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HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
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HOW TO SPEAK 
 WITH THE DEAD 
 
 : : A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK : : 
 
 BY Sciens 
 
 AUTHOR OF RECOGNISED SCIENTIFIC TEXT-BOOKS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 E. P. DUTTON & CO. 
 
 681 FIFTH AVENUE 
 
# v0 
 
 
 Published 1918 
 BY E. P. DUTTON & CO. 
 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 HAPTBB PAGE 
 
 PREFACE Vii 
 
 I. DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? .... 1 
 
 II. SOUL AND LIFE 28 
 
 III. TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY . 44 
 
 IV. DISCARNATE SPIRITS 57 
 
 V. MEDIUMS ' 77 
 
 VI. COMMUNICATING 90 
 
 VII. PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPEAK- 
 ING WITH THE DEAD 103 
 
 VIII. " SPIRITUALISM" AND " RATIONALISM 5 ' 131 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/howtospeakwithdeOOscie 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Practical instructions for speaking with the 
 dead are given in Chapter VII of this book. 
 Inasmuch, however, as rational men and wo- 
 men do not care to enter upon systematic pro- 
 ceedings of any kind without having some 
 reasonable assurance that a commensurate re- 
 sult will follow, it has been thought desirable 
 to add, in Chapters I to IV, a general outline 
 of the scientific facts and arguments on which 
 the certainties of "survival" and "communica- 
 tion" are based. In Chapters V and VI some 
 necessary information as to mediums and com- 
 municating is given. And, in Chapter VIII, 
 the distinction between Speaking with the 
 Dead on the one hand, and Spiritualism faced 
 by Rationalism on the other, is made clear. 
 
 The book is strictly impartial from all points 
 of view — whether Religious, Scientific, Agnos- 
 tic, Spiritualistic, or Rationalistic. It is im- 
 personal. It sets aside the writer's own occult 
 experience which, in the course of a long life 
 devoted mainly to scientific pursuits, has hap- 
 
 vii 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 pened to be very considerable. It is a mere 
 cold, neutral text-book. The hard facts of the 
 case are alone responsible for the circumstance 
 that it shows Science to be a sponsor for the 
 reality of speaking with the dead. 
 
 A few words — which many persons will read 
 with amazement— must be added here on the 
 subject of Cm bono? Multitudinous vials of 
 scorn have been poured out on the inanities of 
 ordinary spiritualistic seances; and all research 
 into such matters is rigidly boycotted in scien- 
 tific circles as being unworthy of any intelli- 
 gent individual s notice. Even when the 
 President of the Royal Society himself, and 
 others who are entitled to write F.Xt.S. or 
 D.Sc. after their names, have been known to 
 touch the accursed and degrading thing, they 
 have been either ostracised or half -pardoned 
 contemptuously. This attitude is based on the 
 belief that occultism is an idle and vain form 
 of mental activity, and cannot, with any reason, 
 be expected to add anything to the stock of 
 human knowledge or to produce results of 
 service to mankind. Cui bono? Why waste 
 time in tomfoolery that can never be useful 
 and may possibly lead feeble persons into the 
 abyss of insanity? 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 The defect of the attitude is that it is un- 
 scientific. The proudest claim of Science is 
 that she deals with the Facts of the universe 
 and gives her allegiance to Truth rather than 
 to Opinion. But these features are the char- 
 acteristics of every well-conducted sitting for 
 the development of psychical manifestations. 
 The search is for facts; and the object pursued 
 is the attainment of truth. If, then, a leader 
 of science denounce the sitting as being neces- 
 sarily futile he does one of two things: either 
 he disallows the proudest claim of Science; or 
 he declares the limits of his own personal 
 knowledge to be those of Fact and Truth. 
 
 It has often happened that researches which 
 appeared at the outset to be a mere waste of 
 time have in the end been found productive 
 of much practical and useful knowledge. The 
 modern inquiries into the feasibility of speak- 
 ing with the dead are a case in point. They 
 have already brought the world of Science and 
 Industry face to face with the possibility and 
 near prospect of a command over Matter and 
 Physical Force such as men have never hith- 
 erto enjoyed and such as must lead inevitably 
 to the greatest advance of material prosperity 
 that mankind has ever experienced. This may 
 
x PREFACE 
 
 best be made clear by dealing with some con- 
 crete example. 
 
 The lessons of the Great War, the utter- 
 ances of expert authorities like Lord Mon- 
 tagu of Beaulieu, and the newspapers gener- 
 ally, have taught the public that the naviga- 
 tion of the air will be the great and dominat- 
 ing factor of the world's progress in future. 
 This need not be enlarged upon here. Every- 
 one admits that the command of the air will 
 solve the problem of intercourse between all 
 the regions of the globe, and will bring in its 
 train a vast (improvement in all the arts of 
 living and a greatly-widened distribution of 
 natural wealth. 
 
 Now the whole question of aerial navigation 
 hinges absolutely and completely on that of 
 gravitation. The great desideratum is a 
 weightless {i.e., weightless in effect) aero- 
 plane (with, of course, a virtually weightless 
 crew, virtually weightless passengers, and a 
 virtually weightless cargo) which can move 
 fast or slowly as required, which can come 
 to a stop in the air and which cannot fall. 
 Science and industry are now within meas- 
 urable distance of such virtually weightless air- 
 craft, thanks to the investigators who have 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 not been deterred by obloquy and ostracism 
 from speaking with the dead. 
 
 It is usually assumed in scientific circles 
 that gravity is an unsolved mystery and is en- 
 tirely beyond the scope of human control in 
 the present state of knowledge. The assump- 
 tion is well founded if by "knowledge" is 
 meant merely that which is possesesd by liv- 
 ing human beings and derived solely from nor- 
 mal sources. But if there be, in reality, cer- 
 tain intelligences other than ordinary men and 
 women, they may possibly be better informed 
 with regard to the facts of the universe; and 
 if intelligent communication be feasible as be- 
 tween the better informed personalities and 
 their cousins in this life, it is conceivable that 
 some of the latter may thus acquire informa- 
 tion which would otherwise be unattainable. 
 This has actually happened with regard to 
 gravitation. Sir William Crookes more than 
 forty years ago entered into communication 
 with supernormal intelligences and carried out 
 certain laboratory experiments that showed 
 the control and modification of gravity to lie 
 within the compass of human ability when 
 guided by the intelligences in question. And 
 many more experiences of a similar or of an 
 
xii PREFACE 
 
 analogous kind axe on record. The facts are 
 well established and cannot be successfully de- 
 nied or explained away. 
 
 More recent researches have led to some 
 elucidation of the knowledge at which discar- 
 nate spirits have arrived with regard to gravi- 
 tation. They hold that human science is crip- 
 pled needlessly by its non-recognition of Mo- 
 tion as being in itself an entity distinct from 
 Mass. They hold that Matter is just as much 
 a compound of Mass and Motion as common 
 salt is a comlpound of sodium and chlorine. 
 They contend further that gravitation is due 
 to the fact that Motion, like heat, may, where 
 human observation is concerned, exist in either 
 a latent or a sensible form; and they assert the 
 practicability of adding to or subtracting from 
 the quantity of Motion in any given bulk of 
 Matter. In proof of the truth of this assertion 
 they point to the phenomena of what is, by 
 psychical enquirers, called "levitation" — phe- 
 nomena which have been observed and record- 
 ed over and over again and may be seen by 
 any person who takes the trouble to attend 
 even an ordinary table-sitting. And they oc- 
 casionally rally the human personalities with 
 whom they are communicating upon the dull- 
 
PREFACE xiii 
 
 ness of apprehension which has hitherto stood 
 in the way of a broad induction from the myri- 
 ad everyday facts of weight, coiled springs, 
 drawn bows, artificial jumping frogs, jacks- 
 in-boxes, closely touching billiard-balls in a 
 row, projectiles at the moment of terminating 
 their upward flight, cricket-balls at the mo- 
 ment of meeting the stroke of the bat, and all 
 other examples of latent and sensible Motion. 
 These views entertained by spirits who have 
 been spoken to on the subject have of late been 
 borne out very markedly by Dr. Crawford's 
 experiments, referred to in Chapter I of the 
 present book. Dr. Crawford himself seems to 
 be regarding his tests from the point of view of 
 Mass alone and to be thinking that he is on the 
 track of a new kind of Matter; but his results 
 fit in still better with the long-established facts 
 of levitation and with the new doctrine of Mo- 
 tion that is fast being accepted in Progressive 
 Circles. It is difficult to believe that a living 
 woman can be deprived of a considerable por- 
 tion of her Mass without sustaining serious 
 physiological injury. It is also difficult to be- 
 lieve that the removed Mass when laid on the 
 floor or on the drawing-board can be invisible. 
 But there is not any difficulty at all in sup- 
 
xiv PREFACE 
 
 posing Motion to have been removed from the 
 medium, the chair, the drawing-board and the 
 platform, without any change of either visibil- 
 ity or appearance in any of the entities con- 
 cerned. When water at 70° Fahr. is cooled 
 down to 50° Fahr. it loses a something we call 
 heat, but the human eye cannot detect any dif- 
 ference in the liquid. When a bowled cricket 
 ball is arrested by the bat it loses a something 
 we call sensible motion, but its outward ap- 
 pearance remains unvaried. We need not 
 therefore exppct a human body or a chair to 
 look otherwise than as usual simply because it 
 loses some or all of its latent Motion. 
 
 That the knowledge here discussed may be 
 applied practically and that material sub- 
 stances may thus be rendered weightless and 
 so removed from the influence of gravitation is 
 not a mere theory. It is an actual fact: levi- 
 tation occurs. What now remains to be done 
 is to harness the acquired knowledge and ex- 
 perience into the service of aerial navigation. 
 Certain Progressive Circles are at work. 
 Whether success will be achieved first by Dr. 
 Crawford in his Goligher laboratory, or by 
 Mr. Edison in his "spook factory" where the 
 workmen agree to become recluses for a period 
 
PREFACE xv 
 
 of many months, or by the capable director of 
 the still more mysterious establishments in 
 Florence where many a medium has been 
 passed under review during the last two years, 
 or by, haply, some other investigator of whom 
 the present writer has not yet heard, is a matter 
 that must for the time being be allowed to rest 
 on the knees of the gods. What has already 
 been accomplished in public and the remark- 
 able advances now taking place privately are 
 a sufficient answer to the question Cut bono? 
 Speaking with the dead is a practice that is 
 proving of benefit to England and the world 
 at large. 
 
 Sciens. 
 
HOW TO SPEAK WITH 
 THE DEAD 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 
 
 If survival after what is called "death" be not 
 a fact, the idea of communication with the dead 
 becomes nonsensical. The first question, there- 
 fore, that has to be asked in any consideration 
 of the subject is — Do the Dead still live? This 
 enquiry may be addressed both to Religion and 
 to Science; and in both cases it will be found 
 that an affirmative reply is given. 
 
 So far as Religion is concerned the case is 
 simple enough. It is a matter of common 
 knowledge that nearly all the inhabitants of 
 the world, including a great majority of its 
 scientific men, accept and profess some form 
 of religion. It is also a matter of common 
 knowledge that all religions teach the doctrine 
 
 l 
 
2 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 of survival; that is to say, they teach that in 
 every individual human being there exists a 
 soul which becomes separated from the body at 
 death and continues to live on in some form 
 of existence while the body decays. The be- 
 lief, accordingly, of the great majority of man- 
 kind is now, and always has been in historical 
 times, that the answer "Yes" must be given 
 to the question — Do the Dead still live? 
 
 This is a hard fact that cannot be glossed 
 over or explained away. Where a belief is 
 practically unit ersal reasonable men may well 
 infer that it is not altogether unfounded. Such 
 an inference, however, falls a good deal short 
 of actual proof; and when Religion is asked to 
 supply such proof the response, though satis- 
 factory enough to religious believers, is not ac- 
 ceptable from a scientific point of view. The 
 Bible, for example, and the sacred books of 
 religions other than the Jewish and Christian 
 faiths, contain an abundance of testimony to 
 show that life after death is a reality; and his- 
 tory in general, both ecclesiastical and secular, 
 narrates many occurrences of such survival. 
 The body of evidence thus available is equal in 
 quantity and quality to that which is com- 
 monly accepted as sufficient to establish histor- 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 3 
 
 ical facts in general or cases in the law-courts 
 in particular. 
 
 But Science asks for something more than 
 human testimony and records. It turns from 
 fallible men to infallible Nature. The only 
 truths which it will accept as proven are those 
 revealed by the senses, by physical observa- 
 tions and by actual experience. It demands 
 also that every truth thus established shall be 
 capable of confirmation by repeated experi- 
 mental tests. What, therefore, has to be con- 
 sidered in this chapter is whether survival after 
 death is admitted by Science to be one of Na- 
 ture's truths. 
 
 Such an admission has already been made by 
 many of the foremost leaders of Science in 
 both past and present times. Sir Isaac New- 
 ton, Faraday, Wallace, Crookes, Lodge, Bar- 
 rett and other Fellows of the Royal Society 
 were, or are, survivalists. Their judgment 
 of the case is not to be lightly regarded; and 
 by many reasonable men it is looked upon as 
 conclusive. It is, however, assumed that the 
 readers of these pages will not be content to 
 have the matter settled by mere authority, even 
 of the highest degree of eminence ; and as sci- 
 entific men still exist who declare in lectures, 
 
4 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 speeches and books that the doctrine of sur- 
 vival is a mistaken one, it becomes necessary 
 to make the case clear by an appeal to fully 
 recognised facts that no one, whether survival- 
 ist or non~survivalist, can dispute. 
 
 The first of these facts is that Science admits 
 the existence of living individual personalities. 
 When a man is made a Fellow of the Royal 
 Society, or when a President of the British 
 Association for the Advancement of Science is 
 elected, the choice falls upon more than a mere 
 bulk of matter combined with a certain amount 
 of force and energy. Added to these there is 
 a something characterised by knowledge, 
 memory, consciousness, will, conscience, moral- 
 ity, a perception of good and evil, a capability 
 of love and hatred, and all the other qualities 
 that go to the making up of what people mean 
 when they speak of a "soul." If "non-sur- 
 vivalists" prefer to use some other word, well 
 and good. Disputes about names are a mere 
 beating of the air. What is of moment is that 
 all parties are agreed as to the real existence 
 of the something to which reference has here 
 been made. 
 
 The second fact is that Science admits the 
 "soul" and body of a human being to be dis- 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 5 
 
 tinct and separate entities, even though they 
 may be closely associated. This is not so clear- 
 ly obvious as the first fact; and some — though 
 not many — scientists may feel disposed to 
 challenge the accuracy of the assertion. It is 
 necessary, therefore, to substantiate it in a de- 
 tailed fashion. 
 
 It is a matter of common knowledge that if 
 a man's body be deprived of an arm, a leg, an 
 eye, etc., the "soul" is not affected thereby in 
 any essential way. Our hair may be shaved 
 off, our nails cut, our teeth extracted, and our 
 "souls" are none the worse for the operations. 
 A lung may be put out of action by tubercu- 
 losis and the "soul" lives on unaffected. A 
 human being may be "apparently drowned" 
 or may become entranced. His breathing may 
 cease, his very heart may stop beating. The 
 ordinary bodily mechanism by means of which 
 the "soul" makes its presence known may 
 cease to be operative, and — as actually hap- 
 pens now and again — the individual may be so 
 "dead" in the judgment of physicians that he 
 or she is laid out for burial, aye, and is some- 
 times buried in real earnest, while all the time 
 the soul is as full of life as ever it was. Every 
 person of education is aware that these are 
 
6 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 matters of frequent observation and experi- 
 ence. They cannot be denied. They are not 
 consistent with the idea of the existence of 
 the "soul" being limited by the existence of 
 the body. 
 
 The case may be put even more strongly. In 
 war it often happens that a man is shot through 
 the arm in such a way that a part of a nerve 
 controlling the muscles of certain fingers is 
 destroyed. The fingers thereupon become 
 paralysed ; but when a surgeon fills up the gap 
 in the nerve by inserting a piece of nerve taken 
 freshly from a ^slaughtered calf the brain finds 
 itself once more able to send its messages to 
 the muscles, and the man finds he can move his 
 fingers. Absolute proof thus exists that the 
 brain and the fingers are distinct and separate 
 entities; and it would be utterly unscientific 
 to infer that the observed paralysis indicates 
 necessarily any disappearance of, or change in, 
 the brain. What really occurs is merely that 
 the brain is deprived, for the time being, of 
 one of the tools it is in the habit of using for 
 the purpose of exercising its authority over the 
 body. 
 
 Consider, too, what takes place when a man 
 has a "stroke," as it is termed — an apoplectic 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 7 
 
 fit, the breaking of a small blood-vessel in the 
 brain. The exuded blood forms a clot which 
 presses upon some of the brain-cells and inter- 
 feres with the normality of their action. In 
 some cases the cells affected are those that 
 influence the organs of speech. The man be- 
 comes dumb or cannot pronounce correctly. 
 He has the will to speak in his ordinary man- 
 ner and he makes desperate efforts to do so. 
 These remain unavailing until the blood-clot 
 becomes absorbed and ceases to interfere with 
 the brain-cells ; and then the man's will is once 
 more able to exert its authority over the lat- 
 ter, which, in their turn, are once more able 
 to organise and send forward the desired im- 
 pulses to the tongue, lips, etc. Absolute proof 
 thus exists that the will and the brain are dis- 
 tinct and separate entities ; and it would be ut- 
 terly unscientific to infer that the observed 
 pressure on, and paralysis of, the brain-cells 
 indicates any disappearance of, or change in, 
 the will. 
 
 But the will is comprised in the something 
 that is commonly called the "soul." We see, 
 then, that the existence of the soul and body 
 as distinct and separate entities is admitted 
 
8 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 by Science and demonstrated by the everyday 
 experience of mankind. 
 
 It is desirable, however, to add a word or 
 two respecting a phrase and an idea correlated 
 thereto which have long exercised a mischiev- 
 ous influence in psychics and psychology. The 
 phrase is that "thought may possibly be a se- 
 cretion of the brain." The idea is that although 
 body and mind (or soul) are separate entities 
 neither of them can exist separately from the 
 other. 
 
 To speak of thought as a secretion of the 
 brain is to misuse the word "secretion" and 
 to render it meaningless, in which case the 
 famous phrase becomes nonsensical. A secre- 
 tion is a material substance organised from, 
 and by, some other, parent, material substance. 
 It belongs to the domain of physics and can 
 be expressed in terms of statics and dynamics. 
 Nothing of all this is possible with regard to 
 thought, which belongs to the domain of meta- 
 physics and is immaterial. To speak of some- 
 thing immaterial being organised from some- 
 thing material is an abuse of language, and 
 reduces discussion to an idle jangle of articu- 
 late sounds. 
 
 There is not anything similarly nonsensical 
 
 J 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 9 
 
 in the idea of body and soul being interdepend- 
 ent entities. The question is one of simple fact 
 and observation. It is a matter of common 
 knowledge that human bodies continue to exist 
 long after their separation from the something 
 that is called "soul." This continued existence 
 may even be unaccompanied (as in the case of 
 mummies) by ordinary decay, and in some 
 cases may involve a prolongation of partial 
 vitality, such as, for instance, the well-known 
 phenomenon of the growth of hair and nails 
 after "death." But that the soul has ceased 
 to be united as before with the body is, in all 
 cases, a matter of certainty. Hence the idea 
 now being discussed obviously requires amend- 
 ment. It is not permissible to say that body 
 is perpetually dependent upon soul. And the 
 question remains whether it is permissible to 
 say that the existence of an individual soul is 
 dependent upon its remaining attached to the 
 body it accompanied during life. 
 
 This leads to the third of the facts to be 
 considered — the fact, namely, that Science ad- 
 mits the possibility of "souls" continuing to 
 exist when detached from the bodies with 
 which they are usually associated. The word 
 "detached" does not mean necessarily separa- 
 
10 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 tion by any considerable interval of space, or 
 the complete absence of every means of com- 
 munication. A man who speaks and a man 
 who hears are spoken of as being detached 
 from each other notwithstanding that they 
 are connected together by a sound-conveying 
 atmosphere. Bricks stacked in a pile are de- 
 tached separate entities even though, in pop- 
 ular language, they are said to be "touching" 
 one another. So, in the case of a paralysed 
 man, the affected portion of his brain is no 
 longer under the control of his will, and to that 
 extent there ^s a severance of his body from his 
 soul; while in cases of complete trance the de- 
 tachment in question extends to the entire ma- 
 terial organism, and also to the entire psy- 
 chical entity. The soul becomes, for the time 
 being, wholly separated from the body, which 
 no longer is actuated by consciousness, sensa- 
 tion, memory, thought or volition. All that 
 serves to distinguish the state of things from 
 "death" is the absence of bodily decomposi- 
 tion, together with one or two other physical 
 peculiarities, such as the response of the 
 muscles to electrical excitement and the oph- 
 thalmoscopic appearances of the fundus oculi. 
 Yet, when the trance comes to an end, the 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 11 
 
 normal intimate association of soul and body 
 is resumed, and both soul and body are found 
 to be unchanged. 
 
 Now, this is a matter of common knowledge 
 among educated persons and has often been 
 made a subject of scientific observation. It 
 proves, clearly enough, that souls can exist in- 
 dependently of material bodies ; and the proof 
 will not be disputed by any man of science 
 who is concerned to speak of things as they are, 
 and who uses words in their ordinary plain 
 meaning and not for the purpose of dialectical 
 subtleties. 
 
 Trance, however, is not the only form of 
 separate soul-existence that comes within the 
 range of human experience, A very much 
 more common occurrence is that of sleep. Here 
 the scientist will hesitate a little before making 
 any admission. The view now taken by Sci- 
 ence of sleep is that the phenomenon is "a nat- 
 ural condition of insensibility, more or less 
 complete, recurring normally (for the adult) 
 with each night," and further, that "the cause 
 of sleep is undetermined, but is supposed to 
 depend upon the production of sedative agents 
 during our waking activities which ultimately 
 clog the higher functions of the brain." It 
 
12 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 is also held that "in natural deep sleep all the 
 higher brain-centres are more or less out of 
 action, together with the senses of sight, touch, 
 taste, smell and hearing, though in varying de- 
 grees." And, with regard to dreaming, the 
 explanation given is that "the gradual passing 
 of the higher nerve-centres — i.e. the highest 
 centres of the cerebral matter — from normal to 
 subnormal activity, or rest, removes from the 
 lower centres a certain inhibition, and these 
 respond more readily both to external stimuli 
 and to altered internal stimuli or tension of 
 the blood-vessels. Accompanying this func- 
 tional dissolution of the higher centres there 
 is, in varying degrees, dissociation of con- 
 sciousness or obstructed association. . . . The 
 result of such dissociation is interference with 
 judgment, resulting in false perception, illu- 
 sion, hallucination and perpetually altering 
 variations of these." 
 
 What is meant by the phrase "dissociation of 
 consciousness"? It cannot very well signify 
 anything other than that consciousness during 
 sleep becomes detached from the brain, some- 
 times to a partial extent and sometimes com- 
 pletely. This is the same thing as saying that 
 soul is found by universal experience to exist, 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 13 
 
 time and again, in a state of independence. To 
 that extent the scientific view is well-founded 
 and acceptable. When, however, dreams are 
 stated to be nothing more than mere physical 
 states of the lower brain-centres a doubt 
 creeps in. Dreams are not material. They 
 are intangible thoughts and belong to the do- 
 main of consciousness. Where the "removal 
 of a certain inhibition from the lower centres'' 
 comes in is by way of explaining that owing 
 to temporary physical conditions attending 
 sleep, various brain-cells are out of gear, as 
 it were, and work irregularly — the case being 
 analogous to that of the man who is dumb or 
 speaks badly owing to a blood-clot in his brain. 
 But at the back of the fantastic or imperfect 
 appearance are the Consciousness and other 
 elements of the soul marshalled in regular co- 
 ordination. It is more probable, therefore, 
 that dreams are distortions of realities per- 
 ceived by the soul than that they originate in 
 disordered cerebral matter. 
 
 We see, then, that Science is faced by, and 
 admits, three fundamental facts, namely — 
 
 1. The existence, in this world, of human 
 souls as well as human bodies. 
 
U HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 2. The existence of such souls and bodies as 
 
 separate entities, 
 
 3. The possibility of souls continuing to 
 
 exist when separated from human 
 bodies. 
 
 What has next to be considered is whether 
 such separate existence is limited to the case of 
 temporary detachment during the life of the 
 body, or whether it is also possible when the 
 separation is brought about by "death/' 
 
 Reasoning^ by analogy may not be tanta- 
 mount to direct proof ; but it is, none the less, 
 cogent. When we reflect that the loss of an 
 arm, a leg, etc., is really the happening of 
 death to the missing parts of the body and yet 
 that the soul is not thereby affected we are 
 entitled to infer that the loss of the rest of 
 the body will leave the soul unscathed. And 
 when we add the reflection that in cases of 
 trance, apparent drowning, deep sleep, etc., 
 the whole body is detached from the soul — a 
 separation that occasionally lasts many days 
 or weeks— the inference is greatly strength- 
 ened. Everyone knows, moreover, that in 
 many instances of natural death the soul re- 
 mains in vigorous existence right up to the mo- 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 15 
 
 ment of dissolution; and where death occurs 
 from external causes, as in warfare, both body 
 and soul maintain their full normality until 
 the stroke of Fate has been dealt. Why, then, 
 should it be assumed that the soul ceases sud- 
 denly to exist? The body is seen to continue, 
 and, as regards its matter, to be imperishable. 
 The soul is not seen; but as it never had been 
 seen, though known to exist, during life, no 
 reason can be assigned for expecting it to be 
 visible at death. Not even the flimsiest foun- 
 dation can be discovered for the doctrine of 
 non-survival, which is merely the arbitrary as- 
 sertion of a most patent improbability. It is, 
 therefore, unscientific in the highest degree. 
 
 In addition, however, to this analogical ar- 
 gument, which most scientific men regard as 
 conclusive, there exists a solid basis of scien- 
 tifically observed facts demonstrating very 
 clearly the survival of souls after death. The 
 facts, it is true, are psychical rather than phys- 
 ical; but this does not impair their validity. 
 Modern men of science are beginning to re- 
 gard matter, force and energy as less im- 
 portant in the scheme of the universe than are 
 the entities that cannot be expressed in 
 dynamical terms; and the biologists are fast 
 
16 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 conceding priority to will and conscious pur- 
 pose over the hitherto accepted supreme au- 
 thority of Evolutionary Life. Still, the obser- 
 vations above alluded to are in part of a phys- 
 ical character and have been made within the 
 sacred precincts of scientific laboratories. 
 
 Dealing first with the latter, it suffices, by 
 way of example, to mention the researches con- 
 ducted by Mr. W. J. Crawford, D.Sc, a gen- 
 tleman who is Lecturer in Mechanical Engi- 
 neering in the Belfast Municipal Technical 
 Institute, Extra-Mural Lecturer in Mechan- 
 ical Engineering in the Queen's University of 
 Belfast, etc. It is a matter of common knowl- 
 edge in scientific circles, and to a large extent 
 in popular circles as well, that he has, with re- 
 spect to the "survival" question, carried out a 
 series of experiments and tests under the most 
 rigid conditions for ensuring accuracy of ob- 
 servation and correctness of results — experi- 
 ments and tests that have been witnessed by 
 competent persons and carefully recorded in a 
 manner to which no valid exception can be 
 taken. In the ordinary way of scientific work 
 the conclusions arrived at by such a trained 
 and eminently well-qualified observer would 
 be assented to by the scientific world as a mat- 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? IT 
 
 ter of course; and such assent should not be 
 withheld merely because the field of investiga- 
 tion lay outside the beaten tracks of Science. 
 
 Dr. Crawford's observations and experi- 
 ments are of quite recent date. They have im- 
 pressed greatly the scientific world. They are 
 regarded as proving the existence of the "in- 
 visible intelligent beings" mentioned by Sir 
 William Crookes in 1874, and as also proving 
 that these beings are encountered and com- 
 municated with here in this world. But the 
 knowledge of the work done by Dr. Crawford 
 is not yet very widely spread, and it is quite 
 possible that many scientific men as well as a 
 good portion of the public at large are still 
 unacquainted with its character and the re- 
 sults attained. It may be well, therefore, to 
 cite an illustrative instance of one of the meth- 
 ods employed. This is done in the scientist's 
 own words : — 
 
 "A drawing-board was placed on the platform 
 of a weighing-machine and a chair was placed on 
 the top of the board. The medium (Miss Goligher) 
 sat on the chair, with her feet resting on the board. 
 
 "Experiment 1. — I said to the operators [i.e. to 
 the spirits], 'You say the levitating cantilever con- 
 tains matter from the body of the medium. I want 
 
18 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 you to take out from her body the matter you use 
 in the construction of the cantilever you employ to 
 levitate this table (weight 12*4 lbs.) and to place 
 this matter loosely on the floor — not to build up 
 the cantilever but simply to place the matter re- 
 quired for it on the floor. Give three raps when 
 you have done this.' 
 
 "The medium's weight began to decrease and in 
 a few seconds became fairly steady. Then I heard 
 the three raps, signifying that the operation was 
 complete, 
 
 \ Result : 
 
 Weight of medium -f- chair -f- 
 
 board, before the experiment - 9 st. 12^/2 lbs. 
 Fairly steady weight of medium 
 
 + chair + board, after the raps 
 
 were given - - - - 8 st. 10^ lbs. 
 
 Decrease in weight of medium - st. 16 lbs. 
 
 "It is noteworthy that when I carried out the 
 same test about eighteen months previously, I ob- 
 tained the same result within a pound or two. (See 
 'Reality of Psychic Phenomena,' Experiment 63, p. 
 142.) 
 
 "Experiment 2. — I asked the operators to put the 
 matter they said they abstracted in Experiment 1, 
 not on the floor but on the drawing-board under the 
 medium's chair (the drawing-board was resting on 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 19 
 
 the platform of the weighing-machine). They gave 
 three raps when the operation was complete. 
 
 Result : 
 
 "The medium's weight showed no difference from 
 her normal of 9 st. 12^ lbs. 
 
 "This, of course, is as it should be, as any actual 
 matter taken from her body and placed on the draw- 
 ing-board would still be accounted for by the weigh- 
 ing-machine, provided that such matter was acted 
 upon by gravity in the normal way." 
 
 Here, as is obvious, was a laboratory experi- 
 ment of the simplest nature and not open to 
 any doubt or cavil. It was a mere weighing 
 operation to determine whether any loss of 
 weight took place in the material objects on 
 the platform of the machine. The medium, 
 as a person, did not enter into the problem at 
 all. It was not a question of her good faith 
 any more than it was the question of the good 
 faith of the chair or the drawing-board. Nor 
 was it the case of a phenomenon occurring in 
 darkness or under conditions that rendered 
 close observation difficult; while, as for Dr. 
 Crawford himself, it will not be contended that 
 he was incompetent to read the indications of 
 
20 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 the machine or to report them correctly. Yet 
 his spoken instructions to something invisible 
 and intangible were followed by results that 
 indicated intelligent hearing and careful obe- 
 dience. To deny that this was strict scientific 
 proof of the presence in Dr. Crawford's lab- 
 oratory of some kind of consciousness, percep- 
 tion and will — i.e. of some "soul" — that was 
 separate and distinct from any soul in normal 
 association with a human body would be to 
 speak as perversely as though one were to deny 
 that two and t^o make four. 
 
 So much for the physical category of the 
 observations that have been made in the scien- 
 tific world respecting survival after death. We 
 can now turn to the psychical category. 
 
 The investigations in this direction have 
 been carried on for so many years and by so 
 many observers, both scientific and lay, that a 
 vast mass of material has accumulated in the 
 shape of evidence which, for the greater part, 
 is in favour of an affirmative answer being 
 given to the question — Do the Dead still live? 
 None of the evidence is, in fact, suggestive of 
 a negative reply; but some is not of a trust- 
 worthy character, while in other cases the 
 requisite corroboration is lacking. This is a 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 21 
 
 trap for the unwary of both schools of thought 
 — the sceptical and the credulous. The former 
 are struck by instances of fraud, deceit and 
 ignorant gullibility; and they neglect to con- 
 sider and weigh what is brought forward of a 
 serious and genuine character. The latter are 
 carried away by their emotions and wishes, and 
 prefer the sensational rubbish to the calm and 
 balanced testimony of honest and careful ob- 
 servers. 
 
 A typical collection of the evidence here re- 
 ferred to — good, bad and indifferent — is to be 
 found in the pages of "Raymond," the recent- 
 ly published book written by Sir Oliver Lodge, 
 F.R.S. The author, who has for very many 
 years been an eminent investigator of psy- 
 chical phenomena, in addition to having at- 
 tained the highest rank in the scientific world 
 in respect of his electrical and other work, was 
 afflicted by the loss of a son, Raymond, in the 
 Great War, and, in accordance with what he 
 considered to be possible, he endeavoured to 
 open up communication with the discarnate 
 spirit of the deceased young man. He de- 
 scribes his experiments and their result in the 
 book he has written. He does not hesitate to 
 reject much of what he observed as being "non- 
 
22 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 sense/' and a good deal more he describes as 
 "unverifiable" and doubtful. But he also 
 brings forward an abundance of what he 
 terms "evidential matter," which he deems to 
 be genuine and convincing — a conclusion fully 
 accepted by serious readers who are not 
 swayed by prejudice. He makes many ref- 
 erences to what has been done by other investi- 
 gators, and he expresses himself on the general 
 question as follows: — 
 
 "However it be accomplished, and whatever re- 
 ception the preseint-day scientific world may give to 
 the assertion, there are many now who know, by 
 first-hand experience, that communication is possible 
 across the boundary — if there is a boundary — be- 
 tween the world apprehended by our few animal-de- 
 rived senses and the larger existence concerning 
 which our knowledge is still more limited. Com- 
 munication is not easy, but it occurs. . . . The 
 more recent development of an elaborate scheme of 
 cross-correspondence entered upon since the death of 
 specially experienced and critical investigators of 
 the Society for Psychical Research, who were fa- 
 miliar with all these difficulties, and who have taken 
 strong and most ingenious means to overcome them, 
 has made the proof, already very strong, now al- 
 most crucial. . . . The chief thing that the episode 
 establishes, to my mind, and a thing that was worth 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 23 
 
 establishing, is the genuine character of the simple 
 domestic sittings, without a medium, which are oc- 
 casionally held by the family circle at Mariemont. 
 For it is through these chiefly that Raymond re- 
 mains as much a member of the family group as 
 ever. ... In the old days, if I sat with a medium, 
 I was never told of any serious imaginary bereave- 
 ment which had befallen myself — beyond the natural 
 and inevitable losses from an older generation which 
 fall to the lot of every son of man. But now if I, 
 or any member of my family, goes anonymously to 
 a genuine medium, giving not the slightest normal 
 clue, my son is quickly to the fore and continues his 
 clear and convincing series of evidences ; sometimes 
 giving testimony of a critically selected kind, some- 
 times contenting himself with friendly family chaff 
 and reminiscences, but always acting in a manner 
 consistent with his personality and memories and 
 varying moods. ... In every way he has shown 
 himself anxious to give convincing evidence. More- 
 over, he wants me to speak out; and I shall. I am 
 as convinced of continued existence, on the other 
 side of death, as I am of existence here. 5 ' 
 
 These personal utterances represent much 
 more than the opinion of a single individual. 
 They are in effect a summary of what has been 
 established by the laborious investigations of 
 many hundreds of educated and capable en- 
 
24 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 quirers — including highly-honoured leaders of 
 science — during the last half-century. The 
 Society of Psychical Research, for example — 
 mentioned by Sir Oliver Lodge — comprises, 
 and has comprised, many of the foremost sci- 
 entists and philosophical thinkers of England, 
 America, France, Italy and other countries. 
 It entered upon the investigation and study of 
 psychical phenomena from a strictly scientific 
 point of view, without any tendency to be 
 guided by religious teachings and desirous of 
 stamping out the influence of so-called Spirit- 
 ualism upon public credulity. Its work was 
 conducted with the utmost care and caution in 
 every detail. Its Reports from year to year 
 were welcomed as sound and trustworthy text- 
 books in a little-known region of science. They 
 are collections of demonstrated facts rather 
 than the presentation of inferences and specu- 
 lative views. So when it is found that the fore- 
 most psychologists and psychical investigators 
 work in harmony with the results attained by 
 the Society for Psychical Research, and that 
 the conclusions announced by authorities like 
 Sir Oliver Lodge are largely based upon such 
 results, the case for the acceptance of these 
 conclusions becomes very strong indeed, 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 25 
 
 It has now been proved beyond all possibil- 
 ity of reasonable refutation that both Religion 
 and Science answer "Yes" when they are asked 
 the question — Do the Dead still live? 
 
 There is an allied question which should not 
 be altogether ignored. Euclid sometimes 
 proves a proposition by showing that its denial 
 necessarily involves an absurdity. In like 
 manner we may ask whether the denial of the 
 proposition that souls live on after death drives 
 us into a position that the common sense and 
 conscience of mankind know to be untenable. 
 
 If this life be the whole measure of the ex- 
 istence of a soul, if birth mean its beginning 
 and death its end, the something that is called 
 "soul" is seen to be merely a temporary eva- 
 nescent affection of the matter that consti- 
 tutes the body. But it is an abuse of language 
 to speak of matter as being either morally good 
 or morally bad. Even if it be admitted that 
 matter can live and be endowed with conscious- 
 ness and volition, there would still be a mani- 
 fest absurdity in attributing to it a knowledge 
 of good and evil. It follows, therefore, that 
 any person who is a thorough-going material- 
 ist is logically debarred from speaking of good- 
 ness, benevolence, honour, integrity, charity, 
 
26 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 truth, piety, patriotism, profligacy, fraud, 
 crime or wickedness. The masses of matter 
 to which he gives the name "human beings" 
 are non-moral just as much as his table or his 
 boots. He talks nonsense when he praises 
 them for acting in a manner which he calls 
 "right," or when he blames them for acting in 
 a manner which he calls "wrong." Nor is the 
 case bettered by conceding that "good con- 
 duct" may be beneficial and "bad conduct" 
 harmful to the mass of matter in action, and 
 may therefore* in an analogical way, be de- 
 scribed as meriting commendation and reproof 
 respectively. The mass of matter will know 
 well enough that success, prosperity and 
 worldly enjoyment are attained much more 
 frequently by bad men than by the righteous, 
 and he will laugh at the idea of a satisfied 
 conscience being preferred to a satisfied body. 
 He will know that when death comes the good 
 will not be any better off than the bad — they 
 will both be annihilated — and he will also know 
 that during life the bad are much better off 
 than the good. Does this doctrine commend it- 
 self to any sane man? Does any leader of sci- 
 ence exist who will say deliberately that he re- 
 
DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 27 
 
 pudiates the doctrine of right and wrong? If 
 he will not say this he must not say that souls 
 are merely appurtenances of bodies and cease 
 to exist after death. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 SOUL AND LIFE 
 
 The phrase that the dead still live does not 
 mean the same thing as when it is said that a 
 human body lives. In the former ease the 
 word "live" merely means "exist"; in the latter 
 the word "lives" connotes, together with the 
 idea of existence, a particular concrete form 
 of living which is differentiated markedly from 
 "living" in the abstract. This distinction is 
 frequently overlooked, and as the oversight 
 leads to much confusion of thought and lies 
 at the root of much of the opposition that is 
 here and there offered to the doctrine of "sur- 
 vival," it seems well to devote a few pages to 
 its discussion. 
 
 The "life" that is found in human bodies 
 and throughout the organic world is imper- 
 sonal. It is material, or, rather, physical, in 
 the sense that it has not any existence apart 
 from the organic matter of which it constitutes 
 an affection or attribute. The case is analo- 
 
 28 
 
SOUL AND LIFE 29 
 
 gous to that of gravitation. According to the 
 accepted Newtonian philosophy every particle 
 of matter in the universe attracts, and is at- 
 tracted by, every other particle: it gravitates: 
 it is ponderable. But there is no such thing as 
 gravitation per se> though there may be an 
 entity that causes gravitation. It is conveni- 
 ent, for the purposes of language and the 
 orderly expression of thought, to speak of it 
 separately, just as colour, temperature, illumi- 
 nation, form, structure and other affections are 
 referred to ; the understanding, however, being 
 always that they are not in themselves entities 
 and are not characterised by anything in the 
 nature of self -existence. 
 
 Science does not at present hold that life is 
 an attribute of all matter. Minerals and other 
 forms of what is called inorganic matter are 
 considered to be devoid of life, and the same 
 destitution is asserted with respect to "dead," 
 "inanimate" organic matter. Life is met with 
 only in "living," "animate" organic matter; 
 just as crystallisation is found only in "crystal- 
 line" and not in "amorphous" matter; and — to 
 pursue the simile — it may be pointed out that 
 the same matter which is crystalline under some 
 conditions becomes amorphous under others, 
 
30 HOW TO SPEAE WITH THE DEAD 
 
 as in the case of carbon, which is sometimes 
 diamond and sometimes charcoal. In like man- 
 ner living matter may change into dead mat- 
 ter — a change which is called "death"; and 
 dead matter may change into living matter, 
 as, for example, when food is assimilated by 
 animals and vegetables. 
 
 The true nature of the "life" met with in 
 living organic matter is not yet understood. 
 Modern science has shown, indisputably, that 
 the doctrine of the conservation of energy ap- 
 plies without ikiodification to living beings just 
 as much as to inanimate substances. The idea 
 of there being any specific "vital force," "vital 
 material" or "vital energy" has long ago been 
 abandoned. All the particular phenomena ob- 
 served by morphologists, physiologists, embry- 
 ologists, palaeontologists and setiologists— i.e. 
 by the whole world of biologists — can be satis- 
 factorily explained in terms of chemistry, 
 physical force, energy and dynamics. But bi- 
 ology cannot as yet give an equally clear ac- 
 count of the co-ordinated vitality of anything 
 that lives. It cannot even state the how and 
 why of the simplest unicellular organism. "We 
 are forced," says a leading authority, "to the 
 conclusion that a living organism is a partic- 
 
SOUL AND LIFE 31 
 
 ular synthesis of matter and energy, the secret 
 of whose organisation remains hidden/' 
 
 We know, however, that life displays the 
 same kind of uniformity that characterises 
 heat, light, motion and other imponderables. 
 The something that appears as the temperature 
 of boiling water is similar in all respects to the 
 something that appears as the equal tempera- 
 ture of hot oil and can be interchanged there- 
 with. Indeed, the fundamental Theory of Ex- 
 changes upon which a great part of thermo- 
 dynamics is based depends for its validity on 
 the absence of any distinction between the 
 heats of various masses of matter. The only 
 variation of heat is that of degree : the kind is 
 always the same; heat never becomes individ- 
 ualised. This is seen by everyday observation 
 to be equally true of life, and is frequently 
 demonstrated by specific experiment. Graft- 
 ing, for example, whether it consist in the 
 union of a scion of one tree with the stock of 
 another, or whether it take the form of trans- 
 ferring a piece of John Smith's skin to a flayed 
 part of Robert Green's arm, is the migration 
 of a vitality that remains unchanged in spite 
 of the change of environment and that inter- 
 mingles harmoniously and homogeneously with 
 
82 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 the vitality of its new abode. Neither the in- 
 dividualities of the two trees nor the personali- 
 ties of the two men appear in, or accompany, 
 their stocks of "life" any more than they are 
 to be found in their stocks of heat or weight. 
 The various stocks may be more or less abun- 
 dant in quantity, but they do not differ in kind. 
 We know also that life is capable of indefi- 
 nite increase by reproduction, provided only 
 that the means of sustenance be available. A 
 single pair of rabbits, for instance, if allowed 
 to breed unchecked and not killed off, will, in a 
 comparatively short time, become represented 
 by two millions of similar animals. This 
 means, of course, that the quantity of "life" 
 corresponding to two rabbits has been aug- 
 mented a million-fold. The increase has not 
 been derived from the food consumed, the to- 
 tal amount of which is accounted for by the 
 bodies and excreta of the conies. A similar 
 phenomenon is observable throughout the 
 whole sum of living beings, whether human, 
 "animal" or vegetable. It distinguishes "life" 
 very effectually from matter and energy, both 
 of which are, by the doctrine of conservation, 
 as incapable of increase as of decrease. The 
 only hypothesis that appears possible by way 
 
SOUL AND LIFE 33 
 
 of explanation is to hold that "life" is one of 
 the protean modes of energy in the same way 
 that heat is understood (by those persons who 
 are content to accept the Baconian, and mod- 
 ern scientific view) to be a mode of motion. 
 This hypothesis, however, does not rest on any 
 secure foundation. The only energy that is 
 known to be practically available for transmu- 
 tation into life is heat (light and electricity 
 seem to be negligible) ; and reproduction, 
 which often takes place on a very large scale, 
 has never been observed to involve the absorp- 
 tion and disappearance of heat. 
 
 Again, we know by observation and experi- 
 ment that the function of "life" is to organise 
 matter ; that is to say, to arrange material par- 
 ticles into differentiated groups and aggre- 
 gates marked by varying complexities of com- 
 position suitable for certain specific actions. 
 It is sometimes contended that this systematic 
 co-ordination and apparent display of purpose 
 is to be found also in the inanimate world. The 
 phenomenon of crystallisation, for example, is 
 here and there regarded as an instance of life. 
 It is attended by growth. It exhibits both dif- 
 ferentiation and integration, becoming on the 
 one hand more complex and on the other more 
 
U HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 unified. Lost parts are seen to be regenerated. 
 Some degree of adjustment to surroundings 
 is noticeable; and reproduction may even be 
 said to occur to some extent. But when the 
 crystal is formed it does not differ, either in 
 substance or in function, from the raw material 
 out of which it has been constructed. It re- 
 mains inert and destitute of any approach to 
 vitality. It may be destroyed by crushing, 
 fusion, solution: it never "dies," To speak of 
 it as being a living creature is, therefore, inept. 
 If, however, great importance be still at- 
 tached to the (occasional regenerations and re- 
 productions observed in the case of inanimate 
 matter, it should be borne in mind that these 
 differ very greatly from the corresponding 
 phenomena where life is concerned. The re- 
 pairs effected by chemical affinity and other 
 non-vital influences are limited to restoration 
 and replacement without alteration of struc- 
 ture or change of adaptation; and where re- 
 production takes place it is limited to repeti- 
 tion. Very different results are met with when 
 Life is in control. Take any "horny-handed 
 son of toil." The skin of his hands when he 
 was a child and until he began to work was 
 soft and tender. It became injured by fric- 
 
SOUL AND LIFE 35 
 
 tion, pressure and the like. It needed repair; 
 and then Life, instead of renewing the soft- 
 ness, gradually developed a condition of 
 toughness and callosity which served as a safe- 
 guard against further injury. Such facts as 
 these— and a vast number are known to Sci- 
 ence — conclusively establish the essential dif- 
 ference that exists between living matter and 
 matter that is not invested with vitality. 
 
 Then, too, we know that Life is not charac- 
 terised by consciousness. This is clearly evi- 
 dent in the cases of seeds and eggs which are 
 most assuredly composed of living matter. But 
 it is also just as obvious in fully matured hu- 
 man beings if careful consideration be given 
 to all the facts involved. A man's bones, for 
 example, are endowed with life; but no one 
 suggests or contends that they are character- 
 ised by consciousness. The same thing is true 
 of his hair, his nails, his flesh, his blood. His 
 eyes and ears and other organs of sense are 
 mere receiving and transmitting apparatus, 
 and are not in themselves conscious. Hence 
 by far the greater part of the life that enters 
 into the composition of a living human be- 
 ing is devoid of consciousness. And when the 
 brain is taken into account the situation is not 
 
36 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 changed. Cerebral matter is, like the sensory 
 mechanism, a mere piece of apparatus, a gram- 
 ophone, as it were, which, in a certain sense 
 of the words, may be said to hear and to speak, 
 but which has not any inner consciousness of 
 what goes on. 
 
 This view, which no man of science will con- 
 test, and which is a tenet of modern natural 
 philosophy, is established by the everyday ex- 
 perience of every man. Not only does he know 
 that his bones, hair, blood, etc., are not con- 
 scious entities,) though they are full of life; he 
 also knows that he remains as alive as ever dur- 
 ing his sleep, which is frequently dreamless and 
 free from all indications of consciousness. He 
 knows that chloroform and other anaesthetics 
 are constantly employed on thousands of oc- 
 casions with resulting insensibility and uncon- 
 sciousness, but with no difference in the life 
 that animates the bodies of the persons oper- 
 ated upon. He knows that a man may be 
 stunned by a severe blow on the head and 
 may become, for the time being, bereft of con- 
 sciousness while still retaining his full vitality. 
 The truth of the matter, in fact, is so plain as 
 not to be open to any serious discussion, even 
 though, as is the case with every doctrine un- 
 
SOUL AND LIFE 37 
 
 der the sun, it may in appearance be argued 
 about in words and phrases that are ingenious- 
 ly diverted from their normal meanings. 
 
 It is furthermore to be borne in mind that 
 Life has not any conscience and is utterly non- 
 moral. From a strictly scientific point of view 
 this is not a matter of any consequence; for 
 Science is concerned merely with existence qua 
 existence and disregards the whole subject of 
 ethical good and evil. Scientific men, how- 
 ever, have consciences and the knowledge of 
 right and wrong, and are able, whenever they 
 may feel so disposed, to judge of Life from 
 the moral point of view. They see, for ex- 
 ample, that the vitality of a living human be- 
 ing is just as active, efficient and exquisitely 
 adaptative in the development of a painful 
 disease as in the production of enjoyable 
 health. They see that the fatal microbe is fos- 
 tered and sent on its murderous way rejoicing, 
 just as much as the phagocytes (the "blood 
 scavengers 55 ) and other defensive organisms 
 are in like manner protected and caused to 
 multiply. The cow is made to yield milk, while 
 the cobra is equally aided to prepare a store of 
 deadly poison. The bee is set to the beneficent 
 work of honey-making; and the mosquito is 
 
38 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 granted a letter-of-marque for the dissemina- 
 tion of malaria. Everywhere in nature the 
 same blindness to moral considerations and the 
 same absence of ethical purpose are met with 
 in the activities of Life. 
 
 The question of how Life originates should 
 also receive attention. Modern science rejects 
 the idea of its being derived from inanimate 
 matter or from any combination of matter with 
 physical force or energy. The experiments of 
 the late Dr. H. Charlton Bastian, F.R.S., and 
 others with respect to the demonstration of 
 "spontaneous generation" are held to be in- 
 validated by various sources of error; and the 
 almost unanimous verdict of the scientific 
 world is that every occurrence of life proceeds 
 from some antecedent, parent, life. This doc- 
 trine involves naturally the referring back of 
 the entire amount of life now existing in the 
 world to a long line of ancestry. And as Sci- 
 ence teaches furthermore that a time did once 
 exist when the world was altogether inorganic 
 and inanimate, there emerges the problem of 
 when and how Life made its first appearance 
 on this mundane sphere. This problem is, as 
 yet, insoluble; and, faute de mieuoo, certain 
 scientists as, for example, Helmholz, Tyndall 
 
SOUL AND LIFE 39 
 
 and Lord Kelvin have found themselves re- 
 duced to the necessity of suggesting that pos- 
 sibly the first specimen of life on the earth was 
 introduced in the form of some organism borne 
 hither by a meteorite. But such a suggestion 
 does not solve the problem of Life; it merely 
 throws back the solution by yet another stage. 
 And in the meantime the remarks already made 
 in the present chapter with regard to the capac- 
 ity of indefinite increase displayed by Life are 
 emphasised and confirmed in a prodigious de- 
 gree. It is surely a most marvellous thing that 
 the whole vast volume of existing life should 
 be the product of some minute primordial 
 quantity without there ever having been added 
 any growth-material from the outside. This 
 difficulty was felt by Dr. Bastian and his fel- 
 low-experimenters; and even the stoutest up- 
 holders of Harvey's doctrine, omne vivum ex 
 ovo, as, for instance, Huxley, Haeckel, Nageli, 
 Pfliiger and Ray Lankester have not hesitated 
 to admit the possibility of protoplasm having 
 been synthetically derived from inanimate 
 matter at some early period of the earth's his- 
 tory, when physical conditions were very dif- 
 ferent from those of the present time and when 
 so many things were "in the making." Some 
 
 i 
 
40 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 scientists, indeed, hold that heterogenesis may 
 even now be taking place in localities or under 
 circumstances that are shielded from observa- 
 tion; and others, basing their judgment upon 
 the triumphs of modern chemistry in the syn- 
 thesis of sugar, indigo, alizarine, urea and 
 other organic substances, think it probable that 
 men may yet succeed in putting together a 
 combination of matter that shall exhibit vital- 
 ity as one of its attributes. The bearing of all 
 this upon the problems dealt with in the pres- 
 ent volume consists, of course, in the support 
 given to the essentially physical and non-psy- 
 chical nature of Life. 
 
 If a comparison be now made between what 
 has here been stated with regard to Life and 
 what was stated in Chapter I with regard to 
 Soul, we shall find ourselves in presence of 
 certain marked contrasts as follows: 
 
 LIFE SOUL 
 
 1. Is impersonal. It has 1. Is personal. Individual 
 not any individualities or souls exist as separate enti- 
 idiosyncrasies. ties and each has its own dis- 
 tinguishing character. 
 
 2. Is homogeneous. It is 2. Is heterogeneous. Souls 
 divisible into separate por- are distinct from each other 
 tions only in the same sense and do not coalesce. 
 
 that the same is true of heat, 
 
SOUL AND LIFE 
 
 41 
 
 LIFE {continued) 
 
 SOUL (continued), 
 
 light, electricity, and other 
 forms of physical energy. 
 These various parcels coa- 
 lesce when brought into con- 
 tact with each other and form 
 a whole that is uniform with- 
 out any differentiation. 
 
 3. Is the organiser of mat- 
 ter and the controlling in- 
 fluence that determines the 
 morphology, physiology, em- 
 bryology, palaeontology and 
 aetiology of the organisms 
 produced. 
 
 4. Is non-conscious, non- 
 sensory and incapable of 
 
 thought or memory. 
 
 5. Is non-moral. It is con- 
 scienceless without any 
 knowledge of good and evil. 
 Its functions are performed 
 mechanically without any re- 
 gard to what results may en- 
 sue. 
 
 6. Is capable of indefinite 
 increase by reproduction. It 
 may possibly be originated by 
 a particular grouping of ma- 
 terial atoms in combination 
 with particular physical 
 forces and under particular 
 physical conditions. 
 
 3. Is the employer of the 
 organs formed by Life. 
 
 4. Is conscious, perceptive, 
 sensitive, emotional, intelli- 
 gent, thinking, and mnemonic. 
 
 5. Is characterised by voli- 
 tion, accompanied by a full 
 understanding of good and 
 evil. It is capable of acting 
 rightly and wrongly and of 
 appreciating the results of 
 its actions. 
 
 6. Is incapable of repro- 
 duction. Each individual soul 
 is a self-contained, self-suf- 
 ficing, self-continuing entity 
 that has not originated from 
 any other soul or from any 
 matter of physical force. 
 
 / 
 
42 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 These contrasts necessitate a duality of sig- 
 nification of the word "death." When the death 
 of an organic being is spoken of, the phrase 
 implies that the matter of which it is composed 
 has lost its attribute of vitality (an analogous 
 case being the reduction of the temperature 
 of a body to absolute zero). And where the 
 organic being is a member of the human race 
 (the question of the souls of animals and veg- 
 etables does not lie within the scope of this 
 book) the phrase also implies that the soul 
 and body have become separated so completely 
 as to terminate the employment of the latter 
 by the former. 
 
 The very pith of the arguments that are 
 sometimes advanced against the idea of "sur- 
 vival" is to be found in this double meaning of 
 the word "death." When the belief is asserted 
 that "death is the end" and that there is not 
 any "future life," the statements are reason- 
 able and well-founded if regard be had solely 
 to the phenomena of Life and to the relations 
 of Life with the body. The knight who con- 
 tended that the shield was of silver maintained 
 a true enough view ; as also did the knight who 
 advanced from the opposite direction and, hav- 
 ing seen the other side of the suspended buck- 
 
SOUL AND LIFE 43 
 
 ler, declared it to be of gold. Death is con- 
 tinued death so far as the question of physical 
 Life is concerned: it is merely a change of 
 stage in psychical existence. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY 
 
 Science has not yet accepted definitely the 
 existence of telepathy and can hardly be said 
 to have even begun the study of tele-mnemon- 
 iky. But the idea of these matters is so inter- 
 mingled with fhe subjects of "survivals" and 
 "communications," and — as regards telepathy 
 at least — appears so frequently in psychical 
 literature, that it is desirable for those who 
 contemplate speaking with the dead to become 
 acquainted with the general nature of the 
 problems and facts involved therein. 
 
 Many people are aware— and, indeed, have 
 themselves tried the experiment — that mind 
 can influence mind without the intervention of 
 matter, such as the organs of speech and hear- 
 ing operating in a sound-conveying atmos- 
 phere, A common phenomenon is the mental 
 impression of a person being present who has 
 approached without being seen or heard. A 
 somewhat less frequent, but still sufficiently 
 
 44 
 
TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONXKY 45 
 
 familiar, instance of the same order of things 
 is to be found in the fact that persons who are 
 looked at intently (even behind their backs) 
 often become uneasy and turn to meet the gaze. 
 So, also, it is found that cases occur of persons 
 suddenly, and without any apparent cause, 
 finding themselves thinking earnestly of cer- 
 tain other persons and learning subsequently 
 that those other persons were at, or a little be- 
 fore, the time of the impression thinking of the 
 persons impressed. 
 
 Facts such as these — which are positive and 
 undisputed — have led to experimental tests, 
 conducted scientifically, for the purpose of de- 
 termining whether it is possible, at will, to es- 
 tablish intelligent communications between 
 transmitters and percipients who are at a dis- 
 tance from each other; and the name "telep- 
 athy" has been given to the kind of intercourse 
 in question. The work has been conducted 
 chiefly by the Society for Psychical Research, 
 whose Reports on the subject have become 
 classics. Telepathy is recognised in so far as 
 it is a grouping of observed facts; but it has 
 not hitherto advanced beyond the status of a 
 "working hypothesis," which, however, still 
 awaits precise formulation. Thus, Sir Oliver 
 
46 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 Lodge, F.R.S., in his "Raymond/ ' first pub- 
 lished in November, 1916, says — 
 
 "The fact of telepathy proves that bodily organs 
 are not absolutely essential to communication of 
 ideas. Mind turns out to be able to act directly 
 on mind, and stimulate it into response by other than 
 material means. Thought does not belong to the 
 material region, although it is able to exert an in- 
 fluence on that region through mechanism provided 
 by vitality. Yet the means whereby it accom- 
 plishes the feat are essentially unknown, and the 
 fact that such/ interaction is possible would be 
 strange and surprising if we were not too much ac- 
 customed to it. It is reasonable to suppose that 
 the mind can be more at home, and more directly and 
 more exuberantly active, when the need for such in- 
 teraction between psychical and physical — or let us 
 more safely and specifically say between mental and 
 material — no longer exists, when the restraining in- 
 fluence of brain and nerve mechanism is removed, and 
 when some of the limitations connected with bodily 
 location in space are ended. 
 
 "Experience must be our guide. To shut the 
 door on actual observation and experiment in this 
 particular region, because of preconceived ideas and 
 obstinate prejudice, is an attitude common enough, 
 even among scientific men ; but it is an attitude mark- 
 edly unscientific. Certain people have decided that 
 
TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY 47 
 
 inquiry into the activities of discarnate mind is fu- 
 tile ; some few consider it impious ; many, perhaps 
 wisely distrusting their own powers, shrink from en- 
 tering on such an inquiry. But if there are any 
 facts to be ascertained, it must be the duty of some 
 volunteers to ascertain them: and for people having 
 any acquaintance with scientific history to shut their 
 eyes to facts when definitely announced, and to for- 
 bid investigation or report concerning them on pain 
 of ostracism, — is to imitate a byegone theological 
 attitude in a spirit of unintended flattery — a flattery 
 which from every point of view is eccentric ; and like- 
 wise to display an extraordinary lack of humour." 
 
 It must, however, be added that, a little fur- 
 ther on in the same book, Sir Oliver speaks 
 somewhat less positively. He says — 
 
 "Matter is an indirect medium of communica- 
 tion between mind and mind. That direct tele- 
 pathic intercourse should be able to occur between, 
 mind and mind, without all this intermediate phys- 
 ical mechanism, is therefore not really surprising. 
 It has to be proved, no doubt , but the fact is in- 
 trinsically less puzzling than many of those other 
 facts to which we have grown hardened by usage." 
 
 This account of telepathy is vague, and a 
 similar vagueness also characterises the utter- 
 
48 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 ances of other authorities on the same subject. 
 But no good reason exists why the matter 
 should not be dealt with in a manner very 
 much more clear and precise. 
 
 We should consider, in the first place, that 
 the word "mind" really means "soul," and is 
 used merely for the sake of convenience as 
 concentrating attention upon the soul's faculty 
 of intelligence apart from its sentient, emotion- 
 al, volitional and ethical attributes. Accord- 
 ingly, when a telepathist speaks of mind com- 
 municating directly with mind, it is the same 
 thing as saying that soul communicates direct- 
 ly with soul; and this, in its turn, implies the 
 corollary that, whether spirits be incarnate or 
 discarnate, the idea of telepathic intercourse is 
 admissible. 
 
 In the next place, it is to be borne in mind 
 that, as shown in Chapter I of this book, every 
 soul has always some definite location in space. 
 Nothing certain is known as to whether the 
 shape and volume of a soul correspond ex- 
 actly in form and size with those of the human 
 body that is associated with the soul during life 
 on earth. It is sometimes thought, in a specu- 
 lative way, that the soul extends beyond the 
 confines of the body, which thus becomes in- 
 
TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY 49 
 
 vested with an "aura," as it is termed, and can 
 come into contact with other souls even when 
 the respective bodies are more or less apart in 
 space; but no facts have been observed that 
 give serious support to this view. The proba- 
 bilities, indeed, are in favour of the something 
 — which may or may not be akin to ordinary 
 physical matter — that constitutes a soul having 
 a volume approximating to the space occupied 
 by its earthly body. 
 
 A third fundamental consideration is that 
 the actual experiences of every day consist in 
 a large measure of the most astounding in- 
 stances of communication between widely sep- 
 arated bodies — or bulks of matter — and souls. 
 The sun is distant some 93,000,000 miles from 
 the earth, and yet it can impart sensations of 
 illumination and warmth to a soul on the 
 earth's surface, to say nothing of more subtle 
 influences conveyed by what are known as 
 "dark rays." The fact is indisputable, but it 
 is not yet clearly understood. Physicists have 
 felt themselves compelled to form the hypoth- 
 esis of an "Ether" pervading interstellar space 
 and serving as a medium or vehicle for the 
 passage of radiant energy from place to place. 
 This Ether has to be conceived of as possessing 
 
50 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 a nature and attributes quite as wonderful and 
 incomprehensible as anything narrated in the 
 "Arabian Nights" or set forth in the Church 
 doctrine of the Holy Trinity. It is under- 
 stood to be the means by which the marvels 
 of wireless telegraphy become possible, by 
 which glances are exchanged between human 
 eyes, by which newspapers are read, and by 
 which an artillery observer at the front be- 
 comes aware whether the gunners are or are 
 not hitting their mark. Yet there is not any 
 certainty that the particular Ether imagined 
 by modern science exists at all. For anything 
 that is known and proved the medium of com- 
 munication may in the end turn out to be 
 something quite different. When, therefore, 
 telepathy is spoken of, no scientific man is en- 
 titled to reject the idea merely because it in- 
 volves the existence of some as yet unknown 
 means of interaction. If the fact of telepathy 
 be established he must accept it, even though 
 it may be as yet inexplicable. The knowl- 
 edge possessed by Science from time to time 
 does not set limits to the realities of the uni- 
 verse. 
 
 A soul that formulates a thought is obvious- 
 ly not in quite the same state as was the case 
 
TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY 51 
 
 before the occurrence of the thought; and if 
 there be in existence some kind of space-filling 
 "X," corresponding to the imagined "Ether/' 
 it is conceivable that this change of state may 
 aff ect or disturb the X in a way analogous to 
 the supposed affecting of the Ether by a 
 change of temperature in a heat-emitting sub- 
 stance. In like manner if some other soul lo- 
 cated elsewhere be in contact with the X, it is 
 conceivable that the disturbance of the latter 
 may cause such other soul to experience a cor- 
 responding change of state and thus to become 
 impressed with, as it were, a facsimile of the 
 original thought. The myriad complexities of 
 the supposed changes of state and disturbances 
 involved in the communication of a train of 
 thought need not be regarded as an insuper- 
 able difficulty. Let anyone study what takes 
 place in the course of a telephonic message. 
 A disk of sheet-iron is caused to vibrate by the 
 air-shaking human voice: these vibrations 
 cause corresponding fluctuations in the elec- 
 tric current flowing through the wire uniting 
 the transmitter with the receiver; and the vary- 
 ing current sets up varying magnetic impulses 
 which cause the receiving disk of sheet-iron 
 to vibrate in a manner exactly similar to what 
 
52 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 happened in the case of the transmitting disk, 
 so that the air impinging on the listening ear 
 is shaken in the same way as the air affected 
 by the original speaker's voice. It all seems 
 simple enough until the character of the "vi- 
 brations" and "fluctuations" is looked into. 
 They are so varied, complex and multitudinous 
 as to defy analysis or even comprehension. The 
 human mind desists from the attempt to real- 
 ly understand them. But telephony remains 
 an acknowledged fact; and its existence lends 
 a high degree of probability to the reality of 
 telepathy. ( 
 
 The term "thought-reading" is often em- 
 ployed to indicate telepathic communication, 
 and is very convenient by reason of its associa- 
 tion with what is understood by the common 
 action of perusal. In so-called "spiritualistic 
 sittings" a medium sometimes mentions a name 
 or a circumstance known only to the sitter; 
 and this is frequently considered to be a com- 
 plete proof of information derived by the me- 
 dium from some spirit. But it may just as 
 well be a case of thought-reading. The sitter's 
 soul, thinking of the name or circumstance, dis- 
 turbs the X accordingly. The medium's soul, 
 which is in contact with the X, is affected by 
 
TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY S3 
 
 the disturbance and becomes conscious of the 
 name or circumstance. In simpler, less cum- 
 brous language, the medium reads the sitter's 
 thoughts. 
 
 It is not, however, merely a question of 
 "mediums." Telepathy is important through- 
 out the whole range of communication with 
 the spirit-world. Whenever and wherever a 
 soul — whether still invested with a human body 
 or discarnate — is thinking, it is affecting the 
 X and thereby rendering it possible for other 
 souls to be impressed with the thoughts. For 
 the most part the phenomena are of so faint a 
 character and the minds to be communicated 
 with so "untuned" that the incipient telepathy 
 remains unnoticed and disregarded; but occa- 
 sionally it commands attention. This view of 
 the case is borne out by ample evidence. Sec- 
 ond-sight, dreams, presentiments, "inspira- 
 tion," and such mental impulses as are com- 
 monly considered inexplicable are undoubted 
 facts that fall within the scope of telepathy. 
 In saying this it is not asserted that the phe- 
 nomena in question are always real. They are 
 frequently delusions due to an overwrought 
 nervous system, to cerebral disorder or to emo- 
 tional disturbance; but in other cases they are 
 
54 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 as actual and genuine as the common occur- 
 rences of human life. 
 
 Turning, now, to tele-mnemoniky, or 
 "memory-reading/' it is to be remarked that 
 although everyone is familiar with the fact 
 that memory exists, and though everyone quite 
 understands the signification of the word, no 
 one as yet has succeeded in giving even a rudi- 
 mentary explanation of the faculty of remem- 
 brance. The most eminent psychologists have 
 found the matter to be quite beyond the limits 
 of their understanding; as indeed is essentially 
 the case with 'every faculty of the soul, and — 
 it may be added — with every attribute of mat- 
 ter. The old saying remains as true as ever: 
 "A child can ask questions which a wise man 
 cannot answer." 
 
 For practical purposes, however, partial 
 knowledge suffices. Thus the existence of 
 memory as a faculty of the soul is known, and 
 it is also known that this implies the possession 
 by each soul of a store of information. What- 
 ever may be the nature of the storehouse, the 
 doors can be opened and the information set 
 free or rendered subject to inspection. It is 
 conceivable, therefore, that a soul other than 
 the memory-owner may under certain un- 
 
TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY 55 
 
 known conditions have access to the store. 
 
 This is what is meant by tele-mnemoniky — 
 the state of things that exists when not only 
 current thoughts but also the accumulated 
 knowledge resulting from past experience and 
 observation are read by some outside soul. And 
 as every memory contains much that is 
 "pigeon-holed" and out of use for the time be- 
 ing, a very notable result is occasionally met 
 with. Information is elicited as to facts and 
 circumstances of which the person subjected 
 to tele-mnemoniky is no longer conscious ; and 
 he, or she, becomes firmly and genuinely con- 
 vinced that the particulars mentioned must 
 have been derived from some supernormal 
 source. 
 
 A word remains to be said regarding the 
 speed of communication in telepathy and tele- 
 mnemoniky. Many persons hesitate to credit 
 the reports of experiments showing that two 
 persons at a considerable distance from each 
 other — located, say, in London and Man- 
 chester respectively — are able to exchange 
 thoughts without any appreciable delay. 
 When, however, it is remembered that the 
 velocity with which light travels is 186,000 
 miles per second, there should not be any dif- 
 
56 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 ficulty in supposing that thought-vibrations, 
 or whatever they may be, are propagated 
 through space at an equal or even greater rate 
 of speed. It is not a question, in either case, 
 of any substance being transmitted, or of the 
 absolute simultaneity of emission and recep- 
 tion. And to believe that thoughts may be 
 communicated from soul to soul with the veloc- 
 ity of light does not compel the belief that souls 
 are able to travel from place to place in an 
 equally speedy manner. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 DISCARNATE SPIRITS 
 
 The existence of discarnate spirits has been 
 proved in Chapter I. It is desirable now to 
 state what is known as to the conditions in 
 which they exist. 
 
 These conditions have been for thousands of 
 years the subject-matter of positive state- 
 ments. The sacred writings and inscriptions, 
 and the traditions of the various religions that 
 have flourished in olden times or are still pro- 
 fessed are full of descriptions of the religions 
 in which discarnate spirits pass their time and 
 of the manner of their lives in the spirit-world. 
 Magicians, wizards, witches and necromancers 
 of all kinds have, it is said, received copious 
 information to the same effect. And during 
 the last seventy years Spiritualistic literature 
 has added abundantly to the common stock. 
 
 In spite, however, of all this, great uncer- 
 tainty prevails. The statements to which ref- 
 erence has been made are, in well-nigh all 
 
 57 
 
58 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 cases, of what is called an "unverifiable" char- 
 acter; that is to say, they are not capable of 
 test and confirmation by any mundane meth- 
 ods of enquiry. But although an unverifiable 
 assertion is incapable of normal proof it may 
 still be capable of disproof. If, for example, 
 it be self-contradictory it must, of course, be 
 rejected. And if two separate unverifiable 
 statements contradict each other it is obvious 
 that they cannot both be true : one of them, at 
 least, must be false, while the other remains 
 doubtful. Furthermore, if an unverifiable 
 piece of information be opposed to some clear- 
 ly-established fact or well-proved doctrine no 
 reasonable person will regard it as worthy of 
 credence. 
 
 This book is not concerned with the ques- 
 tion of whether the accounts of miracles and 
 other supernormal details in the Bible are or 
 are not to be believed. The purely religious 
 view of the matter need not be dwelt upon. 
 Nor will it be of any practical utility to take 
 into consideration the history of magic and the 
 doings of magicians as distinguished in the 
 popular idea from religion and its ministers. 
 What is alone needful to be mentioned is the 
 evidence that has been more or less scientifically 
 
DISCARNATE SPIRITS 59 
 
 accumulated in modern times in connection 
 with psychical phenomena and with communi- 
 cations understood to have taken place across 
 the border-line between living humanity and 
 the spirit-world. Much of this evidence is, as 
 has already been said, unverifiable, and a good 
 deal of it can be disproved. But there remains 
 a very substantial residuum that demands rec- 
 ognition and acceptance by men of education 
 who are free from prejudice and willing to be 
 guided by reason; and this is the trustworthy 
 source of a certain degree of precise knowl- 
 edge with regard to the conditions of life be- 
 yond death. 
 
 The most striking fact that thus comes un- 
 der observation is the readiness with which 
 communication can be opened up with discar- 
 nate spirits by persons who are naturally 
 capable of recognising their presence. It hap- 
 pens frequently that in less than a minute after 
 the commencement of a "sitting 5 ' indications 
 are given of one or more spirits being in at- 
 tendance ; and it is very rarely indeed that any 
 sitting remains altogether blank. If, then, we 
 reflect that since "Spiritualism" has become a 
 cult sittings have taken place, and are still 
 taking place, day by day, week in and week 
 
60 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 out, and from year's end to year's end, we are 
 forced to regard this world as being still the 
 habitat of many a disearnate spirit. The con- 
 clusion thus arrived at is confirmed by the less 
 systematic phenomena of dreams, phantoms, 
 haunting, "possession," second-sight, clairvoy- 
 ance, automatic speech and writing, the spon- 
 taneous movements of material objects and 
 other like occurrences; merely, however, to 
 the extent of their being really due to the 
 denizens of the spirit-world, which is acknowl- 
 edged to be th^ case in many instances. 
 
 The certainty thus arising that great num- 
 bers of spirits do not leave the earth when they 
 become separated from the human bodies they 
 have inhabited suggests a doubt as to whether 
 any spirits at all go to some other sphere. The 
 evidence available does not remove the doubt. 
 It is true that disearnate spirits sometimes vol- 
 unteer statements with regard to another 
 world, and sometimes in reply to questions give 
 particulars as to their residence in such a re- 
 gion. But this information is of the unveri- 
 fiable kind, is often "nonsense," as Sir Oliver 
 Lodge has said, and is frequently demonstra- 
 bly false ; while it is always discredited by the 
 fact that the spirit who claims to be a resident 
 
DISCARNATE SPIRITS 61 
 
 in a far-distant sphere of being is nevertheless 
 self-admittedly present in a London room or 
 wherever else the sitting may take place. The 
 contradiction is never explained away in any 
 reasonable manner. It may be said, therefore, 
 to be highly probable that death merely opens 
 the way to a further term of existence in this 
 world, and that the spirits of the departed re- 
 main for the period of such term in the more 
 or less near neighbourhood of the relatives and 
 friends they have left behind them. 
 
 The idea of such post-mortem existence be- 
 ing also limited in time arises naturally, and 
 is to be reasonably inferred, from the evidence 
 now being considered. Although discarnate 
 spirits are very numerous, their number, so 
 far as they manifest themselves, is altogether 
 insignificant when compared with that of the 
 deaths that occur from day to day; while if 
 we take into account the consideration that the 
 entire soul-population of the earth becomes dis- 
 carnate from generation to generation, that is 
 to say, every thirty years or so, we are faced 
 by the fact that living persons are but as a 
 drop in the ocean of possible individual exist- 
 ences. We have also to bear in mind that each 
 of these existences is separate from the rest, 
 
62 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 and does not originate either from nothing or 
 from inanimate matter or from inanimate 
 energy, as may possibly be the case with Life. 
 If, then, souls when disembodied remain per- 
 petually in this world, it follows, first, that 
 there must be a continual supply of fresh souls 
 coming in from some other region of the uni- 
 verse; and, secondly, that of all these millions 
 of millions of active intelligences only one, here 
 and there, is able or willing to make its pres- 
 ence known to mankind. These conclusions 
 are of so extravagant a character as to be un- 
 acceptable; ai/d if it be possible to frame an 
 hypothesis that avoids the difficulties they in- 
 volve, it would be a reasonable proceeding to 
 adopt such an alternative view. 
 
 Psychical philosophy has in all ages been 
 furnished with at least one "working hypothe- 
 sis" of the kind required. Its scientific name 
 is "metempsychosis," which in more popular 
 language is known as "transmigration." It 
 teaches that after death the spirit enters into 
 some other human body which happens to be 
 living and unprovided with a soul; and the 
 doctrine is frequently extended to include the 
 idea that the new habitat may even be the body 
 of one of the lower animals. Many of the 
 
DISCARNATE SPIRITS 63 
 
 most famous thinkers of Greece and the Orient 
 were associated with the belief in question. 
 It is to be found in the Bible and other sacred 
 writings, and forms a part of the religions of 
 many races throughout the world. It cannot, 
 therefore, be lightly disregarded as a mere fan- 
 tasy unworthy of consideration by civilised 
 people in the twentieth century. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the theory of transmi- 
 gration fits in with modern observations. It 
 does away with the necessity of a perpetual 
 supply of fresh souls from extra-mundane re- 
 gions. It also is consistent with, and explains, 
 the absence of any vast overwhelming spirit- 
 population. Moreover, it is the logical con- 
 comitant of our common, everyday experience. 
 We are familiar with the occurrence of what 
 we call "births," that is, the coming into exist- 
 ence of new human bodies. We know also 
 that these new bodies become, in some way or 
 other, the temporary abodes of souls — the ten- 
 ancy being sometimes a matter of minutes only 
 and sometimes enduring for rather more than 
 one hundred years. We see for ourselves that 
 the habitation suits the tenant and that the 
 tenant suits the habitation. What, then, can 
 be more natural and fitting than that, when the 
 
64 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 tenant, for some reason or another, has to quit 
 his dwelling, he looks out for another abode of 
 much the same kind? So far from this course 
 of action being fantastic and improbable, it is 
 pre-eminently likely. The play of mere im- 
 agination is to be found altogether with those 
 mental speculators who talk of the supposed 
 departure of discarnate spirits to supposed 
 spheres of existence beyond the earth. 
 
 It is quite conceivable, and probable enough, 
 that some little time elapses between "death" 
 and "reincarnation." Hence it is to be ex- 
 pected that there is always a greater or less 
 number of discarnate spirits dwelling tempo- 
 rarily, and a little disconsolately, perhaps, in 
 the air-occupied space surrounding the earth; 
 and this expectation is borne out by actual 
 observation. It is to be surmised, further- 
 more, that spirits awaiting re-embodiment will 
 feel themselves more at home, as it were, if 
 they remain in the immediate proximity of the 
 localities they inhabited and the persons they 
 knew before "death." Here, again, we find 
 the surmise to accord with experience. Some 
 places are undoubtedly "haunted"; and it is 
 equally certain that some persons are haunted 
 also; for it would otherwise be impossible to 
 
DISCARNATE SPIRITS 65 
 
 account reasonably for the well-known fact 
 that sitters at seances habitually open up com- 
 munications with their deceased relatives and 
 friends who have always been perfect strangers 
 to the mediums with whom the sittings take 
 place. The spirits are not brought by the me- 
 diums ; they are introduced by the sitters them- 
 selves, who are quite unconscious of being thus 
 accompanied or "haunted/' To deny this is 
 equivalent to maintaining the absurdity that 
 every real medium is en rapport with all the 
 deceased relatives and friends of every living 
 human being. The soul of a medium is not 
 endowed with powers vastly greater than those 
 of ordinary souls ; any more than a discarnate 
 spirit is able to know and do very much beyond 
 what he was aware of or could accomplish dur- 
 ing life. If either mediums or spirits were 
 capable of really marvellous achievements we 
 may be sure that now and again some daring 
 soul would contrive to startle mankind; and as 
 no such feat has been recorded through the 
 ages ("miracles/' religious and otherwise, are 
 not here referred to) , it is a fair inference that 
 our deceased friends are not vastly different 
 from, or, at any rate, are not vastly superior 
 to, what they were when we knew them here. 
 
66 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 Coming now to the question of the form in 
 which discarnate spirits exist, all the available 
 evidence of a verifiable or logically-acceptable 
 character goes to show that in the spirit-world 
 there are not any differences of type corre- 
 sponding to what are found among human 
 beings* Spirits are not white, black, brown, 
 yellow and red; they are not Anglo-Saxon, 
 Teutonic, Scandinavian, Gaelic, Arab, negro, 
 Mongolian or Polynesian. If the contrary 
 were the case it would, by this time, have be- 
 come apparent. Something of this lack of 
 evidence may perhaps be due to the fact that 
 modern psychical research has for the most 
 part been conducted by English and American 
 investigators, while most of the communica- 
 tions with spirits have involved the use of the 
 English language and have been recorded in 
 that tongue. Hence it is to be supposed that 
 the spirits who have taken part in the proceed- 
 ings have been only those possessing a knowl- 
 edge of English; yet, even in that case, souls 
 of many earthly races might have been ex- 
 pected to come forward. And as the same 
 argument applies to the less numerous in- 
 stances of psychical investigations by French, 
 Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish, Russian, 
 
DISCARNATE SPIRITS 67 
 
 etc, students of the occult, the conclusion is 
 inevitable that spirits are not divided into racial 
 categories even though they may differ in what 
 may be termed bodily characteristics and de- 
 velopments. 
 
 That spirits have organised bodies is clear. 
 The "stuff" of which their bodies are made is, 
 however, not ordinary matter. We already 
 know by Dr. Crawford's experiments — men- 
 tioned in Chapter I of this book — that a some- 
 thing exists which gravitates and yet is invis- 
 ible to our eyes. We also know, by common 
 psychical experience, that spirits are able to 
 see, hear, speak and touch, and can by us be 
 seen, heard, spoken to and touched. If these 
 facts be co-ordinated they do not leave any 
 room for doubt as to there being spiritual 
 equivalents of human bodies equipped with or- 
 gans of sense and perception. It does not follow 
 necessarily that these equivalents are counter- 
 parts or facsimiles in form and appearance, 
 even if in many of their functions they are 
 practically indistinguishable from their human 
 prototypes. Racial peculiarities are admit- 
 tedly absent, as also is Life with its physio- 
 logical requirements. Spirits are free from 
 wear and tear, from the need of food, clothing 
 
68 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 and shelter, and from the maintenance of 
 health. They are not divided by sex differ- 
 ences and they are not characterised by any 
 form of reproduction: they have neither an- 
 cestry nor posterity. These various features 
 lend force to the theory of transmigration. 
 They show the possibility of an ordinary hu- 
 man body being permeated, so to say, by a 
 spirit's body which can enter or leave at any 
 time and which always maintains its separate 
 existence. Here, again, there are facts of com- 
 mon knowledge and experience that support 
 the doctrine 01 metempsychosis. Most persons 
 are, now and then, conscious of memories or 
 reminiscent impressions that cannot be traced 
 to any events of the present life. It occasion- 
 ally happens that when a person first visits 
 some particular locality he finds himself in 
 surroundings with which his mind is already 
 familiar. The only reasonable explanation is 
 that the soul remembers somewhat of its ex- 
 periences in a previous earthly life, 
 
 Another line of thought leading in the same 
 direction is that suggested by the marked and 
 well-known phenomena of mental heredity. 
 Family peculiarities of mind and character are 
 commonly supposed to be transmitted from 
 
DISCARNATE SPIRITS 69 
 
 parents to children in the form of material 
 germs which are imagined, but have never been 
 proved, to exist. And yet in many cases— 
 as also happens with physical peculiarities — 
 an intervening generation is skipped, and it is 
 the mental characteristic of a grandparent or 
 great-grandparent that reappears in the de- 
 scendant. It would, therefore, seem more 
 reasonable to infer that the true cause of hered- 
 ity is to be found in the preference manifested 
 by discarnate spirits for reincarnation in the 
 direct posterity of the human bodies they have 
 at one time or another inhabited. Nor is it 
 a far-fetched supposition to hold that, in the 
 spirit-world, as in this life, souls of similar 
 characters associate together and, to whatever 
 extent may be possible, seek to be reincarnated 
 in the same earthly families : a supposition that 
 accounts for more than one child of a family 
 presenting what are considered to be the heredi- 
 tary characteristics. 
 
 It should not, however, be concluded that 
 soul and body are without reaction on each 
 other. We know, as a fact, that mental habits 
 and emotional indulgences gradually affect a 
 person's features and disturb the functioning 
 of various organs. We also know that bodily 
 
70 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 peculiarities warp the mind and influence the 
 thoughts. The phrenological mapping of the 
 brain has some foundation in reality; and 
 probably there does not exist a single person 
 of mature age who is not to some extent a 
 physiognomist. Intelligent capacity, sen- 
 sitiveness and moral character do, most un- 
 doubtedly, depend a good deal upon the size, 
 form and texture of the brain. In other 
 words, a soul when in the body is fettered and 
 guided and is not fully able to reveal its true 
 self. From this it follows that when a soul 
 becomes separated from the body it cannot 
 logically be expected to have exactly the same 
 character that it apparently possessed in life. 
 Psychical experience in spiritualistic sittings 
 and otherwise is to this effect. It is cus- 
 tomary, indeed, for sitters to say — and, emo- 
 tionally, to believe — that the spirits of their 
 deceased relatives and friends behave and 
 speak exactly as they used to do in life; but 
 this is not quite borne out by the recorded evi- 
 dence. It is customary also, where the dis- 
 crepancies are of too glaring a nature to be 
 glozed over or hushed up, to put them down 
 to the interference of mischievous spirits who 
 personate the spirits called for; but this is a 
 
DISCARNATE SPIRITS 71 
 
 very lame method of explanation. The best 
 plan in all cases of difficulty is to face boldly 
 the facts. A disembodied spirit is less cribbed, 
 cabined and confined than when it was attached 
 to a living body; it is more free for both good 
 and evil. We are familiar enough with good, 
 bad and indifferent souls in this world: why 
 should we expect the same souls to be other- 
 wise simply because of a change in their en- 
 vironment? All that we can reasonably look 
 for is a certain degree »of revelation, a certain 
 manifestation of what before was more or less 
 hidden and which may be estimable or the re- 
 verse. 
 
 A feature that deserves notice as related to 
 this view of the matter is the consensus of 
 testimony to the effect that communicating 
 spirits, whether those who are sought for or 
 those who are what may be termed casual and 
 errant, have habitually a less regard for truth 
 than is the case with highly-educated human 
 beings ; though, if an average be struck of man- 
 kind in general, it does not seem that there is 
 much to choose between the trustworthiness 
 of statements made by the living inhabitants of 
 the earth and the truth of what is said by dis- 
 embodied spirits. Still, the matter is of some 
 
72 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 importance, seeing that it bears very materially 
 upon the question of whether individual spirits 
 are always the particular disembodied souls 
 they profess to be. 
 
 Another feature, equally worthy of atten- 
 tion, is the apparent absence of spirits who 
 can properly be regarded as diabolical. Sit- 
 tings for the purpose of communication with 
 "surviving" souls are not attended by devils 
 or by beings occupied mainly in the pursuit of 
 evil. It may, of course, be the case that the 
 published records and the verbal accounts that 
 are current suppress all mention of occurrences 
 deemed to be demoniacal, in the same way that, 
 according to Sir Oliver Lodge, spiritualists 
 "usually either discourage or suppress" state- 
 ments "about the nature of things 'on the other 
 side/ " The eminent authority here quoted 
 goes on, indeed, to say — 
 
 "These are what we call the hinverifiable 5 com- 
 munications ; for we cannot bring them to book by 
 subsequent terrestrial inquiry in the same way as we 
 can test information concerning personal or mun- 
 dane affairs. Information of the higher Tcmd has 
 often been received but has seldom been published; 
 and it is difficult to know what value to put upon 
 it, or how far it is really trustworthy.^ 
 
DISCARNATE SPIRITS 73 
 
 This very frank confession of the reports of 
 seances being systematically garbled is a little 
 disconcerting, espqqially when coming from 
 one of the shining lights of the scientific world ; 
 but it probably means no more than that the 
 champions of spiritualism do not desire to 
 arouse antagonism that can be avoided. In 
 the same way it may well be that those persons 
 who, whether as mediums or sitters or in the 
 privacy of individual attempts at communica- 
 tion, happen to come into contact with evil 
 spirits do not feel disposed to subject them- 
 selves to the hostility of the religious world 
 by detailing their experiences. But, however 
 this may be, the fact remains that, so far as 
 common knowledge and common repute are 
 concerned, the devilish element is not likely to 
 be encountered by those persons who seek to 
 speak with the dead. 
 
 If, now, the particulars set forth in the pres- 
 ent chapter be summarised we find the state of 
 things to be as follows: — 
 
 1. Disembodied souls do not depart from 
 this world when "death" occurs. 
 
 g. They remain for a time free from bodily 
 environment of an ordinary material 
 kind. 
 
74 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 3. Sooner or later they enter into new hu- 
 
 man bodies, and perhaps, also, in some 
 cases, into new bodies of the lower 
 animals. 
 
 4. During the period of their free existence 
 
 while awaiting transmigration, many 
 of them make a practice of haunting 
 localities and living human beings. 
 
 5. They possess in themselves the equiva- 
 
 lent of bodies constructed of something 
 analogous to matter and having or- 
 ganises by which they perceive and 
 act. ' 
 
 6. Each disembodied soul is an individual 
 
 entity existing permanently apart 
 from all others and not distinguished 
 by any racial or sexual characteristics. 
 
 7. Each individual soul has its own idiosyn- 
 
 crasies of intellect, sense, emotion, 
 conscience and volition. These idio- 
 syncrasies are subject to at least tem- 
 porary modification by the association 
 of the soul with a human body. 
 
 8. The character and conduct of a disem- 
 
 bodied soul are not necessarily the 
 same in all respects as were apparent 
 during life, and do not necessarily re- 
 
DISCARNATE SPIRITS 75 
 
 main completely unchanged when 
 transmigration takes place. 
 9. The existence of souls that are wholly 
 evil has not yet been established by 
 actual observation or experience of 
 any kind. 
 
 This summary does not involve any religious 
 views and is not based on any religious teach- 
 ing. It is essentially scientific; that is to say, 
 it puts into plain language the conclusions ar- 
 rived at by impartial students of physical and 
 psychical facts and phenomena, irrespective of 
 whether such conclusions do or do not fit in 
 with ecclesiastical teaching, popular notions, 
 or "sceptical" dogmatism. 
 
 At the same time it is to be observed that 
 the view here taken of discarnate spirits leaves 
 the ground quite open for Religion. It is 
 quite consistent with the existence of a Divine 
 Ruler, with the doctrine of progression in 
 either rightdoing or wrongdoing, and with an 
 Eternal Justice that inflicts punishment upon 
 souls whose volition is employed for base pur- 
 poses. For example, it may well be that in 
 transmigration the choice does not always rest 
 with the soul concerned, but is divinely de- 
 
76 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 creed; the new life may be higher or lower 
 than the preceding life, according to whether 
 the latter was turned to good or bad account. 
 The number of transmigrations of any partic- 
 ular soul may be limited; and metempsychosis 
 may thus correspond to the doctrine of Purga- 
 tory—an evolutionary period at the conclusion 
 of which the soul is transferred to a Heaven 
 or Hell beyond the confines of the earth. 
 Even the idea of a Holy Ghost that continu- 
 ally appeals to the mind and will is not ex- 
 cluded from ( the psychical summary above 
 given; nor is there therein anything that con- 
 tradicts the theory of a Christ or a Buddha. 
 What the truth is with regard to such matters 
 as these must be determined by each person 
 for himself or herself. The readers of the 
 present volume are not addressed as Christians 
 or as non-Christians, as Deists or as Atheists. 
 They are considered merely as being interested 
 in the subject of speaking with the dead, and 
 as being desirous of receiving information with 
 regard to the ascertained facts and admitted 
 logic of the matter. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 MEDIUMS 
 
 Inequality is the rule of the universe. It is 
 particularly observable in the characters and 
 capacities of human beings. Many persons 
 are musicians ; others are incapable of playing 
 the simplest musical instrument. A few indi- 
 viduals, here and there, are mathematicians; 
 the great majority of mankind are not even 
 good arithmeticians. Artists exist in con- 
 siderable numbers; but they are sparse com- 
 pared with the duller souls. Chess-players are 
 rarities. Really good, unselfish, high-prin- 
 cipled souls, steadfast in the practice of right- 
 eousness and unswayed by prejudice, conven- 
 tion and dogma, are seldom met with. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that 
 the possession of minds and brains capable of 
 being affected by external psychical influences 
 is not found to be a common characteristic of 
 people in general. In past ages, magicians, 
 seers, wizards, witches and the like, have been 
 the exception, not the rule; and in modern 
 
 77 
 
78 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 times, when these singularly-constituted beings 
 are called "mediums," their numbers still re- 
 main very restricted. That real mediums do, 
 in point of fact, exist to some extent is certain. 
 Thus, Sir Oliver Lodge says, in "Raymond" — 
 
 "Do we understand how a mind [= soul] can 
 with difficulty and imperfectly operate another body 
 submitted to its temporary guidance and control? 
 No. Do we know for a fact that it does? Aye, that 
 is the question — a question of evidence. I myself 
 answer the question affirmatively ; not on theoretical 
 grounds — far fjrom that — but on a basis of straight- 
 forward experience. Others, if they allow them- 
 selves to take the trouble to get the experience, will 
 come to the same conclusions. . . . Let us be as cau- 
 tious and critical, aye, and as sceptical as we like, 
 but let us also be patient and persevering and fair; 
 do not let us start with a preconceived notion of 
 what is possible and what is impossible in this al- 
 most unexplored universe; let us only be willing to 
 learn and be guided by facts, and not dogmas: and 
 gradually the truth will permeate our understand- 
 ing and make for itself a place in our minds as se- 
 cure as in any other branch of observational sci- 
 ence." 
 
 He says, moreover, when alluding to speak- 
 ing with the dead — 
 
MEDIUMS 79 
 
 "Communication is not easy, but it occurs; and 
 humanity has reason to be grateful to those few in- 
 dividuals who, finding themselves possessed of the 
 faculty of mediumship, and therefore able to act 
 as intermediaries, allow themselves to be used for 
 this purpose." 
 
 The nature of the peculiarities — anatomical, 
 physiological or psychical, or perhaps all three 
 combined — that distinguish a medium from 
 other human beings is not yet known, and no 
 means of inspection as yet exist by which to 
 be certain that any particular person is or is 
 not a medium. Actual experience is the only 
 guide. This, of course, leaves the door open 
 to the fraudulent assumption of mediumship. 
 But the occurrence of fraud and imposture 
 does not affect the existence of genuine medi- 
 ums. In every profession are to be found 
 similar examples of deceit. Have not all edu- 
 cated persons heard of "pious frauds" perpe- 
 trated by the holders of high religious office? 
 Are there not many instances of ignorant, 
 venal and deliberately unjust judges? Do 
 statesmen and politicians always reject bribes 
 and act solely for the good of their countries? 
 Does a physician invariably admit his inability 
 to understand a complaint; and do general 
 
80 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 practitioners in every case administer real 
 medicines instead of the proverbial "bread 
 pills" and "coloured water"? Do manufac- 
 turers and traders deal solely in unadulterated 
 goods? When these questions can be satisfac- 
 torily answered it will be time enough to put 
 the entire profession of mediums in the pillory; 
 and until then all reasonable men and women 
 will be content to recognise that in medium- 
 ship, as in other pursuits, we must expect to 
 meet with both the worthy and the unworthy. 
 What, perhaps, is not yet fully recognised 
 is that mediums are much more numerous than 
 would appear to be the case if regard be had 
 solely to the professional class, that is, to the 
 persons who practise mediumship as a means 
 of livelihood. There are many amateur "me- 
 diums"; and there are also many other indi- 
 viduals who are conscious of possessing what 
 are spoken of as "psychic powers," and yet 
 either do not allow the fact to become known 
 or confine the exercise of their powers to the 
 development of communications in their own 
 private surroundings. Hence, if every pro- 
 fessional medium without exception were 
 shown to be a fraud — which is not the case 
 now, and never has been the case at any time 
 
MEDIUMS 81 
 
 — there would still remain an abundance of 
 trustworthy experiential and experimental 
 evidence establishing the reality of speaking 
 with the dead. For instance, the Mrs. Ken- 
 nedy who plays such an important part in the 
 story of "Raymond" is not a professional me- 
 dium at all ; she is the wife of a London physi- 
 cian, leads the life of an ordinary private 
 English lady moving in good society, and is 
 not paid for any aid she may render to friends 
 who are desirous of "communicating." So, too, 
 the medium, Miss Goligher, who assists Dr. 
 Crawford is a young lady of private social 
 position, who gives her services with the ap- 
 proval and aid of her family and without fee 
 or reward, except, of course, such moral satis- 
 faction as may arise from the consciousness of 
 being engaged in a work likely to benefit man- 
 kind. 
 
 It often happens that mediums are ignorant 
 and illiterate; and there is not any case on 
 record where a medium, whether educated or 
 uneducated, has been able to give an intelligible 
 account of the way in which communications 
 with disembodied souls become possible. As a 
 general rule real mediums do not claim a 
 greater knowledge of psychical phenomena 
 
82 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 than is possessed by the sitters themselves. 
 They are aware that communications take 
 place, and they find by actual experience that 
 they themselves serve as intermediaries. Be- 
 yond this they do not seek to enquire ; and they 
 refrain from attempting in any way to control 
 the proceedings. They are passive instru- 
 ments in the hands of the powers from "the 
 other side"; much as was the case, we read, 
 with those persons who gave voice to the ora- 
 cles of old. In view of these facts it seems to 
 follow that the common practice of "testing" 
 the mediums &nd putting constraint upon them 
 is a mere waste of time and attention. If they 
 be genuine they are, virtually, mere pieces of 
 mechanism; and all that can be done usefully 
 is to observe the working. If they be fraudu- 
 lent this will quickly enough become self-evi- 
 dent. All that the sitter need do is to bring 
 a little common sense to bear. 
 
 It is a vexed question whether professional 
 mediums are or are not banded together in a 
 secret craft or guild for the purpose of collect- 
 ing and interchanging information with regard 
 to sitters and their families. The suggestion 
 of such a combination apparently implies a 
 doubt as to the good faith of mediums in gen- 
 
MEDIUMS 83 
 
 eral ; but another interpretation is possible. It 
 must be remembered that old laws are still in 
 existence which forbid any exploitation of as- 
 serted psychical powers. These laws have 
 produced a long series of "common informers," 
 who under various pretences arrange sittings 
 with mediums for the purpose of entrapping 
 them into breaches of the law, irrespective of 
 whether the phenomena observed are or are 
 not genuine. It would therefore be a very 
 natural proceeding for mediums to co-operate 
 for the object of self -protection. But as re- 
 gards any attempts to "arrange" the communi- 
 cations the futility of such proceedings is ob- 
 vious. Sitters turn up unexpectedly from all 
 localities. They may or they may not give 
 their right names and addresses. Where the 
 seance takes place at once there is not any op- 
 portunity of instituting any enquiry. And it 
 is perfectly clear that a medium in any par- 
 ticular locality cannot keep in stock a mass of 
 information with regard to private individuals 
 in the rest of the country. The "sceptic," or 
 critic, therefore, who indulges in the belief that 
 communications can be explained away by the 
 theory that all mediums are dishonest, and 
 have been at every sitting in previous posses- 
 
84j HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 sion of the information conveyed in the alleged 
 utterances of the spirits, is very much more 
 credulous than the most gullible sitter. 
 
 Although it is correct to regard the medium 
 as a mechanism by means of which the spirits 
 are able to communicate with living persons, it 
 would be a mistake to overlook the fact that 
 the mechanism possesses an individuality which 
 to some extent qualifies the communications. 
 Every man knows that his handwriting varies 
 with every change of pen. Delicate embroid- 
 ery is not practicable with darning-needles. 
 A discarnate feoul that finds itself compelled to 
 use a medium's hand for writing or a medium's 
 vocal apparatus for speaking has to actuate 
 these organs by means of the medium's brain, 
 which may be, so to speak, either coarse or 
 fine, and in every case is attuned by the experi- 
 ences of its normal life. The medium's habits 
 of thought and expression thus become inter- 
 mingled with and sometimes quite override 
 those of the communicating spirit; and this 
 "sophistication," as it is termed, leads fre- 
 quently to much confusion and many errors 
 of statement. It also serves to accentuate in 
 appearance the change of character, already 
 mentioned in these pages, that is often observed 
 
MEDIUMS 85 
 
 in disembodied spirits when compared with 
 their demeanour during life. Great care is 
 necessary, therefore, in judging how far com- 
 munications through mediums are to be taken 
 at their face values. It is not a question of 
 good or bad faith. The point involved is 
 whether any, and what, allowance should be 
 made for the imperfection of the instruments 
 employed. 
 
 Many mediums — the great majority, in fact 
 — assert, and are genuinely convinced, that 
 they work under the control of certain individ- 
 ual spirits. This has always been claimed in 
 magical circles; and a good deal of evidence 
 exists to support a belief in the reality of 
 "familiar spirits." At the same time it is diffi- 
 cult for unprejudiced observers to accept the 
 idea of there being any spirits who are content 
 to dance attendance day and night and year 
 after year upon human beings of a very ordi- 
 nary type and undistinguished by any great 
 qualities of soul. This difficulty is increased 
 when consideration is given to what is said with 
 respect to the "controls" themselves. They 
 adopt names that are fantastic and arbitrarily 
 assumed; they never give any confirmable in- 
 formation as to their identities and abodes 
 
86 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 when in life; their professed individualities- 
 little Indian girls, Indian yogis, Indian chiefs, 
 unknown "doctors/ 5 etc.- — are constantly in 
 palpable contradiction with their own utter- 
 ances and doings ; and they remain in evidence 
 only so long as their respective mediums con- 
 tinue in professional work. The theory is 
 sometimes advanced that a "control" is a "sec- 
 ond personality 55 of the medium — a supposi- 
 tion that meets the difficulties to which allu- 
 sion has been made. But a "second person- 
 ality 55 is, in effect, a second soul, no matter 
 what attempts may be made to whittle down 
 its meaning by talk of "sub-consciousness," 
 "subliminal individuality 55 and the like. A 
 person who has a second soul is a person who 
 is "possessed 55 by a spirit entering into the 
 body from the outside and sharing the habitat 
 with its original tenant. It is not necessary 
 to infer that the brain and other bodily organs 
 are used simultaneously by the two souls: the 
 trend of the available evidence is, on the con- 
 trary, to show that the normal soul is com- 
 monly in sole control and that it is only occa- 
 sionally that the supernormal occupant takes 
 the reins. But the theory in question does 
 undoubtedly compel a modification of the view 
 
MEDIUMS 87 
 
 usually entertained with regard to mediums. 
 Not only must they all be looked upon as hu- 
 man beings of exceptional physical and psy- 
 chical characteristics, but in the majority of 
 cases they must be classed in the category of 
 persons who are "possessed." Fortunately 
 the "controls" are rarely, if ever, of a com- 
 pletely evil nature ; but there is reason to think 
 that they are occasionally of a type lower than 
 souls in general. Idiocy and insanity are not 
 always accompanied by any clearly-defined 
 disease or malformation of the brain, and in 
 such cases may possibly result from what may. 
 be termed the clumsy intermeddling of two 
 distinct souls— both being of an inferior order 
 — in the same bodily environment. 
 
 The subject here discussed is not a light and 
 negligible matter where speaking with the dead 
 is concerned. Very many persons find it both 
 convenient and desirable to employ mediums as 
 intermediaries, and in almost every instance 
 this means the additional intervention of some 
 "control." Here, again, it will be useful to 
 make a quotation from "Raymond," the most 
 satisfactory work yet published on "survival" 
 and "communication," and a well-filled store- 
 house of fact and reasoning. 
 
88 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 "But however much," says Sir Oliver Lodge, "can 
 be and has been written on this subject, and what- 
 ever different opinions may be held, it is universally 
 admitted that the dramatic semblance of the con- 
 trol is undoubtedly that of a separate person [i.e. 
 a soul distinct from the normal soul of the me- 
 dium]- — a person asserted to be permanently ex- 
 isting on the other side and to be occupied on that 
 side in much the same functions as the medium is on 
 this. The duty of controlling and transmitting 
 messages seems to be laid upon such a one — it is his 
 special work. The dramatic character of most of 
 the controls is so vivid and self-consistent, that 
 whatever any ^ven sitter or experimenter may feel 
 is the probable truth concerning their real nature, 
 the simplest way is to humour them by taking them 
 at their face value and treating them as separate 
 and responsible and real individuals. It is true that 
 in the case of some mediums, especially when over- 
 done or tired, there are evanescent and absurd in- 
 trusions every now and then, which cannot be seri- 
 ously regarded. Those have to be eliminated; and 
 for anyone to treat them as real people would be 
 ludicrous ; but undoubtedly the serious controls show 
 a character and personality and memory of their 
 own, and they appear to carry on as continuous an 
 existence as anyone else whom one only meets oc- 
 casionally for a conversation." 
 
MEDIUMS 89 
 
 There is not anything in this weighty ex- 
 pression of opinion that really clashes with 
 the 'possession" theory, except, indeed, the 
 suggestion that the controls are persons "per- 
 manently existing on the other side" — a sug- 
 gestion which is in obvious conflict with the 
 admission that controls are in constant atten- 
 dance on mediums in this world. What Sir 
 Oliver means by "evanescent and absurd in- 
 trusions" that "cannot be seriously regarded" 
 or treated as "real people" is also not clear, 
 but probably refers to some form of "sophisti- 
 cation" resulting from a derangement of the 
 transmitting mechanism. In any case the con- 
 clusion remains that the transmission takes 
 place through a combination of medium-c^m- 
 control; and this may in great measure explain 
 the apparent psychical sensitiveness of medi- 
 ums. That is to say, the reason why mediums 
 are particularly subject to spiritual influence 
 from the outside may be due to the fact of their 
 possessing, or being possessed by, a secondary 
 semi-attached soul which is comparatively free 
 to perceive and attend to the efforts made by 
 external spirits to open up communication. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 COMMUNICATING 
 
 Very many methods have been discovered of 
 communicating with discarnate spirits; but it 
 is not needful in the present volume to deal 
 with any system of incantation or "magical" 
 rites. What is proposed is to describe such 
 practices as have in modern times been found 
 to yield good results and have become cus- 
 tomary. 
 
 1. Expectancy 
 
 This is suitable where an individual person 
 desires to ascertain whether he or she is en- 
 dowed with any psychic powers. By sitting 
 in some place quite alone and free from inter- 
 ruption, and by adopting a mental attitude of 
 passive receptivity and expectancy, the soul 
 becomes ready to perceive and be affected by 
 any spirits that may be in its vicinity and that 
 may attempt to open up communications. A 
 
 90 
 
COMMUNICATING 91 
 
 Quakers' meeting — though not a case of soli- 
 tary individuals — is a good illustration of the 
 method of expectancy in actual practice. No 
 one is supposed to speak without being "moved 
 thereto by the Spirit"; and it is by no means 
 an uncommon event for the meeting to begin, 
 continue and end without a single word being 
 said — the necessary vocal impulse being want- 
 ing, although various members of the congre- 
 gation may be distinctly conscious, in a less 
 definite way, of spiritual presence and thought- 
 suggestion. 
 
 The manifestations in the course of expec- 
 tancy sittings may vary from thought-sugges- 
 tion to positive physical phenomena, such as 
 the sensation of being touched or gently blown 
 upon, the movement of some inanimate object, 
 the hearing of a voice or even the visual ap- 
 pearance of some supernormal object. All 
 depends upon whether the sitter^is or is not 
 susceptible to psychical influence, and also 
 upon whether the locality or the sitter person- 
 ally is or is not haunted. This word "haunted" 
 must not be understood as implying that the 
 sitter — any more than the locality — is con- 
 scious of the proximity of spirits or is in any 
 way inconvenienced thereby. It merely means 
 
92 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 that, as explained in a previous part of this 
 book, discarnate spirits tend to remain near 
 the places and persons with whom they were 
 familiar during life — perhaps in the hope of 
 being able to make their presence known. 
 
 2. Automatic Writing 
 
 It is very rarely that the results of "ex- 
 pectancy" go beyond thought-impression and 
 subsidiary physical manifestations, neither of 
 which can be regarded as in the nature of prac- 
 tical communications. For the giving of a 
 message or the carrying-on of a conversation 
 something more is required. Accordingly, 
 when an enquirer sits alone it is customary to 
 have at hand a pencil and paper or some ap- 
 paratus — as, for example, a planchette — by 
 means of which writing is possible. It is then 
 frequently found that the sitter's hand, with- 
 out any conscious guidance by the sitter, will 
 manipulate the pencil or the apparatus so as 
 to produce a "script" on the paper. This is 
 read and may be followed up by viva voce com- 
 ments and questions, and thus a regular verbal 
 interview takes place. 
 
 Automatic writing does not depend upon 
 
COMMUNICATING 93 
 
 solitude. It may take place in the presence of 
 any number of observers, and is frequently 
 employed by mediums as being an expeditious 
 method of communication. 
 
 3. Trance Writing and Speaking 
 
 In cases where the sitter is markedly "psy- 
 chic" and adopts the method of Expectancy 
 it frequently happens that normal control over 
 the body is lost. A condition of trance super- 
 venes, and while this continues the spirit — 
 which may be either a "second personality" or 
 a soul from the outside — that has gained the 
 upper hand makes use to a greater or less ex- 
 tent of the brain and other organs subject to 
 its mastery. The hand may write : the mouth 
 may speak: the whole body may be engaged in 
 some impersonation; and all this may take 
 place beyond the scope of the sitter's normal 
 consciousness. When the trance is over the 
 sitter is not able to recall anything that has 
 been written or said or enacted. The services 
 of some recording observer are therefore neces- 
 sary if any practical result is to be obtained. 
 
 The trance condition is particularly likely 
 to occur when the sitter, or one of the sitters, is 
 
94 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 a genuine "medium," or, in other words, a per- 
 son who either is naturally endowed with spe- 
 cial susceptibility to psychical influences or is 
 the habitat of two souls, normal and "sublim- 
 inal" respectively. Accordingly in the major- 
 ity of seances with professional mediums the 
 communications from discarnate spirits are re- 
 ceived during trance, and take the form of 
 script executed by the medium's hand or words 
 spoken by the medium. Frequently, more- 
 over, the medium is not completely entranced 
 but retains partial consciousness ; the result be- 
 ing that wha/t may be described as a dazed con- 
 dition ensues, and the utterances from "the 
 other side" become mixed with, and qualified 
 by, various halting and imperfect statements 
 emanating from the medium's own mind. 
 This is why so many of the published reports 
 of spiritualistic seances contain what appear 
 to be merely such erroneous and ignorant re- 
 marks as might be expected from compara- 
 tively uneducated persons who have become 
 acquainted with the tricks of a trade. And as 
 the simulation of a partially-entranced and 
 semi-conscious state is a very easy matter for 
 persons who have any dramatic turn, it is often 
 difficult to know how far a communication is 
 
COMMUNICATING 95 
 
 genuine and how far it is inadvertently or de- 
 signedly sophisticated. But if the recipients 
 of the communication do not allow themselves 
 to be swayed by emotion, and bring a little 
 common sense to bear, they will find in the 
 great majority of cases that the matter can 
 be made clear enough for all practical pur- 
 poses. 
 
 4. Signalling 
 
 Communication need not be confined to 
 writing and speech. It is found that codes of 
 signals can be arranged with discarnate spirits 
 desirous of opening up intelligent relations 
 with living persons. 
 
 The methods of signalling depend upon the 
 ingenuity and preferences of the parties con- 
 cerned. They are not restricted to any par- 
 ticular proceedings ; though it has become cus- 
 tomary with the majority of sitters to make 
 use of "raps" and "table- tilting." It is also 
 usual to agree with the spirits that a single rap 
 or tilting movement shall signify "No," that 
 three raps or tilts shall mean "Yes," and that 
 words shall be conveyed letter by letter, the 
 system adopted being for the living person to 
 
96 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 pronounce the letters of the alphabet in their 
 due order and for the spirit to give a rap or tilt 
 when the right letter is reached. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that the 
 employment of a table is in any way necessary. 
 The method has come into vogue merely be- 
 cause people assembling together for inter- 
 course with discarnate spirits have found it 
 convenient to sit round a table. Any idea 
 that spirits have a predilection for, or an at- 
 tachment to, a table or any other article of 
 furniture is\a popular delusion and is most 
 assuredly contrary to common sense. All 
 available evidence goes to show that spirits find 
 much greater difficulty in operating on matter 
 than on mind. The setting of any physical 
 mass in motion is a particularly arduous task; 
 and the work becomes lighter in proportion as 
 the mass to be moved is smaller and less 
 weighty. To expect a spirit to set a bulky 
 article like a table in movement is unreason- 
 able; and the fact that tables are moved by 
 spirits is not an argument to the contrary. 
 Spirits are sometimes asked how they contrive 
 to do such physical work, and a conventional 
 reply has become current, namely, that the 
 sitters "supply magnetism which is gathered 
 
COMMUNICATING 97 
 
 in the medium and goes into the table." From 
 a scientific point of view this answer is non- 
 sensical. It is, in all probability, a "sophisti- 
 cation" repeated, wittingly or unwittingly, by 
 medium after medium. Another explanation 
 which is put forward occasionally seems to be 
 nearer the mark, i.e. that where heavy articles 
 are moved the work is done by a number of 
 spirits acting together. 
 
 However all this may be, it is clear that 
 those sitters who use less cumbrous means than 
 tables for signalling are more likely to be satis- 
 fied. And it is also clear that the customary 
 "once for No" and "three times for Yes" are 
 not imperative. Any other code may be 
 adopted. Communications are not subject to 
 any arbitrary regulations. They have all the 
 freedom of ordinary personal intercourse. 
 
 5. Direct Messages 
 
 These have already been mentioned under 
 the heading of Expectancy ; but they are occa- 
 sionally found to occur in conjunction with 
 other methods of communicating. A pencil 
 is sometimes seen to be apparently writing of 
 its own accord on a sheet of paper ; no human 
 
98 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 hand being near it. Sometimes it is seen to 
 be guided by the simulacrum of a hand — a phe- 
 nomenon that takes place more frequently 
 when the sitting is held in a dimly-lighted 
 locality or even in the dark. In the latter 
 case the visibility is due to the object seen 
 being self-luminous. The script produced by 
 such direct writing is, of course, the message 
 to be received. 
 
 In like manner a message is sometimes con- 
 veyed by a voice which is unconnected with 
 any person present at the sitting; and the 
 utterance m^y vary from a whisper addressed 
 to some individual ear to a loud discourse audi- 
 ble by the whole company. 
 
 6. Materialisation 
 
 This is a development of direct communica- 
 tion. The spirit becomes either visible or 
 tangible, and sometimes is both. Its form and 
 appearance are akin to those of a clothed hu- 
 man being; though the similarity is not in any 
 way complete. The substance of which such 
 phantasms are composed is as yet unknown to 
 science; but its perceptibility by normal sight 
 and touch suggests a material character, with- 
 
COMMUNICATING 99 
 
 out, however, necessitating the idea of solidity 
 any more than in the case of an evanescent 
 cloud or mist. So, too, the form assumed 
 must not be regarded as being necessarily the 
 real form of the spirit in the apparition, the 
 tenuous substance of which is obviously capable 
 of any desired configuration; while the com- 
 parative rarity of the phenomenon implies 
 that it is only here and there that a spirit is 
 found possessing the requisite knowledge and 
 artistic capacity for the work of putting to- 
 gether and shaping such a production. 
 
 Some of the materialised beings seem unable 
 to speak or to display much power of move- 
 ment. Others can speak and move about with 
 facility. Others again can handle various ob- 
 jects, such as musical instruments, books, 
 flowers and the like, and can convey them 
 from place to place. 
 
 The manifestations here touched upon are 
 much more frequent in dark seances than in 
 the light; and even when some degree of 
 illumination is allowed the usual practice is 
 to provide "cabinets" or screens under the 
 cover of which the psychical effects are de- 
 veloped. This naturally gives ample oppor- 
 tunity for trickery to persons who, whether for 
 
100 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 money-making or for other motives, pose as 
 mediums without having any real qualifica- 
 tions for the work; and it is unquestionable 
 that many instances of sham materialisations 
 have from time to time taken place. On the 
 other hand, the well-evidenced instances of real 
 materialisations and of many other analogous 
 kinds of psycho-physical phenomena are much 
 more numerous. We must consider, more- 
 over, that a good reason exists for dim light 
 and darkness in connection with attempts to 
 communicate } with discarnate spirits. When 
 the eyes are a/ctive the mind receives continual 
 impressions of numerous objects and occur- 
 rences that engage its attention and render it 
 much less receptive of occult influences. 
 Hence by minimising or shutting out the dis- 
 tractions of sight the soul of a sitter becomes 
 very much more attuned to whatever telepathy 
 may exist in connection with such external 
 spirits as are present. 
 
 iWlth regard to communicating in general 
 the old proverb, "Practice makes perfect," 
 holds good. Mediums, it is true, are born, not 
 made ; but, as is the case with all human beings, 
 their powers are at first immature, and have 
 to be developed by long-continued exercise 
 
COMMUNICATING 101 
 
 and more or less skilled training before the 
 best results become attainable. Every person 
 who wishes to speak with the dead is — as is 
 also every other person in the world — at least 
 a potential medium so far as he or she knows 
 at the outset. If it be found on trial that 
 psychic powers exist to an appreciable extent 
 it may be taken for granted that they are 
 capable of very great increase by persevering 
 effort and systematic employment; and the 
 growth may be such as to lead through the 
 lower to the higher forms of communicating. 
 If, however, after repeated experiments it ap- 
 pears that a susceptibility to psychical influ- 
 ences is lacking or very moderate in degree, 
 or if, for any other reason, a continuance of 
 personal effort be not desirable, then it be- 
 comes necessary to have recourse to the serv- 
 ices of mediums. These latter may be either 
 amateur or professional; but, whichever they 
 are, their utility depends upon the stage of 
 development they have reached. 
 
 The term "development" as here used means 
 an increased sensitiveness of the perceptive 
 faculty by which the medium becomes aware 
 of and influenced by the proximity of discar- 
 nate spirits. It means also an intensified 
 
102 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 passivity of the normal soul, thus facilitating 
 control by the secondary mind or by external 
 spirits. And it signifies furthermore the plac- 
 ing of a larger proportion of the medium's sub- 
 stance and physical powers at the disposal of 
 the controlling beings, thereby enabling these 
 existences to produce manifestations which 
 otherwise would be impossible. The actual 
 modus operandi of the use by a control of a 
 medium's body and vitality is not yet under- 
 stood; but the fact of such use has been a mat- 
 ter of observation and experiment in all ages 
 of which we have any record. Hence the com- 
 munication with a discarnate spirit will be 
 fuller, freer and more extended in proportion 
 to the better adaptation of the intermediate 
 psychical mechanism. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPEAKING WITH 
 
 THE DEAD 
 
 1.— As a general rule applying to all methods 
 of communicating, every person who desires 
 to be brought into touch with discarnate 
 spirits should make a point of being tranquil, 
 unoccupied, serious and attentive. There are 
 two reasons for this. First, it is obvious that 
 a mind free from outside cares and distractions 
 is able to concentrate itself in any desired 
 direction, and can become aware of influences 
 that would pass unnoticed in the ordinary 
 hurly-burly of life. Secondly, a soul at rest 
 can be impressed by other souls very much 
 more readily than when it is busy with activi- 
 ties of its own. 
 
 2. — The best method to adopt at the outset 
 is that of Expectancy (see Chapter VI). 
 The enquirer should sit quite alone in some 
 room free from interruption — an indoors sit- 
 ting, by reason of its fewer distractions, being 
 
 103 
 
104 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 preferable to a sitting in any out-of-doors 
 locality. 
 
 The thoughts need not take any religious 
 turn, and prayer is quite unnecessary. It is 
 desirable, in fact, to think as little as possible 
 about anything, except in the event of the 
 presence of some particular spirit being hoped 
 for. When that is the case the mind may with 
 advantage be occupied by reminiscences con- 
 nected with the spirit in question — a situation 
 being thus created which much facilitates 
 telepathy and is analogous to the hoisting of 
 a signal calling for response. 
 
 The evening is the most suitable time for an 
 Expectancy sitting, which is to be held in the 
 light or in semi-obscurity; the bustle and tur- 
 moil of the day having then given place more 
 or less to quietude and tranquillity. But, if 
 darkness does not inspire fear, a sitting in a 
 bedroom (or other apartment) during the hours 
 from midnight to, say, two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing is preferable. Silence is then more su- 
 preme than at any other time, and the majority 
 of the human beings in the locality are asleep. 
 This accounts for the traditional notion of "the 
 witching hour," which is not based, as is sup- 
 posed erroneously, on some divine or diabolical 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 105 
 
 limitation of certain hours as the free time for 
 errant spirits. It refers to the fact that sleep 
 is a kind of trance during which the hold of 
 the body on the soul is slackened, thus facili- 
 tating the task of any outside spirit who may 
 wish to communicate; the point in issue being 
 well exemplified by the old Romans (and 
 others of the ancients) , who taught that dreams 
 are the apparitions of supernormal beings. 
 
 Dealing first with the case of a midnight sit- 
 ting, it should be noted that absolute darkness 
 is not imperative. The room may be illumi- 
 nated in any way that is convenient; but, for 
 reasons already given, the less light the better. 
 If the nerves of the sitter will bear the strain 
 the sitting should take place quite in the dark. 
 In that event some apparatus for signalling 
 by sound should be provided, such as, for in- 
 stance, a small key suspended by a thread in- 
 side a glass tumbler in such a manner that a 
 very slight movement is accompanied by a 
 tinkling. 
 
 .After remaining quiet and expectant for a 
 few minutes the sitter should speak aloud and 
 ask, "Are there any spirits present ?" This re- 
 quires a little courage, both physical and mor- 
 al; the former because of the darkness, the 
 
106 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 "witching hour" and the sound of one's voice 
 in the stillness; and the latter because one is 
 tempted to regard both the situation and the 
 question as absurd, and because one does not 
 relish the idea of possibly making a fool of 
 one's self. But it is merely a question of break- 
 ing the ice. When once the sitter has spoken 
 aloud the difficulty of speaking does not re- 
 cur. 
 
 To ask in one's mind whether there are any 
 spirits present is not as effective as actual 
 speech. There is a greater psychical concen- 
 tration when a) thought is focussed, as it were, 
 by spoken words; besides which there is some 
 reason to believe that spirits — the bodily sub- 
 stance and organs of whom are analogous to 
 those of living persons — find it easier to re- 
 ceive impressions by physical sounds than by 
 telepathy. 
 
 If no answer be given to the question, this 
 should be repeated with a request that the 
 spirit or spirits will reply by causing the sus- 
 pended key to move in such a manner as to 
 produce three distinct tinklings — or words to 
 the same general effect in the case of some 
 other signalling apparatus being employed. If 
 there still be silence, it may be concluded either 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 107 
 
 that no spirit is present in the room on that 
 particular occasion, or that no spirit within 
 hearing understands the English language, or 
 that the prevailing temporary conditions do 
 not allow of physical effects being produced 
 on inanimate matter, or that the sitter, by lack 
 of psychic power, is unable to attract the at- 
 tention of discarnate spirits. 
 
 If a reply be given, it is not a matter of 
 course for it to take the form requested. In- 
 stead of being a tinkling or other specified sig- 
 nal, it may be a rustling, a rap, a tapping, a 
 scratching, a pattering, a sigh, a movement of 
 the air or of some object in the room, a sensa- 
 tion of cold, a sound as of whispering, a faint 
 luminosity, a touch, etc. Hence the necessity 
 for the sitter to be keenly on the alert and 
 completely attentive, while at the same time re- 
 maining perfectly tranquil and collected; for 
 some indication of a spirit being present may 
 be given by the latter spontaneously before 
 any word is spoken. 
 
 When once any sign of communication is 
 observed the sitter should announce the fact 
 and should ask for it to be repeated, and if this 
 be done a signalling code may thereupon be 
 adopted by agreement and a conversation may 
 
108 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 take place accordingly. If, on the other hand, 
 there be no sign at all during the period of, 
 say, half an hour from the commencement of 
 the sitting, this latter should terminate and the 
 enquirer should renew the attempt on some fu- 
 ture occasion. No disappointment need be felt 
 at a negative result, whether at the outset of 
 the experiments or at any particular sitting. 
 Conditions are not always favourable, even 
 with the same sitter and in the same room; and 
 in spite of widely-prevalent ideas and the rec- 
 ords of spiritualistic seances, it is quite idle to 
 suppose that ) disembodied souls do, in fact, 
 cater for the arbitrary wishes and personal 
 convenience of human beings. Nothing of the 
 kind can be taken for granted, except, indeed, 
 that matter-void space has its inhabitants just 
 as much as is the case with any matter-occu- 
 pied locality, and that any room in any house 
 is just as likely to be visited from time to time 
 by discarnate spirits as by living persons. 
 
 Coming now to what may be termed ordi- 
 nary Expectancy sittings, that is to say, eve- 
 ning sittings in a lighted or semi-lighted room, 
 the conditions of visibility admit of more elab- 
 orate manifestations than are possible in dark- 
 ness. Automatic writing in particular be- 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 109 
 
 comes practicable. Provision should be made 
 for this by placing a pencil and one or more 
 sheets of paper on a table or desk. And, of 
 course, signalling apparatus should be fur- 
 nished of either an audible or a visible kind. 
 When these matters are attended to the pro- 
 ceedings at the sitting should follow the 
 course described as suitable for the midnight 
 seance; but, naturally, both eyes and ears 
 should be active in the detection of signs indi- 
 cating the presence of spirits. And every now 
 and then the pencil should be taken in the hand 
 and held close to the paper in a writing posi- 
 tion, the result frequently being that a strong 
 impulse to write is felt. This should not be re- 
 sisted. The hand should be given free play; 
 but, of course, there should not be any con- 
 scious guidance by the sitter. At first the script 
 is, in the majority of instances, found to be a 
 confused scribble or a meaningless sequence 
 of words. Later on, if the sitter be patient and 
 persevering, order begins to take the place of 
 chaos and intelligible messages are obtained; 
 always supposing that the enquirer is really 
 gifted with an appreciable degree of psychic 
 power. 
 
 Self-deception and the imaginations bred of 
 
110 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 wishes and emotions are to be guarded against. 
 This is an additional reason for cultivating a 
 tranquil habit of mind and a level-headed habit 
 of judgment. It should be remembered that 
 in solitary Expectancy fraud and trickery are 
 completely absent, and that all manifestations 
 are matters of the most simple personal ob- 
 servation, the accuracy of which can be con- 
 firmed — as in an ordinary scientific laboratory 
 — by the test of repetition. For the friends 
 and acquaintances of the sitter the only evi- 
 dence available is the latter's personal and un- 
 corroborated (statements, which from a scien- 
 tific point of view are worthless ; but for the sit- 
 ter himself or herself the very same evidence 
 is in the highest degree conclusive, and rightly 
 so. The facts are known to have occurred. 
 
 3. — The next step after solitary Expectancy 
 has been tried is to arrange with one's friends 
 for Expectancy Circles; that is to say, for 
 groups of persons to meet together at appoint- 
 ed times and in appointed places for the pur- 
 pose of joint sittings. There are marked ad- 
 vantages in proceeding thus. 
 
 First, the probabilities of success are multi- 
 plied. It is frequently the case that living in- 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 111 
 
 dividuals, and especially those who have recent- 
 ly lost some relative or friend by death, are 
 ' 'haunted," although they themselves are sel- 
 dom conscious of the fact. If, then, several 
 persons are present at a sitting the chances of 
 there being some spirits near at hand are much 
 increased. 
 
 Secondly, there is a greater likelihood of 
 some person being present who is naturally 
 endowed with mediumistic powers, in which 
 case it becomes easier for a spirit to enter into 
 communication with the sitters. 
 
 Thirdly, whatever may be the true explana- 
 tion of the manner in which manifestations are 
 brought about, it is well known that the more 
 numerous the sitters the more full and com- 
 plete are the phenomena. The theory of the 
 sitters contributing "electricity" and "personal 
 magnetism" may be very safely rejected as 
 nonsensical; for the very words employed are 
 not used in their ordinary scientific meaning 
 and no other signification has ever been pro- 
 pounded. But each person present does un- 
 doubtedly make some contribution to what 
 may be called the common stock of psychical 
 influence available in the room where the sit- 
 ting takes place. 
 
112 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 It should be a matter of common under- 
 standing and agreement that the sitters in an 
 Expectancy Circle are all animated by a seri- 
 ous purpose and have not come together for 
 mere amusement or for the "fun" of tricking 
 each other. There is no objection to their be- 
 ing as "sceptical" as they please. A sitter may 
 be of opinion that all occultism is "tomfoolery" 
 and "piffle." Opinions do not alter facts. If 
 psychical phenomena do really occur all the 
 scepticism in the world is of no moment; and 
 no good evidence has ever been brought for- 
 ward to show that spirits are in any way em- 
 barrassed by the presence of doubters and re- 
 sisters; though it is true enough that passivity 
 on the part of the sitters favours communica- 
 tion. A sceptic may happen to be a good me- 
 dium without being aware of the fact ; in which 
 case his or her mental prejudice will not hinder 
 a spirit from making use of the psychic power 
 thus brought into the Circle. At the same time 
 practical joking and the surreptitious imita- 
 tion of phenomena are quite out of place. They 
 cannot do any good: they are productive of 
 confusion; and, seeing that discarnate spirits 
 have not changed their minds at death, there 
 does not exist any reason for supposing such 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 113 
 
 beings to have become incapable of taking of- 
 fence and going away in high dudgeon when 
 sitters attempt to make fools of them — in 
 which case, of course, the sitting is a failure. 
 
 With regard to the arrangement of the sit- 
 ters, this is entirely a matter of convenience. 
 Seats may be provided round a table or scat- 
 tered about a room. And not the least atten- 
 tion need be paid to the sitters joining hands 
 or being otherwise in contact with each other: 
 the supposed necessity of this being a popular 
 delusion based upon some vague and erroneous 
 notion of "electricity." 
 
 The use of a table is, however, to be recom- 
 mended. It is desirable for each sitter to have 
 a pencil and paper in readiness ; for it cannot 
 be known in advance which particular individ- 
 uals are capable of automatic writing; and a 
 table facilitates the manifestation as well as 
 providing a convenient standing-place for sig- 
 nalling apparatus, etc. 
 
 The sitting may, if desired, take place at 
 high noontide and in the very fullest daylight; 
 though, for reasons already stated; it is better 
 to sit in the evening and in semi-obscurity. The 
 singing of hymns, praying and other "relig- 
 ious" features are to be deprecated. They do 
 
114 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 not affect the actual phenomena; but their ten- 
 dency is to produce a morbid and emotional 
 frame of mind which in its turn facilitates self- 
 deception and the imaginary perception of 
 happenings that do not really occur. Conver- 
 sation also should not be indulged in to any 
 extent that engrosses the attention of the sit- 
 ters. By far the best plan is for the Circle to 
 sit silently, each individual being on the alert 
 to perceive and announce the slightest indica- 
 tion of anything external. 
 
 At the expiration of a few minutes — assum- 
 ing no manifestation to have happened — some 
 sitter should ask aloud the question, "Is 
 any spirit present?" and if no answer be re- 
 ceived the question should be repeated, turn 
 by turn, by all the other sitters. In this way 
 it is often possible to discover those of the Cir- 
 cle who are natural mediums; a fact that is 
 also made evident by the ability to write auto- 
 matically or by the susceptibility to "impres- 
 sions," such as touches, whispers, the sensation 
 of a cool breeze, tremblings, twitches and, in 
 rare cases, various forms of clairvoyance, 
 trance and insensibility. 
 
 If the first round of questioning produce no 
 result, the silent sitting should be resumed for 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 115 
 
 another period of a few minutes and then the 
 question should again be asked. These alter- 
 nate silences and questionings should be con- 
 tinued for as long as may be convenient; and 
 then the Circle may adjourn to some future 
 date. It is not, however, very usual for a com- 
 plete blank to be drawn, where several — say 
 half a dozen or so — persons sit together. Some 
 "sign" or another is pretty sure to be per- 
 ceived. 
 
 When once a manifestation of any kind 
 takes place it should be confirmed by asking 
 for it to be repeated ; and then a code of com- 
 munication can be agreed upon and conversa- 
 tion can proceed. It will facilitate matters 
 and prevent confusion if each communicating 
 spirit be requested to declare its identity, and 
 then for the particular sitter who may recog- 
 nise the name and personality to conduct the 
 interview. 
 
 The so-called "test" questions and other 
 "evidential" conversations are, for the most 
 part, a waste of time and the loss of an oppor- 
 tunity of obtaining useful information. Spirits 
 are, after all, mere ordinary souls in an envir- 
 onment somewhat different from the human 
 body and its mundane surroundings. They are 
 
116 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 as little likely as is any reasonable man or 
 woman to trouble themselves with personating 
 their fellow-souls at random. What are they 
 to Hecuba, or Hecuba to them? When a 
 spirit claims to be some specified disembodied 
 soul the probabilities are greatly in favour of 
 the claim being true; just as in common life 
 people are found to be as a rule the persons 
 they assert themselves to be. That somq of the 
 spirits in circumterrestrial space are, in a sense, 
 vagabonds, without kith, kin or any specific 
 identity connected with humanity, may well be 
 the case, and is now and then a matter of ob- 
 servation; but this is not any reason why they 
 should find any satisfaction in masquerading 
 as Tom, Dick and Harry, There is probably 
 some amusement to be extracted from per- 
 sonating a great figure of history, such as 
 Julius Caesar, Luther, Napoleon, Disraeli or 
 Gladstone, and inducing both mediums and 
 sitters to accept with reverence the pompous 
 utterance of ridiculous banalities ; and the his- 
 tory of Spiritualism shows that something of 
 the kind does really happen now and then. 
 But no evidence exists to show that the aver- 
 age sitter who seeks to speak with the average 
 deceased relative or friend is ever duped by 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 117 
 
 any impersonation of the latter. It may not 
 always be possible to prove the genuineness 
 of the communication to the satisfaction of an 
 outside scoffer or critic. This, however, is not 
 a need of the case. The sitter hears and knows 
 for himself or herself at first-hand. What does 
 it matter if outsiders who have not been pres- 
 ent at the manifestations and merely hear of 
 them at second-hand choose to evolve from 
 their own inner consciousness the theory that 
 the spirit interviewed was not the real "sainted 
 Maria," but was merely a mischievous "spook" 
 or, more probably, the "fake" of some me- 
 dium? The old proverb remains good, "The 
 proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof." 
 Any person of ordinary good sense is quite 
 capable of distinguishing between sham and 
 reality even when speaking with the dead is 
 in question. 
 
 4. — When an Expectancy Circle has had 
 several successful sittings and has established 
 communications with spirits, those latter 
 should be asked to collect together a group of 
 beings "on the other side" who are willing to 
 co-operate actively with the Circle by regular 
 attendance and the production of manifesta- 
 
118 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 tions on a continually-developing scale. In 
 past times there has been by far too little of 
 such co-operation. Each professional medium 
 has had his or her alleged "controls," who in an 
 incidental way have occasionally introduced 
 spirits, while the sitters have also — without any 
 design of so doing — brought disembodied souls 
 to the seances. And sittings — especially of the 
 "table" kind — have taken place in private 
 homes where the enquirers have usually been 
 restricted to a few members of a single family, 
 and where the spirits communicated with have 
 been recently-aeceased relatives and other in- 
 experienced beings. Under such circumstances 
 it is surprising that so much progress has been 
 made. 
 
 It is found, however, that spirits are just 
 as "keen" and interested in psychical phenom- 
 ena and the extension of communication across 
 the border-line as are the Crookeses, Lodges, 
 Barretts, Crawfords and other investigators in 
 the ranks of the living. It is not difficult for 
 an Expectancy Circle of sitters to develop into 
 a Progressive Circle of co-operating sitters and 
 spirits. A request for co-operation is usually 
 complied with, and it almost always happens 
 that the spirits who are asked to act succeed 
 

 PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 119 
 
 very quickly in finding others to assist, some 
 of whom have had much experience in mani- 
 festing and communicating and can instruct 
 their human colleagues how best to operate. 
 What is chiefly necessary on the part of the 
 sitters in order to ensure results of the highest 
 type is to work in a systematic and co-ordinat- 
 ed way; and the manner in which this may be 
 most effectually done is by each human mem- 
 ber of a Progressive Circle entering into rela- 
 tions with some specific spirit-members and 
 undertaking some distinct line of conversation 
 and enquiry by whatever method may be most 
 convenient and practicable — e.g. by automatic 
 or direct writing, by signalling, by clairvoy- 
 ance, etc. These duologues, or — where more 
 than one sitter and one spirit are concerned — 
 these Committee Meetings may be held at any 
 time and place found fitting, and should be 
 carefully recorded for report to the regular 
 sittings of the Progressive Circle, when the 
 various reports are considered and compared 
 together and are made the starting-point for 
 additional conversations and enquiries, 
 
 5. — The great majority of attempts at 
 speaking with the dead are of a character much 
 
120 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 less ambitious and far-reaching than is that of 
 the Expectancy and Progressive Circles 
 method; and the results are correspondingly 
 imperfect. The system most generally adopt- 
 ed is what in early and mid- Victorian days was 
 known as "table-turning" or "raps," and con- 
 sisted in a number of persons sitting round a 
 table on which their hands were placed, the 
 right hand of each sitter resting on, or some- 
 times only touching his neighbour's left hand. 
 After a little while a tapping or rapping noise 
 would be heard on the table, or the table would 
 tilt up a litile at intervals, or it would turn 
 round and round, or it would move about the 
 room. Any of these occurrences admitted of 
 utilisation for signalling purposes, and in that 
 way it was found possible to enter into intelli- 
 gent communication with the spirit or spirits 
 acting on the table — it being generally the case 
 that the communicator was a deceased relative 
 of one of the sitters. 
 
 In a Table-sitting — the term now common- 
 ly employed — it is desirable for the hands of 
 the sitters to be placed on the table (though 
 the reason for this is not yet clear) , but it is not 
 necessary for any sitter's hands to be in actual 
 contact with those of his neighbours — there not 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 121 
 
 being any electric or other current in circula- 
 tion. And it is not necessary for the sitters 
 to engage in any form of incantation, whether 
 sung, spoken or thought. They should, how- 
 ever, be serious and attentive, and should be 
 careful not to spoil the sitting by any foolery 
 or conscious attempts to tilt or move the table. 
 It is best for some one of the sitters to act as 
 spokesman and for some outsider — i.e. a per- 
 son not sitting at the table — to officiate as the 
 recorder of all that is said and done. The sim- 
 plest system of communication to adopt is that 
 of the alphabet ; the letters being called out by 
 the spokesman in regular order and the table 
 giving a rap or making a movement whenever 
 the right letter is reached. It must not, how- 
 ever, be taken for granted that words will be 
 spelt correctly or that the letters will be 
 grouped in regular sequences of words. Many 
 a message has been put aside as a mere hap- 
 hazard unmeaning jumble of letters, and has 
 subsequently been found perfectly intelligible 
 and intelligent when the key to the arrange- 
 ment of the letters has been hit upon. Why 
 such puzzles should be set with seeming delib- 
 eration by the spirits is not understood ; all we 
 know is that the phenomenon sometimes oc- 
 
122 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 curs and its possibility must therefore be taken 
 into account. 
 
 6. — The sittings referred to in the foregoing 
 five Instructions are such as may take place 
 without the aid of professional mediums, and 
 for that reason are commonly regarded as be- 
 ing particularly satisfactory and "evidential." 
 This, however, is a view born of prejudice. It 
 assumes that professional mediums are all 
 more or less untrustworthy. Persons who are 
 broad-minded enough to rise superior to 
 prejudice and^who choose to weigh seriously 
 the pros and cons of the whole matter are 
 bound to recognise the advantage, in all kinds 
 of enquiry, of seeking the assistance of indi- 
 viduals possessing natural qualifications who 
 have become expert in their own province. Ac- 
 cordingly, in speaking with the dead a rational 
 person will not deem it needful to keep aloof 
 from professional mediums. Rather will he 
 seek their aid whenever opportunity serves — 
 provided always that no good reason exists for 
 doubting the good faith of any individual me- 
 dium so met with. 
 
 The proceedings at a sitting conducted by a 
 medium are of much the same general char- 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 123 
 
 acter as in the case of the Expectancy Circles 
 and Table-sittings already described, except 
 that the sitters are altogether passive instead 
 of taking any active part. 
 
 Precautions for ensuring "anonymity" and 
 the like are needless. Mediums as a rule are 
 quite careless respecting the identity of their 
 sitters, save, perhaps, in the cases of highly- 
 placed persons. Besides, the sitters go to the 
 mediums for their own private requirements 
 and not for the purpose of building up a struc- 
 ture of evidence that shall satisfy some other 
 mind. The best plan, therefore, is not to trou- 
 ble about what the medium does or does not 
 know normally, and to depend on one's own 
 common sense in judging of, and dealing with, 
 any communication received. 
 
 So, too, with regard to the alleged "con- 
 trols." It is idle to attempt anything in the 
 nature of cross-examination or "tests." Such 
 attempts, if there be confusion, will only make 
 it worse confounded. The proper course to 
 pursue is to listen attentively to all that is said, 
 and to ask only such questions as may be de- 
 sirable for the purpose of elucidation or in or- 
 der to elicit further information. 
 
 It is, however, obvious that where a medium 
 
1M HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 writes automatically or speaks under control 
 there must always exist a doubt as to how much 
 is genuine and how much is "sophistication/' 
 either intentional or of an unconscious charac- 
 ter. The sitter, therefore, who thinks proper 
 to consult a professional medium will do well 
 to ask for a Table-sitting in preference to a 
 Trance-sitting; as when a Table-sitting takes 
 place the medium remains normal, and the 
 communication is conveyed through the instru- 
 mentality of the inanimate table instead of 
 making its way amid the disturbing influences 
 of the medipn's brain and personality. If the 
 medium cannot, or will not, give a Table-sit- 
 ting it is not worth while for the sitter to ex- 
 press any dissatisfaction: the situation must be 
 accepted with as good a grace as possible — 
 tranquillity and harmony being the proper at- 
 mosphere where mental phenomena are in is- 
 sue. 
 
 In the case of Trance-sittings, where the 
 medium is likely to be strongly controlled and 
 made to speak or act in the guise of some other 
 individuality (it being sometimes the case that 
 a decided modification of facial expression, 
 features and voice becomes noticeable), a fre- 
 quent practice is to arrange for a subdued light 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 125 
 
 — as, for example, by pulling down the win- 
 dow-blinds and using a lamp with red glass. 
 This is quite unnecessary ; it is a mere conven- 
 tional usage based upon a tradition to the effect 
 that spirits are more powerful in darkness than 
 in light; but the proceeding need not be ob- 
 jected to. It is as harmless as is the colour or 
 the pattern of the wall-paper. 
 
 Some professional mediums adopt the meth- 
 od of Clairvoyance and Clairaudience ; that is 
 to say, the communications take the form of an 
 oral description by the medium of what he or 
 she sees and hears in the vicinity of the sitters 
 — the underlying supposition being that the 
 latter bring with them certain haunting spirits 
 or that certain spirits make their way into the 
 room from the outside in order to be near the 
 sitters. This kind of a sitting is, perhaps, the 
 least satisfactory of any from an intellectual 
 point of view. The medium may be labouring 
 under some delusion or may even be deliberate- 
 ly inventing the alleged appearances and ut- 
 terances. No method has yet been discovered 
 of clearly distinguishing between genuine and 
 unreal clairvoyance (a word which also in- 
 cludes crystal-gazing and the like). Sitters 
 
126 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 must judge for themselves what to believe and 
 what to reject. 
 
 7. — Materialisation-sittings with the assist- 
 ance of professional mediums form a distinct 
 category of phenomena. They cannot be 
 classed under the head of "communications," 
 and they are just as much physical as psychi- 
 cal. Their chief defect is that they are not 
 "open and above-board," as is the case with 
 the analogous proceedings of ordinary "table- 
 turning" in private circles, where very 
 astounding faaovements, etc., take place in full 
 light. For some reason or another — good, bad 
 or indifferent — but never on account of any 
 real necessity, materialising mediums in the 
 majority of cases insist upon the sittings tak- 
 ing place in darkness, and upon the use of 
 "cabinets" and screens in the shelter of which 
 the spirits are understood to make their pre- 
 parations for the show they are about to give. 
 The sitters, of course, cannot interfere: a pa- 
 tient does not instruct the physician with re- 
 spect to what prescription is needful. Each 
 medium must be allowed to go about his busi- 
 ness in his own way; and each sitter is equally 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 127 
 
 free to make his own observations and form 
 his own conclusions. 
 
 The stock phenomena in dark seances are 
 the sounding of musical instruments laid upon 
 the table for the purpose and their being 
 moved about through the air, the sitters oc- 
 casionally feeling themselves touched by the 
 articles in question. Then, too, fitful lights are 
 seen here and there in the room, and voices are 
 heard speaking or singing. Small objects, 
 such as flowers, are tossed about, and larger 
 ones, such as chairs, couches, etc., are moved — 
 often with great violence. It is, moreover, not 
 an uncommon occurrence for detached hands 
 and faces, faintly luminised, to become visible ; 
 while, sometimes, what appear to be full-sized 
 simulacra of human beings mix with the sitters. 
 
 The medium in charge of such sitting is usu- 
 ally tied to a chair or held by some of the sit- 
 ters in such as way as to prevent any trickery. 
 This course of action should not, however, be 
 pursued. Sitters do not attend seances for the 
 sake of amusement or for the purpose of wit- 
 nessing a clever conjuring exhibition. There 
 ought not to be any question of a contest of 
 wits between the sitters and the medium. The 
 real object to be striven for is the complete- 
 
128 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 ness of the manifestations; and this can best 
 be attained by giving the medium and the 
 spirits the freest of free play. 
 
 Let it be granted, for argument's sake, that 
 trickery is possible. Let it be admitted, as a 
 matter of fact, that many mediums have been 
 detected and exposed in various instances of 
 imposture. This shows merely that some al- 
 leged materialisations are not genuine ; it does 
 not prove that no materialisation ever takes 
 place. Here, also, the sitter must judge for 
 himself. Where it is possible to adopt both a 
 normal a^id a supernormal explanation of any 
 observed ( manifestation the rules of scientific 
 enquiry impose upon us the obligation of post- 
 ulating a "natural" cause in preference to as- 
 suming that some "supernatural" power is in 
 operation; we are bound, for example, in cases 
 admitting of trickery, to hold that the medium 
 is a cheat rather than to infer the intervention 
 of any spirit. But when a normal explanation 
 is not possible, or so highly improbable as to 
 be outside the confines of good sense, we act 
 foolishly if we insist upon declining to recog- 
 nise a patent fact merely because it does not 
 fit in with our pre-conceived opinions. The 
 same remark applies, mutatis mutandis, to 
 
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 129 
 
 many of the "normal explanations" in them- 
 selves. It is, for example, said sometimes that 
 the voices heard in the course of dark sittings 
 are produced ventriloquially by the medium. 
 This leaves out of view the consideration that 
 ventriloquy is in itself an illusion depending 
 upon the sense of sight as well as upon that of 
 hearing. No ventriloquist, however clever, 
 can produce the impression of there being a 
 sound emanating from some specific locality 
 when the hearer is in the dark; a fact that is 
 evident to any person who tries the experiment 
 of shutting his eyes when at a ventriloquial 
 entertainment. And if we reflect that in a 
 materialisation seance several distinct voices 
 are often heard simultaneously, the explana- 
 tion of the medium being a ventriloquist is 
 seen to be ludicrously inadequate. The "nor- 
 mal" theory does not fare any better in sug- 
 gesting that the medium manages to vacate his 
 chair in the darkness and to pick up the trum- 
 pet or the tambourine, etc., from which he 
 forthwith proceeds to extract some sounds. 
 This might be feasible in the case of a single 
 instrument in a single locality; but it often 
 happens that several instruments of various 
 kinds are being played simultaneously and are 
 
180 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 heard in different parts of the room at the 
 same time. And when it is remembered that 
 the sitting where such facts occur may, and 
 does frequently, take place in a sitter's own 
 house, where the medium has not been able to 
 make any preparations and where no confed- 
 erate is available, the futility of the "natural" 
 way of accounting for the manifestations be- 
 comes still further evident. So, after all, we 
 come round once more to the recommendation 
 that the sitter should not interfere, should 
 merely observe, should keep an open mind 
 and should be guided by facts quite irrespec- 
 tively of whether the facts be normal or super- 
 normal. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 "spiritualism" and "rationalism" 
 
 This book ought not to be concluded without 
 something being said as to its design and char- 
 acter, and as to the mental attitude it presumes 
 on the part of its readers. 
 
 It is intended, first, as a practical guide for 
 the assistance of those persons who may be de- 
 sirous of speaking with the dead ; and, second- 
 ly, as an elementary text-book of occult phe- 
 nomena. It presupposes for its readers a wil- 
 lingness to be guided by facts and a disregard 
 of opinions based upon imagination instead of 
 upon fact. 
 
 Leaving out of view all questions of religion, 
 religious authority and Church controversy, it 
 may be stated generally that most people are 
 given to understand that occult matters must 
 be looked upon in the light of either "spirit- 
 ualism" or "rationalism." When, therefore, 
 they find in the public press various statements 
 by eminent spiritualists that demolish the case 
 
 13X 
 
132 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 of the rationalists, and when they at the same 
 time discover statements by eminent ration- 
 alists that are equally destructive of the posi- 
 tions occupied by the spiritualists, it becomes 
 very difficult for persons who are not close stu- 
 dents of the matters in dispute to arrive at a 
 settled judgment. Accordingly, the following 
 observations may prove of some service. 
 
 The true nature of articles in the newspa- 
 pers, magazines and reviews should be borne 
 in mind. These articles are written profes- 
 sionally, that is, for pay, and they have to pro- 
 vide commercial value for the remuneration 
 received by their writers. They have to be 
 readable and popular, which means that they 
 must be smart and sensational and penned 
 with much literary ability. The authors have 
 also their own futures to think of; they must 
 please their respective editors and they must 
 show off to the best advantage such stores of 
 knowledge, such dialectical powers, and such 
 capabilities in the arts of sarcasm and abuse as 
 they may possess. They are like the barristers 
 in the courts of law. They are not concerned 
 for either justice or truth. Their business is to 
 snatch a verdict if they can; and to do this they 
 find their best plan is to fasten upon the weak 
 
"SPIRITUALISM" AND "RATIONALISM" 133 
 
 points of their adversaries and ignore the 
 strong ones ; while, as regards their own cases, 
 they make the most of every favourable fea- 
 ture and keep all doubtful points in the back- 
 ground. So the reader should be on his or her 
 guard, and should not accept meekly, as a mat- 
 ter of course, anything that appears in print. 
 A good example of what is here referred to 
 may be found in the Strand Magazine of July, 
 1917, under the title of "Is Sir Oliver Lodge 
 Right? 'Yes,' by Sir A. Conan Doyle. 'No/ 
 by Edward Clodd." 
 
 Persons who wish to pursue the study of 
 dialectics and partisan literature in connection 
 with psychical phenomena may be recommend- 
 ed to read Light and The International Psy- 
 chic Gazette, which are the two leading organs 
 of the Spiritualists in England, and the Lit- 
 erary Guide (the sub-title being The Ration- 
 alist Review), which is published by the Ra- 
 tionalist Press Association, and is the recog- 
 nised mouthpiece of the most distinguished ex- 
 ponents of Rationalism in the United King- 
 dom. All three of the publications referred to 
 are characterised by much learning and very 
 great ability. The facts they record are select- 
 ed carefully from partisan points of view and 
 
134 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 the comments and arguments that appear in 
 their pages are admirably one-sided and cor- 
 respondingly conclusive. But the reader is 
 thus enabled to see both sides of the shield, 
 and has himself only to blame if he become the 
 champion of either gold or silver. 
 
 Current literature, however, is not the only 
 danger in the path of persons who desire to 
 walk in the company of Reason. Current 
 teaching is perhaps even more formidable, and 
 especially so where Science is concerned. The 
 popular idea of scientific men is that they are 
 votaries of Tr^ith and are deaf to the voice of 
 every other deity. Hence the authority wield- 
 ed by the leaders of Science, and the willing 
 obedience rendered to their behests. It is rarely 
 remembered that scientific men are simple hu- 
 man beings, subject to the same weaknesses 
 and possessed of the same foibles as the rest 
 of the race. History has shown that if power 
 be placed in the hands of any professional set 
 of men it will inevitably be abused; and Sci- 
 ence does not provide an exception to the rule. 
 There is every whit as much bigotry, blind dog- 
 ma and savage intolerance in scientific circles 
 as ever there was in any ecclesiastical or puri- 
 tanical organisations. Sir William Crookes, 
 
"SPIRITUALISM 55 AND "RATIONALISM 55 135 
 
 O.M., P.R.S., found this out very many years 
 ago, and Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., is now re- 
 discovering it; the latter case of persecution 
 by the Rationalistic Inquisition being rendered 
 particularly piquant because of the great in- 
 debtedness of current materialism to the fa- 
 mous champion of the Ether — a doctrine that 
 forms the only line of defence as yet available 
 against the attacks of the Becquerel rays, the 
 Ballistic Theory of Explosives and other sub- 
 verters of modern dogma. 
 
 In the midst of all such strife this little book 
 is neutral, and it counsels its readers to be neu- 
 tral also. Rationalism is a good thing in a way 
 and within proper limits; and so is Spiritual- 
 ism. But neither the one nor the other is the 
 whole truth ; and, when rightly understood, the 
 two schools of thought are not at variance. 
 When Science speaks of the universe being 
 fashioned and ruled by Nature, Evolution and 
 the like, it is only another way of naming the 
 very same existing something that the Chris- 
 tian calls God. The glorious Service of Hu- 
 manity when followed into the recesses of its 
 meaning is found to be a mere plain listening 
 to one's conscience; and the survival of good 
 deeds is, in the last analysis, indistinguishable 
 
136 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 
 
 from the survival of the souls by whom they 
 are accomplished. 
 
 Sursum corda. Let us speak to the dead 
 and let us add their knowledge and counsel to 
 the common store. 
 
 THE END 
 

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