~ight: A Journal of Psgohioa/, Oooult, and Mystical Research.

'LIGHT I MORE LIGHT !'-Goethe, • WHATSOEVER DOTH MAKE MANIFEST IS LIGHT.'-Paul.

No. 1,595.-VOL. XXXI. [Registered a.a] SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1911. [a Newspaper.] PRICE TwOPENOE.

CONTENTS. Noteabythe Way .... - ...... 361 Taught of the Spirit ...... 3(6 \Ve have received a copy of the official programme of Answers desired to Interesting Further Communications from Questions...... _ ..... 362 F. W. H, Myers : Who Selects ? 367 the Lily Dale Assembly for the season which commenced L. S. A. Notices .. • • . • • •• .. .. • . 362 Life on 'The Other Side ' ...... 367 on the 14th ult. and will continue until September 3rd The Hn>otheses of 'Bilocation' A Remarkable S~ance ...... •... 368 Considered __ ...... 363 Man's Spiritual Body and its next. Lily Dale, as some of our readers will know, is the Ma.teria.lism a.nd Religion. By Clothing ...... 368 Horace Lea.f ...... 364 Huma.n Aura made Visible .••.• 360 beautiful health resort in New York State, in which Spirit­ Comforting Spiritual Communion364 Mediums and Psychics . . • • •• .. • 370 ' He Descended Into Hell' . . • • . 365 Scientific Self-Direction ...... 370 ualists and other liberal thinkers hold an annual assembly. During the season are held daily lectures, seances and NOTES BY THE WAY. healing services, and amongst the more secular attractions are music, dancing, bathing, boating, athletic gatherings, The attack made upon Occultism by Mr. Edgar J. theatres and concerts. The programme for the current Saxon in the May number of 'Healthward Ho ! ' has called season, which is of excellent quality, contains the names of forth, as we anticipated it would, a number of replies in many famous mediums and speakers. We trust the the June and July issues of that magazine. We take the Assembly will be in the highest degree . successful, and following excerpt from the reply of Madame Jean Delaire heartily wish that we could take part in it. in the latter issue :- Dealing, as it does, with the still invisible realms-and let us not forget that the invisible of to-day will be the visible of to­ 'The Harbinger of Light' (Melbourne) of June 1st morrow-standing, as it. does, on the Borderland between the contains an excellent portrait of Olive Schreiner-a normal and the supernormal, Occultism is naturally more liable countenance full of spiritual and intellectual beauty and to error than most other sciences ; for the same reason it becomes most easily the prey of the trickster and the charlatan. But if dignity. The accompanying article by Mrs. Annie Bright we condemn it solely because of its abuses, what, in all this wide is partly biographical, but relates in the main to Olive world of ours, shall we leave uncondemned? Schreiner's work on behalf of womankind, with especial What, indeed i We should have been glad, however, reference to her book, ' Woman and Labour,' the first to have seen an answer couched in the same vein of wit manuscript of whfoh was destroyed by looters during the and humour which characterised Mr. Saxon's attack. We South African war. All lovers of Olive Schreiner's work have known some extremely witty occultists who could will deplore the fact that she has only been able to re-write wield a keen rapier in such a debate. Perhaps we may see a portion of it. As to the part to be played by Spiritualism one of them take part in the fray. in the advance of woman, Mrs. Bright writes :- If there is one thing more than another that discloses a In the July number of 'The Commonwealth ' Canon Republic of Love and Justice and Law, it is what we learn when Scott Holland has a noteworthy article dealing with the we have grown in touch with spiritual spheres. There equality of sex reigns supreme. There all the chaotic conditions of earth influence of Jesus Christ upon human evolution. We find life that are brought about by the lust of power, the lust of the following passage particularly suggestive (the Canon is possession, gi\'e way to the nobler conditions that will peradven­ referring to the limitations of' Natural Development'):- ture prevail in the earth life, as Olive Schreiner predicts, when man and woman are on equal terms, socially and economically, To meet your need something must arrive from the other side ; something must come into play from above to break through the check, and to release the arrested forces. There must In the course of an article on ' Spiritual Unrest' in l;ie a creative act, a flash of the Will that is, an invasion of new energy, a Divine outgoing, a descent of fire, if the evolution is 'The Progressive Thinker' we read :- not to fail, if the long process is to be fulfilled. The present era has been denominated one of the greatest in While we heartily endorse this conclusion, we do not spiritual unrest known for centuries-an unrest which is occasioned by the conflict between materialism and spirituality, regard this Divine stimulus to evolution as being in any between the world of science on the one hand, and that of the sense a special and miraculous process, but one which is at ideal rather than practical religion on the other. work all the time in the form of inspiration and direction That is certainly true, although, to our thinking, it from the higher world. applies more to the intellectual than to the social life. The social unrest we are inclined to trace to an increasing con­ Mr. Frederick B. Smith, an American religious leader sciousness of the unsatisfying nature of the purely physical and revivalist, has made a notable contribution to the forms of enjoyment-the material pleasures and luxuries to widespread discussion concerning the lack of interest shown which humanity has abandoned itself to such a deplorable by men in the churches :- extent of late. The spirit is not to be stifled in this way, More men would be active in religious matters if they were and the non-thinking portion of the community are instinc­ given something t.o do. . . There are plenty of workers in tively realising the fact. every church. That is the point to what I am saying. Find them jobs, manly jobs, and volunteers will step out from the line, as they do in war, and pledge their strength and lives to the In 'The World and New Dispensation' (Calcutta), Pro­ service. fessor T. L. Vaswani, M.A., writing on 'The Mystical Mr. Smith speaks from practical experience, and we Message of the East to the West,' says:- commend his advice to those of our spiritual organisations It seems to me that Europe's urgent need is soul-rest. . who have reason to complain of the fia~ging interest of Europe needs must shape her life from within ; she must recog­ ~~eir JHeJHbersr µ~se witMµ the Vejl of Ti!-Jle tp-:i Ljf-:i of Eternit;y; she must live LIGHT. [August 5, 1911, the Ideal which transcends Time in the processes of life. 'Act hand, we have always had the feeling that, wonderful seer in union with the Divine,' says the Hindu Bible, and Europe and philosopher as he was, Swedenborg was greatly limited must recognise this truth. Not the cult of the ego, not tl1e Iove of excitement, but the life of restful character is the piteous need by the theological ideas of his time. of the world. It is a true message. We note with especial interest We are never surprised when we see the spiritual the Professor's remark that 'The world is not an illusion,' reformer tempted to despair in his apparently hopeless which seems to show that he does not share the Hindu struggle with materialistic thought and activity. And, attitude on that point. Perhaps the East has learned indeed, if the issue rested wholly on the labours of the something from the West in this matter ! reformers the task would be indeed desperate. Happily for them materialism has within itself the seeds of its own Truth being dual, it is easy to undersbtnd that East destruction. As Mr. C. D. Larson put it in one of his and West represent two extremes on this subject of Matter latest books :-'- and Spirit. To the contemplative CJriental mind, Spirit is The materialistic mind is the descending mind, the mind the great reality and Matter merely an illusion. To the that is losing ground gradllB.lly, and that is daily being overcome more and more by its own perverted and materialistic thought positive Western mind, Spirit is something of a figment and habits. Matter the only real thing. But the best thinkers of both schools are gradually approaching a great synthesis. Pro­ From 'Faith, Medicine, and the Mind,' by Dr. Charles fessor Vaswani, indeed, very properly notes that despite Reinhardt, we take the following as being both true and the Hindu doctrine that the material world is a deception, stimulating :- over and over again it is said in the Hindu books that the world When a man learns of the various powers, faculties, possi­ is a revefo.tion of the Infinite Energy. · bilities and limitations of his own subconscious self be is always ahle to turn his knowledge to the advantage of himself and of Obviously such a reYelation is not to be lightly dismissed others. He realises that the worries, annoyances, and trivialities as maya, or illusion. which perturb his waking consciousness are but as breaking waves and angry ripples upon the shore of the ocean of his soul ; he learns, therefore, to ignore them, and to care for the welfare Mr. Arnold Bennett is pre-eminently an 'artist in life,' of his true self rather than only for the small department of his and we h1tve a grateful recollection of many articles from personality which enters into his ordinary waking consciousness. ·bis pen which have thrown much new light on the problem of human happiness. In one of his latest deliverances on the art of living he propounds two fundamental principles ANSWERS DESIRED TO SOME INTERESTING (1) The brain is a servant, exterior to the force of the ego ; QUESTIONS. (2) In case of friction the machine is always at fault. We Will any of your readers kindly answer the following ques­ cordially endorse his remark :- tions for me 1 Do those who have passed over eat and drink 1 If human nature were more perfect than it is, succe~ in life Seeing that. character and inclinations originate to a certain would mean an intimate knowledge of one's St:lf and the achieve­ extent from the body (a man's character will often be changed ment of a philosophic inward calm, and such a goal might well while he is ill), can a man have the same character without bis be 1·eached by the majority of mortals. body 1 Much of his philosophy has been, and is being, taught While in the body Jack and Jill, who are good people, love by our 'New Thought' writers. The more of it the better, each other with that great soul love which comes only once in a say we! lifetime. Force of circumstances cuts them apart, and another man, who is not made for her, marries .Jill. After a time Jill 'The Path ' for July contains a number of interesting comes to love this man with the love which comes to women and suggestive articles, all written, of course, from the through bearing children to -men. Jack does not marry, but theosophical standpoint. We find the general sentiment of remains faithful to Jill, and, soon after her marriage, dies. After a long married life Jill and the man she married die also. the writers dominated more or less ,by the ancient tradition How is Jack, in the next life, to regain the place in. Jill's heart of a mysterious 'fall' of the human spirit into sin and error which is rightfully his, if that which made Jack take a second -with the result that, through travail and sorrow, the race place {child-bearing} is not possible in the hereafter 1 If it be has to struggle back to its former glory and dignity. This said that' elevated spirits look with indifference on such things, is not an interpretation of life which we are disposed to I answer that all souls have a beginning, and it is no fault of accept-in any literal aspect, at least-but it has a truth Jack's if he is not elevated enough to be indifferent. It seems, and a meaning for all that, like many other Oriental concep­ if the teaching of Spiritualism be true, that he is doomed to tions. As in Biblical matters, we must make a large allow­ suffer for ages through no sin of his until that elevation is ance for the hyperbole of Eastern thought. reached. How, then, can the Supreme be just if that which Spiritualism teaches is true 1 Yet I suppose such a caee would be one CJf many thousands. We have received a little pamphlet, 'Contents of the E. R. B. Swedenborg Library' (The Swedenborg Publishing Asso­ ciation, Philadelphia), containing a list of the works of the LONDON SPIRITUALIST ALLIANCE, LTD. great Seer, with an index of the subjects treated of in the MR. W. J. COL VILLE'S l!'AREWELL MEETINGS. chapters of the various volumes. In a preface to the book, the compiler, Mr. B. F. Barrett, makes a strong claim for On Tuesday and Thursday next, August 8th and 10th at 3 p.m., Mr. W. J. Colville will give farewell addresses on ~ub­ Swedenborg's system of Theology as being jeJts selected by members of the audiences. Questions will also at once the most comprehensive, harmonious, consistent, rational, be answered. Admission ls.; Members of the Alliance free. · scriptural and complete that has ever been given to the world. DRAWINGS OF THE PSYCHIC AURA AND DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. Profound admirers of Swedenborg as we are, we can. -On Wednesday ne:i:t, August 9th, and on th.e 16th inst., hardly endorse so exalted a view of his place in the hierarchy from 12 noon to 5 p.m., at 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C., Mr. of mystics. We had occasion once in these pages to rebuke Percy R. Street will give personal delineations by means of the a distinguished writer on mysticism who described Sweden­ colours of the psychic aura of sitters, and will diagnose disease under spirit control Fee 5s. to a guinea. Appointments borg's visions as ' profuse and bourgeois.' On the other desirable. See advertisement supplement. August 5, lJJH.] LIGHT. 863

TfJE HYPOTHESES OF 'BILOCATION' case also ; it can scarcely be admitted that the subconscious ego CONSIDERED. of the subject had in sleep the precise perception of the threat­ ened illness so that the terrifying vision of the physical and BY ERNESTO BozzANO. Translated from ' Anna.lea des spiritual decay into which he would fall in two years' time Sciences Psychiques.' could transmit the corresponding hallucination in such a way (Continued jr(J'fll, pagB 367.) that it would be made objective and real by the effect of associa­ tion. Such are the inductions necessary to the telepathic in· CATl!lGORY 3. terpretation of this case, indu~tiol18 which I pass without com• (Oases whBre the Phant(J'fll, is only perceived by a third party.) ment. The interpretation of the phenomenon by the hypotheeis Case 6. In this case, which also happened as a warning, the of duplication presents difficulties which are more admissible phantom appeared, in the vision, in the physically and psychically than those of telepathy. To make the hypothesis irrefutable, decadent condition which was realised later by the subject of· the account should have mentioned additional facts, I mean the the duplication. ('Proceedings of the S.P.R.,' Vol. XI., page circumstances that the phantom opened both doors to the room, 446.) The case is recorded by Myers, who knew the percipent (a one to come in, the other to go out. It is clear that if the per• lady) personally. When the latter wrote the subject was still cipient had recorded that she found these doors open, the alive, and this forced Myers to withhold the names. The per· thesis thai the phantom was objective would not have needed cipient relates what follows :- further proof. This detail of the first importance has not been In the autumn of 1892 I was in Paris staying with a near included, and Myers even did not ask for information on this relative of mine, of whom I was very fond, and who was a most point, so that it follows from a scientific point of view that one distinguished and clever man in his profession, that of a lawyer. cannot take notice of what is related in this respect, as it ia He had not been quite himself for some weeks, and had com­ found in numerous cases of telepathy that phantoms opened plained in his letters to me (I was in England at the time) of doors which were certainly fotmd shut afterwards, by which it feeling nervous and unfit for work-in fact, run down. As his letters made me feel uneasy, I wrote and offered a visit, saying is demonstrated that some things in connection with telepathic a change to Paris would be beneficial to me, and took up my hallucinations are indeed purely subjective. On the contrary, abode in his pretty appartPJment, near the Boulevard Haussmann. it is necessary to recognise tha.t if we analyse this case fully, it My relative was a bachelor and had one servant, a valet, who is easy to find incidents and to advance argu~ents in favour of did not sleep in the appartement, but, according to Paris custom, a real action made by the phantom in regard to· the doors, and had a room on the fifth floor ; therefore we two were alone in the house at night. My room was at one end of a passage, and his this because the percipient, referring to the second door, at the ether, several rooms intervening. A. few days after my notes that the phantom stumbled into the other room, where he arriviil I received a budget of important papers to read, and a sudd1 uly disappeared. This describes a real and complex action, request to translate into English an article out of a French medical that of stumbling into the other room, an action which differs paper. Not having had time to do this all day, I postponed the totally from those noted in connection with subjective visions translation till after my relative had gone to bed, as he generally of phantoms in relation to open doors. In the second place, retired early. As it was a chilly night I thought I would take the lamp into my room, and work out the translation after I because the circumstance of finding a closed door, which one is was in bed. I read several letters first, and then started on my sure of having seen open, impresses itself upon the mind of the ta.sk, aided by a dictionary, as the French technical terms stag· percipient, hence the supposition that if the percipient in the gered me rather now and then. This is to show you my mind case in question had found that the doors opened by the phantom was fully occupied, and that not only was I wide awake but that had really remained closed, she would not ha.ve failed to notice I was not in any way brooding· on my relative's nervous state, the fact, especially as she ran out immediately to the bedside of nor, indeed, was I thinking of him. As I wii.s writing moat ·energetically, I saw, as one. can see without raising one's eyes, her relative. Consequently the :f/J.ct that this was not noticed one of the doors of my room slowly open, and, as I imagined acquires under these circumstances some importance, and gives it could only be my relative, who was restless and was coming in a probable ·value to the idea that the percipient actually found to have a chat, I said, without even troubling to look up, 'Come the doors open. Such .are the inductions which the case sug· in ; I'm not asleep.' Receiving no answer I looked up, and gests ; they seem to me sufficiently rational and legitimate for saw a most awful sight. (I must tell you my relative was a record. It is necessary for rue as recorder to ljlly that induc· singularly handsome man, very tall, and with an intelligent, biight iaee.) I saw, staggering into the room, a likeness of tions and probabilities do not st1ffice to demonstrate the scientific him, but in the last stage of imbecility. He had shrunk down hypothesis, it merely remains to deplore the omission in the to half his height, his legs seemed semi-paralysed and unable to record and pass on. One word further on the perplexities pre• support his tottering emaciated form. His face was dra'Yn, all sented by this case. }~rom the point of view of the objective character and expression had left it, the lower jaw drooped, and interpretation, one of these consists in this, that in this epi· the eyes had no intelligence or recognition in them, nothing sode there is not only duplication but at the same time a llOrt but a vacant, hideous stare ! This thing-for I can call it nothing else-staggered across my room, looking round at me of warning representation to which the fluidic body of the sub• now and then, then made for the opposite door, where it groped ject has been submitted. This perplexity gives rise to another. about aimlessly for the handle, and finally succeeded in opening Was this submission voluntary or the work of a spiritual being, it, tumbled itself into the next room, and disappeared. I sat up as the percipient supposes 1 What do we know 1 The time has in bed frozen with horror, and gazed at the form till it vanished, not yet come to solve certain metaphysical enigmas i it is better then jumped out of bed, and ran along the passage into my to leave them without solution than rashly enter a maze of pre• relative's room. He was sound asleep in bed, and there was no sign anywhere of the ghastly semblance of himself that I had mature inductions. seen. I could not get to sleep, and this awful sight haunted The pr~~nt category, which treats of cases where the phan• me for weeks. I naturally spoke of it to no one in Paris, but tom is only perceived by a third person, will be incomplete if we wrote an account of it, much as I am doing now, to my mother do not refer to some emmplea belonging to a gl'OUP of which in;England. Some weeks later my relative, feeling his nerves there are numerous specimens, of rather !!light .value, which no better, consulted an eminent physician, a specialist for belong to this category, and which include certain f1>rms nervous complaints. The doctor did not alarm him, but told me privately that he much feared that creeping paralysis and analogous to duplication, such as those which occur at the bed· softening of the brain would set in. His diagnosis was on1y side of a dying person, and reveal themselves to sensitives who too correct ; at the present moment my poor relative is in. a are cognisant in this way of the process of separation of the private hospital ; he went steadily from bad to worse, all the fluidic body from the physical organism. If we consider these dreadful symptoms of his disease increased visibly and rapidly, forms of clairvoyance solely they do not gain an appreciable de• and now (autumn of 1895) he is very nearly like the ghastly monstrable value ; nevertheless, if we compare them amongst vision I saw of him in 1892, and which, may be, was sent in some measure to prepare us for the great son·ow in store for us themselves and collllider them in relation to other phenomena, all. My relative was at the time of this incident about forty­ w~ note immediately a hypothetical value, for we see that the three years of age, and as handsome, intelligent, and charming visualisations on the one hand, agree with each other in spite of a man as one could wish to see-the very last person for whom differences of time and place, and in spite of the variable one could foresee such a fearful end. psychic conditions in which they occur. The telepathic hypothesis is difficult of application in this (To be continued.) 364 LIGHT. [August 5, 1911.

MATERIALISM AND RELIGION. must rest upon faith, and not knowledge. There is cause for all to rejoice that reason now supports emotion, and that what man­ BY HORACE LEAF. kind has intuitively felt about life is now supported by evidence, and meets the demands of intellect. ProlJably ever since men have been able to reason actively The bridge that at last successfully spans the gulf has been they have held two distinct views of the nature of life. .Along built by modern Spiritualism, which in its early days advanced with the ancient philosophers' affirmation of man's immortality in the face of both materialism and theology, and now vindi­ comes another equally strong assertion of man's ephemerality ; cates itself by satisfying materialism and supporting religion. whilst it is thought that among the existing lower orders of mankind some are to be found who entertain no belief in man's COMFORTING SPIRITUAL COMMUNION. survival of death. The materialist regards mind as an attri­ bute of matter and inseparable from it, while the religionist STRIKING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN SPIRITUALISM. affirms that mind is distinct from matter, and destined to exist after the death of the physical body. .As the writer of the following interesting account of 'per­ Materialistic thinkers claim that the greatest and most reli­ sonal experiences in Spiritualism' occupies a high official position able attribute of man is the intellect, with its power· to reason, on the other side of the Atlantic he stipulates that his name and address shall not be published. He vouches for the entire and that its greatest opponent, most liable to error, is the accuracy of his statements, and our readers may rest assured that emotional attribute which is devoid of reasoning power. It is we are satisfied that his narrative is a bona fide setting forth of upon emotion, they declare, that religion is founded, and facts as they appealed to him. Our contributor, who has been because of its unreasonableness religion is an illusion, and can on a visit to this country for some time past, is well known to be checked in its far-reaching effects by intellectual activity us and is one of the oldest subscribers to 'LIGHT.' only. But religionists do not admit that this accusation is (Continued from page 345.) justified. They claim that if emotion does play a conspicuous part in the existence of religion it is under the control of reason Paul had occasion to spend a few weeks in New York during and, in a sense, subsidiary to it. Ebullitions of unrestrained the autumn of 1905. At that time there was a local group of emotion may prevail amongst the unthinking masses who accept earnest investigators, forming a class of fifteen, meeting twice a religion, but not amongst the leaders who have, and always have week at the M.'s (see p. 315) for the :purpose of development had, all the advantages of culture, both intellectual and and investigation. emotional. Paul, as a special favour, was permitted to join this class There can be no doubt that ~ore thought has been bestowed after due consultation among the controls, the mediums and its on religion than upon anything else. To Christianity a great members. The class had been in existence over six weeks, and debt is owed for intellectuality, for probably through her have apparently all its members were so convinced of the genuineness been scaled some of the loftiest philosophical and metaphysical of ·au manifestations that test conditions were entirely over­ heights yet attained. But, unfortunately, the main premises of looked. Paul being a guest, so to speak, could not be very exact­ doctrinal Christianity have had to be accepted on faith, not upon ing in this respect : he had to trust to his own acumen, reason, and it is from these premises that reason starts. It is keep open a critical eye, and analyse suspicious circumstances, now being realised that these premises are wrong, and a great should any occur. The seances lasted about an hour and a-half. part of her conclusions have to be abandoned as useless. After the opening prayer and hymn, a white figure advanced Religion, per se, is not a system, it is the principle upon towards the organ, and sang, in a voice of fair range, a hymn of which religious systems arc built, and it is so real that whilst Gounod's. Paul writes in his journal : 'This spirit was sup-· systems alter or pass away, the principle remains. This princi­ posed to be a deceased sister of Mrs. M.'s, but her stature, ple is not intellect, neither is it emotion as comll).only under­ appearance, and voice suggested a personation more than a real stood, but something deeper and superior to both, and in which materialisation.' During this performance the light of the both exist. lantern behind the sitters was gradually turned on, the degree The great error of materialism is that it undervalues of light being controlled by a movable shutter, manipulated, so emotion and subordinates it to a position inferior to intellect. it was claimed, from the cabinet by spirit power. The light was Intellect without some degree of emot,ion is perhaps impossible, usually sufficient to permit ordinary print or the time on a but intellect predominant is often a dangerous and harmful gold-faced watch to be read. and evil thing. . Humanity appears to be more indebted to .Among the controls who manifested was the Indian child emotion for happiness than to intellect. The most binding 'Pansy.' With regard to her life history it was understood that social ties are emotional, whilst intellect does much at times to her people belonged to a Mohawk tribe, settled in the western break them. Patriotism, and the great devotion it is capable of part of the present State of New York, that she passed away arousing, spring from emotion. Emotion teaches forgiveness, about twenty years ago from a sore throat, to which complaint, and calls upon the strong to succour the weak ; it prompts the it is said, the very noticeable hoarseness of her voice whenever simple smile or tear, as well as the noblest deeds of self-sacrifice, she manifested was due. .At sittings when her medium Mr. M. was when intellect would argue against their wisdom. present, she was invariably the first to appear. After extending The parent and child are bound together by emotion; intel­ greetings, she usually walked in front of the sitters, addressing lect has parted many, and made many a heart sad, The heart every one by name, and inquiring about hi£ or her health, often of imaginative literature is emotion; to it we are indebted for about private matters-joyful or otherwise-or she wonld refer Shakespeare and Homer, Milton and Dante, Cowper and Pope. to intimate home incidents known to the sitter only. Sometimes Had Jesus and Buddha been actuated by reason alone, the one she would climb on the knees of one of her particular friends, would not have been crncified and the other would not have left and permit herself to be kissed. This favour Paul was granted his palace to search for truth . more than once. Her clothing was of flimsy white material, .A brief acquaintance with some departments of modem in the shape of a child's nightgown, dropping to her science proves that intellect untempered by emotion is a dan­ feet. There were, however, occasions when this garment gerous thing. Without a tremor it can inflict the intensest showed a luminous or phosphorescent pattern of foliage. suffering upon the helpless to no good purpose, and frequently, She claimed that her task was to assist her mediums with the coldest logic and with no intention beyond mere experi­ in demonstrating to doubting mortals the reality of the mentation, it can lacerate hearts. after life as well as the possibility of communion with friends It is in the unity and balance of these two great attributes already in spheres beyond. Although long since grown up to of the human mind that truth must be sought. It is then found maturity in spirit life, she found it easier, she said, when she that science and religion are not two, hut one. There is now no returned to earth life, in these seances, for instance, to manifest as exci1se for the most ardent advocate of materialism to deny that the little child she was when she passed away, and less power was mind is distinct from matter, and sub.3ists apart from it, any required than w0uld otherwise be needed. As a rule she spoke more than there is for the religionist to declare that religion broken English as one would expect an Indian child to speak, August 5, um.] LIGHT. 365

but on occasion, in describing some phases of spirit life, or in burning in the hall, a beam of which, streaming suddenly into discoursing on the duties of earth life or on some abstruse sub­ the seance-room, struck the spirit' Apothecary' and his patient. ject, her language was correct, her words well chosen, and the The spirit fell sideways in a heap as if shot, and immediately thoughts and teaching practical and sublime. One of the most melted into nothingness, while the entranced medium within prominent and deeply interested members of this circle was a the cabinet uttered a moan and fell into a condition epileptic in Lutheran clergyman of Brooklyn. On one occasion, while appearance, from which she recovered but slowly-in fact, she arguing with 'Pansy' over a verse of the New Testament, he gave remained for hours in a highly nervous condition. The seance the Latin text of it. She replied by quoting another verse in was, of course, interrupted, but the occurrence, regrettable Latin, substantiating her contention and giving the true explana­ though it was, was certainly most interesting and a convincing tion of the clergyman's original quotation. All present applauded evidence of the genuineness of this particular manifestation. the aptness of the retort. While other manifestations were Several Indian 'braves' and 'squaws' habitually manifested going on 'Pansy' sat in her little chair, apparently amusing her­ at these seances. They suddenly appeared at the parting of the self with a few Indian toys which were kept at hand for her cabinet curtain-at times two, three or four together. They use. The M.'s had two little children of their own-girls of would march around in front of the sitters attired in their six and eight. At times these children were present at these aboriginal costumes. At times accompanied by one or more seances; they sat with 'Pansy,' and all three would indulge in squaws and papooses (children), they would perhaps squat in childish chatter, doll play, &c. During the course of a circle in the centre of the floor and then go through some seance 'Pansy' would appear and disappear three or four mumbling or sing-song or pow-wow. After a few minutes they times. At times her voice alone was heard, while would all vanish as suddenly as they had appeared. One ·indi­ she remained invisible. She usually materialised within vidual might tarry a little longer for the purpose of explaining the cabinet, then walked to her medium, who always greeted in words the object of their visit. ' Indian like come help her with effusion. Then she would address the circle collec­ white chiefs and sisters in seance. Indian bring much power, tively and individually. Less frequently she would arise as much good vibrations to circle. Indian warrior is good man from the floor ; sometimes she would descend from the ceiling. now ; he loves Great Spirit (God) ; he loves white brother now ; Her naturally childish ways and speech formed a great contrast to he wants to help white brother. Good-bye, chiefs; good-bye, the serious manner and language she would on occasion assume. squaws.' Such visits were certainly well contrived to excite Her words were invariably of kindness, love and benevolence, yet new vibrations, well described by the American slang expression seasoned with bright wit and mirth. Her quickness of repartee ' rough house,' and some of the lady sitters felt decidedly more was remarkable; she was fond then of using slang expressions at eiise when the 'rough house' had subsided. If an Indian which she had doubtless learnt from the miscellaneous people presented himself alone, it was because he was attached to one of who frequented M.'s seances. Paul, who on one or two occasions the sitters as one of his personal guides ; he would call this held her on his knees, says that she felt exactly like a living person out and converse with him privately. child of about four years of age. She never forgot a name or face Such were the controls or mediums on the spirit side of life of a visitor to M.'s, notwithstanding the many sitters who came who worked in conjunction with the mediums M. on the mortal there during the eighteen months he remained in New York. side, which, added to such forces as the sitters in the circle could The two other leading contl'Ols had in life been surgeons in supply, produced manifestations always interesting, and some­ the Northern Army during the war with the Confederate States. times of a startling character, some of which will be described They explained that they were mediums on the spirit side of later. If the M.'s and their seances had been hampered by test life-co-operating with the mortal mediums in producing the conditions such as science demands and exacts, could physical materialised forms that were animated during the seance by the manifestations equal to those referred to have been possible 1 It spirit friends of the sitters present. It happened, not unfrequently, is doubtful. The effect of test conditions on the minds of the that they showed themselves in the material form, according to sitters would be to wind up their thoughts and faculties to a Paul's experience, always together, walking arm in arm up the pitch of tension-a qui vive, a watching for deception and fraud centre of the circle of sitters, addressing kindly words to some of likely to antagonise the best efforts of the good controls and its members, bowing to others, raising their hats right and left, attract (like attracts like) the presence of tricky, frivolous, unde­ if they happened to have their heads covered. They seemed to veloped, earth-bound intelligences intent on deception, and thus prefer appearing in the army uniforms of their life period. amusing themselves at the expense of, perhaps, honest but Such visits were most heartily welcome. It was remarkable unduly suspicious investigators. that these and all other materialised forms who ventured for­ (To be continued.) ward, perhaps thirty or twenty or less feet from the cabinet, retreated thereto by stepping backwards, and that on no occa­ ' HE DESCENDED INTO HELL.' sion did they turn their backs on the sitters. There was some Mr. James Lawrence, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, writes: 'In special reason for this, which Paul does not appear to have "Answers to Correspondents,'' in" Life and Work," a Church of clearly grasped if it was given at the time. 'Dr. James' invari- Scotland monthly magazine, with reference to the passage in the . ·ably closed the seances by a prayer of thanks to the Almighty, Apostles' Creed, " He descended into Hell," there is a passage uttered through the entranced medium Mrs. M. Another which well illustrates the breadth of thought and tolerance now spirit helper was known as ' The Apothecary.' He was an becoming quite common amongst those erstwhile dour, narrow, ancient of venerable appearance and fair complexion, wearing strait-laced preachers. Well may we say with the poet:- a long white beard, and clothed from head to foot in flowing " Out of the shadows of night white garments. He never, or very seldom, uttered a word. His The world rolls into light, mission appeared to be to restore to each sitter the magnetism It is daylight everywhere.'' which had been withdrawn from his person during the seance, 'After mentioning that the word "hell" or "hades" has no and to benefit such as had, real or imaginary physical ailments. reference to punishment or suffering, but to the mysterious region Each person was in turn invited to a chair in the centre of the where the dead were believed to be, the Editor says :- circle. · There the spirit made passes over his head and body, ' " Whatever be the correct exposition of the Scripture which lasting about two minutes. It took ' The Apothecary ' from tells that our master preached to ' the spirits in prison,' there twenty to thirty minutes to perform his task. The seance was seems to be the.clear assertion that there was no suspense of his not, however, interrupted thereby, for apparitions continued to activity after death : though the weary found rest His sweetest come, go, and hold manifestations with their respective friends. rest was in unselfish service. When Frederick Maurice was On one occasion, while this healing work was going on, a disconcert­ dying1 and they told him that he would not preach again, he said, If I may not preach here, I may in other worlds.' So ing but curious incident happened. Repeated loud knocking was Lowell wrote as an epitaph on Channing- heard at the seance-room door. Undesirable as it might be to inter­ Thou art not idle ; in thy higher sphere rupt the seance, the urgency of the knocking was such that M. re­ Thy spirit bends itself to loving tasks, quested one of the sitters to see what was the matter. This And strength to perfect what it dreamed of here person opened the door ; it so happened that a bright light was Is all the crown and glory that it asks." ' 386 LIGHT. [August 5, UH1.

Ol!'FICE OF 'LIGHT/ 110, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, in which in the Divine Economy· of the Universe much LONDON, W.O. "that the superficial thinker regards as waste and deleterious SATURDAY, AUGUST 5TH, 1911. products are worked up and converted to the uses of the great scheme of life. We are shown the wondrous methods by which Nature, informed by the Universal Intelligence, ~ight: distributes over a planet all the types and species of the A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research. · animal and vegetable kingdoms, and the gradual ancl harmonious unfoldment of all the planetary conditions PRICE TWOPENCE WEEKLY. needed for each expression of life. We are tolu how the OOMMU~OATIONS intended to be printed should be address11d to directive influence of the spiritual side of Nature is at work the ~d1tor, Office of 'LIGHT,' 110, St. Martin's Lane, London, W.C. Busmess communications should in all cases be addressed to Mr. throughout providing the life germs for the individual F. W. 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APPLICATIONS b:t Members and Associates of the London Spirit­ We are, in this connection, greatly impressed by two ualist Alliance, Ltd., for the loan of books from the Alliance statementsin the book concerning the law of immortality:- Library should be addressed to the Librarian, Mr. B. D. Godfrey Office of the Alliance, 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C. ' Mind cannot disorganise ; it adds to its proportions gradually until it can be said to be reorganised in the sense of being constituted of entirely different proportions of the same elements; as atmosphere gradually adds to its proportions until it is so TAUGHT OF THE SPIRIT. diverse from an undeveloped planetary atmosphere as to be termed a different organisation. Ji~ew students of the literature of Spiritualism who have taken up the works of Mrs. Maria M. King can have failed And again:- to be impressed by their deep philosophical interest. The Mind draws nothing from the grosser man,. save action ; 'Principles of Nature,' as given inspirationally by that therefore the spirit being wholly of divine elements, it is self­ existent. gifted writer, are indeed a veritable magnum opus. We extend, therefore, a cordial welcome to a book by her The argument for immortality must of necessity be .husband, Mr. Andrew J. King, counsellor-at-law, of New deductive, and we rest confident in the conviction that 'the Jersey, entitled 'The New Astronomy and Laws of Nature,' principle of man's immortality is as fixed as that which which contains an epitome of 'The Principles of Nature.' determines the eternity of its Father, God.' As Mr. King truly observes in the Preface to this remark­ Another truth for which we stand-the intercommuni­ able book:- cation of the two worlds-is dealt with in illuminating In this age of hurry and impatience tbe mass of enlightened fashion. Man in the flesh is the ready recipient, through men feel they cannot afford the time to study the minutioo of his mind, of spiritual influence-for the mind presents ' an causes, and therefore leave unexamined the most important easy avenue of approach from the unseen sphere.' Indeed, statements of laws and principles underlying all formation but for the influx from the higher spheres man in the body -material and spiritual, from the material and spiritual univers~ of forms--,.-worlds-to that of material and spiritual man. They would be blind to the truths and principles of the universe want the essence of things stated in a few words. -even material progress would be impossible. That is quite true, and is in some respects a matter for To the mind of the aspiring reader that portion of the regret. For ourselves, we may say that we are not work which relates to the Spiritual Universe will doubtless enamoured of literary or philosophical pemmican-' Liebig's prove especially attractive. Here we find the 'homes of extract ' of wisdom ! But we recognise, none the less, that the hereafter' described in graphic and convincing fashion, in present conditions it is this or nothing-we must be the description agreeing in the main with. the accounts content with what Matthew Arnold in a similar connection given through or by other spiritual teachers. We are told, calls the 'second best.' for example, how the Second Sphere-the first of the One other consideration also tends to chasten our spiritual worlds-is formed of the refined forces of the first., pleasure in the book. It is rather wanting in literary how by the higher laws of attraction and repulsion the form and unity. The conservative British reader will hardly spiritual elements flow from material worlds te the Second relish the ' new spelling ' ; and American phrases-neat and Sphere, where a further refinement of these elements takes pithy as they often are-are apt to jar on the sensitive place, the grosser parts being eliminated and returned to literary palate when placed in close association with the the material realm for the higher uses of that realm. And lofty diction that rightly belongs to all high teaching. then follows thfl significant statement :- F-0rtunately these objections relate more to the editorial This is all the reincarnation of spirit there is in Nature. portions of the book than to those in which the inspirations This conforms to the law of progressive development. of Mrs. King are set forth. Deeply interesting are the descriptions of the circles or • Having had our grumble at the manner, we turn with grades of development into which the Second Sphere is unalloyed pleasure to the matter of the book. It impresses divided and of the relationship between all and each of us with a sense of the greatness and conviction that belong them; of the methods by which spirits return to earth; of to truth when clearly and earnestly stated. In its. earlier the laws of spirit communion; and of the spirit's progress . portions the volume summarises the course of cosmic through the spheres. We lay· aside the book with a evolution from the birth of worlds-regarding which there renewed conviction of the sweet reasonableness of the are some original doctrines which modern science has . doctrines taught by the inspired writers and teachers that already begun to assimilate-to the genesis of man. And represent our movement. . Clear, simple, and easily under· withal there are remarka?le teachingil concerning the way standable, they bear the stamp and impress of truth, for as ,August· 5, 1911.] LIGHT. 36'1

Andrew .Jackson Davis has well said : 'Truth is always · The date is very ·nearly correct, being only out by about a. simple, while error is compound and generally unintel­ week. ligible.' In a very interesting article on ' The Principle of Selection ' We could wish that, for the sake of a hurried and over­ (which should be carefully studied), Miss Johnson points out that it is not merely the fact of correspondences which is im­ wrought generation, more of the standard teachings of our portant, but rather the differences between the scripts contain­ spiritual philosophers could be presented in a condensed ing these correspondences, for. these differences 'afford some form. Meantime we are grateful for this summary of the evidence of design,' as the above episode shows. work of Mrs. Maria M. King. The evidence of design cannot but seem to some readers very strong and very weighty. In the above case, which is less FURTHER COMMUNICATIONS FROM elaborate than some of the others, we find not only an experi· F. W. H. MYERS. ment carried out s~ccessfully, but a clear recognition· shown by the controls that this has been done, the approximate date being BY H. A. DALLAS•• given. Is it reasonable to attribute all this to Mrs. Verrall's sub­ IV. liminal consciousness, even though there is no evidence that she was ttsed at all in the experiment 1 'WHO SELECTS 1' The incidents touched upon in this and preceding articles In a recent issue of ' Proceedings ' Mr. Bayfield supported have not, of course, exhausted the subjects suitable for review. the view that Mrs. Verrall's subliminal consciousness was capable Possibly at a later date I may retum to them again. of engineering the cross-co1Tespondences which have so greatly perplexed researchers. (See 'LIGHT' for April 1st, p. 152.) It would be interesting to know whether he holds her responsible LIFE ON 'THE OTHER SIDE.' even for those cross-correspondences in which she apparently played no part. Here is a case in point. Did Mrs. V errall's Life on the other side, if the testimony of spirit people is ' subliminal' impress Mr. Dorr to make the suggestion out of worth anything at all, is, if anything, more real, more active, which the following c1'0SS-correspondence was evolved 1 Or, the and more full of interest than it is on this plane. Instead of suggestion being ol'iginated by him, did she merely take advan­ being analogous to a sleep, as is sometimes rep1·esented, between tage of it and direct her subliminal energies towards getting the day-time incarnations in this world, it is much more true that cross-correspondences worked into the scripts of the two auto­ our experiences here more nearly resemble dreams, while life matic writers engaged in it 1 These, and other questions of a 'over there ' is the blossoming out of consciousness into reali­ s1ruilar character, seem to require an, answer from those who sations and fruition denied it here. accept the theory advanced by Mr. Bayfield. In a communication to Mr. Stead, written in October, 1908, The particular interest attaching to the following episode is 'Julia.' referred to the fact that she had learned that the that it is one of the instances in which a suggestion of a subject number of the ' dead ' who wish to communicate with the for a cross-correspondence _made by a sitter is accepted by the living are comparatively few. She explained the fact by controls and successfully carried out as an experiment. citing the experiences of emigrants, who, at first, when in new On May 4th, 1908, and again May 8th, 19J8, Mr: Dorr and strange surroundings, turning longingly to th.eir old homes, asked the controiS if tliey would try to • write often and welcome the arrival of letters; but after a little make one of the other 'Lights ' give the name of Oon~ns or Gii·ce, while the pain is dulled, new interests arise, and by and by or make some reference to the poem, quote some line from it, they cease to write. So, too, is it with those who 'pass on,' perhaps. save in exceptional cases where the ties are strong and the On May 12th, 1908, he repeated :- affections centre on dearly loved ones here. The change, she l read you ' Sabrina fair, Listen where thou art sitting Under says, ' is even more rapid, for the new life is even more absorb­ the glassy, cool, translucent wave.' Perhaps this as a quotation ing, and the survivors constantly recruit our ranks. When the ma.)' help j'O\l to give it to the other Lights. (Vol. XXV., p. 253.) family circle is complete, when those we love are with us, why On Deeember 16th, 1908, this line was reproduced by should we trouble to communicate 1 Our life lles on our own Mr11. Holland, who wrote :- plane.' The glassy cool translucent wave. Spirit people tell us that theirs is· the world of ·light, the Then an allUBion to Miss Verrall was added:­ homeland, the summerland, and so on. That when they ap­ Helen could help. proach our earth its dense psychic conditions look to them like a dark cloud, and spirit circles are like beacons in the darkness, On May 12th, 1908, the Piper controls said that they while mediums are often spoken of as 'lights' in that all­ would give to Miss Verrall- enveloping cloud. Caves, nymphs, water nymphs and Maid of the Sea, Maidens To assume that this earth sphere is the only one in which we fair twining their golden locks. can obtain practical, educational experiences, develop in self­ . -On November 2oth, 19J8, Miss Helen Verrall's script was knowledge, and by self-culture gain power for self-mastery and a sort of paraphrase of the 4J,tter part of the Attendant Spirit's self-expression is to get the sum wrong and to arrive at erroneous invocation to Sabrina (in 'Comus') and included the words, ·conclusions. Purposive effort and successful achievement, con­ 'Caves of ocean,' 'sea nymphs,' 'Mermaids,' 'Lorelei,' and sciousness of pain and pleasure, acquisition of knowledge and 'naught shall save the fisherman.' the use of power, growth in goodness, wisdom and love, useful This recalls a ballad by Heine, in which the Lorelei, who lure labour arid altruistic services-all these are not only possible in the fishermen's boat!! on to the rocks, are described as combing the spirit-world but are actually being experienced by those their golden hair. This was accompanied by the arrow which who are already there. So rich, so varied, so full of interest, often marks a cross-correspondence in the ' V errall scripts.' We charm, opportunity, occupation, and joy, is the world beyond see, therefore, that the suggestion made to the controls was that it is no wonder that those who go theie realise that 'life is · skilfully carried out by these two scripts of Mrs. Holland's and full of holy uses' in both worlds. Never yet have we met with Miss Verrall's. -And Myers seems to have been aware of the a spirit who desired to return to live on this earth. Never one succes.s, for on Decembee 21st, 1908, about a month after this but has expressed the feeling that it would be a retrogression to last writing of Miss Verrall's, he stated through Mrs. Piper (then lose the liberty of the after-death home and resume the · in the States) that bondage and limitations of the flesh. Even repentant, unde­ Mrs. Verrall also wrote, or Helen did, water nymphs, sprite, veloped and unhappy ones, when they realise that .progress recently within three Sabllaths.* (pp. 253-255.) is possible in the after-death states, are thankful that the * ' Sabbath' is a.lways used for Sunday by the Piper controls, and lessons of their past earth-life experiences can be learned and • Light' for medium. · utilised without return to this physical plane. Evolution, growth, 368 LIGHT. [August 5, 1911.

unfoldment is the law' of life. Spirits advance, awaken, under­ MAN'S SPIRITUAL BODY AND ITS CLOTHING. stand, realise and enjoy as they learn to use, to appreciate' and to express the powers that are inherent within them. Evolution A p APER READ BY MR. F. PURVIS, AT SAVILLE-STREET, is gradual unfoldment as the result of the operations of divine NORTH SHIELDS. forces, physical and natural-progress is due to purposive effort That man while on earth is a compound being, consisting of on the part of the individual who is sufficiently intelligent and body, soul, and apirit, is a truth many profess to believe, but enlightened to aspire to l1igher and better conditions and to few have grasped, as they ought, the real facts of the case. underetand how to realise them. Most men would admit that the spirit is the real man, responsible Since the inception of Modern Spiritualism the messages from to God for his actions, but few thinkers are agreed as to man's teaching spirits in the beyond have proclaimed the naturalness soul, or what part it really plays in the drama of life. Theo­ and reality of spirit life, the human charactei;i.stics of the people logians often use soul a»d apirit as interchangeable 'terms, but of that world beyond, the pathway of progressive develop­ that is not tnie to fact, for man's soul is his spiritual body. ment and achievement open to every spirit that wills to walk Paul says in I. Cor. xv. 44 : ' There is a natural body and there therein, and the great law of spiritual attainment and of happi­ is a spiritual body.Pi Two bodies-one for time only, the other ness as the outcome of altruistic ministry to others. Love finds for both time and eternity. The material body dies and returns wide fields for active service in watchful care and affectionate to dust. The spiritual body never dies. It only c!J,anges its sphere help to the children, the weak, the oppressed, the needy and at death. This spiritual body is not a newly organised or ethe­ the wicked. 'Spirits in prison,' both in the body and out of it, realised body that will be given to us at 'the resurrection.' It are objects of loving care and assistance, while, on other planes, is within us now. The two forms, the material and the those who love one another delight to make bright homes, and spiritual, co-exist ; they mature together ; the spirit, i·ooted in to adorn them with all that is gracious and sweet-the thought­ God, is the ' body builder,' it organises these bodies as 'lgencies forms of beaut.y which express the tenderest emotions, the for its future expression both in this world and the next. The truest affections and most spiritual ideals, and the noblest con­ average man needs to be told that he is a spirit functioning on ceptions of the happy-hearted ones whose delight it is to give. this physical plane by means of his spiritual body, which is his working partner, so to speak, in his everyday earth life. A REMARKABLE SEANCE. Permit me to make my position clear. The brain, we are told, consists of grey matter : but can matter think ? I should say We are indebted to Will Phillips's magazine, 'The New not. The most that can be said for it is that it is organised Fellowship,' for the following account, written from Merthyr by matter which can be used by man (spirit) as an instrument to Mr. J. T. Thomas, of a remarkable seance :- express his thoughts. What the organ is to the organist the The incident I am about to relate occurred last February. brain is to the spirit, which manipulates it by means of the Ail you know, we have a finely developed medium, through spiritual body. The organ cannot play itself ; it needs an organist. whose powers we have been and are now having remarkable Even so man's brain cannot think without a thinker. phenomena. Some of these phenomena take the form of Since I have known the value and importance of my ' metallic raps,' i.e., sounds of two metals colliding. Experi­ spiritual body, I arrange with it when I have to awake and menting with various metals I have come to a definite con­ rise in the morning. I say I must rise at such a time. Having clusion regarding two metals producing a like sound. Other set my hour, I say to my tired and wearied instrument, 'You 'raps' I explained by possible water-hammer in piping, from can npw go to sleep, with the assurance that my spiritual body an adjacent room. On this particular night in February I will awaken you at the set time.' I know this to be fact from was giving my observations and explanations of various phe­ my own experience. Try it fairly, and you will soon learn how nomena to our conductor. We were living near each other, to become your own alarm Clock, and be able to rise at any and fully one mile and a-half from the home of the medium. hour or time you m-iy fix upon. We all know from experience On arriving at the seance-room I examined the room, and that the body and brain need rest and slee11, but few are aware also the 'plaster casts' and 'wax moulds' (we were sitting that the soul, or spiritual body, does not need sleep. It, how­ for the impression of feet). On the wicker table ever, can rest and be quiescent, and thus let the physical body inside the improvised cabinet there was a glass dish sleep and be renewed in vigour for the next day's toil. That filled with flour, brought for the purpose . of receiv­ the soul does not sleep is indicated by those dreams in which ing the impression of a hand. We tied the medium the spirit is consciously active, and is at times miles away from to his chair and started to sing a hymn. Soon, however, the the sleeping body. medium was controlled by 'Abdullah,' who offered a stining The spiritual body has eyes and ears ; in fact, all the sense­ prayer to the higher intelligences, seeking help and guidance in organs of the material body, with all its own psychical powers a noble work. We again sang. Within fifteen minutes the as well, in daily exercise. Those who are normally clairvoyant table in the cabinet creaked as though some heavy weight were and. clairaudient have the physical and spiritual senses both placed upon it. Then the controlling intelligence said 'Got it.' open at the same time. They can and do hear the music of It was a dark seance, and 'lights up' were ordered. I examined both earth and heaven. But soul sight and body sight are not the ropes and found the knots intact. Several of the sitters identical. I have heard Mr. Rushforth, the blind medium, examined the moulds and found two impressions of feet, nine describe what he saw with the eyes of his spiritual body, and and a-half inches and two and seven-eighths inches in length re­ his descriptions were such that I could eagily recognise them. spectively, the feet of a lady and a small baby. We were now He can describe places as well as persons, and can go straight told to put out the lights and sing again. About half way to anyone in the audience for whom he has a message. He has through the hymn I felt something lukewarm on my face and come direct to me from the platform, thus proving that the hands, and I said aloud, 'Someone is throwing warm water over sense of sight possessed by the physical body and that possessed me.' When the hymn finished we were exhorted not to laugh by the soul or spiritual body are distinct, for &urely the blind when the lights were put up. We all agreed. When the lights medium must have an inner organism through which he can were put up you can only imagine the noise the other sitters see and know what is going on around him. made. I was a mass of flour. I made for the medium's hand, When the physical body is old and infirm, the most merci­ but he was as clean as could be. I examined the other sitters ful thing, as it is the most natural, is that death should set free with like result. I was nonplussed. Then the most unkind the spirit, with its spiritual body, so that, like the bird liberated cut of all came. ' Abdullah' told me, when the laughter had from the shell, it may be born into a new world and a better subsided, 'Tom, you have been explaining the way our phe­ atmosphere. Dr. Richard Hodgson, quoted by Sir 0. Lodge, nomena are produced, I hope you will explain that!' Here's says that the 'spiritual body is composed of luminiferous the point. How did anyone apart from the conductor and ether.' It is, therefore, better adapted to the planes of life in myself know anything of my explanations ? Was that tele­ heaven than to eartb. The spirit's faculties cannot expand to pathy ? If so, did telepathy throw the flour over me for my their fulness till freed from the earthly body, and the eman­ explanations ? cipated soul can then see and hear and feel and walk and talk August 5, 1911.] LIGHT. 369 with greater freedom on the higher planes. The world's best HUMAN AURA MADE VISIBLE. and greatest men have been dominated and controlled by the spiritual part of their natures, and thus they have been power­ Mr. W. J. Colville, in a lecture reported on page 344,' gave ful for good. Socrates, Plato, Buddha, Krishna, Confucius, some account of Dr. W. J. Kilner's method of rendering visible and, above them all, Jesus of Nazareth, who in all that is the human aura. A more detailed description of the process spiritual has pre-eminence over every other human being known adopted has been furnished by a representative of the 'Daily to history, unselfishly used their great powers to uplift Express,' who attended a series of experiments conducted by Dr. humanity. Felkin, an earnest student of Dr. Kilner's discovery. The Although death deprives man of the outer body, it does not correspondent says :- leave him bodiless ; although it denudes him of· fleshly eyes The apparatus, if apparatus it can be termed, consists of a and ears, and vocal organs, it does not make him sightless, number of what are technically termed 'spectauranine' glass screens, each about four inches in length by an inch and a half deaf, or dumb. He has still his real spiritual body, with its in breadth. These screens, which vary in colour to suit the eyes and ears and powers of speech. In fact these, and all eyes of the investigator, are made each of two plates of very thin man's essential belongings, such as memory, culture, education, glass, between which, hermetically sealed in, is a wonderful fluid habits, character, and affections, tastes and interests, are retained that Dr. Kilner has discovered. and go with him into the realm of eternal realities. The subject was a well-made woman of medium height, and It is a significant fact that good deeds done on earth or in apparently in the best of health. Dr. Felkin first of all told her exactly the nature of the experiments he was about to make. heaven brighten and beautify the spiritual body. Those who Then, having instructed the 'Express' representative to look live to confer benefits on others make to themselves a loveliness steadily at the daylight through one of the spectauranine screens, that is pleasant to behold. Good conduct and character give and s~t the patient standing upright with legs together and sweetness and serenity to the spiritual features. Hence the hands on hips, about a foot away from a dead, dark background, truly good are for ever spiritually beautiful. facing the only window in the room, he proceeded to draw a To enforce what I have said, ask yourself 'How could I live dark blind half-way down this window. Then from below he drew up a blind of dark serge until it overlapped the upper and move and have my conscious being in heaven among friends blind sufficiently to allow light so dim to filter into the room whom I love without a spiritual body 1 How could I either that only the white form of the subject's body could be discerned hear or see or have speech with my friends without a spiritual in the gloom. body 1 ' That a life of goodness brightens and beautifies the 'Now turn round,' Dr. Felkin said to the 'Express' repre­ features of the spiritual body, I realise by what was made sentative, 'and tell me what you see, or if you see anything at all, for there are, perhaps, four or five people out of every known to me by Mrs. Clarke, of Jesmond, who gave me a clair­ hundred who, through some inherent defect in the eyesight, are voyant description of the appearance of my first wife, in her physically unable to perceive the aura.' spirit robes. Mrs. Clarke spoke of her as a very beautiful For some moments, perhaps a quarter of a minute, the ouly being ; she thought, by her youthful appearance, that she was object that could be made out in the darkness was the subject's little more than twenty or, at the most, twenty-two years of age. form and its outline. Then gradually, as the eyes grew accus­ At the close of the meeting I showed the medium a portrait, tomed to the darkness, a sort of double mist or halo, the one within the other and the inner one denser than the outer, and asked if she had ever seen anyone like it. She replied, became more and more distinctly visible. The outlines of 'That is the exact likeness in form and features, in fact every­ this mist exactly followed the curves and the contour of thing but age, of the beautiful young woman I saw.' Mrs. the subject's body. The colour of the outer aura seemed to Clarke was astonished when I told her that the lady she had be a blue-grey ; that of the inner aura was darker-also, seen was really sixty-five years of age when she passed over to apparently, the inner aura was denser. In the triangular space the other side of life. To put on beauty in heaven we must formed by the sides of the body and the angle of the arms, as the subject remained with her hands resting lightly ·on her lead a beautiful life on earth ; then when we breathe tlie ether hips, the halo could be seen most clearly. of immortality our cheeks will mantle with eternal bloom. Presently, acting upon Dr. Felkin's instructions, the subject That spirit people are clothed we know, and that their clothing raised and extended first one arm, then the other. Then she is indicative of their characters we also know, by the experiences joined her hands at the back of her neck.• And always the mist of clairvoyants, by the testimony of the spirits themselves, and of aura followed, as though it were itself an outline of some by the witness of such men as Swedenborg, who, aJcording to sort of shadow of the limbs. Dr. Peebles, was by far the greatest seer of modern times. This The writer of ' Table Talk ' in the ' Daily News ' of July seer of heaven's glorious realities, speaking of the raiment of 19th mentions that another development of photography spiritual bodies, says : 'That they ar

MEDIUMS AND PSYCHICS. third point, any tendency to weaken the authority of conscience can only be admitted with great caution. Yet for conscience to All mediums are necessarily psychic sensitives, but it does become progressive, in the individual as in society, it needs to not follow that all psychics are necessarily mediums. Those be revised iu its judgments, from time to time, in the light .of who are med.iums are consciously or unconsciously influenced­ fuller knowledge. . . It would seem that one of the main impressed or controlled-by discarnate intelligences, who, tasks in self-direction is to maintain in all the relations and ac· through their agency, demonstrate, more or less fully, their per· tivities of life a certain proportion and harmony, derived from an enlightened view of om-selves and our environment. sonal identity and express their own thoughts and purposes. This is practically the ' harmonial philosophy 1 of the late Psychics, on the other hand, collSciously ' sense ' or psycho· Andrew Jackson Davis. metrically perceive the psychical conditions of those with whom they e.ssociate-and by ' community of sensation ' ' take on ' the mental and other states of persons who sit with them. In some ITEMS OF INTEREST. instances this psychical oneness becomes so intimate that, for the We learn from Mr. James Coates, of Rothesay, that he has time beiug, the sensitive identifies hiinself with the one with arranged for Mr. Charles Bailey, of :Melbourne, Australia, to whom he comes en rapport and thinks and feels as does that pay a flying visit to Scotland, accompanied by Mr. A. J. Abbott, person .. Psychics, therefore, like mirrors, reflect, or give back, the during the first week in August. A few seances will be held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. at which there will be no impressions that. are made on them, and are liable to be domi­ Coates, •Grenoble tests, and the phenomena will be left to prove them­ nated by persons of stronger wills, or of more powerful psychical selves.' ' The circles will not consist of more than fifteen pe1-sonality than themselves-whether those persons are in the persons-Spiritualists-knowing and having full confidence in body or out of it. Ther may thus be, to persons in the body, each other, and all m\Ult be present at the whole series.' just as much mediums as are those who are responsive to spirit The Dean of Gibraltar, in a small but able pamphlet on influences. Hero-worshippers are almost invariably psychically 'War or Arbitration,' which, by the way, should be widely cir­ over-shadowed, and for that reason are liable to be over-generous culated, says that. the gigantic forces of religion, labour and in their estimates of their heroes. In all these matters a level humanity have determined that there shall be no vacillation and head and a discriminating judgment are absolutely indispensable. retreat from the position that has been won in favour of arbi­ Principles need to be considered on their merits quite apart tration. 'What in war is actually criminal and contrary to from the personalities of those who proclaim them. And it is reason, morals and religion lies in this-it does not decide in favour of the iight but always of the strong.' Admitting that for this reason that wise spirit teachers invariably prefer to be warfare brings out chivalrous, self-sacrificing, noble character­ anonymous-to remam unidentified. The message or teaching istics, he suggests that there is at least as much inspiration in a is of more importance than is the personality of the message­ noble life as in an heroic death, and points out that the hero bearer. Homage to the advocate tends to bias the listener, and who died for his country might, had he lived, have proved a now, as always, principles should stand higher than persons in life-long blessing by his heroic character and influence. Com­ bating the idea that warfare develops the virility of a nation, all moral, philosophical, and spiritual matters. ' Truth for he points to the dwarfed, narrow-chested, diminutive rank and authority, not authority for truth' is .the necessary attitude of file of the F1·ench Army after the Napoleonic Wars, and to the the earnest seeker. When one sits at the feet of a reverenced. prowess of the Japanese after six generations of peace. 'In ' master,' 'adept,' 'elder brother,' or 'high angel,' in the attitude peace the virile and brave survive, with their fair women and of devotee he has voluntarily surrendered his right of private manly descendants. In peace children bury their time-worn judgment and is in danger of psychical subjugation-:-the dice aged parents. In war parents bury their stalwart bread-winning sons.' Without exaggeration, this question between 11ind are loaded and always fall in favour of the special doctrine of w.ar arbitration has become the most im~rt.ant problem that the the one who a.sSurues, or is credited with, superior-or super­ twentieth century has ·to solve. 'Might was right in the days human-attainments. of our barbarian ancestors. It is no longer so, .and will per­ W. S. M. manently cease in the days of our children.' 'So mote it be I' Mr. John W. Ring, in the 'Suntlowet' (Hamburg, New SCIENTIFIC. SELF-DIRECTION, York), writes : 'A recognition of truth-which is universal­ makes us tolerant, liberal and helpful One who loves truth In a thoughtful paper in· ' The Modern Churchman,' Alice loves his fellow-man. Jesus told us that the unmistakable evi­ Gardner, historical lecturer of Newnham College, discusses dence of a true disciple of truth was, and evidently is, love some practical applications of 'Scientific Self-Direction.' S~e for each other. The realm of truth is so extended that we each says:- may study, investigate and explore as freely as we please, with no need of infringement . on the research of others, and the Not only are ideals, rules and practices found to differ in differences which at present serve as boundaries dividing the different members of the community, but the life of the indi­ human race into sects and denominations are as imaginary as vidual is often distracted, weakened, and troubled by a simul­ the lines which we establish to sepiirate the nations of the earth. taneous acceptance of standards or principles which would work The universal things, such as the air and streams, ignore these out antagonistic results if any were realised in its entirety. boundaries, and, even so, a great soul made free by truth passes Thus, to take three such pairs of moral antitheses : Ought the mmoticed the limitations which are set up by narrow individuals individual to make it his main endeavour to live according to and recognises the truth as it manifests in absolutely every i·ight and reasonable principles, or is it his duty to merge his own phase of life.' interests and ideas in those of the community-nation, church, family-to which he belongs 1 Or again, should the practical Dealing with ' A Psychic Autobiography ' by Miss Amanda aim of the self-director be the traming of his character by T. Jones, t.he 'Occult Review' for August says: 'But decided methods of strict repression, or by the general fostering and ex­ though she is in her views on spirit intercourse, Miss Jones is pansion of his specially advantageous qualities, whet\l.er physical, certainly not a person to leave the . rudder of her own shiJ> to mental or moral 1 And in the endeavour to bring one's life under · the guidance of other hands, a tendency which is all too apparent the rule of the law, does the principle 'follow conscience' always among many who cultivate the intuitive at the expense of the hold, or has conscience itself to be trained by occasional rational and more positive side of the individuality.' It is resistance and brought into line with general reasonableness 1 just those who are decided in their views regarding spirit inter­ In all these conflicts of practical principles most people are comse, as the result of their own experiences, who are the most reduced to some kind of compromise-between altruism and earnest in deprecating injudicious reliance on intuition, psychic enlightened egoism, between 11:sceticism and self-development, impressions, or spirit guidance, and who most strongly urge the between conscience and criticism. Generally speaking, perhaps necessity of maintaining a level head and rational self-possession. in doubtful cases, we are safer if we adhere to the former mem­ We heartily concur with the view, presented by the 'Occult ber of each pair, but it is highly desirable to have recourtre at Review,' that 'the development of manhood involves the times to the second member. Most people need to become more growth of the ruore positive side, the cultivation of will-powe1· altruistic than they are, but it is ultimately to the interest of and reason, and all that goes to make up character.' We do this society that individual preferences and individual opinions the more readily because we know that the intuitive, or psychical, should be asserted against the tyranny of the social groups, by consciousness can best be developed, and is most trustworthy, which the lives of men, and much more of women, are often when it is allied to an enlightened self-governing intelligence, thwarted and deformed. Asceticism, where it has pre\•ailed, which knows when and how far to be receptive and responsive has stifled some of the best growths of social life, and has pro­ tO psychical or spirit influences, and when to assert its own voked a very undesirable reaction. Again, with regard to our independence. August 5, 1911.] LIGHT. 371

'It is,' says Dr. Hyslop, in the July issue of the '.Journal of A Memorial of the late J, B. Shipley. the American Society for Psychical Research,' 'only unintelli­ Srn,-Last year, after :M:r. J. B. Shipley had retumed from gent scepticism that dallies with telepathy. It might rationally a tour in Norway, he expressed a wish to present a copy of a express dissatisfaction with detailed theories of Spiritism, but picture which he had seen in the church at Molde, to the Church there is no rational excuse for not frankly admitting that it is a for the Deaf and Dumb in Oxford-street. A few friends are legitimate hypothesis with a thousandfold better credentials than carrying out his wish, and will shortly present the picture telepatl1y for the same phenomena.' as a memorial of Mr. Shipley. The picture represents the women at the open tomb, and the title is 'The First Easter In a little circular entitled 'The New Era of Christian Morn.' An angel, clothed in white, sits at the grave pointing Thought,' issued by Charles Taylor, the publisher of the works upwards, and saying, ' He is Risen.' A photograph of this pic­ by the Rev. Arthur Chambers, we find it said that 'a new con­ ture is being prepared by Mr. S. J. Beckett (295, Euston-road), ception of tlrnmselves is being formed by men and women,' who has the copyright for this country. largely due to modern psychic phenomena. 'The old idea of The sum of £2 !Os. has been subscribed in small sums man was that he is a physical being with a spirit, while the ranging from 6d. to 2s. 6d., a:1d if further contributions are newer and truer idea now being perceivecl is that he is a spirit made the frame of the picture can be of a better quality, and temporarily inhabiting a physical encasement. The contrast, of the size better suited to the position it will occupy. It has course, between the two ideas is enormous. It will make the occurred to me that. other friends may be glad to avail them­ greatest possible difference to anyone's ideas of himself and of selves of this opportunity to contribute a fitting memorial to one religion, whether he regards himself as already an essentially who worked so indefatigably to spread the knowledge of the spiritual being, or only as one who will after death, and at a reality of a foture life. The memorial chosen is particularly distant date, develop into that condition. The discarding of suitable, for Mr. Shipley's disabilities in speech and hearing, so the old idea will also very materially alter the aspect of death. bravely borne, doubtless awakened his sympathies in a special A wide gulf of distinction lies between the thought of death, as manner for those who are totally deprived of these faculties. that which so curtails the being of man as to leave only a some­ The picture selected will convey, through the eye, a message of thing of him which is to he the nucleus of his future restoration life and hope. to manhood, and the better idea which our extended knowledge A short service will he held at the Church of the Deaf and is leading us to understand-viz., that death has no power Dumb, Oxford-street, on Friday, October 13th, at 5 p.m., in except in the sphere of the physical, and is incapable of affecting connection with the Association of St. John the Evangelist, of man in his essential being. Thus, it is being realised that in which Mr. Shipley was an active member. The picture will the act oi physically dying there is not a curtailing, but an then be dedicated and will be on view in the church. enhancing, of those interior powers which constitute real man­ Contributors and friends of Mr. Shipley will be welcome. hood.' Thus is Spiritualism winning its way all along the line. Will contributors kindly address their letters to me, c/o Editor ' Truth is mighty, and must prevail.' of 'LIGHT,' 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C., and send thetn as soon as possible, as arrangements for framing are to be made at once ? - Yours, &c., LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. (Mrss) H. A. DALLAS. The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by correspon­ dents, and, sometimes publishes what he does not agree with for A Spirit Remembers. the purpose of presenting views which may elicit discussion. Srn,-When my husband left England f..ir South America in Another:successful Sitting with Mrs. Wriedt. 1883, his late mother's only sister lay seriously ill. My husband, Srn,-On July 13th I went with two friends to Wimbledon being somewhat indifferent regarding the ties of kinship, did to attend a seance with Mrs. Wriedt, of Detroit, U.S.A. We not call on her to bid her 'Good-bye,' although I asked him to sat just where we wished, and almost before we had time to do so niore than once. When she learned of his departure she settle we heard knocks. The trumpet which the spirit friends was greatly distressed, and wrote me a piteous letter (I have it use to convey their voices and messages was placed in the still) saying that she could not understand how her best-loved centre, but without contact from any one of us it toppled over nephew could treat her so cruelly as to depart some thousands into the lap of my friend who sat next to me. A voice, which I of miles away without wishing her good-bye, and, most probably, recognised as my father's, called me by name, and I answered; never see her again in this world. I did my best to comfort but as the conversation which ensued was of a private nature I her, mentioning that he had had only a fortnight to make all do not give it. The message was couched in my father's usual preparations for his long voyage. About three months later I affectionate way, and was indeed very blessed to me. Then, as visited her, but she still dwelt on her nephew's extreme unkind­ if to reassure me, he sang a verse of a very favo1uite song, and ness, as she called it, and told me she could never forget it. to my delight his voice had lost none of its former sweetness. Time passed, and eventually I also left for South America. Others made themselves known who really are seldom thought Some two years later I was aroused suddenly one night by a of by me now. Whilst I was enjoying these brief moments of loud shriek. The sound seemed to linger and tremble in the delightful intercourse my thoughts reverted to the expression : air as I looked round the bedroom, wondering whence it could ' Did not our hearts burn within us 1' That such mediums as .have come. My bed was surrounded with white muslin Mrs. Wriedt and others of every phase may not only be dis­ mosquito curtains, which were moving gently in the night covered but encouraged, is the earnest prayer of,-Yours, &c., breezes coming through the windows. As I looked round, I saw standing at the foot of the bedstead, outside the curtains, a tall A GRATEFUL MEDIUM. apparition, clad in white, loose-hanging garments ; it held up its arm, over which a wide sleeve hung in long folds, almost Do Spirit People Eat, Drink, and Sleep? touching the floor. I leant forward, gazing 11.t ·it. As a rule I have exceptionally strong nerve, but that night fear got the Srn,-I have been a reader of' LIGHT' for years, and have better of me, my heart beating audibly, at least to myself. Dis­ come to regard it as an old friend to be appealed to when one is tress, grief, the most acute misery filled my soul, and I sat spell­ in a dilemma. I find in a book called 'The Spiritual World,' ]Jotmd, unable to move. By my side lay my sleeping boy. that the author, Mr. Howard Spalding, states that, according to One thought was uppermost in my mind, 'How shall I be Swedenborg, the people in the spirit world eat, drink, and sleep. able to get out of bed without waking him ? ' I looked across On the other hand, in those interesting and helpful hooks, the bed, the white form was still visible outside the waving 'After Death,' by W. T. Stead, and 'Both Sides of the Veil,' by curtains, the lamp burned as brightly as ever, but there it stood. Anne Manning Robbins, au American lady, the latter consisting Suddenly I made up my mind to pass the child. How I did mainly of communications through Mrs. Piper, it is said that so without disturbing ·him I never knew, but I dashed across, people in the spirit world do not eat, drink, or sleep, their bodies opened the curtains, leapt to the floor, and, unbolting the door, being sustained by the condition of the elements. It is perplex­ rushed across the .sitting-room to my husband's and eldest son's ing and very strange that the statements of Swedenborg ou this bedroom. head should be at variance with communications coming through The former was awake in an instant. 'There is a spirit in a lady and a gentleman who seem to be in specially close touch my room,' I whispered, 'and it will not let me sleep.' I trembled with the unseen. If statements, seemingly irreconcilable, are and shivered in the tropically hot night. 'Sit down,' he made regarding a condition of things on the threshold of the answered, 'and try to calm yourself ; tell me all about it.' invisible world, how can we be sure that other statements re­ I told him what had taken place, but suddenly when I lating to higher and more spiritual conditions are reliable 1 I ceased speaking I recovered from my agitation, and felt without shall be thankful if any of your readers will assist me by giving fear. ' I am all right again,' I said, 'and not a bit frightened ; a solution of this difliculty.-Yours, &c., I will go back to bed.' I did so, bolted my door, and went to w. FRASER. sleep almost immediately. Several months passed, I had almost N eilston, Renfrewshire. forgotten the incident, when one evening my husband suddenly 372 LIGHT. [August 51 1911. turned ~o me with the remark, 'Do you remember the 8pirit you spirits are, according to powers possessed by them, perfect or im­ saw?' perfect materialisations of more tangible beings, who inhabit 'Yes, perfectly, now you remind me. Why1' 'And the date­ other spheres which are all in inseverable communication by abont ? ' 'Yes, about or in the first or second week of No­ means of the ether. Please favour us through your columns Yember.' 'Funny,' came his answer. 'I l1ave had a letter with a little discussion on these questions.--Yours, &c., from home. Aunt -- passed almost on the identical date.' P. JENKINS. Why did my fear leave me so suddenly 1 Apparently it was Steyning, Sussex. the spirit's wish that my husband should know of her visit. Her distress was imparted to me-her sorrow over his neglect ; she never forgot, and wanted me to tell him. When I did so she Spiritualists' National Fund of Benevolence. passed, and with her her sorrow which had enveloped my soul Srn,-I have pleasure in acknowledging receipt of dona­ with such terror and anguish. She was a very sensitive, loving tions to the above fund and regret their paucity. Had it not woman-one of 'earth's angels,' but, like all, or most, religious been for the collection taken at the Newcastle Conference the people of those years ago, strictly orthodox. total amount received for the past three months would not have I must add that in one of the many letters I wrote to my equalled one month's expenditure. husband, I mentioned her great grief over his neglect, and on It has again been suggested that a ' Shilling Holiday Fund ' my arrival in America I gave him her letter to read. However, be opened. I shall be delighted to receive any holiday dona­ he never wrote to her, and it was only when the news of her: tions from those who appreciate their good fortune, but the passing on reached him that he thought of the apparition, its last three years this idea has not worked successfully, although mournful influence, and the cry of sorrow, almost of agony, that it could easily be carried out without any sacrifice to the giver I had heard, and although the appearance was too shadowy, seen and with much benefit to the recipients. through the mosquito curtains, to be recognised, he felt sure it The donations received during July were : 'Holiday Shil­ was his 'Aunt Fanny,' who wished to tell him of her departure ling,' ls. ; Mr. W. E. Bl'Own, 8s. ; Mr. G. F. Tilby, £1 ls. ; from this terrestrial plane.-Yonrs, &c., Mr. Burnett, 2s. ; Newcastle Conference Collection, £4 l 9s. 4d. ; M. WOODMAN. Birmingham Spiritualist Society, 5s. ; Mr. A. Osborne, 2s. 6d. ; Freemantle Croft, Four Marks, Hants. Miss E. L. Boswell-Stone, 2s. 6d.; Result of a tea by the Mothers of the Spiritualist Temple, Blackburn, 10s.--Total, More Quaint Epitaphs. £7 11s. 4d. Srn,-It was amusing to read of your 'attitude of pitying A. E. BUTTON, superiority' respecting the epitaph (page 337). Truth always 9, High-street, Doncaster. Hon. Secretary. raises a storm, but how generously it clears the atmosphere, and how divinely the birds sing after the rain. For the benefit of your readers I enclose the following SOCIETY WORK ON SUNDAY, JULY 30th, &c. epitaphs (Bandon Hill Cemetery) :- Prospective Notices, not wceeding twenty-four words, 'TIU1//J be ad.ded Side by side with to reports if accompanied by st1JJT114's to the value of sixpence. Satisfied is Waiting for the shout. MARYLEBONE SPIRITUALIST AssoCIA.TION, 51, MOBTilflER­ Evidently not satisfied. STREET, W.-Oavendish Rooms.-Mrs. Place-Yeary gave success­ ful clairvoyant descriptions and helpful messages to a greatly This appeals to me: 'Always Cheerful.' interested audience. Mr. W. T. Cooper presided.-15, Mortimer­ The following arc also interesting :- street, W.-July 24th, Mrs. Neville's guide gave lucid psycho­ Death doth hide, but not divide, metrical readings to members and friends. Mr. W. T. Cooper They are aafe on Christ's other side. presided. Sunday next, see advt.-D. N. SPIRITUAL MISSION: 22, Prince's-street, Oxford-street.-Even­ In heaven's nurseries you will hear for ever, ing, Mr. E. H. Peckham delivered an uplifting address on 'The The blessings of the children you have lJlessed. Evolution of a Soul.'-67, George-sti·eet.-Morning, Mrs. Ord She has gone a little nearer delivered a helpful inspirational address. July 26th, Mr. P. E. To the Master of all music, Beard gave successful clairvoyant descriptions· with spiritual To the Master of all singing ! niessages.-F. W. There are likewise challenges to God to raise people because KINGSTON-ON-THAMES.-ASSEMBLY ROOMS, HAMPTON WICK. of their worthiness ; a gentle reminder. One daringly asserts -Miss Fogwill gave a lecture on ' The Psychic Development of that he is ' faultless before the Throne.' What a boon his Children.' Sunday next, Mr. Horace Leaf will give an addre~s, definition of perfection would be to struggling beings here. He followed by clairvoyant descriptions. might favour us.-Yours, &c., HACKNEY.-240A, .AMHURST-ROAD, N.-Mr. G. R. Symons Sutton. E. P. PRENTICE. gave an earnest address on '.Fellowship.' On July 24th Miss Gibson gave psychometrical readings. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Mrs. J. Neal. Friday, August 11th, at 8.30 p.m., Mr. and Mrs. What and Where is the Spirit World? Hawes' healing circle.-N. R. Srn,-Doubtless it would be interesting to others as well as BRIGHTON.-MANCHESTER-STREET (OPPOSITE AQUARIUM).­ myself if some of your able contributors would state in 'LIGHT' Mrs. Jamrach gave helpful addresses and good clairvoyant de­ where Spiritualists in general localise the permanent spirit scriptions. Sunday next, addresses by Mrs. H. Boddington. world. I have read various statements regarding it which are Tuesday, at 8, and Wednesday, at 3 p.m., Mrs. Clarke's open somewhat misleading and confusing. Some declare that it is circle for clairvoyance. Thursday, at 8, members' circle. all around us-that it interpenetrates and blends with ours. STRATFORD.-WORKMEN'S HALL, 27, ROMFORD-ROAD, E.­ According to Swedenborg, the gpirit worlds are planets. Andrew Mrs. Webster's impressive address on the 'Restitution of all Jackson Davis states they are the stars, and that the intermediate Things' was much appreciated. Good psychometrical readings ether is the medium of communication between them. This followed. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., address by Mr. G. Tayler seeillS to me the proper definition. My belief is that the spirit Gwinn.-W. H. S. worlds are planes and the ether the means of communication. BRIGHTON.-OLD TowN HALL, HoVE, 1, BRUNSWICK-STREET I hold that spirits are not permanent dwellers in our midst, iu WEST.-Good addresses were given by Mr. W. G. Thomas and an interblending world, but are inhabitants of other distant Mrs. Curry. Sunday next, at 11.15 and 7, Mrs. Miles Ord. worlds, from which they communicate by telepathy, and mate­ Monday, at 3 and 8, and Wednesday at 3, clairvoyance by Mrs. rialise on this planet and on others-not as they are constituted Curry. Thursday, at 8.15, public circle. 13th, Mr. H. Leaf. there of more tangible substance-but as ether gpirit bodies or BRIXTON.-8, MAYALL-ROAD.-Mrs. Gordon gave an ad­ simulacrums of their real selves. While in this state of ether dress and clairvoyant descriptions. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., materialisation they are more or le~s deficient in memory, and Mrs. Neville, address and psychometric delineations; at 3, more liable to telepathic influence from other spirits. This would Lyceum. Circles : Monday, at 7, ladies' ; Tuesday, at 8.15, acco1mt for the difficulties experienced by those who hold con­ members'; Thursday, at 8.15, public; Wednesday, at 7, verse with theµi. You have often recorded in your columns the Lyceum.-G. T. W. telepathic m1tterialisation, or manifestation, of the human ether PEOKHAM.-LAUSANNE HALL. LAUSANNE-ROAD.-Morning, body at a distance. Is not this ether body a semi-conscious circle ; Mr. Veitch gave some experiences, and Mr. Abethell double (more or less, according to development) of its more clairvoyant descriptions and healing under control. Evening, tangible owner, who is, perhaps, a thousand miles away 1 If Mrs. Boddington gave an address, followed by clairvoyant the human consciousness ·can telepathically materialise an ether descriptions. Sunday next, morning, circle ; evening, Mrs. double at a distance, it is certainly more ·possible for a spirit Podmore. Sunday, August 13th, at 7 p.m., Mrs. Neville. beinlJ to do so, These ded11ctio11s compel mr belief that e~rt4 circles; Tuesdars1 8.151 healin~; Th11rsdar1 8.151 :public, ight: A Journal of Psgahiaa/, Oaau/t, and Mgstiaa/ Researah .

• LIGHT! MORE LIGHT !'-Goethe, • WHATSOEVER DOTH llIAKlll l\IANIFEST IS LIGHT.'-Paul.

No. 1,596.-VoL. XXXI. [Registered as] SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1911. [a Newspaper.] PRICE TWOPENCE.

CONTENTS. From Mr. C. T. Colyer, of Asheville, North Carolina, Notes by the Way •••• - ...... 873 The Hypotheses of ' Bllocation' Remarkable ' Direct·Voice • Phe· Considered .. - .. • • .. .. • .. .. •. 381 we have received a pamphlet entitled 'A Revelation,' the nomena. · at Costa Rica. and in Tolstoy on the Eternal Trnt hs of London ...... 375 Religion ...... 382 general purport of which is an attempt to establish the Music a.s a Healing Agent •• _.. 377 Life Beyond Death ...... 382 The Flying Man ...... 378 Items of Interest ...... 383 theory that the human race are the 'fallen angels' who Further Communications from Seven Years' Platform Work, by F. W. H, Myers: The Wonder John Lobb ...... 383 were 'hurled from the Paradise of God.' It is an odd ofltl ...... 379 The 'Newest Science' ...... 383 The Practice of Spiritualism .... 380 . Insanity and· Obsession ...... 384 production, with strange alternations of clear ideas, ably and even eloquently expressed, and confused and rhapso­ dical phrases. Here and there, too, we meet with some NOTES BY THE WAY. very eccentric spelling and punctuation. The author's thought ranges over a wide.area; but although we do not Writing of the 'First Universal Races Congress,' which accept its conclusions, we are bound to say the little book · has since concluded its work, 'L. J. D.', in 'The Co-Mason' contains some suggestive ideas. for July, sa-ys :- If this conference of men from East and West could do a ' The Stellar Ray' (Detroit) for July contains an article little, not only to increase mutual comprehension, but to make each race aspire to possess something of the virtues of others, it on 'The Astral World,' by Henry Clay Hodges, who would not be long before a new era dawned on the world. We explains that- might then see the smug self-complacency of the untravelled The astral world is a definite region of the universe sur­ Briton leavened hy the unselfish patriotism of the Japanese ; rounding and interpenetrating the physical ; it is composed of the inertness of the Hindu stimulated by the restless energy of an extremely subtle form of matter invisible to the physical the American; or the cold-hearted Teutonic races might try to sight. . . Astral matte1· serves as a vehicle for the one life emulate the strong family affection of the Celt, while the animating all. materialism of some of the Latin races might be tempered by the unfeigned religious fervour of the followers of Mahomet. We should say that this was a very good description of what plain persons like ourselves would call the spiritual or psychical world. We are not enamoured of these fanciful We quite agree with 'L. J. D.' that such a blending of terms, but as the Divine William remarked, 'What's in a racial traits would greatly assist the evolution of humanity. name1' One may call fair water 'aqua pura,' or 'H20,' And we doubt not that such a synthesis is going on all the but it is water none the less. time in the general interaction of races due to modern facilities of travel. The very restlessness of the age, and the constant agitation of the thought of the time show that a New thought (as we have read somewhere) is as process of assimilation is at work. The introduction into the intoxicating as new wine. And the saying occurs to us at W astern world of Oriental systems of religion and psycho­ times when we light upon some of the extravagant and logy is significant of much. Undoubtedly the trend of fantastic statements made by enthusiastic adherents of human progress is in the direction of unity. But the ' New Thought ' philosophies. Thus we read in a contem­ operation necessarily involves friction and antagonism porary that, by the practice of what is called 'Newlife before certain conflicting elements can be made to assimi­ Science,' a man 'may live one hundred, five hundred, or a late. So we must be patient as well as hopeful. thousand years.' (There is a large and sweeping generosity about the figures which we find extremely stimulating.) Those who aspire to physical longevity may, however, find It seems that we owe an apology, or at least an two of the rules somewhat disconcerting. In the first explanation, to 'The Humanitarian' in regard to our place, the male aspirant must keep his face shaved clean, 'Note by the Way' in 'LIGHT' of the 29th ult. (page 349 ). and he must always wear white clothing. These are quoted The editor of our contemporary points out that the ' Note' (rather vaguely) as reasons why women live longer than in question is liable to convey the impression that 'The men. W fl doubt the accuracy of this ; for while it is true Humanitarian ' was relying fodts own argument in regard that women have less hair on their faces than men, it to :flogging in this instance on an appeal to the Scriptures. certainly is not true that they are always arrayed in white. The fact is that the 'Note' to which exception is taken And it is generally supposed that their longevity is mainly was written as an addendum to one on the same subject due to their lives being passed under more sheltered and which appeared in our issue of the 15th ult. (page 325), regular conditions than those of men. and we certainly inferred (wrongly, as it appears) that the argument revolved around the authenticity or otherwise It is thought that the oldest form of a well-known of one of Solomon's precepts. ' The Humanitarian,' how­ verse made popular by George Macdonald is traceable to a ever, was reflecting in a satiric vein on the folly of appeals tombstone of the 16th century and in the following form:­ to Scriptural authority regarding the use of the birch, the Here lig I, Van der Hildenbrod. editor being of our own opinion in the matter. While we Have mercy on my soul, Lord God, regret the little misunderstanding, we are glad that it has As I would, were I Lord God, made clear the real attitude of <.>llf contemporary on this And thou wert Van der Hildenbrod. subject, J3ut one mar go n;iuch fa):'th~):' bac}r fo):' a Si!]li}ar sentj- 374 9IGHT. [Angn~t 12, 1911. ment; as far back, in fact, as the oldest book in the mark after another gets included in the realm of acknow­ world, the Rig-Veda of India, in which there is a poet's ledged truth. The heresy of one age (three miles from song, part of which Max Millier thus translates:- hospitality !) is the cherished belief of another. The time If I were lord of as much as thou, I should support the will come when, even of Spiritualism, the world will say­ sacred bard, thou scatterer of wealtl1, I should not abandon him ' Why, of course l ' to misery, I should award wealth day by day to him who mag­ nifies, I should award it to whosoever it be. Are we quite as thankful as we ought to be for our Another passage has been translated :- earthly helpers~ and why do we so often wait until they go If, Agni, thou wert a mortal, and I were an immortal, I before we appraise their value and feel their worth 1 Lucy should not abandon thee to malediction or to wretchedness ; my worshippers should not be miserable or distressed. Larcom said, with pathetic penetration, ' We speak with A translation of the Sama Veda contains the following awed tenderness of our guardian angels ; but have we not explicit reminder to the god :- all had our guiding angels in visible form who kept beside us on onr difficult path until they had done for us all they When I, 0 Indra, shall lJecome a possessor of wealU1 like thee, then assuredly my singer of sacred hymns shall possess could ~' It is a homely lesson, but it wants learning. Let abundance of cows. us look around and see the truth before it is too late :­ Human nature is much the same all the world over, before the visible angel in the house becomes the guardian and throughout all the ages. angel of our dream.

The churches of the United States are, it is reported, We are often asked how it is that if spirit-communion sufferin~ greatly on the side of finance. Doleful accounts is true so few accept it. How do we know that only a few reach us as to the falling-off of contributions from all accept it 1 There is a story told of a rustic who was taken classes. A writer in 'The American Magazine' who has by a friend to see the ocean. After gazing at it for a few made a special study of the subject, describes it as a case, moments, his friend said, 'Well, what do you think of it 1' not so much of withholding, as of diversion. He says :- He thought a little longer, and then said, 'There is a lot of Not only the dollars of the rich but the pennies of the poor water there, but I thought there would be more.' ' Ah, have been diverted in large measure from the Church. No one yes,' replied his guide, 'but remember you see only what can study even cursorily the Socialist movement, the trade-union is on the top.' movement, the spread of fraternal and mutual-benefit societies without being impressed with the great sums (in the aggregate) This is pretty much our position. St. Martin's Lane. which are being given yearly to. maintain these movements. exhibits only the top, and not all that. Beneath the This writer, after giving his evidence in detail, says :­ surface there is an enormous depth of curiosity or belief, These facts are of the profoundest significance. Whatever anxiety or wonder, hope or fear. It is oi.1r business to may be one's opinion of the tendencies shown, or of the new reach as much of this as w~ can. Perhaps, unlike the movements which are attracting such generous support, at least ocean, we may be able to increase its volume at the top. the activities outside of the Church must be well reckoned with. In the meantime, it is good to remember that the sea is Do they mean that there is more of the light of faith and the heat of vital activity outside of the Church than inside ? Are deep. the new enthusiasms worthy 1 Are they religious or irreligious ? In short, what do they all mean 1 We are too apt to talk about freedom as though it were Two general lines of growth or experiment are clearly dis­ something which we had a right to claim, but very few tinguishable. The first is toward new expressions of religious belief ; the second is toward new forms of social and ethical think of it as something which claims them. We say, often activity. In other words, men are seeking, first, new definitions enough, 'A man has a right to be free ' ; but we seldom of their relationships toward God ; second, new expressions of hear it said that it is a man's ditty to be free : and yet, if their duties toward their fellow men. . While the critics are at war over the formulation of belief, the practical man is anything, that is the deeper truth. Only when a man seeking to express in tangible works that 'love of bis brother is free can he really think, comprehend, choose and act, whom he hath seen' without wl1ich, as the Book says, 'how can and the whole of a man's personal duty is comprehended he love God whom he hath not seen 1 ' in those four things. It ought never to be in question The churches at home, we understand, are in a similar whether one should or should not feel free to investigate condition, though we do not see clearly that diminished anything ; for the supreme fact is, not that a man demands contributions to churches are diverted to ' good causes.' his freedom, but that his freedom demands him.. It looks more like a case of diversion to music halls, foot­ ball matches and theatres on the one hand, and luxurious Savoy, Gaiety and Carlton banquets on the other. The wise Spiritualist does not vex his soul concerning the personality of God ; nor is he worried with the huge There is a large and joyous exuberance about the problem of His omnipresence. He is already more than advertisements in some of our American contemporaries. half way to content with the mystery of the Spirit-God The advertisers are rarely hampered by modesty or self­ by knowing something of the mystery of the spirit­ distrust. 'Our office is in the sun' is the picturesque man. Personality, in our crude sense, is a kind of statement of a tnental healer, who adds that 'the sun is the limitation, after all : and, in a sense, the spirit-people spirit of the universe,' and that.' light of the universe is seem to be nearly omnipresent. Scoffers go about and jerk the electric light.' After such preliminaries the reference out their little posers concerning immortal souls : ' What to so many dollars per treatment brings us rather abruptly do they weigh 1 ' 'Why not show us one 1' 'Where are down from the sun to the earth. they ~ ' Even so, agnostic argners go about and ask, ' Where is your God 1' But the soul that truly trusts Him LONDON SPIRITUALIST ALLIANCE, LTD. can always answer, 'He is here.' DRAWINGS OF THE PsYCHIO AURA AND DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. -On Wednesday next, August 16th, and on the 23rd inst., It is said that in Boston (U.S.) there is an old stone from 12 noon to 5 p.m., at 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C., Mr. which declares it is 'To Boston, three miles.' The city Percy R. Street will give personal delineations by means of the colours of the psychic aura of sitters, and will diagnose disease has so grown that it has at last taken in that stone. So under spirit control. Fee 5s. to a guinea. Appointments in the world of thought and experience : One distant land~ desirable. See advertisement supplement. August 12, 1911.] LIGHT 375

REMARKAB.LE ' DIRECT-VOICE' PHENOMENA. San Jose, the capital, is situated high up on the Pacific side of the backbone of the country, about half-way between the oceans, and in this resembles the capitals of the other re­ BY B. M. GonsAL. publics, all of which are placed well back from the sea, partly perhaps out of a regard for health, though it is said that the [l\fauy readers of 'LIGHT' will doubtless recollect that during English buccaneers had much to do with determining the sites. 1910 we reproduced reports from other journals respecting It is a city of about thirty thousand people, and is well placed wonderful phenomena said to have occurred at Costa Rica through the mediumship of Miss Ophelia Corrales, and on a low, flat hill in a broad basin formed by mountains rich and that, in January of this year, we printed a letter from green to their tops, with sides marked into irregular patches by Professor ·willy Reichel denying that he had witnessed and hedges (like England), where wonderful lights shine under the attested the phenomena, as reported byl\fr. J. Yi'. Graham clouds on the intensely green 'finkas' of eoft'ee and bananas and ('LIGHT,' p. 587, 1910). In J nly of last year we mentioned sugar. that 'The Annals of Psychical Science' had given repro­ The climate at this elevation of three thousand five hundred ductions of four flashlight photographs of the materialised feet is healthful and pleasant-in fact, seems to be all that can form and the medium at the same time. It is now ad­ mitted that a woman, a former domestic, has confessed that be desired. At its hottest it is cooler than a hot day in New she was induced by the medium to dress up and im­ York, or even in London, and at its coldest it is as warm as a cool personate the spirit, and we have received from Professor summer's day in either place. During the wet season, which I Heichel a translation of her confession. Mr. Godsal, the experienced, the rain seems to be cvnfined to the late afternoon writer of the following interesting account of his subsequent and evening of each day, leaving the mornings entirely per­ experiences at Costa Rica, informs us that the photographs were taken during the absence from home of Mr. and Mrs. fect, and so regular is the working of this arrangement that the Corrales, that, in bis opinion, it was a girlish prank on the clock is the only weather-glass needed. Mosquitos called for part of the medium, who had no idea that so much import­ notice chiefly by their absence. ance would be attached to the photographs, and that the Bnt without trouble of some kind no earthly paradise puzzle is how the photographers, who were investigators, would be <;omplete ; and so it is with Costa Rica, where the eould have failed to detect the fact that the supposed spirit lesser evils of life seem to be merged into the greater one of was a living woman. Evidently, judging from the very careful experiments made by Mr. Godsal, and the extreme earthquakes. The shocks, however, are not so frequent but what caution with which he sets them forth, Miss Corrales is a a resident may reasonably hope that the penalty, great or small, medium who possesses considerable power and who, if will be met by a succeeding generation. developed on right lines and judiciously guarded, may It was not until I had become familiar with these delights becom~ a remarkable instrument for good. We trust that that I first heard of Professor Reichel's investigation of Ophelia she will be well guided and protected.-En. 'Lrmrr.'] Corrales, as described in the ' Psychische Studien' of March and Before bearing witness to facts which, though not very start­ April last, which I succeeded in borrowing and in getting trans­ ling, would by most men be labelled 'impossible,' it is well, lated ; and while a condemnation so unsparing quickened my perhaps, to state that during the last three or four of my fifty-five suspicion as an investigator, at the same time it could not but years I have made a study of things psychic, in so far as the make me feel sorry for a young lady and her family thus reading of reports, articles and countless books on the subject is severely dealt with, who had already during seven seances given concemed, but that, in spite of a search extending tu many cities me every freedom of investigation, and by whom ·r had been in different foreign countries for a convincing medium, I have treated with the utmost courtesy and kindness, in a manner that nut until uow found any-with Yery slight exception--but what seems to be truly Spanish. was either incompetent or fraudulent. Thus it will he seen This account of spirit voices will seem very flat to all those that an earnest desire for proof has not made me easy to be con­ who, having read the early stories of Miss Ophelia's mediumship, vinced; I believe it has had the opposite effect. expect to hear of transportations, leYitation, materialisations, Those who know the alternating states of mental exhilara­ &c., for I saw nothing of these greater phenomena. It is tion, disgust, and bewilderment induced by psychic inquiry will true that I received several messages in various languages, as not be smprised at a considerable sacrifice of time and money well as spirit pictures, all under very fair conditions, yet the in hopes of at last meeting a true medium. By these it will be conditions were not so perfect as to confer upon these and other understood why, when intendb1g a journey from California to phenomena that degree of certainty which would entitle them England, and having heard that such a medium existed at SanJ ose to be included in this testimony ; and with perfect condi­ de Costa Rica in the person of Ophelia Corrallis, I, on April 25th tions a repetition of the phenomena did not occur.* But I think last, took steamer from San Francisco, reaching San Jose on May that this negative rest1lt should not be taken as proving too 23rd, and there devoted four weeks to an investigation of the much against the greater powers claimed to be possessed by the medium. Afterwards I proceeded by the steamer ' Heredia ' medium. For such phenomena are rare under the most favourable from Port Limon, arriving twenty-three days later at South­ ampton- * Since comin!l' to London I hnve ha.d an experience bearing on these writings which I think should be recorded Jiere. On .T uly 29th It is to me, on the whole, a cause for congratulation that be­ I put an envelope containing them into my pocket, intending fore starting for Costa Rica I was in ignorance of the fact that to show them to the Editor of 'LIGHT.' Later in the day a series of circumstances drew me quite unexpectedly to have a private sitting Professor W. Reichel had already investigated this medium and with Mrs. Foster-Turner. When the •reading,' a very good one, was had made a strongly ad verse report ; otherwise I should surely over I pulled a bunch of le~ters out of ~y pocket to sele_ct one for her have spared myself so long a journey, and thus have missed nut to pass j udgrnent upon. As I was turnmg them over m my lap !!he exclaimed, ' You have spirit writing there.' I replied that I was not only the must convincing phenomena I have yet received, but so sure of that. She then added, 'Yes, you certainly have. I saw an al110 what has turned out to be the pleasant experience uf a long, arm stretch down to your lap. Let me put them to my forehead.' I took out the _papers (there were six of them) one by one, folded as they slow voyage _from San Francisco to Puntarenas, with stops at were with the blank side outwards. The first two or three she de­ many interesting places along the coast-line of the different clared to be undoubtedly written by a spirit, but of the next .one ~he said, • '.l'his is different.' When I assured her that if some were genume Spanish Republics-Mexico, Guatemala, Salvador, Nicaragua, then no doubt, they all were, she said, 'No, I can trace thought here, followed by a visit to Costa Rica, the best of them all. we ~ill put this one aside. Hand me the rest.' These she likewise pronounced to be certainly the work of spirits. On examining the Anyone not liking Costa Rica at sight must be hard tu rejected pa:per at the window, for the room had been somewha.t dark­ plea8e-or perhaps a person who failed to admire scenery of ened imagme my surprise at finding that it was a copy w1itten by mys~lf of a German communication, together with the translation 1mch rare beauty would be easy tu plelllie. The Costa Hicaus, underneath by the German to whom I had sent it. Since putting away most of whom came originally from Galicia, in the north of these writings, more than 1~ month ago, I had entirely forgotten the existence of this copy. Thus Mrs. Foster-Turner not onlv dt>tected 8paiu, differ from other Spanish-Republicans in that they hwe the spirit writings while in my lap, but also, and without the slightest proved themselves to he lovers of peace and quiet and to be hesitation, picked out from among six papers, looking just about 1ilike, the only one that has no claim to be a spirit writing. Could there be capable of wise and stable self-government. Moreover, they a neater and completer test of clairvoyance? Telepn.thy will perhaps possess in an eminent degree the attract,ions which their neigh­ be called in to explain, but after my refusing to endorse these writings I can hardly think that my mind :would ~UP,PlY )\'I.rs. Fo.ster-Tur11;er bours may be said to share, such as good manners, good temper, with emphatic asRurance upon a pomt on which it had yrnlded to its and good looks. proper owner nothing but puzzlement. 1..1GHT. [August 12, 1911.

conditions, whereas my sojourn in Costa Rica was during the palms extended towards the piano, for it is a belief held by this rainy season, when conditions, it is claimed, have always been circle that thus one throws magnetism to aid the spirits. Within unfavourable. Besides, when the genuineness of mediumship is five minutes a man's tenor voice began accompanying the piano, admitted to the extent that I am willing to concede, then the the singer being effusively greeted as' Don Constantino.' The burden of proof or of disproof becomes shifted somewhat. candle was then extinguished, when the voice gained in strength, As regards the method used in this inquiry, up to a certain and was shortly joined by other voices of men and women point the management of the seances has been left to tl1e medium ; singing and whistling enthusiastically, but not very musically, that is to say, I have never demanded that auy particular phe­ in notes shrill and strident, while the family, who were sitting nomenon should be exhibited then and there. It may be around me, kept up a constant applause and chattering, perhaps objected that this gives time for preparation. But this is the to show that it was not they who were singing. When the very thing that is demanded as a necessity, though the claim is hubbub was at its height Mr. Corrales struck a match, and, made that all preparations are entirely on the other side of the behold, there was nothing to see. But, strange to relate, the veil. Of course it would be very convenient if at any instant singing continued, in spite of the lighted candle, with unabated Jne could procure desired phenomena-in other words, if psychic vigom. I then approached the piano, and stood in the middle inquiry could be conducted on precisely the same lines as phy~ical of the room, with the family at one end of it and the voices experiment. Bnt the very theory to be investigated is that the and Mrs. Corral~s at the other ; but on further nearing the phenomena are produced by beings in another sphere, after great piano the voices sank or changed into whistling, which seems to labour and preparation 011 their part, and it is useless to begin persist longer than the singing, so that on reaching the piano an investigation by denying the thing to be investigated. At the all was silent. The light was not again extinguished. On my same time, any phenomenon, however startling, produced under return to my seat, Miss Ophelia exchanged places with her conditions not entirely satisfactory, has not been accepted by mother, when to her accompaniment a man's voice sang a song me as proving anything in particular. in Spanish. Later, when the boy played, a girl's voice joined On May 24th, having secured an introduction to Mr. in. And e\•en when I stmck octaves there was a sound as of Corrales, I took the Guadalupe tram, which, after running a someone very faintly sounding the note. In my notes of this mile or so, deposited me at the door · of the Corrales' home, first seance I read, ' Singing might just possibly have been pro­ situated in perhaps the prettiest suburb of lovely San Jose. duced by fraud on part of each player, and in my case by some­ Mr. Corrales received me with a cordiality which I have one faintly sounding the note.' But, of course, I would not since found to be unfailing. He was, and always is, very have giv~n all this were there not better evidence to follow. willing to expatiate upon the different phases of his daughter's On first hearing the singing, the thought suggested it.self that mediumship, about which he is exceedingly enthusiastic, being I should like to see the effect if Mrs. Corrales would keep her obviously a convinced Spiritualist. At the same time he mouth full of water while she played, but not forgetting that I deplores the loss of friends and the estrangement of neighbours was an invited guest in a private house, where no pay was taken brought about by the pitfalls of mediumship, which is regarded nor even a present of any value accepted, I th01,1ght it. better to by many in Costa Rica, as elsewhere, as trafficking with the wait until I could find someone speaking Spanish who would be d11vil, and by others as merely undetected fraud, while to all it able to put the request into polite language. This opportunity remains an insoluble mystery. occurred at the very next seance, on May 27th, to which I was I was then introduced to the medium, the Senorita Ophelia, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Titche, of New Orleans, a young lady of less than twenty summers, pretty and charming Mr. Titche, who occasionally visits Costa :.Rica on- buBinees, and ladylike, who invited ·me to a seance on the following and had already attended several seances at the wiSh of hie wife, evening. And here I must admit that my lack of Spanish has readily agreed to translate my request. The seance opened with been a good deal of a hindrance, as the medium knows no other vecy loud singing as of several voices, which continued with language ; but as lMr. Corrales knows French, which I under­ unabated shrillness, and in the light, while the medium and I stand indifferently well, and has some slight acquaintance with walked outside on the verandah. When Mr. Titche preferred English, I believe that very little of any impoi:tance has been my request Mr. Corrales jumped at the idea. Two glasses were missed. quickly brought, one with water and one empty, both of which To describe the different seances, of which I took notes, remained in my possession throughout the experiment. Mrs. would lead to repetition : the first on May 25th v.ill be suffi­ Corrales having filled her mouth, and the light being ex­ cient. Besides myself there was no one present but the Co1Tales tinguished aL my request, the voices burst forth with a vigour family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Corrales, Ophelia, her:younger that seemed intended to show that not thus could their ardour sisters, Bertha and little Flora, and a nine-year-old boy, be damp1med. Immediately I called for a light, and while the Miguel. We sat in a large room, about twenty-one feet by voices continued in full force I carefully watched the family, fifteen feet, having three windows and two doors, one of who certainly were not singing, and surely were not ventrilo­ which opened into the garden, the other into the house. quising : after which Mrs. Corrales discharged a full mouthful of The walls of the room consisted of what is known as' bahareque,' water into the empty glass. Thia experiment was repeated that iS, a hollow space filled in with mortar and broken tiles, without the light being extinguished, and with complete making a compact mass very impervious to sound. The floor success. was of tiles resting on the solid ground. There was no other It was at the next seance, when Don Philipe Alvarado, l'Oom above, but the· ceiling consisted of cloth, a corner of Minister of Finance, was also present, that Mrs. Titche herself, which Mr. Corrales was anxious that I should tear down as when playing the piano, was accompanied hy the voices, llQme­ answer to my questions-a permiSsion of which I did not avail what subdued but unmistakable, while we all sat together fully myself, seeing that the sounds about to be described in no case fifteen feet away in the remotest corner of the lighted room. appeared to come from so high up. The windows were guarded Moreover, it was at this seance, held at 1.30 in the afternoon of by shutters, very convenient for sealing, and I may say that no May 28th, that the big outside door was thrown wide open, and seance began until I had sealed the windows and doors by in the flood of daylight the voices maintained their' full strength sticking adhesive paper across the cracks and drawing pencil for, perhaps, three minutes. And, to add my one and only piece lines across the paper and on to the woodwork. Excepting a of hearsay evidence, at noon of the next day, the 29th, when piano across one corner of the room and a sofa on which we sat the medium was calling at the Imperial Hotel to bid good-bye there was no furniture that could possibly conceal anything. to Mrs. Titche, they sat in the public parlour and played, when After I had searched the piano, the triangular space behind ' Don Constantino ' and ' Mary Brown' began to sing, but were it1 and underneath the sofa, we sat in a semi-circle stopped by the entrance of strangers. This is vouched for by in the corner most remote from t11e piano, at which Mrs. Corrales Mr. and Mrs. Tit.che. seated herself. On the first occasion I sat between the medium But even a better test of t.he voices wa9 secured at the sixth and hel' father, but 011 other occasions have sat next all the l'!eance,011 June 1st, wheu the Corrales family withdrew, leaving 1nemhers of the family in turn. Having reduced the light to me in a sealed room alone wiLh the medium, who, having filled one cn.ndle, l\Irs. Cormll-s began to play, while we waited with our her month with water, pfayed the piano while I sat hack with August 12, 1911.] LIGHT. 377 the glasses and the candle. Almost immediately upon ex­ details. He went on to say, 'Your chief trouble is in the lower tinguishing the light a voice spoke out clearly with the usual spinal nerves, at the base of the spine, and the kidneys. The precise emmciation of 'Don Constantino,' who, after speaking tear ducts are dry, and the tears don't run freely. The eye for about a minute, was fol.lowed by the shrill tones that betok­ trouble will be eased by applying soft water-hard water won't ened the entity ' Mary Brown,' who likewise spoke with dis­ do-hal • a glassful, in which half a teaspoonful of salt has been tinctness. .After striking a light the medium discharged the dissolved, say twice a day, externally.' On my asking a question mouthful of water into the empty glass. Thus it will be seen he replied, 'No, sulphur 500 is no use at your age. Yes, rumex that on this occasion a better test was given than was demanded, is some good.' I apologise for giving these personal details, but because with the mouth foll of water it is even less possible to they illustrate the nature of the intelligence manifesting. speak clearly than to sing. I then asked how he came to attend the sitting. He said, (To be continued.) ' How came I here 1 Why, your wife asked me to come. This is the first Spiritualist sitting I have been to. On that side I BY LIEUT.-GENERAL A. PHELPS. thought it all poppycock and nonsense. Now I see it is scientific The following brief account of two seances which I was and important. I hope you will go on for some years yet, and privileged to attend with Mrs. Wriedt may be of interest to see your grandchildren grow up around you.' your readers. Though I have seen many curious phenomena, I On my asking him if he could describe how the phenomena have never hitherto had any direct message from friends in the were produced, he replied, 'No, I don't know a blooming thing next state. about it, nor how Mrs. Wriedt brings it about.' _ On the 20th July, 1911, I was one of twelve sitters who met He then spoke as follows to Mrs. Wriedt: 'I give you a at 7 p.m., at Wimbledon, in 'Julia's Bureau'; Admiral Moore testimonial as a wonderful woman, the most wonderful woman was present, but did not sit next me. When the lights were I ever met, the best psychic in the world. And my testimonial put out he at once exclaimed, 'Something has been put into my is worth something: is worth having. Good-bye.' hands.' When the lights were turned on the apport proved to be A private message was then given for Mr. Sinnett, and a 'Iola's ' portrait, which I had seen on the bookcase about four marvellous sitting came to an end. feet from Admiral Moore's seat. I was astonished when the name A curious misconception occurred about this interview. Mrs. Wriedt, hearing me use the 11a111e by which we used to speak of a relative of mine was 8poken and some family information of Dr. Burnett, namely 'the Magician,' because of the wonderful was given, of no interest to the public. His voice went on to cures which he used to effect, thought he was a conjurer in earth say that I should have a surprise soon. life, and I had to explain that he was the greatest physician I On the 21st, a little before 10.30 a.m., Admiral Moore and I had ever met, a name which all hommopaths will venerate. This had a sitting with Mrs. Wriedt in the same place. The lights was after the sitting; all the time he was speaking'she thought were turned out. The Admiral and the medium saw and de­ he was a conjurer. Ad1niral Moore had never heard his name. I was not thinking about him. scribed floating luminous clouds and phantoms ; but I only Edgbaston. once saw a floating white cloud. The voices were most distinct, not muflled as on the day before. The speakers were ' John MUSIC AS A HEALING AGENT. King,' ' Iola,' my wife and her father, Dr. Compton Burnett, and Mrs. Sinnett. As no stenographer was present, I had to 'Reason,' Dr. B. F. Au~tin's little monthly (Rochester, New make notes directly after the sitting, which Admiral Moore York), states that Dr. Russell H. Conwell, pastor of Temple kindly checked, so that they may be looked upon as accurate as Baptist Church, Philadelphia, has for a long time been greatly far as they go. 'John King's ' voice was unmistakable : once interested in the subject of the employment of music in healing heard, the solemn, sad, steadfast bass voice cannot be forgotten. diseases. Recently, together with Dr. William Hachnlen and Referring to a curious incident at the previous seance, he said, members of the staff of the Samaritan Hospital, which is sup­ ' You ask why those books were put on the tall dark man'.s knee. ported by Temple Church, he conducted a series of experiments, I looked round the shelves, and found the words "Law and the results of which have astonished the medical world. One Majesty " on the sides of these books, and I put them on his of Dr. Conwell's experiments was to bring nineteen patients knee that he might know that he was known for what he was.' into one ward of the hospital, all kinds of diseases being repre­ I suppose that he was present under a fictitious nnme. To me sented. We read that :- 'John King' said,' Yes, I remember you at Husk's. He, I am A young woman with a rich contralto voice was stationed sorry to say, is poorly. Age is telling upon him.' near the ward where all could hear her but none could see her. ' Iola ' was present throughout the seance. Her refined As the strains of the beautiful hymn, ' I know that my Re­ deemer liveth,' left her lips, the doctors noticed a change in voice, expressive of sincere courtesy, was heard from time to every patient. Those under the influence of morphine regained time. She spoke to me, recognising me as having looked at her consciousness, with a total absence of the usual nervousness that · precipitated likeness in Admiral Moore's room. She, at my re­ follows the use of the drug. Others downcast and despondent quest, described the method of the precipitation of the pigments brightened perceptibly. -The playing of a dead march caused a in painting her portrait, and the other pictures, by the aura of rise in temperature in every patient in the ward, and the effects the spirit band. She explained the Chinese look of the pictures of the 'Old Folks at Home' was distinctly soothing. Several of the sick persomi went to sleep. One person who was very by the fact that one of the band-I understood her to say the dyspeptic because- of nervous prostration, was found to be so chief of the band-was a Chinese. influenced by the playing of the 'Old Oaken Bucket' on a My wife and her father spoke to me ; but what they said violin that she enjoyed hearty meals while the tune was being would be of no interest to the public. They referred to family played in the next room. Another half insane because of an matters in a way which was sufficient to convince me of their accident, became rational during the playing of 'Dixie.' identity._ Typhoid patients were found to be greatly benefited by the playing of Strauss's 'Blue Danube,' and two little children, one Then, in loud, clear tones came the name 'Compton Burnett.' afllicted with partial paralysis, the other with St. Vitus dance, He was my wife's doctor, and I have the deepest respect for his were so improved during the playing of 'Auld Lang Syne' that memory as the most brilliant physician I ever met. Much they controlled themselves and were able to walk. astonished, I asked if he was 'the Magician,' and if he prac­ So certain is Dr. Conwell that music is curative, that plans tised medicine over there 1 He replied, 'I am Compton Burnett. are being completed to institute a system of music which is No, we don't want doctors over here, we've no broken legs or helpful and inspiring. In some of the prisons of England it has been found that certain chords of music are very helpful in fevers to trouble us.' influencing criminals towards reform, and that there are other Admiral Moore here saying that he could see a phantom between compositions that increase their passion for crime. In France me and the medium on my right, moving towards a cabinet at they have made many interesting experiments along this line, the end of the room, I remarked that I could see nothing. Dr. and a musical programme for the reforming of the inmates of Burnett said, ' You don't see the white clouds or the phantom, French prisons is in use. Dr. Conwell has given the subject so much thought that he has compiled two lists which it is planned because of a small trouble in your eyes. The pupil is back on will be sent broadcast to medical men and hospitals. 01w is a the lens.' He then went on to describe the symptoms further, list of compositions, the playing or singing of which helps the referring to 'the state of the iris,' &c., but I 1mve forgotten the sick to get well. The other is a list of harmful tunes. 378 LIGHT. [August 12, 1911. m'l!'HJE 01!' 'LIGHT,' .110, ST. MARTIN'd LANE, the disposition to impress the newly-harnessed powers of LONDON, W.C. the air into the service of war, money-getting and pastime. SATURDAY, AUGUST 12TH, l!Jll. We can conceive of no scientific discoveries and achieve­ ments which at the present stage· would not be degraded ~ight: to such ends were it possible. If by some strange happening the denizens of the unseen realms were brou~ht A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research. visibly into our midst, we can imagine the eagerness with PBIOE TWOPENCE WEEKLY. which they would be canvassed to aid the purposes of war, COMMUNICATIONS intended to be printed should be addressed to commerce, and pleasure. With what enthusiasm their the Editor, Office of 'LIGHT,' 110, St. Martin's Lane, London, W.C. Business communications should in all cases be addressed to Mr. highly-evolved powers would be enlisted for the construc­ F. W. South, Office of 'LIGHT,' to whom Cheques and Postal Orders should be made payable. tion of more deadly guns, more effective financial manamvres, more sensational entertainments ! But the Subscription Rate~.-'LIGHT' may be h84 free by post on the following world is regulated by Divine intelligence, and its powers terms :-Twelve months, 10s. lOd; six· months, 5s. 5d. Payments to be made in advance. To United States, 2dol. 700. To France, of perverting its best gifts to low uses are severely Italy, &c., 13 francs 86 centimes. To Germany, 11marks25 pfi;:. limited. This latest and most wondrous attainment of Wholesale Agents : Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, K,ent and Co., Ltd., 23, Paternoster-row, London, E.C., and LIGHT can be mechanical science, aviation, as we have seen, is hedged ordered through all Newsagents and Booksellers. round with difficulties and dangers. Slowly and painfully APPLICATIONS b;y Members and Associates of the London Spirit­ it is perfected as a practical science, and all the time hu~an ualist Alliance Ltd. for the loan of book.~ from the Alliance intelligence is growing. Indeed, we have a comfortmg Library should' be addressed to the Librarian, Mr. B. D. Godfrey, Office of the Alliance, 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C. conviction that by the. time modern science has been evolved to the point of ability to produce the most perfect engines for human destruction, the lust of war and con­ THE FLYING MAN. quest will have died out and the powers· of science will be wholly devoted to human welfare. A good many years ago, when aeronautic science was From our standpoint, then, the flying man is a parable still in the balloon and parachute stage, a dear old lady of and a presage. He symbolises the career of the human our acquaintance shook her head gloomily over the pro­ spirit advancing ever to more refined spheres of activity, ceedings of aerial navigators. They were, she said, 'flying and his triumph is prophetic of the greater achievements in in the face of Providence.' The unconscious humour of the conquest of matter that lie before mankind. Even in his the remark produced a smile; but a fatal accident to a defiance of death we see a significance. With the progress would-be flying man about that time seemed to point the of science towards the higher realms of being, death is moral of her comment-it was so clearly a 'judgment' on being shorn of many of its terrors. The active, alert the rash experimenter ! minds, the aspiring souls, of experimenters in the higher Since then the skies have witnessed many strange and fields of action in the physical world are outgrowing the almost undreamed-of marvels in aerial travel-journeys of influence of the old haunting doubt and terror. · ' . many hundreds of miles on the wings of the wind, accom­ We have heard thoughtful observers, jealous for the plished at a pace at least equivalent to that of the fastest progress and supremacy of the spiritual life in mankind, of our railway trains. And the feats thus achieved are express regret that the activities of the world are so closely prophetic of even greater marvels in the future. Yet the concentrated on planes of purely physical achievement. aviator of to-day carries on his work on closer terms with To these watchers of the times such things seemed to death than would be the case in any other pursuit in which indicate decadence, a submergence of the spirit in material man can be engaged. As a recent writer remarked, the things. But if 'all roads lead to Rome,' it is even more greatest naval and military heroes in history have braved a fact that all paths lead to the Spirit. Some of them, it no such dangers as the airman calmly faces. The airman is true, are roundabout ways, tortuous and difficult. At has 'deliberately and serenely adopted death as a profes­ times they seem actually to lead away from the goal-but sion.' Never was there a more remarkable evidence of only in appearance. Much of the modern advance in the the power and persistence of the human spirit in the conquest of matter, we should remember, is im1lersonal. mechanical world. We see man urged forward by the It is achieved with no purely selfish motives, but is carried invisible potencies that impel and guide him (almost always out under the impulse of the great evolutionary forces. And unconsciously to himself) to ever higher planes of action. to that extent.it follows out the way of Nature. It is as though material progress had, in a measure, to The materialism which we have the greatest cause to keep pace with the constant advance made in the realms fear and detest is that servitude to the body which comes of mind and spirit. It is perhaps not without significance of the gross appetites for pleasure and possession and that in recent aviation contests the French have been in power. And that, we hope and believe, is passing away. the forefront. Now, it has been a source of wonder and Its devotees are finding themselves in a minority and delight to sympathetic observers of French philosophy to beginning to realise that their devotion to the grosser life notice how closely it is coming into touch with the highest of matter numbs and dwarfs and deadens their faculties spiritual teachings. The best Ji'rench thought of to-day for real happiness and progress. Who could picture it wholly transcends the limitations of even the most refined bloated sensualist, fearful of death and constantly anxious materialism. There is a soaring, intuitive quality about concerning his bodily comfort and the safety of his posses­ it that has carried it fairly into the regions of the spirit sions, mounting the airman's car 1 Not to such is given Students of the contemporary literature of France will, we the nlle of the aviator, for the triumph of the flying man think, endorse our conclusions in this respect. It may be a is, in a sense, a triumph of the soul. fanciful theory, but we are inclined to trace an intimate parallel between the triumph of the French genius in philosophy and its achievements in the corn1uest of the air. n1rn.u.n MARSJ<:Y says that, any clea

FURTHER COMMUNICATIONS FROM It is minorities that lead the van and do the pioneer work F. W. H. MYERS. of the Universe. Possibly only a minority of those who have passed over have as yet discovered how to exert their telepathic BY H. A. DALLAS. powers of communication and direct them with full control to those on earth. This controlled exercise of faculty diffel's v. somewhat from the unconscious and unintentional telepathy, Tm: W o:NDER OF h' ! which may be ~ncessant. It differs also from communion, 'Ve have been considering a few communicaLiuus which cuu­ which involves a deeper and more spiritual interblending of tain i11dicati01Ls of the survival of Frederic Myers. The whole spirit with spirit. What these unseen workers, Myers and uf the evidence for his survival is, of course, but a fragment of others, appear to have been attempting is to direct and control the total evidence for the survival of man. It is wise to pause the universal current of influence passing from the lil~erated to after considering fresh instalments of facts which point to this us who are still flesh· bound, much as an electrician avails him­ great conclusion, and take breath, as it were, and remind our­ self of the universal influence of electricity and directs it to a selves of what it all means. part.icular apparatus which can register its effects in words. The weighing of facts and the analysis of arguments, sifting The message thus brought to us out of the Unseen is essen­ the true from false, are only valuable as means to an end ; that tially a message of joy. end is that each one of us may enter into our inheritance-the In the July number ·of ' The Hibbert Journal' there is an Truth : God's Truth, Reality. This is often very different from inspiring article on 'The Kingdon\ of the Child,' in which we human opinion and speculation, and it costs an effort to re­ are reminded that growing-up has produced in too many minds Jinquish our presuppositions and illusions, and to accept instead a sense of ennui and lack of wonder. 'They have lost the the conclusion to which facts of experience lead. However childlike and Godlike sense of elemental joy.' It is precisely difficult, it is nevertheless not only necessary but desirable. To this sense of 'elemental joy' which the Myers messages convey. exchange our fictions for God's facts is to exchange poverty for This impression is produced, not so much by any particular wealth, the limited for the infinite, the temporary for the statement as by the tone, the emotion, the character which per­ eternal, the unsatisfying and partial for the satisfying and vades the messages to which bis name is attached. complete. There are some who say that this research leaves in their The glimpse given to us by the evidence which comes from minds a sense of dreal'iness, a feeling of loss. They say, ''Ve the Beyond may at first bewilder, because it comes into conflict can no longer look forward to the thought that at death we with our preconceptions, and also because we see only as in a shall find ourselves in quiet resting-places, undisturbed by mirror dimly. But as we ponder it we gradually realise some­ earth-sorrow, with all its problems solved and all effort thing of the fulness of the life of which a glimpse has been needless.' So be it : but is it nothing to have exchanged this granted to us. We are reminded of the Logia discovered in prospect for a glimpse of a life in which there is close continuity Egypt by Dr. B. P. Grenfell :- with the past, in which all efforts made here, all knowledge Let not him that seeketh cease from his search until he find, acquired, all faculty developed find their fruition, and are the .and when be finds he shall wonder; wondering he shall reach very materials out of which fresh effort aud knowledge and the kingdom of heaven, and when he reaches the kingdom faculty are cieveloped 1 he shall have rest. · Is it no gain to find that the friends whose depth of character As yet we may have only reached the first stage in finding, and richness of faculty were rendered more delightful by the the stage at which we 'wonder' ; the further stage at which we play of genial humour, ai1d the spontaneous sympathy with us shall 'reach' our inheritance and 'rest' in our joy, lies still in all the lesser as well as the greater interests of life-is it before us. nothing to have learned that these friends retain all their We wonder ! It comes to us with a great and beautiful sense former charm, and that their playful humour is as fitting of surprise. This apprehension of the truth that the principle there as it was here, and can be exercised as opportunely and on which humanity has been evolved, and towards the fuller as well 1 realisation of which it bas been growing, namely, the principle To be 'refreshed in the multitude of peace' does not of fellowship, remains unaltered by the event of death ; that necessitate the loss of any right faculty, it rather implies death is not redly a break, as we supposed, in the reciprocity, orderly development and adjustment of values among all our the interaction, the exchange of thought, and the deeper com­ faculties. When we enter into that kingdom of order and ad­ munion of love. The greatest souls have instinctively felt at justment we shall again be able to laugh as the little child moments of insight that this break could not be real or laughs, and to wonder as it wonders. permanent. And now \Ve find that their instinctive belief was, like other instincts, co-relative with tmth. The apparent M1:;s LrLlAN WHITINU informs us that she will be in London break made by death is one of the many illusions to which our within the next few days. ·We shall hope to see her at the incarnation subjects us. Alliance meetings this autumn. .There they are, the great company who have thronged this THE friends of Mrs. Effie de Bathe will regret to learn that material earth through countless generations. We saw a small owing to ill-health she will leave London in September for New moment in their experience and imagined it to be the whole, or Zealand, and may settle permanently at Sydney, Australia. at least it figured so large in our imagination that we could not Mrns L. LoA'l', secretary of the National Anti-Vaccination find room for the vast continuity of which it was but au League, sends us a detailed criticism of the report issued by episode, an important, and probably in some degree a· deter­ the Metropolitan Asylums Board relating to the recent outbreak of small-pox in London. That report lays great stress on the mining episode, developing character, and fixing it, but not a fact that out of twenty-two unvaccinated cases, nine died ; beginning and end by itself. whereas out of forty-six vaccinated cases one died. Miss Loat There they are ; and here they are. Probably the latter fact points out that pro-vaccinists have surrendered the old conten­ is conditioned by their capacity for apprehending i1ossibilities tion that vaccination protects from small-pox, and now only hold and exerting faculty, just as ours is. For them, as for us, that it mitigates the disease. London, however, has not been distance is bridged lJy the exercise of inherent powers, and by alone this year. Outbreaks occurred at Bury, Stalybridge, and Wallasey, but whereas in London we get a fatality rate in the the discovery of how to apply the forces of the Universe. unvaccinated of 40.91 per cent., the rate in these three places We have discovered by the· application of electricity many was O per cent. Miss Loat examines the London cases in metl1ods of communication, but there are yet more subtle ways detail, and comes to the conclusion that this astonishing in which space can lJe practically annihilated. They, too, are difference is not a question of vaccination or non-vaccination, doubtless discoverers, ancl as they explore the U nseeu realm and we hut of the condition of each· patient. Those who died in London were eit.her very young, or ill wit;J1 some other com­ the Seen, great developments heyond our wilclest dreanL~ may he plaint., or more clclicate than the other patients, and th~sc realised, 11nd we auc] they may he able to 11ct increasingly iu two facts would ctccount for their being un vaccinated. Further, in worlds at the same time. Meanwhile let us treasure the know­ two instances the unvaccinated were 'successfully' vaccinated ledge already gained. after infection, but still they died. 380 LIGHT. [August 121 1911.

THE PRACTICE OF SPIRITUALISM. cerning spirits, it also has in it the 'accumulation of human folly, vanity, and error, and that this lies nearer to the surface The following-paper was read before the members and friends than that which is wise and good.· We should, therefore, not of the Lyceum Club, Paris, by one of the members :- enter into a very solemn investigation in a spirit of idle curio­ I am asked if I think the practice of Spiritualism should sity or frivolity. On the contrary, we should cultivate a be encouraged. My reply is 'Yes,' and for two reasons-first, reverent desire for what is pure, good, and true. We shall have hecause it is a cure for materialism, and, secondly, because it our reward if we gain only a well-grounded conviction that gives conclusive proof of the continuation of life beyond the there is a life after death for which we can prepare ourselves by grave. You may reply: 'The Christian already believes in the wisely leading a pure and good life on earth. Dogmas will immortality of the soul ; why, therefore, wish to do more than then cease to trouble us, for we sball be able to walk by sight as to get all the world to believe in the teachings of the Saviour?' well as by faith. Unfortunately all are not constituted alike, and there are many Spiritualism enables us to receive inspiration direct from who cannot accept the dogmas and creeds of the different the Infinite, and clears the soul of doubts and fears. It irradiates churches which profess to expound the truths of Christianity. the mind with such brightness that we 110 longer walk in dark­ The simple teachings of Jesus have, in many cases, been super­ ness but in light. The death of the body has no further terror seded by forms and ceremonies until there is little left but a for us, and the cares and depressions of this life no longer assume sea of doubt for seekers after truth to wade in. Many are gigantic proportions. We learn that to overcome here is to fast losing whatever faith they may once have· had in super­ earn an asset which we can carry over with us into our next natural religion, and are drifting into a mere unintelligent stage of progression. Spiritualism enables us to realise that unbelief, which finds its expression in apathy and indifference only the present is ours-the now-in which to live and achieve. as regards spiritual principles. Out of this state, seemingly, With Miss Lizzie Doten we say :- nothing but Spiritualism, with its vital evidences and ' Oh ! weary and long seems the time to them personal appeals to the reason, can, or will, arouse them. Who under Life's burdens bow, We may, therefore, confidently believe that it will yet be For while they wait for that time to come the saving of true religion. The materialist, living in a world They forget 'tis a good time now ! ' of selfish comfort, and interested only in what appeals to his 'Ve learn from Spiritualism that there is no snch thing as intellect, becomes painfully conscious as time goes on . of the permanent failure. What we have struggled to achieve here incompleteness of the evidence of his senses. Spiritualism, with and have failed to accomplish succes.sfully, will be found not to its direct and soul-stirring message, comes with healing to his have been wasted effort. As the athlete is strengthened by withered soul. The dogmatic utterances of a Church for ever training, so we shall find we have been strengthening ourselves divided against itself have long ceased to attract him. But his for our next environment by the use we have made of our intellect, ever responsive to what is reasonable, is now aroused faculties here, although the result may have been seeming to interest in the unseen world. From intellect to spirit is but failure. a short cut, once you have conquered the former. Thus If we fail-no matter! We know we shall go on progress­ Spiritualism with its rationalism succeeds in reaching his soul, . ing, and the pain of failure will only serve to stimulate us to while dogma fails. fmther effort. As that~ eminent scientist, Mr. Fournier d'Albe, Now let us consider those around us, the sum total of observed in a lecture delivered before the London Spiritualist whose lives, in their search after truth, seems to be made up of Alliance, ' There can be no life without effort, no effort without doubts, fears, struggles and sorrows. Given the ordinary success which spells happiness, or failure which spells pain.' religious training in childhood, and starting out in life with So we see that pain is only another angel working in disguise a conscientious desire to do right, how often are they hurt and for our good. disappointed at the seeming failure of all their hopes ! They If we study history, sacred or otherwise, we shall find that are contented to remain here only because they look forward to from the beginning of the world God has communicated His an eternity of bliss hereafter. Now while ultimately they will will to man by the aid of His messenger spirits. A few instances arrive at their goal, how much more cheerful and bright might will suffice. their earth lives be did they but know how to walk by sight as When the angel of God spoke to Moses in the fiery bush, well as by faith ! and told him he should lead the people of Israel out of bondage, Spiritualism, appealing by its evidences to the reason as well Moses knew by his spiritual sight the meaning of the vision. a.s to the spiritual side of their natures, would help them to live We have also direct evidence of communication from the spirit much more happily. They would understand the meaning of world in the story of Jacob's ladder. Again, we read of the their present existence, instead of passing so many years of their angel who gave Abraham the foreknowledge of the son who life in hopeless theorising about the future. should be born to him and Sarah ; of the voice which called We learn by the aid of Spiritualism that we are now living Samuel in the night to the service of the Lord ; of tlw in eternity, and not going to it. We are already building our angel who came to Elijah and fed him when, wearied and long­ future, not going elsewhere to conirnence it. This knowledge ing for death, he had cast himself under a juniper tree; and of helps us to control our environment to a large extent, and to for­ the 'fourth form' seen walking. in the furnace into which bid evil to harm us. We are surrounded by myriads of spiritual Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were cast. beings ready to give us that which we seek from them. If we Then there was the incident at King Belshazzar's banquet, desire only what is good, we attract only what is good to us. when the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote on the Should evil attempt unbidden to approach us, we can chase wall, although no body was visible. We are told that the it away by the power of the spirit of virtue which is given us. King's loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against the Thoughts of benevolence, purity, love, truth, gentleness and other as he watched the fingers writing. We read of how beauty attract only spirits who have these qualities. Thoughts Daniel came alive and whole out of the lions' den because God of evil-such as cruelty, hate, revenge, lying, greed, &c.-attract had sent His guardian angel to protect him. In the New their affinities also. All life sets up vibrations both in the selln Testament we have the vision of Zacharias prophesying the birth and unseen worlds. It is therefore better to understand what is of John the Baptist, and the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary around us, for then we the better know what to attract and what foretelling the birth of Jesus. We see our Lord in the trans­ tu shun. But no one should idly or lightly try to pry into the figuration on the Mount talking with Moses and Elias. We secrets of the unseen world, nor should even serious seekers see in the Philippian prison Paul and Silas released from their after truth believe all that they are told even when the state­ chains in the middle of· the night by unseen visitants. In mo1·c ments come-or purport to come-from the other side. modern times we see a Joan of Arc sitting in mountain solitudes, An eminent writer on Spiritualism has told us that we and inspired by spirit voices to go forth and lead her country· Rhould keep our heads level and our judgments clear when men to victory. I could quote numberless other instances dealing with the unseen world. He counsels us to remember familiar to you all, of how God has ever used spirit guides Lo that although that great universe contains many wise and dis- reveal Himself to man, but I have said enough, I think, to show August 12, 1911,] LIGHT. 381 you why I believe Spiritualism, practised rightly, should be always took a strange luminosity when she saw something in­ encouraged. I believe the time to be not far distant when visible to others, was drawn for a moment from the contempla­ religion and science will walk hand in hand to explore the tion of the sick person to fix itself higher up towards the head of the bed ; then dropping a little, she looked at the void with a invisible worlds. close attentfon which lasted more than a minute. I looked ·at Death and the unseen are ready to yield up their secrets as her interrogatively, but she was silent; she explained to me soon as we have sufficient courage to demand them. One by one later : 'I saw a white cloud rise from the bedclothes-a thing our great men of science are agreeing on this point, and their which I had already seen in other circumstances-when my scouts are already on the frontiers of the next world. So the attention was drawn to the head of the bed to a little naked form three to four feet high ; from it came whiteness between practice of Spiritualism for all true and divine purposes is good. daylight and moonlight.· Inside this form there was a still But for the idle seeker after mere amuse~ent it is bad. If brighter luminosity, which became more and more brilliant in people of ruthless selfishness seek to drag spirits from their the middle, whilst from the centre to the outside everything seclusion, there is great danger in the practice. ' That birds of appeared in a state of rapid movement. I saw the phenomenon a feather :flock together ' is a truism of the spirit world as of again at the moment when the sick person breathed his last, this. Unless we are seeking for what is good, we should not then it rose and disappeared.' attempt to practise Spiritualism. Case 8. Sarah Underwood, in the book ' Automatic or I think I cannot do better than close my argument for the Spirit Writing' (page 302), refers to a lady doctor who related encouragement of Spiritualism by quoting St. Paul (himself a to her, as follows, a similar experience :- ·great Spiritualist) on the subject. In 1 Cor. xii., he says :­ There was brought to my sanitarium for treatment But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to some time ago a man who was a stranger to me, and so profit withal. far gone in disease that I had no hope of curing him from For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to the first. He lingered a day or two, and then died while another the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit. To I stood close by his bedside, worried mainly by my inability another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, the working of to help him. As I saw the b1·eath depart, and stood miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, discerning of spirits, thinking about sending word to his people, I was all at once to another, divers kinds ol' tongues, to another, the interpretation conscious of a presence by my side, and looking up, I was of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the self-same thunderstruck to see the dead man's counterpart standing close Spirit, dividing to every man generally as he will. by me, but apparently oblivious to my presence. He was And'. there are diversities of operations, but it is the same looking down at the body with the utmost worried, mystified, God which worketh all in all. and wondering expression on his face. I, too, turned to glance SENGA VELYNE. at tlie stiff, expressionless face of the corpse, and when I turned again to look the spirit was gone. But I knew then that I had seen the soul of a man. THE HYPOTHESES OF 'BILOCATION' Case 9. Florence Marryat, in her boek, • Spirit World ' CONSIDERED. (page 124), tells the following story :- I have a young lady friend, the daughter of a family moving BY ERNESTO BozzANO. Translated from 'Annales rles in the highest society, who is a wonderful medium, though the Sciences Psychiques.' fact is known to no one but her intimate friends. . . Some (Oontinued from f)age 363.) few years since she had the misfortune to lose her eldest sister, .a beautiful girl of twenty, who died after a few days' illness Amongst the most famous of those who have seen vIB10ns of pleurisy. Edith (as I will call the young medium) told me that she was with her sister during the course of her illne;is was Andrew Jackson Davis, who states that he had witnessed and that she witnessed clairvoyantly the whole process of th~ the departure of the spirit from the body about thirty times spirit leaving the body. She said that on the last day of her earth­ (' Penetralia,' page 196), one occasion being at the hanging of a life her sister was flushed, excited, and slightly delirious, tossing well-known criminal. His descriptions are always interesting, about on her pillows and talking incoherently. About this but as the best of them are far to~ long for our space, they time Edith observed a film, like a cloud of smoke, gathering above her head, where it gradually spread out until it had should be read in 'Mr. ·Davis's own works. I shall quote other acquired the shape, lengthways, of her sister's body, a facsimile, short examples of this class, beginning with cases in which the as it were, of the dying girl, only without colouring, and sus­ visualisations appeared in an elementary form. pended in the air, face downwards, about two or three feet above Case 6. Mrs. De Morgan, in her book, ' From Matter to her. As the day wore on, and the delirious restlessness gave Spirit' (page 127), speaks of a woman, J. D., without educa­ way to the weakness of approaching death, Edith could see her tion, 'and who certainly had never heard of the varied gradua­ sister's feverish colour fade and her eyes grow dimmer whilst simultaneously the vapoury form suspended in the ai~ above tions in which spiritual visions manifest themselves to sensitives' her began to b.e tinted, first very faintly, then by degrees more who, having been present during the last moments of a child and more, until it glowed with the life that was rapidly departing relates the following :- ' from the body, The dying girl grew weaker and weaker, until she lay back on her pillows speechless and unconscious. As she did so I WM watching the sick child in company with his mother; he was two years and a half old, and was in con­ the spirit above her, which was still bolllld to her brain heart vulsions, which had kept Jiim in bed for three or four and vitals by cords of light like electricity, became, as it ~ere ~ days. The mother held one hand under the child's head living soul. As her sister breathed her last earthly bre~th and I was helping at the other side of the bed. In the fire~ Edith saw the spirit sway from side to side until it stood place, sitting in front of me and on the side where the mother upright by the side of the bed, very weak apparently, and was, was a brilliant flame. Suddenly I saw this flame grow scarcely able to stand, but still the living presentment of the dark, because some opaque body had come between me and the corpse which now was stretched in death before her eyes. As light, and something indefinite :floated continually backwards Edith was watching this wonderful sight she saw the spirits of and forwards. I called the mothe1Js attention to this strange her father and grandmother, who had also died in their house fact, but she replied t.hat she could see nothing. During this ap~ear and support the new-~orn spirit between them, passin~ ~ime the ?onvulsions of the child had ceased ; he lay back thell' arms between hers, whilst her head rested like that of a mert on his bed, and remained in this state until about ten fainting person on her father's shoulder. After they had held o'clock, when he ~ed. . I began to notice the opaque body an her thus for a short time she seemed to revive somewhat at hour before the child died, and the phenomenon persisted until which they ruptured with their hands the cords which bo~md he breathed his last, then I saw the flame again clear and her to her b~y, and rising with her between them, passed brilliant. ' through the wmdow . · Case 10. William Stainton Moses relates the following per­ Case 7. Mrs. De Morgan gives in the same book (page 128) sonal experience. · (\LIGHT,' July 9th, 1887) :- another incident, when she was a percipient at the same time as a friend more sensitive than she. She writes:- I have lately had opportunity-the first that has come to me--of studying the transition of the spirit. I have learned so . Once I was at the bedside of a dyingperRon in company with a much that I may perhaps be pardoned "if I t.l1ink that I can tL~e­ friend who I knew was sensitive to spiritual visions. Just 8.'I the folly place on record what I have gathered. . . It was the lJ1•eathi11g of the invalid was about to cease I saw a white cloud rise deathbed of one ve1·y near to me. The threescore years and ten from the body and remain two or three inches away. I noticed that were passed and another ten had been added to them. No my companion was looking at it attentively. Her look, which actual disease intervened to complicate the departure of the ------··------·------

382 LIGHT. [August 12, 1911. spirit. . . I was warned that certain symptoms, insignificant LIFE BEYOND DEATH. in themselves, preluded the end, and I came to discharge the last sad duty. My spiritual sense could discern around and BY HENRY LLEWELLYN. over him the luminous aura or atmosphere that was gathering for the spirit to mould its body of the future life. By slow Spiritualism, rightly understood, meets the materialist on his degrees this increased, and grew more and more defined, vary­ own grounds, and makes him realise at once that it is not a ing from hour to hour as the vitality was more or less strong. philosophical abstraction, but a mere matter of evidence for a One could see how even a little nourishment, or the magnetic concrete fact. This is the reason why a Spiritualist everywhere support that a near presence gave, would feed the body and draw 'knows what he :believes,' whereas the average victim of. the back the spirit. It seemed to be in a state of constant tlnx. For twelve days and nights of weary wat(lhing this process of elimi­ obscurantist creeds does not know what he believes, and is not nation was can·ied on. After the sixth day the body showed quite snre what ht! is expected to believe. Indeed, I cannot plain signs of imminent dissolution. Yet the marvellous ebbing help thinking that the average religions person is hopelessly at mid flowing of spiritual life went on, the aura changing its sea regarding the life beyond, because he robs the idea of every­ hue, and growing more and more defined as the spirit pre­ thing this life offers as significant of it. He is the victim of a pared for departure. At length, twenty-three hours before pitiable know-nothingness, because be refuses to shape his vision death, the last noticeable change occurred. All restlessness of the body ceased, the hands were folded over the chest, and of the future life out of the fabric ef his earthly experience, and from that moment the work of dissolution progressed without a therefore it is the work of an enlightened, progressive Spirit­ check. The guardians withdrew the spiiit without any ualism to lift the veil of superstition and darkness, and gi \'e interference. The body was lying peacefully, the eyes were him to understand that the unknown is only the farther side of closed, and only long, regular breathing showed that life was the known, and that the contents of his present consciousness still there. With the regularity of some exquisite piece of are typical, yea, prophetic, of all that the future holds for mechanism the deep inspirations were drawn; but .gradually us. they became less deep and less frequent, till I could. detect them If the spider can weave its web out of the tissues of its own no more. The spirit bad left its shell, and friendly helpers had body, why not the spirits weave their robes out of a more ethe­ borne it to its rest, new-born into a new state. real and more evolved organism 1 It is not necessary for me to The body was pronounced to be dead. It may be so. The remind your readers that every claim of the spirit world can be pulse did not beat, nor the heart, nor could the mirl'Or detect confirmed by analogoll8 facts in the realm of observed science the breathing. But the magnetic cord was yet unbroken, and remained so for yet eight-and-thirty hours. Dming that time I heie and now. ·believe it would have been possible, under favouring conditions, Spiritual things are true enough, spiritually discerned, but to bring back the spirit had anyone so willed, and had his will no one knows whbre the spiritual, or the material, ends. They been powerful enough. Was it by some such means, in some do not merely correspond, they are identical, as sight, sound, &c., such conditions, that Lazarus was recalled 1 • • When the are one in essence but dual only in their recognition. What if the spiritual connection-the cord of life-was severed . . the ultimate fact at the bottom is not obscurantism, mysticism, features, which had shown lingering traces of the prolonged struggle, lost all look of pain, and there stole over them an SpiritualiSm, or materialism, a.'l we know them as limited defini­ expression of repose very beautiful and very touching to behold, tions, but etherealism with no conceivable limits, as solid as the rock at one point, and perhaps infinitely more rarefied than the (To be continued.) ether! The idealistic and the materialistic theories of a spirit world TOLSTOY ON THE ETERNAL TRUTHS OF RELIGION, end, it appears to me, in a negation of thought ; but the psychical-that is, the extra physical or the etb.,real-meets the In his new edition of the 'Life of Tolstoy,' Mr. Aylmer demands of experience and clear thinking, harmonising with Maude gives a translatioll' of a letter, written by Tolstoy to a the recognised law of the correlation of forces emerging out of Japanese, in which he gives what were practically his fimi.l the physical into the psychical, alike in the objects themselves religions beliefs. He says :- and in the subject of their perception.· My supposition that you are acquainted with many religions The writings of Fournier d' Albe, H. Franks, Du Prel, and makes it possible for me to answer your doubts in the most C. C. Massey have contributed to a Spiritualism which has been definite manner. My answer will consist in referring you to well defined in ' LIGHT' as ' the New :Materialism,' which speaks the eternal trutha of religion : not of this or that religion, but of the one appropriate to all mankind, based-not on the well for its future. authority of this or that founder : Buddha, Confucius, Lao­ We can give Haeckel and the materialists all they ask for, Tsze, Christ, or Mohammed-hut on the indubitable nature of and, out of it all, build as they want us to build, on the same the truth that has been preached by all the great thinkers of principles even (without their dogmatic limitations), a grand, an the world, and that is now felt in the heart and accepted by the eternal scheme of things that time cannot destroy. reason of every man who is not confused lJy false, perverted We can beat them on their own ground, and confidently teachings. The teaching, expressed by all the great sages of the world, declare that the future is ours, as the past has been, and that all the authors of the Vedas, Confucius, Lao-Tsze, Buddha, Ch1ist, roads lead io Sphitualism. and Mohammed, as well as by the Greek and Roman sages­ Whilst substance per se is the same (identical) in both the Marcus Aurelius, Socrates, and Epictetus-amounts to this : spiritual and the material worlds, the degree of density is that the essence of human life is not the body, but is that graduated to the evolution of the personality cognising them­ spiritual element which exists in our bodies, in conditions of an evolution both in subject and object exactly corresponding time and space incomprehensible, but of which man is vividly conscious, and which-though the body to which it is bound is 'from the physical into the psychical, just as the material world continually changing .and disintegrates at death-remains bas evolved and the bl'Ute passed into the human by a law corre­ independent of time and space, and is therefore unchangeable. lating it to the advancing cosmic conditions. 80 what we call onr life (and this is particullt.rly clearly ex­ The scientific theory of the correlation of forces lends itself p1essed in the real, unperverted teaching of Sakya Muni) is directly to a theory of progressive etherealisation, establishes a nothing but the ever greater and greater liberation of. that spiritual element from the physical conditions in which it is law of unbroken continuity between subject and object, and confined, and the ever-increasing union, by means of love, of an1:1wers the empirical demands of the intellect for a graduated this spiritual element in oneself with the like spiritual element ascent from the material to the spiritual, or, as Paul says, ' first in other beings, and with tl1at same spiritual element itself­ the natural, then the spiritual,' thus saving us from an illusive which men call God. . . I am convinced that religion-the idealism 01· a gross materialism by making a viit '11tedit.i very thing that gives man true welfare-is, in its perverted between the two and answering the logical demand1:1 of the age. form, the chief source of man's sntl:'e1ings. . . There is but one means of improving human life in general : the ever­ How true does it then appear 'that the invisible things of increasing· elucidation and realisation of the one religious truth Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen by the common to all men. things that are made.' I used to be told that heaven was the opposite of everything on earth, depriving me of the only THEirn is truth as well as wit in the following saying : symbols by which the thought was at all conceivable. How 'Never talk about your ailments. You are only advertising much better to have said, with Milton- yourself as damaged goods.' ' What if Heaven is likest earth, but vaster 1 ' Angn~t. 12, 1911,] LIGHT. 383

We should tell tl1e man in the street, with his hdcks-and­ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. mortar philosophy, not that he secs wrongly, hut that h'" does 11ot see far enough, and remind him of what J evons said ,in his The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by correspon­ ' Principles of Science ' :- dents, and sometimes publishes what he does not agree with for There might be here and now passing through U8 and this the purpose of presenting views which may elicit discussion. world some planet invisible to us, with mountains and oceans and rivers, lakes, cities, and inhabitants, and we not know any­ ' The Opened Door.' thing of it at all. Srn,-When writing my article on' The Opened Door,' page How luminous is the statement of Dr. Carl du Prcl :- :3ill, I failed to point out that the letters of the bass clef, G, B, The Beyond• is only the Beyond of our senses, it is the D, F, A, written in Mrs. Holland's script, suggest a play upon unknown Here. The line of division is not drawn spatially, but the word l,:p,y, This wati pointed out to me by a reader of that by the threshold of sensibility. The two worlils are not adjacent, article, and has doubtless occurred to many others.-Yours, &c., but within one another, and existence in the Beyond dof.ls not follow existence here, but is contemporaneous with it. H. A. DALLAS. It may even be that the spirit world itself is not merely correspondent with tl1is, but even identical with it-perhaps the Seven Years' Platform Work. fairer, if the farther, side of it_:_and our loved and lost are their very selves, just as we knew them here, not merely something Srn,-It seems hardly possible that seven years have sped their flight since, in August, 1904, my first service on the Spirit­ that corresponds to them. Let ns keep our visions, but let ualist platform was noticed in the London daily and weekly us also materialise them enough to know, like Jacob, that they Press. During that period, in no instance have I been kept are real enough to wrestle with. from the fulfilment of an appointment through a cold or other­ .wise, although I have sometimes travelled home all night to ·attend to urgent matters. The provincial Press has been more ITEMS OF INTEREST. than kind in its reproductions of my addresses, and very many old subscribers to, and readers of, my various publications have, at the close of my public services, all over the conntry given me It is one of the amenities of Spiritualists-we had almost most cordial receptionE. My varied experiences in the inner written amusements-to watch the transformation scenes in the circle of Spiritualism may later on appear in book form, but I so-called 'religious world' ; and it is equally entertaining to may here say that silently, but surely, a grand and really solid watch the efforts of some to prevent these transformations. work has been accomplished for the philosophy of spirit return They remind us of the old story of the rustic who, in his distress by the old guard, who have toiled long and have endt1red much and anxiety about the weather, tied the hand of the barometer for the cause. My forty-six years' intimate association with the to 'Set Fair.' But the weather had its way all the same. varions orthodox churches, in their pulpits, and through my old journal, 'The Christian .Age,' which reached a sale of eighty Our veteran friend, Dr. J. M. Peebles, whose letters are thousand copies weekly, g1tve me the opportunity of proclaiming always welcome, sends us, all the way from Los .Angeles, the philosophy of spirit return from Biblical records, and not a few California, a communication dealing with reincarnation. .As the have thereby become truth-seekerd. The publication of my discussion of that subject in 'LIGHT' has closed, we are unable two books, 'Talks with the Dead' and 'The Busy Life Beyond to do more than mention that the good doctor recommends Death,' has resulted in a sale of ten thousand copies. I look back Spiritualists and Theosophists alike to cease debating reincama­ on the past seven years of my busy life with much thankfulness, tion, and give their 'time and thought to the study and elucida­ but, of cour.se, with much regret over error3 of judgment, &c. tion of that broad, liberal, religions, and all-inclnsi ve Spitit­ Having now attained my seventy-second year (August 7th), nalism which was in the past radiated to earth through that although I never felt. better in health in my life, I feel that not biblical "cloud of witnesses" and still is radiated tl1rough seers, much more will be heard of me on the public platform. I have sages, and mediumistic sensitives of the present from God, who, another book ready for the press, and will now await the. call in our humble opinion, is pure, omniscient, immutable, and from the other side.-Yonrs, &c., infinite Spirit.' JOHN Lonn. .August 7th, 1911. .Although he is over ninety years of age, Dr. Peebles has been lecturing at camp meetings and congresses, is writing up the history of Spiritualism, ancient and modern, and conducting The ' Newest' Science. an extensive correspondence. He concludes his letter with the kindly greeting, 'Success to you and your good and grand Srn,-It must be surprising to Spiritualists to be informed weekly, "LIGHT.'' ' that Menticulture (Concentration of the Mi11d) is something new, as the public are being informed in this month's number We have grown exceedingly tired of hearing the word 'vilJra­ of ' The London Magazine.' tion,' and observe with pleasure that a reviewer, Wl'iting in .As one who published a letter on the subject in 1906 'The Occult Review ' for .August, of a certain book dealing with (February 24th) in the 'Daily Mirror,' advocating it being 'Immortality' says: 'Needless to say that blessed word "vibra­ taught in our public schools, I am amused at the impudence tion" is greatly in evidence : all self-respecting mystics and of those who call it 'New.' Why should Spiritualists, who occultists should really take a vow to abstain from the use of have made use of this particular science for years, be denied the this word for at least ten years. To call an unknown and un­ honour due to them? .App:uently, being Spiritualists, any­ measured force a "vibration" adds nothing to our knowledge ; .thing they do mnst be wrong. Fmrny, i>n't it ?-Yours, &c., it is one of those mystical explanatione which, so far from being W. HARRADENCE. really profound, "have not got the length of being superficial." ' [This subject has been dealt with more or less fully ever Referring to the fact that some of his hearers often feel that since the time of Plato, Socrates, .Aristotle, and Epictetus. 'life seems devoid of God or gracious meaning because of its We have before us a work by Horace Fletcher, published bmden of sorrow,' the Rev. R. J. Campbell is reported in 'The in U.S.A.. in 1898, copyrighted in 1897, entitled 'Menti­ Christian Commonwealth,' of the 2nd inst., to have said : ' I culture: or t.lie .A-B-C of Trne Living.' In this country want any such who are present to know that they are not in 1895, Mr. .Arthur Lovell published a work on mental listening merely to man's wisdom, but to something higher. and bodily vigour, entitled '.A.rs Vivendi,' which was fol­ I could have handled this theme ['The Source of Good'] lowed by one on ' Concentration.' Many other books of a in quite a different way ; I daresay a different mode of similar character have appeared both in .America and Eng­ presenting it has occurred to some of you while I have been land. Very much of what is now calle:l 'New' thought is, speaking ; but it was impressed upon me to show you, if I as a witty friend once said, 'only Emerson beaten out tbin.' could, the inevitableness of love's triumph, love's deity and However, 'The Magic Staff,' given by the spirits to .Andrew infinitude, if only because love has e\•er shown itself in the Jackson Davis, fully embodies the underlying principle of world at all. So, believe me, your own love, your own yearning Menticulture, viz: 'Behold ! Here is thy Magic Staff: after good, your own d'isconteut with and protest against the Under all circumstances keep an eve11. mind. Take it, try evil and sorrow of earth, is the best evidence you could possibly it, walk with it, talk with it, lean on it, believe in it forever.' have that all the love, and all the good, and all the life, and all So that if it became a question of 'honour where honour the joy you could ever think of or desire, and infinitely more, is due,' Mr. Harradence is not far wrong when he claims a are reigning eternally in he1wen.' share for SpiriLualists.--En. 'LIGHT.'] 384 LIGHT. [Angnst 12, 1911.

Puzzling Experiences. Experiences with Mrs. Wriedt. Srn,-I should be pleased if any reader of 'LIGHT' could Srn,-By your courtesy I would like to pay a grateful give me an explanation of certain experiences for which I am trilmte to Mr. W. T. Stead and Rear-Admiral Moore for the quite unalile to account. Repeatedly when I hear bells ringing I opportunity of making the acquaintance of this remarkable appear to be high above them, tlie sound coming up to me. I medium. AU honour to them for their loyalty to the cause of then seem, in a ?Vay, to communicate the sound to my physical truth, and for their courage in undertaking the financial respon­ ~elf, or it ~r~vels like a triangle. Very often I soar right away Hibility of bringing her from America. m the spirit, or what appears to me my real self, quite easily . I attended two seances at Wimbledon, and was so impressed and gracefully. I have a theory on this particular point that if with the wonderful manifestations and the genuine sincerity of we are our real selves it is easy to carry the physical body, but the medium that I invited her to my home, where for a week how far I do not know, nor what connection this may have with she has been a most interesting and welcome guest, and during my experiences. Perhaps the body may have to be changed into which time I,I along with several friends, have been privileged a spiritual body.-Yours, &c., with six sittings. As a result, I must say that, although I am an old investigator, familiar with nearly every phase of medium­ 46, Hinckley.road, Leicester. P. WAYS. ship, I never received such absolute satisfaction as these seances

·~--- ~------afforded me. Some of my friends were simply dumbfounded. Tlie evi­ Insanity and Obsession. dence that the so-called dead had been holding intelligent con­ Srn,-In your 'Notes by the.Way,' in issue of July 1st you verse with us, in clear audible voice, was so overwhelming that 0 refer to Dr. Carl Wickland's tl1eory that 'insanity in a malority as one of the sitters observed, 'it cha11ged the whole aspect of of cases is obsession hy malignant spirits of the dead.' The his outlook.' I could well-nigh fill the columns of 'LIGHT' sainted Catherine of Siena (see Mrs. Josephine Butler's ' Life' of were I to relate all I have placed on recoi·d of these memorable the Saint) on two or three authentic occasions was instrumental seances, hut I am debarred the pleasure :if even an abbreviated in healing insane persons. She had an intense horror of such account owing to the private nature of the communications. I unfortunates, believing that they were indeed the victims of ob­ will content myself with one significant remark addressed to me session, and that the evil spirits could assail herself when ex- · · by my father : 'You have held the fort, you have kept the flag orcised. Tl1at she was clairvoyant and clairaudient one has no high and dry, go on ! ' doubt on reading the various annals of her life. She proceeded Our unseen visitors were very human, displaying a keen to ' cast out devils ' in the same way tliat Jesus did, praying intellectual interest in material affairs. They inquired after first, and then, addressing them as personal entities, she bade friends hy names known only to the recipient, sent loving mes­ them begone in the name of God. But to her it seemed a combat sages, gave information of a personal character, reminded us of with the powers of darkness that left her physically spent and incidents that carried us back in memory to our earliest years, miserable. The cures, however, were absolute ; the insanity and revealed such an intimate knowledge of our private lives as never manifested again in the patient. to fill us with amazement. I firmly believe that Dr. Wickland is right, aud that a great I only wish that Mrs. Wriedt could be induced to prolong work of 11ealing along these lines lies before Spiritualist healers, her stay in this country, for I am persuaded that thousands of especially those with psychic gifts, who could see and recognise earnest souls could obtain infinite consolation and be won o\·er the obsessing spirits. to the cause through her instrnmentality.-Yours, &c., Your paper is a continual source of interest and profit to me, WALTER APPLEYARD. isolared as I am from all Spiritualistic sympathies.-Yours, &c., Endcliffe-crescent, Sheffield. AN IRISH MANHE-LADY. SOCIETY WORK ON SUNDAY, AUGUS]' ,5th, &c. Another Prophetic Vision Inexplicable by the Telepathic Hypothesis. Proiipective Notices, not exceeding twenty-four w'ords may be added to reports if accompanied bY stamps to the valu~ of sixpence. Srn,-Having just read in this issue of ' LIGHT,' in the present article on bilocation, the account of the prophetic visi­ tation, or vision, recorded by Mr. Myers, I send you the follow­ MARYLEBONE SPIRITUALIST AssoCIATION, 51, MORTIMER­ ing, which was told me a month or two ago by a friend who is STREET, W.-Oavendish Rooms.-Mr. W. J. Colville gave an Highland Scotch. For this, too, the telepathic 11ypothesis seems eloquent and instructive lecture on ' Clairvoyant Views of the an impossible explanation. Universal Races Congress and its Consequences.' Mrs. Leigl1 The wife of the vicar whose church my friend with her hus­ Hunt sang a solo. Mr. Leigh Hunt presided. Sunday next, band attended, had been very ill for some considerable time see advt.-D. N. and consequently, although there was a nurse to wait upon the SPIRITUAL MISSION: 67, George-street, rV.-Mr. E. w. Beard invalid, the daughter had not felt able io leave her mother to gave addresses under control, in the morning on 'The Unfetter­ go to the church ~ervices. But one Sunday morning, when my ing of Man,' and in the evening on 'A New Revelation.' Sun­ friend and her husband were in church, during the service she day next, see advt.-E. C. W. suddenly saw the vicar's daughter sitting in her accustomed BRIGHTON.-MANCHESTER-STREET (OPPOSITE AQUARIUM).­ place. Shortly afterwards she saw the nurse from the vicarage Mr. H. Boddington gave interesting and histructive addresses. enter the church, go up to the vicar, and whisper to him. Then Sunday next, addresses by Mr. E. W. Wallis : at 11.15 a.m she heard the vicar announce that the service must be discon­ 'The Art of Living Well' ; at 7 p.m., 'What Spirits Say about tinued, as his wife was dying. My friend was sufficiently im. Themselves.' Tuesday at 8, and Wednesday at 3 Mrs. Clarke's pressed by what she had thus seen and heard to suggest to her open circle for clairvoyance. Thursday, at 8, men~bers' circle. husband upon the conclusion of the service, that they should go 0ROYDON.-ELMWOOD HALL, ELMWOOD-ROAD, BROAD-GREEN. round to the vicarage on their way home, to inquire for the -Mr. T. Olman Todd's lectures were much appreciated. The invalid. She gave him no reason for this suggestion because of concluding lectures will be delivered next Sunday at 11.15 a.m. Ms disbelief in psychic experiences. and 7 p.m. As he was willing to do so, they went to the vicarage. The BATTERSEA PARK-ROAD.-HENLEY-STREET.-' A Practical daughter herself came to them to answer their inquiry, and told and Spiritual Life ' was portrayed by Mrs. A. Boddington. them that her mother was so much better that she quite hoped Sunday next, at 11.15, circle; 3, Lyceum; al 7, address hy Mrg. to be able to attend the service that evening. Adams, clairvoyance by Mrs. Boddington. Thursday, August My friend and her husband did not go to that service, but 17th, at 8.15, Mrs. Boddington.-N. S. remained at home. In the course of the evening a near neigh­ STRATFORD.-WORKMEN'S HALL, 27, ROMFORD-ROAD E.­ bour and friend called in to tell them-well, I need not repeat­ Mr. G. Tayler Gw,inn gave an uplifting address on the 'Trans­ just to give them an exact account of all the happenings of which figuration of Jesus.' Solos were sweetly rendered by Mr. and my friend had had perception that morning. Mrs. Alcock-Rusb. Mr. E. P. Noall presided. Sunday next, I may mention that I know of other inatances of my friend's Mr. H.J. Bowens, address.-W. H. S. participation in the gift of her race. Of one I gave an account HIGHGATE.-GROVEDALE HALL, GROVEDALE-ROAD.-Morn­ in 'LIGHT' sqme years ago. 'rhen she seemed to have impressed ing, .Mr. J. Ab.rahall spoke on 'Spiritual Origin and Spiritual her power upon the clairvoyant medium, Mrs. Spring who, in DestI?Y'; Miss Jose gave convincing clairvoyant descriptions,, consequence, was able to give her a wonderful sketch of some of Evemng, Mrs. A. Beaurepaire gave an uplifting address on 'The the happenings of her life, beginning with her immediate future Healing Power of the Living Christ,' followed by well-recognised and continuing through several years. Most, if not all, of these clairvoyant descriptions. 2nd, Madam M. Scott ga\•e good prophecies have come true.-Yours, &c., clairvoyant descriptions. Sunday next, at 11.15 and 7, Madam Scott, clairvoyance. Wednesday, Mr. W. R. Stebbens. 20th August 5th. MARY MAO!~ WALL, at 11.151 Mrs. Marr Davies; at 7 p.m., l\frs . .f'odmore.-J, f, ' A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research.

'LIGHT! MORE LIGHT!'-Goethe, • WHATSOEVER DOTH lltAKlll MANIFEST IS LIGHT.'-Paul.

No. 1,597.-VoL. XXXI. (Registered as] SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 1911. [a Newspaper-] PRICE TwOPENOE.

CONTENTE!. Some of our friends who base their philosophy of life Notes by the Way •••• - ••••••. 385 Comfortbig SpMtual Communion392 Items of Interest •••...••••.....• 393 on Oriental doctrines may find the point worth noting. E~=~=es '_V~'.~.. ~~. ~n:~~.i:e-~386 What and Where is the Spirit Stilling and_ the Sphitual Realm 387 World? .. : ...... 394 Here is another point. Miss Stephens, in her recently Remarkable •Direct Voice' Phe· A Word from Mr. W. J. Colville 394 nomena ...... - •••••••. 388 Forgiveness and Progress After published 'Legends of Indian Buddhism,' says :- Comfort One Another .•••..••••. 389 Death-? •• • . • • • • . • ...... 395 The • Flaming Sword' ..•••••. 390 Mr. Charles Bailey in Rothesay 395 Gautama held that after the death of any being human The Hypotheses of • Bilocation' Reception to Mrs. Foster.Turner396 Considered •• - ••••••••••• , .... 391 Society Work., ••••..•••••.•••••. 396 animal, or divine, 'there survived nothing at all save the being'~ "Karma,'' the result, that is, of that being's mental and bodily actions.' NOTES BY THE WAY. Professor Rhys Davis, in the new Edition of the Encyclopredia Britannica,' statea clearly, 1 The Buddha did 'The Spiritualist Manual,' issued by the National Spiritualists' Association of the United States, and pub­ not acknowledge the soul.' Consequently Karma was not lished at Washington, D.C., is a really creditable pro­ a doctrine of the transmigration of souls, but of the trans­ duction containing a 'Declaration of Principles ' ; an out­ migration of character-or what we now call 'heredity.' line of the philosophy of Spiritualism, which impresses us as being well and wisely stated ; Invocations and Readings; In the course of an article in ' The Vineyard,' for Hymns and Poems; Services for Naming Children, for August, entitled ' The Heir,' which deals suggestively with Marriages and Interments ; and much other valuable the problem of heredity, the writer remarks:- matter calculated to be helpful to societies and .other Scientific dogma is imposed upon the ignorant people who read assemblies of Spiritualists everywhere. It was, indeed, an learned reviews in a spirit not very different from that wherein ecclesiastical dogma a few years ago mind-manacled the pious. excellent idea to compress into a manual so much that The outcome is not very different ; the people are led to believe represents the faith and meaning of our movement. We that their own instinctive experiences, their inheritance from note that in the Preface special credit is given to the late countless ages of physical, ethical and religious experiment, all evolutional in success and failure, count .for little. until corrected president of · the Assnciation (Mr.· H. D. Barrett); Br. or endorsed by a professor or so. · · George A. Fuller, the Rev. F. A. Wiggin and the Rev. Thomas Grimshaw, who prepared the groundwork of the In a word, the dogma of science has tended to replace Manual. Nevertheless, we have reason to regard Mr. the dogma of theology. But both have · suffered some Charles R. Schirm, the vice-president, as 'the true begetter' damaging blows of late years, and both are becoming more of the volume, and he has our hearty congratulations. cautious and tentative in their conclusions. A recognition of the extent to which the power of the spirit overrides '·rn 'T. P.'s Weekly'-a disfiguring title for an excellent and sets at naught mechanical doctrines makes for modesty periodical !-we recently came across an optimistic letter of statement. on, the subject of pain. The writer contends that pain is The pathetic cry of Sterne's immortal starling, 'I can't only an evil when considered by itself. And he con­ get out ! I can't get out ! ' may be said to be answered by an tinues:- agitation recently started by the Humanitarian League A.a a part of our being, it is a necessary part, wholly beneficial. . . Its warning cry tells us when help is needed. with the object of discouraging and suppressing the cruel It retires when its mission is fulfilled, to keep vigilant guard practice of caging wild birds. The movement has met against any abuse of our bodies. . . Pain is never an enemy.. with influential support, and, as lovers of bird life under It is not a malignant process, but the command to be healthy. natural conditions, we wish it every success. Remove its effective warning, and you might unconsciously rot. Nature wastes nothing; Nature is wholly rational. Pain for pain's sake would be useless and irrational. It certainly is no Boast as we may of what man has made of this planet, part of Nature's order. it becomes us to remember that it has all been only Pain is Nature's method of admonishing us. It says manipulation. Man has really created nothing : he has not only 'Do thyself no harm,' but also 'Cease to do evil, only developed an.d applied alre_ady existing substances and learn to do well.' forces : and even the production of himself happened only through processes dealing with the transformations of We referred in a Note which appeared in 'LIGHT' of lower forms. He may deny 'God,' but that may mean the 5th inst. to Professor Vaswani's protest against the only the refusal of a word. He cannot deny that he is Hindu doctrine that the material world is mere illusion. only the receiver, user ·and manipulator of Nature's In 1 The World and New Dispensation' (Calcutta) of the wonderful and mysterious stores. He was not far wrong 5th ult., we see that the Professor has returned to the who said: I Out of the wild rose man_ can in time develop a charge. We read that he wonderful variety of roses of every colour. If, however, criticised the views of Schopenhauer, Duessen, Taylor and all roses were once destroyed, no human skill could Lucas . . and declarea that they all had erred in rendering create a new one,' and a similar remark could be truly the word maya as 'illusion,' 'deception/ 'sheer deceit.' Maya made respecting a million things. The truth is that as was not illusion. In the Sacred Books the word was used and man advances in wisdom and understanding his modesty meant 'Energy,' 1 the power of the Pivine Spirit latent in the C9WM~uent primoi·dillr' - wm incr~ase and! with it! his revereµce aµd ~is faith: 386 LIGHT [August 19, 1911.

Few words have suffered so much at the hands of the EXPERIENCES WITH AN ENTRANCED MEDIUM. Philistines as the word ' Substance.' The proper meaning BY G. w. MAKIN. carries us beyond what we recognise as matter, and yet the coarse world has captured it for matter only. The ' practical Perliaps the following experiences may be similar to others man' says of a thing, 'That has substance in it,' and he already recorded, but if so I l1ave not met with them in the means it is heavy with stuff of some sort ; but the man course of my reading. A gentleman called upon me a short time ago to say that with the dictionary knows he is utterly wrong. Sub-stance his wife was badly indisposed. She has been a medium from is that which stands under stuff, and Webster, for instance, childhood, and, as I had previously helped her, he asked that gives us the true meaning of the word when he says, I would again try to restore her to normal health. Knowing 'SUBSTANCE. That which underlies all outward manifesta­ that she was easy to put to sleep mesmerically, I was quite will­ tions : substratum : the permanent subject or cause of ing to do my best for her. On the first occasion, June 12th, }Jhenomena, whether material or spiritual ; that in which she was subjected to a control called ' Zousa,' whom I consulted, properties inhere; that whiph is real, iu distinction from and who gave me directions as to passes and how be.<>t to make that which is apparent, · of any existence, in distinction them to suit this case. As he proved so instructive, and his from any accident.; that which constitutes any thing what directions seemed quite natural, I continued to operate almost it is ; nature ; real or existing essence.' daily until he said that she was better, which she, in her normal In reality, then, 'substance' is not matter at all, in the condition, confirmed. He advised that I should continue each evening for some time, when she was awake normally, until her usual sense of that word, but that which causes matter for mind was relieved from fear and doubt, caused by being so a time to be. 'Substance' is spirit, creative energy, God. sensitive to the conditions of others. At a subsequent meeting In truth, the only Substance in the Universe is God. (as the control always came) I asked where the medium was, and was told that she had gone amongst spirit friends to visit Bold and original alike in thought and expression, fresh scenes and get enlarged ideas of life. As she did not, on Jarold Monro dedicates his latest book of verse ('Before waking, remember anything of her spirit travels, I was in­ -~Dawn : Poems and Impressions ' ; London, Constable and structed, when next J put her to sleep and before the control Co., cloth, 5s. net) to 'those who, with me, are gazing in was effected, to gh-e her the suggestion that, if the control came delight towards where, on the horizon, there shall be dawn.' and she went away, she would on her return remember where We gather that the' dawn' for which the poet looks is the she had been, what she had seen, and tell me all about it with­ promise of the realisation of high ideals, both of manhood out being asked to do so. When I inquired why she did not remember normally, I was informed that when travelling in and womanhood. The 'Return of .Arthur' is a fine con­ spirit she is in a similar condition to that of ordinary sleep, ception. The King returns from .Avalon to the modern except that in sleep her physical body is not so completely world to set up a new order of chivalry. Moving invisible separated from her spirit as when it is controlled hy another ' among men- being, as it then was. Often he tarried where in deepest night The control further said that he could not give her the Manhood lay slumbering, and long would wait suggestion to reme.mber ; that he could not say wh(lre she had Among the twilight regions of a soul gone, and that she had not any knowledge of what he, the control, To listen for the muffled stir of plumes. Those who with haunted, melancholy eyes was doing, or what we were speaking about. The following con­ WaYered along the corridors of doubt, versation then ensued :- Would suddenly hear the singing of his blade, Does her physical body receive any injury by her absence or Turn startled fronts a moment, then resolve ·by your control? No, but much good. I have more interest Instantly, brace their armour, lift their brows, in my medium's welfare every way than anyone else. Having And stride from the dull mansion of their doubt been with her for years, I have saved her from much, and would Into the clash and splinter of the fight. have saved her from much more if she had yielded more often to Or he would sit invisible at feasts, my influence. Waiting and watching till the moment came, Can she refuse to be controlled by you ? Yes, slie has to Then enter as a light into the eyes, provide suitable conditions. And those whom he had singled for his own Can you explain how you take control ? I stand on one side Would lift in sudden consecrated words of the medium until the spirit friends engage her attention and Their fearless voicee. Such a vernal glow lead her away. As she leaves the body on the side opposite to Passed through the ancient and autumnal world where I stand, I take her place. It would not do for me to cross That panoplied in glitter of the dawn, her course. It ran, new-spirited and high-resolved, Is she aware that you control her body during he1· absence ? As though with swifter feet among the spheres, No. Track upon track of everlasting life. Can you use her body at will as easily as she can when occupying it ? No ; but I could with practice. Thus gathered he his knights, yet in no place Has control any relation to what is termed insanity ? With Singled aliove all others ; from no feast my control, no, because I will not allow anyone else to Sent he them forth, as from the Pentecost : interfere. Theirs was the inward token, and they went Can you explain how people in the physical body become About the world as all men-but equipped insane 1 Yes; there are two principal causes-namely, igno­ With beauty and invulnerable will. rance of spirit power and lack of will. Thus gathered he his Knighthood, and, unseen, What do you mean by spirit power ? Everyone forms a Long sojourned as a leader in their midst. part of the great world of spirit, incarnate and excarnate, the moving force, called-in the whole-Omnipotence. All who LONDON SPIRITUALIST ALLIANCE, LTD. possess physical bodies are subject to influence, as well as able to influence others. Very few are willing to acknowledge this DRAWINGS OF THE PSYCHIC AURA AND DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. before they come to our non-physical condition. As you haye -On Wednesday next, August 23rd, from 12 noon to 5 p.m., been taught, 'The.spirit is like the wind,' hut more closely con­ at 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C., Mr. J?ercy R. Street will give nected with you. This is startling at first to new arrivals in personal delineations by means of the colours of the psychic spiritland, and is one of the lessons which needs to be studied by aura of sitters, and will diagnose disease under spirit control. spirits, and by those in the flesh, more than it has been. People Fee 5s. to a guinea. Appointments desirable. See advertise­ in the flesh, with a reasonable knowledge of the subject, and a ment supplement. determination to be right and do right, could not become insane from this cause. MR. JOSEPH STEVENSON, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, will be in Is insanity caused by .malignant spirits 1 Not always ; many Aberdeen from August 19th to 30th and will be pleased to meet people are naturally very sensitive, and not having gained a old and new friends interested in Spiritualism. His address will knowledge of the subject they are liable to be affected by many be care of Mrs. Davidson, 41, Osborne-place, Aberdeen. varying infftiences1 mostly good ones, bttt these inflt1ences are so August 19, 1911.] LlGHT. 387

mixed and .intermittent that the persons give forth incoherent Early on the evenmg of June 16th I put into the mesmeric expression, and fail to understand themselves. Further your sleep a patient who sometimes, while in that state, gets doctors think it is the brain that is affected, because they'know into conversation with friends who have passed on. Having to so little of spirit. Cannot well-disposed spirits prevent malignant ones from attend to another patient, who does not sleep mesmerically, I ~oing mischief 1 Each person receives power to do his own work left him, whereupon he became disturbed, waved his arms, m the body, and if he is trying to do good, with his whole mind and exclaimed : 'Go away, I do not know you.' I insisted fixed 01;1 it, that is pyayer. The good spirits will help him, but upon knowing to whom he was speaking, and told him they will not force him. If the good ones dispelled the bad in­ to ask for the name ; he replied that it was ' Zousa,' but tt.u~nce, th~Y. could not prevent the one in the body from again that he did not know him. I said, ' Welcome, " Zousa," friend givmg cond1t10ns for the bad ones. This is a big question and we will again speak about it some other time. ' of my invisible helper and companion "Decca."' The patient had often seen and spoken to 'Decca' (when asleep mesmeri­ This proved an opportune time to ask for an experiment. cally). ' Zousa ' had come to caution me about letting the Knowing a young man needing the help of good spirit people, other patient lie, after being magnetised, and said, 'He must I interceded with the control that he would interest his immediately jump up, put some energy into the movements, and conf1·e1•es and induce them to try and overcome the, as I cease to think of illness, then he will soon be all right.' I thought, malignant one. A promise was given, and the young expressed thanks. (This opinion has been repeated several man was quiet for two weeks, but again became as bad as ever. times to this patient by different excaruate individuals.) This was disappointing. When ' Zousa ' controlled his own medium at night he At a subsequent.meeting, when the medium was under in­ spoke of what he had done in the earlier part of the evening, fluence, I expressed regret, in which the control joined. I asked and repeated the advice given. Then there was a noise of how it was that the experiment had failed, and was informed excitement in the hall outside, and my wife was called out of that it did not fail in the manner that I thought. · I had not the room. In a strong voice I demanded to know what was calculated upon the nature of my request or realised what it the matter. My grandson was in an upper room in bed and entailed. The control and his confi·eres had spent much time and his condition had startled my daughter. He was apparently effort to accomplish what improvement had occurred (to the very sick. The control said, 'Wait, I will go and see.' The neglect of their own work) in order to give the young man an medium's body sighed. I asked if ' Znusa' had gone and was opportunity to do his part ; but he had failed, by again giving informed that he had. Shortly afterwards he resumed full con­ conditions suitable to evil influences. Then I asked if it would trol and said that there was nothing seriously wrong with the not be possible to keep up the good influence, and was told that boy. He instructed me to magnetise his chest transversely, it would not, that they ' could not make a prisoner of the young without contact, saying that he and a company of our arisen man.'* relatives and friends, who were present, would go with . me to After the medium had become normal, she voluntarily said help. I canied out instructions, and the boy settled off into a that she remembered going to the hospital, accompanied by natural sleep. The medium said that whilst the control was friends in spirit. There was already a band of spirit people busy she had visited a strange place, but could not give a very good description. It seemed as though the place was all sand, sunounding the young man (insane). They sang, and he with sand dunes, almost like earth, but sparkling, as if com­ seemed to be soothed, and lay down. The company then posed of diamonds. Everything was serene and peaceful. travelled (they seemed as though sitting upon a brilliant cloud­ No doubt the little disturbance would account for the like ~terial) and arrived on a magirificent green sward, as. soft meagre description. as if composed of grass of the fineness of pile velvet. T.here (To be continued.) was a sea resembling burnished silver or glass ; everything was calm and quiet, yet brilliant. '!'here were many kinds of beauti­ STILLING AND THE SPIRITUAL REALM. ful flowers, gorgeous beyond description. The calm was dis­ A writer in the 'Hindu Spiritual Magazine' points out turbed only by sweet vocal music. She saw many friends, long that the two most famous of the works of J uug Stilling, the since passed to spirit-life. great Germa:n savant, were written under spirit dictation. He On June 14th the suggestion to remember was again given says:- to the medium, and on her return to normality she laughed out­ These are 'Nostalgia,' and 'Scenes in the Invisible World.' right and remarked: 'Now I know that I was told to remember, Of the latter we learn that ' the state of mind which Stilling if I went away, what I saw, &c., but I have not been away.t I experienced whilst labouring at this work is utterly indescribable. have been present liere all the time, and saw "Zousa " speaking His spirit was as if elevated into ethereal regious, a feeling of serenity and peace pervaded him, and he enjoyed a felicity through my body.' She correctly described what the three which words cannot express.' Of the 'Nostalgia' we are told persons present were doing and where they were sitting, and that in 'the state between sleeping and waking, the most beauti­ said that there wei'e lots of spirit friends present who were ful and, as it were, heavenly imagery presented itself to his taking quite au interest in the meeting, joining in the singing. inward sense. He attempted to delineate it, but found this impos­ She said : 'I joined in with them. They were mostly relations sible. With the imagery there was always a feeling counected,com­ of those present in the body. I could see that my body was pared with which all the joys of sense are as nothing. It was a bliss­ ful season ! ' The 'Nostalgia' was received with enthusiasm. The healthy. What appeared stl'!lngely funny was that those in the author found that certain scenes in his work, which he had body looked so small. I might have been looking at you supposed to be fiction, were actual facts. A great prince wrote, through reversed opera glasses. I could not see the furniture or demanding how he had learned the particulars of a certain pictures.' secret association. Stilling could only reply that the very On June 15th, on returuing to ordinary wakefulness, the existence of the association was unknown to him. One day a medium said : 'I have been to a grand place, where there are handsome young man entered his apartment and saluted the author of the ' Nostalgia ' as his secret superior. Stilling utterly tremendous hills, terminating in huge, high pinnacles, of a disclaimed the imputed honour. 'How then,' said the stranger, .transparent material, and scintillating with flashes of ·variegated 'did you contrive ~o accurately to describe the great and vener­ colours as if a brilliant light, composed of rainbow colours, was able brotherhood in the East, to point out our rendezvous in shining through the whole. The stillness was broken by an Egypt, in Mount Sinai; tn the monastery of Canobiu, and under invisible choir or choirs, whose singing seemed to cause the light the temple of Jerusalem 1' ' All fiction,' auswC:;red Stilling. to vibrate in consonance. The air was very buoyant. The ' Pardon me,' cried the other, 'that cannot be ; the matter is in truth and reality as you have described it. Such A thing cannot flowers were abundant and rich in colour. Spirit friends went have come by chance.' And he retired dissatisfied. On July 13th, about in companies, as if on business. The murmur of their 1799, Stilling predicted the death of Lavater. In a letter, that conversation had a musical sound which blended with the sur­ day, to Antistes Hess, of Zurich, he informed him that, whilst roundings.' writing, he had felt suddenly a deep impression that a violent and bloody end awaited the great Switzer. He desired that this * 'rhe young man, who will have nothing to do with what is called might be comunmicated to him. Exactly three mouths later Spiritualism, had to be moved for safety to an asylum. 'rhis experi­ ment proved the correctnASS of the control's statement. the army of l\fassina stormed Zurich, and Lavater was shot down at his own door. Others of Stilling's presentiment~ t After the control came, the question. ·Is medium gone?' was forgotten. proved equally unerring. 398 LIGHT. [August 19, 1911.

REMARKABLE 'DIRECT-VOICE' PHENOMENA. wise approached, and in shrill tones spoke with similar purport. 'Miguel Ruiz,' too, was friendly and complimentary. .At the BY B. M. GoDsAL. same seance the medium sang and was accompanied by a man's voice. Moreover, on several occasions the medium would begin (Continued from page 377.) to sing in her usual voice, pleasing but not strong, when, becoming controlled by ' Mary Brown,' her voice would increase It would be well, perhaps, to say here a few words about enormously in volume, and perhaps at the same time her mother, the entities that control the mediumship of Miss'.Corrales. There playing, would become similarly influenced, so that the song are four regular controls, named 'Mary Brown,' 'Don Constan­ would end in a crash of sound sufficiently startling if not alto­ tino .Alvarado,' 'Don Miguel Ruiz,' and 'Carmen '.; besides two gether musical. occasional cwntrols named 'Susie Edwards' and 'Julia.i· .As I To criticise the quality of the sounds obtained at these understand it, these controls, though they all claim to be spirits seances seems to me to be foolish, because entirely beside the who have lived the earth life, give, nevertheless, but scanty question, which is, whence do the sounds proceed 1 not, what accounts of their sojourn in the flesh. ' Don Constantino,' the musical value do they possess 1 .According to the Spiritualistic supreme control of the seances, once lived in Spain. His manner theory the sounds are produced under exceedingly adverse when speaking is courteous, kind, and very dignified. Though a conditions and their quality may largely be a result of the con­ familiar spirit, he by no means encourages familiarity ; in fact, ditions, as, for instance, was the case with the early phonographs, the oldest habitiies of the · circle never presume to address him which might receive the best of music but would yield without the prefix 'Don.' 'Mary Brown,' who hails from Boston, indifferent stuff. It is not to be expected that a medium shall is the medium's closest friend. .As a voice she can speak no introduce us to the music of the spheres. Nor is it to be desired English, but when possessing the medium is reputed to speak that she should, for what could more confound human effort and write in her native tongue. 'Ruiz,' an .Andalusian, is jovial. than, by a short cut, to import music or poetry or wisdom direct 'Carmen' is reported beautiful by those who claim to have seen from a superhuman source ~ That would be a reversal of her. The others I have not met. Nature's method. When writing about seances, many people shrink from But in spite of positive proof that Mrs. Corrales when frankly conceding to the controls the style and titles that they playing ww not also singing, and in spite of the absurdity of claim-in fear, no doubt, of appearing to endorse the Spirit­ supposing that the throat of one small elderly lady could ualistic theory. But whatever one may call them, one must possibly give forth the loud and varied sounds of several voices, appear either to endorse or to deny some particular theory, and male and female, singing with utmost vehemence whilst at the I wish to do neither. same time ' Mary Brown,' perhaps, would be speaking at the For instance, there is a modern theory that the different top of her voice, nevertheless it seemed unsatisfactory that the phases of mediumship are nothing more than symptoms of back of the pianist should be turned to the audience, thus hiding hysteria. Even if one were willing to adopt this depressing if only one mouth from view while sounds so unaccountable and theory, I cannot see why even a symptom of hysteria, if it is so impossible rent the air. Therefore at one of the later seances anxious to be called 'Don Constantino .Alvarado,' should not be I asked Mr. Corrales if he would mind shifting the piano so that, humoured to that extent, especially when its request is couched with a lighted candle upon it, the face of the player would be in the politest of language. Besides, the use of terms in strict in foll . view. He not only consented cheerfully but offered accord with this theory would seem rather to increase confuEion to put the piano at the other end of the room, or -as thus, ' One of the medium's symptoms of hysteria then in an adjoining room, or to hold a seance in any house addressed the circle, warning them in earnest tones against the where I might take a room. But I was satisfied with error of materialism, after which another symptom possessing a turning the piano half round without changing its location, woman's voice sang the "Marseillaise," in which several others being quite sure that the room contained no mechanism, because joined, until the room rang with all of the medium's symptoms it could not be concealed, nor would it account for voices that of hysteria singing in chorus.' The question wouid soon arise, travel freely about a big room. The piano having been turned who is it has the hysteria 1 Therefore it seems to me best to end-on, and the voices nursed to crescendo by a little darkness, I leave to these entities the responsibility of describing and approached, st:cuck a match, lighted the candle on the piano, and naming themselves. while Mrs. Corrales spoke to me, the voices, though lowered, as In addition 'to the direct evidence already given of the always by the proximity of a stranger, yet triumphantly re. genuineness of the voices there is the indirect evidence con­ sisted extinction ; and on returning to my seat they sang out sisting of the impression formed by constant and critical obser­ with as much vigour as is usual when unassisted by dark­ vation for which one has ample opportunity, seeing that they ness, showing that the larynx of the player was not the source form a persistent phase of Miss Ophelia's mediumship. Every of their being, nor even of their reinforcement. seance begins with singing by spirits, in order, it is said, that .After this the piano remained in its new position, and at they may harmonise the fluids. When in darkness, one is per­ the last seance I received another test of the genuineness of the mitted to strike a match at any time during the singing ; in voices at a time when conditions were not good, as well as a fact, a box of matches has more than once been pressed upon me proof of how, with better acquaintance, I had grown in favour for that purpose by Mr. Corrales. The only restriction to the with the spirits. There were present, besides four of the striking of matches, I was told, was during the occurrence of a family and myself, three ladies and a gentleman, who were not materialisation, something that I did not witness, when· light regular attendants at the circle. The seance began fairly well would cause suffering .to the spirit, though the medium would with singing; but when :Mr. Corrales put a lighted candle on the be unharmed because not entranced. piano silence ensued. He repeated the operation several times, The voices seemed quite independent of control. When and in various ways, but was always greeted with obstinate most desired, as when persons of importance were present, they silence. Then the medium herself put the candle on the piano, would, perhaps, maintain an obstinate silence. Sometimes for a but even from her hands it proved an effective stopper to the whole evening they could hardly be induced to make a sound. voices. Realising that I could do no worse, and feeling much But when conditions were good ' Don Constantino ' would come confidence in the often expressed friendliness and sympathy of forward under cover of darkness into the semi-circle and give the spirits, I took the candle myself and, advancing slowly, an address. Or perhaps he would address l\.imself to an indi­ placed it on the piano full in front;of Mrs. Corrales' face, while vidual, as at my fourth seance, when he came up very close to the voices, true to their friendly professions, were able to carry me, just beyond reach of my hands, as it seemed, expressing on their vocal existence in the surrounding atmosphere, gaining with his clear articulation his pleasure, &c., while a steady breeze in force as I retired, as if to join in the applause. that greet.ed blew front"l1im to me. Moreover, he told me of the work they me. Later in the evening ' Don Constantino ' explained that had done on the medium to prepare her for the advent of spirits the medium had failed because she had not given her mind to superior to themselves, and spoke of the pain and grief pro­ them, whereas I, by earnestly concentrating my mind upon the duced by stich work in earth's atmosphere. 'Mary Brown' like- voices (which I certainly did), had enabled them to continue August 19, 1911.] LIGHT'. 389

singing. But the explanations of spirits are very ready and It might be supposed that when first one heard these voices very plausible, and by no means very consistent. springing from apparently empty space one would be filled with I will now tell of the entrancement of the medium, because an astonishment which perhaps might gradually diminieh with it occurred under conditions that were entirely satisfactory. At familiarity. But with me the reverse was true. I had often the seventh seance, on June 3rd, beside the Corrales family, attended so-called 'trumpet seances' in the United States, where there were present Mr. Alvarado, Mr. Lindo, and myself. In spirit voices were supposed to shout through a trumpet. But darkness several controls spoke, saying that as they were as these seances were invariably conducted in total darkness I preparing for the introduction of superior spirits there had always accounted for the sounds by the obvious, easy, and would not be much singing that night, hut that for my no doubt correct explanation of fraud. Thus, when first I heard information they would draw the spirit of Ophelia out of the Costa Rica voices my wonder was not as at something out­ her body and replace it by one of themselves. Lighted side of -the ordinary course of Nature, but as at something the candles were then placed one on each side of the medium, who cause of which -~as not apparent. But when, week after week, sat in a chair facing me. She quickly relapsed into a state the voices continued in every degree of light and under severe resembling death, her eyes open and staring fixedly while her test conditions, then, as conviction came, the marvel increased, hands and arms during the period of the trance grew perceptibly so that never did I find their effect more astounding than it was colder, in spite of my chafing one of her hands in my own. Sud­ at the last seance of all. . denly from the far end of the salon, where certainly there was Friends will ask am I myself convinced that these voices are nobody, a voice resembling her own spoke and sang a little, the genuine-that they proceed from no human larynx. I should voice being immediately recognised as hers by the rest of the like to reply by making three degrees of certainty as represented circle, all of whom knew it well. Then she rose from her chair, by the words, I think, I believe, I know. I 'think ' that which shook hands with each of us, and addressed us in the well­ seems to hold the greater degree of probability ; I 'believe 1 known tones of ' Don Constantino.' With his voice she insisted that which has withstood a severe but rather complicated in­ that I should prick her arms with a needle, and take notice of vestigation ; I ' know ' such things only as are susceptible of the condition of her eyes, while from the dusk at the end of the crucial and easily repeated tests. in this sense I may say that 1 room spoke her own proper voice. Then, having returned to the believe the voices to be genuine, but am not in a position to say death-like state, she suddenly jumped up and was again her that I know them to be so. own self. I was assured that when on similar occasions she is possessed by 'Mary Brown,' she is then able to talk and write COMFORT ONE ANOTHER. in English, but I was never so fortunate as to receive such a striking proof. In a recent isstte of ' Reason,' in a sermon on ' Comfort One As I said before, it was aftE'r this seance that I procured a Another,' Dr. B. F. Austin said :~ translation of the last two sections of Professor Reichel's report, A Christian nation ought to minister comfort to its poor and and as no concealment was made of the fact it was doubtless unfortunate, first by removing, as far as possible, all obstacles out of their path in gaining a livelihood and in winning success. known to the Corrales family. Whatever the effect may have Prevention of sorrow and suffering is better than all attempts been upon myself, it was disastrous to the phenomena. At the at cure. No community has done its duty Which does not next seance, on June 6th, when one other stranger was present, see to it that every honest labourer can obtain a job and life. though we sat and waited long, in darkness and in light, the Every community worthy the name of Christian ought to see to oracle was dumb. We tried music, we played the favourite it that there is some approach to suffi.c~ent wages .to meet a~ tunes of the spirits, and with palms outstretched, cried, ' Venga least the necessities of equality of opportunities in life, and set its face as a flint against all monopolies of Nature's resources, Mary, venga Don Constantino,' but all in vain. When patience such as land, minerals, coal, oil, foods, and other prime neces• had out-waited the last chance of success, I wep.t home, rather sities, and also against all attempts to exploit the public through earlier than usual, while the other visitor remained. Next morn­ franchises and special privileges. A great responsibility rests ing I was told that immediately upon my departure the voices on those possessing wealth in ministering to the poor and the rang out with their usual exuberance, and that 'Don Constan· unfortunate. Our army of millionaires is rapidly growing ; our tino' explained that they had been unable to appear before, national wealth increasing almost beyond computation, and it is simply shameful that people should hunger for food and shiver owing to the condition of my mind, into which had been poured with cold (in this richest country in the world) because they are suspicions and prejudice, &c. out of work. The number of our idle rich is increasing, and At the following seance I pointed out to the medium that I people are mad with the lust of money and the love of plea3ure. had come a long journey in order to see things for rnyself, and Multitudes of men and women in the land are squandering assured her that a single observed fact, however small, had more their millions in idle dissipation or handing down in some cases weight with me than all the theories of all the professors in ill-gotten gains to curse their children, when they should find in the possession of these millions and in the needs of the world Germany ; after which confidence was gradually restored. But a divine call to comfort and aid their fellows. it took several seances to re-establish perfect relations between There are rich homes all over this country with abundance 'Don Constantino ' and myself, as between man and man. All of room and worldly goods, where one or more orphan children of which goes to show that whatever individualit.y these spirits should be taken in and sheltered and given a fair start in life. may possess, they are largely emanations from the medium. The childless rich and those whose children are dead or departed, In answer to my inquiry as to the manner in which the would in a multitude of cases find great happiness and fervent gratitude in this world and the next, by the adoption of some voices commenced, Mr. Corrales told me that about four years one or more interesting orphan children. ago little Florita first noticed a faint voice accompanying her All this, however, is the lesser part of our duty in comfort• sister Ophelia as she sang ; later it was detected by the boy ing men. The. greatest comforter of humanity is the truth. Miguel, and afterwards it increased so as to become audible to Despite all that has been preached and all that has been writ~en everybody, and was joined by other voices. The fact that they a vast number of men still doubt the after-life. Theirs is a gloomy outlook, and when bereavement comes they have no manifest in darkness better than in light, like all psychic sustaining hope of reunion with their loved and lost. The phenomena, gives rise to a belief that they must be the voices of greatest comfort you can give to these people is in the demon­ evil spirits or the production of fraud. As a matter of fact, stration of the continuity of life and the fact of spirit com­ these voices in a sense prefer the light ; that is to say, they munication. The knowledge of this fact is the most potent themselves call for it whenever conditions are sufficiently source of comfort in the world to-day. favourable. And as regards an occasional need for darkness I have been told by an operator of wireless telegraphy that it READING.-Mr. Thomas 0. Todd will give a series of four often happens that, when in perfect touch with a distant station addresses at the Reading Spiritual Mission, the New Hall, 16, at early dawn, the conurmnication is cut just as the sun appears Blagrave-street, on Sundays the 20th and 27th inst. Subjects: Sunday next, at 11.30 a.m., 'The Temple Not Made with above the horizon as if a line had snapped. Yet no one sup­ Hands' ; at 6.45 p.m., 'The Prophets in the Temple.' On the poses, therefore, that a wireless message is conveyed by the 27th, ' Miracles of the Ages' and 'Foregleams of Immortality.' devil. No doubt in these cases the difference between darkness To all young people and those who have theological misgivings, and light is a question of physics rather than morality. a cordial invitation is given to attend these lectures. ·390 LIGHT.- [Augusb 19, 1911.

O~'FIOE OF 'LIGHT,' 110, ST. MARTIN'S LANFl, It is .oudaith and experience that "other-world order' is LONDON, W.C. absolute ; that misdirected souls, checked and repressed SATURDAY, AUGUST l!JTH, 1911. even in this world, are in the next held firmly under the control of the great and wise intelligences who administer ~igltt: the law and justice of that world. And we cannot A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research. reconcile with this conviction the spectacle of hordes of spiritual hooligans running riot amongst human kind : PRICE TWOPENCE WEEKLY. insidious and invisible tempters working ruin on sensitive COMMUNICA'fIONS intended to be printed should be addressed to the Editor Office of 'LIGHT,' 110, St. Martin's Lane, London, W.C. victims in the flesh, or spiritual 'adversaries' banded Business c'ommunications should in all cases be addressed. to Mr. F. W. South, Office of 'LIGHT,' to whom Cheques and Postal together to subvert ,the Divine order. Orders should he made payable. Let us suppose the case of a man who has always dwelt Subscription Rate9.-' LIGHT' may be had free by post on the following apart from human-kind. He is visited by another man whose terms :-Twelve months, 10s. lOd ; six months, 5s. 5d. Pa;yments to be made in advance. To United States, 2dol. 70c. To France, career has been passed in crowded cities-a man of sensi­ Italy, &c., 13 francs 86 centimes. To Germany, 11 marks 25 pf!\'. tive mind and undisciplined imagination-who reports to Wholes3J.e Agents: Messra. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co., Ltd., 23, Paternoster-row, London, E.C., and 'LIGHT' can be the hermit his experiences of the wor}d. What stories of ordered through all Newsagents and Booksellers. bloodsuckers and sweaters ! What tales of oppressed and APPLICATIONS b;y Meml..oers and Associates of the London Spirit­ overworked toilers, of myriads of famished and sickly ualist Alliance, Ltd., for the loan of books from the Alliance Library should be addressed to the Librarian, Mr. B. D. Godfrey, people, of strikes, riots, epidemics, heat waves, cyclones, Office of the Alliance, 110, St. Martin's-lane, ,V,C. murders and catastrophes of all kinds! The hermit listens, and rather wonders that the people find such a world THE 'FLAMING SWORD.' worth living in at all. But, in course of time, he resolves to see the world for himself, and makes the surprising dis­ A short time before the death of Mr. George Gissing­ covery that the people he meets seem in the main to be the author of 'New Grub Street,' 'The Nether World,' fairly happy and contented, having their codes of law and and other famous novels dealing with the sad and seamy conduct, and being generally peaceable and well dis­ side of life-a journalistic friend of ours paid him a visit. At posed. Certainly he does not recognise it as the world that time the literary world was keenly interested in what described by his visitor. And yet his visitor told him no was termed, 'the Novel of Misery,' and in George Gissing, more than the truth. It was merely a ma.tter of proportion as one of its foremost creators. Curious to learn some­ and perception and the point of view. thing of the novelist's personal outlook on the life which We think this is a fair illustration of what occasionally he painted in such gloomy colours, we interrogated our takes place in connection with the accounts we receive con­ friend on the subject. His reply pleasantly surprised us. cerning certain aspects of life in the beyond. He reported that the author's views had undergone a great We are no Pangloss ; we have no desire to gloze over change. Profound reflection had convinced him that even the follies, the sufferings and the inequalities of life. But in the midst of poverty and squalor there were compensa­ iri 'this' matter of demonism and unrestrained lawlessness tio~s. There was something_ golden at the heart of the and mischief, whether in this world or the next, we have drabbest of humankind-' a soul of goodness in things very deep and abiding convictions. In the old legend we evil.' Life, he saw, adjusted and adapted itself to the are told that when Adam and Eve were expelled from darkest conditions. Always there was something that gave Paradise ' a flaming sword wbich turned every way ' was an equipoise to existence. placed 'to keep the way of the tree of life.' And we believe­ Having long held (sometimes waveringly, perhaps), the we know-that the 'flaming sword' of Divine law is for conviction that a Great Beneficence presides over the ever turned against disorder and misrule, and that the destinies of mankind, we gratefully accepted the novelist's 'advarsaries' before whom the timid pilgrims tremble are verdict as yet another testimony to the reality of the terrible only in imagination. At the worst they are but as optimist's faith in the goodness of life, not necessarily in savage dogs that can go no further than the ·length of their some golden future but here and now. - chain. In any case, they are human creatures-God's Holding that faith nowadays even more strongly than children. Indeed, when we hear or read some lurid of old, we are less disposed than ever to accept without account of ' evil spirits,' we think of the 1dnd1y o1d Scottish question the statements that occasionally reach us concern­ saying sometimes used to rebuke those who are too ing what we may call 'other-world evils.' We hear (we censorious of their fellow-creatures-' We are all Jock :ire glad to say less frequently now than formerly) of spiritual Thomson's bairns!' vampires, incubi, demons, and what not, preying upon Another aspect of the question which has occasionally people in this world and working terrible havoc in human obtruded itself on our mind is the extent to which life. We hear of places thronged with malicious and ' wicked spirits ' may fill the role formerly enacted by the obsessing spirits who drive their fellows in the flesh into Enemy of Souls. He was long a convenient 'stalking-horse' vice and crime. Listening to some of these melodramatic to m:tny of those who shrank from assuming the responsi­ accounts, one might suppose that the lower reaches of the bility of their own frailties. It seems a not unreasonable invisible world were given over to the rule of pandemonium. assumption that, with the passing of 'Satan,' 'malignant ·Frankly, we refuse to admit anything of the sort. This spirits' were made to do duty in his stead. But putting world is imperfect enough, as we know, but even here the case on its lowest level, assuming the existence oi law and order prevail more or less. Society, for its own 'principalities and powera' of Evil-beings of the nether sake, imposes limits on the more lawless of its members. world who by some mysterious dispensation are permitted Are We to suppose that in the next world these checks and to harry the souls of men-there is always, as we nave limitations are less effective 1 said, the 'flaming sword,' even the crudest old-time No, we are inclined to think sometimes that some of theology held to that view as a religious necessity. With these reports concerning chaotic and disorderly spiritual the progress of spiritual science, however, demonism will conditions have their origin entirely in the disorderly infallibly recede into the background. A wider and deeper mental conditions of those by whom such reports are made. study of the psychology of the human mind will reveal the ,-

,August· 19, 1911.] LIGHT. 391

true .origin of many an .unreal ' shadow pantomime ' thrown up and down, ·and laterally like·a soap~bubble attached to the on to the screen that separates one world from another. Many bowl of a pipe, until I at last broke loose from the body, and fell lightly to the floor, when I slowly rose and expanded into old-time Spiritualists found all this out for themselves. the full stature of a man. I seemed to be translucent, of a But a new generation is knocking at the door, and we must bluish cast, and perfectly naked. With a painful sense of em­ see to it that, however much we may have discarded,' the barrassment, I fled towards the partially opened door to escape the eyes of two ladies whom I was facing, as well as others whom old truths remain. · I knew were about me ; but upon reaching the door I found myself clothed, and, satisfied upon that point, I turned and faced the company. As I turned, my left elbow came in con.tact with THE HYPOTHESES OF 'BI LOCATION' the arm of one of two gentlemen who were standing in the door. CONSIDERED. To my 1.nuprise his arni passed through mine without apparent resistance, the severed parts closing again without pain, as air HY ERNESTO BozzANO. Translated from 'Aunales des reunites. I looked quickly up at his face to see if he had Sciences Psychiques.' noticed the cont.act, but he gave me no sign-only stood and gazed towards the couch I had just left. I directed my gaze in (Oontinued from page 382.) the direction of liis, and saw my own dead body. It was To the stories of sensitives already given I shall add a lying just as I had taken so much pains to place it, partially upon the right side, the feet close together, and. the hands passage from the well-known account by Dr. Wiltse of a personal clasped across the breast. I was surprised at the paleness of experience of autoscopy which he observed during the critical the face. I had not looked in a glass for some days period of a serious illness which brought him to the edge of the and had imagined that I was not as pale as most very sick people tomb. Readers will themselves have the means of noticing at are. I saw a number of persons sitting and standing about the what point the phenomenon of the visualisation of the etheric body, and particularly noticed two women apparently kneeling body of another, during the process of exteriorisation, ag1•ees by my left side and I knew that they were weeping. I have since learned that they were my wife and my sister, but I had with those which reveal themselves sometimes to the dying, in no conception of individuality. Wife, sister, or friend were as this p1·ocess of duplication of their own etheric body. The case one to me. I did not remember any conditions of relationship; of Dr. Wiltse was rigorously investigated by Dr. Hodgson and at least I did not think of any. I could distinguish sex but Myers, and is held to be one of the most authentic cases nothing further. ' How well I feel,' I thought. ' Only known. It is sufficient to say that the principal witnesses signed a few minutes ago I was horribly sfok and distressed. Then before a notary an attestation certifying that Dr. Wiltse re­ came that change called death, which I have so much dreaded. It is past now, and here I am still a man, alive and thinking, corded his vision at the moment when he recovered conscious­ yes thinking as clearly as ever, and how well I feel, I shall ness aftei; a state of coma resembling death. I ought to add that never be sick again. I have no more to die.' . . I disco.vered during the phenomenon there occurred transference to a distance then a small cord, like a spider's web, running from my shoulders of the etheric body with true perception of distant situations, back to my body, and attaching to it at the base of the neck in incidents which I shall not quote, merely giving here the· pass­ front. ages in which Dr. Wiltse tells what he observed during the Dr. Wiltse then tells how he went in spirit from the room duplication of his etheric body. For the whole story I refer and far away ; among other things, he had complex symbolic readers to the 'Proceedings of the S .. P. R.' (Vol. VIII., p. 180). visions ; then he describes his return to life thus :- Case 11. After having described the phases of his illness Without previous thought and without apparent effort up to the moment when, feeling that he was about to die, he on my ·part, my eyes opened. I looked at my hands and then bade his final farewell to his relatives and friends, Dr. Wiltse at the little white cot upon which I was lying, and realising continues :- that I was in the body, in a.Stonishment and disappointment, I exclaimed : ' What in the world has happened to me 1 Must I 1 passed about four hours in all without pulse or perceptible die again 1' I was extremely weak, but strong enough to relate heart-beat, as I am informed by Dr. S. H. Raynes, who was the t1i.e above experience despite all injunctions to be quiet. Soon only physician present. During a portion of this time several afterwards I was seized with vomiting, severe and uncontrollable. of the bystanders thought I was dead, and such a report being carried outside, the village church bell was tolled. . . I lost, Such is Dr. Wiltse's story. I shall not.a briefly certain I believe, all power of thought or knowledge of existence in agreements which exist between this auto-observation of absolute unconsciousness. Of course, I need not guess at the duplication and the phenomena reported aboYe and duplication time so lost, as in such a state a minute or a thousand years of another person. Neglecting the very evident points of an would appear the same. I came again into a state of conscious agreement such as those which refer to the existence of a fluid existence and discovered that I was still in the body, but the body and I had no longer any interests in common. I looked or aura which comes out of the organism of the dying person in astonishment and jCJy for the first time upon myself-the me, in order to make an etheric body identical in form with the the real Ego, while the 'not me' closed it in upon all sides like a physical, I notice that in this story we meet incidents of sepulchre of clay. With all the interest of a physician I beheld internal autoscopy analogous to those described by sensitives, the wonders of my bodily anatomy, intimately interwoven with as well as the phenomenon of the visualisations of fl.uidic fila­ which, even tissue for tissue, was I, the living soul of that dead body. I lea.rued that the epidermis was the outside boundary ments, linking the spiritual to the physical body, and also that of the ultimate tissues, so to speak, of the soul. I realised my of oscillation sideways to which the spiritual body is submitted condition and reasoned calmly thus : I have died, as men term in the process of liberation from the physical body (a detail death, and yet I am as much a man as ever. I am about to get quite unexpected a piiori). From the point of view of hallu­ out of the body. I watched the interesting process of the cination, one cannot understand how the fancy of so many self­ separation of soul and body. By some power, apparently not deceived people could agree in inventing such an idea. To this my own, the Ego was rocked to and fro, laterally, as a cradle is t•ocked, by which process its connection with the tissues of the phenomenon is connected another incident described by Miss body was hroken up. After a little time the lateral motion Marryat, 'The spirit swayed from side to side until it stood up­ ceased, and along the soles of the feet, heginning at the toes, right by the si

feet, I felt and heard, as it seemed, the snapping of COMFORTING SPIRITUAL COMMUNION. innumerable small cords. When this was accomplished, I began to retreat slowly from the feet towards the head.' STRIKING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN SPIRITUALISM. Whilst we speak of these points of agreement, it is interest­ ing to notice that we find among the traditional beliefs of .A.s the writer of the following interesting account of 'per­ sonal experiences in Spiritualism' occupies a high official position primitive people stories of identical episodes, which can only on the other side of the Atlantic he stipulates that his name make us think that they are founded on real facts. A mis­ and address shall not be published. He vouches for the entire sionary, retumed from Tahiti, states the beliefs of the natives on accuracy of his statements, and our readers may rest assured that this subject, as follows:- we are satisfied that his narrative is a bona fide setting forth of At the moment of death they believe that the soul with­ facts as they appealed to him. Our contributor, who has been draws itself towards the head, to leave the latter later, and to on a visit to this country for some time past, is well known to be slowly and gradually absorbed in God, from whom it cQmes. us and is one of the oldest subscribers to 'LIGHT.' It is a curious and interesting fact that the people of Tahiti (Oontinued from page 365.) believe that something real goes out in a human form and they b~lieve t.his on the faith of some amongst them who 'are gifted The medium M. at the opening of public seances, and wit.h clairvoyance, who assert that immediately the dying cease to breathe there goes from the head a vapour which condenses a especially when new investigators were present, was always little above the body, and remains attached to it by a sort of careful to give a short explanation of what materialised spirit cord formed of the same substance. This substance, they assert forms are supposed to be, the gist of which was that they are grows rapidly in size, and assumes at the same time the shape of made of condensed emanations (for want of a better term), sup­ the body from which it comes, and when at last the latter has plied by the sitters themselves and the medium, that these become cold and inert, the cord which links the soul to the emanations are shaped by specialists on the spirit side to repre­ body dissolves and the freed soul flies away, apparently assisted by invisible messengers. ('Metaphysical Magazine,' October, sent men, women or children, and that these forms are then 1896.) caused to resemble the former mortal appearance, dress, &c., We have here a description which corresponds in the smallest of the spirits who desire to animate them for the purpose of details to those which our seers give us to-day. It seems to holding a short interview with their mortal friends within me, therefore, neither serious nor logical to attempt to explain the circle. To economise time and material not more than six these agreements by the hypothesis of fortuitous coincidence ; or seven of these forms would be in use during the seance, but and, on the other hand, as the Tahitians cannot have obtained each lay figure (so to speak) might be used ten or twelve times· their beliefs from civilised people, and as the latter cannot have each time the distinctive peculiarities of individuals-age, size: obtained theirs from the Tahitians, we must recognise that there &c.-being added under the supervision of the spirit who would is a valid supposition in favour of the objectivity of such phe­ temporarily animate it to facilitate recognition ; but such recog­ nomena. It is useless to add further commentary to the nition might be difficult if a spirit's memories of his own former coincidences enumerated, themselves so eloquent and suggestive. earLhly appearance were indefinite. It may be regrettable and It is this fact which leads me to gather in this classification also greatly disconcerting to beginners to find the resemblance also the phenomena of visualisation of the type with which we of materialised forms-to their former selves-not quite satis­ are now busy, in the hope that the future progress of factory, but is it unreasonable that this should be the case 1 psychical study will transform these coincidences some day into How many mortals could off-hand draw a fair picture of what valid auxiliary proofs of the main thesis. Although this ex­ they looked like ten years ago 1 A spirit may have been parted preasion of prudent expectation is made in connection with this for many years from his mortal shell, and have ceased to feef last and quite· special class of visualisation, I tAke the oppor­ any interest in it, and it may well happen that he cannot tunity to extend it over the whole range of study ; also, in reproduce it very faithfully. If he brings corroborative finishing this part of my work I deliberately repeat that it was evidence, such as a good memory of earth occurrences, family not my intention to give to casuistry a scientific character, but memories, names, dates, &c., to help establish his identity, these rather solely a psychological interest, although from now on we shortcomings in outward resemblance should be overlooked. must not consider these phenomena as devoid of inductive value, Therefore, according to M., materialised forms are but mannikins provided we take notice of what I have already insisted upon, i.e., animated, perhaps, over and over again, by a succession of the fact of the agreement with which these various forms of phe­ spirits, with slight modifications in each case. M.'s seances nomena all converge towards the same proof, happen simultane­ were remarkable for the large number of materialised forms­ ously in different countries, and repeat themselves in identical from sixty to a hundred, or even more-which appeared during fashion in different periods. This deserves at least careful a seance lasting one hour and a half. This would not have thought, and tends to nullify the conclusions reached by the been possible but for the fact that they were really only a few most eminent contemporaneous psychologists and mythologists­ forms appearing and reappearing under various guises. Paul from Herbert Spencer to Goblet d'Alvielle-on the subject of was stmck by the exceptional mental alertness-the facility of the genesis of primitive animism and religious beliefs in general. holding a sustained conversation-exhibited by all apparitions (To be continued.) at these M. seances. With other mediums visited by him in later years he has frequently noted greater perfection of form, of MATERIALISM N01' DEAD.-In a recent letter to 'The resemblance of features, and of individual personal character­ Spiritual Journal,' Dr. A. R. Wallace asks that a statement istics-but seldom equal mental alertness. He realised, of attributed to him to the effect that 'Materialism is as dead as course, that with all mediums results are subservient to a mul­ priestcraft,' shall be annulled. He says : ' I believe I never wrote or published any such statement, and besides it is totally titude of favourable or adverse conditions, such as the health of untrue. Materialism is still rampant, among men of science, the mediums; the psychic development of the sitters, their com­ both here and in America.' plete harmony, atmospherical conditions, &c. THE principal feature of 'The Alliance of Honour Record' When Paul first saw the M.'s, several months before the for July is a full report of a great demonstration in the Assembly series of seances at present referred to, his impressions of their Hall, Mile End-road, under the chairmanship of Mr. T. R. work were not altogether satisfactory. Now evidences of Ferens, M.P., and addre8sed by the Bishep of Durham, Bishop genuineness were so strong that his doubts were soon dispelled. Taylor Smith (Chaplain-General of the Forces), Rev. Ensor Walters, Mr. E. Smallwood, and Dr. H. Grattan Guinness Every seance was the occasion of sweet intercourse with president of the Alliance. In the course of his speech th~ · 'Adela,' the rehearsing of reminiscences of the past known to their Bishop of Durham read a letter from Lord Knollys conveying two selves alone, references to. friends and localities of interest the King's warm sympathy with the objects of the meeting and to both in the past as well as to recent or actual earth occur· His Majesty's sincere good wishes for a successful issue. The rences-forming ~ mass of proof absolutely convincing as to King honours himself by honouring a movement which seeks to identity. Yet her features were always veiled. At Onset she had unite the manhood of the country in a world-wide effort on l)ehalf of purity and a chivalrous respect for womanhood. The been described to Paul by a clairvoyant as wearing a luminous Alliance headquarters are at 112, City-road, E.C., from whence cross on her breast. Here at the M.'s this same luminous all information in regard to the subject can be obtained. cross, in size about 2i by 3 inches, would for a few moments August i9, 1911.] i..iGH't. 393 appear over her heart ; it would sometimes appear and disappear. ITEMS OF INTEREST. On one occasion Paul was granted the favour of touching it ; it was non-metallic, not warmer than the temperature of the A correspondent kindly sends us the following quaint living body, its light was distinctly phosphorescent, in appear­ epitaph to add to those already published in ' LIGHT.' It will ance if not in fact. When questioned about this cross 'Adela ' be found in Compton Cemetery, Suffolk :- said that it was not worn by her as an ornament or a religious ' Nineteen days this infant In this world did stay ; . emblem but" as symbolic of the crosses of her earth life. At Disliked it, closed its eyes, every seance she was most effusive in her expressions of love And went away.' for her friend, of intense joy at the possibility of thus com­ A wise infant for its age ! municating with him, of sorrow when the time came for her to vanish. At his request she promised to endeavour to procure for The late Dr. Carpenter coined the phrase 'Unconscious him a spirit portrait of herself. A similar feat had been per­ cerebration,' but Dr. Sexton, speaking of it as 'Unconscious formed for a member of the select. circle which Paul had been consciousness,' characterised it as nonsense, and it died. More permitted to join, and ' Adela' hoped that it could be repeated receµtly we have .hatl the.' Sub-conscious self' and ' Subliminal in favour of her lover before he left New York. To their consciousness,' on which 'The Progressive Thinker ' observes : mutual and very great delight the promised portrait was ' "Subliminal consciousness" is relied upon by pseudo-scientists to prove Spiritualism false by explaining it. And yet what shall obtained during the seance of December 5th, 1905. explain " subliminal consciousness" 1 Sometimes it is difficult '.!'he readers of 'LIGHT' would, no doubt, like to know how to take these scientists as seriously as they imagine they should this and a few other spirit portraits were obtained at the M.'s be taken.' seances. They were produced, it was explained by M., by a nameless spirit artist, whose services were available only on A paragraph in a recent issue of the 'Liverpool Echo 1 special and rare occasions. The earth materials required were a states that owing to certain manifestations, such as creaking piece of cotton canvas stretched on an ordinary frame, and faced floors, opening doors, mysterious sounds as of clanking chains and the appearance of a white-robed lady, which have been with white ch·awing-paper ; a saucer containing various pow­ occurring at a Sheffield suburban vicarage, the family have had dered pigments carelessly mixed together ; and a tumbler of to seek another residence. The vicar is said to have seen the water. On the evening of December 5th, Paul brought to the apparition, and a plumber, and later, a joiner, who were called seance-room a new white canvas frame, measuring 12in. by 15in. in to make a thorough examination of the house, were so upset He held it in his hands until about thirty minutes before the at seeing the apparition that they fled without concluding their close of the seance, when he was requested by M., on spirit investigations. A well-known baronet, residing in the locality, volunteered to prove the groundlessness of everybody's fears by advice, to place it beneath the chair of Mrs. M., who was en­ himself making an examination. However, he was no more tranced within the cabinet. With it were placed the saucer of successful than the others, and was, in fact, considerably upset pigments and a. tumbler of water. He returned to his seat and by his experience.' the seance proceeded as usual. . Forms continued to appear and vanish, among them 'Adela,' who declared that the portrait Ezra A. Carpenter, writing in 'The Pro~ressive Thinker,' would be a success. . Paul asked if it would be possible for her shows how Spiritualists are made. He says : I was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for seventeen years, believing to be painted in her monastic costume, so that it might be more in a personal God and a personal devil, a located hell and a readily recognised by some of her still living relativ~ She located heaven, until I was thirty-eight years old. No· one said; ' Oh, do not ask me that, it would wrap me in co~ditions could have been more prejudiced against Spiritualism thari I of intense pain.' Fifteen or twenty minutes later Paul was was, believing, as I did, that, if my friends were in heaven, called to the cabinet by M. and he received from his they were so happy they did not want to come back, and, if they hands a very beautiful pprtrait of 'Adela.' The canvas and the were in hell, they could not come back. However, I went to a artist's work being still wet, it took a full hour's exposure close seance in order to condemn and make fun of it. The medium was an uneducated farmer's daughter. At that seance my sister to a heater to dry it en.:iugh to permit its removal from the came. She told me all about her last illness, what disease she house. In the centre of a slate-coloured ground is seen a three­ died of, a1so the last conversation she and I had had on earth, quarter profile of a young girl of about seventeen, with the and there was not a living witness to that conversation. I have bloom of health on her cheek and an expression of kindly and seen her since, and talked with her face to face in the presence most intelligent .vivacity in her eyes and mouth. Over her of three other persons, or witnesses. I went home thinking as never before. We formed a circle ; my wife, daughte1", and son head and fastened under the chin, is a veil or drapery. of some developed mediumship, as did my sister, her son, and her filmy or gauzy material, beautifully done. As a resemblance daughter, and this is what Spiritualism has done for me: It has of 'Adela' at that age Paul declares it to .be excellent; it was knocked the bottom out of hell, killed the devil, demonstrated pronounced a remarkable likeness by her few relatives still in the immortality of the sottl, and taken away the fear of death.' life. There are no known photographs of her at that period of her life. Pattl had none with him, and he neither described nor As the present generation of Spiritualists know little re­ referred to her personal appearance to anyone. It is true the specting the Davenport Brothers, and have had to endure the taunts and sneers of those who boldly denounce them as picture was not produced under test conditions, but if fraud was tricksters without the slightest show of evidence, the testimony practised, how account for the perfect resemblance 1 Then, of so careful an observer as Epes Sargent is worth reproducing again, within the past five years, in a multitude .. of seances, just now. In his valuable work, 'The Scientific Basis of Spirit­ under many mediums, some clairvoyant and clairatidient, through ualism,' he says : 'At the manifestations of the celebrated automatic writing, &c., 'Adela ' has repeatedly referred to this Davenport Brothers, as far back as 1850, a full spirit-form portrait as being the source of great joy to herself in having would not infrequently appear. Their father, Dr. Ira Daven­ port, whom I have questioned on the subject, and whose been able to present it to Paul. Over and over has she referred good faith,no one who knows him can doubt, assured me (1879) to its presence in an elegant f~ame in Paul's private apartments, that the phenomenon was proved repeatedly in his own house, to the fact that Paul touches · it with his lips every evening and through the medial attraction of his own sons, under condi­ before retiring to bed, &c. None of these statements can be tions where fraud or delusion was impossible. There have been accepted as scientific evidence, but singly and collectively they charges of fraud (by no means conclusive) against the" brothers," demonstrate that the portrait was produced at 'Adela's ' desire, but that genuine manifestations were given by them cannot now be disputed.' in the manner stated, that she sat for it, that she was perfectly aware of the pleasure it would give, of how it was received, and of how it has been treasured since that happy 5th of Over the signature 'Nordach' a contributor to the. July December, 1905. number of 'Annalee des Science Psychiques' gives his impres­ (To be continued.) sions of a sitting with Mrs. Wried~ which -he and some friends attended on May 26th at Julia's Bureau. One thing he observed about the speaking trumpet used in the voice manifestations was ' THE revelations made by Spiritualism must tend to aid the the rudimentary character of the mouthpiece. ' In that respect,' human mind in realising God a.

894 LIGHT. [August 19, 1911. laughter which we heard. Voices, laughter plaintive cries all A Disturbed Inquirer Desires Information. gave the absolute impression of being formed :Cit/tin the trum~et.' He also declares that at times he heard simultaneously the voice Srn,-In 'LIGHT' of July 22nd, p. 345, you kindly made of the medium proceeding from where she sat, and the voice in known the .fact of my having applied to you for the explanation of a certam statement made to me, and attributed to Mrs. the ~ru~pet neat· to himself. The greater part of the com­ Besant. I was hoping your paragraph might have caught the mumca~1ons took .place naturally in English, but his French compamons and himself 11ad communications in Frencl1, though eye of one of your readers who would have thrown some light he feel'i! .that he ought to add that the French was not devoid of on the matter, but as it seems not yet to have done so, would you an English accent. All he can say is that there seemed to him do me the favour of reprinting that paragraph in connection with this letter*, as such a pronouncement if from such an to b~ good ~vidence of the existence of a force coming from the authority as Mrs. Besant, cannot fail to h~ve somewhat of a med1~ o~ m her presence, bnt which is not herself. He scouts d_isturbing influence on those who, like myself, are compara­ ve~triloqUlSm ~ the explanation. of the phenomena, stating that t1 vely new to the sublime and comforting teachings of ~1e is .well ac.q~m~d with the eflects of ventriloquism, and that SpiritualisllL-Yours, &c., m this case it IS qmte out of the question. l\I. HOPI'ER. l\Iiss Mary Mack· Wall, whose interesting account of a pro­ Walker Gate, Newcastle-on-Tyne. phetic vision appeared in last week's 'LIGHT,' page 384, sends us . an extra~t from a letter, received from its percipient, which she thmks. may help to substantiate the vision reported by The Spiritual, or So•called 'Astral ' Body. her. The writer of the letter says : 'Many thanks for sending "LIGHT" [of the 5th inst.]. The paragraph marked is most inter­ Sm,-In confirmation of the position taken by Mr. Purvis esti~g. It is what we . Highland people call second sight. I in 'LIGHT' of the 5th inst. (page 368), I may mention that Dr. don t know what the attttude towards such matters is now up George Wyld, in his 'Notes on My Life,' page 70, relates how there, but in my small days amongst the country people and having taken chloroform to relieve intense pain, he became un: old men and women I used to bear numbers of instances of a conscious, and then, he says, 'suddenly I saw, most distinctly, like nature. I remember my own stepmother telling me that myself as a spiritilal body, standing in the middle of the room in one day she was walking along a country road and seeing a my natural form, robed in a long grey tunic, and looking in­ funeral coming, she stepped aside until all the people ~ed by. tently on my uncon9cious body as it lay motionless on the bed By the people who were carrying the coffin she guessed it was about six feet away.' A fuller account is to be found in the same the funeral of a certain man, which sm-prised her, as she thought . writer's' Christo-Theosophy,' which I have not seen. This I he was alive and well. Making inquiries, she found he ivas imagine to be a case of the sub-conscious mind seeing the alive and well, and there had not been any funel'al on that day. spiritual body, and having just time enough to impress the fact Very soon after the man diil, die, and she went to look at the upon the mortal mind, as memory, before the latter lost con­ funeral procession, which was exactly in the order of bet• vision. sciousness.-Yoms, &c., Now, she was a woman who took no interest in anything psychic V.L.A. -a most matter-of-fact person. Things of that kind used to be told me just as if there was nothing extraordinary or tmllSUal What and Where is the Spirit World ? about them.' Srn,-I was as usual delighted but not suri>rised on receiv­ ing 'LIGHT' by post, for we are holiday-making in our 'cottage LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. nea.r a woo~,' to find 011 page 372 a letter signed • P. Jenkins,' wluch carrled on the very tra,in of thought my husband and I The Editor is not resp1Y1&Bt'ble for the opinions B3:;f)r11Bsed by correspon­ had just been discussing, namely, how in this pure atmosphere, dents, and sometimes publishllll what he does not agree with for lacking the 'hot, shut-in' feeling, the clairvoyant or even the pu?pose of prllllenting 'l1iew8 which mail elicit discussion. the non-perceptive can with comparative ease commtmicate with the 'other world.' It might interest your readers to hear A Word from Mr. W. J. Colville. of an article in 'The Hibbert Journal' of April, 1907, ' Between Srn,-As I am now returning to America and believe I am Life and Death,' where this feeling of the soul melting into en route to A11Btralia, permit me to express my heartfelt gratitude space and understanding is beautifully described. I do not to the numerous friends all over England, to whom I am deeply think your read11rs will deride me if I speak of the most beau­ indebted for innumerable kindnesses during the past three tiful experience of my life in California. Away there in the months. Although I have been incessantly busy and the mountains, surrounded by a rippling bay, in a silence that can weather has been hot I have enjoyed excellent health, and feel be felt, this clearness of the ethers is a miracle. There the more vigorous in mind and body as the result of my visit to my materialisation of our spirit friends is comparatively easy. The native land. It is only the barest statement of fact when I eyes first al'e dazzled by seeing through the ether. The decla1-e that wherever I have lectured I have been most gener­ 'Througth,' as I have heard Mr. }'!etcher call it, and the spark­ ously treated. I cannot recall a single instance where an ling lights are ably described scientifically by Annie Besant. But audience has been other than kindly and sympathetic, and in after this.! No words can express the dazzling beauty of most places large numbers have been in attendance. tlu-ouglt the white into blue, then purple. . Speaking of Spiritualist societies and their meeting place9 I saw the face that we conjure up in our most exalted in particular, I have seen a great improvement over two years moments and dreams, and heard words of which I want to write ago, and so much more to admire than to criticise adversely, that more one day, but when my eyes close in death I need no more I am carrying across the ocean tidings of peace and goodwill than that smile of welcome. Then countless radiant faces sud­ and also of substantial progrel!.!:, which will encourage workers denly appeared, the clouds melted, and I saw distinctly the in other lands to strive as earnestly as their British co11J,.eres. vision of a man with a drawn sword, and of a white horse. Outside of distinctly Spiritualist societies, I must call special These spheres, then, are in inseverable communication. My attention to the magnificent work accomplished at Letchworth, little son who stood by my side also saw the vision. He is Herta, where I. _gave sh: lectures dming four delightful days, naturally clairvoyant in colours. Again, here we have simul­ under the geniaLand most effective .presidency of Mr. Bruce taneously seen the sword, the white horse, and the figure. Wallace, whose broad, humanitarian spirit leads him and his Scoffers may say 'dreams and visions,' but it seems as if God fellow-workers to make the cloisters of the Garden City not did not hurry too fast our knowledge collectively in the world ; only a centre of healthy, simple living, but also of philosophic but the tremendous simplicity of the prophecies and the explicit teaching of the broadest and most spiritual type. London has manner of revelation, seem to indicate that 'Uranus,' if he is the treated me more than generously,and though there arc many spots Michael in the ether of the ta:.uer life, is directing men's minds on earth around which delightful associations thickly cluster, I can with sober, earnest effort to pierce the veil, and so complete the still say truthfully that, despite my extended travels, the British human understanding and material life. · Metropolis, where my public work commenced in my early All the questions of spiritual telepathy and doubled con­ youth, remains my chief point of attraction on this globe. sciousne8s and materialisation arc of great interest. When I Friends an

Thoughts on Current Topics,· subject all the while to the same passion.~ as those which · Sm,-With reference to the much deplored falling off of brutalised its being iu this world. membership and attendances in the churches, perhaps Emerson 2. The discaruate soul niay be relieved of such passions speaks truly when he says that the lukewarm attitude of church­ (including that of remorse) by post-mortem repentance, goers is due to the preachers' lack of enthusiasm-' the soul is not expressed through the lips of an incarnate medium in this p1'eached.' Make a man sensible that he is undying, arouse in world and in the presence of those not at all interested in the him glorious aspirations and 'a call to arms' will not be needed, affair, the repetition of certain set forms of prayer acting like a for the spirit will then go forth to achieve ; ultimately attaining potent spell in cl1arming away in a few minutes the life-long a God-like attitude. Thinking that 'LIGHT' was exceptionally pollutions of the flesh and the anguish in which the wretch had interesting this week, I handed my copy to a lady, an agnostic. w1ithed for five hundred years. Prayer, when ardent, ·opens After a slight perusal she said, ' Admitting as you do that such heaven indeed, for we read that Eglinton's face beamed with the phenomena occur, what. use are they 1 I enjoy life, and, after light thereof. The process of purification need not be gradual all, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." ' I replied, in all cases. · 'Are you quite sure of this 1 A realj.sed possession is not al ways 3. The Spiritualist's spiritual entourage reflects his or her as desirable as that that one is seeking, or ignoring. Anyhow, if religious and intellectual characteristics, and the Roman Catholic you had caught a glimpse of a bright-plumaged bird of Paradise, Cross continues to be in the world to come more than a mere and had heard it pour forth its sweetest song, you would want emblem of vicarious suffering and imputed l'ighteousness. to draw nearer to the bush where it was singing, aflame with the My question then is, should the aliove be considered the divine fire of the spirit.' With regard to thought : All you "7rite tenets of Spiritualism ? appeals to me ; only the truth can make us lree, so we need That Mr. Eglinton was a man who commanded the esteem free trade in thought. I hope grand old Emerson won't get · of Spiritualists is manifest from \Vhat we read of him, that 'beaten ·out' any 'finer,' as I have always considered him unique he had been invited in the year 1886 to read a paper before and not to be beaten ! How wonderfully he urges men to think the Lontlon Spiritualist Alliance, anti when one of the Jiiglte11t for- themselves and to walk erect ! Neither old nor new thoughts guides of such a man is directly concerned in the production of are necessarily true, but no man can walk erect until he has cast those marvellous but unque8tionahle phenomena, the inferences aside his fetters, realising in his service for humanity that ' A drawn from them must stand. · life of self-renouncing love is a life of liberty.'-Yours, &c., · Well may a poor bqdy like this correspondent of yours MY (with a certain gentleman), 'I have no desire to live this life Sutton. E. P. PRENTICE. over again ; I should grow absolutely sick of myself. For a reason of my own : my old carnal self might cling for hundreds or thousands of yeara, f01· aught I can see to the contrary, till Forgiveness and Progress after Death-? brought into touch by the merest chance with the \'icariollll 8rn,-Supposing that to an earnest inquirer's intellectual cross.' conviction of the truth of the greatest and most fundamental A waggish friend, overlooking this manuscript, with the im­ doctrine of Spiritualism-the survival of personality, the un­ pudence of his kintl, whispers roguishly : 'Beloved, believe not broken continuity of life presented to his i·eason by eminent every spirit, but try the spirits.' ' Ali, my lad, but that is Spiritualists, like Sir Oliver Lodge, Professors Barrett, Lombroso, preci9ely my trouble ; I must to "LIGHT." I ha>e been an &c., as an absolute fact-were superadded personal knowledge inquirer for some time, and once, in my anxiety to get proofs of of spirit return, would it not be. quite. natural for him to ask survival that would appeal to me personally, I applied to a further, What is the afterlife like 1 This is my immediate con­ certain office opened for the purpose, but nothing came of it cern for the present, and I shall be grateful for any attention except the humiliating consciousness that I had made an ass of your readers may kind1f give it. . . myself.'-Yours, &c., In Chapter XI. of There is no Death,' Florence Marryat R. ~· WHY!l'E. relates, with all the facile graphicness of an expert noveli~t, the Amritsar, India. story of a monk. Mr. Eglinton gives a seance nndllr '.Joey's' control, at a house belonging to the thirteenth century, having first informed his friends that he had not been l>rought over for Mr. Charles Bailey in Rothesay. tlwi?- pleasure or edification, bL1t ~hat the purposes ·of a higher power than his own should be accomplished. He enacts what Srn,-As previously intimated would be the case four. sit­ purports to be a horrible scene, as evidenced by a diabolical tings were held with Mr. Charles Bailey on the 3rd, 4th, 5th expression of face, clenched hands, gnasliing teeth, and other and 7th inst., at Glenbeg Honse, Rothesay. AU present, includ­ lifelike actions ; and all capped by the wielding of an imaginary ing the members of the Rothesay circle, were Spirittialists.. Mr. knife raised now and then as if to strike. As was to be expected, James Robertson, Mr. and Mrs. James Paterson, Mr. W. T. such violent histrionism not only horrifies the spectators (11 Thomson, Mr. Galloway and Mr. and Mrs. Bl'own, Glasgow, family party), but exhausts the amateur actor hinuelf, when, as Mr. and Mrs. Walker, Edinburgh, and Mrs. Ogilvie, Dundee, if to soothe the nerves of all, gentle 'Daisy' takes po3session of were the additional sitters. The conducting of the seances and him, and gives the company to under3tand that the controlling the comfort and care of the medium were principally in their spirit was a monk or priest. Finally the talented medium is hands. The apports received were two Hindu }Iinnaa birds, controlled by one of his highest guides, and translates the one leaf of the Talipot palm, two nests principally 1nade from theatricals into a 'round unvarnished tale' of a beautiful young similar lea\•es, one large dish of rubies and rnby sand, and. one nun of twenty-three having been murdered by a monk of thirty­ veil, very valuable for its curious and rare coins, such as Egyp­ five, for not yielding to his sensual solicitations, the guide's most tian native women wear. Corroborating evidences will be sent charitable object being to help the distressed spirit (present to 'LmHT' in due conrse.-Yours, &c., there) to throw off his ea1·th-bound condition by the confession JAMES COATES. of his crime through the medium's lips, and by virtue of the P.S.-Pdrmit me to ar.knowledge, with thanks, the following prayers of those who had been induced to hold the seance. At sub3criptions towards the abJve-named seances: James Robertson, the' Salve Regina' and 'Ave Maria' the medium (personating E~q., £5; John Auld, E~q., £5 ; John Duncan, Esq., £3; Mr. the condemned spirit) lifts his eyes to heaven and clasps his and Mrs. Walker, £2; Mr. and Mr:11. Pater:i!On, £2 ; Mr. and Mrs. hands, and in the 'Pater Noster' he appea.ra to join ; but Brown, £2; MT:11. Birrell, £1; W. T. Thomson, Esq., £1; -Gal­ directly they cease praying the evil passions return, distorting loway, Esq., £1 ; Mrs. Fletcher, £1 ; Misses Arroll, £1 ; Mr. his face. At last a crucifix is placed upon his breast, he strains D., 103. 6d.; Miss P!lyne, 10s. 6d. Total £25 1$. it to his eyes, lip3 and heart, falls to repeating the ' Anima Christi,' then a beautiful smile breaks upon his face, and the spirit passes out of him. Trembling and terribly exhausted THE PASSING OF A PIONEER.-' I am "happy, but very busy,' again, the medium adds the last touch of genius to the inter­ is the characteristic message th1it comes to us to-day from the esting ;;cene by suddenly exclaiming, ' They are doing something Snmmerland from our old friend and fellow-worker, Chal'les to my forehead! Burn a piece of paper and give me the ashes.' White, of Rochester, N. Y., U.S.A., and late of Marylebone, He rnbs them between his eyes, when behold the sign of .the Loudon On July 27th he was seized with a fit, and three days Cross becomes distinctly visible, drawn in deep red line3 upon later passed peacefully away. A beautiful service was held at his forehead. · Plymouth Church, Rochester, where the Rev. Dr. B. F. Austin It is necessary to add that the murder was committed in 1498. presides, and where Mr. White bad recently assisted in the ser­ Florence Marryat's Spiritualistic experiences belong to the last vices. There were numerous floral tributes, and the choir sang quarter of the nineteenth century. The inferences I feel his t\VO favourite hymns, 'Angel Footsteps' and 'Lo, in the warranted in drawing from the apparently genuine tale of the Golden Sky.' The la.test mail hrings us the news that Mr. monk are:- White, only a week before his transition, returned from the Lily 1. A disembodied soul may remain earth-bound for five Dale Camp Meeting, where he had the good fortune to secure hundred, or, for the matter of that, ft ve thousand years, and be several genuine slate messages.-E. A. R. 396 LIGHT. [August 19, 1911.

RECEPTION TO MRS. FOSTER-TURNER AT · SOCIETY WOIJK ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 13th, &:o. ROTHESAY, SCOTLAND. ---r ProSf'ectwe N oticu, not erec88dMl,g twentv-four "words, 'flWl/I be added As Mr. A. J. Abbott and Mrs. Foster-Turner ae:iompanied to r8jJorts if accompanied bv stam14>s to the value of si:J;Jlmcs. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey on their short visit to Scotland, the mem­ bers of the Rothesay circle, and the Spiritualists from Edinburgh MARYLEBONE SPIRITUALIST .AssoCIATION, 51, MORTDIEB.· and Glasgow present at Mr. Bailey's seances on the three previous STREET, W.-Gat11endm Rooms.-Mr. A. V. Peters gave a nwn· evenings, agreed to give Mrs. Foster-Turner a reception on the ber of successful clail'voyant descriptions and spirit messages to 6th inst. ; and as Mr. Abbott is supporting Mr. Bailey and a large audience. Mr. W. T. Cooper presided. Sunday next, acting in his protection and interest, without fee or reward, he see advt.-D. N. was included in the reception. Mr. Bailey being indisposed SPmITuA.L M1ss10N: 22, Prince's-street, O:l:ford-street.-Even­ neither he nor Mrs. Bailey was able to attend. Mr. James ing, Mr. E. W. Beard; under influence, gave an address on Coates presided. After a telling and appropriate address by 'What we think of Your Spiritualism.'-67, George-street, W.­ Mr. James Robertson, supported by Mr. W. Thomson and Mr. Morning, Mr. G. R. Symons gave an address on 'The Water of Galloway, all of whom bore testimony to the convincing nature Life.' of the phenomena at :Mr. Bailey's seances, and to Mrs. Fos.ter­ K1NGSTON-oN-THillEs.-.AssmrBLY Rooxs, HAMPTON WtcK. Turner's manifold gifts, the chairman, on behalf of' the -Mr. and Mrs. Alcock Rush conducted the service. · Special Rothesay circle, felicitously presented Mrs. Turner and Mr. silllfing. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Mr. Snowden Hall will speak Abbott with two volumes, and to their care gave two on Astrology : its Value to Spiritualists.' other books for Mr. and Mrs. Bailey, as souvenirs of their FULHill.-COLVEY HALL, 25, FERNHURST-ROAD.-Evening, visit. Mrs. Foster-Turner and Mr. Abbott briefly replied. a successful circle was held. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Nurse Mrs. Trimer then passed under the control of one of her Graham (Mrs. Imison) will give clllirvoyant descriptions; doors guides, the Rev. Allen Webb, who desc1ibed his passing closed at 7.15.-W. T. over and the light which came to him in the spirit world, which STRATFORD.-WORJDlEN'S HALL, 27, RoJrlFORD-ROAD, E.-:­ modified his former religious views. It was a revelation of the Mr. Galloway gave an address on ' Sinners,' followed by psycho­ soul's pilgrimage from rigid W esleyanism to a kindlier phase of metric readings by Mrs. Hitchcock. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Christian thought, which emphasised the love of Gld and the Mrs. Jamrach, address and clairvoyance.-E. P. N. ultimate salvation of all. An appeal was made to the mediums BRIXTON.-8, MAYALL-ROAD.-Mr. Tayler Gwinn gave an present to be faithful to their trust in the exercise of their gifts. address on 'The Importance of Man.' Sunday next, 7 p.m., They could set Scotland on fire for God, and lift the people out address. Lyceum, 3 p.m. Circles: Monday, at 7.30, ladies'; of darkness into light, from matter to spirit, from earth to Tuesday, at8.15, members'; Thursday, at 8.15, public. heaven ! Mrs. Turner, speaking normally, gave an account of BRIGHTON.-MANCHESTEB·STREET (OPPOSITE .AQUABIUM).­ her early life, of her people, who were. God-fearing Wesleyans, Mr. E. W. Wallis gave two splendid addresses. Sunday next, of how much she suffered from the dread thought of eternal at 11.15 a.m. and 7 p.m., Mrs. Fielding, Tuesday, at 8 p.m., damnation for many, of her first psychic experiences, and how and Wednesday, at 3 p.m., Mrs. Clarke's circles for clairvoyance. she had been guided and protected and finally led into her present Thursday, at 8 p.m., members' circle.-A. M. S. work. This was followed by clairvoyant descriptions and psycho­ CROYDON.-ELMWOOD HALL1 ELMWOOD-ROAD, BROAD-GREEN. metric readings. Our friends preferred to be known as Christians -The series of eloquent lectures by Mr. T. Olman Todd was con­ and not as Spiritualists, but the facts of Spiritualism were cluded. Sunday next, Mrs. M. H. Wallis. Subjects, at 11.15 acknowledged and the power of the Spil'it was felt in such a a.m., questions answered; at 7 p.m., 'Social States in Spirit way that all the speakers declared that the meetings were most Life.' beneficial and uplifting. .A lady who had never been to a · CillBERWELL NEW-ROAD.-SURREY MASONIC HALL.-Morn­ gatherj.ng of the kind had her husband accurately descril;>ed and ing, spirit teaching was given through Mr. W. E. Long and his pet name given as well Ml'. Abbott, in returning thii'nks for questions were answered. Evening, an address was delivered on Mr. Bailey (in his absence) and for Mrs. Foster-Turner, related • Inquiring of the Lord.' August 20th and 27th, at 11 a,m. how he became convinced of spirit communion, having seen his and 6.30 p.m., Mr. W. E. Long.-E. S. own father in Australia the same night that he had ' died ' in . BRIGHTON.-OLD TOWN HA.LL, HQVE, l, BRUNSWICK-STREET New Zealand. Mr. James Robertson expressed his pleasure in WEsT.-Mr. Horace Leaf gave excellent addresses· and clair­ being privileged to be present at these sittings, and bore testimony voyant descriptions. Sunday n~xt, at 11.15 a.m. and 7 p.m., to the good work carried ·an by Mr. and Mrs. Coates-the writings Mr. R. Beddington. Monday, at 3 and 8, also Wednesday at of the former and the .spirit11al gifts of the latter. The con­ 3, clairvoyance by Mrs. Curry. Thursday, 8.15, public circle. clusion arrived at by all was that the propaganda of the gospel HIGHGATE.-GROVEDALE HALL, GROVEDA.LE-ROAD. - Mrs. of Spiritualism has its basis in the private circle and that in M. Scott, under influence, gave addresses on 'Spirit Return' the private circle inen and women are best prepared for public and ' The Material World and the Spiritual World,' and good work. convincing clairvoyant descriptions. 9th, Mrs. Podmore gave VERITAS. clairvoyant descriptions. Sunday next, at 11. la · a.m., Mrs. Mary Davies; at7 p.m., Mrs. Podmore. Wednesday, Mrs. Mary NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. Davies. 27th, Mr. R. Boddington. Every Sunday, at 3, Lyceum school.-J. F. PECKHill.-LAusANNE HA.LL, LAUSANNE-ROAD.-Morning 'Psychische Studien' for .August. Verlag von Oswald Mutze, circle, Mr. Johnson spoke on the importance of realising the Leipzig. spirit-self and overcoming the lower self. Members gave clair­ 'Constancia' .for July. 20 cents. Tucuman 1, 736, Buenos voyant descriptions. Evening, Mrs. Neville, under influence, .Aires. gave an address and helpful psychometric reading!!- Sunday L'Echo du Merveilleux' for .August. 50 cents: 19, Rue Mon­ next, morning, circle ; evening, Mr. Johnson on 'Eastern Philo­ sieur-le-Prince, Paris. sophy.' 27th, morning and evening; Mrs. A. Webb. Thurs­ days, prayer at 7.30, circle 8.15. September 3rd, Mrs. Mary Davies.-.A. C. S. THE UNION OF LONDON SPIRITUALISTS.-The first of the Autumn Conferences held by the Union of London Spiritualists BRISTOL.-12, Jill.AICA-STREET, STODJ.BOROFT.-Addresses will t-ake place at the Masonic Hall, New-road, Camberwell, on and successful clairvoyant descriptions by Mrs. Powell Williams. Sunday, September 3rd. At 3 p.m. Mr. R. Boddington will BRIXTON.-84, STOCKWELL PARK-B.OAD.-Mr. P. Smythe read a paper on 'Spiritualism and Politics,' to be followed by gave a good address.-A. B. discussion. Tea provided at 5 p.m., 6d. each. At 7 p.m., BATTERSEA PARK.-ROAD.-HENLEY-STREET.-Short rousing speakers: Messrs. G. T. Gwinn, R. Boddington, G. F. Tilby. addresses were given by Mr. Adams and Mrs. Boddington.-S. South London Spiritualists are invited to make this a record LITTLE· ILFORD. - THIRD A VENUE, MANOR p ABK, E. - rally. Miss Violet Burton gaYe an address under influence. 9th, Mrs. DoG-LOVERB will find some useful hints for the care of their Jamrach gave an address and clairvoyant delineations.-E. L. V. canine pets in an eighteenpenny brochure, entitled ' The Dog's LINCOLN.-0DDFELLOws' HALL.-Splendid addresses were Cookery Book, or Health without Medicine,' by Agnes and given by Mrs. Wadham. Well-recognised clairvoyant descrip­ Daisy Wilmer, published by the authors at The Retreat, tions followed. Large after-circle.-E. S. Yoxford, Suffolk. Holding that the percentage of raw meat BRISTOL.-16, KING's SQUARE.-Address by the president consumed by toy dogs is excessive and injurious, the writers dis­ on 'The Overshadolling of the Spirit.' Clairvoyant descrip­ cuss the question of suitable substitutes and give a number of tions by Mr. Eddy.-.A. L. recipes for simple and easily prepared dishes, besides offering SouTHSEA.-LESSER VICTORIA HALL.-The Rev. J. Todd many suggestions as to the proper ~rea~me)li 9f ~h.~ a~imals Ferrier gave eloquent addresses on 'The Soul's S~rc :Ji for God 1 l;>o~li lJi l!.e!llth l\Jld djseq~~r MJ.d ' The 'fransfiprati911.'-!f, W. M, ight: A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research.

'LIGHT! MORE LIGHT !'-Goethe, 'WHATSOEVER DOTH MAKl!l MANIFEST IS LIGHT.'-PauZ.

No. 1,598.-VoL. XXXI. [Registered as] SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 1911. [a Newspaper. J PRICE TwOPENOE.

CONTENTP. Theosophical movement has been subjected recently in the . Notes by the Way ,, __ ,,,,_,,897 Telepathy and Spirit Communi· Thought Photographs ...... •• 898 cations ...... 405 Indian Press, and remarks :- The Hypotheses of ' Bllocation ' Items of Interest ...... 406 Considered - - •• . .. • ...... 899 'Do Spirit People Eat, Drink and Pet theories now do not appeal to the educated public Experiences with an Entranceion ...... 408 ment, and conduct investigations into the truths of Spiritualism 1 This, we doubt not, will make it more popular than ever it was. NOTES BY THE WAY. It is fair to our Theosophical friends to say, however, that many of them are far from neglecting the practical In a somewhat intemperate letter a correspondent, who side of the matter. We know of persons who have is all for the purely intellectual interpretation of life, takes graduated in both movements, and who maintain sym­ strong exception to the sentiments we expressed (in the pathetic relations with each, giving to Theosophists the recent leader in ' LIGHT ' on ' Mrs. Besant's "Psychology" ') benefit of their experience in spirit phenomena and to regarding the unity of apparently separated lives. That Spiritualists the profit of their knowledge of Theosophical we are not alone in our views is evident from an article in teachings. This, to us, is the best evidence that the two the July 'Nautilus,' entitled 'The Road to Power,' in the schools are divided by no radical differences, and may with course of which the writer remarks :- advantage live up to the old motto: 'In essentials Unity; Just as the blades of grass are not separate lives, but one life in non-essentials Liberty; in all things Charity.' vitalising many organisms, so men are not separate and intelli­ gent spirits, but one Spirit expressing Himself consciously in different forms as He expresses life in the different blades of We have received a remarkable pamphlet by Dr. grass. Man i11 not a soul or a spirit ; he is Spirit. Charles Stuart Welles, entitled, 'The Millennium and the we can imagine· our critical friends after reading this Constitution of the United States of the World.' It deals exclaiming, 'Why, this flatly contradicts your whole with what the author regards as the near approach of a mil­ attitude. Are you not all the time saying, " Man is a lennial period to be represented by a general federation of spirit" 1' Quite so, because in a world of sense percep­ the nations of the world. Basing his conclusions on the tions we find it necessary to use terms conveniently adapted prophetic sayings of Jesus Christ, Dr. Welles traces in the to that world. We say also that the sun rises and sets, world of to-day many signs of a spfritual awakening in its being quite aware of the fact that it actually does nothing political as well as in its social order. And as a means of of the kind. To quote again from the article to which we preparing the way for a system of central world govern­ have referred :- ment he has drawn up and incorporated in his pamphlet a Consciousness unformed is unlimited ; there can be no limit ' Constitution qf the United States of the World ' which to that which has no form, for if there is no form there are no boundaries. The consciousness of unformed Spirit is nnlimited, if it were adopted would abolish war out of ,hand. It is a but the consciousness of Spirit in any form is limited by the 'tall order,' as our American friends would say; but as all perceptive powers of the forttJ.. Man's consciousness is limited great reforms must have their origin in human thought we by the range of his perceptive powers, and he can only increase are disposed to welcome very cordially Dr. Welles' contri­ his perceptive powers by thought. bution to a question of such vast importance to humanity. Just so ; and only when he has learned to think him­ Dr. Welles' name will be known to some of our readers as self out o.f the narrow boundaries of the intellect can that of the author of a remarkable novel, 'The Ell'!oods.' he 'rise to the height of this great argument' -that in the Spirit all things are one. Our sympathies am entirely with a writer in 'The ~-~----~~--- Modern Churchman' who claims that 'the maintenance of All the highest expressions of truth are impersonal. religious habits ought to be far more studied than it is on And that applies also equally to Art. All the greatest the psychological side.' He says:- philosophers and artists seek to give unclouded expressions ·of the Universal, and consequently never obtrude their People often write and speak as if the weakening of religious habits was only the result of the rejection of dogma, and was to own identities. It is this fact which has made the per­ be resisted or tolerated according as the rejection of dogma sonality of Shakespeare such a problem to those who would seemed perilous or the reverse. But the necessary loss to the discover something of the life and character of the poet. individual of anything to bring home to him the reality. of the spiritual and, still more, the extremely defective way in which When we receive (as alas! we occasionally do) a communi­ most religions services fulfil this function of witnessing to that cation tinged with wrath and bitterness, yet purporting to reality, ought to move to serious thought and to practical give us the writer's perception of a doctrine opposed to our suggestions. own, we reflect that although he may be uttering a truth as he sees it, it is too largely coloured by personal prejudices There seems to be a growing disposition in certain quarters to regard continued or immortal existence as to be of much value either to us or to himself. con­ ditional upon certain mental, moral or spiritual states or 'The Hindu Spiritual Magazine ' (Calcutta), for July, attainments. Thus, Sir Oliver Lodge, in his work on refers to the 'running fire of criticism' to which the 'Science and Immortality,' as quoted by Dr. Hyslop, seems 398 LIGHT. [August 26, 1911.

to limit survival to such as 'have risen. to the attainment in terms of the Finite, the Absolute in terms of the Relative of God-like faculties.' Commenting on this, Dr. Hyslop the Unconditioned in terms of the Conditioned. Thy silence is more eloquent than the spouting forth of a hundred Slokas shrewdly observes:- and the quoting of a hundred authorities.' This conception seems to confuse salvation with snrvival. If this were taken to heart there would be fewer dis­ The two are quite different things. Survival does not depend upon attainment, but salvation does. That iil, the persistence of putations about a great many doctrines. personality depenqs upon the existence of a substance or energy that is not destructible. Progress or salvation depends on Once upon a time there was a young minister who was attainment. 'taken down ' very handsomely by a bright little girl. He This is in keeping with what Epes Sargent regards as had been called upon quite unexpectedly to address a 'the Spiritualist's theory that life is continuous ; that the · Sunday-school, and, to give himself time to collect his word imrnartal must be taken in its etymological sense as thoughts, he asked a question. 'Children,' said he, 'what not dying. Continuity of being must then be a natural shall I speak about 1 ' A little girl on the front seat who effect of present causes.' It ·is from this basis that Sargent had herself committed to memory several declamations, builds up his claim that Spiritualism is scientific. He held up her hand, and in a shrill voice asked, ' What do says:- you know~' Thus the inquiry into the grounds for a belief in the exist­ We wish that sharp little girl could. ask that question ence of spiritual organs and powers in our lrnman complex, of every young minister, and, for the matter of that, of already manifesting their operation in the earth-life and forming every old minister. Too often they cite texts, they quote the basis of life common to this state of being and the next, becomes a strictly scientific and experimental process, dealing 'The Fathers,' they recite creeds, they cherish hopes: but with the finer and more recondite parts of the science of do not tell us what they know. Surely we have need of physiology, or with the psycho-physiological developments of our straight talk from the pulpit by men who know and mixed nature. understand !

It is ill living in a great city, notwithstanding its SPIRITUAL PRAYER& undoubted social and other advantages. It is almost (l!'rom many shrines.) impossible to entirely Iive one's own life there, and to be Revealed art 'fhou in all Thy glory and hidden in all Thy one's own discriminating self. The cross currents, the mystery, 0 God I Endless are Thy forms and countless are Thine coloured lights, the mixture of ethical and other atmos­ images, O Lord. Heaven and earth, mind and spirit are all full of Thy glory. 0, whither shall I flee, for Thou has beset us behind pheres, are all too powerful for us, as a rule ; and perhaps and before. Thou hast girt us as the sea the isle. Thy glory sl1ineth the best thing that can happen to us, or the most that can in earth and sky, in men and bea8ls. When I retire into myself, be hoped for, is to be aware of what is happening. How lo ! Thou art there. Thou hast made a citadel of my heart and few are aware of it ! an ark of my soul. Thy light shineth in my mind and Thy wisdom resteth in my speech.. Bless me, our ever-loving Father, London in particular reminds us of the good old story From Thee are we born : by Thee are we formed : unt,l Thee about a certain Lieutenant Jones of the Royal Navy who, are we freed of form. I pray Thee, 0 God, that I may see Thee half a century ago, was put in command of a gunboat com­ and feel Thee within and without. 0, shrine Thine image . missioned to the China seas. When the craft started on in my heart for ever more. Amen . her voyage, Commander Jones called his crew together and informed them that, as no physician had been assigned to LONDON SPIRITUALIST ALLIANCE, LTD.

the vessel, he should be obliged to perform the duties of DRAWINGS OF THE PSYCHIC AURA AND DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE: . one. 'I shall have to doctor you myself,' he explained, -On Wednesday next, August 30th, from 12 noon to 5 p.m., 'and I don't know much about it; but the Admiralty have at 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C., Mr. Percy R. Street will give personal delineations by means of the colours of the psychic ·sent on board a medicine chest, in which there must be aura of sitters, and will diagnose disease under spirit controL something good for every kind of disease.' Thei1 he had Fee 5s. to a guinea. Appointments desirable. See advertise­ the medicine chest brought forward, and ordered all the ment supplement. bottles to be emptied into one big tub. 'Now, my lads,' said he, ··an the stuff is there, and there's bound to be THOUGHT PHOTOGRAPHS, something in it that will suit your complaints ; and if any The Paris correspondent of ' The Morning Leader ' of the man gets sick, he shall have a dose of the mixture.' That 16th inst. says :- ·medicine tub is London. At the last meeting of the Academy of Science a thrilling communication was read from Major Darget, who is already known ' Sri Ramakrishna's teachings,' as recorded in 'Pra­ as having photographed rays emitted by living beings. These rays he calls 'V' rays. buddha Bharata,' are often unsuited to our Western modes Starting from Dr. Charcot's theory of hypnosis that living of thought and speech, but occasionally the Eastern mode fluids are transmitted by a person to a subject, Major Darget is arresting. Here is an instance :- asked himself whether it would not be possible to register mental linages by photography, whether, for instance, by thinking intently A certain father had two sons. When they were old enough of an object one might under special conditions obtain an image they were admitted to the first stage of life-the Brahmacharya of it on a film. -and placed under the care of a religions preceptor, to study the In a dark room he fixed his thoughts on a bottle, and his Vedas. After a long while the boys returned home, having eyes upon a plate placed in a bath of developer. He kept his finished their studies. Their father asked them if they had fingers also in the dish. At the end of a few minutes the bottle read the Vedanta. On their replying in the affirmative, he was reproduced on the plate. asked: Well, tell me-what is Brahman 1 The Major exhibited his photograph to the Academy of Science, The elder son quoting the Vedas and other scriptures and with it a second photograph obtained under similar condi­ replied : ' 0 father, it is not capable of being expressed by word tions, but in the presence of six witne.~ses. A third photograph of month, or of being known by the mind. 0, He is so and so ; was the mental image of a stick. Major Darget c11lls them I know it all. ' Then he again quoted Vedantic texts. 'thought photographs.' The father sai_d, 'So thou hast known Brahman ! thou mayest go about thy business. ' Then he asked the younger son the same question. But the boy sat mute, not a word came ont of 1'r has been well said that the tendency of the highest his month, nor did he make any attempt to speak. cultnre of the age is to enshrine Art, to idealise Science, and to The father thereupon remarked, ' Yes, my boy, thou art right. rationalise Heligion. This is tme, but we may add a prophecy ; Nothing can be predicated of the Absolute and Unconditioned ! that, in the end, the tendency of the highest culture will be to No sooner dost thou talk of Him than thou statest the Infinite spiri tnalise life. August 26, 1911~] LI G H.T. 399

THE HYPOTHESES OF 'BILOCATION' centric layers of the exteriorised sensibility were, so to say, CONSIDERED. polarised to the right and to the left of the subject, who saw them in the form of two fluidic columns which were luminous and BY ERNESTO BozzANO. Translated from ' Annales des different in colour. These columns ended by joining together Sciences Psychiques.' and forming a kind of phantom which repeated with synchronism (Continued from page 392.) all the movements of the subject, and the existence of this phantom could be deduced with rough certitude, so that, Naturally for those who have already formed a Spiritualistic at the point where the phantom was said to stand, attempts conviction based upon the other modes of extrinsication at touch were made, or even if somebody accidentally crossed common to mediumistic phenomena the agreement with which that region, the subject perceived sensations of contact and pain. these various forms of phenomena all converge towards Once it happened that the sleeping subject, having •by chance the same goal attains a degree of probability comparable looked at a mirror in front of him, believed he saw the identical to an experimental proof, the more so as the casuistry in phantom to that which was at his side; this was the reflected question is only at bottom the necessary complement, or image of his double. rather, the essential condition of the existence of a large These are the facts ; it remains, therefore, to ask whether number of mediumistic phenomena beginning with certain under these circumstances there really is the phenomenon of the spontaneous forms of post-mortem apparition and ending with duplication of an ethereal body which is, strictly speaking, a the experimental phenomena of materialisation. Indeed, these spiritual envelope and ought to be inseparable from the spirit considerations have as much value for experimenters, who are (an apparition of a bodiless spirit is not philosophically con­ Spiritualists, as for those who are materialists. However this may ceivable), or whether, on the contrary, this is really the ex• be ; I repeat that I am very far from wishing to assign to the teriorisation of a fluidic inanimate phantom, and therefore sub­ casuistry in question any value which in the present state of stantially different. A short analysis of the facts leads in my meta-psychical research it cannot have. My business is with opinion to this last conclusion. First, because the subjects of the psychological interest, it is in this latter aspect that it un­ de Rochas, while they constantly affirm that they see their doubtedly deserves to be correlated and submitted to competent doubles, never affirm that they see or have seen in spirit investigators, it is here that we are faced with the question, their inanimate bodies at a distance ; from which it may be pre­ What must be done to give it scientific proof 1 Quite simply, sumed that they have never been in such a condition ; on the this : the reality of the phenomena of duplication of the contrary, they have never failed to state that they have observed ethereal body must be demonstrated by means of proofs entirely each action and movement of their double. In the second adequate and convincing. The experimental methods necessary place, because the phantm.ns· repeated their acts automatically to attain this end-methods which have nearly all been and with synchronism, showing thereby that the phantoms were already tested, although tlie process has been for the most purely inanimate with no will of their own. In the third place, part insufficient to allow us to gather the results with because of the circumstances that the subject feels a sensation of confidence-appear to be manifold. However, we may contact each time anyone crosses the zone in which the phantom note among these methods those which are worthy of is. If this demonstrated, on the one hand, the close relations attention and which seem to augur well for the furthering existing between the phantom and the hypnotic subject, on the of our research. Thus, for example, doubles have been photo­ other hand, it would contradict the hypothesis of the transfer" graphed; among others by Captain Volpi in Italy, Professors ence of the Ego into the phantom, since that which feels, acts !strati and Hasden in Roumania, Colonel de Rochas and de and thinks is always the hypnotic subject. We must conclude, Durville in France, and in Paris of William Stainton Moses therefore, that the representative functions of the peripheric while in London. sensorial organisms only are transported to the phantom, and Photographs have been obtained of more or less phantom not the psychic faculties of perception of sensation, of which the emanations at the death-bed of Dr. Baraduc, and phenomena of seat remains in the cortical centres. On the whole, everything duplication have been produced experimentally under hypnotism; tends to demonstrate that in these experiences of exteriorisation this is due to the work of de Rochas and de Durville. The of sensibility, the conscious Ego does not leave the bodily latter has even obtained fluorescence on a paper coated with organism, and therefore we cannot recognise in a phantom of certain substances by introducing it at the place where the this kind a true phenomenon of duplication of the ethereal hypnotic subject localised the double of another distant person body ; and, if the fluidic phantom so formed is by nature who was for this experiment in the hypnotic state. It is pos­ different from the ethereal body, we must suppose that it con­ sible to quote in addition examples of doubles who manifest sists of something similar, which it will be useful to call (after their persons by producing psychic effects, and with Eusapia Reichenbach) the odic fluid. This fluid penetrates the nervous Paladino there have been obtained at a distance-and this time system of all living organisms and serves to vitalise these and the fact is indisputable-imprints of her extrinsicated face, i.e., make them sensitive. We are concerned, then, in the experiences of her ethereal body duplicated and materialised. It is no longer of Colonel de Rochag with the exteriorisation of the -odic possible to doubt the authenticity of these latter phenomena, and phantom, which differs from the ethereal body by the fact that they should be legitimately considered as belonging to science. the first is not capable of being separated by any distance from With regard to the experimental results enumerated above, its parent organism, whilst the second has not such limits of w~ must agree that some can be explained by the hypotheses of distance ; also the odic phantom is capable of becoming a centre suggestion and auto-suggestion, while others can be attributed to of condensation of matter so as to become visible and tangible, badly made observations, and others lose value by their lack of and to give rise to physical effects. In this connection Colonel de Rochas· tells the following. detaiils. I do not intend to suggest by this that all these cases Eusapia Paladino had decided to permit herself to sleeP. in the should be doubted or dise:redited, but simply that we need presence of. Madame de Rochas :- · · . much more rigorous methods of research to attain in this matter She ·rapidly 'Went into ·a· profound hypnotic sleep, and then scientific certainty. We must, however, refer to the well­ ·to her great· ·astonishment saw appear on her right a blue known experiences of Colonel de Rochas ·and de Durville-first, .phantom. I asked her if it was John. She replied No, but because they occur under rigorous scientific methods, with men that it was that which John used. Then she was afraid, and who were fully acquainted with the inherent difficulties of this asked Ill(! to wake her up at once, which I did, regretting very question; second, because it is not always necessary to stop at much that I was unable to continue research in this class of phenomena. (' L'Exteriorisatiolis de la Motricite,' p. 17.) the hypothesis of an ethereal body in reference to the phenomena of duplication, but it is convenient sometimes to suppose the This reply of Eusapia's, whilst agreeing precisely with the exteriorisation of something substantially different. argument stated above, does not lack inductive value, especially if we reflect that in this special· case the hypothesis of suggestion As is well known, Colonel de Rochas obtained phenomena does not appear probable, as de Rochas did not expect such a of exteriorisation of sensibility in persons subjected to the reply, and his question was fornrnlated in such a way that it usual hypnotic-magnetic processes ; these phenomena were rather suggested an affirmative answer. more marked as these processes were continued until the con- (To be continued). 400 LIGHT. [August 26, 1911.

EXPERIENCES WITH AN ENTRANCED MEDIUM, His customary way of saying yes is 'Zee.' To-night he struggled hard, like a schoolboy, who had an impediment, to BY G. w. MAKIN. pronounce the English word 'yes.' It was quite amusing. Wontilnued from page 387.) After repeatedly saying yish, yesh, or something like that, he would joyfully say 'Zee.' The general course of procedure is a.s follows: The patient In answer to the question, '!tow is the medium's body as sits in a comfortable chair. Pasaes ai'e employed until sleep regards health 1' he said it was 'goods' (corrected by me to ensues. Suggestions of health and strength are mentally given 'well'), ahd that when the medium came back I was to make a tmtil there is a 'vhispered response, acquiescing, Then I take a few passes over her eyes as he directed, to impress her min(j. that seat, and sing a verse or two of a hymn or song. The control all Was well. After awaking, the medium described a glorious comes and· bids good evening to each one present, He appre­ refreshing time spent in a magnificent crystal temple, during ciates singing, and tells us that our friends have come and that some kmd of a service of which there remained in her memory they are much interested in our proceedings. My wife's family only the sensation of delightful harmony, which seemed to (now passed to the better expression of life) were musical. Fre~ strengthen and invigorate her. She regretted having to leave quently, the control says that one of them asks for the. singing it. She could not tell how the approach or return was made, but of a special hymn, and nil.mes it ; sometimes it is one that they said that no effort had been required, and I used to sing when I was quite a little one at Sunday July 5th.-After magnetising the medium for some time the School. The control often remarks ' That is good,' putting the usual sleep ensued. When questioned as to bodily condition medium's hands on her ohest. If I lag behind in singing a lively she replied that she could observe nothing wrong. I implanted tune the control says, ' Old gentleman does this,' as though the suggestion to remember that. After a few moments the beating time quicker, 'and says, "Sing up."' This control, who control took possession and chaffed me for being a poor scholar. is said to lie an Egyptian boy, states that there is a gentleman He said I had again forgotten. For some time I could not with him who tells him what to say in answer to questions. If think of having forgotten anything, but I had omitted to the question cannot be answered at once, he replies,·' gentleman request the medium to supply information upon her return. does not know, but will inquire.' Sometimes the answer is not After a conversation and some singing, another control attemptecl given until the following evening. to speak, but failed. Original control returned and said the June 20th. Interesting conversation with the control, who effort would be euccessful another time. Upon regaining normal said he was pleased to amwer questions and join in singing. consciousness the medium could not remember anything but the The subject of reincarnation is distasteful to him, and, he adds, suggestion of health. to all present. Has asked much about it : cannot hear of any­ July 8th.--The control, in answer to questions on telepathy, one having experienced it, except like himself, by temporary said that what earth people called thoughts were distinguishable control of a medium's body. When the medium woke up she by the proficient discarnate as vibrations of colour answering said she felt as though the time occupied had not been more to our words or desires and conveyed by them to their destina­ than a few minutes ; actually it was over one hour. Her tion much as one might take from a person holding a 1·eel the account of experience was not so clear and connected as on end a cotton thread to another person for whom it was former occasions. She remembered going away, with u gliding intended. On being asked 'Why, then, does it fail at times 1' he motion. She saw one arisen brother, and many others. The replied ; ' Because of discordant vibratory conditions with the scenery was sparkling with scintillations of many-hued light. sender, or the intended recipient, or more powerful intervening Companies of arisen ones seemed to pass, either joining in conver­ conditions, perhaps1 from doubting friends and relations and the sation or singing as they went. They did not think it strange, non•sensitiveness of the should-be recipient. This is one of the neither did the medium, that one, still the owner of a physical difficulties of the discarnate ; when they wish to do us good by body, should mix with those who had discarded theirs. The infusing good thoughts (vibratory) we neglect them, and are in­ effect of going away was like a spiritual fillip: Oil return she fluenced more powerfully from other sources1 especially by felt renewed, mentally and physically. Is this the meaning of psychical surroundings. 'They that wait upon the Lord [spirit] shall renew their strength, ·Having some sweets in my pocket (small aromatic ones), I they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and put one into my mouth and offered one to the control, asking not be weary, they shall walk and not faint?' whether, if he made the medium's body .to consume one, the June 23rd. Spent nearly an hour asking questions respect­ medium would be aware of it oil her return. He replied ; 'Yes, ing the effect of Coronation excitement on those passed on, if I leave the taste or smell behind.' The sweet was consumed effect of explosion of fireworks, &c., modes of understanding and he remarked, 'That's gone.' languages in spirit life, effect of church services and various Enlarging upon telepathy, he said the oftener the thought is musical tones. experienced the more powerful it becomes, and there is greater The medium, on waking up, describel a visit to a lot of likelihood of its being effective. children who seemed to be in charge of foster-mothers, who were In reply to the question whether it was right to desire and teaching them to go thl'Ough peculiar serpentine evolutions, directly ask for help in material things from unseen friends forming various diagrams, such as squares, triangles, crosses, he said yes, but that sometimes, when our desires were for hearts, &c. They were dressed in robes of various colours, and success at the expense or through the failure of others, those in held garlands of flowers which seemed to change colour the sphere of the control would not assist, although there were and shape according _to movement, as though they were made of pereons of all sorts and conditions in the discarnate state. I some kind of light. The movements were accompanied by mentioned a widow who, baffled in every direction to the verge music, and the whole directed by the foster-mothers, who waved of distraction, had prayed her best and tried everything, likely beautiful banners of light. and unlikely, to get bread for her children. The control replied At a subsequent sitting the medium spoke of visiting a place that he knew the case (through me) and that her supplications of indescribable beauty. There seemed to be no flat surface, had suffered through lack of knowledge. Though her friends but pinnacles of varying sizes and colours abounded in all were ready to help, her doubts disturbed their vibrations on directions. She spoke of it as the ' land of peace.' On another others on her behalf. Her lack of faith paralysed their efforts. occasion her visit ended at a tremendously high wall, which was The medium on her return said that she had been feasting her covered with red roses, the perfume of which had a delightfully sight upon a gorgeous temple, whose pillars and what looked soothing effect. like walls were transparent, and were draped from top to o On July 4th the control seemed anxious to learn how to bottom with flowers of the brightest hues, blending in a perfect speak English, so that he could assist the medium at public harmony. A large company of brightly arrayed spirit friends meetings. His mode of expression and mannerisms are so were there, and the floor seemed clear, as though it conld be exactly maintained thronghont the repeated meet.ings that there seen through. There was no roof, except brilliance, whicf1 cannot exist the slightest donbt in our minds as to the actual seemed like a canopy. The medium said that she was almost control of the medium's organism by some extraneous entity. sure she could taste the perfume and smacked her lips as August 26, 1911.] .LIGHT. 401

though doing so. She was then told what had occurred with To turn to pleasanter channels, I may ref~r to the beautiful the sweetmeat. spirit forms that I have seen in human shape, presenting them­ On a subsequent occasion, in answer to a question as to what selves in pure clear shades of white, amber, rose or neutral tints, magnetism is, we were told, 'You have nothing in the physical and holding scrolls, bearing inscriptions, such as 'Purity,' always world more akin to it than what you call electricity, yet it is indicated by white ; 'Chastity,' shown by amber, radiating not that.' I asked : 'When you -in spirit use it, where do you into pale shades of fawn; and 'Peace,' in some glorious colour· obtain it 1' Answer : 'Everywhere. To us it is little sparks ing that I find it impossible to descriLe. mixed with the atmosphere. We collect them, and put them Many beautiful thoughts are represented by a wonderfol on the earth-body, which, if sensitive, feels heat from them.' diversity of symbols such as stars, stripes and rings of manifold Question : ' fa it the derangement of the aura of an indi­ colouring. Frequently groups of golden balls can be seen, some• vidual that causes sickness 1' Answer : ' Yes, hut there are times arranged so as to take the form of symbolic signs. also the deleterious emanations from the physical body which One symbol of deep interest, actually seen, was a curiously cannot escape, and are held in suspension near the body.' chased crown of antique design, probably Egyptian. Suspended Question ; ' How is this best rectified 1' Answer : ' By in the air immediately over the crown was a sword, also of magnetic passes, . and shaking the hands in the air after each ancient workmanship. pass.' Question : 'Would that course of itself make a sick 'rhought-forms pertaining to the intellect are particularly person well ? ' Answer : ' :No ; the sick person must desire interesting. There is the one thrown off by a person determined health. Healthy thoughts prodttce healthy bodl.es ; but the to solve a difficult problem, indicating the intentioh to know passes greatly assist.' During her absence the medium had and understand. It is a green cloudy mass, tlot taking any visited a new scene, where all the flowers were perfectly white, particular form. An important fact to note is the difference and resembled Walt in texture-very cooling to look upon. between the above, indicating a genuine desire for knowledge! and that thrown off by an individual putting a question in a spirit of self-conceit, and hoping to displa-v mere smartness of THOUGHT FORMS : AS SEEN BY A superficial brain-power. A third in the intellectual series is a CLAIRVOYANT. beautiful yellow, cloud-like form, indicating pleasure at behold­ ing some well-executed work of art, or delight in musical The far-reaching power of concentrated and purposive thought ingenuity, &c. is being realised by an ever-increasing number of advanced There is an interesting class that may be just tottched ttpon 1 thinkers. These students not only realise its powerful influ~nce viz., the square, solid-looking blocks of single colour, which in all the works of life, but they are also learning that every appear most frequently. With regard to music, M many are thottght, good or bad, takes an actual form and has its own dis­ aware, sound is associated with colour, and, though this fact is tinctive colot1r. These thought-forms may be grouped into three not so generally known, with form. Heavy music, such as leading classes : those in which the thought assumes the image of marches, &c., will often produce thought-forms of a far more the thinker ; those in which it resembles some material object ; solid appearance than music of a gentle and more subtile and those in which it takes a shape entirely its own. character. In some instances these forms issue froru the player! The first two need not be enlarged upon, as, after all, they and in others from the vibrations caused by the music, in which explain themselves, but thought-forms of the third class are of case they ruay be regarded as emanating in one sense from the vital interest since they almost invariably manifest themselves composer himself. . on the psychical plane. Nattl.rally, therefore, high and noble This world of thought·forins, although so little known, so thoughts teild to build up a pt1re and healthy spiritual body, little com!idered by the great majority, opens to us a realm of and help in a great measure to eliminate disease should it be wonder and grandeur, and its gloriotts truths will be revealed to present. those who approach it with true reverence and love. Let me illustrate my meaning by referring ·to certain of Let us remember that every thought acts in some degree these thought-forms which have come within the range of my on all planes~phydical, astral, mental and spiritual. High own clairvoyant vision. and noble thoughts will undoubtedly raise the atmospheric The white thought-forms which have appeared to me have conditions around us. Even the physical will be uplifted to a been most beautiful in shape, and their whiteness was such that higher and purer state. In consequence the ruental and psy• those who possess orily physical sight can form no conception of chical will benefit, and, as we know, it is only by cleansing its purity. In this class are inchtded those that appear tinged and purifying these that the great oneness of spirituality can be with exquisite rays of gold, silver, and blne~so beautiful a blend­ reached. Above all, let us bear in mind the countless oppor· ing of colour that I cannot find words in which to describe it. tunities we have of helping, not only individuals, lmt the whole On two occasions I have seen hovering in the air and coming of humanity. We may not be rich in earthly possessions, but We towards me a globe-shaped form of opaque whiteness. It has can be rich in thought, and ttse such riches for the uplifting of approached within a few feet, and then slowly opened down the our brothers and sisters in all ranks of life. What reforms centre, in the manner of a pair of folding doors, revealing a would be possible through united and wisely directed thought j beautifully wrought casket. On the second occasion the lid was how many struggling friends would feel their burdens lightened slowly lifted and a sudden shower of golden rain issued forth, and their faith renewed through the influence of vibrations sent concealing all else. out to them by others ! Realising the widely different results All forms of this kind necessarily proceed from a pure and of good and bad thought-influences, we should strive to culti­ healthy mind, and are wonderfully inspiring to the one who vate the highest and best in our natures, and thereby help to sees them. strengthen the characters of all with whom we come in contact. Turning to the thought-forms that may be seen in our daily This will mean, above all, persistent effort for self-mastery and intercourse, that of peace is very beautiful and expressive when self-expression on a high spiritual plane. But with sttch a it is sent forth by one who has earned the power to give and noble ideal, no temporary disappointments should daunt us, and bless ; while that of anger, sent out by one in a frenzy of passion, no obstacles lessen our determination to conquer all things that is awful and repulsive. Jealousy presents an interesting, are not working for the general good. though unpleasant, thought-form. Its peculiar Lrownish-green E. A. Qu1N10N. colour unmistakably indicates the feeling of the sender, and its curious shape demonstrates the eagerness with which the object of the jealousy is being watched. When a person is dominated NEX'r week our leading article will be devoted to a notice oi by selfish passions and low desires, such as the craving for Mr. R. A. Kennedy's remarkable book, ' Space and Spirit.' drink, the seer encounters forms of a still lower and more READERS of ' L!GH'l',' who are interested in spirit photo· horrible type. Keen physical longing shows itself in the hooked graphy, we are informed by Mr. Leo, of the Connaught Studios, Connaught House, Marble Arch, W., may have the use of his claw-like protrusions, as though the thinker were eagerly trying' studio at a time to be arranged once a week for research to grasp something, to draw it to himself for personal gratification. purposes. 402 LIGHT. [August 261 1911.

OFFICE OF 'LIGHT,' 110, S1'. MARTIN'S tANE, ducers form but a minority, and which rely for the neces­ LONDON, W.C. saries of life on complex and artificial systems·of production SATURDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 1911. and distribution. Even in normal times the means of subsistence are pre­ ~ight: carious enough to great masse;; of the people. Recent A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research: events have shown that they may be made precarious to whole communities, rich and poor alike. The 'intellec­ PBIOE TWOPENCE WEEKLY. tuals '-that band of writers and thinkers who are· every­ COMMUNICATIONS intended to be printed should be addressed to the ~ditor, Office ~f ';LIGHT,' 110, St. Martin's Lane, London, W.C. where working for human betterment--had long perceived Busmess commumcat1ons should in all cases be addressed to Mr. F. W. South, Office of 'LIGHT,' to whom Cheques and Postal the fact. They saw and warned the civilised world that it Orders should be ma.de payable .. was drifting ; that it was becoming the helpless victim of Subscription Rates.-' LIGHT' may be had free by post on the following mechanical laws and artificial systems; that it drifted into terms :-Twelve months, 10s. lOd ; six months, 5s. 5d. Payments to be ma.de in advance. To United States, 2dol. 70c. To. France, wars-military and industrial-because it thought wars Italy, &c., 13 francs 86 centimes. To Germany, 11 marks 25 pf~. were inevitable ; drifted into extremes of wealth and Wholesale Agents : Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co., Ltd., 23, Paternoster-row, London, E.C., and 'LIGHT' can be poverty because it thought that such extremes were in­ ordered through all Newsagents and Booksellers. separable from the constitution of society; drifted into APPLICATIONS b;y Members and Associates of the London Spirit­ indifference to religion because it thought that religion had ua:list Allie.nee, Ltd., for the loan of books from the Allie.nee no part in practical life. Never was there such an imprac­ Library should be addressed to the Librarian, Mr. B. D. Godfrey, Office of the Alliance, 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C. tical world so fondly pluming itself upon being before all things practical ! And that consideration brings us to another directly THE LESSON OF THE STRIKES. arising out of it. We say civilised humanity 'thought' We have passed-we. are passing-through troublous certain things which led to the various evils mentioned. In times. The unrest and discontent which have long been that phrase is bound up the whole problem-wrong think­ fermenting in the industrial stratum of our complex social ing ! There is the seat and centre of the social disease order have broken out in an eruption of strikes and other of our tim~. And one of the most hopeful signs of the disquieting manifestations. And yet, sad and vexed in newer forces at work to-day is a realisation of the power spirit as he may be, the thoughtful observer will not easily of thought on human life. We see the evidences of it resign himself to the conclusion that civilisation is being everywhere-' New Thought,' 'Higher Thought,' 'Menti­ hurled backwards ' down the abysm.' He will rather cling culture.' Our readers need no demonstration of the fact to the hope that we are passing through the birth-pangs of from us. At present, for the most part, these systems are a new and better order of things. But it is not a com­ related to individual necessities. But their scope and pur­ fortable thought that something of the fire and earthquake pose are expanding rapidly. When they begin to subserve that were needed to weld the physical world into shape are world-uses we shall see great changes. To thought as the requisite accompaniments to the evolution of new stages of bane will be a.pplied thought as the autidote. Right think­ moral and social development. It is a thought to give ing will express itself in right living, surely, exactly, and pause to facile optimists-it argues crudity .and misdirec­ inevitably. The power of the idea has long been an abstract tion. It suggests the existence of much which, being truth, it is now expressing itself in the region of fact. angular and intractable, needs to be rudely hammered into 'We. want new legislation, new systems, new rules,' cry shape and forced painfully into its appointed path. some of the sufferers from the social troubles of to-day. Let us make our position clear at the outset. We are But surely we need none of these things ! Rather we ·neither Individualists nor Socialists. From our standpoint need less of them than we possess already. We have to ·each of those schools of thought is in possession of a half­ deal with human souls, which are not to be bound and truth, only by the uniting of which can we get the true fettered and hedged in by artificial rules and enactments. circle-the complete sphere. And so in this matter we Even the horse rebels when driven by an unskilful and timid stand for Unity-a principle which has many applications driver who is constantly tugging at the reins. We do not .to the problems of the time. even need long and tedious expositions of the science of Nevertheless, we are driven to conclude that this great right thinking. We need only, to begin with, a right harmonising conception is at present, in some degree, a attitude of mind. The Capitalist who regards the Labourer remote thing, having only in its interior aspects any as a discontented and troublesome drudge-a machine that immediate bearing on 'the present discontents.' It has not is constantly getting out of order-and the Labourer who yet been intellectualised. Men here and there feel its brands the Capitalist as a tyrant and a bloodsucker, are influence, but so far it only touches the fringes of the equally at sea. Each is 'a man in a world of men,' each an matter. It is an Ideal to which one at present can only immortal spirit with the same needs, the same aspirations, hint and point the way. The great fact of the solidarity the 's11me destiny-'--' members of one body.' · of the race has, for the most part, to be wrought out in The problem, then, is not so difficult as it appears. We human experience with pain and travail of soul. At have not to hew granite in a quarry or to beat a difficult . present it is not 'practical politics.' So, at least, we are way through a trackless forest. We have to deal with told, although in the large issue it is the only ' practical material far more refined and ductile. It is but to thin,k politics ' there is. And let us not forget that Labour is true thoughts and pass them on. They will germinate and learning the lesson rapidly, uniting trade with trade, move­ spring into life as surely-,..-more surely-than any seeds ment with movement, each acting in sympathy with the that were ever cast into the ground. For humanity in its rest, and 'striking' for others as well as for itself. progress is moving more and more into the higher regions Looking at the matter from another aspect, we see in of mind and soul, and responding to an ever growing extent the present wave of disturbance a symptom of that depar­ to the influences of the higher worlds. Meanwhile, the ture from the ways of Nature to which we have alluded stress and terror of the labour war has its meaning and its in previous articles. Vv e see humanity, to an ever growing lesson. It may be one of those discords which Pope said extent, drifting into vast aggregations, in which the pro- were 'harmony not understood.' It certainly has not August 26, 1911.] LIGHT. 403 drowned for some of us the eternal melodies of ' the world be as potent as ever ; and yet what would seem miracl{lous to beautiful.' uninitiated human beings would be capable of achievement.' While he does not contend that it is necessary to postulate Still, from far off, the listening spirit hears the existence of such creatures in order to account for asserted .A music of the spheres, Though heard too close, their sweet accord may round physical phenomena of a novel kind, Sir Oliver does maintain To one gross roll of sound. that 'the existence of such power has been imagined by physi­ cists-especially, perhaps, for the region where physics inter­ Thus war, that with its thunderous gloom and gleam, locks with biology,' and he holds that 'if testimony as. to facts Storms through our days, may seem, of this order ever becomes strong enough to demand ideas of this By peaceful hearts, in some far-coming year, kind for their elucidation, there will be nothing outrageous or .A music that was discord heard too near. hypE:r-fanciful in the conception, nor anything illegitimate in snch a hypothesis, when it is forced upon us.' If and when it is, he says, ' I, for one, shall take the line, not of denying the SIR OLIVER LODGE ON PHYSICAL PHENOMENA. facts as grotesquely impossible and manifestly absurd . . but I shall hope to examine them to see whether, by some Sir Oliver Lodge deals in the .August issue of the 'Pro­ such extension of human or other power as Maxwell and ceedings' of the S.P.R. with the tendency which exists in Kelvin have conceived, we may nut be led a step on into our some quarters to emphasise the improbability of all abnormal understanding of a larger Nature. We may, perhaps, thus find physical phenomena, and ' to oppose the extreme unlikelihood that the physical phenomena and the intellectual phenomena of the occurrence of such things against every testimony and all are more closely allied than we had imagined ; that they are e'iidence of a positive kind in their favour.' .After admitting allied there, indeed, somewhat as they are allied here ; and that that ' up to a point this attitude is legitimate and necessary ' he one class is a reasonable, or at any rate a real supplement to the holds that there comes a time when wisdom lies rather in con­ other. Those who are even now opening the door to a sidering whether our ordinary experience of Nature, and our demonstration of intelligence from beyond the veil may find­ customary human powers are a sufficiently comprehensive guide, will find, as I believe-that they are admitting, along with the

and whether we can imagine any enlarged powers of not too intelligence, a mass of supplementary concomitant activity 1 outrageous a nature such as could be supposed capable of wl1ich will have to be reckoned with, classified, and understood'­ achieving some of the results. and which, 'can with wisdom be neither ignored nor "denied.' With reference to automatic writing, Sir Oliver says : 'The The article which we have summarised above is preceded by evidence which is accumulating under this head is undoubtedly a long, critical presentation by Count Perovsky-Petrovo-Solovovo tending in the direction of substantiating the claim-a claim of some of the ' difficulties ' connected with ' the physical phe­ made by the writings themselves-that they are partly due ta nomena of Spiritism,' and Sir Oliver Lodge tells us that he selection and control exercised by the surviving portion of indi­ writes, ' not as a protest, but as a counterbalancing presentation viduals who long ago lived on earth,' but, he says, 'there is not -erring, perhaps, on the positive or speculative side as much as the slightest necessity, and as far as I know there is no exten­ some may think Count Solovovo's article lags on the negative or sive claim, for attributing merely physical phenomena to the sceptical side.' While we are at one with Count Solovovo, in so direct agency of departed human beings,' although 'in certain far as it is his desire 'to improve the evidence and gradually cases there does appear to he a connection . and if once make it irrefragable, by stimulating experimenters to greater the possibility of any such physical action, however trivial, is care and exactitude of observation,' as Sir Oliver Lodge genially admitted, a door is opened which will not readily be closed.' puts it, we feel that some of his statements require careful The moral which Sir Oliver seeks to draw, however, is this: examination and are open to serious objections. 'Our experience here certainly leads us to assume that where We are thankful to Sir Oliver Lodge for his exposition of there is life at all, there is likely to be an immense variety and the fact that there is no antecedent improbability in the occur­ complexity of life, so if evidence. ever constrains us to extend rence of physical phenomena, and for his reminder that it is first human existence, or an existence akin to human, into what is of all a question of facts. This is jnst what Spiritualists have popularly known as" another world,'' then we ought to make the been saying for sixty years ! We need not follow Sir Oliver in generalisation, based on our expel'ience here, that not humanity his speculation regarding the existence on the other side of 'orders alone but many other orders of being, some higher, some lower, of beings, some higher, some lower' than humanity-that, too, may exist and interact in those unknown surroundings.' He is a question of fact-but we can and do agree, indeed Spirit­ foresees a time when students will he driven to some such conclu­ ualism has clearly shown, that 'over there,' within the limits of sion, and thinks that if there is any truth in it ' a multitude of humanity, there is 'an immense variety and complexity of life,' phenomena which now appear weird and strange, or frankly and this is a fact to be grateful for, because it shows that each impossible, will receive what then may seem their simple and one goes to his own place, finds a home and friends, and has opportunities for social and other experiences, which, whether natural explanation.' painful or pleasant, are educational, not final. .As regards the That activities of a kind higher than human have been 'supplementary concomitant activity,' we neither ignore nor testified to on a basis of direct experience is well known, thus : deny ; as Professor W. F. Barrett well said in closing his address ' Socrates spoke of his Doomon, Joan of .Arc of her voices, Saints on ' Poltergeists, Old and New,' also printed in this issue of the have told of their direct inspiration, poets have assured us that ' Proceedings,' ' Living creatures of different types and varied intelligence may exist in the unseen as in the seen·. Possibly their best work comes from outside themselves,' but this is these poltergeist phenomena may be due to some of these, per­ different from the physical phenomena, although the testimony haps mischievous or rudimentary, intelligences in the unseen. I for these things, if of a less high and notable order, exists and do not knpw why we should imagine there are no fools or · has to be reckoned with. Sir Oliver says that it is his desire naughty ch:ildren in the spirittial world ; possibly they are as ·' to urge that the kind of things asserted are not beyond the numerous there as here.' powers of a group of imaginary beings which science for its own sake has imagined the possibility of and whose powers it has BELIEF is the expression of the spirit, conditioned indeed by delimited and defined ' ; as, for instance, when Clerk Maxwell the data of experience and the laws of the human mind ; but imagined such an order of beings for the purpose of showing yet a thing fashioned from within, and not imported from without. What a man really believes, that he is ; and by that he - h@w the second law of thermodynamics might be evaded, and regulates his cond net, throwing all his experience into the mould Lord Kelvin enunciated a whole category of things which 'Max­ of an inner life, and arranging it on the lines of character. well's demons' could achieve, subject to all the perfectly defined We touch ground, so to speak, when we realise that in the last physical laws and processes with which we are already acquainted. result the forces of wl1ich the human universe is made up are 'Nothing more is necessary than a power of dealing with mole­ the wills of human beings, and the Divine ·Will which stand.~ over against them and yet works within them. We only know cules as we deal with masses of matter; no law of motion-as Nature as mirrored in the human consciousness ; we only we call_ it-need be upset, the conservation of energy would know the Will of God as our wills find it ont ! '-PROFESSOR hold uudisputed sway, gravitation and all ·the other forces would PERCY GARDNER, 404 LIGHT. [August·26, 1911.

COMFORTING SPIRITUAL COMMUNION. Paul on one occasion asked this distinguished spirit how it was that he had become interested in him. 'Have you not yourself STRIKING PERSONAL EXPERIENOES IN SPIRITUALISM. been interested in me 1' he replied; 'have you not written about me and contributed to keep the memory of my humble deeds As the writer of the following interesting account of 'per­ sonal experiences in Spiritualism' occupies a high official position before the people 1 I assisted you then in your researches and on the other side of the Atlantic he stipulates that his name am happy now to help you personally from this side of life.' and address shall not be published. He vouches for ihe entire This was quite in accord with facts, for Paul had written in accuracy of his statements, and our readers may rest assured ihat periodicals concerning Brant.* During one of his materialisations we are satisfied that his narrative is a bona fide setting forth of Brant said to Paul, 'Do introduce me to all these good people and facts as they appealed to him. Our contributor is well known to let them know who I am, and see me.' This was done and in an tts and is one of the oldest subscribers to 'LIGHT.' excellent light. He shook hands with some of the sitters (Oontinued from page 393.) and acknowledged the little control 'Pansy' as a descendant of the old Mohawks of his period. He usually appeared clad in a It will probably interest your readers to be told of a few dark-coloured blanket or wrap, and with few, if any, of the special incidents occur1ing at some of the remarkable seances usual Indian ornaments ; he expressed himself well and fl.uently attended by Paul. Among the assiduous members of the circle in English. At the seance on November 25th he said to Paul, was a man of about thirty, who had lo~t his wife and two ' You have now seen me several times, but you will not be likely children some years before. To witness the appearance of the to see me again in the form. You may count on me always as tall, graceful form of this young woman, bearing on her arm a being at your service.' So far he has kept his promise ; he has babe of a year, or slightly more, and with a tot of three or four not materialised again for Paul, but very many times has he holding on to the folds of her fl.owing white robe, advancing . communicated with him throUgh messages, or automatic writing, from the cabinet towards her husband, he rnshing to meet her, or in 'trumpet ' or clairvoyant seance-even quite recently in to see them clasped in each other's anus, then the elder child London through Cecil Husk. Paul ever counts on him as one fold its little arms around its father's knee while he took of his most valued spirit friends and guides. the younger child from its mother's arms to fondle it for Another control or guide of Paul's, previoitsly referred to as a few moments, was a scene never to be forgotten. Then, after 'A. G. B.,' and a few members of his own family defunct for a few whispered words, nothing remained, all had vanished years, were also faithful visitors to him at these seances, but except the father, and he was overcome with grateful emotions. knowing of the mutual devotion that existed between him and After such wonderful and sweet commtmion with one's ' Adela,' they seldom remained long so as not to exhaust the dear departed, what strange impressions one experiences on forces, and thus permit as prolonged interviews as possible leaving the seance room and finding one's self again in a common­ between the lovers. · place street of New York teeming with every-day life and bustle! The results obtained were so satisfactory and startling that How many of the busy people there could or would believe, the fame .of the M.'s as mediums spread abroad, and it soon came could or would desire or appreciate the inestimable blessings that to pass that their seances became crowded and overcrowded ; the their fellow-man, fresh from the seance room, had just expel'i­ harvest of dollars increased in like ratio. It was then whis­ enced 1 Probably but very few among them could profit by pered that prosperity and renown were having an evil effect on such experiences--they could not bear them as they are not yet their mediumship. In deference to the pressure of many inves­ ready to receive the truth in such a form. tigators, and of people whose motives were more curiosity than Apports seldom occurred at M.'s seances ; on the other hand, legitimate seeking for demonstrations of the trutl!.s of the after­ however, the dematerialisation of fl.owers was of almost nightly life they multiplied the number. of their seances--a.t the ex­ occurrence. In fact, most sitters brought fl.owers in the hope that pe;se of their psychical and physical forces. It was also said their spirit friends could accept thenL The spirit form, when that drugs and other artificial means were used by them in order the time came, would vanish and the fl.owcr or fl.owers with it. to allay nervous exhaustion. Promoters of wild schemes, Some, however, failed to take them away, and it was claimed by searchers after mineral deposits, people of the 'get l'ich quick' the spirit controls that this was due to lack of power, or that class, induced M. with extravagant promises to accompany them the l'ower was purposely husbanded for some special demonstra­ to the West in search of mineral deposits and for that purpose tion later in the evening. It happened on some very rare occa­ to assist them with his mediumship. The result was foreseen sions that a spirit was enabled to give its earth friend a lock of by liis sincere friends-but warnings and advice were of no its own hair or a small cutting of its garment as a keepsake. avail. M. returned from the West a moral wreck, and with Paul was not favoured in this manner, and he was unable to as­ empty pockets. His mediumship, having been greatly abused, ce1tain whether such keepsakes are soon evanescent or are per­ was now sadly impaired, former results were no more to be manent, but he has recently seen, for the second time, a lock of counted on, and spurious manifestations were atte~pt~ beautiful spirit hair preserved under glass in a gold locket, which in order to satisfy the extravagant expectations of s11np1e­ was obtained in his presence, through a medium in Toledo, Ohio, minded, but exacting investigators. Detection, exposure nearly three years ago. It is. not to be supposed that, when and ruin of reputation and business soon followed. happenings of this nature were possible, 'Adela,' would for­ Thus two people endowed with the most precious of gifts get her dear Paul-far from it. On the evening of November were lost to the cause of Spiritualism. This deplorable 24th, while in sweet confab with him, and while holding his denoztement happened in 1906, the year following Paul's visit to left hand ·in hers, she said, ' Would you lend me your signet the l\f.'s. It pained him greatly, although he could have no ring, I would greatly like to keep it with me a .few days-it possible doubt of the genuineness of the phenomena. which he would thus become charged with my own magnetism 7 I will had witnessed. 'Adela,' knowing how deeply he would be retum it to you after a few days. Promise me ~'Qat you will wounded by this news, most considerately took means of pre­ wear it always-it will be a source of protection and benefit to pal'ing liim for the blow fully two months before the M.'s you and it will help to bind us more closely together.' Paul were shown up in the poliee-courts of New York. promptly removed the ring from his own left annular finger The readers of these notes will remember that Paul had and placed it on that of his beloved. Faithfully, at the seance made the acquaintance of a certain lady, the wife of a judge, on November 26th, she herself replaced the 1ing on his finger. who possessed remarkable mediumship and was a good automatic Needless to say that it has remained there ever since-now writer. Through this lady' Adela's' solicitude for Paul's happi- more than iive years ago. At this time one of Paul's frequeut and highly valued tance to the British troops in bo.ttle, a.nd a.s ~ scout h.e was rewarded by visitors in the seance rooms was spirit Captain Joseph Brant.* a. Captaincy in the Army and a full pa.y pension ,for lif~. He was a man of good education, deeply attached to the Anglican fa.1th, tJ:!LIISlator of the Gospel of St. Mark into the Mohawk language and edito~ of t~e Hook of Common Prayer for bis people, a rare 8vo. vol., pnnted m *Known in American histor;r a.a 'Ty!l-ndinagea,' chief of the ~oha~k Indians from about 1776 until his death m.1807. He and most of hiR tnbe London in 1787, at George IIl.'s expense. remained u113-lterably faithful to King Georg!' during the War ,of * See also 'Life and Times of Joseph Brant.' 2 vols. Svo., New American Independence. He wa.s a great warnor and of valued llSSlS· York, 1838, by Wm. L. Stone. 405 August 26,ll911.] LIGHT. ness and peace of mind was well demonstrated. About four TELEPATHY AND SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. months after Paul's experiences with the M.'s, experiences which had given him much joy and revealed to him so much concern­ BY HORACE LEAF. ing the other world, and two months. before the discovery of these medium's frauds, he received a letter from Mrs. D., stating Although telepathy is not .yet g•merally accepted by the that she had been impressed, in one of her moments of trance, scientific world, it is sufficient that such illustrious men as to write him the following message :- Professors Sidgwick, W. F. Barrett, and Sir Oliver Lodge, after March 28th, 1906. well-devised scientific tests, should declare in favour of it. MY DEAR ONE,-From realms of Light and Love I come Those who ignore or deny it probably take the attitude which once more to pour into your hallowed and chastened spirit sweet Faraday took some forty years ago toward Spiritualism, when, comfort such as we only, who have passed beyond the portals of earthly care and trouble, can give. Ours is such a placid in response to an invitation to investigate it, he said : 'They life of joy and serenity, with nothing to mar its peace, except who say they see these things are not competent witnesses of our knowledge of loved ones still encased in mortal :liesh, beating facts ; it would be condescension on my part to pay any more their wings against the bars of human limitation, longing for attention to them ' ; or that of Huxley, who, approached by the fuller, freer soul life of the spirit realms. Dear heart, remember Society for Psychical Research on the same matter of Spiritualistic each trial endured, each victory gained, even though it be a phenomena, including the possibility of telepathy, wrote : seemingly small one, broadens itnd expands your inner life and causes to be brought into action some new trait or power of your 'Supposing the phenomena to be genuine, they do not interest being so nothing can ever be lost in the light of spiritual under· me.' standing. To know that telepathy is a fact is, however, no explanation I have never left your side for a long period at a time but of its nature. Much more is needed than the bald state­ watch and wait for your coming. At the same time I am never ment that it is the communication of feelings and impressions idle, but grow here in my new home, ever learning and in my humble way helping others as I was helped when I first put off between persons at some distance from each other by means the rope of flesh. I still walk hand in hand with you through other than the ordinary. There must be some mtionale, but not the forest and cheer you when inclined to be discouraged. Often even the most accomplished investigator is yet able to furnish I come in the wee hours of the night and lull you to tardy sleep it. The favourite explanatory theory is that telepathy is due to by patting and caressing your face. At such times I nestle by vibrations of ether or some other more tenuous medium set your side and whisper thoughts of love and contentment that m. motion by the mind when thinking, and that these vibrations' all will be and is well. Your work no one else can do, and you have done mitch that you do not realise yet, you shall see it only are controllable by the will, so that they can be directed from this side the vale. Go on and on, al ways sending out good wherever desired, and registered by any mind sensitive enough and lovely thoughts to us and your earth fellows, my constant to receive them. But from a purely scientific point of view care and love shall be yours; remember I am helped and com­ this theory is unsubstantiated. forted also by you, for we are one in spirit. Please remember this That thought is capable of being controlled and directed by always.-Ever I am your constant WHITE FLOWER. the will has long been proved. That it is an active force with­ With reg1trd to the signature, 'White Flower,' Paul states out the aid of the will, and is sometimes registered by other that this pseudonym was always used by 'Adela' when she minds, are facts of fairly common experience, as, for instance, wished to send him communications through Mrs. D., this for when two persons quite unintentionally think of precisely the still tmexplained reasons. It originated, perhaps, in the fact that same thing arid utter the same words. Some individuals are she invariably appeared to Mrs. D. in resplendent white gar­ particularly subject to this, as if possessing a peculiar affinity of ments, holding a white flower, a carnation, in her right hand. mind. · Such persons would do well to experiment together ; To this day Mrs. D. has never heard of 'Adela's' real name, their results .might be as startling as those obtained by the notwithstanding the many times she has seen her clairvoyantly, Zancigs, who, it is said, have successfully passed severe scientific and has been impressed on certain occasions, and for a manifest tests. purpose, to write Paul a message. Although the exact nature of telepathy is at present The purport and tone of the message given above perplexed obscure, certain definite characteristics have been discovered by Paul greatly. Certainly it was not such a one as he might then various investigators; and, amongst other interesting thillgs have expected. He knew of no gloom, of no discouragement, considerable light has been thrown upon some of the modes of of no disappointment. He had every reason to consider himself spirit communication. When Mr. and Mrs. Zancig commenced blessed far beyond his merits, far beyond the average human their development they noticed that two different types of being, in having enjoyed precious communion with his loved mind were necessary for the production of the phenomena, and ones dwelling across the border. Truth had been revealed to that they themselves were each specially qualified with one of him with no shadow of doubt to mar his peace of mind, his these types. Mrs. Zancig showed greater ability to receive impres­ absolute contentment in the certitude of an after life, logical sions than her husband, who was, on the other hand, more capable and ieasonable, was assured. Not that life pictured and of transmitting them. They wisely decided to accept the situation promised by the churches, but one that w'as far more satisfying. and develop on those lines. He knew and understood that 'Adela' and his other angel­ Sir 0. Lodge, in his experiments in 1884, observed the ex­ guides were his constant companions and protectors. But the istence of these two mind-conditions. He noted, further, that reason of 'Adela's' solicitude dawned upon him a few weeks transmitters were much more common than receivers. This is, later, when, first the rumours, then the facts, connected with the of course, to be expected, as every normal person is constantly M. exposure became known to him. Then he had every reason thinking and forming mental images, and the ability to be a suc­ to become obsessed by gloom. He experienced feelings of cessful transmitter appears to depend on concentration. bitter disappointment, and the thought that possibly he also had An important discovery connected with thought-trans­ been duped-that the many beautiful manifestations, 'Adela's' ference, which confirms the e.iw~riences of the early mesmerists, portrait, &c., might have been fraudulently produced-dis­ is the fact that it is easiest to transfer thoughts which can be couraged him exceedingly. Then it was that 'Adela's' message, expressed in form. Thus it is easier to transmit the thought of and a later one from the same source, were indeed as precious a concrete object, such as a key, than abstract ideas, such as affection or hate. So persistent is this that experienced tele­ balm to his soul. (To be continued.) pathists find it advisable to cultivate symbology so as, whenever possible, to give the thought a form. For the name 'Daisy,' the THE UNION OF LONDON SPIRITUALISTS.-The first of the tl9wer of. that name is thought of; for the name Smith a person Autumn Conferences held by the Union of London Spiritualists of the trade of smith, and so on. It is unfortunate that this will take place at the Masonic Hall, New-road, Camberwell, on process is not capable of wider application, so that errors which Sunday, September 3rd. At 3 p.m. Mr. R. Boddington will often occur might be avoided. read a paper on ' Spiritualism and Politics,' to be followed by When the Society for Psychical Research was established discussion. Tea provided at 5 p.111., Gd. each. At 7 p.m., speakers : Messrs. G. T. Gwinn,R. Boddington,G. F. Tilby. South there were many among its adherents who anticipated, and even London Spiritualists are invited to make this a record rally. fondly hoped, that it would prove that those psychical 406 LIGHT. [August 26, 1911:

phenomena which could not be explained by delusion and fraud Mr. Andrew Lang, in his presidential addre~s to the Society could be accounted for by telepathy. Some of the111 ventured for P8ychical Research, which is now published in the August to credit telepathy with powers far beyond anything warranted issue of the 'Proceedil\gs,' paid a well-deserved tribute to by the results of experiments ; indeed, there are still those who Professor W. F. Barrett, who, he said,' introduced what we now call "telepathy" (or thought-transference) to the British .Association stretch the telepathic theory to cover anything, new or old, which at Glasgow as early as 1870.' Further, Mr. Lang said that he is of a supernormal character. To the unbiassed, however, it soon could ' think of no work published under the auspices of the became clear that telepathy could not cover all the facts ; and Society which contains more stable evidence of the existence of that where it did account for them it really ~ucceeded in giving strange neglected faculties in human nature tran Professor more to the Spiritualistic theory than it took away. For it was Barrett's two papers on "The So-called Divining Rod." . . A faculty which had been dismissed to the limbo of popular realised that if thought could be transmitted. between two living superstitions turns out to be a fact, and a serviceable fact. I minds, _-there was nothing irrational in the belief that, if cannot but regret and condemn the flippancy of my Lord Byron, individuals do survive death, they would possess the power to the poet. His mother-in-law, Lady Milbanke, was a dowser, transfer their thoughts, not only among themselves, but to or water-finder, with the dhining rod. On her regretted demise incarnate people also. Lord Byron said that she would find the faculty useful in the Symbology is a common method adopted by spirits for com­ place where, according to his theology, she had gone.' nmnication, especially when they wish to give their names to, The point of view from which we regard many things largely or through, mediums, and one has only to think of the cnrious determines our conclusions. There is a wide difference between and complex natures of many of the symlJols employed, often truth intellectually perceived and truth emotionally realised. to convey a quite simple fact or message, to see that they are The Theosophists almost always convert their truths into intel­ adopted because of some inherent difficulty in the process of lectual concepts, and can differentiate and analyse ad injinititm ; and he very logical over them withal A kindly corres­ transference or some hindrance, presumably in the mental pondent writes : ' I remember how a friend once con­ natme of the medium, which they cannot otherwiEc over­ founded a controversialist of this type, who had been rail­ come. ing at emotionalism, by inquiring if he knew that but It is interesting to notice that the spirit guides of medi nms for the emotions he would not be alive at all! So many things adopt certain definite symbols and use them as frequently as is are real to the intellect, which to the emotional or intuitive consciousness have only a phantom or phenomenal existence.' necessary. It seems as if practice makes perfect, in this as in other things, and so the spirits adopt the line of least resistance Miss Evelyn Underhill, in her book on 'Mysticism,' says: 'Broadly speaking, I understand it to be the expression of the innate tendency of the human spirit towards complete harmony with the transcendental order; whatever be the theological ITEMS OF INTEREST. formula under which that order is understood. This tendency, in great mystics, gradually captures the whole field of conscious­ The charge that Spiritualists, as a body, ' are more concerned ness ; it dominates their life and, iu the experience called with the next life than with this' has again been made, this time "mystic union," attains its end. Whether that end be called by our good friend Mr. Will Phillips, who, with the August the God of Christianity, the World-soul of Pantheism; the issue, has discontinued his bright little monthly, 'The New Absolute of Philosophy, the desire to attain it and the move­ Fellowship.' We sympathise with Mr. Phillips in his feeling of ment t.owards it-so long as this is a genuine life process and disappointment and fully anticipate .t]lat he will find a more ex­ not an intellectual speculation-is the proper subject of mysti­ tended sphere for his ardent spirit iii.·wprk for the betterment cism. I lJelieve this movement to represent the true line of of the conditions of rxii>tence of the workers in this world. At development of the highest form of· human consciousness.' the same time we cannot help feeling that while there is some truth in his contention, it cannot well be otherwise. The Spirit­ In ' The Star,' of Johannesburg, South Africa, for J tt.ly 24th, ualist movement, as such, is a protest against materialism and a correspondent writes : ' Last evening, in the course of a lecture the tendency to limit thought and conduct to thi.~ world. Jt is, to the Johannesburg Spiritualists' Society, on "Telepathy and therefore, necessarily and primarily concerned with the study Allied Phenomena," Mr. Brittlebank told his hearers : " I have of ma1i's spiritual nature and destiny and the piling up of the myself seen two live pigeons come into the room. I have seen evidence for continued existence after death. While this is true flowers drop in the dining-room where there was a good light of the movement, it is equally true that individually Spiritualists from the hanging lamp ; likewise a chair keep time to the music are keen reformers, progressive thinkers, and ardent workers 9f a violin. The heavy dining-table, seven foet long and about for human progress and well-being in both worlds. We deeply three feet six inches wide, on one occasion moved along at least a sympathise with every aspiration after the truer, purer, wiser foot, and lifted at one corner. My hat has come through into and better life, and with every intelligent effort to secure happier a room on two occasions-once when the door was locked, and condiLions of living for all-to, in short, approximately e:>tablish I have had the key in my pocket."' The 'Star ' correspondent, heaven on earth in the hearts and homes of the people every­ in a sad attempt to be funny, confesses to what he calls 'some where. We do not forget, however, that our especial purpose, similar experiences ' in his ' unregenerate days,' on an occasion mission, or service, as Spiritualists, is to emphasise and demon• when he was unable to find his key at all. Comment is strate that life is not bounded between the cradle and the coffin, needless. that man does not live by bread alone, that moral values are A correspondent of the 'British Medical Journal ' says that based on spiritual realities, and that the ideal before us must his wife has an absolute horror of spiders. In childhood it gave include the hereafter as well as the here-and, while so many rise to 'fearful screaming fits, lasting until the offending spider are limited to the here and so few believe or know of the here­ was removed.' Recently he was hastily summoned to the bed­ after, it is our privilege and duty to largely devote our energies room to 'find the spider.' A short search revealed a large to the work before us-the overthrow of materialism and the spider at rest on a dark patch on the wall-paper. 'The signs proclamation of true spiritual science and religion. by which she tells are a peculiar spinal thrill, and then a kind of mental " aura" proclaims the presence of the spider. . . I have never needlessly been summoned, and, moreover, she In addition to the experi~nce narrated in ' Items of Interest ' can tell at once in an absolutely dark room on which wall it'is in our last issue, l\Iiss Mack Wall sends us the following probably. crawling-at any rate which of the four corners it is incident which further indicates that her friend possesses nearest. Her father's sister suffers from a similar faculty.' We remarkable prophetic power.· Miss J.\IIack Wall says: 'A mere

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. she opened her eyes, she beheld the figure of her friend, clad in l1Cr dressing-gown. My aunt possessed a splendid nerve. In The Editar is not responsible for the opinions expressed by correspon­ no wise disconcerted, she addressed the apparition, as far as I dents, and sometimes publishes what he does not agree with for now rememlier, in these words: 'Oh, my dear, why have you the purpose of presenting views which may elicit discitssion. come here 1' ' Oh, Louise,' came the despairing voice, bl1t in distinct accents, ' I am so hungry, so lmngry, and they will not give me anything to eat ! ' My aunt raised herself up in bed, Mrs. Wriedt's Acknowledgments. but as she did so the figure vanished. She woke her husband, but he resented the disturbance, muttering something about Srn,-At the close of my visit to Julia's Bmeau, and as a 'nonsense,' and relapsed into sleep. small acknowledgment of the kindness of Mr. Stead and Admiral The next morning my aunt drove to her friend's house. She Moore, I wish to express my warmest thanks t0 those gentlemen was met in the hall by the nurse, who told her that the patient for my introduction to English investigators in Spiritualism. 'died' during the night, and, she added, 'Before she died she During my nine weeks' stay in London I have given seances to begged me to give her food, but I would not. I was afraid several hundreds of sitters, of many different nationalities. I am anything solid would hurt her. There were two cold par­ also greatly indebted to Mrs. and Miss Harper for their kind tridges left from the late dinner ; she knew it, and enti'eated me hospitality when in their home. I shall carry back with me to to let her have a taste.' The reader may draw his, or her, own America a fond recollection of the new ties formed during this conclusions.-Yours, &c., memorable epoch in my life. I wish to assure all those friends M. WOODMAN. who have so kindly made known through 'LIGHT' their personal Freemantle Croft, Four Marks, Rants. experiences at my circles of my sincere appreciation, and to thank Mr, T. Harper for his careful and accurate note-taking, by which an almost unbroken record of the evening sittings has been obtained.-Yours, &c.; Replies to 'Some Interesting Questions.' .. ETTA WRIEDT. Srn,-I will endeavour with your permission to reply very Detroit, U.S.A. briefly to the questions of ' E. R. B.' on page 362. 'E. R. B.' asks, in the first place,' Do those who have passed ' Do Spirit People Eat, Drink and Sleep?' over eat and drink 1' A disembodied spirit does not eat and drink. Eating and Srn,-In 'LIGHT' of the 5th inst. Mr. W. Fraser asks if drinking belong to a purely physical condition, and are only: spirit people eat, drink and sleep, a,nd quotes some seemingly needful for the sustenance of a physical body. Once ·the irreconcilable statements made by those who write about the physical body is laid aside by the change, miscalled ' death,' the spiritual world. To reconcile these statements we should con­ spirit, set free from the environment of the body, at once functions sider what we understand by the words. Eating and drinking on another plane under other conditions, and we may safely are necessary to sustain the body, but we should bear in mind conclude that it has no need of that form of nourishment which that in certain sicknesses the body can be fed, or nourishment appertains only to the physical and lower part of man's nature. can be assimilated, in other ways than through the mouth. To the second question, 'Can a man have the same character After physical death the spirit is associated with and ex­ without his body 1' the answer would seem to be that a man's presses itself through the spiritual, or 'astral,' body, which character is not in his body but in his soul. The body is merely certainly requires for its maintenance a supply of similar etheric an em·elope in which the soul functions during its sojourn on matter, or substance, which must be partaken of or ab(lorbed in the earth ; it is a medium for the soul's progress heavenwards. some way. Now it is easy to suppose that one individual may Man is a dual combination, and unless we understand how to characterise this function, according to his knowledge, or with separate his elements, we lose ourselves in wondering. We regard to the understanding of his hearers, as eating and must try to realise that the body is physical, transitory and drinking, while another individual may deny that this assimila­ mortal, and that we shall cease to need it when we have left this tion is similar to our earth practices. I think each view has earth plane. its confirmation according to the standpoint from which we The character, then, is the signpost of the development of consider it. the soul, not of the body. The body is only a seconrlary attribute ; As regards sleeping, I can imagine that some individuals in it follows the dictates of the will ; it can do nothing of itself. the spiritland have need of sleep, or of periods of repose To the question referring to the relativity of love in the corresponding to what we call sleep. It depends always on the hereafter, let me urge that again we must clearly draw the dis~ ability each one possesses to strengthen his capacities. And in tinction between the physical and spiritual parts of man, be­ this direction, in my seances, I have often been assured by the tween t:\J,e permanent and transitory, between the mortal and manifesting spirits that they awoke just as they appeared in1ti1ortal · through the medium. This is a sign that many, if not all, who Jack and Jill loved with the spiritual and squl part of pass on, are sometimes in a somnolent state from which they their natures. This love took its rise in the higher conscious­ awake; earlier or later, and into which they rnmetimes fall again. ness of both of t;hem ; thus it blossomed, so to speak, in the Therefore I think we can accept both statements without diffi­ s

A Boy's Prophetic Clairvoyant Vision. that I saw was misty, greyish, anil seemed to sprilig up with arms Srn,-The following may be interesting to the readers of uplifted, as in triumphant joy and relief at being released from 'LIGHT.' the poor, worn-out body. The other watchers by the bed could A few evenings ago a friend arranged a special circle at his not believe for a minute or two after that my father was really home on account of two English visitors who were interested in gone, and the nurse felt the pulse and lield a glass to the lips. the spirit work, at which a wonderful clairvoyant vision was But I felt convinced that he had passed away at the moment I given to my little boy, eleven years of age. He described a ship i;aw that triumphant figure spring up. I never mentioned what in course of erection (on the stocks) with a great number of men I had seen to anyone, being afraid I should ])e laughed at and working on it, one of them, a young man, falling a considerable disbel~eved. I felt no surprise at the time ; and while I was distance and being killed. watclnng by the bedside I never expected anything like that The name of the firm and name uf the yard in which the having no conscious thought in my mind at all, my whole powe; ship is being built were shown to him in large round letters on ])eing concentrated in watching my father's face, which, I sup­ the wall. My friend who invited llB is employed with this firm pose, put me into a clairvoyant state.-Yours, &c., of shipbuilders. Inside of twenty-four hours in the same firm's D.M. yard and ship a young man was killed just as the boy bad de­ scribed it. I append the names and addresses of the friends who were present and who can vouch for the accuracy of this SOCIETY WORK ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 20th, &c. report.-Yours, &c., ROBERT ARDIS. 29, Clifton Drive, Belfast. P1·0.~pective Notices, not exceeding twenty-four words, mDl/I be added to reports if acclJmllanied by stam@s to the value of sixpence.

Mrs. Besant's Attitude towards Spirit~alism. MARYLEBONE SPIRITUALIST .A.ssOOIATION, 51, MORTDIER­ Srn,-In reply to Mrs. Hopper's letter in 'LIGHT' of August STREET, W.-OW1Jendish Rooms.-Mrs. Place-Yeary gave many 19th, respecting Mrs. Besant's attitude to Spiritualism which successful clairvoyant descriptions to a large audience.-15, Mor­ repeats in a footnote a statement made to Mrs. Hopp~r by a timer-street, W,:_On the 14th inst. Mr. A. V. Peters gave con­ correspondent, that 'Mrs. Besant, in her recent work ridicules vincing clairvoyant readings to many members and friends. Mr. the seances most exceedingly, &c.,' I should like to pofnt out to Leigh Hunt presided at both meetings. Sunday next, see advt. Mrs. Hopper-as, sir, you yourself indicated in 'LIGHT' of SPIRITUAL MISSION : 22, Prince's-street, Oxford-street.-At July 22nd-that it is difficult to contro\'ert such a very loose 7 p.m. Mr. G. R. Symons delivered an address on 'White Robes.' statement. It is not first band,. and even the name of the book -67, George-street, W.-At 11 a.m. Mr. E. W. Beard, the presi­ in which Mrs. Besant is said to have 'ridiculed the seances most dent, gave an address under control on 'Blessings: Small and exceedingly ' is :not given. May I suggest to Mrs. Hopper that Great.'-E. W. before writing to 'LIGHT' on the matter it would ha\·e been wiser to have addressed herself to her friend and obtained a defi: STRATFORD.-WoRKMEN's HALL, 27,· RoMFORD-ROAD, E.­ nite proof, the book and page being indicated, that Mrs. Besant Mrs. J amrach's address on 'Is Spiritualism a Religion ? ' was did what she is accused of doing. It is rather a serious matter, followed by successful clairvoyant descriptions. Sunday next for the accuser, not for the accused, to bring against a religious at 7 p.m., Miss Violet Burton. ' teacher remarkable for her liberality of thought and of opinion BRIXTON.-8, MAYALL-ROAD.-Nurse Dyer gave her first the accusation of ridiculing anyone's religious beliefs. Fron~ address for Spiritualism. Sunday next, Mrs. Boddington at my personal knowledge of Mrs. Besant, I know. how very careful 7 p.m. ; Lyceum at 3 p.m. Circles: Monday, at 7.30, ladies'; she is in both her lectures and writings to avoid hurting any­ Tuesday, at 8.15, members'; Thursday, at 8.15, public.-G.W. one's religious feelings, which she believ~s are sacred. Ridieule KINGSTON-ON-THAMES.-ASSEMBLY ROOMS, HAMPTON WICK. is not one of her weapons of attack. She relies rather on first­ -Mr. Snowden Hall gave an instmctive address on 'Astrology.' hand experience, logic, reason. Miss Brown sang. Sunda.y next, "27th inst.• at 7 p.m., first visit In one of Mrs. Besant's most recent works, 'Psychology ' I of Miss Florence Morse, of Manchester, who will give an address find Mrs. Besant, in the chapter entitled 'Proofs of the Exist~nce and clairvoyant descriptions. of the Soul,' p. 53, writing: 'We shall get the next definite proof BRIGHTON.-0LD TOWN HALL, HOVE, 1, BRUNSWICK-STREET from the experiments of our Spiritualistic brethren or of such WEST.-Excellent addresses were given by Mr. R. Boddington. men as Professor Crookes.' She says (p. 57),' It is foolish to deny Sunday next, at 11.15, public circle ; 7 p.m., addresses and clair­ these facts [i.e. of Spiritualistic phenomena]. They are on record voyance by Mr. W. G. Thomas and Mrs. Curry. Monday, at 3 and if you choose may be re-verified if you are doulitful. • . . . and 8, Wednesday, at 3, clairvoyance. Thursday, atB, circle. Such events do occur, and anyone who goes into it knows that BRIGHTON.-MANCHESTER-STREET (OPPOSITE AQUARIUM).­ they. occur ; and I say that although I do not approve of Mrs. Fielding gave very interesting addresses and a few good that line of investigation, although I think it dangerous and clairvoyant descriptions. Sunday next, at 11.15 a.m. and 7 p.m., mischievous, none the less, if a person be a materialist and bas Mr. Tayler Gwinn. Tuesday, at 8, and Wednesday, at 3 p.m., been led up to the point that we reach by the study of hypno­ Mrs. Clarke's open circles for clairvoyance. Thursday, at 8 tism and by the study of dreams, he may very well then clinch members' developing circle.-A. M. S. ' a~ it were, ~is growing convfctions by getting, or much better b; CROYDON.-ELMWOOD HALL, ELMWOOD-ROAD, BROAD-GREEN. himself trymg, some experiments along these lines. I do not -Morning and evening, Mrs. M. H. Wallis gave answers to advise you to do this unless you are a materialist. If you are questions and an address, followed by clairvoyant descriptions. it is worth the risk for the certainty.' .And this fa a view of On August 27th harvest festival services will be held at 11.15 Spiritualism I have heard Mrs. Besant assert again and again. a.m. and 7 p.m. Mr. .Alfred Vout Peters will give addresses - Yours, &c., and clairvoyance. ELISABETH SEVERS. PECKHAM.-LAUSANNE HALL, LAUSANNE-ROAD.-Moming the tlBual circle was held; evening, Mr. Johnson delivered a~ instructive address on 'Eastern Philosophy.' A good after-circle. Next Sunday.morning, circle; evening, an address. September Seeing the Spirit Leave the Body. 10th, 7 p.m., Mrs. Mary Davies.. September 17th, Mr. H. Srn,-Having read the interesting articles in your paper on Boddington. Healing circle on Tuesdays, and prayer meeting the 'Hypotheses of Bilocation,' I should like to contribute a and public circle on Thursdays.-.A.. 0. S. curious experience of my own at the passing away of my father MANOR P ARK.-CORNER OF SHREWSBURY AND STRONE­ on August 19th three years ago. ROAD.-Mrs. Roberts gave an address on 'Sheaves' and Mr. I was watching by the bedside with a brother and sister Roberts gave some clairvoyant descriptions. Thursday, 17th through the night. My father had been unconscious all day inst., Mrs. Mary Davies spoke on 'Thought Power and its Vibra­ and t?wards the end his breathing kept stopping, so that w~ tions,' and gave clairvoyant delineations. Sunday next, at 7 p.m. sometimes thought he had passed away. Just after midnight }fr. Karl Reynolds, and on Sunday, September 3rd, at 7, Nurse he gave a gr!,1at sigh of relief and triumph, and, a moment Grabam.-C. W. T. afterwards, I saw a faint shadowy figure spring up from the HIGHGATE.-GROVEDALE HALL, GROVEDALE-ROAD. - Mrs. body near the head. I saw it for only a second or two but it Mary Davies' uplifting address on 'The Brotherhood of Man' w~ ~mpressed so vividly o~ me that. I can see it still' in my was followed by clairvoyant descriptions. Evening, Mrs. Pod­ mmd s eye. The strange tbmg about it was, that it was a young more gave an inspiring addre~s on ' Love,' touching on the fi~1re, and not like that of a very old man, as my father was present unrest, and gave clairvoyant descriptions. 16th, Mr. tliough yet like him-the reason for this being, I think, that m; W. R. Stebbens gave psychometrical readings. Sunday next, at father always had a young soul. Though he lived to the age of 11.15, Mr. J. Abrahall; 7 p.m.; Mr. R. Boddington. Wednes­ ninety-one, to within a fortnight of his death he kept his intellect day, Mrs. A. Jamrach. September 3rd, Mr. G, R. Symons, as fresh and vigorous as that of a much younger man. .The shape Lycet1m every Su:nday at 3.-J. F.