New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-07-02

Wv ne ooes not thlnk the materialiZa-
ton of living hand is easier to pro-
duce, nor more difficult to understand
than that of the glove which covers it.
1t seems to me that the materializa-
ton of clothes destroys the hypothesis
of spirit putting in an appearance"
he said. at is incredible that there
could be complete recon struction of
a body which has been dissolved bv
putrefaction or incineration. As an ex-
IRENE limit one can make the crazy nv
pothesis of an astral body, but it
would be the height of folly to suppose
that clothes. hats, glasses and canes of
/ tie dead have also their astral body. I
! consider it wiser to observe without
understanding and to realize that any
explanation is condemned to the ride
ulous. In earlier days humanity be-
lieved that eclipses of the moon were
! due to it's being devoured by dragon,
which l consider just as reasonable as
the conception of supernatural. beings
producing the materializations.
Conan Doyle is wrong if he ever
SAID l had analysed ectoplasm. The
| only man that I know of who ever did
was DR.. Schrenk Nothing, of Munich.
He obtained traces of it on glass slides
which he examined through a micro
scope, but he found only traces of 'epi-
theliaux' (bacterial forms) and some
fats. Some of the slides showed tissue
resembling vegetable matter. So far
as l can determine ectoplasn. is q sort
of gelatinous protoplasm, at first amor
phic, which comes out of the body of
the medium, either visibly or invis bly,,
and takes on q form later.
Medium Suffers Pain,
Writings Indicate
"Ectoplasm evidently comes from the
medium. 1t Is a vaporous, pasty sub
I stance that flows from the body of
certain sensitive people under certain
conditions, but we don't yet know just
what those conditions are The me-
dunn seems to be suffering acutely
while the ectoplasm is leaving her, for
she wrestles and twists as though
being tortured and cries out In an
guish. Later, when awake, the medium
feels no pain and doesn't remember
anything that took place.
THE medium is always put into a
hypnotic sleep, but she talks and an
swers questions as though fully con-
scious. They have never allowed any
one to take sample of ectoplasm, and 1t
is only after long persuasion that the
medium would even allow photographs
to be taken, on account of the flash
light. The flash gives them a physical
shock which makes them faint and COL
lapse. Once small bit of ectoplasm
was torn from q naturalization by
curious scientist, and the medium near
ly died from the results. She was crit
ically i'll in bed for months, so that
experiment was never recommended
ION several other occasions, however,
the medium allowed the observers to
clip off bit Of substance around a
materialized head. They found that
they had only curly yellow hair in their
hands, although they we're careful to
cut what they considered pure ecto-
plasm. The mediums hair was coal
black and straight, and there was no
one in the room with light-colored
hair. Because of this difficulty in get
ting bit Of ectoplasm to examine, it's
been impossible to make any satisfac-
tory chemical analysis. Certain in
stances, such as clipping the hair, lead
scientists to suppose that ectoplasm
can survive the naturalization, but
the cases are too rare to draw any
definite conclusions.
Before this subject was taken up
scientifically, there were so many
quacks and frauds that every serious
man Stunned the very thought of it.
Owing to the credulity of the public, a
mass of so-called mediums arose and
held performances which rivaled the
theaters and circus. This was espe
cially true in the United States. The
profe SIGNALS were soon unmasked, but
the reaction produced strong feeling
among scientists against mediums and
materalzations. The scientists grew
so obstinate in their refusal to accept
or investigate these unusual phenom-
ena that their scorn soon became a
tradition among them which was just
as blind as the faith of the mediums
| followers.
William Crookes First
Scientist to Investigate
civilian Crookes was the first sci
enlist to take up the study of materl-
alizations seriously and write about
them from scientific point of view.
Nobody believed in him, and even
felt at the time that he had been the
victim of an unfortunate imposture.
Serious Investigators in England,
America and France could not deny
what we saw in seances, but we all be-
lieved that the phenomena were pure
ly subjective. Now leaders in the So
cety of Psychical Research in Eng
land and America are gradually chang
ing their views and are beginning to
agree with me that materiaizations
are objective.