to him. The accomplished Editor of _Light_ is best known to the public
as M.A. Oxon. The Rev. Stainton Moses, a graduate of Oxford University,
was for many years Classical and English master at University College,
London. From his investigations he became convinced of the general truths
of what is vaguely called Spiritualism, and has devoted himself for some
twenty years to making the public familiar with the higher aspects, while
warning them against its ridiculous, dangerous, or degrading tendencies.
The only interest of the photo is that it was taken under all those
strict test conditions which I have alluded to above in this open letter.
The chief professional spirit photographers are M. Buguet, of Paris,
frightened by the priest into a recantation of his spirit photos, which
recantation no one who tested Buguet believes any more than does Buguet
himself; Mr. Hudson, who was, I am told, not always above suspicion, but,
like other mediums, was also successful under rigid test conditions;
Mumler, Beattie, and many others I know nothing about. Mr. Stead is now
occupied in testing spirit photography, and that being the case, we are
soon likely to hear more about it from an abler pen than mine. So great
was the interest shown in the labelled spirit photos and the spirit
drawings by the late Mrs. Watts, daughter of William and Mary Howitt,
exposed in my vestry, St. James’s, Westmoreland Street, Marylebone, that
I kept them up for a second Sunday. There is nothing like publicity as
a means of getting at truth. Let in the light! Sift facts! “Prove all
things; hold fast that which is good.”—1 Thess. v. 21.
[Illustration: MR. STAINTON MOSES (M.A. Oxon) AND THE UNKNOWN GHOST.
(_Lent by the Editor of “The Daily Graphic.”_)]
SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY.
_By_ JAS. ROBERTSON, _Glasgow_.
The most striking phenomena associated with what comes under the name
of Spiritualism are those connected with photography. It was very
naturally thought that nothing was so capable of bringing conviction to
the inquirer as a record made by the camera, which might be considered
free from all imagination, unconscious cerebration, expectancy, &c., and
yet there has been no part of the phenomena that has been more fiercely
assailed as being fraudulent. No matter how clear and searching and
honest has been the experimenter, if success attends his work suspicion
and cruel innuendo invariably follow him. The truths pertaining to the
spiritual are not received in the same calm, critical, and philosophic
spirit as the discoveries that are presented in other realms. People
gladly welcome a new planet, or a new metal, and laud the discoverer;
but the explorer in spiritual phenomena is at once set down as either
a madman or a fraudulent person. One can scarcely estimate the loss
the world has sustained by its want of fair treatment; sensitive
souls fear to speak out and tell all they know. Robert Chambers kept
his Spiritualism in the background, and walked through life honoured
and respected, but he made the battle of unpopular truth all the
more difficult to fight for the men and women who did speak out.
Spiritualists, though set down as credulous, are as far removed from this
condition as it is possible to be; they have had to fight their way step
by step, critically examining, but honestly yielding when the facts were
too much for them.
Very many photographic artists are in their ranks who have again and
again met with strange and weird markings on the sensitive plate, which
they could not understand; they have sought only to get at the truth.
Fraud lives but for the hour, and the person who has joined the ranks
of an unpopular cause knows that a fierce light will beat upon all his
actions, so that he need be more than ordinarily cautious in all he
sets down; but though bogus spirit pictures can be made, must we cease
to present those which are got by honest people under conditions that
have been considered perfect? Over twenty years since, in New York,
a photographer named Wm. H. Mumler succeeded in getting hundreds of
pictures of the so-called dead, which were recognised by their friends as
portraits; the great body of people who went to him were total strangers,
one of them, thickly veiled, being the wife of the murdered President
Lincoln. On the plate was seen her husband and one of her children, who
had passed on. I had the good fortune to come in contact with those who
went to Mr. Mumler shortly after arriving in New York, and who got test
pictures which were beyond cavil or suspicion. In hundreds of cases the
camera saw and reported what the physical senses did not cognise.
Mr. Mumler’s success brought him only hardship and excessive pain; he
was dragged into the law courts and fiercely assailed as an impostor,
but the volume of evidence which was brought in his favour so vindicated
his character that he triumphed. In our own country again and again we
have had photographers, amateur and professional, who have met with these
forms on their plates.
Mr. Hudson, of London, got many test pictures, and a whole crowd of
eminent people have vouched for the reality of the likenesses of their
deceased friends.
Mr. John Beattie, of Clifton, a retired photographer of twenty years’
experience, a man thoughtful and skilful, along with his friend Dr.
Thompson, made experiments in spirit photography for their own private
satisfaction, and placed on record details of their patience and
ultimate success. Forms again and again, some fragmentary, faint, and
shadowy, some full and clear, appeared on the plate, fully attesting that
spirit photography was real.
The late editor of _Light_, Rev. Stainton Moses, M.A., had a most
extensive experience, and brought a clear and searching intellect to
bear upon it. His series of papers dealing with the subject is careful
and complete in all details, and shows with what patience and care
the spiritual investigator examines the ground before he gives forth
his conclusions. In his experiments he ofttimes saw the figures which
afterwards made their appearance on the plate.
My own opportunities for the observation of the reality of the phenomena
have been good. Brought into close and daily contact with Mr. David
Duguid, through our business relations, I have been able to witness
almost all the pictures which have been taken through his mediumship.
He has been most averse all the time to give sittings, as he fully knows
the amount of suspicion which must gather, and the annoyance that will be
created, however successful; yet still he is anxious to perform his share
in the work of demonstrating human immortality. It seems hard that the
spiritual medium, of all persons, should have the taint of suspicion cast
around him. Spiritualists themselves have come from such a sceptical,
materialistic side of human experience, that they are suspicious of each
bit of phenomena which has not hitherto come under their gaze. It must
not be overlooked that the bulk of exposures have been the result of the
actions of spiritualists who would have nothing but what is genuine.
Some years since Mr. Duguid yielded to the strong pressure that was
brought to bear, and took at intervals pictures on which appeared other
forms than those seen by the physical senses. Each effort was not a
success. Again and again have we gone into the developing chamber, only
to find there was but the physical sitter. On all these occasions we took
the utmost care to be able to vouch for the conditions under which they
were taken, so as to meet the naturally critical questions which would be
put. Mr. Andrew Glendinning, of London, who has been on the closest terms
of friendship with Mr. Duguid for over thirty years, used to come down,
and at such times the latter yielded to the request for a sitting.
Mr. Glendinning brought his own plates, took every precaution that they
should not pass out of his sight—not that he suspected anything wrong,
but that he might make his testimony of value. We had on almost every
visit the most marked success. During the process I was often conscious
of the presence of spirit people before they made their appearance on
the plate; people who were known in the flesh and others came in this
mysterious way, and clearly showed that death must be some other thing
than what was made out by popular theologies. As the Rev. John Page Hopps
says, “A future life means persistence of life, means that the spirit
self remains a conscious living self when it sheds the muddy vesture of
clay.... Such a being, acting from the unseen upon the sphere of what is
to us the seen, might, under certain conditions, be able to work what
we call miracles.” It was the good fortune of Mr. Glendinning to get
beside us on one occasion a most exquisite face of a lady, full of each
charm and grace that make up the womanly character. The term angelic
might be applied to it. Such a face the seraphic painters have ofttimes
drawn, a Raphael might have painted it. From somewhere must have come
this form; and Spiritualism demonstrates what Mr. Justice Groves, in _The
Correlation of Physical Forces_, gives as a probable theory, “Myriads of
organised beings may exist imperceptible to our vision, even if we were
among them.”
A legal gentleman of some literary culture, who had become conscious
of the reality and beauty of the spiritual philosophy, wrote several
valuable articles, in which were given the clearest proofs of spirit
identity. He was most anxious to get the picture of a dear boy whom death
had carried away some years before, and whose absence, perhaps, made him
at first inquire as to whether Spiritualism had any joy to give.
Under the signature of “Edina” this gentleman gives one of the most
satisfactory bits of evidence it would be possible to get. He made
attempts to get this portrait in Glasgow, but in vain; though the child’s
sister, who was clairvoyant, saw him quite distinctly, “Edina” was not
able to get his impress on the plate. I give the following from “Edina,”
which surely places beyond a doubt that these spirit photographs are what
they claim to be:—
“Seven separate attempts were made to get a spirit photograph
of our lost one—twice in Glasgow and five times in
Edinburgh—and on every occasion, although our family medium
informed us that our son was in the room and standing before
the camera, besides being assisted or attended by others of our
relatives, now on the other side, nothing was got but faces of
persons unknown to us. ‘Try and try again’ has, however, always
been our motto in matters appertaining to the spirit world,
and, though we were discouraged, we resolved to persevere. Two
of the seven sittings were taken with Mr. David Duguid, in
Glasgow, and he also came to Edinburgh and had two sittings, or
trials, for photography in our house, and in the room in which
our son was born and died, so that every favourable condition
possible was complied with, but all in vain. Mr. Duguid was
here early in April, 1892, giving his second painting séance,
and he again kindly offered to make another effort to get what
we desired. On this occasion, I am proud to report that our
efforts have been crowned with conspicuous success. On the
night previous to the day on which our eighth and successful
sitting took place, a letter was automatically written by our
daughter, in the handwriting we know so well, that of my wife’s
eldest sister, who passed over twenty-eight years ago, and who
has had charge of our son since he entered the spirit world.
The letter gave us full directions as to next day’s experiment,
and again requested it to be made in the bedroom referred to.
Mr. Duguid was in Edinburgh the same night on which the letter
came, but he merely called, left his camera, and arranged as
to next day’s sitting. He returned next day at noon, and the
photographic sitting was at once begun. The day was bright and
clear, and the conditions seemed to favour a good sitting. The
bedroom is a large one, being twenty feet long by about fifteen
feet broad, and is well lighted by a plate-glass window, so
that the light was excellent.
“Before dealing with the sitting, I premise that the dry
plates which were to be used in the camera were purchased by
us in a shop in Edinburgh on the day preceding Mr. Duguid’s
arrival, and the chemicals required for the development of the
negative were what remained of the supply purchased by us on
the occasion of Mr. Duguid’s former visit. The sitting began
about twelve o’clock, and four plates were first used by the
medium. After an hour two more plates were tried, and then we
ceased operations. These six plates were taken out one by one
from the paper in which they were wrapped, by my second eldest
daughter, in a ‘dark’ room, lighted with a small red lamp,
and then handed by her to Mr. Duguid. He, in her presence,
put each plate, as it was required to be used, into the dark
slide, which he then took to the bedroom and inserted in the
camera. By desire of the medium my wife and two daughters in
succession, just before each photograph was taken, put one of
their hands on the top of the camera for a second or two. As I
have said, six of the twelve plates purchased by us were used
at the sitting, and on development it was found that on four of
them there was a child’s face and form appearing close to the
sitters, who were my wife and two daughters before referred to.
After the sitting closed, Mr. Duguid proposed to take the four
plates with him to Glasgow to get them printed off; but pending
his going home, he left the whole series with us overnight, and
got them from us next day.
“In the interim, however, our anxiety as to the child’s face
on the four negatives led us to attempt to print off an
impression on some prepared paper we had left in the house
from the last futile experiment. Accordingly, my second eldest
daughter, who has had some experience in amateur photography,
took the four plates I have above referred to, and put them
to be printed at one of the windows. On examining the four
impressions as they were printed off, we were gratified to
find, on each of the four photographs or copies so printed,
a clear and well-defined likeness of our departed son, not
with a ‘shadowy’ or ‘filmy’ face, like some spirit photographs
I have seen, but quite ‘human-looking,’ although a sweeter
and more spiritual expression pervades the countenance than
when in earth life. The portrait of our boy is as clear and
distinct as the one we possess of Professor Sandringham, which
is admitted, by every one who has seen it, to be a splendidly
distinct spirit photograph. The first of the negatives which
was printed off disclosed our boy sitting up in bed, just in
the place where he died, and although, as I have said, his face
is more spiritualised, and not so chubby as when in earth life
three years ago, yet there is not the least doubt in our minds
that it is our loved and lost one as he is now on the other
side. The second photograph discloses him as clothed in a boy’s
suit, and sitting on his mother’s knee. Here also the face is
quite human-looking, and just our son as he looked about the
close of his sharp and severe illness. The likeness in all the
photographs is essentially the same. Over the figure in each
photograph is a beautiful star, and the whole experiment has
been a phenomenal success in spirit photography, besides being
a source of great joy to us all.
“Mr. Duguid was never in my house in Edinburgh till the end
of January last (1892). Two of our family went twice to
Glasgow—once in 1890 and once in 1891—and had a sitting with
him on the occasion of each visit. Faces came on the negatives
on both occasions, but not the face wanted. At these sittings
nothing was said to Mr. Duguid as to our family affairs, or the
appearance of our boy, but he was told what we wanted, and did
his best to get a satisfactory result. We were not disappointed
at failure, because we knew, the difficulties attending the
experiment. The only photograph we have of our son was got when
he was two years old, and is not at all like what he was when
he was taken from us. The photograph was shown by me to Mr.
Duguid for the first and only time on the day succeeding the
successful sitting, and after the negatives had been printed
off in the manner before detailed. The dry plates were our own,
and were never handled by the medium till he put them in the
slide or box as before described. The chemicals were ours, and
the development took place in the presence of my second eldest
daughter, in the dark room before referred to, and to which
we all had access during the whole process. I therefore claim
that this demonstration has been a complete success, because
every test condition has been complied with. As ‘Salem Scudder’
puts it, in a certain sensational scene in Dion Boucicault’s
well-known drama of the _Octoroon_, ‘I guess the apparatus
can’t lie.’ The apparatus, _i.e._, the camera, has certainly
not lied to us. I have also to state that our family medium saw
our son in the room ‘posed’ in front of the camera during the
sitting and pointed out the place where he stood, before the
medium put the slide into the instrument.
“It has been with considerable reluctance that I have alluded
to so much that is sacred and personal in our family, but in
the interests of spiritual truth, and for the sole purpose of
showing that spirit photography, by an honest medium like Mr.
David Duguid, is possible, I have deemed it necessary to give
these facts, and they have been stated with all the care and
minuteness of detail in my power. As I have said, we failed
seven times; but the eighth trial gave us something to treasure
for life. We are certainly under a deep debt of gratitude to
Mr. David Duguid for the beneficent use of his mediumistic
powers in literally ‘giving us back our dead,’ or rather,
showing us our dear one clothed as he now is, in his spiritual
body, as on the other side.
“These are the consolations of Spiritualism which the
uninstructed cannot understand or appreciate. In my humble
judgment Spiritualistic research should be prosecuted in the
_home_, as, there only, results will be got of the best and
purest kind. That at least has been our experience, and we
gratefully acknowledge the mercies bestowed on us.”
Why should we not accept this as a truthful statement? The word of such
a man as “Edina” would be accepted to the full on any other subject,
but there is a deep-rooted antipathy in the public mind against the
recognition or acceptance of spiritual phenomena. Florence Marryat, in
describing the striking and marvellous incidents of her life, asks why
she should be disbelieved in these matters any more than Lady Brassey, or
Livingstone, or Stanley regarding their travels.
The most conclusive of testimony as to the reality of spirit photography
was that recently given in London by Mr. Traill Taylor, editor of the
_British Journal of Photography_, and one of the most capable men it was
possible to get for entering into an investigation of this matter. Mr.
Taylor holds the first of scientific reputations, and would have been
selected by all the leading minds in the world of photography as worthy
of representing it. The story told by him is clear in every detail as
to the methods he adopted to meet any objections that might arise, and
the success attained was quite in keeping with what had hitherto been
got by Mr. Glendinning and others in their Glasgow experiments. Mr.
Glendinning felt so confident that other honest minds could only reach
the same results as himself, that he prevailed on Mr. Duguid to visit
London, and give these test sittings to Mr. Taylor. This is another stone
in the fabric of evidence that builds up the new spiritual truths. Such
evidence has been given again and again by other workers in this field,
but scarcely ever before by a person enjoying such a reputation in this
special domain as does Mr. Taylor.
It was scarcely to be expected that Mr. Taylor’s statement, clear as it
is, and which, had it had no connexion with spiritual phenomena, would
have been welcomed and widely applauded, would be accepted. Even as Wm.
Crookes, F.R.S., when he blessed Spiritualism, instead of cursing it as
was expected, met with a tremendous amount of ridicule and malignity,
so has Mr. Taylor. Those who heard the story, while admitting that
Mr. Taylor was quite the ablest man in the ranks to enter on such an
investigation, still felt that _they_ would have been abler still, and
yet no one could point out any other precautions which might have been
taken. As one who was present I know the matter was entirely in his (Mr.
Taylor’s) hands to do as seemed to him best. We were as desirous of truth
as he was, and the unprejudiced mind could only find in it all, results
which are perfectly conclusive of the reality of spirit photography. Mr.
Stead gives publicity to one of the pictures obtained by Mr. Taylor, in
the April number of _Review of Reviews_, and concludes his remarks by
saying that “Everything, of course, depends upon the accuracy and honesty
of the photographer, and the reputation of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Glendinning
is above reproach,” and so is it also with the medium (Mr. Duguid) who
only contributed his presence during the experiments, taking the least
interest really of all those who were present.
It might be asked what kind of evidence would be accepted to prove the
reality of the various phases of spiritual phenomena? Could a Tyndall or
a Huxley have done more in an investigation of this kind than was done
by Mr. Taylor, Mr. Glendinning, and those who were associated with them?
Were photography the sole phenomenon associated with the movement, this
might require to be investigated again and again, but for over thirty
years certain positive statements have been made, and the evidence
tendered, as to the reality of spirit raps, which psychical science can
throw no light upon.
Cromwell Varley, F.R.S., with his acknowledged electrical experience,
thought he could soon explode the spirit theory, but, instead, he became
a devoted and courageous spiritualist. William Crookes, F.R.S., and Dr.
Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., have alike testified to the spirit raps,
and to the phase of materialisation by which forms solid and tangible
are built up. Mr. Crookes on many occasions has photographed these
physicalised “forms,” and Dr. Wallace has vouched for the fact that with
a spirit medium he got a photograph, and, on sending this abroad to other
relatives, it was at once recognised as the portrait of his departed
mother, and certain peculiarities which could not be imitated made the
matter more certain.
Mr. Taylor has done nothing new, only corroborated what the many bold
but practical people had found out before—the people who, to get at
truth, had stood any number of hard names. They were not deceivers or
idlers carried away by the light of an idea, but practical, sober-minded
people, who trusted to nothing but experiment, and willing to tread down
any amount of obstacles that truth might be reached. A man like Mr.
Andrew Glendinning, certain of the facts of spirit communion, might,
had he been selfishly inclined, have allowed the world to sneer on, and
have troubled little about the accumulation of evidence; but the rich
fruits he had gathered during many years made a naturally generous nature
anxious to share them with others. The propagation of an unpopular idea
was not likely to bring him honour of any kind. He knew well what all
past experimenters had to face, but he was determined this question
should be placed in such a position that there would be no reason for
cavil. It has been with much patience, and amid many suspicions, that
this careful investigator has helped to make palpable that there is a
roadway between the “undiscovered country” of spirit life and this world
of ours; that the transcendent intuitions of poets and seers have been
founded on realities which are now being demonstrated.
We spiritualists have indeed got to know, beyond a doubt, what the human
race had not learned in its thousands of years, viz., that death is a
delusion. The lamp has been kindled at the light gleaming from the sky,
and nothing can again put out the flame.
Spiritualism has a certain aim, and does not mean to drift. It has come
for a divine purpose, to be sacredly cherished and unfolded. Even Mr.
Stead, the longer he pursues his investigations, has less and less to say
regarding the danger of investigation. He feels and acknowledges that he
has entered upon a realm which may yet have many priceless gems to give
up. The spiritualist must be a _come-outer_, able to break away from
trammels and all despotic traditions. The fear of the Evil One, the bad
odour associated with the name “witchcraft,” the unwise and weak bits in
Old Testament history, stop him not in his investigations. “Thou shalt”
and “thou shalt not” of tradition he asks the authority for, taking
nothing on authority but truths which can be demonstrated.