BF I SOI. I ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ I, ■ I ■ r ■ ■ ■ ■ ; ■ *: ■ ■ ■<• f, I ■ ■ - Class _BE_VV&3 Book_ i&SjL fopflifitaN?_.. COPYRIGHT DEPOSfT. Spiritism, Hypnotism and Telepathy AS INVOLVED INvTHB CASE OF Mrs. Leonora E. Piper and the Society of Psychical Research, BY Clark Bell, Esq., LL. D. PRESIDENT MEDICO-LEGAL SOCIETY. ^ AND THE DISCUSSION Before the New York Medico- Legal Society and its Psy- chological Section, BY THOMSON JAY HUDSON, LL. D. JOHN DUNCAN QUACKENBOS, M. D. * JUDGE ABRAM H. DAILEY, CLARK BELL, ESQ., LL. D. HON. LUTHER R. MARSH, H. C. WRIGHT, ESQ. ELEANOR GRIDLEY, T. D. CROTHERS, M. D. ALEXANDER WILDER, M. D. WM. LEE HOWARD, M. D. PROF. W. XAVIER SUDDUTH, MRS. MARY A. LEASE, REV. J. MINOT SAVAGE, M. LOUISE THOMAS, RICHARD HODGSON, LL. D. PROF. J. H. HYSLOP, REV. GEO. H. HEPWORTH, C. VAN D. CHENOWETH, LEONORA E. PIPER, F. E. DANIEL, M. D., AND OTHERS. 1902. PUBLISHED BY MEDICO-LEGAL JOURNAL, 39 BROADWAY, N. Y. Copyrieht, 1902, with all rights reserved, by Clark Bell, Esq. Spiritism, Hypnotism and Telepathy AS INVOLVED IN THE CASE OF V* 3 Mrs. Leonora E. Piper and the Society of Psychical Research, BY Clark Bell, Esq., LL, D. PRESIDENT MEDICO-LEGAL SOCIETY. AND THE DISCUSSION Before the New York Medico-Legal Society and its Psy- chological Section, BY THOMSON JAY HUDSON, LL. D. JOHN DUNCAN QUACKENBOS, M. D. . JUDGE ABRAM H. DAILEY, CLARK BELL, ESQ., LL. D. HON. LUTHER R. MARSH, • r ■ > H. C. WRIGHT, ESQ. ELEANOR GRIDLEY, T. D. CROTHERS, M. D. ALEXANDER WILDER, M. D. WM. LEE HOWARD, M. D. PROF. W. XAVIER SUDDUTH, MRS. MARY A. LEASE, REV. J. MINOT SAVAGE, M. LOUISE THOMAS, RICHARD HODGSON, LL. D. PROF. J. H. HYSLOP, REV. GEO. H. HEPWORTH, C. VAN D. CHENOWETH, LEONORA E. PIPER, F. E. DANIEL, M. D., AND OTHERS. 1902. PUBLISHED BY MEDICO-LEGAL JOURNAL, 39 BROADWAY, N. Y. Copyright, 1902, with all rights reserved, by Clark Bell, Esq. . RV OF sGRESS, )902 V.OHT ENTRY o^XXo. NO COPY B. •i < ••••••• •••• » • : i" ,•• * •• • •• •* • ••• .♦, • • ' • • • • • • » • ■ PREFACE. The questions involved in the discussion of the statement made by Mrs. Leonora E. Piper, as published in the New York Herald, October 20th, 1901, seem to have aroused a great interest in the public mind. It is quite needless to say that it created a profound sensation. In the Psychological Section of the Medico-Legal Society, especially; composed of students of psychological study of all schools of thought, and containing on its roll^ of members those who denied the immortality of the soul, those who be- lieved in what is known as modern spiritism, as well as those who denied it, the statement of Mrs. Piper awakened a very great interest. The whole incident was full of interest, and that it came up for discussion was of course most natural. The Psychological Section in joint session with the Med- ico-Legal Society, devoted two long extended sessions to the discussion of the subject, the December meeting of 1901, and the February meeting of 1902. The call for this discussion, came from all parts of our coun- try and from abroad, and it was such a call as could not well be ignored. The opening discussion at the December meeting received a very extended notice in the public press, confined to a part of the papers read at that meeting, which were published in the December number of the Medico-Legal Journal, delayed so as to embrace them. The remaining papers appeared in the March number of that Journal, and this work will embrace them all in one small volume. The authors have consented in nearly every case that their portraits might appear in the work, and the editor and pub- lisher has embraced them so far as he has been able to do so. It is hoped that the contributions made will be of interest to the students of psychology, as well in the Medico-Legal Society and the Psychological Section as outside of both, and reach a wider circle than the subscribers of the Medico-Legal Journal. The thanks of the author and of the Medico-Legal So- ciety and its Psychological Section are due to the New York Herald, for its courtesy in permitting the publication from its columns of the statement, and from other of its issues on the subject, and for the courtesy of the loan of the electros. Also to Harper Brothers, for some part of Dr. Quackenbos arti- cle, which contained extracts from their published writings by this author, protected by their copy right. Also to Ains- lee's Magazine for its consent to use the article of Dr. J. Minot Savage from its columns, on which they had protected rights. The press is proverbially courteous, and has been especial- ly so in this instance. . C. B. New York, June i, 1902. INDEX TO CONTENTS. Introductory ... Opening Paper by Clark Bell, Esq., LL. D., of New York 1 Spiritism and Mrs. Leonora E. Piper by Thomson J. Hudson, Pb. D., LL. D., of Detroit, Michigan 4 The Mutual Relation in Hypnotism, and its Bearing on Telepathic and and Spiritistic Communication by John Duncan Quackenbos, M. D., of New York City 21 Telepathy and Mrs. Piper by. Clark Bell, Esq., LL. D., of New York. 35 Spiritism and Mrs. Leonora E. Piper, and Dr. Thomson J. Hudson's Theories in Regard to It by Ex-Judge Abram H. Dailey, Ex- President of the Medico-Legal Socieiy of New York 47 Spiritism, Telepathy and Mrs. Piper by Hon. Luther R. Marsh, of Middletown, New York 75 Spiritism, Telepathy and Mrs. Piper by H. C. Wright, Editor of Eltka, of Corry, Pa 77 Psychic Phenomena. Spirit Communication vs. Mental Telepathy by Eleanor Gridley, of Chicago 79 Spiritism, Telepathy, Hypnotism and the case of Mrs. Piper by T. D. Crothers, M. D., of Hartford, Connecticut, Vice President Medico- Legal Society 85 Telepathy, Spiritism, Hypnotism and the case of Mrs. Leonora E. Piper by Alexander Wilder, M. D., of Newark, N. J 87 Spiritism and Mrs. Leonora Piper by Dr. William Lee Howard, of Baltimore, Md 94 Thought Transference versus spiritism as an Explanation of many so called Spiritistic Phenomena by Prof. W. Xavier Sudduth, A. M., M. D., Fellow of the Chicago Academy of Medicine 97 Telepathy, Spiritism and Mrs. Piper by Mary Elizabeth Lease 103 Possibilities by Rev. George H. Hepworth, of New York 106 Spiritism and Mrs. Piper by Richard Hodgson, LL. D., of Boston, Mass. 108 Telepathy, Hypnotism, Spiritism and Mrs. Piper by Mrs. M. Louise Thomas 113 Results of Psychical Research by Rev. Minot J. Savage, D. D 114 Spiritism and Mrs. Leonora E. Piper by Prof. J. H. Hyslop 136 Spiritism and Telepathy by C. Van D. Chenoweth, of Worcester, Mass. 138 Mrs. Piper's Plain Statement as published in the New York Herald. . 140 Prof. Wm. James, of Howard, as published in the New York Herald 150 William S. Walsh, Esq., as published in the New York Hearld. . 151 Dr. F. Wallace Patch, of the Massachusetts General Hospital, as published in the New York Herald 152 Natural or Supernatural? "Spirits" or Telepathy? by F. E. Daniel, M. D., Austin, Texas, Vice-Chairman, Section Psychology, Medico-Legal Society, &c 154 Conclusion and Summing Up of the Discussion by Thomson Jay Hudson, Ph. D., LL. D .163 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. Portrait of Clark Bell, Esq., LL. D 1 " Thomson J. Hudson, Ph. D., LL. D 5 " Dr. John Duncan Quackenbos .... 20 Ex-Judge Abram H. Dailey 46 " Hon. Luther R. Marsh 70 H. C. Wright, Esq 76 " Eleanor Gridley 78 T. D. Crothers, M. D 84 Alexander Wilder, M. D 88 Dr. William Lee Howard 95 Prof. W. Xavier Sudduth, A. M., M. D 96 " Mary Elizabeth Lease 102 " Rev. George H. Hepworth 107 Richard Hodgson, LL. D. . . 109 " Mrs. M. Louise Thomas 112 " Rev. Minot J. Savage, D. D 115 Prof. J. H. Hyslop 137 C. Van D. Chenoweth 139 " Mrs. Leonora E. Piper 141 " F. E. Daniel, M. D 155 CLARK BELL. ESQ.. LL. D.. OF NEW YORK. President Medico-Legal Society of New York, Secretary and Treasurer of the American Congress of Tuberculosis SPIRITISM, HYPNOTISM, TELEPATHY AND MRS. LEONORA E. PIPER. BY CLARK BELL, ESQ., LL. D., OF NEW YORK CITY. The publication in the New York Sunday Herald of Octo- ber 20th, 1 90 1, of an extended written statement made by Mrs. Leonora E. Piper regarding her relation to the Society for Psychical Research and particularly declaring that in her relation to that body as a medium for so many years, she was of the opinion that the phenomena, so far as she could un- derstand it, was due to causes allied to telepathy and hypno- tism rather than to the influence of the so-called spirits of deceased persons; created a lively interest and deep feeling among the students of psychology and modern spiritism, to the study of which many members of the Psychological Sec- tion of the Medico-Legal Society had devoted much atten- tion. The scientific world had regarded the labors of the Societv of Psychical Research on both sides the Atlantic with deep interest, and the persistency and courage, with which this body had pursued its labors, the character and high standing of the men, who had its work in charge, and the fairness, which had characterized its work and publications, had given- great prominence to the evidence it had collected and pub- lished on many subjects. As a body the Society of Psychical Research was not understood to have accepted the phenom- ena, known as modern spiritualism, and while it was known that many who had such opinions were on its roll of member- ship, it was in the early days, at least, not regarded other than a purely scientific body, without any avowed opinions on these subjects, courageously pursuing the study along scien- tific lines of all the phenomena, and under favorable condi- tions and by impartial and unprejudiced observers. Additional interest had been aroused in its work, from the fact, that Dr. Hodgson, who had the work of the society in charge in Boston, and Prof. Hyslop, of Columbia University, Read at February session Medico-Legal Society in joint session with the Psychological Section of that body. 2 SPIRITISM AXD TELEPATHY. •as the result of their studies and investigation, both re- •cently,publicly embraced the spiritistic view as to the phenom- ena which had been conducted through Mrs. Leonora E. Piper, the medium who had been employed by the Society of Psychical Research for many years, and whose integrity and honesty had been quite generally accepted by all with whom she had come in contact. The statement made by Mrs. Piper in the Herald, created a very extraordinary excited state of feeling, and a high pub- lic interest was at once developed in the public mind. I thought it wise and proper to bring the subject before the Psychological Section of the Medico-Legal Society for discussion. At the December meeting, 1901, the discussion was opened by Thomson Jay Hudson, on my invitation, who contributed the opening paper, which was followed by contributions from Judge Abraham H. Dailey, Dr. John Duncan Ouackenboss, Clark Bell, Esq., Hon. Luther R. Marsh, H. C. Wright. Esq., some of whom were only read by title, on account of the time at disposal, and the whole subject made a special order for discussion at the February meeting of the Medico- Legal Society in joint session with the Psychological Section. ;■ ft was deemed advisable, that the several contributions, should be printed in the form of a brochure, and the whole furnished as a volume, upon the subjects which the discussion .involve. And that the language used by Mrs. Leonora E. Piper in the statement, published in her statement as publish- . ed in the New York Herald, be carefully stated, so as to : make the subject of discussion more exact I give the lan- guage of Mrs. Piper which was as follows: tl /am inclined to accept the telepathic explayiation of all of the so called pyschic phenomena, but beyond this I remain a student with the rest of the world. * * "I must truthfully say that I do not believe that spirits of the dead have spoken through me when I have been in the trance state, as investigated by scientific men of Boston and Cambridge, and those of the English Physical Research Society, when 1 taken to England to be studied. It max be that they have, but I do not affirm it." "The world knows that among scientific men the opinions on psychic phenomena are many and varied. I have always SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 3 maintained that these phenomena could be explained in other ways than by the intervention of disembodied spirit forces. ''The theory of telepathy strongly appeals to me, as the most plausible and genuinely scientific solution of the prob- lem. To strengthen this opinion are many authentic exper- iences which have been satisfactorily explained by means of the telepathic hypothesis. [In the reprint where quotations are used from her letter or the opinions of men of science, the Journal will be named : and credit given for all abstracts. Thanks are due the New York Herald and Ainslee's Magazine for courtesies in allow- ing extracts to be made from their publication and to Har- per's Magazine for similar courtesy in the article contributed by Prof. John Duncan Quackenbos to the Medico-Legal So- ciety.] SPIRITISM AND MRS. LEONORA E. PIPER. BY THOMSON JAY HUDSON, PH. D., LL. D., Author of "The Law of Psychic Phenomena," etc. In constructing a title for this paper, I have not been im- pelled to use the name of Airs. Piper because I imagine that her recent statement in the New York Herald has set- tled the question of spiritism adversely to the claims of that cultus. I have not so high an estimate of the value of her opinion. Nor do I agree with her spiritistic enemies in hold- ing that her opinion is valueless because of the amnesia in- cident to trance. This, at most, would place her on a level with outsiders, — and this is their contention. It must be re- membered, however, that not only was Mrs. Piper present at all her seances, but that she had the benefit of subsequent discussions of her phenomena by the able savants who had her in charge, and that she must have read their subsequent reports with much more than ordinary interest and intelli- gence. Moreover, we must not forget that she has been sub- jected, on two hemispheres, and during nearly a score of years, to a key-hole espionage by the ablest detectives of the London Society for Psychical Research: and that she has emerged triumphant, both at home and abroad, — not a shad- ow of a suspicion resting upon her character in any relation of life. Testimonials to this effect from all the leading mem- bers of the Society for Psychical Research have been num- erous and voluminous, and almost hysterical in their ins ence; so that she stands before the public to-day, secure in the possession of the highest possible credentials in proof of her absolute honesty, integrity and purity. It is also in ev- idence that she is liberally endowed with that rarest of all mental attributes — common sense — the inseparable concom- itant of the cardinal virtues. It is idle to say that the opin- ion of a woman tints endowed, and thus fortified bv all that Read before the Psychological Section and the Medico-Legal Society m joint session, Dec. 18, 1901. THOMSON JAY HUDSON PH. D., LL. D. SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 5 gives sanction to human testimony, and who necessarily knows more than any one else can know of the workings of her own inner consciousness, is not of greater value than the opinion of an outsider. Nevertheless, as before remarked,her opinion does not set- tle the question ; and in this respect she remains on a par with all who have opinions on the subject. It is not, therefore, because of her interpretation of her own phenomena that I use her name; but because the investigation of those phenom- ena by the Society of Psychical Research marks an epoch in the history of Spiritism. It is of that investigation that that I propose to offer a few remarks. In doing so I shall not attempt an exhaustive criticism of the methods of inves- tigation employed by the members of that society. I shall merely attempt to point out briefly what I conceive to be the proper method of studying the phenomena in the light of their latest reports detailing the proceedings at the Piper seances. Never before in the history of the scientific investigation of modern spiritism have the conditions been so favorable for the production of decisive results, one way or the other, as in this case. An ideal "medium," mentally, morally and psychically considered, is conceeded, — nay, strenuously in- sisted upon, — by all the investigators. She has been abso- lutely under their control during a long series of years, and necessarily free from the adverse influence of the Philistines. That the investigators are also all that can be desired will be as freely conceeded. They are all gentlemen of great abil- ity, uncompromising integrity and vast learning. Best and most important of all, they have a thoroughly logical appre- ciation of what it is necessary to prove in order to establish the claims of spiritism. That is to say, they know that the one thing needful is proof of personal identity on the part of the sot disant "spirits" who "communicate." In this all- important attitude they stand in violent contrast to that long line of so-called "scientific investigators," on either side of the question, who have imagined, on the one hand, that the essential claims of spiritism can be established by verifying the physical phenomena; and, on the other hand, that those claims can be disproved by catching a trickster in the act of simulating psychical phenomena by legerdemain. In other words, they know that the purely physical phenomena of 6 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. spiritism possess not the slightest evidential value, pending the settlement of the all-inclusive question of personal iden- tity. They know, for instance, that if a piano should be lev- itated to the ceiling without physical contact or mechanical appliances, and all the rest of the household furniture should go into convulsions, the question would still remain whether the energy displayed proceeded from discarnate spirits, or was due to the ''psychic force" (Crookes) of the medium. Hence they have wisely determined to ignore all physical phenomena, and to confine their attention to such mediums as Airs. Piper, through whom, according to the spiritistic hy- pothesis, spirits can establish their identity by direct conver- sation with the sitter. It is but simple justice to the British members of the S. P. R. to say that to them the credit is due for thus divesting the subject of all those irrelevant side issues which have hereto- fore served but to obscure the real question. It is, however, with a glow of patriotic pride that we recall the fact that they were compelled to come to this country for an honest med- ium, and to draw upon our universities for a man capable of conducting a spritistic propaganda in the highest style of the art. It is but a matter of common justice to say that Pro- fessor Hyslop is the ablest psychical researcher who has yet attempted a personal investigation of the Piper phenomena. Hie is the peer of the best in scholastic attainments: he is Professor of Logic in Columbia University: his honesty is transparent, and the report of his investigations covers 649 pages of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. If therefore, he has failed to make a case for spiritism, one never can be made this side of the borderland; for there probably can never again be assembled under one roof such a combination of favorable conditions and instrumentalities. If there was an unsound element in the combination it did not reside with thie medium, nor in the character or ability or attainments of the investigator. Xor do I see the slightest reason for distrusting his statements of fact. His deficiencies, therefore, if any are to be found, must be either in logic, or in the propaedeutics of psychic science, or in both. The discussion of the subject will be conducted under two heads: 1, The issue that Professor Hyslop has defined: and 2. The issue that Prof. Hyslop has ignored. SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. Referring at large to the phenomena detailed in his report, Professor Hyslop says: 'The issue that is presented here, is simply whether spirit- ism, or telepathy from living persons exclusively, is the more rational hypothesis to account for the facts." It will thus be seen that the learned professor of logic as- sumes at the outset that the two hypotheses stand on an equal footing, thus forgetting for the moment the logical, axiom that supermundane causes must never be assigned to phenomena so long as they or their cognates are explicable by reference to known natural causes. To hold spiritism strictly to this rule, however, would be to end the discussion before it begins, for all admit that the "great bulk" (Myers) of the supernormally acquired knowl- edge of mediums is due to telepathy. It would, therefore, re- quire demonstrative proof to overcome the logical implica- tion that all such knowledge is not thus acquired; just as it would require the production and public exhibition of a "white crow" (James) to prove that crows are not all black. It would, however, require but one white crow for that pur- pose, and it would require but one demonstrated case of sur- vival of personal consciousness after the death of the body to prove the essential claim of spiritism — a future life. But this one case has not yet been produced, and Prof. Hyslop is frank enough to admit that he has demonstrated nothing. (See note on p. 4 of his report.) The issue, therefore, as he has defined it, is conservative and legitimate. To prepare one for an intelligent discussion of the ques- tion whether spiritism or telepathy is the more rational hy- pothesis to account for the phenomena produced by Mrs. Piper, it would seem that the essential prerequisite would be a knowledge (1) of the facilities and the difficulties, real or supposed, incident to communicating with spirits of the dead, and (2) of the methods, powers and limitations of tele- pathic communication between living persons. Unfortu- nately we can know nothing of the former except what spirit- ists to tell us; and their stories are so contradictory that it is impossible for the layman to assign any certain limits to the difficulties or to the facilities. Thus, the old spiritists tell us that communication is always easy, providing we have a good medium and a harmonious environment. The late Prof. Hare, for instance, found no difficulty whatever in organizing 8 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. a "convocation of spirits'' of the ablest dead men he could think of, who cheerfully submitted to a prolonged catechism. To say that Prof. Hare learned from that "convocation," and •others equally well posted, all that was worth knowing about the spirit land and other things, would be to unduly limit the scope of the acquired information. Judge Edmunds was equally fortunate in obtaining authentic information, not only of the geography and topography of the spirit land, but of its current philosophy; whilst Andrew Jackson Davis suc- ceeded, without apparent effort, in tapping the philosophers of all the ages for material for upwards of thirty volumes of most remarkable literature. Thousands of others were equally fortunate in obtaining access to the inhabitants of all the spheres. Nor were the spirits tl emselves in the habit of complaining of lack of facilities, even when a Daniel Web- ster addressed his sitters in the language of a stevedore; or Noah Webster spelled Jehovah with a little g, or Lindlev Murray split his infinitives into kindling-wood. The enemy might blaspheme, and to do them entire justice they did, but the spirits themselves were oblivious to all such degenera- tive implications. They did not complain of difficulties of communication, nor of the failure of "light," nor of infirmi- ties due to their last illness of the body, nor of the failure of memory, nor of any of the multiform infirmities which afflict Mrs. Piper's familiar spirits when submitting to a scientific •examination. It is true that there were occasional lapses of. memory, as when Socrates forgot that he had been a Greek- philosopher, and "thee'd" and "thpu'd" like a Quaker when proudly recalling his career as a Roman Senator. This lapse, however, was afterwards explained by an erudite spiritist by saying that those "old fellows" have been dead so long that they have forgotten the "unimportant particulars" of their earthly lives. Satisfactory as this explanation is to spiritists, it does not explain the amnesia oi another spirit at the same sitting who had forgotten his own middle name within a year after entering the spirit land. Xor does it explain the prompt response of "Cantharides, the Greek philosopher," when that coleopterous "personality" was summoned by a waggish Philistine. That, however, was easily explained by the statement that there are always spirits present at seances who delight in serving the cause of Truth by promptly "meeting fraud with fraud." In the logic of spiritism this SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. J) formula has always occupied a foremost place, and it still performs yeoman's service whenever a fictitious personage responds with alacrity to a summons. But then, as now, there were mediums and mediums. Some were ignorant, and others were educated. Some of them were destitute of the ability to acquire information by supernormal means; whilst others could at times correctly name the strangers present at their seances, and describe and name a long list of their friends, living or dead. At other times the same mediums would fail miserably. In a word, the same diversity of mediumistic powers prevailed then, as now; the same "harmonious conditions'' were requisite; and super- normally acquired knowledge on the part of mediums was even more common than it is to-day. But there was one significant circumstance connected with early mediumship that does not prevail at this time; and that is that modern spiritism found a host of ready trained psychics in the mes- meric subjects of that epoch. Mesmerism was at the zenith of its popularity, mesmeric subjects were numerous, and under mesmeric methods telepathic powers were easily developed, and the exhibition of those powers was commonly the piece de resistance of the stage curriculum. But the significant part of it was that, not only was every mesmeric subject found to be a good medium, but the best of the mediums, that is to say, those who could demonstrate their possession of knowledge snpernormally acquired, were for a long time drawn almost exclusively from those whose telepathic powers had been previously developed by mesmeric methods. This fact was noted at the time by the opponents of spiritism, and •telepathy was thus shown to afford an easy explanation of all supernormally acquired information. Indeed, Dr. Dods, a noted mesmerist of that day, paralleled every phase of that class of spiritistic phenomena by the employment of mes- meric psychics and processes. With Dr. Dods it was but the a b c of mesmerism to develop telepathic powers in his sub- jects so perfectly that they could correctly describe events wholly unknown to the psychic or to any other person pres- ent. And this is all that the best mediums can ever do. It is all that spiritists claim can be done in proof of personal identity. It is true that in experimental telepathy the "dra- matic play of personality" is necessarily lacking. Of this ""dramatic play" Prof. Hyslop discourses exhaustively, seem- 10 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. ingly oblivious of the fact that trance subjects, are dominated by the inexhorable law of suggestion; and that any suggested character will always be dramatically personated, and with marvelous fidelity to the original,be it a dog or a philosopher, a spirit of health or a goblin damned. This, however, is a digression. The point I wish remem- bered is that the alleged difficulties of communication by spirits seem to be widely variant ; and that the facility in each case appears to be proportioned, not to the mental capacity of the spirit, but to the psychic powers of the medium. This, to say the least, is not what one would naturally expect, if the communications are from spirits. But we know that if the phenomena are to be explained by telepathy, the psychic powers of the medium must necessarily be the measure of limitation. But, as before remarked, it is impossible to know what are the difficulties which beset communicators from other worlds than ours. One thing, however, appears to be beyond ques- tion, if we are to accept the testimony of spiritists, and that is that the spirits are as voluble as fishwives when they tell us something that can neither be verified nor disproved; but when subjected to anything like a scientific investigation their volubility is succeeded by a remarkable want of facility of clear and unequivocal expression, and they aFe troubled by a constantly recurring failure of "light." At critical moments their memory fails them, and they forget their own names and those of their nearest relatives. At other times, how- ever, they have lucid intervals, the light is clear, and they can give names and dates with great facility, besides giving in- formation that neither the psychic nor the sitters could have previously obtained through sensory channels. These are some of the salient features of the limitation and of the power displayed by Mrs. Piper's spirits for the benefit of science and Professor Hyslop. And it must not be for- gotten in this connection that special facilities were provided in his case for easy, free, and unlimited communication, with- out reference to the infirmities that might happen to afflict the particular spirits called for. To that end two great spir- its were imported from England to act as amanuenses and advisors generally. They were specially well qualified by ex- perience, having already acquired an international reputation by acting in the capacity of Familiars of the late W. Stainton SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 11 Moses. They were good, and wise, and great; and their names, respectively, were "Imperator" and "Rector," — names well calculated to impress. That they w r ere good is evidenced by their uniformly pious language and deport- ment. That were wise is shown by their refusal to reveal their own identity. That they were great is demonstrated by the fact that they had, before emigrating to America, evolved a system of spiritistic philosophy that converted an English orthodox clergyman from the error of his ways. Manifestly the performance of such a feat must have re- quired unlimited facilities for communication, plenty of light, a retentive memory, and an unfailing vocabulary. And it is in evidence that they had all these, and much more, under the mediumship of Stainton Moses. But it was all in violent contrast with the paralytic conditions prevailing under the Piper-Hyslop regime. I think that spiritists will agree with me that the contrast is due to variant mediumistic powers, rather than to varying facilities for knowing things, and com- municating them, on the part of the same spirits. If, then, it is due ro the variant psychic powers of the mediums, I have a right to assume, provisionally, at least, that the limi- tations, always most in evidence when personal identity is in question, are the limitations of telepathy between living per- sons. This leads us to the second branch of our inquiry, namely, as to "the methods, powers and limitations of telepathic communications between living persons." As I promised merely to suggest in this paper the proper method of studying Prof. Hyslop's report from a scientific standpoint, I shall, in pursuing this branch of the inquiry, cite but a few illustrative examples showing that the successes and the failures of his alleged "communicators" were just such as are incident to telepathic communications. The following propositions are too well authenticated and understood by all intelligent psychical researchers to require proofs to sustain them: (i) Telepathy is a power belonging exclusively to the subjective mind, or the "subliminal self," as it is frequently desiginated by the S. P. R. That is to say, the objective mind, or "supraliminal self," which is the mind of ordinary waking consciousness, is not necessarily aware of the content of the subjective mind. Hence the phenomenon of "latent 12 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. memory," as Sir William Hamilton designated it may years ago. That is, knowledge once acquired may remain latent in the subjective mind for an indefinite period. It may, how- ever, be elevated above the threshold of normal conscious- ness in many ways, as by automatic writing, etc., or it may be reached by telepathy. (2) Telepathic powers are best developed under abnormal conditions, as in trance, or in spontaneous or induced som- nambulism. (3) These powers vary in efficiency with different psychics, and in the same psychic they vary at different times, and under varying conditions which are not yet clearly defined. (4) Rapport is, of course, always necessary; but the essen- tial conditions of rapport are not yet clearly understood. It is known, however, that relatives and friends are either actually or potentially en rapport at all times. These fundamental facts will not be disputed; and when they are considered in connection with the prodigious — if not perfect, — memqry of the subjective mind, it will be seen that no limits can at present be assigned to the potentialities of telepathy. Its limitations, however, are more clearly defined and understood. Hence it is that, one who is acquainted with those limitations and their proximate causes, is better qualified to account for the failures of telepathy than any one can be to assign limits to its potentialities. But it so hap- pens that even a knowledge of the causes of failure is of great value in enabling one to know to what class a particular phenomenon belongs. The fundamental difficulty in telepathic communication consists in the fact that the power is not adapted to practical mundane uses. It seems,in fact.to be a means of communicat- ing thoughts especially adapted to a disembodied existence; for it is never available here except under abnormal condi- tions. Even under the most favorable conditions the thoughts communicated must be interpreted, so to speak, in terms of our sensory experience. That is to say, the percip- ient must be caused to see something (visions) or hear some- thing (clairaudience) that will enable her to grasp the idea sought to be communicated. It will at once be seen that the inherent difficulties of tele- pathic communication are great, and in the conveyance of abstract ideas they are practically insuperable. It is true SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 1 3 ; that if a psychic is clairaudient, and conditions are perfect, much may be conveyed in words. But clairaudience is a. rare faculty, and perfect conditions hard to obtain; and when obtained they rarely last long enough for purposes of scien- tific investigation. We may, therefore, confine our attention to the most common methods of communicating telepathic information, which is by causing the percipient to see visions that convey the idea. I shall do this, not only because it is the most common method, but because it is, all things considered, the best that has yet been devised; and for further reason that it is evidently the one employed in the Piper seances. It is obvious that intelligence communicated by means of visions must be extremely limited in scope and subject-mat- ter. It is, in fact, just that kind of information that can be conveyed, in objective life, by a series of pictures; or, at best, by pantomime. Anything, therefore, that can be told by a picture, as for instance, a tragedy, can be very clearly repro- duced by a good psychic, under good conditions. But ab- stract ideas cannot be thus represented. Symbolical visions, it. is true, may sometimes convey such intelligence to a very limited extent; but its limitations are obvious. Again, under favorable conditions a vision may be very distinct; but those conditions are subject to frequent changes, and for no assign- able cause; so that at one moment a psychic may be very lucid, and at the next be groping in the "dark.' This literally describes the situation when conditions fail;for telepathic vis- ions, when the psychic's eyes are closed, come out of the darkness, with varying brilliancy, when conditions are favor- able; and fade into it again, with varying indistinctness, when conditions fail. In a word, the lucidity of a telepathist is proportioned to the clearness of her visions ; and the clearest of them are often evavescent, unstable, and "variable as the shade." Mrs. Piper's soi disant spirits, therefore, described an actual want, in literal terms, when they so often com- plained of the failure of "light." Again, it frequently hap- pens that the fault is not in the psychic so much as in the sitter; for the clearness of a telepathic vision depends largely upon the power of visualization possessed by the subjective mind of the agent or sitter. This power varies in intensity in different individuals; and in the same person it fluctuates within very wide limits. The reasons for this are not yet 14 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. clearlv understood; but it seems to depend upon the passivity of the individual. Hence it is that trained psychics make the best sitters or agents; for they are habitually passive at seances, and their subjective minds are habitually active, — and that mind is the source of all information in telepathy. On the other hand, a novice often defeats the object of a seance by his over-anxiety, or want of passivity, to say noth- ing of his lack of subliminal training. It should be here noted that telepathic messages cognized clairaudiently are subject to the same limitations of power and fluctuations of conditions. That is to say, a clairaudient psychic does not always hear clearly, any more than does a clairvoyant psychic always see clearly. Hence it happens that it either case, when conditions are imperfect or fluctuat- ing, proper names are difficult to perceive. Some psychics, however, are both clairaudient and clairvoyant, to a limited extent, and thus have two strings to their bow. But even they are subject to the same uncertain conditions and limita- tions, and hence cannot always be certain of proper names; or, for that matter, of anything else. I mention proper names particularly because the failures in cognizing them, by even the best of psychics, are frequent in so-called spirit in- tercourse as well as in experimental telepathy, and presum- ably for thesame reasons. One important fact remains to be noted, and that is that proper names, and sometimes other words, and even short sentences, are telepathically conveyed to clairvoyant psychics by means of visions of printed or written words, projected into the field of psychic vision. Obviously, the foregoing remarks relating to the varying conditions of telepathic lucidity, apply with peculiar force to phantasmic representa- tions of words or phrases, and especially of proper names. I have now stated a few of the salient powers and limita- tions of telepathy with especial reference to the difficulties habitually encountered in communicating intelligence by that means. They are among the propaedeutics of psychic science, without an understanding of which it is impossible to either appreciate the potentialities of telepathy, or to intelli- gently assign causes for its multiform failures and limita- tions. With an understanding of them we can at least judge, with proximate certainty, in any correctly reported case, whether the difficulties encountered are such as are SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 15 incident to telepathy. If we find that they are, we have a right to assume telepathy to be the true explanation of the mvsteries, at least until it is definitely shown to be either inadequate, or impossible, or both. Professor Hyslop has essayed the task of proving that it is both inadequate and impossible; but to do so he assumes the existence of difficul- ties that do not exist except in his imagination, as I shall attempt to show in its proper place. First, however, I desire to suggest the proper method of analysing his report by citing a few illustrative examples, taken at random, showing beyond a reasonable doubt that telepathy affords an explanation of all the phenomena he de- scribes. In doing so I shall assume, provisionally, that all the supernormally acquired information possessed by the medium existed, latent, in the subjective mind of the sitter. How so much of it got there is a question second to none in importance; but it must be deferred for the moment. The first point to which I wish to invite attention relates to proper names. Those who have read the report (S. P. R. Proc. part XLI. Vol. XVI.) will remember the constant alternation of lucidity and amnesia on the part of somebody, — spirits or Mrs. Piper's 'subliminal — when the names of alleged communicators were called for. Often the name would be given with gratifying promptitude; but at other times — when the "light" failed — there would be groping, guess-work, "fishing" for clues, and sometimes total failure, followed by very voluble explanations that did not explain. Time and space forbids the citation of special examples; but they confront us almost everywhere in the report. Prof. Hyslop tells us that it is all due to the limitations of spirit power, first to remember the simplest facts of mundane exper- ience, and, secondly,to communicate that knowledge through the best of mediums. Of these limitations we can know nothing, of course, except what Prof. Hyslop tells us. But, how does he know? He also informs us that the trouble h not due to the limitations of telepathy, because telepathy has no limitations. That is to say, he holds that the phenomena in question cannot be due to telepathy if telepathic knowledge is not "infinite," or "omniscient," — which is a very easy,if not a logical, way of disposing of a difficulty. Of this, later on. Nevertheless, anyone who knows anything at all of tele- pathy is aware that it is hedged about by just such difficulties 16 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. in regard to names as were encountered in the Piper-Hyslop seances. Moreover, to suppose that those difficulties were due to the mental status of the spirits themselves, involves implications of degeneracy not warranted by current sprit- istic philosophy. Again, there are many other phenomena detailed in the report which point clearly, — almost demonstrably, — to tele* pathy; as, for instance, when the medium — or the soi disant spirit — undertook to state the disease of which he, or some- one else, died. In one instance it was incorrectly stated as typhoid fever; and in another it was correctly stated as throat disease. Obviously, typhoid fever could not well be repre- sented by a phantasm, but a sore throat could be easily repre- sented by a vision of a person with a bandaged throat. Much stress has been laid upon the fact that a certain jack- knife, belonging to Prof. Hyslop's father, was correctly de- scribed, together with some of the uses for which it was em- ployed during its late owner's lifetime, such as paring his nails, etc. I submit that it is not difficult to imagine the pro- jection of a phantasmic jack-knife upon Mrs. Piper's field of psychic vision; nor would it seem to be difficult to guess at some of its uses, even without the aid of a phantasm. Again,much of evidential value is attached, by Prof. Hyslop, to the fact that Mrs. Piper correctly described a skull-cap once worn by his father; but the name of the person with whom it was left was difficult to obtain. This very clearly illustrates the foregoing remarks relating to the comparative difficulty in obtaining names by telepathy. I might cite many more examples of a similar character. — but time and space forbid. But they will serve to suggest to the student the proper method of analyzing the Piper phenomena as reported by Prof. Hyslop. All that is neces- sary is to bear in mind the methods of telepathy and its con- sequent limitations. When this rule is intelligently observed there will be found no difficulty in the telepathic explanation of all that seems so mysterious to Professor Hyslop. As before remarked, I have thus far assumed that all the supernormally acquired knowledge of which Mrs. Piper was possessed, was not only obtained telepathically, but that it was obtained directly from the subjective mind of Professor Hyslop. This the Teamed Doctor would strenuously deny, on the ground that the great bulk of the information upon SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 17 which he relies to prove his case for spiritism, was never known to him before he obtained it from Mrs. Piper, — but was, however, subsequently verified. And I freely admit that neither Professor Hyslop nor any other person present at the Piper-Hyslop seances was ever in conscious possession of any of the facts revealed by the trance personality of the medium, prior to the date of the seances. The question now arises, — and this is the crucial question for spiritism, — how did Mrs. Piper obtain that wonderful fund of information which she so haltingly gave out at those famous seances? Before attempting to answer this question from my own point of view I will state the position of Professor Hyslop. To do entire justice to the intelligence of the learned Pro- fessor, he does not seriously deny the fact of the existence of telepathy as a possible factor in some cases. On the other hand, however, he holds that spiritism is the preferable hypothesis for the explanation of the Piper phenomena, for the reason that the telepathic theory necessarily presupposes "infinite knowledge" on the part of the psychic. It is, there- fore, in his mind, "spiritism against omniscience," (page 134). No wonder that he "halts" on page I33,and becomes "suspic- ious" on page 136, and actually "gasps" on the same page "at the magnitude o'f the theories that are invented to sustain the case against spiritism." And well may skeptical science also "gasp," not to say, "throw up the sponge," if it has at last come to pass that the hypothesis .of superstition can be disproved by no other argument than one that is based upon the presupposition that Mrs. Piper is "omniscient." To do Professor Hyslop justice it must be said that he did not invent the theory. That he believes it, or thinks he does, is evinced by his constant reiteration of it; but he manages to throw the blame of it upon Dr. Hodgson. (p. 157.) In defense of Dr. Hodgson it should be stated that he is not wholly responsible; for Dr. Bovee Dods, in one of his lec- tures, gave utterance to a similar extravagance when under- taking to account for the supernormally acquired knowledge of his mesmeric subjects. (See his lectures on spiritism, pp 83-4). To his credit be it said, however, that his extravagant notions did not extend to implications of omniscience; and in further extenuation it must be remembered that he wrote fifty years ago, and knew nothing of the later development of .18 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. •experimental psychology. Nevertheless, he did develop .telepathy in his subjects to such an extent that they came into possession of knowledge of facts not previously known to any one present. But, how to account for the fact, he knew neither more nor less than do the ablest spiritists of the S. P. R. spiritistic propaganda. He did know, however, that -spirits of the dead had nothing to do with it. The question now is, is it necessary to suppose that Mrs. Tiper was possessed of "infinite knowledge" in order to ac- count for her possession of information not previously exist- ent in the normal consciousness of any one present? Is it necessary to suppose that she is either actually or potentially in communication with the "whole Universe of intelligence'' in order to account for the facts? Is it even necessary to suppose that she was in telepathic communication with any • one on earth, or in Heaven above, besides Professor Hyslop? I think not. It seems to me that it is only necessary to suppose that Professor Hyslop was en rapport with the members of his own family, in order to account for his possession, sublimin- ally, of all the knowledge that was in evidence at the Piper seances. Certainly there is nothing in the history of tele- pathic investigation to negative this proposition. Indeed, it may be confidentially asserted that if observation and exper- ience teaches us anything at all in reference to that myster- ious power, it is that relatives and friends are always en rap- port, and that they are always either actually or potentially, in communication. This is, perhaps, the most important induc- tion possible in the case, and it certainly makes for the telepathic theory; for all of the "communicators," of evident- ial importance, were relatives of the sitter. But as yet we know little of the power of telepathic acquisition of knowl- edge; but all that we do know goes to show that it is enorm- ous. The limitations apparently pertain wholly to the power of communicating the acquired intelligence, as I have already shown. It is also known that the great bulk of subliminal intelligence remains latent, indefinitely, and is never, except tinder abnormal conditions, elevated above the threshold of normal consciousness. It is also in evidence that subliminal memory is prodigious, — potentially, if not actually, perfect; so that what once enters that storehouse of memory is always available under favorable conditions. SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 19 These are a few of the inductions of modern psychological science pertinent in this case; and it cannot be successfully controverted that they afford a full explanation of the fact that the knowledge which Mrs. Piper obtained existed in the subjective mind of her sitter. I submit that it is a far call between ''omniscience" and the conclusions derivable from the fundamental facts of psychic science. The only question now remaining is whether the knowl- edge which, presumably, was thus telepathically acquired, was conveyed by the same means to Mrs. Piper's subliminal consciousness. This is the issue which Professor Hyslop has seen fit to utterly ignore. And yet it is really the only pertinent issue in the case. To reduce it to its lowest terms, it is this: Can information, telepathically acquired, be telepathically transmitted to a third person? If it can, spiritism, considered as a scientific proposition, has not a leg to stand upon; for not a case has yet been re- corded that cannot be telepathically explained if that simple proposition is true. There may be cases where the chain of telepathic transmission is difficult to trace. But so momen- tous a propsition as spiritism embraces cannot be logically sustained by an occasional failure of positive evidence against it. There are no logical presumptions in favor of a supermundane explanation of any phenomenon whatever. Indeed, the presumptions are all against it, even in the absence of evidence to disprove it; and when, as in this case, the great bulk of cognate phenomena are explicable by refer- ence to known mundane causes,all supermundane hypotheses are summarily ejected from the court of logical inquiry. The question, then, recurs, — "can telepathically acquired information be telepathically transmitted to a third person?" My proposition is this: A message transmitted from A to B, by any means of communicating human intelligence, can be transmitted, conditions being equal, from B to C by the same means. If not, why not? This is a very simple proposition, and its truth is self-evi- dent. It is what Herbert Spencer wold denominate a "univer- sal postulate;" for "its opposite is inconceivable"— unthink- able. Besides, it has been demonstrated, again and again, by 20 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. experimental telepathy, that telepathy by three, or as the French call it, "telepathic a trois," is not only a possible, but a very common, phenomenon. There is nothing left, therefore, for spiritism to do but to deny a self-evident proposition, for, if it is true, the tele-i pathic hypothesis covers, not only every case cited by Pro- fessor Hyslop, but every case within the range of human conception. In conclusion, I beg leave to say one word to both the friends and the foes of spiritism, in commendation of Pro- fessor Hyslop's report. The former will find it to be the ablest effort yet made to give spiritism a scientific status. If he has failed it is not for lack of zeal or ability. The lat- ter will find in it a transparently honest report of the details of each seance. This is all that science can ask of a reporter of phenomena. It will take care of its own conclusions. If the internal 'evidence of the report overwhelmingly defeats the object of his argument, Professor Hyslop has not conceal- ed the fact. Considered from any point of view — as a lit- erary production, as a defense of spiritism, as an honest re- port of facts, or as an effort to obscure the vital issues in- volved, it is the ablest spiritistic document extant. JOHN DUNCAN QVACKENBOS, M. D. OF NEW YORK CITY. THE MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP IN HYPNOTISM, AND ITS BEARING ON TELEPATHIC AND SPIRITISTIC COMMUNICATION. BY DR. JOHN DUNCAN QUACKENBOS, OF NEW YORK CITY. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Medico-Legal Society — Sec- tion on Psychology: You have asked me, through your honored President, Dr. Clark Bell, to express an opinion this evening regarding the nature of the communications reported in the proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (Part XLI.) as having been received by Professor James H. Hyslop, of Columbia University, from Mrs. Piper, the spiritistic medium. It has occurred to me that an appropriate prelude to the inference which I shall draw might consist in a statement of the re- lationship apprehended by me to exist between the mind of an hypnotic operator and the subjective personality of the individual operated upon, through which relationship the minds in rapport are obnoxious to mutual impression. The conclusions which I have reached along this line of recipro- cal communication are derived from some two thousand sev- eral experiences with hypnotized patients. These subjects sought my aid for almost every conceivable malady, mental and moral; some for ethico-spiritual, many for literary or dramatic inspiration. I have thus been brought into closest touch with the human soul, first objectively; subsequently, in the realm of subliminal life, where, practically liberated in the hypnotic slumber from its entanglement with a perish- able body it has been open to approach by the objective mind in which it elected to confide, dynamically absorptive of creative stimulation by that mind, and lavish in dispensing to the personality in rapport the suddenly apprehended riches of its own higher spiritual nature. To a recent inquiry as to how it was possible for him to engage without injury to his physical and mental health so Read before the Medico-Legal Society, Psychological Section, December 18,1901. 22 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. unremittingly in his work as a suggestionist — a work that implies concentrated intellectual effort and is daily prosecut- ed on an average from 9 a. m. until midnight — the author of this paper made the reply: "Because I get something back from my patients; otherwise, I should be a nervous bank- rupt." It is my purpose this evening to investigate the hyp- notic procedure with a view to ascertaining what it is that the hypnotist who throws his soul into his work may receive in return from his subject; to offer a philosophical explana- tion of the spiritual exosmose and endosmose. Much has been written of the action of the operator and the passion of the subject. It is always what a suggestionist is doing to his mesmerizee, never what the mesmerizee is doing to his suggestionist. But the patient is as active subliminally as is the operator objectively; and the operator, where genuine rapport is established, realizes this activity. It may be well for me to state at the outset that I under- stand hypnotic suggestion to be of the nature of inspiration; and the result of it is assumption of control either where con- trol is relaxed or in fields where it has not before been exer- cised. Hypnotic suggestion is a summoning into ascend- ency of the true man; an accentuation of insight into life and its procedures; a revealing, in all its beauty and strength and significance, of absolute, universal, and necessary truth; and a portraiture of happiness as the assured outcome of living in consonance with this truth. It is not a mere pulling up of weeds by the roots as Horace Fletcher describes it in "Menticulture": but it is a sudden overshadowing and starv- ing out of character defects and mental weaknesses by a tropical growth of ethical energy which seeks immediate outlet in the activities of a moral life. The patient freely expresses his best self post-hypnotically, without effort, from a plane above that of the will — the plane of apprehen- sion and of spontaneous command along lines of thought and action that are high and true. Thus is effected a per- fect agreement between the law of right and the intelligent creature. Such inspiration cannot be mere lip-work or rote-lesson. It implies a sincere belief in the suggestions offered; control by lofty, inflexible principles: an eloquent and incisive man- ner born of the courage of conviction: in short, it is a trans- fusion of personality. Perfunctory speeches are of no avail, SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 23 T ' for the mind of the mesmerizee is endowed with supranormal insight, instantaneously detects the disingenuous, and re- jects the counsel of an uncandid or lukewarm guide. The wear and tear of a continuous service in practical hypnotics, covering not only all phases of abnormal mental and moral attitudes, but involving as well inspirational work of the most difhcult kind, is certainly out of the ordinary;, the rapid recovery therefrom is phenomenal. There are grades of depression, time differences as regards the re-es- tablishment of the operator's nervous balance, and degrees of subsequent uplift. Some patients are more exhausting; than others, some mysteriously exalt, many are seemingly/ negative, all who in sincerity and faith seek moral or intel- lectual aid through hypnotic channels, in some way, immedi- ately or remotely, refresh, exhilarate and nerve the mind that offers it. There is a more marked return in ethico-spiritual than in intellectual inspiration; little reciprocal benefit at- tends the treatment of mere physical conditions. Persons suffering from moral perversions and remorse consume more than the average amount of nervous energy, perhaps because they need a more generous quota of help. In certain instan- stances it would seem as if the sufferer secured relief by cast- ing upon the physician the whole burden of his imperative conception, self reproach, remorse, worry or fear. It may require hours or even days for one who extends aid subject- ively to lift from his soul the dead weight of such an imposi- tion. Coarse natures are especially trying; while refined minds ennoble and exalt from the earliest moment of con- tact. The more spiritual the work, the more marked the ascent, and the greater the consequent indifference of the op- erator to all worldly or purely material considerations. One seems sustained upon a higher plane where neither thought, nor passion, nor volition can intrude to ruffle the serene sur- face of his soul. Some twelve months ago, in the up-rush of a violent nerve storm centering in a series of vicious assaults upon my integ- rity, there came into my life a spiritually-minded patient with the following request: "My deepest desire is consciously to realize my oneness with the Infinite God of Love. Im- press upon me, as I sleep, the conviction that I have within me forces which, if I could but recognize them,would lift me to higher levels and open my soul to the illapse divine. Put 24 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. into operation these spiritual powers, that I may lose myselx in an acceptable service to others, and therein taste the per- fect fruits of faith, aspiration, and love." Whereas I make no pretense to such power as would be implied in a literal response to the longings of this soul, and so explained my po- sition to the petitioner, I do believe that by presentation of sovereign truth below the threshold of consciousness — that is, subliminal presentation — a soul may be made a hundred fold more intensely receptive than through mere objective exhortation. On this principle, I put the lady into a sug- gestible mind state, and as the inspiration proceeded, I felt myself elevated above the plane of the material and the tran- sient, placed out of reach of worry thought and misgiving, and rendered incapable of irritation by the ingeniously con- trived annoyances that had disturbed me hitherto. I real- ized a potency within me that was in every way adequate to the occasion; I became insensible to accusation and insult, I was made immune to the toxin of resentment. Association with pure souls in the realm of the subliminal has repeatedly proved similarly cheering and uplifting. Such uplift is to be -carefully distinguished from the sense of self-congratulation that attends the doing of a kindness — from the gratification of that lively disinterested feeling which is a part of our an- imal nature, and which forever prompts us to make ourselves happy by making others happy first. It is marked by a pe- culiar erethismic thrill or shock, which would seem to accom- pany the touch of a soul. The inspiring suggestion blesses him that gives as well as him that takes. But one must enter the ethico-spiritual field to experience the exaltation described in its perfection. In pure intellect- ual inspiration, in higher hypno-pedagogics, for instance, in- volving the exhibition to a sleeping subject of potential en- dowment and the post-hypnotic spontaneous expression of such endowment in the objective lifer— there is uplift of a dif- ferent nature, similar, though specifically superior to the sat- isfaction accompanying felicitous objective instruction, per- suasion or inspiration. The qualifying of a college student's subliminal for a rigid examination: the symmetrical develop- ment of unbalanced mental faculties into harmoniously act- ing forces; the equipment of a talented woman for author- ship or the stage — bring different degrees of intellectual com- pensation. In the creative communication that evolves a SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 25 ;great actress, spiritual chords may be set in vibration as the true aim of dramatic art is pictured to be, not the mere rep- resentation of passion in itself, but of passion that leads to meritorious action — when tragedy is conceived of as poetry in its deepest earnest, and poetry as beauty plus spir- ituality. In the case of an actress inspired by me within the year and risen at a single bound to fame and fortune, the line of suggestion was as follows : ''You are now in a position to realize your talent and your power over its expression; and you are going on the stage in January — free from all agitation, having grasped in full the dramatic idea of the play whose heroine you are and con- fident in your own interpretation of the character of . Your acting throughout will be consistent with this interpre- tation, sincere and natural in its tone. You will know intui- itively where the touch of nervousness is required to express the assumed emotion, when to affect a look of despair,how to manage the quick transition from real fright to apparent in- nocence. Your acting will be without artificiality, false to fact, but true to faith, your own conception. Realizing the efficiency within you, your whole being instinct with an in- tense vitality, you will naturally and unconstrainedly cast in- to your art all the magic that fascinates, all the control that holds an audience from first to last — your self-possession re- tained, but your self-consciousness all but submerged in your impersonation. So doing, you will impress without effort those who witness your acting with your masterly portrait- tire, with the superior quality of your representation, your truthfulness to nature, your heavy-handed realism. And you will be your own best automatic critic through it all, so con- fident in your talent and your spontaneous control over its utterance, that you will realize your elevation to a plane above necessity for sympathy from your audience. You have arisen in all the strength and fearlessness and majesty of your womanhood, and in all the glory of your genius, to assert yourself, and you can stand, if need be, unabashed be- fore the world." This gave the lady immediate insight into her endowment, with confidence in its expression, and she went before the footlights a consummate mistress of her art, to be curtained many times throughout the winter after the climax of the play. 26 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. To achieve this result, the lady in question was brought to a full realization of herself in her higher relationships; and wherever this is accomplished by the suggestionist, there is sure to be spiritual indemnification for the energy expended in awakening apprehension of the self at its best. The reciprocal influence implied in hypnotic rapport is ex- plicable on the principle of action and reaction, the third law of Sir Isaac Newton, viz: "To every action there is al- ways an equal contrary reaction; a given body cannot press or attract another body without being itself pressed or at- tracted with equal force in an opposite direction." To car- ry this natural law into the world spiritual, no soul can im- press another soul or personal intelligence without being re- ciprocally impressed. A soul errant in rapport experiences during the hour of impact with the mind of a pure-hearted suggestionist, a change in the direction of its aspirations or spiritual motions, and its total ethical energy is made actual. To the soul of the operator that stooped to point a way of es- cape to the sin-burdened spirit of the mesmerizee, is imparted a contrary upward motion and it rises to the heights of ap- prehension, spiritual insight and spontaneous yet absolute in- tellectual command. But in its ascent, it is not companion- less; the emancipated soul is a factor in the rebound. To- gether the associated spirits enter the realm of pure mind life — the guiding spirit freed, by the intensity of its abstrac- tion, from consciousness of a material environment; the spirit in rapport endowed, as incident to its subliminal state, with preternatural perception and thus become sensible of its measureless power over matter, its control of the vital func- tions of its objective body, as well as of its own intellectual attitudes and trends of thought. It realizes to the full the inherent dignity and worth of its higher nature, and discerns within itself a spiritual efficiency commensurate to its needs, whatever they may be — a power in reserve through the oper- ation of which it may successfully parry the lance thrusts of disappointment, still the voice of remorse, quench the fires of passion, and break the clutch of crime. In the light of such apprehension, the so-designated heaven-left soul confi- dently assumes command of the forces conferred by its Cre- ator for exploitation, and through the free and unconstrained operation of these natural forces, the objective life is spirit- ualized. SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 27' Ideal hypnotism thus implies on the part of one personality an expenditure of spiritual energy which, under the universal law of the conservation of force, cannot be destroyed, but which instantly materializes as ethical activity in the person- ality that is inspired. The energy that seemingly disappeared is transformed into a spiritual heat which warms the soul that kindled it, and creates reciprocally in that soul its full dynamic equivalent. If it be true that there are no forces in nature to which the law of energy does not apply, we have in this law an explanation of the reciprocal uplift in hypno- tism, and we have in the fact itself an indicated way in which the souls of men may draw nearer to one another. Do all persons who hypnotize other persons consciously receive from their subjects this lavish return for their invest- ment of energy? Or are special qualifications required in the hypnotist? And if so liberal a dividend is assured, why should not all high-minded persons resort to hypnotism as a means of accentuating their own general receptivity and ad- ding to their magnitude as moral stars? It were, indeed, a pity that the great mass of enlightened men and women who are striving for self-improvement or for the elevation of their kind should be debarred, through ignorance of its very existence, from so promising a field for their labors. The majority of hypnotists do mere perfunctory work; they do not sound the depths of the soul they seek to aid. There is a mere passing contact, a cold injunction to abandon demoral- izing practice or secret sin; there is no outpour of sympathy, no encouragement of the stricken spirit to unbreast its woes. With what measure the hypnotist metes, it is measured to him again. If he be not an earnest and sincere believer in his suggestions; if he sees not a brother in the evil-doer; it he withholds that best gift one can offer to his neighbor, viz: himself — he can expect no return from the soul he addresses. A mesmerizee instinctively penetrates the veneer of indiffer- ence or deception, and revolts against rapport that is sought for selfish or sordid purposes. Further, the human soul de- lights in a realization of its own power, and responds sublime- ly to him who, in harmony with Paul, holds up before 'its subliminal vision that spiritual potency conferred on it by God as the means of accomplishing lofty purpose, as the way of escape (ekbasis) from temptation (i Cor. x:3). The doc- trine of the utter helplessness of man which is harped on so 28 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. persistently by certain creeds, and which has for centuries unsouled the Christian, is taught neither by Jesus nor Paul. God does not turn out mere salework. He does not create souls without good in them; without power in themselves to help themselves — a mistaken philosophy which every blade of grass controverts, every sun, every diatom. The maxi- mum efficiency of the human machine is illustrated in the life history of Job, that one conspicuous embodiment of purely human feeling and faith and potency at their best. The same spiritual energy that gave Job his victory, is potential in every human unit. There is no soul in which God is not; and what God hates is therefore intuitively hated by the human image of God, the superior spiritual self. Objective man is often sin- loving; subjective man is ever sin-hating. One fool hath said in his heart, "There is no God;" another fool, 'There is no God in man" — and yet the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God (Rom. VIII.). It is this spirit of ours, the pure pneuma, that deathless principle which dictates what is right, and whose attitude toward sin is by force of its very birth, one of repugnance and horror — it is this spirit that lusteth against the flesh, — all vicious ap- petites, wrong impulses, unmanly practices. So no sin-living man in the abstract is morally indifferent. He may smother his sensibility for a time, but he will always revolt and as- sert his manhood objectively when subliminally shamed into an apprehension of the blot upon his dignity as a man. In the conduct of his revolt, he is under obligation to make a competent use of the efficiency within him in an expression of willingness, perseverance, patience and moral energy, be- fore appealing to the throne of grace. To the personality that apprises an apparently helpless soul of its own intellec- tual a'nd moral powers and makes plain the possibility of con- quest through self-help — the truth an enfamined world craves to-day — that soul flows out in a great tidal wave of recognition, gratitude and reciprocal stimulation. And the possibility of asserting a slumbering intellectual courage that clearly discerns, and a moral courage that grandly under- crests, is open to all who have lost sight of the god-like in their own lives. This is optimism at its climax, this making the man acquainted with himself. Another fact — the thoughts, emotions, beliefs, aspirations and moral status of a suggestionist are undesignedly com- SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY.^ 29' municated most vividly to the subject, whose mind becomes mysteriously tuned in unison with that of the operator. I have been startled by hearing patients tell me days after hyp- notization of feelings and incentives to action, of which I had suggested nothing but which I knew to be in the background of my consciousness at the time of treatment. An actress whom I was inspiring with confidence and preparing for her part, assured me a week after treatment that she had exper- ienced a remarkable change in her disposition and her atti- tude as regards the purity of the stage. She would not en- tertain a propositition from a manager whose plays verged on the vulgar, and her .newly adopted ideals were so exactly in conformity with my own that there could be no question regarding their source. In like manner, I have inadvertent- ly communicated my love of nature and her wild life, my aes- thetic sensibility, my facility with the pen, and even my faith. As one patient expressed it, "Your thoughts become my thoughts." The time has indeed come, as Maeterlinck pre- dicted it would, when souls may know of each other without the intermediary of the senses. We have within us an im- material principle entirely independent of sense organs and sense acquisitions. Its pinion is not reconciled to earth. It represents a flight above the temporal, and hints of Heaven. What light, if any, do these facts cast upon the principles of telepathic communication? The laws that govern such intercourse, the question as to the extent of its prevalence among the living, and its possible extension into the world of the dead, are of supreme concern to humanity. The fact that minds brought into hypnotic contact through the approx- imation of the physical bodies they tenant, can exchange thoughts, feelings, ideas, knowledge, convictions, suggests the possibility that minds temporarily separated and to all purpose discarnate in natural sleep or in hypnosis, or even in states of reverie — subliminal selfs free to traverse the world and its purlieus — may communicate without reference to space limitations, and are mutually impressed, exalted and refined. Subliminal minds would seem to be attracted automatically i. To their complements, each the other to strengthen, to in- struct, to inspire; and 2. As mere almoners to other minds in need of help. Were the means of establishing such com- munication comprehended and under control, deliberate ab- -30 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. sent treatment for functional sickness or moral defect would be possible and in every way scientific. Telepathy is the direct communication of one mind with another, at a distance, otherwise than through the normal op- eration of the recognized sense organs — that is, without the use of words, sounds, odors, looks, gestures or other mater- ial signs. It is a form of mystic perception and impression which inheres in animal nature and characterizes certain methods of brute communication. Recent experiments have proved moths and other insects to be capable of thought transference so far-reaching as to impress their fellows miles away with a knowledge of their existence and whereabouts. It is well known to whalers that a cetacean struck by a har- poon has power instantly to convey information of the pres- ence of an enemy to a spouting school a mile distant, so that the individuals composing it immediately disappear below the surface. Every angler is aware that if one trout in a pool becomes conscious of his presence, the most deftly cast flies fall unheeded on the ripples. Some twelve years ago, the late Austin Corbin purchased 25,000 acres of farm and wood- land in Sullivan County N. H., and stocked the estate liber- ;ally with cervidae. In 1897, it was predicted that the ex- tinct carnivores whose natural food is venison would return to the region. Recently, Austin Corbin, Jr. reported the presence of a family of pumas, or mountain lions, in the Park, and other observers have discovered the lynx (both rufus and canadensis) in evidence. By what mysterious power of cog- nition did the great cat, a century vanished from this region, become aware of the presence of deer and elk in Blue Moun- tain Park? I suggest the theory of a telepathic communica- tion — the radiation of subtle waves of cognizance from the mass of fear entertained for their traditional enemies by a community of 4000 animals of the deer tribe, to fugitive pan- thers in the Alleghanies or in remote areas of the Green and Adirondack Mountains. Similarly, intimations of intended movements having in view either my injury or my advan- tage, are frequently conveyed to me. I feel the thing in the air. If brutes possess this inscrutable power of communi- cation, and exercise it for their benefit, it cannot seem mar- velous that a professional trance-medium, in perfect training, should be able to project her subliminal indiscriminately or with method in her ecstasy, force her way subjectively into SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 31 the penetralia of selected human minds, and so possess her- self of information calculated to confuse, deceive, or other- wise impress her investigators. For has such a medium ever revealed anything that did not exist either in her own consciousness, or in the consciousness of some person pres- ent, or in the consciousness of some living human being not present at the seance? And yet I do not deny the possibility of impression by extra-human intelligences. Whence come the beautiful and practical thoughts that possess us as we sleep and clamor for utterance at the moment of our awak- ing, "the thoughts ye cannot stay with brazen chains." Granted, during the hours of rest, symposiums of kindred subliminal spirits having interests in common and free to combine and inter-penetrate, granted on such occasions un- restricted access on the part of every soul to the knowledge and experience and impulses and ideals cherished by every other soul, and thought impression during states of sleep is rationally explained through creative communication. The Gospel teaches the communion of saints, the spiritual fellow- ship, mystically in and through Jesus Christ, of all believers, dead as well as living, who are united in the Holy Catholic Church. But mystical communion does not necessarily im- ply communication between the living and the dead. The teaching of the New Testament as to the possibility of inter- - course between embodied souls and discarnate spirits is neg- ative; but it positively affirms the possibility of subliminal communication between uncarnate spirits and embodied souls. Intelligences not human, ill-wishing and well-wishing, would appear to . influence man, and the modus impressendi must involve action on a receptive subliminal consciousness. In my higher work, I have at times felt myself seemingly thwarted by an intervening intelligence that opposed the strongest influence I could exert and for a time renderd fut- ile all efforts at hypnotization. I may instance the case of Susie G, a bright little girl seven years of age, who was brought to me to be treated for an abuse taught in infancy by a nurse. The child realized that she was doing wrong and was desirous of cure; she trusted me implicitly, cheerfully came to my office, and had perfect faith in my ability to save her. She would enter the first stage of hypnosis with her hand confidingly in mine and her arm about my neck, when suddenly the trustful childish expression would desert her 32 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. face and she would glare at me with a sullen, defiant, hunted look like an abandoned woman taken red-hand in the com- mission of a crime. For the nonce, further attempt to hyp- notize failed. The revulsion was painful to me, and must have been to this unfortunate child. She described the inter- posing influence as that of Satan, who, she naively said, told her not to go to sleep for me, who regularly tempted her to do herself wrong, and whom, as she grew stronger, she was accustomed to refer to an adjoining house for a more promis- ing victim. The alternative here is between an outside ill- wishing personality too strong for the simple child-nature,, and a part of Susie's own personality. I have never seen anything so suggestive of possession in the cases of multiplex personality that have come under my own observation, al- though in a number of sexual perverts who have subjectively resisted hypnotism, something similar has seemed to occur. After three months, this interesting girl was brought to me again for treatment, and I easily succeeded in putting her in- to a placid and trustful sleep in which the redemptory sug- gestions were given without interruption. If the efforts at rescue were thwarted in the first instance by the intervention of a daimon, my subsequent success would seem to imply that extra-human intelligences may be as fugitive in their en- deavors to deprave or ennoble, as are other intelligences clothed with human bodies. The difficulty of discriminating is such a case as Susie's between an ill-wishing spiritual intruder and a separate per- sonality of the individual under treatment, is obvious. Xo room for doubt exists in the case of Natalie YV., another pa- tient who passes daily from one personality to another with- out appreciable cause. In consequence of a nervous shock received in her eighth year, during convalescence from fever, the mind of Natalie W. remained a child's mind, while she gradually developed into physical womanhood in the thirty years that followed. In one personality she repeats aloud the petitions of the Prayer Book continuously for six hours, being constantly interrupted by the other personality whom she styles Miss W., and peremptorily orders out of her pres- ence with emphatic gestures. In one personality, she is af- fectionate, confiding and tractable; in the other, she is cun- ning, suspicious and difficult to control. In one personality, this child woman loves me; in the other, she fears me. SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 33 Her mother believes her to be possessed. The psychology of this case of alternating personality is, however, clear. But whether or not uncarnate daimons communicate through the instrumentality of suggestion, and whether or not disembodied souls reach, via the channel of the related selfs, those of us who are still in the flesh — one fact the writ- er regards as established by his experiments, viz: A Rational and Dignified Way is Open for Such Spiritual Communica- tion Every Time We Lose Ourselves in Slumber, for There is no Difference as Regards Suggestibility Between Natural Sleep and the So-called Hypnotic Trance. In the latter, the sleeper is in rapport exclusively with the person who has induced the state; in the former, he may be in rapport with his own objective self, perhaps with a multitude of discarnate personalities who think and feel in common with him, and in case he be of superior parts, possibly with all well-wishing daimons. Iamblichus, the Neoplatonic philosopher, was right when he proclaimed the night-time of the body to be the day-time of the soul. The impressing outside personality, if it be operative at all, operates through the double conscious- ness fused in the single human mind, the superior spiritual self being obnoxious to the insinuation of a belief, impulse or thought, which may dominate the objective life. Spiritistic communication on this principle, implies a plane of meeting infinitely higher than that of the common seance, where soul and daimon are supposed to communicate through the mind of an entranced medium who chatters a confused mass of triv- ialities and irrelevancies. The human soul intuitively abhors an intermediary. In this life, the climax of soul communion is reached in the mutual embrace of the physical bodies — im- mediate relationship alone is acceptable and satisfactory. So if there be impression by disembodied souls, that impression, in the opinion of the speaker, is direct. The idea of inter- course with the dead through the machinery of the seance is repugnant to reason. Aside from the fact that if the com- munications be accepted as messages from the souls of the righteous dead, such a belief cannot be reconciled with an exalted conception of the powers of disembodied spirits, we are confronted with the equally significant fact that the intel- lectual status of all circles is low and disappointing. Every hour of natural sleep is prolific of opportunity for communication with the departed, and who knows that it 34 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. does not take place? It were pleasant to feel that a contin- gent of our better thoughts is inspired by those we have loved, who when they appear in visions we remember, always ap- pear as living, and thinking, and acting personalities. Perhaps there is in this latter fact a suggestion of that immortality which psychic vision and psychic audition incontestably prove in that they illustrate the power of the soul to operate as a discarnate entity, as a spirit disentangled from the flesh. The soul that exalts the operator in the hypnotic procedure is the same soul that is freed permanently at the moment of death. Why should it cease to project aspirations, modify attitudes, communicate ideas, uplift human natures, simply because it is forever done with the perishable body as an in- strument of expression? If then, in the providence of God, disembodied pneumata are free so to do, assuredly they have it in their power to communicate directly with us through im- pression of the subliminal mind. And we have the same power to receive or to repulse all such advances subjectively, as we have in our every day objective life. The human soul, in subliminal as well as in supraliminal states, is perfectly ad- equate to its own protection. Its career in relation to asso- ciations and companionships, is determined by its own delib- erate choice. From my experience in subliminal inspiration, and from my knowledge of the reciprocal influence in psycho-therapy and of telepathic possibilities in general, I am inclined to accept the telepathic rather than the spiritistic hypothesis in explanation of the communications received by Professor Hyslop from Mrs. Piper. (For the paragraphs quoted in the above from the author's article in Harp- er's Magazine for June, 1901, due acknowledgment is hereby made.) TELEPATHY AND MRS. PIPER. BY CLARK BELL, ESQ. In reading the statement of Mrs. Leonora E. Piper as it appeared in the New York Sunday Herald recently, it seem- ed to me, that it was a clear duty to examine the evidence of the record of the communications which have been made by her in the trance state, to see how far they would sustain the view and position she assumes in her statement as announced in the New York Herald. There can be no better place to look for that record, than in the proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, and for this purpose we are justified in assuming their correct re- production. They are certainly quite as reliable as the usual stenographic notes of the evidence of witnesses on a trial. It ought also to be assumed on entering this discussion, that no mere pride of opinion nor the change of views of observ- ers, like Dr. Hodgson or Prof. Hyslop, should influence our analysis of the evidence. It is only fair, to recall the fact that neither Dr. Hyslop nor Dr. Hodgson were avowed believers in the spiritualistic hy- pothesis, nor was the Society of Physical Research itself recognized as a body, that was committed to spiritualism at the time she commenced her labor for that society. It is safe to say that both Dr. Hodgson and Prof. Hyslop were regarded as very skeptical indeed of what was then constantly exhibited as the phenomena of spiritualism, and in my own experience, I found Prof. Hyslop very adept, and quick, to detect frauds in the average mediumistic phe- nomena, which we some times saw together, and where we usually concurred as to the peculiar deceptions used. To start with, neither Mrs. Piper, nor indeed the leaders of that body at the outset did not probably allege or indeed believe, that the phenomena was such as was then regarded as spiritistic phenomena. Read before the Medico-Legal Society, Dec. 18, 1901. 36 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY So that it is but justice to Mrs. Piper to say, that so far as she is personally concerned, there is nothing in her state- ment that should be fairly classed as derogatory to either her integrity or veracity, or that was in contradiction of her views, at the time she com'menced with the society work. The fact that the gentlemen named have changed their views, even if that change had been based on the manifesta- tions or her communications, should not alter the free discus- sion of the issue. It is too extensive a subject, to consider in an exhaustive manner, on such an occasion, and I prefer to limit what I have to say to the evidence, and shall quote from the volumes of the proceedings of the Society of Psychical Research, and fol- low perhaps somewhat in the line of two members of that society, along lines which seem to me to be at the very root or heart of the discussion. I shall refer to a paper by Mrs. Henry Sidgwick entitled ''Discussion of the Trance Phenomena of Mrs. Piper." Mrs. Sidgwick begins by referring carefully to the various papers relating to the phenomena as published in the pro- ceedings, giving title, author, volume and page. She assumes, and .agrees, with Professor Newbold, at the outset, (Proceedings Vol. XIV, p. 7,) in the assertion, "I ac- cept the conclusion arrived at by everyone so far as I know, who has studied the case at any length," "that it was not con- sciously got by Mrs. Piper during waking life and then fraudulently palmed off on the sitter as supernormal;" or as Dr. Leaf puts it (Proceedings Vol. VI., p. 559), "as to the first and most obvious question whether she consciously ac- quires knowledge with regard to her sitters with the inten- tion of deceiving, I may say most positively, that I regard such a supposition as entirely untenable." Mrs. Sidgwick, in searching for the real cause of the phe- nomena, assumed 'That telepathy — in the sense of the im- pression of one living m'ind by another, otherwise than through the recognized channels of sense may be taken as provisionally established by the evidence collected by our ciety and other investigators." Mrs. Sidgwick agrees with Prof. Lodge, "That thought transference is the most common place explanation to which it is possible to appeal in the case of Mrs. Piper." Proceed- ings Vol. Vi., p. 451.) SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 37 In such a discussion we should carefully consider and de- fine telepathy, so that we might occupy a common ground in this respect, as it is now claimed by scientific men, and, concerning which we should not find or expect to find dissent- ing opinions. Telepathy, as it is regarded by scientists who accept it as a fact, is some unknown sense or power of the human body, by which as* a physical process, communication is held be- tween brain and brain of the human organism. Some means by which the perceptions are reached in some manner analo- gous to the known and well-defined transmission of the elec- tric current or the action of gravitation which we know exists, but we are as yet unable to comprehend how it acts, or to know its methods. As yet the process of the action of telepathy is wholly un- defined, but that it is a physical process is generally conceded by scientific workers. Those who wish, like Mr. Hodgson, to extend this view of telepathy, so as to embrace communication between the liv- ing brain, and the spirit of the dead, through a living brain like that of Mrs. Piper, must be classed as in the region of controversy; such a view has not yet been demonstrated. Mrs. Sidgwick is of the opinion that in no case has the spir- its of deceased persons, known to the sitters used her or- ganism to speak directly through her to the sitters wi h her voice or write for them directly with her hand. (Proceedings Vol. XV., part XXXVI, p. 19.) Mrs. Sidg-wick is of the opinion that the influence or in- telligence operating through Mrs. Piper is fre- quently not Mrs. Piper, but some brain out- side her own personality. She asserts the exist- ence of two separate intelligences, one speaking and one writing at the same time, but insists that this condition fre- quently exists in hypnotic subjects, and throws no light on the subject of the controversy, quoting Mr. Gurney and Prof. Janet. (Peculiarities of Certain Past Hypnotic States. Proceedings Vol. 4, by Mr. Gurney, also Prof. Janet's work.) She attaches little importance to the impressions of the sit- ter, regarding the personality of the communicating intelli- gence, because, when two or more minds are considering the same subject, one will often think it recognizes, and the other will on the same identical facts think otherwise. With Mrs. 38 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. Piper it was usually. Phinuit (Dr. P.) and he was speaking sometimes for others, and not for himself. This explains why the person who is directly communicating or attempting to do so, is not the person it claims to be, and which it often believes itself to be; but that it is in fact the trance personal- ity of Mrs. Piper herself. On no other theory can the inconsistencies, contradictions, errors, misstatements of known facts, concerning which the real person could not be in doubt or in error, which arise in communications through her, or in similar communications from or through other mediums of similar character be ex- plained. For example. Dr. Phinuit's description of himself as the spirit of a deceased Marseilles physician, is beyond all doubt, an incredible statement. He cannot speak one word of French. He has not estab- lished even a fraction of a reputation for veracity, and so far as known none of his statements regarding incidents in his life on the earth, have ever been verified. His testimony would not have a particle of weight before a court or jury if given in an action at law; and that this was Mr. Leaf's opinion of him, is clearly shown by Mr. Leaf's statement. (Proceedings Vol. VI, p. 60.) Take the case of Mr. Stainton Moses (Proceedings Vol. XIII, pp. 407-412.) The spirit guides of Mr. Moses assumed several names, Imperator, Rector, Mentor, Doctor. As a group of witnesses, their statements regarding their own life on earth, about Mr. Moses himself, and their teachings to him, serve to discredit their evidence. It must be thrown out as evidence and would be in any court of justice. They gave the names of the historical personages, they claimed to have been. Mrs. Piper wrote out these names. Investigation shows, those given not to have been correct. Wrong names were given. None right, but they are insisted upon for a time, and then corrected, and the names corrected to others, equally wrong. The "Doctor" is Homer and ''Mentor" is Ulysses, and he says that he often sees "Telemachus," and can't remember the name of the lady who is with him always, until his recollec- tion is refreshed bv Dr. Hodgson, when he recalls '''Pene- lope." SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 39 It is perfectly safe to say, that these persons are not the personalities they claim to be; or that they are Mr. Stainton Moses Guides; or that they have actually used Mrs. Piper'? hand as a writing machine to record the evidence of their misstatements of facts. Mrs. Sidgwick cites an instance in point (Proceedings Vol. XIII, p. 348) where Mrs. M. records communications from her husband's aunt who had died in 1894, both through Phin- uit and when she pretends to write herself, could never give her own name correctly, although Mrs. M. repeatedly tried to have her do so. Mrs. Sidgwick cites the case of where Mr. Hodgson had giver Mrs. Piper entranced a piece of Mss. Written by Dr. Wiltze to hold. Shortly the spirit of Dr. Wiltze appeared, in person claim- ing to be dead and that his body was still in the water. Pro- ceedings Vol. XXXVI, p. 25. Dr. Wiltze was at the time alive and well. Is there any rarional explanation of such an occurrence, other than to attribute it to an idiosyncracy of the trance personality of Mrs. Piper? The conclusions which Mrs. Sidgwick reaches regarding the trance phenomena of Mrs. Piper are, that they are explain- able in no other way, than that they are; consistent with the hypothesis that they may have originated with the trance per- sonality of Mrs. Piper. That it must be conceded that Mrs. Piper is in telepathic communication with the sitter, and that the sitter must play am important part in relation to the communication. We know so little of the methods of telepathic communication be- yond the fact that it does exist, that it is only fair to suppose that the mind of Mrs. Piper in trance, may and probably does, have free access to the thoughts and subliminal consciousness of the sitter. The mind of the sitter has its recollections of and its im- pressions of the deceased person. How far the trance per- sonality of Mrs. Piper has access to these recollections and memories we do not quite know, nor as yet can we suppose them to be wholly unavailable or inaccessible. If the dead could communicate with the living, it is not out o* the question that the trance personality of Mrs. Piper cculd receive impressions from the spirit of the departed; but 40 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. of this we have no positive evidence. On the whole evidence it is quite clear, or rather it is not sufficient, to raise even a conviction, that the trance phenomena of Airs. Piper is in any sense due to the action of the spirits of the dead, on her trance personality, as to the communications made. Andrew Lang contributes an article to the "Discussion of the Trance Phenomena of Mrs. Piper/' called "Reflections on Mrs. Piper and Telepathy.'' Proceedings Vol XXXYI.at page 39 to 52, of considerable value. It is in the nature of a review of Dr.Hodgson's "Further Record of Observation and of Cer- tain Phenomena of Trance," as published in Proceedings of Scciety of Psychical Research Vol. XXX, p. 406V in which be details at length the reasons which are conclusive on his mind, that the phenomena can not be regarded as having any true relation to communications from the spirit world or trom the spirits of deceased persons. Mr. Laner criticises Dr. Phinuit, Air. H. and G. P., and says that "if they were honorable spirits, they would say they don't know when they don't know. They would not give false information, 'natural enough,' easily guessed, but totally wrong.'' He quotes Prof. Pierce, Mr. MacAlister. Mr. Marte. Dr. Weir Mitchell, Mr. Barkworth, Mr. Newbold, Mr. Podman, Prof. Trowbridge and others, but while he concedes that the fccts would raise a strong presumption against the bona- fides of I\Irs. Piper, he still says: "On David Hume's theory a long set of impositions is the most legitimate explanation of Mrs. Piper's successes. For reasons given by Dr. Hodgson, I cannot accept the theory of imposture by Mrs. Piper in her normal state. For one thing she could not afford the expense of private inquiries which would more than swallow up the profits." Mr. Lang says: We are dealing here with a most imperfectly known agency, tel- epathy; with a better known agency, the secondary personality, and with another wholly unknown agency, spirits of the dead. The preference for any of these Laputan alternatives is apt to be decid- ed by personal bias. But. to a faint extent, telepathy has the ad- vantage of being a vera causa. The advocates of telepathy, at- tempting to explain Mrs. Piper's successes, may fall back, as Dr. Hodgson says, on "the hypothesis of telepathy from the living, that the subliminal consciousness of the sitters, and also of distant liv ing persons, might be drawn upon the living." " Thus. Mr. Pelham is doing something in Washington with a photograph of his son. G. P., and G. P. reports this at Boston through Mrs. Piper. The ex- planation (apart from guess or collusion), will be that Mrs. Piper SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 41 got at the subliminal consciousness of the remote Mr. Pelham, and so on in other similar cases. Such a telepathic explanation is "to the Greeks foolishness." . Mr. Lang continues in the discussion as follows: Now the stretching of the telepathic hypothesis was almost forced on me (if I was to have any hypothesis), during Miss Angus' exper- iments with a glass ball? I presume that these experiments were 'experimental," in Mr. Lodge's sense of the word, but I am not certain. (Making of Religion, Pp. 94-112.) There was in these experiments, apparently, a "selective and discriminative capacity in Miss Angus' percipient personality." But there was no room for the theory of the spirits of the dead, for all concerned were alive. To be sure the Polynesians explain all water-gazing by a theory of spirits, but Dr. Hodgson will not agree with the Polynesians. (El- lis. Polynesian Researches, II, p. 240.) Again and again, Miss Angus, sitting with man or woman, de scribed acquaintenances of theirs, but not of hers, in situations not known to the sitters, but proved to be true to fact. Now the "far- going'' hypothesis of direct clairvoyance was here excluded (in most cases, not all), by conditions of time. In one instance Miss Angus described doings from three weeks to a fortnight old. of peo- ple in India, people whom she had never seen or heard of, but who were known to her "sitter." Her account, given on a Saturday, was corroborated by a letter from India which arrived next day, Sunday. In another case she described (about 10 P. M.), what a lady, not known to her, but the daughter of a matron present, (who was not the sitter), had been doing about 4 P. M. on the same day. What the person was doing was not a thing familiar, for I asked that question Again, "sitting" with one lady, Miss Angus describ- ed a singular set of scenes much in the mind, not of her "sitter," but of a very unsympathetic stranger, who was reading a book at the other end of the room. I have tried every hypothesis, normal and not so normal, to account for these and analogous perform- ances of Miss Angus. There was, in the Indian and other cases, no physical possibility of collusion; chance coincidence did not seem adequate; ghosts were out of the question, so was direct clair- voyance. That Miss Angus, (who, by the way, was in the most normal and wide-awake condition), had got into touch with the ab- solute, and was making discriminating selection from the stores of omniscience, did not seem likely, because her crystal pictures ap- peared to be directed by the mind of a person present, not always the sitter. Nothing remained for the speculative theoriser but the idea of cross currents of telepathy between Miss Angus, a casual stranger, the sitters, and people far away, known to the sitters or the stranger, but unknown to Miss Angus. Unpublished examples of these things went on the same lines. Miss Angus picked up facts, unknown to the sitters, about people known to them but not to her. Now suppose that Miss Angus instead of dealing with living peo- ple, by way of visions, had dealt by way of voice, or automatic hand- writing, and had introduced a dead "communicant." Then she would have been on a par with Mrs. Piper, yet with aid from the dead. Her cases do not differ from Mrs. Piper's cases, except in copious- ness, and in the circumstance that her condition was normal, and that she was new to all such exercises. Of course, like Mrs. Piper, she had failures. I asked her to try to see the room of a person known to me by correspondence only, a person whom I never met, (it was a room in Africa, though of course I did not say so), and she failed. It was trying her rather high. We did not seek to im- prove the result by exclaiming "Dear Tom, Dick or Harry, in Ben- gal, Edinburgh, or the Soudan, or the Red Sea, do try to appear 42 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. more frequently in the glass," as Dr. Hodgson addresses the dead "communicators." We could not do that, because the essence of the game lay in Miss Angus' ignorance about Dick, Harry and Tom, who were kept private in mind of the sitters. Otherwise the per- formances of Mrs. Piper and Miss Angus were on a par (except for the deadness of the persons concerned), granting the difference of the methods of crystal gazing on one hand, and of trance-speaking, or automatic writing, on the other. Not to rely solely upon Miss Angus, I take another instance. My friend Mr. Lesley is known to the world as a man of business, a golfer and a composer. He can see crystal pictures, but, (like most of my acquaintenances who possess the faculty, including my cook), has hardly any interest in the practice. One day Mr. Lesley and I had been talking about a lady, unknown to him, but known to me, though I had never seen her house. Mr. Lesley began to look into a glass water-jug, and described what he saw: the interior of a hall of a house, with a good deal of detail. Nenither of us recognized the house. I happened later to tell this to the lady of whom we had been talking; she said: "Why, that is my house." and on visit- ing it, I found that in all respects it answered to Mr. Lesley's de- scription. It may be a common type of hall but I do not remember having seen one like it elsewhere, nor did Mr. Lesley know any such place. Now suppose that the lady who occupied the house had been dead. And suppose that, instead of looking at a glass water- jug, Mr. Les- ley had gone into a trance and announced that the dead lady was speaking with his voice. Suppose that when asked for a test she had described the hall in her house, (which was unknown to me and Mr. Lesley), with certain curious details. Would not Dr. Hodgson argue that this might be better explained by the hypothesis of com- munication through her spirit, than by telepathy between Mr. Les- ley and anybody not present who knew the house? Yet, as its owner was and is alive, the theory of a spirit is wholly impossible, and if not telepathy a trois, then some other non-spiritualist theory must account for the facts, as for the facts in Miss Angus' cases. Miss Angus' successes may not be due to cross-telepathy, nor may Mr. Lesley's success; very likely that is the wrong explana- tion. But of all known "supernormal" explanations, and that alone is viable, in these instances, and it is not, I think, incapable of ap- plication to Mrs. Piper's cases. Of course I do not reject the expla- nation by spirits, in Mrs. Piper's case; I only state the objections which occur to me, combined with the fact that Mrs. Piper is sat- urated with the animistic hypothesis, and has a dishonest second- ary personality, if not dozens of such personalities. In Miss An- gus' performances Mr. Podmore suggests (Part XXXIV., p. 130), my own provisional guess of telepathy a trois. It is a guess, even a wild Laputan conjecture. But we are here concerned with Laput- an themes and speculations. Like Mr. Darwin, we are making "fools' experiments." Dr. Hodgson's hypothesis may be right: but in this region of dreams we ought to hold very lightly by all hypoth- eses; and. surely, we ought not to argue from one of them in favor of that old belief, the posthumous existence of the human spirit. and its power of communicating with the living, through a living organism. This is to base faith on a conjecture about conjectures. Moreover, in ordinary normal material, such as philogical or anthro- pological speculation, we often see how science overshoots her mark, remaining for a generation in sure confidence about a theory which the next generation explodes. We ought not to let our psych- ical theories affect our practical beliefs. To do that may be to pre- pare for ourselves, or for our successors, a cruel disappointment. SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 43 Mr. Lang concludes by saying, regarding experiments in thought transference: "Twice my thought has (apparently and in the absence of any other hypothesis known to me), been 'picked up' by an experimenter, and in neither case was it my surface thought. These things bias one in favor of the belief that there is some- thing here into which it may not be waste of time to inquire." In experiments made by myself in the Ouicha board when 1 have endeavored to eliminate all possibility of collusion in the medium, and automatic collusion on my own part, I have had some experiences, that coincide with what seems to be Mrs. Piper's opinion respecting the phenomena she refers to. ist. Example, an apparent intelligence describes itself as one S. B., whom I had well known in life, and knew by hear- say had been drowned on Lake Keuka, the details of which I did not know, but had been attributed to drink, to which S. B., a well known fisherman', was too much addicted. There were two hands on the board, the other beside my own was a gentleman, and a spiritualist in belief, who has visited at that Lake and at a point where S. B. usually fished from, but was not conscious that he knew, or had ever seen or ever heard of S. B. I had fished the lake for years with S. B. and knew every foot of its bottom well, in that part where the transactions occurred near Grove Spring, Gibsons, and Keuka Landings. S. B. spelling out his name gave me a complete detailed history of his drowning, fixed the hour at daybreak, or just before daybreak, when he was trolling for trout, the capsiz- ing of his boat, and after many questions, stated that his body was then in the lake, with all his clothes on, precisely as he had died, lying with his face downward, and finally by questions referring to names and fishing grounds and places located the spot where his body then lay so exactly, that T could have dropped an anchor on it or within ten feet of it on what was known as the Barren ground among fishermen, in about 60 feet of water, almost exactly off the dock that was built there. Subsequent investigation demonstrated that he was at the time of the communication to me, buried in the country grave yard near his home, and the whole statement drawn from either my imagination or that of my friend, the medium, who had given it full credence. 44 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. A peculiarity of this seance was that we were interrupted constantly by an intelligence who was most anxious to com- municate with me, but who could not describe himself or even tell his name. After a long struggle he did at last spell out a name of Wm. S., also a fisherman on that lake, whom I knew well in his lifetime and who had been my client. He vas a i elation of Samuel B. and in life they were not the most intimate friends. He gave me information as to his state, his relations then to S. B. and to others of his old set, not worth repeating and not at all in accord with what is gen- erally believed by the spiritualistic world — not of the slightest value, but it seemed simply to be a resolute, determined, and finally successful effort of a most obstinate and determined party to say "How do you do" to an old friend, but who had nothing whatever to communicate. The second hand on the board did not know this man in life, and has no con- sciousness of knowing him at all, but of course may have heard of him, as he was in his day the most prominent fish- erman on the lake. On another occasion, with a personal friend, a lady of high mediumistic powers, as the other of two hands on the board, I asked for and obtained the presence of D. B., a man oi international reputation, known to the medium, and for whom I had acted professionally, and for whose estate I was then acting professionally. I had reason to believe that he had died possessed of real estate in a foreign city, but I had been unable to trace it through his relations, one brother knowing its whereabouts, but withholding it. A Ye had been very intimate in life, and when he came, after some delay in finding him by the celestial messengers, he persisted in ignor- ing my questions, and devoting his whole talk to a descrip- tion of his present plane and environment, and to explana- tions to me of his erroneous views of the future state in life (He had been an agnostic) and seemed most anxious to com- pel my attention to the erroneous views he had entertained in life. His description of his first view of me was remarkable, he said. Calling me by my first name, "I see you at an illimitable distance. I am farther from you than the fixed stars, yet. to my sense, the distance is annihilated, and I see you as con- scious as if T was face to face on the earth." After a Ion:: struggle, with great difficulty, I brought him down from his SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 45 liigh perch, and he answered my questions respecting this missing property. He gave me the name of the street, the number of the store, for he said it was a store in the busi- ness portion of a great city, and said that the store was and had been occupied as a liquor store for years. This was wholly imaginary, and there was nothing in the interview to at all identify him to me, had he so desired to do — but his whole effort, of course due to the mentality of the medium, seemed to be to convince'me of the truth of the spiritualistic phenomena, and especially to the immortality of the soul, and the future state for the spirits of the departed. At the same seance, with the same medium, there came spelled out the name of Mr. J. G., a well known New York financier and railway operator, whom I had known well, and for whom I had acted professionally in various great cor- porations. The medium, did not know him personally in life, was intimately acquainted with stock operations in the enterprises, with which he was connected and I knew held, what was at that time a most unfavorable opinion of his character, life, motives and conduct. I shall not repeat what he said personal to himself, or relating to his life or his then present state, but he appealed to me as near as I can recall it now, in this wise: "Whatever the world may say of me or of my past life, no one can truthfully speak one disparaging word, against my wife, or my children. That which makes me suffer most now and here, is the reflection and the fear, that, the hatreds of those who classed themselves as my enemies, will visit their animosities upon my children. Appealing to me, he said: "You know this, as well as any one in New York. T introduced you to my oldest son. You know my oldest daughter. Use all your influence to prevent the animosities of those who hated me from reaching or harming my innocent children.'' This did allude to a fact that had occurred in life between him and me, but it was within my consciousness, and is readily explainable by telepathy, and the medium, I think, also knew this fact and her mentality dominated the thought almost entirely. It did not impress me as a communication from the dead. It was undoubtedly, both in my mind and in that of the medium. 46 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. I perhaps should say that after a most diligent search, extending over years, I have never had any communication that I believed to have come from the spirit of the dead. Believing in the immortality of the soul, I would gladlv welcome any voice from the beyond if it came. .My mind is receptive to it, not antagonistic. The Bible plainly teaches it. Still it has as yet been unrevealed to my vision or con- sciousness. A careful resume of the whole subject convinces me that Mrs. Piper's statement is entitled to weight and to credit. It is in no sense a confession, and should not be so classed or regarded. As I understand it the officials of the Society do not so legard it. They do not regard it as a violation of her en- gagement with the Society, and it is authoritatively stated that her relations are not severed with that body. Nor in- deed should they be. If she was now like Mr. Hodson, or Prof. Hyslop, an avowed spiritualist, it would not strengthen the value of her work with the members of that Society, who are for the most part not spiritualists, or not so regarded by the general pub- lic. It claims to be a scientific workshop. Prof. James is not an avowed spiritualist; quite the reverse. Neither was Prof. Sidgwick; nor is it clear that Mr. Myers was. The mission of spiritualism, if it is yet defined. should be to demonstrate t. The immortality of the soul of man. 2. Its power to communicate with the living, by means incapable of being denied or refuted. It is evidence that is needed. In the courts we establish wiiat we call facts by human evidence. Uncontradicted human evidence in a case is often accepted as a fact in a case, that in .point of fact is not a fact at all. Human evidence is full of weakness, yet in all the walks of life, we accept it, and we cannot consent to any plan or basis by which it is to be ignored. A safe standard for our labor — one which must be consid- ered by all to be conclusive — is Truth. We in determining as to the facts, or the law in a case before courts and juries, ask for the Truth. Science delights in demonstration, but in beliefs if demonstration is demanded, creeds must be written on a thumb nail, and not a half inch long. Let it be our motto to search onlv for the Truth, which is immortal and will live Forever. HON ABRAM H. DAILEY, of brooklyn, x. y., Ex-Presidext Medicolegal Society, Vice-Chairman Psychological Sectiox, Vice-Presidext American Coxgress of Tuberculosis. SPIRITISM AND MRS. LEONORA E. PIPER, AND DOCTOR THOMSON J. HUDSON'S THEORIES IN REGARD TO IT. BY EX-JUDGE ABRAM H. DAILEY, Ex-President of the Medico-Legal Society of New York-. In commenting upon a paper coming from the pen of so able a writer as Dr. Thomson J. Hudson has proved himself to be, in fairness to myself it is proper for me to say, that I would not undertake this task did I not feel it my duty to do so. A man placed as I am, who thinks he knows the truth, upon so important a matter as is here under discussion, — a truth affecting the entire human family, — and fails to speak the truth as he finds it, is cowardly, and does violence to a moral law which fair minded persons must recognize. The subject is Spiritism, and the recent utterances of a Mrs. Piper, who has been the instrument for spirit manifes- tations or otherwise, as the truth shall turn out to be,of many eminent persons for quite a number of years. I was not surprised i>. hear of her utterances to the effect, that she supposed that what she had said and done in an unconscious condition, she does not now, and never did possess the fore that publication was made in the New York Herald, I had heard that she had stated, that she had no consciousness of what she had said or done in her trance conditions; that she did not know what it was that caused her to do those things. It seems that her utterances have turned out to be truthful, even though made in her unconscious condition, and though they relate to matters of which, in hier normal condition, she does not know, and never did possess the slightest knowledge, excepting what she has been told con- cerning them since they were made. Her integrity is con- ceded by Dr Hudson. An explanation which does not ex- plain, is no explanation. Read before the Psychological Section of the Medico-Legal Society of New York, on the 18th day of December, 1901. 48 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. In my argument we shall apply the same rule to Dr. Hud- son that he invokes in regard to the phenomena in question. I assume that he will be consistent in what he will say in his paper, to be read before the Psychological Section of the Medico-Legal Society, with his arguments contained in his various published works. He undertakes to explain the admitted phenomena, claimed to emanate from discarnate spirits upon the theory of Telepathy and Suggestion, and through the operation of the subjective mind of the psychic. He has invoked a rule in his favor, that the spiritual hypoth- esis cannot be accepted, if it can be accounted for upon any other natural theory. In other words, the presumption is always against a spiritistic source, and it amounts to this: — that it must be proved that it could not possibly have orig- inated from any other than a spiritual source, before it can be accepted. You will see at the outset, that the poor ghost is at an em- inent disadvantage. He is not entitled to even "the benefit of a reasonable doubt." The worst criminal arraigned in a court of justice is presumed to be innocent until he is proven guilty; notwithstanding the great volume of testimony that may be produced against him, if there is a reasonable doubt as to his guilt, he is entitled to the benefit of that doubt and must be acquitted. A man may travel around the world with letters of credit: he may be identified in various ways, so as to be received into the best society in distant countries, or anywhere on the civilized globe ; but these letters of cred- it, or the usual methods of identification, would not be suffi- cient under the rule applied by Dr. Hudson, in dealing with the ghost, in his endeavors to identify himself to his friends and others, to whom he may desire to come for the benefit, not only of himself, but of the great humanity he has left be- hind. If he comes, as did Moses and Elias on the Mount of Tranfiguration to Jesus, and to some of his disciples; or as Jesus did to the two Marys at the door of the Sepulcher; or to the two disciples on their journey to Emmaus, and to oth- er of his disciples, such appearances may not be accepted by scientists, because they might possibly be simulated: in oth- er words, the testimony of all spiritual manifestations which has come down the ages, is subject to rejection, and must be rejected by scientists, if it could have been produced or ac- counted for on any natural hypothesis. To do Dr. Hudson SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 4'$ no wrong, I quote from an article from his pen, contained in Harper's Monthly of August, 1900, and it reads: "I will strenuously insist upon the recognition of the ax- iom of science, that we have vo logical right to attribute any phenomena to supermundane agency, that can be accounted for on the principles of Natural Law." I am a lawyer, and claim to know something of legal principles, and also to have made some investigation into the claims of that great and ever increasing number of people denominated Spiritualists, who embrace within their doctrines the claim of the spiritual' source of certain phenomena and manifestations. I don't know of any, who claims that anyone of these cannot be ac- counted for on principles of natural law. I know of no persons who are such sticklers for the reign of Natural Law, as these much abused and little understood people. They now number among those, who accept the spiritual source of much of the phenomena, renowned scientists, professors, doctors of divinity, logicians and learned men and women all over the civilized world. I know of no great religion, em- braced by the human family, that did not have its origin, to., a greater or less extent in spiritual phenomena. Dr. Hudson is a brave man ; he has undertaken to account * for a great part of this phenomena, certainly a very valuable ■ part, upon the theory of telepathy, suggestion, auto-sugges- - tion and hypnotism; anything but a spiritual source. Th/fe discovery strangely accounts for Abraham's faith, and the deep sleep which fell upon him, when the fortunes and mis- fortunes of his posterity were revealed to him. It is a strange way of accounting for the voice that called the child "Sam- uel, Samuel," awakening him from his sleep, and telling him what should befall the house of Eli, which revelation indeed, came true. It must be held to account for the source from? which Micaich was able to tell Ahab so truthfully the fate that awaited him should he go out to battle with the king of Syria. If the sub-conscious mind and telepathy account for the numerous other communications in the Old Testament, then they account for the wonderful things given to the world recorded in the New Testamant. It is long since man was first told to know himself, and cer- tainly I agree with Dr. Hudson, that he has been a long time in attaining his present knowledge. According to Dr. Hud- son, man has two minds; his objective mind and his subjec- 130 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. tive mind, and that as a rule, they are entirely unacquainted with each other. I have always believed, and still believe, that man has a natural and a spiritual body; that the spirit- ual body may be denominated the soul, the eternal principle of life, which gives the soul of man his spirit, and that, that spirit is immortal and indestructible. I have never believed, nor do I now, that man has two minds. I believe he has "but one mind, and that which Dr. Hudson and other scien- tists denominate the "Sub-conscious Mind," or "Subliminal Consciousness," or the "Subjective Mind" — is part of the one mind, which has the capacity to observe more than one thing at a time, and that it may be used to do more than one thing at the same moment; and that while a man may centre his mind and reasoning faculties upon one thing, he is also con- scious of numerous other things which are transpiring around him. They leave their impressions, and may be recalled but not so readily perhaps, as those objectively graven upon that part of the memory which is most in use. The different fac- ulties of the mind are not uniformly developed in any one person. In some they are virtually atrophied for want of •use, while others are abnormally keen and sensitive. Car- lied to its legitimate conclusion, Dr. Hudson's theory finds, that the Subconscious Mind is devoid of the power of reason- ing synthetically; that it cannot reason inductively; that its processes are deductive or syllogistic. Therefore, the mind • v\ r h'ich he has used in writing his paper is the Objective Mind, possessed of the double power of reasoning inductively and deductively, and that this faculty has come from the neces- sities of pre-existing conditions, and possessing these powers man becomes morally responsible for his mistakes and er- vrors. In the main I agree with him. He holds in his trea- tises, that "the Objective Mind, is merely the function of the physical brain, while the Subjective Mind, is a distinct entity, possessing independent powers and functions, having a men- tal organization of its own, and capable of sustaining an ex- istence independent of the body. In other words, that it is the Soul." (Law of Psychic Phenomena, p. 30.) He also holds, "that man in his normal condition, is not controllable against reason, positive knowledge or the evidence of his senses by the suggestions of another." Also, "that the Sub- jective Mind of man in the hypnotic state, is unqualifiedly and constantly amenable to the power of suggestion," (i. d.) con- SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 51 sequently, that the Subjective Mind always accepts as true every suggestion, and acts from that considerations matter whether true or false. He claims to sustain this by hypnotic experiments. I admit the facts he cites in support of his various theories, but not all of his conclusions. He claims, and I agree with him, that we have cases of Auto-Suggestion or Self-imposed hypnotic conditions, but we do not agree as to the extent to which it can be carried. This occasion does not afford the opportunity to answer many of the arguments advanced by Dr. Hudson, to main- tain his theory that all of the phenomena of alleged super- mundane sources, can be otherwise accounted for by tele- pathy and the wonderful operations of the Subjective Mind. If he fails in any one instance, then the rule he has invoked against the ghost will fail, and the ghost will be in evidence ; for good rules work both ways; there are no exceptions. The interesting feature in connection with Dr. Hudson's theory, which I shall here avail myself of, is that he has un- questionably demonstrated to his own satisfaction in his treatises, the existence and immortality of the soul of man, without resorting to any of the phenomena of the Spiritual- ists. It then follows, that this world since it became gener- ative and life sustaining, has been producing and multiplying lfe in various forms, the physical part alone being visible. That life, soul and spirit, like all the potencies in the universe are invisible to us in our normal conditions, he must admit. The spiritual part of man he concedes, passed out of the body unobserved, and that it has an abiding place somewhere, he cannot and will not deny. That the Heavens or the Earth, and probably both, are the abodes of these spiritual beings, it seems to me must be admitted. That passing from the material world to the world of spirit, should destroy the iden- tity of, or the affectionate nature of the spirit of man, he does not anywhere contend, but argues the reverse. (See laws Psychic Phenomena, p. 401, &c.) Therefore, the present population of this world is an insignicant number, compared with the countless hosts in the other world. We start with these facts conceded. 1st. The existence of man, an embodied spirit, certain to become disembodied through death. 2nd. We will accept Dr. Hudson's scien- tific demonstration of the future life as established by his process of reasoning by inductive, deductive and synthetic 52 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. methods, and that the soul of man lives on, and is "Over There," or somewhere, in constant evidence to those who are conscious of its presence, in the same sense that we are con- scious of each other. Now, his position is, that his method is the scientific method, and the one method by which the ex- istence of the soul of man after death can be demonstrated scientifically. I take issue with him. I deny that the other phenomena is devoid of evidential value. . In his article con- tained in Harper's Magazine, he says: "A moment's consid- eration will reveal a clear line o f demarcation between those phenomena such as rapping, table-tipping, levitation of pon- derable bodies without physical contact or mechanical appli- ances, slate writing, et hoc genus omne. It is not, however, necessary either to doubt or deny that these phenomena are produced by super-normal means except for the purpose of assuming to be ultra- scientific; nor is it necessary to believe in their genuineness; for they all may be fraudulently pro- duced; or they all may be veridical without affecting the ques- tion of spirit intercourse." I would like to discuss fully his position as to this class of phenomena, but I shall refrain from doing so at this time. I have in this paper assumed that Dr. Hudson will here take the same position, and advance the same or similar ar- guments contained in his contribution to Harper's Magazine of August, 1900. In this he assumes, First, the integrity of the medium, and Second, the medium believes the communi- cations to be what they purport to be. Third, the medium is unconscious of having any part or lot in determining the contents or character of the communication, or, of possess- ing any psychological power or attribute that would render unconscious participation possible. Fourth, that the med- ium normally possessing no dramatic power, often person- ates soi-disant spirits with wonderful accuracy, often imitat- ing voice, gesture and mental idiosyncracies of the supposed personality. Fifth, the alleged spirit often manifests mental and normal characteristics, antipodal to those normally pos- sessed by the medium, etc. He then admits, that if unexplained, those statements, if true, go far towards establishing the validity of the claims 01 the spiritists. He then says — and let all the world take note, — using his language: "It would be' foolish to deny the facts since they can be so easily substantiated." But, he SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 53 says, "in view of the discoveries of modern science, the spir- itistic theory is no longer tenable. That is to say, — the phe- nomena can now be accounted for by reference to known psy- chological laws." He says we shall have no difficulty in find- ing- a solution for all that is mysterious on principles of Nat- ural Law, with which scientists are now well acquainted, prin- ciples which are perfectly consistent with the integrity of all concerned, which, "obviates all necessity for seeking a solu- tion in the realms of the supermundane." He then asserts, that the "solution of all this phase of spir- itistic phenomena is found in the Law of Suggestion." That "this law is known to every psychological student, except per- haps a few scientists who are committed to the spiritistic hy- pothesis." For their benefit he explains what that law is. Briefly, it shows that if a person is hypnotised, the subject is under the control of the hypnotist; the hypnotist has control of the objective mind of the subject, he will have virtually dis- possessed it and the subjective mind of the subject is amen- able to the law of suggestion, and in that condition, the sub- ject does all the wonderful things any spiritual medium ever did or can do, in addition to all the hypnotic subject has ever done. In aid of his theory of explanation he brings Tele- pathy and Clairvoyance. The first being the transmission of thought by mental processes alone, and the other the spir- itual vision, of what he denominates, the Subjective Mind. I assume that he includes Clairaudience, which is the hearing of a spirit voice, not audible to others. I find Dr. Hudson's theory admirably presented in his works; but he must admit that the whole of his argument is equally as consistent with the possibility of Spirit Suggestion, as it is to that of a mortal. He does not explain the conduct of the medium, nor the source of the communication, when there is no visible being present to suggest to the psychic the presence of the invisible one. What he attempts will be noted. Now I will say frankly, that for nearly twenty-five years, I have lived in close relations with some of the best psychics in this country, and am now, and have been intimately acquaint- ed with many from other countries, and Dr. Hudson does not account consistently and rationally for much of the phe- nomena I have witnessed. The rational and consistent method of reasoning upon which he relies, fails to bring me 54 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. to his conclusions, for to my mind it has the fault of being neither. Let me give an instance which came under my ob- servation. Something over twenty years ago, a lady of my acquaintance became conscious of some uncommon manifes- tations in her presence, and suddenly developed clairvoyant and clairaudient powers. In attempting to examine into the phenomena' of the Spiritualists with a view to explain them, and explode the spiritistic hypothesis, I became convinced,by some of the most startling phenomena occurring in my pres- ence, which I shall not here describe. I became convinced of its super-mundane source and that I was wrong, and like Paul, I asked, "Lord, what will Thou have me to do?" The answer came, "Wait, and it will be shown to you." Some days later this lady became entranced in my presence, by what claimed to be the spirit of a man, who in this life was a sail- or; who during the early part of the Rebellion, had command- ed a vessel in the government service; he said he died in the early Sixties, of asthmatic consumption, in the vicinity of New York, aged upwards of sixty years. To certain ques- tions which I put to him, he refused to give me answers, but as to the place of his nativity, his relatives, many of the in- cidents and hardships of his early life, of his going out to sea on a whaling ship from New Bedford when a little boy. of the brutality of his captain, of his leaving the ship in a foreign port and being taken up by another captain and taught nav- igation, and of numerous events in his life, he then told me. He said he had been brought to the lady medium by a daugh- ter of mine, who had been then a good many years in the spirit world, having died in infancy. That he came for the purpose of taking charge of the young medium, of giving to n:>e counsel and warnings insofar as he was able, and that thereby he would help me and advance himself spirit- ually. He made plain to me, what he required, but required that I should be as faithful to him as he would be to me. He required that I should be kind and charitable, that I should bear testimony to the truth as I found it to be. I have tried to do so, and I shall be astonished to find that I have been deceived and have been misleading others these many years. Having now been for so many years living in the midst of convincing phenomena, and having thousands of times been wisely advised and deservedly censured and admonished b> him, I did not take any steps to verify the truth of his state- SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 55- ments as to his identity, or any of the incidents of his early life, until last September, when I went with this lady to New Bedford, Massachusetts, for that express purpose. We had neither of us ever been there, and had no acquaintances in the town. You will pardon me, I hope, for being a little ex- plicit, for in this experience I am confirmed in my positioiv and meet the argument of Dr. Hudson and other supporters of the telepathic theory. Having alighted from the train, we stepped aside, and I then said: "Now, Captain, we are in> your hands, and we want you to do what you can to verify your statement? He immediately replied through the med- ium: "Do you realize what you ask of me? Do you con- sider that it is ninety years since I lived here; that I went away when a little boy and seldom came back, and never ta stay, and that I have been now away from here entirely, over sixty years; that all I ever knew here are dead long ago? 1 Well, I will do the best I can. We lived in a place up back on the hill called Spruce Lane, now Spruce Street; go there." I went to a coachman and asked him if there was a street called Spruce Lane or Spruce Street in the city. He said,. "yes, over back on the hill is a little street by that name." We went then to a hotel and got our dinner, and while there he told us of the name of a former owner, and of the changes that had been made in the hotel. All was true. We then took a coach and drove to Spruce Street. On our way he . pointed out, and said through the medium, that where now are paved streets and blocks of houses, when he was a boy,, there were open lots, criss-crossed with paths. When we drove into Spruce Lane, he found all was changed; the little house where he said he lived was gone. "Go," said he, "to- the grave yards, first to the new one, and look at the tomb- stones. I will tell you the names before you go of some 1 knew and who are buried there." He gave us the full names of those persons and the relations they bore to each other. Some of these persons he had mentioned to me in Brooklyn,, more than twenty years before. We entered the cemetery and found them as he had given them to us. "Now," said 1 he, "go to the old Second St. cemetery where mother was buried." I asked the driver if there was such a cemetery and he said "yes." Now, twenty years before, in Brooklyn, he had told me of the sad life of his mother, and of her death in want, before poverty drove him to sea. He spoke of his de- 56 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. votion to her, and that when she died, a friend by the name of Spooner had given her a burial place in his family plot. That stones were erected in the plot with the name of Spoon- er inscribed thereon, but that only a piece of board with her ■name was placed at the head of his mother's grave. When w)e reached the old cemetery, we found it closed by a high fence, and the gate locked, but standing by the fence he pointed out to us, one hundred feet or more away, the place of his mother's burial, and we could read the name of Spoon- er, upon the stones in the plot he pointed to. On our way to the cemetery, he told us that his mother attended a little Mehodist church which we would pass, unless it too was gone. Directly we came to a new but small church, which had succeeded to the old one he had attended. Of that little church he had spoken many years before. We could only remain a few hours in New Bedford, and anticipate go- ing there again to complete the identification of this spirit, whose name while here, was John Taylor, Taylor being a very common family name in New Bedford. The first time this spirit came to me I was alone with the medium, in Brook- lyn. His existence was utterly unknown to us. To set the Law of Suggestion at work, there must be a suggester. Who was the suggester in this case? I claim to have obtained some evidence to corroborate his claim to having once lived in New Bedford. From whose subjective mind came the idea to this lady of a sailor by the name of John Taylor, who was born in New Bedford, and all this story of his life? I have stated a case of facts known neither to the medium nor to any person present; those facts have, to a certain ex- tent, been verified. Will the doctrine of telepathy account for it? If it does, from whence did the telepathic thoughts proceed? They must have originated in the mind of some absent or present person in mortal form, or from some ab- sent or present being in invisible form. They could not have -originated in either the mind of the medium or my own. In the absence of any other known method of communicating the name of this personality, and his having put in an ap- pearance declaring his identity and means of determining it, is there any presumption raised that he is what he purports to be? It is true, the medium was not in her normal condi- tion, when he first appeared. The question arises: — is that .abnormal condition a manifestation that she is for the time SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 57 ~being possessed of a separate intelligence? The fact that truthful statements come through her lips concerning mat- ters of which neither she nor I ever had any knowledge, is very conclusive evidence that the communications are from some other intelligence. If they are not from such a person- ality, the question is presented: Is it possible that the com- munication could have originated from any other source? If so, from what source? Has Dr. Hudson anywhere explain- ed? If he can't explain, then the argument is against him .and his various theories fail. I have noted with much interest, that he quotes in his ar- ticle in Harper's Magazine, from Mr. W. F. H. Myers, re- cently deceased, saying there is a small percentage of mes- sages apparently telepathic — containing, — that is to say, facts probably unknown to the autonomist, but known to some living person in his company or connected with him. He ad- mits that Mr. Myers, after careful investigation, has commit- ted himself to the spiritualistic theory, and says, he has so quoted him because, he is one of the ablest and fairest of the Psychical Researchers who have committed themselves to the spiritistic hypotheses ; and because, he distinctly recog- nizes telepathy as the obvious explanation of one class of -messages, and for the further reason, — using his own lan- guage, — "that inasmuch as I shall endeavor to make it clear that all that is mysterious in any of the above named classes of messages is easily explicable under the telepathic theory. •I wish first to show definitely the point where our paths di- verge. This parting of the ways occurs when the third class of communications is reached, namely, those containing facts known neither to the medium nor to any other person pres- ent." He then says that it is at this point that the issue is declared between the two hypotheses — the spiritistic and the •telepathic. On one hand, spiritists decline to accept tele- apathy as a possible factor in the case, if anyone having knowledge of the facts related by the medium is actually -present at the sitting. On the other hand, the advocates of the telepathic theory of explanation hold, that if any living ;person who is in telepathic rapport with any one present, has knowledge of the facts related, we are logically compelled to accept the telepathic hypothesis. This, of course, involves the denial on the one hand, and the affirmation on the other, that more than two persons may be concerned in the trans- 58 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. mission of a telepathic message, and it is upon the settlement of this question that the whole controversy hinges. Reduc- ed to its lowest terms, the question at issue may thus be stat- ed affirmatively: ''If A can by any known means of com- munication convey a message to B, B can convey the same message by the same means to C, other things, of course, being equal. ,r He says, the truth of this proposition, seems- to be self-evident. Therefore, the proposition advanced by Dr. Hudson amounts to this: that if Jones had known John Taylor in New Bedford ninety years ago; had told Smith about Taylor, and Smith had told Brown what Jones said to him about Taylor and Brown had told Greene what Smith said he had heard about Taylor, and Greene had told White what Brown had told him he had heard about Taylor, and Wite was acquainted with the medium, but had never told the medium what he had heard about Taylor, the doctrine of telepathy, would account for all that came through the lips of the medium, as purport- ing to come from John Taylor himself, in regard to the inci- dents of his early life, his career and death. You must bear in mind now, that suggestion apparently plays no part in pro- ducing the communication, because White, who knows the medium, is not present; is perhaps a thousand miles away, — knows nothing about what is transpiring, and consequently,, cannot suggest to the medium that she should communicate even the name of John Taylor, or attempt to play the role of a sailor. But, in the case I have stated, even White is un- known to the medium, for no person has ever come in con- tact with her or me, who knew or heard of John Taylor. Telepathy carried to its utmost, is only the transmission- of thought from one intelligence to another. To account for all such communications, involves the necessity of there being several intelligences transmitting the successive state- ments to the medium, and the medium responding by giving- expression in language to them, and they must all be incar- nate, otherwise, the spirit hypothesis is involved. The most that all the experiments of the Psychical Research Societies- have accomplished, is to establish the possibility of telepathic communication between one mortal and another. The moment it becomes the method of communication between a spirit and a mortal, the spiritistic theory is established and the ghost, becomes an important factor. Telepathy, — signi- SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 59 fying thought — transference, — is inapplicable to express the interblending of minds in the manner suggested by Dr. Hud son. That is not thought transference. It becomes the commingling of the mentalities of several persons, whereby they become for the time being at least, common, while the mind of the psychic, like a burglar in a man's house, steals and carries away the secret and priceless jewels of his victim's life. There is a little truth, and much error in the idea pre- sented. There is a time coming, when man will no longer hide his sins. It is not now. Thought transference is a common language between discarnate spirits. It is possible to a very limited extent between mortals. It is greater be- tween spirits and mortals, when the latter are in a receptive condition, as in moments of repose. Test mediums in an entranced condition, give by clairvoyant powers, and by the aid of discarnate spirits, communications from spirits, and often what only comes from clairvoyance, or soul seeing. Let us glance for a moment, at the distinction between suggestion to a hypnotic subject and trance-communication. The hypnotic subject is first hypnotized. We will take Dr. Hudson's illustrations. The subject is told by the hypnotizer that he is President of the United States. He will act the part with wonderful fidelity to life. He is told that he is in the presence of angels; he will be profoundly moved to acts of devotion. If the presence of devils is suggested, his terror will be instant and painful to behold. He may be thrown into a state of intoxication, by being caused to drink a glass Ci water under the impression that it is brandy. He may be restored to sobriety by the administration of brandy, under the guise of an antidote for drunkenness, (p. 31) Law of Psychic Phenomena. Without hypnotizing a subject first, he can be made to be- lieve none of these things. There is no spirit medium in a normal condition who can be thus imposed upon; nor is the entranced medium subject to the Law of Suggestion. The partially entranced medium does not suppose nor believe him- self or herself, to be other than what he or she actually is. If fully entranced, the medium is utterly unconscious of what is transpiring around her, but the entranced spirit reasons cogently, provided the medium is a fit subject for such pur- pose. It is a well known fact by investigators, that hypnotiz- ing a person tends to aid in the development of mediumship 60 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. as stated by Dr. Hudson in one of his treatises. It is also well known, that in numerous instances, a spirit will step in and take possession of the hypnotic subject, who thereafter becomes a spiritual medium, and will defy the hypnotist to hypnotize the subject thereafter. Such possession by the spirit does not come from any Law of Suggestion. It comes against the suggestion and desire of the hypnotizer; and the subject, knowing nothing of spirit phenomena, could not sus- gest, and would have been terrified at the thought of being possessed by a spirit. The hypnotizer is an embodied spirit — a man — and is visible. The spirit, is a disembodied man, and is invisible to the hypnotist and probably to the medium as well. He is on another plane of existence. If a man can hypnotize a subject, so he must do the strange things these subjects frequently do, it is quite rational to suppose, that a spirit, possessing a spiritual body, mental force and energy more potently now than when in earthly form, might actually entrance the subject, and become almost the personality he was in life, using the organism of the subject to give expres- sion to his thoughts and acts. There is nothing imaginary about it. Because the hypnotist can delude his subject and make him the victim of practical jokes, as well as impractical ones, and can open up the powers of what Dr. Hudson calls the "Subjective Mind," bring back all the memories and im- pressions obtained in a lifetime, so that they can be used by the subject in playing the part assigned him, is no argument whatever, that the phenomena of entrancement and inspira- tion, can be accounted for upon that hypothesis. Dr. Hudson's position, involves a telepathic linking of minds, in the same manner, measurably, as telegraphic lines are connected, and they thus encircle the world. But the forces at work are entirely unlike. In the one case, an inan- imate substance vibrates the sounds of the transmitter's ham- mer or voice to the receiver at the other end of the line. There are only two mentalities engaged in communicating, one at each end of the wire. One knows just what the other transmits and no more. In the telepathic process, involving the connection of several distinct mentalities, in each in- stance, according to Dr. Hudson's theory, the psychic be- comes in rapport with the subjective mind of each person, out of which he calls forth from the memory of each — and each containing millions upon millions of impressions and recol- SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 61 lections, — that which now enables a psychic to give to the re- ceiver and all others the name and history of John Taylor, the story of his life and death, and far more, — the names, vo- cations and relations of hosts of people to each other, who lived in the distant city when he was born. Those present having never heard of John Taylor, are astonished at his ap- pearance, and after an acquaintance with him of over twenty years, in which time the psychic can hear his voice, and at times discern his spiritual presence, the telepathic theory of Doctor Hudson is submitted as overthrowing the spiritual hypothesis. Quoting a familiar Latin phrase, it is "reductio ad absurd- am." But I recall more cases of personal experience, which I wish to relate, bearing directly upon the points in contro- versy. Fully twenty years ago, a spirit entranced this same medium, when she and I were alone, and announced himself as Dr. Morse, giving his full name, and stating to me that he had died a number of years before in the city of New Or- leans, where he had lived and practiced his profession, and where he had a family still living. He said that he had been prominently connected with the hospitals in New Orleans, and had a very extensive practice, saying, that he probably had occasioned the death of some patients, but that he had assisted a great many, and had done the best he could. I was not well at the time, and the medium herself was in poor condition of health. He said that he had come to be of as- sistance to us, and while he did not propose to interfere un- less it was necessary, with the treatment we were receiving, he would stand by and warn us of mistakes insofar as possi- ble. He was very faithful in coming to us, and gave me very salutary advice in regard to my health. Upon one occasion the medium, whom I may say is my wife, was in a very weak condition. She had ascended a flight of stairs to her cham- ber, when I found her suddenly entranced of Dr. Morse, who directed me to give her a spoonful of brandy as quickly as possible, for she was on the point of passing out of her body. Her face was deathly pale and I hurriedly gave her the barndy. He directed me to place one of my hands upon her forehead, and the other upon the back of her head, while he would hold control until she had rallied. This was done, and in a short time she rallied, and her heart resumed its wonted action, he directing me to sense her pulse. <62 SPIRITISM. AND TELEPATHY. At the time of the Exposition in New Orleans, being in poor health, the medium and I went to that city and spent a few days. As we approached the city, she informed me that she felt the presence of Dr. Morse very strongly, and presently became quite interested in everything to be seen around us. She pointed out the locality in the city where Doctor Morse had lived, and said she could go directly to his house. Up to this time, I had taken no steps to verify what I have here stated. Arriving at our hotel, I visited a drug store, questioned the druggist as to whether such a per- son hadi ever lived in the city, as this Dr. Morse, and I re- ceived the fullest verification of all he had told me, even to the location of the house where he resided, which was in the section of the city indicated by the medium. It is a fact well known to spiritualists, that through the personality or aura of a medium, the spirit can get in rapport with the medium, so that the spirit can see again upon the earth as if still in mortal form. Consequently, the opportun- ity was afforded Dr. Morse, he being in rapport with the medium, to look again upon the city and its surroundings, with which he had been so familiar many years before. The medium had this consciousness of his almost constant pres- ence with her during our stay there. I regret to say that she became rather tired of it, and one day, while we were sitting outside the Exposition grounds on a settee, she arose and remarked: "I wish Dr. Morse would go away from me. I cannot take a step but I feel him stepping beside me, and it begins to annoy me." I instantly arose, considerably vex- ed at her remark, saying: "When you have been ill, Dr. Morse has been on hand to save you life. When I have been ill, I have had the benefit of his wisdom. I think you and I can both stand a good deal of Dr. Morse, and you should make no such remark as that." Immediately, the firm pres- sure, as of a hand, was upon my shoulder, and imagining somebody whom I had not seen was present, pushing me, I hurriedly turned, asking who pushed me but saw nothing; we were entirely alone insofar as I could see; but I knew what it meant, and I knew that the remark had deeply wounded our kind friend. Telepathy, suggestion, clairvoyance and clairaudience are submitted as sufficient explanation of these remarkable mani- festations. One other instance and I will finish my illustra- tions. SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 63 Some eighteen years ago the medium and I were quite in- timately acquainted with a Dr. Howard, his wife and family. During our absence of a few weeks from the city, his wife had -died, and had been some six weeks in the spiritual world, at the time the incident I am relating occurred. The med- ium was entranced of one, who had represented herself as 'the spirit of a little girl, whose name was Daisy Crandall. She had come to us many times, and is still part of our spirit- ual family. Several friends were present when she spoke hurriedly saying: "Why, here is Mrs. Howard. She says she has just come from the doctor's house; that the house is on fire, and that she was frightened, fearing that the old doctor •would be burned up." It was a pat statement, and quite startling. I remarked: "I hope Daisy, you are not mistak- en, for you know very well that the medium knows nothing of what you say, and if it turns out that there was no fire, there, it would be very annoying to her/' She became im- mediately indignant, and asked me if I supposed that Mrs. Howard would come there and tell a lie. I meekly replied ,,'No, but I didn't know but that there might be a mistake." She reiterated that there was no mistake. She believed what Mrs. Howard said. 1 said nothing of the occurrence until :after the company had gone. When I told the medium of what had been said through her lips, while she had been en- tranced, she became very much excited, — stamped her foot, and said that no control should put her in that position, for she did not believe there was a word of truth in the state- ment. She had hardly gotten the words from her mouth, be- fore the spirit returned, seizing control of her, and sitting down, she burst into tears and said to me. "Tomorrow morning I want you to harness the horse and carriage, and take the medium down to Dr. Howard's house, and I will tell , you just what you will find there. You will find that the fire engines were there, that they put water in through the house; that it came down through th^ ceiling; that the bedding was on fire, and that they threw the mattresses in the back-yard, and say to her when I am gone, that she must not question our truthfulness, for we do not lie." I did as requested. We drove down to Dr. Howard's ; he lived in a brown stone house on Bedford avenue. As 1 drove up to the curbstone, there was no sign of fire in the front part of the building. The medium immediately exclaimed; "There, I told you so." 1 64 ' SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. said, "Wait." I ran up the steps and rang the bell at the~ door. The call was answered bv the doctor himself, and the moment the door was opened, the work of the flames and water was before me. The doctor at once stated that fire had broken out the night before, and he came near being burned up. I hurriedly ran through the hall of his house, looked out 01 the back window of the parlor, and the mattresses were still smouldering in the yard, and the ceilings were soaking with water. I might multiply instances of similar occurrences, but I have stated sufficient, and Dr. Hudson and scientists who sup- port his theory of explaining these remarkable phenomena, must present something more convincing as to the truth of their position, before I shall give up the happy consciousness in which I have lived so many years, that the spiritual world is around us, and our departed friends are not dead but can come to us. It will be noted that Dr. Hudson has avoided entering into that domain of phenomena of a physical .character, which he says may or may not be explained, as emanating from spirit- ual sources, but, because it can be duplicated by the applica- tion of known principles of natural law as evidence, the evi~ dence that it emanates from a spiritual source is destroyed. I wish simply to say, that I have witnessed manifestations that cannot be duplicated through the application of any of the known principles of natural law, as I understand he desires to use that expression. As for myself, I regard the reign of natural law as supreme, and if God does not manifest himself through the laws of nature, then God, — if there be a God, — must be outside of nature's domain. I am a theist. I believe in God, but this is outside of the issue between us. I note in his treatises that Dr. Hudson seems to endorse as truthful, the record of the remarkable powers possessed by Jesus, when he cast out evil spirits which had possessed some 01 the unfortunate psychics of those times. Dr. Hudson is a naturalist. I don't apprehend that he believes there are any spirits in the spiritual world, that have not come up through the processes which he has pointed out in his work, from the oversoul of the universe, having become first men and wo- men, and then, through the process of death, spirits — angels. That some of the spirits passing from this to the other world are good and some are evil cannot be questioned, for death SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 6t> cannot be presumed to have changed the nature of a man nor the moral character of a person. If, therefore, the Master exorcised Mary Magdalen from the evil, spirits possessing her,, it necessarily follows that such spirits exist in the spiritual, world, though invisible to mortals, and may work evil and good through them, as opportunity is afforded. There are other features which clearly distinguish spirit control from hypnosis ; and in passing it is important to state, that Prof. Carpenter, the famous hypnotist, mentioned by Doctor Hudson as assisting in his investigations, was a spir- itualist. His wife was a medium, and I learned from his own lips, that his life-long study and practice of hypnosis, as well as his study of spirit phenomena, enabled him to unmistak- ably distinguish a case of spirit control from one of hypnosis. The controlling spirit does not believe that he is the med- ium, or that the medium is the spirit ; and in many instances* in my experience, which is true in that of a thousand other investigators, the first time a spirit effects control, much diffi- culty is experienced. The medium will complain of strange sensations as she lapses into unconsciousness, frequently - moans, and is ubject to convulsive action and is liable to* fall i from her chair. This is almost invariably preceded,, by the symptoms of the condition of the spirit, just before and at the time of death. These manifestations are often painful to < witness. They are never manifested in a case of hypnosis, . nor of hypnotic suggestion, without the direct interventionj ot the mind of the suggestor, bringing about these condi- tions. It is an exceedingly common occurrence, in the case o£ spirit control, for the spirit to express astonishment, at the strange circumstance in which he is placed; if it be a male spirit, talking through a lady medium; or, if the control is a female spirit, the same astonishment is expressed, that she is • using the organism of a man to give utterance to her thoughts. One may very naturally suppose, in the case I have men- tioned, of our visit to New Bedford, that the return of the spirit to the place of his nativity, where the incidents con- nected with his early life transpired, many of which were ex- ceedingly sad, would occasion emotions which would be thrown upon the medium. In this case, the medium re- tained her normal condition, and carried on a conversation 66 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. with me, she giving utterance to what she clairaudiently re- ceived from him. So strongly did she sense his emotions, that she became at times greatly agitated, as a sensitive naturally would, sens- ing the emotions of one revisiting the scenes of his childhood under such circumstances. As we were turning out from Spruce Lane, she suddenly turned and exclaimed, "He says here is where old Aunt Margaret lived, who gave me a sup of milk, and a piece of bread and butter when I was hungry." She choked with emotion, and tears were flowing. Similar emotions were manifested at the grave-yard, when looking out upon the place of his mothers burial. Before we entered the cemetery I have referred to, among the names mentioned by him, of people whom he had known in life, as being buried there, was one by the name of Ben- jamin Tripp. We found the tombstone containing this name of Benjamin Tripp, Jr., not far from the entrance, giv- ing the date of birth as October 19, 1806, if I remember cor- rectly, and the date of death, August 17, 1879. I cannot give all the names and incidents from memory, but I have a memorandum of them which is not at hand. We supposed that the Benjamin Tripp whose grave we ; had found, was the one he referred to, but he corrected us ; ,and said, "No, this was the son of the man" he had known, : ,and we presently found the grave of Benjajmin Tripp, who •was the person whom he had known in his early life. Most persons have experiences of their own of a telepath- : ic nature. It is a common occurrence for the thought of a person to precede his coming into our presence. There is v -r. cause for this. We are as lighted candles, giving off some- - thing of our being wherever we go, as a candle does light. The material objects which are so real to us, afford no bar- riers to the penetration of that strange, invisible something, ■which characterizes the personality of us all, and goes with, and precedes us through life. Thoughts have been said to be things. At any rate, the language we use is the best method we have, though feeble indeed, of giving expression to our thoughts. I have been taught that telepathy — : or thought transference, — is a com- mon method by which spirits hold converse. SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 67 Your candle throws Out a peculiar aura, which is known to your friends, which interblends with that of theirs, which immediately suggests to your friends your approach. A thought is born which is followed by your coming together. This illustrates in a general way one phase of what is denom- inated Telepathy. The Society for Psychical Research, has experimented ex- tensively to find to what extent thought transference could be carried. For instance, they place a subject in a room alone, with pencil and paper to draw or write as he may be impressed; the operators go into another room and concen- trate their thoughts, perhaps upon a picture, and mentally suggest the picture to the subject, and it has frequently oc- curred that he has drawn a similar picture by himself. This is telepathic suggestion. A thought may be thus projected, but it has not been found possible thus to communicate a discourse to the recipient. The organs of sight and hearing are simply nature's meth- ods of communicating to our inner-consciousness, surround- ing conditions, and the discoveries in regard to the response of these organs to the vibrations of light and sound, are add- ing to the wonders that are being unfolded in regard to our own being. Clairvoyance and clairaudience, possessed by sensitives, and in certain conditions at times by numerous other per- sons, have demonstrated the possibility of discerning events transpiring in very distant places. In my publication of the life of Mollie Fancher, I record- ed numerous instances of her manifestation of these powers. And if it be true, as demonstrated in her case, and in thou- sands of other instances, that the clairvoyant can see beyond the walls of her enclosed room, out into the street, and wit- ness what is transpiring, she is also entitled to the credit of speaking truthfully when she declares, that she see the spir- itual forms of her departed friends, as from time to time they present themselves to her, intangible though they be to the mortal touch, they are nevertheless there to her spiritual vision. She has the absolute consciousness of their pres- ence. We may be sure that whatever transpires, either in this or in the Spiritual World, will take place in harmony with the principles of Natural Law. The great trouble with 68 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. humanity is, that It is often ignorant of those principles, and hence this discussion. If the illimitable linking of minds as claimed, is possible, so that they can be thus brought into harmonious connection then Telepathy will deserve to be called, Omniscience. The mind may r»e capable, in the infinity of time which is before us, of unlimited comprehension, but that it is possi- ble for individual minds to become so connected, that the knowledge possessed by each may become common, is some- thing which cannot rationally be accepted. If science is reduced to such straits to disprove the spirit- istic theory, then science is in distress, and may be excused for grasping at straws. In his argument, Dr. Hudson has combined truth with er- ror, and asks us to accept his presentation of it as being wholly true. I have no doubt of the correctness of some of his conclusions; but his weak points are distinct. The stone that the builders rejected has become the Head of the Corner, and the Temple of Spiritual Truth is becoming a mountain which shall fill the whole earth. (2nd ch. of Daniel.) Great cowardice is manifested by most Christian teach- ers in ignoring that part of the teachings of Jesus, and ot Paul and other early writers concerning spiritual gifts. If they read those passages, they avoid a senisblc interpretation cf their true meaning, and also of much that lias come to us of what Jesus taught, and of what Paul and other of the apostles and disciples wrote. The vile purpose to which psychic powers have been put, is no justification for condemning all psychics as unworthy persons, nor their communications as untrue. The application of that rule to other matters would not be tolerated. None will claim, and neither do the controls themselves claim, that they are not liable to error. Truth will ever be attained under difficulties, and what is apparent- ly true, must stand as true until proven otherwise. We have before 11 s a great realm for investigation, and we are wonderfully assisted, if we know we have co-opera- tion on the "Other Side," to assist in opening communica- tions between the visible and invisible realms. The puerile character of many of the communications com- ing from trance mediums, as well as their lint rust worthiness, SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. 69 "being frequently by language, diction and thought totally un- like what might be expected from those from whom they purport to emanate, warrant the conclusions usually formed, that they are untruthful, and disgrace the cause so strenu- ously advocated by Spiritualists. These criticisms are war- ranted, and I shall say little to excuse or palliate them, no matter from what source they eminate. These conditions are not new (See II Chron. 18 c. 19-22.) I will quote one verse: "And he said I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt prevail; go and do even so." (See Luke, 7 c 21 v.:8 c. 2 v.; I John, 4 c. 1 v.) Who could expect to transmit through the undeveloped "brain of an illiterate medium, the language and lofty inspira- tions of a Webster or Beecher? The communications us- ually are characterized by the personality of the mediums; and those ignorant of the laws of spirit control, at once con- demn the whole is fraudulent. Not until the brain of the psychic is well developed, and can respond in appropriate lan- guage to the thoughts of the controlling spirit, will trance- mediumship attain the eminence to which it is destined. Testing the truthfulness of every spirit before giving it abso- lute credence, is always advisable. For long periods of time, Jewish history teaches that the voice of prophets was still, and the people longed for one to rise, to whom they could go for consolation in distress, and -for wisdom when perplexed with doubts. Joel said, "And it shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my spir- it upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall pro- phesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and hand- maids in those days will I pour out my spirit." (Joel 2 c. 28- 29 v.: also Acts 2 c. 17-18 v.) Following the crucifixion of Jesus, his disciples continued to manifest to the world the spiritual gifts which had been given them, but they were lost Avhen the priesthood stoned and put the seers to death. How few clergymen will say to those who mourn for the dead, "I know there is no death to your loved ones, they live and can come again to you, and will abide with you if you prepare your heart and home to receive them." Christianity as taught by its founders is well, but it will never convert the 70 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. world while ignoring a part of the commands of the Master. The Seance Room should be the Holy of Holies; the most sacred of places. Spiritualists have made it a dark chamber, rather than a place of sacred light. They have made the phenomena an idol, and have cast Christ out of their syna- gogues. They deny God, and have substituted Nature in His place, and present the world with a Soulless Universe. No wonder people ask, "Can any good come out of Naza- reth?" Yet, for all this, there will a time come, when some one will rise up and separate the pure from the corrupt, and by Works, by Faith and Truthful Teachings, bring the relig- ions of the world into accord, and the human family into a Universal Brotherhood, through the serene spirit of Christ, which was before the earth was formed, and will continue, when it ceases to be the habitation of man. ERRATUM. In my illustration of Dr. Hudson's theory, that telepathy would account for the medium's knowledge of John Taylor and the events in his life, I have supposed a case to the effect that some living person, with whom the medium is acquaint- ed, has heard from some other persons whom she does not know, all that she has given as coming directly to her from John Taylor himself. This illustration fails to make clear the stretch of credence. Dr. Hudson demands, as he claims that if Jones knew John Taylor in his -life time, and Jones knew Smith, and Smith knew Brown, and Brown knew Green, and Green knew White and White knew the medium, this linking of minds would account for the correct state- ments by the medium of the facts given by her concerning John Taylor. Dr. Hudson's claim is in effect, that it is only necessary that the first named of all these persons— Mr. Jones— should have known John Taylor, and that the last named, Mr. White, should know the medium. As already stated, the medium knows of no person through whom this connection can be made. A. "■• ^' HON. LUTHER R. MARSH, OF MIDDLETOWN, N. Y. SPIRITISM, TELEPATHY AND MRS. PIPER. BY HON. LUTHER R. MARSH, OF MIDDLETOWN, N. Y. The Hon. Luther R. Marsh, who had been invited to at- tend the December session of the Medico-Legal Society and its Psychological Section, was unable to be present, but sent his views in the form of a letter to the President of the Med- ico-Legal Society ?s follows: 10 Benton Ave., Middletown, N. Y. December 16, 1901. My Dear Mr. Bell. — You know my views on Spiritualism, and you know something of the years I have spent in inves- tigating its phenomena; of the unusual advantage I have en- joyed for its study; and you know, too, of the unmixed desire and intent I have had to learn the real, absolute truth; and you know what qualilcations I brought to the investigation. I do not wish to discuss the Piper Episode. I have never icgarded her as an uncommon psychic. I have never read any message through her, which seemed to me above the common-place. But she is perfectly honest, I have no doubt; — not the slightest. She believes what she says. When in a full trance she is utterly unconscious of what has been spoken through her; and when she comes to herself, she has no memory of what has taken place. It is natural that she should be incredulous. She cannot realize as true what she hears said as to what has been transmitted through her. I do not wonder at it at all; nor does her dissent, or her ignorance, have the slightest influence on me as bearing on the fact and truthfulness of her communications. That these messages have been given by a power outside of her own powers; that they are infused into her mind, or spoken to her inner ear, and that she has interpreted or delivered them, just as they were given to her, I do not permit myself Read by title at December meeting, 190 r, and announced to be read at March meeting. IQ02. Medico-Legal Society in joint session with the Psychological Section of that body. '72 SPIRITISM AND TELEPATHY. to doubt. That all the proceedings with her, and by her, including the entire conduct of the learned savants, who have sought her mediumistic aid, have been carried on in perfect integrity, and with an earnest desire to learn the absolute truth; and to avoid all fallacies and phantoms, I have no manner of doubt or of suspicion The lessons learned from these laborious and long contin- ued experiments, are valuable, instructive and true, beyond any hesitation of mine to believe. And yet they seem to me to be lessons in the incipiency of the Science, Religion, or Philosophy, as you may choose to call it. To me, it is all three. The experiments which I have seen; the messages I have received; the scenes I have witnessed; the lofty and divine communications vouchsafed to me, are, — and for many years have been — of an order so superior, so much loftier in thought, in eloquence, in expression, to any thing I have heard as coming through the lips of this lady, that I have not felt much interest in the experiments through her, except as valuable to beginners in the study of the great mystery. The universal assault upon me by the unanimous press of this whole country and of Europe, some years ago, in my first attempt to disclose something of my teachings to the world; — a journalistic cyclone of abuse, vituperation, misrep- resentation, derision and caricaturism — while it did not dis- turb me at all, nor ruffle a hair, has disinclined me to put be- fore the public the results of my experiences. All deep occult ratiocination, all profound suggestions, all doubts of scientists, and speculations of philosophers, all ar- guments of skeptics, are idle talk to me, in view of what mine eyes have seen, my ears heard, my fingers touched, my judg- ment approved. I have confidence in myself. I consider that my education at the Bar, through more than half a century in investigating facts, in balancing proofs, in discriminating questions of principle, has given me confidence in judging of matters under my own personal cognizance. I do not ask anyone else to pin any faith in me. I am speaking of my confidence in my own capacity to judge for myself, and in my own pure integrity of purpose. Science! I do not believe "Science is God," as I once heard