Sir William Crookes, F.R.S.

A Brilliant Scientist in Wonderland.

I will first of all take the investigations of Sir Wm. Crookes, the most eminent Scientist in England to-day—Fellow of the Royal Society and Gold Medallist; Discoverer of the Sodium Amalgam Process; Inventor of the Radiometer and Otheoscope; Past-President of the British Chemical Society, and Gold Medallist of the French Academy of Sciences. Thirty years have elapsed since he commenced his experiments in psychic phenomena, and at that time he was admittedly pronouncedly antagonistic to any hypothesis accounting for these mysteries which did not come within the scope of the physical sciences.

When, therefore, it was announced that this shrewd and talented investigator had undertaken to inquire into these so-called spiritual manifestations, the greatest satisfaction was expressed in Scientific circles and in the Press, the latter eulogising him as the one man who could be trusted to pursue the research with all the care, caution, and accuracy that marked his other Scientific work, page 16 and he was expected to once and for all annihilate the claim that the phenomena which had been witnessed by others proved that the human personality survived the ordeal of death.

He devoted four years in this selected capacity to this important work, and in his private house, laboratory and elsewhere took every conceivable precaution to protect himself against being duped. He had a great reputation at stake and was naturally jealous of it. During the whole of this time a fight was going on in his Scientific mind between his implacable scepticism, on the one hand, and the conviction of the reality of the phenomena on the other, and he required to sum up all the moral courage of his nature before he eventually decided, in the face of the storm of ridicule which he knew the declaration would raise, to remain true to Science and true to himself by publicly proclaiming that he had found new and unsuspected forces at work which could only be attributable to the agency of invisible intelligences.

He relates in full detail the varied phenomena he witnessed, and amongst these he enumerates the playing of musical instruments without human intervention and "under conditions rendering contact or connection with the keys impossible." One of these instruments was an accordeon, which was a new one purchased by himself, and the medium had neither seen nor handled it before the commencement of the test experiments. The accordeon, whilst suspended in the air, expanded and contracted just as if being played by invisible hands, the hands of the medium being at the same time quite still. A simple air was played on one occasion and was "considered a crucial test."

Dealing with what he calls percussive and other allied sounds, he says he has sometimes heard loud thuds—loud enough to be heard several rooms off. He has heard them also in a living tree, on a sheet of glass, on a stretched iron wire, on the roof of a cab, on the floor of a theatre, on his shoulder and under his own hands. "I have tested them in every way I could devise," he says, "until there has been no escape from the conviction that they were true objective occurrences, not produced by trickery or mechanical means."

Alluding to the movements of heavy substances he declares a chair was seen by all present to move slowly up to the table from a far corner when all were watching it; "an armchair moved to where we were sitting and then moved slowly back again at my request—a distance of about 3ft."

"On three successive evenings," he continues, "a small table moved slowly across the room under conditions which I had page break

Sir William Crookes, F.R.S.,

Britain's Brilliant Scientist.

"The impression was conveyed to my mind that it was a living woman by my side instead of a visitor from the other world."?

page 17 specially pre-arranged, and I have had several repetitions of the experiment considered by the Committee of the Dialectical Society to be conclusive, viz.: the movement of a heavy table in full light, the chairs turned with their backs to the table, about a foot off, and each person kneeling in his chair, but not touching the table. On one occasion this took place when I was moving about so as to see how everyone was placed. On five separate occasions a heavy dining table rose from a few inches to 18 inches off the floor under special circumstances when trickery was impossible. On another occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, rise several inches from the ground, and on another occasion two children rose from the floor with their chairs in full daylight under most satisfactory conditions, for I was kneeling and keeping close watch on the feet of the chair."

"I would again remind my readers," he explains, "that what I relate has not been accomplished at the house of a medium, but in my own house, where preparations have been quite impossible."

"A medium walking into my dining room," he goes on, "cannot, while seated in one part of the room with a number of persons keenly watching him, by trickery, make an accordeon play in my own hand when I hold it keys downwards, or cause the same accordeon to float about the room playing all the time; he cannot introduce machinery which will wave window curtains or pull up Venetian blinds 8ft. off; tie a knot in a handkerchief and place it in a far corner of the room; sound notes on a distant piano; cause a card plate to float about the room; raise a water bottle and tumbler from the table; make a coral necklace rise on end; cause a fan to move about and fan company; or set in motion a pendulum when enclosed in a glass case firmly cemented to the wall."

Describing certain luminous appearances he has seen, he says: "I have seen luminous points of light darting about and settling on the heads of different persons; I have had questions answered by the flashing of a bright light a desired number of times in front of my face; I have seen sparks of light; rising from the table to the ceiling and again falling upon the table, striking it with an audible sound; I have had an alphabetic communication given by luminous flashes occurring before me in the air whilst my hand was moving about amongst them; and under the strictest test conditions I have more than once had a solid, self-luminous crystalline body placed in my hand by a hand which did not belong to any person in the room. In the light, I have seen a luminous cloud over a heliotrope flower, break a sprig off and carry the sprig to a lady; and on some occasions page 18 I have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to the form of a hand and carry small objects about."

He proceeds to say: "A beautifully-formed small hand rose up from an opening in a dining table and gave me a flower; it appeared and then disappeared three times at intervals, affording me ample opportunity of satisfying myself that it was as real in appearance as my own. This occurred in the light in my own room whilst I was holding the medium's hands and feet. At another time a finger and thumb were seen to pick the petals from a flower in the medium's buttonhole and lay them in front of several persons who were sitting near him. On another occasion, a small hand and arm, like a baby's, appeared playing about a lady who was sitting next to me; it then passed to me and patted my arm and pulled my coat several times. A hand has been repeatedly seen by myself and others playing the keys of an accordeon, both of the medium's hands being visible at the time and sometimes being held by those near him. To the touch the hand sometimes appears icy cold and dead; at other times warm and lifelike, grasping my own with the firm pressure of an old friend."

"A phantom form came from the corner of the room, took an accordeon in its hand and then glided about the room playing the instrument. The form was visible to all present for many minutes, the medium also being seen at the same time. Coming rather close to a lady who was sitting apart from the rest of the company, she gave a slight cry, upon which it vanished."

Describing his experiences with direct writing—that is writing which has not been produced by any person present—Sir William says; "A luminous hand came down from the upper part of the room, and after hovering near me for a few seconds, took the pencil from my hands, rapidly wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, and then rose up over our heads, gradually fading into darkness."

"My second instance of this character," he continues, "may be considered the record of a failure. A good failure often teaches more than the most successful experiment. It took place in the light, in my own room, with only a few private friends and the medium present. Several circumstances, to which I need not further allude, had shown that the power that evening was strong. I therefore expressed a wish to witness the actual production of a written message such as I had heard described a short time before by a friend. Immediately an alphabetic communication was made as follows—"We will try." A pencil and some sheets of paper had been lying on the centre of the table; presently the pencil rose up on its point, and after advancing by hesitating jerks to page 19 the paper, fell down. It then rose and again fell. A third time it tried, but with no better result. After three unsuccessful attempts, a small wooden lath, which was lying near upon the table, slid towards the pencil, and rose a few inches from the table; the pencil rose again, and propping itself against the lath, the two together made an effort to mark the paper. It fell, and then a joint effort was again made. After a third trial the lath gave it up, and moved back to its place; the pencil lay as it fell across the paper, and an alphabetic message told us—"We have tried to do as you asked, but our power is exhausted"

"On another occasion the same lath moved across the table to me in the light, and delivered a message to me by tapping my hand, I repeating the alphabet and the lath tapping me at the right letters. The other end of the lath was resting on the table some distance from the medium's hands. The taps were so sharp and clear, and the lath was evidently so well under control of the invisible power which was governing its movements, that I said—'Can the intelligence governing the motion of this lath change the character of the movements and give me a telegraphic message through the Morse alphabet by taps on my hands?' Immediately I said this the character of the taps changed and the message was continued in the way I had requested. The letters were given too rapidly for me to do more than catch a word here and there, and consequently I lost the message, but I heard sufficient to convince me that there was a good Morse operator at the other end of the line, wherever that might be"

An experiment designed to demonstrate that matter can pass through matter by the application of those higher chemical principles known to these alleged invisible intelligences is recorded as follows:—"The circumstance occurred in the light one Sunday night, only the medium and members of my family being present. My wife and I had been spending the day in the country, and had brought home a few flowers she had gathered. On reaching home we gave them to the servant to put into water, As we were sitting in the dining room the servant brought in the flowers, which she had arranged in a vase. I placed it in the centre of the dining table, which was without a cloth. This was the first time the medium had seen these flowers. Presently a luminous hand was seen hovering over the bouquet of flowers, and then, in full view of all present, a piece of China grass, 15 inches long, which formed the centra ornament of the bouquet, slowly rose from the other flowers and then descended to the table in front of the vase. It did not stop on reaching the table, but went though it, and we all watched it until it had entirely passed through. Immediately on the disappearance of the page 20 grass my wife, who was sitting near the medium, saw a hand come up from under the table between them, holding the piece of grass. It tapped her on the shoulder two or thee times with a sound audible to all, then laid the grass on the floor and disappeared. During the time this was taking place, the medium's hands were seen by all to be quietly resting on the table in front of him. The place where the grass disappeared was 18 inches from his hands."