The New York herald., 1921-01-02
Psychical Force Given
Off by Mediums to
Be Measured and
Dark Seances Photo
graphed by Ultra
Violet Ray
By HERBERT AsBURY.

By HERBERT ASBURY.
TT is generally admitted that Aristotle
possessed the greatest single intellect
that the world has ever known; yet
almost any high school boy of to-day knows
more OF the structure of our universe than
did Aristotle and has more comprehensive
idea of the energizing forces of nature than
had the great Greek philosopher. The reason
for this is not, of course, that the modern
school boy is an intellectual giant; 1t is
solely because science has more fully pene-
trated the secrets of nature and mankind
now knows approximately the constitution
of matter and a great deal concerning life
and mind.
Pages OF natures great book that were
closed to Aristotle are now wide open to be
read, and this progress has been possible
through the Improvement of the mechanical
means by which nature is studied. Man
would never have arrived at his present posi-
tive knowledge had it not been for the deli
cate and sensitive instruments which are to-
day employed by the chemist and the physi-
cist in his laboratory
Dr. Hereward Darlington of 5O4 West
111th street, one of the foremost psychical
Investigators of the United States believes
that much of the law will be found
to apply in the realm of what is commonly
called psychics. He believes that until def
mite laboratory methods can be applied and
psychical phenomena studied by means of
physical instruments far more delicate than
the human senses the present state of things
"a state in which the world is divided into
opposing factions of belief and disbelief in
the possibility of life after death and com
munication with the spirit world-will con-
tinue to exist. But he believes that were
laboratory fitted up with suitable physical
and electrical apparatus for the study of
promising cases of psychic or mediumistic
phenomena scientists would be able to
rive at some definite conclusions within ten
years
This does not mean that DIR. Darlington
believes absolute and unquestioned commu
nication with the dead could be established
within, that time; it means that in his
opinion--the opinion of man who has spent
twenty years in psychical research work
and who has written more than twenty au-
thoritative books on the subject-the world
would be able to have some definite informa-
ton as to whether there Is such thing as
a spiritual world.
Special Instruments Must Be
Invented to Weigh Psychic Phenomena
"We should then" says DIR. Darlington,
know something about the laws and the
conditions under which telepathy, clairvoy-
ance telekinesis (the movement Of objects
without contact), &C., operate, and not until
we do know something about these laws and
conditions / believe, will such positive con-
clusions be reached. AS far back as 1894
Sir oliver Lodge in a paper on Some APP
pliances Needed for Psychical Laboratory,
said: If the Investigations are to go on
easily and WE'LL special appliances must be
contrived and arranged conveniently for use
precisely as is done in any properly fitted
laboratory 1t has already been doubtless
realized that one of the needs of the future
is a psychical laboratory especially adapted
for all kinds of experimental psychology ana
psycho-physics.
In view of the progress that has been
made in psychical research within recent
wears there can be little doubt that con-
tinuation of the experiments under proper
surroundings and with suitable instruments
would result in the question being definitely
settled one way or another. Scientists should
be able at least to determine whether the
forces that impel mediums and that induce
psychical phenomena of all sorts are merely
forces Of nature at present unknown or
whether they are really forces exerted oy
the spirits of the dead from an unknown
world. The possibilities of such investiga-
lions are practically boundless, and 1t Is pre-
cisely for these reasons that DIR. Darlington
and other scientists who have devoted their
lives. with scarcely any monetary reward.
TO solving the problem, are urging that the
United States have properly fitted psycn1-
cal laboratory for the study of psychical and
occult phenomena.
In this particular the United States Tags
behind other countries. France. England,
Germany and Japan have well organized and
endowed societies for psychical investiga-
tions which are establishing laboratories and
their scientists are devising instruments to
test the forces employed by mediums and
to investigate phenomena of every sort.
Comparatively few instruments of this sort
have been devised but among those In use
are several which have already brought ex-
cellent results One Of the most important
results obtained was that achieved by DR..
Imoda. assistant to the scientist Prof.
Mosso. who conducted number OF expert
ments in the discharge of electroscope
hv means OF rays emanating from the body
of a medium Dr. Imoda concluded as re-
suit of these experiments, that "the radia-
tions Of radium. the cathode radations OF
the Crookes tube and the medumistic radia-
tions are fundamentally the same" Posi-
bilities of tremendous import are laid bare
by continuation Of experiments based on
these conclusions.
Mediums Should Be Studied:
Nervous Reactions Csfaiogued
DR. Darlington estimates that $1,000 would
establish a psychical laboratory for the
United States and equip 1t with the most
necessary of the instruments that have
been devised for testing mediums and in