The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-05-07
NEWS OF TIRE BOOK WORLD

"The Widows Mite" Story Of Or. I. x.
Funk-story Told Widely Year Ago In
Daily Press Is Now Given In Or. Funk's
Own Works, with Other Psychic Phe-
nonena and Discussion of the Posi-
blltes Of the Field OF the Newest Psy-
choIogy-Book sure to Cause Wide Dis
cussIon.
1t is useless to argue against the sad
ness Of mortality No one can think with
out emotion Of ceasing to be. No one
can think without emotion of an eternal
parting from the objects Of his affection.
After all, great Is our ignorance, and
there may be something yet behind the
yeil-Goldwin Smith, historian and phi
losopher, In the May number Of the North
American Review.
Set over against the above, based upon
the hypothesis that scientific skepticism
succeeds in demolishing the hope of a
future life,'' the prediction that, in con-
sequence of new evidence, found in psy-
chic phenomena, 'ali reasonable men a
century hence will believe in the resur-
rect1on of Christ" and you have a leap
that fairly makes you dizzy. The proph-
ecy was made by F. w. H. Myers a
QuOLeO
In book, published to-day, but based
upon an incident which attracted wide at
tent1on about a year ago, book which
Is sure to be widely discussed. It is The
Widows Mite and Other Psychic Phe.
nomena, and is the work of DR.. I. K
Funk, editor-in-chief of the Standard die
tionary.
1.-THE Widows Mite" Incident.
A bald outline Of 1.-The Widows Mite
{~4 III
Funk, runs thus:
of the employees Of the Funk & Wagnalls COM
pany, publishers, of which he is the head, OF
woman In Brooklyn who every Wednesday eve
ming gave spiritualistic ''sttings' to her family
| student or psychic phenomena, he sought and
secured an invitation to these sittings After
Two visits he had come to believe the woman s
case one of secondary personality The third
evening" however, an incident occurred which has
raised serious question in his mind whether
there is not something of much more import than
ming word purporting to come indirectly from,
the spirit of Henry Ward Beecher thru the
control" OF the woman expressed concern about
an ancient coin, the Widows mite, which Mr.
Beecher looked to DR.. Funk 'to return to its
proper place. DR.. Funk expressed surprise
that he should be asked to return" coin Of
Mr. 3eecher's; he had no such coin. Nine years
before, when the Standard dictionary was being
prepared he had borrowed such coin, valued
at several hundred dollars, from gentleman
| in Brooklyn for reproduction in the dictionary
This man had been conspicuous friend of Mr.
Beecher. This coin, DR.. Funk promptly in
| formed the control, he had long before returned
to its owner. The control insisted that he hat
not returned it, and that 1t Sin a large
| iron safe in q drawer under lot Of papers,"
The next day DR.. Funk. without telling his
| brother who had been business manager of ths
what had been done with the widows mite
| st returned it,, the reply. Later In the
same day DR.. Funk, in conversation with Mr.
| Wagnalls and E. J. Wheeler, the editor Of thu
Literary Digest related the incident. Tht
cashier of the office was called in and asked
whether he remembered the coin. He remem
| bered 1t and said he believed 1t had been re
turned He was told to look thru large SAT.
which stood in the office and whether the
| coin could be found.
Search was Instituted and two Widows mites
| one black and the other light and smaller, wer,
1 found in an envelope Sin drawer under 10
| Of papers" One Of these coins had been pic
| tured in the dictionary as sthe widows mite.
The little group Of men having agreed to keel
| the discovery in the envelope to themselves, DR.
/ Funk went the following Wednesday to tn
Brooklyn home Speaking to the so-called con
"You remember the request you made Of m
last Wednesday evening ?''
i Eyes, about the coin, the Widows mite?''
There are two Of them; now can you tel
me which of the two is the right one?"
Without an instant's hesitation the control an
! swered: 'sThe black one.''
Il This was not the one the dictionary had used
but was the right one SO DR.. Funk afterwar
learned by submitting the coins to an expert a
the United States mint.
u Opens Up Wide Field.
1 The story was published about yea
ago. much against Dr. .Funks wish. H
4 was desirous Of making further investi
cations Of studying the case more close
ly, so as to eliminate as far as he coul
possibility OF fraud, and of calling in ex
perts in psychological studies to Civ
. opinions and offer suggestions. Now it
given, with other matter pertinent there
to, in a book Of more than 500 pages. TIL
, incident, while standing alone, may seer
trivial enough, but taken in conjunctio
with other incidents it has weight, in tn
eyes Of DR.. Funk Besides, all the sc
. called communications are not open t
. the criticism OF triviality. This inclder
and others related by DR.. Funk therefor
I, | open up the whole question Of pSych1
phenomena, and, coming from the sourc
? it does, supported by affidavits by thos
involved, it will have q weight which
. would not have had it come from ordinaI
!. sources. It is we'll, too, that DR.. Fun
has himself sought to guide the discu!
sion by showing the trend of mbder
: psychic investigation. He has studied IL
:. subject for twenty-five years. He hi
Z followed the arguments for and again
the spfritualistic hypothesis, distinguish
: ing sharply between spiritualism as r,
eIltgiOn and spirttualtsm (better calle
!. spiritism} as a scientifically advanced h.
. lpothesis, has looked at both sides of tt
subjective faculties theory, and has give
weight to claims and dangers of frau
s Seeing the dangers In giving currency
the above incident, he has, therefor
wisely chosen to point out what has bet
e done in the field Of inquiry to which II
9 incident belongs, as well as to offer son
i suggestions Of his own, and a word
! caution, which needs to be strongly en-
] Iphasized
e Word Of Caution.
: When the facts are admitted to be true
IT here told the reader must not leap to the CO
! cluston that the hypothesis Of spiritualism
= proved. There are many chasnns. each miles a
y miles wide, yet to be bridged or filled.
There is danger, real danger, along these lin
= lof investigation and the shrewdest
lperts. to change the simile need to sail the
mystic seas with sharp eyes and level heads.
But no one who seeks the advanceme
of truth will say these seas ought not
lie be tried. Only such as would have warn
id Columbus against trying the unknoy
eel seas to the westward Of Spain when
lset out to find q new way around t