Do Then Dead Come Back

8/13/2019 Do Then Dead Come Back

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D O T H E D E A D C O M EBACK?A P S Y C H O L O G IC A L I N T E R P R E T A T I O N O F

H U M A N G U L L I B I L I T YBy J O S E P H J A ST R O W , A . M ., P H . D .

{Professor of Psycholog y at the University of Wisconsin

"War entails a violent disturbance of habits ofthi nk ing no less th an of ways of living. The p rofoundun set tlem en t is even more dra stic in its effects on em otion and reason th an on action and will. It distortsthe trend and temper of belief. It bring s forward irregular beliefs that thrive on the abandoned habitations as well as the frontiers of the intellectua l dom ain.Warfare entails a reversion to primitive elemental reactions and passions, such as are sternly restrainedin the regulated c on tac ts of peace. By a like process,th e st at e of war^which is so essentia lly a sta te of m.ind^favors a revival of earlier, simpler, logical habits andmental at t i tudes, for the most part outgrown in thedisciplined relations of an adjusted and educatedsociety. Th e belief in the reality of ghosts and in th ecommunication of departed spirits is among the oldestand most universal of such convictions."

THERE are two problems involved in the revival inthese science-saturated days of a belief in spirit-agency as a ten able, possibly an inevitab le hy pothesis to account for the accredited observationsof credita ble rep orte rs. T he first considers the ground s forthe strong inclination toward the belief and the entirepsychological settin g th at m akes con verts to it. T he secondexamines and appra ises the evidence. T he first inquir y isma inly psychological, the second m ainly logical; b ut the

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146 THE FORUMtwo overlap and interac t . Th ey do so part icularly becausea good share of the evidence requires some sort of a psychological ex plan atio n. In the reviv al of a belief in spir itsand in the general credibili ty of the alleged phenomena inwhich it finds a place, we are dealing both with an inclination to believe, and with the meaning and value of the arrayof evidence which is advanced in support of the belief; anevidence that to some minds compels recourse^it may bewillingly, i t may be reluctantlyto the spiritualistichypothesis.

Such compulsion derives its driving force largely fromthe m enta l disposition. It app ear s in all beliefs th at ha vea st rong emotional tone and, by that token, a personalapp eal. M an is an imperfectly logical anim al. T he satisfactions which he seeks and obtains in his beliefs dependupon his total nature, in which the emotional and theaesthet ic parts are comm only the st ronger. H e cravespleasan t and beaut iful though ts. Th e mo st direct functionof belief is to con trol co nd uc t; in pra ctical affairs men m us tbelieve the truth or come to grief. B ut even in these thereis large latitude, and the affairs of life have been regulatedacceptably and happily by al l manners of "systems" whichproved to be vain or absu rd to a later gen eratio n: witnessthe m any medical systems and cures that ha ve run theircourse and contributed to the debris of thou ght . Y et thesereappear today in newer setting and give rise to modernmx\t , claiming as the corner-stone of the temple the stonewhich the scientific build ers rejec ted. T he belief in spiritsdoes not stand alone in its successive resurrections or reincarnat ions. Thought-waves, Oriental myst icism, the-osophy, fai th-cures, "demonstrat ions" by verbal f iats ofdenial of i l ls, palmistry, astrology and phrenology, all mayflourish on a hos pitab le m ode rn soil; all pre sen t pha ses ofappeal to believing minds; all display formidable massesof evidence to establish claims of logical respectability.

I CRUDELY CREDULOUS MINDSN many of l ife 's relations the connection between theoryand practise, between what we believe and what we


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DO THE DEAD COME BACK? 147do, is so remote and elastic as to tolerate gaps and discrepan cies w ith ou t inconvenience to the believer, w itho ut"showing" conspicuously to those who are privileged tosee the me ntal appare l . T he directly practical kinds ofbelief are protected from extravagant speculation. Ifgrossly false or bizarre, they would soon lead to disaster ifprojected too violently aga inst hard reality. Ev en thosewho claim that thinking health or bank accounts is tantamount to having them, do not expect such accounts to behonored by a hard-headed world. A pa rt from these thereis endless room for speculative investments which yieldtheir divide nds in the satisfaction which the y bring. Beliefs are cherished for insight and for consolation, and foimixed motives of both varieties.

As to the belief in the communication of the departedtoday as of old, through the ministrations of speciallyendowed mediums or adeptsamong the varieties ofbelievers there will be many who are moved largely byinclination and require slight evidence to embrace whatthe y cherish. Such minds do not deman d, perhaps wouldno t un der stan d, rigid logical sta nd ard s. It is only whenthey fall far below the acceptable level that such mindsare called crudely credulous, or gullible. The greaterinterest lies in minds with fair or decidedly more than fairs tandards of belief who in most of their intellectual investments display reasonable caution, and even marked proficiency in handling situations and arguments requiringhigh-gra de ration al powe rs. Th rou gh such sponsors thebelief in spirits acquires a prestige reflecting the reputationof those who hold the m . It is conspicuously true th at th equotations of belief in "spiri ts" are maintained in thepublic esteem by the total mass of such personal endorsem ents ; among our acquain tances and among reputableand even distinguished men we are faced with the ungracioustas k of inquiring int o th e qualification of th e more influentialsponsors.

We may make the task less invidious and more profitable by reviewing the varieties of evidence. Le t it be notad


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148 THE FORUMthat there is little in the types of evidence, for modernspirits agency, dating from the American revival of 1848, orin any of its still more recent revivals, that may not be foundin sim ilar beliefs of older da ys . T h e new fea tures consistin the attempt to apply to the evidence more rigid scientificstandards growing out of the laboratory, together with afew innova tions somew hat technical . Th ere are the physical phenom ena app aren tly defying the accredited laws ofthe behavior of m att er ; and there are the psychological(often called the psychic) phenomena, of which the type isthe command of knowledge or powers not recognized byaccredited psychology.

DUPES OF EUS PI P L DINOTH E m ost recent and widely sponsored exem plar of th ephysical evidence is recorded in the famous "case"of Eu sapia Palad ino. Th is i l l i terate I tal ian woman convinced Professor Lombroso, in 1892, of her supernormalpow ers; thro ug h this agency Professor Rich et, of Par is,was convinced; then a group of English observers , nota blySir Oliver Lodge and M r. F . W . H. M yers; then more andmore sponsors of eminence in all lands, including our own.Mr. Carr ington, an American, has devoted a volume to anacco unt and an endorsem ent of her career. Ye t , throughher twenty years of mediumship, critical observers testifiedto nothing unusual and much suspicious in her manifestat ions, and repeatedly she was detected in gross fraud.Th e fact remains that she was " inv es t ig ated " by e laborate ,scientifically devised tests, by men of competent scientificjudgm ent , and pronounced "ge nu ine." M r . Carr ington,who has detected fraud in a considerable number of mediums, sums up her case th us : " Eu sapia is genuine; bu t sheis , so far as I know, almost unique. * * * In her may nowbe said to culminate and focus the whole evidential case forthe physica l phe nom ena of spiritu alism ." If Eu sap ia is afraud, then the whole case is "ut ter ly, i r retr ievably ruined."In 1910 two observers were smuggled under the tablewhich Paladino " levi ta ted" wi thout contactwhich levi -tatio n formed th e crux of her perform ance. W ith their


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DO THE DEAD COME BACK? 149eyes within a few inches of her educated foot, they saw thismember insert itself under the leg of the table and levitate.Nothing in Eusapia 's repertoire was more recondite thanthis or had more to do with the basis of her marvelousrep uta tio n. T o an observer free from any prejudice andconversant with the possibilities of fraud, her performancewas, if not transparent, at least suspicious and dull.

Th e question is insistent: W hy did so ma ny co mp etentobservers accept these trivial performances as evidenceof a spirit agency? E ith er the distinguished w itnesseswere by training and temperament unfit to si t in judgmenton perform ances of this ty pe, or th ey were so prejudicedin favor of the "spiri t" hypothesis that they were completely disqualified for th e task . In some instances th eone jud gm ent is correct , in others the othe r; and both withcharitab le allowances. Th ere is no presum ption th at allmen trained in science, whether physicists, biologists orpsychologists, will by virtue of such training be competentto detec t how the tr ick is done ; while the gap between suchfailure and the assumption of spirit agency is a discrepancyof t i tan ic proportions quite on a pa r w ith t ha t of thewitness who found the hostler and the harness in the stableand the hdrse gone, and concluded that the hostler hadeaten the horse. Bo th assum ptions acco unt for the "fa cts ,"but at what cost of logical consistency with the rest of thephenomena and hypotheses which the daily round ofrational thought and action presents and requires

The centra l type of the "psychica l" phenomena is thedisclosure by the medium of information of the personalaffairs of the sitter, including details apparently as farremoved from the reach of her (the female of the species ismore d eadly) me ntal apprehension, as is the table ortamborine beyond the reach of the prehensile foot or hand.Both cases bring their challenge by way of a negative,always a difficult, at times an unfair process of argument.The skeptical critic is assured solemnly and reiteratedlytha t the medium could not possibly have done this or knownth at ; th at fraud was out of the question; th at tests were


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150 THE FORUMr igid; t l iat witnesses were hone st ; and consequently " i t "must have been spir i ts , or telepathy, or something occultand myster ious,in brief "psychic" power of a rare sort ,not exercised by ordinary mortals , and dogmatical ly deniedby prejudiced men of science, who have never had "experiences" of their own.

T H E F A M O U S P S Y C H I C M R S . P I P E RTHE most famous of the "psychic" cases is Mrs. Piper ,who seems to be the accredited medium of "psychicrese arc he rs" who hav e dep arted this li fe. M rs. Piper isevidently an at tract ive and intel l igent woman who hasdone much to relieve the tedium of the tawdry professionalseance . T he ord inary psychic spo rt of visiting me dium scarries much the same flavor as visiting slum s; M rs. Pipe rlifts the profession to the agreeable level of respectful andaler t ly intel lectual accomplishment.

In his sitting with M rs. Piper, Dr. Hall inve nted afictitious niece, whose spirit none the less came and revealedintimate detai ls quite as "evidential" as most of Mrs.Pip er 's revela tions. Th ere is a strang e inciden t in thecareer of M rs. Piper ; for at one time she confessed to th enatural means by which her mediumship was conducted,tho ug h she pro m ptly w ithdre w the confession. It is plainthat the "higher phases" of mediumship are not free fromthe dub ious wa ys of the more common variet ies . No r areme rcena ry motives the only ones to be considered. Th elove of mystifying, the satisfactions of notoriety, the invitations which a neurotic constitution invites, as well aswhat Huxley referred to as the downright lying of personswhose word it is impossible to doubt, must all be taken intoaccount .

B erna rd Shaw is mo re dir ec t: " I t is useless to mincematters in dealing with ghost storiesthe existence of aliar is more probable than the existence of a ghost."I t is inherent in the "psychical" performance (exceptin the simpler varieties in which detection requires ingenuitybut nothing more) that the medium cannot be i i i \cs t igated,


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DO THE DEAD COME BACK? 151at least not conclusively, without the medium's co-operation. Like a pa tien t, th e me dium m ust aid if no t supplythe diagnosis. T he psychologist is no t a min d-reade r, nomore and not otherwise than is the m edium ; or he would notbe occupying a sadly underpaid professorship. Dr. StanleyHall pertin ently writes of and to M rs. Piper: "W ouldthat she would give the world her own utterly candidbiographie intime or a confession of her honest womanlyreac tions to all this busin ess Fo r one, I m ust believe th atshe could, if she would, shed more tru e ligh t up on her casethan has been done by all who have so far studied her."The Fox sisters confessed as mature women how they hadstarted and start led the spiri tualist ic movement (1848) asmischievous or hysterical children dislocating their jointsand thu s " ra p p in g " out messages from the bej^ond. Dr.Hall proposes for Mrs. Piper a similar consummation of hercaree r. Briefly, the n, the evi den tial case for spi rit messag esturns upon the improbabili ty that the mediums in their ownpersonalities could have had access to intimate and personaldetails which they reveal in behalf of departed relatives totheir inquiring survivors.

A N A M A ZIN G A M ERICA N CA S E^T this stage a subtle complication enters. Thephenomenon of dissociated expressions, and, whendeveloped, of dissociated personalities, m ore or less perm anent or recurrent in some instances, voluntari ly assumed orconsented to in trance-states in other instances, is fullyrecognized by psycholog ists. M ost stu de nt s of M rs. Pipe rhold that she gives her replies in a trance, that is, in a statedissociated from her wide-awake personali ty . Bu t justhow far the one (dissociated) half knows what the other(norm al) half is sayin g is no t clear. T he line is as difficultto draw as between belief and make-belief in children, andmore so. Such auto m atism s can be developed to a remarkable ex ten t. An am azing instanc e is of Am erican origin,occurring in an attractive and intell igent personali tythecase of "Patience Worth," beginning as a halt ing revelationby painful spelling of words on a "ouija" board and ending


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152 THE FORUMwith the fluent automatic authorship of a novel of creditableinteres t and workm anship , "H op e Truebloo d." W e havethe assurance of the editor of Mrs. Curran's productions(Mrs. Curran is the normal personali ty of which "PatienceW o rt h " is th e dissociated l i terary al ternate) t ha t thehistorical knowledge, the scenes, the language, the incidents,the sentiments of her wri t ings are beyond the reach of Mrs.C urr an 's earth ly experiences and conscious mem ory. M rs.Cu rran an d her editor are unqu est ionably s incere, and theextraordinary accomplishment is free from the suspicionoften surrounding mediumi^tic communication, the l i terarystandards of which are commonly on a par with those ofth e m edium . Non e the less, M rs. Cu rran mu st be reliedupon to solve the m ystery . Th e spir i t hyp othesis is no tdefinitely offered in connection with her automatic authorship. T he logic of the supp osition th a t these writings andtheir content cannot be accounted for by what is accreditedin scientific psychology, is the interesting point in commonwith the "spi r i t " hypothes is .

A further phase of invest igat ion must be touched upon.It ofifers an exp erim enta l app roac h to the problem . T h ehypothes is of " te lepathy" assumes the communicat ion ofmind with mind apart from the recognized channels of thesenses. T h e largest exp end iture of ene rgy and patienc e of"psychical researchers" has gone to prove telepathy as apowe r exercised by exceptional individu als. Fo r if oncethis al leged power can be demonstrated to exis t , i t may beused as a means of explaining many another phenomenonof which the annals of psychic research are full to overflowing. T o establish even the slightest presum ption infavor of telepathy is a technical and laborious undertaking.We must be sure that the ordinary channels of communication, including the subtle ones of suggestion, of "fishing,"and guessing, and shrewd inference, and involuntary clues,ha ve been com pletely considered. Th en ther e is coincidence and to complex conditions the doctrine of chances isno t easily app lied. B u t this ty pe of investigation isscientific in that the experimenter controls th e conditions


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DO THE DEAD COME BACK? 153and sets the t ests , which is ve ry far from tru e of the so-calledtest-se anc e. Carelessness or lack of insight on the experimenter 's part may lead to apparently favorable results .Relying upon a considerable array of such experiments,certain English observers maintain that te lepathy has longbeen established, though part of the evidence which theyaccepted (not so unlike the Paladino case) has since beenshown to be the result of collusion and equally intelligibledevices to conceal the mechanism of hints and clues and thusbaffle the inve stigato r. Fo r once again it m ust be pointedout that the cri t ical investigator must overcome the negativeassumption tha t the thought t ransference was not accomplished by recognized methods, by showing just what thesesub tle processes are and how the y op era te. T his is logicallyunfair since it is the te lep ath ist 's business to prov e his case.As, however, the telepathist is satisfied with evidencewhich to cri t ical s tandard is wholly inadequate, the onlyway to advance matters is to expose the inadequacy.

THE TELEP THIC HYPOTHESISA N Am erican inves t iga tor . Prof. J. E. Coover, workingJL\ . und er the Stanford Endo w m ent for Psychical Research, has set forth in convincing detail the requirementsfor a thorough investigation of the telepathic hypothesis.H is conclusion is entirely n eg ativ e; as in the case of snakesin Ireland there is no telepathy. B ut the reasons whypersons believe in the existence of the psychic "snakes"or are convinced that they have seen them, are many andelusive and consti tute a legit imate problem. Prom inentin the findings is the proof of subliminal (often calledsubconscious) indications of thought or tendency or att it u d e ; this , in tu rn , indicates the importan ce of the submergedlife of the mind, now and then bringing to the surface dataand mo tives ordina rily overlooked. T he factor of similarmental habits is likewise responsible for many a coincidence,thus truly shown to be not pure chancenor j^et te lepathy.Moreover, by the same careful and verifiable method.Professor Coover investigated the alleged powers of mediumsar "psychics"^who flourish abundantly upon the Pacific


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154 THE FORUMCoastand found that when properly tested their powerswere ju st as neg ative as those of the ord ina ry citizen. Toassume te lepathy as e i ther a subs t i tu te for the "spi r i t "hypothesis or as operative in conjunction with it is to buildupon sand.

It is only when we face the evidence offered for spiritagency and communication with some close appreciat ionof the many-sided problems which i t presents , that we areproperly equipped to appraise the value of the test imonyof its supporters and the value of the phenomenon whichis offered a s ev ide ntia l. If we ad d bu t one mo re ty pe to thesumm ary obviously s tr ipped to a bare outl ine we shallhave reviewed the most conspicuous, the most telling of theclasses of evidence which have made recent converts tospir i tual ism among the educated and cr i t ical ly minded.These are the spontaneous appearances of appari t ions ofdeparted dear ones, or premonitions of death or serioussituations, which are of all the most personally impressiveof expe riences; th ey are free from th e suspicion att ac hi ngto mediumist ic phenomena, but on the other hand sufferfrom vagueness and un cer tain ty in report . Th ey cann otbe summarily dismissed, nor can it be expected that inmany cases they will carry more than a plausible suggestionof their origin. Th e most probable explana tion is somefalsification of memory or perceptionnot quite the sameas a full-fledged hallucination, but akin in mechanismor,again, some dissociation of the mind's equipment by whichthe creator of the impression conceals the fact that authorand readerthe revealer and the one to whom the messageis revealedare one, yet with the relation so subtly disguised that the revelation comes with a sense of surprise.This is a familiair dream-trick, and dreams represent a formof dissocia tion; It is well described by M r. Greenwo od, w hocompares it to what would happen in conscious composition"If Sheridan wondered while he was writing his 'School forScandal ' why on earth a screen was to be placed on thestage in Act III, and found out the purpose with a shock ofsurprise when he caused the screen to fall." T he rev@latic


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DO THE DEAD COME BACK? 155of the ap pa ritio n or the prem onitio n, t he solution of aquest, is the breaking through to conscious awareness (attimes with a dramatic intensity) of the subsconcious undercu rre nts of th e m ind 's imag inings. I t is the persistence ofsuch tendencies that underhes the central conception of theFreudian school of mental diagnosis and treatment.

This m ay seem a v ery round abou t approach to the reviva l of belief in sp irits ; bu t, as in oth er instan ces, thelonger way aroun d is the shorter way hom e. If the readerhad been told that the revival was but another instance ofthe recurrence of credulity under mental stress, he wouldhave felt personally unconvinced, and would have beenready with the rejoinder th at psychology m ust have somemore tangible and more constructive mode of disposing ofth e spirit hyp othe sis, if it expec ts a hearin g. Fo r here isa whole rang e of facts to be explain ed; and if not spirits,what then is the explanation? Conseq uently the counselfor the defense has a double duty, to point out the unreliability of the witnesses for the plaintiff and to indicate howmuch more consistently the whole issue may be explainedin quite different and consistent term s. T h a t the latte r isthe more important task is the reason for giving it themajor consideration. Let us turn to th e other phase of theproblem.

DISTINGUISHED SCIENTISTS BELIEVE IN SPIRITSPROMINENT among the sponsors for the belief inspirits with large influence upon the English-readingpublic are Sir Richard Crookes and Sir Oliver Lodge, bothdistinguished physicists with important contributions toscience to their credit . Bu t the assum ption tha t they havecarried on their investigations in spiritualism in the spiritof science is not only gratuitous, but demonstrably false.This from Sir Richard:

" I pass on to a seance held las t night a t Ha ckne y. Ka tienever appeared to greater perfection, and for nearly two hoursshe walked about the room, convers ing familiarly with those present. On several occasions she took my arm when walking, andthe impress ion conveyed to my mind that i t was a l iving womanat M y s ide , ins tead of a vis i tor from the oth er wo rld, was so s tro ng "


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156 THE FORUMtha t " I asked permission to clasp her in my a rra s," which being" graciously given . . . I accordingly didwell, as any gentlemanwould do under the circumstances."

"Could one want a bet ter example ," asks Mr . Tucket t ,"of an unscientific attitude in a scientific investigator?"Sir Will iam Barret t , another eminent physicis t who alsosubscribes, though more reservedly, to similar occult phenom ena, has summ arized Sir W ill iam Crookes ' posi tion, a f tera quarter of a century of adherence to the "spir i t" real i ty ofphenomena repeatedly shown to be produced by vulgarfraud. H e believes t h a t rap s are caused by an unseen intelligence, th at light and h ea vy bodies can alter their we ight,th a t a m edium can be raised off the g round by spiritlevitat ion, that musical instruments can be played withouthuman hands and in a way imposs ible by normal means ,that intel l igent messages can be writ ten by unseen hands,that red-hot coals can be handled without injury, and"most astonishing of al l , under elaborate test condit ions, amaterialised and beautiful female figure several times appeared clothed in a white robe so real that not only was i tspulse taken, but i t was repeatedly photographed, sometimesby the aid of the electric arc light, and on one occasions imul taneous ly wi th and bes ide the ent ranced medium."Th e fact th at th e me diums responsible for most of the clausesin this creed were repeatedly detected in the grossest frauddid not alter Sir William's sublime faith.Let the reader judge how far the principles of physics,which formed the Ufe-work of Sir W illiam Croo kes, are u pheld in the confession of his faith in spirits, or how far theyshow the working of the type of mind which we associatewith scientific expertness in the weighing of evidence.Some of his friends explain that Sir William was extremelyshort-s ighted, which preven ted accu rate observ ation. B utthe real defect is a men tal one ; th e prejudice of beliefblinds to the logic of interpretat ion even more than to thefacts. An d since such a st at e of mind can occur in thosescientifically trained, with full cognisance of the principlesof scientific evidence, one is inclined to the hypothesis ofreserved areas of conviction, held immune to logic and


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DO THE DEAD COME BACK? 157reserved for free play of em otion. Circum scribed blind-spots are formed in the mental vision^not unlike the fixedideas (delusions) of abnormal minds, rational until theirown vaga ries are touched up on. One set of beliefs em otionally cherished or used as a release from the hamperingrestrictions of logic, is detached from the setting in thegeneral consistency of one's mental system, and heldtenacio usly again st all reason. Th ere seems to be a cravingfor some outlet in which one may believe freely, warmly,w itho ut th e com pun ction of logic or conscience. T he m anof science m ay be professionally critical and tem pera m enta llycre du lou s; or he ma y exercise his scientific qualities in onefield and revel in their total abandonment in another wherehis emotional interests are engaged.

P R O F E S S O R L O M B R O S O ' S T E S T I M O N YIN this bare statement the formula is applicable only inextrem e cases, such as the one cited. Shad ed andtempered to varied circumstances, i t applies to manyinstan ces; nor does the application destroy the genuineadmiration of the splendid qualities of mind with whichsuch reser vatio ns are associa ted. Professor Lom broso isanother example who, after "making i t the indefatigablepursuit of his lifetime to defend the thesis that every forceis a property of matter and the soul an emanation of thebrain," went over to a belief in the genuineness of themanifestations of spiritualism physical and psychical."He swallowed the lot at a gulp, from table raps to materialization of the departed, spirit photographs and spirit voices;every story, old or new, alike from savage and from civilizedsources, confirmed his will to believe. He accepted, th oug honly at second-hand, the story that a babe named Yenkergave replies to rap s when two m ont hs old," and so on. Itwas the notorious Eusapia Paladino who enabled ProfessorLom broso to see his deceased mo ther. " T h e mistakes inexpression," he says, "made by the apparit ions of thedeceased are well known, and how they borrow from thelanguage of the psychic and the experimen ters. Rem ovingher veil she gave me a kiss." Surely it is a c haritab le


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158 THE FORUMjudgment to see in this pathetic episode the frailty of thetemperamental rather than the impugnment of the scientif icLombroso.

A far greate r m an, Alfred Russel W allace, m ay alsobe cited in favor of the hypothesis of mental reserved areasof faith o r cre du lity in m en of science. In his case th ereservations covered more than one field, for he held thatthe non-recognition of phrenology was one of the seriouserrors of the nine teenth cen tury. Sir Edw ard Clodd speaksof him as "that ardent and most credulous dupe of mediums"whose "capacious oesophagus swallowed all the stories ofsaints and butlers wafted in to ' th e cent ra l B lue . '" "W h a t , "says the convinced Dr. Wallace, "can be a more s tr ikingmiracle tha n th e levitat ion or rais ing of the hum an b ody intothe air without visible cause, yet the fact has been testified to du ring a long series of ce ntu rie s." Testifyin g as awitness in a legal trial in which the question of fraud in amed ium was the issue, Dr. W allace deponed t ha t the m ediumbeing in a trance s tate "there appeared a faint whitepatch on the left side of his coat, which increased in densityand sprea d till i t reache d his should er; then the re was aspace gradually widening to six feet between it and hisbo dy ; i t became very dis t inct and had the outl ine of awo ma n in flowing white dra pe ry. * * * I was abso lutelycertain that it could not be produced by any possible trick."

Once more the qu ery : Is this the testimon y of a scientific man, who could so easily ascertain that just such effectshad been repeatedly produced by the tricks of fraudulentme dium s? N atu ral ly men th us affected are consid erate ofothers s imilar ly convinced. Sir Will iam B arre t t can notquite disown the notorious Paladino because so "competent an invest igator" as the late "eminent cr iminologistProfessor Lombroso, and the neurologist, Professor Mor-selli , were convinced of the genuineness of the extraordinarypheno men a they witnessed." And so the endorsemen tgrows and th e prestig e of belief in spirit s rises. T h eassumption that these men were convinced against their willm: had to3; hav@ ex tra ord ina ry ev en ts ha pp en to th em to


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DO THE DEAD COME BACK? 159win them over, is quite groundless. T he y act in thesereserved areas of their minds just Hke common folk, evenwith the crude credulity of the uninformed, following theclue of their emotional prepossessions.

SIR OLIVER L O D G E ' S EXPLANATION( O I R O hver Lodge belongs to the sam e group . He, te,O ' has credited as genuinely "sp iri t ua l ," types of physicalperformances which would make nonsense of the principlesof physics which he professionally exp ound s. Is it asurviving sense of this logical contradiction that drives himto such exp lanatio ns (?) as th is : " A m aterialising powerm ay continue, analogous to th at which enabled us, whenhere on the planet, to assimilate all sort of material, todigest it and arrange it into the organism that served us abo dy . It is ex tra or din ari ly difficult to conceive of such apower, and impossible to suppose that it can be a directpower of a psychical agency unaided by the reproductiveactiv ity of any other unit a lready inc arn ate." And again:"The fact that a photograph can be clearly recognized whenthe medium has only seen the person clairvoyantly, on theother side of the veil, is suggestive, since it seems to showth at the general appearanc e is preservedor, in other words,that each human body is a true representation of personal ity ." If the belief in spiritualism com pels an intellectthat copes with the intricacies of a physical laboratory anduses them to the advancement of his science, to indulge insuch obscuring speculations, what justice is there in carrying the prestige of the one to cover the darkening confusionof the other?

With naive credulity Sir Oliver accepts the genuinenessof the ordinary m edium 's tricks of the trad e; he examineswith the sober interest of rare importance the drivelingreplies to leading questions obtained from mediums wholive upon the ignorance and the emotional misery of soulsin distr ess. Em bra cin g th e facts his scientific be nt requiresa the or y; he indulges in pages of confusing and hopelesslyextravagant explanations, forsaking all sanity of scientificview. Abu sing his prestige as a man of scienca, he sub-


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160 THE FORUMst i tutes his interpretat ions for the facts themselves, whichare at once too crude and too vulgar to face the glare ofserious scrutiny. Natural ly this at t i tude arouses theind ign atio n of his fellow-scientists. D r. Ch arles Mercierplain ly pu ts the case: " I t is no t for th e scientific world, orfor an y oneelse, to disprov e Sir Oliver Lod ge's assertions,his doctr ines , his interpretat ions, or his facts . The omisis on him to prove them. * * * As long as he offers us interpretation of fact in the place of fact, he is not evenenti t le d to a hea ring." W hen the alleged facts are preciselyof the kind which abound in the lowest haunts of the paidseance profiting by the credulity of the gullible, moralresponsibility is added to the offense of scientific apostasy.

S I R O L I V E R L O D G E A " S A V A G E A N I M I S X "SIR E D W A R D Clodd 's lucid accou nt of the issues in thecase warrants him in addressing the author of Raymondas follows:"Y ou , S ir O liver , knowing , a s you mu s t have know n, the t a in twhich permeates the ear ly his tory of Spir i tual ism, i ts incept ionin fraud and the detection of a succession of tricksters from theFox gir ls onwards, and thereby caut ioned to be on your guard,have p roved yourself on your own admission, incompetent to

dete ct the f rauds of Eu sapia Pal ladin o. You and Sir W il l iamBarret t , who says that there is evidence of his supernormalknowledge, accept and quote , as par ts of a new revela t ion, f romthe au tom at ic wr it ings of the Rev . S ta in ton Moses . Yo urfai th in the integr i ty of Mrs. Piper , despi te her fa i lure , crownedby her confession, withdrawn, i t i s t rue , but none the less a fact ,rem ains un sha ke n. You lose a dea r son in th e holiest of causes forwhich a man can die ; you for thwith repair to a modern Witch ofEndor to seek, a t second hand, consolat ions which assuredlyhe whom you mourn would, in preference, pour direct in to youra t tuned and sympathe t i c ea r ; youone o f the mos t p rominen tand best known of menare s imple enough to bel ieve that youranonymity and that of your wife and family was secure a t theea r ly seances which Mrs . Leonard and Mr . Vout Pe te r s gave you .And with what dire resul tthe publ icat ion of a ser ies of spur iouscommunicat ions , a large por t ion of which is mischievous dr ivel ,dragging with it into the mire w^hatever lofty conceptions of aspir i tual world have been framed by morta ls ." W h at is mo re serious, yo ur malef icent influence givesinpetu s to the recrudescence of supers t i t ion which is so deplorable a feature of these day s. T he difference betw een the m edium swhom you consul t and the lower grade of for tune- te l lers who arefead up a nd fined or imprison ed as rogues an d va gab on ds is one of


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Troubled Waters


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C L E A N I N G OUR D I P L O M A T I CH O U S EBy HO N. WILLIAM PHILLIPS(United States Assistant SecretaryofState

WHY I WOULDN'T BE ANAMBASSADORBy MARK TWAIN

F r o m THEFO RU M for M a r c h ,1899P. S. V ien n a , January 10 ^I see by t h i s m o r n in g ' st e l eg r ap h i c n ew s , t h a t I am no t to be th e new a m b a s s a dor here, af ter all. This^well, I h a r d ly k n o w w h a t tosay. I^well, of course I do not ca r e an y th in g ab o u ti t ;but it is at leas ta s u r p r i s e . Ihaveform a n y m o n t h sb een u s in g my inf luence at W a s h i n g t o n to get t h i sd ip lo m a t i c see expanded in to an am b as s ad o r s h ip , w i thth e i d ea ,of cour se , th ^Butn ev er m in d . Let it go.I tis of no co n s eq u en ce . I say it c a l m l y ;for I am ca lm .B u t now whi le I am c a l m , I would l ike to say t h i s t h a t , so long as I s h a l l co n t i n u e to possess an A m er i can ' s p roper p r ide in the h o n o r and d ig n i t y of hisc o u n t r y , I willnot t a k e anya m b a s s a d o r s h ip in thegiftof theflag at a sa lary shor t of $75,000a y ea r . If I shal lb e ch a r g ed w i th w an t in g to l ive beyond my c o u n t r y ' sm e a n s , I can n o t h e lp it. A co u n t r y w h ich c an n o tajSord ambassador 's wages should be a s h a m e d to havea m b a s s a d o r s .T h i n k of a seven teen- thousand- f ive-hundred-doUaram b as s ad o r Pa r t i cu l a r l y for America. Why it isthe mos t lud icrous spec tac le , the m o s t i n co n s i s t en tand incongruous spec tac le con t r ivab le by even them o s t d i s eas ed im ag in a t i o n . It is a b i l l iona i r e in apaper co l la r , a k in g in a b r eech - c lo u t , ana r ch an g e l ina tin ha lo .

A M E R I C A s t a n d s for a g r ea t i d ea l . We w a n t to k eep^ , ^ \ ^ t h a t i d e a l c l e a n and u n t a r n i s h e d so t h a t it may be

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