The unhappy outburst of roguery was
helped, no doubt, by the need for darkness claimed by the early
experimenters--a claim which is by no means essential, since the
greatest of all mediums, D. D. Home, was able by the exceptional
strength of his powers to dispense with it. At the same time the
fact that darkness rather than light, and dryness rather than
moisture, are helpful to good results has been abundantly
manifested, and points to the physical laws which underlie the
phenomena. The observation made long afterwards that wireless
telegraphy, another etheric force, acts twice as well by night as
by day, may, corroborate the general conclusions of the early
Spiritualists, while their assertion that the least harmful light
is red light has a suggestive analogy in the experience of the
photographer.
[1] "The Reality of Psychic Phenomena."
"Experiences in Psychical Science." (Watkins.)
There is no space here for the history of the rise and
development of the movement. It provoked warm adhesion and
fierce opposition from the start. Professor Hare and Horace
Greeley were among the educated minority who tested and endorsed
its truth. It was disfigured by many grievous incidents, which
may explain but does not excuse the perverse opposition which it
encountered in so many quarters. This opposition was really
largely based upon the absolute materialism of the age, which
would not admit that there could exist at the present moment such
conditions as might be accepted in the far past.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38