A NEW FORCE.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2694, 5 October 1871, Page 3

A NEW FORCE.

(From tke Australasian, Sept. 9.) The July number of the Quarterly Journal of Science contains an article which cannot fail to attract general attention. When the celebrated narrative, from the pen of Robert Bell, entitled “ Stranger than Fiction, appeared in the Cornhill Magazine, most persons, notwithstanding the editorial assertion of its bona fides, regarded it as a sensational invention. The paper in the current number of the above-named quarterly is scarcely 1659 marvellous, but tbe character ot the periodical in which it appears and the names which are attached to it, forbid the slightest doubt'as to its genuineness and accuracy. What, then, are the facts recoided in this remarkable contribution to the columns of our severely scientific contemporary ? It is scarcely necessary to inform our readers that there is a class of persons who have made much noise in the world years known as spiritual mediums. They represent themselves as possessed of organisations of such a nature that the spirits of men and women who have made their exit from this sublunary sphere are enabled through them in various ways to communicate with mortals. The name of these peculiar agents is legion. There are trance-speakmg mediums and writing mediums, and seeing ,or clairvoyant mediums, and hearing or clairaudient mediums, and mediums for what are termed physical manifestations, or, in other words, mediums in whose presence solid bodies move and musical play tunes without human contact.' Among the last mentioned mediums Mr Home is probably the most celebrated, although those who have read his book, “ Incidents in My Life,” will not require to be told that Mr Home lays claim to be something more than a physicial manifestation medium. Hitherto Mr Home, whatever belief may have been reposed in him by a few, has not possessed a very exalted reputation in the eyes of the outer world. His pretensions have been ridiculed, and his claims to the possession of uncommon faculties almost universally derided. That injustice has been done him, in some respects at least, appears to be more than probable, for tbis article in the Journal of Science” declares that, under test conditions of the strictest character. Mr Home, or some unknown force acting through him, has achieved what has been until now regarded as simply impossible. The experiments detailed in this paper were, so lar as they went, of a crucial character, and were performed at the residence of Mr William Crookes, the distinguished analytical chemist and editor of the Quarterly Journal of Science,” ’ Mr Crookes was assisted hy two gentlemen, whose names he is fortunately permitted to publish. They were Mr Serjeant Cox, the eminent barrister ; and Dr Huggins, one of the ablest physicists in Europe. Some investigations had previously been made, but on the occasion referred to every possib e precaution against imposture was taken. The apparatus used was obtained by Mr Crookes himself, without the knowledge of Mr Home, and even the dress of the latter was carefully examiued. The experiments made related to Mr Homo s allege?! power to play upon musical instruments without touching the keys, and to move ponderous bodies without muscular effort. To test the first of these faculties a drum-shaped cage was obtained, constructed nf laths and wire, and of such a shape that It W mid just pass under the table at which the experimenters sat. An accordion which Mr Crookes had recently purchased was b .nded to Mr Home, and was by him held suspended in the cage with the key-board downwards In this position it commenced to vibrate and speedily played a well-known air. After a few moments Mr Home withdrew his hand, and placed it in the baud of the gentleman sitting next to him. The accordiau continued to play, aud seen floating about with no visible support inside the cage. To test the other power attributed to Mr Home, namely, that of moving heavy b- dies without the aid of the muscles, a machine was made consisting of a plank of mahogany, 3ft. long by 94in, in width, attached at one end to a spring balance, and with the other end resting on a table. Mr Home, by merely touching this plank at its fulcrum, caused the spring balance to become agitated, and eventually to register a pull equivalent to 61b, Mr Crookes, by standing with all his weight on the plank at the same spot, was able to move the balance only to the extent of 141b. Experiments of this description tried many times, and under circumstances precluding the possibility of imposture, have convinced these eminent men that th‘>re exists a force hitherto unknown to science, which they propose to call psychic force. What its nature may be, now it acts, or whence it emanates, they are completely ignorant. All of which they are thus far convinced—and it is much—is that incidents occur which cm be traced to no known cause. In other ■yjroi’os, a pew realm is opened tp the researches of To speak of these experiments as if they were exhaustive or final would be absurd, To term a new force psychic is but to pave the way for further investigation. Science is now called upon to discover what this is which it designates soul, how it acts by means of the material body, and whether it can in any way manifest itself without such body. In brief, it has to continue its experiments until it can trace the cause of this “soul” force, and the conditions under which it acts. In a preliminary paper on the subject which appeared in the “Journal of Science.” last year, Mr Crookes said, “I should feel it to be a great satisfaction if I could bring out light in any direction, and I may safely say that I care not in what direction With this end in view, I appeal to any of my readers who may possess a key to these strange phenomena to further the progress of the truth hy assisting me in my investigations. That the subject has to do with strange physiological conditions is clear, and these in a sense may ho called ‘spirital’ when they produce certain results in our minds. At present, the phenomena I have observed baffle explanation ; so do the phenomena of thought, which are also spiritual, and which no-philosopher has yet understood. ISfo niab, however, denies them.’■ Entering upon hi.i important task' [n tjje frep «n----prefudiccd spirit thpse reprarks indicate, it may fairly ke nrpppesipd that Mr Crookes Will pot leave it until he has thrown light upon a most pugzlipg and, at the same time, deeply interesting subject.