The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-04-08

nifty, lnteliect, nerve anu sehoioi Pny 'iSeA
and mental sanity of Daniel Webster in
his prime should swear to an affidavit that
| the materialized spirit of his dead father
| appeared unto him, would it be convincing
evidence of the reality of spirit material
| ization7 Not at all; it would be an in
| teresting fact that SO remarkable man as
| Webster had been the victim Of spectral
illusion consequent upon some exceptional
| condition of mind and body; we do not
| impugn Mr.. Webster's veracity, but the
| testimony of no man is sufficient to upset
| the accumulated weight OF lnteiilgent
| human testimony for century concerning
| the reality of spirit naturalization. 1t
would be as absurd to believe that
| Daniel Webster really saw and conversed
| with his deal fathers materalized spirit as
| it would be to believe that the sun did not
rise and set; or the tides run out and IN on
a certain day because Mr.. Webster said so.
| The observation of science has established
| it as fact that the sun does rise and set
every day; that tides flow out and in, and
when Mr.. Webster disputes it we know
| that there is no break in the laws of ma
| ture but that there is permanent or
| transient break in the mind of Daniel
| Webster
The unhealthy of ghosts, the fictitious
| quality of spirit naturalization, has been
thoroughly established by the vast con-
sensus of scientific opinion and observa-
ton for two centuries, and to quote Pro-
fessors Wallace and Crooks credulity
against this consensus of scientific obser-
vation and experience, is as absurd as it
would be to argue that green was blue
because intelligent and able men have
been color blind. The Rev. Mr.. Savage
ought to know that alleged psychic
phenomena" cannot be accepted by
science, and ought not to be accepted
until the very question at issue
is tested by sight, light and touch.
The question is whether these So
called psychic phenomena are facts or
frauds, fancies. illusions or decisions. If
We are shut out from the exercise and ap-
plication of these tests whenever their ap-
plication is necessary to conclusively set
tie the question whether we are dealing
with material fact of supernatural origin
and solution, which deties science, or are
dealing with most material and musty
fraud or stale delusion, which denies
science o fair chance of explanation or ex-
posture, then We are justified in refusing
to accept as supernatural or as
respectfully mysterious these alleged
miracles which refuse to let science fairly
foot hair To lI,. 81.
man of science should erect a thousand
miles of telegraph wire and send like a
flash daily for weeks thousand different
messages to and fro to a thousand differ
emit persons, and make absolute proof that
the force of electricity was capable of
flashing intelligence back and forth in q
few minutes that no means of human
transportation could convey in the mails
in less than forty-eight hours. In this
! case it would be unreasonable to say be-
cause cannot see this force you call cleo
tricity; because 1 cannot pour it like water
into tumbler; because all / see is
| your wire, your batteries, therefore
deny your force. The fact that the in
| telligence had been instantaneously sent
| and received over thousand miles of
| space could be shown by clouds of wit
nesses in various ways. Electricity would
be as clearly proved to exist as a force as
either air. or heat, and the man would be
a fool who should say, II do not believe
there are any such forces as air or electric
! ity, because cannot bite section out of
| a fog bank or breeze, because I cannot
see electricity rolling along your wire"
But suppose the telegraph man should
say, THAT woman you see in my room is
| the materialized spirit of an Indian girl
who died one hundred years ago." and I
say, "Let me turn on the gas, talk with the
squaw, touch her and see whether she is
good Indian; an Indian girl or a white
impostor; whether she is really an Indian
who died century ago." Under these
circumstances to tell me that
can't turn on the light, can't
talk with her, touch her
or examine any proofs of her alleged su-
| pernatural origin is to estop all proof
her real character with theory of condi-
tons that make farce of scientific inves-
tigation. The essential proofs of the ex-
istence of electricity have been furnished
by genuine natural phenomena, but the
essential proofs in the case of the assertion
that the spirits of the departed can and do
materialize are not furnished at all to the
testing senses of touch and sight, exer-
cised under the conditions of full light and
free examination.
| The state of Illinois is so far incredulous
concerning the so-called psychic phe-
nomena," which seem to daze when thev
do not divert the Rev. NJ. ]. Savage, that
it has enacted the following law:
| Every person who for profit or gain or in an
| ticipation thereof for the purpose of presenting
| what is commonly known as spirit materializa-
ton, shall personate the spirit of deceased per.
| son, or shall by trick, device or mechanical
| continuance present anything to represent the
| spirit of deceased person, shall be guilty of a
! misdemcanor. and upon conviction shall be
| subject to fine OF not less than siOo, nor more
than $50, or confined in the county jail not less
| than three months nor more than six months
| or both, in the discretion OF the court
Harriet Hosmer, the sculptor, leads very re-
| tired life in Rome and is not easily approach
! able TO visitors, but sometimes she lets down
| the bars of her reserve to an American com.
I to- Me-,