chapter ii

and elsewhere throughout this study.

THE PRESENT POSITION OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH

Sir William Crookes, the well-known English authority in physical science, was almost the first scientist to become seriously interested in psychics, and in Part III of _Notes of an Enquiry into the Phenomena called Spiritual, during the Years 1870-1873_ (London), boldly affirms:--'It will be seen that the facts are of the most astounding character, and seem utterly irreconcilable with all known theories of modern science. Having satisfied myself of their _truth_, it would be moral cowardice to withhold my testimony because my previous publications were ridiculed by critics and others.' And this conclusion reached forty years ago has not been reversed, but has been confirmed by one after another of learned scientists on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 1908, Sir Oliver Lodge, Principal of the University of Birmingham, and at present one of the best known of scientists concerned with the study of spiritual phenomena, stated his position thus:--'On the whole, I am of those who, though they would like to see further and still stronger and more continued proofs, are of opinion that a good case has been made out, and that as the best working hypothesis at the present time it is legitimate to grant that lucid moments of intercourse with deceased persons may in the best cases supervene.... The boundary between the two states--the known and the unknown--is still substantial, but it is wearing thin in places; and like excavators engaged in boring a tunnel from opposite ends, amid the roar of water and other noises, we are beginning to hear now and again the strokes of the pickaxes of our comrades on the other side.'[594] In 1909, Sir Oliver Lodge published _The Survival of Man_, in which, after a careful exposition, covering over three hundred pages, of the definite results of much scientific experimentation by the best scientists of Europe and America, in such psychical phenomena as Telepathy or Thought Transference, Telepathy and Clairvoyance, Automatism and Lucidity, the following tentative conclusion is reached:--'The first thing we 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 genuine character and personality.'[594] And his personal conviction is that 'Intelligent co-operation between other than embodied human minds than our own ... has become possible'.[595]

William James, who was one of the chief psychical researchers in the United States, published his conclusions in October 1909; and of psychical phenomena he wrote:--'As to there being such real natural types of phenomena ignored by orthodox science, I am not baffled at all, for I am fully convinced of it.' Of 'mediumship', he postulated the very interesting theory of a universally diffused 'soul-stuff', which elsewhere (p. 254) we have referred to as the scientific equivalent to the Polynesian _Mana_: 'My own dramatic sense tends instinctively to picture the situation as an interaction between slumbering faculties in the automatist's mind and a cosmic environment of _other consciousness_ of some sort which is able to work upon them. If there were in the universe a lot of diffuse soul-stuff, unable of itself to get into consistent personal form, or to take permanent possession of an organism, yet always craving to do so, it might get its head into the air, parasitically, so to speak, by profiting by weak spots in the armour of human minds, and slipping in and stirring up there the sleeping tendencies to personate.' Expanding this theory into a 'pan-psychic' view of the universe and assuming a 'mother-sea' of consciousness, a bank upon which we all draw, James asked these questions about it, which educated Celtic seers ask themselves about the _Sidhe_ or Fairy-World and its also collective consciousness or life: 'What is its own structure? What is its inner topography?... What are the conditions of individuation or insulation in this mother-sea? To what tracts, to what active systems functioning separately in it, do personalities correspond? Are individual "spirits" constituted there? How numerous, and of how many hierarchic orders may these then be? How permanent? How transient? And how confluent with one another may they become?'[596] We should ask the reader to compare this scientific attitude with the almost identical attitude taken up with respect to the _Sidhe_ Races and the constitution of their world and life by the Irish mystic and seer (pp. 60 ff.).

M. Camille Flammarion, the well-known French astronomer, is another of the pioneer psychical researchers; and in his psychic studies, entitled, as translated in an English edition, _The Unknown_, recently announced these definite conclusions:--'(1) _The soul exists as a real entity independent of the body._ (2) _It is endowed with faculties still unknown to science._ (3) _It is able to act at a distance, without the intervention of the senses._' And in his _Mysterious Psychic Forces_ (Boston, 1907, pp. 452-3), he says:--'The conclusions of the present work concord with those of the former (_The Unknown_).... I may sum up the whole matter with the single statement that there exists in nature, in myriad activity, a _psychic element_ the essential nature of which is still hidden from us.'

THE FINAL TESTING OF THE X-QUANTITY

This chapter can now be brought to its logical conclusion by directly applying the results so far attained to our still vigorous x-quantity or residuum gathered out of the Fairy-Faith. We have, although hurriedly, blazed a rough pathway through the necessary parts of the jungle of scientific theories, and have arrived at a very considerable clearing made by the pioneers, the psychical researchers. We seem, in fact, to have arrived at a point in our long investigations where we can postulate scientifically, on the showing of the data of psychical research, the existence of such invisible intelligences as gods, genii, daemons, all kinds of true fairies, and disembodied men. It is not necessary to produce here, in addition to what already has been set forth, the very voluminous detailed evidence of psychical research as to the existence of such intelligences. The general statement may be made that there are hundreds of carefully proven cases of phenomena or apparitions precisely like many of those which the Celtic peoples attribute to fairies.[597]

Various explanations or theories are offered by our men of science as to what these invisible intelligences are, for none of our scientists would say that the dead alone are responsible, even in a majority of cases, for the observed phenomena and apparitions, but rather such beings as we call daemons, fairies, and elementals. M. Camille Flammarion says:--'The greater part of the phenomena observed--noises, movement of tables, confusions, disturbances, raps, replies to questions asked--are really childish, puerile, vulgar, often ridiculous, and rather resemble the pranks of mischievous boys than serious bona-fide actions. It is impossible not to notice this. Why should the souls of the dead amuse themselves in this way? The supposition seems almost absurd.'[598] There could be no better description of the pranks which house-haunting fairies like brownies and Robin Goodfellows and elementals enjoy than this; and to suppose that the dead perform such mischievous and playful acts is, in truth, absurd. M. Flammarion also says:--'Two inescapable hypotheses present themselves. Either it is we who produce these phenomena' (and this is not reasonable) 'or it is spirits. But mark this well: these spirits are not necessarily the souls of the dead; for other kinds of spiritual beings may exist, and space may be full of them without our ever knowing anything about it, except under unusual circumstances. _Do we not find in the different ancient literatures, demons, angels, gnomes, goblins, sprites, spectres, elementals, &c.? Perhaps these legends are not without some foundation in fact._'[598]

On 'the phenomena of percussive and allied sound'--such as fairies and the dead are said to produce--Sir William Crookes made this report:--'The intelligence governing the phenomena is sometimes manifestly below that of the medium. It is frequently in direct opposition to the wishes of the medium.... The intelligence is sometimes of such a character as to lead to the belief that it does not emanate from any person present.'[599] In the case of the 'medium' Mr. Home, Sir William Crookes used mechanical tests and proved to his own satisfaction that physical objects moved without Mr. Home or any other person being in contact with them,[600] in the way that fairies are believed to move objects. These phenomena parallel remarkable ancient and modern examples of the same nature: e. g. in the affair at Cideville, France, brought before a magistrate, there is sworn evidence by reputable witnesses that pillows and coverlets floated away from a bed in which two children were asleep, and that furniture in the house moved without contact.[601] Mrs. Margaret Quinn, originally of Mullingar, but now of Howth, gave this remarkable testimony:--'When I was a little girl, I lived with my mother in West Meath, near Mullingar. A _fort_ was at the back of our house, and mother used to hear music playing round our house all night, and she has seen _them_ (the _good people_). It often happened there at home that we would have clothes out on the line and they would float off like a balloon at a time when there would not be a bit of wind and in daylight. My mother would come out and say, "God bless _them_ (the _good people_). _They_ will bring them back." And then the clothes would slowly come floating back to the line.' And in our