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diff --git a/old/68388-0.txt b/old/68388-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 41459b0..0000000 --- a/old/68388-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4417 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of How to thought-read, by James Coates - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: How to thought-read - A manual of instruction in the strange and mystic in daily life, - psychic phenomena - -Author: James Coates - -Release Date: June 23, 2022 [eBook #68388] - -Language: English - -Produced by: deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW TO THOUGHT-READ *** - - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE - - - Text in italics is shown in _underscores_. - - Footnotes have been moved to the end of the book. - - A detailed list of changes made to the text can be found at the end. - - - - - HOW TO THOUGHT-READ: - - _A MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION_ - - IN THE - - STRANGE AND MYSTIC IN DAILY LIFE, - PSYCHIC PHENOMENA, - - INCLUDING - - _Hypnotic, Mesmeric, and Psychic States, Mind and Muscle - Reading, Thought Transference, Psychometry, Clairvoyance, - and Phenomenal Spiritualism_. - - BY - - JAMES COATES, Ph.D., F.A.S., - - _Lecturer on Mental Science and Hygiene, Author of “How to Mesmerise,” - “How to Read Heads,” “How to Read Faces,” “The Social - Problem,” “The Antiquity of Man,” etc. etc._ - - PRICE ONE SHILLING. - - LONDON: HAY NISBET & CO., 169, FLEET STREET. - GLASGOW: 25 JAMAICA STREET. - 1893. - - - - - HAY NISBET AND CO., 26 JAMAICA STREET, GLASGOW, - - AND - - 169, FLEET STREET, LONDON. - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - Introduction, 5 - - Chapter I.--Somnambulism and Psychic Phenomena, 9 - - The Hypnotic, Mesmeric, and the Psychic States. Hypnotism - a Curative Agent; the Sixth Sense; Dreams, Premonitions; - Double and Psychic Consciousness. Evidences of the - Soul within us. - - - Chapter II.--Clairvoyance, 23 - - Psychoscopy, or Soul Sight. Spiritual Faculty, exhibited by - religious ecstatics, not a common possession. How Cultivated. - The Opinions and Evidence of Men of Science. - Second Sight. The Utility of Soul-Sight. - - - Chapter III.--Clairvoyance Illustrated, 33 - - Classified. Strange Story of the Chicago Water Supply. - Lost Goods Restored. An Aid to the Physician. Experiments - in Rothesay. Remarkable Clairvoyants. Clairvoyance - in Mesmerism and in Spiritualism. - - - Chapter IV.--Psychometry, 53 - - Soul-Measuring and Soul-Measurers. Dr. Buchanan’s Discoveries. - Professor Denton’s Experiments. Detective’s - Clues; what Psychometry can do. Testimony of Mr. Stead - and the Rev. Minot J. Savage. Disease Detected, and - Character Gauged by this Faculty. - - - Chapter V.--Thought-Transference and Telepathy, 69 - - Explained and Defined. Transference of Taste in Mesmerism. - Thought-Transference, in Dreams, from the Dying to - the Living; the Dead to the Living; in Prayer; in ordinary - Experience. Incidents and Experiences, etc. Mark Twain, - Hudson Tuttle, and Dr. Hilden. - - - Chapter VI.--Thought-Reading Experiments, 88 - - Thought and Muscle-Reading Distinguished. Projecting - Mental Pictures. Normal Experiments, without contact, by - Professor Lodge, Mr. Guthrie, and Professor Barrett. Some - Practical Suggestions. Muscle-Reading Entertainments. - Directions. - - - Chapter VII.--Spiritualism, 102 - - “How to Thought-Read” and Phenomenal Spiritualism. - The Spirit within us. The rejection of the Psychic. The - Fraudulent in Spiritualism. Spiritualism without Spirits. - Thought-Reading by Spirits and Mediums. - - - Chapter VIII.--Spiritualism.--_Continued_, 115 - - Automatic Writing. A Test Medium. Trance Addresses. - A Direct Spirit-Painting. Reflections and Speculations. - Testimony of Cromwell F. Varley, F.R.S., the Electrician. - Theosophy a Revised Version of Hindoo Metempsychosis, - etc. etc. - - - - -INTRODUCTION. - - -The first book of this series, “How to Mesmerise,” gave so much -satisfaction to the reading public, and having passed into several -editions, my publishers have asked me to write another work on similar -lines. This _brochure_ is my response. Clairvoyance, Psychometry, and -Thought Transference--briefly referred to in the former--are more -fully gone into in this. Consequently, I have little doubt “How to -Thought-Read” will meet with acceptance. - -Thought-reading is duly considered and explained. A clear distinction -is drawn between Musculation, or Muscle and Mind-Reading; and although -these pages are not confined to Thought-Reading, as generally -understood by the public, the subject itself, and as an entertainment, -have been pretty fully dealt with. - -During the past decade, psychological subjects have, in a remarkable -way, arrested public attention. “New Mesmerism” and “New Spiritualism” -are popular subjects with editors and magazine writers. Whatever the -real causes--a greater influx of the spiritual from “the state of the -dead,” or from a reaction in the minds of men against the purblind -materialism of our scientific leaders--it is hard to say. Possibly -these and other causes have been at work. One thing is certain, for -good or ill, the majority of thinking men and women of the age are -not only interested in, but are actually searching for evidence of -“embodied spirit.” Hence we find men of science, journalists, and even -professed materialists and secularists, who, a few years ago, could -scarcely speak of these subjects in the ordinary language of courtesy, -confess now not only their belief, but are going to the other extreme -of advocating, what as yet, they have failed to fully grasp. - -A few years ago “The British Parliament of Science” was nothing if -not materialistic. The leading _savants_ of the day declared “all was -matter, no matter what.” Consequently, man was the highest product -of protoplasm, and his _only_ destiny the grave. The change has been -great indeed, when one of its most brilliant members (Professor -Oliver Lodge, D.Sc., F.R.S., British Association at Cardiff, 1891) -in his address said: “It is familiar that a thought may be excited -on the brain of another person, transferred thither from our brain -by pulling a suitable trigger; by liberating energy in the form of -sound, for instance, or by the mechanical act of writing, or in other -ways. A pre-arranged code, called language, and a material medium of -communication, are recognised methods. May there not, also, be an -_immaterial_ (perhaps an ethereal) medium of communication? Is it -possible that an idea can be transferred from one person to another -by a process such as we have not yet grown accustomed to, and know -practically nothing about? _In this case I have evidence. I assert I -have seen it done, and am perfectly convinced of the fact; many others -are satisfied of the truth, too._ It is, perhaps, a natural consequence -of the community of life or family relationship running through all -living beings. The transmission of life may be likened in some ways -to the transmission of magnetism, and all magnets are sympathetically -connected, so that, if suitably suspended, a vibration from one -disturbs others, even though they be distant 92,000,000 miles. It is -sometimes objected that, granting thought-transference or telepathy to -be a fact, it belongs more especially to lower forms of life, and that -as the cerebral hemispheres develop we become independent of it; that -what we notice is the relic of a decaying faculty, not the germ of a -new and fruitful sense, and that progress is not to be made by studying -or alluding to it. As well might the objection be urged against a study -of embryology. _It may, on the other hand, be an indication of a higher -mode of communication, which shall survive our temporary connection -with ordinary matter._ The whole region is unexplored territory, and it -is conceivable that matter may react on mind in a way we can at present -only dimly imagine.” The italics are mine. - -Thought-Transference and Telepathy may, indeed, be an indication of a -higher mode of communication between human beings after we have severed -our temporary connection with matter. Whether or not, the hope should -repay our study. I have sought in the following pages to briefly define -and illustrate what these phases of communication are. - -Double and Psychic Consciousness, Clairvoyance, natural and induced; -Psychometry, its natural and leading features as a spiritual faculty; -Thought-Transference, visions, dreams, and their _portents_, are in -turn briefly dealt with, in order to extract therefrom some evidence of -_soul_. - -Modern Spiritualism is referred to, in so far as Thought-Reading is -likely to throw any light upon its psychological phases, as well as on -its physical phenomena. - -While attempting to cover so much ground my difficulty was not -what to write, but what not to write, the materials at my disposal -being so abundant. Much has been cut down to get the whole within -reasonable compass. Nevertheless, I hope my readers will find “How to -Thought-Read” a readable contribution to the science of soul. - - JAMES COATES. - - Glenbeg, - Ardbeg, Rothesay, N. B. - - - - -[Illustration: EXPERIMENT IN PSYCHOMETRY.--See Page 60. - -MR. and MRS. COATES.] - - - - -HOW TO THOUGHT-READ. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -Somnambulism and Psychic Phenomena. - - -Before entering upon the subject of “How to Thought Read”--or rather, -range of interesting subjects grouped under this title--it is proposed -to deal briefly with the key to the whole, which is to be found in the -revelations of man’s inner life, soul-life and character, presented by -somnambulism and trance, whether natural or induced. - -The use of a few simple terms having a well-defined meaning will help -the reader and prepare him for the more careful study of the psychic -side of human life. - -The somnambulistic and trance states may be divided, for the -convenience of examination, into the Hypnotic, or state of hypnosis; -the Mesmeric, or somnambulistic; and the Psychic, or lucid -somnambulistic--or briefly, the Hypnotic, Mesmeric, and Psychic states. - -The operator is the controlling agent, hypnotist, or mesmerist; in -spiritualism, the guide or control. - -The sensitive is the subject, the percipient, psychic, patient, or -person who passes into the hypnotic, mesmeric, or trance states, etc. - -Hypnosis is the term used for the hypnotic state artificially induced -by the agent. Hypnosis is the lowest rung of the ladder; the psychic -or soul state the highest. The intermediate phases, as indicated in -conscious or sub-conscious conditions of life, are innumerable and not -readily classified. Still, the states mentioned will give a favourable -insight to the whole. In hypnosis, physical rather than mental -phenomena are evolved; _anæsthesia_, or non-sensitiveness to pain, is -more or less present. The senses of smell and hearing are partially -exalted, and the sensitive may be partially or wholly unconscious. - -The mesmeric state is the term frequently used to denote ordinary -artificial somnambulism. It is actually the higher or more perfect form -of hypnosis. The senses in this state are more fully submerged, and the -mental faculties are more fully exalted, than in hypnosis. - -The psychic state, as the mesmeric, relates to the mental, and hypnosis -to the more physical, so does the psychic state refer to that class of -extraordinary somnambulism in which the mental and the spiritual gifts -transcend in character and power those of the foregoing states. In this -state the higher phenomena of lucid somnambulism, clairvoyance, and -thought-transference are manifested more perfectly than in any other. - -The hypnotic, the mesmeric, and the psychic states indicated are -frequently interlinked in manifestation. The sensitive may pass from -the first to the last without apparent gradation. It is well to -keep these divisions in thought, so that in practice no one will be -content with the _lower_ where it is possible, by wise and judicious -observations and operations, to induce the higher. - -To make the matter still more clear, in hypnosis and in the mesmeric -state all phenomena may be said to be induced through and by the -influence and the direction of the operator. Not that he produces the -effects as they are exhibited by the sensitive, but they are brought -about through the agency of his suggestions or operations. - -In the psychic state this is not always the case. The influence of -the operator may at times be almost _nil_. The operator will find -it best--when the sensitive is in a high lucid state--to become an -observer and a learner, and no longer continue the _rôle_ of director. - -In the psychic state, the soul-powers, so often submerged in ordinary -life, transcend in a remarkable manner. The senses are completely -suspended and the mind exalted to such a degree, a clearly defined -super-sensuous condition is reached. Whether this stage or condition is -induced by fasting, prayer, disease, or by mesmeric agencies, matters -little. In it we find the key to the seership, and the clairvoyance, -and the prophetic utterance, and the mystic powers attributed to -and exercised by prophet, and seer, and sybil in the past. By the -investigation of the phenomena evolved by the psychic state we are -enabled to understand something of man’s soul or spiritual nature, -apart from the phenomena induced by pathological conditions of brain -and body. - -The foregoing view presented of mesmeric conditions may be very -different from that which medical men may glean from hypnotic practice -with hysterical and lobsided patients, and certainly not the views -which the general public are likely to gather from seeing a number of -paid “subjects” knocked about a music hall stage by an ignorant showman. - -From the roughest to the finest, from matter to spirit, from hypnosis -to the psychic state, we find enough to arrest attention and give -a high degree of seriousness and earnestness to our investigation. -We stand on the threshold of soul, and the place where we stand is -holy ground. We find, as is the physical, mental, and spiritual -characteristics of the operator, _plus_ those of the sensitive or -sensitives, so will be the nature of the phenomena evolved. - -It will be observed some subjects never get beyond the first state, or -hypnosis; others that of the second, or mesmeric. All sensitives, in -keeping with their temperamental and mental developments (as revealed -by phrenology and psychometry), are better adapted for one class of -phenomena than that of others. - -It may be further observed that the foregoing states may be -self-induced or, directly and indirectly, the product of -“spirit-control,” drugs, or bodily disease. Hypnosis, we must bear in -mind, although not unlike the mesmeric state, has no more relation to -that condition than sleep produced by an exhaustive walk or a dose of -laudanum is like natural or healthy sleep. Indeed, hypnosis is not -properly a condition of sleep. In the majority of cases the sensitive -is never wholly unconscious. It is rather a state in which there is a -temporary perversion or subordination between brain impressions and -consciousness. The sensitive in hypnosis is often less intelligent than -in the normal or waking state. - -For various reasons the state of hypnosis may be recognised as that -state in which the mind is subjected to certain abnormal conditions -of the body, notably of the brain, spinal cord, and indirectly of the -circulation, induced by certain means determined upon by the operator. -The mental condition in this state is one of almost pure automatism, in -which hallucination or sense illusions are more or less present. - -Great and serious are the responsibilities of those who bring about the -state of hypnosis. Every thought and feeling, of whatever kind, infused -in this state, like seed, will take root and germinate, and finally -bud into action in the daily or waking consciousness, and determine -unconsciously for the sensitive the character of his life. Hypnotism -is neither for indiscriminate use, nor is hypnosis to be induced as a -plaything for the thoughtless--medical or lay. At the same time, in the -hands of the thoughtful, its educative value is most important, for, -if the operator is well poised, and feels that, he can impart higher -thoughts and strengthen the will[A] of the sensitives by the twofold -agencies of impressionability and suggestion. This is something not to -be despised. It is surely no degradation to be saved from evils one -cannot overcome or resist, unless assisted by external aid, even though -that help can only come by submitting to hypnotism. - -In hypnosis the outer brain of convoluted grey matter is most affected, -being more or less denuded of arterial and nervous stimuli. The power -of conscious, intellectual, and abstract thought is reduced to a -minimum. The organs of the central brain are differently influenced, -as in inverse ratio the stimulation is increased. The eye is more -susceptible to light, or the pupils may become dilated and fixed. -The auditory sense is rendered more keen. The olfactory powers are -intensified, and there is more or less insensibility of feeling. The -powers of co-ordination and locomotion are preserved up to a certain -stage, when these functions are disturbed, all power of voluntary -movement ceases, lethargic and cataleptic symptoms supervene. - -It was by observing, more particularly, hypnosis, Professor Heidenhain -was led to aver “inhibition” actually accounted for all phases of -hypnotism. This opinion has evidently been based on a limited number -of cases. “No inhibition,” says Dr. Drayton, “however ingeniously -applied, will explain all the phenomena of magnetism. If the personal -consciousness, the individuality, of the subject has been lost, and -his state is that of automatism, or rather that of an involuntary -actor, certainly his cerebral functions operate in a manner entirely -distinct from that which is characteristic in his ordinary state. -The inhibition relates to his common order of conduct mentally, while -the super-sensitivity and extraordinary play of faculty that he may -exhibit, indicate a higher phase of sensory activity, more free or -harmonious co-ordination of the cerebral functions. The brakes are off, -hence the phenomena that are frequently observed in the somnambulist, -and awaken wonder, because so much out of keeping with what is known of -his common life.” - -Here we find doctors--experts in hypnotism or mesmerism--agree to -differ. They agree in this, albeit not expressly stated, they are alike -positive and decided in their views, and certainly _without being -positive, there is no possible success as an operator_. - -The mistake they make evidently arises in confounding the two -states (hypnosis and the mesmeric), one with the other. There is no -super-sensitivity, or extraordinary play of faculty in hypnosis, -whatever there may be in the mesmeric state. They are similar, in -that they may be both induced by the reduction of the activity of the -cerebral cortex. - -In hypnosis the mind slumbers and dreams. The dream-life appears as -substantial to the sensitive as the waking life. The life creations, -thus dreamed of, are acted upon, whether they arise from suggestion or -other causes. - -In the mesmeric state the senses slumber, and the mind awakens to a -fuller enfranchisement of existence, and to the exhibition of mental -and spiritual powers not hitherto suspected. - -In the lower stages the increased power of the senses is to be found -in the _intense concentration_ of effort, brought about from the fact -that the subject’s attention is, and his whole energies are, directed -in one line of action or thought, to the exclusion of mind or brain -activity in other directions. Hence all efforts are centred in the -direction suggested by the operator, or self-induced, as suggested by -the “dominant idea.” - -The sensitive exhibits powers of mind and ability of thought which -were not noticeable in the ordinary waking condition. Not because he -really possesses greater powers of mind or body, but because of the -lack of concentration in the waking state. By this concentration of -direction, so called abnormal feats of strength are performed, rigidity -of structure brought about, and other characteristics not peculiar -to common life. In a higher sense, we see the sensitive passing -from this condition of concentration of one-idea-ism to a spiritual -state, in which the phenomena exhibited are no longer the product of -self-dethronement and of suggestion. Higher still, we see the soul -reign supreme. The sensitive possesses a clear consciousness of what -is transpiring at home and abroad, according to the direction of his -psychic powers. - -In the psychic state--the more perfect trance state or control--the -whole mind becomes illumined; past, present, and future become -presentable to the mind of the lucid somnambulist as one great whole. -This higher stage may be reached through the simple processes of -manipulation, and passes as suggested in my little work, “How to -Mesmerise.” - -In the mesmeric state the sensitive passes from the mere automatism of -the earlier stages of hypnosis to the distinct individuality indicated -above, although still more or less influenced or directed by his -controller or operator into the line of thought and train of actions -most desired. - -The difference between the hypnotic and mesmeric states should now be -very clear. In the former the sensitive has no identity, in the latter -his identity is preserved in a clearly individualised form throughout -the whole series of abnormal acts. Whenever the sensitive enters this -condition his personal consciousness is most apparent in the middle and -higher stages. - -In fact, in the mesmeric state, it is very stupid for some operators -to ask the sensitive, “Are you asleep?” It may be understood what is -meant, yet the question is absurd from the standpoint of an intelligent -observer. The sensitive is never more awake. The higher the state the -greater the wakefulness and lucidity of the inner or soul life. - - -THE SIXTH SENSE. - -In the mesmeric state we see developed what Lord Kelvin (Professor -Thomson, of Glasgow University), Drs. Baird, Hammond, and -Drayton call the magnetic sense--or “sixth sense.” It is a gift -of super-sensitiveness. To my mind it is something more, the -enfranchisement of the soul, the human ego--in proportion as the -dominance of the senses is arrested. - -In blindness, it has been noticed how keen the sense of touch becomes. -I have also noticed the keen sensitiveness of facial perception enjoyed -by some of the blind, by which they are enabled to perceive objects in -the absence of physical sight. In the mesmeric state we see a somewhat -analogous mental condition. As the peculiar sense of the blind is -developed by extra concentration of the mind in the direction of facial -perception, so is “the sixth sense” developed by concentration of -direction, as well as by the condition of sensitiveness induced by the -mesmeric state. - -This newly recognised sense, “the sixth sense,” not only answers the -purpose of sight and hearing, but transcends all senses in vividness -and power. Materialists, no longer able to ignore the phenomena of -somnambulism and trance, and compelled to admit man’s avenues of -knowledge in this life were not confined to the recognised five senses, -are good enough to give him a “sixth sense,” even while they deny -him a soul. In the same way, no longer able to deny the existence -of mesmerism, they now admit it to consideration--re-baptised as -hypnotism. The phenomena being admitted, we will not quarrel over the -names by which they are called. - - -PSYCHIC-CONSCIOUSNESS. - -As we advance in our investigations we find in the higher conditions -of these states a double or treble consciousness or memory. The higher -including and overlapping the lower. Thus the consciousness of the -hypnotic state includes that of the waking state, while the memory -of the waking state possesses no conscious recollection of what has -taken place in hypnosis, and so on, each stage has its own phases -of consciousness. The memory of the sensitive, under influence, -overlapping and including the memory of ordinary or normal life. - -Strange as it may appear, there are no phenomena which have been -evolved in any of these abnormal conditions of life, which have not -been observed again and again in ordinary or normal life, as well -authenticated instances of dreams, warnings, and telepathy testify. - -Dr. Richardson notwithstanding, “in dreams and visions of the night” -God has manifested himself to man in all ages. In other words, the -soul (in sleep and analogous states to somnambulism and trance) comes -more in touch with the sub-conscious or soul sphere of thought and -existence. At times there is an inrush from that sphere into our -present conscious state, by which we know of things which could not -otherwise be known. Of dreams, our space will not admit more than -occasional reference, we may mention as a case in point the dream of -Mrs. Donan, wife of the livery stableman from whom Dr. Cronin hired -his horse in Chicago. A week before Dr. Cronin was murdered this lady -had a dream-vision, and dreamt he was barbarously murdered, and saw in -a vision the whole terrible scene. This dream was a means, first, of -forewarning the doctor, and second, of leading to the detection of the -miscreants. - -Of premonitions, an incident reported in the _Register_ of Adelaide, -will suffice:--“Constable J. C. H. Williams has reported to -headquarters that he had an unpleasant experience at about midnight -on Monday. He was on duty at the government offices in King William -Street, and while standing at the main entrance he had a presentiment -that he was in danger, and walked away a few steps. Scarcely had he -moved from the spot, when a portion of the cornice work at the top of -the building fell with a crash on the place where he had been standing. -The piece of plaster must have weighed fully a stone, and had it struck -Williams the result would doubtless have been fatal. A passer-by saw -the constable a few minutes after, and his scared looks and agitated -manner clearly showed that his story was true.” Concerning telepathy, -Mrs. Andrew Crosse, the distinguished widow of the famous electrician, -relates in _Temple Bar_ an anecdote about the late Bishop Wilberforce, -to the effect, the Bishop was writing a dry business letter one day, -when a feeling of acute mental agony overcame him and he felt that some -evil had befallen his favourite son, a midshipman in the navy. The -impression was correct. On that very day the lad, who was with his ship -in the Pacific, had been wounded and nearly bled to death. When this -was told Hallam, the historian, he replied that a very similar thing -had happened to himself. A few cases are noted further on. Some persons -would repudiate _all_ such incidents as accidents or coincidences; -while others would fly to the extreme, and declare all such are the -result of “spirit control”--that is, some disembodied but friendly -spirit projected the dream, conveyed the warning, or telepathically -despatched the news. But we must never forget news has to be received -as well as despatched. Consequently, we, as embodied spirits, must -possess psychic consciousness. - -I believe that _much_ of the phenomena, directly and indirectly -attributed to disincarnate spirit control, are traceable to _no other -source_ than the powers of our own embodied spirits, as revealed by -the facts of somnambulism and trance, and this is the opinion of all -intelligent spiritualists. - -“Because,” says Mr. G. H. Stebbins, a prominent investigator of modern -spiritualism in the United States “a person quotes from books he never -saw, or _tells of what he never knew_ in any external way, that is not -final proof that he is under an external spirit control. Psychometry -and clairvoyance may sometimes solve it all.” - -“I hold,” says Mr. Myers, “that telepathy and clairvoyance do, in fact, -exist--telepathy, a communication between incarnate mind and incarnate -mind, and perhaps between incarnate minds and minds unembodied; -clairvoyance, a knowledge of things terrene which over-passes the -limits of ordinary perception, and which, perhaps, achieves an insight -with some other than terrene world.” - -These are the cautious admissions of eminent investigators in psychical -research. - - -DOUBLE OR SUB-CONSCIOUSNESS. - -“There are two sets,” says Dr. Brown-Sequard, “a double state of mental -powers in the human organism, essentially differing from each other. -The one may be designated as ordinary conscious intelligence; the -other, a superior power, which controls our better nature.” - -J. Balfour Brown, in his “Medical Jurisprudence,” says:--“In no case -of pure somnambulism, waking consciousness of the individual knows -anything of the sleeping consciousness. It is as if there were two -distinct memories.” - -This double-consciousness, memory, or sub-state of mental powers, is -another but lower phase of psychic-consciousness, and is sometimes -exhibited by accidents, and also by disease. - -Dr. Abercromby relates the case of a boy, four years old who was -trepanned for a fracture of the skull. He was in a _complete stupor_ -during the operation, and was not conscious of what took place. At -fifteen he became seriously ill of fever. In the delirium occasioned -by the fever, he gave a correct description of the operation, _and of -all the persons present, their dress_, manners, and actions, to the -minutest particulars. The “superior power” must have obtained this -knowledge in some other way than through the ordinary channels of the -outward senses. - -In cases of apparent drowning, where the person has been saved from -death by active, external help, we have been informed that the human -mind has worked with a rapidity of action not thought possible in the -waking state, the intensity of menial action being increased in adverse -ratio to the inaction of the external senses and consciousness. In -this state the career of a lifetime has been reviewed, conversations, -actions, persons seen and places visited, all vividly brought to -mind--in possibly less time than it takes to pen this paragraph. These -phenomena suggest the reflection that the daily waking life--sensuous -and worldly-minded--is possibly, to many, the least real and effective. -How much our external life is influenced by our unconscious (to us in -the waking state) sub-life, is an interesting problem. - -Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes says:--“The more we examine the mechanism -of thought, the more we shall see that the automatic and unconscious -action of the mind enters largely into all its processes. We _all_ have -a _double_ who is wiser and better than we, who puts thoughts into our -heads and words into our mouths.” - -A commercial gentleman of my acquaintance, who was rather sceptical -on the subject of double-consciousness--although, “notwithstanding,” -he said, “Mr. Stead, in the _Review of Reviews_, had turned an -honest penny out of ghosts, double-consciousness, and that sort of -rubbish”--admitted to me, he had a maid, who had an awkward habit of -rising in her sleep, carefully setting the fires, cleaning and dusting -out the rooms, setting the breakfast table, and doing many other things -which appeared important to the servant-mind. Her movements were -watched. She slipped about with eyes closed, avoiding obstacles, and -doing her work systematically and neatly, and without fuss, when done, -she would go to bed. In the morning she had no recollection of what she -had said or done. It was a curious thing, he had to admit. The girl -was honest enough. He was certain this habit had not been simulated. -Threats of discharge, and possible loss of wages, did not cure her of -this habit. There was a certain form of “double consciousness” in this -case. - -“The subliminal consciousness” of Mr. Myers, by which he accounts for -the phenomena of genius, is but another way of expressing the concept -of an “identity underlying all consciousness,” the psyche, the real “I, -me,” “the superior power which directs and controls our better nature,” -the “double who is wiser and better than we,” the reality of which is -so much hidden from our ordinary experience, because our soul-life is -so much buried out of sight by the _débris_ of the “things of this -life,” which, fortunately or otherwise, pre-occupy so much of our -attention. - -It is this “subliminal consciousness” we see manifested in the psychic -state, and natural somnambulism. Clairvoyance, psychometry, thought -transference, etc., are as so many spectrum rays of the one soul light. -Call them “subliminal” if you will. These rays flow out from the soul, -and are many-hued, distinct or blurred, according to the degree of -pureness or super-sensitivity of the external corporeal prism through -which they are projected. - -Persons have lived for years, we are credibly informed, who have -spent half their lives entranced, _in the alternation of two distinct -individualities_ or two distinct states of consciousness, in one of -which they forget all they had learned or did in the other. - -Professor Huxley described (British Association of Science, Belfast, -1874) a case in which two separate lives, a normal, and abnormal one, -seemed to be lived at intervals by the same individual during the -greater portion of her life. - -The conclusion to the whole matter is--the psychic, or soul-powers in -some persons are less entrammelled by the senses than in others; that a -high degree of organic sensitiveness always accompanies those who are -recognised as psychics or sensitives; that this state of sensitiveness -is natural to some, and in others may be developed by accident, -disease, or induced by somnambulism and trance. - -I will endeavour to show these psychic characteristics, or soul -gifts, underlie, and enter into the varied phenomena--clairvoyance, -psychometry, thought transference, thought-reading, and what not, which -are collated under the title of, - - “HOW TO THOUGHT-READ.” - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -Clairvoyance. - - -What is clairvoyance? “The term, clairvoyance,” says Dr. George -Wyld, in a paper read before the Psychical Research Society, London, -“is French, and means _clear-seeing_, but it appears to me to be -an inadequate term, because it might signify clear optical vision, -or clear mental vision. What is signified by the term is the power -which certain individuals possess of seeing external objects under -circumstances which render the sight of these objects impossible to -physical optics. In short, by clairvoyance, we mean the power which -the _mind_ has of seeing or knowing thoughts and psychical conditions, -and objects hidden from or beyond the reach of the physical senses; -and if the existence of this faculty can be established, we arrive -at a demonstration that man has a power within his body as yet -unrecognised by physical science--a power which is called soul, or -mind-seeing, and for the description of such a power the term might -be auto-nocticy (αυτονοητικος), or psychoscopy.” Psychoscopy, or soul -sight, would, perhaps, be the better term. I propose to use the old -term--clairvoyance--as it signifies, in popular usage, the power of -seeing beyond the range of physical vision, as we know it. - -That certain persons are endowed with this faculty of clear seeing--in -some of its various phases--is a matter settled beyond dispute. What -special name to call this faculty, or what are the true causes of -its existence; why it should be possessed by some persons and not by -others; why it should be so frail and fugitive in the presence of -some people, and strong and vivid before others; why some persons -are never clairvoyant until they have been through the mesmeric and -psychic states; why some become possessed of the faculty through -disease; while, with others, the gift of clairvoyance appears to be -a spontaneous possession; and why some operators are successful in -inducing clairvoyance, and others not, etc., are interesting questions -to which the student of psychology may, with advantage, direct his -attention. - -Clairvoyance is soul-sight--the power of the soul to see. It is -the state of refined psychic perception. This state increases in -lucidity--clearness and power of penetration--in proportion as the -activity of the physical senses are reduced below normal action. It -is observed to be most effective in the trance state--natural or -induced--as in the mesmeric and psychic states. I conclude, then, -clairvoyance depends upon the unfolding of the spirit’s perception, and -is increased in power as the ascendency of the spirit arises above the -activities of the spirit’s corporeal envelope--the body. In proportion -to the spirit’s ascendency over the organs and senses of the body, is -this psychic gift perfect or imperfect. - -The large brain or cerebrum is the physical organ of the soul, as the -cerebellum is of the physiological brain functions. Mental functions -are manifested by the former, and physical functions by the latter. - -Clairvoyance, as a spiritual faculty, will doubtless have its -appropriate organ in the brain. I do not profess to locate that organ. -At the same time I have noticed the best clairvoyants are wide and full -between the eyes, showing there is a particular fulness of the frontal -cerebral lobes, at their juncture at the root of the nose. This may -be something more than a mere physiognomic sign. When this sign is -accompanied by refinement of organisation, and a fine type of brain, I -always look for the possible manifestation of clairvoyance in mesmeric -subjects. - -Some writers are of the opinion clairvoyance is actually soul-sight, -more or less retarded in lucidity by the action or activity of -the bodily senses. Others believe it to be a state arising from a -peculiar highly-strained nervous condition, which induces the state -of super-sensitivity or impressionability of the organisation. The -first may be termed the spiritual, and the latter the physiological -hypothesis. But, as a matter of fact, both conditions are noted. The -latter may account for much, and possibly is sufficient to explain much -that is called thought-reading--so often mistaken for clairvoyance. -It does appear to me that certain peculiar physiological conditions, -varying from semi-consciousness to profound trance, are necessary -for the manifestation of clairvoyance, even when it takes place in -apparently normal life of the possessor. - -It is more than likely that the ornate and mystic ceremonies indulged -in by Hindoo mystics, Egyptian, Grecian, and Roman priests, had -the one grand end in view--viz., to induce the requisite state of -super-sensitivity, and thus prepare the consecrated youths, sybils, -and vestal virgins for the influx of spiritual vision, prophecy, and -what not. When this subtle influx came--by whatever name called--the -phenomena manifested were pretty much the same as we know them, only -varied in degree. The gods spoke per oracle, Pythean, or Delphic. The -man of God either coronated a king or foretold the end of a dynasty. -St. Stephen saw Christ, St. John beheld visions, Joan of Arc was -directed, Swedenborg illumined, and religious ecstatics in ancient and -modern times partook more or less of the sacred fire--the inner sight. -This (stripped of the fantastic surroundings, priestly mummeries, -and dominant belief of the times) simply indicated the evolution and -exercise of clairvoyance and other psychic gifts. - -Coming nearer home, we hear of the mysterious visions at the Knock, -and at Lourdes. Miraculous appearances of the Virgin and winged -angels, to cheer the hearts of the faithful, and to cause the heads -of the scornful to rejoice in sceptical derision. Then we have all the -vagaries produced by the high nervous tension of modern revivalism, in -which the visions seen are but a transformation of church and chapel -dogmas into objective realities. These illusionary visions--mistaken -for clairvoyance--possess less reality than the delusive fancies of the -sensitive in the state of hypnosis. - -Clairvoyance will be governed by its own spiritual laws, just as sight -is affected or retarded by physical conditions. What these spiritual -laws are we can only surmise, but this we may safely conjecture--viz., -that soul-sight is not trammelled or limited by the natural laws which -govern physical optics. Clairvoyance and physical vision are absolutely -distinct, and possess little in common. - -To illustrate a new subject, it is permissible to draw upon the -old and the well-known. So I venture to illustrate clairvoyance by -certain facts in connection with ordinary human vision. Although some -children see better than others, the power to see, with the ability -to understand the relative positions and uses of the things seen, is -a matter of development. In psychic vision, we also see growth or -development, with increasing power to use and understand the faculty. -Some children are blind from birth, and others, seeing, lose the power -of sight. Many are _blind_, although they have physical sight, they see -not with _the educated eye_. Many, again, have greater powers of sight -than they are aware of. As so it is with psychic vision. - -What is true of the physical is also true of the psychic. From the -first glimmerings, to the possession of well-defined sight, a period -of growth and time elapses. From the first incoherent cry of infancy -to well defined and intelligent speech of manhood, we notice the same -agencies at work. Not only is clairvoyant vision generally imperfect -at first, but the psychic’s powers of description are also at fault. -St. Paul could not give utterance to what he saw, when caught up to -the third heavens. His knowledge of things and powers of speech failed -him to describe the startling, the new, and the unutterable. He had -a sudden revelation of the state of things in a sphere which had no -counterparts in his previous experience, in this--his known--world. -Hence, although he knew of his change of state, he could give no lawful -or intelligible expression to his thoughts. - -Between the first incongruous utterances, and apparent fantastic -blunderings, and the more mature period in which “things spiritual” can -be suitably described in our language, to our right sense of things, or -comprehension, a period of development and education must elapse. It is -true some clairvoyants develop much more readily than others. - -In the entrancement of the mesmeric and psychic states, there is a -lack of external consciousness. The soul is so far liberated from -the body as to act independently of the ordinary sensuous conditions -of the body, and sees by the perception and light of the inner or -spiritual world, as distinct from the perception and light of this -external or physical world. Elevated, or rather, liberated into this -new condition, the clairvoyant loses connection with the thrums and -threads of the physical organism, and is unable, or forgets for a -time, how to speak of things as they are, or as they would appear -to the physical vision of another. It is not surprising that in the -earlier stages of clairvoyant development, and consequent transfer of -ordinary consciousness and sensuous perception to that of spiritual -consciousness and perception, the language of the clairvoyant should -appear peculiar, incongruous, and “wanting,” according to our ideas of -clearness and precision. - -One important lesson may be learned from this--viz., the operator -should never force results, or strive to develop psychic perception by -short cuts. Time must be allowed to the sensitive, for training and -experience, and the development of self-confidence and expression. - -Clairvoyance is not a common possession. Nevertheless, I believe there -are many persons who possess the faculty unknown to themselves. By -following out patiently, for a time, the requisite directions, the -possession of this invaluable psychic gift might be discovered by many -who now appear totally devoid of any clairvoyant indications. Its -cultivation is possible and, in many ways, desirable. - -“The higher attainment,” says Dr. John Hamlin Davey, “of occult -knowledge and power, the development of intuition, the psychometric -sense, clairvoyant vision, inner hearing, etc., etc., thus reached, -so open the avenues to a higher education, and enlarge the boundaries -of human consciousness and activity, as to fairly dwarf into -insignificance the achievements of external science.” - -Clairvoyance is as old as mankind, but the exhibition of clairvoyance, -induced by mesmeric processes, was first announced by Puysegeur, a -favourite pupil of Mesmer, in 1784. Since that time to the present -not only have remarkable cases of clairvoyance cropped up, but there -have been few mesmerists of any experience who have not had numerous -cases under observation. Clairvoyance converted Dr. John Elliotson, -F.R.S., one of the most scientific of British physicians, from extreme -materialistic views to that of belief in soul and immortality. The -same may be said of the late Dr. Ashburner, who was one of the -Queen’s physicians. Dr. Georget, author of “Physiology of the Nervous -System,”--who was at one time opposed to a belief in the existence of a -transcendental state in man,--found upon examination of the facts and -incidents of artificial somnambulism, that _his materialism must go_. -In his last will and testament, referring to the above-mentioned work, -he says:--“This work had scarcely appeared, when renewed meditations -on a very extraordinary phenomenon, somnambulism, no longer permitted -me to entertain doubts of the existence within us, and external to -us, of an intelligent principle, altogether different from material -existences; in a word, of the soul and God. With respect to this I -have a profound conviction, founded upon facts which I believe to be -incontestable.” Dr. Georget directed this change of opinion should have -full publicity after his death. - -Space would not suffice me to mention the names of all the highly -educated and refined minds, in the medical, literary, philosophic, -and scientific walks of life, who have studied these phenomena, and -who, like Dr. Georget, have no more doubts of their reality than they -have of their own physical existence, status, or reputation. Among -medical men--some of whom I have known and corresponded with--might be -mentioned Sir James Simpson, Drs. Elliotson, Ashburner, Esdaile, Buss, -Garth Wilkinson, Hands, Wyld, Hitchman, Eadon, and Davey. Among others -on the roll of fame, might be noticed Archbishop Whately; Earls Ducie, -Stanhope, Macclesfield, Charleville; the present Duke of Argyle; Lord R. -Cavendish, Lord Lindsay; Burton, the traveller; and the late Sergeant -Cox. Among literary men, Mr. Gladstone, Britain’s foremost statesman -and scholar; Mr. Balfour, his able and talented opponent; Bulwer -Lytton, Marryat, Neal, Robert Chambers, Dickens, and Stevenson, of “Dr. -Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” fame. Mr. George Combe, the distinguished Scottish -metaphysician, philosopher, author, phrenologist, etc., was profoundly -interested in the phenomena. Among well-known men of science might -be mentioned Camille Flammarion, the French astronomer; Fichte, the -German philosopher; Professors Tornebom and Edland, Swedish physicists; -Professor Oliver Lodge, D.Sc., F.R.S.; Alfred Russell Wallace, -D.C.L., LL.D.; William Crookes, F.R.S.; Cromwell F. Varley, F.R.S. -Notwithstanding this somewhat formidable array of investigators of -clairvoyance, many good people will not hesitate to deny the value of -such evidence, and yet will believe anything in its favour which may be -found in the Bible, as to its existence in the _past_. It is a strange -perversion of judgment--not at all surprising--when the majority take -(second-hand) for their religious(?) views whatever is recognised as -“sound” in each particular district and Church. It is not a question of -belief, it is “a question of evidence,” as Mr. Gladstone avers. - -The Rev. Mr. MʽKinnon, late pastor of Chalmers’ Free Church, Glasgow, -told me a short time ago, “Clairvoyance was nothing more than a high -nervous concentrated form of mental vision,” to which I replied, -“Admitting the hypothesis--which, however, explained nothing--it -matters little what clairvoyance is esteemed to be or called, if the -facts connected with it are acknowledged.” Even this friend admitted -he knew a man in Mull, who lived on the half croft, next to his -father’s croft. This man had great repute in that district as “having -the Second Sight.” Whatever this man foretold always came to pass. -One instance will suffice. He (Mr. MʽKinnon) remembered that one day, -while this crofter (who was a tailor by trade) was working, he suddenly -stopped, and looked _out into vacancy_--as he always did when the -“Second Sight was on him”--and described a funeral coming over the -hill, the mourners, who they were, and numbers, the way the procession -took, and the name of the “man whose face was covered,” and finally, -when the procession would appear. Mr. MʽKinnon’s parents noted the -time, and being simple Highland folk, accustomed to the accuracy of -this man’s visions, they believed what he said, and kept his saying -in their hearts till the time of fulfilment came about. Mr. MʽKinnon -assured me “the funeral took place to the day and hour, twelve months -subsequently to the vision, as predicted.” All I can say is, if “a high -nervous concentrated form of mental vision” is capable of pointing out -all this, it is worthy of investigation. It is evident this tailor at -least had a power of vision--prevoyance--not of the ordinary, everyday -kind of vision. Second sight, as exhibited in this case, is what may be -termed spontaneous clairvoyance. - -Epes Sargent, in his work, “The Scientific Basis of Spiritualism,” -referring to clairvoyance, says: “As far as I have admitted it as part -of a scientific basis (demonstrating man’s spiritual nature), it is the -exercise of the supersensual faculty of penetrating opaque and dense -matter as if by the faculty of sight. But it does more. It detects -our unuttered, undeveloped thoughts; it goes back along the past, and -describes what is hidden; nay, the proofs are overwhelming that it may -pierce the future, and predict coming events from the shadows they cast -before. - -“What is it that sees without the physical eyes, and without the -assistance of light? What is normal sight? It is not the vibrating -ether--it is not the external eye--that sees. It is the soul using the -eye as an instrument, and light as a condition. Prove once that sight -can exist without the use of light, sensation, or any physical organ of -vision, and you prove an abnormal, supersensual, spiritual faculty--a -proof which puts an end to the theory of materialism, and which, -through its affinity with analogous or corresponding facts, justifies -its introduction as part of a scientific basis for the spiritual -theory.” - -J. F. Deleuze was profoundly convinced of the existence of this -faculty. He claimed that the power of seeing at a distance, prevision, -and the transference of thought without the aid of external signs, were -in themselves sufficient proofs of the existence of spirituality of -soul. - -Except in a very few instances, little or no pains are taken to -cultivate the spiritual nature of man. Civilised man of to-day is -but rising out of the age of brute force of yesterday, and he is -still circumscribed by love of earthly power and position. He is an -acquisitive rather than a spiritual being. Being dominated by the -senses, he will naturally seek and appreciate that which gratifies -his senses most. He has little time or patience for anything which -does not contribute pleasure to his sensuous nature. He would give -time to the investigation of the soul side of life if it brought gold, -the means of enjoyment, and gratified his acquisitiveness and love of -power. Probably the majority give the subject no attention at all. If -the spiritual side of our natures were as fully cultivated as those -elements which bring us bread and butter and praise of men in the -market-place, there is no doubt, no manner of doubt whatever, but the -most of us would occupy a nobler and more spiritually elevated plane in -life; and were adequate means taken, I doubt not but this faculty of -clairvoyance would become more generally known and cultivated. Even to -the selfish, worldly and non-spiritual man, clairvoyance is not without -its practical side and utility, such, for instance, as supplying -Chicago with water. To the spiritually minded, clairvoyance and all -psychic gifts are appreciated, less for what they will bring, than for -the testimony they present of man’s spiritual origin, transcendental -powers and probable continuity of life beyond this mortal vale. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -Clairvoyance Illustrated. - - -Clairvoyance may be briefly classified as far and near, direct -and indirect, objective and subjective. I propose to give a few -well-authenticated cases to illustrate these phases in this chapter. - - -FAR AND DIRECT CLAIRVOYANCE - -is possibly the highest and purest combination. The sensitive is able -to state facts not within the range of the knowledge of those present. -Thus when Swedenborg described to the Queen and her friends, when at a -distance of several hundred miles from the conflagration, the burning -of her palace at Christiania, no one present could possibly know of the -fire or the incidents connected therewith. Hence no thought-reading, -brain-picking, much less guess-work or coincidence, could account -for the exactness of details given by the seer. Clairvoyance in this -case was not only far and direct, but objective. That is, the matter -recorded was connected with the physical or objective plane. - - -CLAIRVOYANCE AN AID TO SCIENCE. - -“Chicago, as is well-known, is one of the most go-ahead cities in the -world. Like Jonah’s gourd it appeared to spring up in a night. Its -population rapidly increased, and water soon became a _sine qua non_, -both as regards use and luxury. Science was at fault; for geologists -had pronounced that there could be no water beneath such a strata. Top -water was all that could be looked for, and presently a water company -was formed to supply this impure kind of liquid. - -“There happened to live at this time in Chicago a person named Abraham -James, a simple-minded man, of Quaker descent, uneducated, and in fact, -quite an ignorant person. It was discovered by a Mrs. Caroline Jordon -that James was a natural clairvoyant, in fact a medium, and that he -had declared when put into the trance condition that both water and -petroleum, in large quantities, would be found in a certain tract of -land in the neighbourhood of the city. For a long time no attention -was paid to his statements. At length two gentlemen from Maine, called -Whitehead and Scott, coming to Chicago on business, and hearing what -had been said by Abraham James, had him taken to the land where he -said water could be had in immense quantities by boring for. Being -entranced, James at once pointed out the very spot. He told them that -he not only saw the water, but could trace its source from the Rocky -Mountains, 2000 miles away, to the spot on which they stood, and -could sketch out on maps the strata and caverns through which it ran. -Negotiations were at once entered into for the purchase of the land, -and the work of boring was commenced. This was in February, 1864, and -the process went on daily till November, when, having reached a depth -of 711 feet, water was struck, and flowed up at once at the rate of -600,000 gallons every 24 hours. - -“The borings showed the following kinds of strata passed through by the -drill, and this was spiritually seen and described by the clairvoyant -as practical proofs to the senses of other people. First the drill -passed through alluvium soil, 100 feet; limestone, saturated with oil, -35 feet, which would burn as well as any coal; Joliet marble, 100 -feet; conglomerate strata of sand and flint, mixed with iron pyrites -and traces of copper, 125 feet; rock (shale) saturated with petroleum, -the sediment coming up like putty, thick and greasy, 156 feet; galena -limestone was next reached at a depth of 530 feet; a bed of limestone, -containing flint and sulphuret of iron was bored through, the depth -being 639 feet, and being very hard, the work went on slowly. At this -point there appeared a constant commotion arising from the escape -of gas, the water suddenly falling from 30 to 60 feet, and then as -suddenly rising to the surface, carrying with it chippings from the -drill, and other matters. The work still went on; when at the depth of -711 feet the arch of the rock was penetrated, and the water suddenly -burst forth from a bore 4½ in. at the bottom, of a temperature of 58° -F., clear as crystal, pure as diamond, and perfectly free from every -kind of animal and vegetable matter, and which, for drinking purposes -and health, is much better adapted than any water yet known, and will -turn out to be the poor man’s friend for all time to come. - -“Here, then, is a huge fact for the faithless: the fact brought to -light by dynamic or invisible agency, and which no power of negation -can gainsay. Natural science said, No water could be found; but -psychology said--False, for I will point out the spot where it will -flow in splendid streams as long as the earth spins on its axis. Since -1864 the artesian well of Chicago has poured forth water at the rate -of a million and a half gallons daily; and what is economic, to say -nothing of Yankee shrewdness, it is conveyed into ponds or reservoirs -which in winter freeze, producing 40,000 tons of ice for sale, and -which might be quadrupled at any time.”[B] This is a case of far and -near, direct and objective clairvoyance. This historical incident -proves the value and reality of psychic vision. - -Indirect clairvoyance is the power of discerning what may be more or -less in the minds of those present, including absent or forgotten -thoughts and incidents. Thus, when a clairvoyant describes a place with -accuracy, recognised by some one present to be correct, and also gives -details partly known and unknown, but afterwards found to be correct, -this mixture of phases may be recognised as indirect. - - -SUBJECTIVE CLAIRVOYANCE - -is that phase which enables the sensitive to perceive things and -ideas on the spiritual or subjective plane. The late Rev. Stainton -Moses, well known in literary circles as “M.A., Oxon,” once asked the -following pertinent questions:--“Is there conceivably a mass of life -all round us of which most of us have no cognisance? One gifted lady -I know sees clairvoyantly the spirit-life of all organised things, -of a tree or plant for example. I have heard her describe what her -interior faculties perceive. Is it a fact that spirit, underlying -everything, can be so perceived by the awakened faculties?” I should -say yes. If this lady’s clairvoyance has been of a high order in other -respects--why not in this? This type of psychic vision is of the -subjective order. - -There are necessarily an infinite variety of phases, pure and mixed, -which the investigator will meet in practice. These phases may be -called _far_, such as seeing objects, etc., at a distance--prevoyance, -predicting events; retrovoyance, reading the past; introvoyance, -seeing internally, or examining bodies, as in disease; external -introvoyance, seeing into lockets, packets, letters, safes, and -discovering hidden, known or forgotten, or lost objects. Lastly, there -is pseudo-clairvoyance. For one case of direct there are hundreds -of well authenticated cases of indirect clairvoyance, and again for -one of the latter there are thousands of pseudo-clairvoyance, which -are the outcome of states similar to hypnosis, and are nothing more -than an incongruous medley of suggested ideas and fancies. Thus a -strong and positive willed person can impinge his ideas through -the thought-atmosphere of the sensitive and distort or deflect the -psychic vision, and render abortive any attempts to get beyond the -circle of the dominating influence. Again, the sensitive may enter -a realm of fancy--a veritable dreamland of coherent and incoherent -ideation, either the product of the sensitive’s own condition, or of -suggestion--accidental, spontaneous, and determined--in the sensitive’s -surroundings. Of course any classification of the numerous phases of -clairvoyance must be purely arbitrary. - - -DIRECT AND OBJECTIVE CLAIRVOYANCE--LOST GOODS RESTORED. - -This instance of far vision is taken from “A Tangled Yarn,” page 173, -“Leaves from Captain James Payn’s Log,” which was published recently -by C. H. Kelly. As I knew Captain Hudson, of Swansea, personally, and -heard from his own lips the following incident, I have much pleasure -in introducing it here as a further illustration of the _Cui bono_ of -clairvoyance:-- - -“The _Theodore_ got into Liverpool the same day as the _Bland_. She was -a larger ship than ours but had a similar cargo. The day that I went -to the owners to report ‘all right,’ I met with Captain Morton in a -terrible stew because he was thirty bales of cotton short, a loss equal -to the whole of his own wages and the mate’s into the bargain. He was -so fretted over it that his wife in desperation recommended him to get -the advice of a Captain Hudson, who had a young female friend clever as -a clairvoyant. We were both sceptical in the matter of clairvoyance. At -first Morton didn’t wish to meddle, he said, with ‘a parcel of modern -witchcraft,’ and that sort of thing; but he at last yielded to his -wife’s urgency and consented to go. There was first of all a half-crown -fee to Captain Hudson, and then the way was clear for an interview with -the young clairvoyant. I was present to ‘see fair.’ When the girl had -been put into the clairvoyant state Morton was instructed to take her -right hand in his right hand and ask her any questions he wished. The -replies were in substance as follows:--She went back mentally to the -port whence the _Theodore_ had sailed, retracing with her hand as she -in words also described the course of the ship from Liverpool across -the Atlantic, through the West Indian group, etc., back to New Orleans. -At length she said, ‘Yes, this is the place where the cotton was lost; -it’s put on board a big black ship with a red mark round it.’ Then she -began to trace with her hand and describe the homeward course of the -vessel, but after re-crossing the Atlantic, instead of coming up the -Irish Channel for Liverpool, she turned along the English Channel as -though bound for the coast of France; and then stretching out her hand -she exclaimed, ‘Oh, here’s the cotton; but what funny people they are; -they don’t talk English.’ Captain Morton said at once, ‘I see; it’s -the _Brunswick_, Captain Thomas,’ an American ship that lay alongside -of him at New Orleans and was taking in her cargo of cotton while the -_Theodore_ was loading, and was bound for Havre de Grace. Captain -Morton, satisfied with his clairvoyant’s information, went home and -wrote immediately to Captain Thomas, inquiring for his lost cargo. -In due course he got an answer that the cotton was certainly there, -that it had been taken off the wharf in mistake, and that it was about -to be sold for whomsoever it might concern; but that if he (Captain -Morton) would remit a certain amount to cover freight and expenses -the bales should be forwarded to him at once. He did so, and in due -time received the cotton, subject only to the expenses of transit from -Havre to Liverpool. Such are the facts; I do not profess to offer any -explanation.” - - -CLAIRVOYANCE AN AID TO THE PHYSICIAN. - -I am indebted to Dr. George Wyld for this case, which also exhibits -the value of clairvoyance. Dr. Wyld had the good fortune to make the -acquaintance of a Mrs. D----, a lady in private life who was endowed -with the gift of natural clairvoyance. Dr. Wyld told this lady of “a -friend who had for years suffered intense agony for hours every night -in his back and chest, and that latterly he had been obliged to sit up -all night in a chair, and his legs began to swell.” - -“This gentleman had regularly for three years been under many of the -leading physicians of London. Some said that there must be some obscure -heart affection, others said it was neuralgia, one said it was gout, -and the last consulted said it was malignant caries of the spine.” - -Dr. Wyld’s friend called upon him by appointment, and met Mrs. D----. -This lady merely looked at him. When he had retired from the room Mrs. -D---- made the following statement of his case to the doctor:--“I have -seen what the disease is; I saw it as distinctly as if the body were -transparent. There is a tumour behind the heart, about the size of a -walnut; it is of a dirty colour; and it jumps and looks as if it would -burst. Nothing can do him any good but entire rest.” - -“I at once saw,” says Dr. Wyld, what she meant, and sat down to write -to my friend’s medical attendant as follows:-- - -“I believe I have discovered the nature of Mr.----’s disease. He has -an aneurism on the descending aorta, about the size of a walnut. It -is this which causes the slight displacement which has been observed -in the heart, and the pressure of the tumour against the intercostal -nerves is the cause of the agony in the back, and the peripheral pains -in the front of the chest. You are going to-morrow to see Sir ---- in -consultation; show him this diagnosis, and let me know what he says.” - -“Next the patient had the consultation, and Mrs. D----’s diagnosis -was confirmed; and the doctors agreed with Mrs. D---- the only thing -to be done was to take entire rest. The treatment was duly followed -up, with successful results.” Dr. Wyld thoughtfully adds--“It is true -that the diagnosis cannot be absolutely confirmed during life, but as -the profession unanimously pronounce the disease to be aneurism, the -diagnosis may be accepted as correct. This diagnosis has probably saved -the gentleman’s life, as before Mrs. D---- saw him he was allowed to -shoot over Scotch moors, and to ride, drive, and play billiards.” - -The use of clairvoyance in the diagnosis of disease is by no means -as rare as the majority of physicians and the general public would -naturally assume. I have had many opportunities of witnessing the -accuracy of diagnosis and the excellence of the methods of treatment -advised by clairvoyants. In my own personal experience I have had much -evidence of correctness of clairvoyance in diagnosis, and subsequent -success in treatment. It is a phase most desirable to cultivate if -possible, and all allied conditions connected therewith. - - -TRAVELLING CLAIRVOYANCE. - -As a public entertainer at one time, giving demonstrations of mesmeric -phenomena, I have had naturally many opportunities of seeing different -types of clairvoyance. During a course of entertainments given by -me in Rothesay, 1881, I was able to introduce clairvoyance to public -notice by the most difficult method, that of public experiments. - -M. C., the clairvoyante, was a native of Newcastle-on-Tyne. All her -clairvoyant experiments were satisfactory. Her husband was also a -clairvoyant, but not so striking for public exhibition. M. C. seemed -to possess all phases. One or two experiments out of many will be -interesting not only as illustrative of clairvoyance, but because what -I relate can be easily ratified. - -M. C. arrived in Rothesay for the first time about four hours -previously to taking her seat upon the platform, in the New Public -Halls. It was neither possible nor probable she could have obtained the -information she possessed by other than psychic means. The clairvoyant -was mesmerised and blindfolded before the audience. After some -experiments in objective clairvoyance were given, such as describing -a watch, telling the time, and the number, by having the watch held -silently over her forehead, she gave several experiments in travelling -clairvoyance. Many visitors in the hall--for Rothesay is a well known -and fashionable seaside resort--sent up requests to the platform, and -desired the clairvoyante should visit their homes in Kent, Cornwall, -Island of Jersey, in the Isle of Man, Glasgow, and other places. Her -visits and descriptions were in all instances extremely satisfactory. -How far thought-transference and objective clairvoyance commingled and -entered into her descriptions it would be difficult to say, but the -results were simply marvellous. - -Test case, by the late Dr. Maddever, M.D., M.R.C.S., and Dr. John -Maddever, his son. These medical gentlemen resided in Rothesay, -and were present in the hall. Dr. Maddever desired me to send the -clairvoyante into a certain room in his house and that she should -describe it. - -All the directions the clairvoyante obtained were, “to go out of the -hall, down the front steps; when out turn to the right and proceed -onward till she came to an iron-railed gate, on which was a small brass -plate, bearing the name of ‘Dr. Maddever,’ she was to open the gate, go -up to the hall-door, enter, pass the first door to the left, and turn -round a passage to the left and enter the first door to which she came, -and describe what she saw.” - -Sitting still upon the platform in silence for a minute or two, she -suddenly exclaimed:--“I am at the gate--at the door--now in the hall--I -have found the room, and I am now inside, and stand with my back to the -door.” She then proceeded to describe the room, the book-cases which -surrounded it, their peculiar structure; the mantel-piece, the form of -the clock, the time, and the appearance of the ornaments. The table in -the centre of the room, its form, the colour and style of the cloth -upon it, books, albums, and papers thereon, the flower vase support in -the window, and a number of other particulars. - -At the conclusion Dr. Maddever arose in the audience and said:--“Ladies -and gentlemen, Professor Coates is a stranger to me, I only know of him -by report. The young lady on the platform I do not know. I have not -seen either till this evening, and they have never been in my house. -The experiment we have had is most remarkable, and should be of deep -and profound interest to all. The young lady has described the room, as -far as I can remember, most correctly--in fact very much better than I -could have done myself.” This statement was received with applause. - -After one or two instances of travelling clairvoyance, a young -gentleman rose in the body of the hall and desired I should send the -sensitive to a house or villa not far from the juncture of Marine Place -and Ardbeg Road. - -The directions given to the clairvoyante were briefly to the effect, -she was to leave the place, on reaching the front street she was to -turn to her left and keep on past the Post Office, Esplanade, past the -Skeoch Woods, etc., till she came to the house. She nodded her head in -compliance, and presently announced she “had found the house.” Then she -shivered and appeared to draw back, and said “I won’t go in.” - -Some persons in the audience laughed, and one (I think it was the -young gentleman who asked that she might be sent) said: “The whole -thing is a swindle.” Now, considering there was not a single flaw in -the experiments that night, surprise after surprise being given, and -the audience had risen in enthusiasm, this opinion was not favourably -received. - -I asked the gentleman “to have patience.” I had no doubt but we would -know soon enough the reasons. “Whatever they were I would try and -ascertain them.” - -With much hesitancy she declared that “the house was not one any -respectable female would enter, and she would not.” When I repeated -this statement to the audience, there was what the newspapers call -“sensation.” The sensation was intensified when one of the Rothesay -Magistrates, Bailie Molloy, the then senior Bailie of the Royal Burgh, -declared “the young woman was right, perfectly right, this was a house -which had been inadvertently let to persons of ill-fame, and he, for -one, had recently had the facts of the case placed before him, and he -was most anxious that these people should be put out, and they would -be, as soon as the proper steps could be taken.” - -The young gentleman retired somewhat discomfited, and the excitement -produced by these and other experiments brought crowded houses during -my professional stay. - -When my “mesmeric exposition” was concluded, the two medical gentlemen -referred to, were good enough to introduce themselves, and invited me -to call next day to see the room. I accepted the invitation during -the following day and saw how truly correct and vivid her description -had been. In the first experiment the sensitive described the state of -the doctor’s library, pointing out what had not been recollected by -either of the medical men, and I believe the other case comes under the -heading of direct and objective clairvoyance. Dr. Maddever’s house was -about a quarter of a mile, and the other house about a mile and a half -from the hall. - -The persistent and reliable clairvoyance evinced by this sensitive -was induced. She was a mesmeric subject, and when such subjects are -properly treated they make the very best clairvoyants. - - -PSYCHIC VISION POSSESSED BY THE PHYSICALLY BLIND. - -Mrs. Croad resided at Redland, Bristol. My attention was called to -her case about fifteen years ago by Dr. J. G. Davey, of Bristol. -Unfortunately circumstances at the time prevented a personal visit and -report. Her psychic gifts and wonderful supersensitivity have been -amply testified to, by most reliable witnesses, such as Dr. Davey, Hy. -G. Atkinson, F.G.S., and others. - -Clairvoyance in Mrs. Croad’s case was and is (for I believe the lady is -still living) a singular admixture of subtle sense transference so well -known to mesmerists of the old school, and spontaneous psychic vision. -Thought-transference and indirect clairvoyance, more or less induced, -by intense voluntary concentration. - -Mrs. Croad is deaf, dumb, and paralysed, and stone blind. She can -see and hear, read with powers “denied to ordinary mortals,” and -discern pictures and writings in the dark. She is aware of her -daughter’s thoughts when the latter touches her, and becomes at once -acquainted with what her daughter wishes to communicate. She possesses -supersensitivity of touch, and discerns colour by their degrees of -heat, roughness or smoothness. She can also identify photographs and -pictures in the same way. From time to time she has exhibited the -highest phases of clairvoyance. Reports have been made in this case -by medical experts in the _Journal of Psychological Medicine_, and -other magazines and journals several years ago. The most recent was -contributed by the Rev. Taliesin Dans, The Cottage, Claptons, to _The -Review of Reviews_ in January, 1891. - - -THE SPIRITUALISTIC AND PRACTICAL CHARACTER OF CLAIRVOYANCE - -might be further illustrated by the well known case of Miss Eliza -Hamilton, who became paralysed in her limbs and right arm, through -severe injury to the spine. She had been in hospital for four months, -on her return home frequently passed into the trance state, and -on awakening described various people and places she had visited, -and objects seen. These descriptions have been invariably verified -subsequently. “She also at times,” says her physician, “speaks of -having been in the company of persons with whom she was acquainted in -this world, but who have passed away; and she tells her friends that -they have become more beautiful, and have cut off their infirmities -with which they were afflicted while here. She often describes events -which _are about to happen_, and these are always fulfilled exactly as -she predicts.” - -“Her father,” says Mr. Hudson Tuttle, “read in her presence a letter -he had received from a friend in Leeds, speaking of the loss of his -daughter, about whose fate he was very unhappy, as she had disappeared -nearly a month before, and left no trace. Eliza went into the trance -state, and cried out, ‘Rejoice! I have found the lost girl! She is -happy in the angel world.’ She said the girl had fallen into the dark -water where dyers washed their cloths; that her friends could not have -found her had they sought her there, _but_ now the body had floated a -few miles, and would be found in the River Aire. The body was found as -described. - -“Now, knowing that her eyes were closed, that she could not hear, that -her bodily senses were in profound lethargy, how are we to account for -the intensity and keenness of sight? Her mental powers were exceedingly -exalted, and scarcely a question could be asked her but she correctly -answered. - -“In this case the independence of the mind of the physical body are -shown in every instance of clairvoyance, is proven beyond cavil or -doubt. If it is demonstrated that the mind sees without the aid of -eyes, hears when the ears are deaf, feels when the nerves of sensation -are at rest, it follows that it is independent of these outward -avenues, and has other channels of communication with the external -world essentially its own.” - - -CLAIRVOYANCE FROM DISEASE. - -Miss Mollie Fancher, of Brooklyn Heights, fell off a tramway car when -eighteen years of age, experienced very severe injuries to head and -spine, her body being dragged a distance, through her dress catching on -the step of the car. She became paralysed, lost all her senses, except -touch. She gradually recovered hearing, taste, and ability to talk -in time. She was also blind for nine years. Drs. Speir and Ormiston -were her physicians, men of skill and marked probity. These, with a -veritable host of medical men--ministers of the Gospel, educationists -and specialists--have borne testimony to her remarkable endowments, -from which we take two extracts. Mr. Charles Ewart, Principal of the -Brooklyn Heights Seminary, where she was under special care, writes:-- - -“For many days together she has been to all appearances dead. The -slightest pulse could not be detected; there was no evidence of -respiration. Her limbs were as cold as ice, and had there not been -some warmth about her heart, she would have been buried. When I first -saw her she had but one sense--that of touch. By running her fingers -over the printed page, she could read with equal facility in light or -darkness. The most delicate work is done by her in the night.... Her -power of clairvoyance, or second sight, is marvellously developed. -_Distance imposes no barriers_, without the slightest error she -dictates the contents of sealed letters which have never been in her -hands. She discriminates in darkness the most delicate shades of -colour. She writes with extraordinary rapidity.” - -Mr. Henry M. Parkhurst, the astronomer (residing at 173 Gates Avenue, -Brooklyn, N.Y.), writes:-- - -“From the waste-basket of a New York gentleman acquaintance he -fished an unimportant business letter, without reading it, tore it -into ribbons, and tore the ribbons into squares. He shook the pieces -well together, put them into an envelope, and sealed it. This he -subsequently handed to Miss Fancher. The blind girl took the envelope -in her hand, and passed her hand over it several times, called for -paper and pencil, and wrote it verbatim. The seal of the letter had -not been broken. Mr. Parkhurst himself opened it, pasted the contents -together, and compared the two. Miss Fancher’s was a literal copy of -the original.” - - -MESMERIC CLAIRVOYANCE AND SPIRITUALISM. - -“A few evenings ago I called upon Mr. and Mrs. Loomis, 2 Vernon -Place, Bloomsbury, and after we had chatted for a short time in the -drawing-room with the door closed and nobody else present, I asked if -they would try a mesmeric experiment for me. They willingly agreed, -and Mr. Loomis, by passes, threw his wife into a mesmeric state, as he -often does, and an intelligence, which claimed to be the spirit of her -mother, spoke through her lips. Until this moment I had said nothing to -any living soul about the nature of my contemplated experiment, but I -then asked the unseen intelligence if it could then and there go to the -house of Mrs. Macdougall Gregory, 21 Green Street, Grosvenor Square, -London, and move a heavy physical object in her presence. The reply -was, I do not know, I will try. About three minutes afterwards, at 8.40 -p.m., the intelligence said that Mrs. Gregory was in her drawing-room -with a friend, and added, ‘I have made Mrs. Gregory feel a prickly -sensation in her arm from the elbow down to the hand, as if some person -had squeezed the arm, and she has spoken about it to her friend.’ - -“I took a note in writing of this statement at the time it was made. A -few minutes later I left Mr. and Mrs. Loomis, and without telling them -my intention to do so, went straight to the house of Mrs. Gregory about -a mile and a half off. I had selected Mrs. Gregory for this experiment -because she is not afraid to publish her name in connection with -psychic truths, and her word carries weight, especially in Scotland, -where she and her family are well-known. She is the widow of Professor -Gregory, of Edinburgh University, and is a lineal descendant of the -Lord of the Isles. I then for the first time told Mrs. Gregory of the -experiment. She replied that between half-past eight and nine o’clock -that evening she was playing the piano, and suddenly turned round to -her friend, Miss Yauewicz, of Upper Norwood, saying, ‘I don’t know what -is the matter with me, I feel quite stupid, and have such a pain in -my right arm that I cannot go on playing.’ Miss Yauewicz, who was no -believer in spiritualism or any of the marvels of psychology, felt a -lively interest when she was informed of the experiment. She told me -that she clearly remembered Mrs. Gregory’s statement that she could not -go on playing because of the pain in her right arm.”[C] - -Mrs. Loomis was a remarkable clairvoyante, whom I accidently became -acquainted with in Liverpool many years ago, shortly after her arrival -from America. I introduced the lady and her husband, Mr. Daniel Loomis, -to Mr. Harrison, then editor of _The Spiritualist_. The Guion steamer, -_Idaho_, in which they came from New York, was wrecked off the Irish -Coast, and all they possessed in this world was lost with the vessel. -Mrs. Loomis predicted the disaster, where it was likely to take place; -that all hands would be saved, but all they had lost. Upon the arrival -of the officers of the vessel in Liverpool, they presented Mrs. Loomis, -at the Bee Hotel, John Street, Liverpool, with a basket of flowers, -purse, and testimonial, in recognition of her gift, and heroic conduct -during and after the disaster. I may add I knew Mr. Harrison as a most -careful investigator and a man of scientific tastes and ability. - -I select the following case of a mesmeric sensitive controlled by -a disembodied spirit, from the writings of Mr. Epes Sargent, author -of “Planchette on the Despair of Science,” etc., as appropriately -illustrative of this form of clairvoyance:-- - -“One of the daughters of my valued correspondent, the late William -Howett, was a mesmeric sensitive. Howett told Professor W. D. Gunning, -whose words (slightly abridged) I here use, that, on one occasion his -daughter, being entranced, wrote a communication signed with the name -of her brother, supposed to be in Australia. The import was, that he -had been drowned a few days before in a lake. Dates and details were -given. The parents could only wait, as there was no trans-oceanic -telegraph. Months passed, and at last a letter came from a nephew in -Melbourne, bearing the tidings that their son had been drowned on such -a day, in such a lake, under such and such circumstances. Date, place, -and all the essential details were the same as those given months -before through the daughter. Mr. Howett believed that the freed spirit -of his son influenced the sister to write; and I know of no explanation -more rational that this.” - - -CLAIRVOYANCE DUE TO SPIRITUAL CONTROL. - -Such cases as the above are the most difficult of all to prove. What I -contend for is, if it is demonstrated we can control a fellow-being, -throw him or her into a trance state--in which the phenomena of the -psychic state are evolved--and seeing such state is induced largely -by the control of spirit over spirit in the body, why may not a -disembodied spirit control, direct, or influence a suitable sensitive -or medium in the body? If not, why not? There is abundant evidence of -such controls. - -Seeing objects concealed in boxes and letters, or reading books and -mottoes, etc., appears to some clairvoyants to be more difficult than -diagnosing disease, or seeing objects at a distance. The why and -wherefore seems at first difficult to explain. - -The deliberate concealment of objects for the purpose of testing -clairvoyance is often the result of a spirit of virulent suspicion, -disbelief, and what is worse, _an earnest desire for failure_, so that -the parties may rejoice on the discomfiture of the clairvoyants. With -such people failure is a source of pleasure. Nevertheless, seeming -impossibilities have been triumphed over. Long lost wills have been -found, and places of the accidental or intentional hiding discovered. -In more than one case deliberate fraud has been exposed, and the guilty -parties brought to acknowledge the truth of the sensitive’s revelations. - - -THE FUGITIVE NATURE OF CLAIRVOYANCE. - -“The chief feature,” said Alexis Didier, “of the somnambulistic -lucidity is its variability. While the conjurer or juggler, at all -moments in the day and before all spectators, will invariably succeed, -the somnambulist, endowed with the marvellous power of clairvoyance, -will not be lucid with all interviewers and at all moments of the -day; for the faculty of lucidity being a crisis painful and abnormal, -there may be atmospheric influences or invincible antipathies at work -opposing its production, and which seem to paralyse all supersensual -manifestation. Intuition, clairvoyance, lucidity, are faculties which -the somnambulist gets from the nature of his temperament, and which -are rarely developed in force.” Further, he adds, “the somnambulistic -lucidity varies in a way to make one despair; success is continually -followed by failure; in a word, error succeeds a truth; but when one -analyses the causes of this no right-minded person will bring up the -charge of Charlatanism, since the faculty is subject to influences -independent of the will and the consciousness of the clairvoyant.” - -Alexis Didier, like his brother Adolphe, was a natural clairvoyant, -and excelled in direct and objective clairvoyance, phases of the most -striking and convincing character. - -Clairvoyance can be cultivated by the aid of mesmerism and by the -introspection process. By the first, the sensitive can be materially -assisted by the experience and help of the operator. By the second, -something like natural clairvoyance can be induced. Either processes -are more or less suitable to subdue the activity of the senses, and -give greater range to the psychic powers. General instructions are -of little use. Personal advice is best. The operator then knows with -whom he has to do, their special temperament and character, what are -the best processes to adopt to cultivate their gift, and how far such -sensitives and students are themselves likely to be suitable for -clairvoyant experiments. I have found the “Mirror Disc” useful in -inducing favourable conditions in the normal state for the development -of clairvoyance, and recommend its use. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -Psychometry. - - -[Illustration: J. RHODES BUCHANAN, M.D.] - -What is psychometry? Dr. George Wyld esteems psychometry a phase of -clairvoyance--“the knowledge the psychic obtains by a _clue_, such as -a lock of the hair of some absent person, or some portion of a distant -object.” Mr. Stead calls it (_Review of Reviews_, p. 221, September, -1892) “the strange new science of psychometry.” In this he pardonably -errs. Psychometry may be strange, but _it_ is _not_ new. We may not -recognise the name as old, but the class of phenomena it specialises -is as old as clairvoyance and mind-reading. - -“The word psychometry,” says Dr. Buchanan, “coined in 1842, to express -the character of a new science and art, is the most pregnant and -important word that has been added to the English language. Coined -from the Greek (_psyche_, soul; and _metron_, measure), it literally -signifies _soul-measuring_.”... “The psychometer measures the soul.” - -In the case of psychometry, the measuring assumes a new character, as -the object measured and the measuring instrument are the same psychic -element, and its measuring power is not limited to the psychic, as it -was developed in the first experiments, but has appeared by successive -investigations to manifest a wider and wider area of power, until it -became apparent that this psychic capacity was really the measure of -all things in the universe. Hence, psychometry signifies not merely the -measuring of souls and soul capacities, or qualities by our own psychic -capacities, but the measurement and judgment of all things conceivable -by the human mind; and psychometry means practically _measuring by -the soul_, or grasping and estimating all things which are within the -range of human intelligence. Psychometry, therefore, is not merely an -instrumentality for measuring soul powers, but a comprehensive agency -like mathematics for the solution of many departments of science. - -“Prophecy,” says Buchanan, “is the noblest aspect of psychometry, and -there is no reason why it should not become the guiding power to each -individual life, and the guiding power of the destiny of nations.” -For instance, while all Europe feared for Boulanger, Metz was getting -stored with food; Lord Wolseley declared war imminent, and the French -themselves prepared for _revanche_. Psychometers declared for peace -in 1889, and said there was no prospect of war for five years. -Subsequent events have proved Boulanger lacking in both generalship and -statesmanship--a veritable Bombastes Furioso; and peace up to the time -of writing is as yet unbroken. - -Dr. Buchanan claims--“In physiology, pathology, and hygiene, -psychometry is as wise and parental as in matters of character and -ethics. A competent psychometer appreciates the vital forces, the -temperament, the peculiarities, and every departure from the normal -state, realising the diseased condition with an accuracy in which -external diagnosis often fails. In fact, the natural psychometer is -born with a genius for the healing art, and if the practice of medicine -were limited to those who possess this power in an eminent degree, its -progress would be rapid, and its disgraceful failures in diagnosis and -blunders in treatment and prognosis would be less frequently heard -of.” Many happy tests in diagnosis and in the successful treatment -of disease--out of the ordinary routine--are due, in my opinion, -not so much to elaborate medical training as to the fact of the -practitioner--perhaps unconscious to himself--being possessed of more -or less of the psychometric faculty. - -Dr. Buchanan,[D] in his “Original Sketch,” gives us the history and -some details of his discovery, based upon certain investigations of -the nervous system. Already he was well versed in the phenomena of -hypnotism, which is at this late day becoming a fashionable study and -recreation of medical men. He had demonstrated the responsive action -of cerebral organs to mesmeric touch and influence, and he was already -acquainted with the curious psychological phenomena of sense and -thought transference, of double consciousness, and all the nervous and -pathological phases peculiar to natural and artificial somnambulism. -His investigation for years of the nervous system had clearly shown him -that its capacities were far more extensive, varied, and interesting -than physiologists and philosophers either knew or were prepared to -admit. He found in the nervous system a vast aggregate of powers which -constitute the vitality of man, existing in intimate connection with -the vast and wonderful powers of his mind. Was it possible or rational -to suppose that this nerve-matter, so intimately co-related with mind, -and upon which the mind depends for the manifestation of its powers, -could be entirely limited to the narrow materialistic sphere assigned -by physiologists? He thought not. - -In a conversation with Bishop Polk (who afterwards became the -celebrated General Polk of Confederate fame), Dr. Buchanan ascertained -that Bishop Polk’s nervous sensibility was so acute that, if by -accident he touched a piece of brass in the night, when he could not -see what he had touched, he immediately felt the influence through his -system, and recognised an offensive metallic taste. - -The discovery of such sensitiveness in one of the most vigorous men, -in mind and body, of his day, led Dr. Buchanan to believe it might -be found in many others. It is needless to say his conjecture was -correct. Accordingly, in the numerous neurological experiments which he -afterwards commenced, he was accustomed to place metals of different -kinds in the hands of persons of acute sensibility, for the purpose of -ascertaining whether they could feel any peculiar influence, recognise -any peculiar taste, or appreciate the difference of metals, by any -impression upon their own sensitive nerves. It soon appeared that the -power was quite common, and there were a large number of persons who -could determine by touching a piece of metal, or by holding it in their -hands, what the metal was, as they recognised a peculiar influence -proceeding from it, which in a few moments gave them a distinct taste -in the mouth. But this sensitiveness was not confined to metallic -substances. Every substance possessing a decided taste--sugar, salt, -nutmeg, pepper, acid, etc.--appeared to be capable of transferring its -influence. The influence appeared to affect the hand, and then travel -upwards. He afterwards demonstrated when a galvanic or electric current -passed through a medicinal substance, the influence of the substance -was transmitted with the current, detected and described by the person -operated upon. Medicinal substances, enclosed in paper, were readily -recognised and described by their effects. In due time, stranger -still, a geological specimen, an article worn, a letter written upon, -a photograph which had been handled, a coin, etc., transmitted their -influence, and the psychometrist was enabled to read off the history -concerning the particular object. - -Nearly fifty years have elapsed since the discovery of this “strange -new science” and art. “To-day it is widely known, has its respected -and competent practitioners, who are able to describe the mental -and vital peculiarities of those who visit or write them, and who -create astonishment and delight by the fidelity and fulness of the -descriptions which they send to persons unknown, and at vast distances. -They give minute analysis of character and revelations of particulars -_known only to the one described_, pointing out with parental delicacy -and tenderness the defects which need correction, or in the perverse -and depraved they explain what egotism would deny, but what society, -family, and friends recognise to be too true.” - - -PSYCHOMETRIC REFLECTIONS. - -Professor J. W. Draper says:--“A shadow never falls upon a wall -without leaving thereupon a permanent trace--a trace made visible by -resorting to proper processes. Upon the walls of private apartments, -where we think the eye of intrusion is altogether shut out, and our -retirement can never be profaned, there exists the vestiges of our -acts, silhouettes of whatever we have done. It is a crushing thought -to whoever has committed secret crime, that the picture of his deed, -and the very echo of his words, may be seen and heard countless years -after he has gone the way of all flesh, and left a reputation for -‘respectability’ to his children.” - -Detectives have received impressions from a scene of crime, a clue to -the unravelment of the mystery and the detection of the criminal. Yet -they could not trace the impressions to anything they saw or heard -during their preliminary investigations. No detective will throw aside -such impressions. Indeed, those most successful are those who, while -paying attention to all outward and so-called tangible clues, _do not -neglect for one moment_ the impressions received, and the thoughts -_felt_, when gathering information likely to lead to the detection of -the law-breakers. Hugh Miller was right when he said, “I suspect that -there are provinces in the mind that physicians have not entered into.” - -Thoughts are things--living, real and tangible, images, visions, deep -and pungent sensations--which exist after their creation distinct -and apart from ourselves--“Footprints on the sands of time,” in more -senses than one. We all leave our mark in a thousand subtle ways. No -material microscope or telescope can detect, nevertheless our mark -can be discovered by the powers of the human soul. From our cradle -to the grave--does it stop there?--every thought, emotion, movement, -and action have left their subtle traces, so that our whole life can -be traced out by the psychometric expert. We verily give hostages to -fortune all through life. - - -PSYCHOMETRIC SENSITIVES. - -Professor Denton was very fortunate in having in his wife, children, -and in his sister, Mrs. Cridge, gifted psychometers. His sister -possessed this psychic, intuitive faculty in a high degree. Dr. -Buchanan was equally fortunate; not only was his wife a first-class -sensitive, but he discovered the faculty in several university -professors, and in students innumerable. Denton in his travels over -America, Europe, and Australia found several hundred good sensitives, -some of whom have since made a reputation both in Europe and America -for their powers. - -One important fact we learn from these pioneers in psychometric -research is that not one of these persons knew they were endowed with -the psychometric gift prior to taking part in classes or experiments. - -The possession of the faculty is not confined to any age, or to the -gentle sex; and Denton concludes, as an average, that one female in -four and one man in ten are psychometric sensitives. The possibility is -all healthy, sensitive, refined, intuitive, and impressionable persons -possess the soul-measuring faculty, and this faculty, like all other -innate human powers, can be cultivated and brought to a high stage of -perfection. - -The psychometer, unlike the induced clairvoyant or entranced medium, is -in general, or outwardly at least, a mere spectator, as one who beholds -a drama or witnesses a panorama, and tells in his own way to someone -else what he sees and what he thinks about it. The sensitive can dwell -on what is seen, examine it closely, and record individual opinions -of the impressions of the persons, incidents, and scenes of the long -hidden thus brought to light. The sensitive has merely to hold the -object in hand--as Mrs. Coates is represented doing in frontispiece--or -hold it to the forehead (temple), when he or she is enabled to come in -contact with the soul of the person or thing with which the object has -been in relation. There is no loss of external consciousness, no “up -rush” of the subliminal, obliterating and overlapping that of common -life. The sensitive appears to be in a perfectly normal condition -during the whole time of examination, can lay the article down, -noticing what takes place, and entering into conversation with those in -the room, or drawing subjects, seen or not, as they think best. - - -WHAT PSYCHOMETRY CAN DO. - -We can do little more than give a few general illustrations. -Professor Denton, having thoroughly satisfied himself of the reality -of psychometry, wondered if letters had photographed upon them the -impressions of the life and the image of the writer. Why not fossils? -“He gave his sister a specimen from the carboniferous formation; -closing her eyes, she described those swamps and trees, with their -tufted heads and scaly trunks, with the great frog-like animals that -existed in that age. To his inexpressible delight the key to the ages -was in his hands. He concluded that nature had been photographing from -the very first. The black islands that floated upon the fiery sea, the -gelatinous dots, the first life on our planet, up through everything -that flew or swam, had been photographed by Nature, and ten thousand -experiments had confirmed the theory. He got a specimen of the lava -that flowed from Kilava, in Hawaii, in 1848. His sister by its means -described the boiling ocean, the cataract of molten lava that almost -equalled Niagara in size. A small fragment of a meteorite that fell in -Painesville, O., was given to his wife’s mother, a sensitive who did -not then believe in psychometry. This is what she said: ‘I seem to be -travelling away, away, through nothing, right forward. I see what look -like stars and mist. I seem to be taken right up; the other specimens -took me down.’ His wife, independently, gave a similar description, -but saw it revolving, and its tail of sparks. He took steps to prove -that this was not mind reading by wrapping the specimens in paper, -shaking them up in a hat, and allowing the sensitive to pick out one -and describe it, without anyone knowing which it was. Among them were a -fragment of brick from ancient Rome, antimony from Borneo, silver from -Mexico, basalt from Fingal’s Cave. Each place was described correctly -by the sensitive in the most minute detail. A fragment from the Mount -of Olives brought a description of Jerusalem; and one from the Great -Pyramid enabled a young man of Melbourne to name and describe it. There -was a practical side to the question. His wife had, from a chip of -wood, described a suicide; this was subsequently confirmed. A number of -experiments from a fragment of Kent’s Cave, fragments from Pompeii and -other places brought minute descriptions from the sensitive.” - -Mr. Stead bears his testimony to psychometry. He gave a shilling -to two ladies, at different periods, and unknown to each other. In -fact, they were perfect strangers. This shilling, in his mind, had a -special story connected with it. The first lady lived in Wimbledon, -and had the profession of being a clairvoyante. To use Mr. Stead’s -own words, he states:--“I took from my purse a shilling which I most -prized of all the pieces of money in my possession. I said nothing to -her beyond that I had carried it in my pocket for several years. She -held the shilling in her hand for sometime, and said:--‘This carries -me back to a time of confusion and much anxiety, with a feeling that -everything depended upon a successful result. This shilling brings me -a vision of a very low woman, ignorant and drunken, with whom you had -much better have nothing to do. There is a great deal of fever about. I -feel great pains, as if I had rheumatic fever in my ankles and joints, -but especially in my ankles and my throat. I suffer horribly in my -throat; it is an awful pain. And now I feel a coarse, bare hand pass -over my brow as distinctly as if you had laid your hand there. It must -be her hand. I feel the loss of a child. This woman is brought to me -by another. She is about thirty-two years; about five feet high, with -dark brown hair, grey eyes, small, nicely-formed nose, large mouth.’” -“Can you tell me her name?” asked Mr. Stead. “Not certain, but I think -it seems like Annie.” “That is all right,” said Mr. Stead, and he told -her the story of that shilling. About a month afterwards, Mr. Stead -tried a Swedish opera singer, who had clairvoyant powers, with the -shilling. She pressed it to her brow, and then she told Mr. Stead “she -saw a poor woman give him, from her pocket-money, the last shilling she -possessed. She has a great admiration for you, she said. She seems to -think you have saved her, but she is not _une grande dame_. Indeed, she -seems to be a girl of the town.” Mr. Stead said:--“I had not spoken a -word, or given her the least hint of the story of the shilling.” Now, -what are the facts? Mr. Stead says that he “was standing his trial at -the Old Bailey, a poor outcast girl of the streets, who was dying of a -loathsome disease in the hospital, asked that the only shilling that -she possessed in the world, might be given to the fund which was being -raised in his defence. It was handed to him when he came out of jail, -with, ‘From a dying girl in hospital, who gives her last shilling,’ -written on the paper.” He (Mr. Stead) has carried it about him ever -since, never allowing it to be out of his possession for a single day. - -The symptoms which the first clairvoyante, or psychometrix, described, -were very like those which this poor creature was suffering from in her -dying hours. It is too probable that the donor was a low, drunken woman. - -These two readings are actually more psychometric than clairvoyant, -because, from the clue furnished, they went back and described the -conditions and surroundings of the woman who parted with this shilling. -They were not thought-readers, because they did not describe what was -passing in Mr. Stead’s mind. Mr. Stead’s experiences fairly illustrate -the exercise, in the earlier stages of employment, of the psychometric -faculty. - -While engaged writing the “Real Ghost Stories,” Mr. Stead says:--“My -attention was called to a young lady, Miss Catherine Ross, of 41 High -Street, Smethwick, Birmingham, who, being left with an invalid sister -to provide for, and without other available profession or industry, -bethought herself of a curious gift of reading character, with which -she seems to have been born, and had subsequently succeeded in earning -a more or less precarious income by writing out characters at the -modest fee of 5s. You sent her any article you pleased that had been in -contact with the object, and she sent you by return a written analysis -of the subject’s character. I sent her various articles from one person -at different times, not telling her they were from the same person. At -one time a tuft of hair from his beard, at another time a fragment of -a nail, and a third time a scrap of handwriting. Each delineation of -character differed in some points from the other two, but all agreed, -and they were all remarkably correct. When she sent the last she added, -‘I don’t know how it is, but I feel I have described this person -before.’ I have tried her since then with locks of hair from persons of -the most varied disposition, and have found her wonderfully correct.” - -“All these things are very wonderful, but the cumulative value of the -evidence is too great for any one to pooh-pooh it as antecedently -impossible. The chances against it being a mere coincidence are many -millions to one.” - -I believe had this young lady, or others thus endowed, had the -training, such as Buchanan, Denton, or other experienced teachers give -their pupils, she would make a high class psychometer. - -Rev. Minot J. Savage had a paper in a recent number of _The Arena_, on -Psychical Research, etc., in which he said--“On a certain morning I -visited a psychometrist. Several experiments were made. I will relate -only one, as a good specimen of what has occurred in my presence more -than once. The lady was not entranced or, so far as I could see, in -any other than her normal condition. I handed her a letter which I had -recently received. She took it, and held it in her right hand, pressing -it close, so as to come into as vital contact with it as possible. -I had taken it out of its envelope, so that she might touch it more -effectively, but it was not unfolded even so much as to give her an -opportunity to see even the name. It was written by a man whom she had -never seen, and of whom she had never heard. After holding it a moment -she said, ‘This man is either a minister or a lawyer; I cannot tell -which. He is a man of a good deal more than usual intellectual power. -And yet he has never met with any success in life as one would have -expected, considering his natural ability. Something has happened to -thwart him and interfere with his success. At the present time he is -suffering with severe illness and mental depression. He has pain here’ -(putting her hand to the back of her head, at the base of the brain). - -“She said much more, describing the man as well as I could have done -it myself. But I will quote no more, for I wish to let a few salient -points stand in clear outline. These points I will number, for the sake -of clearness:-- - -1. “She tells me he is a man, though she has not even glanced at the -letter.” - -2. “She says he is either a minister or a lawyer; she cannot tell -which. No wonder, for he was both; that is, he had preached for some -years, then he had left the pulpit, studied law, and at this time was -not actively engaged in either profession.” - -3. “She speaks of his great natural ability. This was true in a most -marked degree.” - -4. “But he had not succeeded as one would have expected. This again was -strikingly true. Certain things had happened--which I do not feel at -liberty to publish--which had broken off his career in the middle and -made his short life seem abortive.” - -About eighteen years ago a lady in Swansea sent me a lock of hair, -and asked me to send her my impressions. I did so, which I remember -were not pleasant. I informed her, as near as my recollection now -serves, that the person to whom the hair belonged was seriously ill. -No earthly skill could do anything for him. Diagnosing the character -of the insidious disease which was then undermining a once powerful -and active organisation, I felt constrained to add he _would live six -weeks_. I held the envelope, with its contents, in my left hand, and -wrote the impressions as they came with my right. I remember hesitating -about sending that letter, but eventually sent it. The accuracy of -my diagnosis, description of the patient, and the fulfilment of the -prophecy as to his death were substantiated in a Swansea paper, _The -Bat_. The patient was no other than Captain Hudson, the British master -mariner who sailed the first ship on teetotal principles from a British -port, and who subsequently became one of the most powerful of British -mesmerists. The lady who sent the lock of hair was his wife, and the -lady who contributed the letter to the papers was his widow. Of similar -experiences Mrs. Coates and I have had many. - - -HOW TO CULTIVATE THE PSYCHOMETRIC FACULTY. - -_Class Experiments._--The sensitives are not to be magnetised or -unduly influenced by positive manner and suggestions, but are to sit -in their normal state (and without mental effort or straining to find -out what they have in their hands), and simply give expression to -their impressions--sensations, tastes, etc., if any, and no matter -how strange to them these may be. Let the experimenter or operator -place different metallic substances in their hands, taking care that -these substances are carefully covered with tissue paper or other -light substance, which will help to hide their character, and at the -same time not prevent their influence being imparted, or try them with -medical substances. In those sufficiently sensitive, an emetic will -produce a feeling of nausea. The substance must be put down before it -causes vomiting. Geological specimens can be given--a shell, a tooth, -or tusk. Let the experimenter record the utterances patiently, and seek -confirmation of the description from an examination of the specimen -subsequently. He should not know what special specimen it is previous -to the psychometer’s declared opinion. Good specimens are best. Thus -a fragment of pottery, a piece of scori, or a bit of brick from, say, -Pompeii would present material from which the psychometrist could glean -strong and vivid impressions. - -If a medical man is not satisfied as to the correct pathological -conditions of his patient, he might ask the psychometer to take some -article of the patient in hand, and get, in the sensitive’s own--and -therefore very likely untechnical--language, what he feels and sees -regarding this particular patient’s case. Unsuspected abscesses and -tumours have been correctly pointed out in this way. - -In the same way a correct diagnosis of character can be given in many -instances more correctly, more subtle, and penetrating in detail, than -estimates built upon mere external and physical signs of temperament -and cranial contours. - -Lay a coin on a polished surface of steel. Breathe upon it, and all -the surface will be affected save the portion on which the coin lay. -In a few minutes neither trace of breathing nor of the coin are likely -to be seen on the surface of the polished steel. Breathe again, and -the hitherto unseen image of the coin is brought to light. In like -manner, everything we touch records invisibly to us that action. Hand -your sensitive a letter which has been written in love or joy, grief -or pungent sorrow, and let them give expression to their sensations. -As the breath brought back the image on the steel, so will the nervous -and the psychic impressionability of the sensitive bring to light the -various emotions which actuated the writers who penned the letters. -Mr. G. H. Lewes says “that he has brushed the surface of the polished -plate with a camel’s-hair brush, yet on breathing upon it the image -of the coin previously laid upon it was distinctly visible.” The mere -casual handling of letters by intermediates will not obliterate the -influence of the original writers; they have permeated the paper with -their influence, so that, if a score or more of psychometrists held -the paper, they would coincide, perhaps not in their language, but in -their descriptions of the originals and the state of their minds while -writing. - -The experimenter may help, by asking a few judicious but not leading -questions, to direct and guide the attention of the psychometrist. The -description will be a capital delineation of the individual who wrote -the letter. We have frequently tested the sincerity of correspondents, -real and other friends, by this process. If the results have sometimes -been unpleasant revelations, we have yet to find in any case that we -have been mistaken. How is the sensitive able to glean so much of the -real character of the original? one is inclined to ask. While writing, -sincerity and earnestness leave a deeper impression than indifference, -pretence, or ordinary come-to-tea politeness. Some letters are instinct -with the writer’s identity, individuality, masculinity, earnestness, -and enthusiasm. Others are lacking in these things, because the writers -were devoid of these qualities, while others vary at different times. -The writer writes as _his soul_ moves him, and the writing expresses -his aims and hopes as they appear to his external consciousness. -While writing, _his soul_ draws his image on the paper, and pictures -out thereon his real thoughts; and when the sensitive gets hold of -the letter, outstands the image of the writer and the imagery of his -thoughts. The psychic consciousness of the psychometer grasps the -details and describes them. - -“The strange new science of psychometry” is of profound interest to -all. Psychometers are to be found in every household. The whole subject -is one about which a good deal more could be easily written, but this -must do. - -Those who desire to understand psychometry cannot do better than -read up fully the literature of the subject, and those who desire to -practise psychometry may do much to ascertain whether they possess -the faculty in any degree; but all are warned to have nothing to do -with persons who undertake to _develop_ their powers, a _self-evident -absurdity_. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -Thought-Transference and Telepathy. - - -Thought-Transference is evidently a phase of psychic perception. In -some respects it bears a greater relation to feeling than sight. It -is distinguished from pure clairvoyance by the result of experiment. -For instance, suppose I had in the Rothesay case designed M. C., the -clairvoyante, should see “a maid in the room, dressed in a black -dress, with neat white collar and cuffs, wearing a nicely-trimmed -white apron, and a white tulle cap with bows and streamers, or that -a black-and-white spotted cat lay comfortably coiled up upon the -hearth-rug, or some other strongly-projected mental image.” Now, -suppose while M. C. was examining the room, she declared she _saw_ -the maid, and described her, or the cat, or other objects projected -from my mind, and described these, then this would be a case of -thought-transference. - -There is a distinction between thought-transference and -thought-reading. It is no mere fanciful distinction either. -Thought-transference occurs when the ideas, thoughts, and emotions of -one mind are projected by intense action and received by the sensitive -and impressionable mind of another--awake or asleep is immaterial--so -long as it occurs without pre-arrangement and contact. - -Telepathy is a more vivid form of sudden and unexpected -thought-transference, in which the intense thoughts and wishes of one -person, more or less in sympathy, are suddenly transferred to the -consciousness of another. The thoughts transmitted are often so intense -as to be accompanied by the vision of the person, and by the sound of -their voice. - -Telepathy bears about the same relation to thought-transference -as “second sight” does to clairvoyance. Thought-transference and -clairvoyance can be cultivated. Not so telepathy and second sight. -They are phenomena, which belong to the unexpected, portents of the -unusual, or sudden revelations of what is, and what is about to happen. -Doubtless, there are conditions more favourable than others for -inception of these. One needs to be “in spirit on the Lord’s day,” or -any day, before telepathic and second sight messages are secured. Hence -it is noticed telepathic revelations mostly come in the quietude of the -evening, just before sleep, between sleep and waking, and under similar -conditions favourable to passivity and receptivity in the sensitive or -percipient. - -In thought-reading both operator and sensitive are aware that -something is to be done, and indications, intentional or otherwise, -are given to make the thought-reader find out what is required. More -or less sensitiveness is required in both phases. In telepathy and -thought-transference the psychic elements are in the ascendency; in -thought-reading they may be more or less present, but intention, -sensitiveness, and muscular contact are adequate enough, I think, to -account for the phenomena, as witnessed at public entertainments--so -far, at least, as these entertainments are genuine. - -How do we think? what are thoughts? and how are thoughts transferred? -are reasonable questions, and merit more elaborate solution than is -possible in an elementary work like this. - -We think in pictures: words are but vehicles of thought. In -thought-transference we can successfully project actions, or a series -of actions, by forming in our minds a scene or picture of what is done -and what is to be reproduced. When, however, we think of a sentence -consisting of few or many words, there is nothing more difficult to -convey. Words belong to our external life here, and are but arbitrary -expressions and signs for what in the internal or soul-life is flashed -telepathically from mind to mind. - -Thoughts are things for good or ill, veritable and living realities, -apart from our exterior selves, independent of words. The more words, -often the less thought. Try to teach a child by the slow, dry-as-dust -method of words, and the road to knowledge is hard and wearisome. -Convey the same thoughts by illustrations and experiments, and the -child’s mind at once grasps the ideas we desire to convey. - -Thoughts are living entities (how poor are words!) which our own -souls have given birth to, or created in the intensity of our love, -wisdom, or passion. One Eastern adept has taught, “A good thought is -perpetuated as an active, beneficent power, an evil one as a malignant -demon. The Hindoo calls this _karma_. The adept evolves these shapes -consciously; other men throw them off unconsciously.” How true in our -experience! The thoughts of some men blast, while those of others -bless. There is wisdom in thinking deliberately, intelligently, and -therefore conscientiously, not passionately, impulsively, or carelessly. - -In thought-transference the reproduction of exact words and dates seems -to be most difficult. Indeed, the transmission of arbitrary words and -signs is apparently the most difficult. The reason, I conclude, is, -ideas belong to our inner, real, and spiritual life, and names, words, -and dates to our exterior existence. The ideas can be expressed in the -language of the sensitive, according to culture or the want of it. If -the true lineaments of the picture are given, need we be too exacting -as to the special frame surrounding the picture? - -Notwithstanding the difficulty in transference and the reading of the -exact words, this has also been frequently done. A very high state of -receptivity and sensitiveness, however, is necessary in the percipient. - -An incident of exact word-reading is related by Gerald Massey, the -distinguished philosopher and poet. Mr. Massey met Mr. Home at the -London terminus just on his (Mr. Massey’s) arrival from Hertfordshire. -Home and he entered into conversation, during which Home suddenly said -“he hoped Mr. Massey would go on with his poem.” - -“What did he mean?” asked Mr. Massey. - -“The poem,” replied Home, “you composed four lines of just now in the -train.” - -This was surprising to Mr. Massey, who had actually composed, but had -not written, the four lines of a new poem on the journey. Mr. Massey -challenged Mr. Home to repeat the lines, which Home did word for word. - -How are thoughts transferred? No one can positively say. There are -theories enough--the _theory of brain-waves_ and of _a universal -impalpable elastic ether_, of _undulating motions_, or other more or -less materialistic hypothesis.[E] - -We know there are no psychic phenomena without their corresponding -physical correlatives, and, in this life at least, these are in -thoughts evolved without producing corresponding molecular changes in -the brain. - -We notice the human brain is capable of being, and is, acted upon -daily by much less subtle influences than mental impressions. We can -appreciate light impinged upon our cerebral centres at the rate of -millions of undulations, and sound as the result of 20,000 to 30,000 -vibrations per second. So sensitives, when in the mesmeric or psychic -states, are readily acted upon, and respond as in thought-transference -to our thoughts and sensations, and veritably read our minds, -because of the _rapport_ or sympathy thus established. Whether they -become percipients of the nerve-vibrations which escape from our own -sensoriums or not, what does it matter _if they can, as they frequently -do_, read our minds? - -“Professor Wheaton,” says Hudson Tuttle, “devised a means of -illustrating sympathy. If a sounding board is placed so as to resound -to all instruments of the orchestra, and connected by a metallic rod -of considerable length with the sounding board of a harp or piano, the -instrument will accurately repeat the notes transmitted. - -“The nervous system, in its two-fold relation to the physical and -spiritual being, is inconceivably more finely organised than the most -perfect musical instrument, and is possessed of finer sensitiveness. - -“It must not be inferred that all minds are equally receptive. Light -falls on all substances alike, but is very differently affected by -each substance. One class of bodies absorb all but the yellow rays, -another all but the blue, another all but the red, because these -substances are so organised that they respond only to the waves of the -colours reflected.” - -All persons do not hear alike. They receive certain sounds and are deaf -to all others, although the sound-waves strike all tympanums alike. -All persons do not see alike. Some perceive colours, others cannot -distinguish between one colour and another, or can only see the more -striking colours--fineness of shade they do not perceive. So there are -individuals who cannot receive mental impressions, unless, indeed, -they are conveyed in the baldest and most esoteric manner. In a word -to convey and receive impressions they must be sent along the line of -the least resistance, that of _true sympathy_. There must be one mind -adequate to the projection, and another mind sufficiently sensitive to -receive and record the thoughts projected. - - -TRANSFERENCE OF TASTE IN THE MESMERIC STATE. - -The operator will slowly eat or taste half-a-dozen lozenges or sweets -of different flavours, and the subject or sensitive most in sympathy -with him will also in imagination eat of and describe the taste of the -various sweets, concerning which he has no other knowledge than the -thoughts of eating and tasting, which are transmitted to him from the -brain of the operator. The mere eating of the lozenges by the operator, -without his being fully aware of the fact, will deepen the impression -on the operator’s mind, and help to concentrate his energies for the -transmission of his ideas or mental suggestions to his subject. - -A step or two further and we find with greater sensitiveness the -sensitives can read the thoughts of the operator, whether the thoughts -were transmitted intentionally or not. - -“We are compelled (says Dr. Hands) to acknowledge that certain -emanating undulations from the sensorium can generate different series -of thoughts, and that the trembling organisation, or parts of it, can, -by flinging or throwing off distinct or particular pulsatory waves, -inoculate or produce like vibrations in another person’s brain, making -up in it identical thoughts, followed by like feelings, and often -in this way, perhaps, capable of inciting, _through sympathy_, like -enactments of deeds and pursuits.” - - -THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE IN DREAMS. - -The following interesting letter appeared in _The Phrenological -Magazine_ (p. 260, April, 1890), and as I know of the _bona-fides_ of -the writer, I have much pleasure in reproducing it:-- - -“Dear Sir,--This morning, at a little before four o’clock, I awoke as -the outcome of great mental distress and grief through which I had -just passed in a dream, my body trembling and in a cold perspiration. -I had been walking with my little boy, aged five and a half years, and -some friends. A heavy rain overtaking us, we stood up for shelter; and -venturing forth into a maze of streets, I missed my two friends, who, -threading among the people, had turned into a side street without my -noticing. Looking for them, my boy slipped from me, and was lost in -the crowd. I became bewildered by the strange labyrinth of streets -and turnings, and quickly taking one of them which gave an elevated -position, I looked down on the many windings, but could nowhere see -my boy. It was to me an unknown locality, and, running down among the -people, I was soon sobbing aloud in my distress, and calling out the -name of the child, when I awoke. With wakefulness came a sense of -relief and thankfulness. Gladly realising that the whole was only a -dream, and still scarcely awake, I was startled by a cry of terror -and pain from an adjoining bedroom--such a cry as could not be left -unheeded. It came from the same child, and pierced me with a distinct -sense of pain. I was immediately by his side. My voice calmed him. ‘I -thought I was lost’ was all he could say, and doubtless he was soon -composed and asleep again. To me the coincidence was too remarkable -and without parallel in my own experience. Later on, at breakfast, the -child gave further his dream that he _had been out with me and was -lost_. I am only familiar with such things in my reading. Mr. Coates’s -article in last month’s _Phrenological Magazine_ (page 143) mentions -that, ‘when the Prince Imperial died from assegai thrusts in Zululand, -his mother in England felt the intensity of his thoughts at the time, -felt the savage lance pierce her own side, and knew or felt at the -time that she was childless.’ But I am not of the _spirituelle_ type, -with only a thin parchment separation between this life of realities -and the great beyond, of those who, privileged to live in close touch -with the future, are the subjects of premonitions and warnings. My -spirituality 4 to 5 and reflectives 6 point rather the other way, but -I shall, nevertheless, hold tight to the lad. What is the underlying -cause of the coincidence? Which of the two minds influenced the other, -if either?--Yours truly, - - “G. Cox. - - “16 Bramfield Road, - Wandsworth Common, April 20, 1890.” - -In this case of thought-transference, I am inclined to the opinion -that the father’s mind influenced that of the boy, the son being the -more sensitive of the two. Mr. Cox dreamt an ordinary but pretty vivid -dream, which aroused from its nature vivid and intense anxiety on -his part. A similar train of thought was awakened in the child. If -thought-transference occurs in waking life, why not in sleep, when, -as abundant telepathic instances testify, the phenomenon is of most -frequent occurrence. - - -THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE AT SEA. - -The percipient was Captain G. A. Johnson, of the schooner “Augusta -H. Johnson.” He had sailed from Quero for home. On the voyage he -encountered a terrible hurricane. On the second day he saw a disabled -brig, and near by a barque. He was anxious to reach home, and, thinking -the barque would assist the brig, continued on. - -But the impression came that he must turn back and board the brig. He -could not shake it off, and at last he, with four men, boarded the brig -in a dory. He found her deserted, and made sail in her. After a time -they saw an object ahead, appearing like a man on a cake of ice. The -dory was again manned, and set to the rescue. It proved to be the mate -of the barque “Leawood” clinging to the bottom of an overturned boat, -which, being white, appeared in the distance as ice. - -The captain’s sensitiveness may have been aroused by the exhaustion of -so much wakefulness and care during the length of the storm, the sight -of the derelict and deserted brig; at the same time the premonitions -were opposed to his own desire and anxiety to get home. - - -THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE FROM THE DYING TO THE LIVING IN DREAM. - -The following, by E. Ede, M.D., of Guilford (J.S.P.R., July, 1882):-- - -“Lady G. and her sister had been spending the evening with their -mother, who was in her usual health and spirits when they left her. -In the middle of the night the sister awoke in a fright, and said to -her husband, ‘I must go to my mother at once; do order the carriage. -I am sure she is ill.’ The husband, after trying in vain to convince -his wife that it was only a fancy, ordered the carriage. As she was -approaching the house, where two roads met, she saw lady G.’s carriage. -When they met, each asked the other why she was there. The same reply -was made by both--‘I could not sleep, feeling sure my mother was ill, -and so I came to see.’ As they came in sight, they saw their mother’s -confidential maid at the door, who told them when they arrived that -their mother had taken suddenly ill, and was dying, and had expressed -an earnest wish to see her daughters.” - -The percipients having been so lately in company and sympathy with -their mother possibly rendered them more susceptible to her influence. - - -THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE FROM THE DEAD (?) TO THE LIVING IN DREAM. - -Related by Mr. Myers, page 208, Proceedings S.P.R., July, 1892:-- - -“About March, 1857, Mrs. Mennier, in England, dreamt that she saw her -brother, whose whereabouts she did not know, standing headless at the -foot of the bed with his head lying in a coffin by his side. The dream -was at once mentioned. It afterwards appeared that at about the time -the head of the brother seen, Mr. Wellington, was actually cut off by -the Chinese at Sarawak.” On this case, Mr. Gurney remarks--“This dream, -if it is to be telepathically explained, must apparently have been -due to the last flash of thought in the brother’s consciousness. It -may seem strange that a definite picture of his mode of death should -present itself to a man in the instant of receiving an unexpected and -fatal blow; but, as Hobbes said, ‘Thought is quick.’ The coffin, at -any rate, may be taken as an item of death-imagery supplied by the -dreamer’s mind.” - -“We have now, however,” says Mr. Myers, “seen a letter from Sir James -Brookes (Rajah of Sarawak), and an extract from the _Straits Times_ of -March 21st, 1857, in the (London) _Times_ for April 29th, 1857, which -makes it, I think, quite conceivable that the dream was a reflection -of knowledge acquired after death, and the head on the coffin had a -distinct meaning.” Sir James Brookes says:--“Poor Wellington’s remains -were consumed [by the Chinese]; his head, borne off in triumph, alone -attesting his previous murder.” The _Straits Times_ says:--“The head -was given up on the following day. The head, therefore, and the head -alone, must have been buried by Mr. Wellington’s friends; and its -appearance in the dream _on the coffin_, with a headless body standing -beside it, is a coincidence even more significant than the facts which -Mr. Gurney had before him when he wrote.” - -The transmission of thought from a spirit discarnate to one incarnate, -whose body was asleep, should not be esteemed impossible. Abundant -instances, equally well substantiated, might be recorded did space -permit. - - -THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE IN PRAYER. - -This may be a common experience, but only once in my life have I had -conscious knowledge of anything so remarkable. For some years before -devoting my attention to these subjects, I resided in Liverpool, and -had been a member of the Zion Methodist Church, or Chapel, in Everton, -and in time was duly placed on the local preachers’ plan. In this -capacity I became acquainted with a worthy old man--a chapel-keeper, -who looked after the meeting house situated in ---- street. He had -been an old soldier, and possessed something of the faith of the Roman -centurion. Poor in the things of this world, he was rich in the -sublimity of his love to God and the nobility and purity of his life. I -never think of “Old Daddy Walker” but his character and this incident -comes to my mind, viz.:--One morning I was hurrying down West Derby -Road to business, and, indeed had got halfway down Brunswick Road, when -I commenced to think about old Walker (I had not seen or thought of him -for some months). I attempted to throw aside my impressions, as passing -thoughts. No use. I became worried about him, and was asking myself -questions. “Was he ill?” “Maybe, he is in want?” “I think I will hurry -back and see?” I had not much time to spare. It would consume fully -twenty minutes to walk back. After hesitating, I went up Brunswick Road -and up West Derby Road, and to ---- Street, and tapped at the door of -his house. There was no response. The street door was slightly ajar. I -went in, and found the old pair on their knees in the kitchen. He was -engaged in earnest prayer. After kindly salutations, I apologised for -intruding, and told him, as I went to business, “I had been bothered -about him in my mind, and did not feel satisfied until I had seen him, -and knew the truth.” He told me, as near as I can recollect, “He was at -his last extremity. There was no food or fuel in the house, he had no -money, and he had been putting the whole case before the Lord.” I had -half a sovereign about me, which I had taken out of the house for an -entirely different purpose. This I gave to him. The old man, rubbing a -tear from his eye, looking at his wife, said: “Mary, don’t thee doubt -the Lord anymore. I said He would help, and He has given me what I -asked for.” Old Walker went on to explain, not only his bad fix, but -that he had no money to buy firewood with. He meant that he bought up -old wood and tar-barrels, which he cut up into lengths and made into -bundles, and sold for firewood; and that he had asked the Lord for ten -shillings, as he wanted that sum to buy a certain lot which could be -obtained for that amount. The old man obtained what he asked for. He -believed the Lord had answered his prayer. - - -THOUGHT TRANSMISSION IN PRAYER. - -Since writing the above, the following came under my notice. In the -J.S.P.R., May, 1885, Dr. Joseph Smith, Warrington, England, says:-- - -“I was sitting one evening reading, when a voice came to me, saying: -‘Send a loaf to James Grady’s.’ I continued reading, and the voice -continued with greater emphasis, and this time it was accompanied with -an irresistible impulse to get up. I obeyed, and went into the village -and bought a loaf of bread, and, seeing a lad at the shop door, I -asked him if he knew James Grady. He said he did, so I bade him carry -it and say a gentleman sent it. Mrs. Grady was a member of my class, -and I went next morning to see what came of it, when she told me a -strange thing happened to her last night. She said she wished to put -the children to bed, they began to cry for want of food, and she had -nothing to give them. She then went to prayer, to ask God to give them -something. Soon after which the lad came to the door with the loaf. I -calculated, on inquiry, that the prayer and the voice I heard exactly -coincided in point of time.” - - “More things are wrought by prayer - Than this world dreams of.” - -Those who know anything of Methodism, will know this. The Methodists -have a profound faith in prayer, and also there is a very close -relationship between a class-leader and his members. Dr. Smith was, -therefore, all the more likely to be the percipient of the woman’s -earnest and intense prayer to God to feed her hungry children. The -Infinite must have an infinite variety of ways of fulfilling His own -purposes. Is it unreasonable to suppose that prayer to Him may not be -answered indirectly “through means”? and that thought-transference, as -in this instance, may be one of the means? If not, why not? - -Charitable institutions are maintained; orphans saved, reared, and -educated; missions of mercy organised, and the necessary means found by -the agency of prayer. Beside “the angels,” in That Sphere just beyond -the ken of the physical, may not our waves of thought, projected by -prayer, be impinged upon, and directly affect susceptible minds in -this world, by directing their attention to those works of faith and -goodness? Prayer is the language of love, and the outcome of true -helplessness and need. A praying man is an earnest man. In prayer -thoughts are things--bread upon the waters. - - -THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE IN DISTRESS. - -I withhold the names for family reasons. Mr. ---- had been in business -in Glasgow for nearly thirty years, and, from comparatively small -beginnings, had been very successful. Latterly, he and his family -resided in ----, a suburb of Glasgow. Both in the city and in this -district Mr. ---- was very much respected, being a church member and -holding office in ---- Free Church. For some time Mr. ---- had been -ailing, and his medical attendant advised him to take a sea voyage--a -thorough change, etc. In compliance with this advice, he took a trip -up the Mediterranean. Miss ----, a distant relative of his, had been -visiting Glasgow, and, being on terms of intimacy with the family, -knew of his departure from Glasgow. About two weeks after he left, she -also left Glasgow for Edinburgh. While in the train for Edinburgh, she -was overcome with great anxiety for Mrs. ----, his wife. Unable to -shake the feeling off, instead of going to Edinburgh, she actually got -out of the train halfway, at Falkirk, and took the next train back -to Glasgow, and went to her friend’s house, whom she found in great -distress. Mrs. ---- had, about the time Miss ---- became distressed -in the train, received word that her husband was found dead (having -committed suicide) in his berth on the steamer at Constantinople. The -state of mind of the newly-made widow re-acted on that of Miss ----. -As Miss ---- was not only a dear friend, but was noted for her earnest -piety, the widow at once earnestly desired to see her. When last -these two friends saw each other, everything seemed to contribute to -happiness and comfort. Mrs. ---- was looking forward hopefully for the -return of her husband, restored in health, to herself and children. - - -THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE IN ORDINARY EXPERIENCE. - -Whether thought-transference is a “relic of a decaying faculty,” or the -“germ of a new and fruitful sense,” daily experience in the lives of -most furnish abundant evidence of the existence of such a power. My own -life has supplied me with abundant evidence of the fact. It is a common -occurrence with us for either my wife or I to utter or give expression -to the thoughts which, for the time being, occupied the conscious plane -in the other. It is possible there may have been, as there has been in -some instances, some half phrase uttered or manner shown, which in the -one have aroused the thoughts expressed by the other. - -It has been our habit for several years to stay at Rothesay during the -summer season. As an instance of thought-transference quite common -in our experience;--On Saturday, 1st October, 1892, I went to the -Revision Court at the Town Hall to hear registration disputes settled -between Tory and Gladstonian lawyers. Finding nothing to interest me, -I entered into conversation with Mr. Thompson, jeweller and hardware -merchant, whom I met in the Court, and went with him to his shop in -Montague Street, Rothesay. Standing at his door a short time, I noticed -a solitary pair of shamrock earrings, composed of crystal brilliants -and gold, lying on a tray, with a number of other earrings, in one of -the windows. I inquired the price, as I felt sure Mrs. Coates would be -pleased with them. They were packed up in a neat box, and I took them -home. At dinner, I gave the box to my wife, who said, “What is this, -papa?” - -“Open and see,” I replied. - -Animated with a little curiosity, she did, and, as soon as she saw -the earrings, said, “Thompson’s! Well, papa, that is funny. James (my -little son) and I stood at Thompson’s window last night, and I admired -these earrings. I thought them so neat, and that they would match my -brooch. I thought I would like to have them, and then I thought to -myself, no; I will not spend the money. I pointed them out to James, -and said to him, I am sure if papa saw them, he would buy them--and -here you have brought them home. I cannot tell you how much I prize -them.” - -My little boy said, “Thought-reading again, papa!” and, with a good -laugh, we proceeded to discuss our dinner. Mrs. Coates had not been in -the habit of seeing this particular window, and I am not in the habit -of buying jewellery. - -I record this trifle here, as one of our common experiences, and I am -satisfied similar experiences are common to all. - -Another experience is the anticipation of letters and their contents. -This is most frequent in the morning, just before rising. I frequently -see the letters and the shape of the envelope and style of address -before I actually see the letters on my consulting table. - -The most common experience of all is recognised by the adage, “Think -of the Devil, and he will appear.” I have noted this in particular. -Sitting at the table, there is “popped” into my mind a thought of -someone. I will remark, “I think Mr. or Mrs. ---- will be here to-day,” -and they come. Certainly, all who have come in this way have been -relatives or friends; and although they appear subsequent to the -thought of them, the evidence in favour of thought-transference may not -be esteemed conclusive. I say it is a common experience. I don’t think -we should despise any experience, because it is common. To be common, -indicates there is a basis, amounting to a psychic law, to account for -its existence. - -Another common experience is the crossing of letters. One person -suddenly recollects “So-and-so;” and writes them a letter excusing -delay in writing, retailing news, and in all probability writing on -some subject more particularly than on others. Strange to say, the -person you have written to, has also been engaged writing to you about -the same time and on similar subjects. Both have possibly posted their -letters at such a time that the delivery has been crossed. I do not say -this proves anything; yet I cannot help thinking the experience is too -frequent to be accounted for by the usual explanation of accident or -coincidence. - -Mark Twain’s article on “Mental Telegraphy” is fresh in the minds of -most magazine readers. Whether that article had a basis in the writer’s -actual experience or not, it is a pretty common experience with most -literary men. - -“Distance,” says Mr. Tuttle, “has inappreciable influence on the -transference of thought. It may take place in the same room, or where -the two persons are thousands of miles apart. As a personal experience, -I will relate one of many similar incidents which have awakened my -attention to this wonderful phenomenon. Sitting by my desk one evening, -suddenly as a flash of light, the thought came to write an article for -the _Harbinger of Light_, published at Melbourne, Australia. I had, -by correspondence, become acquainted with the editor, W. H. Terry, but -there had been no letters passed for many a year. I had not thought -of him or his journal for I do not know how long a time, and I was -amused at first with the idea of writing on the subject suggested. -But the impression was so strong that I prepared and forwarded an -article. Nearly two months passed before I received a letter from Mr. -Terry, requesting me to write an article on the subject on which I have -written; and, making due allowance for time, the date of our letters -were the same. In our experience, this crossing of letters answering -each other has twice occurred--the second by Mr. Terry answering a -request of mine.” - -Dr. Charles W. Hidden, of Newburyport, Mass., U.S.A., reports a -somewhat similar experience to that of Mark Twain and the above, which -was reported in a recent number of the _Religio-Philosophical Journal_: -A very peculiar plot impressed itself upon his mind, and he immediately -based a story upon the plot. He read the story to his family, and was -about to send it to a publication to which his wife had recently become -a subscriber. When the next number arrived he opened it to learn how to -forward his manuscript, and great was his surprise to find on the first -page a story bearing the title of his own, and a plot almost identical -with that which he had written. Parts of the published article appeared -word for word. It is needless to add that Dr. Hidden tossed his -manuscript into his desk, and it is there yet. His explanation is, -that he caught the title and the plot from another, just as Mark Twain -caught the plot of the “Big Bonanza” from his friend Simmons. - -It would be nigh impossible to illustrate the various phases of -thought-transference, ranging, as they do, from the association of -ideas which may be aroused by a hint, a half-uttered word, or a -gesture, to the unmistakable facts of pure mental transference, -and, higher still, to the region of pure psychism, where spirit -influences inspire and direct spirit, and thought-bodies are no longer -recognised as mere subjective spirits but living and tangible objective -personalities, albeit discarnate. - -We can say truly with Voltaire, “There is a power that acts within us, -without consulting us.” - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -Thought-Reading Experiments. - - -Having satisfactory evidence of the reality of thought-transference, -it would be interesting to know if this power or faculty can be -cultivated, and if so, how? I propose in this chapter to show how this -can be done, and how to give thought-reading entertainments. - -Experimental mind-reading may be distinguished, for the sake of study, -as the abnormal, the normal, and the spurious. - -The abnormal, that which takes place in trance, dream, vision, or -which may be the product of artificial somnambulism or of some -super-sensitive condition of the nervous system, through disease. We -observe thought-transference in these conditions, rather than attempt -to cultivate it. - -The normal, where the phenomena takes place in the ordinary waking -state, _without muscular contact_. - -The spurious mind-reading, so-called, as the result of musculation or -_contact_, but which is, in fact, only muscle-reading. - -In both the abnormal and normal, direct transference of thought -from mind to mind can only take place when there is the necessary -development of psychic activity in the agent or operator, and the -equally necessary sensitiveness in the sensitive or percipient. - -Classed under muscle-reading are those performances and games in which -the sensitive reads not the mind, but some special desire (of those -with whom he or she may be placed _in contact_), by a “careful study -of the indications unconsciously given by the agent or operator to the -percipient or reader.” - -In both abnormal and normal thought-reading, then, are presented -innumerable instances of the possession of psychic faculties; in the -muscle-reading phase there may be, and it is possible all successful -“readers” have, more or less sensitiveness, to take impressions. - -To cultivate mind-reading in a sensitive, the operator should first -cultivate in himself the habit of projecting mental pictures, and -think of things as seen by the eye, rather than as described by words. -This is best done by calling to mind a landscape or domestic scene, by -conceiving and mentally building up the same, and, by degrees, getting -each feature or detail well stamped in his mind. - -It is well in the beginning of these experiments to make the scene as -simple, and yet as natural and as complete in detail, as possible. For -instance, let the operator think of such a picture as this:--A bright -little landscape, having a well-defined cottage on the left, just on -the margin of a small lake; boat with two figures in the foreground; -rising bank upon the right; and a little higher up a defined windmill, -well thrown out by the perspective of blue-ridged and undulating -mountains, and sky in the background. - -The agent, having satisfied himself of his sensitive’s whole or -partial powers of psychic perception, might ask:--“Do you see anything -now?” and quickly and deliberately go to work, meanwhile formulating -definitely such a picture as the above; even allowing himself to get -into ecstacies over the scene--peopling the cottage and the mill, and -introducing imaginary conversation between the individual dwellers -therein, and so on. The sensitive will describe the whole as the -same is _felt_ or perceived. This experiment may appear to some to -be impossible, but the word impossible belongs to the limitations of -sense, and not to the range of the things possible to the human spirit. - -Some sensitives and mediums take impressions from their -surroundings--their clairvoyant revelations are often nothing more -than so much Mind-reading. _Nothing more_; but this nothing more is a -great deal. Certainly, it may not prove the existence of spirit, apart -from the sensitive’s own powers; but it does prove that man has other -avenues of knowledge than those with which he is usually credited. - -The development of mind-reading in the psychic states may be encouraged -by a little judicious assistance or direction. Invite the sensitive -to pay attention to So-and-so; to visit places, to examine rooms, or -describe people whom the sensitive has never seen. But the places, -the rooms, and the persons must be _distinctly in the minds_ of those -persons, or agents, with whom he or she is placed in _rapport_. - -During these experiments the sensitive will say, “I _see_ this,” or -describe that other, as if he actually saw. Hence the infinitely close -relationship of mind-reading to clairvoyance. Thought-reading in -spiritualism will be referred to in the next chapter. - -Once possessing a good sensitive, the development of the power, as -a matter of fact, lies particularly in the operator’s ability to -concentrate and focus his thoughts--to think clearly, calmly, vividly, -and distinctly himself--and to deliberately and conscientiously project -the same. - - -THE NORMAL EXPERIMENTS WITHOUT CONTACT. - -A pleasant hour or so can be profitably filled up on a long winter’s -evening with experiments in mind reading, without resorting to -mesmerism. It will be found that there are mind-readers in every -family--some boy, girl, or young woman more sensitive than the rest to -impressions. - -Sometimes it has been found, when two or more persons think of the -same object, as in the “willing game,” the impression becomes more -vivid, and the sensitive finds, or describes, the article, or thing, -more easily. It has been left to the versatility of Professor Lodge, -of the University College, Liverpool, to project two distinct images -at the same time to a sensitive. He requested two friends to look at -a paper that he had given to each. On one paper a square was drawn, -and on the other an oblique cross. Neither person knew what the other -was looking at, and after they had looked intently at these diagrams -for a short time, the sensitive, who was in a normal condition, but -blindfold, said:--“I see two figures--first I see one, and then, -below that, another. I do not know which I am to draw. I cannot see -either plainly.” Having been requested to draw what she saw, she drew -a square, with an oblique cross inside of it. On being questioned, -she replied that she did not know why she placed the cross in the -square. The two images projected by distinct minds, intermingled, and -were produced, as narrated by Professor Lodge. We can readily see -that confusion will arise where a number of persons are thinking of -different subjects, or when some positive-minded individual declares -mind-reading to be an impossibility. - -Something after the above experiments of Professor Lodge are those -which were conducted by Mr. Guthrie, a London barrister, and reported -by him to the Society of Psychical Research. - -A number of diagrams, roughly drawn off-hand at the time, were shown to -the agent or precipitant, Mr. G., the subject, or percipient, a lady, -being blind-fold. During the process of transference, the agent looked -steadily and in silence at the drawing, the subject meanwhile sitting -opposite to him, and behind the stand on which the drawing lay, so -that it was entirely out of her range of vision had her eyes not been -blind-folded. - -The agent stopped looking at the drawing when the subject professed -herself ready to make the attempt to reproduce it. The time occupied -thus was from half a minute to two or three minutes. Then the -handkerchief was removed, and she drew with a pencil what had occurred -to her mind. - -[Illustration: RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS IN THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.] - -[Illustration: RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS IN THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.] - -The reproductions were made generally without the agent following or -watching the process. We reproduce several of the attempts here, giving -both the successes and the failures. Even the failures show the effect -Mr. G. produced upon the reader’s mind. - -The experiments conducted so successfully in the family of the Rev. -Mr. Creery, of Boston, and made public by Professor Barrett in _The -Journal of Psychical Research_, show to what extent thought-reading -may be successfully carried on in the quietude and confidence of a -well-regulated family. - -The mode of procedure adopted by Professor Barrett to test the faculty -as possessed by the children was as follows:--“One of the children,” -says Professor Barrett, “was sent into an adjoining room, the door of -which I saw was closed. On returning to the sitting-room, and closing -the door also, I thought upon some object in the house, fixed upon at -random. Writing the name down, I showed it to the family present, the -strictest silence being preserved throughout. We then all silently -thought of the name of the thing selected. In a few seconds the door -of the adjoining room was heard to open, and after a short interval -the child would enter the sitting-room, generally speaking, with the -object selected. No one was allowed to leave the sitting-room after -the object had been fixed upon, and no communication with the child -was conceivable, as her place was often changed. Further, the only -instructions given to the child were to fetch some objects in the house -that I would think upon and, together with the family, silently keep in -mind, to the exclusion as far as possible of all other ideas.” - -Now, if Professor Barrett had told the children to select a word, and -upon coming into the room were to spell or state what the word was, I -question if the experiments would have been so successful. The articles -thought of, whether a hair brush, an orange, wine glass, apple, or a -playing card, were of such a nature that a definite picture or image of -the thing thought of could be formed in the mind. The father, mother, -and even Professor Barrett, seem to have been especially in _rapport_ -with the little sensitives, and thus all the more readily were they -able to transmit the mental picture of the articles selected. Trick or -collusion in this case is absolutely out of the question. It would be -interesting to know if these young sensitives, who were so bright in -1881, still retain, or have increased or lost, their powers. - -There were 312 trials made during Professor Barrett’s stay of six -days, who adds--“One most striking piece of success, when the things -selected were divulged to none of the family, was five cards running -named correctly on the first trial--the odds against this happening -once in our series, being considerably over one million to one. We had -altogether a good many similar batches, the two longest runs being -eight consecutive successes, once with cards and once with names, -when the adverse odds in the former case were over one hundred and -forty-two millions to one, and on the latter, something incalculably -greater. _Walls and closed doors made no difference._” [The italics are -mine.--J.C.] - -Something after the foregoing style are drawing-room entertainments -given. If failure result, no one is blamed, and ridiculous mistakes -only lend pleasure to the company, where all are known one to the other. - -The usual method is to select someone for thought-reader. Lady or -gentleman, matters little. He or she is sent out of the room. Some -one in the room generally takes the lead, who may suggest the article -to be selected and hidden, which the thought-reader is to find. The -article selected is thought of by the entire company. The reader is -to go to the place where it is, lift it, put it down, or give it to -some one else; or to find a certain book and remove it from its place -on table or elsewhere, and put it somewhere else; to come in and sit -on a certain chair or to lead someone else to it, or perform whatever -other test that is decided upon. The reader is admitted into the -room, and, if at all receptive, will do or say something like what is -desired--often going direct to the spot, lifting the article, or doing -the things which the company have decided upon. - -A good plan is to get the assistance of one or two friends, use a bag -of counters, upon which numbers 10 to 100 are placed; also a smaller -bag with numbers 1 to 9. Let the sensitive sit at a table in such a -position, so as, if not blindfolded, he or she could not see what the -agent has in his hand. Use the small bag to begin with. Let one friend -hold the bag, another select a number. When both have carefully looked -at it, let it be handed to the agent, who shall fix his eyes steadily -upon the figure, and picture the said figure on his mind. The sensitive -will in one or two minutes either say or write down what the figure is. -If these experiments become satisfactory, the larger bag can be used. -The experiments with numbers must not be continued too long, and so -weary the faculty. In the same way a number of simple outline designs -can be used--these presented one by one to the agent or operator--a -fish, a boy and barrow, a fireman with escape, a negro and banjo, a -lecturer on platform, an orange, a book, etc., such as are found in -children’s school books; repeating the same processes as above. No one -must speak but the agent and the percipient, nor is the agent to know -what the numbers or designs are before the experiments are commenced. - -Should failure occur, select another medium. In a company of twenty -to thirty persons it will be very strange if a good thought-reading -sensitive is not found. In which case, more serious experiments may be -attempted subsequently, and attain scientific value. - -The thought-reader should be blindfolded, and _resign_ himself to the -_influence_ of the agent or operator. Although he understands that -something is expected of him, he is not to be anxious about what, but -simply _act_ as he _feels_ himself prompted. - -In proportion as the sensitive is able to give up anxiety and desire, -so will he be able to become a good reader. - -The operator, or agent, must concentrate his mind upon what is -required, and _will_ the sensitive to do it. When two or more persons, -or all in the room, _are_ concentrating their minds upon the thing, -object, or word, the sensitive may all the sooner be influenced; but -I prefer that one person should be chosen as the operator, and all -intended experiments be submitted to him. - -The process is analogous to that of mesmerism. We see traces here of -the influence of mind over mind. We see the operator determines and -the subject performs, although it may not be very clear how thought is -actually projected, or in what way it is received, other than already -suggested. - -Practice makes perfect in this as in other things. Success is -proportionate to success. A reader showing a degree of susceptibility -at first attempts will generally improve by subsequent efforts. In a -similar way, operators will make headway with practice. Some operators -and sensitives will be successful at first trial; others again have -failed after repeated attempts. - -Plenty of time should be taken for all first attempts. Let the -operator, for instance, keep his mind thoroughly fixed on the object. -Should the reader be going away from it, let the agent strongly wish -him to go back, _touch_ it, lift it, etc., as previously decided upon -by the company. - -All sensitive persons are likely to make good thought-readers; the less -sensitive, muscle-readers. - - -MUSCLE-READING ENTERTAINMENTS. - -Thought-transference, like clairvoyance, is unequal in power and -manifestation, even with good percipients, and cannot be turned on -like, and with, the evening gas, to enlighten and entertain. Hence -those enterprising entertainers, like Bishop and Cumberland, depended -on “muscle-reading,” and “backed-up their show” with tricks, some of -them so puerile and barefaced that a third-rate conjuror would be -ashamed of them. - -The general public, however, enjoyed these entertainments. They were -something new, and, like “angel’s visits,” were few and far between. -Not only so, but that wonderful combination, the general public, saw -that these entertainments were patronised by men of science, such as -Carpenter, Beard, Hammond, Baron Kelvin, and others deeply in love -with strictly materialistic hypothesis. They were also patronised by -“society.” These entertainers undertook to read thoughts and expose -spiritualism; and as the dear public loves mystery, it went. But the -dear public don’t like to be “taken in,” hence these performances are -generally repeated--in the next town. - -The following, reported from St. John’s, N.B., January 17, 1887, in -the _Herald_, is a good illustration of the psychic and muscular -indications involved in an experiment of this kind:--“In a -‘mind-reading’ performance on Saturday night, after several examples -indoors, the ‘reader,’ a young man who belongs to this city, asked for -an outdoor test. The party separated, one remaining with the reader, -and hid a pin in the side of a little house used by the switchman of -the New Brunswick Railway at Mill Street. In their travels they went -over the new railway trestle, a most difficult journey. The reader -was blindfolded, and one took his wrist, but at the trestle hesitated, -fearing to venture, and was told by the reader to let go his wrist and -place his hand on his head. The subject did so, and the reader went -upon the trestle. Some of the party suggested that the bandage should -be removed, but he told them not to mind, and, the subject again taking -the wrist, he went over the ice and snow-covered sleepers. With a -firm step he crossed to the long wharf, went over as far as the mill -gates, then quickly turned, retraced his steps, and went back to the -corner of Mill Street. Here he rested a minute, then again took the -subject’s hand, and in less than five minutes afterwards found the pin. -At the conclusion of the test, the reader inquired what the matter had -been when they first reached the trestle. It was easily explained. -The storm had covered the sleepers with snow, and it was thought -dangerous, even for a man not blindfolded to cross them. The subject -felt anxious for the reader’s safety, and hesitated about going across. -The tests were most satisfactory.” Thought or mind-reading applied to -these experiments is a misnomer. If this young gentleman could “read -thoughts” by musculation, or _contact_, he would have known what the -matter had been when they first reached the trestle. Muscle-reading is -not thought-reading. Hence it is classified as spurious. - -Any number of illustrations could be given of such entertainments. The -foregoing is sufficiently adequate to give an idea of how these muscle -(not thought) reading entertainments are given. - -For drawing-room entertainments, first blindfold the reader, who is -conducted out of the room while the experiments are decided upon. The -blindfolding helps to mystify friends, who think the work is rendered -more difficult. As a matter of fact, the reader’s work is rendered much -more easy. It helps to isolate him, and leaves his mind much less -entrammelled by sights and impressions which would otherwise prevent -him receiving _the_ impressions which it is desirable he should receive. - -Suppose the reader is to locate the seat of an imaginary pain, the -assistant or operator _pro tem._ will grasp[F] with his left hand -the sensitive’s right wrist and hold it firmly. While the reader is -endeavouring to locate the pain, the operator must give up his will, -and think intently on the situation of the pain. The reader will then -locate it. - -There is less secret in this than appears at first sight. The -sensitive, or reader, is simply guided or led by the operator, and the -reader’s hand either stops partially over or is pressed upon the seat -of the pain. He then declares he has found the seat of the pain, and -points it out accordingly. - -A somewhat similar method is adopted in finding the pin, or the _hole_ -in which a pin _had been_. The racing and flying about of public -thought-readers are only so much “theatrical side,” thrown in to give -dramatic effect to their performances. - -In reading the numbers on bank-notes, or spelling out certain words, a -board with the numerals and the alphabet (see front cover) is placed -in sight of the audience. The reader takes the wrist of the operator, -and, commencing at the left side of the board, proceeds from figure to -figure till he detects the right one. The operator thinks only of _one_ -figure or letter at a time. This is the whole secret of “musculation.” -Even when the operators are sincere, and are careful to give no -conscious indications to the reader, yet it is almost certain, if they -keep their mind fixed on the desired figure or letter, object or place, -they will unconsciously indicate to the reader the right number or -letter. - -To find an article, number, or do a certain act, it is necessary -for the reader to give prompt obedience to the indications given -him. The concentration of attention necessary can only come with -practice. No end of surprises and amusement will follow if the operator -honestly concentrates his mind upon the things to be done, and a good -muscle-reader is found to take up the indications. Apparently, the most -difficult feats are sometimes accomplished. - -During the experiments, the reader will have curious sensations, such -as heaviness of feeling, dread and uncertainty, and then _blankness_ -of mind, followed by an impulse to do something. If the reader can -keep his mind passive enough, he may receive impressions, as in -thought-transference; anyway, it is advisable to wait for the impulse -to move and to do. The highest percentages of success always follow. - -General directions for the cultivation of experimental -thought-transference and mind-reading given in these pages are -sufficiently specific, to be found thoroughly practical by those who -have put them into practice; and certainly no harm, either mental or -physical, can come to those who are willing to give them a fair trial. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -Spiritualism. - - -Any reference to Spiritualism here must be very brief, and, I am -afraid, very incomplete. I will deal with the subject in the light of -the preceding chapters. - -It has been established on the clearest evidence that -thought-transference and reception between two nearly harmonised or -sympathetic human beings, or embodied human spirits, are possible, and -this without intermediate sense or physical agencies. If, then, between -mind and mind on earth, distance or space being no obstacle, matter no -hindrance, why not between mind disincarnate--if we can conceive of -mind apart from the human brain and organism--and mind incarnate? If -not, why not? - -It seems to me very difficult, if we accept the first, to reject the -latter conclusion. If we accept the latter, we are committed in the -main to belief in Spiritualism, ancient and modern. If we admit that it -is possible for a disembodied spirit to communicate with us in dream, -vision, or, as in the case of Miss Howett, have our hands influenced to -write, or that we see and converse with spirits, as in the case of Mary -Reynolds, we then admit, and accept in the main, the essential features -of what is known as Spiritualism. The subject is not only interesting, -but of vital importance; therefore, I think, the fear of being called -a “Spiritualist,” or any other name, should not prevent us sounding to -the depths, the psychic possibilities of our human nature. - - -THE SPIRIT WITHIN US. - -There is Spiritualism _and_ Spiritualism. That which I am most -interested in is not so much a hankering after spirits, “spirit -controls,” and the phenomena, generally recognised as the right thing -in certain circles, as that other Spiritualism which leads to an honest -endeavour on our parts to ascertain if we are spirits, here and now, -albeit clothed for the time being in an organic envelope, relating us -to our present estate. - -If we are embodied spirits, it will be possible for the spirit-man (the -essential self--_ego_, I am), in each human being to communicate at -times, and under certain fitting conditions, with other fellow-beings, -under such circumstances, and in such a way, as to make it clear:-- - -(_a._) That the communications could not have been transmitted and -received by the ordinary channels, or physical sense organs, which in -ordinary circumstances appear essential to our exchange of thought. - -(_b._) That the exchange of thought, in independence of the ordinary -sense channels, will demonstrate that man must possess other, -extraordinary or psychic, organs for the transmission and the reception -of thought. - -Both positions I have endeavoured to sustain on the foregoing pages; -and, lastly, concerning spiritualism, I have arrived at the profound -conclusion that spirit-communion--that is, thought transmission from -the disembodied to the embodied--is a solemn fact. After carefully -eliminating all the possibilities of self-deception--auto-trance, -discreet degrees of consciousness, of natural and acquired -clairvoyance, of thought-transference and mind-reading, and lastly, -the puerile performances of conjurors and the simulated phenomena of -tricksters--there remains evidence of disembodied or disincarnate -spirit, and of such control influencing and directing the actions of -men, just as one man in this life influences and directs the actions of -another. - -What I esteem, however, as satisfactory evidence might not be evidence -to another; and I for one do not think it necessary to open up the -life chambers of my psychic experiences to the indifferent, the -thoughtless, or the sceptic, to furnish the desired evidence. Others -must travel by the way I have come to understand something of that way. -All men cannot believe alike, hence it will not be surprising that some -will accept as sufficient evidence of spirit what others would deem -insufficient. - -It is not my intention meantime to advocate spiritualism. I only refer -to it, in so far as it is related to “How to Thought-Read.” However, -phenomenal spiritualism is not a matter of belief so much as of -evidence, and many eminent thinkers have been compelled by the force of -the evidence to accept spiritualism now, who, a quarter of a century -ago, would have hesitated, principally through fear of ridicule, to -speak of the subject in language of ordinary civility. - -While I am convinced that such communications between the so-called -dead and the living are possible, I do know and feel satisfied that -much which is accepted as evidence of the existence and influence of -spirits by the majority of the unthinking and excitable crowd who rush -after novelties, and perchance call themselves “spiritualists,” is -traceable to no other or higher source than our own innate, but little -understood, human or psychic powers. I have arrived at this conclusion -also, as the result of carefully investigating spiritualism, and it -is therefore not an _a priori_ hypothesis conveniently elaborated -from my own or borrowed from the brains of others who are opponents -to spiritualism. It is probable, had I not devoted the greater part -of my life to spiritualism, as one of the factors in human character, -I should have known but little of that sympathetic transference of -thought from one mind to another, or of the light which that fact -throws upon our dual or compound existence. - -In this “sympathetic transference of thought” we find a solution to the -problem of spiritualism, whether old or new. I conclude, with Buffon, -“The true springs of our organisation are _not_ these muscles, these -veins, these arteries, which are described with so much exactness and -care. There exist in organised bodies _internal forces_ which do not -follow the gross mechanical laws we imagine, and to which we would -reduce everything.” Or, as Laplace puts it more strongly--“Beyond -the limits of this visible anatomy commences another anatomy, whose -phenomena we cannot perceive; beyond the limits of this external -physiology of forces, of action, and of motion, exists another -_invisible physiology, whose principles, effects, and laws are of the -greatest importance to know_.” - -It may be esteemed reprehensible to “seek communion with the dead;” -but to know ourselves, to fathom this _invisible physiology_, whose -principles, effects, and laws are of such importance to understand, I -hold to be not only legitimate but perfectly laudable. How can we serve -God, whom we have not seen, if we do not understand ourselves, whom we -think we have seen, or the laws which govern our being, as created by -him? To know ourselves as we should, we ought not to neglect the search -for “the spirit within us.” - - -THE REJECTION OF THE PSYCHIC. - -Many persons--scientific, theological, learned, and illiterate--reject -the psychic, and refrain from investigating, either from constitutional -bias or from crass ignorance; and such have played the part of learned -Sadducees or low fellows of the baser sort before anything having the -remotest flavour of spirit. The man of science is rendered purblind by -“my hypothesis,” the theologian by “my belief,” the man of the world -by “my business” or “my position.” The respectable church-goer--who -vaccinates his children, as he has them baptised, because it is -the proper thing to do--has neither head nor heart, apparently, to -understand anything beyond the common ideas of the hour. He would -crucify all new thought, or new spiritualism for that matter, as the -Jews did Jesus, because the new doctrines promulgated and the new -wonders performed tend to subvert the present respectable order of -things. - -The worship of Diana is not confined to ancient Ephesus. The great -Diana of old was the type of that “Respectable Custom” which the -majority of mankind worship and obey to-day, because, as of yore, it -conserves their vested interests, official connections, and brings -them “much gain.” As for the man in the street--the multitude having -no shepherd--he is always more or less hypnotised by the well-clad and -well-fed, smug-faced worshippers of the aforesaid “Respectable Custom;” -hence he is ever ready to shout “Crucify,” or “Hurrah,” or aught else -he is influenced to do, especially if such exercises give him pleasure -and excitement for the time being. He accepts or rejects as he sees -“his betters” think best, and so, unfortunately, is unfitted to a large -degree, for the intelligent investigation of his own nature. These form -the largest group of rejectors of the phenomenal evidences of soul. - -The psychic, however, has suffered less from such rejectors than from -those who claim to be recognised and known as converts and exponents -of the same, who at best have only shown themselves to be “seekers -after a sign.” They may have run into the wilderness and have had -a bit of miraculous bread, and yet not be a pennyworth the better -of it in either soul or body--_i.e._, life or conduct. These, by -their foolishness, have prevented many well-meaning and otherwise -able persons investigating the psychic, for the latter saw nothing -in the lives of professed spiritualists to make them desire to have -anything to do with spiritualism. Moreover, coming in contact with -the iconoclastic in spiritualism, they have become disgusted with the -crude and the coarse therein, as they have with the revelations, -inspirations, and fads, advocated by certain mediums, and hence have -rejected the wheat because of the apparent great quantity of tares. - - -THE FRAUDULENT IN SPIRITUALISM. - -I am afraid the trend of modern civilisation, which leads men from -the beauties and quietude of hill and dale, of valley and river side, -into crowded city life, has tended to make men exoteric. They run -after signs and wonders without, and too little to the spirit within. -The broader view of being, and that self-culture and purity which -arises from the exercise of man’s innate powers, and makes for true -regeneration and spiritual progress, here and hereafter, have been more -or less sacrificed to the external and the phenomenal. - -The love of the phenomenal, in and out of Spiritualism, has created -a crowd of harpies, impostors, or fraudulent mediums--male and -female--who trade on human credulity, some to earn a pittance, and -others to gratify vanity. Men and women have been known to risk -reputation for both. In this way Spiritualism has its quota of -deceivers and deceived. - -There are some people who must have phenomena, just as there are other -people who will have sermons. If they don’t get exactly what they want, -they withdraw “their patronage”--the finances. So, if the patronage is -to be retained, phenomena and sermons have to be supplied--if the first -are fraudulent or the latter stolen. - -Seeing how fugitive real psychological phenomena are--natural or -induced--one must necessarily hesitate to accept “trance addresses,” -“inspirational orations,” “medical controls,” clairvoyant, and -second-sight exhibitions, which are supplied to order, to gratify -patrons, at so much per hour. It is human to err, but the manufacturer -of spurious phenomena, the impostor who trades on the ties, and the -dearest of human affections, is a devil. There is no iniquity too -low--earthly or devilish--to which he will not as readily descend to -gratify his vampirish nature. - -I am not disposed to accept the infallibility of spirits for that of -Popes--large or small--or professional media, in place of professional -priests and ministers, and there is by far too much of this in -Spiritualism. - -In the foregoing connection, I must refer to another source of -error--this time, however, more related to physical rather than psychic -phenomena--viz., the credulity of those who are disposed to believe -that certain conjurors are aided in their performances by spirit -agency. Personally, I would sooner believe that mediums for “Physical -Phenomena” resorted to conjuring to aid “spirits,” than believe that -“spirits” resorted to “hanky-panky” to aid conjurors. No wonder -“frauds” smile. Years ago I had to protest against this absurdity, -when people--who ought to know better--talked this kind of nonsense -about conjurors, as they do about certain fraudulent mediums now--viz., -“they are aided by spirits.” Owing to this lack of discrimination and -want of trained discernment in Spiritualists and the general public, -mediumistic frauds have fooled, to their utmost bent, fresh groups of -dupes at home and abroad. - -I am none the less disposed to accept the genuine, because we recognise -sources of error connected therewith, and are determined to set our -faces against palpable frauds. - - -SPIRITUALISM WITHOUT SPIRITS. - -We may now turn from the wretched arena of imposture, duplicity, -and credulity, to genuine, but little understood, phenomena in -Spiritualism. We have seen that much which has been attributed to -the agency of disembodied spirits is due, in many instances, to the -action of man’s own psychic states, “the double, who is wiser than -we,” and to the fact that, as often as not, trance states, automatic -and planchette writing, are self-induced conditions. Equally so, -clairvoyance, thought-transference, and psychometry do not require -the “agency of spirit” to account for their existence as “gifts,” -qualities or powers. It will be time enough to admit such agency--that -of disembodied spirit--when the evidence in each particular case is -reasonably conclusive. I think this is the only wise and safe course to -pursue. - -Clairvoyance may be native or induced, self-cultivated or cultivated -by aid of a mesmerist. As it has been exercised naturally, and without -any such aid, the exhibition of clairvoyance--in itself--is no evidence -of disembodied spirit-presence or control. Equally, the seeing of, and -the describing of, spirits by a clairvoyant--even if the descriptions -are apparently accurate--may present no evidence of the real presence -of such spirits. I do not deny that clairvoyants can see spirits, -but the mere fact of being able to see and describe spirits, is not -sufficient evidence--the _seer_ is controlled by spirit-power to -see, or that the spirits described are actually _bona-fide_ spirits. -Frequently, so-called spirits have no other existence than the image -of them possessed by some positive-minded individual. A clairvoyant, -_perceiving_ these images, might naturally enough conclude she was -actually seeing the spirits which she described. - -If Mr. Stead, for instance, is convinced that “Sister Dora,” -“Cardinal Manning,” or “Lord Tennyson,” are at his side, in his -rooms, influencing and directing his mind, or at other times actually -controlling his arm and hand to write, a clairvoyant in sympathy with -him may describe this or that other spirit he is _thinking_ about. But -that does not prove the spirit or spirits are actually present. - -A lady (Mrs. Davis), whose name has come prominently before the -public as Mr. Stead’s clairvoyante, being questioned as to Mr. Stead’s -automatic writing and her own gift, said:--“I know probably more about -that than anyone. I was in his office some time in the beginning of -December last regarding the forthcoming publication of a book of mine -concerning spiritualism. The conversation turned upon spiritualistic -automatic handwriting. I did not know the deceased lady who was writing -through him, but I saw her behind his chair as distinctly as if she -had been in the flesh. I described her position as she stood and her -appearance. She at once wrote through Mr. Stead’s hand confirming all I -had stated concerning her in my description. Mr. Stead’s hand continued -to write. I knew afterwards it wrote out a message stating that another -spirit was in the room. Mr. Stead asked me if I could describe that -spirit. I had to wait some little time before I detected it, and -there I recognised as in the flesh a very famous personage recently -dead, whose loss was mourned all the world over in prose and verse. I -carefully described the spirit as he appeared to me, and then Mr. Stead -said I was right. But, I answered, I see another male spirit. Ask the -deceased lady who is writing through you to write the name of the last -spirit. Mr. Stead’s hand automatically moved, and he wrote the name -of a son of the famous personage already alluded to.” Mrs. Davis says -she has been strongly impressed with the fact that Mr. Stead has been -selected by the spirits as their champion from the peculiar and unique -position he occupies in the journalistic world, and he will be the -agent who will break through the solid walls of bigotry and prejudice. -Mr. Stead may or may not have written under spirit influence, and -this lady may or may not have seen spirits as described. We must -not conclude in the latter case that Mr. Stead and his “trustworthy -clairvoyante” are stating anything they do not believe to be true. I -believe she saw, as described or thought of by Mr. Stead, a “deceased -lady;” and that she also saw, as equally thought by him, “a very famous -personage recently dead;” also “another male spirit,” whose name she -did not know until Mr. Stead wrote the name. This narrative, however -interesting as to automatic writing and spirit agency in the opinions -of those concerned, conveys no tangible evidence of either the one or -the other. To us it is interesting in the fact that Mrs. Davis _saw the -spirits thought of by Mr. Stead_. We must think twice before we can -accept this as evidence of spirits and spirit-presence. Although it is -possible those concerned have evidence, we have not. We have, however, -evidence here of thought-transmission and psychic impressionability. - -When we read of persons who have been raised up, as mediums of St. -Peter, St. Paul, or St. John, or a publishing company being run by -Shakespeare through a special medium, and worked by a syndicate of -Spiritualists, I think we are entitled to doubt these claims, even -though a dozen clairvoyants vouched for the existence and presence of -the aforesaid spirits. - -Psychometry furnishes evidence that many so-called spirits are not -spirits “at all, at all”--only visions of the originals; and the fact -that such and such an individual has been accurately described--actions -and manners carefully indicated--and this has been and is accurately -done in health and disease daily--is no evidence, in itself, that -psychometers have seen spirits. Thus, when a psychometer places a -geological specimen to his forehead, and describes an “antediluvian -monster,” roaring and walking about, no one but a very shallow -individual would imagine for a second the psychometer was actually -seeing the original. So many of the spirits and spectres seen do -not proceed from our own brains, but from objects, relics, and old -houses, which had been in times past impinged by the living presence -and magnetism of the originals. Then we must take into consideration -those spectres which proceed from our own brains, such as the -realistic images which are sometimes projected from the background -of consciousness to our eyes and ears. Many so-called spirits are -simply the product of diseased neurological conditions, in short, -hallucinations, which arise from some derangement of the optic and -auditory centres. The spectres seen by Nicolai gradually disappeared as -he lost blood, as the prescribed leeches tranquilised his system. We -have no reason to believe the spectres he saw, visions and what not, -were actually either spirits or produced by spirits. - - -MIND-READING IN SPIRITUALISM - -is the commonest of most common experiences. I have known mediums to -graphically describe scenes, persons, and incidents with such vividness -as to impress one they must be controlled by spirits intimately -acquainted with the whole circumstances which were revealed. Closer -examination indicates that all the information so given by these -mediums was based on the thought-read phase. That is, the information -was culled from the minds of spirits in the flesh, and did not come -from disembodied sources. - -Some years ago I attended a series of seances in Liverpool. Nearly -all the family were mediums of some sort. I was at this time very -enthusiastic in my investigations. Consequently, the following incident -was not lost upon me. One evening the circle met, with the usual -members. Shortly after the circle was formed, the daughter of the -house went into the trance state. There were several controls, one -of whom professed to be a man who, the day before, had been injured -on board one of Lambert & Holt’s steamers, which lay in the Bramley -Moore Dock. The “spirit” described the accident, how he was injured, -and that he was carried to the hospital, and had “passed away.” Owing -to the suddenness of his death, he wished us to communicate with his -family, and desired the circle to pray for him, etc. As near as I can -recollect, when asked for further particulars, name, family, there was -no definite reply. The medium quivered, and a new control had taken -possession of her. I, however, neither doubted the _bona-fides_ of the -spirit nor the medium. I was especially interested in this control. I -thought this time I had obtained a test of spirit identity. But alas -for the imperfection of human hopes, I was doomed to disappointment. -I clung to the idea the spirit would come back again, and when he got -“more power,” we would get the particulars he wanted to give us. He did -not come back--and no wonder. Four months subsequently, I met the real -Simon Pure in the flesh. - -To explain more fully: On the day previous to the seance mentioned, I -was on board the newly-arrived steamer in question. The lumpers were -getting out the cargo. This man had been working on the top of the -cargo in the main hold “hooking on.” I paid no particular attention at -the time to him, but an hour after I heard a great outcry, and saw a -rush of men to the main hold. When I turned back and got there, I found -this man senseless and bleeding. - -The hooks had slipped off a bale while easing out some cargo. One of -them had caught the poor fellow in the mouth, and had torn up his cheek -almost to the right ear. He was to all appearance dying. I temporarily -dressed his face, and the stevedore had him put on a stretcher and sent -to the hospital. _I did not know his name or the hospital to which -he was removed._ That day and the next the whole scene was vividly -impressed on my mind. Hence that night the circumstances at the seance -seem to me to be quite natural. Everything advanced was wonderfully -apposite and convincing. It was not till I saw the man, and conversed -with him, that my so-called test of spirit identity resolved itself -into so much thought or mind reading, so that, even presuming the -medium or sensitive was controlled by “a spirit,” there can be no doubt -the source of the spirit’s information was purely mundane. - - -AUTOMATIC AND PLANCHETTE WRITING, - -upon which so much reliance is placed, as furnishing evidence of -“disembodied spirit control,” presents similar difficulties. The -recording of forgotten incidents, and predicting possibilities in the -future, are not beyond the powers of the innate human spirit--wholly -and utterly unaided by spirit agency. Therefore automatic writing--when -genuine--does not necessarily furnish evidence of spirit control, not -even when the person who writes believes, and honestly believes too, he -is so controlled to write. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -Spiritualism.--_Continued._ - - -Automatic writing is a phase of phenomenal Spiritualism most difficult -to prove. In the majority of cases we are reduced to the awkward -position of accepting or rejecting the assertions of the persons who -declare that the writing done by them is automatic--that is, written -without thought and volition on their part. A close examination of -this claim may lead to the conclusion that automatic writing is not -impossible. Whether the controlling agent is “the spirit within us,” or -a disembodied spirit, or both, is not a matter of much importance, if -it is established, the writing is automatic. When messages are written -without volition, in the handwriting of deceased persons, signed by -their names, such messages must be treated on their merits. I have -seen messages written in this way. I have seen messages written, not -only automatically, but _direct_. Some were written the reverse way, -and could only be read by holding up to the light or to a mirror. The -direct writing was done in an exceedingly short time, two or three -hundred words in less time than an expert phonographer could write -the same by the most expeditious efforts. The evidence in favour of -telepathic writing is not very strong, but of _direct_ writing there -appears to be abundant proof. - -Dr. Nichols, in his fascinating work, “Forty Years of American Life,” -writes:--“I knew a Methodist sailor in New York, a simple, illiterate, -earnest man, who became what is called a test medium. He came to -see me in Cincinnati, and one evening we had also as visitors two -distinguished lawyers: one of them a brother of Major Anderson, “the -hero of Fort Sumter;” the other, a gentleman from Michigan, and one -of the ablest lawyers practising in the Supreme Court of the United -States. I had brought into the drawing-room a heavy walnut table, and -placed it in the centre of the room. The medium sat down on one side -of it, and the sharp Michigan lawyer, who was a stranger to us and the -medium, on the other. The medium placed his fingers lightly upon the -table. It tilted up under them, the two legs nearest him rising several -inches. The lawyer examined the table, and tried to give it a similar -movement, but without success. There was a force and a consequent -movement he could not account for. There was no other person near the -table, there was no perceptible muscular movement, and in no way in -which it could be applied to produce the effect. - -“When there was no doubt on this point, the lawyer, at the -suggestion of the medium, wrote with careful secrecy on five bits -of paper--rolling each up like a pea as he wrote--the names of five -deceased persons whom he had known. Then he rolled them about until -he felt sure that no one could tell one pellet from the other. Then, -pointing to them successively, the tipping table selected one, which -the gentleman, without opening, put in his waistcoat pocket, and threw -the rest into the fire. - -“The next step was to write the ages of these five persons at their -death, on as many bits of paper, which were folded with the same care. -One of these was selected, and again, without being opened, deposited -in the lawyer’s pocket, which now contained a name and a number -indicating age. - -“With the same precautions the lawyer then wrote, in the same way, on -bits of paper, the places where these persons died, the diseases of -which they died, and the dates of their decease, going through the -same process with each. He had then in his pocket five little balls of -paper, each selected by a movement of the table, for which no one could -account. - -“At this moment the hand of the medium seized a pencil, and with -singular rapidity dashed off a few lines, addressed to the lawyer as -from a near relative, and signed with a name which the medium very -certainly had never heard. - -“The lawyer, very much astonished, took from his pocket the five paper -balls, unrolled them, spread them before him on the table, and read the -same name as the one on the written message, with the person’s age, the -place and time of death, and the disease of which he died. They all -corresponded with each other and the message. No person had approached -the table, and neither lawyer nor medium had moved. It was in my own -house, under a full gas light, and, so far as I could see, or can see -now, no deception was possible. - -“The written communication, which purported to come from a deceased -relative of the gentleman only expressed, in affectionate terms, -happiness at being able to give him this evidence of immortality.” - -This incident is introduced here in illustration of one out of many -phases of mediumship known to spiritualists. We see here both psychic -and physical powers-exercised, not generally recognised as possible. -A massive table moved without physical leverage or exertion, and -“thoughts read,” which formed the basis of the message. Trickery and -collusion in this instance are absolutely out of the question. The -only questions which remain to answer are: “Did this medium possess in -himself the powers referred to? or did he possess them in consequence -of being controlled by a disembodied spirit, as claimed by the -message?” Although the message in itself did not contain evidence of -any other source of information than that emanating from the lawyer’s -own mind, we are forced to the conclusion that either the medium or -the spirit controlling the medium had power to read his mind, and of -exerting what Professor Crookes and Sergeant Cox would call Psychic -Force to move the table, and indicate what pellets to select. We have -here evidence of an intelligence capable of exercising an unknown force -and of reading thoughts--that intelligence claimed to be a human spirit. - - -TRANCE ADDRESSES. - -Trance and inspirational addresses, however, do not, in my opinion, -furnish much evidence of the reality of spirit control. We are -interested in the phenomena--taking for granted that these trance and -inspirational states are genuine--although the evidence of external -spirit control presented is often _nil_. The controls may or may -not be veritable realities to their own mediums--professional or -otherwise--but this is of little value, as evidence, to the public. -I have known mediumistic and otherwise sensitive persons to be -controlled--_i.e._, taken possession of by their reading. One gentleman -swallowed large doses of Theodore Parker. In time he thought of -Parker, talked of Parker, and finally believed he was “inspired” by -Theodore Parker. This gentleman had been a Unitarian before being a -Spiritualist, and doubtless his mind had been broadened and brightened -by his course of Theodore Parker; but beyond his own belief and the -evident state of excitability he exhibited when speaking under this -supposed control, there was actually no evidence of “spirit control” -worthy of notice. - -Mrs. Cora L. V. Tappan-Richmond, an inspirational medium, from America, -delivered a series of remarkable addresses in this country about -twenty years ago. These were published by J. Burns, of Southampton -Row, Holborn, W.C. A young gentleman from Brighton heard and read the -lectures, and finally budded forth as “an inspirational speaker.” For -a long time the public got nothing but the Tappan lectures diluted. We -had the same marvellous, even flow, similar processes of reasoning, -fertility of illustration, and unbounded capacity for assertion. No one -dare say this person was not inspired by the spirits. It might have -been a way the spirits had of breaking in their instrument, but I had -a shrewd suspicion the young orator was controlled by his reading. I -don’t know how many others have been influenced in this way. I have -noticed when a noted medium “came to town,” delivered a number of -addresses in public, or gave seances in private, immediately thereafter -a number of imitators professed--correctly or otherwise--principally -otherwise--to have been controlled by the guides, who were supposed -to control the medium aforesaid, and that they would soon be able to -give addresses and manifestations, and what not. On the other hand, the -noted mediums averred “their guides never controlled any other than -themselves,” etc. The conscientious investigator is left to wonder -how much imitation, vanity, and self-deception have to do with such -statements. - -Some of the most perfect oratory, and some of the ablest and most -cogent lectures and addresses I have ever listened to have been given -by trance and inspirational mediums. It was stated, as evidence of -spirit control, by those who professed to know, “that these mediums -could not reason and speak that way in their normal condition.” -All of which is worthy of consideration. At the same time I saw -nothing inherently impossible--judging from a physiological or -cerebral-physiognomic standpoint--to prevent these persons delivering, -unaided by spirit agency, the addresses referred to. That a person -speaks with greater ability, intelligence, or fluency in the trance -state compared with his known powers in the waking state, cannot, -alone, be accepted as proof of spirit control. We have seen hypnotised -subjects do the same. But the reality, or otherwise, of spirit agency, -cannot be estimated by the superiority, or otherwise, of the addresses -and messages given. - -In all public meetings and in seances where a medium is expected to -give trance and inspirational addresses the platform is “supported” -or the chair surrounded by sympathisers, whose presence is esteemed -favourable to “good conditions”--a “nebulous term” better understood -by Spiritualists than the public. When the address is, as is often the -case, a miserable jumble of things inconsequential, old, experienced -Spiritualists say it is owing “to bad conditions,” _i.e._, the -influence of the audience on the speaker being conflicting and bad, -hence the inconclusive rambling of the spirit’s oration. Whether -this is the true explanation or not, whether the medium was really -controlled or not, or the addresses successful or not, the fact remains -that Spiritualists admit that the “message” is not only “seriously -modified,” according to the channel (or medium) through whom it is -given, but that it may be deflected and distorted by the influences -of the audience to whom it is given. Whatever the real cause of the -imperfect oratory, what is this but admitting _the thoughts transferred -from the audience to the sensitive either make or mar the utterance_? -If spirit utterance is thus influenced, it becomes a difficult matter -to decide how much of the original message has reached us as intended, -and how unwise it is for some to have their lives directed by such -uncertain counsel. - -There are many persons so organised, that when they come in contact -with Spiritualism, (not knowing anything about clairvoyance, -psychometry, thought-transference, thought-reading, etc.) are so -convinced by what they hear and see for the first time--so much out of -the ordinary run of their experience--the only way they can account for -the phenomena is, “that they must be the work of spirits, for no human -being could tell what they knew, or what they wanted, save a spirit -who could read their thoughts.” This is just where, I think, the error -creeps in. Those very revelations which they in ignorance so readily -attribute as only possible coming from disembodied spirits, may be and -are in some instances quite possible to man, unaided by any such agency. - -Many years ago I sat with Mr. David Duguid, the Glasgow painting -medium. I had a “direct spirit painting” done. It was a correct--as -far as I can recollect--painting of a small farm-house and stead, in -the North of Ireland, where I as a child had been sent for my health. -Neither Mr. Duguid nor the control claimed to possess any actual -knowledge of me, or of the circumstances of my childhood. When I had an -opportunity of attending the seance in question, I wondered if such a -scene could be painted, and my wonder was greater when it was done. - -Here again, we have evidence of thought-transference. Whether Mr. -Duguid, by some occult power, caused the direct painting to be -done--his own spirit doing it while his body was in the trance -state--or the painting was produced by one of his controls, I am not -prepared to state. I am willing to state my belief that the painting -was not done by Duguid, the medium, or any other person present in the -room. One of the controls of the medium claimed to have painted the -little sketch, and, truth to tell, it is not more difficult to accept -this hypothesis than “the spirit of the medium did it.” In our ordinary -experience of human nature, we do not find it usual for men to give -credit to others--men or spirits--for what they are capable of doing -and saying themselves. - - -REFLECTIONS. - -It is quite possible, seeing that out of this life into the next, -through the portals of death, pass all sorts and conditions of human -beings, that in the next stage of existence--most closely allied -to that in which we now live--mankind are not essentially different -in character from what we find now. It is not, therefore, necessary -to call in the agency of demons, as distinct from human spirits, -to account for the phenomena of Spiritualism. If in artificial -somnambulism and the phenomena of the psychic state the operating agent -is an embodied human spirit, it is possible the same human spirit, -albeit disembodied, may still retain power to control or influence -other human beings. - -There is another and more serious matter for consideration, concerning -which our investigations of Spiritualism have thrown little or no -light--Spirit Identity. Not only do our friends depart and never -return, and many have promised to do so. How far are we certain -when spirits have returned? We may have been deceived by our own -impulsiveness, anxiety, and desire to feel and to know that “they are -not lost but gone before.” Again, admitting the genuineness of physical -phenomena, and conceding that all the communications are really made -by disembodied spirits or intelligent beings like unto ourselves, -what proof do we possess that they are really what they represent -themselves to be, or what they appear to be in spirit circles? “A bad -or mischievous spirit,” says Dr. Nichols, “may, for aught we know, -personate our friends, _penetrate our secrets_, and deceive us with -false representations.” This is certainly worth thinking about. My -object in writing is not to turn my readers against Spiritualism, -but to get them to bring into the investigation judgment, not only -to analyse evidence, but the capacity to “judge not according to -appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” It is no part of my -purpose to deal with the history, ethics, or even the phenomena of -Spiritualism. That has been well done by others. I merely write to show -that Spiritualism “has something in it,” and is of such importance -that it is neither to be lightly rejected on the one hand, nor are -its phenomena at all times to be attributed to agency of disembodied -spirits. - -Spiritualism is a many-sided subject, and too vast in its -proportions to be dealt with here, and while I have no doubt that -its public mediumistic exponents are no more perfect than the rest -of humanity--much is laid at their door which may have a basis on -fact--yet I do think they often suffer unjustly. Firstly, from the -cries of the ignorant--educated or otherwise, matters little--who -charge them with fraud, simply because such people are ignorant of the -psychic possibilities of man; and, secondly, from the admiring and -thoughtless many who are prepared to accept the commonest of psychic -phases instanter as evidence of “disembodied spirit” presence and -power. I have no doubt many phenomena are quite explicable on natural -grounds. Setting aside the possibilities of self-deception in untrained -observers, and of fraud in dishonest mediums, and of genuine phenomena -traceable to the powers of the “spirit which is within each of us,” -there remains, to my mind, abundant evidence of the existence of -“discarnate spirit,” possessing all the attributes of the human spirit, -as we know ourselves from the study of man as a psychological subject. -Unfortunately, the very best evidence in favour of both “embodied” -and “disembodied spirit” is not of that kind which is available for -publicity. Still, I hold, if there is evidence (psychological and -physical) for disembodied spirit in Spiritualism, I am also satisfied -there is abundant evidence for embodied spirit in the psychological -experiences of life, apart from what we know of Spiritualism. - -I may fitly close these reflections by quoting the testimony of that -keen scientific observer anent phenomenal Spiritualism--namely, -Cromwell F. Varley, Esq., F.R.S:--“Twenty-five years ago I was a -hard-headed unbeliever.... Spiritual phenomena, however, suddenly and -quite unexpectedly was soon after developed in my own family.... This -led me to inquire, and to try numerous experiments in such a way as to -preclude, as much as circumstances would permit, the possibility of -trickery and self-deception.”... He then details various phases of the -phenomena which had come within the range of his personal experience, -and continues:--“Other and curious phenomena had occurred, proving -the existence (_a_) of forces unknown to science; (_b_) _the power of -instantly reading my thoughts_; (_c_) the presence of some intelligence -or intelligences controlling those powers.... That the phenomena occur -there is overwhelming evidence, and it is too late to deny their -existence.” - -The Bibliography of Spiritualism is somewhat extensive. What books are -best to recommend to beginners is not an easy matter to decide. “The -Use of Spiritualism,” by the late S. C. Hall, F.S.A.,[G] however, will -repay perusal, and from the intellectual fitness, high moral tone, and -spotless reputation of the author, this book may be safely recommended -to all readers. - - -THEOSOPHY.[H] - -I have been frequently asked, What is Theosophy? A question more easily -asked than answered, and in answering I may do even less justice to it -than to Spiritualism. Theosophy is an intellectual speculation, having -for its main object the supplanting of Christianity, by a Revised -Version of Hindoo Metempsychosis. An attempt to foist upon our western -ideas and exoteric habits of thought, the mysticisms and esoteric -speculations of the mystics of India and Japan. Modern Spiritualism is -not a religion. Theosophy not only claims to be a religion, but to be -“the essential basis of all religions.” Modern Spiritualism may have -its faults, and be as imperfect as human souls are here or hereafter. -But we at least understand its faults and defects. The triple-crowned -spiritual monarch--sitting on the seven hills of Rome--is not more -infallible than the principles which underlie Theosophy--with its -demi-gods, its Mahatmas, its adepts, miracle workers and wonders. To -not understand and be able to accept these principles at once, is to -proclaim oneself an ignoramus. Theosophy is a strangely fascinating -religion for intellectual æsthetics. - -Spiritualism is at least susceptible of being observed and -investigated, and the hypothesis of Spiritualism is naturally a -reasonable deduction from the facts. Not so Theosophy, which is -merely a theory, an _a priori_ assumption pleasing to those with -more reflective and imaginative powers than capacity for practical -observation. Spiritualism has given facts to be examined and tested, -Theosophy nothing save gigantic and baseless assertions. Its _astral -shells_ and _elementals_ are like its _Mahatmas_, flimsy phantasies, -less tangible than the ghost seen and described by Dr. Jessop, or -visions of the _shade of shades_, seen by psychometers. For these -latter we have at least a basis in psychic phenomena. - -_Re-incarnation_ is the back bone of Theosophy, and Karma its necessary -adjunct. The _Kismet_ of Mahomet and the doctrines of election of -Calvinism are not more inexorable than the _Karma_ of Theosophy. -_Karma_ is a combination of earthly experiences and expiations of the -soul of man in time, during its everlasting process of incarnating and -re-incarnating in search of Wisdom, the Eternal Reality, and the final -extinction of all _individuality_ in the Nirvana. _Devachan_ is the -intermediate state of oblivion, in which _personality_ is blotted out, -and into which the spiritual soul, etc., enters between the periods of -incarnation. - -Theosophy--the Wisdom of God religion--attempts to explain all the -inequalities of life, the intellectual and moral differences in men, -of sin and suffering, by its working theory, _Re-incarnation_, which -doubtless has many attractive features. - -The phenomena Theosophists place so much reliance upon are the property -of mankind--somnambulism, psychic consciousness, clairvoyance, -psychometry, thought-transference, etc. The “Theosophic miracles of -communication with persons in other parts of the world” are explicable -by thought-transference, and in time may be no more inherently -impossible than telegraphy without wires and poles. The physical -wonders of Theosophy, akin to those of Spiritualism, are attributed -to _shells_, the _astral_ carcases of once embodied but now rapidly -dissolving _personality_ of man, and _elementals_, fragmentary -spirit imps or sprites, who up to the present have not been as yet -incorporated in some incarnated human soul. - -As to the ethics of Theosophy, brotherly kindness, charity, and -self-sacrifice--most desirable virtues and _divine_ attainments--are -neither new nor the special property of Theosophy. Such _divine_ -qualities and virtues are common to all religions and religious -teaching, and if they ever reached their climax in human form, they did -in the person of Jesus, the Lord’s Christ. He was the embodiment of -these, and a living example for all time, long, long before unthinkable -and “ungetatable” Mahatmas were announced by Madame Blavatsky, or -believed in by Mrs. Besant. - -Theosophists recognise seven distinct parts in man, _i.e._, four -transitory and three eternal. The transitory elements are--the physical -body, the vital principle, the _astral body_, and the _animal soul_. -These four comprise man’s _personality_, and being transitory are -perishable. Hence the _personality_ of man is annihilated at death. The -three eternal elements are--the _spirit_, the _spiritual soul_, and -the _mind_. These being imperishable form man’s _individuality_, and -constitute the immortal part of man. This immortal part _incarnates_ -and _re-incarnates_ throughout innumerable personalities on this -globe, and the rest of the planets, beside having alternate periods -of “rosy slumber” and of activity. Our _individuality_ has no sex, -consequently we may be a little negro wench in one incarnation, -an Egyptian monarch in another, a Nero in another, a John Knox in -another, and so on. Others may not progress, but sink from incarnation -to incarnation, from a mother in Israel, to a Deeming in Australia, -and, finally, to utter annihilation. Those good souls who _live the -life_, and perfect their souls through much suffering, will become as -one with “the Eternal Reality, the Rootless Root of all that was, or -is, or ever shall be.” The higher and ever advancing Theosophist may, -however, stop short before he reaches the Nirvana, and elect to become -a Mahatma, or great soul, and reside on this or some other planet to -exercise power and precipitate wisdom, by letters and otherwise, to -the world, through chosen adepts. The good Theosophist in this world -and the next is surrounded by “thought-forms,” which influence him -in his upward career. The Spiritualist has his departed friends for -guides, and the Christian (Spiritualist) is comforted by “messengers -sent forth to minister to them that are heirs of salvation.” I don’t -know that “thought-forms” administering counsel to a spirit having no -_personality_ is an improvement on the old ideas. - -It is impossible to do justice to this Wisdom-Religion with its -orders, grades, and bewildering phraseology. It is a fancy religion -for the intellectual, without a personal God or a personal soul. Its -circles are masonic lodges for the rich. In no sense is it a religion -to meet the wants of man as man, like that founded on the life and -death of Jesus Christ. I do not pretend to explain Theosophy, for the -task is beyond me. It is a religion intended for those who realise they -are divine sparks of the Rootless Root, and not for the common people, -who are incapable of understanding a system of morals thus veiled in -allegory, and illustrated by signs and symbols. Amid the perplexities -of many words, we learn that Theosophy teaches what St. Paul indicates -as the divine order of morals by the words: “Whatsoever a man soweth, -that shall he also reap.” To work out one’s own salvation is as old as -the race. We may all be Theosophists without knowing it, as we don’t -know who we are, what we were, or who we are going to be, such is -_Karma_. Spiritualism and Theosophy are only referred to here seeing -how largely the phenomena on which they are based, is explained by “How -to Thought-Read.” - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[A] In this way evil habits, such as erotic mania, opium eating, -dipsomania, etc., may be cured. When the strength of the vice and -the deterioration of the brain and body are such as to undermine the -will of the patient, hypnotism, properly employed, may be used and -recognised as a powerful and legitimate curative agent. - -[B] “Phrenological Annual,” 1892. Extract from article by Dr. Samuel -Eadon, M.D., M.A., LL.D. and Ph.D., etc., Aberdeen and Edinburgh -Universities. - -[C] “Spirits Before our Eyes,” page 215. By W. H. Harrison, 1879. - -[D] Dr. Joseph Rhodes Buchanan has been Dean and Professor in several -American universities. As far back as 1830 he was Professor of -Medicine in Transylvania University. In the year 1841 he made several -important discoveries in cerebral psychology, which he communicated -to the American and to the Edinburgh Phrenological Journals. These -discoveries are elaborated in his unique system of Anthropology, and -are published in his works--“Therapeutic Sarcognomy,” “Psychometry,” -“The Dawn of a New Civilisation,” “System of Anthropology,” and “The -New Education--which can be obtained through my publishers, or direct -from myself.” - -[E] Thought (says Professor Houston) is accompanied by molecular -vibrations in the grey matter of the brain, and these brain molecules, -like everything else, are immersed in and interpenetrated by ether; -this being so, their vibrations must set up wave-motions in the ether, -and these must spread out from the brain in all directions. Further, -these brain-waves, or thought waves, being thus sent out into space, -will produce some phenomena, and, reasoning by analogy we may expect -that--as in the case of sound-waves--sympathetic vibrations will be -set up in bodies similar to that which generates the waves, if those -bodies are attuned to respond. Again, reasoning by analogy, we may -expect--as in electric resonance--that such oscillations would be set -up as are found when electric waves are sent out and, meeting a circuit -in consonance with them, set up in that circuit oscillations like their -own. - -In view of these facts, which are well ascertained, he (Professor -Houston) considers that it does not seem improbable that a -brain engaged in intense thought should act as a centre for -thought-radiation, nor that these radiations, proceeding outwards in -all directions, should affect other brains on which they fall, provided -that these other brains are tuned to vibrate in unison with them. - -Light waves are etheric vibrations, and it would seem that these -brain-waves should “partake of the nature of light.” If so, why should -it not be possible to obtain, say, by means of a lens, a photographic -impression of them? - -Such a thought-record suitably employed might be able to awaken at any -subsequent time in the brain of a person submitting himself to its -influence thoughts identical to those recorded.--_English Mechanic._ - -[F] The _contact_ is usually made by the agent taking the wrist, or by -placing his hand on the brow of the reader. - -[G] “The Use of Spiritualism.” By S. C. Hall, F.S.A., late Editor of -the _Art Journal_, author of “The Retrospect of a Long Life,” etc. -Price, 1s., Post Free, 1s. 1d. Hay Nisbet & Co., London and Glasgow. - -[H] “What is Theosophy?” By Walter R. Old, F.T.S. Price, 1s., Post -Free, 1s. 2d., gives an excellent outline of this interesting subject. -Hay Nisbet & Co., London and Glasgow. - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE - - - Most of the inconsistent hyphenation has been retained as - in the original, like ‘mind reading’ and ‘mind-reading’, - ‘supersensitivity’ and ‘super-sensitivity’, etc. - - Obvious punctuation errors have been silently corrected. - - Original spelling and grammar have been preserved except for the - following: - - page 5: “the ordinary lauguage” changed to “the ordinary language” - - page 23: “render she sight” changed to “render the sight” - - page 29: “Stanhope, Macclesfield, Charlville” changed to - “Stanhope, Macclesfield, Charleville” - - page 29: “Camillie Flammarion” changed to “Camille Flammarion” - - page 29: “Dr. Jykell and Mr. Hyde” changed to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. - Hyde” - - page 30: “and discribed a funeral” changed to “and described a - funeral” - - page 31: “s capable of” changed to “is capable of” - - page 42: “enter the first doo” changed to “enter the first door” - - page 45: “She can also indentify” changed to “She can also - identify” - - page 54: “why it hould not” changed to “why it should not” - - page 73: “from our own sensorums” changed to “from our own - sensoriums” - - page 75: “following by like feelings” changed to “followed by - like feelings” - - page 77: “the brig in a dorry” changed to “the brig in a dory” - - page 77: “the dorry was again” changed to “the dory was again” - - page 79: “The coffin, at anyrate” changed to “The coffin, at any - rate” - - page 81: “happened her” changed to “happened to her” - - page 84: “I notice a solitary” changed to “I noticed a solitary” - - page 118: “This gentlemen had” changed to “This gentleman had” - - page 125: “understand it faults” changed to “understand its - faults” - - page 125: “election of Calvanism” changed to “election of - Calvinism” - - page 126: “Devachian is the intermediate” changed to “Devachan is - the intermediate” - - Footnote A: “such as errotic mania” changed to “such as erotic - mania” - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW TO THOUGHT-READ *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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