ASPR Journal, V14 - Iapsop.com

620 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
they had seen apparitions of the human figure ", when the report
states ( 44) that 352 reported having seen apparitions of
living persons, 163 of dead persons, and 315 of unrecognized
persons. Al)d the statement that " thirty-two reported death
coincidences" is also untrue. The report said (247-248) that 62 ,
persons reported death coincidences. For one reason and another ·
the Committee scaled these down to a selected list of 32, but the
fact remains that 62 were reported. \
Many examples of childish logic could be given. After asserting
( 183-184) that mediumship, apart from fraud, is tl:ie result
of " an unstable nervous system, with resulting weakness of control
of the higher brain centers", an allegation evidently cribbed
from some vaporing psychologist who knows in his bones, and
in no other way, that it must be so, Clodd goes on to say that
" age would appear to count in impairment of mediwnistic
power", and to instance Mr. Home and Mrs. Piper who lost
their power to a large degree (both being under fifty). It would
seem that practice in " instability '' ought to produce increasing
"weakness of control of the higher brain centers" instead of
working a cure. The fact that Home's general health was breaking
when his mediumistic abilities began to diminish would, in
the absence of prejudice, be taken to denote that such abilities
are not pathological.
Clodd, after relating " a modern instance ", usually skips
back two thousand years or so to show that something like it was
alleged then. Contrary to those who believe that almost anything
could have happened before the close of the " apostolic
period", though now quite prohibited by" science", he seems to
take it for granted that any ancient claim must be false, since
those were" unenlightened days", and that therefore any modern
resembling case is discredited by its likeness to the ancient one.
\Vhereas. if there are genuine and widely diffused phenomena in
our times, it would logically be expected that there would have
been such phenomena in former periods and among many races.
Of course he picks and chooses, and may make his ancient exhibits
as ridiculous as he pleases.
Out of a wealth of instances I select two utterances of pure
prejudice. The writer actually makes the fact that at the Crawford
experiments prayer is qffered by some member of the
Digitized by Goog I e