D UKE UNIVERSIT Y 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Gift of 
 
 Estate, oi 
 George E. Hcuitman 
 
Date Due 
 
 4 4 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/evolutionofsoul01 huds 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 AND OTHER ESSAYS 
 
BY DR. HUDSON. 
 
 —*— 
 
 THE LAW OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA. 12mo $\.50 
 
 A SCIENTIFIC DEMONSTRATION OF THE 
 
 FUTURE LIFE. 12mo . . . .1.50 
 
 THE DIVINE PEDIGREE OF MAN. l2mo . 1.50 
 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE. 12mo ... I.50 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL. l2mo . l.SO 
 
 A. C. McCLURG & CO. 
 
 CHICAGO. 
 
THE 
 
 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 ©tfjer lEssags 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMSON JAY HUDSON, Ph.D., LL.D. 
 
 AUTHOR OF “the LAW OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA,” “THE LAW OF 
 MENTAL MEDICINE,” ETC. 
 
 WITH PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Third Edition 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 A. C. McCLURG & CO. 
 
 1908 
 
Copyright 
 
 By a. C. McClurg & Co. 
 
 A.D. 1904 
 
 Published March 12, 1904 
 Second Edition, July, 1906 
 Third Edition, November, 1908 
 
 Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 
 
This book is dedicated to my father’s friend, the 
 Reverend Charles L. Arnold 
 as a slight testimotiial of the affection and esteem 
 in which he was held by its author. 
 
 C. £. H. 
 
 « 
 
 855 
 

 i 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I N arranging the following essays and lectures for publication, 
 their respective dates of production have been disregarded 
 for the sake of presenting them, as far as possible, in a natural 
 sequence. The first of the articles contains a statement of the 
 fundamental principles of the author’s hypothesis, and may be 
 regarded as introductory to those which follow. It will be found 
 that these principles are restated, briefly, in other parts of the 
 book; but the repetition is due to the fact that the papers were 
 written at considerable intervals of time, and for readers or 
 audiences not always familiar with the author’s theories. I have 
 ventured, however, to eliminate much of the iterated matter, 
 leaving only that which bears directly upon the subject under 
 consideration in the article in which it occurs. 
 
 It was the author’s purpose to revise his essays before their 
 republication in the form of a collection, but his life’s work 
 ended with the last page of “ The Law of Mental Medicine.” 
 The revision, however, would have resulted only in amplifying 
 and elaborating the applications of his hypothesis. He had no 
 changes to make in its fundamentals. During the ten years 
 which have passed since the appearance of the first of his works 
 on psychological subjects, no fact ever came under his observa¬ 
 tion which demanded the alteration of one of the basic ideas of 
 his theory; and it can be said that he was not only an earnest and 
 fearless seeker after facts, but what is better, an honest one. 
 He found critics and opponents, but the most zealous have failed 
 thus far to adduce a single phenomenon out of harmony with 
 the principles laid down in his first work. Had such a phenom- 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 enon been presented, he would have been the first to announce 
 the invalidity or inadequacy of those principles. 
 
 In regard to the theory of duality of the human mental organ¬ 
 ization, attention should be called to the fact that he did not 
 insist upon a literal acceptation of the premise that man pos¬ 
 sesses two minds, but said clearly and repeatedly that it is a 
 matter of indifference whether it be held that he has two minds, 
 or that he has but one which is capable of manifesting itself 
 in two distinct modes or conditions of activity or states of con¬ 
 sciousness. He indicated the line of demarkation between the 
 phenomena characteristic of each : he pointed out their respec¬ 
 tive functions in life, and the powers and limitations by which 
 each is distinguished from the other, and he was content with 
 the proposition that all observable psychic phenomena support 
 the hypothesis of mental duality. 
 
 He did not claim to be the discoverer of a “ subliminal 
 self,” of an “ unconscious ego,” of an “ under-self,” or of a 
 “secondary consciousness,” and, moreover, he recognized the 
 plagiarism in that claim when made by others. To quote his 
 words, “ The theory of duality has been dimly floating around 
 in the minds of various philosophers from the time when 
 Greek philosophy ruled the intellectual world until the present 
 age.” 
 
 He accepted the hypothetical duality, just as others have done, 
 but he did so with no disposition for dalliance and coquetry with 
 terms, or for shuffling or evasion. He made no effort to protect 
 his theories from assault by surrounding them with a haze of 
 metaphysics, metaphor, or phrases in the subjunctive. He opened 
 his front to attack, and threw down the gage. 
 
 The specific claim which should be made for the author of 
 “ The Law of Psychic Phenomena ” is not, then, the hypothesis 
 of mental duality, but the apprehension of the laws governing 
 the action of the two minds, the delimitation of the powers and 
 functions of each in its relation to the human organism, the per¬ 
 ception of the inter-relation of the laws of duality and sugges¬ 
 tion, and the formulation of the master-key which unlocks so 
 many psychological mysteries and opens the door long barred 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 by ignorance and superstition: I refer to the maxim, with its 
 corollaries, that 
 
 “ The subjective mind is constantly amenable to control by 
 the power of suggestion.” 
 
 I desire to thank the publishers of “ Harper’s Magazine,” “ The 
 New York Medico-Legal Journal,” “The New York Medical 
 Journal,” “Everybody’s Magazine,” “ Success,” “The National 
 Magazine,” “ Suggestion,” “ The Hypnotic Magazine,” and 
 the editor of “Answers by Experts,” for their courtesy in per¬ 
 mitting the use of many of these articles for publication as a 
 collection. 
 
 Detroit, Michigan, 
 
 February i, 1904. 
 
 C. B. H. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 '^HOMSON JAY HUDSON was born at Windham, Por¬ 
 tage County, Ohio, on the 22d day of February, 1834. 
 His American ancestry is traced back on both sides of the 
 house to the Colonial Period, his paternal forebear having 
 landed at Jamestown, Virginia, with Captain John Smith in 
 1607, and his maternal ancestor. Governor William Bradford, 
 at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. His early life was spent 
 on a farm, where he bore the brunt of the hardships incident 
 to farm life in days before agricultural machinery lightened its 
 labors. To this, as well as to heredity on both sides of his 
 house, he owed his robust health and iron constitution. His 
 early education was acquired in the common schools of his 
 neighborhood, and at an academy in a neighboring town. It 
 was here that some of the characteristics of his adult life first 
 asserted themselves. He refused to be bound by precedent 
 or to submit to authority in the matter of his education; 
 while he followed the prescribed course faithfully, he insisted 
 on adding such studies as he deemed valuable. For instance, 
 he surprised his common-school teacher on one occasion by 
 announcing his intention to study Natural Philosophy, Chem¬ 
 istry, and Logic, then and there. It is said, however, that 
 young Hudson was aided and abetted in his scheme of private 
 education by a learned uncle, who loaned him books and gave 
 him private instruction. The sorrow and disappointment of 
 
XU 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 his life came when he was prepared to enter college. It was 
 then that his father announced to him that there was one con¬ 
 dition, and only one, upon which he would consent to give 
 him a college education; and that was that he should enter 
 the ministry. This the young man flatly refused to promise, 
 and expressed his desire and determination to study for the 
 bar; adding that he could not conscientiously preach the 
 theological dogmas in which he did not believe. The result 
 was that the young man abruptly left the paternal roof under 
 circumstances that would have daunted a nature less ener¬ 
 getic, determined, and hopeful than his. He pursued his 
 studies, however, with unabated zeal, reciting to private tutors, 
 so that by the time he was admitted to the bar he was fairly 
 well equipped for battling with the world. His career as a 
 lawyer was, however, destined to be of short duration. In 
 i860 he removed to Port Huron, Michigan, and in 1865 he 
 definitely abandoned his profession and entered the field of 
 journalism and politics. He never but once sought a politi¬ 
 cal office for himself; and that was in 1866, when he became 
 his party’s candidate for Senator. He was defeated, however, 
 his party being in the minority. He made a strong canvass 
 on the occasion, and established a reputation as a campaign 
 orator. Soon after this he sold out his paper and removed 
 to Detroit, where he became editor-in-chief of the Detroit 
 Daily Union. In this field he achieved a notable success, 
 and soon became widely known as a brilliant editorial writer. 
 A few years after this the Union was merged with the Detroit 
 Eveiiing News, and he became one of the principal edi¬ 
 torial writers on that paper. In 1877 he was induced to go 
 to Washington as the correspondent of the Scripps Syndi¬ 
 cate, which then consisted of five daily papers, published, 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 xiii 
 
 respectively, in Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and 
 St. Louis. He served in this capacity for several years; but 
 in the meantime he was offered a position on the Examining 
 Corps of the United States Patent Office. He accepted 
 this position in 1880, and continued in the service for more 
 than thirteen years. He was rapidly promoted, and in 1886 
 was made Principal Examiner and placed in charge of one 
 of the Scientific Divisions of the Patent Office. He served 
 in that capacity with distinguished ability until after the pub¬ 
 lication of his first book, in 1893, “The Law of Psychic 
 Phenomena.” Without violence to the truth it may be said 
 that one morning, in 1893, Dr. Hudson awoke to find him¬ 
 self famous throughout the English-speaking world. His 
 book found an enormous sale, which still continues in a con¬ 
 stantly increasing ratio. It was followed two years later by 
 “A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life.” By many 
 the latter book is preferred ; but his first great work will be 
 the standard by which posterity will estimate his standing as 
 a pioneer in the scientific survey of the whole past field of 
 psychical research. These were in turn followed by “ The 
 Divine Pedigree of Man,” and in 1903, by “The Law 
 of Mental Medicine.” The latter was published only a few 
 days before Dr. Hudson’s death, which occurred at his 
 home in Detroit, May 26, 1903, after a severe attack of heart 
 trouble. 
 
 In recognition of his work. Dr. Hudson was honored with 
 the degree of I.L.D., by St. John’s College, Maryland, and 
 with Ph.D., by Ewing College, Illinois. 
 

 sr:-.vS 
 
 
 
 ■ ! 
 
 '■ 'S 
 
 i ' tv 
 'k ' 'g; 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. The Evolution of the Soul. i 
 
 II. Science and the Future Life.53 
 
 III. Man’s Psychic Powers .8g 
 
 IV. Spiritistic Phenomena as Evidence of Life after 
 
 Death.125 
 
 V. Spiritism and Telepathy as Involved in the 
 
 Case of Mrs. Leonora E. Piper.147 
 
 VI. How I became Convinced of the Existence of 
 
 THE Faculty of Telepathy.181 
 
 VII. The Rationale of Hypnotism.193 
 
 VIII. Hypnotism in its Relations to Criminal Juris¬ 
 prudence .2n 
 
 IX. Psychological Problems Relating to Criminal 
 
 Confessions of Innocent Persons.225 
 
 X. Hypnotism a Universal An.®sthetic in Surgery 241 
 
 XL The Danger Lines in Hypnotism .257 
 
 XII. A Psychopathic Study. 273 
 
 XIII. Prophecy, Ancient and Modern. 303 
 
 XIV. How TO Prepare the Mind for Success .... 339 
 
THE 
 
 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 AA^n OTHER ESSAYS 
 
 I 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 S OME years ago I tentatively formulated a work¬ 
 ing hypothesis for the systematic study of the phe¬ 
 nomena of the human soul, otherwise popularly 
 known and designated as psychic phenomena. These 
 include mesmerism, hypnotism, spiritism, demonology, 
 mental therapeutics, and a thousand other things which 
 need not be mentioned here, for I have no intention of 
 troubling you with them on this occasion. 
 
 The central idea in my mind when I entered upon the 
 study of this subject was that the phenomena of the 
 soul could and should be studied just as the physical 
 sciences are studied. In point of fact I had been deeply 
 impressed by the opening sentence of Lord Bacon’s 
 Novum Organum. These are the words: 
 
 “ Man, the minister and interpreter of nature, does 
 and understands so much as he may have discerned con¬ 
 cerning the order of nature by observing or by medi¬ 
 tating on facts: he knows no more, he can do no more.” 
 
 It is true that these words were spoken in reference 
 to the physical sciences; but I confess that I never could 
 understand why the same remark does not apply to the 
 
2 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL ' 
 
 investigation of all truth, physical or spiritual. If there 
 is truth in spiritual philosophy, there must be facts in 
 existence demonstrative of that truth. 
 
 I hold that if there is in this world anything that it 
 is important for man to know, he can, and will, event¬ 
 ually find it out by the processes of induction, — that is, 
 by reasoning from observable facts and phenomena. 
 There are many facts in nature which man is curious to 
 know, but which he never can know. But it will gene¬ 
 rally be found that they are facts which it is unimpor¬ 
 tant that he should know. For instance, it might gratify 
 a laudable curiosity to learn what is on the farther side 
 of the moon; but it would be difficult to imagine what 
 benefit humanity could derive from the knowledge. On 
 the other hand, if man has a soul, it is of the utmost 
 importance to him that he should know it; and there 
 are facts which can bear no other rational interpretation. 
 It is of some of these that I purpose now to speak. 
 
 In my published works I have set forth many f acts 
 which seem to me to be demonstrative, not only that man 
 has a_soul, but that it is destined to a future life. These, 
 however, are mostly psychical phenomena, which I do 
 not now propose to consider, except incidentally. Not 
 that I distrust their validity, for a psychic fact is just 
 as much a fact as a granite mountain; but as it is quite 
 fashionable in certain highly respectable circles to deny 
 the existence of psychic phenomena altogether, I intend, 
 on this occasion, to confine myself largely to the uni¬ 
 versally admitted facts of the physical sciences, particu¬ 
 larly those of organic evolution, and incidentally those 
 of cerebral anatomy and experimental surgery. 
 
 My theme is Evolution and the Dual Mind, or the 
 Genesis of the Human Soul. These two topics are 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 3 
 
 inseparably connected, and must, therefore, be treated 
 together. 
 
 The hypothesis upon which I base all my conclusions 
 is embraced in two fundamental propositions, the first 
 of which may be stated as follows: 
 
 Man is endowe d with a dua l mind. 
 
 That is to say, in the sum of the faculties, capacities, 
 powers, and limitations of the mind of man, there 
 are two distinct phases of activity, or states of con¬ 
 sciousness, each characterized by phenomena peculiar 
 to itself. Stated thus conservatively, the proposition 
 will not be seriously disputed by any student of psy¬ 
 chology who has kept pace with the discoveries of 
 modern science. I prefer, however, to state it, pro - 
 visionally, thus: 
 
 is ci'idozved witJx.tw.0 .minds. 
 
 I prefer this mode of stating the proposition for two 
 reasons: First, because it appears to be true. That is, 
 everything happens just as if it were true, and that is 
 all any student pretends to expect in a working hypoth¬ 
 esis. Secondly, I prefer it because it admits of clearer 
 treatment, inasmuch as it requires less of roundabout 
 phraseology to express my exact meaning. The con¬ 
 clusions derivable from the proposition are, however, 
 precisely the same, whichever way it is stated. I 
 adhere, therefore, to my usual way of putting it, and 
 state, as my first proposition, that man is endowed with 
 two minds. 
 
 Each of these two minds is capable of independent 
 action, and they are also capable of synchronous action, 
 ^ut in the main, they possess independent powers and 
 perform independent functions. The distinctive facul¬ 
 ties of one pertain wholly to this life: those of the other 
 
4 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 are specially adapted to a higher plane of existence. I 
 distinguish them by designating one as the Objec tive 
 Mind, and the other as the Subjective M ind. 
 
 The objective mind is that of ordinary waking con¬ 
 sciousness. Its media of cognition are the five physical 
 senses. Its highest function is that of reasoning. It is 
 especially adapted to cope with the exigencies of physical 
 environment. It is the function of the brain; and the 
 latter is the ultimate product of organic evolution. 
 
 The subjective mind is that intelligence which is most 
 familiarly manifested to us when the brain is asleep, or 
 its action is otherwise inhibited, as in dreams, or in 
 spontaneous or induced somnambulism; or in trance 
 or trancoid states and conditions, as in hypnotism. Any 
 one who is in the least acquainted with the phenomena 
 resulting from any one of these mental conditions is 
 aware that wonderful exhibitions of intellectual power 
 often result. The significant feature of the phenomena 
 is that, other things being equal, the intellectual powers 
 thus displayed bear an exact proportion to the depth of 
 the trance (to use a generic term), or, in other words, 
 to the degree in which the action of the brain faculties 
 is inhibited. 
 
 Thus far I have not travelled outside the range of the 
 observation and experience of any intelligent person; 
 but I have made a prima facie case of duality of mind. 
 There are thousands of illustrations that amount to 
 demonstration of the law, which must be omitted for 
 want of time, but which will be readily recognized on 
 reflection. 
 
 The second proposition of my hypothesis is this: 
 
 The subjective mind is constantly amenable to control 
 by sugges tion. A corollary of this proposition is that 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 5 
 
 the subjective mind is incap able of induc ti ve reasoning . 
 The meaning of this is that the subjective mind involun- 
 tar ily accep ts as veridical the ideas or statements of fact 
 imparted to it. These statements or ideas may be im¬ 
 parted by the oral suggestions of another, or they may 
 arise from the education of the individual. In the latter 
 case they are termed auto-suggestions. There are no 
 exceptions to this law, although there are some ap¬ 
 parent exceptions. It will invariably be found, however, 
 that the apparent exceptions are the clearest possible 
 illustrations of the absolute universality of the law. A 
 crude example of the power of suggestion is witnessed 
 when a hypnotist declares to his subject that he is an¬ 
 other person. The alacrity with which the subject ac¬ 
 cepts the suggestion, and the fidelity to nature with 
 which he personates the character suggested, are matters 
 of general knowledge and observation. 
 
 A third proposition which must be stated in this con¬ 
 nection is this: 
 
 The subjective mind possesses the power of trans¬ 
 mitting intelligen ce to o ther subjective minds otherwise 
 than through the ordinary sensory channels. In other 
 words, it possesses the faculty of telepathy. 
 
 I trust that no one will be startled out of his sense of 
 propriety when I remark that the world owes much 
 of the valuable knowledge it possesses of the subject of 
 psychology to that much maligned practice, that bete 
 noir of ignorance, hysteria, and malignant imbecility, 
 known as hypnotism. It is to hypnotism that we are 
 primarily indebted for the verification of the law of 
 duality of mind; although a vague and speculative idea 
 of that law has been floating loosely in the minds of 
 various philosophers for more than two thousand years. 
 
6 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 It is known to everybody that when a subject is 
 completely hypnotized his brain is asleep, — that all the 
 phenomena of natural sleep are present, including the 
 inhibition of the senses and a more or less complete 
 retirement of the blood from its channels in the brain, 
 j It is also well known that in this state the subject will 
 I often exhibit a preternatural intelligence, far transcend- 
 I ing his normal powers. This intelligence is that of the 
 I subjective mind, of which the brain is not the organ, 
 the action of the brain being at the time inhibited. 
 
 Telepathy was demonstrated to be a faculty of the 
 human mind by the immediate successors of Mesmer. 
 Owing, however, to the determined stand taken against 
 mesmerism by physicians, who were frenzied because 
 it had been demonstrated to be a valuable therapeutic 
 agent, telepathy was ignored by the scientific world until 
 the London Society for Psychical Research made it 
 respectable to believe in it. Their demonstrations were 
 made largely by means of hypnotism. I may perhaps 
 be pardoned for remarking that I was the first to point 
 out the fact that the power of telepathy belongs ex¬ 
 clusively to the subjective mind. 
 
 The law of suggestion was also discovered by means 
 of experimental hypnotism. In fact, it was supposed 
 to be applicable only to persons in a state of induced 
 hypnosis until, in my first published work, I called 
 attention to the fact that it is a universal law of the 
 subjective mind. I then made a generalization of the 
 subject matter by formulating the proposition that 
 the subjective mind is incapable of inductive reasoning. 
 
 I now invite your attention to a table, — the result of 
 many years of study of this subject. It classifies the 
 faculties of the two minds in strict accordance with the 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 7 
 
 facts of experimental psychology as developed by thirty 
 years of my own experimentation, and of that of the 
 Society for Psychical Research beginning in 1882. 
 
 Objective Mind. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. Inductive Reasoning. 
 
 4. Imperfect Deductive Reasoning. 
 
 5. Imperfect Power of Recollection. 
 
 6. Brain Memories of Emotional 
 
 Experiences. 
 
 7 - 
 
 8 . 
 
 Subjective Mind. 
 
 1. Instinct or Intuition. 
 
 2. Controlled by Suggestion. 
 
 3 - 
 
 4. Perfect Deductive Reasoning. 
 
 5. Perfect Memory. 
 
 6. The Seat of the Emotions. 
 
 7. Telepathic Powers. 
 
 8. Kinetic Energy. 
 
 In undertaking an analysis of the faculties of the 
 two minds, one broad and pregnant fact stands forth 
 in bold relief and strikes one wdth the force of a reve¬ 
 lation, and that is that the only faculty which belongs 
 exclusively to the objective mind is that of inductive 
 reasoning. 
 
 The other objective faculties set down in the list, 
 namely, the power of deductive reasoning and of mem¬ 
 ory, are the necessary concomitants of induction. The 
 obvious explanation is that inductive reasoning pre¬ 
 supposes facts to reason from ; and memory is the store¬ 
 house of facts. Moreover, the power of deduction is 
 obviously a necessary part of inductive reasoning. 
 
 It will be observed that these faculties, the concomi¬ 
 tants of induction, are shared by the subjective mind; 
 the only difference being one of degree. That is to say, 
 they are perfect and inherent in the subjective mind, 
 whereas, in the objective mind they are exceedingly 
 imperfect, and depend for their degree of development 
 upon laborious cultivation. 
 
 Other faculties belonging primarily to the subjective 
 
8 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 mind are represented in the brain; as, for example, the 
 emotions. We are told that every faculty, every emotion, 
 has its special compartment in the brain structure. This 
 may be, and doubtless is, true.' Whether each compart¬ 
 ment has been correctly located, is another question. 
 However that may be, our emotional experiences are 
 registered in the brain. That is, each objectively con¬ 
 scious experience creates new brain cells, which in the 
 aggregate constitute the brain memories of our experi¬ 
 ences. But they are only memories. They are facts for 
 the use of our inductive powers. They complete the 
 mental organism of the brain. The seat of the emotional 
 faculties is, nevertheless, in the subjective mind. 
 
 It will thus be seen tha t the aggregate of the faculties 
 of the objective miind constitute pure intellect. They 
 are the faculties of reason and judgment. They form 
 the judicial tribunal of the dual mind. When properly 
 cultivated and developed, they sit in judgment upon 
 every act of our lives; they regulate every emotion; 
 they restrain every passion and direct it into legitimate 
 channels. In short, reason is at once the tenure by 
 which man holds his free moral agency, and the power 
 which enables him to train his soul for weal or woe in 
 this world and the world to come. 
 
 Referring now to the faculties of the subjective mind, 
 I will premise by saying that it is impossible to make 
 a complete analysis of them without being compelled to 
 consider them with reference to a future life. The 
 reason is that many of them are wholly useless in this 
 life. Others perform limited functions in this life, but 
 each and all are perfectly adapted to the uses of the dis- 
 carnate soul. 
 
 The limitations of power in the subjective mind con- 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 9 
 
 sist in the fact that as long as the soul inhabits the body, 
 it is normally amenable to control by suggestion. That 
 is to say, it accepts as veridical every suggestion im¬ 
 parted to it. This apparent deficiency is to a great 
 extent supplied in this life, and wholly in the future life, 
 by the faculty of intuitive apprehension of essential 
 truth. 
 
 I have now laid down a provisional foundation for 
 the argument which is to follow. I am sensible that 
 the proofs are thus far meagre and unsatisfactory from 
 a scientific point of view, but I hope to be able to remove 
 that objection before I conclude. 
 
 I shall first consider the subject from the evolutionary 
 view-point. I do so for four good and sufficient reasons, 
 namely: 
 
 First, because the known facts of evolution are demon¬ 
 strative of duality of mind. 
 
 Secondly, because they are demonstrative that the 
 brain is not the sole organ of the subjective mind. 
 
 Thirdly, because they show that in the lowest order 
 of animal life is found the promise and potency of a 
 human soul. 
 
 And fourthly, because the same facts reveal the Living 
 God, and demonstrate the divine pedigree of man. 
 
 In dealing with these propositions I must take for 
 granted what science so clearly shows, that man is the 
 product — the highest possible product — of organic 
 evolution. That is, by a series of progressive changes, 
 man was evolved from the lower orders of animal life. 
 
 I shall undertake to show that, in the history of or¬ 
 ganic and mental evolution in this world, the subjective 
 mind antedates the objective mind by untold millions of 
 
10 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 years; that the highest manifestation of intellectual 
 power in mankind finds its embryotic prototype in the 
 mental powers of the lower animals; that, as the physi¬ 
 cal man descended in a direct line from the primordial 
 germ, so do we find therein the promise of a human 
 soul, with all its God-like attributes and potentialities. 
 
 In undertaking this task I shall not tax your credulity 
 by propounding unsupported dogmas or undemonstrable 
 propositions. I purpose to deal with the simplest of the 
 well known facts of organic and mental evolution. The 
 only thing that I shall take for granted is that every in¬ 
 telligent person present accepts the fundamental doctrine 
 of evolution. There are two theories to choose from; 
 
 One is that the Great First Cause is an infinite intelli¬ 
 gence, and as such is capable of impressing the universe 
 of matter with such laws as result in the creation of 
 worlds and of men by a process of gradual, progressive 
 development or evolution. 
 
 The other theory is that God is a being of somewhat 
 limited intelligence, and is, consequently, compelled to 
 supplement his work from time to time, by special 
 creations to supply deficiencies or meet unexpected 
 emergencies. 
 
 I take it for granted that most of us are capable of 
 entertaining the grander, nobler conception of the Deity 
 and his attributes embraced in the theory of evolution. 
 I shall not, therefore, weary your patience with a long 
 dissertation on the subject of evolution. It must suffice 
 to say that the accepted theory is that man is descended 
 from the lower animals by a line so direct and obvious 
 that the scientific investigator is compelled to yield in¬ 
 stant assent to the doctrine. Happily, the time is past 
 ^vhen belief in evolution subjected one to the charge of 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 II 
 
 religious skepticism, of materi^alism, or of atheism. En¬ 
 lightened people are no longer frightened at the progress 
 of science, or regard it as the enemy of religion, or fear 
 that a demonstration of the truth of the doctrine of 
 evolution will annihilate God or subvert the teachings 
 of the Man of Nazareth. In point of fact, the study of 
 purely organic evolution, whilst it gives a higher con¬ 
 ception of the powers and attributes of the Great First 
 Cause, neither proves nor disproves any of the essential 
 doctrines of Christianity. 
 
 It begins with the primordial germ and ends with 
 man; but it can neither prove nor disprove the doctrine 
 of spontaneous generation of life in the germ, nor can 
 it either prove or disprove the doctrine of the immor¬ 
 tality of man. It traces his pedigree from a microscopic, 
 unicellular organism up through a thousand gradients 
 to the grand culmination of physical perfection; and 
 it has demonstrated that he is the highest possible 
 product of organic evolution; but it pauses, helpless 
 and impotent, before the grander problem, — that more 
 momentous question,—“ Is this all there is of evolution? 
 Is there nothing in your science to inspire a hope that 
 in some higher realm evolution may still carry us for¬ 
 ward to a grander and nobler destiny ? ” 
 
 Thus far the study of organic evolution has failed to 
 throw more than a faint sidelight upon the problem. 
 The manifest reason is that its students have confined 
 their attention to the physical aspect of the question, 
 leaving the mental and spiritual sides unexplored. Even 
 those who have sought to link the problems of the soul 
 with the facts of organic evolution have generally begun 
 at the wrong end of the subject and lost their bearings 
 in a maze of metaphysical speculation. 
 
t 2 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 It will eventually be found that it is in the study of 
 the evolution of the mind, beginning where animal life 
 begins, that we come into contact with the facts which 
 not only reveal the Living God, but proclaim the divine 
 pedigree of man. It is there that the facts may be 
 found, which demonstrate the existence of a soul in 
 man; which reveal its genesis, and by which can be 
 traced its rise, progress, and development from the be¬ 
 ginning of organic life on this planet up to its perfection 
 in man as a self-existent entity. 
 
 Let us begin, then, with the lowest form of animal 
 life — the protozoa. These exist in vast numbers and 
 in considerable variety. They are unicellular organisms, 
 microscopic in size, and are composed of protoplasm. 
 The latter term is applied to a viscid, contractile, semi¬ 
 liquid, more or less granular substance, which forms the 
 principal portion of an animal cell. It is, according to 
 Huxley, “ the physical basis of life.” To be more exact, 
 it should be said that it is the basis of the material 
 medium through which life manifests itself. 
 
 Of the protozoa there is one group called the Monera. 
 These, according to Haeckel, appear to be the lowest 
 of the protozoa, for the reason that they are without 
 nuclei, and hence, without visible organs. 
 
 To use the language of Haeckel: 
 
 “The Monera are the simplest of permanent cytods. Their 
 entire body consists merely of soft, structureless plasson. How¬ 
 ever thoroughly we examine them with the most delicate chemi¬ 
 cal reagents and the strongest optical instruments, we find that 
 all the parts are competlely homogeneous. The Monera are, 
 therefore, in the strictest sense of the word, ‘organisms without 
 organs ’; or even in a strictly philosophical sense, they might not 
 even be called ‘ organisms,’ since they possess no organs, since 
 they are not composed o various particles. They can only be 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 13 
 
 called organisms in so far as they are capable of exercising the 
 organic phenomena of life, of nutrition, reproduction, sensation, 
 and movement. If we tried to construct, a priori, the simplest 
 conceivable organism, we should always be compelled to fall 
 back upon such a Moneron.” 
 
 Here, then, we have the very lowest form of animal 
 life, — “ an organism without organs,” a simple mass of 
 plasson, minus even the nucleus which belongs to the 
 true cell; and, therefore, absolutely without a physical 
 organization. And yet it is endowed with a mind — 
 a conscious intelligence. In view of the function it per¬ 
 forms, this is necessarily true. Any adaptation of 
 means to ends is perforce the result of a mental process. 
 A living creature is a mind organism; for it is mind, 
 and mind alone, that distinguishes the animate from 
 the inanimate. A cell is a livin g creature: therefore, 
 the cell possesse s a mind. 
 
 This, quoting largely from memory, is the reasoning 
 of Professor Gates, of Washington, who has for the 
 last twenty years given more intelligent study to the 
 subject of cellular psychology than has any other man 
 living. 
 
 In an article in the Therapist, for December, 1895, 
 he says: 
 
 “Unicellular organisms possess all the different forms of 
 activity to be found in the higher animals. Thus, the simplest 
 cell can transform food into tissue and other metabolic products, 
 and this is the basis of all the nutritive activities and processes 
 of the higher animals; the cell can move parts of itself and is 
 capable of locomotion, and this is the basis of all movement in 
 the higher animals brought about by bone and muscles; the cell 
 can feel a stimulus and respond, and this is the basis of the sen¬ 
 sory faculties of the higher animals: the cell can reproduce itself 
 by segmentation, and this is the basis of reproduction in the 
 higher animals; the cell on dividing inherits the actual qualities 
 
14 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 of its parent mass, and this is the basis of heredity; in short, 
 the cell contains in simplest form all of the activities to be found 
 in man.” 
 
 Before taking leave of Professor Gates, I desire to 
 remark that he has demonstrated by a series of experi¬ 
 ments that die cell has a capacity to acquire knowledge; 
 that is to say, it can be educated. I have no time, how¬ 
 ever, to dwell upon that branch of the subject. It is 
 sufficient for our present purpose to know that the uni¬ 
 cellular organism, of the lowest order, is endowed with 
 a mind. 
 
 What is this intelligence which so unerringly adapts 
 means to ends and enables the creature to perform all 
 those a cts which are preservative of its life and of its 
 species? The ready reply is, “ Instinct.” True, we have 
 a name for it that is in the mouth of every schoolboy. 
 But names do not explain anything. What is instinct? 
 Before defining it in set phrase, I must remark that 
 I instinct in the lower animals and injtuition in man are 
 : identical, the latter being merely a higher and more 
 complex development of the form^. I define it as 
 follows: 
 
 Instinct, or intuition, is the power possessed by each 
 sentient being, in proportion to its development and in 
 harmony with its environment, to perceive or apprehend, 
 antecedently to and independently of reason or instruc¬ 
 tion, those laws of nature which pertain to the well¬ 
 being of the individual and of the species to which it 
 belongs. 
 
 Like every other faculty, organ, or agency in na¬ 
 ture or in human affairs, it had a simple beginning. 
 Like everything else of value to mankind, it has devel¬ 
 oped by a series of progressive steps to a state of won- 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 15 
 
 derful complexity. It has kept pace with the physical 
 development of animal life and with the mental devel¬ 
 opment of humanity, until now it is the most wonderful 
 faculty known to man; it is the most potential force 
 below that of omnipotence; it is the most gigantic intel¬ 
 lectual attribute below that of omniscience; it is the 
 subjective mind of man; it is the mental organism of 
 the immortal human soul. 
 
 Let no one be frightened at the prospect of being 
 compelled to find_tlie genesis of his soul in such simple 
 beginnings. When the theory of organic evolution was 
 first promulgated, many sensitive persons revolted at 
 the idea of tracing their physical pedigree back through 
 a simian ancestry to a microscopic mass of protoplasm; 
 but facts are th^wprds of God; and the pedigree of the 
 physical man is too plainly written in his organism to be 
 misinterpreted by Reason. 
 
 But no one has cause to be ashamed of the origin of 
 his so ul, for its first manifestation of intelligence in 
 the protoplasm ic cell was essentially divine. In other 
 words, it exhibited the essential attribute of omniscience, 
 differing only in degree. The mental power that enables 
 the moneron to perceive or apprehend the laws of its 
 being is a power antecedent to and independent of 
 reason, experience, or instruction; and, I submit, no 
 other terms are required to define the essential attribute 
 of omniscience. 
 
 The profound significance of this one fact cannot be 
 overestimated. Standing on the very threshold of sen¬ 
 tient life. Science beholds indubitable evidence of an 
 antecedent, omniscient intelligence; and, in the pri¬ 
 mordial germ, the embryo of physical man and the 
 promise and potency of an immortal soul, endowed with 
 God-like attributes and powers. 
 
1 6 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Step by step this intelligence expanded and became 
 more and more complex as animal life rose in the scale 
 of being and increased in mental and physical com¬ 
 plexity, until man appeared — the crowning glory of 
 sentient life, the ultimate product of organic evolution. 
 Nor did the process stop here. It is still going forward, 
 reaching into higher and higher realms as man ap¬ 
 proaches the higher civilization. 
 
 Much has been written on the subject of instinct by 
 Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Romanes, and a host of lesser 
 lights. Many facts have thus been accumulated; but 
 it seems to me that no adequate generalization has yet 
 been made, nor have the phenomena been correlated 
 with cognate phenomena in such a way as to give us 
 a true conception of the far-reaching significance and 
 importance of the faculty. 
 
 There are many and variant definitions of the word 
 “ instinct ” ; but none of them seems to me to describe the 
 full scope and province of the faculty. All authorities 
 agree, however, that it is antecedent to reason, and yet 
 that it impels to just such acts as reason would approve; 
 that its sphere of usefulness among the lower animals 
 is to preserve the life of the individual and to perpetuate 
 the species to which it belongs. 
 
 Is this all there is of instinct? Is that faculty con¬ 
 fined, in its sphere of operations, to the preservation of 
 physical life? I think not. 
 
 It is within the knowledge of every one that instincts 
 can be cultivated and their scope enlarged. Every step 
 from the lower animals upward is marked by a corres¬ 
 ponding enlargement and a constantly increasing com¬ 
 plexity of the instinctive faculty. Heredity plays an 
 important role in this development; and up to the time 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 17 
 
 when the brain appeared as a factor in organic evolu¬ 
 tion, heredity was doubtless the prime factor. When the 
 brain appeared, however, instinct did not cease its func¬ 
 tions. On the contrary, it developed the more rapidly, 
 and the more rapidly enlarged its sphere of activity and 
 usefulness. 
 
 In fact, the brain seems to have been evolved in re¬ 
 sponse to the necessities of animal existence in the 
 “great struggle for life” then going on, just as other 
 weapons of ofifence and defence were evolved. When it 
 appeared, it immediately became the educator of the 
 subjective mind, which is the mind of instinct or intu¬ 
 ition, and which, under the law of suggestion and by 
 means of its perfect memory, accepts, assimilates, and 
 retains whatever is imparted to it by the objective mind. 
 The subjective thus becomes a vast storehouse of mem¬ 
 ories, habits, and principles, good or bad, that flow into 
 it through the education of the objective mind. Hence it 
 is that when the subjective faculties are roused into 
 activity, they pour forth their accumulated store of 
 knowledge, often displaying unsuspected ability and 
 learning. 
 
 I am aware that it has been held that as intelligence 
 increases, instincts decrease in number and complexity. 
 Cuvier, for instance, maintained that instinct and intelli¬ 
 gence stand in inverse ratio to each other. On the other 
 hand, it has been shown by Pouchet that those insects 
 with the most wonderful instincts are certainly the most 
 intelligent. In the vertebrate series the least intelligent 
 members — the Ashes and amphibians — do not possess 
 complex instincts. And, acording to Morgan, the 
 mammal most remarkable for that faculty, namely, the 
 beaver, is highly intelligent. In point of fact, the exact 
 
 2 
 
1 8 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 opposite of Cuvier’s dogma is demonstrably the truth; 
 
 I and when we come to include man in the category of 
 I animals possessing the faculty of instinct, it will be 
 I obvious that intelligence and instinct stand in direct 
 ratio to each other in all the broad realm of sentient life. 
 
 Darwin made a partial statement of a great truth 
 j when he said: “ Some intelligent actions, after being 
 performed during several generations, become converted 
 into instincts and are inherited.” (See Desceni of Man, 
 p. 67.) 
 
 If he had said that “ all intelligent actions, whether of 
 animals or of men, which are promotive of the well-being 
 of the individual or of the race, physically, mentally, 
 morally, or religiously, after being performed during 
 several generations, become converted into instincts and 
 are inherited,” he would have made a more complete 
 statement of the principle, and would have defined the 
 higher limitations of the faculty of instinct as developed 
 in this world. 
 
 Among the lower animals, instincts are comparatively 
 fixed and stable in their operation from generation to 
 generation. But as animals rise in the scale of intelli¬ 
 gence, their instincts are modified from time to time to 
 meet the exigencies of changing environment. Some 
 are wholly lost when there no longer exists a necessity 
 for their exercise. Others are radically changed, and 
 innumerable new ones are acquired. Romanes, in his 
 great work. Mental Evolution in Animals, cites nu¬ 
 merous examples illustrative of these propositions. 
 
 As before remarked, man forms no exception to these 
 rules. The acquisition of a brain by the lower animals 
 did not destroy the mind previously existent: on the 
 contrary, it only served to give it greater scope, com- 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 19 
 
 plexity, and power. Neither did the wonderful develop¬ 
 ment of the brain in man destroy that mind through 
 which instinct had manifested itself from the moneron 
 upward. It only served to modify the old instincts, 
 eliminate those which were no longer useful, and add 
 new ones suitable to the environment and the stage of 
 intellectual and moral development. 
 
 In man, instinct is no longer confined to mere physical 
 self-preservation. It reaches up into the intellectual 
 realm — into the domain of sociology, morality, reli¬ 
 gion, conscience — into all the higher activities which 
 distinguish man from the brute creation. All the acts 
 resultant from these higher activities of the mind, in the 
 language of Darwin, “ after being performed during 
 several generations become converted into instincts and 
 are inherited.” 
 
 In the meantime, the general function of instinct is 
 the same in man as it is in the lower animals. 
 
 Let me not be misunderstood on this point. What 
 I desire to be understood as saying is this; that all im¬ 
 pulses, desires, or emotions which are promotive of the 
 well-being of the individual or of the species to which 
 he belongs, appertain to the domain of instinct or intu¬ 
 ition. And this is true whether they are manifested in 
 the lower animals in the impulses of self-preservation 
 and reproduction, or in the noblest acts of man when 
 they are promotive of the general welfare of humanity, 
 physically, mentally, morally, or spiritually. 
 
 Moreover, the memory of the subjective mind being 
 perfect, all the experiences of the individual, all the 
 learning which he may have acquired, however super¬ 
 ficially it may have been impressed upon the brain, con¬ 
 tribute to the grand sum-total of the intellectual and 
 moral equipment of his soul. 
 
20 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Unperverted instincts are always promotive of the 
 highest interests of the individual and of the general 
 welfare of the race. But it will be readily understood 
 that even the higher instincts, in common with the lower, 
 may be perverted by a wrong education or pernicious 
 environment. A perversion of the instinct of religious 
 worship has drenched the earth with blood. A perver¬ 
 sion of conscience lighted the fires of the Inquisition, 
 and still peoples the earth with cranks, who would re¬ 
 light those fires if they had the power. 
 
 Thus far I have confined my remarks to those in¬ 
 stincts which pertain to the well-being of the race, and 
 which may be classed under the generic title of the 
 “ instinct of self-preservation,” although they include 
 the broadest altruism in their ultimate development and 
 application. It is, however, with the higher intuitional 
 powers that we are most concerned for the purposes 
 of this argument. I have said that Jnstinct and in¬ 
 tuition are identical. They differ only in degree and 
 sphere of activity, and even in these they merge by 
 imperceptible gradations. They are both concerned 
 with general laws and essential truth. They both per¬ 
 tain to the welfare of the individual and his species. 
 But intuition is concerned with the welfare of the soul 
 in the future life as well as with that of the body in 
 this life. 
 
 I now approach another class of instincts or intuitions 
 of a more purely intellectual character. I provisionally 
 classify them separately for the reason that they do not, 
 save in a very indirect way, contribute to the preserva¬ 
 tion of life or of the race. It is, nevertheless, but a 
 higher development of the same faculty, and it is gen¬ 
 erally denominated “ intuition.” 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 21 
 
 I refer to that power or faculty in man which enables 
 him,- under certain conditions, not yet clearly under¬ 
 stood, to perceive or apprehend certain fixed laws of 
 nature by intuition — that is, antecedently to reason 
 and independently of objective education. It is a faculty 
 rarely developed, and only appears under abnormal, or 
 at least exceptional, conditions. A sufficient number of 
 cases, however, have come to light to enable us to be 
 certain that the faculty exists, and to lead inferentially 
 to some very broad generalizations. 
 
 The instances of its development which are most 
 familiar to the general public are in mathematical and 
 musical prodigies, of whom Zerah Colburn and Blind 
 Tom are, respectively, representatives. Colburn could 
 solve the most intricate arithmetical problems instan¬ 
 taneously when he was a mere child and before he had 
 been taught the powers of the nine digits; thus demon¬ 
 strating the fact that he possessed the intuitive power of 
 perception of the law of numbers. 
 
 Blind Tom was an idiot, and hence was incapable of 
 receiving an education, and of reasoning in the objective 
 sense of the term; and yet, when a child, and absolutely 
 without instruction of any kind, or the brain capacity to 
 receive instruction, he was able to improvise the most 
 delightful and harmonious strains of music on the piano. 
 
 From this case alone two very important conclusions 
 are to be derived: 
 
 Fir?t, it is demonstrative that Blind Tom possessed an 
 intuitive knowledge of the laws of harmony of sounds; 
 for he had no education, musical or other; nor was he 
 capable of receiving an education depending upon a 
 brain structure, for he was a microcephalus — an idiot. 
 
 Secondly, it is demonstrative that the brain is not the 
 
22 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 organ of the subjective mind; for all real music has its 
 origin in the soul. 
 
 On this latter point I particularly desire to make my¬ 
 self clearly understood. I have assumed that the sub¬ 
 jective mind of man is directly descended from that 
 mind which is found in the lowest order of animal life, 
 differing only in its degree or stage of development; 
 that it existed millions of years before a brain was de¬ 
 veloped; and that, consequently, the brain never was 
 its organ and is not its organ now. Startling as this 
 hypothesis may be to materialistic scientists, it is, never¬ 
 theless, demonstrably true, as I shall proceed to show. 
 
 There is, in fact, no a priori reason why it should not 
 be true. On the contrary, it would require a violent 
 stretch of the imagination to conceive the idea that an 
 organized intelligence once existent could be destroyed 
 by progressive development. Moreover, it would re¬ 
 quire very strong affirmative evidence to convince a 
 reasonable being that an intelligence once located in a 
 physical structure could change its organ of manifesta¬ 
 tion. Since we know, therefore, that the subjective 
 mind once existed independently of a brain, we must 
 suppose that it continues to do so, at least until the con¬ 
 trary is demonstrated. 
 
 I say we know that it once existed independently of 
 a brain structure. That is, we know that the instin ctive 
 mind of the lower animals is identical with the subjec¬ 
 tive mind of man; for the reason that the faculties are 
 the s ame in both. A glance at the list will make this 
 proposition clear. 
 
 The first is intuition, which is identical with instinct 
 in animals. The second is deduction, which is a con¬ 
 comitant of instinct or intuition. Inerrant deduction is 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 23 
 
 the instinctive logic of the subjective mind; and this is 
 as true of the lower animals as it is of men. Next come 
 the emotions, which are obviously the same in men and 
 animals, being differentiated only by the restraining 
 powers of reason and conscience. The next on the list 
 is telepathy. There are many who hold that telepathy is 
 largely employed by the lower animals to supply their 
 deficiencies in oral means of communication. I do not 
 pretend to know whether this is true or not, never 
 having investigated that subject with sufficient thor¬ 
 oughness to enable me to venture an opinion. However 
 this may be, the faculty of telepathy clearly belongs to 
 the subjective mind of man, and, like many other facul- 
 ties of that mind, it contains the promise and potency of 
 powers indispensable to the discarnate soul. 
 
 I must not forget to mention in this connection that 
 the limitations entailed by the law of suggestion are pre¬ 
 cisely the same in animals as in men. Were this not 
 true, man could never have obtained dominion over 
 animals stronger than himself. In other words, but for 
 that law man could never tame a tiger or harness a 
 horse. 
 
 It will thus be seen that all a priori reasons sustain the 
 proposition that the brain is not the organ of the sub¬ 
 jective mind. 
 
 Fortunately, however, the materialistic scientists 
 themselves have unwittingly demonstrated this fact by 
 the use of the scalpel. The scalpel, you know, is their 
 favorite instrument of search for the human soul. They 
 have cut and carved, weighed and measured and chemi¬ 
 cally analyzed the brains of men living and dead; and 
 because they have failed to corral a soul by those means, 
 they have dogmatically declared that man has no soul. 
 
24 the evolution of the soul 
 
 But, as I said, they have, without realizing it, demon¬ 
 strated the fact that they have all along been looking 
 for it in the wrong place. Thus, more than twenty years 
 ago, ex-Surgeon-General Hammond, in the President’s 
 address delivered before the New York Neurological 
 Society, showed that certain faculties of the mind are 
 seated in the spinal cord, and not in the brain. In his 
 great work on Insanity he reiterates his declaration and 
 demonstrates by many original experiments that the 
 brain is not the organ of the instinctive faculties. 
 Among other experiments, he totally eliminated the 
 brains of certain living animals, and found that the in¬ 
 stinctive functions were performed precisely as before. 
 
 He quotes many eminent authorities to sustain his po¬ 
 sition, and explicitly declares that the instinctive facul¬ 
 ties do not reside in the brain. He further declares that 
 they are seated “ exclusively in the medulla oblongata, 
 or in the spinal cord, or in both those organs.” 
 
 Now, be it remembered, those faculties which are 
 found not to be located in the brain are all faculties of 
 the subjective mind. 
 
 I am not disposed, however, to agree with Dr. Ham¬ 
 mond in his confident statement that those faculties are 
 located exclusively in any organ of the human body, 
 much as I admire him for his genius and his vast learn¬ 
 ing. That declaration was doubtless made without duly 
 considering all the facts collateral to the subject he was 
 then investigating. Be that as it may, he has succeeded 
 in demonstrating duality of mind by the use of the 
 scalpel. 
 
 He doubtless felt that it was incumbent upon him to 
 locate the instinctive faculties somewhere, since he had 
 shown that they do not reside in the brain. This, how- 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 25 
 
 ever, is a fallacy which the Doctor will probably admit 
 freely when his attention is called to the consequences 
 it involves. 
 
 Materialistic scientists have succeeded in demonstrat¬ 
 ing that the objective mind is a function of the brain, 
 and that it is, therefore, inherent in the brain. It fol¬ 
 lows that when the brain dies the objective mind ceases 
 to exist. 
 
 This is unquestionably true. But it does not follow, 
 as they would have us believe, that the subjective mind 
 is inherent in any one or more organs of the body. On 
 the contrary, there is every reason to believe that the 
 subjective mind exists independently of any specialized 
 organ whatever. That its control of the body is not 
 dependent upon any specific physical organization, is 
 shown in the moneron. Haeckel tells us that the mon- 
 eron is a simple, homogeneous mass of plasson, and is 
 entirely destitute of any organs whatever — not even 
 containing the nucleus, which is the earliest develop¬ 
 ment of a physical organ in animal life. Yet this mone¬ 
 ron is animated by the intelligence of which I have been 
 speaking, this God-like intelligence which materialistic 
 science has dismissed under the name of instinct or 
 intuition, without accounting for either, but which, 
 wherever it appears in animate nature, is the symbol of 
 Divinity. 
 
 Now, it seems to me to be self-evident that the power 
 which is capable of animating a homogeneous mass of 
 plasson with life and intelligence, is certainly not depen¬ 
 dent upon specific organs for its capacity to animate the 
 human body and to control its functions. There is, 
 therefore, no a priori reason for supposing that the brain 
 is the organ of the subjective mind. 
 
26 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Again, this is demonstrated in experimental hypno¬ 
 tism by the well-known fact that when a hypnotic sub¬ 
 ject is deeply entranced, he retains no recollection of 
 what has occurred during his sleep, however exciting, 
 or even tragic, may have been the scenes through which 
 he passed. Now, every student of cerebral anatomy 
 knows that every brain-thought, every experience of 
 which the brain takes cognizance, causes a modification 
 of brain cells, thus creating brain memories. The ab¬ 
 sence of brain memories immediately following an ex¬ 
 citing experience is, therefore, demonstrative that the 
 brain was not cognizant of the experience. 
 
 There are, in short, thousands of good and sufficient 
 reasons, backed by facts beyond dispute, for declaring 
 that the brain is not the organ of the subjective mind; 
 and not one fact or valid argument has ever been ad¬ 
 duced to show that it is. 
 
 These facts alone demonstrate the duality of mind. 
 These facts alone go far to demolish the last stronghold 
 of materialistic science in its efforts to prove the im¬ 
 possibility of a future life. A few words will make my 
 meaning plain: 
 
 Their argument is based upon the hypothesis that the 
 mind is the soul, the question of duality of mind, of 
 course, not being considered. Their next proposition is 
 that mind is the function of the brain and is inherent in 
 that organ. Then they proceed to demonstrate by 
 cerebral anatomy and experimental surgery that each 
 faculty of the mind is controlled by a certain portion of 
 the brain; and that when one of these brain centres is 
 eliminated or paralyzed by accident or design, the part 
 or faculty of the mind controlled by that brain centre is 
 forever destroyed. This, they argue, is demonstrative 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 27 
 
 that the mind (and soul) is inherent in the brain and 
 necessarily perishes with that organ. They also point 
 out the fact that when the body is wasted by disease the 
 mind grows correspondingly feeble; and they draw the 
 not unnatural conclusion that body, brain, and mind 
 perish together. In these premises and in these con¬ 
 clusions they are unquestionably right; and vain would 
 be our hope of a future life if it depended upon the con¬ 
 tinued existence of the objective mind. That necessarily 
 shares the fate of the physical organ of which it is the 
 function. On the other hand, as I have already pointed 
 out, the subjective mind is not the function of any phys¬ 
 ical organ. It is not an effect, but a cause — a cause 
 antecedent to physical organization; an entity depend¬ 
 ent upon organization only for the means of its phe¬ 
 nomenal manifestation, and not for its existence. In 
 other words, it is immanent and not inherent in the body. 
 
 A further illustration of the entire distinction in the 
 sphere of the subjective from that of the objective mind 
 is afforded by the involuntary functions, over which the 
 former exercises an absolutely undivided sway. The 
 objective mind cannot directly control one purely invol¬ 
 untary muscle. It cannot hasten or retard one vital 
 process. All the marvellous co-ordination of the vege¬ 
 tative functions is effected through the dominion and 
 sleepless vigilance of the subjecti ve. Its medium of 
 control is the sympathetic nervous system. The objec¬ 
 tive mind, on the other hand, normally directs the vol¬ 
 untary muscles and functions of the physical organism. 
 Its medium of control is the cerebro-spinal system. 
 
 ' Now, a very important fact in this connection is that 
 the functions of the two minds are not interchangeable. 
 Thus, whilst Ihe objective mind cannot, of its^wn vo- 
 
28 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 lition, move a single involuntary muscle, the subjective 
 mind can, and often does, take possession of the entire 
 body and wield it at its will. This can be brought about 
 experimentally by means of hypnotism, when the brain 
 functions are held in total abeyance. It almost invari¬ 
 ably occurs when the body is in imminent and deadly 
 peril. At such a moment the objective faculties are 
 benumbed; but, under the control of the subjective 
 mind, the body acts with preternatural rapidity and pre¬ 
 cision, and feats of strength are often performed that 
 would be impossible under normal conditions. Sponta¬ 
 neous somnambulism furnishes many familiar illustra-’ 
 tions of subjective control over both the voluntary and 
 involuntary muscular systems. 
 
 I have cited these well-known facts for the purpose of 
 showing how much more intimate and pervasive must 
 be the connection between the subjective mind and the 
 body than that subsistent between the objective mind 
 and the body. 
 
 This difference being thus provisionally established, 
 we might reasonably expect to find that the time of re¬ 
 action to sensorial stimuli would be materially decreased 
 during hypnosis. Accordingly, we learn from the ex¬ 
 periments of Professor Stanley Hall and others that the 
 time of reaction is decreased nearly one-half. 
 
 These evidences, however, are merely subsidiary; but 
 they are such indications as we might expect to find if 
 the hypothesis is correct that the soul is immanent in the 
 whole body and not inherent in any one part of it. The 
 demonstrative evidence of the truth of this hypothesis 
 is found in the phenomena immediately preceding that 
 divine event to which the whole world moves — death. 
 
 .When that supreme hour approaches we find that the 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 29 
 
 observable phenomena are precisely what we should 
 have a right to expect if it is true that the soul of man is 
 immortal, and that it is, therefore, immanent, and not 
 inherent, in the body. 
 
 We also find that the objective mind, on the approach 
 of death, exhibits precisely the phenomenon that we 
 should have a right to expect if it is true that it is inher¬ 
 ent in the brain, and therefore perishes with that organ. 
 The respective phenomena of the two minds then ex¬ 
 hibited are simply these: the objective mind, in exact 
 proportion to the growing weakness of the bodily or¬ 
 gans, ceases to perform its functions in perfection. And 
 it is generally, if not always, completely obliterated 
 before final dissolution. Materialistic scientists have 
 taken great pains to demonstrate that fact, believing it 
 to be a conclusive argument against the doctrine of 
 immortality. We may, therefore, accept their facts 
 without further question, but not their conclusions. 
 
 On the other hand, the phenomenal manifestations of 
 the subjective mind become more and more pronounced 
 as death approaches and the body grows weak, and its 
 strongest ones are at the very hour of dissolution. This 
 fact is attested by all the records of psychic phenomena, 
 including those of the Society for Psychical Research. 
 
 It is, in fact, the ultimate phenomenal demonstration 
 of the universal law that the more perfectly quiescent 
 the brain becomes, the stronger become the manifesta¬ 
 tions of the subjective mind. At the hour of death, 
 therefore, after the brain has ceased to act and the ob¬ 
 jective mind is totally extinct, there is an interval before 
 the soul takes its flight, in which it shines forth with 
 transcendent lustre, to give the world assurance that the 
 death of the body is but the birth of the soul into a more 
 perfect life. 
 
30 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 This is somewhat of a digression, but it was necessary 
 in order to make my position clearly understood in ref¬ 
 erence to a vital point in the evolution of the soul. 
 
 As I have before remarked, many instances are re¬ 
 corded of intuitive perception of the laws of physical 
 nature that are fully as remarkable as those I have men¬ 
 tioned. The conditions most favorable to the develop¬ 
 ment of the power are not known. It seems probable, 
 however, that comparative freedom from the sugges¬ 
 tions embraced in the technicalities of objective edu¬ 
 cation is one, at least, of the necessary conditions; for 
 it is sometimes developed in idiots and frequently in 
 children. When it is developed in children possessing 
 a normal brain structure, it is always found, as in Zerah 
 Colburn’s case, that an objective education in the line 
 of the development results in the loss of the subjective 
 power. In Blind Tom’s case an objective education was 
 impossible, and hence he never lost the subjective faculty 
 which distinguished him. 
 
 An instance illustrating this proposition was that of 
 Jedediah Buxton, recorded in the Encyclopedia Britan- 
 nica. It was thoroughly investigated by the Royal 
 Society of London, in 1754. This person lived to about 
 the age of seventy years, but never had the brain ca¬ 
 pacity to learn the first four rules of arithmetic. His 
 abilities were equally limited in every other direction 
 save one: he had a perfect intuitional perception of the 
 laws of numbers. He would walk across a piece of land 
 and tell its contents in acres as exactly as it could be 
 measured with the appliances of the surveyor’s art. “ In 
 this manner,” says his biographer, “ he measured the 
 whole lordship of Elmton, consisting of some thousands 
 of acres, and gave the contents, not only in acres, roods. 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 31 
 
 and perches, but even in square inches.” After this he 
 reduced them to square hair-breadths, reckoning forty- 
 eight to each side of the inch. “ His memory was so 
 great,” continues the account, “ that in resolving a ques¬ 
 tion he could leave off and resume the operation again 
 at the same point after the lapse of a week, or even of 
 several months.” 
 
 In other words, the memory of his subjective mind 
 was absolute, as it is, potentially, in all of us. I 
 
 It must be remembered that all this, as in Colburn’s 
 case, was done without any of the extraneous aids ordi¬ 
 narily employed in arithmetical calculations. It was 
 subjective mental arithmetic. 
 
 These same intuitional powers are often developed, 
 in various directions, in savages, many instances of 
 which will be readily recalled by those who are familiar 
 with savage traits and characteristics. Again, the fish¬ 
 ermen of Nova Scotia, when fishing on the banks off the 
 coast of Newfoundland, will drift about in fog and 
 storm for months at a time, without paying the slightest 
 attention to their bearings; but when their craft is laden 
 they will hoist their sails, and without having seen the 
 sun for weeks, will steer with unerring exactitude for 
 any port they wish to make. This faculty is so well 
 known to the other Grand Bank fishermen that many 
 a Yankee skipper having lost his reckoning in the weeks 
 of thick weather has picked up a homeward bound Nova- 
 Scotiaman and followed him into port, with as much 
 confidence as he would have had in his own observa¬ 
 tions. The faculty has become hereditary, and it is said 
 that a compass, or any instrument, is as superfluous to 
 an old Nova Scotia fisherman as it would be to a homing 
 pigeon. In fact, the homing instinct, as developed in 
 
32 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 these men in obedience to the requirements of their 
 vocation, is precisely the same as it is in the bird. Thus 
 is Darwin’s law confirmed and carried forward to the 
 human race in as great perfection as it exists in the 
 lower animals. The possibilities of its development are 
 infinite. It is generally confined in this life to a single 
 faculty; but not always. 
 
 I now approach the highest development of subjective 
 power that ever has been, or ever can be, manifested in 
 this life. It was developed to a limited extent in the 
 long line of Israelitish prophets. It was equal to the 
 highest demonstrations of their prophetic power. It 
 was equal to all that can be properly interpreted as 
 Messianic prophesies. But in no one else on this earth 
 has it ever been manifested in such perfection as in 
 Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 His power of perception of the laws of nature ex¬ 
 tended into higher realms — into the domain of the 
 human soul; into the eternal principles of right and 
 wrong; into the true relations of man with his fellow- 
 men ; into the normal relations between God and hu¬ 
 manity. It enabled him to invoke successfully the 
 powers of the soul to heal the sick. It enabled him to 
 bequeath to humanity the true, the absolute religion; 
 a religion for all men and for all time; a religion which 
 all the ages of eternity can never improve. 
 
 The recorded accounts of his methods of healing 
 the sick are demonstrative of his perfect mastery of the 
 laws of the soul in its relations to the body; and the 
 vitality of his religion, in spite of all the adverse cir¬ 
 cumstances surrounding its birth and growth, is evi¬ 
 dence, little short of proof, that it is founded upon the 
 Rock of Eternal Truth. Otherwise, it could never have 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 33 
 
 survived the mistakes of its friends, to say nothing of 
 the assaults of its enemies. It is safe to say that no 
 other system of religion has ever flourished amid so 
 many adverse conditions as has the Christian religion. 
 It had its roots in a region remote from the centres of 
 civilization, and among a nomadic race who were poor, 
 despised, reprobated, and persecuted by their more 
 powerful neighbors. From the first it encountered the 
 
 refined philosophy of the most enlightened and cultured ' 
 nations of the earth; and it has its literary setting in a 
 volume which teaches an absurd astronomy, an impos¬ 
 sible geography, and a cosmogony the crudeness of ^ 
 which is detected and exposed by the learning of every j 
 schoolboy: and yet it exists, not in decrepitude and ' 
 decay, but as a vital and essential element in every civ- i 
 ilization worthy of the name. Its theologians in times 
 past have thrust it into conflict with every science, and 
 it has been defeated in every encounter. Yet it is not 
 relegated to the domain of ignorance, but flourishes in 
 the greatest luxuriance of growth and vitality in those 
 nations whose people are the most enlightened and 
 progressive. 
 
 That there is to be found, within the realm of natural 
 law, some adequate reason for this paradox, is not to be 
 doubted. The explanation proffered in the doctrine of 
 a continuous miracle must be rejected as scientifically 
 untenable. It seems to me that the following propo¬ 
 sitions afford at least a partial solution of the problem: 
 
 I. Jesus was endowed with the faculty of intuitional 
 perception of the laws of the human soul; and he pro¬ 
 claimed to mankind, in a few simple statements, the 
 essential principles which govern the relationship of 
 man to his fellow-men and to God. 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 2. _A 11 men are endowed with the same intuitional 
 powers, differing only in degree; and by this means 
 they are enabled to recognize, when once presented, any 
 truth which is essential to the welfare of the soul. 
 
 3. It follows that when a normally constituted per¬ 
 son reads the simple but all-comprehensive philosophy 
 of Jesus, his soul intuitively and instantaneously recog¬ 
 nizes its essential truths. 
 
 We have now passed from the lowest manifestations 
 of instinct to the highest manifestation of intuitional 
 power ever witnessed on this earth. We may now 
 pause for a moment to contemplate the profound sig¬ 
 nificance of the facts thus presented. The first great 
 lesson that it teaches is that God governs this universe 
 by immutable law; and that the soul, as well as the 
 body, is the result of evolutionary development. Indeed, 
 the evidence that the soul has been thus developed is 
 infinitely more perfect than that which is offered in 
 support of the theory of organic physical evolution. 
 There are many missing links in the chain of evidence 
 to sustain the latter, which can only be supplied by spec¬ 
 ulative philosophy and a priori arguments. 
 
 On the other hand, there are no breaks in the chain of 
 evidence of the soul’s origin and development. More¬ 
 over, its inherent attributes and powers proclaimed its 
 divine origin the moment it was ushered into existence. 
 
 I have now briefly discussed three of the four propo¬ 
 sitions with which I started out, relating to the light 
 which the facts of evolution shed upon my fundamental 
 hypothesis. I have shovvm that those facts reveal the 
 dual mind of man; that they demonstrate that the brain 
 is not the organ of the subjective mind; and that they 
 disclose the genesis of the human soul. It remains to 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 35 
 
 show that the same facts reveal the Living God and 
 record the divine pedigree of man. 
 
 I have already invited attention to the psychology 
 of micro-organisms. I have shown that the mental 
 structure of the moneron, the lowest of animal life, is 
 built after the same general plan as that of Omniscience. 
 That is to say, it possesses the same power of intuitional 
 perception of essential truth, with a difference only in 
 degree and not in kind. I have traced the power from 
 the moneron to man, showing that the difference is only 
 one of gradation and complexity. 
 
 In tracing this ascent to man, there is one consider¬ 
 ation that must not be lost sight of, for it is of vital 
 import in tracing the origin of the mind of the moneron. 
 It is that in that mind resided the potentiality of a 
 limitless development through the processes of organic 
 and mental evolution. We have a logical and scientific 
 right to consider these potentials, for the reason that, 
 whenever it is possible to know what they are, all pos¬ 
 sibility of doubt as to the origin of the thing under con¬ 
 sideration is removed. Thus, it is impossible, by means 
 of any instrumentalities known to science,^ to distinguish 
 the germinal cell of man from that of the lower mam¬ 
 malia. In point of fact, it requires months of develop¬ 
 ment to reveal the distinction; for every organism, in 
 the course of its individual ontogeny, repeats the history 
 of its ancestral development. In other words, God has 
 stamped upon the embryo of man the salient facts of 
 the history of organic evolution. 
 
 It is self-evident, therefore, that if its potential of 
 development could be ascertained, it would instantly 
 determine the question of the origin or ancestry of a 
 germinal cell. 
 
36 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Fortunately, the potential of development of the mon- 
 eron has been well ascertained, for it has been traced 
 in one unbroken line, through a thousand gradients, to 
 the subjective mind of man. 
 
 We have found, then, in the lowest and in the highest 
 development of animal life, powers that correspond in 
 kind to the attributes of omniscience. Now, let us see 
 what powers reside in the subjective entity that corre¬ 
 spond to the attributes of omnipotence. The latter term, 
 of course, implies power over the material universe and 
 over the forces of nature. Moreover, it is a spiritual 
 power, and not a physical force, as these terms are 
 commonly understood. 
 
 In the first place we must assume, provisionally, that 
 the energy resident in the mental organization of the 
 moneron is a spiritual energy; that is, that it is an 
 attribute of an intelligent spiritual entity as distin¬ 
 guished from matter — that it is a property not inherent 
 in matter. The moneron was, therefore, the first in¬ 
 stance tangible to our senses, where an organized spirit¬ 
 ual entity exerted power over matter. It overcame the 
 inertia of protoplasm and endowed it with life. In every 
 step in the progress of organic evolution that power 
 was manifested in a constantly increasing ratio, for 
 every modification of physical structure was in answer 
 to demands from within. That is to say, every weapon 
 of ofifence or of defence was evolved in response to the 
 necessities arising from physical environment and the 
 great and universal struggle for life. The brain itself 
 was not an exception, and it is the most potent weapon 
 of all. Like every other means of offensive and defen¬ 
 sive warfare, it was evolved in response to the neces¬ 
 sities of physical environment; and it is especially 
 adapted to that use and purpose, and to no other. 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 37 
 
 This, then, is an exhibition of the power of spirit 
 over matter as shown in the processes of organic evolu¬ 
 tion. Guided by that God-like power of intuitive percep¬ 
 tion of the essential laws of its being, the embryotic 
 soul impelled the development of physical structure, 
 step by step, until the final goal was reached and im¬ 
 perial Man stood revealed. There the process of physi¬ 
 cal evolution ceased by virtue of the very law that 
 brought it into being. Thus, when man attained suffi¬ 
 cient intelligence to build a fire and to fashion artificial 
 weapons, the demand for increased effectiveness in nat¬ 
 ural weapons ceased; for the artificial appliances were 
 far more formidable in war and effective in peace. 
 Hence it was that swords and ploughshares and spears 
 and pruning-hooks became concomitant factors in the 
 evolution of civilization; and hence it is that man is the 
 highest possible product of organic evolution; and that 
 the great law of progressive development must now 
 expend its energies in the evolution of a nobler man¬ 
 hood, a purer morality, a higher and more enlightened 
 religion, and a more altruistic civilization — the reli¬ 
 gion of Jesus, and the civilization of which he was the 
 harbinger. 
 
 It was, however, reserved for man to manifest, phe¬ 
 nomenally, those powers of the soul which correspond 
 to the attributes of omnipotence. These powers have 
 been manifested in thousands of ways throughout the 
 ages. The phenomena have excited the wonder and 
 fostered the superstitions of all races of mankind. Sci¬ 
 ence wrestled with the problem for centuries and then 
 gave it up in despair. Materialistic scientists once con¬ 
 tented themselves with a wholesale denial of the phe¬ 
 nomena, and a refusal to investigate. Others admitted 
 
38 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the phenomena, but ascribed them to all manner of agen¬ 
 cies, from demons to the spirits of just men made per¬ 
 fect. I need not say that I refer to so-called spiritistic 
 phenomena. 
 
 Science has at last succeeded in unravelling the whole 
 mystery, removing every phenomenon from the domain 
 of superstition, and demonstrating that all the mani¬ 
 festations, of whatever name or nature, proceed from 
 the subjective minds of living persons. I cannot now 
 enter into details, but must content myself with saying 
 in the most emphatic manner that all that is mysterious, 
 all that is uncanny and diabolical, all that is inane and 
 idiotic, all that is false and infamous, all that transcends 
 reason and common sense in psychic phenomena, is due 
 alone to ignorance of the fundamental laws that govern 
 the relationship between the body and the soul. The 
 law of suggestion is of the first importance, but the 
 last to be learned and comprehended. To remove that 
 ignorance, and nourish the subjective mind from the 
 pure, perennial fountain of truth alone, would be to 
 elevate the soul to its rightful supremacy. Its intuitive 
 powers would then be released from the trammels im¬ 
 posed by an environment of error and false suggestion, 
 and it would become a “ cloud by day and a pillar of 
 fire by night,” leading to the promised land of Truth and 
 Right. 
 
 This is a slight digression, but I wish to make my¬ 
 self as clearly understood as possible, especially in the 
 fundamentals. 
 
 We will first consider the control which the subjective 
 mind exerts over the matter of which our bodies are 
 composed. In the first place, it jias complete control 
 over all the functions, sensations, and conditions of the 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 39 
 
 body, and is the therapeutic agent in mental healing. 
 It can exercise that therapeutic power in pursuance of 
 suggestions emanating either from the objective mind of 
 the individual, or from that of another person. And, 
 let me say, cn passant, that this is the fundamental law 
 of mental healing, and all systems owe their success to 
 this law, consciously or unconsciously applied. _It pos¬ 
 sesses the power to inhibit pain, even to the extent of 
 rendering a capital surgical operation painless, and that 
 without the necessity of hypnotizing the subject. It can 
 inhibit pain or it can cause it. It can heal the tissues 
 or it can cause them to disintegrate. Many experiments 
 have been made by European scientists which demon¬ 
 strate this fact. Professor Bernheim records his tes¬ 
 timony that he has caused a blister to be developed on 
 the back of a hypnotized subject by applying a postage 
 stamp and suggesting that it was a fly plaster. The 
 same authority states that he was able, by suggestion, 
 to neutralize the effect of an electric current which was 
 otherwise absolutely unbearable, perfectly inhibiting all 
 sensation. Professor Crookes, the eminent London 
 physicist, declares that he witnessed, under test condi¬ 
 tions, the handling of live coals of fire with bare hands, 
 not the slightest injury or discomfort resulting. 
 
 The phenomenon that possesses the greatest interest 
 in this connection, however, is that of levitation of 
 ponderable bodies without physical contact or appli¬ 
 ances. This I have repeatedly witnessed under the most 
 exacting test conditions. Now, for the purposes of this 
 argument, I care not whether that phenomenon is caused 
 by an embodied or a disembodied spirit. I will say, how¬ 
 ever, that there is absolutely no valid evidence that it 
 is to be referred to a supermundane origin. Everything 
 
40 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 conspires to show that it is a power resident in the sub¬ 
 jective mind of the psychic in whose presence the phe¬ 
 nomenon is produced. The point is that jt is a spiritual 
 energy, inherent in the souls of men, that is competent 
 to modify or set at naught the action of the physical 
 forces ^f nature. In the cases reported by Professor 
 Bernheim it neutralized a powerful current of electric¬ 
 ity. In the case reported by Professor Crookes it defied 
 the laws of combustion. In cases of levitation it defeats 
 the law of gravitation. Thousands of cases might be 
 mentioned of even more startling import; but time for¬ 
 bids. All the ages have witnessed these phenomena, 
 and the man who doubts their verity is not entitled to 
 be called a skeptic. He is simply ignorant of what 
 he might know if he would conduct an intelligent 
 investigation. 
 
 Thunder was once believed to be the voice of an 
 angry god. The bolts of lightning were forged by 
 Vulcan as instruments of wrath in the hands of Jupiter. 
 Inductive science has explained the thunder, enslaved 
 the lightning, and demonstrated that its phenomena are 
 of far more startling import than was dreamed of in the 
 philosophy of mythology. 
 
 Psychic phenomena have been ascribed to angels and 
 to devils, to spirits of health and to goblins damned. 
 Inductive science has discovered their proximate origin, 
 and utilized some of the forces for the benefit of 
 mankind. It is now seeking the Ultimate Cause, 
 and to demonstrate that the truth is of far more won¬ 
 derful significance than were the wildest dreams of 
 superstition. 
 
 Let us, then, pursue this inquiry in strict accordance 
 with the inexorable rules of logic and scientific indue- 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 41 
 
 tion. They cannot lead us astray if facts are the words 
 of God. 
 
 Let us now, by way of recapitulation, group these 
 faculties and forces, mental and dynamic, with which 
 we find the subjective entity to be endowed. 
 
 Leaving out of present consideration all its faculties 
 except those of intellect and kinetic energy, we find 
 a being endowed with a mind the inherent powers of 
 which cannot be adequately described except in terms 
 that are definitive of the essential attributes of omni¬ 
 science ; and with a dynamic or kinetic energy that can¬ 
 not be adequately described except in terms that apply 
 with equal pertinency to the attributes of omnipotence. 
 
 On the other hand, and I wish it distinctly to be un¬ 
 derstood and remembered, the one distinctive faculty 
 belonging exclusively to the objective mind — that of 
 inductive reasoning — cannot be ascribed to omni¬ 
 science without employing contradictory terms as gross 
 and palpable as it would be to speak of a rectangular 
 circle. Omniscience is knowledge of all things. In¬ 
 duction is an inquiry. Obviously, therefore, it is but 
 a statement of a truism to say that omniscience is 
 incapable of inductive reasoning. Neither is the subjec¬ 
 tive mind of Man capable of induction, and for pre¬ 
 cisely the same reason. Its very limitations, therefore, 
 stamp it with the sign-manual of Omniscience. 
 
 Whence come this God-like intelligence and dynamic 
 energy? Materialistic science tells us that we inherited 
 it from the moneron; and that the moneron inherited it 
 from inorganic matter, — minerals. At this point some 
 of them become “ agnostic.” Agnosticism, you know, 
 is aggressive ignorance. Hence, some of the agnostics 
 set themselves to write books to show that beyond a cer- 
 
42 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 tain point there exists the great “ Unknowable.” Others 
 take the lecture platform and “ split the ears of the 
 groundlings ” with vociferations of their aggressive, 
 uncompromising ignorance. 
 
 Another class of scientists dismiss the whole subject 
 by an oracular statement that these powers are inherent 
 in matter. The great bulk of them, however, belong to 
 the school of scientists which finds its great exemplar 
 in the late lamented “ Topsy.” Their explanation is that 
 “ it jest growed.” 
 
 In the meantime the great mass of civilized mankind 
 have reached the conclusion, by this same process of in¬ 
 tuitive perception of which we have been speaking, that 
 the Great First Cause of all things is a being endowed 
 with infinite intelligence and an infinite potential energy. 
 This of itself is a prima facie evidence of its verity, for 
 it is an essential truth if it is a truth, and intuition deals 
 with Essential Truth. The burden of proof, conse¬ 
 quently, rests upon those who deny the proposition. If, 
 therefore, all the other facts confirm this intuition, the 
 evidence will be conclusive. 
 
 The logical propositions bearing upon the question 
 may be formally stated as follows: 
 
 1. There are but two known ways of acquiring 
 knowledge. The first is by intuition, and the second is 
 by education. I employ the word “ education ” in its 
 broadest sense, exclusive of instinct or intuition, and 
 inclusive of every other means of acquiring knowledge. 
 
 2. Instinctive or intuitive knowledge is acquired by 
 heredity. 
 
 3. Hereditary knowledge presupposes an antecedent 
 mind possessing identical faculties with those inherited. 
 
 These three propositions are axiomatic and will not 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 43 
 
 be disputed, for they are confirmed by everyday obser¬ 
 vation and experience. Thus, when we see a bird build 
 its nest we know that the immediate ancestor of that 
 bird possessed the identical faculty and built its nest in 
 precisely the same way. When we see a new-born ani¬ 
 mal shrink from its natural enemy, we know that it 
 inherited the knowledge thus evinced. We know that 
 its ancestors possessed the identical instinct. Now, we 
 can trace this line of heredity back from Man to the 
 moneron; and we know also that the monera reproduce 
 themselves by segmentation, and transmit their instincts. 
 But what of the first moneron? For there must have 
 been a first moneron, and it must have had in perfection 
 the instinct of self-preservation. It must have felt the 
 impulse to seek nutrition and the power of locomotion; 
 and it must have possessed the power of digestion and 
 assimilation, or it could not have lived. It must have 
 felt the impulse to perform the function of reproduction, 
 or there could never have been a second moneron, and 
 so on. In short, the very first sentient being that ap¬ 
 peared on earth must have possessed such a knowledge 
 of the essential laws of its being as were necessary to 
 preserve its own life and to perpetuate its species, or 
 the progress of organic evolution would have been for¬ 
 ever arrested at the very threshold of sentient existence. 
 
 This is a self-evident proposition; and no refinement 
 of sophistry can weaken its force. No vague speculation 
 as to the possibility of tracing its ancestry back through 
 the vegetable to inorganic matter can destroy its signifi¬ 
 cance. Trace it back as far as you will, the same prin¬ 
 ciples hold good, and the same crucial question arises, 
 and that is this : 
 
 Where is the antecedent mind capable of transmitting 
 
44 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the essential attributes of omniscience and omnipotence 
 to the first sentient being on this planet? 
 
 There is, and there can be, but one rational answer. 
 It is self-evident that such qualities must be inherited 
 from a Being who possesses them, — an Almighty, 
 All-wise Creator. 
 
 Thus far I have spoken only of the intellectual powers 
 and the dynamic energy of God; and thus far we 
 find that they correspond exactly to the conceptions 
 of Christianity. But there are other attributes with 
 which Christian faith has invested the Supreme Being. 
 Jesus told us of a God of love, mercy, and benevolence, 
 — the Universal Father. Science confirms the latter 
 declaration, for it traces the ancestry of Man, in one 
 unbroken line, back to that Universal Father. This 
 demonstrates, what scientists have thus far failed to 
 note, that the law of heredity is universal. That is to 
 say, it is not confined to race or species; nor is it con¬ 
 fined to the earthly plane of existence. Thus, we have 
 traced the power of intuitive perception of essential 
 truth back through the protozoa to Omniscience; and we 
 have traced the kinetic energy which is inherent in the 
 soul of Man back through the protozoa to Omnipotence. 
 
 This is demonstrative of the truth of the following 
 proposition: 
 
 Whatever faculties are found to exist in the subjec¬ 
 tive mind of any sentient being necessarily existed, po¬ 
 tentially, in the ancestry of that being, near and remote. 
 
 This is axiomatic, and its truth will be instantly 
 perceived and assented to. It follows that whatever 
 faculties are found to exist in the soul of Man existed 
 potentially in all its ancestry, and actually in all its 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 45 
 
 ancestral minds that were sufficiently developed to man¬ 
 ifest them. 
 
 It is a corollary of this proposition that whatever 
 faculties we may find to exist in the subjective mind 
 of Man must necessarily exist, potentially, in the mind 
 of God the Father Almighty. 
 
 We may, therefore, confidently revert to that con¬ 
 geries of faculties and powers which science has de¬ 
 monstrated to be inherent in the subjective mind of Man. 
 
 Before doing so, however, I desire to invite your 
 attention again to the inductions and deductions upon 
 which the great lights of evolutionary science lay the 
 greatest stress. I allude especially to such scientists 
 as Haeckel, who fancy that they have eliminated God 
 from the Universe by proving that Man was not specially 
 created out of nothing, but is simply the product of 
 organic evolution. 
 
 One great law upon which they build their super¬ 
 structure is that of heredity. Upon that they lay the 
 greatest stress, declaring it to be a universal law, and 
 in the end seek to prove that it is not universal. Thus, 
 they trace the ancestry of Man, through an unbroken 
 series of gradients, back to the moneron. They even 
 descant upon the wonderful psychic powers of that 
 organism, and trace the development of those powers 
 up to man. Haeckel declares, truly, that Man’s place 
 in nature can never be accounted for on any other 
 hypothesis than that of hereditary transmission and de¬ 
 velopment from that unicellular organism. But when 
 asked “ whence comes that God-like intelligence with 
 which the moneron is invested ? ” he abandons the he¬ 
 reditary hypothesis and tells us that it can be accounted 
 for only on the theory of “ spontaneous generation.” 
 
46 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 “ Spontaneous generation from what ? ” you ask. 
 From inorganic matter, of course. Can matter think? 
 The question answers itself. 
 
 His scientific attitude is this: he adheres to an im¬ 
 mutable law up to a certain point — the crucial point — 
 and then abandons it in favor of a palpable absurdity. 
 
 His logical attitude is even worse; for he has com¬ 
 mitted the one unpardonable sin for which all guilty 
 logicians are, or ought to be, cast into outer darkness. 
 When he declares that the intelligence evinced by the 
 moneron is the result of “ spon taneous generation,” he 
 simjdy begs the que^ion. For that is the very question 
 at issue between the Christian evolutionist and the 
 atheistic or agnostic evolutionist. At that point comes 
 the parting of the ways. And it cannot be denied that 
 the Christian evolutionist has decidedly the advantage 
 in the argument; for it i s yet to be shown that such 
 a phe nomenon as spontaneous generation of life is 
 possible. It has often been tried, but the experiment 
 has never yet succeeded. On the other hand, the Chris¬ 
 tian evolutionist can well place himself squarely on the 
 proposition that the law of heredity is universal and 
 immutable; and that intelligence in any sentient creature 
 presupposes an antecedent intelligence transmitted under 
 the universal law. Moreover, he may reinforce himself 
 with that other axiom that “ a stream cannot rise higher 
 than its source ”; and further, that “ nothing comes 
 from nothing.” All these laws and axioms must be set 
 aside as idle verbiage if we are to suppose that the 
 God-like intelligence of the moneron did not proceed 
 from an infinite antecedent Mind, and not from a 
 fortuitous chemical compound of inorganic matter. 
 
 Another favorite argument of the agnostic evolu- 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 47 
 
 tionist is based on the ontogeny of the germinal cell 
 of Man. They tell us, what is undoubtedly true, that 
 the ontogeny of the human embryo is a repetition of 
 the salient features of the phylogeny of the primordial 
 germ. That is to say, the human embryo begins as a 
 unicellular organism, and the stages of its development 
 correspond to the principal steps in the development of 
 animal life from the moneron to Man. This is one 
 of the strong points of evidence insisted upon by evo¬ 
 lutionists in favor of the evolutionary hypothesis. It 
 cannot be denied that its evidential value is immense. 
 But its true value has never yet been measured by those 
 who have most strongly insisted upon it. Like the 
 argument from heredity, when carried to its legitimate 
 conclusion it is all but demonstrative of the existence of 
 the God of Christian faith. Thus, the human embryo, in 
 its first stage of existence is a unicellular organism, 
 microscopic in size, and differs in no perceptible respect 
 from the embryo of any of the lower mammalia. But 
 there is a difference between the human germinal cell 
 and that of one of the lower mammalia; for one is 
 endowed with the potentials of a human organism and 
 the other is not. No instruments known to science can 
 enable one to detect the difference between the two. 
 As between two germinal cells there is but one way by 
 which any one can know which of them is endowed with 
 the potentials of a human organism, and that is by 
 ascertaining the parentage of the two cells. In other 
 words, the human cell is endowed with the potentials 
 of a human organism because it had its origin in a 
 human organism. 
 
 Now let us begin at the other end of the line of 
 heredity. When a scientist beholds a human being he 
 
48 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 knows the ontogenetic history of that being, from the 
 germinal cell up to the fully developed man. By ana¬ 
 lyzing the faculties of that being, he can say with 
 certainty just what faculties were possessed by the 
 parent organism in which the germinal cell had its 
 origin. 
 
 These are all self-evident propositions — in fact, 
 truisms. But now let us carry the same process of 
 reasoning into the phylogenetic series. When an intelli¬ 
 gent evolutionist beholds a man, he can recite the steps 
 of his development from the moneron upward to the 
 fully developed man. He knows that the unicellular 
 organism from which he was descended, in the phylo¬ 
 genetic series, was endowed with the potentials of man¬ 
 hood. He knows that, because he can trace the line of 
 its development from the moneron to Man. 
 
 But how did it happen that the moneron became en¬ 
 dowed with the potentials of a human organism? This 
 is the crucial question. Haeckel, in common with all 
 other atheistic evolutionists, tells us that it was by 
 spontaneous generation. That is to say, at that crucial 
 point he abandons his comparison of the phylogenetic 
 series with the ontogenetic history of the human 
 embryo. 
 
 We have seen that the human germinal cell contained 
 the promise and potency of a human organism solely 
 because it had its origin in a human organism. In 
 other words, there was an intelligence antecedent to the 
 germinal cell, which was endowed with faculties iden¬ 
 tical with those of the organism that was developed from 
 the cell. It is self-evident that the germinal cell could 
 not have developed into a human organism had there 
 not been an antecedent intelligence at least equal to the 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 49 
 
 human intelligence from which the human germinal 
 cell derived its potentialities. 
 
 Carrying the comparison to its legitimate conclusion, 
 therefore, we must suppose that there was an antecedent 
 intelligence back of that of the moneron at least equal 
 to the intelligence that eventually developed from the 
 moneron. In other words, since we know that the 
 moneron was necessarily endowed with the potentialities 
 of a human organism, we also know that there must 
 have existed an antecedent intelligence at least equal to 
 a human intelligence. Otherwise, we must suppose 
 that something can come from nothing, and that a 
 stream can rise higher than its source. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the essential law of evolution, 
 namely, heredity, and the strongest argument in favor 
 of that hypothesis, namely, the comparison of the on¬ 
 togeny of the germinal cell with the phylogeny of the 
 species, each, when carried to its legitimate conclusion, 
 leads inevitably to the Living God as the only tenable 
 explanation of the facts of organic evolution. 
 
 Bear with me while I carry the ontogenetic argument 
 one step further. I have already shown that an analysis 
 of the faculties of Man necessarily reveals the faculties 
 of the parent organism of the germinal cell of Man. This 
 is self-evident. Now if an analysis of the faculties of 
 Man’s immortal soul in like manner reveals a God-like 
 entity, antecedent to the moneron, the evidential value 
 of the facts we have considered will be enhanced a 
 thousand-fold. 
 
 Let us turn, then, to the table exhibiting the faculties 
 of the subjective mind, and see what evidence they 
 afford of the Living God — what proofs they present 
 that Man was made in the image of God. 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Now, do not for a moment imagine that I am going 
 to present an anthropomorphic conception of the attri¬ 
 butes of God. Such conceptions are common enough; 
 but they always arise from an attempt to realize the 
 attributes of God from a contemplation of the objective 
 man, or, at best, of the faculties of the objective mind. 
 It is obvious that a multiplication by infinity of the 
 power of inductive reasoning would not relieve the con¬ 
 ception of its anthropomorphism. Induction is a method 
 of inquiry. A God possessed of infinite powers of in¬ 
 duction, therefore, would be a God of limited intelli¬ 
 gence, an infinite inquirer, — an infinite searcher after 
 information. Our boasted “ God-like Reason ” is of the 
 earth earthy, — the very antithesis of omniscience. 
 
 Now, let us turn to the mind of the soul; the 
 mind which antedates the objective mind by untold 
 millions of years; the mind which is our heritage 
 direct from omniscience; the mind which bore the 
 sign-manual of Divinity when it first appeared on this 
 earth. 
 
 Intuition heads the list — the power of immediate per¬ 
 ception of Essential Truth, a power that is antecedent 
 to and independent of reason, experience, or instruction. 
 Then follows inerrant Deduction — the power to cor¬ 
 rectly interpret the laws and truths that are intuitively 
 apprehended, and follow them to all legitimate con¬ 
 clusions. Add to these two faculties a perfect memory, 
 and multiply the sum total by infinity, without changing 
 the essential character of either, and the product is 
 Omniscience. 
 
 Descending now to the bottom of the list, we find 
 Kinetic Energy, — the power of moving and being 
 moved; of moving ponderable bodies without physical 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 5 I 
 
 contact or appliances; the power that controls the 
 physical forces of nature, and enabled Jesus and Peter 
 to walk upon the water. Multiply this power by infinity 
 and the product is Omnipotence, that Infinite Energy 
 that controls the correlated forces of nature, assembles 
 matter, and creates a Universe. 
 
 With a difference only of degree, therefore, we find 
 in the soul of Man every essential attribute of Om¬ 
 niscience, and every power of Omnipotence. 
 
 Turning now to the emotional nature of Man, we 
 find that which purified and increased by the sum of 
 infinity, gives us a God of infinite love, mercy, and 
 benevolence. 
 
 Last, but by no means least in importance, we find 
 the faculty of telepathy, which we must suppose to be 
 a divine potential. Science pauses here and asks this 
 question, which each must answer for himself: Does 
 not the possession of this faculty involve the logical 
 deduction, not only that it is the obvious means of 
 social communion in the future life, but that it is the 
 ever open channel of communion with God through 
 prayer; and not only that, but is it not the potential 
 agency of divine inspiration? 
 
 These questions each must answer for himself in the 
 light of the evidence before him. But of one thing 
 we may be certain, when I tell you that it has been 
 demonstrated that two persons, as far apart as the an¬ 
 tipodes, can communicate by means of telepathy just 
 as easily as if they were in the same room; and that 
 the power thus manifested, when expanded to infinity, 
 is Omnipresence. 
 
 If, therefore, the intuitions of the prophet of old were 
 inerrant; or iiOljiife! >va3 iidivifiely j-inspired, when he de- 
 
52 ' THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 dared that “ Man was made in the image of God,” we 
 know that God is an Omniscient, Omnipotent, Om¬ 
 nipresent God of Love, Mercy, and Benevolence; for 
 we find in the soul of Man each of these divine attri¬ 
 butes, differing only in degree. 
 
II 
 
 SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 I T is a curious fact that, in the so-called “ conflict 
 between science and religion,” the materialistic 
 scientists owe the greater part of their popular 
 polemical successes to unwise concessions or admissions, 
 made by those who represent the religious side of the 
 controversy. Thus, when the doctrine of evolution was 
 announced and was found to conflict with the literal 
 interpretation of the Mosaic history of the creation of 
 organic life, materialists were instant in the claim that 
 science had eliminated God from the universe, and the 
 Church, instead of seizing upon the indisputable facts 
 of organic evolution and giving them a rational theo¬ 
 logical interpretation, virtually admitted that if the doc¬ 
 trine of evolution were sound, the claim of materialism 
 could not be successfully controverted. 
 
 Having made that admission, it felt compelled, in the 
 interest of religion, to deny the facts of evolution, and 
 thus was continued the warfare of theology against 
 science, which may be said to have been begun by the 
 murder of Hypatia in the fifth century for teaching 
 mathematics in the schools of Alexandria. The result 
 of that battle between science and religion was that the 
 intelligent youth of Christendom, being taught by ma¬ 
 terialistic science on the one hand that the facts of 
 evolution disproved the existence of God, and by the 
 
54 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Church on the other hand that science and religion 
 were in deadly antagonism, felt compelled to make a 
 choice of one to the exclusion of the other. Hence the 
 tidal wave of materialism which swept over Christendom 
 during a portion of the last century. The facts of 
 science could not be ignored, and whatever was sup¬ 
 posed to antagonize them necessarily had to yield. Hap- 
 ; pily, wiser counsels now prevail, and it is beginning to 
 i dawn upon the more intelligent portion of the Christian 
 ! Church that a rational interpretation of the facts of 
 organic and mental evolution demonstrates the truth 
 of the essential doctrine of Christianity. 
 
 Again, the Christian doctrine of the future life has . 
 suflfered alike from the assaults of materialistic science 
 and the admissions of the Church. Thus, materialists 
 tell us that the facts of their science all tend to disprove 
 the doctrine of the immortality of the soul; and that 
 there are consequently no facts by which that doctrine 
 can be inductively established. They tell us that if man 
 has a soul it is the mind; that the brain is the organ 
 of the mind, and that consequently when the brain 
 perishes the soul is extinguished. They have explored 
 the brain and definitely located some of its most im¬ 
 portant centres; and they have demonstrated that, by 
 removing portions of it, corresponding faculties of the 
 mind are extinguished; and that this process can be 
 continued until the whole of the brain intelligence is 
 blotted out. 
 
 Arguing from these demonstrable facts, they tell us 
 that they have, step by step, extinguished the human 
 soul by experimental surgery, and thus demonstrated 
 that its very existence depends entirely upon the main¬ 
 tenance intact of the brain structure. The conclusion. 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 55 
 
 of course, is that not only is it impossible to prove the 
 immortality of the soul by induction, but that all the 
 facts of physical science conspire to demonstrate its 
 impossibility. 
 
 This, then, is what materialistic science has had to 
 say, and still says, of the problem: “ If a man die, shall 
 he live again ? ” And it must be said in all candor that 
 if its fundamental premises are true, its argument is 
 unassailable. Moreover, it must be stated that, up to 
 within a decade, its premises were not seriously disputed, 
 even by those who did not fully share its conclusions. 
 In fact, it was generally admitted, even by the most 
 ardent believers in the promises of the Master, that the 
 fact of the future life was not susceptible of inductive 
 verification. They did not, of course, admit that science 
 had demonstrated the impossibility of a future life, even 
 though compelled to recognize the facts upon which 
 science based its calculations; but took refuge in the 
 assumption that there were two orders of truth in the 
 universe, namely , religious truth and scientific truth, 
 each being antagon istic to the other. 
 
 It is, however, no part of my purpose to analyze the 
 old arguments for, or grounds of belief in, the immor¬ 
 tality of the soul further than to remark upon the sub¬ 
 lime faith in the promises of the Master which has 
 kept it alive in the breasts of his followers, in spite of 
 the seeming demonstrations of materialistic science. I 
 merely wish for the moment to draw attention to the 
 fact that, up to within the last decade, believers and 
 disbelievers respectively admitted and asseverated with 
 practical unanimity that science is powerless to prove the 
 fact of a future life. In saying this I purposely omit 
 spiritism as “ a thing apart.” 
 
56 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 My present purpose is to inquire whether it is true 
 that so momentous a problem is incapable of solution 
 by the processes of induction, my firm belief being that 
 man can eventually learn by that process everything 
 that it is important for him to know. Facts are nature’s 
 divine revelations — the sign language of the Omnipo¬ 
 tent — the very words of God; and reason is their 
 divinely commissioned interpreter. All facts are con¬ 
 sistent with one another, and, properly interpreted and 
 sufficiently aggregated, they point with unerring cer¬ 
 tainty to ultimate truth. 
 
 In other words, facts constitute the only valid basis 
 of reasoning. The validity of the conclusions, however, 
 depends entirely upon the proper interpretation of the 
 facts; and that in turn is possible only when a sufficient 
 number of facts have entered into the calculation. It 
 is true that one may come to a correct conclusion from 
 one fact alone, but that is rare, and it savors of a higher 
 
 faculty — that of intuition. But Jn_pure inductive 
 
 reasoning the only safe method is to suspend judgment 
 until the largest possible number of facts have been 
 collected and properly classified. The obvious reason 
 is that, in the absence of a large number of facts, a 
 proper classification is always uncertain, and often prac¬ 
 tically impossible, and in the absence of a valid classi¬ 
 fication one is liable to draw his conclusions from facts 
 which have little or no pertinency. The validity of an 
 induction, however, depends not so much upon the 
 number of facts considered as upon their pertinency. 
 
 My excuse for drawing attention to these elementary 
 principles of inductive investigation is, first, that it is 
 always well to recur frequently to first principles; and, 
 second, because I intend to apply them to the old “ sci- 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 57 
 
 entific ” method of investigating the problem of a future 
 life, before proceeding to state the fact upon which I 
 rely to establish its reality. 
 
 I have already stated that the materialistic scientists 
 have relied upon the facts of cerebral anatomy and 
 experimental surgery to prove that the soul of man 
 perishes with the physical body. I have admitted their 
 facts and the results of their experiments, and I have 
 said that if their fundamental assumptions were true, 
 their conclusions could not be successfully controverted. 
 This is but another way of saying that if their premises 
 are true, their experimental facts are pertinent to the 
 issue; but if their premises or assumptions are not true, 
 the facts upon which they rely are foreign to the sub¬ 
 ject, and their concl usio ns are, therefore, necessarily 
 unr eliable. It becomes, then, of first importance that 
 we should test the soundness of their fundamental 
 assumptions. 
 
 In strict justice to all concerned it must be stated 
 that the mistakes of materialistic scientists were not due 
 to any false method of reasoning. Their methods were 
 inductive, and their experiments were scientifically 
 exact; but they w ere not. pertinent to the issue. Nor 
 was this due to individual ignorance of logical methods, 
 but to the then prevailing ignorance of anything like 
 a scientific psychology. It was due, in short, to the old 
 psychology — which was a psychology minus the 
 ‘ ^ psyc he ” — a “ science of the soul ” founded upon a 
 profound ignorance of the soul. It was the scientific 
 equivalent of the proverbial “ play of the ‘ Prince of 
 Denmark ’ with the part of Hamlet left out.” 
 
 Under such a psychology materialism assumed, and 
 had a right to assume, that the mind which could be 
 
58 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOU I 
 
 reached with a saw, and the faculties of which could be 
 eliminated with a scalpel, constituted the only mental 
 organism with which man was endowed; and that when 
 that mind was thus destroyed the soul was exterminated. 
 Science then knew of no other mind than that of which 
 the brain was the sole organ. The law of mental duality 
 had not been discovered; and hence there was no pos¬ 
 sible means of knowing that man had a soul or a mental 
 organism whose existence and phenomenal manifesta¬ 
 tions were not dependent upon the integrity of the brain 
 structure. 
 
 The new psychology, however, throws a flood of light 
 upon man’s mental organism in general, and in partic¬ 
 ular upon the attributes and powers of the human soul. 
 It reveals in man the possession of a dual mind, or 
 what is the practical equivalent of two minds, since 
 each is endowed with distinct faculties, powers, and 
 limitations which are not shared by the other. 
 
 The distinctive faculties, powers, and limitations of 
 the two minds will be clearly differentiated when we 
 come to point out the facts which indicate the future 
 life. For present purposes it must suffice to say, pro¬ 
 visionally, that the mind of which the brain is the organ 
 possesses only those faculties which pertain to a purely 
 physical environment; and, being dependent upon the 
 brain structure for its ability to manifest its powers, it 
 necessarily perishes with that organ. The subjective 
 entity, on the other hand, is endowed with faculties and 
 powers that especially adapt it to a disembodied exist¬ 
 ence, and the brain is not its organ. This is to say, its 
 higher manifestations are made independently of that 
 organ. The conclusion is inevitable that the subjective 
 mind is the mental organism of the soul. 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 59 
 
 It follows that materialistic science was mistaken: 
 (i) in the assumption that the objective mind consti¬ 
 tutes the mental organism of the soul; (2) in assuming 
 that the brain was the proper field for exploration in 
 quest of the soul; (3) in the supposition that saws, 
 scalpels, or other tools are reliable instruments of pre¬ 
 cision for testing the question of immortality. Their 
 conclusions were, therefore, valueless to science. They 
 had followed the inductive method, it is true, and their 
 experiments were carefully and skilfully conducted, 
 but their facts were wrongly classified, and were, there¬ 
 fore, not pertinent to the issue they were attempting 
 to decide. 
 
 Materialistic science has, therefore, left the question 
 of a future life exactly where it found it. It has con¬ 
 fused the minds of many, promoted skepticism, and dis¬ 
 couraged believers from indulging in the hope that 
 science can ever verify the promises of the Master. But 
 that is all. It has not disproved it, and that of itself is 
 good ground for hope, especially when we remember 
 that it has not yet considered a single fact that is per¬ 
 tinent to the real question of the survival of the soul 
 after the death of the body. 
 
 It is an axiom of science that knowledge of a law of 
 ' nature enables its possessor to reconstruct the past and 
 predict the future with unerring certainty. Thus, the 
 discovery by Kepler of the three laws of planetary 
 motion enabled Newton to formulate the law of gravi¬ 
 tation, and that discovery in turn enabled one of his suc¬ 
 cessors to discover and definitely locate a planet that at 
 the time was invisible even with the help of the most 
 powerful aids to vision then existing. But its existence 
 and its location in the heavens were just as certain to 
 
6o 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the mind of the scientist then as after the hypothet¬ 
 ical planet became a visible reality through the aid of 
 the more powerful telescopes that were subsequently 
 constructed. 
 
 This axiom is as true of the laws of the mind as it is 
 of those of the material universe, the difference being 
 that in the former the previsions cannot always be ob¬ 
 jectively verified. They are just as certain, however, 
 in the one case as in the other if we give credit to that 
 universal axiom of science affirmative of the “ con¬ 
 stancy of nature.” Thus, while the axiom “ There can 
 be no faculty of the mind without a function to per¬ 
 form ” may not, in the strictest sense, be called a law of 
 nature, it has the force of one, in that it is what Herbert 
 Spencer would call “ a universal postulate,” because “ its 
 opposite is inconceivable ” — unthinkable. It is, there¬ 
 fore, as safe a proposition to reason from as the theorem 
 of Newton. It is, indeed, the psychological equivalent 
 of the axiom of physiological science which postulates 
 a function for every organ of the body. So true is the 
 latter proposition that even the vocabulary of materialis¬ 
 tic science is unequal to the discussion of physiology in 
 other than terms of “ design.” 
 
 This, then, is the psychological proposition upon which 
 I shall base my argument for a future life; The re can 
 exist no faculty of the human mind without a use or a 
 function to_perform, somewhere, or at some time, in 
 the life of the individual. This, I repeat, is a “ universal 
 postulate,” for its opposite is inconceivable. It is self- 
 evident, and therefore requires no argument to sustain it. 
 
 It will at once be seen that the bearing of this propo¬ 
 sition upon the question of a future life is entirely 
 dependent upon my ability to show tha t man is endowed 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 6r 
 
 with faculties of mind that perform no normal function 
 in thi s life. If that can be satisfactorily shown I shall 
 have a right to assume that such functions will be per¬ 
 formed in the future life; a fortiori (with stronger 
 reason) if it can be shown that those faculties and func¬ 
 tions are not adapted to the normal uses of this life, but 
 are obviously adapted to a disembodied existence. All 
 this, and more, I shall attempt to show by the aid of 
 what is now known as man’s psychological endowments. 
 
 I have already stated that the new psychology teaches 
 us that man is endowed with a duplex mental organism, 
 or what seems to be two minds, objective and sub¬ 
 jective; and that each is endowed with faculties not 
 shared by the other. I also stated, provisionally, that 
 the subjective mind is the mental organism of the soul. 
 It remains to point out the facts which seem to justify 
 these assumptions. 
 
 Beginning with the objective mind, the mind of ordi¬ 
 nary waking consciousness, it is found that it possesses 
 but one distinctive faculty. That is to say, it possesses 
 but one faculty that is not shared by the subjective 
 mind, and that is the power of independent induc¬ 
 tion. The subjective mind is destitute of that power. 
 In other words, it cannot institute an independent line 
 of scientific investigation by collecting a mass of facts 
 and reasoning from them up to general principles or 
 laws. This is the distinctive limitation of power in the 
 subjective mind which differentiates the two, all other 
 points of differentiation being due to limitation of the 
 powers of the objective mind. This subjective limi¬ 
 tation is due to the law of suggestion, and it is gener¬ 
 ally expressed in the formula: “The subjective mind 
 is constantly amenable to control by the power of sug- 
 
62 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 gestion.” This is the equivalent of saying that it is 
 compelled to take its premises from extraneous sources, 
 and is hence incapable of independent induction. 
 
 All other powers of the objective mind are shared by 
 the subjective; as, for instance, the power of deductive 
 reasoning. Deduction is, of course, a necessary con¬ 
 comitant of induction, inasmuch as the reasoning pro¬ 
 cess consists in alternate induction and deduction. That 
 is to say, induction reasons from a collection of facts 
 up to general principles, and deduction reasons down 
 from general principles to particular facts, and both are 
 necessary means of conducting scientific inquiry. De¬ 
 duction is, therefore, necessarily a faculty of the objec¬ 
 tive mind, and, as before remarked, it is shared by 
 the subjective, the difference being one of degree. It 
 is inherent and potentially perfect in the subjective 
 mind, but in the objective it is dependent upon brain 
 cultivation. 
 
 The other powers of the objective mind may be all 
 classed under the head of memory. JtJs itself destitute 
 ^f emotion, having only memories_of emotional experi¬ 
 ences. The emotions belong exclusively to the subjec¬ 
 tive mind, where they were located in the beginning of 
 organic life, seons before the brain was evolved in the 
 process of organic evolution. The pow er of memory 
 is also sha red by the s ubjective mind, the difference 
 again being one of degree. That of the objective mind, 
 being dependent upon the development and constant 
 refunctioning of brain cells, is necessarily very imper- 
 ! feet; for the atrophy of a brain cell destroys a brain 
 I memory, whereas the memory of th e subjective mind, 
 I not being thus dependent upon the integrity of a physi¬ 
 cal organ, is absolute. It not only retains in perfection 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 63 
 
 all that it receives during the lifetime of the individual, 
 but it is endowed with a fund of ancestral memories 
 which reappear in the phenomena of heredity and 
 instinct. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the objective mind is endowed 
 with but one generic faculty, namely the power of induc¬ 
 tion and its necessary concomitants — deduction and 
 memory. In other words, it is pure intellect. It is the 
 faculty of judgment and discrimination — the ability to 
 estimate the values of facts in their relations to each 
 other, the mental instrumentality by which man grasps 
 the laws of nature and enslaves her forces. It is, in 
 short, the one faculty of mind that is adapted to man’s 
 use in his struggle with the vicissitudes of an imperfect 
 physical environment, in a world that is in its formative 
 stage, physically, mentally, and morally. It is pro¬ 
 foundly significant that the brain — the sole organ of 
 the objective mind — is a product of organic evolution. 
 Like all the other physical organs, it was evolved in 
 response to a necessity of organic life, and obviously to 
 assist its possessor in the struggle for existence. In a 
 word, the brain is a highly specialized physical organ, 
 the functions of which pertain solely to this life, as will 
 more fully appear hereinafter. Organi c life on this 
 planet was more than half as old as it is now before an 
 ani mal with a brain made its appearance. The subjec¬ 
 tive mind, therefore, antedated the objective by untold 
 millions of yjiars^ for the former existed in potential 
 perfection in the lowest unicellular organism — the 
 earliest and humblest of man’s earthly ancestors. 
 
 Let us now examine the salient features of man’s sub¬ 
 jective powers and faculties, first, with a view to ascer¬ 
 taining whether they seem to fit him for a higher plane 
 
64 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 of existence; and, second, whether they reveal in man 
 the possession of faculties and powers that perform no 
 normal function on the earthly plane. 
 
 First in the natural order of treatment is the faculty 
 of intuition, which is possessed exclusively by the sub¬ 
 jective mind, the objective not being endowed with any 
 power remotely akin to it. By intuition I mean the 
 immediate perception of truth, general principles or 
 laws, antecedent to and independently of reason, ex¬ 
 perience, or instruction. It is that mysterious faculty 
 which in animals is called instinct. Its higher manifes¬ 
 tation in man is called intuition, or intuitive perception 
 of truth. But it is the same generic faculty, and it is as 
 fully developed in the lowest unicellular organism as it is 
 in the highest order of manhood, the difference being of 
 degree and character of manifestation. Beginning with 
 the moneron, and ascending through all the gradations 
 of animal life to man, it is developed in exact proportion 
 to the wants, necessities, and stage of development 
 of each species. In the lower animals it manifests 
 itself in those acts which serve to protect the individual 
 and to preserve the species. In man it is sporadically 
 manifested in men of genius and other prodigies, and in 
 its highest manifestations it reaches into the realm of 
 the human soul and reveals its origin, its destiny, and 
 the laws of its being. 
 
 In the lowest order of animal life — the moneron 
 — that physical “ organism without organs,” as Haeckel 
 calls it, the divine origin of life and mind is more clearly 
 revealed than in any other phenomenon of sentiency, for 
 its mental attributes, as revealed by its instinctive acts, 
 proclaim its kinship to omniscience in language that can¬ 
 not be otherwise interpreted. Thus the instinct of the 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 65 
 
 moneron reveals an intuitive knowledge of the laws 
 of its being, and this is all that can be said of om¬ 
 niscience. The difference is one of degree and is pro¬ 
 portioned to the state of development and environment. 
 Heredity from earthly ancestors cannot be invoked to 
 account for the possession of that faculty in the mon¬ 
 eron, for it had no earthly ancestors. But as heredity 
 is the only known method of transmitting subjective 
 faculties, we are forced to the conclusion that it was a 
 direct inheritance from the divine mind. And this view 
 is strengthened by the obvious fact that the heritage is 
 the essential attribute of omniscience. 
 
 It is an axiom of the science of organic evolution that 
 the potentialities of manhood reside in the primordial 
 germ. Atheistic scientists affirm this with insistent it¬ 
 eration — and it is unquestionably true. But it is also 
 true that the very facts upon which atheistic science 
 relies to prove its axiom also proclaim, with stronger 
 reason, the divine origin of the life and mind in evidence 
 in the primordial germ, and thus reveal in it the poten¬ 
 tialities, not alone of manhood, but of an immortal soul. 
 I submit that the inheritance of the potentialities of the 
 divine attributes of mind presupposes the inheritance 
 of the potentialities of the divine continuity. 
 
 It will thus be seen that at the very threshold of 
 organic life on this planet the subjective mind appeared, 
 and that it was endowed with the divine power or faculty 
 of intuition, — a faculty which enables its possessor to 
 know, by immediate apprehension, all essential truth 
 pertaining to his stage of development and his environ¬ 
 ment ; a power that as far transcends that of induction 
 as the light of the sun exceeds the light of the humblest 
 of the heavenly bodies. 
 
 S 
 
66 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Man boasts of his “ Grod-like powers ” of inductive 
 reason. But it is anything but God-like. An omniscient 
 God cannot reason inductively. Why? Because induc¬ 
 tion is an inquiry — a slow and painful method of 
 searching for information — a systematic effort to find 
 out something that the inquirer does not know. It is, 
 therefore, a contradiction in terms to say that an om¬ 
 niscient God can reason inductively, God knows all 
 things by virtue of his powers of intuition, and he 
 has transmitted those powers to the souls of his children 
 in exact proportion to their requirements. 
 
 It will now be apparent to the intelligent reader why 
 I have said that the one distinctive power of the objec¬ 
 tive mind is especially adapted to the requirements of 
 an imperfect physical environment — to a world that 
 is in its formative stage — and to no other. It would be 
 superfluous — impossible — to a mind endowed with 
 the power of intuitive apprehension of first principles 
 or laws. Assuming, then, for the moment, a future life 
 for the souls of men, it is obvious that they are intellec¬ 
 tually well supplied for a far higher plane of existence 
 than this. Other faculties of the soul which serve to 
 complete an ideal mental equipment for a disembodied 
 existence will appear as we proceed in the enumeration 
 of faculties which perform no normal function in this 
 life. 
 
 In saying that the subjective mind is endowed with 
 faculties which perform no normal functions in this life, 
 I must not be understood as saying that none of its 
 faculties are adapted to the uses of this plane of exist¬ 
 ence. On the contrary, the life itself of the body 
 depends upon the continuous performance of some of 
 the functions of the subjective mind. Its purely bodily 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 67 
 
 functions seem to pertain exclusively to the preservation 
 of the life and health of the body, and to the perpetu¬ 
 ation of the species. These need not be considered in 
 this paper, as they are only remotely connected with 
 the subject under discussion. 
 
 Some of its faculties, however, perform useful func¬ 
 tions, under normal conditions, on the lower plane, but 
 seem to manifest themselves only under abnormal con¬ 
 ditions on the higher plane. Thus the faculty of instinct 
 or intuition, one phase of which has already been dis¬ 
 cussed, is the prime conservator of animal life on the 
 lower plane, and its every manifestation is normal and 
 useful to the last degree. But in its higher manifesta¬ 
 tions, as in men of genius, in mathematical and musical 
 prodigies, and in poets and artists of the subjective types, 
 abnormal conditions of body and mind seem to prevail. 
 Nevertheless, through these higher manifestations we 
 catch occasional glimpses of a transcendent subjective 
 power which certainly is never normally manifested in 
 this life. 
 
 While we may not, therefore, be justified in group¬ 
 ing this faculty with those that perform no normal 
 functions in this life, we certainly are justified in so 
 classing its higher functions. Moreover, it must be 
 classed, provisionally, at least, as one of the faculties of 
 the human soul which are necessary to a perfect men¬ 
 tal organism — an indispensable factor in an intellectual 
 entity. If, then, we find other faculties which complete 
 the intellectual organism, and still others which are in¬ 
 dispensable to a perfect manhood, some of which perform 
 no normal function in this life, but are obviously adapted 
 to the uses of a disembodied intellectual entity, we shall 
 have justified our classification and proved our thesis. 
 
68 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 The faculty or power of deduction is next in the order 
 of discussion, for it is as necessary a concomitant of 
 intuition as it is of induction. Both induction and intui¬ 
 tion have to do solely with general laws or first prin¬ 
 ciples; and deduction in each case is the method of 
 deriving practical conclusions from the laws thus ascer¬ 
 tained. As I have before remarked, the process is slow 
 and painful in the objective mind, and hence frequently 
 incorrect. But there is good reason to believe that the 
 deductions of the subjective mind, from well-ascertained 
 laws, are practically inerrant. 
 
 Thus the intuitions of mathematical prodigies enable 
 them to grasp the law of quantities or numbers, and 
 their solutions of problems are, of course, merely de¬ 
 ductions from the law. If, therefore, the problem is 
 intricate and instantaneously solved, as it often is, and 
 the solution proves to be correct, it constitutes indu¬ 
 bitable evidence, not only that the intuition was exact, 
 but that the deductive power displayed was inerrant. 
 
 We have therefore the means of mathematically dem¬ 
 onstrating the fact that, under favoring conditions, the 
 intuitions and the deductions of the subjective mind are 
 not only inerrant, but that its processes of mentation 
 are inconceivably rapid. Thus the instantaneous nam¬ 
 ing of the cube of a number consisting of nine figures 
 by a child who was objectively ignorant of the first four 
 rules of arithmetic is demonstrative of all three of the 
 propositions — exact intuitions, inerrant deductions, and 
 rapidity of mentation. 
 
 What are the prerequisite conditions''for the exhibition 
 of such transcendent powers of the human soul is not 
 yet known to science except in a very general way. All 
 that is known with any degree of certainty is that such 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 69 
 
 phenomena are produced only under abnormal condi¬ 
 tions, involving at least a partial and generally a total 
 suspension of the objective faculties. It is also known 
 that normally such powers are submerged beneath the 
 threshold of objective consciousness — hidden by a 
 fleshly investiture — buried under the normal dom¬ 
 inance of the objective mind. 
 
 I submit, therefore, that we have a logical right under 
 the strictest rules of scientific induction to infer, first, 
 that in its higher aspects intuition performs no normal 
 function in this life, induction being amply sufficient to 
 enable us to cope with the vicissitudes of a physical 
 environment; and secondly, that when the limitations 
 of our physical investiture are removed those transcen¬ 
 dent faculties and powers will perform their normal 
 functions in a perfect mental environment — in a realm 
 where all truth stands revealed. This, I say, we have 
 a right to infer from the observable facts of experi¬ 
 mental psychology. But we know that such faculties 
 correspond exactly to man’s highest possible conception 
 of the attributes of omniscience, differing only in 
 degree; and from this we have a right to infer the 
 divine origin of life and mind. We know also that such 
 faculties are adapted to the uses of our highest con¬ 
 ceptions of a perfect intellectual environment — an en¬ 
 vironment that is obviously impossible in a material 
 world like this. Again we have a right to infer future 
 uses for such faculties in a realm commensurate to our 
 divine origin and the God-like faculties of the soul. 
 
 There remains but one other faculty requisite to a 
 perfect intellectual equipment, and that is memo ry. 
 This, as we have seen, is possessed in potential per¬ 
 fection by the subjective mind. It is, of co urse, shared 
 
70 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL ^ 
 
 by the objective mind, the difference being one of 
 degree. 
 
 Strictly speaking, therefore, memory cannot be 
 classed as a faculty which performs no normal function 
 in this life. Nevertheless, it seems probable that a per¬ 
 fect memory, such as the subjective mind possesses, 
 would seriously handicap the objective mind in its in¬ 
 ductive efforts. Not because of the redundancy of 
 material thus furnished, although that is sometimes 
 embarrassing, but because a perfect memory retains 
 error as vividly as it does truth, which, in the absence 
 of perfectly trained powers of discrimination, is neces¬ 
 sarily productive of confusion and error. In point of 
 fact one of the most valuable “ powers ” of the objective 
 jnind consists in its ability to forget. It erases many 
 a grievous error from its tablets which would otherwise 
 form the basis of wrong inductions. It relieves the over¬ 
 crowded brain of many an unfortunate student from a 
 crushing load of useless knowledge. Most important of 
 all, it enables time to bring to the heart, overburdened 
 with sorrow, respite and nepenthe from the memories 
 of the loved and lost. 
 
 Not that a good memory is a thing to be deplored; 
 but a good memory in this earthly environment, where 
 error is ever in deadly conflict with truth, and sorrow 
 is ever present or impending, is one that is tenacious 
 alone of truth and joy. It may be objected that this is 
 beyond our control, but that is a mistaken idea. Cere¬ 
 bral anatomists tell us that every new thought or ex¬ 
 perience creates a new brain cell or modifies an old one, 
 or both, and that each memory is represented by a brain 
 cell. It follows that, as brain cells are physical organs, 
 memory is dependent upon physical conditions, and 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 71 
 
 that, like every other physical organ, a brain cell, or 
 memory organ, may be strengthened by exercise, weak¬ 
 ened by infrequent refunctioning, or atrophied by dis¬ 
 use, the memory, of course, following the conditions of 
 its organ. 
 
 Objective memory, therefore, and its resultant happi¬ 
 ness or misery are largely under the control of the 
 individual. The wisdom and beneficence of such a lim¬ 
 itation of the powers of objective memory, in an im¬ 
 perfect physical, moral, and social environment, are 
 too obvious to require further comment. It is also 
 obvious that a perfect memory, such as the subjective 
 mind possesses, would constitute a burden too grievous 
 to be borne by mortal man. In other words, a perfect 
 memory is not adapted to the uses of this life. Even 
 Trom an intellectual point of view the rule holds good. 
 Thus, an imperfect memory, that is to say, a memory 
 the retentiveness of which is largely under the control 
 of the individual, is a necessary concomitant of our 
 powers of induction; for that, whereas induction 
 enables us to “ prove all things,” the power to forget 
 enables us to “ hold fast ” only “ to that which is good.” 
 By “ the power to forget ” I mean the power, by inat¬ 
 tention, to render error and sorrow the least conspicu¬ 
 ous factors in our minds and our lives. I submit that 
 the power to forget is among the most valuable of man’s 
 earthly endowments, and that it is a conspicuous ex¬ 
 ample of divine mercy and benevolence. 
 
 On the other hand, postulating a future life, there are 
 many reasons why the mind of the soul should be en¬ 
 dowed with a perfect memory, among the most obvious 
 of which are the following: 
 
 It is a necessary concomitant of the soul’s transcen- 
 
72 THE EVOLUTION OE THE SOUL 
 
 dent powers of intuitive perception or apprehension of 
 the laws of nature and its infinite powers of inerrant 
 deduction therefrom. Obviously the purely intellectual 
 equipment of the soul would be incomplete without a 
 memory commensurate with its concomitants; and with 
 that endowment, an intellectual entity is revealed whose 
 powers are comparable only to omniscience. 
 
 Again, postulating a future life, the perfect memory 
 of the soul definitely settles another question of trans¬ 
 cendent interest and importance to mankind. The ques¬ 
 tion whether we shall retain our individuality in the 
 future life is, to most people, the equivalent of the 
 question of immortality itself. Manifestly, the non¬ 
 retention of personality would be the equivalent of anni¬ 
 hilation. The hopes and doubts of mankind therefore 
 centre themselves in that supreme problem, “ If a 
 man die shall he consciously live again ? ” That the 
 observable phenomena of the subjective mind afford 
 abundant affirmative evidence will appear upon reflec¬ 
 tion that the retention of personality or individuality 
 always depends upon consciousness and memory. A 
 perfect memory, therefore, is demonstrative proof that 
 the individual possessing it is intensely conscious of his 
 own personality. 
 
 Without presuming to invade the domains of the¬ 
 ology, it may be said that the perfect memory of the soul 
 throws a flood of light upon the question of future 
 rewards and punishments. That is to say, a perfect 
 memory affords an efficient means by which rewards 
 and punishments follow as a consequence of deeds done 
 in the body, just as violations of physical laws are fol¬ 
 lowed by consequent punishments. 
 
 The memory of the subjective mind never has been 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 73 
 
 and never can be made available for the practical 
 uses of mankind, for the reason that, normally, it 
 is submerged below the threshold of objective con¬ 
 sciousness, and rises into view under abnormal condi¬ 
 tions only. The sporadic cases in which the power is 
 in evidence serve but one useful purpose, — that of 
 revealing to man a knowledge of his origin and his 
 destiny. 
 
 I submit that in the perfect memory of the subjective 
 mind we have a faculty that performs no normal func¬ 
 tion in this life, but one that clearly is adapted to the 
 uses of a higher plane of existence, and to no other. 
 
 Thus far we have touched upon only those faculties 
 of the soul which pertain to a purely intellectual life. 
 If these comprised the sum of the faculties which con¬ 
 tain the promise and potency of the future life, mine 
 would be a thankless task, for a purely intellectual life 
 would fail to satisfy the most intense longings of the 
 human soul. Man, who has lived and loved and lost, 
 longs to be assured of a reunion with those who have 
 gone before. If therefore we can discover in the soul 
 of man such faculties as are essential to a social life, 
 together with the means of enjoying both social and 
 intellectual intercourse, we shall have revealed the 
 essentials of a perfect manhood, endowed with God-like 
 powers and potentialities, and satisfied the highest 
 aspirations of the human heart. 
 
 It is safe to say that no true lover of his fellow-men, 
 no matter in what form his love may find expression or 
 gratification, would regard as a boon the continued con¬ 
 scious existence of the soul after the death of the body, 
 in the absence of the assurance that his alTectional 
 emotions would find apropriate expression under the 
 
74 the evolution of the soul 
 
 changed conditions. Indeed, it may be safely assumed 
 that to the normally constituted man or woman a life 
 without love would seem equivalent to annihilation. 
 Few are so abnormally intellectual as to be able to look 
 with complacency upon the prospect of an eternity of 
 purely intellectual activity, unrelieved by the normal 
 exercise of those emotions which in this life furnish the 
 only tangible excuse for being. But even the few thus 
 constituted may find reasonable ground for hope in the 
 facilities for purely intellectual enjoyment afforded by 
 the faculties of the soul which we have already exam¬ 
 ined. Verily they should have their reward, and fortu¬ 
 nately they will not be missed from the social circles 
 presumable from the existence in the soul of the pre¬ 
 requisite faculties. 
 
 The normal man, on the other hand, will welcome the 
 assurance that the subjective mind is the seat of the 
 affectional emotions. This may startle those who have 
 been taught that there is something inherently bad in 
 the so-called “ carnal emotions ”; that they belong to 
 the body and not to the soul, and the only way to 
 “ purify ” the human soul is to utterly crush out all its 
 salient natural emotions. The absurdity of this idea 
 can best be appreciated by imagining an emotionless, — 
 I will not say “ human soul,” for that would involve 
 a contradiction in terms, — but an emotionless entity, 
 masquerading in heaven as a representative of the 
 human race. No sane person would care to make the 
 acquaintance of such a being, much less to be one, even 
 under comparatively favorable climatic conditions. 
 
 The particular emotion upon v/hich the greatest stress 
 is laid by such philosophers is what is called the “ sex¬ 
 ual ” instinct. They argue that it is a purely bodily' 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 75 
 
 function, pertaining solely to this world, and conse¬ 
 quently can have neither place nor function in the 
 purified human soul. The fallacy of this argument 
 consists in the fact that it is based upon premises fun¬ 
 damentally wrong. 
 
 There is, in point of fact, no such instinct, per se, 
 as “ sexual instinct ” or emotion. What is loosely des¬ 
 ignated as such is, in its last analysis, the parental 
 instinct, the instinct of reproduction. It has no other 
 legitimate use and it performs no other function in the 
 economy of nature. Its perversions alone are respon¬ 
 sible for its evils and its name. Rightly understood, 
 and legitimately functioned, therefore, it ranks among 
 the purest and holiest emotions of the human soul. It 
 is a divine heritage from God, the Father, whose highest 
 attribute is parental love. It is, therefore, in its very 
 essence purely altruistic, for its every act is a sacrifice 
 of self for the lives of others, for the benefit of future 
 generations. Beginning with the primordial germ, it 
 constitutes the prime factor, not only in the perpetuation 
 of organic life and the preservation of species, but, in its 
 last analysis, it constitutes that “ constant force within,” 
 which originates species and compels the progressive de¬ 
 velopment alike of organic life and of human civilization. 
 
 Parental instinct, therefore, is an emotion of the soul. 
 It is the oldest emotion of organic life, and the progen¬ 
 itor of all the other aflfectional emotions, — all others 
 being resultants and auxiliary thereto. It is not of the 
 brain, for it was the prime factor of organic life JEons 
 before the brain was evolved. TTe brain, as before 
 remarked, merely serves to register conscious emotional 
 experiences for the uses of induction. 
 
 The emotions cannot be classed with those faculties 
 
76 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 which perform no normal functions in this life, for 
 they are the prime factors in the earthly life of men 
 as well as of animals. They are referred to in this 
 connection, first, because they are faculties of the sub¬ 
 jective mind; secondly, because, with the intellectual 
 powers heretofore dwelt upon, they serve to complete a 
 personality of the highest conceivable type, and thirdly, 
 because they contain the promise and potency of social 
 life in the world to come. 
 
 There remains for discussion but one other mental 
 faculty necessary to a perfect enjoyment of such a social 
 and intellectual life as seems possible to beings thus 
 endowed, and that is a means for the interchange of 
 thought. Without such facilities the essential factor of 
 social life, as man can conceive of it from his experience, 
 would be absent. 
 
 Once more experimental psychology furnishes a con¬ 
 spicuous example of its value as an aid to the inductive 
 solution of the problems of the soul. When it first com¬ 
 pelled science to recognize telepathy, or thought-trans¬ 
 ference, or mind reading, as a power of the human mind, 
 a great step was taken toward the solution of many 
 mysteries of psychic phenomena. But when at length it 
 was demonstrated that telepathy is a power belonging 
 exclusively to the subjective mind the scope of its powers 
 to explain the mysteries of the soul was indefinitely 
 enlarged and apparently extended into a higher plane 
 of existence. The points of its bearing upon the ques¬ 
 tion of a future life may be conveniently summarized as 
 follows: I. Telepathy is a power belonging exclusively 
 to the subjective mind. 2. It is obviously adapted to 
 the uses of disembodied or unembodied intelligences. 
 3. It performs no normal function in this life. 4. It 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 77 
 
 forms the missing link in the chain of evidence furnished 
 by other psychic phenomena, of the existence in man of 
 an entity that is endowed with transcendent mental 
 powers and measureless potentialities. 
 
 The first of the above propositions has been again and 
 again attested by the Society for Psychical Research arid 
 others eminent in psychic science. Its bearing upon the 
 question of a future life is manifest. Postulating a soul 
 in man, it is evident that its mental organism is the 
 subjective mind, and postulating an immortal soul, we 
 have a right to expect it to be exclusively endowed with 
 the power to communicate its thoughts to other immor¬ 
 tal souls, independently of the ordinary channels of 
 sense. And that is just what telepathy is. And that is 
 why I say, in the second proposition, that telepathy is 
 obviously adapted to the uses of disembodied intelli¬ 
 gences, and to no others. 
 
 The third proposition states a fact that is palpable to 
 every intelligent student of psychic science who is fa¬ 
 miliar with the invariable outcome of experimental tel¬ 
 epathy. It is not adapted to the uses of this life. There 
 are many reasons for this, any one of which constitutes 
 presumptive evidence of the future, — that is, of uses 
 elsewhere. The salient reasons are as follows: 
 
 Observable telepathic phenomena are never produced 
 under other than abnormal conditions of the body and 
 ^of the objective mind. Not that telepathic communica¬ 
 tions between subjective minds may not be made under 
 normal conditions. Indeed, there is every reason to 
 believe that such communications are practically con¬ 
 stant between near relatives and friends. But it does 
 require abnormal conditions in the percipient to enable 
 him to become objectively conscious of the content of 
 
78 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the message, or to translate it into objective terms. That 
 is to say, his objective mind must be in abeyance to a 
 greater or less extent; the vividness of the impression 
 ^eing proportioned accordingly. The highest manifes¬ 
 tations occur when the action of the brain of the per¬ 
 cipient is wholly inhibited, as in a trance. In such cases 
 it requires the intervention of a third person to make 
 the message available for objective uses. It follows that 
 telepathic messages cannot be made available for such 
 uses under other than abnormal conditions of the 
 percipient. 
 
 Even under the most favorable apparent conditions 
 a telepathic message can never be relied upon as verid¬ 
 ical, for the reason that the factor of suggestion can 
 never be eliminated with any degree of certainty. Con¬ 
 sequently every message that is transmitted from one 
 subjective mind to another is liable to be vitiated by the 
 false suggestions incident to this objective world. This 
 alone would render the faculty worse than useless for the 
 practical purposes of this life. Obviously, a means of 
 communicating intelligence which is liable to be falsified 
 by conditions entirely beyond the control of either the 
 sender or the receiver is worse than useless. The useful¬ 
 ness of telepathy, therefore, as a means of communicat¬ 
 ing thoughts by and between intelligent entities, depends 
 upon environmental conditions not possible on this plane 
 of existence. On the other hand, telepathy is manifestly 
 adapted to the uses of disembodied intelligences who are 
 endowed with the faculty of intuitive apprehension of 
 all truth pertaining to their plane of existence. 
 
 I submit that I have redeemed my promise to show 
 that the subjective mind of man is endowed with facul¬ 
 ties that perform no normal function in this life. If, 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 79 
 
 therefore, the fundamental postulate is true, namely, 
 that there is and can be no faculty of mind without a 
 function to perform, either in this or in a higher plane 
 of existence, I have logically demonstrated my thesis. I 
 have not only shown that man is endowed with faculties 
 that perform no normal function in this life, but I have 
 shown that those same faculties are exactly adapted to 
 the uses of disembodied intelligences, and I have also 
 shown that these faculties exist — not in the mental 
 organism of which the brain is the sole organ — but in 
 a mind that existed in potential perfection in the pri¬ 
 mordial germ, a mind that in its lowest estate exhibits 
 powers that can be adequately described only in terms 
 that are definitive of omniscience, and that, in its highest 
 earthly development, contains the promise and potency 
 of a deathless life. 
 
 Moreover, in doing so I have not departed from the 
 strictest canons of induction, for my conclusions have 
 all been derived from the demonstrable facts of experi¬ 
 mental psychology. I do not say that the argument is 
 complete, for I have selected only the salient facts from 
 a congeries of phenomena all pointing to the same 
 conclusion. 
 
 For instance, did my space permit, I could easily point 
 out a series of phenomena which demonstrate that, as 
 a fact in nature, man’s subjective powers are equal to 
 the exercise of an active force beyond the limit of the 
 bodily powers, thus raising the presumption, if not 
 actually demonstrating, that the soul is capable of main¬ 
 taining an existence and exercising its powers and 
 functions independently of the bodily organism. Tel¬ 
 epathy is an illustrative example of my meaning, as its 
 powers are not circumscribed by space limitations; and 
 
8o 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 telekinesis, or the power to move ponderable bodies 
 without physical contact or appliances, is demonstrative 
 of the power of the embodied soul to “ exercise an active 
 force, directed by intelligence, beyond the limit of bodily 
 powers.” 
 
 No one will deny that the possession of these two 
 powers by an entity such as we have described raises the 
 presumption, in the absence of proof to the contrary, 
 that an intelligent entity thus endowed is capable of 
 surviving the death of the body which it inhabits. Nor 
 will it be denied that this presumption is vastly rein¬ 
 forced by the fact that telekinesis performs no normal 
 or useful function in this life. Its phenomena are rarely 
 produced — never except under intensely abnormal 
 conditions and in pursuance of powerful, though usually 
 false, suggestions. Nevertheless, it has an appreciable 
 value to mankind, in that it furnishes indubitable evi¬ 
 dence of the dynamic energy of the soul, thus completing 
 the category of faculties and powers essential to a com¬ 
 plete and perfect manhood. 
 
 In conclusion I desire to draw attention to one con¬ 
 sideration that should not be lost sight of in estimating 
 the evidential value of the facts upon which my con¬ 
 clusions are based, and that is that all the facts of ex¬ 
 perimental ps3fchology conspire to verify the doctrine 
 of a future life; and that not one fact of psychology, 
 physiology, cerebral anatomy, or experimental surgery 
 militates in the slightest degree against that doctrine. 
 In other words, all the known facts of nature that are 
 pertinent to the issue conspire to prove the fact of a 
 future life. On the other hand, each and all of the facts 
 relied upon by materialistic scientists to prove that man 
 is a soulless being are utterly irrelevant and impertinent 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 8 1 
 
 to the issue involved, and their conclusions are rendered 
 possible only by purposely and persistently ignoring 
 all the demonstrable facts of modern experimental 
 psychology. 
 
 If I have succeeded in convincing a reader that the 
 observable facts in nature conspire to invest him with 
 the logical and scientific right to hope for a future life, 
 the first question we shall ask will be, “ What are the 
 conditions of the future life?” To this question it 
 must be frankly answered at the outset. No one can tell. 
 
 In saying this I do not presume to asseverate that no 
 one has ever known. Jesus of Nazareth, endowed as 
 he was with an intuitive knowledge of the laws of the 
 human soul, doubtless knew. But certain it is that he 
 could not convey the information in terms that could be 
 understood by his followers. At least he did not do so, 
 and it must be presumed that one whose mission it was 
 to “ bring life and immortality to light ” would have 
 satisfied the natural curiosity of his followers on that 
 point, if the conditions were such as could be expressed 
 in language intelligible to them. The only information 
 which could be vouchsafed was of the most general 
 character. Thus, in the parable of the rich man and ij 
 Lazarus, he gives us to understand that we will recog- 
 nize and c ommunicate with each other in the life to j j 
 come ; that there will be a mental punishment for the ; 
 evil deed s done in this life; that our affectional emotions 1 i 
 survive the death of the body, and that spirits of the ■ 
 dead are no t permitted to communicate with the Imng, : 
 even Tor IKe purpose of warning thTm^of the c6hse- A' 
 qu'e rices of~sm. But this i s all of his recorded utterances 
 that throws any light upon the conditions of the soul 
 after death. 
 
 6 
 
82 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 ,Our conceptions of life are necessarily all drawn 
 from our objective experience, and it is impossible for 
 us to rise above it. Hence each one’s conception of 
 heaven corresponds to his highest ideal of a physical 
 world provided with ample facilities for the enjoyment 
 of his highest ideal of pleasure, the central idea be¬ 
 ing that heaven is an idealized earth, differing from 
 the latter only in the perfection of its environmental 
 conditions. 
 
 Two causes have conspired to render this conception 
 practically universal. The first is that we have no other 
 standard of comparison, and the second is the proneness 
 of the primitive mind to reason from such analogies as 
 appear upon the surface, without stopping to inquire 
 whether the analogy is a legitimate basis of induction. 
 I have already remarked elsewhere that reasoning from 
 analogy is necessarily a false method unless it is first 
 shown that the laws governing the two subject-matters 
 are identical, and I have cited, as instances of false 
 methods. Bishop Butler’s attempt to prove immortality 
 from analogies drawn from the metamorphosis of the 
 cate rpillar, and Averroes’s method of proving the oppo¬ 
 site by other analogies equally illegitimate. But the pro¬ 
 test against that method of reasoning cannot be too often 
 repeated or too strongly enforced, for not only did the 
 older philosophers indulge in it to the manifest disad¬ 
 vantage of their disciples, but it is still a favorite method 
 of “ proving the unprovable ” among many so-called 
 logicians. 
 
 It follows that all the speculations of all the philoso¬ 
 phers of all the ages regarding the conditions of the 
 future life that are based upon the supposed analogies 
 drawn from conditions existent in the physical life are 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 83 
 
 worse than useless in an inductive examination of the 
 subject. Moreover, we know that when people under¬ 
 take to give us specific information on the subject,— 
 for example, spiritists, —they are simply constructing an 
 imiaginary spirit land out of materials that are of the 
 earth, earthy. We knov/ that they are wrong, because 
 we know that their premises are false. That is to say, 
 we know that when they assume to construct a spiritual 
 world out of the material found on earth they are rea- 
 soni ng from analogies that are absurdly impossible. 
 And it may be here remarked that if anything, aside 
 from their fundamentally false method of reasoning 
 were needed to convince one of the utter absurdity of 
 the spiritistic claim to the possession of specific knowl¬ 
 edge of conditions in the other world, it would be found 
 in the fact that no two “ communicating spirits ” agree 
 as to the conditions prevailing in the spirit realnij^ but 
 all agree that they are analogous to those of the physical 
 world. 
 
 It follows that spiritists know as little of the actual 
 conditions of life: in the other..world as others, and that 
 what those conditions are, no one, even if he knew, could 
 tell in terms comprehensible by mortal man. 
 
 It will thus be seen that no one, not even Jesus of Naz¬ 
 areth, has ever been able to give us an approximate 
 notion of the specific conditions of the future life. All 
 that Jesus tells us is in general terms. But it is a note¬ 
 worthy fact that what he did say as to the future life 
 accords exactly with the inductions of modern science, 
 it is also noteworthy that, if spirits of the dead com¬ 
 municate with the living, Jesus was not aware of the 
 fact. Considering his perfect knowledge of the laws 
 of the human soul, and that it was his mission on earth 
 
 I 
 
 
84 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 to bring life and immortality to light, it seems not a little 
 strange that he should neglect such an opportunity to 
 prove his thesis and at the same time to supply us with 
 exact information regarding the conditions of the future 
 ! life. But it seems, according to spiritists, that the hys- 
 j terical women and neurotic children of the present day 
 ' know very much more about those conditions than Jesus 
 I ever pretended to know. The utter worthlessness of 
 their testimony, however, has already been shown. 
 
 , It must now be evident that, from the very nature of 
 ' things, it is utterly impossible for man this side of the 
 grave to know anything of the specific conditions or 
 modes of existence in the realm of disembodied intelli¬ 
 gences. The reasons, I repeat, are, first, because no 
 i inductive analogy can be drawn from physical experi- 
 I ences to disembodied spiritual conditions; and secondly, 
 
 ' because we have no standard of comparison outside of 
 our physical experiences and observations. 
 
 Nevertheless, we are not left wholly in the dark nor 
 without inductive grounds for the belief that the highest 
 hopes inspired in the Christian breast by the promise 
 of the Master will be more than realized, for, whilst 
 logic and science alike inhibit the process of drawing 
 spiritual conclusions from physical facts, no such inhi¬ 
 bition extends to psychological facts and the conclusions 
 derivable therefrom. On the contrary, since psychol¬ 
 ogy is the science of the soul, psychological facts are 
 the only ones from which a legitimate conclusion can 
 be drawn in reference to the status of the soul either 
 in this or the future life. In other words, conclusions 
 relating to spiritual conditions which are derived from 
 physical experiences are necessarily wrong for the 
 reason that the laws of matter and of spirit are not 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 85 
 
 identical; but, on the other hand, spiritual conclusions 
 derivable from psychological facts are necessarily legiti- . 7 ^ 
 mate because the laws of mind and soul in this world 
 
 are prp,s iima hly{ the same in the other , the con stancy of 
 nature being, of course, assum ed. The difference, if 
 any exists, would be in "Sie "environmental conditions 
 and consequent modes of manifestation, and not in the 
 fundamental laws themselves. We have, then, a logical 
 and scientific right, according to the strictest rules of 
 inductive inquiry, to draw conclusions relating to the 
 status of the soul in the future life from the observable 
 phenomena of the soul in this life; fo r a psych ological 
 fact is as much a fact as the physical universe. 
 
 As"the intelligent reader has already anticipated, the 
 conclusions must necessarily be of a very general nature, 
 much the same in character as those derivable from the 
 words of the Master; but I hope to be able to supply 
 sufficient data for all reasonable demands for inductive 
 confirmation of the hopes which the words of Jesus have 
 inspired. In doing so I shall be compelled to remind 
 the reader of some of the fundamental principles and 
 facts which have been set forth above. For instance, I 
 have shown that: i. There is and can be no faculty of 
 the mind without a function to perform either in this or 
 some other plane of existence. 2. That the subjective \ ^ 
 mind is endowed with faculties that perform no normal I ■ 
 function in this, life. And I have drawn the conclusion 
 that such faculties must find their legitimate field of 
 activity in the future life, especially since some of them 
 are obviously adapted to a disembodied existence, and 
 to no other. I have also shown that all of the faculties 
 of the subjective mind are adapted to a disembodied 
 existence, albeit some of them are shared by the objec- 
 
86 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 tive intelligence, and that, in the aggregate, the faculties 
 and powers of the subjective mind, or soul, comprise 
 a complete and perfect manhood, endowed with God¬ 
 like atributes, powers, and potentialities. 
 
 I have also shown that among those powers are: 
 I. A perfect memory, which insures the retention of 
 personality and the recognition of one’s friends. 2. 
 Telepathy, which constitutes a means of interchange of 
 thought with others. 3. The affectional emotions, 
 which promise a renewed life of love and affection with 
 our kindred and friends, as well as a capacity for form¬ 
 ing new ties of love and friendship. 
 
 Now the best way of determining what a man will 
 do under favoring conditions is to ascertain what he 
 can do. In other words, it may always be safely pre¬ 
 dicted that one’s mental faculties will find active em¬ 
 ployment in a favoring environment. Under this rule 
 we know that man, in the future life, will retain his 
 personality, recognize his friends, and enjoy a social 
 existence, because we know that his soul is endowed 
 with all the faculties necessary for that purpose. 
 
 A purely social life, however, would come far short 
 of a realization of the Christian’s conception of heaven, 
 although it may be included in it. The central idea of 
 the popular Christian conception is that heaven is a 
 place in which the redeemed are perpetually engaged in 
 worshipping and praising God and in the contemplation 
 of his glories. As popularly conceived it is of course 
 purely anthropomorphic, and as such it has been a 
 standing subject of atheistic ridicule from time imme¬ 
 morial. Nevertheless, divested of its anthropomorphism, 
 it would seem to be based upon a fundamental truth. 
 
 The fatal objection to the popular conception of the 
 status and occupations of the soul in the future life may 
 
SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 87 
 
 be summed up in the one word “ monotony.” An intel¬ 
 ligent man would prefer annihilation to an eternity of 
 singing, playing on a harp, or even of perpetual wor¬ 
 ship, in the popular sense of the term. Even the social 
 life which is promised would become monotonous in the 
 absence of any rational occupation. 
 
 There are several phenomena, observable in this life, 
 which bear upon the question: i. The history of mind 
 and soul in this life is one of continuous progressive 
 development, from the moneron to man. 2. The lines 
 upon which the greatest progress is made in the acqui¬ 
 sition of knowledge, or the development of the intel¬ 
 lectual powers, is in the ascertainment of first principles 
 or laws of nature. 3. The greatest good to each sentient 
 creature results from the discovery of the natural laws 
 pertaining to its being. This is as true of the lower 
 animals as it is of man. 4. The more profound intel¬ 
 lectual joy which man is capable of experiencing in this 
 life results from the discovery of a law of nature. This 
 is true, whether the discovery is the result of induction 
 or of intuition. Space forbids the discussion of these 
 propositions at length. Nor is it necessary, for they are 
 self-evident to every man of ordinary intelligence. Let 
 us apply them to the question under consideration. 
 
 The first is the most important, for its application 
 involves all the others. We all know that the history 
 of mind on this planet is one of continuous evolutionary 
 development. Reasoning from analogy — which we ! 
 have a right to do in this case, since the laws are ’ 
 identical — we must suppose that progressive, intellec- ! 
 tual development is as much a law of mind in the future ; 
 life as it is in this. If the soul survives the death of ; 
 the body it follows that it will exercise whatever powers 
 it may possess. 
 
88 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 The only question, then, is, whether the soul is in¬ 
 vested with the intellectual powers requisite for pro¬ 
 gressive development. This question has already been 
 answered in the discussions of the intuitive powers of 
 the soul — the power of immediate apprehension of law, 
 antecedent to and independent of reason, experience, 
 or instruction. Endowed with such a power, progressive 
 development is a necessary law of its being. 
 
 Moreover, unlike the popular conception of heavenly 
 joys, they will be rational, continuous without monotony, 
 and commensurate with the dignity of manhood and 
 the God-like attributes and powers of the human soul. 
 On the other hand, the Christian’s conception of a 
 continuous worship and adoration of the Father will be 
 more than justified; for nothing is so well calculated 
 to inspire such feelings as the discovery of his laws, 
 and the consequent realization of the divine harmonies 
 of the universe. 
 
 I submit that this is all that man needs to know 
 regarding the conditions of the future life. It will not 
 f satisfy the morbid curiosity of those who insist on 
 7 - knowingJhe unknowable, fathoming th e unfatho mable, 
 / or scrutinizing the inscrutable. They must be referred 
 to those whose perfervid imaginations are capable of 
 “ bodying forth the forms of things unknown and giving 
 to airy nothing a local habitation and a name.” But 
 that quality of mind is not useful in an inductive investi¬ 
 gation of the problems of science. Facts are the only 
 sources of just conclusions. They may be few in num¬ 
 ber, as in this case; but one clearly authenticated fact 
 is worth more to science than all the speculative philoso¬ 
 phy of the universe. 
 
 
Ill 
 
 MAN’S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 C OMMON SENSE teaches us, and all human 
 experience demonstrates, that it is a waste of 
 time and energy to argue a question in con¬ 
 troversy, or to present proofs on either side, before the 
 vital issue has been clearly defined, and that this can 
 be done only by a logical process of exclusion, or 
 elimination, of all irrelevant side issues. Students of 
 English common law jurisprudence understand this pro¬ 
 cess better than any other class of controversialists, for, 
 in the evolution of the system of practice in common 
 law courts, the process has been reduced to a science. 
 The “ pleadings ” in a case at law are nothing more nor 
 less than the steps taken in the logical process of elimi¬ 
 nating extraneous or irrelevant matter, for the purpose 
 of clearly defining the issue between the parties litigant, 
 and thus determining the nature of the evidence ad¬ 
 missible on either side. Thus, A sues B for trespassing 
 upon the property of A by passing over it in going to 
 and from the house of B. The latter may answer the 
 complaint of A by admitting the act complained of, 
 but pleading that he has a right of way over the property 
 granted by A in a deed for that purpose. To this A 
 may answer that he admits that B has a certain paper 
 purporting to be a deed for a right of way over the land. 
 
90 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 but may allege that said paper was drawn and signed 
 by a third party, as his agent, when, in fact, the latter 
 had no authority to act as such agent in matters affecting 
 real estate titles. B may then admit that the deed in 
 question was made by C as agent for A, but allege that 
 C was in possession of full authority to act for A in 
 matters affecting the title to real estate. The latter 
 allegation directly traverses that of A, who avers that C 
 had no authority sufficient to bind his principal in real 
 estate transactions; and thus the issue is joined. The 
 merits of the case centre in the question of C’s authority 
 to bind his principal, and this may be a purely legal 
 question which the judge can decide. 
 
 This is a crude but simple illustration of the logical 
 methods by which courts of common law eliminate, 
 step by step, all irrelevant side issues, and bring the 
 parties litigant at once to a discussion of the real and 
 only vital questions involved. Thus, in the case sup¬ 
 posed, neither proofs nor argument were required at 
 any step in the proceedings until the vital issue was 
 developed by the process of exclusion; and what seemed 
 at first to be a plain case of one man flagrantly violating 
 the rights of another turns out to be a question as to 
 the validity in law of the acts of a third party. 
 
 Unfortunately, polemists, that is to say, those of 
 them who have the public mind and conscience in their 
 especial keeping in matters of religious and philosophical 
 controversy, cannot be compelled to be logical, or to 
 define an issue, or to confine themselves to its discussion 
 when it is defined. If they could, about ninety-nine 
 per cent of all that has been written on the various 
 subjects of popular controversy would never have seen 
 the light. This is true of many subjects of public dis- 
 
MAN'S PSYCHIC POWERS 91 
 
 putation, but it is especially true of spiritism, and it is 
 as true of one side as of the other of that question. 
 
 Thus many years of time and oceans of ink have been 
 wasted in the discussion of the physical phenomena of 
 spiritism, such as table-tipping, levitation, slate-writing, 
 et cetera, each side taking it for granted that the whole 
 question of spiritism could be settled forever by proving, 
 on the one hand, or disproving on the other, the super¬ 
 normal character of the phenomena. During nearly half 
 a century the evidence for spiritism was practically con¬ 
 fined to that class of phenomena. If a table was levi¬ 
 tated without physical contact or mechanical appliances, 
 spiritists proclaimed and believed it to be demonstrative 
 proof that spirits of the dead communicate with the 
 living. Nor was this estimate of evidential values con¬ 
 fined to the rank and file of spiritists. Learned pro¬ 
 fessors, doctors, and even lawyers, were carried off 
 their logical feet by seeing tables lifted into the air and 
 chairs carried about the room by invisible hands. 
 
 Thus the late Dr. Hare of Philadelphia, emeritus 
 professor of chemistry in the University of Pennsyl¬ 
 vania, fell an easy victim to that species of logic in the 
 early days of spiritism. Commencing his investigations 
 as a skeptic, he constructed several ingenious machines 
 by which he was able to demonstrate the existence of 
 a force in man capable of moving ponderable bodies 
 without physical contact (telekinesis), and then he im¬ 
 mediately rushed into print with a book entitled Spirit¬ 
 ualism Scientifically Demonstrated. That Professor 
 Hare should fall into such an error may be accounted 
 for by the fact that in his day no other than the 
 spiritistic hypothesis had been seriously advanced to 
 account for the facts. Besides, scientists in those days 
 
92 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 generally contented themselves by simply denying the 
 existence of the phenomena and refusing to investigate, 
 which was a tacit admission that if the phenomena were 
 true the spiritistic explanation followed. The result was 
 that those who did investigate and verified the phe¬ 
 nomena naturally felt justified in accepting the only 
 explanation offered. It followed as a natural conse¬ 
 quence that the great body of spiritists believed, and 
 they still believe, that the claims of spiritism are demon¬ 
 strated to be true by the phenomena of telekinesis. 
 
 Nor is it at all strange that the rank and file should 
 so believe since they have such modern examples as 
 are found in the attitude of such scientists as Alfred 
 Russell Wallace and Sir William Crookes. Each of 
 these eminent savants verified the physical phenomena 
 of spiritism, especially telekinesis, by indubitable tests, 
 and each ended by declaring himself a convert to spirit¬ 
 ism. No one can doubt the ability of either of these 
 gentlemen to make correct observations of facts when 
 conducting a scientific investigation, for they were both 
 trained in the strictest schools of scientific inquiry. So, 
 when they tell us that they have verified the fact that 
 ponderable bodies can be moved without physical con¬ 
 tact, and describe and illustrate the process of verifi¬ 
 cation, we are bound to believe them. But when they 
 assume to draw conclusions from those facts, their 
 reputation for habits of close scientific observation of 
 mere phenomena no longer commands confidence; for 
 it is one thing to be a close observer of facts and quite 
 a different thing to be able to draw a correct conclusion 
 from those facts. In other words, it does not neces¬ 
 sarily follow that a scientist is also a logician. In point 
 of fact it often happens that the closest and most minute 
 
MAN'S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 93 
 
 observers of facts are the least competent to formulate 
 from them a correct generalization, or to estimate their 
 evidential value. A striking example is found in Sir \ 
 William Crookes in his treatment of psychic phenomena | 
 in general, and telekinesis in particular, and the example , 
 becomes still more striking when his conclusions are I 
 contrasted with those of his collaborators, Serjeant ! 
 Edward W. Cox and Dr. Huggins, F. R. S., in whose ! 
 presence the tests were made. ^ 
 
 Professor Crookes, the scientist, eminent as the dis¬ 
 coverer of a new metal, and as having rendered 
 possible the discovery of the Roentgen rays, devised 
 the instruments of precision by which telekinesis was 
 demonstrated, made the experiments and became a 
 spiritualist. Serjeant Cox, an eminent lawyer, skilled ! 
 in logic, practised in the art of testing truth, detecting ; 
 falsehood, and estimating evidential values, observed the 
 same facts, and found that they excluded spiritism as ; 
 a factor in the case. They both agreed, however, that i 
 their experiments demonstrated the e.xistence in man of 
 a hitherto unrecognized force, which they agreed in 
 designating as “ psychic force ” — “a force emanating 
 from, or in some manner directly dependent on, the 
 human organization.” In this they both agreed, al¬ 
 though they ultimately disagreed as to whether the co¬ 
 operation of the spirits of the dead was necessary to 
 set the force in motion. Serjeant Cox mentioned j 
 eighteen characteristics of the phenomena as developed ; 
 in the experiments made in his presence, each of which 
 was wholly inconsistent with the spiritistic theory. Pro¬ 
 fessor Crookes, on the other hand, ultimately concluded 
 that the spiritistic theory was the only tenable one. I do 
 not say that this particular series of experiments con- 
 
94 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 verted him to spiritism, but I do say that in all his 
 public utterances on the subject there is not the slightest 
 evidence to show that his conversion was brought about 
 by the observation of any other than the purely physical 
 phenomena of spiritism. And it is against the accep¬ 
 tance of this character and quality of evidence for 
 spiritism that I protest in the name of outraged science, 
 logic, and reason. Why? 
 
 1. Because the existence of a “psychic force,” in¬ 
 herent in the human organism, a force capable of levi¬ 
 tating heavy tables or other ponderable bodies without 
 physical contact, is amply sufficient to account for all the 
 
 ) purely physical phenomena of spiritism. Obviously a 
 : physical force that is great enough to lift a table is great 
 I enough to produce any of the minor physical phe- 
 j nomena, such as slate-writing, et cetera. In either case 
 ■ the force is guided by intelligence — presumably that 
 of the medium — until the contrary is shown by com¬ 
 petent evidence. 
 
 2. There is nothing in the purely physical phenomena 
 of spiritism that proves or disproves the spiritistic hy¬ 
 pothesis. The proof of the existence of psychic force, 
 however, does, as Serjeant Cox justly remarks, “ shake 
 to its foundation the materialism of modern science by 
 the probability it raises that, as a fact in nature, there 
 is in us an entity, distinct from the corporeal structure, 
 which can exercise an active force, directed by intelli¬ 
 gence, beyond the limits of the bodily powers.” He 
 might have added that it also raises the presumption that 
 this intelligent entity survives the dissolution of the 
 body, and that, therefore, spirits do exist beyond the 
 grave. This much, in all candor, must be conceded to 
 spiritism. But it is one thing to create a presumption 
 
MAN’S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 95 
 
 in favor of a life after death, and quite another to prove 
 that spirits of the dead communicate messages to the 
 living through mediums. 
 
 And this is the crucial question raised by spiritism: 
 Do spirits of the dead communicate with the living 
 through mediums ? 
 
 This is the issue, and the only question which we are 
 called upon to consider, and no phenomenon which 
 does not throw light upon this question can be accepted 
 as possessing any evidential value whatever. All the 
 physical phenomena, such as table-tipping, slate-writing, 
 et cetera, must therefore be thrown out of court, for the 
 following reasons: 
 
 1. The only evidence which can possibly prove the 
 affirmative of the issue is that which will demonstrate . 
 the personal identity of the alleged communicating 
 spirit. 
 
 2. The only possible way that personal identity can 
 be established by an alleged spirit is by the communi¬ 
 cation of personal intelligence. 
 
 3. It is therefore the character and contents of the 
 messages received from alleged spirits that must deter¬ 
 mine their genuineness. 
 
 4. Obviously, the levitation of tables affords no 
 assistance in the analysis of the content of a message. 
 
 Nor can any other physical phenomenon throw the 
 faintest possible light upon the question of personal 
 identity, and, pending the settlement of that question 
 by other forms of evidence, physical phenomena are 
 logically valueless to spiritism from an evidential point 
 of view . They prove nothing but the existence of a 
 psychic force inherent in the vital organism of the 
 livin g man. It is true that messages, purporting to 
 
 
96 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 come from spirits of the dead, are delivered by means 
 of physical manifestations. But their evidential value 
 rests entirely with their contents, and not in the methods 
 employed in their delivery. 
 
 It follows that we may safely admit all that the most 
 ardent spiritist claims in regard to the purely physical 
 phenomena; for it may be all genuine, or it may be all 
 fraudulent, without in the least affecting the crucial 
 question; Do spirits of the dead communicate with the 
 living through mediums? 
 
 It will thus be seen that one of the supposed evidential 
 strongholds of spiritism vanishes the moment the logical 
 rule excluding side issues of no evidential importance 
 is applied. 
 
 The fact remains that there are many phenomena 
 bearing directly upon the question of personal identity, 
 which, unexplained, possess great evidential value in 
 favor of spiritism. Moreover, it must be said in behalf 
 of the great body of spiritists, that the valid explanations 
 of the phenomena which converted them are the result of 
 scientific discoveries of a comparatively recent date. 
 
 Thus one of the strongest proofs urged by them of 
 personal identity was the fact thdt mediums of unim¬ 
 peachable character thoroughly believed in the genuine¬ 
 ness of their own trance utterances when they declared 
 themselves to be under the control of certain spirits. 
 And when to this confidence in the integrity of the 
 medium was added the fact that he often personated the 
 alleged spirit with marvellous fidelity to the known 
 character of the spirit, the evidence of personal identity 
 was deemed complete. Voice, gestures, bearing, and 
 personal idiosyncrasies were, in fact, often so perfectly 
 reproduced as to leave no doubt in the minds of wit- 
 
MAN'S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 97 
 
 nesses of the identity of the alleged spirit. Moreover, 
 this was frequently done by mediums who had never 
 been suspected of possessing any histrionic ability Vvrhat- 
 ever in their normal condition. 
 
 But when hypnotism came to be studied as a science, 
 and the law of suggestion was discovered, it at once 
 became evident that this marvellous dramatic play of 
 personality possessed no evidential value whatever as 
 tending to prove the identity of an alleged spirit. And 
 this conviction became a certainty when the law of 
 mental duality was formulated. The points bearing 
 upon the case may be briefly stated as follows: 
 
 1. The so-called spirit medium, in the trance con¬ 
 dition, is simply self-hypnotized, and is consequently 
 subject to all the conditions and governed by all the laws 
 pertaining to hypnotism. That is to say, the objective, 
 or reasoning mind, is in abeyance and the subjective 
 mind is in control. 
 
 2. The subjective mind is constantly amenable to 
 control by suggestion. That is to say, it accepts as true 
 every suggestion or statement that is made to it, and it 
 carries every suggestion, true or false, to its legitimate 
 conclusion. 
 
 Thus, if the suggestion is made to a hypnotized sub¬ 
 ject that he is a dog, he will act the part suggested just 
 as perfectly as it is physically possible, firmly believing 
 for the time being that he is a dog. The same is true of 
 every possible suggested change of personality. Every¬ 
 body knows how perfectly a hypnotized subject will 
 personate any suggested character, high or low, good, 
 bad, or indifferent. Nor can any one fail to correlate 
 the phenomena with those of spiritism when a spirit is 
 suggested as being in possession of the medium. The 
 
 7 
 
98 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 psychological conditions are identical; and if the sub¬ 
 jective mind of the medium did not respond to the 
 suggestion and act accordingly it would argue an excep¬ 
 tion to a universal law of nature. 
 
 But, it has been objected, the medium is not always 
 in the trance or hypnotic state. On the contrary, he is 
 as often perfectly conscious when he is performing his 
 best work. Granted. But so much the stronger is the 
 case for suggestion, for, from his standpoint, so much 
 the firmer are his grounds for belief. A medium is 
 usually one who, from his youth up, has been reared in 
 an atmosphere of spiritism. His whole mental environ¬ 
 ment, therefore, constitutes a perpetual suggestion 
 favorable to spiritism. He trains himself for medium- 
 ship because he believes, and he confidently expects that 
 spirits of the dead will take possession of his organism 
 and do things. In due time his hopes are realized. He 
 becomes conscious of an influence at work within his 
 organism which manifests intelligence and powers of 
 which he is not the conscious possessor. He knows 
 nothing of the new psychology, and is most likely un¬ 
 aware that there ever was an old one. He knows noth¬ 
 ing of the dual mind, and probably has every reason to 
 doubt whether he has even one mind — of his own. In 
 short, from his intellectual view-point, he has every 
 reason to believe that the intelligence and power thus 
 strangely manifested is extraneous to himself. This, of 
 course, constitutes the strongest possible suggestion to 
 his subjective mind that it is a foreign intelligence, and 
 that the suggestion should be accepted and dramatically 
 carried to its legitimate conclusion is in strict accord¬ 
 ance with what we should have a right to expect from 
 what science has learned of the law of suggestion 
 
MAN’S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 99 
 
 through experimental hypnotism. In fact, the spiritistic 
 suggestion is infinitely stronger and more likely to be 
 fully accepted and promptly executed than the other, 
 for the obvious reason that the medium believes, both 
 objectively and subjectively, in the truth of the sug¬ 
 gestion, whereas the hypnotized subject objectively 
 knows that the experimental suggestions are false to the 
 point of absurdity. Nevertheless, so potent is the influ¬ 
 ence of suggestion over the subjective mind, in either 
 case, that it is compelled by the fundamental law of its 
 being to believe whatever suggestion is imparted to it, 
 and to dramatically carry it to its legitimate conclusion 
 by acts and words corresponding to the central thought 
 embraced in the suggestion. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that personal identity cannot 
 be predicated upon either the personal honesty or the 
 convictions of the medium, or upon his dramatic person¬ 
 ation of the suggested personality. And thus does an¬ 
 other supposed evidential stronghold of spiritism utterly 
 vanish in presence of the demonstrated facts of modem 
 science. 
 
 We may, therefore, admit all that the most pro¬ 
 nounced spiritist may choose to claim in favor of the 
 honesty of mediums, or in regard to their wonderful 
 ability to personate particular spirits, since neither fact 
 possesses the slightest evidential value in view of the 
 well-known facts of experimental hypnotism. 
 
 It now remains to consider those phenomena of so- 
 called spiritism which have a possible evidential value, 
 namely, the alleged messages from the spirits of the 
 dead. Before proceeding with the discussion I wish to 
 remind the logical reader again, first, that no evid ence 
 can be of any possible value except that which proves, 
 
lOO 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 or tends to prove, the personal identity of the alleged 
 communicator from the other world; and, secondly, 
 that the only possible means by which personal identity 
 can be proved is by the communication of personal 
 intelligence. 
 
 It should also be remarked at the outset that the per¬ 
 sonal intelligence communicated must be such as to 
 exclude any rational doubt as to its source. That is to 
 say, the evidence for personal identity of an alleged 
 communicating spirit should be so clear and conclusive 
 as to exclude any possible explanation based on mun¬ 
 dane causes known to exist. It must not be forgotten 
 for a moment that the contest between spiritism and its 
 opponents is a contest between supermundane and mun¬ 
 dane theories of causation, with all the presumptions, 
 logical and scientific, against the supermundane. Nor 
 must the logical axiom be lost sight of which forbids us 
 to refer any phenomenon to a supermundane cause so 
 long as it is explicable under known natural or mundane 
 causes. Another axiom of science of equal pertinence 
 is that we must never explain the unknown by that 
 which is still more unknown. 
 
 If the reader will bear in mind these time-honored 
 axioms or rules of scientific investigation he will find 
 no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that there is 
 no valid evidence whatever in so-called spiritistic phe¬ 
 nomena that spirits of the dead communicate with the 
 living through mediums. 
 
 As before remarked, this is the main issue to be de¬ 
 cided : Do spirits of the dead communicate with the liv¬ 
 ing through mediums? The subsidiary issues pertain 
 to the validity of the evidence now offered in proof of 
 the personal identity of the alleged communicating 
 
MAN’S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 lOI 
 
 spirits; and no scientific polemist on either side now pre¬ 
 tends to discuss any other question, for the simple reason 
 that the whole question of spirit communion now hinges 
 upon the validity of that evidence. And it is freely ad¬ 
 mitted that if the alleged communications are to be 
 taken at their face value, the question has been settled 
 over and over again in favor of the spiritistic hypothesis. 
 The admitted facts in the case may be briefly stated as 
 follows: 
 
 Certain highly endowed psychics, or so-called “ me¬ 
 diums,” such as Mrs. Piper of Boston and many others, 
 have repeatedly demonstrated the fact that when in the 
 subjective or trance condition in a spiritistic circle they 
 evince a knowledge of the sitters’ affairs that they could 
 not possibly have obtained by any normal means. This 
 knowledge, of course, came to light in the guise of 
 communications from spirits of the dead, and it often 
 extended to the affairs of the alleged communicators as 
 well as to those of their living friends in the circle. So 
 minute and complete and circumstantial was this knowl¬ 
 edge that it often left no room for doubt in the minds 
 of sitters of the personal identity of the alleged 
 spirit. 
 
 But when the Society for Psychical Research dem¬ 
 onstrated the fact that thought-transference, or tele¬ 
 pathy, is a power of the human mind, and that it was 
 most easily developed in persons in the subjective state, 
 it at once became evident that telepathy afforded a com¬ 
 plete explanation of much that was before mysterious 
 and inexplicable. The result has been to narrow the 
 issue between spiritists and their opponents so that now 
 but two theories are the subjects of controversy, namely, 
 the spiritistic and the telepathic. And it is now admitted 
 
102 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 by all who pretend to discuss the subject from a scien¬ 
 tific point of view that the possession of supernormally 
 acquired knowledge by a spirit medium possesses no 
 evidential value for spiritism where telepathy cannot be 
 eliminated as a possible factor. 
 
 In order, however, to give the reader a clear idea of 
 the present status of the question it will be expedient to 
 continue to treat the subject historically, to the end that 
 I may present a continuous series of steps showing how 
 a gradually increasing knowledge of nature’s laws and 
 forces has, step by step, relegated the evidential strong¬ 
 holds of spiritism to a state of harmless disuse. 
 
 Telepathy, as a possible factor in spiritistic phenom¬ 
 ena, was urged many years before the Society for Psy¬ 
 chical Research had an existence. The old mesmerists 
 had demonstrated it as a power of the human mind 
 long before the “ Rochester knockings ” disturbed the 
 serenity of the Fox family. Modern spiritism was, in 
 fact, the psychological substitute of mesmerism, as I 
 have pointed out elsewhere (see The Era magazine for 
 February, 1902), and it could never have obtained the 
 foothold it has but for the mediumistic material found 
 in the thousands of psychics already developed by 
 mesmerism. And when it is remembered that nine out 
 of ten of mesmeric psychics were trained telepathists, 
 it will be seen that spiritism fell on fruitful soil. Nat¬ 
 urally its opponents were instant in correlating the two 
 classes of phenomena, and in insisting that telepathy 
 must be held to afford a valid explanation of all that 
 was in the mind of the sitter, or of any one present at 
 the seance. Fair-minded men on all sides of the ques¬ 
 tion agreed that this proposition was necessarily true; 
 and thus the first step was taken in the direction of 
 
MAJV’S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 103 
 
 affording a scientific explanation of the supernormally 
 acquired knowledge admittedly in the possession of the 
 medium. A portion, at least, of that knowledge was 
 due to a known natural cause, and the supermundane 
 explanation was, in a corresponding degree, relegated 
 to the background. 
 
 But spiritists soon proceeded to show that mediums 
 sometimes told things that (a) the sitter was not think¬ 
 ing of at the time, and (b) things that he might have 
 once known but had entirely forgotten. This was so 
 often demonstrated that the advocates of the telepathic 
 theory were confounded; for they had no answer to the 
 triumphant question of spiritism. How could it be mind 
 reading, when the subject was not in the mind of the 
 sitter, or had been completely forgotten? Needless 
 to say spiritism scored a triumph which lasted many 
 years. 
 
 In the meantime, however, the Society for Psychical 
 Research was organized and instituted an exhaustive 
 investigation of telepathy and other kindred phenomena; 
 the dual mind theory was formulated, and a clear line 
 of demarcation was shown to exist between the mind 
 of ordinary waking consciousness, or objective mind, 
 and that intelligence which is ordinarily submerged 
 below the threshold of normal consciousness, or sub¬ 
 jective mind. The crucial points demonstrated by the 
 research which interest us in this connection were the 
 following: 
 
 1. That telepathy is a power belonging exclusively to 
 the subjective mind. 
 
 2. That ordinarily the content of a telepathic message 
 is foreign to the conscious thoughts of the agent or 
 sitter, — except in experimental telepathy. 
 
104 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 3. That the memory of the subjective mind is poten¬ 
 tially perfect. 
 
 4. That rapport (relation of harmony) between the 
 agent (the sender) and the percipient (the receiver) is 
 essential to the successful transmission of a telepathic 
 message. 
 
 The bearing of these discoveries upon the question at 
 issue will be at once apparent to the intelligent reader. 
 It will be seen, first, that the fact that a sitter is not con¬ 
 sciously thinking of a given subject when in presence 
 of a psychic does not prevent a telepathic transmission 
 of the subject matter,_since telepathy is exclusively be¬ 
 tween subjective minds. 
 
 Secondly, that the fact that a sitter has objectively 
 forgotten a circumstance does not prevent a telepathic 
 transmission of the fact, since the memory of the sub¬ 
 jective mind is potentially perfect. 
 
 Thus does another evidential stronghold of spiritism 
 vanish in the light of modern science, for it is now self- 
 evident that what a sitter is consciously thinking of, or 
 what he has once known, but has objectively forgotten, 
 weighs not one hair against the telepathic theory. On 
 the contrary, it so completely sustains the telepathic 
 theory that the burden of proof rests upon spiritism to 
 show, by demonstrative evidence, that all cases where 
 supernormally acquired knowledge is in evidence may 
 not be thus explained. 
 
 This they are attempting to do, but by a process as 
 flagrantly illogical and unscientific as that employed 
 in any of their attempts to sustain a constantly failing 
 cause. 
 
 Numerous cases are now in evidence where mediums 
 have evinced a knowledge of facts, say in the earthly 
 
MAN'S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 105 
 
 career of an alleged communicating spirit, which no one 
 present could by any possibility have ever objectively 
 known. 
 
 , This, it must be acknowledged, is the crucial test. _It \ 
 
 * is the last ditch of spiritism, and if such cases can be ! 
 
 ' explained by reference to telepathy their cause is forever • 
 lost, for if this fails them there will be left not a shred I 7 
 
 ’ . t 
 
 of valid evidence that spirits of the dead communicate | 
 with the living through mediums. j 
 
 The case, however, is a very simple one and easily 
 disposed of when treated in a straightforward, common- 
 sense manner. It presents but one question about which 
 there can be any possible room for a rational difference 
 of opinion, and that is simple to the last degree to any 
 one who is acquainted with the fundamental facts of 
 telepathy and the elemental principles of logical reason¬ 
 ing. The question is: 
 
 Can information telepathically received by onp 
 person be telepathically communicated by him to 
 another ? 
 
 Strange as it may seem to the average reader, the 
 whole question of spirit communion with the living 
 through mediums hinges upon the decision of that 
 simple problem. And this is what I meant in my 
 opening remarks by urging the propriety — the logi¬ 
 cal necessity — of reducing the question to its lowest 
 terms by eliminating all irrelevant side issues and 
 confining our attention to the vital issue when it is 
 found. 
 
 A few words will show the practical pertinency of the 
 question as stated, and this can best be done by suppos¬ 
 ing a simple illustrative example: 
 
 A seance is held in which the sitter is supposed to be 
 
io6 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 put into communication with the spirit of his deceased 
 father. To make the case clear and free from compli¬ 
 cations, we will suppose that all the rest of the sitter’s 
 family and friends are dead, — all died before the death 
 of the father. Then suppose a communication from the 
 alleged spirit to reveal the fact that some time before 
 his decease the father had concealed a large sum of 
 money in a certain locality, naming it; that it was in¬ 
 tended for the son when he became of age, but that the 
 father died suddenly without having an opportunity to 
 reveal the facts to the son, who, in the meantime, never 
 had a suspicion that his father ever had any surplus 
 cash. 
 
 Spiritists hold, of course, that such a case is clearly 
 one in which telepathy cannot possibly be held to afford 
 an explanation, — a clear case, therefore, of spirit com¬ 
 munion. Advocates of the telepathic theory, on the 
 other hand, hold that it is just as clearly a case in which 
 telepathy affords an easy explanation, on the obvious 
 theory that information received telepathically by one 
 person can be communicated by him telepathically to a 
 ^third person. Thus, the father and son must be pre- 
 * sumed to have been in telepathic rapport during the life 
 of both, and the father must be presumed to have com¬ 
 municated the information to the son, unconsciously, of 
 course, to the latter, since telepathy is a faculty belong¬ 
 ing exclusively to the subjective mind. The information 
 was, therefore, lodged in the subjective mind of the son, 
 where it remained, latent, until he came in contact with 
 a psychic who was able to reach the information tele¬ 
 pathically and thus elevate the information above the 
 threshold of normal consciousness. The ability to do 
 that is what constitutes a psychic, and a good psychic 
 
MAN’S PSYCHIC POWERS 10 / 
 
 can reach the content of the subjective mind of another, 
 presumably without reference to how it got there. The 
 son, not being a psychic, was unaware of the facts which 
 had been communicated telepathically during the life¬ 
 time of his father. But the information was there; it 
 was a part of his subjective mental equipment, and only 
 awaited contact with a psychic who could reach it tel¬ 
 epathically and thus make it known to the objective 
 consciousness of all concerned. 
 
 Is there anything inherently impossible or improbable 
 in this hypothesis? I think not. In the first place, all 
 the logical and scientific presumptions favor it, as 
 against supermundane theories of causation. Telepathy 
 is a vera causa; spiritism is not. We know something 
 of telepathy and its conditions, powers, and limitations; 
 we know that it is a means of communicating intelli¬ 
 gence between living persons. But we know absolutely 
 nothing of the conditions, powers, or limitations of dis¬ 
 embodied spirits. Besides, having shown that telepathy 
 affords a complete explanation of the great bulk of the 
 cases where supernormally acquired knowledge is in 
 evidence, the presumption that all cases may be so ac¬ 
 counted for amounts to a logical certainty. Especially 
 is this true in the absence of any reasons to the contrary, 
 and none have ever been given that were not obviously 
 intended to evade the issue rather than to meet it. (See 
 Society for Psychical Research reports in Piper case.) 
 Moreover, if the telepathic theory in this class of cases 
 harmonizes with all that is known of the powers and 
 limitations of telepathy, its truth must be considered as 
 practically demonstrated. And that this is true I shall 
 now briefly attempt to show. 
 
 In the first place, the Society for Psychical Research 
 
108 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 ! '(before the date of its conversion into an international 
 , spiritistic propaganda) published two large volumes 
 {Phantasms of the Living) devoted to a record of its 
 telepathic investigations, in which the following facts, 
 pertinent to the inquiry, were developed: 
 
 1. That acquaintances, friends, and near relatives are 
 actually or potentially en rapport at all times, 
 
 2. That the power to project a telepathic impression 
 seems to increase on the near approach of death. 
 
 3. That dying persons make an effort to acquaint 
 their near relatives or friends with their condition and 
 wishes, especially when some unsatisfied desire is weigh¬ 
 ing upon their minds. 
 
 4. That the power to convey and to receive thoughts 
 by means of telepathy seems to be practically unlimited. 
 
 5. The limitations of telepathy as a means of com¬ 
 munication between those who are en rapport seem to 
 pertain solely to the power to elevate the communica¬ 
 tions above the threshold of normal consciousness. 
 
 It will now be seen that the powers and limitations of 
 telepathy, as ascertained by years of observation and 
 laborious research, correspond exactly with what we 
 would have a right to expect if the telepathic theory 
 is the correct interpretation of the phenomena under 
 consideration. 
 
 Thus, we find an unlimited capacity in the subjective 
 mind to transmit and to receive information by tele¬ 
 pathy, which, with the perfect memory of the subjective 
 mind, argues a vast store of information thus ac¬ 
 quired from friends and relatives with whom one is 
 en rapport. 
 
 The limitations, which pertain solely to the means 
 of drawing upon this fund of information, are explained 
 
MAAT’S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 109 
 
 by the fact that the only available process by which this 
 can be accomplished is the employment of psychics 
 (mediums), and these are constantly handicapped by 
 the abnormal conditions necessary for the work of 
 mediumship, as well as by the limitations involved in 
 the fact that they are constantl}' open to control by the 
 power of suggestion while in that condition. 
 
 And when to these powers and limitations is added 
 the constant rapport of relatives and friends, the su¬ 
 preme efforts of the dying to acquaint their friends 
 with facts of mutual interest and importance, and the 
 latency of the knowledge thus acquired (lodged in the 
 subjective mind) when the percipient is not himself a 
 psychic, it will be seen that there is every possible facility 
 for the phenomena to occur exactly as we have supposed 
 them to occur. 
 
 Moreover, there is absolutely nothing in any recorded 
 experience in telepathy to militate against that theory 
 in this class of cases, for it is manifest that if the sup¬ 
 posed case can be explained by reference to telepathy 
 every other possible case can be thus accounted for. 
 That is to say, if telepathically acquired information can 
 be telepathically transmitted to a third person it would 
 be impossible to imagine a case that the fact would not 
 account for. 
 
 I repeat, therefore, that this is the crucial question 
 upon which spiritism hinges; and it is, of course, im¬ 
 portant that it should be determined whethe r telepath ic 
 a trois, as the French term it, or telepathy by three, in 
 plain English, is a telepathic potential. Let us put the 
 question in another form, — a form that will show the 
 affirmative to be self-evident: 
 
 If A can communicate intelligence to B by any known 
 
no 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 means of transmitting human knowledge, B can com¬ 
 municate the same intelligence by the same means to C, 
 conditions, of course, being equal. 
 
 This might be termed a “ universal postulate,” accord¬ 
 ing to Herbert Spencer’s definition of that term, for 
 “ its opposite is inconceivable.” If it is true of one 
 means of communicating human intelligence it is ne¬ 
 cessarily true of all. If it is true of all, then it is 
 self-evident that “ telepathy by three ” is a telepathic 
 potential. And if that is true it follows that all con¬ 
 ceivable cases of supernormally acquired intelligence 
 by so-called mediums, are easily explicable under the 
 telepathic hypothesis. 
 
 What answer has spiritism to offer to these propo¬ 
 sitions? When I first propounded the theory in sub¬ 
 stantially this form, eleven years ago (see The Law 
 of Psychic Phenomena^, it was met by a Podsnappian 
 wave of the hand, and — “ Oh! that is carrying tele¬ 
 pathy too far.” But neither then nor since has any 
 one attempted to say why telepathically acquired infor- 
 mation cann ot be telepathically transmitted to a third 
 person . Why? Is it because the proposition is unan¬ 
 swerable; and because, if true, it is f atal to spiritism? 
 The reader must judge. 
 
 Later the attempt is being made by pseudo-scientists 
 of spiritism to ignore the real issue, and to exaggerate 
 and misrepresent the telepathic theory for the purpose 
 of denying it without the necessity of giving valid 
 reasons for so doing. Thus, they tell us that the tele¬ 
 pathic theory presupposes the psychic to be “ omni¬ 
 scient,” an assertion that for gratuitous absurdity could 
 only be paralleled by the assertion that it required com¬ 
 mon intellectual integrity to enable them to formulate it. 
 
MAN'S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 III 
 
 Strange as it may appear, the answer that comes 
 nearest to being valid, if not scientific, comes from the 
 corner-grocery savants of spiritism. They tell us, 
 “ straight from the shoulder,” as it were, that “ there is 
 no such thing as telepathy; it’s all spirits.” 
 
 Obviously, argument would be futile against such 
 robust faith in the supernatural, and I pass on to an 
 equally absurd proposition that is current among the 
 “ scientists ” of spiritism. Beginning with Alfred Rus¬ 
 sell Wallace, and continued with insistent iteration by 
 the Society for Psychical Research spiritists, we are 
 told that the spiritistic theory bears internal evidence 
 of scientific truth because of its “ simplicity.” 
 
 It must be admitted that it is far “ simpler ” to refer 
 all psychic phenomena to spirits than it is to explain 
 them on scientific principles. Besides, it obviates all 
 necessity for thinking, and that is a great point gained 
 for many otherwise remarkably good people. The theory 
 that the earth is flat was also very simple, and it would 
 have saved a vast deal of robust thinking if the world’s 
 astronomical geniuses had been content to recognize 
 “ simplicity ” as a valid scientific postulate. The sav¬ 
 age’s theory that “ thunder is the voice of an angry 
 god ” is simple to the last degree — much simpler than 
 is the vast science which has grown out of the scien¬ 
 tific observation of the electrical phenomena of the 
 heavens. 
 
 If simplicity is the measure of scientific accuracy, 
 there is a theory extant that is far less complicated than 
 that which postulates millions of good, bad, and indif¬ 
 ferent spirits at work, often at cross-purposes — some 
 even with intent to deceive mankind into scientific be¬ 
 liefs, and others repudiating all that science thinks it 
 
II2 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 knows; no two spirits, in short, ever agreeing upon 
 any one proposition. If, as I said, simplicity is the 
 measure of scientific verity, why not adopt the far more 
 simple, and vastly more orthodox, theory that the devil 
 is responsible for the whole business? Aside from the 
 superior quality of “ simplicity ” inherent in the satanic 
 theory, the results of spiritism invest it with an air of 
 plausibility not to be ignored as valueless by spiritistic 
 logicians. 
 
 In concluding this I desire to answer a question that 
 has often been propounded by spiritists concerning the 
 telepathic theory and which will doubtless occur to 
 many of the readers of this article. It is this: 
 
 “ You admit,” say the spiritists, “ that two embodied 
 spirits can communicate with each other by means 
 of telepathy. Why, then, cannot a disembodied spirit 
 communicate with an embodied spirit by the same 
 means? ” 
 
 This is a very popular question, and it is usually 
 held to be a “ poser,” especially by those whose logic 
 is a little infirm. The obvious answer is that it is not 
 a question pertinent to the issue involved in spiritism. 
 As for myself, I do not know why they cannot — I 
 do not even know that they cannot — so communicate. 
 But that is not the question raised by the phenomena of 
 spiritism. That question is: “ Do spirits of the dead 
 communicate with the living through mediums ? ” ob¬ 
 viously a very much more restricted question, as it 
 involves solely the question of mediumship, otherwise 
 the phenomena of spiritism. And it is exclusively 
 from the evidence afforded by the phenomena them¬ 
 selves that the question must be settled. 
 
 I have endeavored to show that the whole question 
 
MAN’S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 II3 
 
 hinges upon “ telepathy by three,” and that that is 
 a self-evident proposition. Besides, it can easily be 
 shown that telepathy by three is, in fact, a very common 
 phenomenon. It follows that spiritism, considered as 
 a subject of scientific inquiry, has no polemical weapon 
 now available except the insensate denial of a self- 
 evident proposition. 
 
 It will now be in order to take our logical bearings 
 by a brief recapitulation of the points thus far estab¬ 
 lished, with a view to ascertaining what positions, if any, 
 may be further fortified by the facts of human experi¬ 
 ence. It is safe to assume that the following propo¬ 
 sitions will not be disputed by any scientist who cares 
 to apply the elementary principles of logical induction 
 to the investigation of spiritism. 
 
 1. That the issue is, “ Do spirits of the dead com¬ 
 municate with living persons through mediums ? ” 
 
 2. That the only valid evidence competent to prove 
 the affirmative must be such as will demonstrate the 
 personal identity of the alleged communicating spirit. 
 
 3. That physical phenomena, j^er se, therefore, pos¬ 
 sess no evidential value whatever. 
 
 4. That, in the absence of other proofs of personal 
 identity, the dramatic personation of a spirit possesses 
 no evidential value. 
 
 5. That telepathy, or thought-transference, is a valid 
 explanation of all cases where the information “ com¬ 
 municated ” was in the possession of any person present 
 at the seance. 
 
 6. That the telepathic explanation is none the less 
 valid because the information was not consciously pos¬ 
 sessed by the sitter, as when he had quite forgotten the 
 facts “ communicated.” 
 
 8 
 
114 the evolutioh of the soul 
 
 Thus far, no intelligent spiritist will take exception. 
 This narrows the field of inquiry to those communi¬ 
 cations which contain information not obtained by the 
 medium, or any one present, by any of the normal, sen¬ 
 sory channels of communicating human thought. That 
 is to say, the information, if possessed by the sitter, 
 must have been received telepathically, unconsciously to 
 himself and to the agent from whom it was obtained. 
 This involves the question whether information tele¬ 
 pathically received can be telepathically communicated 
 to a third person. And this, as I have already shown, is 
 the ultimate issue to be decided; for if telepathie a trois, 
 or “ telepathy by three,” is a telepathic potential, it is 
 manifestly impossible to imagine a case to which the 
 principle would not afford a complete explanation. I 
 have also shown that telepathy by three is a self-evident 
 proposition. That is to say, it is self-evident that if A 
 can send a message to B, by any known means of com¬ 
 municating intelligence, B can communicate the same 
 message, by the same means, to C, conditions being 
 equal. 
 
 Is telepathy an exception to this universal rule? Is 
 knowledge communicated telepathically anything less 
 than knowledge? Is information thus communicated to 
 the subjective mind not a part of its mental equipment? 
 Is the subjective mind prone to forget what it has once 
 known? These questions answer themselves. All who 
 are even superficially acquainted with the salient char¬ 
 acteristics of the subjective mind know that it never 
 sleejps, and never forgets; that knowledge, however 
 trivial may be its character, may remain latent for many 
 years, but that proper mental conditions will bring it 
 forth with all its details. The old psychologists were 
 
MAN’S PSYCHIC POWERS II 5 
 
 well aware of this fact. If any one has ever given a 
 reason why telepathically acquired knowledge rests 
 upon a different footing in this respect from knowl¬ 
 edge acquired in any other way, I have yet to hear 
 of it. 
 
 Now what are the facts? I have said that telepathy 
 by three is a self-evident proposition, and it is. But as 
 spiritists require demonstrative proofs of self-evident 
 propositions that contravene their cherished beliefs, I 
 shall cite a few cases, taken mostly from the proceedings 
 of the Society for Psychical Research, which prove our 
 thesis beyond peradventure. 
 
 Telepathy by three is, in point of fact, a very common 
 phenomenon. But, like many other familiar facts in 
 nature, it has remained for years unnoted by scientific 
 investigators because its importance was not realized. 
 Who could have predicted, seventeen years ago, that the 
 whole question of spirit intercourse through mediums 
 would ever hinge upon the truth or falsity of the familiar 
 phenomenon of telepathy by three? Certainly not the 
 spiritistic members of the Society for Psychical Re¬ 
 search, for their early reports abound in well authenti¬ 
 cated cases. It is significant, however, that, since the 
 conversion of that society into a gigantic spiritistic 
 propaganda, the reported cases of telepathy by three, 
 outside of alleged spiritistic communications, are con¬ 
 spicuous for their scarcity. Fortunately, however, for 
 the cause of truth, that society cannot obliterate its own 
 record; nor can it prevent the daily exemplification of 
 that phenomenon in experimental telepathy, nor sup¬ 
 press the reports of thousands of spontaneous cases 
 constantly occurring outside the limited field to which it 
 now confines its earnest efforts. 
 
ii6 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 F. W. H. Myers, for instance, early admitted the 
 possibility of telepathy by three in cases of collective 
 phantasms. (See p. 320, Vol. VII. Proc. S. P. R.) But 
 at the time he preferred another theory, which has since 
 been shown to be fallacious, thus leaving telepathy by 
 three as the only possible solution, outside of the assump¬ 
 tion of the objective reality of the phantasm. 
 
 In the same volume, p. 295, Mr. Walter Leaf, 
 one of the ablest of the then active members of the 
 Society for Psychical Research, clearly formulated 
 the doctrine. Reviewing a current publication by von 
 Hartman, Mr. Leaf offered the following pregnant 
 suggestion: 
 
 “ And finally, von Hartman seems to have overlooked the 
 consequences which result from the joint admission of the reality 
 of telepathy and the infinite retentiveness of the subliminal 
 memory. It can hardly be doubted that those rare telepathic 
 impressions which rise to the level of consciousness are but a 
 fraction of those which the underself is continually receiving. 
 Yet each one of these must be stored up in the unconscious 
 memory, and be capable of reproduction under favorable circum¬ 
 stances. If we further admit that the unconscious self is capable 
 of handing on such impressions, whether by telepathy or thought- 
 transference, they remove all necessity for the assumption of 
 spiritual agency or clairvoyance, when we have to deal with a 
 piece of knowledge which may at anytime have been in the mind 
 of any living man.” 
 
 Professor Oliver Lodge, who is now the president of 
 the Society for Psychical Research, very early announced 
 his belief in “ thought-transference ” as fully compe¬ 
 tent to explain all that is mysterious in so-called spirit 
 communications, on the ground that it is a “ known 
 cause,” that is, one to which there need be no hesitation 
 in appealing in order to explain facts which without 
 it would be inexplicable. (Proc. S. P. R. Vol. VI. p. 
 
MAN^S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 117 
 
 451.) Professor Lodge did not distinctly formulate the 
 doctrine of telepathy by three, but he cited two cases, in 
 contrast, which are demonstrative of the principle. In 
 one of them a deceased uncle figured as the communi¬ 
 cator, and he related many facts — family affairs — of 
 which those present knew nothing, all of which, how¬ 
 ever, “ have been more or less completely verified,” says 
 the professor (pp. 458-9). On the other hand, a mes¬ 
 sage was received in his presence from a comparative 
 stranger—not a relative of any one present—and every¬ 
 thing which the sitters knew about was correctly related; 
 whereas, the statements made of which they knew 
 nothing were all false (p. 461). 
 
 Obviously the principle of telepathy by three affords 
 a full and complete explanation of the knowledge ob¬ 
 tained from the uncle, and the failure in the other case 
 is just as obviously due to the absence of the necessary 
 conditions, namely, rapport between the sitters and the 
 communicator during the lifetime of the latter. The 
 spiritistic hypothesis necessarily fails, for the conditions 
 from that standpoint were precisely the same in the 
 two cases. The principal sitter was the same, namely, 
 Professor Lodge, the medium was the same, Mrs. Piper, 
 and the so-called “ control ” was in each case none other 
 than the now noted Dr. Phinuet, a Frenchman, who had 
 forgotten la latigue frangaise. If, therefore, it was a 
 spirit in one case it was a spirit in the other, and no 
 good reason has yet been given why one spirit should 
 tell the truth, whether the sitter knows the facts or not, 
 while another tells it only when the sitter knows the 
 facts. In other words, the spiritistic hypothesis does 
 not furnish an explanation of the difference in the re¬ 
 sults of the two cases. On the other hand, telepathy 
 
Il8 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 by three does account for it in the only way consistent 
 with the known facts of modern science. 
 
 Andrew Lang is another famous psychical researcher 
 who finds telepathy by three to be the only tenable hy¬ 
 pothesis explanatory of the phenomena under consid¬ 
 eration. He has caused numerous experiments to be 
 made by means of “ crystal gazing,” through the agency 
 of Miss Angus and others, many of which are demon¬ 
 strative of telepathy by three. A few of the latter he 
 sums up as follows: (See Part XXXVI. Proc. S. P. 
 R. pp. 48-50.) 
 
 “Again and again Miss Angus, sitting with man or woman, 
 described acquaintances of theirs, but not of hers, in situations 
 not known to the sitters, but proved to be true to fact. Now, 
 the far-going hypothesis of direct clairvoyance was here excluded 
 (in most cases, not in all) by conditions of time. In one instance. 
 Miss Angus described doings from three weeks to a fortnight 
 old, of people in India, people whom she had never seen or heard 
 of, but who were known to her ‘sitter.’ Her account, given on 
 a Saturday, was corroborated by a letter from India, which arrived 
 next day, Sunday.' In another case she described (about 10 p. m.) 
 what a lady, not known to her, but the daughter of a matron 
 present (who was not the sitter), had been doing about 4 p. m. on 
 the same day. What the person seen was doing was not a thing 
 familiar, for I asked that question. Again, sitting with the lady, 
 Miss Angus described a singular set of scenes much in the mind, 
 not of her sitter, but of a very unsympathetic stranger, who was 
 reading a book at the other end of the room. I have tried every 
 hypothesis, normal and not so normal, to account for these and 
 analogous performances of Miss Angus. There was, in the 
 Indian and other cases, no physical possibility of collusion; 
 chance coincidence did not seem adequate ; ghosts were out of 
 the question, so was direct clairvoyance. That Miss Angus 
 (who, by the way, was in the most normal and wide-awake con¬ 
 dition) had got into touch with the Absolute, and was making 
 discriminating selections from the stores of Omniscience, did not 
 seem likely, because her crystal pictures appeared to be directed 
 by the mind of a person present, not always the sitter. Nothing 
 
MAN'S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 II9 
 
 remained for the speculative theorizer but the idea of cross cur¬ 
 rents of telepathy [telepathy by three] between Miss Angus, 
 a casual stranger, the sitters and people far away, known to the 
 sitters or the stranger, but unknown to Miss Angus. Unpublished 
 examples of these things went on the same lines. Miss Angus 
 picked up facts, unknown to the sitters, about people known to 
 them, but not to her. 
 
 “ Now suppose that Miss Angus, instead of dealing with living | 
 people, by way of visions, had dealt by way of voice, or automatic 
 handwriting, and had introduced a dead ‘communicator.’ Then 
 she would have been on a par with Mrs. Piper, yet with no aid ! 
 from the dead. ... i 
 
 “ Not to rely solely on Miss Angus, I take another instance. 
 My friend, Mr. Lesley, is known to the world as a man of busi¬ 
 ness, a golfer, and a composer. He can see crystal pictures, but 
 (like most of my acquaintances who possess the faculty, includ¬ 
 ing my cook) has hardly any interest in the practice. One day 
 Mr. Lesley and I had been talking about a lady, unknown to him, 
 but known to me, though I had never seen her house. Mr. 
 Lesley began to look into a glass water-jug, and described what 
 he saw, the interior of the hall of a house, with a good deal of 
 detail. Neither of us recognized the house. I happened later 
 to tell this to the lady of whom we had been talking; she said, 
 
 ‘ Why, that is my house,’ and, on visiting it, I found that in all . 
 respects it answered to Mr. Lesley’s description.” 
 
 Mr. L^g then proceeds to say that if the lady had 
 been dead, and the psychic had been in a trance, spir- 
 itists would have claimed it as a spirit com munication. 
 But as nobody was dead, “ the theory of a spirit is 
 wholly impossible, and if not telepathy c frois, then some 
 other nonspiritualistic theory must account for the facts, 
 as for the facts in Miss Angus’s cases.” 
 
 A typical case once came under my own observation, 
 which not only demonstrates telepathy by three, but 
 reveals its wide range of usefulness to charlatans and 
 mountebanks of many varieties. A gentleman residing 
 in a distant northern city visited Washington on his 
 way to Florida, and, being somewhat interested in 
 
120 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 psychical matters, especially telepathy, requested me to 
 introduce him to some one who could satisfy his curi¬ 
 osity by some signal display of telepathic powers. At 
 that time I happened to know a hypnotic subject who 
 occasionally manifested remarkable powers in that di¬ 
 rection. He was neither a spiritist nor a professional 
 psychic, and shrank from publicity, but would occasion¬ 
 ally display his powers to a select few of his friends. 
 One of his peculiarities consisted in a fondness for 
 mystifying his friends by “ dropping into prophecy ” 
 concerning their future movements, often with startling 
 results, the case that I am about to relate being in point. 
 With much reluctance he consented to meet a total 
 stranger, having been assured by me that the gentleman 
 was on his way to Florida and would not be here to 
 trouble him further. The seance was accordingly held 
 that evening in the gentleman’s private room, at the 
 Arlington, two or three friends of the sitter being the 
 only ones present besides the dramatis personae. Having 
 hypnotized the psychic, to insure perfect rapport I 
 caused the two to shake hands, saying to the psychic as 
 I did so: “ Now I want you to tell this gentleman all 
 that he knows about himself, and more, too, if possible.” 
 
 After a few moments of silence the psychic asked to 
 take the sitter’s hand again. This being complied with, 
 he said, speaking very rapidly: 
 
 “ I can tell the gentleman one thing that he thinks 
 he knows, but does not know. He thinks that he is 
 going to start for Florida to-morrow morning.” 
 
 " Yes, I told you that,” I replied. 
 
 Without noticing the interruption he continued: 
 
 “ I can tell him another thing that he does not know. 
 He is going directly home to-morrow morning.” 
 
MAN’S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 I 2 I 
 
 “ I certainly do not know that,” replied the sitter. 
 “ If I live I shall start for Florida to-morrow morning.” 
 
 “ Nevertheless, you will go home before you go to 
 Florida. I prophesy that, and don't you forget it,” re¬ 
 plied the psychic with some show of dogmatism. 
 
 “ Did the spirits tell you that ? ” asked the sitter, 
 sarcastically. 
 
 “ No! I am not a medium, much less a spiritualist,” 
 indignantly replied the psychic. 
 
 Knowing that he was sensitive on that point, and 
 realizing that he was becoming excited, I signalled the 
 sitter to cease talking on the subject and proposed other 
 experiments. Several crucial tests were made during 
 the evening with special reference to the question of 
 independent clairvoyance, resulting in _demonstrative 
 proof that the psychic did not possess that power, but 
 that he did possess telepathic powers to an extraor¬ 
 dinary degree. The latter was demonstrated the next 
 morning when the gentleman boarded the first train 
 for home. 
 
 His sudden change of front was in response to a 
 telegram received about four o’clock in the morning 
 from his family physician, urging his instant return on 
 account of the sudden and serious illness of his wife. 
 
 “ Spirits,” explains the spiritist. But nobody was 
 dead. 
 
 “ Clairvoyance! ” suggests the belated believer in the 
 existence of that power, — that is, in the power to see 
 what is occurring at a distance, independently of the 
 aid of tele path y from living persons. Aside from the 
 '"alTbut demonstrated fact that no such power exists, it 
 was obviously not independent clairvoyance in this case, 
 since personal contact with the sitter was necessary. 
 
122 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 “ Muscle reading! ” oracularly proclaims the pseudo¬ 
 scientist, who feels bound, by the limited range of the 
 authorized beliefs of his cultus, to find a physical ex¬ 
 planation for every phenomenon. 
 
 To which I reply that if the potentialities of “ muscle 
 reading ” extend to the cognizance of the acts and 
 thoughts of strangers hundreds of miles distant; and 
 if that knowledge can be obtained by physical contact 
 with one who is in telepathic rapport with the actors, 
 I am content, for the sake of argument, to call it “ muscle 
 reading.” 
 
 In this case, however, the only possible muscle reading 
 was between the psychic and the sitter. But the fact 
 remains that the psychic, by some means, became cog¬ 
 nizant of what was, for the time being, uppermost in 
 the subjective mind of the sitter, namely, the condition 
 and necessities of his own family; and that information 
 must be presumed, in the absence of any other explana¬ 
 tion, to have been obtained telepathically from his dis¬ 
 tressed wife. 
 
 No psychical researcher, who is at all acquainted with 
 the propaedeutics of psychic science, will for a moment 
 deny the probability of telepathic communion between 
 husband and wife under such circumstances. Indeed, 
 the records of the Society for Psychical Research render 
 this as certain as any fact in science. The information, 
 therefore, that led the psychic to “ prophesy " the sitter’s 
 early return home was certainly in the subjective mind 
 of the latter; and that the psychic obtained it directly 
 from the sitter’s subjective mind by some means other 
 than through ordinary, sensory channels — call it tele¬ 
 pathy, thought-transference, or muscle reading, or what 
 you will — is not open to rational doubt. Terminology 
 
MAN'S PSYCHIC POWERS 
 
 123 
 
 is not the essence of a scientific inquiry; and the fact 
 remains that this case is typical of that telepathy by 
 three which spiritists, with hysterical insistence, see fit 
 to deny. 
 
 I have said that telepathy by three lends itself to the 
 uses of a great variety of charlatans. Thus, the psychic 
 in this case was fond of posing as a prophet, pure and 
 simple, and would rarely give reasons for his previsions. 
 Nevertheless it was always evident that he obtained his 
 data by means of his telepathic powers, and thus mysti¬ 
 fied his sitters to the top of his bent. 
 
 It is obvious that if he had seen fit to pose as a spirit 
 medium he would have won renown as such, and by 
 the same means that others do. All that would have 
 been required in the case mentioned would have been 
 for him to say that the spirits had told him that the 
 sitter’s wife was dangerously ill. Moreover, the tele¬ 
 pathic visions from which he obtained his data for 
 “ prophesying ” the sudden departure of the sitter for 
 home would very likely have been practically the same 
 if he had believed them to have been produced by 
 spirits. 
 
 In short, a good telepathist is well equipped for suc¬ 
 cessful charlatanry in almost any field; for example, 
 fortune-telling, palmistry, astrology, clairvoyance, etc. 
 In other words, whatever of supernormally acquired 
 knowledge is found to exist in the mind of any psychic, 
 no matter what his particular theory of causation may 
 be, or what may be his particular method of elevating 
 it above the threshold of normal consciousness, tele¬ 
 pathy affords a full and complete revelation of its mys¬ 
 terious source. And when the truth is once realized of 
 the self-evident proposition that knowledge telepathi- 
 
124 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 cally acquired from one person can be telepathically” 
 communicated to another, it will be apparent that every 
 imaginable case of alleged spirit communication through 
 mediums easily ranges itself under the terms of the 
 telepathic hypothesis. 
 
 I 
 
IV 
 
 SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE OF 
 LIFE AFTER DEATH 
 
 I N the examination of any question requiring the 
 exercise of the power or faculty of discrimination 
 between what is and what is not good evidence for 
 or against a given proposition it is always best to begin 
 by excluding from the field of inquiry all irrelevant 
 side issues. In no realm of human inquiry is the appli¬ 
 cation of this rule more important, nor is it anywhere 
 more generally disregarded than in estimating the 
 value of spirit phenomena as evidence of life after 
 death. 
 
 It is true that a vast congeries of phenomena, of 
 indefinitely varied character, is presented for our con¬ 
 sideration, each of which we are invited to believe is 
 produced by a disembodied spirit; and to the superficial 
 observer each is entitled to a separate investigation, or at 
 least to equal consideration as to its evidential value. It 
 is, however, obvious to the scientific investigator that this 
 assumption is not warranted, and that, in point of fact, 
 there must be much of the phenomena that in itself 
 possesses no evidential value whatever. 
 
 A moment’s consideration will reveal a clear line of 
 demarcation between those phenomena which may pos- 
 
126 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 sess evidential value and those which can by no possi¬ 
 bility prove or disprove the claim of spiritism. The 
 latter class comprises all of the physical phenomena, 
 such as rapping, table-tipping, levitation of ponderable 
 bodies without physical contact or mechanical appli¬ 
 ances, slate-writing, et hoc genus omne. It is not, how¬ 
 ever, necessary either to doubt or deny that these 
 phenomena are produced by supernormal means, except 
 perhaps for the purpose of assuming to be ultra-scien¬ 
 tific ; nor is it necessary to believe in their genuineness, 
 for they all may be fraudulently produced; or they 
 may all be veridical without afifecting the question of 
 spirit intercourse. A few words will make my meaning 
 clear. 
 
 Let us take, for example, the phenomenon of levita¬ 
 tion of furniture. In itself it is no more wonderful that 
 a table should be lifted without physical contact than 
 that a horseshoe magnet should levitate its armature. 
 There is, however, a vast difference between the two 
 phenomena, in that there is an intelligence connected 
 with the movements of the table. It will answer ques¬ 
 tions and carry on a conversation with those present; 
 and in answer to a question as to the source of the 
 intelligence, the usual reply is that it is the spirit of 
 some deceased person. And here let me say, in all 
 candor, that, in the absence of the light afforded by 
 recent discoveries in psychology, the animistic theory 
 of causation was the most rational explanation of the 
 phenomena. But of this later on. The point I wish to 
 make now is that it is the intelligence with which we 
 have to deal in searching for an explanation of the 
 phenomena. The physical phenomena of themselves 
 afford no possible clue to their origin; and it is only 
 
SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE 1 27 
 
 by an analysis of the intelligence displayed — that is to 
 say, the “ communications ” received — that we can 
 find evidence as to their source. We may therefore 
 safely leave out of consideration all purely physical 
 phenomena, at least until we have definitely located the 
 source of the alleged communications. The advantages 
 arising from pursuing this logical “ method of exclu¬ 
 sion ” are these: (i) the issue is vastly simplified; (2) 
 the range of inquiry is confined to essentials; (3) it 
 eliminates from the field of inquiry a vast number of 
 phenomena each of which easily lends itself to fraud 
 and legerdemain, and neither of which, whether genu¬ 
 ine or fraudulent, possesses in itself the slightest 
 evidential value. 
 
 In pursuing the policy of ignoring irrelevant ques¬ 
 tions, that of the selection of a proper psychic, or 
 “ medium,” is also very much simplified. All that is 
 required is one who has acquired the power of self- 
 hypnotization, or, as it is commonly termed, the power 
 to enter with facility the condition of trance, and while 
 in that state to answer questions and perform the usual 
 mental feats of so-called mediumship. As an example 
 of this method of investigation reference is made to 
 that adopted by the Society for Psychical Research, and 
 to the celebrated Mrs. Piper as a representative of the 
 type of medium required. 
 
 The theory of spiritism is that spirits of the dead take 
 possession of mediums of this class and employ their 
 vocal organs and hands, respectively, for speaking and 
 writing directly to those present, the functions of the 
 medium’s brain being in the meantime suspended. 
 
 This at once presents the real issue; is it true that 
 spirits of the dead communicate with the living through 
 
128 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 so-called spirit mediums ? Or, to put it still more fairly 
 and conservatively, is there any valid evidence that 
 spirits do so communicate? 
 
 In discussing this question it is first in order to 
 inquire what reasons are given by spiritists for believing 
 that the so-called communications, purporting to ema¬ 
 nate from disembodied spirits, are in reality what they 
 are alleged to be. It will then be in order to examine the 
 validity of those reasons, or, in other words, to inquire 
 whether the phenomena cannot be otherwise accounted 
 for. In making the latter inquiry I will strenuously 
 insist upon the recognition of the axiom of science that 
 “ we have no logical right to attribute any phenomenon 
 to supermundane agency that can be accounted for on 
 principles of natural law.” 
 
 In stating the reasons for the spiritist belief I will 
 endeavor to do so with absolute fairness, and to that 
 end I will suppose the most favorable conditions that a 
 spiritist could desire. The “ reasons ” naturally group 
 themselves under two heads. The first group pertains 
 exclusively to the medium, and the second to the char¬ 
 acter of the “ communications.” They will be con¬ 
 sidered separately and in their order. The first group 
 may be stated as follows: 
 
 1. The medium is honest, and is normally incapable 
 of dissimulation. 
 
 2. The medium sincerely believes the communica¬ 
 tions to be what they purport to be. 
 
 3. The medium is unconscious of having any part 
 or lot in determining the contents or character of the 
 communications, or of possessing any psychological 
 power or attribute that would render unconscious par¬ 
 ticipation possible. 
 
SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE 129 
 
 4. The medium, though normally possessing no dra- j 
 
 matic power whatever, often personates the soi-disant j 
 spirit with wonderful accuracy, often to the extent of i 
 imitating the voice, gestures, and even the mental idio- j 
 syncrasies of the supposed personality. ) 
 
 5. The alleged spirit often manifests mental and 
 moral characteristics antipodal to those normally pos¬ 
 sessed by the medium, sometimes strenuously disputing 
 her preconceived opinions, and often displaying an 
 obliquity shocking to her moral sensibilities. 
 
 It is obvious that here is a series of statements which, 
 if true and unexplained, go far toward establishing the 
 validity of the claims of spiritism. A very few years 
 ago these statements could be met in but one of three 
 ways, namely, (i) a denial of the facts, (2) a charge of 
 fraud against the medium, or (3) an admission of the j 
 tenability of the spiritist hypothesis. To-day it would j 
 be foolish to deny the facts, since they can be so easily 
 substantiated; to charge the medium with dishonesty 
 would raise an irrelevant side issue; and, in view of the 
 discoveries of modern science, the spiritist hypothesis 
 is no longer tenable. That is to say, the phenomena can 
 now be accounted for by reference to known psycho¬ 
 logical laws. We may, therefore, begin by admitting 
 all that is embraced in the foregoing propositions; for 
 we shall have no difficulty in finding a solution for all 
 that is mysterious in the phenomena on principles of 
 natural law with which scientists are now well ac¬ 
 quainted — principles which are perfectly consistent 
 with the integrity of all concerned, and which, more¬ 
 over, obviate all necessity for seeking a solution in the 
 realms of the supermundane. 
 
 It seems almost superfluous to say that a perfect solu- 
 
130 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 tion of all this phase of spiritistic phenomena is found 
 in the law of suggestion. This law is known to every 
 psychological student, except perhaps a few scientists 
 who are committed to the spiritistic hypothesis. For 
 their benefit I will explain briefly what the law is. It 
 was discovered a few years ago by European scientists 
 in the course of their investigations of the psychological 
 problems of hypnotism. It was found that hypnotic 
 subjects invariably accept, believe, act upon, and carry 
 to its legitimate conclusion every statement, or “ sug¬ 
 gestion,” that is made to them. Thus, if a subject is 
 told that he is blind, he will manifest every symptom 
 of a total lack of visual powers. If told that he is deaf, 
 the unexpected firing of a gun in his presence does not 
 startle him. Apparently he does not hear it. If told 
 that he is an infant, “ mewling and puking in the nurse’s 
 arms,” he will simulate physical helplessness and an 
 infantile mentality. In short, he may be told that he is a 
 dog or a devil, a demon or an angel, and he will carry 
 the suggestion to its legitimate conclusion, so far as 
 it is physically possible, firmly believing the suggestion 
 to be true. What is more to our present purpose, if the 
 suggestion is made that he is some other individual, 
 he will impersonate that individual with wonderful 
 accuracy and dramatic power, the excellence of the 
 performance depending, of course, upon his knowledge 
 of the characteristics of the personage represented. 
 What is still more suggestive of our theme is the fact 
 that any good hypnotic subject will respond to the sug¬ 
 gestion that he is possessed by a spirit; and, other 
 things being equal, he will deliver messages from the 
 spirit suggested precisely as a genuine so-called medium 
 would do it. 
 
SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE 131 
 
 These phenomena, together with innumerable cog¬ 
 nates, each pointing to the one conclusion, led to the 
 discovery of the law of suggestion. At first it was 
 supposed to apply only to persons in a state of lucid 
 somnambulism, whether spontaneous or induced; but 
 it was eventually discovered to be a general law, gov¬ 
 erning, at all times and under all conditions, that part 
 of man’s mental organism which is the active agency in 
 the production of all psychic phenomena. Under the 
 theory of duality of mind, which is now very generally 
 either openly advocated or tacitly admitted to be a good 
 working hypothesis, this intelligence has been variously 
 designated by psychic scientists as the “ secondary 
 personality,” the “ subliminal consciousness,” the “ sub¬ 
 conscious mind,” the “ unconscious mind,” the “ subjec¬ 
 tive mind,” etc. I have ventured to adopt the term 
 “ subjective mind,” for the reason that, unlike most of 
 the older terms, it does not imply a theory either of 
 causation or of its relation to the mind of ordinary 
 waking consciousness. Besides, it is the mind which is 
 exclusively concerned with subjective states, conditions, 
 activities, and phenomena. But, by whatever term it 
 may be designated, the fact remains that it possesses 
 powers and faculties exclusively its own, and it is 
 hedged about by distinctive limitations. Among the 
 former is the power or faculty of telepathy, and among 
 the latter is its constant amenability to control by the 
 wonderful power of suggestion. 
 
 It will now be seen that each of the five foregoing 
 propositions of spiritism may be admitted to be true 
 without affecting adversely the argument against the 
 spiritistic interpretation of the phenomena. Indeed, 
 there are not to be found in the wide repertoire of 
 
132 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 psychic phenomena better illustrations of the potency 
 of suggestion, or of the universality of the law, than are 
 found in the phenomena of spiritism. It is, therefore, 
 unnecessary to question the sincerity of the medium, 
 for t he reason that if she is in a subjective or trance 
 condition she is compelled to accept the suggestions 
 imparted to her. Besides, it must be remembered that 
 a medium commences her career under the domi¬ 
 nance of the suggestion that she is dealing with spirits. 
 Her education, her training, her whole environment, 
 lend their aid to enforce that suggestion. Her reason 
 tells her that it is true, for she knows of no other expla¬ 
 nation. She has never heard of the laws of sugges¬ 
 tion ; or if she has, she either thinks that it does not 
 apply to her case, or, more likely, she does not compre¬ 
 hend it at all. She only knows that in the trance con¬ 
 dition she is dominated by an intelligence that seems 
 to be independent of her own control. It says things 
 that she has not consciously thought of, and it knows 
 things that she does not remember in her normal condi¬ 
 tion. Of course she is honest in her belief that the 
 intelligence manifested is just what it. purports to be; 
 and of course she is unconscious of having anything 
 to do with the communications. Moreover, she may 
 be unaware that she possesses any psychological power 
 that would render unconscious participation possible. 
 Thus it frequently happens that when a medium reveals 
 something that is known only to the sitter, she denies 
 the possession of any telepathic power whatever. Per¬ 
 haps she has never indulged in experimental telepathy, 
 per se, and is honestly ignorant of her own psychic 
 powers. In any event, she is not a logician, and does 
 not know that she is begging the question. But she is 
 
SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE 133 
 
 not alone in that, for many so-called “ scientists ” are 
 guilty of the same logical offence when they deny that 
 a good medium is necessarily a telepathist. 
 
 In regard to the wonderful dramatic power often dis¬ 
 played by mediums in impersonating an alleged spirit, 
 enough has already been said. It is sufficient to know 
 that precisely the same results flow from the same sug¬ 
 gestion to a hypnotized subject. But there is one con¬ 
 sideration that should not be lost sight of in this 
 connection. 
 
 Astonishment has often been provoked by the fact 
 that a hypnotized clodhopper, normally destitute of dra¬ 
 matic ability, often displays wonderful powers in that di¬ 
 rection when impersonating suggested characters. The 
 same remark applies alike to hypnotized subjects and to 
 mediums, and the same explanation applies to both. 
 I venture to say that much of the mystery will disappear 
 when it is remembered that there is, necessarily, a wide 
 difference between conscious and unconscious imperson¬ 
 ation. In the former the actor is normal, and is forced 
 to study the character he seeks to imitate, to remem¬ 
 ber every gesture, tone of voice, and mental peculiarity, 
 and to consciously reproduce the entire personality 
 of another. In short, his effort is to identify himself 
 with the personality he represents; and in so far as he 
 is capable of doing so he succeeds as an actor. On 
 the other hand, the psychic, under suggestion, com¬ 
 pletely identifies himself with the suggested personality; 
 for he believes himself to be that person. In his case, 
 therefore, impersonation is not “ acting ” in the sense 
 in which the term is usually understood. It is simply 
 following an irresistible impulse to carry the suggestion 
 to its logical conclusion; and this he does easily and 
 
134 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 naturally, just so far as he is acquainted with the char¬ 
 acter assumed — but no farther. If, now, we take into 
 consideration the wonderful memory of the subjective 
 mind, together with its potentially perfect powers of 
 logical deduction from suggested premises, it will 
 readily be seen that the law of suggestion affords a 
 perfect explanation of the facility with which entranced 
 mediums impersonate the characters of suggested 
 spirits. 
 
 Cognate to this question is the fifth and last in this 
 group, namely. Why is it that so-called “ spirits,” if 
 they are not what is represented, often antagonize the 
 medium and manifest mental and moral characteristics 
 antipodal to those she is known to possess? 
 
 This is a very pertinent and far-reaching question; 
 ^ but a perfect answer is easily found in the same law of 
 suggestion. If we will stop one moment to consider the 
 question, What is the salient, dominating idea conveyed 
 by the suggestion to, a medium’s mind that she is con¬ 
 trolled by a spirit of some deceased person? it will be 
 found that the main question answers itself. It is 
 obvious that the dominant idea conveyed by the sug¬ 
 gestion of spirit control is, necessarily, that the con¬ 
 trolling mentality is extraneous to, and independent of, 
 that of the medium. The logical deduction is thatjhe 
 medium is in no wav res pon sible f or th e character of the 
 manifestations, and that, in the multiplicity of good and 
 bad spirits which are supposed to surround every me¬ 
 dium, she is liable at any moment to be seized upon by 
 some vagrant spirit whose moral character and philo¬ 
 sophical opinions may be highly antagonistic to her 
 own. In short, the suggestion of an extraneous per¬ 
 sonality dominating the mentality of the medium neces- 
 
SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE 1 35 
 
 sarily carries with it the suggestion of independence; 
 and the latter suggestion can be carried out only by 
 occasional antagonism. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that the foregoing can 
 be demonstrated by experimental hypnotism. Indeed, 
 it is not too much to say that all the mental phenomena 
 of spiritism can be reproduced by that means. It is, in 
 fact, well known to many that some of the most cele¬ 
 brated mediums now living have been trained to their 
 work by means of hypnotism. 
 
 I have now briefly stated, and, I hope, fairly an¬ 
 swered, the first group of reasons offered by spiritists 
 for the faith that is in them. If I have omitted any 
 important claim that pertains to the personality of the 
 medium, I am not aware of it, and I would be thankful 
 to be set right. I submit that thus far I have shown that 
 all that is mysterious is easily explicable by reference 
 to psychological laws with which science is now well 
 acquainted. 
 
 The second group of facts and phenomena upon 
 which spiritism pins its faith pertains exclusively to the 
 character and contents of the “ communications ” re¬ 
 ceived through entranced mediums from alleged spirits 
 of the dead. 
 
 The salient features of the messages which it will 
 be necessary to examine may be stated as follows: 
 
 1. Statements of fact known to the medium. 
 
 2. Statements of fact not known to the medium, but 
 known to some other person present. 
 
 3. Statements of fact known neither to the medium 
 nor to any other person present. 
 
 In the last class may be grouped: 
 
 I. Events occurring at or before the time the me.s- 
 
136 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 sage is delivered, and known to a relative, a friend, or 
 an acquaintance of some one present at the sitting. 
 
 2. Facts known only to a deceased communicator 
 during his natural life, a friend, a relative, or an ac¬ 
 quaintance of his being present. 
 
 3. Facts known only to the alleged spirit during life, 
 no relationship between decedent and any one present 
 being known to exist. 
 
 Subsequent verification of the facts in each case is, 
 of course, presupposed. 
 
 Again I will reduce the sum total of possible irrele¬ 
 vant side issues by presupposing the medium to be 
 absolutely honest, and proceeding at once to the con¬ 
 sideration of the various phases of the phenomena above 
 enumerated. 
 
 The first class of communications, namely, those con¬ 
 taining “ statements of facts known to the medium,” for 
 obvious reasons need not be specially considered further 
 than to remark, in the language of Mr. F. W. H. Myers, 
 president of the Society for Psychical Research, that 
 from the medium’s own mind “ the vast bulk of the 
 messages are undoubtedly drawn, even when they refer 
 to matters which the automatist once knew but has 
 entirely forgotten. Whatever has gone into the mind 
 may come out of the mind; although this automatism 
 may be the only way of getting at it.”— (See Science 
 and a Future Life, p. 32.) 
 
 In regard to the second class of messages, namely, 
 those containing “ statements of facts not known to the 
 medium, but known to some other person present,” Mr. 
 Myers has this to say: “ Secondly, there is a small 
 percentage of messages apparently telepathic, — con¬ 
 taining, that is to say, facts probably unknown to the 
 
SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE 1 37 
 
 automatist, but known to some living person in his 
 company, or connected with him.”— (Ibid.) 
 
 I have made these quotations from Mr, Myer s for 
 three reasons, namely. First, because he is one of the 
 ablest and fairest of the Psychical Researchers who 
 have committed themselves to the spiritistic hypothesis. 
 Secondly, because^ he distinctly recognizes telepathy as 
 the obvious explanation of the second class of mes¬ 
 sages. Thirdly, for the reason that, inasmuch as I 
 shall endeavor to make it clear that all that is mys¬ 
 terious in any of the above-named classes of messages is 
 easily explicable under the telepathic theory, I wish first 
 to show definitely the point where our paths diverge. 
 
 This parting of the ways occurs when the third class 
 of communications is reached, namely , tho se containing 
 facts “ known neither to the medium nor to any other 
 
 person presen t.” _ It is at this point that the issue is 
 
 declared between the two hypotheses, — the spiritistic 
 _^d the telepathic. On the one hand, spiritists decline j 
 to accept telepathy as a possible factor in the case if no ) 
 one having knowledge of the facts related by the me- ! 
 dium is actually present at the sitting. On the other ' 
 hand, the advocates of the telepathic theory of explana¬ 
 tion hold that if any living person who is in telepathic 
 rapport with any one present has knowledge of the 
 facts related, we are logically compelled to accept the tel¬ 
 epathic hypothesis. This, of course, involves the 
 denial on the one hand, and the affirmation on the other, 
 that more than two persons may be concerned in the 
 transmission of a telepathic message. And it is upon the 
 settlement of this question that the whole controversy 
 hinges. Reduced to its lowest terms, the question at 
 issue may be thus stated affirmatively: 
 
138 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 If A can, by any known means of communication, 
 convey a message to B, B can convey the same message, 
 by the same means, to C, other things, of course, being 
 equal. 
 
 The truth of this proposition seems to be self-evident. 
 It is certainly true of all physical means of communi¬ 
 cation. Why is it not true of telepathy? is a question 
 that spiritists must solve or be thrown out of court. 
 Telepathy is a known means of communicating facts 
 from mind to mind. At least it is known to spiritists 
 and Psychical Researchers, and it is to them that I am 
 addressing my remarks. If, then, A is aware of a fact 
 and is in telepathic rapport with B, he can communicate 
 that fact to B. When that is done, the information 
 henceforth constitutes a part of the mental equipment 
 of B, who can, in turn, transmit the information to C 
 (the medium) by the same means by which he received 
 it from A. If not, why not? 
 
 This question has been asked before. More than 
 seven years has elapsed since this hypothesis was first 
 promulgated and this question asked. Thus far no one 
 has ventured an answer to the question, or even to state 
 the proposition fairly. It has, however, often been re¬ 
 marked that “ it is carrying telepathy too far ”; that 
 it “ stretches the telepathic hypothesis ” all out of shape, 
 or words to that effect; that it involves the supposition 
 of “ infinite telepathy,” “ omniscient telepathy,” and so 
 forth. In other words, it has thus far been dismissed 
 by spiritists with a Podsnappian wave of the hand. 
 Even Mr. Andrew Lang, who believes in the telepathic 
 hypothesis, finds it expedient to throw a sop to the 
 spiritistic Cerberus by declaring it to be a “ wild hypoth¬ 
 esis,” and this as a preliminary to showing that it is 
 
SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE 139 
 
 obviously the only tenable hypothesis outside the realms 
 of superstition. (See S. P. R. Proceedings, No. 36.) 
 Mr. Lang also gives the hypothesis a new and somewhat 
 formidable name, “ telepathic a trois,” which, being 
 interpreted, means telepathy by three — which is not so 
 formidable. {Ibid.) I have no fault to find with the 
 name, however, for it is a very appropriate addition to 
 the terminology of psychic science. 
 
 Now let us briefly inquire whether telepathy a trois 
 really stretches the telepathic hypothesis beyond rec¬ 
 ognition, or if it deserves to be stigmatized by its friends 
 as a “ wild hypothesis.” We will begin, not with a 
 spiritistic seance, but with a prosaic experiment in 
 telepathy, made in the city of Washington a few years 
 ago, the telepathist being a hypnotized subject. A 
 gentleman from New Orleans — almost a total stranger 
 — happened to be present, and in the course of the 
 evening asked the telepathist to describe his (the 
 stranger’s) home in New Orleans. The description 
 was made, and declared by the gentleman to be perfect 
 as to all the inmates of the house; and the arrangement 
 and furniture of all the rooms, except the parlor, were 
 satisfactorily described, even to some of the pictures on 
 the walls. The parlor, however, was said to be all 
 wrong. The carpet and furniture were declared to be 
 totally unlike anything actually in the room. The piano 
 was described as an upright, whereas the gentleman 
 said that it was an old-fashioned square piano. On his 
 return home, however, he found that the telepathist 
 was right. His wife had planned a pleasant surprise 
 for him, and had refurnished the parlor during his 
 absence, and installed a new upright piano, paying 
 for it all out of savings from her allowance of pin- 
 
140 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 money. If this was not telepathy a trois, will any 
 I spiritist tell me just what it was? Is it “stretching” 
 
 \ the telepathic hypothesis to suppose that the husband 
 and wife were en rapport? Is it “ carrying telepathy 
 too far ” to suppose that her pleasant anticipations 
 of her husband’s return, and of his agreeable sur¬ 
 prise, caused her to “ think of him emotionally ” ? 
 Did it require “ omniscient telepathy ” to enable the 
 psychic to read all this in the subjective mind of the 
 husband? In this case spirits were out of the ques¬ 
 tion, for everybody concerned was very much alive, 
 and the hypnotist and his psychic were neither of 
 them spiritists. 
 
 I once hypnotized a lady and asked her to describe 
 my home, which she knew nothing of. She described 
 everything correctly, even a huge mastiff lying on a 
 bear-skin rug on the library floor. But doubt was 
 thrown upon her lucidity when she described the library 
 desk as being covered with a white cloth, and said that 
 a lady was sitting at the desk, “ doing something ” 
 which she could not clearly make out. As my desk is 
 covered with black cloth, and as ladies seldom work at 
 it, I regarded the description as an effort at guessing. 
 But on my return home I learned that my wife had been 
 “ doing something ” with pulverized sugar, and had 
 covered the table with newspapers to prevent accidents 
 to the black cloth. As that was the only time in the 
 long history of my library desk that it had been so 
 covered or so employed, I cannot ascribe the phenom¬ 
 enon to coincidence. Nor can I think of any other 
 way of explaining it than on the theory of telepathy 
 d trois. 
 
 Some one, however, may say that “ clairvoyance ” 
 
SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE 141 
 
 affords an easy explanation of both these incidents. 
 But if he is not aware that clairvoyance itself is ex¬ 
 plicable only on the telepathic hypothesis, I refer him 
 to such incidents as that related by Mr. Lang in the 
 article above referred to. In a crystal-gazing experi¬ 
 ment in London the psychic saw a vision of something 
 that had happened to one of Mr. Lang’s friends in 
 India several days previous to the date of the experi¬ 
 ment. It was subsequently verified, and Mr. Lang 
 refers to it as a case of telepathy a trois, and also as one 
 which excluded both the spiritistic and the “ clairvoy¬ 
 ance ” hypotheses, since all were alive, and the event 
 happened several days before the vision was seen in the 
 crystal. 
 
 Now it must not be forgotten that phenomena cog¬ 
 nate to the foregoing are produced every day in the 
 year, wherever telepathic experiments are intelligently 
 conducted. They are largely unnoted and unrecorded, 
 for their supreme evidential value and importance are 
 not generally understood or appreciated. That is to say, 
 there are few among the thousands who are conducting 
 experiments in telepathy, and still fewer of those who 
 are invoking the spirits of the dead through mediums, 
 who realize that upon the settlement of the question of 
 telepathy d trois depends the scientific and logical solu¬ 
 tion of the whole problem of alleged spirit intercourse 
 with the living through so-called mediums. And this 
 I unhesitatingly affirm to be true; for if it is true 
 that a fact communicated by one person to another by- 
 means of telepathy can then be transmitted by the 
 second to a third person by the same means, it affords 
 an obvious and easy telepathic explanation of every 
 alleged spirit communication that has ever been re- 
 
142 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 corded. A very few words will suffice to explain my 
 meaning. 
 
 I have already shown how the hypothesis applies to 
 events occurring at or before the time the message is 
 delivered, and known to a relative, a friend, or an ac¬ 
 quaintance of some one present, the spirit hypothesis 
 being excluded by the fact that all concerned were 
 living, — the only further remark necessary in refer¬ 
 ence to cases arising under this head being that since 
 telepathy a trois furnishes a complete explanation of the 
 telepathic experiments related, it is difficult to imagine 
 any valid reason for changing the explanation, even if 
 the sitting had been called a spirit seance. Thus the 
 suggestion to the psychics in either of the foregoing 
 cases that spirits were present to show them the rooms 
 would have resulted precisely as it did result. Again, 
 the suggestion might have been that the psychics were 
 “ clairvoyant,” and the results would have been identi¬ 
 cal. The rooms would have been described as clearly 
 under any one suggestion as under any other in the 
 list. The difference, then, lies wholly in the suggestion 
 made to the psychic, and not in the facts. Is it conceiv¬ 
 able that the explanation varies with the suggestion 
 under which the psychic happens to do the work? If 
 not, there must be some one explanation applicable to all 
 forms and kinds of suggestion, and the only tenable 
 solution is necessarily one that rests on a vera causa. 
 I submit that the telepathic explanation is the only one 
 that is thus sustained. That is to say, we know telepathy 
 to be a power of the subjective mind, and we know that 
 all psychics assume the hypothesis suggested to them, 
 whether it be spirit control, or clairvoyance, or telepathy 
 pure and simple. I submit that we have neither logical 
 
SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE 143 
 
 right nor occasion to ascribe to supermundane origin 
 any phenomenon that is explicable by reference to effi¬ 
 cient causes that we know to exist, inherent, in the 
 minds of living people. 
 
 The next class on the list, namely, communications 
 embracing facts known only to the deceased during his 
 life, a relative or a friend being present at the sitting, 
 can easily be accounted for on the theory of telepathy 
 h trois, since friends, relatives, and acquaintances are 
 well known to be, potentially, en rapport at all times. 
 The facts in the supposed case may have been tele- 
 pathically communicated years before the death of the 
 agent; but as the memory of the subjective mind is 
 potentially perfect, the facts may be drawn forth by 
 telepathic agency at any subsequent time under proper 
 conditions. There are, however, many cases, apparently 
 belonging to this class, where the sitter’s ignorance of 
 the facts is due to forgetfulness. In other words, he 
 may have known the facts and entirely forgotten them. 
 As Mr. Myers justly remarks, “ whatever has gone 
 into the mind may come out of the mind.” Such a case, 
 however, would not be telepathy a trois. But it would 
 be obtaining telepathic information residing exclusively 
 in the subjective mind — or, as Mr. Myers would say, 
 the “ subliminal consciousness ” — of the sitter. And 
 so would the same information received telepathically 
 by the same sitter reside exclusively in his subjective 
 mind. Will some good spiritist please explain why 
 information can be drawn from the sitter’s mind by 
 means of telepathy in one case and not in the other? 
 Prima facie the conditions are parallel, except as to the 
 means by which the sitter obtained the information; 
 and I submit that the onus probandi rests upon the 
 
144 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 : advocates of the spiritistic hypothesis. To shift that 
 ; burden they must demonstrate that telepathy d trots is 
 ' impossible. Until that is done they have no logical 
 standing in a court of inductive inquiry. 
 
 This brings us to the only remaining class of com¬ 
 munications, namely, those which embrace statements 
 of facts which were known only to the deceased during 
 his life, no relationship between him and any one 
 present being traceable. 
 
 Obviously such cases present great difficulties, not 
 the least of which would be the verification of the al¬ 
 leged facts. Thus, if a spirit should present himself 
 to a company of total strangers, it would be very diffi¬ 
 cult to verify anything that he might say. But should 
 that difficulty be surmounted, it would be practically 
 impossible to prove that all knowledge of the fact was 
 confined to the deceased; and it would be absolutely 
 impossible to prove that a knowledge of the facts was 
 not possessed by some one who was in telepathic rap¬ 
 port with somebody present at the sitting. And yet, 
 assuming that telepathy a trots is a valid explanation of 
 all the other classes of phenomena in the list, all this 
 negative proof would logically be required in order to 
 justify the conclusion that the obscure cases, cognate to 
 all the others as they are in every essential particular, 
 are governed by different laws and originated in a dif¬ 
 ferent world. In other words, having shown that in all 
 cases where the facts are known the telepathic hypoth- 
 : esis affords an easy and an obviously true explanation 
 of the phenomena, we have a logical right to assume, 
 until the contrary is demonstrated, that were the facts 
 known in the obscure cases the same explanation would 
 be equally obvious. 
 
i 
 
 SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA AS EVIDENCE 145 
 
 The importance of this rule of evidence will be appar¬ 
 ent upon reflection; for it will at once be seen that the 
 adoption of a contrary rule would be the logical equiv¬ 
 alent of a distinct repudiation of the inductive method 
 of research. And this is precisely what is done in the 
 highest spiritistic circles to-day, little of importance 
 being heard from that source aside from voluminous 
 dissertations upon the immense evidential value of the 
 obscure cases. That is to say, in every case v/here 
 telepathic connections, owing to ignorance of environ¬ 
 mental conditions, are not entirely obvious and indis¬ 
 putable, they are instant in the declaration that that 
 particular phenomenon is demonstrative of the truth 
 of the spiritistic hypothesis. 
 
 Considered as a method of inductive inquiry, this is 
 certainly unique. It is not a new proposition that “ ig¬ 
 norance is the mother of superstition ”; but it can safely 
 be asserted that since the day when Bacon taught the 
 scientific world the value of a fact, this is the first time 
 that ignorance of facts has been assumed to constitute 
 valid inductive evidence of the existence of supermun¬ 
 dane beings. 
 
 This part of the claims of spiritism, however, may 
 be safely left to take care of itself when the vital issue 
 is settled. That, as I have pointed out before, relates 
 wholly to the question whether information received 
 telepathically can be transmitted to a third person by 
 the same means. If that question is settled affirma¬ 
 tively, together with all its implications, antecedent and 
 consequent, it will be simply impossible to imagine a 
 case that would not be explicable under the telepathic 
 hypothesis. That the proposition is true, I cannot en¬ 
 tertain a doubt; and so believing, I can but regard 
 
 10 
 
146 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the logical attitude of spiritism as grossly violative 
 of that fundamental axiom of science which denies 
 our logical right to seek in supermundane realms for 
 causes that can be found in the domain of natural 
 law. 
 
V 
 
 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY AS INVOLVED 
 IN THE CASE OF MRS. LEONORA E. 
 PIPER 1 
 
 I N constructing a title for this paper, I have not been 
 impelled to use the name of Mrs. Piper because I 
 imagine that her recent statement in the New 
 York Herald has settled the question of spiritism 
 adversely to the claims of that cultus. I have not so 
 high an estimate of the value of her opinion. Nor do 
 I agree with her spiritistic enemies in holding that her 
 opinion is valueless because of the amnesia incident to 
 trance. This, at most, would place her on a level with 
 outsiders, — and this is their contention. It must be 
 remembered, however, that not only was Mrs. Piper 
 present at all her seances, but that she had the benefit 
 of subsequent discussions of her phenomena by the able 
 savants who had her in charge, and that she must have 
 read their subsequent reports with much more than 
 ordinary interest and intelligence. Moreover, we must 
 not forget that she has been subjected, on two hemi¬ 
 spheres, and during nearly a score of years, to a key¬ 
 hole espionage by the ablest detectives of the London 
 Society for Psychical Research; and that she has 
 
 1 Read before the Psychological Section and the Medico-Legal 
 Society in joint session, Dec. i8, 1901. 
 
148 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 emerged triumphant, both at home and abroad, — no t 
 a shadow of a s uspicio n xesting .upon her character in any 
 relation of life. Testimonials to this effect from all the 
 leading members of the Society for Psychical Research 
 have been numerous and voluminous, and almost hys¬ 
 terical in their insistence; so that she stands before the 
 public to-day, secure in the possession of the highest 
 possible credentials in proof of her absolute honesty, 
 integrity, and purity. It is also in evidence that she is 
 liberally endowed with that rarest of all mental attri¬ 
 butes-, — common sense, — the inseparable concomitant 
 of the cardinal virtues. It is idle to say that the opinion 
 of a woman thus endowed, and thus fortified by all that 
 gives sanction to human testimony, and who necessarily 
 knows more than any one else can know of the workings 
 of her own inner consciousness, is not of greater value 
 than the opinion of an outsider. 
 
 Nevertheless, as before remarked, her opinion does 
 not settle the question; and in this respect she remains 
 on a par with all who have opinions on the subject. It 
 is not, therefore, because of her interpretation of her 
 own phenomena that I use her name; but because the 
 investigation of those phenomena by the Society for 
 Psychical Research marks an epoch in the history of 
 Spiritism. It is of that investigation that I propose 
 to offer a few remarks. In doing so I shall not attempt 
 an exhaustive criticism of the methods of investigation 
 employed by the members of that society. I shall merely 
 attempt to point out briefly what I conceive to be the 
 proper method of studying the phenomena in the light 
 of their latest reports detailing the proceedings at the 
 Piper seances. 
 
 Never before in the history of the scientific investi- 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 
 
 149 
 
 gation of modern spiritism have the conditions been so 
 favorable for the production of decisive results, one 
 way or the other, as in this case. An ideal “ medium,” 
 mentally, morally, and psychically considered, is con- , 
 ceded, — nay, strenuously insisted upon, — by all the 
 investigators. She has been absolutely under their con¬ 
 trol during a long series of years, and necessarily free 
 from the adverse influence of the Philistines. That the 
 investigators are also all that can be desired will be as 
 freely conceded. They are all gentlemen of great abil¬ 
 ity, uncompromising integrity, and vast learning. . Best 
 and most important of all, they have a thoroughly logi¬ 
 cal appreciation of what it is necessary to prove in order 
 to establish the claims of spiritism. That is to say, they 
 know that the one thing needful is proof of personal 
 identity on the part of ^e soi-disant “ spirits ” who 
 “ communicate.” In this all-important attitude they \ 
 stand in violent contrast to that long line of so-called ' 
 “ scientific investigators,” on either side of the question, 1 
 who have imagined, on the one hand, that the essential . 
 claims of spiritism can be established by verifying the i 
 physical phenomena; and, on the other hand, that those : 
 claims can be disproved by catching a trickster in the ^ 
 act of simulating psychical phenomena by legerdemain. - 
 In other words, they know that the purely physical phe¬ 
 nomena of spiritism possess not the slightest evidential 
 value, pending the settlement of the all-inclusive ques¬ 
 tion of personal identity. They know, for instance, that 
 if a piano should be levitated to the ceiling without 
 physical contact or mechanical appliances, and all the 
 rest of the household furniture should go into convul¬ 
 sions, the question would still remain whether the en¬ 
 ergy displayed proceeded from discarnate spirits, or was 
 
150 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 due to the “psychic force” (Crookes) of the medium. 
 Hence they have wisely detesmined to ignore all physi¬ 
 cal phenomena, and to confine their attention to such 
 mediums as Mrs. Piper, through whom, according to 
 the spiritistic hypothesis, spirits can establish their 
 identity by direct conversation with the sitter. 
 
 It is but simple justice to the British members of the 
 Society for Psychical Research to say that to them the 
 credit is due for thus divesting the subject of all those 
 irrelevant side issues which have heretofore served but 
 to obscure the real question. It is, however, with a glow 
 of patriotic pride that we recall the fact that they were 
 compelled to come to this country for an honest me¬ 
 dium, and to draw upon our universities for a man 
 capable of conducting a spiritistic propaganda in the 
 highest style of the art. It is but a matter of common 
 justice to say that Professor Hyslop is the ablest psy¬ 
 chical researcher who has yet attempted a personal in- 
 vestigation of the Piper phenom ena. He is the peer of 
 the best in scholastic attainments; he is professor of logic 
 in Columbia University; his honesty is transparent, and 
 the report of his investigations covers 649 pages of the 
 Proceedmgs of the Society for Psychical Research. 
 
 If, therefore, he has failed to make a case for spirit¬ 
 ism, one never can be made this side of the borderland; 
 for there probably can never again be assembled under 
 one roof such a combination of favorable conditions 
 and instrumentalities. If there was an unsound element 
 in the combination it did not reside with the medium, 
 nor in the character or ability or attainments of the 
 investigator. Nor do I see the slightest reason for 
 distrusting his statements of fact. Hi s deficiencies, 
 therefore, if any are to be found, must be either in 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 151 
 
 logic, or in the prop 3 e_deutics of psychic science, or in 
 both. 
 
 The discussion of the subject will be conducted under 
 two heads: i, The issue that Professor Hyslop has 
 defined; and 2, The issue that Professor Hyslop has 
 ignored. 
 
 Referring at large to the phenomena detailed in his 
 report, Professor Hy^op says: 
 
 “ The issue t hat is presente d here is simply whether 
 spiritism, or telepathy from living persons exclusively, 
 is th e more rational hypothesis to account for the facts.” 
 
 It will thus be seen that the learned professor of logic 
 assumes at the outset that the two hypotheses stand on 
 an equal footing, thus forgetting for the moment the 
 logical axiom that supermundane causes must never be 
 assigned to phenomena so long as they or their cognates 
 are explicable by reference to known natural causes. 
 
 To hold spiritism strictly to this rule, however, would 
 be to end the discussion before it begins, for all admit 
 that the “great bulk” (Myers) of the supernormally 
 acquired knowledge of mediums is due to telepathy. It 
 would, therefore, require demonstrative proof to over¬ 
 come the logical implication that all such knowledge 
 is not thus acquired; just as it would require the pro¬ 
 duction and public exhibition of a “ white crow ” 
 (James) to prove that crows are not all black. It 
 would, however, require but one white crow for that 
 purpose, and it would require but one demonstrated 
 case of survival of personal consciousness after the 
 death of the body to prove the essential claim of spirit¬ 
 ism, — a future life. But this one case has not yet 
 been produced, and Professor H yslpp- is /rank enough 
 to_ admit that he has demonstrated Nothing, • (See note 
 
152 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 on p. 4 of his report.) The issue, therefore, as he has 
 defined it, is conservative and legitimate. 
 
 To prepare one for an intelligent discussion of the 
 question whetlier spiritism or telepathy is the more 
 rational hypothesis to account for the phenomena pro¬ 
 duced by Mrs. Piper, it would seem that the essential 
 prerequisite would be a knowledge (i) of the facilities 
 and the difficulties, real or supposed, incident to com¬ 
 municating with spirits of the dead, and (2) of the 
 methods, powers, and limitations of telepathic com¬ 
 munication between living persons. Unfortunately we 
 can know nothing of the former except what spiritists 
 tell us; and their stories are so contradictory that it is 
 impossible for the layman to assign any certain limits 
 to the difficulties or to the facilities. Thus, the old 
 spiritists tell us that communication is always easy, pro¬ 
 vided we have a good medium and a harmonious en¬ 
 vironment. The late Professor Hare, for instance, 
 found no difficulty whatever in organizing a “ convo¬ 
 cation of spirits ” of the ablest dead men he could think 
 of, who cheerfully submitted to a prolonged catechism. 
 To say that Professor Hare learned from that “ convo¬ 
 cation,” and others equally well posted, all that was 
 worth knowing about the spirit land and other things, 
 would be to limit unduly the scope of the acquired in¬ 
 formation. Judge Edmunds was equally fortunate in 
 obtaining authentic information, not only of the geog¬ 
 raphy and topography of the spirit land, but of its 
 current philosophy; whilst Andrew Jackson Davis suc¬ 
 ceeded, without apparent effort, in tapping the philoso¬ 
 phers of all the ages for material for upwards of thirty 
 volumes of most remarkable literature. Thousands of 
 others were equally fortunate in obtaining access to the 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 
 
 153 
 
 inhabitants of all the spheres. Nor were the spirits 
 themselves in the habit of complaining of lack of fa¬ 
 cilities, even when a Daniel Webster addressed his 
 sitters in the language of a stevedore; or Noah Webster 
 spelled Jehovah with a little g, or Lindley Murray split 
 his infinitives into kindling-wood. The enemy might 
 blaspheme, and to do them entire justice they did, but 
 the spirits themselves were oblivious to all such degen¬ 
 erative implications. They did not complain of diffi¬ 
 culties of communication, nor of the failure of “ light,” 
 nor of infirmities due to their last illness of the body, 
 nor of the failure of memory, nor of any of the multi¬ 
 form infirmities which afflict Mrs. Piper’s familiar 
 spirits when submitting to a scientific examination. It 
 is true that there were occasional lapses of memory, as 
 when Socrates forgot that he had been a Greek philoso¬ 
 pher, when proudly recalling his career as a Roman 
 Senator. This lapse, however, was afterwards ex¬ 
 plained by an erudite spiritist by saying that those “ old 
 fellows ” have been dead so long that they have for¬ 
 gotten the “ unimportant particulars ” of their earthly 
 lives. Satisfactpry as this explanation is to spiritists, 
 it does not explain the amnesia of another spirit at the 
 same sitting who had forgotten his own middle name 
 within a year after entering the spirit land. Nor does 
 it explain the prompt response of “ Cantharides, the 
 Greek philosopher,” when that coleopterous “ person¬ 
 ality ” was summoned by a waggish Philistine. That, 
 however, was easily explained by the statement that 
 there are always spirits present at seances who delight 
 in serving the cause of Truth by promptly “ meeting 
 fraud with fraud.” In the logic of spiritism this for¬ 
 mula has always occupied a foremost place, and it still 
 
154 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 performs yeoman’s service whenever a fictitious person¬ 
 age responds with alacrity to a summons. 
 
 But then, as now, there were mediums and mediums. 
 Some were ignorant, and others were educated. Some 
 of them were destitute of the ability to acquire informa¬ 
 tion by supernormal means ; whilst others could at times 
 correctly name the strangers present at their seances, 
 and describe and name a long list of their friends, liv¬ 
 ing or dead. At other times the same mediums would 
 fail miserably. In a word, the same diversity of me- 
 diumistic powers prevailed then as now; the same 
 “ harmonious conditions ” were requisite; and supernor- 
 mally acquired knowledge on the part of mediums was 
 even more common than it is to-day. But there was 
 one significant circumstance connected with early me- 
 diumship that does not prevail at this time; and that is 
 that modem spiritism found a host of ready trained 
 psychics in the mesmeric subjects of that epoch. Mes¬ 
 merism was at the zenith of its popularity, mesmeric 
 subjects were numerous, and under mesmeric methods 
 telepathic powers were easily developed, and the ex¬ 
 hibition of those powers was commonly the piece de 
 resistance of the stage curriculum. But the significant 
 part of it was that, not only was every mesmeric subject 
 foun^ tq be _a,.good medium, but the best of the me¬ 
 diums, that is to say, those who could demonstrate their 
 possession of knowledge supernormally acquired, were 
 for a long time drawn almost exclusively from those 
 whose telepathic powers had been previously developed 
 by mesmeric methods. This fact was noted at the time 
 by the opponents of spiritism, and telepathy was thus 
 shown to afford an easy explanation of all supernor¬ 
 mally acquired information. Indeed, Dr. Dods, a noted 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 
 
 155 
 
 mesmerist of that day, paralleled every phase of that 
 class of spiritistic phenomena by the employment of 
 mesmeric psychics and processes. With Dr. Dods it 
 was but the a b c of mesmerism to develop telepathic 
 powers in his subjects so perfectly that they could cor¬ 
 rectly describe events wholly unknown to the psychic 
 or to any other person present. And this is all that 
 tfie^ best mediums can ever do. It is all that spiritists 
 claim can be done in proo f of personal identity. It is 
 true that in experimental telepathy the “ dramatic play 
 of personality ” is necessarily lacking. Of this “ dra¬ 
 matic play ” Professor Hyslop discourses exhaustively, 
 seemingly oblivious of the fact that trance subjects are 
 dominated by the inexorable law of suggestion; and 
 that any suggested character will always be dramatically 
 personated, and with marvellous fidelity to the original, 
 be it a dog or a philosopher, a spirit of health or a 
 goblin damned. 
 
 This, however, is a digression. The point I wish 
 remembered is that the alleged difficulties of communi¬ 
 cation by spirits seem to be widely variant; and that 
 the facility in each case appears to be proportioned, not 
 to th e mental capacity of the spirit, but to the psychic 
 pow ers qf the medium._ This, to say the least, is not 
 what one would naturally expect, if the communications 
 were from spirits. But we know that if the phenomena 
 are to be explained by telepathy, the psychic powers 
 of the medium must necessarily be the measure of 
 limitation. 
 
 But, as before remarked, it is impossible to know 
 what are the difficulties which beset communicators 
 from other worlds than ours. One thing, however, 
 appears to be beyond question, if we are to accept the 
 
156 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 testimony of spiritists, and that is that the spirits are as 
 voluble as fishwives when they tell us something that 
 can neither be verified nor disproved; but when sub¬ 
 jected to anything like a scientific investigation their 
 volubility is succeeded by a remarkable want of facility 
 of clear and unequivocal expression, and they are 
 troubled by a constantly recurring failure of “ light.” 
 At critical moments their memory fails them, and they 
 forget their own names and those of their nearest rel¬ 
 atives. At other times, however, they have lucid inter¬ 
 vals, the light is clear, and they can give names and 
 dates with great facility, besides giving information 
 that neither the psychic nor the sitters could have pre¬ 
 viously obtained through sensory channels. 
 
 These are some of the salient features of the limita¬ 
 tion and of the power displayed by Mrs. Piper’s spirits 
 for the benefit of science and Professor Hyslop. And 
 it must not be forgotten in this connection that special 
 facilities were provided in his case for easy, free, and 
 unlimited communication, without reference to the in¬ 
 firmities that might happen to afflict the particular 
 spirits called for. To that end_two great spirits were 
 imported from England to act as amanuenses and 
 advisers generally. They were specially well qualified 
 by experience, having already acquired an international 
 reputation by acting in the capacity of familiars of the 
 late_W. Stainton Moses. They were good, and wise, 
 and great; and their names, respectively, were ” Im- 
 perator ” and “ Rector,” — names well calculated to 
 impress. That they were good is evidenced by their 
 uniformly pious language and deportment. That they 
 were wise is shown by their refusal to reveal their own 
 identity. That they were great is demonstrated by the 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 
 
 157 
 
 fact that they had, before emigrating to America, evolved 
 a system of spiritistic philosophy that converted an Eng¬ 
 lish orthodox clergyman from the error of his ways. 
 
 Manifestly the performance of such a feat must have 
 required unlimited facilities for communication, plenty 
 of light, a retentive memory, and an unfailing vocabu¬ 
 lary. And it is in evidence that they had all these, and 
 much more, under the mediumship of Stainton Moses. 
 J3ut it was all in violent contrast with the paralytic 
 conditions prevailing under the Piper-Hyslop regime. 
 I think that spiritists will agree with me that the con¬ 
 trast is due to variant mediumistic powers, rather than 
 to varying facilities for knowing things, and com¬ 
 municating them, on the part of the same spirits. If, 
 then, it is due to the variant psychic powers of the 
 mediums, I have a right to assume, provisionally, at 
 least, that the limitations, always most in evidence when 
 personal identity is in question, are the limitations of 
 telepathy between living persons. 
 
 This leads us to the second branch of our inquiry, 
 namely, as to “ the methods, powers, and limitations of 
 telepathic communications between living persons.” 
 
 As I promised merely to suggest in this paper the 
 proper method of studying Professor Plyslop’s report 
 from a scientific standpoint, I shall, in pursuing this 
 branch of the inquiry, cite but a few illustrative ex¬ 
 amples showing that the successes and the failures of 
 his alleged “ communicators ” were just such as are 
 incident to telepathic communications. 
 
 The following propositions are too well authenticated 
 and understood by all intelligent psychical researchers 
 to require proofs to sustain them: 
 
 (i) Telepathy is a power belonging exclusively to 
 
158 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the subjective mind, or the “_subliminal self,” as it is 
 frequently designated by the Society for Psychical Re¬ 
 search. That is to say, the objective mind, or “ supra¬ 
 liminal self,” which is the mind of ordinary waking 
 consciousness, is not necessarily aware of the content of 
 the subjective mind. Hence the phenomenon of “ latent 
 memory,” as Sir William Hamilton designated it many 
 years ago. That is, knowledge once acquired may re¬ 
 main latent in the subjective mind for an indefinite 
 period. It may, however, be elevated above the thresh¬ 
 old of normal consciousness in many ways, as by auto¬ 
 matic writing, etc,, or it may be reached by telepathy. 
 
 (2) Telepathic powers are best developed under 
 abnormal conditions, as in trance, or in spontaneous or 
 induced somnambulism. 
 
 (3) These powers vary in efficiency with different 
 psychics, and in the same psychic they vary at different 
 times, and under varying conditions which are not yet 
 clearly defined. 
 
 (4) Rapport is, of course, always necessary; but the 
 essential conditions of rapport are not yet clearly under¬ 
 stood. It is known, however, that relatives and friends 
 are either actually or potentially en rapport at all times. 
 
 These fundamental facts will not be disputed; and 
 when they are considered in connection with the pro¬ 
 digious— if not perfect — memory of the subjective 
 mind, it will be seen that no limits can at present be 
 assigned to the potentialities of telepathy. Its limita¬ 
 tions, however, are more clearly defined and understood. 
 Hence it is that one who is acquainted with those limi¬ 
 tations and their proximate causes is better qualified 
 to account for the failures of telepathy than any one 
 can be to assign limits to its potentialities. But it so 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 
 
 159 
 
 happens that even a knowledge of the causes of failure 
 is of great value in enabling one to know to what class 
 a particular phenomenon belongs. 
 
 The fundamental difficulty in telepathic communica¬ 
 tion consists in the fact that the power is not adapted 
 to practical mundane uses. It seems, in fact, to be a 
 means of communicating thoughts especially adapted 
 to a disembodied existence; for it is _never available 
 here except under abnormal conditions. Even under 
 the most favorable conditions the thoughts communi¬ 
 cated must be interpreted, so to speak, in terms of our 
 sensory experience. That is to say, the percipient must 
 be caused to see something (visions) or hear something 
 (clair audTence) that will enable her to grasp the idea 
 sought to be communicated. 
 
 It will at once be seen that the inherent difficulties of 
 telepathic communication are great, and in the convey¬ 
 ance of abstract ideas they are practically insuperable. 
 It is true that if a psychic is clairaudient, and conditions 
 are perfect, much may be conveyed in words. But clair- 
 audience is a rare faculty, and perfect conditions hard 
 to obtain; and when obtained they rarely last long 
 enough for purposes of scientific investigation. We 
 may, therefore, confine our attention to the most com¬ 
 mon methods of communicating telepathic information, 
 which is by causing the percipient to see visions that 
 convey the idea. I shall do this, not only because it is 
 the most common method, but because it is, all things 
 considered, the best that has yet been devised; and for 
 further reason that it is evidently the one employed in 
 the Piper seances. 
 
 It is obvious that intelligence communicated by means 
 of visions must be extremely limited in scope and sub- 
 
l6o THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 ject matter. It is, in fact, just that kind of information 
 that can be conveyed, in objective life, by a series of 
 pictures; or, at best, by pantomime. Anything, there¬ 
 fore, that can be told by a picture, as for instance, a 
 tragedy, can be very clearly reproduced by a good 
 psychic, under good conditions. But abstract ideas can¬ 
 not be thus represented. Symbolical visions, it is true, 
 may sometimes convey such intelligence to a very limited 
 extent; but its limitations are obvious. Again, under 
 favorable conditions a vision may be very distinct; but 
 those conditions are subject to frequent changes, and for 
 no assignable cause; so that at one moment a psychic 
 may be very lucid, and at the next be groping in the 
 dark. This literally describes the situation when condi¬ 
 tions fail; for telepathic visions, when the psychic’s eyes 
 are closed, come out of the darkness, with varying bril¬ 
 liancy, when conditions are favorable; and fade into it 
 again, with varying indistinctness, when conditions fail. 
 In a word, the lucidity of a telepathist is proportioned to 
 the clearness of her visions; and the clearest of them 
 are often evanescent, unstable, and “ variable as the 
 shade.” Mrs. Piper’s soi-disant spirits, therefore, de¬ 
 scribed an actual want, in literal terms, when they so 
 often complained of the failure of “ light.” Again, it 
 frequently happens that the fault is not in the psychic 
 so much as in the sitter; for the clearness of a telepathic 
 vision depends largely upon the power of visualization 
 possessed by the subjective mind of the agent or sitter. 
 This power varies in intensity in different individuals; 
 and in the same person it fluctuates within very wide 
 limits. The reasons for this are not yet clearly under¬ 
 stood; but it seems to depend upon the passivity of the 
 individual. Hence it is that trained psychics make the 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER i6t 
 
 best sitters or agents; for they are habitually passive at 
 seances, and their subjective minds are habitually active, 
 — and that mind is the source of all information in 
 telepathy. On the other hand, a novice often defeats 
 the object of a seance by his over-anxiety, or want 
 of passivity, to say nothing of his lack of subliminal 
 training. 
 
 It should be here noted that telepathic messages 
 cognized clairaudiently are subject to the same limi¬ 
 tations of power and fluctuations of conditions. That 
 is to say, a clairaudient psychic does not always hear 
 clearly, any more than does a clairvoyant psychic always 
 see clearly. Hence it happens that in either case, when 
 conditions are imperfect or fluctuating, proper names 
 are difficult to perceive. Some psychics, however, are 
 both clairaudient and clairvoyant, to a limited extent, 
 and thus have two strings to their bow. But even they 
 are subject to the same uncertain conditions and limi¬ 
 tations, and hence cannot always be certain of proper 
 names; or, for that matter, of anything else. I mention 
 proper names particularly because the failures in cog¬ 
 nizing them, by even the best of psychics, are frequent 
 in so-called spirit intercourse as well as in experimental 
 telepathy, and presumably for the same reasons. 
 
 One important fact remains to be noted, and that is 
 that proper names, and sometimes other words, and 
 even short sentences, are telepathically conveyed to clair¬ 
 voyant psychics by means of visions of printed or 
 written words, projected into the field of psychic vision. 
 Obviously, the foregoing remarks relating to the vary¬ 
 ing conditions of telepathic lucidity, apply with peculiar 
 force to phantasmic representations of words or phrases, 
 and especially of proper names. 
 
162 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 I have now stated a few of the salient powers and 
 limitations of telepathy with especial reference to the 
 difficulties habitually encountered in communicating in¬ 
 telligence by that means. They are among the pro¬ 
 paedeutics of psychic science, without an understanding 
 of which it is impossible to appreciate either the poten¬ 
 tialities of telepathy, or intelligently to assign causes for 
 its multiform failures and limitations. With an under¬ 
 standing of them we can at least judge, with proximate 
 certainty, in any correctly reported case, whether the 
 difficulties encountered are such as are incident to tele¬ 
 pathy. If we find that they are, we have a right to 
 assume telepathy to be the true explanation of the 
 mysteries, at least until it is definitely shown to be 
 either inadequate, or impossible, or both. Professor 
 Hyslop has essayed the task of proving that it is both 
 inadequate and impossible; but to do so he assumes the 
 existence of difficulties that do not exist except in his 
 imagination, as I shall attempt to show in its proper 
 place. 
 
 First, however, I desire to suggest the proper method 
 of analyzing his report by citing a few illustrative ex¬ 
 amples, taken at random, showing beyond a reasonable 
 doubt that telepathy affords an explanation of all the 
 phenomena he describes. In doing so I shall assume, 
 provisionally, that all the supernormally acquired infor¬ 
 mation possessed by the medium existed, latent, in the 
 subjective mind of the sitter. How so much of it got 
 there is a question second to none in importance; but 
 it must be deferred for the moment. 
 
 The first point to which I wish to invite attention 
 relates to proper names. Those who have read the 
 report (S. P. R. Proc., Part XLI. Vol. XVI.) will re- 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 1 63 
 
 member the constant alternation of lucidity and amnesia 
 on the part of somebody, — spirits or Mrs. Piper’s 
 subliminal, — when the names of alleged communicators 
 were called for. Often the name would be given with 
 gratifying promptitude; but at other times — when the 
 “ light ” failed — there would be groping, guess-work, 
 “ fishing ” for clues, and sometimes total failure, fol¬ 
 lowed by very voluble explanations that did not explain. 
 Time and space forbid the citation of special examples; 
 but they confront us almost everywhere in the report. 
 Professor Hyslop tells us that it is all due to the limita¬ 
 tions of spirit power, first, to remember the simplest 
 facts of mundane experience, and, secondly, to com¬ 
 municate that knowledge through the best of mediums. 
 Of these limitations we can know nothing, of course, 
 except what Professor Hyslop tells us. But how does 
 he know? He also informs us that the trouble is not 
 due to the limitations of telepathy, because telepathy 
 has no limitations. That is to say, he holds that the 
 phenomena in question cannot be due to telepathy if 
 telepathic knowledge is not “ infinite,” or “ omniscient,” 
 
 — which is a very easy, if not a logical, way of dis¬ 
 posing of a difficulty. Of this, later on. 
 
 Nevertheless, any one who knows anything at all of 
 telepathy is aware that it is hedged about by just such 
 difficulties in regard to names as were encountered in 
 the Piper-Hyslop seances. Moreover, to suppose that 
 those difficulties were due to the mental status of the 
 spirits themselves, involves implications of degeneracy 
 not warranted by current spiritistic philosophy. 
 
 Again, there are many other phenomena detailed in 
 the report which point clearly — almost demonstrably 
 
 — to telepathy; as, for instance, when the medium — 
 
164 the evolution of the soul 
 
 or the soi-disant spirit — undertook to state the disease 
 of which he, or some one else, died. In one instance it 
 was incorrectly stated as typhoid fever; and in another 
 it was correctly stated as throat disease. Obviously, 
 typhoid fever could not well be represented by a phan¬ 
 tasm, but a sore throat could be easily represented by a 
 vision of a person with a bandaged throat. 
 
 Much stress has been laid upon the fact that a certain 
 jack-knife, belonging to Professor Hyslop’s father, was 
 correctly described, together with some of the uses for 
 which it was employed during its late owner’s lifetime, 
 such as paring his nails, etc. I submit that it is not 
 difficult to imagine the projection of a phantasmic jack¬ 
 knife upon Mrs. Piper’s field of psychic vision; nor 
 would it seem to be difficult to guess at some of its 
 uses, even without the aid of a phantasm. 
 
 Again, much of evidential value is attached, by Pro¬ 
 fessor Hyslop, to the fact that Mrs. Piper correctly 
 described a skull-cap once worn by his father; but 
 the name of the person with whom it was left was diffi¬ 
 cult to obtain. This very clearly illustrates the fore¬ 
 going remarks relating to the comparative difficulty 
 in obtaining names by telepathy. 
 
 I might cite many more examples of a similar char¬ 
 acter, — but time and space forbid. But they will serve 
 to suggest to the student the proper method of analyzing 
 the Piper phenomena as reported by Professor Hyslop. 
 All that is necessary is to bear in mind the methods of 
 telepathy and its consequent limitations. When this 
 rule is intelligently observed there will be found no 
 difficulty in the telepathic explanation of all that seems 
 so mysterious to Professor Hyslop. 
 
 As before remarked. I have thus far assumed that 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 
 
 165 
 
 all the supernormally acquired knowledge of which 
 Mrs. Piper was possessed was not only obtained tele- 
 pathically, but that it was obtained directly from the 
 subjective mind of Professor Hyslop. This the learned 
 Doctor would strenuously deny, on the ground that the 
 great bulk of the information upon which he relies to 
 prove his case for spiritism, was never known to him 
 before he obtained it from Mrs. Piper, — but was, 
 however, subsequently verified. And I freely admit that 
 neither Professor Hyslop, nor any other person present 
 at the Piper-Hyslop seances was ever in conscious pos¬ 
 session of any of the facts revealed by the trance per¬ 
 sonality of the medium, prior to the date of the seances. 
 
 The question now arises, — and this is the crucial 
 question for spiritism, — how did Mrs. Piper obtain 
 that wonderful fund of information which she so halt- 
 ingly gave out at those famous seances? 
 
 Before attempting to answer this question from my 
 own point of view I will state the position of Professor 
 Hyslop. 
 
 To do entire justice to the intelligence of the learned 
 professor, he does not seriously deny the fact of the 
 existence of telepathy as a possible factor in some cases. 
 Dn the other hand, however, he holds that spiritism is the 
 preferable hypothesis for the explanation of the Piper 
 phenomena, for the reason that the telepathic theory 
 necessarily presupposes “ infinite knowledge ” on the 
 part of the psychic. It is, therefore, in his mind, 
 “spiritism against omniscience” (page 134). No won¬ 
 der that he “halts” on page 133, and becomes “sus¬ 
 picious ” on page 136, and actually “ gasps ” on the same 
 page “ at the magnitude of the theories that are invented 
 to sustain the case against spiritism.” And well may 
 
166 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 skeptical science also “ gasp,” not to say, “ throw up 
 the sponge,” if it has at last come to pass that the hy¬ 
 pothesis of superstition can be disproved by no other 
 argument than one that is based upon the presuppo¬ 
 sition that Mrs. Piper is ommiscient. 
 
 To do Professor Hyslop justice it must be said that 
 he did not invent the theory. That he believes it, or 
 thinks he does, is evinced by his constant reiteration of 
 it; but he manages to throw the blame of it upon Dr. 
 Hodgson (p. 157). In defence of Dr. Hodgson it 
 should be stated that he is not wholly responsible; for 
 Dr. Bovee Dods, in one of his lectures, gave utterance 
 to a similar extravagance when undertaking to account 
 for the supernormally acquired knowledge of his mes¬ 
 meric subjects. (See his lectures on spiritism, pp. 83-4.) 
 To his credit be it said, however, that his extravagant 
 notions did not extend to implications of omniscience; 
 and in further extenuation it must be remembered that 
 he wrote fifty years ago, and knew nothing of the later 
 development of experimental psychology. Nevertheless, 
 he did develop telepathy in his subjects to such an 
 extent that they came into possession of knowledge of 
 facts not previously known to any one present. But, how 
 to account for the fact, he knew neither more nor less 
 than do the ablest spiritists of the Society for Psychical 
 Research spiritistic propaganda. He did know, how¬ 
 ever, that spirits of the dead had nothing to do with it. 
 
 The question now is, is it necessary to suppose that 
 Mrs. Piper was possessed of “ infinite knowledge ” in 
 order to account for her possession of information not 
 previously existent in the normal consciousness of any 
 one present? Is it necessary to suppose that she is 
 either actually or potentially in communication with the 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 1 67 
 
 “ whole Universe of intelligence ” in order to account 
 for the facts? Is it even necessary to suppose that she 
 was in telepathic communication with any one on earth, 
 or in heaven above, besides Professor Hyslop? I think 
 not. 
 
 It seems to me that it is only necessary to suppose 
 that Professor Hyslop was en rapport with the members 
 of his own family, in order to account for his possession, 
 subliminally, of all the knowledge that was in evidence 
 at the Piper seances. Certainly there is nothing in the 
 history of telepathic investigation to negative this propo¬ 
 sition. Indeed, it may be confidentially asserted that if 
 observation and experience teach us anything at all 
 in reference to that mysterious power, it is that relatives 
 and friends are always cn rapport, and that they are 
 always either actually or potentially, in communication. 
 This is, perhaps, the most important induction possible 
 in the case, and it certainly makes for the telepathic 
 theory; for all the “ communicators,” of evidential 
 ^importance, were relatives of the sitter. As yet we 
 know little of the power of telepathic acquisition of 
 knowledge; but all that we do know goes to show that 
 it is enormous. The limitations apparently pertain 
 wholly to the power of communicating the acquired 
 intelligence, as I have already shown. It is also known 
 that the great bulk of subliminal intelligence remains 
 latent indefinitely, and is never, except under abnormal 
 conditions, elevated above the threshold of normal con¬ 
 sciousness. It is also in evidence that subliminal mem¬ 
 ory is prodigious, — potentially, if not actually, perfect; 
 so that what once enters that storehouse of memory is 
 always available under favorable conditions. 
 
 These are a few of the inductions of modern psy- 
 
i 68 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 chological science pertinent in this case; and it cannot 
 be successfully controverted that they afford a full ex¬ 
 planation of the fact that the knowledge which Mrs. 
 Piper obtained existed in the subjective mind of her 
 sitter. I submit that it is a far call between “ om¬ 
 niscience ” and the conclusions derivable from the fun¬ 
 damental facts of psychic science. 
 
 The only question now remaining is whether the 
 knowledge which, presumably, was thus telepathically 
 acquired, was conveyed by the same means to Mrs. 
 Piper’s subliminal consciousness. 
 
 This is the issue which Professor Hyslop has seen 
 fit to utterly ignore. And yet it is really the only 
 pertinent issue in the case. To reduce it to its lowest 
 terms, it is this: 
 
 Can information, telepathically acquired, be tele¬ 
 pathically transmitted to a third person? 
 
 If it can, spiritism, considered as a scientific propo¬ 
 sition, has not a leg to stand upon; for not a case has 
 yet been recorded that cannot be telepathically explained 
 if that simple proposition is true. There may be cases 
 where the chain of telepathic transmission is difficult to 
 trace. But so momentous a proposition as spiritism 
 embraces cannot be logically sustained by an occasional 
 failure of positive evidence against it. There are no 
 logical presumptions in favor of a supermundane ex¬ 
 planation of any phenomenon whatever. Indeed, the 
 presumptions are all against it, even in the absence of 
 evidence to disprove it; and when, as in this case, the 
 great bulk of cognate phenomena are explicable by 
 reference to known mundane causes, all supermundane 
 hypotheses are summarily ejected from the court of 
 logical inquiry. 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 1 69 
 
 The question, then, recurs, — “ can telepathically ac¬ 
 quired information be telepathically transmitted to a 
 third person ? ” My proposition is this; A message 
 transmitted from A to B, by any means of communicat¬ 
 ing human intelligence, can be transmitted, conditions ’ 
 being equal, from B to C by the same means. 
 
 This is a very simple proposition, and its truth is self- 
 evident. It is what Herbert Spencer would denominate 
 a “ universal postulate ”; for “ its opposite is inconceiv¬ 
 able.” Besides, it has been demonstrated, again and 
 again, by experimental telepathy, that telepathy by three, 
 or as the French call it, “ telepathie a trois,” is not only 
 a possible, but a very common, phenomenon. 
 
 There is nothing left, therefore, for spiritism to do 
 but to deny a self-evident proposition, for, if it is true, the 
 telepathic hypothesis covers, not only every case cited 
 by Professor Hyslop, but every case within the range of 
 human conception. 
 
 In conclusion, I beg leave to say one word to both the 
 friends and the foes of spiritism, in commendation of 
 Professor Hyslop’s report. The former will find it to 
 be the ablest effort yet made to give spiritism a scien¬ 
 tific status. If he has failed it is not for lack of zeal or 
 ability. The latter will find in it a transparently honest 
 report of the details of each seance. This is all that 
 science can ask of a reporter of phenomena. It will take 
 care of its own conclusions. If the internal evidence of 
 the report overwhelmingly defeats the object of his 
 argument. Professor Hyslop has not concealed the fact. 
 Considered from any point of view, — as a literary pro¬ 
 duction, as a defence of spiritism, as an honest report of 
 facts, or as an effort to obscure the vital issues involved, 
 it is the ablest spiritistic document extant. 
 
I/O THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Has spiritism no better method of refuting the argu¬ 
 ments in favor of the telepathic theory than to exagger¬ 
 ate, distort, and misrepresent it in order to find an 
 excuse for answering it with a point-blank denial or a 
 I sneer? It seems not. 
 
 I Dr. Hodgson, the official spiritistic propagandist of 
 the Society for Psychical Research, set the pace some 
 years ago, and the rest have obediently followed in his 
 footsteps ever since. Thus, in his report on the Piper 
 phenomena (see p. 394, Part XXXIIL, S. P. R.), he 
 tells us just what must be presupposed if we are to 
 accept the telepathic explanation of said phenomena. 
 To do the learned Doctor justice, he begins by candidly 
 admitting that “ if the information given at the sittings, 
 both in matter and form, was limited to the knowledge 
 possessed by the sitters, we should have no hesitation 
 in supposing that it was derived from their minds, tele- 
 pathically or otherwise.” But, as some of the infor¬ 
 mation given out was held not to be thus limited, he 
 proceeds to say: 
 
 “ We must then make the arbitrary suppositions that Mrs. 
 Piper’s percipient personality gets into relation with the minds 
 of distant living persons, (i) who are intimate friends of the 
 sitters at the time of the sitting, and (2) who are scarcely known, 
 or not at all known, to the sitter. And many of these distant 
 living persons had, so far as they knew, never been near Mrs. 
 Piper. These cases then compel us to assume a selective capacity 
 in Mrs. Piper’s percipient personality, and not only selective as 
 to the occurrences themselves, but discriminative as to the 
 1 related persons.” 
 
 If all this were true, it must be confessed that the tel¬ 
 epathic hypothesis would be hedged about with serious 
 logical difficulties. Fortunately it is not true, as I shall 
 show later on. But this is nothing compared with the 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 171 
 
 logical consequences involved in the telepathic hypoth¬ 
 esis, which are, in part, set forth by Dr. Hodgson in 
 words following, to wit: 
 
 “ And I may add here that these arbitrary suppositions may 
 be increased yet further to cover other forms of evidence that 
 may be obtained hereafter, such as the giving of information 
 supposed to be possessed by the dead alone, or the manifestation 
 of knowledge not yet acquired by the human race, so far as we 
 are aware, such as the existence of heavenly bodies previously 
 unknown, or the customs of the inhabitants of other planets, 
 verified, let us assume, in future years.” 
 
 It will thus be seen that the learned Doctor has found 
 no difficulty in frightening himself away from the tel¬ 
 epathic hypothesis by the simple process of constructing 
 a few “ arbitrary suppositions.” And it must be ad¬ 
 mitted that the “ supposition ” that the inhabitants of this 
 earth can communicate telepathically with the inhab¬ 
 itants of “ unknown ” planets, is well calculated to 
 frighten almost anybody who is not a spiritist, especially 
 if he is told that he must believe it as a logical penalty 
 for believing in the telepathic explication of Mrs. Piper’s 
 phenomena. 
 
 But, robust and strenuous as are Dr. Hodgson’s sup¬ 
 positions, they are feeble in comparison with those of 
 his pupil. Dr. Hyslop. As I have shown in my opening 
 article, that gentleman holds that the telepathic expla¬ 
 nation of the Piper phenomena is absolutely untenable 
 except under the presupposition that that lady is “ om¬ 
 niscient,” or at the least is endowed with the ability to 
 draw at will upon “ the whole universe of intelligence.” 
 Thus believing, he is enabled to quiet his logical con¬ 
 science when he ignores the real issue in the case. 
 
 Hon. Luther R. Marsh is another who finds a way to 
 avoid the necessity for argument by the same general 
 
172 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 process. He tells us that the telepathic hypothesis re¬ 
 quires the assumption that the sitter must be omniscient, 
 or words to that effect. That is to say, his mind must 
 be filled with “ an endless arcana of knowledge,” — 
 “ chuck-full ” of “ all things that have ever transpired 
 in the world, and in the spirit sphere.” 
 
 This is a decided modification of the assumptions of 
 Doctors Hodgson and Hyslop, who hold that the tel¬ 
 epathic hypothesis requires us to assume that the me¬ 
 dium is “ omniscient.” To do Mr. Marsh entire justice, 
 it must be said that his assumption is just as sensible, 
 and just as near the truth, as that of Doctors Hodgson 
 and Hyslop. They are both designed, apparently, to 
 exaggerate the claims of their opponents for the purpose 
 of denying them. 
 
 Judge Dailey presents another modification of the 
 same polemical weapon. It is not so extravagant as 
 those we have named; but the design is identical. I 
 refer to what he says of my proposition relating to 
 telepathy by three. He quotes the proposition and then 
 proceeds to say that it means something that is obviously 
 foreign to its plain import. 
 
 And now comes the Rev. Dr. Savage, with still an¬ 
 other modification of the same assumption, in which 
 “ unlimited powers ” and “ universal knowledge ” are 
 supposed to be necessary to enable the medium to do 
 her work by the aid of telepathy. 
 
 Now, let us examine this question in the light of what 
 is known of telepathic powers, and see if these extrava¬ 
 gant assumptions are really a necessary part of the 
 telepathic theory when it is invoked to account for spir¬ 
 itistic phenomena. 
 
 ' First, however, let us try to find a common ground of 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 173 
 
 agreement, to the end that the issue may be more clearly 
 defined. I think I may take it for granted that all intel¬ 
 ligent spiritists who know anything about telepathy will 
 admit that when a medium, acting under test conditions, 
 states a fact that the sitter already knows, telepathy can¬ 
 not be eliminated from the list of possible causes. In¬ 
 deed, no scientific psychical researcher would for a 
 moment consider the possibility of any other explana¬ 
 tion. Why? Simply because he knows telepathy to be 
 a vera causa, and he does not know anything about 
 spirits. At least he is not certain about them ; and most 
 likely he is an adherent of the scientific axiom which 
 Dr. Savage has given us, namely, — “ we must not ex¬ 
 plain the unknown by something else that is still more 
 unknown.” I have quoted Dr. Hodgson as an adher¬ 
 ent to this principle; and F. W. H. Myers in his Sci¬ 
 ence and a Future Life (see p. 32), tells us that, 
 forgotten or unforgotten, active or latent, “ whatever 
 has gone into the mind may come out of the mind.” 
 We may, therefore, safely assume that all are agreed 
 that whatever the sitter knows must be presumed to 
 be available to the medium. Nor will it be disputed that 
 the sitter may obtain access to knowledge telepathically. 
 
 Now, if the exhaustive investigations of the Society 
 for Psychical Research count for anything at all, it 
 must be admitted that they have demonstrated two 
 things in regard to telepathy, namely, (i) that tele- ' 
 pathy is a power belonging exclusively to the subjective ! 
 mind, or subliminal consciousness; and that, conse¬ 
 quently, information may be received from, or imparted 
 to, another subjective mind, without the knowledge or 
 consent of the objective mind of either. The evidence 
 for this in the Society’s reports is overwhelming. (2) 
 
 It is also in evidence that relatives, friends, and ac- 
 
174 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 quaintances are always en rapport, and that they are 
 always either actually or potentially in communication. 
 Of 830 cases reported in Phantasms of the Living, only 
 thirty-six were between strangers. But that number 
 is sufficient to show that rapport, for telepathic purposes, 
 is not exclusively confined to relatives or intimates. 
 
 We have, then, a basis of admitted facts and prin¬ 
 ciples to start upon, namely, (i) that telepathy must be 
 presumed whenever the sitter has prior knowledge of 
 the fact communicated by the medium; (2) that sub¬ 
 liminal knowledge may be acquired telepathically, un¬ 
 consciously to the percipient. The only point likely to 
 be in dispute, therefore, is as to whatever telepathically 
 acquired knowledge can be conveyed telepathically to 
 the psychic or medium. If it can, we have an easy tel¬ 
 epathic solution of all the phenomena of which we have 
 been speaking. 
 
 To put the case in concrete form, so that my meaning 
 may not be misunderstood or distorted, let us apply the 
 principle to one of Dr. Savage’s test cases, namely, the 
 communication supposed to be from his deceased son. 
 All that is necessary is to suppose, (i) that Dr. Savage 
 and his son were in telepathic rapport during the life¬ 
 time of the latter; and that (2) for some reason he de¬ 
 sired to have his private papers taken care of by his 
 father, his best friend, — his heart-to-heart confidant 
 during all the years of his life. Thus far no one will 
 dispute the assumptions. (3) Next we must suppose 
 that the desire was conveyed from son to father by the 
 only means available at the time, namely, by telepathy. 
 No one who is conversant with the work of the Society 
 for Psychical Research can doubt this for a moment. 
 Of the 830 cases cited in Phantasms of the Living, a 
 large proportion were cases showing that the dying 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 
 
 175 
 
 agents were endeavoring to acquaint their relatives or 
 friends with some unsatisfied desire, or at least with the 
 fact that they were in extremis. Indeed, it may be said 
 that if the investigations of the Society for Psychical Re¬ 
 search render anything approximately certain, it is that 
 dying persons make an effort to inform their relatives 
 and friends of their condition, especially if there is any 
 special object to be gained by so doing. If, then, the 
 friend or relative toward whom the effort is directed 
 happens to be endowed with psychic powers, the effort 
 is successful; and the information conveyed to the sub¬ 
 liminal consciousness is thereby elevated to the supra¬ 
 liminal. On the other hand, if the friend is not a 
 psychic the information remains latent in the subliminal, 
 and may never rise above the threshold. 
 
 But, in such a case, if the person afterwards becomes 
 subjective from any cause, there is likely to ensue an 
 uprush of the contents of the subliminal, and he thus 
 becomes conscious of the information that had been 
 telepathically conveyed to him originally. This phe¬ 
 nomenon has been designated by Myers as “ deferred 
 percipience,” several instances, some of them experi¬ 
 mental, being cited in Phantasms of the Living. (See 
 pp. 56, 70-1, 201-2, 265, 325, and 519.) 
 
 These cases demonstrate that information telepathi¬ 
 cally conveyed, unconsciously to the percipient, reaches 
 his subliminal consciousness nevertheless, and remains 
 latent until an opportunity presents itself for elevating 
 it above the threshold of normal consciousness. This 
 may happen spontaneously, as when the percipient hap¬ 
 pens to attain the proper psychic conditions; or it may 
 be brought about by the percipient coming in contact 
 with a psychic who is endowed with telepathic powers, 
 as in Dr. Savage’s case. 
 
176 
 
 THE EVOLUTIOH OF THE SOUL 
 
 This latter supposition, singularly enough, marks the 
 parting of the ways. Why? I do not know why it 
 should be denied that information telepathically received 
 from one party can be telepathically conveyed to a third 
 person, unless it is because the admission of the truth 
 of the proposition would be equivalent to an abandon¬ 
 ment of the spiritistic hypothesis, and an admission of 
 the entire validity of the telepathic explanation. 
 
 Dr. Savage’s case presents the issue in its simplest 
 form. He will not deny that he was in telepathic rap¬ 
 port with his son. Nor will he deny that it was 
 possible that the latter conveyed, telepathically, the in¬ 
 formation relating to his private papers to his father. 
 But he will doubtless deny that it was possible for Mrs. 
 Piper to obtain, telepathically, the content of that mes¬ 
 sage from the mind in which it was lodged. 
 
 That would be “ telepathic a trois,” or telepathy by 
 ^ three; and the average spiritist becomes hysterical when¬ 
 ever that subject is broached. Why? Is it because he i 
 sees that, if it is once admitted that information tel- * 
 ,epathically received can be telepathically transmitted 
 a third person, the claims of spiritism must be aban- 
 . in favor of the telepathic hypothesis ? I can 
 
 imagine no other adequate cause for either the emotional 
 and insensate denial of the proposition or for the studied 
 attempt to ignore it. Much less can I see any other 
 cause for the assertion that the telepathic hypothesis 
 requires the presupposition of omniscient intelligence on 
 the part of the medium. Be that as it may, the fact 
 remains that, if telepathy by three is a telepathic poten¬ 
 tial, it does afford a full and complete explanation of 
 every case yet reported where the psychic was shown 
 to possess supernormally acquired knowledge not ob- 
 
 . IL. 
 
 
 iU- 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 
 
 177 
 
 jectively in the possession of any one present. It 
 affords, for instance, an easy explanation of each of the 
 twelve cases reported by Dr. Savage, as well as of all 
 the cases cited by Professor Hyslop. It covers, in fact, 
 every conceivable case of the k ind. 
 
 It becomes important, therefore, to know whether tel¬ 
 epathy by three is a telepathic potential. Fortunately 
 for our present purposes. Dr. Clark Bell has quoted Mr. 
 Lang on that subject, and he reports several cases of 
 the kind. It is, in fact, a very common phenomenon, 
 although little attention has been paid to it, for the 
 reason that its scientific value as bearing upon the 
 subject of spiritism has not been fully appreciated by 
 scientists until quite recently. In the cases cited by 
 Mr. Lang spirits wer^out of the question, for nobody ’ 
 was dead; and numerous instances might be cited in 
 experimental telepathy by means of hypnotism or mes¬ 
 merism, where all concerned were alive and well. 
 
 It is true that in some cases the source of the telepathic 
 message may be difficult to trace, as in the one reported 
 by Judge Dailey. But no particulars possessing the 
 slightest evidential importance in his case have been 
 verified. A soi-disant spirit comes to him and tells him 
 that his name is John Taylor; that he was born in New 
 Bedford ; that he ran away when a boy and went to sea; 
 that he had a very checkered career, which he described 
 with great particularity; that everybody that he ever 
 knew in New Bedford was dead; for he had not visited 
 his native place for over sixty years. All this Judge 
 Dailey thinks he has “ verified,” “ to a certain extent,” 
 by going to New Bedford and finding that “ Taylor was 
 a very common family name ” in that city (as it is in 
 most other cities) ; that there were names on tomb- 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 stones that Taylor had mentioned; that there were 
 streets there that he had named, etc., etc. But not one 
 item was verified that tended to establish the personal 
 identity of John Taylor, or to show that any one of his 
 numerous stories was true. 
 
 Now, Judge Dailey tells us that he is “ a lawyer, and 
 claims to know something of legal principles.” But he 
 does not say that he is an expert in weighing the value 
 of evidence. If he is, what would he say of the weight 
 of a witness’s testimony should he claim to have wit¬ 
 nessed a murder, and, in the absence of the corpus 
 delicti, seek to verify his statement by showing a street 
 in the city where the tragedy was alleged to have oc¬ 
 curred, and by naming somebody whose patronymic 
 could be found on a tombstone in the city cemetery? 
 I may appear to be straining a point in Judge Dailey’s 
 favor when I say that I still have enough confidence in 
 his legal ability to believe that he would summarily dis¬ 
 miss the jury and throw the case out of court, if that 
 was the only evidence in the case. And yet it exactly 
 parallels the evidence by which he seeks to establish the 
 personal identity of John Taylor, and verify the history 
 of his life as given through the medium in the case. 
 Well may the learned Judge ask me who telepathed the 
 personal history of John Taylor to the medium. I con- 
 fess that I do not know. But I do know that all the facts 
 bearing upon the case which the Judge learned on his 
 scientific pilgrimage to New Bedford, could easily have 
 been learned from a local history of that city. 
 
 As I remarked, it is sometimes difficult to trace the tel¬ 
 epathic connections so as to say just where the informa¬ 
 tion conveyed to the medium originated. But they are 
 generally just such cases as that upon which Judge Dailey 
 pins his faith; that is to say, cases that cannot be either 
 
THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 
 
 179 
 
 verified or disproved. I confess that I am not sufficiently 
 well versed in Judge Dailey’s legal standard of evidential 
 values to see clearly just how it is that an absence of 
 facts tends to prove or to disprove anything in an in¬ 
 ductive investigation. Nor can I quite appreciate the 
 logic of that attitude of mind which impels a hysterical 
 shout of triumph from every spiritistic throat whenever 
 a medium tells a long and weird tale that can neither be 
 disproved nor verified. To the mind of the average 
 spiritist such cases are the most convincing, for they can 
 then triumphantly ask, “ How can telepathy account for 
 this?” To which the obvious answer is that telepathy 
 is not called upon to account for unverified statements. 
 
 This class of cases, however, is not the one that pre¬ 
 sents the real difficulties that may sometimes occur, 
 although they are very rare. Let us suppose an extreme 
 case; Suppose a soi-disant spirit presents himself at a 
 seance and announces himself as a stranger to all pres¬ 
 ent ; and then proceeds to relate facts entirely unknown 
 to those present. Then suppose that those facts should 
 be afterwards fully verified. Obviously, in such a case, 
 it would be difficult to trace the telepathic connection. 
 But would anybody but a spiritist imagine that the tel¬ 
 epathic hypothesis had been disproved by an occasional 
 failure to find the facts in such a case? I think not. 
 And yet these are the cases upon which spiritists rely 
 to establish their own theories and to “ disprove ” the 
 telepathic hypothesis. In other words, it is the essence 
 of the logic of spiritism to rely chiefly upon the absence 
 of facts when conducting an inductive investigation. Is 
 Judge Dailey’s legal education responsible for this prin¬ 
 ciple of his logic? If so, he would hang a man for 
 murder simply for the want of evidence to establish 
 either his guilt or his innocence. 
 
l80 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Logically, the case stands thus: (i) There are spo-^ 
 radic cases where it is difficult to determine from what 
 source a telepathic communication originated. 
 
 ) (2) On the other hand, there are innumerable cases 
 
 j where the telepathic connection is obvious, as in all 
 Professor Hyslop’s cases, in all Dr. Savage’s cases, and 
 in most of those cited by Judge Dailey. 
 
 (3) In all cases where the facts are known, “ telepathy 
 by three ” affords a complete telepathic explanation. 
 
 I submit that those few cases in which the facts are not 
 known should not be allowed to weigh one hair against 
 the great mass of cases where the telepathic connection 
 is obvious; especially since the latter can all be explained 
 on the telepathic hypothesis, — assuming, of course, 
 that “ telepathy by three ” is a telepathic potential. 
 
 I re-submit my original proposition: If A can, by 
 any known means of communication, convey a message 
 to B, B can convey the same message by the same means 
 to C, other things, of course, being equal. 
 
 If not, why not? 
 
 I have repeatedly submitted this proposition to spir¬ 
 itists, and as repeatedly asked the same question. If 
 it is not true there must be a valid answer to the prop¬ 
 osition ; but that answer has never been attempted other¬ 
 wise than by the bare assertion, without argument, that 
 “ it is carrying telepathy too far.” On the other hand, 
 if the proposition is true, spiritism, considered as a scien¬ 
 tific proposition, is disposed of. Nor can this question 
 be successfully evaded by an attempt to ignore it, nor by 
 substituting for argument such assertions as that the 
 telepathic theory requires the presupposition of om¬ 
 niscience on the part of the psychic. 
 
VI 
 
 HOW I BECAME CONVINCED OF THE EX¬ 
 ISTENCE OF THE FACULTY OF TELE¬ 
 PATHY 
 
 I HAVE been asked to tell how I became convinced 
 that man possesses the power to communicate 
 thoughts to his fellow-man otherwise than through 
 the recognized channels of the senses. I could answer 
 that question very easily and truthfully by saying that 
 I am credulous enough to accept and believe human 
 testimony. When thousands of reputable men and i 
 women declare that they have experienced the phenome- j 
 non and witnessed it in others; and when hundreds of j 
 men, whose reputation for probity and scientific attain- j 
 ments is international, aver that they have experimen- | 
 tally reproduced the phenomena of telepathy, I confess j 
 that I am very much inclined to believe what they say. I 
 When a great society, the London Society for Psychical | 
 Research, is organized for the sole purpose of invest!- 1 
 gating such phenomena, and I find that its active 1 
 workers comprise some of the ablest scientists and most 1 
 careful and conscientious investigators in the civilized j 
 world, and when that society publishes two large vol¬ 
 umes, Phantasms of the Living, containing more than i 
 thirteen hundred pages of testimony to the fact that , 
 telepathy exists as a power of the human mind, I admit 
 that I am prone to be convinced of the truth of tel- 
 
i 82 
 
 THE EVOLUTIOX OF THE SOUL 
 
 epathy. I know that it is unscientific, very, to be so 
 credulous; for I have been so informed by some very 
 able scientists. I know that it is considered to be scien¬ 
 tific heresy to believe human testimony on such subjects; 
 and I have been informed by members of the Society for 
 Psychical Research that I have been guilty of such 
 heresy in that I have believed the testimony of that 
 society, and have generalized from its published facts, 
 instead of spending a lifetime in finding out whether they 
 told the truth, or were engaged in a gigantic conspiracy 
 to impose upon the credulity of mankind. 
 
 I do not mention this in any spirit of complaint or 
 fault-finding, for I cannot but realize that in times past 
 it was unsafe for any investigator of psychic phenomena 
 to accept the testimony of men on that subject. The 
 tales of devils, demons, ghosts, hobgoblins, witches, 
 visions, dreams, and presentiments, with which old 
 women and nurses were in the habit of entertaining the 
 good children, and securing the obedience of the refrac¬ 
 tory, were fair samples of the material with which, at 
 the threshold of scientific inquiry on the subject, the 
 investigator of psychic manifestations had to deal; and 
 it is obvious that, under those circumstances, the old 
 rule that human testimony should not be received was 
 indispensable. 
 
 But when such world-renowned scientists as Pro¬ 
 fessors Crookes, Wallace, James, Coues, Gates, Sidg- 
 wick, Myers, Podmore, Hodgson, and hosts of others 
 ; of equal capacity for accurate observation — when such 
 1 men declare that they have experimentally demonstrated 
 the existence of that and cognate psychic powers, I am 
 ’ forced to the conviction that the old rule may now be 
 ' somewhat relaxed. That is a question, however, which 
 
HOW I BECAME CONVINCED 183 
 
 each investigator must determine for himself; and I am 
 not disposed to find fault with any one who chooses to 
 adhere to the old rule and to waste years in reproducing 
 phenomena which have been witnessed and verified 
 by thousands of accurate and conscientious observ¬ 
 ers. But I do say, nevertheless, that as lo ng as every 
 student of experimental psychology adheres to the notion 
 that in order to be considered “ scientific ” he must per¬ 
 sonally^ conduct every experiment from which he de¬ 
 duces a conclusion, there will be little progress made in 
 psychic science. If the investigation of the physical 
 sciences had been subject to that principle, we should 
 still have been riding in stage-coacbes, and nine-tenths 
 of all the appliances of modern civilization would have 
 been yet unknown. If the science of electricity, for 
 instance, had been so studied, Edison would have 
 commenced his studies by fumbling with lodestones, 
 producing static electricity by rubbing sticks of sealing- 
 wax upon the seat of his pants, and possibly by this 
 time he might have reached the kite-flying experiment 
 of Franklin. Certain it is that he would have reached 
 the stage of senile decrepitude before he could have 
 experimentally verified a one-hundredth part of the 
 conclusions of his predecessors, and he would have 
 died of old age and disappointed ambition before he 
 would have dared to make an original experiment or 
 generalization. 
 
 If substantial progress in psychology is ever to be 
 made, it must be by adopting the same methods which 
 prevail in the development of the physical sciences. 
 That is to say, some credit must be attached to the 
 declarations of competent observers. We must take 
 something for granted. We must begin where our 
 
i 84 the evolution of the soul 
 
 predecessors left off. We must take advantage of their 
 discoveries and explore new domains, instead of per¬ 
 petually travelling in their old pathways for fear that 
 they may have been lying to us about the topography 
 of the realms they have explored. 
 
 I must be understood now as giving fatherly advice 
 to those who are just entering the field of psychic re¬ 
 search. I confess that I did not dare to follow the 
 advice I am giving, for the simple reason that I began 
 before psychic phenomena had been scientifically inves¬ 
 tigated by competent observers who were known to be 
 trustworthy. I did not, however, waste much time in 
 repeating experiments after becoming satisfied of the 
 verity of any particular class of phenomena; for I in¬ 
 vestigated for the sole purpose of satisfying my own 
 mind, and not with a view of converting others. I inves¬ 
 tigated by classes of phenomena, and, having demon¬ 
 strated to my own satisfaction that one particular class 
 of phenomena could be produced without fraud or leger¬ 
 demain, I dropped it and proceeded to another class, 
 and so on, until the whole psychic repertory had been 
 practically covered. 
 
 I may be pardoned by some of my readers for remark¬ 
 ing, in passing, that when I began my investigations 
 I had no theory of causation or hypothesis to sustain. 
 I simply desired to know the truth as to the verity of 
 the alleged phenomena; and if I know my own mind 
 I was free from prejudice for or against any then exist¬ 
 ing hypothesis. I may remark, however, that, like every 
 other honest investigator, I was hoping to be able to 
 formulate a working hypothesis which would account 
 for all the facts; and I early became conscious, in a 
 vague, general way, that the phenomenon of telepathy. 
 
//OlV I BECAME CONVINCED 185 
 
 if it could be proven to exist, must be a factor of supreme 
 importance in any theory of causation that could be 
 formulated. To those who are acquainted with my sub¬ 
 sequent writings it is superfluous to say that I found my 
 conjectures to be correct, and that telepat hy actually 
 marks the border line between the realms of science and 
 supe rstition. 
 
 I therefore applied myself to the task of investigating 
 that phenomenon, with a firm determination to know the 
 fact of the existence of that power if it existed. To my 
 surprise and gratification I found the task to be a com¬ 
 paratively easy one when I came to know something of 
 the conditions necessary to be observed. 
 
 I have not space to devote to the recital of the many 
 failures which I encountered, nor of the partial successes 
 which might be relegated to the domain of coincidence, 
 nor of the complete successes where the element of hu¬ 
 man veracity constituted a factor. I will, therefore, state 
 briefly, not how I became convinced, but how I came to 
 knozv of the existence of the faculty of telepathy. 
 
 The first conclusive test obtained was through the 
 instrumentality of a lady whose husband is a profes¬ 
 sional hypnotist, — Professor Carpenter of Boston. 
 Professor Carpenter is a careful, conscientious operator, 
 and had trained his wife’s psychic powers to a high state 
 of proficiency. I had frequently seen exhibitions of her 
 powers at private entertainments before I obtained her 
 consent to give me an opportunity to conduct the exper¬ 
 iments myself in the absence of her friends. I invited 
 two eminent scientists of the ultra skeptical variety to 
 be present and assist. 
 
 Having partially hypnotized the lady, I procured from 
 a store near by a pack of common playing-cards. One 
 
1 86 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 of the gentlemen present opened the pack, thoroughly- 
 shuffled the cards, and handed them to me. Previously 
 to this, however, I had thoroughly blindfolded the lady 
 by folding a pair of kid gloves into pads of convenient 
 size, placed them over her eyes, and drawn a folded silk 
 handkerchief over the pads and around her head, tying 
 it tightly and securely in place. Each of the gentlemen 
 present carefully examined the condition of the pads and 
 handkerchief, and each declared himself perfectly sat¬ 
 isfied that it was utterly impossible for her to see either 
 through or under the dozen or more thicknesses of mate¬ 
 rial with which her eyes were bound. It was, in fact, 
 a physical impossibility for her to open her eyes. En¬ 
 joining strict silence on the part of all present, I then 
 shuffled the cards without looking at them, and standing 
 partly behind her chair, so as to be out of the range of 
 her vision even if she had not been blindfolded, I drew 
 a card from near the centre of the pack, and after having 
 exhibited it to the gentlemen present, placed it in her 
 hand. She immediately pressed it against her forehead 
 and at once correctly named the card. I then handed 
 her a dozen others in rapid succession, and she made not 
 a single mistake. One of the others then took the pack 
 and repeated the test until he was satisfied that there 
 was no collusion discoverable, at least, between the lady 
 and myself. Half the pack had then been exhausted, 
 and so was the lady by that time, and the seance was 
 closed. 
 
 After this I had many seances with her, sometimes 
 with only one or two assistants, and sometimes in the 
 presence of a large party. But I do not remember more 
 than one or two failures, and these occ urred after she 
 had become weary. 
 
HOW 1 BECAME CONVINCED 
 
 187 
 
 I should remark, in this connection, that when I first 
 began my experiments v/ith her, she was credited with 
 possessing “clairvoyant” powers. That is to say, no 
 distinction had then been clearly drawn between clair- 
 voyance and telepathy; and every phenomenon involv¬ 
 ing the perception of a fact not cognizable by the senses 
 was called “ clairvoyance.” I soon discovered, how¬ 
 ever, that there was a clearly marT^^ distinction between 
 clairvoyance, that is, independent clairvoyance, and tel¬ 
 epathy^ In conversation with Professor Carpenter I 
 learned that his wife sometimes made a mistake in de¬ 
 scribing the first card or picture handed to her, and that 
 upon receiving a second card or picture, she would 
 accurately describe the first; and on receiving the third, 
 she would correctly name the second, and so on through 
 a long series. Having witnessed several such perform¬ 
 ances, I discovered that when she made a mistake it was 
 when no one had seen the card previously to its hav ing 
 been handed to her,. I also noted that she would some¬ 
 times place the face of the card against her forehead, 
 no one having seen it, and would fail to recognize its 
 character; and then she would turn the card over, the 
 , back to her head and the face to the audience, and imme- 
 diately name it with accurac y. I then made a series of 
 tests with this lady and other persons, and found that 
 in no case could the card be correctly designated when 
 no one in the audience had seen it. If I was alone with 
 the percipient, and handed him or her a card without 
 looking at it. the experiment always resulted in failure; 
 whereas the same percipient would instantly give the 
 correct answer when she could read it in my mind. 
 
 It was thus that I learned to doubt the existence of the 
 faculty of clairvoyance, properly so called; and after 
 
i88 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the lapse of many years of patient observation, I have 
 still to witness the first phenomenon that will have a ten¬ 
 dency to convince me of the existence of the power of 
 independent clairvoyance. I do not say that it does not 
 exist. I do not know. But I do say that I have seen 
 nothing that cannot be referred to telepathy for a full 
 and complete explanation. 
 
 Having concluded the series of experiments above 
 mentioned, I determined, if possible, to develop the fac¬ 
 ulty in my own mind, at least far enough to resolve any 
 lingering doubt that might be unconsciously entertained. 
 Accordingly, I caused myself to be securely blindfolded 
 in presence of my family and two or three trustworthy 
 friends, and instructed them to draw a card from the 
 pack, place it upon a table, face up, and in full view of 
 all but myself. I enjoined absolute silence, and re¬ 
 quested them to gaze steadily upon the card and patiently 
 await results. I determined not to yield to any mere 
 mental impression, but to watch for a vision of the card 
 itself. I endeavored to become as passive as possible, 
 and to shut out all objective thoughts. In fact, I tried 
 to go to sleep. I soon found that the moment I ap¬ 
 proached a state of somnolency I began to see visions of 
 self-illuminated objects floating in the darkness before 
 me. If, however, one seemed to be taking definite shape 
 it would instantly rouse me, and the vision would vanish. 
 At length I mastered my curiosity sufficiently to enable 
 me to hold the vision long enough to perceive its import. 
 When that was accomplished, I saw — not a card with 
 its spots clearly defined, but a number of objects ar¬ 
 ranged in rows and resembling real diamonds. I was 
 finally able to count them, and finding that there were 
 ten, I ventured to name the ten of diamonds. The 
 
//Oiy I BECAME CONVINCED 189 
 
 applause which followed told me that I was right, and I 
 removed the bandage and found the ten of diamonds 
 lying on the table. The vision was symbolical, merely, 
 but no other possible symbol could have conveyed a 
 clearer idea of the fact as it existed. 
 
 I then suffered myself to be blindfolded again, and in 
 a very few moments saw a vision of a single heart spot 
 floating before me. I named the ace of hearts, and was 
 right. Another card selected was the five of spades, 
 but I named the five of clubs. The mistake arose from 
 my own obtuseness in not being able to interpret the 
 element of symbolism in the vision. I saw five spots 
 arranged as on a card, but could see only the stem end 
 of each spot, the other end being thrust into the dark¬ 
 ness, so to speak, leaving a little less than half of each 
 spot visible. Now, the stem end of the club spot is 
 precisely the same as the corresponding end of the spade 
 spot; and I was stupid enough not to be able to see 
 that the fact that the point of each spot was concealed 
 was obviously a symbolical representation of spades 
 thrust partly into the earth. This was the only mistake 
 that I made out of five cards selected for my individual 
 benefit. Others of the company tried the same experi¬ 
 ment in the same way, and each one scored a sufficient 
 number of successes to demonstrate the fact of telepathy. 
 
 Since that time I have seen hundreds of experiments 
 tried, neither more nor less wonderful and conclusive 
 than those I have mentioned. I will relate one more, 
 merely because it is a little outside of the beaten track 
 of experimental telepathy, although the principle in¬ 
 volved is exemplified in thousands of instances where it 
 is not generally recognized. Those of my readers who 
 are familiar with my published works will understand 
 
190 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the full significance of the remark when I say that I 
 have held, and still hold, that telepathy between relatives 
 and friends is constant; and that a telepathic message 
 can be conveyed from one to another through an in¬ 
 definite number of persons, just as an oral communica¬ 
 tion can be transmitted from mouth to mouth, until the 
 origin of the message is lost sight of. Telepathy, be it 
 remembered, is the means of communication between 
 subjective minds, and hence the content of a telepathic 
 message is rarely elevated above the threshold of normal 
 consciousness. That happens only when the percipient 
 is a psychic, or is temporarily in a partially subjective 
 state or condition. Hence it is that a telepathic message 
 may be conveyed from the subjective mind of A to the 
 subjective mind of B, and from B to C, and so on, un¬ 
 consciously to all concerned, until some one of the num¬ 
 ber comes in contact with a psychic — a mind reader —■ 
 when the message will for the first time rise above the 
 threshold of the normal consciousness of the latter, and 
 thus become known to all concerned. In other words, 
 to reduce the proposition to its lowest terms: If A can 
 communicate a telepathic message to B, it follows that 
 B can communicate the same message telepathically to 
 C, and by the same means C can communicate it to D, 
 and so on indefinitely. It was to confirm this proposition 
 that I made the experiment which I am about to relate, 
 although its truth is all but self-evident. 
 
 Two or three years ago a travelling telepathist visited 
 Washington, and gave a series of public exhibitions of 
 her powers. I did not attend the performances until 
 after the experiment, and I had never seen or heard of 
 the company before their visit to Washington. A friend 
 of mine, a leading lawyer in the city, attended the first 
 
HOW I BECAME CONVINCED 191 
 
 performance, and came to me the next morning full of 
 wonder and astonishment, and requested me to go with 
 him the next night. I refused, but proposed a test which 
 would eliminate all possibility of trickery, legerdemain, 
 or collusion. I learned from him that the husband of the 
 telepathist hypnotized and blindfolded her, placed her 
 upon the stage, and then distributed tablets among the 
 audience, requesting them to write questions and sign 
 their names, and then fold the slips of paper, place them 
 in their pockets, and await results. This having been 
 done, the lady called the name of each one in turn, stated 
 the question asked, and answered it. The husband then 
 asked for the slip containing the question and read it to 
 the audience; and in each case the telepathist was found 
 to be right as to the name and the contents of the mes¬ 
 sage. Of course, all this might be accounted for on 
 the supposition that the lady was in collusion with the 
 writers of the messages, or that the tablets bore the 
 impression of the writing and a confederate had some 
 means of conveying the information to her. To remove 
 all such possibilities, I requested my friend to attend the 
 next performance and write, on a leaf of his own note¬ 
 book, the following: 
 
 “ A friend of mine has given me the name of a playing-card. 
 Please tell me what it is.” (Signed.) 
 
 I then said to him: “ I am now going to give you the 
 name of the card by means of telepathy only. I will 
 not state its name to you or to any one else, by any ob¬ 
 jective means whatever, until you obtain the lady’s 
 answer.” 
 
 My instructions were followed to the letter, with this 
 result: The telepathist called the name of my friend 
 
192 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 and stated the question correctly, and then said: “ I 
 cannot see the card clearly, but it is red. I feel sure that 
 it is a diamond,” or words to that etfect. She tried faith¬ 
 fully to ascertain the exact denomination, and finally 
 her husband explained that she was very tired and in 
 that state could not see clearly. He then promised to 
 hypnotize her again when she was rested, and to send 
 the answer by mail. He kept his promise and stated in 
 his letter that his wife still had some difficulty in seeing 
 the card clearly, but was under the impression that it 
 was the nine of diamonds. 
 
 When the letter was received and before it was 
 opened, I divulged to my friend the name of the card 
 of which I had thought. It was the ten of diamonds. 
 
 I have little to add to the above recital. It is obvious, 
 however, that the evidential value of the lady’s answer 
 is fully as great as if she had said that it was the ten 
 of diamonds instead of the nine. When one cannot see 
 a card quite clearly enough (either objectively or sub¬ 
 jectively), to distinguish between the nine and the ten 
 spot, the evidential value of the answer is manifestly of 
 the highest order if either one of the two is named. 
 
 In conclusion, I desire to say that telepathy is, all 
 things considered, the most important factor in psychic 
 science; for it affords a full and complete explanation 
 of the great bulk of all that is mysterious in psychic 
 phenomena. It is not too much to say that if this factor 
 should ever be eliminated from experimental psychol¬ 
 ogy, the observable phenomena which have puzzled the 
 brains of mankind from time immemorial will again be 
 relegated to the domain of doubt and superstition. 
 
THE RATIONALE OF HYPNOTISM 
 
 S INCE the time when Mesmer first brought his 
 discoveries to the attention of the scientific world, 
 the students of the phenomena which he evoked 
 have been hopelessly at variance with each other. That 
 diverse theories of causation should be entertained re¬ 
 garding phenomena so strange and full of mystery is 
 inevitable; but it is rare that scientists disagree con¬ 
 cerning the demonstrable facts of a subject under inves¬ 
 tigation. That of mesmerism, however, seems to form 
 an exception to the general rule. After more than a 
 century of research, the students of that subject are still 
 divided into schools which wage war upon each other’s 
 theories and dispute each other’s facts. The most care¬ 
 fully conducted experiments of one school are followed 
 by opposite results when repeated by another. Experi¬ 
 ments innumerable have been made and recorded with 
 conscientious care and scientific accuracy by members 
 of all the schools. Many facts have thus accumulated 
 and a few important principles have been discovered. 
 In this sense some progress has been made. But in the 
 larger sense, — in the sense of being able to appreciate 
 these facts and to understand the significance of these dis¬ 
 coveries, progress, until very recent years, has been slow. 
 
 It is self-evident that no fact in n ature is inconsistent 
 with any other fact. It follows that there must be some 
 
 13 
 
194 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 underlying principle, or principles, heretofore over¬ 
 looked, which will harmonize the facts of mesmerism. 
 It is the purpose of this paper to invite attention to a 
 few such principles. 
 
 In doing so it will first be necessary to review briefly 
 the salient points in the modern history of the subject, 
 beginning at the time when Mesmer appeared in Paris 
 and threw that capital into a state of wild excitement 
 over the marvellous effects of his manipulations. 
 
 The principal use to which Mesmer applied his power 
 was that of curing disease. This, of course, called forth 
 the anathemas of the medical profession; but the people 
 flocked to his rooms and many wonderful cures were 
 effected. His methods were unlike any practised now. 
 He surrounded himself with mysticism. He seated his 
 patients in dimly lighted rooms pervaded by sweet odors 
 and mysterious music. In the midst was a caldron in 
 which simmered various chemical ingredients. Joined 
 together by cords, or holding each other’s hands, his 
 patients sat in silent expectancy. Then Mesmer would 
 enter, dressed in the garb of a magician, and glide softly 
 among the throng, touching one, making passes over 
 another, and bestowing a look upon a third. The effects 
 were as violent as his methods were mysterious. Ladies 
 would faint or go into hysterics, and strong men would 
 be seized by convulsions. All such symptoms were con¬ 
 sidered salutary, however, and they were frequently 
 followed by wonderful cures. 
 
 His theory was that a certain magnetic fluid pervaded 
 the universe, but was most active and potent in the 
 human nervous organization, and enabled one person, 
 charged with the fluid, to exert a powerful influence 
 over another. This he termed animal magnetism. The 
 
THE RATIONALE OF HYPNOTISM 195 
 
 scientists of the day attacked the theory and ignored the 
 importance of the phenomena. The Academy of Sciences 
 investigated the subject through a commission. The 
 report of the commission admitted the leading facts 
 claimed by Mesmer, but held that his theory was unten¬ 
 able. They admitted the existence of a force capable of 
 controlling man’s physical organization ; that this force is 
 amenable to control, and that this control can be reduced 
 to an art. The name they gave to the force was “ Imagin¬ 
 ation”; and the conclusion they arrived at was that the 
 subject was not worthy of further scientific investigation. 
 
 It is difficult at this day to conceive the process of 
 reasoning by which that learned body could have ar¬ 
 rived at such a conclusion. They had in reality made a 
 very important discovery, — the most important which 
 science has contributed toward a solution of the great 
 problem. They were the first to discover that the phe¬ 
 nomena of mesmerism are purely subjective. That they 
 should content themselves with the glory of having 
 disproved Mesmer’s theory of causation, and after hav¬ 
 ing themselves made the discovery of the true theory, 
 should announce that their own discovery was not worth 
 the trouble of scientific investigation, is inexplicable. It 
 seems probable that they were deceived by their own 
 loose nomenclature. That word “ imagination ” is still 
 used by the average physician to cast discredit upon the 
 so-called mind-cure and all cognate phenomena. He 
 demonstrates the fact that, by exciting the imagination 
 of a patient, bread pills will cause purging, and colored 
 water will have the effect of an emetic; but he ignores 
 or derides the inference from his own demonstration, 
 that this same “ imagination ” is capable of exercising a 
 curative effect upon the body. 
 
196 
 
 THE EVOLUTIOH OF THE SOUL 
 
 Soon after the promulgation of the learned report of 
 the Academy, Mesmer was driven into exile, followed by 
 the execrations of a majority of the medical profession. 
 He left many disciples, however, among whom were 
 a few able scientists, such as the Marquis de Puysegur, 
 Deleuze, and others, who pursued the investigation. 
 These gentlemen revolutionized the art of inducing the 
 mesmeric state and made many valuable and startling 
 discoveries. Instead of the mysticism and violent 
 methods which Mesmer employed, they would gaze into 
 the patient’s eyes, make gentle passes over his head, face, 
 and body, and thus induce a profound sleep. In this 
 state the patients were oftentimes cured of disease, an¬ 
 aesthesia was produced, and surgical operations were 
 performed without pain. The therapeutic value of the 
 power was thus fairly established. They also discovered 
 that their patients could be made apparently to see with¬ 
 out the use of the natural organs of vision. They could 
 be made to read when perfectly blindfolded, and they 
 ; could be caused to obey mental orders. These facts were 
 ; attested by so many men of learning and probity that the 
 ! French Royal Academy of Medicine felt compelled to 
 I order a new investigation. A committee was appointed, 
 composed of some of the ablest and most cautious scien¬ 
 tists in that institution. For nearly six yea rs that com¬ 
 mittee pursued its investigation with the utmost care 
 and circumspection. Its report a dmitted the therapeutic 
 j value of the process and declared that the power of 
 1 thought-transference and clairvoyance had been demon- 
 \ strat'ed by indubitable tests. The advocates of mes¬ 
 merism had scored a triumph. Its opponents were 
 simply exasperated. The Academy refused to print the 
 report and ordered a new investigation. Another com- 
 
THE RATIONALE OF HYPNOTISM 
 
 197 
 
 mittee was appointed, headed by one who had openly 
 'sworn eternaThostility to the doctrine. The result was 
 Thevitable. "After the examinatToii of two subjects, they 
 'made their report. It embraced two points equally con- 
 cTusTve." One announced their failure to witness the oc¬ 
 cult phenomena, and the other impugned the intelligence 
 of the forrner committee. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to 
 say that this report was accepted by the average scientist 
 of the day as embracing the whole gospel of mesmerism. 
 
 For some years subsequent to this, the investigation 
 of the subject was confined to its psychological and 
 therapeutic features; but every scientist who dabbled 
 in it was tabooed by the majority of his associates. 
 Many able works were written on the subject, but none 
 of them attracted the attention of the Academicians until 
 Dr. Braid, of Manchester, undertook to demonstrate the | 
 theory that the hypothetical magnetic fluid had nothing | 
 to do with the production of the phenomena. 
 
 Braid made two important discoveries. The first was 
 that by placing a bright object before the eyes of the 
 subject, and causing him to gaze upon it with persistent 
 attention, he could be thrown into the mesmeric sleep, 
 during which many of the well-known phenomena as¬ 
 cribed to magnetism could be produced. The fact that 
 this could be done independently of personal contact with 
 another, or of his personal Influence, seemed to disprove 
 the magnetic theory and to indicate that the subject 
 matter was susceptible of a physiological explanation. 
 
 His second discovery was that the sleep could be in¬ 
 duced by his method independently of suggestion. The 
 significance of this discovery has never been appreciated 
 by any of the schools. Indeed, Braid himself seems to 
 have attached to it no special importance. It is, how- 
 
198 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 ever, of transcendent interest, as I shall attempt to show 
 hereinafter. 
 
 To the first of these discoveries more than its due 
 share of importance was given; but it opened the door 
 for the admission of mesmerism v/ithin the domain of 
 inductive science. It mollified the Academicians, for it 
 seemed to disprove the magnetic theory, and it prom¬ 
 ised a physiological explanation. The method was 
 simple and easily applied. Better still, no one claimed 
 to be able to produce the phenomena of thought-trans¬ 
 ference or clairvoyance by tlrat method. Best of all, it 
 had been given a new name. 
 
 Many new names had been bestowed upon it by dif¬ 
 ferent writers, but with the exception of “ mesmerism,” 
 each implied a theory of causation. “ Mesmerism ” was 
 obviously improper because Mesmer was neither the dis¬ 
 coverer of the force nor the inventor of the practical 
 method of evoking it. Besides, his name was a stench 
 in the nostrils of the medical profession for the reason 
 that he had threatened them with a universal remedy 
 for disease. So when Braid denominated it “ Hypno- 
 tism,” from the Greek word signifying sleep, it was 
 hailed as a compromise sufficiently non-committal to 
 entitle it to recognition. 
 
 Braid is entitled to great credit for his original re¬ 
 searches and discoveries; but the fact remains that he 
 has been the indirect means of retarding true progress 
 in psychology. It is a remarkable fact that since his 
 method of hypnotizing has been generally adopted, the 
 higher phenomena,—thought-transference and so-called 
 clairvoyance, — have fallen into disrepute. Indeed, the 
 production of such phenomena has been, until recent 
 years, practically a lost art. The cause of this will re- 
 
THE RATIONALE OF HYPNOTISM 
 
 199 
 
 ceive attention in the proper place. Beyond the two 
 discoveries above noted, his work is practically valueless 
 for the reason that he never understood the subtle role 
 which suggestion plays in all hypnotic phenomena. 
 
 For some years after the appearance of Braid’s work | 
 there was but little progress made in the study of hyp- j 
 notism. His methods were, however, generally adopted, j 
 The value of his discoveries was not appreciated by his j 
 own countrymen, and it was not until the Continental ‘ 
 scientists extended his researches that he obtained rec¬ 
 ognition. Liebault was the first to confirm his theories, 
 and he became the founder of what is known as the 
 Nancy school of hypnotism. ‘ 
 
 The theory of that school is that the different physical 
 conditions characterizing the hypnotic state are deter¬ 
 mined by mental action alone; that this mental action 
 and the consequent physical and psychological phenom¬ 
 ena are the result, in all cases, of suggestion in some 
 form; that the phenomena can be produced in healthy 
 as ^11 as in diseased organisms, and that the explana¬ 
 tion of the phenomena must be found by a study of their 
 psychological features. 
 
 The Paris school, or school of the Salpetriere, on the 
 other hand, holds that hypnotism is the result of a dis¬ 
 eased condition of the nerves, — a neurosis; that sug¬ 
 gestion plays but a secondary role in the production of 
 the phenomena, a great proportion of which can be 
 produced without any form of suggestion; that the true 
 hypnotic condition is only found in persons whose nerves 
 are diseased, and that the whole problem is explainable 
 on the basis of cerebral anatomy or physiology. 
 
 I have now briefly noted a few of the salient features 
 of the history of hypnotism and the theories of its lead- 
 
200 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 ing schools since the time of Mesmer, purposely leaving 
 out that large class of amiable people who believe that 
 the hypnotic subject treads the border land between this 
 world and the next. It now remains to outline a few 
 fundamental principles which, though lying on the sur¬ 
 face, seem to have been overlooked in the microscopic 
 search for the ultimate cause of the phenomena. I will 
 then attempt to point out a few sources of error which 
 beset the pathway of the investigator and cause the facts 
 of hypnotism to seem to contradict one another. 
 
 It may be said, briefly, that hypnotism is correctly 
 defined as an induced quiescence of the objective facul- 
 ties, followed by increased activity of the subjective 
 faculties. It is common for writers on this subject to 
 divide the hypnotic state into grades. Thus the Nancy 
 school gives us six, and the Paris school three grades. 
 I will not attempt any classification of grades, for the 
 simple reason that there are none beyond what may be 
 embraced in the terms partial and complete hypnosis. 
 There are various conditions, it is true, which are clearly 
 defined: such as lethargy, catalepsy, and anzesthesia ; 
 but each is a c ondition which may be in duced at the will 
 of the operator, ^ any stage, by simple suggestion. The 
 grades of hypnosis, if such a term may be employed, 
 are innumerable and shade into each other by imper¬ 
 ceptible degrees, ranging from the state in which the 
 objective and subjective faculties act synchronously, up 
 to the condition of lucid somnambulism. 
 
 The synchronous action of the objective and subjec¬ 
 tive faculties is the result of partial abeyance of the 
 action of the former. It is a phase of hypnotism which 
 has never received the slightest attention at the hands 
 of students of the subject, although it is not an uncom- 
 
''HE RATIONALE OF HYPNOTISM 
 
 201 
 
 mon phenomenon and is of immense practical impor¬ 
 tance. It may be defined as a condition of subjective 
 mental activity controlled by auto-suggestion. This 
 state is generally self-induced, and it may be said to be 
 the natural mental condition of a favored few. It may, 
 however, be induced by the hypnotic processes. It is 
 a condition of partial hypnosis in either case. The sub¬ 
 ject is just sufficiently hyp^tized to rouse the subjec¬ 
 tive faculties to action without decreasing the power and 
 activity of th e objective faculties. The two minds then 
 operate synchronously. All the best qualities of both 
 are in a state of intense and harmonious activity, the 
 reasoning powers of the objective mind being reinforced 
 by the prodigious memory of the subjective mind. This 
 phenomenon is occasionally illustrated in so-called trance 
 speakers. It may generally be recognized by the fact 
 that in this condition they speak with their eyes open, — 
 literally as well as figuratively, — but the character of 
 their reasoning process is a sure criterion. It is most 
 strikingly illustrated in men of genius. It is the source 
 of the wonderful power over their fellows possessed by 
 such men as Patrick Henry, Clay, Webster, and all that 
 class of men known as “ magnetic speakers.” It is the 
 “ inspiration ” of the great artist, who paints well only 
 when the “ mood ” seizes him. It is the “ fine frenzy ” 
 of the poet, whose pen — 
 
 “ As imagination bodies forth 
 The form of things unknown, . . . 
 
 Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 
 A local habitation and a name.” 
 
 It is the grand secret of the power which certain men 
 have over the brute creation. It is the partially hypnotic 
 condition often unconsciously self-induced, which en- 
 
202 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 ables men to enter a den of tigers, which gave Rarey his 
 power over wild horses, protected Daniel in the lions’ 
 den, enables the adepts of India to sleep unarmed and 
 unharmed in the tiger-infested jungles, and gives the 
 snake-charmer the power to control and render harmless 
 the most venomous of reptiles. 
 
 Closely allied to this branch of the subject is that of 
 auto-suggestion. This has been dimly recognized as a 
 possible factor in hypnotism, but its importance seems 
 never to have been fully understood, nor has the doctrine 
 been formulated. It may be defined as the control which 
 the objective mind of an individual exercises over his 
 own subjective mind. This control is as absolute in 
 certain conditions as is that of the hypnotist over his 
 subject. Ma ny can produce local anaesthesia in their 
 own persons b y auto- suggestion without the aid of even 
 Partial hypnosis; but those who have been in the habit 
 of being hypnotized can, by this means, produce wonder¬ 
 ful curative effects upon themselves. The principle runs 
 through all hypnotic phenomena, and is at all times 
 liable to affect the results of experiments if the possibil¬ 
 ities of auto-suggestion are not intelligently eliminated. 
 
 It now remains to point out some of the causes which 
 have conspired to produce conflicting results in various 
 lines of experiment. The question will first be consid¬ 
 ered why it is that hypnotists of the present day rarely 
 produce the phenomenon of thought-transference. 
 
 The first proposition to which attention is invited is 
 that when two or more persons are in the hypnotic state, 
 and are en rapport with each other, there is an inter¬ 
 communion of thought independent of objective means 
 of communication. Owing to the nature of ordinary 
 experiments and the methods now employed, it is com¬ 
 paratively seldom that this is demonstrated. I have, 
 
THE RATIONALE OF HYPNOTISM 203 
 
 however, observed it with sufibcient frequency to be as¬ 
 sured of the fact; and Professor Carpenter, of Boston, 
 who is one of the most careful and successful hypnotists 
 of this country, tells me that he has frequently witnessed 
 phenomena which can be accounted for on no other ra¬ 
 tional hypothesis. The early hypnotists demonstrated it 
 beyond question in a thousand different ways. My limit 
 of space, however, permits only a statement of the fact. 
 
 It follows from this proposition that if the hypnotist 
 is himself partially hypnotized and his subject is com¬ 
 pletely subjective, the best conditions are established for 
 enabling the one to control the other by silent volition. 
 I undertake to say that this condition necessarily resulted 
 from the early methods of producing hypnosis. 
 
 It will be remembered that Braid demonstrated two 
 propositions: i. That hypnosis could be induced by 
 causing the subject to gaze intently upon an object. 
 2. That suggestion was not essential to the production 
 of this result. It will be further remembered that the 
 old method of hypnotizing was by steady and persistent 
 gazing into the eyes of the subject, accompanied by 
 gentle passes and intense concentration of mind. The 
 inference is irresistible that by this gazing into the eyes 
 of the subject the operator partially hypnotized himself 
 at the same time that he was hypnotizing his subject. 
 If Braid’s experiments prove anything they demonstrate 
 the correctness of this conclusion. 
 
 How this power was lost is obvious. The moment 
 Braid proved that a subject could be hypnotized by the 
 easy, simple, and sure process of causing him to gaze 
 upon an inanimate object, every one discarded the old 
 process as a relic of the past, too cumbersome and la¬ 
 borious to be of further use. It was much easier to let 
 the subject do all the gazing, and no one had the slightest 
 
204 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 idea of the effect which the old method produced upon 
 the operator. 
 
 Curiously enough, the very next important discovery 
 conspired with the other to produce the same result. 
 It was soon after Braid’s time that the potency of sug¬ 
 gestion as a factor in hypnotism began to be realized. 
 It was discovered th at sensi tive subjects could be hyp¬ 
 notized by suggestion alone, independently of either the 
 theor etical magn etism or Braid’s ^shining object. This 
 was even easier than Braid’s method. It required no 
 gazing by either party. All that was required was the 
 confidence of the subject, and this could be acquired by 
 any mysterious manipulation that would appeal to his 
 imagination. It was inevitable that this method would 
 be as barren of results as the other in the production of 
 the higher phenomena. 
 
 Thus it happened that the two great modern discov¬ 
 eries, each of the most transcendent importance, con¬ 
 spired to retard the progress of the research in its higher 
 branches, and caused a retrograde movement which has 
 now lasted half a century. 
 
 Contemporaneously with the height of the excitement 
 on the subject of hypnotism, the phenomena of spiritism 
 arrested public attention. It found the country well sup¬ 
 plied with material for “ mediums.” Every hamlet had 
 been visited by lecturers on hypnotism, and every hyp¬ 
 notic subject was a ready-made medium. The fact was 
 readily recognized that there was something in common 
 between the two classes of phenomena; and the skeptics 
 of the day sought to explain the wonderful character of 
 the “ communications ” by referring them to clairvoy¬ 
 ance. But spiritists seized upon clairvoyance, made it 
 their own, and proceeded to explore the domain of 
 Heaven. The result was that the skeptic retired in dis- 
 
THE RATIONALE OF HYPNOTISM 
 
 205 
 
 gust and has ever since refused to believe in clairvoy¬ 
 ance. Thus prejudice conspired with the other causes 
 named to retard the progress of the study of hypnotism. 
 
 In the meantime the follov/ers of Braid on the one 
 hand, and advocates of the theory of suggestion on the 
 other, still persist in misunderstanding the facts which 
 separate them into hostile schools. The former hold that 
 because the sleep can be induced without the aid of sug¬ 
 gestion, it follows that suggestion is not a necessary 
 factor in the production of the subsequent phenomena. 
 The latter hold that suggestion is a necessary factor in 
 the production of all phenomena subsequent to sleep, 
 and it follows that suggestion is a necessary factor in 
 the production of the sleep. The truth will be found 
 as usual, on the median line. The sleep can be induced 
 by Braid’s method either with or without the aid of 
 suggestion, and by suggestion either with or without 
 Braid’s method; but suggestion is a necessary factor in 
 the production of all subsequent phenomena. When the 
 sleep is induced by suggestion alone its cause is a mental 
 Impressi on. When it is induced by Braid’s method 
 without suggestion, it is caused by “ exhausting the ner¬ 
 vous centres in the eye s and their appendages,” — in 
 short, by physical weariness. Both will be recognized 
 as potent factors in the production of ordinary sleep. 
 
 The physiological explanation of Braid’s method of 
 inducing hypnosis was regarded by many as an evidence 
 that all the phenomena were susceptible of explanation 
 on the basis of physiology. The Paris school, of which 
 Professor Charcot is the acknowledged leader, hold this 
 theory. I will attempt to point out a few of the sources 
 of error which render the experiments of that school of 
 doubtful value. 
 
 The first and most prominent of these consists in the 
 
2o6 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 assumption that hypnotism is a nervous disease, and that 
 it is found in its most pronounced form in hysterical 
 women. Hence, their experiments are confined to that 
 class of subjects. The absurdity of this assumption will 
 be apparent when it is known that the best subjects are 
 perfectly healthy persons. At least that is the testimony 
 of every experimenter outside of the Salpetriere. 
 
 Another source of error lies in the fact that they ig¬ 
 nore suggestion as a necessary factor in hypnotism, and 
 hold that many of the phenomena can be produced with¬ 
 out its aid. The effects which they produce in this way 
 are purely physical, such as causing any muscle of the 
 body to contract by pressing upon the corresponding 
 nerve, and releasing the tension by exciting the an¬ 
 tagonistic muscle. The condition necessary for the 
 production of this phenomenon is called by Charcot 
 “ neuro-muscular hyperexcitability.” In a recent work 
 by MM. Binet and Fere, pupils of Charcot, a chapter is 
 devoted to this subject. They detail with scientific 
 exactitude many curious results of their experiments in 
 this line; and then add, with charming ingenuousness, 
 that precisely the same effects can be produced in many 
 hysterical patients in their waking state. 
 
 After such an admission it seems superfluous to re¬ 
 mark that this class of experiments proves nothing 
 which can be said to be characteristic of hypnotism; and 
 the Nancy school wastes its time in taking the trouble 
 to demonstrate that the' symptoms cannot be reproduced 
 in healthy persons without the aid of suggestion. 
 
 Another serious error into which the Charcot school 
 has fallen consists in the assumption that subjects in the 
 lethargic state know nothing of what is happening 
 around them. No greater mistake is possible. There is 
 no such thing as subjective unconsciousness. The ob- 
 
THE RATIONALE OF HYPNOTISM 20J 
 
 jective mind sleeps, — the subjective, never. No matter 
 Tiow” profound the lethargy which locks the objective 
 senses, the subjective faculties are ever alert, and com¬ 
 prehend, with preternatural acuteness, every word ut¬ 
 tered. This is a primary fact in hypnotism, ignorance 
 of which has caused a deal of trouble and needless 
 alarm to many an experimenter. It is safe to say that 
 nine-tenths of all the difficulty experienced in managing 
 hypnotic subjects, especially in awakening them from 
 profound lethargy, arises from ignorance of this law. 
 It is obvious that experiments made without a knowl¬ 
 edge of it are valueless when made with the view of 
 eliminating suggestion as a factor in hypnotism. 
 
 Another source of error consists in the fact that they 
 disregard the possibility that their subjects may read 
 the thoughts of those cn rapport with them. But, leav¬ 
 ing this out of consideration, it goes without saying that 
 little credit can be accorded to a series of experiments 
 conducted in disregard of any one of the primary prin¬ 
 ciples governing the subject matter. 
 
 Again, MM. Binet and Fere imagine that they have de¬ 
 monstrated the peripheral character of the phenomena by 
 various experiments pertaining to visual hallucinations. 
 For instance, they observe that if a subject is caused to 
 see an imaginary object through a prism, the image will 
 be doubled precisely as if the object were real. The 
 Nancy school undertakes to disparage the verity of this 
 experiment by showing that the result will not follow 
 if it is tried in a dimly lighted room. This answer at 
 best seems very inconclusive. I am inclined to accord 
 full credit to the experiment for the reason that it seems 
 but an additional evidence of the power which the mind 
 exerts over the functions and sensations of the body. 
 
 A word concerning so-called tests of mind-reading 
 
2o8 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 and kindred phenomena. It is proverbial that tests of 
 such phenomena, made at the instance of a pronounced 
 1 skeptic, generally fail. A striking instance was that of 
 a noted mind-reader in London, a few years ago. He 
 I was giving, in public and in private, indubitable evi- 
 ; dence of his power to read writing or print in a sealed 
 ' envelope. In the height of a successful career he was 
 I confronted by a prominent British statesman who placed 
 ■ a bank note for a large sum in an envelope, and offered 
 ; it to the mind-reader if he would read the number 
 : correctly. Repeated trials resulted in dismal failure. 
 
 ; A similar offer was made through a skeptical com¬ 
 mittee of the Royal Academy of Medicine many years 
 ago, and the failure was complete. The literature of 
 i skepticism is full of such instances of failure by subjects 
 who had often performed the same feats in presence of 
 persons of undoubted probity and intelligence. These 
 facts have given rise to the opinion which prevails very 
 generally among scientists, that those who have wit¬ 
 nessed successful experiments of this kind are deficient 
 in intelligence or integrity, and that these attributes of 
 mind and qualities of character are confined to those 
 who have not witnessed them. 
 
 The explanation of these failures will be obvious to 
 any one who will stop to consider the power of sug¬ 
 gestion over the subjective mind. The presence of an 
 avowed skeptic who aggressively declares his disbelief 
 operates as an all-powerful suggestion that the experi¬ 
 ment is destined to fail. Every dollar staked adds 
 emphasis and potency to the suggestion. Failure under 
 such circumstances is a necessary consequence, and could 
 only be avoided by a suspension of the first law of sub¬ 
 jective mental action. Hence, the '‘harmonious con¬ 
 ditions ” so constantly insisted upon by spiritists as a 
 
THE RATIONALE OF HYPNOTISM 209 
 
 necessary prerequisite to the successful production of 
 their peculiar phenomena, will be seen to possess a 
 scientific value and importance. 
 
 Tlie therapeutic value of hypnotism has long been 
 known and acknowledged, especially in the cure of 
 nervous and functional diseases, the morphine habit, 
 chronic alcoholism, etc. Its reputation has suffered 
 much at the hands of ignorant enthusiasts, who believe 
 it to be a universal cure-all, and of the superstitious, 
 who imagine that it can be successfully employed in the 
 invocation of spiritual aid in the cure of disease. Like 
 every other remedy, it can only be successfully employed 
 by those who understand alike its powers and its limi¬ 
 tations. The fact that the faith and confidence of the 
 patient are required has led many to imagine that the 
 benefits of mental therapeutics are limited to the ignorant 
 and credulous. The intelligent student will see in the law 
 of auto-suggestion another evidence that nature’s laws 
 are universal in their application; and that the benefits 
 arising from their operation are never lost bv acquiring 
 a knowledge of them. 
 
 A word regarding the mooted question whether a 
 subject can be caused, by means of suggestion, to com¬ 
 mit crime. The danger from this source has been 
 greatly exaggerated. It is true that many experimental 
 murders and imaginary robberies have been committed; 
 bu t real crime is a v ery remote possibility. Experiments 
 made with a view of testing the question prove nothing, 
 for the simple reason that they are experiments. Th e 
 subject yields himself to control knowing that no real 
 h^m can befall him. Under such circumstances he will 
 be very likely to do the bidding of the operator. He 
 would plunge an imaginary dagger into a hypothetical 
 
 14 
 
210 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 enemy, and he might plunge a real dagger into a man; 
 but, as experiments are not likely to be carried to an 
 extent so eminently practical, it is impossible to say what 
 would be the result. To provide for the commission of 
 real crime we must presuppose (i) a hypnotist of crimi¬ 
 nal character; (2) an unsophisticated subject, alone with 
 the hypnotist; and (3) a criminal tendency in the subject 
 himself. Every practical hypnotist knows that it is diffi¬ 
 cult, if not impossible, to cause a subject to transgress 
 his own code of morals. It is here that auto-suggestion 
 erects an insuperable barrier for the protection of inno¬ 
 cence and virtue against criminal suggestion. Con¬ 
 science, or a resolution formed previously to entering 
 the hypnotic state, operates as an auto-suggestion which 
 cannot be overcome by the hypnotist. Persistence in 
 criminal suggestion in such a case would be sure to 
 restore the subject to his normal condition. It is evident 
 that these remarks apply with equal force to sexual 
 crimes. I am, of course, not prepared to say that there 
 may not be exceptions to the rule here laid down, but 
 the possibility must be very remote. 
 
 I would say in conclusion that the importance of hyp¬ 
 notism and hypnotic suggestion as a remedial agent in 
 nervous, mental, and moral derangements can hardly 
 be overestimated. Its value for the correction of aber¬ 
 rations due to neurasthenic and neurotic conditions has 
 long been recognized by European alienists and neuro¬ 
 pathologists, as well as its efficacy for the reformation 
 of childish and youthful offenders. Some of the dangers 
 connected with its practice have been exaggerated in the 
 popular mind, and all those dangers may be avoided 
 when the law of suggestion is fully understood. 
 
VIII 
 
 HYPNOTISM IN ITS RELATIONS TO 
 CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE 
 
 I HAVE been asked to pass a scientific opinion on 
 the question whether hypnotism can be success¬ 
 fully employed to induce the commission of crime, 
 and a legal opinion concerning the status of hypnotism 
 in criminal jurisprudence. There are perhaps no two 
 questions of more vital interest or intrinsic importance 
 than these. When a confessed murderer is acquitted 
 on the plea that he was hypnotized and compelled to 
 commit the crime, a question is presented which is in 
 some respects cognate to the old problem of emotional 
 insanity. It is, however, of infinitely greater importance 
 than the latter, for the obvious reason that emotional 
 insanity could be made available as a defence only when 
 it could be clearh' shown that the victim had so grossly 
 invaded the private rights of the accused as to deserve 
 his punishment; whereas the defence which consists 
 wholly of the allegation that some third person com¬ 
 pelled the commission of the crime by means of hyp¬ 
 notism is equally open to the avenger of a grievous 
 wrong and to the coldest-blooded murderer that ever 
 scuttled a ship or cut a throat. It is evident that if such 
 a defence is once admitted as an element of criminal 
 jurisprudence, a very wide and hitherto unexplored 
 
212 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 avenue of escape is opened to the criminal classes. 
 Nevertheless, Avlien a criminal is acquitted on such 
 grounds it may be said in extenuation that the jury 
 entertained a “ reasonable doubt,” or invoked the old 
 common law maxim that “ it were better that ninety- 
 nine guilty men should escape than that one innocent 
 man should be put to death.” But when a confessed 
 murderer is not only acquitted of the crime, but the 
 alleged hypnotist is convicted of murder in the first 
 degree on the testimony alone of said murderer, the 
 question assumes a far more serious aspect. If such 
 a thing can happen, no man is safe who incurs the en¬ 
 mity of the criminal class. As the books say of the 
 charge of rape, “ it is an accusation easy to make, but 
 difficult to disprove.” In the present state of popular 
 opinion on the subject of hypnotism it is a charge 
 impossible of refutation. The popular belief on the sub¬ 
 ject may be summed up in two sentences: 
 
 1. It is believed that a person may be hypnotized at 
 a distance and against his will. 
 
 2. It is also believed that in the hypnotic state a per¬ 
 son is under the absolute dominion of the will of the 
 hypnotist, and can be compelled to perform any act, 
 however repugnant to his feelings or his conscience. 
 
 Obviously, if these two propositions are true, hypno¬ 
 tism has a legitimate place in criminal jurisprudence. 
 The scientists, however, who hold that hypnotism can 
 be employed for criminal purposes do not all agree as 
 to the truth of the first proposition, but they sustain the 
 second with practical unanimity. It is to this second 
 proposition, therefore, that we must first direct our 
 attention; for if that is found to be untrue it is unim¬ 
 portant whether the first is true or false. 
 
HYPNOTISM IN JURISPRUDENCE 213 
 
 It must be premised that the study of hypnotism is 
 yet in its infancy. No man can safely predict its future, 
 as to either its uses or its abuses. That it is useful 
 when legitimately employed, no one who is acquainted 
 with the facts will deny. That it may be employed to 
 the detriment of its votaries, is a proposition equally true 
 of everything that is a power for good. That when its 
 laws are understood they will be found to be promotive 
 of the highest good of the human race, is a proposition 
 sanctioned by every discovery yet made in the domain 
 of nature’s laws. 
 
 Little as is known of the ultimate possibilities of hyp¬ 
 notism, there are some things about it which have been 
 definitely ascertained and are, broadly speaking, as well 
 known now as they can ever be known. It is not neces¬ 
 sary for one to be able to calculate the eclipses to enable 
 him to know that the earth is round or to grasp the 
 fundamental hypothesis of gravitation. Nor is it neces¬ 
 sary for us to know the future possibilities of hypnotism 
 to enable us to grasp its fundamental laws, since they 
 have been definitely formulated. Generally speaking, 
 we know what hypnotism is, and we know at least one 
 of its fundamental laws. The researches of the Euro¬ 
 pean scientists have definitely settled that much, and for 
 the purposes of our present inquiry it is sufficient. 
 
 The word “ hypnotism ” is derived from the Greek 
 uTTi'o? (hypnos), signifying “sleep.” Dr. Braid, who 
 was the originator of the term, defined it as “ nervous 
 sleep ” or induced sleep.^ This implied the theory, then 
 prevalent, that a subject must be asleep in order to 
 exhibit the phenomena of hypnotism. Professor Lie- 
 bault, of Nancy, extended the researches of Braid, and 
 
 ^ Neurypnology, p. 13. 
 
214 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 immortalized his own name by the discovery of the law 
 of suggestion. Professor Bernheim, a pupil of Liebault, 
 in conjunction with the latter, discovered that the Braid- 
 ian definition was too limited in its scope to embrace all 
 the phenomena, inasmuch as it was found that many of 
 the distinctive results could be produced while the sub¬ 
 ject was in what Bernheim terms the “ waking condi¬ 
 tion.” Bernheim, therefore, defines hypnotism as “ the 
 induction of a peculiar psychical condition which in¬ 
 creases the susceptibility to suggestion.” ^ This implies 
 the theory that persons are normally susceptible to sug¬ 
 gestion. This conclusion, however, does not seem to be 
 warranted, except in the sense that all are subject to the 
 influence of others. There must be some abeyance of 
 the objective faculties in order to produce the phenomena 
 of suggestibility in the hypnotic sense — that is, in the 
 sense that a suggestion can produce a hallucination. 
 My definition of hypnotism would, therefore, substi¬ 
 tute the word “ induces ” for “ increases ” in Bernheim’s 
 definition. 
 
 As before remarked. Professor Liebault discovered 
 and formulated the law of suggestion. That law is now 
 almost universally recognized by scientists throughout 
 the world as the potent factor in hypnotism. I say 
 “ almost,” for there are still a few exceptions, consisting 
 of a constantly diminishing number of the followers of 
 the late Professor Charcot, who believed that hypnosis 
 could be induced only in hysterical patients. There is 
 one other French savant who succeeds in astonishing 
 himself and amusing the scientific world by the produc¬ 
 tion of phenomena which demonstrate nothing but his 
 own ignorance of the principle of suggestion. Then 
 
 1 Suggestive Therapeutics, p. 15. 
 
HYPNOTISM IN JURISPRUDENCE 21 5 
 
 there is one English author who produced a universal 
 guffaw among scientific men by publishing an expose 
 of the Frenchman, and succeeded in astonishing all 
 Europe and America by demonstrating the fact that he 
 knew less about the subject than the Frenchman himself. 
 With these unimportant exceptions the law of sugges¬ 
 tion is universally recognized among scientists. 
 
 Formally stated, the law is this: 
 
 Persons in a hypnotic state are constantly amenable 
 to control by suggestion. 
 
 Broadly speaking, suggestion, as the term is employed 
 in connection with hypnotism, is a statement, true or 
 false, made to a hypnotic subject. Its potency resides 
 in the fact that the hypnotized subject unhesitatingly 
 accepts the statement or suggestion as true, and acts 
 accordingly. Thus, a hypnotic subject may be made to 
 believe that he is another person, or that he is an animal, 
 or a demon, or an angel; and he will assume the char¬ 
 acter and act the part to the life, within the limits of his 
 physical or mental capacity. He may be made to get 
 drunk on water by suggesting to him that it is brandy; 
 and he may then be made sober by giving him brandy 
 accompanied by the suggestion that it is an antidote to 
 the previous “ stimulant.” 
 
 These are the fundamental facts of hypnotism as they 
 are recognized by the public, and it is upon these facts, 
 thus broadly stated and superficially understood, that 
 the conclusion has been based that hypnotism can be 
 employed as an agent of the criminal. It is, perhaps, 
 a natural conclusion for one who has witnessed only the 
 common platform experiments. He sees the subject 
 thrown into a state that is to him mysterious and inex¬ 
 plicable. He sees the subject in that condition become 
 
2i6 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 apparently under the absolute control of the operator, 
 and dominated by the most absurd suggestions. His 
 natural conclusion is that if the operator chose to say 
 to the subject that it was necessary for him to per¬ 
 petrate a crime, he would be compelled to do so in 
 obedience to the law of suggestion. This is the first 
 conclusion at which the European scientists arrived; 
 but they were not content with mere platform experi¬ 
 ments and abstract deductions. So they instituted a 
 series of laboratory experiments in which criminal sug¬ 
 gestions constituted the salient feature. Subjects were 
 hypnotized and paper daggers were placed in their 
 hands, and the suggestion was made that it was ex¬ 
 tremely desirable that some imaginary person, or real 
 one for that matter, should be incontinently slaughtered. 
 It is unnecessary to say that the suggestion was in every 
 instance obeyed with the greatest alacrity. It is almost 
 superfluous to add that the experimenters, who were 
 mostly medical gentlemen, were practically unanimous 
 in the opinion that hypnotism was a very dangerous 
 force in the hands of anybody but doctors. 
 
 It is my purpose in this paper to show that this view 
 of the case is to the last degree superficial, and evinces 
 a singular lack of appreciation of the real scope and 
 significance of the law of suggestion. In their view of 
 the question, suggestion would be confined to the oral 
 declaration of the hypnotist to his subject. The truth 
 is that the suggestions of the hypnotist are the least 
 important of those which dominate the mind of the 
 subject. 
 
 Suggestions are divided into two classes, — namely: 
 
 1. Suggestions by a second person, as by a hypnotist. 
 
 2 . Auto-suggestions. 
 
HYPNOTISM IN JURISPRUDENCE 2 iy 
 
 The first class is subdivided into two classes, — 
 namely: i. Oral suggestions. 2. Mental suggestions. 
 
 With the latter class we shall have nothing to do, as 
 it belongs to a higher phase of psychic phenomena than 
 we are considering. 
 
 Auto-suggestions are divided into four classes, 
 namely: i. Volitional auto-suggestions. 2. Sugges¬ 
 tions of moral education and fixed principles. 3. In¬ 
 stinctive auto-suggestions. 4. Suggestions of the 
 environment. 
 
 The greater part of the above divisions and subdi¬ 
 visions are explained by their terms. The subdivisions 
 of auto-suggestions, however, require elucidation. Be¬ 
 fore proceeding to do so I desire to impress a very 
 important fact upon the mind of the reader. 
 
 It sometimes happens in the course of experiments 
 in hypnotism that two contrary suggestions are made 
 at the same time. The invariable result is that great 
 distress of mind is inflicted upon the subject, and it 
 often results in bringing him out of the hypnotic state. 
 When this effect does not follow, the stronger sugges¬ 
 tion necessarily prevails. The importance of this fact 
 will become obvious as we proceed. 
 
 I. A volitional auto-suggestion is one which the 
 subject makes to himself before being hypnotized. For 
 instance, if he anticipates the possibility that the hyp¬ 
 notist will place him in a ridiculous attitude, or one 
 repugnant to his sense of propriety, he will resolve 
 beforehand that he will not obey the suggestion. If, 
 then, the anticipated suggestion is made by the hyp¬ 
 notist, it will be strongly resisted, and the potency of 
 the resistance will be in exact proportion to the subject’s 
 innate sense of dignity or propriety. If that is very 
 
2 I 8 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 fetrong, and the hypnotist insist upon his suggestion, 
 the subject will be restored to his normal condition. 
 
 2. Suggestions of moral education and fixed prin¬ 
 ciples are of a cognate character to the foregoing. 
 These reach the very heart of the matter under consider¬ 
 ation. Thus, if a subject be told to do anything that 
 is contrary to the settled principles of his life, he will 
 resist the suggestion with all the force of his moral na¬ 
 ture. Consequently, when an immoral or a criminal sug¬ 
 gestion is made by a hypnotist, whether it will be obeyed 
 or not is purely a question of moral character. If the 
 subject is strongly intrenched in moral rectitude he will 
 resist; and, if the hypnotist persist, he will be restored 
 to normal consciousness. “ Strength of mind ” is not a 
 factor in the case. Strength of “ will,” in the ordinary 
 acceptation of the term, has nothing to do with the 
 result. “ Will,” in the psychic sense, is nothing more 
 nor less than desire. Consequently, if the subject’s 
 desire to obey the dictates of conscience is stronger 
 than his desire to obey the suggestions of the hypno¬ 
 tist, the auto-suggestion must prevail. In other words, 
 there is no such thing in real life as a hypnotist having 
 absolute control of a subject against the will of the 
 latter. 
 
 3. Instinctive auto-suggestions are those which arise 
 from the natural desire to protect one’s own life or that 
 of his wife or children. They are by far the strongest 
 auto-suggestions that a criminal hypnotist would have 
 to encounter in an effort to procure the commission of 
 a crime by means of suggestion. It has often been said 
 that a criminal hypnotist would have the power to 
 induce a subject to commit suicide, or to procure an 
 abortion, by means of suggestion. But such a use of 
 
HYPNOTISM IN JURISPRUDENCE 219 
 
 that power is obviously out of the question when we 
 consider the inherent strength of the instinct of self- 
 preservation, and the potency of the subjective clinging 
 to the life of the foetus which is the inherent attribute 
 of every mother. Besides, the same instinct of self- 
 preservation would be a powerful factor in case of an 
 attempt to instigate the commission of a murder. The 
 subject would instinctively reason up to the conse¬ 
 quences to himself in case of detection; and, even 
 though his moral principles might not constitute an 
 auto-suggestion of sufficient strength to enable him to 
 withstand the suggestion of a criminal hypnotist, the 
 consideration of his own safety would be more than 
 likely to have that effect. 
 
 4. Suggestions of the environment are those which 
 arise spontaneously in the mind of the subject from his 
 knowledge of the nature of the experiments about to 
 be made, of the character of the persons present, the 
 objects of the experiments, and the desires of the 
 experimenters. 
 
 In the whole range of experimental hypnotism there 
 are no auto-suggestions that are more apt to modify re¬ 
 sults than are the suggestions of the environment. And 
 there are none that are disregarded by a certain class 
 of experimenters with such persistent, aggressive fatu¬ 
 ity. Indeed, it is somewhat difficult at all times to elim¬ 
 inate, intelligently, these suggestions; and in a certain 
 class of experiments it is practically impossible. The 
 experiments which we are now considering belong to 
 that category; and it may be set down as an axiom in 
 experimental hypnotism that no laboratory experiment 
 conducted for the purpose of ascertaining whether sug¬ 
 gestion can be successfully employed to induce a hyp- 
 
220 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 notic subject to perpetrate a crime is of any evidential 
 value whatever. 
 
 When a subject is hypnotized for that purpose, he 
 knows that he is among friends. He knows that they 
 are law-abiding citizens who will take care that no harm 
 shall result from the experiments about to be made. He 
 generally knows that he is expected to carry out all 
 suggestions made to him. He is very probably aware 
 that he is expected to demonstrate the truth of the prop¬ 
 osition that a criminal hypnotist can compel his subject 
 to commit crime. Like all hypnotic subjects, he is 
 anxious to win applause — to create astonishment. In 
 short, he knows that he is the central figure in a comedy 
 or farce which is about to be played in the interests of 
 “ science,” and he feels that he is the “ scientist.” The 
 inevitable consequence is that he resolves to carry out 
 every suggestion of the hypnotist, knowing that no harm 
 can possibly result. A paper dagger is placed in his 
 hands, and he is told that a certain gentleman present 
 is an enemy who “ needs killing.” This he is ready to 
 do, and he proceeds to thrust his paper dagger into 
 the heart of his “ enemy,” amid the applause of the 
 assembled wisdom. 
 
 It is manifest that the moral character of the subject 
 cannot enter as a factor in an experimental case of this 
 kind. He is simply a player in a farce in which he 
 assumes the role of the heavy villain. Moreover, the 
 result could easily be reversed by merely suggesting to 
 the subject that he was expected to disobey the criminal 
 suggestions of the hypnotist. In short, the subject in 
 such experiments will do just what he believes to be 
 expected of him, and the suggestions of the environment 
 will always afford some hint as to that, even if they 
 amount to nothing more than an assurance that it is 
 
HYPNOTISM IN JURISPRUDENCE 
 
 221 
 
 perfectly safe for him to obey the suggestions made by 
 the hypnotist. It is plain that a laboratory experiment 
 can go no farther than the enactment of a farce.^ 
 
 Space forbids the citation of authorities to sustain the 
 foregoing propositions, although they are numerous.^ 
 
 It must be apparent to the intelligent reader that 
 laboratory and platform experiments in this line have 
 no possible evidential value; and when we remember 
 that all the hue and cry that has been raised on the 
 subject of “ hypnotism and crime ” is based upon these 
 same laboratory experiments, it will be seen that the 
 public have been led into an error of enormous pro¬ 
 portions and of infinite moment in the administration 
 of criminal justice. This, however, only pertains to the 
 value of laboratory experiments as evidence. It must 
 not be forgotten that while they do not prove that hyp¬ 
 notism can be employed for criminal purposes, neither 
 do they disprove that proposition; they simply demon¬ 
 strate the necessity for eliminating the results of experi¬ 
 mental investigation from consideration. 
 
 The question of fact still remains: Can hypnotism be 
 successfully employed for the perpetration of crime? 
 
 1 Since the manuscript of this paper was forwarded to the publishers 
 a new book has been placed in my hands, entitled Ilvpnotisni: How it 
 is Done; Its Uses and Dangers, by Dr. James R. Cocke, of Boston. 
 This gentleman had the courage to make a practical experiment in this 
 line. Standing in front of a deeply hypnotized subject, he placed a 
 piece of cardboard in her hands, telling her that it was a dagger, and 
 commanded her to stab him. This command she immediately obeyed 
 with alacrity. He then handed her an open pocket-knife and again 
 commanded her to stab him. She raised her hand as if to execute the 
 command, but hesitated, and immediately had an hysterical attack, 
 which, of course, put an end to the experiment. The doctor adds: “ I 
 have tried similar experiments upon thirty or forty people with similar 
 results.” He also states that he made a number of tests to prove that 
 the subject was deeply hypnotized. 
 
 ^ For a fuller discussion of the subject, and a collection of authorities, 
 see The Law of Psychic Phenomena^ chap. x. 
 
222 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL \ 
 
 My remarks relating to auto-suggestions arising from 
 the moral education and the fixed principles of the sub¬ 
 ject will have prepared the reader’s mind for the only 
 rational answer, namely, — it is purely a question of 
 moral character. A criminal hypnotist in control of a 
 criminal subject could undoubtedly procure the commis¬ 
 sion of a crime under exceptionally favorable circum¬ 
 stances. But a criminal hypnotist would simply waste 
 his energies in hypnotizing a criminal subject; for a man 
 of that character could, without doubt, be just as easily 
 influenced in his normal condition. However that may 
 be, when a man sets up hypnotism as a defence in a 
 criminal trial, he proclaims himself a criminal character. 
 
 Beyond what has already been said of the worthless¬ 
 ness of experimental investigation, this is the only gen¬ 
 eral proposition that can be predicated with certainty 
 from a knowledge of the fundamental laws of hyp¬ 
 notism. But it practically covers the whole ground. 
 
 The first legal question that arises is. How far ought 
 hypnotism to be admitted as a defence when it is 
 pleaded ? My answer is that it should never, under any 
 circumstances, be admitted as a defence for the one who 
 is clearly proved to have committed the crime. Drunk¬ 
 enness cannot be urged as a defence, and there is in¬ 
 finitely less reason for admitting hypnotism. In the one 
 case a good man may be so far crazed by liquor as to 
 become, in fact, utterly irresponsible. Yet the fact is 
 rejected as a defence, on the ground that he voluntarily 
 rendered himself irresponsible by getting intoxicated. 
 The hypnotic subject should be held to the same rule 
 and for the same reason; for no man can be hypnotized 
 against his will. This is the practically universal testi¬ 
 mony of all the scientific writers on the subject. He 
 voluntarily places himself in the power of a hypnotist 
 
HYPNOTISM IN JURISPRUDENCE 
 
 223 
 
 whom he more than probably knows to be a criminal 
 character, and he should be held to the same accounta¬ 
 bility for the results as if he had voluntarily “ placed 
 an enemy in his mouth to steal away his brains.” More¬ 
 over, as I have previously shown, the hypnotized subject 
 will never commit a crime in that state which he would 
 not commit in his normal condition. 
 
 The next legal question is as to the admissibility of 
 the testimony of the alleged hypnotic subject in a crim-' 
 inal prosecution of the alleged hypnotist as an accessory, 
 before the fact. It is difficult to imagine any legal 
 grounds for the admission of his testimony at all; for 
 if it is true that he was so deeply hypnotized as to be an 
 irresponsible agent in the hands of the hypnotist, he was 
 necessarily in a state that would preclude the possibility 
 of his having any definite recollection of what happened. 
 Indeed, his whole testimony would be open to the sus¬ 
 picion that he was merely reciting the details of a sub¬ 
 jective hallucination. In that case his testimony would 
 be literally “ of such stuff as dreams are made of ” — 
 the “ baseless fabric of a vision.” Obviously, it should 
 have no more standing in a court of justice than an 
 alleged dream. Consequently, if it is clearly proven that 
 he was hypnotized, his own testimony should be ex¬ 
 cluded as against the other party concerning what hap¬ 
 pened during the period of his irresponsibility. 
 
 This brings up the question, so often mooted, of 
 the propriety of hypnotizing a person in court for the 
 purpose of questioning him concerning what happened 
 to him during a previous hypnotization. From a legal 
 standpoint this is a most intensely absurd proposition. 
 Not one of the conditions which give value to human 
 testimony would be present. In the first place, he could 
 not be punished for perjury if he swore falsely; and 
 
224 the evolution of the soul 
 
 the instinct of self-preservation would cause him to 
 swear falsely if the truth would militate against him. 
 Moreover, being in a hypnotic state, he would be amen¬ 
 able to control by suggestion, and a cross-examination 
 would utterly confuse him. A cross-examination by a 
 competent lawyer consists largely of artful suggestions 
 in the form of leading questions; and a hypnotized 
 witness would necessarily either be controlled by them, 
 or restored to normal consciousness by a conflict of 
 suggestions. Clearly, a hypnotized subject can have no 
 legitimate standing as a witness in a court of justice. 
 
 I have now briefly examined the salient features of 
 the problem from both the psychological and the legal 
 standpoint, and I hope that I have made it as clear to 
 others as it is to me that its psychological features are 
 less repulsive and dangerous to the public than many 
 interested writers have pictured them, and that the few 
 legal problems involved are easy of solution without 
 a resort to legislation. Hypnotism has no legitimate 
 place in criminal jurisprudence. The attempt to thrust 
 it into that field is the result of a determination on the 
 part of interested parties to confine the uses of hyp¬ 
 notism to a select few. This effort has been aided by 
 popular ignorance and criminal instinct, until our courts 
 of justice are now threatened with an inundation of 
 cases involving questions that are new and strange to 
 lawyers and judges, and threaten jurors with paralysis. 
 It is humiliating, but it is true, that in the last quarter 
 of the nineteenth century we are threatened with a rep¬ 
 etition of the insanity of the seventeenth. The ghost of 
 Cotton Mather stalks abroad at noonday and gibbers 
 from the forum. 
 
IX 
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS RELATING TO 
 CRIMINAL CONFESSIONS OF INNOCENT 
 PERSONS 1 
 
 M y theme to-night is hoary with frosts of 
 centuries, and the question that it presents 
 is as mysterious as any of the many that 
 have presented themselves for solution by students 
 either of forensic medicine or of experimental psychol- > 
 ogy. My only hope is that I may be able to say some¬ 
 thing that is not as venerable with antiquity as the theme 
 itself. It is not my purpose, however, to formulate a 
 new scientific dogma; but merely to suggest a method 
 of study of a subject that is as important as it is ancient, 
 and is as vital to-day as it ever has been in the history of 
 criminal jurisprudence. If, therefore, I shall at any 
 time seem to be dogmatic, I beg pardon in advance. 
 
 It is well known to every student of forensic medicine 
 that, from time to time in the history of criminology, 
 cases have been reported of criminal confessions made 
 by persons who have subsequently been proven to be 
 entirely innocent. 
 
 I will not weary you by extensive citations of partic¬ 
 ular instances; for every student of medical jurispru- 
 
 1 Read before the Medico-Legal Society, May i6, 1900, in joint 
 session with the Psychological Section. 
 
 IS 
 
226 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 dence is familiar with the facts and their legal aspects. 
 I have, however, selected one typical case, because it 
 embraces all the psychological features which I shall 
 undertake to examine. In the course of a learned dis¬ 
 cussion of the legal phases of this class of cases, Mr. 
 Wills, in his able treatise on Circumstantial Evidence, 
 epitomizes the case referred to in words following: 
 
 “ A very remarkable case of this nature was that of the two 
 Booms, convicted in the Supreme Court of Vermont in Septem¬ 
 ber Term, 1819, of the murder of Russel Colvin, May 10, 1812. 
 It appeared that Colvin, who was the brother-in-law of the 
 prisoners, was a person of weak and not perfectly sound mind; 
 that he was considered burdensome to the family of the prisoners, 
 who were obliged to support him; that on the day of his dis¬ 
 appearance, being in a distant field where the prisoners were at 
 work, a violent quarrel broke out between them, and that one of 
 them struck him a violent blow on the back of the head with a 
 club, which felled him to the ground. Some suspicions arose, 
 at that time, that he was murdered, which were increased by the 
 finding of his hat in the same field, a few months afterwards. 
 These suspicions in process of time subsided ; but in 1819, one 
 of the neighbors having repeatedly dreamed of the murder, with 
 great minuteness of circumstances, both in regard to his death 
 and the concealment of his remains, the prisoners were vehe¬ 
 mently accused, and generally believed guilty of the murder. 
 Upon strict search, the pocket-knife of Colvin, and a button of 
 his clothes, were found in an old open cellar in the same field; 
 and in a hollow stump, not many rods from it, were discovered 
 two nails, and a number of bones believed to be those of a man. 
 Upon this evidence, together with the deliberate confession of 
 murder and concealment of the body in those places, they were 
 convicted and sentenced to die. On the same day they applied 
 to the legislature for a commutation of the sentence of death to 
 that of perpetual imprisonment; which as to one only of them 
 was granted. The confession now being withdrawn and contra¬ 
 dicted, and a reward offered for the discovery of the missing 
 man, he was found in New Jersey, and returned home in time to 
 prevent the execution. He had fled for fear that they would kill 
 him. The bones were those of an animal. The prisoners had 
 been advised by some misjudging friends that, as they would cer- 
 
CRIMINAL CONFESSIONS OF THE INNOCENT 22J 
 
 tainly be convicted, upon the circumstances proved, their only 
 chance for life was by a commutation of punishment, and that 
 this depended on their making a penitential confession, and 
 thereupon obtaining a recommendation to mercy.” 
 
 It is, as before remarked, useless to multiply illustra¬ 
 tions of this class of cases, since every lawyer and every 
 physician present, who is familiar with the literature 
 and history of criminal jurisprudence, will recall to mind 
 enough instances to fill a volume. Moreover, all will 
 agree that a great majority of such confessions have 
 been simply inexplicable. It is true that some cases 
 have been recorded where it has been found that the 
 confession was made to shield some dear friend or rela¬ 
 tive, who was really the guilty party. Other cases have 
 been noted where it was suspected that the accused was 
 tired of life, and resorted to confession of guilt as the 
 easiest way of ridding himself of a burden too grievous 
 to be borne. 
 
 In the days when the rack was the great instrument 
 of judicial inquiry, it was, perhaps, natural to suppose 
 that some confessions were made in order to obtain 
 temporary release from torture; although, as I shall 
 presently show, this should not be considered as a valid 
 explanation in cases where the crime charged was pun¬ 
 ishable by death. Again, it is well known that con¬ 
 fessions have often been made under promise of judicial 
 leniency, and in some instances, where circumstantial 
 evidence was strongly presumptive of guilt, it may be 
 supposed that the promise was the moving cause of 
 confession, even when the party was actually innocent. 
 
 These and other cognate causes may sometimes be 
 invoked to account for sporadic cases of criminal con¬ 
 fessions by innocent persons; but when they are all 
 
228 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 taken into account, the fact remains that the great bulk 
 of such confessions are, or have been until recently, 
 utterly inexplicable. That I am not exaggerating when 
 I say that the great bulk were shrouded in impenetrable 
 mystery, will abundantly appear, when it is remembered 
 that thousands and scores of thousands of the best 
 known cases were those of persons who were accused 
 of witchcraft. All the other known cases were, in point 
 of numbers especially, comparatively insignificant; al¬ 
 though many of them were apparently well authenti¬ 
 cated. The witchcraft cases, however, present two 
 points of vantage in this discussion. The first is in that 
 when a person confessed herself guilty of witchcraft, 
 she must be presumed to be an innocent person until it 
 is judicially or scientifically determined that there is 
 such a crime as witchcraft. That, of course, was not 
 difficult in the good old days; but we may now safely 
 assume that a confession of the crime of witchcraft was 
 a clear case of a criminal confession by an innocent 
 person. The second point of vantage is that such cases 
 point definitely to the fact that it is a purely psycholog¬ 
 ical question with which we have to deal. 
 
 When innocent children and reputable women confess 
 to crimes, the penalty for which is the most horrible 
 form of death, we may know that they believe what they 
 say. Knowing this, we also know that it is a mental 
 state or condition which we have to diagnose. In at¬ 
 tempting this diagnosis, it must be remembered that 
 the psychological principles which apply to one case are 
 equally applicable to all. 
 
 I have said that the victims of witchcraft prosecutions 
 evidently believed that their confessions were veridical. 
 This is unquestionably true. We must, therefore, find 
 
CRIMINAL CONFESSIONS OF THE INNOCENT 229 
 
 a psychological principle under which a perfectly inno¬ 
 cent person may be made to believe that he is guilty of 
 a capital crime; and, so believing, be made to confess 
 the crime, knowing that immediate death is the inevi¬ 
 table result of the confession. To that end we must 
 find; First, a universal psychological law, applicable to 
 all persons alike, conditions being equal, under which 
 an innocent person can be compelled to believe that he 
 has committed a capital crime. Secondly, we must find 
 another universal law under which a condition of mind 
 may be induced in which death loses its terrors. 
 
 It is, perhaps, superfluous to remark that under the 
 old psychology such laws could never have been dis¬ 
 covered. But most of those here present will anticipate 
 me when I say that the new psychology reveals just 
 what we are looking for; and that the law of sugges¬ 
 tion is the salient feature of our theme.^ This law was 
 discovered by a European scientist; and, as it was 
 first formulated, it was to the effect that persons in a 
 hypnotic state are constantly amenable to control by the 
 suggestions of others. Later on, the law of duality of 
 mind was formulated, and as a working hypothesis a 
 sharp line of demarcation was drawn between the 
 already recognized two states of consciousness. 
 
 I need not dwell upon the supreme potency of sug¬ 
 gestion, for every student of psychic phenomena is 
 aware that a subject may be made to believe himself to 
 be a dog or a devil, the spirit of a deceased person or 
 a living person other than himself; and that he will 
 carry every suggestion to its logical conclusion so far 
 as it is physically possible. It follows that he may be 
 
 1 See discussion of Suggestion in Ilypnotisvi in its Relations to 
 Criminal Jurisprudence. 
 
230 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 made to believe that he is guilty of crime. All that is 
 necessary is that the suggestion be made with strength, 
 vigor, and persistency. Reason is dethroned; experi¬ 
 ence counts for nothing; the evidence of the senses 
 is impeached; the centre of control over the dual mental 
 organism is displaced, and as long as this subjective 
 state continues, or as often as it is renewed, the sub¬ 
 ject is dominated by the central idea embraced in the 
 suggestion. 
 
 We have now found the law for which we were in 
 search, namely, the law under which an innocent person 
 can be compelled to believe that he is guilty of a capital 
 crime. 
 
 The conditions under which this seemingly impossible 
 state of afifairs can be brought about must now be con¬ 
 sidered. To those not fully acquainted with the various 
 phases of subjective states and conditions, but have 
 learned a little of the common phenomena of hypnotism, 
 the solution of the problem will seem to be referable to 
 a condition of profound hypnosis. This, however, will 
 be seen to be totally inadequate when it is remembered 
 that when crimnnal confessions are made by innocent 
 persons they always seem to be in full possession of 
 their normal faculties. 
 
 Neither of these suppositions, however, is correct. 
 That is to say, it does not require a condition of pro¬ 
 found hypnosis to render a subject “ suggestible ” ; nor 
 is any subject in full possession of his normal faculties 
 when he is suggestible; that is, suggestible in the degree 
 required for the production of the phenomenon under 
 consideration. There must be some degree of abeyance 
 of the objective faculties; although it may be so slight 
 as to render it impossible to detect any abnormality in 
 
CRIMINAL CONFESSIONS OF THE INNOCENT 23 1 
 
 the actions of the subject. How slight a cause is suffi¬ 
 cient to render a subject suggestible, many here present 
 can doubtless testify if they will recall their experiences. 
 For instance, it is well known that when any one visits 
 a dentist’s office for the purpose of having an aching 
 tooth extracted, in nine cases out of ten the pain will 
 cease the moment he enters the operating-room. And 
 I want to say to every surgeon here present that this 
 is a fact of profound significance and of infinite value 
 to humanity; for it points to a general law under which 
 painless surgery is possible by means of suggested 
 analgesia, and without profound hypnosis. That law 
 may be stated in a few words: An imminent and inevi¬ 
 table surgical operation invariably throws the patient into 
 a partially subjective state, and in that state he is sug¬ 
 gestible. It follows that if the surgeon understands the 
 law and the methods of suggestion, he can perform a 
 painless operation. I pointed out this fact in the New 
 York Medical Journal as early as 1894; and since then 
 hundreds of successful experiments have been made. 
 The common experience mentioned in regard to aching 
 teeth is demonstrative that local anaesthesia is produced 
 by mental emotion; and the fact that this can be fol¬ 
 lowed up by a painless operation, by simply making a 
 positive suggestion of analgesia, is demonstrative that 
 the patient was in a subjective state from the beginning. 
 
 This is somewhat of a digression; but I merely wish 
 to show how slight a cause is sufficient to induce the 
 subjective condition, to suspend the reasoning faculties, 
 and to cause the subjective mind to dominate the dual 
 mental organism. The observation and experience of 
 every physician and surgeon will at least bear me out 
 in the assertion that fear and dread, especially of im- 
 
232 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 minent and inevitable death, will induce the subjective 
 condition; and that painless death is, under this law, 
 the rule among all sentient creatures. Illustrations 
 might be multiplied indefinitely, but it is unnecessary 
 in this presence. It will be sufficient to recall the well- 
 known fact that criminals, after all hope has fled, and 
 the death sentence has been pronounced, invariably lapse 
 into a state of profound indifference and meet death 
 with stoical fortitude, — often with cheerful alacrity. 
 
 Every student of psychic phenomena is aware of the 
 extreme facility with which a sensitive subject may be 
 thrown into the subjective condition. Thus, Abbe Faria 
 was accustomed to hypnotize his subjects by gazing upon 
 them for a few moments and then suddenly shouting, 
 “ Dormez ! ” (Sleep!) in authoritative and strident tone 
 of voice. Charcot performed the same feat by flashing 
 a Drummond light into the eyes of his patients; and 
 others have induced profound hypnosis by suddenly 
 sounding a Chinese gong. In short, it is well known 
 to all hypnotists that sudden fright is a potent agency 
 for the induction of the subjective condition. 
 
 What is more to our present purpose, however, is 
 the fact that a never failing emotional agency for the 
 induction of the subjective condition is the dread or 
 fear of imminent and inevitable personal calamity. It 
 may be set down as axiomatic that Nature is ever kind 
 to the victim of the inevitable. And this is true whether 
 it is inevitable death or an inevitable surgical operation. 
 Where the two conditions of imminence and inevitability 
 are present the rule is invariable. It is Nature’s com¬ 
 pensation for her prodigality of life and the univer¬ 
 sality of death made necessary by the process of organic 
 evolution. The apparent cruelty of the law that all 
 
CRIMINAL CONFESSIONS OF THE INNOCENT 233 
 
 must die is mitigated in the only way possible, namely, 
 by universal immunity from pain during the process of 
 dissolution. And this immunity is made possible by the 
 spontaneous induction of the subjective condition upon 
 the near approach of the king of terrors. Even the 
 soldier in battle experiences this immunity, — not only 
 from pain when struck by a bullet, but from all fear of 
 death while the battle lasts. And, if mortally wounded, 
 he treads the inevitable path without fear and without 
 regret.^ 
 
 I think we may now safely assume that we have 
 found the second universal law which we have been 
 seeking, namely, the law under which a condition of 
 mind may be induced which robs death of its terrors. 
 
 It seems like a work of supererogation to point out 
 formally the application of these laws and principles to 
 the cases under consideration. It is obvious that in the 
 cases recorded of criminal confessions by innocent per¬ 
 sons, the conditions were perfect, first, for the induction 
 of the subjective condition; and secondly, for sugges¬ 
 tion to do its perfect work, in (0) forcing upon the 
 subjective mind of the victim a firm belief in his own 
 guilt, and in compelling him to confess his guilt. 
 Let us glance at these conditions for one moment. 
 
 The first factors to be considered are the accusation, 
 the arrest, and the imprisonment. These alone in the 
 case of an innocent person would be sufficient to induce 
 a feeling of terror and despair and a dread of impending 
 death. For it must be remembered, as a factor of pro¬ 
 found significance, that in all the cases recorded, so far 
 as I am aware, the crimes charged were punishable by 
 death. Were this factor absent, much of what has 
 
 1 See article. Hypnotism, A Universal Ajicesthetic in Surgery. 
 
234 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 been said would lose its significance; for it is the fear 
 of impending death that induces the subjective condition. 
 
 The next factor to be considered is whatever may 
 exist in the way of circumstantial evidence of guilt. 
 Not that circumstantial evidence would, ^er se, con¬ 
 vince an innocent person of his own guilt; but that he 
 would estimate it at its full value as a link in the chain 
 which fate was forging for his destruction. Of course 
 the stronger the chain of circumstantial evidence the 
 greater would be his despair of being able to overcome 
 it; and if he should be unable to explain it away, his 
 despair would be complete. Death would stare him in 
 the face, and every condition necessary to the induction 
 of the subjective condition would be present and active. 
 All this, however, would be insufficient to induce a con¬ 
 fession of guilt, or a doubt in his own mind as to his 
 innocence. In addition to all this there must be a strong, 
 vigorous, affirmative suggestion of guilt coming from 
 another. Those who are familiar with the methods of 
 detectives in this day and age of enlightenment, may 
 have some idea of the suggestions that are borne in upon 
 the unhappy victims of circumstances. Fortunately we 
 are not left entirely to conjecture as to the methods em¬ 
 ployed in the golden days agone; for we have at least 
 one concrete example on record which typifies all the 
 rest, ancient and, probably, modern. It occurred in 
 the days of Cotton Mather. In President Andrew D. 
 White’s great work on The Warfare of Science with 
 Theology, he gives a very graphic account of the New 
 England persecutions for witchcraft; and in speaking 
 of the confessions that were common in those days, he 
 says: 
 
 “ Confessions of witchcraft abounded; but the way 
 
CRIMINAL CONFESSIONS OF THE INNOCENT 235 
 
 these confessions were obtained is touchingly exhibited 
 in a statement afterwards made by several women. In 
 explaining the reasons why, when charged with afflict¬ 
 ing sick persons, they made a false confession they 
 said: 
 
 “ ‘ . By reason of that suddain surprizal, we knowing 
 
 ourselves altogether Innocent of that Crime, we were all ex¬ 
 ceedingly astonished and amazed, and consternated and af¬ 
 frighted even out of our Reason; and our nearest and dearest 
 Relations, seeing us in that dreadful condition, and knowing 
 our great danger, apprehending that there was no other way 
 to save our lives, . . . out of tender . . . pitty perswaded us 
 to confess what we did confess. And indeed that Confession, 
 that it was said we made, was no other than what was suggested 
 to us by so?ne Gentlemen j they telling us, that we were Witches, 
 and they knew it, and we knew it, and they knew that we 
 knew it, which made us thvik that it was so; and our under¬ 
 standing, our reason, and our faculties almost gone, we were 
 not capable of judging our condition; as also the hard measures 
 they used with us, rendered us incapable of making our De¬ 
 fence, but said anything and everything which they desired, and 
 most of what we said, was in effect a consenting to what they 
 said. . . 
 
 Here, then, we have a typical example of perfect an¬ 
 tecedent conditions, and of the most effective method 
 of producing the result. We have the arrest of innocent 
 persons, the imprisonment, the accusation of a crime 
 punishable by death, the dethronement of reason, the 
 vigorous suggestion, so strongly enforced as to cause 
 the belief of guilt in the minds of the victims, and we 
 have the consequent confession."" I submit that no stu¬ 
 dent of experimental psychology of the present day, 
 knowing all that is known of the law of suggestion, and 
 practised in the methods of enforcing a false suggestion, 
 could formulate a “ set phrase of speech ” more perfectly 
 adapted to the purpose than the one we have quoted. 
 
236 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 When we add to that form of words the dominating 
 personality of the “ Gentlemen ” inquisitors, the con¬ 
 stant iteration and reiteration of the charge of guilt, 
 the exhortation to open confession as a recipe for curing 
 the ills of the soul in this world, and a fire insurance 
 policy for the next, we can readily see that if they had 
 not confessed, and believed in the verity of their con¬ 
 fession, it would have constituted an exceptional case 
 — a suspension, in fact, of a law of nature. 
 
 It may be objected that the witchcraft cases pre¬ 
 sented exceptionally favorable conditions — conditions 
 not present in the closing hours of the nineteenth cen¬ 
 tury, and, consequently, not applicable to any possible 
 case in current history. To this it may be replied that 
 it is fortunately true that the witchcraft cases are not 
 likely to be repeated in the future. It is also true that 
 the conditions were exceptionally favorable, in that the 
 victims were mostly women and children. But the law 
 is the same in all cases; and it will readily be seen that 
 the law and the reasoning are as applicable to the case 
 cited at length in the beginning of this paper as it is 
 to the witchcraft cases. The latter predominate in num¬ 
 bers, it is true, but it must be remembered that all those 
 cases are free from doubt; for the reason that when 
 a party confesses to the crime of witchcraft we know 
 that she is innocent. But we do not know how many 
 innocent men have been hanged in consequence of con¬ 
 fessions of guilt. It must also be remembered that 
 subsequent proof of innocence is the exception; so that 
 the preponderance of witchcraft cases may not be nearly 
 so great as appearances indicate. 
 
 These remarks apply to modern times as well as to 
 the time when a bare confession was considered con- 
 
CRIMINAL CONFESSIONS OF THE INNOCENT 237 
 
 elusive evidence of guilt. And this must be my excuse 
 for thrusting an apparently obsolete question upon the 
 attention of this society. It is true that in this country 
 the corpus delicti must be established before any one 
 can be punished for murder; and it has been held that 
 the prisoner’s confession, when the corpus delicti is 
 not otherwise proven, is insufficient for his conviction. 
 But it has also been held that when the corpus delicti 
 is otherwise established the prisoner’s confession is suffi¬ 
 cient. I think, however, that later decisions require 
 further corroborative evidence. Be this as it may, we 
 will assume that the latter, and more humane rule, 
 prevails. Assuming this for the sake of the argument, 
 it would seem that all possible safeguards had been 
 thrown around this class of cases. But this idea will 
 be dispelled when it is remembered that even the corpus 
 delicti can be established to the satisfaction of our courts 
 and juries by a very slight degree of circumstantial 
 evidence. Witness the case of the Chicago sausage 
 maker, who was accused of cooking his wife, and pos¬ 
 sibly, otherwise utilizing her in his business. That 
 case was not at all complicated — or simplified — by 
 a confession. A possible motive was shown, and his 
 wife had disappeared; but beyond that the tangible 
 evidence of guilt consisted of a finger-ring and a piece 
 of bone found in the tank in which it was supposed 
 that his wife had met her doom. Does any one imagine 
 that if he had confessed the crime the finger-ring and 
 the piece of bone would have been called into requisi¬ 
 tion ? The evidence in that case, establishing the corpus 
 delicti, was curiously parallel to that in the Booms’ 
 case quoted. In the latter case a motive was shown, 
 and the supposed victim had disappeared. Beyond that 
 the evidence was confined to a trousers-button, a piece 
 
238 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 of bone, a pocket-knife, an old hat and some nails, all 
 assumed to have belonged to the supposed victim. In 
 neither case was the death of the supposed victim proven 
 by any positive tangible evidence whatever. But that 
 is neither here nor there. The point is that even if the 
 rule prevails that when the dead body is in evidence, 
 an otherwise uncorroborated confession would be insuf¬ 
 ficient to warrant a conviction, the danger is not per¬ 
 ceptibly diminished. For in view of the small amount 
 of circumstantial evidence required to establish so vital 
 a point as the corpus delicti, it is obvious that, if that 
 were not in question, an exceedingly small amount of 
 circumstantial evidence would be sufficient to sustain 
 a confession. Moreover, the requisite amount is morally 
 certain to be forthcoming, since a certain weight of 
 such evidence is always necessary to warrant even an 
 arrest for a capital crime. 
 
 In this connection a curious psychological fact must 
 be mentioned, for it is invested with a profound sig¬ 
 nificance in connection with the question of circum¬ 
 stantial evidence. Every experimental psychologist 
 will bear me out in the assertion that whenever a per¬ 
 son in the subjective condition makes a statement of 
 fact, he will seek to corroborate that statement by every 
 means available. And this is true whether the state¬ 
 ment is veridical or false — whether it is adverse to his 
 interests or favorable, whether it is sensible or idiotic. 
 One of the most marvellous phenomena in this connec¬ 
 tion is shown in the wonderful ingenuity displayed by 
 the psychic in finding corroborative reasons and evi¬ 
 dence to sustain his assertions. This fact is accounted 
 for in two ways, — first, by the fact that the subjective 
 mind is characterized by monumental egotism; and 
 secondly, by the fact that, under the law of suggestion, 
 
CRIMINAL CONFESSIONS OF THE INNOCENT 239 
 
 the subjective mind is incapable of assimilating a fact 
 that is not corroborative of the suggestion that is dom¬ 
 inant for the time being. 
 
 Hence it is that when an innocent person confesses 
 a crime, he will utilize every scrap of circumstantial 
 evidence against himself for the sake of corroborating 
 his false confession. 
 
 It will now be seen that, in the admission by courts 
 of justice of confessions of guilt by persons charged 
 with capital crimes, there is constant and imminent 
 danger of being led into that greatest of all judicial 
 misfortunes — the capital punishment of an innocent 
 person. If that humane and merciful maxim of the 
 law is to prevail, that it is better that ten guilty men 
 should escape than that one innocent person should be 
 punished, a rule of evidence must be adopted, forbid¬ 
 ding the consideration, under any circumstances, of 
 confessions by persons charged with capital crimes. 
 And the first step in that direction should be the aboli¬ 
 tion of what is known, in the parlance of criminal 
 detectives, as the “ sweating ” system; that system 
 under which a detective is turned loose upon a person 
 charged with murder, and allowed to browbeat him into 
 a confession before he has a chance to employ counsel. 
 It matters nothing that the rule prevails excluding the 
 confession if the party is not cautioned that all he may 
 say will be used against him on the trial; for the psy¬ 
 chological condition necessary to secure a “ voluntary ” 
 confession can just as well be induced by a shrewd de¬ 
 tective after such a warning as before. Every one who 
 is familiar with the system alluded to will bear me out 
 when I say that the facilities are just as available to-day 
 for inducing the psychological conditions necessary for 
 securing a confession of guilt from an innocent person. 
 
240 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 as they were under the inquisitorial system of days of 
 medieval superstition. 
 
 These remarks, as before intimated, apply exclusively 
 to confessions of capital crimes; for it is not certain 
 that the psychological conditions which we have been 
 considering could be induced in cases not involving the 
 life of the accused. That is to say, it is not certain 
 that the subjective state could be induced in criminal 
 cases by anything less than the fear of death or of 
 physical torture. 
 
 As in all other cases where the line of observation is 
 new, much must remain in doubt as to the limit of appli¬ 
 cation of the law of suggestion to criminal confessions. 
 But I think we are even now warranted in assuming 
 that the following fundamental principles a.re reasonably 
 well established. 
 
 1. The dread of impending death will cause certain 
 persons to enter, spontaneously, the subjective condition. 
 
 2. In the subjective condition the subject is con¬ 
 stantly amenable to control by the power of suggestion. 
 
 3. A strong suggestion, vigorously enforced by a 
 dominant personality upon a person in the subjective 
 condition, will cause the latter to believe in its absolute 
 verity, and to act upon it in all essentials as though it 
 were true, even though the suggestion be contrary to 
 fact, reason, experience, and the evidence of the senses. 
 
 4. Finally, the proposition that works back to the 
 foregoing and invests it with perennial importance to 
 courts of criminal justice, is that — assuming the con¬ 
 stancy of Nature — whatever power, faculty, or limita¬ 
 tion belongs to any one individual, must exist, potentially, 
 in every member of the human family. 
 
X 
 
 HYPNOTISM A UNIVERSAL ANESTHETIC 
 IN SURGERY 
 
 ^ ■ ^HE question has often been asked, “ Can hyp- 
 □ notism be generally used as an anaesthetic in 
 -fl- surgery?” The answer has uniformly been 
 that it cannot. Both of the great schools of hypnotism 
 — the Nancy and the Paris school — unite in the em¬ 
 phatic declaration that “ it cannot take the place of 
 chloroform.” The reason given is that it is impossible 
 to hypnotize a person at the time of an operation except 
 in the comparatively rare cases where the patient has 
 previously been in the habit of being hypnotized. It 
 is generally admitted by all modern scientific writers on 
 the subject that hypnotism can be successfully employed 
 as an anaesthetic in the most severe surgical operations, 
 under certain exceptionally favorable conditions. The 
 first of these is stated above, and the second is that a 
 state of profound hypnotic sleep must first be induced. 
 Most writers dismiss the subject with a statement equiv¬ 
 alent to the foregoing. 
 
 The object of this paper is not so much to call in ques¬ 
 tion the correctness of the conclusions of writers on this 
 subject as to suggest an entirely new line of inquiry 
 with a view of ascertaining if Nature has not provided 
 a universal anaesthetic in a condition cognate to that of 
 hypnosis. Confining the latter to its original significa- 
 
 i6 
 
242 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 tion, or to that of its Greek radix, it means, simply, 
 “ sleep.” And it seems probable that the conclusion of 
 the hypnotists regarding the use of hypnotism in sur¬ 
 gery may have been influenced by the limitations of the 
 signification of the term; although Bernheim has 
 pointed out that the power of suggestion (which is the 
 potent factor in hypnotism) is not confined to the sleep¬ 
 ing patient. Indeed, Bernheim’s definition of hypnotism 
 enlarges its scope far beyond the limitations of the 
 Braidian definition, which is “induced sleep.” He says; 
 “ I define hypnotism as the induction of a peculiar psy¬ 
 chical condition, which increases the susceptibility to 
 suggestion.” ^ For the purposes of this article this 
 definition will be accepted as substantially correct. 
 
 Before proceeding to the main line of argument it 
 may be well to give the non-professional reader a clear 
 idea of the meaning of the word “ suggestion ” as it is 
 employed in hypnotic science. Suggestion is a state¬ 
 ment (true or false) made to a hypnotized subject. Its 
 potency consists in the fact that in the hypnotic condi¬ 
 tion the subject unhesitatingly believes the statement or 
 suggestion, and acts upon it just as though it were true. 
 Its potency as a therapeutic agent consists in the fact, 
 first, that a subject in the hypnotic state is constantly 
 amenable to control by suggestion; second, that in the 
 hypnotic state the subject has complete control over 
 the functions and sensations of his body; and, con¬ 
 sequently, that if the suggestion is made to a hypnotized 
 subject that he feels no pain, all pain instantly ceases. 
 It is thus that a state of anaesthesia is induced v/hich 
 enables a surgeon to amputate a limb without inflicting 
 the slightest pain upon the patient. 
 
 Bernheim pertinently remarks that “ it is suggestion 
 
 1 Suggestive Therapeutics, p. 15. 
 
HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY 
 
 243 
 
 that rules hypnotism.” This is true in the sense that 
 when a subject is in the hypnotic state he is constantly 
 amenable to control by the power of suggestion. This 
 is the fundamental law of hypnotism. It is also true 
 that hypnotism may be induced by suggestion. The 
 Nancy school holds that it is and can be induced in no 
 other way. This, as I have elsewhere ^ pointed out, is 
 a fundamental error; and it is an error that has led to 
 many erroneous conclusions regarding psychic phe¬ 
 nomena of various classes. 
 
 It is also an error to suppose that it requires a state of 
 profound hypnotic sleep to induce a state of anaesthesia. 
 It is this error that has led to the belief that hypnotism 
 cannot be generally employed as an anaesthetic in sur¬ 
 gery. It is my belief that in a great majority of cases 
 it can be successfully so employed. I do not pretend to 
 dogmatize on the subject. It is too early for that. But 
 I do say that there are facts in abundance which point 
 in that direction; and they are facts within the common 
 knowledge and experience of mankind. I propose to 
 invite the attention of the medical profession to a few 
 of these facts for the sole purpose of stimulating inquiry 
 and suggesting a line of experiment, which may or may 
 not lead to important results, but which can at least do 
 no harm. If successful, they will demonstrate the ex¬ 
 istence of a law, hitherto unsuspected, which, properly 
 understood and intelligently applied, will enable the pro¬ 
 fession to employ hypnotism as a universal anaesthetic 
 in surgery. 
 
 The fundamental propositions of my hypothesis are 
 few and easily understood. They are: 
 
 I. Persons in the hypnotic state are constantly amen¬ 
 able to control by suggestion. 
 
 ^ See The Law of Psychic Phenomena, p. 89. 
 
244 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 2. The hypnotic state can be induced without the aid 
 of suggestion. 
 
 The first of these propositions no hypnotist of intelli¬ 
 gence will question. It is, as before remarked, the fun¬ 
 damental law of hypnotism, and little time will be 
 employed in its elucidation. It is, however, not so gen¬ 
 erally known that the proposition is true of all grades 
 and degrees of hypnotism. Bernheim has very clearly 
 pointed out the fact that suggestion is potent in many 
 subjects even in what he terms the “waking state”; 
 although it must be doubted whether any one in a per¬ 
 fectly normal condition can be influenced by suggestion 
 so far as to produce a hallucination. That is to say, it 
 must not be understood that the term “ waking state ” 
 implies that the patient is in no degree hypnotized. It 
 only means that the patient is hypnotized in so slight a 
 degree that he appears to be awake and in his normal 
 condition. There must always be some degree of hyp¬ 
 nosis— some abeyance of the objective faculties — to 
 render the subject amenable to control by suggestion. 
 But that degree may be very slight, as the following 
 observations by Bernheim will demonstrate: 
 
 “ Some of them at least show exactly the same phenomena in 
 the waking condition as in the hypnotic state; some exhibit 
 suggestive catalepsy with muscular contraction, or a varying 
 contracture only; others, catalepsy with automatic movements; 
 others, at the same time, suggestive sensitivo-sensorial anaesthesia; 
 and others still, all suggestive phenomena up to hallucination.” 
 (^Suggestive Therapeutics, p. 79.) 
 
 Again, on page 81, we find the following: 
 
 “In one of my somnambulistic cases (S-, whose history 
 
 I have already given) I can obtain all possible modifications of 
 sensibility in the waking condition. It suffices to say, ‘Your 
 left side is insensible.’ Then, if I prick his left arm with a pin, 
 stick the pin into his nostril, touch the mucous membrane of his 
 
HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY 
 
 245 
 
 eye, or tickle his throat, he does not move. The other side of 
 his body reacts. I transfer the anaesthesia from the left to the 
 right side. I produce total anaesthesia, which was, on one occa¬ 
 sion so profound that my chef de cliniqxie pulled out the roots 
 of five teeth which were deeply imbedded in the gums, twisting 
 them around in their sockets for more than ten minutes. I 
 simply said to the patient, ‘ You will have no feeling whatever.’ 
 He laughed as he spit out the blood, and did not show the least 
 symptom of pain.” 
 
 On page 83 the following case is related: 
 
 “In G-(Marie, whose case I have already related) I can 
 
 induce catalepsy, automatic movements, anaesthesia, and hallu¬ 
 cinations in the waking condition. I wish only to speak of the 
 anaesthesia. After having ascertained that sensation throughout 
 the body was perfect, I said to her, ‘ You have absolutely no 
 more feeling in your right upper limb, it is just as if dead.’ 
 With her eyes closed she no longer reacts to the pin. She does 
 not know whether her arm is up or on the bed; her muscular 
 sense is gone. In order to e.xclude all idea of deception, I use 
 Du Bois-Reymond’s apparatus, varying the intensity of the cur¬ 
 rent by alternately separating and approximating the coils of 
 the induction apparatus. A rule graded into centimetres indi¬ 
 cates the degree of separation of the coils. Now I have already 
 determined that the tingling caused by the electricity was per¬ 
 ceived by this subject when the separation between the ends was 
 five centimetres, and that the pain became unendurable, the 
 patient drawing back the arm suddenly, when the separation 
 was from three to two centimetres. These figures remained 
 absolutely the same when her eyes were tightly closed, so that 
 she could not have observed the degree of separation, and I 
 have proved this several times. By this means I determined 
 that the pain is really perceived and not pretended. 
 
 “ This being granted, I provoke anaesthesia b)' affirmation, and 
 place the electrodes on her arm with the greatest current attain¬ 
 able with the greatest approximation of the coils. The painful 
 sensation thus produced is normally absolutely unbearable.” 
 
 Professor Bernheim was, I believe, the first to mention 
 these phenomena of suggestion in the waking condi¬ 
 tion, in a report made to the Congress for the Ad¬ 
 vancement of Science in 1883. They have since been 
 confirmed by his European contemporaries, Bottoy, Du- 
 
246 THE EVOLUTIOH OF THE SOUL 
 
 montpallier, Richet, and others; and in this country the 
 same phenomenon was independently observed by Dr. 
 Hammond. 
 
 It must be remembered, however, that these subjects 
 were patients of Professor Bernheim, and had fre¬ 
 quently been hypnotized by him before the experiments 
 were tried. The cases have, however, a direct bearing 
 upon the question before us, inasmuch as they show how 
 slight a degree of hypnosis is necessary to enable the 
 operator to produce a state of complete analgesia by 
 suggestion; for it is obvious that a surgical operation 
 of the most severe character could have been performed 
 upon either of the patients mentioned. They are de¬ 
 monstrative that it is not necessary to induce a state of 
 profound hypnotic lethargy in order to perform a pain¬ 
 less surgical operation. 
 
 My second proposition, that “ the hypnotic state can 
 be induced without the aid of suggestion,” will now be 
 discussed. I have shown, in The Law of Psychic Phe¬ 
 nomena, by quotations from the works of Dr. Braid, the 
 father of modern scientific hypnotism and the origi¬ 
 nator of the term, that a state of profound hypnosis can 
 be induced without the aid of suggestion. I shall not 
 repeat my observations there made, but will attempt to 
 show that Nature has provided a means for the induc¬ 
 tion of the hypnotic state in all cases where a surgical 
 operation becomes a necessity. 
 
 In attempting to do this I shall rest content if I can 
 make a prima facie case. I will endeavor to show that 
 the law (of nature) is on my side, and will then sub¬ 
 mit the case to a jury of experts consisting of the 
 medical profession. 
 
 I will now invite attention to a few well-known facts 
 the significance of which never seems to have been ap- 
 
HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY 
 
 247 
 
 preciated. In the work before mentioned I have drawn 
 attention to the fact that when a person is in imminent 
 and deadly peril he is instantly thrown into a state of 
 anaesthesia; or, in other words, into a partially hypnotic 
 condition. It is the universal testimony of soldiers who 
 have been in battle that the moment the fight com¬ 
 mences all fear vanishes. It is also the universal tes¬ 
 timony of those who have been wounded that a stricken 
 soldier never feels a wound, and never knows he is 
 wounded until he is disabled. Surgeon-General Ham¬ 
 mond once remarked in my hearing: “ A soldier never 
 knows he is wounded unless he is stricken down; and, 
 if his wound is mortal, he dies without pain and without 
 regret.” It seems to be a universal law that, when death 
 is inevitable, the nearer it approaches the less it is feared; 
 and that, when it comes, it brings no pain and no sor¬ 
 row to its victim. The reason is obvious. The patient 
 passes into a hypnotic state, or a condition cognate 
 thereto; and he is in a complete state of analgesia, body 
 and mind, if the term may be applied to the condition of 
 exemption from mental suffering. The phenomenon is 
 strikingly exhibited in cases of criminals who have been 
 sentenced to be hanged. The moment all hope is lost 
 and death is inevitable, they relapse into a state of pro¬ 
 found indifference; and, when the fatal hour arrives, 
 they march to their doom without fear, without emotion, 
 and without regret. It is often said of them that they 
 “ exhibited great courage ” and “ died game.” The 
 truth is that Nature has done for them just what it does 
 for all living creatures, — namely, it has, upon the ap¬ 
 proach of death, thrown them into that subjective or 
 hypnotic condition which banishes pain and robs death 
 of its terrors. 
 
 Volumes might be filled with illustrations of the fact. 
 
248 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 which is well known to the medical profession, that 
 when death is imminent or inevitable Nature provides 
 an anaesthetic in the hypnotic condition which insures an 
 easy and painless, if not a pleasurable, passage to the 
 other side. I say “ hypnotic condition,” because it pos¬ 
 sesses all the salient characteristics of that state, even 
 to suggestibility, as is shown in the well-known fact 
 that the hallucinations of the dying invariably corre¬ 
 spond to the suggestions embraced in their lifelong 
 beliefs. 
 
 I now desire to invite attention to another class of 
 facts, which are equally well known, but the significance 
 of which does not seem to have been appreciated. I will 
 begin by citing one which almost any one of adult age 
 can verify from experience. Did any one ever go to 
 a dentist’s office with a raging toothache and a firm res¬ 
 olution to have the offending member removed, without 
 finding that all pain ceased as soon as the dentist’s office 
 was reached ? If any one has had a different experience 
 the fact has not been recorded. There may have been 
 apparent exceptions to the rule, but it will be found that, 
 in every case where the tooth did not cease to ache when 
 the dentist’s office was reached, it was because the pa¬ 
 tient had not fully made up his mind to part with the 
 tooth without first making an effort to save it by some 
 means less heroic than elimination. It may be safely 
 said that, in all cases of toothache where extraction is 
 resolved upon, the pain ceases when the patient ap¬ 
 proaches the operating chair. This phenomenon means 
 something. Nature does not produce phenomena for fun, 
 and it is the province of science to interpret this meaning 
 on lines which will relieve Nature from the imputation 
 of habitually perpetrating a joke on the victims of tooth¬ 
 ache. Here, then, is a state of local anscsthesia in- 
 
HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY 
 
 249 
 
 duced by a mental emotion. That emotion is produced 
 by an approach to a surgical operation. The question is, 
 What is the mental condition thus produced? Is it not 
 a condition cognate to that of hypnotism, and identical 
 with that induced by imminent and deadly peril? Cer¬ 
 tainly the phenomena are the same, and we have there¬ 
 fore a right to infer that the cause is the same. Nor 
 does this phenomenon stand alone. It is more fre¬ 
 quently observed than any other, because every one has 
 had teeth pulled. But it is also true that in other surgi¬ 
 cal operations all pain ceases when the surgeon begins 
 to display his instruments in presence of the patient. 
 This being true, it may be set down as a general propo¬ 
 sition, provisionally at least, that the near approach to 
 a surgical operation will always induce the hypnotic 
 state in a degree sufficient to produce local ancesthesia 
 in the part about to be amputated or operated upon. 
 
 We have now seen how slight a degree of hypnosis 
 is required to render a subject amenable to control by 
 suggestion. We have seen that the subject, even in the 
 “ waking condition,” may be so completely anjESthetized 
 by suggestion as to bear without the slightest sensation 
 a torture which “ is normally absolutely unbearable.” 
 It is also v/ell known to every intelligent student of h3'p- 
 notism that persons in the hypnotic state are constantly 
 amenable to control by suggestion. This, as has been 
 rem.arked, is the fundamental law of hypnotism. It is 
 a corollary of these propositions that, when a patient is 
 about to undergo a surgical operation, he is invariably 
 thrown into a partially hypnotic state, and that conse¬ 
 quently all that is needed to insure a painless operation 
 is a vigorous and an intelligent suggestion that he will 
 feel no pain. 
 
 I cannot but be aware that this is a conclusion so radi- 
 
250 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 cally at variance with all that has been written on the 
 subject that credulity will be taxed and proofs de¬ 
 manded. I will therefore present a few of the many 
 facts which might be cited in support of my hypothesis. 
 An eye-witness, well known to me to be entirely trust¬ 
 worthy, relates the following: 
 
 “ A boy in St. Louis had one of his legs crushed in a street-car 
 accident, and amputation became necessary. A local hypnotist 
 undertook to hypnotize the patient, but failed to produce anything 
 approaching sleep. In making the attempt, however, he strongly 
 suggested anaesthesia. When it became apparent that the boy 
 could not be put to sleep, the surgeon proceeded with the oper¬ 
 ation without administering anaesthetics; and, to the surprise of 
 every one present, the hypnotist included, the boy felt not the 
 slightest pain, and conversed coolly and cheerfully during the 
 whole operation.” 
 
 In this case the boy knew nothing of hypnotism or its 
 expected effect upon him, save that it would secure 
 immunity from pain, and he believed that the mysterious 
 passes were all that were required. 
 
 A prominent Washington physician relates the fol¬ 
 lowing, not of his own experience, but the facts of which 
 he verified beyond doubt: 
 
 “ A country fiddler had a bad leg which it became necessary to 
 amputate. The surgeon came at the appointed time, prepared 
 with an anaesthetic, which he was about to administer. The 
 patient refused to take it, however, and insisted upon having his 
 fiddle brought to him, saying: ‘ Just give me my old fiddle. I 
 have always fiddled my pains away, and I can do it now.’ The 
 fiddle was brought and he played during the whole operation, 
 and declared that he felt no pain whatever.” 
 
 It will be observed that this case illustrates very 
 clearly the fact that auto-suggestion is as potent a factor 
 in hypnotism as suggestion by another. 
 
 Another case of auto-suggestion was related by the 
 same physician: 
 
HYPNOTISM IN .SURGERY 
 
 251 
 
 “ The patient had been a sufferer for many years from a dis¬ 
 ease of the knee-cap. The skill of the medical profession had 
 been taxed to the utmost limit in a vain effort to mitigate his 
 sufferings, and finally it was decided that amputation was neces¬ 
 sary. It was proposed to administer chloroform, but the patient 
 refused. ‘ I have suffered so much misery from the thing,’ said 
 he, ‘that I am determined to be an eye-witness to my own de¬ 
 liverance. I am sure it will feel good to have it removed.’ The 
 operation was proceeded with, and the patient declared that the 
 sensation was actually pleasurable, and his actions verified his 
 statement.” 
 
 A lady of my acquaintance informs me that she pos¬ 
 sesses the power to prevent all pain when having her 
 own teeth drawn, or when having them filled, by “ treat¬ 
 ing herself ” mentally, after the manner of the “ Chris¬ 
 tian Scientists.” A case of effective auto-suggestion, 
 pure and simple.^ 
 
 A few years ago an itinerant lecturer (subject not 
 now remembered) was in the habit of closing his even¬ 
 ing’s entertainment by offering to pull teeth, “ without 
 pay, pain, or ansesthetics.” To inspire confidence and 
 make it a possible object, he offered to give twenty dol- 
 
 ^ Since the manuscript of this paper was forwarded to the pub¬ 
 lishers I have received a letter from a captain in the British army, 
 whose name I do not now feel at liberty to use, detailing an experi¬ 
 ment which he personally made. He knew nothing, at the time, of my 
 theories on the subject beyond what he had read in The Law of Psychic 
 Phenomena, but the result furnishes a striking illustration of the prin¬ 
 ciple herein set forth. His wife had a bad tooth, and a dentist was 
 consulted, who informed her that, as the nerve was bare, she would 
 not be able to undergo the necessary operation without anaesthetics. 
 
 This she refused to submit to, but fixed a time for the operation. 
 
 When the time came her husband strongly suggested to her that she 
 would feel no pain, and instructed her to l^old the aufo'-suggestion in 
 her own mind during the operation. The result is summed up in the 
 captain’s letter to me as follows: “Not only did she not suffer the 
 slightest particle of pain, even when ,the dentist was working by 
 the nerve, but she could not f4el the tooth being operated on. And 
 this is what caused the dentist’s surprise. I worked by your plan of 
 suggestion." ^ 
 
 1. iliialuifi 
 
252 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 lars to any one who would submit to the operation and 
 assert upon honor that any pain was felt. Two eye¬ 
 witnesses of undoubted probity have informed me that 
 they saw several teeth drawn under those conditions, 
 and that each patient declared that it was a painless 
 operation. 
 
 Surgeon-General Hammond, in a clinical lecture de¬ 
 livered at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School 
 some years ago, referred to a hysterical patient of his 
 who was so absolutely controllable by suggestion that a 
 hallucination of any kind could be produced in her 
 waking condition. He adds: 
 
 “ I could at any time render this patient insensible to pain 
 by simply telling her emphatically that all sense or feeling was 
 abolished. I once opened a ‘ bone felon ’ on the index finger of 
 her right hand, carrying the knife down to the bone and incising 
 the periosteum without her being sensible of the slightest sensa¬ 
 tion, and without her being hypnotized in the sense that we give 
 to the word. I merely told her decidedly that she would feel no 
 pain, and she felt none.” 
 
 Those who have had a “ bone felon lanced will ad¬ 
 mit that this was a crucial test of anaesthesia. 
 
 It should not be forgotten in this connection that the 
 same law applies with equal, or even greater, force to 
 obstetrical cases. The writer has personal knowledge 
 of several cases of painless childbirth where the sug¬ 
 gestion of anaesthesia was given by professed “ mental 
 healers.” If a suggestion in this form is thus effective, 
 how much more potent must be a suggestion made by 
 one who is present and reinforced by such auxiliary 
 manipulations as hypnotists know how to employ! 
 
 Many other cases might be cited, but space forbids. 
 The salient point to be observed in all these cases is 
 that they are illustrative of a universal principle or law 
 
HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY 
 
 253 
 
 of nature; and that law is that the emotion of fear or 
 of dread, as of death, or of a surgical operation, or of 
 imminent parturition, will invariably throw the patient 
 into the subjective condition; and that, in that condi¬ 
 tion, the subject is constantly amenable to control by 
 suggestion. This appears to be a universal law, and it 
 applies alike to animals as to mankind, modified by the 
 different degrees of intelligence and the consequent fa¬ 
 cility for imparting a suggestion. It is well known that 
 many animials can be readily hypnotized by seizure and 
 forcible confinement for a short time, as was demon¬ 
 strated as early as 1646 by Kircher’s well-known ex¬ 
 periment with a hen. Since then many other animals 
 have been hypnotized by a similar means; and in some 
 cases it has been demonstrated that a perfect state of 
 analgesia is produced. Thus, Surgeon-General Ham¬ 
 mond, whose reputation as an accurate scientific ob¬ 
 server is international, has succeeded in hypnotizing 
 frogs, by seizure, so profoundly that he was enabled to 
 cut the animal open its whole length without its moving, 
 or apparently experiencing the least sensation.^ Dr. 
 Hammond also succeeded in hypnotizing crabs to the 
 extent of producing a state of perfect analgesia; and 
 many other animals were hypnotized by him, both by 
 seizure and by Braid’s methods. A volume might be 
 filled with illustrative incidents showing that animals 
 and men are alike susceptible to hypnotization by excit¬ 
 ing the emotion of fear or dread. One of the favorite 
 methods of inducing hypnosis, employed by the late 
 Professor Charcot, was by suddenly and unexpectedly 
 sounding a gong near the patient’s ears; or by flashing 
 a Drummond light in his eyes.^ 
 
 1 Nervous Derangement, third edition, p. 20. 
 
 * Animal Magnetism, Binet and Fere. 
 
254 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 I cannot more appropriately conclude this part of my 
 theme than by calling attention to the well-known facts 
 of the history of the Christian martyrs, and their alleged 
 immunity from pain while undergoing the most horrible 
 tortures. The following quotation from Dr. Charpi- 
 gnon ^ must suffice: 
 
 “Among the martyrs of Christianity many escaped pain 
 through the ecstasy which came from the ardor of their faith, a 
 phenomenon well known to their executioners, who increased 
 their fury and improved their inventions for punishment. In the 
 same way, at the time of the tortures of the Inquisition, certain 
 individuals became insensible under the influence of their faith 
 in the somniferous virtue of some talisman. Upon this point I 
 will give the following passage, an extract from Secrets tnerveil- 
 leux de la ?nagie naturelle et cabalistique (i2mo, Lyons, 1629). 
 ‘ Some rascals trusted so strongly in the secrets they possessed 
 to make themselves insensible to pain, that they voluntarily gave 
 themselves up as prisoners, to cleanse themselves of certain sins. 
 Some use certain words pronounced in a low voice, and others 
 writings which they hide on some part of their body. The first 
 one I recognized as using some sort of charm surprised us by 
 his more than natural firmness, because after the first stretching 
 of the rack, he seemed to sleep as quietly as if he had been in a 
 good bed, without lamenting, complaining, or crying, and when 
 the stretching was repeated two or three times, he still remained 
 as motionless as a statue. This made us suspect that he was 
 provided with some charm, and to resolve the doubt he was 
 stripped as naked as his hand. Yet after a careful search 
 nothing was found on him but a little piece of paper on which 
 were the figures of the three kings, with these words on the 
 other side: “ Beautiful star which delivered the Magi from 
 Herod’s persecution, deliver me from all torment.” This paper 
 was stuffed in his left ear. Now, although the paper had been 
 taken away from him, he still appeared insensible to the torture, 
 because when it was applied he muttered words between his 
 teeth which we could not hear, and as he persevered in his 
 denials it was necessary to send him back to prison.’ ” 
 
 It will be obvious to the intelligent reader that the 
 emotion of fear induced the hypnotic state, and that the 
 
 ^ £tudes sur la viidecine animique et vitalisie. 
 
HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY 255 
 
 talisman operated as a suggestion which produced a 
 state of perfect analgesia. 
 
 That these facts have some significance goes without 
 saying. That they point to some universM law of na¬ 
 ture is self-evident. That that law, when once dis¬ 
 covered, will be found to be for the highest good of 
 mankind is a proposition sanctioned by the results of 
 every discovery yet made in the realm of natural law. 
 
 Nature is ever kind to the victim of the inevitable. 
 The truth of this proposition is exemplified in the uni¬ 
 versal immunity from suffering of all animate creatures 
 during the process of dissolution. We have seen that 
 the process by which this immunity is secured is by the 
 spontaneous induction of the hypnotic condition at the 
 approach of death. We have also seen that the same 
 hypnotic condition is spontaneously induced when a 
 surgical operation becomes inevitable. Have we not 
 a right to infer that Nature has provided for the same 
 immunity from suffering during a surgical operation, 
 or during parturition, as it has for those who are called 
 upon to undergo the process of dissolution? The con¬ 
 ditions are the same; but the suggestion has been differ¬ 
 ent, owing to our ignorance of the law. We have been 
 taught that death “eases us of all (bodily) pain”; and it 
 does. The suggestion in that case is on the side of 
 immunity; and the result is that, no matter what form 
 death may assume, the victim dies “ without pain and 
 without regret.” On the other hand, our daily ex¬ 
 perience constitutes a suggestion that cutting and muti¬ 
 lation cause pain. That suggestion, in the absence of 
 a contrary one, is carried over into the subjective 
 condition which precedes and accompanies a surgical 
 operation, and the patient suffers accordingly. Again, 
 the curse pronounced upon our grandmother Eve op- 
 
256 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 crates as an ever-present suggestion to the mothers 
 of Christendom that painful parturition is an inalien¬ 
 able inheritance; whereas, among other races, this in¬ 
 evitable crisis in every normal woman’s life is attended 
 with comparatively little pain or inconvenience. Now, 
 is it not obvious that all we have to do in order to 
 overcome the suggestion conveyed by our ordinary 
 normal experience is to offer to the already hypno¬ 
 tised patient a counter-suggestion to the effect that no 
 pain will be felt during the operation? The patient 
 is in that condition which renders all mankind amen¬ 
 able to control by suggestion; and the suggestion of 
 immunity from pain operates on the lines of nature’s 
 least resistance. 
 
 One word as to the practical method of applying these 
 principles. It is obvious that, in order to overcome the 
 suggestion embraced in the daily normal experience of 
 mankind, the counter-suggestion should be made in 
 some way that will strongly appeal to the imagination 
 of the patient. It should be made strongly, vigorously, 
 positively, but with due regard to the beliefs, the preju¬ 
 dices, and the general idiosyncrasies of the individual. 
 As in other cases where suggestion is employed, success 
 depends upon the manner in which it is enforced. Hyp¬ 
 notists will readily understand my meaning, and those 
 who are not hypnotists can readily acquire the neces¬ 
 sary information by consulting any modern standard 
 work of the Nancy school. One thing, however, should 
 never be lost sight of, and that is the necessity of im¬ 
 pressing upon the mind of the patient the fact that a 
 profound hypnotic sleep is not an essential prerequisite 
 to the successful employment of hypnotism as an aiv- 
 cesthetic in surgery. 
 
XI 
 
 THE DANGER LINES IN HYPNOTISM 
 
 T here are two danger lines in hypnotism. 
 One pertains to the moral well-being of the 
 subject, and the other to his physical and 
 mental health. 
 
 Two questions are thus presented for consideration. 
 The first is, how far and under what conditions may 
 hypnotism be employed for the promotion of vice, im¬ 
 morality, and crime? And the second is, under what 
 conditions may hypnotism become a source of danger to 
 the physical and mental health of the subject? 
 
 The first of these questions has been so thoroughly 
 discussed of late, under the title of Hypnotism and 
 Crime, that there is little to be said that would be new 
 to the reader. Indeed, so persistently has this question 
 been discussed, and so ably has it been obscured by the 
 newspaper press, that the public is fast settling down 
 into the belief that two monstrous entities have recently 
 sprung into existence, formed a copartnership, and are 
 now engaged in a diabolical business under the firm 
 name and style of Hypnotism and Crime. I will not 
 attempt to disabuse the public mind of the favorite idea, 
 but will content myself with pointing out to the profes¬ 
 sional reader the principal source of error which besets 
 those who hold that the two, if not necessarily insepa- 
 
 17 
 
258 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Table, belong to the same category of offences against 
 the peace and dignity of the state. 
 
 The truth is that the whole difficulty arises from the 
 inability of a certain class of persons to take more than 
 one step in the process of reasoning. Thus, when such 
 reasoners have once been able to master the broad idea 
 that “the hypnotized subject is constantly amenable to 
 control by the power of suggestion,” they at once jump 
 to the conclusion that said subject, in the hands of the 
 hypnotist, is as clay in the hands of the potter; that he 
 is a mere automaton, without volition of his own; that 
 he has surrendered his personality and his will to the 
 keeping of the operator, and is, consequently, irresistibly 
 compelled to obey the slightest injunction of his custo¬ 
 dian, even to the extent of perpetrating high crimes and 
 misdemeanors. Such reasoners, when informed that 
 gravitation is a universal force, and that the sun attracts 
 the earth, would affirm, with equal confidence and 
 reason, that the latter must inevitably plunge into the 
 former and be consumed. They would forget, or be 
 unable to comprehend, the further fact that other planets 
 attract the earth, and thus, by virtue of the universality 
 of the law of gravitation, counter forces exert their ever¬ 
 present influence upon the earth and upon the whole 
 planetary system, in such a way as forever to prevent 
 the anticipated “ wreck of matter and crush of worlds.” 
 
 Strange as it may seem to those persons, the hypnotic 
 subject is hedged about and protected by counter forces 
 that operate to preserve his moral equilibrium in ways 
 that are as nearly analogous to those I have used as an 
 illustration as a moral force can be to a physical force. 
 In other words, the suggestions of the operator to the 
 hypnotized subject may be, and are, constantly counter- 
 
THE DANGER LINES IN HYPNOTISM 259 
 
 balanced by other suggestions. This is a fact which the 
 average student of theoretical hypnotism is slow to 
 learn; and yet it is the most important fact in the whole 
 science. These counter-suggestions, as I have pointed 
 out elsewhere,^ may arise from the instinct of self- 
 preservation, education, experience, religion, principles 
 of moral rectitude, or even from a sense of personal 
 dignity. These I have classified under the term “ auto¬ 
 suggestions.” 
 
 I do not undertake to say that suggestions arising 
 from either one of the sources named, or from all of 
 them combined, would in all cases afford protection to 
 a hypnotized subject against suggestions of a criminal 
 character. In other words, I do not deny the propo¬ 
 sition that it is possible, under certain conditions, for a 
 hypnotized subject to be induced by a criminal hypnotist 
 to commit a crime; and I know of no one who does 
 deny it. 
 
 This being conceded, it becomes important to locate 
 the danger line, or rather the line of safety, — the line 
 beyond which neither an immoral nor a criminal sugges¬ 
 tion can ever prevail. 
 
 That line is clearly defined by Conscience, — that 
 sleepless sentinel on the watchtower of the human soul, 
 which guards and protects each one who is endowed 
 with that faculty from the assaults of sin and shame. 
 
 By this I do not mean that quality of “ conscience ” 
 which “ makes cowards of us all,” which consists of, or 
 is manifested in, fear of the consequences of wrong¬ 
 doing. By “ conscience ” I mean “ that power or faculty 
 in man,” whether it be connate with him or the result of 
 moral education or training, “ by which he distinguishes 
 ^ See The Law of Psychic Phenomena, 
 
26 o 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 between right and wrong in conduct and character, and 
 which imperatively commands and obligates him to do 
 the right and abstain from doing the wrong.” ^ 
 
 It is obvious that, given a criminal hypnotist and a 
 weak and criminal subject, no one of the other sources 
 of auto-suggestion which I have named would of ne¬ 
 cessity protect the latter against the determined and 
 persistent oral suggestions of the former. Thus the 
 “ instinct of self-preservation,” which is ordinarily the 
 source of one of the strongest auto-suggestions, is not 
 always adequate, since it is well known that men, in an 
 apparently normal condition, often place themselves in 
 imminent and deadly peril in pursuit of a criminal 
 object. “Education and experience” are plainly in¬ 
 adequate, for it is well known that many of the most 
 notorious criminals have not been lacking in these ad¬ 
 vantages. “ Religion,” per se, is notoriously inadequate 
 as a means of protection, since it is well known that the 
 brigands of Italy are as devout as they are devilish. 
 “ A sense of personal dignity ” constitutes a strong 
 auto-suggestion against doing that which would excite 
 ridicule; but obviously it would only operate indirectly 
 against criminal suggestion. “ Principles of moral rec¬ 
 titude,” however, stand upon a somewhat different foot¬ 
 ing, inasmuch as they are, if genuine, but another name 
 for conscience. But unfortunately there are many men 
 who are imbued with “ principles of moral rectitude ” 
 “ for revenue only ”; who are honest only because 
 honesty is the best policy ; who take the law for 
 their guide in all business transactions. Such men are 
 seldom either truly honest men or good citizens. Plainly 
 their “ principles,” although they may constitute the best 
 
 1 Standard Dictionary. 
 
THE DANGER LINES IN HYPNOTISM 261 
 
 available substitute for a conscience, would of them¬ 
 selves furnish no adequate or certain protection against 
 criminal suggestion. 
 
 Let me not be misunderstood. I do not mean to say 
 that auto-suggestions arising from the sources named 
 would afford no protection against the suggestions of 
 a criminal hypnotist. I merely say that they may not 
 afford adequate protection in the absence of conscience. 
 That each constitutes a powerful bulwark against the 
 assaults of a criminal hypnotist, I most unhesitatingly 
 affirm. They are constantly alert, jointly and severally, 
 for the protection of the individual; the instinct of self- 
 preservation, in the absence of conscience, being always 
 the dominating factor. But when a man has risen in 
 the scale of humanity and civilization to the dignity 
 of being in possession of that power or faculty which 
 “ imperatively commands and obligates him to do the 
 right and abstain from doing the wrong,” he is in¬ 
 trenched within a citadel against which no power of 
 criminal suggestion can prevail. 
 
 The simple rule is that when two opposing sugges¬ 
 tions are presented to the subjective mind of a hypno¬ 
 tized subject, the stronger must prevail. This is a rule 
 which admits of no exception or variation. It follows 
 that when the plea is offered in a court of justice, in 
 extenuation of a criminal or immoral act, that the 
 subject was coerced by criminal suggestion, it amounts 
 to a general confession that his immoral or criminal 
 desire is stronger than all other considerations com¬ 
 bined ; and it amounts to a specific proclamation of the 
 fact that the alleged victim is devoid of conscientious 
 scruples regarding the particular crime which he has 
 committed. 
 
262 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 From the nature of things it can never be specifically 
 known how many, or what character of adverse auto¬ 
 suggestions may have been overcome by a successful 
 criminal suggestion; but one thing is always certain, 
 and that is that in reference to the particular crime, the 
 guilty subject is devoid of conscientious scruples. 
 
 Conscience not only marks the line between the 
 realms of danger and safety in the hypnotized subject, 
 but it also defines the limit of control which the objec¬ 
 tive mind normally exercises over the subjective mind. 
 That is to say, in the normal man the objective intellect 
 exercises supreme control over the dual mental organ¬ 
 ism, up to a certain limit. That limit, again, is defined 
 by conscience. When, in the progress of mental and 
 moral evolution, man reaches that stage of development 
 — that moral altitude — where conscience becomes an 
 attribute of the soul, the love of the right and hatred 
 of the wrong become an emotion of such supreme po¬ 
 tentiality that nothing, not even the love of life, nor the 
 fear of the tortures of the Inquisition, can prevail against 
 it. This emotion, of course, varies in strength and in¬ 
 tensity with each individual, in accordance with his 
 education and moral development; and it may be per¬ 
 verted, even to the extent of causing insanity. The 
 point is that it is an emotion, and therefore belongs to 
 the subjective mind; and in the normal man, whose 
 environm.ent has been favorable, and whose training 
 and education have been along the lines of truth and 
 right, and in harmony with reason, this emotion becomes 
 the dominant characteristic of his mental organism. It 
 is then that the subjective mind, rightfully and normally, 
 assumes the ascendancy, conscience becomes instinctive, 
 the perception of the eternal principles of right and 
 
THE DANGER LINES IN HYPNOTISM 263 
 
 wrong becomes intuitive; and the immortal part of man, 
 drawing inspiration from the Eternal Source of Truth 
 and Right, becomes an “ inward monitor ” whose sleep¬ 
 less vigilance guards and protects him and repels every 
 assault upon the integrity of his character. 
 
 I am not unmindful of the fact, as I have before in¬ 
 timated, that conscience, like every other human emotion 
 or faculty, may be perverted, and its forces expended in 
 wrong directions. Witness the great army of cranks 
 who infest every civilized community. No more con¬ 
 scientious men or women exist than they whose zeal 
 in the cause of “ reform ” has led them into the belief 
 that whatever is, is wrong. Many of them, had they the 
 power, would crucify, or exterminate with fire and 
 sword, all who differ with them in opinion. No nobler 
 or purer race existed in their day and generation than 
 those of whom history records the fact that they would 
 suffer martyrdom or expatriation for conscience’ sake, 
 but who, in turn, would apply the fagot and the torch to 
 those whose views were not in harmony with their own. 
 
 I need not dwell upon this branch of the subject, how¬ 
 ever, for it does not pertain directly to the question 
 under consideration. It is mentioned here, first, for the 
 purpose of showing that the noblest attribute of civil¬ 
 ized man may be perverted by an unfortunate environ¬ 
 ment or the suggestions embraced in a false education; 
 and, second, for the purpose of exhibiting in a stronger 
 light the fact that conscience, when once aroused, is the 
 dominating force in the whole character of man. The 
 fact that it may be perverted, however, does not militate 
 against or modify the proposition I have advanced; for 
 it does not follow that because a man would wish to see 
 exterminated all whose views on social or religious 
 
264 the evolution of the soul 
 
 questions do not accord with his, he would commit a 
 private murder, rape, or arson in obedience to hypnotic 
 suggestion, or of his own volition. Only those whose 
 perversions have reached the stage of insanity could be 
 thus influenced. 
 
 The proposition, therefore, still holds good that the 
 auto-suggestions embraced in conscientious scruples 
 against the commission of immoral or criminal acts are 
 more potent than any possible suggestion of a criminal 
 character. 
 
 The next question is, under what conditions may hyp¬ 
 notism become a source of danger to physical and mental 
 health ? 
 
 Students of theoretical hypnotism are about equally 
 divided into two classes, namely: i, those who hold that 
 hypnotism can never be otherwise than beneficial to the 
 subject; and, 2, those who can see untold evils environ¬ 
 ing a hypnotized person and threatening him with ner¬ 
 vous wreck and imbecility. As usual, the truth lies 
 somewhere about half way between the two extremes. 
 
 Hypnotism may become an unmitigated evil to the 
 subject, or it m.ay result in unqualified benefit to him. 
 Between the two extremes there are all grades and 
 degrees of good results, as well as of evil, to the hyp¬ 
 notic subject. 
 
 This being true, it is of the highest importance to all 
 concerned to locate the danger line; for obviously there 
 must be some broad, fundamental principle underlying 
 the subject matter which has not yet been discovered or 
 definitely formulated, and which will account for the 
 wide range of difference of opinion among experts 
 of apparently equal skill and capacity for correct 
 observation. 
 
THE DANGER LINES IN HYPNOTISM 26$ 
 
 It is true that in this connection we often hear hyp¬ 
 notists speak of degrees of skill in the induction of 
 hypnosis; and we infer from their observations that 
 they regard skill in that line as the essential element of 
 success in the production of good results; but, whilst 
 the importance of skill and experience is not to be under¬ 
 rated, it is nevertheless true that often the most skilful 
 and experienced hypnotist will leave his subject a ner¬ 
 vous wreck. I admit that this is rare, but it is possible, 
 nevertheless. It is not, therefore, skill alone that defines 
 the danger line. 
 
 I have not space, however, to discuss the various 
 theories which have been advanced to account for the 
 fact under consideration; but will proceed to suggest, 
 tentatively, a hypothesis which may throw some light 
 upon the subject and induce others to consider the facts, 
 experimentally, from that standpoint. 
 
 It seems to me that the chief difficulty arises from not 
 fully comprehending the true import of the law of sug¬ 
 gestion. Like every other law of nature, it is simple; 
 but that quality lies largely in the simplicity of the terms 
 in which it can be formulated. The law itself embraces 
 many complications, which, if left out of consideration 
 in any given case, will involve the student in a maze 
 of apparent contradictions. 
 
 The subjective mind, while it is always amenable to 
 control by the power of suggestion, and while it often 
 accepts a false suggestion with the same readiness with 
 which it accepts a true one, is, nevertheless, normally 
 a lover of truth. It may be, and often is, perverted in 
 the extreme by a lifelong series of false suggestions; 
 but normally it loves the truth, and it has, moreover, an 
 intuitive perception of truth when it is presented. 
 
266 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Now, there is no fact better known to hypnotists than 
 that when two antagonistic suggestions are made to a 
 hypnotized subject, even though the subject matter of 
 the suggestions may be of trivial character, it invariably 
 produces the most unmistakable mental distress; and, 
 if the suggestions are persisted in, the subject often 
 awakens to normal consciousness suffering from a 
 severe nervous shock. Reverting again to the subject 
 of hypnotism and crime, it is well known to hypnotists 
 that a criminal suggestion, acting upon the principle 
 mentioned above, will often awaken a subject; and when 
 this occurs, it is invariably accompanied by a violent 
 shock to the nervous system. Dr. Cocke, of Boston, 
 reports a laboratory case in which a criminal sugges¬ 
 tion threw the subject into a violent fit of hysterics.^ 
 I have myself seen a subject thrown into a state of 
 hystero-catalepsy by a persistent suggestion (insisted 
 upon at the instance of a fool) that she perform an 
 act which, in her normal condition, she regarded as 
 sacrilegious. 
 
 Every one who has witnessed even the common stage 
 experiments knows how vigorously, at first, a sugges¬ 
 tion will be resisted when it is contrary to an obvious 
 and well-known fact. For instance, a suggestion that 
 the subject is some one else will be instantaneously re¬ 
 sisted, and sometimes with stubborn persistence for a 
 short period, the strength of the resistance varying with 
 the character of the personality suggested. But, when 
 conscience, or some other powerful adverse motive is 
 not involved, if the suggestion is strongly enforced the 
 subject will yield to it and carry it to its legitimate 
 
 1 Hypnotism (Arena Pub. Co.). See article, Hypnotism in its Rela¬ 
 tions to CriminalJurisprudence. 
 
THE DANGER LINES IN HYPNOTISM 267 
 
 conclusion with marvellous fidelity to the logic of the 
 situation. 
 
 Again, common observation will bear me out in the 
 assertion that subjects who have been long and con¬ 
 tinuously employed on the stage for the purposes of ex¬ 
 hibition invariably become nervous wrecks, especially if 
 skilful care has not been persistently exercised in re¬ 
 storing the normal tone to their nervous organizations. 
 It is, indeed, with this class of subjects that the evils of 
 hypnotism have been made manifest to the general pub¬ 
 lic as well as to professional observers. In this class 
 I mean to include all subjects who have been continu¬ 
 ously used for purposes of amusement, whether on 
 the public stage or in the private drawing-room. The 
 “ amusement ” which hypnotism affords is necessarily 
 due to the antics which the subject performs in response 
 to false or ridiculous suggestions, and these are often 
 of a painful character. The depth of the injury inflicted 
 upon the mind of the subject is measured partly by the 
 character of the suggestions, and partly by the frequency 
 and suddenness of the changes from one false sugges¬ 
 tion to another of an opposite character; and it is true, 
 unfortunately, that many stage hypnotists, ignorant of 
 the principle involved, and anxious to amuse their audi¬ 
 ences and to demonstrate the potency of suggestion, 
 inflict incalculable injury upon their subjects by sud¬ 
 denly and frequently changing the character of their 
 suggestions from one extreme to another. It may be 
 amusing, and possibly instructive, but the subject is a 
 martyr to the cause of popular education in hypnotism. 
 Of course the evil can be minimized by making easy 
 and natural transitions from one hallucination to an¬ 
 other; but the average stage hypnotist is either igno- 
 
268 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 rant of the principle involved, or is careless of the 
 well-being of his subjects. 
 
 And it may be remarked here that much of the popu¬ 
 lar prejudice against hypnotism arises from witnessing 
 such performances. All that the public is permitted to 
 see is a crowd of subjects, usually of limited intelli¬ 
 gence and vain and egotistic to the last degree, put 
 through a series of antics, sometimes amusing, often 
 painful, and occasionally disgusting; and the popular 
 conclusion is that what they have witnessed is the sum 
 total of hypnotism. The more thoughtful spectator of 
 average intelligence will inevitably come to two con¬ 
 clusions. One is that if such performances are neces¬ 
 sary in order to avail oneself of the benefits of hypnotism, 
 he wants none of it. The other is that if suggestion 
 is such a powerful agent as to cause a subject to lose 
 his identity, forget his name, or imagine himself to 
 be a dog, with all that the name implies, he can just as 
 easily be persuaded to slaughter his grandmother. In 
 any event he is sure to come to the conclusion that the 
 dangers of hypnotism are very prominently exemplified 
 by such practices. On the other hand, the proposition 
 that hypnotism, or its chief handmaiden, suggestion, 
 has proved to be an unalloyed blessing to millions of the ‘ 
 human race, cannot be successfully controverted. No 
 intelligent observer who has made an honest and un¬ 
 prejudiced investigation of the subject will deny its 
 value as a therapeutic agent or gainsay the fact that it 
 has been the means of restoration to health of untold 
 numbers of otherwise incurable sufferers from physical 
 and mental maladies. Its value as an anaesthetic in 
 surgery has been demonstrated by the profession in 
 many notable instances; and it is thought, as I have 
 
THE DANGER LINES IN HYPNOTISM 269 
 
 pointed out elsewhere, that when its laws are better 
 understood, it will be found to be an agent of universal 
 application for the inhibition of pain in surgical opera¬ 
 tions. Its value as a means for the eradication of 
 habits of drunkenness, as well as of many other habits 
 equally destructive to health and reason, no one who 
 has given the slightest attention to the subject will 
 seriously question. Its availability as an auxiliary to 
 the usual processes of education is rapidly becoming 
 known throughout the world; and so is its value as a 
 means of training children to correct habits of mind 
 and body, and, above all, of eradicating from the human 
 mind the tendency to immorality, vice, and crime. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact that from those who have em¬ 
 ployed hypnotism or hypnotic suggestion for the benefi¬ 
 cent purposes I have just named, and for those purposes 
 only, we hear no complaint of the evil effects of that 
 agent. 
 
 It will be apparent to the intelligent reader by this 
 time, that the dividing line between the realms of 
 danger and of safety in hypnotism is clearly defined by 
 Truth. 
 
 Truth follows along the lines of least resistance in 
 the intellectual realm, as the physical forces of nature 
 do in the material world; for the universe is the em¬ 
 bodiment of truth, and hence every truth is consistent 
 and in harmony with every other. Falsehood, on the 
 other hand, follows the lines of greatest resistance, for 
 it is in harmony with nothing; and it finds its strongest 
 antagonism in that innate love of verity which is in¬ 
 herent in the unperverted human soul. 
 
 And so it happens that when therapeutic suggestions 
 are made, they find a ready acceptance; for health is 
 
270 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 normal and disease is abnormal. The same is true of 
 every suggestion in harmony with, and in promotion 
 of, the well-being of the normal subjects, morally, 
 intellectually, or physically. 
 
 The only question, then, which remains for consider¬ 
 ation in this immediate connection is whether hypnotic 
 sleep, per se, produces any deleterious effect upon the 
 human system. The obvious answer is that inasmuch 
 as hypnotic sleep, undisturbed by unpleasant hallucina¬ 
 tions arising from false suggestions, is identical with 
 natural sleep, it follows that the hypnotized subject is 
 in no more danger of untoward results than is the man 
 who “ wraps the drapery of his couch about him and 
 lies down to pleasant dreams.” Moreover, the recuper¬ 
 ative effects are the same as in natural sleep, though 
 ordinarily greater in degree, for the reason that hyp¬ 
 notic sleep is usually accompanied by therapeutic 
 suggestions. 
 
 It is not, therefore, the method of inducing the con¬ 
 dition that constitutes the essential difference between 
 natural and hypnotic sleep. That difference is wholly 
 due to the suggestions which accompany it. Hypnotic 
 sleep, unaccompanied by suggestions as to its duration 
 or object, merges into natural sleep so perfectly that the 
 closest observer cannot detect the time when the tran¬ 
 sition occurs. When it is attended by therapeutic sug¬ 
 gestions, or others of a pleasant character and in 
 harmony with truth, the result is always beneficent, for 
 the simple reason that no antagonism is provoked. 
 
 A false suggestion, on the other hand, invariably pro¬ 
 duces a nervous shock of greater or less intensity in 
 proportion to its character, and the consequent amount 
 of resistance it encounters. This occurs on precisely the 
 
THE DANGER LINES IN HYPNOTISM 2/1 
 
 same principle and for the same reason that a criminal 
 suggestion will produce that result. A criminal sugges¬ 
 tion provokes an antagonistic auto-suggestion of an 
 intensity proportioned to the subject’s character for 
 moral rectitude. A false suggestion, in like manner, 
 provokes an adverse auto-suggestion of varying inten¬ 
 sity proportioned to the subject’s education, experience, 
 and inherent love of truth. In either case a shock, of 
 greater or less severity, is produced. The shock may 
 be light, and doubtless is, in many cases, especially in 
 stage exhibitions; but the effects are cumulative, and 
 when a series of such experiences is long continued 
 there can be but one result, — a shattered nervous 
 organization. 
 
 From the foregoing facts four very important conclu¬ 
 sions are inevitable: 
 
 1. That the hypnotized subject is not the unresisting 
 automaton that has been pictured by popular imagina¬ 
 tion ; that, on the contrary, he is hedged about and pro¬ 
 tected from evil influences in exact proportion to his 
 deserts, and that if crime is ever a possible result of 
 hypnotic suggestion, it is only so with those who, in 
 their normal state, could be more easily influenced to 
 commit a crime than they could in a condition of 
 hypnosis. 
 
 2. That all the manifold benefits of hypnotism can be 
 obtained by perfectly normal means, without the neces¬ 
 sity of producing an unpleasant hallucination with its 
 consequent shock to the nervous system, by simple ad¬ 
 herence to truth when making a suggestion for any 
 beneficent purpose whatever. 
 
 3. That the laws of hypnotism constitute no excep¬ 
 tion to the rule that the forces of nature, when once 
 
272 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 understood and intelligently utilized, are always promo¬ 
 tive of the highest good to mankind. 
 
 4. That hypnotism is no exception to the rule that 
 in all the relations of life the boundary lines between the 
 realms of good and evil, between danger and safety, are 
 clearly defined by conscience and truth. 
 
XII 
 
 A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 
 
 I T is axiomatic that any belief which is alleged to 
 be founded upon observable phenomena is entitled 
 to respectful consideration and scientific examina¬ 
 tion. I hazard nothing in saying that “ Christian Sci¬ 
 ence,” so called, has abundantly demonstrated its right 
 to both. Its votaries, claiming divine power, have 
 healed the sick by hundreds of thousands; yet they 
 have been recognized by the medical profession only by 
 bitter denunciation. Claiming an intimate acquaintance 
 with, and often verbal inspiration from, the Divine 
 Father, they have poured the balm of religious conso¬ 
 lation into many a stricken heart, only to be repaid from 
 the pulpit by solemn objurgations and strenuous an¬ 
 athemas. They have gone into the highways and by¬ 
 ways, and proclaimed their divine mission from the 
 housetops, only to be answered by the jeers and ridicule 
 of the ungodly. And, notwithstanding their solemn 
 asseverations that they teach the only science worth 
 knowing. Science itself has assumed a lofty mien and 
 passed by on the other side. 
 
 Perhaps it was natural for the medical profession to 
 indulge in a noble rage, owing to its cautious conser¬ 
 vatism,— that is to say, its ancient prejudice against 
 everything new that claims to heal the sick. The clergy 
 must be expected to indulge in hostile criticism, because 
 
 i8 
 
274 "THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the Christianity of Christian Science is so very different 
 from the Christianity of Christ. As to the unseemly 
 levity of the irreverent laity, — its tendency to laugh at 
 what, to its uncultured mind, seems ridiculous, — it is 
 too well known to require comment or serious animad¬ 
 version. But the attitude of Science is indefensible. 
 It has no right to ignore facts, to indulge in prejudices, 
 or to neglect to explain phenomena of such obvious 
 importance as that which lends to Christian Science its 
 air of supernatural mystery, and invests it with socio¬ 
 logical, as well as pathological, importance. 
 
 The most that I can do within the space at my com¬ 
 mand is to outline the salient psychopathic features of 
 the phenomena, and to suggest thereby the proper line 
 of scientific examination, relegating to the professional 
 alienist the exhaustive study of that which is so ob¬ 
 viously within his domain. 
 
 The subject naturally arranges itself under two heads, 
 namely: (i) the psychopathic condition of the founder 
 of the sect; and (2) the psychopathic condition of her 
 followers. 
 
 To those who are acquainted with the fundamental 
 principles of the new psychology it is obvious that the 
 founder of the sect known as “ Christian Scientists ” is 
 an object of commiseration rather than of denunciation. 
 She is simply a victim of self-delusion, arising from an 
 ignorance of the fundamental law of psychic activity. 
 The law is briefly this: 
 
 Man is endowed with a dual mind, or two states of 
 consciousness. For convenience of treatment they have 
 been designated, one as the objective, and the other as 
 the subjective mind. The former is the mind of ordi¬ 
 nary waking consciousness. The latter is the intelligence 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 2 /$ 
 
 which is manifested in dreams, trance, or trance-like 
 conditions, when the objective mind is inhibited, as 
 in sleep, or in somnambulism, spontaneous or induced. 
 The salient feature of differentiation which bears upon 
 the case under consideration is that the objective mind 
 is capable of independently conducting the process of 
 inductive reasoning; whereas the subjective mind is 
 devoid of that power. That intelligence is dominated 
 by the law of suggestion. In other words, it takes its 
 premises from an extraneous source; and it reasons 
 deductively from those premises or suggestions. The 
 latter may be conveyed to the subjective mind in many 
 ways, prominent among which are the words or affir¬ 
 mations of another, as in hypnotism; or they may be 
 imparted by means of the ordinary processes of educa¬ 
 tion, as in training children; or the objective mind of 
 an individual may convey dominating suggestions to 
 his own subjective mind. These are called “ auto-sug¬ 
 gestions.” If truthful, they are beneficent. If false, 
 they may result in insanity, as in monomania. Any 
 form of false suggestion, indeed, may result in insanity, 
 if it is persistently dwelt upon to the exclusion of the 
 countervailing suggestions of truth. When this occurs, 
 the subjective mind is in control; that is, it dominates 
 for the time being the dual m.ental organism, truth is 
 subordinated, and reason is dethroned. 
 
 The salient characteristic, however, of the subjective 
 mind which bears directly upon the case in hand, is its 
 prodigious faculty for reasoning deductively from given 
 premises to legitimate conclusions. It is akin to intui¬ 
 tion, and it is always the concomitant of the latter fac¬ 
 ulty. Its manifestations, indeed, are often confounded 
 with intuition; and it is this circumstance that gives 
 rise to so many claims for the superior “ intuitions ” 
 
2/6 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 of women. But their so-called intuitions, when an¬ 
 alyzed, aie often found to be mere deductions from 
 premises that may or may not be true. The point is 
 that the deductions of the subjective mind are always 
 legitimate and logical, whether the premises are true 
 or false. If true, the result is often a work of genius. 
 But if the premise is false, the work soon reveals the 
 fact, for truth cannot be evolved from a falsehood, if 
 the deductions are legitimate. That is to say, a false 
 premise carried to its legitimate conclusion always ends 
 in an absurdity. If the author is mentally balanced, 
 he will detect the absurdity himself and abandon the 
 premise as untenable; especially if he is well endowed 
 with that indispensable quality of a well-balanced mind 
 — a fine appreciation of humor — a keen sense of the 
 ridiculous. 
 
 Unfortunately for the poor psychic whose subjective 
 mind is in control, and who is dominated by a false sug¬ 
 gestion, he has no sense of humor, and is intellectually 
 impervious to ridicule. Humor is not a faculty of the 
 subjective mind. True humor is a concomitant of 
 reason — a criterion of induction. It weighs facts and 
 principles in its own balance, detects the incongruous 
 elements of thought, and resolves them in its own 
 alembic. In other words, the legitimate function of 
 humor is to separate incongruous ideas and exhibit them 
 in violent contrast. Its legitimate object is the ascertain¬ 
 ment of truth, on the principle that no truth is incon¬ 
 sistent with any other truth in the Universe of God. 
 Thus Mark Twain, in his humorous article relating to 
 Christian Science and its founder’s book, has more 
 clearly and effectively shown the fallacies of that work, 
 and demonstrated its utterly unscientific character, than 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 
 
 277 
 
 have all the arguments of others combined. The fact 
 is, the book does not call for serious argument, much 
 less for denunciation, or vituperation. Its only legiti¬ 
 mate place is in the library of the alienist. Its author 
 is a psychic, and the book is purely and simply a 
 psychical phenomenon. As such it deserves serious 
 consideration, for it stands unique as an illustration, on 
 an extensive scale, of the vagaries of psychical “ men¬ 
 tation ” when the subjective mind of the patient is 
 dominated by false suggestion, and reason is in abeyance. 
 A few words will make the foregoing clear to the mind 
 of the reader. 
 
 The “ fundamental principle ” upon which Christian 
 Science is based, as set forth in its founder’s book, is 
 that “ there is no such thing as matter.” It will at once 
 be seen that such a proposition affords the best possible 
 illustration of the mental condition of its author — that 
 is to say, of the dominance of a false suggestion, and 
 the total inhibition of the inductive faculties or powers. 
 Each is shown in the author’s total obliviousness of all 
 the facts of human experience; for if man know's any¬ 
 thing he knows that the material universe is a stupendous 
 reality. 
 
 Now comes in the deductive logic of the psychic: 
 dominated by the fundamental postulate — the non-ex¬ 
 istence of the material universe — and realizing that, 
 in all human probability, something exists, her deduction 
 is that — “ God is all.” This is not an illogical de¬ 
 duction from the premise; but whether it is demon¬ 
 strated to be true, as the author thinks it is, by the fact 
 that it means practically the same thing when read back¬ 
 wards, is a question which we will not stop to consider. 
 This is followed by two other propositions, namely. 
 
278 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 “ God is good ” and “ Good is mind.” These are also 
 held to be demonstrated by the fact that they can be 
 read backwards without destroying their “ scientific ” 
 validity; although, in view of the example we are con¬ 
 sidering, it would seem that the latter proposition, read 
 backwards, should be stated with some qualifications. 
 At any rate, these propositions cannot be said to be 
 illogical deductions from the premise, although they 
 appear to be merely incidental statements, not essential 
 to the argument. 
 
 But in her next proposition she resumes her logical 
 attitude and restates the premise and the conclusion in 
 the same sentence, thus: “ God, Spirit, being all, nothing 
 is matter.” 
 
 This is another of her reversible, self-demonstrating 
 propositions, and who shall say that the conclusion is 
 not a logical deduction from the premise? 
 
 She has many other propositions of the invertible 
 order which she imagines are mathematically demon¬ 
 strated by the fact that they can be inverted. No one 
 but an alienist, familiar with the phenomena of paranoia, 
 would believe this statement without proof. Here is 
 what she says: 
 
 “The metaphysics of Christian Science, like the rules of 
 mathematics, prove the rule by inversion. For example, there 
 is no pain in Truth, and no truth in pain; no nerve in mind, and 
 no mind in nerve; no matter in mind, and no mind in matter; no 
 matter in Life, and no life in matter; no matter in Good, and 
 no good in matter.” 
 
 Leaving out of consideration the obvious absurdity 
 of assuming to demonstrate a proposition in philosophy 
 by the mathematical process of inversion, the fact re¬ 
 mains that each one is logically deducible from the 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 279 
 
 original postulate. They are corollaries of the propo¬ 
 sition that there is no such thing as matter. 
 
 Of course the unfortunate author is unable to detect 
 the monstrous absurdity of her original postulate, and, 
 consequently she shrinks not from the conclusions neces¬ 
 sarily derivable therefrom. This is shown throughout 
 the whole book. Hence she does not hesitate to declare 
 that there are no such things possible as evil, sin, 
 pain, sickness, or death. How could there be, if there 
 is no such thing as matter — if all is God, and God 
 is all? 
 
 Thus far, then, the author is logical. But it is the 
 logic of the subjective mind when dominated by a false 
 suggestion — a monstrous absurdity. Not the faintest 
 glimmer of the light of inductive reasoning illumines 
 the dark and dismal picture. Not one fact of human 
 experience is considered, nor one law of nature 
 consulted. 
 
 The author had smooth sailing so long as she con¬ 
 fined herself to laying down general principles. But 
 she was intent on writing a book designed to apply her 
 “ principles ” to the affairs of practical every-day life 
 and human experience. It was then that the logical 
 trouble began. She undertook to tell how to heal the 
 sick when, according to her theory, nobody was, or 
 could possibly be, sick; because God is all, and God 
 cannot be sick. Moreover, there is no such thing as 
 matter, and, consequently, nobody has a body to furnish 
 a basis of sickness or of pain. Besides, matter cannot 
 feel pain, first, because there is no such thing as matter, 
 and secondly, because there is no such thing as pain. 
 Sin cannot exist, because God is good, and God is all. 
 Death is impossible (i) because nothing but matter 
 
28 o 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 can die, and there is no such thing as matter; (2) be¬ 
 cause God is all, and God cannot die. 
 
 These and a thousand other contradictions and ab¬ 
 surdities fill the whole book. The obvious reason is 
 that, when the author comes to treat of the facts of 
 human experience, she must necessarily employ the 
 terms of human experience; and since her theory rec¬ 
 ognizes the existence of no such facts, the result is 
 necessarily a monstrous hodge-podge of monumental 
 absurdities. Such a conflict between theory and fact 
 could have no other result, in the nature of things, 
 especially when the theory is constantly reiterated in 
 connection with the facts. 
 
 Nothing more need be said of the book itself. It 
 must be read to be appreciated. To the student of 
 neuropsychopathy it affords an abundant supply of illus¬ 
 trative material. To the student of the new psychology 
 it is invaluable as illustrating the distinctive powers and 
 limitations of the two minds or states of consciousness. 
 To the non-professional reader it furnishes a frightful 
 example of the danger to be apprehended from allowing 
 the subjective mind to usurp control over the dual men¬ 
 tal organism. 
 
 I cannot dismiss this branch of the subject, however, 
 without uttering a protest against the constant iteration, 
 on the part of the enemies of the unfortunate lady, 
 of the charge of plagiarism. The story is that she 
 copied the manuscript of the late Dr. Ouinby and 
 published it as her own after his death. The charge 
 is, to use no harsher term, simply infamous; especially 
 since Dr. Quinby is no longer here to defend his own 
 reputation. Besides, the lady herself denies it most em¬ 
 phatically. On the contrary, she says that the book was 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 
 
 281 
 
 divinely inspired; and she unquestionably believes it. 
 Her followers also most fervently believe it, and hence 
 their veneration for the book as of equal authority with 
 the Bible. She also intimates that she was the “ woman 
 clothed with the Sun,” who is mentioned in the Apoca¬ 
 lypse; and good Christian Scientists, including hon¬ 
 orable women not a few, fervently believe that the 
 “ little book,” which the “ mighty strong angel ” com¬ 
 manded St. John to eat, was, in point of “ scientific ” 
 fact, the very book now under consideration. This, it 
 is needless to say, has caused the enemy to blaspheme; 
 and the mildest form of his blasphemy consists in the 
 admission that the indigestible character of the contents 
 of the book, together with the subsequent experiences of 
 the seer, lend an air of plausibility to the supposition. 
 
 It has also been claimed that the idea of the non¬ 
 existence of matter was not original with the author. 
 That may or may not be true without impairing the 
 validity of her claim to originality in her method of 
 treatment. Bishop Berkeley would be the first to defend 
 her against the charge of plagiarizing from himself; 
 and he would probably stand aghast at the result of 
 carrying his pet theory to its legitimate conclusions in 
 dealing with the facts of human experience. It is to 
 the last degree improbable that she ever saw or heard 
 of the writings of Bishop Berkeley. Certainly the phil¬ 
 osophical arguments by which he sought to sustain his 
 theory are entirely absent from her work. 
 
 The next branch of the subject relates to the psycho¬ 
 pathic condition of her followers. Indeed, the only 
 justification for discussing the subject outside the jour¬ 
 nals of psychiatry, consists in the facts that the sect has 
 gathered its forces from all ranks of society, that it num- 
 
282 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 bers its followers by hundreds of thousands, and that its 
 delusions threaten to become epidemic and to fill our 
 insane asylums. Not that all who call themselves 
 Christian Scientists are either mattoids or paranoiacs, 
 or that they are all in imminent danger of losing their 
 mental balance; those charges are obviously the gross 
 exaggerations of sectarian prejudice or of professional 
 jealousy. On the contrary, there are vast numbers who 
 are rated as Christian Scientists who know little of, and 
 care less for, the theories of the founder; and therein 
 lies their safety. It is only those who undertake ser¬ 
 iously to master the theory and to harmonize it with the 
 facts of experience that are in imminent danger of men¬ 
 tal alienation; and even they may escape the serious 
 phases of paranoia if they have not acquired, or are not 
 congenitally afflicted with, a neuropsychopathic ten¬ 
 dency. Unfortunately this tendency is alarmingly pre¬ 
 valent in modern society of all grades, as the records 
 of the lunatic asylums testify, to say nothing of the 
 numerous comparatively harmless mattoids who are still 
 allowed to run at large. 
 
 Among the numerous causes which unite to swell 
 the ranks of Christian Science there is one which seems 
 to be of almost universal application, and that is the 
 astounding lack of the power of logical induction 
 in primitive minds. Thus, the founder’s book iterates 
 and reiterates that her theories are demonstrated by 
 facts of every-day experience. What facts? Why, the 
 fact that people who believe in her theories are healed 
 by other people who believe in her theories; and this is 
 reenforced by the scripture quotation, “ By their fruits 
 ye shall know them.” That is the sum total of the in¬ 
 ductive logic of Christian Science. I have said that it 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 283 
 
 is the logic of primitive minds. Thus the American 
 savage, whose theory of disease is that the patient is 
 beset by evil spirits, efifects his cures by frightening away 
 said evil spirits by means of hideous noises and a dia¬ 
 bolical make-up. The best authorities tell us that the 
 Indian medicine man’s record of cures equals that of the 
 M.D.’s or the C.S.D.’s. Doubtless the savage regards 
 this as demonstrative of the correctness of his theory; 
 and the Christian Science logician must admit it, for 
 “ by their fruits ye shall know them.” 
 
 The same remarks apply alike to the voudoo doctor’s 
 theory and to that of the fetish worshipper, who simply 
 attaches his fetish to the patient; for they also cure 
 disease. Are the theories of Voudooism and Fetishism 
 “ demonstrated to be true ” by their facts of success¬ 
 ful healing ? Certainly, if the “ inductive ” logic of 
 Christian Science is valid. “ By their fruits ye shall 
 know them ” is just as valid for Fetishism as it is for 
 Christian Science, but it requires only the faintest glim¬ 
 mer of the light of reason to enable even the wayfaring 
 man to see that it has no valid application in either case. 
 And yet this is the sum total of the “ inductions ” of 
 Christian Science. That is to say, the fact of healing 
 is the only fact adduced to prove the theory that there 
 was nothing to heal. Every other fact in nature is 
 systematically denied. 
 
 And this is the logic which has won the great bulk 
 of its proselytes to Christian Science. And these are 
 the phenomena alluded to in the beginning when I said 
 that Christian Science deserved a scientific investigation. 
 I also alluded to the religious consolation which many 
 have derived from their connection with the organiz¬ 
 ation. Far be it from me to seek to deprive any stricken 
 
284 the evolution of the soul 
 
 soul of the comfort and consolation derivable from 
 religious emotion, by whatsoever means it may have 
 been evoked. It is mentioned here only as one of the 
 many causes which contribute to the success of the 
 Christian Science organization. It is, perhaps, natural 
 for the superficial mind to associate religion and mental 
 healing, owing to the sacred character of the Great 
 Healer. Yet he did not proclaim it as a religion per 
 se, but merely as an element in that principle of universal 
 altruism which was regnant in his soul. One might as 
 consistently call hydropathy a religion, because of the 
 association of the idea of water with the sacred rite of 
 baptism. Practically speaking, the association of men¬ 
 tal healing with religion by Christian Scientists has been 
 employed to coin into hard cash the most sacred emotions 
 of the human soul. 
 
 Again, it has been remarked that the beliefs of primi¬ 
 tive peoples are often held with an emotional tenacity 
 inversely proportioned to the amount of evidence adduci- 
 ble in support of such beliefs. But Christian Science, 
 so far as I am aware, furnishes the only example of 
 a great body of people who cling with fervent emotion 
 to a belief in that which they know is not true. This is, 
 literally, atavism run mad; for it is more than atavism, 
 in that it embraces a pronounced pathological element 
 unique in the history of mental degeneracy. This well- 
 recognized force must, therefore, be counted as one of 
 the most essential factors which contribute to the success 
 of Christian Science. 
 
 Atavism, or the tendency to revert to primitive types, 
 is a force just as potent in the social, political, and 
 religious realms as it is in the domain of mental and 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 
 
 285 
 
 organic life. In the social and political worlds it is 
 manifested in anarchism and socialism. In the reli¬ 
 gious world its tendency is often in the direction of 
 that most primitive of all known religions — Fetishism 
 — the worship of inanimate objects — the earliest form 
 of idolatry. 
 
 In this age of enlightenment, it is, of course, a com¬ 
 paratively rare occurrence for the civilized world to be 
 invited to witness a decided recrudescence of Fetishism 
 in its pristine purity. Mere survivals are comparatively 
 common — so common, in fact, and so modified by 
 environmental conditions, as to escape the notice of all 
 but the critical anthropologist. Even in the revivals of 
 Fetishism, its crudest forms are thus modified by later 
 forms of worship. 
 
 Thus Christian Science, which is probably the crudest 
 form of Fetishism possible in this age and country, is 
 a decidedly modified form of primeval Fetish worship. 
 In fact, it necessarily includes the later forms of idolatry, 
 as well as some of the essential elements of polytheism. 
 It cannot be said to be modified by Christianity, the 
 only thing Christian about it being its name. All the 
 rest is pure assumption. Were we dealing with other 
 than a problem in psychiatry, it would be called “ blas¬ 
 phemy.” But the proverbial cunning of madness alone 
 is displayed in assuming the name and in making the 
 claim that it is a superior form of Christianity. Thus 
 divested of the assumed element of Christianity, nothing 
 remains of the religion of Christian Science but a com¬ 
 pound of Idolatry, Polytheism, and Fetishism. 
 
 I employ the term “ Idolatry ” in the sense that it 
 consists in the worship of anything other than God 
 himself; and the term “ Polytheism ” in its accepted 
 
286 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 meaning, the worship of a plurality of gods. They may, 
 therefore, be considered together. 
 
 The founder of the sect has laid the foundation for 
 the worship of herself by reconstructing the Lord’s 
 Prayer, apparently for that purpose. Thus the opening 
 clause, “ Our Father which art in heaven,” is trans¬ 
 formed into, “ Our Father and Mother God, all har¬ 
 monious.” It will be observed that the words “ which 
 art in heaven ” are cunningly omitted, and the words 
 “ all harmonious ” substituted; thus evading the im¬ 
 plication that the God whom they worship is all in 
 heaven, while the Mother God is still on earth. The 
 substituted words — “ all harmonious ” — clearly con¬ 
 vey the idea of plurality. Otherwise they would be 
 meaningless; for, whereas a unitary God must be sup¬ 
 posed to be “ all harmonious ” with himself, it does not 
 follow that a Mother God on earth is “ all harmonious ” 
 with the Father God in heaven. Hence the necessity 
 for the asseveration in the Christian Science ritual of 
 worship. 
 
 Of course no one can say positively that the un¬ 
 fortunate lady revised the Lord’s Prayer with the in¬ 
 tention of including herself in the Godhead, but it can 
 be readily believed to be true by those familiar with 
 the salient symptoms of the particular forms of mental 
 alienation, which we have been considering. Monu¬ 
 mental egotism is a never-failing symptom of mental 
 degeneracy, and our asylums are peopled with those who 
 believe themselves to be God. What she believes, how¬ 
 ever, is of small importance compared with the deplor¬ 
 able fact that she is worshipped as the “ Mother God,” 
 equally with the Father, by the more advanced (in men¬ 
 tal degeneracy) of the Christian Science “ Church.” 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 
 
 287 
 
 It is this fact that invests the whole subject with interest 
 to the alienist and with importance to every sane man 
 and woman. 
 
 The most astounding of all the manifestations of the 
 atavic tendencies of Christian Science consists in the 
 practice of Fetishism, practically in its primeval purity. 
 Many such practices are revealed through private 
 sources, but I will confine myself to one or two of 
 those that are already notorious. First, then, the 
 founder’s book itself is a fetish. In the first place, it 
 is worshipped as of divine origin, equal, if not superior, 
 in authority to the Bible. Again, the book is fervently 
 believed to be itself invested with the divine power of 
 healing. The authority for each of these beliefs is found 
 in the book itself. Its author’s claim to divine inspi¬ 
 ration is boldly stated, and the faithful are informed 
 that a devout perusal of its pages will heal their 
 diseases. Accordingly, the truly good Christian Scien¬ 
 tist reads it in an ecstasy of holy joy, and some of 
 them have been known to sleep with it under their 
 pillows. If this is not fetish worship, will some un¬ 
 prejudiced student of comparative theology tell us its 
 legitimate classification ? 
 
 Again, Darwin tells us in his “Journal” (p. 458) 
 that he visited a tribe of fetish worshippers in Keeling 
 Island. One of their fetishes consisted of a wooden 
 spoon, dressed in doll’s clothes; and he avers that it 
 danced “ in good time to the song of the children and 
 women.” He adds that “ it was a most foolish spec¬ 
 tacle,” but that the Malays firmly “ believe in its spiritual 
 movements.” 
 
 I hope the enemies of the founder of Christian 
 Science will not accuse her of plagiarism when they 
 
288 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 recall her now notorious spoon fetish. Hers is a metal 
 spoon, silver plated, with her likeness stamped thereon 
 (price, $3.50 each), and her devout worshippers are 
 each expected to purchase one and use it, habitually, 
 for eating soup withal. Her spoon is also invested with 
 great spiritual power and significance, and he who uses 
 it in the spirit of true worship will realize its health¬ 
 giving potency. His spiritual strength will be renewed. 
 His soup will do him good. 
 
 No, the founder of Christian Science is in no proper 
 sense a plagiarist. Fetish worship is common to all 
 primitive peoples of a certain grade of intellectual de¬ 
 velopment. When the conditions and the phenomena 
 are found coexistent in the midst of a high civilization, 
 science names it “ Atavism.” 
 
 I have said that many remarkable cures of diseases 
 have been effected by persons who practise mental heal¬ 
 ing under the name of “ Christian Science.” Of this 
 there is no room for reasonable doubt. I have also shown 
 the illogical attitude of those who claim that the fact of 
 healing demonstrates the soundness of the theory under 
 which they practise. Nevertheless, to the mind of the 
 superficial observer, there is a mysterious nexus be¬ 
 tween the theory and the results of the practice of 
 Christian Science; and it remains to explain the real 
 cause of the phenomenon, and thus divest it of the 
 glamour of mysticism with which it has been invested 
 by superstition. 
 
 In the first place, then, Christian Science, considered 
 as a therapeutic agent, is a system of mental healing. 
 No good Christian Scientist will gainsay that propo¬ 
 sition, since there is no such thing as matter, and all is 
 God and God is mind. 
 
A FSYCHOFATmC STUDY 289 
 
 The next proposition is, that success in mental healing 
 IS dependent upon mental conditions. That is to say, 
 a certain well-defined condition of mind in the patient is 
 absolutely essential to success in mental healing. Chris¬ 
 tian Scientists themselves will hardly deny this proposi¬ 
 tion, for to do so would be to repudiate the Master 
 himself as an authority on that subject. Jesus of 
 Nazareth was the first to define the condition necessary 
 to successful mental healing. His whole career was 
 demonstrative of the truth of his declaration. And all 
 the experimental researches of nineteen supervenient 
 centuries have served but to confirm and illustrate its 
 truth. In that declaration he summed up the whole 
 law of mental healing in the one word “ Faith.” That 
 was the one mental condition on the part of the patient 
 which he constantly insisted upon as essential to the 
 exercise of his power. That it was essential was clearly 
 evidenced by the fact that he could not succeed in 
 healing the sick in his native city “ because of their 
 unbelief.” 
 
 The far-reaching significance of his declaration seems 
 never to have been appreciated at its full value, espe¬ 
 cially by Christian Scientists and others who believe 
 that mental healing is due to the exercise of some force, 
 miraculous or otherwise, by some agency extraneous to 
 the patient himself. The words of Jesus emphatically 
 negative the belief in any extraneous agency whatever. 
 The word “ faith,” as before remarked, indicated the 
 mental condition essential to success in healing. It is 
 the principle which energizes the human soul, and with¬ 
 out which the soul is powerless to heal the body. And 
 when Jesus declared to his patients, as he did with in¬ 
 sistent iteration, “ Thy faith hath made thee whole,” it 
 
 19 
 
290 THE EVOLUTIOH OF THE SOUL 
 
 was a clear, positive, and emphatic statement of the one 
 basic principle of mental therapeutics. It was equivalent 
 to saying, nineteen hundreds years in advance, just what 
 modern experimental science has demonstrated to be 
 true, namely, that the mental energy that heals the sick 
 resides within the patient himself. All that the healer 
 does, or can do — all that Jesps did, or pretended to do 
 — was to induce in the mind of the patient the neces¬ 
 sary mental condition, to stimulate, by appropriate acts 
 and words, the energizing principle of his soul, — faith. 
 No act or word of Jesus militates, in the slightest de¬ 
 gree, against that one emphatic declaration. It was, in 
 fact, a proclamation, or formulation, of the Supreme 
 Law of Mental Therapeutics, — the law under which 
 he performed his wonderful works; the law that he 
 taught to his disciples; the law under which his prom¬ 
 ise was made that those coming after him should do 
 “ even more wonderful works ” than he had done; the 
 one universal law under which all mental healing has 
 been accomplished since the beginning of time. 
 
 This is Christian Science as Christ understood it. At 
 the very threshold of the inquiry, therefore, we find it 
 to be the -very antithesis of the Christian Science of 
 modern times, in that Jesus declared that the healing 
 power resides in the patient, whereas modern Christian 
 Science teaches us, first, that there is nothing to heal, 
 and secondly, that God himself interposes and does the 
 healing. 
 
 In undertaking to correlate all methods of mental 
 healing, and to reduce them to one general principle, 
 I shall assume that the Master knew the fundamental 
 law of the science of which he was the Great Exemplar. 
 I shall hazard nothing in this assumption, even from 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 
 
 291 
 
 the most rigidly scientific standpoint, for I shall proceed 
 to show that the discoveries of modern science demon¬ 
 strate the truth of his declaration. 
 
 I shall also assume that there is but one law of mental 
 healing. Nature is not prodigal of laws; but those that 
 exist are immutable, and they are universal in their 
 application. Thus the law of gravitation applies alike 
 to the sun, the stars, the planets, the earth, the falling 
 apple, and the smallest atom in the material universe. 
 The law of mental healing is also universal if “ nature 
 is constant,” and it applies to all methods alike, without 
 reference to any one’s theory of causation or to the 
 names by which the various systems are designated. 
 If, therefore, any person is healed by mental processes, 
 it follows that the law has been invoked, whether he is 
 conscious of it or not; just as the workingman who 
 falls from a scaffold obeys the law of gravitation, al¬ 
 though he may never have heard of Newton or his 
 Principia. If told that he and mother earth were at¬ 
 tracted to each other with a force proportioned directly 
 as to the mass and inversely as to the square of the 
 distance, he would doubtless blush deeply and perhaps 
 deny the soft impeachment, just as the Christian Sci¬ 
 entist denies, with hysterical vehemence, that she ever 
 was guilty of healing the sick under the same law that 
 prevails in Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Animal IMagnetism, 
 Fetishism, or any of the other isms under which mental 
 healing has masqueraded since the dawn of creation. 
 Nevertheless, it is just as true that there is but one gen¬ 
 eral law of mental healing as it is that there is but one 
 general law of gravitation. What that law is, and why 
 it is effective under all systems and in spite of all theories 
 of causation, I shall now try to make clear to the general 
 reader. 
 
292 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 I have shown elsewhere ^ that Jesus of Nazareth was 
 endowed with an intuitive knowledge of the laws of 
 the human soul. The internal evidence of this fact 
 contained in the history of his life, when considered 
 in connection with the discoveries of modern psycholog¬ 
 ical science, is simply overwhelming. Especially is this 
 true of his knowledge of the law of mental healing, 
 the salient feature of which, and the only one which it 
 is important that we should consider in this connection, 
 has already been mentioned above, namely, his declara¬ 
 tion that the healing power resides within the patient 
 and not in any extraneous agency; that “ faith ” is the 
 energizing principle of the soul, and that when faith 
 is perfect “ all things are possible.” If, therefore, we 
 find that this, the fundamental postulate of the Master, 
 is demonstrated by the facts of Experimental Psychol¬ 
 ogy, we shall be in possession of the key to the mystery. 
 That is to say, we shall have found the nexus of cause 
 and effect which correlates the undoubted facts of heal¬ 
 ing by the methods of Christian Science, Voudooism, 
 Fetishism, and kindred superstitions with those of 
 Hypnotism, Animal Magnetism so called, and all other 
 methods of mental healing. 
 
 Assuming then, provisionally, the absolute veridity of 
 the Master’s postulate, it follows that the office or func¬ 
 tion of the healer is simple to the last degree, and con¬ 
 sists in stimulating, energizing, and directing that force 
 within the patient which does the work of healing. And 
 that is what Experimental Psychology has demonstrated 
 to be true in all cases and under all conditions. Briefly 
 stated, all experiments in psychical research, together 
 with all the facts recorded of mental healing in all the 
 
 1 See The Law of Psychic Phe 7 iomc 7 ta, chap, xxiii., et seg. 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 
 
 293 
 
 ages of the world, conspire to prove that the following 
 propositions furnish the master-key to all the mysteries 
 of mental therapeutics: 
 
 1. Man is endowed with a dual mind, — objective 
 and subjective. 
 
 2. The subjective mind controls the functions, sensa¬ 
 tions, and conditions of the body. 
 
 3. The subjective mind is constantly amenable to 
 control by the power of suggestion. 
 
 It will at once be seen that, if these three propositions 
 are true, the words of Jesus are scientifically verified, 
 his every act in healing the sick is explained, and that 
 all the facts of mental healing are explicable under the 
 law of suggestion. 
 
 That the first proposition is true is attested by every 
 psychic phenomenon that has ever been recorded. That 
 is to say, the mysteries that have puzzled and appalled 
 mankind throughout all the ages have been dispelled and 
 removed from the realms of superstition by the dis¬ 
 covery of that fundamental law of psychology. It was 
 first publicly formulated, and the two minds or states 
 of consciousness clearly differentiated, in 1893.^ Since 
 then it has been accepted as at least a valid working 
 hypothesis by every unprejudiced scientist who has en¬ 
 gaged in psychical research. In short, all psychic phe¬ 
 nomena attest it; experimental surgery ^ confirms it, 
 and the facts of organic evolution ® demonstrate its 
 scientific accuracy. 
 
 The second proposition is provisional, depending 
 upon the verification of the first and third. It is 
 
 1 See The Law of Psychic Phenomena. 
 
 ^ See Surgeon-General Hammond in his Treatise on Insanity, quoted 
 by the author in A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life. 
 
 * See The Divine Pedigree of Man. 
 
294 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 explanatory of what has been vaguely termed “ the 
 principle of life,” “ the recuperative energy of nature,” 
 etc. 
 
 The third proposition embraces the greatest discovery 
 in psychological science — the law of suggestion. The 
 famous Dr. Braid, of Manchester, England, is entitled 
 to the credit of laying the foundation for the discovery. 
 But it remained for Liebault, of France, to formulate 
 the law, thus rendering it practically available to science. 
 In their hands, however, the law was confined to the 
 phenomena of experimental “ Hypnotism,” a word 
 which Braid coined to soften scientific prejudice against 
 Mesmerism. 
 
 Under the dual-mind theory, however, it was seen that 
 the law of suggestion is, ex hypothesi, a universal law of 
 the subjective mind, dominating it under all states and 
 conditions of the objective mind. It seems almost super¬ 
 fluous to say that this indefinitely enlarged the field of 
 effective suggestion, and threw a flood of light upon all 
 phases of psychic phenomena. For it was not only ex¬ 
 planatory of why it is that the hypnotized subject can, 
 by mere suggestion, be made to believe himself a dog 
 or a devil, a great statesman or a helpless infant “ mewl¬ 
 ing and puking in the nurse’s arms,” but why it is that 
 the subjective mind of the spirit medium, dominated by 
 the ever-present suggestion that she is under the control 
 of spirits, not only believes itself to be a spirit, but will 
 personate any one suggested, real or imaginary. It also 
 shows how it happens that our lunatic asylums are full 
 of Napoleons, Hannibals, kings and potentates, gods 
 innumerable and sporadic devils. 
 
 What is more to our present purpose, it reveals the 
 secret of all so-called imaginary diseases, or, more prop- 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 
 
 295 
 
 erly, diseases induced by morbid imagination; or, to be 
 scientifically exact, diseases induced by false sugges¬ 
 tions. It is safe to say that nine-tenths of all the ail¬ 
 ments of the human family may be traced to this 
 source. Such suggestions arise from a thousand dif¬ 
 ferent sources; for example, newspaper advertisements 
 of patent medicines, especially those containing a long 
 list of “ symptoms ” indicative of imminent danger and 
 the stern necessity for immediate investment in a dozen 
 bottles of the medicine. The success of this plan of sug¬ 
 gestion is rendered easy by the fact that there are few 
 imaginative people who cannot, by diligent introspec¬ 
 tion, find one or more of the advertised symptoms. Ed¬ 
 ucated physicians are all well aware of the potency of 
 suggestion in the creation of diseased conditions of the 
 body. They have been so instructed in their schools 
 and colleges, and many of them have had valuable prac¬ 
 tical experience along those lines in their daily practice. 
 Comparatively few, however, have practically tested the 
 potency of suggestion as a remedial agent. Hence they 
 will be prepared to give but a theoretical indorsement 
 of what is to follow. Those, however, who have studied 
 the subject by scientific methods, and have had practical 
 experience besides, will instantly recognize in the psy¬ 
 chological formula above given a potentially complete 
 explication of all the phenomena of mental healing. A 
 very few words will suffice to render the explanation 
 clear to the general reader. 
 
 For the purposes of this argument we may leave the 
 first proposition out of consideration altogether. The 
 second proposition, that “ The subjective mind controls 
 the functions, sensations, and conditions of the body,” 
 embraces that potential healing force, resident within 
 
296 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the body, which Jesus said must be energized by faith. 
 It matters not what terminology vi?e may employ to des¬ 
 ignate it, the fact remains that it exists. We may call 
 it “ the principle of life,” or we may designate it by the 
 histological term, “ communal soul ” (Haeckel), which 
 is that intelligent energy which controls and regulates 
 the functions of the innumerable cells of which the 
 whole body is composed, each one of which is itself an 
 intelligent entity. Each cell is highly specialized with 
 reference to its location and its consequent functions, 
 each having its special duty to perform. I do not step 
 outside of pure materialism when I say this. Nor do 
 I do so when I say that ” the functions of an organ are 
 the functions of the cells of which it consists,” and that 
 “ disease is abnormal performance of function by one 
 or more organs or tissues.” ^ Disease of the body, there¬ 
 fore, is disease of the cells of the body, and the health 
 or disease of the cell is determined by its normal or ab¬ 
 normal food-supply, which in turn depends upon the 
 circulation or composition of the blood.^ 
 
 These, of course, are very general terms, and they are 
 of very wide, if not of universal, application. No edu¬ 
 cated physician of any of the schools will gainsay them, 
 and every histologist will recognize them as embracing 
 the very fundamentals of his science. Nor will any 
 scientist deny that each and all of these cellular intelli¬ 
 gences, which comprise all that there is of any multi¬ 
 cellular organism, are governed by a central intelligence, 
 sleepless, ever alert for the preservation of the body, 
 instinctive, automatically controlling the involuntary 
 muscles, and capable, in response to stimuli, of acceler- 
 
 1 Green, Pathology a 7 id Morbid Anatomy, pp. 29, 30. 
 
 * Op. cit. 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 
 
 297 
 
 ating or retarding the action of every fibre and function 
 of the body. These stimuli may be either physical or 
 mental. They may consist of food supplies, normal or 
 abnormal, or of medicines, or they may be purely mental. 
 Thus the heart’s action may be accelerated or retarded, 
 or suspended altogether, by good or bad news. The 
 same may be said of the circulation of the blood, secre¬ 
 tion or excretion, digestion or assimilation—in short, the 
 normal performance of any of the functions of the body 
 may be inhibited or promoted by appropriate mental 
 stimuli. It goes without saying that when the stimulus 
 is purely mental the action of the central intelligence 
 upon the cells involved is also mental. It may be direct, 
 as in imparting an impulse through the nerve ganglia, 
 or it may be indirect, as in the re-establishment of nor¬ 
 mal metabolism in diseased cells by the induction of an 
 increased flow of blood to the group affected. In either 
 case it is a mental phenomenon induced by a mental 
 stimulus. Medicines could do no more, and frequently 
 they do much less. 
 
 Now, the existence of this central controlling intelli¬ 
 gence, by whatever name it may be designated, or what¬ 
 soever theory one may entertain as to its ultimate origin 
 or destiny, its powers, its potentialities, or its limitations, 
 is now recognized with practical unanimity by all stu¬ 
 dents, not only of the new psychology, but of physiol¬ 
 ogy, physiological psychology, and histology. More¬ 
 over, what is more to our present purpose, every student 
 of experimental psychology knows that this central in¬ 
 telligence is constantly amenable to control by the subtle 
 power of suggestion. Indeed, experimental psychology 
 may be said to have revealed its existence. It certainly 
 has demonstrated its suggestibility, as well as its potency 
 
298 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 as a therapeutic agent when energized by an appropriate 
 mental stimulus. 
 
 These stimuli are now known to psychological science 
 by the generic name of “ suggestions.” They are multi¬ 
 form in character, and in the hands of the skilful prac¬ 
 titioner they are varied in accordance with the individ¬ 
 ual idiosyncrasies of his patients. But multiform as 
 therapeutic suggestions are in practice, they may all be 
 comprised under one generic term having reference to 
 the fact that all disease, in its ultimate analysis, is disease 
 of the tissues or of the cells of which the tissues are 
 composed. The central intelligence, or “ communal 
 soul ” as Haeckel terms it, necessarily conveys the men¬ 
 tal stimulus which it receives to each of the cells 
 affected. And as each cell is itself an organic entity, 
 endowed with a mental organism of its own, and per¬ 
 forming all the functions of animal life, it follows that 
 the mental stimulus received by the communal intelli¬ 
 gence is conveyed directly, as a mental stimulus, to the 
 mind organism of each cell, thus stimulating it into 
 normal activity. Effective therapeutic suggestions, 
 therefore, are those which reach the intelligences com¬ 
 posing the organic tissues that are diseased, stimulating 
 those that are being atrophied, and regulating their 
 supply of nutriment in cases of hypertrophy. 
 
 Any student of histology, who is also acquainted with , 
 the psychology of micro-organisms, will readily grasp 
 my meaning and be able to extend the principle involved 
 to all cases of effective mental healing. Even the non¬ 
 professional reader will see at a glance that this hypoth¬ 
 esis greatly simplifies the whole theory of suggestive 
 therapeutics, in that it reveals the machinery through 
 which mental stimuli, or suggestions, are made effective. 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 299 
 
 Moreover, it divests “ suggestion ” of that indefinable 
 glamour of mystery with which it has been invested. 
 To the professional psychotherapist it will at once be 
 obvious that other systems of healing, not supposed to 
 be suggestive, owe their success, in great measure, to 
 this principle; for example, massage and osteopathy. 
 The masseur may well be supposed to convey, uncon¬ 
 sciously, suggestions directly to the affected cells by 
 manipulation of the group, and the osteopathist, also 
 unconsciously, by manipulating the nerve centres lead¬ 
 ing to the group. This hypothesis will, in fact, be 
 found to afford an explication of many groups and sub¬ 
 groups of phenomena, particularly of all cures effected 
 by touch, digital manipulation, or laying on of hands. 
 Besides, it affords an explanation of many other mys¬ 
 terious psychical phenomena, outside the domain of 
 suggestive therapeutics, which cannot be mentioned 
 here. 
 
 It must now be obvious that a generic term for thera¬ 
 peutic suggestion must have special reference to the fact 
 that, in its ultimate analysis, effective suggestions are 
 those that directly or indirectly reach the seat of the 
 disease; that is, the cell intelligences composing the 
 diseased tissues. Its intimate association with histol¬ 
 ogy, or the branch of biology that treats of the structure 
 of the tissues of organized bodies, suggests histo-sug- 
 gestion; but partly for the sake of euphony, and espe¬ 
 cially to avoid coining a word, I have chosen the term 
 “ histionic suggestion ” to designate that form of men¬ 
 tal stimulus that energizes diseased tissues, or the cells 
 of which they are composed.^ In this sense the term is 
 
 1 “ Histionic ” is a word not found in any English dictionary with 
 which I am familiar. My authority for its use in connection with His- 
 
300 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 generic, for that it embraces the efficient cause of all 
 therapeutic effects of all forms of suggestion. Specifi¬ 
 cally, it may be defined as that direct method of convey¬ 
 ing therapeutic suggestions which consists in personal 
 contact or digital manipulation. I may add, en pas¬ 
 sant, that this method, when employed with intelli¬ 
 gent purposefulness by the proper person, is by far the 
 most efficient and universally practicable of all the mul¬ 
 tiform methods of imparting therapeutic suggestions. 
 Indeed, it is often the only method by which they can 
 be imparted. A demonstrative illustration is found in 
 the soothing touch of the sympathetic mother, often 
 instinctively applied to an infant too young to assimilate 
 any other form of mental stimulus. Intelligently ap¬ 
 plied, its effects are indefinitely multiplied. Many fan¬ 
 tastic theories have been invoked to account for this 
 well-known phenomenon, often with the view of re¬ 
 moving it, with its innumerable cognates, from the 
 domain of suggestion. But, in its ultimate analysis, it 
 ranges itself under that generic term. It is histionic 
 suggestion, peripherally applied. In other words, it is 
 a mental stimulus or impulse, conveyed by a second 
 subjective personality to the affected cells, precisely as 
 the same impulse is conveyed by the central subjec¬ 
 tive intelligence of the adult patient in response to any 
 form of suggestion. 
 
 This may seem to be a digression. But I have deemed 
 it necessary, not only to assert the universality of the law 
 of suggestion as applied to mental healing, but to dem¬ 
 onstrate it by an appeal to the universally acknowledged 
 facts of modern science. To that end I have sought 
 
 tology is found in the English translation of Professor Haeckel’s Riddle 
 of the Universe, chap. vii. 
 
A PSYCHOPATHIC STUDY 
 
 301 
 
 to remove therapeutic suggestion from the domain of 
 the mysterious and the occult, as well as from the 
 dismal realm of superstition. I have endeavored to 
 show its reasonableness, its conformity to all the 
 known facts of human experience, and that its sim¬ 
 plicity stamps it with the sign-manual of scientific 
 truth. I leave it to the intelligent reader to draw his 
 own conclusions, and to make his own application to 
 Christian Science, as well as to all other methods of 
 mental healing. 
 
 For seeking to place mental therapeutics in the cus¬ 
 tody of a law I shall doubtless be accused of trying to 
 rob the Divine Father of the honor due to the Healer of 
 his children. I am not. On the contrary, I regard it as 
 the strongest possible incentive to divine worship, the 
 greatest conceivable reason for profound adoration, the 
 most indubitable evidence of his infinite mercy and lov¬ 
 ing kindness to his children, to reflect that God has in¬ 
 stituted a universal law for the healing of the nations, 
 — Christian, pagan, and savage. No stronger or more 
 convincing teleological argument has ever been made 
 than that derivable from the one pregnant fact that God 
 has instituted a law of mental healing that adjusts itself 
 with equal facility to all peoples, all beliefs, all super¬ 
 stitions, and all grades of civilization. Ancient history 
 tells us of an indefinite number of methods, each based 
 upon some fantastic theory or upon some gross super¬ 
 stition. Yet each method seems to have been equally 
 effective, for history informs us that under all sys¬ 
 tems “ miraculous ” cures were common occurrences. 
 In view of this well-known fact, one may well pause 
 to inquire what would have been the fate of those 
 primitive peoples if the law of suggestion had not been 
 
302 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 as potent for good as for evil — for the promotion of 
 health as for the creation of disease? For untold cen¬ 
 turies suggestion, in its myriad forms, was the only 
 therapeutic agency available. But it was perfectly 
 adapted to primitive conditions of human intelligence; 
 a fortiori, because of its perfect adaptation to all forms 
 of belief, superstitious or otherwise. 
 
 What is, if possible, of still more profound teleo¬ 
 logical significance is the fact that it is adapted to 
 the uses of the highest civilization, for when the law 
 is scientifically comprehended it may be intelligently 
 applied. Besides, in the midst of the highest civiliza¬ 
 tion yet attained, primitive minds still exist, primitive 
 methods of reasoning still prevail, atavism still consti¬ 
 tutes a retrograde force, and primitive superstitions, 
 more grotesque and idiotic than any mentioned in 
 ancient history, dominate the minds of large classes of 
 our population. Why should they be vilified and abused, 
 buflfeted and contumeliously entreated, by press and 
 pulpit, for that which is their misfortune and not their 
 fault? They are availing themselves of the law of 
 suggestion in healing their sick and afflicted, and they 
 are doing it in a way that is perfectly adapted to their 
 grade of intelligence. They heal many, and their re¬ 
 ligion stands the test of quantitative analysis. 
 
XIII 
 
 PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 
 
 N O one will dispute the proposition that the 
 trend of modern science is in the direction 
 of demonstrating that whatever happens in 
 this world is brought about in accordance with natural 
 law. 
 
 In other words, it is the province of science to re¬ 
 move every event from the realm of the supernatural, 
 and to demonstrate that God created and rules this 
 universe by and through the operation of immutable 
 laws, which were implanted in matter and spirit from 
 the beginning. 
 
 It is a self-evident proposition that science does far 
 more reverence to God in thus ascribing to Him such 
 a power and such an intelligence, than does super¬ 
 stition in believing Him to labor under the necessity 
 of supplementing His work by special creations and 
 miraculous interventions. 
 
 That the triumphs of science in this direction have 
 been many and important, no one will deny. That it 
 has been opposed at every step in its progress by theo¬ 
 logical dogmatism is current history. The reason is 
 obvious. When science first declared its independence, 
 it was denounced as atheistic, and it was persecuted 
 accordingly. So great was the antagonism at first that 
 it was tacitly understood for a long time that science 
 was opposed to religion; and it was many years before 
 
304 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 any one seriously thought that there could be any har¬ 
 monious relations between them. 
 
 Gradually, however, it has dawned upon the contest¬ 
 ing parties that the conflict is not between science and 
 religion, but between science and theological dogma¬ 
 tism. With this understanding, the relation of science 
 to the Church has, within a few years, undergone a 
 decided change. 
 
 The great body of the intelligent members of the 
 Church no longer hold themselves in antagonism to the 
 essential claims of science; and science no longer 
 disputes the essential tenets of the Christian religion. 
 One by one the points have been yielded, until there are 
 but few essential features of difference in dispute. 
 
 The miracles were the last to yield. For many years 
 they have been the stumbling-block; and they would 
 doubtless have continued to stand in the way of a full 
 acceptance of the essential truths of Christianity had not 
 science itself been able to demonstrate the fact that 
 the phenomena which were supposed to have been pro¬ 
 duced by miraculous power are clearly within the do¬ 
 main of natural law. 
 
 And now for the first time in the history of the 
 Church it has dawned upon the world that Jesus never 
 claimed that he could perform a miracle. That is to 
 say, he never claimed that he transcended natural law 
 in performing his wonderful works. On the contrary, 
 he gave us to know, by word and deed, that he al¬ 
 ways acted strictly within the law. In point of fact, 
 history and science unite in showing that Jesus was 
 the first discoverer of the great law under which he 
 wrought his wonders, and which has but recently been 
 rediscovered. 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 305 
 
 Science and the Church are, therefore, now in prac¬ 
 tical accord on this great question. 
 
 But there is another stumbling-block which the 
 Church has not been disposed to yield, and which 
 science has thus far refused to accept and failed to 
 explain. I refer to prophecy in general and Messianic 
 prophecies in particular. 
 
 I scarcely need to say to you that prophecy, as the 
 term is generally understood, cannot be admitted among 
 the verities. It is generally understood and defined as 
 a prediction made under the immediate influence and 
 inspiration of God. As this implies a miraculous inter¬ 
 vention of divine power, science, of course, cannot rec¬ 
 ognize or deal with it in the absence of such proofs as 
 are required under the strict rules of induction. 
 
 Nevertheless the belief that there exists, somewhere, 
 the power to make inerrant predictions is astonishingly 
 prevalent, even among those who regard themselves as 
 altogether too scientific to believe in special interpo¬ 
 sitions of Divine Providence in the affairs of mankind. 
 
 In strict justice to everybody it must be admitted 
 that there are thousands of things happening every day, 
 and have been happening for thousands of years, that 
 have never yet been accounted for; and many of them 
 seem to point unmistakably to the conclusion that the 
 faculty of inerrant prophecy exists. Ultra scientists, 
 as usual, content themselves with a wholesale denial 
 of the facts. Others believe the facts and account for 
 them on the theory of immediate divine inspiration. 
 Which of these two classes is the less scientific it is 
 difficult to say. 
 
 Another class believes the facts and denies the in¬ 
 spiration, but proceeds to account for them on grounds 
 
 20 
 
3o6 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 less tenable, if possible, than either of the others. A 
 large number of this class hold that, in some unac¬ 
 countable way, spirits of the dead come into possession 
 of a knowledge of all things, past, present, and future 
 — especially of the future. Others, who are inclined to 
 be extremely scientific, without reference to facts upon 
 which to base their propositions, tell us that Time is 
 merely a mode of finite thought; that it really has no 
 existence in point of fact; that past, present, and future 
 events are somehow mixed and jumbled up in one 
 eternal Now; and that all that is necessary to consti¬ 
 tute a true prophet is the ability to tell which is which. 
 The same brand of philosophers also tell us that there 
 is no such thing as space; and the ablest of them — 
 that is those possessing the greatest ability to pervert 
 the plain facts of nature — insist that there is no such 
 thing as matter. In other and plainer words, they hold 
 that this beautiful world, with all its rich varieties of 
 land and sea, hills and dales, mountains and valleys, 
 rivers and lakes, trees, birds, and flowers, together with 
 the grand and glorious universe around us, constitute 
 one stupendous, cosmic lie. Vvflth them the heavens 
 do not declare the glory of God, nor does the firmament 
 show forth His handiwork. On the contrary, their 
 philosophy teaches us that the heavens are grand illu¬ 
 sions, instituted on a cosmic scale, for no conceivable 
 object whatever save to delude and destroy men who 
 do not exist. The people who believe these things also 
 believe themselves to be “ scientists.” 
 
 Now no one needs to be told that true science deals 
 largely with just those things — matter, space, and time. 
 As to time, and the human events occurring in it, we 
 can take cognizance of but three grand divisions, namely, 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 307 
 
 past, present, and future. Of the past we can be reason¬ 
 ably certain through memory. Of the present we know 
 through consciousness. But of the future, no absolute 
 knowledge can be claimed, save of those events in the 
 physical universe which are governed by mathematical 
 law. Nor can the possibility be admitted that absolute 
 knowledge of future human events is within the range of 
 the powers of the human intellect. Please to remember 
 that I use the word “ absolute ” in its strictest sense, as 
 unrelated, unconditioned. 
 
 Nevertheless there are numerous and well-authenti¬ 
 cated instances of prophecy or prevision in modern 
 times which it is the duty of science, or of scientists, 
 to account for, instead of taking refuge behind an 
 assumed skepticism. 
 
 But as no one has ever attempted an explanation in 
 harmony with known laws of nature, I shall beg your 
 indulgence while I make an attempt to do so. 
 
 Leaving the Messianic prophecies out of consid¬ 
 eration for the moment, I remark that there are two 
 classes of previsions to deal with. The first embraces 
 those cases where a specific event is predicted for the 
 near future; but in relation to which there is a pre¬ 
 existent fact which, if known to the one who made the 
 prediction, would take the case out of the category of 
 previsions. Thus, if I predict that John Smith is going 
 to New York to-morrow, when in fact he has no 
 present intention to go there inside of a month; and if 
 he should receive, later, a telegram from that city an¬ 
 nouncing the dangerous illness of a member of his family 
 and requiring his immediate attendance, he would doubt¬ 
 less regard it as a wonderful case of genuine prevision. 
 But if it should transpire that I had previous knowledge 
 
3 o8 the evolution of the soul 
 
 that such a telegram had been sent, he would regard it 
 as a very commonplace case of fraud or false pretence. 
 
 But suppose he was in consultation with a psychic, — 
 a spirit medium so called, and conseqrtently a mind 
 reader. Then suppose that said medium possessed no 
 knowledge whatever, obtainable through sensory chan¬ 
 nels, of the sickness or of the telegram. It is, never¬ 
 theless, within easy range of possibility for the medium 
 to obtain the knowledge of the facts by means of tele¬ 
 pathy. That is to, say, the sitter is in constant tele¬ 
 pathic rapport wnth his own family. But telepathy is 
 exclusively a faculty of the subjective mind. Conse¬ 
 quently, not being a psychic, the sitter receives the 
 information unconsciously to his objective senses. The 
 medium, however, being a psychic, reads the contents 
 of the sitter’s subjective mind; and thus obtains the 
 data for the prediction. In the meantime, if the medium 
 courts prophetic honors, she simply prophesies that the 
 sitter will go to New York on the following day. 
 
 Here I must pause to invite your attention to a 
 very curious and interesting phase of this class of 
 phenomena. They are exceedingly flexible and are 
 adapted to various uses. They can be fitted to all 
 forms of belief, and they can be made to suit all 
 customers. 
 
 I have said that if the medium poses as a prophet 
 she simply predicts that her sitter will go to New York 
 on the day following. That is prophecy, — medium- 
 istic prophecy. 
 
 If she poses as a spirit medium, she tells her sitter 
 that the spirits say that his wife is very sick and wants 
 him to come home immediately. That is spiritism. 
 
 If she chooses to claim to be divinely inspired, she 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 309 
 
 tells her sitter that the Lord has spoken to her, saying: 
 “Tell the young man to arise quickly and go hence; 
 for his wife, who sojourneth in Gotham, yea, even the 
 greater Gotham, is sick unto death.” That is inspiration. 
 
 If the medium poses as a clairvoyant, she tells the 
 sitter that she sees a letter or a telegram on the way from 
 New York containing news that his wife is sick. That 
 is clairvoyance. 
 
 If she seeks fame as a clairaudient, she tells her 
 sitter that she hears the voice of his wife calling him 
 to come to her, for she is sick. That is clairaudience. 
 
 If she poses as an astrologist, she casts the sitter’s 
 horoscope, and declares that the stars indicate the 
 serious illness of a member of his family on the current 
 date, and a consequent hasty journey on his part. That 
 is astrology. 
 
 If she is a gypsy fortune-teller, she looks in the 
 sitter’s hand, or shuffles a pack of greasy cards, and 
 tells him that he is about to take a long journey on very 
 important business; and if he will give her another 
 dollar, she will tell him all about it. That is fortune¬ 
 telling. 
 
 But if the psychic seeks telepathic honors, she just 
 simply tells the truth, and informs her sitter that she 
 reads in his subjective mind a message from his wife, 
 announcing her illness and desiring his immediate re¬ 
 turn home. That is telepathy. And that is the truth; 
 for that is the simple explanation of the phenomenon. 
 In each of the cases mentioned, the explanation is the 
 same. The classification, therefore, either as a prophecy, 
 a spirit communication, a telepathic message, or what 
 not, depends entirely upon what the particular psychic 
 happens to think or say about it. And that obviously 
 
310 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 depends upon the suggestions embraced in her education. 
 If she believes it to be a telepathic message she declares 
 it to be that and nothing more. If she poses as a pro¬ 
 phetess, she makes a prediction based upon the infor¬ 
 mation received telepathically. 
 
 But it is not prophecy in any true sense of the word; 
 for it is based upon a fact, known to the psychic, which 
 must inevitably lead to the event predicted. But it is a 
 typical case of modern prophecy. And I undertake to 
 say that ninety-nine one-hundredths of all the marvellous 
 cases of correct predictions — many of which are well 
 authenticated — can be traced to telepathy as the source 
 of positive information regarding the subject matter 
 of the supposed prophecy. And thus it happens that in 
 these days of spirit mediums, fortune-tellers, clairvoy¬ 
 ants, magicians, and mahatmas, the supply of prophecy 
 is more nearly equal to the demand than ever before. 
 But it keeps them all busy ministering to the insatiable 
 cravings of those strenuous souls who are either long¬ 
 ing for husbands or yearning to get rid of them. 
 
 There is another class of cases which are a trifle 
 more obscure, and which have been held up as inex¬ 
 plicable under the telepathic theory. 
 
 I will trouble you with one, because a certain great 
 and famous London editor, whom you all know by 
 reputation, has given it to me as a case which tele¬ 
 pathy cannot account for. He had criticised my first 
 published work — The Law of Psychic Phenomena 
 — because I omitted to explain prophecy under the 
 terms of my hypothesis. It is true that I omitted it, 
 but I did so for the simple reason that I had not at the 
 time any cases sufficiently well authenticated to warrant 
 me in treating the subject from a scientific standpoint. 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 31I 
 
 The case related is briefly this: The editor, in com¬ 
 pany with a lady, visited a psychic — a so-called spirit 
 medium. In the course of the seance, the psychic 
 prophesied that the lady would visit America within a 
 few months. The lady protested that such an event was 
 impossible within the time given. Nevertheless she did 
 visit America within the time. She was suddenly and 
 unexpectedly called to visit the bedside of a very sick 
 mother. 
 
 What is the explanation? The great editor could 
 find none outside of spirit intercourse, or a divine power 
 of knowing the future. 
 
 The telepathic explanation is, in his mind, clearly out 
 of the question. To my mind the phenomenon is clearly 
 and easily explicable under the telepathic hypothesis. 
 Let us see. 
 
 If there is anything about telepathy that is more clearly 
 established than anything else, it is that near relatives, 
 especially parents and children, are constantly in tele¬ 
 pathic rapport with each other, especially when one or 
 the other is sick or threatened with illness or other 
 disaster. It is equally well established that the sub¬ 
 jective mind of each individual has a perfect knowledge 
 of the conditions of the body which it inhabits. This 
 being true, it follows that when the seeds of disease 
 are in the system, the subjective mind is aware of the 
 fact, and it can easily foresee the time of probable 
 culmination in serious illness. This information is 
 naturally conveyed to those who are interested, and it 
 thus becomes a part of their subjective mental equip¬ 
 ment. If they do not happen to be psychics themselves, 
 that knowledge is unconsciously possessed; and is only 
 revealed to their normal consciousness when they come 
 
312 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 in contact with a psychic. Then, as I have before 
 remarked, if the psychic is ambitious of prophetic 
 honors, she prophesies whatever event is sure to fol¬ 
 low, without divulging the fact that leads her to that 
 conclusion. 
 
 These predictions, however, can in no wise be des¬ 
 ignated as prophecies, — scarcely as previsions. They 
 are simply predictions based upon knowledge of proxi¬ 
 mate and entirely adequate causes. 
 
 No matter how that knowledge is obtained, whether 
 by a previous inspection of family records and tomb¬ 
 stones, or by means of telepathy, the mystery is dis¬ 
 pelled the moment it is known that the alleged prophet 
 is in possession of that knowledge. 
 
 It is obvious that in the cases thus far mentioned it 
 does not require even good judgment to make an abso¬ 
 lutely correct prediction. It requires only the simple 
 power of mind-reading to ascertain the governing fact. 
 Thus far no other power of the subjective mind is 
 brought into requisition. 
 
 I now approach another class of previsions that rest 
 upon a far different foundation. I will premise by 
 saying that there is nothing miraculous about prophecy. 
 It simply calls into exercise certain inherent faculties 
 of the human soul. It transcends no law. On the 
 contrary, like every other power on this earth, or in 
 the heavens above, or in the waters under the earth, 
 it operates strictly within the limits of natural law. It 
 neither annihilates nor transcends any of the three 
 eternal verities, — matter, space, or time. Nothing can 
 transcend these. Every phenomenon that is tangible 
 to the senses is manifested through matter. All things 
 exist in space. Time is simply the fact of continuous 
 
PROPHECY, AHCIEHT AND MODERN 313 
 
 or successive existence. Its three grand divisions are, 
 the past, the present, and the future; and these furnish 
 the sphere of all activities and events, finite or infinite. 
 No one of the three can take the place of either of the 
 others or be confounded with it. 
 
 It is a maxim of logic that whatever is self-evident 
 requires no proof. That the existence of matter is self- 
 evident, no one but a metaphysician will pretend to 
 deny. Moreover, science tells us that matter is in¬ 
 destructible. It can be changed in form but not 
 destroyed. 
 
 Space is another self-evident fact; and the normal 
 mind cannot so much as conceive the possibility that 
 there exists any power that can annihilate it; or that 
 anything can exist except in space. 
 
 Time is another of the self-evident, eternal verities. 
 It requires no proofs to demonstrate its objective reality. 
 But if proofs were necessary, the Creator Himself has 
 supplied them; for the starry heavens constitute one 
 stupendous, cosmic horologe, which marks the grand 
 succession of events, human and divine. 
 
 As I have before remarked, the past, present, and 
 future are not interchangeable. It follows that nothing 
 can be positively known except the past and the present. 
 It would require a miracle to give one absolute, uncon¬ 
 ditioned knowledge of future events; for there is and 
 can be no law of the mind that would enable one to 
 cognize that which does not exist. 
 
 It involves an absolute contradiction as gross and 
 palpable as it would be to suppose that God could make 
 a three-year-old horse in a minute. 
 
 Nevertheless man has a means of knowing the future. 
 Thus in the physical sciences, when we once know the 
 
314 the evolution of the soul 
 
 law governing a subject matter of inquiry, we can pre¬ 
 dict the future with unerring certainty. For instance, 
 when the laws governing planetary motion were discov¬ 
 ered, astronomers were enabled to foretell the eclipses 
 and other stellar events with mathematical exactitude. 
 But this is not prophecy in the sense in which we are 
 considering the term. We are considering human 
 events, and they are not governed by mathematical 
 laws. If they were, man would not be a free moral 
 agent. Being a free moral agent he is at liberty to 
 choose the wrong instead of the right. He has it in his 
 power either to violate every law of nature or to place 
 himself in harmony therewith, just as he sees fit. 
 
 Nevertheless he is governed by law. He is governed 
 by the laws of his physical being, the laws of mind and 
 soul, and by the laws of progressive development of the 
 mental, moral, and spiritual nature of mankind. More¬ 
 over, whatever the segregated individual may do as an 
 independent entity, mankind considered en masse and 
 by great epochs or dispensations, is governed by natural 
 laws that operate with absolute certainty of ultimate 
 results. It will readily be seen, therefore, that previsions 
 may be predicated upon such laws with a great degree 
 of moral certainty of ultimate fulfilment. 
 
 Now the great question is, what faculties of the mind 
 are brought into requisition in making an inerrant 
 prophecy? I will answer that question by first defining 
 prophecy as I understand it. 
 
 A prophecy is nothing more or less than a statement 
 of the conclusions derived from reasoning from cause 
 to effect. In other words, an inerrant prophecy is a 
 logical conclusion derived from a correct premise. That 
 premise may consist of a known fact or a known law. 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 315 
 
 or of the two combined. But there must be one or the 
 other. The prophetic mind must have data from which 
 to deduce conclusions as to future events, precisely as 
 ordinary, every-day mortals search for ordinary, every¬ 
 day truth. 
 
 It follows that the prophetic potential resides, to a 
 limited extent, in the objective, reasoning mind. I have 
 already remarked that in the domain of the physical 
 sciences, inerrant predictions as to future events are 
 common. It is also true that the highly cultivated ob¬ 
 jective mind is equal to a very high order of previsions 
 regarding human events. 
 
 A striking instance of this occurred some years before 
 the War of the Rebellion. Many will remember the 
 cry of incredulity and indignation which went up from 
 all over the land when William H. Seward declared that 
 there is a “ higher law than the Constitution ”; that 
 an “ irrepressible conflict ” was then going on between 
 “ opposing and enduring forces ” — freedom and slav¬ 
 ery — and that a crisis was already impending which 
 would decide the question forever. 
 
 This fulmination comprised the conclusions derived 
 from a long and earnest inductive study of the situation. 
 It was derided at the time as a wild, fanatical dream. 
 But when, two short years later, the first gun was fired 
 on Sumter, Seward was hailed as a prophet. 
 
 It will also be remembered that when that event 
 occurred, Mr. Seward predicted that the war would be 
 over in ninety days. Some of Mr. Seward’s admirers, 
 referring to the first prediction, went so far as to de¬ 
 clare him to be an inspired prophet. But the two pre¬ 
 dictions simply exhibit the marked contrast between his 
 sagacity as a politician, and his weakness as a military 
 man. He was a statesman, but not a soldier. 
 
3i6 the evolution of the soul 
 
 It will thus be seen that a very high degree of 
 prophetic power resides in the objective mind; and 
 that the only faculties called into requisition are those 
 of pure reason, based on an intelligent observation of 
 facts. 
 
 Inerrant prophecy, therefore, in the sense in which 
 we have been considering it, is nothing more or less 
 than the result of good judgment. By good judgment, 
 I mean the power to deduce correct conclusions from 
 given premises. 
 
 It now remains to consider prophecy in its higher 
 aspects; that is, prophecies which call into exercise the 
 faculties of the subjective mind. 
 
 In these the same steps are necessary, namely, first 
 acquiring the data, and second, exercising the faculty 
 of deduction. As this faculty is potentially perfect 
 in the subjective mind, it is obvious that marvellous re¬ 
 sults are possible. And when it is remembered that the 
 faculty of intuitive perception also belongs to the sub¬ 
 jective mind, it becomes evident that the prophetic power 
 of the soul is practically unlimited. It is in fact limited 
 only by the laws under which it performs its functions. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that the sources 
 from whence the subjective mind may acquire its data 
 are limited to the intuitional faculty. The province of 
 intuition is that of general laws or first principles. But 
 the data from which the subjective mind draws its 
 prophetic conclusions are not limited to these. It may 
 also acquire particular facts, or even general laws, from 
 the researches of the objective mind; and, as its memory 
 is absolute, it possesses in that alone a vast storehouse 
 of available data from which to draw prophetic de¬ 
 ductions. 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 317 
 
 It is frequently impossible in particular cases of mod¬ 
 ern prophecy to know just what is the quality and 
 character of the data relied upon. Sometimes, however, 
 we can afterwards see the process clearly defined. Thus, 
 in 1803, a celebrated Quaker preacher, named Joseph 
 Hoag, who was also a psychic, published a prophecy 
 in which he predicted a schism in the various churches 
 of the United States, including his own. 
 
 He also prophesied the agitation of the slavery 
 question, its entrance into politics, the consequent civil 
 war, resulting in the abolition of slavery. The Quakers 
 believe him to have been directly inspired by God Him¬ 
 self. They can see no other way to account for it. 
 
 It is clear that the unaided reasoning powers of man¬ 
 kind were, at that date, unequal to such a prevision. At 
 least no one in his normal condition made this pre¬ 
 diction. But this obscure preacher, while in a trance 
 or a tranceoid condition, was enabled to make a pre¬ 
 diction, the literal fulfilment of which to-day fills the 
 minds of his people with reverential awe. 
 
 What fact he may have been cognizant of that enabled 
 him to predict a schism in his own church, I know not. 
 But it is now clear that one event which was then sure 
 to happen in the near future, was amply sufficient to 
 release the forces which inevitably brought about the 
 fulfilment of his prophecy. That event was the abo¬ 
 lition of the slave trade, the Constitutional limitation of 
 which was to expire in 1808. Slavery was already 
 practically confined to the South. It was unprofitable 
 in the North, and hence its gradual abolition there had 
 been provided for. This was current history. The 
 psychic also knew the stern, uncompromising devotion 
 of the New England character to the cause of human 
 
3 i 8 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 liberty, its hatred of oppression, its pious regard for 
 the natural rights of man; and he foresaw that these 
 qualities would shine forth with renewed lustre and be¬ 
 come an aggressive force in the New England political 
 character just as soon as a cargo of New England rum 
 could no longer be profitably bartered for a cargo of 
 African slaves. It was also natural that when the con¬ 
 troversy was once begun, the churches would be the 
 first to divide; that intense sectionalism was sure to 
 follow, with all its train of prejudices, hatred, con¬ 
 tumely, hysteria, and violence, culminating in the total 
 destruction of the cause of the controversy, and placing 
 the United States where she properly belongs — in the 
 van of human progress. It will thus be seen that 
 whilst the prophecy of this obscure psychic preacher 
 antedated that of Mr. Seward by more than half a 
 century, and was infinitely more specific as to detail, 
 it was equally exact, and its fulfilment involved the 
 greatest tragedy of modern history. It is, however, 
 but a feeble illustration of the vast difference in the 
 deductive powers of the two minds. That difference 
 can be appreciated only when we come to consider the 
 Messianic prophecies. 
 
 But it may be here remarked, the fact that the sub¬ 
 jective mind has intuition from which to draw its argu¬ 
 ments, and that this faculty is potentially perfect, easily 
 accounts for the marvellously correct deductions which 
 in all human history, sacred and profane, have been 
 recorded under the name of prophecy. It is prophecy, 
 in the highest and the noblest sense of the term; for it 
 is the foreseeing and foretelling of future events under 
 and by virtue of the immutable laws of God. 
 
 Now let it not be forgotten that the special province 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 319 
 
 of intuition is the laws which govern the being and 
 destiny of the human soul. In animals and primitive 
 man it is known as the instinct of self-preservation, — 
 pertaining solely to the safety and development of the 
 body and the perpetuation of the species. As objective 
 reason developed, it took the place of the purely animal 
 instinct to a great extent, in matters of this world, and 
 the latter developed into the higher form of intuition. 
 Being a faculty of the soul its higher manifestations 
 pertain to the soul. It is not exempt from the law of 
 suggestion; but in the absence of suggestion it performs 
 its highest functions untrammelled. Hence it was that 
 before the days of philosophic doubts and scientific 
 skepticism, intuition laid the foundation for the grand 
 superstructure of modern civilization. 
 
 Misinterpreted though it has been, even by its most 
 devout adherents, the fact still remains that the Bible 
 contains the natural history of the human soul. Mis¬ 
 understood as have been the phenomena therein re¬ 
 corded, even by those who experienced them, it still 
 remains that they constituted the necessary steps in the 
 evolution of the religion absolute. 
 
 The first great step in that direction was taken when 
 the monotheistic idea was evolved from the inner con¬ 
 sciousness of the earliest Jewish prophet. That the 
 idea of one living God was an intuitive perception is 
 evidenced by the fact that the suggestion could not have 
 emanated from any of the polytheistic, idolatrous peoples 
 with whom the Jews were in contact. It was an original 
 conception, and, crude though it was in its inception, 
 it was the immortal germ of a great truth. 
 
 1 It was inevitable that the idea should be limited and 
 perverted by the suggestions embraced in the religions 
 
320 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 of the surrounding nations. Each had its own gods, 
 and there were enough of them, such as they were. It 
 was natural, therefore, that the one God of Israel should 
 be their God exclusively, — a tribal God. It required 
 many years of progressive development to expand the 
 original monotheistic conception so far as to embrace 
 all humanity. Isaiah, I believe, was the first to proclaim 
 the broad intuition. I say “ intuition,” for it could have 
 been nothing less, since it was a vast expansion — a 
 generalization of the limited, traditional conception of 
 the God of Israel. It remained, however, for the iner- 
 rant intuitions of Jesus to dispel the anthropomorphic 
 conceptions of the earlier prophets and to give to the 
 world its first conception of the living and true God 
 of love, mercy, and benevolence, the loving Father of 
 all humanity. Moreover, what is of still more pro¬ 
 found significance, ' Jesus was the first to proclaim in 
 specific and unmistakable language, the two cognate, 
 concomitant facts that we are the sons of God, and 
 that the kingdom of Heaven is within us. But it 
 must not be forgotten that the intuitions of one of the 
 earliest prophets shadowed forth the same fact in the 
 broad declaration that God created man in Elis own 
 image. 
 
 This declaration has been scoffed at during all the 
 ages of so-called “ scientific ” skepticism, solely because 
 of the anthropomorphic conceptions of its meaning by 
 the critics who deride it. 
 
 It is, nevertheless, when considered in its true light 
 as referring to the faculties of the soul instead of the 
 shape of the body, the most remarkable instance re¬ 
 corded in history of a genuine intuitive perception of a 
 great and fundamental truth. According to Bible chro- 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 321 
 
 nology, it took nearly two thousand years of progressive 
 development of the prophetic faculty to produce a man 
 capable of putting that intuition into words comprehen¬ 
 sible to the objective mind. It has taken two thousand 
 years more for the objective mind to verify that intu¬ 
 ition by the processes of induction. And it is verified 
 and scientifically demonstrated by a simple analysis of 
 the faculties of the subjective mind, — the mind of the 
 soul. 
 
 It will be asked, in this connection, why may not the 
 Mosaic account of Creation be accepted as scientifically 
 correct, since the same writer was responsible for both 
 the history and the intuition. The obvious answer is 
 this: Becaitse the province of intuition in man is that of 
 great general principles and laws of the moral and 
 spiritual universe, and not of the specific facts and 
 events of physical science. If men would learn to make 
 this broad and obvious distinction they would find no 
 difficulty in recognizing the great and fundamental 
 truths of spiritual philosophy with which the Bible is 
 overflowing. 
 
 No better illustration of this distinction and the ne¬ 
 cessity of observing it can be conceived than the very 
 instance we are considering. 
 
 For here we find, in one chapter, — the first in the 
 Bible, — an account of the creation of the physical 
 world that no one presumes to defend as scientifically 
 possible; and in the same chapter we find a scientifically 
 accurate statement of the most stupendous and funda¬ 
 mental truth of all that concerns the relations existent 
 between God and man. Moreover, it is demonstrative 
 that it was the intuition of man, and not a direct and 
 miraculous inspiration from God; for if it had been 
 
322 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 the latter there could have been no such admixture of 
 fundamental spiritual truth and palpable physical error. 
 
 The great lesson that it teaches is that God rules the 
 spiritual and the physical world alike by and through 
 the operation of natural law; and that His method of 
 inspiration is by implanting in the prim.ordial germ the 
 seeds of the divine power of intuitive perception of 
 fundamental and essential truth. 
 
 In like manner, the Messianic prophecies originated 
 in an intuitive apprehension of certain principles of 
 natural law. With these principles for a major premise, 
 the logical deductions were crystallized into a prophecy 
 of a coming leader whose voice the world would hear 
 and obey. 
 
 The first prophecy pointing unmistakably in that 
 direction was that of Moses. I shall be obliged to con¬ 
 fine my remarks largely to his prophecies for three 
 reasons: first, for want of time; secondly, because his 
 was the most clear, concise, and direct to the point; and 
 thirdly, because his was the principal one bearing the 
 unmistakable stamp of absolute originality. Most of 
 the others, being later productions, are obviously open 
 to the inference that they may have been inspired by that 
 of the great law-giver. 
 
 In order to understand the prophecy of Moses fully, 
 it is necessary to recall briefly the circumstances under 
 which it was made. It will also throw much light upon 
 the prophecies of his successors. 
 
 Moses was not only a prophet, but a man of affairs. 
 If the blood of kings did not flow in his veins, he was 
 at least born to command. 
 
 Educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, he still 
 clung to the religion of the Israelites. His mind was 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 323 
 
 filled with their traditions, and he worshipped the God 
 of his fathers. He was the chosen leader of his people, 
 and he had delivered them from the house of bondage. 
 He had shown them many signs and wonders, and 
 the covenant had been renewed amid the smoke and 
 the thunders of Sinai. Their forty years’ sojourn in the 
 wilderness was drawing to a close, and they were about 
 to cross the Jordan. He had conducted them to the 
 threshold of the promised land, but was himself pro¬ 
 hibited from entering. His days were numbered. He 
 was preparing to ascend Mount Pisgah to view from 
 afar the future home of his people and there to close his 
 long and eventful career. Preparatory to this he sum¬ 
 moned all Israel before him upon the plains of IMoab, 
 to hear his final words of counsel and to receive his last 
 blessing. Then followed one of the most remarkable 
 discourses that ever fell from mortal tongue. He began 
 by reviewing the principal events of their long and 
 wearying journey through the wilderness. He re¬ 
 counted their trials and their triumphs. 
 
 He recited many of the rules of civil polity that had 
 been enacted in the past. He reminded them of the 
 covenant and of the duties required of them by its terms 
 and conditions. 
 
 He rehearsed their rebellions and denounced them 
 for their disobedience. He pronounced the direst curses 
 upon the wicked and rebellious, but reminded them of 
 God’s mercy to the penitent. He gave them particular 
 directions for the selection of a temporal leader, — the 
 election of a king, — describing his necessary qualifi¬ 
 cations in terms that should convey a much-needed les¬ 
 son to the people of that country. He then launched 
 forth into a dissertation on the subject of their moral 
 
324 the evolution of the soul 
 
 and religious duties. He set forth the status and duties 
 of the priesthood; and warned the Israelites against the 
 immoral practices of the people into whose country they 
 were about to enter. He laid particular stress upon the 
 necessity for avoiding the practices of the necromancers, 
 the charmers, the witches, the consulters of spirits, and 
 all other producers of spiritistic phenomena. 
 
 Having done this, he proceeded to utter a prophecy 
 that has done more than any other one thing to shape the 
 destiny, mould the character, inspire the hope, and per¬ 
 petuate the homogeneity of the Jewish race. 
 
 Nor is its influence confined to that people; for it 
 constitutes one of the bulwarks of Christian faith in the 
 Divinity of Jesus. 
 
 The words are these: 
 
 “ The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from 
 the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye 
 shall hearken.” 
 
 He believed himself to be reiterating the very words 
 of God, for he declared that the Lord God said unto 
 him: 
 
 “ I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, 
 like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall 
 speak unto them all that I shall command him. 
 
 I “ And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken 
 to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it 
 of him.” 
 
 Here, then, is the prophecy. It is the only one in the 
 Old Testament that specifically asserts the prophetic 
 character of the coming Messiah. Was it a special divine 
 inspiration or a deduction from a known law? We are 
 logically bound to accept the latter view if it is found 
 to be within the range of the known powers of the 
 human mind. 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 325 
 
 To determine this question, we must first refer to the 
 words of the prophecy: “A prophet like unto thee.” 
 Not a temporal leader like Moses. Not a statesman like 
 Moses. But a prophet like Moses. That is to say, he 
 was to be endowed with the same intuitional, prophetic 
 powers that Moses possessed, differing only in degree 
 and not in kind; emanating from the same source, and 
 therefore not from a supernatural source. 
 
 The crucial question is. What data did Moses possess 
 from which to deduce a conclusion so momentous as 
 that involved in the coming of a Messiah ? For the fact 
 that Jesus did come, that he was a prophet like unto 
 Moses, — that is, that he possessed the same intuitive 
 powers, though multiplied a thousandfold, — together 
 with the historical fact that, because of that and sub¬ 
 sequent prophecies, the children of Israel had for more 
 than a thousand years anticipated his coming, invests 
 the question with a scientific interest that cannot be 
 ignored without relegating the whole subject to the 
 domain either of fable or of the supernatural. 
 
 It seems to me that the question is easily answered. 
 Moses was a prophet. That is to say, he possessed the 
 power, in an extraordinary state of development, to 
 draw upon the resources of his subjective mind. 
 
 He was a man of education, and of vast experience. 
 He had been accustomed all his life to entering the 
 subjective state, and in that state to entering into com¬ 
 munion with an intelligence which he believed to be none 
 other than that of God Himself. In that state, through 
 the perfect memory of the subjective mind, he had at his 
 command all the resources of his learning and experi¬ 
 ence. In that state, his intuitional powers were con¬ 
 stantly active and in evidence. In short, he was a man 
 
326 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 of genius; for his reasoning faculties were never sub¬ 
 jugated to the domination of the subjective intelligence. 
 They acted in practically perfect synchronism. This is 
 what, in those days, constituted a true prophet, as dis¬ 
 tinguished from those whose reason was dominated and 
 submerged, and who were known by the name of necro¬ 
 mancers, and consulters of familiar spirits, otherwise 
 spirit mediums. Under the Mosaic law the latter were 
 punished by death. 
 
 These were the powers that enabled Moses to cope 
 successfully with his environment during the forty 
 years of his leadership. He was, of course, aware of 
 those powers, whatever may have been his belief in 
 regard to the immediate cause of their manifestation. 
 
 Moreover, he was intuitively aware of the great law 
 of progressive evolutionary development. He was, 
 aware from his own experience that those powers were 
 susceptible of cultivation; and he knew the tendency 
 of the Jewish mind in that direction. 
 
 What data could be required more ample for the 
 purposes of his prophecy ? What visions the dying seer 
 may have had of the perfection of the powers of the 
 coming Prophet, man may not know. But certain it is 
 that the Prophet did come, that his utterances were 
 divine, and that his voice is heard around the world. 
 
 Of the later prophecies little can be said; for it is 
 no part of my purpose, in this connection, to make an 
 exhaustive analysis of the Messianic prophecies. Many 
 of them were doubtless inspired by the example of 
 Moses. Some of them were mere enlargements of the 
 original, and others ■ entered into more specific details 
 as to the character and special powers of the coming 
 Messiah. But they seem to have been founded upon 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 327 
 
 facts that occurred subsequent to the days of Moses. 
 Thus, some of the prophets succeeding Moses developed 
 the power to heal the sick; and this may have moved 
 Isaiah to prophesy that, when the Messiah should come, 
 the blind should be made to see, the deaf to hear, the 
 dumb to sing, and the lame to leap as a hart, — a 
 prophecy that was literally fulfilled. 
 
 I cannot refrain from mentioning in this connection 
 one of the most remarkable of all the prophecies in the 
 Old Testament. It was that of Jeremiah (xxxi. 31). 
 I have never seen it classed as a Messianic prophecy. 
 Doubtless it is not so classified for the reason that it 
 does not foretell a coming personality. It does, how¬ 
 ever, clearly foreshadow the Christian dispensation. 
 But even that is but the beginning of the great consum¬ 
 mation which he predicted. It is but the means to the 
 great end that he foresaw. Moreover, it bears the un¬ 
 mistakable stamp of a genuine intuition. Here are the 
 words: 
 
 “ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new 
 covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah : 
 
 “Not according to the covenant that I made with their 
 fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them 
 out of the land of Egypt; • • . 
 
 “ But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the 
 house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, / will put 7 /ty 
 law in their inward parts, and write it itt their hearts j and I 
 will be their God, and they shall be my people. 
 
 “ And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and 
 every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord ; for they shall all 
 know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith 
 the Lord.” 
 
 Here are foretold or foreshadowed three events of the 
 greatest possible importance to mankind. Two of them 
 are distinctly foretold. 
 
328 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 First, the total collapse of the Mosaic system was dis¬ 
 tinctly foretold. 
 
 Secondly, the Christian dispensation was clearly fore¬ 
 shadowed; for, as we now know, it was by that alone 
 that it was possible to supplant the Mosaic system. 
 
 Thirdly, it was distinctly foretold that the time would 
 come when all men should know the laws of God. Mark 
 the words: the “ law ” of God. 
 
 Not his will merely; not his personal commands; 
 not his possible capricious decrees; but “ his lazv.” 
 
 Could words more clearly demonstrate the fact that 
 the prophet was aware that God governs this universe 
 by means of universal law; and that the time is coming 
 when all men will know that law? Man will at least 
 know the relationship which he sustains to God and to 
 his fellow-man. 
 
 It could have been nothing less than an intuition, for 
 the great prophet had no data save an intuitive per¬ 
 ception of the great law of human progress, — the great 
 law of evolutionary development of the human soul. 
 He had focussed in his prophetic eye a grand panoramic 
 picture of the three great dispensations; the dispensa¬ 
 tion of Symbols, which was the dispensation of Moses; 
 the dispensation of Faith, which was the dispensation 
 of Jesus; and last of all the promised dispensation of 
 Knowledge, which is just dawning upon the human 
 race. 
 
 The Christian dispensation was the outgrowth of the 
 Mosaic in the natural order of evolution. The latter 
 was the only system then existent in which Christianity 
 could have taken root. The germ, the life principle of 
 both, was the monotheistic idea, — the conception of one 
 living God. The name of the man to whose intuitive 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 329 
 
 perception of truth the world is indebted for that con¬ 
 ception is lost in the twilight of tradition. But we 
 know that he must have towered above his generation 
 like a giant oak in a forest of shrubbery. 
 
 Think, for a moment, what the world owes to that 
 towering genius, whose intuitive powers were equal to 
 the apprehension of the one grand, fundamental truth 
 which lies at the basis alike of the Christian religion 
 and of Christian civilization. 
 
 That it was an intuition is all but self-evident; for 
 science was unknown to the Jewish race in those prim¬ 
 itive times; and the religions of the surrounding nations 
 ranged from Polytheism to Fetishism. 
 
 The original conception was necessarily anthropo¬ 
 morphic, for that is the natural result of the limitations 
 of human thought and language, especially of the prim¬ 
 itive races. It continued to be so during all the ages 
 of the Mosaic dispensation; and was only elevated to its 
 present altitude by the sublime and perfect intuitive 
 perception of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 As the Christian dispensation was the evolutionary 
 outgrowth of the Mosaic, so is the dispensation of 
 knowledge the natural outgrowth of the Christian dis¬ 
 pensation. That is to say, whatever of truth is known 
 in this world, is inevitably destined to become better 
 and better known, by virtue of the law of progressive 
 development of the human intellect. 
 
 If there is truth in Christianity, therefore, the Chris¬ 
 tian world will yet find a way of demonstrating that 
 truth by the processes of induction. When that time 
 comes, then will the prophecy of Jeremiah be fulfilled. 
 Then will the law of God be “ ivrittcn in the hearts ” of 
 all mankind. 
 
330 • THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 “ And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and 
 every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord ; for they shall 
 all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, 
 saith the Lord.” 
 
 Christianity will then no longer rest exclusively upon 
 teaching, or preaching, or faith, but upon absolute, 
 scientific knowledge. 
 
 Jesus made the same prophecy in his last interview 
 with his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, when 
 he said: 
 
 “ I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear 
 them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he 
 will guide you into all truth.” 
 
 Like the prophecy of Jeremiah, this utterance was 
 prompted by an intuitive apprehension of the great law 
 of progressive development of human reason, as well 
 as of the faculty of intuitive perception. 
 
 .Each of the apostles knew that eventually reason 
 must be appealed to and satisfied before mankind in gen¬ 
 eral could be said to have the absolute knowledge that 
 each foretold as the heritage of all humanity. And the 
 experience of the nineteenth century demonstrates the 
 perfection of their intuitions. For we all now know that 
 the sublimest intuitions count as nothing to the scien¬ 
 tific mind in the absence of the demonstrations of 
 induction. 
 
 Jesus especially had an intuitive comprehension of the 
 laws of the soul that was far too accurate and compre¬ 
 hensive to permit us to suppose that he could have pre¬ 
 dicted a supernatural communication of knowledge. 
 The “ Spirit of Truth,” therefore, could have been noth¬ 
 ing else than the spirit of scientific investigation, the 
 legitimate object of which is “guidance into all truth.” 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 33 1 
 
 It did not, of course, exclude intuition; nor could it 
 exclude induction. For when the highly endowed intel¬ 
 lect is in pursuit of truth with sincerity of purpose, and 
 is in the path which leads to it, intuition and induction 
 mutually interact. But the most highly endowed mind, 
 in the path of error, can never enjoy the advantages of 
 intuitional perception, for the simple reason that the 
 false suggestions of error lead the subjective mind 
 astray, and thus destroy its efficiency. On the other 
 hand, a great truth once mastered by induction leads 
 to a thousand inerrant intuitions and deductions. Hence 
 it is that the highest intuitions of mankind are of com¬ 
 paratively little value, until they are verified by induction. 
 
 It is, therefore, by the inductive verification of intu¬ 
 itional perceptions that mankind, in the language of 
 Jesus, will eventually be “ guided into all truth.” It is 
 thus that the laws of God, in the language of Jeremiah, 
 will be “ put into the inward parts,” and “ written in 
 the hearts ” of all humanity. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that the Bible con¬ 
 tains the only ancient record demonstrative of the ex¬ 
 istence, in the soul of man, of the inherent faculty of 
 intuitive perception of truth, and the consequent power 
 of inerrant prophecy. The grandest monument ever 
 erected by human hands has stood for more than four 
 thousand years, bearing silent witness' to this stupendous 
 fact. 
 
 The Pyramid of Cheops is not only the embodiment 
 of symbolized science, but it is prophetic record of 
 human events, and a demonstration of the God-like 
 powers of the human soul. Its outside measurements 
 and its proportions constitute a symbolical epitome of 
 astronomical science which tallies exactly with the latest 
 
332 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 modern scientific measurements and discoveries. It was, 
 therefore, a prophecy; for the science of the day on 
 which it was built was unequal to the correct measure¬ 
 ment of any one of the prime factors of its size or pro¬ 
 portions. The inside passages and measurements are 
 clearly prophetic of the evolutionary development of 
 spiritual and intellectual man. It traces the course of 
 intellectual empire on its broad lines of development. 
 It symbolizes the three great dispensations. It is, there¬ 
 fore, a Messianic prophecy, and one that is more clearly 
 marked, especially as to the element of time, than any 
 prophecy contained in Holy Writ. 
 
 This is a subject so vast, intricate, and interesting, 
 that it requires separate treatment. I cannot refrain, 
 however, from mentioning one fact in this connection, 
 Avhich bears an interrelationship with one of the Mes¬ 
 sianic prophecies of the Bible; for it seems to throw 
 some light upon a passage that has not been clearly 
 understood. 
 
 In Psalm cx. it was prophesied that the coming 
 Messiah would be “ a priest after the order of Mel- 
 chizedek.” The Bible says very little about this per¬ 
 sonage, beyond the fact that he was King of Salem and 
 that he and Abraham met in Palestine. A very plausible 
 theory has been promulgated, showing that Melchizedek, 
 Job, and the builder of the Great Pyramid were one and 
 the same person. Many good and seemingly sufficient 
 reasons have been given in support of this theory. If it 
 is correct, it reveals the reason why the psalmist looked 
 for a Messiah who would be a “ priest after the order 
 of Melchizedek.” It was natural for the prophets to 
 compare the coming Messiah with their highest ideals. 
 If Melchizedek was the architect of the pyramid, he was 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 333 
 
 necessarily a famous man in his own country. He was 
 necessarily a worshipper of the one living and true God; 
 and his fame as a prophet and a seer was undoubtedly 
 traditional with the Israelitish nation. This also throws 
 an additional light upon the question why it was that 
 the Jews failed to recognize Jesus as the promised 
 Messiah. Moses had foretold the coming of a prophet 
 like himself; and the Jews looked for a great temporal 
 leader, a ruler, a king. 
 
 The psalmist had prophesied a priest after the order 
 of Melchizedek; and the Jews looked for a Messiah 
 who was not only a ruler, but a man of affairs, capable 
 of conceiving and carrying out great enterprises, erect¬ 
 ing stupendous structures, weighing the earth as in a 
 balance, and timing the movements of the planetary 
 universe. All this Melchizedek was and did (if he was 
 the builder of the pyramid) centuries before Moses saw 
 the light; milleniums before Jesus was born. 
 
 ! The early prophets, being men, and guided solely by 
 their own intuitions, naturally and inevitably chose their 
 highest ideals as their standard of comparison. Nor 
 could they conceive higher ideals than were exempli¬ 
 fied in the sages and heroes of their national traditions. 
 
 The common people naturally accepted the standards 
 of their great spiritual leaders; and hence they could 
 not recognize in the meek and lowly Man of Peace, 
 whose kingdom was not of this world, a more sublime 
 character than that of Moses and Melchizedek combined. 
 Hence their refusal to follow in his footsteps; and 
 hence, in a spiritual sense, they have remained on the 
 level upon which he found them. All this is symbolized 
 in the pyramid; and so is the onward and upward 
 march of Christian civilization; and so is the dispen- 
 
334 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 sation of knowledge which both Jesus and Jeremiah 
 foretold. 
 
 In point of fact the Great Pyramid is a Messianic 
 prophecy of a more pronounced character, more clear 
 in detail, and more accurate as to time, than any re¬ 
 corded in the Old Testament. It is scarcely necessary 
 to remark, in this connection, that the plan of the pyra¬ 
 mid had its inception in the intuitions of its architect. 
 There is no other way to account for it, unless we in¬ 
 voke the aid of miracle; for clearly the science of two 
 thousand years before Christ was not equal to it. Nor 
 is it a severe tax upon our credulity to suppose a man to 
 be capable of grasping geometrical laws by intuition, 
 when there are so many modern instances of intuitive 
 apprehension of the intricate laws of numbers. 
 
 Nor does it strain belief beyond reason to suppose 
 him capable of grasping the general laws of evolution¬ 
 ary development, when we know that all history is full 
 of evidences of the existence of that power. 
 
 I repeat, therefore, that prophecy, in its ultimate anal¬ 
 ysis, is neither more nor less than the exercise of 
 human judgment. It is reasoning from cause to effect. 
 It is a deduction from known laws, whether the 
 knowledge of those laws is obtained by induction or 
 by intuition. 
 
 The accuracy of the prediction depends upon the 
 accuracy of the prophet’s knowledge of causes or laws, 
 and upon his individual capacity to formulate correct 
 deductions. If prophecy were the result of direct divine 
 inspiration this would not be true. All prophecy would 
 then be inerrant. But it is true, from the lowest order 
 of the microcephalous fortune-tellers or spirit mediums 
 up to omniscience. I say it reverently, but none the less 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 335 
 
 positively, that omniscience itself foreknows all events 
 only by virtue of an infinite knowledge of ultimate as 
 well as proximate causes. A positive, unconditioned 
 knowledge of the future is impossible. 
 
 I know that I shall shock the prejudice of all lawyers 
 present when I assume that omniscience necessarily 
 foreknows all things. I violate no confidence when I 
 tell you that it is an esoteric, unwritten maxim of law, 
 or of lawyers, that God cannot foresee the verdict of a 
 ^etit jury. I admit that there must be serious diffi¬ 
 culties in the way; but we must not be guided by the 
 prejudices of mere human lawyers. 
 
 When I say that a positive, unconditioned knowledge 
 of the future is impossible, I mean more than would be 
 implied by simply asseverating that such is the law 
 governing the phenomenon of prophecy. I mean that 
 an unconditioned knowledge of the future is impossible 
 for the same reason that it is impossible for one to be 
 here and at the antipodes at the same moment. The 
 present and the future in time are just as distinctly sep¬ 
 arated as this continent is from New Zealand. Local¬ 
 ities are separated by space; and two localities cannot 
 occupy the same position in space. It would be a con¬ 
 tradiction in terms to say that they could. In like 
 manner successive events are separated by intervals 
 of duration; and two successive events cannot happen 
 at the same moment. That would also involve a contra¬ 
 diction in terms. These propositions are self-evident. 
 
 It is also a self-evident proposition that the mind can¬ 
 not take immediate cognizance of two successive events 
 at the same moment. It follows that, of any two or more 
 events, the one that is happening at a given moment is 
 the one that the mind immediately cognizes. Those 
 
336 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 that have not yet happened are the ones of which im¬ 
 mediate cognizance cannot be taken. 
 
 The most difficult task in the whole realm of ratio¬ 
 cination is to prove a self-evident proposition. Such 
 a task is an attempt to prove the existence of matter, 
 space, or time. They are all self-evident, and, logi¬ 
 cally require neither argument nor proof. Such a task 
 it is to prove that positive, unconditioned knowledge 
 of events that have not yet occurred is impossible. 
 It is a self-evident proposition. Yet we are sometimes 
 compelled to argue each of these questions; for there 
 are plenty of men, and some women, who deny the 
 existence of matter, space, and time. And there are 
 thousands who believe the exasperatingly absurd prop¬ 
 osition that neither past nor future exists in time; and 
 hence that the mind can have unconditioned knowledge 
 of events that have never happened. 
 
 Let it be borne in mind that I am speaking of abso¬ 
 lute, “ unconditioned ” knowledge of future events. 
 Conditioned knowledge of future events is possible, to 
 a 'greater or less extent, to every intelligent being. The 
 conditions prerequisite I have endeavored to point out; 
 and I again repeat them with increased emphasis. They 
 are: 
 
 1. Knowledge of causes or laws governing the sub¬ 
 ject matter; and 
 
 2. Powers of deductive reasoning. 
 
 It will thus be seen that prophecy constitutes no 
 exception to the rule that God governs the universe by 
 immutable laws which are “ never reversed, never sus¬ 
 pended, and never supplemented in the interest of any 
 special object whatever.” 
 
 In the meantime. He has given us two means by which 
 
PROPHECY, ANCIENT AND MODERN 337 
 
 we may acquire a knowledge of those laws. The first 
 is instinct or intuition, — a power which was implanted 
 in the primordial germ, and which has been developed 
 by evolutionary processes until in man its powers are 
 displayed in the realm of the soul. The second is by 
 inductive reasoning. This is the only method by which 
 we can be scientifically certain that we know anything. 
 
 Intuition alone is swift, but uncertain, owing to the 
 modifying influence of suggestion. Induction is slow 
 and laborious, but comparatively sure in its results. 
 Intuition finds a limited work to do in this life, but 
 reaches the full fruition of its powers in the life to come. 
 Induction belongs exclusively to this life, though like 
 the poet’s eye, it “ doth glance from heaven to earth, 
 from earth to heaven.” 
 
 But whilst it dwells in the prosaic realm of facts, it 
 is in constant communion with the Creator of all things; 
 for it reads his words written all over the face of 
 nature. They are engraved upon the rocks, they are 
 carved in every tree and flower, they are emblazoned 
 in the burnished heavens. And in the soul of man, 
 induction, as well as intuition, reads the record of his 
 divine origin and his title deed to a home not made with 
 hands. 
 
 Nor is it by vague dreams and shadowy speculations 
 that this knowledge of the laws of God can be obtained 
 in this age of exact science; but by an intelligent obser¬ 
 vation of the facts and phenomena which everywhere 
 await our study. Facts constitute the sign language 
 of Omnipotence. Facts are the words of God, addressed 
 to the common intelligence of mankind; and Reason is 
 their divinely commissioned interpreter. 
 
 It is upon these that we must, in this life, depend for 
 
 22 
 
338 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 our means of acquiring a knowledge of truth for all 
 time to come. The golden days of intuitional perception 
 and prophecy are gone, never to return. We have no 
 occasion to regret it; for we are just entering the 
 promised era of exact knowledge. 
 
 Those were days of primitive simplicity. Mankind 
 were in close contact and intimate communion with 
 Nature; and it was to her that their yearning souls 
 appealed for light and knowledge. The starry vault 
 was their open book which declared the glory of God, 
 whose every page showed forth his handiwork. They 
 no longer worshipped nature, or any part of it, as a 
 deity; but looked “ through nature up to nature’s 
 God.” 
 
 This attitude, physical, mental, and spiritual, called 
 forth all the latent powers of the soul. The basic con¬ 
 ception of the prophets being founded upon the rock of 
 Eternal Truth, — the monotheistic idea, — all their in¬ 
 tuitions were in harmony with truth, just in proportion 
 to each one’s individual capacity and environment. 
 Being human, their perceptions were sometimes vague 
 and indefinite; but they were oftentimes mathemati¬ 
 cally exact. On the whole, they have left mankind a 
 rich legacy. They led the van of evolutionary progress 
 on the one line of its highest possibilities, and they left 
 a record of Eternal Truth which modern science can 
 only verify. Their works were demonstrative of the 
 fact that God rules the universe by immutable law, and 
 their lives were illustrative of the God-like powers of 
 the human soul. 
 
XIV 
 
 HOW TO PREPARE THE MIND FOR 
 SUCCESS 
 
 S INCE psychology has been elevated to the rank 
 of an inductive science, — that is to say, since 
 the psychologist has learned to rely upon facts 
 demonstrable by experiment, rather than upon pure 
 speculation, — the ubiquitous charlatan has reaped a rich 
 harvest in a congenial field. Especially since experi¬ 
 mental psychology has, more or less clearly, revealed 
 and differentiated two existing states of human con¬ 
 sciousness, the success of the aforesaid charlatan has 
 been unlimited. Taking advantage of the popular rec¬ 
 ognition of man’s mysterious subjective powers, and 
 especially of the now well-recognized fact that he can 
 be healed of his infirmities by the induction of appro¬ 
 priate attitudes of mind, he has assumed and proclaimed 
 that he can mend his estate by the same process. Hence 
 we find the advertising columns of newspapers filled 
 with offers to “ treat ” the poor for “ success,” for 
 “ prosperity,” for “ wealth ”; offering, in short, to con¬ 
 vert every clodhopper into a “ Napoleon of finance,” and 
 every tramp into a millionaire. 
 
 To do such advisers justice, their “treatments” do 
 no harm, and their advice is often good. The latter may 
 be summed up in this sentence: “ Maintain, always, a 
 cheerful, hopeful, but determined attitude of mind.” 
 
340 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 But there is nothing in it either occult or new. Every 
 bootblack has learned that that is the only course by 
 which he can get a job. Moreover, he has learned that 
 the only way to retain a customer is by giving him a 
 good “ shine.” In other words, he has learned that 
 vitally important business axiom, — that “ a cheerful 
 and hopeful attitude of mind attracts custom, and a con¬ 
 scientious performance of duty retains it.” 
 
 The point I wish to make is that there is nothing 
 occult in the new psychology. It furnishes no new rules 
 for preparing the mind for success. It does, however, 
 explain the secret of the efficacy of the old, and by that 
 means multiplies indefinitely their practical utility. 
 What is of equal importance is that a knowledge of the 
 causes which promote the efficiency of certain aphorisms 
 or rules of conduct also reveals the fact that there are 
 certain other popular aphorisms that are vicious to the 
 last degree. For instance, Shakspeare has inflicted an 
 incalculable amount of injury upon the human race by 
 the promulgation of the following: 
 
 “ There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
 
 Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; 
 
 Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
 Is bound in shallows and in miseries.” 
 
 It is safe to say that this passage has produced more 
 vagrants and tramps than has any other equal number 
 of words in any language, to say nothing of the in¬ 
 numerable throng of discouraged and disheartened men 
 and v/omen Vv^ho feel that some early misfortune has 
 caused them to miss the flood tide of their affairs, and 
 that henceforth “ the voyage of their life is bound in 
 shallows and in miseries ” from which there is no escape 
 but in the grave. 
 
I/OW TO PREPARE THE MIND FOR SUCCESS 341 
 
 What light does the new psychology throw upon the 
 causes which operate to bring about so much misery 
 and heartbreak from a cause apparently so slight as a 
 belief in a popular aphorism? It shows that the soul 
 of man is governed by the law of suggestion. His whole 
 life is controlled, for good or evil, by the dominant sug¬ 
 gestions that find lodgment in his soul. And the most 
 potent suggestions to the average mind consist largely 
 of well-worn aphorisms; for one is apt to regard them 
 as the expressions of fixed laws of nature. Coleridge 
 well expressed a partial truth, and builded better than 
 he knew, when he said: “ Exclusive of the abstract 
 sciences, the largest and worthiest portion of our knowl¬ 
 edge consists of aphorisms.” This is eminently true, — 
 provided the aphorism embraces an undoubted truth. 
 If not, it conveys a false suggestion, which, if followed, 
 tinges one's whole life with false colors, if it does not 
 lead to disaster. 
 
 If I were called upon to assist in preparing a young 
 man’s mind for success in life, I should begin by asking 
 him to forget the Shakspearean aphorism; for it is as 
 false in metaphor as it is in principle. The tides of the 
 ocean ebb as well as flow; and they do both twice in 
 twenty-four hours. The mariner who misses a flood 
 tide does not abandon his voyage; nor does he deliber¬ 
 ately sail into the “ shallows,” or indulge in “ miseries.” 
 He simply watches for the next flood. The tide in the 
 affairs of men also ebbs and flows many times during 
 the average lifetime. It follows that, if there is any 
 logical analogy between the two tides, the lesson to be 
 derived is full of hope and not of despair. It teaches 
 that, if, through the mistakes of inexperience, the first 
 flood tide is missed, the next is equally available. 
 
342 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 Having taught a young man to forget this Shaks- 
 pearean fallacy, I would first labor to impress upon his 
 mind the true meaning of “ success ” in this life. To 
 that end, I should teach him that every child of God has 
 a mission to perform; and that mission is amply dis¬ 
 charged if he so lives that, when comes the inevitable 
 hour, he can truly say: “ The world is better for my 
 having lived.” This is success in the highest and best 
 sense of the word. It may or may not be accompanied 
 by an accumulation of wealth; for under this rule the 
 millionaire may prove a dismal failure, while the hum¬ 
 blest may achieve a brilliant success, even though it may 
 consist in “ causing two blades of grass to grow where 
 but one grew before.” The most successful man that 
 ever lived on earth was the poorest and humblest. He 
 “ had not where to lay his head.” 
 
 Another very important thing is the attitude of mind 
 with which one meets misfortunes. The human mind 
 never framed an aphorism containing a more important 
 truth than this one: “ All seeming misfortunes are 
 blessings in disguise.” There is but one qualification 
 necessary to render this aphorism of universal validity; 
 namely, one must have performed his whole duty in the 
 premises. That is to say, if he does all that he can, 
 honestly and honorably, to avert a threatened calamity, 
 he will find that, if he yields not to discouragement or 
 despair when the catastrophe comes, it will invariably 
 prove to have been a blessing. Seeming calamities are 
 often the result of one’s having mistaken his calling; 
 and it frequently happens that the best part of one’s life¬ 
 time is spent in a vain search for the work which the 
 Lord gave him to do. But, if courage is not lost, and 
 his career is characterized by industry and integrity, he 
 
ffOW TO PREPARE THE MIND FOR SUCCESS 343 
 
 is sure to find it at last. He can then look back upon his 
 past life and see cause to thank God for every seeming 
 misfortune, as fervently as for every season of pros¬ 
 perity ; for he will then realize that each has constituted 
 a step in the pathway leading to his true sphere of 
 usefulness. 
 
 The same rule holds good when one is striving to 
 attain a coveted object of ambition or of emolument. 
 If he does all that he can, consistently with perfect 
 integrity, to attain the object, he may well rejoice at 
 his own failure; for he will certainly realize, in due 
 time, that it constituted an important factor in the 
 attainment of the highest success possible within his 
 legitimate sphere of activity. 
 
 All this, as before intimated, is dependent upon the 
 attitude of mind with which one meets misfortune. To 
 use a homely phrase, “ he must not lose his grip,” if 
 he would transmute failure into success, or snatch vic¬ 
 tory from the jaws of defeat. On the other hand, the 
 man who “ loses his grip,” as a result of reverses, is the 
 one who surrenders his manhood to the “ tidal hypoth¬ 
 esis ” of Shakspeare. Necessarily, all the future of his 
 life’s voyage “ is bound in shallows and in miseries.” 
 
 The psychological principle involved has already been 
 stated. The trend of the life of each individual is due 
 to the dominant suggestions that find lodgment in his 
 soul. Those suggestions are usually in the form of 
 aphorisms; and they are effective for good or ill in pro¬ 
 portion to the tenacity with which they are held. If 
 they are truthful, they are normal and encouraging; if 
 false, they are abnormal and disheartening; for they 
 vitiate thought and poison the psychological fountain 
 of success. 
 
344 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL 
 
 This does not necessarily imply special providences; 
 for it is but another way of saying that the man who 
 lives a normal life, and performs his whole duty to his 
 fellow-men, has not only placed himself in harmony 
 with his earthly environment, but with the Infinite Mind 
 from which his own is an emanation. When, that 
 harmony has been achieved by man, he has discov¬ 
 ered his place in nature and the perennial fountain of 
 
 success. 
 
FIFTH EDITION 
 
 THE LAW OF MENTAL 
 MEDICINE 
 
 77 /(? Correlation of the Facts of Psychology and 
 Histology in their Relation to Mental therapeutics 
 
 By THOMSON J. HUDSON, LL.D. 
 
 The book is one to read studiously, and will appeal to a 
 large class of modern thinkers who have caught a theoretical 
 glimpse of an existence free from the misery of disease. Dr. 
 Hudson’s celebrated work, “The Law of Psychic Phenomena,” 
 has paved the way for the student of psychic lore to receive and 
 digest his later works.— New York Tribune. 
 
 His theories are scientific in method, and soundly based, as 
 well as sufficiently untechnical for the general reader.—.S’aw 
 Francisco Argonaut. 
 
 There is no denying the interest the book holds for the 
 thinking, earnest student of mental phenomena, and even those 
 who scoff and sneer at “ faith cure ” in its various branches will 
 find much in this volume that will start a serious train of 
 thought.— N'ashville Afuerican. 
 
 There is nothing of the quack about Dr. Hudson. His book 
 is eminently practical, and is quite free from “the falsehood of 
 extremes.” Nobody can be hurt by reading it, and it will help 
 many to correct erroneous prepossessions and misunderstand¬ 
 ings.— Charleston News and Courier. 
 
 “ The Law of Mental Medicine ” is the title of an interesting 
 book from the pen of Thomson Jay Hudson, in which he points 
 out a simple system of practice depending for its efficacy on 
 natural laws.— Detroit Free Press. 
 
 i2mo. $1.50 
 
 A. C. McCLURG ^ COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS • CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
 
EJGHTIETH THOUSAND 
 
 THE LAW OF 
 PSYCHIC PHENOMENA 
 
 A Working Hypothesis for the Systematic Study 
 of Hypnotism, Spiritism, Mental Therapeutics, etc. 
 
 By THOMSON J. HUDSON, LL.D. 
 
 T^R. HUDSON’S famous book enjoys an almost pbe- 
 ^ nomenal prosperity, and after going through many 
 editions has now reached the sixty thousand mark without 
 the slightest diminution in favor. It is not at all uncom¬ 
 mon to find it listed ahead of the popular novels among 
 books most in demand at public libraries. There are many 
 reasons for this established popularity, the chief one being 
 that the book stands absolutely alone in its field — a 
 masterpiece in its own sphere. The questions with which 
 it deals, lying along the unsettled borderlands of Science, 
 have all the fascination which mystery exercises on the 
 human mind; the clear, unbiased, truth-seeking attitude of 
 the author earned for him the respect of scientists; while 
 the large class of readers to whom the religious aspect 
 of such questions is the all-important one, felt reassured by 
 the rare union of intrepidity and reverence displayed in his 
 investigations. 
 
 i2mo. $1.50 
 
 A. C. McCLURG ^ COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS . CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
 
NINTH EDITION 
 
 A SCIENTIFIC 
 DEMONSTRATION 
 of the FUTURE LIFE 
 
 By THOMSON J. HUDSON, LL.D. 
 
 I HE success that “ The Law of Psychic Phenom- 
 
 A ena ” met with induced the author to prepare 
 and publish the present volume, for the purpose of 
 carrying to their legitimate conclusions some of the 
 principles laid down in his former one. Dr. Hudson, 
 in pursuing his inquiry, has endeavored to follow the 
 strictest rules of scientific induction, taking nothing 
 for granted that is not axiomatic, and holding that 
 there is nothing worthy of belief that is not sustained 
 by a solid basis of well-authenticated facts.— The 
 New York Times. 
 
 i2mo. $1.50 
 
 A. C. McCLURG COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS . CHTCAGO, ILLINOIS 
 
FIFTH EDITION 
 
 THE DIVINE PEDIGREE 
 OF MAN 
 
 Or, The Testimony of Evolution and 
 Psychology to the Fatherhood of God 
 
 By THOMSON J. HUDSON, LL.D. 
 
 N original conception of evolution which is worked out 
 
 jr\. with the same avoidance of vague theory, and the 
 same adherence to a basis of well-authenticated facts and 
 to cogent and logical reasoning, which characterize Dr. 
 Hudson’s former works. It presents an original and con¬ 
 vincing interpretation of the facts which have been accumu¬ 
 lated by the labors of scientists such as Hseckel, Darwin, 
 and Spencer; and constitutes an attempt to establish 
 thereby the belief in Christian Theism. It shows that the 
 god-like powers of man exist potentially in the lowest forms 
 of animal life known to us; and advances a powerfully 
 eloquent argument against the atheistic attitude which so 
 many evolutionists have assumed. 
 
 The book reveals much study and research, and its optimism 
 is sure to bring much cheer to those who can accept its theories. 
 — Chicago Tribune. 
 
 An interesting and valuable contribution to the discussion of 
 a great problem. — The Sunday-School Times. 
 
 i2mo. $1.50 
 
 A. C. McCLURG & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS . CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
 
( 
 

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