Works of Sax Rohmer
Page 664
No visible advance (I exclude the hermetic and theosophical arcana) has been made in these matters for many generations. Until very recent times, substantial men of science ignored the subject; but quite an illuminating work could be compiled of the fragments of occult wisdom strewn through the writings of the poets — outcomes, not of inquiry, but of inspiration. Omar Khayyam, for all his hedonism, is richly streaked with gold, and Sir Edwin Arnold’s Light of Asia I would place in the hands of every would-be inquirer as a textbook.
But now there is a promise of a new era; and one looks for great things when sorcery and science go hand in hand. In this way, and in this way alone, can we hope to progress; it is almost vain to look for an Apollonius of London, of Paris, or of New York.
“God still communicates with mankind,” according to Sir William Ramsay, “using the voice with ‘the sound of deep silence’ heard by the prophets of Israel and mentioned in the marginal notes in the Revised Version of the Bible; but, as a great French writer has said, to have miracles we must have saints; and there are few saints.”
Forty years ago, he declared, scientists would have branded as a lunatic any man who said it was possible for a spirit to communicate with another spirit, lacking the interposition of the material. Yet to-day scientists admitted the possibility of such phenomena.
There is undoubtedly a tremendous future for psychical inquiry along photographic lines. The writer who conceals his identity under the nom de plume” A Member of the Society for Psychical Research,” conducted a series of remarkable experiments of this kind some years ago. The experiments were conducted with the assistance of a distinctly mediumistic photographer.
The writer brought his “own marked plates, placed beforehand in the dark shutter,” and watched the entire process of development in the dark room. Moreover, he used to visit the studio at odd times, and without giving the photographer notice of his intention.
He writes:
“The plates obtained under these conditions invariably disclosed a vague, cloud-like formation hovering near my own person, and sometimes showing distinct outlines of a form. In one or two instances features would become distinctly visible in this cloudlike emanation on the third or fourth plate — the very gradualness of the development of the form seeming to me to tell in favour of the genuineness of the pictures. I have thus obtained an infinite variety of pictures on plates prepared by myself, and remaining under my constant observation to the last.... Experienced photographers who have seen them maintain that they could be produced normally, although they also admit that this could not possibly be done under the conditions stated.”
The labours of Lodge, Crookes, Ramsay, Barrett, Wallace, and others, must sooner or later bear fruit. It is quite absurd to suppose, in this age of discoveries, that we understand all Nature’s laws. But the difficulty of demonstrating the existence of occult phenomena to the general public can only be likened to that of demonstrating the perfume of a rose to a person who has never possessed the sense of smell, the beauty of an autumn sunset to a blind man, or the distinction in flavour between Astrakhan and American caviare to one of defective palate.
Photography, to my mind, should prove to be the link joining the physical to the psychical. The experiments at séances, the experiments with the planchette, are all unsatisfactory. But think what might have been achieved by a photographer, provided with a flashlight apparatus, at one of Cagliostro’s magical banquets!
Another avenue of research there is, which, however, is all too rarely opened; I refer to apparent cases of “throw-back.” Professor Richet mentions a French lady, who wrote whole pages in Greek, although not even knowing the Greek alphabet; and in the Gentleman’s Magazine for May 1760 is given an account, on the testimony of Dr. Hooper, Capt. Fisher, and another, of a boy at Reading who periodically was seized with fits, during which he delivered lengthy theological discourses. As also bearing upon this phase of the subject, I append a paragraph from F. L. Rawson’s Life Understood from a Religious and Scientific Point of View.
“The head of one of the religious sects in England once asked advice with reference to a man who had been his stenographer... and who was then speaking and writing Chinese fluently, having never known a word of that language. He wanted to know whether it was of God or of the devil, as this would make a considerable difference to his future policy. After answering a few questions he told me that the stenographer at these times went into an ecstatic condition, and was tongue-tied. By this he meant that he was unable to answer questions whilst speaking or writing Chinese.”
Proof is what a sceptical world awaits. According to Mrs. Annie Besant a great Adept appears once in every century whose task is to guide humanity a little further onward to the hidden goal. The next of these should bear in mind poor childish mankind’s crying need of something tangible — something to grasp.
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St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, London — Rohmer’s final resting place
Rohmer’s grave