process that is at once chemical, physical and psychical, goes on in the brain. A complex action of this kind is propagated through the gray brain matter, as waves are propagated in water. Regarded on its physiological side, an idea is only a vibration, a vibration that is propagated, yet which does not pass out of the medium in which it can exist as such. It is propagated only as far as other vibrations allow. It is propagated more widely if it assumes the character which subjectively we call emotive. But it cannot go beyond without being transformed. Nevertheless, like force in general, it cannot remain in isolation, and it escapes in disguise.
"Thought stays at home, as the chemical action of a battery remains in the battery; it is represented by its dynamic correlate, called in the case of the battery a 'current,' and in the case of the brain, I know not what; but whatever its name may be, it is the dynamic correlate of thought. I have chosen the name 'dynamic correlate.' There is something more than that; the universe is neither dead nor void.
"A force that is transmitted meets other forces, and if it is transformed only little by little it usually limits itself to modifying another force at its own cost, though without suffering materially thereby. This is the case particularly with forces that are persistent, concentrated, well seconded by their medium. It is the case with the physiological equilibrium, nervic force, psychic force, ideas, emotions, tendencies. These modify environing forces, without themselves disappearing. They are imperceptibly transformed, and if the next man is of a nature exceptionally well adapted to them, they gain in inductive action."
Answer to Skeptical Critics
The two most likely objections advanced against this conception by sceptical critics are as follows: "(1) The mental vibratory motion, or vibratory waves, are not known to science, nor recorded on scientific instruments such as the galvanometer. What is the rate of such vibrations, and what is their general character? (2) Granted the existence of such vibratory energy, or thought-waves, how and by means of what channel does the second person receive them from the first person? How are they registered or recorded?" These objections are capable of being met in a scientific manner, to the satisfaction of any fair-minded critic or investigator. We shall now give you, briefly, the gist of the answer of science to the aforesaid objections.
The World of Vibrations
It is true that the scientific instruments of the laboratory, such as the galvanometer, do not record thought vibrations. This, because such instruments are capable of registering and recording on certain rates and modes of vibratory energy. Thought vibrations are registered only by their appropriate instruments, namely, the Chitta of Mind substance of living persons. As to the "general character and rate of vibration" of these waves of mental force, we can only say that their general character is that of "mental force" as opposed to "physical force."
As to their rate of vibration, we can only say that this is not precisely known, not having as yet been definitely ascertained; but it should be added that there is plenty room for these vibrations in the great field of vibratory energy. Read the following paragraphs, and decide this last matter for yourself.
Uncharted Seas of Vibration
The following quotations from eminent scientists will serve to give the student a general idea of the views of science upon the question of the possibility of the existence and presence of vibratory energy of kinds and characters as yet unknown to science:
The first scientist says: "There is much food for speculation in the thought that there exists sound waves that no human ear can hear, and color waves that no eye can see. The long, dark, soundless space between 40,000 and 400,000,000,000,000 vibrations per second, and the infinity of range beyond 700,000,000,000,000 vibrations per second, where light ceases, in the universe of motion, makes it possible to indulge in speculation." The second scientist says: "There is no gradation between the most rapid undulations or tremblings that produce our sensation of sound, and the lowest of those which give rise to our sensations of gentlest warmth. There is a huge gap between them, wide enough to include another world of motion, all lying between our world of sound and our world of heat and light. And there is no good reason whatever for supposing that matter is incapable of such intermediate activity, or that such activity may not give rise to intermediate sensations, provided that there are organs for taking up and sensifying these movements."
The third scientist says: "The knowledge we gain by experiment brings home to us what a miserably imperfect piece of mechanism our bodies are. The ear can detect the slow-footed sound vibrations that come to us at the rate of between 40 and 40,000 a second. But the whole of space may be quivering and palpitating with waves at all sorts of varying speeds, and our senses will tell us nothing of them until we get them coming to us at the inconceivable speed of 400,000,000,000,000 a second, when again we respond to them and appreciate them in the form of light."
The fourth scientist says: "The first indications of warmth come to us when the vibrations reach the rate of 35,000,000,000,000 per second. When the vibrations reach 450,000,000,000,000 the lowest visible light rays manifest. Then come the orange rays, the golden yellow, the pure yellow, the greenish yellow, the pure green, the greenish blue, the ocean blue, the cyanic blue, the indigo, and finally the violet, the highest degree of light which the human eye can register, and which occurs when the vibrations reach the rate of 750,000,000,000 per second. Then come the ultra-violet rays, invisible to human sight but registered by chemical media. In this ultra-violet region lie the X-Rays, and the other recently discovered high degree rays; also the actinic rays which, while invisible to the eye, register on the photographic plate, sunburn one's face, blister one's nose, and even cause violent explosions in chemical substances exposed to them, as well as act upon the green leaves of plants, causing the chemical transformation of carbonic acid and water into sugar and starches. These forms of 'dark light,' that is, light too high in degree to be perceived by the human eye, are but faint indications of the existence of still higher and still finer vibrations of substance and energy."
The Human Wireless Telegraph Instrument
Having seen that the first question of the sceptical critics is capable of being answered in the scientific spirit, and by ideas based upon scientific investigation, we now turn to the second question of the same critics, viz.: "Granted the existence of such vibratory energy, or thought-waves, how and by means of what channel does the second person receive these from the first person? How are they registered or recorded?" This same question is also implied in the concluding sentence of one of the scientists above quoted, viz.: "There is no good reason whatever for supposing that matter is incapable of such intermediate activity, or that such activity may not give rise to intermediate sensations, provided that there are organs for taking up and sensifying these movements." Let us see what science has to tell us regarding the provision of Nature for the reception and "sensing" of this class of vibratory energy. And the easiest way to ascertain the report of science regarding this important matter is to consider carefully what representative leading scientists have said concerning the same in their writings or public addresses. We call your attention to the following quotations from such sources.
A Great Scientist's Theory
Let us begin with that great master of modern science, Sir William Crookes, the inventor of the celebrated "Crookes' Tubes," without which the discovery of the X-Ray and Radio-Activity would have been impossible. Several years ago, this eminent scientist, addressing the Royal Society, at Bristol, England,—a gathering made up of distinguished scientists from all over the world, most of the members being extremely sceptical concerning occult phenomena—said to the brilliant gathering: "Were I now introducing for the first time these inquiries in the world of science, I should choose a starting point different from that of old (where we formerly began). It would be well to begin with Telepathy; with that fundamental law, as I believe it to be, that thoughts and images may be transferred from one mind to another without the agency of the recognized organs of sense—that knowledge
