284 HAS SCIENCE DISCOVERED GOD? 



affords of a valid psychical faculty, it affords none for 

 spirit return or spirit identity; for the communicator 

 was alive at the time. The sitter, not much interested, 

 did not know this, and honestly overlooked the possi- 

 bility until later; hence she was able without deceit to 

 meet him during the seance in a natural way. Inci- 

 dentally, as "spirit" communicators invariably do 

 under any encouragement, he gave a detailed account 

 of his "last illness." 



If an isolated case, this would be interesting — and 

 of debatable importance. One would wish to know on 

 what basis so much could be got right, and such a vital 

 element so completely and persistently wrong. When 

 we learn that of all our better-grade seance-room ma- 

 terial, a small but fairly constant percentage takes pre- 

 cisely this form of "communication" from a dead man 

 who turns out not to be dead, it is evident that we 

 have unearthed a fact of the gravest general import. 

 What becomes of the spirit hypothesis in the presence 

 of these "communicators" who are alive and do not 

 know it? For this fraction of the phenomena it must 

 be rejected. I think the well-balanced mind will re- 

 ject, with it, the conventional spiritistic plea that these 

 living communicators represent impersonation by mis- 

 chievous and evil spirits. Surely this is disingenuous 

 and silly! Impersonation is there, evidently; but, 

 bearing in mind the non-spiritistic explanation which 

 we have already formulated, not by spirits of any 

 sort. 



For we have seen that the supernormal cognitive 

 faculty exercised by the psychical operator in his own 

 right and his own person must reside in the subcon- 

 scious. Now it is established that many of our dreams 



