Chapter VIII.--Spiritualism.--_Continued_, 115

Automatic Writing. A Test Medium. Trance Addresses. A Direct Spirit-Painting. Reflections and Speculations. Testimony of Cromwell F. Varley, F.R.S., the Electrician. Theosophy a Revised Version of Hindoo Metempsychosis, etc. etc. INTRODUCTION. The first book of this series, “How to Mesmerise,” gave so much satisfaction to the reading public, and having passed into several editions, my publishers have asked me to write another work on similar lines. This _brochure_ is my response. Clairvoyance, Psychometry, and Thought Transference--briefly referred to in the former--are more fully gone into in this. Consequently, I have little doubt “How to Thought-Read” will meet with acceptance. Thought-reading is duly considered and explained. A clear distinction is drawn between Musculation, or Muscle and Mind-Reading; and although these pages are not confined to Thought-Reading, as generally understood by the public, the subject itself, and as an entertainment, have been pretty fully dealt with. During the past decade, psychological subjects have, in a remarkable way, arrested public attention. “New Mesmerism” and “New Spiritualism” are popular subjects with editors and magazine writers. Whatever the real causes--a greater influx of the spiritual from “the state of the dead,” or from a reaction in the minds of men against the purblind materialism of our scientific leaders--it is hard to say. Possibly these and other causes have been at work. One thing is certain, for good or ill, the majority of thinking men and women of the age are not only interested in, but are actually searching for evidence of “embodied spirit.” Hence we find men of science, journalists, and even professed materialists and secularists, who, a few years ago, could scarcely speak of these subjects in the ordinary language of courtesy, confess now not only their belief, but are going to the other extreme of advocating, what as yet, they have failed to fully grasp. A few years ago “The British Parliament of Science” was nothing if not materialistic. The leading _savants_ of the day declared “all was matter, no matter what.” Consequently, man was the highest product of protoplasm, and his _only_ destiny the grave. The change has been great indeed, when one of its most brilliant members (Professor Oliver Lodge, D.Sc., F.R.S., British Association at Cardiff, 1891) in his address said: “It is familiar that a thought may be excited on the brain of another person, transferred thither from our brain by pulling a suitable trigger; by liberating energy in the form of sound, for instance, or by the mechanical act of writing, or in other ways. A pre-arranged code, called language, and a material medium of communication, are recognised methods. May there not, also, be an _immaterial_ (perhaps an ethereal) medium of communication? Is it possible that an idea can be transferred from one person to another by a process such as we have not yet grown accustomed to, and know practically nothing about? _In this case I have evidence. I assert I have seen it done, and am perfectly convinced of the fact; many others are satisfied of the truth, too._ It is, perhaps, a natural consequence of the community of life or family relationship running through all living beings. The transmission of life may be likened in some ways to the transmission of magnetism, and all magnets are sympathetically connected, so that, if suitably suspended, a vibration from one disturbs others, even though they be distant 92,000,000 miles. It is sometimes objected that, granting thought-transference or telepathy to be a fact, it belongs more especially to lower forms of life, and that as the cerebral hemispheres develop we become independent of it; that what we notice is the relic of a decaying faculty, not the germ of a new and fruitful sense, and that progress is not to be made by studying or alluding to it. As well might the objection be urged against a study of embryology. _It may, on the other hand, be an indication of a higher mode of communication, which shall survive our temporary connection with ordinary matter._ The whole region is unexplored territory, and it is conceivable that matter may react on mind in a way we can at present only dimly imagine.” The italics are mine. Thought-Transference and Telepathy may, indeed, be an indication of a higher mode of communication between human beings after we have severed our temporary connection with matter. Whether or not, the hope should repay our study. I have sought in the following pages to briefly define and illustrate what these phases of communication are. Double and Psychic Consciousness, Clairvoyance, natural and induced; Psychometry, its natural and leading features as a spiritual faculty; Thought-Transference, visions, dreams, and their _portents_, are in turn briefly dealt with, in order to extract therefrom some evidence of _soul_. Modern Spiritualism is referred to, in so far as Thought-Reading is likely to throw any light upon its psychological phases, as well as on its physical phenomena. While attempting to cover so much ground my difficulty was not what to write, but what not to write, the materials at my disposal being so abundant. Much has been cut down to get the whole within reasonable compass. Nevertheless, I hope my readers will find “How to Thought-Read” a readable contribution to the science of soul. JAMES COATES. Glenbeg, Ardbeg, Rothesay, N. B. [Illustration: EXPERIMENT IN PSYCHOMETRY.--See Page 60. MR. and MRS. COATES.] HOW TO THOUGHT-READ.