I
We are impressed at once, as we seek to answer these questions, by the contemptuous indifference of the learned world as a whole. Spiritualists ring the changes on a handful of eminent names. How is it that the leaders of the Psychical Society have not drawn after them a larger following? Canon Barnes, himself a Doctor of Science, observes that the most distinguished supporters of Spiritualism have not themselves received messages which prove the possibility of communication with the dead. The messages have come through others, for the most part professional mediums.[48] Dr. Barnes recognises that the task of investigation belongs to psychologists, and he considers it “significant that practically none of the leading experimental psychologists of the world are prepared to accept the theory of spirit-communication.” “Nor is it accepted,” he goes on, “by leading medical men, whose careful study of mental disease and experiments with abnormal mental states, would permit them to speak with authority. So long as such experts refuse to accept the spiritualistic explanation of the observed phenomena, it is mere superstition for the mass of men to do so.”[49]
Ought not the public to know, through some clear and simple statement, where the medical profession stands with regard to Spiritualism? The voice of authority should be heard in difficult times.