Death: Its Causes and Phenomena with Special Reference to Immortality

John R. Meader, Hereward Carrington

Description

First published in 1912, this vintage book deals with the subject of death, with a particular focus on spiritualism, a religious movement based on the belief that spirits of the deceased exist and are able to communicate with living people. Contents include: “The Scientific Aspect of Life and Death”, “The Signs of Death”, “Rigor Mortis”, “Trance, Catalepsy, Suspended Animation, etc.”, “Premature Burial”, “Cases”, “Burial, Cremation, Mummification, etc.”, “The Causes of Death”, “Sudden Death”, etc. Hereward Carrington (1880 – 1958) was a famous British-born American paranormal investigator and author. His focus was telepathy, and among his subjects were many of the most well-known cases of ostensibly psychic ability of the time. Carrington wrote over 100 books on related subjects during his life. Other notable works by thus author include: “The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism” (1907), “The Coming Science” (1908), and “Eusapia Palladino and her Phenomena” (1909). Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.

Sujets

• From Beyond the Grave
• Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 1)

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528767576
• Langue: English

Extrait

DEATH:
ITS CAUSES AND PHENOMENA
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO IMMORTALITY
BY HEREWARD CARRINGTON
LATE MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH AUTHOR OF VITALITY, FASTING AND NUTRITION, THE COMING SCIENCE, THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM, HINDU MAGIC, EUSAPIA PALLADINO AND HER PHENOMENA, ETC. ETC .
AND JOHN R. MEADER ( GRAHAM HOOD )
MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN STATISTICAL SOCIETY AND OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH AUTHOR OF THE LAWS OF SUCCESS, ETC .
It is apparent that a study of the circumstances of natural death . . . may give rise to facts of the highest interest to science and to humanity. - M ETCHNIKOFF .
Copyright 2018 Read Books Ltd. This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
PREFACE
T HE subject which we have discussed at length in this volume-Death-is generally looked upon as something to be tabooed by polite society; something unpleasant, which may some day come upon us, but which we desire to think about as little as possible in the interval. There is no logical ground for this position, however, and, scientifically speaking, death may be made as fascinating a study as any other. Divested of the superstition and glamour which usually surround it, death assumes the appearance of a most interesting scientific problem, both from its physiological and from its psychological side.
But there is another side to this question which must by no means be overlooked. We refer to the possibility of postponing death, on the one hand, and of rendering it more painless, on the other. Both of these results can only be effected by a thorough understanding of the process involved; and this, in turn, can only be obtained by a close, scientific study of the problem-one that includes all its aspects, and treats of them impartially. In summing up this evidence, in condensing what has been said-the speculations that have been offered during the past two hundred years ( see Bibliography)-we are satisfied that we have collated a quantity of interesting material; while the particular theories as to the nature of death which we have advanced, will not, we hope, be without interest, and perhaps utility. As we differ considerably from one another in our theories as to the causation of old age and natural death, we have thought it best to devote separate chapters to these topics-each advancing his own views. Later, we have tried to reconcile our opposing theories. Finally, in collecting and presenting the views of a number of scientific men on what constitutes natural death, we have sounded opinion upon a hitherto all but neglected subject, and we wish to thank our contributors in this place for what they have done for science, no less than for us.
The final question to which we have addressed ourselves is, perhaps, the most vital and interesting of all. The question of what becomes of the mental life at death; whether consciousness persists, or is extinguished-like the flame of the candle-is of interest alike to science and to philosophy; and we have presented a considerable quantity of material bearing upon this question, tending to show that consciousness does persist, and that personal identity is assured to us. In arriving at this conclusion, we feel that an important forward step has been taken in the correct
CONTENTS
Preface
Part I Physiological
Chapter I The Scientific Aspect of Life and Death
Chapter II The Signs of Death
Chapter III Trance, Catalepsy, Suspended Animation, c
Chapter IV Premature Burial
Chapter V Burial, Cremation, Mummification, c.
Chapter VI The Causes of Death
Chapter VII Old Age: Its Scientific Study
Chapter VIII The Questionnaire on Death-Answers
Chapter IX My Own Theory of the Nature of Death
Chapter X My Own Theory of the Nature of Death
Chapter XI On the Possible Unification of Our Theories
Chapter XII General Conclusions
Part I Historical
Chapter I Man s Theories About Immortality
Chapter II The Philosophical Aspect of Death and Immortality
Chapter III The Theological Aspect of Death and Immortality
Chapter IV The Common Arguments for Immortality
Part III Psychological
Introductory
Chapter I The Moment of Death
Chapter II Visions of the Dying
Chapter III Death Described from Beyond the Veil
Chapter IV Experiments in Photographing and in Weighing the Soul
Chapter V Death Coincidences
Chapter VI The Testimony of Science-Psychical Research
Chapter VII On the Intra-Cosmic Difficulties of Communication
Chapter VIII Conclusions
Appendices
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Appendix F
Appendix G
Appendix H
Bibliography
Index
PART I
PHYSIOLOGICAL
CHAPTER I
THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECT OF LIFE AND DEATH
D EATH is universally recognised as the inevitable fate of every living thing-the goal towards which animate life is constantly tending-and yet, strange as it may appear, human ingenuity has not yet succeeded in formulating a definition that will adequately cover this last experience of man. We know that all things that live must grow old and die, but our theories concerning the causes that produce this phenomenon are still almost entirely of a speculative character. To say that death is a cessation of life is to avoid the question. Even Spencer s definition, in which he pronounced life to be the continual adjustment of internal to external relations, and death, a want of correspondence between those relations, leaves much to be desired. It presents the facts of life and death as we behold them, but it fails absolutely to trace these apparent effects to the causes , of which they are the natural manifestation. 1
As far as positive science is concerned, the only immortality that can be demonstrated is that of race. The individual dies, from natural causes or by accident, as the case may be, but, as each living thing is the direct result of reproduction from another form, the death of the individual has practically no effect upon the continuance of existence of the race. With this so-called potential immortality, therefore, science is satisfied. Beyond this it finds no room for speculation-no opportunity for its experiments.
To make this position clear to the mind of those who have not been accustomed to the materialistic view of the phenomena of life and death, it may be necessary to explain that science recognises no new organism in the product of reproduction any more than it distinguishes a new creation in the changes that are so constantly occurring in the form of living matter. Even a slight acquaintance with the first principles of science is sufficient to explain what this means, for we know that the atoms that constitute the human body are so lacking in stability that they are ever being discarded and replaced by other substances derived through the process of assimilation. In other words, the one property that best distinguishes living matter from dead matter is what might be termed the faculty of self-creation, or the ability to transform the dead substances assimilated into the same live substance of which this matter is composed. Thus, as long as life continues, this process goes on with unceasing regularity. Dead matter is cast aside, just as one would discard a worn-out garment, and new matter is created to take its place. When this faculty ceases to perform its functions, death follows speedily.
Both Huxley and Cuvier have used the river whirlpool as an exact illustration of the nature of this phenomenon of life, and most physiologists agree that this whirl of water, as seen, for example, at Niagara, is an extremely close reproduction of the natural process of assimilation and disintegration-the alternating attraction and repulsion of the ever-changing particles representing the actual conditions of physical life. That a material substratum is left unchanged, there can be no doubt; but even this theory does not modify the conclusions that science has drawn from this reproduction of the whirl of life. Though it may be true that the animal body contains permanent elements of definite composition, they alone are insufficient to assure the continuance of physical existence.
It seems to be the popular impression that this physical body begins its work of development at birth; that it continues to progress until the individual has attained that rather indefinite period generally termed maturity, and that, when this point has been reached, definite deterioration commences. From all that science has been able to determine, however, this idea is quite contrary to fact, for all the practical experiments in biology indicate that the body begins to lose its recreative powers, or the capacity to change dead matter into living matter, very shortly after the period of birth, and that, from this time, the decrease in force continues steadily. As one writer has said:-

In want of a more exact knowledge of the structure of the living molecule and the changes in structure that come on in old age, the physiologist expresses his idea of the general nature of these changes by similes and metaphors more or less apt. We may compare living matter to a clock, the mainspring of which is so constructed that, in consequence of slowly developing molecular changes, it suffers a gradual loss of elasticity. In such a mechanism there will come a time when winding the clock will no longer make it run, since energy can no longer be stored in the spring. We