The case against spiritualism l«c Per Copy $1.00 Per Year Truth and Light The Case Against Spiritism By C. A. WINDLE Issued Monthly By The Iconoclast Pub. Co. 1110 Security Bldg., Chicago Vol. I No. 4 2 TRUTH AND LIGHT Antiquity CHAPTER I. “Then side by side along the dreary coast, Advanced Achilles and Patroclus' ghost.”—Homer. A necromancer, or spiritualist, is one who seeks truth from the dead. Necromancy was born of Night and Chaos when the world was young. Primitive man was easily deceived. Woods and waters were filled with nymphs, sylphs and fairies. He lived close to the gods and ghosts. They visited him in his home and were intimately concerned in his daily life and destiny. Storms were manifestations of their wrath. They whispered their secrets with the breath of Zephyr and thundered their commands from the sky. They were charged with every calamity and credited with every triumph and blessing that fell to the lot of individual, tribe or nation. Primitive man was afraid to experiment—too cowardly to investigate. Ignorance kept him guessing all the time. He was easily convinced and deceived. He asked many questions but got few answers. Ignorance breeds delusion and invites fraud. Credulity is the patron of fakery. The story of intellectual development—man's struggle with the demons of darkness—is a most entrancing study. In the work of emancipation Revelation preceded Science. Subtract the benefits conferred upon the race by these angels of progress, and man would once more become a victim of the ghosts and goblins of his own mind. Spiritism seeks to turn his face from the Dawn toward the Dark Ages. Necromancy was born in India—cradle of religions. It spread to Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. It invaded all lands. ‘ The Rig-Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, and all sacred books of the ancients are filled with myths and superstitions con- cerning the activity of spirits and their relation to the living. Herodotus describes a female priestess, or medium, who at night occupied the tower of Belus in Babylon, and through an oracular gold table received messages from the dead. Ghosts have always been night workers. TRUTH AND LIGHT 3 Strabo mentions the temple of Serapis at Canopus, and the throngs that patronized a class of mediums who devoted them- selves to the “sacred sleep”—the trance. It was a peculiar vapor or gas that rose from the cave of Delphi that caused the “sacred sleep” of the oracles. Under its influence they uttered many strange and weird prophecies, so involved and jumbled that interpreters were necessary. They could be made to mean anything or nothing. We are solemnly informed by historians that a statue erected to the memory of Memnon at Thebes, made music when first struck by the rays of the rising sun. Only ignor- ance and a strong imagination could make audible the spirit voices and melodious sounds issuing from the column. Thou- sands listened but could hear nothing. Gallus, Strabo, Demet- rius and others testified to hearing the voice of Memnon answer the salutation of the Dawn. Cambyses, recognizing the absurdity of these claims, destroyed the column and silenced the voice of Memnon forever. Great men like Pythagoras and Thales, Homer and Hesoid, Plato and Socrates, all believed that ghosts and goblins could visit the haunts of living men and walk and “gibber in the streets.” t Hesoid in his Theogony tells of consulting oracles, and relates that Pythia, a female medium, directed him to shun the grove of Nemean Jupiter and thus saved his life. He says: “For thrice ten thousand holy demons rove This breathing world, the delegates of Jove, Mantled with mist the darkling air they glide, And compass earth and pass on every side.” Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are moving pictures of heroes living and dead. They are filled with dreams, visions, and the whims of gods. It will also be observed that the ghostly “delegates of Jove” were always “mantled with mist,” afraid of the light, and were never known to “glide” except through the “darkling air.” Spiritualistic writers take the claims of the ancients too seriously. They tell us that Homer was a medium and that Hesoid was his control, or guardian spirit. Also that much of his inspiration came from Indian seers who passed to the Spirit world ages prior to his birth. They accept this absurd- ity the same as if it could be verified by authentic records, when in fact the idea rests upon certain lines in the Brahmin- 4 TRUTH AND LIGHT ical poem, “Ramayana,” which slightly resembles parts of the Iliad. They overlook the fact that great poets like Homer, Hesoid, Virgil and Dante, have the faculty of creating from the “in- substantial fabric of dreams,” any number of characters, and all kinds of material required to fill the cast, or stage the play they desire to produce. Imagination, not authentic history, is the poet’s workshop. The ancient poets knew little of the laws of nature and me- chanics. Therefore they could make their gods, men, angels and devils do anything. Defying the laws of gravity was child’s play with them. Given the scientific knowledge of Edison or Marconi, and Homer could not have written the Iliad. Had Virgil been as familiar with the laws of physics as the ordinary High School pupil of our day, he could not have produced the TEneid. Had Hesoid and the ancient poets possessed the Christian concept of God, Minerva, Mars, Venus, Apollo and Jupiter would never have crossed their vision. Science unmasks the absurd. It laughs to scorn the creatures of Ignorance. Knowledge abolished the council of Olympian gods, and drove the norns, dryads, nymphs and sylphs from the haunts of men. Knowledge tore down the shrines of gods and ghosts and erected upon these pagan ruins temples of the living God of justice, truth and love, whose priests seek light rather than darkness because their deeds are not evil. The God of Israel condemned all this Pagan mummery practiced by the necromancers of India, Egypt, Syria and Greece. In Deuteronomy 18 :9-12 He said : “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abomination of those nations. Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through fire, or that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams or omens, neither let there be any wizard, nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seek the truth from the dead.” Here you have a perfect word picture of modern Spiritism. It has nothing new to present. Time has not modified or improved its philosophy. It appeals to the neurotic, the mor- bid and unsound. It dethrones reason and leads to insanity. It is the religion of the devil. Spiritism represents a crude, pitiful, paganistic philosophy, whose adherents pass unconsciously from illusion to delusion. TRUTH AND LIGHT 5 People must close their eyes to the laws, decrees and verdicts of science, and turn their backs upon the Divine highway of Knowledge, before they can be induced to "seek the truth from the dead.” The Verdict of Science CHAPTER II. The great world war, by crowding the gates of death, gave a mighty impetus to the religion of Spiritism. A veritable tidal wave of mystic superstition is sweeping over the nations of the earth. It has already torn millions of people from sane moorings, in quiet harbors of reason, and set them adrift upon a mad and treacherous sea whose shad- owy shores are strewn with the mental wrecks of broken hearted fathers, mothers, wives, children and sweethearts, who sought to solve the mystery of death through the philos- ophy of Necromancy. It was this tragic situation that impelled the editor of Light and Truth to make a careful study of the claims of Spiritism and place the facts before my readers. Spiritism may be called a philosophy, or a religion, but it is not a science. It deals with the occult. It operates in a field where scientific demonstration is impossible — “where established physical and mental laws,” according to Prof. Jastrow, “do not apply.” While it lists among its adherents a number of scientific men like Sir Oliver Lodge, not one of them rests his faith upon a single proven fact of science. The opinions of these men have been accepted by the unthinking as the verdict of science on the question of spirit communication. Millions have thus been deceived. They overlook the fact that Sir Oliver Lodge may speak with authority on physics, because in this field he has expert knowledge, born of reason, investigation and positive demon- stration, but this fact does not make him an authority on ghosts. The opinion of a scientist on the question of Spirit- ism is of no more value than the opinion of any man of aver- age intelligence. True science is not content to rest its verdict upon specula- tion and imagination. Its decisions are free from mystic allu- sions and conclusions. 6 TRUTH AND LIGHT Recently Joseph Jastrow, Professor of Psychology in the University of Wisconsin, addressed inquiries to 150 leading scientists and psychologists of America, with a view of devel- oping the real attitude of science on the question of Spiritism, as presented by Sir Oliver Lodge. He published their an- swers in the Review of Reviews for May. The list was carefully selected. Thirteen out of 150 failed to reply. Seven were inclined to give Spiritism the benefit of the doubt, but 130 went on record as opposed to any belief in spirit agency, or other power not recognized by accredited psychological principles. Ninety per cent of these men of science reject the theories, claims and conclusions of Sir Oliver Lodge. Were it possible to secure the opinion of the entire body of scientific men throughout the world, this per- centage would not vary materially. I submit a few excerpts from replies that fairly' represent the true attitude of science toward Spiritism : “I regard the alleged proofs of communication with the spirits of the dead as evidences, not of that, nor of any other supernatural, mysterious, undiscovered agencies, but of causes, mental and physical, of the wholly 'natural 5 order, well-estab- lished, in scientific circles well known, and, to a large extent, well understood. My conviction is based on three proposi- tions which I believe to be true: (1) Whenever the phe- nomena appealed to as evidence are adequately and reliably presented they are susceptible of explanation in terms of sci- entifically accepted 'natural 5 causes. (2) Even if, in some cases, they were not yet fully so explainable, nevertheless tem- porary ignorance of true natural causes would not constitute proof of the spirit hypothesis, or even give it any degree of probability; and the phenomena themselves, even in such cases, if there are any, furnish no proof that spirits are the agencies producing them. 55—E. B. Delabarre, Professor of Psychology, Brown University. "The alleged proofs of communication with spirits of the dead appear to me entirely to lack cogency. Belief in these 'proofs, 5 on the contrary, appear to depend fundamentally upon a failure to appreciate the full requirements of scientific proof, and upon failure to give weight to the negative facts and arguments. This latter failure, in its turn, seems fundamen- tally due to a natural tendency to believe in the easy, simple and naive explanation, and in the desire to believe in the instinctively or emotionally satisfying one. 55—William S. Fos- TRUTH AND LIGHT 7 ter, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Min- nesota. “It seems to me there is an insufficiency of the evidence ; a triviality of the alleged communications ; a really materialistic and ungrounded basis of the conception of 'ethereal bodies/ 4 etc.”—Mary Whiton Calkins, Professor of Philosophy and Psychology, Wellesley College. "In my opinion, the only possible subject of controversy is as to whether some of the statements of mediums of good character, such as Mrs. Verral and possibly Mrs. Piper, are entitled to any consideration. They are apparently genuine as opposed to the result of conscious fraud. To my mind, even these are explained by chance coincidences, and the neg- lect of negative cases on the part of the observer. They have certainly made no revelations worth while, and I cannot bring myself to contemplate with great enthusiasm an eternity of the type they describe, reduced to an intelligence akin to idi- ocy. Scientifically they are not convincing, and ethically and esthetically they do not move my will to believe.”—Walter B. Pillsbury, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan. "My own view is that if SirxOliver Lodge and other men of prominence in the scientific world had approached the prob- lems of science in as naive an attitude as they have displayed toward the proofs of spirit communications, they would never have become prominent as scientists. "The unfortunate aspect of the case is that the weight of these great names is sufficient to unbalance the judgments of a multitude of half-educated people. It gives opportunity for the age-long hungering for miracles to assert itself.”—Norman Triplett, Professor of Psychology, Kansas Normal School. "I think that the portion of the mental apparatus which accepts such evidence as supernatural simply exhibits a. sub- normal development. I suppose we all have such undevel- oped spots, if we only knew it. Habitual acceptation of such evidence would merely bring into prominence what already exists in the particular individual.”—W. H. Dali, Smithsonian Institution, Washington. "In the interests of social sanity the public utterances of men of science should stress the facing of demonstrated fact, the insistence on empirical proof, rather than feature the phan- tasies of the neurotic, the symptoms of the hysteric, and the well-known clinical phenomena of dissociated make-up. All devices calculated to distract the public from the obvious reali- ties and inadequacies of the world of fact, and to substitute 8 TRUTH AND LIGHT for the frank facing of these facts the tendency to autistic thinking and the flight into ‘other worlds’ only encourage infantilism and regression.”—H. L. Hollingsworth, Associate Professor of Psychology, Columbia University. “The present trend toward mysticism, spiritism, and the occult is directly due to the instability of mind produced by the world war. When the habits of thought slowly built up by years of looking at the world from certain definite points of view are quickly disintegrated through intense excitement or shifting of viewpoints, there is temporary instability and a return to the cause-and-efTect sequences of primitive man ; hence spiritism. ... I believe the stable-minded psychol- ogists should act as a body in opposition to this most per- nicious development.”—George S. Snoddy, Professor of Psy- chology, University of Utah. “It is not scientific narrow-mindedness, but the conviction of the soundness and breadth and capacity of growth of the scientific method that makes me join the warning against unfounded and confusing propaganda of the residuals of pass- ing superstition. There is no inclination to shirk investiga- tion, but a demand that those claiming to be investigators acquire a reasonable familiarity, not only with physics and chemistry alnd physiology and biology, but also with the psy- chology of suggestion, deception and self-deception.”—Adolf Meyers, Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University. In view of the opinions of these eminent scientists it is utterly absurd for Spiritualists to claim for their visions and dreams the sanction of scientific authority. Belief in Spiritism is not a matter of scientific evidence. Credulity is satisfied without proof. In the absence of knowledge, Imagination performs mir- acles. The records show that “spirits” work best in the dark. They shrink from the light of day. They decline to speak to the doubter, even in the dark. Absolute credulity—not faith—is necessary to spirit com- munication. What was true of Hiram Corson, Professor of English Lit- erature in Cornell University, is true of all Spiritualists. In the prefatory note to his “Spirit Messages,” his son, Dr. Eu- gene R. Corson, said: “It will be evident at once to the reader that he accepted these messages without the slightest doubt of their genuine- ness. To him they were exactly what they purported to be, TRUTH AND LIGHT 9 as much as if he had received them viva voce or by letter from friends in this world.” This attitude of mind invites and insures deception. To communicate with “spirits” the sitter must also comply with certain conditions arbitrarily laid down by the Medium. Then he must take the word of the Medium for everything. The price of the message, in addition to the Medium's fee, is absolute credulity. You must send Reason to bed, put out the light and close the door to Doubt. You are then in a position to believe what otherwise you would naturally know to be false. They who “seek truth from the dead” place themselves at the mercy of the devils of delusion and fraud. In Corson's interview with Alfred Tennyson, recorded on page 258, the ghost of the great poet, according to the Me- dium, said to the Professor : “Never before have 1 told you of the pleasure it gives me to sit down and have a pipe dream with you.” This characterization of spirit communication as a “pipe dream,” by the spirit operating through Mrs. Soule, proves that ghosts have a sense of humor and sometimes tell the truth. I want to be serious, but when dealing with some phases of Spiritism, it is hard to suppress a “snicker.” On page 159 of Sir Oliver's book “Raymond,” he reports a seance, in which Raymond tells his mother : “Tell them to take for granted that it is he, and later on he will be able to say all that he wishes to say.” On page 160, Feda, the Control, still speaking, says in answer to a question from Mrs. Kennedy, who is taking down the message for Sir Oliver : “He will think of some word—no matter if it is meaning- less. What YOU have to do is, NOT DOUBT, but take it down. One word might be much more valuable than a long oration. One word would do, no matter how silly it sounded; even if it is only a jumble, so long as it is the same jumble.” “Jumbling” words is a favorite trick of trance mediums, for then they must be interpreted. This gives plenty of latitude for speculation and invariably turns out to mean what the sitter wants to know. In a note on page 161 Sir Oliver says : “The boys (his living sons) are quite willing to take down any jumble, but she herself (Mrs. Kennedy) likes to under- stand what she gets, and automatically rejects gibberish.” 10 TRUTH AND LIGHT It would be interesting to read a verbatim report by Mrs. Kennedy—a record of all the “jumble” and “gibberish” sent through the medium by the communicating spirit. Alec Lodge, Raymond’s brother, in a seance recorded on page 211, says to Feda, the Control: “Tell Raymond I am quite sure he gets things through occasionally, but I think often the meaning comes through altered, and very often appears to be affected by the sitter. It appears to me that they usually get what they expect.’ Here Raymond’s brother inadvertently drops the key that unlocks most of the mysteries of Spiritism. Self delusion, superinduced by absolute credulity, prepares one to accept any kind of bunk. Raymond evidently agrees with his living brother, for Feda (the Control) says for him : “Raymond says I only wish they did. But in a way you are right. When you sit at the table, he feels sure that what he wants to say is influenced by some one at the table. Some- one is helping him, someone is GUESSING at the words. He often starts a word, but somebody finishes it.” This ingenious and apparently frank statement of what usu- ally takes place at a table sitting made a powerful impression on the mind of Sir Oliver. Having abandoned reason and the right to doubt he failed to see the trick neatly covered by the Medium’s admission and confession. “Some one is Guessing.” That’s what they all do. Hence there is little consistency in reports from the other side. At one of the seances, recorded by Sir Oliver Lodge on page 241, they even had Raymond guessing. He says: “What worries me is that I don’t feel like myself. You know, father, I might be anybody.” He might be an imp, or the devil himself ! Prof. H. P. Jacks, President of the Society for Psychical Research, says : “The main problem of Spiritism is the diffi- culty of identification. What greater difference could be con- ceived than that between an embodied and a disembodied be- ing? What it may be to see without eyes, to speak without a tongue, to move without limbs, I find myself wholly unable to conceive. The difference is so great that I cannot recognize myself under these conditions as the same person I now am. We are apt to thrust this difference aside by saying that the true self of a man consists of his moral characteristics. That I do not question as an abstract proposition. But moral char- TRUTH AND LIGHT 11 acteristics are elusive and difficult to define. I imagine a man would have some difficulty in picking out his wife in a crowd if he had nothing but her moral characteristics to go by.” If the Communicating Spirit, speaking by Feda, through the Medium, was not certain of his own identity, how could Sir Oliver Lodge accept him as his son Raymond? “You know, father, I might be anybody.” Here he affirms the identity of his father, but doubts his own. This paradox would indicate that Raymond is a fit subject for some ghostly bughouse. True science cannot deal with such vagaries. They belong to the domain of credulity—the field of illusion and delusion, where Reason is dumb, Observation blind, Evidence a joke, Proof a vagabond, and Logic a puling paralytic. 12 TRUTH AND LIGHT Claims of Spiritism CHAPTER III. 1. Spiritism claims that man has two bodies—one spiritual, the other physical. 2. That the spiritual body is immortal. 3. At death the spiritual body enters the realm of Ether surrounding the earth, leaving the physical body to perish. 4. During life we are constantly attended by guardian spirits. 5. Our astral body is the eternal expression of deathless personality. 6. Until they have progressed beyond a certain sphere, it is possible for the dead to communicate with friends on earth. 7. Some spirits are good—some very wicked. Some tell the medium nothing but truth—others tell them nothing but lies. 8. It is frequently necessary for good spirits to band them- selves together to protect seances from the intrusion of wicked ghosts, bent upon making a joke of spirit communication. Longfellow brought a band of Indian spirits to do guard duty at the sittings recorded by Prof. Corson in “Spirit Messages,” page 9. On page 69 Walt Whitman said: “Just as fools have hands and jackasses can kick harder than the ordinary horse, so these spirits of fool capacity and jackass obstinacy can use their hands and kicking power to upset some of our best laid plans.” 9. The difference between this world and the next is so slight that for a time many who die refuse to believe that they are dead. On page 127 of his book “Raymond/' his son, tells Sir Oliver Lodge that “Some even go on fighting; at least they want to ; they don’t believe they have passed on.” 10. Spirits return to former scenes of activity on earth, ride in automobiles, sit in the parlor or library, reading books, and accompany their friends to theatre and church. 11. They build and live in houses, have chairs, beds, decora- tions, pictures and all the comforts enjoyed on earth by the living. 12. Wives and husbands, long dead, return at night to lie by the side of their former companions and watch them in their sleep, frequently taking them in dreams to the realm of spirits. On page 86 of “Spirit Messages,” the wife of Prof. TRUTH AND LIGHT 13 Hiram Corson says to him : “At night I lie on the bed beside you until your spirit is released by sleep, and then I take you with me until it is time for you to come back in the morning.” 13. The Spirit world is much like this, having farms, cities, and industries of every kind. 14. There are as many modes of traveling in Spirit Land as we have here. They walk, run, fly, or glide through Ether currents by a simple adjustment of the body. “Spirit Mes- sages/" page 102. 15. When people on earth lose interest in their departed friends these currents and rivers of ether dry up. Page 103. 16. Great statesmen continue to work as they did while liv- ing, guiding and directing members of Congress and Parlia- ment at their tasks. On page 213, “Spirit Messages/" Robert Browning tells Prof. Corson that “Gladstone is as active an influence for good in the affairs of the nation as if he sat in his castle and conferred with his associates ; works as hard in the House of Commons now as he did in the flesh/" 17. Grand concerts are given by great artists like Jennie Lind and Ole Bull. 18. Some spirits get sick and spend much time in hospitals. 19. Spirits know but little more of God and life than the living know here. “Raymond,"" page 347. 20. Good spirits are greatly exasperated by immigration of criminals. The problem of crime is not solved by death. Tennyson, “Spirit Messages,"" page 169, says: “I have gotten to a place where I resent criminal immigration to the spirit world. What can we do with them?"" 21. Nearly all great literary masterpieces are “poured through the lips and brains"" of the living authors by superior spirits acting as their secretaries. Page 183, “Spirit Messages."" 22. Spirits enjoy having fire but do not burn wood or coal. They create fire through chemical action. They do not need it, but only want it. Page 187. 23. In telepathic communications between the living, spirits act as messengers from one brain to the other. Page 194. 24. Many who die never lose consciousness. They attend their own funerals and listen to expressions of grief and see the tears shed over their bodies. On page 216, “Spirit Mes- sages,"" Goldwin Smith describes his experience at his own funeral. 14 TRUTH AND LIGHT 25. Spirits are human dynamos and generate their own aura., or atmosphere. Page 237. 26. In their personal service to the living, guardian spirits are more diligent than your valet, or the Pullman porter who brushes your coat. Page 251. 27. Most spirits wear white robes. Some demand cigars, beer, wine and whiskey. They get them. These things they concoct from essences, ether and gasses. “Raymond,” page 107. 28. Houses in Spirit Land are built from “emanations from the earth.” “Accumulators” catch them, and they are com- pressed into a sort of bricks. “Raymond,” page 198. 29. Dead vegetables and decayed tissues cast off a smell, and from that smell rising into the world of Ether from the earth, ghostly manufacturers produce duplicates of whatever form the thing had before it became a smell. This informa- tion is given to Sir Oliver Lodge by his son Raymond. See page 199. 30. Dogs, cats, birds and horses have spiritual bodies and go to the same spirit world and frequently accompany human ghosts when they visit earthly mediums. See “Raymond,” page ..203. The claims of Spiritualists here set forth will be found in all their literature, but I took the foregoing from two books written by the greatest authorities on the question, Sir Oliver Lodge and Prof. Hiram Corson of Cornell University. All Christians, and most everybody else, accept as reason- able claims one and two. We know that number three is partly true, but the very nature of the others defy both reason and demonstration. How sane people can accept such sub- limated tommyrot staggers human comprehension. TRUTH AND LIGHT 15 \ Absurdities CHAPTER IV. If it were possible to establish communication with departed spirits, they would surely impart to the living information of vital importance concerning the conditions and place of future existence. As shown in Chapter one, Spiritism is as old as Hope and Ignorance. For countless ages men have sought truth from the dead, but sought in vain. Death is as great a mystery today as it was at the beginning. Modern necro- mancers like Sir Oliver Lodge know no more about the loca- tion, geography, climate, institutions, and vocations of “Spirit Land” than did the witch doctors and medicine men of the primitive race. Believing in the existence of superior creatures that have never tasted death, I do not deny but what God may have sent these immortal heralds to impart special information to the inhabitants of the earth, but between mortals—the living and dead—He placed an impenetrable veil. One world at a time for man is the Divine order. If it were good for man to know the future, that knowledge would be the common heritage of the race—the same as air and sunshine. Doubt alone—the absence of absolute knowl- edge—prevents millions from committing suicide. No skep-’ tic can be sure that death is the end. Lacking definite proof, no Spiritualist can be absolutely certain that Death is the gateway to “Summer Land,” about which they pretend to have learned so much from the dead. I have never attended a seance that developed anything of real value to the living. I have never read a spirit message that conveyed information unknown to the sitter, the medium, or some other person present. Mental telepathy explains much, and mind reading is a key that unlocks many occult mysteries. I do not deny but what the devil may play an important part in some cases, but the idea that the dead can impart truth to the living is ridiculous. Most communications purporting to come from spirits of departed friends are filled with commonplace twaddle and arrant absurdites born of dis- eased minds. No spirit ever painted a word picture of future existence that did not combine the views of the sitting medium and subject. “Feda” is the Control that figures prominently in mes- sages received by Sir Oliver Lodge from his son Raymond. 16 TRUTH AND LIGHT On page 260, referring to certain information imparted by the Control, Sir .Oliver says : “Because at present the boys (living sons) think that Feda invented it.” The boys are right. Feda herself is an invention. Like most Spiritualists who write books, Sir Oliver was kept busy dismissing his doubts. On page 269, speaking of Feda’s description of “Spirit Land,” he says: “A good deal of this struck me as nonsense; as if Feda had picked it up from some sitter, but I went on recording what was said.” It was nonsense. Apart from Mrs. Leonard, the medium, Feda, has no exist- ence. Lodge could recognize the nonsensical character of the message, but accepted without question the fool idea that “Feda” acted as a messenger between the spirit of Raymond Lodge and Mrs. Leonard, whose vocal organs “Feda” used in conveying the message to his father. Nobody questions the intellectual integrity of Sir Oliver Lodge, but when he rejects reason, we must decline to accept his conclusions. When certain brain cells become diseased one becomes an easy victim of delusions. This accounts for the fact that some people, wise in letters and learned in certain fields of knowledge, accept for truth the ridiculous fallacies of Spiritism. j 1 i f Sir Oliver Lodge is the most eminent Spiritualist in the world, but in his story of “Raymond” the possibilities of telepathy made him frequently doubt the genuineness of the messages received. His mental integrity would not permit him to conceal his doubts but he killed them quickly despite the prayers and tears of Reason. On page 258 he says : “Hence the reference to the pedestal, if not telepathic from me, shows a curious knowledge.” “If not telepathic.” There you are. In every seance a big “if” stalks forth to challenge the veracity of the evidence presented. In describing an “important” revelation made by his son through “Feda,” Sir Oliver Lodge says : “What it does not exclude is telepathy. In fact, it may be said to suggest telepathy. “It was exactly like an experiment conducted for thought transference at a distance.” When an alleged communication does not exclude telepa- thy, why seek for any further solution, until reason and inves- TRUTH AND LIGHT 17 . ' 1 J tigation rejects telepathy? Why not give yourself, instead of a ghost, the benefit of the doubt? Mr. Lodge proceeds to argue Reason into silence and then accepts the communication as genuine. He follows the course of all who seek truth from the dead. They invite delusion and conipel the earnest, intelligent investigator to conclude that Spiritism is a symptom of paranoia. The absurdities already noted justify this conclusion, but 1 sjlall clinch my point with others equally convincing. It is unthinkable that an educated son like Raymond Lodge, would use “gibberish” in conversing with his learned father, nitjjch less select an ignoramus like Feda to instruct the world’s greatest master of physics in the mysteries of Necromancy. On page 229, speaking of a lady who brought flowers, Feda savs : A; “She brought a lot of them when Raymond wented over there,” This from page 242: “He had got them ready in his head; he had learnt it up. He had to think of simple things because Paulie had told him that it was no good trying to think of anything in-tri-cate.” On page 244 Sir Oliver Lodge asks Feda whether a certain man drowned himself, and she replied : “Oh, no, he wented down in a boat; they nearly all wented down.” Strange that a spirit could have the force and wisdom to penetrate the veil that separates the living from the dead, and then stumble so pitifully over a simple word, especially after negotiating others far more “in-tri-cate.” On page 247 Raymond hesitates to answer one df Feda's questions, and she says to Sir Oliver : 4 “But he won’t tell Feda who they is. * * He is happier since he seed them.” Evidently primary schools are sadly needed in “Spirit Land.” Describing one of Raymond’s companions on page 250, Feda says: “He hasn’t got a proper coat on on ; he has a shirt thing on here, and he’s like spreaded out.” On page 269 Feda informs Sir Oliver that when “he comes over (dies) Raymond will be as proud as a cat with something tails—two. tails, he said.” ,.A cat having “two tails,” if they were not imaginary, ought to .be proud indeed. It appears that while in a trance the medium, Mrs. Leonard, reverts to the mind and speech of a 18 TRUTH AND LIGHT child, and to this infantile person she has given the name "Feda.” Dr. A. T. Schofield, of London, author of “Modern Spirit- . ism,” speaking of multiple personalities, says : “In these cases two or more personalities (egos) seem to dwell in the same body, sometimes simultaneously (double and multiple personalities), and sometimes in succession (alternat- ing personalities).” Page 122. This is what is known as cryptomnesia. Maeterlinck, in “Our Eternity,” recites how a hypnotist. Col. de Rochas, could cause some of his subjects to re-enact scenes from their youth. He took an eighteen-year-old girl back to a baby at her mother’s breast. The trance medium, self-hypnotized, can give her sub-conscious mind the character of a child, as in the case of Mrs. Leonard and Feda. The fact is evident, but the cerebral process by which this is effected is a mystery, but no, greater mystery than was the calise of volcanoes, storms and earthquakes to our ancestors. Science eliminated ghosts as the cause of these physical phenomena, and with further prog- ress will absolve the spirits of dead from all responsibility for the mysteries of Spiritism. Feda, on page 203. rattles on in this fashion: “He (Raymond) has brought that doggie again, nice dog- gie. A doggie that goes like this, and twists about (Feda in- dicating a wiggle). He has got a nice tail, not a little, stumpy tail-; nice tail with nice hair on it. He’s got a cat, too, plenty of animals, he says. He hasn’t seen any lions and tigers, but he sees horses, cats, dogs and birds. He says you know this doggie ; he has nice hair, a little wavy, which sticks up all over him, and has twists at the end. He hasn’t got a very pointed face. It’s rather a long shape. And he has nice ears with flaps, not standing up : nice long hairs on them, too.” One must be absolutely insane to fully appreciate the stu- pendous importance of this “information.” What a pity the canine world cannot share it with man ! Sir Oliver Lodge adds in parentheses: “All this about a she-dog called Curley, whose death had been mentioned by ‘Myers’ through another medium some years ago. “Feda” calls it a “he,” while Mr. Lodge insists that Curie}* was not that kind of a dog. In this case I prefer to take the word of Sir Oliver. Spirits like “Feda” are not supposed to recognize such distinctions. On page 235 she has this to say to Raymond's mother : TRUTH AND LIGHT 19 “Paul’s worried ’cos medium talk like book. Paul calls Feda ‘imp.’ Raymond sometimes calls Feda ‘Illustrous One.’ I think Raymond laughing ! Always pretending Feda very lit- tle, and that they’ve lost Feda, afraid of walking on her, but Feda pinches them sometimes, but Feda just as tall as lots ol Englishes.” At this Mrs. Lodge asks : “Isn’t Feda tired now?” “No.” Mrs. Lodge: “I think Raymond must be.” “Well power is going.” It was rather rude in Lady Lodge to suggest that Feda must be tired. Soon as Mrs. Leonard got the hint, the “power” van- ished and the seance closed. “Feda” was quite familiar with Lady Lodge, calling her “Miss Olive,” and her distinguished husband “Soliver.” All this from Sir Oliver’s most popular book, “Raymond.” If this masterpiece of Necromancy will not stand the acid test of logic, reason and truth, it would be folly to waste time analyzing similar books written by men who lack the learn- ing and sincerity of Sir Oliver Lodge. No sane person can examine these absurdities and deny but what Spiritism is a symptom of paranoia. Means of Communication CHAPTER V. Alleged messages from the dead, when not commonplace, are trivial, paradoxical, absurd, and frequently idiotic. They shed darkness rather than light. In the crucible of reason they turn to dross. Bishop Turner, of Buffalo, in warning his people against Spiritism, spoke the literal truth when he said : “These messages at best are trivial, irrelevant, flippant; at their worst thev are immoral, irreverent, atheistic or even blasphemous. They cannot come from any good source. The Church would welcome scientific proof of immortality, but she would be slow to accept proof that merely claims to be scien- tific.” The means of communication permits of all kinds of fraud 20 TRUTH AND LIGHT and deception. This is true, whether we rely on automatic writing, the talking trance medium, table tipping or the ouija board. The ouija board is a clever instrument of self-decep- tion, through action of the sub-conscious mind. Table tipping is a manifestation of the same principle, but requires collusion, and magnetization through physical contact and mental con- centration. On page 164 of “Raymond,” by Sir Oliver Lodge, we have the words Moonstone, Control of medium Peters, to this effect : “Magnetism has to be stored up, and therefore it is best to use the same room and same furniture every time.” On page 151 Lodge says: “In a Table Sitting it is manifest that the hypothesis of UNCONSCIOUS muscular GUIDANCE must be pressed to extremes as a normal explanation, when the communication is within the knowledge of any of the people sitting at the table.” In the next paragraph he inadvertently drops the key to all table tilting mysteries. He says : “Many of the answers obtained were quite outside the knowledge of the medium, or of Mrs. Kennedy, but many were inevitably known to us ; and so far as they were within our knowledge it might be supposed even by ourselves that we partially controlled the tilting.’’ This is the voice of reason, which Sir Oliver argues into silence by presuming that the medium and Mrs. Kennedy could not have read the secret thoughts of the Lodge family whose members completed the circle. Magnetization made this not only possible, but easy, the table and all minds pres- ent having become for the moment a unit. In chapter seven, page 137, Sir Oliver says: “But my impression is that the tilting is an incipient physi- cal phonomenon, and that though the energy, of course, comes from the people present, it does not appear to be applied in quite a normal way.” Not only the energy to tip the table, but the will to make it move, comes from the people present. The co-operation of spirits is not necessary. Of course, this will and energy is not “applied in the nor- mal way.” The normal way to move a table does not re- quire its magnetization. Disembodied spirits cannot use a table until it is magnetized by a living circle. On page 144 Sir Oliver Lodge asks a table tipping ghost this question : TRUTH AND LIGHT 21 “Can you explain how you do this? I mean how you work the table?” And the “spirit” replied : “YOU ALL SUPPLY THE MAGNETISM GATHERED IN MEDIUM, AND THAT GOES INTO TABLE; AND WE MANIPULATE.” Of course “we” includes the medium. You must take the medium’s word for everything, even when they profess to be unconscious. On page 367 Mr. Lodge reveals a secret that accounts for the success of Spiritism. He says : “When a revelation has come to the human race through the agency of higher powers, it is not the wise, but the simple who are first to receive it.” I have shown that Spiritism is not a revelation of the “higher powers,” but I agree that one must be extremely “simple” to accept its absurd claims. Its mummeries may be the invention of the devil, but it would be insane to credit the higher powers with such tommyrot. Speaking of the Spirit World, on page 375, Mr. Lodge says: “In such regions everything has to be interpreted in terms of the insensible, the apparently unsubstantial, and in a defi- nite sense the imaginary.” From the start I have tried to show that all evidence in support of Necromancy, or Spiritism, is nonsensical, unsub- stantial and imaginary. Lodge admits the soundness of my contention. The process of seeking truth from the dead, according to Sir Oliver, “involves a double medium of communication, and the activity of several people. First there is “Communicator”, or originator, of ideas and messages on the other side. Then there is the “control”, who accepts and transmits the messages by setting into operation a physical organism lent for the oc- casion. There is the medium whose normal consciousness is in abeyance but whose physiological mechanism is being used. And finally, there is the “Sitter”—a rather absurd name—the recipient, who reads or hears and answers them. In many cases there is also present a Notetaker to record all that is said, whether by sitters, or by, or through the medium.” See “Raymond” page 358. This, with few exceptions, was the method adopted by Sir Oliver Lodge in his communications with his son Raymond. He attached less importance to table tipping and automatic 22 TRUTH AND LIGHT writing, though he frequently experimented with these methods. It should be remembered that members of the Lodge family were the most eminent Spiritualists in England. They were known as such by all leading mediums of the world. The mediums also knew that if death should take one of them the others would instantly repair to some seance and attempt to communicate with the departed. Soon as the news of Raymond's death was flashed to Eng- land two of these mediums got busy. One of the women, a Mrs. Kennedy, had a son in the Spirit World. Soon as she heard of Raymond's death, her son Paul announced his ar- rival on the other side. It was Paul who first brought Ray- mond into contact with Feda. His mother brought Sir Oliver Lodge into contact with Mrs. Leonard, through whom t'eda did all her talking. On page 119 Mr. Lodge writes: “On seeing the announcement of Raymond Lodge's death in a newspaper, Mrs. Kennedy spoke to Paul about it, and asked him to help. She also asked for a special sitting with Mrs. Leonard for the same purpose." This was September 18, nine days before Mr. Lodge had his first “anonymous" sitting with the same medium. At the original sittings, Sir Oliver and his family thought they were Unknown to Mrs. Leonard and Mr. Peters, but were well known to Mrs. Kennedy, who made all arrangements for the sittings with these mediums, who were her special friends. The delusion, however, was short lived, for on page 128 Sir Oliver says : “I asked Mrs. Leonard if she knew who I was. She re- plied, “are you by chance connected with those two ladies who come on Saturday night?" On my assenting, Mrs. Leonard added, “Oh, then I know because the French lacfy gave the name away; she said ‘Lady Lodge' in the middle of a French sentence." This indirect manner of answering his question proves that she knew him all the time. Mrs. Kennedy was present at practically all sittings of the Lodge family. She had been in communication with Sir Oliver for over a year prior to his son's death. She was his note-taker, and had for some time been an automatic writer of spirit messages. In a letter to Sir Oliver, dated August 16, 1914, recorded on page 117, she expresses a well grounded sus- picion that perhaps she is “self-deceived." She begs Sir TRUTH AND LIGHT 23 Oliver to tell her “whether they (her messages) can possibly be from my oWn subconscious mind?” She imagined that because Mr. Lodge was a recognized au- thority on physics, a department of knowledge dealing with tangible and material evidence, and scientific principles capa- ble of demonstration, that he ought to be an authority on oc- cult questions that must be explained in terms of the “insen- sible, apparently unsubstantial, and in a definite sense the imaginary.” In other words, such questions can be answered, but nobody can understand, or prove that the answer is correct, because of the imaginary and unsubstantial character of the' evidence. As Spiritualists are superior to reason, it was an easy matter for Sir Oliver to confirm Mrs. Kennedy in her delusion, and banish all her doubts. Automatic writing may be explained without involving the spirits of the dead. The subconscious mind that operates the ouija board, may also manipulate a pencil. Eminent physicians and psychiatrists affirm the existence of a dual, or multiple personality. A mediunf may honestly mistake their other self for a messenger from the Spirit World. Possessing a multiple personality the entranced person can pose as Com- municator, Control, and Medium. The powers of one’s sub- liminal self are unknown. Its manifestations are seen in many physical phenomena, such as mind reading and mental te- lepathy. Dr. Schofield, in “Modern Spiritism” (page 123) cites the case of a Baptist minister, who was thrown out of a gig on his head. The doctor could find nothing to indicate a serious injury, though the man seemed dazed, or in a trance. The blow seems* to have produced a condition similar to the state voluntarily assumed by the trance medium. He refused solid food and acted very much like a baby. The attendants pre- pared a bottle of milk, and secured a nipple. At sight of the bottle he appeared delighted, seized it and gave a perfect imi- tation of a hungry baby taking its dinner. Later this “baby” fell down the stairs, and arose at the bottom a full grown Bap- tist minister. The records show many similar cases. Man’s skull is a house of mystery. A blow, abnormal development of some part of the brain, or a change in conformation due to disease, frequently results in manifestations that confound and defy the world’s greatest scientists. The presence in an indi- vidual of more than one personality led to the ancient belief that the victim was possessed of devils. “My investigations 24 TRUTH AND LIGHT convince me that the author of every communication, alleged to come from the Spirit World, is the medium. The cerebral process by which multiple personalities act and pose as Con- trol,” and “Communicator,” remains to be solved. Of such things man knows but little. Few can roam through realms of speculation and not get lost. It is better to look before we leap, and think seriously before we accept the unsupported word of a medium concerning future existence, or receive as genuine any message purporting to come from the other side. . . . , ' , ., ,. The human intellect is in its infancy. We are daily discov- ering the secrets of nature’s laws. Wireless telegraphy is not a miracle. It is a scientific fact. Marconi invented instru- ments that made simple and practical what before seemed impossible. The human brain,. capable of such wonderful in- ventions, I believe, holds greater secrets than it has ever re- vealed. What all regard today as supernormal may tomorrow be revealed by added light, as perfectly normal. We know that Spiritism explains nothing. It confuses, complicates, mystifies and demoralizes. It is a serious menace to the health and sanity of the nation. Knowing the nature of death and the conditions of future existence, God warned His people not to “seek truth from the dead.” All who disregard this warning enter the land of Delusion, where devils of dark- ness make fools of them. Hallucinations CHAPTER VI. A person under the spell of hynotism is subject to all kinds of illusions, delusions and hallucinations. This is true, whether one is the victim of a professional hyp- notist or a trance medium. The hypnotic state may be super- induced by a circle of individuals, acting in unison at a seance, or bv a mob at a Billy Sunday revival. The surrender of our will power removes every barrier to delusion and prepares us to believe anything, it matters not how ridiculous or how impossible it may be. Spiritism not only tends to destroy free will but it is a serious menace to individuality. I have tried to stress the fact that Spiritism demands the TRUTH AND LIGHT 25 surrender of reason, and is satisfied with nothing short of abso- lute credulity. We must take the word of some invisible, imag- inary Feda without question. The hypnotic subject can always see anything and every- thing suggested by the “Control.” Impossibilities become realities, and absurdities perfectly reasonable. With an imag- inary hook and line he will fish in an imaginary river from the stage before a large audience, and make sixteen different kinds of a fool of himself at the suggestion of his “Control.” In like manner he will see and talk to spirits at a seance that are no more real than fictitious fish caught in an imag- inary river. Many intelligent investigators, including eminent scientists like Sir Wiliam Crookes, agree that under proper conditions, “heavy bodies are moved without contact, sounds produced without visible agency, articles of furniture float in the air, human bodies rise into space and rest there without visible means of support, small articles such as toys and ribbons fly through the room in all directions, luminous appearances are seen, and human hands and bodies materialized.” The agitation or movement of material objects is one thing and materialization of human hands and bodies quite another. The former may be the result of psycho-dynamics. The lat- ter is impossible. To restore the human form after death the medium would have to be omnipotent. The idea that God would share his omnipotence with the Paladinos and Mrs. Pipers is the acme of absurdity. Materialization is only an- other name for hallucination. Material objects, once thoroughly magnetized, may yield to psychic force in compliance with certain laws, not fully under- stood, but science knows little of telekinesis, the ability to move material objects by mind power alone. Such things may be feasible, but until it is possible to demonstrate before a jury free from any kind of hypnotic influence, I shall continue to doubt. No person in a trance, or under hypnotic control, can be accepted as a competent witness to any of the so-called won- ders of Spiritism. This fact wrecks the whole superstructure. It discredits and destroys all evidence tending to uphold the claims of Spiritualism. A person that fails to become magnetized hears and sees nothing. Those who become hypnotized see material objects flying in every direction and gaze upon white robed figures, 26 TRUTH AND LIGHT restored to their former likeness by the magic of a medium. The fact that a number testify to the same thing means noth- ing, as each member of the circle must be hynotized before the “spirits consent to perform.” One doubter destroys the con- dition that makes these manifestations possible. The victims think as a group, not as individuals. At a seance people sit in a darkened room, hold hands, sing hymns, the same verse over and over. This secures unison and aids concentration. Every member of the circle is tense with expectancy, most of them predisposed to believe, and others thoroughly convinced, hav- ing been hypnotized before. Under such conditions people hear and see things, of course, but the things they hear and see are akin to the mirage of the desert. Semi-darkness makes the illusion seem more real, but the Indian Fakir, in broad daylight, hypnotizes his spectators who think they see him weigh down 100 pounds with a single feather in the opposite balance, and then toss a rope in the air and climb it hand over hand until he disappears from sight in the sky. All this is beyond reason. I do not doubt but what his spectators THINK they witness a miracle, but it is nothing but hallucination. Doctor Schofield, in “Modern Spiritism” (page 165), de- scribes a materialization seance at the home of the late W, T. Stead. The two mediums, a man and his wife from America, had been stripped and given special garments to wear, with a view of preventing fraud or trickery. Hands were held and songs sung for nearly two hours. Finally it was suggested that while waiting for the “power” all should pass through the cabinet in couples, holding each other’s hands, to see that there was no fraud. Of course this gave opportunity to a con- federate to introduce anything wished for in the “cabinet.” All returned to their seats, the lights were turned down still lower while they sang as before. All at once, Dr. Schofield says, “I saw what looked like a pool of quicksilver on the floor where the curtains met. This slowly climbed up as they parted until at last I realized that what I saw was a silvery foot and leg (evidently luminous paint). Slowly the curtains kept on di- viding, and a female form gradually emerged clad in a thin gauze wrap ; and eventually the curtains fell behind her, and the supposed materialized spirit stood within six feet of me, a gleaming, shining white figure. The silence was intense ; and then the voice of Mr. Stead was heard explaining in low, quiet tones that he recognized the figure as that of a dear deceased relative—and explained the wonders of materialization we were privileged to witness. Three times did the figure appear and TRUTH AND LIGHT 27 disappear. Mr. Stead announced that any who wished might now go up to the curtains and peep through them. And one after another went and peered in, and believed that they saw the luminous presentment of some loved one who had 'passed over.’ I sat still and, after half an hour, the curtains were suddenly burst open, and out rushed (in her blouse, skirt, stockings and shoes) the medium in an apparent trance. T caught her and said 'Bravo!’ ‘I did it all right, didn’t I?’ said she.” Mr. Stead pronounced this "the most wonderful materializa- tion ever seen in London,” and received many letters of con- gratulation from members of the audience. They continued to hug the delusion despite the fact that soon afterward this medium and his wife were giving private exhibitions of the same phenomena to all comers willing to pay the price of admission. Mr. Stead, at a subsequent seance, received a communica- tion from his dead friend, F. W. H. Myers, who congratulated him on the success of the wonderful materialization seance staged in his home. This is the same Myers who figured prominently in "Raymond” and Prof. Corson’s "Spirit Mes- sages.” This was not the. first nor the last time that Mr. St^ad and his friends were buncoed by ghosts. Dr. Schofield, "Modern Spiritism” (page 227), says: "Mr. Stead himself embarked upon his last voyage with a light heart, for he could not be drowned, the spirits having revealed to him that his death would be from a runaway horse in the streets of a large city ! This he told me.” They lied. He went down with the Titanic. The records of Spiritism show that no reliance can be placed in the doctrines or news received from the dead. They teach reincarnation in France. In England it is denied. Some pre- tend to reverence Christ as God ; others deny his Divinity ; Raymond told his father that he wore white robes; Hodgson told Prof. James that spirits wear no clothing; the Witch of Endor said Samuel’s spirit came up out of the earth ; modern mediums say that discarnate spirits live in the ether above the earth. The synonyms for spiritism are illusion, delusion and hallu- cination. 28 TRUTH AND LIGHT Spiritism Anti-Christian CHAPTER VII. Is the soul of man immortal? Does it survive death as a conscious entity? Do the spirits of the dead communicate with the living? Christianity answers the first two questions in the affirma- tive, but regards the third as improbable. No person who accepts the idea of God’s omnipotence would deny but what He might make it possible for departed spirits to talk with loved ones on earth, if it would serve His purpose, but in such a case it would not be necessary for them to speak through a medium, tip a table, or spell their message on a ouija board. The time that elapses between the death of a loved one and your own departure for the same bourne., is so insignificant, when compared to eternity, that no sane reason can be offered to show why a line of communication should be established, between the living and dead. The story of Saul and the Witch of Endor is used to es- tablish the doctrine of Spiritualism by Biblical authority. The record of this seance shows that Saul was compelled to take the unsupported word of the medium. He saw and heard nothing. Many of the early Fathers of the Church, including St. Jerome, held that the Witch deceived Saul—lied to him when she said, “I saw gods ascending out of the earth,” Sam- uel’s spirit was not in the earth. St. Basil argued that the Witch was herself deceived by, the devil, who assumed the appearance of Samuel. We know that Necromancy was re- garded by early Christians as the devil’s counterfeit of Divine revelation. According to the Bible, when angels brought a Divine mes- sage to man they appeared suddenly without resort to any sort of mummeries, or mediumistic claptrap. The doctrine of immortality is the basis of nearly all Re- ligions, but Spiritualists alone pretend to seek and obtain knowledge of future life from the dead. Relying upon so-called revelations by Controls like Moon- stone and Feda, Sir Olive Lodge says: “The traditional teachings of Christianity will have to un- dergo a radical transformation.” TRUTH AND LIGHT 29 Getting his information from similar authorities, D'r. Conan Doyle says : “Christianity as a moral system I hold to be as pernicious as it is absurd. ” To reject Christianity on the evidence furnished by trance mediums, table tipsters and ouija board operators, would be the acme of idiocy. Some Christians are Spiritualists, but very few Spiritual- ists are Christians. None is orthodox. Spiritism—necromacy—is anti-Christian. It is a form of demonism. The necromancer, diviner, or fortune-teller, deals with in- sensible, insubstantial, elusive, baffling, mysterious, ghostly, intangible dream creatures born of Hope and Ighorance. To the true Christian the matter of future life is a question of faith, based upon the Bible doctrine of immortality. Where scientific demonstration is impossible faith is the safest an- chor. It keeps us away from the shoals and rocks of un- charted seas. Spiritualists pretend to know, but as we have already seen, they base their claims upon “pipe dreams,” visions, tipsy tables, ouija boards and the unsupported word of mediums. Some very remarkable things take place at seances, but nothing that cannot be explained by natural law, the theory of dual personality, or the devil. Eusepia Paladino, who hoodwinked Sir Oliver Lodge, Conan Doyle, and some of the brightest minds in Europe, was caught red-handed by Prof. Hugo Munsterburg, of Harvard University. She neither had the help of spirits, nor the sup- port of the devil. She was expert with fingers and toes. “Spir- its” have an aversion to LIGHT. At a seance you are not supposed to use your eyes, or your brains. You must think without reason and see without eyes. This fact brands every performance of the kind as a fraud. If spirits could communicate with the living—do mechani- cal stunts—tip tables, write on slates, thrum musical instru- ments, or materialize, they would be only too glad to do such things in the open light of day. We are told that when men prefer darkness to light it is because their deeds are evil. The same is true of spirits and devils. We still have much to learn, but we know that practicall r all so-called revelations and claims of Spiritualists contravene 30 TRUTH AND LIGHT the known facts of science, and contradict Christian doctrines. These facts stand out in all their literature. We also know that Spiritism has never brought to light a single important truth, while many minds have been dark- ened and millions deceived by its mummeries. It has driven and is driving hundreds of thousands insane. Such work can- not be of God. If there is anything supernatural in Spiritism it is the work of a malignant devil. For it is truly devilish to trick the weak-minded by palpable fraud, and take advantage of the bereaved who “strive to look beyond the heights,” and long for some word from loved ones gone before. On results alone, to say nothing of the fake character of the philosophy of Spiritism, it ought to be exposed, renounced and denounced by every organization and agency of intelligence, and Chris- tian civilization in the country. TRUTH AND LIGHT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS Prices Include Postage or Express Charges WINDLE’S WORD PICTURES is a volume unparalleled in litera- ture. Read it and realize the beauty, pathos, brilliancy and scope of the English language. Among other chapters are "The Tragedy of Ages," "The Disinherited," "Spring," "Progress" and "The God Idea." Cioth, $1.25. BRANN’S COMPLETE WORKS in two volumes. Everything of importance ever written by W. C. Brann, the founder of the ICONO- CLAST. Brann was an intellectual giant, a word wizard, a master of the English language. Cloth, $4.00. De Luxe edition, $10.00. THE UNDER PUP exposes the philosophy of Socialists and has never been answered. Interesting, absorbing and worth while. An antidote for Bolshevism. $1.50. SOCIALISM, FEMINISM and SUFFRAGISM are three terrible triplets, according to B. V. Hubbard'. His study and criticism of these "isms" are worth serious consideration. Quotations from the fore- most advocates of these movements are interesting. $1.50. VICE AND VIRTUE is a story of a man’s redemption and a girl’s fall from grace. It exposes the vile system of the underworld, the hideous traps and snares that surround the unwary girl. It shows the part that priests play in saving men and women from the maelstrom of sin and vice. $1.50. BOLSHEVISM—ITS CURE is a 400-page book by David Goldstein that gives a clear insight into the secret workings of the radical forces in this country. $1.60/ THE SCHOOL QUESTION, by Editor Windle, is the most brilliant and effective presentation of the case for the parochial school system ever published. 10c. BOLSHEVISM is a timely and effective presentation of the case against Bolshevism. 10c. THE ANTI -CATHOLIC CRUSADE refutes the main charges made against Catholicity. Editor Windle proves that bigotry is un-Ameri- can, that the confessional is not a menace to morals, but a protection against immorality; that the parochial schools do not breed crime; that the Church is not the enemy of education; that the alleged K. C. oath is a rank fake, and that Christianity could not survive the de- struction of the Catholic Church. 10c. IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THE DEADLIEST MENACE TO OUR LIBERTIES AND OUR CIVILIZATION? A complete reply by 'Editor Windle to Tom Watson’s terrible indictment. The greatest piece of controversial literature ever published. 10c. CHRISTIAN VS. PAGAN CIVILIZATION. Editor Windle’s second reply to Watson, in- which he reads Mr. Watson a few lessons in his- tory. 10c. IRELAND’S CAUSE, by C. Pliny Windle, is considered orfe of the most brilliant pleas ever made for Irish rights. 10c. SOCIALIST CONSPIRACY AGAINST RELIGION, by Joseph J. Mereto, demonstrates that Socialism aims at the destruction of the Christian religion. 10c. THE I. W. W., by Joseph J. Mereto, tells just what the leading I. W. W.’s aim to do. 10c. Prices on above pamphlets: 15 copies, $1.00. 100 copies, $6.00. 1,000 copies, $50.00. ICONOCLAST PUBLISHING COMPANY 1 I 10 Security Building, CHICAGO 1 TRUTH AND LIGHT The Supreme Test CHAPTER VIII. Many years ago Sir William Crookes, one of the world’s most eminent scientists, submitted a test, which has never been met by the advocates of Spiritism. He asked, as a scien- tific observer, that some additional weight be deposited in one pan of his balance with the case locked. As a chemist, he de- manded that one-thousandth part of a grain of arsenic be placed in a hermetically sealed tube of distilled water. The mediums of the world, the demons and devils of the Universe stand dumb and helpless when called upon to meet this test. They can add weight and stature to their bodies, float in the air, make furniture dance, and materialize bodies that have become dust, but cannot materialize a thousandth part of a grain of arsenic and deposit it in a sealed tube. The writer offers another test, and will forfeit $1,000 to the first Medium who can meet it. To eliminate the possibility of mind reading, or telepathy, he asks that the UNKNOWN contents of a sealed package be revealed in the presence of a public audience. If the claims of Spiritism are not fraudulent, most any medium ought to find a friendly spirit, or a devil, willing to help them win this money. I know that none of the agencies operating in Spirit- ism share Omnipotence with the Deity, and therefore feel that my $1,000 is perfectly safe. I am ready to deposit this forfeit at any time. / Address C. A. Windle, care of Brann’s Iconoclast, 1110 Se- curity Bldg., Chicago.