The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-04-11


belief that any of the phenimena dis
cussed are genuine, and what l shall
say here will not be in defense of any
thing genuine in the performances OF
Eusapia Palladino. Indeed, / shall not
undertake TO defend their supernatural
character. l do not care whether they
arc this or not.
That Is not the important question
when dealing with Prof. Muensterberg.
Tho question is whether he has justi-
fled his claims to being a scientific man
and whether he has dealt with the
problem in an altogether honest man
not. That is the only issue that I shall
discuss, aud the phenomena of Eusapia
Palladino may be anything the reader
pieascs to consider them.
Professor Muensterberg takes issue
with all the men who have discussed
the personality of the woman. She has
uniformly been represented as an ig-
norant peasant woman, and no one has
tn ought to compare her with Madame
Retainer or Marie Antoinette, as
Burke conceived her. We were all
made to believe that she was vul-
gar common woman, and so not a
clever person who could perform won
ders. But Professor Muensterberg re-
verses all this. He seems to have been
as much enamored of her as Burke was
with the Queen of France.
| Professor Muensterberg was captured
at once. He found a woman who must
have been unusually beautiful in youth,
with delicate humor around her eyes
with an expression of sympathy and
almost of brilliancy in her face, with
vivaeity and cleyerness which would
have attracted him in any parlor."
within her inimitable charm she at
once pointed to him as the one whom
she wished TO have at her best side"
Much more of the same kind was said
indicating that all the European sa-
wants were mistaken in their concep-
ton of the woman as an ignorant per-
son. This is fine Imagination and at
once carries with it the innuendo that
all other wise men had been fooled
about Eusapia. but he had not. If he
was serious in the story what can
be said about his state cf mind and
fitness for dealing with the situation?
If he was writing to please the diet
tante what. can be said about his state
of mind and the fitness for dealing
with the situation?
I was once discussing my experiences
with Mrs. Piper and the lady to VIII ON
was telling them interrupted me to
ask if Mrs. Piper was beautiful wom-
an. On being asked why she put such
a question, she said that she would not
trust the statements of any mar whose
experiences were obtained in the pres
ence of a beautiful woman. / am afraid
Professor Muensterberg comes under
the ban of this Judgment.
The whole article is of the same
oh aracter. There Is no attempt to
write science. There is no evidence
that any record was made at the time.
Not. a single scientific criterion of truth,
Is indicated in the work 1t depends
wholly upon his memory and his imag-
nation, both working under the me-
cesstes of journalism for effect.
The superficial reader of the article
will get no other impression of it than
that very unclever fraud was detect
ed in the seance. The management of
this insinuation is very shrewd and the
concessions to any other point OF view
are concealed behind good humor and
clever writing. The one dramatic in
cident of the article comes at the close,
out of relation to the cartier part of
the story and following the curious al
lusions to his still more curious ideal
lem VIII ioh no one can understand, it
leaves the reader without any clear
memory eff the other part of the mar
rative. In the meantime the reader has
perhaps not observed the following
| facts:
!. That Professor Muensterberg has
avowed his unftness to investigate suc'
cases, thus saving his error of judg-
ment, il we should ever prove the phe-
nomena better than they appear
g. That he admits Eusapia Paliadino
to be a hysthric, implying but not as
serting, thatishe is not be to adjudged
from the point of view of conscious
trickery.
g. That Eusapia herself admits that
she does and will do many things if
left uncontrolled.
An account of Eusapias phenomena
which leaves these important facts out
of consideration or slurs them over will
only produce Illusions in the reader.
Prof. Muensterberg either knows this
we'll enough, if we give him credit for
any intelligence whatever or he DELHI
ately misrepresents the case for the
sake of effect. One or the other alterna-
tive we must accept here. OF course,
the Intelligent reader will perceive the
concessions made to abnormal psychol-
ogy, but he could not resist the tempta-
ton to make a good story and the
semi philosophic reference to idealism
had to be ended by an incident worthy
of vaudeville.
Now the article says very much
about trickery and the atmosphere in
reader needs to learn is that we cannot
accuse any one of fraud and triclery
whom we admit to be hysteric.
Whether Prof Muensterberg sees the
contradiction between his admission
and the insinuations he constantly
makes in the article do not know. If
he does we may have our opinion of
his honesty If he does not, we may
have our opinion of his intelligence.
We do not accuse somnambulists or
sleep walkers and hynotized persons of
T"trickery" in their performances. We
recognize that their acts are in some
sense unconscious and irresponsible.
The phenomena may deceive the OBJ
server, but we have no right on that
account to place the responsibility for
the deception upon the actor. That
implies a conscious purpose to deceive,
the knowledge of the act and it's false
character There is no question that
Eusapia Palladino is a hysteric and not
a common conjurer. ] do not think
that we know all about her hysterical
condition and there Is room for much
investigation in this direction and we
might even find an interesting rela-
ton between her normal consciousness
and her hysterical condition, but the
person who admits she is hysterical and
talks about her tricks is either fool
ing himself or deceiving the public.
/ do not question that Eupasia Palla-
dino does many things that are claimed
by spiritualists to be more marvellous
than is the fact. Eusapia herself ad-
mits it, as already remarked, and this
takes her out of the category of ordi-
nary frauds and tricksters. 1t is alb
surd to accuse her of frauds after this,
and it may be also absurd to treat her
phenomena seriously after knowing