MESSAGES FROM THE DEAD.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 146, 14 March 1908, Page 11

MESSAGES FROM THE DEAD.

SIR OLIVER LODGE'S DRAMATIC STATEMENT. SPIRITS TRYING TO PROVE THEIR IDENTITY. " Like oxcavators engaged In boring a tunnel from opposite ends, amid the roar of water and other noiras wo are bsginning to hear, now and again, tli3 strokss of the pickaxes of our comrades on tho other sido." In theso dramatic words, Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., principal of Birmingham University, made some astonishing statements on January 30 at a meeting of tho Psychical Research Society concerning sccrct and exhaustive tests which that society has been conducting recently in connection with Spiritualism. The principal mediums, or "automatists," as Sir Oliver. termed them, have been Mrs. Piper and I\lrs. Verrall. "Tho most important set of phenomena are those of automatic writing and talking," said Sir Oliver Lodge-quietly, and then, amid a breathless pause, no went on: "And what do wo find?' We find the late Edmund Gurnoy and the : lato Richard Hodgson and the lato F. W. H. Myers, with; some other less known names, constantly purporting to communicate with us with the express purpose of patiently proving their identity, and giving us cross-correspondence between different mediums. We also find them answering* specific questions in a manner characteristic of their known personalities, and giving evidence of knowledge appropriate to them. SPIRIT messages; "Not easily or early, do. we make' this admission. In spite of long conversations with what purports to bo.:.the' 'surviving intelligence of these friends and investigators, we were by no means convinced of their identity by mere general conversation, even iVhen of a friendly and intimate character such as, in normal cases, would be- considered amply and overwhelmingly siifficiont for the identification of friends speaking, let us say, through a telephone or ..a typewriter. AVe required definite v and crucial .proof, a proof difficult even to imagine,' as well as difficult to supply.; ' -.- 1 "Tho ostensible communicators realise the need of such proof just as fully as wo do, and havo done their best to satisfy tho rational demand. Some, of, us think they havo succeeded; others are still doubtfui. Cross-correspondenoe—that i 3, the 'reception of part of a message through one medium and part through another, neither portion separately being understood by either —is good evidence of one intelligence dominating both automatists. And, if the messago is characteristic of some onoi particular deceased person, and is-received as such by peoplo_ to ■ whom, lie was not intimately known," then it is fair proof of tho continued intellectual activity of that person. - If, further, we get from him a pieco of literary criticism which is oniinenily in his vein, and has not occurred to ordinary peoplo, then I say the, proof, already striking,- is tending to become crucial. >'• . A NEW FACULTY. '• /i'/Those the.;-kinds '.of proof,'which tho ■ society has had communicated to it. . The phenomenon . of-'''-automatic.. writing '4 strikes sopio of us as if it was ..in the direct'line of evolutional advance—seems 'like tho beginjiiing's .of- a newihuman faculty. First of all, the .evidence led us to realiso -thp truth of ..telepathy. - . "I am going," continued Sir Oliver, impressively, "to: assume, in fact, that our bodies can, under certain exceptional circumstances, bo directly or temporarily possessed, by another' or fbreign intelligence, operating either on the whole or on, some, limited part of. it. Tho question lying behind , such a hypothesis, and justifying it or negativing'it,> is tho root quostion of identity—tho identity of tho, control. "This question of identity is, of-course,-a fundamontiil one: The controlling spirit proves' his identity mainly by reproducing, in spobch or .writing, facts- which belong tohis memory, and not to tho aiitomatist's momory. And notieo that proof of identity will usually depend on tho momory of trifles. Our object is to got, not something dignified, but somethjng evidential; and what evidence of persistent memory can be better than the recollection of trifling incidents which, for so.mo personal r.eason, happen to* have mado a permanent impression? "The boundary between the two', states— tho present and ' tho' future—is still' i substantial, but it is wearing thin in places." , Mr. P. W. H. Myers, ono of tho most brilliant writers of '- English prose and ono of tho leading members , of tho Psychical, Research Society, died in 1901 at Romc, v shortly beforo tho publication of his greatest work, "Human Personality and its Survival of, Bodily Death." In this lid. collected a, large, amount of evidence - suggesting that* the immortality of man can be demonstrated by communications from the. spirit-world. Ho had expressed the intention after death to try tho crucial experiment of exorting his own influence upon minds still ■ incarnate in mortal form. , -