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Title: The Veil Lifted - Modern Developments of Spirit Photography
Author: Various
Language: English
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[Illustration: This spirit-face is the realisation of a high ideal of
beauty, sweetness, and spirituality. The beauty of it we cannot now fully
comprehend; but, as we gaze on it, we may say in the words of Michael
Angelo:—
“Souls burn for souls—spirits to spirits cry,
I seek the splendour in thy fair face storèd;
Yet living man that beauty scarce can learn,
And he who fain would find it first must die.”
[_See page 92, tenth line._]
THE VEIL LIFTED.
MODERN DEVELOPMENTS OF
SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY.
With Twelve Illustrations.
A PAPER BY J. TRAILL TAYLOR
DESCRIBING EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHIC PHOTOGRAPHY.
LETTER BY THE REV. H. R. HAWEIS, M.A.
ADDRESSES BY JAMES ROBERTSON, GLASGOW.
AND
_MISCELLANEA BY THE EDITOR_,
ANDREW GLENDINNING.
LONDON:
WHITTAKER & CO., WHITE HART STREET, E.C.
1894.
“Kant expressed himself favourable to the view that a world
of supersensuous beings environs this planet, and that the
establishment of communication with such beings is only a
matter of time.”—E. D. FAWCETT.
* * * * *
“Before many months are over, I think it will be admitted
by every candid mind that the persistence of the individual
after death, and the possibility of communicating with that
individual, has been as well established on a scientific basis
as any other fact in nature. That, you may think, is a bold
assertion. It is not an assertion; it is a prophecy, based upon
facts which are within my own knowledge, and of which I speak
with as much confidence as I do of anything which has ever
come within my own personal observation.”—W. T. STEAD, in _The
Review of Reviews_, Jan. 1893.
* * * * *
“Personally, we consider Spiritualism a valuable bulwark
against the inroads of Materialistic Atheism.”—SALADIN, in _The
Agnostic Journal_.
PREFACE.
The publication in the _British Journal of Photography_ of Mr. Taylor’s
Paper, with the proceedings of the meeting at which it was read, has
aroused a wide-spread and deep interest in the subject. The principal
portions of it, and, in some instances the whole of the Paper, together
with editorial comments, have subsequently appeared in newspapers and
journals in Canada, Australia, India, America, and other countries. As
his experiments will be a matter of historical interest, many scientific
men will be pleased to have his Paper in this book form, with the
reproductions of two of the psychic pictures which he obtained on his
photographic plates.
The term “spirit photographs” is generally used to describe photographs
of psychic entities who cannot be seen by ordinary persons, but can be
photographed by a medium, or with the help of a medium, and with the
co-operation of these unseen entities. Such portraits are obtained both
indoors and in the open air, with and without a background, by natural
light and by artificial light; and, in the case of “materialised” forms
at séances, which are visible to every person present, the portraits have
of which is unknown.
The following may serve as a rough classification of what are called
spirit photographs:—
1. Portraits of psychical entities not seen by normal vision.
2. Pictures of objects not seen nor thought of by the sitter or by the
medium or operator; such as flowers, words, crosses, crowns, lights, and
various emblematic objects.
3. Pictures which have the appearance of being copied from statues,
paintings, or drawings. Sometimes these are busts or heads only. The
flatness in some photographs of this class is supposed, by persons who
have _not_ investigated the subject, to be proof that the photographs are
produced in a fraudulent manner.
4. Pictures of what are called materialised forms visible to normal sight.
5. Pictures of the “wraith” or “double” of persons still in the body.
6. Portraits on plates which developers have failed to bring into view,
but that can be seen and described by clairvoyants and by mediums when in
trance and whose descriptions agree, though made independently.
There are, also, portraits that cannot be classed as photographs, as
they have not been taken by the agency of a camera, or by exposing the
prepared plate previous to development of the image.
Those who desire further information than is contained in this volume on
the subject of spirit photography should read the following:—
A series of important articles by the late Mr. Stainton Moses (M.A.
Oxon), in _Human Nature_, Vols. VIII. and IX., 1874-75. The volumes
may be had on loan from the Library of the Spiritual Institution, 15
Southampton Row, W.C., or from the Library of the Spiritual Alliance,
2 Duke Street, Charing Cross. The subscription to either Library is a
guinea a year.
Article on “Ghosts and their Photographs,” by the Rev. H. R. Haweis,
M.A., in the _Fortnightly Review_, January, 1893.
_Chronicles of the Photographs of Spiritual Beings and Phenomena
Invisible to the Material Eye._ By Miss Houghton. Illustrated by six
plates, containing fifty-four miniature reproductions from the original
photographs. E. W. Allen, Ave Maria Lane, 1882. Sold also by Jas. Burns,
15 Southampton Row, W.C. Price 10_s._ 6_d._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE v
INTRODUCTION 1
What led to the recent Experiments in Psychic Photography 1
Testimony relating to David Duguid 3
“SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY,” WITH REMARKS ON FLUORESCENCE. By J.
Traill Taylor 9
Origin of “Spirit” Photography 10
Some Investigators of the Subject 11
Photographing the Invisible 15
Fluorescence 17
A Lady’s Joke 20
Some Personal Experiments 23
How the Psychic Figures Behaved 31
The Stereoscopic Camera in Use 33
REMARKS BY MEMBERS AND VISITORS 37
Portrait obtained without Exposure in Camera 49
PRESS NOTICES OF MR. TAYLOR’S PAPER:—
From the “Practical Photographer,” April, 1893 53
From the “Review of Reviews,” April, 1893 57
From “The Morning” (Daily Newspaper), April 4th, 1893 59
From the “Medium and Daybreak,” March 24th, 1893 60
From “Light,” March 18th, 1893 63
From “Light,” March 25th, 1893 64
From “Light,” May 6th, 1893 67
From the “Two Worlds,” March 24th, 1893 69
GHOSTS AND THEIR PHOTOGRAPHS. By the Rev. H. R. Haweis, M.A. 71
“Will you Show me the Ghost?” 73
“Authentic” Ghost Photographs 76
The late Editor of “Light” 78
SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY. By Jas. Robertson, Glasgow 85
His Opportunities for Observation 89
David Duguid prevailed on to try Experiments 90
Experiments in Mr. Robertson’s Warehouse 91
John Page Hopps on Spirit Life 92
A beautiful Portrait obtained 92
Testimony by “Edina” 93
Portrait obtained in Edinburgh of a Child 94
Details of the Experiments to obtain it 95
MISCELLANEA. By Andrew Glendinning 111
How Abraham Lincoln’s Spirit Photograph was obtained 115
Experiments by Professor Crookes, F.R.S. 122
The beauty of Katie King described 123
Lecture by Arthur Maltby 128
Lantern Transparencies, by Mr. Acton 129
How a Portrait was obtained without a Camera 144
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
PHOTOGRAPH OF SPIRIT HEAD AND FACE BY DAVID DUGUID _Frontispiece._
PORTRAIT OF DAVID DUGUID 25
PHOTOGRAPH OF SPIRIT BY J. TRAILL TAYLOR 29
ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPH BY J. TRAILL TAYLOR 35
PHOTOGRAPH OF A LADY AND THE SPIRIT OF HER FATHER 79
PHOTOGRAPH OF MR. STAINTON MOSES, M.A., AND SPIRIT 83
PHOTOGRAPH OF HON. M. A. DOW AND SPIRIT OF MABEL WARREN 117
PSYCHIC PICTURE OBTAINED WITHOUT A CAMERA OR EXPOSURE OF PLATE
TO LIGHT 145
PSYCHIC FORM OBTAINED OCTOBER 21, 1893 149
MRS. GREEN AND SPIRIT 153
SPIRIT LADY 157
PSYCHIC FORM OBTAINED APRIL 29, 1892 160
“Stand upright, speak thy thought, declare
The truth thou hast, that all may share;
Be bold, proclaim it everywhere;
They only live who dare.”—LEWIS MORRIS.
* * * * *
“All great discoveries have at first been derided as ridiculous
and then denounced as impious, and lastly adopted as a matter
of course. Let us, then, as we have to learn to labour and to
wait, stand firm for the expansion of human faculty, increase
of human growth, accession to human knowledge, and welcome,
as all in the day’s work, even the silent apparition or the
gibbering ghost.”—Rev. H. R. HAWEIS, M.A.
* * * * *
“There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”—PAUL.
INTRODUCTION.
“Every new truth which has ever been propounded has, for a time, caused
mischief; it has produced discomfort, and often unhappiness.”—BUCKLE, in
_History of Civilisation_.
_WHAT LED TO THE RECENT EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHIC PHOTOGRAPHY._
A number of test séances for spirit photography had been held with Mr.
David Duguid, of which no records have been kept, but in April and May,
1892, four séances were held under strict test conditions, notes of
which were made at the time, and signed by the various persons who were
present. These notes were printed for private circulation, and a copy
was sent, with some of the photographs, to Mr. Frederic W. H. Myers,
Cambridge, (Hon. Secretary Psychical Research Society).
He suggested that when there was another opportunity for a test séance,
the presence of a “scientific man,” and some one well acquainted with
photographic manipulations, be got to attend to watch the experiments.
One of the investigators induced Mr. Duguid to come to London to give a
séance under the strictest test conditions which could be devised; and
Mr. J. Traill Taylor, Editor of the _British Journal of Photography_, by
special request consented to take charge of the experiments, and to fix
the conditions under which they should be made.
Mr. Taylor combines in himself the special qualities named by Mr. Myers,
inasmuch as he is a “scientific man,” and an expert in photographic
chemistry, optical research, and all photographic manipulations.[1]
Mr. Taylor is the author of several works relating to the chemistry,
optics, physics, and practice of photography; and besides being a member
of Council of the Photographic Society of Great Britain, is an honorary
member of the Imperial Polytechnic Society of Russia, and of all the
leading Photographic Clubs and Societies in London, and of several in New
York.
_TESTIMONY RELATING TO DAVID DUGUID._
In a book recently published, entitled _The Rise and Progress of Modern
Spiritualism_[2] (consisting of a reprint of a course of lectures
delivered in Glasgow by Mr. James Robertson), the author gives the
following testimony as to Mr. Duguid:—
“For many years we have had resident amongst us one whose
name is world-wide, _and whose character is above reproach_;
go where you will, David Duguid is recognised as one of the
world’s mediums. From his lips have come forth volumes full of
wonderful information which he, the normal man, never gathered
of himself, but which is the product of intelligences who
have ripened in that other sphere of existence. The story of
the early life of Jesus, which is to be found in _Hafed_, the
glimpses of ancient peoples, their manners and customs, are a
valuable contribution to our knowledge. But he has been famous
as a medium for every phase of the subject, including those
marvellous direct paintings which have done much missionary
work, the direct voices, materialisation, perfumes, writings
in language utterly unknown to him, _and specially in the
conclusive evidence he has been the means of furnishing as
to the reality of spirit photography_. The striking story
contributed to _Light_ by ‘Edina,’ of how a picture of the dead
boy was got after patient waiting, is amongst the best-attested
phenomena. The early and close friend of D. D. Home, he has
revealed almost similar mediumistic gifts. One of the most
genial and retiring of men, he has ever reverenced his gifts,
and sought in his own modest way to give all and sundry the
benefit of their light.”
One of Mr. Glendinning’s private letters to the editor of a photographic
journal, with reference to an intended action for libel, contained the
following:—
“If my counsel wishes it, I shall produce such an array of
testimonials from men of position as to Mr. Duguid’s honesty
and uprightness as have seldom been read in any court.”
That would be an easy thing to do; but, when it is considered that Mr.
Duguid has for a long time been employed by Mr. Robertson in his bicycle
works; that Mr. Robertson, who is an active business man and a good
judge of character, is year after year in almost hourly contact with Mr.
Duguid; that he has been at many of Mr. Duguid’s séances, some of these
being held in his (Mr. Robertson’s) own house—when these things are borne
in mind, the value of the voluntary tribute given by Mr. Robertson to Mr.
Duguid’s honesty and uprightness will be the more fully appreciated.
For nearly thirty years has Mr. David Duguid been before the world as
a private medium for various descriptions of spirit phenomena. He has
given innumerable séances readily, without fee or desire for reward,
to clergymen, medical men, artists, teachers of science, lawyers,
journalists, merchants, and men and women in all ranks of life; he has
sacrificed time and money in the cause which is dear to his heart, and
upon which no act or word of his has ever brought a stain. These facts
are well known to many, nor would it be necessary to print them here
were it not for the efforts made to destroy public confidence in the
facts brought to light through his mediumship by writers in certain
photographic journals, and the artful insinuations of men who put
themselves forward on the plea of being anxious investigators.
_WHERE MR. TAYLOR READ HIS PAPER._
At a meeting of the London and Provincial Photographic Association, held
on March 9, 1893, Mr. J. Weir Brown in the chair, the following paper by
Mr. Taylor was read by him, and, with his consent, is reprinted from the
_British Journal of Photography_ (Vol. XL., No. 1715, March 17, 1893).
There was a large attendance of members, and several visitors were
present. Visitors were allowed to make remarks, a privilege of which
several availed themselves. Some members put questions to Mr. Taylor on
points of detail regarding his experiments, all of which he replied to
frankly and explicitly. In replying to one member, Mr. Taylor stated
that he had received a letter, asking him to bring a reasonable man
with him _to witness_ his experiments—in fact, he said, he had the
option of taking any one he chose. To another member Mr. Taylor replied
that he himself placed the sitters and the camera, and also arranged
the lighting of the room. Several members spoke highly of Mr. Taylor’s
qualifications to conduct such experiments; but as they could not accept
the spiritualistic hypothesis, and as the photographs had to them the
appearance of being copied from cut-out prints, or made by “stump-work,”
they concluded that therefore they could not be genuine, ignoring
entirely Mr. Taylor’s emphatic statements, which he had already given in
his paper, viz.:—
“_My conditions were entirely acquiesced in_”—that I “_should use my own
camera and unopened packages of dry plates, purchased from dealers of
repute, and that I should be excused from allowing a plate to go out of
my own hand till after development_,” and that “_I should dictate all the
conditions of operation_.”
As a matter of fact, everything connected with the experiments was
subject to Mr. Taylor’s entire control and approval.
“SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY,” WITH REMARKS ON FLUORESCENCE.[3]
_By_ J. TRAILL TAYLOR.
The presence of smoke may be considered as implying the existence of
flame. Spirit photography, so called, has of late been asserting its
existence in such a manner and to such an extent as to warrant competent
men making an investigation, conducted under stringent test conditions,
into the circumstances under which such photographs are produced, and
exposing the fraud, should it prove to be such, instead of pooh-poohing
it as insensate because we do not understand how it can be otherwise—a
position that scarcely commends itself as intelligent or philosophical.
If in what follows I call it “spirit photography” instead of psychic
photography, it is only in deference to a nomenclature that extensively
prevails, and not as offering a surmise from any knowledge of my own
as to what is matter and what spirit, or the distinction between mind,
spirit, and matter, for in truth I don’t know. I approach the subject
merely as a photographer.
Before I proceed, a few words on the origin of spirit photography may not
be out of place. In March, 1861, W. H. Mumler, the principal engraver in
the employ of Bigelow Bros. & Kennard, the leading jewellers of Boston,
when whiling away an idle hour as an amateur photographer, had a form
other than that of any one present developed on his collodion plate.
He surmised that it arose from an image having been previously on the
plate, and its having been imperfectly cleaned off. Subjected to a more
thorough cleaning, the form again appeared more strongly marked than
before, and he could offer no other explanation than the one given. It
got noised abroad through the press that a spirit had been photographed,
and although Mumler strove to suppress the misrepresentation, as he
regarded it, yet he eventually succumbed to popular demand, and took two
hours a day from his regular work, devoting them to photography. This he
had to extend to the whole of each day, entirely discarding his regular
profession. Many men of eminence sat to him, most of whom he did not know
at the time. He seems to have encouraged his sitters in the adoption
of such test conditions as they deemed satisfactory. The figures that
usually appeared on the plate with the sitters were, if I rightly infer,
those on whom the sitters’ minds had been set. That eminent portrait
photographer, Mr. Wm. Black, of Boston, so well known all over the world
as the inventor of the acid nitrate bath, undertook to investigate
the _bonâ fides_ of Mumler’s methods. Through a friend who had just
previously sat and obtained a figure, Black offered fifty dollars if
Mumler would operate in his presence and obtain a picture. Invited to
come, the acute Black critically examined camera, plate, dipper, and
bath, and had his eye on the plate from the moment its preparation
began until it was sensitised and locked in the dark slide, removing
it himself from the camera, and carrying it into the dark room, where,
on development, a figure of a man was seen leaning on B.’s shoulder.
Black was wonder-stricken, and got away the negative, no charge whatever
having been made. Mumler now claimed publicly to be a spirit-portrait
photographer, and as such he eventually opened a studio in New York,
having previously satisfied Silver, Gurney, and other photographers as
to the genuineness of his claims, never hesitating to operate in their
galleries if required, and with their apparatus and chemicals. Mumler
was arrested in New York; whether on the ground of witchcraft or of
endeavouring to obtain money under false pretences, I am at present
uncertain, but his trial was the sensation of the day, and numerous
witnesses were examined. He was honourably acquitted.
In this country, several who are amateur photographers have investigated
this subject with more or less success. These include some F.R.S.’s,
scientists, artists, and others. I question whether any have so
persistently done so as the late Mr. John Beattie, of Clifton, and his
friend, Dr. Thompson. Mr. Beattie was a skilled professional photographer
of the highest eminence who, some time prior to his death, had adopted
the views of the spiritualistic school. The figures he obtained on his
plates were much blurred in outline, some being misty in the extreme. I
possess some two or three dozen of these, taken by or in the presence
of, Mr. Beattie, whose intelligence, honesty, and powers of observation
no one would venture to doubt. Many such photographs are claimed to
have been produced by Hudson, a professional photographer, formerly of
the Holloway Road, and I submit for examination a work by the late Miss
Houghton, containing fifty-four of Hudson’s spirit photographs.
There are many ways by which, assuming the genuineness of only one of
all spirit photographs hitherto produced, the spurious article may be
made even better than any alleged real ones I have yet seen. A plate
secretly impressed previous or subsequent to being placed in the camera
fulfils the condition; so does one at the back of which is placed a
phosphorescent tablet in the dark slide. Pressure on the surface, such as
by that of a Woodbury relief film, also causes a developable image; in
short, trickery in a whole variety of forms may, and has been, impressed
into the service.
The higher department of fluorescence may with success be employed. Here
is something to which believers in the visibility of spirit forms to
a camera are quite welcome. At the time, and _àpropos_ of the Mumler
trial in New York, I wrote that a good many absurd things have been said
_pro_ and _con_ on the subject; but a writer in the latter category, who
asserted that anything that is visible to the eye of the camera, and thus
capable of being depicted by photography, must therefore necessarily be
visible to the human eye, was surely ignorant of that important branch
of physics popularly known as fluorescence. Many things are capable of
being photographed which to the physical eye are utterly invisible. Why,
for that matter, a room (visually dark) may be full of the ultra-violet
rays of the spectrum, and a photograph may be taken in that dark light.
Objects in a room so lighted would be plainly visible to the lens of the
camera—at any rate, they could be reproduced on the sensitive plate,
while, at the same time, not an atom of luminousness could be perceived
in the room by any person possessing ordinary or normal vision. Hence
the photographing of an invisible image, whether it be of a spirit or
a lump of matter is not scientifically impossible. If it reflect only
the ultra-violet rays of the spectrum, it will be easily photographed,
although quite invisible to the sharpest eye.
Again, Cromwell F. Varley, F.R.S., well known as one of the most eminent
of electricians, says (_Electric_, June, 1871), when passing a current of
electricity through a vacuum tube, the results of which were indicated
by touches of light about the poles:—“In one instance, although the
experiment was carried on in a dark room, this light was so feeble that
it could not be seen, and the operators doubted if the current were
passing. But photography was at work, and in thirty minutes a very good
picture was produced of what had taken place. This,” he says, “is a
remarkable fact; indeed, it borders on the wonderful, that a phenomenon
invisible to the human eye should have been, so to speak, seen by the
photographic lens, and a record thereof kept by chemical agency. It is
highly suggestive, and we may anticipate that it will be turned to good
account by practical philosophers.”
Some very striking phenomena in photographing the invisible may be
produced by the agency of fluorescence. Figures depicted upon a
background by one or other of certain substances I shall presently name,
although invisible to the eye, may become visible to the camera. Of
these, the best known, although not the most effective, is disulphate
of quinine. Such a solution, although to the eye it is colourless like
water, is to the camera as black as ink. Fill three phials respectively
with water, quinine, and common writing ink, and you have two whites and
one black; but photograph them, and you have two blacks and one white.
The camera has reduced the transparent quinine solution to the colour
of the ink. Those of you who may care to experiment in this direction,
please take notice that the quinine must be acidulated with sulphuric
acid, and that hydrochloric acid, even a small trace, will destroy this
property. Among other substances that are fluorescent, or that change
the refrangibility of rays of light, are mineral uranite, certain salts
of uranium, canary glass, alcoholic solution of chlorophyll, æsculine,
tincture of stramonium seeds, and of turmeric. There are others known
to be still better, but my experiments in this direction are yet too
incomplete to warrant my even indicating them.
Let me for a moment enter the realm of speculation, and assume that there
are really spirits invisible to the eye but visible to the camera and to
certain persons called seers or clairvoyants only. Might we not suggest
that there is some fluorescent compound in the eyes of such persons not
present in those whose eyes are normal, and that it is to this they owe
their seeing powers? Some of you may probably be aware that Dr. Bence
Jones and other philosophers have actually established the fact of such
fluorescent substances being found in some eyes. May this throw any light
upon the recognised fact of certain animals being able to see in the dark?
When the subject of fluorescence is more thoroughly investigated (it is a
discovery of Sir D. Brewster, who was followed by Herschel and Professor
Stokes, and is as yet but of yesterday), we may hope for a vast accession
to our knowledge of subjects as yet very slightly understood.
At the Bradford meeting of the British Association for the Advancement
of Science, in 1873, Dr. Gladstone, F.R.S., demonstrated before the
Mathematical and Physical Section what I have said respecting invisible
drawings on white cards having produced bold and clear photographs when
no eye could see the drawings themselves, and I brought away back to
London these photographs, and, for aught I know, may have them still.
To prevent this disquisition from being too dry, I will here introduce a
fanciful sketch I wrote _àpropos_ of Dr. Gladstone’s demonstration at the
time mentioned:—
A mischievous young lady of scientific proclivities who attended the
meeting of the British Association, and who was addicted to practical
joking, listened attentively to Dr. Gladstone’s observations upon the
properties of quinine referred to, and having carefully noted the
discussion that followed, reasoned within herself thus: If solution of
quinine can make invisible marks upon paper, which will come out black
in a photograph, it ought to do the same when applied to the skin. So
she procured some of this solution, and upon her fair brow she painted
with it a death’s head and cross-bones. These, of course, were invisible
to human vision. Thus prepared, she went to a photographer to have her
portrait taken. All went right until the operator went an to develop
the plate, when she soon heard an altercation between the photographer
and the attendant boy, in which it was evident that the latter was being
charged with having coated an old or dirty plate.
A second negative was taken, with this result, that the operator, after
bestowing a puzzled, affrighted look at the lady, rushed downstairs to
the principal of the establishment. Both returned to the dark room, and a
third negative was taken, when it became evident that intense excitement
was being produced in the dark room. After an excuse to the lady about
there being electricity in the atmosphere, which had affected the
chemicals, she was requested to sit once more.
Scarcely had the plate been developed, when both photographer and
assistant rushed out from the dark room, pale and excited, and explained
that on the brow of the sitter in each negative was emblazoned the
insignia of the King of Terrors. The negatives were produced leaving no
doubt of the fact. What was to be done?
The sitter hinted something about not being disposed to be made a fool
of by one who she was satisfied was a spirit photographer, and that she,
for one, would not allow herself to become the victim of such absurdity.
This upset the equanimity of the photographer, who expressed his earnest
conviction that she was an emissary and personal friend of the common
enemy of mankind.
“I shall look in again to-morrow,” said the lady, in her sweetest tones,
“if you promise not to play any of your silly ghost tricks upon me.”
“Not for ten thousand worlds,” said the artist, “shall you ever set foot
within my studio again!”
“Oh,” she laughingly rejoined, “I shall drop in through the roof and
visit you some day when you are disengaged;” and with that she departed.
“I knew it!” gasped the photographer. “I felt a sulphurous odour the
moment I came near her. Send immediately for my friend, the Rev. ——, and
get him to offer prayer, and free the studio from the evil influences
remaining after a visitation from one whose feet, although clad in boots,
would, if examined, be found to be cloven.”
[Illustration: DAVID DUGUID.]
For several years I have experienced a strong desire to ascertain
by personal investigation the amount of truth in the ever-recurring
allegation that figures other than those visually present in the room
appeared on a sensitive plate. The difficulty was to get hold of a
suitable person known as a sensitive or “medium.” What a medium is,
or how physically or mentally constituted to be different from other
mortals, I am unable to say. He or she may not be a photographer, but
must be present on each occasion of trial. Some may be mediums without
their being aware of it. Like the chemical principle known as catalysis,
they merely act by their presence. Such a one is Mr. D. of Glasgow,
in whose presence psychic photographs have long been alleged to be
obtained. He was lately in London on a visit, and a mutual friend got
him to consent to extend his stay in order that I might try to get a
psychic photograph under test conditions. To this he willingly agreed.
My conditions were exceedingly simple, were courteously expressed to the
host, and entirely acquiesced in. They were, that I for the nonce would
assume them all to be tricksters, and, to guard against fraud, should use
my own camera and unopened packages of dry plates purchased from dealers
of repute, and that I should be excused from allowing a plate to go out
of my own hand till after development, unless I felt otherwise disposed;
but that, as I was to treat them as under suspicion, so must they treat
me, and that every act I performed must be in presence of two witnesses,
nay, that I would set a watch upon my own camera in the guise of a
duplicate one of the same focus—in other words, I would use a binocular
stereoscopic camera and dictate all the conditions of operation. All this
I was told was what they very strongly wished me to do, as they desired
to know the truth and that only. There were present, during one or other
of the evenings when the trials were made, representatives of various
schools of thought, including a clergyman of the Church of England; a
practitioner of the healing art who is a fellow of two learned societies;
a gentleman who graduated in the Hall of Science in the days of the late
Charles Bradlaugh; two extremely hard-headed Glasgow merchants, gentlemen
of commercial eminence and probity; our host, his wife, the medium, and
myself. Dr. G. was the first sitter, and, for a reason known to myself,
I used a monocular camera. I myself took the plate out of a packet just
previously ripped up under the surveillance of my two detectives. I
placed the slide in my pocket and exposed it by magnesium ribbon which I
held in my own hand, keeping one eye, as it were, on the sitter and the
other on the camera. There was no background. I myself took the plate
from the dark slide, and, under the eyes of the two detectives, placed it
in the developing dish. Between the camera and the sitter a female figure
was developed, rather in a more pronounced form than that of the sitter.
The lens was a portrait one of short focus; the figure being somewhat
in front of the sitter, was proportionately larger in dimensions. I
submit this picture (see opposite). It is, as you see, a lady. I do not
recognise her or any of the other figures I obtained as being like any
one I know, and from my point of view, that of a mere investigator and
experimentalist, not caring whether the psychic subject were embodied or
disembodied.
[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH OF A PSYCHIC LADY.]
Many experiments of like nature followed; on some plates were abnormal
appearances, on others none. All this time Mr. D., the medium, during the
exposure of the plates, was quite inactive. After one trial, which had
proved successful, I asked him how he felt and what he had been thinking
of during the exposure. He replied that his thoughts had been mainly
concentrated upon his chances of securing a corner seat in a smoking
carriage that night from Euston to Glasgow.
If the precautions I took during all of the several experiments, such
as those recorded, are by any of you thought to have been imperfect or
incomplete, I pray of you to point them out. In some of them I relaxed my
conditions to the extent of getting one of those present to lift out from
the dark slide the exposed plate and transfer it to the developing dish
held by myself, or to lift a plate from the manufacturer’s package into
the dark slide held in my own hand, this being done under my own eye,
which was upon it all the time; but this did not seem to interfere with
the average on-going of the experiments.
The psychic figures behaved badly. Some were in focus, others not so;
some were lighted from the right, while the sitter was so from the left;
some were comely, as the dame I shall show on the screen, others not
so; some monopolised the major portion of the plate, quite obliterating
the material sitters; others were as if an atrociously badly vignetted
portrait, or one cut oval out of a photograph by a can-opener, or equally
badly clipped out, were held up behind the sitter. But here is the point:
not one of these figures which came out so strongly in the negative was
visible in any form or shape to me during the time of exposure in the
camera, and I vouch in the strongest manner for the fact that no one
whatever had an opportunity of tampering with any plate anterior to its
being placed in the dark slide or immediately preceding development.
Pictorially they are vile, but how came they there?
Now, all this time, I imagine you are wondering how the stereoscopic
camera was behaving itself _as such_. It is due to the psychic entities
to say that whatever was produced on one half of the stereoscopic plates
was reproduced on the other, alike good or bad in definition. But on
a careful examination of one which was rather better than the other,
and which is now about to be projected on the lantern screen for your
examination (see page 35), I deduce this fact, that the impressing of
the spirit form was not consentaneous with that of the sitter. This
I consider an important discovery. I carefully examined one in the
stereoscope, and found that, while the two sitters were stereoscopic
_per se_, the psychic figure was absolutely flat. I also found that the
psychic figure was at least a millimetre higher up in one than the other.
Now, as both had been simultaneously exposed, it follows to demonstration
that, although both were correctly placed vertically in relation to
the particular sitter behind whom the figure appeared, and not so
horizontally, this figure had not only _not_ been impressed on the plate
simultaneously with the two gentlemen forming the group, but had not been
formed by the lens at all, and that, therefore the psychic image might be
produced without a camera. I think this is a fair deduction. But still
the question obtrudes, How came these figures there? I again assert that
the plates were not tampered with by either myself or any one present.
Are they crystallisations of thought? Have lens and light really nothing
to do with their formation? The whole subject was mysterious enough on
the hypothesis of an invisible spirit, whether a thought projection or
an actual spirit, being really there in the vicinity of the sitter, but
it is now a thousand times more so. There are plenty of Tycho Brahes
capable of supplying details of observations, but who is to be the Kepler
that will from such observations evolve a law by which they can be
satisfactorily explained?
[Illustration: ABNORMAL PORTRAIT OF LADY]
In the foregoing I have confined myself as closely as possible to
narrating how I conducted a photographic experiment open to every one to
make, avoiding stating any hypothesis or belief of my own on the subject
generally, and it only now remains to exhibit the results, bad and
fraudulent-looking as they are, on the screen.
REMARKS BY MEMBERS AND VISITORS.
Having finished the reading of his paper, Mr. TAYLOR exhibited by the
aid of the lantern, slides from some of the negatives he had obtained.
A series of “Spirit Photographs,” the work of Mr. Hudson, formerly of
Holloway Road, and some French photographers, were also shown by Mr.
Maltby, a visitor, who was introduced by Mr. Taylor.
Messrs. Downey, P. Everitt, W. E. Debenham, F. A. Bridge, A. Cowan, A.
Haddon, J. S. Teape, A. Mackie, and others took part in the meeting, but
their remarks, for the most part, were characteristic of unacquaintance
with the subject.
Mr. A. GLENDINNING explained that it had originally been intended to
have had the photographs taken in the studio of a West-end photographer,
but that gentleman had withdrawn his consent owing to his religious
views, expressing the opinion that such experiments were dangerous, if
not wicked. The experiments were therefore made in the drawing-room of a
house in Dalston.
Mr. W. E. DEBENHAM asked if it would be possible to repeat the
experiments in the presence of the same medium and two members of the
London and Provincial Photographic Association.
[This question was answered at a later period of the meeting, when the
suggestion was made by the Chairman.]
Mr. GLENDINNING said he had been interested in the subject of psychic
photography for twenty-eight years, and he asked permission from the
Chairman to make a few remarks. This being readily and courteously
granted, he said, “Do the members of this Society, who are now present,
believe that Mr. Taylor is competent for the investigation which he
recently undertook? I do not mean, are you prepared to endorse his
statements regarding the results of his recent experiments? I do not mean
merely, do you consider Mr. Taylor an honest investigator? There are many
honest men who would not be considered qualified to watch with sufficient
care and accuracy experiments in photographic manipulations. There are
others who are honest and upright, and who are skilful in the ordinary
routine of photographic work, who may possess very little knowledge of
chemistry or of optics, in their relation to practical photography.
Others, again, may be honest men, skilful manipulators, and adepts in
chemistry and in optics, but too opinionative to conduct such experiments
as those under consideration. Well, then, gentlemen, looking at the
matter all round, I put it to you this way. My own belief, my strong
conviction, is this, that Mr. Taylor is well qualified in every respect
for the very important and, I would add, the very solemn task which he
undertook. A man with an open mind, prepared to—
‘Accept the truth where’er ’tis found,
On Christian or on heathen ground?’
possessed of shrewdness, tact, an eye like a hawk’s, watchful and
ready to detect the slightest attempt at trickery or fraud, with an
integrity of purpose and an independent outspokenness which would lead
him fearlessly to expose and denounce those who would so far forget
themselves as to trifle with the most sacred feelings of our nature,
by attempting to palm off as abnormal and strange that which is but a
miserable counterfeit of a grand reality. Gentlemen, do you uphold me in
my view that Mr. Taylor was the right man for the experiments to which
reference has been made? (Applause and expressions of approval.) I thank
you for this expression of your opinion. I do not wish to corner you;
I do not wish to trap you into a seeming acquiescence with views which
you have not considered. My desire is to be perfectly frank; but there
are reasons, into which I need not enter now, why I have put before
you the statements and the question to which you have responded. Well,
supposing for the moment that Mr. Taylor’s report of his experiments is
an accurate statement, that portraits have appeared on his plates, and
have been printed from his plates, which cannot be accounted for by any
known agency, it seems to me to be a fair conclusion to arrive at, that
there were other persons present at those experiments besides the ladies
and gentlemen who could be seen with the normal vision; that these
unseen visitors were exhibiting an active and intelligent interest in the
matter, and that they were aiding by their co-operation to produce the
abnormal images which appeared on the plates. Call these unseen visitors
by the name which may commend itself to you as most fairly descriptive;
call them spooks, or ghosts, or astrals, or elementals, or even, if you
prefer to do so, call them devils. I call them spirit friends—ex-carnated
human beings—that is what they profess to be, and that is what, in an
experience of such matters extending over a good many years, I have
always had good reason to believe them to be. Therefore I transfer
the name from the principal operators to the pictures themselves, and
I call the latter spirit photographs. Likewise, because the abnormal
portraits, so far as they have been recognised, are portraits of persons
who have cast off the earthly tabernacle, I claim that the name spirit
photographs, or photographs of spirits, is as near as we can get to
accuracy in the present state of our knowledge.”
Mr. F. A. BRIDGE said they were bound to believe Mr. Taylor’s statement;
but, as practical photographers, though the pictures shown _might_ be
spirit photographs, he thought they gave them the idea of cut-out prints,
but as to who cut them out he did not know and did not care. He, however,
did not for one moment wish to impute any complicity or dishonesty to
Mr. Glendinning in connexion with the experiments, for that gentleman
appeared (as he had said) merely to have been desirous of arriving at the
truth.
Mr. DEBENHAM quite agreed with Mr. Bridge as to Mr. Glendinning’s _bonâ
fides_ in the matter. He would propose, if possible, a committee be
formed to be present at some similar séance.
A MEMBER stated that Mr. Taylor’s experiments had been vitiated to some
extent by his not having the whole of the conditions under his own
control (a remark to which Mr. Taylor does not seem to have thought it
necessary to reply, as he had already distinctly stated that the _whole_
of the conditions were subject to his entire control).
Professor A. HADDON observed that if spirits gave out ultra-violet rays,
it would be advisable to use lenses made of quartz, as they would have a
far better way of rendering such subjects on the plate than with ordinary
lenses, which cut off ultra-violet. Again, had different eyes different
powers as regards the taking in and cutting out of different rays? Mr.
Friese Greene had shown how it was possible to allow an impression to be
made on the retina, and then to be transferred to a plate. Most probably
only certain people possessed this power, for it was curious no one had
repeated the experiment with success.
Mr. T. SHORTER said he had had some experience of the subject, and in
many instances such portraits had been distinctly recognised as those of
relatives and friends, and it was not by any means a peculiar experience.
The late Mr. Beattie, of Clifton, obtained portraits of this kind through
Mr. Hudson, to whom he went in a very sceptical spirit. Hudson allowed
him to go through all the manipulations himself; Mr. Beattie took his
own plates, and inverted them before they were exposed. On one picture,
after it was taken he recognised the portrait of his own brother. He (Mr.
Shorter) knew of a good many instances of a similar kind. For instance,
he said, Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace had had no hesitation in recognising
portraits so obtained. Of course there were many taken in this way that
could not be identified; but, on the other hand, there were many that
could. He could quote forty instances where people could identify them.
A MEMBER explained how a collection of portraits of deceased persons can
be made by professional photographers. He stated his firm sometimes
receive such portraits to copy, and at times when they deliver the copies
they pretend that the original pictures are lost or injured; so the
customers have nothing to compare the copies with. This brought forth the
rebuke from Mr. Maltby (a visitor) that the conduct of the firm might be
“smart,” but could not be considered honest.
Mr. ARTHUR MALTBY said the spirit forms which are photographed were
created from the aura that escapes from sensitive subjects. Some years
ago a gentleman went to a photographer to have a portrait taken, and,
instead of his portrait appearing, as he expected, that of a man who
had been abroad for many years, and of whom he knew nothing, appeared
on the plate. Some weeks afterwards a telegram came announcing that the
man, whose spirit photograph had appeared on the plate, was shot. Again,
during the last Austrian war, an officer who had never been photographed
in his regimentals appeared to a brother officer as a photographed
spirit. On one occasion the figure of a small child appeared in the
centre of a picture. The child had been dead nearly fifty years, but
was recognised after that lapse of time. He suggested that a photograph
could be taken to prove that fluid rays pass from a sensitive, like
photographic rays of light. This aura, which was the material emanating
from all parts of the body, was collected to form the portraits of those
who wished to prove the immortality of the soul.
Mr. J. WEIR BROWN (the chairman) said that although the pictures shown
that night by Mr. Maltby might be recognised as spirit photographs,
they had only to do with Mr. Traill Taylor’s experiments,[4] and he was
bound to say that some of the examples shown bore evidence of being
patchwork on the plates, and not similar to those that were shown by Mr.
Maltby. Mr. Taylor’s results were very mysterious; and, although Mr.
Taylor himself was very watchful, there was nothing to lead them to any
conclusion on the matter, so that it must remain a mystery. He suggested
that Mr. Glendinning should provide an occasion, if he could, for the
London and Provincial Photographic Association to send a small committee
to take part in similar experiments, and he was sure that they would only
send fair-minded men to represent them.[5]
Mr. GLENDINNING, in reply, said he would be willing to use his influence
to get such experiments carried on in the presence of the same medium
later in the year. (Hear, hear.) He said that his friend, the medium,
had so much confidence in Mr. Traill Taylor, that probably he would
carefully consider Mr. Taylor’s suggestions in the matter.
Mr. TAYLOR asked why they should expect Mr. Glendinning, who is not a
member of the society, to be at the trouble for them. He suggested that
the society appoint a committee to investigate the subject, and advertise
for the services of a suitable medium with whom to try experiments.
_PORTRAIT OBTAINED WITHOUT EXPOSURE IN THE CAMERA._[6]
Towards the close of the proceedings, Mr. Glendinning handed to the
chairman, and to some of the members sitting near him, a print of a
psychic portrait from a negative obtained without the plate being
exposed in the camera, or to light of any kind excepting that given by
a nightlight in a dark lantern to develop by. The experiment was made
in consequence of a conversation with Mr. Taylor (after his experiments
were concluded), and about an hour before the medium left for his return
journey.
An Ilford dry plate had been taken by Mr. Glendinning from a new packet,
put in clean paper, and held by the medium, in the dark room, between
the palms of his hands; Mr. Glendinning placed his hands above and
below those of the medium; he then took the plate and placed it in his
developing tray, when a full-length figure appeared, clear and distinct,
although without artistic effect. The negative was in Mr. Taylor’s
possession at the meeting.
The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to Mr. Taylor for his paper.
NOTE.—With regard to one or more of the psychic portraits taken
by Mr. Taylor on his own plates, in which he found that the
psychic image had not been formed by the lens at all, and with
regard to the important discovery made by Mr. Glendinning, in
a later experiment with his friend, the medium, it would be a
mistake to conclude that the psychic images on photographic
plates are always produced in this way. There are many spirit
photographs, regarding which all the evidence is in favour of
the theory that they are produced by the agency of the camera
at the same time as the sitters. With respect to one of the
pictures taken by Mr. Taylor, and shown by him on the lantern
screen, the sitter, after Mr. Taylor left the room to develop
the plate, stated to those present that there ought to be on
the plate a spirit form to his right and nearer the camera than
himself, as he felt “drapery like a robe of silky crape pass
him at the right side when the photograph was being taken.”
When Mr. Taylor appeared with the developed picture, it showed
a full-length female form, with a white robe, but no drapery
about the head or shoulders. The sitter further stated that,
during the exposure of the plate, his mind was occupied in
calculating some sums in arithmetic, so that the psychic form
could not be considered to be a photographic representation of
his thoughts.
PRESS NOTICES.
_From THE PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHER, April, 1893._[7]
Psychic Photography.—At a recent London and Provincial meeting, Mr. J.
Traill Taylor showed some negatives of what are commonly called “spirit
photographs,” which he had taken under test conditions. He had bought
ordinary commercial plates from a well-known commercial dealer, and
exposed them at a recent séance held in the north of London. He took
his own stereoscopic camera, opened the original packets of plates and
filled the slides himself in the presence of two gentlemen. He exposed
them by magnesium light upon two sitters, one of whom was alleged to be
a “medium,” and immediately developed them himself. On development some
of them showed other figures (in addition to those of the sitters) which
had not been visibly present when the exposure was made. The exposures
were made in the afternoon in an ordinary drawing-room, when it was far
from dark, and the magnesium light was supplementary to the daylight.
Prints from the resulting negatives, viewed in the stereoscope, showed
the sitters in relief, but the “ghosts” with the appearance of flatness.
We are almost surprised at Mr. Taylor’s temerity in bringing forward
such a subject before such an audience, when he knows full well the
unreasoning prejudice with which the subject is met. Like the brothers
of Dives, “they would not be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
We do not imagine that Mr. Taylor wished to convince his hearers of
anything, but surely he was over-sanguine if he even expected fair
investigation or criticism. Before he came forward in this matter, he
would have been taken as a competent investigator—in fact, the meeting
in question passed a resolution to the effect that he was a “reliable
person, and a gentleman well qualified to conduct such an experiment as
had been described.” Yet, when he states that fraud was impossible, he is
at once condemned as either an incompetent or an impostor—preferably the
former. A committee was appointed to investigate the matter. Will they be
believed if they give a report similar to that of Mr. Taylor’s? Or will
they only be believed if they give the report that is expected?
Referring to the unsuccessful attempt made in another photographic
journal to throw doubt upon Mr. Taylor’s experiments by raising a cry of
trickery, the _Practical Photographer_ makes this sensible observation:—
“Surely this is a miserable evasion of the main point at issue, which
is not whether the medium was capable of fraud if he got the chance, but
whether Mr. Taylor is believable when he asserts that the chance for
fraud was not given.”
In the May issue of the same journal there is the following:—
“Five correspondents write on this head; but they only bring forward
experiences of many years ago, references to the _News_ and _Journal_
of old dates, and similar evidence. The letters are interesting, but we
cannot find room for a correspondence on the subject. Of testimony there
is more than enough. Those who can be convinced by testimony are probably
convinced already, if they have examined the subject. If the matter is
to be advanced further, it must be by careful experiments under test
conditions, and such experiments will not satisfy the active objectors
unless they can be repeated to order, and, so far as we know, no one has
claimed to be able to do this. Only new tests, well authenticated, are of
use in our columns at present. Any such we are prepared to publish, with
reproduction of the alleged psychic photographs if desired.”
_THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS, April, 1893._
In the _Review of Reviews_[8] for April, there is a reproduction of one
of the spirit photographs taken by Mr. Traill Taylor, and also of the
portrait obtained by Mr. Glendinning and Mr. Duguid, without the use of
a camera, and without exposing the prepared dry plate to light until
after it was developed and fixed. Mr. Stead refers to Mr. Taylor as a
well-known photographic journalist, of unquestionable good faith, and
prints the details of the experiments as given in Mr. Taylor’s paper.
Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., who has had much experience in this
subject, and possesses a large collection of spirit photographs, thinks
the most interesting results of the recent experiments are those in which
the form of one of the sitters is blended with the form of the psychic
portrait; but Mr. Stead thinks the portrait obtained without the camera
the most interesting. He concludes his article thus:—
“Mr. Glendinning assures me most positively that the plate had not been
tampered with. If so, it is to be hoped Mr. Duguid will repeat the last
experiment under test conditions. It is much the most interesting of the
lot.[9]
“The illustrations are badly developed, but they suffice to show that the
plate was sensitive to the presence of entities invisible to the human
eye. Everything, of course, depends upon the accuracy and honesty of the
photographer; and the reputation of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Glendinning is
above reproach.”
_From THE MORNING, April 4th, 1893._
The recent lecture on “Spirit Photography,” given by Mr. J. Traill
Taylor before a large audience, composed of the members of the London
and Provincial Photographic Association and their friends, is being much
talked about in photographic circles. Mr. Taylor, whose personal _bonâ
fides_ in the matter are admitted to be quite above suspicion, showed
upon an ordinary lantern screen the results which he had obtained.
The conditions under which the spirit experiments were conducted were
as follows:—Mr. Taylor used his own binocular stereoscopic camera,
and provided himself with unopened packages of “Ilford” dry plates,
purchased from dealers of repute. He exposed the plates by means of
magnesium ribbon in the presence of a medium. At the first attempt,
between the camera and the sitter a female figure was developed. On
several of the other plates exposed various figures were also discovered.
It was distinctly asserted by Mr. Taylor that none of these were visible
to him at any time during the exposure in the camera, and he vouched that
no one had the slightest opportunity of tampering with the plates before
they were placed in the dark slide or immediately preceding development.
_From THE MEDIUM AND DAYBREAK, March 24th, 1893._[10]
THE EXPERIMENTS IN SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY.—We call attention to certain
important points in Mr. Taylor’s paper and the remarks which follow it.
The first consideration is, that nothing should be jumped at as fraud,
though it may appear to be so. Mr. Taylor has taken a strong, manly
position in exhibiting photographs which have all the appearance of being
spurious, and yet he knows they are not so. A man in a position less
eminent could not afford to be so bold. Mr. Glendinning dwells on this
feature of the investigation in an excellent manner.
The photograph obtained without exposure at all, described at the close
of the report, suggests a means of producing pictures quite unknown to
science or photographic art. It, in its way, resembles the direct writing
on closed slates, or on unopened packets of paper. But on carefully
examining Mr. Taylor’s negatives it appears as if the spirit figures had
not been cut out and stuck on, but there is a blending of the one picture
with the other, showing plainly that a different mode of operation was at
work.
We have often observed in our lectures that the nature of the image
differs in the pictures of every spirit photographer. Evidently the
photographers on the other side have taken up Mr. Taylor’s challenge
to investigate in a very serious manner, and have shown some of their
skill to set the brains of mortal photographers on the alert for a more
comprehensive knowledge of the possibilities involved in their art.
Let this thought dwell in the mind of every reader, that many of the
so-called “frauds” attributed to spiritual experiment have not been
frauds at all, but the hasty conclusions of that unworthy suspicion
which is begotten of ignorance. Such conclusions bring the subject to a
standstill, whereas a tentative and trustful investigation would lead to
most important discoveries. We rejoice to see the healthy direction which
the present experiments have taken.
_From LIGHT, March 18th, 1893._[11]
We invite the special attention of our readers to a report in our
present issue, of experiments in “Psychic Photography,” conducted by
Mr. J. Traill Taylor. Never before, so far as we are aware, has the
investigation of this, one of the most interesting of Spiritualistic
phenomena, been undertaken by a man so competent in every way for
the work, enjoying, as he does, a high reputation for his scientific
attainments in his own special department, and for his powers of keen and
careful observation. Using his own camera and plates, and conducting the
operations with his own hands, he succeeded in photographing figures,
“not one of which,” he avers, “had been visible in any form or shape
during the time of exposure in the camera.” But more than this, by
observing the results on the occasion when a stereoscopic camera was
employed, he arrived at the conclusion that—as some Spiritualists have
long thought to be probable—the figure developed had not been formed by
the lens, and the psychic image might be produced without the camera at
all. It will be interesting to observe what Mr. Taylor’s photographic
brethren will have to say to him; for ourselves we tender him our hearty
thanks.
_From LIGHT, March 25th, 1893._
The importance of this address can scarcely be exaggerated, and for two
reasons,—one, that we have a scientific photographer, of the first rank,
treating the subject publicly before a body of men, the majority of whom
would, presumably, be at least sceptical; and, next, that in the address
there were advanced certain speculations which may not only help to the
elucidation of the means whereby such photographs are produced, but also
throw light upon the great problem of Spiritualism itself.
Of the experiments which have been already described we have nothing
to say, except that, unless fraud be admitted as having been possible,
figures were produced on the plates which could only have got there in
some abnormal way. Fraud, however, seems to have been about as impossible
as it could be under any circumstances whatever. Mr. Taylor used his own
camera. The plates were bought from dealers of repute, and the parcel
was opened in view of two witnesses, witnesses above suspicion. Mr.
Taylor insisted that he should keep the plates in his own hands until
after development, and this caution he relaxed only so far as getting
one of those present to lift out from the dark slide the exposed plate
and transfer it to the developing dish held by himself, or to transfer
a plate from the manufacturer’s package into the dark slide held by his
own hand. Unless, therefore, there had been connivance on the part of
the “dealers of repute” who supplied the plates, which is out of the
question, or the persons present were all of them leagued together to
cheat, we are forced to the conclusion that the results were genuine....
A few more words must be given to Mr. Traill Taylor. The importance of
his lectures has been dealt with elsewhere, but it can bear emphasising
here. Facts, or what appear to be facts, we have in plenty, but the
explanation of these facts, except theoretically, is not so common.
Anything which sheds even the faintest glimmer on the meaning of these
facts is supremely welcome, and this glimmer, or more than glimmer, Mr.
Taylor has produced. It will be strange if that “fluorescence” which has
been so relied upon for the general theory of fraud should turn out to be
the means of demonstrating the opposite.
_From LIGHT, May 6th, 1893._
It was not to be expected that Mr. Traill Taylor’s photographs would be
left unchallenged. But as it is impossible to impute fraud to Mr. Taylor
or his associates, the objectors are thrown back on somewhat flimsy
arguments. A letter to the _Christian World_ may perhaps be taken fairly
well to represent the kind of argument. The letter is signed “F. Gass.”
Of course we know that fraudulent spirit photographs have been
plentifully sold, but because there is a large amount of falsehood in
the world it does not follow that there is no truth. But let us see how
Mr. Taylor is treated by this critic: “Mr. Taylor says these forms were
invisible to watchers in the room, and were, therefore, disembodied
spirits.”
There is no such “therefore” in Mr. Taylor’s address. What he did say
was: “In the foregoing I have confined myself as closely as possible to
narrating how I conducted a photographic experiment open to every one to
make, avoiding stating any hypothesis or belief of my own on the subject
generally.”
The writer takes exception to Mr. Taylor’s statement that the figures
when examined by the stereoscope were absolutely flat; because “the
figures were solid enough to obscure a view of the sitting medium when
they stood between him and the camera.” That is, Mr. Gass knows all about
solidity, and what could or could not be done by what Mr. Taylor is
careful to call a “psychic entity.” That there is any appearance of light
and shade in the engraving as it is in the _Review of Reviews_ proves
nothing; even if it is there, we have Mr. Taylor’s assertion that in
the photograph he examined with the stereoscope the “psychic figure was
absolutely flat.” As to the nonsense about the clothing of the figures
and the draper’s shops in Ghost-land we have nothing to say. Mr. Gass
then falls foul of photographs being taken without the employment of a
lens. Such a thing would be a miracle. So Mr. Gass knows what a miracle
is. “To obtain a portrait on a plate, light is imperatively necessary,
and to obtain an image of a figure it must be brought into focus by the
lens of a camera.” Of course, if these things “must” be so, there is an
end of the matter, but the experiment went to disprove the necessity
of this “must.” And what is “light”? Has Mr. Gass any knowledge of the
spectrum, and could he himself “see” the actinic rays which produce the
pictures on the sensitised plate?
_From the “TWO WORLDS” March 24th, 1893._[12]
Mr. Taylor is, perhaps, the most competent and reputable man who,
as an experienced and scientific photographer, has undertaken such
experiments, hence his testimony is all the more valuable. The medium was
Mr. David Duguid, and the results are of great importance.
Mr. A. Glendinning, who brought about the sittings, deserves the thanks
of all Spiritualists.
GHOSTS AND THEIR PHOTOGRAPHS.[13]
_By_ THE REV. H. R. HAWEIS, M.A.
“I suppose there is nothing more difficult than for scientific
people to realise that the dead are living.”—Rev. H. R. HAWEIS,
M.A.
Ever since the appearance of the more than sensational “Real Ghost
Stories” and “More Ghost Stories”—which are, like the ghosts, still
appearing—a great and calm tolerance of the occult made manifest seems
to have diffused itself throughout English society. People are bringing
out their own private little bogey stories, of which they used to be
quite ashamed, and, what is more curious, they are bringing out their
bogey photos, both of which things reveal the fact how many more ghost
stories and ghost photos are about than people seem generally to have
imagined. Only the other day I was told of a young lady who went down
to Brighton to an ordinary photographer. She sat as an ordinary sitter,
suspecting nothing. The plate came out blurred all over; photographer
surprised, and on point of casting plate aside, when sitter begs to see
it, and further begs to have it printed off. Result—photo blurred all
over, sitter unrecognisable; when subjected to high magnifyer, milky way
of blue reveals innumerable faces, but all the same face! Recognised by
young lady at once as face of dead lover. This is the kind of story which
is becoming tiresomely common, and often bewilderingly well evidenced.
Now, unless I had thought this question of alleged appearances—palpable
enough to be seen, perhaps photographed—might have a grave side to it,
I should not have for two Sundays rung the changes, and the _pros_ and
_cons._ in the pulpit, and pointed out the momentous connexion between
such manifestations and our interests here and hereafter. People seemed
much impressed with this view. The fact is that every time I announced
the subject at St. James’s, Westmoreland Street, Marylebone, crowds were
unable to get seats, and I was in a way compelled to resume the topic
next Sunday, while thousands struggled in vain to get into my tolerably
spacious vestry after the sermon to catch glimpses of the selected photos
and spirit drawings there exposed to view. Well, this shows, I suppose,
that I had, if possible, under-estimated the toleration which I solicited
for this dubious subject, but which I hardly expected to win.
_“WILL YOU SHOW ME THE GHOST?”_
The physical philosopher (and we are all physical philosophers, whatever
else we may be) naturally asks, when he is told that this or that person
has seen a ghost, “Will you show me the ghost?” Sometimes he is informed
that if he sleeps in the haunted room he will be quite satisfied.
Sometimes he does, and isn’t—sometimes he does, and _is_; when he _is_,
like a wise man he is apt to keep what he has seen (as Johnson said
every man did his religion) to himself. Perhaps he may have been in
the habit of laughing at ghosts and sneering at people who believed in
them, and doesn’t want to eat his own words. Perhaps he resembles the
man who said “he did not believe in ghosts, but was very much afraid of
them;” or, perhaps, he had no taste, after making a full confession about
what he may have seen, for the retort courteous, that he was probably
a fool or a liar—or both. Anyhow, the physical philosopher might next
inquire, Did several people see the ghost at once, or independently at
different times? Is there reason—that is to say—to suppose the ghost was
really an objective (external to the spectator) or merely a subjective
hallucination? A very reasonable inquiry. “Photograph me a ghost;
chemicals have no fancies, plates don’t get nervous, and lenses tell no
lies!” Good. So we proceed to get a medium into the studio; we photograph
away, and a ghost comes out behind the medium!
“Ah! but did you examine the plate before it was slipped in?”
“No.”
“Then the plate was cooked; the ghost was already on it.”
“Try again.” This time you bring your own plate; but again comes a ghost.
“Ah! but did you change the screen behind you—shift it, or put your own
screen?”
“No.”
“Well, the ghost was in chemicals on the screen.”
So next time you remove the photographer’s screen, and put your own, and
bring your own plate, too; but again comes a ghost.
“Ah! but did you examine the inside of the camera? Did you watch the
developing process? Did you watch your plate from beginning to end? Nay,
did you spy everything—windows, &c.—outside thoroughly? A ghost might be
shot on to the exposed camera. Did you allow any one to dress up in a
sheet behind you, and do the partial exposure trick?”
Well, next time you take every precaution, and if still you get a ghost,
“that gives to reflect,” as the French say; so let us reflect a little.
_“AUTHENTIC” GHOST PHOTOS._
The most authentic ghost photos are the hardest to get hold of. They
are in the hands of private amateur photographers, who are shy of
lending or showing them because they are shy of being accused of fraud
or folly; besides, to them these photos are often sacred, or they seem
to portray the features of the beloved dead. I believe Mr. Crookes,
F.R.S., one of the greatest scientists living—the renowned inventor of
the radiometer—has obtained spirit photos of a materialised form that
appeared apart from the medium, and moved about the room freely while a
continuous current of electricity was being passed through the entranced
medium, so that she could not move without betraying the motion. But,
like the wise man he is, Mr. Crookes, after having tasted the quality of
scientific bigotry, and already suffered somewhat for his ardour in the
pursuit of unpopular and novel truth—Mr. Crookes, I say, keeps certain
experiences, together with his abnormal photos, to himself, and will not
now even show them. It is of no importance to him what those who do not
and cannot know the facts think about them. They belong to his laboratory
work. Why should he bother himself with a crowd of outsiders? Of course,
no spirit photo, of itself, can bear conviction, nor is it possible to
produce about it in a journal any evidence that will. The two spirit
photos I have been prevailed upon to allow the Editor of the _Daily
Graphic_ to use with this open letter are, nevertheless, of considerable
interest. (1) The lady seated went with her daughter. She did not tell
the photographer who was in her thoughts. She thought of and longed for
her father to appear. She did not even tell her daughter or any one else
the mental test. She thought that her father should appear wearing a
peculiar black cap which he commonly used during the last days of his
illness. That test was never revealed before the plate was developed; but
it was answered, as may be seen in the photo (see opposite); the features
also are too marked to allow of any doubt.
[Illustration: LADY AND THE SPIRIT OF HER FATHER.
(_Lent by the Editor of “The Daily Graphic.”_)]
_THE LATE EDITOR OF “LIGHT.”_
The picture on page 83 represents Mr. Stainton Moses and a figure unknown
to him. The accomplished Editor of _Light_ is best known to the public
as M.A. Oxon. The Rev. Stainton Moses, a graduate of Oxford University,
was for many years Classical and English master at University College,
London. From his investigations he became convinced of the general truths
of what is vaguely called Spiritualism, and has devoted himself for some
twenty years to making the public familiar with the higher aspects, while
warning them against its ridiculous, dangerous, or degrading tendencies.
The only interest of the photo is that it was taken under all those
strict test conditions which I have alluded to above in this open letter.
The chief professional spirit photographers are M. Buguet, of Paris,
frightened by the priest into a recantation of his spirit photos, which
recantation no one who tested Buguet believes any more than does Buguet
himself; Mr. Hudson, who was, I am told, not always above suspicion, but,
like other mediums, was also successful under rigid test conditions;
Mumler, Beattie, and many others I know nothing about. Mr. Stead is now
occupied in testing spirit photography, and that being the case, we are
soon likely to hear more about it from an abler pen than mine. So great
was the interest shown in the labelled spirit photos and the spirit
drawings by the late Mrs. Watts, daughter of William and Mary Howitt,
exposed in my vestry, St. James’s, Westmoreland Street, Marylebone, that
I kept them up for a second Sunday. There is nothing like publicity as
a means of getting at truth. Let in the light! Sift facts! “Prove all
things; hold fast that which is good.”—1 Thess. v. 21.
[Illustration: MR. STAINTON MOSES (M.A. Oxon) AND THE UNKNOWN GHOST.
(_Lent by the Editor of “The Daily Graphic.”_)]
SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY.
_By_ JAS. ROBERTSON, _Glasgow_.
The most striking phenomena associated with what comes under the name
of Spiritualism are those connected with photography. It was very
naturally thought that nothing was so capable of bringing conviction to
the inquirer as a record made by the camera, which might be considered
free from all imagination, unconscious cerebration, expectancy, &c., and
yet there has been no part of the phenomena that has been more fiercely
assailed as being fraudulent. No matter how clear and searching and
honest has been the experimenter, if success attends his work suspicion
and cruel innuendo invariably follow him. The truths pertaining to the
spiritual are not received in the same calm, critical, and philosophic
spirit as the discoveries that are presented in other realms. People
gladly welcome a new planet, or a new metal, and laud the discoverer;
but the explorer in spiritual phenomena is at once set down as either
a madman or a fraudulent person. One can scarcely estimate the loss
the world has sustained by its want of fair treatment; sensitive
souls fear to speak out and tell all they know. Robert Chambers kept
his Spiritualism in the background, and walked through life honoured
and respected, but he made the battle of unpopular truth all the
more difficult to fight for the men and women who did speak out.
Spiritualists, though set down as credulous, are as far removed from this
condition as it is possible to be; they have had to fight their way step
by step, critically examining, but honestly yielding when the facts were
too much for them.
Very many photographic artists are in their ranks who have again and
again met with strange and weird markings on the sensitive plate, which
they could not understand; they have sought only to get at the truth.
Fraud lives but for the hour, and the person who has joined the ranks
of an unpopular cause knows that a fierce light will beat upon all his
actions, so that he need be more than ordinarily cautious in all he
sets down; but though bogus spirit pictures can be made, must we cease
to present those which are got by honest people under conditions that
have been considered perfect? Over twenty years since, in New York,
a photographer named Wm. H. Mumler succeeded in getting hundreds of
pictures of the so-called dead, which were recognised by their friends as
portraits; the great body of people who went to him were total strangers,
one of them, thickly veiled, being the wife of the murdered President
Lincoln. On the plate was seen her husband and one of her children, who
had passed on. I had the good fortune to come in contact with those who
went to Mr. Mumler shortly after arriving in New York, and who got test
pictures which were beyond cavil or suspicion. In hundreds of cases the
camera saw and reported what the physical senses did not cognise.
Mr. Mumler’s success brought him only hardship and excessive pain; he
was dragged into the law courts and fiercely assailed as an impostor,
but the volume of evidence which was brought in his favour so vindicated
his character that he triumphed. In our own country again and again we
have had photographers, amateur and professional, who have met with these
forms on their plates.
Mr. Hudson, of London, got many test pictures, and a whole crowd of
eminent people have vouched for the reality of the likenesses of their
deceased friends.
Mr. John Beattie, of Clifton, a retired photographer of twenty years’
experience, a man thoughtful and skilful, along with his friend Dr.
Thompson, made experiments in spirit photography for their own private
satisfaction, and placed on record details of their patience and
ultimate success. Forms again and again, some fragmentary, faint, and
shadowy, some full and clear, appeared on the plate, fully attesting that
spirit photography was real.
The late editor of _Light_, Rev. Stainton Moses, M.A., had a most
extensive experience, and brought a clear and searching intellect to
bear upon it. His series of papers dealing with the subject is careful
and complete in all details, and shows with what patience and care
the spiritual investigator examines the ground before he gives forth
his conclusions. In his experiments he ofttimes saw the figures which
afterwards made their appearance on the plate.
My own opportunities for the observation of the reality of the phenomena
have been good. Brought into close and daily contact with Mr. David
Duguid, through our business relations, I have been able to witness
almost all the pictures which have been taken through his mediumship.
He has been most averse all the time to give sittings, as he fully knows
the amount of suspicion which must gather, and the annoyance that will be
created, however successful; yet still he is anxious to perform his share
in the work of demonstrating human immortality. It seems hard that the
spiritual medium, of all persons, should have the taint of suspicion cast
around him. Spiritualists themselves have come from such a sceptical,
materialistic side of human experience, that they are suspicious of each
bit of phenomena which has not hitherto come under their gaze. It must
not be overlooked that the bulk of exposures have been the result of the
actions of spiritualists who would have nothing but what is genuine.
Some years since Mr. Duguid yielded to the strong pressure that was
brought to bear, and took at intervals pictures on which appeared other
forms than those seen by the physical senses. Each effort was not a
success. Again and again have we gone into the developing chamber, only
to find there was but the physical sitter. On all these occasions we took
the utmost care to be able to vouch for the conditions under which they
were taken, so as to meet the naturally critical questions which would be
put. Mr. Andrew Glendinning, of London, who has been on the closest terms
of friendship with Mr. Duguid for over thirty years, used to come down,
and at such times the latter yielded to the request for a sitting.
Mr. Glendinning brought his own plates, took every precaution that they
should not pass out of his sight—not that he suspected anything wrong,
but that he might make his testimony of value. We had on almost every
visit the most marked success. During the process I was often conscious
of the presence of spirit people before they made their appearance on
the plate; people who were known in the flesh and others came in this
mysterious way, and clearly showed that death must be some other thing
than what was made out by popular theologies. As the Rev. John Page Hopps
says, “A future life means persistence of life, means that the spirit
self remains a conscious living self when it sheds the muddy vesture of
clay.... Such a being, acting from the unseen upon the sphere of what is
to us the seen, might, under certain conditions, be able to work what
we call miracles.” It was the good fortune of Mr. Glendinning to get
beside us on one occasion a most exquisite face of a lady, full of each
charm and grace that make up the womanly character. The term angelic
might be applied to it. Such a face the seraphic painters have ofttimes
drawn, a Raphael might have painted it. From somewhere must have come
this form; and Spiritualism demonstrates what Mr. Justice Groves, in _The
Correlation of Physical Forces_, gives as a probable theory, “Myriads of
organised beings may exist imperceptible to our vision, even if we were
among them.”
A legal gentleman of some literary culture, who had become conscious
of the reality and beauty of the spiritual philosophy, wrote several
valuable articles, in which were given the clearest proofs of spirit
identity. He was most anxious to get the picture of a dear boy whom death
had carried away some years before, and whose absence, perhaps, made him
at first inquire as to whether Spiritualism had any joy to give.
Under the signature of “Edina” this gentleman gives one of the most
satisfactory bits of evidence it would be possible to get. He made
attempts to get this portrait in Glasgow, but in vain; though the child’s
sister, who was clairvoyant, saw him quite distinctly, “Edina” was not
able to get his impress on the plate. I give the following from “Edina,”
which surely places beyond a doubt that these spirit photographs are what
they claim to be:—
“Seven separate attempts were made to get a spirit photograph
of our lost one—twice in Glasgow and five times in
Edinburgh—and on every occasion, although our family medium
informed us that our son was in the room and standing before
the camera, besides being assisted or attended by others of our
relatives, now on the other side, nothing was got but faces of
persons unknown to us. ‘Try and try again’ has, however, always
been our motto in matters appertaining to the spirit world,
and, though we were discouraged, we resolved to persevere. Two
of the seven sittings were taken with Mr. David Duguid, in
Glasgow, and he also came to Edinburgh and had two sittings, or
trials, for photography in our house, and in the room in which
our son was born and died, so that every favourable condition
possible was complied with, but all in vain. Mr. Duguid was
here early in April, 1892, giving his second painting séance,
and he again kindly offered to make another effort to get what
we desired. On this occasion, I am proud to report that our
efforts have been crowned with conspicuous success. On the
night previous to the day on which our eighth and successful
sitting took place, a letter was automatically written by our
daughter, in the handwriting we know so well, that of my wife’s
eldest sister, who passed over twenty-eight years ago, and who
has had charge of our son since he entered the spirit world.
The letter gave us full directions as to next day’s experiment,
and again requested it to be made in the bedroom referred to.
Mr. Duguid was in Edinburgh the same night on which the letter
came, but he merely called, left his camera, and arranged as
to next day’s sitting. He returned next day at noon, and the
photographic sitting was at once begun. The day was bright and
clear, and the conditions seemed to favour a good sitting. The
bedroom is a large one, being twenty feet long by about fifteen
feet broad, and is well lighted by a plate-glass window, so
that the light was excellent.
“Before dealing with the sitting, I premise that the dry
plates which were to be used in the camera were purchased by
us in a shop in Edinburgh on the day preceding Mr. Duguid’s
arrival, and the chemicals required for the development of the
negative were what remained of the supply purchased by us on
the occasion of Mr. Duguid’s former visit. The sitting began
about twelve o’clock, and four plates were first used by the
medium. After an hour two more plates were tried, and then we
ceased operations. These six plates were taken out one by one
from the paper in which they were wrapped, by my second eldest
daughter, in a ‘dark’ room, lighted with a small red lamp,
and then handed by her to Mr. Duguid. He, in her presence,
put each plate, as it was required to be used, into the dark
slide, which he then took to the bedroom and inserted in the
camera. By desire of the medium my wife and two daughters in
succession, just before each photograph was taken, put one of
their hands on the top of the camera for a second or two. As I
have said, six of the twelve plates purchased by us were used
at the sitting, and on development it was found that on four of
them there was a child’s face and form appearing close to the
sitters, who were my wife and two daughters before referred to.
After the sitting closed, Mr. Duguid proposed to take the four
plates with him to Glasgow to get them printed off; but pending
his going home, he left the whole series with us overnight, and
got them from us next day.
“In the interim, however, our anxiety as to the child’s face
on the four negatives led us to attempt to print off an
impression on some prepared paper we had left in the house
from the last futile experiment. Accordingly, my second eldest
daughter, who has had some experience in amateur photography,
took the four plates I have above referred to, and put them
to be printed at one of the windows. On examining the four
impressions as they were printed off, we were gratified to
find, on each of the four photographs or copies so printed,
a clear and well-defined likeness of our departed son, not
with a ‘shadowy’ or ‘filmy’ face, like some spirit photographs
I have seen, but quite ‘human-looking,’ although a sweeter
and more spiritual expression pervades the countenance than
when in earth life. The portrait of our boy is as clear and
distinct as the one we possess of Professor Sandringham, which
is admitted, by every one who has seen it, to be a splendidly
distinct spirit photograph. The first of the negatives which
was printed off disclosed our boy sitting up in bed, just in
the place where he died, and although, as I have said, his face
is more spiritualised, and not so chubby as when in earth life
three years ago, yet there is not the least doubt in our minds
that it is our loved and lost one as he is now on the other
side. The second photograph discloses him as clothed in a boy’s
suit, and sitting on his mother’s knee. Here also the face is
quite human-looking, and just our son as he looked about the
close of his sharp and severe illness. The likeness in all the
photographs is essentially the same. Over the figure in each
photograph is a beautiful star, and the whole experiment has
been a phenomenal success in spirit photography, besides being
a source of great joy to us all.
“Mr. Duguid was never in my house in Edinburgh till the end
of January last (1892). Two of our family went twice to
Glasgow—once in 1890 and once in 1891—and had a sitting with
him on the occasion of each visit. Faces came on the negatives
on both occasions, but not the face wanted. At these sittings
nothing was said to Mr. Duguid as to our family affairs, or the
appearance of our boy, but he was told what we wanted, and did
his best to get a satisfactory result. We were not disappointed
at failure, because we knew, the difficulties attending the
experiment. The only photograph we have of our son was got when
he was two years old, and is not at all like what he was when
he was taken from us. The photograph was shown by me to Mr.
Duguid for the first and only time on the day succeeding the
successful sitting, and after the negatives had been printed
off in the manner before detailed. The dry plates were our own,
and were never handled by the medium till he put them in the
slide or box as before described. The chemicals were ours, and
the development took place in the presence of my second eldest
daughter, in the dark room before referred to, and to which
we all had access during the whole process. I therefore claim
that this demonstration has been a complete success, because
every test condition has been complied with. As ‘Salem Scudder’
puts it, in a certain sensational scene in Dion Boucicault’s
well-known drama of the _Octoroon_, ‘I guess the apparatus
can’t lie.’ The apparatus, _i.e._, the camera, has certainly
not lied to us. I have also to state that our family medium saw
our son in the room ‘posed’ in front of the camera during the
sitting and pointed out the place where he stood, before the
medium put the slide into the instrument.
“It has been with considerable reluctance that I have alluded
to so much that is sacred and personal in our family, but in
the interests of spiritual truth, and for the sole purpose of
showing that spirit photography, by an honest medium like Mr.
David Duguid, is possible, I have deemed it necessary to give
these facts, and they have been stated with all the care and
minuteness of detail in my power. As I have said, we failed
seven times; but the eighth trial gave us something to treasure
for life. We are certainly under a deep debt of gratitude to
Mr. David Duguid for the beneficent use of his mediumistic
powers in literally ‘giving us back our dead,’ or rather,
showing us our dear one clothed as he now is, in his spiritual
body, as on the other side.
“These are the consolations of Spiritualism which the
uninstructed cannot understand or appreciate. In my humble
judgment Spiritualistic research should be prosecuted in the
_home_, as, there only, results will be got of the best and
purest kind. That at least has been our experience, and we
gratefully acknowledge the mercies bestowed on us.”
Why should we not accept this as a truthful statement? The word of such
a man as “Edina” would be accepted to the full on any other subject,
but there is a deep-rooted antipathy in the public mind against the
recognition or acceptance of spiritual phenomena. Florence Marryat, in
describing the striking and marvellous incidents of her life, asks why
she should be disbelieved in these matters any more than Lady Brassey, or
Livingstone, or Stanley regarding their travels.
The most conclusive of testimony as to the reality of spirit photography
was that recently given in London by Mr. Traill Taylor, editor of the
_British Journal of Photography_, and one of the most capable men it was
possible to get for entering into an investigation of this matter. Mr.
Taylor holds the first of scientific reputations, and would have been
selected by all the leading minds in the world of photography as worthy
of representing it. The story told by him is clear in every detail as
to the methods he adopted to meet any objections that might arise, and
the success attained was quite in keeping with what had hitherto been
got by Mr. Glendinning and others in their Glasgow experiments. Mr.
Glendinning felt so confident that other honest minds could only reach
the same results as himself, that he prevailed on Mr. Duguid to visit
London, and give these test sittings to Mr. Taylor. This is another stone
in the fabric of evidence that builds up the new spiritual truths. Such
evidence has been given again and again by other workers in this field,
but scarcely ever before by a person enjoying such a reputation in this
special domain as does Mr. Taylor.
It was scarcely to be expected that Mr. Taylor’s statement, clear as it
is, and which, had it had no connexion with spiritual phenomena, would
have been welcomed and widely applauded, would be accepted. Even as Wm.
Crookes, F.R.S., when he blessed Spiritualism, instead of cursing it as
was expected, met with a tremendous amount of ridicule and malignity,
so has Mr. Taylor. Those who heard the story, while admitting that
Mr. Taylor was quite the ablest man in the ranks to enter on such an
investigation, still felt that _they_ would have been abler still, and
yet no one could point out any other precautions which might have been
taken. As one who was present I know the matter was entirely in his (Mr.
Taylor’s) hands to do as seemed to him best. We were as desirous of truth
as he was, and the unprejudiced mind could only find in it all, results
which are perfectly conclusive of the reality of spirit photography. Mr.
Stead gives publicity to one of the pictures obtained by Mr. Taylor, in
the April number of _Review of Reviews_, and concludes his remarks by
saying that “Everything, of course, depends upon the accuracy and honesty
of the photographer, and the reputation of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Glendinning
is above reproach,” and so is it also with the medium (Mr. Duguid) who
only contributed his presence during the experiments, taking the least
interest really of all those who were present.
It might be asked what kind of evidence would be accepted to prove the
reality of the various phases of spiritual phenomena? Could a Tyndall or
a Huxley have done more in an investigation of this kind than was done
by Mr. Taylor, Mr. Glendinning, and those who were associated with them?
Were photography the sole phenomenon associated with the movement, this
might require to be investigated again and again, but for over thirty
years certain positive statements have been made, and the evidence
tendered, as to the reality of spirit raps, which psychical science can
throw no light upon.
Cromwell Varley, F.R.S., with his acknowledged electrical experience,
thought he could soon explode the spirit theory, but, instead, he became
a devoted and courageous spiritualist. William Crookes, F.R.S., and Dr.
Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., have alike testified to the spirit raps,
and to the phase of materialisation by which forms solid and tangible
are built up. Mr. Crookes on many occasions has photographed these
physicalised “forms,” and Dr. Wallace has vouched for the fact that with
a spirit medium he got a photograph, and, on sending this abroad to other
relatives, it was at once recognised as the portrait of his departed
mother, and certain peculiarities which could not be imitated made the
matter more certain.
Mr. Taylor has done nothing new, only corroborated what the many bold
but practical people had found out before—the people who, to get at
truth, had stood any number of hard names. They were not deceivers or
idlers carried away by the light of an idea, but practical, sober-minded
people, who trusted to nothing but experiment, and willing to tread down
any amount of obstacles that truth might be reached. A man like Mr.
Andrew Glendinning, certain of the facts of spirit communion, might,
had he been selfishly inclined, have allowed the world to sneer on, and
have troubled little about the accumulation of evidence; but the rich
fruits he had gathered during many years made a naturally generous nature
anxious to share them with others. The propagation of an unpopular idea
was not likely to bring him honour of any kind. He knew well what all
past experimenters had to face, but he was determined this question
should be placed in such a position that there would be no reason for
cavil. It has been with much patience, and amid many suspicions, that
this careful investigator has helped to make palpable that there is a
roadway between the “undiscovered country” of spirit life and this world
of ours; that the transcendent intuitions of poets and seers have been
founded on realities which are now being demonstrated.
We spiritualists have indeed got to know, beyond a doubt, what the human
race had not learned in its thousands of years, viz., that death is a
delusion. The lamp has been kindled at the light gleaming from the sky,
and nothing can again put out the flame.
Spiritualism has a certain aim, and does not mean to drift. It has come
for a divine purpose, to be sacredly cherished and unfolded. Even Mr.
Stead, the longer he pursues his investigations, has less and less to say
regarding the danger of investigation. He feels and acknowledges that he
has entered upon a realm which may yet have many priceless gems to give
up. The spiritualist must be a _come-outer_, able to break away from
trammels and all despotic traditions. The fear of the Evil One, the bad
odour associated with the name “witchcraft,” the unwise and weak bits in
Old Testament history, stop him not in his investigations. “Thou shalt”
and “thou shalt not” of tradition he asks the authority for, taking
nothing on authority but truths which can be demonstrated.
If the world applauds those who joined together fire and water and iron
and made it ready to do men’s bidding, if it reverences those who with
audacious hands have taken the lightning from heaven and sent it to
carry tidings between the ends of the earth, so will it one day surely
reverence and honour the many spiritual workers who have toiled bravely
to make it evident that there is no death. “He that walks with humble
men,” says a wise teacher, “often stumbles over masses of unsunned gold
where men, proud in emptiness, looked only for common dust.”
Why should intelligent men mock at small beginnings like the rise of
the modern spiritual movement? The great institutions which have done
the best work for mankind have had to face the same kind of sneer and
ridicule. History repeats itself all the time. As Lecky eloquently
points out, the Christian religion, which was surely a potent force
for good or evil, was unseen by the leading minds who made up the
intellectual force of the Roman empire. No single man of weight saw in
it a conquering power, but glanced at it as something weak and ignoble.
Carlyle regrets that the wise and penetrating Tacitus could only see
in it a weak superstition, while he (Carlyle) held somewhat similar
views about Spiritualism (which, according to Theodore Parker, has more
evidence for its wonders than any other historic form of religion), as
the best word he could offer was that it was “the religion of Dead Sea
apes.”
That the idea of spirit communion will grow and find a place in the
people’s hearts is as certain as that the sun shines each day. The best
of minds have welcomed it, even those who could not tolerate it at first.
It is indeed a choice revelation of higher import than all physical
science has yet given. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wondered how the
world, weeping for its dead, did not accord it warm welcome. She found
in Spiritualism the richest consolation. This age has almost witnessed
the abolition of slavery, and to-day there is not more antagonism to
Spiritualism than sixty years since there was towards the anti-slavery
party. Lloyd Garrison, afterwards a pronounced Spiritualist, was indeed
bold for conscience sake, for truth and justice, when he started the
_Liberator_. It did not seem as if the idea which possessed him could
take root. When his enemies made inquiry as to Garrison’s movements in
1831, they reported that his office was in an obscure hole, his only
visible auxiliary a negro-boy, and his supporters a few insignificant
persons of all colours—and yet in spite of this early report his idea
shook the world. The man and the negro-boy were pretty vigorous, and
there was a great truth promulgated from that obscure hole.
Spiritualism, through the brave advocacy of heroic men and women,
is at last becoming credible; more toleration is now shown for its
claims. Phenomena once considered trivial now receive attention. Many
are awakening to the new thought, and becoming better able to read the
mystery of their past lives through what it teaches. The influence of a
noted journalist like Mr. Stead is sure to keep the flame alight, and
divert the thought of those who want rest on this most important of
all problems that concern us. Thanks to such men as Wallace, Crookes,
Stainton Moses, Taylor, and others, who have collected and verified facts
so patiently, and demonstrated so surely that our dead live on, and take
an affectionate interest in our goings out and comings in.
MISCELLANEA.
_By_ ANDREW GLENDINNING.
“Wherever a road opens, and I am moved to examine and
experiment, there I shall most surely go.”—REV. GEORGE W. ALLEN.
Either the discoveries made by Mumler, Stainton Moses, Beattie and
others, have now been confirmed, or a very eminent man, specially trained
in rigid investigation, and an acknowledged expert in optics and the
chemistry and manipulation of photography, has been the victim of a
marvellous and inexplicable delusion.
To say that, notwithstanding all the precautions arranged, and carefully
carried out by Mr. Taylor, he was time after time deceived, is to make
a statement entirely opposed to probability and common sense, yet that
is the false refuge to which some fly from whom better things might be
expected. It exhibits strongly the credulity of incredulity, and an
ability to strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. To print insinuations
against the characters of those who investigate new and important facts,
and to air the superior wisdom of the critics in what are apparently
intended as witticisms, may serve the purpose of a day, but truth remains
unsoiled and unassailable.
When George Cruikshank was preparing his pictorial _brochure_ against
Spiritualism, he was asked what he knew of the subject; he replied he
knew nothing, and did not intend to inform himself till he had finished
his book. That is the position of many in regard to spirit photography;
the less they know about it, the more they feel qualified to judge; and
a man who, for the first time, deigns to consider it, will, with the
utmost confidence in his own opinion, condemn as fraudulent a genuine
spirit photograph; yea, he will even profess to discover the mark of the
scissors and the grain of the paper from which he imagines the photograph
has been cut and copied.
Other objectors profess to have looked into the subject, but because
_they_ saw nothing they thought worth following up, therefore they
practically conclude it is impossible any one else can be more fortunate.
That there are, and will continue to be, honest doubters goes without
saying. There are scientific men who cannot believe in the possibility of
this new thing—their minds are in old grooves. Others say the consensus
of opinion of photographers is against it. Granted; and what of that? Any
mere opinion as to whether spirit photography be possible does not in any
way affect the question. Opinions do not alter facts. The facts in this
matter are entirely in favour of the reality of spirit photography.
There need not now be any question as to whether spirit photography
is possible. That was settled thirty years ago. There is nothing in
the whole range of psychic phenomena for which the evidence is more
conclusive. Had there been no other proof, the sworn evidence of
scientific men, bankers, merchants, lawyers, photographers, and others,
at the Mumler trial was overwhelmingly abundant. And since that trial
there has been an accumulation of evidence from various quarters,
yielding proof upon proof that spirit photography is a fact, and must be
recognised as such. Contradicted it can be; that is easy to do. Sneered
at it may be; that, too, is not difficult. A man may sneer at a fact
which he is unable to comprehend, but a sneer proves nothing. Neither
does an unsupported contradiction, whether the contradiction be made by a
single person, or be made as a formal resolution by a society.
Some of the witnesses who were examined on oath at Mumler’s trial were
experts, such as Samuel K. Fanshaw. That gentleman was one of the
best miniature painters and facial experts in New York, and was also
familiar with photographic manipulations. He said he went to Mumler an
entire stranger, sat for a picture, witnessed the whole process, and
received a likeness of his mother, which he said was more like her than
the one he had painted from memory. Mr. Livermore, banker, had three
negatives, in which his wife appeared in three different positions. He
was accompanied by Mr. Hitchcock, of the _New York Sun_, and Mr. Gurney,
a leading photographer. When Judge Dowling asked Mr. Livermore if he
recognised these pictures as likenesses of his wife, his answer was,
“_Unmistakably_.”
The spirit photograph of Abraham Lincoln has often been referred to. My
copy of it is now too faint for reproduction, but it may be stated that
when Mrs. Lincoln visited Mr. Mumler, she wore a thick crape veil, so
thick that no one could distinguish a feature of her face. She travelled
under an assumed name from Springfield (Illinois) to Boston, went direct
from the train to Mumler’s house, gave her name as “Mrs. Lindall,” and
did not remove her veil till the prepared plate was in the camera ready
to be exposed. She obtained an excellent picture of her husband, standing
behind her, with his hands resting on her shoulders, and looking down
with a pleasant smile.
Prominent Americans, whose names are well known in this country, received
through Mumler’s mediumship test spirit photographs of friends whom they
recognised. Amongst these may be mentioned the Hon. Henry Wilson, then
Vice-President of the United States, Judge Edmonds, and William Lloyd
Garrison.
[Illustration: THE HON. MOSES A. DOW, OF BOSTON, U.S.A., AND THE SPIRIT
OF MABEL WARREN, HIS LITERARY ASSISTANT AND ADOPTED DAUGHTER.]
As a fair specimen of spirit photographs obtained through Mumler, I
submit one (see opposite) got by the Hon. Moses A. Dow, who was editor
and proprietor of the _Waverley Magazine_, Boston. The portrait was fully
recognised by Mr. Dow as that of an amiable and accomplished young lady
who had been his assistant editor. Before sitting for the portrait Mr.
Dow had a séance with a lady medium, and received from her a message,
which purported to be from his late assistant editor, instructing him
when to go to Mumler’s for the picture, stating that she would appear
with a wreath of lilies on her head, would stand by his side, would
put her hand on his shoulder, and would bring him beautiful flowers.
The photograph has lost some of its intensity; but in the original
negative the wreath of white lilies is very distinct, and the spirit is
holding between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand an opening
moss-rosebud, the exact counterpart of one which Mr. Dow placed between
the thumb and forefinger of her left hand, while her body lay in the
coffin just before the funeral.
Similar tests have been obtained in photographs by other mediums. On
one occasion Mr. Parkes had a visit from a friend who had promised to
spend a forenoon and try experiments, but he was unwilling to sit for a
portrait owing to sudden and severe illness, which he said would prevent
any success. He was induced by his wife to try. While Mr. Parkes was
preparing a plate with collodion his friend sat down to compose himself,
and at once he became conscious of the presence of a spirit form by the
kindly way passes were made over his head, curing him entirely of his
painful illness. On the plate being developed there was a graceful female
form standing beside him, with her head bent downwards towards him,
and behind her—extending outwards and upwards from her shoulders—there
was a patch of light seemingly intended to represent wings. The sitter
afterwards solved the enigma by stating that the influence from the
spirit was of such a sweet and delightful character, that it led him to
hum to himself his favourite hymn:—
“How delightful the thought that the Angels in bliss,
Daily bend _their bright wings_ to a world such as this,
And leave the sweet songs of the mansions above,
To breathe on our bosoms some message of love.”
The imagery of the hymn found an embodiment in the photograph. “I have no
wings—nor do I require wings,” subsequently explained the spirit, “but
the appearance of wings was assumed to please father.” Her father was the
sitter. Little thought he when waiting with a sad heart at the dying bed
of a loved daughter, and trying to sing the children’s hymn, that the
time would arrive when she would come from her spirit home to cheer him
in hours of sorrow and give him her portrait, or that she would be able
to render herself visible to normal sight, and with her arms round father
and mother, kiss them both and speak to them both. Such are some of the
secret blessings which come to those who wait, work, and pray.
“Thank God for this! oh, minist’ring angels, thanks!
My grateful heart
Shall through my lips proclaim the truth. Our dead
Do not depart—
To some far city, never to return.
They often come
To aid, to comfort us, till we too reach
That brighter home!”
* * * * *
The difficulties and discouragements which arise in trying to photograph
unseen forms do not exist to the same extent in photographing what are
called “materialised forms.” Some excellent results in the latter have
been obtained by various persons. The most notable instances are those
by Mr. Wm. Crookes, F.R.S., recorded in the last chapter of his valuable
book, _Phenomena of Spiritualism_, on the photographing of the spirit,
Katie King, by the electric light. At these experiments Mr. Crookes had
five complete sets of photographic apparatus fitted up, all of which
were used at the same time at each séance, and some excellent negatives
were obtained. “But,” adds Mr. Crookes, “photography is as inadequate
to depict the perfect beauty of Katie’s face as words are powerless
to describe her charms of manner. Photography may, indeed, give a map
of her countenance; but how can it reproduce the brilliant purity of
her complexion, or the ever-varying expression of her most mobile
features, now overshadowed with sadness when relating some of the bitter
experiences of her past life, now smiling with all the innocence of happy
girlhood when she had collected my children round her, and was amusing
them by recounting anecdotes of her adventures in India?
‘Round her she made an atmosphere of life;
The very air seemed lighter from her eyes,
They were so soft and beautiful, and rife
With all we can imagine of the skies;
Her overpowering presence made you feel
It would not be idolatry to kneel.’”
* * * * *
Amongst the important papers contributed to the Psychical Congress at
Chicago, one was sent, at the request of the Committee, by Dr. Alfred
Russel Wallace, F.R.S. In it he says:—
“What are termed spirit photographs, the appearance on a
photographic plate of other figures besides those of the
sitters, often those of deceased friends of the sitters, have
now been known for more than twenty years. Many competent
observers have tried experiments successfully; but the facts
seemed too extraordinary to carry conviction to any but the
experimenters themselves, and any allusion to the subject has
usually been met with a smile of incredulity or a confident
assertion of imposture. It mattered not that most of the
witnesses were experienced photographers who took precautions
which rendered it absolutely impossible that they were imposed
upon. The most incredible suppositions were put forth, by
those who only had ignorance and incredulity to qualify them
as judges, in order to show that deception was possible. And
now we have another competent witness, Mr. Traill Taylor, for
many years editor of the _British Journal of Photography_, who,
taking every precaution that his life-long experience could
suggest, yet obtained on his plates figures which, so far as
normal photography is concerned, ought not to have been there.”
Dr. Wallace has given a great deal of thoughtful consideration to this
subject, and has a large collection of genuine spirit photographs. In
his book, _Miracles and Modern Spiritualism_,[14] he devotes sixteen
pages specially to the topic. These pages—like everything else from
Dr. Wallace’s pen—are worthy of careful study, the following sentences
particularly so:—
“It may be as well to clear away a popular misconception. Mr.
G. H. Lewes advised the Dialectical Committee to distinguish
carefully between ‘facts and inferences from facts.’ This is
especially necessary in the case of what are called spirit
photographs. The figures which occur in these, when not
produced by any human agency, may be of ‘spiritual’ origin,
without being figures ‘of spirits.’ There is much evidence to
show that they are, in some cases, forms produced by invisible
intelligences, but distinct from them. In other cases the
intelligence appears to clothe itself with matter capable of
being perceived by us; but even then it does not follow that
the form produced is the actual image of the spiritual form.
It may be but a reproduction of the former mortal form with
its terrestrial accompaniments, _for purposes of recognition_.
Most persons have heard of these ‘ghost pictures,’ and how
easily they can be made to order by any photographer, and are
therefore disposed to think they can be of no use as evidence.
But a little consideration will show that the means by which
sham ghosts can be manufactured being so well known to all
photographers, it becomes easy to apply tests or arrange
conditions so as to prevent imposition.
“The following are some of the more obvious:—1. If a person
with a knowledge of photography takes his own glass plates,
examines the camera used and all the accessories, and watches
the whole process of taking a picture, then, if any definite
form appears on the negative besides the sitter, it is a
proof that some object was present capable of reflecting or
emitting the actinic rays, although invisible to those present.
2. If an unmistakable likeness appears of a deceased person
totally unknown to the photographer. 3. If figures appear
on the negative having a definite relation to the figure
of the sitter, who chooses his own position, attitude, and
accompaniments, it is a proof that invisible figures were
really there. 4. If a figure appears draped in white, and
partly behind the dark body of the sitter without in the least
showing through, it is a proof that the white figure was there
at the same time, because the dark parts of the negative are
transparent, and any white picture in any way superposed would
show through. 5. Even should none of these tests be applied,
yet if a medium, quite independent of the photographer, sees
and describes a figure during the sitting, and an exactly
corresponding figure appears on the plate, it is a proof that
such a figure was there.
“Every one of these tests have now been successfully applied in
our own country.”
Dr. Wallace gives minute details of some experiments which resulted
in his obtaining photographs which he recognised as _unmistakable
likenesses_ of his mother.
* * * * *
When Mr. Duguid was first asked to come to London to give test séances
to Mr. Taylor, it was hoped that Mr. Stainton Moses would have so far
recovered strength as to be present at the experiments. He took great
interest in the subject, and many of his photographs have been reproduced
by Mr. Arthur Maltby and Mr. Acton. On March 19th and 26th Mr. Maltby
gave lectures in the Athenæum Hall, and exhibited on the lantern screen a
number of spirit-photograph transparencies. Here are a few notes made at
the meeting on March 19th, by Mr. Burns, jun. Mr. Maltby said:—
“This lecture is given in memory of the late Mr. Stainton
Moses, better known as ‘M.A., Oxon,’ editor of _Light_, writer
of many valuable books on Spiritualism, and one of the best
friends the cause ever had. Most of you have either read or
heard of his marvellous book called _Spirit Teachings_, one
of the grandest series of spirit controls ever published. It
teaches a higher Spiritualism than is generally understood.
“My object in giving this lecture is to try to convince you
that it is possible to obtain photographs of friends who have
passed away. I shall also endeavour to explain the conditions
necessary, how they are attained, and for what reason. This
lecture was suggested by Mr. Stainton Moses, and the pictures
I am about to show you were his. I knew him for over fifteen
years, and have been favoured with particulars of the most
remarkable events ever experienced.
“One morning last spring I called on Mr. Moses, and found him
busy reading proof-sheets of Mr. Stead’s _Real Ghost Stories_.
Whilst discussing these, the subject of spirit photographs was
introduced, and he informed me that he had a collection of
nearly 400, which he offered to lend me if I thought they could
be suitably converted into lantern slides. After examining
the photographs, I found it impossible in so short a time to
select out of so many sufficient for a lecture. I therefore
begged the loan of them all, and we are indebted to my friend
and co-worker, Mr. Acton (who is now manipulating the lantern),
for his patient efforts in converting so many photographs into
lantern transparencies. It was a most laborious task.
“Three months later, when I returned the photographs, Mr. Moses
kindly offered to take the chair at this lecture, but that was
not to be. The day I was to submit my notes for his approval,
with the promise of a further and more complete description of
the spirit photographs, he had passed to the higher life.
“Many present to-night, who are aware of the reality of life
after death—a life ever progressive, and as real as life on
earth—can feel with me that this noble worker is not dead, but
lives, continuing his efforts for the good of humanity as when
on earth; ever with us in our efforts to spread this glorious
truth, which is like the sunshine, dispersing the fog and mist
of orthodoxy and ignorance.
“All the sittings he attended were under strict test
conditions, so there could be no possibility of fraud or
deception. These conditions were, that he purchased his own
plates, marked each with his initials, put them in and took
them out of the dark slide, not allowing them out of his sight
until they were fully developed.”
Mr. Maltby then showed on the lantern screen about forty spirit
photographs, and other pictures connected with the subject, all of which
he explained. Many of the photographs of spirits had been recognised
by the sitters and other relatives. He then spoke of the spiritual
advantages to be derived from spirit communion, and after an invocation
he thus concluded:—
“Should this lecture induce any present to seek communion with
their departed friends, let me beg of them to seek only for
spiritual aid in an earnest and prayerful manner, in their own
homes, amongst friends who desire to know the truth and will
investigate with unbiassed minds. To such success must come,
sooner or later; but those who try to use God’s spiritual gifts
for worldly and selfish ends will bring disaster on themselves
and discredit on the cause.”
* * * * *
At a séance held twenty-nine years ago, the following question was put as
to spirit photographs: “We do not comprehend how these are produced. Can
you give us any information as to the process gone through?” The answer
given through the medium, Mr. Peter A. Chesser, marine engineer, may be
of interest to some. It was this: “Spirits impress their image on the
plate by depositing thereon repeated layers of magnetism. According to
their respective powers of affording this, so is the impression more or
less distinct. The magnetism must be of the same texture or affinity as
that possessed by the operator; it is accomplished by a rapid vibration
of the spirits’ magnetic emanation in depositing layer after layer, and
the process is this: The operator by frequent manipulation saturates
his materials with his aura—I do not mean the animal aura of mesmerism,
but his spiritual aura; this, by repeated impression on his part from
repeated manipulations (which require considerable time, since he is
still in the body and has, therefore, more difficulty in, as it were,
filtering this spirit-aura through the pores of his body than have
the spirits, who are not trammelled in like manner), at last leaves a
positive viscidity on his materials which serves to retain the first
impressions thrown by the spirits upon it. When they from affinity
cohere, the image is rapidly built up on this superstructure. Any person
through the pores of whose body-material this spirit-aura can readily
pass is in a condition to take photographs of the kind to which you
refer. Much passiveness, however, is requisite.”
This reply refers, of course, to the photographs in class No. I.,
mentioned in the Preface, not to pictures which are produced by spirit
precipitation.
In experiments made with Mr. Chesser at that time (1864), we used the
wet-collodion process, on new glass plates which were cut for us by a
glass merchant. The plates were carefully cleansed and finally washed
and rubbed by myself with spirits of wine. We never used a plate twice
in such experiments. What is worth doing at all is worth doing well and
carefully. We obtained some pictures which would have been of interest
had we possessed more knowledge of the subject, but we aimed too high
and were not satisfied with slow progress. In fact we wanted a clear and
good likeness of one of our relatives, so several plates were broken
and put in the dust-bin which, in the light thrown on the subject by
later experience, we should have prized. One plate of that period was
kept because it had a shadowy image of the medium, although he was not
within the field of view when the plate was exposed. Unfortunately, the
photograph was not intensified; for when I was washing it at the tap,
the water got between the plate and the collodion, and away went the
film, but, although torn, I managed to spread part of it on the glass
again. The following statement was made by one of our unseen friends with
respect to that picture. Our questions were put through the medium, and
the answers were given by automatic writing.
QUESTION: We have here a photograph upon which there exists so much
diversity of opinion that we want to know what it is?
ANSWER: It is yourself, distinctly enough, but as we see your next
question we will proceed to explain how it came about that such
impression was produced on the plate.
THE MEDIUM: Stop a moment—do you mean that it is my body or my spirit?
ANSWER: We mean your spirit-aura. Your body could not be taken without
your being either directly in front of the camera or reflected into its
focus. Perhaps it will be better to explain some of the peculiarities
attending this phase, as it involves many points of interest. You were
standing in front of the camera for about a quarter of an hour before the
picture was taken or the plate prepared. In obedience to a suggestion,
you were awaiting the approach of the spirit who told you he could be
photographed, and, in order to retain your passivity, you remained
standing where you were. When you saw him seated you went to prepare
the plate, but not without leaving your emanation behind, which, on the
plate being exposed, was duly photographed. The proof is easy. Again
stand in the same position for, say, ten minutes, then leave the room,
and let a good clairvoyant be introduced and questioned as to what he
sees, when he will immediately describe you as supplying the place you
have vacated, with all the accessories pertaining thereto. But although
he could at all times see this, your emanation could not at all times be
impressed on the plate. Returning to another matter: Man does not enjoy
only one image of himself, but six, embracing three individualities,
viz., body, soul, and spirit; and three emanations proceeding therefrom,
respectively, body-odyle, spirit-aura, and soul-essence. These must on
no account be confounded with each other, as is too often the case.
Respecting the last—soul and soul-essence—as it is more remote, being
seldom brought into play outside the human tenement (unless under
peculiar circumstances), we do not intend speaking of it in connexion
with the present topic; so direct your attention more particularly to
the remaining four, partly in explanation of their attributes, and
partly in reference to photography. First, then, the body is most
easily impressed upon the plate, requiring fewer vibrations than its
odylic form, after which, in order, come spirit, spirit-aura, soul and
soul-essence, the last requiring millions of vibrations, which, although
costing more effort, takes no more time, in many cases. It depends on
the sphere of the spirit. You may form an idea of this by taking into
account the incredible power of motion which spirits possess. Now, the
odylic emanation may be projected by the will from the material body,
but the spirit cannot itself be so projected; it must be, as it were,
allowed to flow forth of its own accord. Similarly, the spirit, when
thus free to move, can project its aura in like manner. In both these
cases the emanation, by its velocity, becomes from necessary friction
respectively electrified, or magnetic and spiritualised; that is to say,
the emanations become endowed with a certain amount of vital energy,
life-force, or, in fact, of existence. The mere life-force does not imply
intelligence also, but it does when the emanation is spiritualised. Man’s
_will_ is from his spirit; hence, the will can project the odyle, but
not the spirit, for when the spirit is absent the will is absent, dormant
in reality (as the soul never interferes with the will), and the trance
state results. It is quite possible for the spirit, under favourable
conditions, to project its aura at the same time as the projection of the
odyle. The two emanations coming into contact would form a union of the
life-element with the thinking principle. We do not mean with thought,
but with thought-material—thought being supplied only by the spirit, the
ideas or germs of thought being suggested by the soul and elaborated by
the spirit. Without this constant emanation, or fluid impulse (viz.,
the soul-essence) to urge it, the spirit would not think; it would be
inactive, the soul-essence being its vivifying impulse to activity. Now,
when the odyle and aura have coalesced, a new body, complete in all its
functions, is not therefore the result, but merely a body-elementary,
_i.e._, imbued with life-force, and furnished with thought-material,
minus thought. This, then, is the eidolon, image, you occasionally hear
of. Still, you must not suppose it to be severed from the parent body; by
no means: it is linked to it by attraction, gravitation, and affinity,
or that element of which you can form ideas for practical purposes, but
of which you do not understand the nature. But, you may say, there are
instances of eidolons speaking; now, if it has not thought, how can it
speak rationally? Let us explain: thoughts are produced by vibrations
of their materials, and vibration is produced by the soul-essence
through the spirit, the soul being the prime reservoir of motion
(intellectually). Now, suppose the eidolon to be questioned by the person
to whom it appeared, this question being the result of thought, vibration
would communicate the motion to the intellectual materials of the
eidolon, and this vibration would be instantly felt by the parent body,
and an answer returned accordingly.
In reference to the suggestion that spirit manifestations may be the
work of eidolons, the reply was: “As departed spirits do exist, and
can communicate with mortals—of which there is abundant proof—there is
no need to suppose a state of things which does not exist in order to
account for what does.”
An explanation was also given as to how eidolons are formed, but that
does not concern our present subject.
* * * * *
Some investigators seem to think that the same spirit forms ought not
to appear on plates with different people, and that if they do so the
circumstance warrants suspicion, if it is not even a proof of fraud.
This is an entire mistake, and a mistake which can only be made by those
who have not investigated the matter in a practical manner for any
considerable length of time. Apply the same reasoning to materialisation,
or to direct spirit writing, and see what it will lead to. Mr. E. A. D.
Opie, of Adelaide, in a lecture on “Spirit Photography,” delivered on
July 1st, 1891, before the Adelaide Spiritualistic Association, made
this remark: “It is necessary to accept all second-hand reports of this
phase of Spiritualism with more than usual reserve, as, in one instance
at least, I have discovered, on comparing reports of the obtaining of
the same picture by different people.” Mr. Opie in these words probably
expresses an opinion held by many others, held in London as well as in
Adelaide. And what are we to infer from it? That if two sitters get on
their plates a picture of the same spirit form, it will be a proof of
fraud? Not at all. Of course, if the pictures have been produced by
a dishonest operator, they may be fraudulent. That is not a thing to
dispute. But the fact is that there are in existence a number of genuine
spirit photographs in which the same abnormal images are found with
various sitters. Most of these have differences in size, in attitude, and
in spirit drapery on the forms, but the likenesses are identical. Some
of them have been taken in different places, with different cameras, with
plates purchased in different cities and used by careful investigators.
Mr. Opie’s lecture was published in Adelaide as a pamphlet of twenty-two
pages; it is the result of much reading, and it is but fair to Mr. Opie
to note that he had no practical acquaintance with the subject.
* * * * *
Mr. Parkes gave some séances in 1875 in Mr. Burns’s rooms, 15 Southampton
Row. On one occasion three sitters got spirit forms on three plates. At
the same meeting I requested that I might be photographed. A clairvoyante
sitting near me said I ought to get something good, for she could see a
number of spirits near me. When the plate was developed there were eleven
spirit forms on it.
* * * * *
Several spirit photographs of children have been obtained. One of these
is the interesting one of “Edina’s” little boy, a full account of which
is in Mr. Robertson’s paper in this volume. Another child’s portrait was
got _unexpectedly_ at a test séance in April, 1892. The arrangements and
operations were under my superintendence. I invited a lady (Mrs. J. N.
Anderson) to take a place near the sitter in order to try whether her
mediumistic power would aid the experiment. I was vexed at not getting
the special result I wanted, but soon I had cause for gladness in the joy
which the portrait obtained brought to the hearts of the child’s father
and mother. To the notes of the séance, which were signed by all present,
I added the following words as a postscript: “The child’s dress exhibits
what was not known to any person outside of Mr. Anderson’s family.” That
test is of a kind to impress a mother’s mind. Previous to the child’s
departure he was lying cold in bed, when his mother took from a drawer a
night-dress of one of her older boys, and put it on the ailing child.
This night-dress had a certain kind of frill round the neck-band; and
that night-dress, with its frill and long sleeves, is represented in the
photograph. There was no picture in existence from which the photograph
could have been copied; and the likeness is not only attested by the
parents, but by friends of the family, and by Mr. James Robertson,
president of the Glasgow Society, who had often seen the boy.
Some one may ask, how was the photograph of the child obtained, seeing he
was too young to come unaided to stand before the camera, or to impress
his image on the prepared plate without the camera? An interesting
question, no doubt. To it I reply, “I do not know: I am stating facts,
not trying to explain them.”
* * * * *
In the _Review of Reviews_ for April, 1893, Mr. Stead suggested that
additional experiments should be tried to obtain psychic pictures without
the agency of light or the camera. An opportunity occurred in July to try
the experiment with a lady who is not known to Spiritualistic or occult
circles—albeit she is a good medium and clairvoyant. A dry plate from my
packet of unused plates was placed in a mahogany slide. The lady then
held the slide between the palms of her hands. She was under continuous
and close observation in a well-lighted room, and one end of the slide
was held by myself. On putting the plate in the developer, the picture
of a child appeared on it. The plate was not tampered with by any one,
nor was there any opportunity given to do so, nor was it exposed to light
until after it was developed and fixed. A reproduction of the picture is
given herewith (see page 145).
[Illustration: PSYCHIC PICTURE OBTAINED WITHOUT A CAMERA.]
Mr. Stainton Moses, at a meeting of the London Spiritualist Alliance,
advised those who intended to experiment in photography to employ a
stereoscopic camera. He considered that the genuineness of spirit
photographs so obtained could not be called in question. This opinion
has also been held by other investigators. In June, 1892, some spirit
photographs were submitted to an eminent scientific gentleman, together
with copies of the notes, detailing fully the conditions under which
the pictures were obtained, and giving the names and addresses of all
those who were present at the experiments. The opinion of the gentleman
was expressed in writing as follows, viz.:—“You have adopted all the
precautions I can think of as being necessary. The only one thing else
I can think of is the employment of a binocular camera. That is the
_final Court of Appeal_, and a spirit photograph taken by it can leave
no room for cavil.” To those who endorse this opinion I may state I
have eight photographs taken with binocular cameras, all obtained under
test conditions, and all having abnormal figures which are perfectly
stereoscopic _per se_, as well as in relation to the sitters. Halves
of two of these photographs accompany these miscellanea.[15] They were
obtained on the 21st October, 1893, on dry plates purchased from Mr.
Doublet, and the whole of the manipulations, so far as not done by
myself, were under my close and continuous observation.
[Illustration: PART OF A STEREOSCOPIC PAIR OF SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPH OBTAINED
BY A LADY OCTOBER 21 1893.]
* * * * *
The results of Mr. Taylor’s investigations are a prophecy and a lesson.
A prophecy of the coming time when photographs of our friends, who have
passed from earth-life, may be obtainable by the co-operation with us
of spirits who desire to help us, and who will find opportunities and
conditions to enable them to do so. When Mr. Stead’s proposal for a
spiritual bureau becomes an accomplished fact, we may hope, and may
reasonably expect, that spirit photography will be a department of it.
Many strange events, which, fifty years ago, seemed as unlikely, are now
of frequent occurrence. Mr. Taylor’s experiments are a lesson, as well as
a prophecy. A lesson to the materialistic spirit of the age, to guide
by new paths to old truths. The materialism of to-day is dogmatic and
active; it claims science as its handmaid, it boasts that it has sounded
the universe and found in it nothing but the material husks of existence,
that all spiritual beings are nonentities—the product of diseased
brains—of superstitious minds; its scholars have explored space from star
to star and have learned that there is no God; that man passes at death
into cold oblivion, into blank nothingness. To use the language of its
leading teachers:—“Unprejudiced philosophy is _compelled_ to reject the
idea of an individual immortality, and of a personal continuance after
death. With the decay and dissolution of its material substratum, through
which alone it has acquired a conscious existence and become a person,
and upon which it was dependent, _the spirit must cease to exist_!”
Again:—“Experience and daily observation teach us _that the spirit
perishes_ with its material substratum; that _man dies_.”
And:—“There never has been, _and never will be_, a real apparition, which
could make us believe or assume that the soul of a deceased individual
continues to exist: it is dead, never to return.”
And once more:—“Spirits and ghosts are only seen by diseased or
superstitious individuals.”
[Illustration: _Mrs. Green, of Heywood (medium), and the same spirit form
as on the preceding plate, but in a different attitude, and with the
birds and flowers reversed. Stereoscopic photographs obtained October 21,
1893._]
Undoubtedly these views are quite honestly arrived at and held by many.
By some through early training. By some in the rebound from bigoted and
God-dishonouring creeds. By others again in painful perplexity of mind,
while trying to solve the problem of existence. But a universe without a
Deity, and man without a soul, present little to boast of in the shape of
the consolation they can bring to suffering humanity.
Every opinion a man holds must to some extent influence his life, and the
knowledge that a man will live after death ought very considerably to
affect his entire character.
We know there is no such thing as death, that what we call by that name
is really a birth into a higher sphere—or state of existence—an entrance
into a holier and happier region, in whose precincts “we will be enabled
through untold ages to cultivate our intellects, perfect our moral
characters, and enjoy to the full extent of our capabilities all that is
pure, good, true, and godly.
“There is no death: what seems so is transition.
This life of mortal breath
Is but the suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portal we call death.”
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Spirit form. Part of a Stereoscopic pair. The sitter (who
does not wish his portrait to appear) has obtained spirit photographs
with his own camera and plates, when no other medium but himself was
present, and all manipulations were done by himself._]
Some persons admit the reality of supermundane photography, but say it
is the work of the Devil. How long is this old myth—this theological
superstition—to be flaunted in the face of investigators? how long
to be set as a bugbear—a “bogey-man”—not merely to frighten naughty
children, but to scare grown men and women, to bar mental progress, and
to stereotype from age to age distorted views of God, and of spiritual
law and truth?
Some thoughts expressed by “Imperator” to Mr. Stainton Moses, relating
to this imaginary prince of evil, are so excellent that no apology
is required for appending a few of them: “Cease to be perplexed by
thoughts of an imagined Devil. For the honest, pure, and truthful soul
there is no Devil nor Prince of Evil such as theology has feigned. Evil
comes not nigh him, the adversaries flee from his presence, and the
powers of evil are powerless before him. He is guarded around by angel
guards, ministered to by bright spirits, who watch over him and direct
his footsteps. For him there waits a career of progressive increase in
knowledge, and in all that elevates and ennobles the intelligence. He
need fear no Devil, unless he creates one for himself. His affinity
for good draws around him influences for good. He is fenced around by
guardians; nor can he, save by voluntary surrender, fall a victim to the
foe.”[16]
* * * * *
In narrating his experiments, Mr. Taylor confined himself to a
statement of facts; he did not set forth the spiritualistic hypothesis,
nor did he say that any other would account for the results. Some
members of the Association before whom he read his paper were angry
because Spiritualists claimed the results as an argument in support
of Spiritualism. But why be angry? Any explanation must cover the
whole ground. And the explanation offered by Spiritualists is the only
one which covers the whole ground. After all, the facts are only one
department of the wonders of modern Spiritualism. What is the good of
the latter? is asked by those who have not come within the range of its
beneficent teachings. The good of it? It has freed the mind from the
bondage of dogma, it has swept away the fear of death and the gloom of
the grave, it has purified the affections, it has brought much-needed
consolation in some of the hours of earth’s bitterest sorrows, it has
brought us into communion with those we love and whom we are wont to call
dead—given us the knowledge that they live, and given us a reason which
appeals to our personal experience that as they live in a higher state of
existence, we also shall live after the change we call death.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph taken April 29, 1892. Two Stereoscopic
photographs of this form were obtained with different sitters, May 2,
1892._]
Our grandest triumphs of science are but trifles compared with what
is before us to be realised in the higher life. Yet men and women of
education and refinement can content themselves with referring the most
mysterious spirit phenomena to conjuring and delusion, and can descend
to the inanity of trying to shelve the whole matter by attacking the
characters of those whom they ought rather to thank—to bless as the
instruments through whom the death-blow must be given to the doctrine
which denies the existence of the spirit world, and of our after-life.
At the Photographic Congress held at the World’s Fair, Judge Bradwell,
of Chicago, was chairman of the opening meeting. In his introductory
remarks, after summarising the work done by photographers, he said: “I
have no doubt there are those within the sound of my voice who will live
to see the time when photographic reproductions will be sent from country
to country as quickly as are telegraphic messages to-day. In conclusion,
may I not ask, who shall say that the camera, adjusted by the hand that
feels, and focussed by the sensitive eye that sees beyond, with the aid
of the intensely sensitive dry plates, _shall not bring to light and view
the forms of our departed friends, and solve the problem of immortality
and life_?”
JUDGE BRADWELL IS ANSWERED. THE VEIL IS LIFTED.
FOOTNOTES
[1] In a recent patent case the judge referred to Mr. Taylor as “the
eminent witness.”
[2] Published at the office of _The Two Worlds_, Corporation Street,
Manchester. Price 6_d._
[3] Reprinted from the _British Journal of Photography_, March 17th, 1893.
[4] On taking the chair, Mr. Brown said he did not know why they had
chosen him to preside that evening, unless it was because he knew nothing
whatever of the subject.
[5] This sensible proposal has been entirely set aside by subsequent
insinuations of the Association, directed against those who were
witnesses to the experiments, and by the passing a resolution of such a
character as to lead to dissension within the Association.
[6] See note, page 50.
[7] _The Practical Photographer._ Monthly, 1_d._ Double number containing
copies of Photographic Views, &c., on fine plate paper, 2_d._ Published
by Percy Lund & Co., Memorial Hall, Ludgate Circus, E.C.; also by L. N.
Fowler, and by John Heywood.
[8] The _Review of Reviews_, monthly, 6_d._ 125 Fleet Street, London;
Editorial Office, Mowbray House, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C.
[9] This experiment has since been tried with a different medium, and
_successful results_ obtained. The plates used were Ilford make, special
rapid, and were purchased from Mr. Doublet, Moorgate Street.
[10] The _Medium and Daybreak_, weekly, 1½_d._ James Burne, 15
Southampton Row, W.C.
[11] _Light_, weekly, 2_d._ Published at 2 Duke Street, Adelphi, London,
W.C.
[12] _The Two Worlds_, weekly 1_d._, published by _The Two Worlds_
Publishing Company, Limited, 73A Corporation Street, Manchester.
[13] Reprinted from the _Daily Graphic_, June 23rd, 1892, by permission
of the Rev. Mr. Haweis and of the Editor.
[14] Published by James Burns, 15 Southampton Row.
[15] See pages 149 and 153.
[16] _Spirit Teachings_, page 98.
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