The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1920-11-13

lean public accounts Thomas A. Edi-
SON primarily a practical man, his
theory about the hereafter" will re-
ceive a wide hearing. Americans
know Mr.. Edison as a nan who does
things and as one who is not likely
to go far afeld in visionary specula-
ton. Mr.. Edison's beliefs, which, he
specifies, are supported by circum-
stantial evidence only. and not by ac-
tual proof, are open to revision. A
charm about Mr.. Edison's discussion
is found in his use of simple and d.
rect language and an avoidance Of
vague and technical terms.
Mr.. Edison's views are contained
in an interview which will appear In
the Scientific American and which was
accorded the editor of that publica-
ton. Advance extracts are available,
and from these 1t is possible to give
an outline of the theory which the
electrical wizard thinks is quite well
substantiated.
In the mind of Mr.. Edison there is
considerable doubt as to whether the
human personality survives after
death. Possibly it does-he hopes 1t
does, anyway. But he is inclined to
fear 1t does not.
Mr.. Edison's belief, briefly, is that
the human body is composed of my
Rad infnitesimal life cells, which he
terms entities" When these de-
part from the body, death ensues, he
says. The entities" do not them
selves die, but pass on and combine
with others to form new structures,
but not necessarily human structures.
In order to prove whether or not
there are personalities which have
passed on to another sphere Of exis-
tence and can be communicated
with" Mr.. Edison is experimenting
with a machine intended to be so del
icate that 1t will detect and record
manifestations of such personalities,
If personalities dwell In another
sphere.
Mr.. Edison's view Is that all the in
conceivable number Of infinitesimal
entities" each in itself a unit of life,
band together to build a man."
There are many indications, he says,
that I'VE human beings act as a COM
munity or ensemble rather than as
units"
By way of illustrating his mean
ing, Mr.. Edison quotes a s~upposititi-
Gus condition. "Supposing," he say
you take a inger-print of your
thumb. in the conventional manner
of the police records. Then burn
your thumb sufficiently to destroy the
skin. Do you know that after the
new skin has formed the finger-print
of your recovered thumb will be pre-
cisely the same as the first one? Yes,
absolutely the same. ever down to the
last line and irregularity. tried 1t
to make sure"
His examination is that the skin
did not happen to grow that way
again by accident. Someone had to
plan the new growth and to supervise
1t to make certain hat 1t would con-
form in every way to the old skin.
The individual does not know just
what hat pattern is, so the brain
plays no part in the operation.
Here is where our life entities
come into action" continues Mr.. Edi-
son. Il firmly believe that the life
entities rebuild hat thumb with con-
summate care. drawing upon their
remarkable memory for all the de-
tails"
Perhaps the entities" in our bod
les are 95 per cent workers and 5 per
cent directors. At any rate, 1t is the
ensemble of all these entities
which gives mar his physical form,
mental properties and personality. If
we have more good entities" than
bad" ones. the predominating
good" members make US good. The
entities" are described as steady
workers. In our bodies they con-
stantly rebuild the tissues to replace
those which are wearing out. They
watch after the functioning of the
various organs, Just as engineers in a
power house see that the machinery
is kept in working order.
Once the conditions become unsat-
isfactory In the body-either through
a fatal illness. a fatal accident or old
age-the entities" simply depart
from the body and leave little more
than the empty structure behind. Be.
ing indefatigable workers. they ma