St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-11


yNAVC %s 81 SYE& y spookS in their
sASESs$EHF dens, expert
S1MSSSNSS@ III menting with
MS1a 3asHA thought trans
G1S>N ssy 49, ference an d
SCZ9IZSS mes MI S m,
sss# and in general
s18 monkey e
with all the unfathomable mysteries OF
the human soul-this is the unique oc-
cupation of body of learned men
called the American Society for Psych-
zeal Research, writes the Boston CORE
spondent of the New York World.
In the back room of understanding
house in Boylston place is the head
quarters of the society's secretary, Rich
ard Hodgson, LII. d. In this simple
room, filled with books, pamphlets ana
circulars, sits the man who hopes tnat
his efforts will aid in solving the riddle
that all the sageS of all the nations nave
given up in vain-the riddle OF tne
painful EARTH" He hopes that not many
years will elapse ere satisfactory an,
SWers can be given to those World-old
questions. Whatis mind, what is the soul,
is it immortal, what is life and what is
death? He hopes that natures suprem-
est secrets will be wrung by force from
her bosom and marvellous revelations
will be made to mankind. And this
knowledge will not be the result OF any
arguments OF of beautifully constructed
theories, but of hard, frozen facts. Or.
Hodgson is an Englishman, about thirty
seven years old. graduate OF Cam
bridge university; profoundly learned
scholar and afeYel-headed man of much
sound common sense. He is an enthuSl-
asst and is devoted heart and soul to the
work of the American society for PSy-
chcal research. He certainly doesn't look
like man who hObnobS with ghosts
and is on speaking terms with spirits.
In his clerical work, which includes a
vest correspondence, he is aided by q
good, robuSt-looking apparition. She IS
also young and quite pretty.
With a somewhat indlstlnct utter
ance. which scudS along at the rate OF
about twenty-five knots an hour, DR..
Hodgson told the writer about the work
of the Society for Psychical Research.
"Gur society was formed" he said, ''fOr
the purpose of making an organized
and systematic attempt to Investigate
that dark borderland of human eX-
perience and to examine critically the
phenomena which are not now explained
by any satisfactory theory. Scientific
men of eminence in all countries admit
the possible existence of what the uned-
ucated call ghosts, or spirits; and,
further, that one mind may exert upon
another positive influence otherwise
than through the recognized sensory
channels"
THAT is, you mean to say, DOCTOR" he
was asked, ''that if, for instance, you
are in Timbuctoo and [ in Oshkosh, [
may feel my mind under an influence
emanating from yours, which thus ami
hilates time and space"
Exactly" he replied. "And our So
ciety is endeavoring to collect from re-
liable sources such facts, because If
they are once incontestably established
they will prove of the highest impor-
lance. The chief departments of our
work are:
"First, an examination of the nature
and extent of any influence which may
be eXerted by one mind upon another in
what is popularity called supernatural
way; second. the study of hypnOtism
and mesmerism and an inquiry into the
phenomena of clairvOyance; third, an
inquiry as to the existence of relations,
hitherto unrecogniZed by science, be-
tween living organisms. and magnetic
and electric forces. and also between
living and inanimate bodies; fourth, a
resting on strange testimony, of appari-
tions occurring at the moment of death
or otherwise, and of disturbances in
houses reputed to he haunted; fifth, an
inquiry into various alleged pSychical
phenomena, commonly called spiritual
iStic.'"
"In accordance herewith the research
work of our society is divided among
five committees, all of which are pre-
sided over by men of unquestioned abil-
ity, learning and fairness. Prof. I'll. P.
Bowditch, of Harvard, is chairman of
the committee on thought transference;
Prof. Josiah Royce, of the committee on
apparitionS and haunted houses; G. b.
Cory, a well-known Bostonian, of the
committee on hypnOtism; DR.. w. N.
Billiard, Of Boston, of the committee on
me diumiStic phenomena, and Prof. G.
on experimental psychology. That
doesn't look like collection Of cranks,
does it?" said the speaker. "Our so
ciety is composed of men of all sorts of
beliefs and no-beliefs. Some are spirit
ualists, some materialists, some theists
and some agnostics, but all intent on
the discovery of the truth, not by argu-
ment and ratiOcination, but along the
lines of incontestable experience.
HE IS A SPIRITUALIST.
~ suppose l should be probably called
a spiritualiSt. A number of years ago,
when l was student in Cambridge,
Eng, l met a man, an utter stranger to
me. l have sufficient reason for believ-
ing that he knew nothing whatever
about me or my past life. And yet this
man told me, with such minuteness OF
detail, circumstances and events of my
fn rryhi I opn lint cNlf
to be ignorant of, that was forced to
confess his miraculous insight. This
man, whom l met almost by accident
described to me with absolute fidelity
to truth the peculiar manner of my
Cousins death in Australia twelve years
previous, where | was living. He said
he saw my cousin present with us in the
loom, where he and / were sitting alone
talking, just as you and | are talking
now. He told me of our bOyiSh pranks
together and of little childish secrets
that my cousin and | had between
ourselves. He described with perfec,
truth many insignificant and yet endur.
ing impressions received when was g
youth. In fact, my whole past life lay
before him like an open book. He read
my Utmost soul. was at the time, as a
sort of recreation, investigating spirit
ualism, and from the number of frauds
had come across you may imagine how
hard l was to convince. But this eX,
perience was sufficient to overcome my
skepticism.
Another incident, Of a different
character, however, which came within
my personal knowledge, served to con-
firm my belief that mind acts upon
mind independent of matter or of time
and space. An English lady of nv ac-
quaintance living in London Saw sud-
denly before her one afternoon the
figure of her sister, clad in shroud and
with her hair cut close to the head. The
sister was at the time on voyage home
from India. 1t afterward proved that
on the very day and at the very hour
1uhan NV fnmale friend saw the annari.