Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-02-24
SPIRIT WRITING
CLEVER TRICK,
SAYS JASTROW
No Mystery, He Asserts, but
Manifestations Due to
SuhcOnsciOus Mind.
SCIENCE HOODWINKED

NEW YORK, Feb. "a. 1t is a singular
fact, as Prof. Joseph Jastrow, psychol-
ogist Of the University of Wisconsin,
points out, that the most eminent con-
ysrts to belief in spiritualism have been
scientists used to dealing with distinct
phenomenon-Sir Oliver Lodge, great
physicist and chemist; Sir Conan Doyle
a physician long before he became
teller of tales, to mention only few
Men of science, who deal only with phe-
nomena which can be weighed, measured,
felt. seen or heard or were leaders in
the worldwide revival in the belief that
the spirits of men dwell in another
world and do communicate with the liv-
ing.
AS for Dr. Jastrow, himself of emil
nence in the psychological field OF
science, he will have none of it. Lectur-
ing in Genealogical hall, he confessed to
a kind of puzzlement over the tendency
of some fellow scientists to accept be-
lief. which. he asserts, certainly has not
been proved. He thinks that Sir Oliver
Lodge does not bring to the solution OF
the spirituaIism problem that part of his
brain he uses for physical problems.
OUTSIDE REAL
OF SCIENCE.
Among the interesting speculations of
fered by DR.. Jastrow in his lecture,
THE Revival of Belief in SpiritualiSm,"
is his opinion that belief in after life is
a product of individual faith, something
that lies outside the realm of science,
something which is not prepared to ar
firm or dispute Converted scientists, he
holds, have allowed only a reserve"
area of their brain to become convinced.
DR.. Jastrow plainly seeks to combat
-f~fn Of
and to discredit, scientifically, such cult
accessories as the ouija board. the crystal
ball the planchette automatic writing,
spirit photography and the like. He
maintained that, aside from fraud, psy-
chical manifestations are explainable
from a few recognized principles, and
that the mystery" which seems to en-
veIop the whole subject is no mystery at
all.
spirit manifestations" said DR.. Jas
trow. "are traceable to reactions of the
subconscious mind in highly keyed and
nervous personalities. The underlying
cause Of so-called dual personality
frances. spirit writing is the same. the
singular operation of the subconscious
mind
Zone Of the reasons so many persons
come to believe in spirituai-Sm : tle
personal nature of the communications
they believe they receive from departed
loved ones. But they do not understand
The subtleties often employed by me-
diums, the fishing carried OH by means
II cleyerly disguised leading questions,
he keen observation employed and per
aaps by means of little understood, in
angible processes of mind which seem
supernatural.
TASTROW CALLS
IT HALLUCINATION.
But no person has actually any more
extraordinary power of communication
han has any other person. Some per-
lons are more senstively, nervously con-
Itructed than others. They are more
lubject to frances and forms of hysteria
mi Authorizations. We know that some
persons faint easily while others never
surrender consciousness except normally.
It is a matter Of a highly geared, highly
sensitized nervous system and of the
curious workings of the subconscious
mind / have watched a good many me-
diums that Gave gone into frances. but
l have never seen the slightest proof of
spirit contact. The mediums In frances
babbled and mu-mured just as people
talk in their sleep.
so far as automatic writing goes
and the denial of persons having the
faculty that they are ever conscious Of
what they write, or LQaI LQey uuueT-
stand anything about it except that it
occurs is simply a hallucination. I
doubt not that these persons are quite
sincere as a rule, but they merely put
upon paper ideas from their subconscious
mind.
"That part of the mind which dictates
such writing docs not function except
under certain conditions, and under
these peculiar conditions they can do
things they are not conscious OF being
able to do. It is exactly like the familiar
Circumstance of being unable at sudden
need to recall the name of a person or
place, yet having the elusive name pop
out of the mind subsequently in some
absolutely irrelated situation or trend of
thought
dual personality, as it is termed, is
just children's pretending. We all know
how children like to pretend they are
somebody or something in their play.
Children mostly outgrow this instinct to
pretend. But persons with the so-called
dual personality (when it is not actually
fraud not only do not outgrow the
impulse, they permit it to become
dominating delusion. They are as much
deluded as are others"
DR.. Jastrow said that after life can
not be proved or disproved by science
Science knows no proof as yet of the
supernatural. He warned against fraud
and denounced spirit writing as a clever
piece Of trickery.