Spiritualism Wins. Sir A. Conan Doyle at Cambridge Union
Spiritualism Wins is an article published in The Yorkshire Post on 27 april 1922.
This is a report of the debate "That Spiritualism exists only in the imagination".
Spiritualism Wins
SIR A. CONAN DOYLE AT CAMBRIDGE UNION.
A LIVELY DEBATE.
The motion "That Spiritualism exists only in the imagination" was debated in lively fashion at the Cambridge Union Society last night. The house was packed. Society last night, and was ultimately de-feated by a majority of 126 votes. The house was packed, Interest in the dis-cussion was stimulated by the presence of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Mr. I'. M. Wright, Trinity Hall. in sub-mitting the motion, said he fully respected the sincerity of those who valued Spiritualistic doctrines very highly, but the question they had to decide was whether they were to allow to pass unchallenged the claim of Spiritualism to speak with all the authority not only of science, but also of religion. In considering the evi-dence of Spiritualism, they were net by the vast scale on which fraud has been prac-tised by mediums. " One might almost say of Spiritualism as of love," said Mr. Wright, " that it takes two to make a seance—one to deceive, and ono to be deceived." (Laughter.) Mr. R. E. Stevenson, St. John's College, opposed the motion. Spiritualism, he said, was bound up with the mysteries of deNth, which in all the ages had been a mystery to man. He drew attention to the activi-ties of the Society of Psychical Research, in whose work, he said, there was a volume of evidence many hundreds of tangs greater than the evidence which, had Boated many scientific theories. Support for the motion came from Mr. J. B. S. Haldane, Trinity College, the brilliant scientist, who asked the house to reject the alleged physical phenomena. With regard to the psychological phenomena, he said, the evidence was slightly better. He believed that telepathy was a better way of revealing the contents of sealed packets than intercourse with the dead. " These phenomena can all he accounted for by fraud or deception," he said. As to Spiritualistic explauatiptis, there was not one explanation, but there had been numerous accounts that dkl not agree. Not only had Spiritualism verified nothing of importance, but had had a had effect on the judgment of people in other respects. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's reply was a vigorous defence of Spiritualism. Arguments like those heard in the debate, he said, were advanced fifty years ago. Spiritualism was debated all over the world in a ridiculous way. because it was a debate between men who had experimented and believed in it and those who were influenced entirely by prejudice and by what people had told them. Every scientific man who had given his assent to Spiritualism had run the risk of rain-ing his career. " When pioneers explore the jungle there are always the mosquitoes —(laughter)—but they go through the jungle and so the human race advances," said Sir Arthur. When mediums are exposed it was by Spiritualists that they were exposed. In every religion he supposed there was a certain amount of cant and humbug. " In our case, it is aggravated, I admit, by the fact of dark room seances. There-fore, I am entirely against them myself. I like a good red light in order to have the thing quite clear." When Mr. Hal-dane made an unsuccessful experiment, it went down the sink, said Sir Arthur. It was a washout—(laughter)—but when he got a positive result it went in his notebook. Mr. Haldane (interrupting): It is a matter for scientific conscience always to record your failures. (Cheers.) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: I am quite sure you record your failures, but you do not build up your theories on them but on your successes. Sir Arthur expressed the hope that the " young generous hearts and active brains of- Cambridge University " would give him their vote. (Loud cheers.) Several other speakers continued the debate. When the division was taken, the voting resulted as follows :—For the motion, 184; against, 310.
