Are the dead alive? The Problem of physical [!] research

Front matter

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Preface

'Modern science is making great strides forward toward the solving of the problems which have ever most troubled humanity. Materially, we are coming into the enjoyment of many such solutions; spiritually, we are making but the first ragged breaches in a hitherto impregnable fortress.

"In science, the great field for new discoveries" says Prof. William James, "is always the unclassified residuum. Round about the accredited and orderly facts of every science there ever floats a sort of dust-cloud of exceptional observations, of occurrences minute and irregular and seldom met with, which it always proves more easy to ignore than to attend to. . . . Only the born geniuses let themselves be worried and fascinated by these outstanding exceptions, and get no peace till they are brought within the fold. Your Galiloes, Galvanis, Fresnels, Purkinjes and Darwins are always getting confounded and troubled with insignificant things. . . ."*

It is in this "dust-cloud of exceptional observations" ■floating around the science of psychology that the students of psychical research have groped forward, blindly but carefidly, to an increasingly firm hold of a few fundamental facts. Ghosts, spirit rappings, materializations, table levitations, trance speaking and writing,

a James : The Will to Believe, pp. 299, 300. vii viii PEEFACE

telepathy, clairvoyance—these formed no immediately attractive Held for scientific investigation. Every one of these subjects has been, and is, so permeated with fraud that with most of them there is the gravest doubt if so much as one genuine example ever occurred. Yet a few keen-eyed and clear-headed investigators have braved ridicule and indifference, and assert that they have found beneath a tremendous accretion of error a nucleus of truth.

To present this nucleus as clearly as he may is the author's whole purpose here. He presents no theories, and takes no side, but tries only to give a selection of typical observed facts and certain unbiased inferences which may logically be drawn from them. If, having read the book, the reader is able to class him definitely as either a believer or a disbeliever in spiritualism, the author will have failed in his purpose; for he has endeavored to give an impartial presentation of a subject, tangled perhaps more than any other, with conflicting theories and obscured with the grossest fraud and the most deep-rooted prejudice both pro and con.

With no subject so much as with spiritualism would illiteracy and ignorance seem easily able to speak with authority; certainly in no other subject are usually clear-minded people carried to such childish credulity on the one hand, or absurdly indefensible denial on the other.

Bui the phenomena which have converted to psychicism the greatest scientists of Europe, and are now creating widespread comment in every intelligent center of the globe, are not, we must remember, the credulous mingling of hysteria, darkness and fraud which we commonly associate with spiritualism; they are

PKEFACE ix

facts of cold daylight, things of the laboratory, weighed, measured, dissected, counted, by the exact methods of calculating, unsympathetic science.

Of course, Crookes, the inventor of the Crookes tube; Curie, the discoverer of radium; Lombroso, the founder of the science of criminology; Sir Oliver Lodge, the eminent biologist; Morselli, the psychologist, and their several hundred brother scientists, may be very much mistaken in what they say they have discovered. That, the author will not pretend to decide; but surely, what they consider zvorthy of credence on such a vital subject is at least worthy of our serious consideration.

The past year has seen an important renaissance of interest in psychical research. But even in the flood of spiritualistic books making their appearance, there would seem to be need of a book making an attempt, not to add to, but to sum up past achievement. When these articles, in a much abbreviated form, first appeared in The Delineator, under the same caption, Are the Dead Alive? they called forth a flood of letters from their readers. Indeed, no subject introduced recently by that magazine aroused so much earnest comment, both of approval and condemnation, from so many varied points of view.

Among the hundreds of letters received were reports of personal experiences; if not corroborative, at least very interesting and significant. And there were requests, too — pathetic appeals for help from some recently bereaved. Could the writer tell them how, indeed, they might know their dead were alive? Could he show them how to communicate with them? Could he "recommend a thoroly reliable medium"? No, alas!

x PKEFACE

he could do none of these things; and the wisest researcher in psychical science will tell you, if he be honest, that he cannot.

For we are, as yet, learning the veriest rudiments of metapsychics, and no man yet even knows what or when we may know. All the author would do is to light up a little the way already traversed.

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Glen Tor-on-the-Hudson, Dec. 3, 1908.

v

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

One of the most remarkable pictures of levitation

ever published Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

An instantaneous photograph, taken by M. de Fontenay, of table levitation produced by the medium, Auguste Politi " 12

Sir William Crookes " 22

Photograph of a table levitation with the medium

Eusapia Paladino " 50

Camille Flammarion " 55

Daniel Dunglas Home, greatest of all so-called

"physical" mediums " 61

Sir Oliver Lodge " 72

Eusapia Paladino " 75

Plaster casts of impressions in clay, produced at a

distance by an unknown force " 80

Lecture-room of the Societe d'Etudes Psychiques

at Milan " 88

The lonely Isle Roubaud in the Mediterranean where Eusapia was investigated by Charles ■Richet " 88

Dr. Pio Foa, Professor of Pathologic Anatomy,

University of Turin " 98

Colonel Albert de Rochas, propounder of the

theory of the "astral double" " 113

Dr. Cesar Lombroso, Alienist Professor of Psychiatry, University of Turin " 120

xi xii LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS

FACING PAGE

The famous Bourne case of dual personality " 136

The "Watseka Wonder," the most famous

recorded case of "obsession" " 142

Frederic W. H. Myers, formulator of the hypothesis of the "subliminal self" " 147

The famous Bertha Huse case of clairvoyance. ... " 157

Impression of two clenched hands in clay, made at

a distance by Eusapia Paladino " 164

William T. Stead ,. " 171

Alleged genuine "spirit photograph" " 178 -

Fraudulent "spirit photograph" " 178

Alleged photograph of an ancient, taken in Chicago by Mr. Blackwell " 188

Mr. Frank Podmore " 198

Photographs showing the progression of an alleged "materialization" " 212

A typical table levitation with Eusapia Paladino " 240

Dr. V. Maxwell, an enthusiastic psychical

researcher " 258-

A typical example of "spirit writing" :

I. The medium's normal handwriting " 266

II. Automatic writing by the medium ..... 276

III. Automatic writing later in the seance.. " 286.

Mrs. Leonora Piper, of Arlington, Mass " 291

Dr. Richard Hodgson " 305 ,

Professor William James of Harvard University " 312

Handwriting of the medium, Mile. Smith, to show the difference between normal and alleged

"controlled" writing " 324

Table Of Contents

PAGB

Chap. I. Introduction 1-21

Introduction, 1 — Is fraud an explanation of all spiritualistic phenomena? 3 — The strange phenomena comprised under the heading "Psychical Research," 6 — The phenomena observed by Sir William Crookes, 9— All professional spiritualistic phenomena are permeated with fraud, 14 — Has science been neglecting a rich field of inquiry? 19 —

"To stop short in any research that bids fair to widen the gates of knowledge is to bring reproach on science . . ." — Sir William Crookes, 22.

Chap. II. The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 2 3S4

Mere prestidigitation cannot explain all alleged "spirit manifestations," 25 — The notable spiritualistic investigation of the London Dialectical Society, 27 — "Spirit" slate-writing, 32 — The famous Zollner phenomena, 37 — Rappings : the Fox Sisters, 40 — Are the rappings genuine ? 43 — Table-tipping, 47 — The researches of De Gasparin: What causes table-tipping? 50 —

"That the soul survives the body I have not the shadow of a doubt . . ." — Camille Flammarion, 55.

Chap. III. The Mediumship of D. D. Home 61-71 Home's levitations, 63 — "Elongation": the heat phenomena, 67

"I am convinced of the persistence of human existence beyond bodily death . . ." — Sir Oliver Lodge, 72. xiii xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS

PACT

Chap. IV. Eusapia Paladino: The Italian Medium 73-98

The beginning of Eusapia's mediumistic career, 75 — The downfall of Eusapia in England, 82 — A new series of sittings in Genoa, 85 — The first Turin seances, 91 — The second Turin seances, 95 —

"I am convinced that after death man does not perish entirely . . ." — Botaszi, 99.

Chap. V. The Later Mediumship of Eusapia Paladino 101-19

The startling materializations produced at Naples, 106 — Is this psychic energy a form of radio-activity? in — Eusapia's manifestations and the problem of the future life, 116—

"Spiritualistic phenomena are authentic . . ." — Cesar Lombroso, 120.

Chap. VI. Obsession and Dual Personality 123-46

The hypothesis of the "subliminal self," 127 — Cases of dual personality, 134 — The remarkable case of Ansel Bourne, 136 — The famous case of the "Watseka Wonder," 139—

"Our records prove the persistence of the spirit life . . ." — Frederic W. H. Myers, 147.

Chap. VII. Clairvoyance and Clairaudience 149-70

Clairvoyance, 152 — The celebrated case of Bertha Huse, 157 — Clairaudience, 161 — What is clairvoyance? 163 — Precognition, or prophecy, 167 —

"I do not believe the dead depart . . ." — William T. Stead, 171.

TABLE OF CONTENTS xv

PAGfl

Chap. VIII. Ghosts 173-97

"Spirit photography," 177 — The projection of the "astral body"? 184 — Apparitions of the dead, 187 — The Morton "haunting," 191 —

"Survival is improbable . . ." — Charles Richet, 198. Chap. IX. What Are Ghosts ? — "Materializations" 201-20

Not all "ghosts" are subjective, 205 — Do animals see apparitions? 207 — The famous "Katie King" materialization, 217 —

"The dead have never really died . . ." — Alfred Russell Wallace, 221.

Chap. X. Telepathy 224-49

Fraudulent telepathic phenomena, 227 — Spontaneous telepathy, 232 — The proof of telepathy, 237 — Telepathic hypnosis and suggestion, 245 — What is telepathy? 248 — "We deal only with presumption and prejudices ..." — Andrew Lang, 250.

Chap. XI. Premonitions 252-7 What is the explanation of premonitions? 256

"We are at the dawn of a new religion . . ." — V. Maxwell, 258.

Chap. XII. Mediumship 261-87

The phenomena of "automatism," 266 — Various phases of motor automatism, 268 — Rules for conducting mediumistic experiments, 272 — Typical mediumistic phenomena, 274 — Apparently supernormal knowledge displayed in mediumistic communications, 279 — The mediumship of William Stainton Moses, 282 —

"No experimental proof of survival after death will ever reach an absolutely conclusive scientific demonstration * . ." — Professor William Barrett, 288.

xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Chap. XIII. The Piper Case 291-31 1

The early phases of the Piper case, 295 — Mrs. Piper is investigated in England, 299 — The appearance of the Pelham "control," 304 — Pelham is displaced by the "imperator controls," 307 —

"Psychical Research has bridged the chasm . . ." — Professor William James, 312.

Chap. XIV. Telepathy vs. Spiritualism." 315-40

The "telepathic hypothesis," 320 — Arguments for the telepathic hypothesis, 324 — Objections to the telepathic hypothesis, 326 — Other arguments for spiritualism, 331 — "The dramatic play of personality" in mediumistic communication, 333—

"I feel, I know with certitude that in dying I shall be happy . . ." — Count Tolstoi, 341.

Chap. XV. Conclusion 343-5°

Spiritualism and the Bible, 345 — The difficulty of knowing of the "Other World," 347 — The evidence of future happiness, 350.

ARE THE DEAD ALIVE?

Chapter I Introduction

For countless centuries man has been puzzled by certain occurrences which have not fitted into his established order of things. Ever since the beginning, since man groped forward into a clear belief in the future life, there has existed, for instance, a concurrent belief that the "spirits" of the dead in "the other world" sometimes came back to earth, sometimes communicated with those they had left behind here. But "ghosts" were something that modern science, as it grew up in the past three centuries, could not explain ; so science cheerfully denied that they existed.

Then there were other queer occurrences — you and I nay have had them — a friend, perhaps, on the other side of the world, suddenly dies, and we wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with an inexplicable realization of our friend's decease. We call such a case a "strange coincidence." At some other time we are inexplicably warned of a danger suddenly imminent to ourselves, and we call that warning a "presentiment." Even two-score years ago there were some people who said that these "coincidences" and "presentiments" were 1 examples of a hitherto unsuspected power that they called telepathy or "thought transference." But modern science had no place in its scheme of things for telepathy, so again it cheerfully denied that the alleged instances really occurred.

About the middle of the last century there appeared a new class of phenomena, in some respects even more bewilderingly contrary to the existing laws of science. Mysterious rappings were heard, with no one to make them, and musical instruments played when no "natural" explanation seemed possible. Solid articles, especially tables, danced violently around and occasionally rose of their own accord into the air and floated there. Rarely, persons were "levitated" in the same way. Under favorable conditions forms were said to appear and disappear instantaneously. For these and other similar wonderful occurrences science had no explanation; they were contrary to all her established laws. So science denied that they ever occurred ; and those who witnessed them, in default of any other explanation, ascribed them to the work of "spirits" of the dead.

Of course, the little genuine phenomena, admitting that there were some genuine, during this last half-century were imitated by a host of charlatans, self-styled "mediums," seeking notoriety and fortune at the expense of an easily duped public. As a consequence, spiritualism fell into such disrepute that for some time reputable scientists declined even to investigate its pretensions. Yet the more thoughtful, as the century drew near its close, argued that where so much smoke was there must be a little fire. Thousands of people were claiming that they had seen tables tipped and levitated, that they were daily receiving messages from friends who had died. Ghosts were part of the tradition of every race on earth. Scores of respectable men and women, contrary to their expectation and better judgment, admitted the reception of telepathic messages. Here were facts that science, in the opinion of some of its leaders, could no longer ignore.

Is Fraud an Explanation of all Spiritualistic Phenomena?

The first cry that the average man makes in the presence of alleged supernatural phenomena is that of fraud, and on the whole he is abundantly justified. The history of mediumship is one long, disheartening record of fraud and exposure. That nearly all alleged spiritualistic phenomena are fraudulent there isn't the slightest doubt. That every "medium" who in the daily papers advertises "advice" for sale is an arrant rascal may be taken as a foregone conclusion. That some of the most noted mediums, after months and sometimes years of scientific cooperation, have turned out to be impostors, is true.

But if we immediately dismiss in disgust the whole subject we are gravely in danger of the opposite error. \ When Dr. Thomson Jay Hudson, author of The Law of \ Psychic Phenomena, himself an opponent of the extreme spiritualistic position and an ethical writer of weight, says: "The man who denies the phenomena of spiritualism to-day is not entitled to be called a skeptic; he is simply ignorant"; and when the great English scientist, Alfred Russel Wallace, the codiscoverer with Darwin of evolution, recently said, "No more evidence is needed to prove spiritualism, for no accepted fact in science has a greater or stronger

4i ARE THE DEAD ALIVE?

array of proof in its behalf," does it not behoove the man in the street at least to read before scoffing ?

Sir William Crookes, once president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the three or four greatest English scientists of the nineteenth century, the discoverer of the element thallium, and inventor of the Crookes tube which made possible the X-ray, studied various phases of mediumship for five years with scientific care and thoroness. At the end of that time he announced his conversion to spiritualism.

Sir Oliver Lodge, an admitted authority in biology and metaphysics, after many years of investigation, asserts his unqualified belief in the reality of telepathy, clairvoyance and similar so-called "occult" phenomena. Professor Richet, of the University of Paris, and Professor William James, of Harvard, perhaps the most eminent psychologists of Europe and America respectively, have devoted a large part of their lives to the study of mediumship.

These men are not tyros in scientific research, or liable to be hoodwinked by fraud or biased by personal feeling; they are among the leaders in the intellectual life of their respective countries. Nor do they stand alone , by any means. The (British) Society for Psychical Research, for thirty years the recognized leader in the investigation of psychical phenomena, was founded in 1882 for the express purpose of investigating "all that large group of phenomena outside the boundaries of orthodox science." This included, of course, clairvoyance, rappings, apparitions, and trance writing and speaking, as well as the various allied phenomena of hypnotism. The society owed its inception to Professor W. F. Barrett, of Dublin, to whose agitation its founding was chiefly due, and to two close friends, Frederic W. H. Myers and Professor Sidgwick, of Cambridge. Frederic Myers was a student of psychology of such depth and breadth that his monumental work, Human Personality, may be said to have revolutionized our conceptions of psychology. Professor Sidgwick was one of the greatest philosophical thinkers and writers of the century.

From the beginning the investigations of the society proceeded with scientific caution. It numbered among its members the leaders of the intellectual world. Among its presidents have been Arthur James Balfour, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, and Professor Balfour Stewart, the eminent logician.

Yet this society, after unmasking and discarding a tremendous accretion of fraud and error, finds enough left to state officially that the existence of ghosts and the occurrence of telepathy at least are scientifically proved. And the Society for Psychical Research is but a type of similar societies in France, America* and Italy which have rallied around them the greatest investigators in their respective countries. The men mentioned are but a few of those who are professed believers in the reality of spiritualistic phenomena. Hudson, Hodgson and Stead in England ; Dessoir in Germany ; Hyslop, Funk and Sidis in America ; Janet, Richet, Ochorowicz, Flammarion, Du Prel, De Gasparin, Maxwell in France; and Lombroso, the great criminologist, Foa and Morselli in Italy — the list of names is a long one.

In fact, there are now in all the world but one or two scientists of the first rank who deny the actual probability of the future life; while a large proportion claim that this life has been actually proved by the occurring phenomena of spiritualism.

You are probably surprised at this; you probably never suspected the slightest favorable consensus of scientific opinion on this matter. All your life you have believed in a future life, simply because you have — believed; but all your life, perhaps, too, you have hoped and sought in vain for proof, tangible, visible, scientific proof, that your loved ones who had gone before were alive, that your faith might be more than a faith, might be an actual knowledge. Now these men assert that they have found this proof. What is it they have found ? Their scholarly attainments give their discoveries weight; and you and I at least want to know.

In the light of the reports of these eminent scientists who have investigated spiritualism most thoroly, you and I have neither the right — nor the desire probably — to cast aside the whole subject without at least a cursory investigation on our own account. After personal examination of the facts and a weighing of the conclusions derived from them, personal judgment may be reached which, even if it be adverse, is founded, not on contemptuous ignorance, but on unbiased acquaintance with the facts.

The Strange Phenomena Comprised Under the Heading "Psychical Research"

Putting aside for the moment all question of a future life, the psychical phenomena which we propose to investigate are claimed by the men who have studied them most to prove the existence of very wonderful abilities, powers which we are accustomed to think utterly unworthy of credence, and existing, if at all, only in the imagination or perhaps in a vague "other world." It is asserted, as we have seen, that there are, for example, really such things as:

Clairvoyance, the ability to see independent of the eyes, the material organs of sight, to see spontaneously, for example, what is within a locked drawer or what is happening a thousand miles away.

Clairaudience, a similar ability of hearing independent of the material organs of hearing.

Telepathy, the ability to communicate thought independent of all physical senses, transcending space, giving the power to read the thoughts of another, be he a few feet or miles away.

Prevision, the ability to transcend time. This may be either retro cognition, that is, the power of knowing what happened in the past, or, more rarely, precognition, or prophecy, of seeing take place what has never happened, but in the future will occur.

Telekinesis, the ability to affect physical objects without contact, as, for example, moving chairs or other objects when at a distance from them.

Self-projection, the ability of a man to make himself visible at a distance.

These are indeed wonderful things, beside which the greatest discoveries of modern science fade into comparative insignificance. That is, if they are true, you say. Well, that is exactly what we shall try to find out; but with one qualification. Our purpose, you will remember, is to answer an even larger question, "Are the dead alive?" and we shall consider all psychic phenomena from the standpoint of their relation to that question.

We shall very soon discover that the phenomena divide themselves into two general classes. We have table-tippings, rappings, materializations, knot-tying, and other "cabinet manifestations" which do not give alleged "messages" from the "other world," and, indeed, may claim no connection with it. These "physical phenomena," therefore, however interesting in themselves, are irrelevant to the main point at issue and may be treated by us at much less length.

We have, on the other hand, table-tippings, rappings and materializations with "messages." These, together with apparitions, auditions, automatisms (that is, automatic trance speaking and writing through a medium), are of value, because they purport to be communications from discarnate (deceased) "spirits." You will see at once, then, that the question of the genuineness of these alleged spiritual phenomena divides itself into two :

i . — Do tables tip spontaneously ? Do human beings and other material bodies rise and float in the air? Does writing occur of its own accord between sealed slates, etc. — that is, do these things, considered simply as physical events, ever genuinely happen?

2. — Is the source of the alleged messages in the "other world"? All these wonderful things, in other words, may or may not happen; even having proved, if we can, that they do happen, as actual, visible, physical phenomena, we have still to prove their spiritual origin.

The first question, as for our purposes the less important, we shall consider briefly, preliminary to the second. To undertake the solution of the latter at all advisedly, we should know something about the allied phenomena of clairvoyance, telepathy and secondary personality and possession (the "possessed by demons" of the Bible), A large field this, evidently, and one of absorbing interest; what shall we find therein ?

The Phenomena Observed by Sir William Crookes

Before beginning any detailed consideration of the phenomena mentioned by the various writers quoted, it may be well to note a few of the more famous historical instances — one or two of the striking and typical landmarks, as it were, of the country we are about to traverse.

To give quickly an idea of the extent and importance of well-authenticated psychic phenomena, I can do no better than to review very briefly Crookes' famous Report on the Investigation of Phenomena Called Spiritual. Weighing on the one hand Sir William Crookes' position as one of the foremost scientists of Great Britain, and on the other the extraordinary nature of the phenomena he describes, we may well understand the amazed outcry that arose upon the publication of his report.

Sir William Crookes was in middle life when he made the researches, carried on over a period of several years, the results of which are embodied in his Report. Lest it be thought that his maturer judgment repudiated the conclusions reached in those earlier days, I shall quote his own statement thereon, delivered as part of his President's Address before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1898.

"No incident in my scientific career is more widely known than the part I took many years ago in certain psychic researches. Thirty years have passed since I published an account of experiments tending to show that outside our scientific knowledge there exists a Force exercised by intelligence differing from the ordinary intelligence common to mortals. This fact in my life is, of course, well understood by those who honored me with the invitation to become your president. Perhaps among my audience some may feel curious as to whether I shall speak out or be silent. I elect to speak, altho briefly. To ignore the subject would be an act of cowardice — an act of cowardice I feel no temptation to commit. I have nothing to retract. I adhere to my already published statements. Indeed, I might add much thereto."

He had said with truth : "There appear to be few instances of meetings held for the express purpose of getting the phenomena under test conditions, in the presence of persons properly qualified by scientific training to weigh and adjust the value of the evidence which might present itself." He realized in advance the storm that would follow the announcement of the results of his inquiry, and his preliminary words are a model of judicious rebuttal.

"The phenomena I am prepared to attest are so extraordinary that even now, on recalling the details of what I witnessed, there is an antagonism in my mind between reason, which pronounces it to be scientifically impossible, and the consciousness that my senses, both of touch and sight — and these corroborated, as they were, by the senses of all who were

ARE THE DEAD ALIVE? IX

present — are not lying witnesses when they testify against my preconceptions."

With these few words of introduction, Sir William proceeds to classify simply and relate with the utmost brevity a series of the most marvelous phenomena that — if bona fide — it ever befell mortal man to witness.

He states, for instance, that he had observed "the movement of heavy bodies with contact, but without mechanical exertion"; that he had heard during his experiments raps and other noises varying from "delicate ticks as with the point of a pin," to "a cascade of sharp sounds as from an induction-coil in full work" and "detonations in the air" ; that he had seen "movements of heavy bodies when at a distance from the medium"; that he had watched "a chair move slowly up to the table from a far corner when all were watching it" ; that he had repeatedly witnessed "the rising of tables and chairs off the ground without contact with any person" ; and even "the levitation of human beings"; that he had seen "luminous appearances," not once, but many times, and under the most varied forms ; that once "in the light" he had seen "a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a side table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady" ; and "on some occasions a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to the form of a hand and carry small objects about"; that there had been several times "appearances of hands, either self-luminous or visible by ordinary light." He tells how once "a beautifully formed small hand rose up from an opening in a dining-table and gave me a flower" ; and he adds :

"I have more than once seen, first, an object move, then a luminous cloud appear to form about it, and, lastly, the cloud condense into shape and become a perfectly formed hand. At this stage the hand is visible to all present. It is not always a mere form, but sometimes appears perfectly life-like and graceful, the fingers moving and the flesh apparently as human as that of any in the room. At the wrist or arm it becomes hazy, and fades off into a luminous cloud. I have retained one of these hands in my own, firmly resolved not to let it escape. There was no struggle or effort made to get loose, but it gradually seemed to resolve itself into vapor, and faded in that manner from my grasp."

These are facts, of course, which seem utterly beyond belief, yet the evidence which Sir William Crookes brings up in their support is imposing.

In answer to the immediate accusation of trickery, we are told that the occurrences took place in the writer's "own house, in the light, and with only private friends present besides the medium," and they happened, not once, but scores and hundreds of times, observed by many witnesses, under every test condition that expert scientific knowledge and trained detective ingenuity could devise.