New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-08-17
ANDREW LANG ON GHOSTS.
n COMPARATIVE STUDY IN PsYcH1cAL
PHENOMENA

certain processes OF his reasoning For himself he
would not believe in the existence OF ghost II ne
saw one He never had any weird experiences IN
haunted houses, though ne has sought them w'h'
some eagerness Tables do not tip for him. nor
perturbed spirits rap the wainscot 10 spiinters
Nevertheless he declines 10 use the remark OF 'he
Zulu magician: 81 one OF those men VINO make
people see what they do not See. as the staruhg
point Of argument. Possibly he might do So were
Il not for the positive statements OF men whose
Testimony he does no, care to gainsay He does
not see how Lord Crawford. Sir David Brewster
Mr. Crookes. Mr.. Hamilton AIDE and others WHO
must be supposed 10 have been sceptcaI cou!d De
deceived by conjuror into the belief that they saw
tables and people float about in the air therefore
he holds rather tentatively the main theory which
he puts forth. He prefers the supposl;ior that the
savage ancestors of civilized mankind were subject
like their unprogressve relatives OF the present day.
20 mental confusion: that they were unable 70 as
crimInate with invarable certainty between VIVA,
they seemed TO see in dreams and what they actually
saw in their waking hours; that the long intervals
Of sem-starvation between their times or REPETITION
were favorable TO frances and Authorizations; that
they pracised a rude but less effective sort
of hypnosm; that from these conditions and prac-
tees there set of unfounded beIefs whch
would endure among those classes .east removed
from savagery: that the folk who inherited the ira
ditions as TO hauclnatory phenomena remained ana
still remain in attitude of expectant attention
and that as a result; of self-suggestion the expected
phenomena persistently repeated. The trouble,
he says with this hypothesis is that 1t cannot ex-
plain 'the spontaneous and unexpected hallucina-
tons coincident with deaths" Blu; he should prove
that such halucnations are spontaneous and unex-
pected 10 this racial and inherited instinct which
ne supposes TO have descended from a savage an
cestry. AS a matter Of fact he shows that among
barbarous peoples this particular class OF visions Is
q anything more common than the rest and the be-
lief In them so that in some cases woman
sha ~ her h,1c
band take one, just as II she were certain
Of her wdowhood. If this notion Is so persistent
among modern then 1. is likely TO have been
as thoroughly believed in by those ancient tribes
from whom civilized men are descended. Again. he
says that the hypothesis will not account for the
fact that several persons may have the same hal
lucination-for example that a table moved-at the
same instant Plainly he does not the bearing
Of his own argument. The inheritance of which he
speaks is individual but racial. 1t IS not diff
cult to understand how all share Il. The real prob
lem is how so many OF have lost It. This de-
feet which. confessedy, Mr. Lang shares IS the real
obstacle 10 the acceptance Of his theory.
Indeed. this is the insurmountabe objection to all
theories which presuppose objective or external
actually for ghosts for anything that ghosts
do In the ordinary affairs of life the reasons why
one cannot do thing lie in himself He is capable
incapable, knowing or ignorant, steady minded or
wavering. collected scatter-brained, strong or
weak. and But ghosts must succeed or fail,
not because Of their capacity. but because the liv
ing people whom they supposed TO influence are
not susceptible The greater element Of the
problem then lies within the circle Of each living
individuality. II so much Of It lies there why may
not all the rest Of 1t lie there too? There is alb
solutely nothing in the phenomena to preclude the
belief that they wholly subjective-to the
cant Of the philosophers Those who say otherwise
are almost certain to maintain opinions about
tai sympathy and telepathy. so-cal,ed. which will
thv1rr TO- lie
lists between two minds. practically enables those
two minds to transcend the bounds of their in
dividuality and to think the same thoughts at the
same instant. If this may happen to two persons
It may happen TO a score or TO a whole assemblage.
But when all these minds have been fused into one
to speak, II is impossible that can see what
the rest do not In such the testimony
of two witnesses or OF forty is the testimony OF
one The evidence Of one witness is indisputable
for an internal fact but In disputed 1t is
worthless to substantate an occurrence Of the a.
ternal world. AS long the doctrine OF telepathy
Is maintained II will defeat every effort to prove
that table ever moved when hands laid upon
It. This Is not saying that table tipping and all
that sort Of thing facts. 1t is only saying
THAT the testimony under the conditions OF mental
sympathy is vtiated from the outset.
Mr.. Langs Inconsistency comes out in speaking Of
u possible supernatural side to the phenomena
which he describes To his own taste "the idea OF
purposely evokng the dead is least as iInpous
absurd. odous to sentiment. 1t is insane In
the eyes Of reason" and he has nothing but alb
horrence and contempt for modern efforts to
verse with the names and for all the profane i'm
lpostures Of Spiritualism. Yet when he was repri-
,manding Professor Huxley Just a few pages earlier
NE took occasion to say that Science has obviously
eoared very high when she cannot be interested by
the fact az facO that the dead communicate
ing with us, apart from the value OF what they
choose to say" Whether Professor Huxley was
LII
occurrences were impostures. he certainly right
IN saying a naturalist that the supernatural had
no professional interest for him. The phenomena
~ not genuine. were worthless; II genuine they
were out of his jurisdiction a man Of science
II the mysterious phenomena, supposed TO be
spiritual psychic, are natural, then they will
sooner later be interpreted in the terms OF
,phy sology. whether outward facts or mental
hallucnations. Mr. Lang justly satrizes those who
think that they have explained a wonder which
used to be called spiritual by calling 1t hypnotic
But the believers in hypnotism have at least drawn
the real alleged miracles into the atmosphere OF
mature. There is no longer a dsembodied spirit to
sbe accounted for. The observer has nothing 10 do
but to invent such tests as will ascertain the
genuneness Of a given experiment And such tests
land experiments must throw light those beliefs
of the past which kept DIR. Johnson from scepti-
cism. II is on the uniformity of the achievements
attributed TO hypnotzed persons, TO mediums, 10
savage shamans and medicine men. to medieval
warlocks and witches. to Roman sorcerers. to Neo-
P;atonic mystics and Egyptian hierophants that
Mr.. a.ang's discussion is most complete and Gear.
To classical literature his illusions more meagre
than one could WISH but in the field OF savage ira
dition and modern record and hearsay. his book is
a downright cyc,opeda of instances from savage
and ancient sprituaism. from tales Of haunted
houses. from the lore Of appartions. Of crystal
gazing and Of second sight. The Cock Lane ghost
Is evoked anew. but with solution What strikes
one In the multiplicity OF anecdote is It's sameness
IN essentials Following the example OF Mr.. Myers,
in q study OF the phenomena produced by the late
Rev. Stanton Moses. Mr. Lang has made tabular
comparison Of ancient. savage and modern miracles.
taking Mr.. Moses the standard. 1t appears from
the record that Moses was more successful
thau Home among nodern mediums Whatever