New-York tribune., 1919-09-05

states fully the case for spiritualsm.
should have been grateful to Sir Arthur il
he had converted me. feel with Sir
Arthur that the world is perhaps wickeder
now than it ever has been, and the old re-
ligions do not appear to be Of any help.
new religion, founded upon human rea-
son on this side and upon spirit inspira-
ration upon the other" which is what the
spiritualists claim their scheme to be,
should welcome. Unfortunately, can find
nothing in the book to disturb my unbe-
lief. 1t gives me further examples Of physi-
cal phenomena, or "signs," as they are
termed. But these in TO way differ from
the specimens | dealt with few weeks
ago. All Of them can be, and have been
performed by conf jurers making no claim to
spiritual assistance. Sir Arthur admits
that before he became converted he would
occasionally return from seance "puzzed
and disgusted." What he had witnessed
struck him either fraud or folly so su-
rreme as to render the whole subject un-
worthy Of attention. The "explanations"
by which spiritualists sought to remove
his skepticism did not satisfy him "at the
time" Before his conversion he admits
having come across mediums whose per-
formances impressed him, but who were,
later, detected in trickery After his
conversion he appears to have had no ex-
periences calculated to weaken his faith
while the "expanations" that had before
this time appeared so unsatisfactory to
him he is now able to regard as "a rough
approximation to the truth"
One Of the first things that appears to
have shaken Sir Arthur in his reliance
upon his own reason was that "fact' he
could not himself believe had been attested
by three eye-witnesses, "all men of honor
and repute." l do not doubt for moment
that these three gentlemen did actually see
a certain Mr.. Home, medium, "hoat out
of the window and into another at the
height of seventy feet above the ground"
But l have to bear in mind that less than
two hundred years ago men Of "honor and
repute" of intellect and educaton
kindly Christian gentemcn--were attest
ing in open court that they had seen old
women riding through the air on broom
sticks! They knew-these men of "honor
and repute"-that the words they were
speaking would condemn some poor old
There can be no doubt that they honestly
believed what they swore to. Belief in witch
craft was in the air they breathed. 1t was
part of their religion. It's accompanying
physical phenomena" we're doubted only
by heretics and skeptcs. The gradual rise
of rationalism in Europe has cleared mems
eyes far this particular dclusion is
concerned. The man of ''honor and repute'
to-day who old lady riding through
the air on a broomstick would consult a
specialist. Man is more self-contained
creature than he knows His heaven and his
hell, they are within him. The mystery and
marvels that confound him are contained
within the cells of his own BRAIN
AS for the further testimonies by which
Sir Arthur is convinced that the truth of
spiritualsm has been "proved up to the
hilt" [ take one or two examples typ-
cal. lady medium, in the presence of
Sir Arthur, on hearing that the Lusitania
had been sunk suddenly wrote these words:
at is terrible, TERRIBLE and will have
great effect on the war" On another occa-
sion, in April, 1917, Sir Arthur himself
dreamt the word "Piave." Six months
later, as we all know, a great battle took
place upon the line of the Piave In 1899
a Mrs. Piper described as a celebrated
psychic, seems to have prophesied, while
speaking in a trance, that some time in the
future there would be a terrible in
different parts Of the world" I wonder
how these "unanswera0le proofs" would
have struck Sir Arthur before the date of
his conversion. The explanation seems to
me to be this: Our sleepless brain is
continually busy imagining both the pos
sible and the impossible. Sometimes the
dream-the vision-coincides with an act
ual event. 1t would be remarkable if this
did not occasionally happen. No expert
ence is more common than to dream of a
friend. In ninety nine cases out of a hun
dred nothing occurs, and know that the
whole thing is merely brain-fancy.
Eventually something does happen to our
friend within some short period of our
last dreaming of him. This one Success"
is accepted as proving the truth of the
"spritualistic scheme" The ninety mine
failures are conveniently disregarded 1t
is as if a student undergoing an examina-
ton were allowed hundred answers to
every question, and was then considered
to have passed the test provided any one
of his guesses happened to be somewhere
near the truth.
Some years ago an acquaintance of mine
converted to spritualism as a result
Of the following incident: An old friend
of his lay seriously i'll at his chambers in
Jermyn Street. He was lonely old gentle
man, and his chief recreation of an even