, 1877-01-20
DIR. CARPENTER ON sPIRITUALIsM
70 PUBLISHED

DR.. Carpenter last night (Dec. 14) delivered
the second of his two lectures on " Mesmerlsm,
Odylism, Table. turning, and Spiritualism. con-
sidered historically and scientifically" at the
London Institution, in q theatre crowded to
excess.
DR.. Carpenter said that if a witness testifes
TO something altogether monStrous and incre'
dible, we Go not receive his testimony, because
We Judge by our common sense, that general
appreciation of probability which We gain from
ordinary observation, and the ordinary reason.
ing upon our observation which is always going
on in our minds. The well-trained mind will
be always making congratulations unconscious.
~. by The test of which We Judge of probability
and improbability, possibility and impossibiIity,
Then there is scientific common sense, aud
that brings US to The most valuable means Of
estimating probability, early scientific training.
In a very large proportion Of those who commit
themselves to what DR.. Carpenter believes to
be errors on this subject there is the want Of
that fcirntifo discrimination which comes from
good early training. There may be admirable
work done In particular branches of%Science, but
that does not train an adult mind as a man may
be trained by early practice in the habit Of sci.
entifc discrimination. Such a mind does not
reject all that Is marvellous. It was marvel
lous when a man first plunged his arm into
molten iron. But any one who has observed
how the ironer tests The warmth Of her fat iron
might be led to see how water might be made
use Of for enabling a man to put bis arm in
molten iron. 1t was only a development of a
known principle. But another Instance might
be taken In which no person of scientific habits
of thought could see any probability, and yet it
attained The dignity Of being noticed in an arti.
Gle 10 CAambcr5' Journal. Long before the
electric telegraph zane into operation a project
was started of a snail telegraph. Two s%nails,
said the inventor of this contrivance, we're to
be put together, SO that they became sympathe.
ito. Two dials, with letters and figures, were
TO be prepared. One dial and snail we're to be
IN Paris the other dial and snail in New York,
At an hour agreed The operator in Paris vas to
direct his snail towards certain figures on The
dial, aud the snail in New York would crawl to
the same figures. Thus the two friends could
communicate freely. (~Laughter.) Now every
one could see it was an insult to common sense
10 make that statement bat it was reproduced
by his old friend, Mr.. Robert Chambers, who
was fond of anything OF the kind, as a thing
worth considering. (Laughter.) Did they not
Judge In that case by the inherent impossibility
And if any number of people should tell them
they had seen it, would they believe ii He
should not. In the case before them, Of spiritu.
slism, there was so Strong an improbability,
he would not say impossibility for a mind train.
ed In scientific habits CT thought-ag to what
are called the higher phen omena, which are
not only beyond an ordinary experience, but
opposed to it-tbat nothing but an accumuIa.
tlon Ct the most cogent testimony could fairly
justify our reception Of them. And that cogent
testimony required to be given, not by persons
who have already committed themselves to a
system, but by persons who are altogether in
dependent. It would be all the better, of course,
If they had been previously hostile and they
ought to be persons experienced in these inqui-
ries. It required just as much capacity to dis
cover truth in an inquiry of this kind as in that
beautiful investigation which Mr.. Crookes had
worked out with so much skill-the investiga-
ton of the radiometer. (Applause) He only
said he firmly believed that if Mr.. Crookes
had used the same skill, perseverance, and
insight n the investigation of this other class Of
phenomena, he would have cen led to see them
10 a different point of view: But then Mr..
Orookes told them not only that these phenom-
ena cannot be reproduced at will. but be dis
tlnctly stated that Mr.. Home, having produced
certain marvels, he (Mr. Crookes) devised sci.
entiho tests, and the next time when those
tests were applied the phenomena were not
reproduced, Nov, that vas DR.. Carpenters