SPIRITUALISM AND ITS CRITICS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18509, 21 March 1922, Page 8

SPIRITUALISM AND ITS CRITICS

“ HYMNS AND HUMBUG.” SIR A. CONAN DOYLE'S ANGER. (Feom Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON. January 20. In this week’s Saturday Review Mr Filson Young, the editor of .that journal, waxes merry at the expense of the Spiritualists. A little while ago he came across, an impressive little book by Sir A. C. DoyJe called “The Vital Message.” He sent copies to friends and, as he says, “amongst others to my own mother, who, inevitably nearing the crossing from earthly life, would be interested and concerned in such a matter. . Mr Young liked the hook, and was disposed to study the subject further, and, indeed, felt it to be a duty to do so. The end of it was that the editor of the Saturday Review was invited to a seance. Ho went to lunch with Sir Arthur and Ladly Conan Doyle at the Grosvenor Hotel, and was told that the seance had been arranged at a house in Highgate, where the medium was to be Mrs Johnson, who had powers quite out of the ordinary among mediums of bringing presences which spoke to the sitters. The result of that seanoo is now told in an article entitled, “Hymns and Humbug.” “My mind on the subject was open and sympathetic,” Mr Filson Young writes, “and it would net be too much to say that I believed it possible that I was on the threshold of an experience which might change my whole outlook on life.” He adds that room was dark and that he sat next to the electric light switch. The people at tho seance sat in a circle 12ft in diameter, and in the middle of the circle before the seance began, standing on its broader end, wsrs a zinc trumpet about fit in length. “Through this we were told the spirit voices would speak.” The proceedings opened' with the repetition of the Lord’s Prayer, followed in turn by a hymn, a gramaphone selection, and a musical box. "In tho intervals between the singing some of the ladies, to judge by their conversation, were in rather a nervous slate; on© of them cried out and said something had touched her, but her neighbour immediately apologised and explained that, sh© had moved her foot. Ono said she saw lights; but there were none. We were like a party of fishers waiting for a bite. Personally I was still sympathetic, perfectly attentive, awaiting a sign; but conscious of no religious influence, or of anything but the fact that I was sitting on a rather uncomfortable chair in a dark room in the suburb of Highgate, singing choruses with people whom I had never met before, and awaiting a revelation. Prethis voice and the medium’s fragmentary a mans voice was heard ‘Ah! that must b© David, said somebody, ‘turn off the gramophone. Is that you, David?’ ’Aye,' replied the voice in a Glasgow accent, and some trivial conversation ensued between tins voice and the medium’s, fragamentary and meagre on the pari of the spirit, voluble on the part of the initiated, who joined with the medium in interrogating it. They spoke to the spirit in a patronising way, like people at a prayer meeting encouraging a pet convert. The voice came as though sounding through the tube of the trumpet, which seemed to be waving about in the air, and the tapping of finger nails on its metallic surface could be distinctly heard. These sounds were in different positions, now high now low, but the impression I had was that they did not move beyond a radius of about .1, °L, (® et - • • • I was convinced that one of half a dozen very simple natural agencies was at work, and determined to pui my conviction to tho test.” THE TALKING TRUMPET. At the request of the medium more hymns were sung and then a low voice was heard in front of the lady seated next to Mr Young. At once people said, ‘Someone is trying to speak to you, it is evidently someone who has never been through before; the voices are very famt at first; we must make more noise. So once more the gramophone was wound up, and the flagging voices of the company were urged into ‘Jingle Johnny.’ lhas time I did not sing, but listened attentively. During the song no voice of the trumpet cam© out of that black darkness; but as soon as it was over the faint voice was heard again, apparently addressing my neighbour, saying, ‘ls that you, dear? and similar phrases of recognition or greeting. I he lady beside me was obviously moved, and entirely credulous. ‘Perhaps it is my mother,’ she said. Ts that you. darling? Speak to me, mother. Oh do speak to me, I am not in the least afraid.’ The kind of conversation exchanged was generally very vague, consisting of references to health or remarks such as ‘lt is all right now, dear, I am quite happy’—at any rat© unite unimportant remarks which might have been made by anybody. ‘Encourage her.' saffi tho medium, ‘perhaps she will touch you.’ It was at this moment that I began to put my theories to the test. I touched lightly the lady on my right, on the knee, and on the arm and on her dress, and the effect was remarkable. In an extremely emotional voice, shaking all over, she told her mother that she could fee] her touch and her presence, that she recognised, her, and that she begged her to speak to her more. I confess that I was not a little shocked, and did not repeat the experiment. But the voice sounding still quite near, at about the level of one’s knee, I put out my hand in the dark and gently grasped what proved to be the broad end of the trumpet. The other_ end of it was pointing out towards the right hand of the circle, near where the medium sat. It was supported horizontally at its other end; and when I grasped it the other end was immediately let go. With immense care, avoiding making any noise or movement on my chair. I slowly raised the trumpet ■ at arm’s length, lifted it over tho head of the lady, and gently laid it on tile floor behind Sir Arthur Doyle’s chair. In doing'this I, being half-turned in my chair, inadvertently touched with my elbow the lady on my left, who immediately said that th© spirit had touched her. “There were no more spirit voices that afternoon. Tho voice had immediately ceased on my seizing the trumpet, and was heard no more that afternoon. I confess that I shrank from having to explain the presence of the trumpet behind Sir Arthur’s chair, and also felt sure they would say that the trumpet must b© ‘within the circle of influence’ ; so I took the opportunity, during the last verso of the hymn, at some risk of discovery, to twist round again, fish for it in the dark, lift it over the heads of my unsuspecting neighbours, and deposit it carefully within the circle —out of reach of the medium. When someone said the spirits had gone away, we were told that that was unlikely, as for thev - departure was that they dropped the trumpet with a bang on th© ground; but I knew that that, signal would not be given; that they could not drop the trumpet because they could not reach it. At last they began to see that the spirits would not come back, and I was requested to turn on the light. There lav the trumpet where I had put it. The medium said nothing. “ In his prefatory remarks before the seance Sir Arthur said, “This is either the most solemn thing in the world, or the greatest blasphemy. Most of my readers will, I think, agree with him.” “ UNGENTLEMANLY BEHAVIOUR." Before leaving the house at Highgate Mr Filson Young told the woman who sat next to him that ho could not go away without revealing to her that tho person who touched her was not her mother, but himself, and that the voice she heard was not her mother’s, but Mrs Johnson's. Four letters passed between Sir Arthur and Mr Filson Young. Letter No. 1 was from Mr Young, said that no manifestation of supernatural fore© occurred at the seance. Letter No, 2 was from Sir Arthur, who said he Had held it over for 2t hours, lest ho should seem to write in anger, and telling Mr Young that whet he had don© at the seance must end their acquaintanceship. Letter No. was Mr Young's retort in which he said. ”LJut for me, tin’s poor woman would have gone home in the belief that her dead mother had touched and spoken to her; nnd that I regard as a rather sinister matter." The end of the correspondence was letter No. 5, from Sir Arthur: “To publish proceedings which are the result of a private invitation to a private house is quite consistent with the rest of your conduct. The only credulily shown by any of tho company was our believing that you were a gentleman.” In tho course of an interview Mr Filson Young remarked “Simply in hia anger that I have not been deceived, like the others, Sir Arthur argues ‘You are not a gentleman.’ I regard his accusation of ungentlemanly behaviour—because this very simple test took )dac© at a private house, and I went by his own invitation—as nonsense. Conan Doyb is out for propaganda, and I think it is only fair to say that if he had got it from me it would have had the fullest publicity. 1 think many people feel it is lime some answer was given to these continual assertions which the Spiritualists make. I do not deny that phenomena occur which I cannot explain. I refuse, because, such phenomena do occur, to regard that as a reason why the explanation given by Spiritualists, or anyone else, should be accepted as true.” SIR A. CONAN DOYLE AND THE FAIRIES. Lecturing before th© Eclectic Club on his 30 years' experience amongst, spiritualists, Mr W. Marriott, the well-known critic of spirit photography, described fairy photography ae unquestionably a "fake.” The whole thing, h© said, was, of course, 100 ridiculous. Everyone was in tested in the survival after but it was a question of proof. If one expressed to spiritualists

a doubt of the genuineness of their phenomena, they turned and rent you in pieces. So far as proving life after death was concerned, we were in the position deecribed in the words: “Not one returned to tell us of the road, which to discover we must travel.” If there was anything, continued Mr Marriott, that "could prove the reality of spirit return, those who believed in spiritualism had their case proved. That evidence he was still seeking. The ghost appeared on the photographic plate, but it did not put its picture there through the lens. There was a great difference between ”t believe” and “I know.” When spiritualists said they could prove their case, all be wanted to Imow was whether their proofs would stand a test. At the present moment he was unable to believe that they could. Mr Marriott related a number of exposures of famous medliums, and the way in which he had been able to reproduce their manifestations before witnesses by admittedly fraudulent means. His triumph, he said, was complete, when he produced a spirit photography of a ring of fairies dancing round the head of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—fairies which were subsequently recognised by an outsider as exactly similar to those in a nightlight advertisement. A lady supporter of spiritualism and a member of the Psychical Research Society, instanced cases of scientists discovered during the war that electroscopes “fired” in the presence of certain people and not in the presence of others, and said that Mr Marriott failed to keep himself abreast of modern science. Another spiritualist said she had no use for mediums. Everyone was his own medium, and that admitted of no trickery. Dr Norman, in charge of the Camberwell Asylum, said he saw people every day who declared that they had messages from dead andl distant friends, who heard voices, and so on. He worked in an asylum. The only thing we could lie certain of about ourselves was that we were subject to allusions. DAW OP DOVE AND SYMPATHY. Sir Arthur Conan DVvle, speaking at Blackburn, said the law of love was the great law on the “ether aide.” After death, a kindly, good fellow was welcomed by friends, who tried! to make him at his ease. The hard, bitter, cynical man —who had he got to meet him? There he was, having lost all, wandering in a gxe'at cloud, a pitiable object. That was where justice came in—the law of love and Sympathy. “You need not flunk,” aded Sir Arthur, “that the nagging wife or the bullying husband must necessarily meet in the next world. There is nothing but harmony there. If you have married the right woman ycu arc married 1 for ever. As for the wicked, a man was put down on earth with no say in the matter, and he leads a hard life. Is that a case for punishment? I call it a case for compensation.”