The San Francisco call., 1909-11-28

III
attracting a lot of attention in
England just now. W. T. Stead,
the famous editor of the Review
OF Reviews, has abandoned his editorial
Offices and converted them into a sort
OF spiritualistic telephone exchange
where the living may call UP and com
mun1cate with the so called dead The
exchange is under the spiritual guild
ance Of a disembodied personality
named Julia" who for many years has
been Stead's mentor in things ghostly.
While Mr.. Stead is conducting his in
vestigations in somewhat journalistic
style, other seekers are peering into
the darkness OF the unknown by means
OF scientific searchIights. Among these
are Sir William Crookes, the famous
British savsnt; DR.. Alfred Russell Wal
lace, codiscoverer of the Darwinian the
ory; Sir Oliver Lodge, Professor Richet
OF Paris; Camille Flammarion, the great
astronomer; Marconi. and others
Foremost among these scientific in
vestigators is Sir William Crookes He
Is the inventor OF the Crookes tube,
which made the X-rays demonstrable.
he also discovered the new element,
thallium. and has to his credit other
great scientific achievements. Sir Will
liam Crookes is one Of the most con-
seryative men OF science in the world
he never makes a statement without
being able 10 corroborate every word;
be IS the personihcation of patient re-
search He has been in turn the presi-
dent OF nearly all the great English
searned bodies OF repute. To catalogue
his title to distinction would occupy al
most couple of columns by itself
And yet Sir William Crookes, with all
his reserve, his incisive reasoning, cool
calculation and scientific conservatism,
has boldly announced himself con-
Nnced believer in "spooks"
The writer lately had the opportunity
OF discussing this subject at some
length with the great English scientist.
He stated that recent Investigations
which he has been conducting have
brought him absolute certainty regard
ing the survival OF human personality
after death.
The experiments carried out by the
famous British scientist have not been
conducted in the semidarkness of the
usual spiritualistic seance cabinet, but
IN the strong fare of the electric light,
and under conditions approaching day
light. Many who hear the name Of
Crookes mentioned in connection with
spiritualistic investigations incline to
the idea that the English scientist may
have been taken IN" by the usual crew
OF sleight Of hand artists who float
about promiscuously in the domain of
nediumship. 1t is easy enough to bam-
boozIe the average man on the street
That an ordinary faker could succeed
in deceiving Sir William Crookes is
incredible TO any one who has ever
had occasion to come into contact with
the matter OF fact man tof science in
question When Sir William crookes
first discovered the new element thai.
Dum, he spent two years of patient re-
search simply on working out it's
atomic weight. Before announcing this
discovery he tested his facts by a
process OF elimination which would
have appalled, most mortals.
E5s investigations into spiritualism
a4~z pssn conducted with the same pa
rsnt determination that characterized
h1a Application to scientific problems.
fze has neglected no detail: slurred no
item Of import; overlooked no essen
tial And yet, after years of patient
enoeavor, he announces himself abso-
lutely convinced of spirit reality by
scientific data which he has been en-
abled to acquire.
The story of how Sir William
crookes attained his present knowledge
OF spiritualistic phenomena is little