The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-02-21

Funo TO Study Psycnlcal Fnenomenas
SpirituaIists Highly Pleased.
There were much head nodding and
exchanging of II told you SOS" among
spiritualists and others devoted to psy-
.chical research recently over the an
nouncement Of DR.. James p. Hyslop of
the American Society For, Psychical
Research that he had again been in
communication with the spirit of Will
liam James, late professor of philoso-
ply at Harvard.
In an article published in the journal
of the society, just out, Dr. Hyslop
gives details of his latest conversations
with his friend in spirit land. He
writes that the communication was
conducted through the medium of a
f1fteen-year-old boy, the son of cler-
gyman, well known ON both sides Of
the Atlantic" While entranced this
boy has been telling the Psychical Re-
search society man that a ''poltergeist"
will leave razor blades and matches in
places where they may do harm and
that an evil shade which turks in the
dark and hurls inkstands and heavy
stones at the heads of true believers
should be watched out for. The au-
thority for the warnings in every case
has been the spirit of Professor James,
according to the boy. Shortly after the
death of the Harvard philosophy pro-
fessor DR.. Hyslop announced that he
had been communicating with him
through the mediums Mrs. Chenoweth
and Mrs. Piper.
DR.. Hyslop began his experiments
with the boy on Nov. 20, 1911. He
called at the home of the boys father,
whom he calls "the Rev. DR.. X.," and
learned that Professor James had been
endeavoring to speak through DR.. ks
son. The next day the experiments
were resumed, and there were some
rather remarkable and alarming doings.
Spirits Queer Actions
There was violent table tipping and
feet from the floor. Then an attempt
was made for the translation of OBJ
jects''-that is, to see whether the spir-
its would move objects from one room
to another.
doors were closed again and the
lights turned out" DR.. Hyslop report
ed. 'In few moments something fell,
sounding like two objects. Up went
the lights and within a few feet of
each other were two pairs of scissors
which belonged in another room. The
next were a nail cleaner and the boys
knife, both from the room upstairs.
'NThen a drinking cup struck the boy
on the head and seemed to have hurt
him. Next skate key from upstairs;
then dozen marbles from rooms two
flights up. A pipe stem was thrown
across the room from a table in the
corner. Then fountain pen from the
library table where we were
Presently razor blades were thrown
into the room, the electric light bulbs
were smashed with violently thrown
stone and book was hurled against
the boys head. At a similar seance
later on a man complained that his
pocket had been picked. A spirit had
abstracted 25 cent piece.
CDR. X.," says Professor Hyslop,
asked Professor James to spell out
the name of the man who had influ-
enced both of them, and first Balzac
was spelled out and then Goethe, both
wrong, and then Fechner, which was
correct, Then l questioned the com
municator, asking him if he had ever
communicated with me. Answer af-
f1rmative. In Boston? Affirmative.
Elsewhere? Affirmative. Near -?
Negative. North? Negative. West?
Negative. South? Affirmative. All
these replies were correct"
Harvard Accepts Study.
According to the journal of the So
ciety, Harvard university has accept
ed a $4,000 endowment fund for
psychical research. In the announce
ment it is stated that this is the first
official recognition of such study ac-
corded by any American university.
The fund, which was esta blished by
several individuals, is a memorial Of
the life and work of DIR. Richard
Hodgson, secretary Of the society from
1887 until his death in 1908.
The journal in the current issue by
way of comment says:
'The value of it lies chiefly in the
fact of this recognition, as the fund is
not large enough to do all the work
that must be done in this field. Be
sides, no one can any longer question
the respectability of the work. The
objection which an uniformed public
has always raised-namely, that the
colleges and universities have not ad-
mitted the work into their purview
point, cannot be presented any longer.
"The acceptance Of the fund makes
1t impossible for any other institution
in this country to disregard or to dis
respect the work. 1t has won its place
in so conservative a university as Har-
vard-conservative in all the problems
that affect long despised phenomena.
1t is in every way a most welcome sit
ma finn md xua hava to tho nj tho am