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THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM
Outstanding features of the next succeeding years were the rapid
growth of mediums on every side, and the conversion to a belief in
Spiritualism of great public men like Judge Edmonds, ex-Governor
Tallmadge, Professor Robert Hare, and Professor Mapes. The public support of such well-known men gave enormous publicity to the
subject, while at the same time it increased the virulence of the opposition, which now perceived it had to deal with more than a handful
of silly, deluded people. Men such as these could command a hearing in the Press of the day. There was also a change in the character
of the spiritual phenomena. In the years 1851-2 Mrs. Hayden and
D. D. Home were instrumental in making many converts. We shall
have more to say about these mediums in later chapters.
In a communication addressed “To the Public,” published in
the New York Courier and dated New York, August 1, 1853, Judge
Edmonds, a man of high character and clear intellect, gave a convincing account of his own experience. It is a curious thing that
the United States, which at that time gave conspicuous evidence of
moral courage in its leading citizens, has seemed to fall behind in recent years in this respect, for the author in his recent journeys there
found many who were aware of psychic truth and yet shrank in the
face of a jeering Press from publishing their convictions.
Judge Edmonds, in the article alluded to, began by detailing the
train of events which caused him to form his opinions. It is dwelt
upon here in some detail, because it is very important as showing the
basis on which a highly educated man received the new teaching :
It was January 1851 that my attention was fi rst called to the subject of “spiritual intercourse.” I was at the time withdrawn from general society ; I was labouring under great depression of spirits. I was
occupying all my leisure in reading on the subject of death and man’s
existence afterward. I had, in the course of my life, read and heard
from the pulpit so many contradictory and confl icting doctrines on
111
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
the subject, that I hardly knew what to believe. I could not, if I would,
believe what I did not understand, and was anxiously seeking to
know, if, after death, we should again meet with those whom we had
loved here, and under what circumstances. I was invited by a friend
to witness the “Rochester Knockings.” I complied more to oblige her,
and to while away a tedious hour. I thought a good deal on what
I witnessed, and I determined to investigate the matter and fi nd out
what it was. If it was a deception, or a delusion, I thought that I could
detect it. For about four months I devoted at least two evenings in
a week and sometimes more to witnessing the phenomena in all its
phases. I kept careful records of all I witnessed, and from time to time
compared them with each other, to detect inconsistencies and contradictions. I read all I could lay my hands on on the subject, and
especially all the professed “ exposures of the humbug.” I went from
place to place, seeing different mediums, meeting with different parties of persons – often with persons whom I had never seen before,
and sometimes where I was myself entirely unknown – sometimes
in the dark and sometimes in the light – often with inveterate unbelievers, and more frequently with zealous believers.
In fi ne, I availed myself of every opportunity that was afforded,
thoroughly to sift the matter to the bottom. I was all this time an unbeliever, and tried the patience of believers sorely by my scepticism,
my captiousness, and my obdurate refusal to yield my belief. I saw
around me some who yielded a ready faith on one or two sittings
only ; others again, under the same circumstances, avowing a determined unbelief ; and some who refused to witness it at all, and yet
were confi rmed unbelievers. I could not imitate either of these parties, and refused to yield unless upon most irrefragable testimony. At
length the evidence came, and in such force that no sane man could
withhold his faith.
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THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM
It will thus be seen that this, the earliest outstanding convert to
the new revelation, took the utmost pains before he allowed the evidence to convince him of the validity of the claims of the spirit. General experience shows that a facile acceptance of these claims is very
rare among earnest thinkers, and that there is hardly any prominent
Spiritualist whose course of study and refl ection has not involved
a novitiate of many years. This forms a striking contrast to those
negative opinions which are founded upon initial prejudice and the
biased or scandalous accounts of partisan authors.
Judge Edmonds, in the excellent summary of his position given
in the article already quoted – an article which should have converted the whole American people had they been ready for assimilation – proceeds to show the solid basis of his beliefs. He points out
that he was never alone when these manifestations occurred, and
that he had many witnesses. He also shows the elaborate precautions
which he took :
After depending upon my senses, as to these various phases of the
phenomenon, I invoked the aid of science, and, with the assistance
of an accomplished electrician and his machinery, and eight or ten
intelligent, educated, shrewd persons, examined the matter. We pursued our inquiries many days, and established to our satisfaction two
things : fi rst, that the sounds were not produced by the agency of any
person present or near us ; and, second, that they were not forthcoming at our will and pleasure.
He deals faithfully with the alleged “exposures” in newspapers,
some of which at long intervals are true indictments of some villain,
but which usually are greater deceptions, conscious or unconscious,
of the public than the evils which they profess to attack. Thus:
While these things were going on, there appeared in the newspapers various explanations and “exposures of the humbug,” as
they were termed. I read them with care, in the expectation of be-
113
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
ing assisted in my researches, and I could not but smile at once at
the rashness and the futility of the explanations. For instance, while
certain learned professors in Buffalo were congratulating themselves
on having detected it in the toe and knee joints, the manifestations
in this city changed to ringing a bell placed under the table. They
were like the solution lately given by a learned professor in England,
who attributes the tipping of tables to a force in the hands which
are laid upon them, overlooking the material fact that tables quite as
frequently move when there is no hand upon them.
Having dealt with the objectivity of the phenomena, the Judge
next touched upon the more important question of their source.
He commented upon the fact that he had answers to mental questions and found that his own secret thoughts were revealed, and that
purposes which he had privily entertained had been made manifest.
He notes also that he had heard the mediums use Greek, Latin, Spanish, and French, when they were ignorant of these languages.
This drives him to the consideration of whether these things may
not be explained as the refl ection of the mind of some other living
human being. These considerations have been exhausted by every
inquirer in turn, for Spiritualists do not accept their creed in one
bound, but make the journey step by step, with much timid testing
of the path. Judge Edmonds’s epitome of his course is but that which
many others have followed. He gives the following reasons for negativing this question of other human minds :
Facts were communicated which were unknown then, but afterward found to be true ; like this, for instance : when I was absent last
winter in Central America, my friends in town heard of my whereabouts and of the state of my health seven times ; and on my return,
by comparing their information with the entries in my journal it was
found to be invariably correct. So, in my recent visit to the West my
whereabouts and my condition were told to a medium in this city,
114
THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM
while I was travelling on the railroad between Cleveland and Toledo.
So thoughts have been uttered on subjects not then in my mind, and
utterly at variance with my own notions. This has often happened to
me and to others, so as fully to establish the fact that it was not ou
minds that gave birth to or affected the communication.
He then deals with the object of this marvellous development,
and he points out its overwhelming religious signifi cance on the
general lines with which it is defi ned in a subsequent chapter of this
work. Judge Edmonds’s brain was indeed a remarkable one, and his
judgment clear, for there is very little which we can add to his statement, and perhaps it has never been so well expressed in so small
a compass. As we point to it one can claim that Spiritualism has been
consistent from the fi rst, and that the teachers and guides have not
mixed their message. It is a strange and an amusing refl ection that
the arrogant science which endeavoured by its mere word and glare
to crush this upstart knowledge in 1850 has been proved to be essentially wrong on its own ground. There are hardly any scientifi c
axioms of that day, the fi nality of the element, the indivisibility of the
atom, the separate origin of species, which have not been controverted, whereas the psychic knowledge which was so derided has steadily
held its own, adding fresh facts but never contradicting those which
were originally put forward.
Writing of the benefi cent effects of this knowledge the Judge
says :
There is that which comforts the mourner and binds up the broken-hearted; that which smooths the passage to the grave and robs
death of its terrors; that which enlightens the atheist and cannot but
reform the vicious; that which cheers and encourages the virtuous
amid all the trials and vicissitudes of life ; and that which demonstrates to man his duty and his destiny, leaving it no longer vague
and uncertain.
115
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
The matter has never been better summed up than that.
There is, however, one fi nal passage in this remarkable document which causes some sadness. Speaking of the progress which the
movement had made within four years in the United States, he says:
“ There are ten or twelve newspapers and periodicals devoted to the
cause and the spiritual library embraces more than one hundred different publications, some of which have already attained a circulation of more than x o,000 copies. Besides the undistinguished multitude there are many men of high standing and talent ranked among
them – doctors, lawyers, and clergymen in great numbers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and reverend president of a college, judges
of our higher courts, members of Congress, foreign ambassadors and
ex-members of the United States Senate.” In four years the spirit force
had done as much as this. How does the matter stand to-day ? The “
undistinguished multitude “ has carried bravely on and the hundred
publications have grown into many more, but where are the men of
light and leading who point the path ? Since the death of Professor
Hyslop it is diffi cult to point to one man of eminence in the United
States who is ready to stake his career and reputation upon the issue.
Those who would have never feared the tyranny of man have shrank
from the cat-calling of the public Press. The printing-machine has
succeeded where the rack would have failed. The worldly loss in reputation and in business sustained by Judge Edmonds himself, who
had to resign his seat upon the Supreme Court of New York, and by
many others who testifi ed to the truth, established a reign of terror
which warns the intellectual classes from the subject. So the matter
stands at present.
But the Press, for the moment, was well-disposed and Judge Edmonds’s famous summing-up, perhaps the fi nest and most momentous that any judge has ever delivered, met with respect, if not with
concurrence. The New York Courier wrote :
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THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM
The letter from Judge Edmonds, published by us on Saturday,
with regard to the so-called spiritual manifestations, coming as it
did from an eminent jurist, a man remarkable for his clear common
sense in the practical affairs of life, and a gentleman of irreproachable character, arrested the attention of the community, and is regarded by many persons as one of the most remarkable documents
of the day.
The New York Evening Mirror said:
John W. Edmonds, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for this
district, is an able lawyer, an industrious judge and a good citizen. For
the last eight years occupying without interruption the highest judicial stations, whatever may be his faults no one can justly accuse him
of lack of ability, industry, honesty or fearlessness. No one can doubt
his general saneness, or can believe for a moment that the ordinary
operations of his mind are not as rapid, accurate and reliable as ever.
Both by the practitioners and suitors at his bar he is recognized as
the head, in fact and in merit, of the Supreme Court for this District.
The experience of Dr. Robert Hare, Professor of Chemistry in
the University of Pennsylvania, is also of interest, because he was
one of the fi rst eminent men of science who, setting out to expose
the delusion of Spiritualism, became fi nally a fi rm believer. It was in
1853 that, in his own words, he “felt called upon, as an act of duty
to his fellow creatures, to bring whatever infl uence he possessed to
the attempt to stem the tide of popular madness which, in defi ance
of reason and science, was fast setting in favour of the gross delusion called Spiritualism.” A denunciatory letter of his published in
the newspapers of Philadelphia, where he lived, was copied by other
newspapers all over the country, and it was made the text of numerous sermons. But, as with Sir William Crookes many years later, the
jubilation was premature. Professor Hare, though a strong sceptic,
was induced to experiment for himself, and after a period of careful
117
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
testing he became entirely convinced of the spiritual origin of the
manifestations. Like Crookes, he devised apparatus for use with me-
[13]
diums. Mr. S. B. Brittan
some of Hare’s experiments :
First, to satisfy himself that the movements were not the works of
mortals, he took brass billiard balls, placed them on zinc plates and
placed the hands of the mediums on the balls and, to his very great
astonishment the tables moved. He next arranged a table to slide
backward and forward, to which attachments were made, causing
a disc to revolve containing the alphabet, hidden from the view of
the mediums. The letters were variously arranged, out of their regular consecutive order, and the spirit was required to place them consecutively or in their regular places. And behold, it was done I Then
followed intelligent sentences which the medium could not see or
know the import of till they were told him.
Again he tried another capital test. The long end of a lever
was placed on spiral scales with an index attached and the weight
marked ; the medium’s hand rested on the short end of the beam,
where it was impossible to give pressure downward, but if pressed it
would have a contrary effect and raise the long end ; and yet, most
astounding, the weight was increased several pounds on the scale.
Professor Hare embodied his careful researches and his views on
Spiritualism in an important book published in New York in 1855,
entitled “Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations.” In
this (p. 55) he sums up the results of his early experiments as follows :
The evidence of the manifestations adduced in the foregoing
narrative does not rest upon myself only, since there have been persons present when they were observed, and they have in my presence been repeated essentially under various modifi cations in many
instances not specially alluded to.
gives the following condensed account of
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THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM
The evidence may be contemplated under various phases ; fi rst,
those in which rappings or other noises have been made which could
not be traced to any mortal agency ; secondly, those in which sounds
were so made as to indicate letters forming grammatical, well-spelt
sentences, affording proof that they were under the guidance of some
rational being ; thirdly, those in which the nature of the communication has been such as to prove that the being causing them must,
agreeably to accompanying allegations, be some known acquaintance, friend, or relative of the inquirer.
Again, cases in which movements have been made of ponderable
bodies... of a nature to produce intellectual communications resembling those obtained, as above mentioned, by sounds.
Although the apparatus by which these various proofs were attained with the greatest possible precaution and precision, modifi ed
them as to the manner, essentially all the evidence which I have
obtained tending to the conclusions above mentioned, has likewise
been substantially obtained by a great number of observers. Many
who never sought any spiritual communication and have not been
induced to enrol themselves as Spiritualists, will nevertheless not
only affi rm the existence of the sounds and movements, but also admit their inscrutability.
Mr. James J. Mapes, LL.D., of New York, an agricultural chemist
and member of various learned societies, commenced his investigation into Spiritualism in order to rescue, as he said, his friends, who
were “running to imbecility” over the new craze. Through the mediumship of Mrs. Cora Hatch, afterwards Mrs. Richmond, he received
what are described as marvellous scientifi c answers to his questions.
He ended by becoming a thorough believer, and his wife, who had no
artistic talent, became a drawing and painting medium. His daughter had, unknown to him, become a writing medium, and when she
spoke to him about this development he asked her to give him an
119
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
exhibition of her power. She took a pen and rapidly wrote what professed to be a message from Professor Mapes’s father. The Professor
asked for a proof of identity. His daughter’s hand at once wrote: “You
may recollect that I gave you, among other books, an Encyclopedia;
look at page 120 of that book, and you will fi nd my name written
there, which you have never seen.” The book referred to was stored
with others at a warehouse. When Professor Mapes opened the case,
which had been undisturbed for twenty-seven years, to his astonishment he found his father’s name written on page 120. It was this
incident which fi rst led him to make a serious investigation, for, like
his friend Professor Hare, he had up till that time been a strong materialist.
In April, 1854, the Hon. James Shields presented a memori-
[14]
praying for inquiry, to the United States legislature, with thir-
al,
teen thousand signatures attached, and with the name of Governor
Tallmadge at the head of the list. After a frivolous discussion, in
which Mr. Shields, who presented the petition, referred to the belief
held by the petitioners as due to a delusion arising from defective
education or deranged mental faculties, it was formally agreed that
the petition should lie upon the table. Mr. E. W. Capron has this com-
[15]
ment :
It is not probable that any of the memorialists expected more favourable treatment than they received. The carpenters and fi shermen of the world are the ones to investigate new truths and make
Senates and Crowns believe and respect them. It is in vain to look for
the reception or respect of new truths by men in high places.
The fi rst regular Spiritualist organization was formed in New
York on June 10, 1854. It was entitled the “Society for the Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge,” and included among its members such
prominent people as Judge Edmonds and Governor Tallmadge, of
Wisconsin.
120
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