The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-03-22
Dangers OF Modern Spiritism

claimed that these are their only
sources of information. They have
probably access to knowledge by
methods wholly unknown to us and
quite beyond our power of magma
ton | have dealt with this aspect
Of the subject very fully in some of
my books. The circumstance that Sir
Conan Doyle regards the presentation
of intimate knowledge respecting some
deceased personality as evidence of
identity goes to prove how very i'm
perfectly acquainted he is with the
subject. The cases he cites in his
articles are too briefly stated to admit
of a critical examination and judg-
ment; but / am convinced that they
all find an adequate explanation in
the activities of his own sub-conscious
mind and in the sources of informa-
ton at the disposal of these astute
beings. 1 am persuaded that no in
formed and unbiased student Of the
subject would today regard any one
of them as furnishing proof of identity.
What has probably impressed the
reader of his articles most of all is
the evidence supposed to be furnished
by photography. 'In two cases." he
tells us, the figures of the deceased
lads have appeared beside the mothers
in photograph But this is, as a
matter of fact, the weakest and most
worthless evidence of all. Their
figures are not the individuals they
claim to be but mind-images taken
from the memories OF the living and
exteriorized and clothed with subtle
matter by the spirit-intelligences.
Deceased Cardinals Popular.
This is amply proved by the striking
evidence which is available. Some
years ago the deceased British Car
dinals were very much in evidence
in English seance-rooms. The late
Cardinal Newman especially was be-
lieved to appear regularly at house
we'll known to me. | was several
times present at his naturalization
and have seen many post norton
photographs of him. But / found that
hwy utl Vel dUly Cilu
hat this difference could be traced
Jack to the image of the late Cardi-
lal which the individual observer had
in his mind, or to a published photo
graph of him which he had SEEN
They could not therefore be presenta-
tons of the Cardinal as he exists now
in the other life and in his spirit
bodE." We have furthermore photo
graphs in which the materialized
spirit is presented at various ages
in one case as a child or youth, in
another as a grown up person, the
presentation evidently corresponding
with the peculiar mind-image which
the eXperimenter had of the deceased
| have in my possession photo.
graph obtained in a city which | had
never visited before and in which
there appears by my side fairly GOOD
picture OF a deceased member of my
family, but alas, for Sir Conan Doyle
and his theories. there is on the same
photograph also the image of a per-
son well known to me who is still
living, but not as she is now--an
elderly lady, but as | knew her years
ago, and as I best remember her-a
young married woman. Proof positive
this, surely! that these images are
not photographs of the living dead,
but materialized phantasms taken
from the subconscious memories of
relatives and friends. The masquer
aiding spirits clearly cannot always
distinguish the phantasms of the liv-
ing from those Of the dead, and it is
here where the critical investigator
gets on the track of the deception
Space does not permit me to carry
the argument any further; but suffi-
cient has been said to show that Sir
Conan Doyle's evidence in favor of
the identity of the communicating
spirits is utterly worthless, and that
his prodigious claim harbors a funda-
mental and fatal fallacy.
(To be continued.)