On the other hand, many of the
likenesses, obtained under the same test conditions, are
obviously simulacra or pictures built up by some psychic force,
not necessarily by the individual spirits themselves, to
represent the dead. In some undoubtedly genuine cases it is an
exact, or almost exact, reproduction of an existing picture, as
if the conscious intelligent force, whatever it might be, had
consulted it as to the former appearance of the deceased, and had
then built it up in exact accordance with the original. In such
cases the spirit face may show as a flat surface instead of a
contour. Rigid examination has shown that the existing model was
usually outside the ken of the photographer.
Two of the bravest champions whom Spiritualism has ever
produced, the late W. T. Stead and the late Archdeacon Colley--
names which will bulk large in days to come--attached great
importance to spirit photography as a final and
incontestable proof of survival. In his recent work, "Proofs of
the Truth of Spiritualism" (Kegan Paul), the eminent botanist,
Professor Henslow, has given one case which would really appear
to be above criticism. He narrates how the inquirer subjected a
sealed packet of plates to the Crewe circle without exposure,
endeavoring to get a psychograph. Upon being asked on which
plate he desired it, he said "the fifth." Upon this plate being
developed, there was found on it a copy of a passage from the
Codex Alexandrinus of the New Testament in the British Museum.
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