Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-10
EXPERTS
ROUGH ON LODGE
"cbost Breakers" Give Scientist
and Spiritism Short Shrift
( in Discussion
CALL PHENOMENA FRAUDS

s;r Oliver Lodge came in for some
,orvb handling at the meeting of the
rnntemporary Club at the Bellevue
stratford last night, in a discussion on
"psvchical Evidence Of Survival"
A. ono neriod, when Lightner Wit
M director of the psychological lab
mel, nratorv Mt the University of Penn
oraso,i oor1ronia. made half jocose, yet cut.
~. remark concerning the financial
.i5s .ids of Sir divers advocacy of com
ss.,GSnication s.G, with spirits of the dead,
h;usos we're heard from a few of the
slisStfihnpu,shed liSfhp Englishman' $ supporters:
ql''h W the main. however. the large and
iiash;onable audience at the Bellevue
ssomed inclined to \agree with Doctor
STitmer and other speakers who exposed
,be trickery of spiritism:
'n 1osenh T. Rim, Of New York. the
,rboet breaker" whose offers of large
,sssh nrizes for absolute proof of spirit
COMMUNICATION snnn have recently created as
r,oat sensation as Sir Oliver Lodges
IDEAS about the presence of the spirits
~ tbe dead. amused the audience with
his graphic description of how he had
trcked scientific Investigators:
Walter Franklin Prince, official in
rsstigator of the American Society for
psrchical Research, recited at length
tbe revelations" of dead mother con-
corning her child. He was greeted with
laughter when be asserted that there
was only one chance in ten quadrll-
lion, two hundred. and . forty trillion
Zines" that the facts which he declared
uere proyed could have been the result
n coincidence. Later in rebuttal he
mildly resented the suggestion made by
one Of his opponents that they might
more easily be explained by fraud.
Ieuba Doesn't Take Lodge Seriously
DIR. James Fl. Leuba, professor of
,svcbology at Bryn Mawr College, led
tbe assault on Sir Oliver Lodge and his
lectures in this country. The speaker
said that Sir divers knowledge of
pbysics did not qualify him to speak
on psychic matters. "He is to be taken
sriously,' said Doctor Leuba, ''only
when he discusses physics Doctor
Ieubs refuted the assertion that sci
enti6c. men who have studied spiritism
have come to believe in it by asserting
in turn that 40 per cent of the scientists
IN this country are nonbelievers and
that of the other 81 per cent very few
indeed believe in spiritism.
"The physical manifestations OF
spiritualism have been discredited ut
terly." said Doctor Leuba. '"The spirit
messages have been discredited likewise,
first because the messages themselves
have been of a nature that pointed to
an earthly rather than a spiritual or
igin; and, second, because though the
spirits pretend to possess wonderful
powers, never has one of them offered
a clear-cut, incontrovertible proof of
the authenticity of the message"
Doctor Leuba ridiculed Sir Oliver s
book, Raymond" pointing out some
Of the more amusing aspects of the prin-
cipal revelations" purporting to be
made by the spirit of Sir divers son.
There was prolonged laugh when Doc
tor Leuba reminded the audience that,
according to Raymond, they "made
whisky in the other world and the
spirits can get whiskey soaked"
Newbold Convert to Spiritism
There never was man less entitled
than Sir Oliver Lodge to regard himself
as public benefactor," Doctor Leuba
concluded, "The picture of the other
world presented by contemporary spirit
ism is a degradation of the splendid
Ideals and aspirations of Christianity. I"
- " imam ~. 4NeWbOiu, professor
Of philosophy at the University of
Pennsyl lvania, confessed that he had
been a hesitating and reluctant convert
tospiritualism.
-, II don't believe anything so much
that cannot change my mind in the
laCS OF new evidence" he explained.
Though expressing the reasoned con
rluslon that existence after death had
been demonstrated, he solemnly warned
ms audience against taking for granted
tne myriad nonsense that masks under
tue cloak of spiritism.
=! have observed since this fad for
splrltism that the shelves of an old
Oook store / frequent have been swept
clear of books of every sort on spirit
ISM know what was on those
sihelves-most of it rubbish. / know
mat the publishers are hurrying into
ne market all sorts of rot. Be careful
II is as bad to be too credulous as too
Reptlcal. 1t is not true that any one
cah go through the door of the spirit
world. We are entering into an ear of
investgation that will keep the best
minds busy for tn. next hundred years. /"
Dr. Lightner Wilmer pointed out that