t strata, so to speak, of the same individual
consciousness. Knowledge of the facts unknown to our
ordinary consciousness was, nevertheless, some will say, in
the sub-consciousness of one of us, or perhaps of both. On
this theory, of course it must be supposed that the mind has
stored away in its depths knowledge acquired in ways
unknown. By others all the phenomena related by Mrs.
Underwood will be regarded as the work of disembodied,
invisible, intelligent beings who once dwelt in the flesh
and lived on the earth, but who are now in a higher sphere
of existence, yet able under certain conditions to make
their presence and their thoughts known to us. It is not my
intention here to advocate any theory as to the cause of the
phenomena described by Mrs. Underwood. I simply testify now
to the accuracy of all those statements in her paper in
regard to her automatic writing.
B. F. UNDERWOOD.
* * * * *
"The known is finite, the unknown is infinite;
intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an
illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every
generation is to reclaim a little more land; to add
something to the extent and solidity of our
possessions."--_Huxley in "Reception of the 'Origin of
Species.'"_
Public attention at this time especially is being called to various
forms of psychic phenomena measurably through the efforts of the
Society for Psychical Research in investigating and sifting the
evidence for the stories of apparitions, hallucinations, forewarnings,
etc., but more because so many who have heretofore scoffed at and
doubted such stories, or who have been foiled in their efforts to
obtain for themselves any satisfactory evidence that such phenomena
really occur, are now able to testify from their own experience, in
one form or another, that such are real facts of our existence.
The questions raised by the class of facts already elicited through
this investigation are of supreme importance, and it becomes the duty
of every serious-minded enquirer who has had experience of this kind
to give the result of his investigations to the public, and thus aid
those searching for the underlying cause of all such phenomena.
Therefore after considerable hesitation, and with some inward
shrinking from an obvious du
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