Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-10-30
A SURPRISE SPRUNG.
SIR WILLIAM CROOKEs BELIEVES
IN THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE.
LONDONS LEARNED MEN ASTOUkDRD.
Their Reverence for the Worid-Fa-
nous Rcnsoncr Compcis Earnest
Advice lie Proclaimed His views.
Correspondence OF The Dispatc.l

1
electrified as by the outspoken utterances
| OF Sir William Crookes, +. l.. s.. V. =.
c. s., on the subject Of thought trans
| ference. Sir William is a leader in The
ranks of scientists, before whom all bow
as the abest and boldest OF reasoners.
| SO long as he confined himself to such
| subjects as the -four supply of the world
! and the fate Of the human race when
| there could no longer be grown sufficient |
wheat to make bread for all he was con-
sidered to be in his proper sphere, and |
while his words were received with be-
coming reverence, they did not make the |
extraordinary sensation that his more re- |
cent views on psychic phenomena have.
The great scientist has come out boldly |
with the statement that outside our |
scientific knowledge there exists a force !
exercised by intelligence differing from
the ordinary intelligence common TO NOR
tails"
| Casting aside all written theories re-
garding the action Of thought. Sir VIII
liam Crookes, with characteristic indie
pendence. has struck out on lines DIS
tidctly his own. IL is the novelty and
originality Of his s, entihc views on tele-
patty that have caused such a buzz OF
! excited comment here. TO stop snort
! i'm any research that bids fair To widen
the gates of knowledge, TO recoil from
fear Of difficulty or adverse criticism, Is
30 bring rcproach on science says Sir
William I'm the beginning Of his remarks.
II think | see a little farther now. /
have glmpses Of something like conference
among the strange elusive phenomt lai or
something like continuity between those
UNEXPLAINED forces and laws already
know n
All this has been said before. II has be-
come the monotonOus sing-song OF ths
HYDE Park lecturer; II has been droned
forth by long-haired orators IN nun
dred halls Of science In this city, ana IL
attracted no more than passing atteh-
| ton But now Sir William Crookes says
! IL and the nation listens breathlessly and
! waits for more Spirtualsm was in very
had odor when William Stead came out
: with his famous articles on the border
. | land" Then many noted SplHtuahSts
/ | who had been secret members of the cult
emerged from their shell and acknoWl-
edged their belief. In the same way Sir
William Crookess utterances have caused
Y a multitude of believers in broader pa IN
I, Of knowledge than any yet discoursed IN
= the councils of the elect 10 come torWatu
! and PROFOUND their views.
, II looks as if Sir William would soon
find himself at the head Of a scientific So
\
organization by which thoughts can be
- transferred around the world at the WAL
70 az the thinker Sir William Crookes lrn-
" believes this a possibility, ana says so
- plainly, in these words:
q OF would be well 10 begin with te-
Y lepathy: with the fundamental law, as
I believe it TO be. that thoughts ana images
p may be transferred from one NINA 10 an
! other without the agency Of the recoS-
If that
may enter the human mind without be-
n inc communicated I'm any hitherto known
a. or recognized ways. If telepathy take
;. Mace we have two physical facts-the
T. phvsical change In the brain or n, lho
= suggester. and the analogous physlcdl
a change in the brain Of b, the recipient oil
the suggestion. Between these two phy-
r steal events there must exist ualh oi
Iy nbveica1 causes. such sequence can
y. only occur through an Intervening meui-
- nm All the phenomena of the universe
- arc presumably in some way continuous
"a / and II is unscientifc to call In the aid OF
" ,nvsterious agencies, when Win every
2. fresh advance i'm knowledge IL Is SHOWN
.. that ether vibrations have powers ana
r attributes abundantly equal TO any de
-, mand-even TO the TRANSMISSION OF
NJ thought.
in 1T is supposed by some physiolosist'
TX that the essential cells of nerves 90 not
lis actually touch, but are separated by
~ narrow gap, which wdens in sleep whl
~ II narrows almost to extinction durlh'
in mental activity. This condition IS 50
D. sinqularlv like that of a Braniy or IodS
coberer as to suggest a further analogy
IT. Tho structure OF brain ana nerves Deiu'
~ similar. IL is conceivable there may d.
N, present masses Of such nerve cohertrs j
of The BRAIN whose special junction II ma
y be 20 receive impulses brought from WIN
I'd, ont through the connecting sequence O
other waves of appropriate order OF mag
Id, nItude Is is known that the action 9
az thought IS accompanied by certain mo
10 locular movements I'm the brain, and her
", we have physical vibrations capaple
to- from their extreme mnuteness OF actin
)n' direct on individual molecules. WING
ro- | their rapidly approaches that OF the ID
l iIS ternol and external movements of th
= atoms themselves
81. Counting from such a brilliant man a
IRE Sir William Crookes, the outspoken Ut
S6i terances on psychic philosophy have com
ma pelled attention, and instead OF the 81
ira ience with which such statements woul
.et he received from smaller man. there
an earnest request Tor more. sir Nlllial
Is. has flooded with light the uhcertal
Wy. gloom of a forbidden region of though
md and torn aside the veil that has hereto
u
ht tabooed in the gatherings of the leadin
M men of learning. -.
n" While admitting that this new scientil
'6}. subiect has not yet come into the leglt
S63. mate area Of the modern philosopher. -
en- william declares that 1t viii be loun
yer possible to discover a path by which tell
An graphing without wires, or translerrll
ant tboughts from mind TO mind at the wi
ed | Of the thinker can be found TO harmoniz
Boldly does the President affirm TN
MA. combination of telepathic phenomer
IN Is already afforded by many convergl
, az governments" and courageously does
w, ,,,, assert that 1--WE must beware OF RASH
1854 assuming that all variations from II
bile normal waking or sleeping conditions al
T. necessarily morbid" Perhaps the mo
daring sentence of all is his announc
Ap- ment that lit is henceforth open
, - science TO transcend all we now think v
s know of matter. and to gain new glimps
mes of a profounder scheme of cosmic law
Another remark is likely to be long I
APP mernbered Sir William Crookes cites Il
ant famous dictum Of q scientist who saw
~ matter. too long despised and abuse
'tc1 che promise and potency of al terre
8 trial life" II should prefer" said
1865. William. ITO reverse the apothegm and
saw that in life l see the promise a.
notencv Of all forms of matter
There are not wanting those VINO thll
bot sir William has been OVERLOAD
70 tbus declaring his belief in the possibili
- lind telegraphy The more timid a