Show NOVEL investigation A A of scientists preparing to see sc what is inspirit in spiritualism chicago tribune tri bunc tho the late henry seybert wh gave the tile new bell for independence hall a left a largo large number of bequests amounting to over for public and charitable use uses among which was one to endow a chair of moral and intellectual philosophy in the university of pennsylvania with the expressed wish that the university would respectfully c fully and thoroughly thorough fy investigate adern modern spiritualism in which he lie was a firm believer tile university accepted the bequest and has now begun to carry out the wish of the testator A commission has been appointed of which the chairman id is dr william lV illiam pepper the provost of the university and a gentleman uan of acknowledged he c attainments of a high order the other members of the commission are professor george A keenig ph D assistant professor of chemis arya graduate of sity the rev robert E Thomp thompson soD A M professor of social science joseph leidy 31 D LL D arc fessor of anatomy and the rev geo W fullerton dr pepper will look after the physiological cal and medical phases of the problem and will devote his attention to attacking spiritualism from these standpoints coill is professors leidy and kaenig will contest the physical aspects so iso far as they relate to natural ral philosophy while the rev professor thompson will view the subject su b from a purely inte intellectual and metaphysical standpoint there is is now on hand band available for the pro ec ac cution of the investigation thes the sum of 1000 no formal meeting of the commission com has as yet been held although there exists among among the members a general under understanding sta 13 ding of the investigation no member thereof is openly committed to a belief in the so called modern spiritualism so that it is doubt doubtful fill whether they will be able to arrive at those conclusions which would have been most gratifying to air sc bert prof koenig said the subject however lio wever I 1 can answer for it will be approached cautiously conclusions will not be jumped at the work has been most evenly evenlyn and ild properly divided the physical and the metaphysical aspect odthe of the problem 0 o b will receive receive equally learned and careful attention I 1 must admit that I 1 am prepared to deny the truth of spiritualism as it is now popularly understood it is my belief that all the so called mediums are hum buni bugs without exception I 1 have never seen slade perform any of im tricks trick s but from the published d description e I 1 have set him down as an impostor the cleverest of the lot regarding the mode of our conducting the invests investigation 9 aaion it is bri briefly efly as follows F for or some sonic time past I 1 have been in in correspondence with the wife of a mail man living among tile sierra nevada mountains the woman declares that her husband pos besses the power of locating mineral deposits and subterranean streams of water without the aid of what is aai known as a divinie divi divining nim rod S so peculiar 1 are his nerves cons constituted titu te olt that bic v whenever lie walks prove cit water or the metal no matter at depth it be hidden he lie is seized with a violent trembling I 1 shall suggest to the commission commiss iod that they bring this man to philadelphia so that the truth of his cifes statements may be verified if it shall be found that he lie is as astle has described bed then to ray my mind two results one scientific the other practical may be attained in the first place lace if this mans nerves are so dal delicate cate as xi to enable him to locate miner minerals alsand and hidden waters tho the problem of the effect of terrestrial magnetism upon the human nerves is solved it then remains to invent machinery to gauge thid this effect so that the exact distance of the deposits below the surface of the ground bount may way bo determined this is the practical lactic I 1 result of the investigation ti then if it be he that this mans nerves norves are so delicate as 88 to admit of the manifestations of tho the terrestrial magnetism in this shape why may it nut follow that there muy may be human waves so 80 much more delicate ns as to como come within the more subtle influenced influences of the more subtle agencies As for cor the scientific value of ray in ly western subject I 1 believe that if it is true that one set of nerves may be thus and affected by agencies that do not affect affee t ordinary persons it reasonably follows that there may be other gets of nerves equally delicate in other directions the next tiling thing is to find a specimen I 1 do not think the commission view with much favor the examination of tho the so called spirit mediums the wisest men are apt to bo be deceived one man in an hour can invent more tricks than a wiser man can in ill a year |