154 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
nostrils ; and St Paul, the philosophic apostle, adopting this view 
to explain the resurrection, uses the biological analogy of the 
continuous life of the species of plants through the germ, to indi- 
cate how the individual or personal life of man may be continued 
independently of consciousness, and how it may he evolved into 
consciousness at some future time, plainly adopting thereby the 
Aristotelian doctrine of the soul. 
Many attempts have been made to verify the separate existence of 
the soul, whether as a religious dogma or a philosophical doctrine, 
and, of necessity, all have failed. I have placed before the Society 
an illustration of these attempts, by the so-called spiritualists, to 
prove the fact of an independent personal identity. It is a drawing, 
by a member of an eminent literary family, of the spirit-emblem 
of a distinguished and much esteemed fellow of this Society. Here 
are published representations of like emblems, taken from Mrs 
Newton Crossland’s “ Light in the Talley.” The seeress, we are 
told, who beholds these mystical appearances, describes them as 
appearing to her in colours of liquid light, with the utmost clear- 
ness, more rich and radiant than earthly jewels. These emblems 
are usually seen to be situate behind the persons to whom they 
belong, the centre of the emblem rising just above the head, and 
occupying a circumference of several feet. They are the badges 
by which persons are recognised in the spirit-world, even while 
they remain on earth. To the production of these emblems a 
belief in the separate existence of “ spirits ” is essential — doubt, 
like the waking from a dream, either prevents or dispels the 
phantasies. Physiologically they differ in no respect from the 
delusions of George Elliot, or of dreamers. The verification of 
any belief means the investigation of the order of nature, so as to 
determine whether the conclusions presented to the consciousness 
as brain-work coincide with the natural order of events. To those 
who are confident that they can assuredly believe in their own 
eyes, the sun undoubtedly moves, and the observer is motionless, 
but a verification of the conclusion shows that the motion is in the 
observer, and the sun is motionless. Now, when a spiritualist 
attempts to verify his belief in spirits, he ignores the fact that his 
belief is due to molecular changes out of, at least, direct relation 
to any spiritual influence, except that which constitutes his own 
