The ROUND ROBIN
Vol. 1, No. 5
June 1945

[1]

THE GREAT SIMPLICITIES

So far as we can see, all that the world needs for the cure of its intolerable woes, is the practise of the ordinary Christian virtues (tho Christianity has no monopoly of them).

We do not need new revelations, as from holy men and prophets, nor even, for this purpose, new scientific knowledge, Arts or skills. All these are most desirable, but they do not overthrow evil nor preserve us from it.

We believe there is only one compulsion or true sanction of conduct -- ENLIGHTENED SELF INTEREST. Some form of self-interest has always been exploited, of course. The happiness of heaven, fear of hell, or of Authority with rack and stake, fear of non-conformity and social disapproval -- all appeal to self-interest. But why does human welfare not issue from them?

Ethical questions grow extremely subtle, but we are trying to be simple-minded. All we want to know is, WHY does John Doe lie and steal? The only answer, "It seems to him to be, in some way, advantageous."

Threaten him with the police, with springs-guns, or with the wrath of God - all seem doubtful, maybe evadable. Appeal to him with philosophy, religion, logic, sentimental blandishments, you may get superficial agreement, but not an end of pilfering.

It seems plain that J.D. needs enlightenment as to where his true self-interest lies. Religion, armies, policemen, saints, philosophers, scientists even try to give this light. Often Authority is wrong, often it gets a degree of conformity, wrong or right. But whether the world grows better or not is a matter of most dubious opinion.

Obviously, what John Doe and Everyman needs is to grow up, or grow UP. His compulsions must be internal. The most elementary step is, that he should learn what selfishness, cruelty and dishonesty do to HIM, inevitably, unescapably, by laws of Nature, and not of man. He needs eye-opening, a vast informing and soul-shaking, an abysmal frightening. If only he -- I mean WE, if WE could see the incredible evil forms and effects of our own creating, we would indeed have effective good reasons for good behaviour.

And so we grow speculative and fantastic. We think that maybe once-on-a-time man was "that way", could see on both sides the Veil, in the etheric and astral as well as the physical. And that was the Golden Age, when he behaved himself, and for very good reasons; he knew what happened to him if he didn't. Maybe this eye-opening, this Illumination is coming again -- and maybe it is the only hope of the humanity of the future. At least there are many people who think so - and it seems to us worth thinking about.

[2]

THE KLUSKI MEDIUMSHIP

The May issue of the "Round Robin" carried the first installment of articles on the Mediumship of "Kluski", and of "Carlos Mirabelli", derived from Zeitschrift fuer Parasychologie of 1926 and 1927, from the report of Doctor Pawlowski in the ASPR Journal, and from the English version of Johannes Greber's "COMMUNICATION WITH THE SPIRIT WORLD" (Macoy Pub. Co. 1932). The following synopses and quotations continue with the same subject.

Parafine Molds:

A kettle of melted parafine was kept in the seance room. The "phantoms" approached it with interest, dipped their luminous hands into it, and when the parafine had cooled enough would dematerialize the hands, leaving the mold intact. This cooling on the spirit hand, required from ½ to ¾ of a minute, but Pawlowski found that on his own hand "several minutes" were required. From these molds it is possible to make plaster casts, and in doing so Pawlowski noted that small hairs were imbedded in the parafine. In one cast the hand was doubled into a fist, with the tip of the thumb projecting between the index and middle fingers. The "phantom" had been asked to produce something hard to imitate.

(Note: This experiment has, of course, been frequently reproduced, by Richet, Geley, Schrenck von Notzing, and various English and American investigators. Every effort has been made to reproduce the molds by normal means, by the hand, by models, and by inflated rubber gloves, but without success. The parafine cannot be removed intact even if the hand is held straight, and where the fingers are bent to the palm, or thumb and finger are in contact, the problem cannot even be approached. Molds have been obtained of hands of every type, all ages and both sexes; the markings of the palm and the details of the skin are preserved. A trace of chemical or dye stuff is often placed in the parafine, to prevent fraudulent substitution. These details are of course familiar to psychic research students; they are, nevertheless, consistently ignored by hostile and ignorant critics, who are unable to invent a single intelligible explanation of their own.)

"OF APPORTS"

(says Professor Pawlowski) "I saw only a few, and these were of small objects . . . The most remarkable phenomenon of this sort was the disappearance of Kluski himself from the seance room, which had been locked up and sealed . . . The members of the Society found him in a fairly remote room of the apartments, sound asleep."

Though the seance room was tightly closed, and contained seven persons, thermometers showed a fall of 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit toward the close of the seance - that is, at the end of one to two hours. Normally the temperature should rise under such conditions.

A small luminous mist was often seen above the head of the medium. This would soon move to one side and take on the form of a human head, or else of a complete human figure "which immediately began to walk about."

THE "APPARITIONS"

behaved exactly like normal human beings -- "Like guests at a party. " They moved about, greeted different persons known to them, and did everything possible to demonstrate that they were real beings, and not illusions or hallucinations. Sometimes, when the medium was tired or indisposed, the forms were smaller, like that of a child. But, if all the sitters began to breathe deeply and regularly, in unison, the "phantom" at once regained its life size.

Not all of the phantoms were able to speak, others spoke in different languages and seemed to understand "remarks in any tongue," as well as reading unspoken [3] thoughts without the least difficulty. Most of the voices had the quality of a loud whisper.

Prof. Pawlowski concludes his account with the following words:

"It is impossible for anyone to deny or reject these phenomena, or to explain them by ascribing them to sleight of hand. I realize that it will be difficult for most people to believe them; that it is hard to conceive of the possibility of coming into existence, within a few minutes, of living human beings, whose bones can be felt through their flesh, whose heart-beats can be heard and felt . . . I admit that all these things are beyond our comprehension . . . Science will (yet) recognize officially the great mass of experimental work and material already available and will lend its hand to the establishment of truth, regardless of those moralists who see in psychic phenomena a menace to morality and religion . . . But no student, no seeker after truth, can afford to take such a stand." (Greber, p. 234)

(But how futile it is to strive against the Zeitgeist -- unless, in so striving, we too do its bidding! Materialistic phenomena, in varying forms and degrees, along with levitations, telekinesis, apportation, forms of psychography, communication by voice and other ways, have been witnessed thousands of times, described in ten thousand books, by distinguished and competent observers, and by literally millions of sane and honest folk. But on the "official" and "orthodox" science of our time -- forever boasting of its open-mindedness -- all this mass of material has made no impression at all. And though many individual scientists accept such facts as at least "genuine", even they for the most part hold their opinions half-secret, esteeming prestige and academic employment as of higher value. Orthodox religionism yields not a foot of ground, and the common man is as the blind led by the blind. And all that we are saying here, has also been said ten thousand times with equal futility. We believe that all this passes; that the Light which has been at our right hand from the world's foundation is again shining forth, perhaps this time to be comprehended as never before; and for this we see a multitude of presentments. But meanwhile, as in the past, to the instructed ones we can say only, "COURAGE -- and patience -- and devotion to the truth; for the Time Spirit moves to its own listing, and its will is not to be hastened or denied.)

In the July issue,
The Mediumship of Carlos Mirabelli

What is the nature of man, of God, and of the material world? What is meant by energy, life, and consciousness, and how are all these things related?

Merrell-Wolfe, in "Pathways Through To Space", says in ten words what many a volume has expounded: "There IS NO SOLUTION ON THE PLANE OF COMMON CONSCIOUSNESS. But can EXTENDED consciousness reach a level where it knows, and no longer asks? His own answer is an unequivocal YES."

[4]

Re VITALITY GLOBULES:

Dr. N.W.J. of San Diego tells us he has always been able to see them quite easily. To his vision the darting points often seem to collide, or their paths to intersect; when this occurs there is something resembling a tiny spark. This is interesting and consistent with other ideas we have advanced about them . . . Mr L. H. Smith (of El Cajon, California) writes that these appearances are familiar to him also. He sees some of them as dark colored, others as whitish or bright; their motion is often in the form of an inverted V or U, also the path often seems curved or even semi-circular. Our own observation gives only darting movements in every possible direction.

Attorney W.G.R. (Pasadena) studied these objects in considerable detail, took careful note of all other appearances also, such as muscae, tear drift and after-images, and set down an analysis of his results. We hope to reproduce part or all of this in a later issue. We have yet to find a single observer who thinks that the "Globules" are in the eye (entoptic); most of them regard the suggestion as ridiculous . . . Mrs H.L. (Mass) was unable to see them for a long time but is now able to do so . . . Dr Brunings (La Mesa, California) has observed them at intervals for years; does not express any theory about them.

To recapitulate, followers of Oriental lore say that the globules are units of vital energy emanating from the sun. Tesla thought they might be "Ionized particles". Dr Philip S. Haley, who probably has studied them more than any other American observer, thinks they are energy units, perhaps of a living sort, and probably related to the minute paroptic lights often seen in seance work. These latter, it should be remembered, often develop into human-like faces, or when close at hand are seen to contain faces. (See, in this connection, Prof. Pawlowski's reports on the Kluski seances, May issue of this bulletin) ... They can be seen indoors, against a white tiled surface if the light is right, or with an Hg vapor lamp and a ground glass screen. The best way (once again) is to look toward (rather than at) blue sky, or a bright overcast of cloud, with the sun behind the observer; examine the air about 5 to 10 feet in front of the eyes.

So far, no one reports seeing the globules closer than 4 to 5 feet, usually they are farther off. Movements of the eyeball or strong winds do not affect them at all. The field of a powerful magnet has no apparent effect, but this requires further investigation . . . It is possible that they are affected in some way by the aura, which maybe accounts for the inability to see them close before the face . . . Effect of a high vacuum is not known . . . No one reports seeing them at night, which accords with the Oriental theory that they are very scarce at that time.

As a matter of physics only, the "globules" evidently lie in the field of rays or radiations. Science recognizes a corpuscular (mass) solar ray, believed to produce the North Lights when entering the earth's magnetic field. If we conceived that such ray-particles produced a visible effect, a track or trace, it is not likely that they would show any direction or drift when close to the earth; they might have the angular darting and indeterminate motion shown by the "globules." Also, by analogy with other phenomena, the intersection of their paths, or actual collision of the particles, might produce a visual spark effect (noted by some observers).

Since it is not likely that the actual particle is visible at any time, nothing can be assumed as to their probable size, or as to their powers of penetration, or how or whether they are affected by radiation from objects, or by impact, or by electromagnetic conditions. We can note, however, that they are either so minute or so highly energised that air jets, winds and other familiar conditions have no influence on them.

Several correspondents have made mention of the cosmic rays in this connection. These of course are known to be corpuscular, at least in their primary nature; they are not waves or photons (most of them); their origin is not known, but they are extra-terrestrial and do NOT come from the Sun or from the Milky Way, and usually carry a positive charge before entering the atmosphere. At the poles all the particles arrive, [5] in other latitudes only part of them. Some of these rays are "soft"; others (the mesotrons) are "hard". At sea level the ray consists of electrons and mesotrons, and these latter produce (become) electrons and neutrinos. The impact and penetration of the ray, on the atmosphere and on solid objects, produces a great number of other particles or rays of varying nature. The subject is elaborate and highly technical.

We're not making any identification or connection between cosmic rays and vitality globules -- as we hope our scientific readers will note. We simply offer the guess that, from the side of physics, the v-g's will eventually be "explained" as a visual phenomenon arising from some kind of ray impact -- whatever the ray particles may be "in themselves".

One reason we're interested in this seemingly-small phenomenon is:

Our guess is, we repeat, that Tesla's comment was to the point; only we want a page or a paragraph or a line-or-two of explanation and elaboration of his "ionized particles" expression.

Finally, when or if some Scientist lets his light shine forth, tells us exactly what the V-G's are, and so relieves the world trembling with suspense (?), the PR problem about them will probably remain exactly what it is now. We think, for a dozen near-sufficient reasons, that Dr Haley's theory about them should be given careful consideration; certainly his extended studies should receive respect. Meanwhile, we hope our readers will continue to report their own observations.

You don't believe - I won't attempt to make ye:
    You are asleep - I won't attempt to wake ye.
Sleep on! Sleep on! while in your pleasant dreams
Of Reason you may drink of life's clear stream.
Reason and Newton, they are quite two things;
For so the swallow and the sparrow sings.

Reason says "Miracle"; Newton says "Doubt".
Aye! that's the way to make all Nature out.
"Doubt, doubt, and don't believe without experiment";
That is the very thing that Jesus meant
When He said "Only believe! believe and try!
Try, try, and nevermind the reason why!"

( Blake: YOU DON'T BELIEVE )

[6]

TARES AND THISTLES

WHY THE SHIRKSHIRE?

According to the N.Y.TIMES, that's a roaring gale that blows over the Bennington (Vt.) area "every four or five years," descending from the mountains on the east. The last one was on May 4, '45, it blew down trees and chimneys, caused one death.

KNOCKFIERNA,

home of DONN the Fairy King. That's in County Limerick near Ballingarry. School boy John Keely meets a leprechaun in broad daylight; later, he and two companions see two of the little men skipping rope -- and other witnesses also, tho farther off. All the expectable tried-dried-and-dubious "explanations" are offered -- midgets from some circus, tricks by children, day-dreams, hallucinations, or what-have-you -- only nobody believes them, in County Limerick at least. Article all about this, in the Springfield Union-Republican (Ill.). (Courtesy of Mrs. H. L.)

"PROBABLY A BOLIDE"

shook up four eastern States, May 4 last, with blue-white fire, detonations, or according to some folks, with a violent wind blast. Dr. R.K. Marshall (Univ. of Penna. observatory) gave the name to it, but Dr Gordon (Curator, Academy of Natural Sciences) didn't think the noise he heard was made by a P-A-B. Some sensationalists said they were thrown out of bed, but seismograph records showed exactly nothing. N.Y. Times has the story about it.

Last issue of the ROUND ROBIN carried a story about the HOUSE OF MYSTERY in southern Oregon, well-known to the curious. Now comes the Springfield Union, tells the familiar facts once again, then says that Earl K. Nixon, geologist, thinks it's all illusion plus self-suggestion. That's because his clinometer compass showed a friend standing straight up when he appeared to be leaning. Mr E.C. Krieger, Ordnance Inspector, sent us that one, and makes a comment: "I imagine that c-c was at right angles to the subject's axis, and naturally would show a 90 degree angle, since it too was affected by whatever does the affecting." The newspaper, with the sapience of its kind, heads the article "Just an Illusion" - - so don't worry about it any more; it's all solved!

About that Spectral APPENDECTOMY again (already twice noted by us in the RR); the PSYCHIC OBSERVER for May (1945) has 4 or 5 photos of the seance rooms, which gives a good idea of the set-up. Also, on March 25 last, the AMERICAN WEEKLY (L.A. Examiner supplement) carried a more detailed account than others we have seen. Here are the items:

"Witnesses" were 3 doctors, six reporters, and 2 other persons.
The patient was in a 12 ft. square room with one door and one window. The witnesses boarded up the window and sealed it, examined the walls and tiled floor.
Materials furnished at request of the "spirit surgeon" were gloves, bandages, two jars of alcohol, a medical work open at Appendectomy, water in bottles, and a pail.
The doctors, the newsmen, and the mediums waited in a 5ft. square anteroom (the only communicating room); and the door between the rooms was locked and sealed.
One hour and Fifty minutes later, witnesses went in to the patient, found him strapped on his cot ( as before ), but with a fresh 2-inch incision, sewed with catgut and bandaged. In the alcohol jar, one appendix.

[7]

No catgut had been left in the room, and no scalpel, and no instrument was found. Leaves of the medical book had been turned, and were slightly blood-stained.

X-ray photos prior to the operation showed chronic appendicitis, and photo (x-ray) 5 days later showed that the appendix had been removed. The appendix in the jar was inflamed and enlarged.

The alleged operator, of course, was said to be the ghostly Dr. Amaral, 19 years "dead". There are some discrepancies in the various accounts, but none which seem to affect the main (alleged) facts -- certainly none which tells us "who done it" and how? Maybe it was Dr do Amaral after all.

EGGS -- and Eggs:

Not many months ago we were intrigued by the discovery of Chinese Egg Day (our name for it); the Chinese calendar says "this day eggs stand on end," and according to press reports from various G.I. experimenters, they do just that. Or maybe it was a certain hour of the day. Will someone please give us the date and hour for this?

We are egged on to this inquiry by a memo. from Mr E.C. Krieger, who quotes from the Indianapolis Times of April 12. One Yun Gee, artist, says he has seen an honorable elder stand three eggs in a triangle, balance a fourth on top, then remove the lower V three. The fourth one stays put, resting on airy nothingness. That's Tung Tan Dou, or Float on Empty Sky Egg. Artist Yun Gee holds three eggs end-to-end, makes the middle one spin. Can do, with practise! That's a hint for your spare time.

Muncie Evening Press, May 31 (courtesy of Mr Krieger). At Johannesburg, S.A. diamond field digger unearths a fossilized sandal, nearly 14 inches long, 7 inches wide at maximum, sole 2 inches thick, imprint of 5 toes, "conceivably a million years old" - - probably before shoe-rationing started - - or was it? Mr K's note, and ours, is "read Charles Fort for parallels" and be struck-like-a-duck.

And the North Magnetic Pole is NOT in northern Canada, as all the text books have it, but according to RAF exploration party is in the Sverdrup Islands, 2-3000 miles northwest, ca. 75 N 80 E, and some 1,500 miles from the geographical pole (Indianapolis Times, May 28). Tiffany Thayer and DOUBT, please note or quote.

Climate gives way to weather, as "unusual" for '45 as for '44. Early June snow in Minnesota, bitter cold in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa.

April 14-15, earthquake shocks, under-sea, off Alaskan coast, and another off the Pacific Coast of Mexico. A Japanese seismologist predicted that these two areas would be simultaneously active, and similar effects will probably reoccur.

The famous seismologist John Milne (1850-1913) thought that the frequency of earthquakes is related to migrations of the pole, particularly to sudden movements. These migrations normally amount to about .3 second, or 10 meters either side of the mean position. Some experts agree, others are doubtful.

Radio commentator Griffin, May 24, on vitamin experiments. Group A had no extra Vitamines, group B had sugar pills, group C was given Vitamin pills. Results: 1st month, no change; 2nd month, great improvement in group B; 3rd month, improvement "mainly" in group C. Too bad the time was so short; our own bet is on group B.

[8]

-- BEDTIME FOR ADULTS --

And do we all want to hear another bed-time story? Very well, mes enfants! gather round. And have we all got our PhD, D.Sc. and especially our M.D. diplomas pinned in to our pockets, just in case any of us get lost? Very well, then. This is a story about a little doggie, whose name was Jim. He was a bird dog, and a setter (English, not curbstone), and he lived with Mr S.H. Van Arsdale in Sedalia, Mo., and was a very smart dog.

"Jim", said his master, "show me the car with license 190-815." And Jim picked it out. Then Mr A. wrote on a piece of paper, "show us the Buick," and that was easy too. And in the hardware store, Jim picked out any article named to him. And then the Professors began to Investigate, and one asked him in Italian to pick out an elm tree, and a second gave him a license number in French, and a third asked him for the "girl in blue" in German, and the fourth inquired in Spanish which was the man with the Chaplin moustache. All this little examination was pie (or juicy meat-bone) for Jim.

Significant of something -or- other, Mr Arsdale had to understand the question himself, and ask Jim to respond, before he would move an inch. But there's nothing to the unconscious signal theory. "Show me the sign spelled H-O-F-F-M-A-N," said Mr A., and Jim did so -- but it was a smaller sign around the corner which Mr A. hadn't seen. And when he and his wife were talking about a lost picture, Jim walked over to the bureau, put his foot on a dresser drawer -- and there it was.

This Jim was really a famous character, even if you haven't heard about him; he travelled in half a dozen states with his master, on hunting trips, and thousands of people tried thousands of stunts with him -- so the case does not rest on the few items mentioned.

Well, there were the famous talking horses of Elberfeld, nearly as famous as the famous Maeterlinck who wrote about them, or the score of European scientists who have investigated and invented unprovable theories to "explain" them. The "talking" of course was done by hoof-taps, and the horses rather specialized in cube root and logarithms, but still would volunteer an occasional remark about humans, usually very uncomplimentary... And then, there's the conversational mongoose, that Harry Price wrote about, which makes a mockery of sense and a scandal against the name of all things reasonable. But some facts are like that, and Charles Fort collected them by the book-full.

One other example, to come nearer to date. In CORONET for May 1937, and in a reprint in MIND DIGEST for May 1945, there's an article about Rolfe the Thinking Dog, who belonged to the wife of Dr Morkel, advocate of Mannheim, Germany. Rolfe was a first class mathematician, could read handwriting, and could also (supreme achievement) give lengthy, intelligent and often unexpected replies, certainly NOT originating in the consciousness of any person present. His IQ we would guess, must have been at least 80, because he used to help the Morkel children do their school work.

There's almost a small literature grown up about this dog, and if you are filled with the Pooh-Bah impulse, read the list of references, and degree-bespangled dignitaries (Doctors, Professors) who waggled befuddled heads over him -- all in this same article.

Now, we're not summarizing all this stuff merely to fill in time, space, and two pages of the Round Robin. We're writing about it because it frightens us, and because we yearn for information. Maybe nobody else feels that way. If flea-full Fido, or Scabious Scotty suddenly began to add his bit to family arguments, via the paw and alphabet board, most people would think it just too cute for anything -- and nothing more. But we feel like decrepit Cortez on his mountain -- [9] that's because, imprimis, in the presence of these happenings, the whole of our "relevant" scientific knowledge rolls up into one large round empty ZERO - and we do not think the esoteric wisdom is in any better case. Yes, we have heard that dog, mongoose, horse or other beastie is a "medium" of some spirit does that "talking" -- and that it's a matter of telepathic rapport with human subconsciousness -- or with a cosmic reservoir of knowledge - and that the group mind-or-soul, evolving, here and there lifts up its head into a semblance of humanity. And for many folk these cloudy speculations are all-sufficient. And we know the orthodox scientist of our time thinks the phenomena are "unproved" anyhow, and so logically refuses to be bothered by them. But still we feel that, asking for bread, we cannot digest the stones that are thus offered us. Or if truth is not to be had, let us at least have something that will half-way integrate with our other accumulated errors.

And we're frightened because, contemplating these happenings, we feel hand-holds slipping, foot-holds crumbling, the unfathomable universe (which Whitman praised) threatening us with its height and its abysses. Fido's paw and the stallion's hoof call us all fools, and prove it by the act of naming. We seem to hear, out of the dark side of Nature, certain little gusts of sardonic laughter. True, of course, no one fact in this world is per se more mysterious than any other, but we get accustomed to most of them, and so think they are no mysteries at all. But when Fido goes in for philosophy, and Dobbin for the binominal theorem, it is much too much. There is a sound of going in the mulberry tops - or a rumor of subterranean waters.

C'est tout, mes enfants. . . . . . . . Dormez bien!

J. A. Findlay

Amongst the earliest men of scientific eminence, Sir Wm Crookes and Alfred Russel Wallace will be remembered for their courage and fortitude in proclaiming a new but unpopular truth...

Amongst other famous men of science, I would mention Lord Rayleigh, Sir Archibald Geikie, Sir J.J. Thompson and Professor Gilbert Murray, and in America, Professor William James and Dr Hyslop...

In Europe, Lombroso and Flammarion declared their belief in a spirit world and in intercommunication. Richet, the famous French psychologist, has accepted the phenomena tho' he still reserves his opinion as to their interpretation, (yet) writing in Nature he states that our intelligence is reached by "forces that disclose facts which neither sight, hearing nor touch could reveal."...

In other walks of life, W.E. Gladstone gave his support to the Society for Psychical Research; the Earl of Balfour was the Society's president. Bishop Boyd Carpenter, Archdeacon Colley, Lord Tennyson, W.T. Stead; Watts and Leighton, the painters, Ruskin, R.L. Stevenson, Andrew Lang... Sir Arthur Conan Doyle... Sidgwick Myers, and Guerney (interested in and supported psychical research)... The philosophy of Bergson was influenced by his knowledge of this subject...

("On The Edge Of The Etheric"
p. 23 ff., condensed)

[10]

We haven't been reading the YALE REVIEW very often, account of its being a 44 calibre publication, or a big gun with a big bore. The Spring number, however, has an article called Belief in a Future Life, by J. Paul Williams. Dr Williams asserts that the question, What is the nature of man? is one of the most intensely practical problems in philosophy - - with which we venture ardent agreement. His basic question is, whether belief in a future life is rational; and the answer, ten pages further on, is Yeas and No. It's rational, says the author, if your mind works that way, otherwise not. But he does think a future life is probable, and that we ought to live as if we were sure of it. But there's no real evidence, he thinks, "unless you accept that of psychic research" - - plainly a for-fetched supposition!

Well if you leave out all the evidence, plainly there isn't any. But we do wish he had told us just what would rate as evidence in his mind. And because he left out the PR angle of approach, Dr Williams was unable to find a single thing to say which was not repetitious and familiar as a grandfather-clock-tick; it's a softly smothering effect like a duck-down pillow. Either the REVIEW is getting a bit mothy, or Dr W. is too great a personage for his article to be found "not suited to our needs."

Lieut. Col. A. E. Powell. The After-Death Life.

The claims of spiritualists are quite definite and simple. There are literally millions of spiritualists, and thousands of mediums of varying grades and powers, while among those who have been convinced of the possibility of communication... to mention a few only; we have Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge, Dr Alfred Russell Wallace, Lord Rayleigh, W.T. Stead, F.W.H. Myers, Sir William Barrett, Mr Serjeant Cox, Professor Sidgwick, Mr Gerald Balfour, Dr Richard Hodgson, Dr Hereward Carrington, Professor William James, Professor Hyslop, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Professor Lombroso, Professor Charles Richet, Professor Chiaia, N. Camille Flammarion, Gustave Fechner, Professor Scheibner, Professor Zollner, Dr Schrenck-Notzing, and countless others.

(page 13)

Participants in a noonday service at an Anglican Church in London were startled last week by a message from the dead. Up rose Lord Dowding to read a letter which he believed was dictated to him by the spirit of a sailor missing in action.

Said the 61-year-old retired Air Chief Marshall . . . "I have the largest number of messages from men who have passed over in this war . . . the tone of these messages is 'We are O.K.' and 'Don't grieve for us. We're the lucky ones. We've never been so happy . . .' There is a great organization of Air Force men on the other side and I receive frequent messages from them."

(Time, Sept. 15th 1945)

Said Jesus, on whom be peace: "The world is a bridge; pass over it but build no house thereon."

(Egyptian Sayings of Jesus)

[11]

The MIND DIGEST is a now magazine; the April issue is No.1 of Volume 1. Published at York, Penne., Win. G. Faltin, Editor. $2.50 yearly, .25¢ per copy.

It "will deal with all phases of life, in their relation to mind," is non-sectarian and has the general viewpoint of esoteric philosophy (evolutionism, perfectionism, unfoldment, God-consciousness).

The first issue runs to nearly 100 pages with some 35 contributors, among them Thomas Sugrue, Hereward Carrington, and Browne Landone, and includes some good re-prints. It's distinctly a magazine of the uplift type, but with considerable emphasis too on popularized phases of PR and parapsychology. Well, uplift, is what we need, and this seems to be a decided improvement over similar publications.

In the May issue of this same MIND DIGEST there's an article by Dr Edwin F. Bowers called "Materialization" (page 38), in which is extolled the mediumship of one "Dr" Robert Moore. The Round Robin doesn't go in for personalities, but here we have some small addenda of our own. That's because we knew this "Dr." and once attended his series of seances and development classes (twice a week for about 8 months), and still have a hundred pages or so of notes about it. And we herewith register our profound personal conviction on two points, (1) that he was a genuine medium if there ever was one, and obtained excellent results in nearly all of the "major" phenomena; and that (2) he repeatedly employed the most impudent fraud we have ever seen in a seance room. And everyone experienced in PR matters knows that these two are compatible. There have been many similar instances.

De mortuis nihil . . . and so on! The versatile Dr M. is now among the invisibles and besides attesting the genuineness of about half of his phenomena, we must add that an attack on him in the ASPR Journal (we think it was back in 1921) was wholly unjustified, and sheer venom on the part of the two alleged "observers"; we can't understand how the Journal ever published it. And Dr M. was really a very smart fellow, could give public addresses of high quality, was a practical psychologist of first water, and we learned a great deal from him. His personal record, his misadventures, and his sometimes-real persecution no longer concern the public.

We do however, feel very strongly about this matter of conscious and deliberate fraud on the part of mediums; no faithless priest or sinful layman works more harm in this world, and we do not think it is right policy to let the DIGEST article pass without reporting our convictions. We do not say that Dr Bowers was deceived at the seances he describes; we have seen the some things under very similar conditions,and accept them as genuine. We only add, that Dr M's little convocations were not always thus. We itemize that we have pinched his mosquito-bar ectoplasm, also the pleasing young woman who was accustomed to appearing as a materialized Egyptian princess. Per contra again, Pansy-on-his-knees was a genuine revenant, and an excellent linguist (as Dr Bowers remarks). Also, two of the communicators, "Dr Halliday" and "Hetty Greene" are still appearing at local seances, held by Dr M*s successor. These two personalities (especially Hetty G.) are highly distinctive, would be very difficult to imitate, and the fact that they have carried on (via trumpet and direct voice) for more than 12 years, and under different mediums, is itself worthy of note.

The British SPR had a rule, never to work with any medium who had been proven fraudulent - - or even where tho suspicion of fraud seemed strong and well-founded. We think this is particularly stupid, partly because "unconscious fraud" is a well recognized fact, and also because excellent mediums have on occasion practised fraud deliberately. The rule would shut us information. And we put forward "Dr" off from a great mass of genuine and valuable Robert Moore as a case in point. We have never seen what we considered finer mediumship or more impudent imposture.

[12]

WINCHESTER HOUSE

MAY CORONET has an article called "HOUSE THAT TRAGEDY BUILT", by Dean Jennings. That's about that 9 acre, 160 room, 5 million dollar little nest that Mrs Sara Winchester (relict of William Wirt W.) built or kept on building for 50 years, up near San Jose, California. It's really quite a place, with its 9 kitchens, 10,000 windows, $2000 front door, driveway tunnel (Mrs W. loved privacy), miles of hallways - a sort of domesticated Pentagon Building, with but four-and-no-more occupants. Why Uncle Samuel hasn't taken it over, maybe for German War Prisoners, is a mystery to us. It's ne plus ultra for luxury.

Apart from this little eccentricity, Mrs Winchester was a very smart woman, invented some useful little gadgets like window hooks, kept herself inside and nearly everybody else on the out, from newspaper reporters to Presidents, knew how to buy anything anywhere in the world without being gypped - - and that's near genius! But the real reason we're rehashing all this, is the remarks of "several" psychiatrists, who came, for to see and for to speculate. The House, they tell us "was the instinctive and symbolic expression of unfulfilled desire, where every room represented the creation and presence of a child." (Tut-tut, and Mr Tutt!!) Now, we have an addendum to this, interesting only if you're interested, which seems improbable. We once met this Mrs W. in her spirit self (allegedly), at a materialization seance. She came out of a dark corner in full life size and had a chatty few minutes with a personal friend -- and a very sane and agreeable little lady she seemed. The facilities for eavesdropping were not too good, but this friend told us, the reason Mrs W. built the famous House was that the ghosties told her to. She was clairaudient, and "they" kept telling her that the happiness of her deceased husband depended on this 30-year building program. . . . But we hope the "several psychiatrists" don't read this, and maybe get on our trail too.

FOO-FIRE

FOO-FIRE still has the scientist guessing.

That's the aviator's name for the Balls of Fire hanging off the wing tips, sometimes floating in detached formations of half a dozen or more.

If it was an enemy device, its purpose is not apparent, and besides, no means of producing and controlling such a phenomenon from the ground is known to us. It might conceivably have been useful as a guide for anti-aircraft fire, but no indication of such use.

As could be expected, there's a great deal of vague reference to atmospheric electricity, St. Elmo's Fire, and similar effects. But a great many aircraft have been aloft in all kinds of weather for a good many years past, and while various electrical effects have been reported, the Foo-Fire is something new. And then, of course, there are the really smart boys who say it's an optical illusion; the aviators' eyes get tired, so they begin to see fire-balls! Some scientists ought to be taken for a ride, in an airplane as well as figuratively speaking.

[13]

SPONTANEOUS FOOD REPRODUCTIONS IN RESPONSE
TO REQUEST AND VISUALIZATION

(Continuation of abstract from MODERN LOAVES AND FISHES, by Dr. Philip S. Haley, President, California Psychic Research Society, Member of the California Academy of Sciences, etc. etc. Page 13 ff., and part of a report made to the American Society for Psychical Research, March, 1935).

Following success in food reproduction by psychic means (as described in the May issue of RR) the experimenters tried to determine what quantities of food could be obtained, and also, if possible, something about the psychic processes involved (spirits or exteriorized energy, elemental beings, apportation and so on). A number of interesting facts were uncovered, among them what the author styles the principle of parsimony. The supply of milk and oranges increased, but "only enough for one to three days needs." This is said to obtain through the whole field of psychic phenomena -- there is no wastage of material or energy. Reproduction of food stuffs does not occur until the supply on hand is nearly exhausted.

(Note: PR students will recall many reported incidents of money or food making a miraculous appearance, but always at some moment of dire need and considerable mental stress. These, so far as they are verifiable, seem to involve the same "principle of parsimony."

On one occasion, however, in response to a special request to the manifesting Forces, an exception to this principle was obtained. On Dec. 10, 1934, 2 baskets full of kindling wood was increased to an amount to fill 7 baskets, within two hours after delivery.

During cold weather, 9 logs increased to 11; as the weather moderated the number decreased to 8. At Thanksgiving, and also at Christmas, a special log appeared, of different kind. The pile of kindling wood did not decrease; after some 30 baskets-full had been taken, the pile showed no signs of decrease. Two cans of condensed milk "were placed within a few minutes." Two oranges increased to five during the course of the day; the new ones were different in details but of about the same size as the others.

These increases were not spontaneous; it was necessary for the experimenter to ask for them, and to visualize the increase strongly until a stable thought-form was generated. The biological structure of all foods produced idioplastically was exactly similar to that of the "natural" product; canned goods reproduced the manufactured containers in every detail. This naturally suggested apports, but there was no direct evidence of apportation.

(It is to be noted that the restriction on quantity, the relation to existing supply or need, or to the weather, all indicate that an intelligent agency was at work, rather than a blind energy.)

The change of water to lemonade (during seances), though at first noticeable only to psychic sensitives in the group, was later demonstrated by litmus paper reaction. At an April seance (1933) 3 pieces of apple were increased to six; on May 5, six pieces of orange were increased to seven. A decrease could also be obtained by making a specific request. On May 22, 17 pieces of food were increased to 23, or 35.29% of increase. On July 7, 12 pieces of food were increased to 14; though the pieces were in plain sight in a glass bowl, and were watched, no movement was observed. On Aug.l3, 19 pieces of food increased to 22; 4 observers. On Sept. 12, 60 pieces of food increased by 3; 4 observers.

The number of seances reported (pages 15-34) is 19, and the results of 57 experiments [14] are graphed, showing 1 doubtful, 5 with decrease, six as failure, 45 as increases. Among other observers, and in addition to Dr. Haley and Mrs Haley, were Dr. Milo A. Tucker (Ph.D.), Stewart Edward White, end Dr. Earl Gilmore (D.D.S.). On July 7 occurred the materialization of a sandwich, on July 12, dematerialization and subsequent reappearance of a sandwich, and materialization of a piece of nectarine; on July 19, dematerialization (in full light) of 5 pieces of fruit.

The lighting of the room, the food containers, the exact method of counting and recounting by each person present are fully described, and the names of the observers given. Letters attesting all facts and tabulating results, from Dr. Tucker, Dr. Gilmore, and Stewart Edward White, are also given (pp.50/51). Dr. Haley believes that his own subconscious mentation, and his conscious visualization and direct requests very often influence the results; but he does not believe they are the only factors. Indeed, on occasion the results do not conform to the requests. Some intelligent and controlling "factor" seems clearly to be at work, along with some kind of energy released by the sitters.

The bearing of these phenomena on inedia (occult fasting) may well be of great importance. Dr. Haley recounts 14 cases of this (pp.35/45). The phenomenon has received far too little attention from psychic research students, perhaps because complete abstention from food, even from food and drink, for years at a time, is on the face of it an incredible phenomenon. But it is not the part of wisdom to reject the seemingly impossible, for that reason alone, and neither the "occult" nor the physical sciences would have made progress by that principle. We hope to give some account of cases of inedia, in our next issue.

A friend of ours, a man of distinction and fine logical abilities, with many years of experience in psychical research matters, writes us that notwithstanding his familiarity with strange happenings, his impulse toward Dr. Haley's account of food materializations would have been to "call it a d... lie." But he says would have been, because Dr. Haley's own reputation, the character of attesting witnesses, the minutiae of the record and its documentation, do not leave the slightest ground for questioning his statement. Moreover, as our correspondent recognizes, the principle of idioplasticity is widely recognized in psychic studies, and among orientals is an elementary concept. We bespeak for these curious researches, as always in such matters, an attitude of critical and studious receptivity.

(Continued in our next issue.)

THE MOST HAUNTED HOUSE IN ENGLAND, by Harry Price. (Longman's, Green & Co. 55-5th Ave. N.Y. 1940).

This book is familiar to most PR students, but it's a good example of PR methods applied to diversified phenomena over a long period (10 years.). The list of observers witnessing the various happenings contains 92 names, and the events observed by them are roughly classified as follows: "(1) materializations of human figures, (2) sounds of speech, whispering, padding, galloping, music, scratching, bell ringing, footsteps, raps, (3) displaced or projected objects (poltergeist phenomena) (4) clicks, cracks, door closing, dragging noises, (5) door locking, wailing, rustling, rushing water sound,(6) crashing and breaking sounds. Moving furniture sounds. (7) Visible phenomena, as of writing, lights, keys falling, blind swinging, fire, wine into ink, smoke. (8) luminous phenomena,(9) personal injuries (10) matter through matter, odors, coldness, footprints in snow, etc. All this began at Borley Rectory about 1900. Harry Price was asked to investigate in June 1929, the rectory was destroyed by a midnight fire ("figures seen walking in the flames") in Feb. 1939 . . . Probably all houses are haunted in some sense, and likely there have been a million or so, quite as bad off as the Rectory -- but according to sapient-scientism 'tis flubdub only. So think no more of it!

[15]

PSYCHIC OBSERVER for June 10 has an article about Maurice (the "Great") Raymond; he attended a seance in New York last April, says he "is convinced" that the communicator who came to him was a departed friend named Col. Walters, account of the peculiarity of voice and special knowledge about a Masonic emblem once found by the two of them. The control conditions are said to have been good, preliminary examinations of room thorough, and the "messages and voices were unbelievable" (says Mr R.). All that is interesting, coming from a famous stage magician and "Master of Legerdemain."

It reminds us too, to turn back the pages a bit. Samuel Bellachini, Court Conjuror at Berlin, signed an affidavit (Dec. 6, 1877), saying that his prolonged examination of the phenomena of Henry Slade showed that they were not and could not be produced by "prestidigitative means." John Nevil Maskelyne, the famous English conjuror, admitted publicly that there were "genuine" phenomena which he could not reproduce under the same conditions. The French conjuror Robert Houdin, investigating the clairvoyance of Alexis Didier, declared that he could offer no explanation. The magician Jacobs, writing in Licht, mehr Licht (Paris, May 16, 1880), and addressing the Psychological Society of Paris, avowed himself a spiritualist and suggested certain tests of genuine manifestations. As to the first three named, they did not, of course, go so far as to support the spiritualist interpretation, merely said they couldn't understand or reproduce the happenings.

We instance these cases because there are still a multitude of half-wits, who really believe that if an event can be imitated by trickery, it was a trick in the first place and ever afterward, and that no sleight-of-hand "artist" believes in anything else but sleight, and that a materialized spirit is no more wonderful than a rabbit in a hat, because you can't tell where either of them came from -- but you know the rabbit was juggled in, so the spirit must have been. But all such stuff (and one could print a near-bookfull of it) "requires not an answer but an education." (We're indebted to Dr Milikan, learned cosmic-rayer, for that stiletto).

Referring again to the PSYCHIC OBSERVER, there's a half page of pictures of the seance rooms at Pindamonhangaba, where the now famous spirit appendectomy took place; also a page of quoted passages from some 20 scientists, Crookes to Hyslop and Nielsson, in support of spiritualistic happenings and ideas. That's very useful in propaganda and controversy . . . but PR investigators have little time for either of these.

"The more we know of men, the less we expect of them."

(Samuel Johnson)

"Bad taste is to be defined as the taste of the generation preceding your own. Hence the law, that the egos of son and daughter find it hardest of all to get on terms of intimacy with father and mother."

(Vance Thompson)

"To advance solitarily toward the One who is solitary - this is the Way of Prayer."

(Plotinus)

[16]

LETTER TO THE TIMES

We reprint a letter addressed to the editor of the Los Angeles Times and actually published by that paper (tho maybe by slips!). No further comment seems needed.

ARE THERE GHOSTS?
by Cecil E. Reynolds, M.D., D.P.H.
(Cambridge) M.R.C.S.
(England)

Dr. Alexis Carrel recently asserted, "we know positively that clairvoyants are capable of perceiving past and future events." An Associated Press dispatch from Chicago contained some emphatic denials of Dr. Carrel's positive statement about ghosts. "No reputable psychologist believes in Spiritualism," wrote Dr. A.R. Gilliland of Northwestern University, "Spiritualism and particularly mental telepathy has not been proved," was the comment of Dr. Harvey Carr, University of Chicago. "There has never been a study that gave any positive evidence. The whole weight of science is against it," declared Dean Stevens, Northwestern psychologist. Dr. Reynolds comes to the defense of Dr. Carrel.

In The Times of December 15, I read some criticisms of Dr. Alexis Carrel by certain "Midwest Professors" of whom I have never heard, together with some positive denials of psychic phenomena by these men, who, I am sure, could he safely challenged to produce proof that they had ever devoted appreciable time in the study of the matters they so rashly deny.

I have not read Dr. Carrel's latest book, but in years gone by he has always impressed me as having the imagination necessary for true biological advance - an unusual attribute in the senior worker of an endowed institution.

But apart from the merits of Dr. Carrel, the amazing statements of the "Midwest Professors" condemns the following men whose names are household words in established science, as being crazy liars and "disreputables": Sir William Crookes and Sir Oliver Lodge, founders of modern physics; Professor Charles Richet, the greatest physiologist of France and one of the greatest in the world; Alfred Russell Wallace, co-worker with Charles Darwin; J. Maxwell, M.D., deputy Attorney-General Court of Appeal, Bordeaux, France; Camille Flammarion, astronomer; W.J. Crawford., D.Sc., professor of Engineering, Belfast, Ireland; Frank Podmore, master of arts of Oxford; Dr. Paul Joire, Paris; Prof. Bozzano, Italy; Prof. Ochorowicz, professor of psychology and philosophy in the University of Lemberg.

Prof. Lombroso, Dr. Gustave Geley, Prof. Eugene Osty, Baron Schrenck-Notzing, James Hyslop, Ph.D., L.L.D., late professor of logic and ethics in Columbia University; Dr. Richard Hodgson, Cambridge University, England; Dr. A. de Rochas, Paris, and such literary men as F.W.H. Meyers, William T. Stead, Stanley de Brath, engineer; Claude Bragdon, Walter F. Prince, Thomas Jay Hudson, Ph.D., L.L.D. L. Chevreuil, awarded the prize for 1919 by the French Academy of Sciences for the best summary on "On ne neurt pas"; Hamlin Garland, now resident in Los Angeles, and a vast army of lesser men like myself, who have been rigidly trained in academic science in the leading universities of the world, and who have seen the necessity for scrutinizing the phenomenon commonly known as "DEATH", a study childishly called "Spiritualism" by the "Midwest Professors."

As to the elementary subject of "TELEPATHY", so firmly established since the paper read before the British Association of Prof. (Sir William) Barrett in 1876 and elaborated by Prof. Balfour Stewart in 1881, and which, after hundreds of proofs brought forward by others in the intervening years I demonstrated conclusively in California through the New York telepathist, Voros, in 1932, (and even Rob Wagner admitted it in print, although he saw it under the most unfavorable conditions) - it is simply astounding that men can display such ignorance in print as appears in your paper of December 15.

Other leading physicists, Sir Arthur Eddington, for example, regard Consciousness as the fundamental [17] fact of the Universe. In fact Sir Arthur says that even "TIME" is an imperfect representation of the dynamic quality of "Consciousness." At the same time leading astronomers such as Sir James Jeans are equally positive that this earth is headed rapidly (relatively) towards annihilation in so far as Physical Life, as we know it, is concerned.

Hence, the study of Consciousness becomes of greater importance, and the study of Physical Life (as far as it can be unrelated to the study of Consciousness) becomes of lesser importance, as the centuries roll on.

It is inevitable, therefore, that the relation of the above to the phenomenon we call "DEATH" would attract the attention of all really great scientists.

But the "Midwest professors" whom you quote, seeming to rejoice in the growing materialism of the American "man-in-the-street," rush into the daily newspapers before they have published any scientific articles showing that they have devoted sufficient years of study of the subject to warrant their attacks upon Dr. Alexis Carrel, or their implied statement of "Crazy Liars" to all the great scientists and literary men I have enumerated.

-- LETTERS TO A SOLDIER --

References

1. Greber, Johannes. Communication with the Spirit World: A Narrative of Scientific Investigations and Experiences, of a Catholic Priest, with Practical Teachings from Spiritual Planes Clarifying the Sacred Scriptures. New York: Macoy Pub. Co, 1932. Print. <http://amzn.to/1lxJUFv>
2. Merrell-Wolfe, Franklin. Pathways Through to Space. New York City: Rich. R. Smith, 1944. Print. <http://amzn.to/1kaW620>
3. Wolfe, Peter. "The Thinking Dog." Coronet 1 May 1937: 191-196. Print. <http://www.unz.org/Pub/Coronet-1937may>
4. Findlay, James Arthur. On the edge of the etheric; being an investigation of psychic phenomena, based on a series of sittings with Mr. John C. Sloan, the Glasgow trance and direct voice medium. London: Pub. for the author by Rider & Co., 1931. Print. <http://amzn.to/1vmSpv8>
5. Williams, J. Paul. "Belief in a Future Life." Yale Review XXXIV: 462-. Print. [Spring 1945]
6. Jennings, Dean. "The House That Tragedy Built." Coronet 1 May 1945: 49-52. Print. <http://www.unz.org/Pub/Coronet-1945may>
7. Haley, Philip S. Modern Loaves and Fishes – and Other Studies in Psychic Phenomena. San Francisco: Philip S. Haley, 1935. Print.
8. Price, Harry. The most haunted house in England: ten years investigation of Borley Rectory. New York: Longman's, Green & Co, 1940. Print. <http://amzn.to/1kdLOy9>
9. The Psychic Observer. No. 162, June 10, 1945. Print.