viii PREFACE. 



Of much greater importance would 

 be an investigation as to the possibility 

 of immortality on the basis of scientific 

 data, but, strange to say, this method 

 has been almost entirely lost sight of 

 by leaders of the S. P. R. If we could 

 form a definite theory as to the nature 

 of the soul based on exact observation, 

 we would be enabled, first, to explain 

 man's instinctive yearning for immor- 

 tality; and, secondly, to form a definite 

 idea of the condition of the soul after 

 death. Thus we could exclude all the 

 many mistakes which are now made, 

 and which originate through an errone- 

 ous and partly superstitious notion of 

 the relation of the dead to the living. 

 The result is shown in the reports of 

 the S. P. R., abounding in statements 

 of ghost stories, which can be regarded 

 only as a continuation of folk-lore. As 

 a matter of fact, the work of the S. P. 

 R. has so far provided very little help 

 toward a better comprehension of im- 

 mortality. 



Among the men who have done the 



