314 THE BIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



(generally of the weaker sex) have been found to be 

 either smart swindlers or nervous persons of abnormal 

 irritability. Their supposed gift of "telepathy" (or 

 " action at a distance of thought without material 

 medium ") has no more existence than the " voices " 

 or the "groans" of spirits, etc. The vivid pictures 

 which Carl du Prel, of Munich, and other spiritists 

 give of their phenomena must be regarded as the 

 outcome of a lively imagination, together with a lack 

 of critical power and of knowledge of physiology. 



The majority of religions have, in spite of their 

 great differences, one common feature, which is, at 

 the same time, one of their strongest supports in 

 many quarters. They declare that they can elucidate 

 the problem of existence, the solution of which is 

 beyond the natural power of reason, by the super- 

 natural way of revelation ; from that they derive the 

 authority of the dogmas which, in the guise of " divine 

 laws," control morality and the practical conduct of 

 life. "Divine" inspirations of that kind form the 

 basis of many myths and legends, the human origin 

 of which is perfectly clear. It is true that the God 

 who reveals himself does not always appear in human 

 shape, but in thunder and lightning, storm and earth- 

 quake, fiery bush or menacing cloud. But the revela- 

 tion which he is supposed to bring to the credulous chil- 

 dren of men is always anthropomorphic ; it invariably 

 takes the form of a communication of ideas or com- 

 mands which are formulated and expressed precisely 

 as is done in the normal action of the human brain 

 and larynx. In the Indian and Egyptian religions, in 

 the mythologies of Greece and Rome, in the Old and 

 the New Testaments — the gods think, talk, and act 

 just as men do ; the revelations, in which they are 



