PSYCmCAL RESEARCH.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 306, 19 September 1908, Page 10

PSYCmCAL RESEARCH.

"DISCOVERIES OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE." SIR OLIVER LODGE'S THEORY OF LIFE'S CONTINUITY. When comes tho dumb hour, as Tennyson calls it, is all changed as in tho twinkling of an eye? Who knows? No voice has ever returned to tell tho talo. But tho larger hopo of science is probing the future, and hore, in tho words of Sir Oliver Lodge, is what some scientists believe. Writing in "Harper's Magazino" (August) an articlo. of nearly ten pages on "Psychical Research," ho says: — AT TEE BOUNDAEY LINE. - " I am of those who, though they would like to see further and still stronger and moro continued proofs,, aro of opinion that a good case has been made out, and that as tho best working hypothesis at tho present timo it is legitimate to grant that lucid moments of intercourso with deceased persons may in the best cases supervene ; amid a mass of supplementary material, quito natural under the circumstances, but mostly of a presumably subliminal and loss ovident kind. Tho boundary between tho two states —tho known and the' unknown—is still substantial, but it is wearing thin in places; and liko excavators engaged in bormg a tunnel from opposite ends, amid'tho roar of water and other noises, w r e are beginning to hear now and again tho strokes of the pickaxes of our comrades on the other side. LIFE'S CONTINUITY. "Meanwhile, is there anything that provisionally and tentatively wo can say that is oarnestly taught to those who arc willing to make tho hypothesis that tho communications aro genuine? The first thing wo learn, perhaps the only thing we clearly learn. in the first instance, is continuity. There is no such sudden break in the conditions of existence as may have been anticipated; and no break at all in-the continuous and conscious identity of gonuino character and personality. Essential belongings, such'as memory, culture, education, habits, character, and affection—all these, and to a cortain extent tastes, and interests, for better, for worse, are retained. Terrestrial accretions, such as worldly possessions, bodily pain and disabilities, these for tho most part naturally drop away. AFTER DEATH. . "Meanwhile, it would appear that knowledge is not suddenly advanced—it\ would bo unnatural if it were —wo are not suddenly flooded with new information—nor do we at all change our identity; but powors and faculties aro enlarged, and tho scope of our outlook on the universe may bo widened and deepened, if effort hero : has rendered tho acquisition of such extra insight legitimate and possible. On tho other hand, there'are doubtless some whom tho removal of temporary accretion and accidents of existence will leave in a feeble and impoverished condition; for tho things aro gone in which they trusted, and they are left poor indeed." THE DISCO\TSRIES OF SCIENCE. Sir Oliver ■ declares that his article "is intended to indicate tho possibility that discoveries of the very first magnitudo can still bo made — aro-indeed in process of. being made —by strictly scientific methods, in tho region of psychology: discoveries quito comparablo in importance with those which have been mado during tho last century in physics and biology, but discoveries whose opportunities for' practical application and usefulness will similarly havo to remain for some time in the'-] hands of experts, since they cannot bo miscellaneously absorbed or even apprehended by the multitude without danger. , - ' EXAMPLES OF TRANCE. "For twonty years at least members of the society havo been intimately acquainted with excellent and astonishing ox'amplos of trance speaking and automatic writing, and yet they havo hesitated to make full uso of all this i-jaterial, and have refrained:from proceeding ill the directions towards which it undoubtedly points, so long as there was a chanco —even a remote chanco — that telepathy might constitute a sufficient explanation. Some of us hold that telepathy is still sufficient —or at least as sufficient as 1 it has ever been—and that no further step beyond it need be taken. Others aro beginning to bo impressed with the idea—not without qualms and surviving hesitation—that the .time has come, or is coming, when it may. be legitimate and necessary to take a further stop, and to admit, at any rato as a tentative hypothesis, the view which undoubtedly the phenomena themselves .suggest, and, as it were, havo all tho "time been endeavouring to force'upon us. COMMUNICATION BY MEDIUMS. "This is the hypothesis of actual telepathic or telorgic influence from the surviving intelligence of some of tlio3o who havo recently lived on this planet, and who are now represented as occasionally,; under great difficulties and discouragements, endeavouring to make known the fact that they can communicate with us by aid of such intervening mechanism as is placed at their disposal—namely, the brain, nerve, and musclo of an automatist or medium. The assertion mado is that, during tho temporary snsponsion of the normal control, they can with difficulty mako use of these organs for tho purpose of translating ■ their own thought into mechanical movement, and so producing, some kind of speech or writing in the physical world. Such utilisation of physiological apparatus by an intelligence to which it does not normally belong is wliat is called motor automatism, or. ' telergy,' or popularly—when of an extreme kind—' possession.'". I ' ============ ■-