The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-03-10
CULT HUNGERS
AMID THE SNOW

il New York, March 6.-(SpeciaD -
The claims of Sir Oliver Lodge TO
knowledge gained through mediums
Of j life herafter, an experience on
which he bases much of his writing
OH immortality, are without reason
able fundation, in the opinion d
James II. Leuba, professor OF psy-
chology at Bryn Mawr College. Prof.
Leuba is the man who few year,
ago caused much comment by the pub
lication of a book on Immortality, i'll
which he showed that college profes.
sors in increasing numbers are doubt.
ing the existence of future life.
After crilicising Sir oliver Lodge
deductions from his psychic expert
ences Prof. Leuba was led to inquire
if it were not possible that in older
age the critical faculties are NJ,
weakened so that a man may retail!
his technical ability but be deficient
in critical analysis.
None Of the communications 80
called. from the other world has eTci
,, risen to a dignity that should char
acterize the sayings of the men II"
PROF. Leuba. Il can refer YOU -
something which have prepared f'
the Enclycopoeda of Religion ard
Ethics, which | think casts SOnl
doubt on the value of these spiritual
revelations ! said in that:
Real and unusual phenomena.
readily explicable through spirits
while the belief in their existence
was unshaken, grows mysterious III
the extreme as soon as that simple
form Of explanation becomes open to
suspicion. Scepticism regarding the
existence of spirits led. in 1882 tc
the foundation Of the Society for Psy-
| chical Research. (Of which Sir Oliver
Lodge is preSident.)
"The outcome of the work OF the
society with regard to the physical
phenomena may be cOnServatlvelF
summed up as the establishment OF
the improbability of there being any
thing il them but conscious or un-
! conscious fraud-unconscious when
I the medium performs while in &
trance The greatest achievement Of
the physical researchers is the well
nigh unquestionable demonstration Of
occasional communication between
two persons without any known IN
jtnrm"liaTy.
There is another class of phenom-
Revolutionary hypothesis. But who
will venture to formulate the test
which will mark particular mes
sages Us not within the possibly
!, known TO some one living anywhere
on the globe?
"The telepathic hypothesis Of spir-
il messages receives support from the
unexpected meaninglessneSs of the
revelations made by the alleged
spirits regarding their state and the
circumstances of their existence.
They have been fairly loquacious: yet
none Of them, not evn those from
whom much could have been expected
have revealed anything at all. More
Significant than the insignificance of
their remarks concerning the other
ire is the pertinacious. effort of these
alleged spirits to avoid answering the
many and pointed questions address
ed to them on that subject.
"From Richard Hodgson, the late
secretary of the Society of PsychcHl
Research, nothing enlightening has
been learned, despite his haste III
giving sign of his existence. OF
trifling incidents which may be use
I'll in establishing his identity he has
talked abundantly; but, when ques-
toned concerning the circumstances
of his existence. he either driveled or
excused himself clumsily and depart
ed. Frederick Myers and William
James have been equally disappoint-
| ling.
1T has been urged that the spirits
may find it difficult to work the mus
cular mechanism of the medium; a
disincarnate soul may be inefficient
in the matter of bodily control; he
may also be for a time not fully con-
scious and muddled The fact is.
however, that spirits do communicate
many things; it takes volumes to re-
cord their utterances! The Difficult
ties are apparently of such peculiar
nature that nothing concerning the
other life, and only things that have
takn place on this earth. transpire.
"Why are the things picked out al
ways trifling, meaningless or ridicu-
GUS? To this pertinent question no
satisfactory answer has ever been
iven The limitation of knowledge
cf the alleged spirits to earthly facts
points to ali earthly origin of the