Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-23
S G I z n G E A n ID
I nm nm O r { q lily
Continued from page 81


forecast as assuredly the result of in
quiry; for science never can promise any
particular outcome for its investigations.
1t must be satisfied with any result, Sc
cure in the conviction that any truth it
reveals, affirmative or negative, will be
useful. On the question of a future life
any verdict will be important, as we can
not afford to reject the fact If 1t is true,
and neither can we afford to believe it
if it is false. On any alternative we are
bound to investigate.
What aStOnishes one most is the readi-
ness of men to devote immense sums of
money to the study of mans origin, and
not a cent to that of his destiny Why
it can be so glorious to find his ancestry
in the apes, and, after admitting that evo
luton stands for progress, to sheer at the
inquiry for a future which might repre-
sent that progress in an ideal form, passes
understanding. But men will spend mill
ions in deep-sea dredging for some I'M
known fish or seaweed; for North Pole
expeditions with no outcome for science
having any proportion to the amount
expended; for yacht races and the whole
world of sports; and even our universities
but not a cent for Investigations into the
problem of immortality. Not long ago
a serious metropolitan newspaper solemn
" proposed the sum of twenty-five mill
ion dollars for the purpose of digging a
we'll twelve miles deep into the earth just
to satisfy the curiosity of the geologist
in regard to the strata of the earths crust.
The people that do this without any
sense of humor meet every proposal to
satisfy the deepest religious and moral
craving of mankind, itself fraught with
the social destinies of civilization, with
shouts of ridicule. Is it any wonder that
some of us have SO little respect for human
nature when its apparently most respect
able and intelligent forms are fit only for
the madhouse? But it is this class that
imposes the madness on the would-be
investigator
The time has come, however, when
those who are interested must have the
courage to organize and see that the
work can be done without the coopera-
ton of Philistines, if they will not do the
work which is SO imperative, no matter
what the outcome 1t is with this in
view, and also with the view of investi-
eating the whole field of abnormal
psychology, that the American Institute
for Scientific Research has been incor-
porated.
There is no escape from the study of
both supernormal and abnormal psychol-
ogy, and the two also must be studied
with reference to the light which they
will throw upon each other. They usual
1y have been kept separate; but although
there are points in which they are rad
ically distinct, there also are points in
which they interpenetrate, and the whole
wide field must be made to yield to scien-
tifc inquiry. The phenomena are COM
paratively sporadic, and hence require
centralized effort to deal with them sue
cessfully and intelligently Only an in
stitute of a national character can meet
the responsibilities involved It's en-
dowment is the first requisite for work,
and this statement of its needs and of the
intelligent array of men interested ought
to elicit some consideration of both the
subject and its imperative wants.