I was sufficiently interested to continue to read such literature as came in my way.I was amazed to find what a number of great men -- men whose names were to the fore in science -- thoroughly believed that spirit was independent of matter and could survive it.When I regarded Spiritualism as a vulgar delusion of the uneducated, I could afford to look down upon it; but when it was endorsed by men like Crookes, whom Iknew to be the most rising British chemist, by Wallace, who was the rival of Darwin, and by Flammarion, the best known of astronomers, I could not afford to dismiss it.It was all very well to throw down the books of these men which contained their mature conclusions and careful investigations, and to say "Well, he has one weak spot in his brain," but a man has to be very self-satisfied if the day does not come when he wonders if the weak spot is not in his own brain.For some time I was sustained in my scepticism by the consideration that many famous men, such as Darwin himself, Huxley, Tyndall and Herbert Spencer, derided this new Page 19branch of knowledge; but when I learned that their derision had reached such a point that they would not even examine it, and that Spencer had declared in so many words that he had decided against it on a priori grounds, while Huxley had said that it did not interest him, I was bound to admit that, however great, they were in science, their action in this respect was most unscientific and dogmatic, while the action of those who studied the phenomena and tried to find out the laws that governed them, was following the true path which has given us all human advance and knowledge.
So far I had got in my reasoning, so my sceptical position was not so solid as before.
It was somewhat reinforced, however, by my own experiences.
It is to be remembered that I was working without a medium, which is like an astronomer working without a telescope.I have no psychical powers myself, and those who worked with me had little more.Among us we could just muster enough of the magnetic force, or whatever you will call it, to get the table movements with their suspicious and often stupid messages.Page 20I still have notes of those sittings and copies of some, at least, of the messages.They were not always absolutely stupid.For example, I find that on one occasion, on my asking some test question, such as how many coins I had in my pocket, the table spelt out: "We are here to educate and to elevate, not to guess riddles." And then: "The religious frame of mind, not the critical, is what we wish to inculcate." Now, no one could say that that was a puerile message.On the other hand, I was always haunted by the fear of involuntary pressure from the hands of the sitters.Then there came an incident which puzzled and disgusted me very much.We had very good conditions one evening, and an amount of movement which seemed quite independent of our pressure.Long and detailed messages came through, which purported to be from a spirit who gave his name and said he was a commercial traveller who bad lost his life in a recent fire at a theatre at Exeter.All the details were exact, and he implored us to write to his family, who lived, he said, at a place called Slattenmere, in Cumber Page 21land.I did so, but my letter came back, appropriately enough, through the dead letter office.To this day I do not know whether we were deceived, or whether there was some mistake in the name of the place; but there are the facts, and I was so disgusted that for some time my interest in the whole subject waned.It was one thing to study a subject, but when the subject began to play elaborate practical jokes it seemed time to call a halt.If there is such a place as Slattenmere in the world I should even now be glad to know it.
I was in practice in Southsea at this time, and dwelling there was General Drayson, a man of very remarkable character, and one of the pioneers of Spiritualism in this country.To him I went with my difficulties, and he listened to them very patiently.He made light of my criticism of the foolish nature of many of these messages, and of the absolute falseness of some."You have not got the fundamental truth into your head," said he."That truth is, that every spirit in the flesh passes over to the next world exactly as it is, with no change what Page 22ever.This world is full of weak or foolish people.So is the next.
You need not mix with them, any more than you do in this world.One chooses one's companions.But suppose a man in this world, who had lived in his house alone and never mixed with his fellows, was at last to put his head out of the window to see what sort of place it was, what would happen?
Some naughty boy would probably say something rude.Anyhow, he would see nothing of the wisdom or greatness of the world.He would draw his head in thinking it was a very poor place.That is just what you have done.
