The widow's mite and other psychic phenomena

Front matter

Class _xiJ:_i_^ Book..

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CfiPaUGHT DEPOSm

Preface To The Third Edition

Since the publication of ''The Widow's Mite," in 1904, some progress has been made in psychic research, especially through The English Society for Psychical Research, and The American Society for Psychic Research the latter of which was organized in New York under the leadership of James H. Hyslop, formerly professor of logic in Columbia University.

Since the issue of the fifst edition of "The Widow's Mite," /

Richard Hodgson died. Up to the time of his death, Dr. /

Hodgson was firmly convinced of the spiritistic interpretation of a portion of the phenomena. William James, for years recognized as the foremost psychologist in America, has also passed the " Great Divide." While Professor James was not convinced beyond a doubt of the spiritistic hypothesis, yet he declared, shortly before his death, that if he had to make a choice of explanations, he would be compelled to choose the spiritistic explanation as being the more reasonable. Prof. Cesare Lombroso, the famous criminologist of Europe, in the last few years of his life, was also fully convinced that these phenomena in part were of spirit origin. Sir Oliver Lodge has recently borne similar testimony, at sundry times, as to his own convictions.

An interesting volume was pubhshed, in 19 10, by Dr. Joseph Grasset, under the title "The Marvels Beyond Science." The present status of psychic investigation is fairly described in this volume, as follows: "The phenomena which at present have been redeemed from the domain of occultism, and which constitute the occultism of yesterday, may be grouped under three heads: first, animal magnetism, now known as hypnotism; secondly, the involuntary and unconscious movements which iv ' PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

are revealed in turning tables, etc.; thirdly, the sensation of subconscious memory, . . . resulting in false divination, hallucination, and crystallomancy, reminiscences, and false judgments; fourth, the association of ideas and imaginations which are cognizable in the trances of the mediums."

Dr. Grasset continues wisely as follows: "There is still another form of occultism to be discussed; there are occult phenomena which still remain far beyond the range of positive science and whose scientific demonstration has not yet been accomplished. But it is none the less e\ddent that tliis demonstration is not rationally impossible, and it is reasonable that scientific men should investigate these grave questions. It is their duty to study them, and we may look forward to the moment when certain of these facts will cease to be occult and will be recognized, as scientific." Dr. Grasset is right in his insistence that these experiments be conducted with rigorous methods.

I have thought it well to add a chapter by Mr. Hereward Carrington, in which he explains, at some length, his experiments last year in America with Mme. Eusapia Palladino, together with his present belief regarding her. New York, February, 191 1.

PREFACF

A YEAR ago a representative of a New York daily came to me with a proof slip of a story which he said his paper intended to print the next day, saying that the editor desired the proof corrected wherein it was in error. The story was entitled " The Finding of the Widow's Mite through the Spirit of Henry Ward Beecher," or something after that sort. The representative was told that the report contained many errors, and that its publication was premature, as there had been no opportunity to make any exhaustive examination of the facts involved. It was earnestly requested that the publication be postponed until after the completion of a full investigation.

The protest was in vain, and the story, as the newspaper had it, went to the public and around the world. To end the untimely discussion that followed, a note was sent to the press promising, if further exploitation of the incident was postponed, that when the investigation was ended a true version of the story would be given to the public.

This book is the fulfilment of that promise. In a sense it has not been hastily prepared, for it is a growth of a quarter of a century or so. Every book should be in a way a biography of the author, who progresses to a thought or point, and then gives a record of his travels hither. During the past twenty-five years I have devoted such time as could be spared from multifarious duties to the investigation of psychic phenomena —this has been a recreation— keeping a record of the more important things seen and heard. Finding myself tied up to give to the public this " widow's mite " incident, it seemed that vi PREFACE

it might serve a good purpose to describe as nearly as may be what had become to my mind the real psychic problem — a problem that is looming to such proportions as certainly to justify much attention from many of the best trained of our scientists ; it has been my purpose in this book to do my best to persuade a larger number of trained scientists to serious, persistent, and intelligent efforts to help in the solution of this problem.

As Sir William Crookes says of himself in giving the results of his own experience in psychic investigations (see page 328), I feel somewhat after my many years of experience like a traveler who has been long exploring a strange country and has some most puzzling stories to tell. The aim has been in the preparation of these pages to record those observations in as simple and straightforward a manner as possible; but I reaUze that not one reader in a score will find it easy to believe what is here told, and yet nearly all — I venture to say all who know me — would believe me fully in other affairs. I confess that some of these experiences are so startling that if they had not come within my own vision and hearing, being myself fully acquainted with the details of the test conditions imposed, I should be strongly tempted to doubt them ; nor even as it is would I be sure of the testimony of my own senses were their testimony not corroborated by that of expert psychologists and other trained scientists.

Yet here a word of caution : when the facts are admitted to be true as here told, the reader must not leap to the conclusion that the hypothesis of spiritualism is proved. There are many chasms, each miles and miles wide, yet to be bridged or filled. Permit me another cautionary word : there is danger — real danger — along these lines of investigation. I have seen psychic cobwebs — if cobwebs they be — tangle the feet of even intellectual giants; and the shrewdest experts — to change the simile — need to sail these mystic seas with sharp eyes and level

Preface

VII heads, for these seas are almost wholly uncharted, and in sailing over them at times the ship's compasses exhibit inexplicable variations.

It has seemed to me best to give very freely in Part I. of this volume the " talks " of so-called " spirit controls " and other " spirits." These talks, as a whole, are to me the most interesting and puzzling of the entire phenomena, coming as they often do from cabinets in which are uneducated mediums, sometimes mediums who are but little children. These speeches are given very freely, that the reader may be able to judge of the intellectual caliber of these intelligences. Quite likely they will make dull reading to some readers, but they are sure to prove interesting to all who care to master this psychic puzzle. Some of the wiser sort of talks have been mingled with those that are trivial, to enable the reader to judge better both classes.

There should be, however, a clear understanding of the methods used in reporting these utterances. In some cases there were jotted down in the darkened room sufBcient words to enable me to recall the leading thoughts — at the best it was reporting under unusual difficulties. In other cases the memory had to be trusted wholly, but usually the talks of both sorts were written out immediately afterward. I have a memory that has a reputation with editorial associates of being unusually retentive of thoughts, but it is a wretched verbal memory. The reader may rest assured that the thoughts in these reports are the " spirits'," but the verbal garb is quite likely at times my own- Besides, these talks are almost always condensations ; to condense is to interpret. In these interpretations the aim has been to give with strict accuracy the thittking that runs through these strange speeches, and extreme care has been exercised to so use words as to make this thinking clear. I again repeat, that there may be no mistake, the thoughts are the so-called " spirits' " ; the words and style of expression necessarily more or less my own.

viii PREFACE

Besides, I thought it but fair to submit all of these talks, after having written them out, to two of the so-called " spirit bands " for corrections. Whatever the source of these strange intelligences, whether they are the flaming out, above the threshold of consciousness, of some unknown power residing within us all to a greater or lesser degree — the subjective mind, the subliminal self, or what not — or whether they are, as they claim to be, foreign, of one thing we can be sure — they are intelhgetices, and as such deserve the courteous treatment that we of the press are in the habit of extending to the interviewed. Even ghosts should be granted this ghost of a chance to correct misquotation and hasty utterance. These two " bands " are the most intelligent of those I have encountered. Possibly this favorable judgment has been influenced by the fact that one band returned the proofs as "wholly correct." The other, whose leader I am told was last century " one of the best known of the world's clergymen," made a number of comments, some of which will be found in Part I. as footnotes, signed "Pastor." If these bands are composed truly of spirits — as they claim and as their friends claim — then these pages have had a unique proofreading — having been approved on the other side of the " silent gulf," whatever may be their fate on this side.

It is quite likely that this book would have been issued in March had it not been for the strange prophecy (see page 231) that it would be so issued. I count it somewhat of a satisfaction to have proved that if another intelligence can " forecast my future," it has not power to dominate my free agency. Possibly the prophecy was only a lucky guess.

That I may present this psychic problem in its full proportions I have drawn largely upon the investigations of trained scientists who have labored in this field of study. The results of the labors and conclusions are given of those whose names carry weight — all with the hope of so arousing public interest

PREFACE ix

as to incite psychologists and physicists to help make an end one way or the other of these mysteries.

The letters from psychologists and other students of psychic research which are given in the Appendix will be of interest to my more serious readers. These letters are many — some forty in all — coming mostly from the universities in various parts of the world. They indicate a great variety of thought, comparatively few accepting the spiritualistic hypothesis, yet there are some strong names among those who give this hypothesis much more than respectful consideration, as the names of Crookes, Lodge, James of Harvard, Hyslop, late of Columbia, Wallace, and others. Such names must give pause to those who are inclined to treat this hypothesis lightly.

Sir William Crookes opens up a line of startling speculation in his provisional explanation of telepathy, which by his special permission is given on page 518. If this speculation turns out to be true, worlds upon worlds of astounding proportions open to science. If I understand correctly Mr. Crookes's table of vibrations, the dijfferences between sound, electricity, light, ;r-rays, and radium are only the differences in the frequency of vibrations or waves — those of sound in the coarse atmosphere, and those of the others in ether, possibly something higher; that is, if an ear were sufficiently sensitive it could hear color, hear the beauty of a picture. Radium is vibration up to the sixtieth degree or step.

And now Edison tells us, " It is probable that there are rays of vibration in ether set in motion from some unknown source, and that these rays make their presence known by their action in causing radium to emit or reflect light and heat"; that is, that radium is heated and lighted by some sun vastly more subtle and potent than is the sun of our solar system. The .^r-rays and radium, it is quite likely, are only at the threshold of a far finer and more potent universe of substances.

The human body is coarse, made up of slow, sluggish vibra-

X PREFACE

tions, but were these vibrations as rapid as those of the ^-rays our bodies would be invisible and pass through many solids, and were they as rapid as radium they would pass through all solids, as Christ's resurrected body passed through the walls of the chamber at Jerusalem. Scientists will soon make the miracles of Christ elementary. Already they are changing their attitude toward what has been regarded as supernatural, Hume must be waxing uncomfortable in his grave. Lord Kelvin tells us miracles are common : " Every action of human free virill is a miracle to physical, chemical, and mathematical science." If this be true of the free will of us mortals, what is it when we come to pass upon the free-will action of the infinite One?

Now I venture a request of every reader who finds profit in these pages, that he oecome a member of The Society for Psychical Research, paying the annual fee of ;^5, receiving in return the reports of the society. If five thousand persons will thus join, an additional income of ;^25,ooo will be supplied, and this will enable the society to carry on even more effectively its immensely important work — a work which, if Gladstone's judgment was correct, "is the most important which is being done in the world — by far the most important." The application for membership, with fee, should be sent to either Richard Hodgson, treasurer, 5 Boylston Place, Boston, Mass., or The Society for Psychical Research, 19 Buckingham Street, Adelphi, W. C, London, England.

On page 488 I ask those of my readers who have the nerve to do it, and care to do it, to join with me in making a series of psychic experiments which may, if followed out patiently and wisely, lead to definite results.

A good motto just now for all psychic investigators, borrowing from our friends of the legal profession, is this :

"THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH."

Contents

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY— A Plea for Psychic Research. 3

The Psychic Riddle; a Great Interrogation Point (3) — Spiritualism a " Suspect " (4) — Truth the Only Safe Thing ; the Universe Fireproof (4) — A Gain to Prove Scientifically there are "Evil Spirits" (5) — Inviolability of a Soul with Pure Intent (5) — A Network of Psychic Nerves (6)— Huxley a Little Child Before a Fact ; " I Don't Know " (6) — The Musician on Wagner's Level alone Knows Wagner; Appeal to Within (7) — The Next a Complex World (8)— Where Lies the Solution of the Psychic Problem? (8) — Gladstone's Strong Testimony to Psychic Research (9) — Rudimentary Faculties (10) — A New Sphinx (11) — Spiritualism Still Unexplained (12) — "Don't Throw Away the Baby with the Water from the Bath " (12) — Judgment of Alfred Russel Wallace and Frederic Myers (13) — Spiritualism a Great, Blundering Attempt to Utilize a New Force (13) — Opinions of Prof. William James and of The Society for Psychical Research (14) — Fraud.'' Yes, but What More? (15) — Denial by Scientists Not Conclusive (16) — Increasing Distance from Bible Times Makes Faith More and More Difficult (17) — Frederic Myers' Remarkable Prediction about Scientists' Future Belief in Christ's Resurrection (18).

PART I.— Hindering Dispositions AND Opinions. 19

I. — Ways in Which Some Spiritualists Predispose Investigators Unfavorably— Hindering Dispositions and Opinions. 21

Too Credulous (21) — Spirit Wires Crossed (22) — Heartless Frauds (22)— Luther R. Marsh (23) — Too Ready to Believe in the Supernatural : Nothing Supernatural but God (25) — " Fool's World " (26) — Subconscious Faculties Often Ignored (27)— Unexplained Apparitions (28) — Flippant "Spirit" Talk (28) — Sittings for Fun Dangerous (29) — " Spirit " Teachings Not Infallible (31)— "Predigested Thought" (32) — Too Quick to Denounce Skeptics (33) — Was This Colonel Robert G. IngersoU? (23) — Requirements of Extraordinary Evidence Not Unreasonable (35) — Investigation Should be Made Easy (36) — Common Sense Suggestions to Mediums (36).

xii CONTENTS

PAGE

2.— Ways in Which Some Non-Spiritualists Predispose Themselves Unfavorably— Hindering Dispositions AND Opinions. 38

Endangering Free Agency by " Foreign " Interference (38)— Individuality Inviolate (39) — Was Christ a Materialized Spirit? (40)— A Conflict of "Spirits" (41) — "Subpoena Gabriel" (42) — " Thomas Paine's " Bad Memory (44)— A Very Human " Spirit " : "You Won't Mind if My Face is Cold?" (46)— Character a Growth on Both Sides of the Death Line (47) — Spirit Communion a Complicated Transaction (49) — " The Work of Conjurers " (50) — " Spirit " Communications Contradictory (54) — A Babel of Voices (55) — A " Spirit's " Explanation of These Contradictions (56) — " Mediumship Hurtful to the Medium " (57) — " Spirit's " Advice to Safeguard Mediums (59) — " The Work of Evil Spirits " (60) — A Converted Medium's Warning (63) — " I am the Evil One " (64) — " Gone to Consult the Witch of Endor " (66) — Bible Teachings on Spirit Communing (67) — Goodness the Best Touchstone (68)— Outside Intelligences, Yes, but What? (70) — Like Draws Like (71) — "Spiritualism Conclusively Disproved " (72) — Great Variety of Mediumistic Frauds (74) — Mediums Exchanging Tests (76) — At Times Much Money Made (77) — Beecher's Belief, " There is Something in it " (78) — Draw off the Filth, but Find the Pearls (80) — Faith Predisposes the Eye to See (Si) — Power of Auto-Suggestion (82) — "Harmonious Conditions Necessary " (84) — Faith is Growth of the Inner Nature ; the Heart Sees (85) — " Leads to Insanity " (87) — Spirit Information often Inaccurate (88) — Spirit Explains (89) — Requirement of Unusual Testimony (91) — Don't Give the Ghost a Ghost of a Chance (91) — Ridicule; Guying Columbus and Stephenson (92) — A Corpse " Sassing " Back (93)— "Psychic Intelligence Not Beyond the Age ; the Zeitgeist " (95) — A " Lady from Mars " ; a Linguistic Curiosity (96)— Suggestive " Spirit Talks " (97) — " We have Many Fools Over Here " (99).

3.— A Letter from Scientists— A Study. xoi

Professor William James's Experience with Mrs. Piper (loi) — A Very Sensitive Spirit (103) — Odd Reason for Failure of a Sdance (104) — Thought Waves and Wireless Telegraphy (106) — Contradiction to the Senses Not Positive Proof of Error (107) — God the only Supernatural Power (109) — Scientist Wallace : " Spiritualism Requires no Further Proof" (no) — Beecher's dual Experience (no)— How the Bible Made a "Fool" of Newton (112)— Scientists Refuse to Believe the Testimony of their Senses (113) Sir David Brewster's Curious Self-Contradiction (04)- Backward Swing from Scientific Materialism (118).

CONTENTS xiii

4. — Special " Spirit-Talks " to Clergymen. 120

A Criticism of the Churches (120) — Skepticism Dominant (121) — " Unbelief in Spirit Communication Provincial, not Christianity " (123) — " Revelation Did Not End with Patmos " (127) — " Gilden, not a Golden Age " (128)—" Why not Two Worlds in the Same Space and Time at Work ? " (130) — A Test that Spiritualism Must Stand (131) — Exalted Talk, Whence Comes It? (133) — "God's Restoring Love Never Ceases toward a Soul " (135) — " Divine Justice and Love Manifested in Christ" (136) — " Supreme Goodness is Supreme Helpfulness" (138) — A "Spirit's" Appeal to Seek Inspiration Direct (139) — "Christ a Materialized Spirit" (142) — Joseph Parker and Commander Booth Claimed to Communicate with their Spirit Wives (144) — A " Spirit " Explains why Mediums are Necessary' (147) — God the Soul of the Universe (149) — Some " Spirits " seem Profoundly Religious (153).

PART IL— The Finding of " The Widov\/'s Mite," and Other

Similar Phenomena. 155

I. — Detailed History of the Incident. 157

The Medium and Her Family (158) — The Beecher Inquiry (159) — " In a Large Iron Safe, in a Drawer " (160) — Sure Coin was Returned (161) — Found as Indicated (162) — So Far and no Farther (163) — Report from the United States Mint (164)— Strong Affidavits (165) — Important Points (168) — Possible Explanation ; Fraud, Coincidence, Subjective Faculties, Spirit Communication (169) — If Spirits, Why so Trivial a Thing? (173) — Cross-Examination (175) — Questions to Psychologists; Answers from Many (176) — Prof. William James' Opinion (178).

2. — Was This Beecher 's Face? 179

A Spirit's Explanation (182) — Is This Beecherian Wit? (184).

3.— Similar Psychic Phenomena. 185

The Finding of a Lost Receipt by Swedenborg (185) — Immanuel Kant's Testimony (186) — Various Hypotheses Examined (189) — The Finding of a Lost Will (193)— The Finding of a Promissory Note (194) — Rev. Dr. Savage Finds the Papers of His Dead Son (197) — Finding of a Watch (198)— Professor James Tells of the Finding of the Bank-book of His Mother-in-Law (198).

4. — The " Talks " of Spirits at the " Mite " Circle : 198

(i) " The Law of Nature " (199) ; (2) Reincarnation (204).

5.— Other Phenomena at the " Mite " Circle. 210

Was This My Arab Guide? (211)— Correct and Incorrect Information (212) — Was This Clairvoyance? (213).

xiv CONTENTS

PA(

PART III.— Typical Psychic Phenomena. 2 I. — Telepathy— Clairvoyance. 2

The Remarkable Reading of a Series of Sealed Letters (217) — Named the One I Thought the Author, but was not (218) — An Extraordinary and Interesting Mixture (220) — Clearly Clairvoyant, but What Mind does the Reading? (221) — Was This George Hepworth.'' (222) — Coincidence in This Case Unthinkable (224) — "Only a Cook": Joseph Cook (227) — My Niece's Remarkable Series of Successes (228) — A Suicide's Persistent Assertion (230) — Whereabouts of a Leaf from Our Family Bible (232) — A Mediumistic Trick (235) — Personal Experiences with Margaret Fox Kane (237)— A Strangely Mischievous Intelligence : " Not so Smart as You Think You Are " (240) — Professor James's Experiments with Mrs. Piper (241) — Inexplicable Phenomena; James Convinced that Mrs. Piper has Supernormal Powers (243) — Frederic Myers's Experiences at His Own Home (246) — Convinced of Mrs. Piper's Honesty (249) — Rev. Dr. Minot J. Savage Believes in Mrs. Piper (251) — Dr. Savage's Daughter's Experience (253) — The Doctor has Exact Spirit Reports of Absent Friends (254) — Sir William Crookes Proves Ability to See Without Eyes (256) — Closed Books Read (258)— Burning of a House Described by a Spirit through a Friend (259) — Remarkable Verification of the Earth History of Two Spirits (262-66) — An Amazing Premonition (267) — Oliver Wendell Holmes Experiences a Singular Coincidence (270) — Alfred Russel Wallace Gives a Series of Clairvoyant Experiences (272) — " The Rector Magnificus " of the University of Leipsic Corrects an Injustice to Professor Zollner (276) — Zollner Gives the Reading of the Date of a Coin in a Sealed Box (276)— Thought-Reading Will Not Explain These Wonders (278)— Zollner Doubly Surprised (280) — Podmore Reasons Loosely (281) — The Views of Scientists Revolutionized about Telepathy in Twenty Years (283) — Sir Oliver Lodge's Report to The Society for Psychical Research on Thought Transference (284) — Series of Extraordinary Results (291).

2.— Clairaudience. 31

Socrates's Spirit Guide (310)— " Six Bells— Janette Lost" (311) — Two Persons in Brooklyn Hear at the Same Time the Voice of a Brother in Texas (311) — Wife Hears Words of Her Wounded Husband 150 Miles Distant (314) — A Doctor Hears Distant Call for Help (315) — Mother and Sister Hear Drowning Boy's Cry, Thousands of Miles Away (316).

3.— Display of Psychic Force Independent of Muscular

Action. 3

Guffaw That Greeted Sir William Crookes's Psychic Experi-

CONTENTS XY

PAGE

ments (319) — Crookes's Statement of His Purpose (321) — He Secures Amazing Results {y^) — His Formal Report of Four Years' Inquiry in " Phenomena Called Spiritual " (328) — Various Classes of Extraordinary Phenomena Which He Witnessed (330) — Crookes Sees " Phantom Forms and Faces " (338) — He Sees a Bell Come Through a Closed Door (341) — He Sees a Man Resting in the Air (343) — The Scientist, Lord Lindsay, Reports a Marvel (346) — Professor ZoUner's Experiments at Leipsic (349) — A Display of Force Equalling that of Two Horses (350) — Many Scientists Unfair to Zollner (357) — Knots in Endless Bands (359) — A Table Disappears and Reappears (363) — Alfred Russel Wallace's Psychic Experiments in His Own Home (364) — " Impossible," Yet True (367) — Dr. O. B. Frothingham Tells of Himself and Six Other Men Lifted with a Piano (368) — My Brother Secures Writing on a Doubly Sealed Slate (369) — A Remarkable Experiment through Zollner (371) — A Careful Test (376)~Slate-writing Often Fraudulent; Thomson Jay Hudson Has Strange Success (377)— Hudson's Inconclusive Reasoning (378).

4. — Apparitions. 380

Are There Ghosts? (380) — Have Some Living Persons Power to Visit at a Distance from Their Bodies? (381) — An Astounding Fact of Distinct Visitation Analyzed by Premier Balfour's Sister (383) — Curious Success at Self-Projection (387) — Do the Dead Reappear? (391) — An Experience in My Father's Family (391) — Lord Brougham's Vision of a Dead Friend (392) — Many Cases Told by The Society for Psychical Research (395) — Alfred Russel Wallace's Reasoning from Effect of Ghosts on Animals (398).

5.— Secondary Personalities — Obsessions. 402

Dr. Weir Mitchell's Striking Story (403)— The Case of Mollie Fancher (407) — The Celebrated " Watseka Wonder" (408) — Dr. Richard Hodgson, Treasurer, Boston, S. P. R., Thinks it a Case of " Spirits " (408)— Crookes Sees Materializations : His astounding Series of Letters (413)— Crookes's Experiments with Materializations in His Own Locked Room (416) — He is Fully Convinced That There is No Fraud (422) — A Business Friend Reports to Me Test Investigations (424) — My Brother's Careful Experiments to Verify Materializations (424) — My Own Experience in My own Chosen Room (425) — Professor Zollner Sees Prints of Spirit Hands and Feet on Sooted Paper, etc., under Severe Test Conditions (429) — Frederic Myers's Explanation of Genuine Materializations (435).

6.— Spirit Identity— The Crucial Test of Spiritualism. 442 A Spirit Claiming to be My Mother Tries to Identify Herself (442) — Rev. Dr. Savage Gives a Forceful Case of Identification xvi CONTENTS

PjaGB

(443)— Dr. Hudson's Explanation (446)— A Good Case by Rev. W. Stainton-Moses (446)— Dr. Savage Tells of Relief of the Poor by Spirits (446)— George Pelham Case of S. P. R. (449).

7.— Spirit Photography. .^j

Alfred Russel Wallace's Photographic Experiences (454)— A Business Friend Makes Series of Remarkable Tests (454)— Dr. W. J. Pierce's Investigations (457)— Series of Pictures Without Camera (458)— Photographs between Two Plates (462)— Rev. Dr. J. T. Wills, San Francisco, Makes His Own Spirit Photo (463) —Dr. Pierce Makes Pictures Alone in Unopened Box (474)— Dr. H. A. Reid of S. P. R. Investigates Spirit Photos (478).

Addenda — Spirit Identity. .g-

Attempted Identification of Spirits by Handwriting (484)— Sir Oliver Lodge Thinks Identification of Frederic Myers Probable (485)— Spirit Autograph of Leading Clergyman Thought Genuine by New York Bank Experts (485)— Professor Hyslop Obtains Proofs of Spirit Identity (486)— Threefold Request to the Public (488)— A Prayer— Who is Its Author.? (490).

APPENDIX. ^gj

I.— Comments by Psychologists and Other Scholars on

THE Finding of "The Widow's Mite." 493

2.— Sir William Crookes' Provisional Explanation of

Telepathy. .jg

3.— How to Personally Test Spiritualism; Advice by

Rev. Wm. Stainton-Moses, M.A. (Oxon.). 520

4.— An Account of Eusapia Palla'dino's American

Seances. . 523

INTRODUCTORY

A Plea for Psychic Research

" * The great field for new discoveries,' said a scientific friend to me the other day, ' 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 Galileos, Galvanis, Fresnels, Purkinjes, and Darwins are always getting confounded and troubled with insignificant things. Any one will renovate his science who will steadily look after the irregular phenomena. And when the science is renewed, its new formulas often have more of the voice of the exceptions in them than of what were supposed to be the rules. No part of the unclassified residuum has been treated usually with a more contemptuous scientific disregard than the mass of phenomena generally called mystical."— WILLIAM JAMES, Professor of Psychology Harvard University, " Will to Believe;," pp. 299- 300.