Spiritualism and the New Psychology: An Explanation of Spiritualist Phenomena and Beliefs in Terms of Modern Knowledge
John Stuart Mill · en
(The shelter is suggested by O. J. L.; Feda takes the hint and
visualises the shelter. Most shelters have vertical lines in their
structure. Such lines occur in the photograph and are strong 'evidence.'
The background is not black except for two open windows.)
The only revelation worthy of attention is this: 'He remembers that some
one wanted to lean on him; but he is not sure if he was taken with some
one leaning on him.... The last what he gave you, what were a B, will be
rather prominent in that photograph. It wasn't taken in a photographer's
place.' (Few out-door groups are.)
In the photograph he has some one's hand resting on his shoulder, and
an ambiguous guess scores a hit. As for B, Sir Oliver writes: 'I have
asked several people which member of the group seemed most prominent;
and except as regards central position a well-lighted standing figure on
the right has usually been pointed to as the most prominent. This one is
"B", as stated, namely, Captain S. T. Boast.'
Some initials are guessed--C, B, R, and K. As there are twenty-one
people in the group, and the alphabet contains only twenty-four letters
(excluding X and Z), it is hardly a mathematical surprise that
seventy-five per cent. are correct.
So much for the photograph that proved to be 'exactly as he described
it' (Sir Arthur) and 'one of the best pieces of evidence that has been
given' (Sir Oliver).
'All sorts of details of his home life' we must suppose refers to the
scenery of Woolacombe, the tent, the boat that went (or didn't) on land,
the song about Hululu and the Hottentot, the fishing rods that are not
understood at present, and so on.
As a test of unintentional garbling I asked a professional man, who had
read _Raymond_ sympathetically, to give me a short account of what the
medium said about the photograph. Here is his version, and it must be
understood that he knew I should criticise it:--
'Sir Oliver Lodge was told by a medium that Raymond wished to tell
him about a photograph taken in France. The medium said the
photograph was of a group of officers including Raymond--a photo
Sir Oliver had not seen. _There were lines running vertically in
the background. Raymond is seated._ Some one's knee was
preventing him from sitting comfortably and annoyed him. He was
holding a stick. _The photo was out of doors_, but in a sheltered
position.'
The only points in which this tallies with the book description of what
the medium (not Sir Oliver) said are those shown by the words in italic.
The rest is garbled, and for the garbling my friend and Sir Oliver are
about equally responsible.