“Roentgen has familiarized us with an order of vibrations of extreme minuteness as compared with the smallest waves with which we have hitherto been acquainted:  and there is no reason to suppose that we have here reached the limit of frequency.  It is known that the action of thought is accompanied by certain molecular movements in the brain, and here we have physical vibrations capable from their extreme minuteness of acting direct upon individual molecules, while their rapidity approaches that of internal and external movements of the atoms themselves.  A formidable range of phenomena must be scientifically sifted before we effectually grasp a faculty so strange, so bewildering, and for ages so inscrutable, as the direct action of mind upon mind.

“In the old Egyptian days, a well known inscription was carved over the portal of the Temple of Isis:  ’I am whatever has been, is, or ever will be; and my veil no man hath yet lifted.’  Not thus do modern seekers after truth confront Nature—­the word that stands for the baffling mysteries of the Universe.  Steadily, unflinchingly, we strive to pierce the inmost heart of Nature, from what she is to reconstruct what she has been, and to prophesy what she shall be.  Veil after veil we have lifted, and her face grows more beautiful, august and wonderful, with every barrier that is withdrawn.”

You will notice that this address made nearly twenty years ago, and from the standpoint of physical science is in full accord with the ideas of occultism as old as the hills.  And yet, the speaker had worked out the idea independently.  He also investigated higher forms of psychic phenomena, with results that startled the world.  But, you will notice that he does not attempt to give any other than purely physical laws the credit for the ordinary phenomena of telepathy.  And he was thoroughly right in this, as we have seen.  He escaped the common error of confusing physical-sense phenomena with the phenomena of the astral-senses.  Each plane has its own phenomena—­and each class is surely wonderful enough.  And, again, remember that both physical and astral phenomena are purely natural; there is no need for seeking any supernatural agencies to account for these natural facts.

LESSON IV.

Scientific telepathy.

The investigators of the Society for Psychical Research, of England, started by giving a broad definition of Telepathy, as follows:  “Telepathy is the communication of impressions of any kind from one mind to another, independently of the recognized channels of sense.”  They took the rational position that the actual distance between the projector and the recipient of the telepathic message is not material; and that all that is required is such a separation of the two persons that no known operation of the senses can bridge the space between them.  They wisely held that telepathy between two persons in the same room is as much telepathy as when the two persons are located at opposite sides of the world.