The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-11

| OF such writing, which Spiritualists
regard as genuine messages, are some
times obtained when a medium Is not
entranced.
Reputably attested cases of direct
voice and direct writing are compare
lively rare; the latter very rare. The
automatic writings and spellings are
the investigators main reliance, and
after them the vocal organs of some
mediums. In planchette manuscript
the words, owing to the mechanical
nature of the device. are looped to-
gether like telegraphers' copy" in the
days when kilograms as received were
written down by hand. Sometimes
simple automatic writing comes upside
down, from the writer's point Of view,
and quite frequently it is reversed,
looking glass" fashion. Often. but
not always. the words are looped as
Just described. Researchers say this
looping and reversing Is done when
| the writer's psychic powers are still
undeveloped
One or more hands quite different
from her own may be written by the
entranced medium. 1t Is said. how
ever, that the automatic handwriting
is never closely similar TO the hand
writing during his lifetime OF the
person whose spirit purports to be
sending the message.
Easy for the Imaginative.
Almost anybody OF Imagination and
/ sensibility who tries the experiment Of
automatic writing can get what seem
/ To hA I'm vyille5 fpnvapapfa ~
| Gil. and sometimes letters or even
words, and occasionally a phrase or
sentence suggesting a message" of
| some sort. The message" as the
| spiritualists are quick to concede, Is
in all likelihood merely from his sub
conscious self. They believe, however.
that 1t is not impossible for frivolous
dabbler to be used by spirits as a
medium II he is at ell psychic and
| gives the opportunity. Their idea is
that we are constantly surrounded by
innumerable spirits eager to communi-
cate and prove their Identities, and
that ANY sort of telephone" as one
spirituaiist figuratively explained to
the writer, may be tried IL a better one
Is not available.
But the scientific spiritualists unani-
mously warn the would be amateur
that experiments like automatic writ
Ing are dangerous to fool with, espe-
cially for the sombre and introspectiye.
The danger is OF losing balance and
becoming morbid, even (they say) to
the point of mental breakdown, besides
the drain on nervous force made in
all automatisms.
me tests OF messages that purport
to be survival evidence. according to
DR.. Hyslop, are, first. the medium must
rot have known the communicated
facts. and second, 1t must be possible
to verify these facts by the testimony
OF living persons. Thus a perfectly
strong case would run about as fol-
lows: John Doe is taken to a medium
70 whom he Is total stranger. Johns
dead friend Richard Roe communi-
Gates and alludes to a finger ring
which Richard once owned in life.
John had never heard of this ring.
Richard describes II and tells where it
now is. Subsequently II proves to be
there. An abundance OF actual cases
OF such pattern are attested TO.
What English investigators call
cross-correspondence and Americans
cross-reference is considered a spe-
cially clinching proof. It means getting
the same message ndependently-that
Is, with collision precluded-through
two different mediums. Cross-refer-
once was obtained again and again by
Sir Oliver Lodge and members OF his
family In messages purporting to come
from Raymond through a number OF
mediums, public and private. Me-
diums who did not know them were
visited incognito to be doubly sure.
The most startling OF the cross-ref-
erences occurred eight months after
the young man was killed in battle.
A brother and sister OF his passing
through London arranged to have a
sitting with a medium at noon. At
the same day and hour two other sis
teri and another brother Joined in .