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NEW LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 TWO NEW WORLDS. I. The 
 
 Infra-World. II. The Supra-World. 
 Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 THE ELECTRON THEORY : a 
 
 Popular Introduction to the New Theory 
 of Electricity and Magnetism. With a 
 Preface by G. Johnstone Stoney, M. A., 
 D.Sc, F.R.S. With Frontispiece Por- 
 trait of Dr. Stoney, and 35 Diagrams in 
 the Text. Crown 8vo, 5s. net. 
 
 LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 
 
 LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 
 
NEW LIGHT 
 ON IMMORTALITY 
 
 BV 
 
 E. E. FOURNIER d'ALBE 
 
 B.Sc. (Lonb.), M.R.I. A. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE ELECTRON THEORY" AND "TWO NEW WORLDS 
 
 HON. SECRETARY OP THE DUBLIN SECTION OP THE 
 
 SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND 
 DIAGRAMS IN TEXT 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 
 NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 
 
 1908 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
.f6 
 
 
Us 
 
 «3 
 
 °^ 
 
 TO 
 
 MY DEAR WIFE 
 
 EDITH CONSUELO 
 
 THIS BOOK IS 
 AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/newlightonimmortOOfour 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The present work has arisen out of the cosmological 
 speculations embodied in " Two New Worlds," which 
 themselves were suggested by certain recent advances 
 in our knowledge of the atoms of matter and of 
 electricity. It seemed to me desirable that the new 
 materials should be used as soon as possible to 
 further the solution of the " question of questions," 
 the possibility of human immortality. 
 
 Lest it appear presumptuous for a physicist to 
 venture an opinion on such a subject, which is 
 usually associated with psychology and theology 
 rather than experimental science, I may plead that 
 the relations between mind and matter require for 
 their elucidation an extensive acquaintance with 
 what is actually known about matter and what is 
 not known about it. And every one, I think, will 
 acknowledge that the relations between mind and 
 matter are at the very root of all possible theories 
 concerning immortality. Now the physicist is per- 
 manently confronted with problems concerning the 
 ultimate nature of matter, more so even than the 
 chemist, and much more than the physiologist, who 
 usually derives his ideas concerning matter from 
 elementary text-books of physics and chemistry. 
 This explains the fascination which ultimate ques- 
 
Vlll PREFACE 
 
 tions are found to exert upon representatives of 
 physics rather than upon devotees of other branches 
 of science. 
 
 This book, then, is an attempt at what we might 
 call a Physical Theory of Immortality. Such a 
 theory must make the minimum of new assump- 
 tions, must not contradict any known law of physics, 
 and must bear thinking out in all its consequences 
 without leading to qualitative and quantitative 
 absurdities. These requisites I have borne steadily 
 in mind. The result, to me at all events, has been 
 distinctly satisfactory, and although not all the 
 points are fully worked out yet, I have, so far, failed 
 to discover any inconsistency with the laws and 
 experiences of the world we live in. 
 
 I have taken pains to remain throughout in close 
 touch with the facts of physiology, and have em- 
 bodied some of the most recent results of that great 
 science in the following pages. At the same time 
 I have guarded myself against accepting those crude 
 hypotheses and speculations concerning ultimate 
 realities with which some physiologists are inclined 
 to cloak their real ignorance concerning the inner 
 working of the phenomena they investigate. 
 
 The theory developed in the first two parts of 
 this book may be taken, at all events, as a type of a 
 theory of immortality which has a chance of being 
 accepted by the scientifically trained mind. It 
 remains for theologians to declare whether a theory 
 of this type can be satisfactorily embodied in their 
 systems. On this question I cannot venture to 
 express any opinion, but I think they will acknow- 
 
PREFACE IX 
 
 ledge the obvious advantage of having even a work- 
 ing hypothesis of a future life presented to them, 
 such as both parties could possibly be brought to 
 agree upon. 
 
 In Part III. I have gone a step further. I have 
 ventured to include in my survey a large class of 
 phenomena which official science has not yet accepted. 
 I refer to what are now most usually styled " meta- 
 psychical " phenomena, and which form the subject- 
 matter of what is known as psychical research. Of 
 these I have had little personal experience, but a 
 careful examination of the extensive literature of 
 the subject has forced upon me the conclusion that 
 a large and solid basis of reality is at the bottom of 
 these somewhat rare and elusive happenings. That 
 being so, it seems naturally a little strange that 
 they have not yet been fully recognised. But that 
 fate has historically been shared by many other 
 facts which did not happen to fit in with the views 
 prevailing at the time. To judge from the trend of 
 modern opinion, the time is approaching when a 
 slight rearrangement of our general principles will 
 provide the elasticity necessary to allow of these facts 
 being duly placed and catalogued. The step I have 
 here taken is therefore not fraught with such dire 
 dangers of heterodoxy as some of my scientific 
 friends have so kindly warned me of. And, even 
 if it were, I should regard it as an obvious and 
 imperative duty to state in precise and unambiguous 
 language the conclusion I have, after careful exa- 
 mination of witnesses on both sides, deliberately 
 arrived at. 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 But it should be understood that the views 
 advanced in this book do not stand or fall with the 
 reality or otherwise of metapsychieal phenomena. 
 The hypothesis sketched out, or something like it, 
 is necessary to explain the phenomena of every-day 
 life and growth, which are not fully accounted for 
 by any theory so far put forward. 
 
 The central beam of the " new light " is the 
 rehabilitation of life as the primary and ultimate 
 reality. The reduction of the laws of nature to the 
 laws of life of that congeries of inferior strata of 
 life which we call " matter " is the most important 
 of the new conceptions here established. It is, of 
 course, an obvious corollary of the theorems pro- 
 posed in my " Infra- World." 
 
 In conclusion I beg to thank those kind Dublin 
 friends who have assisted me with the loan of books 
 and the verification of references, and Mr. E. Dawson 
 Rogers and Mr. Henry Withall for the loan of 
 valuable photographs. 
 
 E. E. FOURNIER d'ALBE. 
 
 11 Sunbuky Gardens, Dublin, 
 
 September 1908. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE PROBLEM BEFORE US 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The modern attitude towards death — Quantitative aspects of 
 death — Unknown territories to explore — Man's growing 
 optimism — Attitudes of science and theology — What we 
 want to know 1 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 WHAT IS LIFE? 
 
 Ancient and modern definitions — Attempts to define life in 
 terms of matter — No sharp demarcation between living 
 and dead matter — Life more fundamental and " knowable" 
 than matter — What do we know about matter? — The 
 prestige of matter — Practical evidence of " existence" — 
 Orders of reality — Matter expressed in terms of life — 
 Laws of Nature — The life of " dead matter " — Low-order 
 consciousness — The laws of Nature are the moral laws of 
 lower universes — The life period of atoms . . .10 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 
 
 The human messenger — The organic life-work — Pre-natal 
 activity — Development after birth — Social or "waking" 
 consciousness takes the place of the organic consciousness 
 
Xll CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 — Vicarious : experience — The function of language — The 
 submergence of the organic consciousness — Maturity a 
 birth into the social world — The social business of life 
 — Racial consciousness — Extension of personality — The 
 personality lof communities — Selfishness — The interpre- 
 tation of ordinary avocations — Happiness — Wisdom . 30 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 A problem of chemical physics — The human machine — A cell 
 mechanism — Wilson on co-ordination — -Intercellular con- 
 nections — Protoplasmic continuity — Grades of vitality — 
 The organic hierarchy — Self-determination — No purely 
 local phenomena — Regeneration — The death penalty — 
 The deathless amoeba — Heredity and the Chromosomes — 
 The centre of vitality of the cell — An invisible body . 50 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE LAWS OF NATURE 
 
 A security or a restraint — Who frames the laws ?— Impossi- 
 bility — How we generalise — Majesty of natural law — 
 Its human import — Discrediting of speculation — British 
 and continental schools — Materialism still in power — 
 Pax Romano, — Universality of life — Definition of a world 
 — The world of atoms — Life of atomic species — The laws 
 of nature are the social laws of inferior worlds — Souls 
 within souls — Our blood relationship with all life, and 
 with all that exists — Superior aggregations ... 76 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 
 
 No room for a universal cataclysm — A new monism — Diagram 
 of existences — The individual covers an infinite series of 
 worlds — Death is the extraction of the vital or directing 
 
 / 
 
CONTENTS Xlll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 elements — The search for a spiritual body — Possibility of 
 its extraction — Externalisation of personality — Properties 
 of the externalised body — A gaseous constitution — Where 
 is heaven 1 96 
 
 PART II 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BIRTH 
 
 If life were reversible — Unicellular cell-division — Tetramitus 
 — Conjugation — Union of the nuclei — Alternation of 
 generations — Necessity of subdivision — The multiplica- 
 tion of nuclei — Division and fusion of souls — The function 
 of sex — Germ -cells — The problem of development — No 
 physical causality conceivable — Infra-world memories . 115 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 LIFE AFTER DEATH 
 
 Are we prepared for a theory? — Orthodox reticence— The 
 negative attitude of materialism — No real belief in a 
 future life — A scientific demonstration required — No 
 room for dogma — Modern tests and requirements — Un- 
 expected complexity— No finality — Popular ideas reduced 
 to absurdity — Our guiding principles — No world outside 
 God 131 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE SOUL-BODY 
 
 Self-determination and the conservation of energy — The soul- 
 body consists of material particles or structures— Proposal 
 to call them " Psychomeres " — Darwin's "gemmules" — 
 Weismann's " determinants "—Relation to chromosomes 
 
XIV CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 and centrosomes — Weight of the soul-body— Effects of 
 withdrawal of the psychomeres— Probable experiences — 
 Time required for withdrawal — Comparison with chloro- 
 form — defence of the organism — The final struggle — The 
 moment after — The liberated soul — New functions — 
 Earth-memories — Can a soul be wounded ? — The souls of 
 cripples — Shape of the soul — Probable resemblance to a 
 flame — Familiar instances — Cohesion of the soul-body — 
 Assumption of former terrestrial shape .... 144 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE SOUL-WORLD 
 
 Where is it ? — Alternative locations — Non-euclidian space — 
 The fourth dimension — Three-dimensional space — Choice 
 of worlds — The claims of our atmosphere — No valid 
 objection — Structure of the atmosphere — Recent investi- 
 gations — The isothermal layer — Evidences of stratifica- 
 tion — Conditions of aerial life — Anatomical peculiarities 
 — Sense-organs — Life in the soul-world .... 160 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 INTERCOMMUNICATION 
 
 The soul-world as seen from the earth — The earth as seen 
 from the soul-world — Difficulties of intercourse — Rela- 
 tions between the two worlds — Not necessarily amicable 
 — No absolute separation — Community of ideals necessary 
 — The struggle between opposite ideals — The basis of 
 ethics — Public aspects of intercommunication — Stamping 
 it out — How a truth becomes a myth — The flight of the 
 fairies — Recent revivals — Methods of communication — 
 Alternative methods — Method of the soul- world — Method 
 of the earth-world — Spirit control of an earthly organism 
 — Passivity and familiarity — No revelations concerning 
 earth-life to be expected — No terrors ahead — Disease and 
 death 175 
 
CONTENTS XV 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE WIDER PROBLEMS OP IMMORTALITY 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Do animals possess souls ? — Are animals and plants immortal ? 
 — Conditions of immortality — Will and utility — Optional 
 immortality — Amalgamation of individuals — Grades of 
 disintegration — Blood relationship — Eeincarnation — Its 
 difficulties — Karma — Higher entities — Kingly souls — Our 
 responsibility — Human power ...... 191 
 
 PART III 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 Decay of the introspective method — The psychophysical lab- 
 oratory — Psychopathology — Hypnotism — Known and un- 
 known — A theory more necessary than further facts — 
 Summary of our theory in 19 articles — New data to 
 be embodied — Boirac's classification — Hypnoid, Magne- 
 toid, Spiritoid — Misuse of the word "force" — Definition 
 of " force " — The specialisation of science — Most modern 
 theories are specialist devices applicable to a limited 
 range of facts — Frederick Myers — The panorama of the 
 soul — Our modification — Refutable and verifiable — The 
 subliminal self — The spirit hypothesis .... 203 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE STORY OP " KATIE KING " 
 
 The best-aiithenticated record — Miss Florence Cook — Annie 
 Morgan, alias " Katie King " — Her full form photographed 
 by magnesium light — Reproduced as a wood- engraving — 
 May 7, 1873 — Exceptional conditions — Stringent tests — 
 Mr. Luxmoore's account — Mr. Harrison's account — Diffi- 
 culties of exposure to light — An authentic photograph — 
 Alleged " exposure" of the medium — Cromwell Varley's 
 
XVI CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 electrical test — Full report — Further particulars— Mr. 
 Coleman's account of the farewell scene — Portrait of 
 Miss Florence Cook in 1874 — Separate identities of Miss 
 Cook and "Katie King" — Later portrait of Mrs. Corner 
 (Florence Cook) — Preserved pieces of "Katie King's" dress 
 — Mr. Harrison's account — Souvenirs of hair — Parting 
 words — "Florence Marryat's" account — Thorough ex- 
 amination of the form — The question of separate identity 
 — The press on " Katie King "— Lombroso and Richet . 218 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE PHENOMENA 
 
 Clearly impossible" — Why official science was not con- 
 vinced — Sir William Crookes' advantages — Why he suc- 
 ceeded — A remarkable test — Hasty generalisations — 
 Spiritualism in Europe and America — Physical character- 
 istics of "spirit forms" — Mental characteristics — No 
 shadow ghosts — Voice manifestations — Moral character- 
 istics — Sensations of the medium — Drapery — Harrison's 
 hypothesis — Alternative interpretations — "Katie King" 
 an independent entity — "Katie King" a "double" of 
 Florence Cook — The spirit hypothesis the simplest — 
 Mechanism of materialisation — Risks and limitations . 268 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 SUPERNORMAL PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
 
 The Dialectical Society's Report — Movements of furniture — 
 Method of the spiritualists — Instructions for private in- 
 vestigations — Dr. Maxwell on raps — Eusapia Paladino at 
 Cambridge — Crookes'catalogue of phenomena — Weighing 
 of evidence — Science cannot recognise miracles pure and 
 simple— Man supreme in his own sphere — Externalisation 
 of energy — Source of power — The demon theory — The 
 effect of enlightenment 294 
 
CONTENTS xvil 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 PROOFS OF SURVIVAL 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Difficulties of identification — Identification of living persons 
 — Similarity of methods and of evidence — The case of 
 Frau von Bille-Dahl — Mr. Aksakoff's observations — 
 Mental tests — Communications from Myers, Hodgson, 
 and Gurney — Cross-references to "Mrs. Holland" and 
 Mrs. Verrall — Sir Oliver Lodge's announcement . . 310 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 The road behind us — How we found the soul — Survival 
 a thinkable contingency — A question of physics and 
 physiology — The fear of death — The needs of the heart — 
 Reward and punishment — A boundless prospect . . 321 
 
 Index 329 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 ' PORTRAIT OF "KATIE KING". . . . To face p. 222 
 
 -.A PHOTOGRAPH OF "KATIE KING" . . „ 232 
 
 •MISS FLORENCE COOK IN 1874 ... „ 250 
 
 • A LATER PORTRAIT OF MISS FLORENCE 
 
 COOK (Mrs. Elgib Corner) .... ,,253 
 
NEW LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY 
 
 PART I 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE PROBLEM BEFORE US 
 
 The twentieth century is too busy to occupy itself 
 much with the problems presented by death and 
 what follows it. The man of the world makes his 
 will, insures his life, and dismisses his own death 
 with the scantiest forms of politeness. The 
 churches, once chiefly interested in the ultimate 
 fate of the soul after death, now devote the bulk 
 of their energies to moral instruction and social 
 amelioration. Death is all but dead, as an over- 
 shadowing doom and an all-absorbing subject of 
 controversy. 
 
 The spectacle of 2,000,000,000 human beings 
 rushing to their doom with no definite knowledge 
 of what that doom may be, and yet taking life as 
 it comes, happily and merrily enough as a rule, 
 seems strange and almost unaccountable. The 
 spectacle somewhat resembles that inside a prison 
 
 A 
 
2 THE PROBLEM BEFORE US 
 
 during the Reign of Terror, when prisoners passed 
 their time in animated and even gay converse, not 
 knowing who would be called out next to be 
 trundled to the scaffold. 
 
 Such a spectacle has from time to time appalled 
 sensitive hearts, and led them to endeavour to 
 impress upon their fellow-creatures the precarious- 
 ness of their predicament and the uncertainty of 
 their fate. Such admonitions have, however, but a 
 temporary effect generally. It is only when death 
 approaches the individual himself, or those most 
 dear to him, that the Problem confronts him in 
 deadly earnest. What are we ? Whence and 
 whither ? Here am I yet, a being full of mental 
 and physical activities, in full possession of my 
 reasoning faculties, with a vast memory and experi- 
 ence in the background, capable of understanding 
 and influencing my surroundings, filling my place 
 to the happiness and advantage of others, indis- 
 pensable, perhaps, to their well-being — and yet 
 this will all come to an end, a painful and perhaps 
 inglorious end, just as it did in that other being 
 whose soul was intertwined with mine, whose 
 thoughts and very life were mine, and without 
 whom I could not conceive of existence as possible ! 
 
 Every year some 40,000,000 human corpses are 
 consigned to the earth. A million tons of human 
 flesh and blood and bone are discarded as of no 
 further service to humanity, to be gradually trans- 
 
THE COMMON FATE 3 
 
 formed into other substances and perhaps other 
 forms of life. Meanwhile the human race in its 
 myriad forms lives and thrives. Its aggregate 
 weight of 50,000,000 tons shows no sign of dimin- 
 ution. No matter if the whole race is renewed 
 every fifty years. No matter if the population of 
 the Unknown Land increases every year by half the 
 population of the United States. The individual 
 perishes, the species survives. Death is a natural 
 necessity, a matter of exact science and statistics, 
 an inexorable doom. The individual terror sinks 
 out of sight in the triumph of the aggregate, a 
 triumph reflected in the ordinary indifference of 
 the individual. " Thy fate is the common fate of 
 all." What need to murmur when we all must 
 suffer the same fate ? Our ancestors have faced it 
 before us without flinching. We have nothing to 
 complain of. We are like soldiers on a battlefield, 
 with equal chances of being shot. A spirit of com- 
 radeship keeps us courageous and resourceful. We 
 have spells of panic, but a single bright example of 
 bravery suffices to annul it. And so the race lives 
 on, surrounded on all sides by deadly peril, and 
 manages to smile amid a thousand forms of torture 
 and annihilation. 
 
 This magnificent nonchalance in the face of 
 death must have some justification. It is incon- 
 ceivable that all these millions should be indifferent 
 to their future fate. It cannot be the effect of 
 
4 THE PROBLEM BEFORE US 
 
 religion, since this indifference is found in its most 
 pronounced form among the least religious com- 
 munities. It can hardly be a growing conviction 
 that there is no immortality, that death cancels 
 and swallows up everything, for such a feeling could 
 not produce a vigorous and cheerful life. Most 
 likely it is a half unconscious conviction that some- 
 how everything will work out well, that the bright- 
 ness and beauty of this world is a promise of more 
 joy and delight in other forms of existence, and 
 that the Power which gives us even a few glimpses 
 of happiness now is the same Power that will rule 
 and bless our future life. 
 
 It may be also that the task of probing into the 
 future has proved so beset with difficulties, the 
 results of research so meagre and disappointing, the 
 most eminent opinions so contradictory, that many 
 have given up all " idle speculation " in that direc- 
 tion, confining themselves to more accessible fields 
 of endeavour, exploring the visible universe and 
 tracing its laws, or ordering their surroundings and 
 material prospects so as to secure the maximum of 
 comfort and enjoyment for themselves and those 
 whose personalities are linked amicably with their 
 own. 
 
 Yet one cannot but imagine that this state of 
 things will change. Mankind is so inquisitive, so 
 restlessly active in elucidating mysteries and extend- 
 ing the realm of certainty, that the land beyond 
 
THE DEBATABLE LAND 5 
 
 the grave must surely some day be asked to yield 
 up its fruits of truth. When we dissect the body 
 and probe the human soul to its depths, it surely 
 does not mean that bodily comfort and mental 
 sanity for threescore years and ten are the highest 
 aim of all our work ! No ; our minds will not be 
 satisfied with half truths. When we explore any 
 new territory, any new portion of the Unknown, we 
 are not finally satisfied with contradictions and in- 
 comprehensibilities. These only act as irritants and 
 stimuli towards further endeavour. They encourage 
 younger minds to try and succeed where the first 
 pioneers failed. Nothing is so discouraging to a 
 young Alexander as the thought that his father has 
 left him no worlds to conquer ! Well, here are your 
 worlds, young men ! Here is Freedom and Neces- 
 sity, Mind and Matter, Moral Kesponsibility, the 
 Origin of Evil, Life and Death, and Immortality — 
 all subjects full of difficulties and pitfalls, puzzles 
 on which the mightiest intellects have in vain plied 
 their weapons of analysis. Ye shall succeed where 
 your forebears failed. 
 
 Has Science any new light wherewith to illumine 
 the Debatable Land ? Have we explored in vain 
 the depths of stellar space ? Have we solidified air, 
 harnessed the lightning, isolated the bacillus, and 
 split the atom without making any real and vital 
 advance ? Are we for ever to inscribe on our tomb- 
 stones a note of interrogation, and — 
 
6 THE PROBLEM BEFORE US 
 
 " Speak of death with bated breath, 
 And faces blanched with fear " 1 
 
 It has been said that the lives of savages are 
 played against a perpetual background of dread, 
 that certainty, safety, reasonable security, are the 
 highest gifts of civilisation. We may therefore 
 expect that efforts will always be made to dispel 
 the haunting insecurity of our existence, and to give 
 us a firm footing in both worlds — the world we live 
 in and the world to come. 
 
 But the difficulties of the task are complicated 
 by two diametrically opposite factors. On the one 
 hand we have Science, largely materialistic or ag- 
 nostic, which either denies point-blank all existence 
 after death, or regards its problems as insoluble and 
 all attempts in that direction as doomed to failure. 
 On the other side stands theology in its many 
 forms, armed too often with dogmatic pronounce- 
 ments and girt about with a narrow-minded and 
 ultra-conservative bigotry which would fain reserve 
 the Unknown Land to itself and refuse admission 
 to all surveying expeditions. Mankind will refuse 
 to be fettered by either of these. No preconceived 
 negative theory will prevent a new science being 
 born which shall embrace all discoveries on the new 
 continent, and that new world will be too closely 
 associated with mankind at large and man's departed 
 to be willingly handed over to the exclusive use of 
 any one theology, however ancient or imposing. 
 
WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW 7 
 
 We may therefore set to work on this pioneer's 
 task, with due care and reverence and circum- 
 spection. We want to know what life is, and 
 what relation it holds to matter, how it is organised 
 and supported, how it thrives and multiplies, decays 
 and disappears. We want to know what gives us 
 our present bodies, why they develop as they do, 
 without our knowing or controlling the process ; why 
 we pass through certain stages at certain epochs, 
 and subsequently, much against our will, gradually 
 withdraw into ourselves and disappear from the 
 stage. We want to know what constitutes death, 
 what are its essential attributes and conditions, 
 what makes it inevitable. We want to know what 
 constitutes our individuality and identity, why we 
 are we and none else, what hope we have of pre- 
 serving this identity. We want to know how it 
 feels to die, and what happens to us after we have 
 passed the portals of the Unseen. We want to 
 know whether we shall live for ever, and if so, 
 whether we have lived before, or only begun exist- 
 ence when we entered this world. And if we are 
 immortal, are horses and dogs immortal, and trees 
 and plants, and mushrooms and earwigs, and tubercle 
 bacilli ? And if not, is the cleverest dog more 
 mortal than the unborn babe or the hopeless idiot 
 or the lowest savage ? And if that is so, what is 
 it that gives man this tremendous privilege over 
 the highest animal intelligence ? 
 
8 THE PROBLEM BEFORE US 
 
 And then we want to know the function of pain, 
 the essence of happiness, the mission of good and 
 evil, whether there are eternal rewards and punish- 
 ments, and whether our conduct here determines 
 our fate hereafter. We want to know if any com- 
 munication exists between this world and the next, 
 any wireless telegraph joining the two continents, 
 any code of signals, any Esperanto for communica- 
 tion. We ask whether the dead return, whether 
 they appear again to us in this world, and if they 
 do, whether such phantoms are real or imaginary. 
 We want to know whether communication, or in- 
 creased communication, between us and the de- 
 parted is likely to benefit either us or them. In 
 any case, we want to indicate how, if required, the 
 gulf between us can be bridged over, and intelligent 
 communication safely established. 
 
 All this is to be done with the aid of an enlarged 
 and enlighted Science. The foundations of present- 
 day science are not broad enough to reach those 
 ethereal heights where the spirits dwell. Like 
 Marconi in Connemara, we must build a wider and 
 vaster structure on new foundations, a structure of 
 superior range and carrying capacity. But in doing 
 so, all the latest results and advances of science 
 must be brought into play. All the magnificent 
 work hitherto accomplished in physics, astronomy, 
 chemistry, biology, and experimental psychology 
 must be pressed into service. Special attention 
 
MODERN WEAPONS 9 
 
 must be paid to the more recondite problems of 
 mental pathology, and the results of the psychical 
 and metapsychical research. Just as physicists and 
 chemists use that rare substance, radium, to discover 
 new and fundamental laws of matter, so must we 
 search among the authentic records of supernormal 
 phenomena for new guides and new enlightenments. 
 And combining all these materials with the accepted 
 and universal canons of logic, applying to them a 
 sound and fearless common sense, and clothing them 
 in a simple and unambiguous language, we may hope 
 to acquit ourselves of our task with some benefit to 
 afflicted humanity. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 WHAT IS LIFE? 
 
 Whenever we wish to define or explain a thing, we 
 require something else to which, in whole or in part, 
 it is equivalent, something to which we can reduce 
 it or with which we can compare it. 
 
 Ancient philosophy wisely refrained from a defini- 
 tion of life in terms of something else, and dealt by 
 preference with the soul, the " formal cause " of the 
 organised body, assuming, as a rule, some connection 
 with the breath, the steaming blood, the shadow, 
 or some other less material and more evanescent 
 aspect of the body or its functions. 
 
 Modern science, more discerning and enterprising, 
 and less devout, has attempted to define life in 
 terms of that conception with which most of its 
 researches have hitherto dealt, viz. matter or 
 material. 
 
 Thus we find in Baldwin's " Dictionary of Philo- 
 sophy and Psychology " the following : — 
 
 " Life : A form of organisation found in certain 
 material things, having the properties of self-per- 
 petuation, for a longer or shorter time, and of 
 reproduction in some form, and further distinguished 
 
WHAT IS LIFE ? I I 
 
 by certain characters described as vital properties, 
 or properties of living matter." 
 
 These characters are usually described as (1) 
 nutrition, (2) reproduction, and (3) irritability, but 
 later researches have eliminated (1) and (3) from 
 the essential characteristics of living matter. Leduc's 
 artificial plants, Lehmann's " living crystals," and 
 J. Chunder Bose's researches on the irritability of 
 metals have pushed back the boundary between the 
 living and the non-living until it is hard to say 
 where it lies, or whether there is in truth any such 
 boundary at all. Growth and assimilation are only 
 approximate criteria. " Assimilation enables us to 
 recognise life only by means of long-continued 
 observation." As regards reproduction, Burke's 
 " radiobes " should warn us against any dogmatism 
 on this point. Nor does chemistry help us. Le 
 Dantec says 1 : " We cannot say by what chemical 
 or colloid peculiarity the living being differs from 
 its corpse "(p. 29). And again: "We cannot dis- 
 tinguish the living whole ' cytoplasm-nucleus ' from 
 the dead aggregate corpse of the cytoplasm and 
 corpse of the nucleus" (p. 46). 
 
 Life, according to modern biology, is " an aquatic 
 phenomenon." It is " a surface accident in the 
 history of the thermic evolution of the globe." Life 
 is a matter of chemical physics, but " in the present 
 
 1 Le Dantec, " The Nature and Origin of Life." Hodder and 
 Stoughton, 1907. 
 
■— 
 
 I 2 WHAT IS LIFE ? 
 
 state of science, we are able to define exactly 
 neither the chemical structure nor the colloidal 
 state peculiar to living substances — and yet this, 
 doubtless, would be sufficient to characterise life " 
 (Le Dantec, p. 45). 
 
 The least material definition is perhaps that which 
 defines life as a succession of "functions" or rather 
 " functionings," or, more generally, as a continual 
 self-adaptation to surroundings. 
 
 A purely mechanical or chemical view would 
 reduce life to the configuration and motion of the 
 molecules, atoms, or electrons of the substance ap- 
 parently endowed with it, such motion taking place 
 in strict and rigid conformity with the unchanging 
 laws governing the moving forces. This view would 
 make every event of life inevitable, predestined, and 
 ultimately calculable. 
 
 The " vitalistic " school, on the other hand, recog- 
 nises a something apart from matter and motion, 
 something not subject to mechanical or chemical 
 laws, which yet exerts a determining influence upon 
 vital processes. This something may be a" growth 
 force " (Cope), a " genetic energy " (Williams), a 
 kind of " self-adaptation " (Henslow), or " self-direc- 
 tion " (Eimer), or, finally, a directive action of mind 
 (Lodge), which is able to direct the flow of energy 
 without influencing its amount, and thus remains 
 in accord with the doctrine of the conservation of 
 energy. 
 
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT MATTER? 1 3 
 
 These, then, are the main attempts to explain life 
 in terms of something else which is not life. 
 
 Now it is obvious that an explanation is valueless 
 unless it reduces something of which we know little 
 or nothing to something of which we know more. 
 The question then arises as to whether life or matter 
 is the more fundamental, familiar, or knowable 
 phenomenon. We must, in fact, find out whether 
 matter, with or without some semi-material or 
 immaterial adjunct, is capable of " explaining " 
 life, and of forming a basis for its interpretation 
 and control. 
 
 What do we Know About Mattee? 
 
 Matter has acquired a tremendous prestige 
 through the development of physical and chemical 
 science. Formerly treated with contempt as some- 
 thing gross, corrupt, and perishable, it has almost 
 become an idol fit to worship. It has at least 
 become the substratum of the visible universe, an 
 eternal and indestructible substance, capable, by 
 the permutations and combinations of its elements 
 and particles, of giving rise to all the various forms, 
 happenings, and beings which make up our world. 
 A great number of rules have been discovered 
 which apparently govern the action of one portion 
 of matter on another. A vast proportion of such 
 interactions have been made amenable to prediction, 
 
14 WHAT IS LIFE? 
 
 calculation, and control. The more of these rules 
 we discover, the greater becomes our interest in, 
 and our respect for, the properties and workings 
 of this mysterious substance. Our reverence for 
 matter has much in common with the ancient 
 reverence for a mighty king. We enter his country. 
 We find his coinage and his image everywhere, his 
 soldiers in their uniforms, his police, his laws, his 
 rewards and punishments, his unfailing benevolence 
 for the good, his wrath which falls upon the evil-doers, 
 his irrevocable sentence, his unfailing mercy and 
 charity. Our admiration increases when we find 
 his whole people permeated by their ruler's ideas 
 and aspirations, devoted to his person, willing to 
 give their lives in his service. To these subjects, 
 the king personifies all that is permanent, stable, 
 mighty, and majestic. They find it easier to 
 imagine the end of all things than a change in 
 the order of their state. 
 
 Or again we may admire a great empire or 
 republic, a great organisation of any kind. We 
 may entrust our whole fortune to a bank, believing 
 it to be firm as a rock. In short, we find some- 
 thing that is firm and sure, a foothold in the swirl 
 of phenomena, and straightway we build upon it the 
 structures, material or mental, which the human 
 mind ever loves to design. 
 
 And so with matter. We find in it something 
 that does not shift with our passing whim, or (more 
 
RECURRENT SENSATIONS I 5 
 
 important still) our neighbour's passing whim. That 
 is really all we care about. If I have a watch which 
 keeps good time, it matters not to me whether the 
 gold or brass of which it is made evolved in past 
 ages out of uranium or lead, nor whether there 
 is any " ultimate reality " behind that bundle of 
 sensations which I remember and combine under 
 the label, " my watch." Enough that when I look 
 at it I can see the time, that I can feel it in my 
 waistcoat pocket, that I can hear it ticking, and that 
 I have a reasonable assurance of being able to enjoy 
 those three sensations whenever I like. Of course, 
 without those three sensations I should have no 
 evidence of the existence of my watch, and if I 
 cannot obtain such evidence indirectly (through 
 somebody else's sense organs) I cannot know whether 
 or not it has ceased to exist. And further, if I take 
 away all memories of those three sensations, my 
 watch will be practically non-existent. As far as I 
 am concerned, the world may be full of watches, 
 crowded with them indeed, but so long as neither I, 
 nor other sentient beings with whom I am in touch, 
 can perceive them, or the effects of their presence, I 
 am justified in taking their non-existence for granted. 
 The same argument applies to all matter. We 
 may therefore define matter as that which, when 
 brought into a certain relation (distance or prox- 
 imity) with us, or with beings similar to ourselves 
 excites in us or in them certain sensations. 
 
1 6 WHAT IS LIFE? 
 
 The proviso " beings similar to ourselves " is 
 important. For when we come to think of it, our 
 unaided evidence is not conclusive. If I see a 
 book lying on a table I can as a rule safely con- 
 clude that it is " actually there." But what does 
 " actually there " mean ? It cannot mean simply 
 that I do see it, for that would be nothing new. It 
 must mean (1) that I can " do " things with it, 
 and thus derive other groups of sensations from 
 its presence ; (2) that other people also could see 
 it, and test its presence in the same manner. 
 
 When (1) turns out to be correct, I have reason- 
 able grounds for " crediting the evidence of my own 
 eyes." But there is still a possibility that I am 
 dreaming ! To reassure myself, I call in a friend, 
 and if he agrees with my verdict, my conviction 
 that I have an "actual thing" to deal with is 
 strengthened. To make assurance doubly sure, I 
 call in other friends, and if we all have the same 
 impression, the " fact " is established. 
 
 Is this, then, the generally accepted and con- 
 clusive manner of establishing a fact ? By no 
 means. For in the history of the human race it has 
 happened over and over again that a fact has been 
 implicitly believed and attested by hundreds or 
 thousands of people, and yet has been finally dis- 
 credited, perhaps even by many of its original 
 observers. 
 
 This fate has not only overtaken " facts " which 
 
OBJECTIVE REALITY I 7 
 
 are essentially theories (like the flatness or im- 
 mobility of the earth), but even sensory phenomena 
 observed and described by half-a-dozen experts, and 
 corroborated by photography. Of this, Blondlot's 
 "N-rays" furnish a familiar and instructive 
 example. 
 
 We cannot, therefore, arrive at a definition of 
 matter from our own observations, or those of our 
 neighbours, or from any hypotheses concerning 
 " real existence " — a term which in this connection 
 would be utterly meaningless. But we can be 
 perfectly sure of our own sensations. No matter 
 what may be their cause, whether they be brought 
 about by " objective reality " or whether they be the 
 wild fancies of a fevered brain. So long as they 
 last, they are real, and they form the only ultimate 
 reality which we can postulate from personal ob- 
 servation. " Objective reality " we can only ascribe 
 to those things which produce similar sensations 
 in organisms similar to our own when similarly 
 situated, and " matter " is such an " objective 
 reality." 
 
 This, it will be remarked, is rather a flimsy 
 substratum on which to build our " material uni- 
 verse." So it is ; but it is the only substratum which 
 logic and philosophy can afford us. However, for 
 practical purposes it is quite sufficient. Suppose, 
 for the sake of argument, that by some sudden and 
 curious inversion of things our dream Avorld should 
 
1 8 WHAT IS LIFE? 
 
 become " reality," and our waking world should 
 become a dream. Suppose that dream events were 
 found to observe certain unalterable rules, different 
 perhaps from those of our waking world, but still 
 as permanent and as independent of our will as 
 they. Supposing such a real dream were continued 
 indefinitely. Then by what process could we ever 
 be convinced of the " unreality " of our dream ? 
 Dream and reality would have simply changed places. 
 Like " Alice in Wonderland," we should have to try 
 and find out the queer new " laws of nature " of our 
 dream world, and make the best of them. 
 
 All we know about matter, therefore, is that it 
 produces certain sensations in the vast majority of 
 individuals of the human race. Matter is therefore 
 by no means a fundamental conception. In this 
 respect, it is surpassed by many other conceptions. 
 A child gets to know its mother long before it 
 arrives at the conception of matter. 
 
 As we depart from the fundamental realities of 
 our own sensations, we have to bring into play more 
 of our powers of cognition, and less of our perceptive 
 faculties. We may give, perhaps, the following list 
 of ultimate realities, proceeding from the most fun- 
 damental to the less fundamental : — 
 
 (1) Our own sensations. 
 
 (2) The existence of other people. 
 
 (3) The sensations of other people. 
 
 (4) The existence of matter. 
 
MATTER OF CONVENIENCE 1 9 
 
 The reasoning given above proves, I think, con- 
 clusively, that none of these can be regarded as 
 existing, unless those preceding it are taken for 
 granted. It is apparent at once that, since (1), (2), 
 and (3) involve consciousness, and (4) does not, we 
 cannot " explain " consciousness in terms of matter. 
 We cannot even define it in terms of matter, since 
 matter is itself but a fourth-rate abstraction. There 
 is, on the other hand, no logical difficulty in reduc- 
 ing matter to terms of the first three fundamentals. 
 That this has not been done is due to certain prac- 
 tical considerations of economy. The word " matter " 
 is a convenient abbreviation for a certain tangle of 
 sensations and memories of sensations, individual or 
 collective. The practical effect upon us of that 
 reality which is at the back of matter is not 
 changed by (erroneously) regarding matter itself 
 as a reality. So long as we remember that matter 
 is not a fundamental reality, but an abstraction 
 derived from sense experience, there is no harm 
 in dealing with it practically as if it had an exist- 
 ence independent of ourselves. But the mischief is, 
 that we don't remember this when we deal with the 
 higher problems of philosophy, and so we get lost 
 in a hopeless maze of contradictions. 
 
 It is right for me to remember, that if I wind up 
 my watch regularly it will go ; in other words, that 
 if I produce in myself certain muscular sensations 
 having a certain connection with the sensations of 
 
20 WHAT IS LIFE? 
 
 touch associated with that abstraction from experi- 
 ence called " my watch/' said abstraction will con- 
 tinue to develop in the same orderly visual manner 
 in which it has hitherto progressed. Practically, 
 the first way of expressing this fact is very much 
 more convenient than the second way. But philo- 
 sophically the second way is more correct, and 
 applicable over a much wider range of experience. 
 It is, moreover (though one might at first sight 
 think otherwise), much freer from risky theorising, 
 and, indeed, much more " matter of fact " in the 
 true sense. 
 
 This example not only shows what economy the 
 conception of " matter " introduces into our modes 
 of expression, but also explains why matter should 
 gradually have acquired the place and prestige of a 
 fundamental reality, if not the fundamental reality. 
 
 Matter in Terms of Life 
 
 In this work, however, we are not engaged in the 
 task of stating and cataloguing phenomena in the 
 shortest and most concise manner, but in discovering 
 the real nature, origin, and destiny of life. For this 
 purpose, it is not legitimate to regard life and matter 
 as things apart. In order to escape from this ob- 
 session of materialism, from this ever-present and 
 almost irresistible temptation to regard matter as 
 self-existent and independent, we must follow out 
 
MATTER IN TERMS OF LIFE 21 
 
 our logical course to the end. That logical course 
 gives us only one perfect way. We must explain 
 matter in terms of life, not only in a general way, but 
 down to the most minute particulars. Thus we may 
 hope to gain a real advance in knowledge, keeping 
 all the while in touch with full and ultimate reality. 
 
 How, then, shall we reduce the phenomena of 
 " dead matter " to terms of life ? Obviously, we 
 must begin with our own most fundamental realities, 
 and gradually venture outside ourselves into the 
 open, into that teeming world peopled with intelli- 
 gences billionfold, where we delight to recognise 
 now and then something akin to ourselves. 
 
 The growth of every infant illustrates this 
 fascinating process. The only things present to the 
 immature infant mind are sensations, which rapidly 
 assume an orderly sequence : hunger, food, satis- 
 faction; darkness, sleep; cold, crying, nursing, warmth; 
 and so on. Next come more elaborate motor 
 activities : visual sensations invariably accompanying 
 certain motor impulses, developing gradually into 
 voluntary motion. Then the perception of outside 
 personalities, originating in similarities of voice, of 
 appearance, of motion, until the mother or nurse 
 becomes, after self, the most dominant and funda- 
 mental reality. Then the perception of things, 
 originally regarded also as evidence of personalities, 
 but gradually catalogued in a class of sensations 
 indirectly subject to will. 
 
2 2 WHAT IS LIFE ? 
 
 The child stops there. To the child, and to the 
 nnphilosophic members of the human race, material 
 things are ultimate realities, while they last, at all 
 events. But by-and-by, when the thinking faculties 
 are developed, the mind probes deeper. The things 
 are taken to pieces and are reduced to combinations 
 of parts. Forms are distinguished, and when two 
 things still differ, though having the same form, the 
 conception of material is arrived at. The infinite 
 variety of materials is reduced by analysing them 
 into their elements, and recombining these in 
 various ways. The behaviour of the elements is 
 studied, and rules are found which denote their 
 " properties " and the properties of their com- 
 binations. The human mind is thus ceaselessly 
 active in adapting its environment to its own needs. 
 For all this analysis and recombination has that 
 one single object — betterment. We seek for new 
 combinations of parts, of forms, of materials, of 
 elements in order to find combinations which suit us 
 better. The child, in grasping a toy, does what we 
 all do in more elaborate ways. It has learnt the 
 centripetal law of appropriation, and has known the 
 delights of ownership. We look for laws of wider 
 sweep and more universal sway. The child learns 
 the rules of the nursery. We search out the laws 
 of nature. 
 
 These " laws of nature," whence are they ? Why 
 do elements have certain properties, and their com- 
 
STRATA OF LIFE 23 
 
 binations new properties ? Proceeding, as before, 
 from the known to the unknown, we begin with 
 the " properties " we observe in ourselves, with the 
 qualities of our fellow-men, the dispositions of 
 animals, the behaviour or activity of minute organ- 
 isms. Nothing very mysterious there ! The farther 
 down we go, the less familiar does the life of the 
 other organisms become. But whose fault is that ? 
 Are we to suppose that we alone have a fully con- 
 scious life, simply because our own kind of life is 
 the only one we can fully grasp and comprehend ? 
 Take a lump of chalk and a lump of yeast. The 
 one contains millions of minute shells which once 
 were the homes of living and intensely active beings. 
 The other contains millions of beings living even noiv. 
 Who would suppose it ! Who even suspected it 
 fifty years ago ! The air, the water, and the ground 
 simply swarm with life, with minute invisible organ- 
 isms which are capable of living for months or years 
 within larger beings, or hibernating in cold and 
 drought till they find a more agreeable season. 
 And why draw the line there ! Who knows but 
 that some future biologist, armed with optical instru- 
 ments a thousand times more powerful than ours, 
 may discover evidences of " life " in the very mole- 
 cules and atoms of matter ? Even if these consist 
 of aggregations of hard geometrical solids, they may, 
 as I have shown in " Two New Worlds," be the 
 homes of untold numbers of infra-beings whose 
 
24 WHAT IS LIFE? 
 
 lives, being reduced in the same proportion in time 
 and space, are probably not very widely different 
 from our own. Is it not, then, natural and reason- 
 able to assume that it is life, and not dead matter 
 or blind force, which rules the properties and events 
 of the " material " world ? 
 
 Let us assume, at one bound, that the " laws of 
 nature" are in reality the rules of conduct and 
 interaction and co-operation of countless, living 
 beings of all grades, and see whether we cannot 
 found a new and truer and profounder philosophy 
 upon that hypothesis. 
 
 That a mass of individuals may develop certain 
 uniform qualities resembling physical or chemical 
 properties will, I think, be readily granted. A 
 human crowd has been likened to a viscous liquid, 
 which acquires a certain speed under the impulse 
 of a certain propelling or attracting force, which 
 streams most rapidly in the middle of the street, 
 and offers a certain constant resistance which prevents 
 its speed exceeding a certain maximum. An army 
 of 100,000 men is dealt with as a compound con- 
 taining a certain proportion or officers and men, and 
 might be represented by a chemical formula such 
 as ON 3 M go , when O stands for officers, N for non- 
 commissioned officers, and M for men. A shoal of 
 herrings, a swarm of locusts, a herd of sheep, are 
 masses having a certain consistency, speed, impetus, 
 and inertia, which would appear to us as such if our 
 
LIFE IN THE MASS 25 
 
 bodies, instead of being what they are, were magni- 
 fied to the size of the earth. The smaller the 
 individuals, the less able are we to detect individual 
 differences. A lump of yeast appears to us no more 
 alive than a lump of putty. Yet yeast consists of 
 countless small and simple cells, a thousand million 
 of them to the cubic inch. Could we, by a suitable 
 reduction in size, lump the whole human race 
 together in the space of a cubic inch, we should 
 get something greatly resembling that shapeless 
 lump of yeast. We should be able to determine 
 its physical and chemical properties, its absorption 
 of oxygen and evolution of carbonic acid, the decom- 
 position of its food-stuffs, accompanied by a certain 
 development of heat and energy. 
 
 We cannot logically deny to the atom what we 
 are already bound to concede to a particle of matter 
 little larger than a molecule. It is true that the 
 more minute the particle the less does any conceiv- 
 able consciousness we may attribute to it resemble 
 our own consciousness. But that is simply due to 
 our own limitations. We know that atoms take an 
 intense part in all the physical happenings of the 
 universe. Every beam of light, every electro-mag- 
 netic wave out of the myriads of waves crossing 
 and recrossing every part of the universe brings 
 some change, temporary or permanent, into the 
 most intimate structure of the atom. It awakens 
 some " response," some adaptation perhaps. The dis- 
 
26 WHAT IS LIFE ? 
 
 covery of radio-activity has even strongly suggested 
 the idea that the " life period " of all atoms is 
 limited ; that they evolve and devolve ; that ura- 
 nium or actinium is the " parent " of radium ; that 
 helium atoms are the offspring, spores, or buds of 
 the atoms of radium or of the atoms of substances 
 evolved from radium The smaller the scale and 
 the vaster the number of individuals we have to 
 survey the more " mechanical " or purely physical 
 do their qualities or properties become. And so is 
 eventually born the idea of " dead matter " — dead 
 to us because its life is inaccessible and unintel- 
 ligible to us, because we have no language under- 
 stood in those remote regions, no key nor code 
 of signals by which to communicate with their 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Yet we cannot doubt that those regions of life on 
 the borderland have traditions and laws of their 
 own. Every hydrogen atom is a small society held 
 together by its own social laws, which make for its 
 safety and stability, and do actually preserve it from 
 disintegration for very long periods of time. This 
 social system has become stereotyped among all 
 hydrogen atoms, just as the shape of a man or 
 a horse has become stereotyped. Whether hydrogen 
 atoms reproduce their own kind we cannot say. If 
 we had nothing but a lump of yeast and no micro- 
 scope, we could not possibly say whether yeast cells 
 reproduced their kind or not. The process would 
 
SOCIAL LIFE OF ATOMS 27 
 
 be lost in the average. If the life of the " adult " 
 hydrogen atom were a million times as long as its 
 " childhood " there would not at any time be more 
 than one " young " hydrogen atom in a million. It 
 would be lost in the crowd, and we should declare 
 birth and growth to be absent among hydrogen 
 atoms. 
 
 We see, then, that mechanical, physical, and 
 chemical properties may quite conceivably originate 
 in social systems obeying laws which we could de- 
 scribe as social, moral, or intellectual laws. We, in 
 our turn, utilise the uniformities so established to 
 further our own purposes. We observe those laws, 
 study them, make them part of ourselves, and so 
 proceed to rule and control matter. We " stoop to 
 conquer." 
 
 It matters little to us why hydrogen, oxygen, or 
 iron atoms have certain properties so long as those 
 properties suit our purposes and can be relied upon. 
 If these atoms are living beings it is no concern of 
 ours. All we ask of them is that they shall perform 
 certain functions in the place which we assign to 
 them, like a horse harnessed to a cart, or a pack 
 of hounds brought out to a hunt. The " life " of 
 atoms is not perceptibly affected by what we do 
 with them. They may pass through the most 
 passionate convulsions of feeling without our being 
 able to influence them, or even to detect any such 
 crises. Similarly, the human soul may pass through 
 
2 8 WHAT IS LIFE? 
 
 the most violent crisis without perceptibly affecting 
 the shape and general mechanical properties of the 
 body, and, for aught we know, some beings on a 
 larger scale than ourselves may be at the present 
 moment utilising the average mechanical properties 
 of the human race without our being aware of it. 
 Even if we were, the individual effects upon ourselves 
 might be much less formidable than, say, the effect 
 of the weather, and we might be quite willing to 
 agree to such a utilisation. These considerations 
 suggest the following set of new definitions which 
 shall form the basis of our researches into the possi- 
 bilities and nature of immortality : — 
 
 1. Life is the interaction between living beings. 
 
 2. Matter is the aggregate of living beings 
 belonging to universes inferior to our own. 
 
 3. The laws of nature are the social laws of the 
 inferior universes. 
 
 No. 1 may be criticised as being in effect a 
 tautology. That is so, but it is inevitable. It 
 simply illustrates the fact that life is a funda- 
 mental thing incapable of being reduced to any- 
 thing more fundamental. 
 
 As regards No. 2, the word "inferior" does not 
 imply moral or intellectual inferiority, but simply 
 dimensional inferiority. An " inferior world " 
 is a world whose atoms (indivisible or prac- 
 tically undivided) are of a smaller order of 
 magnitude than those of our own universe. The 
 
NEW FOUNDATIONS 29 
 
 "infra-world" is the universe next below ours in 
 this series. The order of living beings with which 
 we may " interact " is not stated in the above defi- 
 nition. In fact, the order varies. When we com- 
 municate with beings of our own order, we live 
 socially in our own universe. When we do 
 mechanical work, we utilise the social order of the 
 infra-world to improve our position in our own. 
 When we do physiological work, as in eating or 
 drinking, we utilise the social laws of the infra- 
 world to improve the social mechanism of that 
 part of the infra-world appropriated to our private 
 use, viz. our body. We build our earthly dwelling- 
 place not on the ruins of other worlds, but on their 
 triumphs and their permanences. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 
 
 Every child born into this world is in a sense an 
 angelos, a messenger. It is as if each of us were 
 sent forth, with a definite charge and purpose, with 
 instructions to proceed along a certain path and 
 take a certain course of action. Whatever may 
 be the difficulties in the way, the task will be 
 attempted, or the faithful messenger will die in 
 the attempt. With an astonishing punctuality and 
 conscientiousness certain parts of the appointed 
 work will be carried out at the time prearranged. 
 Nor will the work be done unwillingly or grudg- 
 ingly. On the contrary, its performance will be 
 accompanied by the keenest joy, its omission with 
 poignant regret. Of all the impulses which control 
 human action, the impulse to carry out the pre- 
 destined task is the most powerful. When it is 
 accomplished, the messenger takes his leisure, 
 lingering by the way and pursuing those objects 
 which seem most desirable to his own more 
 characteristic and original fancy. After some 
 further interval, the messenger voluntarily dis- 
 appears from the scene of his earthly activities, 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 3 1 
 
 bringing them to a close within a certain maximum 
 time limit which is seldom exceeded. 
 
 What is this life-work which is carried out with 
 such astonishing devotion ? 
 
 It is what is usually called the physical life of 
 the organism. It is a form of life full of the 
 most intense and varied activity, a " strenuous life " 
 more worthy of the name than the business life of 
 the busiest statesman or financier. Consider for a 
 moment the work that has to be carried out by 
 every human being from his earliest inception until 
 maturity. An invisibly small germ cell, itself con- 
 sisting of a thousand million complex molecules, 
 has to be gradually subdivided and further divided 
 until it produces an aggregate of 20,000 billion 
 cells, each not only fulfilling its appropriate function 
 in the organism, but ready to take a certain line 
 of development consistent with the predestined 
 development of the organism as a whole. 
 
 These cells have to be developed by segmentation 
 according to well-defined laws. Their materials have 
 to be laboriously collected, sifted, moulded, and put 
 in their proper places. The power necessary for 
 the cell functions has to be got in from outside. 
 For this purpose fuel has to be imported, burnt in 
 a special place, and its energy transported into the 
 most outlying regions. Waste materials must be 
 removed and replaced, and the introduction of 
 noxious matter guarded against. Damage must 
 
32 THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 
 
 be repaired, and tatigue must be followed by rest. 
 All this vast activity must be carried on syste- 
 matically and ceaselessly, and with, scrupulous regard 
 to the laws governing the materials worked upon. 
 
 This marvellous process goes on every day before 
 our eyes, though, like every process to which we 
 are accustomed, it does not strike us as marvellous. 
 It is not the unexplained, but the exceptional and 
 unusual, that strikes us with wonder. 
 
 As a result of nine months of such intense 
 activity, the newly born human babe finds itself 
 provided with a complete digestive, circulatory, 
 respiratory, and locomotor apparatus with which 
 it can face the task of adapting itself to its proper 
 functions in the world. The apparatus is there. 
 It must now be developed in detail, adapted to 
 its special circumstances, and prepared for its 
 special destiny. 
 
 The physiological work before the baby between 
 birth and maturity is not as formidable as that 
 which it has already accomplished. The rate of 
 creation of new structures and tissues is retarded. 
 Development takes place along lines already marked 
 out. It is a period of growth rather than creation. 
 The apparatus already fashioned is exercised and 
 strengthened. The skater, having found his feet, 
 now endeavours to acquire security, speed, elegance, 
 and special accomplishments. The bicyclist, having 
 acquired his machine and found his balance, 
 
MASTERING THE MECHANISM 33 
 
 proceeds to familiarise himself with the various 
 peculiarities of the sport, and tests and develops 
 his newly acquired powers. 
 
 So the infant waves his arms and tramples his 
 legs, fills his lungs and delights his own ears with 
 the trumpet sounds of his own voice. Having 
 found everything sound and in good order and 
 repair, he proceeds farther on his appointed road, 
 and enters into communication with surrounding 
 beings of his own species. These are at first 
 nothing but sources of warmth or food supplies, 
 and barely distinguished from their inanimate 
 surroundings. But it gradually dawns upon the 
 consciousness of His Infantine Highness that there 
 is some purpose and intention, some gleam of 
 intelligence in the multicoloured objects he so 
 often perceives before him. They respond to his 
 needs, to his will. They emit sounds not quite 
 unlike those he is himself capable of producing. 
 He imitates them, and gradually finds that certain 
 agreeable processes follow the emission of parti- 
 cular sounds, and that these processes undergo a 
 certain regular variation on varying the sounds 
 in a special manner. And so he acquires the gift 
 of language. 
 
 Up to this, his experience has been entirely 
 personal. There was nobody to tell him how to 
 accomplish the arduous task of building up a vastly 
 complicated organism. It had to be accomplished 
 
 c 
 
34 THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 
 
 entirely by his own organic intelligence, aided by 
 the prenatal impulse which sent hirn forth as an 
 angelos into this world. The acquisition of language 
 places him in touch with the accumulated experience 
 of humanity, and gives him an enlarged sensorium, 
 a wider personality. He begins to see with the 
 X eyes of others, and hears with their ears. This 
 new power exerts upon the infant an extraordinary 
 and far-reaching effect. Henceforth, his own ex- 
 periences are registered by the stereotyped formulae 
 of language. What they lose in personal vividness 
 they gain in generality and in permanence. They 
 now become, potentially or actually, part of the 
 sum of general human consciousness. As such, 
 they acquire a certain dignity and value. They 
 are like the acknowledged wit, more appreciated 
 because generally accepted and recognised. 
 
 These elements of memory, clothed and embodied 
 in words, repeated from mouth to mouth, and 
 recalled again and again, form themselves into a 
 new and special kind of consciousness, a conscious- 
 ness which, from its greater stability (due to its 
 wider human basis), is invested with a special 
 importance, just as a casual phrase becomes more 
 imposing by being engrossed on vellum and framed. 
 Gradually this new consciousness is associated 
 with all the normal social activity of the child. 
 It becomes essentially the social consciousness. But 
 being in close relation with (and largely governed 
 
GRADES OF CONSCIOUSNESS 3 5 
 
 by) the consciousness of others, and thus clearly 
 distinguished from the incoherent and irresponsible 
 consciousness of dreams, it becomes colloquially 
 known as the " waking consciousness " or the con- 
 sciousness proper. 
 
 Then what becomes of the " organic intelligence," 
 that wonderful master-builder which built up the 
 complex machinery of the human organism out of 
 the miscellaneous materials supplied to it ? 
 
 It shares the fate of all forms of consciousness 
 which become superfluous or habitual. It sinks 
 "below the threshold." In the same measure as 
 an act becomes habitual, so does it become less | 
 conscious. The memory is still there, and so is the 
 power to utilise the memory. But not requiring a 
 new effort of will, a new application of attention, it 
 ceases to emerge into the open. 
 
 A budding pianist will expend a great deal of 
 conscious effort on the task of placing the fingers 
 correctly on the keys, on giving the proper touch, 
 on keeping the prescribed time. The accomplished 
 player will perform a hundred separate musical 
 actions every second with barely a trace of conscious 
 effort. Reverse the succession of the keys from 
 right to left, and the most brilliant pianist will have 
 to begin his training all over again. 
 
 In games played with a ball this development is 
 equally marked. After a little training, the various 
 actions and attitudes become " instinctive," as much 
 
3 6 THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 
 
 so almost as the instinct which makes the lungs 
 breathe and the heart beat. 
 
 Still, most pianists recall their early struggles 
 with the stubborn keys. The process of learning 
 has remained potentially a part of the waking con- 
 sciousness. But we do not remember having learnt 
 to walk or to speak, not to mention breathing or 
 taking food. This, however, does not necessarily 
 mean that these processes never were conscious. 
 It simply means that they never were part of our 
 social consciousness, i.e. that our experiences at that 
 time were never clothed in words, never embodied 
 in the audible material of the aggregate human 
 consciousness. That we cannot recall our early 
 efforts of organic body-building does not prove that 
 those efforts were not supremely conscious. Our 
 waking consciousness is continually losing material 
 which is found to be useless or detrimental to the 
 normal business of life. How much more will this 
 apply to the organic prelingual consciousness ! 
 
 That the organic consciousness, however, retains 
 its activity is made evident by the continued de- 
 velopment of the body. It grows in all its parts, 
 and its organic development goes hand in hand 
 with the development of the social consciousness. 
 The earlier years of boyhood and girlhood are 
 characterised by a very intense activity in the social 
 consciousness. The restless questionings of child- 
 hood, its remarkable mental acquisitiveness, offer 
 
THE SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS 37 
 
 some sort of parallel to the intense physiological 
 activity of embryonic life. And in fact the social 
 consciousness is building up a complete set of 
 mental organs, emotional, intellectual, and voli- 
 tional, ready for the next great stage in the journey 
 of life. 
 
 The transition to maturity is man's birth into the 
 social world, just as his physical birth is his emer- 
 gence into a separate physical existence. In both 
 cases, organs recently acquired and developed are 
 tested and exercised. In the young man we find 
 the awakening of ambition and enterprise, associated 
 often with a wide sympathy, a valiant optimism and 
 idealism, a tendency towards self-sacrifice for the 
 benefit of a community. In the young woman we 
 have a greater development of the social instincts 
 and affections, a desire for a deeper spiritual life, a 
 readiness for self-surrender awaiting the appropriate 
 stimulus. The wide range and fulness of this period 
 of life is attributable to the fact that both the 
 organic consciousness and the social consciousness 
 are supremely active, the former in adapting the 
 organism to its wider social purposes and possi- 
 bilities, the latter exercising the newly acquired 
 mental organs of social life, and feeling its way 
 vaguely towards a personal character and individual 
 consciousness. 
 
 That this change towards maturity occurs with 
 very tolerable precision about the fourteenth year 
 
38 THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 
 
 is another proof that the organic consciousness 
 neither sleeps nor slumbers. It is another evidence 
 of the faithfulness with which the angelos goes 
 through the predetermined stages of his journey. 
 It is absolutely no explanation of this almost 
 miraculous coincidence to speak of " hereditary 
 tendencies " or of " instinct." Things cannot be 
 explained by simply giving a name to them. Much 
 less is it an explanation to speak of the chemical 
 properties and necessities of a given aggregation of 
 cells. Every one knows that chemical equilibrium 
 is timeless. Every chemical or physical change can 
 be accelerated or retarded at will by a suitable 
 variation of the supply of energy. These funda- 
 mental vital changes are quite independent of 
 the supply of energy. They will take place at 
 substantially the same age in various climates 
 on different diets, and under widely diver- 
 gent standards of living. " Their parallel is not 
 found in chemical reactions, but in psychical phe- 
 nomena like hypnotic suggestion, or in the familiar 
 experiment of determining to wake up at a certain 
 time. That this time is hit upon almost to the 
 minute in eight cases out of ten (a very common 
 experience) cannot possibly be explained without 
 having recourse to a faculty of the organic con- 
 sciousness which is capable of exactly appreciating 
 time, and recent experiments in post-hypnotic 
 suggestion have proved that this unconscious 
 
EXTENSION OF PERSONALITY 39 
 
 measurement of time is exceedingly accurate and 
 apparently endowed with powers of minute calcu- 
 lation. 1 
 
 The social or " waking " consciousness meanwhile 
 prepares to tackle the problems of life, to increase 
 the sum of human experience, and to enlarge the 
 resources of the race. The " business of life " 
 acquires more of its ordinary acceptation. The 
 civilised man enters upon a complex inheritance 
 conveyed to him chiefly through the medium of 
 written and spoken language. The wealth of this 
 inheritance fully compensates him for the loss of 
 direct organic consciousness ; for the organic con- 
 sciousness, however resourceful and successful, has 
 limits of its own. These limits can only be trans- 
 gressed by bringing into action the higher social 
 consciousness acquired by the human race in its 
 ceaseless battle with nature. This higher con- 
 sciousness nowadays implies an enormous extension 
 of most of the elementary faculties and powers 
 developed by the organic consciousness. Man 
 takes up the sense organs as provided by " nature " 
 (his own organic consciousness), and develops them 
 a thousandfold. The limit of vision is pushed back 
 into the remote regions of space. Things that are 
 far are brought near. Small things are made large. 
 The apparently simple and structureless turns out 
 
 1 See Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Oct 
 1907. 
 
40 THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 
 
 to be a maze of delicate organisation. Invisible 
 radiations are discovered. Light, visible and in- 
 visible, is made to record its own structure, and 
 intimate secrets of matter are brought to light by 
 the analysis of its vibrations. 
 
 Hearing is extended over hundreds of miles, and 
 fugitive sounds are fixed in waxy substances ready 
 for repetition as required. Analysis by smell and 
 taste is replaced by the most delicate and diverse 
 chemical reactions. 
 
 But it is the sense of touch, and more especially 
 muscular action, that experiences the most astound- 
 ing extension. Every tool, instrument, or weapon is 
 a development and extension of the corresponding 
 organ, and more especially of the hand. Man is 
 hundred-eyed and hundred-handed. A knife is a 
 detachable modified finger-nail or tooth of superior 
 power. A stone or bullet or hammer is a detached 
 fist of superior impact and penetration. A pump 
 is but the hollow hand prolonged and amplified. 
 Cloths are modified and removable skin and hair. 
 Man's personality does not end at the limits of his 
 body. Whole portions of matter outside him 
 belong to it. Whatever man controls is part of 
 his personality. What a community controls is 
 part of the larger " personality " of the community. 
 In establishing himself in the world, man aims 
 at enlarging his personality and safeguarding it. 
 He builds himself a house to safeguard his food- 
 
CIVILISATION 4 l 
 
 supplies and economise their consumption, but more 
 especially in order to simplify his organic life. As 
 his waking or social consciousness requires a larger 
 sway, so the organic consciousness tends to sink 
 farther and farther below the threshold. Man 
 brings the accumulated experience of his race to 
 bear upon the problems of his food-supply, his 
 safety, his comfort. Civilisation means the simpli- 
 fication of life, the more direct sway of the con- 
 scious will. Civilisation tends to make the supply 
 of man's organic needs automatic, in order to give 
 freer play to his higher social talents. In this 
 respect it simply carries the process of human 
 growth a stage farther than " nature " carries it. 
 
 Health, wealth, and wisdom are considered the 
 three greatest gifts of this world. Health is the 
 equilibrium of the organic life, the adequate re- 
 sponse of physical circumstance to predetermined 
 development, the successful carrying out of the pre- 
 natal commission. Wealth is the successful ex- 
 tension of the human personality over a wide range, 
 the freer play of the will, the greater command 
 over matter, the enhanced power of resistance to 
 unfavourable circumstance. Wisdom is the health 
 of the social consciousness, the capacity of design 
 and initiative in the social and material world, the 
 clearness of mental vision. 
 
 The business of life is to secure these for ourselves 
 and for our larger selves. For the "self" of the 
 
42 THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 
 
 socially normal man is not limited to his own body 
 or wealth. It is a varying entity, extending over 
 other persons " near and dear " to him, acquiring 
 perhaps a wider range, possibly co-extensive with 
 his race or state or nation. "Unselfish devotion" is 
 really a devotion to a wider self. Selfishness in the 
 wider sense is not only a vital necessity ; it is a 
 virtue. When any one's feelings are so engaged in 
 another person's welfare and happiness that an in- 
 jury to the latter is felt as a pain in the former, a 
 tendency to guard against that injury is " selfish " 
 as regards the combined self of the two, and " un- 
 selfish " as regards the first-named individual. This 
 is a simple and somewhat obvious solution of the 
 old problem as to the possibility of " unselfish- 
 ness." 
 
 Consider the working day of a business man, and 
 translate his successive activities into more philo- 
 sophic language. 
 
 Wash and Dress. — He ensures the frontiers of his 
 physical organism against intrusions of extraneous 
 matter, whether organic or inorganic. He protects 
 those same frontiers from such intrusion or other 
 damage by surrounding them with a modified skin 
 constructed with special regard to possible adverse 
 contingencies. 
 
 Breakfast. — He stores up within his organism 
 certain kinds of organised matter from which his 
 organic consciousness is able, with the aid of ex- 
 
A DAYS WORK 43 
 
 perience (inherited or acquired) to derive energy and 
 to replace waste material. 
 
 Business. — He endeavours to benefit other people, 
 so that in turn they may benefit him. He acquires 
 money, i.e. a universally recognised certificate of 
 benefit rendered, which he in turn is empowered to 
 transfer in recognition of some benefit received. 
 He endeavours to put himself in such a position 
 that he may confer benefits rapidly and more or 
 less unconsciously, so as to acquire the largest 
 possible number of " certificates " with the least 
 expenditure of energy. 
 
 Family Life. — He cultivates the larger con- 
 sciousness which extends over all the individuals 
 in his household, endeavouring to harmonise its 
 development with the dictates of his own wisdom, 
 or enjoying the free exchange of mental life and 
 the growth of the aggregate self of the family. 
 
 Social Life. — In the social sphere, the family life 
 becomes more or less " subliminal " or unconscious. 
 The man feels with the larger self of the society he 
 frequents. If ambitious, he seeks to embody the 
 will, rather than the emotion, of this larger social 
 self. 
 
 Politics. — His " self " now extends all over his 
 country. He becomes a unit, a cell, in a higher 
 organism, and, according to his talents, becomes part 
 of its system, whether its digestive department 
 (industry), its circulation (commerce), its respiration 
 
44 THE BUSINESS OE LIFE 
 
 (post, railways, &c), its nervous system (press), its 
 musculature (armed forces, police), or its bones (law). 
 If he has special qualities or qualifications, he may 
 aspire to become a brain cell, and govern the country 
 through laws, emotions, or ideas. 
 
 Sleep. — In sleep, our busy man returns to his 
 prenatal state, in which his organic consciousness, 
 awake as ever, repairs the machinery it designed 
 before birth and never ceased to construct or re- 
 construct every night since. 
 
 The enjoyment of life consists chiefly in the 
 exercise of faculties newly acquired or too little 
 used. These faculties may be physical (i.e. acquired 
 and controlled by the organic consciousness), or 
 social (acquired and controlled by the waking con- 
 sciousness), or a combination of both, which gives 
 the greatest enjoyment of all. Our dearest dreams 
 of happiness are those of a position in which we 
 can exercise a number of untried faculties, be the 
 recipients of great benefits and the source of the 
 same to others. Such is the healthy child's dream 
 of bliss. If the present outlook is gloomy, if the 
 faculties are overtaxed, the body and mind over- 
 burdened, our dream of happiness is more negative, 
 more concerned with rest and peace. 
 
 The happy life is that in which power is neither 
 overstrained nor left unemployed, a harmonious and 
 progressive development and exercise of all the 
 faculties. From day to day we are engaged in three 
 
HAPPINESS 4 5 
 
 different kinds of activities : constructing, exercising, 
 and using the materials of life. From the date of 
 our conception, from the very origin of our mundane 
 existence, we are fashioning apparatus and ma- 
 chinery wherewith to carry on the operations of life. 
 This apparatus may consist of bodily organs, of 
 language and book-learning, or of connections with 
 larger centres of social life. In each case we first 
 acquire or construct the apparatus. In the next 
 stage we exercise it — a most delightful and more 
 especially youthful experience, but open to the adult 
 also who gets a new motor-car or comes into some 
 property, &c. In the third stage we use the 
 apparatus, information, or connection unconsciously, 
 as when we walk and eat, or speak our mother 
 tongue, or exchange hospitalities. The degree of un- 
 consciousness with which the complicated machinery 
 of life is manipulated is a rough and ready gauge 
 of what is called " social status." The upper classes 
 are those who can let the more commonplace de- 
 tails of life sink below their level of consciousness. 
 But essentially one can hardly speak of " higher " or 
 " lower " activity. In many respects the " organic 
 consciousness" is far superior to the waking conscious- 
 ness in its resources and attainments. The structure 
 of the humblest moss is a permanent reminder of this 
 significant fact. And whether we are organising a 
 baby body or a joint-stock company, our activity is 
 essentially the same. It is the constructive stage 
 
46 THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 
 
 and element of life in general. The difference lies in 
 the kind of material we handle. In one case we have 
 supplies of colloid aggregates of molecules of different 
 complexities to organise in the way of cells ; in the 
 other case we have to weld a number of associations 
 of human proprietors into a larger organic unit. One 
 man gives an army the order to " march." Another 
 whistles to his dog. A third takes up his pen and 
 writes. In each case an action is performed in 
 order to produce a certain effect, with a reasonable 
 certainty that such an effect will ensue to the in- 
 dividuals concerned. The importance of the action 
 may vary greatly. None of the three know what 
 ultimate effects may follow upon their action, and 
 its effect upon themselves may vary within an in- 
 definitely wide range. 
 
 The activity of any single individual at any 
 instant of his life is immense. It includes, of 
 course, all his unconscious organic activity. It is 
 sleepless and ceaseless. When we, with our im- 
 perfect standards of activit}^, speak of a man being 
 reduced to inactivity by disease, we commit a gross 
 blunder. The disease itself is probably a gigantic 
 effort of the organic consciousness to throw off 
 some malign influence. 
 
 That a man can effectually superintend the work- 
 ins: of several thousand billion cells seems incredible. 
 But then we must remember that by " a man " 
 we do not mean a being whose only conscious- 
 
THE REAL MAN 47 
 
 ness is the little flicker of " waking " consciousness, 
 itself comprising at any moment but an insignifi- 
 cant fraction of his total waking memory, but a 
 being with a consciousness extending and working 
 over the whole range of his personality, whether 
 " instinctively " or deliberately. That being does 
 not, like the former, go out of existence every 
 time he goes to sleep, but simply turns his atten- 
 tion to vital processes founded at a time of life 
 when he could not speak, and before words or 
 other social symbols could be used to bring these 
 processes within the purview of the ordinary 
 waking (or social) memory. This is the real 
 man, a being endowed with a stupendous memory 
 and activity, and with almost unlimited command 
 over vital and even physical processes, a man such 
 as only rare illumined geniuses are ever aware of 
 being, but which we all arc, though we know it not. 
 The normal life of man, or of any species of 
 plant or animal, is like a practicable road made by 
 long centuries of ancestral pioneering. This road 
 has been constructed by those who went before us, 
 and is kept in repair and improved perhaps by the 
 efforts of our contemporaries. A current of life 
 wells up constantly from the immeasurable sea of 
 existence, and pours into the accustomed channels. 
 Every minute of our lives some new human being 
 commences the journey of life, treads the well- 
 worn road, and follows in the footprints of his 
 
48 THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 
 
 ancestors. Some find out new paths for them- 
 selves, but such pioneering work is difficult and 
 dangerous, and often leads to disaster. Such 
 failures tend to preserve the uniformity of the 
 species. Youth is not original, but imitative. 
 Originality is mostly confined to the intellectual 
 sphere, or to the higher social consciousness, and 
 this only develops later in life, when the organic 
 consciousness, having done its constructive work, 
 falls more and more into a subordinate position. 
 
 From the cradle to the grave, life is a perpetual 
 expansion of consciousness. In early youth we 
 test and enlarge our physical powers, and lay the 
 foundations of our mental equipment. 1 Later on 
 we develop our social gifts and memories. In the 
 last stages of life, the normal tendency is towards 
 " wisdom," a translation of our whole experience 
 into the language of our social or waking conscious- 
 ness, its formulation in terms of the common 
 language which embodies the thoughts of the 
 social Avorld about us. 
 
 And then, in due time (and sometimes earlier) 
 comes death. That stream of molecules which we 
 call the body runs dry. The instrument which 
 has placed us in contact with the visible universe 
 
 1 This distinction between "physical" and "mental" is con- 
 venient, but it must not blind us to the fact that all powers are 
 mental in the wider sense, i.e. parts of our full (organic and 
 social) consciousness. 
 
THE QUESTION 49 
 
 withers away. The perpetual process of renewal 
 and repair slackens and finally ceases. The clock- 
 work, no longer wound up from day to day, runs 
 down and stops. The ancestral road ends on the 
 seashore. What then ? 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 " The study of life belongs to chemical physics." — Le Dantec. 
 
 Oue conclusion (p. 28) that life is an interaction 
 between living beings, carried on mainly by utilising 
 the social laws of an inferior universe (which social 
 laws we call " the laws of nature ") enables us to go 
 all the way with those biologists who wish to reduce 
 the mechanism of life to physics and chemistry. It 
 is by these sciences that we carry out all material 
 improvements in our surroundings, and it is by 
 physics and chemistry, by our organic familiarity 
 with their laws, that we construct the physical 
 basis of our lives. From our earliest independent 
 existence onwards we utilise the laws of nature as 
 we find them for the purpose of building up our 
 bodies. 
 
 These bodies are, however, highly differentiated 
 structures, adapted to the pursuit of a number of 
 special activities. The human skeleton is a system 
 of struts and levers designed to give rigidity, strength, 
 and mobility to the body. The tendons and muscles 
 are structures which store the necessary energy for 
 the various movements in a form in which it can be 
 
 So 
 
THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 5 1 
 
 made instantly available on receipt of a signal from 
 the controlling centre. These signals are trans- 
 mitted by a system of lines called nerves, whose 
 structure and functions closely resemble a tele- 
 graphic network of great complexity. In this 
 manner the fundamental necessity of motion is 
 provided for. But Ave require much more than 
 that. We want not only an organism capable of 
 moving in a desired direction or producing motion 
 in other objects — we must be kept constantly 
 informed of the state of our surroundings, in order 
 to determine what kind of motion will be most 
 advantageous to us. We require a delicate instru- 
 ment for detecting the emanations of surrounding 
 objects. We require another for analysing the 
 waves of elastic displacement which impinge upon 
 us, and yet another for analysing the waves of 
 electro-magnetic energy which pervade the space 
 around. And so we provide ourselves with a nose 
 and ears and eyes. 
 
 Nor is this enough. The energy accumulated in 
 the substance of our muscles is not unlimited. It 
 requires renewal. If we were plants, we might 
 take the necessary energy direct from the sunlight. 
 But that source is too precarious for practical pur- 
 poses, and it is much simpler, as well as more 
 certain and more economical, to take the energy 
 from lower organisms, plants by preference, which 
 spend most of their time collecting it for us. All 
 
52 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 we have to do is to provide ourselves with a port- 
 able laboratory where the energy accumulated by 
 plants or by inferior animals may be converted into 
 a form suitable for our own mechanism. Hence 
 our digestive system. The finished product of that 
 digestive laboratory must then be taken to the 
 very doors of all our subordinate mechanicians, 
 and the waste products must be removed. This 
 necessitates a heart and a circulation of the blood. 
 That portion of the produce of the digestive labo- 
 ratory which is to serve as fuel must be exposed to 
 a slow combustion and supplied with a constantly 
 renewed quantity of air. Hence our lungs and 
 respiration. And finally, all this elaborate machinery 
 must be closed in, to guard it against hostile in- 
 fluences and give it consistency. Sentinels must 
 be placed at the outposts to warn us of the 
 state of our immediate surroundings, and specially 
 delicate or sensitive districts must be specially 
 protected. Hence our skin, and hair, and sense 
 of touch. 
 
 And so we get that miracle of mechanism, the 
 human body, controlled by a central exchange to 
 which all the wires converge, the brain. And 
 within that brain, invisible to all prying eyes, sits 
 Ego, the self, receiving every second a thousand 
 million messages, answering them with an astonish- 
 ing industry and despatch, and getting through an 
 amount of business which might well be the envy 
 
OUR ORGANISATION 53 
 
 and despair of the most strenuous New York 
 business house. 
 
 The manifold calls which may be made upon 
 every part of the organism necessitate a localised 
 adaptation which expresses itself in a certain amount 
 of decentralisation. The whole body is divided into 
 minute districts, each of which is divided off from 
 the rest and leads, to some extent, an independent 
 life, looking to its own growth and food-supply, and 
 fitting itself for its special function in the life of the 
 whole. These districts are called "cells," and the adult 
 human body contains some 25,000,000,000,000,000 
 of them. So small are they that twenty of them 
 are contained in the thickness of a finger-nail. And 
 yet each cell is itself a mechanism consisting of 
 much more minute parts. If Ave go right down to 
 the atoms, we find that the smallest living cell 
 contains over 100,000,000 of them. But these 
 are not distributed at random through the cell, 
 but built up into structures of great complexity, 
 structures which have a " colloid " or gummy con- 
 sistency, and are supposed to be made up of com- 
 plex but more or less regularly constituted chemical 
 molecules. The human body has therefore aptly 
 been called " a mechanism of mechanisms of mech- 
 anisms " ; in other words, a mechanism of cells, 
 which are mechanisms of colloid bodies, which 
 again are mechanisms of complex molecules. 
 
 Imagine, then, for a moment what it means to be 
 
54 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 in actual effective possession of such a marvellously 
 complex instrument. Here is a whole world of 
 cells, numbering as many individuals as the aggre- 
 gate human race has produced for the last million 
 years, but all existing and flourishing at the same 
 time, and working together towards the one purpose 
 of placing the human self in contact with the 
 material universe. 
 
 How the individual cells play their part in the 
 life of the whole organism is luminously expounded 
 in Dr. E. B. Wilson's classical treatise on "The 
 Cell" 1 (pp. 58-61). 
 
 " In analysing the structure and functions of the 
 individual cell we are accustomed, as a matter of 
 convenience, to regard it as an independent elemen- 
 tary organism or organic unit. Actually, however, 
 it is such an organism only in the case of the 
 unicellular plants and animals and the germ-cells 
 of the multicellular forms. When we consider the 
 tissue-cells of the latter, we must take a somewhat 
 different view. As far as structure and origin are 
 concerned the tissue-cell is unquestionably of the 
 same morphological value as the one- celled plant 
 or animal ; and in this sense the multicellular body 
 is equivalent to a colony or aggregate of one-celled 
 forms. Physiologically, however, the tissue-cell can 
 only in a limited sense be regarded as an independent 
 
 1 Columbia University Biological Series. Macmillan Company, 
 New York, 1904. 
 
CO-ORDINATION 5 5 
 
 unit ; for its autonomy is merged in a greater or less 
 degree into the general life of the organism. From 
 this point of view the tissue-cell must in fact be 
 treated as merely a localised area of activity, pro- 
 vided it is true with the complete apparatus of cell- 
 life, and even capable of independent action within 
 certain limits, yet nevertheless a part and not a 
 whole. 
 
 " There is at present no biological question of 
 greater moment than the means by which the in- 
 dividual cell-activities are co-ordinated, and the 
 organic unity of the body maintained ; for upon 
 this question hangs not only the problem of the 
 transmission of acquired characters, and the nature 
 of development, but our conception of life itself. 
 Schwann, the father of the cell-theory, very clearly 
 perceived this ; and after an admirably lucid dis- 
 cussion of the facts known to him (1839), drew the 
 conclusion that the life of the organism is essentially 
 a composite ; that each cell has its independent life ; 
 and that ' the whole organism subsists only by means 
 of the reciprocal action of the single elementary 
 parts.' This conclusion, afterward elaborated by 
 Virchow and Haeckel to the theory of the ' cell- 
 state,' took a very strong hold on the minds of 
 biological investigators, and is even now widely 
 accepted. It is, however, becoming more and more 
 clearly apparent that this conception expresses only 
 a part of the truth, and that Schwann went too far 
 
56 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 in denying the influence of the totality of the 
 organism upon the local activities of the cells. It 
 would of course be absurd to maintain that the 
 whole can consist of more than the sum of its parts. 
 Yet, as far as growth and development are con- 
 cerned, it has now been clearly demonstrated that 
 only in a limited sense can the cells be regarded as 
 co-operating units. They are rather local centres of 
 a formative power pervading the growing mass as a 
 whole, and the physiological autonomy of the in- 
 dividual cell falls into the background. It is true 
 that the cells may acquire a high degree of 
 physiological independence in the later stages 
 of embryological development. The facts to be 
 discussed in the eighth and ninth chapters 
 will, however, show strong reason for the con- 
 clusion that this is a secondary result of de- 
 velopment, through which the cells become, as it 
 were, emancipated in a greater or less degree from 
 the general control. Broadly viewed, therefore, the 
 life of the multicellular organism is to be conceived 
 as a whole ; and the apparently composite character 
 which it may exhibit is owing to a secondary dis- 
 tribution of its energies among local centres of 
 action. 
 
 " In this light the structural relations of tissue- 
 cells become a question of great interest ; for we 
 have here to seek the means by which the in- 
 dividual cell comes into relation with the totality 
 
ORGANIC CONTINUITY 57 
 
 of the organism, and by which the general equili- 
 brium of the body is maintained. It must be con- 
 fessed that the results of microscopical research have 
 not thus far given a very certain answer to this 
 question. Though the tissue-cells are often appar- 
 ently separated from one another by a non-living 
 intercellular substance, which may appear in the 
 form of solid walls, it is by no means certain that 
 their organic continuity is thus actually severed. 
 Many cases are known in which division of the 
 nucleus is not followed by division of the cell-body, 
 so that multinuclear cells or syncytia are thus 
 formed, consisting of a continuous mass of proto- 
 plasm through which the nuclei are scattered. 
 Heitzmann long since contended (1873), though 
 on insufficient evidence, that division is incomplete 
 in nearly all forms of tissue, and that even when 
 cell-walls are formed they are traversed by strands 
 of protoplasm by means of which the cell-bodies 
 remain in organic continuity. The whole body 
 was thus conceived by him as a syncytium, the 
 cells being no more than nodal points in a general 
 reticulum, and the body forming a continuous 
 protoplasmic mass. 
 
 " This interesting view, long received with scep- 
 ticism, has been to a considerable extent sustained 
 by later researches, and though it still remains sub 
 judice, has been definitely accepted in its entirety by 
 some recent workers. The existence of protoplasmic 
 
5§ THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 cell-bridges between the sieve-tubes of plants has 
 long been known; and Tangl's discovery, in 1879, 
 of similar connections between the endosperm-cells 
 was followed by the demonstration by Gardiner, 
 Kienitz-Gerloff, A. Meyer, and many others, that 
 in nearly all plant-tissues the cell-walls are traversed 
 by delicate intercellular bridges. Similar bridges 
 have been conclusively demonstrated by Ranvier, 
 Bizzozero, Retzius, Flemming, Pfitzner, and many 
 later observers in nearly all forms of epithelium ; 
 and they are asserted to occur in the smooth 
 muscle-fibres, in cartilage-cells and connective 
 tissue-cells, and in some nerve-cells. Dendy 
 (1888), Paladino (1890), and Retzius (1889) have 
 endeavoured to show, further, that the follicle-cells 
 of the ovary are connected by protoplasmic bridges 
 not only with one another, but also with the ovum ; 
 and similar protoplasmic bridges between germ-cells 
 and somatic cells have been also demonstrated in a 
 number of plants, e.g. by Goroschankin (1883) and 
 Ikeno (1898) in the cycads and by A. Meyer (1896) 
 in Volvox. On the strength of these observations 
 some recent writers have not hesitated to accept 
 the probability of Heitzmann's original conception, 
 A. Meyer, for example, expressing the opinion that 
 both the plant and the animal individual are 
 continuous masses of protoplasm, in which the 
 cytoplasmic substance forms a morphological unit, 
 whether in the form of a single cell, a multi- 
 
WILSON ON CELL-BRIDGES 59 
 
 nucleated cell, or a system of cells. Captivating 
 as this hypothesis is, its full acceptance at present 
 would certainly be premature ; and as far as adult 
 animal tissues are concerned, it still remains un- 
 determined how far the cells are in direct proto- 
 plasmic continuity. It is obvious that no such 
 continuity exists in the case of the corpuscles of 
 blood and lymph and the wandering leucocytes and 
 pigment -cells. In case of the nervous system, which 
 from an a priori point of view would seem to 
 be above all others that in which protoplasmic 
 continuity is to be expected, its occurrence and 
 significance are still a subject of debate. When, 
 however, we turn to the embryonic stages we find 
 strong reason for the belief that a material continuity 
 between cells here exists. This is certainly the case 
 in the early stages of many arthropods, where the 
 whole embryo is at first an unmistakable syncytium ; 
 and Adam Sedgwick has endeavoured to show that 
 in Pervpatus and even in the vertebrates the entire 
 embryonic body, up to a late stage, is a continuous 
 syncytium. I have pointed out (1893) that even 
 in a total cleavage, such as that of Amphioxus or the 
 echinoderms, the results of experiment on the early 
 stages of cleavage are difficult to explain, save under 
 the assumption that there must be a structural con- 
 tinuity from cell to cell that is broken by mechanical 
 displacement of the blastomeres. This conclusion 
 is supported by the recent work of Hamniar (1896, 
 
60 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 1897), whose observations on sea-urchin eggs I can 
 in the main confirm. 
 
 " Among the most interesting observations in this 
 direction are those of Mrs. Andrews (1897), who 
 asserts that during the cleavage of the echinoderm- 
 egg the blastomeres ' spin ' delicate protoplasmic 
 filaments, by which direct protoplasmic continuity 
 is established between them subsequent to each 
 division. These observations, if correct, are of 
 high importance ; for if protoplasmic connections 
 may be broken and re-formed at will, as it were, 
 the adverse evidence of the blood-corpuscles and 
 wandering cells loses much of its weight. Meyer 
 (1896) adduces evidence that in Volvox the cell- 
 bridges are formed anew after division ; and Flem- 
 ming has also shown that when leucocytes creep 
 about among epithelial cells they rupture the 
 protoplasmic bridges, which are then formed anew 
 behind them. 
 
 " We are still almost wholly ignorant of the precise 
 physiological meaning of the cell-bridges ; but the 
 facts indicate that they are not merely channels of 
 nutrition, as some authors have maintained, but 
 paths of subtler physiological impulse. Beside the 
 facts determined by the isolation of blastomeres, 
 referred to above, may be placed Townsend's recent 
 remarkable experiments on plants, described at 
 p. 346. If correct, these experiments give clear 
 evidence of the transference of physiological influ- 
 
GRADES OF VITALITY 6 1 
 
 ences from cell to cell by means of protoplasmic 
 bridges, showing that the nucleus of one cell may 
 thus control the membrane-forming activity in an 
 enucleated fragment of another cell. The field of 
 research opened up by these and related researches 
 seems one of the most promising in view ; but until 
 it has been more fully explored, judgment should 
 be reserved regarding the whole question of the 
 occurrence, origin, and physiological meaning of the 
 protoplasmic cell-bridges." 
 
 This discovery of a probable " protoplasmic con- 
 tinuity " gives us a new and vivid insight into the 
 intimate structure of that marvellous apparatus 
 which we call our body. The untold millions of 
 individual cells are bound together by fine threads 
 of that primitive jelly which we call protoplasm. 
 The whole body is a " syncytium," an organised 
 state or community of cells. Most probably the 
 albuminous protoplasm, with its nuclei in every 
 cell, represents the really essential part of the 
 organism, the highest rank in the hierarchy of 
 material mechanisms which link our inmost spiritual 
 self with the outer world. 
 
 We are familiar with the fact that many parts 
 of our bodies are more essential, more " vital " than 
 others. In his great work on modern war, Bloch 
 draws a diagram of a man showing where wounds 
 inflicted are " slight," where " severe," and where 
 " fatal." The first areas are left white, the second 
 
62 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 are shaded, and the last are black. The diagram 
 presents the appearance of three beings, one inside 
 the other, the black figure being the innermost. 
 This diagram applies not only to the body as a 
 whole, but to each individual cell of it. For in 
 each cell we may distinguish an outer skin or 
 covering, which may be classified as unessential 
 in company with the storage and decomposition 
 products ; an inner active " cytoplasm," in which 
 the bulk of the physiological work is carried on ; 
 and an innermost nucleus, the governing part of 
 the cell, which decides its general activity, fixes 
 the broad outlines of its development, and gives 
 the first impulse towards division, if such is to 
 take place. 
 
 The forces which bring about the necessary 
 harmonious development of this vast array of cells 
 are the great outstanding riddle of physiology. 
 And no wonder, for (as we have already seen) no 
 physical explanation will ever explain anything, or 
 can, in the very nature of things, be expected to do 
 so. We cannot explain life in terms of death, or 
 dead matter. For we know life by direct experience, 
 but we have only a secondary knowledge of " dead " 
 matter, and as for death, we do not know it at all. 
 
 Failing a purely physical explanation of life, we 
 have the various vitalistic theories, which distinguish 
 between living and dead matter, organic and in- 
 organic, as things sharply divided from each other, 
 
THE ORGANIC HIERARCHY 63 
 
 or as things which entered on a separate develop- 
 ment at some remote age. This view, though more 
 reasonable than the purely physical view of life, 
 suffers from some fatal defects. The sharp division 
 between living and dead matter is found to be 
 non-existent. Much of human bone, hair, and skin 
 is practically inorganic material, having no more 
 life than an artificial tooth. On the other hand, 
 Lehmann's " living crystals " and Stephane Led tie's 
 " artificial plants " imitate so closely the most 
 "vital" phenomena of life that we cannot say 
 with any certainty where the line of demarcation 
 must be drawn. And that line, if it were drawn 
 to-day, would probably be obliterated to-morrow by 
 new discoveries. 
 
 No, we must take our courage in both hands, 
 and prepare to go all the way, following the light 
 of our unclouded intellect. There is nothing to 
 fear. There is nothing so simple as truth, and 
 when our reason is satisfied, our hearts will be at 
 peace also. 
 
 The living body is a vast army or hierarchy, with 
 elaborately graded ranks, whose graduation is lost 
 in the minute subdivisions of the infra-atomic 
 universe. Each rank is alive with its own charac- 
 teristic life, which, though not widely different from 
 the life immediately above it or below it, has a 
 tendency to appear fixed and mechanical to beings 
 of a far higher rank, and vague and arbitrary to 
 
64 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 the lower ranks. It is life, life, life, all along the 
 scale. 
 
 In moments of supreme consciousness there is in 
 the healthy and fully developed human individual 
 a free exercise of will and choice, a self-determina- 
 tion towards a chosen line of development. No 
 logical quibbles will explain that away. It is 
 a primary fact of consciousness. Such a pure 
 exercise of will may be exceedingly rare, but we 
 can in practice approach it as closely as we please. 
 To use an expression taken from geometry, we 
 can approach it " asymptotically." There may 
 always be a certain amount of unconscious impulse 
 which makes for determinism, but that impulse 
 may become more and more a negligible and im- 
 measurably small quantity. We all " have it ,in 
 us " to decide our own development, our own fate, 
 by a free choice. But it must be a choice of 
 practicable alternatives. The degree of practicability 
 decides the will-power required, and that degree 
 depends largely upon the forces at our command. 
 A general may have two alternative ways of attack- 
 ing the enemy. Both may be equally advisable 
 or equally risky. He chooses, and the army obeys. 
 But his powers are limited by his numerical strength, 
 his commissariat, the training and morale of his 
 troops, the enterprise of the home government, and 
 other factors. Within those limits he has freedom 
 of choice. So absolute is his power that he can 
 
FREEDOM OF CHOICE 65 
 
 send thousands of men to their death, and they go 
 with a cheer to meet it. He thinks in regiments, 
 squadrons, and batteries, as the admiral thinks in 
 ships. The individual thinks, instead, in arms and 
 legs, in fingers or lips or teeth, in eyes and ears. 
 The details involved in the due execution of 
 his orders he leaves to the nerves and muscles 
 and bones concerned. They are well trained, and 
 accustomed to obey. Each consists of millions of 
 cells, accustomed to work together, each cell-nucleus 
 controlling the proper metabolism of organic materials 
 supplied by the " commissariat " to the individual 
 cell, replacing waste material, and seeing that the 
 work is properly performed. In doing so, the cell- 
 nucleus, or rather the life-principle which it visibly 
 represents, is no doubt aware of some kind of 
 choice or will-power involved in such control. 
 That choice, that self-determination, is the central 
 aspect of the cellular " life " we have been driven 
 to postulate. Each cell has a certain amount of 
 " home-rule," circumscribed by the imperial interests 
 of the organism as a whole. The consciousness of 
 the cell is part of our " organic consciousness," that 
 consciousness which built up our bodies from our 
 prenatal days. The solidarity of the aggregate 
 consciousness of the cells is probably maintained 
 by something akin to " telepathy," whereby states 
 of consciousness are transmitted to suitably attuned 
 receivers. But just as, besides telepathy, we have 
 
 E 
 
66 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 visible and audible language, signals, telegraphs, and 
 telephones, so the cellular system is provided with 
 special contrivances designed to localise action and 
 sensation. The telepathic control determines the 
 general policy of the cells, whereas the nerve control 
 carries out its details, and provides for special 
 emergencies. 
 
 The whole organism, then, may be compared to 
 a kind of sponge of exceptionally fine grain, 
 traversed by canals and fibres and strengthened 
 in places by those jellies stiffened with lime and 
 phosphates which we call bones. Countless 
 varied actions can be executed by this admir- 
 able mechanism, which surpasses any man-made 
 machinery more than the most elaborate watch 
 surpasses the flint arrow-head. And this whole 
 machine is one. " In the individual," says Le 
 Dantec, "there is no local phenomenon." The 
 organism is like some palace whose every opening 
 is filled with automatic alarms. Every part com- 
 municates with every other. A pin-prick, a local 
 pressure or tension, raises the temperature of the 
 whole apparatus, and produces first, a concentration 
 of attention on the spot, a feeling of uneasiness, 
 and then a flow of blood towards the threatened 
 quarter. The human organism is, in one respect, 
 like the amoeba. It is a continuous mass of proto- 
 plasm. But, unlike that most primitive of all 
 animals, its parts are highly differentiated, and all 
 
DIFFERENTIATION OF PARTS 67 
 
 are under the control of the nervous system. It 
 is useless to circulate food-stuffs through a muscle. 
 It will not assimilate them except under the 
 proper stimulus from its governing nerve. The 
 differentiation of the various parts has the in- 
 evitable effect of making some parts more " vital " 
 than others. For those parts whose action is 
 essential to the nutrition and government of the 
 entire system are naturally of greater importance 
 than those which are only called upon to perform 
 special tasks. Thus, the heart, the lungs, the 
 digestive apparatus, and the brains are the citadel 
 of life, whose permanent injury means death. The 
 limbs and sense organs can almost all be dispensed 
 with before life must necessarily cease. And yet 
 these latter are those upon whose activity our 
 social life is most largely dependent. They are, 
 in that sense, " higher " organs. But then we are 
 familiar with the " bread-and-butter " argument 
 which tells against many " higher " activities, and 
 which finds but one more illustration here. The 
 moral of it is that our present life is a stage 
 preparatory to a higher form. 
 
 Some animals, like the hydra, the starfish, the 
 crab, the earth-worm, and the lizard may be cut 
 to pieces, and each piece will, under suitable condi- 
 tions of food-supply and temperature, grow into a 
 complete adult animal. On the other hand, a 
 small ciliated microscopic infusorian called para- 
 
68 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 mtecia, when truncated, remains so, unless it is 
 operated upon when very young. The renewing 
 power appears, indeed, to be merely a matter of 
 age. Every animal has a stage in its growth up 
 to which it can restore any limb it loses. It is 
 only when bones or other hard and permanent 
 structures are formed that the organic conscious- 
 ness loses the power of duplicating its own work. 
 It is the price the organism has to pay for per- 
 manence. We want to do things habitually, " in- 
 stinctively," without having to think about it. We 
 want certain parts of our organism to be unchang- 
 ing, to be always at our immediate disposal, to be 
 capable of withstanding or exerting a certain force. 
 Well, we get what we want. We secure the 
 services of certain combinations of hard substances, 
 and place them in position. Once they are pro- 
 vided, we forget all about the process by which 
 they have been secured, and as their renewal is a 
 matter of no urgency, we resign ourselves to leaving 
 these hard materials in undisturbed possession of 
 their assigned posts. 
 
 But then we have to pay the penalty. And that 
 penalty is — death. Could we, like the crab, shed 
 our bones every now and then, we might prolong 
 our life into thousands of years. But the crab's 
 way of growing bones is not our way. We want 
 ours inside instead of outside, so that we may re- 
 tain our full and quick sensitiveness and mobility. 
 
WHY WE DIE 69 
 
 Moreover, the placing of the bones inside facilitates 
 their own growth and their adaptation to the grow- 
 ing organism. 
 
 The primordial sin whose " wages is death " is the 
 desire for a more spiritual life, for a larger and 
 wider sphere of mental and emotional activity than 
 that offered by a mere animal struggle for existence. 
 The deathless amoeba is also sinless in this respect. 
 Its whole consciousness is probably concerned solely 
 with the problems of nutrition and multiplication. 
 Its organic consciousness is co-extensive with its 
 social consciousness. It has no " subconscious self," 
 no areas of consciousness which but rarely emerge 
 above the threshold. It does everything consciously 
 and deliberately, nothing instinctively. It acquires 
 no property in the way of permanent mechanisms, 
 held in reserve for special occasions. It has nothing 
 to outgrow, no dead matter accumulating in its 
 tissues. It is called Proteus, because it can assume 
 the most varied forms without endangering its 
 anatomy. In fact, it has no anatomy. It is just a 
 speck of jelly with a nucleus. That nucleus em- 
 bodies the essential life-principle of the animal. 
 Says Wilson 1 : " A fragment of a cell deprived of its 
 nucleus may live for a considerable time and mani- 
 fest the power of co-ordinated movement without 
 perceptible impairment. Such a mass of proto- 
 plasm is, however, devoid of the powers of assimila- 
 
 ] "The Cell," p. 30. 
 
70 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 tion, growth, and repair, and sooner or later dies. 
 In other words, those functions that involve 
 destructive metabolism may continue for a time in 
 the absence of the nucleus ; those that involve 
 constructive metabolism cease with its removal. 
 There is, therefore, strong reason to believe that 
 the nucleus plays an essential part in the con- 
 structive metabolism of the cell, and through this 
 is especially concerned with the formative pro- 
 cesses involved in growth and development. For 
 these and many other reasons, to be discussed here- 
 after, the nucleus is generally regarded as a con- 
 trolling centre of cell-activity, and hence a primary 
 factor in growth, development, and the transmission 
 of specific qualities from cell to cell, and so from 
 one generation to another." 
 
 There is no birth in the world of Proteus and no 
 natural death. Multiplication takes place by the 
 splitting of the nucleus, which is followed by that 
 of the cytoplasm or cell-substance. This fission 
 gives rise to two separate and independent indi- 
 viduals, each of which shifts for itself. In the 
 higher animals, and in the human being, there is 
 in the earliest prenatal stages a similar fission. 
 But instead of leading to total separation, this 
 fission leads to a co-operative aggregation of cells, 
 and eventually to the graded hierarchy already 
 spoken of. 
 
 The establishment of this graded hierarchy intro- 
 
REPRODUCTION 7 1 
 
 duces profound and significant changes into the 
 method of propagation. The differentiation of the 
 cells becomes " hereditary " in the sense of each cell 
 reproducing, by fission, a cell of its own kind. 
 Thus, an epithelial cell produces, by fission, two 
 cells of epithelium. A nerve cell produces two 
 nerve cells. But how is the whole individual to 
 be reproduced ? As we have seen in some of the 
 lower animals, every single cell retains the power of 
 reproducing a whole individual. In the higher 
 organisms such powers may exist in a latent form, 
 depending upon the provision of external con- 
 ditions which cannot practically be supplied, or 
 which nobody has yet thought of trying. The 
 mechanical, physical, and chemical conditions re- 
 quired, for instance, to make a dog's ear, when cut 
 off, develop into a dog, are quite unknown, or even 
 impossible. The conditions would probably be so 
 unusual that the result would be very different 
 from the accepted notion of a dog, vague and wide 
 though that notion be. The tendency to variation, 
 which always exists, and sometimes leads to mon- 
 strosities, must be checked unless the most valuable 
 lessons laboriously learnt in the previous history of 
 the species are to be thrown away. This danger is 
 guarded against in the higher organisms by substi- 
 tuting conjugation for simple fission. This conju- 
 gation implies the union of the nuclei of two cells, 
 leading up to their complete fusion, the " twain " 
 
72 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 becoming " one," and then giving rise to one or 
 more new individuals by fission. What conjugation 
 is to the simpler organisms, sexual reproduction is 
 to the more highly developed ones. The essential 
 thing is that the vital portions, the nuclei, of two 
 germ-cells should combine. The mechanism for 
 producing such combination and safeguarding the 
 results of it depend upon less important circum- 
 stances. This essential equality between the sexes 
 is strikingly borne out by an important recent dis- 
 covery made by Van Beneden in 1883. Cell- 
 division is usually (i.e. in all cases except those of 
 degeneration or intra-cellular division of the nucleus) 
 preceded by a striking phenomenon known as mitosis 
 or karyokinesis. It is shown by the nucleus of the 
 cell, or rather that fibrous part of the nucleus 
 which easily takes up colouring matter and is 
 therefore called chromatin, forming itself into a 
 spireme or tangle of threads, which gradually 
 thicken and shorten, and break up into a small but 
 perfectly definite number of rods. These rods are 
 called chromosomes. They arrange themselves in a 
 straight line and split along their length, and each 
 new cell takes up just half of the rods thus split to 
 form its new nucleus. Every species of plant and 
 animal has a fixed number of chromosomes. " In 
 some sharks the number is thirty-six ; in certain 
 gasteropods it is thirty- two ; in the mouse, the 
 salamander, the trout, the lily, twenty- four ; in the 
 
WHAT IS MOST VITAL 73 
 
 worm Sagitta, eighteen; in the ox, guinea-pig, and 
 in man the number is said to be sixteen, and the 
 same number is characteristic of the onion." x 
 
 Now in each of the germ-cells whose conjunction 
 gives 'rise to the new individual, the number of 
 chromosomes is exactly half the number found in 
 the ordinary cells of the body. The germ-cells are 
 thus equal and supplementary to each other. Their 
 combination makes a complete cell, whose sub- 
 division is capable, under suitable surroundings, of 
 reproducing the entire individual. 
 
 It has been suggested that the chromatin of the 
 nucleus is the most vital and living part of each 
 cell. Others have put forward a body called the 
 " centrosome," a minute speck of matter which 
 seems to be the first to divide, and forms two stars 
 between which the chromosomes arrange themselves 
 before splitting. But the most essential structure 
 appears to be the " spindle," a web of fibres con- 
 necting the two stars or " asters " with each other. 
 This spindle does not take up colouring matter, and 
 is therefore less visible under the microscope. In 
 summing up a long discussion of the process of 
 cell-division, Wilson says 2 : " These facts show that 
 mitosis is due to the co-ordinate play of an extremely 
 complex system of forces which are as yet scarcely 
 comprehended. Its general significance is, however, 
 
 1 Wilson, " The Cell," p. 67. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 120. 
 
74 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 
 
 obvious. The effect of mitosis is to produce a 
 meristic [part by part] division, as opposed to a 
 mere mass-division, of the chromatin of the mother- 
 cell, and its equal distribution to the nuclei of the 
 daughter-cells. To this result all the operations of 
 mitosis are tributary; and it is a significant fact 
 that this process is characteristic of all embryonic 
 and actively growing cells, while mass-division, as 
 shown in amitosis, is equally characteristic of highly 
 specialised or degenerating cells in which develop- 
 ment is approaching its end." 
 
 In this connection, it should be remembered that 
 the most vital part of the cell is not necessarily the 
 most clearly visible. In fact, there is no reason 
 why it should be visible at all. The rivalry of the 
 chromatin and the centrosome for pre-eminence 
 may, for aught we know, be a mere illusion, pro- 
 duced by peculiarities of refraction and absorption. 
 The most essential governing parts of the cell may 
 differ in quite other physical properties. Our eyes 
 cannot distinguish readily between water and hydro- 
 chloric acid and glycerine, and yet these substances 
 are widely different in their chemical properties, 
 and would look different to eyes sensitive to light 
 of other wave-lengths. That we cannot definitely 
 locate the sanctum sanctorum of the living cell may 
 be a pure accident, or due to the lack of a suitable 
 dye. It may be located to-morrow by some new 
 chemical means. What concerns us is the proof 
 
AN INVISIBLE BODY 75 
 
 that every cell is highly differentiated with regard 
 to the vitality of its parts. A nucleus weighs about 
 a thousandth of the average cell-body. Its really 
 vital, and perhaps invisible, portion may be a ten- 
 thousandth of the weight of the cell. In other 
 words, taking all the cells together, our real living 
 matter, the vital portions of our body, may have an 
 aggregate weight of about one-fifth of an ounce ! 
 Could we eliminate all the rest of the cell material, 
 we should have a " body " consisting of all that is 
 most " alive " in every single cell. But that " body " 
 would be quite invisible, and would, if it filled the 
 outline of the body as before, ascend some fifteen 
 miles into the air before it found a position of 
 equilibrium. It would, indeed, live in a new world, 
 hitherto " unseen," retaining all its social and organic 
 memories and fulfilling all its essential functions 
 except that of exerting force upon ponderable 
 matter as we do with the help of our ponderous 
 bones. To restore such a body to its ordinary 
 mundane functions, it would suffice to enable the 
 various cell-centres to resume then assimilating 1 
 activities for some little time. Such a withdrawal 
 and restoration has nothing inconceivable about it. 
 That something of the kind occurs at our own 
 death, and that it is a possible, though perhaps 
 unusual, process even in our ordinary life, I hope 
 to make clear in the sequel. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE LAWS OF NATURE 
 
 " We assume the existence of uniformities in nature — natural 
 laws : the narrowing down of these into exactitude being the 
 endless problem of discovery, and the completest knowledge of 
 them already attained at any period being, for that period, the 
 basis of all explanation, prediction, and proof." — Alfred Sidgwick 
 on "Fallacies." 
 
 To some of us, the laws of nature are as the bars 
 of a prison, shutting us off from freedom and the 
 alluring delights of the world outside. To others, 
 they are a refuge from the whirlpools and tornadoes 
 on the sea of existence, or as guiding-stars through 
 a dark and trackless forest. We are perpetually 
 oscillating between the delights of possession and 
 those of acquisition. We are conservative and 
 radical in turn. When we have, we are glad of 
 the limitations, safeguards, and guarantees offered 
 by the immutability of the laws of nature and the 
 majesty of the law of the land based on them. 
 When we want, we feel keenly the restraint thus 
 imposed upon us. We endeavour to remove it 
 by discovering superior laws which allow the ex- 
 ceptions desired by us. Science is that pursuit 
 
 of knowledge which discovers and formulates the 
 
 7 6 
 
THE LAWS OF NATURE 77 
 
 laws of nature. Every law so discovered imposes 
 new restraints and limitations. Yet science is not 
 essentially conservative. On the contrary, it is 
 usually regarded as essentially radical and revolu- 
 tionary, since it is constantly relegating long- 
 cherislied beliefs to the limbo of exploded fallacies. 
 
 Now, what exactly is a law of nature ? Who 
 or what is the law-giver ? Who or what enforces 
 it ? Can it ever be broken, or superseded, or 
 revised ? These are the questions I shall endeavour 
 to answer in this chapter. It is necessary to arrive 
 at a clear conception of natural law before we can 
 penetrate any distance into the unknown land which 
 we are endeavouring to explore. 
 
 Our daily life is based upon a number of im- 
 possibilities and improbabilities. These are based 
 upon " natural laws." We shut up a criminal in 
 a dungeon with thick stone walls, iron bars, and 
 ponderous locks. It is " impossible " for him to 
 get out. Why ? because his muscular force " cannot 
 possibly " attain the strength sufficient to burst his 
 bonds. We present him with a problem which his 
 physical and intellectual powers are incapable of 
 solving. We rely upon the cohesive force of granite 
 and steel to resist any force which he may bring- 
 to bear upon his fetters. And so we keep him 
 safely locked up, and if he escapes at all, it is 
 usually not the fault of the natural laws we relied 
 upon, but the fault of the jailer. 
 
73 THE LAWS OF NATURE 
 
 Again, we lay in a store of coal, having at the 
 back of our mind quite an array of laws which we 
 expect to hold good. Among these we may specify 
 the following : coal does not decompose ; it does not 
 fly away ; it " keeps " indefinitely, unless raised to a 
 certain high temperature in the presence of oxygen ; 
 when that happens, it burns and gives out heat. 
 
 Other laws upon which we rely are more complex. 
 The law of supply and demand, and the laws of 
 political economy in general, hold good when taken 
 over a wide area, though they fail in almost every 
 case taken individually. In the widest sense, a 
 natural law is any continuity or constancy we 
 observe anywhere. "When we go to an hotel and 
 proceed to dress and wash, we use the water as if it 
 could by no possibility be sulphuric acid, or a solu- 
 tion of potassium cyanide, or a diluted culture of 
 cholera morbus, or other bearer of deadly peril. We 
 rely upon the average honesty and kindliness and 
 carefulness of man, or upon his fear of pains and 
 penalties. 
 
 In other cases, our sense of confidence and safety 
 is still more precarious. We trust a friend, judging 
 from his past actions, or the actions of persons 
 resembling him. Because we have known him to 
 show signs of manliness, or ability, or sympathy, 
 we believe him to be manly, clever, and kind. We 
 formulate, in fact, a provisional kind of natural law 
 concerning him, or, if you like, an hypothesis, and 
 
HUMAN AND NATURAL LAW 79 
 
 act upon that until something (or somebody) dis- 
 illusions us. We then recognise that the character 
 we attributed to our friend was not a " reality," but 
 an illusion. 
 
 In other fields we are still less rational. In 
 politics we vote for free trade or protection after 
 a hasty generalisation from a few cases of pros- 
 perity or poverty observed in connection with one 
 or the other of these policies, sometimes reasoning 
 from a single case imperfectly observed. And yet 
 this most unscientific manner of reasoning and 
 acting is expounded and advocated by the pick of 
 the country's intellect and ability ! 
 
 Little wonder that people turn from such fragile 
 reeds to the more solid props offered by the laws ol 
 nature discovered by science. Here the area of 
 observation is immensely enlarged. Instead of a 
 single nation or a few individuals, we have thou- 
 sands of objects to judge from, objects which are, 
 as a rule, accessible to everybody, so that our 
 deductions can be verified by any one who has 
 the inclination and the necessary leisure. This 
 circumstance secures to the laws of nature a recog- 
 nition co-extensive with the human race. Their 
 great prestige, their " majesty " as it is sometimes 
 called, often produces the erroneous opinion that 
 they are unalterable and infallible. As a matter 
 of fact, they are as changeable and as fallible as 
 the human race itself. Not one of them embodies 
 
So THE LAWS OF NATUKE 
 
 an eternal and changeless truth. Not one of them 
 but must remain subject to revision. They are all 
 approximate, some of them closely approximate as 
 judged by our present standards, but no matter 
 how they are formulated, they may have to be 
 recast to-morrow. 
 
 Take two of the most fundamental and universal 
 laws known: Newton's law of gravitation, and the 
 rectilinear propagation of light. Newton's law 
 makes gravitation proportional to the attracting 
 masses, and inversely proportional to the square 
 of the distance between them. But electrical ex- 
 periments have recently shown that mass and 
 inertia may depend upon speed, and molecular 
 physics have long taught us that at very small 
 distances the force varies more rapidly than with 
 the square of the distance. Again, the rectilinear 
 propagation of light is a kind of optical illusion 
 due to the interference of innumerable wavelets. 
 When the beam is very narrow, it may be dis- 
 tinctly observed to spread out laterally, much as a 
 sound-wave would. 
 
 Take the law known under the name of biogenesis, 
 which maintains that all living beings are derived 
 from other living beings, and none from inanimate 
 material. In spite of some apparent exceptions such 
 as Burke's radiobes and Lehmann's " living crystals," 
 this law still holds good. But how much longer 
 will it hold good ? If such a law as that were 
 
OPEN TO REVISION 8 I 
 
 endowed with all that majesty and sway which is 
 sometimes attributed to it, what would happen if it 
 ceased to be true ? Everybody knows, of course, 
 the answer : things would remain much as they 
 always were. There would be no cataclysm, no 
 sudden upheaval. These laws are true for us, so 
 long as they embody the results of our aggregate 
 observation. None of these laws exist in nature 
 objectively, apart from the human intellect. The 
 chemist maintains for several generations that 
 " atoms are indivisible and indestructible." Then 
 a physicist comes along and proves that atoms can 
 be both split and destroyed. The world, which 
 appeared to base its whole existence on the 
 chemist's formula, remains profoundly indifferent. 
 No, the laws of nature are of purely human 
 origin, and of purely human importance. The 
 processes which give rise to them — well, that is 
 another matter. As Johnstone Stoney puts it, 
 What we see moving is the shadow of some 
 elaborate machinery. The machinery is invisible 
 to us, but we see the shadows of some of its 
 cranks and levers and cog-wheels. We observe 
 that there is some sameness about the motions, that 
 they seem to obey some law. We see a rod 
 moving to and fro, and a wheel turning. We 
 conclude that the rod turns the wheel, or rather 
 (since both rod and wheel are invisible and un- 
 known to us) that the shadow of the rod turns the 
 
 F 
 
82 THE LAWS OF NATURE 
 
 shadow of the wheel ! That is all we are really 
 concerned with, since the internal mechanism is 
 inaccessible to us. Thus we formulate our " laws 
 of nature." A superior being might come in and 
 remove a spring or a catch in the machine, and 
 then the rod would move without turning the 
 wheel. Our " law of nature " would then have to 
 be revised or abandoned, and the superior stranger 
 would have proved that a wider law holds good. 
 He again might be nonplussed by a still more 
 gifted individual who, while leaving the catch un- 
 touched, might establish some other connection, 
 invisible to stranger No. 1, whereby the rod and 
 the wheel would again move together and the 
 original law of nature be restored ! 
 
 Of these possibilities the advanced man of 
 science is fully aware. Hence he is ceaselessly 
 endeavouring to get at the internal mechanism 
 of the universe, to learn all the secret springs 
 and catches, and to control them himself. 
 
 But no amount of analysis or mensuration of 
 the shadows will ever enlighten us concerning the 
 internal mechanism of the real machine. A surer 
 way is to endeavour to construct a machine as best 
 we can, or at least to consider its functions and the 
 effects it is obviously intended to produce. A 
 person ignorant of the watchmaker's art cannot 
 expect to understand watchmaking by taking the 
 watch to pieces and trying experiments with the 
 
HYPOTHESES 83 
 
 various wheels and pinions and springs. His best 
 way is to enter, as far as possible, into the mind of 
 the watchmaker, and find out the ideas underlying 
 the connection of the various pieces of mechanism, 
 seeing how this moves that, and how something 
 keeps something else in position. The access to 
 the secret chamber is through the man who holds 
 the key thereof. We must learn " to think again 
 the great thought of creation," before we may hope 
 to fathom its inner secrets. 
 
 This is not yet, however, the accepted method 
 of scientific research. Far from it. The scientific 
 method of to-day discourages speculation. It en- 
 courages observation and experiment, and is frugal 
 in the matter of hypotheses. The ruling fashion 
 is to assume as little as possible, to be chary of 
 theories, to state rather than explain facts. This 
 fashion is the result of bitter experience of how 
 premature theorising may retard discovery and the 
 advance of knowledge. But since the function of a 
 theory is not only to explain facts, but also to state 
 and summarise them in a concise form, and since 
 this latter function results in a distinct economy 
 of thought, a sparing use of theory is indulged 
 in. The British school is rather more prodigal of 
 auxiliary images than the Continental school. But 
 though the habit of framing theories is now some- 
 what restrained in public, it is so ingrained in the 
 human mind that it cannot be eradicated, and being 
 
84 THE LAWS OF NATURE 
 
 in the blood, it breaks out in all kinds of places, 
 half unconsciously. 
 
 This state of things is particularly apparent with 
 regard to the subject of this book. Immortality 
 has no place in any department of official science. 
 The official theory is that there is nothing after 
 death but annihilation. Even where that theory 
 is not openly professed or acknowledged, or where it 
 is not even consciously held, the bias is altogether 
 against life after death. Such life, at the best, is 
 treated as a " negligible quantity." And not only 
 is this the case in official science, but in many 
 other departments of human activity. The State 
 still disposes of its worst and hopeless criminals by 
 capital punishment, which is, in practically all 
 cases, tacitly assumed to amount to annihilation. 
 If the soul or spirit is referred to, it is done as a 
 piece of conservatism, a concession to tradition or 
 to ancient and not altogether extinct prejudice. 
 Even the Church, by relegating the resurrection 
 to a distant and ever-postponed resurrection morn, 
 precludes the dead from all possibility of inter- 
 course with us, and corroborates the official attitude 
 of science and statecraft in a less direct but quite as 
 effective manner. 
 
 Thus has the internal aspect of nature been more 
 and more lost sight of, and pure materialism, 
 expressed or understood, actually holds the field of 
 " practical politics." And should any one arise to 
 
MATERIALISM IN POWER 85 
 
 protest against this inversion of all the canons of 
 logic and legitimate reasoning, and endeavour to 
 bring about a saner and more fruitful policy in the 
 world of thought, he will at once be met by out- 
 cries against the reintroduction of medieval super- 
 stition with all its horrors and barbarities ! 
 
 Science has put forth its mailed fist. It has 
 established a Pax Romano, among the warring 
 creeds very much as the white man has confined 
 the red or black native to his wigwam or his kraal. 
 Finding that speculations concerning the soul of 
 man led to more disorders and disturbances of the 
 peace than anything else, it has decided to ignore 
 that soul, or rather to shut it up in a barred cage 
 called official psychology, whence it shall not escape 
 to disturb the peace of mind of the materialist 
 savant And so we find physics and chemistry and 
 physiology and mental pathology, as well as the 
 whole of medicine, calmly proceeding on the tacit 
 assumption that life is an " epiphenomenon," a 
 shadow of shadows, and that its existence, if not 
 already accounted for on purely chemical principles, 
 may be so accounted for to-morrow, or if not, then 
 certainly the day after to-morrow. It somewhat re- 
 minds one of the days of the French Revolution, 
 when it was bad form to give hereditary or official 
 titles, when everybody was citoyen this or citoyenne 
 that, and Queen Antoinette was officially styled 
 " la veuve Capet." But just as that affectation, 
 
86 THE LAWS OF NATURE 
 
 brought about by a violent swing of the pendulum, 
 has since disappeared, giving way to a more 
 dignified tolerance and independence, so, we may 
 take it, will the rigid official boycott of the 
 spiritual be relaxed when science feels sure of 
 the safety of its fundamental and dearly bought 
 principles. 
 
 The next great development will be the opening 
 of the new passage into the inner workshop of the 
 universe, where the Master-builder sits at work. 
 We must endeavour to liberate science from its 
 materialistic fetters, to enable it to soar into brighter 
 and higher realms. Just as, by breaking down 
 some of the cast-iron conventions of orthodox 
 algebra, Rowan Hamilton created the freer and 
 more powerful calculus of quaternions, so must we 
 now, by dissolving the prison bars of the material- 
 istic convention, enable science to enter on a new 
 inheritance, of which this visible and tangible world 
 forms a significant but inadequate portion. In 
 doing this, it is inevitable that the work should 
 bear the well-known faults of pioneering efforts. It 
 will have a scent and flavour of the backwoods 
 about it. The results will be rough-hewn, the 
 tracks will be primitive, and the axe of the wood- 
 cutter will leave many an ugly stump behind it. 
 But a beginning must be made sometime, and 
 having proceeded as far as this, there is no turning 
 back. 
 
the law-givers 87 
 
 Natural Legislation 
 
 I have already, in "Two New Worlds/given reasons 
 for believing that our material universe is really an 
 infinite series of worlds within worlds having a 
 certain numerical relation with each other. The 
 argument there given proceeded on purely physical 
 data. As our present task attempts the interpreta- 
 tion of these physical data in terms of life (every 
 other interpretation having been found to lead to 
 inconsistencies) we must be prepared to encounter an 
 infinite succession of orders of organisation. But 
 just as the " atoms" of our world, in spite of explo- 
 sions and reactions and test-tubes, are found to be 
 nearly as free and independent in their movements 
 as, say, our own earth, so, we may suppose, are the 
 "souls" of the 100,000,000 atoms which make up 
 the minute spore of a fungus largely independent 
 of whatever " soul " that spore possesses. Yet some 
 of these atoms may well be more beseelt (a convenient 
 German word imperfectly rendered by be-soul-ed) 
 than others, just as the earth, according to Sir A. 
 ft. Wallace, is the only bearer of ordinary organic 
 life in our stellar system. Thus, the human race 
 may be that which fits the earth for becoming the 
 most intellectual " atom " in our solar or sidereal 
 system, and enables it thus to embody or represent 
 a part of that vast o verso ul which sways the 
 visible universe. 
 
88 THE LAWS OF NATURE 
 
 Defining a world as a system of discrete entities 
 of the same order of magnitude and similar general 
 attributes, we recognise that our faculties place us 
 in relation with three material worlds. These 
 are : — 
 
 1. The terrene - world, in which the discrete 
 entities are organised beings, ranging from the 
 lowest unicellular organism to the highest multi- 
 cellular organism. 
 
 2. The supra - world, whose entities are the 
 heavenly bodies, solar or planetary. 
 
 3. The infra-world, whose discrete entities are 
 atoms and electrons. 
 
 On our earth we are in .touch with all these 
 worlds. Matter may be roughly divided into in- 
 organic and organic matter, though there is no 
 sharp line of demarcation. The organic matter is 
 connected with the terrene - world, and the in- 
 organic matter with the infra-world. The whole 
 earth is an entity of the supra-world, and the 
 stars and planets are its fellows and companions. 
 
 In all the three worlds we have cognisance of a 
 differentiation of types ; witness the " Evolution of 
 Celestial Species," in which Sir Norman Lockyer 
 classifies the stars by their spectra ; Darwin's 
 " Origin of Species " on earth ; and the evolution 
 of the chemical elements which bids fair to account 
 for the genesis of the atoms of the various elementary 
 substances — the species of the infra- world. 
 
LEGISLATION FROM BELOW 89 
 
 If we accept Darwin's view of evolution we must 
 suppose that species are survivals of variations 
 which have a particular fitness for the surroundings 
 in which they are placed. Planets and satellites, 
 comets and suns people the heavens because solid 
 rings and cubes and spirals cannot long survive. 
 Plants and animals assume definite forms because 
 only such forms can thrive and multiply. [The 
 others go to the wall. Atoms grow into definite 
 sizes, shapes, and weights because others have in- 
 sufficient stability. That stability is governed by 
 laws of which we are as yet entirely ignorant, but if 
 the atom as such has some kind of intelligence, that 
 intelligence is faced by those infra-laws just as we 
 are faced by the laws of chemistry and physics. It 
 must utilise those laws and adapt itself to them or 
 perish. We are not concerned with the infra-laws. 
 All we have to do is to consider and obey the laws 
 presented to us by the world of atoms — the infra- 
 world. Modern researches into radioactivity have 
 familiarised us with the conception of the birth, 
 growth, and decay of atoms. Future investigations 
 may well extend this by showing that atoms have 
 a definite and measurable life-period and birth-rate, 
 that, in fact, they are as much " living beings " as 
 are bacteria, with the difference that their rate of 
 life is some 5000 tunes faster, and their number 
 a million million times greater. The effect on us 
 of this numerical strength, and the rapidity with 
 
90 THE LAWS OF NATURE 
 
 which the phases of atomic life succeed each other, 
 is that details get lost, and we are impressed with 
 the general constancy and stability of the atomic 
 species : — 
 
 The laws of chemistry are the laws of life of the 
 atomic species. 
 
 This is said with regard to the origin and inter- 
 action of chemical species as such. When there is 
 no interaction, but only chance aggregates of atoms 
 of the same or diverse species are considered, we 
 get the laws of mechanics or physics. The differ- 
 ence is just as if we considered cross-breeding, say, 
 in one case, and the sufficiency of cattle-truck 
 accommodation in another. The former would be 
 terrene chemistry, the latter terrene physics. 
 
 When we have to deal, not with atoms, but with 
 higher aggregates of them, we get more complex 
 laws. 
 
 Atoms can only form societies under certain 
 conditions, which we may call " conditions of mem- 
 bership." Other forms of aggregation are no doubt 
 occasionally devised, but they disappear owing to 
 instability. And the higher we ascend in the scale 
 of aggregation, the more complex do these con- 
 ditions become, just as the machinery of a State 
 becomes the more complicated the larger it grows- 
 We get complex molecules, colloids, protoplasm, 
 cells. 
 
 Kesult : the laws of biology. 
 
SOULS WITHIN SOULS 9 1 
 
 And so are our laws of nature built up. They 
 are the social laws of inferior ivorlds. Our laws of 
 matter are the laws of an " infra-biology," the laws 
 evolved by the interaction between living beings of 
 an order very far below our own. 
 
 Souls within Souls 
 
 An obvious objection to the above reasoning is 
 that it is a kind of rationalised materialism, in which 
 the immutable laws of a mechanical nature are 
 reduced to the no less immutable laws of a rather 
 mechanical infra-society. But this objection ignores 
 an equally obvious corollary of the same reasoning. 
 There is no determinism. There is " free will " all 
 along the line. The laws of nature, like human 
 laws, are observed in the aggregate. Any member of 
 any order of society is at liberty to transgress them, 
 subject, of course, to the penalties given and pro- 
 vided. Aggregation is free and voluntary. Obedi- 
 ence and conformity are voluntary. Any aggregation 
 of any order has a self-determining power strictly 
 commensurate with its range of action and sphere 
 of influence. All laws of nature are breakable, but 
 they are practically unbroken. How closely social 
 laws may simulate the generality of natural laws 
 is seen in countless conventions of human society. 
 What strange being, watching a crowd of 10,000 
 Europeans, would ever conclude or suspect that all 
 
92 THE LAWS OF NATURE 
 
 men, Europeans included, were born without hats, 
 or, indeed, without any clothing whatever ? Or, if 
 the generality of head-gear may be put down to 
 natural causes, what causes but social laws can 
 account for the male evening attire or the striking 
 and simultaneous changes in feminine fashions ? 
 
 But what is this same aggregation ? What 
 bridges the gulf which separates every two in- 
 dividuals ? 
 
 Here we approach the next cross-road. Materialism 
 lets the world consist of discrete particles, capable, 
 in some logically inconceivable way, of interacting 
 with each other. How on such a system any two 
 things can ever become alike when there is any 
 possibility of differentiation remains a mystery. Or 
 how, granted a primordial uniformity, differences 
 can ever arise, is equally mysterious. No, we must, 
 in accordance with the principle of Economy, pro- 
 ceed from the Known to the Unknown. The Known 
 in this case is the interaction among our fellow- 
 creatures. The Unknown is interaction in general. 
 Human interaction is based upon a fundamental 
 relationship known to biology as the continuity of 
 the germ-plasm, but which from our point of view 
 must be styled the Divisibility of the Human Soul. 
 Just as the body of the apple is part of the body of 
 the tree, so the soul of the apple is part of the soul 
 of its parent, the soul of the infant part of the 
 mother's soul. Omne vivum e vivo is one of the best- 
 
UNIVERSAL LIFE 93 
 
 established facts of biology. No life without previous 
 life. Ultimately all living beings are our blood- 
 relations, which means also our soul-relations. Let 
 us be deliberate, courageous, and emphatic about 
 the word " all." Since there is no dead matter, but 
 all is life, our soul-stuff is co-extensive with the 
 universe, and not with the visible and tangible 
 universe only, but with the life that was, the life 
 that is, and the life that is yet to be. Thus we 
 catch a far-off glimpse of that great Universal Soul 
 towards which indeed " the whole creation moves." 
 Ultimately there is only One that lives. We all 
 are sparks from that Divine fire, not thrown off at 
 some distant and half-forgotten date, but sustained 
 by It now, and through It, linked Avith every being 
 that exists, or has existed, or shall exist in scecula 
 sceculorum. 
 
 Remember that, but for the elimination of " dead 
 matter " we are still moving within the sphere of 
 influence of orthodox and accepted science. But 
 already we may perceive the vast range of added 
 power and enhanced possibilities that are opening 
 out before us. We may feel the thrill of our new 
 freedom, Ave may see the light of the dawn that will 
 illumine the rising day of the new knowledge. We 
 must now get ready to enter upon our new inheri- 
 tance. We can " call our soul our own," and as 
 regards our body, that is no longer our soul's prison- 
 house, but its storehouse and library, subject in 
 
94 THE LAWS OF NATURE 
 
 every detail to our superior will, provided we have 
 due regard to the traditions and prejudices of our 
 vast army of subordinates. It is in our power to 
 consider all their requirements, to satisfy all their 
 demands, to pay the maximum price they may 
 exact from us for obeying our behest. So much 
 for our physical organism. And then we have our 
 social life, the intercourse with our equals, " as a 
 Sovereign State with a Sovereign State," in which all 
 is at our disposal if we will but pay the price or take the 
 penalty, but where the penalty becomes a reward if 
 we but further the interests of that higher organism 
 which is the community, our nation, or humanity 
 at large. And lastly, we have the central link, 
 which is unbreakable eternally, which connects us 
 up with the Highest, through superior aggregations 
 or organisations of which we are as yet but dimly 
 aware, but which some, more privileged than the 
 rest, see in rare glimpses in moments of ecstasy. 
 Such a rare moment is this, perhaps, of ours, when 
 we first see the ultimate consequences of this new 
 vision of the universe. Who would not say that, 
 even if it be not true, it deserves to be true ? Yet 
 truth is never wholly attainable. We can only 
 make occasional strides towards it, big or little. 
 This, let us hope, is a big stride. But neither can 
 truth be made part of ourselves except by patient 
 and detailed effort. In what follows, therefore, we 
 must return to the plodding and the spade-work. 
 
THE NEW OUTLOOK Q5 
 
 Science has been built up by the countless individual 
 labours of innumerable observers. If materialism 
 has for a time enthralled it, it is because its eyes 
 were fixed in the eye-pieces of the microscope and 
 the telescope, its hands were in contact with actual 
 tangible fact. So must ours be, but our outlook 
 must be wider, our instruments more accurate, our 
 reagents more delicate, our tests more searching and 
 sensitive. We must account for all the accumu- 
 lated facts of science as well as is done by any 
 existing theory. In addition, we must account for 
 a large number of new facts not embraced by any 
 existing theory, simply because existing theories are 
 diametrically opposed to their possibility. If we 
 can do that, no power on earth or heaven can stand 
 against us, and science will, in a few years, be re- 
 modelled in accordance with these new and wider 
 conceptions. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 
 
 " If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So 
 also it is written, The first Adam became a living soul. The last 
 Adam became a life-giving spirit." — Saint Paul. 
 
 Our next great task is not one of analysis, but of 
 synthesis. We have reduced the whole world and 
 all existence to an infinite gradation of intelligences, 
 all possessing a degree of freedom, but all eternally 
 linked with the Universal Oversoul. From these 
 simple data we must now reconstruct in detail the 
 world we live in, with its animal, vegetable, and 
 mineral kingdoms, its stars and molecules, its light 
 and sound and heat, its birth and death, its joy and 
 sorrow, its goodness and truth and beauty, its evil 
 and falsity and ugliness, its love and hate, its selfish- 
 ness and self-sacrifice, its age-long evolution and 
 final destiny. It is a gigantic task, a task attempted 
 hitherto only by one system, that which its authors 
 style a " scientific monism," but which is known 
 popularly with sufficient accuracy as materialism. 
 
 Other systems of philosophy have indeed claimed 
 a like universal scope, but they have always postu- 
 lated a dualism which the modern mind feels more 
 
 9 6 
 
BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 97 
 
 and more to be intolerable. The divorce between 
 mind and matter cuts at the very root of their 
 vitality. It is the old feud between Ormuzd and 
 Ahriman, between light and darkness, between an 
 all-powerful Good and an all but all-powerful Evil. 
 
 It is not surprising that such unsatisfactory 
 systems have to give way before any kind of con- 
 sistent monism. The dualistic systems can only 
 exist by the hope of a final cataclysm, in which the 
 greatest and best of the powers shall finally prevail. 
 But such a cataclysm is philosophically impossible. 
 If it ever takes place, it must take place at a definite 
 time. If it is decisive, that epoch will divide all 
 time into two eternities, one before the cataclysm 
 and the other after it. Thus the cataclysm will be 
 an abrupt and absolute break in the continuity of 
 eternity, and we have to account for the peculiar 
 accident which placed us at the hither side of the 
 break instead of the farther side. Moreover, if the 
 cataclysm takes place in a measurable time, let that 
 time be x years. These x years will be such years to 
 us only, in our present state. In another conceivable 
 state, they might be equivalent to as many seconds, 
 or, again, to as many geological eras. Time is only 
 relative to the events taking place. It has no 
 absolute existence. And in whatever way we 
 imagine the cataclysm to take place, it will become 
 meaningless if we make our scale of space or time 
 large enough or small enough. 
 
 G 
 
98 BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 
 
 No, the cataclysm must go, and all forms of dualism 
 must go with it. This has been felt more and more 
 clearly. Hence the steady advance of monism. 
 The materialist says : " There is but one God, and 
 that is matter, eternal and indestructible." We 
 also preach but one God, but it is a living God. 
 Instead of universal death and deadness, we postulate 
 universal life. Instead of regarding life as an 
 accident, an efflorescence, we regard it as the only 
 reality. Instead of explaining the life which we 
 know by the matter of which we know nothing, we 
 proceed from the known to the unknown, with pre- 
 cisely that regard for the economy of thought which 
 is the pride and mainstay of orthodox science. 
 
 Let us see. We have evolved the laws of nature 
 from the social pressure of the infra-world. The 
 life-struggles of that vast mass of atomic existences 
 present us with certain regularities and uniformities 
 which we find universally followed. As the regis- 
 trar-general boils down his births, marriages, and 
 deaths into dry figures — birth-rates, death-rates, 
 marriage-rates " per 1000 of population " — and 
 finds them obeying a certain rule, often remaining 
 constant for years to within a small decimal frac- 
 tion, so we find the seething life of countless deni- 
 zens of the lower worlds summarised in a few broad 
 rules, which are essentially statistical laws. These 
 rules we profit by to build up our bodies and souls 
 and spirits. And what are these ? ^ 
 
AN INDIVIDUAL 
 
 99 
 
 To illustrate our conception of the relations 
 between body and soul we shall use a diagram 
 constructed on certain simple principles. It gives 
 an intelligible scheme illustrating the gradation of 
 beings which make up an " individual," right down 
 to the infinitely little. 
 
 Let O represent the universal centre of being, and 
 let the rays proceeding from it represent separate 
 intelligences. Let a line or plane MN represent a 
 
 Fig. l. 
 
 " world " in which these intelligences appear and 
 act under similar conditions. The intersections of 
 MN and the rays will be points, i.e. they will be 
 " separate individuals," without any apparent direct 
 connection with each other. They will, however, 
 not be really isolated, as they all connect through 
 0. This corresponds to our general scheme of 
 existence, a number of apparently separate indi- 
 viduals united by an unseen mechanism with the 
 
100 BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 
 
 centre of all existence. It is a scheme which has 
 many parallels in everyday life. A State, an army, 
 a stock exchange, a telephone exchange, in fact, any 
 human organisation, and, for that matter, any 
 organisation whatever, is built on the same general 
 plan. We must further postulate that is eternal, 
 and that every ray is eternal. For if any ray could 
 be annihilated, itself could be annihilated. The 
 line MN is arbitrary. It can be shifted without 
 affecting the eternity of the rays. In other words, 
 the " worlds " in which the intelligences can act 
 are infinite in number. 
 
 If the rays are eternal, they cannot either be 
 born or die. We are inclined also to postulate that 
 their number is infinite, as a limited number would 
 mean a limited universe, and that is inconceivable. 
 Still, the infinity of the number is not quite so 
 obvious a necessity as their eternity. For the 
 present we will assume that the number is infinite. 
 
 So far, then, we have an infinite number of eternal 
 intelligences capable of acting in an infinite number 
 of different worlds. We must now get closer to the 
 meaning of the word " acting." The most obvious 
 development is to endow the rays with motion, 
 which changes their relative position. But position 
 in itself does not exert any effect unless there is 
 already a mutual action which depends upon that 
 position. Let us take an analogy from celestial 
 mechanics, and postulate an attraction between any 
 
OUR DIAGRAM IOI 
 
 one ray and every other, which varies inversely as 
 the square of the distance. To make this calcul- 
 able, we must also postulate that the rays are 
 elastic, so that as a rule they remain straight lines. 
 They cannot get entangled, as their ends cannot be 
 manipulated, and they are geometrical lines (i.e. 
 length without thickness). 
 
 All these provisions are not intended to fix the 
 " mechanical properties of intelligence," but simply 
 to determine the working of our diagram. The 
 diagram can prove nothing. It can make valuable 
 suggestions, and the value of these will be the 
 greater the more closely our symbolic diagram 
 corresponds with the reality. Having got all the 
 suggestions we like out of it, we can, if we please, 
 discard our diagram in favour of another with 
 different assumed properties. 
 
 We have, however, to endow our rays with at 
 least one other non-geometrical property before we 
 can utilise our diagram for an analysis of the uni- 
 verse as we know it. We have postulated that each 
 individual ray is eternal. That means that it can- 
 not lose its identity. It cannot perfectly coincide 
 with any other ray. It can, however, approach it 
 as closely as we like. It can be in " contact " with 
 it for a certain part of its length, but its lower ends 
 must always remain separate. 
 
 The junction of two rays gives us a new kind of 
 point, a new kind of individuality, an individual 
 
102 BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 
 
 intermediate between the centre and the ultimate 
 '' monad." 
 
 In the world MN the appearance is much the 
 same, but in the world PQ a new kind of individual 
 has appeared at A. Five boating experts, we will 
 say, come together and form themselves into a 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 boat's crew. That crew is an " individual " as 
 regards the training and the race. It is repre- 
 sented by A in the boat-racing world. When it is 
 disbanded, the scheme of Fig. 1 reappears. 
 
 The importance of junctions or knots like A 
 cannot be exaggerated. It symbolises individuality, 
 the secret of sentient, organised being. It is the 
 
GENESIS OF INDIVIDUALS 103 
 
 Gorclian knot which we have set ourselves here to 
 disentangle. The laws of knot-formation are the 
 laws of the organised universe. 
 
 Let us next endeavour to construct a complete 
 individual of our own order by the same symbolism. 
 The human body consists of organs, which are to a 
 certain extent self-contained and independent. The 
 organs consist of cells, which also have such a cer- 
 tain amount of home rule. The cells again are 
 supposed to consist of biogens or protoplasts, which 
 lead to some extent an independent life within the 
 cell-organisation. The biogens consist of colloid 
 aggregates, these again of complex molecules, and 
 these again of atoms. We know nothing of the 
 relative degrees of independence of all these, but 
 we may assume with some show of reason that the 
 atoms, at all events, are largely self-contained and 
 independent. Thus we have in Fig. 3, a human 
 being at A, one of his organs at B, one of the cells 
 of that organ (say, a liver-cell) at C, one of the 
 biogens of that cell at D, and at E, inseparable 
 from its companions by the most powerful micro- 
 scope, we have a single atom. Below that again we 
 have further subdivisions, which, however, are in- 
 visible to us, and this continuous further subdivision 
 may be symbolised by a thickening of the lines down 
 to the infinitely small. The latter is embodied in 
 the diagram by continually halving the successive 
 intervals between one grade and the next. This 
 
104 
 
 BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 
 
 device gives an infinite succession of gradations, which 
 stops at the base-line. 
 
 To represent reality more closely, the cells C 
 should not be only nine in number, but more like 
 
 World of Cells 
 
 World ofBiogens 
 
 World of Atoms 
 Infra World 
 
 : >>— Infinitesimal. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 a million million (a " billion "). But this would 
 introduce needless confusion. The principle is all 
 we want to show. 
 
 This, then, is the human body, surely a more 
 rational representation, more in accordance with 
 
A HUMAN UNIT 105 
 
 both philosophy and physiology, than any other 
 hitherto devised ! It gives us a complete definition 
 of the human body. But next we want to find the 
 soul. 
 
 That there is some difference in the value of the 
 various constituents of the body is indisputable. 
 Some organs are "vital," others can be dispensed 
 with. In each organ, again, some cells are more 
 important than others. Within the cell itself, as 
 we have already seen (p. 65), it is the nucleus 
 which governs the processes of assimilation, growth, 
 and repair. Within the nucleus, again, we have 
 the chromatin, of somewhat undecided predominance. 
 And there is no reason why the process should stop 
 there. Whatever may be the " world " we are 
 considering, we shall always find that some parts 
 of it are essential to the organism, others unessential, 
 others again purely accidental and easily separable, 
 or even oppressive and noxious. 
 
 In the human subject, the nerve cells are credited 
 with the most effective control of the organism. 
 Every muscular fibre has embedded in it the 
 flattened root-plate of a nerve, which connects it 
 directly with the brain, furnishing a wire-like 
 connection which strikingly recalls one of a bundle 
 of telephone wires, or one of a bundle of " rays " in 
 our own diagram above. 
 
 This gradation, according to essential value or 
 importance, must also be read into our diagram 
 
106 BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 
 
 if it is to represent symbolically the main facts 
 of life. In order to do this, we will establish the 
 convention that the central branches of every unit 
 are to be the most essential or " vital," and the 
 lateral branches the less vital. Thus, hi the world 
 of organs passing through the point B the central 
 knot may represent the nervous system, and in 
 the world of cells some brain cells or important 
 " sympathetic " ganglia may be predominant enough 
 to be assigned the central place. Modern physiology 
 does, however, not favour the idea of centralising 
 life hi any particular system or set of organs, more 
 especially as all the cells are closely connected 
 by cell-bridges (see p. 57). We must therefore 
 recognise that there is a continuous gradation of 
 importance, and that on some occasions the less im- 
 portant organs and cells may assume an increased 
 importance. This is instanced by cases in which an 
 operation on some non-vital part is followed by 
 death from " shock." If we wanted to extract all 
 the essential parts of the body, leaving behind those 
 which are non-essential, it would be more advisable 
 to extract the nucleus from every cell. Suppose 
 for the moment that this could be done ; what 
 would be the effect on the remainder of the body ? 
 Obviously its behaviour would be similar to that 
 of a single cell which has been deprived of its 
 nucleus. On this subject Wilson says l : " A frag- 
 
 1 " The Cell," p. 30. 
 
EXTRACTION OF NUCLEI 107 
 
 ment of a cell deprived of its nucleus may live 
 for a considerable time and manifest the power of 
 co-ordinated movement without perceptible impair- 
 ment. . . . Those functions that involve destructive 
 metabolism may continue for a time in the absence 
 of a nucleus ; those that involve constructive meta- 
 bolism cease with its removal." The body will not 
 assimilate, it will not grow, it will have no power 
 of repairing itself. It will gradually die. Mean- 
 while the nuclei will retain all their capacities, 
 and, if provided with suitable surroundings, with 
 food-supplies at the proper temperature, will resume 
 their functions as if nothing had happened, leaving 
 the abandoned body to its fate. 
 
 Let us consider for a few moments longer the 
 nuclear organism which we have extracted. Let 
 us endeavour to obtain as clear a view of it as 
 possible. If it retains the outline of the body, 
 it will have just about the density of air. Its 
 particles are, however, over a million times heavier 
 than air molecules. They will, in fact, form a kind 
 of mist, and a calculation by Stokes' law shows that 
 if left to itself in air, such a collection of nuclei 
 would settle down at the rate of about one inch in 
 eight hours. 
 
 The extraction of nuclei has often been accom- 
 plished in the physiological laboratory by artificial 
 peptic digestion. But the very fact that this is 
 possible should warn us against identifying the 
 
108 BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 
 
 nucleus with what used to be called the " vital 
 principle" of the body. It is already fairly clear 
 that not all parts of the nucleus are equally vital. 
 There is the chromatin, which greedily takes up 
 colouring matter. There is the almost invisible 
 linin, which forms the network and the spindle- 
 fibres. There is the paralinin or ground substance. 
 There is, further, the pyrenin, of which the nucleoli 
 consist. And, lastly, there is the amphipyrcnin, the 
 substance of the nuclear membrane. Which of all 
 these is the most essential it is impossible as yet 
 to say. Wilson (p. 334) warns his reader "that 
 in the whole field of microchemistry we are still 
 on such uncertain ground that all general con- 
 clusions must be taken with reserve." It is not 
 even decided whether the staining reactions (upon 
 which we depend for discriminating between the 
 various constituents of the nucleus) are of a physical 
 or chemical nature. 
 
 Our search for the " spiritual body " may be a 
 prolonged one, but there is no reason why it should 
 be indefinitely prolonged. At some future time 
 we may succeed in tracing a visible difference 
 between a cell in full functional activity and a 
 cell which has just " died." Perhaps that could 
 be done even now. But since we are not en rapport 
 with the life of a cell, we cannot fix upon the 
 moment of death. Whatever the " vital principle " 
 may be, it is probably associated with definite 
 
THE SPIRITUAL BODY 109 
 
 material parts of the system. Indeed, we may say 
 it consists of those parts. This is not materialism, 
 since we have postulated that all matter is alive. 
 These vital material parts are those entities which 
 control the organism on behalf of our individuality. 
 They are the officials which are empowered to act 
 in the name of the Sovereign. 
 
 Now we have had reasons for believing that 
 there is an infinite gradation both in the order 
 of the subservient entities and in their relative 
 importance. If, therefore, we call the aggregate of 
 the more vital entities of our body our " spiritual 
 body," we must guard against any hard and fast 
 line of demarcation. There is no limiting line 
 where we can say : This is spiritual, that is not 
 spiritual. It is only a question of more or less. 
 It matters little what we call the vital aggregate. 
 We may call it the spiritual body, or the " astral " 
 body (an unfortunate word) or simply the " soul." 
 That the word " soul " has come to mean something 
 altogether immaterial is only an accident. To 
 follow that practice would be to rehabilitate the 
 dogma of the existence of dead matter which it 
 was our first business to demolish. We shall 
 therefore simply call this vital aggregate " the 
 soul," and next inquire whether, and under what 
 circumstances, it is capable of existence apart from 
 the body. 
 
 If we assumed, as before, that the soul consisted 
 
HO BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRTT 
 
 simply of the cell nuclei, we should have to 
 acknowledge that it is apparently impossible for 
 the nuclei to exist separately. In any case, they 
 are not observed to leave the cell at its death, 
 but to " die " with it. What we have to find out 
 is whether the soul can leave the body during its 
 lifetime, or only at the death of the body, if 
 at all. 
 
 A few years ago it would not have been per- 
 missible to think that any assemblage of material 
 particles could simultaneously leave every cell 
 of the body. But in the last few years our ideas 
 of the possibilities of " matter " have been con- 
 siderably enlarged. The atom has, with great 
 probability, been shown to be a system of very 
 much smaller bodies called " electrons," so that if 
 an atom were enlarged to a sphere fitting within 
 the orbit of Neptune, it would not be much more 
 close-grained than is our solar system. This leaves 
 ample room for all kinds of interpenetration, and 
 we have to attribute the observed stability of our 
 body, its constancy of volume and outline, to the 
 play of imponderable forces acting at a distance 
 across spaces vast in comparison with the size of 
 the particles upon which they act. On this view, 
 then, the body is itself a kind of mist, and there 
 is nothing against the possibility of extracting from 
 it a finer mist, and doing so in a short time, and 
 repeatedly, with a nearly permanent possibility of 
 
MECHANISM OF SEPABATION I I I 
 
 restoring it to its former place. For— and this is 
 significant — the force of cohesion, which keeps our 
 body together, is almost certainly of electrostatic 
 origin. The full possibilities of electrostatic force 
 are never realised in ordinary physical phenomena. 
 It is quite conceivable that a more pronounced 
 separation of positive and negative electricity in 
 the " vital extract " or " soul " should amply com- 
 pensate the tenuity of its constitution, and give it 
 a consistency sufficient for all ordinary purposes. 
 
 Nothing can, therefore, be said a priori against 
 the possibility, at all events, of a separation of the 
 soul from the body, and of its temporary existence 
 as a separate entity. 
 
 Now such a separation is not a mere possibility. 
 It is a 'practiced reality. It is known to modern 
 psychical research as to " externalisation of person- 
 ality " (I 'exteriorization de la personnalite). Details 
 of this will be given in future chapters, but it may 
 be stated here that a large number of credible obser- 
 vations are on record in which parts of the human 
 form, more especially hands and arms, have been dup- 
 licated and have emerged from the body in a more 
 or less shadowy state, not so shadowy, however, but 
 that they could exert considerable force and produce 
 results capable of being measured and automatically 
 recorded. In other cases, entire human forms have 
 been thus projected, and have been material enough 
 to produce the appearance of normal human 
 
112 BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 
 
 personalities. These have, as a rule, been clothed 
 in appropriate drapery, and it is this drapery, 
 rather than the forms themselves, which have 
 provoked intense incredulity. This attitude is, 
 however, very illogical. If tangible hands, limbs, 
 and faces can be thus produced, it means that a 
 great deal of unessential matter (almost what we 
 might call " ballast ") is added to the soul-form. 
 And if that is done, why draw the line at a little 
 additional " ballast " which enables the forms to 
 appear in a mixed company without immediately 
 raising insuperable objections to their presence ? 
 
 However inconceivable it may be to us that 
 elaborately organised forms should be built up in 
 a few minutes, there is not a trace of a priori 
 improbability about it. Such a feat is a common- 
 place of nature, which builds up the most intricate 
 organisms by the million at a time, and consider- 
 ably exceeds the record of the printer in producing 
 additional copies of a design once provided. 
 
 If we wanted to represent the soul diagram- 
 matically, it would suffice to draw straight lines 
 down from the level of C (Fig. 3 above), without 
 any thickening towards the infinitesimal below. 
 This would mean that none but the most essential 
 parts form part of the soul. Could we arrive at 
 some quantitative estimate of the proportion of 
 vital (or detachable) portions to the whole, we might 
 arrive at a really scientific definition of the soul. 
 
IS THE SOUL SEPARABLE ? I I 3 
 
 We know that if it were one-tenth per cent., for 
 instance, the soul would have the specific gravity 
 of air. It would float in the air. If the pro- 
 portion were less, and the volume were the same, 
 the soul would rise in the air like a balloon, 
 and find its natural home somewhere in the 
 higher atmosphere. This would give a physical 
 justification for the old-fashioned " heavenward " 
 gaze upwards ! As regards the " spirit," that term 
 is too vague to be capable of even a provisional 
 definition. In any case, to judge from analogy, 
 there is no hard and fast line of demarcation 
 between soul and spirit. Perhaps we might take 
 the three straight lines radiating from A as re- 
 presenting the spirit, ignoring all branches which 
 split off below. Or perhaps the main line upwards 
 from A might serve as a more suitable symbol. 
 
 If the soul can be proved to be separable from 
 the body even during the lifetime of a person, half 
 the battle for immortality is fought and won. The 
 great and overwhelming argument for the annihi- 
 lation of the human individual at death is that no 
 characteristic message from his mind to ours any 
 longer reaches us. If we can prove that this is 
 simply due to a kind of " moult," whereby an out- 
 worn or damaged covering is laid aside in favour 
 of either vastly increased freedom or a more suit- 
 able covering, death will have lost most of its 
 terrors. If physical death is a daily process, which 
 
 H 
 
114 BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT 
 
 only attains a certain climax or permanence at the 
 time of this " moult," it -will no longer be looked 
 upon as an impassable gulf. And, to go a little 
 farther, if we can prove that the confinement of the 
 soul in a heavily ballasted body conduces to its 
 stability and safety, and facilitates the acquisition 
 of certain kinds of knowledge, we shall understand 
 that life and death are not matters of tragedy, but 
 entirely matters of convenience, utility, and comfort. 
 The ultimate fate of the human monad may still 
 remain a matter of speculation and some uncer- 
 tainty, but it will become apparent that this uncer- 
 tainty has nothing to do with physical death, and 
 will, in all probability, not be removed or in any 
 way affected by it. 
 
 For practical life it will be useful to know more 
 about the possibilities of temporary separation of 
 soul and body, possibilities which largely partake 
 of the nature of physical and physiological problems. 
 The study of these possibilities will annex to science 
 most of the realms hitherto regarded as " occult," 
 and will enable us to deal with ghosts, apparitions, 
 hauntings, and doubles much as we do now with 
 meteorites or comets or icebergs, while it will throw 
 the searchlight of accurate investigation over the 
 path which we all one day must tread on our way 
 into the unseen world. 
 
PART IT 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BIRTH 
 
 .Birth and death are the boundary stones of earth-life. 
 Immortality presents itself in two different aspects 
 in connection with these two events. In considering 
 birth, we are faced by the problem of pre-existence, 
 just as after death comes the problem of continued 
 life. 
 
 In the process of birth we have to account for 
 the appearance in the world of a new individual. 
 The progress from birth to death is irreversible. 
 Yet there is no logical necessity for its being so. 
 
 Consider the alternatives; and suppose that a 
 portion or the whole of a human life process were 
 reversible. If that portion were one-half of it, we 
 should have a normal development from birth up 
 to the age of thirty or forty, and then a gradual 
 reversal, a diminution of bulk and strength, a gener- 
 alisation instead of a specialisation of functions, more 
 cell-fusion than cell-division, more elimination than 
 acquisition, and a final dwindling of the organism 
 to an invisibly small germ-cell, which in turn 
 
I I 6 BIRTH 
 
 might fuse with other cells and finally become 
 untraceable. 
 
 A reversal of the whole life-process is more 
 difficult to conceive. A fully formed but great lv 
 ossified human body would have to become 
 suddenly animated by a human intelligence, 
 would have to gain in strength, suppleness, and 
 soundness, to arrive at full vigour, and then 
 dwindle to youth and infancy as already indicated. 
 
 Such pure reversals are unknown. But that 
 there is a reversal in the tendency towards ex- 
 pansion admits of little doubt. The " second 
 childhood " of old age looks like a reversal of 
 some process associated with birth. It is as if, 
 instead of expanding its realm and accreting new 
 material, the soul retired from the world and 
 gradually reduced its sphere of action and in- 
 fluence. The loss of stature and weight which 
 usually accompanies old age is an eloquent indi- 
 cation of the general tendency towards retrench- 
 ment, a tendenc}^ which, but for the stability of 
 the more permanent tissues, would no doubt go 
 much farther than it does. 
 
 In the course of his " threescore years and ten " 
 man builds him a house, many materials of which 
 are permanent, and designed to be so in order to 
 enable him to take a certain set of conditions as a 
 firm and changeless base of operations. When the 
 possibilities of development under those conditions 
 
CELL-DIVISION I I 7 
 
 are exhausted, when the novelty has worn off, the 
 organism is not demolished as carefully as it was 
 built up. It is laid aside, like a garment outworn. 
 The demolishing work is left to "nature's scavengers," 
 the bacteria of putrefaction. 
 
 Although there is this rwpetissement, this re- 
 trenchment towards both the boundaries of life, 
 there are in other ways most significant differences. 
 Death is not associated with the living in the way 
 that birth is. Death is a solitary act, while birth 
 is most intimately bound up with the maternal 
 organism. The generalisation Omne vivum e vivo 
 holds good, as far as we know, for the entire 
 organic world. No individual is born into this 
 world without the vital co-operation of at least 
 one living individual, and in most cases two. 
 
 In its simplest form, the problem of birth appears 
 to us in the process of unicellular cell-division, and 
 here again the simplest conditions are found in 
 the flagellates, such as Tetramitus, a little animal 
 consisting of a single cell provided with four hair- 
 like tentacles which enable it to propel itself through 
 water. It resembles a bag of jelly, with a darker 
 central sphere, apparently without structure, and 
 granules of chromatin scattered irregularly about 
 it. When division approaches, the sphere becomes 
 lengthened out, a constriction appears about the 
 middle, which becomes more pronounced and finally 
 leads to cleavage. At the same time, the granules 
 
I I 8 BIRTH 
 
 collect about the sphere and divide themselves into 
 two groups, each group attaching itself to one of 
 the cloven spheres. These move apart in the 
 substance of the cell, and the whole bag of jelly 
 repeats the cleavage. The hair-like flagellse do 
 the same, so that they become eight in number, 
 and when finally " the painter is cut " we have two 
 individuals where before we had only one. 
 
 This is " birth " in its simplest form. But if we 
 can account fully for this, the chief difficulties of 
 the problem are solved. It would only remain to 
 deal with the problem of conjugation, or the union 
 of two different individuals which as a rule precedes 
 the production of new ones. Of this, Wilson says 1 : 
 " The conjugation of unicellular organisms possesses 
 a peculiar interest, since it is undoubtedly a proto- 
 type of the union of germ- cells in the multicellular 
 forms. Biitschli and Minot long ago maintained 
 that cell-divisions tend to run in cycles, each of 
 which begins and ends with an act of conjuga- 
 tion. In the higher forms, the cells produced in 
 each cycle cohere to form the multicellular body ; 
 in the unicellular forms the cells separate as distinct 
 individuals, but those belonging to one cycle are 
 collectively comparable with the multicellular body. 
 The validity of this comparison, in a morphological 
 sense, is generally admitted. No process of conju- 
 gation, it is true, is known to occur in many uni- 
 
 1 " The Cell," p. 222. 
 
CONJUGATION I I 9 
 
 cellular and in some multicellular forms, and the 
 cyclical character of cell-division still remains sub 
 judice. It is none the less certain that a key to the 
 fertilisation of higher forms must be sought in the 
 conjugation of unicellular organisms. The difficul- 
 ties of observation are, however, so great that we 
 are as yet acquainted with only the outlines of the 
 process, and have still no very clear idea of its finer 
 details or its physiological meaning. The pheno- 
 mena have been most clearly followed in the infu- 
 soria by Biitschli, Engelmann, Maupas, and Richard 
 Hertwig, though many valuable observations on the 
 conjugation of unicellular plants have been made 
 by De Bary, Schmitz, Klebahn, and Overton. All 
 these observers have reached the same general 
 result as that attained through study of the fertilisa- 
 tion of the egg ; namely, that an essential pheno- 
 menon of conjugation is a union of the nuclei of the 
 conjugating cells. Among the unicellular plants both 
 the cell-bodies and the nuclei completely fuse. 
 Among animals this may occur ; but in many of 
 the infusoria union of the cell-bodies is only 
 temporary, and the conjugation consists of a 
 mutual exchange and fusion of nuclei. . . . We 
 may first consider the conjugation of infusoria. 
 Maupas's beautiful observations have shown that 
 in this group the life-history of the species runs in 
 cycles, a long period of multiplication by cell- 
 division being succeeded by an ' epidemic of con- 
 
120 BIRTH 
 
 j ligation,' which inaugurates a new cycle, and is 
 obviously comparable in its physiological aspect 
 with the period of sexual maturity in the metazoa. 
 If conjugation does not occur, the race rapidly 
 degenerates and dies out ; and Maupas believes 
 himself justified in the conclusion that conjugation 
 counteracts the tendency to senile degeneration and 
 causes rejuvenescence, as maintained by Butschli 
 and Minot." 
 
 Wilson then goes on to describe the essential 
 phenomena occurring during conjugation. They 
 are extremely significant : — 
 
 " The infusoria possess two kinds of nuclei, a 
 large macronucleus and one or more small micro- 
 nuclei. During conjugation the macronucleus de- 
 generates and disappears, and the micronucleus 
 alone is concerned in the essential part of the 
 process. The latter divides several times, one of 
 the products, the germ-nucleus, conjugating with a 
 corresponding germ-nucleus from the other indi- 
 vidual, while the others degenerate as ' corpuscules 
 de rebut.' The dual nucleus thus formed, which 
 corresponds to the cleavage-nucleus of, the ovum, 
 then gives rise by division to both macronuclei 
 and micronuclei of the offspring of the conjugating 
 animals." 
 
 Here, then, we have an epitome of the processes 
 by one or other of which all living beings increase 
 and multiply and people the earth. 
 
NECESSITY FOR MULTIPLICATION I 2 I 
 
 Herbert Spencer propounded an ingenious theory 
 to account for the primal necessity of subdivision. 
 Food, he said, must be absorbed through the surface 
 of the cell. When the diameter of a cell is doubled, 
 its surface becomes four times as great as before, 
 but its volume becomes eight times as great. The 
 food- traffic will therefore be twice as heavy as 
 before, and may unduly strain the consistency 
 of the surface. If the eight-fold volume were 
 subdivided into eight separate cells, the surface 
 per volume would be the same as before, and 
 the customary process of food-supply could be 
 maintained. 
 
 This argument supposes, of course, that enlarge- 
 ment of volume is in itself an object towards which 
 the natural processes tend. In view of the govern- 
 ing activity of the nuclear matter it is more reason- 
 able to suppose that the multiplication of nuclei is 
 the governing tendency. 
 
 Each nucleus is a centre of life, the seat of some 
 intelligent activity which we, being so far removed 
 from it in the scale of intelligence, can only dimly 
 appreciate. This intelligence, we may well believe, 
 is fitted for dealing with certain kinds of influences 
 and impulses, provided by the medium in which it 
 lives. It can deal with them at a certain rate. If 
 the impulses become too rapid, life becomes too 
 " strenuous," and the working capacity of the 
 " central exchange " is overstrained. An undue 
 
122 BIRTH 
 
 increase in volume not only increases the points of 
 contact with the outer world beyond a certain 
 limit. It also, and much more largely, increases 
 the amount of second-class matter to be superin- 
 tended. If, then, the food-supply becomes too 
 abundant, and growth too rapid, the nucleus divides, 
 and the line of cleavage, after beginning among the 
 innermost arcana of vitality, runs through the outer 
 courts of life, emerging into the visible day and 
 taking the remaining matter in the lump, much as 
 two heirs, after having carefully sorted and divided 
 the jewelry and family heirlooms, might lump the 
 remaining property together and take their halves 
 at random. 
 
 Life and experience are thereby multiplied and 
 varied. But a danger then arises, and has to be 
 guarded against. It is that in the extreme varia- 
 tion of life thus produced there may be a deviation 
 from the best tradition, that inherited tradition of 
 customary processes which is the outcome of long 
 ages of ancestral experience. This danger is mini- 
 mised by the converse process of conjugation. In 
 this process, certain vital parts of each cell combine 
 together and give rise to new nuclei, and thus to 
 new individuals. 
 
 From the point of view advanced in this book, it 
 is evident that we have to deal with what, in short, 
 we might style the division and combination of 
 souls. For, according to our view, all cells are 
 
DIVISIBILITY OF- CONSCIOUSNESS I 23 
 
 living beings, which may or may not combine to 
 form beings of a higher order. And the most 
 essential, vital, directive parts of each cell con- 
 stitute its soul. This soul is withdrawn from the 
 cell when it " dies," and its subsequent fate is what 
 we have to determine, if we can. 
 
 Now the question arises : Can a soul split in two ? 
 And this is matched by the converse question : Can 
 two souls become merged into one ? 
 
 If, as we have all along assumed, all living things 
 are linked together through some superior centre 
 (or, in the last resort, through the universal centre), 
 if, in fact, all life is ultimately One, then there is 
 no difficulty in assuming any number and variety of 
 different combinations and dispersals of the ultimate 
 infinitesimal units of life. But we have really 
 nothing to do with these. We have in practice to 
 deal with very complex combinations of them, with 
 very highly organised and differentiated systems, 
 and must ask ourselves whether such duplication of 
 contents of consciousness as we actually observe is 
 deducible from our general premises, or, at least, 
 not inconsistent with them. 
 
 Reverting to our diagram of an individual (Fig. 3, 
 p. 104), we need only suppose that the central lines of 
 each plastid bundle are capable of splitting along 
 their lengths, beginning at the " infinitesimal " end. 
 The result in a simple case is represented by Fig. 4, 
 where B and C are two similar individuals formed 
 
124 
 
 BIRTH 
 
 by simple fission. Conjugation would then be 
 represented by the converse process. The more 
 central lines would coalesce, and liberate the re- 
 mainder from their allegiance. The knot at A 
 would mean that there is a unifying principle which 
 tends to keep the species moving along the same 
 general lines of development. This unifying knot 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 at A also brings about the " epidemic of conjuga- 
 tion" periodically. In a multicellular individual it 
 represents the soul, not of the cell or the species, 
 but of the whole organism. In the metazoa or 
 higher organisms generally, the process is more 
 complex. It is a process of fission, conjugation, and 
 a second fission. Briefly, it consists in this. 
 
GEEM-CELLS I 2 5 
 
 Specially equipped cells (called germ-cells) are 
 developed by each organism, whose function it is to 
 hand on the inherited tradition. These germ-cells 
 are of two kinds, male and female, and while in 
 most plants and in some of the lower animals both 
 kinds are developed in the same individual, in the 
 higher animals each kind is only developed by its 
 appropriate sex. Millions of these are constantly 
 produced, and only an insignificant proportion of 
 them ever fulfil their appropriate function. To do 
 this, it is necessary that a male germ-cell should 
 reach a female germ-cell, that their nuclei should 
 fuse, and give rise to a new nucleus capable of 
 cleavage. When this happens, a new individual of 
 the same species is gradually developed by the sub- 
 division and multiplication of the original cell and 
 the differentiation of the different groups of cells 
 into organs. 
 
 The process thus briefly sketched raises quite a 
 number of important questions. Have the germ- 
 cells, male or female, any souls ? And if so, of 
 what order ? What relation have these souls to 
 that of the individual ? What becomes of the souls 
 of the germ-cells when they die without fulfilling 
 their function ? What happens when they do fulfil 
 their appropriate function ? 
 
 The simplest way of dealing with these ques- 
 tions will be to answer them, so to speak, 
 dogmatically, and then to proceed at leisure 
 
126 BIRTH 
 
 to justify the answers given. These, then, are 
 the answers : — 
 
 All germ-cells, like other cells, have souls. Their 
 souls differ materially, but not fundamentally, from 
 other cells of the body, in two main particulars. 
 They are composed of infinitesimal monads derived 
 from the whole of the body, instead of being chiefly 
 associated with a single organ (they are, so to 
 speak, condensed extracts of the whole individual). 
 And, secondly, they are one-sided, asymmetrical, or 
 incomplete. They are incomplete structurally, as 
 shown by their possessing only half the usual num- 
 ber of chromosomes (see p. 72). They are, there- 
 fore, incapable of spontaneous division or of separate 
 growth. 
 
 When the germ-cells die, with their mission un- 
 fulfilled, their souls return to the organism whence 
 they came. 
 
 When two germ-cells meet and merge, their 
 souls are liberated from their parent organisms. 
 The " lines " which constitute them intertwine, 
 swing loose from the two parent groups, and form 
 a new knot on a level with the souls of the parent 
 individuals. At that moment, in a flash of rapture, 
 a new soul is conceived and enters the world in 
 Avhich its two parents move. 
 
 This view brings out the essential similarity of 
 the process of reproduction in all forms of life. In 
 both protozoa and metazoa there is an alternation 
 
DEVELOPMENT 127 
 
 of division and conjugation. The only difference is 
 that whereas in the protozoa fission or cell-division 
 implies an actual separation of the cells, in the 
 metazoa the divided cells continue in contact, and 
 support each other by a division of labour and by 
 mutual service. 
 
 This mutual service is the governing principle of 
 the life of the metazoon from its earliest stages. 
 What exactly is the guiding principle of the de- 
 velopment of the embryonic being into its state of 
 maturity is the most profound problem of biology. 
 After reviewing the various theories hitherto pro- 
 pounded, Wilson says x : — 
 
 " The truth is that an explanation of development 
 is at present beyond our reach. The controversy be- 
 tween pre-formation and epigenesis has now arrived 
 at a stage where it has little meaning apart from 
 the general problem of physical causality. What we 
 know is that a specific kind of living substance, de- 
 rived from the parent, tends to run through a specific 
 cycle of changes during which it transforms itself into 
 a body like that of which it formed a part ; and we 
 are able to study with greater or less precision the 
 mechanism by which that transformation is effected 
 and the conditions under which it takes place. But 
 despite all our theories we no more know how the 
 organisation of the germ-cell involves the properties 
 of the adult body than we know how the properties 
 
 1 " The Cell," p. 433. 
 
128 BIRTH 
 
 of hydrogen and oxygen involve those of water. 
 So long as the chemist and physicist are unable to 
 solve so simple a problem of physical causality as 
 this, the embryologist may well be content to re- 
 serve his judgment on a problem a hundred-fold 
 more complex." 
 
 Our view of the problem is that it is not a ques- 
 tion of " physical causality " at all, and that no 
 physical theory can, in the nature of things, ever 
 shed any light on the real problem of development. 
 The course of development is so evidently governed 
 by psychological rather than physical factors that 
 only the prevailing materialism of biology can 
 account for this not being acknowledged long ago. 
 We have all along been driven to suppose that some 
 part of the memory of the individual is embodied in 
 every cell of the body, and we may well assume 
 that such a crisis as the merging of two germ-cells 
 stimulates and exalts the memories of both, and 
 throws into strong relief all that they have in 
 common. This common ground will be a closer 
 approach to the average memory of the species than 
 each memory would be when taken separately. 
 For lack of an insight into the true cause of de- 
 velopment, biologists have invented a word which, 
 at all events, embodies the unknown factor deter- 
 mining the idiosyncrasies of each species. The 
 word is " idioplasm," and it means " the substance, 
 now generally identified with chromatin, which by 
 
HEREDITY 1 29 
 
 its inherent organisation involves the characteristics 
 of the species." l In short, it is the cause which, 
 by some inherent cause, causes — the effect observed. 
 Wilson says : 2 — 
 
 " The second question, regarding the historical 
 origin of the idioplasm, brings us to the side of the 
 evolutionists. The idioplasm of every species has 
 been derived, as we must believe, by the modifica- 
 tion of a pre-existing idioplasm through variation, 
 and the survival of the fittest. Whether these 
 variations first arise in the idioplasm of the germ- 
 cells, as Weismann maintains, or whether they may 
 arise in the body-cells and then be reflected back 
 upon the idioplasm, is a question to which the study 
 of the cell has thus far given no certain answer. 
 Whatever position we take on this question, the 
 same difficulty is encountered ; namely, the origin of 
 that co-ordinated fitness, that power of active adjust- 
 ment between internal and external relations, which, 
 as so many eminent biological thinkers have in- 
 sisted, overshadows every manifestation of life. The 
 nature and origin of this powjr is the fundamental 
 problem of biology. When, after removing the lens 
 of the eye in the larval salamander, we see it restored 
 in perfect and typical form by regeneration from 
 the posterior layer of the iris, we behold an adap- 
 tive response to changed conditions of which the 
 organism can have had no antecedent experience 
 
 1 Wilson's Glossary in " The Cell." 2 Ibid., p. 433. 
 
 I 
 
130 BIRTH 
 
 either ontogenetic or phylogenetic, and one of so 
 marvellous a character that we are made to realise, 
 as by a flash of light, how far we still are from a 
 solution of this problem." 
 
 Without attempting or pretending to give a com- 
 plete solution of this difficult problem, we may point 
 out that there is nothing inconceivable in a pro- 
 found stirring of ancestral infra-world memories at 
 the union of two germ-cells. As at the moment of 
 death, so at the moment of conception, there is an 
 exaltation of memory which surveys, with lightning- 
 rapidity, a vast course of previous evolution. That 
 memory becomes a directive influence, pointing out 
 the future path, which must be parallel with the 
 path already trodden. And so the incipient being 
 rehearses during its early existence the stages 
 through which the species passed in the course of 
 its age-long evolution, and that remarkable corre- 
 spondence between ontogenetic and phylogenetic 
 development arises, that agreement between the 
 life-history of the individual and that of the 
 species, which Haeckel has done so much to make 
 known, and from which he has drawn so many 
 unwarranted conclusions. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 LIFE AFTER DEATH 
 
 Aee we prepared for a rational theory of the life 
 after death ? 
 
 The question seems a strange one. Is not this 
 rational theory what the world has been striving 
 for ages to attain to ? Does not this question of 
 the after-life confront us whenever we think a few 
 years or scores of years beyond our present life ? 
 Is not the truth the best, the greatest, the most 
 welcome ? 
 
 What is the actual present-day attitude on the 
 question ? Let us examine it dispassionately, with 
 sole regard for accuracy and impartiality. 
 
 In Europe and America we have two main 
 attitudes, the (more or less orthodox) Christian 
 attitude and the Materialistic attitude. The former 
 controls most of those who are emotional rather 
 than intellectual ; the latter controls the quasi- 
 intellectual classes and a considerable proportion 
 of the highly cultured. 
 
 The Christian attitude towards immortal^ is 
 difficult to state succinctty. It depends partly 
 upon the form of Christianity professed, and partly 
 
 x 3i 
 
132 LIFE AFTER DEATH 
 
 upon personal disposition and the " private judg- 
 ment." 
 
 Broadly speaking, there is an assurance of personal 
 survival, largely centred about the personality of the 
 Founder of Christianity and based upon His re- 
 surrection after crucifixion. There is a general 
 belief hi a moral retribution, which in many cases 
 takes the form of places of bliss and of punishment, 
 as well as an intermediate place of purification. A 
 final resurrection of all flesh and Judgment Day 
 are also looked forward to, and in the more extreme 
 forms we have the doctrines of eternal bliss and 
 eternal punishment. 
 
 Details of the life immediately following death 
 are of the vaguest. In fact, the prevailing tendency 
 is to avoid them carefully, to screen them from the 
 play of reason, to veil them from the prying in- 
 tellect, so as to avoid a conflict between the heart 
 and the understanding, between faith and reason. 
 The next world is peopled with angels and devils, 
 among whom the departed soul finds it hard to hold 
 its own, and cannot hope to do so unfortified by a 
 fervent belief in the truths revealed by religion and 
 the record of a good life on earth. 
 
 To all this the materialistic attitude offers a blank 
 negation. It professes to point out all the impossi- 
 bilities and absurdities of the Christian attitude, and 
 shows that the possibility of a future life without 
 the brain is contradicted by every fact of nature. 
 
PRESENT CONTROVERSIES I 33 
 
 It asserts the supreme right of the intellect to 
 decide these questions, and attributes the contrary 
 teachings of the religious bodies to a species of in- 
 tellectual quackery, to the misuse of intellectual 
 powers for the misguidance of the unintelligent 
 masses. To this sweeping condemnation the 
 Churches reply by denouncing the materialistic 
 doctrines as immoral and anti-moral, as dangerous 
 to the welfare of the community. This again is 
 met by the plea of " material prosperity," of im- 
 provements in sanitation and public health and the 
 survival of infants — pleas which are met by pointing 
 out a corresponding increase in criminal statistics. 
 
 And so this controversy, which originated in a 
 dispute concerning the future life, draws its trail 
 across the whole field of social and civil activity. 
 But the outcome of it all has been to drive the 
 question of survival more and more into the back- 
 waters of " practical politics." In the tussle between 
 the emotions and the intellect the latter has proved 
 the stronger, and to-day the world is governed 
 precisely as it would be if no future life existed, 
 except that care is taken to respect the feelings of 
 people who have strong convictions to the contrary, 
 just as some people have strong convictions con- 
 cerning vaccination. It is not the fact of a future 
 life that is thus acknowledged, but solely the opinion 
 of those who believe in it. 
 
 That being the actual state of things, the advent 
 
134 LIFE AFTER DEATH 
 
 of a scientific demonstration of a future life may be 
 expected to effect a very radical alteration in our 
 public policy. But that alteration will never take 
 place unless there is a scientific demonstration. 
 Humanity is not, after toiling wearily up the hill 
 into the sunlight, going to sink back into a dark 
 and misty valley. After ousting all the hierarchies 
 from every civilised government, after depriving 
 them of nearly every shred of control over the 
 affairs of this world, it is not going to take their 
 word on any subject as final. If the future world 
 is to be recognised in this it will have to be more 
 properly accredited. It will have to give an account 
 of itself, and submit to cross-examination. If it 
 fails to do so it will not get a hearing, and matters 
 will go on as they are. Humanity is too busy with 
 its appointed tasks to trouble about chimeras. After 
 all, what can you do to a man who gives up all hope 
 of a future life ? He is quite impervious to threats 
 of future retribution, and will put his simple denial 
 in the balance against your simple assertion that 
 such awaits him. Or if, instead of your simple 
 assertion, you quote your revealed Scriptures, your 
 authorities, your edicts, and dogmas, he will answer 
 you with his universal experience, his scientific 
 method, his canons of induction, and point out 
 countless cases where the latter have prevailed over 
 the former. 
 
 History will repeat itself. Inductive science 
 
THE RELIGIOUS ATTITUDE I 3 5 
 
 found theology in possession of this world, govern- 
 ing all things, interpreting nature in accordance 
 with revelation, and manipulating the facts of 
 geology, astronomy, botany, zoology, and chrono- 
 logy to make them fit into a traditional scheme 
 which was not even consistent with itself. 
 
 From this territory theology has been ruthlessly 
 evicted. The visible world being henceforth closed 
 to it, it has taken refuge in the invisible world, 
 where it feels free to make what declarations it 
 likes. And that invisible world continues to be 
 the " home " towards which the weary heart turns 
 from a world that has become indeed clean and 
 bright and sanitary, but utterly hopeless and empty, 
 if not unjust and cruel. 
 
 For the things of this world are not enough. 
 From the corpse and the chamber of death we turn 
 with loathing, unless reverence or affection or the 
 expectation of future reunion enable us to overcome 
 the natural feeling of repugnance. We refuse to 
 recognise our likeness in that which lies there 
 motionless before us. We repudiate it and disown 
 it. We feel instinctively that that cannot be the 
 end, though a thousand sciences may thunder it 
 into our ear. For those whom the sweet solace of 
 religion can reach in that hour of doubt and bereave- 
 ment it is well. Let us tenderly respect their self- 
 abandonment and rejoice in their child-like trust in 
 an Almighty Father who governs everything for the 
 
136 LIFE AFTER DEATH 
 
 best and will wipe away the tears from their 
 eyes. 
 
 It is not for such that this book is written. It 
 is written for those who think, for that increasing 
 majority of the human race in whom the claims of 
 the intellect have become supreme, in whom the 
 cravings of the heart are subordinate to that general 
 sense of fairness and fitness which, for lack of a 
 better word, we call Reason. They do not expect a 
 special and individual Providence for themselves. 
 If there is such, they want to share it with the 
 whole human race. They want to balance their 
 own good against that of their neighbour, and 
 ascertain that the law they recognise, if extended 
 over all humanity, will be fair and equitable to all. 
 They will not allow any living man, or collection of 
 men, to prescribe or dictate to them, out of some 
 alleged authority, what is or is not true, knowing as 
 they do that truth is a relative term, which varies 
 from age to age, that truth is a function of two 
 variables, reality and symbol, and that it changes 
 as much with the latter as with the former. In 
 other words, a truth which cannot be revised is 
 no truth, just as an antiquated map is not a true 
 map. A reality is expressed in certain symbols, 
 chosen from the intellectual currency of the time of 
 utterance. The strict correspondence between the 
 reality and the symbolism is truth. The symbols 
 may be words, written or spoken ; they may be 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF TRUTH 1 37 
 
 pictures, tracings, images, or allegories. Their 
 strict correspondence to the reality is only approxi- 
 mate, just as even a plaster cast ceases to represent 
 the outline 'precisely once we come down to mole- 
 cular dimensions. The symbols, only approximate 
 at best, change in the course of time. What the 
 Ancients called the OrMs Terrarum we call the 
 globe. We have discarded their empyreans and 
 epicycles as symbols which have lost all intelli- 
 gible meaning, i.e. all relation to reality. The very 
 firmament has become the most infirm and changfe- 
 able of things, the most subtle and mobile realm of 
 ether. There is hardly a word in our present-day 
 language whose precise use and meaning are more 
 than four or five centuries old. And even if two 
 people use the same word, and give it the same 
 synonyms, we have no criterion which would en- 
 able us to tell whether they attached to it precisely 
 the same meaning. 
 
 No, in present-day thought there is no room for 
 dogma, except as a useful temporary assumption. 
 Every truth must be regarded, not as a thing to 
 stand in cetemum, but as a challenge, an obstacle 
 to freedom, at best a solid prop capable of 
 withstanding a strain not to exceed a certain 
 maximum. 
 
 It is in this spirit that science will, if at all, ap- 
 proach the problem of immortality. And whatever 
 ground it effectively occupies will therewith be irre- 
 
138 LIFE AFTER DEATH 
 
 vocably and finally withdrawn from the control of 
 dogmatism. 
 
 The masterful hand of the conqueror will imme- 
 diately make itself felt. There will be no room for 
 parleys and reticences and obscurities, any more 
 than in physiology or surgery. Everything must 
 be faced, and the examination must be as thorough 
 as a serious medical examination. The task may be 
 far from agreeable. It may have its own dangers 
 and disillusionments and pitfalls. But it must be 
 faced some time, and can only be faced in the spirit 
 of candid, fearless, painstaking inquiry, to which 
 everything is equally clean and holy and worthy of 
 respect, every detail of equal interest, and only one 
 thing unclean and abominable — falsehood. 
 
 In the pursuit of that inquiry it may happen — 
 and most likely will happen — that the problem 
 appears the more complex the further we pursue it. 
 Before the days of the microscope, the hair on the 
 leaf and the grain of pollen on the stamen were 
 about the smallest things we knew, and the simplest. 
 To-day, both of these are great and complicated 
 structures, capable of analysis into a thousand 
 smaller elements, and still we are far from having 
 attained to simple elements from which everything 
 may be theoretically or practically reconstructed. 
 Moreover, in those early days things appeared 
 simpler than they do now. Meat was either clean 
 or unclean, men were righteous or unrighteous, 
 
UNEXPECTED COMPLEXITIES I 39 
 
 gentle or simple, born to everlasting bliss or eternal 
 damnation ; there were but seven planets and a few 
 thousand stars fixed in a crystal vault. Science 
 has found the reality to be quite different. Animal 
 species are more difficult to classify noAv than in 
 the days of Deuteronomy. Man's righteousness is 
 judged largely by his bail and his counsel ; his gen- 
 tility is a matter of money or education ; his future 
 fate has ceased to interest any but himself, and even 
 himself it preoccupies little. The list of planets 
 has expanded to many hundreds, and the approxi- 
 mate number of fixed stars to a hundred million, 
 contained within a vast space beyond which other 
 and vaster spaces stretch into infinity, harbouring 
 infinite possibilities of further existence. 
 
 When the scouts of science advance into the 
 unseen world of our future life, they will in all 
 probability meet with a similar expansion of detail 
 and enrichment of experience. Actual facts of that 
 world will refuse to fit themselves into our home- 
 made schemes of things. Our schemes will have to 
 be revised and made more elastic. What appears 
 to us utter simplicity may turn out to be a bewil- 
 dering complexity, just as a drop of stagnant water 
 is seen to be the battle-ground of innumerable forms 
 of life. 
 
 We must not expect simplicity, neither must we 
 expect finality. Even if Ave could survey the fate 
 of a man we knew in this life for twenty years after 
 
140 LIFE AFTER DEATH 
 
 his death, we might be no nearer to the solution 
 of the problem of immortality properly so called, 
 i.e. final or absolute immortality. The man himself 
 might be in the same kind of doubt as to his ulti- 
 mate fate as he was on this earth. It is quite 
 conceivable that the date of annihilation might be 
 simply adjourned, that the future life we are looking 
 for is but a reprieve. And yet we cannot but 
 think that the safe crossing of one Kiver of Death 
 may raise our courage for all subsequent crossings, 
 if such be in store for us. 
 
 If we admit the possibility of eventual annihila- 
 tion, we must face another possibility also : it is 
 what we might call the Greek idea of Hades, 
 peopled by bloodless shades, capable of nothing but 
 an aimless re-enactment of the chief scenes of their 
 earth-life. It is the " poor ghost " idea, the larva, 
 the shell, the helpless, haunting phantom, which 
 restlessly seeks rest, and welcomes annihilation at 
 the last. 
 
 All these various possibilities confront us, and 
 how shall we choose between them ? What Castor 
 and Pollux shall be our guiding-stars, what magnetic 
 needle shall point to a changeless pole ? 
 
 The answer is this : We shall follow up each 
 clue, each alternative possibility, and follow farthest 
 along the likeliest path. We shall make as little 
 breaking-away as possible from " the solid ground 
 of nature." One of our guides shall be the observed 
 
GUIDING PRINCIPLES 141 
 
 continuity of natural phenomena, expressed in the 
 generalisation, Natura non facit solium. We have 
 really more material at hand than is currently 
 realised. We have a number of " curves " (express- 
 ing natural laws) which admit of " extrapolation," 
 of prolongation into the unknown. Also, science 
 deals already with several invisible worlds, any one 
 of which may become visible to us in our next life. 
 Besides the principle of continuity, we have also 
 what may be called the principle of value. It is 
 that the present, the facts of to-day, the world we 
 live in, have a permanent and definite value in the 
 whole scheme of the universe ; that they are inter- 
 connected with every other event or fact, past, 
 present, and to come ; that nowhere is there a boun- 
 dary-wai; beyond which no ripple or echo of our 
 events can penetrate. This means much. Among 
 other things, it means that we are here and now in 
 touch with the conditions of the future life, and 
 that the future world and its denizens are here and 
 now in touch with us, consciously or unconsciously. 
 That being so, we have one supreme test of the truth 
 of any theory we may formulate. It must be ex- 
 tended to the whole world as far as we know it, to 
 every geological era, to every form of life, and must 
 not lead to absurdities and inconsistencies. In fact, 
 it must be thought out to the end, in accordance with 
 all the knowledge hitherto accumulated. This, it 
 may be safely said, has never been done before, nor 
 
142 LIFE AFTER DEATH 
 
 can it here be attempted, except in general outline. 
 But the way is clearly marked out for us. The light 
 is not so dim but that we can see it, and it only re- 
 mains to tread the path courageously, and advance 
 as far as our strength will carry us. 
 
 Let us examine some of the popular notions of a 
 future life, and see at what point their absurdity or 
 inconsistency arises. 
 
 Many of these regard the future life as a mere 
 continuation of this. The Red Indian hunting in 
 his familiar prairies, the Goth fighting his battles 
 daily in Valhalla give us examples of such concep- 
 tions. If they are consistently thought out, they 
 mean organisms resembling those of the earth-life, 
 with clothes and weapons to match. But these, be 
 it remembered, are adapted to life on the surface 
 of this earth, and to nothing else. Transplanted 
 into any other place, they will fit as ill as a key in 
 the wrong lock. 
 
 Other beliefs adopt the idea of a glorified earthly 
 existence on a glorified earth, or in a place resem- 
 bling something on earth to which a special glory or 
 majesty is attached. Thus we get the Elysian fields, 
 the Mohammedan paradise, the New Jerusalem. All 
 these fall to pieces on the slightest touch of analysis. 
 None of them bear thinking out. Either they are 
 framed on the laws which govern this world (as 
 regards cohesion, gravitation, and the various other 
 natural forces), in which case they become mere 
 
POPULAR NOTIONS 143 
 
 repetitions of the earth; or these laws are only 
 partially observed, in which case they become quite 
 unthinkable monstrosities; or the laws are quite 
 different, in which case we can apply no human 
 standards of existence or pursuits whatever. Yet 
 human or semi-human forms are postulated in each 
 case. 
 
 Nearly all the " higher " views of future existence 
 assume a much greater effect of divine ruling in 
 the next world than in this. God is more visible, 
 more approachable, more supreme there than here. 
 For this, again, we have no warrant of any kind. 
 A world outside of God is unthinkable. It would 
 simply be another God, and there is no room for 
 two Universal Centres in a thinkable universe. 
 
 Our views, vague as they have hitherto been, 
 have been largely coloured by anthropomorphic 
 images. The pagan idea of celestial potentates, 
 who must be praised and conciliated, finds no room 
 in a more enlightened theology. What we can 
 reasonably postulate is just this : that the next 
 world will be under the same beneficent Absolute 
 Rule as this — no more and no less — and that its 
 type of existence will be one which admits of the 
 utilisation of experiences acquired in this life, and 
 the further development of faculties which are only 
 nascent in the highest types evolved in earth-life. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE SOUL-BODY 
 
 The self-determining action of the human individual 
 does not contradict the law of the conservation of 
 energy, as Sir Oliver Lodge has shown in " Life and 
 Matter." l The will exerts a directive action, and such 
 directive action involves little or no expenditure of 
 energy. The cushion of the billiard-table expends 
 no energy in deflecting a billiard-ball, nor does the 
 grass expend energy on making a foot-ball rebound. 
 On the contrary, it absorbs energy from the ball. 
 
 When, however, we come to a " voluntary " deter- 
 mination of direction, there arises the necessity of 
 an expenditure of energy on the instrument by 
 which this direction is effected. By slightly turning 
 a bat or a tennis-racquet this way or that we can 
 produce a large difference in the direction in which 
 a ball will travel after impact. By pulling a trigger, 
 we can liberate a large amount of energy, from 
 which, if we please, we can recover the energy we 
 spent on pulling the trigger. We can make the 
 ratio of the two amounts of energy as great as we 
 please. We can make the energy necessary to 
 
 1 Published by Williams & Norgate, London, 1905, 
 
 *44 
 
THE SOUL-BODY 1 45 
 
 liberate the store of energy one-millionth of the 
 latter, or one-billionth, or infinitesimal. Every act 
 of our muscles is some " pulling of the trigger," 
 some influence of the will upon nerve structures, 
 or other structures will govern the storing and 
 liberation of energy. If these " triggers " were 
 removed from the body, the body would be as 
 " dead " and defenceless as an army from whose 
 guns all the triggers had been removed. 
 
 Whether these triggers form a visible structure 
 of the cell we may leave, for the present, an open 
 question. For ought we know, they may be 
 Darwin's " gemmules," which, however, are supposed 
 to be ultra- visible. Also, they may be contained, 
 perhaps, in nerve cells only. We know that these 
 are among the most important structures of the 
 body, and that they are the first to lose their 
 power of subdivision in the adult. But whatever 
 they are, they must, according to our fundamental 
 assumptions, be material 'particles or structures, i.e. 
 living beings of a low dimensional scale, trained, 
 perhaps, for joint and harmonious action through 
 a prolonged period of co-operation. These particles 
 constitute the soul-body, or, briefly, the soul of the 
 individual. Their structure is further differentiated, 
 some parts being as much more vital than the 
 rest as the particle as a whole is more vital than 
 the rest of the body. These most vital of particles 
 we may take as constituting the " spirit." 
 
 K 
 
146 THE SOUL-BODY 
 
 It will be convenient to have a name for the 
 constituent particles of the soul-body. By analogy 
 with a number of biological terms (such as chromo- 
 mere) we will call them psychomeres (soul-particles). 
 They may be somewhat analogous, or possibly 
 identical, with Weismann's " biophores." Wilson 
 says l : " The starting point of his [Weismann's] 
 theory is the hypothesis of De Vries that the 
 chromatin is a congeries or colony of invisible 
 self-propagating vital units or biophores some- 
 what like Darwin's ' gemmules/ each of which has 
 the power of determining the development of a 
 particular quality. Weismann conceives these units 
 as aggregated to form units of a higher order 
 known as ' determinants,' which in turn are grouped 
 to form ' ids,' each of which, for reasons that need 
 not here be specified, is assumed to possess the 
 complete architecture of the germ-plasm charac- 
 teristic of the species. The ' ids ' finally, which 
 are identified with the visible chromatin granules, 
 are arranged in linear series to form ' idants ' or 
 chromosomes. It is assumed further that the ' ids ' 
 differ slightly in a manner corresponding with the 
 individual variations of the species, each chromo- 
 some therefore being a particular group of slightly 
 different germ-plasms, and differing qualitatively 
 from all the others." 
 
 This view of the great German biologist is a good 
 
 1 " The Cell," p. 245. 
 
PSYCHOMERES 147 
 
 instance of the tendency towards almost indefinite 
 subdivision and grouping. There would be no 
 objection to identifying our " psychomeres " with 
 his " invisible self- propagating vital units called 
 biophores" but for the fact that the chromatin of 
 the nucleus is almost certainly not the only really 
 vital part of the cell. The " cytoplasm " or outer 
 substance most likely contains vital centres also, 
 though these may be incapable of " self-propaga- 
 tion," and our psychomeres, though somewhat con- 
 centrated in the chromatin, must be diffusely 
 disseminated all through the cell. 
 
 Another observation which somewhat discredits 
 the chromatin as the sole bearer of vitality is that 
 " centrosomes " may arise cle novo from either the 
 cytoplasmic or the nuclear substance, and may play 
 the usual role (whatever that may be) in mitosis. 1 
 Now this means, not that the new centre of aggre- 
 gation arises out of an undifferentiated mass by 
 spontaneous generation, but that the existing centre, 
 instead of being capable of demonstration by means 
 of dyes, is invisible. The obvious lesson is that we 
 cannot reasonably expect to see the psychomeres. 
 They may possibly be discovered sometime, and the 
 quest for them should prove extremely fascinating, 
 but for the present we must leave the question of 
 their visibility open. 
 
 Failing an ocular examination, we must endeavour 
 
 1 Wilson, " The Cell," p. 309. 
 
148 THE SOUL-BODY 
 
 in some other way to arrive at a rough idea of their 
 physical properties. Let us place their total weight, 
 at a guess, at one -millionth of the entire body. 
 The nuclear matter is about one-thousandth, so that 
 we are well below that proportion, as we ought to 
 be, after all that has been said. Each cell contains, 
 on the average, 1,000,000,000 atoms, so that 1000 
 atoms, on the average, of each cell, would go to 
 make up psychomeres, and the total number of 
 atoms in these psychomeres would be something 
 like 10 19 (ten trillions). Their aggregate weight 
 would be 50 milligrams, or about iths of a grain, 
 or the weight of ten postage-stamps. That would 
 be the weight of a human soul ! 
 
 We must next inquire about their state of aggre- 
 gation. In the physical theory of ionisation and 
 condensation we have become familiar with the fact 
 that the smallest charged particles are the most 
 effective promoters of condensation. In fact, it 
 would suffice to extract a very small proportion of 
 the innumerable electrons within the body to bring 
 about a vigorous condensation in the moist air 
 around it. Noav growth is, to some extent, a phe- 
 nomenon of condensation. It is eminently so in 
 the case of plants, which derive the bulk of their 
 tissue from the carbon dioxide gas of the air. We 
 have reason, therefore, to expect that some, at least, 
 of the psychomeres will resemble electrons, or groups 
 of electrons, rather than atoms. But others may be 
 
EXTE ACTION OF THE PSYCHOMERES 1 49 
 
 complex molecular groups with abnormal electric 
 properties. That their electric properties are ab- 
 normal, i.e. somewhat different from those of the 
 molecules of " dead " matter, is rendered probable 
 by the peculiar chemical reactions to which many 
 of them give rise, reactions which are at the root of 
 the formation of the more complex " organic " com- 
 pounds. 
 
 Could we extract all the psychomeres from an 
 adult human body, and leave them in the same 
 mutual positions as before, we should have a kind 
 of gaseous body filling the familiar outline. But 
 the tenuity of the gaseous body would be a thou- 
 sand times greater than that of air. It would, in 
 fact, represent a moderate vacuum. If now its 
 size were reduced so that, instead of some five feet, 
 it were only six inches high, and the other dimen- 
 sions in proportion, it would have just the density 
 of air, and would float freely in it, without any 
 tendency to either rise or fall. 
 
 In its ordinary form, at which it represents a 
 vacuum of f mm. of mercury, it would float upwards 
 like a balloon, and would not attain its proper level 
 until it had risen some 35 miles into the air, and 
 arrived at or near the upper limit of the atmosphere. 
 
 These calculations suppose, of course, that the air 
 is excluded from the space between the psycho- 
 meres. There is, as a matter of fact, no valid 
 reason why it should not be. What prevents the 
 
I50 THE SOUL-BODY 
 
 free passage of air through our physical bodies ? 
 Nothing but the cohesion of the tissues. And what 
 is this cohesion ? We do not know, but as every- 
 thing consists of discrete particles, it must be some 
 action between these particles, exerted across inter- 
 vening space. We only know of three such actions : 
 gravitational, electrostatic, and magnetic (electro- 
 dynamic). Of these three, gravitational and mag- 
 netic force are too feeble to account for the actual 
 cohesive force observed. There remains electro- 
 static attraction as the only explanation, and that is 
 the very force with which our psychomeres are, ex 
 hypothesi, most richly endowed. If, therefore, the 
 soul-body has a suitable distribution of electrons, it 
 may possess any desired amount of cohesion and 
 defensive power, without the necessity of having 
 the solidity of our physical bodies. 
 
 Now suppose that what we call death consists in 
 just this : the psychomeres are withdrawn from the 
 body ; the soul which they constitute continues its 
 life without the ballast it has just discarded. 
 
 What should we naturally expect to follow ? 
 
 The physical body will be deprived of its direc- 
 tive elements. Each cell will fall a victim to 
 whatever other directive influences are most power- 
 ful. The processes of transpiration and evaporation 
 will go on unchecked. The cell-life will continue 
 for a little while on the lower planes, but the 
 cell-community will break up. The power of 
 
WHAT HAPPENS AT DEATH I 5 I 
 
 growth and nutrition will be lost. Expenditure 
 will exceed income a thousand-fold. There will be 
 an aimless running down of the machinery, un- 
 balanced by a new winding up. Then there will 
 be stagnation and disintegration. If the body is 
 hermetically sealed up, there will be a very gradual 
 chemical and physical disintegration. If the corpse 
 is embalmed, much of that will be prevented. If it 
 is cremated, the inevitable process of disintegration 
 will be accelerated very considerably. And lastly, 
 if the body is buried, " earth to earth," the work of 
 disintegration will be taken in hand largely by 
 micro-organisms, ever ready and eager to utilise 
 cast-off organic material and perform the necessary 
 work of disinfection and sanitation. Whatever 
 the process may be, the end is the same. The 
 cast-off organism goes the way of all the material 
 which the soul pressed into its service in the course 
 of its earthly life, and cast off again. It becomes of 
 no more value than cast-off clothing, and hair and 
 nails, and air breathed out from the lungs, and all 
 the other cUbris and wastage of the complex organic 
 machine. 
 
 Not so the soul. Liberated from a slow and 
 clumsy engine of physical activity, it finds itself 
 free, unharnessed, unembarrassed. The most vital 
 parts of the organism are intact. The memories 
 and faculties are keen and alert. There is a sense 
 of adventure, of expectancy, of possibilities but 
 
152 THE SOUL-BODY 
 
 vaguely felt, of new faculties hardly yet awakened. 
 The community of intelligences is more closely 
 knit than ever. Diseased or deformed conditions 
 can be immediately rectified through the greater 
 power of readjustment of part to part. But the 
 soul will soon learn to adapt itself to the new con- 
 ditions of its existence. What these conditions are 
 we cannot readily discover, but we can make some 
 guesses likely to be near the truth. In doing so, 
 we must be guided by the known laws of the 
 physical world and by the most authentic informa- 
 tion which has yet been obtained with regard to 
 the details of the next life. 
 
 And firstly, we must consider a little further the 
 process of the withdrawal of the psychomeres from 
 the organism ; in other words, the separation of the 
 soul from the body at death. 
 
 How is this effected ? And what time is required 
 for the process ? 
 
 We have assumed, with some reason, that the 
 psychomeres are material aggregates varying from 
 electronic to molecular dimensions, and endowed 
 with a marked electric polarity. These will have 
 to assemble from the interior of every cell, and will 
 have to pass through the cell walls and membranes 
 of all grades of texture and consistency. But that 
 offers no formidable obstacle. It means simply a 
 variation of the process by which all nutrition and 
 metabolism is effected. It proceeds by transpiration 
 
THE PROCESS OF SEPARATION 153 
 
 and diffusion. Only the roles of the chief actors 
 are reversed. The host, instead of receiving his 
 guests, bids thern adieu and departs. The whole 
 process need not take more than a few minutes. 
 When chloroform is breathed into the lungs, it is 
 diffused through every cell in the body in about 
 seven minutes. And yet chloroform consists of 
 heavy and bulky molecules, each of which contains 
 one atom of carbon, one of hydrogen, and three of 
 chlorine. That all the psychomeres should act on 
 a common impulse is not surprising. They are 
 doing that all the time, waking and sleeping. The 
 directive agents of our organism are ceaselessly 
 active, and all working towards the same end, the 
 efficiency of the machine at the disposal of the 
 commanding intelligence. The sense of solidarity 
 is strongly developed. In disease especially the 
 co-operation of the various directive agencies or 
 psychomeres is most marked. Their activity is 
 raised throughout the body. They are so busy 
 trying to repair the machine that we feel a sense 
 of oppression, of disturbance, uneasiness, or pain. 
 Little leisure is left for the ordinary activities. In 
 fevers and all diseases which threaten the invasion 
 of a rival power in the shape of some species of 
 hostile microbes, the police and territorial armies go 
 forth to battle for dear life, and the raging battle 
 may be read in the rising mercury of the clinical 
 thermometer. A large proportion of the psycho- 
 
154 THE SOUL-BODY 
 
 meres, in all likelihood, sally forth from their 
 appropriate cells to fight the enemy, leaving the 
 cells to carry on a vegetative existence until their 
 victorious return. 
 
 But it may happen that the fortunes of war go 
 against the gallant defenders, that the strategic 
 positions have to be abandoned one by one. The 
 structures laboriously built up become untenable. 
 The home armies withdraw to the citadels, and 
 when all is lost, prepare to leave with the honours 
 of war. The cells, thus forsaken, indulge perhaps 
 in an ineffectual and blind struggle on their own 
 account, each one for itself, much as the guerilla 
 warriors of a beaten nation might endeavour to 
 harass its conquerors. But the home forces know 
 when the day is lost. They gradually withdraw 
 from the stricken field, knowing that there will be 
 plenty of work for their valour elsewhere. And so 
 they take leave, compact and undiminished and 
 indestructible, to go where their higher destiny 
 awaits them. 
 
 Imagine the psychomeres, then, withdrawn from 
 the body, and floating in the air, free to trace out 
 what form they please. If, in the earthy state, the 
 movements were determined by the central will, 
 and movements often repeated became habits, and 
 generated features, how much more will this be the 
 case when the ballast is got rid of! We may 
 imagine some surgings or oscillations before the 
 
THE MOMENT AFTER 155 
 
 new equilibrium is attained. This equilibrium will 
 be governed by the acquired characters of the 
 individual psychomeres and by the requirements of 
 the new world in which the soul is to live. Those 
 groups which before were concerned in producing 
 motion (chiefly the legs) will now tend to produce 
 motion in the new world. Each group of psycho- 
 meres will endeavour to carry out its function in 
 the new life on somewhat similar lines as before. 
 Possibly, the outline of the earth-body may be 
 retained for some time, and if there is any acquisi- 
 tion of new matter, that may go towards forming 
 about the soul-body a semblance of drapery, that 
 being, in civilised beings, almost as powerful an 
 instinct as any other. But as time passes, we may 
 well suppose that the earth memories are gradually 
 modified, that the gaze is directed upward instead 
 of downward, and that the soul takes its departure 
 from the earth-scene, never more to return to it. 
 
 If, on the other hand, the earth-memories are 
 difficult to shake off, the soul will cling, more or 
 less permanently, to the surface of the earth, will 
 strive to retain its accustomed outline and char- 
 acteristics, and will attach itself to some object or 
 locality where it is comparatively free from dis- 
 turbance. 
 
 What kinds of disturbance has it to fear ? Can 
 a soul be cut, or shot, or split in two, or exploded ? 
 These questions are not so difficult to answer as 
 
156 THE SOUL-BODY 
 
 they seem. Of course a sword or knife can cut 
 through a soul-body, but the soul-body would be 
 little, if any, the worse for it, any more than a 
 swarm of bees would. An explosion might have 
 more of an effect. It might scatter the psychomeres 
 so far apart that they could only with difficulty, 
 and considerable delay, be reassembled. But the 
 telepathic link between them, aided by electrostatic 
 forces, would no doubt heal the wound before long. 
 A soul-body is practically invulnerable by human 
 means. 
 
 Another question arises concerning the soul- 
 bodies of cripples, and persons deprived by disease 
 of the use of some organ. The answer here is two- 
 fold. In the first place, the organ or limb thus 
 lost may not be necessary in the new state, in which 
 case it will not be formed. If it is necessary, the 
 superior liberty of configuration possessed by the 
 soul-body will easily supply it. The tradition of 
 the organ is there, at all events, and this can be 
 strengthened in various ways, as will be seen 
 later on. 
 
 The natural form best adapted to motion in air 
 will be something resembling a fish rather than a 
 human being. For we must remember that the 
 soul-body is more of the density of air than of that 
 of water or earth. It is, therefore, peculiarly appro- 
 priate that the early Christians, profoundly con- 
 vinced of the immortality of the soul, should have 
 
THE SHAPE OF THE SOUL 157 
 
 chosen a fish, IX0Y2, as the symbol of their 
 faith. Recent researches on navigable balloons have 
 brought out the fact that an elongated shape which 
 is broad in front and narrow behind offers the least 
 resistance to motion through a fluid. The shape 
 of birds is also based on this principle, but since 
 they are a good deal heavier than the air they 
 displace, they require wings wherewith to produce 
 the necessary upward impulse. 
 
 The fish moves not so much by means of its 
 fins — these are only steadying and steering devices 
 — as by means of its tail and the undulatory motions 
 of its whole body. An eel can move rapidly through 
 water, with practically no fins at all. The principle 
 is somewhat the same as that which governs the 
 motion of a gimlet through a piece of wood. If, 
 therefore, the soul-body, discarding its superfluous 
 habits with its useless ballast-body, adapts itself 
 straightway to its new environment, it will take the 
 shape of a fish, or rather a flame. It will, like the 
 spirit at the Pentecost, become a tongue of fire ! 
 If it hovers about a fairy bush, such as the west 
 of Ireland can tell of, that bush will become a 
 burning bush such as Moses saw. If of great size, 
 the soul-body may even appear as a pillar of cloud 
 by day, and a pillar of fire by night. On a 
 smaller scale, it may represent a will-o'-the-wisp 
 and the flitting fairy -lights which so often accom- 
 pany supernormal phenomena. 
 
158 THE SOUL-BODY 
 
 Its transit through the air may be extremely 
 rapid. It only depends upon the energy available 
 within it, and, besides the end-on method of pro- 
 pulsion which we utilise in the guidable balloon, it 
 may be endowed with a motion resembling that of 
 vortex rings, which traverse the air rapidly without 
 any risk of losing their coherence or identity. 
 
 Whoever watches a swarm of midges dancing in 
 the twilight must have been struck with their 
 cohesion. They attach themselves to some bush 
 or elevated object and, although in rapid motion, 
 appear to keep that connection through many 
 vicissitudes. A gust of wind blows them aside, but 
 the connection with the bush is unbroken, and they 
 collect in its neighbourhood like a flag about a flag- 
 staff. They keep their peculiar evolutions through 
 it all. These evolutions no doubt serve some social 
 purpose. They are made possible by the energy 
 stored up in each midge. But the general effect 
 is that of some busy living organism inhabiting the 
 air, indifferent to the passage of a more ponderable 
 body like our own, and behaving as one, though 
 made up of some 10,000 independent units. Now, 
 instead of 10,000 units,take 25,000,000,000,000,000 
 units (the cells of our body) and from each of these 
 extract one-millionth of its subtance. Is it any 
 stretch of the imagination to suppose that these 
 25,000,000,000,000,000 extracts may collaborate 
 and behave like a single well-organised being, ani- 
 
EARTH-MEMORIES I 59 
 
 mated by a master-impulse or swayed by a master- 
 will ? After all, our bodies, even as they stand, are, 
 according to the views now prevailing in physical 
 science, mere swarms of molecules, atoms, and 
 electrons, held together by electric and magnetic 
 forces. If these can tread the earth and stem the 
 water, why should not the aerial soul-body be equally 
 stable in the gaseous state, and equally adapted to 
 the life aerial ? 
 
 If, for any reason, the earth memories of the 
 soul should be reawakened, and become dominant, 
 it can assume its accustomed earth-form, and any 
 other form, even as in the Homeric poems the gods 
 assumed the guise of various mortals. The psycho- 
 meres need only resume their latent function of 
 assimilating matter. The invisible soul-body will 
 become, first, a fine mist, then a cloud, a tall pillar 
 of filmy vapour, from which a complete form, 
 moulded and clothed to suit the character assumed, 
 would then emerge, to walk the earth as before for 
 a little while, and to dissolve again into mist and 
 become once more invisible. The inhabitants of 
 the earth would then see a ghost, and be afraid, 
 although, truth to tell, they would have more reason 
 to be afraid of anything in a permanent earthly shape 
 rather than of the materialised soul venturing back 
 to its old haunts in a state of extremely unstable 
 equilibrium, and ill equipped for any effective action, 
 whether for good or ill. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE SOUL-WORLD 
 
 Having arrived at a view of the soul-body which> 
 even if not true, is certainly intelligible and not 
 unreasonable, we must proceed to locate its where- 
 abouts, its abode, its natural element. We have 
 a larger choice of localities, divisible into : (a) 
 Non-Euclidian space ; (b) Three-dimensional space, 
 which may be (1) unconnected with the earth; or 
 (2) connected with it. Let us discuss these in 
 order. 
 
 (a) Non-Euclidian Space. — It has been a favourite 
 speculation in connection with supernormal pheno- 
 mena to locate their cause in four-dimensional or 
 other non-Euclidian space. Thus, Professor Zollner x 
 explained a number of curious knot-tying experi- 
 ments by reference to a fourth dimension, pointing 
 out that what would be to us a knot incapable 
 of resolution (such as a knot in a string forming 
 a ring, or in a rubber band, or a ring cut out of 
 a single piece of leather) might be tied and untied 
 through the intermediary of a fourth-dimension 
 movement, just as a flat loop would be unresolvable 
 
 1 See his " Transcendental Physics." 
 
 160 
 
THE SOUL-WOKLD l6l 
 
 in two-dimensional space, but resolvable in our 
 space. 
 
 Now this line of argument, fascinating and 
 alluring though it may be, is contrary to the 
 principle of economy. It is best and safest to 
 make the minimum of new assumptions, and to 
 make, if possible, no assumptions contrary to our 
 general experience. An explanation is, or should 
 be, the reduction of an apparently abnormal pheno- 
 menon to a group of known phenomena. A wholly 
 novel cause is only assignable when a number of 
 independent phenomena separately points towards 
 it, and when no known cause is available. Now 
 a fourth dimension is not in accordance with any 
 experience elsewhere, and it is much more logical 
 and scientific to assign even a complex cause con- 
 sisting of known elements rather than a simpler 
 cause containing an entirely new element. Zollner's 
 experiences are equally explicable on the assumption 
 that one solid can penetrate through the substance 
 of another solid, a possibility which the molecular 
 structure of even the most solid matter renders 
 quite obvious. 
 
 To assign supernormal phenomena to a fourth 
 dimension is therefore almost as bad as to assign 
 them to no cause at all, i.e. to declare them to 
 be " miracles " pure and simple. Non-Euclidian 
 space must be ruled out. It is the negation of 
 space, and the negation of reason. 
 
 L 
 
1 62 THE SOUL-WORLD 
 
 (b) Three-dimensional Space. — In our Euclidian 
 space, with, its three dimensions of length, breadth, 
 and thickness, there is room for an infinite series 
 of worlds within worlds, and for all the earths and 
 heavens and hells that have ever been imagined 
 or alleged to exist. We need not go outside it 
 to find room for our heaven. If we are idealists 
 of the old school, and regard the whole visible 
 universe as but an illusion, a " veil of Maya," we 
 may even abrogate the actuality of matter, and have 
 an infinite three-dimensional vacuum wherein to 
 locate what beings we please. But such an assump- 
 tion is contrary to the principle of continuity and 
 the principle of value, which maintain that there 
 is an absolute reality (a living reality) behind what 
 we perceive as matter, a reality with which we can 
 never, in any state of existence, quite lose touch. 
 
 In three-dimensional space, we have again to 
 take our choice between space which is, and space 
 which is not, connected with our earth. If the 
 earth is ignored, we have at least three orders of 
 universes to select from. These are — 
 
 1. The terrene world, in which the planets as we 
 know them act as such; 
 
 2. The infra-world, whose planets are what we 
 call electrons ; 
 
 3. The supra-world, in which our galactic uni- 
 verse probably plays the part of a minute organism. 1 
 
 1 See the author's " Two New Worlds." 
 
THE CHOICE OF A WORLD 1 63 
 
 The supra-world and infra-world are immediately 
 excluded from our measurable future by their scale 
 of dimensions. The beings which inhabit them 
 enter into our lives, it is true, but not in a deter- 
 mining 1 manner. We utilise the social laws of the 
 infra-world to compass our own ends, and our social 
 laws are no doubt similarly utilised by the supra- 
 beings. But that arrangement leaves us a large 
 margin of liberty, and that liberty we are during 
 our earth-life training ourselves to acquire and 
 enlarge. 
 
 We find the abode of the soul thus narrowed 
 down to our own planetary dimensions. Even then 
 we have plenty of choice. We have all the starry 
 universe open to us, as well as a number of planets 
 of a size comparable to our earth. Then there is 
 the moon, or the moons of other planets. There 
 are the comets, there is open space, there' is the 
 sun itself. Which of all these is the heaven we 
 are looking for ? 
 
 It is little use looking to the far-off stars, or 
 beyond them, for the abode of the blest. Astronomy 
 has taught us that there is nothing very peculiar 
 about far-away stars. They are much like our 
 own sun. There is more of a strange world to 
 be encountered 30 miles up in the atmosphere 
 than 50,000,000 miles away, on the surface of 
 Mars. If we want strange forms of existence, let 
 us try to imagine the inner consciousness of a fish 
 
1 64 THE SOUL-WOKLD 
 
 or a tree. It is difficult enough, surely. No, we 
 must resolutely combat the tendency to look for 
 the unseen beyond the seen. The unseen is all 
 about us. But for the accident which gave us 
 eyes, everything about us would be " unseen." As 
 it is, a single octave in the gamut of light-waves 
 impresses our retina, revealing a very small pro- 
 portion of what would be visible to a more com- 
 pletely equipped intelligence. 
 
 And then, why look to the moon and the planets ? 
 For aught we know, they may be already in posses- 
 sion of intelligences not far removed from our 
 own, who might well resent our intrusion. Why 
 not seek our heaven on ej-rth ? The earth is 
 practically unknown to us. Six miles above sea- 
 level clears the highest mountain. Ten miles 
 below it reaches the lowest ocean-bottom. One 
 mile underground touches bottom in the deepest 
 pit. It is at the most one-eighth per cent, of the 
 total thickness of the earth, the thickness of a 
 thin scalp compared with the total stature of the 
 body, the paper which covers the terrestrial globe 
 compared with the globe itself! And the layer 
 which supports " life " on our earth would be less 
 than the thickness of the varnish on the paper. 
 
 The known portion of the earth is comparable 
 to a thin soap-bubble. All within and without the 
 liquid layer is unknown. The conditions of our 
 existence give us no direct access to the regions 
 
CLAIMS OF OUR ATMOSPHERE 165 
 
 outside, and whatever information we can accumu- 
 late is obtained indirectly by reasoning from analogy. 
 
 There is, therefore, no necessity to go beyond 
 the earth to seek new worlds in which the soul 
 may dwell. The earth offers boundless variety and 
 endless possibilities of existence. Even Socrates, 
 with his limited resources, could enlarge upon the 
 possible delights of the upper regions of the air 
 for beings fitted to dwell in them. 1 We have only 
 to choose a region where our soul-bodies shall 
 have reasonable space and liberty, free from over- 
 crowding, and from interference from (and with) 
 our earth-life. 
 
 Such a region is, most appropriately, the atmos- 
 phere. I hope to show in what follows that the 
 earth's atmosphere is a possible and exceedingly probable 
 physical location for the soul-bodies of departed men. 
 It may look like a return to ancient superstition, 
 but that the ancients, and people at all times, 
 looked upward for their future abode is no argu- 
 ment against that abode being actually located 
 there. It may be taken, on the contrary, as an 
 indication of a correct instinct, unconsciously evolved 
 perhaps from slight but gradually accumulated im- 
 pulses in that direction. We shall not use the 
 popular view as an argument in our favour, but 
 base our case on quite other considerations. 
 
 The atmosphere extends for at least 100 miles 
 1 See Plato's " Phsedo." 
 
1 66 THE SOUL-WORLD 
 
 above the earth's surface. Its lower surface (that 
 which rests upon the ground) has an area of 
 800,000,000 square miles, and its upper surface has 
 an area of 840,000,000 square miles. Its volume 
 is at least 80,000,000,000 cubic miles. This means 
 that if the souls of all human beings that have 
 lived and died for the last twelve centuries were 
 distributed at equal intervals throughout the atmos- 
 phere, they would be a mile apart ! They would, 
 indeed, be very lonely and isolated. If we made 
 the distance half a mile, we could find room for 
 the human population of the last 10,000 years, 
 with plenty of open space in which to move about. 
 The average distance between living human beings 
 on the land surface at the present time is one- 
 third of a mile. If this density of population were 
 extended to the atmosphere, the latter would be 
 able to accommodate the human souls that lived 
 on earth for the last 32,000 years. 
 
 We see, therefore, that no quantitative difficulty 
 is encountered by our hypothesis so far. We can 
 hold out a prospect of at least 30,000 years' occupa- 
 tion of a place within the atmosphere after the 
 surface life of threescore years and ten — surely a 
 term well worth accepting as a substantial instal- 
 ment of immortality. When that term has expired, 
 we may well suppose that the individual is prepared 
 to " move on " into interplanetary space, and leave 
 the earth behind. 
 
THE UPPER AIR 1 67 
 
 But what kind of existence would this aerial 
 existence be ? Can we determine, even if only 
 provisionally, some of its conditions ? 
 
 As already stated, we know very little of the 
 higher strata of the atmosphere. The highest man- 
 bearing balloon voyage is 6 miles, and that is also 
 the height of the highest mountain-peak. Recently, 
 some attempts have been made to explore the 
 higher strata of the atmosphere by means of test 
 balloons (ballons-sondes), notably at the Trappes 
 Observatory, near Paris. One of the most interest- 
 ing results is the discovery of a comparatively 
 warm stratum some distance above the earth. 
 This is referred to by a recent writer as follows : l — 
 
 " While not presuming to offer an explanation 
 of the isothermal or relatively warm stratum in the 
 high atmosphere, which the recent letters in Nature 
 have made known to others than meteorologists, I 
 desire to point out that it is probably a universal 
 phenomenon, existing at some height all around 
 the globe. This inversion of temperature was 
 first discovered by M. Teisserenc de Bort with the 
 ballons - sondes sent up from his observatory at 
 Trappes, near Paris, in 1901, and almost simul- 
 taneously by Professor Assmann from similar 
 German observations. Since then almost all the 
 balloons which have risen more than 40,000 feet 
 above Central Europe (that is, near latitude 50°) 
 
 1 A. L. Rotch, in Nature for May 7, 1908. 
 
1 68 THE SOUL-WORLD 
 
 have penetrated this stratum, without, however, 
 determining its upper limit. Teisserenc de Bort 
 early showed that its height above the earth, to 
 the extent of 8000 feet, varied directly with the 
 barometric pressure at the ground. Mr. Dines 
 {Nature, p. 390) gives the average height of the 
 isothermal layer above England as 35,000 feet, 
 with extremes of nearly 50 per cent, of the 
 mean. Observations conducted last March by our 
 indefatigable French colleague, Teisserenc de Bort, 
 in Sweden, just within the Arctic circle, showed 
 that the minimum temperature occurred at nearly 
 the same height as at Trap pes, namely, 36,000 
 feet, although Professor Hergesell, who made use 
 of ballons-sondes over the Arctic Ocean, near latitude 
 75° N., during the summer of 1906, concluded 
 that the isothermal stratum there sank as low as 
 23,000 feet. 
 
 " During the past three years the writer has 
 despatched seventy-seven ballons - sondes from St. 
 Louis, U.S.A., latitude 38° N., and most of those 
 which rose higher than 43,000 feet entered the 
 inverted stratum of temperature. This was found 
 to be somewhat lower in summer, but the follow- 
 ing marked inversions were noted last autumn : 
 October 8, the minimum temperature of —90° 
 Fahr. occurred at 47,600 feet, whereas at the 
 maximum altitude of 54,100 feet the temperature 
 had risen to — 72° ; October 10, the lowest tempera- 
 
RECENT RESEARCHES 1 69 
 
 ture of - 80° was found at 39,700 feet, while - 69° 
 was recorded at 42,200 feet, showing a descent 
 of nearly 8000 feet in the temperature-inversion 
 within two days. The expedition sent out jointly 
 by M. Teisserenc de Bort and the writer, on 
 the former's steam yacht Otaria, to sound the 
 atmosphere over the tropical Atlantic during the 
 summer of 1906, launched ballons-sondes both north 
 and south of the equator within the tropics, and 
 although some of these balloons rose to nearly 
 50,000 feet, they gave no indication of an iso- 
 thermal stratum. In fact, the paradoxical fact was 
 established that in summer it is colder eight miles 
 above the thermal equator than it is in winter at 
 the same height in north temperate regions. This 
 results from the more rapid decrease of temperature 
 in the tropics and the absence of the numerous 
 temporary inversions which, as Mr. Dines has pointed 
 out, are common in our regions below 10,000 feet. 
 If, therefore, as seems probable, the isothermal or 
 relatively warm stratum does exist in the tropical 
 and equatorial regions, it must lie at a height 
 exceeding 50,000 feet, from which height, as the 
 data quoted show, it gradually descends towards 
 the Pole, at least in the northern hemisphere." 
 
 We also know that about 30 miles above the 
 ground the air is a comparatively good conductor 
 of electricity. It is this conducting layer of the 
 atmosphere which is probably most effective in 
 
I/O THE SOUL-WORLD 
 
 absorbing the ultra-violet rays of the sun. Now 
 what may we conclude from this ? That a. being 
 specially sensitive to ultra-violet light would have 
 an impression of brightness above that stratum, and 
 of darkness below it. The stratum itself would 
 appear like a dark cloud-bank (although quite 
 transparent to us) and would make a pretty sharp 
 boundary between the upper and lower regions of 
 the atmosphere. 
 
 The regular succession of day and night would 
 be the same as with us, and this succession would 
 no doubt bring about a periodical change of activity 
 just as it does in our case. Clouds in our sense 
 are confined to the lower strata of the atmosphere, 
 but storms are not. Indeed, the modern theory 
 maintains that all storms originate in the higher 
 strata of the atmosphere, and are of solar or inter- 
 stellar origin. It is just possible that some one 
 may propound the theory that they are of psychic 
 origin, and that all atmospheric precipitations, 
 governed as they are by wind and by the ionisation 
 of the atmosphere, are intimately associated with 
 the distribution and motion of the psychic entities 
 of the upper air, whether they be conscious of it 
 or not. In that case we may look for a revival, if 
 not of Jupiter Pluvius, at least of the practice of 
 praying for rain, or for fine weather. 
 
 Although the atmosphere has no permanent 
 features, like the earth, the landscape of the latter 
 
ATMOSPHERIC STRATA 171 
 
 has a decided influence upon the state of the lower 
 strata. The deflecting action of a hill upon a 
 horizontal current of air may be felt as high as 
 30,000 feet, as the ballons-sondes observations have 
 shown. Hills have also a decided influence upon 
 the electric potential gradient, and peaks sometimes 
 acquire a negative potential many thousand volts 
 higher than the surrounding air. 
 
 The extreme cold of the upper air has no terrors 
 for a being which has no liquid in its constitution. 
 And after all, the minimum of —90° Fahr. is not 
 below the coldest temperature observed on the 
 ground within the north polar circle. If human 
 beings in the flesh have survived that, a disem- 
 bodied spirit need have no anxiety on the matter. 
 
 Life in the atmosphere, " on the wing," so to 
 speak, is not quite like anything we are familiar 
 with. The body of a fish is of the same density as 
 water. A slight change in its density would send 
 the fish right up to the surface or right down to the 
 bottom. If the density of a fish body were in- 
 creased by as little as one part in 10,000, it would 
 sink at least 60 feet below the surface, and a com- 
 pression of 1 per cent, would send it down a mile. 
 A similar change in density, taking place in a 
 balloon, or in any object floating in the air, would 
 alter its altitude by not more than 300 feet. This is 
 because air is very much more compressible than 
 water. If a body kept its density constant, it 
 
172 THE SOUL-WORLD 
 
 would float at a nearly constant level in the air, 
 much like a vessel rocked on the waves. The 
 observed reversal of the temperature gradient in the 
 upper air referred to on p. 168 would have the effect 
 of increasing the buoyancy of the air above the 
 plane of reversal by making the density gradient 
 steeper. If, however, a body ever fell below the 
 coldest stratum it would get into a region of very 
 shallow density gradients, where the density in- 
 creased only slowly with decreasing height, and 
 might have to fall a considerable distance before 
 regaining its equilibrium. If we wanted to indulge 
 in a somewhat wild guess, we might say that this 
 region of maximum cold, the region where the 
 temperature gradient is reversed, is a true and 
 effective division which separates two distinct por- 
 tions of the atmosphere, and therefore also two 
 distinct soul-worlds. To attain the upper region, it 
 would be necessary for any soul to have a small 
 weight per volume, i.e. a low density, which might 
 either mean a great tenuity and lightness of the 
 psychomeres, or sufficient energy to fill out and 
 " effectively occupy " an exceptionally large space. 
 
 Hitherto we have only investigated the conditions 
 of rest and motion in the atmospheric world, as 
 far as our very rough and incomplete methods will 
 allow. But there are, of course, a great many other 
 problems pressing for solution. Life does not con- 
 sist solely in motion. Plant-life, indeed, dispenses with 
 
CONDITIONS OF LIFE 1 73 
 
 all locomotion. In animals, locomotion is a primary- 
 necessity. But that is largely because they are in- 
 capable of absorbing energy direct from sunlight, and 
 have to move about to acquire it at second-hand as 
 best they can. With us, the necessity for motion 
 has not ceased, but its main object is not nutrition, 
 but social activity. Some people, indeed, are never 
 stationary in one place unless they are either eating 
 or sleeping. In a more refined state of existence 
 this distinction may become still more marked. 
 The slight energy required for motion may possibly 
 be derived from the ultra-violet light of the sun 
 direct, and the main object of motion may be social 
 rather than physiological. This would do away with 
 all necessity for digestion and respiration and cir- 
 culation, and would simplify anatomy very con- 
 siderably. It would then remain to be seen whether 
 any muscles, nerves, and special sense organs were 
 required. As regards muscles we might reply in 
 the affirmative. For since the sun is not always \ 
 shining, and there is no other equally powerful 
 supply to take its place, there must be some way 
 of storing the erergy for use when required. Our 
 muscles are such stores of energy, and we can well 
 imagine groups of psychomeres set apart with the 
 special object of acting as stores of energy. 
 
 As regards sense organs, it is evident that eyes 
 like our own would be very nearly useless. The 
 chief object of organs of vision would be the per- 
 
174 THE SOUL-WORLD 
 
 ception of neighbouring soul-bodies. These are 
 invisible to mortal eyes, and therefore the eyes of 
 the soul must be of quite a different structure. 
 The ordinary laws of refraction cannot apply to 
 them since they are transparent to our light waves. 
 There may be specialised organs based on a different 
 principle, or there may be just the generalised 
 sensibility which we find in the infusoria. The 
 latter is rendered probable by certain experiences 
 of ecstasy, as well as the curious locations of sight 
 in the knee-joint, &c, exhibited by some hysteric 
 patients. 
 
 Life in the soul-world thus probably consists in a 
 greatly vivified intercourse of " kindred souls." We 
 can imagine that what we call a " play of features " is 
 generalised into an expressiveness of the soul-body 
 as a whole, which excludes all deceit and falsehood 
 and enables souls to group themselves readily ac- 
 cording to their sense of kinship. Such groupings, 
 of course, may, like their earthly counterparts, be 
 only temporary. Whether there is any amalgama- 
 tion or true fusion of souls must, of course, remain 
 an open question. If there is, the question of the 
 " over-production " of individuals finds an easy 
 solution. We need only assume that for every 
 individual that becomes two (as in birth), two 
 individuals become one. Thus the number of indi- 
 viduals on the planet might remain sensibly the 
 same. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 INTERCOMMUNICATION 
 
 Having arrived at a consistent and coherent con- 
 ception of the soul-body and the soul-world, we 
 must next examine the relations which exist be- 
 tween our earth-world and the soul-world. Strictly 
 speaking, the soul-world is also an earth-world, as 
 it belongs to our planet. But we will use the term 
 " earth-world " to denote that thin layer of the 
 earth's surface which supports organic life, and 
 which is supposed by materialists to be the only 
 seat of life in the universe. 
 
 The soul-world, by our hypothesis, is the atmos- 
 phere, and more especially the upper atmosphere, 
 which is illuminated by ultra-violet light from the 
 sun in the daytime, and by a faint glow of ultra- 
 violet light from the unveiled stars at night. 
 
 How do these two worlds appear to each other ? 
 
 To us, the soul-world is a wide flat dome over- 
 head, blue in the daytime and nearly black at 
 night, often obscured by clouds of fantastic shapes, 
 which diffuse the sunlight and intercept the light 
 of the stars. We observe the enterprising tribe of 
 birds traversing the air at some distance above the 
 
1 76 INTERCOMMUNICATION 
 
 ground, and hope to follow in their tracks in the 
 near future. On a cloudless day the sky hangs 
 over us like a vast blue crystalline globe, without 
 a trace of structure or differentiation, and we look 
 longingly, but in vain, for any sign of recognition, 
 any familiar face or object, in that vast and ap- 
 parently vacant expanse. True, a polariscope shows 
 us that the light from the sky is not uniform in all 
 directions, and reveals some kind of a " structure " 
 in the various parts of it. But our unaided eyes 
 see nothing but uniformity, sameness, the symbol of 
 peace, of eternity, of nothingness, of Nirvana, the 
 end and consummation of all things. 
 
 And now look at the reverse of the medal. A 
 soul floating some 30 or 40 miles above the 
 ground, above a summer-hot landscape, would see 
 nothing but clouds below, even though to us the 
 sky be cloudless. The clouds would consist of 
 masses of ionised air which absorb or reflect the 
 ultra-violet light to which alone the soul's vision is 
 attuned. Below these clouds there would be a dim 
 light resembling what we would call moonlight, 
 consisting of the small proportion of ultra-violet 
 light transmitted to the earth, and this again 
 would be all but lost in the denser atmosphere 
 and clouds of ionisation nearer the earth's surface. 
 The sunlit landscape would appear to the soul much 
 as the bottom of a rather muddy pond would 
 appear to us. 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF INTERCOURSE 177 
 
 The proportion of people who care to dip into 
 muddy pools and investigate their aquatic life is 
 not large among mortals. And so we may imagine 
 that it is not usual among souls to haunt the 
 haunts of men in the earth-world, and if any 
 of them do, they will be the exception rather 
 than the rule, and will do so under some very 
 powerful impulse which overrides their natural 
 disposition and takes them out of their natural 
 element. 
 
 On our side, the temptation to penetrate into the 
 upper regions of the soul-world is not great either. 
 Our bodies are quite unadapted to life in the upper 
 air. If we got there, we should see nothing, and 
 would find ourselves as uncomfortable as a fish out 
 of water. 
 
 Intercourse between the earth-world and the 
 soul-world requires a modification in the denizens 
 of either the one or the other before it is practicable. 
 That is to say, souls must become like men, or men 
 must become like souls, before they can commune 
 on anything like equal terms. As matters stand, 
 the vast majority of disembodied souls are inacces- 
 sible to us, and we to them. It is not a question of 
 superiority. If the souls have a superior kind of 
 existence, if they are more free and unfettered, 
 more mobile, better able to express and embody 
 their inmost thoughts, they are not therefore 
 superior to us, who surpass them, most probably, 
 
 M 
 
I 7 8 INTERCOMMUNICATION 
 
 in power over the solid and liquid states of matter, 
 and reign supreme on the crust of the globe. Our 
 spheres of influence are separate. Our interests 
 and pursuits are different. There is not necessarily- 
 more sympathy between us and them than there 
 is between different animal species. Look at the 
 human race on earth ! Do not rivalry, competi- 
 tion, mutual envy, and hostility have more to say 
 to our daily conduct than sympathy and com- 
 passion ? Is there always love between brothers, 
 or even between parents and children ? Is not love 
 I the exception rather than the rule ? Then how 
 shall we feel a love for beings in another world 
 with whom we may have even less in common ? 
 We can quite imagine a state of feeling amounting 
 to an " armed peace " between the earth-world and 
 the soul-world, each world guarding its frontiers 
 from aggression and from the immigration of " un- 
 desirable aliens." What complicates matters is that 
 we are pouring a ceaseless stream of very mixed 
 entities — some 50,000,000 per annum — into the 
 soul-world every year. Some of these are not fit 
 to be received there, and are possibly sent back 
 to prowl about the earth until they find a more 
 auspicious opportunity of rising. But this pressure 
 from below may be a valuable incentive towards 
 further development for the higher strata of entities, 
 just as the encroachments of bacilli and insects are 
 to us. We find a teeming life below us, which will 
 
PERMANENT RELATION'S I 79 
 
 overcome us unless we make our position solid and 
 impregnable, and carefully and vigilantly guard the 
 sphere we wish to reserve for our own use. Some- 
 thing like the same state of things may prevail as 
 between our earth-world and the soul-world. It 
 may be a question, less of hostility or sympathy 
 than of " live and let live," of mutual adjustment 
 and toleration. If, in addition, certain bonds of 
 affection apparently severed by death are strong- 
 enough to withstand the tension across the gulf, 
 there may be a constant stream of thought-com- 
 munication passing between inhabitants of this 
 world and the next, and even an exchange of visits 
 in special cases. 
 
 That there is no absolute separation between the 
 inhabitants . of the two worlds is clear from our 
 hypothesis, which regards all intelligences as rays 
 from the same centre. But that kind of connection 
 also links us with the most " malignant " fiend, and 
 does not exclude fierce hostility. An intermediate 
 linkage would be a surer bond of friendship. This 
 ought to be provided by the continuity that exists 
 between the human race extant and those that 
 have " gone before." But blood-relationship is no 
 sure guarantee against parricide and fratricide, and 
 a link of close sympathy is often forged of quite 
 different elements, such as community of interest 
 and of work. 
 
 We may put it down as a pretty safe rule that 
 
ISO INTERCOMMUNICATION 
 
 wherever communication is desirable and mutually 
 profitable, there it will sooner or later be established. 
 We may treat with the soul-world as " a sovereign 
 State with a sovereign State." Our earth-world 
 has its own dignity, and its own responsibilities, 
 which no other world, high or low, can deprive or 
 relieve us of. We must solve our own problems 
 in our own manner, by the light of our own in- 
 tellectual resources. We are constantly asserting 
 that right here, ruthlessly and pitilessly in many 
 ways, as, for instance, with regard to many animal 
 species less powerful than ourselves. We by no 
 means agree as a race upon any single policy. 
 Within the human race there are many inde- 
 pendent communities, largely in a state of rivalry 
 or hostility towards each other. Each evolves, by 
 long experience, its own principles of conduct, its 
 own ethics, its own ideal of good. It endeavours 
 to carry out those ideals, deeming them the best, 
 or even the only good. The hostile community 
 evolves different ideals, which, in the conflict 
 between the two, prevail or go under. The better 
 survives, and mankind at large is the richer by 
 a valuable experience, a valuable addition to its 
 ethical evolution. If we are the vanquished, we 
 say that it is a triumph of evil. If we are the 
 victors, we call it a triumph of good. After a 
 lapse of time, mankind recognises that that was 
 not a Manichean struggle between good and 
 
RIVALRY OF IDEALS l8l 
 
 evil, but between good and better. Whether a 
 thing is to be ranked as good or as better depends 
 upon the area to which it applies. A thief pursues 
 his own good only. His ideal, applied all round, 
 would mean anarchy and universal poverty. 
 Therefore his ideal is " bad," and the community 
 sees to it that a better ideal prevails. 
 
 Let us apply this line of reasoning to the question 
 of our relations with the soul-world. We have 
 certain ideals which we are steadily realising here 
 on earth. They include such things as safety, 
 liberty, self-development, increase of knowledge, 
 facility of motion, avoidance of pain and disease, 
 general stability, encouragement of the arts and 
 all that makes life beautiful. We comprise all this 
 in the single word civilisation. It is our highest 
 earthly good. All education, all reform, all public 
 policies are judged by the manner in which they 
 affect this good, favourably or unfavourably. 
 
 If any one wishes to bring about a reform, a new 
 departure, he must persuade the community that it 
 would be for the public good. If it is already in 
 force elsewhere, he must point out its good results, 
 and prove that its adoption would prove equally 
 beneficial at home. If he proves insufficiently per- 
 suasive, he can try other methods. He can adopt 
 the reform himself, and persuade his friends to do 
 the same. He will then be judged by the number 
 and the determination of his friends. The good he 
 
I 8 2 INTERCOMMUNICATION 
 
 and his friends experience will be tested by the 
 amount of their unwillingness to give up the reform. 
 If they are willing to go to prison for it, they 
 may carry the day. What was judged bad or even 
 criminal may then be judged good and commend- 
 able, and worthy of imitation. It may be adopted 
 by the entire community. The reform will become 
 a betterment, and will vanquish the antecedent 
 good. 
 
 All ethics thus resolves itself into a competition, 
 a race. All evil is comparative. We must take 
 care that we can stand comparison. In so far as 
 we cannot, we shall be condemned. 
 
 What is the safest guide towards this end ? It 
 is love, it is sympathy. By it we enlarge the area 
 of our own good, and make it include our neigh- 
 bour's good. Love is a higher linkage, a knotting 
 of rays above our own plane. Love bars out cruelty 
 and treachery. It does not bar out a good straight 
 fight. 
 
 How will any possible intercourse with the soul- 
 world affect our public policies ? It will be judged 
 by its effect on civilisation. In fact, we might say 
 it has been judged by that, and has heretofore been 
 found wanting, and has accordingly been abolished. 
 In the days of Troy, the gods fought hand to hand 
 with mortals. The gods of Persia prevailed over 
 those of Babylon, the gods of Greece over Persia. 
 All ancient records are full of apparitions of gods 
 
SUPPRESSION" OF INTERCOURSE 1 83 
 
 and angels, of wizards and soothsayers, of demons 
 of the air and goblins of the deep. Men go out of 
 their bodies and devils enter them. Apollo appears 
 out of a cloud 
 
 Nubc candentes umeros amictus 
 
 and disappears as he came. Signs and wonders 
 appear in the sky. People go about who possess 
 all kinds of uncanny powers and occult lore. 
 
 This goes on for centuries, until the days of the 
 Press and the national school. Learning becomes 
 general, the voice of the learned reaches farther 
 than the university lecture hall. It is heard all 
 over the land, it is heard throughout the masses of 
 the population. The nation becomes of one mind, 
 and bears the imprint of its own master-minds. 
 These master-minds ponder over the uncertainty, 
 the havoc wrought by those demons and witches 
 and apparitions. They conclude that they ought to 
 be stamped out. The population, in a mad frenzy, 
 goes and stamps them out. The next generation 
 know them no more. The young devotees of 
 science grow up unaware of their existence. The 
 young devotees grow up, and become master-minds. 
 These master-minds proclaim aloud that such things 
 do not exist, do not occur. Nay, more, they never 
 did exist, they never took place. It was all a de- 
 lusion, due to well-known laws of popular fallacy. 
 All present-day reports of apparitions are instances 
 
1 84 INTERCOMMUNICATION 
 
 of these well-known laws of popular fallacy. Being 
 such, they must not be taken seriously, or, if any 
 one does take them seriously, the proper place for 
 him is the lunatic asylum. 
 
 And thus it comes about that all the fairies, 
 pixies, sylphs, and gnomes fly before the flaring 
 light of science. They are not so much sent away 
 as explained away, and that, in a large and well- 
 organised community, is very nearly as good, and 
 suffices for all practical purposes. 
 
 The absence of all recognised forms of communi- 
 cation with the soul-world in recent times is due to 
 the concentration of attention on the things of our 
 earth-world. The effect of such concentration of 
 attention in obscuring other things is a common- 
 place of psychology. 
 
 Nevertheless, we cannot be certain that both the 
 possibility and desirability of communication with 
 the soul-world may not again very prominently 
 occupy the attention of mankind. A small begin- 
 ning (if it is a beginning) has been made within the 
 last fifty years, first in America, then in England, 
 and lately in Italy and elsewhere. The results, 
 broadly speaking, have made out a strong case for 
 the possibility of such communication. The general 
 desirability of it may still be a moot point, but in 
 any case, no disasters, and no inconveniences worth 
 speaking of, have occurred through the tentative 
 efforts so far made ; and that is saying more in its 
 
METHODS OF COMMUNICATION I 85 
 
 favour than can be alleged in many new departures 
 of, say, surgery or bacteriology. 
 
 Without entering into the discussion of any com- 
 munications, real or alleged, between this world and 
 the next, we can arrive at some general principles 
 which most probably regulate such communications. 
 The method of communication which we adopt 
 among ourselves consists chiefly in certain audible 
 or visible signals and symbols, each of which we are 
 educated to associate with a certain idea or experi- 
 ence of our own. That is language. The method 
 of communication between souls is probably more 
 direct, owing to the greater mobility and expressive- 
 ness of the soul-bodies themselves. It consists in 
 what we would call thought-reading and face-read- 
 ing, or their equivalents. To communicate with the 
 soul-world, either of these methods must be used. 
 The souls must use our sign-language, or we must 
 acquire their thought-transference. There is evi- 
 dence to show, with a high degree of probability, that 
 both methods are in force. In religious ecstasy, in 
 inspiration and illumination, in the bursts of genius, 
 in moments of crisis, in the moment of death, we 
 have glimpses of this direct receptivity, this filling 
 of the whole being with a flood of thought or emo- 
 tion, which most probably characterises life in the 
 soul-world. On the other hand, we have the records 
 of trance-speaking, automatic writing, and the per- 
 cussion and motion of objects to show that some 
 
1 86 INTERCOMMUNICATION 
 
 intelligence other than human is working along the 
 customary human channels. When a soul attempts 
 to do this, the obvious plan Avould be for it to throw 
 itself into a kind of " trance " in which it would 
 recall the conditions of its earth-life. This would 
 be most easily accomplished by entering into close 
 rapport with some suitable living person whose or- 
 ganism might be controlled by the visitor from the 
 soul-world for temporary purposes of communica- 
 tion. This rapport, for aught we know, may take 
 the form of a temporary physical amalgamation of 
 the embodied and disembodied souls, which would 
 correspond to what the ancients called " possession." 
 Or the embodied soul might even be temporarily 
 disembodied, and lend its organism for a time to 
 the stranger. The latter would, under favourable 
 conditions, find no difficulty in controlling the bor- 
 rowed organism for a time. This control might 
 take the form of speaking or writing under control, 
 perhaps the readiest and most satisfactory method 
 of communication. If the controlling soul wishes 
 for a temporary return to earth-life, the natural 
 thing would be to exert its old condensing and 
 organising powers on earthly matter. The matter 
 so used must be specially adapted to this purpose, 
 just as animal and vegetable tissues are specially 
 adapted to our own growth and nutrition, and such 
 a supply of matter would most readily be found 
 within the borrowed organism. A partially or 
 
APPARITIONS 187 
 
 wholly "materialised" organism might thus be 
 temporarily produced, and be afterwards as rapidly 
 dematerialised. It goes without saying that a pro- 
 cess of this kind would expose the borrowed organ- 
 ism to unknown dangers, and might be a matter of 
 very great difficulty and delicacy. In any case, the 
 " apparition " would derive its characteristics from 
 the earth-memories of the " controlled " person or 
 medium, and from any traces of earth-memories 
 which might be possessed or temporarily recalled by 
 the visiting soul. It would be strongly influenced 
 by the general character of those present and by 
 the surroundings. Its conditio sine qud non would 
 be a recollection, a familiarity with the temporary 
 earthly surroundings, and nothing unusual in word 
 or action need be looked for. 
 
 The control of an earthly organism by a being 
 from the soul-world requires a state of passivity in 
 the former. This state is naturally greater in the 
 night than in the daytime, greater in the dark than 
 in the light. We might therefore expect better 
 conditions in the dark than in a bright light. 
 
 We need not expect much intelligible information 
 from any such communications. In the first place, 
 they would naturally be made under conditions 
 anything but favourable to intelligent communica- 
 tion. The spheres of life are more different than 
 those of men and of fishes, and whatever connection 
 is established is biassed and strongly coloured by the 
 
I 8 8 INTERCOMMUNICATION 
 
 human medium. And further, we cannot reason- 
 ably expect anything new or valuable about our 
 own world from beings who naturally belong to 
 another. It would be as reasonable to expect from 
 my next-door neighbour new information concern- 
 ing the state of my coal-supply or the pickles in 
 my pantry. If an attempt is made to inform us 
 concerning life in the soul-world, such information 
 will be found extremely difficult to impart and to 
 translate, so to speak, into the language of the reci- 
 pients, who may have no equivalent experience to 
 appeal to. 
 
 Yet with patience and the taking of pains we 
 might enter into the life of the soul-world to the 
 extent, at all events, to which we have entered into 
 the life of ancient Egypt since we began to decipher 
 the hieroglyphs. But, taking all the circumstances 
 into consideration, we cannot expect to obtain satis- 
 factory results without taking very much more 
 trouble about it than Egyptologist ever took. And 
 who is there at present prepared to face such a task, 
 even for the immense reward it offers ? 
 
 The inevitable communication between the two 
 worlds which takes place at the death of one of us 
 remains to be considered. May we not think that 
 perhaps some loving welcome awaits us at death, 
 similar to the welcome which greeted us at birth ? 
 Is there not, perhaps, an instinct for the increase 
 of soul-life which rules the soul-world, just as the 
 
NO TERRORS AHEAD I 89 
 
 silent impulse towards child-life rules this ? Does 
 not the divine impulse towards the cherishing and 
 protecting of inexperience extend also into the soul- 
 world, and urge its wise and beautiful inhabitants 
 to minister to the newly born soul-body with the 
 keen delight which parents feel in ministering to 
 their earthly offspring ? Of this I am certain, that if 
 any terror awaited us beyond, if the soul-world were 
 not at least as fair and as good to live in as this, 
 there would long ago have been such a steady back- 
 ward pressure of fear and repugnance as would have 
 sufficed to counterbalance the forward pressure of 
 the human race. The race, in its horror of death, 
 would have had a horror of life, and a horror of 
 generating life, which would ages ago have dried up 
 the springs of fertility and made an end of the 
 human race. The race would have been like a vast 
 crowd surging towards an abyss, and warned of it 
 by the vague disturbance ahead, the cries of distress, 
 the straining backward, the gathering panic. 
 
 No, we may be certain that nothing worse awaits 
 us than the worst we experience in this earthly life. 
 And for aught we can dimly foresee, most of our 
 familiar terrors will be eliminated. Falsehood and 
 uncertainty are two of our greatest curses, and these 
 will almost certainly become very much mitigated. 
 The conditions of the new life are such as to reduce 
 them to a minimum. 
 
 Of the elimination of disease and death I need 
 
1 90 INTERCOMMUNICATION 
 
 not speak. The former may possibly be eliminated 
 from earth-life before very long, or reduced to a 
 single form, that of a prolonged and healing sleep. 
 And as regards death, we shall then know that what 
 we formerly understood by that is non-existent. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE WIDER PROBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY 
 
 Hitherto we have only dealt with the human 
 aspect of immortality, or rather, of this world and 
 the next. The general problem of immortality 
 is immeasurably wider. It includes questions as 
 to the fate of lower organisms, the existence of 
 organisms far beyond the human scale, of in- 
 habitants of other stars and planets, and of inter- 
 stellar space. 
 
 We can only touch the fringe of these vast 
 problems, and need only deal with them in so far 
 as they affect our present state and our immediate 
 prospects hereafter. 
 
 Do animals possess souls ? According to the 
 general lines of our argument, we must answer 
 most decidedly : they do. Their organisms are as 
 complex as our own. They require similar directing 
 centres or psychomeres. Their mental faculties are, 
 as a rule, greatly underrated, largely on account of 
 the difficulty we experience in "putting ourselves 
 in their place." Indeed, we may seriously doubt 
 whether ants and bees, for instance, are, in their own 
 sphere, in any way inferior to ourselves, or, if they 
 
I92 THE WIDER PROBLEMS OP IMMORTALITY 
 
 are, whether their partial inferiority in some things 
 is not compensated by a superiority in others. 
 
 Do they survive then, also ? Are they, too, 
 immortal, like ourselves ? 
 
 We can allege no sufficient reason why they 
 should not be ! The idea that noxious insects, for 
 instance, may accompany us and confront us in the 
 soul-world is enough to fill some sensitive minds 
 with horror and loathing. They would, at that 
 price, rather not have immortality. They would 
 prefer annihilation. 
 
 But let us look at this question rationally and 
 coolly. In the first place, we may possibly never 
 come near them. They may be thoroughly " earth- 
 bound," and passing through a cycle of rapid rein- 
 carnations, they may, if they people the atmosphere 
 at all, be confined to its lowest strata. If they 
 inhabit the soul-world itself, they may fulfil a useful 
 function there, something like horses and cows and 
 pet canaries in this. For the practices and pursuits 
 which make them objectionable here will be neces- 
 sarily modified by the change of world and of state 
 of aggregation. 
 
 With plants the case is somewhat different, though 
 not fundamentally different. A plant is a much 
 looser aggregation of cell communities than an 
 animal. A flower, plucked from the stem, is cap- 
 able of blooming for some time in a flower-glass. 
 When it dies, it is quite possible that the knot 
 
PERMANENT IMMORTALITY 1 93 
 
 which bound its cells together is dissolved also, 
 that the cell-knots are loosened, and that certain 
 organic molecules, or even the atoms which com- 
 posed them, may be the only permanent units of 
 consciousness which remain. 
 
 We may take it for granted that the more the 
 self-consciousness and the will are developed, the 
 more permanent is the individuality. The in- 
 dividuals of the human race have therefore the best 
 chances of real (i.e. permanent) immortality. The 
 development of the individual goes hand in hand 
 with his training in altruistic activity. Both factors 
 make for permanent survival. He is made strong, 
 and he is made useful — strong to defend himself, 
 useful in forwarding the interests of the com- 
 munity. Permanent survival thus depends upon 
 two factors, each of them of independent value, 
 but both together forming an irresistible com- 
 bination. 
 
 If I would have my life-knot strong and secure, I 
 must see to it that all the psychomeres which obey 
 my will feel thoroughly at one, and firmly bound 
 together in a common cause. " Union is strength." 
 I must fill their lives with a common inspiration. 
 They will strengthen me, and I, in turn, shall 
 strengthen them. 
 
 If, for any reason, I am personally unable to give 
 them that firm government and vital inspiration 
 which they need, I must get it from above, i.e. by 
 
 N 
 
194 THE WIDER PROBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY 
 
 attaching myself closely to a larger organism, enter- 
 ing its service with loyalty and glad devotion, and 
 hand that loyalty and gladness down to them that 
 serve me. I must be wise in my choice of that 
 higher organism, that Master whom I will serve. He 
 must be able to command my unswerving love and 
 devotion. He must be strong, and His strength 
 must be permanent too, and for the same reason, i.e. 
 because it is in accordance with the greatest good. 
 Thus I can safely defy the immeasurable eternities 
 before me. 
 
 Immortality thus presents itself to us in several 
 new aspects. It is possible, though not inevitable. 
 It is, so to speak, optional. The alternative to im- 
 mortality is the disintegration of the individual, 
 which is the only real death, and is not in any 
 way connected with the laying aside of the ballast 
 organism which is popularly known as death. The 
 latter should, if anything, lead to a closer tying of 
 the vital knot, a more vivid and energetic co-opera- 
 tion between the psychomeres, and to that " sense 
 of immense power " testified to by those who have 
 been half-way across the gulf and returned. 
 
 Nor can the possible amalgamation or fusion of two 
 or more personalities be taken to imply the death 
 of the individual. It should be, of all things, the 
 moment of the most supreme rapture and ineffable 
 bliss, a bliss of which we catch a faint glimpse in the 
 transports of human love, and more especially in 
 
DISINTEGRATION 1 9 5 
 
 those exquisite refinements of love between the 
 sexes which have been sung by poets of every age. 
 
 Again, the disintegration of an individuality 
 admits of several gradations. We have seen that 
 there are infinite gradations of life-communities and 
 planes of life-knots. The dissolving of a knot on 
 one plane need not imply the dissolving of the knots 
 immediately below it. Sometimes it certainly does 
 not. Thus,' those infusoria which, after conjuga- 
 tion, become cj^sts and give rise to numberless 
 independent spores, show a disintegration of in- 
 dividuality which but slightly lowers the plane of 
 life, and does not hinder the re-attainment of the 
 original level by the independent individuals. In the 
 human body, after physical " death," the disintegra- 
 tion is much more complex. The life-knots of the 
 cells are dissolved, and also those of the biophores 
 or " pangens " which build up the various contents 
 of the cell. These are probably destroyed by the 
 withdrawal of the controlling psychomeres. Disin- 
 tegration remains latent so long as there is no active 
 agent of destruction, and may remain undiscover- 
 able when such agents are wanting (as under ex- 
 treme cold). But under ordinary circumstances 
 those useful scavengers, the bacteria, make short 
 work of the outworn machine. They convert it into 
 amines and amino-acids, which again give rise to 
 ammonia. The latter is either absorbed by plants 
 direct, or " nitrified " into nitrates, or " denitrified " 
 
196 THE WIDER PROBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY 
 
 into nitrogen. The nitrates are absorbed by plants, 
 and the nitrogen is fixed in the soil by the nitrogen- 
 fixing bacteria, so that it also becomes suitable for 
 that most essential link between the animal and 
 inorganic worlds, the plant. It is thus that nitrogen, 
 that chemical species which of all species produces 
 the most unstable and delicately poised compounds, 
 circles the round of nature, descending into the 
 " hell " of the infra-world before it again rises to the 
 level of the animal. 
 
 The view here adopted gives also a rational inter- 
 pretation of blood-relationship as affecting life in 
 the soul-world. It is just here that the incon- 
 ceivabilities of the ordinary loose notions of survival 
 become most glaring. Imagine a soul-world in 
 which ancestors and grandsires and great-grand- 
 children are indiscriminately herded together. If 
 any earthly traditions remained among them there 
 would be an intolerable tyranny of age over youth, 
 tempered perhaps by a perennial and ever-increasing 
 recalcitrance of the latter. There would not be, as 
 with us, a reasonable progress tempered by a reason- 
 able conservatism. On our view, on the other hand, 
 there is a gradual ascent of man towards higher 
 and higher levels, represented, not symbolically, but 
 really, by higher strata of the atmosphere. It is 
 like the smoke of incense ascending towards the 
 Most High. 
 
 A view such as this is opposed to what is known 
 
REINCARNATION 1 9 7 
 
 as metempsychosis or reincarnation, or the return 
 of the soul to earth-life after a certain interval, and 
 its passage through successive lives in the course of 
 its gradual perfectioning. But our general experience 
 of nature in such departments as those of natural 
 history precludes us from pronouncing such a 
 return as impossible, or even unlikely. Whenever 
 we have a choice of two alternative processes, the 
 safest conclusion to arrive at is that loth are true, and 
 are sometimes chosen. For nature loves variety, 
 not only of individuals, but of ways and means. 
 Putting it grossly, we might call it a matter of 
 statistics, and ask the question : What percentage of 
 souls go through repeated incarnations on earth ? 
 
 Reincarnation itself may take place in a variety 
 of ways. There are well-authenticated cases of 
 double or ' ' duplex " personality, in which the char- 
 acter of a person suddenly changes, exactly as if 
 the person's body were in possession of another 
 entity. The former personality suddenly returns, 
 and sometimes there is a more or less rapid alterna- 
 tion of the two selves. 1 By careful treatment, the 
 two personalities may even be amalgamated and 
 fused into one. 
 
 If we assume the " spiritistic " explanation, the 
 invading spirit must obviously be taken as tempo- 
 rarily incarnated, and as enjoying the powers con- 
 
 1 See Sidis and Goodhart, "Multiple Personality" (Appleton, 
 London, 1905). 
 
198 THE WIDER PROBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY 
 
 ferred upon it by the possession of a physical 
 organism. If that is possible, then such invasion 
 is also conceivable in infancy or at the moment of 
 birth, or even during gestation, in which case we 
 should have to postulate the physical death or 
 disembodiment, temporary or permanent, of the 
 soul previously in possession of the organism in- 
 vaded. This would appear to be rather a purpose- 
 less procedure. And even if we go right back to 
 the moment of conception, the difficulties by no 
 means disappear. For although the presence of a 
 crowd of souls desiring re-embodiment might explain 
 not only the readiness with which new-comers are 
 welcomed, but also the rapidity of their prenatal 
 development, it fails when we take the most 
 primitive type of birth, viz. simple fission. For 
 when a cell divides into two equal parts, it would 
 be absurd to suppose that one of them is henceforth 
 to harbour an invading soul, while the other remains 
 in possession of its original occupier. 
 
 And as regards the problem of development, even 
 if we explained it by the memories of previous in- 
 carnations, which facilitate the formation of the 
 well-remembered organs, the explanation would 
 hardly cover the equally rapid formation of an 
 organ by regeneration in an earth-worm or a lizard. 
 
 Again, the doctrine of Karma (the accumulated 
 record of character in the Indian philosophy) is 
 already sufficiently contained in the formation of 
 
MASTER SPIRITS 1 99 
 
 the soul-body, which is much more lasting than 
 the physical body, and bears with it the impress 
 and record of all past actions and experiences. 
 
 The question of immortality can hardly be dis- 
 cussed without some reference to the higher com- 
 manding entities which may possibly exist or be 
 gradually evolved in the soul-world, and whose 
 existence might conceivably produce some marked 
 effect upon this earth-world. Even here there is an 
 enormous difference between the power of the highest 
 intellect and the power of the lowest. If there is 
 anything certain in human development, it is that 
 men are not born " free and equal." Their degree 
 of freedom varies within very wide limits, and no 
 two individuals are equally endowed except as 
 regards, perhaps, their physical organism in its 
 general outlines. Yet the desire for freedom and 
 equality is not without its proper satisfaction. For, 
 if anything is clear from the line of reasoning we 
 have followed, it is that man has a certain definite 
 freedom of choice within narrow limits imposed by 
 the worlds next above and next below his own. 
 Within those limits he is absolutely free, and his 
 power is equal to that of any other entity, however 
 much higher in the scale of being than himself. 
 We have seen that each plane of being carries on 
 its own type of life independently of all others, 
 within the limits already referred to. The tree 
 lives its own life, and the birds on its boughs live 
 
200 THE WIDER PROBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY 
 
 theirs. The supra-entity in whose blood our 
 galactic system is a single corpuscle effects his 
 mighty purpose independently of our puny will, 
 and we in turn effect ours in utter indifference 
 to his. 
 
 That there are kingly souls in the soul-world, just 
 as there are on earth, we must naturally expect. 
 For aught we know, their ascendency may be more 
 pronounced than any ascendency we find on earth. 
 And if any large invasion of the earth-world is ever 
 carried out from above, we may well assume it to 
 be planned and carried out by some commander-in- 
 chief of the soul- world. But such organised invasions 
 would naturally be rare, and would become rarer as 
 civilisation proceeded and as we obtained a firmer 
 grip upon our own earth-conditions. 
 
 This world of ours is " worth fighting for," as 
 Cromwell said of Ireland. It is one of many worlds. 
 It may not be the best of all possible worlds, but it 
 is ours, and we are to blame for any lack of per- 
 fection. It is our business so to order it that it 
 may reach our highest conceivable ideal of perfec- 
 tion. Since that task cannot be accomplished in a 
 life-time, we must see that those who come after us 
 have that ideal always before them, and have the 
 strength to work towards it. The earth-world is 
 lying there before us, ready to be moulded to our 
 will. We are given powers of life and death over 
 the animal and plant worlds. We can, and do, 
 
MANS SUPREMACY ON EARTH 201 
 
 alter the face of the land and the sweep of the 
 coast. There is no limit to our mechanical powers, 
 to our organisations, to the amount of matter, 
 living or dead, which we may press into service. 
 Surely such liberty brings with it tremendous 
 responsibilities. And how can we put the blame 
 on any shoulders but our own when anything is 
 amiss ? If there is pain, is not the world full of 
 anodynes ? If there is poverty, is there not untold 
 wealth lying unclaimed ; is there not the delight of 
 service which relieves distress ? If there is death, 
 where is its terror ? For death is but the transition 
 to a more subtle and intense life, in which again we 
 have the choice between serving and governing, with 
 its attendant alternatives of a light-hearted loyalty 
 and sombre responsibility. Even if we are weary of 
 life, and of all the struggle and the turmoil of it, 
 we have the option of a surrender of our indivi- 
 duality, of a sinking into the bosom of the All and 
 One, of the merging of all that makes up our Selves 
 in the ocean of life, where it will assume a myriad 
 new forms, each guarding some echo and faint 
 tradition of that Ego which once walked this earth 
 through storm and stress. 
 
 A fair world is ours now, and a fairer world awaits 
 us beyond. Here on earth the flowers bloom for 
 us, the trees wave their branches, the winds sigh, 
 and the birds sing. A soul dwells in every tree, a 
 mystic and dreamy soul, a soul half merged in that 
 
202 THE WIDER PROBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY 
 
 ocean of life whither many of us may tread our 
 weary way as a last refuge some day. The green 
 republic of the leaves lift up their faces towards the 
 upper air and the sun, whence they have their 
 sustenance and strength. The wide expanse of 
 plain and mountain harbours endless forms of life, 
 a thin film of existence emerging from the solid 
 ground and merging imperceptibly into the ether 
 above. In all this fulness of life the joy outweighs 
 the sorrow, the progress surpasses the decay. 
 
 Then whither have our terrors fled ? We find 
 them neither in this world nor the next. In this 
 world we have the comradeship of man to fight our 
 battles with us and for us. In the next we have 
 the comradeship of all mankind that went before us 
 to prepare the way, and the same friends, perhaps, 
 who welcomed us into this world will greet us on 
 our transition thither. In all worlds present or to 
 come, we have the sustaining power of the great 
 Centre and Origin of all life, of God the Father 
 Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, who never 
 more will appear as an angry Judge, half repentant 
 of having created us, but as the source of all life and 
 all joy, the equally loving cherisher of all that lives 
 and all that exists, in whom and through whom we 
 are, and by whose strength and warrant we, too, 
 have almighty powers. 
 
PART III 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 The recent history of psychology has marked a 
 gradual extension of the science into regions for- 
 merly regarded as non-scientific, or as unworthy of 
 the name of science. The old introspective school 
 has been powerfully affected by the recent science 
 of experimental psychology on the one hand and by 
 mental pathology on the other. The psycho-physi- 
 ological laboratory and the lunatic asylum have 
 been the mines from which the richest treasures 
 of psychological science have recently been obtained. 
 The galvanometer and the chronograph have con- 
 verted psychology to some extent into a quanti- 
 tative science, and, on the other hand, the human 
 mind, studied in its more abnormal and aberrant 
 aspects, has revealed properties of which the older 
 psychology was entirely unaware. The discredited 
 art of " mesmerism " has been revived and codified, 
 if not sanctified, under the new and more respectable 
 name of " hypnotism " by Braid at Manchester and 
 Charcot at the Paris Salpetriere, who conclusively 
 
204 THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 established the extraordinary sway which one mind 
 may obtain over the mind of another, and even over 
 the body of another, down to its most elementary 
 and essential organic functions. Hypnotism is now 
 part of the regular curriculum of the medical pro- 
 fession, and has almost completely disappeared from 
 the popular stage. Its dangers are well recognised 
 and guarded against, and its curative powers are 
 being more and more extensively utilised. 
 
 We may anticipate that the fate of hypnotism 
 will be shared in the near future by many other 
 " occult " realms of knowledge, such as animal 
 " magnetism," telepathy, and spiritism. These 
 comprise a large body of real or alleged observa- 
 tions of a particularly obscure and difficult nature, 
 which are not yet accepted by the bulk of repre- 
 sentatives of official science, but are gradually being 
 sifted and ranged in order, and will no doubt be 
 the commonplaces of science by the middle of this 
 century. 
 
 In the present work we are moving necessarily 
 so much on the borderland of the Known that it 
 would be more than foolish to ignore these new 
 facts simply because they do not yet form legiti- 
 mate subjects for discussion, say, at the meetings 
 of the British Association for the Advancement of 
 Science. Moreover, this book does not work under 
 the limitations of a college text-book. It is not 
 bound to give only that which is generally accepted. 
 
ROOM FOR NEW FACTS 205 
 
 It has to take its facts wherever it can find them, 
 and the less " accepted " they are, the more light 
 are they calculated to shed on the obscure problems 
 hero dealt with — problems whose very obscurity 
 shows how far official science is from furnishing a 
 solution for them. 
 
 There is also another consideration. The facts 
 which have been sufficiently authenticated to be 
 here utilised are, as a rule, not officially accepted, 
 simply because they Jit into no accepted theory. If the 
 facts are facts, the obvious conclusion is not that 
 we must ignore them, but that we must alter our 
 theories to suit them. Now the theory sketched 
 out in what has been already written contains all 
 the modifications necessary, not only to fit in the 
 facts of the " new psychology," but also a host' of 
 traditions of bygone times which have been dis- 
 credited solely by being out of harmony with the 
 prevailing trend of modern thought. 
 
 Let us briefly resume the theory of the human 
 individual developed in the preceding chapters : — 
 
 1. An individual is a permanent organisation 
 consisting of an infinite number of living entities, 
 graded in a " hierarchy " ranging from the most 
 vital and essential to the least vital and least 
 indispensable. 
 
 2. The most vital entities in this hierarchy are 
 those which have the most powerful determining 
 action upon the life processes. They are also 
 
206 THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 those which are most permanently essential to 
 the organisation. 
 
 3. At death, the most vital entities, down to a 
 certain order of vitality, are detached from the 
 body, which then falls a prey to other entities. 
 The entities thus disembodied are here termed 
 psychomeres or soul-particles. Together they make 
 up the soul-body, or, in short, the soul. 
 
 4. The psychomeres are estimated to weigh 
 not more than one-thousandth, nor less than one- 
 millionth, of the total weight of the body. 
 
 5. Their disembodiment is undiscoverable by 
 weighing the body in air, as their weight in air 
 is zero. 
 
 6. The soul-body contains all the memories, 
 organic and social, of the individual. It is more 
 mobile and plastic than the physical body, and 
 therefore capable of a more exalted and vivid 
 type of existence. 
 
 7. The soul-body is probably held together by 
 electrostatic forces. 
 
 8. The soul-body retains its power of assuming 
 any shape desired, and may, under exceptional 
 conditions, reconstruct for itself a physical body. 
 
 9. The abode of the departed souls is the earth's 
 atmosphere. 
 
 10. The normal shape of the soul-body some- 
 what resembles a flame, and is of about the same 
 tenuity. 
 
A SUMMARY 207 
 
 11. The number of psychomeres constituting an 
 individual may be roughly estimated at a trillion 
 (10 18 ). 
 
 12. A certain proportion of the psychomeres 
 are temporarily detachable from the physical body 
 even during the life-time of the latter. 
 
 13. The psychomeres of a lost limb, &c, return 
 to the organism of the individual on the death of 
 the limb. 
 
 14. The birth of a new human being is due to 
 the conjunction of two psychomeres derived from 
 opposite sexes. These psychomeres are then lost 
 to the parent individuals. 
 
 15. Death is necessitated by the overcharging of 
 the psychomeres with permanent structures, formed 
 for the purpose of simplifying life processes. 
 
 16. The immortality of the individual is not 
 absolute, but depends upon the development of 
 his individual consciousness and upon his utility 
 to a superior organisation. Death in general does 
 not tend to destroy the individual, but to enhance 
 his individuality. 
 
 1 7. All individuals of any order are organisations 
 of individuals of lower orders, down to the infini- 
 tesimal. Individuals of all orders below the range 
 of our analysis are regarded by us as " dead matter." 
 
 18. The laws of "matter" (the laws of Nature) 
 are the aggregate of the social or organic laws of all 
 individuals of orders below our range of analysis. 
 
208 THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 19. All individuals of whatever order are con- 
 nected with the Universal Centre of Life, and are 
 thus ultimately connected with each other. 
 
 This scheme, which contains no very startling 
 assumptions, accounts in a simple manner for the 
 phenomena of both normal and abnormal psychology. 
 It puts psychology on a sound logical basis, beyond 
 the reach of destructive materialism. It abolishes 
 the dualism of mind and matter, putting in its 
 place what might be called a spiritual monism. It 
 makes life the fundamental reality of the universe, 
 and reduces physical death to a kind of " moult," a 
 freeing of the individual from a worn-out piece of 
 machinery built up by himself. It vitalises biology 
 by reducing life processes to the known (viz. the 
 phenomena of consciousness) instead of putting 
 them back into the unknown recesses of atomic 
 matter. Finally, it gives a reasonable working 
 hypothesis of a future life, based upon well-known 
 physical and physiological principles, which en- 
 ables us not only to classify and explain a large 
 number of hitherto isolated observations, but 
 also to predict new ones capable of future veri- 
 fication. 
 
 We shall, in what follows, attempt to bring 
 within our range the following abnormal or super- 
 normal phenomena, variously classified as hypnotic, 
 " magnetic," magic, subliminal, spiritualistic, mete- 
 therial, mediumistic, or occult : — 
 
ABNORMAL PHENOMENA 209 
 
 a. The temporary withdrawal of the soul-body 
 (" double," or " astral " body) during earth-life. 
 
 b. The temporary duplication of parts of the 
 body (cf. Davenport Brothers, Stainton Moses, 
 Eusapia Paladino). 
 
 c. Observations of withdrawal at or near death. 
 
 d. Materialised spirit-forms. 
 
 e. Luminous metapsychic phenomena. 
 
 /. Mechanical phenomena of modern spiritualism 
 (telekinesis). 
 
 g. Phenomena of control and possession (auto- 
 matism). 
 
 h. Externalisation of sensation (telesthesia). 
 
 i. Thought-transference (telepathy). 
 
 j. Psychological exaltation (ecstasy, prophecy, 
 genius). 
 
 h. Retrocognition (" psychometry ") and haunting 
 (apparitions). 
 
 I. Hypnotism (animal "magnetism") and sugges- 
 tion (psycho-therapeutics). 
 
 These phenomena are classified in a different 
 manner by Rector Boirac of Dijon. 1 He dis- 
 tinguishes three orders of phenomena : — 
 
 1. Hypnoid. — Phenomena which are apparently 
 explained by the forces already known, if we 
 suppose that under certain conditions these forces 
 act according to laws which we do not know yet, 
 
 1 See La Psychologie Inconnuc, par Emile Boirac. Felix Alcau : 
 Paris, 1908. 
 
 O 
 
2IO THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 and which may be very different from the known 
 laws. 
 
 2. Magnetoid.- — Phenomena apparently explicable 
 by hitherto unknown forces or agents distinct from 
 those which science has already discovered and 
 studied, but which, we may add, belong normally 
 to our world, and are comprised within that per- 
 manent set of forces and agents which we call 
 " nature." 
 
 3. Spiritoid. — Phenomena which seem to imply 
 the intervention of forces which, though not indeed 
 " supernatural," are extra-natural, not belonging 
 normally to our world, but making in some way 
 sudden incursions into the realms of nature from 
 some plane of existence foreign to the plane in 
 which we move. 
 
 Boirac himself admits that this classification 
 must be regarded as provisional only, and that 
 there is a likelihood of class 3 being reduced to a 
 special case of class 1 or class 2. 
 
 We are not disposed to postulate any super- 
 natural or even extra-natural forces. It is, in fact, 
 unscientific to postulate these except as a last resort, 
 when all other attempts at explanation fail. 
 
 Besides, the term " force " has been greatly 
 abused in this connection. It is a term belonging 
 to physics, and means that which produces a dis- 
 placement or acceleration of matter. It is not a 
 satisfactory term. It is so vague and " meta- 
 
"FORCE 211 
 
 physical " that physicists have lately used it very 
 sparingly, or have even attempted to discard it 
 altogether. As a rule, one can distinguish a good 
 work on physics from a bad one partly by the 
 frequency with which the word " force " is used, and 
 its use in books on psychology is often a sign of 
 faulty reasoning or a loose terminology. To talk 
 about the " conduction of magnetic force " is quite 
 meaningless, and has no analogy anywhere in 
 physics, and when we find the same force described 
 as a " fluid," we reach the height of absurdity. 
 Neither electricity nor magnetism are " forces." 
 The former is, indeed, a fluid, and can be conducted. 
 The latter is not a fluid, but a mode of motion of 
 electricity, and can not be conducted. There is, of 
 course, electrostatic force, and magnetic force, and 
 electrodynamic force, but these can only be propa- 
 gated across space (with the velocity of light), 
 and cannot be conducted. Their nature is quite 
 unknown ; and there is nothing to indicate any 
 " fluidic " constitution for them. 
 
 The forces governing biological processes are just 
 as unknown as those which produce, say, the levi- 
 tation of a table. Cohesion, chemical affinity, and 
 the forces governing crystalline and colloid aggrega- 
 tions are on the very borderland of physical science 
 as far as their " explanation " is concerned. We 
 can only state that such and such changes take 
 place under suitable conditions. We have not got 
 
212 THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 even so far as to explain why a stretched wire 
 holds together. We cannot yet reduce its cohesion 
 to known " forces," though there is every probability 
 that cohesive force is electrostatic rather than mag- 
 netic or gravitational. If that must be admitted 
 concerning such a familiar thing as a copper wire, 
 what shall we say about the much more mysterious 
 forces of chemistry and biology ? We may guess 
 that chemical affinities are matters of electrostatics, 
 but if we remember that the very structure of 
 electricity has only been elucidated within the last 
 ten years, we shall understand that we are only 
 arguing from the altogether unknown to the very 
 imperfectly known. 
 
 And as regards the form or structure of atoms, 
 we can only indulge in the very wildest guess-work. 
 They may be, for aught we know, living species of a 
 very low order, whose birth-rate and death-rate are 
 too rapid to enable us to perceive anything but an 
 apparent uniformity and lifelessness. 
 
 If two such highly developed sciences as physics 
 and chemistry utterly forsake us in investigating 
 the small-scale phenomena of matter, what must be 
 said of biology, which has hitherto relied for all its 
 ultimate explanations upon those very sciences, two 
 broken reeds in the dismal swamp of the unknown ! 
 
 Known Forces ! There are no such things. We 
 know that certain effects as a rule are observable 
 under certain conditions. What produces those 
 
SPECIAL HYPOTHESIS 213 
 
 effects ? Such and such forces. What are these 
 forces ? They are that which produces such and 
 such effects. We argue in a circle, and believe we 
 are scientific. 
 
 It is more legitimate to study, describe, and 
 classify the effects, the uniformities observed in 
 nature, to trace any observable analogies between 
 physical and psychic occurrences, to deal as far as 
 possible with simple facts and conditions, and to 
 remain in the region of the known. Above all, we 
 must refrain from " explaining " unusual phenomena 
 with the help of highly speculative theories which 
 happen to hold the field in any circumscribed 
 science. The specialisation of modern research is 
 such that every discipline has its own type of 
 theory. The physicist deals in molecules or elec- 
 trons, the chemist in atoms and stereochemical 
 structures, the mineralogist in crystalline aggregates, 
 solid or liquid, the physiologist in biogens and 
 colloid substances, the astronomer in gravitating 
 bodies. Those who can survey all these fields and 
 unify them are few, and are becoming fewer. There 
 is no inducement to generalise since the " specialist " 
 holds the market. The wide sweep of a Newton is 
 nowadays well-nigh impossible. 
 
 It is safest, therefore, to take from every science 
 its facts, and to look upon its theories as working 
 hypotheses of very limited application. In psycho- 
 logy it would be folly to reduce anything to matter 
 
214 THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 and motion. Psychology must have its own funda- 
 mental conceptions, its own units. And when we 
 consider that psychology deals with more intimate 
 and immediately knowable phenomena than any 
 other science, it becomes evident that its reduction 
 to physics or physiology is nothing but an abject 
 and unworthy surrender. 
 
 That mistake has not been committed by F. W. 
 H. Myers, or by the other leaders and founders of 
 the " new psychology." 
 
 Myers, in his epoch-making work, 1 laid the 
 foundation of a new psychological philosophy in 
 which human faculties are presented to us in a 
 wide perspective, ranging from the ordinary waking 
 consciousness through the " subliminal " conscious- 
 ness (the consciousness below the threshold) out to 
 the universal or cosmic consciousness, the mind of 
 the world-soul. 
 
 In this scheme, ordinary waking (" supra-liminal ") 
 memory comprises only a small fraction of the 
 memory-tract really inherent in the individual. It 
 is surrounded by regions of hypermnesia or exalted 
 memory on one side, and by organic memory on the 
 other, with a background of memories inherent in 
 higher or lower orders of organisms. Sensation has 
 similar annexes of hyperesthesia and telesthesia. 
 Volition is flanked by self-suggestion and the 
 
 1 "The Human Personality, and its Survival of Bodily Death." 
 Longmans, London. 
 
MYERS 2 I 5 
 
 superior control of matter, and ordinary foresight 
 works on a background of subliminal or " instinc- 
 tive " anticipations on the other hand, and sug- 
 gestions and premonitions inflowing from the sea 
 of life on the other. The past and future, im- 
 perfectly surveyed by the individual, are clear and 
 present to the world-soul, to which we are destined 
 further and further to approximate. 
 
 This magnificent scheme of human faculties is 
 not based upon biological data, but upon the 
 material accumulated by the Society for Psychical 
 Research, and forms the most authoritative expo- 
 sition and summary of the valuable data hitherto 
 rendered available. The scheme as it stands repre- 
 sents a minimum of new assumptions, and must be 
 therefore described as possessing to an exceptional 
 degree the scientific virtues of economy and con- 
 tinuity. 
 
 Our own scheme, while embodying that of Myers, 
 will go a step farther. It will furnish a physical 
 interpretation of the strata of consciousness. Instead 
 of leaving them afloat in non-Euclidean space, it 
 will locate them and bring them down to earth. 
 
 Such a modification is, of course, exposed to the 
 risk of refutation. It is more vulnerable than a 
 purely psychological scheme. But that disadvant- 
 age is amply compensated by the very living and 
 graphic manner in which the various facts may be 
 dealt with. Above all. it allows us to utilise the 
 
2l6 THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 facts and laws of physics and physiology, so far as 
 they have been determined. We can come down 
 to figures, and estimate and predict. Thus we are 
 in a position to test our theory in the only manner 
 which is finally convincing. 
 
 We have already had occasion to distinguish 
 between the " organic " and the " social " memory. 
 The latter may be identified with the supraliminal 
 memory of Myers. The subliminal strata will then 
 be composed of the organic memory on the one 
 hand (including the racial memoiw), and those 
 illuminated memories which, in occasional flashes, 
 pervade the whole structure of the individual. 
 Du Prel 1 regards the organism itself as the " thres- 
 hold," and, in accordance with this nomenclature, 
 Professor Barrett 2 uses the word '■ supra-liminal " 
 to denote those supernormal faculties which we 
 have referred to as only exercised in earth-life in 
 occasional flashes. Such faculties comprise the 
 hyperboulia, hypermnesia, and hyperesthesia of 
 Myers. They are implied in our view of the organic 
 connection of the individual with individuals of 
 higher planes, and with the Universal Centre of 
 Life. 
 
 The subliminal self is probably paramount in the 
 phenomena of suggestion and curative hypnotism, 
 
 1 "Philosophy of Mysticism," translated by C. C. Massey. 
 Eedway, London, 1889. 
 
 2 " On the Threshold of a New World of Thought." Kegan Paul, 
 London. 1908. 
 
THE SUBLIMINAL 2 17 
 
 in faith-healing, and in some forms of automatism. 
 But in some directions the conception of the sub- 
 liminal has been overworked. It has been made 
 to do duty in many cases where it by no means 
 offers the simplest explanation of the phenomena. 
 That, of course, was natural so long as the old 
 materialistic prejudice against human survival and 
 the existence of extra-mundane intelligences re- 
 mained in force. But now that we have arrived 
 at a rational and intelligible view of death and 
 survival, nothing would be gained by leaving out 
 of consideration the manifold possibilities of dis- 
 embodied intelligences acting upon our own world. 
 We shall therefore be free to assume such action 
 wherever it offers the " least resistance," and only 
 if it does that. Our physical and quantitative 
 data will enable us to discriminate in doubtful 
 cases between the various probabilities, and if in 
 any given case the " spirit hypothesis " is the 
 simplest, we shall have no hesitation in applying 
 it and working out its consequences. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE STORY OF "KATIE KING" 
 
 It will be useful at this stage to enter somewhat 
 fully into the details of one of the most remarkable 
 and best authenticated manifestations of super- 
 normal activity on record. The story is thirty-four 
 years old, but can be completely reconstructed from 
 contemporary records, and its chief recorder, Sir 
 William Crookes, F.R.S., is, happily, still alive, and 
 ready, if necessary, to bear witness to its accuracy. 
 It is the story of the frequent appearance of a 
 materialised " spirit form " in various places in 
 London, most usually in the presence of a " medium" 
 of the name of Florence Cook, a girl of fourteen. 
 The appearances took place from May 21, 1871, 
 to May 21, 1874, a period of just three years. 
 During the latter portion of this period the appear- 
 ances were minutely studied by Mr. William Crookes, 
 Mr. Cromwell Varley, F.R.S., Mr. S. C. Hall, Mr. 
 J. C. Luxmoore, J. P., " Florence Marryat," Mr. 
 W. H. Harrison, Editor of the Spiritualist, and other 
 prominent people, who exhausted all their ingenuity 
 in devising tests for the supernormal character of 
 the phenomena. 
 
 218 
 
FLORENCE COOK 219 
 
 Some details of a biographical nature are given 
 concerning Miss Florence Cook in Light of December 
 15, 1894. She was at that time married to a 
 Mr. Elgie Corner, and had several children. She 
 died on April 22, 1904. 
 
 We are told that her grandmother was given 
 to seeing visions, and once lay in a trance which 
 lasted for three weeks. Florence herself fell into 
 occasional trances. Her first acquaintance with 
 the physical phenomena of spiritualism was made 
 during some table-tilting experiments with a school- 
 fellow at Hackney, in which the table rose a clear 
 four feet from the ground. At another sitting she 
 was carried about on her chair by some abnormal 
 means. Continuing the stances at home, she was 
 instructed by raps to proceed to the house of 
 Thomas Blyton, at Dalston, the secretary of a 
 small group of spiritualists, through whom she was 
 introduced to a number of people interested in the 
 phenomena, which were at that time attracting 
 considerable attention in London. Acting on their 
 advice, she had regular sittings in her own family, 
 the kitchen being curtained off to form a dark 
 " cabinet " for her, while the family sat outside on 
 the stairs. Under these circumstances she was 
 " controlled " by an entity who called herself Katie 
 King, and later on " Annie Morgan," and who en- 
 deavoured to peep out through the curtain while 
 Florence was lying in a trance inside. As no such 
 
2 20 KATIE KING 
 
 control took place when the medium sat in the 
 light, the arrangements were improved by con- 
 structing a wooden cabinet large enough to hold 
 Florence seated on a chair, with a window near the 
 top through which faces could be shown. 
 
 These stances went on for some time, gradually 
 developing in elaboration and the degree of illumi- 
 nation, the form of Katie King eventually gaming 
 sufficient power to emerge completely from the 
 cabinet. After all precautions had been taken to 
 prevent Miss Cook impersonating the figure, it 
 remained to be shown that its appearance was 
 not due to a collective hallucination of the 
 company. This was done on May 7, 1873, by 
 photographing the figure by magnesium light. 
 The following is the full account of this achieve- 
 ment, as published in the Spiritualist of May 
 15, 1873:— 
 
 "PHOTOGRAPHING A SPIRIT BY THE 
 MAGNESIUM LIGHT 
 
 " A series of sittings has been held recently in the 
 presence of responsible witnesses, to photograph 
 the spirit ' Katie King,' who of late has been 
 temporarily materialising herself so frequently 
 through the non-professional mediumship of Miss 
 Florence Cook. The efforts of the experimentalists 
 have been successful, and the large engraving on 
 
PHOTOGRAPHIC TEST 22 1 
 
 the next page is about as faithful a copy as wood- 
 cutting can give, of one of the photographs obtained 
 on Wednesday night, last week. In the photo- 
 graph itself the features are more detailed and 
 beautiful, and there is an expression of dignity and 
 etheriality in the face, which is not fully represented 
 in the engraving, which, however, has been executed 
 as nearly as possible with scientific accuracy, by an 
 artist of great professional skill. 
 
 " The following account of the principal stance, 
 signed by all the witnesses, is rather more lengthy 
 than the average of such documents, as it was 
 thought that the extreme novelty and interest of 
 the operations made it desirable that the particulars 
 should be given somewhat in detail : — 
 
 " We, the undersigned, have attended a series of 
 four special stances recently held at the residence 
 of Mr. Henry Cook, of Hackney, for the purpose of 
 obtaining photographs of the materalised form of 
 the spirit, ' Annie Morgan,' commonly known as 
 Katie King, who manifests through the medium- 
 ship of Miss Florence Cook. The most successful 
 sitting was held on the evening of Wednesday, 
 the 7th instant. 
 
 " Katie can now manifest in full form by day- 
 light ; but it being found that the ordinary light 
 in the stance room (descriptions of which, and of 
 the cabinet, have been given in former numbers of 
 
2 22 KATIE KING 
 
 the Spiritualist) was not well adapted for photo- 
 graphic purposes, it was resolved by Mr. Harrison, 
 who volunteered to do the photographing, to darken 
 the room, and use the magnesium light. At the 
 earlier stances Katie could only come out of the 
 cabinet and bear the glare of the magnesium light 
 for a few seconds at a time, once or twice during 
 the sSance ; she had to go back quickly into the 
 cabinet to gather fresh power from her medium, 
 saying that the strong and unaccustomed brilliancy 
 of the light made her ' melt quite away.' But 
 gradually she became more and more used to it, 
 and at the sSance now referred to, no less than four 
 photographs were taken. It is from one of the 
 best of these that the engraving is copied. 
 
 " The cabinet doors were placed open, and shawls 
 hung across, as on previous occasions already 
 described. The sdancc commenced at six p.m., and 
 lasted about two hours, with an interval of half- 
 an-hour. The medium was entranced almost 
 directly she was placed in the cabinet, and in a 
 few minutes Katie stepped out into the room. The 
 circle being most harmonious, conditions were ex- 
 ceptionally good. The sitters, in addition to the 
 undersigned, were Mrs. Cook and their two youngest 
 children, whose delight at Katie's familiarity with 
 them was most amusing. Katie was dressed in 
 pure white, as previously described in the Spiritualist, 
 except that her robe was cut low, with short sleeves, 
 
Portrait op "Katie King" 
 
 Taken May 7, 1873, by magnesium light. Reproduced 
 
 from a woodcut in the Spiritualist of May 15, 1873 
 
GOOD CONDITIONS 223 
 
 allowing her beautiful neck and arms to be seen. 
 Her head-dress was occasionally pushed back so as 
 to allow her hair (which was brown) to be distinctly- 
 visible. Her eyes were large and bright, of a dark 
 blue or grey colour. Her countenance was animated 
 and lifelike, her cheeks and lips ruddy and clear. 
 Our expressions of pleasure at seeing her thus before 
 us seemed to encourage her to redouble her efforts 
 to give a good stance. By the light of a candle and 
 a small lamp, during the intervals of photography, 
 she stood or moved about, and chattered to us all, 
 keeping up a lively conversation, in which she 
 criticised the sitters, and the literary photographer 
 and his arrangements very freely. By degrees she 
 walked away from the cabinet and came boldly out 
 into the room. A camera slide being overlooked, 
 she walked up to a table where it was some distance 
 away, and placed her hand on it. The door of the 
 stance room was open all the while, in order that 
 the plates might be taken out and developed in the 
 adjoining kitchen. The window was opened several 
 times to admit fresh air (and with it the twilight) 
 after each ignition of the magnesium. The photo- 
 grapher and some of the circle were occasionally 
 moving about, but nothing seemed to interfere with 
 the good conditions, or stop the manifestations in 
 any way. Mr. Cook (who arrived late from the 
 City) and the servant Mary, having called out from 
 the kitchen that they would like to see what was 
 
224 KATIE KING 
 
 going on, Katie bade theni stand outside the door 
 and look in, which they did nearly the whole of the 
 stance. Katie usually leaned on the shoulder of 
 Mr. Luxmoore, and stood up to be focussed several 
 times ; on one occasion holding the hand lamp to 
 illuminate her face. Once she looked at the sitters 
 through that gentleman's eye-glass, patted his head 
 and pulled his hair, allowed him and Mrs. Corner 
 to pass their hands over her dress, in order that 
 they might satisfy themselves that she wore only 
 one robe. As one of the plates was taken out of 
 the room for development, she ran a few feet out of 
 the cabinet after Mr. Harrison, saying she wished to 
 see it ; and on his return it was shown to her, he 
 standing close to and touching her at this time. 
 While he was absent, she walked up to the camera, 
 and inspected ' that queer machine,' as she termed 
 it. Just before one of the plates was taken, as 
 Katie was reposing herself outside the cabinet, a 
 long, sturdy, masculine right arm, bare to the 
 shoulder, and moving its fingers, was thrust out of 
 the opening at the top of the cabinet through which 
 the faces are shown. Katie turned round and up- 
 braided the intruder ; saying, that ' it was a shame 
 for another spirit to interpose while she stood for 
 her likeness,' and she bade him ' get out.' ToAvards 
 the close of the seance, Katie said her power was 
 going, and that she was ' really melting away this 
 time.' The power being weak the admission of 
 
PRECAUTIONS 225 
 
 light into the cabinet seemed gradually to destroy 
 the lower part of her figure, and she sank down 
 until her neck touched the floor, the rest of her 
 body having apparently vanished, her last words 
 being that we must sing, and sit still for a few 
 minutes, ' for it was a sad thing to have no legs to 
 stand upon.' This was done, and Katie soon came 
 out again entire as at first, and one more photo- 
 graph was successfully taken. Katie then shook 
 hands with Mr. Luxmoore, went inside her cabinet, 
 and rapped for us to take the medium out. The 
 only stipulation Katie made throughout was, that 
 the sitters would not stare fixedly at her whilst she 
 stood for her photograph. 
 
 " The stance was given under stringent test con- 
 ditions. Before commencing, Mrs. and Miss Corner 
 took the medium to her bedroom, and having taken 
 off her clothes, and thoroughly searched them, 
 dressed her without a gown, but simply with a 
 cloak of dark grey waterproof cloth over her under- 
 clothing, and at once led her to the stance room, 
 where her wrists were tied tightly together with 
 tape. The knots were examined by the sitters 
 respectively, and sealed with a signet ring. She 
 was then seated in the cabinet, which had been 
 previously examined. The tape was passed through 
 a brass bracket in the floor, brought under the 
 shawl, and tied securely to a chair outside the 
 cabinet, so that the slightest movement on the 
 
 p 
 
2 26 KATIE KING 
 
 part of the medium would have been at once 
 detected. 
 
 " During the interval of half-an-hour Mrs. Corner 
 took charge of the medium whilst she was out of 
 the cabinet, and did not lose sight of her for one 
 minute. The tying and sealing were repeated 
 before the second part of the stance, and on each 
 occasion of the medium leaving the cabinet, the 
 knots, and seals, and tape, were duly examined by 
 all the sitters before the tape was cut, and were 
 found intact. The medium was tied and sealed by 
 Mr. Luxmoore, whose signet ring was used. 
 
 " Amelia Corner, 3 St. Thomas's Square, Hackney. 
 Caroline Corner, 3 St. Thomas's Square, Hackney. 
 J. C. Luxmoore, 16 Gloucester Square, Hyde Park. 
 G. P. Tapp, 18 Queen Margaret's Grove, Milclmay 
 
 Park, London, N. 
 William H. Harrison, Wilmin Villa, Chaucer Road, 
 Heme Hill. 
 
 " Mr. Luxmoore has favoured us with the following 
 letter : — 
 
 " To the Editor of the ' Spiritualist ' 
 
 " Sir, — In the communication which you were 
 good enough to publish on the 1st inst., I hinted 
 that I was not without hope that in your next 
 number I should be able to relate ' some additional 
 
MR. LUXMOORES ACCOUNT 227 
 
 facts which our opponents will find a little difficult to 
 digest/ and I am happy to say that hope, in this 
 instance, has not been blighted by disappointment. 
 We have long had the wish to get a photograph of 
 Katie, she having promised to do all in her power 
 to assist us. On Monday, the 5 th inst., we had 
 what Katie facetiously called ' a dress rehearsal,' 
 for the purpose of photographing her while she was 
 materialised. The difficulties attending the photo- 
 graphic process were very great, but these you will, 
 I am quite sure, explain much better than I can. 
 I will only mention that we were entirely de- 
 pendent on magnesium powder for light. On 
 this first occasion the funnel through which the 
 magnesium powder had to pass, had too small an 
 orifice, and it was consequently choked. We ob- 
 tained faint pictures, which, perhaps, were as much 
 as we could expect on a first trial. 
 
 " On Wednesday, the 7th, having gained much 
 experience from the rehearsal, our efforts were 
 rewarded by what I may venture to call a great 
 success, as I think will be admitted by all who 
 see the engraving which I hope you will be 
 able to publish in the number of the 15 th 
 instant. 
 
 " The sitting was under strict test conditions. Miss 
 Cook was, just before the seance commenced, taken 
 into her bedroom and carefully searched by Mrs. 
 and Miss Corner, in order to ascertain that she had 
 
228 
 
 KATIE KING 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 nothing concealed about her, and from that time, to 
 the final close of the photographing, she was not, for 
 one minute, out of Mrs. Corner's sight, 
 except while in the cabinet. Miss 
 Cook's hands, A, Fig. 2, were firmly 
 tied together with tape, which was 
 then passed through a piece of brass, 
 B, fixed with two screws to the floor 
 (the heads of these screws, D D, were 
 sealed so that no screw-driver could 
 be used), and then, round my chair, 
 beyond E. To make doubly sure, I 
 tied the tape in a knot at B, before 
 passing it out of the cabinet to my 
 All knots, except the last (B), were sealed, 
 that being unnecessary, as the tape was not severed 
 at this point. To those who know how these stances 
 are conducted, I need scarcely add that on this and 
 all other occasions when tests are used, the seals 
 are, when Miss Cook comes out of the cabinet, 
 found to be quite perfect. The distance from her 
 hands to the floor, when tied, was eighteen inches, 
 so that it was absolutely impossible that she could 
 stand upright, or, indeed, lift herself more than a 
 very small distance from the low chair in which 
 she sat. Katie stood perfectly erect, and is taller 
 than Miss Cook — indeed, altogether, a much larger 
 figure. She rested her elbow on my shoulder 
 while some of the photographs were being taken. 
 
 chair. 
 
 --- 
 
MR. LUXMOORES ACCOUNT 229 
 
 This was done to insure her keeping quite still 
 (no little difficulty for any one to do, when, suddenly, 
 such a light as that produced by magnesium, is 
 thrown on them). I, perhaps, should have stated 
 that Katie was in her usual white robe, with a 
 portion of her neck bare. If the above are not 
 test conditions, I confess myself unable to say what 
 would be considered satisfactory. This seance is 
 certainly the best I have ever seen. Katie walked 
 in full light some feet out of the cabinet, turned 
 round, and allowed us to see her back. Her arms, 
 hands, and feet were bare, and, certainly, no tape 
 was to be seen. The tests were in accordance with 
 Katie's strict orders. She refused to be photo- 
 graphed unless her directions were obeyed ; and I 
 must add that I think she was quite right, know- 
 ing, as I do, the unfair (I might use stronger 
 language) treatment mediums are subjected to. 
 Evidence which would be deemed sufficient to 
 prove anything else is often utterly ignored where 
 Spiritualism is concerned. 
 
 " On reperusal, I find I have omitted to state that 
 I carefully examined every part of the cabinet while 
 Miss Cook was being searched by Mrs. and Miss 
 Corner. Nothing could possibly have been con- 
 cealed there without my discovering it. I should 
 also mention, that soon after one of the photographs 
 had been taken, Katie pulled back the curtain, or 
 rather rug, which hangs in front, and requested us 
 
230 KATIE KING 
 
 to look at her, when she appeared to have lost all 
 her body. She had a most curious appearance ; 
 she seemed to be resting on nothing but her neck, 
 her head being close to the floor. Her white robe 
 was under her. 
 
 "J. C. LUXMOORE. 
 
 " 16 Gloucester Square, 
 " Hyde Park, W. 
 
 " Mr. Luxmoore's tying and sealing is efficient and 
 secure ; as a nautical man, who spends much of his 
 time annually in his yacht, he knows how to tie 
 knots. After tying Miss Cook's wrists together with 
 tape, he seals the knots between the wrists, very 
 close to the skin, with his signet ring. On Wed- 
 nesday, May 7, the tape was sufficiently tight 
 about the wrists to leave marks all round. 
 
 " Mr. Harrison makes the following statement 
 about the photographic operations : — 
 
 " Many conditions had to be complied with to 
 secure successful results. A harmonious circle was 
 necessary, that the medium might be at ease, free 
 from all care and anxiety, in order that the mani- 
 festations should be given with the greater power. 
 It was necessary that the medium should not sit 
 too frequently, and have little to do at other times 
 so as to reserve power and vital energy for the 
 stances. In short, all the conditions which Spiritual- 
 
MR. HARRISONS ACCOUNT 23 I 
 
 ists know to favour good manifestations were 
 supplied as nearly as possible. 
 
 " The cabinet being in one of the corners of a 
 room in the basement of the house, the light is too 
 weak, and not in the best direction for photographic 
 purposes. For the same reason, that spirits can 
 always handle old musical instruments better than 
 new ones, and that the manifestations are usually 
 stronger after a medium has lived for some time in 
 the house, it was not desirable to make a new 
 cabinet, the old one being well charged with those 
 imponderable emanations from the medium, of 
 which science at present knows nothing. It was, 
 therefore, thought desirable to use the old cabinet, 
 and to do the photographing by the magnesium 
 light. 
 
 " Magnesium ribbon Avill not ignite readily at a 
 desired moment, and sometimes goes out unex- 
 pectedly, so would be liable to cause many failures. 
 As both materialised spirit forms and photographic 
 plates, deteriorate rapidly after they are prepared in 
 perfection, it was necessary to have a light which 
 should not fail at a critical moment. 
 
 "Accordingly magnesium powder mixed Avith 
 sand was used, on the principle devised by Mr. 
 Henry Larkins. A narrow deal board A B, Fig. 3, 
 three feet long, was nailed to the base-board D E, 
 and firmly held in a vertical position by the sup- 
 port H. A Bunsen's burner, K N, to consume gas 
 
232 
 
 KATIE KING 
 
 mixed Avith common air, was fixed horizontally 
 through the vertical board, and an india-rubber 
 tube, D K, supplied the burner 
 with common gas. The end of 
 the funnel, W, was thus in the 
 gas-flame F. When some mag- 
 nesium powder and sand were 
 poured into W they fell in a great 
 stream, which caught fire at N, 
 and burnt between N and B, in a 
 great flame of dazzling brilliancy. 
 The larger the proportion of 
 magnesium in the powder, the 
 
 B s 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 longer was the flame, and the 
 
 best results were obtained with a 
 flame averaging two feet in length, and lasting for 
 five or six seconds. Sometimes the flame was so 
 long as to scorch the base-board at B, and it set 
 fire to it there once or twice. 
 
 " As might be expected, there has been more 
 success as yet in obtaining positives than negatives, 
 as a shorter exposure will do for the former. The 
 ordinary processes were used — namely, a thirty-five 
 grain nitrate of silver bath, and proto-sulphate of 
 iron development. Mawson's collodion. A half- 
 plate camera and lens were used, with a stop 
 rather less than an inch in diameter, between the 
 front and back combinations of the lens. 
 
 l< Materialised spirits always complain that the 
 
A Photograph of "Katie King" 
 Taken in the presence of Dr. Gully 
 
ALLEGED EXPOSURE 233 
 
 gaze of observers pains thein, and so does a strong 
 light ; this is one reason why we have so much of 
 musical instruments playing under instead of over 
 tables, at stances, and why direct spirit writing is 
 rarely obtained under the direct gaze of observers. 
 Consequently, after Katie had ' posed ' herself by 
 ordinary light, she insisted that all the observers 
 should turn their eyes from her during the few 
 seconds the magnesium was burning." 
 
 On May 12, four more positives Avere taken under 
 similar circumstances. 
 
 The question of the identity of Florence Cook 
 and Katie King was repeatedly raised in the ensuing 
 newspaper controversies, and was put to a somewhat 
 extraordinary test on December 9, 1873, at Mr. 
 Cook's house. A Mr. Volckman grasped the appari- 
 tion round the waist and tried to throw her down 
 with his feet. " Katie " extricated herself and went 
 back to the cabinet, and Volckman was seized and 
 ejected. The occurrence, which has since often 
 been repeated on similar occasions, threw grave 
 doubts on the bona fides of the medium, in spite of 
 the precautions of tying, &c. A few days after- 
 wards, Miss Cook requested Mr. William Crookes 
 to examine the phenomena under more strictly 
 scientific conditions. An elaborate investigation 
 was then undertaken by Crookes, which extended 
 over five months, and which completely established 
 
2 34 KATIE KING 
 
 the separate identity of the medium and the 
 materialised form. 
 
 One method of doing this was an electrical one, 
 described by Mr. Varley as follows : l — 
 
 "ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTS WITH 
 MISS COOK WHEN ENTRANCED. 
 
 "By Cromwell F. Varley, F.R.S. 
 
 " The experiments in question were made at the 
 house of Mr. J. C. Luxmoore, J.P., 16 Gloucester 
 Square, Hyde Park, W. The back drawing-room 
 was separated from the front by a thick curtain, to 
 exclude the light of the front room from the back 
 room, which was used as a dark cabinet. The doors 
 of the dark room were locked, and the room searched 
 before the sdance began. The front room was illu- 
 minated by a shaded paraffin lamp turned low. 
 The galvanometer used in the experiment was 
 placed on the mantelpiece ten or eleven feet from 
 the curtains. The following observers were present : 
 Mr. Luxmoore, Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S. , Mrs. 
 Crookes, Mrs. Cook, Mr. G. R. Tapp, Mr. Harrison, 
 and myself. Mr. Crookes sat close to the curtain 
 on one side, and Mr. Luxmoore on the other. 
 
 "Miss Cook was placed in an arm-chair, in the 
 room which was subsequently to serve as a darkened 
 cabinet. Two sovereigns, to which platinum wires 
 
 1 The Spiritualist, March 20, 1874. 
 
THE ELECTRICAL TEST 235 
 
 had been soldered, were attached one to each of 
 her arms a little above her wrists, by means of 
 elastic rings. Between the sovereigns and the skin 
 three layers of thick white blotting paper, moistened 
 with solution of nitrate of ammonia, were placed. 
 The platinum wires were attached to her arms, and 
 led up to her shoulders, so as to allow of the free 
 movement of her limbs. To each platinum wire 
 was attached a thin cotton-covered copper wire, 
 which led into the light room, where the sitters 
 were to be located. Thick curtains separated the 
 two rooms, so as to leave Miss Cook in the dark 
 when the curtains were down. 
 
 " The conducting wires were connected with the 
 two cells of a Daniell's battery, and a regular cable- 
 testing apparatus. When all was ready the back 
 room was darkened, the current passing through 
 the body of the medium the whole evening. 
 
 <c The batteries had been newly charged, and by 
 tests made before and after the seance, they were 
 found not to have varied more than 1 per cent. 
 The current through the medium diminished gradu- 
 ally, excepting at certain times stated further on, 
 in consequence of the drying of the blotting- 
 paper, which increased the resistance between the 
 sovereigns and the skin. 
 
 " Mr. W. H. Harrison, who was present, recorded 
 the readings and my remarks, and timed them with 
 a chronometer, as I, from time to time, dictated. 
 
236 KATIE KING 
 
 The current from the two cells flowed through the 
 galvanometer, the resistance cells, and Miss Cook, 
 then back to the battery. The electrical resistance 
 of the body of the medium produced 220 divisions 
 on the scale of the reflecting galvanometer at seven 
 o'clock, and when the two sovereigns were united, 
 it gave a deflection of 300 divisions. The blotting 
 paper dried gradually, and at 7.17 p.m. the deflec- 
 tion had fallen to 1.97 divisions. 
 
 " Prior to the medium being entranced, she was 
 requested to move her hands about, which, by vary- 
 ing the amount of metallic surface in actual contact 
 with the paper and skin, produced deflections of 
 from 15 to 30 divisions, and sometimes more ; con- 
 sequently, if, during the stance, she moved her 
 hands at all, the fact was instantly rendered visible 
 by the galvanometer. In fact, Miss Cook took the 
 place of a telegraph cable under electrical test. 
 
 " In the course of the evening, the following read- 
 ings were obtained and remarks recorded. The 
 current was not interrupted an instant during the 
 whole stance. Had the circuit been broken for only 
 one-tenth of a second, the galvanometer would have 
 moved over 200 divisions. 
 
 " I was placed at the end of the table ten or 
 eleven feet from the curtain, and only once was I 
 allowed to go nearer, viz., a minute or two before 
 the seance was over. 
 
 " Our room being dimly illuminated, my eyes 
 
MR. VARLTCYS ACCOUNT 237 
 
 were rendered less sensitive than those of the other 
 observers, because I was for the greater part of the 
 time closely watching the bright reflected image 
 from the galvanometer, but when I looked at Katie 
 the lamp was for a few seconds turned up to let 
 me have a better view. Katie was much like the 
 medium, Miss Cook, and I said to her, ' You look 
 exactly like your medium.' She said, ' Yeth, 
 yeth ! ' I was therefore very anxious to see if, 
 when she moved her hands and arms, any variation 
 took place in the strength of the electric current ; 
 sometimes there was a variation ; at others, viz., 
 when she opened and closed her fist, and also when 
 she was writing there was no variation. 
 
 " Towards the close of the stance the room was 
 darkened, and Katie allowed me to approach her. 
 She then let me grasp her hand ; it was a long one, 
 very cold and clammy. A minute or two after- 
 wards, Katie told me to go into the dark chamber 
 to detrance Miss Cook. I found her in a deep 
 trance, huddled together in her easy- chair, her 
 head lying upon her left shoulder, her right hand 
 hanging down. Her hand was small, warm, 
 and dry, and not long, cold, and clammy like 
 Katie's. 
 
 " In the course of two or three minutes she came 
 out of the trance, when Messrs. Luxmoore and 
 Crookes came in with a light. 
 
 " The sovereigns, blotting paper, and wires were 
 
238 KATIE KING 
 
 exactly as I had left them, viz., attached to her 
 arms by pieces of elastic. 
 
 " I was so much exhausted after this seance that 
 I was obliged to discontinue the experiments. 
 [I have lent my apparatus to Mr. Crookes, and 
 have been to his house and tested the apparatus 
 before Mr. Crookes, using his son (who is not a 
 medium) in place of Miss Cook, who was not 
 present.] 
 
 " Mr. Crookes is unaffected by physical seances, but 
 I always am very much exhausted by them. Not- 
 withstanding so much vital power is taken from 
 me, my presence very often weakens, or altogether 
 stops the production of the phenomena. 
 
 " The following table gives the readings and the 
 phenomena as they were noted down : — 
 
 Battery power two cells DanielPs ; resistance about four 
 Ohms per cell. 
 Resistance of Galvanometer . . 39,000 Ohms. 
 „ Coils .... 10,000 „ 
 
 Total resistance before the medium 
 
 was put in circuit . . . 49,000 
 
MR. VARLEYS ACCOUNT 
 
 239 
 
 TABLE. 
 
 Battery through 49,000 Ohms produced on the Galvanometer 
 300 divisions on the scale ; when Miss Cook in circuit also, 220. 
 
 Time. 
 
 Deflection. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 P.M. 
 
 7.10 
 
 220 
 
 } Miss Cook in circuit, 23,000 Ohms 
 
 | when wrists and fists moved. 
 
 
 200 to 250 
 
 
 7.12 
 
 220 
 
 Seance beginning. 
 
 7.13 
 
 220 
 
 
 7.14 
 
 210 
 
 The medium has shifted her position. 
 
 7.15 
 
 220 
 
 
 7.16 
 
 200 
 197 
 197 
 195 
 196 
 195 
 
 Ditto Ditto. 
 
 7.18 
 
 194 
 195 
 194 
 195 
 193 
 
 
 7.19 
 
 196 
 195 
 193 
 
 
 7.20 
 
 191 
 190 
 189 
 
 
 7.21 
 
 191 
 191 
 
 C Katie whispered, her voice being re- 
 1 cognised by Mr. and Mrs. Crookes, Mr. 
 
 7.22 
 
 192 
 
 J Luxmoore, Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Harrison, 
 land Mr. Tapp. 
 
 
 
 
 192 
 
 
 
 193 
 
 
 7.23 
 
 191 to 195 
 
 ( Fluctuating. Medium apparently 
 \ uneasy, and moving about. 
 
 
 193 
 
 192 
 
 
 
 7.24 
 
 193 
 189 
 
 
240 
 
 KATIE KING 
 
 Time. 
 
 Deflection. 
 
 Kemarks. 
 
 P.M. 
 
 
 
 7.25 
 
 191 ) 
 186 
 
 
 
 
 176 
 
 f A fall of 36 divisions in one minute. 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 Miss Cook has evidently shifted her 
 
 
 174 
 
 -I position and has probably moved the 
 
 
 
 
 sovereigns a little in so doing. No 
 
 
 171 
 
 
 ^break of circuit, however. See note A. 
 
 7.26 
 
 155 
 
 
 
 
 155 
 
 
 
 151 
 
 
 7.27 
 
 148 
 
 r "Katie" looked out from under the 
 curtain on the side next to Mr. Lux- 
 
 
 153 
 
 moore, who was on her left ; this move- 
 
 
 ment on her part required a motion of 
 
 
 
 her hands. Galvanometer moved five 
 
 
 
 ^divisions. 
 
 
 151 
 
 
 7.28 
 
 154 
 157 
 
 r Katie showed herself again as before 
 
 7.29 
 
 155 
 
 J for a few seconds, lifting curtain as be- 
 
 1 fore. Galvanometer did not move more 
 
 
 
 Ithan three divisions. 
 
 
 154 
 
 
 
 156 
 
 
 7.29J 
 
 154 
 
 Ditto Ditto. 
 
 
 153 
 
 Ditto Ditto. 
 
 7.30 
 
 157 
 
 f Katie showed her hands ; I did not see 
 
 
 154 
 
 ■I them ; all the others did : I was too far 
 I away and watching Galvanometer. 
 
 7.31 
 
 155 
 
 Showed herself again for a moment. 
 
 7.32 
 
 152 
 
 
 7.33 
 
 152 
 
 
 7.34 
 
 151 
 
 
 7.35 
 
 152 
 
 f Katie showed her hand and arm, 
 
 7.36 
 
 135 
 
 -J Galvanometer fell 17 divisions ! ! ! 
 iNote B. 
 
MR. V ATI LEYS ACCOUNT 
 
 241 
 
 Time. 
 
 P.M. 
 
 7.36^ 
 
 7.37 
 
 7.37 
 
 7.38 
 
 7.39 
 
 7.40 
 7.41 
 
 Deflection. 
 
 7.42 
 
 7.43 
 7.44 
 7.45 
 
 150 
 
 156 
 156 
 155 
 157 
 
 155 to 157 
 
 157 
 
 155 
 
 156 
 156 
 155 
 
 157 
 
 156 
 158 
 146 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 (Katie showed both arms which she 
 freely moved about. Galvanometer rose 
 15, then 6, in all 21 divisions ! ! ! 
 
 (Katie appeared on the other side 
 of the curtain close to Mr. Crookes. 
 Showed both of her arms. I saw this. 
 
 f Katie put her hand on Mr. Crookes's 
 J head, who said it felt cold. I saw this. 
 J No movement of Galvanometer. Excel- 
 Ylent test. Note C. 
 
 / Katie put her arm out full length, and 
 I asked for pencil and paper. Katie now began 
 I writing in sight of observers. I watched 
 Galvanometer closely the whole timo she was 
 writing, and it did not vary one division. 
 Excellent Test. After the manifestation, 
 Katie threw the paper at Mrs. Cook (the 
 medium's mother). Katie then at my request 
 moved her wrists, opened and closed her 
 fingers, but the Galvanometer was steady the 
 whole time. I was watching the Galvano- 
 meter while asking the questions, and Crookes 
 and Harrison, and others, told me that she 
 moved her hands again and again in the 
 manner requested by me. "While Katie was 
 moving her wrists about and opening and 
 closing her fingers, we all distinctly heard 
 Miss Cools moaning like a person in a troubled 
 dream. The opening :ind closing of her 
 fingers did not cause any variation exceeding 
 one division on the scale ; had it been Miss 
 Cook's hand, the Galvanometer would have 
 \ varied at least 10 divisions. 
 
242 
 
 KATIE KING 
 
 Time. 
 
 Deflection. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 P.M. 
 
 7.46 
 
 7.47 
 
 7.48 
 
 149 
 150 
 147 
 150 
 
 146 
 
 r I here tested the sensitiveness of 
 Galvanometer, and found that with 
 
 J 49,000 Ohms resistance, the deflection 
 was 297^ as against 300 degs. at the 
 
 (^commencement of the experiment. 
 
 "At 7.48 Katie let me grasp her hand, and asked 
 me to wake up the medium. 
 
 "Note A. — (7.25 to 7.26 p.m.) — Galvanometer 
 rapidly fell from 191 to 155 ; in another minute 
 Katie appeared; the galvanometer never rose higher 
 than 157 or 158 after this sudden drop. (This is 
 worthy of careful note.) 
 
 " Note B. — (7.35 to 7.36J p.m.)— Galvanometer fell 
 from 152 to 135, and rose again to 150; and at 
 7.37 to 156. The medium seems to have moved 
 much. Here Katie showed both her arms, and 
 moved them freely about. This looked very 
 suspicious ; but 
 
 "Note G. — At 7.39 p.m. Katie moved her arms 
 about freely, and touched Mr. Crookes on the head, 
 the galvanometer being quite steady : it did not 
 vary more than one division; this neutralises the 
 doubt just expressed. 
 
 "At 7.42 she was actively writing, but the galva- 
 
NOTES ON RESULTS 243 
 
 nometer did not vary one division. This, I main- 
 tain, clearly proves that Miss Cook was not only in 
 the dark chamber while Katie was in sight, but also 
 perfectly quiescent. 
 
 "At 7.45 p.m. she repeated this experiment with 
 the same result ; and while Katie was moving her 
 fingers and wrists I watched her, Mr. Harrison 
 watching the galvanometer. Mr. Crookes drew our 
 attention to the fact that Miss Cook was moaning 
 like ' a person suffering from an uneasy dream, and 
 Katie was at the same time standing before us. and 
 
 moving her hands as desired. 
 
 "0. F. VARLEY." 
 
 Some curious and interesting details were con- 
 tributed to the Spiritualist of February 6, 1874, by 
 Mr. G. R. Tapp, in the following letter : — 
 
 "SPIRIT FORMS 
 
 " Sir, — I was much pleased with the intelligent 
 letter in your last number from ' M. R. S.,' on the 
 subject of the late outrage at a spirit circle. 
 
 " Having been privileged to attend more than 
 thirty stances, at which Miss Cook has been the 
 medium, and having made notes of many, if not 
 nearly all of them, it may interest ' M. R. S.,' and 
 those of your readers who have not witnessed these 
 most remarkable manifestations, if I state the 
 result of some of my own observations with re- 
 gard to the much disputed question of the identity 
 
2 44 KATIE KING 
 
 of the spirit ' Katie/ apart from that of the medium 
 at these stances. 
 
 " I have, in common with others, been struck 
 with the occasional resemblance of the features of 
 ' Katie,' when materialised, to those of her medium, 
 but the points of difference between the two, are to 
 me — who have watched very closely at all times — 
 still more remarkable, not only as regards features, 
 but as regards height, bulk, &c. When the circle 
 is small and harmonious, and the medium in 
 good health and good humour, the resemblance is 
 scarcely perceptible between ' Katie ' and Miss Cook. 
 
 " I was the first visitor who saw ' Katie ' in the 
 full form. There was scarcely any resemblance on 
 that occasion. ' Katie,' with her naked feet flat on 
 the floor, stood five feet six inches high. She was 
 stout and broad across the waist and shoulders, 
 quite a contrast to her medium, who is much 
 shorter and petite in figure. For a detailed descrip- 
 tion of this then extraordinary manifestation, I will 
 refer your readers to my letter in the Spiritualist 
 of 1st March last. 
 
 " ' Katie ' has frequently stood by me, and leaned 
 against me, at stances, for several minutes together, 
 permitting me to thoroughly scan her face and 
 figure in a good light. I have also been permitted 
 often to touch (but never to grasp) her. At one 
 sitting, she laid her right arm in my outstretched 
 hands, and allowed me to closely examine it. It 
 
MR. TAPPS ACCOUNT 245 
 
 was plump and shapely, longer than that of the 
 medium. The hands, too, were much larger, with 
 beautifully shaped nails. I may here state that 
 Miss Cook, ever since I have known her, has had a 
 bad habit of biting her nails almost to the roots. 
 I then held the arm lightly in one hand, and 
 passed my other hand along it from the shoulder. 
 The skin was beautifully — I might say, unnaturally 
 — smooth, like wax or marble ; yet the temperature 
 was that of the healthy human body. There was, 
 however, no bone in the wrist. I lightly felt round 
 the wrist again, to make sure of this beyond doubt, 
 and then told ' Katie ' that the bone was wanting. 
 She laughed, and said, ' wait a bit,' and after going 
 about to the other sitters, came round and placed 
 her arm in my hand, as before. Sure enough, the 
 bone ivas then there ! I joked her on this point, and 
 also said what fine finger-nails she had got. She 
 took hold of my hand, and turned it quickly round, 
 and gave a vigorous scratch on the back of it that 
 raised the skin and drew blood. This excellent 
 test has also been given to other sitters. I have 
 had it on two occasions. 
 
 " In two instances I have seen Katie with long 
 ringlets reaching to her waist, the hair being of a 
 light brown colour. The medium's hah is cut 
 short, it is not curled, 1 and its colour is very dark 
 brown, almost black. 
 
 1 This must be au error. — E. E. F. 
 
246 KATIE KING 
 
 " Katie's eyes are sometimes a light blue colour, 
 sometimes dark brown. This difference has been 
 noticed very frequently. 
 
 " On one occasion Katie, on coming out of her 
 cabinet, held up her right arm, which was of a dusky 
 black colour. Letting it fall by her side, and raising 
 it again almost instantaneously, it was the usual 
 flesh colour like the other arm. 
 
 " One evening, recently, I made some jesting 
 remark to Katie, who stood near me, when she 
 suddenly struck me heavily on the chest with her 
 clenched fist. I was startled and, indeed, hurt by 
 the unexpected blow ; so much so, that I inad- 
 vertently caught hold of her right arm by the wrist. 
 Her wrist crumpled in my grasp like a piece of 
 paper or thin cardboard, my fingers meeting to- 
 gether through it. I let go at once, and expressed 
 my regret that I had forgotten the conditions, fear- 
 ing that harm to the medium might ensue, but 
 Katie reassured me, saying, that as my act was not 
 intentional, she could avert any untoward result. 
 
 " I could give many other curious instances, but 
 will not further occupy your space, except to state, 
 that when these manifestations first commenced, I 
 seriously questioned Katie as to what the result 
 would be if the conditions were broken. She 
 affirmed that her medium would probably be killed 
 or much hurt. Not quite satisfied, I put a similar 
 question to a well-known trance medium (who had 
 
HER LAST APPEARANCE 247 
 
 never sat with Miss Cook), and got a like reply. 
 At the close of one of the Wednesday discourses at 
 Gower Street, I asked the spirit controlling Mrs. 
 Tappan, ' What would be the result to the medium 
 and the sitters, if the materialised form were grasped 
 at or detained ? ' The answer was, ' Death or serious 
 injury to the medium, possibly harm to yourselves' 
 
 " In conclusion, I cheerfully take this opportunity 
 of testifying my firm belief, based upon close and 
 repeated observation at these seances, in the good 
 faith and integrity of Miss Cook and her family, 
 and I heartily thank them and their friends for 
 permitting me, without fee or reward, to enjoy the 
 privilege of constant attendance at their circle, 
 whereby I have been greatly aided in my study 
 and investigation of that most extraordinary pheno- 
 menon of this our day, modern Spiritualism. 
 
 "GEORGE ROBERT TAPP. 
 
 "Dalston Association of Enquikeks 
 into Spiritualism, 
 74 Navakino Road, Dalston, E." 
 
 The last appearances of " Katie King " took place 
 on May 9, 13, 16, and 21, 1874. The following 
 accounts were contributed to the Spiritualist by Mr. 
 Benjamin Coleman (May 15), Mr. W. H. Harrison, 
 and Mrs. Ross-Church (" Florence Marryat "). 1 
 
 1 Sir William Crookes also contributed accounts of the pheno- 
 mena to the same journal, but as these are to be reproduced in a 
 separate work, they are not included here. 
 
248 KATIE KING 
 
 "A FAREWELL VISIT TO KATIE KING, 
 THE SPIRIT. 
 
 "By Benjamin Coleman. 
 
 " I cheerfully accepted an invitation to attend 
 on Saturday, May 9, one of Miss Cook's seances, 
 at which the well-known materialised spirit of 
 Katie King was expected to appear, and, having 
 been requested to give my account of what tran- 
 spired on this eventful evening, I now do so, merely 
 premising that the readers of this journal are no 
 doubt aware that this spirit, who calls herself Katie 
 King, first made her presence known to the family 
 of Mr. Cook, of Hackney, just three years ago, by 
 controlling their eldest daughter, Florence, promis- 
 ing that, if surrounded by suitable influences, she 
 would prove one of the greatest mediums known. 
 Happily for the cause of science, Mr. Charles 
 Blackburn, of Manchester, became interested in 
 this young lady's career, and at once made such 
 arrangements as should render it unnecessary for 
 her to become a professional medium. Those who 
 have been readers of the Sjoiriticalist newspaper 
 have been from time to time informed of the grow- 
 ing interest which has attended this young girl's 
 progress ; and how for more than two years the 
 materialised form of the spirit has appeared pal- 
 pably to some hundreds of invited guests who have 
 attended Miss Cook's seances. And now that the 
 
MR. COLEMAN S ACCOUNT 249 
 
 spirit has accomplished her mission, as she avers, 
 she is about to leave the scenes of earth punctually 
 on the day she originally announced, viz., the 21st 
 of May 1874, three years from the date she first 
 controlled Florence Cook. All those who have 
 closely followed up these meetings, and heard from 
 the lips of the spirit what she would accomplish at 
 various times, if suitable conditions could be secured, 
 and who all say she has never failed to realise a 
 promise once made by her, feel sure that she means 
 to take her departure on the day she has fixed, but 
 only to make way for other manifestations of a still 
 higher form — that of recognisable faces of the 
 spirits, and probably the persons of our departed 
 friends. 
 
 " The seance I am about to describe was con- 
 ducted, as all the later ones have been, by Mr. 
 William Crookes, F.R.S., and there were present a 
 party of eight or ten ladies and gentlemen known 
 to Miss Cook and her family, who formed a con- 
 genial and harmonious circle, best calculated to 
 secure the most perfect results, and we were not 
 disappointed. 
 
 " Miss Cook's bedroom, which is of small size, 
 was made to answer the purpose of a cabinet, and 
 the audience sat in a parlour adjoining the bed- 
 room, which was screened by a heavy dark curtain 
 to obscure the light. The parlour was lighted by 
 gas which was not put out, but partially raised and 
 
2 SO KATIE KING 
 
 lowered at intervals by Mr. Crookes. My chair and 
 those who sat on each side of me were placed 
 opposite to the curtain, so that when it was with- 
 drawn I could see directly into the entire length 
 of the cabinet. Mr. Crookes invited me in the first 
 instance to inspect the arrangements, which were 
 very simple. They had become afraid to put the 
 medium to sleep upon the bed as they had been 
 accustomed to do, for fear she should roll off during 
 the uneasy state in which she sometimes gets 
 during a long trance, and now there were but two 
 pillows placed on the floor for Miss Cook to lie 
 upon, and in this position I saw her with nothing 
 but her ordinary clothing and a red worsted shawl 
 thrown over her head. 
 
 " She is of small figure, handsome countenance, 
 brunette complexion, with dark eyes and very dark 
 brown hair. 
 
 " Her dress was of light blue merino, trimmed 
 with black velvet, fitting high up in the neck, with 
 just space enough to show a glittering necklet 
 suspended round her throat by a band of black 
 velvet. Her ears arc pierced, and she wore earrings. 
 On her feet were ordinary spring boots. 
 
 " This is the result of my observations of her 
 appearance and dress, the moment before she laid 
 her head on the pillows and entered the trance 
 state. 
 
 " Mr. Crookes stood by the entrance and listened 
 
Miss Florence Cook in 1874 
 
 (Photo by B. J. Edwards, Hackney) 
 
an 
 
MR. COLEMAN S ACCOUNT 25 I 
 
 for any sound from within. In about ten or fifteen 
 minutes we heard Katie's voice, and then saw her 
 draw aside a small portion of the curtain timidly 
 and show her head. Encouraged by Mr. Crookes, 
 she stepped out into the room, and at once saluted 
 the ladies and gentlemen present, and in turn I 
 came in for recognition with an arch, ' How do you 
 do, Mr. Ben ? ' In contrast to the dress of the 
 medium, the entire appearance of Katie was sin- 
 gularly striking. I have given up, as I explained 
 in my last letter on this subject, my former hypo- 
 thesis of the ' double ' in this particular case, in 
 deference to the proofs given by Mr. Crookes and 
 Mr. Varley, which establish in the most satisfactory 
 and conclusive manner that this figure and the 
 medium, though doubtless connected in some 
 mysterious way, and much alike in features, are 
 two distinct individualities, and I am now about to 
 add my testimony in support of the opinion of 
 those distinguished members of the Royal Society. 
 
 " The dress of Katie was, as I had seen before, 
 of pure white, differing only from my former de- 
 scription of it by having in this instance short 
 sleeves ; it was as nearly as possible like that pre- 
 sented in the photograph, with Dr. Gully holding 
 her hand. Her feet were naked, and I am told 
 they always are so presented. How is this ? Can 
 they not materialise leather ? Her movements were 
 extremely agile, and singularly graceful. By the 
 
25 2 KATIE KING 
 
 way in which she took the arm of Mr. Crookes and 
 stooped to pick up a fan she had dropped, which 
 she had been using in the most natural manner, 
 and the way in which she stepped across the room 
 (not gliding, as I had seen before), and at one time 
 resting her head on her hand with her elbow lean- 
 ing against the door ; then seating herself on the 
 floor, resting her elbow on the chair, all gave one 
 the idea of a supple, flexible-limbed young woman 
 of graceful and child-like habits. When she in- 
 quired whether any of us wished to ask her 
 questions, I took out of my pocket an envelope 
 containing a cabinet-sized photograph, and holding 
 it for her to take, she stepped across the room and 
 took it from me and exclaimed, ' This is Dr. Gully 1 
 and my likeness ! What do you want me to do 
 with it ? ' ' Write,' I said, ' your name, and any 
 message you have to give me on the back of it 
 that I may keep it in remembrance of this even- 
 ing.' Borrowing my pencil she wrote : ' Annie 
 Morgan, usually known as Katie King. To her 
 dear friend, Mr. Ben., May 9th, 1874.' When it 
 was read aloud some one said that was too familiar, 
 and she was reminded that there were others of 
 the same name known to her, upon which she 
 asked for the card to be returned, and wrote : ' Mr. 
 Ben is B. Coleman, Esq.' 
 
 " During the evening she frequently went behind 
 1 Father of Mr. Speaker Gully. See photo, facing p. 232.— E. E. F. 
 
A later Portrait of Miss Florence Cook 
 (Mrs. Elgie Corner) 
 
 (Photo by H. Dunning, Usk, Mon.) 
 
SEPARATE IDENTITY 253 
 
 the curtain, near which Mr. Crookes was seated, 
 and he and I and four others who sat by me saw 
 at one and the same time the figure of Katie, clad 
 in her white dress, bending over the sleeping form of 
 the medium, whose dress was Hue, with a red shawl 
 over her head. This incident was repeated with 
 an increased amount of gas-light, which went 
 streaming into the inner room, and thus the fact 
 is at length established that both the living form 
 of Miss Cook and the spirit form of the materialised 
 Katie were seen by Mr. Crookes, myself, and others, 
 twice on the evening of 9th day of May last. 1 
 
 " I believe, too, that Mr. Crookes will yet get a 
 photograph on one plate of both the medium and 
 Katie, and thus all objectors outside these circles 
 will be answered. 
 
 " But whether this additional evidence occurs or 
 not we had in this particular evening the most 
 satisfactory proof of the distinct individuality of 
 Katie, who is taller than the medium, is a Monde 
 with olue eyes, ears that are not pierced, well-formed 
 finger-nails, which Miss Cook has not, and hair of a 
 golden hue. 
 
 " As her hair during the first part of the evening 
 was banded and showed too little for those sitting 
 at a distance, I asked Mr. Crookes to decide upon 
 
 "As the face of the medium was not visible on this occasion, 
 we do not see that this was a test manifestation, although it seems 
 s4at.ee after stance to be developing into one. — Ed. 
 
2 54 KATIE KING 
 
 its colour ; he said ' Her hair is light.' Katie 
 interrupting, said, ' Oh, I will show you my hair,' 
 and in a few moments she presented her head with 
 the most luxuriant golden curls hanging over her 
 shoulders ; and turning her head, we saw that the 
 ringlets were equally long and beautiful at her 
 back ; and to give Mr. Crookes proof of its reality, 
 Katie asked him to take hold of it at the back and 
 pull it, which he did, and pronounced that it was 
 apparently human hair growing on her head. 
 
 " Indeed, the natural life-like character of the 
 surroundings of this living form puzzles all who 
 witness it. 
 
 " It would be much better for all who oppose 
 and have pinned their faith to the cry of imposture, 
 ' delusion,' or ( psychic force,' to stick to their guns 
 rather than admit the facts which I assert are 
 true. For if they surrender, the slanderous tongue 
 of some and the sceptical thoughts of many would 
 be hushed at once. 
 
 " But happily Mr. Crookes, whose boldness in the 
 cause of truth all men must approve, has cut the 
 ground from under his own pet theory of ' psychic 
 force,' unless, indeed, he has some yet unrevealed 
 metaphysical hypothesis to make the discoveries he 
 has recently promulgated fit in with that force to 
 the exclusion of Spiritualism. And from what I 
 think I know of his feelings I recommend the 
 Tyndalls, Huxleys, and Carpenters, his associates 
 
SOUVENIRS 255 
 
 in the Royal Society, not to be alarmed for the 
 present. He has not run away from science to 
 adopt what they believe to be a delusion. He has 
 not got so far as that yet, they may be assured. 
 He has only given a staggering blow to the gross 
 calumny which some Spiritualists have ventured to 
 promulgate against the character of a young girl, 
 carefully nurtured and well educated, whose only 
 crime in their eyes is that she proved to be, in the 
 naturally progressive character of the Spiritual un- 
 folding, a greater medium than any who have gone 
 before her. 
 
 " Two other incidents followed, which closed the 
 seance, after more than two hours' duration. 
 
 " Katie likes admiration, and as all present could 
 say without flattery that her flowing curls were 
 beautiful, several asked her for a portion of them 
 as a souvenir. She took her hair playfully in her 
 fingers, as if disposed to grant the request, but did 
 not do it. She ultimately, however, did what was 
 quite as strange ; she consented to part with por- 
 tions of her dress, and, taking up her skirt in a 
 double fold, Mr. Crookes having lent her his 
 scissors, she cut two pieces out of the front part, 
 leaving the holes, one about an inch, and the other 
 two or three inches in circumference, visible to our 
 eyes, and then, as if by magic, but without the 
 conjuror's double boxes or any attempt at conceal- 
 ment, she held that portion of the dress in her 
 
256 KATIE KING 
 
 closed hand for a minute or two, and showed that 
 the holes had disappeared, and that the dress was 
 again entire. 
 
 " The pieces, a portion of which I have, are 
 apparently strong ordinary white calico. Finally, 
 I asked Katie if she would allow rne to kiss her, 
 and I walked across the room with her consent, 
 and gave her a kiss, on a cheek that was warm, 
 smooth, and yielding to the pressure." 
 
 "THE FAREWELL SEANCE OF KATIE KING, 
 THE SPIRIT. 
 
 By W. H. Harrison. 
 
 " From the beginning of Miss Cook's medium- 
 ship, the spirit Katie King, or Annie Morgan, who 
 produced most of the physical manifestations, an- 
 nounced that she had power only to stay with her 
 medium for three years, when she would take her 
 final departure. Her time was up on Thursday last 
 week, and before leaving she gave three farewell 
 stances to her friends. At the first of these, held on 
 Wednesday, May 13, the visitors present were Mr, 
 William Crookes, F.R.S. ; Mrs. Makdougall-Gregory, 
 Miss Douglas, Mr. Henry M. Dunphy, Barrister- 
 at-Law ; Mrs. Ross-Church, Mr. and Mrs. James 
 Mankiewicz, Miss Katherine Poyntz, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Walter Crookes, Mr. S. C. Hall, F.S.A. ; Mrs. A. 
 
MR. HARRISONS ACCOUNT 257 
 
 Corner, Mr. G. R. Tapp, and Mr. W. H. Harrison. 
 At the second stance, held on Saturday evening, 
 May 10, the observers were Mr. William Crookes, 
 Miss Alice Crookes, M. Gustave de Veh (a friend 
 of Prince Wittgenstein, and one of the leading 
 Spiritualists in Paris), M. E. Boulland, LL.D. ; Mr. 
 Henry Bielfield, Mr. Enmore Jones, his sons Rupert 
 and Arthur, his daughters Alice and Emily, and his 
 mother, Mrs. Jane Jones ; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas 
 Blyton and Miss Florence M. Blyton, Mr. G. R. Tapp, 
 Mrs. A. Corner, Mr. H. M. Dunphy, and Mr. W. H. 
 Harrison. Mr. and Mrs. Cook and family were also 
 present at both the stances. 
 
 " The farewell stance was held on Thursday last 
 week, and Katie had emphatically stated that she 
 intended to give it only to the few tried friends 
 now in London, who for a lon^ time had been 
 fighting her medium's battles with the public ; and, 
 notwithstanding many solicitations, she made but 
 one exception, by inviting Mrs. Florence Marryat 
 Ross-Church. The other spectators were Mr. 
 William Crookes, Mrs. Corner, Mr. W. H. Harrison, 
 Mr. G. R. Tapp, Mr. and Mrs. Cook and family, and 
 the servant Mary. 
 
 "Mr. Crookes, at 7.25, conducted Miss Cook into 
 the dark room used as a cabinet, where she laid 
 herself clown upon the floor, with her head resting 
 on a pillow; at 7.28 p.m. Katie first spoke, and 
 at 7.3 p.m came outside the curtain in full form. 
 
 R 
 
258 KATIE KING 
 
 She was dressed in pure white, with low neck and 
 short sleeves. She had long hair of a light auburn 
 or golden colour, which hung in ringlets down her 
 back and each side of her head, reaching nearly to 
 her waist. She wore a long white veil, but this was 
 only drawn over her face once or twice during the 
 stance. 
 
 " The medium was dressed in a high gown of light 
 blue merino. During nearly the whole of the stance 
 while Katie was before us, the curtain was drawn 
 back and all could clearly see the sleeping medium, 
 who did not stir from her original position, but lay 
 quite still, her face being covered with a red shawl 
 to keep light from it. There was a good light 
 during the entire stance. 
 
 " Katie talked about her approaching departure, 
 and accepted a bouquet which Mr. Tapp brought 
 her, also some bunches of lilies from Mr. Crookes. 
 
 " All the sitters in the circle clustered closely 
 round her. Katie asked Mr. Tapp to take the 
 bouquet to pieces, and lay the flowers out before 
 her on the floor ; she then sat down, Eastern 
 fashion, and asked all to draw round her, which 
 was done, most of those present sitting on the floor 
 at her feet. She then divided the flowers into 
 bunches for each, tying them up with blue ribbon. 
 She also wrote parting notes to some of her friends, 
 signed, ' Annie Owen Morgan,' which she stated was 
 her real name when in earth life. She wrote a note 
 
PARTING WORDS 259 
 
 for her medium, and selected a fine rosebud for her 
 as a parting gift. 
 
 " Katie then took a pair of scissors and cut off 
 a quantity of her hair, giving everbody present a 
 liberal portion. She then took the arm of Mr. 
 Crookes and walked all round the room, shaking 
 hands with each. She again sat down, and distri- 
 buted some of her hair ; and also cut off and pre- 
 sented several pieces of her robe and veil. After 
 she had thus cut several great holes in her dress as 
 she sat between Mr. Crookes and Mr. Tapp, she was 
 asked if she could mend it as she had done on 
 other occasions ; she then held up the dilapidated 
 portion -in a good light, gave it one flap and it was 
 instantly as perfect as at first. Those near the 
 door of the cabinet examined it and handled it im- 
 mediately, with her permission, and testified there 
 was no hole, seam, or joint of any kind, where a 
 moment before had been large holes several inches 
 in diameter. 
 
 " Then she gave parting instructions to Mr. Crookes 
 and other friends, as to the course which was to be 
 taken in the future for the further developments 
 that are promised to be given through her medium- 
 ship. These instructions were very carefully re- 
 corded and given to Mr. Crookes. 
 
 " She then appeared tired and said reluctantly that 
 she must go, as the power was failing, and bade 
 farewell in the most affectionate way ; the sitters all 
 
2 Go KATIE KING 
 
 Avisbed her God speed, and thanked her for the 
 wonderful manifestations she had given. Looking 
 once more earnestly at her friends she let the curtain 
 fall and she was seen no more. She was heard to 
 wake up the medium, who tearfully entreated her 
 to stay a little longer, but Katie said, ' My dear, 
 I can't. My work is done ; God bless 3 r ou,' and we 
 heard the sound of her parting kiss. The medium 
 then came out among us, looking much exhausted 
 and deeply troubled. 
 
 " Katie said that she should never be able to speak 
 or show her face again ; that she had had a weary 
 and sad three years' life ' working off her sins ' in 
 producing these physical manifestations, and that 
 she was about to rise higher in spirit life. At long- 
 intervals she might be able to communicate with 
 her medium by writing, but at any time her medium 
 might be enabled to see her clairvoyantly by being- 
 mesmerised. 
 
 " We have received the following letter on the 
 subject from Mrs. Ross-Church : — 
 
 " To the Editor of the ' Spiritualist.' 
 
 " Sir, — As the genuineness of Miss Cook's medium- 
 ship has been so publicly called in question lately, 
 I think it but a just return for the kindness which 
 enabled me to be present at three of her last stkmccs 
 to bear witness to what I experienced there. These 
 
FLORENCE MARRY AT's ACCOUNT 26 I 
 
 stances took place on the 9 th, 13 th, and 21st of the 
 present month. 
 
 " I will not recapitulate what so many have told 
 of the appearance of the spirit ' Katie King,' nor of 
 the means taken to prevent any imposition on the 
 part of her medium. This has all been repeated 
 again and asrain, and as often disbelieved. But I 
 find Serjeant Cox, in his late letter on the subject 
 of Miss Showers' mediumship, saying that could 
 such an end be attained as a simultaneous sight of 
 the apparition outside the curtain and the medium 
 within, ' the most wonderful fact the world has ever 
 witnessed would be established beyond controversy.' 
 Perhaps Serjeant Cox would consider a sight of both 
 medium and spirit in the same room and at the 
 same time as convincing a proof of stern truth. I 
 have seen that sight. 
 
 " On the evening of the 9th of May, Katie King 
 led me, at my own request, into the room with her 
 beyond the curtain, which was not so dark but that 
 I could distinguish surrounding objects, and then 
 made me kneel down by Miss Cook's prostrate form, 
 and feel her hands and face and head of curls, 
 whilst she (the spirit) held my other hand in hers, 
 and leaned against my shoulder, with one arm 
 round my neck. I have not the slightest doubt 
 that upon that occasion there were present with me 
 two living, breathing intelligences, perfectly distinct 
 from each other, so far at least as their bodies were 
 
262 KATIE KING 
 
 concerned. If my senses deceived me ; if I was misled 
 by imagination or mesmeric influence into believing 
 that I touched and felt two bodies, instead of one ; 
 if ' Katie King,' who grasped, and embraced, and 
 spoke to me, is a projection of thought only — a 
 will-power — an instance of unknown force — then it 
 will be no longer possible to know ' Who's who in 
 1874,' and we shall hesitate to turn up the gas 
 incautiously lest half our friends should be but pro- 
 jections of thought, and melt away beneath its 
 glare. 
 
 " Whatever Katie King was on the evening of 
 the 9 th of May, she was not Miss Cook. To that 
 fact I am ready to take my most solemn oath. 
 She repeated the same experiment with me on the 
 13th, and on that occasion we had the benefit of 
 mutual sight also, as the whole company were in- 
 vited to crowd round the door whilst the curtain 
 was withdrawn and the gas turned up to the full, 
 in order that we might see the medium, in her 
 blue dress and scarlet shawl, lying in a trance on 
 the floor, whilst the white-robed spirit stood beside 
 her. 
 
 " On the 21st, however, the occasion of Katie's 
 last appearance amongst us, she was good enough 
 to give me what I consider a still more infallible 
 proof (if one could be needed) of the distinction of 
 her ideality from that of her medium. When she 
 summoned me in my turn to say a few words to 
 
PSYCHIC FORCE 263 
 
 her behind the curtain I again saw and touched 
 the warm breathing body of Florence Cook lying 
 on the floor, and then stood upright by the side of 
 Katie, who desired me to place my hands inside 
 the loose single garment which she wore and feel 
 her nude body. I did so thoroughly. I felt her 
 heart beating rapidly beneath my hand ; and passed 
 my fingers through her long hair to satisfy myself 
 that it grew from her head, and can testify that if 
 she be ' of psychic force,' psychic force is very like 
 a woman. 
 
 " Katie was very busy that evening. To each of 
 her friends assembled to say good-bye she gave a 
 bouquet of flowers tied up with ribbon, a piece of 
 her dress and veil, and a lock of her hair, and a 
 note which she wrote with her pencil before us. 
 Mine was as follows : ' From Annie Owen de 
 Morgan (alias Katie King) to her friend Florence 
 Marryat Ross-Church, with love. Pcnscz a moi. 
 May 21st, 1874.' I must not forget to relate what 
 appeared to me one of the most convincing proofs 
 of Katie's more than natural power, namely, that 
 when she had cut, before our eyes, twelve or fifteen 
 different pieces of cloth from the front of her white 
 tunic as souvenirs for her friends, there was not a 
 hole to be seen in it, examine it which way you 
 would. It was the same with her veil, and I have 
 seen her do the same thing several times. 
 
 " I think if in the face of all this testimony that 
 
264 KATIE KING 
 
 has been brought before them, the faithless and 
 unbelieving still credit Miss Cook with the super- 
 human agility required to leap from the spirit's 
 dress into her own like a flash of lightning, they 
 will hardly suppose her capable of re-weaving the 
 material of her clothing in the same space of time. 
 If they can believe that, they will not find the 
 spiritualistic doctrine so hard a nut to crack after- 
 wards. But I did not take up my pen to argue 
 this point, but simply to relate what has occurred 
 to myself. I could fill pages with an account of 
 these three sdanccs, but doubtless you will receive 
 several letters on the subject, and I shall not tres- 
 pass longer on your space, particularly as I have 
 only written this as a testimony to my complete 
 faith in Miss Cook's mediumship, and my pleasure 
 at having been permitted to judge of it myself. — I 
 am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 
 
 " FLORENCE MARRYAT ROSS-CHURCH." 
 
 Thus departed Annie Owen Morgan, alias Katie 
 King, and since that time she has not revisited this 
 terrene world. Upon those with whom she was 
 brought into contact she shed a light which illu- 
 mined the rest of their lives. If Katie King was a 
 " devil " in the garb of an angel, or rather in that 
 of a merry and tender-hearted and beautiful young 
 woman, it must be acknowledged that either devils 
 have been greatly maligned, or that they must be 
 
PRESS OPINIONS 265 
 
 sought in a large portion of humanity at its best 
 and brightest. And if the angels (if such there 
 be) are the antithesis of all that, if they are gloomy 
 and severe and ugly, where is the advantage in en- 
 deavouring to qualify for their company ? 
 
 Speaking seriously, an occurrence like this was 
 surely sufficient to fire the imagination of a whole 
 generation, and to inspire thousands with the wish 
 to explore such new possibilities to their utmost ! 
 
 The publication of the records did attract some 
 attention, but not so much as one would expect. 
 The papers treated the matter lightly. Thus the 
 Evening Standard of April 7, 1874 : — 
 
 " Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S., whose belief in 
 Spiritualism is the result of what he calls scientific 
 examination, announces to the world that with the 
 aid of a six-ounce bottle of phosphorised oil he can 
 see spirits, when, as usual, the gas is turned off. 
 Of course his first ambition was to see Katie ; for 
 Katie is the best known, and, if we may use the 
 word, the most sprightly of all the spirits who 
 consent to attend seances. It is only when Bishop 
 Colenso and such-like dignitaries have to be con- 
 vinced that one can ensure the presence of Moses 
 and Aaron to ask conundrums, but for ' general 
 utility ' purposes Katie is the handiest spirit we 
 have. She has not revealed her surname ; perhaps 
 whatever it is, she is open to change it, and such is 
 
266 KATIE KING 
 
 her amiability of disposition that she would make 
 any ghost happy, Avho could gain her hand and 
 heart ; for that she has a hand and probably a 
 heart, is what Mr. Crookes has just proved, having 
 seen her in bodily shape, and, as we may reason- 
 ably suppose, suitably attired in ghosts of clothes. 
 But there is this peculiarity about Katie — she 
 varies in length. On one occasion Mr. Crookes 
 saw her six inches taller than her medium, and on 
 another occasion not much more than four inches, 
 though always above the medium height. Mr. 
 Crookes need not distress himself about this. It 
 is in strict accordance with all that we know of 
 Spiritualism, and is certainly not more difficult to 
 explain than the preternatural elongations of Mr. 
 Home. The lines from Sir Walter Scott's ' Glen- 
 finlas ' will occur to the reader — 
 
 " ' Tall waxed the spirit's altering form, 
 Till to the roof her stature grew, 
 Then mingling with the rising storm, 
 With one wild yell, away she flew.' '' 
 
 Other papers contented themselves with pointing 
 out the obvious desirability of phenomena of such 
 stupendous import being fully investigated. But 
 London is a busy place, and soon forgets occurrences 
 which produce no perceptible effect upon the money 
 market. And so this remarkable event gradually 
 faded into oblivion, and the present generation is 
 
LOMBROSO AND RICHET 267 
 
 ignorant of the fact that Katie King ever breathed 
 the air of London. 
 
 Note. — In the current number of the Annals of Psychical Science 
 (Aug.-Sept. 1908, p. 376), Professor Lombroso expresses himself 
 in favour of the view that "Katie King" had actually lived on 
 earth under the name of Annie Owen Morgan. 
 
 In R. J. Thompson's " Proofs of Life after Death " (Laurie, 
 London, 1906), Charles Richet, Professor of Physiology at 
 Paris University, and editor of the Revue Scientifique, makes 
 the following confession : " After reading the astounding 
 statements which Mr. Crookes had published, I allowed my- 
 self — and here do I publicly beg his pardon for it ! — to laugh 
 at them as heartily as almost every one else was doing. But 
 now I say just what my friend Ochorowicz says in the same 
 matter — I beat my breast and I cry, Pater, peccavi ! How could 
 I suppose that the savant who has discovered thallium and 
 the radiometer, and foreshadowed the Roentgen rays, could 
 commit gross and inexplicable blunders, and allow himself to 
 be duped for years by tricks which a child could have exposed ? 
 . . . The real world which surrounds us, with its prejudices, 
 well or ill-founded, its scheme of habitual opinions, holds us 
 in so strong a grasp that we can scarcely free ourselves com- 
 pletely. Certainty does not follow on demonstration; it follows 
 on habit." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE PHENOMENA 
 
 In the last chapter we have about as good and 
 trustworthy a record as we can hope to get of the 
 unusual phenomena described. The methods of 
 examination, the various tests and safeguards de- 
 vised, appear to be amply sufficient. The witnesses 
 are unimpeachable, their skill and veracity are un- 
 assailable. Why then, it might be asked, were not 
 these extraordinary occurrences investigated very 
 much more closely since ? Why should possibilities 
 of such enormous importance have been left prac- 
 tically unexplored ? How is it that the whole 
 civilised world was not convulsed by such as- 
 tounding occurrences, and why were they not the 
 starting-point of a revolution in all our philosophies? 
 The answer is not so very difficult to furnish. In 
 the first place, the world is not interested in isolated 
 facts. A fact only becomes of importance when it 
 in some way affects a number of people personally. 
 Now a phenomenon which can only be reproduced 
 under very exceptional conditions, if at all, is not 
 likely to arouse much personal interest. When the 
 
 world hears of an extraordinary or apparently mira- 
 
 268 
 
INTERPRETATION 269 
 
 culous occurrence, it either smiles in a superior way 
 or politely awaits further confirmation. The amount 
 of such further confirmation required to convince 
 public opinion is in direct proportion to the interests 
 threatened by a general recognition of the occur- 
 rences and the conclusions deducible therefrom. 
 The world whose opinion counts in such matters as 
 these is divisible into two camps, those of science 
 and of orthodoxy. Science in 1874 was over- 
 whelmingly materialistic. Anything which threat- 
 ened the mechanical theory of mind and the 
 supremacy of matter was sure to encounter a violent 
 opposition. According to all scientific theories then 
 in power, the occurrences described in the last 
 chapter were clearly " impossible." True, other 
 things had previously been denounced in that term, 
 but when they could be demonstrated before a 
 Royal Institution audience to any one who chose 
 to attend, they had to be accepted in the end. And 
 this is just what could not be done in the case of 
 " Katie King." It therefore remained a matter of 
 individual conviction for Sir William Crookes and 
 his friends. Less favoured men of science did not 
 see why they should recognise either his superior 
 skill or his better fortune by accepting his facts. 
 These less favoured men were necessarily in an 
 overwhelming majority. They are so even to-day, 
 and thus it has come about that the world of science 
 has not been converted to a recognition of such 
 
27 O INTERPRETATION 
 
 phenomena. In reality, Sir William Crookes owed 
 his extraordinary success to a number of auxiliary 
 circumstances. He had an exceptionally gifted 
 medium, a thorough experimental training, a cool 
 judgment, and an infinite tact and patience. This 
 is perceived in all his experiments, and notably in 
 the following, which is quoted from the Spiritualist 
 of April 3, 1874:— 
 
 " I pass on to a seance held last night at Hackney. 
 Katie never appeared to greater perfection, and for 
 nearly two hours she walked about the room con- 
 versing familiarly with those present. On several 
 occasions she took my arm when walking, and the 
 impression conveyed to my mind that it was a living 
 woman by my side, instead of a visitor from the 
 other world, was so strong, that the temptation to 
 repeat a recent celebrated experiment became almost 
 irresistible. 
 
 " Feeling, however, that if I had not a spirit, I 
 had at all events a lady close to me, I asked her 
 permission to clasp her in my arms, so as to be able 
 to verify the interesting observations which a bold 
 experimentalist has recently somewhat verbosely 
 recorded. Permission was graciously given, and I 
 accordingly did — well, as an}'- gentleman would do 
 under the circumstances. Mr. Volckman will be 
 pleased to know that I can corroborate his state- 
 ment that the ' ghost ' (not ' struggling,' however) 
 was as material a being as Miss Cook herself. But 
 
A SUBSTANTIAL PHANTOM 27 I 
 
 the sequel shows how wrong it is for an experi- 
 mentalist, however accurate his observations may 
 be, to venture to draw an important conclusion from 
 an insufficient amount of evidence. 
 
 " Katie now said she thought she should be able 
 this time to show herself and Miss Cook together. 
 I was to turn the gas out, and then come with my 
 phosphorus lamp into the room now used as a 
 cabinet. This I did, having previously asked a 
 friend, who was skilful at shorthand, to take down 
 any statement I might make when in the cabinet, 
 knowing the importance attaching to first impres- 
 sions, and not wishing to leave more to memory 
 than necessary. His notes are now before me. 
 
 '■ I went cautiously into the room, it being dark, 
 and felt about for Miss Cook. I found her crouch- 
 ing on the floor. Kneeling down, I let air enter 
 the lamp, and by its light I saw the young lady, 
 dressed in black velvet, as she had been in the early 
 part of the evening, and to all appearance perfectry 
 senseless. She did not move when I took her hand 
 and held the light close to her face, but continued 
 quietly breathing. 
 
 " Raising the lamp, I looked around and saw 
 Katie standing close behind Miss Cook. She was 
 robed in flowing white drapery, as we had seen her 
 previously during the stance. Holding one of Miss 
 Cook's hands in mine, and still kneeling, I passed 
 the lamp up and down, so as to illuminate Katie's 
 
272 INTERPRETATION 
 
 whole figure, and satisfy myself thoroughly that I 
 was really looking at the veritable Katie whom I 
 had clasped in my arms a few minutes before, and 
 not at the phantasm of a disordered brain. She 
 did not speak, but moved her head and smiled in 
 recognition. Three separate times did I carefully 
 examine Miss Cook crouching before me, to be sure 
 that the hand I held was that of a living woman, 
 and three separate times did I turn the lamp to 
 Katie and examine her with steadfast scrutiny, until 
 I had no doubt whatever of her objective reality. 
 At last Miss Cook moved slightly, and Katie 
 instantly motioned me to go away. I went to 
 another part of the cabinet, and then ceased to 
 see Katie, but did not leave the room till Miss 
 Cook woke up, and two of the visitors came in 
 with a light." 
 
 The ordinary scientific investigator is not at all 
 prepared to treat his " subjects " with anything 
 approaching such chivalrous consideration. He is 
 much more inclined to hrusquer les choses, and visit 
 all objections with threats of denunciation. It is 
 another instance of the tyranny of the crowd. 
 
 On the side of orthodoxy the phenomena were 
 equally unfortunate. Orthodoxy had at that time 
 had so much rough handling from science with its 
 vast array of " facts " that it was very chary of re- 
 cognising new facts which might conceivably intrude 
 upon its domain. This feeling was enhanced by 
 
SPIRITUALISM 273 
 
 the somewhat hasty generalisations of ill-advised 
 spiritualists, who proceeded straightway to found a 
 new religion upon the few supernormal phenomena 
 they had stumbled across. That such phenomena 
 should give rise to a new sect was not surprising, 
 since sects had been established before on a much 
 more doubtful foundation. But this denomination 
 was specially dangerous on account of its semi- 
 scientific character. The phenomena were open to 
 all to investigate, and were extensively investigated. 
 In America, especially, the spread of spiritualism 
 was very rapid, and its present organisation is cal- 
 culated to number several million adherents. On 
 account of the questionable character of many of 
 its exponents, it has become the fashion for people 
 to preface a declaration of their belief in the pheno- 
 mena by saying, " I am not a spiritualist." This 
 somewhat pusillanimous attitude is pardonable in 
 people whose public position depends upon the 
 ignorant and prejudiced, but in others it is simply 
 cowardice. Whatever may be said of American 
 spiritualism, in Europe the movement is on the 
 whole clean and wholesome, and associated with an 
 open and wide outlook and a lofty morality. The 
 average spiritualist is not a vulgar spook-hunter, 
 but a man somewhat dazed, perhaps, with the vision 
 of ineffable glories, dimly seen through the veil 
 which hides the Beyond, a man whose faults, if any, 
 arise from the concentration of his attention on the 
 
 s 
 
2 74 INTERPRETATION 
 
 next world rather than on the cold realities and 
 trickeries and pitfalls of this. 
 
 No doubt there are fraudulent pseudo-mediums 
 who carry on an unholy trade, but these are usually 
 exposed by spiritualists themselves. And are we 
 not a little ungrateful to those delicate " instru- 
 ments of research," those high-strung men and timid 
 women and young girls who have braved the 
 dangers and terrors of the Unknown to extend the 
 bounds of human knowledge ? Their reward, in- 
 stead of being great, has been scanty. Usually it 
 has brought them nothing but suspicion and denun- 
 ciation. Material rewards are looked upon as direct 
 evidence of fraud, and the poor notoriety is as often 
 a burden as a help. Is it to be wondered at that 
 mediums are rare, or rather, that they decline to 
 come out into the open, to have the innermost 
 secrets of their being exposed to the vulgar curiosity 
 of the public, or the inconsiderate and supercilious 
 scrutiny of the " leading light " of science ? 
 
 These conditions have not been materially im- 
 proved since 1874. If anything, they are less 
 favourable, except, perhaps, in Italy. It is therefore 
 not easy to come to a definite conclusion with 
 regard to the proper interpretation of " material- 
 isation " phenomena. 
 
 One of the best summaries of facts and con- 
 clusions was contributed by W. H. Harrison to the 
 Spiritualist of May 1, 1874. It is as follows: — 
 
SPIRIT FORMS 275 
 
 "SPIRIT FORMS 
 
 " During the past two or three years the ' full 
 form ' manifestations have been developing in Eng- 
 land with considerable rapidity ; these important 
 phenomena have been closely watched by us from 
 the first, to the extent of attendance at probably 
 more than a hundred stances in all, with different 
 mediums, in whose presence spirit forms are obtained. 
 A useful purpose may therefore be served by 
 occasionally summing up what is known, what is 
 not known, and what it is desirable to know upon 
 this subject. 
 
 " Physical Characteristics of the Spirit Forms 
 
 "Before the manifestation was obtained in England, 
 it was naturally thought that the advent of spirit 
 forms would settle several vexed questions hanging 
 over the subject of spirit identity, but the first 
 result in this respect was disappointment. When 
 we first saw, by the artificial light produced by the 
 spirits, Mr. Williams's Katie King, she had the 
 features of the medium, spiritualised in expression, 
 and paler in colour ; when his John King was after- 
 wards seen, he had a large black beard, it was true, 
 but on closely examining his features, as we have 
 several times done in a good light, they were dis- 
 tinctly, to a large extent, the features of Mr. Williams. 
 When Miss Cook's Katie was first seen, she also had 
 
276 INTERPRETATION 
 
 features to a large extent the duplicate of those of 
 the medium. Mr. Allsop, who has seen much of 
 Mr. Hearne's Katie and John King in a good light, 
 testifies also to their features being like those of 
 the medium. Yet the media themselves were not 
 released from the test conditions imposed, and ex- 
 hibited in the trance by spirits, as they have been 
 frequently held or seen in one place by responsible 
 witnesses, while their duplicate forms, dressed in 
 white drapery, were seen at the same time a few 
 feet distant. Once we sat close by the side of Mr. 
 Williams at a public circle, and had tight hold of 
 his hand and arm, while the massive form of John 
 King, robed in white drapery, was floating high up 
 over the centre of the table ; his features were 
 clearly seen by everybody present ; they were dup- 
 licates of those of Mr. Williams, but paler ; his eyes 
 and lips could be seen moving as he talked ; the 
 bottom of his bust was inclined towards Mr. Williams, 
 on a level, and a little in front of the natural position 
 of Mr. Williams's head. Mr. Williams, who was held 
 by both hands all through the sSance, was not visible 
 on this occasion at the same time as John King, the 
 light produced by the spirits illuminating the bust 
 only. Whenever partial forms, such as busts and 
 spirit hands or arms have been produced, we have 
 never seen the end of them next to the medium, 
 the cabinet door, or darkness, or a curtain always 
 cutting off the view. Others may have had different 
 
NO SHADOW GHOSTS 277 
 
 experience. In the days of early development Miss 
 Cook was not entranced when the manifestations 
 were going on, and she used to complain nervously, 
 from the dark room used as a cabinet, of the un- 
 pleasantness of being shut up alone with a 'creature 
 who was going about with head and arms, but no 
 body or legs. One night recently, while Miss Cook 
 was entranced at Mr. Luxmoore's house, and Katie 
 could only show her head and shoulders, she said 
 that if we could then see her legs they would be 
 found to merge into those of the medium. The 
 effect of entrancement of the medium seems 
 chiefly to be to secure passivity, and to strengthen 
 the manifestations ; Miss Cook has seen the mate- 
 rialised full form of Katie only once or twice in her 
 life, and then only for a few seconds, though she 
 often sees her clairvoyantly. Mr. Williams has 
 never seen the materialised full form of John King 
 at all. 
 
 " The materialised forms, when felt, are to all 
 intents and purposes just like ordinary human 
 beings. We have never seen an orthodox shadow 
 ghost, or part of a shadow ghost, and believe such 
 to be myths so far as normal vision is concerned. 
 A year or more before spirit faces began regularly 
 to show themselves in England, considerable sensa- 
 tion was created by a report in the Spiritualist of 
 Mr. Harrison having felt the head of Mr. Hearne's 
 Katie ; he felt it all over, and passed his lingers 
 
278 INTERPRETATION 
 
 over her teeth and tongue ; these were wet, breath 
 was coming out of the mouth, and the teeth could 
 bite; in short, it was just like a human head, 
 though placed where a human head could by no 
 possibility be. 
 
 " As all these things gradually became known, the 
 question of spirit identity was left in as great a fog 
 as ever. These spirits, while materialised, know 
 little or nothing more than the medium, nor do 
 they show more information than a mesmeric 
 sensitive could gain by thought-reading or clair- 
 voyant powers. Are they the spirits of the 
 mediums unconsciously acting a part in a dream, 
 and temporarily clothed afresh with matter ? Ap- 
 parently not, for they are clear headed and sprightly 
 enough ; moreover, when the spirit is partly ma- 
 terialised and the medium wide awake, the two will 
 argue or quarrel, or sympathise with each other, 
 and sometimes go to the extent of playfully slapping 
 one another, so that both the material bodies are 
 governed at the same time by intelligence. We 
 have never heard a ' voice ' or ' full form ' medium, 
 and the attendant spirit speak at the same time. 
 Sometimes they will speak in very quick succession, 
 and enthusiastic witnesses have remarked — ' There ! 
 did you hear them speaking together ? ' But after 
 attending some hundreds of voice stances we never 
 have heard them speaking together. The spirits 
 say that they draw their power to speak chiefly from 
 
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 279 
 
 the lungs of the medium, and partly from the lungs 
 of some of the sitters in the circle ; we have known 
 the voices of sitters at a circle to be partially 
 weakened by the stance, though they have said 
 little or nothing during the sitting ; in one instance 
 a clerical gentleman present could only speak in a 
 whisper for two or three days afterwards. Some 
 years ago at Mrs. Mary Marshall's celebrated stances 
 at 13 Bristol Gardens, Paddington, we frequently 
 heard John King, and the spirit calling himself 
 Roger Bacon speaking at the same time, but not 
 at the same time as the medium ; whether both 
 these spirits were simultaneously drawing voice 
 power from her, or whether one was drawing 
 power from Mr. Marshall, or some other medium 
 present, we do not know. 
 
 " The spirit forms themselves, and their various 
 parts, differ considerably in dimensions at different 
 sittings with the same mediums, and when the 
 faces alone instead of the full forms were shown, 
 these variations were far more marked, perhaps 
 because the spirits could concentrate more power 
 upon a smaller surface. To disarm premature 
 criticisms of casual witnesses at bad stances, and 
 to avoid the charge of exaggerating, we used to 
 publish that the heads were merely duplicates of 
 that of the medium. The consequence was that 
 one evening at Miss Cook's, when the correspondent 
 of the Daily Telegraph and two celebrated photo- 
 
2 50 INTERPRETATION 
 
 grapliers were present, and Katie came up with a 
 bony cadaverous-looking head, half as big again as 
 the head of Miss Cook, though bearing points of 
 resemblance to it, the observers were startled, and 
 said that it was not fair to the medium to publish 
 that there was great similarity in the features. At 
 other stances also, on no better foundation than one 
 evening's experience, the opposite fault would be 
 found, and complaints made that statements were 
 published that there was any difference at all. The 
 self-confidence of many of the witnesses, and their 
 perfect satisfaction that what they saw in one visit, 
 and the inferences which they drew in addition, 
 settled the whole question, and outweighed alto- 
 gether the knowledge and opinions of those who 
 had had months of experience was remarkable, and 
 was as interesting a study almost as the spirit 
 forms themselves. The more intelligent and re- 
 liable the witness, the less hasty were the con- 
 clusions, and the less self - confident was the 
 individual. Some had the profound conviction 
 that if they saw such and such a test and 
 published it (which they were perfectly ready to 
 do if they could get it), then everybody would 
 believe. There was never a more fatal error. 
 These full form manifestations would never be 
 accepted by the public on the testimony of any one 
 man, and many of those who candidly and modestly 
 enough expressed the opinion that their verdict 
 
MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS 28 I 
 
 would settle everything, were generally those whose 
 fiat would exercise little or no influence at all. 
 Without knowing it, the sitters at stances are often 
 passing through as severe a series of moral tests as 
 the medium. 
 
 " Mental Characteristics of the Spirit Forms 
 
 " Seeing that these material forms gave little 
 evidence of the personal identity of departed 
 spirits, the next question was, ' What are their 
 mental characteristics ? ' Nearly as much those 
 of the mediums as the physical features, and 
 there are those who have expressed the opinion 
 that the lower mental characteristics of the medium, 
 such as love of flattery, egotism, and so on, are 
 chiefly duplicated in the forms. Although much 
 may be cited in favour of this view, we think that 
 the facts are due chiefly to the flattery and deference 
 frequently expressed by the sitters present ; we 
 have sometimes heard high and good teachings 
 given through these forms, when the tone of the 
 circle has been such as to demand the same, 
 though sometimes the utterances have been lower 
 than the average level or desires of the circles. 
 Taking the physical manifestations all the way 
 through, their mental and moral character is 
 decidedly much lower than the average character 
 of spirit messages given through trance and clair- 
 voyant mediums. 
 
2 82 interpretation 
 
 " Spirit Identity in Connection with Full 
 Form Manifestations 
 
 " We do not know that any of these voice spirits 
 — any of the John Kings, John Watts, Jack Todds, 
 Peters, Florences, or Katies — have satisfactorily 
 proved their identity ; perhaps nobody has taken 
 sufficient pains to search out old documents to 
 verify their statements. The answers they give 
 when questioned on the point of identity are much 
 those which the medium might give when speculat- 
 ing as to who or what the spirit might be. We 
 have some reason to suppose that although at the 
 various stances with the same medium, the spirit 
 face or form is physically nearly the same, the intel- 
 ligence governing the form is sometimes an entirely 
 different one. After the recent outrage at Miss 
 Cook's, the medium was very ill for several weeks; 
 bad spirits sometimes controlled her ; one of them 
 spoke roughly, demanded brandy, said what circle 
 he habitually frequented, and made her get out of 
 bed and sleep on the cold floor one cold night. 
 The touch of her mother, or of some other member 
 of the family, would sometimes drive off these 
 influences, and she would wake with a haggard 
 look, as if from an uneasy dream. A few full- 
 form stances were held during the first week or two 
 afterwards, at which the Katie form appeared, but 
 at later stances the intelligence governing what was 
 
MORAL CHARACTERISTICS 283 
 
 to all appearance the same form, said that she 
 knew nothing about the previous stances, and that 
 another spirit had been personating her. If the 
 intelligence behind these forms changes often, it 
 explains why Mr. Williams's John King sometimes 
 shows accurate knowledge of events which once 
 took place at Mrs. Marshall's stances, but usually 
 knows nothing about them. It will account for 
 Mrs. Perrin's John King once being able at Mrs. 
 Berry's, when we were present, to describe in 
 minute detail to Mr. Peebles a boisterous seance Mr. 
 Peebles had had years ago with a John King in 
 America. It will account, also, for these voice 
 spirits saying and doing good things at one time 
 and bad ones at another. The interests and 
 thoughts of the mediums and these spirits are 
 very closely allied, and we know that if the mediums 
 firmly resolve to do wrong, the spirits will not only 
 help them, but adopt subterfuges to attempt to 
 screen them from the consequences of their mis- 
 deeds. Sometimes, again, they will strongly warn 
 the medium against doing wrong ; if the medium 
 persist, it may be that the higher spirit is then 
 obliged to go, and a lower one, but with the same 
 physical voice and external characteristics, takes 
 its place. 
 
284 interpretation 
 
 " Sensations of the Medium Dujring the 
 
 Seances 
 
 " Mr. Williams is in a dead trance all through the 
 stances, and remembers nothing when he wakes up. 
 It is usually the same with Miss Cook, but some- 
 times she has a dreamy recollection of having seen 
 the sitters in the circle. Katie says that this is 
 because she (Katie) not only uses matter from the 
 body of the medium, but some of the thoughts and 
 brain of the medium in manifesting, and that if she 
 does not put these back properly, Miss Cook, on 
 waking, finds some of Katie's recollections feebly 
 mingling with her own. The day after the outrage 
 at the circle, Mr. Charles Blackburn called on Miss 
 Cook, and asked her what were her first sensations 
 on coming to afterwards, and he thoughtfully wrote 
 down and sent us her replies. She said she felt as 
 if her brain were on fire, and it was this pain which 
 caused her to give the succession of shrieks ; then 
 she thought, ' I hope they have not hurt my Katie ! ' 
 This would seem to have been reflex mental action, 
 originating in a thought of Katie's, ' I hope they 
 have not hurt my medium.' 
 
 " As it is absolutely certain, and scientifically de- 
 monstrated, that in these physical manifestations 
 there are two living forms, one inside and one out- 
 side the cabinet, it is plain that if a person breaks 
 faith and seizes one of them, the two must amalga- 
 
SENSATIONS OF THE MEDIUM 285 
 
 mate, for it is not conceivable that a human being 
 should be created by the act, and a Katie King 
 brought down or up to live permanently in this 
 world. Therefore, it is also not conceivable that 
 those two forms could be violently and unexpectedly 
 brought together, without killing or seriously injur- 
 ing the medium. The spirits say that, when fully 
 formed, they are of full weight, half of their weight 
 being taken from members of the circle, and that 
 the medium is half weight, a point which Mr. Crookes 
 might do much good by determining by experiment. 
 If the statement be reliable, it would seem more 
 natural that the half weight should fly to the seized 
 full weight than the reverse, but Katie asserts that 
 she would have melted away from the legs upwards, 
 and the medium been found dead in the cabinet. 
 Whether this is reliable, or whether the deep con- 
 viction of the medium governed the utterance of 
 the spirit, we have no means of knowing. Mr. 
 Dunphy and Mr. Bielfield, who were quietly sitting 
 where they could see the back of the form when it 
 was seized, agree in stating that it appeared to begin 
 to go about the legs, but the moment was an excit- 
 ing one, so that perhaps the observation should for 
 the present be considered to establish a point of 
 possibility rather than of actuality. 
 
2 86 interpretation 
 
 " The Drapery of the Forms 
 
 " Where does the white drapery come from ? In 
 the case of Miss Cook's Katie it is always as white 
 as snow, and the dress varies in shape nearly every 
 evening. It feels material enough. Once she cut 
 a piece off, which she said she had materialised so 
 that it would keep. Miss Douglas took it to Messrs. 
 Howell and James's, and asked them to match it ; 
 they said that they could not, and that they believed 
 it to be of Chinese manufacture. Spirits can carry 
 solid things from place to place hundreds of miles 
 apart, as Baron Kirkup has proved over and over 
 again. All the attempts of those who have had 
 experience with different mediums to pierce the 
 mystery of the source whence the drapery comes, are 
 conflicting in their results, and we are unable to give 
 an approximately satisfactory answer or speculation 
 on the point. We can give evidence that in the 
 case of the Davenport Brothers, Mr. Williams, Miss 
 Cook, and Mr. Hearne, the spirits have the power 
 either of duplicating the dress proper of the medium, 
 or of not doing so, as they please. 
 
 "A Provisional Hypothesis to Cover 
 the Facts 
 
 " Our general hypothesis of the whole matter is 
 that the manifestations are not produced by the 
 temporarily (wholly or partially) freed spirit of the 
 
 _____ 
 
DRAPERY 287 
 
 medium, but by an independent spirit, who by the 
 mesmeric exercise of will power, and by other 
 methods unknown, can subdue and get control of 
 much of the brain and body and clothes of the 
 medium, and come out and show itself limited in 
 thought, and word, and deed, by these elements 
 which it has again abnormally borrowed from the 
 material world. A strong bond of self-interest 
 unites the spirit and the medium ; they appear to 
 share each other's spiritual, mental, and physical 
 pleasures, just as in a lesser degree the fact has 
 been noticed in mesmerism, that the sensitive and 
 the mesmeriser often experience each other's sensa- 
 tions. Perhaps an earth-bound spirit may thus 
 live a partial earth-life over again, through a 
 medium in sympathy with its tastes and pleasures, 
 and sometimes possibly both medium and spirit 
 may be raised or degraded together, by the example 
 or teachings of the mortals around." 
 
 We see, then, that in 1874 the question of the 
 independent personality of the "spirit form" could 
 not be satisfactorily decided on the evidence then 
 available. Since that date, materialised forms have 
 been recorded a good deal, but not so fully nor with 
 the same care. Hands and faces are fairly common, 
 though they are usually produced only in the dark, 
 and are therefore less valuable evidentially. 
 
 For our purposes (i.e. for shedding some new 
 light on the question of immortality) it is not of 
 
288 INTERPRETATION 
 
 fundamental importance whether " Katie King " was 
 a " double " or replica of Florence Cook, or an inde- 
 pendent entity manifesting her presence temporarily 
 on earth with the help of material borrowed partly 
 from the medium. The importance of the records 
 lies in the fact that a fully formed human organism 
 could be manifested and apparently " created " in a 
 few minutes, and could disappear as rapidly. 
 
 According to our psychophysical theory, this 
 occurrence would take place as follows. We shall 
 distinguish the two alternatives. 
 
 (a) " Katie King " an Independent Entity. — She 
 must then be regarded as inhabiting the atmosphere 
 ordinarily. Finding her medium suitably disposed, 
 she " enters " the medium's body, diffusing her 
 " psychomeres " through it until they fill up its 
 outline. This act places her in touch with mundane 
 conditions. The psychomeres then temporarily take 
 up (or resume ?) their mundane function of collect- 
 ing and arranging the best material available for 
 the formation of the human cell-body. This is 
 most readily abstracted from the medium, but such 
 abstraction must have its limits, imposed by the 
 requirements of the medium's organism, which will 
 naturally resist any excessive drain. The remaining 
 material is then probably abstracted from the other 
 sitters. This mingling of parts of the physical 
 organisms of the sitters accounts for the necessity 
 of a certain minimum of " harmony " in the circle. 
 
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESES 289 
 
 The visiting entity is thus provided with a 
 temporary body. Her mind is her own, but it will 
 of course be strongly influenced by the surround- 
 ings. The bodily resemblance to the medium will 
 be paralleled by a mental kinship. The visitor 
 will naturally fall in with the language, dialect, 
 and prevailing tone of the assembly. The object of 
 the visit being, so to speak, a social one, everything 
 will be designed accordingly. The conventions or 
 prejudices of the company will be respected. Their 
 ideas will be largely shared. The independence of 
 the " spirit " will be bounded on all sides by the 
 expectations and views of the company, and any 
 irregularity will be promptly checked by the im- 
 perative necessity for the harmony of the circle. 
 Hence the " cockney accent," the " triviality," the 
 clothes, the commonplace accomplishments of the 
 visitor, which have so often been ridiculed in this 
 connection. 
 
 (b) " Katie King " a " double " of Florence Cook — 
 If the " spirit form " is a replica of the medium, 
 it must be regarded either as an externalisation of 
 the medium's own soul, or as a temporary fission 
 of the medium's bodily and psychic personality. 
 The former alternative is suggested by Richet's and 
 other observations of cases of double or multiple 
 personality. There are well-established cases of 
 two distinct psychic personalities alternately in- 
 habiting the same body, but if we accept the spirit 
 
 T 
 
290 INTERPRETATION 
 
 hypothesis in that connection we simply reduce 
 our case b to case a, and in view of the material 
 hitherto studied, there is very little to say against 
 our doing so. 1 
 
 A fission of the medium's soul must not be 
 regarded as a priori inadmissible, in view of the 
 known prevalence of fission in the lower organisms. 
 That the two entities thus produced are seemingly 
 independent, and sometimes even in incipient 
 opposition, must not surprise us when we recall 
 the clear antagonism sometimes observed between 
 parents and children. The materialisation process 
 would be, on this view, a kind of birth, in which, 
 however, rapidity takes the place of permanence, 
 and the whole process is reversible ! 
 
 It is this last characteristic which makes it so 
 difficult to find a parallel in ordinary biological pro- 
 cesses. Moreover, there appears to be no evidence 
 of a gradual growth or waning in mental equip- 
 ment. " Katie King " is as lively and talkative 
 when she has " no legs to stand on " as when she 
 is in full form. It will probably be found here 
 also, as in many other departments of kindred in- 
 quiry, that the " spirit hypothesis " is the simplest, 
 and involves the minimum of risky assumptions. 
 
 1 The only objection is based on cases where the two personalities 
 have eventually become fused into one (see the Hanna case in Sidis 
 and Goodhart's "Multiple Personality"). But such fusion of souls 
 is not more difficult to conceive than the division of a soul into 
 two parts, as in protozoic fission. 
 
SPIRIT HYPOTHESIS 29 1 
 
 We, to whom the survival of the soul-body is a 
 reasonable solution of the problem of immortality, 
 cannot find any difficulty in conceiving that a fair 
 proportion of souls may, for various reasons, desire 
 a short spell of human intercourse. The air must 
 be full of them, and although such intercourse is 
 not normal, and may possibly not be altogether 
 desirable, we, who see in our city-life so much 
 undoubted suffering and evil, cannot afford to close 
 the door against anything that offers the slightest 
 prospect of increasing our knowledge of the essential 
 conditions of life, and thus holds out a new hope to 
 the sufferers. 
 
 The mechanism of materialisation offers a number 
 of difficult problems for further investigation. Even 
 granting that the psychomeres of a departed spirit 
 can resume their directive functions, it is difficult 
 to see how they can, in a few minutes, produce 
 such comparatively permanent structures as bones 
 and teeth. Yet it must be remembered that the 
 process is simply an acceleration of what we see 
 every day in the growth of infants. The drapery 
 offers a problem of a different kind, though the 
 power that can produce the infinitely complex 
 human organism must find it mere child's play to 
 construct something as coarse as even the finest 
 muslin is in comparison with human tissues. 
 Drapery is usually produced in great abundance. 1 
 
 1 See Mine. d'Esperance's " Shadowland." 
 
292 INTERPRETATION 
 
 If we adopt some such hypothesis as is here 
 sketched out, what shall we say to the attempts 
 to " expose " mediums by seizing or intercepting 
 the materialised forms ? To take a rather obvious 
 human parallel, it is an act about as brutal as that 
 of violently tearing a sucking babe off the mother's 
 breast, except that in the medium's case the 
 connection is probably much more intimate. If, 
 however, it could be successfully and completely 
 accomplished, this is what we might expect as the 
 result : the medium would be found to be very 
 much emaciated, weighing, in fact, about half the 
 normal weight. The materialised form, having lost 
 touch with its sustainer, would collapse in a struc- 
 tureless heap and then dissolve into vapour. The 
 medium, if not seriously injured or killed, would 
 take a long time to recover, and the more susceptible 
 sitters might participate in the damage inflicted. 
 
 As matters stand, the alleged " exposures " of 
 honest mediums have usually been rendered harm- 
 less by the prompt recombination of the two forms. 
 The drapery, being usually the last to disappear, 
 has often been found on the mediums, and thus 
 has given very convincing primd facie " evidence " 
 of trickery ! This explanation does not, of course, 
 dispose of the few duly authenticated cases of the 
 real exposure of fraudulent mediums. In any case, 
 it is only fair to ask that the evidence of such 
 exposures should be as carefully and impartially 
 
RISKS AND LIMITATIONS 293 
 
 sifted as the evidence in favour of the genuine 
 phenomena, instead of being, as it usually is, ac- 
 cepted without the slightest show of criticism. 
 
 A careful study of these most important ma- 
 terialisation phenomena is bound to shed valuable 
 light on physiology and pathology, But enough 
 has been said to make it clear that the phenomena 
 are not only rare, but risky. They should be studied 
 only by duly qualified persons, and then not in the 
 spirit of a kind of psychic vivisection, but with 
 scrupulous regard to the physical, mental, and moral 
 health of the exceptionally endowed being through 
 whom the phenomena are obtained. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 SUPERNORMAL PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
 
 The phenomena of raps and table-tilting were in- 
 vestigated in the years 1869-1871, twenty years 
 after they had first attracted attention in America, 
 by a committee appointed by the London Dialectical 
 Society, under the presidency of the late Sir John 
 Lubbock, Bart., M.P. 1 They reported, among other 
 things : — 
 
 " 1. That sounds of a very varied character, ap- 
 parently proceeding from articles of furniture, the 
 floor and walls of the room — the vibrations ac- 
 companying which sounds are often distinctly per- 
 ceptible to the touch — occur, without being produced 
 by muscular action or mechanical contrivance. 
 
 " 2. That movements of heavy bodies take place 
 without mechanical contrivance of any kind, or 
 adequate exertion of muscular force by those 
 present, and frequently without contact or con- 
 nection with any person. 
 
 "3. That these sounds and movements often 
 occur at the time and in the manner asked for by 
 
 1 See the Report of the Committee of the Dialectical Society, 
 published by Longmans, Green & Co. 
 
MECHANICAL PHENOMENA 295 
 
 persons present, and by means of a simple code 
 of signals, answer questions and spell out coherent 
 communications." 
 
 One of the sub-committees of the Dialectical 
 Society reported : — 
 
 " Your committee studiously avoided the em- 
 ployment of professional or paid mediums. All 
 were members of the committee, persons of social 
 position, of unimpeachable integrity, with no pecu- 
 niary object, having nothing to gain by deception, and 
 everything to lose by detection of imposture." 
 
 In another part of the report the same committee 
 stated : — 
 
 "After a committee of eleven persons had been 
 sitting round a dining-table for forty minutes, and 
 various motions and sounds had occurred, the chairs 
 were turned with their hacks to the table, at about 
 nine inches from it. All present then knelt upon 
 their chairs, placing their arms upon the backs of 
 the chairs. In this position the feet were of course 
 turned away from the table, and by no possibility 
 could be placed under it or touch the floor. The 
 hands were extended over the table at about four 
 inches from the surface. 
 
 " In this position, contact with any part of the 
 table was physically impossible. 
 
 " In less than a minute the table, untouched, 
 moved four times ; at first about five inches to one 
 
296 PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
 
 side, then about twelve inches to the opposite side, 
 then about four inches, and then about six inches. 
 
 " The hands were next placed on the backs of 
 the chairs and about a foot from the table. In this 
 position, the table again moved four times, over 
 spaces varying from four to six inches. Then all 
 the chairs were removed twelve inches from the 
 table. All knelt as before. Each person folded his 
 hands behind his back, his body being about 
 eighteen inches from the table, and having the 
 back of the chair between himself and the table. 
 In this position the table again moved four times, 
 in like manner as before. In the course of this 
 conclusive experiment, and in less than half-an- 
 hour, the table moved, without contact or possi- 
 bility of contact with any person present, twelve 
 times, the movements being in different directions, 
 and some according to the request of different 
 persons present. 
 
 " The table was then carefully examined, turned 
 upside down, and taken to pieces, but nothing 
 was discovered. The experiment was conducted 
 throughout in the full light of gas above the table. 
 
 " Altogether your committee have witnessed up- 
 wards of fifty similar motions without contact on 
 eight different evenings, in the houses of different 
 members of your committee, and with the applica- 
 tion of the most careful tests their collective in- 
 telligence could devise." 
 
PRIVATE EXPERIMENTS 297 
 
 These phenomena have been observed with special 
 care by Dr. J. Maxwell of Bordeaux. 1 As regards 
 the conditions under which they may be obtained, 
 these are Avell described from the point of view of 
 the spirit hypothesis in the following instructions, 
 quoted from the Spiritualist : — 
 
 "How to form Spirit Circles 
 
 " An experimental trial at home, among family 
 friends and relatives, often gives the most satisfac- 
 tory evidence of the reality of spiritual phenomena, 
 and this is the best way for inquirers to begin. At 
 the same time, as no fully developed medium is 
 present among those who have never obtained 
 manifestations before, possibly there may be no 
 results. Nevertheless, it is a very common thing 
 for striking manifestations to be obtained in this 
 way at the first sitting of a family circle ; perhaps 
 for every successful new circle thus started without 
 a medium, there are three or four failures, but no 
 accurate statistics on this point have yet been 
 collected. Consequently, to save time, investigators 
 should do as the Dialectical Society did, form several 
 new circles, with 110 spiritualist or professional 
 medium present, and at one or other of them results 
 will probably be obtained. When once manifesta- 
 
 1 See his " Metapsychical Phenomena," translated by Laura I. 
 Finch. Duckworth, London, 1905. 
 
298 PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
 
 tions have been obtained they will gradually increase 
 in power and reliability at successive sittings. The 
 following is a good plan of action : — 
 
 " 1. Let the room be of a comfortable temperature, 
 but cool rather than warm — let arrangements be 
 made that nobody shall enter it, and that there 
 shall be no interruption for one hour during the 
 sitting of the circle. 
 
 " 2. Let the circle consist of four, five, or six 
 individuals, about the same number of each sex. 
 Sit round an uncovered wooden table, with all the 
 palms of the hands in contact with its top surface. 
 Whether the hands touch each other or not is 
 usually of no importance. Any table will do, just 
 large enough to conveniently accommodate the 
 sitters. The removal of a hand from the table 
 for a few seconds does no harm, but when one of 
 the sitters breaks the circle by leaving the table it 
 sometimes, but not always, very considerably delays 
 the manifestations. 
 
 " 3. Before the sitting begins, place some pointed 
 lead-pencils and some sheets of clean writing paper 
 on the table, to write down any communications 
 that may be obtained. 
 
 " 4. People who do not like each other should 
 not sit in the same circle, for such a want of 
 harmony tends to prevent manifestations, except 
 with well-developed physical mediums : it is not 
 yet known why. Belief or unbelief has no influence 
 
SPIRITUALISTIC METHODS 299 
 
 on the manifestations, but an acrid feeling against 
 them is a weakening influence. 
 
 "5. Before the manifestations begin, it is well to 
 engage in general conversation or in singing, and it 
 is best that neither should be of a frivolous nature. 
 A prayerful, earnest feeling among the members of 
 the circle gives the higher spirits more power to 
 come to the circle, and makes it more difficult for 
 the lower spirits to get near. 
 
 " 6. The first symptom of the invisible power at 
 work is often a feeling like a cool wind sweeping 
 over the hands. The first manifestations will 
 probably be table-tiltings or raps. 
 
 " 7. When motions of the table or sounds are 
 produced freely, to avoid confusion, let one person 
 only speak, and talk to the table as to an intelligent 
 being. Let him tell the table that three tilts or 
 raps mean ' Yes,' one means ' No,' and two mean 
 ' Doubtful,' and ask whether the arrangement is 
 understood. If three signals be given in answer, 
 then say, ' If I speak the letters of the alphabet 
 slowly, will you signal every time I come to the 
 letter you want, and spell us out a message ? ' 
 Should three signals be given, set to work on the 
 plan proposed, and from this time an intelligent 
 system of communication is established. 
 
 " 8. Afterwards the question should be put, • Are 
 we sitting in the right order to get the best manifes- 
 tations ? ' Probably some members of the circle will 
 
300 PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
 
 then be told to change seats with each other, and the 
 signals will be afterwards strengthened. Next ask, 
 ' Who is the medium ? ' When spirits come assert- 
 ing themselves to be related or known to anybody 
 present, well-chosen questions should be put to test 
 the accuracy of the statements, as spirits out of the 
 body have all the virtues and all the failings of 
 spirits in the body. 
 
 "9. A powerful physical medium is usually a 
 person of an impulsive, affectionate, and genial 
 nature, and very sensitive to mesmeric influences. 
 The majority of media are ladies. 
 
 " The best manifestations are obtained when the 
 medium and all the members of the circle are 
 strongly bound together by the affections, and are 
 thoroughly comfortable and happy ; the manifesta- 
 tions are born of the spirit, and shrink somewhat 
 from the lower mental influences of the earth. 
 Family circles, with no strangers present, are 
 usually the best. 
 
 " Possibly at the first sitting of a circle symptoms 
 of other forms of mediumship than tilts or raps may 
 make their appearance." 
 
 As regards " raps," Maxwell x says : — 
 
 " They manifest themselves as the expression of 
 a will distinct from those of the observers. Such 
 is the appearance of the phenomenon. A curious 
 
 1 " Metapsychical Phenomena," p. 83. 
 
 ■__a^^« 
 
RAPS 30I 
 
 fact is the result — not only do the raps reveal 
 themselves as the productions of intelligent action, 
 they also manifest intelligence in response to any 
 particular rhythm or code which might be demanded. 
 
 " Often the different raps reply to one another ; 
 and one of the most interesting experiences one can 
 have is to hear these raps clear and resonant, or 
 soft and muffled, sounding simultaneously on the 
 floor, table, furniture, &c. 
 
 " I have had exceptionally good opportunities of 
 studying very closely this curious phenomenon of 
 raps, and I think I have arrived at some conclusions. 
 The first and most certain is their undoubtedly 
 close connection with the muscular movements of 
 the sitters. I may sum up my observations on this 
 point in the three following propositions : — 
 
 " 1. All muscular movements, however slight, are 
 generally followed by a rap. 
 
 " 2. The intensity of the raps does not strike me 
 as being in proportion to the movement made. 
 
 " 3. The intensity of the raps does not seem 
 to me to vary proportionately according to their 
 distance from the medium." 
 
 The synchronism of raps with slight muscular 
 movements of the medium (which themselves may 
 be supernormal in origin) misled a Cambridge com- 
 mittee into declaring that the raps were all produced 
 by the medium (Eusapia Paladino). Sir William 
 
302 PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
 
 Crookes obtained raps in great variety, 1 both with 
 Mr. D. D. Home and with Miss Kate Fox. 2 Their 
 tonality varied within a wide range. They re- 
 sembled pin-pricks, sparks from an induction coil, 
 detonations, metallic taps, scratching, percussion, 
 or even the twittering of birds. Almost always 
 they have a vibratory character, like a quickly 
 damped oscillation. Crookes observed them on the 
 trunk of a tree, in a pane of glass, in an iron wire, 
 a tambourine, the roof of a cab, the floor of a 
 theatre, and a sheet of paper suspended in the air. 
 
 Crookes classifies the supernormal phenomena 
 observed by him under thirteen different heads, as 
 follows : — 
 
 1. Movement of heavy bodies with contact, but 
 without mechanical exertion. 
 
 2. Percussive and other allied sounds. 
 
 3. Alteration of weight. 
 
 4. Movement of heavy substances at a distance. 
 
 5. Levitations. 
 
 6. Levitation of human beings. 
 
 7. Movement of small articles without contact. 
 
 8. Luminous appearances. 
 
 1 See his " Besearches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism," re- 
 printed from the Quarterly Journal of Science by James Burns, 
 1874. 
 
 2 Miss Fox and her sister are said to have " confessed " at a later 
 date that they produced the raps by the snapping of their joints ! 
 Such " confession " ought to be received with the same amount of 
 philosophic doubt as the records of the phenomena themselves. It 
 is a matter of comparative credibility of witnesses. 
 
WEIGHING OF EVIDENCE 303 
 
 9. Appearance of hands, either self-luminous, or 
 visible by ordinary light. 
 
 10. Direct writing. 
 
 11. Phantom forms and faces. 
 
 12. Direct evidence of external intelligence. 
 
 13. Miscellaneous, including apports of objects 
 and their passage through apparently impassable 
 obstacles. 1 
 
 To any one who carefully studies the accounts of 
 the phenomena impartially, who confronts Faraday, 
 Carpenter, Tyndall, and Podmore on the one hand 
 with Crookes, Wallace, Varley, Myers, Lodge, 
 Barrett, Richet, Hare, and Lombroso on the other, 
 the conclusion in favour of the objective and bond- 
 fide character of these supernormal occurrences is 
 irresistible. It is quite a different matter when 
 we endeavour to explain them in terms of better 
 known phenomena. We are taken so far out of 
 reach of known forces and forms of energy that the 
 first feeling is one of utter bewilderment. Yet this 
 attitude is not a permanent one to anybody en- 
 dowed with the true scientific spirit, to whom new 
 phenomena are simply a challenge and an incentive 
 to discover their laws. It is here that the average 
 spiritualist's attitude falls short of the exigencies of 
 
 1 For fuller accounts of these and kindred phenomena see 
 " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism," by Sir Alfred Russell Wallace ; 
 Nichols & Co., London, 1901. A hostile account is given by 
 F. Podmore in his "History of Modern Spiritualism " (Methuen, 
 London, 1902). 
 
304 PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
 
 the situation. He is bewildered and dumbfounded, 
 and expects all other beholders to be the same. 
 He " falls down and worships " heedless of the 
 danger that the object of such worship might be 
 unworthy of so much honour. He simply believes 
 that " the spirits can do anything," and regards the 
 wonderful manifestations referred to as so much 
 evidence of their all but unlimited arbitrary power. 
 
 An attitude like this (from which, however, many 
 eminent spiritualists have been free) is not likely 
 to commend itself to the scientifically trained mind. 
 The very raison d'Stre of science is to find out the 
 laws underlying all phenomena, however marvellous 
 or extraordinary. If any department of new pheno- 
 mena should become known which were above the 
 law, and "miraculous " in the usual acceptation of the 
 term, science would have to abdicate. It is therefore 
 bound to deny the possibility of true " miracles," and 
 to search for the causes of all inexplicable events. 
 
 This attitude is considerably strengthened by the 
 second article of scientific faith which we have con- 
 sistently advocated in this book : That man is supreme 
 in his own world. Here on the surface of the 
 earth man is in command. His organs and faculties 
 are best adapted to deal with the situation actually 
 confronting him. He cannot count upon any super- 
 natural help. He has absolute powers within his 
 own sphere. Whatever improvements can be made 
 in his lot must be made by himself. Whatever 
 
SUPREMACY OF MAN 305 
 
 further powers he wants to exert must be evolved 
 from within. This, it will be objected, is insub- 
 ordination to the higher Power of the universe. It 
 is no such thing. That Power is within us also — 
 
 Tov yap kul yevo? ecr/uev, 
 
 and we hold in our hands a signed blank cheque on 
 the Universal Bank. 
 
 If the soul-world makes incursions into our world, 
 it does so because it is akin to ours. But it is less 
 in touch with the actual conditions of terrene life 
 than we are, and we must not expect the inter- 
 course to be of any " practical utility." We must 
 receive the visitors somewhat as a European monarch 
 receives the Ambassador of the United States, a 
 community which has absorbed many of his former 
 subjects. The difference is that we all must emigrate 
 by-and-by into the new territory, and that the 
 conditions are more different than the}^ are in 
 crossing the Atlantic. 
 
 It is quite conceivable that denizens of the soul- 
 world, kept within our sphere of influence either 
 by natural affection or by the delight in old con- 
 ditions and surroundings, may make special efforts 
 to master the conditions under which communica- 
 tion becomes possible. What these conditions are 
 we can only surmise. On our new theory, material- 
 isation appears to be more explicable than the 
 
 u 
 
306 PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
 
 much more frequent and apparently simple physical 
 phenomena. 
 
 But we are driven to the conclusion that, just as 
 organisms may be temporarily formed and perform 
 the ordinary acts of social intercourse, so simpler 
 effects may be brought about by accumulating 
 energy at some point outside the bodies of the 
 sitters. The tenuous soul-body with which we 
 have been led to endow our departed friends would 
 not ordinarily be able to produce any visible, audible, 
 or tangible effect, but if it reduced its bulk to a 
 small fraction of its ordinary size it would be able 
 to exert considerable force. Thus, to put it into 
 figures, a gaseous soul-body, reduced in linear size 
 to one-half its former dimensions, would exert a 
 pressure of about 100 lbs. per square inch, which 
 would amply suffice to produce the most violent 
 levitations and disturbances hitherto observed. 
 Crookes says ("Researches," p. 89): "On five 
 separate occasions, a heavy dining-table rose be- 
 tween a few inches and 1^- feet off the floor, 
 under special circumstances, which rendered tricking 
 impossible." 
 
 And further : " On one occasion I witnessed a 
 chair, with a lady sitting on it, rise several inches 
 from the ground. On another occasion the lady 
 knelt on the chair in such manner that the four 
 feet were visible to us. It then rose about three 
 inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, 
 
SOURCE OF POWER 307 
 
 and then slowly descended. There are at least 
 100 recorded instances of Mr. Home's rising from 
 the ground, in the presence of as many separate 
 persons." 
 
 Such happenings as these require the expenditure 
 of a certain amount of energy. This may be (and 
 no doubt often is) derived from the sitters, but 
 another possible source of supply is the natural 
 heat of the air, which might be extracted by a 
 process analogous to that practised by Maxwell's 
 famous " demon." In this connection a remark b} r 
 Crookes ("Researches," p. 86) is significant: — 
 
 " These movements (and indeed I may say the 
 same of every kind of phenomenon) are generally 
 preceded by a peculiar cold air, sometimes amounting 
 to a decided wind. I have had sheets of paper 
 blown about by it, and a thermometer lowered 
 several degrees. On some occasions, which I will 
 subsequently give more in detail, I have not de- 
 tected any actual movement of the air, but the 
 cold has been so intense that I could only compare 
 it to that felt when the hand has been within a 
 few inches of frozen mercury." 
 
 It is easily imagined why the meeting of a 
 number of people under agreeable social surround- 
 ings should be particularly favourable to such 
 phenomena. There is then a vivid interchange of 
 thought and emotion, a certain amount of " ex- 
 trenalisation " of the soul which is no doubt pro- 
 
30S PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
 
 vocative of a number of phenomena in which such 
 extemalisation assumes extreme forms. Besides, 
 such communion brings the higher link (or " knot ") 
 which links up the community into play, and pro- 
 bably has the power of attracting other intelligences 
 of a similar character. 
 
 In this connection it is well to say a word about 
 the " demon " theory — a favourite one with clerical 
 opponents of spiritualism. According to them, all 
 the phenomena (whose reality they unhesitatingly 
 admit) are produced by " devils " or even by the 
 Arch-Demon himself! This is hardly the place in 
 which to refute medieval superstitions, and we 
 cannot judge the phenomena on such a 'priori 
 grounds, especially as our point of view has all 
 along been scientific rather than theological. We 
 can only make inductions from the facts as we find 
 them. These may be summarised as follows : — 
 
 1. The communicating "spirits" are invariably 
 of the order of development of the average of the 
 sitters. 
 
 2. They observe the social conventions of the circle. 
 
 3. The communicating intelligences only operate 
 temporarily, and as if with some hesitation and 
 difficulty due to the unaccustomed element. 
 
 4. The harm resulting from such communica- 
 tions has been practically nil, and the risks are 
 much smaller than in any research promising equally 
 important results. 
 
ALLEGED DEMONIAC AGENCY 309 
 
 5. Any "insanity" traceable to spiritism is negli- 
 gible in comparison with, say, tlie cases of religious 
 mania. 
 
 6. If there is any " devil " in the circle, he is 
 most likely identical with one of the sitters. 
 
 It is quite possible that the majority of intelli- 
 gences who are given to communicate in this 
 manner are no higher than the average human 
 being, neither devil nor angel, but glad to exert 
 some activity redolent of earth-life. There is no 
 reason why the investigator should not always be in 
 full command of the situation. In fact, the pro- 
 babilities are that the disappearance of many super- 
 normal phenomena before the advance of civilisation 
 is not due to the spread of " enlightenment " and the 
 discrediting of myths, but to the, gradual 'prevailing of 
 the organised will of the civilised community, which has 
 not much use for supernormal phenomena, and eventually 
 succeeds in banishing them from its fields. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 PROOFS OF SURVIVAL 
 
 What observations or happenings would be regarded 
 as satisfactory proofs of the survival of physical 
 death ? 
 
 The question is much more difficult to answer 
 than it appears at first sight, but it can be approached 
 in several different ways. 
 
 Even during ordinary earth-life the question of 
 survival is sometimes fraught with almost insuper- 
 able difficulties. Only a mother can, as a rule, say 
 whether a baby, not seen since it was a year old, 
 has survived in a young person of eighteen. And 
 even then the proof of identity is usually some 
 peculiar formation or birthmark, in the absence of 
 which identification becomes impossible. 
 
 We are often quite unable to recognise a school- 
 fellow whom we have not seen for twenty years, and 
 when we do, we rely more on mental than on physical 
 characteristics. We exchange reminiscences, and 
 probe each other's memories. If we could, at will, 
 throw ourselves into the physical shapes Ave had 
 at any previous period of our lives, identification 
 might be considerably facilitated. But the physical 
 
IDENTIFICATION 3 I I 
 
 organism is often misleading. Clothes are a help 
 sometimes. But these can be put on as a disguise. 
 There may be a striking likeness, and yet it may 
 be quite deceptive. And even if it is identically 
 the same physical organism that is before us, the 
 individuality in possession of it may not be the 
 person we are looking for. There may be a duplex 
 personality, there may be possession or " control." 
 
 We rely more upon reminiscences and mental 
 characteristics simply because they are more varied 
 than physical characteristics, and less likely to be 
 unexpectedly duplicated. A man shows nearly the 
 same face every day, but his conversation varies 
 somewhat with every change of company, and the 
 chances of a coincidence — of the repetition of the 
 identical mental exchange — are very remote. Our 
 ultimate test of identity must therefore always be 
 an appeal to some community of memory, some 
 event in which both our minds have participated. 
 
 When we admit the possibility of telepathy or 
 thought-transference, the proof of identity becomes 
 exceedingly difficult. If I met a person whom I 
 believed to be a long-lost friend, and asked him, as 
 a test question, whether he remembered the name 
 of a boat in which we used to sail on the lake, he 
 might give the name correctly, but that might first 
 have reached his mind by thought-transference 
 from my own. If he mentioned facts of which I 
 was unaware, and these proved afterwards to be true, 
 
312 PROOFS OF SURVIVAL 
 
 he might have obtained these by thought-trans- 
 ference or clairvoyance or some such abnormal 
 process. 
 
 In spite of all these difficulties, questions of 
 identity -are usually solved satisfactorily in some 
 way or other. 
 
 In establishing the identity of a departed spirit, 
 exactly the same difficulties occur, and exactly the 
 same criteria are used. And finally, we may add 
 that exactly the same land of evidence is obtained. 
 We may deal with the two classes of evidence 
 separately. 
 
 1. Bodily. — Recognisable drawings, photographs, 
 and phantasms of departed individuals have been 
 obtained again and again. More frequently even, 
 they have been described clairvoyantly. A well- 
 authenticated case of the recognition of a materialised 
 form is quoted in Light for August 17, 1907 : — ■ 
 
 "A Recognised Materialisation 
 
 " There are three methods of conducting psychical 
 research which may be taken as typical of various 
 schools of investigators ; one of these was recently 
 illustrated by Professor Morselli when he said, after 
 a series of sittings with a single medium of great 
 power, though limited range : ' When I see that an 
 A. R. Wallace and a Barrett are Spiritists, and that 
 a Hyslop has become one through Mrs. Piper, then 
 
RECOGNISABLE MATERIALISATION 3 I 3 
 
 I stop and meditate, and withdraw into the re- 
 stricted, but positive, circle of my own observations, 
 of my own experience.' Another method is that of the 
 psychical researchers who raise all kinds of objec- 
 tions which the actual witnesses never thought of 
 meeting in advance, simply because under the cir- 
 cumstances they were manifestly absurd or inappli- 
 cable ; and the third is that of the patient critic 
 who laboriously sifts the documentary evidence in 
 order to find what circumstances are placed beyond 
 doubt by the unanimous testimony of the observers. 
 A record of this last kind, the result of an investi- 
 gation by the late Alexander Aksakoff into a re- 
 markable case of materialisation, has just come into 
 our hands, and as no mention of it appears to have 
 been made in Light at the time, we give a 
 summary of the chief facts. The account is re- 
 printed from Psychische Studien for March to 
 May 1897. 
 
 " A lady living in Cologne, Madame Antonie von 
 Bille-Dahl, was told by a medium there that her 
 husband, whom she had lost twenty-one years 
 before, would be able to manifest to her if she could 
 obtain a sitting with Madame d'Esperance at 
 Gothenburg. This sitting took place on November 
 25, 1895, at the house of Mr. Matthews Fidler, 
 nearly twenty persons being present, among whom 
 were Baroness Peyron, of Stockholm, Kammerherr 
 von Krogh, of Copenhagen, and Herr Otto Ericsson, 
 
314 PROOFS OF SURVIVAL 
 
 all of whom add tlieir written testimony to those of 
 Madame von Bille-Dahl and of the medium herself. 
 From a remark made by M. Aksakoff ifc would 
 appear that this was probably the last sitting for 
 materialisation ever given by Madame d'Esperance. 
 We summarise the various reports. 
 
 " The seance-room was the one ordinarily used in 
 Mr. Fidler's house, having a pane of ground glass 
 through which light came from another room. 
 The cabinet was formed of a folding screen with 
 curtains hung across the front. The medium, who 
 wore a white dress, could be plainly seen against 
 the dark background as she sat in front of the 
 cabinet. Very soon a table, which had been placed 
 in the cabinet, was moved out into the room. Then 
 a luminous appearance to the right of the medium 
 gradually formed itself into a human figure. The 
 sitters who saw the face outlined against the light 
 afterwards described the features to Madame von 
 Bille-Dahl, and she recognised the description as 
 that of her deceased husband. The form was not 
 able to go to Madame von Bille-Dahl, and it was 
 heard to call ' Toni.' Madame d'Esperance and 
 Mr. Fidler asked if there was any one present 
 named ' Toni,' and Madame von Bille-Dahl re- 
 sponded and went up to the figure, which withdrew 
 into the cabinet until it was half hidden by the 
 curtains. Owing to failure of power, the face had 
 by this time become formless and unrecognisable, 
 
MR. AKSAKOFF S CASE 3 I 5 
 
 and was covered with spirit drapery, which had not 
 been the case when it was first seen. The hands 
 remained perfectly materialised, and were charac- 
 teristic of the lady's husband ; these hands embraced 
 and caressed her, as her husband used to do, and 
 made the motion of kissing her at parting. 
 
 " Madame d'Esperance, feeling as though she was 
 being emptied of force, or melting away like a snow- 
 figure in the sun, almost losing her hold on life, 
 made a great effort and called out, ' Take her 
 away ! ' At the same moment the form disappeared 
 entirely ; Madame von Bille-Dahl searched all round 
 the cabinet with her arms, but could find nothing ; 
 then Mr. Fidler led her back to her place. Some 
 other good phenomena followed at the same 
 sitting. 
 
 " M. Aksakoff observes that the most remarkable 
 points are: (1) that the sitting was the result of an 
 appointment made by the spirit of the deceased 
 through another medium ; (2) the form appeared 
 at first with uncovered head, and features sharply 
 defined; (3) it became less definite after endeavour- 
 ing to reach the sitter for whom it came, and had 
 to retire and cover its head with the usual spirit- 
 veiling ; (4) the hands were still distinctly recog- 
 nisable; (5) the medium felt so exhausted that she 
 had to call out, and after the form had completely 
 disappeared she recovered strength. M. Aksakoff 
 remarks that he had several times urged that 
 
316 PROOFS OF SURVIVAL 
 
 Madame d'Esperance should speak while a material- 
 ised form was visible, but the production of the 
 phenomenon exhausted her so completely that she 
 could not speak ; in this case, however, with a great 
 effort, she managed to call out; (6) the complete 
 and sudden disappearance of the materialised form ; 
 Madame von Bille-Dahl, standing in the opening of 
 the cabinet, searched it with her arms and could 
 find no trace of any person or form. Though she 
 did not see the features, which were described to 
 her by others, Madame von Bille-Dahl was able to 
 recognise her husband by the name by which he 
 called her, by the hands, and by his manner of 
 caressing her. She was a complete stranger to all 
 present, and though she had signed her name 
 ' Antonie ' when writing for an appointment, she 
 had said nothing about the pet name by which her 
 husband had called her, and it was not at once 
 recognised as applying to her. M. Aksakoff re- 
 garded this case as very striking, both as regards 
 the objective reality of the appearance and the 
 evidence of identity." 
 
 Some cases of the recognition of complete forms 
 are described in Madame d'Esperance's autobio- 
 graphical work, " Shadowland." 
 
 But bodily resemblance is really no more eviden- 
 tial in the case of departed friends than it is in the 
 case of living mortals. The real tests must always 
 be mental rather than physical. 
 
MENTAL TESTS 317 
 
 2. Mental. — Many attempts to establish the sur- 
 vival of departed human beings are recorded in 
 ' Spirit Identity," by " M.A. Oxon." (Rev. W. Stainton, 
 Moses). 1 Perhaps the longest series of such attempts 
 on record is that carried out by Dr. Hodgson with 
 the American trance-writer, Mrs. Piper, and published 
 at length in the Proceedings of the Society for Psy- 
 chical Research. But the most interesting, and 
 probably the most conclusive, series is that which 
 has just been brought to a close through the 
 mediumship of " Mrs. Holland " and Mrs.! Verrall, 
 who received communications and cross-references 
 to each other, from some of their own investigators 
 who are recently deceased. To this evidence, which 
 is to be published by the Society for Psychical Re- 
 search, 2 Sir Oliver Lodge referred to as follows, in an 
 address before a meeting of the Society in January 
 last : — 
 
 " We find the late Edmund Gurney, and the late 
 Richard Hodgson, and the late F. W. H. Myers, 
 with some other less-known names, constantly pur- 
 porting to communicate with the express purpose 
 of patiently proving their identity, and giving us 
 correspondence between different mediums. We 
 also find them answering specific questions in a 
 manner characteristic of their known personalities, 
 
 1 Recently reprinted by the London Spiritualist Alliance, 110 
 St. Martin's Lane, W.O. 
 
 2 See their Proceedings for June 1908. 
 
3 l8 PROOFS OF SURVIVAL 
 
 and giving evidence of knowledge appropriate to 
 them. We require definite and crucial proof — a 
 proof difficult even to imagine as well as difficult to 
 supply. The ostensible communicators realise the 
 need of such proof just as fully as we do, and have 
 done their best to satisfy the rational demand. 
 Some of us think they have succeeded ; others are 
 still doubtful. I am one of those who are of opinion 
 that a good case has been made out, and that, as 
 the best working hypothesis at the present time, it 
 is legitimate to grant that lucid moments of inter- 
 course with deceased persons may, in the best cases, 
 supervene, amid a mass of supplementary material, 
 quite natural in the circumstances, but mostly of a 
 presumably subliminal and less evidential kind. 
 The boundary between the present and the future 
 is still substantial, but it is wearing thin in places ; 
 and, like excavators engaged in boring a tunnel 
 from opposite ends, amid the roar of water and 
 other noises, we are beginning to hear, now and 
 again, the strokes of the pickaxes of our comrades 
 on the other side. What we have to announce is 
 the reception by old but developing methods of 
 carefully constructed evidence of identity, more 
 exact and more nearly complete than perhaps ever 
 before. The construction can exist quite as much 
 on the other side of the partition as on our side ; 
 indeed most, though not all of the inventive ingen- 
 uity, has been on that side. There has been distinct 
 
SIR O. LODGES ANNOUNCEMENT 319 
 
 co-operation between those on the material side and 
 those on the immaterial side ; and we are at liberty 
 not, indeed, to announce any definite conclusion, but 
 to adopt as a working hypothesis the ancient doc- 
 trine of a possible intercourse of intelligence between 
 the material and some other, perhaps, ethereal order 
 of existence." 
 
 Light, the leading spiritualist organ, comments 
 upon this as follows (February 15, 1908) : — 
 
 " Sir Oliver Lodge's obvious but admirable illus- 
 tration of the excavators, boring a tunnel from 
 opposite ends, exactly describes what is happening — 
 what, in fact, has been happening for a great many 
 years. ' We are beginning,' he says, ' to hear now 
 and again the strokes of the pickaxes of our com- 
 rades on the other side.' ' Beginning ! ' Why, 
 those strokes have been going on for at least 
 three thousand years. The Bible reverberates with 
 them, and, when the Canon was closed, those strokes 
 went on. We are strongly inclined to think that, 
 so far from coming up with something fresh in the 
 world's history, we are only going back with much 
 difficulty to the spot where the excavators on this 
 side grew tired, or turned stupid, and dropped their 
 pickaxes or used them against the excavators who 
 wished to continue the work." 
 
 That attempts at identification should be made 
 from the other side can only be attributed to an 
 affectionate solicitude of the departed for those 
 
320 PROOFS OF SURVIVAL 
 
 left behind. For they have the advantage of an 
 acquaintance with both forms of existence. For 
 them the question is solved, and the motives impel- 
 ling them to aid us in the matter can only be 
 friendly, unless, perchance, they themselves require 
 some evidence that their vanishing earth-memories 
 are aught but the shadows of dreams. 
 
 The search after proofs of identity would not be 
 undertaken so laboriously but for the still almost 
 overwhelming presumption against it in the scientific 
 mind. When such views as we have here advocated 
 come to be generally accepted, people will wonder 
 why the survival and identity of individuals was 
 ever seriously questioned. The real obstacle to their 
 acceptance has hitherto been the lack of a rational 
 theory of survival and immortality. That lack 
 must be debited to the unreasonable demands of 
 the various systems of theology, which have ended 
 by driving the thinking portion of mankind into 
 the totaldenial of a life after death. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 We have now to survey the ground we have 
 traversed, and sum up the conclusions at which 
 we have been able to arrive. 
 
 We found the thinking world practically in the 
 grasp of a materialist view of life, even where it was 
 professedly spiritual. Between the annihilation at 
 death of the thorough materialist and the more 
 grotesque eschatologies of some systems of theology, 
 the only via media lay through a reluctant agnosti- 
 cism which fell back discouraged before a problem 
 so fraught with pitfalls. 
 
 We traced this unhappy state of things to a 
 radical evil of modern philosophies, 1 consisting in 
 the duality of mind and matter, which at every 
 turn confronted us with an insoluble problem, that 
 of the nature and significance of " dead matter." 
 
 We began by eliminating this difficulty in the 
 only rational way, by substituting a philosophic 
 monism for the prevailing philosophic dualism. We 
 thus arrived at a form of " idealism " which differs 
 from older forms in possessing a new feature. This 
 
 1 Materialism cannot fitly be called a " philosophy." 
 
 3 21 X 
 
322 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 new feature is the reduction of the " laws of nature " 
 to the laws of life of those universes of dimension- 
 ally inferior orders which together we denote by the 
 name of " matter." " Dead matter " is thus com- 
 pletely eliminated from our system, being inter- 
 preted in terms of Life, the only reality we are 
 immediately cognisant of. 
 
 We then proceeded to investigate those forms of 
 life whose mentality is accessible to us, and which 
 are the only forms hitherto recognised as endowed 
 with " life " at all. We found them all to be 
 aggregates or organisations of life units of all 
 grades inferior to their own, arranged in a kind 
 of hierarchy or system of government, with an 
 infinite gradation from the most vital and essential 
 to the least indispensable. We carried this rule 
 to its furthest limit, in the light of the latest 
 biological data, and found ourselves face to face 
 with the directive elements disseminated through 
 all cells of the body. The aggregate of these 
 elements we identified with the soul, and any 
 organised shape consisting of them alone we called 
 the soul-body. The directive elements themselves 
 we called by the new name of psychomeres. 
 
 We investigated the physical properties of the 
 soul-body considered as separated from the physical 
 body, and found it to be of a gaseous nature and a 
 consistency governed by the play of forces we are 
 imperfectly acquainted with, but which may have 
 
THE FINDING OF THE SOUL 323 
 
 some analogy with the unknown (probably electro- 
 static or magnetic) forces which account for the 
 cohesion of the physical body, or any other physical 
 aggregate. 
 
 We found that such a body, in full possession of 
 all the memories of the individual it represented, 
 would naturally inhabit the air, and we provision- 
 ally located the abode of such soul-bodies of departed 
 human individuals in the earth's atmosphere, giving 
 evidence sufficient to establish a prima facie case 
 in favour of our hypothesis. 
 
 We showed that this hypothesis led to no 
 absurdities of a qualitative or quantitative character, 
 and was quite consistent with the known phenomena 
 of life and death and with the permanence of the 
 conditions of earth-life as we know them. 
 
 Finally, we quoted a number of duly authenti- 
 cated metapsychical phenomena observed in recent 
 years and pointed out their consistency with the 
 views here advocated, and the lines along which 
 their full interpretation must be looked for. 
 
 It now remains to indicate the directions in 
 which these principles may be further applied, and 
 their general bearing on the fate of the human 
 race. 
 
 In the first place, the survival of bodily death 
 has now become a thinkable contingency — we might 
 almost say a calculable event. It enters into the 
 domains of physics and of physiology. It is 
 
324 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 annexed to the realm of science. The soul has 
 become measurable and weighable, and only requires 
 suitable instruments to become as familiar and 
 tractable as the physical organism. That this is a 
 materialist view is now no longer a valid objection, 
 since all matter is endowed with life, and the soul 
 differs from ordinary matter only by being endowed 
 with our kind of life. 
 
 The psychomeres are also the most permanent 
 constituents of the body. They remain when all 
 else changes. The other material is of all grades 
 of complexity. Some of it is hardly more a part 
 of us than our clothes. All of the material of the 
 body possesses some kind of organic life which is 
 to some extent independent of the psychomeres. 
 These only act intermittently as critical directing 
 agents, and their presence is not always essential. 
 
 We have considered the possibility of the psycho- 
 meres being temporarily withdrawn from the living 
 body, and found no insuperable physical or physio- 
 logical obstacles to prevent such withdrawal. This 
 possibility accounts for the cases of " externalisa- 
 tion " of sensory and motor activities described in 
 recent works on experimental psychology. 
 
 Death, in our view, is a natural process neces- 
 sitated by the high degree of specialisation of the 
 physical organism, and especially by the permanence 
 and solidity of some of its structures. It is best 
 described as a kind of " moult." It is essentially 
 
THE NEEDS OF THE HEART 325 
 
 painless, though usually preceded by suffering of 
 some kind. It is credibly described as an extremely 
 pleasurable process in itself, and may have been 
 known as such to some generations of the human 
 race. If such generations ever existed, their extinc- 
 tion is easily accounted for by suicide, and the 
 survival of other tribes who had a greater fear of 
 death, these being the " fittest " to survive for that 
 reason. The fear of death is a racial instinct 
 making for its terrene prosperity. It has evolved 
 with the evolution of man. 
 
 The intellect may think out this view of the 
 future life to the uttermost limit without much 
 danger of arriving at any insuperable objection. 
 But the heart may also find its peace here. The 
 prospect held out to us is alluring. We need not 
 sorrow for our loved ones. They are passed on to 
 a more subtle joy, a more vivid realisation of 
 their infinite possibilities. They are no longer 
 fettered by the ponderous clay which encompasses 
 and impedes ourselves. They dwell in higher 
 realms, invisible to us as yet, but not far removed, 
 with no impassable gulf between us and them. And 
 when we go to join them, they are nowise debarred 
 from appearing to us at our bedside in the forms 
 we loved, and they may bear those shapes until 
 such time as we ourselves shall have been taught 
 by them to take wing to our more blissful abode. 
 
326 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 And the sinners of this earth shall not go to a 
 dreary place of punishment. Their suffering will 
 lie in this, that their inmost nature is open to 
 every gaze. Their soul-body assumes unconsciously 
 a shape expressive of their prevailing thoughts, 
 just as our own faces do in the course of years. 
 Thus there is no dissimulation or deception. If 
 even on earth people choose the society that is 
 congenial to them, how much more rapidly will 
 this be accomplished in a world where every 
 thought is made instantly patent and perceptible ! 
 Those characters which do not make for the welfare 
 of the community at large will be easily identified 
 and discouraged until by their own efforts their 
 bearers succeed in bringing themselves more into 
 conformity with their surroundings. Thus we have 
 no need for a hell, nor for torturing devils. Those 
 nightmares of the dark ages disappear before the 
 new light. 
 
 And when we take a cosmic view of the processes 
 of life and death and eternity, what do we find ? 
 
 We see an infinitude of worlds like our beloved 
 earth swinging on their way through illimitable 
 space, gathering up stray matter as they go. And 
 from the surface of each planet their arises a gentle 
 mist, a mist of living souls, generated by that won- 
 derful alchemy of life which has its laboratories on 
 the outer skin of the planet. In those laboratories 
 the less highly organised species of matter are 
 
A BOUNDLESS PROSPECT 327 
 
 trained in the course of untold ages to accommodate 
 themselves in more and more complex organisms, 
 until even the lowliest of material — but sentient — 
 entities rises to become a psychomere and to take 
 its place in the permanent service of a being akin 
 to man. Thus is matter gradually made aware of 
 its higher destinies, and the " reveille " resounds to 
 the very depths of the earth. 
 
 And that incense of souls which first mingles 
 with the clouds and then transcends them, mounts 
 higher and higher, increasing both in tenuity and in 
 intrinsic worth and power, until it is fit. to leave the 
 earth and inhabit the interplanetary regions. And 
 even then the prospects are infinite, for, as I have 
 shown in " Two New Worlds," there is an infinite 
 gradation of densities both within and without, and 
 the infinity of worlds is matched by our infinite 
 destiny. 
 
 And thus we stand, great and free, on this earth 
 of ours, masters of ourselves and our life con- 
 ditions, with higher and higher calls awaiting us 
 beyond. We stand here fearless and dauntless, not 
 in our solitary strength, but in the living con- 
 sciousness that we, too, are born of God, that we 
 share His freedom and His power, and that here, 
 now, and for ever we may share His eternal bliss. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abnormal psychology, 208 
 
 Abode of the soul, 163 
 
 Absolute reality, 162 
 
 Activity, 46 
 
 Aerial existence, 167 
 
 Aggregates, 103 
 
 Aksakoff, Alexander, 313 
 
 Amalgamation, 194 
 
 Amoeba, 66, 69 
 
 Amphipyrenin, 108 
 
 Ancestors, 196 
 
 Animal magnetism, 204 
 
 Animals, 191 
 
 Anthropomorphic images, 143 
 
 Apparitions, 183 
 
 Aspect of the earth from the 
 
 soul-world, 176 
 Assimilation, 11 
 Assmann, 167 
 Asters, 73 
 
 Astral body, 109, 209 
 Atmosphere, 165 
 Atmospheric precipitation, 170 
 Atoms, 212 
 
 Automatic writing, 185 
 Automatism, 209 
 
 B&CTEEIA, 195 
 
 Ballons-sondes, 167 
 
 Barrett, Professor W. P., 216, 
 
 303, 312 
 Bille-Dahl, Frau von, 313 
 Biogenesis, 80 
 Biogens, 103 
 Biology, 90, 208, 212 
 Biophores, 146, 147 
 Birth, 32, 70, 115 
 Blackburn, Charles, 248, 284 
 
 Blocb, 61 
 
 Blondlot, 17 
 
 Blood-relationship, 179 
 
 Blyton, 219 
 
 Body and soul, 99 
 
 Boirac, 209 
 
 Bones, 66 
 
 Bose, 11 
 
 Boyhood, 36 
 
 Brain, 52 
 
 Burke, Butler, 11, 80 
 
 Burning bush, 157 
 
 Business, 43 
 
 Business of life, 39 
 
 Butschli, 118, 119 
 
 Carpenter, 303 
 Cataclysm, 97 
 Celestial potentates, 143 
 Cell-bridges, 60, 106 
 Cell- community, 150 
 Cell-division, 117 
 Cell-life, 150 
 Cells, 53 
 
 Centrosome, 73, 147 
 Chemical reactions, 149 
 Chemical species, 90 
 Chloroform, 153 
 Christianity, 131 
 Chromatin, 72, 108, 146 
 Chromosomes, 72, 146 
 Civilisation, 41, 181, 200 
 Cohesion, 111, 150 
 Coldest temperature, 171 
 Cold wind, 307 
 Coleman, Benjamin, 247 
 Colloid, 103 
 Comets, 163 
 
33o 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Conception, 130, 198 
 
 Condensation, 148 
 
 Conducting layer of the atmos- 
 phere, 169 
 
 Conjugation, 71, 118 
 
 Conservation of energy, 144 
 
 Continuity of natural pheno- 
 mena, 141 
 
 Control, 186 
 
 Cook, Miss Florence, 219, 224 
 
 Cope, 12 
 
 Corner, Mrs., 219, 224 
 
 Cosmic view of immortality, 327 
 
 Cox, Sergeant, 261 
 
 Cremation, 151 
 
 Cripples, 156 
 
 Crookes, 218, 233, 247, 249, 256, 
 265, 269, 302, 303, 306 
 
 Curative hypnotism, 216 
 
 Cytoplasm, 62, 147 
 
 Dangers, 187 
 Darwin, 88, 145 
 Davenport Brothers, 209 
 Dead matter, 26 
 Death, 48, 68, 150 
 De Barry, 119 
 Definitions, new, 28 
 Definition of a world, 88 
 Definition of the human body, 
 
 105 
 Definition of the soul, 112 
 Deformed conditions, 152 
 Demons, 183 
 
 Density of population, 166 
 D'Esperance, Madame, 291, 313 
 Determinants, 146 
 Determinism, 64, 91 
 Development, 127 
 Devils, 308 
 De Vries, 146 
 Diagram, 99 
 Dialectical Society, 294 
 Differentiation of the cells, 71 
 Digestive system, 52 
 Dines, 168 
 
 Directive elements, 150 
 Disease, 46, 153 
 Disintegration, 151, 195 
 
 Divine ruling in the next world, 
 
 143 
 Dogma, 137 
 Double, 209 
 Drapery, 155, 286, 292 
 Dream and reality, 18 
 Dualistic systems, 97 
 Duplex personality, 197 
 Duplication of consciousness, 
 
 123 
 Du Prel, 216 
 
 Earth memories, 155, 159 
 
 Ecstasy, 185 
 
 Eimer, 12 
 
 Electrical experiments with 
 
 Miss Cook, 234 
 Electrons, 110, 148 
 Electrostatic attraction, 150 
 Elysian fields, 142 
 Embalming, 151 
 Embryology, 128 
 Engelmann, 118 
 Enjoyment of life, 44 
 Epigenesis, 127 
 Equality, 199 
 Ethics, 180 
 Eusapia Paladino, 209 
 Evil, 180 
 Exaltation, 209 
 Exercise, 45 
 
 Experimental psychology, 203 
 Exposures of mediums, 292 
 Externalisation of personality, 
 
 111 
 Extreme cold, 171 
 Eyes of the soul, 174 
 
 Facts, 16, 268 
 Fairies, 184 
 Fairy bush, 157 
 Faith-healing, 217 
 Family life, 43 
 Faraday, 303 
 Fevers, 153 
 Fidler, 313 
 Finality, 139 
 Firmament, 137 
 Fish, 156 
 
INDEX 
 
 331 
 
 Fission, 70 
 
 Flame, 157 
 
 Fluid, 211 
 
 Force, 211 
 
 Fourth dimension, 161 
 
 Fox, Misses, 302 
 
 Freedom of choice, 64, 199 
 
 Free will, 91 
 
 Gemmules, 145 
 Genius, 185 
 Germ-cells, 72, 125 
 Germ-nucleus, 120 
 Germ-plasm, 146 
 Ghost, 159 
 Girlhood, 36 
 Gnomes, 184 
 Growth, 32 
 Guerilla warfare, 154 
 Gully, 251 
 
 Haeckel, 55, 130 
 
 Hades, 140 
 
 Hall, 218, 256 
 
 Hamilton, Rowan, 86 
 
 Happiness, 44 
 
 Hare, Professor, 303 
 
 Harrison, W. H., 218, 234, 217, 
 
 256, 257, 274 
 Haunting, 209 
 Health, 41 
 Hearne, 277 
 Heitzmann, 57 
 Helium, 26 
 Henslow, 12 
 Hergesell, 168 
 Hertwig, 119 
 Higher strata, 167 
 Hodgson, Dr. R., 317 
 Home, D. D, 302 
 Homeric poems, 159 
 Hyperbonlia, 216 
 Hyperesthesia, 214, 216 
 Hypermnesia, 216 
 Hypnotism, 203 
 Hyslop, Professor, 312 
 
 Id ants, 146 
 Ideals, 181 
 
 Identification, 310, 317 
 Idioplasm, 128 
 Ids, 146 
 Indian, 142 
 Individuality, 102 
 Infra-biology, 91 
 Infra-world, 88, 162 
 Infra-world memories, 130 
 Infusoria, 120, 195 
 Inherited tradition, 125 
 Instrument, 40 
 
 Intelligent communication, 187 
 Intercommunication, 175 
 Introspective school, 203 
 Invasion of the earth-world, 200 
 Invisible psychomeres, 147 
 Invulnerability, 156 
 Ionisation, 148 
 Ionised air, 176 
 Isothermal, 169 
 
 Jerusalem, 142 
 John King, 283 
 Judgment Day, 132 
 Jupiter Pluvius, 170 
 
 KARMA, 198 
 Karyokinesis, 72 
 Katie King, 218, 288 
 Kindred souls, 174 
 Kingly souls, 200 
 Klebahn, 119 
 Knot- formation, 103 
 
 Language, 33 
 Laws of chemistry, 90 
 Laws of nature, 22, 28, 76 
 Le Dantec, 11, 45, 66 
 Leduc, 11, 63 
 Lehmann, 11, 63, 80 
 Liberty, 163 
 
 Life, definition of, 10, 28 
 Life in the atmosphere, 171 
 Life-period of atoms, 26 
 Linin, 108 
 
 Lockyer, Sir Norman, 88 
 Locomotion, 173 
 Lodge, Sir Oliver, 12, 144, 303, 
 317 
 
332 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Lonibroso, Professor, 267, 303 
 Lower organisms, 191 
 Lubbock, Sir John, 294 
 Luxmoore, 218, 234 
 
 MACRONUCLEUS, 120 
 Makdougall-Gregory, 256 
 Marryat, Florence, 218, 247, 260 
 Mars, 163 
 
 Marshall, Mrs., 279, 283 
 Mass of individuals, 24 
 Materialisation, 291 
 Materialism, 92, 96 
 Matter, 14, 15, 19, 28 
 Matter in terms of life, 21 
 Maturity, 37, 120 
 Maupas, 118 
 Maxwell, Dr. J., 297 
 Mediums, 187, 274, 284, 295 
 Mental pathology, 203 
 Mesmerism, 203 
 Metapsychical phenomena, 209, 
 
 297, 300 
 Metempsychosis, 197 
 Meyer, 58 
 Microbes, 153 
 Micronuclei, 120 
 Micro-organisms, 151 
 Minot, 118 
 Mitosis, 72, 147 
 Mohammedan paradise, 142 
 Moment of death, 10S 
 Monism, 97 
 Monstrosities, 71 
 Moon, 163 
 
 Morselli, Professor, 312 
 Multiple personality, 290 
 Muscles, 50 
 Myers, F. W. H., 214, 303, 317 
 
 Natural form, 156 
 Navigable balloons, 157 
 Nerves, 51, 67, 105 
 New equilibrium, 155 
 New faculties, 152 
 New psychology, 203 
 Newton's law, 80 
 Nirvana, 176 
 Nitrogen, 196 
 
 Non-Euclidian space, 160 
 Noxious insects, 192 
 N-rays, 17 
 
 Nuclear organism, 107 
 Nucleus, 62, 70, 110 
 
 Objective reality, 272 
 
 Old age, 116 
 
 Ontogeny, 130 
 
 Optional immortality, 194 
 
 Organic body-building, 36 
 
 Organic consciousness, 36 
 
 Organs, 103, 125 
 
 Orthodoxy, 272 
 
 Outline of the earth-body, 155 
 
 Oversoul, 96 
 
 Overton, 119 
 
 PAIN, 153 
 
 Paladino, Eusapia, 301 
 
 Paralinin, 108 
 
 Paul, Saint, 96 
 
 Peebles, 283 
 
 Permanent survival, 193 
 
 Personality. 40 
 
 Perrin, Mrs., 283 
 
 Phantom, 140 
 
 Photograph of Katie King, 222, 
 
 232 
 Phylogenetic, 130 
 Physical causality, 127 
 Physical explanation of life, 62 
 Physical life, 31 
 Pillar of cloud, 157 
 Pillar of fire, 157 
 Piper, Mrs., 312, 317 
 Pixies, 184 
 Plants, 163, 192 
 Play of features, 174 
 Podmore, 303 
 Polariscope, 176 
 Politics, 43, 79 
 Political economy, 78 
 Poor ghost, 140 
 Popular notions, 142 
 Possession, 186 
 Pre-existence,. 115 
 Pre-formation, 127 
 Press on " Katie King," 265 
 
INDEX 
 
 333 
 
 Principle of continuity, 141 
 Principle of economy, 161 
 Principle of value, 141 
 Propagation of light, 80 
 Properties of living matter, 11 
 Protoplasts, 103 
 Pseudo-mediums, 274 
 Psychical research, 111 
 Psychology, 85, 203 
 Psychomeres, 146 
 Psychometry, 209 
 Psycho-therapeutics, 209 
 Putrefaction, 117 
 Pyrenin, 10S 
 
 Eadiobes, 11 
 Radium, 26 
 Raps, 294, 300 
 Regeneration, 129, 198 
 Reincarnation, 197 
 Renewing power, 68 
 Reproduction, 11 
 Responsibilities, 201 
 Resurrection, 84 
 Retrocognition, 209 
 Return to earth-life, 186 
 Richet, Professor Charles, 289, 
 
 303 
 Rosjers, E. Dawson, x 
 Ross-Church, Mrs., 218, 247, 260 
 Rotch, 167 
 
 Salamander, 129 
 
 Schmitz, 119 
 
 Science, 79 
 
 Scientific demonstration, 134 
 
 Scientific research, 83 
 
 Second childhood, 116 
 
 Self-consciousness, 193 
 
 Selfishness, 42 
 
 Separation of the soul from the 
 
 body, 111, 152 
 Sex, 125 
 Sexes, 195 
 
 Sexual reproduction, 72 
 Shape of birds, 157 
 Shell, 140 
 Showers, Miss, 261 
 Sidgwick, Alfred, 76 
 
 Sidis and Goodhart, 197, 290 
 
 Skeleton, 50 
 
 Sky, 176 
 
 Sleep, 44 
 
 Soap-bubble, 165 
 
 Social activity, 173 
 
 Social consciousness, 34 
 
 Social status, 45 
 
 Society for psychical research, 
 215 
 
 Solace of religion, 135 
 
 Soul, 85, 92, 109 
 
 Soul-body, 144 
 
 Soul-division, 123 
 
 Soul-world, 160 
 
 Specialisation, 213 
 
 Spencer, 121 
 
 Spindle, 73 
 
 Spireme, 72 
 
 Spirit, 113, 145 
 
 Spirit circles, 297 
 
 Spirit forms, physical character- 
 istics, 275 ; mental character- 
 istics, 281 
 
 Spirit hypothesis, 217 
 
 Spirit identity, 282 
 
 Spiritism, 204 
 
 Spiritual body, 108, 109 
 
 Spiritualists, 273 
 
 Stainton-Moses, Rev. W., 209, 317 
 
 Statistics, 197 
 
 Statistical laws, 98 
 
 Stoney, G. Johnstone, 81 
 
 Subliminal consciousness, 214 
 
 Subliminal self, 216 
 
 Suggestion, 209 
 
 Summary of theory, 205 
 
 Sun, 163 
 
 Sunlight, 173 
 
 Superiority, 177 
 
 Supernatural help, 304 
 
 Supraliminal memory, 216 
 
 Supra-world, 88, 162 
 
 Swarm of midges, 158 
 
 Sylphs, 184 
 
 Sympathy, 182 
 
 Table-tilting, 294 
 Tapp, 226, 234, 243, 257 
 
334 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Teisserenc de Bort, 167 
 Telekinesis, 209 
 Telepathy, 204, 209 
 Telesthesia, 209, 214 
 Temperature gradient, 172 
 Temporary separation, 114 
 Tenuity of the gaseous body, 
 
 149 
 Terrene-world, 88 
 Terror, 189 
 Tetramitus, 117 
 Thought-transference, 185 
 Three-dimensional space, 160, 
 
 162 
 Threshold, 35 
 Tongue of fire, 157 
 Total weight, 148 
 Trance-speaking, 185 
 Trappes Observatory, 167 
 Triggers, 144 
 Triviality of communications, 
 
 289 
 Truth, 136 
 
 Two-dimensional space, 161 
 Tyndall, 303 
 
 Ultimate fate, 114, 140 
 Ultimate reality, 15, 18 
 Ultra-violet rays, 170 
 Universal soul, 93 
 Unselfishness, 42 
 
 Valhalla, 142 
 Van Beneden, 72 
 
 Varley, Cromwell, 218, 234, 303 
 
 Veil of Maya, 162 
 
 Verrall, Mrs., 317 
 
 Virchow, 55 
 
 Visibility, 147 
 
 Vitalistic school, 12 
 
 Vital principle, 108 
 
 Vital properties, 11 
 
 Volckman, 233 
 
 Vortex rings, 158 
 
 Waking consciousness, 35 
 
 Wallace, Sir A. R., 87, 303, 312 
 
 Warm stratum, 167 
 
 Wealth, 41 
 
 Weight of human race, 3 
 
 Weight of a human soul, 148 
 
 Weismann, 129, 146 
 
 Welcome, 188 
 
 Wider problems, 191 
 
 Wisdom, 41 
 
 Witches, 183 
 
 Withdrawal of the psychomeres, 
 
 152 
 Will, 64, 193 
 Will-o'-the-wisp, 157 
 Williams, 12, 276 
 Wilson, E. B., 54, 69, 73, 106, 
 
 108, 118, 120, 127, 129 
 Withall, Henry, s 
 Working day, 42 
 
 Zollnee, 160 
 
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