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

In mental anguish" as other types OF
sensitive people would. but in bodily
sensations or numbnesses, or in acts
Of the relation of which to the painful
experience he might be quite unaware
Many Of the shell shock cases were
found to be hysterical.
The point of all this in the present
connection is that a hysteric has a sort
Of standing psychological abb. There
Is a constant relation between hysteria
and unusual susceptibility to hypnosis
And as the trance of a medium is gen.
orally thought to be a hypnotic state
believers in survival often speak of
hysteria when n previously impressive
trance medium, like Palladino. is
caught taking. Palladino has been
pronounced a hysteric by all the
psychologists who had examined her
including Lombroso. whom her work
| had converted. 1t was admitted that
she was without much moral sense,
and cheated at times. Some spiritual
lists are still loath to give her up en-
tirely.
This present day example OF physical
mediumship, less spectacular than
Home and more in the ordinary run.
has been deliberately studied by an
able physicist. DR.. w. J. Crawford OF
Belfast. He has reported his expert
ments and presented his conclusions in
particularly interesting new book.
He believes the unseen forces he meas
! ured were applied by the spirits OF the
dead, though he reserves most of his
reasons for such belief, and confines
himself to demonstrating that the
phenomena were genuine. measurable
and supernormal.
The medium is Miss Kathleen
| Goligher, now 20 years old. The circle
! 18th which she sits is made up OF her
I iamily, all the other members OF whom
take a simple religious view OF the
phenomena and open and close their
sittings with prayer. The girl herself
according TO Dr. Crawford, Is not much
interested and sits mainly to please the
others. She has no clients and receives
no pay. The Golighers welcomed DR..
Crawford's tests and put themselves to
much inconvenience to further them.
! He found that the unseen agents
were willing and even eager to CO.
operate with him and would confer
with him through the table; this kind
OF message Ia the connecting link be-
tween physical and mental phenomena
and Is conveyed by the table fitting or
dropping as the sitters again and again
repeat the alphabet until the letters
I indicated spell out communications.
He also found, among other things,
that Miss Goligher's weight was in
creased during a deviation by the exact
weight OF the table or other object
levitated, while her weight and those
or all the others in the circle were de-
creased when a sitting closed-due, ne
thinks, to the draft on their nervous
energy made by the operators" (con-
trols) who had to employ Il in the
work.
DR.. Hyslop considers such physical
phenomena, though genuine, OF limited
evidential value once they have served
their purpose OF attracting attention to
the spirits presence and convinced the
witness that there are more things In
heaven and EARTH" &C.
Through Various Agencies.
Messages purporting to be from the
dead come in several ways-direct
writing above referred TO. direct voice,
the vocal organs OF the medium, and
most commonly the varieties OF So
called automatism, The best known
or these last are the planchette, the
OuiJa board and simple automatic
writing. The planchette Is a small
contrivance like a three legged stool.
one leg being pencil The finger tips
OF the medium and sitters are resteo
lightly upon 1t. 1t moves, apparently
OF itself, and the pencil writes TIL.
familiar OuiJa board Is similar except
that there is no pencil. and the apex
leg Of the little stool moves from one
to another Of letters printed on the
board. spelling out the message. Auto.
matte writing is done with the hand OF
the medium, in which a pencil is
placed. tho point on paper. Examples