After some three months the sounds ceased as unexpectedly as they had commenced.
There is one form of sound manifestation to which no allusion has been made—what is called the "Direct Voice." It is alleged to be of frequent occurrence in spiritualistic circles. Articulate words are, it is stated, spoken "direct," not through the voice organs of any person present. The phenomenon, so far as I have heard, occurs only in darkness—and is an objective voice audible alike to every one present. It corresponds to the phenomenon of "direct writing." But no attempt that I am aware of has been made to treat the matter scientifically. One of the earliest alleged occurrences of this phenomenon took place in London, at a private seance at which I was present at the house of Mr. Thos. Everitt, who departed this life in August of last year, and who was one of the most prominent London spiritualists, Mrs. Everitt being the medium. Some little time later, at a similar seance at the same house, the sitting was terminated by the singing of a hymn by three or four soft, gentle voices, purporting to be "direct" voices, which sounded as if they proceeded from the top of the room close to the ceiling. They were certainly not the voices of any of the company present. It was one of the most beautiful and touching manifestations I ever experienced. I can only compare it to the singing of a choir of boys' voices, high up out of sight in Truro Cathedral, which I had heard many years before. The seances at Mr. Everitt's were conducted in an exclusively religious tone, and afforded no opportunity for obtaining scientific evidence. It is much to be desired that a careful inquiry should be made into the reality of so interesting a phenomenon.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] Proceedings S.P.R., vol. iv. pp. 29-30.
[14] Proceedings S.P.R., vol. iv. p. 31.
CHAPTER IV
THE APPEARANCE OF LIGHT WITHOUT ANY APPARENT
PHYSICAL CAUSE
The appearance of Lights at Spiritualistic circles, apparently not due to any physical cause, is very widely asserted. The character of the Lights is as varied as it is possible to imagine. Faint, cloudy, indefinite luminous appearances—brilliant stars which move or hover among the sitters—globes or balls of light, like illuminated ostrich eggs, or spheres of mother-of-pearl lit up from within—pillars of light—are some of the many forms which this manifestation takes. But anything approaching to scientific evidence of the reality of the phenomenon is singularly scarce. And I am not aware that anything has ever been done towards testing or endeavouring to ascertain the nature of the light. One reason for this is, no doubt, that to investigate light phenomena, the exclusion of other light is obviously requisite. Hence the necessity for dark seances. The objection to a dark seance in itself can of course have no scientific basis. But a strong feeling against dark seances has arisen from the abuses to which they have led. It is possible that the extent of the evil has been exaggerated, and has thus produced an exaggerated prejudice against darkness as a condition. It is, however, safe to say, that, even if promiscuous seances are ever useful or wise, a promiscuous dark seance should never be sanctioned by an earnest inquirer.
Orthodox science has not yet condescended to bestow any attention on "spirit lights." I had the privilege of private acquaintance with Dr. Tyndall, and once acted as his assistant at some lectures he gave in a country place. I remember sending him a report of some rather remarkable manifestations of light witnessed at a private seance in London, under fairly good test-conditions. Dr. Tyndall was at the time engaged in some special optical investigations, and I asked him to spend five minutes in reading the notes enclosed. Dr. Tyndall's reply, in his laconic, jocular style, was to this effect—"I have spent five minutes as you desired, and it is a long time since I spent five minutes so badly!"
The best series of "light" phenomena, both as regards their varied character, and as regards the observers, and the care with which records at the time were made, occurred in the presence of Mr. W. Stainton Moses. A special chapter is devoted to his general experiences later on, but I will deal with the phenomena of lights here, and make this the only illustration of this branch of the subject. For the general credibility of the W. Stainton Moses phenomena the reader is referred to the opening paragraph of [Chapter VI.] The following pages are taken, by way of either extract or abstract, from two articles on Mr. W. Stainton Moses by Mr. F. W. H. Myers. They thus have the advantage of Mr. Myers' moral certificate, so to speak, as to their value. The articles were published in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research.[15]