stantially the same as by one incarnate soul upon and over another. The proof of thought, impression and telepathy lies in circumstances similiar to those reported in the second chapter, which show that spontaneous soul impressions are of frequent occurrence, and also that they may be produced experimentally and thus demonstrated beyond question.

The proof of similar impressions made intentionally by decarnate souls upon souls still in the flesh lies in similar facts and circumstances. What man can tell with certainty the sources of the impulses which sway him in the most important events of his life, or of the ideas he accepts and carries into effect?

The most wonderful book ever written, assumedly the work of one man, is that credited to William Shakespeare. But did the man known by that name write it? I do not know. But I do know that if it was written by any one man it was in a sense “inspired;" either that decarnate spirits spoke through the writer, or that he had the faculty of drawing from the Infinite, ideas and words for expressing them, never possessed by any other mortal who also had the physical facilities for laying them before the world. It is evident that the author of Shakespeare's works realized the fact that the physical mind of man comprehends but dimly the works of nature and the harmonies of the universe, that his thoughts are not always his own, and that his destiny, like his origin as an individual, is not of his own directing. He says in Hamlet:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

And in Measure for Measure:

Thyself and thy belongings

Are not thine own so proper, as to waste

Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,

Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
Did not go forth to us, 't were all alike

As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched,
But to fine issues; nor Nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor-
Both thanks and use.

And again, in Hamlet:

There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.

Lives there a man of adult age who has not at some time felt an impulse to perform an action, or to refrain from doing something contemplated, for which he could not account? If so, it must be one who has no friend on the spirit side of life who feels sufficient interest in his welfare to act as his guide and guardian. A single instance of my own experience will serve to illustrate the fact of this unseen influence and guardianship.

At the outset of my investigations of spirit phenomena intended to furnish data for this book, I visited a trance medium in a city some distance from that of my own residence. `We were strangers to each other, and the circumstances were such as to render it impossible that she could have had any knowledge of my family affairs or my business. During the sitting, the familiar control of this medium represented my father to be present, and to be pleased that I was investigating the phenomena of spirit existence and return. I said, "Father, can you not talk to me?" The idea I had in mind was that he might dictate what he desired to say to the medium's familiar control, which in this case was an Indian girl. Instead of that, as I looked at the medium, a change gradually came over her face, and it assumed the dignity and impressiveness characteristic of a man of mature years accustomed

to look upon life seriously and sedately. Then she addreзsed me as, "My dear son," and speaking in slow and measured cadence, delivered the most affectionate and touching address from a father to a son that I had ever heard. During the course of this address my father said:

"When you were a little boy and were so longing for a father's aid and care, I was frequently by your side with my arms around you; but I could not make you feel my presence. And since you became a man I have been with you, aiding and watching over you. Oftentimes when ideas regarding your business which you did not seek and for which you could not account have come to you, and when you have been lying awake in bed with such ideas and thoughts crowding upon your mind, I have been there impressing you with them.”

No more positive or convincing proof of the fact of spirit guardianship, impression and influence could have been presented to me than this statement, made through the physical organism of a person who could by no possibility have had any knowledge of the facts and circumstances of my private life. My father died when I was an infant, and the greatest sorrow of my childhood was that I had no father to aid me and provide for me. Many a time when a little boy did I weep and mourn in solitude when I saw other boys enjoying the companionship of their fathers, and surrounded with the physical comforts and luxuries they were able to provide, but which the poverty of my mother's widowhood denied to me. Later in life it has been a fact, known to members of my family only, that ideas and impressions regarding my business affairs, and sometimes my literary work, have come to me in a manner which I have been unable to understand, and the source of which, up to the time my father's spirit thus addressed me, I had never suspected. Sometimes such ideas have been presented to me while listening to dull sermons in church, and in a condition of partial hypnosis; sometimes while walking along the street engaged in thought and partially oblivious to the environment; sometimes while seeking them in the ordinary course of contemplation; but more especially and forcibly when waking in the night against my will and protest. Such awakenings are usually gradual, and as the physical consciousness is slowly aroused I find an idea in my mind which is new, and is perhaps very different from the intent I had entertained regarding a specific matter during waking hours. If I accept the idea, fix it in my mind, and say to myself that I will act upon it, I can usually go to sleep again; but if I fight against it and attempt to drive it away, my insomnia becomes persistent. Sometimes I have found it impossible to compose myself to sleep

again until I have gone to my desk and put the idea or the language presented into writing. And thus far, according to my recollection, I have always gained and never suffered through the acceptance of thoughts and ideas thus presented, and action accordingly.

The statement assuming to come from my father through the medium could by no possibility have originated in her mind or soul; nor could it have been the result of suggestion from my own mind or soul, as up to that moment the thought had never occurred to me that the impressions which had been so marked a feature of my life for many years were presented by spirit intelligences.

The impression, influence and control which decarnate souls are able to exercise upon souls incarnate is found to vary in degree precisely as the power of one incarnate soul over another varies. Thought impression is illustrated by the circumstances reported above. Next we find the clairvoyant and clairaudient faculties so developed in some people that they can see spirit forms and hear spirit voices.

In the second chapter the tendency of the soul to receive impressions in the form of pictures and symbols is illustrated by reports of experiments in thought transference quoted from Mr. Hudson's book. This attribute of the soul is one of great significance and importance. The evidence demonstrates that the soul has power to realize such pictures to its own consciousness, and also to present them to the perception of other souls; and in this means of transferring ideas we have the simplest, and still the most expressive, form of language. In the course of my investigations it has been many times illustrated to me.

At my first sitting with a trance medium the control said: “Here comes a man who says, 'Hello, Sherman!' He comes on a boat. He wears side whiskers, with his chin shaved;” adding other

particulars of his personal appearance. I asked if he could not give his name. The control replied: "He does not give me his name; but wait, the boat is turning in toward the dock, and perhaps I can read the name on its side." She did give me some of the letters she saw there, and I was able afterward to reach a positive conclusion as to the person who thus presented himself to me. He was a friend who had died ten or twelve years previously, and a person entirely unknown to the medium. Afterward this friend manifested himself in a manner somewhat similar through another medium in another city, and on that occasion gave his name.

At the sitting first referred to above I asked a friend who assumed to be present in spirit where a certain event to which he had referred took place. The control replied: "He is showing me the picture of a cow, a large cow." I was puzzled at first to understand the significance of this picture, but finally asked: “Can you give me the initial letter of the city where this occurred?" The control replied: "He is writing a large B in the air with his finger.” I had in mind that the event to which my spirit friend referred had occurred in Port Huron, but a circumstance somewhat similar had been reported to me as having happened in Buffalo. The significance of the picture therefore became apparent when the B was written. The "large cow" was a buffalo.

On another occasion I asked the control of another medium if a man whom she reported standing by me could not give his She replied: "He is showing me a stream of water. He says it is not a river, it is not a creek, it is not a canal; why, it is a brook, and he says his name is Brooks.”

name.

And on another occasion when I thought I recognized a spirit described as that of a friend who had died two or three years before, the control said: "He is showing me a plate with round things on it; why, they are apples. He is holding the plate over a gate; what does that mean?" The name of the friend whose personal appearance had been described to me was Applegate.

And again, the name Harold was represented by the picture of a wig of grey hair. 'What does that mean?" inquired the control. "Is it old-hair? Why, no; he says the name is Hair-old." (Harold.)

And on another occasion the control said: "He says his name is Albert, but that is not what you called him." "And what did we call him?" I inquired. The control replied: "He is showing me a bird. What is that? Bird-eye? No, he says you called him Bertie."