Page:Philosophical Review Volume 1.djvu/710

694 every other kind of supernatural phenomena — 'materialization' of spirits, etc. R. regards the experimental effects upon which this theory is founded as fictitious, and hence considers the theory itself untenable, to say nothing of the fact that we hear only of the dreams, presentiments, etc., which 'come true,' not of the countless ones which fail. (3) The Theosophic Cult. A commission of the society, altogether different from any of the others, was appointed to examine the work of the "Theosophic Society." R. gives a brief sketch of the history of this society, and then a more detailed account of the very damaging exposure of Madame Blawatzsky, the leading spirit among the theosophists, which took place in 1884. At about this time, Mr. Hodgson was sent by the English society to the headquarters of theosophy in the East, and, though rather inclined to believe in such miracles, he found additional evidence against Madame Blawatzsky. However, this scandal did not stop the further growth of theosophy. (5) Mystical Psychology. With the decadence of ordinary Spiritualism in Germany arose a still more extraordinary belief; i.e., that sorcery, magic, lucidity, etc., are important aids for the comprehension of the nature of the soul, hence for psychology and for philosophy. In 1886 there was founded in Germany a new periodical, the Sphinx, which describes itself as the organ destined for the historical and the experimental clearing up of the supernatural idea. Baron Carl du Prel represents the theoretic side. In his view, "official" science, by disdaining all that cannot be established by irrefragable proof, deprives itself of a great aid for understanding the essence of the spiritual nature of man. The reality of supernatural phenomena is proved by their remarkable diffusion among all ancient peoples, and also by analogous phenomena (e.g., telepathy) which may be observed to-day. The fault of past ages was not that they acknowledged the existence of these phenomena, but that they gave them a religious explanation. If one could admit that the soul and the body are not two substances independent of each other, but that the soul is the principal organizer of the body, it would be easy to understand how the soul might exist in space as a reality independent of the body. Since, though separated from the body, it preserves its organizing faculty, it may also incorporate itself in another form. However, it usually takes the form of the body in which it was before. In this state the soul was formerly called the 'astral body' and M. du Prel retains this name. The soul, with its 'astral body,' being immortal, may appear arbitrarily after the death of the material body. This apparition of the 'astral body' may be invoked by a medium, which explains the so-called 'materialization' of spirits, necromancy, etc. M. du Prel attempts to prove that his mystical view of human life was already accepted by Kant, who had not the data, but whose genius foresaw the mystical