The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-07-31
MIND READING.
Fslth Has No RoIstIon With u Or
splrltuallsm.

DR.. Weir Mitchell is said to have
raid that he had been converted 10
belief In mind-rsadlng upon what he
considered 'indisputable evidence.
Professor crookes, eminent in
science, has written a long story abous
q msterslizeo spirit, which, he declares
he entertained for months in his own
house.
Professor Wallace. colleague Of the
great Darwin. recently wrote a book
to prove that the world we inhab't
Is the only inhabited world - the un-
iyerse-though he admits that he is
not an astronomer. The professor
has also long been a spiritualist.
Professor Haecksl OF Germany, very
eminent In science, affirms that mind
is product OF matter. and that mau
has no soul OF Immortality.
Our own DIR. Funk OF Brooklyn, .
clergyman. is investigating Spiritual
ism, apparently IN a very frien1y
spirit
Meanwhile. men of science in gen-
eral will have it that laymen are IN
competent to judge OF the value q
evidence. and that what they think
they believe II OF no import. And the
laymcn accept this pronouncemons
meekly. and are never really satisfied
that what they think they believe is
really so until they can get some
scientific man to side with them.
Science Is one thing, science men
another. Our voluntary capitulacion
TO the latter is as pusillanimous and
unreasonable as was that of our FIRE.
fathers to the theologians It is ti,ns
20 demand emancipation. Scientific
men. as a rule, are as incompetent
to Judge Of the salre of evidence.
when the matter under discussion is
out OF their own special province, as
we are: and often they are less ocn'
petent than we. because their minds
have been narrowed and darkened by
playing too long in grove. All that
they have to say about spiritual thines
Ut the occult" whether pro or con,
Is not worth the breath with %h.ch
they utter It. Messrs. Crookes Funk.
Wallace. Haeckel and Mitchell are no
more able to resist sef-deception or
the sleight-of-hand tricks of conjurors
than we are The field OF science is
the material plane, spiritual and oc-
cult things are on a different ard dis
tinct plane: and and a man expert ia
the former Is rather less than likely
to be worth listening to on the latter.
II will be time enough for us 20
decide whether things spiritual aud
occult be true" when we discover
the principles according to which they
occur. We know in what proportions
oxygen and hydrogen must combine
to form water, and we know that sui
tphuric ether produces unconscious
ness in animals; but we do not EaoW
how spirit is materlized, or hoT ore
mind may communicate with anothsr
without sensible manifestations. Mind
reading and materializations may oc-
cur, OF they may not; meanwhile all
possible multiplication of "evidencs"
Is OF no value until ard unless We
understand the philosophy OF these
things When the philosophy has
been explained. no evidence will be
needed. Till then the cleyerest OF US
cannot be sure that he is not the
victim OF hallucination-that his senses
have not been deceived. That nun
dred or a million persons have been
deceived with him makes no difference;
we all believed once that the sun
rose and the ear.n stood still, Belief
is word carhlessly used; a man Can
believe only what he understands;
though this Is not to say that theirs
is not q spiritual as well as mater
ial plane OF the understanding. Aad
there is a feld for faith, but faith has
no relation with mind-reading or
spiritualism. IL belongs to the inter-
Tor. supersensuous and involuntary
communion Of man with his Maker
and II is not in question here.
But the only possible or conceivable
way to the beliefs that are here tn
question Is the patient study OF the
causes Of effects. and until that study
has been crowned with success. AL
alleged beliefs are guesses or hallucina-
tions and rstard instead OF advsnc'ns
the ends at which We aim.-Julian
Hawthorne.