The Shadow World

t Fowler's house. Cameron at once decided that the members should hear my report, and I was notified to be ready to relate my experiences in full. We met, as before, at Cameron'

Mrs. Quigg, who had returned to something like her original t

re; but Fowler and I, for our pains, reaped the rich reward. By remaining long on the watch-tower we saw the armies pass. Harmony and patien

even one of the phenomena. Belief in the smallest of those manifestations at my house

e anything sacred in error? If we are wrong in our theories about the universe, let'

ake instruction from a tipping table or a

from any source whatso

ge is: Does the table tip and the brush really fly? No physical fa

ather. As a matter of fact, there is a sea of evidence accumulated by the investigations of men quite as scientific as Miller, testimony that is neith

exists, they'll begin to give some attention to the fundamental truths of the messages which the slates set forth. Going after small things, they get smal

t?" interrupted Harris,

stral, the reincarnation of souls, and-and-faith in the upwar

trated. Since our last meeting I have been studying the bound volumes of The Annals of Psychic Science, and I have found them full of comfort. They sustain Mrs. Smiley at every point. To my mind, the most

ut who is Paladino?" asked Mr

, she has been able for more than twenty years to baffle every scientist who

r! Who is she? Wh

ds are pretty and her feet small-facts which are of value when studying her manifestations, as you will see later on. Her mother died while Eusapia was a babe, and her father 'passed over' when she was twelve, leaving her at large in the world 'like a wild animal,' as she herself

sooner were they all seated, as she herself relates, than 'the table began to rise, the chairs to dance, the curtains to swell, and the glasses and bottles to walk about, till everybody was scared.' After testing every other person present, the host came to the conclusion that the medium was his little ward, Eusapia. This put an end to her going into a convent. She was proc

their career when they are ten or twelve years old," sa

certain Mr. Damiani, came to a séance, and was so impressed by what took place that she interested her husband in Eusapia's performances. Damiani then took up the young medium's development along the good old well-worn lines of American spiritualism, and she

d Cameron. "What is her

tergeist in her, that is evident; for she has conquered every critic with her miracles. Take, for instance, Lombroso's conversion, a fairly typical case. He was not only sceptical of spirit phenomena, but up to 1888 was openly contemptuous of those who believed in them. However, in an article called 'The Influence of Civilization upon Genius,' published in 1888, he made th

made no study of these phenomena is like on

u have not written the paragraph cited above simply for the fun of writing it, if you have the true love for science, if you are without prejudices-you, the first alienist of Italy-please take the field. When you can afford a week's vacation, indicate a place where we can meet. Four gentlemen will be our seconds: you will choose

the challenge," said Cameron. "Nothing c

tific friends. He found the great psychic quite normal in appearance and rather attractive in manner. She was of medium size, with a broad and rather serious face lit with brilliant

asked

rt of current of force, like a cool breeze

and Howard sai

or Tamburini, an eminent scientist; Dr. Bianchi, the superintendent of the Insane Asylum of Sales; and Dr. Penta, a young nephew of Lombroso, a resident of Naples. Lombroso had charge of the sittings, which were held in a room of his own choice and with the medium entirely under his control. He was astonished at the prompt response obtained. At the first sitting, while he and Professor Tamburini held the psychic's hands, a bell was carried tinkling through the air and a small table moved as if it were alive. Many other mys

o say that?"

se. Professor Schiaparelli, Director of the Observatory at Milan; Gerosa, Professor of Physics; Ermacora, Doctor of Natural Philosophy; Aksakof, Councilor of State to the

h, but she was again triumphant. She bewildered them all. Lombroso himself was present during some of the sittings. The results of the series of

houted

those in the group. One special experiment, the success of which confounded the shrewdest,

it su

nd, what was most singular of all, the hand that made the print smudged the wrists of one o

marked Fowler, with a note of amusement in his voice,

right to explain these things by the aid of insulting assumptions.' (By this they meant to acquit the psychic of fraud.) 'We think, on the contrary, that the

tatement, but I suppose they conside

e Department of Zo?logy at the University of St. Petersburg, made a study of her in 1893, and found her powers real. A year later M. Siemeradski, correspondent

ience, did you not?

've had

ount for a thin

ngly. 'In my servile respect for classic tradition,' he writes, 'I laughed at Crookes and his experiments; but it must be remembered in my excuse that as a professional physiologist I moved habitually along a road quite other than mystical.' His attention, he goes on to say, was first drawn to spiritist phenomena by the word of a friend who had discovered a power that caused a table to move intellig

the scientist should feel. What then? Aksakof told him a

and took part in those very celebrated séances with Eusapia. 'When I left Milan,' Richet says, 'I was convinced that all was true; but n

this inability to retain a conviction. He, too

ed to believe,"

inced that night in your s

d," he replie

Institute, made other and still more convincing experiments, and yet doubt persisted! 'I was not yet satisfied,' he says, further. 'I invited Eusapia to my house for three months. Alone with her and Ochorowicz

"You've got to believe that a man like Richet has seen s

bornly: "And yet even Rich

ts is a kind of insanity. The moment a man like Richet or Lombroso admits a knowledge of one of these occult facts, yo

y one man when that word contradicts the

m not yet absolutely and irremediably convinced. In spite of the astounding phenomena which I have witnessed during my sixty experiments with Eusapia, I have still a trace of doubt. Certainty does

Harris. "I am interested in her. I w

was the one to unmask her to the world. She was called before kings and emperors, and everywhere she triumphed-save in Cambridge, where she made a partial failure;

careers-Slade's and Home's, for

. It is in the writings of Morselli, Professor of Psychology at Genoa, and in the reports of Bottazzi, head of the Department of Physics at Naples, that scepticism, such as my own, is met

ith warmth,"

as not only sustained Crookes at every point, but has gone beyond him in his ingenuity of test and thoroughness of control. He adds the to

about it?" pleaded Mr

You must read it for yourself.

e'll take it as part of

d grown cold. Our ice-cream had melted with neglect. Every eye was fixed upon me. It was plain that Harris and Mille

ngland, and is a mine of reliable psychic science. Its directors are Dr. Dariex and Professor Charles Richet. Its 'committee' is made up of Sir William Crookes, Camille Flammarion, Professor Lombroso, Marcel Mangin, Dr. Joseph Maxwell, Pro

your account," said Harris. "Don't

of all within the year, under the direction of Lombroso, Morselli, and Bottazzi. It is safe to say that with these experiments (and the reports which accompany them) a new era has dawned in biology. The f

ly studied spiritualistic phenomena; spiritists themselves have put the screws on quite as effectivel

ined (or opposed) by the Bible, or he fancies it mixed with deviltry or the black art. He trembles for fear it will affect the scheme of redemption or assist some theosophical system. Whereas, a man like Bottazzi is engaged merely with the facts; he lets the inferences fall where they may. He is not concerned with whether Eusapia's manifestati

iversity officials took the same view, we America

ho have observed Eusapia, it still remained true to say that hitherto she had been free to throw th

Bottazzi?"

eriments. Morselli, who preceded him in his study of Eusapia, is the Professor of Psychology in the University of Genoa. Foà and Herlitzka are of the same university. Within

this: "What do you mean by

éance is a religious rite, that the medium must not be touched nor exposed to the light, and so on, till the scientist was reduced to the feeble rank of an on-

ssary to mistreat Mrs. Smiley in order to test her powers. But Eusapia has set a new pace for mediums. She has gone into the lion's den alone and unarmed-not once, but a hundred times. She entered Lombroso's study, a room previously unexplored by her, and there placed herself before a cabinet that she was not permitted to examine-a cabin

grapple of a cuttlefish and a m

eputation. She conquered the remorseless

ience now. Time was forgotten, and cri

ing story, an i

etter!" exclai

demonstrated make all material tests inoperative. Matter is all we have to cling to when it comes to physical tests. A nail driven down through the sleeve of the medium's dress seems to increase our control of her, a

at spiritualist circles. It is highly instructive to note that Paladino, the most renowned medium of her time, was in Naples at his very door; but that doesn't matter-a scientist is blind to what he do

king the phenomena serious

ion workers in science for many years, and were accustomed to laboratory work. They all came to this experiment perfectly sure that no mediumistic phenomena could endure the light of science. At the end of their three sittings they manfully said: 'Now that we are persuaded of the authenticity of the phenomena, we feel it our duty to state the fact publicly in our turn, and to pr

laration of theirs," said Ha

ccur, but, as a matter of record, weird performances began at once. Bells were rung, tables shifted, columns of mercury lifted, mandolins played, and small objects were transported quite in the same fashion as the books were handled during our own sittings at your house, Miller-in fact, the doings were much the sam

level-headed and remorseless accuracy. The fact that they considered the whole investigation biologic in character, and that the results o

on. "What do you mean by 'p

mena began and ended in

ey that they considere

elate the phenomena to the interve

sped Mrs

Harris. "'Merely' is

oratory where experiments of the phenomena of life are daily carried on, with the impartiality of men whose object is the discovery of scientific truth, here in this quiet place where sealed doors will be superfluous. Everything must be registered. Will the medium be able to impress a photog

. "That is the way I wished to proceed in Mrs. Sm

iend Galeotti, Professor of General Pathology in the University of Naples; Dr. de Amicis, Professor of Dermatology; Dr. Oscar Scarpa, Professor of Electro-chemistry at the Polytechnic High School of Naples; Luigi Lombardi, Professor of Electro-technology at the same school; and Dr. Pansini, Professor Extraordinary of Medical Semiotics; and these gentlemen certainly made up a formidable platoon of investigation. The room in which the

with looks of satisfaction, and Mrs. Cameron

d in an adjoining room and watched by other attendants. One little touch early in Bottazzi's account impressed me deeply. A little electric motor was used to furnish power for the lamps and other apparatus, and Bottazzi, in speaking of it, says: 'At the moment when the phenomena to be registered bega

ntly called out Brierly; "

nds, by such strict and attentive intellects,' he declares. And when you consider the absence of women, the mystery of the machinery, together with the stern character of the sitters, the medium'

ghed Mrs. Cameron.

limited the field of her manifestations.... I was convinced that it was much easier for her to drag out of the cabinet a heavy table than to press

ish. She won't do a thing. The influences will

entered the room at all, and throughout the sitting she was controlled by at least two of the investigators so that she could not so much as put a hand inside the curtains. She was very uneasy, as though finding the conditions hard. Nevertheless, even at this first sitting, everything movable in the cabinet was thr

at you, Miller,"

experience, Bottazzi nailed or screwed every movable thing fast to the walls of the cabinet. He was resolute to force 'John,' the supposed 'guide,' to touch the electric button and press the ball of India-rubber that connected with a mercury manometer. He intended to teach the spirit hand to register its actions on a revolving cylinder of smoked tin. He wanted graven records, so that no wiseacre like Harris, here, could say: 'Oh, the thing never moved. You were all hypnotized!' In effect, he said: 'They tell

he records?"

ee!" comman

ed. His aim was to limit the spirit hands to a few movables-to see whether they could not be taught to do what was required of them. Well, that little table came out of the cabinet of its own accord in a light that made it perfectly visible, at the precise time when three of the inexorable professors were rigidly clasping the psychic. But that is not the most remarkable thing. The psychic's feet were held by the e

said: "You say that as if you c

ic and the spirit hands, and so did Maxwell. Maxwell proved it by experiments on his own person, and now Bottazzi is proving it in a larger way. 'A few moments later,' he says, 'a g

ut I observed nothing of it in Mrs. Smiley's case; on the contrary, it seeme

oms. I perceive his theory, but it will al

nism of movements convinced him that she was 'the physiologic factor in the case.' All of this is very exciting to me, for I have had the same feeling with regard to the several mediums whose activities I have closely studied. Bottazzi says, with regard to the results of the first two sittings: 'These first séances show that Eusapia needed to learn how to make these movements with which her invisible hands were unfamiliar, just as she would have had to learn to make them with her visible hands. You will all observe that he did not permit awe or sup

ler. "But they succeeded in preven

We do not doubt you or suspect any fraud, but we want to see clearly, and to follow the development of the phenomena. That is why M. Scarpa surveys the cabinet between the curtains, illuminating it occasionally with an electric pocket-lamp. Which do you prefer, passive admiration, of which you must have had more than enough already, or the calm affirmation of ph

" shouted Howard. "S

th the grasp of two of the spies; she frequently asked, in a faint voice, for a third or even a fourth hand in order that there could be no question of her fre

r the conditions) assert that she was not the author of the acts we witnessed in my library. I cannot bring myse

proceeded patiently to exemplify. At the third sitting Madame Bottazzi was present (Lombardi and Jona being absent), and the 'force' was much greater and more active than before, probably because of the psychic's growing confidence. A small table floated in the air 'while we watched it in amazem

Mrs. Cameron. "Think of being

an invisible hand. The curtain of the cabinet then enveloped him as if to embrace

tly heard.' Here again, you see, is that astounding synchronism which Maxwell and Morselli observed between the movement of objects and the contraction of the muscles in the medium's arms a

usapia performed all these movements wi

ference. 'Mysterious hand

size between Eusapia's hands and the large bl

it the hand of a monstrous long arm which liberates itself from the medium's body, then dissolves, to afterward "materialize" afresh? Is it something analogous to the pteropod of an am?ba, which projects itself from the body

on. "I'd rather believe in spiri

d control of his medium outside the cabinet. For the most part she was in the light. By means of a series of lamps the séance-room could be lighted dimly or brightly at a touch, and, while many of the phenomena in the cabinet were being performed by 'John,' Eusapia's hands could be plainly seen in the grasp of her inquisitors. After seeing a mandolin move and play of itself, after having the metronome set in motion, stopped, and set going again, after having the registrations he most desired, B

ke place, as in the case of Mrs. Smiley,

on the things I asked for....' What he wanted her to do was very simple, but conclusive. He wished 'the spirit hand' to press an electric button and light a red lamp within the cabinet. The coil and the switch had been dragged out of the cabinet and thrown on the table. Bottazzi begged them all not to touch it. No one but Scarpa, Galeotti, and Bottazzi knew what it was for. 'At a certain moment Eusapia took hold

s this all he is willing to affirm?"

cross the cabinet curtains, and hands and closed fists appeared over Paladino's head. These have been photographed, by-the-way. Some of them were of ordinary size, and others at least three times larger than the psychic's hand and fist. These flames int

all its movements observable; and as it did so Eusapia's hand (tightly controlled by Bottazzi) made little movements as if to help the instrument to move. Each movement, though it ended in the air, seemed to affect the mandolin. Bottazzi says: 'It would be necessary to have Paladino's fingers in the palm of one's hand, as I had t

her chair. In a way, our test was more rigid than those you are describing. Our results were not so dramatic, but

n your study, each larger than Mrs. Smiley's hands, were as real to me as those Scarpa studied, and the bo

owler. "All of which Bottazzi would ex

blindfolded person exploring space with her hands to find a lost object!' he exclaims, at one point. 'Eusapia opened my right hand, stretched out my three middle fingers, and, bending them on the table, tips downward, said, in a whisper: "How hard it is! What is it?" I did not understand,'

s quickly interposed, "is this: were the fingerm

e to these 'mediumistic explorations of the cabinet.' He could follow these blind, mysterious gropings of the invisible Eusapia by closely controlling the real Eusapia. 'Presently she asked: "What is that round object? I feel something round."' This was, in fact, the rubber ball which connected with a tube-the tube, in its turn, passing through the wall into another room where it operated a manometer. She pressed this ball with her invisible limbs, and the colum

ected our gaze toward the small object,' says Bottazzi, 'and we saw that it oscillated and vibrated at an elevation of an inch or two above the surface

st Cameron said: "It certainly seems like a clear case of 'astral.' I begin to believe in o

firm that Eusapia 'feels with her invisible limbs,' and explores a cabinet while sitting under rigid control more than a yard away from the objects moved. My experiences point to this. How else could the cone be handled with such precision as was shown at your house, Miller? Lombroso observed that chairs and vases

be clairaudient is simply to be able to lay hold upon a different set of pulsations in the ether, and to b

invisible arm could not penetrate a cage of wire mesh that covered the telegraphic key in the cabinet. 'How, then, can

ing a real book and thumb its leaves, or drum with a real pencil

test word of science to the effect that matter like t

igorous restraint of Eusapia, a vase of flowers was transported, a rose was set in a lady's hair, a small drum was seized and beaten rhythmically, an enormous black fist came out from behind the curtain, and an open hand seized Bottazzi gently by the neck. Now listen to his own words: 'Letti

of high rank. The incident is not a part of a séance in the home of a medium in a dark parlor full of side-doors and trick windows. It is a registered phenomenon in t

aid Cameron. "How does the sc

mine the back of a lukewarm hand, rough and nervous. The hand dissolved (I saw it with my own eyes) and retreated as if into Madame Paladino's b

with his psycho-dynamic theories. He will be confound

"He says he controlled her hands rigorously. Why didn't he handcuff her, or nail her down

to the floor, and by means of strong cords, which were sealed with lead seals like those used in fastening a railway car, her wrists were rigidly confined. She was, in fact, bound like a criminal; and yet the spectral hands and fists came and went, jugs of water floated about, and as a final stupendous climax, while Galeotti was controlling Eusapia's right arm, which was also manacled

ugh stunned by the force of my blow. Then all turned t

erary arm and hand would make physiological science foolish. It is ea

ce to the plane of the test-tube, the electric light, and the barometer. His experiments, his deductions, came as a splendid sequence to an almost equally searching series by Crookes, Z?llner, Wallace

iumistic limbs explored the cabinet.' A spiritist would say: 'John King explored the cabinet.' The synchronism he speaks of might exist, and o

re of chloride of iron or ferro-cyanide of potassium than she herself possessed-in short, while admitting the mystery of the process, he reduces all these phenomena to human, terrestrial level, and relates them wholly and simply to the brain and will of the psychic. Perhaps his state of mind is best expressed at the close of his statement concerning the registration of the movements of 'the

Brierly. "After that superb test, why didn't h

Foà believes the phenomena to come within the domain of natural law, and to result from a transmutation of energy accumulated in the medium. He calls this 'vital energy' or 'psychic en

miley has remained, as you believe, motionless in her

rfect precision. It is this actual externalization of both matter and sense that makes darkness so essential to the medium. Vivid light forces this effluvia, this myste

ion to be put upon the psychic's

without use of pen or pencil, he was curious to see the performance. Together with a colleague, Dr. Gibier, Encausse hastened to witness this marvel. One of the subjects was a girl of seventeen. The magnetizer put her to sleep, 'and during this séance,' says Dr. Encausse, 'we were able to obtain in full light on a sheet of paper signed by twenty witnesses, the precipitation of a whole page of written verses signed "Corneille." I exami

experiment!" ex

if true," sn

bout this learned d

he medium who had produced this phenomenon was preparing for the stage and had been studying Corneille during the whole of the preceding day. I was thus able to discover the origin of the substance of the materialization of the writing, and also i

r's, and especially those that I held at Fowler's house, take on the greatest significance. Miller, Mrs. Smiley's visi

es this theory cover the whispering personalit

u explain the manipulation of the cone,

s he admits, when 'a mysterious entity behind the curtain, among us, almost in contact with us, was felt all the time.' This entity was supposed to be 'John King,' the psychic's control. This being, invisible for the most part, gave roses to those he liked, conversed freely, and in one case threw a bunch of flowers in the face of one

dino meanwhile?

ainst the curtain, and requested 'John' to beat it. 'John' pushed a hand against the drum and beat a muffled tattoo. All this was u

ds, a spirit,

r 'reincarnations,' and the spiritist with his foolish messages from Cleopatra, Raphael, and Shakespeare, have confused the situation. We must begin all over again. If a

r close into the constitution of the blood or the brain of man, is useful; but, to my mind, the qu

nd of assurance as that which we have concerning physical, chemical, or physiological phenomena. Henceforth sceptics can only deny the facts by accusing us of fraud and charlatanism. I should be very much surprised if any one were bold enough to bring

ractical question is this: are we

y. "Garland, will you purvey anoth

s to be this: the forces of the psychic are proportional to the harmoniousness of the circle and in inverse proportion to the light. Acce

e voice, a

his I am fully persuaded. Men will be discovering new laws of nature ten thousand years from now, just as they are to-day. It is inconceivable that the secrets of the universe should ever

op now and save ourselves t

to the race, quite aside from their bearing upon the problem of death. Furthermore, these reports come at a time when a hard-and-fast literalism of interpretation is the fashion among scientists like Miller. Perhaps they and the art of the day will alike be offered new i

Fowler. "They will not ev

is justified

ty of six was the associate professor of chemistry in a big Eastern college. After detailing the many marvellous phenomena which took place in his presence, Professor M-- says: "In view of the phenomena with which I am habitually concerned, I did not want to believe in Paladin