The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-09
An Attempt to Prove Immortality
by Scientific Means.

Nothing is more indicative OF the present
tendency to question ancient and funda-
mental religious beliefs than the discussion
which is provoked among the correspond
ents of The Sun whenever the question
of human immortality is raised We are
flooded with letters on the subject, and,
though doubt OF the future life is expressed
in very many Of them, the writer's usually
are men and women who have had n re-
liglous training and who are manifestly
imbued with earnest religious sentiment.
Even when the doubt is strongest. how
ever, the hope Of an amending life is usually
expressed most fcelingly. Those who are
Indifferent are few, and fewer still declare
a preference for the ending Of all at death,
on the ground that the happiest state would
be the eternal sleep it would bring.
Certain OF these correspondents have en-
deavored to construct theory OF immor-
tality with the aid OF science, but no knowl-
edge yet acquired by man, or which.
presumably, Is acquirable by him, az
fords any natural proof Of individual exist
ence Of the soul after death. Ever since
the rise OF modern Spiritualism, about
fifty years ago, as a consequence OF the
has been under scientific investigation,
with an earnest effort both here and
in Europe to discover II there Is any
thing in 1t OF scientific value. sue
ccssion OF eo-called mediums OF COM
munication with spirits has startled and
| puzzled the investigators with apparently
| remarkable performances, but hitherto
they have each been set aside in turn by
scientific judgment as clever jugglers or
victims Of hysteria. No basis Of demon
strated facts has been established or has
received any scientific respect. A Society
OF Psychical Research, started at London.
| with assistance from this country, has
pursued the inquiry methodically and has
published voluminous reports, but nothing
OF real evidence on the subject has yet been
brought out by it. Now however 1t is re-
ported, Prof JAMES II. HYsLoP OF the de-
partment Of logic and ethics at Columbia
University is getting ready to announce
that. following the line Of investigation Of
that society, no has obtained actual scien-
tlflc evidence OF life after death.
The medium through whom Prof. HYsLoP
has made his alleged discovery Is Mrs
PIPER Of Boston, a woman who has 80
much astonished the experlmenters OF the
Psychical Society that they have retained
her in their service by special contract
for as many as fifteen years past. She Is
the woman by whom Dr. HoDGsoN, an Eng
lish agent Of that society, was greatly i'm
pressed after no had exposed the trickery
OF many previous mediums; but the con-
fidence she awakened In him was not shared
by cooler scientific men whose judgments
had not been subjected to the unbalanc-
ing which the pursuit Of that field OF
investigation as an engrossng special
ty Is so apt to produce. Prof. HYsLoP,
whose title to scientific consideration has
not yet been made high by any noteworthy
contributions now takes up Mrs. PIPER
with even greater seriousness than did DR..
HopGsoS, and from her alleged commune
cations is disposed to believe that no will
be able to demonstrate immortality as an
indisputable fact.
This proof he expects to complete in the
course OF a year, and when he presents it
he is confident, according to tho Herald,
that there will succeed "such a wave OF
excitement as the world has never seen
before" The evidences. as Prof. HYsLoP
regards them, do not seem, however, to be
different from those which arc adduced
customarily by believers in spiritualistiC
mediumshp, They consist OF supposed
communications with his dead father, oh
tanned after careful measures to prevent
the possibility of fraud, but they are not
at all extraordinary, as compared with the
great body OF so-callod spiritualistic mani
festations, on the strength OF which a con