454 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The modern Theosophist seeks to appeal to men and women of philo- 

 sophical inclinations, for whom an element of mysticism has its charm, 

 and who are intellectually at unrest with the conceptions underlying 

 modern science and modern life. Such persons are quite likely to be 

 well-educated, refined and sincere. We may believe them intellectually 

 misguided; we may recognize the fraud to which their leader resorted to 

 glorify her creed, but we must equally recognize the absence of many 

 pernicious tendencies in their teachings which characterize other and 

 more practical occult movements. 



Spiritualism, another member of the modern occult family, presents 

 a combination of features rather difficult to portray; but its public 

 career of half a century has probably rendered its tenets and practices 

 fairly familiar. For, like other movements, it presents both doctrines 

 and manifestations, and, like other movements, it achieved its popu- 

 larity through its manifestations and emphasized the doctrines to main- 

 tain the interest and solidarity of its numerous converts. Deliberate 

 fraud has been repeatedly demonstrated in a large number of alleged 

 'spiritualistic' manifestations; in many more the very nature of the 

 phenomena and of the conditions under which they appear is so 

 strongly suggestive of trickery as to render any other hypothesis of their 

 origin improbable and unnecessary. Unconscious deception, exag- 

 gerated and distorted reports, defective and misleading observation 

 have been demonstrated to be most potent reagents, whereby alleged 

 miracles are made to throw off their mystifying envelopings and to leave 

 a simple deposit of intelligible and often commonplace fact. That the 

 methods of this or that medium have not been brought within the range 

 of such explanation may be admitted, but the admission carries with it 

 no bias in favor of the spiritualistic hypothesis. It may be urged, how- 

 ever, that where there is much smoke there is apt to be some fire; yet 

 there is little prospect of discovering the nature of the fire until the 

 smoke has been completely cleared away. Perhaps it has been snatched 

 from heaven by a materialized Prometheus; perhaps it may prove to be 

 the trick of a ridiculus mus gnawing at a match. However, the main 

 point to be insisted upon with regard to such manifestations is that their 

 interpretation and their explanation demand technical knowledge and 

 training, or at least special adaptability to such pursuits. "The prob- 

 lem cannot be solved and settled by amateurs, nor by 'common sense' 



^f 19 ^ Delivers brawling judgments all day long, 



On all things unashamed." 



Spiritualism represents a systematization of popular beliefs and 

 superstitions, modified by echoes of religious and philosophical doc- 

 trines; and is thus not wholly occult. Its main purpose was to establish 

 the reality of communication wth departed spirits; the means which at 

 first spontaneously presented themselves and later were devised for this 



