THE PHENOMENA OF SPIRITISM (_continued_).
Psychometry.--"The Souls of Things."--Professor Denton's
Experiments.--Wonderful Visions of the Ancient Environment
of Geological Specimens.--A Piece of Mortar from
Cicero's House.--Supposed Scientific Tests.--Explanation
on Telepathic Principles.--Experiments in Hypnotism
compared.--Clairvoyance and Telepathy.--Their Boundary
Lines in Transit.--Clairaudience.--Definitions of the
Term.--Socrates and his Dæmon.--Modern Instances.--Mental
Impressions.--Premonitions.--Their Unreliability.--Remarkable
Examples of Clairaudience.--A Lawyer's Experience.--Subject to the
Law of Suggestion.--Insanity sometimes results from Ignorance of
the Cause.--Practical Suggestions.
There is another class of phenomena which has attracted a great deal
of public attention, and which demands a passing notice in this
connection. It is that class which has received an exhaustive treatment
in the work of the late Professor Denton, entitled "The Souls of
Things." It has been denominated "psychometry," which may be defined
as the supposed power of the human mind to discern the history of
inanimate objects by clairvoyance. Many wonderful stories are related
of the exercise of this supposed faculty, under the strictest test
conditions, as test conditions were then understood. Professor Denton
made a long series of experiments with his sister, his wife, and some
others who were supposed to possess that power in a remarkable degree.
The powers of his wife and sister were indeed wonderful; but, as we
shall see, not in the line in which the experiments were directed.
It must be premised that the professor was a very learned man, not
only in his specialty, which was geology, but in all branches of human
knowledge. His wife and sister were also highly cultivated women, and
were specially interested in those branches of learning in which the
gifted professor excelled. Thus the conditions were extremely favorable
for the production of extraordinary results in whatever branch of
occult science they might jointly engage.
It was the habit of the professor to select some geological specimen,
or a fragment of some historical structure, and submit it to his
percipient for her version of its history. She would readily enter a
partially subjective condition, place the relic on her head, and at
once give a very plausible, and oftentimes a most wonderfully accurate,
history of the scenes which had been enacted within its former
environment. Thus, if the object happened to be a geological specimen,
she would launch out into a glowing description of its surroundings
when found, and going back into its history before the earth's crust
was formed, trace it down through the different geological changes
until she landed it in the professor's cabinet. Again, a piece of
mortar from the dwelling of Cicero would be handed to her, and she
would give a vivid description of the domestic life of those who had
occupied the mansion, and describe historic events which "might have
been seen" from the ancient habitat of the piece of mortar. It is
easy to see how all this might be accomplished, and all the known
facts stated with accuracy, regarding the geological environment of
the piece of stone in her hands, when her own geological learning was
taken into consideration. But the professor was not unmindful of so
obvious an explanation of her power. To eliminate that element was his
first care. To that end he would wrap the specimen in a piece of paper,
and carefully conceal its character from her objective knowledge. The
result was always the same. She would read the history of the specimen
with the same apparent accuracy as before. The professor, however, did
not forget the possibility that telepathy was an element necessary to
be eliminated. The possibility that she might read what was in his
own mind must, therefore, be provided against. To that end he wrapped
a large number of specimens in packages as nearly alike as possible,
and mixed them together so that it was impossible for him to know
them apart. One specimen after another would then be handed her, and
each one would be described with the same accuracy as before. This
was considered the supreme test, and the doctrine that "things," in
common with men, have "souls," was thought to be demonstrated. The
Orientalists would say that he had demonstrated that the history of
all things is "recorded in the astral light," whatever that may be.
The spiritist would say that the spirits of dead men had given her the
information.
The true explanation is obvious to those who are acquainted with the
facts of telepathy. The professor was an eminent geologist and a
classical scholar. In his subjective mind was the history of every
geological specimen in his possession, pictured clearly and vividly,
according to the theories of the best geologists of his generation. His
imagination carried him back to the time when chaos reigned supreme. He
followed the fragment of rock down through all the changes which took
place in the earth's structure, until it became a part of the solid
mass of rock from which it was taken. In the ever-changing environment
of that fragment, since the time when it was a part of a vast mass
of molten matter, there was material for pictures of the sublimest
scenes incident to the formation of a world. Those pictures, to the
imagination of every geologist worthy of the title, are ever present
and intensely vivid. A fragment of rock to him is an open book, in
which are recorded the history of the sublimest works of Omnipotence,
and his imagination supplies the panoramic illustrations. In
experiments such as have been described, these pictures are necessarily
presented to the subjective mind of the percipient in a form so clear
and vivid that she would be insensate indeed if she failed to describe
them in appropriate terms. And when we consider the fact that the
percipients employed in these experiments were exceptionally cultivated
women, especially interested in the subjects of the professor's
research, it will be seen that successful telepathic experiments were
to them exceptionally easy.
The successful reading of the history of the specimens submitted to
the percipients is therefore easily accounted for where the professor
had conscious knowledge of the contents of the packages. It remains
only to explain the reason of success when he sought to eliminate
that element by submitting a large number of similar packages, not
consciously knowing one from the other. This also is easy to understand
when the extraordinary acumen of the subjective mind is considered. It
is a common hypnotic experiment to draw a blank card from a package,
hand it to a subject, and suggest that it contains a picture of some
person. The card is then marked on the back and shuffled with fifty or
more others. A good subject will, in nine cases out of ten, indicate
the marked card as the one containing the suggested picture, and that
without the possibility of seeing the mark on the other side. It is
obviously a much easier feat to remember the differences in packages
than in blank cards. Of the former, no two could possibly be alike. Of
the latter, no two would ordinarily be sufficiently unlike to enable
one to determine the difference by the unaided senses. But to the
subjective mind the feat of remembering each package and its contents
would be very easy, compared with thousands of recorded instances to be
found in the literature of psychic phenomena.
It will be observed that we have refrained from invoking the aid of
clairvoyance to account for the phenomena of psychometry. It would
be a much simpler solution of the problem to assume that the power
of independent clairvoyance exists, and that the percipients simply
saw the contents of the packages. But inasmuch as the known facts of
telepathy afford a perfect solution, we are not logically justified
in entering a domain which is in the slightest degree overshadowed by
doubt. By this remark it is not meant to imply that there is any doubt
of the existence of a power which is generally known as clairvoyance,
but that its limitations are as yet undecided. That is to say, the
boundary line between clairvoyance and telepathy is not at present
clearly drawn. The field of clairvoyance is constantly narrowing its
boundaries. Thus, a few years ago every perception of a fact not
cognizable by the senses was attributed either to clairvoyance or to
spirits. Sceptics on the latter subject were wont to explain certain
phenomena by attributing them to the former. The phenomena which
could not thus be explained were relegated to the domain of fraud and
legerdemain. When the phenomena of telepathy became better understood,
the field of clairvoyance was greatly narrowed, as it was found that
most of the phenomena before explained by clairvoyance were really due
to telepathic communion. But the powers and limitations of telepathy
are not yet clearly marked; and it is found that every step in advance
in the knowledge of its principles by just so much narrows the field of
clairvoyance. No better illustration of this fact could be given than
the phenomena of psychometry, which we have just been considering. The
power to read the history of a geological specimen with a plausible
show of accuracy was first attributed to clairvoyance. As telepathic
powers began to be understood, it was thought that possibly the
percipient simply related what was read in the mind of the agent. Many
experiments were made throughout the country which demonstrated that
fact, and the recognized field of clairvoyance was thereby curtailed.
But Professor Denton determined to eliminate the element of telepathy
by so disposing of his relics as to divest himself of all knowledge of
the particular one under examination. When the percipient exhibited the
same powers of discernment under those circumstances it was thought
that the element of telepathy was eliminated, and that the power of
clairvoyance was demonstrated. But as the knowledge of telepathy is
increased, and when it is understood that telepathy is the communion
of subjective minds, and that the subjective mind is endowed with
transcendent powers in certain directions, while it is hedged about
with limitations in others, it is seen that the professor did not
succeed, as he had supposed, in eliminating the element of telepathy.
Thus the field of clairvoyance is again curtailed, and that of
telepathy correspondingly enlarged. It may be assumed, therefore, that
the boundary lines between the two supposed powers are still unmarked.
In the mean time it is unsafe to assume any one point as the boundary,
or even to assume that there is, in fact, any line at all. Judgment
must be suspended until telepathy is better understood. All that can be
safely said is that there are facts which cannot as yet be explained
on any other hypothesis than that of independent clairvoyance. When
we come across such a fact we may provisionally assume the power to
exist, and await the slow progress of experimental knowledge to enable
us to classify the fact in accordance with its legitimate relations.
It is logically safe to do this as long as we thus avoid the necessity
of wholesale denials of demonstrated facts on the one hand, and on the
other refrain from entering the domain of the supernatural in search of
a hypothesis.
It is thought that enough has now been said to explain the part which
telepathy plays in the phenomena which have been considered, and also
to enable the intelligent reader to apply the principles to all other
classes of phenomena in which telepathy constitutes a possible factor.
It is constantly reappearing in every phase of psychic phenomena,
and constitutes a factor in every manifestation of intelligent power
involving the perception of that which is beyond the reach of the
senses.
CLAIRAUDIENCE.
The next subject in order is that of clairaudience, or "clear hearing."
It is a faculty of the human mind much more rarely developed than that
of clairvoyance,--that is, if we assume the latter to be identical with
telepathy, which we may do for the purposes of this discussion.
The Century Dictionary defines clairaudience as "the supposed power of
hearing in a mesmeric trance sounds which are not audible to the ear in
the natural waking condition."
This, as far as it goes, is a correct definition of that faculty; but
it defines a very small part of its field of operations, and that
part which is of the least importance. It may be defined, broadly, to
be "the power of hearing the spoken words of a human soul." In other
words, it is that faculty of man's intelligence which enables his
objective mind to receive communications from his own subjective mind
or from that of another by means of spoken words. It is one means of
bringing the operations of the subjective mind above the threshold
of consciousness. The power is by no means confined to persons in a
mesmeric trance, although it seems probable that one must be in a
partially subjective state to enable him to hear clairaudiently. The
degree of subjectivity may be very slight, so that the percipient may
seem to himself and others to be in a perfectly normal condition. The
sounds--if that may be called sound which does not cause atmospheric
vibrations--are perfectly distinct to the consciousness of the
percipient, but are not perceptible to others who may be near him and
in the normal condition.
Like all other means for bringing the operations of the subjective
mind above the threshold of consciousness, the sounds have from time
immemorial been attributed to supernatural agencies. Socrates furnished
the most notable example in ancient or modern times of a man whose
subjective mind was able at any time to communicate messages to his
objective mind by means of spoken words. It is well known that he
supposed himself to be constantly attended by a dæmon, or guardian
spirit, who watched over him and warned him of any danger that was
imminent. (See Chapter X. for a fuller discussion of Socrates and
his dæmon.) The biblical student will recall to mind many instances
where voices were heard, conveying intelligence of the most portentous
character, and a critical examination of some of the instances will
not fail to reveal their true nature.
Many spiritual mediums of the present day have the faculty largely
developed. Some of them are enabled to obtain the names of their
sitters by hearing them spoken clairaudiently, and the names of
supposed spirits are obtained in the same way. It is popularly
supposed that the ordinary method of telepathic communion, when the
message is not brought above the threshold of consciousness, is by
mental impressions. It is, of course, impossible for us to know the
processes employed in the ordinary communion of subjective minds. It
seems probable, however, that it is by means of such language as is
employed by the communicants in objective life. All that is or can
be known is, that when the ideas are communicated to the conscious
mind, it is necessarily by such means as can be understood,--that is,
by means which appeal to the senses. It is true that the subjective
mind is often able strongly to impress the objective mind, especially
when danger to the person is imminent, or when some near relative or
dear friend is in danger. Such impressions are known as premonitions.
Sometimes they are so strong as to be of real service in averting
danger. But they are not always reliable, for the reason that we
are seldom able to distinguish a real premonition from that feeling
arising from fear and anxiety regarding the welfare of those who are
absent and very dear to us. Thus, a mother will often feel that she
has a premonition of danger to an absent child, but will afterwards
learn that her fears were groundless. Perhaps at another time a real
premonition will be disregarded. It seems probable that when the laws
of subjective mental action are better understood, there may be some
method formulated by which a genuine premonition may be recognized. It
is certain that in all cases where danger to the person is imminent,
the subjective mind makes a supreme effort to give warning and avert
the danger. That being its normal function, its highest activity is
exercised in the effort to preserve the life of the individual. It
is sometimes successful, and sometimes not; but that the effort is
always made does not admit of doubt. Sometimes it succeeds by means
most extraordinary,--clairaudience not infrequently being the means
of receiving the warning. Thus, a lady once confessed to the writer
that she at one time, in a fit of despondency arising from ill health,
attempted to commit suicide. She had raised a pistol to her head and
was about to fire, when she heard an explosive sound, apparently in the
same room, resembling a pistol-shot. This caused her to pause for an
instant, when she heard the words, apparently spoken in her ear, "Not
now; you have two years yet!" Surprise caused her to lower the pistol,
and reflection caused her to desist, and finally to abandon the idea of
suicide. As the two years have not yet expired, it is too early to know
whether it is a case of prevision as well as of clairaudience.
One of the most remarkable cases of clairaudient warning against
danger that has ever come under the observation of the writer occurred
near Washington a short time ago. A well-known colored preacher was
aboard a train on its way to the city. He was dozing in his seat a few
miles out, when he was suddenly awakened by a cry of "Wreck! wreck!"
apparently sounding in his ears. He thought for a moment that he had
been dreaming; but after he was fully awake he again heard the same
words repeated three times. As he happened to be the only occupant
of the car, he knew that no one was playing a trick upon him, and he
instantly became panic-stricken, and rushed to the rear end of the car
and jumped off, although the train was going at the rate of thirty
miles an hour. He was somewhat cut and bruised, but managed to walk
to the next station, where he related his adventure to my informant.
Little importance was attached to the circumstance at that time, as his
train passed to the city in safety. But the very next train that passed
over the road in the same direction was wrecked by the falling of a
large rock upon it as it passed. The rock overhung the track, and had
evidently become loosened by the vibrations caused by passing trains.
Subsequent investigation by my informant revealed the fact that the
old preacher had leaped from the train but a short distance beyond the
scene of the wreck.
Now, it may be asked, how do we connect the clairaudient warning of the
old man with the wreck which did not occur to his train? It must be
admitted that the circumstances do not constitute an ideally perfect
case of a life saved by a clairaudient reception of warning; but it
must also be held that the case is of all the greater evidential
value for that very reason. It is easy to perceive how the old man's
subjective mind perceived the danger, when it is once admitted that
it possesses the power to see that which is not within the range of
objective vision. Ever alert for the safety of the individual, it
perceived the danger, no matter how. It saw the condition of the
overhanging rock, and believed that that train would loosen its
hold. In the mean time the old man was in that passive, somnolent
condition most favorable for the reception of subjective impressions or
communications. He happened also to be clairaudient, and therefore in
the best possible condition for the conveyance of subjective messages
above the threshold of consciousness. And the message was delivered in
the most effective way possible,--in the same way in which Socrates
was again and again warned of impending danger. That the catastrophe
did not happen to his train proves only that the intelligence which
gave the warning was finite, that its knowledge was circumscribed by
the limitations of human judgment, and that it did not proceed from
Omniscience.
It may be here remarked that this incident seems difficult to explain
on any other hypothesis than that of independent clairvoyance. To
explain it on the principle of telepathy would involve the necessity
of presupposing that some person or persons knew of the dangerous
situation of the rock, and that they were in telepathic rapport with
the percipient. Either supposition seems improbable, although not
impossible. Be this as it may be, the fact remains that the subjective
mind of man has some means of reaching out beyond the range of our
faculties of objective perception, and of knowing when and where danger
threatens the individual. That it is constantly on the alert for that
purpose, is also certain.
But its efforts are not directed exclusively to the protection of
the body from harm. It is also on the alert for the protection of
the material interests of the individual, and for the advancement of
whatever aims and objects he has in life. These objects are, of course,
subsidiary to the main one, being means to the end in view,--namely,
the preservation of human life. One of the most eminent lawyers in the
United States informs me confidentially that he is often guided, in
critical emergencies, by a voice which gives him in a single, concise
sentence the key to the situation. All the years of his adult life
this voice has warned him of impending danger, and guided him to the
attainment of the objects of his ambition. He did not, in early life,
entertain any well-defined theory on the subject of the origin of the
voice, but has always been guided by its monitions, and never to his
disadvantage. Of late years, however, he has become convinced of its
true source, and now regards his faculty as of the most transcendent
interest and scientific importance, to say nothing of its value as a
personal mentor.
It seems probable that the faculty might be cultivated to an unlimited
extent, provided its true source could be recognized early in life
and its monitions heeded. It is also probable that most people have
occasionally heard clairaudiently, though but few have paid attention
to the phenomenon; and those who have done so have either attributed it
to imagination, or regarded it as a subjective hallucination. In either
case the auto-suggestion would necessarily prevent the development of
the faculty. It sometimes happens, however, that spirit mediums develop
the faculty to a remarkable extent. As they attribute the phenomena to
extraneous sources, the suggestion necessarily results in corresponding
phenomena. It is needless to remark that the same law of suggestion
which prevails in the production of other phenomena governs the
character of clairaudient manifestations. Thus, if the suggestion is
entertained that the voice proceeds from a disembodied spirit, or from
the guardian angel of the percipient, the character suggested will be
assumed by the subjective entity, and future communications will be
conducted on that basis. It may thus be made to assume the character of
an angel or of a devil, just as the suggestion happens to be made. The
suggestion, in the present state of knowledge on the subject of psychic
phenomena, must depend altogether upon accident, or the education and
habits of thought of the individual.
Doubtless, many persons have been made insane by constantly hearing
what they supposed to be spirit voices. Not knowing the true origin
of the phenomenon, they endow it with whatever character happens to
suggest itself, and it readily assumes to be whatever is suggested; or
it may assume a dozen different characters, if the person happens to
imagine their existence. The effect can readily be conceived when one
is persuaded that he is beset by supernatural beings. Insane people
are often seen to be engaged in conversation with some imaginary
person, and when we say of such a soliloquist, "He is talking to
himself," we are wiser than we think; for that is the fact. But the
individual thought he was in conversation with supernatural beings. We
are accustomed to regard such conversations as symptoms of insanity,
whereas they are oftentimes the cause of insanity. The patient for some
reason develops the faculty of clairaudience. He imagines that the
voice proceeds from some extraneous source. His superstition causes
him to ascribe it to spirits. He constantly develops the faculty by
practice, until he becomes a monomaniac on the subject. His subjective
mind, dominated by an all-potent, but false, suggestion, gradually
obtains control of the objective faculties, and Reason abdicates her
throne. The man is insane, just as all men are insane who allow their
subjective minds to obtain the ascendency. This is, of course, an
extreme case; but it is less rare than many suppose. Our asylums are
full of men and women who, in one way or another, are dominated by
their subjective minds, acting in obedience to false suggestions which
have been dwelt upon so long that reason is powerless to combat them.
The lesson is obvious. We should learn first of all that the subjective
entity within each of us, whilst it is endowed with transcendent
powers, is also circumscribed by limitations which unfit it for
control of the dual man. Having learned this, it should be our care
to keep reason in the ascendency, and to control the subjective mind
by suggestions which, while keeping it in subordination, will direct
its powers in the channel of its legitimate functions,--namely, the
preservation and perpetuation of the human species.
Clairaudient powers, like every other power which enables man to
raise the operations of the subjective mind above the threshold of
consciousness, may to one who knows the laws which govern it, who
appreciates its powers, and who is aware of its limitations, become a
source of decided advantage. But to one who does not understand those
laws, powers, and limitations, those faculties may prove to be like the
wand in the hand of the slave of the magician in the Eastern tale. He
saw his master wave his wand, and heard him give orders to the spirits
who arose at his command. The slave stole the wand, waved it in the
air, and summoned the spirits. They came at his summons, but tore him
in pieces instead of obeying his commands. He had not observed that his
master used his left hand for the purpose of conjuration.
This tale was told for the purpose of illustrating the very point which
we have sought to make. The fate of the magician's slave was no worse
than that which may befall any man who irregularly summons his own
spirit, without understanding the laws which enable him to control it
and make it useful instead of destructive. He is conjuring with the
most potential force of nature below that of Omnipotence.
[Illustration]