The New Revelation | Page 5

weak spot is not in his own
brain. For some time I was sustained in my scepticism by the
consideration that many famous men, such as Darwin himself, Huxley,
Tyndall and Herbert Spencer, derided this new branch of knowledge;
but when I learned that their derision had reached such a point that they
would not even examine it, and that Spencer had declared in so many
words that he had decided against it on a priori grounds, while Huxley
had said that it did not interest him, I was bound to admit that, however
great, they were in science, their action in this respect was most
unscientific and dogmatic, while the action of those who studied the
phenomena and tried to find out the laws that governed them, was
following the true path which has given us all human advance and
knowledge. So far I had got in my reasoning, so my sceptical position

was not so solid as before.
It was somewhat reinforced, however, by my own experiences. It is to
be remembered that I was working without a medium, which is like an
astronomer working without a telescope. I have no psychical powers
myself, and those who worked with me had little more. Among us we
could just muster enough of the magnetic force, or whatever you will
call it, to get the table movements with their suspicious and often stupid
messages. I still have notes of those sittings and copies of some, at least,
of the messages. They were not always absolutely stupid. For example,
I find that on one occasion, on my asking some test question, such as
how many coins I had in my pocket, the table spelt out: "We are here to
educate and to elevate, not to guess riddles." And then: "The religious
frame of mind, not the critical, is what we wish to inculcate." Now, no
one could say that that was a puerile message. On the other hand, I was
always haunted by the fear of involuntary pressure from the hands of
the sitters. Then there came an incident which puzzled and disgusted
me very much. We had very good conditions one evening, and an
amount of movement which seemed quite independent of our pressure.
Long and detailed messages came through, which purported to be from
a spirit who gave his name and said he was a commercial traveller who
bad lost his life in a recent fire at a theatre at Exeter. All the details
were exact, and he implored us to write to his family, who lived, he
said, at a place called Slattenmere, in Cumberland. I did so, but my
letter came back, appropriately enough, through the dead letter office.
To this day I do not know whether we were deceived, or whether there
was some mistake in the name of the place; but there are the facts, and I
was so disgusted that for some time my interest in the whole subject
waned. It was one thing to study a subject, but when the subject began
to play elaborate practical jokes it seemed time to call a halt. If there is
such a place as Slattenmere in the world I should even now be glad to
know it.
I was in practice in Southsea at this time, and dwelling there was
General Drayson, a man of very remarkable character, and one of the
pioneers of Spiritualism in this country. To him I went with my
difficulties, and he listened to them very patiently. He made light of my
criticism of the foolish nature of many of these messages, and of the
absolute falseness of some. "You have not got the fundamental truth

into your head," said he. "That truth is, that every spirit in the flesh
passes over to the next world exactly as it is, with no change whatever.
This world is full of weak or foolish people. So is the next. You need
not mix with them, any more than you do in this world. One chooses
one's companions. But suppose a man in this world, who had lived in
his house alone and never mixed with his fellows, was at last to put his
head out of the window to see what sort of place it was, what would
happen? Some naughty boy would probably say something rude.
Anyhow, he would see nothing of the wisdom or greatness of the world.
He would draw his head in thinking it was a very poor place. That is
just what you have done. In a mixed seance, with no definite aim, you
have thrust your head into the next world and you have met some
naughty boys. Go forward and try to reach something better." That was
General Drayson's explanation, and though it did not satisfy me at