University of Northern Iowa

The Psychology of Spiritism

Author(s): George M. Beard
Source: The North American Review, Vol. 129, No. 272 (Jul., 1879), pp. 65-80
Published by: University of Northern Iowa
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25100777
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V.

THEPSYCHOLOGY
OF SPIRITISM.
Modern
spiritism is an attempt to apply the inductive method
to religion ; to make faith scientific ; to confirm the longings of the
In thus submitting
heart by the evidence of the senses.
spiritism
its friends forgot that to prove a religion
to the inductive method
would be to kill it?to transfer it from the emotions, where it be
longs, to the intellect, where it can find no home. A religion proved,
dies as a religion, and becomes a scientific fact, and would take its
place side by side with astronomy and chemistry, with physics and
of men.
in the organized knowledge
Spiritists would,
geology,
if
had
been
the example of one
have
followed
wiser
therefore,
they
the late Professor
of the very greatest of experimental philosophers,
"
was
that
it
he
of
said
whom
when
entered
his laboratory
Faraday,
The security of religious beliefs
he shut the door of his oratory."
consists in their keeping out of range. Religion,
indeed, is between
two fires : absolutely proved or absolutely disproved, it is destroyed
;
disproved, it becomes a delusion, a negative fact of science ; proved,
a positive fact, in both cases recognized by the intellect and appeal
the
ing to it'; like the horizon it recedes as we go toward it?even
No
attempt to submit it to scientific study causes it to disappear.
religion on the globe is strong enough to bear the shock of its own
demonstration.

That Christianity
has not clearer and more precise historical
and oftentimes-ut
evidence for its claims has been the experienced
tered regret of apologists, and to supplement
this defect by toil
some research has been the burden of the first scholarship of the
that it is histori
world ; but it is the weakest point in Christianity
so
recent
corre
its
decline
the
;
among
strong
cally
thoughtful
voL.

cxxix.?no.

272.

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THE NORTH

66

AMERICAN

REVIEW.

sponds to the augmenting wealth of the testimony in its favor, and

at this hour its hold, in all sects, is firmest among those who are
most oblivious and most heedless of the arguments
for its divine
excess
ever
of
it
be
If
of evidence ;
will
dies,
Christianity
origin.
If spiritism were content to
each addition of proof draws blood.
a

remain

part

of

undemonstrated

religion?an

Copernican

belief

theory.*

for failure.
If successful
Spiritism was thus organized
of
the
that
claim
the
manifest
inductive
spirits
proof
object,
to

selves

at

without

stand, as a logical possibil

against it), as long as the

itself?it might
tempting to demonstrate
no deduction
can
science
have
ity (since

the

for

it would

this

object

human
simply
it has,

its

senses,
have

would

religion
contribution

a new

not

however,

as a

failure

made

since

succeeded,

be

to
all

the

in its
them
entire

once

;
In

science.
strange

phenomena that have been relegated to the agency of spiritual beings

can now in entire detail be elucidated by the established
laws of the
nervous

in health

system

and

disease.

There

is no

or

fact

phenom

enon relating to modern

spiritism in regard to which, so far as is
needful for the explanation of the delusion, physiology asks for more
light. Modern spiritism is a tripod : its three supports being trance,
the involuntary life, and human testimony.
of these three departments
He who has mastered
the psychology
has

of knowledge

not

compassed

only

spiritism,

ancient

and

modern,

but, in good measure, all the great delusions of history.

By this
it is not purposed to belittle in any way the importance or the diffi
these
required to master
culty of our theme, for the knowledge
sciences

is possible

only

to

recent

neurology,

a field

of

science

as

yet occupied.by
only a small band of philosophers.
The trickery of spiritism, the least important of all the facts of
in its superficial
is already in a degree comprehended
its psychology,
relations even by the people ; thus the delusion has been made to
veer and tremble, but it awaits the removal of the three supports at
the hands of Science to fall into entire destruction,
carrying with
it an army of major and minor untruths that have leaned upon it,
It is
and have been upheld by it, and must die in its company.
* This
has also witnessed
to
the failure of Comtism?another
attempt
generation
a scientific religion ; its aim being to prove religion deductively
as that of spirit
A religion,
ism was to prove it inductively.
to order like a
indeed, can not be made
suit of clothes,
it must be a growth, an evolution
; the impulse and the force to make
the change must come automatically
from the living body of the people, and not from

make

the experiments

of science

or the reasonings

of philosophy.

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OF SPIBITISM.

THE PSYCHOLOGY

voluntary

nature

of

the

life

of which

ignorance

and
trance,

of

phenomena
is the

67
and

trance,

supreme

of

in

the

the

and

expression,

of evidence as derived from

unscientific
state of the principles
and a power
that made spiritism a possibility
human testimony,
in these modern days, just as ignorance of astronomy gave birth
to
to astrology,
to alchemy, of general pathology
of chemistry
witchcraft.
Ten

trance

ago

years

was

as

realm

dark

and

and

mysterious

as chemistry in the sixteenth century ; the recent dem

unexplained
onstration of the fact that it is a subjective, not, as the world had
state, is in its own sphere, and
assumed, an objective
unfalteringly
in

its

our

to

relations

of

ries

the

If

the

a revolution

brain,

as

by the Copernican

of the Hipparchian

radi

theo

universe.
the

trance,

derstood

involuntary

of

life,

and

human

the

nervous

there

system,

un

were

testimony,

as they are now beginning

universally

students

by

of

knowledge

cal as the displacement

to be understood

would

not

could

not,

be a spiritist on our planet ; for all would know that spirits only
not our houses but our brains are
dwell in the cerebral cells?that
haunted.

disease of the
is a very frequently occurring functional
Trance
in
nervous system, in which
is concentrated
the cerebral activity
some limited region of the brain, the activity of the rest of the
brain

for

being

the

time

suspended.

It matters not what is done to induce this state nor who does it,
nor in what way, provided the brain be in a condition to enter it?
or pathologically
prepared for it ; there is not a fact,
physiologically
or

or
influence,
phenomenon,
not act as an
that
may
sky,

or

shape,

the

or

air,

real

or

exciting

professed
cause.

on
It

earth,
is a malady

in

it is least expected, and most undesired, falling

that comes when
with impartial cruelty upon the plowboy, the scholar, and the man
of affairs ; coolness of organization, wise judgment, in great con
rich

cerns,

and

complex

experience,

shrewdness,

even

incredulity,

the noblest scientific genius, insuring no exception.

Of all the myriad excitants of trance?the making of passes, look
ing at bright objects, an alarm of fire, the exhaustion of disease, etc.?
none

are

ence,
sion,
of

so
are

claims
of
or

as the
potent
so calculated

wonder,
or
fear,

mysterious,

of
pretense
to act upon

the
the

supernatural,
emotions

since
of

awe,

no
of

other
rever

or
The
very
expectation.
profes
possibility,
or
of
of
marvelous,
desire,
supernatural,
suspicion,
or even
unusual
of
mundane
out-of-the-way
phe
of

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THE NORTH

68
nomena

may

excite

AMERICAN
or within

instantly,

REVIEW.
a few

but

in one

moments,

or pathologically
the state of trance
predisposed,
psychologically
and psychical
its distinctive
with
group of physical
symptoms.
is

Suspense
s?ance
In

the

trance

man

and

that

human

an

automaton

suspense.
; the

is called

the will

is displaced

as

movements

muscular

in

and

emotions,

in constant

kept
becomes

of the faculties
mental

of

strongest
are

emotions

the

ing of the heart or the opening

ordinary
action

coordinated

by a series of
as

automatic

purely

of a flower.

an

the

beat

In this state objective

no true
: there
confounded
become
is, indeed,
subjective
objec
life
brain
; the
persons,
creating
experi
absolutely
objects,
or
all
made
and
ences,
upon
transforming
impressions
mutilating
or desired,
or
to what
is repeated,
it,
apprehended?
according

or

tive

the eye

seeing what

it looks for, the

all the maladies

that distress

ear hearing what

or

it wishes

fears.

Of
or

powerfully

as

contagious

none

mankind
: in an

trance

are so speedily
or

instant,

in a time

too

it may spread like flames in a dry forest, from

short to be measured,
one to another through a wide assemblage, until all shall simulta
see
neously
is swallowed
of

thousands,

and

hear

up

and

and

feel

in a common

become

as

single

alike
experience
: a thousand

ecstasy
brain

; and

to none

of the senses of any worth.

The involuntary
all those phenomena of mind or body in their
are

that

independent

of

consciousness,

; individuality
or tens

brains,
is the

evidence

life which

includes
relations

reciprocal

or of will,

or both,

and which

in the full trance, is among the

is seen in its extremest development
is in truth least understood in
people understood but incompletely,
In his calmest, healthi
its minor and ceaselessly operating phases.
est moments, man is a bundle of reflex actions ;what is done by the
will, purposively, voluntarily, being a fraction too small for measure
ment of his whole activity:
in the brain thoughts come and go of
idle and never
their will more than ours ; the mind is never wholly
or
under
in
to
internal
control ;
external
response
suggestion
fully
we

are

muscular
are

We
bodily

and
corresponding
relaxations
; when

always
cerebrating,
and
contractions
not
always
movements

or
usually
correlated

conscious
to

them

of
; and

can the latter be detected,

pert investigation
of
all
persons the least able to analyze
being

to
we

our

are
thoughts
move.
we
think,

our
thoughts
oftentimes

or
only

of
by

the
ex

the individual himself

the activity of his own

functions.

Our present knowledge

of trance and of the involuntary

life un

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THE PSYCHOLOGY
locks half
relations

of the

are

secrets
and

numerous,

OF SPIBITISM.

of the world's
for

specialists

; to spiritism

delusions
in this

69

branch

of

its

cerebro

and pathology who are also practically skilled in one of

physiology
with
the most difficult of the arts?experimenting
living human
in large
demonstrable.
finds
Herein
physiology
beings?clearly
of
those
occult
and
basis
the
scientific
part
absorbingly
interesting
spirit
phenomena that, before as well as since the birth of modern
ism,

have

been

at

once

the wonder,

the

terror,

and

the

of man

joy

It is this which causes the table to move beneath the hands

kind.
of the expectant circles, performs the writing and varied motions of
and makes the bell suspended from the hand strike the
planchette,
numbers of any known age or the hour of the day against the side
of the jar by which it is environed ; it is this that turns the divin
or any flexible thing whatsoever,
and so
ing-rod, be it witch-hazel
deludes the operator into the conviction that he has found a vein of
silver, or of gold, or of running water ; it is this that makes thought
the unconscious bod
the operator so detecting
reading a possibility,
and
relaxation of the subject operated on as to trace the
ily tension
direction through long and intricate courses where his thoughts are
concentrated, and to find, with precision, minute objects and limited
localities, thus reading the mind through the body?mind-reading
for muscle-reading
; it is this that unfolds
really being a misnomer
the marvels
preachers,

and
bringing

all

the
their

genuine
developments
unwonted
eloquence,

of

orators

trance
their

vagaries,

and
and

their caprices, under the dominion of natural law ; it is this, finally;

that makes it easy, if not inevitable, that enraptured and entranced
ones should see their
inquirers after tidings from departed loved
faces and hear their voices, in dreams, in the darkness of night, or
in the dim light of organized seances.*
*
or pathological?voluntary
or involuntary.
In
may be physiological
Rappings
an old gentleman
of about seventy years of age, where
the case of one of my patients,
of noisy rappings
in the muscles
of spinal meningitis,
attacks
I made the diagnosis
come on, lasting for several minutes
or longer.
These
of the legs would frequently
raps, which were so loud that they could be heard with ease twenty or thirty feet,
of the
contractions
to be caused by the sudden and involuntary muscular
appeared
of the thigh.
The noise made by the raps resembled
the muscles
especially
muscles,
the snapping made by a tight string or rope when it is pulled, and they fol
somewhat
to the exceeding
like a volley of pistol-shots,
lowed each other in rapid succession
of the patient, who always suffered much pain during an attack, and indeed
discomfort
as an exacerbation
of the disease.
Sometimes
the effect
regarded them
on the raps, and even passive disturbance
change his position would bring
a patient with nervous
I have now under observation
the same effect.

of trying to
would have
disease

who

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THE NORTH

70

AMERICAN

REVIEW.

The remaining
support of spiritism?human
testimony?like
life?has
trance and the involuntary
hitherto been a mass of empir
icism?a

dark,

chaos,

formless,

to

inaccessible

boundless,

science,

of mankind
; to organize and re
of neurology of the present and

of all the follies

the hiding-place
duce it to a science is the mission
future.

On the principles
of evidence as drawn from the testimony of
human beings, it has thus far been undenied
that the senses are
an
of
that
the
first
of
and reporter is
observer
trust,
worthy
quality
not expertness but honesty, and that what is good evidence for one
class of claims is equally good for any class. These three assump
common basis of law and logic?the
of the
tions?the
neurology
future must push utterly aside ; and in their place it will be estab
lished that in science or organized knowledge
only the testimony
of experts can be of value, and that the quality and amount of evi
dence

to

needful

establish

claim

any

must

vary

and

with,

be

rela

of non-expert
tive to, the nature of that claim. The rejection
human testimony is, and has ever been, the first step in the devel
or ignoring all testi
opment of a science ; it is only by rejecting
save

mony

testimony,
humanity,
Not
three

out
millions,

that

of

that

experts

any

science

is possible.

Human

: it is a burden under which

indeed, handicaps mankind
in its slow advance, has ever struggled and yet struggles.
of

or

the mouths

of

two

unless

be

experts,

they

three
can

witnesses

nor

any

fact

great

of
in

two

or

science

be established.
If average human testimony is to be received ; if the concurring
observers of even a high
of honest, non-expert
voices of millions
are
to
command
the science of the
order of general
intelligence,
world ; if a count of heads more than an estimate of their contents
shall determine the convictions of men ; if quantity can be, in any
for quality, in the evidence out of which the
degree, a substitute
is builded ; if, in scientific discovery
edifice of human knowledge
shall serve in the place
and observation,
general
acquirements
can displace the
of special acquirements
; if instinctive morality
to tell the truth could always
scientific sense, and the willingness
insure the capacity to tell it ; if the highest genius in one branch of
science must give authority in another branch ; if the universality
of a belief in matters of systematized knowledge
gives even a pre
can, at will and at any moment,
heard raps at the ankle-joint.

without

perceptible

bodily

agitation,

produce

easily

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OF SPIBITISM.

THE PSYCHOLOGY
sumption in favor of
opinion of generation
the

against
follies

are

of

to wisdom

ence is the one mistake

or Newton,

Copernicus

the truth of that belief ; if the unanimous

after generation
of men is to be weighed

demonstration
changed

71

a
and

the
single
expert?then
to substance,
shadows

of humanity
but

the

; then the real heroes

astrologers,

the

world's
and

sci

are not

necromancers,

the

and
of Galileo, and the monks of Salamanca, Mesmer
persecutors
and Home ; and the pilgrimages
of the future
Davis
Reichenbach,
should be made, not to the tomb of Volta nor the Strada Felice of
the home of the discovery of Galvani, but to the historic
Bologna,
rooms where "odie force" was discovered, to the birthplace of mes
Hill at Salem, the house
the Witches'
and mind-reading,
merism
where spirit-rappings first appeared, the dens of medical alchemists,
the retreats of the Highland
seers, to that lonely dwelling of the
the
of
the Green Mountains, where, in the
beneath
shadow
Eddys
were but lately per
presence of intelligent and trusting multitudes,
formed, night after night, and month after month, the best-attested
miracles of all human history.
The relief and cure of disease wrought
through professed
spir
the demonstrable
and
itual aid are usually genuine phenomena,
understood effects of mind acting on body. Mental therapeutics?
the successful treatment of disease through the emotions of expec
tation, hope, and wonder?the
turning of the patient's own mind on
his

disease?is

now
; and

therapeutics

as

clear

for

many

a fact
cases,

as

in medicine
and

especially

or electro
hydroor
for emotional

is incomparably more powerful both for immediate and

ganizations,
The definite expectation
that such and such
effects.
long-enduring
at
in
such
and such a time,
the
take
will
place
body
phenomena
however such expectation may be inspired, is competent to produce
the aid of trance.
that effect, and without
the unlearned alone and the dull, the feminine and imma
Not
ture

and

wonder-loving,

are

open

to

their

influences

; scholarship,

are
science, skepticism, dignity, and a well-balanced
organization,
no certain proof against them ; they are tyrants whose subjects are
found in every rank, in the university of learning as well as in the
factory

or

dispensary.

Why modern
here reached its
answer to which
at the
America

and
spiritism chose America for its starting-point,
a
is
highest popularity,
psychological
inquiry the
is chiefly found in the state of our nation's growth.
its
time of the Rochester
rappings was entering

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THE NORTH

72

AMERICAN

REVIEW.

mental puberty, passing from childhood

into youth,
the
feeling
throbs of new desires, champing impatiently for the race ; the home
not so much of the abjectly ignorant as of the fractionally educated ;
not of the raw, but of the underdone, the paradise of non-experts,
of a many-sided
realm of
who assumed that a perfect knowledge
an
one
at
is
accidental
obtainable
side.
glance
by
thought
Three

classes

common

our

composed
; a fourth

people

class

and among all people, was

to

aspired
sions.

enter
the

Only

are

everywhere

practical
the

enough

yet to be recognized,
were

circle

this

politicians,
in all

society?preachers,
rare
thinkers,

of

proper

in

harnessed

man

was

food

of

and
the

in

honor,
charlatans.

the few who

service

and

and
times,

of

delu
men

practical

all the psychological

questions relating to spiritism, no one
more
or has been more puzzling than this
is
perhaps
interesting,
so
well-balanced,
many
scholarly, generally
?why
logi
judicious,
cal, and scientific men have either enlisted under its flag or have
of its camp. But this fact is in no wise peculiar
been hangers-on
to spiritism ; delusions of all ages are seamed with the blunders of
Of

and

wise

noble

men

; after

and

witchcraft

were

alchemy

abandoned,

if not forgotten, by the people and expelled from the peasant's cot
tage, they were sheltered and honored in the laboratory of scholars
To read a list of the members
and the halls of colleges.
of the
and
of
of the Royal
all
the
French Academy,
learned
Society,
that

and America

of Europe

organizations

have

been

bitten,

maimed,

and prostrated by spiritism, would be like a roll-call after a series

of bloody battles.
The recent trick of reading mind through in
muscular

voluntary

the

movement,

most

remarkable

fact

in

delu

sions since Mesmer's

time, illustrated the same psychological
prin
to end, was
of Brown,
from beginning
The
mind-reading
ciple.
the scholar's delusion, the special failing of the man of science and
of letters, the idol on whose altars our first colleges and universities
haste

made

to

cast

their

crowns.

the past two years have we not seen a bungling

and
During
to
has
learn
rudiments
of
the
who
incompetent trickster,
sleight-of
in any way, is yet
hand, to whom even the art of adroit deception,
to be
ing?have

taught,
we

whose
not

s?ances
seen

Slade

are

as

in his

transparent
campaign

as
across

they

are

Europe

degrad
making

a breach in every citadel of learning that he has attacked and lin

men of science ?
ing his pathway with wounded
The answer to this problem is mainly this : that the logic of the

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THE PSYCHOLOGY

OF SPIBITISM.

73

world is wrong, and the more closely we adhere to it the deeper we

sink into error. The people save themselves by their instincts, but
trained in logic are unwilling
and ashamed, with all
philosophers
in
to
become
their
search
for the truth as
their intellectual
pride,
one of the lower animals.
The watch
that is accurately
set and
erroneous
some
standard
time
is
the
while
kept by
always wrong,
one that is allowed to run down is sure to be right twice in twenty
four hours.
The unscientific
character of the accepted principles
of evidence makes much of reasoning a paradox : through logic we
become illogical ; the greater our knowledge
the further we go
; once

astray

on

the

road

wrong

the

faster

we

hasten,

the

more

speedily we fall into destruction.

When men of scientific genius like Wallace,
Crookes, and Zoll
ner, or trained jurists like Judge Edmonds, or honored men of affairs
like the late Superintendent
of the New York Public Schools, sud
denly or slowly become converts to a belief from which the masses
in all directions are falling away, it is inevitable that
thoughtful
minds should seek for an explanation
; and it is also inevitable that
the usual and accepted solution must be of a partial and one-sided
nature.
To attempt to solve this great problem
by the charge of in
sanity, or of folly, in the general sense of that word, or of dishonesty,
as is so often done, is both
the main
unjust and unscientific. While
factor in the solution is found in the bad logic that has ruled and
still rules the world?in
the need which, in due time, will be sup
of the principles of evidence?there
are
plied of a reconstruction
that can not be omitted
if we would make the
yet other elements
solution complete.
First of all, the faculty of wonder, which is the
to
all
force
scientific discovery, may coexist with the very
impelling
Other factors being the
highest scientific and logical attainments.
same,

man,

commonplace

without

logic,

or

imagination,

or

educa

tion, or aspiration, would be less likely to be conquered by a de

lusion than a successful
;
lawyer, or judge, or scientific discoverer
for logical, well-trained,
truth-loving minds, the only security against
spiritism is in hiding or running away ; if they venture a fair and
open

attack,

and

are

true

to

their

convictions

and

the

necessities

of

If Sir Isaac Newton

surrender.
logic, they must unconditionally
were alive to-day, he would not
unlikely be a convert to spiritism, for
he was gifted, in a degree most marvelous, with those faculties of
in
logic and wonder out of which, when united with non-expertness
scientific
are made ; and the amount of
psychology,
spiritualists
human testimony in favor of spiritualistic
claims is a million-fold

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THE NORTH

74

AMERICAN

REVIEW.

The late Judge

greater than that in favor of the theory of gravity.
Edmonds used to say that he sifted the evidence of spirit manifes
tations just as he sifted the evidence in cases of law, and, in ac
cordance

with

of the

law-books

same

the

and

principles

the universities,

from

and,

his

the

standards

was

position

impreg

nable.

all the excitement

Amid
on

Kiddle
answer
we

that

reject

portion
human

by the recent work

occasioned

the

testimony,

one

no

communications,
of his
preface

spiritual

has

in which
claims

he

he

yet
states

advocates

of Mr.
to

attempted
unless

that,
must

be

re

ceived

; and, by the principles of evidence that all the lawyers, lo

gicians, and scholars of the world have adopted and yet adopt, his
is unanswerable.
Those who attack spiritism with the
reasoning
soon
of
find themselves
the
schools
will
logic
helpless, their weap
ons wrested from their grasp, and turned effectively
against them.
The logic of the universities
and of the metaphysicians
is now, and
has ever been, on the side of delusions ; the logic of the next gen
eration will be on the side of truth, and then men of intellect will
be able to meet the claims of spiritism logically and consistently,
and
will condemn it rationally on just philosophic grounds, as they now
in spite of and against all the teachings of
condemn it instinctively
philosophy.
Of nearly equal psychological
interest is the question why spir
is a faith once wellnigh
uni
itism has so rapidly declined.
Why
a
was
at
least
versal, which
century ago
passively held by a majority
of

our

after

now,

citizens,

so many

of

proofs

its

to

confined

truth,

a despised and diminishing

sect ? The advent of the Fox girls and
in
this
marked,
country, not the birth but the begin
table-moving
of
of
the
death
the
True,
popular belief in spiritism.
general
ning
the world

has

since

resounded

as never

before

terproofs relating to its claims ; but delusions

A
ever been most
active in their decline.
impinging

against

the

earth's

atmosphere

with

proofs

and

coun

are always and have

of matter
fragment

becomes

shooting-star,

and rushes to its quick destruction with a great light and sound ;
countless millions of these little worlds revolve through
meanwhile
in all organic nature the play
infinite space in silence and unseen;
life is noiseless,
of normal, healthy
of the mechanism
frictionless,
or
come
death
disease
with
;
agony and convulsion.
only
painless
Alchemy,
voyance,

witchcraft>
astrology,
and mind-reading,

animal
striking

in

magnetism,
succession

spiritism,
against

clair
modern

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THE PSYCHOLOGY
science, have become

incandescent,

OF SPIBITISM.

75

and all the world

is agaze at the

conflagration.
of

were universally

these delusions

When
men

and

science

letters

and undisputed,

believed
them

passed

simply

by,

quietly

assuming

their truth; hence they fill but a small space in thought or literature:
when the hand of death came upon them, their tremors began and
increased until the whole earth has been shaken.
Of the various
the

exhaustive

causes that have combined

of

explanation

to overthrow

its phenomena

spiritism,

modern

through

neurol

No delusion of history,
ogy is, without denial, the least important.
not even astrology, has been more completely elucidated by science
of no one of its facts or phenomena can it now
than has spiritism;
but for those condemned to
be admitted that it is even mysterious;
this belief science comes too late to bring any redemption, but is
rather like the reprieve that reaches the innocent man just after his
to

execution?science

appealing

the emotions?they

do not meet

both

and

in their

advance

the

and

reason,

spiritism

to

mainly

face to face, but pass

each other,

ways.

respective

A new science, indeed, like that branch of the nervous system

that relates to the trance, the involuntary
life, and that complex
we
of
that
human
the
brain
call
product
testimony, does not reach
as science, but rather is degraded into some aid or
the consciousness
appanage to the delusion that it finds there, as in the telephone the
waves
the

of
brain

For

are

electricity
as sound.

the

average

man,

transformed

indeed,

into

new

waves

sciences

may

of

air

graze

and

reach

the

brain

but do not enter, and leave the subject where they found him, with
his feet fast in the stocks of his own ignorance.
is
Knowledge
power;

but

in a limited

is a far greater
may

conquer,

power.
yet

to-day

time,

near

at hand,

Although
superstitions,

through

at

short

the

delusions,

range,

long

ignorance

ages

untruth,

science
must

be

On young, loyal, truth-seeking minds, baffled by the for

supreme.
mer, mysteries
of spiritism, but open to ideas, the influence of the
scientific explanation of those mysteries
is doubtless great and yearly
and
is
it
hard
to find recruits.
increasing,
already
making
on
own
its
emotions?
Ridicule,
meeting
spiritism
plane?the
has been much more effective, temporarily,
than science; hence the
power of repeated exposures of mediums,
although
logically such
Simi
exposures are no disproof of the abstract claim of spiritism.
the
of
and
of
larly
charges
unpatriotism,
unpracticality,
immorality,

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THE NORTH

76

AMERICAN

REVIEW.

hurled against spiritism, through the mediumship

of
continually
the popular emotions, have much aided its swift decline, although
on the side of the delusion as
they leave the logical arguments
strong

as

ever.

But the one cause of the decline of spiritism is general more

evolution in modern society of the scientific spirit
than special?the
which, although not a special faculty, but a mode of operation of
the faculties, is yet almost equivalent practically to the development
of

a new

in man.

sense

This

that

spirit,

enables

its

to

possessor

the interference
seek for truth through the intellect alone, without
of the emotions, though born in ancient Greece, has yet been so
retarded in its growth that only until the past quarter of a century
can it be said to have attained maturity
in any considerable number
The scientific sense enables one to utterly divorce the
of minds.
intellect and the feelings, so that each may pursue its own course,
as on entering a depot the engine is switched off from the train.
It is this sense that reverses the usual operation of the faculties, and
It is this sense, in a
makes the thought the father to the wish.
of
the
marks
the
and which, indeed,
that
mind,
word,
high maturity
if

a man

have

he

not,

It is the development
human

intellect

is

can

not

enter

of this new
capable,

more

into

the

kingdom

sense, the highest

than

any

special

of

science.

of which
discoveries

the
or

inventions, that is now overturning all the philosophy of the world.

" we are
" The
told
In Bulwer's
Coming Race
bright romance of
at
that the rods loaded with Yril, when pointed
frightful monsters
caused them to crumble to ashes. The Yril of the present day is
this scientific sense, at the very presence of which all forms of delu
sion begin to wither.
From spiritism mixed good and evil have resulted to mankind
;
the evil.
Its
the good, direct and indirect, probably outweighing
worst evil, aside from its immoralities, has been, without doubt, the
to seek truth
of the unscientific
spirit, the attempting
fostering
as though
the
than
rather
emotions
the
intellect,
through
through
one should try to see with the ears, or to hear with the nerves of
it has given for breaking away from the
touch, and the opportunity
to those not psychologically
of
restraints
prepared
Christianity
just
for

such

change.

Indirectly spiritism has been of value far outrunning calculation,

by supplying materials and inspiration for the solution of the world
life, and for the re
?long
problems of trance and the involuntary

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THE PSYCHOLOGY
construction
philosophy.
craft,
of

77

of the principles of evidence, the crowning need of all

This honor it indeed shares with other delusions?witch

alchemy,

reading,

OF SPIBITISM.

"

and

astrology,

later

appearing

"

odie force

animal

and

in the world,

mind

clairvoyance,

magnetism,

; but modern

spiritism has the advantage

a time

at

was

science

when

pre

pared to utilize its copious resources.

Spiritism is, indeed, a precious
mine of psychology,
the veins of which grow wider and richer the
we

longer

them.

work

In this as in all false belief we shall find, if we but search dili

gently and with expert eyes, that there is a law which, without
shadow of turning, presides over men when they stumble and fall
as well as when they unerringly win the race. Delusions
in their
dying enrich the soil in which new ideas take root, and whence they
draw their sustenance and life. Thus it is that error is so often the
of their
parent of wisdom ; and delusionists, by the very wildness
folly, become the unconscious pioneers of truth and lead the leaders
of

science.

That spiritism was a suicidal religion, cutting

its own throat in
the very act of its birth, we have already noted, but, this fatal sub
jective quality aside, there was also an objective reason equally fatal
to its permanent life : it came among a growing people and a rising
A new religion to prosper must strike a nation on the
civilization.
or when

down-grade,

for

down;

utterly

if ever,

then,

in the

absence

of science, the power of a belief

in the supernatural
is needed to
take its place and furnish the stimulus by which mankind
is to be
or
and
elevated.
Buddhism
Mohammedanism
energized
planted in
modern civilized Europe must have perished with its founders, and
in their strength
upon Greece and Rome
descending
Christianity
and glory would have died away on the air of Palestine.
In
sure

the

evolution

supplement

of
each

indeed,
society,
religion
: as one rises
other
the

and

in

a mea

in

science

other

the

same

class

declines ; inherently and persistently

each one must
antagonistic,
of the race. But to attempt
yet fulfill its part in the development
to start a new religion in a scientific age like the present
is like
planting
ture,

an
spiritism

cline to meet
the

temperate

orange-grove
should

on
ever

it half way
zone

of

rise

an

If,

iceberg.
again,

our

; in its modern
humanity?for

in the

fu

far-distant
must

civilization

first

form it is the religion

those

who

are

neither

de

for
very

; the barbarian does not seek for

degraded nor very enlightened
more proofs of his faith?he
has enough already ; and the men of

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THE NORTH

78

AMERICAN

REVIEW.

science now know that the alleged proofs of spiritism are by physi
Of all the phases of religious belief
ology proved to be delusions.
in the world, modern spiritism is preeminently
the religion of faith,
to proving here also as
the instincts of men that prefer believing
in a most

themselves

serting

manner.

extraordinary

to

Professing

a religion of the
it is practically
be a religion of demonstration,
most humiliating
Catholic reposing in the
trust, the Ultramontane
bosom of a Church whose dicta are beyond the reach of his own
a wonder
direct investigation, being in his most credulous moments
of scientific incredulity in comparison with the victim of dark s?
ances,
would

where
reveal,

movement
of
slight
even
to a non-expert,

the
the

or a well-directed

hand,

the

baldness,

kick,

grotesqueness,

and vulgarity of the performance

by which he is about to be en
tranced. Modern
spiritism is in fact the faith of those who are
impatient with faith, and who are hungry to believe all that even
to be

appears

even

Of

suggested

anti-Christian.*
more

to

interest

by spiritism will

sociology?their
of
necessity

in

part
a belief

in the

some

minds

be, perhaps,
the

complex

undemonstrable,

than

other

any

the relations
machinery
or

problem

of delusions
of

nature.
be

will

religion,

to
The

ques

the psy
only by those who have studied but incompletely
man.
not
in
Is
belief
the
also
false as
the
of
demonstrably
chology
necessary as it is universal ? Is it possible for society to hold to
gether without the cohesive force of some great delusion ? Do not
tioned

these

three?science,

and

superstition,

religion?constitute

trinity

of influences which in their relation to human nature practically be

come unity ? Are not the demonstrably
true, or science, the demon
strably

false,

or delusions,

and

the

undemonstrable,

or

religion,

nat

united in the choral music of humanity ?

urally and harmoniously
Is it conceivable that the area of science shall ever be wide enough
to

supply

the wants

the bootblack,

of

all

classes

the shop-girl,

and

grades

the sailor-boy,

and.environments?

to whom

the forecastle

* Some
years ago the writer accepted, for the purpose of psychological
experiment,
to the nervous
to lecture on some points
an invitation
system, before an
relating
"
of various schools.
audience made up largely of spiritists, Comtists, and "come-outers
both interesting
and ludicrous,
One effect of the discussion was to show, in a manner
the one feature common to
that nearly every one in the audience had his pet delusion,
false.
In leaving Christianity
all their beliefs being that they were demonstrably
they
but always into a slough of superstition
in various directions,
had plunged
; in chang
a new master,
and the last was more
ing their faiths they had found, not liberty, but
cruel and unreasonable

than the first.

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OF SPIBITISM.

THE PSYCHOLOGY

79

is at once a school and a home, the bankrupt, the imbecile, the pris
enslaved to
oner, the invalid in hopeless pain, the lad or maiden
wild emotions, the young mother by her first-born's grav? ? If the
" to
Bias was wise in asserting
that
wish for impossi
philosopher
bilities is a mental disease," can it be allowed that any considerable
of men

number

or

are,

ever

will

be,

sane

completely

For

if

many,

has not error the highest

of all allurements
for the majority,
;
who would always exchange the impossible dreams of youth
of maturity
? The difference between
the solid achievements
adult and the child being only one of degree, and that but
slight, are not bubbles of philosophy as necessary for the one as
for the other ? Are not delusions by their very
bubbles of water
all the better fitted to buoy up humanity, and float it
hollowness
over the rough waters until it shall reach the firm soil ?
It being allowed that society must always have some form of de
lusion, what is likely to be the special delusion of the future ? What
are
is next to loom in the offing ? In what direction
phantom-ship
we to look for the mirage
that is to cheat our brethren and allure
our children and children's children ?
As the oracle gave place to the astrologer, the astrologer to the
to the witch, the witch
to the magnetizer,
alchemist, the alchemist
to the clairvoyant,
to the medium,
the clairvoyant
the magnetizer
now
to the mmd-reader,
the medium
the spirit of
shall
whom
upon
not
and
for
the

the

fall

mind-reader

To

shall

whom

this

arm

new

of

deception

be revealed ? Now that the involuntary life?the

last conceivable
stand of delusions?has
yielded its treasures to science, it would ap
that

pear

folly

must

hereafter

on

carry

sence

of

fresh

the

material

war,

guerrilla

that

false

errors

old

only

can only be gratified by

delusions, and that in the ab

passion for the demonstrably

searching in the debris of exploded

man's

must

be

over

worked

and

of emotion.
To a thoughtful
and
again
of
that
the
direct
the
de
influence
mind,
recognizing
philanthropic
false in society is unspeakably great, as that of the de
monstrably
true, or science, is unspeakably small, we seem to be just
monstrably
now threatened with the possibility of a dearth of delusions, of a
serious famine of charlatans in the land, wherein men will sigh in
vain for the old enchantments, and cry aloud for some one to deceive
over

in the

The
ing

there

and

them,
on

laboratories

be

shall

in

philosophy

our

has

very

none

solution

experimental

presence.

given

to

to

answer.

of this problem
In

Germany,

the world

more

may
which

original

already be go
in

science

and

and

fruitful

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THE NORTH

80

AMERICAN

REVIEW.

the demonstrably
false
than all other modern
nations,
thoughts
now exists only in occasional and limited survivals.
Under the in
spiration of the scientific sense all other lands are slowly becoming
Germanized
; and, if this process should continue in the future as at
the
twentieth
see, for the first time in the
century will
present,
an active and general
a
without
of
civilization
mankind,
history
delusion.
George

M.

Beard.

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