PREFACE

Practical instructions for speaking with the dead are given in Chapter VII of this book. Inasmuch, however, as rational men and women do not care to enter upon systematic proceedings of any kind without having some reasonable assurance that a commensurate result will follow, it has been thought desirable to add, in Chapters I to IV, a general outline of the scientific facts and arguments on which the certainties of "survival" and "communication" are based. In Chapters V and VI some necessary information as to mediums and communicating is given. And, in Chapter VIII, the distinction between Speaking with the Dead on the one hand, and Spiritualism faced by Rationalism on the other, is made clear.

The book is strictly impartial from all points of view—whether Religious, Scientific, Agnostic, Spiritualistic, or Rationalistic. It is impersonal. It sets aside the writer's own occult experience which, in the course of a long life devoted mainly to scientific pursuits, has [Pg viii]happened to be very considerable. It is a mere cold, neutral text-book. The hard facts of the case are alone responsible for the circumstance that it shows Science to be a sponsor for the reality of speaking with the dead.

A few words—which many persons will read with amazement—must be added here on the subject of Cui bono? Multitudinous vials of scorn have been poured out on the inanities of ordinary spiritualistic séances; and all research into such matters is rigidly boycotted in scientific circles as being unworthy of any intelligent individuals notice. Even when the President of the Royal Society himself, and others who are entitled to write F.R.S. or D.Sc. after their names, have been known to touch the accursed and degrading thing, they have been either ostracised or half-pardoned contemptuously. This attitude is based on the belief that occultism is an idle and vain form of mental activity, and cannot, with any reason, be expected to add anything to the stock of human knowledge or to produce results of service to mankind. Cui bono? Why waste time in tomfoolery that can never be useful and may possibly lead feeble persons into the abyss of insanity?

The defect of the attitude is that it is unscientific. The proudest claim of Science is that she deals with the Facts of the universe and gives her allegiance to Truth rather than to Opinion. But these features are the characteristics of every well-conducted sitting for the development of psychical manifestations. The search is for facts; and the object pursued is the attainment of truth. If, then, a leader of science denounce the sitting as being necessarily futile he does one of two things: either he disallows the proudest claim of Science; or he declares the limits of his own personal knowledge to be those of Fact and Truth.

It has often happened that researches which appeared at the outset to be a mere waste of time have in the end been found productive of much practical and useful knowledge. The modern inquiries into the feasibility of speaking with the dead are a case in point. They have already brought the world of Science and Industry face to face with the possibility and near prospect of a command over Matter and Physical Force such as men have never hitherto enjoyed and such as must lead inevitably to the greatest advance of material prosperity that mankind has ever experienced. This may [Pg x]best be made clear by dealing with some concrete example.

The lessons of the Great War, the utterances of expert authorities like Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, and the newspapers generally, have taught the public that the navigation of the air will be the great and dominating factor of the world's progress in future. This need not be enlarged upon here. Everyone admits that the command of the air will solve the problem of intercourse between all the regions of the globe, and will bring in its train a vast improvement in all the arts of living and a greatly-widened distribution of natural wealth.

Now the whole question of aerial navigation hinges absolutely and completely on that of gravitation. The great desideratum is a weightless (i.e., weightless in effect) aeroplane (with, of course, a virtually weightless crew, virtually weightless passengers, and a virtually weightless cargo) which can move fast or slowly as required, which can come to a stop in the air and which cannot fall. Science and industry are now within measurable distance of such virtually weightless aircraft, thanks to the investigators who have [Pg xi]not been deterred by obloquy and ostracism from speaking with the dead.

It is usually assumed in scientific circles that gravity is an unsolved mystery and is entirely beyond the scope of human control in the present state of knowledge. The assumption is well founded if by "knowledge" is meant merely that which is possessed by living human beings and derived solely from normal sources. But if there be, in reality, certain intelligences other than ordinary men and women, they may possibly be better informed with regard to the facts of the universe; and if intelligent communication be feasible as between the better informed personalities and their cousins in this life, it is conceivable that some of the latter may thus acquire information which would otherwise be unattainable. This has actually happened with regard to gravitation. Sir William Crookes more than forty years ago entered into communication with supernormal intelligences and carried out certain laboratory experiments that showed the control and modification of gravity to lie within the compass of human ability when guided by the intelligences in question. And many more experiences of a similar or of an [Pg xii]analogous kind are on record. The facts are well established and cannot be successfully denied or explained away.

More recent researches have led to some elucidation of the knowledge at which discarnate spirits have arrived with regard to gravitation. They hold that human science is crippled needlessly by its non-recognition of Motion as being in itself an entity distinct from Mass. They hold that Matter is just as much a compound of Mass and Motion as common salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine. They contend further that gravitation is due to the fact that Motion, like heat, may, where human observation is concerned, exist in either a latent or a sensible form; and they assert the practicability of adding to or subtracting from the quantity of Motion in any given bulk of Matter. In proof of the truth of this assertion they point to the phenomena of what is, by psychical enquirers, called "levitation"—phenomena which have been observed and recorded over and over again and may be seen by any person who takes the trouble to attend even an ordinary table-sitting. And they occasionally rally the human personalities with whom they are communicating upon the [Pg xiii]dullness of apprehension which has hitherto stood in the way of a broad induction from the myriad everyday facts of weight, coiled springs, drawn bows, artificial jumping frogs, jacks-in-boxes, closely touching billiard-balls in a row, projectiles at the moment of terminating their upward flight, cricket-balls at the moment of meeting the stroke of the bat, and all other examples of latent and sensible Motion.

These views entertained by spirits who have been spoken to on the subject have of late been borne out very markedly by Dr. Crawford's experiments, referred to in Chapter I of the present book. Dr. Crawford himself seems to be regarding his tests from the point of view of Mass alone and to be thinking that he is on the track of a new kind of Matter; but his results fit in still better with the long-established facts of levitation and with the new doctrine of Motion that is fast being accepted in Progressive Circles. It is difficult to believe that a living woman can be deprived of a considerable portion of her Mass without sustaining serious physiological injury. It is also difficult to believe that the removed Mass when laid on the floor or on the drawing-board can be invisible. But there is not any difficulty at all in [Pg xiv]supposing Motion to have been removed from the medium, the chair, the drawing-board and the platform, without any change of either visibility or appearance in any of the entities concerned. When water at 70° Fahr. is cooled down to 50° Fahr. it loses a something we call heat, but the human eye cannot detect any difference in the liquid. When a bowled cricket ball is arrested by the bat it loses a something we call sensible motion, but its outward appearance remains unvaried. We need not therefore expect a human body or a chair to look otherwise than as usual simply because it loses some or all of its latent Motion.

That the knowledge here discussed may be applied practically and that material substances may thus be rendered weightless and so removed from the influence of gravitation is not a mere theory. It is an actual fact: levitation occurs. What now remains to be done is to harness the acquired knowledge and experience into the service of aerial navigation. Certain Progressive Circles are at work. Whether success will be achieved first by Dr. Crawford in his Goligher laboratory, or by Mr. Edison in his "spook factory" where the workmen agree to become recluses for a period [Pg xv]of many months, or by the capable director of the still more mysterious establishments in Florence where many a medium has been passed under review during the last two years, or by, haply, some other investigator of whom the present writer has not yet heard, is a matter that must for the time being be allowed to rest on the knees of the gods. What has already been accomplished in public and the remarkable advances now taking place privately are a sufficient answer to the question Cui bono? Speaking with the dead is a practice that is proving of benefit to England and the world at large.

Sciens.