The History of Spiritualism - Vol II

CONTENTS



CHAPTER


I. The Career of Eusapia Palladino
II. Great Mediums from 1870 to 1900:
Charles H. Foster-Madame d?Esperance-Eglinton-Stainton Moses
III. The Society for Psychical Research
IV. Ectoplasm
V. Spirit Photography
VI. Voice Mediumship and Moulds
VII. French, German, and Italian Spiritualism
VIII. Some Great Modern Mediums
IX. Spiritualism and the War
X. The Religious Aspect of Spiritualism
XI. The After-Life as Seen by Spiritualists
Appendix
Index


Excerpt:

THE CAREER OF EUSAPIA PALLADINO


The mediumship of Eusapia Palladino marks an important stage in the history of psychical research, because she was the first medium for physical phenomena to be examined by a large number of eminent men of science. The chief manifestations that occurred with her were the movement of objects without contact, the levitation of a table and other objects, the levitation of the medium, the appearance of materialized hands and faces, lights, and the playing of musical instruments without human contact. All these phenomena took place, as we have seen, at a much earlier date with the medium D. D. Home, but when Sir William Crookes invited his scientific brethren to come and examine them they declined.
Now for the first time these strange facts were the subject of prolonged investigation by men of European reputation. Needless to say, these experimenters were at first sceptical in the highest degree, and so-called ?tests? (those often silly precautions which may defeat the very object aimed at) were the order of the day. No medium in the whole world has been more rigidly tested than this one, and since she was able to convince the vast majority of her sitters, it is clear that her mediumship was of no ordinary type. It is little use pointing out that no psychic researcher should be admitted to the séance room without at least some elementary knowledge of the complexities of mediumship and the right conditions for its unfoldment, or without, for instance, an understanding of the basic truth that it is not the medium alone, but the sitters equally, who are factors in the success of the experiment. Not one scientific man in a thousand recognizes this, and the fact that Eusapia triumphed in spite of such a tremendous handicap is an eloquent tribute to her powers.


More Reading:
Other Books by Arthur Conan Doyle by ADB Publishing
(The Original) Danger! And Other Stories (1918)
(The Original) Mysteries and Adventures (1889)
(The Original) Playing With Fire
(The Original) Round the Fire Stories
(The Original) Tales of Adventure and Medical Life
(The Original) Tales of Pirates and Blue Water
(The Original) Tales of Terror and Mystery
(The Original) Tales of the Ring and the Camp
(The Original) Tales of Twilight and the Unseen
(The Original) The Brown Hand
(The Original) The Bully of Brocas Court
(The Original) The Debatable Case of Mrs. Emsley
(The Original) The Edge of the Unknown
(The Original) The Great Brown-Pericord Motor
(The Original) The History of Spiritualism Vol I (1926)
(The Original) The History of Spiritualism Vol II (1926) (This Book)
(The Original) The Holocaust of Manor Place
(The Original) The Love Affair of George Vincent Parker
(The Original) The Maracot Deep (1929)
(The Original) The Parish Magazine
(The Original) The Professor Challenger Series