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There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028951016 WORKS OF HENRY FRANK MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY 8vo: $1,85 net; hy mail $2.00 THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET: A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY 12mo : illustrated: $1.50 net; hy mail $1.65 THE DOOM OF DOGMA AND THE DAWN OF TRUTH 12mo: $1.50 net; hy mail $1.60 THE MASTERY OF MIND IN THE MAKING OF A MAN 12mo: $1.00 THE KINGDOM OF LOVE 12mo: $1.00 THE SHRINE OF SILENCE 12mo: $1.00 PSYCHIC PHENOMENA SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY BEING A FURTHER EXCURSION INTO UNSEEN REALMS BEYOND THE POINT PREVIOUSLY EXPLORED IN "MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY" AND A SEQUEL TO THAT PRE- VIOUS RECORD BY HENRY FRANK AUTHOR OF " MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY, " " THE DOOM OF DOGMA, "" ^'tHE MASTERY OF MIND," " THE KINGDOM OF LOVE," ETC. MEMBER OP THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, FOUNDER AND FOR OVER TEN YEARS SPEAKER FOR THE METROPOLITAN INDEPENDENT CHURCH, NEW YORK CITY BOSTON SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY 1911 ^] I\.e.l?50T Copyright, 1911 Sherman^ French & CoMPApnr J WORD to CRITICS IN JUSTICE TO MYSELF I ASK BUT ONE FAIR CONDI- TION FROM ALL CRITICS : Let the book be read through and the argument in its en- tirety apprehended before final judgment is pronounced PEEFACE The author trusts that the readers of his books on Immortality will not misinterpret his purpose or fail to appreciate his point of view. He is not bold enough to pretend to present an unquestioned dem- onstration or otherwise, of this human possibility. He has, however, been much misunderstood by some of his critics. Those who are skeptical of the possibility of after-death existence, observing that the final conclusion, to which the logic of the scien- tific data which the author had assembled seemed to lead, was favorable to such a theory, criticised him on the ground that he had presumed to set forth a positive proof, under scientific guise, of such exist- ence. On the other hand, he is covered with favor- able adulation by those who are temperamental be- lievers in the after-life, because they assume that the author^s argument has presented an unques- tioned demonstration of the doctrine, summoning science to his assistance. In point of fact, the author has been alike mis- interpreted by both friendly and unfriendly critic. He had thought that he had stated his own mental attitude toward the problem as clearly as he could in his former work, "Modern Light on Immortal- ity," in which he said: "The author of this work does not profess to have advanced an argument which finally proves the im- mortality of the soul. Neither does he pretend to have advanced an argument in disproof of or pre- PEEFACE judicial to sucK a demonstration. He set out with the one and only determination of finding what in nature and human experience, in philosophy and the natural sciences, might enable him to reach a ra- tional conclusion concerning so profound and world- consequential a problem/^ And he has not altered his attitude one whit since, nor does he ever expect to. In the present effort, 'he is presenting the book which he had promised when reaching a certain stage in the discussion that formed the substance of the former volume, whose length precluded the review of psychic phenomena and their bearing on the tentative deductions he had drawn from the physical or natural sciences. His object in discussing these phenomena in the present volume is to attempt to bring them into logical alignment with the recognised material phe- nomena of the natural universe. That ISTature can be severed into two or more differentiable planes of activity, whose laws actuate diverse phenomena, mutually contradictory, the author could not suffer himself to believe. Accepting, as he opines all ra- tional thinkers must, the absolute dictum that Na- ture is a Unity both in substance and the laws whereby her processes are determined, he could not permit himself to believe that ever in human experi- ence aught would transpire which would contravene or disprove this principle. It was, therefore, encumbent on him, as one who had determined to enter on the quest for truth wheresoever it might lead him, not to shut his eyes to what observation and experience had thrust be- PKEFACE fore them, but, with calm faith in the scientific method and the possibility of discovery, to meet the challenge and demand of Nature that she give a con- sistent and convincing answer. Nature cannot fail. Nature cannot be self-incon- sistent or self-contradictory. Of this he felt sure. Yet whether he or anybody else would be able to read aright what answer Nature might give, this was of course, the problem. This, indeed, is still the problem, and probably ever will be, Eor that science will speedily discover to us the final and in- disputable answer to this riddle is, perhaps, more than we should expect. It seems, however, to the author that she is much nearer to such a final answer than ever before in human history. The author is frank to confess that the problem of the after-death existence has troubled him from his early youth; troubled him even to annoyance. Not that he means to imply he has been disturbed because he could not be sure of immortal existence, nor that anybody else could, by reason of the impos- sibility of its discovery or demonstration. For, personally, he has come to think with thousands of others, that resignation to unbelief is far more ra- tional than resignation to belief in matters which are beyond the reach of human reason. He is free to confess that he is no longer afFected by the tinge of sorrow which formerly beset him in contemplating the possibility of life's close when one is finally folded in the sleep of death. The pic- ture of endless existence beyond the grave is not all as beautiful and void of shadow as we are wont to PEEFACE conceive it. The little life we now live is so fraught with disappointment and dismay that to conceive its ceaseless continuance would be but to add horror to despair. Therefore faith has always held out the picture of bliss as the quality of the future life, howbeit reason seemed to discern no logical ground for such a pleasing fore-glimpse. The author confesses that if he is confronted with the question of the mere desirabiliiy of immortal existence, he is forced to register a negative reply. For any possible future existence must be predi- cated on the present existence, and so fraught is this with suffering and fatigue, that endless contin- uance of it must be regarded rather as a misfortune than a blessing. " The worldly hope men set their hearts upon, Turns ashes — or it prospers ; and anon. Like snow upon the desert's dusty face, Lighting a little hour or two — is gone ! '^ However, with man the problem is not, "Is it a thing to be desired that he live beyond the grave ?" but that other and far more perplexing question, "Is it a fact that he does so live when death has wrapped him in his sable robe ?" Nature asks not how or what or when man wishes. She is wholly unconcerned in man's desires, whims, or predilec- tions. Her mission is to act; man's indeflectible fate ensues. His problem is not "What would I have ?" but "What has Nature set for me ?" Hence, the author would repeat, the problem of the after- existence has caused him much mental annoyance, PKEFACE not that he feared or halted at the possible answer, but because the lips of the sphinx stayed so distress- fully still and silent ! Let her but speak, he thought, that men may know. Better a knowledge of the law that shall declare man's ultimate and eternal silence than distress, anxiety and bewilderment be- cause of ungratified curiosity ! Again, the author found, at least to his own sat- isfaction, after traversing a long and tortuous trail athwart the plains of "forgotten lore" and the fatu- ous faiths which have so often vanished under the light of advancing intelligence, that not in philoso- phy, which is always speculative and uncertain, nor in religion, which is temperamental and but marks the residual tracings of human experience in the in- tuitions of humankind, would or could the answer be found to this age-confusing problem, ITowhere else, it seems to him, can man turn for satisfactory knowledge as to this as well as all other mental perplexities, but to Science, whose mirror, however much betimes distorted, yet images for man the only trustworthy reflection of Nature's mysterious truths. In his former work the author sought whether, perchance, Nature may have sufFered any intima- tions concerning this mighty problem to be re- vealed in the laws that pervade the physical activi- ties of the universe. He thought he detected some such intimations, which, while not wholly convinc- ing, were tentatively reassuring. He did not feel unflinchingly certain ; surely not enough so to be- come dogmatic or dictatorlally insistent on his de- PEEFACE ductions. N"evertheless, he cannot but feel that his deductions were logically consistent with exact and indisputable scientific data and discovery, to the re- inforcement of which the present volume will afford some ammunition. He warned his readers that his conclusions, founded on natural facts, were not com- plete until there was added thereto the category of phenomena which many have claimed to witness, sometimes to their horror, often to their confusion, and not a little to' the emphasis of their naturally superstitious inclination. These phenomena, if they be actual, cannot be ig- nored on the lame plea that science has no concern with fables, myths and superstitions. It is the one business of science to analyse, dissect and compre- hend the nature, origin and purport of whatever forces may have compounded the ignorance of man, no less than the forces which have enhanced his intelligence. If, then, these alleged phenomena ac- tually exist, — that is, if they are facts in Nature, — they must be included in the curriculum of scien- tific study, analysed with scientific precision and generalised with logical acumen. If perchance they have any bearing on the possibility of man's after existence, either negative or aflBrmative, then it is the duty of science to make the declaration fear- lessly and without bias. A few noble and conspicuous voices have already spoken on this problem in the light of these phe- nomena and in the name of accredited science. If the author makes so bold to mingle his humble voice with theirs, that peradventure, its faint echo PKEFACE may penetrate the colonnades of the sacred temple, it is with the hope that it may call attention to cer- tain legitimate interpretations and logical deduc- tions which he thinks have not as yet been duly registered. He wishes it to be distinctly understood that he does not enter the list on the pretension that he is an original experimenter. He is wholly dependent for his scientific facts, both physical and psychical, on such authorities, which he believes are reliable, as are properly indicated in the pages of this book. New York City. H. F. CONTENTS PAOE Introditction 13 BOOK I PSYCHIC PHENOMENA CHAPTER L Some Revolutionary Scientific Intimations 47 n. A Startling Scientific Discov- ery 58 III. The Seat of the SuB-CoNsciotrs Mind 73 IV. The Soul's Secret Scroll . 80 V. Psychic and Physical Corre- spondence 90 VI. The Physiological Under- World 99 VII. The Mind's Mysterious Mirror 107 VIII. Super-Physical Senses . . . 116 IX. Super-Physical Senses (con- tinued) 126 X. A Personal Experience . . . 142 XI. Sir William Crookes' Experi- ences 171 XII. The Subterranean Self . . .180 XIII. The Invasion of Personalities 191 GHAFTEE XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. CONTENTS PAGE The Law of PEKSONAii Integ- rity 209 The Sleepless Self .... 226 The Bond of Psychic Unity . 240 Memory, Maker op Person- ality 257 Mechanical Mechanism of Memory 271 Psychic Phenomena and Soul- Stjbstance 290 Spirit-Forms and Materialisa- tions 314 BOOK II SCIENTIFIC INTERPRETATION XXI. Interpretations and Explana- tions 333 XXII. Ultimate Matter and Vital Energy 345 XXIII. Recent Mysterious Scientific Discoveries 359 XXIV. Some Occult Forces in Nature 368 XXV. The Subtle Seat of Human Intelligence 375 XXVI. Resume and Analysis of the Argument 385 XVII. Biology of the Soul .... 400 XXVin. Scientific Discovery op the Soul-Body 410 CONTENTS CHAPTER XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. PAGE Tentative Scientific Explana- tion OP Psychic Phenomena . 422 Tentative Scientific Explana- tio:^ of Psychic Phenomena (continued) 432 Tentative Scientific Explana- tion of Psychic Phenomena (concluded) 447 Thought and Radio-Activity . 465 Physical Basis of Telepathy . 473 Substantiality of Thought . 485 BOOK III THE PROBLEM OF IMMORTALITY XXXV. Scientific Hypothesis of Im- mortality 497 XXXVL Radio-Activb Energy and Im- mortality 511 XXXVIL Summary of Scientific Argu- ment for Immortality . • . 528 XXXVIIL Conclusion 534 Index 545 INTRODUCTION^ Having in the previous volume* attempted a survey of the history of the soul and its possibilities from the point of view of its physical basis, we shall now undertake another exploration into its mysterious depths, which will call for different and more uncertain guides. The problem here presented is whether the activi- ties of the soul are capable of analysis, or whether it occupies a plane of activity wholly separate from that of the body. We shall, to the end of attempt- ing an answer to this question, be forced to enter into the realm of the so-called arcane and recondite, the occult and metaphysical. Is indeed all our sci- entific knowledge confined within the limits of the sensuous perception of the mind; or has the mind a distinct realm from whose subtle sphere the studies of mankind are forever barred ? It is only in recent years that science, as such, has permitted itself to look even askance at the problem presented. Fifty years ago, and less, it was outlawed from the court of sane investigation and relegated to the limbo of fools and idiots. But a series of persistent experiences, howbeit emanating originally from a crude and uncultured source, has succeeded in foisting itself upon the unwilling at- tention of the most strictly scientific minds of the age, with the result that many of them are trem- • "Modern Light on Immortality." 14 INTEODUOTION bling on the verge of precipitous descent into the occult, while others are seeking quite as anxiously for a naturalisation of the alleged supernatural and such an explanation as shall bring this unclas- sified residuum of human experience within the compass of the commonplace. Thus Professor James does not hesitate to pro- claim his scientific discomfiture and his reluctant willingness to admit that there is a plane of acces- sible experience which is essentially metaphysical and inexplicable by present known physical laws. He says:* t; "We all, scientists and non-scientists, live on some inclined plane of credulity. The plane tips one way in one man, another way in another; and may he whose plane tips in no way be the first to cast a stone! As a matter of fact, the trances I speak of have broken down for my own mind the limits of the admitted order of Nature. Science, so far as science denies such exceptional occurrences, lies pros- trate in the dust for me; and the most urgent intel- lectual need which I feel for the present is that sci- ence be built up again in the form in which such things may have a positive place. Science, like life, feeds on its own decay. New facts burst old rules; then newly divine conceptions bind old and new to- gether into reconciling law." Of course to minds like Professors Lankester and Haeckel such language is but little short of jar- gon. It would be untruthful and absurd to assert that the scientific world as such even goes so far as to admit such events as actual experiences. On the contrary they insist that either the events never took •"The Will to Believe," p. 320. INTEODUCTION 15 place or they were the exhibitions of discoverable fraud or the result of the mental obfuscation of the experimenters. The conservative and self-imposed attitude of restriction which traditional science has espoused is well set forth by Flammarion, who says :* 'T am acquainted with erudite men of genius, members of the Academy of Science, professors at the University, masters in great schools, who reason in the following way : *Such and such phenomena are impossible because they are in contradiction with the actual state of science. We should only admit what we can explain/ They call that scientific reasoning! "Examples : — ^Frauenhauf er discovers that the solar spectrum is covered by dark lines. These dark lines could not be explained in his time. Therefore we ought not to believe them. Newton discovers that the stars move as if they were governed by an at- tractive force. This attraction could not be ex- plained in his time. Newton himself takes pains to declare that he does not wish to explain it by hy- pothesis — ^Hypotheses non Jingo * — (I do not make hypotheses). So, after the reasoning of our pseudo logicians, we ought not to admit universal gravita- tion. Oxygen combined with hydrogen forms water. How ? We do not know. Hence we ought not to ad- mit the fact." Thus with keen sarcasm orates the eloquent French astronomer. Another attitude assumed by nonplussed scientists who have themselves suddenly been thrust into a bewildering realm of alleged facts that utterly demolish all their traditional theories of the universe, is to throw their hands up in de- •"Mysterious Forces/' p. 18. 16 INTEODUCTION spair. Virchow, the eminent German biologist and one of the discoverers of the cellular unit of or- ganic life, when he was called upon to make an ex- amination of a startling case of stigmata, which broke out on the body of Louise Lateau, could reach no other conclusion in his report to the Berlin Academy than that it was either fraud or miracle! But now we know that the despair of science need not go so far. Today a new psychology and physio- logy permit us to understand that stigmata and all other freakish and extravagant conditions of the physical organism may be referred to distinctive mental energies as the source of their sometime mysterious origin. The primary and immediate business of science, manifestly, is not to explain but to discover. The book of Nature must be read, and no matter what her hieroglyphics reveal, and howsoever such revela- tions may confuse and contradict the heretofore imagined laws by which her activities are governed, she teaches us at last that throughout her realms unity prevails and what seems to be contradiction is, in fact, a confirmation of some law which we had not yet fully comprehended. The only rational attitude for modern science to assume regarding the recently discovered and al- leged occult facts of life is that eloquently set forth by Sir William Orookes, who until recently was the only physicist that bravely defied the scorn of his confreres and undertook to learn the truth by dis- tinctive and unequivocal scientific methods. Al- though the results he procured were so sensational INTEODUCTION 17 and startling as to horrify, if not disgust, the entire scientific world, and threatened for a time to cause the celebrated chemist the loss of professional re- spect and the heretofore honored position he had held, he insisted that what he saw was true, and however much he might be reviled and traduced he would not run from his post as a scientific discov- erer. But that was as far as he went. He did not attempt to explain, except in a most tentative and timid manner. What he wanted the world to know was the facts that existed ; he was willing to wait for the time when more was known of the un- derlying laws before he undertook what might be a satisfactory explanation. Thus he says in his open- ing address to the British Association at Edinburg in 1871 : "Sir William Thompson said, ^Science is bound by the everlasting law of honor to face fearlessly every problem which can fairly be presented to it/ My object in thus placing on record the results of a very remarkable series of experiments is to present such a problem which, according to Sir William Thompson 'Science is bound by the everlasting law of honor to face fearlessly.' . . . Remember I haz- ard no hypothesis or theory whatever; I merely vouch for certain facts; my only object being — Truth! Doubt ; but do not deny. Point out by the severest criticism what are considered fallacies in my experimental tests, and suggest more conclusive trials ; but do not let us hastily call our senses lying witnesses merely because they testify against pre^ conceptions." 18 INTEODUCTION So amazing, however, were the alleged discov- eries of this eminent scientist that for a time it caused him to hesitate on the verge of bewilder- ment and ask himself whether he was really de- prived of his sanity. "The phenomena I am prepared to attest," he exclaims, "are so extraordinary and so opposed to the most firmly rooted articles of scientific belief — amongst others, the ubiquity and invariable action of the force of gravitation — ^that even now, after recalling the details of what I witnessed, there is an antagonism in my mind between reason^ which pronounces it to be scientifically impossible, and the consciousness that my senses, both of touch and sight, — and these corroborated as they were by the senses of all who were present, — are not lying wit- nesses when they testify against my preconcep- tions." It is into this realm of modern scientific inves- tigation we now propose to enter in order to learn whether the facts revealed have any corroborative bearing on the hypothesis of the after life of the soul of the deceased. II In attempting an exploration of unfrequented territory of research, too much caution cannot be exercised as to the attitude of mind assumed. A strictly logical mental attitude is not common among men, and almost everybody, except trained experts, finds it diflBcult to maintain it for any great length of time. We are so constituted by education. INTKODUCTION 19 tradition and predilection, that we prefer to regard our desires as logical conclusions rather than accept the deductions that logic compels as the things we should desire. Few of us can instantaneously relinquish a life- long conviction on the presentation of irrefutable proof of its untruthfulness or absurdity. The his- tory of science proves that the saddest and bloodi- est pages in human annals are the issue of man's indisposition to admit what natural discoveries im- placably demanded. Had the education of the past centuries predisposed man to become the docile and unswerving votary of Nature, seeking only truth in her book of mysteries and asking for no other divulgences than such as man could extract from her infinite sources, civilisation would be far in ad- vance of its present stage and the conquering crown of science more gloriously jewelled. It has, however, been the persistent trend of tra- ditional education, nursed and sponsored by relig- ious supervision, to cultivate the spiritual passions rather than the rational faculties, to teach men how to believe rather than how to know, to be sat- isfied with authoritative instruction rather than with nothing but conscientious research and logical deduction. Hence the scientific attitude of mind is today almost totally a terra incognita to the aver- age student and thinker, for which almost every- body substitutes temperamental predisposition or religious bias. This is strictly true when a prob- lem is to be discussed which relates wholly to the as yet unknown or undiscovered, and is generally 20 INTEODUCTION relegated to the realm of abstract speculation. How few are there who can calmly and with unbiased predilection approach the investigation of the hu- man soul and its possible future, whether it be re- lated to the present body or a problematical body which it may elsewhere assume ? We, most of us, so far as this problem is regarded, can think only in terms of desire, or at least but slightly in the logical terms that reason demands. Nor is this true only of the traditional believer. It is none the less true, however negatively revealed, in the attitude of the disbeliever. If a man has been religiously reared to believe in the soul's existence and its as- sured immortality, it is quite impossible to secure his sincere attention to a consideration of data or natural discoveries that apparently annihilate such belief. But likewise is it also true that when one is trained to disbelieve in any possible proof of the phenomena relating to the soul's existence, such an one assumes an attitude of mind which becomes im- pervious to the intrusion of any contradictory in- terpretation. Some go so far as to contend that belief at all events is the proper attitude of mind, even if tem- porarily such belief leads into the ditch of error. Professor James boldly contends that "our pas- sional nature not only lawfully may, but must, de- cide an option that cannot by its nature be decided on intellectual grounds," which, if it be the psycho- logically necessary state of mind, would relegate reason to a secondary and exalt emotion to a pri- mary principle of our nature. He scouts Clifford's INTEODUCTION 21 contention that the mind should hold itself in abey- ance, refusing to take sides or accept sheer belief void of proof, as being an unnecessarily nervous dp- prehension of being duped. "For my own part," he exclaims, "I have also a horror of being duped ; but I believe that worse things than being duped may happen to a man in this world; . . •, Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things. . . . a certain lightness of heart seems healthier than this excessive nervousness on their behalf,"* etc. It would seem, however, that this very stubborn- ness of both belief and disbelief is the primary source of all the opposition to progress which has characterised the ages. Just because mankind have schooled themselves to be obedient to their pas- sional natures and to bar the possibility of re- search which apparently makes against such pas- sional predilection, has science crept or limped through the ages rather than stalked with bold and certain stride. However, it may be, as Professor James contends, that this disposition is an inherent part of our natures and no method of education can free us from its embarrassment. If so, we can but make the best of it, remembering always that, while we may be often dependent on our passional beliefs, they must not be mistaken for ultimate truths, which alone can be- discovered by research and the logical deduction of principles from scientific data. We shall find in our investigation of the problem of immortality that the law which James proclaims is often enough evidenced. Scarcely any writer, •"The Will to Believe," pp. 11 to 19. 22 INTKODUCTION" at least until recent date, seems ever to have ap- proached the problem from the strictly intellectual side, but always from the passional; for both sci- entists and religionists seem to be swept away by their prejudices when they are confronted by the stupendous question. I quite agree with Professor Hyslop in replying to Professor Muensterberg's strictures on his spirit- istic predilections when he says :* "Men make a great mistake if they suppose that scepticism has no bias. It has the same bias as faith, and those who understand human nature will readily admit this. The reaction against the ancient materi- alism in the Christian period brought with it a strong antagonism to the ^natural' and an over- whelming interest in the 'supernatural.' The pendu- lum has swung the other way, and now science is just as Catonic in its delenda est about the ^super- natural' as ever theology was about the 'natural.' A man can believe in both or neither of them as defi- nition may determine in this age. We have gotten far beyond the categories of previous centuries in our thinking about such things." In spite of the law on which James insists, and which Hyslop so heartily defends, we shall attempt to maintain in this work precisely the same attitude toward the perplexing problem of immortality which we undertook in our previous work, "Mod- ern Light on Immortality." We have no final and absolute hypothesis for which we shall contend as a sine qua non. We have, indeed, an hypothesis, one which has come as the outgrowth of systematic •"Journal of Psychical Research," January, 1908, p. 24. INTRODUCTION 23 study and research; but we are by no means dis- posed to insist upon it as ultimate and incontrovert- ible, or one for which we shall fight a moment after its inconsistency or logical inconclusiveness may have been detected. We have been not a little sur- prised nor less gratified at the favorable reception the form of the hypothesis presented in the previous volume has received. While a few critics have ven- tured to question or contradict the conclusions set forth in that work, the great majority have been disposed to regard them as logical and convincing. Nevertheless, not until the hypothesis has been thor- oughly tried can we feel assured that it leads to a final truth. As intimated in the work just men- tioned, the data there presented were not sufficiently <;omprehensive to carry the student far enough, be- cause of the omission of all experiences relating to supernormal phases of psychology. We promised a subsequent volume in which special attention should be paid to these phenomena and their bear- ing on the hypothesis which we had ventured to present. The object of this work is to attempt the adventure there foretold. Ill Before we proceed, however, it is quite necessary that the reader clearly understand the use and ap- plication which we propose to make of alleged psychic facts or phenomena in extra-mental fields of human activity. It will not be necessary for us in this work to weigh the evidence presented in be- half of such facts. Incidentally we may touch on 24 INTKODTJOTION this phase of the subject, but chiefly that is left for the psychical researchers and their associate stu- dents. What we wish to attempt here is a scientific application of such allied facts to an hypothesis quite different from what is customary. The argument commonly employed is that these psychic facts clearly prove the possibility of com- munion between the departed spirits and those still remaining in the flesh. In the language of Dr. F. W. Myers, who seemed unqualifiedly convinced both of the verity of the phenomena and their logi- cal demonstration of an after life, "the records of the Society for Psychical Research have actually proved to my mind, first survival, pure and simple ; the persistence of the spirit^s life as a structural law of the universe ; second, that between the spirit- ual and the material worlds an avenue of communi- cation does in fact exist; . . , third, that the sur- viving spirit retains, at least in some measure, the memories and loves of the earth," In this statement Dr. Myers seems to have totally surrendered to the spiritualist's claims and sub- stantially transformed his scientific into a religious attitude. Elsewhere, however, he admits that the facts do not so strongly indicate the above conclu- sions, but are rather indicative of the activities of the subliminal self, or the sub-conscious plane of human experience. The Psychical Eesearchers them- selves are by no means agreed in their deductions from the phenomena which they claim to have wit- nessed. Andrew Lang is still hugging the fence, Hyslop merely insinuates that the spiritistic theory INTEODUCTION 25 is the most plausible and best working hypothesis, •while Podmore wholly rejects the theory and in- sists all can be explained by the principles of telep- athy or the action of one mind on another, and even Dr. Crookes, after introducing us to all his startling experiences, finally admits that perhaps telepathy is more tenable as a theoretical explana- tion than spiritism. On the contrary, independent investigators, such as Dr. T, J. Hudson, utterly discountenance the spiritist theory and insist that instead of the psy- chic faculties introducing us to a post-mortem world of spiritual entities, they are merely extra human faculties of such stupendous force their exercise through the agency of our too feeble frame tends to its degeneracy and thus prophesies their legitimate utility in a world where they can be exhibited through a more susceptible organism better adapted to their unfoldment. The hypothesis I am here presenting is quite other than those briefly stated above. I shall under- take to discuss the proposition that, taking for granted the existence of the so-called extra-normal phenomena, they are probably the evidence of forces now existing within the human organism, which operate through the agency of a refined substance, constituting the secret seat of the psychic energies ; and that this substance being potentially indestruc- tible, may therefore become the plastic organ through which the mind may operate and manifest itself after the mortal frame of the visible man shall have expired. 2G INTEODUCTION In short, I shall hope to show that the objection so often raised that there can be no mental activity except through a visibly organised physical brain is not a tenable objection to the hypothesis of the possible after life of certain human individuals. It has been objected that in all the experience of the race a mental action has never been known to take place except through the instrumentality of a visibly material organ of mind or a brain. Nevertheless, certain recent discoveries seem to indicate the mani- festation of mental activities that cannot be ascribed wholly to the operations of a visibly existing cere- bral organ. True, no mental action is known ex- cept through the agency of an organised brain. But who shall say that there is not an invisible counter- part of the brain ? Shall we be able to show that there may be what we might call an extra or com- plementary brain, though invisible, which is the immediate instrument of the psychic forces and which may continue to operate, after the physical death of the body.; and that such an invisible brain has during life been in process of formation along with that of the exterior visible brain we now pos- sess? This is the burden of the effort here at- tempted and to be set forth in the following pages. But first, let us ask, when we speak of brain as the organ of thought, do we fully realise the limita- tion such a conception lays on thought as an active force in nature ? True, we know of psychic activity only through the instrumentality of an organised brain. But do we not forget that the most constant and comprehensive action of the psychic energy INTEODUCTION 27 both in sensibility and in mentation occurs in such refined centres of the brain as never rise to the sur- face of consciousness ? May we not find that such deep laid psychic and physical centres verge more closely than we were wont to suspect, on the imma- terial ether, and thus constitute immaterial activi- ties that operate beyond the limitations of the pal- pable brain ? If we shall learn, for instance, that the energy of thought once escaping from the brain in which it originated becomes itself a free agent playing upon other brains and reproducing itself in other organisms; if we shall find that such a free and volatile energy (that is, a thought pene- trating the ether) becomes latent or static, like other vibrations of the atmosphere, such as heat or electricity, and may combine with other free or floating thoughts and thus constitute an independ- ently organised centre of energy ; if we shall learn, in fact, that such organised psychic energies do seem to exist in the invisible void and seize upon individuals singly and collectively, constituting the sub-conscious force of social activity; may we not then conclude that thought, once generated, itself becomes a generating force, active on an in- visible plane and organising in the ether itself such permanent centres as may be necessary for its achievements ? Just as we can trace the development of the physical brain from the first pulsation of primal amoeba to the complete convolutions of the human cerebrum, may we not likewise discern how the elements of thought, which from time immemorial 28 IITTRODUCTION have operated in the cell tissues of the human sys- tem, have themselves become organised centres, slowly building up the brain substance that consti- tutes their present framework? In order to ap- prehend this principle we shall first review the di- rect action of thought on the brain and indicate how the interior cerebral centres are generated in the individual organism; then, second, we shall state how these centres are permanently organised, retaining latent psychic energy, subject at any time to dynamic expression, and constitute the realm of the alleged subconscious mind ; third, how these interior psychic centres may so energise the external atmosphere as to cause thoughts to inter- change between foreign brains, and thus discover, as it were, new abodes for themselves; and lastly, how these individually organised forms of thought or psychic expression may mutually organise, se- gregate themselves from all other forms of thought, and become an invisible potency affecting the history of the entire race. This demonstrated, it would seem we shall be forced to conclude that the invisible energy of mental action may operate in the ether like other physical forces and may generate within it fixed forms of expression with which we must calculate if we are to comprehend the possibilities of existence. If, in addition to this, we shall find that the substance of the brain through which this energy expresses itself is of a subtle and ultra-microscopical nature, and poten- tially indestructible, we shall, it would appear, have gathered suflBcient data by which logically to mTEODUCTION 29 f determine the possibility of the continued exist- ence of the personal form of thought, known as consciousness, beyond the dissolution of the mortal frame. Observing a globule of protoplasm the profound- est philosopher, the most penetrating chemist, is unable to prophesy its future career. Yet given a few hours, days or weeks, and the impenetrable chemical unit unfolds into a positive and predes- tined organism, dictated by the interior force of its being. Its history is written by the finger of fate. It must be precisely the thing it becomes and caimot be other. If we undertake to conceive the advent of the first drop of protoplasm upon this planet, we cannot cogitate upon the substance without sup- posing for it an antecedent history. From what- ever source it was derived we know that certain forces have already been inwoven within its sub- stance, which constitute its psychic energy and act as a directive potency in its organism. We can- not conceive of life so primal or ultimate, nor is such discoverable in nature, as to be totally void of psychic energy. Whence this energy? What is it? If we are to accept the Darwinian theory, we must suppose that Nature had made myriad at- tempts at the production of protoplasmic substance before she finally succeeded, and that after only infinite failure at last was the efficient combination of primal units obtained, and the inorganic sub- stance moulded into the magic form of living mat- ter. In short, the primordial ether must needs 30 INTEODUCTION pass through infinite and unimaginative involu- tions and convolutions through countless myriads of years, before it is finally capable of assuming such expression as attains the lofty altitude of vital force. Vital force is but a differentiated form of the universal energy which emanates from and permeates the primal ether. Vital force is, however, according to this theory, comparatively speaking, a recently developed phase of universal energy. Therefore, it embodies the result of the age-evolving antecedent activity of primal force which finally achieves the vital form of expression. Such vital force has, therefore, an antecedent psychic history, and this ancient history is the source of the directing principle that organises and coordinates its manifestation. The first amoeba or the primal protozoon, then, has already an ancient history indited in the mys- tery of its being. And this historic past is the god within, to speak mystically, or the psychic energy that becomes its controlling and directing force. Therefore what mind it has is evidently a mani- festation of a force preceding its existence, and which constituted its morphogenic — or form-gen- erating agency. Mind emanates from the primal ether, according to this exposition, the same as mat- ter. All matter is then but involved mind. It must, then, needs be that primal ether is itself but germinal mind, or mind diffused in infinite sub- stance. Hence we may well say that all matter is but an expression of psychical energy, of which the living force is the highest present known expres- sion. INTRODUCTION 31 This same law runs throiigh all the gradations of living bodies from the first protozoons to the high- est multicellular forms. It is not only a general law applying to all forms of life, but it seems also to apply in detail to each distinctive organ and even to each individual cell of the metazoic bodies. Each organ, each cell, each interior cellular element, seems to be assigned its own particular form of en- ergy, which orders and directs its life, superintend- ing, guiding, defending, and restoring it in times of injury. Says Gustave Le Bon, speaking of this curious physiological fact: **Even when we liken to physico-chemical forces, the vital forces manifested by living beings, it must be recognised that things happen as if there existed quite peculiar forces, some of which are intended to regulate the functions of the organs, and others to direct their force "In spite of the efforts of thousands of workers, physiology has been able to tell us nothing of the nature of these forces. They have no analogy with those that are studied in physics. . . . The regulat- ing forces act as if they watched over the proper working of the living machine, regulating the tem- perature and the constancy of the composition of the blood and other secretions, limiting the oscilla- tions of the different functions, adapting the organ- ism to the changes of the outer world, etc. . . Thanks to these directive forces, Nature shuts up each organ in the sphere designed by her, and constantly brings them back to it with the two great springs of all the activity of beings — pleasure and pain.^^ ("Evolution of Forces," pp. 367, 8.) From this analysis we are able to apprehend Na- 32 INTEODUCTION ture's method in developing the interior physical centres of thought and vital force. It is a result of the process of cosmic evolution. Individual thought is butj as we might say, the crystallisation of uni- versal, unindividuated thought diffused in ether, which becomes the directive agency of the physical organ through which it is expressed. Just as a sunbean which suffuses the atmosphere may be caught in the dew drop, and there reveals its prismatic colors which had not before been sus- pected, so the diffusive energy of the ether, enter- ing into the brain of a human organism, reveals it- self in forms of consciousness not before antici- pated. And again, as when the sunbeam penetrates the dew drop certain molecular modifications im- mediately ensue, so when the diffuse energy of the ether in the form of thought penetrates the tissues of the brain instantly certain cellular modifications follow. 'Not does the analogy of the effect of organised absorption of the primal ether end here. Not only does the molecular modification occur, but we learn that the modification results in certain permanent effects which qualify the material substance. The dew drop is so volatile that these modifications can- not be permanently traced. But when we observe more solidified forms of matter, such as earths and vegetation, we are able to discern the permanent molecular modifications within. We know that the difference between all forms of organic and in- organic matter is the result of the modifications so affected by the impingement of external forces. The INTEODUOTIOIT 33 fact that these modifications become permanent causes the variations that exist between all vital and non-vital substances. To the permanence of these interior impressions, these molecular modifications, is to be attributed the difference between the soil and the seed, the vegetable and the animal, the in- ferior and the human mammal. The same law prevails in the psychological as in the material world. When certain thoughts pene- trate the brain of man or animal, they cause certain modifications in the cell tissues, and these modifica- tions are there permanently registered. These regis- tered modifications are the sources of energy that permeate the being and constitute the fundamental basis of character. They become permanently or- ganised centres of force in the human brain and ner- vous system, retaining latent psychic energy, which betimes may suddenly explode and most profoundly affect the entire history of the individual. Here abides the realm of the sub-conscious or, as some- times called, the subliminal self. This subliminal energy is suflSciently organised to constitute a dis- tinguishable personality within the normal person- ality of each individual. And as we have under- taken in part to show in the previous volume,* it is resident in specific though most recondite physical centres of the body. The organised centres of thought constitute ideal centres, or centres of ideation. They must be rec- ognised as forces operating in the interior of the human system, and in that sense as actual as the * '^Modern Light on Immortality." 34 INTEODUCTION elemental forces of nature that operate through- out the universe. These psychic elements, in the conception of the old psychology, were supposed to be detached and immaterial, whose unity con- stituted a super-phenomenal entity. The soul was something wholly apart and differentiable from the body. But the new psychology is closely inwoven with the facts of biology, and we recognise no psychic activity which cannot be associated with or located in a material medium. "Science has shown that our inner life is nothing but a combination of psychical elements causally connected and determined by biological conditions," says Muensterberg. And now we are learning that just as the biological elements have combined as an organisation which we recognise as the body, so the psychological elements have also combined into an organisation we recognise as the soul. The two dis- crete elements are not dissociated, save only in the plane of their respective activity, but they are or- ganically combined. The psychic element finds its counterpart in the biologic element. The psychic element is the latent energy of the biologic element and determines its action and character. "The his- tory of human experience has become a part of biological development. Every effect was com- pletely determined by the foregoing causes, every event resulted from the energy of outer nature and brain cells, every thought, the wisest as well as the most foolish, every deed, the noblest as well as the criminal, is the outcome of causal laws determined by the inherited disposition of the individual organ- INTKODUCTION 35 ism and the totality of impressions, reproductions, habits and training, associations and inhibitions, go- ing on in the cells of the cerebrum." (Muenster- berg.) The next fact we must descant upon is that when once these psychic elements are united into an in- tegral oi^anisation, they are not only latent in one individual brain, but they seem to have the power to release their latent energy and impinge upon a brain in another individual. Not only has the subliminal or subconscious per- sonality been said to have been discovered by tha methods of the new psychology, but the extraordi- nary activities of the psychic elements have forced a revolution in modern scientific thinking. The psychic force, being legitimately allied with all the other forces of nature, is discerned merely, like them, as a mode of vibrations, whose rate is distin- guishable from the others, and whose consequent effects are wholly different. On this point let me quote Sir William Crookes : "All the phenomena of the universe are presum- ably in some way continuous; and certain facts, plucked, as it were, from the very heart of nature, are likely to be of use in our gradual discovery of facts which lie deeper still. "Let us then consider the vibrations we trace, not only in solid bodies^ but in the air, and in a still more remarkable manner in the ether. These vibrations differ in their velocity and in their frequency. That they exist, extending from one vibration to two thou- sand millions of millions of vibrations per second, we have good evidence. That they subserve the purpose 36 INTEODUCTION of conveying impressions from outside sources of whatever kind to living organisms may be fully rec- ognised. . ■ . Is it premature to ask in what way are vibrations connected with thought or its trans- mission? . . . Ordinarily we communicate intelli- gence to each other by speech, . . . Here we use the vibrations of the material molecule of the atmos- phere to transmit intelligence from one brain to an- other. ... In the newly discovered Roentgren rays we are introduced to an order of vibrations of ex- tremest minuteness compared with the most minute waves with which we have hitherto been acquainted. ... It seems to me that these rays may have a pos- sible way of transmitting intelligence which, with a few reasonable postulates, may supply the key to much that is obscure in psychical research. Let it be assumed that these rays, or rays of even higher frequency, can pass into the brain and act on some nervous centre there. Let it be conceived that the brain contains a centre which uses these rays as the vocal chords use sound vibrations, (both being under the command of intelligence), and sends them out, with the velocity of light, to impinge on the receiv- ing ganglion of another brain. In this same way some of the phenomena of telepathy, and the trans- mission of intelligence from one sensitive to another through long distances, seem to come into the domain of law and can be grasped." Whether or not this seemingly plausible scientific explanation of so-called occult phenomena be cor- rect (we shall revert to this discussion in later chapters), this much seems to be beyond dispute, namely, that the psychic elements organised v^^ithin one individual are possessed of the pov^^er to trans- mit themselves to another without the agency of a visible medium. But insomuch as we now learn INTEODUCTION 37 that all vibrations, whether material or psychical, must be associated with a material medium, either dense or tenuous, it must follow that when such thoughts or psychic impulses are transmitted they must operate through some intermedial substance, however subtle or invisible. Hence, as we have al- ready stated, the ethereal atmosphere must be per- meated with organised psychic elements, distinctive thought-forms, which betimes impinge on other minds and generate within them specific modes of thought and action. It often occurs that such im- pulses are so powerful they overcome not only single individuals but frequently whole communi- ties. When some stupendous passion seizes an entire nation and hurls it, headlong, into precipitous action; when a miscellaneous collection of wholly unacquainted individuals is instantly seized by a common impulse and momentarily organise into a mob to commit felonious or meritorious deeds; when at the sudden sound of the fife and drum, as in Kipling's "Fore and Aft," a whole army is swept from lethargy into a bloody charge ; in these and a multitude of similar experiences we observe the mysterious efFect of a psychic force operating through an invisible agency on human intelligence, and deciding the destiny of nations and individuals. "I have shown," says Le Bon,* "that all mental constitutions contain possibilities of character which may be manifested in consequence of a change of environment. This explains how it was that among the most savage members of the French Oonven- *"The Crowd," pp. 28 and 30, 38 INTEODUCTION tion were to be found inoffensive citizens, who un- der ordinary circumstances, would have been peace- able notaries or virtuous magistrates. The storm past, they resumed their normal character of quiet, law abiding citizens." In short, the invisible mental energy operating through an invisible material medium seizes upon a collection of minds and instantaneously trans- forms their characters into their opposite qualities. When a number of people are seized by a common impulse it must be they are affected by the same cause. The cause is purely mental. Its effect takes a specific and definite form. Therefore we are logically compelled to conclude that the cause or mental force itself has been organized into a dis- tinct and definite capacity of expression. As Le Bon intimates there seems to be a "psychological law of the mental unity of crowds." Which can- not but mean that the psychological elements which play upon the crowd have been organised into tem- porary formal union, and reveal their nature in the instantaneous mental unity of the crowd. Thus it would appear that the united elements of thought, or the invisible organised psychical unity, which sometimes affects a crowd, is as posi- tive and actual an organisation as the physical body of the crowd itself. "The psychological crowd is a provisional being of heterogenous elements, which for a moment are combined, exactly as the cells which constitute a living tody form by their reunion a new being which displays characteristics very dif- ferent from those possessed by each of the cells singly." (Le Bon). INTKODUCTION 39 From the latest scientific discoveries relating to the nature of matter and the method of the universe we are forced to conclude that all substantial forms are transitory and volatile. That not only the palpable forms are transient but that the matter of which they are composed is also dissolvable and ul- timately disappears. The invisible ether is the primal matrix of the manifest universe. All states of matter are but condensations or aggregations of ethereal units. These primary units are but tem- porary vortices of force. A whirl of energy con- denses the homogeneous substance and differen- tiates it into heterogeneous units. All forms of matter are then but transmuting phases of primal ether passing through infinite manifestations, from invisiblity to visibility, and again from visibility to invisibility The old doctrine of the indestruc- tibility of matter seems to have met its Waterloo. Not only is matter now regarded as destructible, but even energy also. Everything is but ether; and ether is but a form of invisible substance into which all matter and energy dissolve, and out of which again they evolve. So far as our senses go, the primordial universe consisted of nothing; thus a sort of sibylline paradox forces us to declare as a law of nature, that, sensibly discerned, the substan- tial, visible universe is the product of insubstantial Nothingness. 'T!f everything proceeds from ether and after- wards returns to it, we are forced to enquire," says Le Bon, "first of all how a substance so immaterial .can transform itself into heavy and rigid bodies, such as a rock or black metal. 40 INTEODUCTION "... Bodies are constituted by a collection of atoms, each composed of an aggregate of rotating particles, probably formed by vortices of ether. . . . It is probable that matter owes its rigidity only to the rigidity of the rotary motion of its elements, and that, if this movement stopped, it wonld instan- taneously vanish into ether without leaving a trace behind.^^* Thus much for the evanishment of ultimate mat- ter according to the latest scientific discoveries. But the strangest deduction of modern physics is that even energy itself ultimately disappears. "Whirls of ether, constituting the elements of atoms, can transform themselves into vibrations of ether. These last represent the final stages of the dematerialisation of matter and its transformation into energy before its final disappearance. . , When the atoms have radiated all their energy ... by the very fact of these radiations . . . matter and energy have returned to the nothingness of things, like the wave into the ocean," t Are we not then forced to conclude that ether is the logical representative in ITature of v?hat has ever been popularly conceived as spirit ? And do we not further see that all the modifications of ether into variable forms of energy and matter are positive conditions in nature, and that a form of ihoughi, in the last analysis, is as absolute and actual as a form of force or matter ? Indeed when we so understand matter and ether, how can we assume that anything *Le Bon : ''Evolution of Forces," p. 79. fid. p. 90. INTKODUCTION 41 which exists, whether mental or material, is other than some expression of this ultimate substance? If therefore matter is real because it in an organ- ised expression of ether, so must mind and thought also be. Thought, then, is an embodiment of ether, no less than motion in the form of force or matter. Matter we learn is not ultimate and indestructible, and therefore, neither is thought. But as matter may exist, howbeit in an invisible state, for a long period of time, so also may thought, howbeit invis- ible, exist in some embodied or organised form for a certain period. The ether, hence, must be inhab- ited by an infinity of thought-forms, as well as mat- ter-forms. Both forms are ultimately invisible. Yet both forms are ceaselessly active in the destiny of the universe. We are in constant touch with the invisible forms of matter and force. What do we know of the effect on us of those two thousand mil- lions of millions of vibrations in the ether of which Sir William Crookes speaks ? And can we question that among the effects which those infinite vibra- tions have upon us are those of the thought-forms of ether as well as the forms of matter ? And what is a thought-form, reduced to its last analysis, but a spirit, or an organised, intelligent, and specialised mode of ether, invisible yet actual in space? Not only do we learn then that thought-forms are invisible factors of nature operating in an in- visible atmosphere, but as we shall see later on, sci- ence seems now to confirm the theory that these 42 INTRODUCTION thoughts, when individualised in human brains, operate there also distinctly through a medium which is far more refined and tenuous than the pal- pable cerebral organ. It would seem that as each atom of inert matter is surrounded by an elec- tric or magnetic atmosphere, constituting a field of force that establishes the mutual coherence between atoms, so every vital cell in the human organism is also surrounded by an atmosphere of radio-active substance that constitutes the field of energy in which the psychic activity is present. We have but begun to learn anything about this wonderful fact in recent biological experimentation, and, while, as we shall shortly see, science is natu- rally slow and tentative in its deductions, yet she dares to make certain affirmations about this ele- ment of vital and psychic activity which are dis- tinctively revolutionary and startling. It will be our eflFort to study somewhat closely what science has learned about this, and to discern in what way the discovery may be related to a knowledge of the soul, and its future in the prophetic possibilities of both the race and of the individual. Possibly we shall here learn of a secret and deep laid substance, howbeit of material nature, yet so tenuous, sub- limate and invisible as to constitute the fitting resi- dence of a radiant soul. Here may, indeed, be the "spiritual body," intuitively proclaimed by faith, and finally discovered by science. Whether that "body" shall be found to possess all the fascinating though confusing qualities that intuition heretofore surmised, will remain for further investigation to INTRODUCTION 43 determine. At least today science seems more amenable to the solution of such problems than in any age of the past. How these thought-forms affect us, how they are inwoven in our organisms constituting, indeed, the origin as well as the ele- ments out of which we are made, and are built into the physical units of our structure; how they co- ordinate independent bodies and manifest extra- physical powers, and thus apparently prophesy the potential persistency of post-mortem existence, will be the burden of study in the following pages. BOOK I PSYCHIC PHENOMENA CHAPTER I SOME REVOLUTIONARY SCIENTIFIC INTIMATIONS The mistake through all the centuries, encour- aged by metaphysical, religious and occult notions, has been, that a genuine knowledge of the soul, whatever it might be, could be acquired alone through intuition or from some supernatural source. The insistence that the soul is purely spiritual, meaning by that a something wholly extraneous, and unrelated to material substance or organisation, has been the rock on which idealism has always foun- dered. Unless the interrelation and coexistence of soul and physical organisation can be discerned, unless what we mean by soul is innate in the very essence of matter itself and becomes intelligent and conscious soul merely as the result of the more complex evolution of the material substance never wiU science in any way be able to take cognisance of soul or regard it as an element of the universe. For that reason through all of the past in scientific lore the subject of the soul has been avoided. Only in our own age as indeed also in some of the an- cient Grecian thought has soul been contemplated as a product of natural generation, whose origin might be scientifically determined, and whose des- tiny logically forestalled. The birth and growth of the soul is now not sur- mised by mere philosophical conjecture, whose only 47 48 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY purpose is to bolster some theological creed, but it is now studied, as we might say, under the micro- scope, from its primordial origin in the universe to its full formed individuation in a human organism. Science now knows that if there, were no vital cell-unit there would be no soul-consciousness. Sci- ence sees in cell the origin of soul, and, in the mul- tiplex aggregation of cells, the possibility of the self-consciousness of the individual. But to speak of cell, in a general way, is not suf- ficient to satisfy the explanation demanded by the soul activity. By this we refer more especially to all those functions we commonly associate with the exercise of the brain and the nervous system. We think of the soul life as expressed in the feelings, perceptions, thoughts and reflections of the mind. And the mind uses but one set of nerves among the whole thirty different cell systems, through which to exhibit its powers. The cells of the brain and the spinal cord are the only cells assigned to the office of mental activity. But it must not be forgotten that while the brain and cord are directly concerned in the conscious ac- tivities of the mind, yet the vast sea of nerve cells contained in the entire human organism is in some way indirectly associated with it, in the realm of sub-conscious human intelligence. These are all in- volved in the vast depth "of feeling which we term the sub-conscious mind." In the beginning of the cell life, in the early stages of differentiation, any Cell may act as the brain cell, or the instrument of a psychic impulse. EEVOLUTIONAKY INTIMATIONS 49 In the gradual evolution of the cell life a certain series of cells became the particular mediums for the transferrence of specific lines of force that re- lated wholly to the feelings ; then a certain few were segregated for the purpose of higher intelligent function, of determining the length and duration of certain impulses sent through them, and in a gen- eral way governing and superintending them. Then other colonies of cells were utilised for purposes of discrimination and judgment, till finally the high- est order of cells was employed or trained into the uses of the loftiest exercise of the mental faculties. The result of this wonderful evolution of cell life and colonisation is, "Instead of a tiny ganglion for the receipt of a simple sensation we have a grand mass of cells capable of receiving and estimating the reception of a hundred inferior ganglia," and determining the value of their myriad impacts in "the grand total of perception and the thousandfold perception of perceptions which we commonly call Now the surprising and gratifying event in scien- tific study is that the entire process may be observed under the microscope. Here we may observe the physical processes of the soul's origin and mainte- nance. "We see and are able to map out the mode of its growth and discern how its virtues, aspira- tions, instincts, traits, and beliefs have come into existence and stand linked together in a composite whole. Here is revealed on a chart the physical basis of psychology — ^the new scientific psychology of the twentieth century." •Stephens: "Natural Salvation." 50 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY !Now withont going into too much detail, suffice to say that it has been learned that wakefulness, consciousness, etc., depend on the immediate asso- ciation or contiguity of these cell-neurons, on, in fact, their actually touching each other by their communicating filaments, and that sleep, uncon- sciousness, etc., are dependent on their non-contigu- ity brought about by the shrinking of the blood capillaries in the cortical areas of the brain. It must not be assumed, however, that when sci- ence has thus discerned the differentiable uses of the different brain cells, it means to say that merely those cells constitute in their limited organisation the full possibility of human intelligence. This is the common mistake of those who look merely to the mechanical organisation of the cell life and over- look the fact, as I showed in my previous work, that once an organised association of the cell life is insti- tuted, the very organisation itself becomes a force that rises superior to the inferior organisations of the physical units. "It is not here intended," says Stephens, "to advance the doctrine that the human intellect is no higher than the sentience of the brain cells. . . Human intelligence differs not only in quantity but degree from cell intelligence. . . . Biological synthesis would lead us to infer that hy means of organisation, higher and higher planes of intelligence have been successively attained," "The human intellect is something more than the associated sentiency of 200,000,000 or more of the cells contained in the brain." This is true, and must not be lost sight of when we contemplate the KEVOLUTIONAEY INTIMATIONS 51 full meaning of the soul. There is force, energy, that is creative activity, in organisation itself. The association of the confluent cells institutes an im- palpable but invisible agency, resulting from the organisation, yet once instituted, becoming superior to it. Nevertheless, the simple fact that what is called soul is subject to microscopic observation; that it can be proved to be the result of the aggregation of millions of cells, each of which has its individual- ised life and soul; that when these cells are par- tially or permanently segregated the result is imme- diately registered in the suspense or dissipation of the soul life ; and that what is known as personality and self-consciousness is absolutely defined by the degree of the contiguity existing between the cell- units, has led biologists, who read the soul life ex- clusively in the cell organ, to the apparently logical deduction that when the dissociation between these myriad cells becomes complete and final, that causes the final and absolute collapse of the citadel of the soul, and at once its consciousness, its intelli- gence, its sensation and its every conceivable activ- ity ceases finally and forever.* *"It is only by virtue of long-perfected organisation that a 'soul' is raised up to self-consciousness; that the human personality requires and presupposes an organised brain which only the entire evolution of the human race has brought into existence; that intellect and mind result from organised union of the millions of neurons that form the brain and nervous system; that personal identity exists only by virtue of the coalition of these cells, and no longer than they coalesce; that self-consciousness depends on that per- fected mechanism of sentient filaments by means of which the neurons pool their self- lives to become sentient; and that when this mechanism or union is impaired or destroyed^ per- 52 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY If this is the last word of science, of biology ; if, indeed, science has itself told us that which abso- lutely compels such a logical deduction, then that ends the discussion and the investigation, and it is our duty to resign to the voice of nature. The problem we have before us is to discern whether what science has unfolded to us involves only the deduction above given ; whether indeed its very in- formation does not open for us a new book of study from which we are at least permitted if not logically forced to make a deduction, which if not wholly contrary to the above, is, nevertheless very different from it. But before we can reach a final decision on this problem we shall have to enquire as well of ener- getic as of mechanical science ; for we must know not only something about the mechanism of the cell, individually and in organisation, but also of the problem of the energy involved in the cell and in that of its expenditure at the moment of dissolution. This we shall find very necessary before any certi- tude can be reached. At this point we meet with some surprises. Eirst we learn that while the phenomenon of life may be shown to have a physical basis, to be, in other words, a mode of motion, a resultant of me- chanical action, yet the final word of science is that with the present fund of knowledge life in the last sonallty ceases, being resolved, first to tlie inferior intelli- gences of the cells and ultimately to the lowly sentieney of elementary matter — when the cells themselves die and are reduced to their component molecules and atoms." (Ste- phens' "Natural Salvation," pp. 69 and 70.) KEVOLUTIONAEY INTIMATIONS 53 analysis cannot be explained. On the one hand we are assured that every ultimate question in biology is to be found only in physics (Dolbear) ; that pro- toplasm is a complex substance, consisting of a com- plex interior, whirl, or dance, whose action consti- tutes the phenomenon of life (Foster) ; that all the forces in life can be reduced to growth, and growth is but attraction and repulsion of like and unlike particles (Haeckel) ; that a single order of things now embraces life and the physical phenomena, — all phenomena of the universe reduce to an iden- tical mechanism (Dastre) ; and, on the other hand, we are assured that forces utterly unhnown, and of the nature of which we have no suspicion, oblige the primal cell to become an animal or plant (Le Bon) ; that physiology cannot answer the question of the ages, What is life; that in the destruction which takes place in the organic reorganisation of a living body nobody knows what actually takes place in the living matter itself (Dastre), etc. Thus, while it cannot be denied by philosopher or physicist that all the phenomena of the universe operate strictly under the superintendence of one law, and that that law is perhaps justly described as mechanical, yet it is evident, such an interpretation overlooks certain involved principles whose omis- sion interferes with our reaching an accurate con- clusion. It must not be surmised that the truth can be reached by assuming that nature anywhere con- tradicts herself, or that extra-physical phenomena are generated by forces whose activity contradicts the unity of nature ; to reach out after such theories 54 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY is but to stultify science and make an absurdity of philosophy. Every phenomenon of life must be absolutely explained within the recognised laws and principles of the natural world. If this cannot be done then we must conclude either that we have erred in our observation of the phenomena, or we have not yet sufficiently compassed the hidden laws of the universe. It would seem that the extraordinary and confus- ing phenomena, which we are about to contemplate in this work, sometimes called psychic phenomena, may find the source of their explanation, once grarted that they actually exist, in the discovery of certain principles which have thus far been too much overlooked. We are informed by the law of universal energy that all forms of material manifestation are merely the result of the vibratory activity of the universal ether, wholly variable with the length and time of the ethereal waves. What are called forces are, in the last analysis, but variations of these infinite ethereal motions. What is called matter, in the last analysis, is but the condensation of the ethereal waves; and diversities between different forms of matter are but the effects of diverse waves of ether mutually interacting. All nature, in short, consists of matter and motion, and matter itself is at last reduced to a form of motion. Motion in its mani- fold forms of activity constitutes what is known as the natural forces. This seems to be the decisive analysis of nature which the most modem and ac- ceptable hypotheses of science enunciate. It is evi- EEVOLUTIONAEY INTIMATIONS 55 dent from this analysis that while the general law may be accepted without fear or favor, and the de- ductions made may be accepted as necessarily logi- cal and conclusive, yet there remains one loop-hole through which possibly a serious error might enter into our solution. The error lies simply in the pos- sibility of the computation of the variety of forces. Up to very recent times it was supposed that all the forces in nature were absolutely known, that they could be distinctively enumerated as mechanical, chemical, radiant, thermal, luminous and electrical (with magnetic), as far as they apply to the ma- terial world. Until the most recent times it was almost dog- matically assumed, especially after Helmholtz and Mayer announced the law of the conservation of energy, that the phases of force thus enumerated completed the list and that it was forever and finally closed. But Dastre, the eminent French chemist and lecturer at the Sorbonne, exclaims (although himself strictly a physicist and seeking in no way to demand of nature, for the sake of hypothesis, more than she can manifestly supply) : "Can we then say that the lists are closed and that science will never discover other forms and specific varieties of energy ? Not at all. Such an affirmation would be at once as ambitious as impertinent. The his- tory of the physical sciences ought to render us more circumspect. It teaches us that little more than a century has passed since electric energy has made its entrance on the scene, and we have commenced to know this form of energy. Such a discovery as 56 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY this right under our eyes of an agent playing such an important part in nature should leave the door open in future for other surprises.* Here, then, we see, is the loop-hole. Here is the concealed ambush out of which a hidden enemy may surprise the dogmatic scientist. And perhaps the surprise lies in this: that there may be involved in the very activity of the living matter through which human consciousness reveals itself a certain force whose liberation may compel us to learn that by the operation of this force a whole category of phenomena is possible whose manifestation may apparently neutralise the logical presence of the heretofore known forces of nature and seem to reduce her to a contradiction. Already we have a hint of this force, — a new and, until within our own time, altogether unknown phase of energy, discovered by an eminent French- man, about which we shall hear more in detail in the coming pages of this book ; and we learn still in addition that the new force which has brought about the possibility of so many physical wonders in the laboratory, also exists in the human system, re- leased by the interior molecular action of the vital substance. In other words, we shall see that the cell of life is not only a most complex organisation, but that out of the very mysterious activities which ever operate within its potent substance a new and sur- prising force is liberated, whose possibilities are yet 'Theory of Energy and tlie Living World," Smithsonian Rep., 1898. EEVOLUTIONAEY INTIMATIONS 57 uncalculated, but which may account for the mani- festation under natural law for all the so-called psychological phenomena. After we have studied the action of this force through its manifold and confusing manifestations, we shall be asked to study the mysterious substance within which it operates, a substance, material, yet finer than any heretofore known substance, and to learn, if we can, whether through the action of this marvellous force upon this mysterious substance an actually invisible but substantial organisation has been created within the human physical body, that may live partially independent of it, and possibly be at last bodily and permanently detached from it. CHAPTER II A STAETLING SCIENTIFIC DISCOVEEY Science in these later days is beginning to talk less of "atoms" than of "corpuscles." But a few years ago the atom reigned supreme as the abso- lutely final unit of cosmic matter. It was supposed to be hypothetically not only the smallest actual but the smallest conceivable material unit. We now know, however, that the tendency of all physical research is to reduce the final unit of mat- ter to lower dimensional factors. ITearer and nearer the material substance is approaching that stage that must be considered as substantially spir- itual, or a form of energy in pure ether. At pres- ent the lowest dimensional unit of matter is called a corpuscle, and how small this is we may appreci- ate when we learn that it consists of the one thou- sandth part of the smallest atom of matter known, namely the atom of hydrogen. This corpuscle is not matter at all in the usual sense ; it is rather a centre of force, a charge of negative electricity ; and the association of these corpuscles makes up an atom because of their rotary movement around an axis at a tremendous rate of velocity. It is es- timated to be 20,000 miles a second. Some esti- mates are very much greater, ranging from 60,000 to 180,000 miles per second. What an enormous amount of energy the inconceivably rapid rotation of the corpuscles must emit we will not at present 58 A STAETLING DISCOVERY 59 dwell on, although it will be necessary to come back to it in a later chapter, as this secret energy may be much involved in the phenomena we are to con- sider. But at present I am simply calling attention to the infinitesimal dimension of the corpuscle, so low that it is impossible under ordinary conditions to detect it under the microscope, yet may be ren- dered radiant and visible through laboratory instru- ments. Now in the same manner as all matter is reduced to the ultimate corpuscle, which is a nearer ap- proach to the ultimate ether than the antecedent atom, so the living substance of matter, protoplasm, is now reduced from the visible substance detected under the microscope to an invisible ultra-micro- scopical element. There seem to be ultimate units of living matter, whose mutual relation and inter- action release the energy that is known as vital. These ultimate units are wholly invisible yet are centers of energy that constitute the activity of life or living matter. Haeckel ("Wonders of Life") warns us that we must not "confuse the invisible, hypothetical molecular structure with the real microscopically discoverable structure of the plasm." The hypothetical molecules are the ma- terial units of life, yet they are so small, of such low dimension, so transparent, that they are beyond the reach of the microscope. A curious characteristic of this peculiar sub- stance which seems to constitute the basis of life is its display of unusual energy. According to the 60 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY mechanical interpretation it is always possible to determine the amount of energy a body contains by the amount that is absorbed from without; or pro- duced by mechanical action within the body. Thus by the computation of the amount of heat emitted by a body one can compute the actual amount of the work it does. Scientifically it can be shown that a given amount of mechanical motion pro- duces a definite amount of heat. This is a funda- mental law of physics. But it has also been shown that the same law applies to living bodies, and that the energy expended by a vital organism is limited to the amount of mechanical motion set in opera- tion by a given amount of aliment. So certain are the mechanical vitalists on this point that the law is definitely stated with much preciseness. Vital energy is derived from chemical energy, chemical energy from mechanical motion. The amount of the chemical energy is limited to the food supply, and measured by the heat emitted. But we are perplexed to find that vital activities are often in great disproportion to the amount of the food supply, and that especially the energy of the psychic activities is often beyond such mechani- cal computation. We shall call more emphatic at- tention to this fact later on, and undertake to draw from it certain germane deductions; but at pres- ent we might note the fact, that if the vital and psychic energies were absolutely limited to the mechanical effect of food supplies it would be diffi- cult to account for the long fastings of certain in- dividuals, from forty to a hundred days; for the A STARTLING DISCOVERY 61 extremely limited supply of food through long du- rations of time to crews exposed to disasters of the elements; for the manifestation of extraordinary intelligence and perspicuity in invalids suffering from emaciation in consequence of the non-assim- ilation of food; for the amazing mental exaltation witnessed in the case of heroes and martyrs while tortured with pain and consumed with flames. In fact an almost endless catalogue of human experi- ences might be written to show how what is called psychic energy or will force is wholly dispropor- tionate to the customary food supply of mortals. Even indeed is this true of the inferior animals, as I shall afterwards point out. There seems to be something in the cell-centres of the living body that constitutes an instrument of volition, or will-energy, which is unique and inde- pendent. The cell itself is apparently self gener- ative of volitional energy, which fact seems to be utterly dumbfounding to old time theorists. Back of the cell force is the atom force. Back of or within the atom seems to be the existence of a force wholly out of relation to the mechanical ac- tion that comes from external agitation. The atom we now learn contains a force within itself that is the most powerful of all known forces, and the lib- eration of this atomic energy within the cell or- ganism hints to us something of the amazing en- ergy of the cell itself. The actual food that supplies the cell is not yet found, as biologists admit. Calkins so decides in 62 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY his latest experiments* and Stephensf surmises that the cell may depend wholly on the ether for its primal alimentary supply. Not to anticipate what we are to say more in de- tail hereafter we wish here merely to insinuate that the narrow application of the laws of physics, as heretofore understood, to the vitalistic actions of living bodies and the manifestation of psychic force may be found to be wholly inadequate. A great law has recently been discovered that ■apparently sets all old time science topsy turvy, and whose interpretation and application to so- called psychic phenomena I am inclined to think will permit some surprising explanations. It may be that when this law is fully understood and its complete application to psychic phenomena appre- hended it will be easy to classify such phenomena under recognised natural laws, without the least violence to science or philosophy. That is what we shall undertake to study in later chapters. There is, however, another characteristic of liv- ing matter to which we must now call attention, and whose apprehension may lead us a step further in analysing these puzzling psychological phenom- ena, and possibly bring them into logical classi- fication with the phenomena of the physical world. The wonderful substance that forms the physical basis of life, protoplasm, not only constitutes the stage on which are enacted the multitudinous scenes of each human history, but is of such complex and *See "Journal of Experimental Zoology," 1, 3. Art. "Studies of the Life History of Protozoa." t"Natural Salvation," p. 175. A STARTLING DISCOVEKY 63 unique nature that it permanently retains the regis- try of every thought and act experienced. It is made of hypothetical particles so inconceivably small that their number is wholly beyond human apprehension. Yet they are perfectly aggregated into a complete and limited organism, which how- beit invisible, constitutes an exact replica, or, let us say, spectral duplicate, of the visible exterior physical organism. This fact we undertook to set forth explicitly in the previous volume and shall not here again argue or discuss it. However in addition to the extreme rarity of these living particles, or their refined and sublimate quality, which necessitates their invisibility, they are possessed of a characteristic which affords room for large and suggestive possibilities. If we could imagine the outer, denser, opaque elements of our physical body completely dissipated, leaving yet a body, though spectral or invisible, still in every mi- nute detail the exact counterpart of the exterior but now dissolved body, we would possess in the mind a vivid picture of the protoplasmic organism that actually exists within each human being. If again, we could conceive of this protoplasmic organism, though invisible, suddenly made lumin- escent, so that while radiant it would reveal its perfect outline in spectral form, we would still more accurately fashion to our minds the inner mysterious body which exists within our palpable, exterior body. Before we dilate upon the possibilities of such an organisation, and the logical deduction that 64 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY might be drawn therefrom, let us investigate the ground of the intimation we have above ventured upon. It may be that we shall have found here the ac- tual arrangement of spectral particles that form what might be called the soul-body, in the sense of being the physical, though invisible, residence of the activities of the mind. Perhaps without illogi- cal interpretation this may be called the "spiritual body," and constitute an individual entity within the physical organism as actual as itself. It may be also that by reason of this "soul-body" we shall be able to discern the possibilities of the physico- psychological phenomena that have so much con- fused the world. And perhaps we shall see how this radiant soul body or spectral spiritual form may indicate its inherent powers, that suggest its potential persistence after the permanent dissolu- tion of the manifest physical body. To the point, then — Science has recently dem- onstrated that all matter is actually luminous, how- beit the luminosity is not visible to the normal human eye. Each particular atom sends out its distinctive lines of radiance, and, just as the stars differ one from the other, so atoms differ from one another in the diversity of their spectral vapors. Says Dr, Pranz Himstedt:* — "Every chemical element gives out like a glowing vapor, a spectrum, in which the colors are not continuous, and merge *Prorector of the University of Freiburg, in Breisgau, Baden. See Annual Report, Smithsonian Inst., 1906. A STAETLING DISCOVEKY 65 into one another as in a rainbow, but which in the spectral apparatus are shown as a smaller or a larger number of luminous lines characteristic of the element in question, and separated by dark spaces between. These lines have been divided into series which show us that the light emitted by an atom consists of a number of separate vibrations." We see, then, that primal matter is inherently luminous or radio-active. Notwithstanding this fact the luminosity is ordinarily invisible to the naked «ye, and cannot be at all detected except the sub- stance be subjected to certain conditions. There- fore it need not surprise us to learn that such lumi- nous but invisible atoms exist in vital organisms. The invisible vapor which emanates from a chemi- cal element or atom, however, is sufficiently active to excite visible luminosity in other substances.* This luminous or radio-active quality is a spon- taneous, not an acquired quality in all conditions of matter, whether primary or evolved.f It is of course natural to assume that if the pri- mal matter from which the entire universe has been evolved is intrinsically radio-active, that is, inher- *"The energy of the rays of radium is manifest by their capacity for exciting the luminosity of various phosphores- cent substances. Radium salts are, indeed, themselves luminous, and the light is readily visible in certain condi- tions." (Madame Curie). t"Experiments have already been made in this direc- tion, and numerous physicists believe that their researches lead to the conclusion that all bodies are radio-active. They believe it can be proved that zinc, lead, etc., send out rays by which the air is made conductive. . , Elster and Geitel have now found proof that the radio-active emanation is everywhere present in the atmosphere." (Himstedt). 66 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY ently radiant, or light generating — ^then all forms and organisations of matter, both living or non-liv- ing, are also radio-active. And we find that this is precisely the condition which scientists have discov- ered to exist. By recent experiments it has been shovsTi that even coarse forms of matter, such as wood and metal, give forth these radiant emana- tions to such an extent that photographs have been produced by their use. If we find that radio-activity is a spontaneous and constant property of matter* in all its forms it would naturally not surprise us to learn that the matter of which the highly complex organisations of living bodies is composed is also luminous and radio-active. In the last analysis, as we undertook to explain in the previous workf there is no difference between living and dead matter; that, in fact, all matter is alive, save only in different degrees. So all matter is luminous, and radio-active, save only in the de- gree of such activity. "Matter is incessantly trans- *"The light of an arc-lamp is a property of condition; suppose you found deep in the earth some , natural substance blazing forever with a light as great; that would be a natu- ral, intrinsic property — and a very curious one — radio-ac- tivity. "So with the positive ions, the corpuscles, and the X rays. They arise from candle flames, red-hot metals, or electrified vacuum tubes, all of them substances or mechanisms under very special conditions. The Bacquerel rays from radium, on the contrary, arise from a substance dug out of the ground, which will emit them, apparently, for centuries in the future as it has emitted them apparently through the countless centuries of the past, without any extrinsic influ- ence. It is their natural, intrinsic property — a new property — radio-activity." Duncan, "The New Knowledge," p. 111. t"Modem Light on Immortality," pp. 338 and 352 flf. A STAKTLING DISCOVEEY 67 formed into light at all temperatures. An eye with a retina sensitive enough would see in the dark all objects as if surrounded by a luminous halo, and darkness would be unknown to it. Such an eye per- haps does not exist, but different instruments allow us to make a substitute for it. "J Protoplasm, or the foundation of all living organ- isms, howbeit a highly complex form of matter, is inherently radio-active, as evidenced by its phospho- rescent property. M. de Manaceine, in endeavoring to explain the psychology of dreams and appari- tions, indicates the effect which the luminous prop- erty of protoplasm has on the sub-consciousness. He says:* '^The visual aspect of dreams, or how we see light, color and form, is thus, to my mind, made quite clear when we come to study the lights existing or devel- oped in the organism. From the nature and com- position of the body it is physically certain that they must be present. Phosphorus emits light; so do calcic sulphide, boric sulphide, chalk, silk, teeth, and other substances. The emission of light is one of the prop- erties of protoplasm. Phosphorus enters largely into the composition of the human body, being present as phosphates in the bones and other tissues. It ex- ists in muscle as a combination of phosphoric acid. It exists as a phosphoretted fat in the lecithin of the blood corpuscles and the nerve and brain tissue. As oxygen is being constantly conveyed to these phos- phoretted tissues, light will certainly be generated. . . . Therefore from the chemical reactions involved, and from physiological and pathological facts, we f The Evolution of Forces," Le Bon, p. 194. •"Sleep, Its Physiology," etc., p. 236. 68 SCIENCE AKD IMMOKTALITY have good reason to believe that there is actual light produced within the body." While we are forbidden from seeing this interior phosphorescent light within the human body, al- though at some time it is quite conceivable instru- ments may be invented that will make this possible, we may indeed witness a visible manifestation that emanates from lowly organised forms of protoplasm in the inferior animals and insects. In these low forms of life the primitive life-substance is so much more exposed upon the surface of the organisms that their inherent properties are more apparent. Eor instance, we are told that "Many of the fungi are self-luminous, probably from phosphorus con- tained in their tissues." One example cited by Cooke was reported to a traveller in Australia. A large specimen of an Agario, sixteen inches in diam- eter, was hung i^p in a sitting room, where it gave light for four or five nights till it dried up Many of the fungi contained a milky juice, and when the flesh is cut or bruised, and the juice ex- posed to the air, its color turns to a dull, livid green.* Doubtless few voyagers of the sea have ever realised that they are witnessing the strange phe- nomenon of the emission of the intrinsic luminosity of pure protoplasm when they have seen that always exciting and fascinating display of phosphorescent splendor on the rolling waves. But it seems that this is true. •Alexander: "The Dynamic Theory," p. 204, A STAKTLING DISCOVEEY 69 "The most striking exhibition of phosphorescence in living things is found in the ocean, especially in the warmer climates. It is said that the light emitted by these insects is so brilliant that two or three of them will light a medium sized room. . . . When the water is agitated as by the passage of a vessel, its whole pathway is illumined by millions of little incandescent lamps, carried by as many millions of living animalculse. . . . Men have been able to read large print by the light of the agitated sea water, and to tell the time of night by a watch. In all probability these living animal forms that are able to emit light have the power to exude a substance similar to phosphorus, which emits light by a slow oxidation when it comes in contact with air and water," (Gray's "Nature Miracles," Vol. 2, pp. 207, 208.)* Referring to this phospherescence of living bodies Le Bonf intimates that the explanation is to be *Even more wonderful illustrations of the existence of phosphorescent animals have been given by travelers. "The common earthworm, according to Mr. Holder, is sometimes luminous. He says. 'One of the moat brilliant displays of animal phosphorescence I ever observed came from such a source. ... In passing through an orange grove one rainy night in Southern California, I kicked aside a large clump of earth, when, to all intents and purposes, a mass of molten metal went flying in all directions, affording an unusual display. The cause of the light was a single earth worm, possibly two, not over two, inches in lengibh. The luminous matter was exuding from them, and was per- meating the surrounding soil, rendering it phosphorescent. The light emitting mucus came upon my hands, and the light lasted several seconds, gradually fading away." "Literary Digest," Sept. 29, 1900. t"Evolution of Forces," p. 268. 70 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY found in chemical reactions upon the phosphorus in the cell, and in his "Evolution of Matter/'J he shows that the chemical reaction results in the dis- sociation of matter; that is, in the resolution of matter into a state approaching ether, when it be- comes radio-active and phosphorescent, Haeckel as we have seen, conceives of the ultra-microscopi- cal molecule of living matter as a centre of chemical energy; and Le Bon intimates that the energy is liberated by the dissociation of the atoms of the substance of which the protoplasm consists. When matter approaches this stage in evolution it be- comes radio-active by giving off infinitesimal parti- cles of inconceivably small dimensions, which are flying into space at a rate of speed from 20,000 to 180,000 miles per second. It is this cannonading, presumably, of the substance of the cell by these myriad spectral entities that causes them to glow with phosphorescent light, illuminating as we have intimated, the interior of a living organism. Merely following the discoveries of Becquerel, Curie, Thompson, Rutherford and Le Bon we seem to be suflSciently fortified in our conclusion that the electrical activity about the cell of life con- sists of an uninterrupted flow of radio-active cor- puscles ; these corpuscles are the product of the deg- radation or disruption of the ultimate atoms of which the living matter consists ; and are therefore of such refined and sublimate consistency as to jus- tify their description as immaterial and ethereal. Perhaps the statement affords us a clearer concep- $P. 153. A STAKTLIKG DISCOVEEY 71 tion of the appearance and nature of what I have chosen to call the biological body as distinguished from the cellular or protoplasmic organism. It con- sists not only of the substance of the microscopically detected cells, but in addition and more immedi- ately of the electric or radio-active particles, count- less millions in number, and forever flowing in a stream of inconceivable activity around the surface of the systems of the brain and nervous cells, pre- senting a spectral shape of livid-green and phospho- rescent hue. These particles are actual, though invisible, cen- tres of energy that must be calculated with, howbeit they are not amenable to the microscope or to weights and measures. These particles, of however low dimensional scale, are, nevertheless, actual forms of matter. It therefore seems to me to be a logical deduction, from additional data hereafter to be presented, that these ultra-microscopical but material units have been trained in the course of the life of a human being to build up, by their as- sociation, an invisible though actual residence of the psychic forces, or the soul, insomuch as they consist of a substance of such peculiar quality as t.0 be instantaneously susceptible to the impressions of the psychic activities. Just as the molecular cells of the outer physical body have been organised into a common unity which constitutes the palpable structure of the liv- ing organism, so within the physical organisation the still more minute, ulterior units of the living substance, namely the radio-active particles, have 72 SCIEI^CE AND IMMORTALITY organised a corpuscular body by means of the spir- itual forces. This biologic, or psychic, or, if you please, "spir- itual" body, must be carefully distinguished from the protoplasmic or cellular body, both as to the na- ture of its substance and the office it performs. The protoplasmic body consists of the substance of the cells, while the corpuscular or psychic body consists of the radio-active particles that flow from the deg- radation and disruption of the ultimate atoms of the cell substance. Consisting thus of distinguish- able matter they are equally distinguished in the offices they perform. The purpose of this work is to study in what manner this corpuscular or psychic body is related to ultra-normal psychological phenomena, and whether the organisation of the particles of the cor- puscular body is of such tenacious character as to warrant the prophecy that they may cohere and act independently and separately from the cellular body, and maintain an organised unity after the physical body shall have dissolved in death. CHAPTEE III THE SEAT OF THE SUB-OONSCIOUS MIND It is now an admitted physiological fact that the flitting thoughts, imaginations, memories, which constitute the burden of our daily lives, are not mere untenable impulses vanishing into ethereal nothingness. A psychic state always has its comple- mentary physical state. Every thought and men- tal impulse is instantly incarnated in due and ap- propriate form. It seems at first incredible that the myriad, minute and ever flitting mental activi- ties of which we are conscious, as well as the still far more numerous unconscious states of which we are the subjects, should secure for themselves a permanent residence in the fabric of the flesh. But we find that this is even physically possible by reason of the inconceivable tenuity of the sub- stance of which the nervous system consists, and the incalculable number of cells which constitute the registry of the conscious and unconscious states of mind. Indeed the very process which Nature employs in the development of the activities of life exposes her secret method of registering the mental phe- nomena in the minute cells of the body. In order that this may be clearly apprehended it would be well to review the nature and mechanism of the cell bodies out of which the entire organism is produced. The cell itself is by no means a simple 73 U SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY organism. It is so extremely complex that it can be regarded as nothing but a perfect machine, with numerous parts functionally correlated. The cell body seems to be constructed for the special business of destroying structures through chemical changes, and liberating the energy which is confined within the cell-compounds, which is speedily transmuted into motion, heat, or some other form of active energy. But the chemical compounds must first be incorporated in the cell before the chemical destruction can take place. It is the office of one especial organ of the cell, called the nucleus, to assimilate the cell food, that is, to convert the food into its own substance. But within the nucleus there is an almost miraculous substance, called chromatin, which controls the destiny of the nucleus, constitutes the physical basis of heredity, and is handed down from one generation to another by continuous descent. Yet the cell division seems to be especially effected by another organ called the centrosome, which per- forms the peculiar office of seeing that the chro- matin material is equally divided among the sub- sequent cell-descendants, and of causing the daugh- ter cells to be the equivalent of the mother cell and each other. The organic cell, thus analysed, is apparently a perfectly devised machine, with ad- mirably adapted parts, for the generation of life.* These cell factors, however, all seem to have been bits of machinery developed from a still more *See Conn: "Living MacMne"; and Wilson: "The Cell." THE SUB-CONSOIOUS MIlfD 75 primitive substance, which is characterised by even more tenuous and irritable properties. For all parts of the cell (the cell wall, the nucleus, the chromatin and the centresome), lie within a sea of fluid-substance, a sort of soapy foam, or viscous slime "neither solid or fluid,"* From this we see how delicate is the structure and how thin, irritable, and susceptible to the play of subtle forces is the fluid substance within which the cell structure abides, and, as presumed by some, from which it has been evolved.f As might be imagined it is so peculiarly formed that it is easily affected by the waves of mental energy which sweep through the nervous system. That we may better realise how such a structure lends itself easily to the play of the subtle forces of the men- tal and soul activities of men, let us study for a moment the most marvelous of all the factors of the cell — the centrosome. Conn has written a vivid description of it in his *"The structure of protoplasm is not yet thoroughly un- derstood by scientists, but a few general facts are known be- yond question. It is thought, in the first place, that it con- sists of two entirely dififerent substances. There is a some- what solid material permeating it, usually regarded as hav- ing a reticulate structure. It is variously described, some- times as a reticulate network, sometimes as a mass of threads or fibres, and sometimes as a mass of foam. It is extremely delicate and only visible under certain conditions and with the best microscopes. . . . Within the meshea of this reticulum there is found a liquid, perfectly clear and transparent, to whose presence the liquid character of the protoplasm is due. In this liquid no structure can be deter- mined, and, so far as we know, it is homogeneous." fSee Haeckel : "Wonders of Life," Chapter on "Plasm"; also, "Evolution of Man." 76 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY "Living Machine," which I here reproduce: "Within the last few years there has been found to be present in most cells an organ which has been called the centrosome. It is found in the cell sub- stance just outside the nucleus, and commonly ap- pears as an extremely minute round dot, so minute that no internal structure has been discerned. It may be no larger than the minute granules or mi- crosomes in the cell, and until recently it entirely escaped the notice of microscopists. It has, how- ever, been clearly demonstrated as an active part of the cell and entirely distinct from the ordinary microsomes. ... In the activities which charac- terise cell life this centrosome leads the way. From it radiate the forces that control cell life and hence the centrosome is sometimes called the dy- namic centre of the celU^ We find that because of the dynamic activity of this centrosome a breaking up of the parts of the cell occurs, when certain surprising results follow. In certain of the cells two centrosomes appear op- posite each other between which certain radiating fibres or lines of energy play. "Each of the two centrosomes appears to send out from itself deli- cate radiating fibres into the surrounding cell sub- stance. •. . . The centrosome becomes surrounded by a mass of radiating fibres which give it a star- like appearance, or more commonly the appearance of a double star, since there are two centrosomes near together. . . . Between the two stars or as- ters a set of fibres can be seen running from one to the other. These two asters and the centrosomes THE SUB-OONSCIOUS MIND 77 within them have been spoken of as the dynamic centre of the cell, since they appear to control the forces which lead to cell division." Now the action between these asters seems to be electric, and undoubtedly the force that is at play between them is electro-magnetic. What is actu- ally occurring in this curious division of the cell is the formation of a most delicate structure that becomes the physical seat of the hereditary forces that play in the life of all living organisms. Because of the decomposing energy which sways back and forth between the star-like bodies that surround the centrosomes, the chromatin — ^which is the most remarkable of all the divisions of the cell and is the source of the reproductive property of cell-life — splits up into fibres which are called chromosones. "The chromosone contains all the hereditary traits which the cells hand down from one generation to another, and indeed the chromo- sones of the egg contain all the traits which the parents hand down to the child." (Conn.) Having thus a vivid picture of the cell forma- tion and activities presented to us it will not be so difficult to grasp the contention of the physiolo- gists that all mental action, all the energies aroused in the emotional and psychic centres of human beings are registered permanently within the phy- sical substance of the brain and nervous system. The marvellous structure of the cell organism and its startling physiological functions reveal to us not only the physical basis of the hereditary force which transmits traits of character to de- 78 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY scendants, but, what is for the purpose of this dis- cussion more important, the physical basis of the sub-realm of the psychic activities. If it were not possible to discover the seat of the mental activi- ties, which in themselves are so evanescent that their swift passing would leave no hope for their recall, living organisms would not be endowed with memory, and the capacity of consciousness would not have been developed. These minute proto- plasmic granules and reticulate fibres are the ac- commodating agencies for the perpetuation of consciousness and the immediate instruments of memory. Because they are so infinite in number and because they are being so constantly broken up into their several parts, which throughout the en- tire organism aggregate into countless millions, it is possible that the myriad experiences which af- fect our minds and consciousness may find therein sufficient material on which to impress their pres- ence. Again these delicate structures are so marvel- lously organised that they not only receive the im- pressions of the passing experiences of man, but they retain them perfectly and for all time during the continuity of life. Here, then, is the physical seat of that but re- cently discovered and scarcely yet explored region of the soul known as the sub-conscious realm. In my judgment it is the study of this mysteri- ous region that will throw much light upon the psychic possibilities of humankind and afford a possible explanation of many marvellous and ex- THE SUB-OONSCIOUS MIND 79 traordinary experiences. It is because nothing that we have ever known, thought, felt, imagined, touched or tasted can ever be radically removed from the physical seat within the organism where it has been registered that we can so often account for dreams, phantasies and apparitions, which might- otherwise wholly confound us. Much that comes to us seemingly from another world is often but the uprising, within the conscious realm, of past experiences long forgotten, yes, even of expe- riences which were not our own but have been transmitted to us from immemorial centuries. "In the hereditary transmission of the characters of the physical and psychic organism, — ^the contin- uity of the germ plasm, as Weisman calls it, or the idioplasm, as Naegeli terms it — ^nothing is lost. The forms which thought takes are organic, and transmitted by heredity. Even characteristic ges- tures, special and peculiar traits, the characteris- tics of handwriting, of thought itself, are trans- mitted from one generation to another. They are certainly transmitted unconsciously, (Manaceine, "Sleep," etc., p, 326.) And this is true because the infinite experiences of our mind are written over and over again upon the minute cells and cell particles of the physical body ; especially the cells of the brain and the ner- vous system. CHAPTER IV, THE SOUL'S SECRET SCROLL Whenever a state of consciousness arises out of a forgotten past, it is as if that which had been erased from the cells had been suddenly restored* This physical condition may be illustrated by what is known as a palimpsest. Many ages ago, when paper was a rarity or unknown, and manu- scripts were inscribed upon parchments and care- fully confined by the custodians of libraries, it was found necessary to use the same parchment over and over for successive impressions in subsequent periods. It was customary, therefore, to erase the original writings on these parchments and, then, to write, once more, fresh matter upon the cleansed surface. Such parchments often lay buried for ages in the crypts of ancient libraries. When fi- nally they were discovered they revealed to the cu- rious and penetrating eyes of patient scholars cer- tain faint and ghostlike figures beneath the clearer characters upon the surface. Their suspicion that these were the faded writings of antecedent ages was soon justified, and in the course of time it was discovered that by washing the parchments with certain chemical solutions, the writing which ap- peared so vague and ghostlike was resurrected. Thus were the original manuscripts restored to later ages. In much the same manner the minute cells of 80 THE SOUL'S SEOKET SCKOLL 81 the brain and nervous system of the human organ- ism are affected by an infinite series of inerasable impressions. While the area within which the cell receives the mental impressions is so infinitesimal that it is beyond the power of the mind to realise it, yet its susceptibility to receive psychic impres- sions being without limitation, they would seem to us to be written one upon the other within the cell in countless profusion. Each series of mental ac- tivities seems to be buried beneath the other, and finally sunk deep within the oblivion of our uncon- scious selves. That we may realise what a vast mass of mate- rial there is within the cranial and nervous sys- tems within which the millions of mental and psychic experiences of the unconscious and con- scious activities of the human organism may be registered, it is well to look to figures. For, im- possible as it may seem to be to us who are un- trained to the task, the actual number of cells with- in the neuro-cerebral system has been approximately discovered. "Meynert computed that there were twelve hun- dred millions (1,200,000,000), of ganglion cells in the cortex of the hemisphere, and that there were some ten millions of large cells in the cortex of the cerebellum. Adding to them the cells in the basal ganglia, the small cells everywhere, together with all those in the spinal cord, three thousand millions (3,000,000,000) would be a moderate estimate of the total number of the central sys- tem."* *"The Growth of the Brain," Donaldson, p. 159. 82 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY It would seem, then, that our bodies are espe- cially built for the reception of the countless men- tal impressions which come to us in life. And that when once those impressions are carved upon the myriad cell forms of the body there is room enough within the cells for them to remain there as long as the cell survives. And this seems to be the sim- ple physiological fact. The very cell seems to be so made that its organism is the exact instrumen- tality required for the registration of the activities of the conscious and the unconscious experiences of an individual. Haeckel* seems to have made it very clear that the cell is divided into two chief sections adaptable to the different purpose of sentient and psychic life. The inner nucleus ("caryoplasm"), espe- cially that division of it which we have already studied as the chromatin and the chromosone, is the immediate instrument for the hereditary de- scent of ancestral and parental traits. But the outer cell-body ("cytoplasm") is devoted to the office of adaptation and nutrition. That is, just as the outer portion of our bodies comes in contact with the objective, external world, and receives from that all its sensations and experiences, so the outer cell-body is employed in carrying on the ob- jective work of adjusting itself correctly to the other cell-bodies and receiving the food for the nutritive requirements of the cell organism. But the inner cell-body is reserved for the reception and maintenance of the inner or psychic impres- *"Wonders of Life," p. 138. THE SOUL'S SEOEET SCROLL 83 sions and processes of the organism. We have just referred to the inconceivably large number of those cells. When we remember that these are split up into continuously renewing sections, and yet that the inner portion of them, the plasm, itself con- sists in each molecule of over 1000 atoms (Haeckel), we find that we have all the physical requirements of an instrument for the reception and permanent retainment of all possible psychic and mental experiences of living bodies. Here then, it would seem, is the physical resi- dence of the sub-conscious or age-buried self. This is the physico-psychic centre which registers all our sensations, thoughts, feelings and fancies, as well of our own antecedent selves as of the selves of all our vanished ancestry. Apparently, within this ultra-microscopic substance lies buried the so- called unconscious soul or subconscious mind.* *"The chromatin of the neucleus contains the deter- minants of hereditary qualities. ... In reproduction, , . , as of course only the germ-cells of an adult organ- ism pass on to form later generations, and as their content of chromatin is derived not from the sister organs of the body, but from the original fertilised egg, there is a direct stream of the germ-plasm which flows continuously from germ-cell to germ-cell through succeeding generations. This stream, be it noted, does not flow circuitously from egg to adult and then to new germ-cells, but is direct and continu- ous, and apparently it cannot pick up any of the body changes of an acquired nature; indeed, it is doubtful whether such changes can reach the germ-plasm at all, for the path is not traversed in that retrograde direction." ("Zoology," by Prof. H. W. Crampton, pp. 22 and 23.) This especial element {cJiromatin) of the germ plasm seems, then, to he the seat of the mental activities that do not respond to physical stimuli. It would appear to he the interior receptacle of the huried residua of the conscious activities. 84 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY But it is not forever buried, nor can it be tbus obliterated. Oft, it rises to the surface to startle and amaze us. At times when we are aroused by some disturb- ing situation, which awakens us from the sleep of the past, and, the conditions being favorable, those faded and forgotten palimpsests are suddenly re- stored, then the vague "scars" of ancient impres- sions grow into palpable and vivid figures and we read again, as in a book, visions which had long since flitted from our memories. "Such reminiscences . . . occur in accordance with the psychological law, by which we sometimes hear, afterward, the sounds of human speech, which had ceased; the melody which no longer vibrates; the clock which struck some seconds since; they had passed unperceived, though not unregistered, because consciousness was then otherwise occupied. The neuro-cerebral system retains the traces of the im- pressions which" strike it, and in the absence of other exterior impressions, these may revive under the sole influences of that voluntary impression which is, as it were, given to consciousness. In such cases con- sciousness may be compared to a master who returns to his property after temporary absence ; he carefully examines all the changes, the additions, the transpo- sitions, which have occurred during his absence, and notes what he finds/'* We might say that the whole biological body, i. e., the cellular substance of the cerebral system, constitutes what might be called the cylinder (com- paring it with a phonograph), which receives the constant impressions of the mind upon it. When, *Manaceine, "Sleep," etc. THE SOUL'S SECRET SCROLL 85 for any reason, purposeful or accidental, the cyl- inder (representing the cellular impressions once received) is again presented to the mind, it be- comes conscious of the identical experiences it rec- ognised when it first caused the cells to become impressed. The cylinder is restored to the mind and the mind again hears its sounds and sees its pictures. Having then found the physiological residence of the sub-conscious self, as well as its physiologi- cal office, let us proceed to a more careful and de- tailed study of this marvellous and mysterious cen- tre of a human being. So new is the conception of the permanent, un- der, or sub-conscious self, called by Myers the sub- liminal, that a number of reputable psychological authorities still dispute its existen^-e. By them it is consigned to the limbo of meaningless specula- tion and vague supposition. Such a distinguished authority as Dr. G. T. Ladd, of Yale University, for instance, declares that "to speak of unconscious psychical or mental states as belonging to mind is to use words that are quite unintelligible. The attempt to form a metaphysical conception of mind which does not include consciousness as the one characteristic that distinguishes mind from not mind, must always remain a vain attempt,"*f •"Philosophy of Mind," p. 395. t"The hypothesis of subliminal consciousness, an uncon- scious consciousness, seems to me a contradiction of terms," says Dr. Charles A. Mercier, in his monumental work on "Psychology, Normal and Morbid," (p. 396). However, after making this positive assertion, he seems 86 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY^ However, of late years psychologists have come to the positive conclusion that there exists an area of psychic activities which is removed from the plane of normal consciousness, and which is as dis- tinctly a process of the human mind as is the realm to proceed to prove that the physical system is so con- stituted as to be susceptible of just such an unconscious consciousness. He proceeds as foUows: *^That a state of mind should be so faint that it may pass unattended to, is an experience with which we are all familiar; but a state of mind of which no effort of attention can give any inkling, seems to me a verbal expression without any meaning. On the other hand, I can very well understand and believe that a nervous process which would ordinarily be attended by consciousness, or which belongs to a class that is ordinarily so attended, may be destitute of conscious accompaniment, under certain circumstances. I can conceive it to be so des- titute if it occurs very slowly, for a suddenness as well as an amount of change is an important ingredient in con- sciousness; I can conceive it to be so destitute if the area of the tissue in which the change takes place is isolated from the other active areas by a zone of inactive tissue; and there are other conceivable circumstances which render the hypothesis of unconscious 'cerebration' tenable, without an assumption so meaningless to most people as subliminal consciousness." In this statement Dr. Mercier seems to analyse the very conditions which permit of a so-called unconscious conscious- ness, as even Haeckel himself points out in "The Wonders of Life." Says the latter: "Consciousness develops originally out of ttnconscious functions (as an 'inner view,' or mirroring, of the action of the phronema); and at any time an unconscious process m the cortex may come within the sphere of consciousness by having the attention directed to it." (p. 33). Both authors evidently present the physiological frame- work around which consciousness and unconsciousness are built, and show plainly how the one is easily merged or con- verted into the other. If cerebration is the physical process of consciousness, as both admit, and unconscious cerebration is a fact, then unconscious cerebration can be nothing else than unconscious consciousness. Therefore, apparently Doctor Mercier has contradicted himself. THE SOUL'S SECRET SCEOLL 87. of conscious activity. These modern researchers have shown that the so-called Unconscious Mind may be regarded as the receptacle continually regis- tering, as we have already noted, the impressions of the normal or immediate consciousness; and, that as these impressions sink into this reservoir, they pass out of the area of the instant or immedi- ate mind, perhaps forever obliterated from active consciousness, but may be restored under peculiar conditions, such as in dreams, or in moments of excitement, or certain extraordinary situations which cause their resurrection. Perhaps no other modern philosopher has made this fact so clear and convincing as the late E. W. H. Myers, who rounded out and presented in com- prehensive completeness the results of the labors of the Psychical Research Society of England. It was he who invented the much debated term, the "subliminal self," and gave forth the psychologi- cal data on which he rested his theory of its ex- istence. To quote his own words: "The idea of a threshold (limen, Schwelle) of con- sciousness — of a level above which sensation or thought must rise before it can enter into conscious life — is a simple and familiar one. The word sub- liminal — meaning beneath the threshold — ^has al- ready been used to define tHose sensations which are too feeble to be individually recognised. I propose to extend the meaning of the term, so as to make it cover all that takes place beneath the ordinary threshold, or say, if preferred, the ordinary margin of consciousness— not only those faint stimulations whose very faintness keeps them submerged, but 88 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY much else which psychology as yet scarcely recog- nises: — sensations, thoughts, emotions, which may be strong, definite, and independent, but which, by the original constitution of our being, seldom merge into that supra-liminal current of consciousness which we habitually identify with ourselves. ... I feel bound to speak of a subliminal, or ultra-margi- nal, consciousness — a consciousness which we shall see, for instance, uttering or writing sentences quite as complex and coherent as the supra-liminal con- sciousness could make them. Perceiving further that this conscious life beneath the threshold or be- yond the margin seems to be no discontinuous or in- termittent thing; that not only are these isolated subliminal processes comparable with isolated supra- liminal processes, (as when a problem is solved by some unknown procedure in a dream), but that there also is a continuous subliminal chain of memory (or more chains than one) involving just that kind of in- dividual and persistent revival of old impressions and response to new ones, which we commonly call a Self — I find it permissible and convenient to speak of subliminal Selves or more briefly of a subliminal Self." However, even before the Psychical Researchers attempted by experimentation and analysis to seg- regate the subliminal or sub-conscions from the su- praliminal or self-conscious, many among the old school of experimental and physiological psychol- ogists had already tentatively arrived at the same conclusion. Thus Dr. Maudsley in his celebrated and perhaps pioneer work on "Mind and Body" says: "The pre-conscious activity of mind, and the conscious activity of mind, which may perhaps now be deemed to be established, are surely facts THE SOUL'S SECEET SCEOLL 89 of which the most ardent introspective psychologist must admit that self-consciousness can give lis no account/* CHAPTER V PSYCHIC AJSTD PHYSICAL COEEESPONDENCE The object of the discussion which follows is to show that the activities of the so-called subliminal self are permanently recorded in that portion of the living organism which we have been calling the biological body^ or the interior organisation of the cell activities. After we have attempted to make this proposition clear we shall then attempt to show that this interior nucleal body, the organism of the plastids or bioplasts, consists of such a sub- stance and is so constituted as to be hypothetically capable of continued integrity under certain con- ditions after the dissolution of the visible body. Let us first seek to understand the correspond- ence that exists between the nervous system and the mental organism when a sensation and a thought are experienced. "The process taking place in the nervous system may be briefly described thus: An impression of the surrounding world affects the skin, or one of the sense organs of an animal or- ganism, and produces a shock upon the sensory nerve fibres. This shock is transmitted to the gang- lion where it causes an action in the grey-matter of the nerve cells ; this action of the ganglion is fur- ther transmitted to the motor nerve and when it reaches the end of the motor nerve a discharge takes place which causes the muscle to contract, 90 PSYCHIC COEEESPONDENCE 91 thus producing muscular motion. Along the whole line from the impression received to the muscular contractions there is an uninterrupted chain of motions." Thus we see that every sensation which we ex- perience is both caused by a certain series of mo- tions or vibrations in the nerve cells, and causes another responsive series of vibrations in the mus- cular cells. These motions or vibrations move along the delicate grey substance of the cells and leave certain tracing or scars of their pathway. But not only are the vibrations in the grey cells caused by an affection of the external world, but as well by an action of the will, a volition, or an up- rising of the emotions, that is, a spiritual sensa- tion. Because some writers have seen the possibil- ity of construing these mutual activities of mind and body into a mechanical interpretation of the soul and life, they have shied at them, and at- tempted to disregard them in their conclusions. Thus declares Dr. Scripture,* "There are many volumes of so-called ^psychology' in which each mental process is translated into some imaginary (for we have no facts on the subject) movement of brain-molecules, which in some imaginary fashion sets up another imaginary movement, which is translated into a second mental process that really followed the first one according to a simple psy- chological law." Nevertheless it seems to be the final decision of experimental psychologists that such parallel and •"Thinking, Feeling, Doing," p. 244. 92 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY complementary movements or processes do occur whenever we entertain a feeling, thought or sen- sation, and without such a basis of interpretation any scientific system of psychology seems to be im- possible. Prof. G. H. Lewes* says: ^There are numberless indications of a mental activity only recognisable as a neural process, not at all as a con- scious process, . , . We class the changes in the sensorium under three heads of varying intensity, and call them conscious, sub-conscious and uncon- scious states. The two first are admitted by all writers. The last is proved to have an equal claim: for the unconscious processes not only take place in the same organs as the others, but are shown to have the cardinal character of sentient states by their influence in determining ideas and actions." In fact almost all the modern leading physio- logical psychologists have reached a similar con- clusion. It is now admitted that all the processes of which we have no conscious knowledge are re- corded in the grey cells upon which they leave their inerasable tracings. As Eomanes says, speaking of what takes place when ^^a vibratory movement of the rate of about nine pulsations per second" af- fects a muscle under contraction: "What is the meaning of the movement? The meaning is that the act of will in the brain which serves as a stim- ulus to the contraction of the muscle and is accom- panied by a vibratory movement in the muscle, is •"Problems of Life and Mind," p. 20. PSYCHIC CORKESPONDENCE 93 accompanied hy a vibratory movement in the grey matter of the brain; that this movement is going on at the rate of nine pulsations per second, and that the muscle is giving a distinct and separate con- traction in response to every one of these nerve pul- sations."* There are, in other words actual mental modifi- cations of which we are wholly unaware which dis- turb the neural centres, causing a reassociation of the cell-centres; these activities are to be construed as part of our mental furniture as much as those modifications of which we are Wholly aware, and which are the result of our wakeful consciousness. "If we are," says Bastian, "as so many philoso- phers tell us, to regard the sphere of mind as co- extensive with the sphere of consciousness, we shall find mind reduced to a mere imperfect, disjointed series of agglomerations of feelings, and conscious states of various kinds — while a multitude of initial or intermediate nerve actions would have no claim to be included under this category." Terrier shows very plainly the complementary relation betwen mental modifications and nerve ac- tivities, in the case he citesf of a woman who lost her power of speech on account of a cerebral hemorrhage. The centre of speech being through racial education in the left hemisphere, the pecu- liarity of this case was that by temporary educa- tion of the similar centres in the right hemisphere *Mind and Body." t"IjOcalisation of the Functions of the Brain/' reported in the "Journal of Mental Science," April, 1872. 94 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY of the brain a certain degree of ability to speak was restored to the woman. Says Eerrier, "Death oc- curred some fifteen years after the seizure, and it was found, post mortem, that there was total de- struction and loss of substance in the cortical region in the left centre corresponding with the position of the centres of articulation. This seems to me to be one of the clearest cases of the re-acqui- sition of the faculty of speech by education of the articulating centres of the right side. . , . Apha- sia being essentially due to the destruction, tem- porary or permanent, of the centres of excitation and organic registration of acts of articulation, is a significant proof of the fact that there is no hreah hetween the physiological and psychological func- tions of the train, and that the objective and sub- jective are not separated from each other by an unbridgeable gulf." "We shall see in examples soon to be given that even more modern experiments among neurologists and psychologists have proved beyond a question that this alleged complete separation between the subjective and objective is not unbridgeable. But if it is not unbridgeable then it must mean that the nexus which exists is physical; that is, that there is a neural pathway between these two supposed contrasting and unassociated centres of the self, and that the subjective and objective interchange activities through this avenue. And this is the fact we are to consider. When and under what circumstances may the supposed subjective or unconscious realm rise into PSYCHIC COERESPONDENCE 95 the conscious, and if the conscious realm subsides into the subconscious can it ever be restored? The vast sphere of nerve activities which never rises at the time of the experience into the realm of the conscious plane, but remains in the mole- cular correlations alone, is the physical region of the subliminal self, where the vaster portion of all our experiences is recorded. As Ribot says, these are the innumerable nerve activities which have no accompanying psychic complement; that is, no conscious psychic complement; that, indeed, only a very limited number of physical or nerve activities resolve themselves into consciousness. Expressed in his own words: "Though psychic activity al- ways implies nerve activity, conversely it is not true that nerve activity always implies psychic ac- tivity." This conclusion is commonly accepted, if by psychic activity is meant conscious psychic activ- ity. For we shall soon see that all the innumerable physical or neural processes, which at the time of the experience may npt have resolved themselves into consciousness, are susceptible under other con- ditions of so resolving themselves, often to the un- expected pleasure or horror of the subject. The sudden lapse of sober and moral characters into degeneracy and inebriety may doubtless be often accounted for by this uprising of forgotten incidents and associations which,- disregarded when first experienced, afterwards under different situa- tions overwhelm and conquer the normal self. But sometimes the conquest of such passing and 96 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY transitory incidents in one's life become vivid, sud- denly controlling impulses, or dream-memories, and result in strange psychical experiences. A case of this character is described by Miss Lillian Whiting which perhaps most people would ascribe to the intervention of a spirit, but which is doubt- less to be attributed to the restoration from obliv- ion of a forgotten incident, called into dramatic importance. Miss Whiting, the narrator, had been an inti- mate friend of Miss Kate Field, the well known American journalist, and was in 1899 bringing out a life of her deceased friend. Miss Whiting be- lieves that she has frequently held communication with the spirit of Miss Field. She writes : 8th August, 1899. Between 2 and 3 A. M., August 4th, Kate awak- ened me, speaking to me excitedly, about a "letter of Lowell's" to her. All vas confused and rapid ; but at last I caught clearly : "In K. F.'s W. — in my Wash- ington, Lillian; look in my Washington." Then I vaguely recalled that Lowell had written her a let- ter in re International Copyright, which she had pub- lished in her journal and which I had already in- cluded in her biography, so I replied to her, "Yes, darling, I know — ^the letter is in the book. It's all right." . . . Again an excited and rapid speaking, of which I only caught here and there a word, but — partly from impression and almost impulsion — I rose, went into the parlor, turned on the electric light and took the five bound volumes of her "K. F.'s W." down from the shelves. Half automatically I seemed to be guided (for I had wholly forgotten its existence) to a letter that Lowell wrote to her in PSYCHIC CORRESPONDENCE 97 1879, when he was American minister to Spain, — writing from Madrid, and she in London — and which, on his death, she had published in her Wash- ington. (Miss Whiting explains that this letter was of considerable literary interest, and then adds): — As the original letter was not among Miss Field's MSS., and as I had wholly forgotten it (I don't even now recall seeing it, though I must have, at the time), this very important letter would have been left out of her biography, had she not thus called and led me to it. . , . Miss Field's waking me — ^her urgent and excited and forcible manner and words — were just as real to me as would have been those of some friend of this world coming to my bed- side."* Studying this curious experience, (which indeed was sufficiently vivid to have convinced the major- ity of people of its spiritistic source) in the light of Ribot^s dictum, we may be forced to reach another conclusion. This author asserts that while there may be in- numerable nerve activities which have no reflex registration in the psychic consciousness, on the contrary, every mental experience which we have, even the slightest, is necessarily registered some- where in the physical organism, showing that while the nerve activities may be continually ex- ercised and the psychical centres be unaffected by them, never can we have a menial experience unless it is registered in the nervous organism. Each one of these psychic activities, thus regis- tered, as Ribot asserts, in the nervous organism, is *Cited in "The Naturalisation of the Supernatural." Frank Podmore, pp. 226, 226. 98 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY a secret increment of the unconscious self. Those registrations lie buried deep within the cellular organisation; they constitute the physical instru- ment of the psychic or unconscious self; and un- consciousness is restored to consciousness, and finds- its intelligent expression, when these identical nerve centres are once again aroused, and excite the psychic activities of which they are the com- plements. Therefore, once admitting that Miss Whiting ever saw that lost letter, of which the alleged spirit of Miss Field, returning, reminds her, and we have all the physical and psychological elements necessary to account for its unconscious memory rising from her subliminal self and asserting itself thus forcibly to her normal or wakeful conscious- ness. The fact that the memory asserted itself en- ergetically, rapidly, excitedly, is precisely the manner in which such a deep mental experience, so long lost from normal consciousness, would as- sert itself, once it rose to the surface. This we often perceive in the excited manner with which we become suddenly aware of something we have tried to recall and could not, when by some circum- stance it is unexpectedly called to our minds. All such incidents lead us the better to under- stand the nature and methods of the deeply buried seat of the unconscious or subliminal soul. CHAPTEK VI THE PHYSIOLOGICAL UNDEE-WORLD It is, however, questionable whether Eibot's dictum that "it is not true that nerve activity al- ways implies psychic activity," was not a hastily drawn conclusion resulting from insufficient data. The science of hypnotism has revealed the fact that under certain control subjects may be forced back into their forgotten lives and recall situations which had merely impressed their nervous centres but had not aroused an apparent psychic activity. There are also cases, such as the famous incident referred to by Coleridge, of the maid-servant, who knew nothing of any foreign language, but on being seized with fever, recited long passages from Greek and Latin works, which she had without any psychic consciousness merely received into her nervous centres by hearing her clerical master read them as she carelessly dusted his library. Again we have the curious memory of a hyp- nosis, which recalls previous hypnoses, but knows nothing that took place in the intervening normal intervals. Wolfart relates the case of a woman who had remembered in the magnetic sleep all that had taken place in a magnetic sleep thirteen years before, although in the meantime she had never recollected it. (Moll). Here, manifestly, there were registrations made in the nervous cen- tres, which never rose to the surface of the normal 99 100 SOIEXCE AJSTD IMMOKTALITY consciousness, yet which had their psychic com- plements. In fact, a whole series of phenomena is involved in the possibility of every nerve activ- ity receiving its psychic complement, however un- conscious at the time. We refer, for instance, to such powers as are revealed in so-called "inspira- tional speakers," in the deliverance of such marvel- lous messages as came through the "mediumship" of Andrew Jackson Davis, and even the mysterious powers of so-called geniuses. In all these cases we detect the secret workings of the under-self, the sub- liminal realm, wherein there have been registered unobserved impressions upon the brain centres, whence they rise at certain times to the realm of consciousness or supraliminal expression. The fact to which G, H, Lewes refers that the same physiological effects accompany the conscious and the unconscious state, and that every sense of impulse, whether discriminated or not, affects cir- culation and develops heat, proves how the mind is being constantly affected by the interior physical activities of which it is wholly unaware, Dr, Maudsley* on this point says: "The brain not only receives impressions unconsciously, regis- ters impression without the co-operation of the consciousness, elaborates material unconsciously, calls latent powers into activity without conscious- ness, but it responds also as an organ of organic life to the internal stimuli which it receives un- consciously from the body." In fact, the mind is incessantly receiving psychic •"Physiology of Mind," p. 35. PHYSIOLOGICAL UNDEK-WOKLD 101 impressions, howbeit, unconsciously, from the ner- vous centres, else there would be no mental control of the entire system of involuntary organs on "which the elements of organic vitality depend. We now know that every muscle is moved, every cell vibrated, every tissue vitalised, every organ actu- ated, by the mind that thus works unconscious of its own activity, or at least in a realm of sub-con- scious activity. For the plane of the mind which thus acts in the involuntary realms of the body, and controls the chief centres of life, is that that we now know as the unconscious or subjective mind. This mind retaining the unutilised residuum of the multifold experience of the individual as well as that of the race, becomes the vast reservoir from whose depths the involuntary resources of life are summoned, "We are constantly aware that feel- ings emerge unsolicited by any previous mental state, directly from the dark womb of unconscious- ness. Indeed all our most vivid feelings are thus mystically derived; suddenly, a new, irrelevant, unwilled, unlooked for presence intrudes itself into consciousness. Some inscrutable power causes it to rise and enter the mental presence as a sensorial constituent."* In order that the argument which we are un- folding shall be fully elucidated it is necessary that the reader hold in mind the importance of the recently revealed scientific fact that every mental effort is recorded in the physical substance of the brain and nerves, and that no single nervous activ- * Montgomery. 102 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY ity escapes the recognition of the mind, although such recognition may be unobserved at the time. The mind acts automatically as well as voluntar- ily- The automatic activities of the mind find their physical correlate in some especial molecular arrangement in the cranial substance, no less than the voluntary activities. The automatic registra- tions are as permanent as are the voluntary; and, what is of the greater inportance, these altogether unknown automatic records may under certain conditions be reported to the conscious mental ac- tivities, and become a part of our wakeful con- sciousness. We are, perhaps, well enough aware of the fact that the mind makes certain impressions on the nervous tissues; but the opposite and correlate fact that every impression on the nervous system causes its responsive mental state is hardly as well understood. Yet this is the simple fact and on this fact rests the physical basis of the memory, and its far reaching perspective into the past of our own and our ancestral life. Maudsley emphasizes this truth by explaining that if any excitation takes place between two nerve cells lying side by side, and between which there was not any specific dif- ference, there will ever afterwards continue to ex- ist a difference between them. This physiological process, according to this authority, is the physical basis of memory and is the foundation of the de- velopment of our mental functions. In his own words: "Not only definite ideas, hut all affections of the nervous system — feelings of pleasure and PHYSIOLOGICAL UNDEK-WOKLD 103 pain, desires, etc., — thits leave heJiind them their structural effects and lay the foundation (physi- cally) of modes of thought^ feeling and action/' It is with this vast physiological under-world* which we have especially to do in this discus- sion. For we are to attempt to discover whether not only this far-reaching but ever unobserved ag- gregation of living element, which has been build- ing not only during the individual life of each of us, but during the ancestral lives of those from whom we have sprung, from the far-most distances of the racial history, is the physical home, of the soul, but also whether the substance of which this aggregate consists may not be of such a character *'*Each sensory centre is the organic basis of conscious- ness of its own special sensory impressions, and each is the organic basis of the memory of such impressions in the form of certain cell modifications, the re-mduction of which is the re-presentation or revival in idea of the individual sensory characters of the object. The organic cohesion of these ele- ments by association renders it possible for the re-exeitation of the one set of characters %o recaU the whole. . . . The organic memory of sensory impressions is the funda- mental basis of knowledge. If the sense impressions were evanescent, or endured only so long as the object was present, the range of conscious intelligent action would be limited to the present, and we should have no real knowledge. . . . We might be conscious from moment to moment, but there would be no continuation in time, and knowledge would be impossible. The foundation of . . . consciousness . . . is the re-excitation by the present of the same molecular processes which coincided with a past impression. ^ The sensory centres, besides being the organs of sensation or consciousness of immediate impressions, contain, in the per- sistence and revivahility of the co-incident physical modifi- cations, the material and possibilities of simple and complex cognitions, in so far as they are dependent on sensory expe- rience alone." David Ferrier on "Localisations of Functions in the Brain," 104 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY that it prophesies its potential continuity after the dissolution of the visible body. Here, then, we find the structural home of the unexplored if not unexplorable spiritual activities, which constitute what we are wont to call the soul, and which consist of the elemental psychic units of the so-called Unconscious or Subliminal Self. In the chapter on the ^Thylogeny of the Soul"* we studied how this spiritual unity was made up, by age-long evolutions of the aggregate elements of momentary and individual experiences. We now learn how each one of those individual expe- riences, whether conscious or unconscious, is im- bedded in the physical substance of the nervous system, from which it may be resurrected into the temporary consciousness of the passing moment. We shall have to enquire also whether the psychical organisation, made up of this infinity of individ- ual experiences is itself susceptible of disorganisa- tion, as is the physical substance in which it abides; and whether, as the primary physical element which encloses the psychic element con- sists of matter which is potentially indestructible, the psychic organisation may be of sufiicient strength, if so highly developed, as to maintain the material organism (invisible within the pres- ent body) after the experience of so-called death. We are permitted through psychological labora- tory experimentation to enter almost into Nature's secret method of the formation of habits of the mind and its reflection of physical conditions. We *'T!ilodern Light on Immortality." iPHYSIOLOGIOAL UNDER-WOELD 105 see from these experimenta that the subtle stuff of the mind, if we may so term it, being made up of the psychic elements of the under — or subliminal — self, consists largely of mental states which are re-actions from physical situations. These psychic responses to physical states make up the organisa- tion of the unconscious mind, which is the vast unexplored atmosphere that ever surrounds the conscious mind. It would be well to relate here some of the ex- periments that demonstrate this fact. In Fere and Binet's experiments after they had caused the hal- lucination of a bird perched on the forefinger of a patient by suggestion, they proved that the mental perceptions were altered by a modification of the sensory centres, even without verbal suggestion, by the application of a magnet to the subject's head. '^While she was caressing the imaginary bird, she was awakened and a magnet brought close to her head. After the lapse of a few moments she sud- denly paused, raised her eyes and looked around her in astonishment The bird which she sup- posed to be on her finger had disappeared. She looked about the room, and finally discovered it, since we heard her say *So you leave me thus!' The bird presently disappeared again, and once more reappeared." These authors assert that they can destroy or alter a suggested memory or a natural memory by the application of the magnet on hysterical subjects. It is clear then, that what we call memory and 106 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITT the data of knowledge are psychic reactions of phy- sical excitations. There seems to he but little like- lihood that Dr. Wundt's conclusion as to our psy- chological natures will be dissented from by the scientific world of the immediate future: — "The traditional opinion that consciousness is the en- tire field of internal life cannot be accepted. Our conscious psychic acts" . . . indicate . . . "unity in psychology. But the agent of this unity is out- side of consciousness which knows only the result of the work done in the unknown laboratory be- neath it. Ultimate psychic processes show that the Unconscious is the theatre of the most important mental phenomena, the conscious is always CONDITIONED UPON THE UNCONSCIOUS." But is the Unconscious something permanent and constant, or is it variable and subject to ulti- mate disintegration? The answer to this ques- tion involves, as we think, both a psychological and a physical problem to which we shall now under- take to address ourselves. We shall proceed to study still further the formation and possible per- manency of the Unconscious Self. CHAPTEE VII THE MIND'S MYSTEEIOUS MIEKOE That this inward self, called by Myers the Sub- liminal, and by authorities preceding him the Un- conscious, is, as Wundt asserts, the most important part of our being, is suflSciently evidenced by a re- view of the office which it fills. Not only as we have already shown would memory and knowledge be impossible without it; that is, without this un- conscious element of our being, consciousness it- self would be impossible ; but the entire machinery of our physical organism is dependent on its cease- less watchfulness and superintendence, which pro- ceeds so faultlessly without a moment's concern of our daily consciousness. By age-long education from the protoplasmic amoeba up to the full formed human, this slowly organised psychological unity has been built, till now every throbbing cell and vibrant fibre of our bodies, the action of every vital organ that sustains our breathing, digestion and the pulsing of the vitalising fluid through our veins, is the immediate ward of this mysterious and never-failing overseer. It is indeed the pro- moter of every passion, the energiser or inhibitor of every impulse and emotion, the creator of each providential instinct, the sexual guide and pro- moter of racial propagation, the awakener of pa- ternal affection and the creator of maternal un- selfishness, the instigator of the social solidarity 107 108 SCIENCE AM) IMMOETALITT and the prophet of human brotherhood and ulti- mate paradisiacal peace. Were it not for this secret teacher whose peda- gogic realm prevails in the inmost secret centres of our being, a schoolmaster whose invisible fer- rule ever whips us into obedience and whose un- discerned discipline is the divine agency that pre- dominates all human life, progress were impos- sible and such an epoch in history as the achieve- ment of civilisation were unattainable. As Hart- mann so eloquently says:* "It supplies every being in its instinct with what the body needs for self-preservation and for which its conscious thought does not suffice. The Un- conscious preserves the species through sexual and maternal love, ennobles it through selection in sex- ual love, and conducts the human race historically, steadily to the goal of its greatest possible perfec- tion. The Unconscious often guides men in their actions by hints and feelings, when they could not help themselves by conscious thought. The Uncon- scious furthers the conscious thought by its inspira- tion in small as in great matters, and in mysticism guides mankind to the presentment of higher, super- sensible unities. The Unconscious makes men happy through the feeling for the beautiful and artistic. If we constitute a comparison between the Conscious and the Unconscious, it is obvious that there is a sphere always reserved to the Unconscious, because it remains ever inaccessible to the Conscious.*' In the italicised words Hartmann has doubtless erred, for as we shall see, more recent discoveries prove to us that the Unconscious is at least in part *"Philosophy of the Unconscious." THE MIND'S MYSTERIOUS MIEROR 109 accessible to the Conscious, and that the so-called Unconscious is not strictly so, but rather a sub- merged or subterranean portion of the Conscious. Yet because the Unconscious Self has been the long neglected division of the human being, and only recently has its existence been admitted as a scientific verity, it behooves us to examine and analyse it further in order that we may learn how, if at all, it differs from the normal but temporary consciousness. It will be necessary to examine its origin, its history, its powers, and its possibilities, in order to distinguish them from those of the nor- mal consciousness. When this distinction is fully appreciated it remains to be seen whether it suf- ficiently emphasises such elements of permanence and indestructibility to justify the logical conclu- sion of the soul's possible immortality. In order to make this fact clear we shall briefly examine the laws that govern the senses and undertake to ex- plain how the correlative activities of the Uncon- scious or Subliminal Self utilise physical centres which are not controlled by the normal or objective senses. Examining first the sensation of sight, we know that in our normal state we see only through the physical eye ; we know that we are dependent upon rays of light, upon certain vibrations of the atmos- phere, and upon what we ordinarily understand as normal conditions, for the perception of physical objects through the ocular organ. I know that with my eyes shut I cannot see an object before me, although upon my eyelids I receive vague im- 110 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY pressions of the light of day ; and I might be able to distinguish between night and day, or between a dark room and a lighted one. Other than that I would have no visual experience. But now the Unconscious Mind, the subliminal organ of the buried self, seems to act according to precisely the contrary conditions. It seems to be able to pierce opaque objects, to see without rays of light, and, in short, seems to possess such visual perception as is utterly impossible to the normal physical eye. Many examples of this power might be given, for they have become surprisingly numerous in the records of recent years, but one or two, which are attested by suflBcient scientific authority, must suf- fice. The following case is vouched for by Frank Podmore.* 'TVIr. W. A. Dobbie, the experimenter in this case, is a gentleman residing in Adelaide, S. Australia, who has practised hypnotism for many years, and has hypnotised chiefly for curative purposes thou- sands of persons. . . . When on a visit to this coun- try in 1889 he allowed us to inspect his notes. The following account is extracted from them: " 'June 10, 1884. " 'Up to the present time this has been the most interesting case I have had/ "(Mr. Dobbie then explains that he had mes- merised Miss on several occasions to relieve rheumatism and sore throat. He found her to be clairvoyant.) « ^The following is a verbatim report of the sec- ond time I tested her powers in this respect, April, 1884. There were four persons present during the •"Studies in Psychical Research," 1897. THE MIND'S MYSTEEIOUS MIEEOE 111 seance. One of the company wrote down the replies as they were spoken. . . . "^Her father was at the time over fifty miles away, but we did not know exactly where, so I ques- tioned her as follows: *Can you find your father at the present moment?^ At first she replied that she could not see him, but in a minute or two she said, '0 yes, now I see him, Mr. Dobbie,^ ^Where is he?' ^Sitting at a large table in a large room, and there are a lot of people going in and out.' *What is he doing?' 'Writing a letter, and there is a book in front of him.' 'Who is he writing to?' 'To the newspaper.' Here she paused and laughingly said, 'Well, I declare he is writing to A. B. (naming the paper). 'Yon said there was a book there. Can you tell me what book it is ?' 'It has gilt letters on it.' 'Can you read it or tell me the name of the author ?' She read or pronounced slowly, 'W. L. W.^ (giving the full surname of the author). She answered sev- eral minor questions re the furniture in the room, and then I said to her: 'Is it any effort or trouble to you to travel in this way?' 'Yes, a little; I have to think." " 'I now stood behind her, holding a half crown in my hand, and asked her if she could tell me what I held in my hand, to which she replied, 'It is a shil- ling.' It seemed as though she could tell what was happening miles away easier than she could see what was going on in the room. " 'Her father returned home nearly a week after- wards, and was perfectly astounded, when told by his wife and family what he had been doing on that particular evening; and although previous to that date he was a perfect skeptic as to clairvoyance, he frankly admitted that my clairvoyant was perfectly correct in every particular. He also informed me that the book referred to was a new one, which he had 112 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY purcHased after He Had left home, so that there was no possibility of the daughter guessing that he had that book before him. I may add that the letter in due course appeared in the paper; and I saw and handled the book/ " Indeed a large array of experiences might be given under this head to emphasise the fact of the Unconscious Mind using other physical media than the visible senses for the discernment of ma- terial objects. The somnambulist, as an example, who is sound asleep and has no normal conscious- ness whatsoever of his physical activities, walks nevertheless as well with his eyes tightly closed in the darkest night, as when awake, with his eyes wide open in the brightest day, and unhaltingly proceeds to whatever destination he may desire. He apparently sees every object in a dark room as well as, and possibly better, than he can see with the normal eye when awake, and permits nothing to interfere with his rational actions, I shall, however, refer to but one more case under this heading, as it is authenticated by Flam- marion, and seems to have the ear-marks of genu- ineness. The eminent astromomer who has been devoting himself for many years to a cautious ex- amination of the subject we are considering, In 1899 sent forth a General Inquiry respecting the observation of telepathy, manifestations of the dy- ing, premonitory dreams, and in general existing unexplained psychic phenomena. He received 4,280 replies. Among these there were 1,758 let- ters giving very complete recitations of personal experiences with such phenomena. He presents a THE MIND'S MYSTEKIOUS MIEROE 113 mimber of them in his "Mysterious Psychic Forces/' to one of which I desire especially to refer, M. Castex-Degrange, originally a great skeptic in whom mediumship unconsciously developed, sub-director of the National School of Eine Arts in LyonSj "upon whose veracity and sincerity not the least suspicion can rest," narrates a number of such experiences. Among them I find the follow- ing: "One evening in an assembly composed of a score of persons, a lady dressed in black greeted my en- trance with a little nervous laugh. After the cus- tomary introductions, this lady spoke to me as fol- lows : — " ^Sir, would it be possible to ask your spirits to reply to a question I am going to ask ?' " ^In the first place, madam, I have no spirits at my disposal; but I should be a lack- wit, indeed, if I said yes. You, of course, don't suppose that I am unintelligent enough not to find some kind of an an- swer ; and consequently if my spirits, as you so kindly call them, should happen to respond, you would not be convinced, and you would be right. Write your request. Put it in an envelope there on the table and we will try. You see that I am not in a som- nambulistic state, and you must believe that it is wholly impossible for me to know the contents of what you are going to enclose in it. "So said, so done. "At the end of ^ve minutes I assure you I was very much embarrassed, I had written a reply, but it was such I did not dare to communicate it. But ihere it is: " ^You are in a very bad way, and if you persist 114 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITT you will be severely punished. Marriage is some- thing sacred, and it should never be regarded as a question of money/ "After some oratorical precautions I decided to read her this reply. The lady blushed up to the roots of her hair, and stretched out her hands to seize her envelope. " Tardon me, madam/ I replied, putting my hand upon it. ^You began by making fun of me; you wished a reply. It is only just, since we are making an experiment, that we know what the request was.^ "I tore open the envelope. Behold its contents: " 'Will the marriage take place that I am trying to bring about between M. X. and Mile Z. ? And in that case shall I get what I have been promised?' "Notwithstanding this shameful exposure the lady did not consider herself beaten. She asked a sec- ond question under the same conditions. "Eeply: 'Leave me alone! When I was living you abandoned me. Now don't bother me!' 'HJpon this the lady got up and disappeared! I told you she was in mourning. This last request of hers was as follows: 'What has become of the soul of my father ?' "Her father had been ill for six months. Per- sons who were present and who were stupefied at the results, told me that during his illness she had not paid him a single visit." Now, what is it that sees under these condi- tions ? We know it is not one of the normal senses that can see fifty miles away or read a letter en- closed in an envelope some distance from the reader. The normal mind is certainly not the per- cipient. It can be nothing else than what we have called the Unconscious Mind, the mind of the un* THE MIND'S MYSTEEIOUS MIEKOR 115 der-realm of physical experience and sensation. [Naturally such phenomena are now often ex- plained by referring them to the achievements of so-called telepathy. But telepathy itself must be explained. What is telepathy other than the ca- pacity of the Unconscious Mind to utilise the un- recognised registrations upon the nerve centreSj, there impinged either by the stimuli of unobserved physical affections or by the play of foreign men- tal forces upon them.* *I shaU, in a future chapter, examine this subject more in detail and seek to expose what I beUeve to be the common misapprehension of the nature of telepathy. CHAPTEE VIII STIPEK-PHYSIOAL SENSES Similarly in regard to the sense of touch, which is really the only physical sense of the human or- ganism (all the other senses being but variations of it), we find the same contradictions between normal and extra-normal tactility. There have been many experiments in psychological laborato- ries to prove that the sense of touch may be differ- ently used by the unconscious mind than by the conscious. Sometimes, for instance, it allows it- self to be substituted for the sense of sight; as in the case of Professor Crookes who, when at one time experimenting with a medium, put his hand behind him and placed a finger on an open page of a book. "Without himself seeing the book, as it was behind him on a table, or knowing what if any word his finger happened to be on, he asked the medium, who herself was so situated that she could not see the book or the place where his finger was, to tell him the word which his finger touched. She said "However"; turning himself round he saw to his amazement that his finger did touch just that word. But in the laboratory experiments we have the most convincing cases presented to us. Alfred Binet, in his "Double Consciousness," narrating the manner by which a subject with one hand an- 116 SUPEK-PHYSICAL SENSES 117 sesthetised still writes without knowing what the hand is doing, says: "After having determined ezperimentally the maximum distance at which the subject can read the largest letters of a series, we invite him to read cer- tain smaller letters that are placed below the former. Naturally enough, the subject is unable to do so; but, if at this distance, we slip a pencil into the anaesthetic hand, we are able by the agency of the hand to induce automatic writing, and this writing will produce precisely the letters which the subject is in vain trying to read. ... It is highly interesting to observe that at the very time the subject is re- peatedly declaring that he does not see the letters, the anaesthetic hand, unknown to him, writes out the letters one after the other. If, interrupting the experiment, we ask the subject to write of his own free will the letters of the printed series, he will not be able to do so, and when asked simply to draw what he sees, he will produce a few zig-zag marks that have no meaning. "Let us further remark that, although the sub- ject maintains that he sees nothing, the automatic, nevertheless, reproduces all the letters marked on the black board, with perfect regularity, beginning at the first and ending with the last. ... I was easily able to establish the fact that, after closing the left eye of the subject, and putting into his anaesthetic hand, without his knowledge, a pencil, the automatic writing was brought to reproduce all the letters which we passed before the amaurotic eye. The amaurotic eye, accordingly, did see, notwithstanding its apparent blindness; in other words, the second consciousness was the one that saw. . . . We must accordingly suppose that, during the experiment the second consciousness directs the line of sight, with- out the knowledge of the principal subject.^' 118 SCIENCE 'AKD IMMOETALITT In this experiment both the sense of touch and that of sight seem to work in a manner out of the ordinary; the hand writing without knowing what it inscribes, even while unaware of the pen or the motion, and the eye seeing what the ordinary eye could not behold. But there are experiments, sufficiently vouched for, which seem to indicate that the sense of touch can be extended, as it were, from the organs and be made to feel objects in the distance. The use of the magnet, with hysterical subjects who have been hypnotised, shows that the uncon- scious mind perceives certain sensations of which the conscious mind knows nothing. For instance, when lethargy is induced on one side of a subject and catalepsy on the other side the approach of a magnet, without touching the subject, causes the lethargic side to become cataleptic, and the catalep- tic to become lethargic. In the same way, when the state is somnambulistic on one side and cata- leptic or lethargic on the other side, the magnet causes transferrence. "But also in each particular hypnotic state, symp- toms can be transferred from one side of the body to the other by the use of the magnet, e. g., the indi- vidual contractures in lethargy, and particulg-r pos- tures of the limbs in catalepsy. In somnambulism, contractures as well as hallucinations of one side, and hemi-anaesthesia, can be transferred in the same way. Binet and Fere say that when hypnotic subjects write with the right hand, they reverse the direction of the writing under the influence of the SUPER-PHYSICAL SENSES 119 magnet and write at the same time with the left hand,"* Here we see that the unconscious mind is sus- ceptible to a sense of touch wholly unknown to and beyond the plane of the conscious mind. The nor- mal senses manifestly play no part in this perform- ance. Yet, the very fact that a physical instru- ment is employed, and the fact that, as we know, a certain force (that is, a high velocity of vibra- tion), is brought to play upon the physical body of the subject, proves that certain molecular activi- ties have been set up in the sensorium. The nor- mal consciousness, the present mind, has no faculty whereby these activities or sensations can be per- ceived. The subliminal or unconscious mind, manifestly perceives the impressions made by these vibrations. But such impressions are made upon the interior substance of the physiological cells. The unconscious mind must therefore be able to perceive these impressions; just as the conscious mind perceives the impressions made upon the cells of the normal organs of the body. In other words, the Unconscious seems to have access to a deeper physical recess of the organism than the Conscious. It would seem that the vibrations which affect the outer walls of the cell when the nervous system is agitated become the field of the perceptive faculties of the conscious mind while those vibrations which penetrate into the interior of the cell, into the nucleal mass, are reserved for the receptive field of the Unconscious Senses. *MolI: "Hypnotism." 120 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITT That is, the residuum of motion which remains from the external contact of the cells, and sinks into the substance of the chromosone, to which we have referred, becomes the especial instrumental- ity of the subliminal mind in the exercise of its perceptive functions. This is the physical sub- stance, in its nature deathless, as we have inti- mated, which retains in its essence the hereditary forces of the individual That the plasm, or the primal, living substance of the cell, is the seat of all the residual motion which is perceived as sensation and consciousness, is now admitted by the highest biological authori- ties. Thus, for instance, Haeckel argues in his "The Wonders of Life," p. 293: "The term 'reaction' stands in general for the change which any body experiences from the action of another. Thus, for instance, to take the simplest case, the interaction of two substances in chemistry is called a reaction. In chemical analysis the word is used in a narrower sense to denote that action of one body on another which serves to reveal its na- ture. Even here we must assume that the two bodies feel their different characters; otherwise they could not act on each other. Hence every chemist speaks more or less of 'sensitive re-action/ But this process is not different in principle from the reaction of the living organism to outer stimuli, whatever be their chemical or physical nature. And there is no more essential difference in psychological reaction, which is always bound up with corresponding changes in the psychoplasm, and so with a chemical conversion of energy. In this case, however, the process of reaction is much more complicated, and we can dis- SUPEE-PHYSIOAL SEl^SES 121 tinguish several parts or phases of it: 1, the outer excitation; 3, the reaction of the sense organ; 3^ the conducting of the modified impression to the central organ ; 4, the internal sensation of the conducted im- pression; 5, the consciousness of the impression." Consciousness, then, according to this author, is the result of the disturbance of the cell-plasm, and the perception of the impressions which such disturbance makes upon this substance. Until the reaction, resulting from the action of one cell upon another, causes changes in the plasm, there is no possibility of consciousness. Before such change takes place the reaction of the stimuli is merely sensitiveness or irritability. As Ostwald says, "What we call sensation or perception of stimuli may be regarded as a special form of the living force or actual energy." Continues Haeckel:* "The living substance at rest, which is sensitive or irritable, is in a state of equilibrium and indiffer- ence to its environment. But the active plasm that receives the stimulus has its equilibrium disturbed, and corresponds to the change in its environment and its internal condition. ... At each stimulation ihe virtual energy of the plasm (sensitiveness) is converted into living or kinetic force (sensation)," Thus we observe consciousness cannot take place till the plasm itself is disturbed by the chemical or psychic stimulation. There is, manifestly, a vast residuum of the "reaction" which takes place be- tween the cells that constitutes the basis of poten- tial consciousness; that is, which remains within •Id., p. 293. 122 SCIENCE AT^D IMMOETALITY the cell substance, but which has not yet been ob- served by the psychic organ. Or, if it has once aroused the perception of the psychic organ, it has again returned in some transmuted form of en- ergy to react from the cell upon other portions of the organism. This residuum of energy, as I un- derstand it, which is bound up within the cell- plasm, but remains within a section of the cell which is unaffected by, or can affect, the conscious self, is the realm of activity which the unconscious self perceives — ^which is, in short, the vast resource of the subliminal consciousness. In a future chap- ter we shall discuss the relation of this involved cell-energy to psychic phenomena. The entire sym- pathetic system of the nerves, which control all the involuntary or unconscious activities of the living organism, are doubtless constituted of cells of this nature. That is, the cells of this system, doubtless, are so affected by the internal chemical or psychic stimuli that the cell substance receives, namely, "the internal sensation of the conducted impression,"* but not sufficiently intense to be con- verted into the "consciousness of the impression." Therefore the subliminal consciousness, or the Unconscious, perceives the internal impressions on the "psychoplasm," which are inaccessible to the perception of the supra-liminal consciousness, or the consciousness of the wakeful life. Here, then, resides the vast and unexplored storehouse of all the possible future consciousnesses which by un- usual circumstance, by extraordinary excitation, •Haeckel. SUPEK-PHYSIOAL SENSES 123 may be stirred up in the deeper centres of the life- substance and aroused from their abodes. The first stage of consciousness is "reflex ac- tion." While it remains in this stage we call it sensation. Sensation consists of the immediate re- action of one cell upon another. Consciousness, however, comes only when the ^'reaction" has dis- turbed the inner centres of the cell, the cell-plasm, penetrated, so to speak, "the holy of holies" of the supreme self. Says Haeckel :* "The greatest and most fatal error committed by modern physiology is the admission of the fatal dogma that all sensation must be accompanied by consciousness. . . . Impartial reflection on our per- sonal experience during sensation and consciousness will soon convince us that these are two different physiological functions, which are by no means necessarily associated." We learn indeed, from daily experience that what at one moment may be a state of conscious- ness, at the next may have reverted to mere uncon- scious sensation, and conversely, that what are at first momentary states of passing and unobserved sensation, may in an instant become states of con- sciousness. The young pianist, for instance, re- calls with humor if not disgust, the thousands of painful sensations she first experienced in learning the mastery of a difficult instrument; but after years of practice, when the most complicated com- positions are rendered without any conscious ef- fort, and merely as a mechanical process, (the mind in a sort of trance or dream ^tate) , it is evident that 'Wonders of Life, p. 289. 124 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY the primary states of consciousness have become mere modes of unconscious sensation, howbeit the primary sensations had been immediate modes of consciousness. "The same may be said of thousands of sensa- tions and movements which we learned at first con- sciously in childhood, and then repeat daily after- wards without noticing — such as walking, eating, speaking, and so on. These familiar facts prove of themselves that consciousness is a complicated func- tion of the brain by no means necessarily connected with sensation or the will. To bind up the ideas of sensation and consciousness inseparably is the more absurd, as the mechanism of the real nature of the consciousness seems very obscure to us, while the idea of it is perfectly clear — we know that we know, feel and will." The fact, then, that there is this distinct cleav- age between the field of sensation and conscious- ness seems to afford a scientific explanation for certain so-called occult phenomena, which would otherwise apparently be beyond explication. There are certain incidents, for instance, which seem to prove that some people have the peculiar faculty of feeling at a distance. We shall in a moment present some illustrations. Mostly these sensations occur to these individuals when in a state of trance or at least when the normal will is more or less in a state of quiescence. We shall shortly see that the unconscious or subjective mind is the most active when the normal or objective mind is subdued. This would seem to indicate that as the conscious mind ceases to perceive the SUPEE-PHYSICAL SENSES 125 cellular sensations which are upon the immediate surface, the unconscious mind discerns the more remote or profound sensations in the interior of the organism. Let us attend to some of the cases re- ported. CHAPTER IX SUPEE-PHYSIOAL SENSES (Continued) The next class of phenomena to which we are now to refer has been called Telsesthesia. Ever since the phenomena of so-called animal magnetism have been recognised, an effort has been made to explain them on the theory that human beings are surrounded by an invisible fluidic double, a sort of a subtle atmosphere, which is susceptible of im- parting to some people certain sensations, wholly inappreciable by the fleshly senses. Following Mesmer^s exposition of this theory Montravel, in the 18th century, in his essay on "The Theory of Animal Magnetism," dilates upon the possibilities and nature of the etheric or fluidic body which surrounds the normal organism and which he de- clares is something like a material soul superintend- ing the activities of the body. Deleuze, of the Paris Museum, in 1813 published "A Critical History of Animal Magnetism," from which I quote : — "Most psychics perceive a bright, luminous fluid surrounding their magnetiser, and given oif with especial intensity from the head and the hands. They recognise that he is able to concentrate this fluid at will, direct it, and impregnate various sub- stances with it. Many see it not only when in an actual state of somnambulism, but also during sev- eral minutes after their awakening. They find it to 126 SUPEE-PHYSICAL SENSES 127 possess an agreeable odor of its own, which gives a peculiar flavor to water and food. ... As I have obtained these data from all psychics whom I have consulted, and as magnetisers in all countries have obtained the like, I am compelled to admit the exist- ence of a magnetic fluid."* Baron von Eeichenbaeh published books, late in the 19th century, in which as the result of experi- ments with psychics he concludes that every ani- mal organism emits a sort of radiation, variable in intensity with the health and spirits of the subject ; that the daylight increases the radiation, as well as food and physical activity; during sleep and hun- ger, the radiation grows fainter ; it has its periods of fluctuation every twenty-four hours, and is per- ceptible only to "psychics" although it covers the entire body, rendering it luminous, being brightest in certain parts of the body, such as the tips of the fingers, the eyes, the palms of the hands, the pit of the stomach, etc. Streams of light, like tongues of flame, flare from the eyes, the tips of the fingers, the nostrils and the ears. It is also said that these appearances have dif- ferent colors as they become apparent in different parts of the body. The right side, it is said, gives off a radiation of a blue hue, giving a cool feeling to the touch, while the left side gives off a red flame that is warm to the touch. The fluid that he says surrounds the body Eeichenbaeh called ''od," and distinguished it from magnetism, by experimenting with a subject, through whose body *This quotation is from "Future Life" by L. Elbe, who copies it from M. de Rochas' works. 128 SCIENCE Am) IMMOETALITY strong charges of electricity could be sent without the experience of unpleasant sensations, whereas slight charges of the odic fluid would cause very vivid sensations. He showed also that he could transfer the odic fluid to many other substances, but that the conductivity in speed was inferior to that of electricity, yet greater than that of heat. Moreover, while the object magnetised will for some long time retain the magnetic fluid, an object that is permeated with the odic fluid rap- idly loses the influence — the odic fluid is quickly dissipated after the object is affected by it Eeichenbach also asserts that heated objects ap- pear much cooler to an odic subject, or a psychic under the spell of the odic influence, than when they are actually chilled. He also noted certain important distinctions between the action of magnetism and the odic force, in that the latter could be accumulated in almost all objects, whereas there are but few which are susceptible to the af- fections of magnetism. He noted also that the two poles of the od could transfer to one another, the positive becoming negative and the negative, positive; that is, the psychic would sometimes see the blue flame on the right side and the red on the left, which is a transferrence that never takes place in the operations of the magnetic force. Eeichenbach observed that a psychic could fol- low the light of a crystal body, which emanated from it, as she would follow the light of a lantern in the dark. He also observed that crystals, small metallic rods, or small glass discs, if charged with STJPEK-PHYSICAL SENSES 129 odic force and held between the fingers, caused a peculiar rotary movement, due, he thought, to the force emanating from the fingers or person of the psychic. He thus undertook to explain the many physical phenomena, such as the moving of tables, the sounding of raps and concussions, etc., which he claimed were controlled by the odic force ema- nating from the sitters in a circle, as could be shown by the way in which they held their hands, and the peculiarity of the persons who formed the circle. There is not, however, suflBcient scientific cer- tainty accredited to the Eeichenbach experiments, and we must therefore regard them as merely sug- gestive, and as inciters to other more efficient and accurate scientific experimentations. Quite a number of experimentalists, some of them of the highest scientific efficiency, followed in the wake of Eeichenbach, many of them con- firming his conclusions. Eleetwood Wharley tes- tified in 1865 before the London Dialectical So- ciety that experimenting with Mrs. Wharley he had discovered indubitable proofs of the "existence of odic flames emanating from magnetised bodies, crystals and human beings." But it remained for M. de Rochas to produce the most exact and con- clusive scientific data respecting this strange force, up to the present time. His methods were so sci- entific in their character that but little doubt is thrown upon their accuracy, whatever conclusions one may draw from them. He found one very for- tunate subject who was possessed of a high degree of discernment of the odic effluvium, even in broad 130 SCIENCE AKD IMMOKTALITT daylight, when he was brought into the proper con- dition under hypnosis. In this state his eye wa& examined with the ophthalmoscope, when its physi- ological condition was found to be much altered. He, being a draughtsman, was enabled to draw the visions he observed, and of course made them much more vivid and impressive than the mere de- scriptions of psychics heretofore depended on. M. de Eochas came to the conclusions that the so- called odic ef&uvium was a genuine phenomenon,, which could be perceived by the retina. He con- firms Eeichenbach by showing that it assumes cer- tain constant characteristics, such as the flame-like form which is emitted from certain extremities of a body. But the length, intensity and color of the flame vary with the subjects, depending on the state of the hypnosis into which they have been thrown. He admits, however, the possibility of these discernments being the outcome of sugges- tion,* for he says that the description of the efflu- vium may to some extent be spoilt by its interven- tion. Rochas says that when an object is mag- netised effluvia will be induced at the extremities. Especially is this true in a piece of iron, whether a straight bar or horse-shoe shaped. The color of the effluvium depends on the direction of current of the force; it will last as long as the magnetisa- tion. In soft iron the effluvium rapidly disap- pears after the induction, but in steel it will be- come permanent. It has also been observed that *We shall show in later pages how Prof. Dodd undertook to explain all the phenomena as absolutely results of sug- gestion. SUPEK-PHYSICAL SENSES 131 the effluvia "will be affected by draughts, the same as a gaseous flame would be, so that it would ap- pear that the molecules of the atmosphere are in some degree affected by the odic current. This would seem to indicate why the eye can sometimes detect the effluvium because of an especial glow given it by the condition of the atmosphere. It is quite evident that the phenomena thus far noted may be referrable to certain states of mind induced in the subjects by the operators or mesmer- isers which are not registered in the organs acces- sible to the normal consciousness. ^Nevertheless, they must be actual physical states, for the subject reports certain physical sensations, when in a state of trance or hypnosis, which, however, are unnoticed by the subject when restored to con- sciousness. I quote here M. de Eochas' descrip- tion of the appearance and effects of the odic force upon a subject, and the curious results of certain experiments , performed upon them while in this state. "After the first passes the sensitivity of smell and that of the skin disappear, and the subject may be pinched, pricked, or even burned, and ammonia can be placed beneath the nose, without his noticing anything, but he continues to hear and to see. "... Moreover^ the sense of touch, instead of being resident as usual upon the surface of the skin, now spreads beyond the body according to definitely ascertained laws. ... At the beginning of externali- sation, a light mist forms about the body, percep- tible only to clairvoyants, and this by degrees con- denses and becomes more brilliant, finally assuming 132 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY the appearance of a thin layer three or four centi- meters from the skin and following the contours of the body. If the magnetiser acts upon this luminous layer in any manner whatsoever, the subject esperi- ences precisely the same sensations as if the action were actually upon his skin, but he feels nothing or next to nothing, if it is exerted elsewhere. He also feels nothing unless the action proceeds from a person en rapport with the magnetiser. "Should magnetisation be carried to a still higher degree, a series of equi-distant layers six or seven centimeters apart, double the distance of the first layer from the skin, forms itself around the subject, who is sensitive to touch, pricking or burning, only upon these layers, which occasionally succeed one another to a depth of from two to three meters, and inter-penetrate and inter-cross without becoming modified in any appreciable manner, their sensitivity decreasing in proportion as they are removed far- ther from the body. After a certain lapse of time, which may vary but generally after the third or fourth lethargic phase, the concentric layers mani- fest two maxima of intensity, one upon the subject's right side and one upon his left, and two poles, as it were, of sensitivity are there formed." Now the most surprising feature of these experi- ments was the discovery that if inanimate objects such, for instance, as a glass of water, were placed within the field of sensitivity, removed from the body of the subject, they seemed to be charged with the subject's sensations; and, what is still more surprising, these objects would retain the subject's sensitivity even when removed from the field. That is, just as a bit of steel or iron may be magnetised, and the iron will retain the magnetisa- SUPEE-PHYSICAL SENSES 133 tion for some time, so the object placed within the field of psychic sensitivity "would become charged with it and retain it for some time, even when no longer within the field. If when the glass of water is thus charged with the subject's psychic sense the operator touch it ever so lightly with his finger, the subject instantly feels it, and experiences the same sensations that he would if he were so af- fected in his normal senses. This charged liquid can be used much as the ancient wonder workers were said to use lay figures and "mummies," and cause affectations or sensations on a distant body without its personal knowledge. Indeed, this discovery gives almost a scientific explanation of the so-called witchcraft of other ages, when it was supposed that alleged witches could, by exercising their mind on certain objects, or by certain physical manipulations, cause the de- sired pains and sufferings to be felt in the bodies of persons far distant. However, on closer exam- ination it becomes quite apparent that these effects were not produced by the mere psychic atmosphere, or within the field of the odic layer, but chie-fly as the result of the workings of the mind of the mag- netiser. Eor "the sensitivity in the mummy is closely analogous to the situation created by the state of rapport, during hypnosis, for then, too, the subject receives at a distance all the impres- sions to which his magnetiser is subjected, just as he does in the case of the mummy," However, though, the effect in the subject may be produced as a mere mental state by the opera- 134 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY tor, and the theory of the invisible etheric layers may be an error, still, it is evident that certain physical transformations are produced in the sub- ject, which are not amenable to his wakeful con- sciousness. Therefore, it is apparent, the sublim- inal mind or the unconscious self discerns these recondite operations in the suhjecfs organism, which are inaccessible to the discernment of his normal consciousness. The next phase of Telsesthesia which it behooves us to study is the force which apparently pro- ceeds from the medium or psychic and exercises it- self upon material substances. There is a rich and varied array of apparently honest testimony as to the surprising phenomena which are said to have been witnessed. Ever since the mysterious rap- pings which are said to have been heard by the Fox sisters in the early forties, near Rochester, IT. Y., a sort of epidemic seems to have seized the world and every now and then such startling occurrences have been witnessed in households where they were least suspected or anticipated. For a long period, naturally, the scientific savants glanced scornfully at the pretensions of people of inferior intellect who persisted in declaring they had witnessed the amazing facts that were widely advertised. But some men of suflBcient courage to face the ridicule and persecution of their confreres at last ventured on the dangerous pursuit. Among these the first, and at the time, perhaps, the foremost, is to be men- tioned the Count de Gasparin, of Switzerland, who in 1853 delivered to the world in two large vol- SUPER-PHYSICAL SENSES 135 umes the results of his investigations. In America "we had Judge Edmunds and Professor Robert Hare, whose labors were dignified and consequen- tial, but which were never accepted by the school of legitimate scientists as worthy of their attention. Count de Gasparin seems to have made the al- leged fraud in all such pursuits utterly impossible by the precautions which it is said he took and the exact scientific method he adopted. As will be seen, however, from his own language the Count became, in the course of his studies, an enwrapped and enthusiastic apologist. He became enamoured of his labor and jealous of the results, believing that they were genuine scientific acquisitions. Hear him: " It is a question of positive fact that I wish to solve. The theory will come later. To prove that the phenomena of turning tables is real and of a purely physical nature; that it can neither be ex- plained by the mechanical action of our muscles nor by the mysterious action of spirits — such is my thesis. It is my wish to state it with precision and circumscribe its limits here at the very start. I con- fess I find some satisfaction in meeting with unan- swerable proofs the sarcasm of people who find it easier to mock than to examine. I am well aware that we have got to put up with that. "No new truth becomes evident without having been first ridiculed. . . . Only those have invincible conviction who have participated in seance studies frequently and di- rectly, who have felt under their very fingers the production of these peculiar movements which the action of our muscles cannot imitate. . . . They have at times seen the legs of the table (riveted by 136 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY some enchantment to the floor) refuse to budge on any terms, in spite of the incitement and coaxing of those who compose the chain. On other occasions they have seen the same table legs perform levita- tions that were so free and energetic that they an- ticipated the hands, got the start of the orders and executed the thoughts almost before they were con- ceived, and with an energy well-nigh terrifying. They have heard with their own ears stunning and gentle raps, the one threatening to break the tables, the others of such incredible fineness and delicacy that one could scarcely catch the sounds, and none of us could in any degree imitate them. They have remarked that the force of the levitations is not diminished when the sitters are removed from the side of the table that is to form the fulcrum. They have themselves commanded the table to lift that one of its legs over which rest the only hands that compose that portion of the chain still remaining, and the leg has risen as often and as high as they wished. They have observed the table in its dances when it beats the measure with one foot or with two ; when it reproduces exactly the rhythm of the music that has just been sung, when, yielding, in the most comical way, to the invitation to dance the minuet, it takes on grandmotherly airs, sedately makes a half turn, curtsies, and then comes forward, turning the other side. The manner in which the events took place told the experimenters more than the events themselves." When we note that the table used in these un- canny experiments was "a round oak top, thirty- two inches in diameter, which rested on a three- foot central column, the feet being twenty-two inches apart," we must confess, if we are to con- cede the events mentioned as facts, void of fraudu- SUPEE-PHYSICAL SENSES 137 lency, that they introduce us to some force in na- ture wholly out of the common and as yet entirely unknown or at least unrecognised by the scien- tific schools. To summarise briefly the additional achieve- ments of the Gasparin circle we may state that they succeeded in causing the levitation of the table several inches from the floor, then by suddenly all lifting their hands above the table in the air but their fingers still mutually touching in a circle, and then all together moving round and round, the table did exactly the same thing and just in the manner and in the same periods of time that they moved; the chain, being formed at a distance of one-eighth of an inch above the table, when it was ordered to lift up one of its legs it did so; then, without touching the table in any way when or- dered to hoist itself high in the air, it did so and resisted the effort of one of the witnesses to fetch it back to the floor; when commanded to turn bot- tom side up, it obligingly lifted its legs in the air and lay on its round top, although none of the com- pany touched it with their fingers; a plate turn- ing on a pivot held a tub ; the tub filled with water followed two of the experimenters around the room, after they had plunged their hands in the water but did not again touch the tub; the table responded to a number which one of the experi- menters wrote out, none of the rest of the circle seeing it, as their eyes were kept shut; this experi- ment was repeated ten times in succession, each of the ten experimenters trying once, and there was 138 SOIEITCE AND IMMOETALITT but one failure; the table is made to levitate with the weight of a man on top, and lest the human weight should assist rather than deter the levita- tion, two large buckets filled with sand weighing 143 pounds are placed on top the table, and, while the table could not lift the full weight, when it was reduced and the table caused to gyrate at full speed the 143 pounds of sand in the buckets were cast on the table and in no whit did the movement of the table pause or hesitate, but kept on whirling round so swiftly that the sand flew in all directions. Such is a brief and incomplete summary of the alleged remarkable achievements of the Gasparin circles in 1853. It should be noted that according to the Count, the severest precautions against any occurrences of fraud were taken. For instance, when he re- ported to some savants what the table had done on the lifting of the hands of the circle they advised him to sprinkle powder or flour over the table, and if after the table levitated they saw no signs of hands or fingers they would accept it as invincible proof. He tried these prescriptions and to his de^ light no marks of any kind could be found on the powder thus scattered over the table. The Count eloquently descants on the precautions taken and the impossibility of fraud: ^Traud and muscular action! Here for instance is a fine opportunity to put them to proof. We have just placed a weight on the table. This weight is inert, and cannot be accessory to any device. Fraud is all around it perhaps, but it is not in the tubs of SUPEK-PHYSICAL SENSES 139 sand. This weight is equally divided among the three legs of the table, and they are going to prove it by each one rising in tnm. The total load weighs 165 pounds, and we scarcely dare to increase it for, as it is, it was enough one day to break our very solid table. Very well; now let some one try to move the weight. Since muscular action and fraud must ex- plain everything, it will be easy for them to put the mass in motion. Now they cannot do it. Their fin- gers contract and their knuckles whiten without their obtaining a single levitation, whereas, some mo- ments later, levitations will take place at the touch of the fingers, which gently graze the tablets top, and make no effort at all, as any one may easily con- vince himself. "Certain very ingenious rules of measurement, for which I cannot claim the credit, put us in the way of translating into figures the effort which the rota- tion or levitation of the table demands when loaded in the way described. With the above-mentioned weight of 165 pounds, rotation is secured by means of a lateral traction of about 17 1-2 pounds, while levitation is only obtained by a perpendicular pres- sure of 132 pounds at least, (which I will reduce out of deference to the ideas of the circle, to 110, on the supposition that the pressure might not be abso- lutely vertical). Several deductions may be drawn from these figures. "In the first place, muscular action may cause the table to turn, but it cannot lift it. As a matter of fact, the ten operators have one hundred fingers ap- plied on its surface. Now, the vertical, or quasi-ver- tical, pressure of each finger cannot exceed twelve ounces on the average, the chain being composed as it is. They only develop then a total pressure of 66 pounds, which is quite insufficient to produce levita- tion. 140 SCIENCE AKD IMMORTALITY 'In the next place, this striking thing befalls, that the phenomenon which muscular action could easily produce is precisely the one that we most rarely and with the greatest difficulty obtain; and that the phenomenon which muscular action could not compass is the one the most habitually realised when the chain is formed. Why does not our invol- untary impulse always make the table turn? Why should not our ^fraud^ always procure such a tri- umph ? Why, as a general thing, do we only succeed in effecting that which is mechanically impossible ?" Chronologically, the next most important events in the psychical-scientific world were recorded by the Dialectical Society of London, founded in 1867 under the presidency of Sir John Lubbock. We shall here present a brief summary of the re- sults of their experiments as presented in their Committee's report made in 1869. (1) That sounds of a varied character, apparently proceeding from articles of furniture, the floor and walls of the room (the vibrations accompanying which sounds were often distinctly perceptible to the touch) occur, without being produced by muscular action or mechanical contrivance. (2) Fourteen witnesses testify to having seen hands or figures, not appertaining to any human be- ing, but life-like in appearance and motility, which they have sometimes touched or even grasped, and which they are therefore convinced were not the re- sult of imposture or illusion. (3) Five witnesses state that they have been touched, by some invisible agency, on various parts of the body, and often, where requested, when the hands of all present were visible, (4) Five witnesses state that they have seen red- SUPER-PHYSICAL SENSES 141 hot coals applied to the heads or hands of several persons, without producing pain or scorching, and three witnesses that they have had the same experi- ment made upon them with like impunity. (5) Eight witnesses state that they have received precise information through rappings, writings, and in other ways, the accuracy of which was unknown to them at the time, or to any persons present, and which, on subsequent enquiry was found to be ac- curate. (6) Three witnesses state that they have been present when drawings both in pencil and in colors, were produced in so short a time, and under such conditions, as to render human agency impossible. (7) Six witnesses state that they have received in- formation of future events, and that in some cases the hour and the minute of the occurrences have been accurately foretold, days and even weeks be- fore. (8) That the conditions under which the phe- nomena occur are variable, the most prominent fact being that the presence of certain persons seems necessary to their occurrence, and that of others gen- erally adverse. But this difference does not seem to depend upon any belief or disbelief concerning the phenomena. CHAPTEE X A PEESONAL EXPEEIElSrCE Nothing, of course, is so reassuring as personal experience. One may hear or read a thousand times of uncanny and weird phenomena, and yet experience but a slight realisation of the import and amazement such phenomena impart. There- fore, it might be fitting to relate at this juncture a certain experience of my own in the bosom of my family, which came as unexpectedly and with as startling effect as a crash of thunder from a clear sky. I have never before published the account of these occurrences, chiefly because they were inter- rupted and were therefore not capable of being subjected to the investigation of others. Their weight as evidence will hence depend entirely upon the confidence placed in the veracity of the narra- tor, and they would not here be recounted except for the fact that they were the immediate means of causing him to look without prejudice into these mystifying occurrences which have so often been reported from so many different points of the com- pass. Since this thing came Into my life I have not been able to say "Such things cannot be." It at least caused me to become as curious and as confused as Hamlet on witnessing the apparition of his father. It was in the fall of the early nineties, having but recently come from the Interior of the state to re- 142 A PEKSONAL EXPEEIENCE 143 side in New York City. In search for apartments "we found a comfortable floor, one flight up, con- sisting of three rooms with intervening closets and wash rooms, in a private house, used by a well known modiste. The lower floor she occupied her- self, as living rooms, and the floor above us she utilised as the work shop where her seamstresses were employed. Our party consisted of my wife, myself, a baby boy a few months old, and a bright, large-eyed Irish girl of some twelve or fourteen summers, who was engaged to nurse the child. The little girl possessed one of the most striking and handsome countenances I ever saw in a child of her years. Her head was unusually large, cov- ered with a forest of black hair, that curled and hung frowsy and careless over her shoulders; her eyes were grey blue, sparkling with brilliance, and her mouth and full lips were always wreathed in smiles and laughter. She was of such a cheerful and winning type that my wife, who is extremely cautious and hesitant about strangers, engaged her almost instantly when she sought the place. She possessed the volatile, mercurial nature of the Irish people, but was thoroughly honest and reli- able; at least we found her so in all her relations with us, until a memorable occasion arrived, to which I shall soon refer, •that caused us to wonder whether she was the incarnation of Ananias or Munchausen, or was some delicate instrument upon which strange powers were playing. She had so endeared herself to the baby boy that he could scarcely live a moment without her. He 144 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY loved to be near her every momentj and when none other could comfort or silence him, she never failed to overcome him with her bewitching influence. That Mamie, for such was her name, would ever deceive, or steal, or lie, or prove false to her trust, never for a moment entered my wife's mind or my own. She had lived with us for some months be- fore we engaged the apartment above referred to, and in her daily walk she proved herself as faith- ful and trustworthy a nurse and employe as one could wish. Yet on one occasion, after we were comfortably settled in the apartments, an event occurred which almost made my wife lose confidence in her truth- fulness. I had purchased tickets for the Opera, The carriage was waiting at the door, everything was in readiness, and my wife, fully attired, save only for a pair of gloves which she had carefully laid beside her on the dressing case to slip her hands into as soon as she learned of the arrival of the carriage. When I looked out of the window and saw the four-wheeler roll up to the pavement and pause, I said, "Come on, dear, the carriage is here." "All right, darling, I'm ready," I was standing at the door, which was ajar, pre- pared to guide my wife down the stairway to the vehicle. "Come on, dear, don't delay, please, it's quite late." Then I beheld a startled and confused look like a thin shadow cover my wife's face. She called Mamie, asked her something hurriedly, and both A PEESONAL EXPEEIENCE 145 of them bent over the dresser, looked behind it, dropped on their knees and searched beneath it, then scurried around the room as though they had both been suddenly struck with a blast of lunacy. "What in the name of heaven is the matter, dear," impatiently I cried. "O these women, when will they ever be on time," "Stop," she cried, "stop dear, if you say any- thing more I shall positively cry." Then I saw something 'was wrong. My wife had become hysterical, the little girl was troubled plainly with sympathetic pain, and it began to dawn on me that something had taken place to spoil a night's pleasure, "What is the matter, my dear ?" again I cried. "My gloves, my gloves," hysterically she gasped, "Well, what of your gloves, there they are," I exclaimed mechanically. Eor I myself had seen the gloves on the dresser as I had gone toward the door, and I really thought I could instantly put my hands on them. But when I approached the place where I had seen them they were not there ! "That's the trouble my dear," my wife, seeing my confusion, replied. "Those gloves have disap- peared, and I'm simply crushed with disappoint- ment." "Put on another pair," I cried, "and come on," "ISTo, I have no other pair to match my gown, and I cannot go. It's impossible!" I saw her determination was absolute and all my eloquence could not prevail against her deci- sion. I was compelled to pay off and dismiss the 146 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY driver and forego the pleasure of an evening at the Opera. When Mamie had retired my wife confided in me that she could not allow herself to suspect her, for she had always been so faithful and true, yet she determined to make a search of the girFs clothes after she had fallen asleep and satisfy her- self. The search was made with exaggerated detail; every inch of her garments and every nook and corner of the apartments where she might possibly have concealed them; and even the bedclothes and the mattresses were examined the following day; yet not a trace of the gloves could be found. My wife was bewildered. I was disgusted. I knew, in my confidence, that of course they would turn up somewhere about the rooms, though I could not prophesy where. A few days after, when I had returned from business, my wife came to me with white face and pale lips and whispered in confidence that she had found the gloves. I laughed and told her she had permitted the affair to assume too mysterious an aspect. "Not at all," she exclaimed. "Where do you think they were found ?" Of course I did not know. But it seems that the very next morning when the housemaid had gone to the front of the house she saw lying on top of the ash barrel this beautiful pair of gloves all covered with smut and besmirched. Not knowing to whom they belonged, she kept them for several days until she learned of their owner. A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 147 This little incident was the first of a series of most mysterious and annoying situations. I kept a memorandum book on my desk in which I recorded daily my business transactions. It was a most important document, and to lose it would cause not only considerable annoyance but possible financial loss. One day I returned from business and as was my custom went immediately to the desk to record several transactions. I opened the desk, which was always locked by me on leav- ing in the morning, and reaching out my hand to seize the book where it always lay, to my surprise it was not there. I searched through all the drawers, through every pigeon-hole, everywhere throughout the desk, but the book nowhere was to be found. Thinking that I might have mislaid it elsewhere in the apartment, I made an exhaustive search through every corner, nook and cranny, but the book refused to make itself manifest; it had vanished. I was never able to find it. It had sim- ply dissolved, apparently, for no trace of it could be seen anywhere. Remembering the gloves I nat- urally rushed for the ash barrel, but in spite of the fact that I insisted on the ash man emptying the contents of the barrel before me that I might examine them, it was of no avail. The book could not be -found, I could not imagine that Mamie would have made way with it; for she knew how necessary it was to me, how valuable, and if she were prompted by a spirit of mischief she at least was not cruel or vicious. It never for a moment occurred to me to 148 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY connect the loss of the book with her, for I could conceive of no motive that would impel her to such a theft. Scores of little things like this, however, now began to occur almost every day. Little losses, things mysteriously misplaced and turning up in the most unimaginable places, till the petty losses began to grow exceedingly annoying and got on both my wife's nerves and my own. My wife was especially annoyed, I remember, at one time by the curious miscarriage of certain little toilet articles which she employed in arrang- ing her hair at night before retiring. These little things would actually disappear before her very face; while she was using them, and even while fastening one to her hair, the rest would vanish, nowhere to be found that night, nor for several successive days. When, suddenly, mirahile dictu, as about to retire, while standing before the mirror, and trying some substitute for the lost implements, she would, perhaps, carelessly drop her eyes on the dresser, and there, believe it who will or believe it not, there lay the thing as though it had never been removed ! The situation was getting uncanny. Neither my wife nor myself thought of connecting Mamie with these weird and inexplicable events, but now as I look back I can see some chain of connection, although I am quite convinced there was no con- scious deception on her part, as I think subsequent developments will reveal. On a later occasion, as the uncanny plot seemed A PEESONAL EXPEKIENCE 149 to be thickening, my wife, on retiring, approached the door to lock it, as was her custom. The lock was without a key, and after much search, not be- ing able to find it, she got into her bed, covered with distrust and confusion. No sooner had she stretched out her limbs, about to cast herself con- fidingly in the arms of Morpheus, when her toes fell upon something cold and chilling. Leaping from the bed in horror, yet always being self-con- tained under such circumstances and not abandon- ing herself to hysteria, she hurled the coverings off the bed to discover — let the gods witness! — the very key which had disappeared from the door- lock. Of many little confounding and perplexing transactions of this sort, I knew not at the time, as my wife did not wish to confide them to me lest I might think her childish, and she revealed them only after the more portentous and amazing occur- rences transpired in which I myself participated. The three rooms all had connecting doors, which at night we naturally closed. I occupied the front room, facing Eighteenth Street, directly opposite the site now occupied by the big store of Siegel Cooper & Co.> my wife occupied the rear room, which adjoined by an alcove the middle room where Mamie and the baby boy lived mostly dur- ing the day, and Mamie slept at night. My wife always insisted on the alcove being unscreened dur- ing the night so she could call Mamie at a mo- ment's notice if the baby required attention. The door between Mamie's' room and the one I occupied was separated by a tier of closets and a lavatory, 150 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY being a distance, say, of four or five feet. There was a door at each end of the lavatory, one at Mamie's room and one at mine. The three rooms covered the entire length of the building and we were, as I have said, the only occupants of the floor. One night, as I was just about retiring, my coat removed and hanging over the back of a chair, Mamie rapped on my door. "Come in,'^ I said, "Did you rap, Mr, Frank ?" she asked. "No, no, I didn't rap; what made you think so?" "Why, I thought I heard you rap. Excuse me." She retired. A few moments later just as I had one shoe off, again Mamie rapped and immediately called out, "Why, Mr. Erank, didn't you rap, then? Your wife and I thought we heard a rap." "0, nonsense, Mamie, no, I didn't rap. Go back to bed and be quiet. You must have heard some noise outside." Before proceeding to remove the rest of my gar- ments it occurred to me, considering the many strange things that had happened, -that possibly there might be taking place one of those curious phenomena about which I had read so often but with which heretofore I had had no personal ex- perience. I thought I would better not retire. I remained standing in the middle of the floor, just under the central chandelier, thinking I -^ould read something and await developments. I had not long to wait. This time Mamie came bounding A PEESONAL EXPEEIENCE 151 through the door, not waiting to knock, and with white face cried, "Didn't you hear it then, Mr. Frank? Something is knocking somewhere and we both thought it was you !" Yes ; then I myself had heard it ; it had rapped so loud that I distinctly heard it through the two doors, though I must have been full ten or fifteen feet away, and the doors between were closed. I needed no more urging to make a search. I opened the door of my room that led to the hall- way, thinking I might discover somebody there who was playing a joke on us. But nobody was in sight. I went into Mamie's room ; my wife and the baby boy had retired in the rear room, the open alcove between, but she of course was wide awake. I waited some time. Nothing took place. I be- gan to rebuke them both for their folly and ner- vousness. Finally as I sat down in a chair in the middle of the room, it must have been full five feet from the door that leads into the hall way, I was suddenly startled by a terrific stroke on the door, the sound seeming to come from the other side. I obeyed my first impulse and made a swift rush at the door, thinking to open it quickly and dis- cover the joker who was causing us this disturb- ance. Unfortunately the door was locked. I unlocked it and hurriedly looked all around in the hall, up and down stairs, but could discover no di- rect cause for what was taking place. I began to take the matter seriously. I closed the door, leaving it unlocked, sat down again, ask- ing Mamie to sit on the bed, a little nearer the 152 SCIENCE AJSTD IMMORTALITY door than where I was, and I waited, but not long, perhaps only a few seconds, when a crash came ; that is the only word to express it — a crash that I thought would demolish the door itself. Like a fury I flew at it, thrusting it wide open, feeling sure I would find some one on whom to lay my hands. But alas! there was nothing but the ordinary situation. Nobody to be seen. I went back to my chair in disgust. I sat down. Mamie sat on the bed, her head resting on her hand which was reclining on the bedstead. Some time now intervened, till I almost fell into a doze, when suddenly a crash of still greater fury than the first blast thundered through the door, so loud, so furious and so forceful, that it shook the entire house, and so caused the stationary wash stand in the corner of the room near the door to vibrate that it hurled from its top the several ar- ticles used by the baby, not only some of his play- things, but his sucking bottle, the cups and spirit- stove used at night for heating his milk, etc. The shock was so startling it caused my knees to weaken and I almost fell to the ground. Suffice to say that such occurrences were re- peated far into the night, the shocks sometimes being lighter, sometimes severer, till having be- come somewhat monotonous, and our nerves being quite exhausted, about the breaking of dawn we all fell asleep in our several places. The next afternoon, about five o'clock, the rap- pings began again. This seemed to be the hour set by whatever instrumentalities were at work, A PEESONAL EXPEKIENCE 153 for the inauguration of the performance each day, till by our removal from the abode we retreated from the onslaught of these mysterious forces. This night the occurrences were very similar to those of the previous night, although I had a slight opportunity to experiment with the forces as re- gards the possible intelligence involved. After the perplexing agency, whatever it might be, had re- iterated its several well known phases for some time, quite late into the night, I said to Mamie, "Mamie, you lie down across the end of the bed, at the foot, and I will lie down on the edge of the bed, my head near to its head," We so lay for some time. Then there transpired a thing that was exceedingly interesting. Soft, distant, velvety, purring sounds were heard at the foot of the bed, like the ends of one's fingers play- ing a swift and musical tattoo on the boards. "Ah," I said to myself, "my little lady, I think I have found you out; some way you are in this game. You are making those raps," But Mamie was apparently lying still, motion- less, as I lifted my head to watch her. No sooner had I dropped my own head again on the pillow, than there came across the head-boards the same sort of uncanny sounds I had heard at the foot of the bed. Indeed, the sounds were so distinct, I could count the beating, the rhythm of them. Then they descended from the top of the head board, slowly, softly, till the very fingers moved so closely to my head, I felt the motion of them in my very hair. They were tripping the boards back and 154: SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY forwards, like when one plays the piano. My breath was almost taken away; yet I was not in the least frightened; I was merely overwhelmed with amazement. Of course I now knew that Mamie could not have accomplished this feat con- sciously or with her physical organism. She was lying quietly at the base of the bed. I desired to learn all I possibly could of the character of the force that was at work, so while the ghostly fingers were running rapidly back and forward on the head-board of the bed, I slowly injected my own fingers into my hair to see if I would perceive any feeling in them. To my wonderment, if not in- deed bewilderment, the very finger-forms of the presence, whatever it was, became interlocked vpith my own and felt like as if the air had become thickened and moved softly through my fingers and over my hand. I lay there enchanted although completely bewildered. Thus while wondering what next would come to pass: this it was. The force suddenly moved away from my head and de- scended under the bed. Manifest raps came from that source. Of course I lay still and commanded Mamie to do likewise. Then the bed seemed to be seized by some gigantic power and was made to vibrate throughout its entire form. This agita- tion suddenly culminated in the swift vibrating of the springs in the woven-wire mattress. Thrust- ing my hands under the bed and seizing the mat- tress, I felt the wire-s still vibrating with decisive and fervent agitation. The third day I concluded I would come home A PEKSONAL EXPEKIENCE 155 earlier to observe whether anything more could be learned. So I came back by noon. Then I de- termined I would experiment with Mamie. For, while it was very apparent that the little girl was wholly unconscious of her agency in these trans- actions it was quite convincing to me that she was the instrument which was being employed. I therefore decided that I would undertake a series of experiments with her. I called her first to my room, the front room of the apartments, in which, up to that period, nothing had occurred. I had Mamie sit on a chair and I sat some distance from her. Soon the rappings be- gan, which quite surprised me, for they had not, up to this moment, manifested themselves in the day time. As I sat in my chair I said, "Mamie, please go slowly toward the door that is closed between your apartment and this room." Slowly, and doubtless herself bewitched with curiosity, she moved toward the door, when, having come, say, within three feet of it, that same terrific though somewhat steadier and less vibrating sound occurred. I tried this with her several times and the rappings would oc- cur without fail. Then I determined I would make all possible deception on her part, if indeed such a thing were conceivably possible, incapable of success. So I bound Mamie's hands behind her, and gripping her by the elbows, while holding them firmly, I walked her slowly toward the door, when, without a pause, as we approached within, say, three feet of it, the swift, abrupt, sudden shock 156 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY occurred. What was always apparent to the ear was that the sound came from the other side of the door; as if some one were rapping to enter it. This I tried many times with Mamie till the inva- riable response of the rapping, never once having disappointed me, became monotonous and ceased to surprise or amaze me; but it absolutely con- vinced me that Mamie could not have been a con- scious agent. Of course it was to be supposed that ere long the other inhabitants of the house would begin to take cognisance of these disturbances and make en- quiries. It occurred, I believe, on the third night of the transactions. When one of those fearful, shattering' explosions happened, the landlady shouted up from below, "What is all that noise about ? It must stop !" I stepped into the hall and said, "My dear Madam, I must apologise; but certain things are taking place over which I have absolutely no con- trol, nor any one in my apartments. But if you can assist us to ferret out the mystery, it will put me under the most lasting obligations." With that she came bolting up the stairs evi- dently overjoyed that she might trace the source of the annoyance herself. She was an Irish woman, possessing a strong and most positive character, and entered on the search with the determination and ability of an expert sleuth. She not only peered into every closet, insisting on taking down each garment and examining every device on which it hung, and on turning up every rug, and A PEKSONAL EXPEKIENCE 157 handling each piece of furniture in which any- thing might possibly be concealed, but she tore all the beds apart, shaking each bit of covering with the vigor of a hound crunching its victim, till, with an angry outburst, she left in disgust, merely ex- claiming that we "knew very well what caused the disturbance if she could not discover it, and it must be stopped and that at once." Well, there seemed to be almost poetic justice in what immediately followed, for both my wife and self felt exceedingly humiliated, not to say aggra- vated, at having it insinuated that we were spirit- istic fakirs, and had invented some mechanical device whereby we might create a sort of "Wal- purgis nacht" within the confines of this very quiet domicile. Thus, scarcely had the angry woman retired, and reached the bottom of the stairway, when the same provoking, and this time almost humorous, disturbance again b^an. They (whatever forces were at play) seemed to rejoice in the chance to "kick up a rumpus" and acted most disgustingly. The noises grew louder and louder, and thinking the lady might want to see now for herself what was going on, I called to her, having opened the door, to come up and be her own witness. The lights had been put out below and when she came up, candle in hand, what was my amazement to see the candle go out as she reached the top of the staircase, although I ^aw she did not blow it out herself. Apparently she did not observe this, as she was now guided by the light of our room 158 SCIENCE AKD IMMOETALITY through the open door. But as I stood in the mid- dle of the room awaiting her entrance, just as she reached the door, what did this boorish and un- couth "thing" do, but shut the door with a slam in the very face of the woman, preventing her en- trance and sending her down headlong with fright to the bottom of the stairs ! There were so many strange things occurring that it is impossible to record them all. My wife informs me, for instance, that on one afternoon, when she had locked the door, it flew wide open as if to allow sonie one to enter. But I am desirous of giving only the more important events. I had one opportunity of speaking to the "thing" and seeking the quality of its intelligence. One night after the performance had been long continued, and the hour was near the dawn, it occurred to me to question it. Somehow it was not necessary to instruct it regarding the signals of response, but it replied spontaneously with, the signal of one rap for "no" and three raps for "yes." "Do you desire to communicate with any one in this house ?" "Yes" (three raps). "Will you indicate with whom it is you desire to communicate ?" "Yes." "Is your message anything relating to the baby?" "No" (one rap). "Is your message for my wife ?" "No." A PEKSONAL EXPEEIENCE 159 "Is your message for me ?" "No." "Is your message for Mamie?" Personally I had a feeling that it was to communicate some- thing to the little nurse-girl that caused all the commotion. But to my surprise the answer to this question was: "No." Then a thought occurred to me, to which I did not attach much importance : "Is your message for the landlady ?" Scarcely was the word out of my mouth, indeed I had not but begun the sentence, when there thundered three terrific raps, that could be called nothing less than concussions, as if to indicate the importance and terribleness of the message to be imparted, I regretted very much that by this time my wife's nerves had been so tortured with anxiety and a weird feeling imparting something of an uncanny anticipation of what might be divulged, that she pleaded with me to desist and permit her and the rest of us to go to sleep. Thus unfortunately what might have revealed something of the nature of the operating force was necessarily prevented. But the following curious fact should not be forgotten, as lending much light to the subject. The landlady who was a fashion- able modiste, having been in these quarters for about eight years, and built up an excellent pat- ronage, suddenly, after our leaving the place, left for parts unknown. We had rented the rooms for a year, and had nothing interfered would have continued to inhabit them. Therefore when we 160 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY came to the apartments, certainly no thought of re- moving from them was then contemplated by the landlady. But some two weeks after we had left them, some business calling me into that street, a sort of curiosity possessed me to look at the place again, and on seeing that the blinds were all closed I made enquiry and found that she had moved away and nobody could inform me where. This circumstance only added to the involved mystery. There were, however, some disappointing situa- tions. Nothing can be more satisfactory to the parties involved in transactions of this character than to have them take place in the presence of persons who had been wholly uninterested and who come merely as chance visitors. We had hoped, for the sake of our own satisfaction, that some- thing like this might occur. So, having mentioned the affair to some who sat at the table with us in our boarding place, one young man expressed a desire to witness the scenes, and I eagerly extended to him an invitation. But the fates were not propitious. Although he sat with us for over an hour, nothing occurred. Naturally he went away somewhat suspicious of the veracity of myself and family. However, on another occasion the fates were so kindly and ac- commodating that, being persons unhappily under suspicion for what was beyond our power to con- trol, we could but bless them for their generous in- terposition. ♦ It was the hour when Mamie began singing the little baby boy to sleep. The landlady's family had A PEESONAL EXPEKIENCE 161 all gone to the theatre, but as there was some extra work to be finished the seamstresses were requested to remain and complete the order that night. It had occurred to them that as their mistress was absent enjoying the theatre they might indulge in a riotous orgy themselves. Their shouts, laugh- ter, stamping and hand-clapping became so obstrep- erous that it was impossible to get the baby to sleep. Timidly, therefore, I approached the stairway and called up to the young ladies that it would oblige us very much if they would kindly postpone their hilarity until we had succeeded in soothing the child into its nightly slumber. Then there followed my gentle request a roar of insulting laughter that quite took me off my feet. A rather heated con- versation resulting, I discovered that the young women had heard the extraordinary racket which the alleged "spirits" had the night before enacted, and with offensive banter they replied that if we intended to invent our racket they would introduce a little of their own. Surprised at their insinua- tion, I replied that if the innocent young women thought these uncanny performances were inven- tions of our own it would give me much pleasure if they would come into our apartments and witness them for themselves. Instantly they applauded the request and flew with eager anticipation down the stairway, unceremoniously entering our apartment. There were six or seven of them, the oldest, about twenty-five years of age, being a shrewd, keen- witted and brutally abrupt Frenchwoman. She it was who had incited the girls to the dis- 162 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY turbance for the sake of achieving the coup she de- sired of gaining an entrance into the rooms. Instantly she beset herself to the task of making a personal examination of the apartment and studying each possible nook or cranny where any secret devices might be found. Well, they had been in the rooms for some time waiting impatiently for the alleged "spiritistic" performances, when be- coming offensive and insulting, the Frenchwoman remarked that it was as she knew it would be, nothing could happen while they were in the room. "Well," I replied, "it may be so, for I am sure I cannot control or order the situation." Recall- ing, however, some of the personal experiments I had made with Mamie, I concluded to try the same tactics this time to see if they would avail. There was a sofa whose head was about two feet from the door which opened into the hall, through which the girls had entered. They were now standing in a row in front of the window at right angles with the sofa, wondering if anything would occur. Having exhausted their vulgar epithets and insinuating billingsgate they had about determined to leave the apartment in disgust. At that juncture I said, "Mamie, won't you please lie down on the sofa." Quietly and slowly Mamie glided to it and gently lay her head upon the pillow. Instantly there broke through the door one of the most intense and frightful concussions which had at any time occurred. Again and again it thundered like the pounding of a fiend with an ax, or more like the bursting of shells within the very walls. I myself, A PEKSONAL EXPEKIENCE 16^ accustomed as I had now become to these strange acts, was quite overcome by the thunderous sounds. The effect upon the heretofore insulting girls was paralysing and electrical. They shouted, screamed hysterically, fell on their knees, turned deathly pale, and one of them became almost cataleptic. It was necessary for me to face them, to shake my fist in their faces, roaring at them to be quiet lest the police be summoned and interfere. The insulting French girl utterly lost her nerve and begged to get out. I opened the door and all of them flew through it, as if they had been shot out of a cannon, and ran up-stairs. A more convincing demonstration to skeptics could scarcely have been devised, or with more dra- matic emphasis. I was called away to Boston for a day, and on my return was told by my wife of a series of trans- actions that were enough to raise one's hair. Time and again chairs were turned upside down in her very presence ; when she would leave her rocker, on which she had been sewing, and return to it she would find it on its face, its rockers in the air. Vases glided gracefully from the mantle and rolled along the floor intact and uninjured. On the last day that we were in the apartments, to live there, I returned from business to find them de- serted. My wife, nurse and boy were at the board- ing house, and going there, I learned that she had left the apartment, overcome with disgust and amazement at what had finally occurred. While she and Mamie were attending to the morning work 164 SCIENCE AKD IMMOKTALITY in the rear rooms, a most startling affair had been taking place in the front room, where my desk and books were. She had locked the door and left things topsy-turvy as they were. I might go and see for myself. All three of us went back to the apartment. What did we behold ! Every piece of furniture except one was turned over upside down and lay comically on the floor. The large and quite cumbersome sofa lay shamefully on its face ; all the several chairs were overturned, and my desk, the roll top down, yet partially open, was also lying on the floor, its legs against the base board. What concerned me immediately was the fact that I had left a bottle of ink in the desk, and I feared that it might have spilt and spoilt my pa- pers. So I knelt down to peer underneath the roll top. My wife was at my left side and Mamie on the other. Between Mamie and myself there stood the only upright piece of furniture in the room. It was a small ebony wood table on which lay a num- ber of heavy books. While I was gazing under the desk and my wife was also thus employed, as well as Mamie, suddenly the little table flew up into the air, casting overboard its cargo of literature which fell, littering the room, while the table, top downwards, fell back upon the same spot which, but a moment before, its legs had been occupying. That our consternation was complete goes with- out saying. Thinking that possibly Mamie might have deftly accomplished this feat, I attempted it myself, but I was utterly unable so to manipulate my motions, that I could overturn the table with A PEKSONAL EXPERIENCE 165 its load of books in such a manner that it would return top downwards to the exact spot from which I lifted it. Besides, it required quite an exertion even to lift the table and the books, and such an exertion that I could not possibly have concealed from those in such immediate contact as I and my wife were with Mamie. Thus ended the drama of the weird actors of the air! My wife thought it best to leave the apart- ments at once, and so counselled. Thinking it was perhaps wise, under the circumstances, and lest we might ourselves be brought into unenviable no- toriety through the inexplicable phenomena, reluc- tantly I yielded. But those five days and nights constitute an epoch in my life. They have opened up my mind to the reality of certain forces whose powers and modits operandi are manifestly con- trary to the operations of the known forces of na- ture. It stopped my lips from ever again scoffing at such possibilities. Finally I should not fail to say that the strain upon the nervous system of the young nurse girl was so severe, she was greatly reduced in weight, her skin had become pale and cadaverous, the lustre of her naturally bright eyes had faded, and she seemed to be on the verge of a complete col- lapse. My wife was compelled to send her home to recuperate. She vowed that she had never heard of spiritualism or ever witnessed such transactions as she in this place herself had seemed to be the unwitting agent of. She visited my wife two years afterwards, and said that nothing of the 166 SCIENCE AKD IMMOETALITY kind had occurred again in her life, and she hoped she was free from the influence. However, that I may be wholly truthful, as far as memory will allow, for the incident just related occurred about twenty years ago, and that every essential feature of it may be known, I must recite the curious and almost contradictory climax. I had returned very early one afternoon from a business engagement, and soon found that many perplexing transactions had been taking place during my ab- sence. Some of them were of a phase I had not personally witnessed, one in particular, the gliding of an expensive glass vase from the shelf of the mantlepiece and rolling unharmed along the floor, I had been in the rooms perhaps a half hour. Everything was quiet. My wife was engaged on some incidental work in the front room, Mamie was straightening up the rear room, after the morn- ing^s work, and feeling slightly fatigued, I lay down on the bed in the middle room. As I have already said, this was an alcove room opening with a wide aperture into the rear apartment. Just as my eyelids were slowly closing, I was suddenly made aware of a startling vision, which for the moment took away my breath. Up to this incident nothing in the life of Mamie had caused either of us to doubt her honesty or truthfulness. Yet there she was, sure as fate, clear as light! Slyly, swiftly rushing to the mantle, and, quick as lightning, seizing the vase, she rolls it rapidly along the floor. I could scarcely believe my eyes. At first I was A PEESONAL EXPEKIENCE 167 sure I was mistaken, I did not want falsely to ac- cuse the girl. Yet I could not help it. I cried out, in rather tremulous voice, "Mamie, what are you doing?" "Nothing at all," she protested. Of course my wife could not but believe I was mis- taken, it was an optical illusion, for we had already seen so many inexplicable transactions it was un- necessary for Mamie to deceive us even if she wished to. !N"aturally I said nothing more about it, but I was confident my vision had not deceived me. Two years later, Mamie, visiting my wife in up-town apartments, acknowledged to her that she had played the trick. "Why did she do it ?" She could not tell. Suddenly an impulse seized her to make the vase do through her agency, that Mr. Frank might see it, what it had before done of its own accord for Mrs. Erank. She could not explain the impulse, and she was heartily ashamed of it. Now what shall we say of this ? Does the fact of the deception wholly controvert the truthfulness of the unaided incidents to which I have referred ? At the first shock one experiences on such a discov- ery there is but one deduction to be made. "False in one, false in all." But consider the circumstances ; recall how I ex- perimented with Mamie, her two elbows held tightly by my hands from behind her, while I walked her slowly toward the door, and then heard those crashing blows on the other side of it; the terrifying strokes on the hall door, Mamie lying on a couch several feet away and her head towards 168 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY the door, which so paralysed the working girls; the playing of the phantom fingers on the bedstead at my head, Mamie lying at the foot, and the vibrat- ing of the wire- woven springs; and all the other perplexing situations I have narrated. Certainly these Mamie could not invent. Why, then, did she want to invent any? Here is a mystery, and after studying it for many years I have reached this conclusion : Who has not sometime experienced an impulse whose force he could scarcely resist and whose meaning he could not fathom : the feeling of want- ing to jump out of a window, throw oneself from a high hillside, or cast oneself under a swiftly ap- proaching train? I suppose everybody at some time has experienced strange emotions or impulses of this sort that rise from a source he cannot divine. It is needless here to review the possibilities of the sub-conscious depths, and the uprisings that betimes affright us from its mysterious realms. Well, Mamie had never before witnessed such try- ing experiences in others as she had herself been undergoing for several days, till she was distraught, her nerves exhausted and prostrate, her flesh emaciate, her complexion cadaverous, her strength so far gone that, as I have said, my wife had finally to send her home to recuperate. Here she is in the swirl of excitement through five days and nights, enjoying but slight and broken slumber. Her reflex forces had been called into such constant exercise that their mechanical habits A PEESONAL EXPEEIENCE 169 were now uppermost. She acted half as if she were in a trance, part of the time. In this state, having just witnessed some unusual performances, on the part of these unknown powers, before my entrance, excited because Mrs. Erank had said she wished I had been there to witness them, seeing me at rest, anxious that I should see this strangest of all the antics; her sub-conscious or reflex self suddenly gets control of her normal nature, and in a trice, almost unconscious of what she is doing, she glides to the mantle and rolls the vase along the floor. Was it fraudulent ? Of course. Was it excusable ? Certainly not. Yet does it vitiate the original genuine performances? I think not. I think it simply proves what curious, mystify- ing influences seize upon one who is so constructed that the balance between the normal and the sub- normal consciousness is not absolutely established. It explains many of the frauds among the so- called mediums ; for it shows that the sub-conscious personality, once it is recognised as exercising undue and confusing activities through the agency of a person, suggests to the person by some irresis- tible impulse that it is a great deal easier to trick the performance than to wait patiently for the genuine to manifest itself. It shows how utterly unreliable so-called mediums naturally become, and how they can never be trusted to achieve any genu- ine super- or ab-normal performances without the utmost vigilance on the part of investigators. This is the only way I can explain this contra- dictory incident, which to many minds I admit 170 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY would wholly vitiate the value of the entire narra- tive as a scientific phenomenon. Yet, I give it for what it is worth and each must exercise his own philosophy in seeking to solve it to his satisfaction. CHAPTEE XI SIE WILLIAM CKOOKES' EXPERIENCES. Undoubtedly, the most remarkable results ever achieved in the psychical laboratory, if I may so term it, were those secured by Professor William Crookes, through the alleged mediumship of Miss Florence Cooke, a girl of about fourteen, when he first began to experiment with her. Professor Crookes' experiments with D, D. Home, preceding those secured through Miss Cooke, were also marked with most startling and confusing results. The reason that one can refer to Professor Crookes' experiments in this line, without much apology as to the possibility of his having been duped or de- ceived, is that each stage of his labors was appar- ently safeguarded against all such possible miscar- riages. He seems to have fortified himself with absolute scientific precaution against any conditions which might, even by insinuation, seem to admit of any deception. His methods were entirely differ- ent from those of Professor Zoellner, for instance, who experimented with Dr. Slade, in his famous tricks at slate writing and knotting a string which had no ends. It has been quite satisfactorily proved that Pro- fessor Zoellner was completely overmastered by Slade, as the Professor was not skilled in legerde- main, was poor of sight, and did not in any manner protect himself against the wiles and makeshifts 171 172 SCIEITCE AND IMMOETALITY of a professional trickster. The reader may satisfy himself on this point by referring to "Modem and Ancient Magic," by Evans, where Dr. Zoellner's performances with Slade are reviewed and Slade's methods exposed. But Professor Crookes was a different sort of a man. He was a scientific experimenter, entering upon his investigations without prejudice, but de- termined to find the truth and nothing else. The results which he procured from D. D. Home, said to be the most wonderful and genuine "medium" of modem times, may be summarised as follows : — 1. The movement of heavy bodies with contact, but without mechanical exertion. 2. The phenomena of percussive and other al- lied sounds. 3. The alteration of weights and bodies. 4. Movements of heavy bodies when at a dis- tance from the medium, 5. The rising of tables and chairs ofF the ground, without contact with any person. 6. The levitation of human beings. 7. Movement of various small articles without contact with any person. 8. Luminous appearances, 9. The appearance of hands, either self-lumi- nous or visible by ordinary light. 10. The handling of hot coals without sensation of burning. 11. Phantom forms and faces. That we may appreciate the exact scientific methods employed by Professor Crookes I will here SIK W. CEOOKES^ EXPEEIENCES 173 present a few of the experiments lie made with Home. He desired to learn whether Home possessed any force in his organism that would interfere with the force of gravitation, or exhibit different effects than mere mechanical motion. He suspended at the end of a board thirty-six inches long a spring balance, furnished with an au- tomatic register, firmly sustained by a tripod sup- port. When the balance is at rest and the clock set going the result is a perfectly straight horizon- tal line. If the clock is stopped and the weight is placed on the end of the board, the result is a ver- tical line whose length depends on the weight ap- plied. If, while the clock draws the plate along, the weight of the board varies, the result is a curved line, from which the tension can at any moment be calculated. This instrument he used to record the results that indicated an increase of gravitation on the objects experimented with. In order to make sure that no mechanical vibration was the cause of the variations of the register, but some recondite force which remained within the medium. Professor Crookes devised the scheme of placing a basin of water on the top of the apparatus, and noticing that if he plunged his hand into the water and agitated it no results were registered on the plate. Therefore whatever registrations were recorded must have been caused by the unknown force re- siding in the medium. The results proved to be surprising. When 174 SCIEITOE AND IMMOETALITY Home, standing bj the instrument, would plunge his hand in the water, he would wait till "the power" came, then instantly Crookes would start the clock, and the registrations would be made. In one experiment the down-pull of the force was equivalent to the pull of 5,000 grains. This appa- ratus was used many times by the professor not only with Home, but with others, and the result was always satisfactory, and seemed to demonstrate that no other force could produce similar registra- tions to those effected by the personal force of the medium. The most startling and incredible of all the Home phenomena with Professor Crookes, how- ever, were the levitations of the medium's body. Here Is the description of that event by Professor Crookes himself, which, remembering his irre- proachable reputation as a scientist, must, of course, be accepted as veritable and trustworthy : '^On three separate occasions I have seen Mr, Home raised completely from the floor of the room. Once, sitting in an easy chair, once kneeling on his chair, and once standing up. On each occasion I had full opportunity of watching the occurrence as it was taking place, "There are at least a hundred recorded instances of Mr. Home's rising from the ground, in the pres- ence of many separate persons, and I have heard from the lips of three witnesses to the most striking occurrences of this kind — the Earl of Dunraven, Lord Lindsey, and Captain C. Wynne — ^their own minute accounts of what took place. To reject the recorded evidence on this subject is to reject all SIR W. CROOKES' EXPERIENCES 175 human testimony whatever; for no fact in sacred or profane history is supported by a stronger array of proofs." Among the descriptions given of Home's levita- tions there is evidence as to his having floated straight out of an open window feet foremost, and sailing round the edge of the building to a closed window, some seven feet off, poised himself in mid-air while opening the window, then floated through head foremost and alighted quietly in a chair. This is the event of which Professor Crookes says, to disbelieve it, on the proof afforded, is to disbelieve all human testimony whatever. Far more interesting and confusing results were obtained by the professor in the alleged materiali- sations of "Katie King" through the mediumship of Florence Cooke. Professor Crookes' startling testimony as to his experiences with "Katie King" present the fact that he believed she materialised before him on many occasions, and chiefly through the medium- ship of one Florence Cooke ; that he by extraordi- nary caution made imposition or fraud impossible ;. and that he not only clearly saw the figure, handled, it, measured it, and even photographed it ; but that he made an unhampered comparison of the figure with that of the medium, to see if she was herself counterfeiting. He says : "I admit that the figure was startlingly life-like and real, and as far as I could see, in the somewhat dim light, the features re- sembled those of Miss Cooke," but as he heard the positive moan of the medium within the cabinet 176 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY at the very time when Katie was standing near him in the middle of the room, it thoroughly convinced him that the figure must have been genuine and not a counterfeit by the medium. It seems a little strange, however, that Professor Crookes, who certainly must have heard of the art of ventriloquism, did not try to account for the moan on that theory, especially as the room was so dark he could not have seen the lips of the alleged spirit move. However, he seems to have procured other evi- dence which was more satisfactory. He says: "On March 12th, during the seance, after Katie had been walking among us and talking for some time, she retreated behind the curtain which sep- arated my laboratory, where the company was sit- ting, from my library, which did temporary duty as a cabinet. In a minute she came to the curtain and called to me, saying, ^Come into the room and lift my medium's head up, she has slipped down.' Katie was then standing before me, clothed in her usual white robes and turban head-dress. I immediately walked into the library up to Miss Cooke, Katie stepping aside to let me pass. I found Miss Cooke had slipped partially off the sofa, and her head was hanging in a very awkward position. I lifted her off the sofa, and in doing so, had satisfactory evidence, in spite of the darkness, that Miss Cooke was not attired in the ^Katie' costume, and was in a deep trance. Not more than three seconds elapsed between my seeing the white-robed ^Katie' standing before me and my raising Miss Cooke onto the sofa from the position into which she had slipped." If we are to admit that Professor Crookes' nor- SIR W. CEOOKES' EXPERIENCES 177 mal reason was not shattered, we are perhaps com- pelled to believe that he saw the two forms as dis- tinct and separate. Again, he says, "Katie" asked that all the lights be put out, then requested that she be given a lighted phosphorus lamp, which, taking in hand, she held up as she led the way into the cabinet in- viting Crookes to follow her, which he did. There he saw distinctly the form of the medium lying in trance, when looking around for "Katie" she had vanished. Professor Crookes says that his eldest son, a lad of fourteen years, who was sitting just opposite the opening of the cabinet and could look into it, said that while Professor Crookes was within he saw the lamp floating around over the form of the medium, but he could not see any body holding it. To further convince himself that the spirit was not the counterfeit of Miss Cooke, he made many experiments, and thus records the results. He "Before concluding the article I wish to give some points of difference which I have observed be- tween Miss Cooke and Katie. Katie's height varies; in my house I have seen her six inches taller than Miss Cooke. Last night, with bare feet, and not tip- toeing, she was four and one-half inches taller than Miss Cooke. Katie^s neck was bare last night; the skin was perfectly smooth both to touch and sight; whilst on Miss Cooke's neck is a large blister, which under similar circumstances is distinctly visible and rough to the touch. Katie^s ears are unpierced, whilst Miss Cooke habitually wears ear-rings. Katie^s 178 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY complexion is very fair, while that of Miss Cooke is very dark. Katie^s fingers are much longer than those of Miss Cooke, and her face is also larger." If we are to accept Professor Crookes' tests he seems to have proved quite conclusively that Miss Cooke and the spirit were not identical. He was permitted to come close to her, to handle her and to take frequent pictures of her. Of one of these he "One of the most interesting pictures is one in which I am standing by the side of Katie ; she has her bare feet upon a particular part of the floor. After- wards I dressed Miss Cooke like Katie, placed her and myself in precisely the same position, and we were photographed by the same camera, placed ex- actly as in the other experiment, and illuminated by the same light. When these two pictures are placed over each other, the two photographs of myself coin- cide exactly as regards stature, etc., but Katie is half a head taller than Miss Cooke, and looks a big woman in comparison with her. In the breadth of her face, in many of the pictures, she differs essentially in size from the medium, and the photographs show several other points of difference." A^ain he says: "Having seen so much of Katie recently when she has been illuminated by the electric light, I am able to add to the points of difference between her and her medium which I mentioned in a former article. . . . Several little marks on Miss Cooke's face are absent on Katie^s. Miss Cookers hair is so dark a brown as almost to appear black; a lock of Katie's which is now before me, and which she allowed me to cut from her luxuriant tresses, having first traced SIR W. CROOKES' EXPERIENCES 179 it up to the scalp and satisfied myself that it actu- ally grew there, is a rich golden auburn." This series of experiments continued, off and on, through a period of about three years. Naturally the scientist was not wholly void of emotions, and some of his descriptions of the apparition seem to indicate almost a state of ecstatic admiration; nevertheless no unprejudiced student of his methods can deny that he apparently employed every conceivable precaution to demonstrate to his own satisfaction the genuineness of the figure. CHAPTEK XII THE SUBTEEKANEAN SELF Before seeking what possible explanation the present known laws of nature may afford us in understanding these strange occurrences, there is one other form of phenomena to which we should refer. It will be remembered that we have already described the strange capacity which Eeichenbach is said to have discovered in some of his subjects, enabling them to see bright flames bursting from objects which they viewed. This would indicate, if the phenomenon be genuine, that some sort of impalpable motion, or fluidic substance, surrounds an object, which under certain circumstances might be revealed to persons peculiarly gifted. This ordinarily indiscernible energy, which is thought to surround the surface of all bodies, sometimes manifests itself in motion energetic enough to be appreciated by the ordinary senses. The papers have just reported a curious case of this sort, showing how the emanation, or whatever it may be, from human bodies, may sometimes as- sume a most powerful and dangerous character. A lawyer in Worcester, Mass., is reported to have been much annoyed by the emission, from the ends of his fingers, of a sort of electric or magnetic energy of unwonted quality. A flame eeems to shoot from them when they come in contact with certain articles. One day he undertook to unlock 180 • THE SUBTEKRANEAN SELF 181 his safe, and while he was turning on the combi- nation a bright flame burst from his fingers and greatly shocked him. On another occasion, while he was combing his hair, the comb suddenly took fire, singeing his hair and burning away several of the celluloid teeth of the comb. These several ex- amples illustrate how the physical organism seems to be possessed of certain forces which are not kin- dred with the usual forces in nature, and which seem to exert their energy through the agency of the human body. In line with this phase of phenomena it would be in place here to mention a so-called fire-test, as an illustration of the phenomenon of anaesthesia during trance, which came under the careful in- spection of the American Society for Psychical Research, and finally received the personal atten- tion of Professor J. H. Hyslop, who reported it in full in the January issue, 1909, of the journal of that Society. Briefly the conspicuous features of the case were as follows: A Mr. E, E. Eosket was reported, while in a trance, to be able to insert his fingers inside a lamp chimney, the wick being lighted, wash his hands with burning oil, and do strange feats with hot irons. After some correspondence Professor Hyslop took the alleged medium in charge, with this result: The sitting took place in abundant light for observation, though probably not enough for instantaneous photography. A clean crockery basin was brought in, filled with water from the town supply under Hyslop's careful in- 182 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY spection. Eosket went into a trance, washed his hands thoroughly with a cake of fresh Eairbank's soap. Hyslop assisted in washing the medium's hands again in chloroform, dried in cheesecloth, which was preserved for chemical inspection. After the washing Eosket sat at the table directing the procedure personally, although apparently in full trance. He lighted, one after the other, five or six sulphur matches, holding them between the thumb and the finger of the right hand in such a way that the tip was in contact with the inside of the end of his right hand little finger. In each case he held the match in that position for several seconds until the wooden part kindled. His arm was extended and his gaze riveted on the match. He seemed to experience no pain, but to be somewhat excited or fascinated by the light. After a match was kindled he held it under his fingers at various distances, from one-fourth inch to one and one-half inches, until it was consumed. He also held a lighted match in his mouth. The matches were carefully inspected, and to all appearances they looked like the common sort. He then tilted back the lamp chimney, lighted the lamp, ' held his fingers in the flame for three or four seconds at a time, first one hand and then the other, until his fingers were blackened. This was repeated at least three times with each hand. The lamp chimney was then fastened upright, and he turned the wick up as far as possible with- out its smoking. After again washing his hands, he grasped the lamp chimney by the narrowest THE SUBTEREANEAN" SELF 183 part, his hand covering the top two and one-half inches of the chimney, and held it first in one hand and then in the other, at arm's length for ten sec- onds in each hand. Then he inserted two fingers in the chimney and held the lamp np in this way for ten seconds in each hand. Two ounces of alcohol were then poured into a clean pan. The alcohol was carefully examined. Eosket lighted it and dipped it up with his hands, passing them through the flames, and holding out one or both hands flaming with alcohol until the flames burned themselves out on his hands. The hair on his hands was burnt off short, and that on the wrists was burned and curled up. This last experiment occupied thirty or forty seconds, and the flame on his outstretched hands lasted for five or six periods of five or six seconds each. During the trance Fosket's pulse beat 130; ten minutes after he was out of the trance it lowered to 120 ; one-half hour, it was only 100, Some of the conditions of the experiment are worth considering. Eosket had not done the fire test for several years, until two years before Hys- lop heard of him. Before going into trance he al- ways asks the help. of his "controls;" during the test he tries to make himself passive; does not think of anything in particular; does not see or hear or feel anything unusual. Ordinarily when out of trance he is very sensitive to heat. Has often heen burned when lighting matches, by the heat of the brimstone flying off ; he cannot handle a hot cup of coffee. . . . He states that sometimes at 184 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY night on closing his eyes, he sees a panorama of human faces, colored naturally and life-like. He seems to have clairvoyant vision at times. Professor Hyslop afterwards undertook to dupli- cate Fosket's experiments to learn whether they were the result of trickery or peculiar insensibility of the skin. Suffice it to say that he utterly failed to accomplish his purpose, as each experiment com- pletely disappointed him. It might be well here to repeat Hyslop's personal observations on his re- sults: '^It will be observed that I could not duplicate the experiments. - . . We are so inclined to judge incidents of this kind by our usual experiences in connection with hot surfaces. Our prompt reflexes under great heat make us forget that there are way& of producing illusions in regard to it, and unless the facts are carefully recorded and described we shall mistake their real character. We do not know what might have been possible under conditions which may not be detectible, but my own experience shows that it is not easy to withstand heat under the cir- cumstances described. If Mr. F. has any secret way of protecting his skin it seems that he might have done the trick. But , . . no method of doing it was discovered. What his trance may have done, through auto-suggestion, to produce anaesthesia, whether of the heat nerves alone or of both the heat and tactile nerves, no one knows and can but conjecture. . . . "A most interesting circumstance is the failure of the artificial protection for the skin, to do its al- leged work. I obtained a prescription from 'Eeve- lations of a Spirit Medium/ It is also copied in Mr. Hereward Carrington^s book on ^The Phenomena of Spiritualism.^ It was certainly a perfectly THE SUBTEKKAlSrEAN SELF 185 •worthless means of preventing the conduction of heat, as it appeared in my experiments, and one can but wonder whether those who are so ready to quote this book as an authority had ever thought to try the experiment/^ After this quite detailed examination of the phenomena which are classified as occult, it re- mains for us now to attempt to interpret their na- ture and source. One fact we have doubtless observed in studying the narratives thus far presented. That fact is, that the occult forces are always under the control and emanate from the so-called unconscious or sub- liminal mind. The normal mind seems to be wholly ignorant not only of their existence, but how they are to be controlled or foreseen. They are, in other words, elements or properties of the unknown self of each human being. To examine and understand this self we must enter into a more detailed study of its nature. One fact is always evident in studying the pa- tients in whom there are revealed the strange pow- ers which we are now studying. That is, that the exhibition of such powers is usually in proportion to the separation between the conscious and uncon- scious selves. So long as the normal self can be kept at the helm, wide awake and watchful, there is no probability that the uncanny properties, which lie hidden in the depths of the soul, will di- vulge themselves. So long as the personal Will is supreme, all the buried corpses of a thousand past lives within us can never affright or halt us by any 186 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY apparition of their departed forms. W© are al- ways master of ourselves when we are actively conscious of our powers. But so soon as the con- scious forces become passive or dormant, then the myriad underlives, for years or possibly for ages buried in our bodies, may suddenly walk out of their graves and disport themselves as unruly and impertinent ghosts. Perhaps it was in this sense that Ibsen causes Mrs. Alving to mention "ghosts," when she sees the degenerate nature that cursed and killed her husband suddenly revived in her son, whom she sup- posed pure and spotless. In that play, at least, Ibsen discloses a wonderful psychological truth. The unconscious self is always active inversely to the activity of the conscious self; and of course conversely the conscious self is active inversely to the unconscious self. The two planes of our being are discrete and separate. They act ordinarily as strangers one to another, and only under rare cir- cumstances can they be made to merge in a common mutual consciousness. Nevertheless, there is such a perfect gradation between them that at times even in normal experience, they seem almost to touch. Thus, for instance, we can often watch our- selves slowly sink into sleep, and feel that inch by inch we are passing into oblivion. But just at the point of mergence, where the conscious sinks into the unconscious, we cease to be able to trace the descent. The next we know we are wide awake, but a large hiatus has been made in the continuity of our nor- mal consciousness. When one is wide awake, fully THE SUBTEKKANEAN SELF 187 realising one's ordinary conditions, one's direct re- lation to the external -world, one's unconscious na- ture is then held in such subjection, one is wholly oblivious of it. But when one's normal faculties are partially suppressed, or wholly paralysed, then the powers of the unconscious nature are aroused from their lethargy and called into active exercise; indeed, there seems to be an exact ratio of activity determinable between the two selves— the Con- scious and the Unconscious. The deeper the sleep of the normal self, the more certain seem to be the awakenings of the subliminal centres of life. When a hypnotic subject is put to sleep, the phenomena which the operator will be able to exhibit through him will usually depend on the profundity of the sleep into which he can be enticed ; if the sleep be but slight, the strong probability is that the subject will continue to be vaguely conscious of his normal life, and thus be able to exercise the resistance of his conscious will in opposing the demands of the operator. In such cases the experiment is almost always a partial or complete failura Dr. Boris Sidis in his work, "The Psychology of Suggestion," makes a very strong point of this fact. In numerous cases he proves that it was necessary to hypnotise a subject many times, usually not succeeding in such cases till the third hypnotisation ; at which time only was the will of the subject sufficiently suppressed and his normal faculties submerged, to enable the operator to arouse the unconscious self and call it into active occupa- tion. We shall see, in our final conclusion, that 188 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY this fact becomes a prominent issue, in determin- ing the possibilities of the after life that natural law may vouchsafe the individual. For it inti- mates that the unconscious forces may be so deeply imbedded in the physical structure of the human system that only when the deeper nerve centres and the secret interior of the cells can be invaded, will the mysterious intelligence that there lies hidden respond to the summons of its captors. As is well known, hypnotic subjects may be re- duced to such states of sheer unconsciousness as to suffer their bodies to become mere instruments under the control not only of a directing human will, but, which is even more startling, of impres- sions made by an inert substance. Burq, it will be recalled, learned by accident that the sensitivity of subjects could be instantly affected by different metals he applied; sometimes copper, sometimes gold, or other metals, being applied to the arms of insensible patients, would restore their sensitivity, and enable them to respond to external stimuli. '^He was thus able to restore sensitiveness to some who had been deprived of it for months. At the Salpetriere the female patients were employed at needle work and Burq gave them copper thimbles. Then he heard by chance that one of the patients who used a steel thimble had recovered her sen- sitivity. From that day metaloscopy was estab- lished, and Burq experimented with all the differ- ent metals, and found out their different action.'^ A rather humorous experiment which Burq made and by it played a harmless joke on Charcot guided •THE SUBTEEKAWEAlsr SELF 189 this famous savant to his proudest achievements. Charcot had often pinched and punctured the flesh of an especially obtuse patient while making exhibi- tions of her insensibleness, in order to show how deep-seated the anaesthesia was. One day approach- ing her, accompanied by a physician to whom he was making demonstrations of his patients, he gave his anaesthetic subject a hard pinch, when to his amazement, she screamed aloud with pain. Char- cot was dumbfounded; but on examining her he found that Burq had concealed a gold band on her person in a linen wrapper. This explained the mystery and incidentally divulged the secret that the nerve centres would respond to metallic sub- stances to such a degree that alternately conscious- ness and unconsciousness could be generated in a patient. In other words, not only can the secret centres of the physical media of mental activity be penetrated by the action of one mind on another, but by the operation of inert substances. This would seem to show that the physical basis of the two planes of consciousness lies in different por- tions of the physical structure, and that when the means is found whereby one of those sections can be paralysed the other plane of consciousness is permitted to manifest its powers. This fact was even more marvellously displayed by the use of colors and fluids in awakening differ- cent states of consciousness in patients. An her- metically sealed tube, containing a medicine un- known to the subject, placed in contact with the neck, produces effects varying according to the 190 SCIENCE AKD IMMOETALITY substance employed. Alcohol produces a merry or a furious state of drunkenness, according to its distillation from corn or from wine; water gene- rates hydrophobia; ipecac vomiting; oil of cherry- laurel, ecstasy and piety; nitro-benzole, convulsive shocks through the entire system; valerian, feline movements and crawling on all fours. That this result was not the effect of suggestion or the action of the operator's mind was in one case proved when the operator used a certain medicine from which he looked for a certain result, but on its application it produced a result which he had heretofore pro- duced only by the use of another substance. On examining the sealed tube he found he had applied the wrong one, and the one he did apply contained the substance from which he should have derived the results which were actually produced. Thus it seems the physical forces of the body, and the peculiar substance of which its different parts are composed, may be directly operated on by inert and unintelligible substances and cause the awakening of deep centres of consciousness beyond the control of the individual. CHAPTEK XIII THE INVASION OE PERSONALITIES The phenomena thus far reviewed enable us to understand that there exists a sub-realm within the human being, which constitutes the home of the subliminal nature, whose activities are ever de- pendent on the subsidence of our normal faculties, and which are brought into play when the inner centres of the brain and nerve cells are agitated by certain excitation. We have seen that the ancient registrations, made in the cell organs, may under certain conditions be again aroused, and that such arousal introduces into our lives the entire train of sub-conscious activities, which are commonly arrayed under the title of psychic phenomena. There seems to be an exact cleavage between the conscious and unconscious planes of our being, which find their biologic correlates in the different sections of the nerve centres. That portion of the cells, which constitutes their essential life, receives all the impressions made on the normal conscious- ness, and retains such impressions when they have passed out of the consciousness, and are supposed to have sunk into oblivion. But if for any reason these cell registrations are again agitated, as when the normal faculties are in subsidence and some strong suggestion or stimulation is exercised on them, then these registrations made on the death- less substance of the cell centres may once again 191 192 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITT appear in active life within the faculties of the un- conscious plane of mentation. It is the aim of this treatise to examine the ulti- mate nature of the substance in which these regis- trations are made, and whether it be possessed of potentially permanent elements, so co-ordinated as to prophesy a potential continuity after the coarser elements of the body have dissolved in death. That the psychic forces are capable of maintain- ing their residence in this substance in a sort of an independent uianner, conquering the environment of the crude body and its limited senses, seems to be capable of proof; and whether this fact prophe- sies a potential existence after physical dissolution is the burden of our quest. Apparently psychologi- cal experiment shows that what we call the soul, or the co-ordinate aggregate of psychic units, is possessed of a bond of unbroken continuity unin- terrupted by sleep, pause or other interference, al- ways alert, always responsive to whatever demands nature may make upon it. In order to make this apparent we must review another class of phenomena which only in recent years have come under the eye of circumspect scientists. Even while I am writing this book the daily pa- pers present us with a pathological case which viv- idly illustrates the unbroken persistence and con- tinuity of the unconscious or subliminal self. The case was tried in court and every phase of it seems to be scientifically and legally verified. A woman, Mrs, Hitchcock, had been declared INVASION OF PERSONALITIES 193 insane and compelled to remain In Matteawan for eighteen months, because a commission of alien- ists, consisting of Drs. Carlos Macdonald, Allan McLane Hamilton, and Frank W. Robertson, had so decided, on Nov, 20, 1907. On that day her husband was found dead in her apartments, 769 East 158th St., New York City. He had two bul- let wounds in his body. His wife with four bullet wounds in her body, was found near him. On a table was a confession, bearing her name, reading, *^I did this — the blame is mine." Several months afterwards, while the woman was in the Tombs, the municipal prison, she was hypnotised by Dr. Ira Van Gieson,* a reptuable and well-known alienist, to whom, while endormed, she told a story utterly contradictory of the theory constructed by the police from the circumstantial evidence, and which caused her imprisonment. This is the story she told : "On the day of the shooting I got a steak and cooked it. When Bob, my husband^ came home we had dinner. Bob had brought home with him a bag of apples, fifteen or sixteen. Bob said we were go- ing together on a long journey, that he was in a hole and could not get out of it, that he had ruined our lives. Then he read a chapter in the Bible and wrote on a piece of paper and he made me sign it. Then he took the pistol. There was a pistol under the pillow and he shot me. "He shot me, and I threw my arms over my head *Dr. Ira Van Gieson was first head of the N". Y. State Path- ological Institute, which laid the foundation for the official recognition of Psychotherapy. He conducted it successfully for several years till ousted by orthodox medical influence. 194 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY and ran into the dining room. He followed and shot at me a number of times and I fell on the floor in the dining room. We were on fire and he tried to put out the fire. I crawled to the bed on my hands and knees. "Bob got morphine and held it to my face and made me take the contents of the bottle and said he was going to blow the top of my head off. Then he fired again and broke the window. Then he reloaded the gun and stood up in bed and shut his eyes and shot himself. I tried to grab the revolver and he fell down in bed, and the poor old dog we had there tried to bite the gun. "Bob shot himself again and then pulled the sheet up over his face. This was about half-past eight o'clock. Then a dark man came in who spoke some good English and some broken English. The gun lay in the bed with the sheet over it, and I rolled over on the gun. Then the man said : — ^Give me the cartridges,^ Then he went away, and the next person I saw was a policeman. He said: — 'What^s the mat- ter ?' I told him I had done it, as Bob had told me to do so." This revelation led the "way to the discovery of new circumstantial evidence that seemed fully to prove the truth of the woman's hypnotic statement. Mr. Talley, the examining lawyer, and Dr. Van Gieson had an investigation made at the flat build- ing in V5^hich the shooting occurred. They found that the first person to enter the flat after the shooting v^^as an Italian who spoke imperfect Eng- lish, and that he was followed a few minutes later by a policeman. This discovery confirmed that part of Mrs. Hitchcock's statement concerned with the events directly after the shooting. They also INVASION OF PERSONALITIES 195 found that the dining room woodwork had burned and the window in the kitchen was broken, two facts that tally with the woman's account in hyp- nosis. They found also the man who sold to Mr. Hitch- cock the bag of apples on the day of the shooting, and they found the Bible from which Mrs. Hitch- cock says her husband read to her. Satisfied with these pieces of corroboration, they were strengthened in their belief that Mrs. Hitch- cock did not kill her husband, but that he shot her and then killed himself. That he was capable of such an exploit seems probable, they say, from the proved fact that he smoked opium, used cocaine and morphine and drank whiskey to excess. Neigh- bors told the investigators that they had feared sev- eral times the man would kill his wife. But there is one more strange incident connected with this suggestive case that shows how there is always a subliminal connection between the con- trolling and the submerged self, which sometimes discloses itself by the merest chance. While the woman in her normal moments could not recall the least iota of what she had revealed to the alienist in her hypnotic condition, which was the principle cause of her being declared insane, curiously enough a little thing happened to her one day that brought the whole story of the grewsome drama back to her sane and normal consciousness, from which it seemed to have been blotted out the in- stant of the murder when some unknown force disrupted her mental balance. She said: "Dr. 196 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY Sears, one of the house physicians, was talking to me one day when I suddenly thought of those ap- ples my husband had brought home the day of the shooting. I remembered they were red, and it was from the color of those apples that I was able to reconstruct again in my sane moments the picture of the shooting. I seemed to remember every detail." Here, we see, there was a whole drama of the most impressive type enacted in the presence of a woman who is herself tragically connected with it, becoming indeed doubly its victim, which has ut- terly ceased to become a part of her normal mind for a series of months, till suddenly some chance circumstance brings it all back again. But the tragic scene was there all the time, vivid, grew- some, horrific, yet dumb as the sphinx, silent as fate. This proves that the co-called Unconscious Mind is always informed, alert, with a consciousness unbroken and continuous. Not only may the normal consciousness be wholly suppressed (as in states of profound hypno- tisation or catalepsy), but our friend, the uncon- scious, or rather the secondary self, seems betimes to have been totally suspended, and a wholly dif- ferent personality injected into the organism of the individual. For the sake of the reader who may not be informed on the subject, I shall narrate a few of the well known cases in order to call atten- tion to the peculiar possession which seems to seize an individual so organised. Sometimes the seizure is of a half intelligent nature, as when the ordi- INVASION OF PEESONALITIES 197 nary consciousness of the individual is so inter- fered with that he is henceforth unable to pursue his normal activities and imagines that some force compels him to undertake impossible ventures till he finds himself in an insane asylum. It is quite common in these days to read in the papers of one of these hapless wanderers who suddenly leaves home^ and when found, is wholly unable to explain his meanderings. There is a famous case of this nature in the an- nals of the Psychical Society of France which is known as the case of Albert X., of whom Dr. Tissie of Bordeaux says: "He could not help starting ofE the moment the inclination seized him; an irresis- tible impulse took possession of him, and he would leave home, family, and business, and start off straight before him, walking at a quick pace, doing forty-four miles a day on foot, till he would at last be taken up as a vagrant and put in an asylum." To understand, however, how intense and irresistible this impulse was, it need but be known that the ar- raney lasted for years, and he wandered all over Europe, even to the snows of Russia, and was ar- rested as a nihilist and ordered to be sent to Siberia. The history of this man's life affords as interesting a romance as was ever written, yet he was in all other respects most sane and intelligent, save in this wanderlust, which in his case became indeed the very mark of his insanity. Here, however, no new personality is injected into his being ; he still knows who he is and where he originally lived, and where his family and rela- 198 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY tions abide, but he cannot possibly account for his wanderings, nor does he try to. He simply enters on them as a matter of course, as a man would start off to his business office. Of course there must have been some vague form of reason in his mind, some far-off conception of something he must do and therefore is setting forth to accomplish it ; yet this conception was never clear in his mind. All he knew was that he must "move on," and keep on forever without a rest. Possibly there was some- thing congenital in this, and the conditions of his birth were such that deep within the "memory scars" of his brain cells was written the cause of his life's curse. Sometimes the cause of such movements is not so difficult to find, although at the moment that the impulse seizes the individual, neither he nor any one else can discern it. Thus in a ease which Mr. Myers cites in one of his books relating to the researches of the Psychical Research Society. Sud- denly at breakfast time a man puts on his hat and flies out of the house. All wonder what has become of him, and no trace can be found. But he is fly- ing on at an impetuous speed, knowing not at all where he is going, till he fetches up at his mother's home, miles away, only to find that she had expired at about the time the seizure came upon him. The more remarkable cases, however, are those in which the apparent cause of such seizure is the introduction of a foreign personality into the or- ganism of the subject, which comes to take absolute possession, and not only usurps both the conscious INVASION OF PERSONALITIES 199 and unconscious kingdoms, but sets up one of its own that wholly supplants the others. The problem we shall be called upon to investi- gate in the phenomena we are now to present is whether the various personalities which may be obtruded on the normal personality are themselves distinct entities or the creations of subliminal states of mind, and whether there can be discovered a possible nexus between the various personations, which may be regarded as the permanent ego, or ab- solute self of the individual. Indeed, on the satis- factory solution of this problem, in my judgment, rests the entire framework of the proof of possible life hereafter. I shall refer only to well known and properly authentic cases, which have become classic and his- torical The first case of importance is that of Ansel Bourne, and reported in the seventh volume of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. Mr. Bourne was an itinerant preacher, operating in the New England States. He was sixty-one years of age, at the period to which we are referring. During his later manhood he had never manifested any unusual or abnormal traits of character or physical idiosyncracies. But some thirty years before he was stricken deaf, dumb and blind, when passionately declaring he would rather lose his speech and hearing than go to church. Re- covering from this attack, however, no signs of it either indirectly or directly again appeared in his habits until the occurrence to which we are now to refer. 200 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITT One day he went in a business-like manner to his bank, drew a large amount of money, ostensibly to pay off a mortgage, then suddenly disappeared from the field of his activities. No trace of him could be found during the eight weeks which fol- lowed. But about two weeks after the time of his disappearance, a certain elderly gentleman ap- peared upon the streets of Norristown, Pennsyl- vania, desirous of renting a store in which to con- duet a small confectionery, stationery and notion business. He rented this store from a Mr. Earl, and the family of the latter gentleman occupied a portion of the building. The new rural acquisition laid in a comfortable and appropriate stock of goods and posting a sign, "A. J. Brown," on the front window, awaited customers. Eor eight weeks he procured a satisfactory patronage, and conducted himself as one to the manner born. He had ap- parently always been in this sort of business, and thoroughly understood all its requirements to make a success of it. His manner was that of a religious and moral gentleman, he went regularly to church, and soon acquired a goodly circle of friends who respected him. One morning, however, this strange and amiable gentleman met with a most horrifying experience. He suddenly awoke about five o'clock, as if from a nightmare, and looking about him, was unable to recognise his surroundings. He was manifestly in a strange place, and could not explain his pre- dicament. He could not imagine how he ever got into that bed. He feared to make the fact known. INVASION OF PEESONALITIES 201 lest he should be arrested as a thief, and soon a paroxysm of fear seized him. At last, screwing up his courage, he tiptoed to the door of Mr, EarFs apartments, and rapping gently on it, asked the gentleman if he would kindly give him the day of the month. Mr. Earl replied it was the 14th of the month. "The 14th of the month? How can that be; does time go backwards ?" "Oh, no," replied the landlord, "not at all." "Well," gasped Mr. Brown, "what's the matter with me ? Where am I ?" The landlord looked askance at him with suspi- cion, and replied, "You are at Norristown, Pa." "How did I come here? I do not understand this. I never lived at IsTorristown, Pa." The landlord assured him that he was there. "Why, I thought this was the I7th of January." "0, no," said the landlord, "it is the 14th of March!" "Where, then, have I been all this time? It is all a blank to me. I do not know myself." "Aren't you Mr. A. J. Brown ?" asked the land- lord, sheepishly. "A. J, Brown? Why, no. I never heard of such a man. My name is Ansel Bourne.*' The landlord instantly suspected him of insanity on this information. He thought it wise to tele- graph to the place Mr. Bourne had given as his home, and received immediate assurance that Mr. Bourne had long been missing. The message in- formed him that his strange tenant had disappeared 202 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY on the I7th of January. His friends came for him and took him back to Providence; but he was ut- terly unable to give them any tidings of his wan- derings during the eight weeks of his absence. The case was turned over to the Psychical Re- search Society, and it occurred to Prof. James and Dr. Hodgson to put him into an hypnosis and see what would be divulged. It is best perhaps to give the results in Dr. Hodgson's own words as reported in the Proceed- ings: '^e said (while in the hypnotic state) that his name was Albert J. Brown, that on Jan. 17th, 1887, he went from Providence to Pawtucket in a horse car, thence by train to Boston, and thence to New York, where he arrived at 9 p. m., and went to the Grand Union Hotel, registering as A. J. Brown. , , . He thought of taking a store in a small town, and after looking around at several places, . . . chose Nor- ristown, about twenty miles from Philadelphia, where he started a litle business of five cent goods, confectionery, stationery, etc. "He stated that he was bom in Newton, N. H., July 8th, 1826 (he was really born in New York City on that date) had passed through a great deal of trouble, losses of friends, property and wife, who died in 1881; three children living — ^but everything was confused prior to his finding himself on the horse car on the way to Pawtucket; he wanted to get away somewhere — ^he didn't know where — and have rest. He had six or seven hundred dollars with him when he went into the store. He lived very closely, boarded by himself, and did his own cooking. He went to church, also to prayer-meeting. At one of these meetings he spoke of a boy who had kneeled invasio:n" of personalities 203 down and prayed in the midst of the passengers on a steamboat from Albany to New York (an incident of which he was well aware in the Ansel Bourne per- sonality). "He had heard of the singular experience of An- sel Bourne, but he did not know whether he had ever heard of Ansel Bourne or not. He had been a professor of religion, belonged to the 'Christian' de- nomination, but 'back there' everything was mixed up. He used to keep store in Newton, New Hamp- shire, and was engaged in the lumber and trading business, [Ansel Bourne had at one time been a car- penter]; and had never previously dealt in the busi- ness he took up in Norristown. He kept the Norris- town store six or eight weeks; how he got away from there was all confused; since then it has been a blank. The last thing he remembered about the store was going to bed Sunday night, March 13th, 1887. He went to the Methodist church in the morning, walked out in the afternoon, stayed in his room in the evening, and read a book. He did not 'feel anything out of the way.' Went to bed at eight o'clock, and remembered lying in bed, but nothing further." Dr. Hodgson says that a careful examination discovered that all the facts related by Mr. Bourne under the hypnotic state were substantially correct. It will be seen that the two personalities of Bourne and Brown were absolutely distinct in the two different states of the common mind occupying the same body. Dr. Hodgson says that "it was im- possible to indicate the exact source of the creation of the singular 'Brown' personality." He remarks however, that possibly there was some form of epi- lepsy that possessed him as the result of his stroke of deaf,-dumb-and-blindness. 204 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY Professor Hyslop, in his work, "Psychical Re- search Borderland,"* remarking on this same case, says : "All efforts to fuse the two personalities into one failed, and no clear association of the two per- sonalities could be suggested," It seems to me that an examination of Dr. Hodgson's report would indicate the source of the "Brown" personality, and the possible psychologi- cal nexus between the two personalities. We need but to recall the creative possibilities of the sub- conscious powers, such as is demonstrated in dreams, when a second of time may be extended into years and a slight physical sensation will set up a series of experiences that aggregate into a dramatic romance, to see how from the few hints dropped in the hypnotic state of Mr. Bourne the whole life of the Brown personality might have been subliminally suggested. The epileptic stroke is of course of the greatest importance, as we shall afterwards learn when ex- amining the theory of distraction following what is known as "cell disaggregation." The normal as- sociation of the brain cells having once been so se- verely shocked out of their mutual association had of course retained a "memory scar" of the inci- dent which might at any time re-awaken the ab- normal association and cause a disarrangement of mental sequences. There is no testimony that any- thing happened to him on alighting from the horse car. It would be interesting to learn whether any- thing had occurred at that moment to cause physi- cal shock, *P. 272. Invasion of peesonalities 205 He had been in the carpenter business, so that the business world was not wholly foreign to his ex- perience. In the hypnotic state this business is converted into the "lumber and trading business ;" while in the "Brown"state it becomes a "notion" store. In the hypnotic state the idea is a mere thought; in the "Brown" state the idea is actually worked out in the practical life, as is often done by somnambulistic subjects. As "Brown" he was as religious as he was as Bourne; showing that the memory of the Brown personality did not go back of the period of the epileptic stroke; else he would have shown an an- tagonism to the church, which was the immediate cause of the stroke. Being, as "Brown," religious, he recalls some of the religious experiences of Bourne (as the case of the boy praying among the passengers in the boat from Albany). The '^Bourne" consciousness is evidently not altogether absent from the "Brown" personality, for he admits in hypnosis that he had a vague recollection of having heard of his (Bourne'^) experience. The slight points of connection between the two mentalities are thus indicated as the result of a hypnosis which may not have been deep enough, or worked out on sufficiently modern methods to have reached the profounder depths of Bourne's sub- liminal self. Thus we see in the hypnotic state he did give correctly the date of the birth of the Bourne personality, but for some inexplicable rea- son, gives the wrong place of birth. There may have been some experience not revealed in the hyp- 206 SCIEITCE 'AND IMMOETALITY nosis or discovered in his life, which bore some re- lation to the town of Newton, N, H., which he in- correctly stated was his birth-place, Nothing was ascertained that would justify the presumption that he had ever been in that town. There is not, however, as complete a cleavage between the two personalities occupying the body of Ansel Bourne as in the case of Mary Eeynolds, to which attention should be given at this juncture of the discussion. She was a daughter of one of the early Penn- sylvania pioneers, who, falling asleep, it was- found impossible to arouse. Twenty hours later, however, she awoke of her own accord, but in- stantly showed that a complete transformation had taken place in her nature. She was like a new- born child. Her memory had totally vanished, all her past experiences, her acquisitions of knowledge and education were obliterated. Her parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends, she knew no more. She had to be taught over again how to read, write, and even to talk, like a lisping baby. And with this marvellous mental transformation it was soon apparent there was also a complete change in her temperament and idiosyncracies. From having been dull, heavy and taciturn, she became cheerful, alert, and communicative. She continued to dis- play this new type of character for some five weeks, when as suddenly as she had deserted her natural character she again assumed it, and thus continued her old gloomy self, for a few weeks, when she once more relapsed into her newly assumed personality. INVASION OF PEKSONALITIES 207 and thus alternated between them, assuming now the primary and now the secondary phase, for some twenty years. Then she entered seemingly into a permanent assumption of the secondary personal- ity, from which she never recovered, even to the day of her decease, which was a full quarter cen- tury after. Naturally the question arises, where did the pri- mary character — ^her first, natural, hereditary self ^go to ? Had it wholly vanished into the invisible, or did it still somewhere abide in physical form? Insomuch as all mental organisms must be incar- nated in material frames in order to possess a me- dium of expression, it follows that both these per- sonalities must have had within the one organism of Mary Reynolds a physical framework through which they revealed their presence. When, there- fore, the primary personality disappeared, did it wholly vanish, or did it remain concealed in the same body, but so deeply imbedded in the material substance as to find expression impossible? The latter conclusion seems to be the one that scientific research compels us to accept. We saw in the case of Ansel Bourne, that even though the primary personality for a time disappeared, and then returned, it was not lost, because it found a physical medium through which to manifest its presence. In his case, the secondary personality, A. J. Brown, wholly disappeared; but not yet wholly; for, when his body was subjected to hyp- notism, vague and suggestive intimations of the restoration of the secondary personality were ap- 208 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY parent. Indeed, we shall learn that each personal- ity which an organism assumes, actually imprints its presence on the cellular tissues of the body, and remains there; if, afterwards, circumstances occur which disturb the equilibrium of the organism, the personality may be again awakened and express itself through the same physical frame-work. In short, a complete mental, spiritual and moral struc- ture, other than the one with which each of us is born, may, if circumstances permit, be generated within us, and become such a fixed and actual con- stituent of our beings, as completely to usurp the office of the primary self. It must be, therefore, that these new mental and spiritual structures are impressed upon the invis- ible centres of the cell substance, to which our attention has heretofore been called, and remain there until some unaccustomed power calls theni forth as if by magic. We have a clear illustration of this hypothesis in the experiments of Prof. Janet, with one of his famous subjects, "Louise," by the so-called method of "distraction," OHAPTEE XIV THE LAW OF PERSONAL INTEGEITY In the experiments which Professor Janet under- took with this very plastic subject, Louise, we shall see how he calls up a distinct personality merely by giving it a fictitious name, wherewith at once it assumes existence and builds up a per- sonal history around the name. Erom this experiment it would seem that we have within us the possibilities of an infinite number of personalities which can be conjured by the imagi- nation and made as permanent as the stability of the imaginary constituents. This phase of the labors of the sub-conscious self is, of course, akin to its work in the, dream states of sleep. But if the im- agination has the power to summon these person- alities, their constituents must have pre-existed in the organism of the subject. The imagination seems to possess the magic power of overthrowing the associated constituents of the normal personality and having disturbed its equilibrium to summon the latent constituents of a potential personality, subject to the call and command of a stronger will- Professor Janet, having entered into direct com- munication with the secondary personality of Lou- ise, says: "Do you hear me ?" Ans.— "m." "But in order to answer one must hear ?" 209 210 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY "Certainly." "Then how do you manage T "I do not know." "There must be somebody who hears me." "Yes." "Who is it?" "Not Louise." "Oh, some one else? Shall we call her Blanche f* "Yes, Blanche." "Well, then, Blanche, do you hear me ?" "Yes." This name, however, had soon to be given up on account of disagreeable associations in the mind of Louise^ and another name substituted. When Lou- ise was shown the paper with the name of Blanche which she had written, she was angry and tried to tear it up, Janet : "What name will you have ?" Answer : "No name." "You must; it will be more convenient." "Well, then, Adrienne" Here a strange situation was introduced. It was proved that Adrienne knew of things of which Louise T^as wholly unconscious. A special terror of Louise, which was evidenced in "wild exclama- tions during her hysterical fits, was somehow con- nected with hidden men. She could not, however, recollect the incident. But Adrienne when ques- tioned, was able to describe the details. Louise was thrown into catalepsy; then Janet clinched her left hand (she began at once to strike out), put a pencil in her right hand, and said: "Adrienne, what are you doing?" LAW OF PEKSONAL INTEGEITY 211 The left hand continued to strike, and the face to look rage, while the right hand wrote: "I am furious." "With whom?" "With F." "Why ?" "I do not know, but I am very angry." Janet then unclinched the subject's hand and put it gently to his lips. It began to blow kisses and the face smiled. "Adrienne, are you still angry?" "No ; that is over." "And now?" "O, I am so happy!" "And Louise?" "She knows nothing; she is asleep," In this experiment we see how two distinct per- sonalities were conjured, whose existence depends wholly on the imagination of the subject, and the suggestion of the operator acting on the imagina- tion. But the personality once summoned may go far beyond the active or conscious suggestions of the operator and build up voluntary environment and history of its own. Something within the sub- ject, certain scattered ingredients, are called into association, and once united, organise a momentary individual which thinks, acts and exists as though it had always been a fact. It would seem as though the will acting on the plastic elements within the mind of the subject organises them into a temporary arrangement which constitutes a personality, and for the time being acts as if it were permanent and had always occupied the body which it uses. 212 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY Says Binet, referring to this experiment: "It should be carefully noted that if the per- sonality of ^Adrienne^ could be created^ it is because the suggestion met a psychological possibility; in other words, there were disaggregated phenomena existing there apart from the normal consciousness of the subject. This disaggregation prepared the un- conscious person^ and in order to . . . the col- lection and crystalisation of these scattered ele- ments very little was needed."* In short, the organism already registered, as the result of previous experiences, either conscious or unconscious, personal or hereditary, the separate elements of the potential personality finally sum- moned. Somewhere within the organism these ele- ments or psychic units were restored. It is the contention of this treatise that these registrations are within the invisible centres of the physiological cell (the primary life units), which is the norm and original of the general or organised life of the individual. These registrations, being impressed on an indestructible substance, which itself consti- tutes the totality of physical life within any vital organism, if this substance can survive the dissolu- tion of the outer frame, as we have endeavored to show in "Modern Light on Immortality," the sur- viving cell-centres, or bioplasts, may continue the life energies and become the invisible frame work of the mental constituents of the surviving soul. Within this surviving substance is vrritten the total mental experience of the life pursued by the •"Alteration of Personalities," p. 147. LAW OF PEESOKAL INTEGEITY 213 visible and mortal body, whose potential extension into a future personality beyond the grave is de- pendent on the force of the primary ego or the pre- vailing will. The point to be emphasised is that a single per- sonality can be maintained only so long as the per- sonal will is strong enough to hold its elements to- gether. In hysterical and abnormal subjects the will is so weakened that the psychological elements can be scattered by the introduction of the stronger will of the operator, the normal personality over- thrown and a foreign personality allowed to usurp its seat of power. From this we are forced to draw the hint that if the soul survive death, its nature and continuity will depend wholly on the strength of the personal will and the tenacity of the elements of the personal consciousness. What we call con- sciousness, in short, becomes simply the close cementation of the constituent elements of personal experience ; and in proportion to the ability of the mind to concentrate alone on this segregated or self-circumscribed region of experience the individ- uality of a person is possible. Hysterical and abnormal subjects prove that natural personalities and states of consciousness may be so scattered as to wholly lose all sense of integrity. Should souls, then, pass beyond the grave with no stronger self- centred consciousness than such subjects, it is easily seen that the personality they might there organise would be wholly dependent on what envi- ronment and suggestive conditions prevailed. In the case of Mary Reynolds, who assumed 214 SCIENCE AKD IMMOKTALITY alternate personalities and passed from this life in the secondary state, which was not the one she nor- mally inherited or was born into, it would be impos- sible to know whether her "soul" would assume this secondary character or the primary character which was her earthly birthright, or a wholly dif- ferent personality which a totally new environment might suggest or conjure. In later chapters we shall elaborate this theme. It was at one time supposed that the human be- ing, once created, possessed an ego of constant and indissoluble nature. The old psychology was in- sistent on this point It was not conceivable to the propounders of the old school that consciousness was divisible or capable of dissipation. The ego was integral, constant and eternal. While it was apparently devoid of consciousness during sleep, the fact that dreams could be impressed upon the consciousness, they argued, proved that even in sleep the ego was not susceptible of distraction. Thomas Eeid in his '^Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man," says : 'Tily personal identity implies the continued exist- ence of that indivisible thing I call myself. What- ever this self may be, it is something which thinks, and deliberates and resolves and suffers — I am not thought, I am not action, I am not feeling; I am something that thinks and acts and suffers. My thoughts and actions and feelings change every mo- ment; they have no continued, but a successive ex- istence; but that self, or I, to which they belong, is permanent, and has the same relation to all the suc- ceeding thoughts, actions and feelings which I call LAW OF PEKSOITAL INTEGEITT 215 mine. , . , The identity of person is a perfect iden- tity; wherever it is real it admits of no degrees; and it is impossible that a person should be in part the same and in part different, because a person is a monad and is not divisible into parts. Identity when applied to persons, has no ambiguity, and ad- mits not of degrees, or of more or less. It is the foundation of all rights and obligations, and of all accountableness ; and the notion of it is fixed and precise." In this statement we have all the dogmatic preci- sion and exaggeration of the old school of thinking which depended on mere assumption, but knew nothing of experimental search after knowledge. Science has now proved that every feature of the above argument is as contrary to the truth as error necessarily must be. It is now learned that the so- called ego is not only not indivisible, identical, fixed and constant, but that it is susceptible of an infinite number of degrees and phases, no less con- tradictory than they are complex, and logically de- stroying the foundations of the old conception of accountableness and ethical obligation. For, the clinical laboratory has now proved to us that under certain conditions certain persons may be so ope- rated on that not only is their individual identity destroyed, but they may be forced to assume a num- ber of other personalities, none of which bears any logical or actual relation to the original personality or identity of one's birth-right being. Nevertheless, in normally developed human be- ings there exists a permanent self-consciousness or personal ego. The fact, however, was for ages over- 216 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY looked by both scientists and metaphysicians that this personal ego is a product of evolution, consist- ing of an infinite series of states of momentary con- sciousness, held together by the framework of a normal organism, whose equilibrium once disturbed causes a distraction or dissipation of the normally constant ego. Therefore the problem of identity hoth here and in a possible hereafter will depend wholly on the capacity of the so-called ego to main- tain its permanent synthetic character. So long as there is tenacity of memory, recognitiveness and the ability of merging one's infinite series of mo- mentary incidents of consciousness in a constant self-consciousness, so long may the self or personal ego be continued. But on the interruption or ces- sation of such capacity the identical self may be dissipated. We are called on to consider the fact that within or behind the waking self or daily self-conscious- ness, there exists a sub-waking or latent self, wholly distinguishable in character, capacity and modus Vivendi, from the waking self, whose absolute sepa- ration from the latter self may at any time occur, and which may rise to the surface and usurp the place of the normal or supra-liminal self. These two or more selves flow on in parallel planes within the human being, and while they blend and merge betimes, still they never so become one as to consti- tute a single and inseparable being. One author (Sidis) compares them to the ocean and the Gulf stream. The waters of the Gulf stream (the sub- waking or secondary self) affect a large area of the LAW OF PERSONAL INTEGEITY 217 ocean beyond its channel, yet the stream is never dissolved in or absorbed by the ocean. And the ocean makes inroads into the stream, yet the ocean cannot be absorbed by the warm waters that flow from the Gulf, So the secondary self may and does continually affect the primary or normal self, by memories and intimations, yet is never absolutely incorporated within it, while the primary self also commands and directs the secondary self, yet is at no time absolutely absorbed or captured by it. What we call the consciousness of the ego, or the self consciousness, is then but the capacity of the primary self to command certain experiences and retain their momentary or tentative memory. But a large residuum of this consciousness sinks into the secondary self and becomes its self-conscious- ness, which is not to be confused with the self con- sciousness of the normal self. When the two selves are so related that the primary self remains in com- plete command of the situation, we have what we call normal self-consciousness. When the primary self loses its superintendency, and the sunken con- sciousness rises into command, we have secondary self consciousness, Now the whole problem with the normal personality consists in its power to main- tain its supremacy over all inferior self-conscious activities. Modem experimental psychology has proved that in almost all human beings this suprem- acy can easily be disturbed if not dethroned, and that even the healthiest and most regular human beings are not free from this intrusion. "The two selves in normal man are so co-ordi- 218 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY nated that they blend into one. For all practical purposes a unity, the conscious individual is still a duality. The self-conscious personality, although ap- parently blending with the sub-waking self, is still not of the latter. The life of the waking self-con- sciousness flows within the larger life of the sub- waking self like a warm, equatorial current within the cold bosom of the ocean. The swiftly coursing current and the deep ocean seem to form one body, but they really do not. The one is the bed in which the other circulates. . . . Now all these experiments tend to prove the presence within us of a secondary sub-waking self that perceives things which the pri- mary waking self is unable to get at. The experi- ments indicate the interrelation of the two selves. They show that messages are sent up by the sec- ondary self to the primary self. . . . The facts and experiments discussed above seem to point, by mere force of cumulative evidence, to the presence within us of a secondary, reflex, sub-waking consciousness, — the highway of suggestion — and also to the inter- relation and communication between the two selves"* Modem experimental psychology teaches us that the limited and circumscribed self of our normal consciousness lies within the vast and unbounded region of the supernormal psychic environment. It is as it were a small island in a vast sea of potential consciousness, which may every now and then be invaded by the onsweeping waves of sub-conscious activity. At times indeed the little island of our conscious selves may be wholly submerged by the tidal wave of the under self, completely burying us •"Psychology of Suggestion," Sidis, pp. 162, 172, 179. LAW or PEESONAL INTEGKITY 219 from self -recognition and for the time being wholly annihilating our normal psychic perceptions. The island of the waking self may be buried for days, weeks, months, years, yea, as in the case of Mary Reynolds, may never again in this life emerge from beneath the whelming waters of the sub-waking sea of life ; or there may be frequent subsidings of the waters, and the island of the normal self may again and again appear above the surface, again and again to be submerged, swaying alternately between nor- mal and supernormal consciousness till, as in Molly rancher's case, it becomes difficult to recognise the self which is the most permanent and may be re- garded as the original or primal being. In such lives manifestly the bond that holds the psychic autonomies together has become weak and unresponsive to a common will, there is no sufficient bond of unity, insubordination prevails, and the constructive and potentially sovereign self is con- stantly overpowered by irresistible insurgents. The one supreme will has, for the time, been compelled to abdicate. The numerous wills of the inferior autonomies assert their power; and if sufficiently enforced, some minor claimant succeeds to the throne and temporarily subjugates not only all the inferior conflicting kingdoms, but even the supreme sovereign throne itself. As illustrations of this law we might here refer to a few famous cases. A rare and remarkable case of alternating per- sonalities was discovered by Professor Janet and Dr. Gilbert of Havre. "Mme, B." was a stolid, substantial, honest Prench peasant, about forty CHAPTER XV THE SLEEPLESS SELF "A somnambulist forgets, when he awakes from being hypnotised, all that he does or says, but can be made to recall or repeat all by the simple asser- tion of the hypnotist that he can do so, and this without again falling asleep." These are the words of Bernstein, the famous Erench hypnotist and psychologist. Thus we see that while the conscious state may be wholly sub- merged beneath the sub-conscious, in which state the conscious - personality is unaware of what it says and does, none the less the sub-conscious may be called into the plane of the conscious and be forced to reveal to it all its secrets and workings. An artificial bridge, so to speak, may be built be- tween the two selves or states by the operator, so that the mind of the individual may travel between them, and thus discover the inward activities of each. There exists a common element between the two seemingly diverse and separate selves, and that common element is the material which must be em- ployed in the attempt to merge them. The common element is the mind or the psychic substance which is acted upon by the personalities established within the organism. If each personality actually pos- sessed a separate and incommunicable mind of its own, intercommunication between the two selves were an impossibility. Formerly it was supposed 226 THE SLEEPLESS SELF 227 such intercomnmnication could not be established. And it was then surmised by some writers that there were separate minds, one a subjective and the other an objective mind, within the same organism. Man was possessed of his own soul, but might be obsessed by a foreign or supra mundane spirit. We now un- derstand that the same mind-element exists within both personalities, the normal and supernormal, and because of this psychic element intercommunication may be established. ''The separation of the two consciousnesses does not interrupt all communication between them. The association of ideas, of images, perceptions, and movements — that is, of all that pertains to the sphere of the lower psychology — is preserved nearly intact; and, hence, an idea in the first consciousness provokes a movement in the second, and, inversely, a sensation perceived by the second consciousness can awaken an idea in the first consciousness."* So long as the subconscious personality can be captured, we may say, by the conscious, and forced to divulge its secrets, the integrity and normal per- manence of the ego can be established. In all such cases, which are the majority in the present expe- rience of the race, the individual may be said to be permanent, indissoluble, intact. But if the sub- self commands and refuses to surrender its auton- omy to the higher authority of the normal self, then the dissolution of the psychic elements which con- stitute the self-consciousness of the individual takes place, and the logical issue of that life will depend *Bmet, on the Double Consciousness, p. 29. 228 SCIEITCE AND IMMOETALITY on the capacity of the normal self-consciousness to restore and establish its supreme autonomy. Within each of us there is a possible variety of personali- ties; yet as we are normally constituted we may control and subject those potential personalities to our requirements. The fact that we can do so and thus prove our individual integrity establishes our sui-generis individuality. The activities of the unconscious centres, how- ever, are never silenced. The Unconscious is always awake, always active, and though it seems to be a paradox we may say it is always conscious; for, at any moment, that which transpires within the Un- conscious, and of which the normal mind has no knowledge, may be restored to the waking conscious- ness, so that one may look, so to speak, in a mirror and see the reflection of one's other self, of whose presence one had not before, been aware. Because of the difficulty of explaining dual or multiple personalities, as we have before remarked, the experiences above alluded to have been ques- tioned by one school of psychologists, who wholly reject the class of phenomena now recognised as the operations of the subliminal self, regarding them as mere data of the imagination. There seems to me to be no insoluble problem involved, however, in the possibility of one individual being possessed of a variety of personalities, which may manifest themselves at different times. We need but recall that consciousness consists of an infinite number of experiences, that each momentary experience is but a moving picture in the mind, — ^that is, a passing THE SLEEPLESS SELF 229 state of consciousness, — and that so long as we are limited to this temporary movement of conscious- ness our whole personality consists, at that single moment, but of that one experience. A number of such experiences, once associated, create between themselves a connecting link, and when such asso- ciations are continued they constitute, during their duration, a constant or fixed personality. We can conceive of two such experiences constituting the entire subject matter of a single personality. Per- haps at one time in unicellular organisms such a primitive form of consciousness existed. When such experiences increase into the millions and billions, and, for a certain period of time, assume an association or mutual relationship, they consti- tute, so long as they cling together, the subject mat- ter of a single personality or an individual. At any moment we may pause and be conscious of a series of such experiences. We know, however, that there have also transpired within our beings an infinite series of other experiences, which, though awaken- ing momentary consciousness, have sunk beyond recall. Nevertheless, though lost to immediate real- isation, we now know they are physiologically registered. Hence it is logically conceivable that certain groups of experience which have relapsed into ob- livion might, by the law of the association of ideas, be momentarily reunited within the plane of con- scious activity, and thus be restored to our realisa- tion, to the exclusion of all other groups or colonies. Indeed, we may see the operation of this law in the 230 SCIEN'CE AND IMMOETALITY experience of dreams, A momentary circumstance of yesterday, or last week, or last year, may sud- denly re-enter the realm of consciousness, in the dream life, rising abruptly from the long buried depths of the sub-realms of our being, when in- stantly we associate with the experience an entire series of cognate possibilities, out of which the mind erects a most absorbing drama to the amusement and delight of our sleep-locked souls. However absurd and impossible such associations and the- atrical figures may be, in point of fact, they seem absolutely real to the dream-self, which, indeed, assumes a personality of such exaggerated character- istics as to be utterly impossible of assumption in the normal life of the mind. That dream life is, however, the actual experience of the consciousness of the dream-personality. The drama is as effective and logical to the dream-per- sonality* as is the actual drama of life in the nor- mal experience of the soul. We are as completely lost to the normal self-consciousness in the dream consciousness of sleep as is the somnambulist while under the control of the hypnotic operator. We may truly say that we experience each night, if we •'TMax Dessoir tells us of a case in -which a person took up his dream on a second night where he had left it off on the first. Here, then, the dream consciousness tended to form a new chain of memories. The same author puts the following ease of Macario's with the last: A girl who was outraged during an attack of spontaneous somnambulism knew nothing about it when she awoke, and only told her mother of what had happened in her next attack. "These cases in morbid and in dream conditions show that two consciousnesses follow one anotner." (Moll; "Hyp- notism," p. 261.) THE SLEEPLESS SELF 231 are aware of our dreams, a whole series of variable and distinct personalities, each of which is unre- lated to and unaware of the other. In truth we are susceptible not only of a dual personality but of infinite personalities, insomuch as our submerged experiences may assume an infinite number and variety of associations. I have thus far been referring to the psychologi- cal elements which enter into the formation of tem- porary or incidental personalities. Dr. Boris Sidis, in his "Psychology of Suggestion,"* presents the physiological analysis and explanation of these phenomena, which I think it would prove profitable to reproduce here. He says : "The mental process of association and aggrega- tion of psychic contents in the synthesis of moment- consciousness, and the including of the moment con- sciousness in synthesis of higher and higher unities, can be expressed in physiological terms of cellular activity." He then outlines the nerve system, reminding us that the cells are not anatomically connected, and associate only functionally through physiological contact, forming into groups, systems, communities, clusters, constellations, in the respective order traced. He practically proves that each cell is or- ganised into an individual and unique life, with its own consciousness, memory, etc., and that the mul- tiplicity of cells associate into the so-called systems, constellations, etc., according to the duration of the psychic experience whose impressions they receive, •Pp. 208-212. 232 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY "The simpler, the less complicated, a group of cells is," he says, "and the longer and more fre- quently their fine processes come in contact, the greater is the tendency of that group to form per- manent relations; we may, therefore, say that the organisation of a system or constellation of cells is in proportion to the duration and frequency of their associative activity." He then proceeds to show how these time aggre- gates of psychic elements, expressed in cellular asso- ciations, may he dissipated into their several pri- mary conditionSj by the influence of psychic stimuli playing upon them. "Association fibres combining the highest constel- lations are the first to give way; they are the latest to arrive in the course of psycho-physical evolution, they are the most unstable, the least organised, and are also the first to succumb to the process of dis- solution." Here we have presented the physiological reason for the rapid dissolution of dream forms, appari- tions, and the visions of day reveries. It also ex- plains how numerous personalities may grow up in the organisation of a single life, as in the illustra- tions already noted in this chapter. If, then, these psychic elements are so volatile and unstable, and their physical correlates are no more stable, it may be asked by what law do we maintain a persistent personality and self-conscious- ness in the midst of the countless changing expe- riences of life. The reason is that by the law of association we carry forward in our persistent self- realisation a fixed train of experiences, all of which THE SLEEPLESS SELF 233 are logically the cognates of our normal modes of thinking. When we fall into abnormal or super- normal conditions, such as in dreams, reveries, fevers, trance and somnambulistic states, we attract a wholly unusual and extraordinary train of expe- riences, which by force of the imagination may be magnified into altogether impossible or super-nor- mal conditions of consciousness. These, however, being attached to our temporarily constructed con- sciousness conipose an organised memory and super- normal personality. As a magnet will draw the minute particles of steel filings that lie within its field of force toward its opposite poles, so by the law of association the mind may cause to be attracted to either an ordinary or extraordinary experience a whole series of men- tal states, which, assembled in this momentary gathering, may constitute the basis for a wholly new state of consciousness and organise an unknown and foreign personality. Read in the light of this physiological and psy- chological law, we are permitted to understand the ultra puzzling phenomenon of Molly Fancher, for instance, who, it is said, assumes four different so- called personalities, that control her body at differ- ent times and for a certain duration of months or years, scarcely ever changing her bed-ridden posi- tion, but acting out all her different characters spon- taneously and with accurate and unbroken continu- ity. She may have assumed one personality for a term of months, then, when merging into one of the other personalities, she will at once resume the 234 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY speech or occupation which was broken off when the alternate personality seized her. There seems to be no hiatus in any one of her quadruple characteri- sations; but each one is perfectly organised, and when its time for expression arrives reveals itself with as much certainty as one's normal personality does in the commonplaces of life. While in one state of consciousness, which con- stitutes the organisation of a distinct personality, something enters her mind which calls up a fixed train of experiences that are logically associated with the temporary mental state. While she re- mains in this mental condition, naturally, her at- traction is diverted from the special mode of con- sciousness which she had been formally assuming, and enters the new state, because the train of ideas which is thus conjured is logically associated for the time being with the conception which now pos- sesses her. In the same manner, in our dreams, we do not know ourselves to be what we are in common life, but conceive ourselves to be endowed with un- usual qualities or powers, sometimes imagining that we have become other people, assuming their states of consciousness, and characterised even by their capacities and qualifications. Now such diversity of personalities might, for the moment, seem to indicate the obliteration of the soul, or the primary ego ; or that what we call the soul is but the psychical correlate of physical activi- ties. That is, it might from the illustrations above given, be supposed that what we call the soul has no necessary continuity, but consists merely of the tem- THE SLEEPLESS SELF 235 porary aggregates of psychical activities aroused by physical stimuli. Many, indeed, do draw such a de- duction from the experiences above noted. They seem to discover in the facts the absence of any necessary unity or continuity in the consciousness, and assume that when the physical stimulations finally cease, necessarily all psychical activity must also ceasa If we take merely a surface view of the facts there would seem to be some justification for this deduction. But in a moment I shall show where the error of this conclusion appears to me to lie. It is indeed to be remembered that in case of fevers or any other pathological condition of the body, the mind seems to be but a reflex of the intense cellular activities which agitate the organism ; the thoughts which are then conjured seem to be but the result- ants of the physical friction set up within the tissues and nerves of the body. On this theory, it would seem, Eibot rests his celebrated dictum that there are innumerable nerve activities which do not always have a psychical com- plement; i, e., that the nerves are often compelled to experience certain stimulations which are not convertible into sensations or mental states of con- sciousness. Recent demonstrations, however, in psychical experiments have entirely disproved the validity of Eibot's deductions and those of the entire materialistic school. Ribot was not yet in- formed of the fact that the very reflexes themselves are recorded in the psychical apparatus as well as in the physical organism, and that under the proper conditions they may be forced into the region of 236 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY the normal consciousness. Moll* shows clearly that in cases of somnambulism, when certain contrac- tures are caused in the muscles, it is not merely a reflex which takes place in the muscular response to the nervous stimulation, but a direct response to a mental stimulation or suggestion. Of course there can be no mental response to any stimuli without the presence of some degree of consciousness. He more fully explains this law on p. 184, where he says: "From all the phenomena hitherto discussed it must have been gathered that there can be no ques- tion of the loss of consciousness in hypnosis. Of course I mean loss of consciousness as it is under- stood in psychology. We have seen that the subject in hypnosis remembers the events of earlier hyp- noses. Consequently impressions were received into the consciousness in these earlier hypnoses. We can- not, therefore, talk of loss of consciousness, because loss of memory exists after the awakening (Forel), apart from the fact that suggestion in hypnosis will prevent the loss of memory. This temporary loss of memory is an every-day event, and we could not conclude a loss of consciousness from it in ordinary life. "I will not speak of the daily mechanical actions we perform without attention and forget directly. I will take quite another case, in which we act with full consciousness and attention. I will choose an example out of my own experience, a thing which we have doubtless observed in ourselves. I take a book and put it in a particular place, so that I may find it when I want it. At length I want it, but I cannot remember where I put it. I think in vain. ♦"Hypnotism," p. 96. THE SLEEPLESS SELF 237 Only wHeii I replace myself in imagination at the moment when I put it away, (a method which every one knows) do I remember where it is. And yet, in spite of temporary loss of memory, I did not put the book away in a state of loss of consciousness; it was rather that I was at the moment m another state of consciousness. This is, in many respects, analogous to hypnosis; the events are remembered only when the subject is again in the same state of consciousness, i. e., in a new hypnosis. Thus, in all these cases we have to do not with an unconscious state, since all impressions remain in memory." The state of consciousness to which the author here refers is, of course, what we have agreed to un- derstand as the subliminal, which is beneath the level of the normal consciousness, and is susceptible of recall. In fact modem books on Hypnotism are replete with proofs of the existence of what we might call static consciousness, which is often misinterpreted as the absence of consciousness, or momentary soul annihilation. This, in fact, was the incidental error into which Professor Tyndal fell, who was wholly ignorant of the field of psychology in which the now famous experiments and discoveries have been made. Tyn- dal, the reader will recall, in his celebrated Belfast address, undertook to prove that there was abso- lutely no scientific proof of the soul's existence, or a possibility of its ever being so demonstrated. He was indeed sujQSciently psychological to illustrate his theory by a personal experience which seemed to disintegrate his individual consciousness. He 238 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY narrates how he had accidentally been subjected to the concussion of a large number of electrical volts, sufficient under different conditions to have killed him. The result was a state of utter unconscious- ness, in which he remained for several days. When he returned to himself he found that a complete break in his memory or mental consciousness had occurred. What had taken place in all those days he had apparently no way of recalling, and he was satisfied that his soul, if he had any, could not in any way have been cognisant of what had transpired during that interval. In short, his soul could not be continuous, or unbroken, for here had entered a hiatus — a hole, so to speak, which nothing could close up. "Where, then/' he exclaimed trium- phantly, "where was I — my soul — during this long period of oblivion ?" In TyndaPs day no recognised scientific principle could be utilised as an answer to his pertinent ob- jection to the old metaphysical proof of the soul's existence. Indeed, there was no answer ; his victory was complete, and all the mumblings of the discom- fited clergy could not shatter the splendid structure of his logic. But, strange to say, though theology and meta- physics were both overcome by Tyndal's argument, it remained for science itself, Tyndal's own weapon, to come to the rescue and demonstrate his fallacy. Professor Tyndal thrived before the science of hyp- notism was recognised as respectable in the medi- cal and scientific world. At that day it was laughed at, and no decent physicist proved himself martyr enough to be willing to be ridiculed. THE SLEEPLESS SELF 239 Now, however, we have sufficient proof that dur- ing the state of alleged unconsciousness into which the concussion had thrown Tyndal there was indeed no absolute unconsciousness whatever; there was merely a state of suspended or sunken conscious- ness ; the registrations within the physical organism of the stimuli which affected it, having entered into such profound recesses of the body as not to be sus- ceptible of recall until they become controlled by another mind of proper training, when, presto, change ! they would at once reappear. So important is this innovating scientific fact that we shall devote the next chapter to its further elucidation. CHAPTER XVI THE BOND OF PSYCHIC UNITY Does the disintegration of the personality ulti- mately destroy the self-conserving power of the in- dividual ? That is, once granted that what we call ourselves may, under peculiar conditions, be dissi- pated into several selves, each of which is either wholly or but partially acquainted with the other, is, then, necessarily the primal self dissolved beyond reconstruction? Is it possible that in this life the "I" may finally pass beyond self recognition, and be dissipated into several "I's," which may remain permanently dissevered so that the original "I" shall never again be restored? The mind, in answering this question, reverts at once to the large category of insane objects — the hysterical, neurasthenic, mento-pathological, som- nambulistic and hyper-ansesthetic, — such as swarm the asylums of the world, and especially the clinics of Salpetriere, We cannot deny that among these many thousand have lost the primal consciousness of their beings and are now deluded into the belief that they are other people than what their birth- right justified. Neither can it be denied that for centuries it was believed and seemed perfectly plausible that when these persons died, they passed from this life in the possession of a foreign con- sciousness, in which, should they awake in some other sphere, they would seem to be different per- 240 THE BOND OF PSYCHIC UNITY 241 sons than they were known to be in the days of their normal health and characteristics. The presumption follows that if personality can be thus permanently dissolved, then even if there were an after life we have no scientific ground on which to rest the certainty that our present selves or normal personalities would prevail. That is, judged by the limited knowledge which was in vogue for ages concerning the mental condition of those pathological subjects, we would doubtless be driven to the conclusion that the individual is vouch- safed a permanent existence wholly dependent on circumstances. In a degree this is true. What we call personality is not essentially permanent. It is the result of motion, or the aggregation of certain physical and psychical elements, whose continuity and associative persistence depend on the tenacity of the power that combines and correlates them. But what has been recently discovered is the fact that the separation or dissipation of the original self, into many selves, is not necessarily a perma- nent condition; that the continuity and integrity of the one self is the result of a certain psychic ele- ment, which culminates in its highest evolution into self -consciousness ; and that the continuity of the personality is commensurate with the degree of the intensity of self-consciousness attained. This is the thesis which we shall here more fully discuss. If it can be demonstrated that the chief reason why the hysterical and insane have lost their primal personalities, and enact many different roles in the same physical organism, is because they had been 242 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY deprived of a certain psychic energy by whose res- toration within their bodies their original person- alities may be re-established, then we shall be on the road of discovering what is the mysterious nexus which maintains the unity of the self we are con- sidering. We have in previous chapters reviewed the facts which prove that every human being is possessed of a sub-waking self as well as the normally wakeful self. We saw how that inner self might be swayed, so that it would cause the body to act even intelli- gently, yet without the consciousness of the normal self. We also reviewed the facts that proved that there was a possible intercommunication between the two selves, or diverse planes of consciousness; thus showing that while the separation between the selves was complete, so far as the alternate states of consciousness went, yet that the dual conscious- nesses were not necessarily unrelated or non-inter- communicable. We therefore discovered that there exists some sort of connection or nexus between the two planes of realisation or consciousness; though just what that nexus is we have not yet determined. This is the immediate object of our search. What is the nexus ? What is the force that holds the two selves together — howbeit each is absolutely at times unconscious of the other ? We shall first note how the distractions between the selves is accomplished ; then we shall seek to understand the method by which the severed selves become united — ^that is, partially or wholly merged. The separations may be caused by natural or ar- THE BOND OF PSYCHIC UNITY 243 tificial methods. A concussion, a surprise, such as a shocking bit of information, or anything which is startling or temporarily paralysing to the normal functions of the body, may be the natural cause of distraction between the selves. Or the control of one mind over another, either by command, sugges- tion or hypnotism, may equally be an eflBcient cause of the same effect We shall review a few cases brought about by both forces, and then study the law by which after the distraction had been effected, the restoration of the psychic unity, or normal con- sciousness, is accomplished. This will lead us to an understanding of the force, or nexus, or connect- ing element, which operates in the maintenance of the waking consciousness, and will guide us to the further apprehension of the potential force that may maintain the permanent integrity of the soul even after the dissolution of the physical elements of the human organism. Let us then, first, study a case in which distrac- tion is produced by an artificial method. We will recall the cases of Professor Janet, of Dr. Mason, and others. We will recall that some of these (as Janet's "Louise") were the direct products of the operator's suggestion; that others (as Dr. Osgood's case) were indirect results of hypnotic control, while others (such as involuntary writing) were caused by partial inhibition of certain nerve centres ■and exaltation of other centres. In the latter ex- periment a very suggestive feature is that observed by Binet, who informs us that the involuntary mind once having been impelled to a certain action 244 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY is inclined always to repeat it. He would slip a pencil into the hand of an affected subject, who reading a newspaper, was wholly unaware of what he had done. Then, while the subject is reading attentively, all unknown to her, the hand in which the pencil had been placed begins to make certain scrawls. Binet then, observing what sort of a scrawl the hand inclines to, guides it along the lines till it executes them with facility. "Having communi- cated these movements for some minutes, I left the hand to itself quite gently ; the hand continued the movement a little. After three or four experiments the repetition of the movement became the more per- fect, and with Mile. G., with the fourth sitting, the repetition was so distinct that the hand traced as many as eighty curls without stopping." Having accomplished this much, he then observed that a rudimentary memory remained with the hand. If the hand had grown accustomed to make a certain figure, as for instance curls, it always had a tendency to return to that movement. Binet ex- perimented with the subject who had become accus- tomed to trace curls, and then got the hand to trace the figure 1 a hundred times; but as soon as the hand was left alone instinctively it returned to the tracing of curls. "The sub-waking self, like a child, learned to use the hand and to write, and showed that it remembered what it once learned, and that it was easier for it to perform the acts once ac- quired" (Sidis). Here, then, we find that instinctive repetition, or memory, is a powerful force in establishing a con- THE BOND OF PSYCHIC UNITY 245 tinuity of consciousness. Memory is itself a faculty of the subliminal organs, and can never be employed by the conscious mind simply as an act of will. Memory may be said to lay the foundation of will. It is the instinct of repetition ; will is the capacity of choice. But can there be consciousness without memory? Certainly. The instant of experience is of itself sufficient as a datum of consciousness without needing any preceding event with which to be connected. However, such an experience is wholly unknown to us, because our plenum of con- sciousness consists of a synthesis of infinite expe- riences. Therefore, though there may be conscious- ness without memory (Sidis), it is a purely hypo- thetical state, conceivable only by the mind, but not provable by experience. Now then, as memory is the basis of practical self-consciousness, the continuity of such conscious- ness will of course depend upon the vividness and instantaneousness of memory. The absence of memory, we thus observe, is the chief cause of the cleavage of distracted states of consciousness. If the hand that now writes on paper does so without the consciousness of the owner of the hand, it is merely because the memory of the hand for the time being is lost to the paramount consciousness. The dormant consciousness, which ordinarily has no power over the hand, now 'comes into its control. But the paramount consciousness which ordinarily controls this hand has no memory (during the tem- porary usurpation of the dormant consciousness) of such control. Two opposite though parallel lines 246 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY of memory are thus established. So long as these memories are unmerged, or not brought into the plane of mutual consciousness so that each is aware of the other, w© have a distracted or dual person- ality. But if at any moment the opposite memories can be brought together, and the alternate memories establish mutual recognition, then the two personal- ities are united. This is exactly our experience in dreams. In the dream memory a special drama of exist- ence is established, wholly unassociated with the waking memory. So long as we are dreaming we are wholly different personalities than when we are awake. Therefore, often on awaking we are sur- prised, as slowly the drama of the dream-memory shifts before us, and little by little the scenes are reproduced, till the whole drama is recalled. Then the two memories are united and we find that what we were in the dream we now fully remember. Therefore we are able to say that the dream person- ality, though temporarily different than ourselves, was really an experience of ourselves, because we can remember it and put it within the plane of our consciousness. The integrity of personal self-consciousness will then depend upon the capacity of an individual to hold together the elements of experience in a syn- thetical memory. The loss of consciousness will be in proportion to the dissipation of the elements of memory; and if such incapacity continues the ab- sence of the consciousness of such personality will also continue. This is the explanation of such cases THE BOND OF PSYCHIC UNITY 247 as Ansel Bourne, Mary Reynolds, and all the rest which we have studied. The question now arises, does there come a time in the life of an individual when there may be such a total loss of memory that the personality is com- pletely obliterated; and, further, if so obliterated, is there any possibility of its restoration? Again, if such restoration is possible, what does it prove Tvith regard to the potential permanence of an indi- vidual personality? There are some famous pathological cases which will let light into this problem. We shall here review the case of the Kev. Thomas C. Hannah, which came under the care and observation of Mr. Boris Sidis, because it so clearly demonstrates the point at issue which we are now considering. It shows how, even if the personal ego be so utterly •dissipated that every apparent basis of the normal consciousness is destroyed, yet if a physiological reconstruction can be accomplished the normal self will return to its throne of authority. Hence po- tentially the self-conscious ego is supreme and per- manent. The case of Dr. Hannah, as described by Mr. Sidis, is as follows : On April 15, 1897, Mr. Hannah met with an accident; he fell from a carriage and was picked up in a state of unconsciousness. When the patient -came to himself he was like one just bom. He had lost all knowledge acquired by him from the date of his birth to the time of the accident. He lost all I>ower of voluntary activity, knew nothing of his it is yet not as sublimate, rare and potentially endowed, as a recently discov- ered force which enters into all the conditions and organisations of matter, and becomes especially the invisible and volatile embodiment of thought, voli- tion and memory in living organisms. We find in this peculiar substance the ultimate physical basis of the conscious ego and its unconscious subordi- nates. The only remaining problem that might follow from this conclusion would be whether the person- ality possibly revealed in some future life, would be the same personality as the one which we beheld when the present life became extinct. This will depend, as we shall now attempt to show, on the eohesiveness or persistence of the distinctive mem- ory-groups which we call the known or present per- sonality. To try to make my meaning clear I will illus- trate what I am here attempting to elucidate by a number of beads hung upon a single string. When the beads are all attached to a common string, bound together, they form an individual necklace ; yet each bead in itself constitutes a separate unit or entity, being for the time only associated with other beads in order to form the necklace. lITow each one of these beads stands related to the entire necklace as each memory-group in a human being stands re- lated to his composite individuality. Cut the string and the beads will scatter on the floor, Now gather together different groups of these beads and hang MEMORY, MAKER OF PERSONALITY 261 them on separate strings and they will constitute a number of distinct and different necklaces. So, for the time being, suppress the normal or constant con- sciousness of an individual, and his many mem- ory-experiences will scatter into diverse and excep- tional relations, and each one of these new relation- ships or groupings may constitute a separate person- ality, which may be remotely or immediately con- nected with the original individual. But the new necklaces which are made from the scattered beads consist merely of the original beads which were hung upon the string of the first necklace. So the diverse experiences or memory-groups of an indi- vidual may be separated from the original ego, and, under peculiar conditions temporarily associated with other memory-groups, which for the time be- ing seem wholly to obliterate the original individ- ual. Yet, just as we can gather together all the scat- tered beads and once more attach them to the single string of which the original necklace consisted, so we may gather together all the diverse experiences, or separate memory-groups, namely, the multiple personalities which split off from the individual, and again merge or blend them ilito the primary person- ality. In short, the string symbolises the individ- ual, or constant ego, and as the string holds to- gether all the beads, so the individual holds together all the distinctive experiences and diverse person- alities which may form within it. On the potential permanence of the individual, or the primary ego, rests then our hope, the founda- tion of the science of life, and the prophecy of fu- 262 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITl- ture existence. If the individual be susceptible of reconstruction, then it is potentially indestructible. One then, is always, in the last analysis, the self- same undividable self. What seems to be division is but splitting off a part or parts of the original unity. The problem of persistent integrity consists only in the capacity to rejoin or merge these parts together in the common self-consciousness, the con- stant ego. This fact, it seems, had been largely lost sight of by psychologists who regard merely the personal- ities, and seeing that these constitute, for the time, distinctive states of consciousness, however vari- ously associated with the primary personality, it occurred to them that the individual was not a real- ity at all, but that he was merely the accident of contiguous personalities or incidental memories. On the contrary, it seems to be the fact that the in- dividual is the permanent basis or substratum of whatever personalities form around it; this exists as the primary memory-group, from which the off- shoots of temporary personalities constitute merely flitting experiences. The personality is variable and transitory. The individuality is potentially persistent and permanent, constant and eternal.* *It must of course be understood that we cannot assume, as is done by some psychologists, that the individualism is made up of several entirely separate personalities; that, for instance a gentleman whom they usually Know as Mr. M carries within him also the personality of Mr. S . The double Ego must not be so conceived, and if, as few incline to do, it is so conceived, we fall into danger of accepting an absurd conception of human consciousness. For our object the double Ego is only a diagram to indicate the fact that psychic processes may go on within us, unobserved, and often MEMORY, MAKER OF PERSONALITY 263 This point is cogently discussed by Binet, as the result of many experiments, in his "Alterations of Personality/'t where he says: "May we not then go one step further, and assert that the mental compound which constitutes the ego is constructed from these elements? On this point recent researches have thrown some light, and al- though it is negative, yet it is none the less valuable. It is this: that the genesis of a personality cannot be explained by the association of ideas. Subjects who divide their existence between two different men- tal conditions may in one of these conditions be ut- terly unable to remember events that are connected with the other. The loss of memory is so absolute that a person seen during one of these conditions is not even recognised in the second, and the physician must be twice introduced in order to be known by both personalities. It is enough to say that the usual magnetism of memory ceases to operate. "Under slightly different conditions of experiment several psychological instances co-existed in the same individual, and ideas belonging to one of the con- sciousnesses suggest other ideas to the other con- sciousness. This fact of experiment shows us in a new light the inadequacy of association to explain the formation of synthesis. . . . The intellect is not composed entirely of an automatism of ideas and movements, since just where this automatism goes on most regularly, consciousness must stop and per- sonality find its limitation. "In short, the same individual may have a plu- rality of memories, a plurality of conciousnesses, and yielding no evidence of themselves except their results. This indeed is the kernel of Max Beasoir's theory." ("Hypno- tism/* by Albert Moll, p. 360. Walter Scott, London.) fP. 352. 264 SCIEISTCE AND IMMOKTALITY a plurality of personalities^ and each of these memo- ries, consciousnesses and personalities, knows only what happens within its own limits. Outside of our consciousness may occur conscious thoughts in us that we are not aware of." In the same manner writes Paul Cams, in "The Soul of Man" : "What is a person but a human in- dividual ? And what is an individual but a thing which if broken or divided, ceases to be that which it is ? A quartz-crystal is an individual ; if you crush it it ceases to be a crystal, and is mere grains of sand." But have not such writers wholly overlooked a very important fact ? Have they not forgotten that the human individual is endowed with a force which does not exist in mere mechanical individual- ities. Once the individual will^ the evolution of age-long processes, is formed, does it not become an initiative energy within the human organism which does not exist, save germinally, in the metal or the plant ? And once it can be shown that by the power of the will, either exercised by the initiative of the individual or by the impingement of a foreign will upon it, the disconnected or contiguous personali- ties or consciousnesses or memories, within the hu- man being, may be merged into a single, individual consciousness, then manifestly the human individ- uality possesses a potentiality far beyond inanimate, or semi-animate inferior organisms. This fact is well brought out in hypnotic experimentations. If the individual will is sufficiently organised, and the personality is firmly established against any MEMORY, MAKER OF PERSONALITY 265 disintegration by opposing forces, then the will may be made positive to all insinuating suggestions. So long as the will is positive, the personality cannot he split into distinctive parts. This law is illustrated in the following experiment, which Sidis performed with one of his patients. After he was satisfied he had gotten him in the hypnotic state, he said, "Just try to write your name." He wrote it. "Again." He wrote it once more. I asked him to write slowly; meanwhile I raised my hand, stif- fened it, kept it before his eyes. The results were now extremely interesting. His hand became cata- leptic; he could not manage it. In a loud voice he began to give suggestions to himself. "I am able to write my name;" " I can write my name," etc. Each time as he caught sight of my raised hand and lis- tened to the torrent of suggestions I poured forth, his hand became slightly cataleptic and the letters broken, but each time he repeated his suggestions the hand went on writing. The waking self of Mr. W. and I were contending for the possession of W/s secondary self; and Mr. W. succeeded at last in gain- ing full control over his secondary self. My sugges- tions were completely disregarded." This example affords a strong illustration of the power of the individual will, once it is efficiently organised. The will responds to the strongest sug- gestions ; but it has the power of selection among the suggestions impinged on the mind. Nothing seems to be able to overcome the self-suggestions of the individual, if they are made with sufficient strength and persistency. The entire problem of the continuity of existence can be solved only by correctly apprehending the 266 SCIENCE AKD IMMOKTAIITY nature of personality. Does the personality consist in the association of ideas, in the impingement of thought on thought (the wave-theory of thought propounded by Professor James) ; in the synthesis of the moments of consciousness, aggregating in the total consciousness of a person; in a series of contiguous memories, or in the element of self-con- sciousness, instantaneous or permanent, (Sidis), which culminates in the power of recognition? I find in the results of the experimental work of Boris Sidis the most satisfactory solution of the problem of personality which I have encountered. He demonstrates that personality can be appre- hended only in the self -consciousness ; but especially in that self-consciousness which is susceptible of recognition. He shows how there may be a mere recognitive consciousness, when an organism may be able to distinguish itself from other objects, a state which prevails in the lower kingdoms of life, but which is yet devoid of the element of self-con- sciousness, without which there can be no person- ality. He insists that not until consciousness rises to the point of self-consciousness, not only the capa- city of distinguishing the objective world, but the capacity to see that the objective world is other than the subjective world, and a person is able to say not only "I know," but "I know that I know," not until that stage has been reached does personal- ity begin. When, however, the stage rises to the point of being able not only to say "I know that I know," but '^I know that it is I that knows," is personality fully developed and in control of the MEMORY, MAKER OF PERSONALITY 267 entire machinery of one's being. Then has self- consciousness become capable of self-recognition, Recognitive self-consciousness is, then, the complete foundation of personality. Says Sidis: "JSTeither a connected series of moments nor their synthesis is the essence of personality; it is only conscious- ness of consciousness, the knowledge of conscious- ness within the same moment of consciousness; in short, it is only the moment of self-consciousness that makes of consciousness a personality." In order, then, to penetrate the possibility of continuous life we must study the durability of self- consciousness. If once attained is it indestructible ; is it unsusceptible of disaggregation; or can it be disintegrated and dissolved like any substance which is composed of differentiable elements ? It is beyond dispute that mere consciousness is dissolv- able or at least susceptible to division into the dif- ferent units of which it consists. We have learned that the consciousnesses of the primary and the sec- ondary selves are two distinct things. They can be totally separated, so that they will act as if through different organs, and establish for the time being two wholly distinct personalities. But the secondary or subsidiary personalities are essen- tially temporary or ephemeral, for it is the inciden- tal association of ideas or experiences which for the moment were thrown together and became but chance acquaintances. "If you can only in some way or other succeed in separating the primary controlling consciousness from the lower one, the waking from the sub-waking self, so that they shall 268 SCIEISrCE AND IMMORTALITY no longer keep company, you can do anything you please with the sub-waking self. . . . The nature of its plasticity is revealed by its complete sugges- tibility. Unlike clay, however, it cannot he hard- ened into any permanent or durable form/^ (Sidis.) The momentary personality so formed from the consciousness that arises from the throwing to- gether of ideas or experiences, which had not there- tofore been associated, can not be of a stable char- acter because it is not entirely devoid of self con- sciousness, which is serious, but of recognitive self- consciousness, that is, the ability to know that it is itself as absolutely distinguished from every one else. It is capable of passing instantaneously from one state of consciousness to another, without the ability of knowing that it is always the same person entering into such protaean situations. The experiences of this sub-waking self are precisely like those we have in dreams. In the dream state we may change our consciousness or our per- sonality a thousand times in a single night, and so long as we remain in the dream state we have actu- alised in our consciousness each one of these differ- ent roles. In the dream state there is generally no continuity or permanence of consciousness, no rec- ognition of former states of consciousness, no link of memory groups, no co-ordinating basis of indi- viduality. Flux, change, alteration, dissolution, is the qualitative essence of our experiences. The dream self has no personal character. And this is precisely true of the secondary self, or sub-con- sciousness. Says Sidis: "Under certain circum- MEMORY, MAKER OF PERSONALITY 269 stances a cleavage may occur between the two selves, and then the sub-waking self may rapidly grow, de- velop and attain the plane of self-consciousness, get crystallised into a person, and give itself a name, im- aginary or borrowed from history. Eut this newly crystallised person is, as a rule, extremely unstable, ephemeral, shadowy in its outlines, tends to subside, to become amorphous, again and again gets formed, rising to the surface of life, then sinks and disap- pears forever more. The two selves blend and once more form one conscious individuality." Again he says : "The sub-waking self is devoid of all personal character; it is both sub-personal and impersonal. And when it attains the plane of self-consciousness, and the conditions are favorable to its remaining there, it is always roaming about, passing through the most phantastic metamorphoses, assuming with equal ease all kinds of personalities without regard to time, station, sex or age. In automatic writing and kindred phenomena, the sub-waking, sub-per- sonal self is now Luther, now Mme. Pompadour, now Mozart, now Charlemagne, now , Aristotle, Plato, and now an Indian brave or squaw." We see then that whatever self -consciousness such personalities acquire it is of an unstable and ever transitory nature. It cannot be thought of as the self-consciousness of the primary self, for this we know is continuous, permanent, stable, reliable, and endowed with a recognitive memory, which renders it ever capable of recalling any experience as once an element of its own content. We know that this 270 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY self-consciousness cannot by any possibility deceive ns into the belief that at one moment we are Bona- parte and at another the Shah of Persia or Alexan- der the Great. In the primary self-consciousness, ■we are always ourselves; but in the secondary self- consciousness we are as like as not never to be our- selves or capable of persistent self-recognition. Hence, it must be apparent that the primary self- consciousness is a higher stage of development, is an older and more efficient product in the process of individual evolution, than that of the secondary consciousness or secondary self-consciousness. As it is an older and more complex product of evolu- tion, it would seem to indicate a more permanent or durable character, for we discover in nature that the higher or more complex the organism, that is, the more perfectly differentiated, the more fitted is it to conquer or harmonise with its environment and thus maintain its existence. CHAPTEK XVIII MECHANICAL MECHANISM OF MEMOEY The theory is advanced that memory and con- sciousness are merely the accompanying mental states of certain motions within the physical organ- ism. That there is no distinctive psychic realm wherein thought forms and ideas organise of them- selves ; but that they are rather the reflex or mental accompaniments of certain neural states or proc- esses. Says Prof. Mercier* : "The functional activ- ity of certain regions of the nervous system is ac- companied by consciousness. When, in this region, the functional activity is modified by an experience, the modification is attended by a modification of consciousness ; and when that nervous process again becomes active, the active memory is accompanied by a phase of consciousness which reproduces the modification." According to this law, all states of consciousness and memory can be traced in the structural modifi- cations, and conversely there are no states of con- sciousness which are not parallel with such modifi- cations. "What endures, when a conscious state is revivable but not actually revived, is not a conscious state at all, but a structural modification of the tis- sue," says the same author. Erom this point of view we are not to conceive of latent mental activi- ties, which somewhere reside superior to the control of the structure, and are capable at times of in- *"Psychology," p. 394. 271 272 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY vading it. There are no psychic or mental forms per se; there are merely latent modes of motion within the nervous organism, which once becoming active, eventuate in certain states of consciousness and memory. But what is ever active is not the mental process, as a force by itself, but the latent motion, which actively accompanied some former mental process, and is ever subject to resuscitation. To say that the solution of the problem is to be sought in the theory of obscure or latent modifica- tions (that is, mental activities, real but beyond the sphere of consciousness), as Sir William Ham- ilton surmised, is to this author and his school, "but to satisfy oneself with an explanation which is purely verbal." The logical conclusion from this theory naturally follows that when all structural modifications cease to be possible, when the organ- ism enters into such a state of passivity that it is unsusceptible to motion, either internal or external, consciousness ultimately ceases and there is no pos- sibility that it can ever be reawakened. In this age of physiological psychology none can deny that we recognise a constant parallelism be- tween mental and neural processes, and that what we call consciousness and memorv are unknown to us as we now exist except as they become possible through certain neural modifications. But are we to conclude from this, as a logical necessity, that the mental processes in themselves are not actual factors aside from the manifest physical instru- ments through which they are revealed ? Must we conclude that the motion, which we differentiate as MECHANISM OF MEMORY 273 a mental activity from that which is a neural ac- tivity, is merely a logical hypothesis, having no ac- tual existence, while the substratum of the neural activity is indeed real, and alone to be accounted for ? Are we to conclude that what we are wont to regard as thought, consciousness and memory, are merely certain lines of motion which permeate the nervous and cranial systems of the body, which, when the physical body dissolves, must themselves disappear among the forces of the world ? It would seem to me that this is an unwarranted conclusion for the following reasons: Eirst, all motions which reveal themselves in the forms and modifications of matter are themselves the resultants of some force or form of motion which preceded them. A stone falls in air because of the incidence upon it of some mode of motion which preceded its fall, and without the communi- cation of which it would have remained stationary. Second : Any motion once active tends to repeat itself. Having once impinged its energy upon a form of matter the latter becomes the more suscep- tible to its impression and inclines to habitually yield. In short, any mode of motion, once begun, inclines to repeat itself and become a habit. Third : All modes of motion are either mutually attractive or repulsive. As they develop their mu- tual polarities with reference to each other, they combine or separate. So long as they wander away from each other, matter remains formless or chaotic. So soon as they mutually associate, mat- ter organises and intelligence begins to be revealed. 274 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY Eourtli : Any motion operating through a certain material instrument may, on being released from it, impinge upon another and communicate its ac- tion to the latter. This is recognised in the law of the transmutation of energy. When the motion of a falling piece of iron impinges a bit of station- ary iron, the impinging motion is transmuted into heat and possibly light, if a spark be emitted. Fifth: Not only may the motion communicate itself by transmutation into some other form of en- ergy, but the identical form of energy may be com- municated to some other physical instrument. This law we perceive in operation in electrical action, especially as witnessed in wireless telegraphy, and in the resonant response of synchronous instruments. The electrical energy which escapes from the instru- ment and sets another instrument in motion is iden- tical. The Hertz wave is a distinct form of motion and communicates its identical motion to the re- ceiver. The electrical force is not transmuted into some other form of energy, but the precise form re- mains, and that is directly communicated. So, when the strings of a certain instrument are aroused by a form of motion which is communi- cated to it from some other active instrument, the form of energy remains unmodified, and the physi- cal response in the second instrument is identical with that of the first. This is also observed in the phonograph, when the exact form of the motion — the shape of the sound — is communicated to a cyl- inder, from which the precise, identical sound, or form of motion, is reproduced. MECHANISM OF MEMOEY 275 From the above propositions it would follow tliat a form of motion, once organised, remains poten- tially identical and permanent, until at last it is in- terfered with by some other and opposing form of activity. The motion or force is then a fact, as well as the material substance through which it is revealed to our senses. The permanence or perpet- uity of the form of motion will depend only on its resisting power, and its capacity to fight off all op- posing forces. Indeed this law lies at the very base of the theory of evolution. For only by persist- ence of force has come to pass the permanence of forms and the ultimate organisation of the universe. If, then, a thought is a form of motion, and an idea is a complex form of thought, or organised motion, why would it not follow that it necessarily exists apart from the especial brain or nervous in- strument through which it becomes revealed to us ? We do not mean to intimate that the thought can exist wholly void of material association; but merely that its existence may not necessarily be limited to the visible substance of the universe, but may remain permanent in a more subtle phase of matter. According to the first reason we above set forth, the motion in the nervous system which we call a thought or an idea had somewhere else its origin. It must have existed before its impingement on the nervous substance. It may have com. as direct thought, immediate intelligence, or as suggested thought — an impression taking an unexpected form of apprehension in the mind. Judged by the law 276 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITT that thought indeed is motion, and idea is organ- ised thought, we may easily appreciate the theory that the ethereal atmosphere is permeated with myriad thought-forms which impinge or may impinge upon receptive minds and thus awaken their responsive intelligence.* This fact indeed accounts for specific modes of intelligence which at times seize the individual, society and the race. *"Regarded on its physiological side an idea is only a vibration, a vibration that is propagated, yet which does not pass out of the medium in which it can exist as such. . . . But we must not forget that to produce an idea, thousands of repeated impressions were necessary, and every one repre- sents a force. That force is accumulated, condensed, as it were, in an idea. . . . Thought stays at home, as the chemical action of a battery remains in the battery; it is represented abroad by its dynamic correlate, called in the case of the battery a current, and in the case of a brain — I know not what; but whatever its name may be, it is the dynamic correlate of thought. "A blow with a hammer produces not only mechanical concussion, but also heat, electricity, a sound, a magnetic change, sometimes a spark, etc. Never is force A trans- formed in its entirety to force B. That is why I have chosen to use the term dynamic correlate, rather than mechanical equivalent. . . A force that is transmitted meets other forces, and, if it is transformed only little by little, it limits itself to modifying another force at its own cost, though without suffering perceptibly thereby. This is the case particularly with forces that are persistent. ... It is the case with the physiological equivalent, nervic force, psychic force, ideas, emotions, tendencies. These modify environing forces without themselves disappearing; they are but imper- ceptibly transformed, and if the next man is of a nature exceptionally well adapted to them, they even gain in induc- tive action, as the magnet gains by contact with an arma- ture of soft iron, to which, nevertheless, it communicates its force. A sentiment that is communicated loses nothing; on the contrary, a polar induction often strengthens it. . . . Thoughts may not travel abroad, but they send forth in every direction their dynamic correlate; a wave is propa- gated." ("Mental Suggestion," Ochorowics.) MECHANISM OF MEMOEY 277 According to the second reason above given a thought as motion once instituted tends to repeat itself. Thus it becomes a self-acting energy, with a natural disposition to operate through any amen- able instrument at hand. This law accounts for the persistence of thoughts which characterise our natures, for what we call idiosyncrasies, dispo- sitions, genius, etc. We may well say that because of this tendency of thought to repeat itself and build up one layer upon another within the general mental structure of the individual, man- kind has succeeded in developing great characters, great epochs and great civilisations. Eor it is by the law of cumulative energy that all forms of matter have been differentiated, and the essential heterogenity of progress attained. Here again we observe that thought itself is a distinctive force which precedes what especial form of matter it may impinge upon or actuate. According to the third reason above presented, thoughts are organised not only into individual ideas, but into social clusters, colonies and king- doms. Thoughts aggregate around distinctive nuclei, just as certain chemicals do; they also are repelled by certain forces, just as certain physical elements are mutually repulsive. Hence we ob- serve that as thought acts according to the same laws as matter with which we are acquainted, it must be an active energy, and that thoughts are cor- relate factors of nature in the same manner as are material substances. We know that according to the law of the asso- 278 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY ciatlve qualities of thought, individuals are mated, societies formed, governments established, and civi- lisations founded. For what is a race but a com- munity of people who have been crystallised by the distillation of a common thought that has perme- ated and saturated the associated mass of beings ? This is quickly discovered when such a race is in- vaded by a mode of thought which is foreign to its native instinct or custom. Observe what happens if one nation seeks to coerce another nation into an acceptance of its thoughts and ideas. Their bodies must first be subjugated before their minds can be. Because of this law the sword, has always been the forerunner of each new intellectual epoch of his- tory. We observe the law of the transmutation of energy operate in the realm of thought or mental activity as well as in the realm of matter. When civilisations come in conflict the immediate result is the transmutation of the intellectual force of the conquerors into a compromising energy which makes for the advance of the race. Mark the inva- sion of the Northern Vandals in ancient Eome, the conquest of Iran by the ancient Hindus, of Russia by the Mongol dynasty, of Briton by the Normans, etc. In each case it will be discovered that the laws and customs of the conquerors were not maintained in their integrity, but sought a mutual compromise with those of the conquered; thus demonstrating the law of the mental transmutation of energy. It also shows the operation of the laws of mechanical motion, such as inertia as the resultant between conflicting forces, in the mental sphere or world of MECHANISM OF MEMOKY 279 thought. Here we have another proof that mental activity is itself an energy in nature, and cannot be set aside as a mere epi-phenomenon of matter, or a hypothetical parallel of physical activity. But in the fifth reason above given we find the natural law which lies at the base of the identity of the individual, and a demonstration of the possible continuity of its existence. A form of energy per- sists to such an extent as to be able to cast itself upon a foreign substance and actuate it with the same mode of motion as the other substance from which it sprung. Synchronous instruments will mutually respond to the same mode of harmonious sound, to the same pitch, the same tone. The iden- tity of the mode of motion which thus actuates two different instruments cannot be questioned. This same law we find operating in the impingement of thought from one mind upon another, in thought transferrence, or telepathy. Certainly the form of thought which emanates from one brain and, Slid- ing elsewhere a synchronous brain, awakens within it a similar state of consciousness, must be a dis- tinctive organism, an actual factor in nature, a thing, if you please, and not merely an incidental accompaniment of certain physical processes. Hence, we see that consciousness or organised thought is itself a mode of motion, and not merely an imaginary parallel accompaniment of a mode of motion. If matter is constituted of motion, so is mind ; if the material motion is actual, so is the mental. But as identity is the result of the tendency to 280 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY repetition, or habitual action, it must be that if such repetition eventuates in identity in matter it must also eventuate in identity in mind, or con- sciousness. Identity of matter, we know, is depend- ent on the permanence of the identity of forca So long as the same force actuates the material sub- stance the substance will remain the same ; if a dif- ferent force plays upon it the substance will take on a different form. The same law applies to a human being, or to the mental state known as consciousness. So long as the individual is able to maintain the identity of consciousness so long will the individual survive all opposing forces. The identity of consciousness, as we have seen, is dependent on the persistence of the central self-consciousness which constitutes the es- sence of one's individuality.. This identity we have learned can be maintained by the proper education of the individual will, memory, and self-realisation. Self-realisation is maintained by the proper sup- pression of the warring under-selves which ever seek recognition and the usurpation of authority. In proportion then to the capacity of the individual to maintain the supremacy of the primary or nor- mal consciousness will the integrity and perpetuity of the individual persist. Now a distinctive law which modern experimen- tal psychology has revealed, is that the prevalence of the opposing selves is determined by their posi- tive and negative polarities. As the one rises in power, the other falls into subjection. If the pri- mary self is supreme, the consciousness is wholly MECHANISM OE MEMOKY 281 unaware of the existence of the secondary; if the secondary has risen into authority then the primary sinks into commensurate inferiority. As Dr. Sidis puts it: "Once the cleavage occurs, we may say that as a rule the growth^ the development of the indi- vidualised sub-waking self is in inverse ratio to that of the waking consciousness/* One more fact, in this connection, must be em- phasised to complete the argument we are advanc- ing ; that is, the discovery that the under or second- ary self, called the subliminal or the sub-conscious, howbeit wholly unknown to the primary self, is ever in a state of wakefulness and activity. It must not be supposed that because the sub-consciousness is under all normal conditions of our present devel- opment unrecognised and unknown it therefore re- mains unorganised and inactive. We saw in pre- vious chapters how large and convincing an argu- ment could be presented from the psychological ex- periments which have been made on thousands of subjects, that proves not only the existence but the constant activity and operation of the under-self. Here lie the results of the infinite forces which have played upon our beings both in our immediate past lives and in the lives which have bestowed on us the heritage of their past experiences. We have seen how these past experiences, all unknown to us, may organise themselves in special groups and thus institute what we call secondary personalities, which, if not controlled by the upper self, will at times, become so positive and powerful as to rise to the surface of one's being and usurp the place of 282 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY authority so long held by the normal consciousness- It is true, psychologists seem to demonstrate that the secondary or tertiary personalities are but ephemeral, passing like a shadow over the landscape of one's constant self, or individuality; yet it can- not be doubted that these temporary personalities possess a certain pertinacity that sometimes almost rivals that of the normal self. Once the shadov^y hypnotic or dream self is organised, it seems, under proper provocatives, to have the capacity of reas- serting itself. A subject who is often subject to the insurgence of the secondary self comes in time to regard it as his normal self, so that tossed between the two his mind is distraught and his conscious- ness unbalanced. For instance, there is the case reported by Doc- tors Prince and Sidis in the "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,'' June 23, 1894, of a patient who when sixteen years of age met with a venture which caused him to be seized with a spasm of fear that caused his right side to become paralysed and ansesthetic. During a period of five years he was afterwards seized annually with the spasm. Re- ferred to the doctors, Mr. M. was put into the hyp- notic state. In this state he tells us that during his attacks he keeps on dreaming about the fright, fall, and about his illness. In short, he lives the same original experience over again in his sub-conscious dream. Suddenly, as if by the wand of a magician, his present personality disappeared from view and the old personality of the accident emerged. Mr. M, went into one of his attacks, living over again the same period of his life in Russia. MECHANISM OF MEMOKY 283 He ceased to understand English, and was car- ried back to his sixteenth year. He cried out in great agony, as one frightened to death, squirmed and twitched and began to shake. "*What happened to you?^ we asked, T fall down/ he exclaimed in his native jargon; *I got frightened/ He then passed through the move- ments and shaking characteristic of the attacks. When asked where he was, he anwered, ^At home/ 'With whom are you now?* 'With my mamma/ When the attack ceased he literally with a shudder came back to himself, his present personality re- turned, and on our question, 'Where are you now?' he promptly replied, 'At the doctor's/ "In his somnambulistic state a whole series of outlived and long ago sub-consciously buried person- alities could be resurrected from their sleep, and be made once more to appear in the light of the upper consciousness, each personality having its own chain of memories and peculiar traits of char- acter, — ^but each time, as the 16th year personality was resurrected, the typical attack developed with automatic regularity, like a wound-up clock/'* Thus there seems to be a certain fixity and per- manence to the under self or selves, sometimes al- most rivalling that of the constant or normal self. MoUf recites the case of a woman who was hypno- tised, and then instantly recalled in every detail her experiences in a hypnotic state sixteen years previous. She had not been hypnotised in all the intervening period. •"Multiple Personality," Sidia and Goodhardt, p. 318. t"Hypnotiam,*' 284 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY This state is also sometimes revealed in dreams. Some dreams are but serial dramas carried out through a series of years, night after night continu- ing the unfoldment of the story. A very interest- ing illustration of the continuity of a single thread through a series of dramatic dreams, extending over a long period of years, is given in "Multiple Personality," in the case of a woman called A. For years she had been troubled with nightmares and bad dreams, during which she was conscious of suf- fering severe headaches, but whose contents she was wholly unable to recall. When, however, put under the hypnotic spell, she revealed the entire series. They were exceedingly dramatic and interesting, and all seemed to have been caused by an accident resulting in great fright, which occurred in her early life. This dream self was complete and per- fectly rounded out. It was as positive to the sub- ject during its experience as was the normal or daily self. Yet when the cause, the sub-conscious knowledge of the fright, was removed, the dreams ceased, and the headaches with them. In this and similar cases we are able to discern the inconsia/ncy and ephemerdlness of the secondary self, howheit its permanence seems well established. The dream state seems also to illustrate that the under selves are but flitting experiences which pass athwart the realm of the persistent Ego, leaving but vague impressions and often none at all. The self, the primal Ego, alone persists, the one constant fac- tor amid the phantasmagoria of scenes, like the solid earth upon which fall the shadows and reflec- MECHANISM OF MEMORY 285 tions of shadows of the clouds that pass between it and the sun. But the content of the constant Ego is so vast it cannot hold in its permanent conscious- ness the infinite variety of its elements. Within the vast subterranean depths of its being transpire a myriad of experiences, which seldom arise to the surface, to acquaint the master with them. "The sub-conscious Ego, out of which the dream comes, is an infinitely vaster personality than the conscious Ego, and keen analysis of the compressed conglomerate of a dream is discovery, is a revelation of wishes, desires, conflicts, tendencies, characteris- tics, hidden far down in the inmost depths of the dreamer's individuality. These broken fragments of unrelated experiences, woven by the dreamer's phan- tasy into a sort of dramatic unity, drift, like the ice- floe, on that invisible sea of personality. Separately, piece by piece, the fragments are studied, and their old motives, relations and associations traced out. Each fragment is itself a condensation of some out- lived experience. As the paleontologist reconstructs his hypothetical monster from its only remains, a scale or a foot print, so the dream-diviner makes his synthesis from the vestige uncovered in the strata of dreams."* Instead of regarding the sub-conscious selves as so many actual and distinct personalities, absolutely separable from the normal Ego, it would seem that modem psychology forces us to conceive of them, rather, as so many sub-divisions, or subterranean passages, of the Ego. We might think of the realm of Ego, or the constant spiritual self, as a house •F. Peterson, Professor of Psychiartry, Columbia Uni- versity, in "Harper's Monthly," August, 1907. 286 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY; with a vast number of rooms, which are but seldom, and sometimes never visited by it. When the Ego deigns, or is forced to visit them, then it becomes so engrossed in its environment it seems to forget partially or entirely the scenes and wonted experi- ences it encountered in its customary abiding place. When thus engrossed it suffers the under self to possess it, and reveals only the characteristics of that aggregate of experiences. At times this aggre- gate absolutely submerges it. Whether it will re- turn to its living room, its customary abiding place, seems to depend wholly on its strength and will- power, as we have already seen. It may be possible for the Ego, as in the case of Ansel Bourne, to pene- trate so deep down in the subterranean depths, as to remain there for a long period, or as in the case of Mary Reynolds, to be unable ever to return dur- ing the occupancy of the present body. This, how- ever, does not prove, as we have already observed, that the Ego has been obliterated and the sub-con- scious absolutely substitutes it, but that it merely remains in a state of abeyance. The bridge be- tween the self and the sub-self or selves has now been scientifically demonstrated. The self is the only constant; the sub-selves are the ever variable. The self is the mirror; the sub-selves are the re- flecting images. Does this interpretation do violence to the laws of physiology, biology, and the mechanical structure of the brain ? I think not, and for a moment I must briefly discuss the proposition. The apparent contradiction of thought that seems MECHANISM OF MEMOEY 287 to prevail between the metaphysical and the physi- cal schools, in contemplating the problems which have been discussed in this chapter, has, I think, re- sulted merely from not suflSciently defining the terms employed. If the metaphysician is asked to explain how certain purely mental or spiritual agencies operate in the human system, he will of course be forced to confess that the exhibition of such agencies is apprehended in consciousness only through the material organs of the body. He knows nothing of consciousness, save as he is conscious of himself, and he can be conscious of himself only as he experiences certain conditions which he grasps through sensible media. If he believes that he en- joys thought or volition or imagination or pure rea- son above the restraint of the physical limitations, he needs but have some injury afflict a specific por- tion of his brain and he will find at once that a cer- tain mental vocation is thereafter impossible. If his brain should suffer a lesion in a certain centre, he would forget the commonest and most familiar thing ; an injury to any centre will destroy what has been stored there, although all the rest of the cen- tres might stay intact. His brain is arranged in layers or shelves, as we might say, and on these shelves he has stored away divisions of his experi- ence in the shape of languages, music, oratory, speech, vision, color, etc., etc. Any one of these shelves injured or shattered, spoils the exercise of its specific memory-function though all the rest are normal. So we might run through the entire cate- gory of human experiences, and find their cerebral or nervous complement in the human system. 288 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY Hence it would seem that the metaphysician must utterly yield to the physicist in his theory that the mental functions are void of restriction and nullifi- cation by the material organs of the body. But there is a counter series of facts to be reck- oned with. It is the discovery that howbeit these centres of the brain are injured or destroyed, it is now learned that the function which they once exer- cised can again be restored by a purely mental agency. For instance, we learn that under hypnotic or hypnoidal guidance certain thoughts or ideas may be projected on the brain of the patient, when it follows that new cells are actually organised to take up the work of the destroyed or injured cells, which not only perform their allotted functions, but even restore their past lives and recall their every experience. They will act precisely as if they were the old cells doing the self-same work. Now what was the agent that accomplished this ? Merely a thought projected from another mind, the mind of the operator. Or again we have the case of a certain function of the brain having been abrogated because of the destruction of the appropriate cells in one hemi- sphere, and the calling into activity of the comple- mentary cells of the opposite hemisphere, which not only do all the work that those of the original hemi- sphere performed, but even restore the memory chain of their obliterated lives. Prof. Terrier, as we have already stated, mentions such a case. This IS the more remarkable because the cells of the sec- ond hemisphere called into action had Iain idle and unused from birth. MECHANISM OF MEMORY 289 Now such cases prove that the mind possesses a power higher than what seems to be restricted to the capacity of the physical organs. But does it therefore mean that the activities of the mind are exercised in insubstantial space, in an immaterial void, and that to accomplish the results above specified it employs no physical agency what- ever? Here is the crux. We have been so wont to regard only the sensible and the visible as ma- terial that we have become much confused in our philosophical deductions. Now it is the purpose of this work to attempt to show that while no mental function can ever be performed without the use of some material agency, yet the agency which the mind employs is not merely the sensible or visible organs and cells of the human brain, but an ulterior, superior and more subtle substance. In a future chapter I shall attempt more fully to illustrate this deduction by a series of scientific facts recently divulged, which I believe will neces- sitate a wholly new interpretation of matter as well as of the substantial content of the mind. CHAPTER XIX PSYCHIC PHEI^OMEiN'A AND SOUL- SUBSTANCE However, before undertaking that argument, let us review in greater detail the amazing claims which have been put forth for the potencies of the soul or the psychic force in man. There is not only a vast literature recording these alleged phenomena, but there is an equally vast literature either utterly denying them, or attempting explanations that ren- der them futile as innovating factors of human ex- perience. We shall not here engage in that discus- sion. For the purpose of the point of view we are contemplating we may admit the historical verity of the phenomena, reserving only the privilege of so interpreting them as natural law and human rea- son may demand. If they are all fraudulent and the result merely of cunning mechanical manipulation, then, of course they must be wholly disregarded as elements in constructing a theory of life now or hereafter. Insomuch, however, as there are so many recorded events both of manufactured and of spontaneous phenomenal occurrences that postulate either a su- pernatural interference with natural law or an ex- traordinary revelation of the possibilities of that law, it behooves us to accept what creditable evi- dence we have and regard at least a small moiety of the phenomena as genuine. 290 SOUL-SUBSTANCE 291 That is all that is necessary for the study of life's realities. If but one genuine phenomenon is incon- testably evidenced, which forces us to read anew the laws of life and nature, then it is sufficient, even though it may overturn our time-honored phi- losophy. I shall refer, therefore, in what follows, merely to such startling occurrences as are sup- ported by apparently incontestable evidence, and after reviewing them, shall see how they fit in with the hypotheses we have thus far briefly stated in the preceding pages. My attitude regarding these alleged extra-normal phenomena is precisely in accord with Huxley's at- titude toward the possibly miraculous. Showing the inconsistency of Hume's argument against the possibility of miracles, he said : "The definition of a miracle as a Violation of the laws of nature,' is in reality an employment of language which, on the face of the matter, cannot be justified. ... If a piece of metal were to remain suspended in mid air of itself, the occurrence would be a ^miracle,' in the sense of a wonderful event indeed; but no one trained in the methods of science would imagine that any law of nature was really violated thereby. He would simply set to work to investigate the con- ditions under which so highly unexpected an occur- rence took place; and thereby enlarge his experi- ence and modify his, hitherto, unduly narrow con- ception of the laws of nature."* It is to be regretted that Huxley did not abide by the admirable law he here lays down when on an- *Hume, p. 156. D. Appleton & Co., 1898. 292 SCIENCE AND IMM0ETALIT*S1 other occasion he was called on to examine not the imaginary hanging of a piece of lead mid-heavens, but the well-attested phenomena to which we are now directing the attention of the reader. The phenomena I shall here enumerate are of that class that would apparently show that the soul force, whatever it may be, is wholly different from any mechanical or muscular force the body manifests. First, then, there is a class of alleged phenomena which would indicate that the psychic force or soul- substance (if such it be) is subtle, ethereal and per- haps magnetic. I will first recite a case which I find in "Metaphysical Phenomena," a book record- ing the wonderful results achieved by Dr. J. Max- well, Deputy Attorney General of the Court of Ap- peals, Bordeaux, France, through the alleged me- diumship of one M. Meurice. The introduction to this work is written by Sir Oliver Lodge. In this introduction Sir Oliver warmly commends the book as containing an honest record of events by a uniquely equipped observer, a gentleman of inde- pendent means, who gave up many years to the study of psychological wonders. Eichet and many others of high scholarship and repute also speak in unqualified terms of the sincerity and ability of Dr. Maxwell, and of the genuineness of his obser- vations. It might be well to inform the reader that the medium, whose nom de plume is M. Meurice, unexpectedly one day divulged in Dr. MaxwelPs presence the power which he did not know he pos- sessed, and, after that, reluctantly yielded himself to Dr. Maxwell for purposes of mutual study and SOUL-SUBSTANCE 293 investigation. The work records many amazing events, which Dr. Maxwell testifies to unhesitat- ingly. I recite here the case that seems to indicate the sublimate and magnetic quality of the so-called soul-force or psychic substance. The note is from Dr. Kichet: '^Before sitting down. Dr. Maxwell had placed on the table a small card-board box in which were two amethyst crystal balls. "The small table was six inches away from M. Meurice, and three inches away from Professor Eichet. Contact had been purposely established be- tween the two tables by means of a small white table- cloth — ^which did not interfere in any way with the control of eyesight. A bright electric light was burning. "Several visions were described; they offered lit- tle interest. Then the small table moved abruptly; it approached the seance table in jerks, covering, in this manner, a distance of two and a half inches. It was verified that no contact whatever existed, save that with the white cloth the latter was not touched by M. Meurice. '^. Meurice was asked by Dr. X. one of the sit- ters, while Maxwell and Richet for a moment retired to the balcony, 'how he proceeded when he wished to attract articles.^ He replied: T! have an odd sen- sation in my fingers and I do this' — accompanying his words by certain hand movements; that is, he drew his hands in front of and quite close to the card-board box still lying on the table; he withdrew his hands — ^joined together at the finger-tips, — ^very slowly, and when the tips of his fingers were at a distance of six inches from the box, the latter began to move. It moved slowly and smoothly, without any jerking whatever, exactly as though it were being 294 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY dragged across the table by a cord. I thought I per- ceived a tiny ray of light; — something like a dewy spider^s web with the sunlight gleaming through it — connecting M. Meurice's fingers with the box, but it was probably an illusion, as there was nothing pal- pable to touch. I passed my hands around the box, and all over the medium^s hands and arms, but there was no thread of any kind. M. Meurice said he had not seen the box move, though I observed he ap- peared to be gazing fixedly at it during the opera- tion, and though the box travelled a distance of six inches. "Without leaving my seat I called in Dr. Maxwell and Professor Richet, and told them what had hap- pened. M. Meurice was asked to try again, while Professor put out some of the lights, thinking thus to help the force, which may have been too severely tried by its last effort. I take the following extract from Professor Richet's notes: " ^The same phenomenon was reproduced in my presence, but with less light — quite sufficient, how- ever, to see everything and every movement dis- tinctly. The box slowly, and without any apparent jerking, followed the medium's fingers. I saw the box slowly displace itself, and drag itself over a plush covered table, for a distance of nearly five inches. There was absolutely no contact of any kind what- soever, either mediate or immediate. A strong gas- tric attack, quickly over, seized the medium after this experience.^ " In considering the validity of the evidence of this rare and startling phenomenon, we must recall that all the testators are men of high standing and interested in the pursuit of the study merely out of intellectual curiosity. The medium himself has no further interest, not being at all professional. SOUL-SUBSTANOE 295 other than learning what strange powers he may be possessed of withal, and giving his sittings ex- clusively to the private purposes of his learned friend, Dr. Maxwell. Professor Richet, of course, is known the world over as a standard authority in psychology and one of the most acute investiga- tors. Nevertheless, we must allow for excitement, delusion, hallucination, and over-eagerness to ac- cept what phenomena may be presented. I cannot but feel, however, that such considerations are rather trifling when we remember the participants in this investigation. Perhaps as much cannot be said for the next illustration I am going to present, because of the fact that the alleged medium has so often been criticised for her fraudulency. Eusapia Paladino was at one time a name to be conjured with. Her fame spread rapidly all through Europe, and was maintained for a generation, till suddenly Dr. Hodgson and the English Society for Psychic Re- search discovered her trickery and cast her off as unworthy. Nevertheless, soon after, she was again examined under the most trying situation, appar- ently every opportunity for fraud safeguarded against, and still the marvels were as easily per- formed as when done by trickery. Thus her repu- tation was rehabilitated, and would doubtless have so continued had not a recent exposure (May, 1910) in the United States cast a gloomy cloud over her closing career. Yet in spite of these facts the incident I am now to narrate occurred under the eye of Oamille 296 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY Elammarion, who was fully acquainted with her trickfulness, and, as he asserted, had thoroughly- guarded against its possible intrusion in the game. He believes that this phenomenon was absolutely genuine, and stakes his reputation on it. It was in the afternoon of November, 1898, when Elammarion, his wife and Eusapia had re- turned from a drive and were chatting in the house, Eusapia feeling especially fine, singing songs, ac- companied by Mrs. Elammarion, and reciting inci- dents of her life. She declares she is so full of the '^psychic force" that she frequently hears it crack- ling from her hair and sees it escape from the tips of her fingers. She tries to get Elammarion to observe a tiny flame sparkling between her finger tips when she places them on his knee, the fingers of each hand facing each other, but after various attempts in different degrees of light Elammarion fails to see anything, although Mrs. Elammarion thought she did. After chatting leisurely for awhile Elammarion thinks he would like to undertake the experiment with Eusapia that de Rochas said he succeeded with, and asks her if she remembers having mad© a letter weight, like the one he shows her, having brought it with him for the purpose, "move down- ward on its spring by placing her hands on each side of it, at a distance, and making something like magnetic passes." She fails to remember ever having done that for any one, but is willing to try. Her first attempt fails. She then grasps Elammarion's hand and together they make the SOUL-SUBSTANCE 297 passes, when he says, "to my amazement (for I was really not expecting it at all), the little tray sinks down to the point where it touches the lever and produces the sharp sound of contact. This point is beyond the graduation of the scale, which stops at fifty grams. The tray rises again. We begin the second time. Nothing. A third time: the same lowering and the same return to equilibrium. Then I beg her to try the experiment alone. She rubs her hands together and makes the same passes. The letter weigher goes down to the same maximum point. We are standing close by her in the full light of the Auer burners. The same performance is repeated, the tray remaining down for an inter- val of about five minutes. The movement does not take place at once; there are sometimes three or four trials without success." The waiter passing with some refreshments, Flammarion asks him to stop and observe; the performance is repeated full seven times to the astonishment of all. Flamma- rion remembers that Eusapia was caught placing a thin hair of her head on the scale ; suspecting this, he passes his hand between the fingers of both her hands, but can detect nothing. Thinking that it might be an electric force in operation he causes her to place her fingers on an extra sensitive compass. But grasping it as she may she cannot cause the needle to move. We must admit that either Flammarion is wholly deceived, under an hypnotic spell, or is utterly un- truthful, unless we concede that notwithstanding the oft exposure of this medium, in this instance 298 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY he actually observed the transferrence of an un- known force proceeding from the fingers of Eusa- pia causing the depression of a weight. It would seem, then, that a sublimate, ethereal substance passes from the physical body of the me- dium, capable of resisting a denser, visible, material substance. That it seems to be more of the nature of a force than a substance, or at least of a force that reveals itself in an unknown subtle substance, is apparently shown in the luminosity and volatil- ity of its manifestations. Dr. Maxwell made a protracted and cautious study of a so-called effluvium which he detected passing between the fingers of numerous persons with whom he experimented. He claims to have cautiously avoided everything in the nature of a suggestion to the subjects of what was to be ex- pected; then placing them in the proper positions, with their fingers opposite each other in either hand, he says: "Three-fourths of those with whom I experimented perceived a slight mist passing from the tip of one finger to the corresponding finger on the other hand. I myself perceive this mist very plainly; to me it resembles cigarette smoke ; it has the same greyish color, the same ap- pearance, but much more tenuity. The majority of people see it in this way, but I have met with some who fancied they saw it in colors. . • . On the whole, from the experiments I have made, I reckon that out of 300 people of both sexes, 240 to 250 perceive the effluvium; 2 to 3 out of 100 see it as blue, I have found two who saw it as yellow ; and one who saw it as red." SOUL-SUBSTANCE 299 Dr. Maxwell claims he operated quite differently from de Eochas and Keichenbach, who experi- mented with subjects asleep or in the dark. "My conditions of experiment were very different. I took the first comer and operated in broad daylight. But my observations tend to confirm theirs, at least in what concerns the radiation of something from the finger ends." He found one exceedingly interesting subject. He claimed to see the effluvium escape from the hands of the sitters and spread itself over the seance table. Trying to find out just what this subject could detect, he caused all the lights to be put out. "The sensitive quickly recognized the finger tips, claiming to observe a kind of milky phosphorescence at the spot where my finger was. To make doubly sure I tested him still further by tracing letters on the table with the tip of my fore- finger, taking the precaution to avoid all sound. The medium read nearly all the letters drawn. I then traced some words ; he read them off also. I was able to make him read words of five letters; he was not able to read longer words, he recognised the last letters, but declared that the first were blotted out. Nearly all the words of three or four letters were read correctly." This substance seems capable not only of escap- ing from the finger tips, but becomes independent and floats in different shapes in the air, — if we are to believe the witnesses. They float about the room, up and down, lasting for several seconds. They give representations of objects or of human forms. 300 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY "At Bordeaux, in 1897," says Dr. Maxwell, "we again saw black, opaque forms under excellent con- ditions. . . , We all saw these forms, or rather the form 5 for it always was the same form which was shown, the profile of a long-bearded face, with a strongly arched nose. . • . It is an extrordinary phenomenon; and the first idea which presents itself to the mind is that of collec- tive hallucination." This view Maxwell rejects, however, as he thinks the conditions warrant. Maxwell gives a very interesting experience in which one of these forms seems spontaneously to have developed before him through the instrumen- tality of a young medium. No seance was being held,* Looking up the medium said he saw on the wall the word curtain traced in luminous letters. He also declared he saw some personifications. Not knowing the meaning of the word, he was about to drop the matter, when Maxwell, thinking he discerned an activity present, asked him to con- tinue to look. Maxwell at once improvised a "cab- inet" by arranging some coverings in the back of the room. "In a short time we heard raps on the table, the medium's chair, the floor, and on the wall inside of the cabinet. The medium, inter- ested, turned half way round toward the cabinet, when all at once, after the production of some very faint, flitting lights, I perceived the beautiful face of a woman, pale, the eyes upraised, as if in prayer. The eyes and the hair were black; the hair was parted in the centre and dressed in the style of *P. 153. SOUL-SUBSTANCE 301 fifty or sixty years ago. The face was draped in a white vail, which also covered the head, forming a kind of frame for the face. The physiognomy was of the sweetest and of rare beauty. The ap- parition appeared to be slightly luminous, of a whitish milky hue. It showed itself to the left of the medium, but high above him, near the ceiling." Lombroso speaks of similar floating luminous clouds and half-shaped forms appearing in the Paladino performances, often before the full forms appear. He refers to these as "phosphorescent clouds floating over the head. . . . and issuing from the abdomen . . . luminous bands and striations (taking shape in the form of spectral figures) . . . lights in the form of stars and of globules from 60 to 70 centimetres in diameter, which do not burn and do not illuminate, which rise slowly, descend rapidly, frequently traverse space with rapidity, and are sometimes azure, sometimes green or yellowish, and respond at times to raps and frequently govern their movements as if intentionally, seeming as though they were pro- jected and directed by a conducting wire, appear- ing at given hours for many years in succession without any influence exerted on them by the me- dium and always moving from one point to another in equal times and in a true intentional direction."* All of these Lombroso and many other scientific experimenters of Italy and elsewhere claim to have witnessed time and time again through a series of •"After Death— What?" pp. 188, 9. 302 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY • years. If these witnesses are to be trusted, then we must admit that whatever this substance is, it possesses a volatile, formative nature, like that of a vapory cloud, but wholly different in quality. Whatever this force, fluid or substance may be, it appears to possess a form and degree of energy different from that of the known forces of nature. jFor instance, here follows an experiment which Dr. Ochorowics, a highly intelligent, scientific and cautious investigator, undertook, to test the strength of this force with Eusapia, *'Two deep and narrow cigar boxes were placed under the table, and Eusa- pia put her unshod feet within them. The boxes had double bottoms and were provided with an electrical arrangement of such a nature that she could move her feet freely for some inches in every direction; but, if she wished to withdraw them from the box, the electrical bell tinkled before she had moved them half way to the top, and only stopped when they were returned to their place. Eusapia cannot remain utterly quiet during the seances; so she was given a certain freedom of movement; but it was impossible for her to make use of her legs for lifting the table. Under these conditions the table, weighing twenty-five pounds, rose up twice without the bell being heard. During the second levitation the table was photographed underneath.* Loinbroso vouches for the following incidents as illustrating the power and nature of this force, so utterly different from any other force with which *Flammarion : ''Mysterious Psychic Forces/' p. 164. SOUL-SUBSTANCE 303 ■we are acquainted. He says that on several occa- sions not only was the table of considerable size levitated far into the air and remained there long enough to be photographed^ but that on several oc- casions the medium herself, while in a trance and seated in a chair was bodily lifted to the top of the table, and both together were then lifted into the air, remaining there some seconds, without the as- sistance of any human hands; thereafter the medium was again lifted from the table and de- posited in her chair safely and slowly on the floor. Sometimes phenomena will follow certain caprices of the sitters. One evening Eusapia was asked to produce on the seance table a trumpet which lay on a chair in the corner of the inner cabinet; and *Vhile we were looking at Eusapia sitting there motionless, we heard the little trumpet fall to the floor, and then for several minutes we heard it moving lightly along, as if a hand were grazing it without being able to grasp it. One of the expe- rimenters held out the interrupters (or cut-offs) of the electric lights intrusted to him, toward the cabinet, about six feet from Eusapia, and said, 'take them.' They were at once taken out of his hand, and several metres of the cord to which the cut-offs were attached slipped through his fingers. He pulled the cord to him forcibly and felt an elastic but strong resistance. After a brief and gentle pull he exclaimed, 'Turn on the lights,' and one of them was turned on!" Commenting on the curiously strange powers of which the medium seems to become possessed during 304 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY trance, or which possess the medium, Lombroso says: "It is noteworthy that motorial and intel- lectual powers are manifested in the psychic trance which are very different from and much greater than the powers of the medium, and wholly in- commensurable with these, and lead to the suppo- sition of the intervention of another intelligence, another energy." "Thus, in respect to muscular energy, we have seen * . , the dynamometric force of Eusa- pia, corresponding to 36 kilograms, increased in full light by the aid of the fluidic arm, which she said was that of John, to 42 kilograms ... In the seance with Morselli at Genoa the medium's force registered on the dynamometer reached 110 kilograms, and in a sitting in Turin, John devel- oped force suflScient to break a table — a force which we estimated at being at least 100 kilograms. And we may with certainty estimate at 80 the energy necessary to lift a table with the publisher Bocca seated on it, and at a much larger figure the drag- ging along for several seconds of Botazzi and his chair, weighing both together 93 kilograms."* If these testimonies be true, we shall have to acknowledge that the so-called psychic force, or substance, is capable of exerting an expression of energy not only wholly different from that of the normal human body, but far in excess of it. Again, it seems to possess the power of freeing itself, temporarily, from the animal body, while still alive. There have been of recent years experi- *« After Death— What?" pp. 167, 168. SOUL-SUBSTANCE 305 ments in what might be called the telepathic crea- tion of ghosts, A person will to himself wish to be seen by another at a distance, and as if by magic the other will behold the vision. Just what it is that passes from the one to the other is of course the crucial problem. The late Edmund Gurney experimented success- fully with an especially good subject, Zillah, a maid servant in the employ of Mrs. Ellis. The maid was hypnotised and given the suggestion that she should see an apparition of Mr. Gurney at 3 P. M, the following day. On that day Mrs. Ellis wrote the following letter to Mr. Gurney : "As I suppose you gave Zillah a post-hypnotic hal- lucination, probably you will wish to hear of it. I will give you the story in her own words, as I jotted them down immediately afterwards — saying nothing to her, of course, of my doing so. She said : ^I was in the kitchen washing up and had just looked at the clock, and was startled to see how late it was — five minutes to three — ^when I heard footsteps com- ing down the stairs — rather a quick, light step — and I thought it was Mr. Sleeps (the dentist whose rooms are in the house) ^ut as I turned around, with a dish mop in one hand and a plate in the other, I saw some one with a hat on, who had to stoop as he came down the last step, and there was Mr. Gurney! He was dressed just as I saw him last night, black coat and grey trousers, his hat on, and a roll of paper, like manuscript, in his hand, and he said, ^0 good afternoon!' And then he glanced all around the kitchen, and he glared at me with an awful look, as if he was going to murder me, and said, ^Warm af- ternoon, isn't it?', and then *Good afternoon' or 306 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY 'Good day/ I^m not sure which, and turned and went up-stairs again, and after standing thunder-struck a minute, I ran to the foot of the stairs, and saw like a boot just disappearing on the top of the step/ She said, *I think I must he going crazy. Why should I always be seeing something at three o'clock each day after the seance ? But Tm not nearly so fright- ened as I was on seeing Mr. Smith/ She seemed particularly impressed by the awful look Mr. Gumey gave her. I presume this was the hallucination you gave her.^' This is a remarkably clear demonstration of the povp-er of one mind to impress itself dramatically on the mind of another, and it is commonly ex- plained as an operation of telepathy; but it must be confessed it is difficult to determine, if not at present impossible to decide, just what it is that appears. Does the thought emanating from the operator merely affect the brain of the subject so that the vision in the mind of the operator appears as an objective hallucination to the subject, or does the thought force somehow envelop itself in a sub- stance, and assume material though sublimate form, as is alleged to occur in materialisations ? Do we yet know just what telepathy is, and are we not using a term too freely to explain what we cannot understand ? This may be seen a little more clearly in the case of the hallucination reported by Dr. Hyslop. In 1907 Dr. 0. W. S. was sleeping soundly one Sunday in a hotel in Buffalo, IsT. Y. He suddenly awoke with the impression that there was some one in his bed-room. Becoming wide awake he soon SOUL-SUBSTANCE 307 saw that his wife was standing at the foot of the bed. He said, "What are you doing ?" She replied, "I came to see about you," She then went up to him and embraced him and suddenly disappeared. He leaped from his bed ; seeing the room was dark he lit the gas. He was so startled he telegraphed his wife and received a reassuring wire in response. He returned to his home in Ifew York after a few days and soon was surprised to find his wife in- quisitive about whether he had slept well Sunday night Then she told him her story. She had read in one of Thomas Jay Hudson's books that if one on falling asleep should think hard of what one wished, the thing would come to pass; that if one would want another at a distance to see one, one need but think of it on falling asleep. So she tried the experiment and was naturally curious to know whether it had worked. She says she thought very long and hard that her husband would see her in his hotel. She was delighted, notwithstanding she had caused him some consternation, to learn that the experiment worked so well. But strange to say, although she tried the trick afterwards on several occasions she never again succeeded.* It may, then, be an open question whether the thought succeeds only if it is capable of being en- veloped in a sublimate or ethereal substance by which it becomes manifest, or whether it merely operates on the mind through the agitation of cer- tain etheric waves. •"Journal of American Psychology," 1907. 308 SCIEITCE AND IMMORTALITY AksakofF gives a most startling case, illustrating the probability that the thought actually embodies itself: "A man named Bening was to give a lecture at T . Wot being able to send word in time that he could not go, he sent his double. This entity arrived at the Club, made the signals agreed upon, said in low tones that he was not coming any more and, when they were going to stop him while going down stairs, he sent his persecutors about their business with a couple of boxes on the ears, and disappeared. The matter was taken into court, but aftervt'ards dismissed."* If we can permit ourselves to accept such a story on any evidence, then we must conclude it is perhaps a more convincing hypothesis that the thought of the lecturer embodied itself in some form and was thus seen by the entire audience as if real, than that a single thought could create, by merely mental action an hallucination so complex as to involve an entire audience. Again we shall see that what we call the soul- substance, or psychic force, is apparently capable of conveying intelligence independent of the brain of the body, or at least through an action of a brain that is passive or beyond the pale of its normal faculties. That two brains should act one upon the other, separated by many hundreds of miles, and yet that both brains should be affected by a force wholly outside the consciousness of either is, of course, an experience that suggests an unknown force, or an invisible presence passing from the one and acting on the other. *"After Death— What?" Lomhroao, 251. SOFL-SUBSTANCE 309 I am not at present attempting to explain any- thing, but merely seek to array a series of phe- nomena that apparently compel us to recognise an extra normal force or substance acting on the human intelligence. Here, for instance, is a well authenti- cated case, quite as interesting as suggestive. Mr. W. H. Shrubsole had a son sixteen years of age, who was an apprentice on a British barque. One night Mr. Shrubsole awoke suddenly from sleep and distinctly saw the upper half of his son's body stretched out on his back on a flat surface by his bed-side. He was dressed as usual, but was ap- parently suffering great pain. His features were very distinct. Although the boy lay close to his father, the latter seemed utterly unable to help him. Consequently the father suffered extreme distress. The figure slowly faded away, then soon after re- appeared, but in another part of the room. The case was examined by the S. P. R. and reported in its Journal of June, 1895. Mr. Shrubsole, explain- ing the experience, wrote as follows : "The consciousness of inability to relieve contin- ued to possess me till the vison faded and I fell asleep. On waking in the morning I had a clear rec- ollection of the painful vision, and for weeks I could not shake off the impression that my son had sustained some serious injury. At last, to my great relief, a letter came from him to hand. In it was narrated rather briefly how he had fallen to the deck in consequence of the breaking of a rotten rope on which he was hauling, and that in consequence he was totally helpless for more than a week. I had not recorded the exact date of the vision, but as nearly 310 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY as I could make out at the time of the reading of the letter, the date corresponded with the accident. On his return home I eagerly asked my boy for the particulars of the occurrence, taking care not to put leading questions, and to keep him ignorant of my experience till he had told me all. I learned that he was stunned by the concussion and that the first thing he was conscious of was that some persons were lifting him up. Finding him helpless, they laid him down again on the deck. The captain presently came and asked him if any bones were broken, to which he could only indirectly reply. Then the cap- tain told some one to draw him to one side of the deck, and said that he would come all right in a few hours. The poor lad laid there without attention until some sympathetic member of the crew carefully lifted him from where he was lying and carried him to his bunk in the deck house, where he lay for eight days. Making further enquiry, and taking the chronological difference into account, I found that the accident happened at an hour when I am usually in bed. Having thus stated the facts, I direct atten- tion to the coincidence (1) in time of the accident and my consciousness of it, (2) that my son lay for some time at two different places, and that the ap- parition was thus seen by me, and (3) that he felt most pain in his head and the upper part of his back, and this was evident to me at the time." While it was discovered that there was a slight difference in the longitudinal reckoning, yet it v?as learned that unequivocably the intelligence came to Mr. Shrubsole long before the accident could have been heard of by normal means. Here it is explained by some that the sub-con- scious mind of the boy in the throes of his misery SOUL-SUBSTANCE 311 wandered to his father and informed his sub-con- sciousness of the suffering of his child, and that, awakening, the father saw the transaction as an hallucination. Yet again, I ask, if it is not just as reasonable to surmise that the energy of the thought or desire, the strong impulse of the fervid emotion as it burst from the suffering body of the boy, might not have assumed a positive shape, out of the subliminal substance of the ether, and have for an instant revealed the actual bodily suffering of the lad to his father ? As far as we can at present see into the laws of nature the latter is as possible as is the former. Another classical incident of this kind, which was authenticated at the time, is recorded by Dr. Abercrombie as follows. He said that the Rev. J. Wilkinson, a dissenting minister at Weymouth, England, sent him the fol- lowing description of a dream he had about his mother : "One night, soon after I was in bed, I fell asleep, and dreamed I was going to London. I thought it would not be much out of my way to go through Gloucester, and call on my friends there. Accord- ingly I set out, but remembered nothing that hap- pened on the way, till I came to my father's house, when I went to the front door, and tried to open it, but found it fast. I then went to the back door, which I opened and went in; but finding all the [family were in bed, I went across the rooms only, went up-stairs, and entered the chamber where my father and mother were in bed. As I went to that side of the bed in which my father lay, I found 312 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY him asleep, or thought he was so; then I went to the other side and just turned the foot of the hed, I found my mother awake, to whom I said these words: 'Mother, I am going on a long journey, and I am come to bid you good-bye/ Upon which she answered me in fright, '0 my son, thou art dead/ With this I awoke, and took no notice of it, more than a common dream, only it appeared to me very perfect, as some dreams will. But in a few days after, soon as a letter could reach me, I received one by post from my father, upon the receipt of which I was a little surprised, and concluded some- thing extraordinary must have happened, as it was but a little before I had a letter from my friends, and all were well. Upon opening it, I was more sur- prised still, for my father addressed me as though I were dead, desiring me, if alive, to write immedi- ately; but if the letter should find me living, they concluded I should not live long, and gave this as the reason for their fears: That on such a nighx, naming it, after they were in bed, my father asleep, and my mother awake, she heard some one try to open the back door; which he opened, came in and went directly through the rooms up-stairs, and she perfectly knew it to be my step. I came to her bed- side and spoke to her these words : 'Mother I am go- ing on a long journey and I am come to bid you good-bye.^ Upon which she answered me in fright, '0 my son, thou art dead!' which were the very words and circumstances of my dream; but she heard nothing more, and saw nothing; neither did I in my dream, as it was dark. Upon this she awoke my father, and told him what passed; but he endeav- ored to appease her, by persuading her it was only a dream; she insisted that it was no dream, for that she was as wide awake as she ever was, and had not the least inclination to sleep since she was in bed. SOUL-SUBSTANCE 313 Prom these circumstances I am apt to think that it was the very same instant when my dream happened, though the distance between us was a hundred miles; but of this I cannot speak positively." Here there was evidenced a clear communica- tion between two minds, operating through the un- conscious agency of a dream, by which not only intelligence, impossible through the normal agen- cies, was conveyed a hundred miles away, but through which an hallucination was seen. The question is, what was the real agent in the matter; was it merely the operation between the unconscious elements of two distant minds, or is it possible that through the action of the unconscious element operating in the dream, the thought-force, or mental image, in transferrence, aggregated to itself some form of matter in which it made itself manifest to the normal vision of the dreamer's mother ? CHAPTER XX SPIRIT-FOEMS AND MATERIALISATIONS That the mysterious agency, operating in occult phenomena, seems to be a distinctive force, capable under certain circumstances of being emitted from a human being, and not merely a mental expression, is apparently illustrated by a number of phenom- ena. Thus far we have especially directed atten- tion to its action in some form of intelligence, or as a mode of thought. But now I would call attention to an effect alleged to have been produced in the presence of a number of scientific experi- menters which would indicate the blind action of the force, and seem to correlate it with the well- known physical forces. In one of the Paladino seances there was a circle of ten persons around the table. Eusapia had her back turned toward the curtain of the cabinet; she was controlled by Gen- eral Starynkiewics and Dr. Warraszewski. At a certain juncture, writes Glowackiprus : "I was seated opposite Eusapia, near Mile. X., a very nervous person and easily hypnotised. The seance had lasted for about a half an hour, with numerous and varied phenomena. Eusapia, as al- ways, was in a semi-conscious state. Suddenly she awoke, and Mile. X. uttered a cry. Knowing what this cry meant, I grasped her hand with great force, and then put my arm about her; for this girl be- came very strong in certain states. The room was well lighted, and this is what we saw (something be 314 MATEEIALISATIONS 315 it noticed which I myself experienced by my hands). Every time that the muscles of Mile. X. became more tense and rigid, the curtain which hung oppo- site her, at a distance of from seven to ten feet, made a movement. The following table indicates the details of this correlation: Feeble tensions of the muscle — ^the curtain is set in motion. Strong tension ... It bellies like a sail. Very strong tension, cries. ... It reaches as far as Eusapia^s controllers, and almost wholly covers them. Eepose. . . . Eepose. Tension of the muscles. . . . Movement of the curtain. Strong tension. . . . Strong inflation of the cur- tain." Here it must be noted there is no occasion to call in the action of the mind, for the manifestation is purely muscular and mechanical, and cannot be said to have been the result of expectation, or hyp- notic control. It came as a surprise to the gentle- man who sat next to her, and from the hysterical subject at his side. True, it was manifested through a hypnotised, or semi-hypnotised, subject, which, however, merely shows that the force is apparently emitted through the agency of the sub- conscious mind, or during the period that the con- scious mind is in suspense. It seems that the correlation of delicate muscular action on the part of the medium and the mechani- cal expression of this force has been frequently ob- served. Lombroso speaks of his experimenting with Eusapia, asking her to bend her thumbs 316 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY and witnessing the ejBfeet on the apparition or upon a physical object; and that the muscular effect always seems to take effect on the opposite side of the muscle contracted. This was accom- plished by merely the bending of the thumb- knuckle, or contracting of the palm. The author of "Metaphysical Phenomena,"* on this point, says : "When experimenting with Eusa- pia Paladino, Professor Eichet had remarked and called attention to the synchronism which existed between her phenomena and her movements or muscular contractions. Dr. Maxwell, in his turn, also noticed it, and forthwith bent his studies in that direction. The conclusion appears to be evi- dent that a profound and far-reaching importance lies in the synchronism between the movements of the experimenters and the phenomena. It was ob- served that Dr. Maxwell was able to produce phe- nomena of raps and telekinesis (of very feeble in- tensity, it is true) by tapping the medium on his hands or shoulder, by firmly squeezing the hands, joined in a circle above the table, or by the simple contraction of his own muscles," Again, we may observe, that the force or sub- stance, or whatever it may be, seems to possess the power of aggregating to itself a form that doubles the physical presence of a person, and causes that semblance to appear side by side with the physical form. Such, for instance, is the case of Goethe, who, on retiring from a battlefield, and overcome with much emotion, says he saw riding beside him •P. 274. MATEEIALISATIONS 317 as distinct as his own body another that was the exact facsimile of himself. George Sand, on one occasion, is said to have ex- perienced a similar condition. "I was surprised," she said, "that some one was with me. Not seeing any one, I studied this prodigy with immense pleas- ure. I marveled at hearing my own name, coming from my own voice. The strange explanation came to me that I was double — that there was another ^I' about me that I could not see, but which always saw me. I told it to come, and it replied, ^Do thou come.' And it seemed to me to draw back and to approach when I changed my position." It is possible, of course, to construe such appari- tions as mere hallucinations, and pass it at that without undertaking to learn what the actual nature of an hallucination is. But it is that very point which I desire to investigate a little more fully, and for that reason I am presenting this varied series of experiences, which seem to be accepted as historical and viridical. It is because it seems to me science is about ready to demonstrate the nature of these hallucinations, and establish their substan- tial verity, which bears so closely on the subject of the possible after life, that I believe the matter is of growing interest to rational and unemotional thinkers. Many cases are on record to show, that this force or substance can both penetrate and see through opaque substances. I take a well-authenticated case which came under Dr. Quackenbos' observa- tion and study, as reported in his "Hypnotic Thera- peutics." A peasant girl of twenty-three years. 318 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY of SoTitliem Germany, was brought to his oflSce. The girl was accompanied by her master, who threw her into the hypnotic state, which Dr. Q*, by various tests, satisfied himself was genuine, Neither this girl nor her employer had ever been in the house before. She was then made to reply to the follow- ing questions, after being ordered to send her "spirit" through the house. It passed two flights of stairs, entered a front room with alcove : "What do you see ?" "A round table with books." (The table stood in front of the door and would naturally attract immediate attention.) "What else do you see ?" "A large picture of a lady on the wall." (My wife has an engraving of a Eaphael Madonna over the mantel and three other pictures.) "Describe them." "One picture is of a horse." (This answer I regarded as an error; but a subse- quent inspection of the room disclosed on the mantel shelf, under the Madonna, a small photograph of one of my horses, sent to the house a day or two before, and placed there inadvertently by my wife.) "What else do you see ?" "Seven chairs." (No member of the family was aware that there were so many chairs in the room.) "Is there anything else in the room you would like to speak about?" "Yes; a bed with a little darling." "Do you mean a doll?" "No; a real live dar^ ling." "Describe her?" "She has light hair, and is pretty," MATEEIALISATIONS 319 "How old would you say she is?" "Eight years." (The exact age of my little daughter Kathryn, who was asleep in the alcove.) Dr. Q. had many more sittings with the girl, in the presence of highly intelligent and distinguished visitors, and the girl always revealed this wonderful power of seeing through opaque objects, or, as some would say, of penetrating them with her psychic force or "spirit." Cases of this class might easily be explained on the theory that a hypnotic subject is in immediate and sympathetic communication with the mind of the operator, and therefore easily discerns what buried or superficial data may exist there. But there is another class of clairvoyant phenomena not capable of being so readily explained. I refer to discernment of things that are not possibly in the mind of any one present or known to the clairvoy- ant. A number of such cases is given by Dr. Max- well in "Metaphysical Phenomena."* His friend Dr. X. once gave to a lady cashier in a restaurant where he was wont to take his meals a crystal. Instantly, as she looked into it, she said she saw the form of a dog. But as it was a dog she had never before seen, she had no further in- terest in it. Yet, several days after, Dr. X., again entering the restaurant, was surprised to be in- formed by the cashier, she had in the meantime been presented with a dog of which the dog in the crystal vision was the exact imaga *P. 220. 320 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY Here is another case he gives. "Another lady sometimes sees visions in a mirror. She saw a man seated on a footpath of a certain street; the man was wounded in a particular manner on the fore- head; a piece of skin was torn away and lay over the eye. Among other details about the costume was a sack, which the man had rolled around his neck; on the sack the letters V. L. were printed. The lady in her vision saw herself speak to the man, take him to a hospital and have his wound dressed. On the morning of the next day she went out, met the wounded man at the spot she had seen him the day before, and her vision came true to the letter, even to the detail of the sack around the neck, and the letters which were printed on it." In this case and similar ones, which seem to be quite numerous, the field of clairvoyant vision ap- parently extends far beyond the field of immediate consciousness, either of the clairvoyant or of any one associated with her. But a still more puzzling aeries of clairvoyant visions are those that are ap- parently of a prophetic nature and permit the per- son to see events which have not yet occurred. Here is an example of such cases, given also by Dr. Maxwell in his book : "A sensitive perceived in a crystal the following scene: — A large steamer flying a flag of three hori- zontal bands, black, white and red, and bearing the name *Leutchland/ navigating in mid-ocean; the boat was surrounded with smoke; a great number of sailors, passengers and men in uniform rushed to the upper deck, and the sensitive saw the vessel founder. Eight days afterwards the newspapers an- MATERIALISATIONS 321 nounced the accident to the ^Deutchland/ whose boiler had burst, obliging the boat to strand. This vision is very curious, and as the details were given to me before the accident, I will analyse it carefully." Dr. Maxwell goes on to explain that the boat did meet an accident as described, but it did not founder; yet in all other particulars, saving the spelling of the name of the boat with an L instead of a D, the account was most accurate. He also assures us that the sensitive had no relationship with Germany or Germans whatsoever and did not even know that there was a ship afloat by the name it bore. But the most curious feature of all and the one that gives us more serious concern is that it foresaw so many days ahead what substantially afterwards occurred. The action of this force seems to be in many ways in contravention of the tendency of the well- known forces of nature. It opposes gravitation as in the many cases of alleged levitation, some of which I have already called attention to, notably the levitations and floatings of the entire body of D. D. Home, the medium who so startled Crookes and other investigating scientists. The last but one characteristic to which I shall at present call attention is the fact that this so- called force seems to be susceptible of impressing itself on the sensitive plate of the photographic cam- era and thus leaving with us ocular and tangible evidence of its substantial existence. This fact, of which we shall here present some of the alleged evidence, would seem to indicate that the so-called 322 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY force in some way under certain conditions em- bodies itself in some sort of matter. Here is a case that Lombroso cites, which may be taken as typical of those procured from profes- sional photographic-mediums. As, however, this alleged photograph was procured by the first of this class of mediums, whose power is said to have been divulged to him unexpectedly, it is possible that it may be trusted as genuine more than the average. The publisher Dowe had employed a young- woman, to whom he was much attached, and who died at the age of twenty-seven. Seven days after her death a " psychic " informed him that a beauti- ful girl in the spirit wished to see him and that she held a rose in her hand for him. A month after- wards, at Saratoga, he made the acquaintance of an- other psychic who had never seen him before. As soon as she had touched him she wrote on the slate, « I am always with you " in the handwriting of the girl. When he returned to his home in Boston he visited a medium. Hardy, who caused the appari- tion of the girl to appear again, saying that she would like to give him her photograph, asking him to go to Mumler, the first of those photographic mediums, and then very famous. He goes to Mum- ler, but introduces himself as " Johnson." Imme- diately the apparition appears and says, " How do you do, Mr. Johnson? I never knew before you were ashamed of your name." Mumler did not at first succeed in getting the picture of the girl, but when his wife assisted him MATEKIALISATIONS 323 by going into a trance, Dowe says lie procured the picture of the girl precisely as she had described it to him in the seance. Commenting, Lombroso* says: "The foregoing is the case of one who was in fact a skeptic as to spirits and distrusted the photograph. I selected this from among the photo- graphs of Mumler because, inasmuch as legal pro- ceedings were instituted against him, I wished to exclude those that were not very thoroughly estab- lished by documertary evidence and that were se- cured when doubts about him were most rife." However, while there is a large number of testi- monies as to the genuineness of ^'spirit" photogra- phy, we feel a natural disposition to question it unless it is verified by the most unqualified and un- questionable evidence. There happens to be, per- haps, but one such case in all the array of alleged genuine photography, at least of sufficient import- ance to call for consideration in a scientific investi- gation of the problem we are discussing. I refer to the declaration of Sir William Crookes, that he positively took such a photograph, not only once, but many times, and under the most exacting and precautious conditions. I am merely referring to the claim that "spirit" photography is not only pos- sible but reliable, in order that I may include in the category of incidents to be discussed the entire series which are claimed to be genuine by advocates of the occult. My object is to see whether there is a scientific interpretation to be put on them, con- sonant with the present knowledge of natural laws, , *"After Death— What?" p. 263. 324: SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY and to discuss what bearing they may have on the problem of the after life. I will give the efforts of Crookes to procure the alleged "spirit" photo- graph in his own words, as recorded in his "Re- searches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism." ("Katie" is the spirit form he beheld at intervals for three years.) 'TDuring the week before Katie took her departure she gave seances at my house almost nightly, to en- able me to photograph her by artificial light. Five complete photographic apparatus were accordingly fitted up for the purpose, consisting of five cameras, one of the whole-plate size, one half-plate, one quar- ter-plate, and two binocular sterescopic cameras, which were all brought to bear upon Katie at the same time on each occasion on which she stood for her portrait. Five sensitising and fixing baths were used, and plenty of plates were cleaned ready in ad- vance, for use, so that there might be no hitch or delay during the photographing operations, which were performed by myself, aided by one assistant. "My library was used as a dark cabinet. It has folding doors opening into the laboratory; one of these doors was taken off its hinges, and a curtain suspended in its place to enable Katie to pass in and out easily. Those of our friends who were present were seated in the laboratory facing the curtain, and the cameras were placed a little behind them, ready to photograph Katie when she came outside, and to photograph anything also inside the cabinet when- ever the curtain was withdrawn for the purpose. Each evening there were three or four exposures of plates in the five cameras, giving at least fifteen separate pictures at each seance; some of these were spoilt in the developing, and some in regulating the MATERIALISATIONS 325 amount of light. Altogether, I have had forty-fout negatives, some inferior, some indifferent, and some excellent." Unless we are to believe that Crookes had lost his mind, or was hypnotised into the belief that he was doing all this, whereas he was not, or that some fraud was worked on him by presenting as the "spirit" of Katie King a disguised human being, we must apparently admit that here is a genuinely scientific demonstration of the photographing of a figure which was not flesh and blood, but alleged "spirit," and which existed only for a temporary period. We have already referred to the extremely careful precaution Crookes took in all his experi- ments to avoid the possibility of fraud, and shall not here repeat the argument. We must not forget, either, that twenty-five years after he made these public statements, he said, in the presence of the highest scientific body in the British Empire : "I have nothing to retract I adhere to my already published statements. Indeed I might add much thereto." But on that occasion Crookes did say that if he were again to experiment he would probably begin with the theory of telepathy rather than with that of spiritualism. However, in altering his theory as to how he would account for the existence of these amazing phenomena, he did not for a moment allow that he doubted their genuineness or trust- worthiness. If, then, these apparitions can be photographed, we shall have to admit that they are more than mere 326 SCIENCE AlfD IMMORTALITY mental phenomena or hallucinations, or be forced to find some explanation in natural law that will show how a mere mental perception, or a thought, may so materialise itself as to impress a photo- graphic camera. One more series of incidents we shall refer to, to close this array of so-called occult phenomena, which must be proved either to be absolutely fraudulent and therefore non-existent in nature, or must be explained in accordance with the known or discov- erable laws and principles of the universe. The series to which I now wish to refer is that of apparitions which are said to have been seen at the moment of the decease of the human body. There is the well-known classic case of Lord Brougham's, who, discussing with a fellow-student the problem of immortality, excitedly agreed with him that whichever first died should appear to the other, and sealed the agreement with their blood. Years afterwards, the other having died, he appears to Brrmal con- trol of the mind. This extraordinary volitional energy and mental perspicacity are due to the agitation of the pro- founder depths of the vital cells and the resulting increased radio-active energy of the electric cor- puscles that circulate around them. All this, the reader will recall, we have explained in previous pages of this work. It is therefore manifest that the amount of ex- traordinary work which the sub-normal will can accomplish through the action of the radio-active substance of the brain cells will depend on the amount of such energy the cells may release in the process of their atomic dissolution. I cannot enter deeper into this problem at present than merely to say the source of the energy is infinite. That is, there is no limit whatever to the possibilities of the release of the intra-atomic energy that flows from the decomposition of atomic matter. An infinite amount of electricity can be acquired from a definite quantity if the latter is confined within a body and that body is in action. This would indicate that the action is itself the cause of the dissolution of the interior atoms, from which dissolution evolves the radio-active energy with its product of electricity. The whole question, then, reverts to the problem of the degree to which the radio-active energy may be developed by any physical, chemical or vital action. TENTATIVE EXPLANATION 441 Now, as I have said already many times, chemi- cal action, such chemical action as goes on within the human system during processes of assimilation, circulation of nervous fluids, explosion of nerve centres, etc., is a direct cause of the outflow of ra- dio-activity and electrical energy. The amount of such energy released depends on the intensity and quantity of the chemical action. Already I have stated that the chemical action that occurs in high and extraordinary states of mental activity and psy- chic exaltation is capable of producing a far higher degree and quantity of radio-activity and electrical energy than what ensues from the mere assimilation of food and circulation of the life fluids. Hence, as the possibility of radio-active energy is infinite, that is, as it may be infinitely evolved from the centre of the vital cells, the degree of such evolved energy depending wholly on the amount and intensity of chemical action generated, and, as such action is most intense under extraordinary states of mental exaltation and psychic activity, it follows that what a medium so exercised might ac- complish will depend only on the degree to which the mental exaltation or psychic activity can be de- veloped. Naturally, therefore, the constant achieve- ment of these wonders, even by the same medium or agency, would not be possible, as it would depend on the mental state or the psychic energy by which such agent is exercised. And likewise, as might be supposed, such accom- plishments would be spasmodic and uncertain. Again, a natural deduction to be surmised would 442 SCIENCE AiNTD IMMOKTALITY be that "when sucli activities are spontaneous and unexpected, thej are more powerful or effective than when under control and the result of anticipation. These are the precise conditions which always prevail in any display of genuine psychic phenom- enalism, and therefore seem to come under the limi- tations of the law as thus far discovered. Given, then, such a person, so exercised by ex- traordinary mental or psychic excitement, all the conditions would seem to be present to permit the exercise of the sub-conscious will in the manifesta- tion of physical oscillations, levitation of heavy objects, etc. Apparently, then, the levitation of a heavy table seventy-eight inches from the floor Tvould be possible under the law above explained without the necessity of imagining the intervention of extra-natural or ultra-human agencies. Let me here digress for a moment to extend a suggestion to psychic researchers. In my judgment these labors will never become wholly satisfactory to scientific minds unless they can be more thor- oughly removed from the realm of logical specula- tion and introduced into the physical laboratory. If there are any genuine mediums it must be pos- sible to discover them with as great certainty as a new metal or element in nature. There must be some way of detecting and holding their powers beyond any possible disputation. It oc- curs to this author then, that with the present advance of the physical sciences, especially the energetic sciences, and the delicate instruments which are now being constructed, that such a demonstration or TENTATIVE EXPLANATIOIT '443 discovery should be possible. If that most subtle of all known substances, radiant matter, can be de- tected by laboratory agencies, howbeit it is beyond the measurement of the chemical balance, it would seem to me that the subtle influence that is supposed to control so-called mediums should likewise become susceptible to discernment by appropriate instru- ments or physical agencies. The workings of radio- active substance are detectable through the electro- meter, the electroscope, etc., by which the delicate energy of the electric force which accompanies the dissolution of the atom can be discerned; by the bolometer the delicate vibrations of the ether, caused by an influence no greater than a burning flame, can be detected over five thousand feet away from the flame ; by the galvanometer we can detect the most delicate state of electricity in the ether, and show that electric action exists in all forms of matter. If, then, the mind exercises its will force on the subtle radiant corpuscles of the vital cells, and such energy eventuates in the atmosphere of electro-mag- netic energy that environs a human being; and if fluch electric activity can be intensified by the action of the sub-conscious will, to the extent of producing the extraordinary phenomena said to be witnessed in seances, then it seems to me the way is open by proper mechanical instruments to detect the work- ings of this power and to trace it to its exact natural source. In short, here, it appears to me, is a wide and as yet wholly unoccupied field for investigation oi so-called psychic powers, along the lines of scien- tific exactness, and yet thoroughly within the range 444 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY of possibility. Discoveries made under such condi- tions would be precise and accepted by the scien- tific world, and all useless speculation and logomo- chy would be avoided. If there are any million- aires who do not know what to do with their fortune^ and who are sufficiently informed to believe that the unusual powers exist to which we have often re- verted in these pages, here it would seem to the writer is an unusual opportunity to apply such for- tune in a way that might bring much knowledge and no less comfort to the human race. Already a slight approach has been made to the possibility above intimated by the instrument that detects the psychological workings of the conscience, enabling one to detect when one lies or tells the truth, and other instruments that are gradually in- vading the heretofore inviolable precincts of mental activity. I conceive that the next step will be the invention of instruments that will be able to expose the work- ings of the sub-conscious mind under the exercise of intense volitional energy, and by the use of the photographic plate, as already Baraduc claims partly to have achieved, to expose the very motion of the thoughts. If, as I shall soon show, the phy- sicist may within the laboratory seize on the pho- tographic plate such workings of radiant matter around a material object as are wholly beyond the compass of human vision and beyond the detection of the chemical balance; if, indeed, he may arti- ficially produce such radiant activity, invisible to the eye, on various objects and then detect their ex- TENTATIVE EXPLANATION 445 istence by photographing them, howbeit their con- tinuity is but for a moment ; then it would seem the genius of man is indeed capable of inventing an instrument which will seize these supposed arcane powers that generate psychic phenomena, and hold them up, so to speak, that he who runs may see. One thing is certain: either such powers do not exist in man or in the universe ; or, as sure as night follows day, the wizard who plods ceaselessly in his magical laboratory will sometime conquer and control them as he does the subtle substances which for ages so confused mankind and but, even in our own day, have been seized, analysed and exposed to the understanding of man. The fourth phase in Lombroso's classification re- lates to movements of different objects very lightly touched by the hands or the body of the medium, which cannot be reconciled with the exceedingly weak pressure exerted by her. If the principle above enunciated is accepted, then this transaction can almost be accounted for by reference to the inner force on which we have been descanting. The ra- dio-active element, we have learned, is directly amenable to the energy of the will, and especially of the energy of the sub-conscious will. Therefore the medium under trance would direct, by the ex- ercise of the sub-consciousness, the vibrations of the radio-active element surrounding the body. Natu- rally the impulse of that energy could be increased or diminished as the sub-conscious will intended. In the same manner the fifth and sixth phases could be accounted for. These relate to undula- 446 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY tions and inflations of curtains of the seance cabinet, without the possibility of being manipulated by the medium, or at least by her conscious, normal facul- ties, and the movements and inflations of the gar- ments of the medium, etc. Once grant the control of the radio-active element that surrounds the hu- man organism, and the electro-magnetic energy that it emits, and manifestly its possibilities are be- yond calculation. All these movements would then be conceivable. It needs only to be demonstrated that these particles, or the subtle corpuscular sub- stance which originates in the process of dissolution of the interior substance of the cells, is subject to the operation of the sub-conscious will, and all these supposed psychic or extra-natural phenomena are conceivable within the plane of natural activities. As already stated, Stephens and others seem to have shown that the inherent action of these electric particles is volitional, or the product of will energy ; and, as we have frequently stated, the will energy of the sub-conscious mind is especially powerful in the activity of this subtle emanation. CHAPTEE XXXI TENTATIVE SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION OP PSYCHIC PHENOMENA (Concluded) It is not necessary to review in detail all of Lom- broso's classifications in order to demonstrate what I believe may be the scientific principle underlying these so-called psychic phenomena, always, of course, with the provision that they are genuine, which at present is subject to much uncertainty. Let us, however, venture to study one or two of the most startling and seemingly inexplicable of the events which he avouches. He speaks of "indepen- dent levitations of a table; these take place when the medium is at a distance, as when she is lying down and firmly tied down inside of a cabinet. It seems as if invisible persons must be lifting the hangings with their hands," etc. Again: "Move- ments impressed on material bodies by hands volun- tarily turned towards them, but at a distance" ; "spontaneous displacements of different objects at various distances"; "functional movements of in- struments at a distance," etc. ; "spontaneous changes in the weight of a balance" ; "changes in the weight of the body of the medium from five to ten kilo- grams," etc., etc. All these phases apparently must come under one law, if there be such a law existing. It must not be forgotten that these manifestations are produced 447 448 SCIENCE AKD IMMOKTALITT when the medium is in a profound trance; that is, when deeply buried in the realm of the sub-con- scious activities. The power of the sub-conscious will to affect material conditions, we have already seen, is far in excess of that of the conscious will. If it is true that dissociation of matter is con- stantly going on in all substances ; if as the result of such dissociation of matter there occurs in all these substances a subtle emanation of a gaseous nature which dissolves into electric particles, which penetrate solid substances and perform all the won- ders attributed to radio-activity; if also it is true that this state of dissociative matter exists within the vital cell centres of a human body, and that all the cells of the system are enswathed with this subtle, corpuscular emanation ; again, if it be true, as shown by Stephens, that this subtle emanation is especially amenable to an indwelling will- energy, so that its activity seems to be the effect of the direct control of the cell-will, and, that finally the will that immediately controls and energises this subtle substance is that of the sub- conscious mind; then it would appear we have all the natural conditions that are necessary to create the phenomena we have above referred to. We are but beginning to discover the possibilities of this strange substance, and it is not supposed we as yet understand even a fraction of what it is ca- pable. If, therefore, we can with what knowledge we have at present conceive how it might act so as to achieve these phenomena, we may be encouraged to believe that with a little more knowledge we shall TENTATIVE EXPLANATION 449 be able to demonstrate the complete naturalisation of these so-called supernatural, or at least extra-nat- ural, phenomena. It may be at considerable risk to proceed with this attempt at analytical explanation of manifesta- tions which seem to defy all known law, yet I shall here attempt what some may believe to be the im- possible. Eor instance, take the supposition that, as Lombroso and others assert, they see an actual hand created in the air, and that hand perform- ing certain acts. I am here ignoring the theory of telepathy and hallucination, to which I shall later revert, and am undertaking to learn whether if this phenomenon actually occurred it could be explained by what we even now know about the radio-active energy in nature. Assuming, then, that the brain cells are en- swathed by the corpuscular emanation we have pre- viously described ; that this substance constitutes the formative basis of thought, intelligence and will- energy, that is, that these mental forces utilise it as their direct instrumentality, may we not trace the evolution of the phenomenon under consideration, thus: Thought is physically embodied in a series of etheric waves; the impingement of these waves on the brain cells generates consciousness (primary or secondary) in the individual; the vibrations emanating from the brain cells penetrate the uni- versal ether in a fixed congeries or form; in the instance under consideration the thought purposely generates in the mind the idea or image of a hand ; the sub-conscious will projects that mental hand 450 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY into the ether in a series of waves composed of the emanation from the brain cells; this emanation is radio-active. Now one of the properties of radio-active substances is that, like a magnet, it gathers the particles of the air around it, by a process known as induced radio-activity. The men- tal-hand, then, projected into the ether would act upon the particles of the air like a magnet on par- ticles of steel filings. Just as the latter gather round a magnet following its form, so the particles of air would gather round the radio-active form of the hand shaped by the ether waves, and, thus con- densed, would become visible to the human eye.* It occurs to me also that the recently discovered properties of radio-active substances may explain the phenomenon known as "levitation" in all its phases, even including that of the alleged levitation of the person of the medium. We recall the case attested by Crookes and others of D. D. Home fly- ing out of, and back again through, a window. Naturally such a phenomenon strains our credu- lity ; yet assuming its reality, can it be scientifically explained ? Let us see. It is now known that one of the remarkable prop- erties of radio-active substance is that it makes the air a conductor of electricity. That is, such an emanation causes a leakage of electricity within the body which generates it. Does the condition of a human being ever become such that the radiation from his body might so neutralise the effect of grav- *As to the quality of induced radio-activity, see LeBon: "Evolution of Matter," pp. 145, 146. TENTATIVE EXPLANATION 451 itation by electrifying the air that he might main- tain his balance in the atmosphere without mate- rial support, and therefore sail through the air? Of course what I am about to propose or rather sug- gest is at present pure speculation, but it rests so much on scientific possibility as, I think, to call for respectful consideration. It can and has been shown that this very condition can be instituted in inert matter. That is, a piece of metal, such as gold leaf or aluminum has been caused to stay sus- pended in the air without any material support, the only means used being the electricity generated within the body itself. This would formerly be re- garded as one of the most wonderful of miracles, casting as much confusion on the minds of people as Mohammed's supposed suspended coffin caused in the minds of his votaries. Yet this phenomenon is now a scientific certainty and may be proved in any electrical laboratory or by private means. What does this fact indicate ? Simply this. That if within a piece of metal such a force can be brought to play as will so disturb its atoms as to cause their dissociation, thus releasing the intra- atomic energy, then merely because of this released form of energy the piece of metal will be held mid- air in a rigid state, as if it were pulled tight by at- tached springs,* Now, again recalling that when a human being is in a state of profound trance, or in deep hypnotic sleep, the chemical reactions which ensue generate *See "Evolution of Forces," pp. 115 to 118. 462 SCIEIsrCE AND IMMOKTALITTi the condition of radio-activity, namely the release of the intra-atomic energy, it is, of course conceiv- able that a so-called medium might at times attain such a favorable environment as to cause a suflScient release of such energy to neutralise the force of gravitation and remain suspended in mid air. If the phenomenon be possible, and if it is brought about by such natural means, then it would seem by subjecting the "medium" to scientific ex- amination the proof would speedily be found. For a body so affected is amenable to the electroscope and would soon show whether it is the increased flow of the electrical particles that causes his suspen- sion as the suspension of the metal is caused, That we may appreciate how delicate are the forces that play around all bodies, including the human body, let me here refer to a recent discovery of a new force, which, while not yet oflScially rec- ognised by Science, is nevertheless demanding its attention. I refer to the so-called "N ray first de- tected by M. Blondlot. He observed that certain substances when approaching a light or a lumines- cent object had the effect of increasing its brilliance. After much experimenting he was forced to con- clude that its source was not the X ray, or any of the other known radio-active energies. He found it to be a distinct ray, discoverable even in the radi- ations of the sun. Afterwards, by a mere accident, M. Charpentier discovered that these same W rays are also emitted by the human body and are not to be confused with the now recognised radio-active radiations, although TENTATIVE EXPLANATION 453 possibly caused by the same dissociation or degrada- tion of matter. One remarkable property of the N ray, which M. Chaipentier discerned, when emitted from the hu- man system, was its correlation with muscular ac- tion or nervous discharge. "He found that the in- crease of the brightness was most considerable in the vicinity of a muscle, and was greatest when the muscle was considerably contracted. Nerves and nervous centres were afterwards found to produce similar effects, and he was even able to follow in this manner the course of certain nerves beneath the skin." He claimed that he could by this means trace out the regions of the brain which are active in special functions, such as the "centre of Broca," that physiologists have come to regard as the special organ of speech.* This alleged discovery is certainly deserving of further research, as we are thereby beginning to dis- cern something of the subtle correlation of muscle, nerve and brain action, with a most recondite sub- stance or emanation, so highly susceptible to the most delicate of motions as to be utterly beyond cal- culation. For as yet no instrument exists that can detect the vibrations of this element, and they can be discerned only by means of the effects which they produce on certain other substances or radia- tions. Because of the extreme delicacy of these effects the large majority of scientists have refused to * "The N. Kays of M. Blondlot." C. G. Abbott, Smithso- nian Eep., 1903. 4:54: SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY credit M. Blondlot with his discovery. Neverthe- less the fact that photographic effects can be pro- duced by the intervention of the N rays would seem to verify their existence. The fact, to which I desire here to call especial attention, is the alleged discovery of M. Charpen- tier that these rays are instantly affected by the con- traction of the muscles of the body or the tension of the nerves. This fact would seem to let some light into the alleged phenomenon that so-called "mediums" cause the illumination of objects by their presence or ap- proach; and it would seem even better to explain the alleged incident of the inflation of curtains and the moving of articles by the contraction of the muscles.* It is becoming manifest that there is an infinite variety of radiations of higher and higher frequency with which the ether is replete, and that by some law yet undiscovered there is a method of inter- communication or interaction between them. By the recent discoveries in this field of subtle radia- tions we have already acquired suflScient under- standing to give us the hint that we need discover but little more about them to apprehend how by merely contracting the muscles, tensing the nerves, or by agitating the brain cells in thought or men- tal speech, curious effects in the phenomenal world may be produced. Materialisation might be accounted for in still another way under natural law. The air, as is now •See "Metaphysical Phenomena," by Maxwell, p. 272. TENTATIVE EXPLANATION 455 known, is slightly radio-active. One of the laws of radio-activity is that it can be induced from one object into another. If then a highly charged radio- active substance be introduced in the air, it would have the tendency of charging, similarly to a load- stone, the particles of air in its vicinity. These newly charged particles, by the law of induction, would increase the charge of their immediate neigh- bors, thus aggregating a sphere of radio-active sub- stance, more highly charged than the surrounding air. A so-called medium, possessing possibly more radio-active energy than his immediate neighbors, could induce in them an increased radio-active charge which would communicate itself to the rest of the circle, thus organising a radio-active atmos- phere with the medium as its nucleus. We have been studying the fact that such corpuscular aggre- gations are the direct instrument of the conscious and the sub-conscious wills. Affected, then, by any volitional act of the medium, the aggregated corpus- cles might take such shape as he might determine, might respond to his nerve tensions or muscle con- tractions, as we have above observed, might on ap- proaching human bodies become illumined by a phosphorescent glow, being affected by the N ray, and perform the various other physical phenomena attributed to mediums, and yet all be done under strictly natural law in the physical world. Because at present we are comparatively so little acquainted with the full possibilities of the forces we are studying we cannot more than guess or con- 456 SCIENCE AKD IMMOETALITY jecture how they may be involved in the manifes- tation of psychic exhibitions. But the very fact that with so little as we at present know of them we can see how they may be involved in the opera- tions which have thus far so much confused the world, affords courage that in a short time we shall have learned enough about them to lift with their assistance the veil of mystery that so heavily be- decks the occult phases of human experience. It may be, too, that our knowledge of these forces will increase quite as rapidly as our acquaintance with what there may be genuine in the so-called psychic phenomena. For it must not be forgotten that at present because of the vast superimposition of fraudulent efforts on what there may be genuine in such phenomena, none can yet say what small moiety will ultimately remain as indisputable. Per- haps by the time this quantum of actually genuine manifestations shall have been safely segregated from the rest we shall also have learned so much about the marvellous natural forces we are contem- plating as easily to explain them all under natural and observable law. For we are dealing with the most subtle, recon- dite and delicate of all natural forces ever yet con- templated by the human intellect. It is but a few generations, or at best but a few centuries, ago, that men supposed the finest forces in nature were earth, air, fire and water. How slowly have we been able to ascend from a knowledge of these dull and com- paratively inert elements to those of heat, light, chemical affinity, electricity, sound, etc., and from TENTATIVE EXPLANATION 457 these to etheric vibrationSj radio-activity, corpus- cular emanation and the like. And the most mar- vellous of all the facts we are to learn is that the altogether most powerful of the forces in Nature are the most subtle and least discernible. This is a law we must always hold in mind when we are study- ing such subjects as occupy the purpose of this essay. We used to think that mechanical pressure was the most powerful of natural forces. We there- fore esteemed it marvellous that no pressure was sufficiently strong to compress water. All the pres- sure of the universe could not contract it. Yet the subtle variations of temperature, a slight rising or falling of the thermometer, does the work. The variable action of heat, a force that can be only felt and never seen, reduces the water from vapor into ice and again dissipates it from ice into vapor. In the same manner no mechanical power how- ever strong can separate the chemical atoms of any substance. Yet when submitted to the subtle charge of an electrical current, a force whose motions can never- be discerned but always only witnessed in their effects, the atoms of the solidest substances can be torn apart. But so profound and ultra-subtle is the force which Nature utilises in the disruption of the atom itself (a far more stupendous achievement than the mere displacement of the atomic-aggregation of a molecule of chemical matter), that through all the ages of human research man had not detected it till almost by accident it fell to the fortune of the sa- vants of our own day to be its discoverers. Yet, 458 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY strange to say, the causes that effect this wonderful result are not the mighty hammer of Thor or Vul- can's hlazing forge, but so common a thing as a ray of light, whose power had never before been even suspected. And this is true because, as I have previously as- serted, Nature, reduced to her last analysis, is but a congeries of vibrations or an aggregate of motions ; and not the heaviest or widest but the subtlest mo- tions, those that, undetected, can intercept and pene- trate other motions, these are at once the most mys- terious and effective in the universe. Before we attempt to understand the alleged '^materialisations" of the psychic seance we should first seek to comprehend the far more startling ma- terialisations which nature achieves in her univer- sal laboratory. And, as if by poetic justice or irony, as you choose, by comprehending her natural materialisations, we may be led to an understanding of the possibilities of so-called psychic phenome- nalism. One need but read the fifth chapter of Le Bon's "Evolution of Matter" to catch the method of Nature's trick and learn, that with but a little more of this secret detected, science will probably soon be able to explain every phase of psychic mate- rialisations, if indeed they ever occur. For by merely employing an electric needle at- tached to a specific instrument he has been able to organise and detect the marvellous and almost magi- cal arrangement of the corpuscles which he conjures from various substances. We have repeatedly re- ferred to these corpuscular elements around every TENTATIVE EXPLANATION 459 object which constitutes the basis of their radio-ac- tivity. It is the radio-active property of the cor- puscles that enables them to produce a photographic print. Thanks to this possibility, the startling ma- terialisations which are effected in the laboratory can be detected. Eor the work accomplished is with an element naturally invisible, and actually imma- terial, that deigns to reveal its workings only through the medium of a photographic camera. Armed with such a camera and with the electrical instrument just mentioned the physicist has been able to sport with Nature and force her to reveal her mysterious possibilities before his wondering eyes. For, the subtle particles of the radio-active element were played with by the ingenious electri- cian and physicists, as recited in Le Bon's book, till he compelled them to organise themselves in all con- ceivable protean shapes, — into scintillant, revolving stars; outstretched rays, like hands, mutually em- braced; spider-web-like filaments, that mutually flared and danced and bowed to each other like magic spectres ; shapes, looking like bales of cotton, with dark lines, like heavy cord, athwart their rounded forms; rows of brilliant circles, that look like finger-tip prints, arranged in parallels on a black surface ; curious conformations that look like symbols of ancient religious cults, such as a dark circle from whose circumference shoot a circling array of electric gleams, like fiery serpents, within which another circle forms, giving room between the two circles for a concentric bed of corruscating figures, while within the smaller circle itself flares 4:60 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY foTth a solid sphere of phosphorescent glory, crowned with shooting forks of lightning. Many more which I have not room here to de- scribe were conjured by this magician-physicist amnsing himself with the sportive conquest of Na- ture's deep-laid secrets. Yet they are unstable forms, and can be held but for an instant. "If we were able to isolate and fix them for good," says this author, "that is to say, so that they would sur- vive their generating cause — ^we should have suc- ceeded in creating with immaterial particles some- thing singularly resembling matter/' Yet while he could not maintain the invisible form of matter he had so magically produced, he at least could hold the spectral semblance of material substance long enough to immortalise it on the photographic plate. Seeing what amazing effects can be detected in the mechanical laboratory in the workings of these magical particles — the corpuscles of radio-active substance, — need we be surprised if Nature also utilises them in the manifestation of many phe- nomena which are dependent on mental no less than material manipulation. If these corpuscles are directly subject to voli- tional control, or if their activity is itself a form of volitional energy, as we have already indicated, and if, again, this form of activity is especially amen- able to the will of the sub-conscious mind, as also, we have seen, has been discovered, then it would appear to be a natural consequence that this ele- ment is employed in the mental activities of human beings. If these elements can be so played with in TENTATIVE EXPLANATION 461 the possibilities of the meclianical laboratory by the imposition of a controlling intelligencej why is it not possible that they may be compelled to perform certain mysterious tricks when under the immedi- ate control of a sub-conscious mind, to whose oper- ation they seem to be especially amenable. If the intimations above presented are trust- worthy, and if the radio-active particles are indeed the available instrumentalities of mental control, then we may detect the way to a natural and logical understanding of the modus operandi of psychic phenomena, without looking beyond the sphere of activities now operating in the organism of a hu- man being this side the grave. Of the extraordinary control of this corpuscular' element within the human system by the sub-con- scious mind or will, I have already spoken, but I think it necessary that this should be insistently emphasised. It occurs to the author that if this principle is carefully discerned much that is now confusing in human experience, no less than in ani- mal life generally, may be better understood. That the sub-conscious may act independently of the conscious mind, we know; that it energises all the involuntary functions of the human system, we know; that any function of the system, origin- ally determined by the conscious will may, by ha- bitual repetition, descend from the control of the conscious to the sub-conscious mind, we know. In short the sub-conscious functions and faculties are the most constant, powerful and essential of any of the functions of life. If we had not the instrumen- 462 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY tality of the sub-conscious mind, on whose psychical activities the "whole rationale of our being depends, we should find growth, development, intelligence, education and progress utterly impossible. All this we know by the analysis of our mental faculties and psychological processes. But one thing perhaps we have overlooked ; that is, that the direct instrumentality of the sub-con- scious will is not so much the nervous system, espe- cially the sympathetic, as it is the extraordinary ultra-material or corpuscular enswathement of this system. Here we find a recently discovered agency com- posed of a substance which is the embodiment of, potentially, the most powerful force in the universe, and which may assist us in solving many problems of life. I have several times already referred to the exceptional energy which a living organism comes occasionally to possess, altogether out of pro- portion to the energy which its food supply could generate. This has been one of the great physiolog- ical puzzles. It has been a fruitful source for the intervention of supernatural theories relating to human life, and the introduction of many supersti- tions. There are occasions when a slight, diminu- tive, physically weak individual achieves a labor far beyond the possibility of his normal energy. It is always done under the stress of great excitement, at the conjuring of some unexpected crisis. Some- thing takes place inside that for the moment revo- lutionises his physical system and enables it to rise superior to its ordinary limitations. Or, it TENTATIVE EXPLANATION 463 comes as the consequence of deep introspection or rapt, abstract contemplation. What happens ? Men have been known under strain of great ne- cessity to live for many days on a diurnal ration that would not ordinarily sustain an infant. Soc- rates stood, it is said, for twenty-four hours fixed to a spot, rigid, without moving. Little birds live on a single grain of food throughout an entire day and travel hundreds of miles on the slender supply.* What force sustains birds in their vast flights, pois- ing often for long periods without moving a muscle ? What starts a dog on its sudden swift race after a moving vehicle, when he flies with fifty times his normal gait ? That this force, whatever it is, is especially guided by the sub-conscious will or mind, is evi- denced by many abnormal characteristics in human beings. Persons have been known to survive in path- ological conditions long intervals when the patient absorbed either no food at all or very inappreciable quantities. There is, for instance, the famous case of Marie B., at Bourdeilles, who is said to have lived for eight years with no other nourishment save that derived from rinsing her mouth with plain water, and who finally died in that condition. It seems now to be an intimation of science that: *''A pigeon with but two ounces of seed food in its crop expends energy in flights of hundreds or thousands of miles, and in maintaining its body-heat, vastly in excess of the oxidation of twenty times that amount of food. . . . The chickadee . . . generates in its tiny body an amount of heat, during the long winter nights, impossible to account for from the few grains of moss spores which it ingests," (Stephens' "Natural Salvation," p. 139.) 464 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY the force whicli the mind, especially the sub-con- scious mind, employs in these feats of extraordi- nary energy, is the volitional function which appar- ently inheres in the corpuscular particles of the nervous and cerebral systems. It is this energy to which I am inclined to think will ultimately be re- ferred the source of ultra psychic phenomena which some have perhaps too hastily accepted as proof of a personal survival after death.* I have thus far attempted tentatively, and I fear all too bunglingly, to indicate how we shall possibly be able in a few years to discover the existing force in Nature that will afford an intelligent analysis and explanation of the modus operandi of super- normal phenomena, without recourse to supposed spirits or excarnate beings. If we find it possible to conceive of a logical ex- planation of material phenomena, founded on phy- sical principles, which are altogether the more con- founding to our traditional intelligence, then it seems to me an apprehension of the natural laws, by which the purely mental or metaphysical phases of psychic phenomena are determined, should be as easily discerned. *"Intra-atoniic energies are a source of many possible varieties of energy. M. Georges Delbruck, an engineer, has suggested that the larger birds, whose soaring flight without apparent motion is so difficult to explain, may have the faculty of generating at the expense of intra-atomic energy a force capable of striving against gravitation until it ren- ders it null." ("Evolution of Force," p. 351. Couple with this suggestion the discovery claimed by Ste- phens, that this intra-atomic energy is susceptible to the control of will, or is itself an exercise of volitional energy, and we seem to have a principle that, as I have above at- tempted to explain, may easily constitute the physical source of psychic phenomena. CHAPTER XXXII THOUGHT AND EADIO-AOTIVITY The purely mental supernormal phenomena are far more easily explained by referring them to the already apprehended physical forces in nature than those we have been thus far studying. For even long before the radio-active emanation was con- ceived of, physicists had already satisfied them- selves that the ether was, as we might say, stratified into a myriad of invisible planes of vibration, each plane consisting of shorter and swifter waves than the preceding, till they became so short and so swift they were not only invisible, imponderable and in- calculable, but quite beyond human conception. It is within the bounds of reason to surmise that, if such layers of etheric vibration surround each visible object in nature, shading off from the denser to the ultra refined according to their nearness or distance from the object, then all objects touch each other more or less at a distance as well as when in immediate contact. For now we know that every atom is but a well wrapped bundle of electric cor- puscles, the density of the atom depending on the number, and the rate of rotation of the corpuscles around the atom's axis, and that the vibrations set up by the rotation of the corpuscles stir the ether immediately surrounding into a series of departing vibrations. So that every visible and invisible ob- ject in the universe is constructed merely by the 465 466 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY meeting, merging, repelling and assembling of these myriad vibrations of the ether. We have already observed that a thought and a function of the will are modes of motion. That is, to think and to will is to vibrate some material sub- stance within the brain, however refined and subtle such substance may be. The vibrations of such thinking and willing stir the surrounding ether with ever receding ripples of most delicate motion, passing on forever into the spacial void. Now, all waves of ether merge or repel each other according to their polarities. They are absolutely distinguished by their length and rate of speed. A wave that generates light in the ether is not a sound wave or an electric wave. Yet the only difference consists in length and rate of motion. Any mate- rial instrument will be affected by the varying waves of the ether according to its susceptibility. If it is so adjusted that some wave of especial length and rate will respond it will prove it by a motion of some sort. The radiophone, the electric key, the phonograph, the telephone, the wireless re- ceiver, the photophone are all demonstrations of this law. The one sets up mechanical motion by a ray of light ; the next receives intelligence through a metallic key moved by an electric wave; the next produces speech by an instrument that is moved by and records the sound of the voice ; the next repro- duces the sound of the voice direct through an in- strument that responds to it ; and the last, the pho- tophone, actually produces speech by means of a ray of light. THOUGHT AND RADIO-ACTIVITY 467 But the human brain is an instrument as intri- cate as any ever invented by man, and even more susceptible to ether-vibrations than any of metallic construction. It is indeed the most sensitive of all instruments with which we are acquainted, and it is governed by the same natural laws. If, then, specific waves afFect certain instruments which are so constructed they respond synchro- nously, why is it not perfectly logical to recognise, in the brain, an instrument of such a character ? Here we may discern a physical law that logi- cally explains the transmission of thought from one brain to another. But the problem arises. Why, if this is a univer- sal possibility, are so few affected by such trans- ferrence of thought? The palpable answer is, of course, that such transferrence is chiefly uncon- scious, or operated through the functions of the sub-conscious mind. Doubtless we are affected thousands of times by other minds without in the least suspecting it. It is only when such an affec- tion occurs in a startling manner, that we are awakened to a realisation of its marvellousness. However, there are cases on record which seem to prove that certain persons are so naturally con- structed that their minds are extraordinarily re- sponsive to the thoughts in other minds. They seem to read the thoughts of others as if they were written in an open book. When in the days of past ignorance such possibilities were revealed it boded suffering and ill fate to those thus empowered. It was this unfortunate faculty that undoubtedly led to 468 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY the persecutions of the days of witchcraft, and if in onr supposed superior wisdom we laugh at such oc- currences, we must either conclude that at one pe- riod of history all human beings became suddenly insane or admit that what the supposed witches were accused of was true. The fault was not in the fact ; but merely in the then ignorant interpretation of the fact. It is impossible here for want of space to recite the celebrated historical cases of clairvoyance, such as those enumerated by Morin, Ochorowicz and others, though temptingly interesting. There was that parish priest of Ars, who died in the early sev- enties of the 19 th century, who it was said saw with infallible precision the thoughts of those who came to consult him, disconcerted all skeptics by reveal- ing their owa mind, and terrified penitents who feared to confess to him because of his acknowl- edged power. There were the Ursuline Nuns, univer- sally dreaded because they were said to be able to reveal the most secret thoughts. There was the case of Sister Claire, an ignorant nun, who answered visitors in the very language of their nation, al- though she knew but her own. She spoke to them, according to their sworn testimony, in Greek, Ger- man, Turkish, Spanish, Italian, etc. These cases might of course be somewhat ques- tioned if it were not now known that clairvoyance may be induced and wondrous results follow. Among the many cases now known take this one recited by Puysegur, in the early part of the 19th century. He found a peculiarly susceptible sub- THOUGHT AND EADIO-ACTIVITY 469 ject, who, when in a magnetic state was wholly transformed. He was natively almost an idiot, yet when under control performed mental wonders. "I have then," says Puysegur, "no need to speak to him ; I think foment him, and he understands me, answers me. When any one enters his chamber, he sees him if I will it. Talks to him, tells him the things I will that he tell him, not always as I dic- tate to him, but as truth requires." These cases are similar to those declared by Dr. Dodds to be common with him, to which I have previously referred. In short, there seems to be a state of mind, which is peculiar to certain persons and only under certain conditions, wholly diverse to the normal mental condition. It does not then seem to require the ordinary instrument of the brain or the natural senses to discern what it may, but seems to utilise an agency utterly unamenable to the common mind of man. Have we any way of discovering what this agency is? All thoughts and mental actions, we know, are indelibly impressed on the living substance of the brain. There they remain so long as the brain ex- ists, susceptible to recall at any time. But the mass of such impressions, which have wholly passed be- yond the normal consciousness, has sunk into the profound depths of the vital matter and becomes the physical bed of the sub-conscious activities. Under certain circumstances this profounder depth can be stirred into activity when the forgotten ex- periences rise again into consciousness. They have 470 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY not returned from elsewhere to the mind, they have simply risen again from its buried depths. Now, we have seen that whenever the plasmic depths of the cells are aroused, they discharge a semi-material emanation, namely the corpuscular accompaniment of nervous or cerebral activity. This corpuscular emanation, as we have learned, is impelled by an inherent will-energy determining its actions. It circulates throughout the system, especially within the brain centres, directly subject to the demands of the sub-conscious mind. Why then is not this the volatile medium that carries in its substance the mental impressions of the normal and subnormal faculties, which, capable of passing through the walls of the flesh because of its radio-active prop- erties, may pass from mind to mind, conveying such impressions as the volitions of the sub-conscious control may determine ? We have already called attention to the fact that these corpuscles or emanations take distinctive forms, when impressed by material forces, and that they can be retained long enough to seize their impression on the photographic plate. Hence the substance, howbeit volatile, imponderable and in- visible, is subject to compression, and can be shaped into distinctive forms, and these forms maintained for a limited period. As this substance is also susceptible to mental impression, or the cellular motion that occurs in a mental process, it of course would assume such a compression or shape as determined by the mode of the mental motion. THOUGHT AND EADIO-ACTIVITY 471 This mental form, composed of radio-active sub- stance, invisible, imponderable, yet susceptible to the photographic camera, resides within the brain at the cellular centres whose activities cause its emission. Yet a thought possessing radio-activity, means that it may penetrate the walls of the opaque skull and enter again behind the skull that holds another brain and there compel such synchronous association of the brain cells as would induce in the conscious- ness of the second brain the form of thought trans- ferred from the first brain. All this seems to be strictly within the bounds of discovered scientific laws, and therefore in no way supernatural or for that manner supernormal. TBe fact, also, that the shapes of the corpuscular emanations may be seized in the mechanical labor- atory, as I have already recited in previous illustra- tions, demonstrates the scientific possibility of the photographic reproduction of these mental forms which I have been discussing. If it is true that corpuscular emanation always takes place in the dissociation of matter, and if protoplasm is matter in a state of atomic decompo- sition or dissociation, then all protoplasmic or liv- ing matter is constantly emitting corpuscular ema- nations or radio-active particles. It is shown by Le Bon that such radio-active particles assume dis- tinctive shapes around the substance from which they emanate, and that such forms vary in appear- ance with the objects from which they proceed; and it is further shown by Le Bon that such diver- 472 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITT sified shapes can be seized permanently on the sen- sitive plate of the photographic camera. Thus it seems to be but a natural scientific de- duction that the forms of thought which impress themselves on the corpuscular emanations emitted by the living substance in the cells of the brain, are also amenable to the photographic plate. Hence "spirit" pictures should not surprise us, either "when caught unexpectedly in the camera or when designedly seized by the photographer. This demonstration may also afford us an under- standing of the possibility of photographing thoughts directly as Baraduc, of Paris, is said to have discovered by accident. He claims that by conducting a clear image of his mind toward a sen- sitised plate which he touches with his hand while developing, he can cause the photographic reproduc- tion of the mental image. The sharpness of the photograph depends, he informs us, on the clear- ness and completeness of the mental image. If his discovery is fully verified, then we have a clear proof that thought is a substantial form and in its transferrence there is more than merely a mental process involved. CHAPTEK XXXIII PHYSICAL BASIS OF TELEPATHY Since the S. P. E. invented the term telepathy it has passed as a sort of talisman among students to ward off the fear of tumbling into occult jargon and absurdity. Most people seem to think that if a fact in Nature or human experience be merely named, the christening itself is an explanation of the phenomenon. Hence many, even scientific men, seem to be satisfied with the mere statement that all the phases of psychic phenomena can be sci- entifically explained and understood by merely re- ferring them to a process of the mind called "telep- athy." One cannot but be amazed, on reading a review of what the S. P. R. discovered in experi- menting with susceptible subjects, at the exactness of the reproduction of projected thoughts and im- ages, on the minds of recipients; at the explicit mental correspondence maintained between two distant persons ; at the projection of spectral forms, palpable as the living persons, upon the vision of unanticipating recipients; at instantaneous mental despatches and replies, all achieved with the seem- ing simplicity of normal transactions. In former times these phenomena were regarded as supernatural, and therefore inexplicable. Since modern science has studied them it has been deter- mined that they are in no sense supernatural, but can be comprehended by the scientific mind and 473 474 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY analysed as thoronghlj as a mineral specimen in a chemical laboratory. But the presumption seemed to be, that by merely stating they had found a "principle" in Nature which they called "telepa- thy," the scientists had thus analysed, explained and logically classified these phenomena. To my mind they have done nothing of the kind. To name a phenomenon by inventing a Greek combination, after the manner of scientific nomen- clature, is far from explaining it. Suppose when it was discovered that messages could be carried through the air we had merely named the results ^^telegraphy" and had gone no further in under- standing or explaining them. Would science have teen satisfied ? Supposing when by mere accident it was learned that a message could be conveyed through the air without wires, it had been merely named "wireless" and science had paused there. Would that have been an explanation ? Palpably not. Science must deal with things and not merely with theories, with substance and not with supposition. To know what telegraphy is she must first know more about electricity than she had before ; to know what wireless is she must first become cognisant of Hertz waves, and the in- visible media involved in the wireless transferrence of physical messages. Thus it is with regard to so-called telepathy. To stand still after merely christening it "mental transferrence," nnd think it has been explained, seems absurd. We have learned what medium in Na- PHYSICAL BASIS OF TELEPATH"S 475 ture permits the transferrence of telegraphic mes- sages ; so we must learn the substantial, material or ultra-material element in nature that suffers itself to be utilised in the transferrence of mental thoughts and images. Without such an explanation the christening of the phenomenon has but little scientific value. I cannot, however, agree with Professor Hyslop's strictures on the theory of telepathy as set forth in the "Journal of Psychic Research."* If it be true as he suggests that' mere vibrations induced in the brain by telepathic force are insuf- ficient to account for the awakening of requisite intelligence in the receiving brain, then the objec- tion does not lie so much against the theory of telep- athy as against that of the relation of thought to the *"Mr. Podmore quotes Sir William Crookes as suggesting the possibility that there may be 'a, telepathic chain of brain waves along which the message of thought' may be trans- mitted. But even granting this fact there is no essential resemblance between that process and the use of undulations of the air in normal perception, as the latter are associated ■with merely conventional symbols in order to 'communicate' our ideas. The vibrations do not carry the thought in normal 'communication' and the imagined method. The chasm is not in the least bridged between the 'natural' in- tercourse and the 'supernatural' one of telepathy!" Just preceding the above we find the following paragraph in Dr. Hyslop's article: "You may assume all the resemblance you please, superficial or otherwise, between the particles in the 'coherer* of wireless telegraphic instrument and the brain of man, it does not affect the issue. The question is, whether the communication by telepathy involves the essential agree- ment between agent and recipient as to the symbols to be employed in the transmission, and until this agreement and symbolic characteristic is there, no essential agreement exists between telepathy and ordinary intercourse." ("Jour- nal of the American Society for Psychical Research," Feb., 1909.) 476 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY cortical activity of the brain. Prof. Hyslop in- sists that there must be a previous understanding as to the symbolic code between minds before they can comprehend the meaning of the vibratory inter- communications. But each mind reads its own symbolic code. That is, what we call the mind in- terprets certain cellular vibrations in the sensorium as having distinctive meanings which have been in- stinct in the race from time immemorial. The in- finite commutations and permutations of the cell bodies in the brain have been gradually organised since the beginning of human intelligence. To generate an identical notion or thought in the mind of a Pueblo Indian and that of a Tolstoi Nature demands the aggregation of precisely the same cells in parallel regions of their two brains. If the Indian thinks "red," the cellular process in his brain is no more and no less complicated than it is in that of Tolstoi. And if the Indian could be so educated that he could read and understand a page of Shakespeare as well as Tolstoi, Nature would use in his brain precisely the same cells and in the same cortical region, as she uses in the brain of Tolstoi. In short, the intelligence of mankind has agreed, from time immemorial, on certain cel- lular combinations or cerebral symbols to convey certain notions or ideas to the mind. Once these cellular combinations or cerebral vibrations are set in motion the mind instantly discerns in their presence certain meanings which are universal. Hence telepathy as a theory is not scientifically ob- jectionable or illogical, on the ground set forth by Prof. Hyslop. PHYSICAL BASIS OF TELEPATHY 477 His strictures might apply if telepathy were be- ing exercised on a race of wholly foreign people, such, say, as the denizens of Mars, who presum- ably had established a wholly different code of sym- bols for the thoughts they convey. In that case we might, indeed, well wonder how if the brain of a Martian were impinged by a cerebral vibration emitted from the brain of an Earthian, the Martian could come to understand what the Earthian's vi- brations meant. It would be much as if two per- sons of foreign nationalities, neither understanding the language of the other, undertook to communi- cate intelligently through their native tongues. It would be manifestly impossible. But this objection does not apply between for- eigners who are interpreting the cerebral vibrations. For, the mind interprets not the labial motions, not the syllabic configurations, but the cerebral vibra- tions which precede them. The brain fortunately has no foreign languages ; within the sphere of the cortical cells there is room for all languages, it is true ; and each specific language has its own partic- ular locality in the cerebrum. But while that is true of languages, it is not true of ideas or states of consciousness. For instance, the German says roth, the Frenchman says rouge, the Italian says rosso, and the Englishman says red. Now in each brain there is a specific centre where the exact cellular symbol for red is recorded. But there is also a cen- tre where the linguistic form is recorded. The combination of cells that stands for the linguistic symbol is different from the combination that 478 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY stands for the linguistic form. But the linguistic symbol is identical in the brains of all nationalities ; it is only the linguistic form which differs. Thus, if the notion "red" can be awakened in the minds of people, who understand only different languages, as for instance by a picture, or an illustration, then the notion red causes in all their brains precisely the same cellular relations; but when each thinks in his own language of the notion thus awakened, each, then, discerns a different cellular combination. This has been proven by the destruction of or in- jury to certain cell-centres and the consequent loss of certain mental functions that depended on spe- cific cellular associations. When the cellular rela- tion was restored then the corresponding function was reinstated. If, for instance, a person speaking only English, suffered injury to that part of his brain where the English word red would create the notion red, and afterwards he learned a different language, he could then acquire the same notion by being informed of the correct symbol in the acquired language. But the cellular vibration that would symbolise red to him as a notion would be precisely the same as that which had been generated by the other language. In short, if I may so put it, cell-language differs among people of different languages. But cell-no- tions are identical among all people whatever their language may be. This law illustrates the fact that the subliminal mind is acquainted with all languages, for all lan- guages awaken the same notions which, however, PHYSICAL BASIS OF TELEPATHY 479 are expressed in different linguistic forms. A so- called medium, therefore, operating during trance only through the cerebellar brain, or the subliminal mind, might both receive and communicate in a language with which the cerebral brain or normal mind was wholly unacquainted. For the cerebel- lar brain, the instrument of the subliminal mind, receives like plastic wax all impressions made on it by the cerebral brain or normal mind, in the same or another personality. On this latter point let me quote Dr. Alexander Wilder: — "The cerebrum, as the organ of thought and will, is the director of activity. The cerebellum, corre- gponding to it, does unconsciously whatever the cere- brum performs rationally. It follows the states which the cerebrum induces on the organism, and holds the impressions which have thus been made. In sleep the cerebrum lets go its hold. Impression, sense and understanding are, for the time being, sus- pended. Similar conditions often exist, to a degree, in our waking hours. We can perceive at once that if the cerebrum alone upheld our vital energies we should die when sleep intervened, . . . But the cere- bellum is an organism that neither slumbers nor sleeps till it yields up life. It is always active. . . . We are thinking and reasoning unconsciously all the time." Manifestly, the cerebellar brain is the vegetative, protoplastic, instinctive organ. It receives and gives forth whatever is impressed upon it and may be conceived of as the phonographic cylinder of the cranial organism. Therefore every cellular im- pression it receives it instinctively interprets ac- 480 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY cording to the subliminal understanding of the uni- versal symbols. This mind knows all languages, for it understands the notions which the languages mean to convey, discerning their identity in the minds of persons who speak with different tongues. Nevertheless, as Dr. Wallace has logically con- tended, telepathy as heretofore apprehended, can- not explain a distinctive class of phenomena, such for instance as relate to the discernment of appari- tions by animals, of which there are numerous au- thenticated incidents on record. I will recall a few of these to the reader's mind, and ask him if merely naming them "telepathic events" in any way ex- plains them. Here, for instance, is a case which was told to Dr. Hodgson, who described it some years ago in "The Arena." The informant told him that an appari- tion of a white lady appeared to his brother. "The third night he saw the dog crouch and stare and then act as if he was being driven around the room. Brother saw nothing, but heard a sort of rustle, and the poor dog howled and tried to hide, and never again would go into that room." There is the case reported by S. P. E. at Ham- mersmith, London, where disturbances in a haunted house continued for five years and when a phan- tom woman was seen, "the dog whined incessantly," and when called to go into the room with his mas- ter, crouched down, tail between his legs, and was afraid to enter. A remarkable case is said to have occurred in the cemetery of Ahrensburg, of which R. D. Owen PHYSICAL BASIS OF TELEPATHY 481 speaks, in his "Footfalls": "The horses of the country people visiting the cemetery were often so alarmed and excited that they became covered with sweat and foam. Sometime they threw themselves on the ground, where they struggled in apparent agony and, notwithstanding the immediate resort to remedial measures, several died within a day or two." The case was oflScially investigated and after thorough search no normal cause for the dis- turbance could be found. There are a number of such well authenticated cases on record, and there has never been a rational explanation of them. The theory that they are hallucinations imposed from human minds on the animals, seems rather far fetched, especially as we have no record, with which I am acquainted, of such an experiment having been successfully tried on animals. Such apparitions, as well as those said to be seen in haunted houses, may be telepathic effects, but not as ordinarily understood. For while the ap- paritions may be a projection from a human mind, yet we must know more of the nature of such a pro- jection before such an explanation can be of scien- tific worth. Unless we conclude that a thought has a substantial form of some sort, that it becomes an embodiment of matter, however subtle and invis- ible, there seems to be no value in the hypothesis that a mental act in one mind can be transferred to another mind. The question involved is. What is it that is transferred? If it is the thought how can such a thought pass from one mind to another 482 SCIENCE AND IMMOETAUTY "without a material medium; what then is the me- dium? In the theory I am advancing it seems to me hoth of these problems are answered and that strictly in accordance with discovered scientific laws. The thought is moulded in the brain in a physical sub- stance, namely, the aggregate units of the associ- ated cells. It is projected from the brain by the volitional energy within the corpuscular or radio- active emanation which forms from the chemical process in the cellular . activity. These subtle forms of thought, actually substan- tial, howbeit wholly imperceptible to the normal senses, permeate the ether, projected from myriad minds. Now and then a human being comes inta life so peculiarly organised that his senses are sus- ceptible to the perception of these floating forms of thought. We must recall Le Bon's statement, that there is nothing invisible in nature; all we lack is the proper eyes. The chemical and physical laborato- ries, electrical instruments, etc., invent for us some of these eyes, or extra senses, and we see things in the air we knew not before existed. The X ray is nothing but a medium for natural clairvoyance. Given an eye similarly constructed and such an eye would see through matter as well as the Ray that Roentgen discovered. Animals are constructed with eyes difFerent from ours, as we know, and often see things we do not. Many of them see more clearly in the dark than we do in the We know that man cannot see but a very PHYSICAL BASIS OF TELEPATHI 483 minute portion of the spectra of the rays of light. "The invisible region of the spectrum constitutes the most important portion of the light. It is only the sensitiveness of the human eye which creates the division between the visible and invisible parts of the spectrum. It is, doubtless, not the same with all animals."* I contend, therefore, that the only reason we do not ordinarily see the thought forms projected from human brains is because we have not the vision to penetrate the invisible rays of light that embody them. "According to Wedding's latest researches (1905) all artificial sources of light, including the electric arc, utilise hardly one per cent, of the ra- diations produced. Ninety per cent, of the radia- tions emitted are, then, invisible/' If this be so, what wonder that occasionally things are seen in the air by some human eye, ab- normally or extra-normally constructed, that the ordinary eye of man cannot perceive ? Why does it not stand wholly within reason and in full accord with these wonderful new discoveries that the ether may be charged with myriad forms of thought, embodied in these invisible radiations of light or in radio-active substance, which now and then a human being perceives to the amazement of the world, and animals discern to their horror and bewilderment? The forms, then that linger in so-called haunted houses may be actual forms, though in no sense "spirits." The fact that they are usually clothed *" Evolution of Forces," p. 230. 484 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY in the customary garments of the deceased, or in the garments they last wore, that they present the peculiarities of the departed, such as a limp, a stoop shoulder, etc., that they would convey a mes- sage which was the last thing of importance in the mind of the dying person, that these apparitions permanently disappear on destroying or burning down the premises — all these and similar incidents are proofs that the "thing" is not a permanent being, such as we conceive a "spirit" to be, but merely a residual mental phenomenon, a phantom form of thought, what I have attempted to describe as the embodiment of a mental act in radio-active substance. It seems to me this hypothesis explains much without doing violence to nature or to science, or calling for a superlative degree of credulity. CHAPTEE XXXIV SUBSTANTIALITY OF THOUGHT It seems then, that intellectual honesty drives to the conclusion that what the animals see is some- thing real; that in haunted houses the apparitions are not wholly figments of the mind ; that when an image is projected from a distant person to another who distinctly sees it, the recipient sees not a mere mental image seemingly projected from his own mind, but something more. It has been the dread of scientific investigators that they might slip into the occult which has pre- vented them from going further into these investi- gations and admitting the possibility of anything actually substantial in the visions and apparitions. But it seems that the physical laboratory, mate- rial science if you please, has come to the unex- pected assistance of the psychists and psychological investigators. I believe, as I have said, it can now be admitted that the apparitions do consist of real substance, of physical properties, without either tumbling into occult jargon or scientific absurdity. Our studies thus far have shown us that thought, as now analysed, is actually a form of matter ; that is, a series of movements in the cells of the brain, instituting a state of consciousness called a thought, become embodied in a form of volatile matter, con- sisting of electrons or corpuscular elements, possess- ing radio-active properties. This invisible form 485 486 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY of matter is as actual and substantial as anything else in Nature, although it is not amenable to the dis- cernment of the physical senses. However, as there are stars whose vast distance from us renders it im- possible for our sense of sight to apprehend them, yet may be grasped by the telescopic eye and indeli- bly fastened on the photographic plate, thus proving their existence ; so, as previously shown, the volatile forms of material objects and of thought may be grasped by the sensitised plate of the camera and presented to our vision. Who would ever suspect on looking at a block of wood that there floated around its surface anything that the eye could not see? Who would ever dream that it is environed by an invisible gaseous aura, consisting of an exact shape and prescribed form, emitting such marvel- lous rays of light that they can be utilised in photographing their own spectral image? Who would imagine that a bit of metal once exposed to the light of the sun instantaneously garmented itself with a robe of invisible splendor so glorious that months afterwards it would be revealed to the eye through a photographic camera exposed in a room of pitchy darkness ? What is this that is imagined? Nothing? Why? Because it cannot be seen ? Then the vaster part of the universe is nothing, for it is altogether beyond not only the ken of the human eye, but as yet that of the strongest glass invented. If, then, the things that are seen by the mind, though apparently without body, can be actually photographed; if they can be east through the air SUBSTAl^TIALITY OF THOUGHT 487 or ether from one mind to another as if they were balls tossed by a juggler, it will not do to say merely that they are mental messages and hallucinations; they must be better understood and explained. Man- ifestly, they are something; they consist of some substance; and science cannot rest quiet until she learns what it is. The fear of "spirits" and spiritualism should not drive science from a sensible and logical search for the truth. It is, then, I repeat, tremendously gratifying to learn that there is a class of data, with which sci- ence has only recently become acquainted, (and for which she must extend her thanks to such serious and patient investigators as the Curies, Becquerel, Thomson, Rutherford, Lord Kevlin and Gustavo Le Bon, in the physical laboratories, and Haeckel, Weismann, Bastian, Maupas, Calkins, Minot and Stephens, in the biological laboratories) which seem to qualify as a basis of explanation for the various phases of psychic phenomena that so long have mys- tified the world. Taken all together, the results of these discover- ies, as I have attempted to point out in this work, tend to present a scientific and satisfactory explana- tion, which seems to me, at least, to lift the veil of mystery. The uninformed reader must not misinterpret me. I do not mean that these famous scientists had in any way concerned themselves with the problems involved in the study of these essays, save as they relate to what is known as the physical and vital 488 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY sciences. I merely mean, that all unexpectedly they have hit upon discoveries and possibilities in Nature which reveal to us certain of her laws and princi- ples that seem sufficiently to explain the puzzling phenomena we are contemplating. When Madame Curie and Professor Rutherford penetrated into the secrets of the atom they divulged knowledge of a most mysterious force in Nature, all these ages unsuspected, which manifestly enters not only into the arcane realm of physical phenomena, but no less into that of the so-called psychic. The electrons — those mystical particles of nega- tive electricity — those were the little imps that slipped out of the atom, so to speak, to whisper to the world the greatest scientific secret ever known. They, infinitesimal points of gyratory motion, are the magicians, the prestidigitators, the thaumatur- gists of the universe. These are the myriad gods that move through space, transforming the cosmos, creat- ing worlds and all that they contain, ceaselessly ex- ecuting such miracles as the wisest of men cannot forestall. And the half is not yet told. For what shall we not learn when that portion of the atom which is not yet severed shall be set free ! Thus far only the force involved in the negative particles of the atom has been liberated ; and this force is, as we are in- formed, the most magical and stupendous of any yet discerned in the universe. It is the creator of all the other forces now known, the father of heat, light, chemical affinity, sound, electricity. Such is the father of the atom — ^the electron ! SUBSTANTIALITY OF THOUGHT 489 But mark you, the atomic-mother, if I may be pardoned for so christening the positive ion, is yet bound, as the woman seems fated to be, and the mar- vel of her possibilities is yet unimagined. What shall we not learn when the mother-principle — ^the positive ion — has also been released as has been the father electron ? How foolish to imagine we must look to unknown elements of the air, to imagined "spirits," or "excarante forms," for the solution of human and natural mysteries, until we have learned all that science may yet discover within the bosom of this age-married couple, that consecrate the nuptial bed of the mysterious atom ! With the discovery that the electric corpuscle, or the radio-active electron, is ceaselessly emitted from all forms of matter, and that these corpuscles are the accompaniment of cellular action in the nerves and brain; that, therefore, they are the constant attendant of every thought and state of conscious- ness ; that they are possessed of an inherent will or individual ' volitional energy ; and that they are especially amenable to the operations of the sub- conscious mind — ^with this discovery, I say, we have data sufficient to explain, it seems to me, all the phenomena so puzzling to preceding ages. For these — ^the electric, corpuscles — are the radio-active garments of thought — they robe, literally robe, the warm sentiments of the soul, the cool lucubrations of the brain, the dreams of the poet, the calculations of the mathematician ! These are all actual forms, clothed in radiant, howbeit invisible, garments. And this seems to be no idle fancy, but a scientific fact. 490 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY Hence, within these corpuscles abide the only things that are permament in human experience. The thought that lives in our minds for a day and perishes, lives in these corpuscles forever ; or at least as long as the corpuscles survive. If they live be- yond the survival of the flesh, is another story, to which we shall shortly revert. Here, then, is the laboratory and library of hu- man life. Here are executed all the chemical trans- formations of our bodies; here are transmogrified into substantial form the flitting and subtle visions of the mind, we call our thoughts. Here is the book of life upon whose invisible pages are indelibly written the deeds of human ex- perience! What, then, is the past? — a palpable scroll open to the mind, made susceptible to its dis- cernment. What mind is that? The mind whose sub-consciousness is so abstracted from the conscious that it can penetrate the depths of this radiant realm — ^the realm of the corpuscular elements — and call up what it will from its buried deeps. For it does but reassemble the invisible aggregates of past ex- perience, and in the form thus conjured, reads again the thing for which it stands. These thoughts are subject not only to the dis- cernment of the immediate sub-conscious mind, but also to its control and manipulation. It can send them where it will — for they are substantial forms, built of invisible radiant matter — and can be util- ised as the units of electricity or the Hertzian waves that accommodate human intelligence in the transactions of life. SUBSTANTIALITY OF THOUGHT 491 But what of the future? What of events that have not yet transpired? Who shall foresee and foretell of them? Why not? It would seem that within the mysterious depths of this radiant sub- stance all the universe is one. The sun is ninety- three millions of miles away, as travels the heavy foot of man ; hut it is only eight minutes away, as travels the swifter foot of light. It is still closer when borne on the electric wing, and were the X ray of such long endurance it might bring us in- stantaneously into his majestic solar presence ! There is a realm, indeed, where time and space are obliterate. And this, too, is not a dreamy or imagined world, but an actual world of matter. In pure ether there can be no space, there can be no time, there can be no separation. Necessarily all is one. What there is writ, is forever inscribed on the irrefragable scroll of eternity. There the ra- diant waves that move, if indeed they can move at all, must needs be of such inconceivably slight length as to oscillate within an amplitude so minute as to be beyond all possible calculation. In such a realm there can be no space, no time, no distance, no separa'tion. Unity is absolute, and what con- sciousness may there exist can be nothing but the universal consciousness. In such a mind, if one so exists, there can be no ignorance of all that has or ever will transpire in the operations of the infinite. It can therefore be conceived that, proportionally as a limited mind approaches the amplitude of such infinity, it would take on more and more of its prop- erties and possibilities. The nearer we approach 492 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY it, the more of its attributes we must assume. It can thus be conceived that there is a realm, com- posed of the corpuscular elements of which we have been writing, whose vibrations are of such minute amplitude, that the limitations of time and space are to them much modified, if, indeed, not obliter- ated. This corpuscular realm we have learned is especially accessible to the sub-conscious mind, and the more accessible in proportion to the degree in which the functions of the normal mind are sus- pended. In profound depths, therefore, the mind might so penetrate the radiant realm of the corpuscles as to see written therein such events as must logically follow from what is immediately present to the sub- conscious mentality. That mentality sees far more and far deeper into life's realities and possibilities than the normal intellect. Hence, there could be discerned by this mind the radiant forestalment of events not yet transpired, but which, in the logic of things, known only to the sub-conscious mind, must necessarily ensue. Space forbids my expounding this theory further. But a word may help. In disease, for instance, the ravages in the cellular depths are much profounder than the eye of the physician detects on the surface. Virchow reminded us that every malady was merely a disease of the cell. That is, the profound depth of the cell is affected long before the evidence of its depletion appears in the general organism. Were the human physician situated inside of these cells it would be easy for him to foresee the coming rav- SUBSTANTIALITY OF THOUGHT 493 ages that would soon overtake the entire system. He would need be no mysterious prophet to declare the result. But there is such an eye within us. It is the eye of the sub-conscious mind. It surveys the depths of the physical system far beneath what the outer eye of the physical world can discover. In a state of trance, therefore, the sub-conscious mind could discern these profound, but incipient ravages, and could easily foretell that their effects would soon be disclosed in the superficial organs. Hence a trance medium, as they are called, might indeed see the very interior of a person and detect a disease of which the ordinary physician might be unaware, and one in such a state could easily fore- tell a death or an accident that would befall. And to my mind, in view of the marvellous dis- coveries recently made in the corpuscular or radiant realm of matter, all this could be done in perfect accordance with the possibilities of natural law and physical matter. BOOK III THE PKOBLEM OF IMMORTALIT"!; CHAPTER XXXV SCIENTIFIC HYPOTHESIS OF IMMOE- TALITY It is but a generation since Huxley startled the conventional world with his declaration of the "physical basis of life," uttering a thought that revolutionised the conception of the ages. No longer could life be regarded as a principle void of form or substance, as a spiritual energy divorced from the limitations or processes of organised mat- ter. All life manifested in every conceivable con- dition, from the fungus sprouting by countless millions in the body of a fly to the forest of foliage that overarches the earth from the cathedral-like spires of the California pine, or the Indian fig whose far-spreading branches disport their glory while kingdoms and empires rise and fall — ^from the myriad germs that float invisibly in the air, millions of which could actually balance themselves on the point of a needle as the schoolmen of old imagined the angels also could, to the great levia- than of the seas — ^the mighty whale — hugest of living forms that rolls its ninety feet or more of bone and sinew with graceful ease among the billows that stoutest ships of men durst not invade; — in all these various and boldly contrasted forms of life, Huxley had told us there was not one whit of differ- ence when we contemplated the primal substance from which these protean shapes were made. 497 498 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITT The life substance — ^protoplasm — is everywhete in Nature the same ; nor anywhere is there or can there be conceived a form of life not moulded out of this primally structureless and transparent ele- ment. "When first this revelation was made to a race still enslaved by the traditional ignorance of the centuries, it caused an insurrection whose pul- sations in the world of thought are not even yet re- sisted. Many there are who still think that this re- duces the "spirit" to sense, the sublunary mind to muddy matter. However, the world of science knows that Huxley then declared a truth which has since been absolutely demonstrated with a thousand different illustrations. But when Huxley delivered his famous essay in 1868 he did not then know what has been probably demonstrated, or what at least presents itself to the scientfic world as a proposition that will even- tually be demonstrated with final conviction. In that famous essay Huxley said, with his accustomed eloquence : "Under whatever guise it takes refuge, whether fungus or oak, worm or man, the living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and is resolved into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is always dying, and, strange as the paradox may sound, could not live unless it died." Since Huxley's day there have been any number of discoveries to call this conclusion into question. As I have previously shown in these pages, science has now learned to distinguish between what is seen under the microscope, by the aid of certain col- oring substances, as protoplasm, namely, the struc- HYPOTHESIS OF IMMORTALITY 499 taral basis of living forms of life, and pure plasm or ultimate life substance which is ultra-microscopi- cal ; that is, which- cannot at all be detected by any instrument or by the living senses. It is the neces- sary hypothetical physical ultimate of living matter. Here we enter into the molecular plane of activity and pass from the structural or organised plane of matter. I will not again emphasise the point I have already made in previous chapters, and more thor- oughly elaborated in my "Modern Light on Immor- tality," concerning the problem of protoplasm, more than to say the latest investigators insist that pure protoplasm is potentially deathless, insomuch as it passes from one generation of living forms to another, and that we find in the protists or protozoa, the lowest living forms, the same vital matter that existed since their prototype was generated on the earth. While certain studies, such as those of E. Maupas and Professor Calkins, did at first lead to the interpretation of the absolute death of the lowest discoverable forms of life, it is now admitted that their experiments have not fully demonstrated that theory. On this point Professor Minot, of Har- vard, author of "Age, Growth and Decay," writes me privately that senescence and death occur "only in the higher animals; not in protozoa; whether true old age occurs in protozoa, or not, is as yet un- decided." In his excellent book he states his own opinion, based on latest studies, even more emphati- cally. He says : "Death is not a universal accom- paniment of life. In many of the lower organisms 500 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY death does not occur, so far as we at present know, as a natural and necessary result of life. Death with them is purely the result of accident, some ex- ternal cause. Our existing science leads us there- fore to the conception that natural death has been acquired during the process of evolution of living organisms."* The life units, the shreds of protoplasm, the hy- pothetical molecules or corpuscles of living sub- stance, then, are not essentially subject to death. In my previous work I undertook to show the full force of this fact on the problem of the after life of human beings, and I will not here repeat the argument, but refer the reader to that work, if he be interested. I will here merely draw the conclusion that the ultimate substance out of which the cells of all living bodies is constructed is itself structureless, invisible and potentially deathless. Against this proposition I do not believe existing science could logically utter a protest. Modern science has not only ventured to study the mysterious temple of the inner substance of life, but even to penetrate its holy of holies and discern the very manner of its protean transformations. It studies not only the outward architecture but in- vades the sanctuary, assaults its inmost altar and halts the very mystagogues that preside over the mysterious functions,. We are told that there are certain magicians who are so cognisant of the ulti- mate forces in Nature that they can by means of *"Age, Growth and Death," pp. 214, 215. HYPOTHESIS OF IMMOETALITY 501 their uncanny art bring to pass what they will. They need hut think and it is done. They will and all must obey. They are the dreaded thaumaturgs of superstitious votaries, who speak their names in whispers only and fear their enmity as mediaeval magicians dreaded the presence of the Cross. However we may choose to laugh at such silly pretensions, we who are somewhat acquainted with the mystifying performances of Nature are wont to see far more that is marvellous and uncanny in the achievements of some of her minute and most humble creatures. Each little, tiny cell of life, whose diameter is not more than the thousandth of an inch, which the eye of man has but recently de- tected by the aid of the most powerful of micro- scopes, achieves each instant of its infinitesimal ex- istence more marvels than Kosicrucian or Kabalist ever conceived. Contemplate, for a moment, whence came the myriad cells that make up the body of a living being. They came, if we consider only the cycle of the individual life, from a primal cell, a microscopical dot of protoplasm or living matter; whence, like bubbling yeast, it multiplies into hun- dreds, thousands, millions, billions, of offspring like to itself, yet each functioning in its own class differ- ently from all the rest. Who built this wondrous structure ? Who laid these cell-stones, so to speak, one on the other and all around in inimitable con- formations, culminating in the complex edifice of a living body ? Who taught these titanian cells when to come into being, when to associate and when to sever, when and how to act with precision and void 502 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY of error, under favorable or hazardous conditions, ■welcoming friends, fighting foes, seizing edibles, discarding toxins, with such wondrous success that the duration of the complex organism continues for generations, in some cases for centuries of time ? Experience alone has been the teacher; punitive sequence the disciplining schoolmaster. 'No extra- neous ruler, or governor, or spirit, or deity, has taught this tiny adventurer upon the ocean of infin- ity what to think, what to do, what to previse. All has come to it as the result of ages of antecedent experience and its own cyclic contention with op- posing elements and forces. And yet how wondrous wise has it become; how wise above even the wis- dom of the mighty mind that presides over the functions of its interior life; above the wisdom of the central mind that orders the destiny of the com- plete organism itself! As the author I have al- ready quoted exclaims, were a human being as knowing as any one of the cells of his body he would be to other men as a god, beyond their powers and understanding. This fact teaches us that every single cell, within the cycle of its existence and its prescribed func- tions, acts with intelligence, with wisdom, with understanding and with conscience. Therefore each cell has its own mind and soul, product of age-long development and individual growth. In short, the cellular units have an indi- vidual psychic- or soul-activity of their own, po- tentially independent. HYPOTHESIS or IMMORTALITY 503 But as the result of experience, by dint of ances- tral or hereditary tendencies, and especially because of the co-ordination of the cells that follow the or- ganisation of the central nervous system of the higher forms of living bodies, culminating in the cortical areas of the brain — physical throne of in- dividual intelligence and consciousness — the single cells solemnly surrender their independence and yield allegiance to the central or controlling will of the confederated body. The tiny cells, each endued with intelligence, vo- lition, consciousness, find their initial associates with whom to form some humble colony in the earlier states of development; these congregated or colon- ised cells, realising their strength because of their numbers, go forth to compel a modus vivendi with other colonies, who, discerning the benefit to result, willingly unite their colors with the conquering colonies; and thus, group with group, colony with colony, autonomy with autonomy, uniting, at last the several segregated and individualised cell minds and consciousnesses become co-ordinated into a su- preme confederation, with one mind, one intelli- gence, one will, one self-consciousness, to which all the inferior minds agree to yield allegiance. Thus begins the reigning dynasty of the supreme con- sciousness of individual personality. However, it must not be forgotten that at such a stage of government nothing better has been at- tained than a common agreement. The individual IMMOETALITY Given a potentially deathless physical substance, actuated by an increasingly intensified self-con- sciousness, we have apparently the factors essential to continued existence after the dissolution of the structural framework through which they operate. The framework of the cellular combination may cease; but, if it can be shown that the potentially deathless substance of which the cells are composed continues to be permeated with the psychic energy of self-consciousness, will it follow that the psychic element may reorganise the vital substance into a new and more persistent state ? It is not at all my object, as I have repeatedly said, to prove immortality. I am simply asking and trying to find in Nature an answer to the question, whether her laws postulate or suggest the possibility of such after existence. If she seems to answer yes, and her answer is convincing, then we need look no further. If she answers no, however disappoint- ing it may be, it is our duty to be resigned. What then is Nature^s answer in the light of the prin- ciples stated above? As regards the material vital substance, of which the cells are composed, we must recall what has been already shown that it is a continuous and unbroken material extending throughout the organic frame. 511 512 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY It is not, like the separate cells, broken into contigu- ous units, and linked together ; but, as Dr. "Wilson intimates, and what is generally admitted now by biologists, it constitutes what might be called a per- meating fabric of vital matter of which the cells constitute the discernible mesh-work. The cells, so to speak, are built up out of and lie within the pure plasm. The cells are transitory, ephemeral, sub- ject to decay and death. The plasm is constant, constructive, potentially free from senescence and dissolution. Conditions then being favorable, the cell bodies may pass away, but the cell substance would remain. What conceivable conditions would permit this result? Of course it is constantly witnessed in the per- petuation of the species wherein by reproduction the potentially indestructible life-substance de- scends from one generation to another. But when death ensues, that is, when the bond that holds to- gether all the constructive elements of living bodies is severed, then what possible force may survive that might re-organise the living substance into new associations? We must again recall, that the cell unit is itself the product of age-long evolution. Being a product of evolution it must have been produced by some operative principle. What is that principle? Something directed the life of the cell from its prospective existence in primordial protoplasm to its final formation into a cellular entity. What was it? We have observed that each cell is constituted of a cell-life, individual and absolutely distinguish- EADIO-ACTIVE ENERGY 513 able from the cell life of all other bodies. In short, the cell has its own nature, its own intelligence or mind, its own instinct and soul. But has the intel- ligence that culminates in the complete cell always existed as an organised unity? We have learned that it has not; the cell-intelligence, mind or soul, is also a product of evolution, of gradual growth. Neverthless, nothing only comes from nothing. Therefore, if the cell consists of an intelligent prin- •ciple, perfectly organised, and such an intelligence is the product of evolution, then the principle must once have existed in an unorganised state. Where could it so exist? Manifestly the answer is that the germ of this mind must already have existed in the primal substance out of which the cell has been organised. Hence we learn that in the primal plasm, or life substance, the germinal mind, or psychic energy, of the cell already exists. It is therefore evident that the cell organism finally comes to exist because of the urge or compulsion of the inherent psychic energy, or germinal intelligence, operating through its substance. When this psychic energy becomes sufficiently powerful it draws away, if I may so describe it, enough of the plastic substance of living matter to make an organised cell. The existence of the individualised cell depends, then, wholly on the intensity and qualitativeness of the psychic force, or semi-conscious intelligence that pervades it. Does this law also prevail when we contemplate the union of cells whose co-operation establishes 514 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY the empire of a living body ? We find that it does. The general mind or intelligence, the common pre- siding principle, or soul, of an organised living being, consists merely, as already explained, of the subordination of the multitudinous cell-minds of the body to the one, central or supreme mind of the complete organisation. Now, we have also learned that the individuality of such a mind, its intensity,^ its persistence, depends on the complete suppression or submergence of the under-cell-minds, and its su- premacy is sustained only in proportion to such sub- ordination. Once a state of insubordination sets in, the autonomy of the supreme consciousness or mind is menaced, and the possibility of its absolute disso- lution presents itself. Plainly, then, the life of the individual cell, that is, the persistence of its individual organisation, de- pends on the intensity of the principle that makes for the integrity of its consciousness. Once the cell permits any intrusion on its confines, as when a for* eign cell invades it, its consciousness begins to waver, it loses control of itself, it fails to defend itself, and, unless it recovers, finally dies and dis- solves. As the single cell expires because of the diminution of its self-conscious integrity, so also the general consciousness, which is merely the com- posite of the submerged cell-consciousness, will also expire under similar conditions. The law then, plainly, is, cell-life persistence depends absolutely on the ability of the cell to maintain its conscious* ness : that is, cell-life duration is proportionate to cell-consciousness. Again, supreme self-conscious- EADIO-ACTIVE ENERGY 515 ness, or the self-consciousness of a human being, is wholly dependent on the capacity of the supreme ego to hold in subordination and logical subjection the multitudinous cell-consciousnesses of which it is composed. When, then, the cells are all finally dissolved there must still remain in the substance, from which they were originally constructed, the psychic energy, or the principle of consciousness, or, as some would say, the impress of the soul. We are not for a moment to suppose that con- sciousness, or mind, or '^soul," can exist without a material complement. So far as Nature teaches us, such principles are not without material form. Therefore, unless at death there remain over some sort of material substance, that may continue to provide a material habitation for the mind or soul, it is useless to speculate, from any scientific point of view, as to its ppst mortem extension. From any conceivable scientific view point, then, we discover two essentials of after-death existence. First, there must be some kind of material substance as the tenement or habilament of mind-energy ; sec- ond, there must have developed, as the result of evo- lutional growth, in this life, a tenacity of self-con- sciousness sufficient to integrate this substance into a new form or organisation after the expiration of the old or dissolved form. Do biology and psychology provide us with such essentials? Here we arrive at the very climax of modem discovery and speculation, and our progress must necessarily be cautious and unventuresome. 516 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY Nevertheless, it seems, at least to the present writer, that most recent discoveries both in psychology and biology, involving, too, discoveries in the physical forces of nature, appear to present .the very essen- tials of an after-death existence we have above pos- tulated. As regards the psychological data I will say no more than that I think sufficient information has been presented in this work, and especially summed up in the preceding chapter, to call for no further discussion. We have learned that the self-conscious ego is endued with a force or faculty of determining its own persistence, dependent chiefly on its exercise and culture. That force is the Will, or the volitional energy. This I showed was satisfactorily proved in many hypnotic experiments. We are, then, scien- tifically allowed the first postulate, namely, that the self-consciousness, once evolved in a highly de- veloped human being, is susceptible of such continu- ity as is determined by its will or volitional energy. The intensity of the volitional capacity is, how- ever, qualified by the nature of the substance through which it operates. That is, the cells them- selves, especially the brain cells, prove to be pecu- liarly qualitated organs for accommodating the vari- ety and degree of self-consciousness manifested in a human being. We have already stated as admitted by Haeckel and others that different portions or sections of the cells are utilised by nature for different purposes. The outer cell-layers have been educated to the mus- cular or objective utilities of life. They respond to KADIO-ACTIVE ENEKGY 517 the stimuli that the external world provides, and build up the more opaque and manifest parts of the body. All the lower nerve centres are actively em- ployed in this realm of activity. This part bf the cell is employed chiefly in the mechanical and habit- ual workings of the system. But within the deeper centres of the cell, that is, within the realm of the pure protoplasm, there is found the immediate in- strumentality of the energy of the mind that is registered in what we know specifically as self-con- sciousness. As Haeckel emphatically declares, there can be no higher consciousness, no consciousness of self -recognition, until this profound depth of the cell is vibrated. But it is permitted to no power to pene- trate this holy of holies of the cellular temple save the supreme intellect, or the faculty that thinks, reasons and divines. There is, however, a still more marvellous differ- entiation of the living matter, only recently discov- ered, which seems to be employed in the human be- ing for special, important purposes. All matter is constantly emitting a subtle emanation, because it is in a state of constant dissolution. The eternity of matter, in the absolute sense, is now about to be surrendered as a scientific dogma (Le Bon). Some- thing is constantly passing off from matter that is so near to the ultimate ether of which the universe consists that it cannot be defined in the scientific terms of matter. It is an invisible, ultra-refined, unmicroscopieal element, whose existence is only de- termined by certain unexpected results that have recently been observed. This refined element or ema- 518 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITT nation consists of incompntaUy minute corpuscles which are discharged into the ether at a rate almost inconceivable. It is this force, we are told, that is at the basis of the universe, and from its activity all other forces are generated. It is, therefore, the primal and ultimate energy of the infinite. Wow passing from the physical to the vital uni- verse, we learn from Le Bon, Rutherford, and oth- ers, that protoplasm itself is a state of matter from which this subtle, corpuscular substance is con- stantly emitted, and that the vital cells are always surrounded by an atmosphere of this radiant energy. In short, not only are the cells constantly aging and ^y^^S? b^t tliG very material of which they are com- posed is also in a state of ceaseless dissolution, with the result that they emit a constant energy, or subtle emanation, whose properties are wholly distinguish- able from all other known substances, and exhibit powers of endurance that seem to defy the opposi- tion of all other forces. This substance is finer than electricity, finer than the cathode or the X-rays, for it seems to be the source from which those are derived. It is qualitatively near to what the ulti- mate ethereal substance of the universe is conceived to be. It is the closest approach to final ether of any substance yet discerned in Nature. This being so, its durability in any formative state would of course depend on the energy that actuates it. Now, the final remarkable discovery which sci- ence has recently revealed relative to this mysterious substance is that in vital forms, more especially in such highly developed forms as human beings, this EADIO-ACTIVE ENEEGY 519 subtle element is discerned as constantly playing around the avenues and centres of the brain and nerve cells, in a state of ceaseless flow, which, could we see, would appear like a river of radiant glory bathing the throbbing cells of life. But what we must now learn, is whether this marvellous substance is specialised by Nature in the living organism for any particular office. We have found that the different regions of the cell are uti- lised by nature in different offices, specialised for distinctive purposes, some of which relate to the muscular, some to the sensational, some to the intel- lectual, some to the reproductive, and some to the hereditary requirements of existence. We have found that there are specific centres of consciousness within the cell substance, rising gradually from the germinal or suggestive consciousness in the unicel- lular protists to the full-formed state of self-con- sciousness in the multicellular centres of metazoic beings. But now we are to learn the most startling of all these specialisations of !N"ature, in the fact that the subtle, ultra-refined substance to which we have been referring is utilised, in the operation of the brain cells, as the immediate instrumentality of the will, or the volitional energy. In short, we now learn that the most delicate, re- fined, persistent and unconquerable of all substances known in nature is employed by her in the highest states of evolved consciousness for the uses of the individual wilL But we saw in a previous passage that the intensity of the individual will determines 520 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITT the continuity or tenacity of the individual con- sciousness. We have also learned that this substance is the product of the ceaseless death or dissolution of the vital matter which makes the basis of the cell units. Out of the death of matter^ then, there is con- stantly evolving a matter which in the last analysis is absolutely deathless, for it is apparently the very basic substance of the universe itself. This ethereal matter emanating from the vital cells, which consti- tute, the organ of the brain, is the instrument of the will that determines the degree and pertinacity of the self-consciousness which evolves from the union and co-ordination of the cell units of the brain. Apparently, then, we have come upon all the es- sential factors of an after-death existence. All seemingly depends on the personal use we can make of these factors ; dependent on individual education, discipline, knowledge and desire. If we can so in- tensify the energy of the individual will that we can bend the magical element, which forms the sub- stance of its activity, to the end we desire, it may be that even when all the visible, or even the imme- diately invisible units of the physical organism have expired and dissolved, there still survives a far more ultimate and subtle substance, though product of the dissolving substances which so long have served us, yet still susceptible to the energy of the will, which from the beginning constituted the immedi- ate energy that actuated it. In short, the radio-active particles, that cease- lessly emanate from the ever decaying vital cells of EADIO-ACTIVE ENEEGY 521 the body, are at hand for our use and, if we wish, for perpetuation in such modes of vital existence, even after the organic death of the system, as we may determine by the energy of the personal will that constitutes ever the ridgepole of the individual self-conscious life. I am not laying dovra this proposition as an in- controvertible law of Nature, but merely as a pal- pably logical deduction from the physical, biologi- cal and psychological data set forth in these pages. All these data of course the reader understands are not without the avouchment of the most authentic scientific authorities. I can but give the data. The reader will work out his own deductions. Yet as for myself, I cannot but feel the resistlessness of the logical deduction I have just enunciated. It is even given to us, in a certain sense, to enjoy a foreglimpse of this supposed sublunary state. We all more or less have experienced states of con- sciousness that seem for the time being to rise supe- rior to the momentary limitations of the fleshly or- ganism. Indeed the highest achievements of man have been attained at such moments. It is in such states that come the flashes of genius, the lofty flights of inspiration, the revelations of creative art, the raptures of mental and spiritual transport. I am well aware that also at such times come the wanderings of the insane, the rhapsodies of hasheesh eaters, the vulgarisms of voodooism and the ex- travagansas of dervishes and savage worshippers. ^Nevertheless, it is manifest that even in these lower phases a force has been released in the human sys- 522 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY tem, especially in the lower brain or nerve centres, that acts as if it had come from some deep source, uncommon in all the normal experiences of men. As I have previously intimated in these pages it is now biologically determined that at such moments there is an especial agitation of the plasmic realm of the cell units which releases the energy known as intra- atomic, and which is accompanied by the radio-ac- tive substance already described whose presence often reveals wonders in nature startling to man- kind. It matters not whether it be on the low plane of savage voodooism or on the lofty plane of inspira- tional genius, when such experiences occur they operate through the same centres of force and the same ethereal substance that, as I have already inti- mated, may constitute the element in which the per- sistent will of individual consciousness may formu- late the desire for continued existence and thus override the dissolution of death. If the above facts be true, and the philosophical deduction I have made therefrom be logical and conclusive, then it would seem that there is a natu- ral possibility for the self-integrated individual consciousness to mould the ethereal substance that ever emanates from the body's decaying centres into a surviving habilament for the persisting Ego. Eor, there is one more important fact we must introduce into our argument, which adds to the force of the deduction we have already made. In my former work, "Modern Light on Immortality" I dwelt with considerable emphasis on the use which EADIO-ACTIVE EITEEGY 523 !N"ature seems to make of the energy involved in the principle of organisation. I attempted to show that when once an organised hody was established, the very principle of organisation itself becomes a power superior to the units or factors that entered into the organisation. Organisation itself appears in ^Nature to be a self- perpetuating force, an energy that seems to increase its own inertia ; a fact, as I said in my former work which has apparently been wholly overlooked by most philosophers. A machine, once organised, becomes a thing wholly different and apart from the elements or fac- tors that entered into its construction. Each ele- ment is of course essential to its existence, yet once the elements are united into a common whole, which constitutes the machine, it becomes an entity wholly distinguishable from them all. The prin- ciple of the organisation then becomes superior to all the component parts, and acts as a superintend- ing agent. The machine does the especial work for which it was built, not merely because its parts are fitting to its uses, but because they have been so ar- ranged or organised as to make them subject to the presiding principle or purpose of the machine. But the principle of organisation in living bodies is dependent, as we have psychologically learned, on the determining efficiency of the self-conscious volitional energy. Once the substance of which the vital cells is composed, the potentially deathless substance which is constantly emitting the ethereal element that forms the basis of the will activity — 524 SCIEl^CE AND IMMOETALITY once, I say, this substance is organised into the in- tegrity of a highly self-conscious human being, then the very fact of this organisation determines the in- ertia of the self-consciousness. The will-empowered ego, then, acts like a hand within a glove, shaping it, moving it, using it, as the will may determine. I am pleased to note in a treatise which appeared, or at least fell into my hands, subsequent to the pub- lication of my "Modern Light on Immortality," that this same argument is cogently used in contemplat- ing the possibility of increasing the longevity of human beings, far beyond the present term of hu- man life. In Dr. Stephens' "Natural Salvation," a remarkable work, to which I find myself much in- debted in the prosecution of this volume, notwith- standing its purport is what most people would de- nominate materialistic, I find the following passage, which, by the way, quite overturns the conclusion at which the same author had arrived at an earlier period of his studies, and which I have previously quoted in this publication. He says: "We failed at first to comprehend that while in exposed, unprotected unicellular life the individual could not live for more than a few days or weeks at most, and was obliged soon to resort to reproduction to escape race extinction; cells cOuld be found in multicellular organisations, (the brain of a man or an elephant, for example), that live for a century or two centuries. In short, that multicellular life is a long-established, co-operative method, on the part of the cell life, to live better and longer, looking to complete salvation under nature. "At that time we failed to comprehend this larger KADIO-AOTIVE ENERGY 525 effort of cell life. . . . !N"or did we then perceive that these grand co-operative unions of differentiated and specialised cell-life give rise not only to animal or- ganisms, but to a HIGHER, ORaANISED, PER- SONAL LIFE, which reacts strongly to preserve and perpetuate the component cell-units, and that the more intelligent that personal life becomes, the stronger grows the effort for self-maintenance and self-salvation." (The capitals are mine). My readers will observe that this statement com- pletely retracts the contradictory assertion of this same author, previously quoted in this book, to the effect that necessarily in death there must be a total and irreparable disaggregation of the combining cells. Eor, he finds that there is a natural culmina- tion or crest of the wave of life developed in the association and co-operation of the cell activities. If this be so, and it is undoubtedly indisputable, then we need but contemplate the fact that the ulte- rior substance of which the cells are composed is po- tentially deathless, and that the especial collective substance utilised in the development of the higher intelligence and consciousness of the cell life is radi- ant matter, which evinces the most powerful energy known to nature, to realise the possibility, if not probability, of the extension of conscious existence in an organism composed of this substance after the complete dissolution of the cell units. As the longevity of planetary existence has enor- mously extended from the merely momentary life of ephemera and protista, or elementary unicells, ♦"Natural Salvation," by Stephens, p. 122. , , 526 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY to the century span of vital duration in the higher multicellular organisations; and, as this has re- sulted from the firmer cohesiveness of the cellular union, resulting from the intense self-consciousness consequent on intelligent co-operative activity; it stands to reason that if the substance of which the cells are composed, that is the pure, structureless unorganised vital plasm, is inherently deathless; then, the more tenacious the self-consciousness of the aggregate cell-union becomes, the greater is the assurance of the continuity of its existence, in spite of the dissolution of the component cells. For, we have seen not only is the vital substance itself death- less under ideal conditions, but it is accompanied by a ceaseless flow of radiant matter which em- bodies the most potent energy in nature and is itself directly amenable to the control and operation of the will of the individual. The force of the 'personal volitional energy exercised in radio-active particles gives promise of a conquering personality which shall survive the decay of the coarser substance of the cell aggregate. As the essence of our planetary personality in- heres in the will which is the immediate energy that actuates the corpuscular elements of radio-ac- tive energy, and as the will is the centre and stay of our. self-consciousness, it would seem to follow that such members of the human family as have evolved, by stress of earnestness and fibre of char- acter, a will strong enough to maintain a continuing self-consciousness, will pass from this sphere in a mantle of radiant matter, which shall be moulded EADIO-ACTIVE ENEEGY 52T to the higher uses possible within more rarified realms of ethereal substance, Whether this be an absolute fact in Nature can, of course, at present, only be conjectured. But that the most recent discoveries seem to indicate it, can scarcely be doubted, it seems to me. If science vouchsafes us this much as the ground- work of an hypothesis of an after-life, we should not long remain in mere speculative experimenta- tion ; but soon prove or disprove the hypothesis by irrefutable demonstration. Are we nearing the time when such a demonstra- tion shall be made in the physical laboratory? Present discoveries seem to be pointing that way. CHAPTEK XXXVII SUMMAEY OF SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENT FOR IMMORTALITY In order to present the argument advanced in the preceding chapters relative to the problem of im- mortality I shall here briefly recapitulate and sum- marise it by a series of sequential propositions. 1. The primary vital substance of which the cells of a living organism are composed is primarily structureless, molecuclar, ultra-microscopical and potentially deathless under ideal conditions, 2. Each cellular unit evolves its individual mind, intelligence, consciousness and functional en- ergy, potentially independent of all the other cells. 3. By means of the co-operation of the infinite cells in the organisation of the central nervous and cerebral systems, culminating in the cortical areas, the individual cells surrender their autonomy and yield allegiance to the central will or supreme, co- ordinating intelligence. 4. The composite of the individual cell-con- sciousness, co-operatively merged in the common consciousness, institutes the controlling self-con- sciousness, or supreme ego, of the individual. 5. The composite self-consciousness, evolved by the process of the organisation of the single cell consciousness into a common unity, thus itself be- comes, by reason of such organisation, the supreme controlling power of the entire body. 528 SUMMAKY OF ARGUJMffiNT 629 6. The persistence of self -consciousness, thus in- stituted, as the integrating principle of the organi- sation against the rebellious tendency of individual and colonised cells, such as are evidenced in disease, senescence and decay, depends upon the cell centres wherein the self-consciousness has been most empha- sised. 7. If the consciousness has been most empha- sised in the peripheral cells or the cells of sensation and muscular activity, as these operate mechani- cally and somewhat independent of the controlling consciousness, there would be a disposition of the self-consciousness to disappear in the dissolution of these cells; for the psychic bond that unites them would be fragile and uncertain. 8. To the degree that the self -consciousness has been centred in the cells that enter into the activi- ties of the brain and the higher cortical centres, (in- somuch as these are more directly the instruments of the conscious will and intellect, or the controll- ing ego), to that degree will there be a tendency among these cells to cling together or cohere in con- scious association in spite of disintegrating forces. 9. The cells which have been subjected to the uses of the sub-conscious mind, or have been the in- struments of induced foreign personalities, will co- here to the extent that they are able to resist the en- ergy of the cells which constitute the organisation of the ego, or the central self-consciousness of the normal individual. 10. In such organisations as shall have devel- oped a self-consciousness suflBciently powerful to 530 SCIENCE AOT) IMMOETALITY sustain the integrity of the central ego, or normal personality, the secondary personalities "will be ob- literated, and the normal or primary personality alone prevail. 11. In snch organisations as have developed an abnormal exaggeration of one or more of the invad- ing, secondary personalities, and the central ego has been apparently abrogated, there would be a tendency to the ultimate dissipation of all con- sciousness, because of the unstable coherence be- tween the elements of the momentary or transient personalities. 12. But if the primary personality is of suffi- cient strength to maintain the self-consciousness of the Ego, it may persist after the dissolution of the cellular units that compose the material body, be- cause it operates through a potentially deathless substance. The substance being potentially death- less, and plastic to the impression of the indwelling psychic energy, may be new moulded under more amenable conditions and prevail after the dissolu- tion of the body. 13. The revelations of recent scientific discov- ery now acquaint us with the nature of the proto- plasmic elements which the self-conscious Ego ap- propriates and may carry forward into an after life. While the ultimate units of the living substance are structureless and indestructible, nevertheless the atomic units of which it is composed are being con- stantly severed or torn apart. In this act of sepa- ration of the electrons of the atom, which is always accompanied by the emanation of an immaterial SUMMAHY OF AEGUMENT 531 substance of radio-active quality, there is released the most potent energy known to nature, namely the intra-atomic energy, 14. This immaterial emanation of radiant mat- ter flows ceaselessly around the cell centres of the brain, and is the immediate instrumentality of the energy of the will. It is the substantial garment of sentiency, volition and consciousness. Indeed with- out it apparently these elements of life could have no expression. In short, the will energy, which is the center-force of personality or self-consciousness, is itself radiant substance — ^that is, a pure imma- terial emanation, radio-active, electric and all-pene- trative. 15. When this substance is directly manipulated by the sub-conscious mind, or subjective will, it is susceptible to extraordinary manifestations, such as intervention with the laws of gravity, levitation, moving ponderable objects without apparent con- tact, etc., etc In this lower phase of volitional ac- tivity it demonstrates its superiority to the physi- cal laws and forces in nature. But 16. When it manifests its properties in the in- tellectual, emotional and reflective realms, then it becomes the instrument of the expressions of genius, of creative art, of oratorical inspiration, and of such phases of personal force as are far beyond the nor- mal capacity of the individual, who becomes it^ momentary instrument. There is a consciousness which is above the ordinary, commonplace con- sciousness of the individual. The normal conscious- ness is the result of the aggregate life of the com- 532 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY posite cells of the brain. But there is a conscious- ness which tends still more to liberate the mind from the aggregate limitations of the united-cell- minds of one's body. This is the consciousness "which contemplates complete liberty, total release from the confining conditions of the coarser elements of the cell substance. This is the consciousness "wherein one dwells in pure reason, in abstract intel- lectual absorption, in contemplating an ideal, in dis- cernment of the universal. It is the highest plane of consciousness of which the mind can conceive; it is the consciousness of cosmic or monistic unity. 17, We now learn that, even before the body, is dissolved in death, there already evolves within it a subtle substance which seems to act as the especial instrumentality of this exalted consciousness. Within the substance of the cell we find the physi- cal groundwork of the spiritual planes of conscious- ness, or the psychic activities. The outer substance of the cell is the instrument of objective conscious- ness, the realm that appertains to the muscular and peripheral activities. Deeper within the cell, so to speak, the plasmic centre, we find the pure sub- stance, the nucleal plasm that acts as the instrument of the subjective consciousness; the consciousness that relates to pure intellect and formative thought. While, around the cortical cells and all-enswathing them, as a golden light, we discover the super-sub- stantial, ultra-material, radio-active emanation, that constitutes the direct instrument of sentiency, voli- tion and self-consciousness in its supreme state. 18. Being thus endowed with a self-conscious- SUMMARY OF AEGUMENT 633 ness which has been evolved from germinal cell-con- sciousness, and suflBciently energised to organise the union of the myriad cells necessary to the ex- pression of its supreme autonomy, and this psychic consciousness, or personal ego, being expressed through potentially deathless substance, which is ever accompanied by radiant matter whose energy and properties are superior to all other known sub- stances, there reside in the human being, appar- ently, all the factors essential to the continuity of personal existence after the dissolution of the cellu- lar units of the physical body. All seems to depend on the tenacity of the self-consciousness, the strength of the personal will, the potency of the character or the determinism of integrated indi- viduality. CHAPTEE XXXVIII CONCLUSION The universal consciousness of life, and its con- stantly inciting activity, is the groundwork of be- lief in immortality. Were "we able to realise the consciousness of death as we do that of life, these fleeting years would seem to be truly prophetic of the ultimate cessation of existence. Por we know not only that the years are fleeting, but that they are growing constantly fewer in number and leave be- hind the traces of decay, symbolical of the body's total dissolution. Nevertheless, we cannot realise the full force of this prophecy, because even though we are ceaselessly dying, yet we never know aught but that we are ceaselessly alive. We know only life ; we cannot by any possibility know death. We realise life; death we can but observe. Constant association with the living body enables us to compel its response to our query whether or no we are alive. By the message of the tactile sense we learn of the objective world, and learn to dis- tinguish it from the inmost sensations of mind and body. Through the sensitive windings of the outer and inner ears we discern the rhythm or discord- ance of vibrations that speak to us of a source of influence separate from ourselves. Through the magic instrument of the eye the far reaches of the universe are securely compassed and reflected on its inward mirror to the sleepless watcher within. On 534 CONCLUSION 535 the tablets of the mind are forever written the rec- ords of an active world; the drama of compelling interest. Thus is Life its own evidence and revelation. But by whom or by what has the reality of death ever yet been revealed ? Who has ever yet returned to report to us its meaning? Who can answer the ever unanswerable question: "What is Death ?'^ How does death differ from life? What happens at the moment that the breath deserts the body and the blood no longer surges from the heart ? Is life but death in process or is death a process of life ? While we live are we too dead to live forever; or when we die do we perish because of a suprabun- dance of life ? Are life and death eternal foes or, in fact, perennial allies in the warfare of existence ? Whatever be our view of life, how much soever our philosophies may conflict, nevertheless, we are aware that we are contemplating the personal expe- rience of actual existence. Our views of life are positive; because we know that the experience of life is positive. But our views of death are necessar- ily speculative, conjectural, indecisive. We can no more than hold death in the mind as a possibility. Never can we realise it as an experience. We are aware that we approach the deeply gloomed vesti- bule of the dismal temple ; but once there, like as when we fall asleep, we cut short the thread of liv- ing thought, so we enter the temple of death, but nevermore can say to ourselves or to others what we have witnessed amid its unfathomable and mysteri- ous crypts. 536 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY Hence, ever has death appealed supremely to the poetic sense ; to the sentiments of the soul ; to tropes of speech and phantasies of thought. Reason has ever stood blanched and still in its presence, for when death approaches "the dread of something after" chills the blood of intellectual adventure. Ever have men sought to conceal its cadaver, its livid face, its darkened eyes. Over it has been cast the mantle of romantic imagery, the sable robe of sympathy, the radiant v^^ing of hope. The very fact of life disputes the reality of death. We refuse ta accept its testimony. We pierce the clod and insist on beholding in imagination the glory that radiates beyond. Who can think of himself as never thinking? How can a living soul conceive the experience of not living ? By no possibility can the mind contem- plate a negative. As nature "abhors" a vacuum, so the mind abhors a negative. The instant one as- serts a negative he has already transformed it into an aflSrmative. Experience is replete with para- doxes. Do we say "no" ; our no is yes. Would we con- tradict; our contradiction is agreement. Eor to contradict one thing we needs must assert another. Nothing exists by itself; everything is known but by comparison with something other than itself. Who, indeed, can think of nothing? The instant one essays it the nothing becomes something. Ex- perience is positive; therefore all thought must be positive. Can one think of empty space ? The mo- ment one attempts it, already is the spacial void peopled with one's ovtm fancies. CONCLUSION 537 I am asked, Is it day ? If I say no, I have al- ready answered it is night. Every negative is an aflSrmative in disguise; every affirmative reflects a negative shadow. Therefore, language is ever dual, each opposing term expressing not a negative, but an opposite affirmative. Light has its dark; warmth has its cold ; truth has its error ; beauty has its ugli- ness; sweetness its sour; joy its sorrow; health its illness; life its death. Yet in each instance the seeming negative is but a description of the affirma- tive. All is affirmation; what we think negative is not annihilation of affirmative, but merely its. variation. Science challenges Nature to produce a void. She cannot. The Mind challenges thought to pro- duce a negative. It cannot. Every void is a plenum. Every denial is an affirmation. Such is the necessary mood in which one must contemplate the state of death. One cannot regard death but as the opposite of life. Not, indeed, as the destruction of life ; for of that no individual has ever had a conscious experience. Hence ever must man speak of death in terms of life ; ever must he dream of it in phases of his actual sensations. Therefore, by an instinctively logical process, there has entered the mind of man the notion of the deathlessness of life, the illusiveness of death. Hence the age-long dream of immortality. Hence the poetic symbolism with which the thought of death is ever overcast- From earliest times men have dreamed of the continuity of life beyond the grave. Heaven and hell, Tartarus and Elysium, 538 SCIENCE AND IMMOKTALITY were seeming realities to the ancients, as even yet to many moderns, because they could not realise the passing of their honored heroes and their loved and loving friends into an inactive, invisible world, where hearts would cease to throb and souls to feel. Therefore they follow them into the impenetrable vistas beyond with the same noble deeds, the same tender sentiments, as thrilled the drama of exist- ence while their bodies were still present. Those brave and active minds, once aglow with thought and passion; those heroic warriors, the bright cyn- osures of men's acclaim ; it cannot be that they are now but dust; their minds throbless, their hearts all senseless. This universally prevalent notion is beautifully expressed in Matthew Arnold's version of the legend of the Valkyrie : ^' And the Valkyries on their steeds went forth, ' Toward earth and fights of men ; and at their side Skulda, the youngest of the ISTornies, rode; And over Biforst, where is HeimdaFs watch, \ Past Midgaard Fortress, down to Earth they came; There through some battle field, where men fall fast, Their horses f et-lock deep in blood, they ride. And pick the bravest warriors out for Death, Whom they bring back at night with them to heaven. To glad the gods and feast in Odin's halL" Sometimes the love of the departed is so intense, it is impossible for the deserted in this life to await their return. The gods must be implored to bring them back, as Hercules brought back the beautiful Alcestis to the mourning Admetus, and Jesus re- CONCLUSION 539 stored the three-days* buried body of Lazarus to his •weeping sisters. Sometiines the tomb is the actual home of the living deadj and one mourns beside it because one can no longer behold the apparition of the tenant, " And so all the night I lie down by the side Of my darling — my darling — my life and my bride, In the sepulchre there by the sea. In her tomb by the sobbing sea." And however much we may try to school our minds to another thought, the presence of life is so constant and palpable it is impossible for us to re- alise that it ceases when the body perishes. Science and logic may come with scalpel and syl- logism, to demonstrate to us the futility of the dream, the folly of the hope, nevertheless, the pres- ence of life is so vivid we cannot believe it has for- ever vanished. The desire of the heart is para- mount to the decision of the brain. The love of life is so potent it refuses to be deceived by the delusion of death. Imagination is so rife and native to the mind, it easily constructs a future for the departed which appeals convincingly to the heart-sick mourner. We are still infants in thought and our faith is that of childhood. We may reason as we please we cannot reason ourselves away from the consciousness of existence. To the most of us, the dead are still living— aye, living, never to die. A gentleman recently told me this story. He was conversing with another ^bout a celebrated orator. The young man spoke of him as though he were 540 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY still alive. My friend reminded him that he should be spoken of in the past tense. The young man, a moment confused, looked up strangely and said, "That is true ; but somehow I cannot think of him as dead." Such is the faith of the ages, the instinct of the heart, the seeming reassurance of the soul. Beauti- fully has Wordsworth reflected it in his little poem: " How many are you, then," I said, " If there are two in heaven ?" Quick was the little child's reply, " 0, master, we are seven ! " " But they are dead; those two are dead; Their spirits are in heaven;" ^Twas throwing words away ; for still. The little maid would have her will. And said: "Nay, we are seven." Such a simple, childish faith is in point of senti- ment, indeed, beautiful. But is it wholly desirable ? Shall the dream of childhood continue to be the fancy of age ? Must philosophy and science resolve themselves into mere poetry in the presence of the most solemn experience of mortal existence ? Shall the drama of reality be converted into a ro- mance of the imagination, however impossible, be- cause the mind hesitates to shock the heart, or knowledge fears to disturb the sensibilities of the soul? Is faith fairer than truth, comfort sweeter than conviction, delusion nobler than reality ? Is it not wiser that we listen unhaltingly to Na- ture's voice, that by her laws she may determine CONCLUSION 541 lor us all the issues of existence ? How often have not our passionate desires disappointed us? How often have the promises of some illusive faith de- serted us, who fondly clung with desperate devotion to its dissolving form ! Were not once the gods of old supreme, and did they not assure mankind of protection and defense? How glorious those ancient temples; how supernal their divinities! And yet with seeming ruthless hand hath Science bit by bit rent the deceptive veil and scattered the corpses of expired deities in the wilderness of hu- man imagination. How unsanctified now the dust of ages gathers on ruined temples reared to pious Fancy! Where now is the beautiful divine Apollo, the majestic reign of Minerva, the hunting ground of Juno, or Jupiter's irradiant thunder ? Where now are the shadowy heights of Olympus, the sepulchral shades of Hades, the flames of Tartarus, the undy- ing splendors of Elysium ? If ever thus have faiths and fancies, however sacred, vanished under the glare of increasing knowledge ; if ever the fair hope of famed Hesperides, beyond the crystal sea, dis- solves, and its golden apples, once grasped, turn to ashen fruit; if ever, like an illusive mirage, they have deceived, howbeit for a time regaled the heart ; is it not wiser to await the more lasting triumphs of undaunted Science, the explorer of the infinite ; to welcome each new island of truth discerned in the shimmering seas of fanciful faith? Is it not wiser to discover and exult, than to conjecture and rejoice ? And if, perchance, in such discovery all that we 542 SCIENCE AND IMMOETALITY tave heretofore been led to hope for and anticipate, be not fulfilled ; if, mayhap, it shall be shown that there exists no general Elysium into which the gods shall gather the elect of earth ; nor a gruesome Tar- tarus whose singeing flames shall mantle the limbs of ill-starred mortals ; need we despair ? If all has been but a beautiful dream or a hideous nightmare, why should we not learn the truth as Nature is will- ing to reveal it to us ? If, indeed, there be a life beyond, we should not halt to learn the law by which it may be attained ; nor think that it is our due because we have been forced into existence here. As struggle, conquest, achievement, in spite of obstacle and opposition, is the law of this planetary life, Nature may yet show us that the like law must needs prevail in what life may be beyond the grave. It may be that some shall live, though omniverous Death may seize us all. But Nature may yet ex- plain to us that life continues beyond, not merely as a necessary consequence of the life that here exists, but is attained by conquest, by stress of effort, by strain of character. It may be, as has been intimated in the deductions made from scien- tific revelations in the preceding pages, that only they shall go into another vital experience who shall prove their right by force of moral fibre, by tenac- ity of purpose, by virility of personal consciousness. Perhaps the poet sings in imagery the truth that Science reveals in sober fact. " Foil'd by our fellow man, depressed, outworn. We leave the brutal world to take its way. CONCLUSION 543 And^ Patience! in another life we say, The world shall be thrust down and we upborne! " And will not, then, the immortal armies scorn The world^B poor, routed leavings? Or will they, Who failed under the heat of this lifers day. Support the fervors of the heavenly mom? " No, no ! The energy of life may be Kept on, after the grave; but not begun! And he, who flagged not in the earthly strife From strength to strength advancing, — only ke^ His soul well knit and all his battles won, Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life ! " Scientifically interpreted, I am inclined to be- lieve that the above lines of Arnold are a truthful, poetic discernment of the law that postulates the possible life beyond the grave, which may await the triumphant of earth, whose achievements shall have earned what no deity can grant, what mere idle and impassive faith cannot bestow. INDEX INDEX ABBOT, 0. G., on the '"N" ported by Dr. Prince, 331, rays of M. Blondlot, 453. Bernstein, Professor, quoted, Abercrombie, Dr., report of 226. case of telepathic vision, Binet and Fere, quoted on 311. hypnotic experiments, 105. Action at distance without Binet, on clairvoyant sight, contact, in Nature, 369, 370. 117; on secondary con- "After Death What?" (Lom- sciousness, 313; on dual broso) quoted, 301, 308, consciousness and bridge 424. between, 227, 244; on in- "Age, Growth and Death" tegrity of ego, 263. (Minot) cited, 390, 406, "Black Light," magical pos- 499. sibilities of, 365. Akaakoff, case of hallucina* Blondlot, discoverer of '*N" tion by telepathy, 308. rays, 452. "Albert *X'" case of, 197. "B" Mme., case of Drs. Gil- Alexander, ("Dynamic bert and Janet, 219. Theory") quoted on phos- Bourne, Ansel, case of, 199ff. phorescent fungi, 68. Boys, I*rofesaor Vernon, on "Alteration of Personalities" Incomprehensibility of (Binet) quoted, 213, 263. Gravity, 369. "Animal Magnetism, A Criti- Brain, an instrument respond- cal history of," (Deleuze) ing to vibrations, 467; cells, quoted, 126. durability of, 506. Animals seeing ghosts or Bridge, physical, between con- "spirits," 480. scious and unconscious Apparitions (Brougham's), mind, 94. 326; of body just deceased, Brougham, Lord, sees appari- 327, 338; hmt as to nature tion of deceased friend, 326. of, 332. Burq, experiment with metals Atom, the involved force of, on human sensitivity, 188. causative origin of the uni- verse, 357. Atoms, spectrum analysis of, CALKINS, Professor G. N., 64. on food supply of cells, 61; cited 347; on death of germ BARADUC, on photographing plasm, 405. thought-forms, 444, 472. Carrington, Hereward, 184. Bastian, Dr. H. C, quoted Caryoplasm, its functions, 83, on nerve action and con- oflSce, 391. sciousness, 93; on life-units, Cell energy, its atomic source, 344, 406. 61; dynamic centre of 76; Beauchamp, Miss, case of, re- its supply of food unknown^ 547 548 INDEX 61; source of colossal en- ergy, 431. Cells, special for soul activity, 48; number of in brain, 81; intelligence of, 414; magical powers of, 501; durability of brain, 506. Centrosome, dynamic centre of cell, 76. Charpentier, and '^" rays, 452. Chromatin, function of, 83. Ohromosone, basis of hered- ity, 77. Claire, sister, speaks in for- eign tongues during trance, 468. Clairvoyance, startling cases of, 468. Clairvoyant vision ( Shrub- sole), 309; cases reported by Quackenbos, 318, 319 ; prophetic quality of, 320. Colloidal quality of proto- plasm, 378. Conn, "Story of the Living Machine" quoted, 75, 346; on non-efficiency of chemi- cal cause of life, 348. Consciousness, its seat in the cell-plasm, 120; normal, ac- tive inversely to sub -con- scious, 186; dual, and bridge between, 227 ; law of integrity and perma- nence of, 246; compared to a string of beads, 262; po- larities of, 280. Continuity of subliminal self, 193. Cooke, Florence, '^medium" and '*Katie King," 176. Corpuscle of negative electri- city, 412; developed from ether liberation and will force in brain, 413; Men- delief, on origin of, 413. Corpuscular, or electric, in- visible body described, 398; physical instrument of will, 410. Correlate, dynamic, of thought, 267. Correlates, physical and psy- chical, 235. Crampton, Professor H. W., quoted on function of chro- matin, 83. Crookes, Sir William, quoted 17; on vibratory nature of psychic phenomena, 35; on relation of thought to vi- brations, 36; and clair- voyant experiment, 116; quoted about "Katie King," 176; photographing "Katie King," 322; on verity of phychic phenomena, 325; cited, 450. Crowd, psychology of, 36. Curie, Mme., on excitation of phosphorescent substances by radium radiation, 66. Cytoplasm, its function, 82; office of, 391. DARWIN, Professor Francis, on altering effects of shade and sun on vegetation, 372. Dastre, definition of life, 53; on possible new varieties of energy, 55; quoted on en- ergy in cheraicalisation, 349; on universality of mo- tion, 352; on mysterious will-excitation, 431. Davis, Andrew Jackson, re- ferred to, 100. Death, not natural, 406. Deleuze, on animal magnet- ism, 126. Descartes, quoted on mechan- ism of body, 401. Dessoir, Max, quoted, 230. INDEX 549 Destiny in protoplasm, 29. 491; infinite vibrations of Dialectical Society of Lon- strata of, 465. don, results of psychical ex- Ethereal charge in nerve en- perimenta, 140. ergy, 415. "Dissociation of Personality/' "Evolution of Forces" (Le cited, 323. Bon) quoted, 360, 366, 378, Dodd, Professor, results of 414, 417, 421, 431, 434, 450, psychological experiments, 451, 464, 483. 336, flf. "Evolution of Matter," (Le Dolbear, Professor, definition Bon) quoted, 70, 458. of life, 53. "Experimental Zoology," Donaldson, quoted on the cited, 406. brain, 81. "Double Consciousness" (Bi- FANOHJIR, Molly, case of, net), quoted, 117. 253. ^ "Double" the of Goethe, 316, Faraday, M., cited on electro- of George Sand, 316. magnetism, 540. Dream-consciousness, its na- Fasting, phenomenal cases of, ture, 230. 463. Duncan, Professor, quoted on Ferrier, quoted on nerve ac- radium, 66 ; his **New tion and mental modifica- knowledge," cited, 423. tiona, 93; on organic basis Dynamic centre of cell, 76. of consciousness and mem- ory, 103, Field, Kate, alleged spirit EFFLUVIUM at finger tips, communication with Lilian 298. Whiting, 96 ff. "Eiffluves, radio-active, 376. "Fire Medium," 181. Ego, conditional integrity of, Flammarion on clairvoyant 261; primary, Moll on, 263; experiments, 113, 302; ex- sub-conscious, described by periments with Paladino, Professor Peterson, 285. 296. Elbe, Louis on future life, 136. Flammarion's "Mysterious "Emanations," neither mate- Psychic Forces," quoted, 15, rial nor immaterial. Flames shooting from himian Energy, mutations of basic fingers, 180. force of universe, 350; and Flight of birds and intra- motion, 351; intra-atomic, atomic energy, 464. 354; in flight of birds, 463. "Foam cells," 376. Ether, the universal matrix, Food supply of vital cell un- 39; final destruction of, known, 61. 40; inhabited by thought- "Footfalls," (Owen) quoted, forms, 41; nature of dis- 481. cussed, 341; 'Tx)und" and Fosket, "fire medium," case "free," 342; relation to examined by Professor Hys- sensation, thought, etc., lop, 181. 344; "interleaved" (Lodge) Foster, Dr., definition of life, on, 350; spaceless, timeless, 53. 550 INDEX Fungi, phosphorescent, 68. "Future Life," (Elbe), cited, 126. GASPARIN, Count de, vari- ous psychic experiments of, 135. Germ-plasm, continuity of, 395; possible death of, 405. Giesen, Dr. Van, report of remarkable hypnotic case, 193. Goethe, on seeing his own "double," 316. Gravitation, incomprehensi- bility of, 369. Gray, Professor, quoted on phosphorescence of sea waves, 69. "Growth of Brain" (Donald- son), quoted, 81. Gurney, Edmund, causes a telepathic vision at dis- tance, 305. HAECKEL, on pure, unorgan- ised protoplasm, 346, 347; definition of life, 53; on ul- timate life units, 59; cited, 75; on cell functons, 83; on sub-consciousness, 86; on plasm -agitation as source of consciousness, 120; on sensation and consciousness, 128; on colloidal quality of protoplasm, 378; cited, 391, 392, 394. Hallucination at distance by telepathy (Gurney), 305; AksakoA, 308; nature and explanation of, 317. Halo, invisible surrounding every body, 360. Hamilton, Sir William, on la- tent nrodifications in men- tal activity, 273. Hannah, Rev. Thomas, case of, 347. Hartmann, E. von, quoted, 108. Haunted Houses, scientifically accounted for, 483. Heredity and chromosone of cells, 77. Himstedt, Dr. Franz, quoted, on spectra of atoms, 64, 65. Hitchcock, Mrs., hypnotized by Dr. Van Giesen to di- vulge secrets of murder, 193. Hodgson, Dr., report on case of Ansel Bourne, 202 ; on ghost-seeing animals, 480. Home, the medium, levitation of explained, 450. Hopps, Rev. Page, on appa- rition of body just deceased, 326. Hudson, T. J., cited, 25. Huxley, on miracles, 281; re- ferred to, 497. "I^pnotic Therapeutics," (Quackenbos), quoted, 317. **Hypnotism," (Moll), quoted, 118, 236, 262. Hyslop, Professor Jas. H., quoted, 23, 181, 204; case of hallucination reported, 306; his theory of telepathy criticised, 475 ff. IDENTITY, personal, the mechanical law of, 279. Immaterial elements photo- graphed, 460. Inflation of curtains by 'me- dium,' scientifically ex- plained, 454. "Intellectual Powers of Man," quoted 214, 215. "Intra-atomic energy," 433 ; and flignt of birds, 464. Inspiration, subliminal, ex- plained, 101. Inverse activity of the Con- INDEX 551 scious and the Unconscious, 186. JAMES, Prof. William, quot- ed, 14, 31. Janet, Professor, experiments with subject, Ix)uise, 309; with Mme, «B," 319. "Journal of American Soci- ety for Psychical Research, cited 475. "Journal of Experimental Psychology," 307. "Journal of Experimental Zoology," quoted 405. KELVIN, Lord, on tremen- dous force in hydrogen atom, 357, "King, Katie,*' materialised through Florence Gooke, 176 ; photographed by Crookes, 323. LADD, Dr. G. T., on the sub- conscious, 85. Leach, Professor Livingston, on effect of radio-activity in horticulture, 371. Le Bon, Gustave, on invisible halo surrounding bodies, 360; on "black light," 361; on intelligence of cells, 411; on immensity of intra- atomic force, 415; on intra- atomic force of kola, caffe- ine, etc., 431; on invisible rays of light that penetrate opaque objects, 363; on ef- fect of radio-activity in horticulture, 370; on un- discovered forces in Nature, 373; on colloidal substances, 378; on intelligence of cells, 414,431 ; on intra-atomic energy released by special excitants, 434; on induced radio-activity, 450, 458; on photographing radio-ac- tive corpuscles, 459, 460 ; cited, 471, 483, 517, 518; quoted, 31, 37, 38, 40; on definition of life, 53; on seeing in dark, 67; on elec- trical activity of cell life, 70; on chemical compounds and vitalistic energy, 353, 354 ; on dematerialisation of cosiuic forces, 357, Lewes, Prof. G. H., quoted, 93. Liebeault, report of case of will force on sub-conscious mind, 430. Life, inexplicability of, 53 ; ultimate units of, invisible, 59. "Life units," (Bastian) , de- scribed, 347. Light, invisible rays of, 483. "Living Machine, the Story of," (Conn) quoted, 75, 346, 349. Living matter, nature and ori- gin of, (Bastian), 347; ulti- mate ethereal nature of, 518. "IJocalisation of Functions of the Brain, (Ferrier), quot- ed, 93, 103. Lodge, Sir Oliver, on "inter- leaved" ether, 350 ; cited, 393; on nature of ether, 343. Lombroso on materialisations, 301, 303; on mediumistic force, 304, 315; on "spirit" photography, 323; referred to, 424. iJongevity, 524. '^Louise," hypnotic subject of Professor Janet, 209. Lubbeck, Sir John, referred to as president of London Di- alectical Society, 140. 552 INDEX MAGNETIC (eleetro) nature of thought, 340. Manaceine, quoted on lumi- nosity of protoplasm, 67 ; on physical source of hered- ity, 79 ; on sub -conscious- ness. 84. Materialisation by M. Meu- rice, 300; by telepathy, 305, 308; by "Spirit" mediums scientifically explained, 454j 455, 456. Matter, destructibility of, 40; dematerialisation of, 355. Maudsley, quoted on the sub- conscious, 85; on uncon- scious stimulation of the brain, 100; on physical basis of memory, 102. Maupas, on death of germ- plasm, 405. Maxwell, Dr., referred to and quoted, 292, 298, 300, 316, 454. Memory and motion, laws of, 275. Memory-forms of personality, 259; memory-groups of per- sonality, 262. Memory, physical basis of, 102, 103; in the hand, 244; basis of consciousness, 245; permanent in sub-conscious- ness, 255; and motion, 275. Mendelief, on origin of elec- trical corpuscles, 413. '^Mental Suggestion," (Ocho- rowics, 276. Mercier, Dr. Ch., quoted, on Unconsciousness, 85, on memory, 271. Mesmer, quoted, 339. "Metaphysical Phenomena," quoted, 292, 316, 319. Metaphysical VB. Physical, 287. Meurice, M., "medium" of Dr. Maxwell, 292. Meynert, on number of cells in brain, 81. "Mind and Body," (Mauds- ley), quoted, 88; (Romanes) quoted, 92. Mind and vibratory motion, (Homanes), 92. Mind-force, remarkable case cited by Ochorowics, 428. Minot, Professor C. S., quoted, 347, 390, 395, 406; on ori- gin of death, 408; private letter of, 499. Miracles, Huxley quoted on, 291. "Modern Light on Immortal- ity," quoted, 104, 499, 523. "Modern Views of Electri- city," (Lodge), quoted, 343. Molecular mechanism as basis of all existence, ( Dastre ) , 352. Molisch, on phosphorescence in living bodies, 359. Moll, quoted on primary ego, 262; on transferrenee of or- ganic functions in hypno- tism, 118; cited, 230, 236, 289. Montgomery, Professor, quot- ed on subliminal inspira- tion, 101. Morgan, Thomas H., Profes- sor, quoted, on deathless- ness of germ-plasm, 406. Motion and energy, 351; and mind, 92; and memory, 275. Motion caused by 'medium* without contact, 294 ; in Nature without contact, 369, 370. Muensterberg, Professor, an- swered by Prof. Hyslop, 22; quoted on biological na- INDEX 553 ture of psychic elements, 34. "Multiple Personality," (Sidia and Goodman), 256, 283. Mumler, first "spirit" pho- tographer, Lombroso on, 322. Muscle tension and psychic force, cases of, 315, 316. Myers, F. W., quoted, 24, 85; on subliminal self, 87. "Mysterious Psychic Forces," (Flammarion), cited, 303. "NATURAL Salvation," (Ste- phens), 49, 380, 382, 398, 417, 463, 524. "Naturalisation of the Super- natural," (Podmore), 97. ''Nature and Origin of Living Matter," (Bastian), 407. "Nature Miracles," quoted, 69. Nerves, ramifications of, 338, and galvanometric response, 340. "New Knowledge," (Duncan), quoted, 66, 423. Nothingness as primal source of matter, 39. "N" ray, its eifects, 452, 453. Nuns, Ursiline, great mind readers, 468. OCHOROWICS, quoted, 276; on experiment with Eusa- pia Paladino, 302; on telep- athy, 336; on energy and a remarkable case of mind motion, 351; cited, 428; on force, 428. Organisation, its relation to "immortal" life, 523, 524. Origin of radio-activity in matter, 376, 377, Ostwald, Professor, quoted, 121. Owen, R. B., on case of ani- mals seeing ghosts, 480. PALADINOO. Eusapia, 295, 315. Personality and memory groups, 261; Boris Sidis on, 265. "Personality" defined, 257 ; and memory-forms, 259 ; and will, 265. Peterson, Professor F., on sub-conscious ego, 280, 285. "Phenomena of Spiritualism," quoted, 184. "Philosophy of Mind" (Ladd), referre to, 85. Phosphorescent substances,, excitation of by radium ra- diations, 66. Photographs of radio-active corpuscles, 459. Photography ( 'spirit') 322 ; Sir William Crookes' expe- rience with, 323. Physical and psychical corre- lates, 215. Physical vs. metaphysical, 287. Podmore, Frank, quoted, on clairvoyance, 110. Polarities of consciousness, 280. Prince, Dr. Morton, case of Miss Beauchamp, 221; case illustrating insurgence of secondary self, 282. "Problems of Life" (Lewes) quoted, 92, Prophecy, power of scientifi- cally explained, 492. Prophetic quality of clairvoy- ant vision, 319. Protoplasm, destiny in, 29; its structure defined by Haeckel, 75; its mysterious chemical energy, 354; col- 554 INDEX loidal not fluid, 378; Haeck- el on structureless, 393, 394. Protoplasmic body described, 393, 396; its functions, 410. Psychical and physical corre- lates, 215. "Psychical Borderland," quot- ed, 302. Psychic force and muscle ten- sion, 315, 316. Psychology of the Crowd, 38. "Psychology of Mind," (Maudsley), quoted, 100. "Psychology of Suggestion,'' ( Ochorowics ) , referred to, 187, 218, 231. "Psychology, Normal and Morbid," (Mercier), quoted, 86. QUINCKE, Professor, on "foam cells," 376. Quackenbos, Dr., citing clair- voyant cases, 318. RADIO-ACTIVE corpuaclea photographed, 459. Radio-activity in horti3ulture, 370, 371. Radio, activity in matter, ori- gin of, 376, 377; and sub- conscious will, 430, 431; and will energy, 519. Radio-activity universal in all forms of matter, 66; in- duced, (Le Bon), 450. Radium, its intrinsic prop- erty, 66. Radium spectra exciting phos- phorescent substances, 66 ; Raymond, Du Bois, on gal- vanometric response to nerve action, 340. Rays, invisible, 483. Recognitive self-conscious- ness, 267. Reed, Professor Thomas, quot- ed on integrity of ego, 314. Reichenbach, Baron, referred to, 127. "Revelations of a Spirit Me- dium" referred to, 184. Reynolds, Mary, case of dou- ble consciousness, 206. Ribot, quoted on nerve activ- ity and consciousness, 95; referred to, 335. "Riddle of Personality," (Bruce), referred to, 214. Rochas, referred to on odic force and experiments, 129, 131. Romanes, quoted on mind and vibratory motion, 93. Rutherford, Professor, re- ferred to, 518. SAND, George, on seeing her own 'double,' 316. Schleiden, referred to, 387. Schwann, referred to, 387. Scripture, Dr., quoted, 91. Secondary self, insurgency of, 283. Self-eonsciousness, recogni- tive, 267. Self, sub-waking, 268 ; its ephemeral nature, 269. Shrubsole, sees his own son hundred miles away, 309. Sidis, Boris, referred to, 189; quoted, 318, 231, 344, 347, 250, 355; experiment with force of will in hypnotism, 365; on personality, 365; referred to, 267, 269, 282, 283. "Sleep, its Psychology, etc.,'' (Manaceine), quoted, 67, 84. Smithsonian Reports (1898), quoted, 350; (1903), quoted, 433, 453. INDEX 555 Soul-activity, special cells for, 48. Soul-body and cell organism, 345. Soul-force, cases illustrating, 293. Soul, scientific nature of, 34; erroneous views of, 47 ; source and evolution of, 48; destruction of, in cell disso- lution, 51, 52. Space, non-existent in pure ether, 491. "Somatic" body, its descrip- tion, 392, 396; its func- tions, 410. "Sound," (Tyndal), quoted, 338. Spectrum, analysis of atoms, 64. Spencer, Herbert, definition of evolution, 387. "Spirit Manifestations exam- ined," (Dodd), 337. "Spirit" photography scien- tifically explained, 471. Stephens, Dr. C. A., quoted, 49, 50, 51; on food supply of cell, 61; referred to, 380, 382 ; quoted on source of will power, 383; referred to, 398, 411, 412, 413, 415, 446, 506; on obery in bird life, 463; cited, 524. "Studies in Psychical Re- search" (Podmore), quoted, 108. Sub-conscious ego described by Prof. Peterson, 285. Sub-conscious mind, controls radio-active corpuscles, 461. Sub-conscious will and radio- activity, 430, 431. Sub-conacious, the, physical seat of, 83. Subliminal mind, defined by Myers, 87. Subliminal self, unbroken continuity of 193; its na- ture discussed, 229. Synchronism between muscle action and psychic phe- nomena, 316. TELEPATHIC visions, 305, 307, 309, 311. Telepathy, explained by Crookes, 36; its nature dis- cussed, 325; Ochorowics, on, 336; What is it? 337; Substantial medium of, dis- cussed, 339 ; theory of criticised, 473, 474. "Thinking, Feeling, Doing," (Scripture), quoted, 91. Thought, as organised form, 40 ; electro -magnetic na- ture of, 341. Thought-forms, in Ether, 276; dynamic correlate of, 276 ; • how created and transported, 482; described, 485. Three bodies in human or- ganism ; physical, vitalis- tic, radio-active, 383. Time, non-existent in pure ether, 491. Trauslucency of all opaque objects, 363. Tyndal, Prof., referred to, 237; on varied functions of different nerves, 338. UNCONSCIOUS Mind de- fined, 87. Unconscious, the, active in- versely to the Conscious, always awake, 228. '^Unconscious, the Philosophy of the," (Hartmann), quot- ed, 68. Ultimate units of life invis- 556 INDEX ible, 59, unnucleated, 393, 394. Ursuline Nuns, great mind readers, 468. VIBRATIONS and mind ac- tion, 92; infinite strata of in ether, 465. Vitalism and chemical action, 351, 353. WALLACE, Professor, on Telepathy, 480. Wedding, on quantity of in- visible rays, 483. Weismann, referred to, 394; on continuity of germ plasm, 405. Wharley, Fleetwood, referred to, 129. Whiting, Lilian, psychic ex- periment of, with Kate Field, 96, 97. Will, office of its force in human organism, 264; pos- itive and integrity of per- sonality, 265; in hypno- tism, 265; physical source of in cell, 383 ; active through electric corpuscles of brain, 413; sub-conscious and radio-activity, 430, 431, energy of and radio-active substance, 519. Wilson, Professor, E. B. on unbroken plasmic substance of living bodies, 396. Wolfart, cited, on hypnotic sleep, 99. "Wonders of lafe," (Haeckel) 82, 86, 120, 121, 123, 391, 393, 394. Wundt, quoted on the Uncon- scious, 106. MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY BEING AN ORIGINAL EXCURSION INTO HISTORICAL RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY POINTING TO A NEW SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM BY HENRY FRANK This volume is one of the author's most import- ant contributions to the literature of the science of life, and carries the reader through the whole range of Nature and human experience, through philosophy and the natural sciences, through religious and ethical doctrines and beliefs ancient and modern. Freed from all traditional predilec- tions and unimpeded by preconceived notions, he has traversed with a truly scientific spirit and in logical sequence the historical and philosophical ground of the doctrine ; yet the scope of the author's survey is such as to make this retrospect only preliminary to the main theme. For with this historical data as an introduction or background for the modern scientific aspect of the problem, Mr. Frank ventures, in the light of the latest facts and observations of experimental science^ upon a heretofore untrodden way. The author's unanticipated conclusions, although un- usual, are thus established upon carefully and properly sifted scientific data. Mr. Frank has realized that his conclusions must be derived from sources wholly divorced from any metaphysics or philosophy that was tinged with religious pre- judice. So he has drawn freely upon such authori- ties as the great German biologists, histologists and chemists, and upon a score of recent scientific explorers such as Huxley, Darwin, Crookes, Lord Kelvin, and others. But the method of approach and the conclusions reached are wholly original, the volume thus becoming the expression of the MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY latest and most authoritative message on its tremendous subject. It is a book to compel attention and profound consideration and it has awakened wide discussion, as is shown by the following EXCERPTS SELECTED FROM OVER 100 PRESS REVIEWS San Francisco Chronicle: "Extraordinary in the nature of its argument for immortality, a surprise to the author, who has frankly presented the result of his own individual researches, 'Modern Light on Immortality* is a record of the writer's explorations in search of a rational basis for a belief in a future life for man, during whose course he has ransacked the very Cosmos for evidence, and found it where he least expected it. Mr. Frank is a philosophical and psychological writer of some note, a member of the American Institute for Scientific Research, and founder and for over ten years speaker for the Metropolitan Independent Church, of New York City. Above all, he is a seeker after truth. . . Unwittingly and without design the author maintains that science has furnished the thinking world with certain data, which, while doing no violence to logic, may be utilized in forming a rational and more intel- ligent conception concerning the possibilities of the after life than man has ever been permitted to enter- tain in all the past." Springfield Republican : "The age long quest for assurance concerning an after life finds another explorer in the person of Henry Frank, whose voice and pen have made him familiar to a wide circle of readers and thinkers, especially among the liberal school. His explorations are pre- sented in a volume entitled 'Modern Light on Immor- tality.' He calls it an original excursion into histori- cal research and scientific discovery, pointing to a new solution of the problem. His method seems to be what he claims — original; we do not recall another approach to the subject along just these lines. Briefly stated,. he discards all theories propounded by philosophy and religion, and through the new psychology argues his way to a belief that the human soul has the power of indefinite survival. His argument is in two parts. Historically he reviews all that is available of human MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY thought concerning immortality, the primitive sources of belief in the after life, the Druidic, Egyptian, Assy- rian, Chaldaean, Greek, Hebrew, Christian, concep- tions, giving to the latter about one-third of the space alloted to this part of his research. Holding to a late date for the composition of the gospels, and that the Christian revelation or speculation, the best of all, is unauthoritative, the author closes the first part of the search for truth with the negative argument prepon- derant; the old arguments to him seem puerile, weak and ineffective, and he acknowledges that thus far the quest has been disappointing; and the author is left in the position of the Knights of the Round Table in their search for the Holy Grail — following wander- ing fires. In the second part the author starts on a new trail. , . Dr. Frank believes he has found the right path of the ultimate goal." The Review of Reviews'. "Mr. Henry Frank, the minister of an independent religious congregation in New York City searching for 'Modern Light on Immortality* finds it in the re- searches of biology and physics. This is the instruc- tive part of the volume; its first half finds only dark- ness on the subject elsewhere, even in the teaching of Jesus. 'Bioplasmic substance' constitutes a spiritual body within the mortal body, and this is immortal, the permanent abode and organ of conscious person- ality. To this, as confirmatory of the Gospels, no Christian need object." The Lutheran Observer-. "A book with a bias, and a bias far away from orthodox Christianity. It is divided into two parts. . both discussions are interesting. . . The final con- clusion is remarkable in that the author's maze of materialistic reasoning brings him in the end to what amounts to a doctrine of a spiritual body and a psychic personality surviving the process of death, for certain human beings who have attained a unitary self-consciousness resulting from the refinement of psychic 'cells' " The Homiletic Review: "The point of interest in this book is the original conclusion to which the author arrives. The cell structure of the refined physical body may persist after the coarser structure dissolves, being supported by nutriment correspondingly refined. Along with the MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY concensus of the psychic 'cells' having developed an organic self-consciousness by which they are in turn co-ordinated into a unitary working possibility, may correspondingly be supported by appropriate environ- ment. This amounts to a doctrine of a spiritual body, and a psychic personality, surviving the process of death. This, however, happens only with those human beings who have attained to this unitary self-con- sciousness resulting from the refinement of the cells. Thia speculation is very interesting." The Western Christian Advocate: "The question of immortality does not lose its inter- est. The volume under review is an attempt at a most comprehensive study of the question. The author seeks to enter all realms of knowledge, and experi- ence where light may be gained, and says that he shrinks not from the truths discovered In a spirit of scientific enquiry he knocks at the door of nature, human experience, philosophy, science, history, and religion, and is satisfied only with an entrance and a careful examination of all these realms. Beginning with the antiquity of man's faith, he follows the evo- lution of this faith in immortality through the cen- turies down to the time of Christ. Shifting then from the historical and experimental phrase of the subject, he enters the philosophical and the scientific realm and seeks to bring their message to bear upon the prob- lem. . . We do not hesitate to say that to the Chris- tian student who seeks light from whatever source on the problem of immortality, the book will prove of value because it presents much that is truly original, thought-stimulating and pertinent to the problem. It probably brings together more material shedding light on the problem than > any similar work.*' Zion's Herald', "The author of this book does not profess to have advanced an argument which finally proves the im- mortality of the human soul ; but he has made " strong approach towards it. He started from a basis of much skepticism, not to give it a harsher name, with a sincere desire for the truth. He comes out with a very assured faith, much surprised at the result. He feels and has a right to feel, that 'his deductions are strictly logical and grounded on accurate and indis- putable scientific data. It is a long process. . . . The author discusses the nature of matter, the gen- ration of instinct, psychogeny or soul generation, the origin of organic life, physical origin of self-con- MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY sciousness, identity of substance, energy and spirit, physical and psychical immortality, and similar difficult questions. And. , there is another extensive treatise to follow, which will traverse the discoveries of modern research pertaining to the existence and powers of the 'Psychic Basis of the Soul' or the 'Un- conscious Self/ We shall look for it with interest." Times Saturday Review of Books: "A 'Modern Light on Immortality.' The problem of the Future State on Evidence Derived from All Sources, discussed by Mr. Frank (here follows a column and a half review closing with:) There is much in this volume which will stimulate rational thought and enquiry even if it falls short of offering anything positive. The author is to be commended for industry, impartiality and the generally successful way in which he handles his facts." Editorial from another edition of the Times Saturday Review : ROBERT ELSMERE ANTICIPATED "The story of the minister driven to doubt by scientific study was commonplace in the United States long before the day of 'Robert Elsmere," and Henry Frank, the author of 'Modern Light on Immortality,' lived it while he was yet one of the youngest members of the Minnesota Confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was publicly informed by his Bishop that he could not be allowed to deliver himself of such ideas as he had come to entertain. He left the Methodist Episcopal Church and vainly tried to remain content with the creed of another. Before abandoning the effort he came to New York, founded a congregation of the most liberal nature, and served it for ten years. He found, however, that his people, being under no especial obligation to believe anything, were desirous of being assured on new grounds of the immortality of the soul, and set himself to look for them, riot expecting to find any. History, exhaustively examined, left both him and his congregation where it found them; science compelled him to accept the disputed doc- trine, and his book tells the story of his quest." Providence Journal: "Mr. Frank approaches the theory of immortality in a markedly original way. He attempts to ignore altogether tradition and to look at history and philo- sophy with unprejudiced eyes. Some of his conclu- MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY sions are rather startling. , . In his survey of im- mortality and modern science, Mr. Frank gives us some interesting conclusions. His knowledge is con- siderable and his ingenuity is even greater. . . But to give unqualified approval to all his deductions would be impossible. Nevertheless, the book is in many ways a notable contribution to original study of the problem of immortality; it is at all events worth reading. . ." From Edwin Markham's review in the New York American and the San Francisco Examiner: "'Modern Light on Immortality,' by Henry Frank, is a book that will be a consolation and a stay to thousands. It is based on the affirmation that science supports the fact of immortality of the human soul. Mr. Frank, putting out of his mind all the assertions of the ancient scriptures of all nations, searches through nature and human experience for some under- lying principle that will throw light on the problem. He probes all religions, all philosophies, seeking for the grounds and evidences of immortality, and then examines them under the sharp light of modern ex- perimental science. . . His scholarly, thoughtful argument is well worth study, and will aid many restless seekers after truth to find the peace that they cannot find in the old, simple act of faith. . His conclusions will be found highly suggestive to all thinking minds, and highly consoling to all who cling to the nobler hopes of religion. I wish the book a million readers." Universalist Leader: "This is the book of one who has arrived at doubt concerning the entire Gospel story of the resurrec- tion, and is searching for some other basis for faith in immortality. Henry Frank is a seeker. He joined long ago those who never pitch their tent permanently. They have taken to the open road. Whatever Mr. Frank says or writes is vital and stimulating. , , After elaborately uncovering what he believes to be the weak spots in the Biblical proof of immortality, the author proceeds just as elaborately to unfold what he believes to be the scientific proof of immortality. Whether he succeeds in making this change of base must be left to the readers of his book. . . Cer- tainly, if one is looking for an earnest, scholarly discussion of the subject from one who has the mind of the critic and the instinct of worship, he could MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY go much farther and fare much worse then follow Henry Frank in his search for the clue to immortality." Reformed Church Messenger", "This book is undoubtedly an able one. It is ad- mittedly incomplete, and, extended as this volume is, it is to be supplemented by 'another volume which shall traverse the discoveries of modern research per- taining to the existence of the Soul or the Uncon- scious Self.' A monist is the writer, a warm disciple of Haeckel, accepting most of his positions, but he rejects the latter's materialism, and throughout is not only profoundly earnest but is equally reverent. . , Altogether, it is a notable book and one which those who prefer to face as best they can and not to shun the problems of existence, will, in spite of a few relapses and imperfections, very heartily delight in." Light, {London, Eng.) : "We must do Mr. Frank the justice to say that his 'Excursion into historical research and scientific dis- covery,' is devised on a scale and carried out with a thoroughness that must command attention and re- spect. His book is valuable in many ways, but is especially so as a fine exposition of 'Monism* on a loftier and larger stage than Haeckel's, and his special merit is that he does not so much oppose and reply to Haeckel as expound him and give him a hand up. He fully recognises that it is a real universe, that Nature is altogether a unity, and that what we call the soul is the 'organized expression, through certain highly developed physiological avenues, of that uni- versal energy which everywhere exists as impersonal and semi-intelligent,' and which in man becomes self- conscious and supremely intelligent. . . It is well and modernly put, and it is valuable." Chicago Post: "It is a relief to turn to the scholarly work of Mr. Henry Frank, who goes to science for illumination on personal immortality. . . The book may be read with profit and enjoyment on account of the stimulat- ing quality of such an attempt. Mr. Frank shows wide reading and scientific sympathy, colored by re- spect to the religious consciousness. . . He promises another book shortly which will elucidate his theory in regard to a subliminal self and its immortality. Many, however, will remain perfectly satisfied with the present volume for it undoubtedly points the way to that impersonal immortality which is satisfying to many noble minds." MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY The Interior: "This work professes to be a thorough going rein- vestigation of the problem of a future life without any bias or prejudgment whatever. Traditional teach- ings on the subject are set aside by the author as untenable in the light of modern science. Similarly, deductions of the doctrine of immortality from the Bible are left behind as of little value, since the author has ceased to believe in the reality of divine revela- lation. Accordingly, the only source of approach to the truth left is that pursued by the scientists. An investigation of this sort has both a negative and a positive side, and the author gives both of these. The author seems to adopt Haeckel's monism, Darwin's theory of natural selection. Lord Kelvin's views as to the ultimate nature of matter, and in fact, almost every recent formulation regarding life, force and personality, combining all these into the theory of the soul and asserting upon the basis of this synthesis human immortality. It will be unnecessary to pass judgment regarding the validity of the synthesis. Stranger things have sometimes ultimately resulted in a successful, harmonious, philosophical system." Twentieth Century Magazine i "This volume is thoroughly rationalistic. The author views the whole subject through the glasses of the modern materialistic physical scientist, and for this reason his final conclusions are as interesting as they are surprising. In reading the work one cannot fail to be impressed with the fact that Mr. Frank is above all else a truth-seeker. He is thoroughly sincere and absolutely fearless. His writings display the splendid enthusiasm and tireless industry of the mod- ern scientific scholar in studying the history of the past, the philosophical concepts of the ages and the deductions and generalizations of the master physical scientists of our day; and if we find it impossible at times to agree with his conclusions it is because in the study of the mighty problems of man, the uni- verse and the potential immortality of the soul, we reason from different premises. . . It is a great book and one that is bound to challenge the thoughtful attention of thousands of persons who have been dazzled and won over by the modern physical scient- ists who have so wonderfully enriched the thought of the world." The Open Court: "In this carefully prepared volume Mr, Frank. . • MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY presents a thorough study of the immortality prob- lem which he has finally succeeded in solving to his own satisfaction. Led by the insistence of his con- gregation not to neglect the subject, but to deal with it as he has with other themes from a scientific and rational point of view, Mr. Frank consented to take them with him along the path of inquiry, . . Be- ginning almost with the inauguration of human thought" at the dawn of civilization he attempts to set forth the actual state of the human mind with refer- ence to its oft illusive dream." The Living Church: "The author of this remarkable book, having, as he claims, divested himself of every religious belief and theological restriction, undertakes the stupendous task of weighing all evidence bearing upon the popular belief in human immortality with a view of arriving at an independent and unprejudiced conclusion for himself. He traverses the whole range of nature and human experience, he considers and analyzes all re- ligious and philosophical beliefs, ancient and modern. Finally, he studies the problem in the light of the most recent experimental science and so he arrives at his conclusion." The United Presbyterian: "Of the author's ability, industry and sincerity, there can be no doubt. His book is a serious and sincere at- tempt at a modern solution of the ancient prob- lem. . . While admiring the candor which charac- terizes the discussion, we dissent most emphatically from the author's positions set forth in chapters ten and sixteen, inclusive. Part I, in which he undertakes to account for the Jewish and Christian conceptions of an afterlife. In this part he seems to discard di- vine revelation entirely and explains the doctrine of immortality in terms of an enthusiastic Jewish chiliasm or of pagan naturalism. . Paul's doctrine of the resurrection was based on the Eleusinian and Dyoni- sian mysteries. Elsewhere, by a stroke of genius he solves a riddle that has perplexed all commentators and exegetes, ancient and modern, by affirming that Peter was Paul's 'thorn in the flesh.' He also seeks to prove that Peter regarded Paul as 'Simon Magus.'" Brooklyn Times: "This book is especially timely and will be read with pleasure. . . It is a remarkable work in temper, disposition, in a certain clarity of idea, and in manner MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY of presentation. It is xare to see a man of ecclesiastic training pursuing a subject with so admirable a scientific disposition and temper and in so unbiased a fashion as does Dr. Frank in the present volume. . . The book is optimistic. It is the investigation into science that is surprising. It would be too bad to tell what the author finds ; suffice it to say what he finds is astonishing. . , His only wish is to seek and to find the truth. Has he? We leave it to the reader. Our advice is that you read the book. You will find it worth while." Utica Press: "That the soul is to be rewarded with immortality is convincing to the author of this latest work on the subject. He is modest enough to feel uncertain re- garding his influence on other thinkers. Beyond the argument for the indestructibility of the soul he does not venture, for these essays are based on the dis- coveries of science alone and she has dared conjec- ture nothing concerning the future life of man. . . Mr. Frank's original conclusions are worthy of a care- ful study and the results of further research, which he promises in a future volume, are eagerly antici- pated." Glasgow Herald, (Scotland) : "The work, ^Modern Light on Immortality,' must have involved an immense amount of research, both historical and scientific, and though the author's claim to be the only writer who has 'traversed the entire region' may perhaps be questioned, it must be admitted that in tracing the belief in immortality from primeval times downward, he has brought within the compass of a volume of moderate size a mass of information which is likely to prove of great value to those who come after him. But it is not on his historical studies but on his scientific investigations that the author bases his conclusions. . . These views are interest- ing as the result of lengthened and painstaking inquiry and as the final judgment of a man who set forth from a definitely skeptical standpoint. Whether or not they are accepted by Mr. Frank's congregation, they will not improbably meet with keen criticism alike from the orthodox and the scientific standpoint." Large 8 vo. ; 467 pp.; $1.85 net; $2.00 by mail. SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY, PUBUSHERS SIX BEACON STREET, BOSTON. MASSACHUSETTS