The Spiritualist newspaper > No.327, November 29th 1878

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Ko. 327.—VoiLujvie Thirteen; Kumber Twejmty-Two.
LONDON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29th, 1878.
SPIRITUALISM AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY. jj
Mr. William Crookes, devisor of the radiometer and |
discoverer of thallium, editor of the Quarterly Journal of h
Science, and one of the certifiers of the reality of the i
materialised spirit, Katie King, has just been elected to the j
the Council of the Royal Society, which shows as much tolera- j
tion on the part of the society towards the advocates of un- |
popular truths as it exhibited when, under similar spiritual ;
conditions, it elected Mr. C. F. Varley as a member. This j
action will stand in history as a mild set-off to its previous !
rejection of the psychic memoir of Mr. Crookes, and to the j
letters against the psychic phenomena of nature written by j
its two secretaries. We mean the letter which Professor
Stokes, the discoverer of fluorescence, wrote about Spirit- |
ualism at the British Association at Edinburgh, and the two I
letters which the other secretary, Professor Huxley, wrote to j
the Dialectical Society. Nevertheless, the circumstance that j
the Royal Society once acted towards spiritual phenomena, j
just as it acted towards the phenomena described to it by j
Franklin in his paper on Lightning Conductors, can never, j
by subsequent action, be wiped out from the pages of history, j
Perhaps the Royal Society trusted too much to its extra- j
ordinary member, Dr. Carpenter.
The absence of prejudice displayed by the Society in the j
election of Mr. Crookes is gratifying, so also is the circum¬
stance that its president, Mr. Spottiswoode, is so true a
philosopher that he may be depended upon not to commit
himself to utterances upon a subject he has not investigated, j
Times have changed since the recent occasion when there 1
was such severe contention in the Royal Society about his j
election as its treasurer.
These somewhat personal matters offer small opportunity
for philosophical criticism; but while on the subject of the j
Royal Society, we may ask why Professor Huxley, and all j
the religious revolutionists connected with it, find it I
impossible to begin work before a gorgeous mace is placed |
lovingly on the table before the president by a suave
assistant secretary? They all laugh at a consecrated
wafer, but how about the use of the mace ? Would they
reverence the National Association of Spiritualists, if I
at the reading of Captain Burton’s paper next Monday,
nobody could say a word before the broom of Mrs. All way,
the housekeeper, was laid on a velvet cushion across the
front of the table ? Does Professor Huxley feel as un¬
comfortable during the performance of this superstitious
mace rite as he did when travelling about surrounded by
lacqueys in the gilded coach of the Mayor of Liverpool?
When Mr. E. B. Tylor lectures again at the Royal Institu¬
tion on the survival of savage superstitions in modern times,
let him say less about Spiritualistic stances, and more about
the metallic mace of the Royal Society, which locks the
tongues of all the members of the Council, until the rays of
the visible part of the spectrum are reflected by the said
mace through the lenses of their eyes—a material operation
producing a psychic result, well worthy the investigation of
Mr. Serjeant Cox.
Cabinet Stances.—Genuine manifestations are given under such
suspicious conditions at cabinet seances, mixed perhaps in a very few
cases with actually fraudulent performances, that we have been writing
down this class of occurrences for half a year, and think that cabinet
seances should be published only when the tests have been severe. This
will not interfere with anything in private life. In America, during the j
past four years, inconclusive cabinet seances have given ten or twelve I
most violent public blows to the movement, far worse than any blows i
given by its enemies. In England they have given but one, and should |
give no more. Nearly, if not quite, all cabinet manifestations can be
obtained without a cabinet, while the hands of the medium are held |
by the sitters along side him in private houses. [
PRINCE BISMARCK’S' OPPOSITION TO MODERN
MATERIALISM.
BT CHRISTIAN REIMERS.
It is natural to ask, when we are puzzled with difficult
problems, what are the opinions of the foremost leaders of
the age ? What is Bismarck’s opinion about the life here¬
after? is a question which has no doubt sometimes been
silently put by investigators of spiritual phenomena after
. they have passed safely through the lowest phases of
seemingly absurd, repulsive, and even adulterated mani¬
festations. Prince Bismarck is the centre of the present
development of history, and we anticipate instinctively that
j from his high point of view he has a perception of these
“ signs,” and their meaning in the current of progress.
Curiously enough, he gives us an answer like those of the
reticent spirits in experimental seances, that is, when he is
not asked, as the interesting new book by Dr. Busch, On
Bismarck, reveals.
The general cry of the people everywhere upon viewing
the alarming growth of materialism is “ Is there a God and
immortality ? ” Who will deny that a positive science-
proof answer involves the moral shaping of society ?
although minds born with the genius of purity and
righteousness seem to be independent of any creed or
religious system. Such persons strive for moral perfection
for the sake of its own inherent beauties ; hence the glorious
examples even of blameless atheists or infidels. But the
broad masses of the human races, led by the lower and
animal impulses, must be ruled by the doctrine imposed on
them.
The triumphs (?) of modern German science are the
destruction of religious faith, the dismissal of God, and the
annihilation of the soul with the decay of the body. This
fearful watchword, 11 Annihilation ! ” thundering forth from
the throne of science has taken root all over the globe, as
j utterances in every daily paper sadly reveal. Let us not be
misled by occasional well-filled churches. Go with the
worthy churchman into his smoking-room, and listen to his
schemes of bank-swindling and similar robberies in sweet
harmony with other <( elders.” Let us turn our eyes from
the open market to domestic life, and see the effects of
running after fashion and the pleasures of the moment.
Where are the attractions of “Home, sweet home?”
Money-squandering wives cripple the successes of toiling
i husbands, and the not unfrequent warning in daily papers,
“ I hereby make known that I am not responsible for the
debts of my wife,” may frighten many a new candidate for
matrimony. Everywhere the brutal outbreaks of the
philosophy of chance stare us in the face, and this wide¬
spread moral corruption is widening in hidden and even
respectable quarters.
If the line of our existence extends only between two
i points, cradle and coffin, we must of course make the best of
! that miserable span, and our worldly plans may be good
j enough if the lid of the coffin is to be the extinguisher of the
| flame of life. So permeated is Fatherland with this view of
! life that every confession of belief in God and a hereafter is
i branded as evidence of questionable sanity of mind, and the
j hero of intellect, rising high above the level of common
! understanding, is supposed to have stripped off the old-
! fashioned garment of faith in his ascent to that part of
| truth which is revealed by the microscope, dissecting-knife,
| and other sharp instruments.
Prince Bismarck was supposed to be likewise crowned
| with the materialistic glory of modern science, but he has
| just made a “clean breast” of his religious views, with his
1 proverbial sincerity and truthfulness. He says :—
i( I cannot conceive how a man can live without a belief
1 in a revelation, in a God who orders all things for the best,