Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-02-16
THE DEAD WHO
HAVE NEVER DIED
Persistent Efforts of Men to
Change Hope Of immortal
ity Into Certainty

The Unsuitable curiosity about what
follows death will doubtless continue as
long as the race persists. In spite OF
all that the agnostlcs and materialists
may say there is an instinct. nurtured
and watered perhaps by hope, that death
does not end all. We are taught by our
religion that there is n future life. There
ls evidence Of a belief in ghosts, that Is
in the persistence OF conscious life after
death, In the history OF the most print
tive people and the most ancient re-
llgions. But man wants TO be satisfied
By indlsputablo proof Systematic and
organized attempts have been In
progress for more than a quarter OF
century to gather all the available evil
dence. Men OF science with trained In
tellects have been accommodating data,
arranging and classifying them, In tho
hope that they may establish AZ a fact
that which from the scientific point OF
view Is now only hypothesis In spite
| of the progress they have made they ad-
nit that there is no present prospect that
the investigators will succeed until after
| passed
In the meantime those who wish to
| Justify their faith by proof and thus
! change the evidence Of things hoped for
| Into the substance OF things known, VIII
| read everything they can get hold OF
| that promises to help them In their
| search They will consequently welcome
| Sir william Barrctt's latest book on the
subject. Sir william Is one OF the
| founders OF the English Society for
| Psychical Research. lie has briefly
summarized the evidence that has been
accumulated by that society and has
pointed out where 1t is promising and
where It throws no light on the problem
| In fact he carries to It's consideration
| tho mental attitude of scientific In
restgator. lie insists. however, and
with reason, that proof Is TO be found,
| if found at all. not in q single, certain
demonstration. but in multitude OF
related facts which, taken together,
| leave no conclusion possible save that
| the dead live and can communicate dt-
| rectly with the living His book con-
tains an appendix giving directions for
experimentation for the guidance OF
those who wish to get into communica-
ton with the unseen world.
OF a radically different character from
Sir William Barrett's book is THE Dead
Have Never Died" by Edward G. Ran
dali. Buffalo lawyer. Mr., Randall.
with the aid of Mrs French. Of Ro-
chester, a medium, processes to have
demonstrated the fact that the dead live
again. and that they have material
bodies and live in houses, and that the
reunited families live together in the
other world. He also processes to have
proved that the dead at times do not
know that they have died, but think
they are still alive and are grieved as
they go about their usual haunts tc
find that their friends pay no attention
to them and treat them as II they were
not there. Mr.. Randall, further says
that he has had long conversations will
the dead and that their voices were
recognized by him as identical with their
living voices. His book Is interesting
but IL has no scientific value. All his
investigations were conducted alone
with no one present but his medium
She is dead. There Is no way by which
his statements can be verified, We have
to accept his unsupported word. Il
would have been more satisfactory tC
the earnest student of spiritualism If h,
had called to his assistance william
James, or Professor Hyslop, or Mr.
Hodgson. men familiar with medium
istic vagaries.
of such matters will find it in "Ths
Light Beyond volume in which a
group of Maurice Maeterlnck's essays
on tho supernatural and the subcon'
scious have been collected Mr.. Maeter'
| linck OF course believes In life after
death, not because ii has been scentiii'
cally proved. but because it is necessary
to satisfy the longings of the soul. He
has reviewed the findings of the Society
| for Psychical Research and his concu-
sions do not differ materially from those
Of Sir William Barrett In addition, he
has written some beautiful consolatory
essays which will appeal to all the be-
| reaved.
The layman, however, who feels that
| there are insuperable obstacles In the
way of establishing what these investi-
gators seek to prove, will lay down these
| books with feeling OF dissatisfaction
| Even the men OF science seem too
|