LII3RA.RV OF Till University of California. Class NEW LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY BY THE SAME AUTHOR TWO NEW WORLDS. I. The ISKHA-Wni!i,D. II. The Svpha-Wohlp. Crown 8vo, 3s. fid. net. THE ELECTRON TlIEOllY: a Popular Introdiiotion to the New 'I'lieory of Klcctricity and Mapnetism. With .n Preface by O. Johnstonk Stoney, M. A., D.SC, F.R.S. With Frontispiece Por- trait of Dr. Stoney, anil 35 Diaj:,'ranis in the Text. Crown 8vo, .''(s. net. LONGMANS, OIIEEN, AND C^O. LONDON, NKW YOUK, BOMB.AY, ANI> OAI.ri'TTA NEW LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY BY E. E. FOURNIER n'ALBE B.Sc. (Loxn.), M.R.I.A. AUTHOR OP "THE ELECTRON THKORT" AND "TWO NEW WORLDS HON. SECRETARY OF THE DUBLIN SECTION OV 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 uciUrt/iL TO MY DEAR WIFE EDITH CONSUELO THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 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 jihysicist 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 nut known about it. And every one, I think, will acknowledge tliat the relations between mind and matter are at the very root of all possible theories concerning immortality. Now the phj^sicist 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 qucs- Vlll PREFACE liuus arc found to exert iij)oii representatives of pliy.sics rather than iH)on devotees of other branches of science. This book, then, is an attempt at wliat we might call a Physical Theory of Immorlalily. 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 fads 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 tliose 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- iijg 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 Avhich official science has not yet accepted. I refer to Avhat 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 Avliich did not happen to tit 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 scientitic 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 iL should bo understood tliiit the views advanced m this book do not stand or full with the reality or otherwise of metapsychical 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 Avith 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 SlTNBUllY GAIIDENS, DUBLIN, ScpUmbcr 1908. — CONTENTS PART I CHAPTER I THE PKOBLEM BEFORE US I'AGE The modern attitude towards death—Quantitative aspects of death —Unknown territorica 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—Tlic function of language—The sulituergeiice of the organic consciousness— Maturity a birth into the social world —The social business of life —Kacial consciousness— Extension of personality—The personality lof communities—Selfishness—The interpre- tation of ordinary avocations—Happiness—Wisdom . 30 CHAPTER IV TUE 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 plicnomena—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- Viility —How we generalise —Majesty of natural law Its liuman import—Discrediting of speculation — British and continental schools—Materialism still in power /''(.« Romana— Universality of life —Definition of a world — Tiie world of atoms—Life of atomic species —The laws of nature are the social laws of inferior worlds— Souls witliin souls—Our blood relationship with all life, and with all that exists —Superior aggregations CHAPTER VI BODY, SOUL, AXD SI'IBIT No room for a universal cataclysm — A new monism— Diagram of existences—The individual cover*! an infinite series of worlds—Death is the extraction of the vital or directing — — — CONTENTS Xlll PAOE 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 ? 9G PART II CHAPTER I BIKTH If life were reversible—Unicellular cell-division Tdnnnitus —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—Gerra-colls—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