St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-22
Yesterdays Diplomacy of the
Leading Enjoys Of the
Almighty
Sent to Negotiate With the
Ungodly for Uncondition-
al Surrender.
Rev. Vail Asks Will Science
Prove Mans Personal I'm
mortality
Rev. S. G. Smiths Talk on
Goodness, and DR.. DAN
ieI's Discourse.

ly, capable, and representative; a man
who has spent thirteen years in follow
ing the eXperime n of science, in the
points where it has touched the nature
of mind and soul; for f. w. III. Myers
must be considered at present the liter
airy exponent OF the views promulgated
by such men as Charcot, TAFT, Sedgewick
and others in Europe, and Of William
James, Elliot CoueS, and lesser lights
in America.
Without further introduction, then
let me propose the immediate discus
sion.
Question-Mr. Myers. are there any rea-
sons why we shorld look to the scientific
world for help? Does not religion point out
the desired method. and are we not compro-
missing and shu, ing a lack of faith in relig-
ion when we even G6mit from the pulpit
that we fild a lIeed OF support from the sci
entiic VIC Id fl OFT theories?
AnsWer-ln proposing this question do
you not forget what the influence of science
has been on he life of the intelligent world?
Victor Hugo mas described a man, who, pass-
ing through a tunnel with a heavy burden
struck quicksands. and every effort he made
in attempting to release himself only served
to sink him deeper. until he nearly disap-
Feared in the treaeherous element. And has
not the intelligent world been sinking in the
quicksands of doubt for thirty years, owing
mainly TO the fact that there seemed to be a
pressure from science pointing plainly to
SkeptlclSm of religious matters? When the
intelligent man feels that the leaders of sci
Ell ce are pre- nounce agnoStics. when it is
plain that defenders of traditional theology
have, from Gladstone down.. failed to make q
case i'll the MANY magazine articles thew have
written, and il seemed as if intelligence was
turning away from the church door, was
there not in it ali a suggestion of what Prof.
Huxley declared to be the case, that the food
had already swept the pews and was sweep
ING the nnlnlt nlaffnrmr TharQfnrQ iS If mot
trne that The same scientific spirit that did so
much to destroy the faith of the intelligent
multitude will, in the providence of God. be
the instrument of its restoration? And if all
this is true. it would seem that the church
should welcome every influence promising
help in renewing that belief which lies at the
base of all religion, tine belief in the spiritual
personality OF man. and in his personal eX-
istence beyond death.
Q~uestion-What then, Mr.. Myers. do YOU
consider 10 have been actually accomplished
by the investigation of mind from your
standpoint, that bears upon the question of
mans immo rtality?
Answer Two ideas. at least, have been de-
veloped i'll the thirteen years of our study of
this subject that have more than a passing
interest. The study of the hypnotic trance
has been of value, and that study has been
enhanced by the study of t~elepathy-the in
fluence of mind Oh mind through other than
the ordinary channels of sense
Will you allow the explanation that
there seems to be a law of fitness as the
proper time to strike a new discovery.
Men in Ohio saw the ''burning springs"
as they called the points where natural
gas eXuded from the rock; boys caught
it under buckets and exploded it; geol-
ogists examined it and passed it by;
nobody for fifty years did more
ceived the idea of Harvesting this
new element, and he revoluti0nized
methods of life and industry by a single
stroke. So the facts of hypnotis SIN have
ever been in the world, as div nation Ill
the ancient time, as religious ecstacy in
the middle ages, as meSmeriSm in a later
age; but no scientific man deigned to
look at them thirty years ago. The
hypnotic trance reduces the body to a
state closely approaching death, but
while. the body is so held DIR. Charcot'S
patient
Becomes a Tragedienne,
walking the stage in Imagination with
princely stride. then a little girl walk
ing among the memories of a happy
home, singing sweet lullabies. and lis
teniug to birds and gathering flowers:
then a happy bride. II in all the f1exi-
bic personality seems to plainly indicate
two facts, its unfathomable depths, and
its independence of the rigid body that
is now almost annihiiated so far AS in
tiuence is concerned. When yOu recall
the fact that eminent scientific men
have been saying OF late, the brain is
like a handkerchief folded up. and in
its folds energy dots down every idea
which is reproduced by eXcitatiOn, and
this is memory: that the working of the
brain depends upon the blood, the blood
dana ndS nnnn fl.n TODD. fhn.Af1.o -
cOrding to MoleSchOtt, there can be no
thought where there is no phosphorus:
and when you give this full Significance
II ack nOwledge its central fact, that
mind is the product of brain, how far
must you go to arrive at the conclusion
that with the decay of brain goes the
extinction of mind. And the study of
mind while the body is practically held
in allegiance, and almost reduced to a
cipher, has a tendency, to say the least,
to prove the independent action of
mind.
But of a value far beyond this is tele-
pathy. BY telepathy. mind influences
mind at great distances, and by ways
unknown, but known to be outside the
channels of sense. You feel this in the
GOODNESS Or the enthusiasm of All as
sembly. You find it in the sympathy
or antipathy of all audience to a speak
er. You find it suggested in the word
impression. If you will get a clear idea
OF 1t take three cases that seem to have
a special value because of the persons
with whom they are connected. When
Swedenborg was in Germany, at a din
ner with scientific savants. he became
distracted, and declared that he saw a
fire raging in Stockholm, 125 miles
away, which proved to be a statement
nf fo afc en- for or tho Era .,a-
When theb beloved sister of Alice and
Phoebe Cary was nearing her last days,
the two sisters distinctly
Saw Her Apparftion
before them; when a Lutheran minis
ter was passing a crisis. hanging for
life to a capsIzed boat, tossed on the
waters of Lake Erie, his wife saw his
apparition and knew his danger.
What then are We to say of these cases?
Coming science will say Swedenborg's
mind was influenced by the mind OF
some friend passing this crisis of dan
ger, the vision was a hallucination of
the senses. Alice Cary was impressed
of flesh, her sight was deceived because
the sister was in the house at the time;
the Ohio minister by his thought i'm
pressed his wife, but was no nearer in
person than Lake Erie, and the apparl-
ton was a trick of the senses. Behind
all these cases lies the fact of telepathy,
and the important fact of telepathy lies
in the discovery that, at or near
the hour of death, the mind, in
stead of decaying with the brain.
seems endowed with an increase of
power, az thousands of examined
cases attest. If the process cannot be
explained, let me say that when the
string of one piano at a distance. being
touched, yibrates the chords of another,
we see an analogous mystery which we
explain in words, but which still re-
,.airn- = nuctn..-- Id Eul,a4 L.