London Society Volume 23 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1873 Excerpt: ...shape of the intellect or soul, yet we are abundantly aware that it only exists as an exterior force so long as certain known and obvious substantial conditions are complied with. The animal dies; to all intents and purposes the will dies too: the will is powerless if the functions of life are worn out, or wholly disarranged by accident. If an animal is deprived of nourishment or oxygen gas, the will is gone. The will, then, must act through and by means of those external substances in which it was originally enshrined. Now, in the case of the concertina, we are asked to believe that Mr. Home's will acted upon the keys wholly irrespective of any external physical conditions; an unseen power emanated from him and forced the instrument to give forth certain melodies, and more, the instrument was so influenced that it too escaped from its own conditions, defied the laws of gravitation, and appeared to be suspended in the air. To Serjeant Cox, Mr. Crookes, and the Committee of the Dialectical Society generally, we can only reply that we are much obliged to them for the trouble they have taken in this matter, but we feel bound to hesitate before we adopt even a shadow of the conclusions at which they have, no doubt reluctantly, arrived. We by no means desire to meet them with the simple assertion that the thing cannot be; that would be a most nnphilosophic and unsatisfactory solution of the difficulty. We may willingly admit that there are more things in heaven and earth than we have dreamt of, without depriving ourselves of the right to demand evidence of a far more convincing character. If psychic force can act upon the keys of a concertina, it can equally act upon the polished handle which the enginedriver moves before the locomotive is put in motion; or it c...