DEATH AND IMMORTALITY 175 



spirits of the dead, and the apparent manifestations 

 of these spirits are regarded by them as satisfactory 

 evidence of another phase of existence of the human 

 soul. 



It has long been self-evident that the question of 

 the possible preservation of human personality after 

 bodily death is not a question suited to the methods 

 and aims of science. In order to establish the 

 truth of an alleged experience or occurrence, it is 

 necessary that the phenomenon in question should be 

 accessible to the experience of more than one person. 

 A person may have a sensation which he describes 

 as that of his heart being grasped by a hand, and may 

 even become convinced that this sensation is evidence 

 of the fact that it is actually being so grasped. But, 

 however strong his conviction be, he cannot estab- 

 lish it on a scientific basis. To establish his conten- 

 tion, he would be compelled to make a suitable 

 appeal to the senses of one or more trained persons 

 who had the confidence of other trained persons. 

 Repeated appeals of a definite nature, made under 

 strictly controlled conditions, would be necessary to 

 convince a jury of trained minds of the probability 

 of the contention ; and, in order that this faith in 

 fact should not be overturned, it should be possible, 

 from time to time, to repeat the demonstration, or 

 one of a similar nature. Clearly such conditions 

 are quite impossible to exact in dealing with the 

 claims of communication between this world and a 

 supposed spirit world. It would be unscientific to 



