Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-11-25
ROMANCE OF PSYCHIC RESEARCH
Remarkable Case of Mrs Pepper and Eusapa PadnoConrers
Tricks Often Used by Medums-Leviiaton Freely Practiced.
The Search for the Unlnowable.
coNrR1nurEp BY EM

TINhb desire Tor immortality, ever latent
i in the human breast - the longing to
meet again the dear ones gone before
the striving to solve the puzzle Of the after
life--al that has received a new impetus by
the declaration Of Sir oliver Lodge, Britain's
great electro physicist, that he has conversed
with the spiritual world. Not that Sir
divers announcement Is novel, for similar
assertions have been made timea innumerable.
But the very fact that he, n hard headed
scientist, whose Imagination has been more
or less atrophied by serious study, stated
publicly and with emphasis that there was
life after death, has made the world take
a renewed interest in this field OF research
Time was when America was literally
overrun with mediums who could induce
spirits to play banjos, write unintelligible
nothings on states and do other absurd
things Time and again these frauds were
exposed. The Fox sisters produced spirit
rappings by wrigg1lng their toes; others less
known did tricks worthy OF Hermann the
Great, and perchance, Trismegistus himself.
But one after another these mediums fell by
the wayside, exposed as rank impostors. Ann
ODelia Dis De Bar worked on the religious
feelings Of old Luther Marsh sufficiently to
induce the millionaire to buy hundreds and
thousands Of dollars Of spirit paintings"
But those days have gone by. An agnostic
public, the doubling Thomases among the
press, the disbelievers-a combination Of
them, have made the path or the medium a
rocky one, indeed. And yet, indications seem
to point to the fact that the psychic investi-
gators are on tho track of-what? They have
delved deep into the lore of the psychic; they
have striven for knowledge; they have proved
and investigated
Two Famous Mediums
So far as is known. there are only two in
stances of Northumberland shall it be
called-abillty? The first OF these is that
of Mrs. Pepper, whose psychic" powers
were wholly mental consisting of receiving
messages while in a trance state and repro
ducing them on paper. The second Is that
of Mrs. Eusapia Palladino, an Italian Of
lowly origin, whose manifestations were all
physical.
Mrs Peppers case was fully investigated
by Andrew Lang, Professor w. r. Newbold
Mrs Henry SedgwicB. Sir oliver Lodge him
self; DIR. Walter Leaf, Professor William
James, Professor Hyslop, Professor Rchet
and others. Without reservation, 1t may be
stated that so far as is known these inves-
tigators found nothing which to build the
hypothesis of fraud as applicable to Mrs.
Pepper
The woman was taken to England, literally
placed in confinement in the homes Of the
investigators and subjected to tests which
were exhaustive in themselves and exhaust
ing to the medium Negatively. they proved
that while in the trance state Mrs. Pepper
wrote messages apparently dictated by un-
seen existences. For years controversy
ragged arguments waxed warm; every
known and many unknown theories were ad-.
vanced to explain the peculiar gift of the
medium.
AS matter Of fact, Mrs, Pepper succeeded
in puzzling the investigators. Several Of them
admitted frankly that they were convinced;
others qualified their opinions with "if' and
but" Still others ascribed 1t to hypnotsm.
They recalled the amazing performances of
the Hindu falcirs in India. Positive evidence
has been at hand these many years that one
of these fakirs completely surrounded by
English soldiers, threw a rope into the air,
where it remained suspended, apparently at
tached to nothing. Then the faklr climbed
upward, disappeared into the azure above
and drew the rope up after him. Then, when
the company was utterly dumfounded, the
faSr would appear outside the circle of
soldiers. Investigators, sorely puzzled, finally
decided that the fakir had hypnotized his
auditors into the belief that he had actually
done the impossible
Mrs. Peppers spirit writing" as It has
been termed, may be laid at the door OF
mental telepathy, thought reading - the
powerful longing OF the subject to hear from
the departed transferring it's desire to the