Hours with the Ghosts or, Nineteenth Century Witchcraft

etc.,-have engaged the attention of some of the best scientific minds of Euro

c, in a state of partial or complete hypnosis frequently gives information transcending his conscious knowledge of a subject. There can be but two hypotheses for the phenomena-(1) The intelligence ex

e hypnosis by self-suggestion, and while in that state, the subconscious mind is in a highly receptive and exalted condition. Mental suggestions or concepts pass from the mind of the sitter consciously or unconsciously to the mind of the medium, and are given back in the form of communications from the invisible world, ostensibly through sp

Janet and Gibert, Richet, Gibotteau, and Schrenck-Notzing. Podmore has lately summarized the results of these studies in an interesting volume, "Apparitions and Thought-transference, an Examination of the Evidence for Telepathy." Thought Transference or Telepathy (from tele-at a distance, and pathos-feeling) he describes as "a communication between mind and mind othe

be regarded as a proof presumptive of telepathy." The experiments

ing theory in explanation o

attention to what he calls the law of reversibility, a law which he illustrates by a description of the photophone. The photophone is an instrument in which a mirror is made to vibrate to the human voice. The mirror reflects a ray of light, which, vibrating in its turn, falls upon a plate of selenium, modifying its electric conductivity. The intermittent current so produced is transmitted through a telephone, and the original articulate sound is reproduced. Now in hypnotized subjects-and M. Ochorowicz does not in this connection treat of thought-transference between persons in the normal state-the equilibrium of the nervous system, he sees reason to believe, is profoundly affected. The nerve-energy liberated in this state, he points out, 'cannot pass beyond' the subject's brain 'w

mand physical explanations of the known and unknown laws of the universe. The president of the Society for Psychical Research (1894,) A. J. Balfour, in an addre

he distance. It must, so to speak, get beaten out thinner and thinner the further it gets removed from its original source. But is this so? Is it even credible that the mere thoughts, or, if you please, the neural changes corresponding to these thoughts, of any individual could have in them the energy to produce sensible effects equally in all directions, for distances which do not, as far as our investigations go, appear to have any necessary limit?

nary in itself, but with a kind of fact which does not fit in with anything we know at present in the region either of physics or of physiology. It is true, no doubt, that we do know plenty of cases where energy is directed along a given line, like water in a pipe, or like electrical energy along the course of a wire. But then in such cases there is always some material guide existing between the two termini, betw

class of cases in modern Spiritualism on the subjective side of the

the line of thought transference, and was eminently successful in obtaining satisfactory results,

se

braided top-coat, and a Sherman hat. Without these accessories, anyone would have recognized the military man in his walk and bearing. He and his wife thought a great deal of my mother, and frequently stopped me on the street to inquire, "How is Mary?" I went to Miss Gaule's house with the thought of General M- fixed in my mind and the circumstances surrounding his decease. The medium greeted me in a cordial manner. I sat at one end of the room in the shadow, and she near the window in a large armchair. "You wish for messages from the dead," she remarked abruptly. "One moment, let me think." She sank back in the chair, closed her eyes, and remain

d not have this in my mind at the time; in fact I had completely forgotten this form of salutation on the

orts of the Society for Psychical Research," are sufficient,

ts. * * When the message contains facts known to some one in his immediate presence and with whom he is en rapport, the agency of spirits of the dead cannot be presumed. Every investigator will doubtless admit that sub-conscious memory may enter as a factor in the case, and that t

disembodied spirit, operating through the mind of the medium. For the sake of lucidity, let us take an example: A has a relative B who dies in a foreign land under peculiar circumstances, unknown to A. A attends a séance of a psychic, C, and the latter relates the circumstances of B's death. A afterwards investigates the statements of the medium, and finds them correct. Can te

se

val Academy, and the boy had accompanied his father to Baltimore to interview the military tailors on the subject of uniforms, etc. Miss Gaule in her semi-trance state made the follow

cellent evidence of t

itting with Miss Gaule, and the psychic correctly spelled out the names of Mrs. Evans' brothers-John, Rober

epathy occurred between the

se

ground, deserted at that time of the year, the engine whistle blew vigorously and the bell was rung continuously, which was something unusual,

tter?" exclaime

The head was that of an old man with very white hair and beard. We found the body down an embankment at some little distance from the place of the accident. The deceased was recognized as the owner of the Grove, a farmer living in the vicinity. According to the statement of the engineer, t

door between our apartments was closed. The next morning, Sunday, I rose at 9 o'clock, and went down to breakfast. The family had assembled, and I was just in time to hear my brother relate the following: "I had a most peculiar dream last night. I thought I was on my way to Mt. Washington (he was in the habit of making frequent v

. "I reported the accident." My father called for the paper, and proceeded to hunt its c

se

s, journalists, and litterati, among whom was X-, a student at the Johns-Hopkins University, and a poet of rare excellence. Poets have a proverbial reputation for being eccentric in personal appearance; in

n to my rooms, Saturday evening, to do some literary work, and spend the night with me. We shall have supper together, and I want you to be present. Now I propose that we drug his coffee with some harmles

l joke, and we parted, solemnly vowing

n was had with X, until Saturday morning

imed L- "I have invited E to j

esent. You fellows gave me something to drink which contained a drug, and I fell asleep on the bed. After that you tied my hands, and shaved off my b

him of his poetic hirsute appendage, he evinced the greatest astonishment. As will be seen, every particular

as an actual entity. One of the difficulties in the way of such an hypothesis is the clothing of the deceased-can that, too, be disembodied? Thought transference (conscious or unconscious), I think, is the only rational explanation of such phantasms. The vision seen by the percipient is not an objective but a subjective thing-a hallucination produced by the unknown force called telepathy. The vision need not coincide exactly with the date of the death of the transmitter but may make its appearance years afterw

dium or sitters. But, in my opinion, the greater number of these manifestations of spirit power are the result of trickery pure and simple-theatrical beards an