DESCRIPTION
Published in 1902 | 428 pages | PDF reader required
CONTENTS
BOOK 3 - SPIRITUALISM IN ENGLAND
CHAPTER 1
TABLE TURNING AND TABLE TALKING
Mrs. Hayden's séances in London—The raps—Attitude of the London press—G. H. Lewes in the Leader—Elliotson in the Zoist—R. Chambers in Chambers's Journal—Testimony of Professor de Morgan—Table-turning—Explanations of Braid, Faraday, and Carpenter—The popular view, Electricity—Sandby, Townshend, Elliotson, and other Mesmerists adopt similar views—The Evangelical clergy regard table-turning as satanic—Revs. Godfrey, Gillson, and Dibdin—The Spiritualist view—Testimony of Ashburner—Conversion of Robert Owen—The Keighley circle—Dr. Hardinge and Julius Hartegilligan, the new Messiah.
CHAPTER 2
THE INCUBATION PERIOD
Robert Owen's share in the movement—The New Existence of Man upon Earth—The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph—Home's first visit Mrs. Marshall's séances—Private mediums Dixon and Dan—Mrs. de Morgan's servant "Jane"—"Inspirational" writing—Robert Owen and the Crowned Angel of the Seventh Sphere—The spirits of Shakespeare, Franklin, the Duke of Wellington, and others—Extraordinary influence of these automatic utterances—Testimony of Thomas Shorter, Dr. Garth Wilkinson—Mrs. de Morgan's book, From Matter to Spirit—Automatic drawings Mrs. Newton Crosland and Light in the Valley—Drawing in W. M. Wilkinson's family—The Howitts catch the infection—Revelations of Frank Starr; of J. G. H. Brown, of Nottingham—General characteristics of the early movement in this country—Second visit of Home—Article in the Cornhill Magazine—Squire and his table-lifting performances—Testimony of Dr. Lockhart Robertson—Foster and pellet-reading—Testimony of Spicer, Barkas, and others—The Davenport Brothers Articles in the Standard, Times, Lancet, etc.—Imitation of the manifestations by conjurers—Exposure of the Davenports at Liverpool—Challenge of the Anthropological Society not accepted.
CHAPTER 3
THE AMERICAN INVASION
Second visit of Home—Article in the Cornhill Magazine—Squire and his table lifting performances—Testimony of Dr. Lockhart Robertson—Foster and pellet reading—Testimony of Spicer, Barkas, and others—The Davenport Brothers Articles in the Standard, Times, Lancet, etc. —Imitation of the manifestations by conjurers—Exposure of the Davenports at Liverpool—Challenge of the Anthropological Society not accepted.
CHAPTER 4
PRIVATE MEDIUMSHIP
Physical manifestations originated in England with amateurs—Mrs. Everitt, Edward Childs, Willie Turketine, the first Mrs. Guppy, Miss Nichol (the second Mrs. Guppy), her flower "apports," etc.—Discussion of "private mediumship" in general—Automatic phenomena widely prevalent at this period Testimony of Dr. McLeod, Mr. Fusedale, Miss Houghton, Mrs. de Morgan, Miss Anna Blackwell, and various witnesses before the Dialectical Society, to seeing visions, hearing voices, to automatic drawing and writing, and to involuntary guidance in action—Conclusion: that mediumship is to be explained as an abnormal development of the subconscious activities, not necessarily involving any serious deviation from sanity.
CHAPTER 5
PHYSICAL MEDIUMSHIP IN GENERAL
Herne and Williams amongst the earliest professionals in this country—Description of their séances—The transit of Mrs. Guppy, and sudden appearance at one of these circles—Spirit-writing by Mrs. Jencken's baby—Mrs. Fay's séances The writer's experience with Miss Nella Davenport—How the trick was done—David Duguid and his "spirit" paintings—Dr. Slade's slate-writing performances—Professor Ray Lankester's exposure—Mr. Morell Theobald's servant and her mediumship—Direct spirit-writing and poems from the Persian Saadi.
CHAPTER 6
MATERIALISATION
Mr. Livermore's experiences with Kate Fox in 1861, etc.—The Keeler materialisations near Auburn, N. Y. —Mrs. Guppy's earliest face-materialisation—Herne and Williams—Miss Florence Cook: her full-form materialisations—Miss Showers and her servant Ellen—"John King" and "Peter" appear—Dr. Richardson describes in the Medium the spirit form of "Florence Maple"—Various exposures—Miss Cook and Mr. Volckman—Miss Showers and Serjeant Cox, etc., etc. —Spiritualists recognise dubious nature of manifestations—Various theories advocated—Transfiguration Imposture by spirits—Temporary splitting up of medium's material organism—Williams' performance before the Research Committee of the B.N.A.S.—Exposure of Williams and Rita at Amsterdam—Miss Wood's "test" séances, and the writer's criticisms—Subsequent exposure of Miss Wood—Of spirit drapery—Of "recognition" at dark séances—Quotation from the Seybert Report.
CHAPTER 7
SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS
Mumler in New York in 1862-3—Mrs. Guppy and Hudson—Enthusiastic reception of the first spirit photographs—Subsequent demonstration of "double exposure," and differences of opinion amongst Spiritualists—"Recognition" of the photographs—Buguet's studio in Paris: acceptance by Stainton Moses and others of his pictures—Buguet's trial and confession—Remarkable evidence of recognition—Mr. Beattie and Josty—Other spirit photographs, mostly from private sources—Various explanations of the results.
CHAPTER 8
CLAIRVOYANCE AND TRANCE-SPEAKING
General lack of evidence for clairvoyance or telepathy amongst mediums—Mr. Barkas' experiments with Madame Esperance in 1875—Analysis of the records David Duguid's trance-painting with closed eyes—Hafed, Prince of Persia, dictates his life -history through Duguid's mouth—Description and criticism of the book—Other inspirational writings—Inspirational speaking—Mrs. Hardinge Britten, Mr. Morse—Serjeant Cox's testimony Mrs. Cora L. V. Tappan - Richmond—Her career—Extracts from an improvised lecture on the Darwinian theory—An eloquent peroration—Two quotations from her "inspirational" poems—Criticism of these automatic utterances—Other cases cited.
CHAPTER 9
SCIENCE AND SUPERSTITION
Unfortunate attitude of scientific men in general to the subject: quotation from the Times—Sir D. Brewster's séance with Home—His account in the Morning Advertiser contrasted with the contemporary account in his private diary—Professor de Morgan's testimony—The trial of Lyon v. Home—Faraday's letter on an invitation to investigate Home's feats—Tyndall's experiences, and attitude to the subject—Investigation by the Dialectical Society—Their Report—Criticism of the evidence offered—Testimony from Serjeant Cox, Cromwell Varley, Dr. A. R. Wallace, F. R. S., and others—Dr. Carpenter's attitude—Mr. Crookes' investigations—His defence of Miss Cook—Photographing the spirit form at Mr. Crookes' house—Miss Cook and the spirit
"Katie" appear simultaneously—Miss Cook placed in a galvanic circuit by Cromwell Varley—Mr. Crookes adopts similar tests with Mrs. Fay—Criticism—Professor Barrett at the Glasgow Meeting of the British Association.
CHAPTER 10
GENERAL SURVEY OF THE MOVEMENT
Growth of the movement in France—Allan Kardec and Reincarnation—In Germany and on the Continent generally—Speculations of Perty, von Hartmann, Hellenbach, Aksakof, and others—In London—Spiritualism under guidance of Howitt at first predominantly Christian—Provincial Spiritualism in England—Democratic and Secularist James Burns—His views and work—His periodicals, Human Nature and the Medium—Description of the popular movement—Quotations from Mr. St. George Stock and Mr. Gerald Massey—The scientific aspect represented by W. H. Harrison and the Spiritualist—Founding of the "British National Association of Spiritualists"—Serjeant Cox and the "Psychological Society"—Rationalistic explanations of the phenomena—The Mesmerists—Mr. Guppy and "Mary Jane"—Views of Charles Bray—Thought rays and a general thought reservoir—Serjeant Cox's Mechanism of Man—Its scientific and philosophic conceptions—Various contemporary schools of mysticism—Account of Esoteric Buddhism—Professor Barrett and the Society for Psychical Research—Present state of the movement.
BOOK 4 - PROBLEMS OF MEDIUMSHIP
CHAPTER 1
SOME FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS
Examination of the evidence in general—(a) The psychological phenomena,—(b) the physical phenomena Defects in the evidence for—(c) Two special objections—Establishment of general presumption against genuineness of physical phenomena—Chief foreign investigations—De Gasparin and Thury, Baron de Guldenstubbe, Zollner and Slade Tying of knots in endless cord—Abstraction of coins from closed boxes, etc. —The Seybert Commission—Dark séances—Their special difficulties—Fallacies of the sense of touch—Eusapia Paladino—The Milan experiments—Richet's criticism—The experiments at the Ile Roubaud in 1894—Testimony of Professor Lodge and others—Dr. Hodgson's criticisms—Exposure of Eusapia at Cambridge in 1895—General estimate of the evidence in Eusapia's case.
CHAPTER 2
SLATE - WRITING
Testimony of conjurers for genuineness of physical phenomena, especially slate-writing—Eglinton's performances and Spiritualist testimony to their genuineness—Account of a séance by Mr. C. C. Massey—Dr. Hodgson's criticism—Account of a conjuring trick—Remarks on the kind of observation required—Dr. Hodgson's analysis and collation of reports of séances—Accounts of a séance by Mr. G. A. Smith and Mr. Murray—Templeton—Truesdell's imitation of slate-writing—Mr. S. J. Davey's pseudo-mediumship—Accounts by Mr. A. Podmore and Mr. J. M. Dodds—Summary of Davey's feats, and remarks on his "mediumship".
CHAPTER 3
DANIEL DUNGLAS HOME
His parentage, childhood, and career—Description of his person and character—His trance addresses—His clairvoyance—His physical manifestations—Ordinary half-dark séances—Vibration of the table—Movement of musical instruments, flowers, etc. —Exhibition of hands—Collation of two independent accounts by Mr. Rymer and Mr. Barlee of the same séance—Mr. Crookes' experiments with Home—Movement of the balance—Criticism of the evidence—Some defects pointed out—The device probably employed by Home to move the balance—Illustrations from other feats performed by Home himself, by S. J. Davey, and others—The floating of the lath similarly explained.
CHAPTER 4
WAS THERE HALLUCINATION?
In most cases the hypothesis is unnecessary—A few instances quoted in which fallacy of memory hardly seems sufficient explanation—Rev. T. Colley and Dr. Monck—Mr. St. George Stock and the choir-boys—Hallucination merely a distortion or exaggeration of normal sense-perception—Illustrations quoted from figures seen at dark séances and "recognised" spirit photographs—Further illustrations from S.P.R. Proceedings,—R. L. Stevenson, Dr. J. G. Stoney, Dr. Beard, Le Bon—Levitation of Home—Accounts by Robert Bell (in Cornhill], Mr. Crookes, Master of Lindsay, and others analysed, and sensory deception, conditioned by the dim light, indicated as the explanation—Elongation of Home—Account by the Master of Lindsay—Recent case of elongation by the Rev. C. J. M. Shaw—Fire ordeal with Home—Accounts by Mr. Crookes—Similar manifestation through another medium described by Mrs. Tebb—Recent cases in the South Seas and elsewhere—A case in Tahiti described by Professor Langley—Conclusion that all these manifestations are due to trickery, helped by illusion—The conditions of a dark or semi-dark séance specially favourable to illusion—Home and other mediums possibly gifted with unusual power to inspire such illusions.
CHAPTER 5
THE MEDIUMSHIP OF STAINTON MOSES
Predisposition to belief in the marvellous present throughout the history of mysticism—Successful mediums have special power of inspiring confidence in themselves by prepossessing manner, by playing on the affections, by devotional and elevating discourse—Social position and good character most valuable means of inspiring confidence Illustrations from the writer's own experience, and from that of others, of this confidence being abused—William Stainton Moses—His birth and career—His introduction to Spiritualism—Physical manifestations at his circles—Testimony of Dr. and Mrs. Speer and the medium himself—His communications from spirits, through writing or table-rapping—His Spirit Teachings Extracts from the Teachings Remarks on the problem presented by Mr. Moses' life—Suggested explanations.
CHAPTER 6
AUTOMATISM
Mediums not commonplace impostors—The typical medium half or wholly believes in his own manifestations—Poltergeist children, magnetic somnambules and spirit mediums all alike belong to a pathologic type—This fact recognised sooner in France than elsewhere—Nature of reflex action—Various states of psychic dissociation, of which sleep and reverie are most familiar, favourable to automatic (reflex) action—Crystal visions comparable to dreams Experiences in crystal visions of Mrs. Verrall, Mr. Keulemans, Miss Freer, and others—Auditory automatism—Motor automatism—Experiments by Professor Jastrow, Professor Newbold, Mr. Solomons, and others—Spontaneous motor automatism—Experiences of Mr. Tout—Personation of spirits—Experiences of Mr. Le Baron—Involuntary prophetic utterances—The unknown tongue.
CHAPTER 7
DREAM- CONSCIOUSNESS
Developed or permanent automatism symptomatic of abnormality—Physical indications of such abnormality—Psychical indications—Continued dreaming—Professor Janet's account of Achille's demoniac possession—Another case of Janet's ; M. Ler and his spirit control Janet's theory—Day-dreams—A case recorded by the writer ; substitution of pseudo-possession for an attack of hysteria M. Flournoy's observations—M. Michel Til's automatic messages—Flournoy's study of Helene Smith—The reincarnation of Marie Antoinette and Simandini—Visits to Mars and converse with its inhabitants—The Martian language—Helene's clairvoyance—Flournoy's explanation of her mediumship—Her physical manifestations—The problem of physical manifestations amongst private mediums generally—Can these actions be involuntary? —Instances of involuntary action in normal life in kleptomania, masked epilepsy, and various states of secondary consciousness, especially in hysteria—Janet's case of Meb, an hysterical patient, and her "apports"—The analogy of post-hypnotic suggestion—Danger of encouraging physical mediumship, as tending either to dishonesty or to grave abnormality.
CHAPTER 8
THE TRANCE UTTERANCES OF MRS. PIPER
Evidence for community of sensation, telepathy and clairvoyance in the past dubious and insufficient—Additional evidence of improved quality accumulated in recent years by S.P. R.—(a) By direct experiments,—(b) by collection of spontaneous instances,—(c) by recording trance utterances of Mrs. Piper and others History of Mrs. Piper's mediumship—Professor Shaler's account of a séance with her—Precautions taken against fraud—Further testimony from Professor J. E. Carpenter and M. Paul Bourget—Nature of the information furnished—Contrast with the "clairvoyance" of Alexis Didier and Stainton Moses—Close resemblance to revelations of Cahagnet's subject, Adele—Analysis of the evidence, and conclusion that it points to supernormal faculty (telepathy) but not to communication from the dead.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Retrospect Origins of Spiritualism to be found, on the one hand, in Animal Magnetism and Alchemy, on the other, in Poltergeists and witchcraft—Its beginnings with the German somnambules—Its rapid spread in America, helped by the special conditions of the time and the people—Its slower growth in this country—Involuntary action and trance personation explained by modern psychology—The foundation of Spiritualism now shifted—Mr. Myers' theory of transcendent faculties inherent in the soul—The strength and the weakness of his position—The evidence for such faculties, even for telepathy, at present insufficient; but the case calls for further investigation, and the history of Mesmerism furnishes a warning against hasty judgments.