad  been  used  to  bring  forward  this  experi- 
ment. Putting  aside  bis  lively  astonishment  and  his 
assurance  that  such  phenomena  had  never  yet  been 
observed  in  his  presence/'"  up  to  the  present  time  I  am 
not  aware  of  any  published  accounts  of  Mr.  Slade's 
production  of  similar  facts,  t  That  Slade's  stockings 
had  not  been  cut  away  underneath  for  this  purpose 
— as  was  conjectured  by  some  "men  of  science"  in 
Leipzig,  who  in  unimportant  things  accept  our 
physical  observations  with  absolute  confidence,  but  in 
reference  to  the  foregoing  have  not  hesitated  to  in- 
struct us  in  the  elementary  rules  for  instituting  exact 
observations — of  that,  as  already  mentioned,  we  satis- 
fied ourselves  immediately  after  the  experiment. 

Meanwhile,  to  meet  all  such  doubts  (and  the  at- 
tempts at  explanation  are  scarcely  less  wonderful  than 
are  the  facts  themselves),  I  proposed  to  Mr.  Slade  an 
experiment  which,  according  to  the  theory  of  the  four- 

*  With  reference  to  this  statement,  the  translator  may  ohserve  that  he 
hashiniself  had  many  sittings  with  Slade,  previous  to  that  time,  has  received 
accounts  of  the  phenomena  occurring  in  his  presence  from  many  -who  have 
had  equal  or  greater  experience  of  them,  and  has  read  many  records  of 
them  ;  yet  the  above,  and  nearly  all  other  of  the  special  experiments 
described  in  the  text  (Professor  Zollner's),  are  "wholly  new  to  him. 

t  To  appreciate  the  importance  of  this,  with  reference  to  the  suggestion 
that  Slade  is  an  expert,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  he  has  been 
for  many  years  following  his  vocation  as  a  medium  in  the  light  of  the 
utmost  publicity ;  the  Spiritualist  journals  (which  are  numerous)  of 
America  and  England  having  printed  innumerable  accounts  of  his 
stances. — Te. 


5^  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

dimensional  apace,  must  easily  Buccccd.  In  fact,  if 
the  cflects  observed  by  us  proceed  from  intelligent 
beings  occupying  {ivelche  sick  hefinden),  in  tlie 
((hsolute  space,  places  which  in  (ho  direction  of  the 
fourth  dimension  lie  near  the  places  occupied  by  Mr. 
Siade  and  us  in  the  three-dimensional  space,*  and 
therefore  necessarily  invisible  to  us,  for  these  beings 
the  interior  of  a  figure  of  three-dimensional  space, 
enclosed  on  all  sides,  is  just  as  easily  accessible  as  is 
to  us,  three-dimensional  beings,  the  interior  of  a  surface 
enclosed  on  all  sides  by  a  line — a  two-dimensional 
fifTure.  A  two-dimensional  beinfj  can  represent 
to  itself  a  straight  line  with  only  one  perpen- 
dicular (Nonnale)  in  the  respective  two-dimensional 
regions  of  space  (to  which  it  belongs  phenomenally). 
"We,  on    the   contrary,  as   three-dimensional   beings, 

•  The  conception  of  the  juxtaposition  of  different,  infinitely  extended 
regions  of  space  (Raiimgehktc)  necessarily  ]>rc8npposos  the  conception  of 
the  next  hij,'her  region  of  space.  Tlius  a  two-dimensional  being  could 
inilced  conceive  any  nuniljer  of  parallel  infinite  straight  lines ;  that  is, 
infinitely  extended  spaces  (liaumgcbictc)  of  one  dimension,  but  the 
infinite  jilanc  in  which  it  moves,  as  we  with  our  bodies  in  the  infinitely 
extcndcil  //(rcfdimcnsional  space,  could  rcjircscnt  to  itself  only  oticc, 
although  we,  as  three-dimensional  beings,  know  that  there  can  be  any 
number  of  infinitely  extended  parallel  planes,  which  according  to  a  per- 
pendicular direction,  that  is,  according  to  the  third  dimension,  can  be 
arranged  in  juxtaposition.  All  these  planes  would  represent  infinitely 
extended  two-dimensional  worlds,  whose  occurrences  in  each  region  of 
space  are  completely  8ei)aratcd  from  those  in  another.  If,  however,  under 
certain  anomalous  conditions,  a  two-dimensional  being  of  the  one  plane 
were  causally  connected  with  more  two-dimensional  beings  of  another 
T)lanc,  so  that  these  beings  by  movements  according  to  the  third  dimen- 
sion could  produce  effects  in  the  two-dimensional  region  of  the  first  plane, 
this  would  seem  just  as  wonderful  to  the  moving  beings  in  the  latter  as 
do  to  us  the  effects  witnessed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mr  Slade. 


A    HYPOTHESIS   AND    AN   EXPERIMENT.  59 

know  that  there  are  infinitely  many  perpendiculars 
{Normale)  to  a  straight  line  in  space,  which  collec- 
tively form  the  two-dimensional  geometrical  place  of 
the  perpendicular  plane  of  that  straight  line.  Analo- 
gously, we  can  conceive  only  one  perpendicular  to  a 
plane  ;  a  being  of  four  dimensions  would,  however,  be 
able  to  conceive  infinitely  many  perpendiculars  to 
a  plane,  collectively  forming  the  three-dimensional 
place  Avhich  in  the  fourth  dimension  stands  perpendic- 
ular to  that  plane.  By  our  nature  as  three-dimensional 
beings  we  could  form  for  ourselves  no  representa- 
tion of  these  space  relations,  although  we  are  in  the 
position  to  discover  ideally  (hegiifflich),  by  analogy, 
the  possibility  of  their  real  existence.  The  reality 
of  their  existence  can  only  be  disclosed  through yac^s 
of  observation. 

In  order  to  obtain  such  an  observed  fact,  I  took  a 
book-slate,  bought  by  myself;  that  is,  two  slates  con- 
nected at  one  side  by  cross  hinges,  like  a  book  for 
folding  up.  In  the  absence  of  Slade  I  lined  both 
slates  within,  on  the  sides  applied  to  one  another,  with 
a  half  sheet  of  my  letter-paper  which,  immediately 
before  the  sitting,  was  evenly  spread  with  soot  in 
the  way  already  described.  This  slate  I  closed,  and 
remarked  to  Mr.  Slade  that  if  my  theory  of  the  exist- 
ence of  intelligent  four-dimensional  beings  in  nature 
was  well  founded,  it  must  be  an  easy  thing  for  them 


6o  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

to  place  on  the  iutcrior  of  the  closed  slates  the  impres- 
sions of  feet  hitherto  only  produced  on  the  open 
slates.  Slade  laughed,  and  thought  that  this  would 
bo  absolutely  impossible ;  even  his  "  spirits,"  which 
he  questioned,  seemed  at  first  much  perplexed  with 
this  proposition,  but  finally  answered  with  the  stereo- 
typed caution,  "We  will  try  it."  To  my  great  sur- 
prise, Slade  consented  to  my  laying  the  closed  book- 
slate  (which  I  had  never  let  out  of  my  hands  after 
I  had  spread  the  soot)  on  my  lap  during  the  sitting, 
so  that  I  could  continually  observe  it  to  the  middle."*^ 
We  might  have  sat  at  the  table  in  the  brightly-lighted 
room  for  about  fiv^e  minutes,  our  hands  linked  with 
those  of  Slade  in  the  usual  manner  above  the  table, 
when  I  suddenly  felt  on  two  occasions,  the  one  shortly 
after  the  other,  the  slate  pressed  down  upon  my  lap, 
without  my  having  perceived  anything  in  the  least 
visible.  Three  raps  on  the  table  announced  that  all 
was  completed,  and  when  I  opened  the  slate  there 
was  within  it  on  the  one  side  the  impression  of  Siright 
foot,  on  the  other  side  that  of  a  left  foot,  and  indeed 
of  the  same  which  we  had  already  obtained  on  the 
two  former  evenings. 

My  readers  may  judge  for  themselves  how  far  it  is 
possible  for  me,  after  witnessing  these  facts,  to  con- 

•  In  the  previous  experiments  the  board  and  the  slate  had  been  laid 
open  upon  the  floor  under  the  table. 


A   CLUE    TO    RESEARCH.  6 1 

sitler  Slade  either  an  impostor  or  a  conjurer.  Slade's 
own  astonisliment  at  this  last  result  was  even  o-reater 

o 

than  my  own.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  cor- 
rectuess  of  my  theory  with  regard  to  the  existence  of 
intelligent  beings  in  four-dimensional  space,  at  all 
events  it  cannot  be  said  to  be  useless  as  a  clue  to 
research  in  the  mazes  of  Spiritualistic  phenomena. 


(     62     ) 


Chapter    JTourth. 

ooNDmoNs  or  invkstioation— unscientific  men  ok  science— blade's 

AN8WEB  TO  PROFESSOR   BAURKTT. 

Passing  over  tlic  numerous  other  pliysical  plicnomeiia, 
such  as  violent  movements  of  quite  unattached  chairs 
niid  tlic  like,  since  the  same  have  been  so  often 
observed  and  circumstantially  described  by  others,  I 
may  next  discuss  the  question  how  far  it  is  justifiable 
and  reasonable  in  dealing  with  new  phenomena,  the 
causes  of  which  are  entirely  unknown  to  us,  to  impose 
conditions  under  which  these  new  phenomena  should 
occur.  That  for  the  production  of  electricity  by  fric- 
tion on  the  surfaces  of  bodies  the  driest  possible  air  is 
requisite,  and  that  in  a  damp  atmosphere  these  experi- 
ments fail  entirely,  are  also  experimental  conditions, 
which  could  evidently  not  be  prescribed  a  priori,  but 
have  been  discovered  only  through  careful  observa- 
tions among  those  relations  under  which  Nature  in 
individual  cases  willingly  otfors  us  these  phenomena. 
Just  therein,  indeed,  consists  the  acuteness  and  skill 
of  an  observer,  that  without  arbitrary  meddling  with 
the  course  of  the  phenomena,  he  so  prepares  his  obser- 
vations that  the  conclusions  drawn  from  them  exclude 
the  possilnlity  of  every  error  and  every  deception. 


THE   KNOWLEDGE   OF   OUR   IGNORANCE.  63 

Would  it  have  been  possible  to  dictate  conditiong 
under  wliich  the  fall  of  meteorolites  should  be  observed, 
upon  those  who  first  asserted  the  reality  of  those 
phenomena  ?  On  entering  new  provinces  one  must 
always  take  to  heart  the  words  of  Virchow,  which  he 
uttered  at  the  last  meeting  of  scientific  men  at  Munich, 
in  his  speech  "  Upon  the  Freedom  of  Science  in  the 
Modern  State." 

"  That  which  I  pride  myself  on  is  just  the  know- 
ledge of  my  ignorance.  Since,  as  I  imagine,  I  know 
■with  tolerable  accuracy  what  it  is  that  I  do  not  know, 
I  always  say  to  myself,  when  I  have  to  enter  upon  a 
province  as  yet  closed  to  me,  '  Noiv  must  thou  begin 
again  to  learn  ! '  " 

How  far  Herr  Virchow  himself,  when  the  occasion 
is  forthcoming,  makes  use  of  the  teachings  of  modesty 
■which  he  imparts  to  others,  we  may  learn  from  the 
following  ^vords  of  Herr  State  Counsellor  Aksakow  :^'' — 

"The  attempts  which  I  caused  to  be  made  by  Herr 
"Wittig  in  Berlin  for  a  scientific  examination  of  Mr. 
Slade  by  Professors  Helmholtz  and  Virchow  have 
failed ;  and  I  will  take  this  opportunity  to  show  by 
an  example  how  right  I  was  in  speaking  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  we  still  have  to  experience  with  the 
learned,  even  when  it  is  a  question  of  simply  putting 

•  Psychische  Studien,  monthly  journal  devoted  principally  to  the 
investigation  of  the  little-known  phenomena  of  the  soul-life.  Published 
and  edited  by  Alexander  Aksakow,  Russian  Imperial  Counsellor  of  State, 
at  St.  Petersburg, — January  number,  1878. 


64  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

tlic  modiumistic  phenomena  to  tlie  proof,  and  this 
solely  by  reason  of  their  disinclination  for  this  pro- 
vince of  investigation.  Thus,  Hcrr  Virchow  is  willing 
indeed  to  see  Mr.  Sladc,  but  only  upon  the  terms  that 
the  latter  submits  himself  to  all  conditions  which 
Herr  Virchow  shall  please  to  lay  upon  him.  Here 
now  is  a  man  of  science  {Gelchrtcr)  who,  not  knowing 
even  the  A  B  C  of  the  phenomena  which  he  under- 
takes to  make  an  object  of  his  study,  at  the  outset 
imposes  upon  them  his  own  conditions  of  observa- 
tion !  Could  a  similar  method  have  been  at  all 
approved  or  endured  in  the  study  of  any  branch  of 
natural  science  whatsoever  ?  ...  So  the  first  false 
step  !  And  then  what  w^ere  these  conditions  ?  ]\Ir. 
Slade  should  allow  Professor  Virchow  to  bind  his 
hands  and  feet,  and  to  place  an  observer  two  feet 
from  the  table.  These  are  the  conditions  required  by 
a  German  man  of  science  of  great  renown,  and,  never- 
theless, how  *  illogical  and  inconclusive  '  ('  unlogisch 
und  heweis-unhrdftUj ')  are  they !  Take  it  that  Mr. 
Slade  submits  to  these  conditions,  and  the  seayice  is 
successful.  Plerr  Virchow  will  be  the  first,  and  with 
him  the  whole  great  multitude,  thence  to  conclude 
that  he  had  tied  hadJy,  that  his  sentinel  had  observed 
hadli/,  and  that  the  adroitness  of  the  conjuror  had 
taken  him  at  a  disadvantage.  At  a  second  seance 
Herr  Virchow  will  bind  the  medium  in  a  different 
manner,  and  will  a])point  two  sentinels ;  the  same 


ARBITRAEY   COXDITIOXS.  65 

result,  the  same  conclusion !  At  the  third  seance  he 
will  discover  yet  another  system  of  fastening  and  pre- 
cautions much  more  elaborate  and  ingenious ;  the 
same  result,  the  same  conclusion,  and  so  on  for  ever !  * 

*  Even  if  the  above  supposition  is  thought  unjust  to  Professor  Viicliow 
(as  it  perhaps  is),  it  is  one  -which  Slaile's  past  experience  made  a  reason- 
able ground  for  the  rejection  of  the  Professor's  conditions.  "When  Slade 
■was  in  London  in  1876,  a  distinguished  man  of  letters  -was  anxious  to 
obtain  ■writing  in  a  new  book-slate  furnished  with  a  padlock,  and  locked 
before  it  was  brought  to  the  stance.  Slade  declined  the  attempt,  greatly 
to  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  gentleman  referred  to,  -svhose  distrust  on  this 
account  ■was  reflected  in  the  tone  of  his  evidence  at  Bo-w  Street,  on  the 
charge  against  Slade  by  Professor  Lankester,  though  otherwise  he  ■was 
■witness  to  inexplicable  manifestations.  On  my  urging  Slade  subsequently 
to  comply,  he  told  me  that  this  very  test  had  once  been  successfully 
allowed,  but  that  the  fact  getting  known,  it  had  led  to  other  new  contri- 
vances being  devised  and  insisted  on,  with  an  utter  disturbance  of  the 
usual  conditions.  He  never  could  be  sure  beforehand  that  askance  would 
succeed  (the  manifestations  being  wholly  out  of  his  o^^'n  power  or  control), 
and  the  failure  of  a  test  imposed  by  the  investigator  was  regarded  as 
more  suspicious  than  many  merely  weak  and  inconclusive  seances  under 
ordiuarj^  conditions.  (See  also  Slade 's  letter  to  the  Times,  page  67  post.) 
There  is  also  the  fact,  Avell  recognised  amongst  Spiritualists,  that  the  influ- 
ence of  some  persons  is  far  more  favourable  to  the  evolution  of  phenomena 
through  mediums  than  that  of  others.  One  investigator  will  witness  the 
most  extraordinary  manifestations  at  his  first  seance,  whereas  another 
will  be  long  in  obtaining  anything  like  satisfactorj'  evidence,  as  was  the 
case  with  myself  before  I  saw  Slade.  This  interaction  of  medium  and 
sitter  is  a  fact  that  should  never  be  left  out  of  sight ;  especially  in  esti- 
mating testimony  to  facts  far  exceeding  our  own  or  general  experience  of 
similar  phenomena.  It  by  no  means  followed  from  Professor  Zolluer's 
success  in  nearly  all  the  experiments  he  instituted  with  Slade,  that 
another  man  of  science,  of  perhaps  altogether  different  constitution, 
physical  or  psychical,  ■would  be  equally  fortunate.  The  true  cause  of 
scientific  complaint  against  Prof.  Virchow  appears  to  be  that  he  would 
not  even  in  the  first  instance  witness  the  phenomena  under  the  ordinary 
conditions  of  their  occurrence  ;  assuming  that  there  could  be  only  one 
mode  of  demonstrating  them  to  be  genuine,  or  that,  out  of  many  modes, 
that  which  occurred  to  him  must  also  be  agreeable  to  nature.  Probably 
he  only  thought  how  he  could  baffle  a  conjurer,  not  entertaining  the 
possibility  that  the  very  course  and  nature  of  the  phenomena  themselves 
might  put  the  hj-pothesis  of  conjuring  out  of  the  question.  —  Translatok. 

B 


66  TUANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

Mr.  Shidc  (lid  well  to  decline  lien*  Vircbow's  condi- 
tions; for  ill  in)j)08iijg  tlicm  the  latter  Lad  given 
]>ru()f  of  an  utter  ignorance  of  the  suliject  which  he 
professed  iiis  willingness  to  engage  in.  The  history 
of  all  the  systems  of  fastening  by  which  mediums 
liave  been  tortured  would  alone  fill  a  thiek  volume. 
The  Martijrolofjtj  of  Mediums  is  a  book  of  the  future. 
.  .  .  Professor  Virchow  need  only  open  the  book  by 
Colonel  Olcott — Pt'opJe  from  the  other  World — at  page 
39,  to  see  a  pictorial  representation  of  the  tortures  to 
which  mediums  have  been  subjected  in  the  name  of 
science  and  truth.  There  is  represented  the  medium 
Eddy,  with  every  finger  of  the  hand  separately 
fastened  by  a  string  nailed  to  the  floor.  Eddy's 
hands  are  in  consequence  of  these  bindings,  to  which 
they  have  been  subjected  for  years,  quite  disfigured. 
And  have  all  these  bindings  ever  convinced  any  one  ? 
The  conditions  dcvi.sed  by  Professor  Virchow  would 
have  the  same  fate. 

"  Blade's  great  merit  is  to  have  simplified  the  con- 
ditions of  his  seances  in  such  a  manner  that  it  is 
suflicient  for  any  one  to  come  to  him  armed  only  with 
his  sound  senses  and  with  his  sound  reason  to  be 
convinced — if  he  will  be  convinced.  In  ftict,  the 
phenomena  take  place  in  full  light,  and  while  the 
medium's  hands  and  feet  are  held,''"  or,  also,  when  the 

*  Tliftt  is,  •wlicn  Sialic  tlocs  not  liimself  linld  the  slate  partly  iiixlcr  the 
tabic.     He  ia  always  williiiy  to  use  ucw  blatcs,  Irouyht  by  the  visitor, 


SLADE's   reply   to   professor   BARRETT.  6/ 

medium  does  not  even  toucli  the  object  upon  which 
the  mediumistic  phenomena  are  accomplished,  and 
while  the  observer  does  not  cease  to  hold  both  his 
hands,  and  to  see  with  his  own  two  eyes !  What 
more  is  necessary  ? " 

I  cannot  refrain  from  setting  down  here  the  letter, 
full  of  sound  manly  sense,  which  Mr.  SUide  sent  to 
the  Times  in  London,  in  reply  to  some  points  raised 
by  Professor  Barrett  of  Dublin  : — 

Dr.  Slade's  Answer  to  some  Points  of  the  Letter 
OF  Professor  Barrett. 

*'  LoNiJON,  8  Upper  Bedford  Place, 
^^  Se%Uemher  22nd,  iZj6. 

*'SiR, — In  Professor  Barrett's  statements  published 
in  the  Tiines  to-day  I  think  he  erred  (I  hope  unin- 
tentionally) in  saying  : — '  Slade  failed  to  procure  the 
writing  on  a  slate  enclosed,  along  with  a  fragment  of 
pencil,  in  a  sealed,  box ;  he  also  failed  when  I  used  a 
box  with  a  tortuous  passage  to  allow  the  introduction 
of  such  bits  of  pencil  as  suited  his  fancy  ;  he  declined 
to  try  and  get  writing  within  a  hinged  slate  that 
was  sealed,  but  succeeded  when  the  hinged  slate  was 
unfastened ;    and  again  he  failed,  according   to   the 

on  -which  writing  is  often  obtained  above  the  tahle.  The  full  light  is  an 
invariable  condition.  The  most  conclusive  tests  cannot,  however,  be  in- 
sisted on  arbitrarily,  at  once,  always,  and  by  any  one,  but  are  usually 
given  in  the  course  of  a  few  sittings. — Tkanslator. 


68  TRANSCENDENTAL   rnYSIC3. 

writer  of  an  article  in  the  Spectator^  when  a  spring 
lock  was  used.' 

"Instead  of  trying  to  obtain  writing  on  the  Pro- 
fessor's boxed  slates,  I  declined  using  them  at  all.  I 
assured  him  they  would  not  be  used,  and  gave  him 
my  reasons  for  objecting.  lie  urged  me  strongly  to 
make  the  experiment,  and  placed  the  box  containing 
the  slate  on  the  table,  where  it  remained  undisturbed 
until  he  put  it  on  the  slate,  which  I  held,  with  the 
box  on  it,  under  the  table  for  a  short  time,  when, 
as  I  had  hoped,  nothing  occurred.  This  he  calls  a 
failure. 

"  ]\rr.  Simmons  says  that  Professor  Barrett,  on 
entering  the  drawing-room  after  the  sitting,  told  him 
that  Dr.  Slade  had  refused  to  use  the  boxed  slates ; 
that  he  had  left  them  in  the  room  where  the  sitting 
was  held,  hoping  he  (Dr.  Slade)  would  make  the  trial 
at  some  future  time. 

"  Having  liad  at  least  fifteen  years'  experience  in 
demonstrating  the  fact  of  various  phenomena  occur- 
ring in  my  presence,  I  claim  to  know  something  of 
the  conditions  required.  At  the  same  time  I  do  not 
know  how  they  are  produced.  I  do  not  object  to 
persons  bringing  an  ordinary  slate,  either  single  or 
folding,  but  I  do  object  to  using  locks,  boxes,  or  seals, 
for  this  reason — I  claim  to  be  as  honest  and  earnest 
in  this  matter  as  those  who  call  upon  me  for  the  \)\xv- 
pose  of  investigation.     Therefore  I  shall  continue  to 


SLADE's   reply   to   professor   BARRETT.  69 

object  to  all  such  worthless  appliances  whenever  they 
are  proposed. 

''  Mark  the  following,  which  Professor  Barrett  also 
says  : — '  Taking  a  clean  slate  on  both  sides,  I  placed 
it  on  the  table  so  that  it  rested  above,  though  it  could 
not  touch,  a  fragment  of  slate-pencil.  In  this  posi- 
tion I  held  the  slate  firmly  down  with  my  elbow. 
One  of  Slade's  hands  was  then  grasped  by  mine,  and 
the  tips  of  the  fingers  of  his  other  hand  barely  touched 
the  slate.  While  closely  watching  both  of  Slade's 
hands,  which  did  not  move  perceptibly,  I  certainly 
was  much  astonished  to  hear  scratching  going  on, 
apparently  on  the  under  side  of  the  slate,  and  when 
the  slate  was  lifted  up  I  fouud  the  side  facing  the 
table  covered  with  writing.  He  also  says  a  similar 
result  was  obtained  on  other  days  ;  further,  an  emi- 
nent scientific  friend  obtained  writing  on  a  clean  slate 
when  it  was  held  entirely  in  his  own  hand,  both  of 
Slade's  being  on  the  table.* 

"The  above  being  true,  would  the  fact  of  the  writ- 
ing being  produced  by  some  agency  foreign  to  myself 
have  been  more  strongly  established  had  it  occurred 
on  the  Professor's  boxed  slate  ?  I  think  the  reader 
will  agree  with  me  in  saying  it  would  not. 

*'  On  the  other  hand,  had  it  so  occurred  and  a  state- 
ment of  it  been  published,  it  would  only  have  served 
as  an  incentive  for  others  to  conjure  up  some  plan 
whereby  they  might  prevent  an  occurrence  of  phe- 


70  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

uomcna,  instead  of  being  content  to  witness  them  in 
the  simple  manner  in  wliich  they  do  occur.  To  my 
mind  it  woukl  be  as  reasonable  to  sever  the  wire  and 
then  ask  the  operator  to  send  your  message,  as  it  is 
to  violate  the  conditions  which  experience  has  taught 
me  are  essential  in  these  experiments  in  order  to  ob- 
tain successful  results ;  and  when  the  investigator 
comes  in  the  spirit  of  a  seeker  for  truth  instead  of 
trying  to  prove  me  an  impostor,  I  shall  be  most  happy 
to  unite  with  him  in  the  further  pursuit  of  these 
experiments. — Very  truly  yours, 

"Henry  Slade." 

The  above  letter,  in  which  the  so  severely  calum- 
niated American  medium  recalls — in  a  manner  no  less 
urjicut  than  civil — to  the  recollection  of  our  modern 
"men  of  science"  the  first  rules  of  experimentation 
in  natural  science,  may  suffice  for  the  present  to  aflford 
the  reader  an  idea  of  the  intellectual  w^orth  of  the 
man  who  was  sentenced  to  three  months'  imprison- 
ment with  hard  labour,  on  the  charge  of  fraud  brought 
against  him  by  a  young  "  man  of  science." 


(     71     ) 


CJapter  jTtftl).* 

PRODUCTION  OF  KNOTS  IN  AN  ENDLESS  STRING — FURTHER  EXPERIMENTS — MATE- 
RIALISATION OF  HANDS — DISAPPEARANCE  AND  REAPPEARANCE  OF  SOLID 
OBJECTS — A  TABLE  VANISHES,  AND  AFTERWARDS  DESCENDS  FROM  THE  CEIL- 
ING IN  FULL  LIGHT. 

The  establisliment  {Constatirung)  of  physical  facts  falls 
witliin  the  domain  of  the  physicist ;  and  if  men  of  such 
distinguished  eminence  as  Wilhelm  Weber,  Fechner, 
and  others,  after  thorough  experimental  investigation, 
publicly  attest  the  reality  of  such  facts,  it  is  evidently 
nothing  but  an  act  of  modern  presumption  for  un- 
scientific people,  at  their  pleasure,  to  accept  as  facts 
absurd  conjectures  concerning  the  possibility  of 
trickery  without  more  inquiry,  and  thus  to  deny  the 
capacity  of  these  men  for  exact  observations. 

I  have  already  described  in  detail  the  conditions 
under  which  the  knots  [represented  in  Plate  I.] 
occurred  in  the  string  fastened  by  a  seal,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Mr.  Slade,  without  the  string  being  touched. 
Every  possibility  that  these  knots  were  in  the  string 
already,  before  the  sealing  of  the  ends,  and  had  only 
been  brought  to  another  part  of  the  same  by  pushing, 
is  hereby  definitely  excluded. 

*  Wiss.  Abh.,  Vol.  ii.,  part  2,  p.  905. 


72  TllAN'SCE.VDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

It  will  ill  the  first  place  interest  my  readers  to 
learn  that  this  experiment  succeeded  four  mouths  later 
in  London  in  presence  of  another  medium.  Under 
the  title,  "  Remarkable  Physical  Manifestations,"  Dr. 
Nichols  has  published  the  following  in  two  letters  to 
the  London  Sj/lritualist  of  April  12th  and  19th, 
1878:— 

Remarkable  Physical  ^Ianifestatioks. 

"  It  may  seem  tiresome  to  you  to  repeat  fiicts,  and 
cumulate  evidence,  but  this  appears  to  be  the  only 
way  to  convince  the  sceptical.  Then  you  are  to  con- 
sider that  each  number  of  the  S/nrituaUst  falls  into 
the  hands  of  some  who  have  seen  no  other.  So  I  give 
you  some  fa(;ts  new  to  me,  though  they  may  be  familiar 
to  you  and  most  of  your  readers. 

"  Busy  at  my  writing  the  other  day  in  my  study,  at 
about  two  P.M.  tlie  housekeeper  came  with  her  eyes 
'  round '  with  wonder,  and  begged  me  to  go  instantly 
to  the  drawing-room  over  my  head.  It  seemed  an 
urgent  case,  and  I  ran  upstairs  and  found  every  chair 
but  three  turned  upside  down ;  the  large  and  heavy 
sofa  lying  forward  in  the  room,  legs  upward;  and  the 
upright  pianoforte  prone  upon  the  carpet,  flat  upon 
its  face. 

The  windows  are  sixteen  feet  from  the  ground ;  no 
person  in  the  house  had  visited  the  room  that  morning ; 
uo  one  could  by  any  possibility  have  come  in  from 


MANIFESTATIONS   IN  A   PHYSICIANS   HOUSE.         73 

tlie  street  to  do  this  work,  and  it  certainly  was  not 
done  by  any  of  the  inmates  of  the  house  ;  at  my  desk 
I  can  hear  every  footstep  in  the  drawing-room  ;  in  a 
word,  it  is  certain  that  no  visible  being  had  done  it. 
It  required  two  strong  men  to  lift  up  the  pianoforte 
and  restore  it  to  its  proper  position.  The  houleverse- 
ment  seems  to  have  been  accomplished  while  most  of 
the  family  were  at  lunch,  between  one  and  two  o'clock ; 
with  them  were  Mr.  W.  Eglinton  and  Mr.  A.  Colman. 
Mrs.  Nichols  was  with  them  at  table,  and  reports  that, 
as  they  were  conversing,  loud  raps  responded,  and  the 
heavy  table,  loaded  with  dishes,  when  no  one  touched 
it,  rose  up  some  inches  from  the  floor,  and  so  remained, 
while  she  stooped  down  to  see  that  all  its  feet  were  in 
the  air.  This  is  common  enough  in  the  presence  of 
mediums,  but  the  very  powerful  action  in  the  drawing- 
room,  in  the  light  of  mid-day,  with  no  person  near, 
seems  to  me  novel  and  remarkable. 

**  I  gave  you  some  account,  I  think,  of  chairs  being 
'  threaded '  on  the  arms  of  persons  while  they  were 
firmly  holding  the  hands  of  others.  This  is  as  great 
a  wonder  as  that  reported  by  the  German  astronomer 
at  Leipsic — the  tying  of  knots  in  a  cord,  the  ends  of 
which  were  sealed  together.  I  have  seen  the  chairs 
on  the  arms  of  seven  persons,  whose  word  I  could 
perfectly  trust,  but  I  wished  to  make  assurance  doubly 
sure ;  so  at  a  recent  stance  I  tied  the  two  wrists 
together  with  cotton -thread.     In  three  seconds  the 


74  TRANSCENDENTAL   mYSirS. 

cliair  was  lianging  upon  tljc  arm  of  one,  and  I  found 
tlic  thread  unl)roken.  I  thon  held  tlie  liaiid  of  ^Ir. 
Eglinton  a.s  firmly  as  possil)lc  in  mi  no,  and  in  an 
instant  the  cLair,  one  of  our  cane  bottoms  with  bent 
backs,  was  hanging  on  my  arm.  Tliis,  beyond  all 
doubt,  was  matter  passing  through  matter,  but 
whether  the  wood  passed  through  flesh  and  bone,  or 
flesh  and  bone  through  wood,  I  have  not  yet  been  able 
to  determine. 

"  On  Saturday,  by  special  appointment,  four  of  us 
sat  at  noon — Eglinton,  Colman,  Mrs.  Nichols,  and 
myself.  Sujiposing  there  might  be  writing  or  draw- 
ing, I  laid  a  sheet  of  marked  note-paper  and  pencil 
on  the  table  around  which  we  sat.  It  is  a  small 
room,  and  sitting  in  a  good  light,  we  heard  a  slight 
noise  of  something  moving,  of  light  raps  or  knocks 
in  one  corner.  Looking,  we  all  saw  a  light  cane- 
bottom  cliair,  about  six  feet  from  the  table,  tilting 
itself  upon  two  legs,  rocking  backward  and  forward, 
tilting  back  and  balancing  on  its  hinder  legs,  answer- 
ing our  questions  with  its  movements  ;  and  finally,  at 
our  request,  it  walked  forward  on  two  of  its  legs  and 
placed  itself  at  the  table,  pressed  against  my  knee 
caressingly,  and  behaved  in  all  respects  like  a  chair 
gifted  with  sense  and  locomotion.  It  was  a  weird 
spectacle ;  but  it  was  also  a  very  interesting  fact, 
seen  for  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  by  four  persons,  with- 
out the  possibility  of  trick  or  hallucination.     I  ex- 


THE  KNOT  EXPERIMENT  REPEATED.       75 

amined  the  chair  carefully,  though  it  was  quite  need- 
less to  do  so,  for  no  conceivable  machinery  could, 
under  the  circumstances,  have  produced  the  pheno- 
menon. 

"  Then  the  light  was  turned  off  for  a  minute  or  so, 
during  which  we  heard  rapid  movements  of  a  pencil, 
and  on  relighting  the  gas,  we  found  on  the  marked 
sheet  of  paper  the  portrait  of  a  deceased  friend,  and  a 
letter  of  more  than  a  page  in  the  well-known  hand- 
writing of  a  beloved  child  whose  spirit  often  visits  ns. 
I  have  now  from  her  hand  five  elaborate  drawings  and 
four  letters,  no  one  of  which  occupied  two  minutes 
nnder  absolute  test  conditions.    No  livinor  artist  could 

o 

make  them  in  from  ten  to  twenty  times  the  time  occu- 
pied in  their  production. 

"  Your  readers  may  be  glad  to  know  that,  on  the 
night  of  April  7th,  we  had  repeated,  in  my  house,  in 
the  presence  of  six  persons,  including  Mr.  AV.  Eglin- 
ton  and  Mr.  A.  Colman,  Professor  ZoUner's  marvel  of 
tying  knots  in  a  cord,  the  ends  of  which  were  tied  and 
sealed  together.  I  have  the  sealed  cord,  which  I  pre- 
pared myself,  with  the  knotted  ends  firmly  sealed  to 
my  card,  on  which  the  fingers  of  every  person  present 
rested  while  five  knots  were  tied,  about  a  foot  apart, 
in  the  central  portion  of  the  cord.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  this  splendid  manifestation  can  be  repeated  at 
any  time  under  like  conditions. 

'' April  I2th,  1878." 


76  TRANSCENT)ENTAL   PnYSICS. 

Tying  Knots  in  an  Endless  Corn. 

To  th«  Editor  of  iht  " SpirUuaU'tt ,"  April  igth,  1878. 

"  Sir, — I  am  sorry  to  learn  that  my  account  of  the 
repetition  in  London  of  the  great  Leipsic  experiment 
of  tying  knots  in  a  cord  whose  ends  were  firmly  sealed 
together,  was  not  so  accurate  as  should  have  been  the 
record  of  so  astounding  a  phenomenon. 

"Permit  me  to  say,  therefore,  that  after  reading  the 
account  by  Professor  Zollner  in  the  Daily  TeJcoraph, 
I  asked,  at  the  first  opportunity,  our  spirit-friend, 
'  Joey,'  if  he  could  do  the  same  thing  here.  He 
said,  'We  will  try.' 

**  I  then  cut  four  yards  of  common  brown  twine — 
such  as  I  use  for  largo  book  packets^from  a  fresh 
ball,  examined  it  carefully,  tied  the  two  ends  together 
by  a  single  knot,  which  included  both,  then  passed 
each  end  through  a  hole  in  my  visiting  card,  tied  a 
square  knot,  and  firmly  sealed  this  knot  to  the  card, 
and  asked  a  gentleman  to  seal  it  with  his  seal  ring. 
On  this  card  I  also  put  my  signature  and  the  date. 
The  loop  of  the  string,  whose  two  ends  were  thus 
sealed  on  the  card,  I  again  examined,  and  found  it 
free  from  knots. 

"Six  persons,  including  Mr.  Eglintou  and  Mr. 
Colman,  sat  round  a  small  table.  The  sealed  card 
was  placed  ou  the  centre  of  the  table,  and  the  fingers 


KNOT  EXPERIMENT  WITH  ANOTHER  MEDIUM.  'J'] 

of  eacli  person  present  placed  upon  it,  while  the  loop 
hung  down  upon  the  floor. 

"  This  position  was  maintained  for  about  a  minute, 
when  raps  were  heard,  and  I  examined  the  string. 
The  ends  were  firmly  fastened  and  sealed  as  before, 
and  five  single  knots  were  tied  upon  it,  about  a  foot 
apart — on  the  single  endless  string,  observe,  whose 
perfect  fastening  had  never  left  my  sight — where  they 
now  remain. 

"  It  is  certain  that  no  mortal  man  could  have  tied 
these  knots — equally  certain  that  all  the  philosophers 
and  all  the  'magicians'  of  Europe  cannot  now  untie 
them  under  the  same  conditions. 

"  Here  is  a  fact  which  can  be  proven  in  any  court 
of  justice,  and  for  which  any  conceivable  number  of 
dimensions  of  space  cannot  acount.    ' 

"  T.  L.  Nichols,  M.D. 

"  32  FopsTONE  Road,  London,  S.W." 

I  now  pass  on  to  relate,  from  my  numerous  success- 
ful experiments  with  Mr.  Slade,  during  his  further 
presence  in  Leipsic,  from  4th  to  loth  May  1878, 
those  in  the  first  place  which  represent  a  modification 
of  the  experiments  with  knots,  and  which  may  be 
regarded  as  an  experimental  confirmation  of  the 
reality  of  a  fourth  dimension  of  space. 

At  his  third  residence  in  Leipsic,  Mr.  Slade  had 
again  received  the  hospitable  invitation  of  my  friend 


78  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

Oscar  voii  IfulVmann,  and  therefore  lived  iii  bis  house 
(luring  the  time  from  the  2ntl  to  the  loth  May.  To 
protect  him  from  the  rudeness  of  the  learned  and 
unlearned  public  (scientific  and  unscientific  people), 
as  well  as  of  the  press,  and  to  prevent  a  possible 
repetition  here  of  his  expulsion  l^y  the  police  *  at  the 
demand  of  the  public,  we  had  taken  care,  as  at  his 
second  visit  in  December  of  hist  year,  wholly  to 
seclude  him  from  the  public. 

As  regards  the  following  experiments  witli  Mr. 
Slade,  I  describe  them  in  the  first  place  for  j^^jj^ici^fs, 
that  is,  for  scientific  men  who  are  competent  to 
understand  my  other  physical  investigations  and 
experiments,  to  which,  during  the  space  of  twenty 
years,  I  have  given  publicity  in  scientific  journals. 
Such  men  alone  are  able  to  form  an  independent 
judgment,  on  the  ground  of  my  antecedent  work,  as 
to  how  far  confidence  should  be  extended  to  me  as  a 
physical  experimentalist.  For  though  the  theoretical 
considerations — by  w^hich  the  facts  of  observation  so 
imparted  by  me  during  that  space  have  been  con- 
nected hitherto — deviate  in  many  respects  from  my 
own,  the  facts  themselves  so  observed  by  me  Ijave  up 
to  this  time  received  only  confirmation  in  their 
entirety.  As  regards  such  men,  also,  who  on  the 
ground  of  my  labours  heretofore  are  able  to  form 
their  own  independent  judgment  on  my  reliability  and 

*  That  had  happened  at  Vienna.— Tr. 


CONFIDENCE   DUE  TO   TRAINED   EXPERIMENTORS.       79 

credibility,  I  am  relieved  from  the  useless  trouble  of 
describing  more  minutely  and  circumstantially  than 
is  necessary  for  intellectual  and  scientific  men,  the 
conditions  under  which  the  following  phenomena 
were  observed  by  me.  Suppose,  for  example,  I 
observed  during  a  physical  investigation  (as  in  that 
concerning  the  electric  fluid)  deviations  of  the 
magnetic  needle  under  hitherto  unusual  conditions. 
If  now  a  physicist,  wishing  to  bring  my  observations 
into  contempt,  were  to  suggest  that  I  had  perhaps 
accidentally  had  a  magnetic  knife  on  the  table,  or 
had  not  duly  taken  into  account  the  daily  varia- 
tions of  the  earth's  magnetism,  such  suppositions 
might  be  entertained  with  respect  to  a  student  or 
beginner  in  the  province  of  physical  observations, 
but  I  myself  should  feel  them,  coming  from  a 
scientific  colleague,  as  an  insult,  and  should  hold  it 
beneath  my  dignity  as  a  physicist  to  reply  to 
tliem.^'' 

I  assume  entirely  the  same  position  in  describing 
the  following  experiments  Avith  Mr.   Slade,  which  I 

*  The  above  protest  recalls  that  of  Mr.  Crookes,  in  referring  to  a 
suggestion  that,  in  his  researches  with  Mr.  Home,  he  had  possibly  allowed 
the  latter  to  supply  a  board  forming  an  essential  part  of  the  apparatus 
emploj'ed, 

"  Is  it  seriously  expected,"  says  Mr.  Crookes,  "that  I  should  answer 
such  a  question  as  '  did  Mr.  Home  furnish  the  board  ? '  Will  not  my 
critics  give  me  credit  for  the  possession  of  some  amount  of  common  sense  ? 
And  can  they  not  imagine  that  obvious  precautions,  which  occur  to  them 
as  soon  as  they  sit  down  to  pick  holes  in  my  experiments,  are  not 
unlikely  to  have  a^so  occurred  to  me  in  the  course  of  prolonged  and 
patient  investigation  t " — Tr. 


So  transcp:n'dental  physics. 

cotuluctcd  partly  alono,  partly  in  company  with  my 
above-named  friend  Oscar  von  HdfTinaim,  as  in 
describing  the  greater  number  of  my  former  physical 
investigations. 

With  respect  to  the  preposterous  demand,  on  enter- 
ing a  new,  and  to  us  wholly  unfamiliar,  province  of 
physical  phenomena,  to  impose  d  ^)7'/ori  conditions 
under  which  these  phenomena  '^oufjht"  to  occur,  I 
refer  to  the  strictures  contained  in  the  above  letter  of 
Slade,  and  in  the  previous  remarks  of  Ilerr  Aksakow 
to  Herr  Geheimrath  Virchow  at  Berlin  on  the  first 
principles  of  exact  investigation.  After  this  necessary 
jircface  I  pass  on  to  describe  some  experiments  which 
I  had  devised  with  a  view  to  the  confirmation  of  my 
space-theory. 

The  experiments  formerly  described  (i/tli  Decem- 
l»er  1S7S)  with  the  knotted  cord  suggest  two  expla- 
nations, according  as  one  supposes  a  sj^ace  of  three 
or  of  four  dimensions.  In  the  first  case  there  must 
have  been  a  so-called  passage  of  matter  through 
matter ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  molecules  of  which 
the  cord  consists  must  have  been  separated  in  certain 
places,  and  then,  after  the  other  portion  of  cord  had 
been  passed  through,  again  united  in  the  same  posi- 
tion as  at  first.  In  the  second  case,  the  manipulation 
of  the  flexible  cord  being,  according  to  my  theory, 
subject  to  the  laws  of  a  four-dimensional  region  of 
space,  such  a  separation  and   re- union  of  molecules 


KNOTTING   TOGETHER   OF   LEATHER  BANDS.  8 1 

would  not  be  necessary.  The  cord  would,  however, 
certainly  undergo  during  the  process  an  amount  of 
twisting  v/hich  would  be  discernible  after  the  knots 
were  tied.  I  had  not  paid  attention  to  this  circum- 
stance in  December  last  year,  and  had  not  examined 
the  cords  with  regard  to  the  size  and  direction  of  the 
twist.  The  following  experiment,  however,  which 
took  place  on  the  8  th  of  May  this  year,  in  a  sitting  of 
a  quarter  of  an  hour's  duration  with  Mr.  Slade  in  a 
well-lighted  room,  furnishes  an  answer  to  the  above 
question  in  favour  of  the  four-dimensional  theory 
without  separation  of  material  particles. 

The  experiment  was  as  follows  : — I  took  two  bands 
cut  out  of  soft  leather,  44  centimetres  long,  and  from 
5  to  10  millimetres  broad,  and  fastened  the  ends  of 
each  together,  as  formerly  described  with  the  cords, 
and  sealed  them  with  my  own  seal.  The  two  leather 
bands  were  laid  separately  on  the  card-table  at  which 
we  sat ;  the  seats  were  placed  opposite  to  one  another, 
and  I  held  my  hands  over  the  bands  (as  shown  on  Plate 
11.)  Slade  sat  at  my  left  side,  and  placed  his  right 
hand  gently  over  mine,  I  being  able  to  feel  the  leather 
underneath  all  the  time.  Slade  asserted  that  he  saw 
lights  emanating  from  my  hands,  and  could  feel  a  cool 
wind  over  them.  I  felt  the  latter,  but  could  not  see 
the  lights.  Presently,  while  I  still  distinctly  felt  the 
cool  breeze,  and  Slade's  hands  were  not  touching  mine, 
but  were  removed  from  them  about  two  or  three 


82  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

decimetres,  I  felt  a  movement  of  the  leather  bands 
under  my  hands.  Then  came  three  raps  in  the  table, 
and  on  removing  my  hands  the  two  leather  bands 
were  knotted  together.  The  twisting  of  the  leather 
is  distinctly  seen  in  Plate  II  (copied  from  a  photo- 
graph.) The  time  that  the  bands  were  under  my 
hands  was  at  most  three  minutes.  A  pair  of  uncon- 
nected strips  of  leather  are  also  represented  on  the 
Plate  for  clearness  of  apprehension. 

Much  pleased,  I  examined  the  connected  strips  of 
leather  for  a  long  time  with  my  friends.  I  then  took 
a  slate  myself,  and  held  it  with  my  right  hand  under 
the  table,  in  order  to  repeat  the  experiment  which 
had  succeeded  with  the  Grand  Duke  Constantino  of 
Eussia.^^  AVliilc  now,  as  I  did  so,  Slade's  hands,  con- 
tinually visible  to  me,  lay  quietly  on  the  table,  there 
appeared  suddenly  a  large  hand  close  in  front  of  me, 
emerixins:  from  under  the  ed<Te  of  the  table.  All  the 
fingers  of  the  hand  moved  quickly,  and  I  was  able  to 
observe  them  accurately  during  a  space  of  at  least 
two  minutes.  The  colour  of  the  hand  was  pale  and 
inclined  to  an  olive-green.  And  now  while  I  con- 
tinually saw  Slade's  hands  lying  before  me  on  the 
table,  and  he  himself  sat  at  the  table  on  my  left,  the 
above-mentioned  hand  rose  suddenly  as  quick  as  an 
arrow,  still  higher,  and  grasped  with  a  powerful  pres- 
sure my  left  upper-arm  for  over  a  minute  long.     As 

♦  Ante,  p.  43. 


Plate  II. 
{Copied  from  a  Photojraph.) 


VISIBLE   AND   TANGIBLE   HANDS.  85 

my  attention  was  wholly  occupied  in  the  observation 
of  the  strange  hand,  and  the  grip  upon  my  left  upper 
arm  happened  so  suddenly,  forcibly,  and  unexpectedly, 
I  am  not  able  to  say  anything  concerning  the  condi- 
tion of  the  arm  which  connected  the  hand  with  the 
edge  of  the  table.  When  this  hand  had  disappeared 
— Slade's  hands  lying  on  the  table  after  as  before — 
I  was  so  violently  pinched  on  my  right  hand,  which 
during  these  four  minutes  was  all  along  holding  the 
above-mentioned  slate  under  the  table,  that  I  could 
not  help  crying  out.  With  this  manifestation  the 
extraordinary  sitting  closed. 

To  complete  the  account  of  the  phenomena  of 
visible  and  tangible  human  hands  which  occurred  the 
year  before  in  presence  of  my  friends  and  colleagues, 
Fechner,  W.  Weber,  and  Scheibuer,  I  may  mention  in 
addition  that  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  December 
1877,  at  half-past  ten  o'clock,  while  W.  AVeber  and  I 
were  again  engaged  with  Slade  in  the  above-mentioned 
magnetic  experiments,  suddenly  Weber's  coat  was  un- 
buttoned under  the  table,  his  gold  watch  was  taken 
from  his  waistcoat  pocket,  and  was  placed  gently  in 
his  right  hand,  as  he  held  it  under  the  table.  During 
this  proceeding,  which  occupied  about  three  minutes, 
and  was  described  exactly  in  its  particular  phases  by 
Weber,  Mr.  Slade's  hands  were,  be  it  understood, 
before  our  eyes  upon  the  table,  and  his  legs  crossed 
sideways  in  such  a  position  that  any  employment  of 


86  TR A NSCKN DENTAL   PHYSICS. 

tliem  was  out  of  the  question.  The  sitting  took  place 
in  my  resilience,  in  the  corner  room  lighted  by  four 
large  windows,  as  already  described. 

Those  who  seek  to  explain  the  phenomena  described 
here,  and  proved  also  at  other  places  by  reliable 
observers,  of  visil>lo  and  tangible  human  limbs,  by 
suppositions  of  possible  deception  by  means  of  gutta- 
percha hands,  and  so  forth,  treat  the  matter  without 
consideration,  since  they  judge  of  phenomena  which 
they  have  neither  seen  nor  examined  referably  to  the 
conditions  of  their  occurrence.  That  such  visible  and 
tangible  human  limbs  can,  under  suitable  circum- 
stances, leave  behind  visible  impressions,  as,  for 
instance,  on  flour  or  sooted  paper,  will  no  longer 
appear  surprising  after  the  last-mentioned  facts.* 

Should  the  foregoing  experiments  have  afforded 
proof  that  there  are,  outside  our  perceptible  world  of 
three  dimensions,  things  furnished  with  all  the  attri- 
butes of  corporeity  which  can  appear  in  three-dimen- 
sional space  and  then  vanish  therefrom,  without  our 
being  able,  from  the  standpoint  of  our  present  space- 
perception,  to  answer  the  questions  whence  they 
come  and  whither  they  go,  then  should  the  following 
experiment  complete  this  proof,  by  establishing  the 
appearance  and  disappearance  of  bodies  which  do,  in 

•  I  may  lierc  call  attention  to  the  results  obtained  in  London  by  one  of 
our  countrjmcn,  Hcrr  Christian  Keinicrs,  and  published  in  "  Psychisrhe 
Studieti,"  which  results,  obtained  partly  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Alfred 
Ruiisel  Wallace,  justify  the  boldest  expectations  for  the  future. 


DISAPPEAEANCE   OF   PONDERABLE   OBJECTS.  87 

fact,  belong  to  our  three-dimensional  world  of  space. 
I  have  already  mentioned  (p.  38)  the  disappearance 
and  reappearance  of  a  small  cardboard  thermometer- 
case,  and  also  (p.  53)  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  piece 
of  coal  and  of  wood  at  a  particular  place  where  these 
bodies  had  not  previously  been.  Similar  and  almost 
more  surprising  phenomena  happened  during  Slade's 
residence  at  Vienna.  Baron  Yon  Hellenbach  writes 
me  as  follows : — 

"The  disappearance  of  the  book  was  only  super- 
ficially treated  in  my  pamphlet,"^^  since  therein  I  only 
concerned  myself  with  those  occurrences  which  took 
place  beyond  the  reach  of  Slade's  limbs,  as  I  wished  to 
meet  the  thoughtless  objection,  "He  did  it  somehow." 
The  thing  happened  in  the  following  manner  :  Slade 
laid  a  book  and  a  bit  of  pencil  (at  a  spot  exactly 
marked)  on  the  slate,  which  he  then  conveyed  under 
the  surface  of  the  table.  The  book  vanished,  and 
having  often  been  looked  for  everywhere,  fell  several 
times  from  the  ceiling  of  the  room  upon  the  table 
between  the  globes  of  the  three-branch  chandelier. 
Once  it  struck  the  chain  off  the  roller  by  which  the 
chandelier  was  drawn  up.  A  projection  by  the  hand 
under  the  table  is  altogether  impossible,  since  a  pro- 
jected book  cannot  describe  this  curve.     Slade's  upper 

*  "Mr.  Slade' s  Besidence  in  Vienna.  An  open  letter  to  my  friends. " 
(Anonym.),  Vienna.  Printed  and  published  by  T.  C.  Fischer  &  Co., 
1 878.  Compare  also  * '  Individualism  in  the  Light  of  the  Biology  and  Philo- 
sophy of  the  Present,"  by  Lazar  B.  Hellenbach,  Vienna,  1878  (Braumiiller). 


88  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

aufl  under  arm  were  visible  and  quiet,  and  a  projection 
by  the  foot  would  as  certainly  have  been  remarked  as 
the  rise  of  the  book.  The  experiment  was  too  often 
repeated,  and  our  attention  was  too  great.  I  regard 
as  very  important  a  demonstration  on  your  part  of  a 
similar  disappearance ;  for  if  the  seen  and  felt  ascent 
of  the  slate  at  my  foot  proves  an  unpcrceived 
mechanical  agency,  and  the  production  of  knots  in 
the  endless  cord  a.  foiir-cUmcnsional  agency,  so  would 
the  entrance  and  exit  of  an  object  prove  another 
space-dimension,  as  it  were  iu  our  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood, in  so  stupendous  a  manner,  that  it  could 
uot  be  for  a  moment  doubted  in  my  opinion,  which  is 
that  our  illusion  of  consciousness  is  nothing  but  a 
three-dimensional  intuition  of  a  more-dimensional 
world,  brought  about  by  a  strange  organism.  Should 
your  endeavours  be  similarly  successful,  I  beg  you 
kiudly  to  inform  me.  B.  Hellenbach." 

I  had  received  the  above  letter  at  eiirlit  in  the 
morning  of  the  5th  May.  "Without  having  mentioned 
it  to  Slade  or  to  Herr  0.  von  Hoflfmann,  I  expressed 
the  wish,  at  the  sitting  which  took  place  with  Mr. 
Slade  at  eleven  o'clock,  to  have  the  opportunity  of 
observing  again,  as  iu  December  of  the  year  before,  the 
disappearance  and  reappearance  of  a  material  body  in 
some  very  striking  manner.  Ready  at  once  for  the 
experiment,  Slade  requested  Herr  von  Hoffmann  to 


A   BOOK   VANISHES   AND   REAPPEARS.  89 

give  him  a  book ;  the  latter  thereupon  took  from 
the  small  bookshelf  at  the  wall  a  book  printed  and 
bound  in  octavo.  Slade  laid  this  upon  a  slate,  held 
the  same  partly  under  the  edge  of  the  table,  and 
immediately  withdrew  the  slate  again  luithout  the  hook. 
We  searched  the  card- table  carefully  everywhere,  out- 
side and  inside.  So  also  we  searched  the  small  room, 
but  all  in  vain  ;  the  book  had  vanished.  After  about 
five  minutes  we  again  took  our  places  at  the  table  for 
the  purpose  of  further  observations  ;  Slade  opposite 
me,  Von  Hoffmann  between  us  on  my  left.  We  had 
scarcely  sat  down  when  the  book  fell  from  the  ceiling 
of  the  room  on  to  the  table,  striking  my  right  ear  with 
some  violence  in  its  descent.  The  direction  in  which 
it  came  down  from  above  seemed  from  this  to  have 
been  an  oblique  one,  proceeding  from  a  point  above 
and  behind  my  back.  Slade,  during  this  occurrence, 
was  sitting  in  front  of  me,  and  keeping  both  his  hands 
quietly  on  the  table.  He  asserted  shortly  before,  as 
usual  on  occasions  of  similar  physical  phenomena,  that 
he  saw  lights  either  hovering  in  the  air  or  attached 
to  bodies,  whereof,  however,  neither  my  friend  nor 
myself  were  ever  able  to  perceive  anything. 

In  the  sitting  of  the  following  day,  the  6th  May,  at 
a  quarter-past  eleven,  by  bright  sunshine,  1  was  to  be 
witness,  quite  unexpectedly  and  unpreparedly,  of  a  yet 
far  more  magnificent  phenomenon  of  this  kind. 

I  had,  as  usual,  taken  my  place  with  Slade  at  the 


90  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

canl-taUe.  Opposite  to  me  stood,  as  was  often  tlie 
case  in  other  experiments,  a  small  round  table  near  the 
card-table,  exactly  in  tlie  position  shown  in  the  photo- 
graph (taken  from  nature)  upon  Plate  III  [see  page 
1 06],  illustrating  the  further  experiments  to  be  de- 
scribed below.  Tlio  height  of  the  round  table  is  77 
centimetres,  diameter  of  the  surface  46  centimetres, 
the  material  birchen-wood,  and  the  weight  of  the  whole 
table  45  kilogrammes.  About  a  minute  might  have 
])assed  after  Slade  and  I  had  sat  down  and  laid  our 
hands  joined  together  on  the  table,  when  the  round 
table  was  set  in  slow  oscillations,  which  we  could 
both  clearly  perceive  in  the  top  of  the  round  table 
rising  above  the  card-table,  while  its  lower  part  was 
concealed  from  view  by  the  top  of  the  card-table. 

The  motions  very  soon  became  greater,  and  the 
whole  table  approaching  the  card-table  laid  itself  under 
the  latter,  with  its  three  feet  turned  towards  me. 
Neither  I  nor,  as  it  seemed,  Mr.  Slade,  knew  how  the 
phenomenon  would  further  develop,*  since  during  the 
space  of  a  minute  which  now  elapsed  nothing  whatever 
occurred.  Slade  was  about  to  take  slate  and  pencil 
to  ask  his  "spirits"  whether  we  had  anything  still  to 
expect,  when  I  wished  to  take  a  nearer  view  of  the 
position  of  the  round  table  lying,  as  I  supposed,  under 


•  The  movement  of  heavy  objects  without  any  possible  contact  by 
81a(lc  was  so  common  that  m-c  looked  on  the  movement  of  the  table  as 
only  the  beginning  of  a  further  succcssiou  of  phenomena. 


A   TABLE   VANISHES   AND   REAPPEARS.  9 1 

the  card-table.  To  my  and  Slade's  great  astonish- 
ment we  found  the  space  beneath  the  card-table  com- 
pletely empty,  nor  were  we  able  to  find  in  all  the  rest 
of  the  room  that  table  which  only  a  minute  before  was 
present  to  our  senses.  In  the  expectation  of  its  re- 
appearance we  sat  again  at  the  card-table,  Slade  close 
to  me,  at  the  same  angle  of  the  table  opposite  that 
near  which  the  round  table  had  stood  before.  We 
might  have  sat  about  five  or  six  minutes  in  intense 
expectation  of  what  should  come,  when  suddenly  Slade 
again  asserted  that  he  saw  lights  in  the  air.  Although 
T,  as  usual,  could  perceive  nothing  whatever  of  the 
kind,  I  yet  followed  involuntarily  with  my  gaze  the 
directions  to  which  Slade  turned  his  head,  durina;  all 
which  time  our  hands  remained  constantly  on  the  table, 
linked  together  (ilher-einander  liegend) ;  under  the 
table,  my  left  leg  was  almost  continually  touching 
Slade's  right  in  its  whole  extent,  which  was  quite 
without  design,  and  owing  to  our  proximity  at  the 
same  corner  of  the  table.  Looking  up  in  the  air, 
eagerly  and  astonished,  in  different  directions,  Slade 
asked  me  if  I  did  not  perceive  the  great  lights.  I 
answered  decidedly  in  the  negative ;  but  as  I  turned 
my  head,  following  Slade's  gaze  up  to  the  ceilino-  of 
the  room  behind  my  back,  I  suddenly  observed,  at  a 
height  of  about  five  feet,  the  hitherto  invisible  table 
with  its  legs  turned  upwards  very  quickly  floating  down 
in  the  air  upon  the  top  of  the  card-table.    Although 


92  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

WO  involuntarily  drew  l>ack  our  heads  sideways,  Slado 
to  the  left  and  I  to  the  right,  to  avoid  injury  from  the 
falling  table,  yet  we  were  both,  before  the  round  table 
had  laid  itself  down  on  the  top  of  the  card-table,  so 
violently  struck  on  the  side  of  the  head,  that  I  felt 
the  pain  on  the  left  of  mine  fully  four  hours  after  this 
occurrence,  which  took  place  at  about  half-j^ast  eleven. 


(    93    ) 


CJaptcr  ©irfb. 


THEOBETTCAL  CONSIDERATIONS — PROJECTED  EXPERIMENTS  FOR  PROOF  OF  THE 
POHRTH  DIMBNSION  —  THE  UNEXPECTED  IN  NATURE  AND  LIFE — SCHOPEN- 
HAUER3   "TRANSCENDENT  FATE." 


The  foregoing  facts  of  observation  are  tlius  empirically 
at  variance  witli  the  dogma  of  the  unchangeableness 
of  the  quantity  of  matter  in  our  three-dimensional 
world.*  Since,  however,  that  dogma  of  the  constancy 
of  substance  cannot  derive  its  dogmatic  character 
from  experience,  but  merely  from  the  principles  of  our 
reason,  which  are  inherent  in  our  mind  just  as  in  the 
ct  priori  law  of  causality,  that  is  to  say,  before  all 
experience  :  there  is  thus  imposed  on  our  reason  the 
task  of  freeing  our  understanding  from  the  above 
contradiction  between  the  facts  of  observation  and  a 
principle  of  our  reason.  I  have  already  shown  iu 
detail,  in  the  first  volume  of  these  treatises,  how  very 
easily  this  problem  is  solved  by  the  acceptance  of  a 
fourth   dimension   of  space.     The   table  which   dis- 

*  Not  altogether  :  as  it  might  he  suggested  that  the  vanished  objects 
only  assumed  a  gaseous  form — the  c^uantity  of  matter  thus  remaining  the 
same,  as  in  the  case  of  combustion. — Tr. 


94  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

appeared  iluring  six  minutes  must  nevertbeless  have 
existed  somewhere,  and  tlie  quantity  of  the  substance 
constituting  it  must,  according  to  the  above  principle 
of  reason,  have  remained  absolutely  constant.  If, 
liowever,  we  can  only  answer  the  question  "  where  ?  " 
by  assigning  a  place — and  it  has  been  empirically 
shown  that  this  place  cannot  lie  in  the  region  of  space 
of  three  dimensions  perceptible  to  us, — it  follows  of 
necessity  that  the  answering  of  the  question  "  where  1  " 
hitherto  so  easy  to  us,  must  be  an  incomplete  answer, 
and  therefore  one  both  requiring  and  capable  of  ampli- 
fication. How  by  this  means  also  the  conception  of 
juxtaposition  obtains  an  extension  by  help  of  the 
fourth  dimension  of  absolute  space,  I  have  already 
above  explained  at  length  in  a  note,^'  to  which  I  may 
refer  my  readers. 

So  also  I  have  already  shown  in  the  treatise  "  On 
Action  at  a  Distance,"  vol.  i.  p.  269,  that  the  so  fruit- 
ful "Axiom  of  the  Conservation  of  Energy  "  retains  all 
its  validity  for  space  of  four  dimensions,  while  at 
another  place  I  remarked,  "  If  one  regards  the  distance 
of  two  atoms  and  the  intensity  of  their  interaction, 
in  our  three-dimensional  space,  as  projections  of  similar 
magnitudes  from  a  space  of  four  dimensions,  a  change 
would  be  effected  in  the  magnitudes,  form,  and  supply 
of  kinetic  energy  of  the  three-dimensional  projection 
(the  material  body),  simply  through  alterations  in  the 

•  Ante,  p.  58. 


THEORETICAL.  95 

relative  positions  of  the  four-dimensional  object,  with- 
out these  properties  in  the  latter  undergoing  any 
change.  The  axiom  of  the  conservation  of  a  constant 
amount  of  energy  thus  retains  its  full  validity  for  space 
of  four  dimensions,  nay,  on  closer  consideration,  it  is 
even  the  premiss  on  ichich  rests  the  correspondence  of 
the  extended  conceptions  of  space  to  physical  occur- 
rences" * 

To  the  considerations  offered  in  the  early  part  of 
this  treatise  concerning  the  "  actual"  or  "  real "  lying 
at  the  ground  of  space,  I  may  here  add  the  following 
words  of  Riemann  :  t — 

"  The  question  of  the  validity  of  the  postulates  of 
geometry  in  the  infinitely  little  is  connected  with  the 
question  of  the  inner  principles  of  the  mass-relations 
of  space.  In  this  question,  which  can  well  be  accounted 
as  still  belonging  to  the  doctrine  of  space,  the  above 
observation  has  the  application  that  in  a  discrete 
diversity  (Mannigfaltigkeit)  the  principle  of  mass- 
relations  is  already  contained  in  the  conception  of  this 
diversity,  w^iereas,  in  a  continuous  diversity,  this 
principle  must  come  to  it  from  wdthout  {cinders  ivoher 
hinzukommen  muss).  Thus,  either  the  reality  under- 
lying space  must  form  a  discrete  diversity,  or  the 
principle  of  mass-relations  must  be  sought  ivithout 


t  Eiemann's  collected  mathematical  and  posthumous  scientific  -works, 
edited,  with  the  assistance  of  R.  Dedekind,  by  H.  Weber,  Leipsio  : 
(Teubner),  1876. 


96  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

{ausso'Jialh  *),  in  binding  forces  acting  thereon  (in 
darauf  wirkcnden  hindenden  Krdften). 

"  The  decision  of  these  questions  can  only  be  found 
by  transcending  the  hitherto  empirical  conception  of 
phenomena,  of  whicli  Newton  estaljlished  the  prin- 
ciple, and,  impelled  hy  facts  ivhich  cannot  he  explained 
hy  it,  gradually  reforming  this  conception.  Such 
researches,  which,  like  the  present,  transcend  common 
conceptions,  can  only  serve  to  prevent  this  work  being 
hindered  hy  the  narrowness  of  ideas,  and  advance  in 
knowledge  of  the  connection  of  things  heing  impeded  hy 
traditional  2^rejudices.  This  carries  us  over  into  the 
province  of  another  science,  that  of  Physics,  which  is 
not  permitted  by  the  nature  of  our  present  subject." 

These  words  of  Riemann  prove  incontrovertibly  that 
he,  as  one  of  those  acute  founders  of  the  theory  of  an 
extended  space-conception,  recognised  as  thoroughly 
necessary  the  introduction  (Hinzuziehung)  oi  physical 
elements  [Monientc) ;  that  is,  derived  from  observed 
facts,  t 

•  The  word  "  ausscrhalb  "  in  relation  to  the  whole  circuit  of  the  three- 
dimensional  region  of  space  given  perceptibly  to  us  has  only  one  sense, 
if  for  the  centre  of  those  "  binding  forces,  acting  thereon  "  is  presupix)scd 
a  fourth  dimension. 

t  The  recently  introduced  "conception  of  solidity"  or  "rigidity" 
{dcr  Fcstigkcit  odcr  Starrhcit)  is  only  another  expression  for  this  physical 
side  of  the  problem.  For  though  the  geometrical  conception  of  solidity 
can  l)C  dcjincd  .is  the  unchangcablcness  of  the  distance  of  the  points  of  a 
system  of  points,  yet  the  intuition  underlying  this  "conception  "  is  only 
derived  from  experience,  ju>t  as  the  conception  of  motion  is  abstracted 
from  experience.  Compare  Ilelniholtz  "  On  the  Origin  aud  Meaning  of 
Geometrical  Axioms"  {Popular  Scientific  Essays,  November  3rd,  1876).  So 


PROJECTED   EXPERIMENTS.  97 

I  now  proceed  to  the  description  of  further  success- 
ful experiments  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Slade,  which 
will  partly  confirm  those  already  mentioned,  partly 
establish  them  more  thoroughly  by  new  modifications. 

In  order  to  exclude  as  far  as  possible  the  depen- 
dence of  to  us  inexplicable  phenomena  upon  human 
testimony,  I  desired  to  devise  experiments  such  that 
the  permanent  effect,  as  final  result,  should  be  com- 
pletely unexplainable  according  to  the  conceptions  we 
have  hitherto  entertained  of  the  laws  of  nature.  With 
this  object,  I  had  arranged  the  following  experiment : 

I.  Two  wooden  rings,  one  of  oak,  the  other  of  alder- 
wood,  were  each  turned  from  one  piece.'""  The  outer 
diameter  of  the  rings  was  105  millimetres,  the  inner 
74  millimetres.  Could  these  two  rings  be  interlinked 
without  solution  of  continuity,  the  test  would  be 
additionally  convincing  by  close  microscopic  examina- 
tion of  the  unbroken  continuity  of  the  fibre.  Two 
different  kinds  of  wood  being  chosen,  the  possibility 
of  cutting  both  rings  from  the  same  piece  is  likewise 
excluded.  Two  such  interlinked  rino;s  would  conse- 
quently  in  themselves  represent  a  "  miracle,"  that  is, 
a  phenomenon  which  our  conceptions  heretofore  of 

Wilhelm  Fiedler,  "  Geometry  and  Geomechanics, "  in  the  "  Fourth  Yearly 
Journal  of  the  Society  of  Natural  Philosophy  at  Zurich,"  21st  yearly  vol., 
1876,  same  number  "  On  Sj^mmetry  "  by  Fiedler,  number  2,  p.  186  et  seq. 
'  Both  these  rings  I  received  in  February  of  this  year,  through  the 
kindness  of  Herr  G.  De  Liagre.  I  take  this  opportunitj'  publicly  to  thank 
this  gentleman,  as  also  the  frequently-mentioned  Herr  Oscar  von  Hoff- 
mann, for  their  energetic  assistance  in  the  experiments  with  Mr.  Slade. 

G 


98  TUA.N^etN DENTAL    I'lIVSICS. 

jihysical  and  organic  processes  would  be  absolutely 
incompetent  to  explain. 

2.  Since  among  products  of  nature,  the  disposition 
of  whose  parts  is  according  to  a  particular  direction, 
as  with  snail-shells  twisted  riglit  or  left,  this  disposi- 
tion can  be  reversed  by  a  four-dimensional  twisting  of 
the  object,  1  had  provided  myself  with  a  large  number 
of  such  shells,  of  different  species,  and  at  least  two  of 
each  kind. 

3.  From  a  dried  gut,  such  as  is  used  in  twine-fac- 
tories, a  band  without  ends  (in  sich  gescldossenes)  was 
cut,  of  a  breadth  of  from  four  to  five  millimetres,  and 
a  circuit  of  400  millimetres.  Should  a  knot  be  tied  in 
this  baud,  close  microscopic  examination  would  also 
reveal  whether  the  connection  of  the  parts  of  this  strip 
had  been  severed  or  not. 

4.  lu  order  to  demonstrate  yet  more  evidently  the 
so-called  penetration  of  matter,  which  comes  in  ques- 
tion in  all  these  experiments,  I  had  a  glass  ball, 
enclosed  on  all  sides,  of  40  millimetres  diameter,  blown 
by  the  glass-manufacturer,  llerr  Gotze,  of  this  place. 
From  a  paraffin  caudle  I  had  then  cut  oflf  with  a  sharp 
knife  a  piece  of  such  a  length  that  it  just  fell  short  of 
that  of  the  interior  of  the  ball.  I  asked  Herr  Gotze 
if  he  thought  it  possible  to  blow  a  glass  ball  of  the 
prescribed  size  round  such  a  piece  of  paraffin  provided 
with  sharp  edges,  without  melting  the  paraffin,  at  least 
at  the  edges.    He  replied  most  decidedly  in  the  nega- 


SCIENTIFIC   PASSIVITY.  99 

tive  ;  and  even  independently  of  his  authority,  I  believe 
I  do  not  risk  contradiction  in  asserting  that  such  a 
piece  of  paraffin  with  sharp  unmolten  edges  in  the 
interior  of  the  said  glass  ball  would  be,  according  to 
our  heretofore  limited  conception  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
an  inexplicable  miracle. 

The  foregoing  preparations  sufficiently  show  what 
sort  of  phenomena  I  tvished  to  see  in  Slade's  presence. 
Since,  however,  in  the  course  of  more  than  thirty 
sittings  with  Mr.  Slade,  I  had  come  to  the  conviction 
that  he  did  not  himself  "  do  "  the  mysterious  things 
which  happened  near  him,  I  could  not  rationally 
demand  of  him  that  he  should  "show"  me  all  the 
above-mentioned  experiments.  Far  more  unreasonable 
still  must  I  have  hence  considered  the  desire  on  my 
part  to  impose  "  conditions  "  on  Mr.  Slade,  under  which 
he  should  effect  these  to  himself  inexplicable  proceed- 
ings. I  preferred  therefore  to  comport  myself  towards 
Mr.  Slade  and  the  phenomena  occurring  in  his  pre- 
sence just  as  I  did  towards  nature  in  my  physical 
discoveries  up  to  that  time,  or  to  the  previously 
anticipated  fall  of  meteors,  which  happened  when  our 
earth  crossed  the  path  of  Biela's  comet,  on  the  27th 
November  1872.  I  accordingly  remained  patient, 
and  in  a  passive  receptive  disposition  for  the  things 
which  should  come,  and  left  it  confidently  to  nature  of 
her  own  free-will  to  reveal  to  me  as  much  of  her 
secrets  as  seemed  fitting  to  her  without  blinding  my 


ICX)  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

intellectual  eyes  by  the  spleiKlour  of  her  majesty  ; 
mindful  always  of  Goethe's  words  : — 

"  Geheimuissvoll  atis  lichten  Tng 
Lasst  tick  Xalnr  lUs  Sch/eicr$  nicht  herauhm, 
Und  teas  tie  deineni  O'tigt  nuht  nfenbaren  maff, 
Das  Ztoingttdu  ihr  nicht  ahviit  Htbeln  uiul  mit  Schrauhtn.'' * 

*'  Inscrutable  in  noon-day's  blaze, 
Nature  lets  no  one  tear  the  veil  away ; 
And  what  herself  she  does  not  choose 
Unasked  before  your  soul  to  lay, 
You  shall  not  wrest  from  her  by  levers  or  by  screws." 

— Theodore  Martin  t  iraualation. 

And  in  fact,  I  know  no  better  comparison  whereby 
to  indicate  the  character  of  the  constantly  unexpected 
occuiTenccs  in  their  succession  and  ingenious  connec- 
tion, than  the  manner  in  which  men  are  led  by  fate. 
Seldom  happens  just  that  which  we,  according  to  the 
measure  of  our  limited  understanding,  wish  ;  but  if, 
looking  back  on  the  course  of  some  years,  we  regard 

•  Faust  alone,  after  Wa<?ner  had  left  him  with  tlie  words  "  Zwar  wci^s 
ich  rid,  doch  inucht  ich  (dies  wisscn  "  (niucli,  it  is  true,  I  know  ;  yet 
would  know  all).  In  the  monologue  that  follows,  Faust  e-xjiresses  his 
sentiments  upon  that  "Famulus,"  and  doubtless  later  "professors,"  in 
these  wordsi  :— 

*'  Wie  nur  dem  Kopf  nicht  alle  Huffnunri  tchtcindet, 
Der  immerfort  an  schalem  Zcnge  klebl  ; 
Mil  <ikr'(!cr  Hand  nach  Schalzen  grdlt, 
Undfroh  iat,  wenn  er  Regcnvcurmer findet." 

"  Strange  that  all  hope  has  not  long  since  been  blighted, 
In  one  content  on  such  mere  chaff  to  feed  ; 
Who  digs  for  treasure  with  a  miser's  greed, 
And  if  he  finds  a  muck-worm  is  delighted." 

— Theodore  Martin's  translation. 


SCHOPENHAUER   ON   FATE.  lOI 

what  lias  actually  come  to  pass,  we  recognise  gratefully 
the  intellectual  superioricy  of  that  Hand  which,  accord- 
ing to  a  sensible  plan,  conducts  our  fateu  to  the  true 
welfare  of  our  moral  nature,  and  shapes  our  life  dra- 
matically to  a  harmonic  whole.  Volentemfata  ducwit, 
nolentem  trcihunt,  says  an  old  proverb,  often  quoted  by 
Schopenhauer.  That  such  a  conception  of  the  signifi- 
cance, and  of  the  inner  intellectual  connection  of  our 
fate,  does  not  merely  spring  from  an  idealism  coloured 
by  optimism,  but  powerfully  imposes  itself  even  on  a 
pessimist  with  sufficiently  high  powers  of  understand- 
ing, we  have  the  most  striking  proof  in  Schopenhauer's 
treatise,  "  On  apparent  Design  in  the  Fate  of  the  In- 
dividual" {Uber  die  anscheinende  Ahsichlichkeit  im 
Schichscde  des  Einzelnen).     He  says  :  * 

"  At  all  events,  however,  the  perception,  or  rather 
the  opinion,  that  tliis  necessity  of  all  that  happens  is 
no  blind  necessity,  thus  the  belief  in  an  evolution  of 
the  events  of  life  not  less  methodical  than  necessary, 
is  a  fatalism  of  a  higher  kind,  though  not  so  easily 
demonstrable,  and  one  which  perhaps  occurs  to  every 
one,  sooner  or  later,  at  one  time  or  another,  and  is 
held  by  him,  for  a  time,  or  ever  after,  according  to  his 
mode  of  thinking.  We  might  name  it  transcendent 
fatalism,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  common  and 
demonstrahle  fatalism.  .  .  .  Thus,  in  regard  to  par- 
ticular individual  fate,  grew  up  in  many  that  tran- 

*  Parergaand  Paralipomena,  vol.  i.  pp.  218,  219. 


102  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

sccndent  /atoh'sm,  which  the  ftttentive  consideration 
of  his  own  life,  after  its  thrrad  has  been  spun  to  a 
considerable  •loi>gtJli.- Bugg'ists,  perhaps,  to  every  one 
once  ;  and  which  has  not  only'mucli  that  is  consola- 
tory, but  it  may  be  also  much  that  is  true  ;  and 
therefore  has  it  at  all  times  been  affirmed,  even  as 
doijma.  Neither  our  conduct  nor  our  career  is  otir 
work ;  but  that,  indeed,  which  nobody  supposes  to  be 
80 — our  nature  and  existence  {unser  Wesen  iincl 
Dasein).  For  on  the  foundation  of  these,  and  of  the 
circumstances  and  external  events  occurring  in  the 
strictest  causal  connection,  our  actions  au<l  whole 
career  proceed  with  complete  necessity.  Already  at 
a  man's  birth,  therefore,  is  his  whole  career  irrevoc- 
ably determined  even  in  its  details,  so  that  a  somnam- 
bule  in  higli  power  could  predict  it  exactly.  We 
should  keep  this  great  and  certain  truth  in  view  in  the 
consideration  and  judgment  of  our  career,  our  acts  and 
sufferings." 


(     I03    ) 


Chapter   ^etientfi* 

VAEIOUS  INSTANCES  OF   THE   SO-CALLED  PASSAGE   OF  MATTER  THROUGH   MATTER. 

After  this  digression,  I  now  go  on  to  tlie  description 
of  those  physical  modifications  which  have  actually 
been  efiected  in  some  of  the  above  objects  prepared  by 
me,  ivitJwut  their  having  been  touched  at  all  hy  Slade. 
On  the  3rd  May  of  this  year  at  half-past  eight  in 
the  evening,  during  a  sitting  in  which,  besides  myself, 
Herr  0.  von  Hofi*mann  took  part,  there  lay  on  the 
table  with  other  objects  two  of  the  above-mentioned 
snail-shells.  I  had  bought  both  of  them  on  the  morn- 
ing  of  the  same  day  from  an  Italian  shell-dealer,  who 
ofiered  his  wares  for  sale  at  Leipzig  fair.  The  smaller 
shell  belonged  to  a  species  commonly  found  here  ; 
the  larger  to  a  species  which,  according  to  the  dealer, 
is  found  on  the  shore  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea ;  he 
wrote  down  the  name  of  it — Capo  Turhus  (Lat.  Caput 
turho) — at  my  desire.  The  nearly  circular  aperture  of 
this  shell  had  a  diameter  of  about  43  millimetres,  while 
the  smaller  one  measured  only  about  32  millimetres 
in  its  greatest  extent.  On  this  evening  I  had,  with- 
out definite  design,  so  capped  the  smaller  shell  with 
the  larger,  that  the  latter,  lying  with  its  opening  next 


104  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

the  surface  of  the  table,  completely  hid  the  former. 
This  had  hui)pened  during  a  sitting  iu  which  wholly 
difTerent  manifestations  occurred.  When,  now,  Slade 
held  a  slate  *  under  the  edge  of  the  table  in  the  usual 
way  to  get  writing  on  it,  something  clattered  suddenly 
on  the  slate,  as  if  a  hard  body  had  fallen  on  it.  "When 
immediately  afterwards  the  slate  was  taken  out  for 
examination,  there  lay  upon  it  the  smaller  shell  which 
a  minute  before  I  had  capped  with  the  larger,  as 
above  mentioned.  Since  both  shells  had  lain  before 
almost  exactly  in  the  middle  of  the  table,  untouched 
and  constantly  watched  by  me,  here  was,  therefore, 
the  often  observed  phenomenon  of  the  so-called  pene- 
tration of  matter  confirmed  by  a  surprising  and  quite 
unexpected  physical  fact.  Reserving  the  account  of 
numerous  other  phenomena  of  this  kind  to  the  third 
volume  of  my  Scientific  Treatises,^  I  yet  mention  here 
one  very  remarkable  circumstance.  Immediately  after 
Mr.  Slade  drew  the  slate  from  under  the  table  with 
the  smaller  shell  on  it,  I  seized  the  shell  in  order 
closely  to  examine  it  for  any  changes  that  might  have 
happened  in  it.     I  was  nearly  letting  it  drop,  so  very 

•  In  order  to  dcjirive  tlic  supgcstion,  tliat  Mr.  Sladc  ■writes  himself  on 
the  slate,  l»y  means  of  a  bit  of  pencil  inserted  under  tlie  finger-nails,  of 
every  rational  foundation,  I  had  provided  myself,  from  the  stationery 
establishment  of  Mylius  at  this  place,  vith  half-adozen  slates  having  a 
length  of  34  ccntimfctres  and  a  breadth  of  15  centimetres  (with  the  fabric 
mark,  A.  W.  Faber,  no.  39).  With  a  slate  so  much  longer  than  usual,  it  was 
impossible  that  Mr.  Slade  could  write  with  Lis  iliigers,  while  holding  the 
slate,  over  its  whole  surface. 

t  Tost 


AN   UNEXPECTED   PHENOMENON.  IO5 

hot  had  it  become.  I  handed  it  at  once  to  my  friend, 
and  he  confirmed  the  fact  of  its  remarkably  high 
temperature.  This  fact  is,  I  believe,  of  physical  impor- 
tance with  regard  to  one  circumstance  in  the  follow- 
ing experiments. 

On  the  9th  May,  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  I 
was  alone  with  Slade  in  our  usual  sitting-room.  A 
fresh  wind  having  blown  all  the  afternoon,  the  sky  was 
remarkably  clear,  and  the  room,  which  has  a  westerly 
aspect,  was  brilliantly  lighted  by  the  setting  sun.  The 
two  wooden  rings  and  the  above-mentioned  (p.  98) 
entire  bladder  band  were  strung  on  to  a  piece  of  catgut 
one  millimetre  in  thickness,  and  i'05  metre  in  length. 
The  two  ends  of  the  catgut  were  tied  together  by  my- 
self in  a  knot,  and  then,  as  formerly  in  the  case  of  the 
string,  secured  with  my  own  seal  by  myself.  Plate  III. 
represents  the  condition  of  things  at  the  beginning  of 
the  sitting ;  Plate  IV.,  at  its  conclusion. 

When  Slade  and  I  were  seated  at  the  table  in  the 
usual  manner,  I  placed  my  two  hands  over  the  upper 
end  of  the  sealed  catgut,  as  shown  in  the  plate,  photo- 
graphed from  life.  The  small  round  table,  already 
referred  to,  was  placed  shortly  after  our  entry  into  the 
room,  in  the  position  shown  in  the  picture.* 

*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that  the  photographs  were  taken, 
not  during,  but  some  days  after,  the  sittings.  The  two  tables  are  those 
used  in  the  sittings,  but  the  sealed  catgut,  with  the  two  wooden  rings 
and  the  strip  of  bladder,  were  afterwards  prepared  to  show  the  condition 
of  these  objects  before  the  sitting,  and  are  as  far  as  possible  exactly 
copied  from  the  originals  shown  on  Plate  III. 


I06  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

After  a  few  minutes  had  elapsed,  and  Slade  lia<I 
asserted,  as  usual  during  physical  manifestations,  that 
lie  saw  lights,  a  slight  smell  of  burning  was  apparent 
in  the  room — it  seemed  to  come  from  under  the  table, 
and  somewhat  recalled  the  smell  of  sulphuric  acid. 
Shortly  afterwards  we  heard  a  rattling  sound  at  the 
small  round  table  opposite,  as  of  pieces  of  wood  knock- 
ing together.  When  I  asked  whether  we  should  close 
the  sitting,  the  rattling  was  repeated  three  times  con- 
secutively. "We  then  left  our  scats,  in  order  that  we 
niifijht  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  rattlinnr  at  the  round 
table.  To  our  great  astonishment  we  found  the  two 
wooden  rings,  which  about  six  minutes  previously 
were  strung  on  the  catgut,  in  complete  preservation, 
encirclincr  the  leoj  of  the  small  table.  The  catf];ut  was 
tied  in  two  loose  knots,  throucjh  which  the  endless 
bladder  band  was  hanging  uninjured,  as  is  seen  in 
Plate  IV.  [See  Plate  X.,  Appendix  D.] 

Immediately  after  the  sitting,  astonished  and  highly 
delighted  at  such  a  wealth  of  permanent  results,  I 
called  my  friend  and  his  wife  into  the  sitting-room. 
Slade  fell  into  oue  of  his  usual  trances,  and  informed 
us  that  the  invisible  beings  surroundim?  him  had 
endeavoured,  according  to  my  wish,  to  tie  some  knots 
in  the  endless  band,  but  had  been  oblicjed  to  abandon 
their  intention,  as  the  band  was  in  danger  of  "melting" 
during  the  operation  under  the  great  increase  of  tem- 
perature, and  that  we  should  perceive  this  by  the  white- 


H 


•a 

} 


Plate  V. 
{Copied  from  a  Photograph.) 


PSYCHIC   FORCE   BURNS.  I  I  3 

ness  of  a  spot  on  tlie  band.  Having  taken  the  band 
into  my  own  hands  immediately  after  the  sitting,  and 
held  it  up  to  the  moment  of  Slade's  communication,  I 
felt  great  interest  in  testing  the  correctness  of  this 
assertion.  There  was,  in  fact,  a  white  spot  as  indicated, 
and  when  we  took  another  piece  of  exactly  the  same 
material  and  held  it  over  a  lighted  candle,  the  effect 
of  the  increased  temperature  was  to  produce  precisely 
such  another  white  spot.  This  fact,  in  connection  with 
the  burning  smell  perceived  during  the  sitting,  as  well 
as  the  increase  in  temperature  in  a  former  experiment 
(related  above),  will  be  worth  bearing  in  mind  in 
further  experiments  with  four-dimensional  movements 
of  bodies. 

In  fact,  if,  according  to  the  above-cited  alternative 
of  Riemann,  "the  reality  underlying  space  must  bo 
sou2;ht  in  bindinsr  forces  actino;  thereon,"  so  could 
such  increase  of  temperature  be  produced  in  like 
manner  as  in  the  motions  of  conducting  bodies  in  the 
magnetic  field.  For  suppose  we  knew  nothing  of  the 
magnetic  induction  discovered  by  Faraday,  and  were 
observing  in  a  space  lying  between  the  poles  of  an 
electro-magnet,  not  otherwise  perceptible  to  us,  the 
increase  in  temperature  of  quickly-moved  conducting 
bodies  would  appear  to  us  just  as  wonderful  and  in- 
comprehensible as  the  heat  produced  in  mundane 
bodies  in  the  above  instances  by  four  dimensional 
changes  of  place. 


I  1 4  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

Doubtless,  a  liiglily-dcveloped  undcrstaiuling,  wLicli 
from  metaphysical  principles,  that  is,  from  principles 
derived  from  reason,  had  recognised  the  necessity  and 
universal  significance  of  Weber's  law  for  every  inter- 
action of  spatially  separated  bodies,  would  have  in- 
ferred the  existence  of  Faraday's  magnetic  induction, 
a  priori ;  he  would  therefore  regard  the  heating  of 
conducting  bodies  on  their  motion  only  as  an  empirical 
confirmation  of  his  d priori  deductions,  and  thus  would 
have  inferred  the  real  existence  of  such  an  electro- 
magnet, even  if  his  mortal  eye  had  never  seen  it,  and 
his  mortal  body  had  never  touched  it. 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  my  prepared 
experiments  did  not  succeed  in  the  manner  expected 
by  me.  For  exam[>le,  the  two  wooden  rings  were  not 
linked  together,  but  instead,  were  transferred  within 
five  minutes  from  the  sealed  catgut  to  the  leg  of  the 
round  birchen  table.  Since  the  seal  was  not  loosened, 
and  the  top  of  the  table  was  not  at  any  time  removed — 
it  is  still  tightly  fastened — it  follows,  from  the  stand- 
point of  our  present  conception  of  space,  that  each  of 
the  two  wooden  rings  penetrated,  first  the  catgut,  and 
then  the  birch  wood  of  the  leg  of  the  table.  If  how- 
ever, I  ask  whether,  in  the  eyes  of  a  sceptic,  the  experi- 
ment desired  by  me,  or  that  which  actually  succeeded, 
is  most  fitted  to  make  a  great  and  convincing  impres- 
sion, on  closer  consideration  every  one  will  decide  in 
favour  of  the  latter.     For  the  demonstrative  force  of 


FAILURES   AN   ARGUMENT   AGAINST   TRICKERY.      II 5 

the  interlinked  rings  would  rest  merely  on  the  credi- 
bility of  the  botanically-ediicated  microscopist,  who 
must  have  been  my  witness  (as  the  Imperial  Court  con- 
juror, Bellachini,  was  for  Mr.  Slade),  that  the  natural 
conformation  of  the  rino;s  had  never  been  disturbed. 
How  wholly  useless,  however,  such  testimonies  are  at 
present,  when,  according  to  Goethe's  expression,  "  in- 
credulity has  become  like  an  inverted  superstition  for 
the  delusion  of  our  time,"  we  have  seen  in  the  sort  of 
criticism  which  Bellachini's  testimony  has  undergone 
at  the  hands  of  the  Berlin  literati.'^  The  question  will 
moreover  be  asked,  why  just  here  in  Leipzic  the  experi- 
ments with  Mr.  Slade  have  been  crowned  with  such 
splendid  success,  and  yet  the  knot  experiment,  for 
example,  has  not  once  succeeded  in  Russia,  notwith- 
standing so  many  wishes.  If  it  is  considered  how  great 
an  interest  Mr.  Slade  must  have  in  seeing  so  simple 
and  striking  an  experiment  everywhere  and  always 
successful,  every  rightly  judging  and  unprejudiced 
person  must  see  just  in  this  very  circumstance  the  most 
striking  proof  that  Mr.  Slade  is  no  trickster  who  by 
clever  manipulations  makes  these  knots  himself.  For 
such  an  one  would  evidently  be  at  the  trouble  so  to 
increase  his  expertness,  by  frequent  repetition  of  the 
experiment,  as  to  be  able  to  rely  with  certainty  on  his 
art  to  deceive  other  "  men  of  science."      That,  never- 

*  Mere  contemptuous  abuse — Professor  Zollaer  gives  the  articles  at 
length  in  an  earlier  part  of  his  volume. — Tr. 


1  I  6  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

theless,  this  obvious  consideration  has  not  suggested 
itself,  the  above-mentioned  failure  being  regarded,  on 
the  contrary,  as  just  the  proof  that  ]\lr.  Slade  has  only 
deceived  uh  at  Leipsic,  "svhich  he  could  not  do  with  the 
higher  intelligence  of  the  Russian  learned,  is  shown  by 
the  following  words  of  a  scientific  friend  from  Russia, 
to  whom  I  had  sent  my  "  Scientific  Treatises." 

*'  February  22,  1878. 


"  Perhaps  the  following  fact  may  open  your  eyes. 
Two  days  ago,  in  consequence  of  your  letter  and  in 
dependence  on  it,  two  scientific  friends  visited  Mr. 
Slade,  and  requested  him  to  undertake  in  their  presence 
the  striking  operation  of  the  four  knots.  Mr.  Slade's 
answer  was,  '  This  operation  has  only  succeeded  twice 
(in  Leipsic  ■?)  ;  at  present  my  medium  is  not  strong 
enough  for  it'  After  this  can  you  look  upon  that 
operation  as  an  actual  proof  of  the  existence  of  the 
fourth  dimension  ?  " 

It  has  further  been  asked,  why  the  communications 
which  are  written  for  IVIr.  Slade  on  his  slates,  as  is 
supposed  by  invisible  spirits,  are  for  the  most  part  so 
commonplace,  and  so  completely  within  the  compass 
of  human  knowledge  ;  high  spirits  must  yet  necessarily 
write  with  more  genius,  and  also  spell  properl}'.  A 
private  teacher  of  philosophy  at  Berlin  having  made 
this  objection  to  me  personally,  on  his  visit  to  Leipsic, 
I  observed  to  him  that  any  communication  transcend- 


A  NAIVE  MISCONCEPTION.  I  I  7 

ing  the  present  horizon  of  our  understanding  must 
necessarily  appear  to  us  absurd  and  incomprehensible, 
and  r  quoted  to  him  the  following  words  of  Lichten- 
bero; : — *  "  If  an  ang-el  were  to  discourse  to  us  of  his 
philosopliy,  I  believe  that  many  propositions  would 
sound  to  us  like  *2  and  2  make  13.'"  Far  from 
understanding  me,  that  young  philosopher  asked  me 
quite  seriously,  and  with  an  expression  of  the  highest 
curiosity,  whether  such  propositions,  then,  ever  ap- 
peared on  Mr.  Slade's  slates  to  attest  their  angelic 
origin.  Completely  unprepared  for  such  a  naive  ques- 
tion, I  was  silent,  and  looked  with  some  astonishment  at 
my  young  philosopher,  who  had  even  already  published 
a  book  on  the  new  theory  of  space.  Without  replying, 
I  thought,  "  Only  wait ;  soon  thou  also  wilt  be  at 
rest "  ("  Warte  nui\  halcle  ruhest  audi  du  "),  as  regular 
professor  of  philosophy  in  the  bosom  of  some  famous 
German  university,  and  then  will  it  be  with  thy 
students  just  as  with  us  "  if  an  angel  discoursed  to  us 
of  his  philosophy ; "  for  Lichtenberg  says,  "  We  live 
in  a  world  where  one  fool  makes  many  fools,  but  one 
wise  man  only  a  few  wise  men."  t 

The  fact  that,  just  here  in  Leipsic,  experiments 
devised  from  the  standpoint  of  a  definite  theory  have 
been  so  surprisingly  successful  in  the  presence  of  Mr. 
Slade,  I  regard  as  one  of  the  most  striking  proofs  of  the 

*  Miscellaneous  Wi-itings,  vol.  i.  p.  105. 
+  Thoughts  and  Maxims,  p.  46. 


Il8  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

gro;it  intelligence  of  the  invisible  beings  suiToinuling 
him.  For  if,  without  appearing  presumptuous,  I  may 
include  myself  in  that  class  of  intelligent  beings  in  which 
indeed  all  my  fellow-men  also  number  themselves,  by 
the  name  of  their  species  "homo  sapieiis,"  yet  would  I 
make  more  precise  communications  and  explanations 
concerning  my  physical  observations  only  to  such  men 
as  I  hold  to  be  sufficiently  trained.  In  a  society  of 
social  democrats,  or  in  one  of  German  or  English 
scientists,  where  Mr.  Tyndall  or  Sir  W.  Thomson  finds 
such  a  ready  sale  for  their  wares* — yes,  even  in  the 
Berlin  Academy,  I  would  refrain  from  speaking  or 
experimenting  on  my  theory  of  space.  Were  I,  for 
example,  myself  one  of  those  invisible  spirits  who 
hover  round  INIr.  Slado,  and  were  my  medium  invited 
to  a  "scientific"  examination  by  the  Berlin  academi- 
cians, it  would  be  easy  for  me  to  write  on  the  slate 
the  following  proposition — for  instance,  **  We  are  the 
play  of  our  brain-molecules,"  or,  "  The  first  life  on 
the  earth  took  its  rise  in  germs  enclosed  in  the  cool 
folds  of  a  meteoric  stone." 

These  pro^iositions  would  evidently  have  been 
greeted  wdth  joy  by  Mr.  E.  du  Bois-Eaymond  and  Herr 
Ilelmholtz  as  striking  proofs  of  the  high  intelligence 
of  those  invisible  beings,  and  would  certainly  have 


*  To  make  this  allusion  intelligible,  it  slioiild  be  mentioned  that  much 
of  these  volumes  is  devoted  to  criticism  of  the  atomic  and  other  specula- 
tive iiypothcscs  of  these  scieutilic  gentlemen. — Tr. 


MOEAL   RESPONSIBILITY   OF   MEDIUMS.  I  1 9 

brought  much  honour  and  glory  to  my  medium.  As 
an  invisible  spirit,  I  might  perhaj)S  have  perpetrated 
in  good-humour  such  a  jest  with  the  Berlin  academi- 
cians, just  as  Sir  W.  Thomson  did  with  his  "  unscien- 
tific people  "  at  the  Edinburgh  meeting  of  scientists 
seven  years  ago.*  Since,  however,  in  the  higher 
w^orld  of  spirits  truth  is  held  as  something  sacred, 
with  which  only  lower  spirits  permit  themselves  to 
jest,  so  by  such  purport  of  my  slate- writing  should 
I  have  made  myself  guilty  of  an  injury  to  the  moral 
law,  which,  according  to  the  laws  of  divine  and  eternal 
justice,  would  bring  its  own  punishment.  May  not 
possibly  similar  considerations  have  prevailed  to 
hinder  Slade's  invisible  beings  from  displaying  at 
another  place  their  treasures,  which  have  been  shown 
to  us  partly  here  in  Leipzic  in  such  wonderful  abun- 
dance "? 

Lastly,  a  circumstance  may  be  briefly  noticed  which 
relates  not  so  much  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  quali- 
ties of  the  invisible  spirits  as  to  those  of  the  visible 
mediums,  whom  those  spirits  need  for  their  manifesta- 


*  "When  he  made  the  suggestion  that  the  first  life  on  this  earth  origin- 
ated in  germs  enclosed  in  meteorites.  This  idea  was  for  a  long  time 
discussed  quite  seriouslj''  bj",  among  other  scientific  authorities,  E.  du 
Bois  Raymond,  Helmholtz  (who  claimed  priority  of  it  for  himself  ,  and 
by  Zollner.  But  in  "  Nature  "  of  4th  July  1874  appeared  the  following, 
in  a  criticism  of  Zollner's  book,  ^' On  the  Nature  of  Comets:" — "The 
celebrated  moss-gi'own  fragments  from  the  ruins  of  another  Avorld  was 
only  a  jest,  taken  in  earnest  even  by  many  of  our  own  countrymen,  so 
we  can  scarcely  reproach  Professor  Zollner  for  falling  into  the  same  mis- 
take."—Tr. 


I20  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

tions.  It  liiOs  been  alleged  as  a  characteristic  of  all 
such  mecliums,  that  notwithstanding  the  most  wonder- 
ful occurrences  in  their  proximity,  they  have  yet  the 
inclination  to  deceive,  that  is,  when  opportunity  oflfers, 
to  produce  the  desired  effect  by  such  operations  as 
they  consciously  endeavour  to  hide  from  observation. 
Having  regard  to  the  great  danger  of  such  attempts 
to  the  medium,  and  to  the  entire  disproportion  be- 
tween the  effects  which  can  be  so  produced  by  an 
inexperienced  trickster  and  those  resulting  from 
genuine  mediumship,  tlie  question  arises  whether, 
■when  this  is  the  case  with  a  medium  who  has  been 
proved  with  certainty  to  be  really  such,  the  same 
consideration  does  not  apply  as  with  persons  suffering 
under  so-called  kleptomania?  It  is  asserted  that  a 
well-known  and  highly-gifted  lady  in  distinguished 
circles  of  Berlin  society  suffers  from  this  disease.  For 
example,  after  making  large  purchases  at  a  jeweller's 
sliop,  she  will  secretly  abstract  an  ornament,  which, 
'vhen  she  has  got  home,  she  will  return  by  her  servants 
to  the  proprietor.  Sometimes  a  similar  perversion  of 
the  moral  instinct  appears  with  women  in  the  state  of 
pregnancy.  In  all  these  cases  we  do  not  hold  the 
persons  in  question  morally  accountable  for  these  pro- 
ceedings, since  the  end  attained  thereby  is  out  of  all 
proportion,  considering  the  innocent  and  suitable 
means  at  hand.  Although  I  never,  during  my  thirty 
sittings  and  other  intercourse  with  Mr.  Slade,  per- 


PHENOMENA   INCONSISTENT   WITH   TRICKERY.      12  1 

ceived  anything  of  sucTi  perverse  methods,  yet  I  ask 
every  unprejudiced  person  whether,  if  this  has  been 
the  case  elsewhere,  the  above  morally  and  legally 
admissible  judgment  in  relation  to  kleptomaniacs  is 
not  here  also  exculpatory,  considering  the  certainly 
anomalous  physiological  constitution  of  such  mediums. 
Eeserving  till  later  on  in  these  treatises  the  detailed 
communication  of  further  and  not  less  remarkable 
phenomena  which  happened  in  Blade's  presence,  I  will 
here  add  an  observation  to  the  accurate  description 
(supra,  p.  34)  of  the  physical  manifestation  which 
occurred  on  the  occasion  of  Blade's  first  visit,  on  the 
1 6th  November  1877,  in  my  house  and  in  the  presence 
of  my  friends  and  colleagues,  Wilhelm  "Weber  and 
Scheibner."'^  In  all  phenomena  in  the  presence  of 
spiritualistic  mediums  hitherto  observed  and  published, 
it  is  almost  exclusively  the  modus  operandi  that 
has  led  to  controversies  concerning  the  explicability 
of  the  phenomena  from  the  standpoint  of  our  concep- 
tion of  nature  heretofore.  An  argument  has  been 
founded  on  the  fact  that  things  occur  also  in  the 
presence  of  conjurers,  in  which  the  modus  operandi 
of  the  performer  is  concealed  from  us,  and  thus  the 
causal  connection  between  the  muscular  movements  of 
the  artist  and  the  effect  produced  by  him  is  so  inter- 
rupted (apparently),  that  for  the  spectator  there  arises 

*  The  sudden  rending  of  the  wooden  frame  of  a  bed-screen  at  least 
five  feet  from  Slade, 


122  TRANSCENDENTAL   rnVSICS. 

tlie  impression  of  the  inexplical)le,  and  therefore  of 
the  miraculous.  Tliis  argument,  liowever,  has  for  its 
premiss  tlic  understood  and  thus  unexpressed  presup- 
position that  the  muscular  force  requisite  for  the  pro- 
duction of  these  tricks  of  the  conjurer  remains  within 
those  limits  which  according  to  experience  are  pre- 
scribed to  human  beings  by  the  organisation  of  their 
bodies. 

If,  for  example,  one  man  alone  were  to  perform 
a  trick  requiring  the  strength  of  two  horses,  in 
relation  to  such  a  result  the  above  argument  would 
be  no  longer  admissible,  since  then  there  would  be  no 
conceivable  ?Hoc/«5  operandi  Mq  to  produce  the  effect. 

In  the  case  of  my  bed-screen — the  manifestation 
mentioned  at  p.  34 — I  am  fortunately  able  to  establish 
such  an  instance. 

The  material  of  the  frame  was  alder  wood  ;  the 
screen  was  new,  and  had  been  bought  by  me  about  a 
year  before  at  the  furniture  shop  already  mentioned 
(p.  36).  The  cross-cut  of  the  two  pieces  of  wood  which 
were  longitudinally*  and  simultaneously  rent,  above 
and    below,  amounted   to   3"  142    cubic   centimetres. 

*  Tluit  tlic  pull  [z>ig)  upon  the  screen  has  in  fact  acted  loiiyitmlinally 
only  is  still  oviilenceil  quite  inilependcntly  of  the  above-mentioned 
direction  of  the  lihrcs  at  the  jdaces  of  division  (p.  34).  For  between  the 
two  strong  beams  for  connecting  the  movable  parts  of  the  frame  are  two 
thin,  parallel  pieces  of  wood  for  securing  the  green,  woollen  stuff  with 
which  the  screen  is  overlaid.  These  thin  jiieces  arc  fastened  without  glue 
to  the  vertical  supports  loosely  in  holes  about  25  millimetres  deep ;  if,  there- 
fore, instead  of  a  longitudinal  pull,  a  rupture  [briich)  had  taken  place, 
these  two  pegs  must  have  been  broken  away,  which  was  not  the  case. 


THE   LIMITS   OF   PHYSICAL   HUMAN   STRENGTH.     1 23 

According  to  the  experiments  of  Ettelwein/''  tlie 
amount  of  pull  requisite  for  the  longitudinal  rending 
of  such  apiece  of  alder  wood  is  4957  kilogrammes,  or 
about  99  cwts ;  since,  therefore,  two  such  rods  have 
been  simultaneously  rent,  for  the  production  of  this 
effect  a  force  of  pull  (Zugkmft)  amounting  to  198  cwts. 
must  have  been  used. 

In  order,  now,  to  compare  the  force  here  given  with 
that  exercised  by  men,  in  what  follows  I  quote  literally 
the  appended  information  from  Gehler's  Dictionary 
of  Physics,  vol.  ii.  p.  976  : — 

"  The  muscles  of  the  thigh  hold  upright  the  body, 
whose  weight  can  be  put  at  150  lbs. ;  and  since  there 
are  muscles  which  bear  300  lbs.  in  addition,  the  weiglit 
of  pressure  already  amounts  in  itself  to  450  lbs.  To 
cite,  however,  some  examples  only  of  extraordinary 
strength,  I  have  myself  known  a  man  who  without 
preparation  and  on  an  accidental  occasion  carried  six 
Ehenish  cubic  feet  (Brunswick  bushels)  of  wheat,  and 
upon  this  a  large,  strong  man,  up  a  flight  of  about 
eight  steps.  This  weight  of  itself  can  be  estimated 
at  450  lbs.  and,  with  the  added  weight  of  the  bearer, 
in  the  whole  at  600  lbs.  restino-  on  the  feet  and  leo-s  of 
that  man. 

"  There  are,  moreover,  many  instances  of  a  vastly 

*  Handbook  of  Statics  of  Solid  Bodies,  with  pai-ticular  regard  to  their 
application  to  Architecture,  vol.  iii.,  Berlin,  1808.  A  very  complete 
review  of  earlier  experiments  is  given  in  the  "Edinburgh  Enci/cIoj:)(edia." 
Compare  Gehler's  Dictionary  of  Physics,  vol.  ii.  p.  138. 


124  TRANSCENDENTAL   mYSICS. 

greater  exertion  of  strength  produced  by  the  extensor 
muscle  of  the  leg,  like  that  mentioned  by  Desaguliers, 
of  a  man  who  thus  tore  a  rope  which  sustained  a 
weight  of  1800  lbs.  =  18  cwts.  ;  he  himself  and  some 
others  having  raised  1900  lbs.  weight  by  means  of  a 
strap  hanging  down  over  the  hips,  by  bringing  the 
somewhat  bent  leg  into  a  straifjht  direction. 

"I  have  myself  seen  a  strong  man  raise  2000  lbs., 
by  placing  himself  in  a  bent  posture  under  a  board, 
whereon  this  weight  rested,  bringing  its  point  of 
gravity  somewhere  near  the  hips,  supporting  the  arms 
on  the  knees,  and  then  straightening  the  bent  legs. 
Tiie  muscles  here  applied  are,  among  all  in  the  human 
body,  able  to  overcome  the  greatest  weights,  and  so 
therefore  a  man  raises  much  heavier  burdens  in  the 
way  described  than  on  the  shoulders  or  with  the 
upper  part  of  the  body,  if  at  the  same  time  the  back- 
bone has  to  be  straightened. 

"  I  myself  knew  a  man  who  raised  a  cwt.  from  the 
chair  on  to  the  table  on  the  little  finger  of  the  right 
hand  with  outstretched  arm  ;  and  even  this  instance 
is  by  no  means  the  strongest,  judging  from  credible 
narratives ;  so  I  saw  the  above-mentioned  Hercules, 
who  raised  the  2000  lbs.,  grasp  with  his  right  hand  a 
perpendicular  rod  of  iron,  sufficiently  secured,  and 
with  outstretched  arm  keep  his  whole  body  sustained 
in  a  horizontal  position  for  about  five  seconds  without 
other  support." 


THE   STRENGTH   OF    TWO   HORSES.  1 2$ 

Comparing  the  above  with  the  force  of  198  cwts. 
requisite  for  the  rending  of  my  bed-screen,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  strength  of  the  "  Hercules  "  referred  to 
would  have  to  be  multiplied  by  nearly  10 — applied  in 
a  favourable  position — to  produce  the  physical  mani- 
festation which  took  place  in  Slade's  presence  without 
contact.  Since  '*  the  force  in  the  movement  of  weights 
by  carrying  on  the  flat  "  is  with  a  horse  on  the  average 
about  five  times  greater  than  that  of  a  man,^'*  so  for 
the  production  of  the  mechanical  effect  in  question  in 
Slade's  presence,  about  two  horses  would  have  been 
necessary.  Even  if  Slade  should  be  assumed  to  be 
a  giant,  and  the  faculty  ascribed  to  him  of  moving 
so  swiftly  in  space  that  my  friends  Wilhelm  Weber, 
Scheibner,  and  I  myself,  were  prevented  by  this 
rapidity  from  perceiving  how  he  tore  asunder  the 
screen  by  his  own  action,  yet  will  rational  sceptics  be 
disposed  to  renounce  such  an  "  explanation  "  after  the 
statements  just  given. 

But  in  case  I  should  be  reproached  with  having  in  the 
above  supposition  caricatured  the  so-called  "  rational " 
attempt  at  explanation,  I  may  observe  that  one  of  my 
esteemed  colleagues  who,  on  the  day  after  the  sitting 
in  question,  was  himself  present  with  two  other  of  our 

*  Gehler's  Dictionary  of  Physics,  vol.  v.  p.  1004.    Literally  "There  is, 
therefore,  in  the  movement  by  carrying  of  weights  on  the  flat,  a  force, 
Of  a  man=  I  according  to  Coulomb. 
Of  a  horse  =  4. 8  according  to  Brunacci. 
Of  a  horse  :=  6.  i  according  to  Wessermaun." 


126  TKAXSCENnKNTAL    niYSICS. 

colleagues  at  a  sitting  with  Mr.  Slade,  sought  quite 
seriously  to  appease  his  scientific  conscience  by  the 
supposition  that  Slaile  carried  dynamite  al)Out  witli 
him  for  the  purpose  of  such  strong  niccluinical  mani- 
festations, concealing  it  in  some  clever  fashion  in  tlio 
furniture,  and  then  with  equal  adroitness  exploding 
it  by  a  match.  This  explanation  reminded  me  of  one 
by  wliich  a  peasant  in  a  remote  part  of  Lower 
Pomerania  attempted  to  account  for  the  motion  of  a 
locomotive.  To  mitiGrate  in  some  deforce  the  terror 
which  the  first  sight  of  a  self-moving  locomotive  must 
naturally  excite  in  rude  and  ignorant  men,  the  priest 
of  the  village  in  question  tried  to  explain  to  his 
parishioners  the  mechanism  and  effect  of  a  steam- 
engine.  When  now  the  pastor  had  conducted  his 
peasants,  enlightened  by  this  "popular  lecture,"*  to 
the  railroad  just  as  the  first  train  rushed  by,  they  all 
shook  their  heads  incredulously,  and  answered  the 
priest,  "No,  no,  parson,  there  are  horses  hidden  inside!" 
That,  in  fact,  within  all  bodies  electrical  forces  are 
potentially  latent,  which,  suddenly  released,  could 
exceed  the  strongest  effects  of  a  charge  of  dynamite, 
I  have  already  remarked  in  the  first  volume,  as  follows  : 
"  It  is  proved  that  the  electrical  energy  present  in  the 
mass  of  one  milligram  t  of  water  (or  any  other  body) 
would  be  able,  if  it  could  be  suddenly  set  free,  to 

*  For  reasons  given  in  other  parts  of  his  treatises,  Professor  ZuUner 
holds  popular  cxjiositions  of  scientific  subjects  in  small  esteem. — Tr. 
t  =0.01543  grains. 


CATALYTIC  FORCES.  I  If 

produce  the  amount  of  motion  which  the  explosion  of 
a  charge  of  167  kilogrammes"'  of  powder  in  the 
largest  of  cannons  now  existing  can  impart  to  a  shot  of 
520  kilogrammes." 

In  the  presence  of  spiritualistic  mediums  there  must 
therefore   have    been    operative    so-called   catalytic  f 

*  I  kilogram  =^  lbs.  2.2046213. 

t  That  the  ordinary  chemical  and  physical  processes  require  for  their 
explanation  the  supposition  of  such  catalytic  forces  was  first  recognised 
by  Berzelius,  -with  -whom,  as  is  well  known,  the  designation  of  these 
forces  originated. 

It  is  certainly  a  proof  of  the  great  acuteness  of  Wilhelm  Weber,  and  of 
the  universal  significance  of  his  laiv,  that  already,  thirty-two  years  ago, 
immediately  following  the  discussion  of  the  analytical  expression  of  his 
law  (compare  my  Principles  of  an  Electro-Dynamic  Theory  of  Matter, 
vol.  i.),  he  expressed  himself  concerning  the  existence  of  catalytic  forces  in 
nature  as  follows  : — 

"  Thus  this  force  depends  on  the  quantity  of  the  masses,  on  their 
distance,  on  their  relative  velocity,  and  further  on  that  relative  accelera- 
tion, which  comes  to  them  partly  in  consequence  of  the  persistence  of 
the  motion  already  present  in  them,  partly  in  consequence  of  the  forces 
acting  upon  them  from  other  bodies." 

"It  seems  to  foUow  from  thence,  that  direct  interaction  between  two 
electrical  masses  depends  not  exclusively  upon  these  masses  themselves 
and  their  mutual  relations,  but  also  in  the  presence  of  third  bodies. 
Now  it  is  known  that  Berzelius  has  already  conjectured  such  a  depend- 
ence of  direct  interaction  of  two  bodies  in  the  presence  of  a  third,  and 
has  designated  the  force  thence  resulting  by  the  name  of  catalytic. 
Adopting  this  name,  it  can  therefore  be  said  that  even  electrical  pheno- 
mena proceed  in  part  from  catalytic  forces. 

' '  This  proof  of  catalytic  forces  for  electricity  is  not,  however,  strictly 
speaking,  a  consequence  of  the  discovered  principles  of  electricity.  It 
would  only  then  be  so,  if  with  these  principles  was  necessarily  connected 
the  idea  that  only  the  forces  by  which  electrical  masses  act  directly  on  each 
other  from  a  distance  Avere  thereby  determined.  It  is,  however,  conceivable 
that  among  the  forces  comprehended  under  the  discovered  principles  are 
some  exercised  mediately  by  electrical  masses  on  one  another,  which  must 
therefore  depend,  in  the  first  instance,  on  the  interposing  medium,' and 
furthermore  on  all  bodies  acting  on  this  medium.  Such  mediately  exercised 
forces,  if  the  interposing  medium  is  withdrawn  from  our  view,  maj^  easily 
passfor  catalytic  forces,  although  in  fact  not  so.   The  conception  of  catalytic 


128  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

forces,  hitherto  concealed  from  us,  which  were  able  to 
release  and  convert  into  active  force  a  small  part  of 
the  potential  energy  laid  up  in  all  bodies.  That  fifty 
years  ago  a  physicist  could  venture  with  impunity 
publicly  to  declare  the  possible  existence  of  "  forces, 
up  to  the  present  unknown  to  us,"  without  on  that 
account  having  dirt  thrown  upon  him  by  anonymous 
writers  in  (so-called)  "  respectable  "  journals,  is  proved 
by  the  following  words  of  the  then  professor  of  physics 
in  the  University  of  Heidelberg  in  the  year  1829  :* 
"Not  a  few,  and  among  them,  moreover,  advan- 
tageously known  scholars,  have  supposed  different 
vnknoirn  forces  in  nature,  and  especially  in  man. 
That  there  may  be  such,  from  whose  action  many  as 
yet  mysterious  phenomena  of  vegetable  and  animal 
vital  processes  could  be  explicable,  certainly  cannot 
be  denied  generally  and  a  priori;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  greatest  circumspec- 
tion and  a  scepticism  much  to  be  recommended  to  a 
physicist  should  be  exercised  in  this  supposition." 

How  far  the  paternal   counsel  here  given  to  un- 
critical   physicists   is    justifiable   and    decent   when 


forces  must  at  least  be  essentially  modified  in  speaking  of  them  in  such 
cases.  That  is  to  say,  niulcr  catalytic  force  must  then  be  understood 
Buch  a  nudiately  exercised  force  as  can  be  dehned  according  to  a  general 
rule  through  a  certain  knowledge  of  the  bodies  to  whose  inlluence  the 
inteqiDsing  uiedium  is  subjected,  although  without  knowledge  of  this 
medium  itself.  The  discovered  fundamental  law  of  electricity  gives  a 
general  rule  for  the  determination  of  c;italytic  forces  in  this  sense." 
•  Muncke  iu  Gehler's  Dictionanj  of  Physics,  vol.  v.  ji.  1007. 


I 


GALILEO  ON  PERVERSENESS  OF  LEARNED  MEN.   1 29 

applied  to  men  of  the  scientific  eminence  of  Willielm 
Weber  or  Feclmer,  particularly  from  the  mouths  of 
literati  a.nd  pretended  {so-genannten)  "men  of  science," 
posterity  may  judge.  In  the  meanwhile  we  console 
ourselves  with  words  addressed  by  Galileo  to 
Kepler : — 

"  What  will'st  thou  say  of  the  first  teachers  at  the 
Gymnasium  at  Padua,  who,  when  I  ofi'ered  it  to  them, 
w^ould  look  neither  at  the  planets  nor  the  moon 
through  the  telescope  ?  Tliis  sort  of  men  look  on 
philosophy  as  a  book  like  the  JEneid  or  Odyssy,  and 
believe  that  truth  is  to  be  sought  not  in  the  world  or 
nature,  but  only  in  'comparison  of  texts.'  How 
would'st  thou  have  laughed,  when  at  Pisa  the  first 
teacher  of  the  Gymnasium  there  endeavoured,  in  the 
presence  of  the  Grand  Duke,  to  tear  away  the  new 
planets  from  heaven  with  logical  arguments,  like 
magical  exorcisms  !  " 

Kepler,  however,  hereupon  answered  Galileo  : — 
"  Courage  !  Galileo,  and  advance.     If  I  see  rightly, 
few  of  Europe's  eminent  mathematicians  will  fall  away 
from  us;  so  great  is  the  power  of  truths 


(     >30     ) 


Cl)optcr   (Eigljtij. 

THE  PHENOMENA  SriTABI.E  FOR  SCIENTIFIC  REaEARCH— THEIR  RETRODCCTION  AT 
DIFKEKEST  TIMES  AN!)  PLACES— Dll.  FRIESE's  AND  PHOEKSSOR  WAGNERS 
EXPERIMENTS   IN   CONFIRMATION   OF  THE   ACTUOR'S. 

Before  passing  ou  to  the  description  of  further  experi- 
ments and  observations  wliicli  I  conducted  with  ^fr. 
Slade,  I  may  mention  that  the  essential  facts  (and  of 
these  just  the  most  wonderful  and  incrediljle)  have 
already  been  repeated,  not  in  presence  of  Slade,  but 
among  private  individuals  with  medial  gifts,  under  the 
most  stringent  conditions.  This  circumstance  disposes 
first  of  the  argument  that  Mr.  Slade  is  a  swindler  and 
impostor  merely  on  the  ground  that  as  a  "professional " 
medium  he  makes  a  "business"  of  his  powers  like  any 
other  conjurer ;  and  secondly,  it  divests  spiritistic 
phenomena  of  the  exceptional  character  which  might 
seem  to  unfit  them  for  becoming  objects  of  scientific 
research.  For  the  characteristic  of  natural  phenomena 
is  that  their  existence  can  be  confirmed  at  difi'orent 
places  and  times.  Thus  is  proof  afforded  that  there 
are  general  conditions  (no  matter  whether  known  or 
unknown  to  us,  or  whether  we  can  provide  them  or  not 

•  Wiss.  Ahh.  vol.  iii.  (Tra)i4ccndciitalc  Phi/si/^),  y.  215. 


EXPERIMENTS   WITH   PEIVATE  MEDIUIVIS.  131 

at  pleasure)  upon  which  these  phenomena  depend.  It 
is  in  the  discovery  and  establishment  of  these  condi- 
tions under  which  natural  phenomena  occur,  that  the 
task  of  the  scientific  observer  and  experimenter  con- 
sists. 

.  The  method  applied  by  me  for  demonstrating  the 
appearance  and  disappearance  of  human  limbs  by  means 
of  sooted  paper  has  proved  particularly  successful. 
Paper  so  treated  is  like  a  photographic  camera  ohscura 
which  can  be  placed  unobserved  and  well  guarded  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  medium,  so  that  deception 
becomes  a  physical  impossibility.  In  this  way  Dr. 
Eobert  Friese,  of  Breslau,  sitting  with  a  family  of  that 
place,  a  lady  with  mediumistic  powers  being  present, 
obtained  the  impression  of  a  hand  upon  sooted  paper 
fixed  to  a  slate,  which  was  placed  on  a  stove  and 
covered  with  a  sheet  of  paper  to  protect  it  from  dust. 
The  impression  was  obtained  while  the  medium  sat  on 
a  sofa  between  Dr.  Friese  and  a  friend  of  his,  and  was 
held  by  them  both.  The  medium  in  a  state  of  trance 
distinctly  saw  the  figure  which  mounted  on  the  stove 
and  made  the  impression  of  the  hand,  so  that  the  whole 
operation  was  described  by  her  during  the  process,  Dr. 
Friese  and  his  friend  perceiving  nothing.  The  slate 
was  taken  down  from  the  stove  directly  the  medium 
awoke,  and  on  it  was  found  the  impression  of  the  hand 
just  as  she  had  described  it. 

But  the  most  brilliant  repetition  of  one  of  my  ex- 


132  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

periments  with  sooted  slates  was  acliieved  in  the 
autumn  of  last  year  ^''  with  a  private  medium  in  St. 
Petersburg.  It  has  been  published  by  Dr.  Nicolaus 
Wagner,  Professor  of  Zoology,  and  honorary  member 
of  the  University  there,  in  the  June  number  of 
Psf/chiscJie  Stialic)),  with  a  photo-lithographic  repre- 
sentation of  the  impression  obtained.  I  reproduce 
this  account  here  literally,  since  it  also  illustrates  the 
ecclesiastical  and  religious  prejudices  which  now,  as  in 
the  age  of  Galileo,  attempt  to  obstruct  the  work  of 
the  scientific  invest iiiator. 

REPETITION  OF  ONE  OF  PROFESSOR  ZOLLNER'S^EXPERI- 
MENTS  WITH  PRIVATE  MEDIUMS. 

By  Nicolaus  Wogtift;  Professor  of  Zoology,  and  Honorary  Member  0/ the 
I  Imperial  University  at  S(.  Petersburg. 

"The  reaction  against  the  spiritual  movement  runs 
its  course  with  the  same  violence  as  every  fanatical 
opposition.  If  "  blind  faith  "  is  the  motive  power  of 
religious  fanaticism,  so  also  is  the  direction  of  the  con- 
trary movement  determined  by  a  force  which  is  quite 
as  illogical — "  blind  scepticism."  In  the  one  and  the 
other  the  cause  is  the  same — feeling,  passionately 
excited,  and  resisting  every  cool,  matter-of-fact  (objec- 
tive) consideration.  There  is  no  better  proof  of  this 
than  the  attacks  of  the  savans  upon  those  of  their 
colleagues  who  had  the  inexcusable  temerity  to  satisfy 

♦  1S78.— Tr. 


PROFESSOR  WAGNER  ON   "BLIND  SCEPTICISM.       I  33 

themselves  of  the  reality  of  mediumistic  phenomena, 
and  to  publish  their  experiences  to  the  world.  Until 
their  fall  into  Spiritualism  the  work  and  opinions  of 
these  men  were  recognised  as  entirely  logical,  accurate, 
and  satisfying  the  conditions  of  scientific  inquiry.  But 
scarcely  have  these  same  scientists  carried  their  re- 
searches into  the  region  of  mediumistic  phenomena, 
than  they  are  forthwith  encountered  by  the  feeling  of 
antipathy  ;  and  that  even  before  the  phenomena  them- 
selves have  been  adjudicated  upon  by  sound  reason.* 

*  This  reminds  us  of  Mr.  Crookes  :  "  It  is  edifying  to  compare  some 
of  the  present  criticisms  with  those  that  were  written  twelve  months  ago. 
When  I  first  stated  in  this  journal  (Quarterly  Journal  of  Science)  that  I 
was  about  to  investigate  the  phenomena  of  so-called  Spiritualism,  the 
announcement  called  forth  universal  expressions  of  approval.  One  said 
that  my  'statements  deserved  respectful  consideration ; '  another  expressed 
'profound  satisfaction  that  the  subject  was  about  to  be  investigated  by 
a  man  so  thoroughly  qualified  as,'  &c.  ;  a  thii-d  was  'gratified  to  learn 
that  the  matter  is  now  receiving  the  attention  of  cool  and  clear-headed 
men  of  recognised  position  in  science  ; '  a  fourth  asserted  that  '  no  one 
could  doubt  Mr.  Crookes'  ability  to  conduct  the  investigation  with  rigid 
philosophical  impartiality  ; '  and  a  fifth  was  good  enough  to  tell  its  readers 
that  '  if  men  like  Mr.  Crookes  grapple  with  the  subject,  taking  nothing 
for  granted  until  it  is  proved,  we  shall  soon  know  how  much  to  believe. ' 

"  These  remarks,  however,  were  written  too  hastily.  It  was  taken  for 
granted  by  the  writers  that  the  results  of  my  experiments  would  be  in 
accordance  with  their  preconceptions.  What  they  really  desired  was  not 
the  truth,  but  an  additional  witness  in  favour  of  their  own  foregone  con- 
clusion. When  they  found  that  the  facts  which  that  investigation  estab- 
lished could  not  be  made  to  fit  those  opinions,  why, — '  so  much  the  worse 
for  the  facts,' — they  try  to  creep  out  of  their  own  confident  recommenda- 
tions by  declaring  that  '  ]Mr.  Home  is  a  clever  conjurer,  who  has  duped 
us  alL'  'Mr.  Crookes  might,  with  eqiial  propriety,  examine  the  per- 
formances of  an  Indian  juggler.'  '  Mr.  Crookes  must  get  better  witnesses 
before  he  can  be  believed. '  '  The  thing  is  too  absurd  to  be  treated 
seriouslj'.'  'It  is  impossible,  and  therefore  can't  be.'  'The  observers 
have  all  been  biologised  (!),  and  fancy  they  saw  things  occur  which  never 
really  took  place,'"  &c.,  &c. — Crookes's  Researches  in  the  Phenomena  of 
Spiritualism,  p.  22. — Note  by  Translator. 


134  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

Impelled  by  tliis  antipathy,  even  the  strougest  under- 
Btanding  is  blind  ;  it  seeks  support  from  and  attaches 
itself  to  such  strangely  childish  arguments  and  suppo- 
sitions, as  to  any  sound  thinking  and  unprejudiced 
person  are  in  the  liighest  degree  absurd. 

"In  the  relations  of  the  savans  to  my  colleague, 
Professor  Zollner,  "who  lately  experimented  in  the 
mediumistic  field,  we  have  the  most  complete  evidence 
of  the  justice  of  the  above  observation.  Satisfied 
through  the  force  and  reality  of  facts  of  the  entire 
genuine  objectivity  of  the  mediumistic  phenomena,  he 
detailed  his  investigations.  But  as  in  the  case  of  the 
investin-ations  of  Crookes  and  Boutlerow,  so  were 
these  also  forthwith  exposed  to  suspicion,  and  set 
down  to  clever  conjuring  ;  and  the  name  of  the 
cautious  and  accurate  investigator  swelled  the  sad  list 
of  scientists  who  had  been  deceived  by  (so-called) 
charlatans. 

"  Now,  since  the  whole  weight  of  this  charge  rests 
on  the  merely  supposed  fraud  of  the  mediums,  it  will 
not  be  superfluous  if  I  give  to  the  Press  the  results 
of  some  investigations,  analogous  to  those  of  Zollner, 
which  I  have  made  with  non-professional  mediums. 
I  do  not  in  the  least  expect  that  this  narrative,  any 
more  than  hundreds  such,  will  make  the  slightest 
impression  on  the  fanaticism  of  the  sceptic  :  on  the 
other  hand,  I  have  the  strongest  belief  that  it  will 
serve  to  confirm  the  growing  conviction  of  those  who 


INVESTIGATION    IN  A  PEIVATE    FAMILY.  I  3  5 

are  not  disinclined  to  be  convinced  by  tlie  trutb  of 
things. 

"  Since  the  force  of  the  evidence  chiefly  depends  on 
the  confidence  in  the  mediums,  and  in  the  persons 
composing  the  circle  among  whom  the  seances  took 
place,  I  consider  it  essential  first  of  all  to  discuss  this 
question,  and  to  follow  it  up  with  some  historical 
statements.  Moved  by  my  and  my  colleague 
Boutlerow's  writings  in  certain   Eussian  periodicals, 

the  family  of  the  engineer  and  chemist  E ,  as  also 

some  of  their  intimate  friends  and  relatives,  desired  to 
convince  themselves  of  the  reality  or  otherwise  of  the 
mediumistic  phenomena.  It  must  further  be  remarked 
that  in  these  families  earlier  cases  of  a  mediumistic 
character  had  been  already  observed,  but  had  been 
ascribed  to  difierent  causes,  such  as  accident  or  hallu- 
cination. 

"Three  ladies  took  part  constantly  in  the  sittings — 

the  wife  of  the  chemist,  Sophia  E ;  her  sister,  A. 

M ;  and  her  friend,  A.  L ,  who  had  for  years 

been  united  with  Mrs.  E in  the  most  genuine 

friendship  and  sympathy.  Of  these  ladies  the  two 
first  were  gifted  with  very  remarkable  mediumistic 
aptitudes.  All  three  were  distinguished  b}'-  deep  reli- 
gious feelings,  and  every  deception,  even  for  a  good 
end,  is  abhorred  by  them  as  a  heavy  sin.  The  mani- 
festations occurring  almost  from  the  very  first  were 
regarded  by  them  as  miraculous,  and  this  feeling  was 


136  TUANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

confirmed  as  tlie  phenomena  became  more  and  more 
developed. 

"  Tlio   fourth   Lidy,    avIio   was   likewise   constantly 

j^resent,  was  Miss  Catherine  L ;  one  of  the  greatest 

friends  of  Sophia  E the  wife  of  the  chemist  E . 

At  the  commencement  of  the  seances  she  was  an 
atheist ;  all  her  convictions  leaned  to  materialism.  She 
held  the  principles  of  the  well-known  Russian  publicist, 
Ilerr  Pisaref,  as  irrefragable  dogmas.  The  power  of 
the  manifestations  shook,  and  at  length  overthrew, 
tliis  fanaticism  of  hers. 

'*  This  small  circle  was  formed  with  the  firm  expec- 
tation that  it  would  succeed  in  demonstrating  the 
mediumistic  manifestations  to  be  simply  a  further 
development  of  already-known  physical  phenomena. 
With  this  object  the  tal)le  at  whicli  they  sat  was 
jtlaced  upon  glass  supports,  and  round  the  feet  of  the 
table  was  wound  a  wire,  the  ends  of  which  were 
attached  to  a  galvanometer.  Instead,  however,  of  the 
expected  physical  phenomena,  the  table  at  the  very 
first  sauce  urgently  demanded  the  alphabet,  and  by 
means  of  blows  with  the  foot  of  the  table  the  followins 
sentence  was  spelled  out  : — 

"'I  suffer  because  thou  believest  not.* 

"*  To  whom  does  that  refer  ? '  asked  those  present. 

"  *  To  Catherine  L .' 

"  '  Who,  then,  art  thou  1 '  asked  L . 

"  'I  am  thy  friend,  Olga  N .' 


PHENOMENA  IN  A   PRIVATE   FAMILY.  1 37 

"  This  dearly-loved  friend,  also  an  atheist,  had  died 
about  a  year  before,  and  on  this  account  Catherine 
L was  deeply  astonished  and  moved  by  the  infor- 
mation communicated  throuo;h  the  table.  This  infor- 
mation,  given  in  the  same  'seance,  referred  to  different 
particulars   of  an   event    known   only   to    Catherine 

L ,  and  thoroughly  convinced  her  of  the  existence 

of  the  soul  of  her  beloved  friend,  even  though  in 
another  world. 

"  Henceforth,  the  before-mentioned  physical  experi- 
mentation was  laid  aside,  the  conversations  were  more 
and  more  striking,  and  confirmed  their  faith  in  the 
reality  of  another  world.  This  faith  soon  became  a 
firm  conviction  with   all.     To  show  the  relations  of 

the  circle,  and  especially  of  Catherine  L ,  to  the 

phenomena,  I  here  add  some  extracts  from  her  diary, 
which  was  written  for  her  own  eye  only,  and  com- 
nmnicated  to  me  after  her  death,  which  happened 
somewhat  later. 

"  '  29th  March,  1876,  1.30  a.m.    Scarcely  had  S 

and  I  retired  to  rest,  and  left  off  talking  that  we 
might  sleep,  than  suddenly  there  sounded  a  beating 
on  the  wall  at  the  head  of  my  bed.  I  supposed  at 
first  that  some  one  was  probably  passing  on  the  stairs 
adjoining  my  wall,  but  after  some  minutes  the  knock- 
was  repeated,  and  with  such  force  that  S also 

beS^me  attentive,  and  asked  me  if  I  had  knocked. 
Now  I  guessed  what  it  was. 


13S  TRAXSCENDEMAL   TUYSICS. 

"  'Prol3al>ly  my  Olga  is  now  come  to  me,'  sa'ul  I. 
In  assent  sounded  immediately  three  times,  one  after 
the  other,  a  muiHed  blow,  as  if  a  soft  wall  had  been 
struck  with  a  hammer  wrapped  up  in  something  soft. 

*'  *  Is  it  thou,  Olgchen  ? '  I  asked  the  spirit  aloud. 
Three  regular  knocks  answered. 

**  *Can  I  sleep  quietly  this  night  V  Again  the  like 
three  knocks. 

"  30th  March,  6.  45  p.m. 

**  *  Wliy  did  you  knock  at  my  wall  yesterday* 
Olinkar 

"'Evil  spirits  prevent  you  going  to  the  supper. 
Thou  wouldst  do  it,  and  hast  abandoned  this  inten- 
tion. I  came  yesterday  to  say  to  thee  that  thou,  dear 
one,  shouldst  not  obey  them.  I  will  not  come  for  a 
whole  week.  I  have  much  to  do.  On  Thursday,  after 
the  supper,  I  will  visit  thee.' 

*"  So,  if  I  take  the  supper,  thou  will'st  come  to 
meV 

*'  *  Yes  !  and  I  will  make  thee  a  present.' 

*'  *  What  sort  of  a  present  1 ' 

"  'Thou  canst  show  it  to  every  one.' 

"  '  Thou  will'st  give  it  to  me  on  the  day  of  the  Com- 
munion ? ' 

"  *  Yes,  in  the  church.' 

"  'First  of  AjiriL  I  have  confessed.  After  the  supper 
I  went  and  took  my  place  in  the  church.  Suddenly 
in  my  hand  there  came  a  nosegay  of  white  rose  and 


A  SPIRIT   FEIEND.  1 39 

myrtle,  tied  with  a  lock  of  the  dear  and  well-known 
hair !    That  was  the  promised  present. 

"  *  Come  home  from  church,  we  sat  ourselves  at  the 
table.  Our  heavenly  friend  was  already  among  us. 
Her  first  words  were — 

"  *  I  wish  you  all  happiness.  I  am  happy  for  you. 
My  darling !  art  thou  content  with  my  present  ? ' 

"  *  "What  significations  have  the  rose  and  myrtle  ? ' 

*' '  Pure  love.     Eternity.' 

"  *  I  could  scarcely  restrain  my  tears. 

"•30th  April,  10  o'clock.     S.  E ,  sitting  on  a 

chair,  fell  into  a  trance,  of  which  the  spirit  informed 
us.  Afterwards  a  hand  was  shown  to  us,  one  after 
the  other ;  at  our  wish  it  touched  our  hands,  and  came 
close  to  the  sioht  of  those  of  us  who  had  not  been  able 
to  distinguish  it  clearly  enough.  I  asked  the  spirit 
whether  I  could  kiss  this  hand  1  The  spirit  replied 
that  its  hand  would  be  between  the  table  and  the 
cloth,  and  that  I  might  kiss  it  through  the  cloth. 
Twice  I  kissed  the  dear  hand,  and  convinced  myself 
thereby  thoroughly  of  its  reality  :  it  was  a  living, 
flexible  hand,' 

"  I  have  given  these  extracts  to  show  the  genuine  and 
cordial  relations  of  the  deceased  to  these  observers  of 
the  phenomena  which  took  place  before  their  eyes. 
Again,  I  repeat,  that  she  wrote  her  diary  for  herself 
alone,  and  probably  never  thought  of  the  possibility 
that  extracts  from  it  might  appear  in  the  Press.    The 


I40  TKANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

circle  itself,  in  the  sittings  of  whicli  she  took  part,  was 
exclusively  interested  in  the  phenomena  for  their  own 
sake,  and  was  utterly  and  altogether  unconcerned  with 
the  spiritualistic  propaganda.  All  the  usual  medium- 
istic  phenomena,  such  as  the  self-moving  of  objects, 
lights,  ajipearance  of  hands,  &c.,  took  place  at  these 
seances.  Especially  often  were  objects  brought  to  the 
circle,  most  frequently  pictures  of  saints,  hair,  and 
flowers.  During  a  seance  in  tlie  s|)rinf>:  the  whole 
tabic   \vas    literally   covered    with    flowers.     During 

another  s<frt7JC€  the  daughter  of  Sophia  E ,  a  young 

lady  of  fourteen  years  old,  received  a  live  green  frog, 
to  make  up  for  the  loss  of  one  that  had  died  a  few 
days  before.  This  frog  remained  with  her  for  some 
days  alive,  and  afterwards  disappeared. 

"  On  one  occasion  the  spirit  of  Olga  X declared 

that   she    would    fully   materialise,    and    designated 

Sophia   E as   the    strongest    medium,   through 

whose  means  the  materialisation  would  be  efiected. 
On  tlie  evening  appointed  by  the  spirit  the  medium 
was  laid  upon  a  sofa  and  separated  from  the  rest  by 
a  curtain  formed  l)y  hanging  up  a  plaid.  She  re- 
mained, however,  so  far  visible  that  her  position  could 
always  be  observed.  It  was  half  dark  in  the  room. 
After  the  medium  had  fallen  into  a  trance  she  was 
several  times  raised  in  the  air,  placed  upon  the  boards, 
and  again  carried  back  to  the  sofa.  Afterwards  a 
white  figure,  covered  with  a  thick  veil,  was  raised 


MATERIALISATION  THEOUGH  A  PRIVATE  MEDIUM.    I4I 

behind  and  above  the  curtain.  Quietly,  calmly,  it 
came  over  the  curtain  to  the  table  at  which  the  party 

were   sitting.     Then   it   went    to   Catherine   L , 

embraced  and  kissed  her,  touched  her  face  with  its 
hand,  and  disappeared,  whilst  raised  again  in  the  air. 
At    the    next   seance,   which  was   in   darkness,    the 

phenomenon  was  repeated,  and  Catherine  L was 

covered  with  a  veil,  which  was  left  behind  upon 
her.'^'"  After  this  phenomenon  the  sittings  of  the  circle 
almost  ceased.  Amazed  with  what  they  had  seen, 
they  were  all  convinced  that  it  would  be  a  sin,  after 
these  proofs  of  the  reality  of  another  world  and  of  a 
higher  power,  to  continue  the  seances,  though  at  the 
same  time  they  did  not  refuse  individual  communica- 
tions and  instructions  from  that  world,  and  for  this  pur- 
jDOse  availed  themselves  from  time  to  time  of  the  usual 
means  of  intercourse,  such  as  table  tipping  and  psycho- 
graphy.  Of  course,  therefore,  the  phenomena  did  not 
cease,  and  they  were  not  seldom  concerned  in  different 
events  which  happened  to  the  families  of  the  mediums. 
"  All  this  had  gone  on  for  about  a  year,  up  to  the 
winter  of  1877,  when  I  accidentally  made  the  acquaint- 


*  The  condition  of  the  medium  during  the  trance  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion on  all  present,  the  most  lasting  one,  naturally,  upon  her  husband. 
After  the  seance,  she  Avas  for  some  days  ill ;  at  the  same  time  there 
appeared  upon  her  left  side  a  broad  blood-swollen  spot.  (Compare  the 
description  of  a  materialisation  from  the  left  side  of  the  medium,  Dr. 
Monck,  in  Psychische  Studicn,  1877 — Note  by  the  Editor).  These 
unfortunate  lesults  were  supposed  by  the  sitters  to  be  owing  to  their 
having  put  forward  the  seance  earlier  than  the  appointed  time. 


l.\2  TRANSCEyDENTAL   Pin'SICS. 

nnce  of  the  chemist  E and  hia  family.  Enter- 
taining the  wisli  to  receive  some  j)roofs  of  the 
oltjectivity  and  reality  of  the  phenomena,  I  begged 
some  of  those  who  had  taken  part  in  the  earlier 
stances  to  afford  me  the  opportunity.  I  obtained 
their  entire  consent,  and  found  the  greatest  readiness 
to  comply  with  my  wish,  although  the  sentiments  of 
the  whole  circle  were  openly  opposed  to  my  opinions. 
This  opposition  was  especially  marked  in  the  case  of 
Catherine  L ,  who,  as  compensation  for  her  dis- 
carded materialism,  was  now  fanatically  addicted  to 
ultra-orthodoxy.  She  continually  maintained  against 
me  that  no  evidences  of  these  things  could  ever  con- 
vince any  one,  since  they  were  matters  of  faith  and 
not  of  knowledge.  Such  being  the  relations  of  the 
circle,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  we  should  obtain 
any  decided  results. 

"  During  the  first  sitting  in  which  I  took  part,  and 
which  was  held  in  a  dim  light,  a  hand  was  formed 
above  the  small  table,  which  was  covered  with  a  cloth, 
and  afterwards  came  out  from  under  the  cloth,  remain- 
ing above  the  table  some  minutes,  and,  gently  moving, 
touched  those  who  inclined  themselves  towards  it. 
This  was  the  only  materialisation,  and  the  only 
remarkable  phenomenon  in  the  series  of  not  very 
numerous  seances  which  lasted  up  to  the  end  of  the 
winter. 

'•  Catherine  L had  long  suffered  from  a  chronic 


REPETITION  OF  ONE  OF  ZQLLNEE  S  EXPERIMENTS.     1 43 

catarrh,  whicli  at  this  time  took  the  form  of  consump- 
tion. Her  disposition  was  still  hostile  to  my  objects, 
so  that  vre  were  compelled  to  give  up  the  seances. 

She  died  in  the  arms  of  Mrs.  Sophia  E ,  amidst 

the  proofs  of  her  love,  friendship,  and  affection. 

"In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1878  the  relations  of 
the  circle  to  tlie  mediumistic  phenomena  were  com- 
pletely changed.     After   the   spirit  of  the  deceased 

Catherine  L had  given  consent  to  the  continuance 

of  the  sittings,  and  promised  good  success,  remarking, 
however,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  results  would  be 
received  with  distrust,  the  circle  was  widened  by  the 
addition  of  some  young  people ;    the  engineer,  the 

mechanist  M ,  was  one  of  the  constant  sitters ; 

sometimes   the   physician   L took   part   in.  the 

sittings. 

"  In  the  very  first  sitting  we  were  directed  by  raps 
to  repeat  the  experiment  of  Professor  Zollner;  and 
since  it  is  the  object  of  this  publication  to  confirm  that 
experiment,  I  will  not  dwell  upon  other  more  or  less 
remarkable  phenomena  which  occurred  at  our  seances. 

"  We  took  an  ordinary  folding  slate,  with  clasps ; 
on  each  side  within  was  fastened,  by  means  of  wax, 
paper,  blackened  with  soot.  The  slate  was  then 
tied  together  with  a  string,  and  the  ends  of  the  string, 
as  well  as  the  edges  of  the  slate,  were  fastened  with 

four  seals  with  the  signet  of  the  chemist  E ,  and 

the  signet  was  entrusted  to  me  for  safe  custody  at 


144  TRANSCENDENTAL   niYblCS. 

lioiiie.  We  were  informed  by  means  of  raps  that  this 
slate  must  lie  upon  the  table  for  four  acances,  and 
impressions  would  then  be  found  upon  it.  At  the 
sCctnces  tlie  table  was  always  covered  witli  a  cloth, 
and  between  this  and  the  table  the  slate  was  laid. 
"With  the  development  of  the  phenomena  the  slate 
began  to  move  of  itself.  It  went  from  one  to  the 
other,  in  order  that  it  might  remain  for  some  minutes 
under  the  hands  of  each  of  those  present. 

"  In  the  third  sitting  we  were  enjoined  to  seal  the 
slate  with   seven    seals,   with   another  signet  of  the 

chemist  E .     AVe  asked,  'Is   there   anything  on 

the  slate?'  It  was  answered,  'I  do  not  know/ 
Thereupon  we  asked  if  we  might  open  it  ?  The 
answer  was,  'Yes,  you  can.'  "We  opened  the  slate; 
both  papers  were  untouched.  We  closed  it  again, 
bound,  and  sealed  it  with  seven  seals.  The  signet  I 
again  took  away  with  me.  At  the  following  sitting 
violent  movements  of  the  slate  again  occurred,  and 
finally  I  was  directed  to  lay  the  slate  on  my  knees.  I 
did  so,  and  then  placed  my  hands  again  upon  the 
table.  For  some  minutes  tlie  slate  remained  quiet ; 
then  I  had  the  sensation  as  if  some  one  lightly  touched 
it  for  a  while.  Soon  after  we  were  told,  througli 
sharp  decided  raps,  to  take  away  the  slate.  To  the 
question,  '  Is  there  anything  on  it  ? '  a  strong  definite 
atiirmative  answer  was  returned.  '  Can  we  open  it  1 ' 
•  Yes ! ' 


SUCCESS    OF   THE   EXPEEIMENT.  1 45 

"  We  struck  a  light  (the  seance  was  in  the  dark), 
opened  the  slate,  and  perceived  an  impression  on  each 
side  :  upon  the  right,  that  of  a  hand ;  upon  the  left, 
that  of  a  foot.     All  three  female  mediums  and  the 

chemist  E at  once  recognised  in  the  impression 

the  hand  of  Catherine  L ,  which  had  characteristic 

jDeculiarities.  It  was  unusually  large  and  long  for  a 
female  hand,  the  little  finger  being  strongly  bent  out. 
The  foot,  also  unusually  large,  could  not  find  room 
enough  on  the  slate,  and  this  impression,  moreover, 
was  not  very  clear.  The  hand  was  much  more  sharply 
impressed,  if  not  quite  so  distinct,  as  was  the  case  with 
Zollner's  impression.  (I  here  add  the  copy  of  our 
impression."")  For  greater  certainty  this  impression 
was  shown  to  a  sculptor,  who  well  knew  the  hand  of 
the  deceased,  and  he  at  once  asked,  *  Is  this  an  impres- 
sion of  the  hand  of  Catherine  L ? '    He  supposed 

that  the  impression  had  been  taken  during  her  life. 
We  were  apparently  ourselves  partly  to  blame  for  the 
want  of  distinctness  in  the  impression.  Every  one 
who  is  familiar  with  mediumistic  phenomena  knows 
their  whimsicality,  and  that  promises  given  at  seances 
are  often  not  fulfilled.  Not  much  expecting  success, 
we  went  only  superficially  to  work  in  the  preparation 
of  the  slate — did  not  fasten  the  paper  with  smooth 


*  There  is  here  a  foot-note  relating  to  the  illustration  omitted  in  this 
translation,  the  illustration  itself,  as  two  or  thiee  others,  not  seeming 
indispensable. — Tr, 

K 


146  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

regularity  over  the  sides  of  the  slate,  and  the  soot  was 
not  thickly  and  regularly  spread.  Had  we  only  found 
anything  when  we  opened  the  slate  after  the  third 
stance,  which  would  have  given  us  but  a  remote 
assurance  of  future  results,  we  sliould  then  have  recti- 
fied every  defect  in  our  preparations. 

"  The  above-recordeil  objective  proof  I  regard  as 
sufficient  to  obviate  every  suspicion  of  deceit.  Had  it 
been  even  possible  to  imitate  the  seal  and  open  the 
slate,  yet  was  it  at  any  rate  impossible,  and  indeed 
without  aim  or  object,  to  imitate  the  impression  of  the 

hand  of  the  deceased  C.  L .     All  those  who  took 

part  in  the  seance  were  ''  believers  ;  "  all  were  in  like 
manner  interested  in  the  experiment :  no  one  among 
them  was  so  depraved  and  mischievous  as  to  contrive 
so  cruel  a  mystification,  cruel  in  relation  to  the  persons 
to  whom  the  memory  of  the  deceased  was  sacred. 
That  young  lady  was  more  than  a  relative  in  the 

family  of  the  chemist  E ;  one  could  not  but  see 

the  joyful  rapture  of  the  mediums  at  the  moment  w'heu 
they  recognised  in  the  impression  the  hand  of  Catherine 

L .    All  crossed  themselves  and  wept :  all  regarded 

this  result  as  a  miracle. 

"After  this  phenomenon  some  of  those  present 
proposed  to  terminate  the  sittings,  since  no  better, 
more  objective,  more  all-convincing,  complete  proof 
could  be  obtained ;  I,  however,  wished  to  continue 
them,  though  they  must   at   all  events  soon  cease. 


VALUE    OF  THE    FACTS.  I47 

The  next  sitting  had  already  lost  the  characteristics 
of  our  usual  seances.     The  phenomena  were  languid 

and   intermittent.      The   spirit   of  Catherine   L 

declared  that  it  could  not  appear  for  a  whole  month. 
Other  disturbing  circumstances  concurred,  so  that  we 
resolved  to  postpone  our  seances  to  a  more  oppor- 
tune time.  An  unexpected  misfortune  intervening 
compels  us  to  renounce  them  for  a  long  time,  perhaps 
for  always. 

"  In  giving  this  simple  history,  with  its  childlike 
full  conviction  and  faith  in  the  personality  of  the 
spirit  (Fetishism),  I  repeat  that  it  can  have  no  effect 
upon  the  stubborn  scepticism  of  those  who  have 
become  the  slaves  of  their  a  piiori  convictions.  This 
narrative  can  have  only  an  irritating  tendency  with 
such,  excite  their  scepticism  up  to  a  fanatical  point, 
and  drive  them,  even  should  they  admit  the  facts, 
to  discover  some  explanation  even  more  senseless 
than  Carpenter's  'unconscious  cerebration.'  But 
those  with  whom  Fetishism'"  is  no  subjective  pro- 
duct of  our  brain  and  feeling,  who  recognise  the 
necessity  and  legitimacy  of  individuality  as  the  lever 
of  the  development  of  humanity  and  of  well-being, 
those  will  find  in  these  facts  the  proof  and  confirma- 
tion of  their  views. 

*  "  Fetischismus  "  is  the  -word  used,  but  not,  it  is  conceived,  in  the 
sense  that  word  bears  in  English. — Note  by  Translator. 


I  43  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

"Again,  these  facts  convince  us  of  tlie  necessity 
of  widening  the  domain  of  recognised  science  and  its 
methods  and  means  for  the  exploration  of  the  invisible 
and  unknown  world,  of  the  existence  of  which  we  have 
in  our  hearts  from  childhood  so  clear,  so  simple,  and 
so  warm  a  presentiment.  N.  AVagner." 


(     149     ) 


Chapter  Bintfj* 


THEORETICAL;  "THE  FOURTH  DIMENSION  "—PROFESSOR  HARE'S  EXPERIMENTS — 
FURTHER  EXPERIMENTS  OF  THE  AUTHOR  WITH  SLADE — COINS  TRANSFERRED 
FROM  CLOSED  AND  FASTENED  BOXES— CLAIRVOYANCE. 


Passing  on  to  the  account  of  further  experiments 
with  Mr.  Slade,  I  take  those  in  the  first  instance 
Avhich  I  had  devised  on  the  principle  of  the  extended 
conception  of  space''  {Raum-anscliauung) — for  the 
purpose  of  experimental  proofs  of  the  reality  of  a 
fourth  dimension. 

Among  these  proofs  there  is  none  so  instructive 
and  convincing  as  the  transport  of  material  iDodies 
from  a  space  enclosed  on  every  side.  Although  for 
our  three-dimensional  intuition  such  a  space  appar- 
ently allows  of  no  other  exit  than  through  the 
material  boundaries,  yet  from  the  fourth  dimension  it 
can  be  opened,  and  thus  the  transport  of  the  body  in 

*  The  philosophical  sense  of  the  word  intuition  (Anschauvng)  may- 
have  some  difficulty  for  non-metaphysical  English  readers.  With  us  it 
usually  denotes  an  internal  sense  ;  in  German  philosophy  it  is  the  act  of 
perception,  whether  of  the  external  or  internal  sense,  before  all  appli- 
cation of  the  categories  of  the  understanding  by  which  the  "  matter"  of 
the  perception  becomes  an  "  object."  In  the  Kantian  philosophy,  which 
Zollner  follows,  space  and  time  are  intuitional  "forms."  The  word 
Anschammg  is  translated  intuition  and  conception  at  difl'erent  places  as 
the  context  seems  to  requiie. — Tr. 


150  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

this  direction  can  be  effected  without  disturbance  of 
the  tliree-dimensional  material  walls.  Since  the  so- 
called  intuition  of  a  four-dimensional  space  is  want- 
ing to  us,  as  three-dimensional  beings,  we  can  only 
form  to  ourselves  a  conception  of  this  proceeding  by 
an  analogy  taken  from  the  next  lower  region  of  space. 
Suj^poso  in  a  plane  a  figure  of  two  dimensions 
enclosed  by  a  line  on  every  side,  in  which  is  a  mov- 
able object.  By  movements  onii/  in  the  plane  that 
object  could  not  escape  from  the  interior  of  that 
two-diniensionalhj  enclosed  space  otherwise  than  by 
an  opening  of  the  line  of  enclosure.  But  if  the  object 
were  capable  of  a  movement  in  the  third  dimension, 
it  would  need  only  to  be  raised  perpendicularly  to  tlie 
plane,  to  be  passed  over,  and  let  down  again  on  the 
other  side  of  the  line.  To  two-dimensional  beinjrs 
who  reasoned  on  the  assumption  that  only  such  move- 
ments were  possible  as  they  could  intuitlvehj  represent 
to  themselves,  i.e.,  only  two-dimensional  movements, 
the  proceeding  just  described  would  seem  a  miracle. 
For  the  body  which  they  suppose  to  be  completely 
enclosed  must  at  a  certain  spot  transiently  vanish  for 
them,  in  order  suddenly  to  reappear  at  another 
spot.  Although  similar  facts  have  been  so  frequently 
observed  at  spiritualistic  seances,aud  publicly  testified 
to  by  the  most  credible  and  intelligent  men,  yet  as 
an  introduction  to  the  description  of  my  own  experi- 
ments, I  cannot  omit  to  impart  the  following  fact 


EXPERIMENTS    OF    PROF.    HARE.  I5I 

observed  by  the  celebrated  American   scientist  and 
chemist,  Professor  Hare/"" 

It  is  that  described  by  State  Councillor  Aksakow 
in  Psychische  Studien  (edited  by  him)  in  the  July 
number  of  this  year  (1879),  under  the  title  "Some 
Experiments  of  Professor  Hare  Confirmatory  of 
Zollner's  Experiments."  I  confine  myself  here  to  the 
first  experiment,  described  in  a  letter  published  on  the 
1st  May  1858  by  an  eye-witness,  Dr.  S.  A.  Peters, 
who  had  visited  Professor  Hare  in  his  laboratory,  in 
order  himself  to  witness  some  of  the  remarkable  phe- 
nomena which  Hare  had  publicly  reported.     The  letter 

*  Robert  Hare,  Doctor  of  Medicine,  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  Philadelphia;  born  1781,  died  15th  May 
1858.  In  PoggendorflTs  Literary  Biographical  Dictionary,  from  which 
I  have  taken  the  above  particulars,  will  be  found  a  catalogue,  filling  a 
whole  column,  of  Hare's  numerous  chemical  and  physical  treatises. 
In  text-books  of  Physics  his  name  survives  in  the  so-called  "  Hare's 
Spiral,"  a  galvanic  element,  in  which  a  copper  and  zinc  plate,  properly 
separated  by  bad  conductors,  are  rolled  over  one  another  for  the  production 
of  the  greatest  possible  surface.  With  this  arrangement,  previously  to  the 
constniction  of  constant  batteries,  very  strong  effects  of  light  and  heat 
could  be  produced.  The  treatise  of  Hare's  referred  to  is  published  in 
Tilloch's  Philosophical  Magazine,  of  the  year  1837,  under  the  title  "  New 
Voltaic  Battery." 

In  his  later  years  Professor  Hare  undertook,  as  a  true  man  of  science, 
the  most  thorough  experimental  investigation  of  the  phenomena  of  Spirit- 
ualism, for  which,  in  his  country,  convenient  opportunities  offered.  He 
even  evinced  his  acuteness  in  this  field  in  the  construction  of  suitable 
apparatus  and  instruments.  One  of  these  he  named  the  "Spiritoscope." 
It  consisted  of  an  apparatus  connected  with  a  cipher-plate  and  index, 
similar  to  that  which  was  applied  to  the  first  electric  telegraphs.  A 
detailed  description,  with  picture,  of  this  ingenious  apparatus,  in  which 
the  motions  of  the  index  are  completely  concealed  from  the  medium, 
will  be  found  in  the  pamphlet,  Experimental  Investigations  of  Spirit- 
Manifestations,  by  Dr.  Robert  Hare,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  &c.,  &c." 
German  edition  by  Alex.  Aksakow,  Leipzig,  1874,  Mutze. 


152  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

is  addressed  to  tlio  editor  of  Tlie  Spintual  Tdccjraph, 
and  is  as  follows  : — 

"  PlIILADELPniA,  April  1 8,  1 858. 

"  ^Ir.  Editor, — Finding  myself  in  this  city  on  a  visit 
from  the  State  of  Missouri,  I  availed  myself  of  the 
opportunity  to  visit  Professor  Hare,  in  order  to  see 
what  new  developments  or  discoveries  he  has  made 
in  Spiritualism.  1  have  no  doubt  that  a  history  of  the 
most  astonishing  spiritual  manifestations  which  are 
now  taking  place  in  the  Professor's  laboratory  will 
shortly  be  given  to  the  public. 

"  I  will  now  confirm  what  I  saw  myself.  Dr.  Hare, 
the  medium  (a  young  man  named  Ruggles,  of  from 
eighteen  to  nineteen  years,  to  whom  I  was  quite  a 
stranger  when  I  entered  the  laboratory),  and  myself, 
were  the  only  persons  present.  The  medium  sat  down 
in  front  of  the  spiritoscope,  which  stood  on  the  table  in 
the  middle  of  the  room.  Dr.  Hare  and  I  sat  opposite 
and  close  to  the  table.  After  some  minutes  it  was  said 
to  us  through  the  spiritoscope,  '  Let  Dr.  S.  A.  Peters 
put  two  glass  tubes  and  two  pieces  of  Russian  metal  in 
the  box.'  Dr.  Hare  thereupon  left  his  seat,  and  fetched 
me  two  glass  tubes  of  about  six  inches  length,  and 
half  an  inch  diameter,  hermetically  sealed  at  the  ends, 
and  also  two  pieces  of  Russian  platinum,  each  of  the 
shape  of  a  common  musket-ball.  I  first  examined  the 
box  in  which  I  was  to  deposit  these  objects.    It  stood 


AN    "IMPOSSIBLE      FACT.  1 53 

on  the  table  before  me.  It  resembled  a  writing-desk ; 
was  about  two  feet  long  and  half  a  foot  broad,  four 
to  eight  inches  deep,  and  had  a  lid  which  let  down 
slantwise,  with  hinges  and  a  lock.  In  this  box  I 
placed  the  two  glass  tubes  and  the  balls  of  platinum — 
there  was  nothing  else  in  it, — and  locked  it.  Dr.  Hare 
and  I  then  took  our  seats  as  before,  and  the  medium, 
]\Ir.  Euggles,  continued  at  the  spiritoscope.  After  the 
lapse  of  fifty-five  minutes  there  was  said  through  the 
spiritoscope,  'We  have  a  present  for  Dr.  S.  A. 
Peters  ;  let  him  go  to  the  box  and  fetch  it.'  Here- 
upon I  went  to  the  box,  which  was  only  a  single  foot 
from  me,  opened  it,  and  found — the  two  'pieces  of 
Russian  platinum  inside  the  two  hermeticaUi/  sealed 
glass  tubes. 

"  I  will  make  no  observations  on  the  above.  What  I 
have  seen  I  hold  it  to  be  my  duty  to  make  known  to 
the  world.  I  have  no  other  interest  in  makino-  the 
above  statement  than  the  desire  to  serve  my  fellow- 
men.  S.  A.  Peters." 

I  go  now  to  the  account  of  similar  experiments, 
which  have  succeeded  with  me  in  the  presence  of 
Mr.  Slade,  but  which  have  a  yet  higher  interest  for 
me,  in  that  they  have  produced  in  me  a  conviction  of 
the  reality  of  the  so-called  clairvoyance,  or  clear-seeing. 

On  the  5th  May,  1878,  at  about  twenty-five  minutes 
past  four,  Mr.  Slade,  Herr  Oscar  von  Hofi'mann,  and 


154  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

I,  took  our  places  at  the  table  and  in  the  Bun-Hghted 
room,  of  which  a  photographic  copy  is  seen  in  the 
frontispiece.     Besides  a  number  of  slates,  purchased 
by  myself,  there  lay  upon  the  table  other  things,  among 
them  two  small  cardboard  boxes,  in  which,  at  Slade's 
first  residence  in  Leipsic,  in  December  1877, 1  had  put 
Bome  pieces  of  money,  and  then  firmly  plastered  it  up 
outside  with  strips  of  paper.     I  had  already  at  that 
time  been  in  hopes  of  the  removal  of  the  enclosed 
pieces  of  money  without  opening  of  the  boxes.    How- 
ever, my  friends  and  I  were  so  astonished  and  occupied 
with   the  multitude  of  the  other  phenomena  which 
happened  at  Slade's  first  and  second  visits  to  Leipsic 
(November  and  December   1877),  that  I  abandoned 
the  above-mentioned   experiment  for  the   time,   and 
postponed  it  till  Slade's  return  to  Leipsic.     One  of 
these  boxes  was  in  form  circular,  and  within  it  was  a 
large  piece  of  money  ;  this  box  was  firmly  fastened  by 
a  strip  of  paper,  the  breadth  of  which  corresponded  to 
the  height  of  the  box,  and  its  length  much  exceeded  the 
circuit  of  the  box ;  so,  indeed,  that  first  the  strip  of 
paper  was  spread  with  liquid  glue  on  one  side  over  its 
whole  length  and  breadth,  and  was  then  stuck  several 
times   round   the  box,  so  that  the  latter,  after  the 
fastening,  presented  the  appearance  of  a  low  cylinder 
of  pasteboard.     The   other  box  was  rectangular,  of 
the  same  sort  as  those  in  which  steel  pens  are  kept. 
In  this  box  I  had  put  two  small  pieces  of  money,  and 


AN  EXPERIMENT  WITH   COINS.  1 55 

had  then  closed  it  by  sticking  a  strip  of  paper  round 
it,  perpendicularly  to  its  length,  by  means  of  liquid 
glue. 

As  mentioned  above,  I  had  already,  in  December 
1877,  fastened  up  these  boxes,  and  as  I  had  observed 
neither  the  value  of  the  enclosed  coins  nor  their  date, 
I  could  afterwards  only  ascertain  by  the  noise  from 
shaking  the  boxes,  that  enclosed  in  the  circular  one 
was  a  large  German  coin  (a  thaler  or  a  five-mark 
piece),  in  the  rectangular  one  two  smaller  coins  ; 
whether  these  were  pennies,  groschen,  or  five-groschen 
pieces  I  had,  after  the  lapse  of  half  a  year,  at  the  time 
of  Slade's  last  stay  in  Leipsic,  entirely  forgotten. 

After  we  had  taken  our  places  at  the  card-table  on 
the  above-mentioned  day  in  the  manner  described,  I 
took  up  the  round  box,  and  satisfied  myself,  by  shaking, 
of  the  presence  of  the  coin  I  had  enclosed  in  it.  Herr 
0.  von  Hofi"mann  did  the  same,  and  lastly  Mr.  Slade, 
who  asked  us  for  what  purpose  I  had  designed  this 
box.  I  explained  my  purpose  in  a  few  words,  and  at 
the  same  time  declared  that  it  would  be  one  of  the 
finest  confirmations  of  the  reality  of  the  fourth  dimen- 
sion, if  his  invisible,  intelligent  beings  succeeded  in 
removing  that  coin  from  the  box  without  opening  it. 
Slade,  ready,  as  always,  to  conform  to  my  wdsh,  took 
in  the  usual  manner  one  of  the  slates  which  lay  at 
hand,  laid  a  morsel  of  slate-pencil  upon  it  (indeed,  as 
it  happened,  a  considerably  larger  one  than  usual), 


156  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

and  held  the  shite  with  his  right  hand  half  under  the 
tahle.  We  heard  writing,  and  when  the  slate  was 
drawn  out,  there  was  found  upon  it  the  request  to  lay 
a  second  piece  of  pencil  on  the  slate,  which  was  done. 
Then  Slade,  who  sat  at  rny  left  (Von  IloHmann  was 
on  my  right),  held  the  slate  with  the  two  bits  of  pencil 
af^aiu  under  the  tahle,  while  he  as  well  as  we  awaited 
intently  what  should  come  there.  Meanwhile  the  two 
fastened-up  boxes  lay  untouched  on  about  the  middle 
of  the  table.  Some  minutes  passed  without  anything 
happening,  when  Slade  gazed  fixedly  in  a  particular 
direction  in  the  corner  of  the  room,  and  at  the  same 
time  said,  quite  astonished,  but  slowly,  the  words 
dragged  after  one  another,  and  partly  with  repetition  : 
"  I  see  —  see  funf  and  eighteen  hundred  seventy-six." 
Neither  Slade  nor  we  knew  what  that  could  mean, 
and  both  Herr  0.  von  HofTmann  and  m3'self  remarked 
almost  simultaneously  that,  at  any  rate,  "  funf"  signi- 
fied "funf"  (five),  and  made  the  sum  of  the  addition 
5  +  1876=1881.  While  I  threw  out  this  remark  half 
in  jest,  we  heard  a  bard  object  fall  on  the  slate,  which 
Slade  duriuji  all  the  time  had  held  under  the  table 
with  his  right  hand  (the  left  lying  before  us  on  the 
table).  The  slate  was  immediately  drawn  out,  and  ou 
it  was  fuund  the  five-mark  piece,  with  the  date  1S76. 
Naturally  I  forthwith  snatched  up  the  pasteboard 
box,  standing  before  me,  and  which  during  all  the 
foregoing  had  been  touched  by  nobody,  to  ascertain, 


THE  EXPERIMENT  SUCCESSFUL.  1 57 

by  shaking,  the  absence  of  the  piece  of  money  which 
had  been  in  it  half  an  hour  before ;  and  behold !  it 
was  quite  empty  and  silent  ;  the  box  was  robbed  of 
its  contents  in  the  shape  of  the  five-mark  piece. 

As  may  be  supposed,  our  pleasure  at  such  an  un- 
hoped-for success  of  our  experiment  was  extremely 
great ;  all  the  more,  that  by  it  at  the  same  time  was 
established  the  existence  of  a  direct  perception  of 
objects,  not  effected  in  the  ordinary  way  of  our  sense- 
perceptions. 

Moreover,  it  could  not  be  any  so-called  thought- 
reading  by  the  medium ;  that  is,  the  perception  of 
representations  already  in  the  heads  of  human  beino-s. 
For  neither  I,  and  much  less  Mr.  Slade  and  Herr  von 
Hoffmann,  knew  what  sort  of  coin  there  was  in  the 
box,  nor  what  date  it  bore. 

I  was  so  satisfied  with  the  success  of  this  experi- 
ment under  such  stringent  conditions  that  I  was 
thinking  of  putting  an  end  to  the  sitting,  and  post- 
poning further  attempts  to  a  later  one.  However, 
Slade  remarked  that  he  did  not  feel  himself  at  all 
exhausted  by  the  sitting,  which  had  lasted  at  most 
ten  minutes.  This  remark  of  Slade  caused  us  to  keep 
our  places  at  the  card-table,  and  to  engage  in  uncon- 
strained conversation  with  him.  I  introduced  the  sub- 
ject of  his  sitting  with  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine 
of  Russia,  and  requested  him  to  give  us  a  detailed 
account  of  the  phenomena  which  took  place  at  it,  as 


I5S  TRANSCENDENTAL   TIIYSICS. 

hitherto  wo  had  seen  only  the  brief  paragraph  state- 
meut  about  them  in  the  press.  Tlius  urged,  Slade 
mentioned  that  a  very  remarkable  experiment  in  sLate- 
writing  had  succeeded  in  the  presence  of  the  Grand 
Duke  Constantine.  Accidentally  there  had  been  two 
bits  of  pencil  on  the  slate  ;  when  he  held  it  under  the 
table  the  writing  of  two  pencils  was  heard  at  the  sama 
time,  and  when  he  drew  out  the  slate  the  one  pencil 
had  written  from  left  to  right,  the  other,  at  the  same 
time,  from  right  to  left.  I  at  once  proposed  to  try 
whether  this  experiment  would  succeed  also  with  us  : 
the  suggestion  arose  from  me  quite  naturally,  from  the 
association  of  ideas  elicited  by  the  two  bits  of  pencil 
which  had  been  required  in  the  above-mentioned 
experiment,  without  our  having  as  yet  known  the 
object  of  this  written  demand. 

Slade,  at  once  ready  to  comply  with  my  wish, 
held  the  slate  with  the  two  bits  of  pencil  under  the 
table-surface,  and  we  soon  heard,  very  clearly,  writing 
upon  it. 

When  the  slate  was  withdrawn  there  was  on  it  a 
communication  in  English  as  follows  : — 

**io — Pfennig — 1S76 
2 — Pfennig — 1875. 

Let  this  be  proof  to  you  of  clairvoyance.  After  the 
nine  days  you  must  rest,  or  it  will  harm  you  and  the 
medium.     Believe  in  me,  your  friend." 


r.  160-61. 


ri  A 


yi. 


n 


A   SIMILAR    PHENOMENON.  1 63 

We  at  once  referred  the  first  part  of  this  message 
to  the  two  coins  contained  in  the  rectano-ular  box 
still  unopened.    I  was  just  about  to  open  it,  we  having 
immediately  before  convinced  ourselves  by  shaking 
the  box  and  the  distinct  jingliug  within  it,  of  the 
presence  of  the  two  smaller  coins,  yet  without  knowing 
the  value  or  date  of  them.     Suddenly,  however,  I 
changed  my  intention,  and  set  the  little  box  again 
uninjured  on  the  middle  of  the  table,  while  as  well 
Herr  von  Hofimann  as  also  Slade  suggested  the  possi- 
bility that  perhaps  the  two  coins,  in  like  manner  as 
shortly  before  the  five-mark   piece,  might  fall  from 
the  unopened  box  upon   the   slate  held  underneath. 
Immediately  upon  this  suggestion,  Slade  again  held 
an  empty  slate  under  the  middle  of  the  table.    Scarcely 
was  this  done,  when  we  distinctly  heard  two  coins 
drop  down  on  the  surface  of  the  slate,  and  on  closer 
examination,  the  above  statements  on  the  slate  we,  in 
fact,  found  confirmed.    Highly  delighted,  I  now  seized 
the  still  closed  box  in  the  confident  expectation  that  it 
would,  like  the  round  box,  be  empty,  and  that,  there- 
fore, on  shaking  no  rattling  within  would  be  heard. 
How   great  was  my  sm^prise  when  nevertheless  the 
rattling  happened,  proceeding,  indeed,  likewise  from 
two  bodies,  which  yet,  judging  from  the  altered  char- 
acter of  the  sound,  could  not  be  coins.     Already  I  was 
intending  to  convince  myself  of  the  contents  of  the 
box  by  opening  it,  which  could  not  be  done  without 


164  TRANSCENDEXTAL    PHYSICS. 

tearing  tlie  strips  of  paper  pasted  over  it,  wlicn  Slade 
prepared  to  get  our  question  answered,  as  usual  in  sucli 
cases,  through  slate-writing,  by  liis  "spirits."  Scarcely 
had  he  taken  a  slate  witli  a  fragment  of  pencil  lying 
U})on  it,  and  held  it  half  under  the  taljle,  when  we 
distinctly  heard  writing.  Upon  the  upper  surface  of 
the  slate  was  written  in  Eno;lish — 

*'  The  two  slate-pencils  are  in  the  box." 

In  fact  the  two  larger  pieces  of  slate-pencil  were 
nowhere  to  be  found,  and  when  I  now  opened  the  box 
by  tearing  the  strip  of  paper  glued  to  it,  there  within 
it,  to  our  delight,  were  both  the  pieces  of  pencil. 

The  foregoing  facts  are  of  great  value  in  a  three- 
fold aspect.  First,  there  is  proved  the  occurrence  of 
"writing  under  the  influence  of  Shide,  the  purport  of 
which  was  necessarily  vnknoini  to  hiui  before.  It  is 
consequently  imjjossihle  that  these  writings  occur 
under  the  influence  of  the  conscious  will  of  Slade, 
\vhatever  modus  operandi  is  presupposed. 

Secondly,  the  apparent,  so-called  passage  through 
matter  is  proved  in  a  highly  elegant  and  compendious 
manner.  In  order  to  reach  by  the  shortest  way  the 
surface  of  the  slate,  the  coins  must  apparently  have 
penetrated  not  only  the  walls  of  the  box,  but  also 
about  20  millinibtres  thickness  of  the  oak  table.  The 
two  slate-pencils  must  have  travelled  the  same  way 
in  a  reverse  direction  from  the  surface  of  the  slate. 

Thirdly^  by  these  experiments  an  incontrovertible 


FOURTH   DIMENSION   EXPLAINS    CLAIRVOYANCE.       1 65 

proof  is  afforded  of  the  reality  of  so-called  clairvoy- 
ance, and  that  in  a  double  way.  The  first  time,  with 
the  five-mark  piece,  the  contents  of  the  closed  box 
a23peared  in  the  form  of  a  definite  represented  image 
in  Slade's  intuitional  life ;  he  "  saw  "  the  numbers  5 
and  1876.  The  second  time  this  was  not  the  case; 
but  the  contents  were  communicated  to  us  in  the  form 
of  written  characters  on  the  slate.  The  contents  of 
this  rectangular  box  must  therefore  have  existed  as 
imaged  in  another,  not  a  three-dimensionally  incor- 
porated intelligence,  before  that  represented  image 
could  be  transmitted  to  us  by  the  aid  of  writing. 
Hereby  is  proved,  as  it  seems  to  me,  in  a  very  cogent 
manner  the  existence  of  intelligent  beings,  invisible 
to  us,  and  of  their  active  participation  in  our  experi- 
ments. 

I  have  already  shown  that  the  whole  phenomenon 
of  clairvoyance  admits  of  a  very  easy  and  natural 
explanation  by  help  of  the  fourth  dimension.  From 
the  direction  of  the  fourth  dimension,  the,  to  us,  three- 
dimensionally  enclosed  space  must  be  regarded  as 
appeariug  open,  and  indeed  in  an  interval  from  the 
place  of  our  body  so  much  the  greater,  the  higher  the 
soul  is  raised  to  the  fourth  dimension.  At  the  same 
time,  with  the  increasing  elevation  to  this  fourth 
dimension  there  is  a  widening  of  the  overlooked  space 
of  three  dimensions,  just  as  by  elevation  above  the 
surface  of  the  earth  there  is,  according  to  geometrical 


1 66  TRANSCENDENTAL  PHYSICS. 

laws,  a  widening  of  the  overlooked  two-dimensional 
expanse.  Also  in  three-dimensional  space,  representa- 
tions of  the  changes  of  place  of  our  body  at  rest,  as 
for  example,  when  we  are  in  the  car  of  a  balloon,  are 
produced  merely  by  changes  in  the  appearances  of 
objects.  The  manner  in  which  this  happens,  for 
instance,  in  our  present  organization  by  help  of  the 
sense  of  sight,  is  only  a  modification  of  the  above- 
mentioned  general  fact,  and  depends,  as  observed, 
upon  the  changeable  forms  of  the  organic  disposition  ; 
that  is,  of  our  body,  through  which  the  representations 
of  our  soul  are  mediated.  Thus,  Slade's  soul  was,  in 
the  first  case,  so  far  raised  in  the  fourth  dimension 
that  the  contents  of  the  box  in  front  of  him  were  visible 
in  particular  detail.  In  the  second  case,  one  of  those 
intellio;ent  beinc-s  of  the  fourth  dimension  looked  down 
upon  us  from  such  a  height  that  the  contents  of  the 
rectangular  box  were  visible  to  him,  and  he  could 
describe  its  contents  upon  the  slate  by  means  of  the 
pencil. 

It  is  of  interest  to  compare  the  theory  of  clear-seeing 
here  indicated,  with  the  description  of  this  condition 
by  persons  who  have  become  clairvoyant  by  being 
thrown  into  the  so-called  magnetic  sleep  by  a 
"magnctiser."  In  accordance  with  the  above  theory, 
and  the  principle  of  continuity,  we  should  expect  that 
from  the  beginning  of  the  clairvoyant  condition  its 
increasing  development   must    be   attended   with   a 


CLAIRVOYANT   EXPERIENCES.  1 67 

spatial  widening  of  the  three-dimensional  circle  of 
sight,  that  is,  bodies  must  gradually  become  trans- 
parent in  continually  greater  intervals;  quite  in 
analog}''  with  the  increasing  number  of  objects  which 
we  perceive  by  continual  elevation  above  the  earth. 
This  supposition  appears  to  be  confirmed  in  fact  by 
the  descriptions  of  the  American  clairvoyant  Davis, 
who  depicts  his  perceptions  in  the  magnetic  sleep  and 
otherwise  in  the  following  words  :  * — 

"  The  sphere  of  my  vision  now  began  to  widen.  .  .  . 
Next,  I  could  distinctly  perceive  the  walls  of  the 
house.  At  first  they  seemed  very  dark  and  opaque  ; 
but  soon  became  brighter,  and  then  transparent ;  and 
presently  I  could  see  the  walls  of  the  adjoining  dwell- 
ing. These  also  immediately  became  light,  and 
vanished — melting  like  clouds  before  my  advancing 
vision.  I  could  now  see  the  objects,  the  furniture,  and 
persons,  in  the  adjoining  house,  as  easily  as  those  in  the 
room  where  I  was  situated.  At  this  moment  I  heard 
the  voice  of  the  operator.  He  inquired,  *if  I  could 
hear  him  speak  plainly  : '  I  replied  in  the  affirmative. 
He  then  asked  concerning  my  feelings,  and  '  w^hether  I 
could  discern  anything.'  On  my  replying  affirmatively, 
he  desired  me  to  convince  some  persons  who  were 
present,  by  reading  the  title  of  a  book,  with  the  lids 
closed,  behind   four   or   five   other   books.      Having 

*  Tlie  Magic  Staff,   an   autobiography,  by  Andrew  Jackson  Davis, 
p.  217  (13th  edition),  New  York,  1876. 


l68  TRANSCENDENTAL   mYSICS. 

tightly  secured  my  bodily  eyes  with  handkerchiefs, 
he  then  placed  the  books  in  a  horizontal  line  with  my 
forehead,  and  I  saw  and  read  the  title  without  the 
slightest  hesitation.  This  test  and  many  experiments 
of  the  kind  were  tried  and  repeated  ;  and  the  demon- 
stration of  vision,  independent  of  the  i)hysical  organs 
of  sense,  was  clear  and  unquestionable.  .  .  .  But 
my  perceptions  still  flowed  on  !  The  broad  surface  of 
the  earth,  for  many  hundred  miles,  before  the  sweep 
of  my  vision — describing  nearly  a  semicircle — became 
transparent  as  the  purest  water  ;  .  .  .  and  I  saw  the 
brains,  the  viscera,  and  the  complete  anatomy  of 
animals  that  were  (at  that  moment)  sleeping  or  prowl- 
ing about  in  the  forests  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere, 
hioulrcds  and  even  thousands  of  miles  from  the  room 
in  which  I  was  making  these  observations." 

Confidence  in  the  above  description  of  subjective 
representations  in  the  magnetic  and  clairvoyant  con- 
dition being  presupposed,  and  that  these  representa- 
tions can  also  be  repeated  and  confirmed,  according  to 
a  law,  by  other  individuals  under  other  conditions  in 
the  clairvoyant  state,  there  would  be  connected  with 
the  increased  duration  and  depth  of  the  magnetic 
sleep  an  extension  of  the  field  of  our  cubical  vision 
similar  to  the  extension  of  our  field  of  quadratic 
vision,  according  to  the  laws  of  perspective,  which  is 
associated  with  elevation  over  the  earth. 

The  ascertainment  of  these  laws  of  perspective  for 


THE  CRITERION   OF   OBJECTIVITY.  1 69 

space  intuition  widened  by  a  dimension  would  first  of 
all  be  the  task  of  geometry,  just  as  the  elements  of 
Euclid  must  have  been  known  and  have  become  the 
common  property  of  physicists  and  astronomers  before 
the  spatial  significance  of  celestial  phenomena  could 
be  thought.  That  intuitional  images,  or  representa- 
tions of  objects  of  sight  clothed  with  all  the  attributes 
of  sense,  arise,  change  and  disappear  in  our  soul  with- 
out the  intervention  of  the  physical  sight  is  proved 
by  dreams,  hallucinations,  and  illusions.  Of  the 
causes  by  which  these  representations  are  produced  in 
us  we  know  nothing,  and  can  therefore  only  advance 
hypotheses  about  them.  But  if  we  ask  ourselves 
wherein  consists  the  difference  between  these  images 
and  those  which  are  produced  in  us  in  daily  life  by 
means  of  the  sense  of  sight,  we  see  that  there  is 
greater  vivacity,  regularity,  and  continuity  in  the 
latter.  But  the  essential  criterion  for  the  fact  that 
the  latter  class  of  representations  have  real  objects 
in  an  external  world  corresponding  to  them,  is  the 
geoiyietrical  criterion ;  that  is,  the  possibility  for  our 
understanding  to  refer  a  part  of  the  changes  and 
diff"erences  of  those  representations  to  the  geometrical 
laws  of  remoteness  and  position.  Should  the  same 
hold  good  of  the  former  class  of  representations — 
those  not  obtained  through  the  sense  of  sight — we 
should  be  compelled  to  relate  these  also  to  real  objects 
in  au  external  world,  no  matter  whether  the  requisite 


i;0  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

geometrical  laws  are  to  be  sought  in  space  as  hitherto 
conceivecl,  or  as  widened  by  a  dimension. 

In  both  cases,  however,  the  causes  by  which  those 
images  are  produced  remain  unknown  to  us  so  long  as 
their  homogeneity  cannot  be  experimentally  proved. 
We  know  from  internal  experience  that  our  will  is 
able  up  to  a  certain  degree,  by  means  of  the  so-called 
force  of  imagination,  to  produce  at  pleasure  representa- 
tions of  objects  of  sight  in  our  own  soul.  In  this 
case  we  recomiise  our  own  will  as  the  cause  of  our 
representations.  If,  now,  experiments  could  be  insti- 
tuted, in  which  this  individual  will  of  a  single  man 
could  produce  in  like  manner,  at  pleasure,  representa- 
tive images  in  the  soul  of  another,  spatially  separate 
from  the  willing  subject,  these  images  being  clothed  with 
all  the  attributes  of  reality  which  we  ascribe  to  the  so- 
called  real  or  actual  world  surrounding  us,  thereby 
would  experimental  proof  be  afforded  that  the  pheno- 
menon of  a  real  external  world  can  be  produced  and 
evoked  by  an  individual  will,  matched  with  intelli- 
gence, in  another  individual.  But  in  that  case  it 
would  be  a  necessary  conclusion,  according  to  the 
principles  of  scientific  induction,  to  accept  also  a 
qualitatively  similar  cause  for  the  representation  of  our 
whole  real  corporeal  world :  that  is,  an  individual 
will  combined  with  intelligence,  however  much  that 
individual  will  may  excel  the  human  will  in  strength 
and  intelligence  quantitively.     I  maintain   that  the 


MESMERIC  INFLUENCE.  I'Jl 

above  induction  is  scientifically  and  logically  neces- 
sary, and,  moreover,  the  only  possible  one  open  to  a 
rationally  operating  understanding.  Newton  asserts 
the  same  in  the  third  book  of  his  Principia  in  the 
third  Regula  Philosophandi  in  the  following  words  : 

"  Ideoque  effectuiim  naturcdium  ejusdem  generis 
ecedem  assignandce  sunt  causoe  quatenus  JieH  potest; 
— utique  respirationis  in  homine  et  in  hestia ;  descensus 
lapidum  in  Eiiropa  et  America;  lucis  in  igne 
culinari  et  in  Sole;  rcfiexionis  lucis  in  terrd  et  in 
p)lanetis." 

"  Therefore,  the  same  causes  are  to  be  assigned,  as 
far  as  possible,  of  natural  effects  of  the  same  kind ; — 
as  of  respiration  in  man  and  in  beast,  of  the  descent 
of  stones  in  Europe  and  in  America ;  of  light  in  a 
kitchen  fire  as  in  the  sun ;  of  the  reflection  of  light 
on  the  earth  and  in  the  planets." 

In  the  above  case  there  remains  only  the  question 
w^hether  it  is  experimentally  demonstrable  that  the 
human  will  is  able  to  induce  such  vivid  representa- 
tions in  the  consciousness  of  another,  that  the  latter 
regards  them  altogether  as  he  regards  the  representa- 
tions whose  causes  we  ordinarily  designate  as  real 
objects,  or  "  bodies."  Experiments  of  this  kind  have 
been,  in  fact,  publicly  instituted  in  Germany,  by  the 
magnetiser  Hansen,  of  such  a  surprising  and  convinc- 
ing nature,  that  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  the  reality 
of  this   influence  of  an    individual   intellio;ent  will 


172  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

Upon  anotlicr,  spatially  distinct,  individual.*  Conse- 
quently our  understanding  i3  constrained,  accordincj 
to  the  laws  of  scientific  induction  and  Newton's  third 
Regnhi  Philosophandi^  to  accept  an  individual  will, 
joined  with  intelligence,  as  cause  and  author  of  that 
world  of  representations  which  surrounds  us  in  daily 
life,  the  so-called  real  external  world,  or  Nature. 
Whether  this  intelligent  will  in  the  production  of  our 
human  world  of  representations  makes  use  of  numerous 
other  individual  and  intelligent  existences,  or  whether 
there  is  no  other  individualisation  of  intelligent 
will  in  nature  than  human  beings  and  animals,  so 
that  that  highest  author  of  our  real  represented  world 
alone  influences  us,  directly  and  according  to  har- 
monious laws,  is  for  the  present  a  question  of 
secondary  importance.  This  only  is  established,  that 
an  individual  being,  gifted  with  intelligence  and  will, 
must  be  presupposed  as  the  cause  of  our  real  world 
of  representations. 

I  may  here  point  out  that  the  foregoing  induc- 
tions are  not  new  and  peculiar  to  myself.  The 
priority  is  incontestably  due  to  the  English  philo- 
sopher Berkeley,  a  contemporary  and  follower  of 
Newton.     In  his  celebrated  treatise  "  On   the  Prin- 


•  Later,  in  the  same  volume,  the  author  gives  a  detailed  account  of  the 
experiiiiciit's  referred  to.  The  English  reader  will  find  abundant  evidence 
on  the  subject  in  the  late  Professor  Gregory's  book  on  Animal  Mag- 
netism, of  which  a  new  edition  has  been  recently  published.  Harrison ; 
London,  1S77.— Tr. 


BERKELEY  S  IDEALISM.  I  73 

ciples  of  Human  Knowledge"  (section  2,3)y  Berkeley 
remarks  : — 

"  The  ideas  impressed  on  the  senses  by  the  author 
of  nature  are  called  real  things :  and  those  excited  in 
the  imagination  being  less  regular,  vivid,  and  constant, 
are  more  properly  termed  ideas,  or  images  of  things, 
which  they  copy  and  represent.  But  then  our  sensa- 
tions, be  they  never  so  vivid  and  distinct,  are  never- 
theless ideas,  that  is,  they  exist  in  the  mind,  or  are 
perceived  by  it,  as  truly  as  the  ideas  of  its  own  fram- 
ing. The  ideas  of  sense  are  allowed  to  have  more 
reality  in  them,  that  is,  to  be  more  strong,  orderly, 
and  coherent,  than  the  creatures  of  the  mind  ;  but  this 
is  no  argument  that  they  exist  without  the  mind. 
They  are  also  less  dependent  on  the  spirit,  or  thinking 
substance  which  perceives  them,  in  that  they  are 
excited  by  the  will  of  another  and  more  powerful 
spirit ;  yet  still  they  are  ideas,  and  certainly  no  idea, 
whether  faint  or  strong,  can  exist  otherwise  than  in 
a  mind  perceiving  it."  Corresponding  to  this  deduc- 
tion, Berkeley,  in  his  30th  section,  has  the  following, 
on  the  sio;nification  of  the  laws  of  nature  :  *'  The 
ideas  of  sense  are  more  strong,  lively,  and  distinct, 
than  those  of  the  imagination  ;  they  have  likewise  a 
steadiness,  order,  and  coherence,  and  are  not  excited 
at  random,  as  those  which  are  the  effects  of  human 
wills  often  are,  but  in  a  regular  train  or  series — the 
admirable  connection  whereof  sufficiently  testifies  the 


174  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

wisdom  and  bencvoleuce  of  its  author.  Now  tJie  set 
rules,  or  estahlisJied  methods  wherein  the  mind  we 
depend  on  excites  in  us  the  ideas  of  sensCy  are  called 
the  laws  of  nature;  and  these  we  learn  by  experience, 
which  teaches  us  that  such  and  such  id&ts  are  attended 
loith  such  and  such  other  ideas,  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  things." 

After  this  digression,  I  return  to  my  experiments 
with  Shade,  and  will  first  describe  another  experiment, 
l)y  which  the  above  facts,  with  some  modifications, 
were  essentially  confirmed. 


{     175    ) 


dljaptet  Cent!). 

AN    EXPERIMENT  FOB   SCEPTICS — A   WAGER — SLADE'S     SCRUPLES— A    REBUKE   BY 
THE  SPIRITS— AN  UNEXPECTED  RESULT— CAPTIOUS  OBJECTIONS. 

In  order  to  satisfy  others,  who  have  not  personally  taken 
part  in  the  sittings  with  Slade,  of  the  reality  of  the  phe- 
nomena, especially  of  the  slate-writing  within  a  locked 
double,  or  *  book,'  slate,  I  hit  upon  the  following  ex- 
pedient. I  had  bought  at  the  paper  and  office-utensil 
warehouse  of  F.  G.  Mulius,  in  this  place  (Market  No. 
13),  a  great  number  of  such  book -slates  provided  with 
hinges.  These  bear  inside  on  the  polished  wooden 
frames  the  manufacture  mark  ^'  A.  W.  Faber,  No.  58," 
are  rectangular,  and  their  outer  extent  amounts  to  260 
millimetres  in  length  and  184  millimetres  in  breadth. 
Since  the  breadth  of  the  wooden  frames  is  20  milli- 
metres, there  remains  for  the  size  of  the  two  interior 
slate  surfaces  a  rectangular  surface  of  220  millimetres 
in  length,  and  144  millimetres  in  breadth.  Since  the 
plane  of  the  wooden  frame  overtops  that  of  the  slate- 
surface  within,  on  each  side,  by  about  3  millimetres, 
there  is  within  such  a  book-slate,  when  completely 
closed,  a  free  space  of  220  millimetres  length,  144 
millimetres  breadth,  and  6  millimetres  depth.     At  the 


I  76  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

side  whoro  tho  hinges  are  (wliich  are  very  solid,  of 
l)rass,  and  20  millimetres  broad),  the  edges  of  the 
wooden  frame  shut  together  so  tigrht  that  it  is  ini- 
possible  to  pass  between  them  any  object  of  appreci- 
able thickness  (for  example  a  single  sheet  of  writing- 
paper),  and  so  to  introduce  it  into  the  inner  space  of 
the  closed  slate.  Moreover,  the  interval  between  the 
brass  hinges — each  fastened  by  six  wooden  screws — is 
only  122  millimetres.  On  the  front  side,  each  of  the 
two  wooden  frames  has  a  pierced  cylindrical  brass 
spiral  of  1 5  millimetres  length,  and  6  millimetres  inner 
aperture ;  so  that,  the  slate  being  shut,  a  slate-pencil 
can  be  stuck  through  both  these  spirals,  by  which 
means  the  two  slates  can  then  be  firmly  closed 
together.  When  thus  closed,  the  space  covered  by 
these  two  spirals  on  the  front  side  in  the  middle  of  the 
wooden  frame  amounts,  like  the  hinges,  to  40  milli- 
metres, while  between  the  two  spirals  is  still  left  a 
small  interval  of  3  millimetres.  On  the  outside,  the 
slates  are  cased  with  brown  lacquered  wood. 

With  one  of  these  slates  I  betook  myself,  on  the  6th 
May  1878,  in  the  forenoon,  to  the  residence  of  my 
colleague  Wach,  Professor  of  Criminal  Law  in  this 
University,  and  imparted  to  him  my  above-mentioned 
idea.  Professor  Wach  was  entirely  of  my  opinion, 
that  such  a  slate,  if  firmly  sealed  after  insertion  of  a 
small  piece  of  pencil,  and  then  written  upon  inside 
in  the   presence   of  Slade,  would  aflord   convincing 


FASTENING  A  BOOK  SLATE.  177 

proof,  even  for  persons  who  had  not  themselves  taken 
part  in  such  a  sitting,  of  the  reality  of  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  phenomena  occurring  in  Slade's 
presence.  ISIy  colleague  was  also  ready  immediately 
to  make  an  experiment  himself  in  the  manner  pro- 
posed. After  a  small  splinter  of  pencil,  of  the  size 
commonly  used  by  Slade,  was  laid  upon  one  of  the 
slates,  the  slate  was  shut  and  then  fastened  by  stickiug 
two  strips  of  paper,  35  millimetres  broad,  with  liquid 
glue  over  the  shorter  frame  (184  millimetres  long). 
Over  the  edges  of  the  strips  of  paper  so  glued  on 
Professor  AYach  also  placed  two  seals,  on  each  side, 
impressed  with  his  own  signet.  The  strips  of  paper 
were  intentionally  inscribed  on  the  inner  side  to 
facilitate  discovery  in  the  event  of  an  artificial  reunion 
after  tearing.  My  suggestion  to  place  two  seals  also 
on  the  front  side  for  greater  security,  my  colleague 
rejected  as  superfluous,  since  he  was  firmly  convinced 
that  the  securing  with  four  seals  completely  sufficed 
already  for  the  discovery  of  any  artifice.  With  the 
slate  thus  fastened  I  repaired  to  the  residence  of  my 
friend  Oscar  von  Hoff'mann,  and  told  him  my  design 
in  this  way  to  induce  conviction  of  the  reality  of  some 
remarkable  spiritualistic  facts  even  in  those  who  were 
not  taking  part  in  the  sittings.  I  gave  it,  at  the  same 
time,  as  my  opinion  that  it  would  be  much  more  con- 
venient for  strong  mediums  to  convince  the  world  of 
their  innocence  in  this  way  than  by  public  or  private 


178  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

sittings  :  and  that  Mr.  Shule  could  render  his  material 
existence  much  less  troublesome  and  full  of  care  hy 
simply  allowing  such  well-sealed  slates  to  be  sent  to 
him,  for  a  fixed  price,  in  order  to  be  returned  to  the 
sender  when  written  upon.  Of  course  the  whole 
applicability  and  demonstrative  force  of  the  proceed- 
ing depends  on  the  presupposition  that  it  must  be 
possible  so  to  secure  such  a  double  slate  that  it  would 
be  impossible  for  the  cleverest  conjurer  or  other  artist 
so  to  open  and  fasten  it  again,  that  this  operation 
could  not  be  detected  by  tlie  sender  of  the  slate  on 
receiving  it  back.  In  principle,  indeed,  the  postal 
authorities  and  the  public  go  upon  this  assumption 
in  the  transmission  of  well-sealed  letters  containing 
money.  (Consequently,  for  the  experimental  applica- 
tion of  this  proceeding  with  respect  to  Shade's  slate- 
writiuor,  the  condition  that  the  so  sealed  slates  should 
not  be  accessible  to  Slade  before  the  sitting,  is  eo  ipso 
dispensed  with.  For  it  is  just  this  precaution  which 
is  laid  aside  as  superfluous  by  reason  of  the  secure 
mode  of  fastening,  so  that  Mr.  Slade,  even  if  he  wished 
fraudulently  to  open  the  slate,  and  after  writing  on  it 
a  message,  to  close  it  up  again,  would  find  it  impos- 
sible to  do  this  without  discovery.  The  aim  of  the 
whole  proceeding  would  thus  fail,  if  the  condition  had 
been  imposed  upon  me  to  keep  the  so  sealed  slates 
continually  under  my  care  and  observation  till  the 
sitting.     After  my  conversation  with  Herr  Oscar  von 


THE  SLATE  ADDITIONALLY  SEALED.  1 79 

Hofifmann,  I  therefore  placed  that  slate  quietly  in  the 
room  in  my  friend's  house  appointed  for  Slade's  use. 
Slade  himself,  so  far  as  I  can  recollect,  was  not  at 
home  at  that  time ;  and  I  first  saw  him  again  on  the 
evening  of  that  day  (6th  May  1878  at  about  8.45)  for 
the  purpose  of  a  sitting.  After  some  words  of  greeting 
I  took  the  slate  from  the  closet  *  near  the  table,  and 
explained  to  Mr.  Slade,  who  now  apparently  saw  the 
slate  for  the  first  time,  the  object  I  had  in  view  in 
regard  to  it.  We  both,  one  after  the  other,  satisfied 
ourselves,  by  shaking,  that  the  small  piece  of  pencil 
was  between  the  surfaces  of  the  two  slates.  I  now 
laid  this  slate  on  that  side  of  the  card-table  (to  Slade's 
left)  where  were  the  other  slates  and  difierent  objects, 
with  which  it  remained  lying  from  noiv  continuously 
under  my  eyes.  Immediately  after  laying  down  the 
slate  I  sat  with  Slade  at  the  card-table,  on  which  a 
brightly  burning  candle  stood.  Slade  hereupon  took 
up  again  in  his  hand  the  slate  referred  to,  I  narrowly 
and  continually  watching  it,  and  asked  me  whether  I 
would  not  like  to  affix  two  seals  to  both  sides  of 
the  above-described  cylindrical  brass  spirals,  and  to 
impress  them  with  my  own  signet.  Having  the 
latter  in  my  pocket,  and  a  stick  of  sealing-wax  lying 
on  the  table  among  other  writing  utensils,  I  at  once. 


*  In  the  frontispiece,  showing  the  sitting-room,  -will  be  seen  the  closet, 
•with  other  objects  on  it,  among  the  rest  a  Mitchell's  Polarising  Sac- 
charometer. 


l8o  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

Oil  the  above  words  of  Slade,  took  the  slate  witli  my 
left  hand,  drew  the  signet  from  my  right  troii.ser 
pocket,  laid  it  on  the  tabic,  then  took  the  sealing-wax, 
holding  the  slate  all  the  time  with  my  left  hand,  with 
the  wooden  edges  which  had  to  be  sealed  turned 
upwards.  Thereupon,  holding  tliese  edges  firmly 
pressed  together  with  my  left  hand,  I  placed  on  the 
above-indicated  places  two  large  seals,  on  which  I 
pressed  my  signet.  When  the  wax  had  become  cold, 
the  two  wooden  edoies  of  the  closed  slates  were  thus 
so  tightly  connected  that  it  was  impossible  to  push  a 
sheet  of  paper  through  those  parts  which  were  not 
stuck  with  paper  and  seals.  Thereupon  I  laid  the 
slate  so  fastened  upon  the  table,  and  indeed  at  a  place 
at  least  a  foot  and  a  half  removed  from  Slude's  hands, 
which  lay  under  mine,  and  were  thereby  controlled. 
I  now  joined  in  conversation  with  Slade,  and  asked 
him,  among  other  things,  whether  he  had  not  yet 
tried,  instead  of  slate-writing,  to  obtain  writing  with 
lead  pencil  and  paper,  since  this  would  be  an  extremely 
interesting  variation  of  the  direct  writing  produced  in 
his  presence.  Slade  replied  that  he  had  not,  but  was 
at  once  ready  to  make  the  attempt.  We  unlinked 
our  bauds,  and  I  took  from  the  writing  utensils  lying 
ready  on  the  table  a  half  sheet  of  common  letter  paper 
(219  millimetres  long,  143  millimetres  broad,  manu- 
facture mark  Bath),  folded  it  again  about  the  middle, 
as  if  it  had  to  be  put  into  a  large  letter-cover  144 


FURTHER   PREPARATIONS.  l8l 

millimetres  broad  and  iio  millimetres  deep,  and  laid 
between  the  two  halves  of  this  sheet  a  cylindrical  piece 
of  graphite  of  5  millimetres  length  and  i  millimetre 
thickness,  such  as  is  used  for  lead-pencil  holders.  I 
was  about  to  lay  this  piece  of  paper,  so  folded  with  the 
bit  of  graphite  lying  in  the  fold,  under  the  above- 
described  sealed  slate,  when  Slade,  under  control,  pro- 
posed that  I  should  tear  off  two  bits  from  a  corner  of 
the  folded  paper  and  keep  these  by  me.  I  at  once 
recognised  the  importance  of  this  precaution,  to  estab- 
lish the  identity  of  the  piece  of  paper  in  case  it  was 
written  on,  or  disappeared  and  reappeared  after  some 
time.  Two  pieces  were  therefore,  according  to  Slade's 
suo;o;estion,  torn  off  at  the  same  time  from  one  corner 
of  the  folded  half  sheet,  and  these  I  forthwith  put 
into  the  gold-compartment  of  my  purse.  Then  the 
slate  was  again  laid  on  the  above-described  place  on 
the  table,  and  under  it  was  pushed  the  folded  half 
sheet  of  letter  paper  with  the  stick  of  graphite  lying 
between  the  folds,  so  that  the  slate  completely  covered 
it.  We  next  laid  our  hands  again  upon  the  table,  as 
before,  Slade's  hands  firmly  covered  by  mine,  and  thus 
prevented  from  moving. 

We  had  sat  quietly  in  this  position  for  some  time, 
perhaps  five  minutes,  but  nothing  worth  notice 
occurred.  Slade  often  shuddered,  as  by  a  spasm 
passing  through  him,  but  all  remained  quiet,  so  that 
we  became  impatient,  and  Slade  resorted  to  his  usual 

M 


lS2  TRANSCENDENTAL   PUYSICS. 

expedient  of  Legging  information  from  liis  spirits, 
by  help  of  a  slate  held  half  under  the  table.  We 
unjoined  our  hands  for  this  purpose.  Slade  took  the 
uppermost  of  the  slates,  which  always  lay  in  readiness 
at  his  left,  bit  a  splinter  from  a  slate-pencil,  laid  it  on 
the  slate,  and  held  iliu  latter  with  his  left  hand  half 
under  the  table,  while  he  placed  his  right  hand  again 
under  both  of  mine.  We  forthwith  distinctly  heard 
writing,  and  very  soon  afterwards  the  three  ticks 
[tick- tads)  wiiich  announced  that  the  writing  was 
linished.  When  the  slate  was  drawn  out  and  eagerly 
examined  by  us,  the  following  words  were  upon  it — 
"  Look  for  your  paper."  I  immediately  raised  the 
sealed  slate  to  look  for  the  folded  sheet  of  letter-paper 
pushed  under  it,  with  the  bit  of  graphite  inside,  about 
five  minutes  before  :  both  had  disappeared.  I  was 
startled,  indeed,  at  this  unexpected  phenomenon,  but 
not  particularly  astonished,  since  I  had  already  in 
earlier  sittings  witnessed  the  disappearance  and  re- 
appearance of  objects  so  abundantly  and  under  such 
stringent  conditions,  that  this  fact  in  and  for  itself 
ofiered  nothing  any  longer  new  for  me.  I  looked 
often  anxiously  to  the  ceiling  of  the  room,  in  the 
hope  that  the  paper  would  fall  down,  by  good  chance 
written  upon,  but  it  came  not,  nor  did  anything  else 
remarkable  happen.  I  therefore  desired  Slade  again 
to  ask  his  spirits  in  the  usual  manner,  which  he  at 
once  did  by  means  of  one  of  the  slates  lying  ready. 


SUCCESS    OF    THE   EXPERIMENT.  1 83 

The  noise  of  writing  was  immediately  heard,  and  on 
the  slate  being  withdrawn,  was  upon  it — "  The  paper  is 
between  the  slates,  and  it  is  ivritten  on  it "  {sic). 
Highly  pleased  at  the  ingenious  combination  of 
physical  and  intellectual  phenomena,  I  forthwith 
seized  the  sealed  slate,  shook  it  violently,  and  in  fact 
distinctly  heard  the  shifting  movement  of  a  paper 
lying  between  the  sides.  Notwithstanding  the  late- 
ness of  the  hour  (it  was  about  half-past  ten  o'clock), 
I  repaired  at  once  to  the  residence  of  my  colleague 
Wach,  in  order  that  the  double-slate,  sealed  by  him  in 
the  morning,  might  be  opened  in  his  presence  and  by 
himself.  However,  I  did  not  find  Professor  Wach  at 
home ;  I  could  only  leave  word  that  I  would  come 
ao;ain  the  next  mornine;.  The  slate  itself  I  did  not 
let  out  of  my  custody,  and  took  it  with  me  to  my 
residence  for  the  night.  Previously,  I  returned  to 
the  residence  of  my  friend  0.  von  Hoffmann,  and 
informed  him  of  my  fruitless  visit  to  my  colleague 
Wach.  AVe  decided  to  request  the  latter  the  next 
day  to  go  with  us  (Von  Hoffmann  and  me)  all  together 
to  the  residence  of  my  colleague  Thiersch,  there  to 
open  the  sealed  slate  and  take  a  view  of  the  contents. 
Herr  Counsellor  Thiersch  was  so  far  interested  in  this 
experiment,  that  he  likewise  had  furnished  me  with  a 
slate,  sealed  with  the  greatest  care  and  circumspec- 
tion, for  application  to  the  purpose  named.  The  con- 
tinuing and  advancing  phenomena,  and  the  certainty 


184  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

with  which  thi'V  presented  themselves  in  my  daily 
sittings  with  Slado  (morning  and  evening),  for  the 
most  part  immediately  we  had  taken  our  places  at  the 
table,  h:i<l  so  raised  my  confidence  in  the  success  of 
(.dl  my  proposed  experiments,  that  I  engaged  without 
tliinking  in  a  wager  with  my  colleague  Thiersch  to 
the  amount  of  300  marks,  wliich  in  event  of  failure  I 
engaged  to  pay  in  any  form  he  thought  proper.  Ou 
the  other  hand,  if  writing  appeared  within  the  slates 
sealed  by  him,  I  desired  the  sum  of  300  marks  due 
to  me  to  be  paid  as  recompense  to  Mr.  Slade.  ]\Iy 
colleague  Thiersch  accepted  this  wager,  and  being 
fond  of  a  good  cigar,  proposed  that  I  should  pay  him 
the  appointed  value  of  tlie  bet  in  the  shape  of  a 
thousand  cigars.  I  requested  my  colleague  to  send 
me  a  slate  well  sealed  to  the  residence  of  Herr  0.  von 
Hoffmann  that  evening,  when,  with  my  mother,  I  took 
supper  in  company  witli  my  friend's  family  circle  and 
Slade.  When  the  slate  in  a  great  sealed  packet  was 
brought  and  delivered  to  me  towards  eight  o'clock, 
just  as  we  were  sitting  at  table,  I  mentioned  half  jest- 
ingly to  Mr.  Slade  the  object  with  which  it  was  sent, 
also  the  bet,  exclusively  in  his  interest,  with  my 
colleague.  A  certain  displeasure  was  at  once  apparent 
in  Slade's  features,  as  if  I  had  done  something  repug- 
nant to  his  feelings,  and  for  w^hich  I  had  not  been 
authorised  by  him.  I  endeavoured  to  allay  his 
scruples  by  the  remark  tluit  I  indeed  had  concluded 


A   WAGER   DISAPPROVED.  1 85 

the  wager  on  my  own  account,  and  it  rested  entirely 
witli  me  or  with  him  to  apply  the  300  marks  when 
won  to  a  benevolent  object.  Slade  replied  he  would 
very  willingly  try  whether  his  spirits  were  ready  to 
M'rite  upon  that  slate,  but  he  refused  beforehand 
acceptance  of  any  of  the  money  in  case  of  success ;  he 
begged  me,  notwithstanding  my  last  remark,  to  retire 
from  the  wager  into  which  I  had  entered.  I  accord- 
ingly wrote  by  return  a  few  lines  to  my  colleague 
Thiersch,  informing  him  of  Slade's  decidedly  expressed 
wish,  and  that  under  these  circumstances  the  agree- 
ment between  us  had  fallen  through.  I  have  inten- 
tionally communicated  in  some  detail  this  rejection  by 
Slade,  as  reflecting  a  trait  of  his  character,  in  order,  on 
the  one  hand,  to  show  his  opponents  the  injustice  of 
their  allegations  that  he  is  a  fraudulent  conjurer  who 
wishes  to  make  "  money  "  and  "  commerce  "  (Geschdfte) 
of  his  "  art ; "  on  the  other,  to  enable  my  readers  to 
form  a  judgment,  from  the  contents  of  the  following 
slate- message,  upon  the  moral  characteristics  of  Slade's 
"  four-dimensional  intelligent  beings."  The  original 
English  text  of  this  communication,  obtained  upon  a 
slate  on  the  6th  May  1878,  is  word  for  word  as 
follows  : — 

"  Dear  Friends, — A  work  is  before  you  of  a  vast 
interest  to  all  humanity,  and  is  the  best  to  follow  the 
plans  laid  down  by  us  in  order  to  develop  the  good 
that  is  to  come  out  of  your  investigation — never  make 


lS6  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

any  boast,  or  iiever  put  up  money  on  this  holy  subject 
—it  is  a  law  not  made  by  men  but  by  God — we  will 
bring  you  light  as  fast  as  you  are  able  to  see — and 
not  be  blinded  by  its  rays." 

When,  next  morning,  I  made  my  appearance  again 
at  the  residence  of  my  friend  0.  von  Hoffmann  with 
my  sealed  slate,  in  which  should  be  the  piece  of  paper 
written  on  with  pencil,  Slade  fell  suddenly,  at  break- 
fast, into  one  of  his  well-known  trances ;  and  with 
closed  eyes  and  altered  tone  of  voice  made  an  address 
to  me  in  English  which,  in  conclusion,  contained  state- 
ments of  what  we  should  find — ou  opening  the  sealed 
double-slate — written  with  pencil  on  the  paper  lying 
therein.  As  generally  in  such  cases,  Herr  0.  von 
Hoffmann  wrote  down,  as  far  as  possible,  the  words 
spoken  by  Slade  during  his  state  of  trance.  They 
were  as  follows  :  * — 

"  Persevere  firmly  and  courageously  untroubled 
about  thy  opponents,  whose  daggers  drawn  upon  thee 
will  turn  back  upon  themselves.  The  scattered  seed 
will  find  a  good  soil :  the  minds  of  good  men,  although 
lower  natures  are  not  able  to  value  it.  In  what  you 
have  witnessed,  others  later  on  will  discover  new 
beauties  which  escai)e  you  at  the  time.  For  science 
it  will  be  an  event  of  unprecedented  significance. 
We  rejoice  that  the  atmospheric  conditions  have  been 

•  The  original  En};lish  is  not  piveii,  so  that  tlic  Gcmian  tmiiBlatioii 
has  to  1k3  rc-tninslatod  into  Eii;,'li.sli,  nut,  probably,  verbally  identical  with 
yiailc's  language. — Note  by  Translator, 


A   COMMUNICATION   IN   TRANCE.  1 8/ 

favourable  to  us,  for  tlie  conditions  must  be  present, 
and,  iu  part,  prepared.  Tiiey  cannot  be  explained 
any  more  than  those,  for  example,  which  must  imme- 
diately precede  the  falling  asleep.  Neither  in  the  one 
case  nor  in  the  other  can  they  be  compelled.  Many 
enemies  of  the  movement  will  be  its  friends,  as  one 
of  the  most  important — Carpenter,  whose  antagonistic 
disposition  has  been  already,  now,  through  thy  labours, 
somewhat  shaken,  and  who  later  will  be  thy  fellow- 
labourer  in  the  same  field.  As  regards  the  manifes- 
tation of  yesterday  evening,  you  will  find  upon  the 
paper  sentences  in  three  different  languages  ;  there  are 
somefaults  in  the  German  and  English.  At  the  lower 
end  you  will  find  circles,  by  which  we  will  denote  the 
different  dimensions  of  space.  To-morrow  morning  0. 
Ton  Hoffmann  shall  again  take  part  in  the  sitting,  and 
to-morrow  evening  something  strange  will  happen."  * 
These  words  were  spoken  by  Mr.  Slade,  in  a  trance, 
as  remarked,  somewhere  about  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  7th  May  1878,  quite  unexpectedly  to 
us,  during  a  lunch-breakfast,  and  three  hours  later  I 
met  my  colleagues  Wach  and  Herr  0.  von  Hoffmann 
at  the  residence  of  the  Counsellor  Thiersch,  in  order 
to  open  the  slates  fastened  with  six  seals,  and  which 
had  been  up  to  this  time  continually  iu  my  custody. 
When  this  was  done,  we  found,  within,  the  piece  of 

*  Oa  the  eveuhi;,'  of  the  Sth  May  (from  8.20  to  8.35  o'clock)  the  two 
endless  leather  strips  Avere  knotted  fourfold  under  njy  hands,  held  over 
them.     See  antf-,  p.  8r. 


I  88  TUANSCENDEXTAL    PHYSKS. 

paper  which  liadbcen  folded  by  me  the  evening  before, 
with  the  Rtick  of  grapliite,  completely  smooth,  without 
showing  any  other  fohlings  whatever  which  could 
denote  a  forcible  insertion  through  a  ii;irn>w  cleft. 
This  would  moreover  have  been  altogether  impossible 
without  injury  to  the  seals,  since  the  extent  of  the 
edges  of  the  frame  left  free  between  my  seals  and  the 
strips  of  paper  employed  for  fastening  by  Professor 
AVach — quite  apart  from  their  tight  adhesion  to  each 
other — amounted  at  the  maximum  to  only  So  milli- 
metres, whereas  the  narrowest  side  of  the  folded  sheet  of 
letter  paper  amounted  to  1 19  millimetres.  The  often- 
mentioned  two  brass  spirals  on  the  front  side  of  the 
slate  clasped  one  over  the  other  in  such  a  manner  that 
every  possibility  was  excluded  of  shoving  in  a  piece  of 
paper  from  this  side.  After  opening  the  slate,  I  took 
from  my  purse  the  two  bits  of  paper  torn  off  on  the 
evening  before  and  satisfied  myself  and  my  friends  of 
their  perfect  adaptation  to  the  sheet  of  paper  found. 
All  little  irregularities  of  the  edojes  fitted  into  each 
other  so  exactly,  that  not  the  slightest  doubt  couhl 
prevail  that  the  torn-off  bits  of  paper  formed  the  com- 
pletion of  the  half  sheet  of  letter  paper. 

I  reproduce  here  the  writing  obtained,  so  far  as  it 
is  possible  for  me  to  read  it. 

Gottes  Vaterlreue  geht 
Ueher  alU  Welt  hinaus 
Jiete  (lass  sie  (?)  kehrt 
Ein  in  unser  arvies  llaus 


VERIFICATION.  189 

Wh'  mussen  alle  sterbeu 
Ob  arm  wii'  oder  reich 
Und  werden  einst  erwerhen 
Das  schdne  Himmelreieh. 


Now,  is  the  4th  dimension  proven  f  We  are  not 
ivorhing  ivith  the  slate-peneil  or  on  the  slate,  as  our 
powers  are  noiv  in  other  directions. 

The  strange  writing  is  unknown  to  me.  (Javanese  V) 
Thus  was  fully  established  the  correctness  of  that 
which  Slade  had  said  in  the  state  of  trance  about  the 
contents  of  the  writing  three  hours  before  opening  the 
slate.  If  I  had  not  had  the  sealed  slate  from  the  end 
of  the  sitting  continually  in  my  custody,  it  would  be 
possible,  by  disregarding  the  circuoistances  described 
by  me  above  with  the  utmost  exactitude,  under  which 
the  sheet  of  paper  disappeared  and  was  written  upon, 
just  on  this  account  to  raise  suspicion  against  Slade, 
as  was  in  fact  the  case  with  my  colleagues  Thiersch 
and  Wach.  Already  the  circumstance  that  the  writ- 
ing was  not,  as  expected,  with  the  slate-pencil  on  the 
inside  of  the  sealed  slate  had  awakened  their  distrust, 
and  was  looked  upon  by  them  as  a  violation  of  the 
conditions  prescribed  by  them.  I  myself,  who  had 
personally  witnessed  all  the  above-described  manifes- 
tations, and  was  accustomed  to  similar  deviations,  was 
exceedingly  pleased  with  the  result  obtained.  It  was 
also  in  fact  far  more  instructive  for  me  than  slate- 
writing  produced  between  the  slates  would  have  been. 


I90  TRANSCENDENTAL  PHYSICS. 

For  of  the  reality  of  that  fact  I  had  satisfied  myself*  so 
often,  and  under  such  stringent  conditions,  partly  alone, 
partly  with  my  honoured  friend  W.  Weber  that  I  my- 
self could  have  learned  absolutely  nothing  new  thereby. 
On  the  other  hand,  through  the  modification  of  the  ex- 
periment, first,  my  wish  was  fulfilled  of  getting  writing 
with  lead-pencil  upon  paper  instead  of  on  a  slate  ; 
secondly,  I  obtained  a  splendid  proof  of  the  apparent 
penetration  of  matter  ;  thirdly,  an  equally  cogent  proof 
of  clairvoyance,  since  Slade,  to  whom  nothing  of  the 
contents  of  the  sealed  slate  could  be  conveyed  by  his 
senses,  was  nevertheless  able  to  make  a  correct  state- 
ment concerning  them  in  his  state  of  trance. 

TIlis  admirable  economy  of  instruction,  which  is 
evidenced  in  the  whole  arrangement  and  progress  of 
the  phenomena  that  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  observe 
in  Slade's  presence,  proves  for  me,  more  than  all  other 
circumstances,  the  high  intelligence  and  friendly  dis- 
position of  those  invisible  beings,  under  whose  guid- 
ance these  experiments  were. 

I  can  here  only  thankfully  express  that  conviction 
by  again  referring  to  the  comparison  already  made 
between  these  unexjx'cted  occurrences  and  the  provi- 
dential fatality  observed  in  life.t 

•  Compare  the  experiment  in  presence  of  W.  Weber  (described  aufe, 
p.  44),  in  wbich  a  b»ng  wriliii<j  was  obtained  lietween  two  slates  bound 
t<»j,'etber  crosswise,  not  toucbcd  by  Slade's  or  our  liandu — these  all  lying 
linke<l  toj^ethcr  on  the  table. 

t  See  ante,  p.  101.  The  pa^sape  is  repeatctl  in  the  text  from  a  former 
volume.  The  phrase  "  providential  fatality"  is  not  the  author's,  but 
appears  to  sunmiari.se  tlie  view  expressed  in  the  pas-sage  referred  to. — Tr. 


(     191     ) 


Cfiapter  <BleMenili. 


WRinXG   THROUGH  A  TABLE — A   TEST  IN  SLATE-WEITING    CONCLUSIVELY 
DISPROVING  SLADE'S  AGENCY. 


The  most  physically  astonishing  thing  in  the  experi- 
ments hitherto  related,  is,  without  doubt,  the  facility 
with  which  material  bodies  apparently  pass  through 
each  other.  Thus,  the  folded  sheet  of  paper,  without 
betraying  the  slightest  traces  of  force  applied,  or 
of  pressure  in  the  transit,  had  apparently  penetrated 
throuo;h  a  slate  covered  outside  with  wood  into  the 
interior  of  the  double  slate. 

I  obtained  one  of  the  most  remarkable  confirmations 
of  this  apparent  suspension  of  the  law  of  impenetra- 
bility of  matter  in  a  sitting  on  the  9th  May,  1878, 
from  eleven  to  a  quarter-past  eleven  in  the  morning. 
Immediately  after  I  had  sat  down  with  Slade  at  the 
card-table,  I  conversed  with  him  at  first  on  the  power 
of  his  invisible  intelligent  beings,  by  means  of  which 
material  bodies  could  be  apparently  penetrated  with 
as  much  facility  as  if  they  were  permeable.  Slade 
shared  my  amazement,  assuring  me  that  never  until 
now  had  such  an  abundance  of  this  sort  of  phenomena 
been  observed  in  his  presence.    Immediately  after  this 


I  02  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

remark  he  took  up  with  liis  left  liaiid  two  shites  of 
t'tjual  size  from  among  the  slates  which  lay  on  the 
table  at  his  left,  and  wliicji  had  been  boujiht  and 
cleaned  by  my.self.  He  handed  me  these  two  slates, 
and  desired  me  to  press  the  one  upon  the  upper 
surface,  the  other  airainst  the  under  surface  of  tlie 
table,  with  my  left  hand,  so  that  the  thumb  of  my 
left  hand  pressed  the  up[ier,  my  other  four  fingei-s  the 
under  slate,  against  the  flat  of  the  table,  as  may  be 
seen  from  the  woodcut,  Plate  VII.  Beneath  the  ui)per 
slate  on  the  table,  a  splinter  of  slate-pencil  had  first; 
been  laid,  so  that  it  was  thus  completely  covered  by 
the  upper  slate.  Slade  then  placed  both  his  hands  on 
the  middle  of  the  table,  about  a  foot  from  the  two 
slates,  and  requested  me  to  cover  his  hands  with  my 
right  hand.  Scarcely  was  this  done  when  I  distinctly 
heard  writing  on  one  of  the  slates  which  were  pressed 
firmly  by  me  against  the  table.  After  the  conclusion 
of  the  writing  was  signified,  as  usual,  by  three  ticks 
quickly  in  succession,  I  took  the  slates  apart,  and  of 
course  expected  that  the  one  which  had  been  above 
tlie  table  would  be  that  written  on,  since  on  the  table 
still  lay  the  bit  of  pencil  in  the  same  place  in  which 
I  had  laid  it  a  minute  before.  How  great  was  my 
astonishment  to  find  the  under  slate  written  on,  on  the 
side  that  had  been  turned  to  the  table.  Just  as  if  the 
bit  of  pencil  had  written  through  the  three-quarter  inch 
of  oak  table,  or  as  if  the  latter  had,  for  the  invisible 


AN  EXPERIMENTAL  REFUTATION.        1 95 

writer,  not  been  there  at  all.  Upon  the  slate  was  the 
foUowino;  message  in  Eno;lish  : — 

'*  We  shall  not  do  much  for  you  this  morning — we 
wish  to  replenish  your  strength  for  this  evening  ;  you 
will  require  to  be  very  passive  or  we  shall  not  be  able 
to  accomplish  our  work. 

"  The  table  does  not  hinder  us  the  least — we  could 
write  in  this  way  more  often,  but  people  are  not  pre- 
pared for  it." 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  (6th  May,  1878) 
took  place  the  amazing  transport  of  the  wooden  rings 
from  a  sealed  string;  of  catgut  to  the  foot  of  a  wooden 
table.* 

In  order  to  meet  the  above  suggestion,  so  repeatedly 
raised,  that  Mr.  Slade  himself  writes  on  slates  by 
means  of  a  small  piece  of  pencil  which  he  has  inserted 
between  the  nail  and  the  flesh  of  one  of  his  fin<xers,  I 
had  purchased  at  the  above-mentioned  writing-utensil- 
warehouse  of  Mylius,  half  a  dozen  slates,  of  such 
dimensions  that  such  a  manipulation  was  absolutely 
impossible.  I  here  presuppose  in  my  readers  so 
much  understanding,  that  they  concede  to  me  that 
any  one  who  will  write  on  a  slate  in  the  manner  indi- 
cated, while  holding  it  at  the  same  time,  must  be  able 
to  touch  with  his  fingers  all  those  parts  of  the  slate 
which  are  written  upon.  Now  the  slates  purchased 
by  me  possess  a  length  of  334  millimetres,  and  a 

*  Ante,  p.  105, 


196  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

lireacltli  of  155  milliinetivs,  with  the  ni:in\ifiictnre 
mark  A.  W.  Fabcr,  No.  39.  Grasj)  ami  hold  such  a 
slate  as  one  will,  vwn  the  largest  human  hand  with 
the  fingers  completely  spread  out,  cannot  by  a  long 
way  reach  all  points  of  the  slate-surface.  Is  therefore 
such  a  slate,  in  the  way  usually  employed  by  Mr. 
Slade,  written  over  upon  its  whole  upper  surface,  so 
is  the  above-adduced  explanation  physically  impos- 
sible, and  therefore  out  of  the  question. 

When  I  repaired  with  Slade  to  our  sitting-room  at 
the  house  of  my  friend  0.  von  Hoffmann  at  half-past 
eight  on  the  evening  of  the  7th  May,  1878, 1  took  with 
me  several  of  such  slates,  bought  l>y  myself,  and  first 
carefully  cleaned,  and  laid  them  down  l)efore  me  on 
the  card-table,  at  which  we  at  once  took  our  places. 
►Scarcely  were  we  seated,  when  Slade  fell  into  a  trance, 
which  till  then  had  never  happened  so  immediately 
after  our  sitting  down,  folded  his  hands,  and  uttered, 
with   altered  voice   and    head    upturned,   so    fine  a 
prayer,  that  I  never  shall  forget  the  impression  which 
the  noble  speech    and    the   fervour  with  which   the 
prayer  was  spoken  made  upon  me.     The  impression 
was  to  me  so  unex[)ected,  and  interested  me,  by  the 
lesthetic  in  the  whole  demeanour  of  Slade  with  his 
almost  transfigured  countenance,  so  highly,  that  I.  did 
not  remember  to  write  down  the  words.     The  sub- 
stance of  the  prayer  was  a  petition  to  God  further  to 
vouchsafe  His  blessing  on   our  experiments,  and  to 


AWAKING  FROM  TRANCE.  I  97 

suffer  the  Avork  undertaken  to  end  happily  for  the 
good  of  mankind.  As  usual  with  Slade,  on  waking 
out  of  such  states  of  trance,  there  was  first  a  rolling 
motion  of  the  head,  and  then  he  awoke  suddenly  with 
a  spasm,  which  shook  his  whole  body,  and  there  was 
always,  before  opening  of  the  eyes,  a  peculiar  cracking 
of  the  muscles  of  his  neck  and  jaw.  Of  what  he  had 
spoken  in  trance,  Mr.  Slade  asserted  that  he  knew 
absohitely  nothing.  Those  who  have  been  witnesses 
of  the  experiments  of  the  magnetiser  Hansen  will 
be  able  most  clearly  to  represent  to  themselves  the 
demeanour  of  awaking  out  of  these  trance-states,  if 
they  recal  the  expression  of  the  "  sensitive "  at  the 
summons — "Awake  !  "  of  the  magnetiser. 

After  Slade  had  awoke,  his  glance  fell  upon  the 
newly-added  oblong  slates.  His  question,  for  what 
purpose  they  were  designed,  I  answered  evasively. 
Hereupon  he  proposed  to  try  again  whether  spontane- 
ous writing  would  be  produced  upon  two  slates  laid  one 
over  the  other,  not  touched  by  either  him  or  me,  as 
in  the  experiment. which  had  succeeded  so  splendidly 
in  the  presence  of  William  Weber  and  me  on  the  13th 
December  1877,  when  between  two  slates  bound  to- 
gether crosswise  with  strong  pack-thread,  and  which 
lay  quietly  on  the  card-table,  neither  Slade  nor  we 
touching  it,  a  writing  was  suddenly  produced,  per- 
ceptible to  us  all.'" 

*  See  ante,  p.  44. 


198  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

Slade  now  desired  mc  to  take  two  of  the  new 
slates,  to  lay  a  Kpl inter  of  slate-pencil  between  them, 
and  then  to  seal  these  two  slates  firndy  together.  I 
did  this,  after  having  again  satisfied  myself  that  the 
slates  were  perfectly  clean.  The  sealing  was  in  four 
jilaccs  on  the  long  sides,  and  now  I  laid  these  slates, 
with  the  bit  of  pencil  between  them,  on  the  corner  of 
the  card-table  most  remote  from  our  hands.  The 
latter  we  joined  over  one  another  on  the  table,  so  that 
Slade's  hands  were  covered  by  mine,  and  were  thus 
prevented,  from  moving.  Scarcely  had  this  happened 
when  the  untouched  slates  were  raised  many  times 
upon  one  of  the  edges,  which  was  clearly  perceived  by 
us  both  by  the  bright  light  diffused  by  a  candle 
standing  on  the  middle  of  the  card-table.  Then  the 
two  slates  laid  themselves  down  ao-ain  on  the  card- 
table  in  a  somewhat  altered  position,  and  now  writing 
between  the  slates  began  to  be  immediately  audible, 
as  if  with  a  slate-pencil  guided  by  a  lirm  hand. 
After  the  well-known  three  ticks  had  announced  the 
conclusion  of  the  writing,  we  sundered  our  hands, 
which  up  to  this  time  had  been  continually  and  firmly 
joined,  closed  the  sitting,  and  betook  ourselves  with 
the  double-slate,  which  I  had  immediately  seized,  to 
the  next  room,  where  Herr  von  Hoffmann  and  his  wife 
awaited  us.  In  presence  of  these  persons  the  slate 
shortly  before  sealed  by  mc  was  opened.  Botli  sides 
were  completely  written  over  in  English.     (IMate  VIII. 


Plate  VI 1 1. 


[Copied  from  a  Photograph.) 


LONG  MESSAGE  ON  A  NEW  SLATE.  203 

represents  a  photographic  reproduction  of  the  two 
slates  in  reduced  scale.  By  clapping  together  the 
slates,  the  two  inscribed  sides,  lying  one  over  the 
other,  show  the  position  in  which  these  surfaces 
were  in  fact  written  over.)  Here  follows  the  English 
orjoinal. 

"  This  is  a  truth — not  for  select — but  for  all  man- 
kind— without  respect  of  rank  or  race — no  matter 
how  one  may  be  insulted  or  persecuted  by  his  investi- 
gation— it  will  not  take  from  them  the  truth,  no  more 
than  a  blind  man's  words  ;  by  saying  there  is  no  sun- 
shine, it  does  not  prevent  the  sun  from  shining  or 
bring  darkness  at  noonday;  the  blind  man  can  sa,y 
there  is  no  sunshine,  for  he  cannot  see  the  light  of  the 
sun.  The  man  that  says  this  is  not  true,  he  says  so 
because  he  has  not  had  proof  of  its  being  true  ;  people 
that  cannot  see,  do  not  chide  them,  but  help  them,  by 
showing  them  the  way  to  this  divine  truth ;  we  are 
not  able  to  say  more  now  as  our  space  is  now  full ;  go 
on  in  your  investigation  and  you  will  receive  your 
reward." 


(       204       ) 


Cftaptcr   iEloclftfj. 


A  "FAILT"  in  the  CAni.K — A  JKT  OF  WATER— SMOKE— *' FIRE  EVERTWHEBK  " — 
ABX(»KMAL  SHAnnWS— EXPLANATION  T PON  THE  HYPOTHESIS  OF  THE  FOCKTH 
DIMENSION— A  sLvNCE  IN  DIM  LIGHT— MOVEMENT  OK  OBJECTS— A  LLMINOl'S 
BODY. 


I  PASS  now  to  tlie  account  of  further  facts  observed 
by  me,  which  prove  the  intimate  connection  of  an- 
other material  world  witli  our  own,  and  may  be  con- 
sidered in  general  as  a  confirmation  of  the  numerous 
observations  of  ]\Ir.  Crookes  and  other  physicists. 
Generally,  hitherto,  my  accounts  have  had  reference 
to  the  sudden  disappearance  and  return  of  solid 
bodies :  the  followinor  facts  will  show  the  advent 
(Eintritt)  of  bodies  in  the  fluid  and  gaseous  condi- 
tion, without  our  being  able,  from  the  standpoint  of 
our  ordinary  and  limited  conception  of  space,  to  give 
an  answer  to  the  question,  "  whence  ? " 

On  the  /th  IMav,  1878,  at  fifteen  minutes  past 
eleven  in  tlic  morning,  I  liad  taken  my  place  with 
Shide  at  our  card-table.  In  order  that  we  miiiht 
first  learn  something  of  what  we  were  to  expect,  I 
took  one  of  the  slates  kept  in  readiness,  cleaned  it, 
laid  a  small  bit  of  slate-pencil  upon  it,  and  handed  it 


AN  IMPORTANT  FACT.  205 

to  Slade  to  hold,  as  usual,  lialf  under  the  edge  of 
the  table,  that  it  might  be  written  on  by  his  invisible 
beings.  Slade  proposed,  as  a  variety  in  this  pro- 
ceeding, the  following  modification.  He  desired  me 
to  press  the  slate  from  below  against  the  table  with 
my  left  hand,  as  is  shown  in  the  above  wood-cut,* 
while  he  grasped  the  slate  at  the  other  corner  with 
his  right  hand,  and  pressed  it  in  the  same  manner 
against  the  table.  His  left  hand  Slade  laid  extended 
on  the  middle  of  the  table,  and  I  covered  it  with  my 
right  hand.  Scarcely  was  this  done  when  writing 
began  on  the  slate ;  this  gave  the  opportunity  of 
confirming  a  phenomenon  observed  also  at  other 
times  by  myself,  and  frequently  by  others,  that  the 
distinctly  audible  sound  of  writing  immediately 
ceased  as  soon  as  by  raising  my  right  hand  I  removed 
it  somewhat  from  Blade's  left.  As  soon  as  the  con- 
nection was  re-established,  the  writing  immediately 
recommenced,  t  Three  ticks  on  the  surface  of  the 
slate  having  declared  the  writing  ended,  the  follow- 
ing was  found  on  the  slate  on  its  upper  surface, 
which  had  been  pressed  against  the  table  : — 

"  To-morrow  morning  we  would  be  pleased  to  have 
Baron  H.  sit  with  you — and  shall  begin  a  new  power, 
and  give  you  more  proof  of  what  can  be  done ;  please 

*  Ante,  p.  193. 

t  The  translator  observed  this  on  several  oecasions~'when  sitting  -with 
Sla(ie_in  London,  in  1876.  Tlie  same  fact  is  also  recorded  by  the  late  Mr. 
Serjeant  Cox  in  the  "  Spiritualist,"  August  1876. — Tr. 


206  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

nsk  us  no  question,  or  make  any  more  requests  ;  we 
will  do  all  in  our  power  fur  you — we  wish  to  say 
more  to-morrow  morning  by  controlling  the  medium." 

Blade  and  I  then  rose  to  look  in  a  closet  near  for  a 
somewhat  larger  piece  of  slate-pencil,  but  before  this 
could  be  done,  almost  in  the  moment  when  we  rose, 
we  were  sprinkled  from  above  by  a  sort  of  drizzle. 
AVe  were  both  wet  on  the  head,  clothes  and  hands, 
and  the  traces  of  this  shower — of  perhaps  one-fourth 
of  a  second  duration — were  afterwards  clearly  percep- 
tible on  the  floor  of  the  room. 

Remains  of  the  liquid  being  especially  on  the 
upper  side  of  my  right  hand,  I  touched  it  with  the 
tip  of  my  tongue ;  so  far  as  taste  could  inform,  the 
moisture  was  pure  water.  I  should  mention  here, 
that  in  the  room  in  which  we  were  there  was  no 
vessel  with  water,  although  there  was  in  that 
immediately  adjoining.  After  the  above-related  fixcts 
concerning  the  transport  of  solid  bodies  from  three- 
dimensioually  enclosed  spaces,  such  a  conveyance  of 
water  from  one  room  to  another  would  appear  to  be 
a  phenomenon  of  the  same  kind. 

Surprised  at  this  unexpected  phenomenon,  and  yet 
busied  in  drying  our  clothes,  we  took  our  places 
again  at  the  table,  and  were  about  to  join  hands, 
when  suddenly  the  same  thing  was  repeated  almost 
more  strongly.  This  time  the  ceiling  and  walls  of 
the  room   were  also   moistened,  and   there   seemed, 


JETS  OF  WATER.  20/ 

judging  from  the  direction  and  form  of  the  traces  of 
water,  to  have  proceeded  several  different  jets  of 
water  at  the  same  time  from  a  point  in  the  middle 
of  the  room,  perhaps  four  feet  high  above  our  heads  ; 
as  if  a  jet  of  water  were  to  be  discharged  perpendi- 
cularly upon  a  plane,  where  it  would  then  spread 
itself  out  radially  in  all  directions  in  this  two-dimen- 
sional region  of  space,  from  the  point  at  which  it 
reached  the  ground.  If  one  applies  this  analogy  to  a 
jet  of  water  discharged  from  the  fourth  dimension 
into  the  three-dimensional  region  of  space,  the  water 
would  then  appear  at  a  particular  spot  of  this  space, 
and  under  suitable  conditions  must  extend  itself 
thence  radially  to  all  three  dimensions. 

I  may  further  remark  that  I  met  with  the  same 
phenomenon  in  just  as  unexpected  a  manner,  at 
a  sitting  with  Slade,  at  which  Herr  Gillis  of  St. 
Petersburg  was  present.'"  Since  that  sitting  took 
place  in  the  sitting-room  of  the  restaurant-keeper  of 
the  Thuringian  railway  station,  which  Slade  had 
set  foot  in  shortly  before  for  the  first  time,  the 
possibility  of  a  conjuring  apparatus  is  excluded ; 
and  independently  of  this,  the  same  phenomenon  in 
the  presence  of  Slade  has  since  been  confirmed  by 
numerous  other  observers. 

On  the  next  morning  (8th  May  1878,  eleven 
o'clock),  Herr    0.  von  Hoffmann   took   part  in  the 

*  Referred  to,  but  not  described,  in  an  earlier  part  of  the  volume. — Tr, 


2o8  TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

sitting;  he  sat  at  my  riglit,  Slade  in  Lis  usual  place 
at  my  left.  After  some  short  writings  on  the  slate 
had  been  ohtainetl  in  the  usual  maimer,  and  Slade 
had  joined  his  hands  with  ours  again  on  the  middle 
of  the  table,  there  rose  suddenly,  in  three  dilTerent 
places  above  the  edge  of  the  table  from  l^ucath,  a 
smoke,  which,  judging  from  the  smell,  contained 
some  acid  of  sulphur  and  saltpetre.  We  imme- 
diately looked  under  the  table,  but  saw  nothing 
further  tluui  the  still  present  remains  of  this  smoke, 
as  after  the  lighting  of  a  lucifer  match.  Scarcely 
had  we  again  joined  our  hands,  to  await  the  further 
development  of  the  phenomena,  when  the  same  thing 
was  repeated  yet  more  strongly. 

Almost  at  the  same  time  Slade  proposed  to  me  to 
place  a  caudle  under  the  table,  to  see  if  the  invisible 
beings  were  able  to  light  it.  Thereupon  Herr  von 
Hoffmann  took  two  candlesticks,  provided  with  new 
unused  candles,  from  his  writing-table,  and  placed 
them  both  on  the  floor  under  the  table,*  at  which  we 
immediately  resumed  our  seats,  and  joined  our  hands 
in  the  manner  already  mentioned.  After  we  had 
waited  for  some  minutes,  smoke  rose  up  again  from 
under  the  table,  almost  from  all  sides ;  and  at  the 
same  time  one  of  the  candlesticks  with  the  candle 
burning  hovered   up  above  the  edge   of  the   table 

•  Not  under  the  middle  of  the  tahle,  hut  under  the  edge  at  his  right, 
tlio  place  furthest  removed  from  Slade'a  feet.  ^ 


"  FIRE  EVERYWHERE.  209 

opposite  to  me ;  after  a  few  seconds  it  sunk  down 
again ;  and  wlien  we  looked  under  the  table  one  of 
the  candles  was  lighted,  and  under  the  middle  of  the 
table.  To  refute  the  suo-o-estion  of  a  transient  hallu- 
cination  or  "unconscious  cerebration,"  a  half  sheet 
of  writing-paper  was  taken,  held  close  over  the 
burning  candle,  and  in  this  way  a  hole  was  burned 
through  the  paper.  I  then  took  a  stick  of  sealing- 
wax,  held  it  in  the  same  light,  and  let  a  part  of  the 
melted  wax  drop  on  the  paper,  and  then  impressed  the 
seal  with  my  signet.  The  half  sheet  of  paper  with 
the  seal  under  the  in-burnt  hole  is  still  safe  in  my 
possession.  After  our  agreeable  astonishment  at  this 
unexpectedly  successful  experiment  had  somewhat  sub- 
sided, we  sat  again  at  the  card-table,  and  placed  the 
burning  light  in  the  middle  of  it.  Scarcely  had 
this  been  done  when  Slade  fell  into  a  trance,  and 
with  closed  eyes  uttered  an  address,  of  which  Herr 
von  Hoffmann  took  down  the  following  words,  while 
Slade  was  slowly  speaking  them  : — 

"All  seems  strange  that  is  not  understood ;  fire  is 
everywhere.  Think  of  the  flint  from  which  you  draw 
it ;  it  is  in  all  the  elements  around  you.  Let  this  light 
be  a  beacon  light  in  the  path  of  investigation,  let  it 
be  symbolical  of  the  light  that  must  break  through  the 
darkness  of  the  w^orld.  The  light  of  the  brain  wnll 
light  thy  pathway  !  This  evening  we  will  enter  into 
a  new  phase ;  to-morrow  morning  we  will  replenish 


2IO  TRATfSCENDETH'AL   PHYSICS. 

tlie  forces,  and  in  the  evening  show  you  another  i)hase, 
if  the  atmosphere  be  favourable." 

In  fact,  our  invisible  friends  kept  their  promise  of 
the  morninf;  in  a  manner  astonishinij  to  us  all. 

We  were  sitting  at  half-past  seven  in  the  evening, 
at  the  tea-table  in  the  dining-room.  On  the  table 
burned  a  large  lamp  ;  Slade  sat  opposite  rne,  his  back 
turned  to  the  window,  the  curtains  of  which  were  let 
down.  At  my  left,  on  one  side  of  the  table,  sat  Frau 
von  Hoffmann  ;  opposite  to  her,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  large  tea-table,  Herr  von  Hoffmann  ;  I  myself  had 
my  back  turned  to  the  great  folding-doors,  provided 
with  a  brown  curtain,  by  which  one  entered  the  room 
from  the  corridor.  Since  in  general  we  had  never 
ol)served  remarkable  manifestations  with  Slade  during 
meals— I  leave  quite  out  of  sight  particular  risings  of 
tlie  table  and  movement  of  detached  chairs — we 
naturally  were  not  expecting  anything  surprising  on 
this  evening.  Suddenly,  however,  Frau  von  Hoflmann 
cried  out,  and  said  that  she  saw  on  the  wall  and  on 
the  door  to  which  my  back  was  turned  the  reflection 
of  a  bright  light  which  appeared  to  issue  from  a 
place  under  the  table  at  which  we  sat.  Slade,  who 
from  his  place  was  facing  the  side  of  the  room 
referred  to,  confirmed  this  assertion.  We  looked 
first  under  the  table,  examined  everything  narrowly, 
but  found  nothing  which  could  explain  the  origin  of 
sucli  a  light.     In  the  expectation  that   this  pheuo- 


SHADOW  CASTING.  211 

menon  would  perhaps  be  repeated,  we  frequently 
looked  at  the  side  in  question,  and  for  easier  obser- 
vation I  had  placed  my  chair  somewhat  obliquely. 
Suddenly  this  phenomenon  occurred  again,  and  then, 
immediately  afterwards  again.  The  colour  of  the 
light  was  bluish-white,  as  if  proceeding  from  a 
suddenly  kindled  electrical  light,  and,  what  was  for 
me  the  most  remarkable,  the  shadows  of  the  feet  of 
the  table  were  sharply  projected,  nevertheless,  so  far 
as  I  could  ascertain  in  the  short  time,  perceptibly  of 
the  same  size  cts  the  objects  casting  the  shadows. 
Although  I  might  consider  this  phenomenon,  owing 
to  the  want  of  sufficient  test -conditions  (Controle), 
as  a  oiot  scieiitijically  established  fact,  raised  above 
all  doubt,  yet  I  hold  it,  nevertheless,  for  my  scientific 
duty  to  make  mention  of  it,  in  order  that  other 
observers  may  be  attentive  to  its  extraordinary 
importance. 

If,  for  instance,  the  origin  of  this  ray  was  a 
luminous  point  in  the  space  beneath  the  table,  the 
shadows  of  the  feet  of  the  table  must,  accordino;  to 
the  laws  of  shadow-casting,  have  been  considerably 
larger  on  the  wall  than  the  feet  themselves,  as  any- 
one can  easily  prove  by  placing  a  lighted  candle 
under  a  table  having  several  feet.  The  size  and 
form  of  the  shadow-projection  of  an  object  ap- 
proximates, as  one  knows,  more  to  the  size  of  the 
shadow-casting  object,  the  further  the  source  of  light 


212  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

is  removed  from  the  latter,  or  in  otlier  words,  the 
nearer  the  rays  are  to  the  parallel.  The  sharjyness 
in  the  outline  of  the  shadcjw  afTords,  moreover,  an 
inference  as  to  the  apparent  size  of  the  light-source  ; 
if,  for  example,  the  apparent  diameter  of  the  sun's 
disc  were  twenty  times  greater  than  is  in  fact  the 
c;ise,  the  shadows  cast  by  opaque  l»odies  in  sunlight 
would  be  effaced  at  the  edjies  to  a  far  jrreater  extent 
than  actually  hapjxjns.  Apart  from  the  phenomena 
of  refraction,  a  l)ody  would  cast  an  absolutely  sharp 
shadow  of  absolutely  similar  size  with  the  shadow- 
casting  object,  if  the  rays  proceeded  from  an  injinitclif 
remote  jx)iut.  Since,  now,  in  the  alx)ve-mentioned 
case,  surprisingly  sharp  shadows  of  the  feet  of  the 
table  of  perceptibly  similar  size  to  the  feet  themselves 
were  observed,  it  follows  from  this  that  the  rays 
which  produced  that  projection  of  shadow,  must  have 
issued  from  a  light  source,  first,  {wssessing  a  very 
email  apparent  size,  and,  secondly,  being  at  a  great 
distance.  No  place  underneath  the  table  could  have 
satisfied  the  second  condition,  and  since  the  remain- 
ing space  of  the  room  was  observed,  and  even  the 
distance  of  the  nearest  wall  at  Slade's  back,  would 
not  have  sufficed  to  comply  with  the  above  condition, 
the  said  phenomenon  would  thus  point  to  another 
place  as  the  point  of  issue,  which  cannot  lie  at  all  in 
our  three-dimensional  space.  This  contradiction  is 
solved  as  soon  as  one  presupposes  the  reality  of  a 


LIGHT  FEOM  THE  FOUETH  DIMENSION.  2  I  3 

foiir-dimensional  region  of  space,  and  admits  that  it 
is  possible  for  those  invisible  intelligent  beings,  who 
have  showed  ns  so  much  of  their  powers,  also  to 
divert  rays  of  light,  Avhich  are  diffused  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  fourth  dimension,  so  that  they  fall  in  our 
three-dimensional  region  of  space.  AVe  are,  indeed, 
likewise  able,  by  reflection  and  refraction  of  light,  to 
divert  rays  in  such  a  manner  as  to  transfer  their 
point  of  issue  to  another  than  the  true  place.  Upon 
this  diversion  of  rays  of  light  depends  most  of  the 
physical-optical  illusions.  Since  similar  phenomena 
of  lights  are  very  frequently  observed  at  spiritual- 
istic sittings,  and  among  others,  Mr.  Crookes  has 
also   given   detailed  testimony  to  them,*   I  may  be 

*  ^^  Notes  of  an  Inquiry  into  the  Phenomena  called  Spiritual,"  by  William 
Crookes,  F.R.S.  London,  1874.  Mr.  Crookes  enumerates  and  describes 
thirteen  classes  of  phenomena  observed  and  verified  by  himself  in  his 
own  house,  and  with  only  private  friends  present,  besides  the  medium. 
Of  Class  viii.  "  Luminous  Appearances,"  he  says  :  "  These,  being  rather 
faint,  generally  require  the  room  to  be  darkened.  I  need  scarcely 
remind  my  readers  again  that,  under  these  circumstances,  I  have  taken 
proper  precautions  to  avoid  being  imposed  upon  by  phosphorised  oil,  or 
other  means.  Moreover,  many  of  these  lights  are  such  as  I  have  tried 
to  imitate  artificially,  but  cannot. 

"  Under  the  strictest  test  conditions,  I  have  seen  a  solid  self-luminous 
body,  the  size  and  nearly  the  shape  of  a  turkey's  egg,  float  noiselessly 
about  the  room,  at  .one  time  higher  than  any  one  present  could  reach 
standng  on  tip-toe,  and  then  gently  descend  to  the  floor.  It  was  visible 
for  more  than  ten  minutes,  and  before  it  faded  away  it  struck  the  table 
three  times  with  a  sound  like  that  of  a  hard,  solid  body.  During  this 
time  the  medium  was  lying  back,  apparently  insensible,  in  an  easy  chair. 

' '  I  have  seen  luminous  points  of  light  darting  about,  and  settling  on  the 
heads  of  different  persons  ;  I  have  had  questions  answered  by  the  flashing 
of  a  bright  light,  a  desired  number  of  times  in  front  of  my  face.  I  have 
seen  sparks  of  light  rising  from  the  table  to  the  ceiling,  and  again  falling 
upon  the  table,  striking  it  witli  an  audible  sound.    I  have  had  an  alpha* 


214  TRANSCENDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

IMjrmittcd  to  call  the  attention  of  other  observers  to 
the  circumstance  mentioned.  For  approximate  deter- 
mination of  the  point  of  divergence  of  the  rays  of 
such  luminous  phenomena,  the  following  proceeding 
may  be  recommended  as  the  simplest  Phenomena 
of  light  are  observed  by  aid  of  an  opera-glass,  by  the 
adjustment  of  which  the  object  may  be  removed  as 
far  as  possible.  Objects  at  so  short  a  distance  as 
those  in  a  room,  require,  to  appear  in  sharp  outline,  a 
special  adjustment  of  the  glass,  and  this  adjustment  — 
the  determinate  distance  of  the  eyepiece  from  the 
objective — enables  us,  according  to  simple  optical  laws, 
to  determine  the  distance  of  the  object,  that  is,  of 
those  luminous  points,  from  which  the  rays  extend 
themselves  in  space.  If,  now,  it  should  really  appear, 
with  respect  to  these  spiritualistic  luminous  pheno- 
mena, that  the  distance  of  the  point  of  divergence  of 
the  rays  does  not  agree  with  the  distance  of  the 
luminous  object,  the  difference  of  these  two  distances 
would  determine  the  length  of  a  tract  (Strecke)  falling 
in  the  fourth  dimension,  and  hereby  would  be  made 
the  first  step  towards  quantitative  determinations  in 

betic  coniniunication  given  1»y  luminous  fliuslics  occurring  before  me  in 
the  air,  whilst  my  liaud  wjis  nioviM;j;  about  amongst  them,  I  have  seen 
a  luminous  cloud  tloating  upwards  to  a  picture.  Under  the  strictest 
test  conditions,  I  have  more  than  once  had  a  solid,  self-luminous,  crystal- 
line body  jdacc'd  in  my  hand  by  a  hand  which  did  not  belong  to  any 
])erson  in  the  room.  In  the  li'jht  I  have  seen  a  luminous  cloud  hover  over 
a  hoi i»»t rope  on  a  side  table,  break  a  sprig  ofl",  and  carry  the  sprig  to  a 
laily  ;  and  on  some  occasions  I  iiave  seen  a  similar  luminous  cloud 
visibly  condense  to  the  form  of  a  hand  and  carry  small  objects  about." 


REPETITION  OF  THE  PHENOMENON.  2 1 5 

the  four-dimensional  field  of  space.  Such  an  observa- 
tion would,  in  the  history  of  transcendental  physics, 
be  comparable  to  the  first  determination  of  parallaxes 
in  the  history  of  astronomy,  whereby  we  obtained 
the  first  approximate  conception  of  the  distance  of 
our  moon,  the  nearest  to  us  of  the  heavenly  bodies. 

I  may  mention,  that  the  above-described  luminous 
phenomena  were  repeated  on  two  other  evenings  (9th 
May,  and  19th  May)  under  similar  circumstances, 
and  in  presence  of  others  who  were  sitting  at  tea  at 
the  same  table.  On  these  evenings,  however,  for  the 
sake  of  a  better  control  over  Slade,  and  for  more 
convenient  observation  of  the  shadow-projection  on 
the  opposite  side,  I  had  taken  my  place  close  beside 
Slade,  so  that  he  sat  at  my  left.  The  only  difi'erence 
of  the  phenomenon  from  that  observed  on  the  first 
evening  consisted  in  the  colour  of  the  light  being 
yellowish-red,  instead  of  a  bluish-white.  It  will 
therefore  be  useful  in  future  at  similar  sittino;s  to 
have  with  one  a  pocket  spectroscope,  to  examine  the 
nature  of  the  light,  as  opportunity  offers. 

Finally,  I  mention  here  a  sitting  with  Slade  which 
took  place  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
15th  December,  1877,  in  the  usual  sitting-room  of 
the  house  of  my  friend  0.  von  Hoffinann,  whose  wife 
was  present.  It  was  the  only  one  in  which  the  room 
was  partially  darkened,  to  try  whether  in  Slade's 
presence,  as  in  that  of  the  young  lady  of  fifteen  (Miss 


2l6  TUANSCENDENTAI,    PHYSICS. 

Cook),  a  liunian  form,  or  at  least  a  "phantom  form," 
as  Mr.  C'rookcs  describes  it  in  liis  Ijook,  iiinlcr  the 
hcadinfT  "  Piiantom  Forms  aiul  Faces,"  would  be 
evolved.  Ill  order  to  improvise  a  cabinet,  a  string 
was  drawn  ol)li(iue]y  across  the  part  of  the  room 
opposite  my  usual  place,  at  about  two  metres*  above 
the  floor,  and  of  a  breadth  corresponding  to  tliat  of 
the  edge  of  the  table,  a  dark  green  curtain  being  fixed 
to  it.  Slade  sat  at  his  usual  place,  at  his  ri^lit  Frau 
von  IIofTmann,  I  next,  and  Herr  von  Holfmann  at  my 
right.  AVe  had  already  laid  our  hands,  linked 
together,  on  the  tabic,  when  I  remarked  it  was  a 
pity  we  had  forgotten  to  place  a  small  hand-bell  on 
the  table.  At  the  same  moment  it  boiran  rinirinir  in 
the  corner  of  the  room  at  my  right  front,  at  least  two 
metres  from  the  middle  of  the  table ;  and  the  room 
being  faintly  illuminated  by  gaslight  from  the  street, 
we  saw  a  small  hand-bell  slowly  hover  down  from 
the  stand  on  which  it  stood,  lay  itself  down  on  the 
carpet  of  the  floor,  and  move  itself  forward  by  jerks, 
till  it  got  under  our  table.  Here  immediately  it 
began  ringing  in  the  most  lively  manner,  and  while 
we  kept  our  hands  joined  together  as  above  described 
on  the  table,  a  hand  suddenly  appeared  through  an 
opening  in  the  middle  of  the  curtain  with  the  bell, 
which  it  placed  on  the  middle  of  the  table  in  front 
of  us.     I  hereupon  expressed  the  wish  to  be  allowed 

*  About  65  feet.— Tr. 


A  TRIAL  OF  STREXGTH.  2  I  7 

to  hold  that  hand  ODce  firmly  in  my  own.     I  had 
scarcely  said  this,  when  the  hand  appeared  again  out 
of  the  opening,  and  now,  while  with  the  palm  of  my 
left  hand  I  covered  and  held  fast  both  Slade's  hands, 
with  my  right  I  seized  the  hand  protruded  from  the 
opening,  and  thus  shook  hands  with  a  friend  from 
the  other  world.     It  had  quite  a  living  warmth,  and 
returned  my  pressure  heartily.     After  letting  go  the 
hand,   I  reached  it  a  slate  and   challenged  it  to  a 
small  proof  of  strength  ;  1  would  pull  to  one  side  and 
it  should  pull  to  the  other,  and  we  would  see  which 
of  us  kept  the  slate.     This   was  done,   and  in  the 
frequent  give-and-take,  I  had  quite  the  feeling  of  an 
elastic  tuo-  as  thouQ-h  a  man  had  hold  of  the  slate  at 
the  other  side.     By  a  strong  wrench  I  got  possession 
of  it.     I  again  remark  that  during  all  these  proceed- 
ings Mr.  Slade  sat  quietly  before  us,  both  his  hands 
being  covered  and  detained  by  my  left  hand  and  by 
the  hands  of  the  two  others. 

I  may  here  point  out  that  such  a  pull  on  one  side 
by  a  human  hand  or  other  solid  body,  as  a  slate, 
would  be  a  violation  of  the  principle  of  the  equality 
of  action  and  reaction,  if  no  material  object  under- 
going the  equal,  but  resisted,  pull  were  to  be  found 
in  three-dimensional  space.  But  no  such  object  being 
to  be  found  in  the  space  ordinarily  perceivable  by  us 
(in  unserem  gewdhnlichen  Anschauungsraum),  it  must 

occupy  a  position  in  absolute  space,  falling  in  the 

p 


2  I  S  TUAXSCENDENTAL   PUYSICS. 

next  lii<j;licr  region  of  space.  Only  in  this  manner 
can  the  apparent  contradiction,  hero  introduced,  of  a 
fundamental  law  of  the  interaction  of  bodies,  be 
satisfactorily  solved  for  our  understanding. 

While  I  was  still  busied  with  the  above  observa- 
tions and  experiments,  there  suddenly  emerged  from 
above  the  upper  border  of  the  curtain,  a  half  circular 
mass  gleaming  in  phosphorescent  light,  of  the  size  of 
a  human  head.  It  moved  slowly  to  and  fro  at  the 
same  height  from  one  side  of  the  curtain  to  the  other 
frequently ;  and  gave  us  all  the  impression  of  apper- 
taining to  a  luminous  form  close  behind  the  curtain. 
Approaching  that  side  of  the  curtain  at  which  Slade 
sat,  this  luminous  form  became  visible  in  its  whole 
extent.  Slade  drew  back,  evidently  alarmed,  where- 
at we  laughed,  and  the  form  immediately  hovered 
Ijack  behind  the  curtain,  and  with  the  same  speed 
moved  to  the  other  side,  here  also  emerging  up  to 
the  middle.  We  could  not  distinguish  features  or 
limbs.  In  brightness  and  colour  the  phosphorescent 
liirht  resembled  that  observed  in  the  so-called  "after 
shinincc "  Geissler's  tubes.  I  much  ref^fretted  that  I 
had  not  at  hand  my  pocket-spectroscope,  in  order  more 
closely  to  examine  the  nature  of  the  emitted  light. 


(       219       ) 


chapter  CI)irteent!b» 

PHKXOMENA  DESCBIBED  BT  OTHERS. 

The  foregoing  comprises  in  essentials  all  the  plieno- 
mena  wliicli  I  liave  myself  observed  in  Slade's 
presence  during  a  series  of  more  than  thirty  sittings 
and  other  meetings.  The  precautionary  measures 
which  I  had  taken  on  these  occasions  were  such,  that 
for  my  understanding  every  possibility  of  deception 
or  subjective  illusion  was  excluded.  I  do  not,  how- 
ever, assert  that  these  measures  will  be  regarded  as 
sufficient  by  the  understanding  of  other  men.  I  am 
therefore  quite  ready  and  willing  to  receive  instruc- 
tion and  enlightenment  as  to  better  precautions  than 
those  adopted  by  me;  provided  that  my  advisers 
have  given  other  proofs  of  intellectual  competence 
superior  to  my  own,  to  induce  me  to  defer  to  them 
and  to  recognise  them  as  judges  of  facts  of  observa- 
tion, which  they  have  not  seen,  but  have  learned  for 
the  first  time  from  my  description. 

Before  Mr.  Slade  left  German}^,  he  visited  Annathal 
in  Bohemia,  by  special  invitation  from  Herr  J.  E. 
Schmid,  the  owner  of  a  factory  there.     In  the  family 


2  20  TRANSCEXDENTAL   PHYSICS. 

of  this  gentleman  lie  found  the  most  friendly  recep- 
tion, and  remained  a  week.  Herr  Schmid  has  already 
]>ublished  a  short  account  in  a  letter  to  Psychische 
Studii-n  (July  187S).  For  the  following  detailed 
descrii)tion  I  am  indebted  to  Herr  Heinrich  Goss- 
niann,  Herr  Schmid's  bookkeeper,  who  witnessed 
all  the  phenomena  during  Slade's  residence  with 
Herr  Schmid,  and  gave  me  a  verbal  account  of  them 
when  on  a  visit  to  Leipsic.  In  accordance  with  my 
request,  and  by  pennission  of  Herr  Schmid,  he  after- 
wards furnished  me  the  followin^j  written  account.* 

"Mr.  Slade  arrived  here  on  the  14th  ^lay,  last  year 
{1878),  but  was  too  tired  by  his  journey  to  give  us 
a  sitting  on  that  day.  Notwithstanding  which,  to 
the  surprise  of  us  all,  on  his  entering  the  room,  we 
heard  thunderino;  blows  on  the  3ofa,  for  which  Mr. 
Slade  could  certainly  have  made  no  preparations,  as 
lie  had  never  been  in  the  room  before.  To  the 
question  whether  this  was  a  manifestation,  Mr.  Slade 
replied  in  the  affirmative,  remarking  that  the  spirits 
could  not  wait  till  the  next  day  to  announce  them- 
selves, and  that  he  had  often  found  this  to  be  the 
case  where  harmony  prevailed.  AVe  took  our  seats 
at  the  table,  without  intendini;  a  regular  sittinix,  and 
had  scarcely  done  so  when  all  at  once  a  seat  at  some 
distance,  near  the  piano,  put  itself  in  motion,  and 

•  Tlic  introductory  and  concludiug  parts  of  this  letter  are  here  omitted, 
as  nut  niutcriul.     Tit. 


VARIOUS  PHENOMENA.  2  2  I 

came  np  to  the  table  of  its  own  accord.  Continaally 
as  our  astonishment  increased,  we  did  not  nealect  to 
watch  Mr.  Slade  closely  and  attentively.  I  was 
sitting  next  him,  and  after  some  time  was  swiftly  and 
unexpectedly  swung  round  in  a  half  circle,  with  the 
chair  on  which  I  sat,  so  that  I  nearly  fell  off  it. 
Others  at  the  table  were  now  touched,  sometimes 
softly,  sometimes  powerfully,  and  to  me  this  hap- 
pened often. 

''One  manifestation  now  followed  another,  chairs 
moved  up  to  the  table,  touches  on  our  knees  Avere 
constantly  felt,  a  knife  and  fork  were  put  across  each 
other  on  a  cloth  at  the  lower  end  of  the  table,  as  if 
they  were  cutting  meat,  then  from  another  side  of 
the  table  a  fork  flew  off  on  to  the  floor  in  a  slioht 
curve. 

"  On  the  next  and  two  following  daj^s  seances  were 
held  in  another  room  at  a  table  appropriated  to  them. 
Many  persons,  sceptics  and  the  like,  to  whom  Spiritu- 
alism was  as  yet  unknown,  took  part  in  them.  A 
chain  was  formed,  and  we  gave  Mr.  Slade  a  slate 
which  he  had  never  had  in  his  hands  before.  He 
laid  on  it  a  small  bit  of  pencil,  and  asked  the  spirit 
of  his  deceased  wife  to  tell  them,  by  direct  writing,  if 
it  was  possible  for  any  of  the  departed  relatives  of 
the  family  to  communicate  in  the  same  way;  to 
which  an  affirmative  answer  was  returned.  Mr. 
Slade  now  put  the  pencil  on  the  table,  showed  us  that 


222  TRANSCENDENTAL    TllYSICS. 

the  slate  was  quite  clean  and  witliout  writing,  and 
then  laid  it  on  the  table  over  the  pencil.  Writing  under 
the  slate  was  at  once  heard ;  wc  could  distinctly 
follow  the  scribbling  and  taking  off  of  the  pencil. 
This  sitting,  as  all  the  rest,  was  in  bright  daylight ; 
the  slate  lay  there  free,  before  all  our  eyes,  when  we 
formed  the  chain,  and  Slade  laid  one  hand  on  the 
slate.  The  conclusion  of  the  spirit-writing  was 
denoted  by  three  sharp  raps ;  and  the  slate  being 
lifted  up,  we  found  the  whole  under  side  of  it 
written  over,  first  by  an  address  from  Slade's  wife 
in  English,  and  next  by  a  message  in  German  from 
a  spirit-relative.  A  communication  from  the  deceased 
father  of  the  lady  of  the  house  was  especially  striking, 
as  his  characteristics  and  habitual  expressions  when 
on  earth  were  quite  distinctly  recognisable  in  it. 
Besides  the  great  resemblance  of  the  writing  on  the 
slate  to  that  of  the  deceased,  his  identity  was  apparent 
from  a  certain  manner  of  speech,  and  such  phrases  as 
*  We  must  all  die,'  which  came  upon  the  slate.  And 
in  many  of  tliese  communications  the  like  resem- 
blances were  observable.  Among  others,  the  brother 
of  the  lady  of  the  house  communicated,  and  in 
vcrsCy  a  custom  he  had  when  on  earth,  especially  in 
writing  to  his  sister,  whom  he  generally  addressed  in 
rhymes.  She  recognised  her  brother  very  clearly  in 
this,  and  on  comparing  the  writing  with  that  of  his 
letters,  just  the  same  strokes  were  found  in  them. 


SLATE  WRITING.  223 

This  communication  was  obtained  in  the  foUowinir 
manner : — 

"  A  young  lady  (a  relative  of  the  family)  who  sat 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  table,  opposite  Mr.  Slade,  took 
in  her  left  hand,  by  his  direction,  two  slates  connected 
by  hinges ;  a  small  pencil  was  laid  between  them, 
and  she  joined  her  right  hand  to  the  chain  of  hands 
on  the  table.  Mr.  Slade  sat  quite  away  from  the 
slates,  and  his  hands  were  likewise  joined  in  the 
chain ;  and  under  these  conditions,  to  our  great 
astonishment,  writinsf  beo;an  between  the  slates.  The 
young  lady,  according  to  Mr,  Slade,  was  mediumistic, 
therefore  it  was  that  she  could  obtain  writing  while 
holding  the  slate  herself  alone,  which  was  not  the 
case  with  the  others ;  she  also  perceived  the  pressure 
upon  the  under  side  of  the  slate  while  it  was  being 
written  upon.     .     .     . 

"  Such  direct  writings  covered  at  least  twelve  slates, 
which  were  bought  here,  and  came  to  Mr.  Slade's 
hands  for  the  first  time,  before  all  eyes,  without  his 
having  any  possible  opportunity  for  "preparing" 
them,  or  for  writing  upon  them  without  continual 
observation.  Mr.  Slade  often  held  the  slate  quite 
sloping,  at  an  oblique  angle,  and  yet  the  pencil  upon 
it  did  not  slip  to  the  edge,  but  wrote  quietly  on. 
The  supposition  one  so  often  hears  that  the  slates  are 
"prepared"  by  Mr.  Slade  will  not  stand  examina- 
tion, because  he  washes  out  the  answers,   given  to 


2  24  TUANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

liis  questions  by  the  spirits,  on  the  slate,  which  (the 
same  one)  is  again  written  upon  ;  this  also,  as  always, 
happening  under  observation.     Wlien  once  during  a 
sikmcCy  at  which  writing  was  going  on  under  a  slate, 
one  of  tlic  circle  raised  his  hand  quietly  and  without 
being    observed,    from    tliat    of   his    neighbour,    the 
writing  suddeidy  ceased,  the  connection  lx;ing  thus 
disturbed.     j\Ir.    Slade   looked  up,  and   seeing  what 
had  happened,  requested  the  gentleman  referred  to, 
to  try  the  experiment  frequently,  and  each  time  the 
writing;  ceased,  and  be^an  afjain  as  soon  as  the  chain 
was   re-closed.     There   were   many  other  manifesta- 
tions.    For  instance,  a  bell  under  the  table  came  out 
of  its  own  accord,  ringing,  rose  high  up  in  the  air, 
and  let  itself  gently  down,  still  ringing,  on  the  table. 
A  slate  placed  under  the  table  was  shivered  into  small 
a  pieces,  as  by  lightning,  and  the  fragments  flew  in 
curve  over  our  heads  and  so  on  to  the  floor.    During 
a  seance,  another  heavy  table  which  stood  at  some 
distance  from  the  one  at  which  we  sat,  came  with  a 
rush  of  extraordinary  speed  and  force  to  the  side  of 
a  gentleman  among  us,  whom  we  thought  must  have 
been  hurt  ;   but  it  only  touched  him   quite  gently. 
The  spirits  gave  to  a  hydropathic  doctor,  who  was 
present,  a  token  of  esteem  for  his  practice  by  wetting 
him  with  a  jet  of  water,  which  came  from  a  corner  of 
the  ceiling  opposite  him.     Just  afterwards  ray  knee 
was  tightly  grasped  by  a  w^et  hand,  so  that  I  felt  the 


QUASI-MAGNETIC  FORCE.  225 

wet  fingers  sharply,  and  on  examination  I  found  the 
moisture  on  ray  trouser.  (Mr.  Slade,  during  this,  had 
his  hands  linked  in  the  chain  formed  by  those  of 
all  present.) 

"  Another  interesting  fact  is,  that  when  my  Principal 
(Herr  Schmid),  Mr.  Slade,  and  I,  were  holding  our 
hands  lightly  on  the  table,  the  latter  went  up,  hover- 
ing in  the  air,  and  turned  itself  over  above  our  heads, 
so  that  its  legs  were  turned  upwards. 

"  What  an  enormous  force  Mr.  Slade  must  have 
applied  to  evoke  these  manifestations  deceptively, 
is  shown  by  the  following  case.  When  I  was  sitting, 
a  little  distance  from  him,  he  likewise  sitting,  he 
stretched  out  his  arm,  and  laid  his  hand  on  the  back 
of  my  chair.  All  at  once  I  was  raised,  with  the 
chair,  swaying  in  the  air  about  a  foot  high,  as  if 
drawn  up  by  a  pulley,  without  any  exertion  whatever 
by  Slade,  who  simply  raised  his  hand,  the  chair 
following  it  as  if  it  were  a  magnet.  This  experiment 
was  often  repeated  with  others. 

*'Mr.  Slade  held  an  accordion  under  the  table, 
grasping  it  by  the  strap  at  the  side  ;  his  other  hand 
lay  on  the  table.  Immediately  we  heard  the  falling- 
boards  move,  and  a  fine  melody  was  played. 

"  The  experiment  with  two  compasses  was  also 
tried ;  these  were  placed  close  together,  and  when 
Mr.  Slade  held  his  hand  over  them,  the  magnetic 
needle  in  one  of  the  compasses  began  quickly  swing- 


2  26  TRANSCENT)ENTAL   PHYSICS. 

ing  round  in  coniplcto  rotations,  while  tho  needle  in 
the  other  compass  remained  at  rest,  and  so  also  con- 
versely. According  to  the  laws  of  physics  known 
hitherto,  if  ]\Ir.  Slade  had  l^een  secretly  applying  a 
magnet,  as  is  so  frequently  alleged  by  ojiponents,  both 
needles  must  have  been  set  in  motion,  as  they  were 
quite  close  together,  yet  this  was  not  the  case. 

"  One  of  the  most  wonderful  manifestations  was  the 
fullowins; : — I\Ir.  Slade  stood  in  the  middle  of  the 
room,  I  on  his  right,  on  my  right  my  Principal,  and 
behind  us,  at  the  window,  stood  a  young  lady.  While 
in  this  position  we  w^ere  conversing,  and  my  Principal 
was  about  to  go  into  the  next  room  to  fetch  some- 
thing, a  heavy  stone,  as  if  originating  in  the  air,  fell 
before  all  our  eyes  with  a  very  heavy  blow  upon  the 
floor,  so  that  a  regular  hole  was  made  in  the  latter  ; 
the  stone  fell  quite  close  to  my  Principal's  feet. 
Immediately  afterwards  there  fell  a  second  stone,  the 
fall  of  which,  as  of  the  first,  we  saw  very  distinctly. 
This  did  not  happen  close  to  Slade,  for  I  and  my 
Principal  were  both  between  him  and  the  place. 

"  Occasionally  at  a  sitting  we  saw  a  materialised 
hand  ;  it  would  tear  the  slate  forcibly  out  of  Slade's 
hand  under  the  table ;  it  appeared  suddenly  at  the 
side  of  the  table,  and  quickly  vanished  again  ;  it  was 
a  strong  hand,  quite  like  one  of  flesh  and  blood. 

"A  slate  was  regularly  wTcnched  out  of  my 
Principal's  hand  ;    it   then   made    the  round  of  the 


SLATE  WHITING  AT  BERLIN.  227 

table,  hovering  free  in  the  air  before  all  eyes.  .  .  . 
Slade  came  here  alone  without  any  companion." 

Professor  ZoUner  next  refers  to  the  manifestations 
obtained  through  Slade  at  Berlin,  of  which  he  had 
received  information  from  visitors  and  correspon- 
dents. Amono;  the  slates  which  were  broiio;ht  or 
forwarded  to  him,  was  one  written  upon  in  six 
different  languages,  and  which  Professor  Zollner  ascer- 
tained, upon  examination,  to  be  free  from  the  "  pre- 
paration "  by  artificial  means,  so  often  suggested  as 
the  probable  explanation  of  the  long  sentences  coming 
upon  apparently  clean  slates  during  Blade's  seances. 
In  this  case,  moreover,  as  will  be  seen,  the  slate  was 
brought  by  the  investigators,  and  was  never  in 
SJade's  custody  at  all ;  nor  was  there  the  smallest 
opportunity  afforded  for  effecting  an  exchange.  The 
correspondent  from  whom  the  author  received  the 
account  was  a  "  Herr  Director  Liebing,"  of  Berlin, 
who  obtained  the  details  from  the  owner  of  the  slate, 
in  whose  presence  it  was  written  upon,  with  full 
authority  to  transmit  them  to  Professor  Zollner  for 
publication,  with  the  slate.  Although  it  would  have 
been  preferable  to  have  had  the  account  direct  from 
this  gentleman,  it  appears  from  the  correspondence 
in  the  text  (which  it  is  not  thought  necessary  to 
reproduce  literally  and  at  length  in  this  translation), 
that  the  statement  was  submitted  to  him  for  correc- 
tion, was  in  fact  corrected  by  him,  and  is  thus,  as 


2:8  TRANSCENDENTAL  PHYSICS. 

here  given,  in  ellVct  liis  own.  IIo  was  a  Ilerr 
Klccberg,  residing  at  No.  5  Schmied  Street,  Berlin, 
nn<l  "of  a  very  respectable  firm"  in  that  city.  He 
and  a  friend  of  his,  a  "thorough  sceptic,"  took  two 
slates  to  Slade.  One  slate  was  covered  by  the  other, 
and  l)cyond  putting  a  piece  of  slate-pencil  between 
thcni,  Slade  vever  touched  them  (U  (dh  Ilerr 
Klceberff  and  his  friend  then  held  tlie  two  slates, 
so  joined  together  by  their  hands,  above  the  table, 
suspended  over  it,  m  fidl  dayl'ujht,  and  writing  at 
once  beiran.  ^\'llen  it  was  over,  and  the  slates  were 
separated,  the  lower  one  was  found  covered  with  writ- 
ing, as  sliowii  in  Plate  IX.  One  long  passage  was 
in  English,  five  short  sentences  in  French,  German, 
Dutch,  Greek,  and  Chinese  (the  latter  according  to 
the  judgment  of  a  student  of  Oriental  languages), 
respectively.     They  were  as  follows  : — 

1.  Look  about  over  the  great  mass  of  human 
intellif^euce  and  see  for  w^hat  these  endow^ments  are 
given  to  man.  Is  it  not  to  unfold  (in)  the  great 
truths  God  has  embodied  in  him?  Is  it  not  mind 
tliat  frames  your  mighty  fabrics  \  the  soul  that  is 
endowed  with  powers.  Shall  he  not  go  on  unfolding 
these  powers  as  God  has  sent  His  angels  to  do  ? 
Must  man  pass  his  judgments  on  God's  laws  that  he 
does  not  understand  ?     We  say  no. 

2.  Es  ist  mir  schmeichelhaft  Sie  bedienen  zu 
konnen.     (I  am  proud  to  be  able  to  serve  you.) 


•^i^/'T.VVO^  *^ 


.    o    ^-^ 


^'-ICO. 


/b  ^, 


o  > 


i?  s 


"^Hc7 


cv^a^^iix^  ^^ 


y'f?-V:.jen5jt6a5 


r.  230-31- 


€ 


<i^c^^^^^m 


^^^^^^ 


\y^vM^'fh^J4^^j'v"  O'-M..         > 


y:^^j/' 


cw-^C 


t.-v^W^ 


V^JTc^f^^ 


H    > 


i.TE  IX. 


WEITIXG  IN  DIFFERENT  LANGUAGES.  233 

3.  Que  la  gr^ce  soit  avec  vous  tons  qui  etes  en 
Jesus  Christ.  Amen.  (The  grace  of  God  be  with 
you  all  who  are  in  Jesus  Christ.     Amen.) 

4.  Ol  TTOVTjpot,  eh  TO  K€pBo<;  fjLovov  aTTo^XeTTOvcriv.  (Bad. 
men  look  only  to  their  own  advantage.) 

5.  Die  het  zaadije  wasdom  geeft,  En  verzadigt  al 
wat  leeft.  (Who  to  the  seed-corn  increase  gives, 
nourishes  all  that  therein  lives.) 

The  last  sentence,  supposed  to  be  Chinese,  was  not 
understood. 


APPENDICES. 


APPENDIX  A. 


THE  VALUE    OF  TESTIMONY  IN  MATTERS 
EXTRA  OR  DINAR  Y.* 

BY  CHARLES  CARLETON  MASSEY. 

The  proposition  that  evidence,  to  command  assent, 
should  be  proportioned  to  the  probability  or  improba- 
bility of  the  fact  to  be  proved,  is  constantly  appealed 
to  as  the  rational  foundation  of  sceptical  or  negative 
judgment.  I  ask  you  this  evening  to  come  to  close 
quarters  with  it,  to  consider  what  it  means,  and 
whether  it  is  legitimately  applied.  There  are  perhaps 
no  two  words  in  the  language  more  liable  to  abuse, 
or  more  frequently  abused,  than  probability,  and  the 
w^ord  expressing  that  upon  which  probability  is  said 
to  be  founded,  namely,  experience :  for  there  is  here 
no  question  of  those  definitely-ascertained  j)robabilities 
which  result  from  the  computation  of  known  chances, 
and  which  are,  therefore,  not  matters  of  experience  at 
all.  It  is  by  reference  to  these,  however,  that  we  shall 
have  the  principle  in  question  most  clearly  before  us. 
Suppose,  for  example,  evidence  of  such  a  character 
and  amount  that  the  chance  ae-ainst  its  beino-  forth- 
coming  for  what  is  not  true  is  as  5  to  i,  and  that  it  is 
given  for  an  event  against  which  the  chance  is  as  10 
to  I,  the  resulting  probability  is  2  to   i  against  the 

♦  A  Paper  read  before  the  Psychological  Society  of  Great  Britain, 
on  Thursday,  June  6th,  187S. 


J 


S  APPENDIX    A. 


evidence.  Now  it  is  said  tliat  the  inductions  from 
experience  afford  us  a  similar,  tliougii  not  equally 
dc'linite,  measure  of  proportion  between  tiie  probability 
of  facts  and  the  value  of  evidence. 

And  as  to  a  large  class  of  alleged  facts,  we  are  met 
at  the  outset  of  our  inquiry  by  the  previous  question, 
whether  testimony  in  relation  to  them  has  any  value 
whatever  1  The  probability  in  favour  of  testimony, 
even  at  its  best,  it  is  said,  can  never  equal  that  Avhich 
results  from  the  uniform  negative  experience  of  man- 
kind. Our  faith  in  testimony  is  based  on  the  same 
j)rinciple  of  experience,  and  therefore  testimony  can 
never  prove  a  fact  which  is  contrary  to  a  wider  induc- 
tion. This  is  the  extreme  api)lication  of  the  principle, 
as  we  find  it  in  Hume's  celebrated  argument  against 
miracles.  It  is  not  quite  the  same,  though  })ractically 
it  has  the  same  effect,  as  that  absolute  a  priori  denial 
of  the  possibility  of  the  facts  attested  to  which  few. 
scientific  minds  will  ex})licitly  commit  themselves.  It 
does  not  say  that  our  inductions  as  to  what  is  possible, 
or  in  renim  Jiaturd,  are  certain,  but  that  they  have  a 
greater  force  than  any  testimony  which  can  be 
adduced  against  them,  which  therefore  is  not  entitled 
even  to  consideration. 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  I  would  invite  you  to  con- 
sider when  it  can  and  when  it  cannot  be  said  with 
accuracy  that  an  alleged  fact  contradicts  experience, 
lu  one  sense,  of  course,  it  cannot  be  accurately  said  at 
all.  Your  experience  that  contact  with  fire  has  always 
Inirued  you  remains  unchallenged  au'l  uncontradicted 
by  any  assertion  of  mine  that  on  one  occasion  or  on 
half-a-dozen  occasions  it  has  not  burned  me.  But 
experience  is  a  term  used  loosely  to  denote  our  induc- 
tions from  experience  ;  and  this  is  the  first  thing  I 
ask  you  to  mark.  What,  again,  is  a  fact  in  relation 
to  experience  ?  If  you  and  I  have  seen  the  same 
object,  and  you  describe  it  as  of  one  ap[>arent  dimeu- 


APPENDIX   A.  239 

sion,  and  I  describe  it  as  of  another  and  vastly- 
different  apparent  dimension,  does  my  experience  con- 
tradict yours  ?  Not  necessarily ;  for  we  may  have 
both  described  the  ajDparent  object  abstracted  from 
the  conditions  of  distance  under  which  we  severally 
saw  it.  This  tendency  to  abstract  from  the  context 
of  experience,  in  other  words,  to  ignore  conditions, 
is  just  what  distinguishes  the  popular  from  the  scien- 
tific conception  of  a  fact.  And  until  we  know  all 
the  conditions  under  which  anything  is  said  to 
have  occurred,  Ave  cannot  properly  speak  of  it  as 
opposed  to  our  own  experience.  The  next  remark  I 
have  to  make  is  that,  a  priori,  we  do  not  know  which 
of  the  circumstances  attending  even  the  most  familiar 
facts  of  experience  are  conditions,  and  which  are  en- 
tirely irrelevant.  Transport  yourself  to  an  imagined 
infancy  of  experience,  and  you  could  not  predict  from 
the  fact  that  fire  had  burned  you  in  one  place  or 
time  that  it  would  burn  you  in  another,  or  that  it 
would  burn  me.  Difference  of  place,  time,  or  person 
might,  for  all  you  could  know  beforehand, .  provide 
entirely  new  conditions.  Now  if  it  was  asserted,  as 
in  fact  it  is  asserted  with  regard  to  a  large  class  of 
alleged  phenomena,  that  personality,  that  specialities 
of  human  or2;anism  do  introduce  new  conditions,  re- 
suiting  in  these  unusual  phenomena  under  certain 
other  conditions  not  scientifically  known,  this  would 
not  be  and  is  not  to  contradict  the  common  experience 
which,  ex  hypothesi,  knows  nothing  of  these  exceptional 
personalities.  Bearing  in  mind,  then,  that  no  experi- 
ence or  amount  of  experience  has  the  least  relevance 
to  an  alleged  fact  except  under  the  exact  conditions, 
inclusive  and  exclusive,  of  its  occurrence,  and  that  we 
cannot  say  beforehand  what  are  conditions  and  what 
are  not,  the  experience  argument,  in  relation  to  the 
phenomena  in  question,  resolves  itself  into  this :  that 
inasmuch  as  the  alleged  personalities  which,  as  the  one 


240  APPENDIX  A. 

constant  clement  must  be  regarded  as  the  condition, 
are  exceptional  and  ahnornial,  tlicrefore  their  existence 
is  so  inij)rol)able  tiiat  testimony  cannot  prove  it. 
What  is  this  but  to  say  that  the  abnormal  can  never 
be  proved  by  testimony  *?  Nay,  more,  tliat  testimony 
can  never  make  such  a  provisional  and  jfrinid  facie 
case,  as  to  justify  a  reasonable  man  in  seeking  for  the 
higher  evidence  of  his  own  experience  ;  in  otlicr  words, 
in  investigating  for  himself?  For  such  a  i)rhiid  facie 
case  is  a  probable  case,  and  here  it  is  said  that  the 
balance  of  proliuljility  is  largely  .against  the  fact.  I 
am  endeavouring  to  get  at  the  precise  point  in  issue  ; 
and  1  say  tliat  the  man  who  exclaims,  "  Objects  mov- 
ing without  physical  contact  !  writing  read  without 
ej-es  !  matter  passing  through  matter!  writing  without 
hands  !  these  things  are  opposed  to  all  human  experi- 
ence 1 " — is  talking  M'ildly  and  loosely.  What,  if  he 
would  condescend  to  be  exact  and  logical,  he  really 
means  is  that  it  is  opposed  to  a  negative  induction 
from  the  (O)sence  of  experience  that  indiridHals  should 
exist  ivho  can  provide  new  conditions  of  plnjsical 
operation.  But  the  question  is.  Is  this 'induction  to 
be  refjarded  as  final '{  And  as  we  are  dealinir  with 
the  experience  school  solely  with  its  own  weapons,  let 
us  see  what  experience  says  to  that.  And  I  should 
have  thou2;ht  that  if  there  was  one  induction  from 
experience  historically  and  scientifically  valid  it  was 
that  other  inductions  from  experience — and  especially 
necjative  inductions — are  not  final.  Our  widest  indue- 
tions  are  precisely  those  which  we  make  in  the  infancy 
of  experience  and  science.  Science  advances  by  the 
discovery  of  new  conditions  which  limit  general  rules. 
What  was  rejected  as  abnormal  yesterday  is  found  to 
.  have  a  law  of  its  own  to-day.  In  a  word,  if  the 
widest  and  highest  experience  of  mankind  can  afford 
us  a  canon  of  probability  it  is  tiiis — that  testimony, 
otherwise  suilicieut,  to  the  exceptional,  the  abnormal, 


APPENDIX  A.  241 

the  strange,  and  tlie  new,  is  probably  true,  and  not 
probably  false.  Set  side  by  side  the  cases  in  which 
new  facts  of  nature  have  been  asserted  and  jDroved  to 
be  true  with  the  cases  in  which  they  have  been  well 
asserted  and  yet  disproved,  or  not  proved,  and  who 
that  is  acquainted  even  superficially  with  the  history 
of  science  and  discovery  would  hesitate  to  say  which 
list  affords  us  the  best  foundation  for  an  induction  1 

I  submit,  then,  as  the  results  of  the  foregoing  con- 
siderations—  I.  That  testimony  to  the  extraordinary, 
of  which  the  phenomena  referred  to  may  be  taken  as 
a  type,  is  falsely  opposed  to  experience.  2.  That 
what  it  is  opposed  to  is  simply  a  negative  induction 
from  the  absence  of  experience.  3.  That  a  more 
general  experience  teaches  us  that  such  negative 
inductions  cease  to  be  probably  true,  so  soon  as  they 
are  opposed  to  testimony  of  a  character  sufficient  to 
establish  any  other  fact. 

It  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  be  able  to  state 
that  since  the  above  was  written,  I  have  found  the 
distinction  between  positive  and  negative  experience, 
and  the  character  of  the  inductions  from  each,  very 
ably  and  elaborately  explained  in  a  long  note  by  Mr. 
Starkie,  in  his  Treatise  on  the  Law  of  Evidence.  I  do 
not  quote  this  note  in  extenso,  because  I  hope  the 
distinction  is  already  obvious  to  all.  Mr.  Starkie's 
observations  refer  expressly  to  Hume's  principle  of 
incredulity ;  and  he  shows,  as  Mr.  A.  R.  Wallace  has 
also  shown,  that  pushed  to  its  logical  consequences 
that  principle  would  be  absolutely  fatal  to  all  scientific 
progress.  One  could  almost  imagine  the  following 
passage  to  have  been  written  in  prophetic  protest 
against  the  appeals  to  Hume  by  the  sceptics  who  treat 
with  contumely  and  derision  every  testimony  to  the 
occult  phenomena  of  the  present  day.  "Experience, 
then,  so  far  from  pointing  out  any  unalterable  laws  of 
nature,  to  the  exclusion  of  events  or  phenomena  which 


2^2  APPEXDIX    A. 

liavc  never  before  been  experienced,  and  wliicli  cannot 
be  accounted  for  by  tlie  laws  already  observed,  shows 
tlio  very  contrary,  and  proves  that  such  new  events  or 
phenomena  may  l)ec-ome  tlie  foundation  of  more  en- 
larojed,  more  general,  and  therefore  more  perfect  laws." 
And  in  the  text  Mr,  Starkie  says — "As  exjtcrience 
sliows  that  events  frequently  occur  which  would  ante- 
cedently have  been  considered  most  improbable,  and 
as  their  improbability  usually  arises  from  want  of  a 
more  intimate  and  correct  knowledfie  of  the  causes 
which  produced  them,  mere  improbability  can  rarely 
supply  a  suflic'icnt  ground  for  disbelieving  direct  and 
unexceptionable  witnesses  of  the  fact,  where  there  was 
no  room  for  mistake." 

And  again,  "  Mr.  Hume's  conclusion  is  highly  objec- 
tionable in  a  philosophical  point  of  view,  inasmuch  as 
it  would  leave  phenomena  of  the  most  remarkable 
nature  wholly  unexplained,  and  would  operate  to  the 
utter  exclusion  of  all  inquiry.  Estoppels  are  odious 
even  in  judicial  investigations,  because  they  tend  to 
exclude  the  truth  ;  in  metaphysics  they  are  intolerable. 
So  conscious  was  ]\Ir.  Hume  himself  of  the  weakness 
of  his  general  and  sweeping  position,  that  in  the 
second  part  of  his  loth  section,  he  limits  his  inference 
in  these  remarkal)le  terms,  *  I  beg  the  limitations  here 
made  may  be  remarked  when  I  say  that  a  miracle' can 
never  be  proved  so  as  to  be  the  foundation  of  a  system 
of  religion  ;  for  I  own  that  otherwise  there  may  possibli/ 
be  miracles  or  violations  of  the  usual  course  of  nature 
of  such  a  kind  as  to  admit  of  proof  from  human 
testimony." 

Now  this  limitation,  by  which  Hume  reduced  the 
breadth  of  his  original  proposition,  is  simply  a  too 
arbitrary  application  of  a  principle  of  criticism  of  tes- 
timony, in  itself  entirely  unobjectionable,  and  upon 
■which,  indeed,  it  is  one  of  the  objects  of  this  paper 
most  strongly  to  insist.     Obviously,  what  is  regarded 


APPENDIX   A.  243 

in  the  proposition  thus  limited  is  not  the  improbability 
of  the  fact  at  all,  but  the  temptation  of  the  witnesses 
to  deceive,  or  their  liability  to  be  deceived.  That  is 
a  legitimate  and  necessary  consideration,  resulting 
from  our  experience  of  human  motives  and  of  the 
effect  of  prepossessions,  in  the  estimation  of  testimony. 
If  the  object  of  the  witness,  as  of  the  early  Christian, 
for  example,  is  to  persuade  the  world  of  the  divine 
authorship  of  a  religion,  that  object,  and  the  heat  and 
zeal  with  which  it  would  probably  be  pursued,  might 
undoubtedly  supply  a  motive,  proper  to  be  taken  into 
account,  for  statements  of  miracles  performed  by  the 
author  of  the  religion.  And  so  the  preconception  of 
His  divine  powers  would  predispose  to  a  facility  of 
accepting  appearances  as  miraculous,  quite  inconsistent 
with  the  cool  and  scientific  observation  which  we 
desiderate  in  the  witnesses.  These  considerations 
undoubtedly  go  to  weaken  the  force  of  testimony ; 
whether  they  do  so  in  such  a  degree  as  to  deprive  it 
of  all  value  is  really  a  matter  of  individual  opinion, 
and  certainly,  apart  from  the  circumstances  of  each 
case,  cannot  pretend  to  the  dignity  of  a  universal 
principle  of  judgment.  Hume  has  few  greater  ad- 
mirers than  myself ;  but  I  am  forced  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  celebrated  Essay  on  Miracles,  which  he  put 
forth  with  almost  exulting  confidence,  is  one  of  the 
weakest,  the  most  ill  considered,  and  the  most  incon- 
sistent pieces  of  reasoning  with  which  I  am  acquainted. 
It  has  been  completely  overthrown  by  three  writers 
who  have  dealt  with  it,  and  of  whom  the  later  do 
not  appear  to  have  met  with  the  earlier  refutations ; 
by  Mr.  Starkie,  by  Mr.  Babbage,  in  the  Ninth  Briclg- 
ivater  Treatise,  and  by  Mr.  A.  R.  Wallace,  in  the  Intro- 
duction to  his  Miracles  and  Modern  Spiritualism. 

I  have  endeavoured  to  point  out  the  fallacy  of  what 
seems  to  me  a  false  application  of  the  principle  that 
evidence  should   be   proportioned   to  probability.     I 


244  APPENDIX   A. 

will  now  attempt  to  state,  in  an  abstract  form,  what 
I  submit  is  its  true  result  in  our  experience  of  testi- 
mony. If  it  is  j>()ssible  to  assign  a  ratio  of  prol)ability 
to  a  fact,  not  being  one  subject  to  exact  computation, 
it  is  also  possible  to  assign  a  similar  ratio  to  the  value 
of  eviilence,  for  tlie  value  of  evidence  is  just  the  proha- 
hilitij  (Ujninst  its  being  forthcoming  for  that  which  is 
hot  a  fact.  If  it  is  legitimate  to  consider  the  proba- 
bility of  a  fact  apart  from  the  evitlence  for  it,  so  it  is 
legitimate  to  consider  the  general  value  of  a  particular 
cpiality  and  amount  of  testimony  apart  from  the  ])ro- 
bability  of  any  special  fact  to  which  it  may  be  api)lied. 
No  antecedent  preference  is  due  to  the  one  probability 
over  the  other  if  they  are  equal,  but  the  result  is  that 
precisely  in  proportion  as  both  the  fact  is  improbable 
and  the  evidence  is  probable,  you  will  not  get  the  evi- 
dence for  the  fact,  that  is  to  say,  just  in  that  proportion 
you  are  unlikchj  to  get  it.  And  if  we  find,  and  find 
often,  evidence  which  we  deem  to  be  good,  for  a  fact 
which  we  deem  to  be  improbal)lc,  of  one  of  two  things 
we  may  be  certain,  either  we  have  miscalculated  tlie 
value  of  the  evidence  or  the  probability  of  the  fact. 
Now  in  relation  to  facts  new  to  our  experience,  to  facts 
of  which  the  proof  of  their  possibility  is  also  the  proof 
of  their  existence,  which  of  these  alternatives  is  the 
most  probable  ^  Whatever  induction  experience  may 
artord  of]  what  may  be  called  the  abstract  value  of 
evidence — that  is  without  reirard  to  the  antecedent 
[•robabilities  of  the  fact  to  be  jiroved — is  positive  and 
afHrmative.  It  is  constantly  being  verified.  '  It  depends 
on  tests  and  criteria,  the  efficiency  of  which  are  also 
being  constantly  guaranteed  by  exj)erience.  How 
stands  the  case  with  that  other  negative  induction  to 
which  it  is  opposed'?  lite  jyrohahiliti/  in  its  favour 
is  just  the  2^^'ohahirttii  that  good  evidence  will  not  he 
forthcoming  to  contradict  it.  It  is  a  probability  which 
arises  entirely  from  the   absence  of  evidence.     It  is 


APPENDIX   A.  245 

impossible  to  conceive  more  vicious  reasoning  than 
that  which  would  make  it  a  ground  of  rejecting  evi- 
dence. It  depends  on  the  proposition  :  "If  this  were 
true,  we  should  have  had  the  evidence  before  " — which 
amounts  to  this,  as  has  been  pointed  out  by  Mr. 
Starkie,  and  by  Mr.  A.  R.  AYallace,  in  the  admirable 
Introduction  to  his  book,  Miracles  and  Modern 
Spiritual  ism,  that  no  new  fact  can  ever  be  proved  by 
testimony.  And  I  cannot  conclude  this  part  of  the 
argument  better  than  by  quoting  that  writer's  neat 
dilemma  in  reply  to  Hume  :  "  If  the  fact  were  possible, 
such  evidence  as  we  have  been  considering  would 
prove  it ;  if  it  were  not  jDOSsible,  that  evidence  would 
not  exist." 

Somethino-  remains  to  be  said  on  the  ejQfect  of 
cumulative  evidence.  The  late  Mr.  Babbage,  in  the 
Ninth  Bridgiuater  Treatise,  has  worked  out  an  ela- 
borate mathematical  refutation  of  Hume's  principle. 
And  he  concludes  that  if  any  definite  measure  of 
improbability,  however  large,  be  adopted,  that  is  to 
say,  if  the  improbability  be  short  of  infinite  (and  no 
one  has  ever  contended  that  it  is  this — or,  in  other 
words,  that  the  fact  is  impossible),  a  miracle,  so  called, 
can  be  proved  by  testimony.  Taking  rn  as  the 
measure  of  improbability,  he  says,  "  It  follows,  there- 
fore, that  however  large  m  may  be,  however  great  the 
quantity  of  experience  against  the  occurrence  of  a 
miracle  (provided  only  that  there  are  persons  whose 
statements  are  more  frequently  correct  than  incorrect, 
and  who  give  their  testimony  in  favour  of  it  without 
collusion),  a  certain  number,  n,  can  always  be  found, 
so  that  it  shall  be  a  greater  improbability  that  their 
unanimous  statement  shall  be  a  falsehood  than  that 
the  miracle  shall  have  occurred."  Taking  the  case  of 
only  six  witnesses  who  will  speak  the  truth,  and  are 
not  themselves  deceived  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of 
a  hundred,  Mr.  Babbage  deduces  the  result  that  the 


2. 1 6  APPENDIX    A. 

improbability  of  their  independent  concurrence  in 
testifying  to  what  is  not  a  fact  is  five  times  as  great 
as  an  assumed  improl)aI»ility  of  two  hundred  tliousand 
millions  to  one  against  the  miracle  which  they  are 
supposed  to  attest,  or  it  is  one  hillion  to  that  inimber. 
And  it  hardly  needs  demonstration  that  the  same  result 
is  arrived  at  by  increasing  the  number  of  witnesses  in 
proportion  to  any  definite  numerical  deduction  from 
the  value  of  the  individual  testimony  of  each. 
To  this  scientific  authority  I  will  add  a  legal  one  to 
the  same  efiect.  "  It  would,"  says  >rr.  Starkie,  in  his 
treatise  on  the  Law  of  Evidence,  "  tlieoretically  speak- 
ing, be  improper  to  omit  to  observe  that  the  weight 
and  force  of  the  unitc<l  testimony  of  numbers  upon 
abstract  mathematical  principles,  increases  in  a  higher 
ratio  than  that  of  the  mere  number  of  such  witnesses. 
Upon  these  principles,  if  definite  degrees  of  probability 
could  be  assigned  to  the  testimony  of  each  witness, 
the  resulting  probability  in  favour  of  their  united 
testimony  would  be  obtained  not  by  the  mere  addition 
of  the  numbers  expressing  the  several  probabilities, 
but  by  a  process  of  multi[>lication."  Now  it  is  obvious 
that  in  applying  these  principles  to  a  class  of  alleged 
facts  denied  on  the  ground  of  antecedent  improba- 
bility, we  ought  to  take,  in  computing  the  cumulative 
force  of  testimony,  not  simply  the  testimony  which 
this  or  that  fact  of  the  class  can  adduce,  but  all  the 
testimony  which  exists  for  all  similar  alleged  facts 
comprised  in  the  class.  Let  M  represent  the  class, 
comprising  under  it  a  h  c  d,  particular  alleged 
instances.  We  may  state  the  result  in  either  one  or 
two  ways.  Either  we  may  oppose  the  improbability 
of  (class)  ]\I  to  the  cumulative  evidence  oi  a  h  c  d, 
taken  together  ;  or,  taking  a  by  itself,  we  may  say 
that  the  improbability  against  a  is  the  improbability 
of  M,  the  class,  minus  the  probability  resulting  from 
the  cumulative  testimony  iu  favour  of  h,  c,  and  c/, 


APPENDIX   A.  247 

taken  together.  Now  to  apply  the  foregoing  con- 
siderations to  cases  of  actual  occurrence.  I  could  not 
go  into  details  here  without  protracting  this  paper 
beyond  reasonable  limits,  but  the  cases  I  shall  take 
are  already  familiar  to  many  in  this  room,  and  as  they 
are  on  record,  with  the  utmost  particularity  of  descrip- 
tion, others  may  be  referred  to  the  printed  accounts. 
I  select  then  a  number  of  testimonies  to  distinct  facts 
of  the  same  class,  namely,  of  physical  effects  produced 
by  means  nnknown  to  science,  and  each  depending 
on  the  introduction  of  new  physical  conditions  by 
special  human  organisms,  which,  as  before  stated,  and 
not  any  particular  effect,  is  the  fact  really,  if  at  all, 
opposed  to  experience.  Let  me  again  request  you  to 
keep  this  clearly  in  mind.  If  I  say  that  an  effect 
depends  upon  the  powers  of  a  certain  person,  your 
experience  is  evidently  not  opposed  to  the  effect 
except  so  far  as  it  is  opposed  to  the  existence  of  such 
powers  in  members  of  the  human  race.  Your  ex- 
perience of  the  uniform  course  of  physical  nature  is 
wholly  and  absolutely  irrelevant.  Nobody  has  ever 
asserted  that  these  things  would  occur  in  your  presence 
alone.  If  yon  are  to  bring  the  experience  argument 
to  bear  at  all,  it  must  be  in  denying  the  alleged 
conditions  of  their  occurrence — the  chief  of  these 
conditions,  in  this  case,  relating  to  the  personality  of 
individuals.  That  premised,  the  several  alleged  facts, 
I  take,  belong  to  the  same  class — namely,  those  that 
depend  on  the  presence  of  persons  reputed  to  be 
2')sychics,  or  mediums.  The  first  is  the  experiment 
recorded  in  the  April  number  of  the  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Science  of  Professor  Zollner  and  other 
German  scientists  with  Dr.  Slade.  In  this,  as  in  the 
other  cases  to  be  presently  mentioned,  I  have  taken 
the  testimony  of  well-known  men  of  scientific  emi- 
nence, because,  although  their  veracity  may  not  be 
worth  more  than  that  of  other  witnesses  to  these  facts, 


243  APPENDIX   A. 

it  may  bo  called  &  known  quantity.  The  improbability 
of  Zollncr's  hjuKj  would,  I  imai^ine,  be  admitted  to 
exceed  jSlr.  JJabbagc's  lOO  to  i.  And  so  also  of  the 
others  to  be  named.  Jiut  how  are  we  to  assign  a 
value  to  the  improbability  of  his  being  deceived  ? 
Now  here,  I  must  remind  you,  the  improbability  of 
the  fact  attested  is  wholly  beside  the  question.  That 
is  a  matter  to  be  taken  into  calculation  subsecjuently. 
For  the  present  i)urpose  the  probability  of  his  being 
deceived  or  mistaken  is  just  what  it  would  have  been 
if  he  was  performing  the  most  ordinary  experiment 
in  the  world,  under  the  same  conditions  of  observation, 
and  with,  of  course,  the  same  suppositions  of  a  motive 
and  design  to  deceive  him.  AVhen  we  have  got  this 
value,  then  we  will  set  off  against  it  the  improbability 
of  the  fact.  But  to  consider  the  latter  at  present 
would  be  just  as  if,  having  to  subtract  an  unknown 
quantity,  x,  from  a  given  number,  say  lo,  we  began 
by  subtracting  lo  from  x,  and  so  made  the  problem 
lo — (x-io)  instead  of  lo-x,  an  algebraical  begging 
of  the  question.  Regarding,  then,  the  experiment 
without  this  prejudice,  I  should  say  no  numeral  would 
be  considered  (|uite  high  enough  to  express  the  im- 
probability of  Zollner's  being  deceived.  Add  to  this, 
the  improbability  of  his  colleagues  also  being  deceived. 
But  whatever  value  we  determine  upon,  is  it  to  bo 
opposed  by  itself  to  the  imjn-obability  of  the  fact, 
which  would  then  be  proper  to  be  considered  1  No  ; 
for  look  at  the  next  case  of  the  same  class.  Tiiat 
shall  be  the  electrical  test  experiment  of  Mr.  Crookes 
with  Mrs.  Fay,  at  his  own  house,  assisted  by  several 
Fellows  of  the  lloyal  Society,  as  well  as  by  our 
president,  Mr.  Serjeant  Cox,  who  all  agreed  in  the 
conclusive  nature  of  the  experiment.  Lying  again  is 
out  of  the  question,  practically.  Deception  by  the 
medium  1  Inaccuracy  of  observation  1  A  scientific 
test,   devised   by   the   most   competent  experts,   the 


APPENDIX   A.  249 

nature  of  it  not  explained  to  the  medium  till  she,  who 
may  almost  be  assumed  to  be  a  scientifically  ignorant 
young  woman,  is  in  the  house  (that  of  Mr.  Crookes), 
the  apparatus  unknown  to  her,  and  its  working 
watched  and  recorded  from  minute  to  minute.  The 
results  beyond  all  explicable  power  of  production, 
even  had  the  medium  been  herself  an  accomplished 
electrician,  and  intimately  versed  with  the  apparatus. 
In  calculating  probabilities,  the  same  observations  are 
applicable  here  as  to  the  case  of  Professor  Zollner. 
But  the  improbability  of  deception  here  must  be  added, 
in  the  ratio  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Babbage  and  Mr. 
Starkie,  to  that  of  the  former  case.  Take  yet  another, 
and  here  ao-ain  one  at  least  of  the  witnesses  is  a  man 
of  high  scientific  standing — Lord  Lindsay,  who  has 
recently  been  elected  on  the  Council  of  the  Royal 
Society.  He  describes  the  levitation  of  Mr.  Daniel 
Home,  and  his  floating  in  and  out  of  a  window  seventy 
feet  from  the  ground  by  bright  moonlight.  I  will 
read  the  account  in  Lord  Lindsay's  own  words  : — • 

*'  I  was  sitting  with  Mr.  Home  and  Lord  Adare,  and 
a  cousin  of  his.  Durins;  the  sittius;  Mr.  Home  Avent 
into  a  trance,  and  in  that  state  was  carried  out  of  the 
window  in  the  room  next  to  where  we  were,  and  was 
brought  in  at  our  window.  The  distance  between  the 
Avindows  was  about  7  feet  6  inches,  and  there  was  not 
the  slightest  foothold  between  them,  nor  was  there 
more  than  a  12-inch  projection  to  each  window,  Avliich 
served  as  a  ledge  to  put  flowers  on. 

"  We  heard  the  window  in  the  next  room  lifted  up, 
and  almost  immediately  after  we  saw  Home  floating 
in  the  air  outside  our  window. 

"  The  moon  was  shining  full  into  the  room  ;  my  back 
was  to  the  light,  and  I  saw  the  shadow  on  the  wall 
of  the  window-sill,  and  Home's  feet  about  six  inches 
above  it.     He  remained  in  this  position  for  a  few 


250  APPENDIX    A. 

secomls,  then  raised  the  window  and  glided  into  the 
room,  feet  foremost,  and  sat  down. 

*'  Lord  Adare  then  went  into  the  next  room  to  look  at 
the  window  from  which  he  had  been  carried.  It  was 
raised  about  18  inelies,  and  he  expressed  liis  wonder 
how  Mr.  Home  had  been  taken  throuirh  so  narrow  an 

o 

aperture. 

"  Home  said,  still  entranced,  'I  will  show  you.'  and 
then  with  hin  back  to  the  wiiuloiv  he  leaned  hack,  and 
tvas  shot  out  of  the  aperture,  head  first,  with  the  body 
r if/id,  and  then  returned  quite  quiethj. 

"  The  window  is  about  70  feet  from  the  ground.  I 
very  much  doubt  whether  any  skilful  tight-rope  dancer 
would  like  to  attempt  a  feat  of  this  description,  where 
tliu  o.idy  means  of  crossing  would  be  by  a  perilous 
leap,  or  being  borne  across  in  such  a  manner  as  I  have 
described,  placing  the  question  of  the  light  aside. 

"  Ll^•DSAY. 
''Juhj  \j^th,  1 87 1." 

I  will  call  one  other  witness  before  you,  likewise  of 
scientific  position  and  attainments,  begging  you  to 
reinember  that  these  are  only  specimen  cases.  It  is 
Dr.  Lockhart  Robertson,  one  of  the  Visitors  in  Lunacy. 
Among  other  phenomena  which  took  place  in  his  own 
house,  in  the  presence  of  himself  and  his  own  friends, 
the  medium  being  a  Mr.  fSquire,  Dr.  llobcrtson  de- 
scribes the  following: — "  A  heavy  circular  chair,  made 
of  birch  and  strongly  constructed,  was  lifted  a  somer- 
sault in  the  air  and  thrown  on  the  bed,  the  left  hand 
only  of  Mr.  Squire  being  held  on  the  surface,  his  other 
hand  held,  and  his  legs  being  tied  to  the  chair  on 
Avhich  he  sat.     The  table  was  afterwards  twice  lifted 

on  to  the  head  of  the  writer  and  of  Mr.  Squire 

At  the  writer's  request  this  table  was  afterwards 
smashed  and  broken,  and  one  fragment  thrown  across 
the   room,  the  table  at  the  time  being  held  by  the 


APPENDIX   A.  251 

writer  and  Mr.  Squire.  This  occurred  in  half  a  minute. 
The  writer  has  since  vainly  endeavoured  with  all 
his  streuoth  to  break  one  of  the  remainino-  leg-s. 
The  one  broken  was  rent  across  the  grain  of  the 
wood."  Dr.  Eobertson  states  that  all  this  took  place 
in  the  dark,  but  probably,  looking  at  the  nature  of 
the  phenomena  and  the  conditions  described,  most 
candid  persons  would  be  of  the  opiniou,  lie  concludes 
by  expressing,  "  that  fraud  was  utterly  and  entirely 
impossible  and  impracticable."  I  will  add  just  one 
other  testimony  of  Lord  Lindsay : — "  A  friend  of 
mine  was  very  anxious  to  find  the  will  of  his  grand- 
mother, who  had  been  dead  forty  years,  but  could 
not  even  find  the  certificate  of  her  death.  I  went 
with  him  to  the  Marshall's,  and  we  had  a  seance;  we 
sat  at  a  table,  and  soon  the  raps  came.  My  friend 
asked  his  questions  mentally ;  he  went  over  the 
alphabet  himself,  or  sometimes  I  did  so,  not  knowing 
the  question.  We  were  told  the  will  had  been  drawn 
by  a  man  named  Walker,  who  lived  in  Whitechapel ; 
the  name  of  the  street  and  the  number  of  the  house 
were  given.  We  went  to  Whitechapel,  found  the  man, 
and  subsequently,  through  his  aid,  obtained  a  copy  of 
the  draft.  He  was  quite  unknown  to  us,  and  had  not 
always  lived  in  that  locality,  for  he  had  seen  better 
days.  The  medium  could  not  possibly  have  known 
anything  about  the  matter,  and  even  if  she  had,  her 
knowledge  would  have  been  of  no  avail,  as  all  the  ques- 
tions were  mental  ones." 

If  you  would  be  rational,  do  not  laugh  at  these 
cases  one  by  one,  but  study  the  evidence  for  each  of 
them  separately,  and  then  appreciate  their  cumulative 
force,  as  belongiug  to  the  same  class.  Then,  if  you 
please,  set  ofi"  the  improbability  arising  from  your  own 
and  others'  ignorance.  I  don't  know^  if  you  Mill 
estimate  that  at  Babbage's  two  hundred  thousand 
millions,  but  if  so,  you  are  bound  to  show— mind,  once 


252  APPENDIX    A. 

more,  ^vithollt  any  reference,  express  or  tacit,  to  the 
inii>rol)al»ility  of  the  facts— Avliy  the  evidence  should 
l)e  estimated  at  less  than  lialdiage's  billion,  or  ratiier, 
since  we  have  liere  more  than  six  witnesses  whose 
testimony  for  any  ordinary  fact  would  have  so  great  a 
value,  at  tins  hillion  multiplied  in  a  greater  ratio  than 
my  small  mathematical  powers  conld  easily  calculate. 

But,  in  fact,  I  place  the  argnmcnt  far  higher  than 
cither  Mr.  Starkic  or  Mr,  r.abijage,  though  1  believe  I 
am  in  accord  ^vilh  Mr.  Wallace.  Both  the  former 
assumed  that  there  is  an  antecedent  improbability 
to  be  deducted  from  the  value  of  the  positive  testi- 
mony. I  deny  that  altogether.  I  say  that  an  im- 
probability arisiug  from  want  of  evidence — which  is 
the  nature  of  these  negative  inductions — is  just  the 
improbahility  that  evidence  will  he  forthcoming. 
AVhcn  you  have  got  the  evidence  the  improbal)ility 
vanishes  just  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  the  evidence 
2)€r  se.  What  you  mean  by  the  improbability  of  a 
fact  beyond  experience  is  that  it  is  probably  imjjossible 
or  not  in  rerinn  natura.  What  conceivably  legitimate 
measure  of  this  probability  can  you  adopt  than  that 
which  also  determines  the  relation  between  evidence 
and  fact  ?  The  fallacy  consists  in  assuming  any 
numerical  value  whatever  for  such  antecedent  im- 
probabilities apart  from  this  relation.  Say  that  the 
best  single  human  testimony  has  a  value  of  100  to  i. 
Now  to-day,  because  I  have  never  had  that  evidence, 
I  say  the  probability  against  the  fact  is  represented 
in  my  mind  as  1000  to  i.  To-morrow  1  get  the 
evidence  of  that  intrinsic  value  of  100  to  i,  and  I 
say,  "  Oh,  but  the  adverse  probaliility  is  1000  to  i, 
and  the  value  of  this  evidence  must  be  reduced 
accordingly  to  a  minus  quantity."  This  surely  is  un- 
reasonable. But  I  may  quite  logically  say,  "  Inas- 
much as  this  100  to  I  evidence  has  never  been  forth- 
coming, it  raises  in  my  mind  a  presumption  worth 


APPENDIX    A.  253 

1000  to  I  that  such  evidence  never  will  he  forth- 
coming." If  the  evidence  arrives  after  all,  there  is  no 
presumption  against  its  truth.  We  have  a  right  to 
our  surprise,  but  not  to  our  incredulity.  Because  there 
was  no  evidence,  we  thought  there  was  no  fact.  We 
had  a  rio;ht  to  think  so.  But  the  moment  we  have 
evidence  we  are  in  the  reo;ion  of  evidence  whose 
intrinsic  value  we  have  to  estimate,  all  presumptions 
being  henceforth  merely  impertinent.  The  case  is, 
of  course,  very  different  when  we  are  dealing  with 
actual,  ascertainable  probabilities,  as  the  probability 
of  a  given  ball  being  drawn  by  chance  from  a  hundred 
others.  Then  the  chance  being  real,  and  not  merely 
supposititious,  we  properly  set  it  off  against  the  evi- 
dence. But  iu  the  other  case  the  evidence  destroys 
the  supposition,  precisely  in  proportion  to  its  own 
intrinsic  value. 

But  even  allowing  the  presumption  to  co-exist  with 
the  evidence,  it  has  appeared  that  if  no  other  evidence 
of  similar  facts  had  existed  from  the  beo-innino;  of 
recorded  time  to  the  present  besides  these  three  cases 
I  have  mentioned,  the  probability  in  their  favour 
would  still  be  greater  than  the  probability  against 
them.  You  are  instinctively  repelled  by  this  state- 
ment ;  so  am  I.  We  all  feel  that  there  must  be 
something;  wrono;  somewhere.  And  so  there  is.  It 
is  not  that  the  hypothesis  is  an  impossible  one.  Mr. 
Babbage  has  made  a  very  ingenious  supposition.  He 
has  conceived  the  course  of  nature  to  be  like  a 
machine  constructed  on  the  principle  of  his  own 
calculatino;  engine.  A  thousand  revolutions  of  the 
wheel  shall  bring  up  only  square  numbers,  but  the 
machine  shall  be  constructed  so  that  the  thousand  and 
first  shall  show  a  cube  number — a  *'  miracle."  AVe  can 
conceive  that  certainly.  And  so  a  man  might  be 
born  to-day  who  should  be  the  first  of  mankind  born 
with  these  abnormal  powers  we  have  been  consider- 

R 


254  APPENDIX    A. 

iiii:;.  But  all  observed  analogies  protest  against  this 
supposition  of  a  purely  exceptional  fact,  even  though 
wc  may  conceive  such  a  fact  to  be  subsumed  under 
a  higher  law  of  extremely  rare  application.  If  we 
have  once  i)roved  the  fact  under  its  own  conditions,  it 
is  in  the  highest  degree  propable  that  the  law  of  its 
occurrence  is  in  constant  operation.  To  su]>posc  that 
it  is  not  is  to  encounter  a  new  improbability,  and  it 
is  this  new  improbability  which  repelled  us  just  now 
in  the  supposition  that  no  other  similar  cases  hail 
existed  in  human  experience.  We  should  expect  to 
find  them  in  every  age.  See  now  how  we  have 
shifted  the  onus  of  improbability.  The  proved  case  in 
the  present  makes  such  cases  in  the  past  higldy  pro- 
bable ;  in  other  words,  experience  cannot  have  been 
truly  opposed  to  that  which  has  just  been  proved  on 
the  assumption  that  experience  is  opposed  to  it.  And 
what  do  we  find  in  fact  1  Why,  that  records  of  occult 
phenomena,  and  especially  of  such  as  occur  through 
the  mediation  of  particular  individuals,  form  an 
appreciable  part  of  the  literature  of  every  generation 
of  men  since  the  invention  of  printing,  and  anterior 
to  that  we  have,  besides  the  manuscript  accounts  of 
antiquity,  the  universal  belief  of  mankind,  which 
must  presumably  have  rested  on  experience.  Addison, 
indeed,  speaks  of  the  "general  testimony  of  mankind  " 
in  favour  of  those  facts  to  which  eighteenth  century 
scepticism — a  product  of  intellectual  causes  which 
have  been  traced  by  ^Ir.  Lecky — has  unwarrantably 
oi)posed  that  very  general  testimony.  I  have  said 
notliino;  of  the  innumerable  mob  of  witnesses  in  the 
present  time,  and  in  almost  every  country  in  the 
world,  to  whose  separate  and  individual  testimony 
we  are  unable  to  assign  a  positive  value.  I  have 
said  nothing  even  of  that  respectable  array  of 
known  and  in  various  ways  distinguished  witnesses 
whom  we  have  still  among  us,  or  who  have  recently 


APPENDIX    A. 


■05 


deceased.  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  admission  of 
experts  in  the  art  of  conjuring — that  art  to  which 
such  illimitable  powers  are  ascribed  by  tlie  credulity 
of  the  incredulous — of  the  celebrated  conjurer  Houdin, 
of  the  celebrated  conjurer  Bellachini,  of  the  celebrated 
conjurer  John  Nevil  Maskelyne,  the  latter  of  whom  I 
pitblicly  challenged  in  the  Examiner  newspaper  to 
explain  away,  if  he  cottld,  certain  printed  and  pub- 
lished admissions  of  his  own  to  the  existence  of  pheno- 
mena of  this  class  not  produced  by  trickery.*  I  am 
not  attempting  the  prodigious  task  of  estimating  in 
figures  the  cumulative  evidence  for  the  phenomena 
called  spiritualistic,  a  Pelion  piled  upon  an  Ossa  of 
testimony,  and  which  would  crush  any  logical  resist- 
ance, but  not  the  illogical  power  of  that  against  whicli, 
it  is  said,  the  very  gods  strive  vainly.  I  charge  this 
sttipidity  with  gross  ignorance  of  the  principles  upon 
which  evidence  should  be  estimated ;  and  I  have 
traced  this  ignorance  to  four  fallacies  ;  First,  to  the 
confusion  of  the  positive  affirmative  induction  which 
Ave  legitimately  draw  of  the  course  of  nature  under 
ordinary  conditions  of  observation,  with  the  negative 
induction  from  inexperience,  of  the  non-existence  of 
other  conditions.  Secondly,  to  the  assumption  that 
this  inexperience,  in  fact,  exists,  as  the  ground  even  of 
this  negative,  far  more  limited,  and  far  less  valid  in- 
duction, an  assumption  which  is  made  by  an  arbitrary 
rejection  of  historic  evidence.  Thirdly,  to  the  assump- 
tion that  antecedent  improbability  thus  arising  can 
co-exist  with  testimony  of  a  certain  assigriable  value. 
Fourthly,  to  neglecting  to  estimate  the  cumulative 
force  of  testimony. 

That  these  fallacies  are,  nevertheless,  sanctioned  by 

*  Notice  of  the  terms  of  the  above  reference  to  !Mr.  ^laskelyne  •was  sent 
to  the  latter,  with  a  card  of  admission  to  hear  the  i)aper  read,  a^-ailahle 
for  Maskelyne  himself,  or  for  any  friend  by  Avhom  Jie  might  wish  to  lie 
represented,  and  who  might  make  any  statement  b}-  permission  of  the 
chairman.     For  Mr.  ]Maskelynes  admissions  see  Appendix  C. 


256  Al'l'liNDIX    A. 

itnuinou  consent,  and  by  authority,  need  not  surprise 
us.  It  is  a  po[>ular  error  tliat  priests  have  been  tlic 
greatest  cneujies  to  scienee.  It  has  been  the  "  common 
sense"  of  each  generation,  sup[)<)rted  and  sanctioiuil 
by  the  liighest  scientific  autliorities  of  the  day,  that 
lias  always  been  found  opposed  to  the  reception  of 
♦•vidence  conllicting  wiili  j>resumplions  mIiIcIi  have 
their  origin  in  ignorance.  It  was  not  a  Churchman, 
but  a  very  learne<l  professor,  notorious  for  his  anti- 
rejii/ious  tendencies,  who  refused  to  look  tlirouLjh 
Galileo's  telescope.  Was  it  religious  persecution  or 
]>opular  and  scientific  ridicule  that  Harvey,  Jenner, 
Franklin,  Young,  Stephenson,  Arago,  and  Gregory, 
encountered  for  i heir  respective  discoveries  and  ideas  ? 
It  is  significant  that  in  an  American  book,  called  the 
Wdifare  0/ Science,  that  was  republished  in  England 
last  year  under  the  avowed  patronage  of  Professor 
Tyndall,  there  is  much  that  is  well  and  eloquently 
told  of  the  wrongs  of  science  at  the  hands  of  religious 
bigotry,  but  not  one  word  of  the  constant  and  deter- 
mined obstruction  of  scientific  men. 

To  avoid  misapprehension  1  wish  to  add  one  remark. 
In  speaking  of  the  abstract  value  of  testimony  I  have 
not  for  a  moment  meant  to  im})ly  that  testimony,  or 
evidence  generally,  can  be  appreciated  without  refer- 
ence to  the  nature  of  the  fact  attested.  It  is  only 
the  assumed  improbability  of  the  fact  which  I  have 
regarded  as  a  sep:iral)lc  factor.  But  in  accounts  of 
the  extraordinary  there  are  undoubtedly  elements  of 
fallacy  which  only  a  very  inexi>erienced  judge  of 
testimony  would  ignore.  For  instance,  we  may  almost 
appropriate  a  special  set  of  motives  to  such  narrations. 
The  mere  vanity  of  producing  an  impression  of 
wonder,  or  of  making  out  an  unanswerable  case,  is 
responsible  for  many  a  false  or  highly  coloured 
account.  There  is  the  temj)tation  to  support  a  hasty 
exaggeration  i»y  a  specific  falsehood,  or  by  suppression 


APPENDIX   A.  257 

of  truth.  Then,  again,  the  fact  may  be  of  such  a 
nature  that  the  whole  value  of  the  testimony  depends 
on  minuteness  and  accuracy  of  observation.  Eegard 
to  time  prevents  my  doing  more  than  advert  to  these 
considerations.  Only  to  each  case  as  it  arises  can 
their  proper  weight  be  assigned.  Unfortunately  there 
is  assigned  to  them  an  enormously  exaggerated  weight 
in  general,  without  reference  to  particular  cases  at  all, 
and  this  because  it  is  assumed  to  be  more  probable 
that  the  evidence  is  thus  vitiated  than  that  the  facts 
attested  are  true.  No  doubt  the  presumption  that 
evidence  is  not  good  is  a  far  more  rational  j^re- 
SLimption  than  that  evidence,  however  good,  is  false. 
And,  moreover,  it  is  one  which  can  be  brought  to  the 
test  of  examination,  whereas  the  latter  cannot.  We 
can  show  whether  evidence  does  or  does  not  come  up 
to  a  certain  standard,  and  if  it  does,  the  presumption 
is  falsified  ;  but  to  the  man  who  says,  "  I  won't  listen, 
and  I  dont  care  how  good  your  evidence  may  be,"  we 
can  have  nothing  further  to  say. 

In  conclusion,  I  w^ill  lay  down  tLe  following  pro- 
position broadly.  A  negative  probability,  by  which  I 
mean  an  inference  of  non-existence  from  the  absence 
of  evidence,  cannot  in  the  least  affect  the  value  of 
positive  evidence  of  existence.  It  is  only  provisional. 
It  vanishes  at  the  touch  of  sufficient  evidence  ;  and 
sufficient  evidence  I  define,  for  this  purpose,  to  be  evi- 
dence which  would  establish  a  fact  —  havin(y  strict 
rcQ-ard  to  the  nature  of  the  fact — as  to  which  there 
was  no  antecedent  presumption  or  probability  for  or 
against.  Would  I  therefore  accept  the  statement  of 
a  casual  stranger  as  to  some  unheard-of  marvel  with 
the  same  facility  that  I  would  accept  his  statement 
as  to  its  having  rained  somewhere  yesterday — a  fact 
which  may  be  said  to  answer  the  description  of  having 
no  antecedent  presumption  either  way  ?  Certainly 
not,  for  I  have  said  that  the  nature  of  the  fact  is  to 


2 58  APPENDIX    A. 

l»o  regank'tl,  not  as  probable  or  iin[»rol)able,  but  as 
rommunicatiug  elements  of  fallacy  to  testimony. 
Thus  uuderstuud,  I  say  that  the  evidence  is  our  whole 
concern,  and  that  if  it  stood  every  test  and  every 
criticism  which  experience  could  suggest,  I  would 
aecept  on  the  stniiL^'th  of  it  any  marvel  in  the  Andjian 
Xiijhts,  or  Gid/trrr's  Trairh.  And  I  submit  that  the 
ni.in  who  would  not  is  the  creature  of  prejudice  and 
the  victim  of  prepossessions. 


(     259     ) 


APPENDIX  B. 


EVIDENCE  OE  SAMUEL  BELLACHINI,  COURT 
CONJURER  AT  BERLIN 

The  following  is  a  translated  copy  of  an  official 
document  : — 

No.  482  Notary's  Register  for  1877,  drawn  at 
Berlin,  the  6th  day  of  December  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  seventy-seven,  in  presence  of  the  under- 
signed notary,  residing  at  Tauben-strasse,  No.  42,  in 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Royal  Supreme  Court  of  judica- 
ture, Gustav  Haagen,  Counsellor,  and  in  presence  of 
the  undersigned  witnesses,  personally  known  to  the 
notary,  of  full  age,  who  can  read  and  write,  and  are 
residents  here. 

Carl  Trlimper,  Letter  Carrier, 
Gustav  Grlintz,  Letter  Carrier, 
who  as  well  as   the  notary,  as  notary  and  witnesses 
both  hereby  declare  they  have  no  connection  wit 
the  case,  which  according  to  ^^ages  five  to  nine  of  the 
Act  of  July  the  eleventh,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- 
five,  would  exclude  them  from  participating  in  this 
document, 

Did  appear  this  day  personally  before  the  under- 
signed notary,  known  to  him  and  found  duly  qualified 
to  act. 

The  2^'^^stidigitat07^  and  Court  Conjurer  to  his 
Majesty  the   King  and  Emperor    William    I    ]\Ir. 


26o  APPENDIX    B. 

Samuel  Bu'llaoliini,  resit] inu;  at  Grossbaaron-f?trasse, 
No.  14,  which  gontlemau  did  ])rcfer  tlie  followiui; 
Btatcmcnt,  under  date  lierlin,  tlio  6tli  of  December,  in 
tliis  year,  and  that  lie  certified, 

That  the  signature  of  my  name,  hereby  api)ended, 
Avas  written  by  me  in  due  form  1  hereby  ackiiowle<lge. 
Read,  approved,  and  executed. 

(Signed)     Samuel  Bellaciiini. 

We,  the  notary  aii<l  witnesses,  attest  that  the  above 
transaction  took  place  as  herein  stated  ;  that  it  was 
in  the  presence  of  us,  notary  and  witnesses,  read 
aloud  to  the  person  concerneil,  approved  by  him,  aii<l 
signed  by  his  own  hand. 

(Signed)     OrsTAV  GPiUNTZ, 
Karl  Trumper, 
GusTAV  Haagen,  Notar)/. 

Executed  at  Tjerlin  on  the  sixth  of  December,  one 
thousand,  eight  hundred,  and  seventy-seven,  and 
entered  in  the  Notary's  Kegister  under  the  number 
four  hundred  and  eighty  two,  for  the  year  eighteen 
hundred  and  seventy-seven.  Signed  and  otticially 
stamjicd. 

Gustav  Haagen,  Counsellor  ami  Notary. 

I  hereby  declare  it  to  be  a  rash  action  to  give 
decisive  judgment  U]ioii  the  objective  medial  per- 
formance of  the  American  medium,  INIr.  Henry  Slade, 
after  only  one  sitting,  and  the  observations  so  made. 

After  I  had,  at  the  wi.sli  of  several  highly-esteemed 
gentlemen  of  rank  and  position,  and  also  for  my  own 
interest,  tested  the  physical  modiumship  of  ]\Ir,  Slade 
in  a  series  of  sittings  by  full  daylight,  as  well  as  in 
tlie  evening,  in  his  bedroom,  I  must,  for  the  sake  of 
truth,  hereby  certify  tliat  the  phenomenal  occurrences 
with  Mr.  Slade  have  been  thoroughly  examined  by  nie 


APPENDIX   B.  261 

with  the  minutest  observation  and  investig-ation  of 
his  surroimdincrs,  inchidino;  the  table,  and  that  I  have 
not  in  the  smallest  degree  found  anything  to  be  pro- 
duced by  means  of  prestidigitative  manifestations,  or 
by  mechanical  apparatus ;  and  that  any  explanation 
of  the  experiments  which  took  place  under  the  circum- 
stances and  conditions  then  obtaining  by  any  refer- 
ence to  prestidigitation,  to  be  absolutely  imj^ossible. 

It  must  rest  with  such  men  of  science  as  Crookes 
and  Wallace,  in  London ;  Perty,  in  Berne  ;  Butlerof, 
in  St.  Petersburg  ;  to  search  for  the  explanation  of 
this  phenomenal  power,  and  to  prove  its  reality.  I 
declare,  moreover,  the  published  opinions  of  laymen, 
as  to  the  "How  "  of  this  subject  to  be  premature,  and 
according  to  my  view  and  experience,  false  and  one- 
sided. This,  my  declaration,  is  signed  and  executed 
before  a  notary  and  witnesses. 

(Signed)     Samuel  Bella chini. 

Berlin,  6th  Decembir,  1877. 


(      262     ) 


ArPENDIX  C. 


ADAf/SS/OXS  BY  JOHN  NEVIL  MASKELYNE,  AND 
OTHER  PROFESSIONAL  CONJURERS. 

Mr.  John  Nevil  Maskclync,  tlie  well-known  con- 
jurer of  the  Egyptian  Hall,  riccadilly,  who  without 
liaving  Ijcen  present  at  a  single  sitting  with  fSlade, 
was  irregularly  admitted  as  a  witness  against  him 
at  Bow  Street,  had  lonG;  been  addiuGf  to  the  attrac- 
tion  of  his  performances  by  holding  them  out  to  be 
exposures  of  spiritualistic  phenomena.  In  June  and 
July  1873  a  corres})ondcnce  took  place  between  tliis 
gentleman  and  a  Spiritualist,  in  which  the  latter 
(•ITered  ]\Ir.  ]\raskel3'ne  ;^iooo  if  he  could  reproduce 
certain  mediumistic  phenomena  with  the  conditions 
under  which  they  had  been  observed  by  tln*ee  persons, 
one  only  to  be  a  Spiritualist.  The  negotiation  came 
to  nothing,  l)ut  the  correspondence  was  printed,  and 
the  following  extracts  are  quoted  with  a  view  to 
show  that  jMr.  JMaskelyne  has  himself  made  distinct 
admissions  of  the  reality  of  some  of  such  phenomena, 
]U)i  due  to  trich'r//,  that  he  even  avows  them  as  part 
of  his  own  public  exhibitions,  and  that  he  merely 
l)rotests  that  spirits  of  the  dead  have  nothing  to  do 
with  them.  That  this  is  not  the  true  issue  every  one 
but  Mr.  ]\Iaskelyne  will  admit.  That  issue  is  simply 
frickcri/  hij  the  mcih'inn,  or  not.  If  not,  the  pheno- 
mena must   be   entitled   to   admission   and  investi- 


APPENDIX   C.  26^ 

gation,  and  must  give  rise  to  scientific  questions  of 
the  utmost  moment. 

Tlie  extracts  are  taken  from  the  printed  correspon- 
dence entitled  as  follows  : — 

"  ;^iooo  Eeward. 

]\Iaskel3-ne  and  Cooke, 

An  Expose,  &c., 

By  Iota. 

(Proofs  corrected  by  Mr.  Maskelyne). 

London,  J.  Bukns,  15  Southampton  Row,  ^Y.  C" 

In  order  to  make  them  intelligible  it  should  be 
premised  that  "the  manifestations  stated  in  the  report 
of  the  Dialectical  Society,"  were  distinctly  medium- 
istic,  the  committee  of  that  society  which  made  the 
report  haviug  been  appointed  for  the  express  purpose 
of  investigatiug  and  reporting  upon  spiritualistic 
phenomena.  The  report  with  the  evidence  at  length 
is  published. 

On  the  Tst  July  1873,  ^J^-  IMaskelyne,  in  the 
course  of  a  letter  to  his  correspondent,  writes  as 
follows-  — 

" ....  In  accepting  this  challenge,  I  wish  you 
distinctly  to  understand  that  I  do  not  presume  to 
prove  that  such  manifestations  as  those  stated  in  the 
report  of  the  Dialectical  Society  are  produced  by 
trickery — I  have  never  denied  that  such  manifes- 
tations are  genuine,  but  I  contend  that  in  them 
there  is  not  one  iota  of  evidence  which  proves  that 
departed  spirits  have  no  better  occupation  than  lifting 
furniture  about ".   .  .   . 

Agreed,  Mr.  Maskelyne ;  those  Spiritualists,  if  any, 
who  are  not  entirely  of  your  opinion  on  this  point, 
seem  to  deserve  your  imputation  of  credulity  in  the 
highest  degree.  Accordingly,  the  other  party  to  the 
correspondence  replies  on  the  following  day — 

" ....  I  do  not  care  to  dispute  your  contention 


264  APPENDIX    C. 

nhout  tlic  occupation  of  departed  spirits.  Wliat  I 
uiulorstaiit]  l»y  nic<liiim-po\vcr  is  sometliinir  wliicli  is 
neither  inechanics,  nor  conjuring,  nor  chemistry,  nor 
electricity,  nor  magnetism,  nor  even  mesmerism,  nor 
u  coniliiiiation  of  all  or  any  of  these,  nor  anything 
to  be  e.\j)lained  hy  any  of  tlie  commo/ih/  known 
'laws  of  nature,'  and  without  which  I  defy  you  to 
ecjual,  or  even  to  approach,  the  '  so-called  spiritual 
manifestations.' " 

Then  on  the  6th  ]\Ir.  Maskelyne  again  writes—"  I 
have  never  stated  that  you  cannot  produce  some 
phenomena  in  a  genuine  manner  ;  I  have  done  this  or 
assisted  in  doing  it  myself,  and  tell  my  audience  so 
at  every  performance  ;  yet  I  am  not  a  medium,  but  I 
know  that,  if  I  were  scoundrel  enougli,  I  could  soon 
become  one,  and  should  have  no  difficulty  in  humbug- 
iii'j;  Spirituali>ts  to  an  alarming  extent."  Here,  again. 
Mr.  ^la.skelyno  appears  to  be  speaking  merely  of  an 
explanation  which  he  holds  to  be  false,  and  which  he 
believes  that  professed  mediums  must  know  to  be  false. 
]>ut  in  urging  these  phenomena  upon  public  attention 
we  have  nothing  to  do  with  spiritualistic  explanations, 
true  or  false  ;  it  is  the  fact  only  tliat  is  in  fpiestion. 
AVliat  Mr.  Maskelyne  means  by  saying  that  he  tells 
his  audience  at  every  performance  that  he  produces 
or  assists  in  producing  phenomena  "in  a  genuine 
manner  "  (by  which,  as  will  be  .seen,  he  excludes  the 
notion  of  trickery)  is  very  doubtful.  The  writer  has 
attended  the  performances  at  the  Egyptian  Hall  fre- 
quently, but  with  the  exception  of  some  words  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  cabinet  seance  which  could  convey 
no  meaning  to  an  inexperienced  audience,  Mr.  ]\Iaske- 
13'ne  certainly  said  nothing  to  which  his  above  state- 
ment could  apply.  These  occasions,  however,  were  of 
much  later  date  than  the  correspondence. 
His  correspondent  replies  on  July  8th — 
"  You  say  you  tell  your  audience  at  every  perform- 


APPENDIX    C.  265 

ance  that  you  admit  that  we  have  some  genuine 
phenomena.  I  confess  that  I  have  never  been  able 
to  understand  distinctly  your  remarks  on  this  head. 
You  seem  to  me  to  say  that  most  of  the  so-called 
phenomena  are  humbug,  but  some  few  genuine ;  that 
the  genuine  ones  are  produced  by  trickery,  exactly  as 
your  own  stage  performance  is.  Nor  can  I  gather  any 
more  from  the  admissions  in  your  letters." 

In  a  postscript  to  his  next  letter,  Mr.  Maskelyne 
says,  in  reference  to  the  above,  "  How  genuine  pheno- 
mena can  be  produced  by  trickery  I  am  at  a  loss  to 
know.  If  you  understand  me  thus,  my  remarks  must 
be  a  contradiction,  and  I  must  look  to  them." 


Kobert  Houdin,  the  great  French  conjurer,  investi- 
gated the  subject  of  clairvoyance  with  the  sensitive, 
Alexis  Didier.  In  the  result  he  unreservedly  admitted 
that  what  he  had  observed  was  wholly  beyond  the 
resources  of  his  art  to  explain.  See  "  Psychische 
Studien"  for  January  1878,  p.  43. 


"  Licht,  mehr  Licht,"  a  German  paper  published  in 
Paris,  in  its  number  of  i6th  May  1880,  contains  a 
letter  from  the  well-known  professional  conjurer, 
Jacobs,  to  the  Psychological  Society  in  Paris,  avowing 
himself  a  S^^iritualist,  and  offering  suggestions  for  the 
discrimination  of  genuine  from  spurious  manifesta- 
tions, i 


(     266     ) 


APPENDIX    1). 


Pl-ATK    X. 


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ON 

SPIRITUALISM,  MESMERISM,  PSYCHOLOGY, 
ANTHROPOLOGY, 

AND    KINDRED    SUBJECTS, 
PUBLISHED    BY    W.    H.    HARRISON, 

33  MUSEUM  STREET,  LONDON,  W.C. 


Lists  of  the  Books  are  Advertised  in  every  Number  of  the 
' '  Spiritualist "  Newspaper. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Harrison's  Publications  may  be  obtained  from  Mr. 
W.  H.  Terry,  84  Russell  Street  South,  Melbourne,  Australia. 


THE   "SPIRITUALIST"  NEWSPAPER 

A  Record  of  the  Progress  of  the  Science  and 
Ethics  of  Spiritualism. 

published  weekly,  price  tivopence. 

Established  in  1869. 


The  Spiritualist,  published  weekly,  is  the  oldest  Newspaper  con- 
nected with  the  movement  in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  is  the 
recognised  organ  of  educated  Spiritualists  in  all  the  English-speak- 
ing countries  throughout  the  Globe.  It  also  has  an  influential 
body  of  readers  on  the  Continent  of  Europe. 

The  Contributors  to  its  pages  comprise  the  leading  and  more 
experienced  Spiritualists,  including  many  eminent  in  the  ranks  of 
Literature,  Art,  Science,  and  the  Nobility  of  Europe.  Among 
those  who  have  published  their  names  in  connection  Avith  their 
communications  in  its  columns  are  —  His  Imperial  Highness 
Nicholas  of  Russia,  Duke  of  Leuchtenberg  ;  Prince  Emile  de 
Sayn  Wittgenstein  (Wiesbaden)  ;  the  Lord  Lindsay ;  the  Count 
de  Bullet ;  the  Right  Hon.  the  Countess  of  Caithness ;  the  Hon. 
J.  L.  O' Sullivan,  formerly  American  Minister  at  the  Court  of 
Portugal ;  the  Baroness  Von  Vay  (Austria) ;  M.  Adelberth  de 
Bourbon,  First  Lieutenant  of  the  Dutch  Guard  to  H.M.  the  King 
of  the  Netherlands ;  the  Hon.  Robert  Dale  Owen,  formerly 
American  Minister  at  the  Court  of  Naples ;  M.  L.  F.  Clavainsz 
(Leon  Favre),  Consul-General  of  France  at  Trieste  ;  the  Hon. 
Alexandre  Aksakof,  St.  Petersburg  ;  Baron  Von  Dirckinck-Holm- 


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fclil  (Ilolstcin);  Sir  Chailcs  Isliam,  Bart.;  William  Crookcs, 
Esq.,  K.K.  S.,  editor  of  The  Quarterly  Journal  of  Scieiue  ;  Captain 
R.  v.  Burton,  F.R.G.S.  (Discoverer  of  Lake  Tanganyika);  C.  F. 
Varley,  Ksq..  C.E.,  F.R.S.  ;  Alfred  Russcl  Wallace,  Esq., 
F.R.G.S.  ;  .Miss  Florence  Marryat ;  C.  C.  Msissey,  E».q.  ;  St. 
George  W.  Slock,  Esq.,  MA,  (Oxon) ;  Mr.  Serjeant  Cox,  I'rcsi- 
dcnt  of  the  I'.sychological  Society  of  Great  Britain  ;  J.  M.  Gully, 
Esq.,  M.I).;  Alcx.inder  Calder,  Esq.,  Trcsident  of  the  British 
National  Association  of  Spiritualists ;  i'ipes  Sargent,  Esq. ; 
Colonel  II.  S.  Olcott,  President  of  the  Thcosophical  Society  of 
New  York  ;  Dr.  George  Wylil  ;  Mrs.  Makdougall  Gregory  ;  W. 
Lindcsay  Richardson,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Melbourne  ;  Geiald  Masscy, 
Esq. ;  J.  C.  Luxmoorc,  Esq.,  J. P.  ;  .Mrs.  Wcldon  (.Miss  Trehcrne) ; 
C.  Carter  Blake,  Esq.,  Doc  Sci.,  Lecturer  on  Comiiarative 
.\natomy  at  Westminster  Hospital;  S.  C.  Hall,  Esq.,  F.S..\.  ; 
Henslcigh  Wed-wood,  Esq.,  J.P.  ;  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall;  H.  .M. 
Dunphy,  Esq.;  Eufjene  Crowed,  Esq.,  M  D.,  New  Vork  ; 
Alucrnon  Joy,  Esq.,  M.  Inst.  C.E.  ;  Stanhope  T.  Spcer,  Esq., 
M.D.,  Edinburgh  ;  Desmond  FitzGerald,  Esq.,  M.S.  Tel.  E. ; 
Robert  S.  Wyld,  Esq.,  LL.D. ;  J.  A.  Campbell,  Esq.  ;  Captain 
John  James  ;  D.  H.  Wilson,  Esq.,  .M.A.,  LL.M.  (Cantab.);  the 
Rev.  C.  Maurice  Davies,  I).  D.,  author  of  Unorthodox 
London;  T.  P.  Barkas,  Esq.,  F.G.S.  ;  H.  D.  Jencken,  Esq., 
M.R.I. ;  J.  N.  T.  Martheze,  Esq.;  Charles  Blackburn,  Esq.; 
Mrs.  Showers ;  Miss  Kislingbury  ;  William  Newton,  Esq., 
F.R.G.S.  ;  John  E.  Purdon,  Esq.,  M.B.,  India;  H.  G.  Atkinson, 
Esq.,  F.G.S.,  author  oi  letters  to  Miss  Martineau  ;  and  William 
White,  Esq.,  author  of  The  Life  of  S-wedenhorg. 

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W.  H.   HARRISON'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

MESMERISM    AND    ITS    PHENOMENA; 

OR,  ANIMAL  MAGNETISM. 

By  the  Late  WM.  GREGORY,  M.D.,  F.R.S.E.,  Professor 
of  Chemistry  at  Edinburgh  University. 

Dedicated  by  the  Author  by  Permission  to  His  Grace 
George  Douglas-Campbell,  Duke  of  Argyll. 

This  second  and  slightly  revised  and  abridged  Edition  is  for  its 
quality  and  size  one  of  the  Cheapest  Large  Works  ever  Published 
in  England  in  connection  with  Spiritualism. 


THE  CHIEF  STANDARD  WORK  ON  MESMERISM. 


Price  5^.,  or  f^s.  6d.  post-free. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter  I. — First  Effects  Produced  by  Mesmerism — Sensa- 
tions— Process  for  Causing  Mesmeric  Sleep — The  Sleep  or  Mes- 
meric State — It  Occurs  Spontaneously  in  Sleep  -  Walkers  — 
Phenomena  of  the  Sleep  —  Divided  Consciousness  —  Senses 
Affected — Insensibility  to  Pain. 

Chapter  II. — Control  Exercised  by  the  Operator  over  the 
Subject  in  Various  Ways — Striking  Expression  of  Feelings  in  the 
Look  and  Gesture — Effect  of  Music — Truthfulness  of  the  Sleeper 
— Various  Degrees  of  Susceptibility — Sleep  Caused  by  Silent 
Will,  and  at  a  Distance — Attraction  towards  the  Operator — 
Effect  in  the  Waking  State  of  Commands  given  in  the  Sleep. 

Chapter  III.— Sympathy — Community  of  Sensations  ;  of 
Emotions — Danger  of  Rash  Experiments — Public  Exhibitions  of 
Doubtful  Advantage — Sympathy  with  the  P)ystanders — Thought- 
Reading — Sources  of  Error — Medical  Intuition — Sympathetic 
Warnings — Sympathies  and  Antipathies — Existence  of  a  Peculiar 
Force  or  Influence. 

Chapter  IV. — Direct  Clairvoyance  or  Lucid  Vision,  without 
the  Eyes — Vision  of  Near  Objects :  through  Opaque  Bodies  :  at  a 
Distance — Sympathy  and  Clairvoyance  in  regard  to  Absent 
Persons — Retro  vision — Introvision. 

Chapter  V. — Lucid  Prevision — Duration  of  Sleep,  &c.,  Pre- 
dicted— Prediction  of  Changes  in  the  Health  or  State  of  the  Seer 
— Prediction  of  Accidents,  and  of  Events  Affecting  Others — 
Spontaneous  Clairvoyance — Striking  Case  of  it — Spontaneous 
Retrovision  and  Prevision — Peculiarities  of  Speech  and  of  Con- 
sciousness in  Mesmerised  Persons — Transference  of  Senses  and  of 
Pain. 


fADVKRTISF.MKNTS.] 

\V.  H.  HARRISON'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

CliAPTRR    VI. — Mesmerism,    Electro- Biolopy,    Electro- Pnycho- 

lofjy  ami  Ilyjinolism,  essciitinlly  the  same — I'licnomcnn  of  Sug- 
gestions in  the  (Onscious  or  Waking  State — l>r.  Darling's 
Mcthrnl  anil  its  KfTccts — Mr.  Lewis's  Method  and  its  Results — 
The  Impressible  State — Control  Exercised  by  the  Operator — 
(lazing — .Mr  Uraid's  Hypnotism — The  Author's  Experience — 
Importance  of  Terscverance — The  Subject  must  be  Studied. 

CiiAiTKR  VII.— Trance,  Natural  and  Accidental  ;  Mesmeric — 
Trance  Produced  at  Will  by  the  Subjects — Colonel  Townscnd — 
Kakecrs — Ext.isis — Extatics  not  all  hnpostors — Luminous  Emana- 
tions— Kxtasis  often  Predicted — M.  Cahagnet's  Extatics — Visions 
of  the  Spiritual  World. 

CitAPTER  VIII.  —  Phrcno-Mcsmerism — Pro;,'ress  of  Phrenology 
—  ElTfcts  of  Touching  the  Head  in  the  Sleep — Variety  in  the 
Phenomena — Suggt-stion — Sympathy — There  are  Cases  in  which 
these  Act,  and  others  in  which  they  do  nut  Act — Phenomena 
Dcscriljed — Tiic  Lower  Animals  Susceptible  of  Mesmerism — 
Fa-icination  among  Animals — Instinct — Sympathy  of  Animals — 
Snail  Tciegrajih  Founded  on  it. 

Chapter  IX. — Action  of  Magnets,  Crystals,  Sec,  on  the 
Human  Frame — Researches  of  Rcichenbach  —  His  Odyle  is 
Identical  with  the  Mesmeric  Fluid  of  Mesmer,  or  with  the 
Influence  which  Causes  the  Mesmeric  Phenomena — Odylic  or 
Mesmeric  Light — Aurora  Borealis  Artificially  Produced — Mes- 
merised Water — Useful  Applications  of  Mesmerism — Physiological, 
Therapeutical,  &c. — Treatment  of  Insanity,  Magic,  Divination, 
Witchcraft,  &c.,  explained  by  Mesmerism,  and  Traced  to  Natural 
Causes — Apparitions — Second  Sight  is  Waking  Clairvoyance — 
Predictions  of  Various  Kinds. 

Chapter  X. — An  Explanation  of  the  Phenomena  Attempted 
or  Suggested — A  Force  (Odyle)  Universally  Diffused,  Certainly 
Exists,  and  is  Probably  the  Medium  of  Symjjathy  and  Lucid 
Vision — Its  Characters — Difficulties  of  the  Subject — Effects  of 
Odyle — Somnambulism — Suggestion — Sympathy — Thought -Read- 
ing— Lucid  Vision — Odylic  Emanations — Odylic  Traces  followed 
up  by  Lucid  Subjects — Magic  and  Witchcraft — The  Magic 
Crystal,  and  Mirror,  &c.,  Induce  Walking  Cl.-iirvoyance  — 
Universal  Sympathy — Lucid  Perception  of  the  Future. 

Chapter  XL — Interest  felt  in  Mesmerism  by  Men  of  Science 
— Due  Limits  of  Scientific  Caution — Practical  Hint< — Conditions 
of  Success  in  Experiments — Cause  of  Failure — Mesmerism  a 
Serious  Thing — Cautions  to  the  Student — Opposition  to  be 
Expected. 

Chapter  XII. — Phenomena  Observed  in  the  Conscious  or 
Waking  State — EfTects  of  Suggestion  on  Persons  in  an.  Im- 
pressible .State — Mr.  Lewis's  Experiments  with  and  without 
Suggestion — Cases — Dr.  Darling's  Experiments— Cases — Con- 
scious   or    Waking    Clairvoyance,    Produced    by    Passes,    or    by 


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Concentration — Major  Buckley's  Method — Cases — The  Magic 
Crystal  Induces  Waking  Lucidity  when  Gazed  at — Cases — Magic 
Mirror — Mesmerised  Water — Egyptian  Magic. 

Chapter  XIII. — Production  of  the  Mesmeric  Sleep — Cases — 
Eight  out  of  Nine  Persons  Recently  Tried  by  the  Author  Thrown 
into  Mesmeric  Sleep — Sleep  Produced  without  the  Knowledge  of 
the  Subject — Suggestion  in  the  Sleep — Phreno-Mesmerism  in  the 
Sleep — Sympathetic  Clairvoyance  in  the  Sleep — Cases — Percep- 
tion of  Time — Cases;  Sir  J.  Franklin;  Major  Buckley's  Case  of 
Retrovision. 

Chapter  XIV. — Direct  Clairvoyance  —  Cases  —  Travelling 
Clairvoyance — Cases — Singular  Visions  of  Mr.  D. — Letters  of 
Two  Clergymen,  with  Cases — Clairvoyance  of  Alexis — Other 
Cases. 

Chapter  XV. — Trance — Extasis — Cases — Spontaneous  Mes- 
meric Phenomena — Apparitions — Predictions. 

Chapter  XVI. — Curative  Agency  of  Mesmerism — Concluding 
Remarks,  and  Summary. 


SPIRIT-PEOPLE: 

A  Scientifically  Accurate  Description  of  Manifestations 
Recetitly  Produced  by  Spirits, 


Simultaneously  Witnessed  by  the  Author  and  Other 
Observers  in  London. 

BY   WILLIAM    H.    HARRISON. 

Limp  cloth,  red  edges,  price  is. ;  post-free,  Is.  id. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

"As  a  dispassionate  scientific  man,  he  appears  to  have  investigated  the  sub- 
ject without  preconceived  ideas,  and  the  result  of  his  examination  has  been  to 
identify  his  opinions  with  those  of  Messrs.  Varley,  Crookes,  and  Wallace,  in 
favour  not  only  of  the  absolute  reality  of  the  phenomena,  but  also  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  communications  alleged  to  be  given  by  the  spirits  of  the 
departed." — Public  Opinion. 

"  At  the  outset  of  his  booklet  Mr.  Harrison  disclaims  any  intention  of 
proselytising  or  forcing  his  opinion  down  non-Spiritualistic  throats,  and  it  is 
only  fair  to  admit  that  the  succeedinsr  pages  are  remarkably  free  from  argument 
and  deduction,  albeit  bristling  wiih  assertions  of  the  most  dumbfounding 
nature." — London  Figaro. 

"  He  neither  theorises  nor  dogmatises,  nor  attempts  to  make  converts  to  his 
views.  He  states  occurrences  and  events,  or  what  he  believes  did  really 
happen,  in  a  remarkably  clear  and  narrative  style,  without  any  attempt  at 
advocacy  or  argument." — South  IVaies  Daily  News. 


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W.  H.  HARRISONS  PUBLICATIONS. 

I'licc  5s,,  trowii  Svo,  richly  gilu 

THE    LAZY    LAYS, 

AND    PROSE    IMAGININGS. 

By  WILLIAM  II.  HARRISON. 

An  Elegant  and  Amusing  Gift- Hook  of  Poetical  and  Prose 
Writings,  Grave  and  Gay. 

The  Gilt  Device  on  the  Cover  designed  by  FLORENCE  Claxton 
and  the  AuriiuK. 


CONTENTS. 
Part  I. — Miscellaruous  Poems  and  Prose  Writings. 

I.  The  Lay  of  the  Lazy  Author. — 2.  The  Song  of  the  News- 
paper Editor. — 3.  The  Song  of  tlie  Pawnbroker. — 4.  The  Castle. 
— 5.  The  Lay  of  the  Fat  Man. — 6.  The  Poetry  of  Science. — 7. 
How  Hadji  Al  Shacabac  was  I'liotographed  (a  letter  from  Hadji 
Al  Shacabac,  a  gentleman  who  visited  London  on  I  usiness  con- 
nected with  a  Turkish  lx)an,  to  Ali  Muslapha  Ben  Huckram, 
Chief  of  the  College  of  Howlini^  Dcrvisliesat  Constantinople). — 
8.  The  Lay  of  tlie  Broad-Urimmcd  Hat. — 9.  St.  Bride's  Bay. — 
10.  The  Lay  of  the  -Market  Gardener. — 11.  "Fast  Falls  the 
Eventide." — 12.  Our  Raven. — 13.  Materialistic  Religion. — 14. 
The  Lay  of  the  Photographer.  — 15.  How  to  Double  the  Utility  of 
the  Printing  Press. — 16.  The  Song  of  the  Mother-in-Law.  — 17. 
IVirbel-be'.uei.^itng.  — 18.  "Poor  Old  Joe!" — 19.  The  Human 
Hive. —20.  The  Lay  of  the  Mace- Bearers. — 21.  A  Love  .Song. — 
22.  A  Vision. — 23.  "  Under  the  Lines." — 24.  The  Angel  of 
Silence. 

I  Part  II.  —  The  IVobblejaw  Ballads,  by  Anthony  Wobblcjaws. 

25.  The  Public  Analyst. — 26.  General  Grant's  Reception  at 
F"oikestone. — 27.  The  Rifle  Corps. — 28.  Tony's  Lament. — 29.  The 
July  Bug. — 30.  The  Converted  Carman. 


From  the  Grapkie. 

"Those  who  can  appreciate  penuinr,  iinfmced  humour  should  not  fail  to 
read  'The  Lazy  Lays  and  Prose  Imagining-i.'  Written,  print'-d,  piiblrshrd, 
and  reviewed  by  Wiliiani  H.  Harrison  (38  Gieal  Russell  Street).  Both  the 
verses  and  the  short  ess.iys  are  really  funny,  and  in  some  of  the  latter  there  is 
a  vein  uf  geuial  satire  which  adds  piquancy  to  the  fun." 


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Price  5s.,  crown  8vo,  cloth,  red  edges. 

PSYCHOGRAPHT. 

BY  M.A.,   OX  ON. 

A  Work  dealing  with  the  Psychic  or  Spiritual  Phenomenon  of 
the  production  of  written  messages  without  mortal  hands.  Full  of 
well-authenticated  examples. 


SYNOPSIS  OF  CONTENTS. 

List  of  Works  Bearing  on  the  Subject. 
Preface. 
Introduction. 

PsYCHOGRAPHY  IN  THE  Past  :  Guldenstubbe — Crookes. 
Personal    Experiences    in     Private,    and    with    Public 
Psychics. 

General  Corroborative  Evidence. 

I.  That  attested  by  the  Senses — 

1.  Of  Sight. 

Evidence  of  Mr.  E.  T.  Bennett. 
„  a  Malvern  Reporter. 

,,  Mr.  James  Burns. 

,,  Mr.  H,  D.  Jencken. 

2.  Of  Hearing. 

Evidence  of  Mr.  Serjeant  Cox. 
,,  Mr.  George  King. 

,,  Mr.  Hensleigh  WedgAvood. 

,,  Miss     *     *     *     * 

J,  Canon  Mouls. 

,,  Baroness  Von  Vay. 

G.  H.  Adshead. 

W.  P.  Adshead. 

E.  H.  Valter. 
,,  J.  L.  O'Sullivan. 

,,  Epes  Sargent. 

,,  James  O.  Sargent. 

,,  John  Wetherbee. 

H.  B.  Storer. 
,,  C.  A.  Greenleaf. 

,,  Public  Committee  with  Watkins. 

II.  From  the  Writing  of  Languages  Unknown  to  the  Psychic. 

Ancient  Greek — Evidence  of  Hon.  R.   Dale  Owen  and 

Mr.  Blackburn.     (Slade.) 
Dutch,  German,  French,  Spanish,  Portuguese.     (Slade.) 
Russian — Evidence  of  Madame  Blavatsky.     (Watkins.) 
Romaic — Evidence  of  T.  T.  Timayenis.     (Watkins.) 
Chinese.     (Watkins.) 


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W.  IL  HARRISON'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


III.  From  .Special  Tests  which  Preclude  Previous  Preparation  of 
the  Writiiif;. 
Psychics  and  Conjurers  Contrasted. 

Sladc  l)cforc  the  Kcscirch   Committee  of  the_British  Na- 
tional As'^ociation  of  Spiritualists. 
Sladc  Tcsttd  by  C.  drier  Hlake,  Doc  Sci. 
Evidence  of  Kcv.  J.  Page  Hopps.     (SLidc.) 
„  W.  11.  Harrison.     (Slade.) 

,,  J.  .Seaman.     (Slade.) 

Writing  within  .Slates  securely  screwed  together. 

Kvidence  of  Mrs.  Andrews  and  J.  Mould. 
Dictation  of  Words  at  the  Time  of  the  Kxpcrimciit. 
Evidence  of  A.  K.  Wail.nce,  F.  R.G.S. 
,,  Ilonslcigh  Wedgwood,  J.  P. 

,,  Kcv.  Tliomas  Colley. 

W.  Oxlcy. 
George  Wyld,  M.D. 
,,  Miss  Kislingliury. 

Writing  in  Answer  to  ()uestions  Inside  a  Closed  Box. 

Kvidence  of  Messrs.  Ad>he.nd. 
Statement  of  Circumstances  under  wliich  Experiments  with 

F.  W.  Monck  were  conducted  at  KciL;liley. 
Writing  on  Glass  Coated  witl>  While  Paint. 
Evidence  of  Benjamin  Colenlan. 

Letters  Addressed  to  the  Times  on  the  Subject  of  the  Prosecution 
of  Henry  Slade  by  Messrs.  Joy,  Joad,  and  Professor  Barrett, 
F.R.S.E. 

Evidence  of  W.  H.  Harrison,  Editor  of  the  .S^/'nVwa/ij/. 

Summary  ok  Facts  Narrated. 

Deductions,  Explanations,  and  Theoriks. 

The  Nature  of  the  Force  :  Its  Mode  of  Operation. 

Evidence    of    C.    Carter    Blake,     Doc.     Sci.,     and    Conrad 
Cooke,  C.E. 
Detonating  Noises  in  Connection  with  it. 

Evidence  of  Ilensleigh  Wedgwood,  J.  Page  Hopps,  Thomas 
Colley. 
Method  of  Direction  of  the  Force. 

Dr.  Collyer's  Theory. 

Dr.  George  Wyld's  Theory. 

The  Oculist's  Theory. 

The  Spiritualist's  Theory. 
Appendix. 

The  Court  Conjurer  of  Berlin  on  Slade. 

Slade  with  the  Grand  Duke  Constant;ne. 

Recent  Experiment  wiiii  Monck. 


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Price  5s.,  richly  gilt,  cloth  ;  or  3s.  6d.,  red  edges,  cloth, 
imperial  8vo. 

RIFTS     IN     THE    VEIL." 


A  Collection  of  Choice  Poems  and  Prose  Essays  given  through 
Mediumship,  also  of  Articles  and  Poems  written  by  Spiritualists. 
A  useful  book  to  place  in  Public  Libraries,  and  to  present  or  lend 
to  those  who  are  unacquainted  with  Spiritualism. 

The  3s.  6d.  Edition  consists  of  one  of  the  cheapest  works  of 
very  high  quality  ever  published  in  connection  with  Spiritualism  ; 
the  book  contains  much  about  the  religious  aspects  of  the  subject, 
and  its  relation  to  Christianity. 


CONTENTS. 

1.  Introduction  :  The  Philosophy  of  Inspiration. 

2.  "O!    Beautiful  White  Mother  Death."     Given  through   the 

Trance-Mediumship  of  Cora  L.  V.  Tappan-Richmond. 

3.  The  Apparition  of  Sengireef.     By  Sophie  Aksakof. 

4.  The    Translation    of    Shelley    to    the    Higher   Life.     Given 

through  the  Trance-Mediumship  of  T.  L.  Harris. 

5.  Gone    Home.      Given   through    the    Trance-Mediumship    of 

Lizzie  Doten. 

6.  The  Birth  of  the  Spirit.     Given  through  the  Trance-Medium- 

ship of  Cora  L.  V.  Tappan-Richmond. 

7.  Angel  Guarded. 

8.  An  Alleged  Post-Mortem  Work  by  Charles  Dickens.     How 

the  writings  were  produced  ;  The  Magnificent  Egotist, 
Sapsea  ;  Mr.  StoUop  Reveals  a  Secret ;  A  Majestic  Mind 
Severely  Tried  ;  Dwellers  in  Cloisterham ;  Mr.  Peter 
Peckcraft  and  Miss  Keep  ;  Critical  Comments. 

9.  The  Spider  of  the  Period.     By  Georgina  Weldon  (Miss  Tre- 

herne)  and  Mrs.  . 

10.  Margery  Miller.      Given  through  the  Trance-Mediumship  of 

Lizzie  Doten. 

11.  Ode  by  "  Adamanta." 

12.  Swedenborg  on  Men  and  Women.     By  William  White,  author 

of  "  The  Life  of  Swedenborg." 

13.  Resurgam.     By  Caroline  A.  Burke. 


[advertisrments.] 
W.  H.  HARRISONS  TUliLICATIONS. 

14.  Abnormal  S|)cctrc»  of  Wolves,  D<>g%,  and  other  AniniaU.     By 

Kinilc,  I'rince  of  Wuijjcnsicin. 

15.  To  You  wlio  l><)ve<i  Mc.      liy  Florence  Marryat, 

16.  Desolation.     Hy  Caroline  A.  Hurkc. 

17.  Truth.     Given  throujjh  tiic  Mciliumsljip  of  "  M.A.,  Oxon." 
iS.  Thy  I..ove.     Hy  Florence  Marryat. 

19.  Haunting  Spirits.     Hy  the  Baroness  Adclma  Von  Vay  (Coun- 

tess Wurmbrand). 

20.  Fashionable  Grief  for  the  Departed. 

31.  The  Brown  I^idy  of  Kainham.     By  Lucia  C.  Stone. 

22.  A  Vision  of  Death.     By  Caroline  A.  Burke. 

23.  A  Story  of  a  Haunted  House.     By  F.  J.  Theobald. 

24.  "  Love   the   Truth  and   Peace."      By  the  Rev.  C.   Maurice 

Davics,  D.D. 

25.  The   Knds,    Aims,    and   Uses   of    Modem   Spiritualism.     By 

Louisa  Lowe. 

26.  Dc  Profundis.     By  Anna  Blackwell. 

27.  Ancient    Thought  and   Modern    .Spiritualism.     By  C.    Carter 

Blake,  Doc.  Sci.,  Lecturer  ou  Comparative  Anatomy  at 
Westminster  Hospital. 

28.  Die  Sehnsucht.     Translated  by   Emily  Kislingbury,  from  the 

German  of  Schiller. 

29.  The  Relation  of  Spiritualism  to  Orthodox  Christianity.    Given 

through  the  Mediumship  of  "  NLA.,  Oxon." 

30.  A    Stance   in    the    Sunshine.       By    the    Rev.    C.     Maurice 

Davies,  D.D. 

31.  "  My  Saint."     By  Florence  Marryat. 

32.  Tlic  Deathbeds  of  .Spiritualists.     By  Epes  Sargent. 

33.  The  Touch  of  a  Vanished  Hand.     By  the  Rev.  C.  Maurice 

Davies,  D.D. 

34.  Death.     By  Caroline  A.  Burke. 

35.  The    Spirit    Creed.      Through    the   Mediumship   of    "  M..\., 

Oxon." 

36.  The  Angel  of  Silence.     By  W.  H.  Harrison. 

37.  The  Prediction.     By  Alice  Worthington  (Ennesfallen). 

38.  Longfellow's  Position  in  Relation  to  .Spiritualism. 

39.  Spiritual  Manifestations  among  the  Fakirs  in  India.     By  Dr. 

M.iximilian  Pcrty,  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy,  Berne  ; 
Transl.ntcd  from  "Psychic  Studies"  (Leipzig),  by  Emily 
Kislingbury. 

40.  The  Poetry  of  Science.     ByW.  H.Harrison. 

41.  Meditation  and  the  Voice  of  Conscience.     By  Alex.  Calder. 

42.  Dirge.     By  Mrs.  Eric  B.-iker. 

43.  Epigrams.     By  Gerald  Massey. 

44.  Some  of  the  Difficuhie';  of  the  Clergy  in  Relation  to  Spiritualism. 

By  Lisette  Makdougall  Gregory. 

45.  Immortality.      By  Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  F.R.G..S. 

46.  A  Child's  Prayer.     By  Gerald  Massey. 


[advertisements.] 
W.  H.  HARRISON'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


Price  5s.,  cloth,  crown  8vo,  red  edges. 

SPIRIT-IDENTITY, 

BY  M.A.,  OXON. 


Contains  strong  evidence  that  some  of  the  Spirits  who  com- 
municate through  mediumship  are  the  departed  individuals  they 
say  they  are. 

SYLLABUS  OF  CONTENTS. 

Introduction. 

Difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  investigation. 

Divergent  results  of  investigators. 

Attitude  of  public  opinion  represses  publication. 

This  results  also  from  the  nature  of  the  facts  themselves. 

The  Intelligent  Operator  has  to  be  reckoned  with. 

The  investigator  has  little  choice  in  the  matter. 

The  higher  phenomena  are  not  susceptible  of  demonstration 

by  the  scientific  method. 
The  gates  being  ajar,  a  motley  crowd  enters  in. 
"We  supply  the  material  out  of  which  this  is  composed. 
No  necessity  to  have  recourse  to  the  diabolic  element. 
Neglect  of  conditions  proper  for  the  investigation. 
Agencies  other  than  those  of  the  departed. 
Sub-human  spirits — the  liberated  spirit  of  the  psychic. 
These  have  had  far  more  attributed  to  them  than  they  can 

rightly  claim. 
Specialism  in  Spiritualism. 
Religious  aspects  of  the  question. 
Notes  of  the  age. 
The  place  of  Spiritualism  in  modern  thought. 

The  Intelligent  Operator  at  the  other  End  of  the 
Line. 

Scope  of  the  inquiry. 

The  nature  of  the  Intelligence. 

What  is  the  Intelligence  ? 


[advertiskments.] 
\V.  II.  HARRISON'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


Difiicultics  in   the   way  of  accepting  the  story  told  by  the 
Intelligence. 

Assumption  of  prcat  names. 
Ahsciicc  of  precise  statement. 
Contradictory  ami  absurd  messages. 
Conditions  under  which  good  evidence  is  obtained. 
Value  of  corrolxirative  testimony. 
Personal  experiences — 

Eleven    cases    occurring    consecutively,    Jan.     I    to    II, 

1S74. 
A  spirit  refusing  to  be  misled  by  a  suggestion. 
A  spirit  earth-lK)iind  by  love  of  money. 
Influence  of  association,  especially  of  locality. 
Spirits  who  have  communicated  for  a  long  period. 
Child-spirits    communicating :    corroborative    testimony 

from  a  second  source. 
Extremely  minute  evidence  given  by  two  methods. 
A  possilile  misconception  guarded  against. 
General  conclusions. 

Person.il  immortality. 
Personal  recognition  of  and  by  friends. 
Religious  aspects. 


Appendix  I. — On  the  power  of  spirits  to  gain  access  to  sources  of 
information. 


Appendix  II. — On  some  phases  of  Mediumship  bearing  on  Spirit- 
Identity. 


Appendix  III. — Cases  of  Spirit-Identity. 
(a)  Man  crushed  by  steam-roller. 
(/>)  Ahrah.im  I'lorentine. 
{c)  Charlotte  Duckworth. 


Appendix  IV. — Evidence  from  spirit-photography. 

Appendix  V. — On  some  difficulties  of  inquirers  into  Spiritualism. 


Appendix   VI. — Spirit-Identity  —  Evidence    of    Dr.     Stanhope 
Spcer. 


[advertisements.] 
W.  H.  HARRISON'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

Price  IS.,  cloth,  red  edges. 

A  CLERGYMAN   ON  SPIRITUALISM. 

D.    CLERICUS. 

With  a  Dedication  to  the 

REV.    SIR  WILLIAM   DUNBAR,  BART.; 

And  Some   Thoughts  for   the   Consideration   of  the    Clergy, 

By  LISETTE  MAKD0UG.\LL  GREGORY. 


This  Booklet  contains  the  experiences  of  a  Clergyman,  who 
prayerfully  and  continuously  investigated  Spiritualism  for  a  long 
series  of  years. 

Price  I2s.  6d.,  cloth,  red  edges  ;  demy  8vo. 
Illustrated  by  various  Full-page  and  Double-page  Engravings. 

TRANSCENDENTAL    PHYSICS. 

By  F.  ZOLLNER, 

Professor  of  Physical  Astronomy  at  Leipsic  University. 

TRANSLATED  BY  C.  C.  MASSE Y. 


This  illustrated  work  is  unique  in  its  character,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  and  philosophical  books  ever  published  in  con- 
nection with  Spiritualism. 

Price  5s.,  crown  8vo,  cloth,  red  edges. 

PSYCHIC     FACTS. 

Contains  striking  Selections  from  the  Writings  of  Mr.  William 
Crookes,  F.K.S.,  Mr.  C.  F.  Varley,  F.R.S.,  Mr.  A.  R.  Wallace, 
F.R.GS.,  the  Committee  of  the  Dialectical  Society,  Pro- 
fessor Hare,  of  Philadelphia,  Professor  Zoi.LNER,  Mr.  Serjeant 
Cox,  Captain  R.  F.  Burton,  The  Lord  Lindsay,  Dr.  A. 
Butlerof,  J.  W.  Edmonds  (Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  New 
York),  and  other  iauthors,  demonstrating  the  reality  of  the  pheno- 
mena of  Spiritualism.  The  work  contains  some  useful  information 
for  inquirers. 


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Price  5s.  6d.,  crown  8vo,  cloth,  red  edges. 
THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF 

SPIRITS   BEFORE   OUR   EYES. 

BY    WILLI.\M    H.    HARRISON. 


This  Book  deals  with  the  nature,  characteristics,  and  philo- 
sophy of  Apparitions,  and  how  to  reproduce  experimentally  some 
of  the  phenomena  connected  with  them.  It  is  also  full  of  evidence 
of  Spirit-Identity.  • 


Price  2s.  6cl.,  cloth,  crown  Svo,  red  edges. 

MESMERISM, 

WITH    HINTS    FOR     BEGINNERS. 

BY   JOHN   JAMES 
{Formerly  Captain^  ^th  Light  Infantry), 


An  excellent  Text-Book  by  a  writer  who  h.is  had  thirty  years' 
experience  in  the  subject. 


W.     II.     HARRISON, 
33     MUSEUM     STREET,     LONDON. 


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