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distant from Boston, and about which Mrs. Piper could know nothing. There
was also the mention of a discussion he had had with Hyslop about cutting
down the manuscript of one of Hyslop's books. The sceptic may object that
these facts were within the knowledge of Professor Hyslop, from whom Mrs.
Piper obtained, them telepathically. But accompanying the communications
there were many evidences of personal peculiarities of Dr. Hodgson which
Professor Hyslop recognized.
To enable the reader to judge the cogency of some of the evidence given
through Mrs. Piper under the Phinuit control, the following case is
extracted:*
* PROCEEDINGS of S.P.R., Vol. VI, p. 509. Quoted in M. Sage's "Mrs. Piper
and the S.P.R.".
At the 45th English sitting on Dec. 24, 1889, when Messrs. Oliver and
Alfred Lodge and Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were the sitters, Phinuit suddenly
said:
"Do you know Richard, Rich, Mr. Rich?"
MRS. THOMPSON: "Not well. I knew a Dr. Rich."
PHINUIT: "That's him. He's passed out. He sends kindest regards to his
father."
At the 83rd sitting, when Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were again present,
Phinuit said all at once: "Here's Dr. Rich!" upon which Dr. Rich proceeds
to speak:
DR. RICH: "It is very kind of this gentleman" (i.e. Dr. Phinuit) "to let
me speak to you. Mr. Thompson, I want you to give a message to father."
MR. THOMPSON: "I will give it."
32
DR. RICH: "Thank you a thousand times; it is very good of you. You see, I
passed out rather suddenly. Father was very much troubled about it, and
he is troubled yet. He hasn't got over it. Tell him I am alive-that I
send my love to him. Where are my glasses?" (The medium passes her hands
over her eyes.) "I used to wear glasses." (True.)
"I think he has them, and some of my books. There was a little black case
I had-I think he has that, too.
I don't want that lost. Sometimes he is bothered about a dizzy feeling in
his head-nervous about it-but it is of no consequence."
MR. THOMPSON: "What does your father do?" The medium took up a card and
appeared to write on it, and pretended to put a stamp in the corner.
DR. RICH: "He attends to this sort of thing. Mr. Thompson, if you will
give this message, I will help you in many ways. I can, and I will."
Professor Lodge remarks about this incident: "Mr. Rich, senior, is head
of Liverpool Post Office. His son, Dr. Rich, was almost a stranger to Mr.
Thompson, and quite a stranger to me. The father was much distressed
about his son's death, we find. Mr. Thompson has since been to see him
and given him the message. He (Mr. Rich, senior) considers the episode
very extraordinary and inexplicable, except by fraud of some kind. The
phrase, 'Thank you a thousand times,' he asserts to be characteristic,
and he admits a recent slight dizziness." Mr. Rich did not know what his
son meant by "a black case." The only person who could give any
information about it was at the time in Germany. But it was reported that
Dr. Rich talked constantly about a black case when he was on his
death-bed.
M. Sage comments, "No doubt Mr. and Mrs. Thompson knew Dr. Rich, having
met him once. But they were quite ignorant of all the details here given.
Whence did the medium take them? Not from the influence left on some
object, because there was no such object at the sitting."
Mrs. Piper had several controls at various stages of her long career. The
original one was a Dr. Phinuit, who claimed to have been a French doctor,
but whose account of his own earth life was contradictory and
unsatisfactory. Apart from himself, however, his ministrations were most
remarkable, and he convinced very many people that he was actually an
intermediary between the living and the dead. Some of the objections to
him, however, had force, for though it is quite possible that a prolonged
experience of otherworld conditions may take the edge off our earthly
recollections, it is hardly conceivable that it could do so to the extent
which was implied by the statements of this control. On the other hand,
the alternative theory that he was a secondary personality of Mrs. Piper,
a single strand, as it were, separated from the complete fabric of her
individuality, opens up even greater difficulties, since so much was
given which was beyond any possible knowledge on the part of the medium.
In studying these phenomena Dr. Hodgson, who had been among the most
severe critics of all transcendental explanations, was gradually forced
to accept the spiritual hypothesis as the only one which covered the
facts. He found that telepathy from sitter to medium would not do so. He
was much impressed by the fact that where the communicating intelligence
had been deranged in mind before death, the after messages were obscure
and wild. This would be inexplicable if the messages were mere
reflections from the memory of the sitter. On the other hand, there were
cases, such as that of Hannah Wild, where a message sealed up in lifetime
33
could not be given after death. While admitting the validity of such
objections, one can but repeat that we should cling to the positive
results and hope that fuller knowledge may give us the key which will
explain those which seem negative. How can we realize what the laws are,
and what the special difficulties, in such an experiment?
In March, 1892, the Phinuit control was largely superseded by the George
Pelham control, and the whole tone of the communications was raised by [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl aikidobyd.xlx.pl
distant from Boston, and about which Mrs. Piper could know nothing. There
was also the mention of a discussion he had had with Hyslop about cutting
down the manuscript of one of Hyslop's books. The sceptic may object that
these facts were within the knowledge of Professor Hyslop, from whom Mrs.
Piper obtained, them telepathically. But accompanying the communications
there were many evidences of personal peculiarities of Dr. Hodgson which
Professor Hyslop recognized.
To enable the reader to judge the cogency of some of the evidence given
through Mrs. Piper under the Phinuit control, the following case is
extracted:*
* PROCEEDINGS of S.P.R., Vol. VI, p. 509. Quoted in M. Sage's "Mrs. Piper
and the S.P.R.".
At the 45th English sitting on Dec. 24, 1889, when Messrs. Oliver and
Alfred Lodge and Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were the sitters, Phinuit suddenly
said:
"Do you know Richard, Rich, Mr. Rich?"
MRS. THOMPSON: "Not well. I knew a Dr. Rich."
PHINUIT: "That's him. He's passed out. He sends kindest regards to his
father."
At the 83rd sitting, when Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were again present,
Phinuit said all at once: "Here's Dr. Rich!" upon which Dr. Rich proceeds
to speak:
DR. RICH: "It is very kind of this gentleman" (i.e. Dr. Phinuit) "to let
me speak to you. Mr. Thompson, I want you to give a message to father."
MR. THOMPSON: "I will give it."
32
DR. RICH: "Thank you a thousand times; it is very good of you. You see, I
passed out rather suddenly. Father was very much troubled about it, and
he is troubled yet. He hasn't got over it. Tell him I am alive-that I
send my love to him. Where are my glasses?" (The medium passes her hands
over her eyes.) "I used to wear glasses." (True.)
"I think he has them, and some of my books. There was a little black case
I had-I think he has that, too.
I don't want that lost. Sometimes he is bothered about a dizzy feeling in
his head-nervous about it-but it is of no consequence."
MR. THOMPSON: "What does your father do?" The medium took up a card and
appeared to write on it, and pretended to put a stamp in the corner.
DR. RICH: "He attends to this sort of thing. Mr. Thompson, if you will
give this message, I will help you in many ways. I can, and I will."
Professor Lodge remarks about this incident: "Mr. Rich, senior, is head
of Liverpool Post Office. His son, Dr. Rich, was almost a stranger to Mr.
Thompson, and quite a stranger to me. The father was much distressed
about his son's death, we find. Mr. Thompson has since been to see him
and given him the message. He (Mr. Rich, senior) considers the episode
very extraordinary and inexplicable, except by fraud of some kind. The
phrase, 'Thank you a thousand times,' he asserts to be characteristic,
and he admits a recent slight dizziness." Mr. Rich did not know what his
son meant by "a black case." The only person who could give any
information about it was at the time in Germany. But it was reported that
Dr. Rich talked constantly about a black case when he was on his
death-bed.
M. Sage comments, "No doubt Mr. and Mrs. Thompson knew Dr. Rich, having
met him once. But they were quite ignorant of all the details here given.
Whence did the medium take them? Not from the influence left on some
object, because there was no such object at the sitting."
Mrs. Piper had several controls at various stages of her long career. The
original one was a Dr. Phinuit, who claimed to have been a French doctor,
but whose account of his own earth life was contradictory and
unsatisfactory. Apart from himself, however, his ministrations were most
remarkable, and he convinced very many people that he was actually an
intermediary between the living and the dead. Some of the objections to
him, however, had force, for though it is quite possible that a prolonged
experience of otherworld conditions may take the edge off our earthly
recollections, it is hardly conceivable that it could do so to the extent
which was implied by the statements of this control. On the other hand,
the alternative theory that he was a secondary personality of Mrs. Piper,
a single strand, as it were, separated from the complete fabric of her
individuality, opens up even greater difficulties, since so much was
given which was beyond any possible knowledge on the part of the medium.
In studying these phenomena Dr. Hodgson, who had been among the most
severe critics of all transcendental explanations, was gradually forced
to accept the spiritual hypothesis as the only one which covered the
facts. He found that telepathy from sitter to medium would not do so. He
was much impressed by the fact that where the communicating intelligence
had been deranged in mind before death, the after messages were obscure
and wild. This would be inexplicable if the messages were mere
reflections from the memory of the sitter. On the other hand, there were
cases, such as that of Hannah Wild, where a message sealed up in lifetime
33
could not be given after death. While admitting the validity of such
objections, one can but repeat that we should cling to the positive
results and hope that fuller knowledge may give us the key which will
explain those which seem negative. How can we realize what the laws are,
and what the special difficulties, in such an experiment?
In March, 1892, the Phinuit control was largely superseded by the George
Pelham control, and the whole tone of the communications was raised by [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]