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It has been shown that there is some good evidence for the
existence of this second body apart from psychic religion, but to
those who have examined that religion it is the centre of the
whole system, sufficiently real to be recognised by clairvoyants,
to be heard by clairaudients, and even to make an exact
impression upon a photographic plate. Of the latter phenomenon,
of which I have had some very particular opportunities of
judging, I have no more doubt than I have of the ordinary
photography of commerce. It had already been shown by the
astronomers that the sensitized plate is a more delicate
recording instrument than the human retina, and that it can show
stars upon a long exposure which the eye has never seen. It
would appear that the spirit world is really so near to us that a
very little extra help under correct conditions of mediumship
will make all the difference. Thus the plate, instead of the
eye, may bring the loved face within the range of vision, while
the trumpet, acting as a megaphone, may bring back the familiar
voice where the spirit whisper with no mechanical aid was still
inaudible. So loud may the latter phenomenon be that in one
case, of which I have the record, the dead man's dog was so
excited at hearing once more his master's voice that he broke his
chain, and deeply scarred the outside of the seance room door in
his efforts to force an entrance.
Now, having said so much of the spirit body, and having
indicated that its presence is not vouched for by only one line
of evidence or school of thought, let us turn to what happens at
the time of death, according to the observation of clairvoyants
on this side and the posthumous accounts of the dead upon the
other.
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