4. Increased power of the intellectual faculties - e.g., the memory - may also prove misleading. I recall the cases of people who spoke in languages they had never learned (cf. p. 466). We must also here include the increased power of drawing conclusions. This sometimes takes place in the secondary consciousness. Hennig relates the following case: - "A friend of mine, head master of a school, once dreamed that he was being touched by the cold hand of his father, who had just died. The shock woke him up, and he heard a hissing sound; but after a careful search he found that the gas was turned on and escaping. His secondary consciousness had perceived this, recognized the danger, and warned the sleeper in a symbolical dream." In any case, hypnotics and people who are dreaming often come to such subconscious conclusions, but part of the conclusion may also be arrived at subconsciously in the waking state. Sometimes, also, an increased power of the intellectual faculties, a telepathic influence or the like, is erroneously assumed when we are really only dealing with a combination of circumstances well within the experiences of daily life.

It may easily happen in thought-reading, as well as in telepathic experiments, that when the percipient is led in some way or other close up to a box of cigars or a book-shelf, he will take a cigar or a book, as the case may be, and that this was what was wanted of him. The process is so simple, that we need not look to any heightening of the subject's intellectual faculties or other extraordinary influence for an explanation.

I have hitherto spoken of the sources of error that lie in the person of the medium. I will now discuss certain others that are external to the medium.

1. We must first of all consider the mental state of the "believers." I have already intimated that most occultists exhibit a peculiar turn of mind. I do not mean to imply that there is any question of insanity in their case, though spiritism may be the result of mental disease. Aural delusions sometimes lead their victims to refer the words they hear to the voices of spirits. But this is an exception. In the case of spiritists, a peculiar weakness of mind is of somewhat more frequent occurrence. But this also is, relatively speaking, rarely the case. On the other hand, we much more frequently find unbounded credulity and a tendency to exaggerate their own powers of observation on the part of spiritists. With regard to the latter point, it is interesting to observe how fond occultists and spiritists are of accusing men of science of overweening self-confidence and exaggerating the value of science, although it is hardly possible to find in any branch of science men who suffer from overweening self-confidence to the same extent that the overwhelming majority of spiritists and occultists do. The latter believe that they cannot be deceived, because of the precautions they take, and also because their powers of observation safeguard them from deception.

But these precautions do not satisfy the requirements of objective investigators. Let me give an example. A spirit appears after the medium has been bound with cords. This sets a careful investigator thinking whether the medium may not have got loose and be representing the spirit, whereas the spiritist thinks that the medium could not get free, because he bound him himself. He takes no notice whatever of the fact that the medium was only bound to his own liking. The real man of science is fully aware that he is liable under certain circumstances to sense-delusions, and more especially to delusions of memory. This fact, also, is never considered by occultists. It is astonishing what different accounts people who have taken part in such seances give of what occurred, when they are subsequently questioned separately. This applies equally to cases of spiritistic phenomena and clairvoyance. Nevertheless, occultists are firmly convinced that their memory never plays them false.

As might be expected, numbers of occultists and spiritists are led by their exaggerated mystical tendencies to recognize occult phenomena. Every one may possibly have a touch of mysticism in him. Even men of science are not necessarily exempt, but they should be extremely cautious before accepting anything as scientifically proved. It is their duty to draw a sharp line between the domain of Belief and that of Science, Occultists do nothing of the kind; their mystical tendencies utterly prevent the spirit of scientific research having anything to do with the investigation of these phenomena, and they therefore believe, with a child-like credulity, anything they choose. In addition to this, many occultists and spiritists hate science, because it includes them in one category. Instigated by the desire to affirm anything that science refuses to recognize, they accept the most impudent performances of fraudulent mediums as proofs of clairvoyance, transposition of the senses, animal magnetism, Od-radiations, and the like. The fact, already mentioned, that most of the people who ascribe a special domain to occultistic phenomena also believe in any other kind of occultistic phenomena, no matter how disconnected they may be, is extremely characteristic.

I have already mentioned that animal magnetism cannot explain clairvoyance; nevertheless, we find that most believers in clairvoyance are also upholders of animal magnetism. The converse is also the case. It is also noticeable that many occultists are also believers in homoeopathy, nature-cures, vegetarianism and Jager's all-wool regime, although these questions are in no way connected and have nothing to do with occultism. To a magnetopath, who describes himself as a representative of homoeopathy and nature-cures, we can only say that homoeopathy has no connection whatever either with magnetic therapeutics or with nature-cures. In the same way it is chiefly spiritists who believe in astrology. I have also heard it remarked in conversation that many occultists and spiritists believe that premature burial is anything but a rare occurrence. Some people have even assured me that there are fire-proof human beings - i.e., persons who cannot be destroyed by fire. It is obvious that many are influenced to enter on these matters simply because of the implied revolt against orthodox opinion, nor can it be denied that the cause of occultism is furthered by the arbitrary refusal of many adherents of academic learning to give it a hearing.