By Jas. Robertson, Glasgow.
The most striking phenomena associated with what comes under the name of Spiritualism are those connected with photography. It was very naturally thought that nothing was so capable of bringing conviction to the inquirer as a record made by the camera, which might be considered free from all imagination, unconscious cerebration, expectancy, &c., and yet there has been no part of the phenomena that has been more fiercely assailed as being fraudulent. No matter how clear and searching and honest has been the experimenter, if success attends his work suspicion and cruel innuendo invariably follow him. The truths pertaining to the spiritual are not received in the same calm, critical, and philosophic spirit as the discoveries that are presented in other realms. People gladly welcome a new planet, or a new metal, and laud the discoverer; but the explorer in spiritual phenomena is at once set down as either a madman or a fraudulent person. One can scarcely estimate the loss the world has sustained by its want of fair treatment; sensitive souls fear to speak out and tell all they know. Robert Chambers kept his Spiritualism in the background, and walked through life honoured and respected, but he made the battle of unpopular truth all the more difficult to fight for the men and women who did speak out. Spiritualists, though set down as credulous, are as far removed from this condition as it is possible to be; they have had to fight their way step by step, critically examining, but honestly yielding when the facts were too much for them.
Very many photographic artists are in their ranks who have again and again met with strange and weird markings on the sensitive plate, which they could not understand; they have sought only to get at the truth. Fraud lives but for the hour, and the person who has joined the ranks of an unpopular cause knows that a fierce light will beat upon all his actions, so that he need be more than ordinarily cautious in all he sets down; but though bogus spirit pictures can be made, must we cease to present those which are got by honest people under conditions that have been considered perfect? Over twenty years since, in New York, a photographer named Wm. H. Mumler succeeded in getting hundreds of pictures of the so-called dead, which were recognised by their friends as portraits; the great body of people who went to him were total strangers, one of them, thickly veiled, being the wife of the murdered President Lincoln. On the plate was seen her husband and one of her children, who had passed on. I had the good fortune to come in contact with those who went to Mr. Mumler shortly after arriving in New York, and who got test pictures which were beyond cavil or suspicion. In hundreds of cases the camera saw and reported what the physical senses did not cognise.
Mr. Mumler’s success brought him only hardship and excessive pain; he was dragged into the law courts and fiercely assailed as an impostor, but the volume of evidence which was brought in his favour so vindicated his character that he triumphed. In our own country again and again we have had photographers, amateur and professional, who have met with these forms on their plates.
Mr. Hudson, of London, got many test pictures, and a whole crowd of eminent people have vouched for the reality of the likenesses of their deceased friends.
Mr. John Beattie, of Clifton, a retired photographer of twenty years’ experience, a man thoughtful and skilful, along with his friend Dr. Thompson, made experiments in spirit photography for their own private satisfaction, and placed on record details of their patience and ultimate success. Forms again and again, some fragmentary, faint, and shadowy, some full and clear, appeared on the plate, fully attesting that spirit photography was real.
The late editor of Light, Rev. Stainton Moses, M.A., had a most extensive experience, and brought a clear and searching intellect to bear upon it. His series of papers dealing with the subject is careful and complete in all details, and shows with what patience and care the spiritual investigator examines the ground before he gives forth his conclusions. In his experiments he ofttimes saw the figures which afterwards made their appearance on the plate.
My own opportunities for the observation of the reality of the phenomena have been good. Brought into close and daily contact with Mr. David Duguid, through our business relations, I have been able to witness almost all the pictures which have been taken through his mediumship. He has been most averse all the time to give sittings, as he fully knows the amount of suspicion which must gather, and the annoyance that will be created, however successful; yet still he is anxious to perform his share in the work of demonstrating human immortality. It seems hard that the spiritual medium, of all persons, should have the taint of suspicion cast around him. Spiritualists themselves have come from such a sceptical, materialistic side of human experience, that they are suspicious of each bit of phenomena which has not hitherto come under their gaze. It must not be overlooked that the bulk of exposures have been the result of the actions of spiritualists who would have nothing but what is genuine.
Some years since Mr. Duguid yielded to the strong pressure that was brought to bear, and took at intervals pictures on which appeared other forms than those seen by the physical senses. Each effort was not a success. Again and again have we gone into the developing chamber, only to find there was but the physical sitter. On all these occasions we took the utmost care to be able to vouch for the conditions under which they were taken, so as to meet the naturally critical questions which would be put. Mr. Andrew Glendinning, of London, who has been on the closest terms of friendship with Mr. Duguid for over thirty years, used to come down, and at such times the latter yielded to the request for a sitting.
Mr. Glendinning brought his own plates, took every precaution that they should not pass out of his sight—not that he suspected anything wrong, but that he might make his testimony of value. We had on almost every visit the most marked success. During the process I was often conscious of the presence of spirit people before they made their appearance on the plate; people who were known in the flesh and others came in this mysterious way, and clearly showed that death must be some other thing than what was made out by popular theologies. As the Rev. John Page Hopps says, “A future life means persistence of life, means that the spirit self remains a conscious living self when it sheds the muddy vesture of clay.... Such a being, acting from the unseen upon the sphere of what is to us the seen, might, under certain conditions, be able to work what we call miracles.” It was the good fortune of Mr. Glendinning to get beside us on one occasion a most exquisite face of a lady, full of each charm and grace that make up the womanly character. The term angelic might be applied to it. Such a face the seraphic painters have ofttimes drawn, a Raphael might have painted it. From somewhere must have come this form; and Spiritualism demonstrates what Mr. Justice Groves, in The Correlation of Physical Forces, gives as a probable theory, “Myriads of organised beings may exist imperceptible to our vision, even if we were among them.”
A legal gentleman of some literary culture, who had become conscious of the reality and beauty of the spiritual philosophy, wrote several valuable articles, in which were given the clearest proofs of spirit identity. He was most anxious to get the picture of a dear boy whom death had carried away some years before, and whose absence, perhaps, made him at first inquire as to whether Spiritualism had any joy to give.
Under the signature of “Edina” this gentleman gives one of the most satisfactory bits of evidence it would be possible to get. He made attempts to get this portrait in Glasgow, but in vain; though the child’s sister, who was clairvoyant, saw him quite distinctly, “Edina” was not able to get his impress on the plate. I give the following from “Edina,” which surely places beyond a doubt that these spirit photographs are what they claim to be:—
“Seven separate attempts were made to get a spirit photograph of our lost one—twice in Glasgow and five times in Edinburgh—and on every occasion, although our family medium informed us that our son was in the room and standing before the camera, besides being assisted or attended by others of our relatives, now on the other side, nothing was got but faces of persons unknown to us. ‘Try and try again’ has, however, always been our motto in matters appertaining to the spirit world, and, though we were discouraged, we resolved to persevere. Two of the seven sittings were taken with Mr. David Duguid, in Glasgow, and he also came to Edinburgh and had two sittings, or trials, for photography in our house, and in the room in which our son was born and died, so that every favourable condition possible was complied with, but all in vain. Mr. Duguid was here early in April, 1892, giving his second painting sÉance, and he again kindly offered to make another effort to get what we desired. On this occasion, I am proud to report that our efforts have been crowned with conspicuous success. On the night previous to the day on which our eighth and successful sitting took place, a letter was automatically written by our daughter, in the handwriting we know so well, that of my wife’s eldest sister, who passed over twenty-eight years ago, and who has had charge of our son since he entered the spirit world. The letter gave us full directions as to next day’s experiment, and again requested it to be made in the bedroom referred to. Mr. Duguid was in Edinburgh the same night on which the letter came, but he merely called, left his camera, and arranged as to next day’s sitting. He returned next day at noon, and the photographic sitting was at once begun. The day was bright and clear, and the conditions seemed to favour a good sitting. The bedroom is a large one, being twenty feet long by about fifteen feet broad, and is well lighted by a plate-glass window, so that the light was excellent.
“Before dealing with the sitting, I premise that the dry plates which were to be used in the camera were purchased by us in a shop in Edinburgh on the day preceding Mr. Duguid’s arrival, and the chemicals required for the development of the negative were what remained of the supply purchased by us on the occasion of Mr. Duguid’s former visit. The sitting began about twelve o’clock, and four plates were first used by the medium. After an hour two more plates were tried, and then we ceased operations. These six plates were taken out one by one from the paper in which they were wrapped, by my second eldest daughter, in a ‘dark’ room, lighted with a small red lamp, and then handed by her to Mr. Duguid. He, in her presence, put each plate, as it was required to be used, into the dark slide, which he then took to the bedroom and inserted in the camera. By desire of the medium my wife and two daughters in succession, just before each photograph was taken, put one of their hands on the top of the camera for a second or two. As I have said, six of the twelve plates purchased by us were used at the sitting, and on development it was found that on four of them there was a child’s face and form appearing close to the sitters, who were my wife and two daughters before referred to. After the sitting closed, Mr. Duguid proposed to take the four plates with him to Glasgow to get them printed off; but pending his going home, he left the whole series with us overnight, and got them from us next day.
“In the interim, however, our anxiety as to the child’s face on the four negatives led us to attempt to print off an impression on some prepared paper we had left in the house from the last futile experiment. Accordingly, my second eldest daughter, who has had some experience in amateur photography, took the four plates I have above referred to, and put them to be printed at one of the windows. On examining the four impressions as they were printed off, we were gratified to find, on each of the four photographs or copies so printed, a clear and well-defined likeness of our departed son, not with a ‘shadowy’ or ‘filmy’ face, like some spirit photographs I have seen, but quite ‘human-looking,’ although a sweeter and more spiritual expression pervades the countenance than when in earth life. The portrait of our boy is as clear and distinct as the one we possess of Professor Sandringham, which is admitted, by every one who has seen it, to be a splendidly distinct spirit photograph. The first of the negatives which was printed off disclosed our boy sitting up in bed, just in the place where he died, and although, as I have said, his face is more spiritualised, and not so chubby as when in earth life three years ago, yet there is not the least doubt in our minds that it is our loved and lost one as he is now on the other side. The second photograph discloses him as clothed in a boy’s suit, and sitting on his mother’s knee. Here also the face is quite human-looking, and just our son as he looked about the close of his sharp and severe illness. The likeness in all the photographs is essentially the same. Over the figure in each photograph is a beautiful star, and the whole experiment has been a phenomenal success in spirit photography, besides being a source of great joy to us all.
“Mr. Duguid was never in my house in Edinburgh till the end of January last (1892). Two of our family went twice to Glasgow—once in 1890 and once in 1891—and had a sitting with him on the occasion of each visit. Faces came on the negatives on both occasions, but not the face wanted. At these sittings nothing was said to Mr. Duguid as to our family affairs, or the appearance of our boy, but he was told what we wanted, and did his best to get a satisfactory result. We were not disappointed at failure, because we knew, the difficulties attending the experiment. The only photograph we have of our son was got when he was two years old, and is not at all like what he was when he was taken from us. The photograph was shown by me to Mr. Duguid for the first and only time on the day succeeding the successful sitting, and after the negatives had been printed off in the manner before detailed. The dry plates were our own, and were never handled by the medium till he put them in the slide or box as before described. The chemicals were ours, and the development took place in the presence of my second eldest daughter, in the dark room before referred to, and to which we all had access during the whole process. I therefore claim that this demonstration has been a complete success, because every test condition has been complied with. As ‘Salem Scudder’ puts it, in a certain sensational scene in Dion Boucicault’s well-known drama of the Octoroon, ‘I guess the apparatus can’t lie.’ The apparatus, i.e., the camera, has certainly not lied to us. I have also to state that our family medium saw our son in the room ‘posed’ in front of the camera during the sitting and pointed out the place where he stood, before the medium put the slide into the instrument.
“It has been with considerable reluctance that I have alluded to so much that is sacred and personal in our family, but in the interests of spiritual truth, and for the sole purpose of showing that spirit photography, by an honest medium like Mr. David Duguid, is possible, I have deemed it necessary to give these facts, and they have been stated with all the care and minuteness of detail in my power. As I have said, we failed seven times; but the eighth trial gave us something to treasure for life. We are certainly under a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. David Duguid for the beneficent use of his mediumistic powers in literally ‘giving us back our dead,’ or rather, showing us our dear one clothed as he now is, in his spiritual body, as on the other side.
“These are the consolations of Spiritualism which the uninstructed cannot understand or appreciate. In my humble judgment Spiritualistic research should be prosecuted in the home, as, there only, results will be got of the best and purest kind. That at least has been our experience, and we gratefully acknowledge the mercies bestowed on us.”
Why should we not accept this as a truthful statement? The word of such a man as “Edina” would be accepted to the full on any other subject, but there is a deep-rooted antipathy in the public mind against the recognition or acceptance of spiritual phenomena. Florence Marryat, in describing the striking and marvellous incidents of her life, asks why she should be disbelieved in these matters any more than Lady Brassey, or Livingstone, or Stanley regarding their travels.
The most conclusive of testimony as to the reality of spirit photography was that recently given in London by Mr. Traill Taylor, editor of the British Journal of Photography, and one of the most capable men it was possible to get for entering into an investigation of this matter. Mr. Taylor holds the first of scientific reputations, and would have been selected by all the leading minds in the world of photography as worthy of representing it. The story told by him is clear in every detail as to the methods he adopted to meet any objections that might arise, and the success attained was quite in keeping with what had hitherto been got by Mr. Glendinning and others in their Glasgow experiments. Mr. Glendinning felt so confident that other honest minds could only reach the same results as himself, that he prevailed on Mr. Duguid to visit London, and give these test sittings to Mr. Taylor. This is another stone in the fabric of evidence that builds up the new spiritual truths. Such evidence has been given again and again by other workers in this field, but scarcely ever before by a person enjoying such a reputation in this special domain as does Mr. Taylor.
It was scarcely to be expected that Mr. Taylor’s statement, clear as it is, and which, had it had no connexion with spiritual phenomena, would have been welcomed and widely applauded, would be accepted. Even as Wm. Crookes, F.R.S., when he blessed Spiritualism, instead of cursing it as was expected, met with a tremendous amount of ridicule and malignity, so has Mr. Taylor. Those who heard the story, while admitting that Mr. Taylor was quite the ablest man in the ranks to enter on such an investigation, still felt that they would have been abler still, and yet no one could point out any other precautions which might have been taken. As one who was present I know the matter was entirely in his (Mr. Taylor’s) hands to do as seemed to him best. We were as desirous of truth as he was, and the unprejudiced mind could only find in it all, results which are perfectly conclusive of the reality of spirit photography. Mr. Stead gives publicity to one of the pictures obtained by Mr. Taylor, in the April number of Review of Reviews, and concludes his remarks by saying that “Everything, of course, depends upon the accuracy and honesty of the photographer, and the reputation of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Glendinning is above reproach,” and so is it also with the medium (Mr. Duguid) who only contributed his presence during the experiments, taking the least interest really of all those who were present.
It might be asked what kind of evidence would be accepted to prove the reality of the various phases of spiritual phenomena? Could a Tyndall or a Huxley have done more in an investigation of this kind than was done by Mr. Taylor, Mr. Glendinning, and those who were associated with them? Were photography the sole phenomenon associated with the movement, this might require to be investigated again and again, but for over thirty years certain positive statements have been made, and the evidence tendered, as to the reality of spirit raps, which psychical science can throw no light upon.
Cromwell Varley, F.R.S., with his acknowledged electrical experience, thought he could soon explode the spirit theory, but, instead, he became a devoted and courageous spiritualist. William Crookes, F.R.S., and Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., have alike testified to the spirit raps, and to the phase of materialisation by which forms solid and tangible are built up. Mr. Crookes on many occasions has photographed these physicalised “forms,” and Dr. Wallace has vouched for the fact that with a spirit medium he got a photograph, and, on sending this abroad to other relatives, it was at once recognised as the portrait of his departed mother, and certain peculiarities which could not be imitated made the matter more certain.
Mr. Taylor has done nothing new, only corroborated what the many bold but practical people had found out before—the people who, to get at truth, had stood any number of hard names. They were not deceivers or idlers carried away by the light of an idea, but practical, sober-minded people, who trusted to nothing but experiment, and willing to tread down any amount of obstacles that truth might be reached. A man like Mr. Andrew Glendinning, certain of the facts of spirit communion, might, had he been selfishly inclined, have allowed the world to sneer on, and have troubled little about the accumulation of evidence; but the rich fruits he had gathered during many years made a naturally generous nature anxious to share them with others. The propagation of an unpopular idea was not likely to bring him honour of any kind. He knew well what all past experimenters had to face, but he was determined this question should be placed in such a position that there would be no reason for cavil. It has been with much patience, and amid many suspicions, that this careful investigator has helped to make palpable that there is a roadway between the “undiscovered country” of spirit life and this world of ours; that the transcendent intuitions of poets and seers have been founded on realities which are now being demonstrated.
We spiritualists have indeed got to know, beyond a doubt, what the human race had not learned in its thousands of years, viz., that death is a delusion. The lamp has been kindled at the light gleaming from the sky, and nothing can again put out the flame.
Spiritualism has a certain aim, and does not mean to drift. It has come for a divine purpose, to be sacredly cherished and unfolded. Even Mr. Stead, the longer he pursues his investigations, has less and less to say regarding the danger of investigation. He feels and acknowledges that he has entered upon a realm which may yet have many priceless gems to give up. The spiritualist must be a come-outer, able to break away from trammels and all despotic traditions. The fear of the Evil One, the bad odour associated with the name “witchcraft,” the unwise and weak bits in Old Testament history, stop him not in his investigations. “Thou shalt” and “thou shalt not” of tradition he asks the authority for, taking nothing on authority but truths which can be demonstrated.
If the world applauds those who joined together fire and water and iron and made it ready to do men’s bidding, if it reverences those who with audacious hands have taken the lightning from heaven and sent it to carry tidings between the ends of the earth, so will it one day surely reverence and honour the many spiritual workers who have toiled bravely to make it evident that there is no death. “He that walks with humble men,” says a wise teacher, “often stumbles over masses of unsunned gold where men, proud in emptiness, looked only for common dust.”
Why should intelligent men mock at small beginnings like the rise of the modern spiritual movement? The great institutions which have done the best work for mankind have had to face the same kind of sneer and ridicule. History repeats itself all the time. As Lecky eloquently points out, the Christian religion, which was surely a potent force for good or evil, was unseen by the leading minds who made up the intellectual force of the Roman empire. No single man of weight saw in it a conquering power, but glanced at it as something weak and ignoble. Carlyle regrets that the wise and penetrating Tacitus could only see in it a weak superstition, while he (Carlyle) held somewhat similar views about Spiritualism (which, according to Theodore Parker, has more evidence for its wonders than any other historic form of religion), as the best word he could offer was that it was “the religion of Dead Sea apes.”
That the idea of spirit communion will grow and find a place in the people’s hearts is as certain as that the sun shines each day. The best of minds have welcomed it, even those who could not tolerate it at first. It is indeed a choice revelation of higher import than all physical science has yet given. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wondered how the world, weeping for its dead, did not accord it warm welcome. She found in Spiritualism the richest consolation. This age has almost witnessed the abolition of slavery, and to-day there is not more antagonism to Spiritualism than sixty years since there was towards the anti-slavery party. Lloyd Garrison, afterwards a pronounced Spiritualist, was indeed bold for conscience sake, for truth and justice, when he started the Liberator. It did not seem as if the idea which possessed him could take root. When his enemies made inquiry as to Garrison’s movements in 1831, they reported that his office was in an obscure hole, his only visible auxiliary a negro-boy, and his supporters a few insignificant persons of all colours—and yet in spite of this early report his idea shook the world. The man and the negro-boy were pretty vigorous, and there was a great truth promulgated from that obscure hole.
Spiritualism, through the brave advocacy of heroic men and women, is at last becoming credible; more toleration is now shown for its claims. Phenomena once considered trivial now receive attention. Many are awakening to the new thought, and becoming better able to read the mystery of their past lives through what it teaches. The influence of a noted journalist like Mr. Stead is sure to keep the flame alight, and divert the thought of those who want rest on this most important of all problems that concern us. Thanks to such men as Wallace, Crookes, Stainton Moses, Taylor, and others, who have collected and verified facts so patiently, and demonstrated so surely that our dead live on, and take an affectionate interest in our goings out and comings in.
