NTEMI^OK'A]

\i*PARITI()

iiiUU

vRENCF

j:

Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

hythe

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY

1980

/

THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES. Edited by HAVELOCK ELLIS.

APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

APPARITIONS

AND

thouCht-transfer^nce

AN EXAMINATION bp THE iviDENCE pdfL TELEPATHY.

\ ■ '

BY

FRANK PODMORE, M.A.

WITH NUMER

LONDON :

WALTER SCOTT, LTD.,

24 WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1894.

//7I

l^^oS

^K

\

\

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Introductory ... ... ... ... ... i

Position of the subject — Founding of the Society for Psychical Research — Definition of telepathy — General difficulties of the inquiry — Special sources of error — Fraud — Hypersesthesia— Muscle-reading — Thought-forms and number-habit.

CHAPTER II.

Experimental Transference of Simple Sensa- tions IN THE Normal State i8

Transference of Tastes— Of pain, by Mr. M. Guthrie and others— Of sounds— Of ideas not definitely classed, by Professor Richet, the American Society for Psychical Research, Dr. Ochorowicz— Transference of visual images, by Dr. Blair Thaw, Mr. Guthrie, Professor Oliver Lodge, Herr Max Dessoir, Herr Schmoll, Dr. von Schrenck- Notzing, and others.

CONTENTS. CHAPTER III.

PAGE

Experimental Transference of Simple Sensa- tions WITH Hypnotised Percipients ... 58

Transference of tastes, by Dr. Azam— Of pain, by Edmund Gurney — Of visual images, by Dr. Liebeault, Professor and Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, Dr. Gibotteau, Dr. Blair Thaw.

CHAPTER IV.

Experimental Production of Movements and

OTHER Effects 82

Inhibition of action by silent willing, by Edmund Gurney, Professor Barrett, and others — Origination of action by silent willing, by Dr. Blair Thaw, M. J. H. P., and others — Planchette-writing, by Rev. P. H. Newnham, Mr. R. H. Buttemer— Table-tilting, by the Author, by Professor Richet — Production of local anaesthesia, by Edmund Gurney, Mrs. H. Sidgwick.

CHAPTER V.

Experimental Production of Telepathic Effects

at A Distance ... ... ... ... 105

Induction of sleep, by Dr. Gibert and Professor Janet, Professor Richet, Dr. Dufay — Of hysteria and other effects, by Dr. Tolosa-Latour, M. J. H. P. —Transference of ideas of sound, by Miss X., M. J. Ch. Roux— Of visual images, by Miss Campbell, M. Leon Hennique, Mr. Kirk, Dr. Gibotteau.

CONTENTS.

vu

CHAPTER VI.

General Criticism of the Evidence for Spon- taneous Thought-Transference

On chance coincidence — Misrepresentation — Errors of observation — Errors of inference — Errors of narration — Errors of memory — ** Pseudo-presentiment " — Precautions against error — "Where are the letters?" — The spontaneous cases as a true natural group.

t43

CHAPTER VII.

Transference of Ideas and Emotions

Transference of pain, Mr. Arthur Severn— Of smell, Miss X. — Of ideas, Miss X., Mrs. Barber — Of visual images, Mr. Haynes, Professor Richet, Dr.' Dupre— Of emotion, Mr. F. H. Krebs, Dr. N., Miss Y.— Of motor impulses. Archdeacon Bruce, Professor Venturi.

l6i

CHAPTER VIII.

Coincident Dreams

Discussion of the evidence for telepathy derivable from dreams — Chance-coincidence — Simultaneous dreams, the Misses Bidder — Transference of sensation in dreams. Pro- fessor Royce, Mrs. Harrison — Dreams conveying iiews of death, etc., Mr. J. T., Mr. R. V. Boyle, Captain Camp- bell, Mr. E. W. Hamilton, Mr. Edward A. Goodall— Clair- voyant dream, Mrs. E. J.

185

Vlll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

PAGE

On Hallucination in General 207

Common misconceptions— Hypnotic hallucinations, experi- ments by MM. Binet and Fere, Mr. Myers — Point de reph& — Post-hypnotic hallucinations, Professor Liegeois, Edmund Gurney — Spontaneous hallucinations, Professor Sidgwick's census — Table showing classification of spontaneous hallu- cinations— Origin of hallucinations, sometimes telepathic — Proof of this, calculation of chance-coincidence, allow- ance for defects of memory — Conclusion.

CHAPTER X. Induced Telepathic Hallucinations 226

Possible misconceptions — Accounts of experiments, by Rev. Clarence Godfrey, Herr Wesermann, Mr. H. P. Sparks, and

A. H. W. Cleave, Mrs B , Dr. von Schrenck-Notzing,

Dr. Wiltse, Mr. Kirk.

CHAPTER XI.

Spontaneous Telepathic Hallucinations ... 247

Auditory hallucinations, Miss Clark, Mr. William Tudor — Visual hallucinations — Incompletely developed. Countess Eugenie Kapnist, Miss L. Caldecott, Dr. Carat— Com- pletely developed, Miss Berta Hurly, Mrs. McAlpine, Miss Mabel Gore Booth— Hallucinations affecting two senses, Rev. Matthew Frost, M. A .

CONTENTS. ix

CHAPTER XII.

I'AGE

Collective Hallucinations 268

Illusions, epidemic hallucinations, illusions of memory — Explanations of collective hallucination — Auditory hallucin- ations, Mr. C. H. Cary, Miss Newbold — Visual hallucina- tions, Mrs. Greiffenberg, Mrs. Milman and Miss Camp- bell, Mr. and Mrs. C , Mr. Falkinburg, Dr. W. O. S.,

Rev. C. H. Jupp — Collective hallucinations with percipients apart. Sister Martha and Madame Houdaille, Sir Lawrence Jones and Mr. Herbert Jones.

CHAPTER XIII.

Some Less Common Types of Telepathic Hallu- cination 297

Reciprocal cases, Rev. C. L. Evans and Miss A

misinterpreted message, Miss C. L. Hawkins-Dempster —

Heteroplastic hallucination, Mrs. G , Frances Reddell,

Mr. John Husbands, Mr. J — " Haunted houses,"

Mrs. Knott and others, Surgeon-Major W. and others.

CHAPTER XIV.

On Clairvoyance in Trance 326

Definition of clairvoyance — Accounts of phenomena observed with Mrs. Piper, by Professor Lodge, Professor W. James, and others — Accounts of experiments by Mr. A. W. Dobbie, Dr. Wiltse, Mr. W. Boyd, Dr. F , Dr. Packman.

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV.

1

PAGE

On Clairvoyance in the Normal State ... 351

Observations of M. Keulemans— Crystal-visions, MissX., Dr. Backman, Miss A. and Sir Joseph Barnby— Spontan- eous clairvoyance, Mrs. Paquet, Mr. F. A. Marks, Mrs. L. Z. — Clairvoyance in dream, Mrs. Freese — Clairvoyant perceptivity in an experiment, Dr. Gibotteau,

CHAPTER XVI. Theories and Conclusions 371

Resumi, the proof apparent — The proof presumptive — The alleged influence of magnets and metals — The alleged marvels of spiritualism — Usage of the word telepathy — On various theories of telepathy — Difficulties of a physical explanation — Value of theory as a guide to investigation — Is telepathy a rudimentary or a vestigial faculty? — Our ignorance stands in the way of a conclusive answer — Im- perative need for more facts.

PREFACE.

The following pages aim at presenting in brief compass a selection of the evidence upon which the hypothesis of thought-transference, or telepathy, is based. It is now more than twelve years since the Society for Psychical Research was founded, and nearly eight since the publication oi Phantasms of the Living. Both in the periodical Proceedings of the Society and in the pages of Edmund Gurney's book,^ a large mass of evidence has been laid before the public. But the papers included in the Proceedings are inter- spersed with other matter, some of it too technical for the taste of the general reader; whilst the two volumes of Phantasms of the Livings which have for some time

^ The book actually bore on the title-page the names of Edmund Gurney, F. W. H. Myers, and the present writer. But the division of authorship, as explained in the Preface, was as follows : — " As regards the writing and the views expressed, Mr. Myers is solely responsible for the Introduction, and for the ' Note on a Suggested Mode of Psychical Interaction ; ' and Mr. Gurney is solely responsible for the remainder of the book. . . . But the collection, examination, and appraisal of evidence has been a joint labour."

Xli PREFACE.

been out of print, were too costly for the purse of some, and too bulky for the patience of others. The attention which, notwithstanding these drawbacks, that work excited on its first appearance, the friendly reception which it met with in many quarters, and the fact that a considerable edition has been disposed of, encouraged the hope that a book on somewhat similar lines, but on a smaller scale, might be of service to those — and their number has probably increased within the last few years — who take a genuine interest in this inquiry. Accordingly in the autumn of 1892 I obtained permission from the Council of the Society for Psychical Research to make full use, in the com- pilation of the present work, not merely of the evidence already published by us, but of the not incon- siderable mass of unpublished records in the posses- sion of the Society.

It will be seen that the present book has little claim to novelty of design ; but it is not merely an abridged edition of the larger work referred to. On the one hand it has a somewhat wider scope, and includes accounts of telepathic clairvoyance and other pheno- mena which did not enter into the scheme of Mr. Gurney's book. On the other hand, the bulk of the illustrative cases here quoted have been taken from more recent records ; and, in particular, certain branches of the experimental work have assumed a quite new importance within the last few years. Thus the experiments conducted by Mrs. Henry Sidgwick at Brighton have strengthened the demonstration of

I

PREFACE. XI 11

thought-transference, and have gone far to solve one or two of the problems connected with the subject; and the evidence for the experimental production of telepathic effects at a distance has been greatly enlarged by the work of MM. Janet and Gibcrt,^ Richet, Gibotteau, Schrenck-Notzing, and in this country by Mr. Kirk and others. ^ It may be added that some of the criticisms called forth by Phantasms of the Livings and our own further researches, have led us to modify our estimate of the evidence in some directions, and to strengthen generally the pre- cautions taken against the unconscious warping of testimony.

To say, however, that the following pages owe much to Edmund Gurney is but to acknowledge the obligation which all students of the subject must recognise to his keen and vigorous intellect and his colossal industry. My own debt is a more personal one. To have worked under his guidance, and to have been stimulated by his example, was an invalu- able schooling in the qualities demanded by an inquiry of this nature. Of the living, I owe grateful thanks, in the first instance, to Professor and Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, who have read through the whole of the book in typescript, and have given help and counsel throughout. Miss Alice Johnson, Mr. F. W. H. Myers, the late Dr. A. T. Myers, Miss Porter,

^ Some account of the earlier experiments by MM. Janet and Gibert was included in the supplementary chapter at the end of the second volume of Phantasms.

^ See Chapters V. and X, of the present book.

XIV PREFACE,

and others have also given me welcome help in various directions. In acknowledging this assistance, however, it is right to add that, though I trust in my estimate of the evidence presented, and in the general tenour of the conclusions suggested, to find myself, with few exceptions, in substantial agreement with my colleagues, yet I have no claim to represent the Society for Psychical Research, nor right to cloak my own shortcomings with the authority of others.

One word more needs to be said. The evidence, of which samples are presented in the following pages, is as yet hardly adequate for the establishment of telepathy as a fact in nature, and leaves much to be desired for the elucidation of the laws under which it operates. Any contributions to the problem, in the shape either of accounts of experiments, or of recent records of telepathic visions and similar experiences, will be gladly received by me on behalf of the Society for Psychical Research, at 19 Bucking- ham Street, Adelphi, W.C.

FRANK PODMORE.

August 1894.

APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY — SPECIAL GROUNDS OF CAUTION.

It is salutary sometimes to reflect how recent is the growth of our scientific cosmos, and how brief an interval separates it from the chaos which went before. This may be seen even in Sciences which deal with matters of common observation. Amongst material phenomena the facts of Geology are assuredly not least calculated to excite the curiosity or impress the imagination of men. Yet until the middle of the last century no serious attempt was made to solve the physical problems they presented. The origin of the organic remains embedded in the rocks had indeed formed the subject of speculation ever since the days of Aristotle. Theophrastus had suggested that they were formed by the plastic forces of Nature. Mediaeval astrologers ascribed their formation to planetary influences. And these hypotheses, with the alternative view of the Church, that fossil bones and shells were relics of the Mosaic Deluge, appear to have satisfied the learned of Europe until the time of Voltaire, who reinforced the rationalistic position, as he conceived it, by the suggestion that the shells, at

I

2 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

any rate, had been dropped from the hats of pilgrims returning from the Holy Land. Yet Werner and Hutton were even then preparing to elucidate the causes of stratification and the genesis of the igneous rocks. Cuvier in the next generation was to demon- strate the essential analogies of the fossils found in the Paris basin with living species ; Agassiz was to investigate the relation of fossil fishes and to show the true nature of their embedded remains. Nay, even in the middle of the present century, so slow is the growth and spread of organised knowledge, it was possible for a pious Scotchman to ascribe the origin of mountain chains to a cataclysm which, after the fall of Man, had broken up and distorted the once symmetrical surface of the earth ;^ for a Dean of York to essay to bring the Mediaeval theory up to date and prove that the whole series of geological strata, with their varied organic remains, were formed by volcanic eruptions acting in concert with the Mosaic Deluge ; ^ and for another English divine to warn his readers against any sacrilegious meddling with the arcana of the rocks, because they represented the tentative essays of the Creator at organic forms — a concealed storehouse of celestial misfits ! ^

The subject-matter of the present inquiry has passed, or is now passing, through stages closely similar to those above described. " Ghosts " and warning dreams have been matters of popular belief and interest since the earliest ages known to history, and are prevalent amongst even the least advanced races at the present time. The Specularii and Dr. Dee have familiarised us with clairvoyance and crystal vision. Many of the alleged marvels of

1 Primary and Present State of the Solar System, by P. McFarlane. Edinburgh, Thomas Grant, circa 1845.

"^ At the meeting of the British Association in 1844; quoted by Hugh Miller, Tesiiviony of the Rocks, pp. 358, 359.

3 A Brief and Complete Refutation of the Antiscripttiral Theory of the Geologists, by a Clergyman of the Church of England. London, 1853 ; quoted by Hugh Miller, loc. cit.

SPECIAL GROUNDS OF CAUTION. 3

witchcraft were probably due to the agency of hypnotism, which in later times, under the various names of mesmerism, electrobiology, animal mag- netism, has attracted the curiosity of the unlettered, and from time to time the serious interest of the learned. These phenomena indeed were made the subject of scientific inquiry, first in France and later in England, during the first half of the present century ; have now again, after a brief period of eclipse, been investigated for the last two decades by competent observers on the Continent, and are at length winning a recognised footing in scientific circles in this country. Yet within the last two or three years we have witnessed the spectacle of more than one medical man, of some repute in this island, laughing to scorn all the researches of Charcot and Bernheim, just as their prototypes a generation or two ago ignored the results of Cuvier and Agassiz, and held it an insult to the Creator to accept the scientific explanation of coprolites.

And as regards the other subjects, to which must be added the alleged marvels of the Spiritualists, there have indeed been one or two isolated series of observations by competent inquirers, but for the most part the learned have held themselves free to ascribe the phenomena without investigation to fraud and hysteria, and the unlearned to " magnetism," "psychic force," or the Devil. For whilst men of science, preoccupied for the most part with other lines of inquiry, have kept themselves aloof, the vacant ground was naturally occupied by the ignor- ant and 'credulous, and by those who looked to win a harvest from ignorance and credulity. It is not of course implied that all persons who interested them- selves in such matters came under one or other of these categories. There were many sensible men and women amongst them, but they lacked for the most part the special training necessary for such inquiries, or they failed through want of co-operation

4 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

and support. No serious and organised attempt at investigation was made until, in 1882, the Society for Psychical Research was founded in London, under the presidency of Professor Henry Sidgwick. He and his colleagues were the pioneers in the research, and their example has been widely followed. Two years later an American society under the same title (now a flourishing branch of the English society) was founded in Boston ; and there are at the present time societies with similar objects at Berlin, Munich, Stockholm, and elsewhere. Moreover, the Soci^te de Psychologic Physiologique, which was founded in Paris, under the presidency of M. Charcot, in 1885, has devoted much attention to some forms of telepathy.

But the forces of superstition and charlatanry, to which this vast territory has been ceded for so long, have bequeathed an unfortunate legacy to those who would now colonise it in the name of Science ; and the preliminary difficulties of the undertaking can perhaps most effectually be met by a frank recognition of that fact On the one hand, a large number of thinking men have been repelled, and still feel repul- sion, from a subject whose record is so unsavoury. On the other hand, the appetite for the marvellous which has been so long unchecked is not easily re- strained. The old habits of inaccuracy, of magnifying the proportions of things, of confusing surmises with facts, cannot be eradicated without long and careful discipline. To one writer, indeed, those dangers seemed so serious that he solemnly warned the Society for Psychical Research, at the outset of its career, against the risk of stimulating into disastrous activity inborn tendencies to superstition, by even the sem- blance of an inquiry into these matters. Without going to such lengths, it may be conceded to the critic that even with those who endeavour to apply scientific methods to the investigation the mental attitude is liable to be warped by the environment, and that here, as elsewhere, evil communications may corrupt.

SPECIAL GROUNDS OF CAUTION. 5

As regards the actual investigators this difficulty is growing less serious, as more men who have received their training in other branches of science are attracted to the inquiry, and as the affinities of the subject to long-recognised departments of knowledge become daily more apparent. In another direction, however, this mental attitude presents still a more or less for- midable obstacle. Many of the observations on which students of the subject are compelled to rely are derived from persons who have had no training in such habits of accuracy as are required in scientific research. When accounts of the ornithorhynchus first reached this country naturalists laughed at the traveller's tale of a beast with the tail of a beaver and the bill and webbed feet of a duck. In the same way scientific men for long refused to admit the existence of aerolites, as they now decline to credit the reports of a Sea Serpent of colossal proportions. In all these cases, so long as the alleged facts rest solely on the testimony of men untrained in habits of close observ- ation and accurate reporting, a suspension of judg- ment seems to be justified. And if these considerations are valid in ordinary cases, a much higher degree of caution may be reasonably demanded of investigators who leave the neutral ground of the physical sciences to enter upon a field in which the emotions and sympathies are most keenly engaged, and in which the incidents narrated may have served to afford support to the dearest hopes and sanction to the deepest convictions of the narrator. So insidious, in such a case, is the work of the imagination, so untrustworthy is the memory, so various are the sources of error in human testimony, that it may be doubted whether we should be justified in attaching weight to the phenomena of telepathic hallucination and clairvoyance, to which a large part of this book is devoted, if the alleged observations were incapable of experimental verification. Certainly in such a case, though the recipient of an experience of this kind

6 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

might cherish a private conviction of its significance, it would hardly be possible for such a view to win general assent.

In fact, however, the clue to the interpretation of the more striking phenomena, in the case of which, since they occur for the most part spontaneously, direct experiment or even methodical and continuous observation are rarely possible, is furnished by actual experiment on a smaller scale and with mental affec- tions of a less unusual kind. The thesis which these pages are designed to illustrate and support is briefly: that communication is possible betiveen mind and mind otherwise than through the known channels of the senses. Proof of the existence of such communication, pro- visionally called Thought Transference or Telepathy (from tele = Sit a distance, and pathos = fee\\r]g), will be found in a considerable mass of experiments conducted during the last twelve years by various observers in different European countries and in America. Before proceeding, in the course of the next four chapters, to examine this part of the evidence in detail, it will be well to consider its various defects and sources of error — defects common in some degree to all experiments of which living beings are the sub- ject, and sources of error for the most part peculiar to this and kindred inquiries. The word experiment in this connection usually, and rightly, suggests the most perfect form of experiment,' that in which all the conditions are known, and in which the results can be predicted both quantitatively and qualitatively. If, for instance, we add a certain quantity of nitric acid under given conditions to a certain quantity of benzine, we know that there will result a certain quantity of a third substance which is unlike either of its constituents in taste, smell, and physical properties. Or if we burn a given quantity of coal in a particular engine, we can predict, within narrow limits of error, the total amount of energy which will be evolved. That we cannot in the second instance predict with

SPECIAL GROUNDS OF CAUTION. 7

absolute accuracy the amount of energy produced is simply due to the difficulty of measuring with pre- cision all the factors in the case. But when we leave the problems of chemistry and physics and approach the problems of biology, the difficulties increase a hundredfold. Here not only are we unable to measure the various factors, we cannot even name them. No skill or forethought would have enabled an observer, from however patient a study of parentage and en- vironment, to have predicted the appearance, say, of Emanuel Swedenborg or Michael Faraday. Of the seven children of John Lamb and his wife it might have seemed easier to conjecture that the majority would not survive childhood, and that one would become insane, than that another should take his place amongst those whose writings the world would not willingly let die. And even where, as in most biological researches, the results drawn from observ- ation can be to some extent checked and controlled by direct experiment, generations may elapse before the balance of probabilities on one side or the other becomes so great as to lead to unanimity amongst the inquirers. One of the most interest- ing, and certainly not the least important, of the questions now occupying biologists, is that of the transmission to the offspring of characters acquired in the lifetime of the individual. Observations have been accumulated on the subject since before the days of Lamarck ; and these observations, interpreted and confirmed by experiment, have been adduced and are still held by many as evidence that such transmission occurs. On the other hand, Weismann and his followers contend that no such inference can legiti- mately be drawn from the observations and experi- ments quoted, and that the occurrence of such transmission is irreconcilable with what is known of the growth and development of the germ. And for all that has been said and written the opinion of com- petent biologists is still divided upon the question.

8 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

But in many biological problems the conditions are much simpler, and the questions at issue can more readily be brought to the test of experiment. Yet even so various unknown factors are included, and the results obtained are correspondingly difficult of interpretation. No question affects us more nearly than the part played by the several kinds of food in repairing the daily waste of the human body. Sta- tistics and analyses have been collected of workhouse, prison, and military dietaries ; innumerable experi- ments have been conducted on fasting men and hyper- trophied dogs and rabbits ; and yet the precise function of nitrogenous substances in nutrition is still un- determined. Again, the import of the experiments made during the last few decades by Goltz, Hitzig, Ferrier, Horsley, and others on the functions of various areas of the brain substance, and the exact nature and degree of localisation which those experiments imply, are still matter of debate amongst the physi- ologists concerned.

To take yet another instance, and one which has a more intimate bearing upon the experiments to be discussed. Some years ago Dr. Charlton Bastian claimed to have proved experimentally the fact of abiogenesis, or the generation of living organisms from non-living matter. He had placed various organic infusions in glass tubes, which were heated to the boiling point and then hermetically sealed. When the tubes were, after a certain interval, unsealed, the contained liquid was found in some cases to be swarming with bacteria. Believing that these micro- organisms and their germs were invariably destroyed by the heat of boiling water. Dr. Bastian saw no other conclusion than that the bacteria were formed directly from the infusion. His conclusions were not accepted by the scientific world. But they were rejected, not because the fact of abiogenesis was regarded as in itself improbable, nor yet because Dr. Bastian was unable to indicate by what steps or processes the

I

SPECIAL GROUNDS OF CAUTION. 9

transformation of an infusion of hay into living organisms of definite and relatively complex structure could be conceived to take place, but because Pasteur, Tyndall, and others showed that the germs of some of these micro-organisms are capable of sustaining for some minutes the heat of boiling water ; and further, that when elaborate precautions were taken, by filtering and otherwise purifying the air, tubes containing similar infusions would remain sterile for an indefinite period.

The conclusion that under certain conditions thought-transference may occur rests upon reason- ing similar to that by which Dr. Bastian sought to establish a theory of abiogenesis. Neither the organs by which nor the medium through which the com- munication is made can be indicated ; nor can we even, with a few trifling exceptions, point to the conditions which favour such communication. But ignorance on these points, though a defect, is not a defect which in the present state of experimental psychology can be held seriously to weaken the evidence, much less to invalidate the conclusion. That conclusion rests on the elimination of all other possible causes for the effect produced. But at this point the analogy between the two researches fails. Dr. Bastian's conjecture was based on a short series of experiments conducted by a single experimenter under one uniform set of conditions. At the first breath of criticism the whole fabric collapsed. The experiments here recorded represent the work of many observers in many countries, carried on with different subjects under a great variety of conditions. The results have been before the world for about twelve years, and during that period have been subjected to much adverse and some instructive criticism. But no alternative explanation which has yet been suggested has attained even a momentary plausibility.

Whether the elimination of all other possible causes

10 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

is indeed complete, or whether, as in Dr. Bastian's case, there may yet lurk in these experiments some hitherto unsuspected source of error, the reader will have the opportunity of judging for himself. To assist him in forming a judgment some of the main disturbing causes will be briefly indicated.

(i) Fraud, — In nearly all the experiments referred to in this book the agent was himself concerned in the inquiry as a matter of scientific interest. But it necessarily .happens on occasion that neither agent nor percipient are by education and position absolutely removed from suspicion of trickery in a matter where trickery might to imperfectly educated persons appear almost venial. If any such cases have been admitted, it is because the precautions taken appear to us to have been adequate. At the same time, the investigators of the Society for Psychical Research have come across some instances of fraud in cases where they had grounds for assuming good faith, and it may be useful, therefore, to illustrate some of the less obvious methods of acquiring intelligence fraudu- lently. The conditions of the experiment should of course, as far as possible, preclude, even where there is no ground for suspecting fraud, communication between the percipient and the agent, or any one else knowing the idea which it is sought to transfer.

In the autumn of 1888 some experiments were conducted with a person named D., whose antecedents afforded, it was thought, justification for the belief that the claims which he put forward were genuine. D. acted as agent, the percipient being a subject of his own, a young woman called Miss N., who was appar- ently in a light hypnotic sleep during the experiment. It was soon discovered that the results were obtained by means of a code formed from a Combination of Miss N.'s breathing with slight noises— a cough or the creak of a boot — made by D. himself. I have seen a somewhat similar code employed in Prince's Hall, Piccadilly, where the conjurer stood in the middle of

SPECIAL GROUNDS OF CAUTION. II

the hall with a coin or other object in his hand, a description of which he communicated to his confederate on the platform by means of a series of breathings, deep enough visibly to move his dress- coat up and down on the surface of his white collar, punctuated by slight movements of head or hand. The novel feature in the first case, however, was that the percipient herself furnished the groundwork of the code, the punctuation alone being given by the conjurer. A still more elaborate form of collusion is described at length by Bonjean.^ In this case the subject, a young woman named Lully, appears to have read the words to be conveyed after the fashion of a deaf mute, by the motion of the lips of the showman. Lully was apparently in a hypnotic trance, with the eyes fast closed. Another form of fraud, since it does not require the aid of a confederate, is perhaps worthy of note. Some years ago a young Australian came to this country with a reputation for "genuine thought- reading," based on the successful mystification of some members of a certain Colonial Legislature. The writer had a few experiments with this person, in which several small objects — a knife, a glass bottle, etc. — placed in the full light of a shaded lamp, were correctly named. The object was in each case placed behind the back of the " Thought-reader," who looked intently at the writer's eyes, which were in turn fixed upon the brightly illuminated object. Experiments made under more usual conditions, not dictated by the " Thought-reader," completely failed ; and there can be little doubt that the initial successes were due to the "Thought-reader" seeing the image of the object reflected in the agent's cornea.

(2) HypercBsthesia. — But, after all, it is rarely neces- sary to take special precautions against fraud, for there are dangers to be guarded against of a more subtle kind. There are various, and as yet imperfectly

* UHypnotisTne et la stiggestion mentale. Germer Bailli^re et Cie. Paris, pp. 261-316.

12 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

known methods of communication by which indica- tions may be unconsciously given and as uncon- sciously received. Thus, to take the last instance, it is pretty certain that cornea-reading does not always imply fraud, and that hints may be gained in all good faith from any reflecting surface in the neighbour- hood of the experimenter ; or the movements of lips, larynx, and even hands and limbs may betray the secret to eye or ear. We know little of the limits of our sensory powers even in normal life ; and we do know that in certain subconscious states — auto- matic, hypnotic, somnambulic — these limits may be greatly exceeded, and that indications so subtle as frequently to escape the vigilance of trained observers may be seized and interpreted by the hypnotic or automatic subject. It is clear, therefore, that results which it is possible to attribute to deliberate fraud stand almost necessarily self-condemned. For if the precautions taken by the investigators left such an explanation open, much more were those precautions insufficient to guard against the subtler modes of communication referred to. It is not the friend whom we know whose eyes must be closed and his ears muffled, but the ** Mr. Hyde," whose lurking presence in each of us we are only now beginning to suspect.

There is a case recorded by M. Bergson,^ in which a hypnotised boy is said to have been able to state correctly the number of the page in a book held by the observer, by reading the corneal image of the figures. The actual figures were three millimetres high, and their corneal image is calculated by M. Bergson to have been o.i mm., or about 2^^ of an inch in height! In some other experiments conducted by M. Bergson with the same subject the acuteness of vision is said to have exceeded even this limit. In another case, recorded by Dr. Sauvaire,^ a hypnotised

1 Revue Philosophique, Nov. 1887, quoted in Proceedings of the Sac. Psych. Research, vol. iv. p. 532. ' Revue Philosophique^ March 1887.

SPECIAL GROUNDS OF CAUTION. 1 3

subject was able to recognise the King of Clubs, face downwards, in two different packs of cards. In the first of these cases the results, which could not have been attained by the senses under normal conditions, must apparently be attributed to hyperaesthesia. Instances, especially of auditory hyperaisthesia, are of course quite familiar to those who have studied the phenomena of hypnotism. In Dr. Sauvaire's case, however, the power of distinguishing the cards by touch may have been the result of practice. Mrs. Verrall records {Proceedings Soc. Psych, Research, vol. viii. p. 480) that she acquired such a power by means of "a longish series of experiments"; and Mr. Hudson, in Idle Days hi Patagonia, tells of a gambler who by careful training had developed the same faculty in a very high degree.

It seems probable in the cases described by M. Bergson and Dr. Sauvaire, and possible also in the case of Mr. D.'s subject, that there was no intentional deception, and that the hypnotised person was not himself aware of the means by which his knowledge was attained.^ The same remark probably applies to the following case, in which, though the conditions of vision were certainly unusual, it seems not clear whether the degree of success attained should be attributed to abnormal sensibility of the eyes, or to the facility acquired by long practice. In a series of experiments at which the writer assisted, in 1884, an illiterate youth named Dick was hypnotised, a penny was placed over each eye, and the eyes and surround- ing features were elaborately bandaged with strips of sticking-plaster ; a handkerchief being bound over all. Under these conditions Dick named correctly objects held in front of him, even at a considerable distance, a little above the level of his eyes. Normal vision appeared to be impossible. Mr. R. Hodgson, how-

1 Mrs, Verrall states that after long practice she '* lost all conscious- ness of the means which enabled her to guess, and saw pictures of the cards."

14 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

ever, repeated the experiment upon himself, and found after several trials that he also could see objects, though fitfully and imperfectly, under the same conditions, the channel of vision being a small chink in the sticking-plaster on the line where it was fastened to the brow.

(3) Muscle-reading. — From this last case we may pass to the illustrations of "thought-reading" given by professional conjurers and others, where it seems clear that the skill exhibited in the interpretation of unconscious movements and gestures is due rather to long practice and careful observation than to any abnormal extension of faculty. It hardly needs saying that experiments in which contact is per- mitted between the agent and percipient can rarely be regarded as having evidential value. It has been demonstrated again and again that with the fullest intention of keeping the secret to themselves, most " agents " in such circumstances are practically certain to betray it to the professional thought-reader by unconscious movements of some kind. Indeed, it is difficult to place any limit to the degree of sus- ceptibility to slight muscular impressions which may be attained. A careful experimenter has assured the writer that when acting as percipient in some experi- ments with diagrams the slight movements of the agent's hand resting upon her head gave her in one case a clue to the figure thought of. And Mr. Stuart Cumberland has exhibited feats still more marvellous before kings and commoners. Nor is it necessary, as already said, for successful muscle-reading that there should be actual contact in all cases. The eye or the ear can sometimes follow movements of the lips or other parts of the body. But though we can look for little evidence from experiments conducted with contact, or under conditions which allow of interpretation by gesture, etc., and their repetition in this connection can rarely be expected to serve any useful purpose, it seems worth pointing out that, if

SPECIAL GROUNDS OF CAUTION. 1 5

telepathy is a fact, we should expect to find it oper- ating not merely where, from the conditions of the experiment, it must be presumed to be the sole source of communication, but also as an auxiliary to other more familiar modes of expression. It seems not improbable, therefore, that some of the more startling successes of the professional "thought-reader" and some of the results obtained in the "willing game" may be due to this cause.

(4) Thought - forms. — There remains one other source of error to be guarded against. An image — whether of an object, diagram, or name — which is chosen by the agent may be correctly described by the percipient simply because their minds are set to move in the same direction. It must be remem- bered that, however unexpected and spontaneous they may appear, ideas do not come by chance, but have their origin mostly in the previous experience of the thinker. Persons living constantly in the same physical and intellectual environment are apt to present a close similarity in their ideas. It would not even ho. prima facie evidence of thought-transference, for instance, if husband and wife, asked to think of a town orjDf an acquaintance, should select the same name. ^And investigation has shown that our thoughts move in grooves which are determined for us by causes more deep-seated and more general than the accident of particular circumstances, j Thus it is found that individuals will show a preference for certain figures or certain numbers over others ; and that the preference for some geometrical figures tends to be tolerably constant. The American Society for Psychical Research ^ made some interesting observa- tions on this point in 1888. Blank cards were issued to a large number of persons, with the request that the recipients would draw on the card "ten diagrams." 501 cards were returned, and the diagrams inscribed on them were carefully tabulated. It was

* Proceedings of the American Soc. Psych. Research ^ pp. 302 el seq.

l6 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

found that of the 501 persons no less than 209 drew circles, 174 squares, 160 equilateral triangles and crosses, while three only drew wheels, two candle- sticks, and one each a corkscrew, a ball, and a knife. It was found that the simpler geometrical figures^ occurred not only most frequently but as a general rule early in each series of ten. It follows, therefore, that in an experiment the success of the percipient in reproducing a circle, a square, or a triangle raises a much fainter presumption of thought-transference than if the object reproduced had been a corkscrew or a pine-apple. But so much was perhaps obvious even without a detailed investigation. From a similar analysis of the guesses made, it can be shown that some percipients have decided preferences amongst the simple numerals. And in the same way it seems probable that others have a preference for particular cards. An important illustration of the working of the "number-habit" has been brought forward by Professor E. C Pickering of the Harvard College Observatory, U.S.A.^ A revision of part of the Argelander Star-Chart had been undertaken by several observatories, of which the Harvard Obser- vatory was one. For the purposes of the revision the assistant had the Argelander chart before him, whilst the observer, who was in ignorance of the magnitude assigned in the chart, made an independent estimate of the magnitude of each star. If no thought-trans- ference or other disturbing cause affected the result, the amount of deviation of the later observations from the earlier in each tenth of a degree of magni- tude would be represented by a smooth curve. As a matter of fact, it was found that the number of cases

^ No doubt the great preponderance of geometrical figures is in some measure due to the use of the word "diagram," which in English would probably suggest to most persons a geometrical diagram. But possibly the word has a different shade of meaning in American. It is certain too that a considerable proportion of the persons who filled in the cards were acquainted with the object of the inquiry.

2 Proc. American Soc. Psych. Research^ pp. 35-43.

I

SPECIAL GROUNDS OF CAUTION. 1 7

of complete agreement were much greater, with some observers more than 50 per cent, greater, than they should have been on an estimate of the probabilities. At first sight this excess of the actual over the theoretical numbers suggested the action of thought- transference between the assistant and the observer. But Professor Pickering shows, on a further analysis of the figures, that almost the whole of the excess was due to the preference of both the earlier and the later observers for 5 and 10 over all other fractions of a degree.

The practical deduction from this investigation is that in any experiment care should be taken to exclude, as regards the agent at any rate, the opera- tion of any diagram or number-habit.^ If an object is thought of, it should if possible be chosen by lot, and should not be an object actually present in the room. If a card, it should be drawn from the pack at random ; if a number, from a receptacle containing a definite series of numbers ; if a diagram, it is pre- ferable that it should be taken at random from a set of previously-prepared drawings. It will be seen that in the majority of the cases quoted in the four succeeding chapters these precautions have been observed.

^ It is not possible to eliminate the operation of such preferences in the percipient. But if care be taken that the series of things to be guessed is chosen arbitrarily, the only effect of even a decided prefer- ence for particular cards, numbers, etc., on the part of the percipient will be to lessen the number of coincidences due to thought-transference.

i8

CHAPTER II.

EXPERIMENTAL TRANSFERENCE OF SIMPLE SEN- SATIONS IN THE NORMAL STATE.

It is somewhat remarkable that the facts of thought- transference should only have attracted serious atten- tion within the last two decades. With waking percipients, indeed, such phenomena do not seem to occur unsought with sufficient frequency, or — if we leave on one side for the moment telepathic hallu- cinations— on a sufficiently striking scale to afford evidence of any transmission of thought or sensation otherwise than through the familiar channels. But the hypnotic state appears to offer peculiar facilities for such transmission, and hypnotism, under the name of mesmerism, has now been closely studied by numerous observers for upwards of a century. The earlier French observers,^ indeed, occasionally recorded instances of what appears to have been thought- transference between the mesmerist and his subject. But these facts were observed by the way, in the search for phenomena of another kind ; and no attempt appears to have been made to follow up the clue by means of direct experiment. Even the English observers of 1840 and onwards, though familiar with what they termed "community of sensation" between the operator and his subject,

^ See, for instance, Puysegur, Menioires pour servir h rStablisse- ment du j/iagnetisjtie, pp. 22, 29 ei seq., and Petetin, Electricity Animale^ p. 127, etc. (quoted by Dr. Ocborowicz, De la Suggestion mentale).

p

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 19

appear never to have realised its possible significance. Dr. Elliotson, for instance, describes in the Zoist (vol. V. pp. 242-245) some experiments in which a lady, mesmerised by himself, was able to indicate correctly the taste of salt, cinnamon, sugar, ginger, water, and pepper, as Dr. Elliotson placed successively these various substances in his mouth. But he seems to have recorded the results chiefly from curiosity, and to have regarded them as of little scientific interest compared with the stiffening of a limb, or the painless perform- ance of an operation under mesmeric anaesthesia. Dr. Esdaile {Practical Mesmerism, p. 125), Mr. C. H. Townshend {Facts in Mesmerism, pp. 6^, 72, y6j etc., etc.), Professor Gregory (Animal Magnetism, p. 231), and other writers of that time, record similar observations. But the subject seems to have been crowded out, on the one hand, with the more cautious observers, by the growing importance of hypnotism as an anaesthetic and a curative agency, on the other by the greater marvels of " clairvoyance " and " spirit " communications.

It was Professor Barrett, of the Royal College of Science, Dublin, who, in a paper read before the British Association at Glasgow in 1876, first isolated the phenomenon from its somewhat dubious surround- ings, and drew public attention to its importance. Up to that time " community of sensation " or thought- transference seems to have been known only as a rare and fitful accompaniment of the hypnotic trance. But in the course of the correspondence arising out of his paper Professor Barrett learnt of several instances where similar phenomena had been observed in the waking state. The Willing game was just then coming into fashion, and cases had been observed in which the thing willed had been performed without contact between the performer and the person willing, and apparently without the possibility of any normal means of communication between them. Later, in the years 1881-82, a long series of experiments, in

20 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

which Professor Sidgwick, the late Professor Balfour Stewart, the late Edmund Gurney, Mr. F. W. H. Myers and others joined with Professor Barrett, seemed to establish the possibility of a new mode of communication. And these earlier results have been confirmed by further experiments continued down to the present time by many observers both in this country and abroad. In the present chapter some account will be given of experiments in the transfer- ence of simple ideas and sensations performed with percipients in the ordinary waking state. The next chapter will deal with similar results obtained with hypnotised persons. In Chapters IV. and V. results of a more complicated or unusual character will be described and discussed.

Transference of Tastes.

The particular form of telepathy which first attracted attention to the whole subject, the transmission to the percipient of impressions of taste and pain experienced by the agent, appears to have been observed in the normal state very rarely. One such case may be here quoted. In the years 1883-85 Mr. Malcolm Guthrie, J. P., of Liverpool, the then head of a large drapery business in that city, conducted a long series of experiments with two of his employees. Miss E. and Miss R. In September 1883 Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Edmund Gurney, and Mr. Myers, indicated respec- tively by the initials M. G., E. G., and M., had a series of trials with these percipients in the transference of tastes. The percipients, who were fully awake, were blindfolded \ the packets or bottles containing the substances experimented upon were placed beyond the range of possible vision ; and in the case of strongly smelling substances, either at a distance or outside the room ; and other precautions were taken by the agents, by keeping the mouth closed and turning the head away, etc., in order that the per-

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 21

cipients should not become aware by the sense of smell of the nature of the substance experimented with. Strict silence was of course observed. It may- be conceded that when all possible precautions are taken, experiments with sapid substances must be inconclusive when the agent is in the same room with the percipient ; since nearly all such substances have an odour, however faint. In view, however, of the ex- treme sensibility already demonstrated (see below, pp. 23, etc.) of these particular percipients to transferred impressions of other kinds, it seems probable that the results in this case also were actually due to telepathy. The alternative explanation is to attribute to persons in the normal waking state a degree of hyperassthesia for which we have no exact parallel even in the records of hypnotism. For to persons of normal susceptibility the odour of a small quantity, e.g. of salt or alum, in the mouth of another person at a distance of two or three feet would certainly be quite inappreciable.

No. I.— By Mr. Guthrie and others.

September 3, 1883.

EXPT. TASTER. PERCIPIENT. SUBSTANCE. ANSWERS GIVEN.

1 .. M E Vinegar " A sharp and nasty taste."

2 .. M E Mustard "Mustard."

3 .. M R Do "Ammonia."

4 .. M E Sugar "I still taste the hot taste of

the mustard."

September 4.

5 .. E. G. &M... E Worcestershire sauce " Worcestershire sauce."

6..M.G R Do. "Vinegar."

7 .. E. G. &M... E Port wine " Between eau de Cologne and

beer."

8 M. G R Do " Raspberry vinegar."

9 .. E. G. &M... E Bitter aloes "Horrible and bitter."

10 M. G R Alum "A taste of ink— of iron— of

vinegar. I feel it on my lips— it is as if I had been eating alum."

11 .. M. G E Alum (E. perceived that M. G. was

no« tasting bitter aloes, as E. G. and M. supposed, but something different. No distinct perception on account of the persistence of the bitter taste.)

22 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

EXPT. TASTER, PERCIPIENT. SUBSTANCE. ANSWERS GIVEN.

12 .. E. G. &M.., E Nutmeg "Peppermint— no— what you

put in puddings — nut- meg."

13 .. M. a U Do "Nutmeg."

14 .. E. G. &M... E Sugar Nothing perceived.

15 .. M. G 11 Do Nothing perceived.

(Sugar should be tried at an earlier stage in the series, as, after the aloes, we could scarcely taste it ourselves.)

16 .. E. G. &M. .. E Cayenne pepper "Mustard."

17 .. M. G K Do. " Cayenne pepper."

(After the cayenne we were unable to taste anything further that evening.)

Throughout the next series of experiments the sub- stances were kept outside the room in which the percipients were seated.

September 5.

18 . . E. G. & M. . . E Carbonate of Soda. . . Nothing perceived.

19 .. M. G R Caraway seeds "It feels like meal— like a

seed loaf— caraway seeds." (The substance of the seeds seems to be perceived be- fore their tante.)

20 .. E. G. &M... E Cloves "Cloves."

21 . . E. G. & M. . . E Citric acid Nothing felt.

22..M. G R Do "Salt."

23 .. E. G. &M. .. E Liquorice "Cloves."

24 .. M. G R Cloves "Cinnamon."

2.5 .. E. G. &M. .. E Acid jujube " Pear drop."

26 ,. M, G R Do "Something hard, which is

giving way— acid jujube."

27 .. E. G. &M. .. E Candied ginger "Something sweet and hot."

28.. M.G R Do. " Almond toffy."

(M. G. took this ginger in the dark, and was some time before he realised that it was ginger.)

29 .. E. G. &M... E Home-made Noyau,. "Salt."

30.. M.G R Do. ,. "Port wine."

(This was by far the most strongly smelling of the substances tried; the scent of kernels being hard to conceal. Yet it was named by E. as salt.)

31 .. E. G. &M... E Bitter aloes "Bitter."

32 .. M.G R Do Nothingfelt.

{Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, vol. ii. pp. 3, 4.)

Further experiments in this direction are much to be desired. But apart from the difficulty above re- ferred to, experiments of the kind are h'able to be

I

I

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 23

tedious and inconclusive because of the inability of most persons to discriminate accurately between one taste and another, when the guidance of all other senses is lacking. To conduct such experiments to a successful issue, it would probably be necessary that the percipients should have some preliminary training to enable them to distinguish by taste alone between various salts and pharmaceutical preparations.

Transference of Pains.

Experiments in the transference of pains are not at- tended with the same difficulties, nor open to the same evidential objections ; and some interesting trials of this kind with one of the same percipients. Miss R., met with a fair amount of success. The experiments were carried on at intervals, interspersed with experi- ments of other kinds, by Mr. Guthrie at Liverpool during nine months in 1884 and 1885. The per- cipient on each occasion was blindfolded and seated with her back towards the rest of the party, who each pinched or otherwise injured themselves in the same part of the body at the same time. The agents in these experiments — the whole series of which is here recorded — were three or more of the following : — Mr. Guthrie, Professor Herdman, Dr. Hicks, Dr. Hyla Greves, Mr, R. C. Johnson, F.R.A.S., Mr. Birchall, Miss Redmond, and on one occasion another lady. The results are given in the following table : —

No. 2. — By Mr. Guthrie and others.

I. — Back of left hand pricked. Rightly localised.

2. — Lobe of left ear pricked. Rightly localised.

3.— Left wrist pricked. "Is it in the left hand?" pointing to

the back near the little finger. 4-— Third finger of left hand tightly bound round with wire.

A lower joint of that finger was guessed. 5. —Left wrist scratched with pins. " Is it in the left wrist, like

being scratched?" 6. — Left ankle pricked. Rightly localised.

24 ArrARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

7.— Spot behind left ear pricked. No result. 8. — Right knee pricked. Rightly localised. 9. — Right shoulder pricked. Rightly localised.

10. — Hands burned over gas. " Like a pulling pain . . . then tingling, like cold and hot alternately," localised by gesture only.

1 1. — End of tongue bitten. " Is it the lip or the tongue ?"

12. — Palm of left hand pricked. " Is it a tingling pain in the left hand here?" placing her finger on the palm of the left hand.

13. — Back of neck pricked. " Is it a pricking of the neck ?"

14. — Front of left arm above elbow pricked. Rightly localised.

15. — Spot just above left ankle pricked. Rightly localised.

16. — Spot just above right wrist pricked. "I am not quite sure, but I feel a pain in the right arm, from the thumb up- wards to above the wrist."

17. — Inside of left ankle pricked. Outside of left ankle guessed.

18. — Spot beneath right collar-bone pricked. The exactly cor- responding spot on the left side guessed.

19. — Back hair pulled. No result.

20. — Inside of right wrist pricked. Right foot guessed.

[Proc. S.P.R., vol. iii. pp. 424-452.)

Transference of Sounds.

It Is noteworthy that there is little experimental evidence for the transmission of an auditory impres- sion. Occasionally, in trials with names and cards the nature of the mistakes made has seemed to in- dicate audition, as when, e.g., three is given for Queen or ace for eight. But obviously a long series of ex- periments and a long series of mistakes would be necessary to afford material for any conclusion. Sometimes a percipient has stated that he heard the name of the thing thought of; as, for instance, in a case recorded in Chapter V., where the percipient " heard " the vi^ord gloves before " seeing " a vision of them. But such cases appear to be rare. Experi- ments with a view to test the transmission of actual sounds could of course only be carried out under special conditions, of which one would be the separa- tion of the agent from the percipient by a considerable

I

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 2$

intervening space — and this condition is, of itself, found to interfere with success. Some evidence, indeed, of a quasi-experimental character for the transference of musical sounds at a distance will be given in a later chapter (Chapter V., No. 33 ). Ex- periments with imagined sounds appear to have been rarely tried, or at least, successful results have rarely- been recorded.^ Occasionally indeed experimenters have put on record that in thinking of an object they have mentally repeated the name of the object as well as pictured the object itself, and there are a few cases where the general idea of the object thought of appears to have reached the percipient before the outlines of the form, which may possibly be ex- plained as due to the reception of an auditory before a visual impression.^

This lack of evidence for auditory transmission is no doubt largely due to a desire on the part of experimenters in the first instance to make the proof of actual thought-transference as complete as possible. Experiments with sounds would impose a greater strain upon the agents, since in most cases they must be imagined sounds. Moreover, in such experiments it would be at once more difficult to estimate with precision degrees of success, and to preserve a per- manent record of the result ; and finally, the subject thought of would be more easily communicated either fraudulently, by a code, or by unconscious indications on the part of the agent In this connection it is possibly significant that whilst in morbid conditions auditory hallucinations are much commoner than visual, the proportion appears to be reversed with

* Some trials were made by Mr. Guthrie with imagined tunes. But they were in no instance successful without contact ; and as obviously the chances of unconscious indications being given, in any case con- siderable where tunes are in question, are much increased by contact, we should not be justified in regarding successful results, under such conditions, as even prima facie due to Thought-transference. (See Proc. S.P.R., vol. iii. pp. 426, 447, 448.)

^ See below. Chapter III. — Mrs. Sidgwick's experiments.

26 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

telepathic hallucinations. It seems probable that the apparent infrequency of auditory transmission may be in part due to the fact that in the modern world the sense of vision is for educated persons the habitual channel for precise or important information. To the Greek in the time of Socrates no doubt the ear was the main avenue for all knowledge; it was the ear that received not merely the current talk of the market- place and the gymnasium, but the oratory of the law-court, the literature of the stage, and the philo- sophy of the Schools. But for modern civilised societies the newspaper and the libraries have placed the eye in a position of unquestioned pre-eminence. It seems likely therefore, apart from all defects in such evidence, that the agent would find a greater difficulty, as a rule, in calling up a vivid representation of a sound than of a vision ; and that the percipient would experience a corresponding difference in the reception and discrimination of the two classes of impressions.

Transference of Ideas not definitely classed. Experiments by PROFESSOR RiCHET and others.

In the following cases, where the exact nature of the impression received was not apparently consciously classified by the percipient, it may be presumed to have been either of a visual or an auditory nature. M. Charles Richet {Revue Philosophique, Dec. 1884, " La suggestion mentale et le calcul des probabilites ") conducted a series of experiments in guessing the suits of cards drawn at random from a pack. 2927 trials were made : ten persons besides M. Richet himself — who acted sometimes as agent and some- times as percipient — taking part in the experiments. In the 2927 trials the suit was correctly named 789 times, the most probable number of correct guesses being 732. A similar series of trials was conducted,

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 27

on Edmund Gurney's initiative, by some members of the S.P.R. and others. There were 17 series, containing- 17,653 trials, and 4760 successes; the theoretically probable number, on the assumption that the results were due to chance, being 4413. The probability for some cause other than chance de- duced from this result is .999,999,98, which represents perhaps a higher degree of probability than the in- habitants of this hemisphere are justified in attaching to the belief that the ensuing night will be followed by another day.^ In a similar series of experiments carried out under the direction of the American S.P.R. the proportion of successes was little higher than the theoretically probable number.^ But in the absence of details as to the conditions under which the ex- periments were made, no unfavourable inference can fairly be drawn from these results. At any rate some very remarkable results were obtained later, in a series of trials made on the lines laid down by the committee of the American Society. The agent in this case was Mrs. J F. Brown, the percipient Nellie Gallagher, " a domestic lately come from the county of Northumberland, in New Brunswick." The ex- periments appear to have been carried out with great care, and the results are recorded and analysed at length {Proc. Am. S.P.R., pp. 322-349). 3000 trials were made in guessing the numbers from o to 9 or from I to 10 inclusive. The order of the digits in each set of 100 trials was determined by drawing lots. The agent sat at one side of a table, the percipient at the other side. At first the percipient sat facing the

* The calculation is by Professor F. Y. Edgeworth. (See Proc. S.P.R., vol. iii. p. 190.) Of course the statement in the text must not be taken as indicating the belief of Mr. Edgeworth or the writer or any one else that the above figures demonstrate Thought-transference as the cause of the results attained. The results may conceivably have been due to some error of observation or of reporting. But the figures are sufficient to prove, what is here claimed for them, that some cause must be sought for the results other than chance.

2 Proc. American S.P.R., pp. IT ei seq.

28 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

agent, but after about lOOO trials had been made her back was turned to the table — and this position was continued to the end. The paper containing the numbers to be guessed was placed in the agent's lap, out of sight of the percipient. There was no mirror in the room. In the result the digits were correctly- named 584 times, or nearly twice the probable num- ber, 300. The proportion of the successes steadily- increased, from 175 in the first batch of lOOO trials, to 190 in the second, and 219 in the third batch.

No. 3. — By Dr. Ochorowicz.

In the following set of experiments, made by Dr. Ochorowicz, ex-Professor of Psychology and Natural Philosophy at the University of Lemberg, described in his book La Suggestion mentale (pp. 69, 75, ']6)^ there are not sufficient indications in most cases to enable a judgment to be formed as to the special form of sense-impression made on the percipient's mind. The percipient was a Madame D., 70 years of age. She had been shown to be amenable to hypnotism, but during these experiments she was in a normal condition. She is described as being of strong constitution and in good health ; intelligent above the average, well read, and accustomed to literary work. The first experiments with Madame D. are not quoted here, not having been conducted, as Dr. Ochorowicz explains, under strict conditions. The objects thought of had been selected by the agent, instead of being taken haphazard, and the choice had frequently been directly suggested by his surroundings. It seemed possible, therefore, to ex- plain the results as due to an unconscious association of ideas common to agent and percipient. Dr. Ochorowicz, however, has shown by his careful analysis of the experiments recorded in the earlier chapters of his book that he is fully aware of the risk of error from this and other causes, and in the

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE.

29

series of the 2nd May and the following days he tells us that adequate precautions were taken.

An Object

36. A bust of M. N.

37. A fan.

38. A key.

39. A hand holding a ring.

Portrait ... of a man ... a

bust. Something round. Something made of lead . . .

of bronze ... it is iron. Something shining, a diamond

... a ring.

40. Acid.

41. A square.

42. A circle.

43. M.

44. D. 45- J. 46. B.

47. o.

48. Jan.

A Taste. I Sweet.

A Diagram.

I Something irregular. I A triangle ... a circle.

A Letter. M.

D.

J-

A, X, R, B.

W, A ; no, it is an O. J ... (go on !) Jan.

Third Series^ May 6th, 1885. — Twenty-five experiments were made, of which, unfortunately, I have kept no record, except of the three following, which impressed me most. (The subject had her back to us, held the pencil and wrote whatever came into her head. We touched her back lightly, keeping our eyes fixed on the letters we had written.)

49. Brabant.

50. Paris.

51. Telephone.

Fourth Series^ May 8th. — Same conditions.

52. Z.

53. B.

54. T.

55. N.

56. P.

57. Y.

Bra ... (I made a mental effort to help the subject, without speaking.)

Brabant.

P . . . aris.

T . . . elephone.

L,	P, K, J.
B.
s,	T, F.
M	N.
R,	Z,A.
V,	Y.

30 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

Fourth Series-	-continued.
58. E. 59. Gustave. 60. Duch. 61. Ba. 62. No.		E. F, J, Gabriel. E,a B,A. F, K, 0.
	A Number.

63. 44. I 6,8, 12.

64. 2. I 7, 5> 9-

(I told my assistant to imagine the look of the number when written, and not its sound.)

65. 3.

66. 7.

67. 8.

8,3.

7.

8 ; no, o, 6, 9.

Then followed thirteen trials with fantastic figures, details of which Dr. Ochorowicz does not record. He tells us, however, that only five of the representa- tions presented even a general resemblance to the originals.

It is to be observed that in this series of experi- ments contact was not completely excluded in all the trials. But if Dr. Ochorowicz's memory may be relied upon for the statement that the agent looked at the original letters and diagrams, and not at the percipient's attempts at reproducing them, the hypo- thesis of involuntary muscular guidance must be severely strained to account for the results. At any rate, in the three remaining trials in this series it seems clear that muscle-reading is inadequate as an explanation.

A person thought of.

Subject.	Answer.
68. The percipient.	M. 0 ; no, it's myself.
69. M. D .	M. D .

An Image.

70. We pictured to ourselves a crescent moon. M.

P on a background

of clouds, I in a clear dark blue sky.

I see passing clouds ... a light ... (in a satisfied tone) — it is the moon.

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 3 1

Transference of Visual Images, No. 4.— By Dr. Blair Thaw.

The experiments which follow were made by Dr. Blair Thaw, M.D., of New York. The series quoted, which took place on the 28th of April 1892, com- prises all the trials in which Dr. Thaw was himself the percipient. Dr. Thaw had his eyes blindfolded and his ears muffled, and the agent, Mrs. Thaw, and Mr. M. H. Wyatt, who was present but took no part in the agency, kept silent, except when it was neces- sary to state whether an object, card, number, or colour was to be guessed. The objects were in all cases actually looked at by the agent, the "colour" being a coloured disc, and the numbers being printed on separate cards.^

\st Object. Silk Pincushion, in form of Orange-Red Apple, quite round. — Percipient : A Disc. When asked what colour, said. Red or Ora?jge. When asked what object, named Piticushiofi.

2nd Object. A Short Lead Pencil, nearly covered by the nickel cover. Never seen by percipient. Percipient : So7ne- i king white or light. A card. I thought of Mr. Wyatt^s silver pencil.

2,rd Object. A Dark Violet in Mr. Wyatt's button-hole, but not known to be in the house by percipient. Percipient : Something dark. Not very big. Longish. Narrow. Soft. It can^t be a cigarette because it is dark brown. A dirty colour. Asked about smell, said : Not strongs but what you might call pungent J a cleaii smell.

Percipient had not noticed smell before, though sitting by Mr. Wyatt some time, but when afterwards told of the violet knew that this was the odour noticed in experiment.

Asked to spell name, percipient said : Phry^ian^ Phrigid, or frst letter V if not Ph.

^th Object. Watch, dull silver with filigree. Percipient: Yellow or dirty ivory. Not very big. Like carving on it. Watch is opened by agent, and percipient is asked what was done. Percipient says : You opened it. It is shaped like a

^ See Dr. Thaw's paper, Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, vol. viii. pp. 422 et seq.

32 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

butterfly. Percipient held finger and thumb of each hand making figure much like that of opened watch. Percipient asked to spell it, said : I get r-i-n-g with a W at first.

Playing Cards.

King Spades. — Spades. Spot in middle and spots outside, J Spades, g Spades.

4 Clubs. — 4 Clubs.

5 Spades. — s Diamonds.

Numbers out of Nine Digits.

4. — Percipient said : It stands up straight. 4. 6. — Percipient said: Those two are too much alike^ only a little gap in one of them. It is either 5 or 6.

3-— J.

I. — Percipient said : Cover up that upper part if it is the i. It is either 7 or i.

2.-9,8.

[From acting so much as agent in previous trials, I knew the shapes of these numbers printed on cardboard, and as agent found the 5 and 6 too much alike. After looking hard at one of them I can hardly tell the difference, and always cover the upper projection of the i because it is so much like a 7.

The numbers were printed on separate pieces of cardboard, and there were about a hundred in the box, being made for some game.]

■ Colours, chosen at Random.

Chosen. 1st Guess. 2nd Guess.

Bright Red ... Bright Red.

Light Green ... Light Green.

Yellow Dark Blue Yellow,

Bright Yellow ... Bright Yellow.

Dark Red ... Blue Dark Red.

Dark Blue ... Orange Dark Blue.

Orange Green Heliotrope.

The percipient himself told the agents to change character of object after each actual failure, thus getting new sensations.

Percipient was told to go into next room and get something.

\st Object. Silver Inkstand chosen. — Percipient says. I think of somethings but it is too bright and easy. It is the silver inkstand.

Percipient told to get something in next room.

2nd Object. A Glass Candlestick.— Percipient went to right corner of the room and to the cabinet with the object on it, but could not distinguish which object.

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 33

Percipient had handkerchief off to be able to walk, but was not followed by agents, and did not see them. Agents found percipient standing with hands over candlestick undecided.

From the percipient's descriptions it would seem that the impression here was of a visual nature, though Dr. Thaw himself says, " I cannot describe my sensation as a visualisation of any kind. It seemed rather to be by some wholly subjective pro- cess that I knew what the agents were looking at." It is not always, however, an easy task to analyse one's own sensations ; and, on the whole, it seems more probable that there was visualisation, but of a very faint and ideal kind.

No. 5. — By Mr. Malcolm Guthrie.

Reference has already been made to the long series of experiments carried on during the years 1883-85 by Mr. Malcolm Guthrie of Liverpool. During a great part of the series he was assisted by Mr. James Birchall, Hon. Sec. of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society. Professor Oliver Lodge, Edmund Gurney, Professor Herdman, and others co-operated from time to time. Throughout there were two percipients only. Miss R. and Miss E. The experiments were conducted and the results recorded with great care and thoroughness ; and the whole series, in its length, its variety, and its completeness, forms perhaps the most important single contribution to the records of experimental thought-transference in the normal state.^ Summing up, in July 1885, the results attained, Mr. Guthrie writes : —

" We have now a record of 713 experiments, and I recently set myself the task of classifying them into the 4 classes of success- ful, partially successful, misdescriptions, and failures. I en-

^ Records of these experiments will be found in the Pi-oc. of the Soc. Psych. Research, vol, i. pp. 263-283 ; vol. ii. pp. I-5, 24-42, 189-200; vol. iii. pp. 424-452.

34 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

deavoured to work it out in what I thought a reasonable way, but I experienced much difficulty in assigning to its proper column each experiment we made. This, however, is a task which each student of the subject will be able to undertake for himself according to his own judgment. I do not submit my summary as a basis for calculation of probability. A few successful experiments of a certain kind carry greater weight with them than a large number of another kind ; for some experiments are practically beyond the region of guesses. . . .

" The following is a summary of the work done, classified to the best of my judgment : —

First Series.

Experiments and Conditions.		II ^1	6 1	1
Visual — Letters, figures, and cards- Contact Visual — Letters, figures, and cards — Non-contact . - . . Visual— Objects, colours, etc.— Contact- Do. do. Non-contact- imagined visual — Non-contact Imagined numbers and names — Contact and Non-contact - - . - Pains— Contact Tastes and smells— Contact -	26 16 i 39 52 94	2 0 6 4 5 II 10 19	17 9 7 28 8 12 30 42	4 2 4 6 2 6 9 20	3 5 2 0 3 10 3 13
Diagrams— Contact - - - . Do. Non-contact	302	57 7 6	153 18 66	'I 23	'I 23
	457	70	237	82	68

" There were also 40 diagrams for experimental evenings with strangers, in series of sixes and sevens, all misdrawn, and not fairly to be reckoned in the above.

457 experiments under proper conditions. 70 nothing perceived.

387

319 wholly or partially correct ; 68 misdescriptions cent."

18

per

r

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 35

In the second series there were 123 trials; in 15 cases no impression was received, and in 35 cases, or 32 per cent, of the remainder, an incorrect description was given. In the third series, of 133 trials there were 24 in which no impression was received and 40 failures : proportion of failures = 37 per cent Mr. Guthrie attributes this gradual decline in the propor- tion of successes to the difficulty experienced by both agents and percipients in maintaining the original lively interest in the proceedings.

No. 6.— By Professor Lodge, F.R.S.

Subjoined is a detailed description of experiments made on two evenings in 1884, recorded by Professor Lodge,^ which leaves no room for doubt that the impressions received in this instance by the percipient were of a visual nature. The agent on the first evening was Mr. James Birchall, who held the hand of the percipient. Miss R. The only other person present was Professor Lodge. The object was placed sometimes on a wooden screen between the per- cipient and the agent, at other times behind the percipient, whose eyes were bandaged. The bandage, it should be observed, was a sufficient precaution against cornea-reading ; but for other purposes no reliance was placed upon it. It is believed that the precautions taken were in all cases adequate to con- ceal the object from the percipient if her eyes had been uncovered. In the account quoted any remarks made by the agent or Professor Lodge are entered between brackets.

Object — a blue square of silk. — (Now, it's going to be a colour; ready.) "Is it green?" (No.) "It's something be- tween green and blue. . . . Peacock." (What shape?) She drew a rhombus.

[N.B. — It is not intended to imply that this was a success by

^ Proc, Soc. Psych. Research, vol. ii. pp. 194-196.

36 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

any means, and it is to be understood that it was only to make a start on the first experiment that so much help was given as is involve.d in saying "it's a colour." When they are simply told " it's an object," or, what is much the same, when nothing is said at all, the fiald for guessing is practically infinite. When no remark at starting is recorded none was made, except such an one as " Now we are ready," by myself.]

Next object — a key on a black ground. — (It's an object.) In a few seconds she said, " It's bright. ... It looks like a key." Told to draw it, she drew it just inverted.

Next object — three gold studs in morocco case. — " Is it yellow? . . . Something gold. . . . Something round. ... A locket or a watch perhaps." (Do you see more than one round ?) " Yes, there seem to be more than one. . . . Are there three rounds ? . . . Three rings ?" (What do they seem to be set in ?) " Some- thing bright like beads." [Evidently not understanding or attending to the question.] Told to unblindfold herself and draw, she drew the three rounds in a row quite correctly, and then sketched round them absently the outline of the case, which seemed therefore to have been apparent to her though she had not consciously attended to it. It was an interesting and striking experiment.

Next object — a pair of scissors standing partly open with their points down. — " Is it a bright object ? . . . Something long- ways [indicating verticality]. ... A pair of scissors standing up. ... A little bit open." Time, about a minute altogether. She then drew her impression, and it was correct in every particular. The object in this experiment was on a settee behind her, but its position had to be pointed out to her when, after the experi- ment, she wanted to see it.

Next object — a drawing of a right-angled triangle on its side. — (It's a drawing.) She drew an isosceles triangle on its side.

Next — a circle with a cord across it. — She drew two detached ovals, one with a cutting line across it.

Next — a drawing of a Union Jack pattern. — As usual in drawing experiments. Miss R. remained silent for perhaps a minute; then she said, "Now I am ready." I hid the object ; she took off" the handkerchief, and proceeded to draw on paper placed ready in front of her. She this time drew all the lines of the ORIGINAL, figure except the horizontal middle one. She was

^--.^^.^^X obviously much tempted to draw this, and, indeed,

J^ \.^^^ began it two or three times faintly, but ultimately

^^ 1-^^ g^j^^ u jsjq^ Ynx not sure," and stopped. KEPRODucTioN. [N.B. — The actual drawings made in all the experiments are preserved intact by Mr. Guthrie.]

[end of sitting.]

I

zs

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 37

Experiments with MiSS R. — Continued.

I will now describe an experiment indicating that one agent may be better than another.

Qbject—the Three of Hearts. — Miss E. and Mr. Birchall both present as agents, but Mr. Birchall holding percipient's hands at first. " Is it a black cross ... a white ground with a black cross on it ?" Mr. Birchall now let Miss E. hold hands instead of himself, and Miss R. very soon said, "Is it a card .?" (Right.) " Are there three spots on it .? . . . Don't know what they are. ... I don't think I can get the colour, . . . They are one above the other, but they seem three round spots. ... I think they're red, but am not clear."

Next object — a playing card with a blue anchor painted on it slantwise instead of pips. — No contact at all this time, but

another lady, Miss R d, who had entered the room, assisted

Mr. B. and Miss E. as agents. "Is it an anchor? ... a little on the slant." (Do you see any colour?) "Colour is black. ... It's a nicely drawn anchor." When asked to draw she sketched part of it, but had evidently half forgotten it, and not knowing the use of the cross arm, she could only indicate that there was something more there but she couldn't remember what. Her drawing had the right slant exactly.

Another object — two pairs of coarse lines crossing; drawn in red chalk, and set up at some distance from agents. No con- tact. " I only see lines crossing." She saw no colour. She afterwards drew them quite correctly, but very small.

Double object. — It was now that I arranged the double object

between Miss R d and Miss E., who happened to be sitting

nearly facing one another. [See Nature, June 12th, 1884.]

The drawing was a square on one side of the paper, a cross on

the other. Miss R d looked at the side with

□ \/ the square on it. Miss E. looked at the side

/\ with the cross. Neither knew what the other was looking at — nor did the percipient know ORIGINALS. that anything unusual was being tried. Mr. Birchall was silently asked to take off his atten- tion and he got up and looked out of window before the drawings were brought in, and during the experiment. There was no con- REPRODucTioN. tact. Vcry soon Miss R. said, " I see things moving about ... I seem to see two things ... I see first one up there, and then one down there ... I don't know which to draw. , . . I can't see either distinctly." (Well, anyhow, draw what you have seen.) She took off the bandage and drew first a square, and then said, " Then there was the other thing as well . . . afterwards they seemed to go into one," and she

38 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

drew a cross inside the square from corner to corner, adding afterwards, " I don't know what made me put it inside."

No. 7.— By Herr Max Dessoir.

In June 1885 some successful experiments in thought-transference were made by Herr Dessoir, of Berlin, author of A Bibliography of Modern Hypnotism^ and other works, with the co-operation of some friends, Herren Weiss, Biltz, and Sachse. There were in all eighteen trials with diagrams in which Herr Dessoir was the percipient. The diagrams which follow — reproduced from the original drawings — were the result of six consecutive trials. They are, as will be seen, not completely successful , but they convey a fair idea of the amount of success attained in the whole series. It should be noted that the impression re- ceived by the percipient appears to have been per- sistent; and that the second attempt at reproduction, in five out of the six cases, was more successful than the first. Herr Dessoir states that he was generally out of the room whilst the figure was being drawn ; he returned at the given signal, with eyes closely bandaged ; " I set myself at the table, and in many instances placed my hands on the table, and the agent placed his hands on mine; the hands lay quite still on one another. When an image presented itself to my mind, the hands were removed . . . and I took off the bandage and drew my figure."

A full account of these experiments, and of others conducted by Herr Dessoir, will be found in Proc. S.P.R., vol. iv. pp. 1 1 1- 126; vol. v. pp. 355-357-

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 39

I.

Orig.

Rep. I.

^

Rep. 2.

While the second reproduction was pro- ceeding, an interruption occurred which prevented its completion.

Agent : W. S.

II.

Orig.

Agent : H. B. Rep. I. Rep. 2. Rep. 3. Rep. 4.

4 C ^

40 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE HI.

Rep. I. Rep. 2.

r

Orig.

Rep. 3.

- .— The percipient said, "It looks like window."

IV.

Rep. I.

Agent : H. B.

Rep. 2.

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 41

Rep. 3.

Agent : H. B.

Rep.

Rep. 2.

42 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

Orig.

Rep. 2.

Agent: E. W,

The percipient said, *' It looks like a window.''

No. 8. — By Herr Schmoll and M. Mabire.

Of more recent experiments with diagrams, those recorded by Herr Anton Schmoll and M. Etienne Mabire are perhaps the most important.^ The ex- periments took place at Herr Schmoll's house, iii Avenue de Villiers, Paris. In addition to Herr Schmoll and M. Mabire, Frau Schmoll and four or five other persons assisted at one time or another. Mr. F. W. H. Myers was also present on three occasions. In all about lOO trials were made with diagrams and real objects (the actual number of experiments of all kinds was 148), full details of which will be found in the original papers. The experi- ments were made in the evenings, in a room lighted by a hanging lamp. The agents, usually three or four in number, sat at a round table immediately under the lamp, and fixed their eyes on the diagram or object, which was placed on the table before them. The percipient, with his eyes bandaged, sat in full view of the agents with his back to them in a corner of the room at a distance of about ten feet from the object. Silence was maintained during the experi- ments, except where otherwise expressly stated. The object or diagram was carefully hidden before the handkerchief was removed from the eyes of the

1 Proc. Soc. Psych, Research, vol. iv. pp. 324 et seq.', vol. v. pp. 169 et seq.

p

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 43

percipient to enable him to draw his impression. In the first nineteen experiments the figure was drawn with the end of a match dipped in ink, whilst the per- cipient was in the room. It was not likely, under the circumstances, as the match moved almost noise- lessly over the paper, that any indication of the figure drawn could by this means have been given to the percipient. Nevertheless, in the later experiments quoted the precaution was taken to draw the figure whilst the percipient was in another room, and a soft brush was substituted for the match. The following is a record, by Herr Schmoll, of the last two evenings of the first series : —

\%.— August 2&,th, 1886.

Agents — Mdlle. Louise, Frau Schmoll, Schmoll. Percipient — M. Mabire. Object (drawn)-

n\

Result — M. Mabire saw " a sort of semicircle like the tail of a comet, but of spiral construction, like some of the nebulae." What he saw he reproduced in the following manner : —

19. — The same evening.

Agents — Mdlle. Louise, M. Mabire, Frau Schmoll. Percipient — S chmoU. Object (drawn) —

4

Result — " I see two double lines, that cross each other at about right angles." (Pause.) " The two double lines now appear

44 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

single, but like rays of light, and in the form of an X." (Another pause.) "Now I see the upper part of the X separated from the lower by a vertical line." I draw : —

20. — The same evening.

Agents — Mdlle. Louise, M. Mabire, Schmoll.

Percipient — Frau Schmoll.

Object — A brass weight of 500 grms. was placed on the table.

Result — " What I see looks like a short piece of candle, without a candlestick. It must be burning, for at the upper end I see it glitter."

Remark — At the upper part of the object, indicated by the arrow, bright reflections, caused by the obhque lighting, were seen by all the agents (the weight was rubbed bright). The form seen decidedly resembles the original, especially the outline.

21, — The same evening.

Agents — M. Mabire, Frau Schmoll, Schmoll.

Percipient — Mdlle. Louise.

Object — My gold watch (without the chain) was noiselessly placed before us, the back turned towards us ; on the face are Roman numbers.

Result — After five minutes : " I see a round object, but I cannot describe it more particularly." (During the pause that followed, without causing the slightest noise, I turned the watch round, so that we saw the face.) Soon Mdlle. Louise called out : " You are certainly looking at the clock over the piano, for now I quite clearly see a clock face with Roman numbers."

[The watch, as was ascertained after the experiment, was not going at the time.]

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 45

22, — September loth^ 1886.

Agents — Mdlle. Louise, M. Mabire, Frau Schmoll.

PercipieJit — Schmoll.

Object — A pamphlet (in 8vo) was slantingly placed on the table.

Result — Completely failed. I saw nothing whatever.

Remark-^PiX. the beginning of our trials to-day we had neg- lected to clear the table. The book was surrounded by other objects, and also badly lighted.

23. — The same evening.

Agents — Mdlle. Louise, M. Mabire, Schmoll.

Percipient — Frau Schmoll.

Object — A piece of candle, 20 centimetres long, was placed on the table.

Result — After eight minutes : " I see it well, but not clearly enough to say what it is. It is a thin, long- object."

" How long ? " asked M. Mabire.

Frau Schmoll tried by separating her hands to give a measure- ment, but could not do it with certainty, and said, " A full hand's length, about 20 centimetres." Begged for a further description, she said, " I see something like a walking-stick, but at one end there must be gold, for something shines there." (The candle was not burning.)

24. — The same evening.

Agents — M. Mabire, Frau Schmoll, Schmoll.

Percipient — Mdlle. Louise.

Object — A Faience tea-pot was placed on the table : —

Result — After five minutes : " It is not a drawing, but a real object. I see very clearly a Httle vase, a little pot or pan."

25. — The same evening.

Agents — Mdlle. Louise, Frau Schmoll, Schmoll.

Percipie7it — M. Mabire.

Object — The stamp of the firm was placed on the table : —

46 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

Result — After twenty minutes : " The picture appears to be rather confused. But I believe that I see the lower part of a drinking glass." (Pause.) " Now it has gone again." (A pause of five minutes.) " Now I see another form, like two symmetrical S -shaped double curves, placed side by side." Then M. Mabire drew :—

Remark — Apparently the lower part was seen first, and then the upper.

26. — The same evening.

Aoents — M. Mabire, Frau Schmoll, Schmoll. Percipient — Mdlle. Louise.

Object — The double eye-glasses (pince-nez) belonging to M. Mabire were laid on the table.

Result — After five minutes : " I see two curves, open above, that do not touch each other." Then Mdlle. Louise drew : —

00

Unfortunately, the original drawings and reproduc- tions in this series were not preserved. The figures given are facsimile reproductions of those in Herr SchmoU's MS. record, which were copied at the time on a reduced scale from the actual drawings made by the agent and the percipient respectively. In the second series the actual drawings have been pre- served. In the experiments quoted below, as already stated, the figure was drawn whilst the percipient was out of the room, and (with the exceotion of No. 58)

V

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE.

47

several copies were made of the drawing, " in order that each agent might be able to see the drawing in an upright position, and that he might be able to place it at the most favourable point of view." The percipient when ready withdrew the bandage from his eyes and, still seated in the chair with his back to the agents, executed the reproduction.

ApHl sih, 1887.

No. of Trial.

Percipient.

Mdlle. Louise M.

Mdlle. Jane.

Mme. Schmoll

Mdlle. Jane.

Agents.

4. Mme. D. Mdlle. Jane. Mme. Schmoll M. Schmoll.

4.

Mdlle. Louise

in place of

Mdlle.Jane.

3..

Mme. Schmoll

in place of

Mdlle.Jane.

Original Drawing.

?

Each agent had a copy of the ori- ginal.

4

Four copies of the original were used by the agents.

Three copies used.

Three copies used.

Result.

Before drawing the above figure, Mdlle. Louise said, "a ter- restrial globe on a support." 10 minutes.

/

10 minutes.

During the experiment Mme. Schmoll said that she saw "a little roof."

10 minutes.

1^<^

^

Mdlle. Jane, after having seen the original, said that her first idea had been that of a glass.

48 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE. April "^th^ 1887 {co7itinued).

No. of Trial.	Percipient.	Agents,	Original Drawing.	Result.
55	Mme. D.	4.		^6X3
			6V-
			Four copies	10 minutes.
			used.
5G	M. Schraoll.	4. Mme. D. in place of M. SchmoU.	1 Four copies used.	1% 10 minutes.
57	A Failure.		v^
58	MdUe. Jane.	6.	D	After five minutes MdUe. Jane said, " I see a cat's head." On being asked to draw what she saw,
			«irrii^
				she produced the
				following figure :—
			This was the
			first time	L>«i~».<$)
			that an ani-	\'St^\
			m a 1 had	\ ^^.J^
			been drawn.	^^^
59	MdUe. Jane.	6.	This was the first time that a head had been drawn.	At the end of five minutes, Mdlle. Jane having said, "if is a head in profile," a cry of joy unfortu- nately escaped one of those present. This cry having be- trayed to Mdlle. Jane that she had guessed rightly, no drawing was made. In order to repair the wrong as much as possible, Mdlle. Jane was asked which way the head was turned. " To the left," she re- plied.

Experiments 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 were failures. No. 65 was not an experiment with a diagram.

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE.

49

April Zth, 1887.

No. of Trial.	Percipient.	Agents.	Original Drawing.	Result.
C6	Mdlle. Louise.	5. (plus Mr. Myers)		At the end of a few minu-tes, Mdlle. Louise said, "I see three fish on a
					skewer." Not being
		.			well understood, she explained, " Three ffeh held by a skewer,
					that is as they are
					sold in the fish
							markets ; but every- body knows that!"
							Then she took off
							her bandage and
							drew—
							y	p
			u
			This figure was			\
			drawn by
			Mr. Myers.
C7	Failure.				1
68	Failure.				U	or
69	Mdlle. Louise.	5. (plus Mr. Myers)	f	f

Appended is a statement from Mdlle. Jane D., a young lady of 20, who appears to have been one of the most successful percipients in this series : —

" Whenever I have taken part in the experiments as per- cipient, I have endeavoured to expel from my mind all thoughts and images, and have remained inactive, with my hands over my eyes, waiting for the production of an impression ; some- times I have tied up my eyes, but this plan has not always been

4

50 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

successful. At other times the idea of an object has presented itself to me before I have seized its form, but most frequently I seemed to see the picture either black on a white ground, or white on a black ground. In general, the objects present them- selves in an undecided manner, and pass away very rapidly ; usually I only grasp a portion of them.

" Whenever I have been most successful, I have remarked that the picture has presented itself to my imagination almost instantaneously. Sometimes also I have been led to draw an object of which the name was forced on me, as if by some external influence.

" Jane D.

"Paris, February lyth, i888.»

Appended are a few facsimiles of the most success- ful of the above results, reproduced in the original size.

No. 51. — Original.

No. 51.-- Reproduction.

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 51

No. 53.— Original.

No. 53.— Reproduction.

52 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

No 56. — Original.

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 53

No. 56.— Reproduction.

No. 58.— Original. No. 58.— Reproduction.

No. 66.— Original.

§4 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

No. 66. — Reproduction.

No. 9. — By Dr. von Schrenk-Notzing.

Baron von Schrenk-Notzing, M.D., of Munich, whose work in hypnotism is well known, carried on a series of experiments with diagrams and numbers, etc., in the course of the year 1890.^ Space will not permit of our quoting these results in full. The following experiments are selected as being the only three in which the agent and percipient were in different rooms. The percipient, Fraulein A., was a patient of Dr. von Schrenk-Notzing's, of rather hysterical temperament ; throughout the experiments she was in a normal condition and fully awake. In these three trials, which took place between 10.12 P.M. and 10.23 P.M. on the 15th October 1890, Fraulein A. sat on a chair in the agent's study about a yard from the door leading into the adjoining room, and with her back towards it ; paper and pencil were on the table before her. In the adjoining room, about 12

1 Proc. S.P./^., vol. vii. pp. 3-22.

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 55

feet in a direct line from the percipient, with the door of communication closed, Dr. von Schrenk-Notzing stood, beside a small table, and drew a rough diagram representing the staff of -^sculapius and the Serpent. When the drawing was complete, to quote Dr. Schrenk-Notzing,

" I call * Ready ? ' The percipient says, ' Yes.' We have been drawing at the same time in different rooms. On return- ing to the study I compare the drawings and see with astonish- ment that Fraulein A. has drawn a serpent. Even the open mouth and the thickened end of the tail in the reproduction agree with the original. The experiment has succeeded in its essential part, and as regards strictness of conditions I think it quite unassailable. Unconscious suggestion is absolutely ex- cluded, when agent and percipient are in different rooms. Any corresponding association of ideas seems to me also impos- sible, for the idea of the staff of -^sculapius first occurred to me in the other room. In the study there is no object which could have led up to the idea— no indication which could have pointed out the way."

The percipient had, in fact, drawn a spiral figure apparently intended to represent a serpent.

The two other experiments here referred to were performed in immediate succession, and under pre- cisely similar conditions, the time allowed in each case being about two minutes.

In the second experiment the agent drew an arrow; the percipient drew another spiral, with intersecting loops. In this case, as the agent points out, the original idea of the serpent appears to have per- sisted in the percipient's mind.

In the third experiment the agent drew a triangle inscribed in a circle ; also two diameters to the circle, crossing each other at right angles, the vertical diameter bisecting the upper angle of the triangle. The agent writes : —

"The drawing was done in the following way. I began with the triangle, and then drew the perpendicular on the base. The idea that thereupon occurred to me, that the figure was too simple, induced me to add a circle and to prolong the perpendicular to the circumference; finally I

56 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

added the horizontal diameter. The percipient was drawing at the same time at table b^ sitting on chair 5, with her back to the closed door of communication. Question from the next room, ' Are you ready 1 ' Answer, * Stop,' as I am about to open the door. Then, ' Now.' I open the door and enter the room. The two drawings agree except that the circle and the hori- zontal diameter are wanting. Even the perpendicular of the triangle, which has become obtuse angled, is prolonged beyond the base, just as in the original. This prolongation and addition of the perpendicular cannot be explained by any tendency of ideas to recur (diagram-habit). Only the fact that a triangle was drawn might, taken alone, be explained in some such way."

Figures of the original diagrams in this case are given in the Proceedings of the S.P.R.

Some experiments with diagrams, conducted in July 1890 by Drs. Grimaldi and Fronda, have been published by Lombroso.^ The subject was a young man of twenty, subject to hysterical attacks and spon- taneous somnambulism. The first experiments were made in the hypnotic state, with numbers, and met with only moderate success. Later, however, the trials were made in the normal state. At the first sitting diagrams were tried. The subject had his eyes firmly bandaged and his ears plugged with cotton wool. The diagrams were drawn at a certain distance {ad una certa distanzd) from the subject, and behind him. Under these conditions the first five experiments were completely successful ; the subject reproduced in turn a rhomb, a circle, a triangle, an irregular pentagon, shaped something like the pro- file of a barn, and a cone. The next experiment failed, only a formless scribble being obtained. The subject was much exhausted, and fell into a semi- cataleptic state as soon as the bandage was removed.

Some success was obtained in later sittings, in the guessing of names and in the execution of mental commands. But the experiments had soon to be abandoned, on account of the health of the percipient.

Other experiments with diagrams, in addition to

^ Trasmissione del Fensiero, etc., Naples, 1 89 1.

I

TRANSFERENCE IN NORMAL STATE. 57

those above referred to, will be found in the Proceed- ings of the S.P.R., vol. i. pp. 161-215, by Mr. Gurney, the writer, and others; vol. ii. pp. 207-216, by Mr. W. J. Smith. The paper on Thought-transference, etc., by Professor C. Richet, Proceedings, vol. v. pp. 18-168, should also be consulted in this connection.

58

CHAPTER III.

EXPERIMENTAL TRANSFERENCE OF SIMPLE SENSA- TIONS WITH HYPNOTISED PERCIPIENTS.

As already stated, the hypnotic state offers peculiar facilities for observing the transmission of thought and sensation. It is possible that the superior suscept- ibility of the hypnotised percipient is in some measure due simply to the quiescence and freedom from spontaneous mental activity very generally induced by the state of sleep-waking. There are indications, moreover, that the hypnotic state itself may present in many cases a specialised manifestation of that rapport which would appear to exist generally be- tween Agent and Percipient in thought-transference. But the close association of the telepathic activities with the consciousness which emerges in hypnotism and allied states suggests an explanation of a more general kind, and may possibly throw light on the evolution of the faculty itself.^ However this may be, there can be no question that the most remarkable results in experimental telepathy so far recorded are those given in this and the following chapters with hypnotised percipients.

Transference of Tastes.

The fact that notwithstanding this recognised facility comparatively few observers have experimented with hypnotised subjects, except in one or two direc-

^ See the discussion on this question in Chapter XVI-

I

TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE. 59

tions, calls for some explanation. There are, indeed, innumerable records of the transmission of sensations of taste and pain in the hypnotic state. The uncer- tainty attending any experiment in the first direction with subjects in whom special exaltation of any particular sense is not merely possible, but even under the conditions of the experiments probable, has been already pointed out. Such trials, conducted with a variety of substances nearly all of which are in some degree odorous, must necessarily lie under suspicion. To the references quoted in the preceding chapter (p. 2 1 ) and to the experiments of this nature recorded in the Proceedings of the S.F.R} it will suffice here to add one further instance, in which the hypothesis of hyper- aesthesia seems hardly an adequate explanation of the result. In a communication to the Revue Philosophiqiie in February 1889, Dr. Dufay quotes the following passage from a letter received by him from Dr. Azam, the veteran historian of F61ida X.: —

No. 10. — By Dr. Azam.

" I myself, and I believe many other medical men, have observed cases of this or of a similar nature. I will quote two, in which I think I took all necessary precautions before being convinced of their truth.

"ist. About 1853 or 1854, I had under my care a young woman with confirmed hysteria : nothing was easier than to put her to sleep by various means. I consider myself entitled to state that, while holding her hand, my unspoken thoughts were trans- ferred to her, but upon this I do not insist, error and fraud being possible.

" But the transmission of a definite sensation seemed to me to be absolutely certain. This is how I proceeded : Having put the patient to sleep, and seated myself by her side, I leaned towards her and dropped my handkerchief behind her chair ; then, while stooping to lift it up, I quickly put into my mouth a pinch of common salt, which, unknown to her, I had beforehand put into the right-hand pocket of my waistcoat. The salt being absolutely without smell, it was impossible that the patient should have known that I had some in my mouth ; but as soon

^ Vol. i. pp. 226, 241 ; vol. ii. pp. 17-19.

6o APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

as I raised myself again I saw her face express disgust, and she moved her lips about. ' That is very nasty,' she said ; ' why did you put salt into my mouth ? '

" I have repeated this experiment several times with other inodorous substances, and it has always succeeded. I report this fact alone because it seems to me to be certain."

Transference of Pain.

Experiments with sensations of pain, as has been pointed out, stand on a different footing. There is no special source of error to be guarded against. The following trials, conducted by Mr. Edmund Gurney, with the assistance of the present writer and others, on two evenings in the early part of 1883, will perhaps suffice to indicate the possibility of such transmission. The percipient was a youth named Wells, at the time of the experiments a baker's apprentice. He was hypnotised by Mr. G. A. Smith. During the trials Wells was blindfolded, and Mr. Smith stood behind his chair. On the first evening Mr. Smith held one of the percipient's hands ; and throughout the series it was necessary for Mr. Smith to hold communication with Wells ; the only words used, however, being the simple uniform question, "Do you feel any- thing ?"i

No. II. — By Edmund Gurney.

First Series, fanuary ^th, 1 883.

1. The upper part of Mr. Smith's right arm was pinched con-

tinuously. Wells, after an interval of about two minutes, began to rub the corresponding part on his own body.

2. Back of the neck pinched. Same result.

3. Calf of left leg slapped. Same result.

^ It is a frequent experience that hypnotised subjects are incapable of responding to any voice other than that of the person who has hypnotised them. The difficuUy can, indeed, generally be removed by asking the hypnotiser to place some other person in rapport with the subject — i.e., to give the subject the suggestion that he should also be able to hear the person indicated. At this e.irly stage of our experiments it would appear, however, that this device had for some reason not been adopted.

I

TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE. 6l

Lobe of left ear pinched. Same result.

Outside of left wrist pinched. Same result.

Upper part of back slapped. Same result.

Hair pulled. Wells localised the pain on his left arm.

8. Right shoulder slapped. The corresponding part was cor-

rectly indicated.

9. Outside of left wrist pricked. Same result.

10. Back of neck pricked. Same result.

11. Left toe trodden on. No indication given.

12. Left ear pricked. The corresponding part was correctly

indicated.

13. Back of left shoulder slapped. Same result.

14. Calf of right leg pinched. Wells touched his arm.

15. Inside of left wrist pricked. The corresponding part was

correctly indicated.

16. Neck below right ear pricked. Same result.

In the next series of these experiments Wells was blindfolded, as before ; but in this case a screen was interposed between Mr. Smith and Wells ; and there was no contact between them. During two or three of the trials Mr. Smith was in an adjoining room, separated from Wells by thick curtains.

Second Series. April loth^ xZZz-

17. Upper part of Mr. Smith's left ear pinched. After a lapse

of about two minutes, Wells cried out, " Who's pinching me ? " and began to rub the corresponding part.

18. Upper part of Mr. Smith's left arm pinched. Wells indi-

cated the corresponding part almost at once.

19. Mr. Smith's right ear pinched. Wells struck his own right

ear, after the lapse of about a minute, as if catching a troublesome fly, crying out, " Settled him that time."

20. Mr. Smith's chin was pinched. Wells indicated the right

part almost immediately.

21. The hair at the back of Mr. Smith's head was pulled. No

indication.

22. Back of Mr. Smith's neck pinched. Wells pointed, after a

short interval, to the corresponding part.

23. Mr. Smith's left ear pinched. Same result.

After this, Mr. Smith being now in an adjoining room. Wells began, as he 'said, "to go to sleep ;" and said that he "didn't want to be bothered." He was partially waked up, and the experiments were resumed.

[Four experiments with tastes are here omitted.]

28. Mr. Smith's right calf pinched. Wells was very sulky, and for a long time refused to speak. At last he violently drew up his right leg, and began rubbing the calf.

62 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

After this Wells became still more sulky, and refused in the next experiment to give any indication whatever. With con- siderable acuteness he explained the reasons for his contumacy. " I ain't going to tell you, for if I don't tell you, you won't go on pinching me. You only do it to make me tell." Then he added, in reply to a remonstrance from Mr. Smith, " What do you want me to tell for ? they ain't hurting you^ and / can stand their pinching." All this time Mr. Smith's left calf was being very severely pinched.

To the onlooker the situation was rendered addi- tionally piquant by the fact that the boy, at the very time when he was apparently acutely sensitive to pain inflicted upon Mr. Smith, showed no sign of suscept- ibility when any part of his own person was pretty severely maltreated. The only point in the trials which seems to call for special notice is the failure on two occasions to indicate the seat of pain when the agent's hair was pulled (7 and 21). Numerous trials with the same and other percipients have shown that this particular experiment rarely succeeds, possibly because the pain so caused is with many people not of an acute kind.^

Transference of Visual Images.

But when we leave these experiments in the transfer of the less specialised forms of sensation we find that but few observers have paid attention to the phenomena of telepathy in the hypnotic state. Probably this is in some measure due to one or two initial difficulties in conducting experiments on such subjects. Opening the eyes to permit the subject to reproduce a diagram will in many cases have the effect of wakening him. Again, with some persons it is a matter of difficulty to maintain the exact stage of the hypnotic trance when they are quiescent enough for the alien impression to meet with little risk of disturb- ance from the subject's own mental activities, and yet

^ Cf. No. 19 in the series of similar trials conducted with Miss Relph, p. 24.

I

I

TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE. 63

sufficiently alert to prevent them from relapsing, as was frequently the case with Wells, the percipient just referred to, into a torpid sleep from which no further response could be elicited. But, after all, these difficulties when they occur can readily be overcome by the exercise of a little patience. If the study of thought-transference in the hypnotic state has been comparatively neglected, it is mainly because, as already suggested, with most persons the more salient phenomena of the trance — hallucination, anaesthesia, rigidity, etc. — have distracted attention from what may ultimately prove to be a more fruitful line of inquiry. For the following record we are indebted to Dr. Li^beault, of Nancy, who sent us the account in 1886.

No. 12. — By Dr. Liebeault.

[The first series of experiments were made on the afternoon of the loth December 1885, in Dr. Lidbeault's house at Nancy. There were present, in addition, Madame S,, Dr. Brullard, and Professor Li^geois, who acted as agent, and Mademoiselle M., the subject. The subject was hypnotised by Professor Li^geois, and experiments were made with diagrams, and in two cases the design — a water-bottle {carafe) and a table with a drawer and drawer-knob — was reproduced with exactness. Precautions had, of course, been taken to conceal the original design from the percipient. The account of the seventh and last experiment is quoted in full.]

"7. M. Lidgeois wrote the word manage^ Mdlle. M. then wrote 'Monsieur.' Then she said ' Decanter,— no — picture — no.' [What is the letter?] ' It is an /—no, it is an w.' Then after thinking for some minutes, ' There is an i in the word, an a after the rn — a g — another a — an e — there are six letters — no — seven.' When she had found all the letters and their places, ma iage, she could not find the letter r. After a few minutes it was suggested to her that she should try combinations with the different consonants, and finally she wrote jnariage."

[Further experiments were made by Dr. Lidl^eault, in con- junction with M. Stanislas de Guaita, on the 9th January 1886. The subject in this case was Mademoiselle Louise L., who was hypnotised by Dr. Liebeault. The first two experiments, which are not quoted here, suggest lip-reading or unconscious audition as a possible explanation ; but the third experiment of this series and the two subsequent trials with Mdlle. Camille

64 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

Simon present interesting illustrations of a telepathic hallucin- ation superimposed upon a basis of reality.]

" 3. Dr. Liebeault, in order that no hint should be given even in a whisper, wrote on a piece of paper, 'Mademoiselle, on waking, will see her black hat transformed into a red one.' The paper was first passed round to all the witnesses, then MM. Liebeault and De Guaita placed their hands silently on the subject's forehead, mentally formulating the sentence agreed upon. After being told she would see something unusual in the room, the young woman was awakened. Without a moment's hesitation she fixed her eyes upon the hat, and with a burst of laughter exclaimed that it was not her hat, she would have none of it. It was the same shape certainly, but this farce had lasted long enough — we must really give her back her own. [' Come now, what difference do you see?'] 'You know quite well. You have eyes like me.' [' Well what ? '] We had to press her for some time before she would say what change had come over her hat ; surely we were making fun of her. At last she said, ' You can see for yourselves that it is red.' As she refused to take it we were forced to put an end to her hallucination by telling her that her hat would presently resume its usual colour. The doctor breathed on it, and when it became, in her eyes, her own again, she consented to take it back. Directly afterwards she remembered nothing of her hallucination. . . .

"Nancy, 9th January 1886.

" Signed, A. A. LlEBEAULT.

Stanislas de Guaita." ^

" We had one very successful experiment with a young girl of about fifteen, Mdlle. Camille Simon, in the presence of M. Brullard and several other persons. I gave her a mental suggestion that on waking she should see her hat, which was brown, changed to yellow, I then put her en rapport with all the others, and I passed round a slip of paper indicating my sug- gestion, and asking them to think of the same thing. But, by a lapse of memory not unusual to me, I did not think after all of the colour which I had written down ; I had a distinct im- pression that she would see her hat red. On awaking her I told her she would see something representing our common thought. When she was wakened she wondered at the colour of her hat. ' It was brown,' she said. After having thought for a long time, she assured us that really it did not look at all the same, that she could not quite define the colour, but that it seemed to her a sort of yellow-red. Then I remembered my

^ Quoted in Le Sommeil ProvoquS^ etc,, by Dr. Liebeault, Paris, 1889, pp. 29s, 296.

TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE. 6$

aberration. In the present case the others thought of yellow, I of red : thus the object appeared yellow and red to the awakened somnambule ; which proves that the mental sug- gestion may be the echo of the thought of many minds."

[The following experiment, made with the same " subject," and sent to us by Dr. Liebeault on June 3, 1886, is an interesting example of temporary latency of the telepathic impression : — ]

" In another experiment with the same young girl it was suggested to her, mentally, by several persons that on awaking she would see a black cock walking about the room. For a considerable time after waking, nearly half-an-hour, she said nothing, although I told her she would see something. It was about half-an-hour afterwards that, having gone into the garden and looked by chance into my little courtyard, she came running back to us to say, 'Ah, I know what I was to see : it was a black cock. This came into my head when I was looking at your cock.' My cock is greenish-black on the wings, tail and breast ; everywhere else he is yellowish-white. Here we have an idea caused by the sight of a real object associated with a fictitious idea mentally transmitted by the persons present."

Between the beginning of July and the end of October 1889 a series of trials in the transference of numbers was conducted by Mrs. H. Sidgwick, with the assistance of Professor Sidgwick and Mr, G. A. Smith. The conditions were as follows: — Some small wooden counters, belonging to a game called Loto, and having the numbers from 10 to 90 stamped on them in raised figures, were placed in a bag. From this bag, which it will be seen contained 81 numbers in all, Mr. G. A. Smith drew a counter, placing it in a little wooden box, the edges of which effectually concealed it from the view of the percipient. The percipient, who had been previously placed in the hypnotic state by Mr. Smith, sat with his eyes closed and guessed the number drawn. The remarks, if any, made during the experiments, and the results, were recorded by Mrs. Sidgwick. After the first few days it was arranged, in order to avoid all possibility of bias in recording the numbers, that Professor Sidgwick should draw the counter from the bag and hand it to Mr. Smith, and that Mrs. Sidgwick should

5

66 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

be herself ignorant of the number drawn. Through- out the experiments, although eight or more other persons tried to act as agent, Mr. Smith alone was successful. Mr. Smith himself failed to produce any result when the percipients were not hypnotised. The following detailed account of part of the experi- ments on one day, July 6th, 1889, will give a fair idea of the whole ; but it should be added that in later experiments Mr. Smith kept complete silence, and that on several occasions a newspaper was placed over P.'s head. These precautions do not appear to have affected the success of the experiment.

The percipient was Mr. P., a clerk in a wholesale business, aged about nineteen, who had been fre- quently hypnotised by Mr. Smith, and now passes into the hypnotic state very quickly, his eyes turn- ing upwards as he goes off, before the eyelids close. He is a lively young man, with a good deal of humour, and preserves the same character in the sleep-waking state.

No. 13. — By Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick.

NUMBKR DRAWN.

NUMBER GUESSED, AND REMARKS.

87 ... S. : "Now, P., you're going to see numbers. I shall look at them, and you will see them." P. (almost immediately): "87. You asked me if I saw a number. I see an 8 and a 7." (Number put away.) P. : "I see nothing now."

19 ... P.: "18. What are those numbers on ? I see only the

letters like brass numbers on a door; nothing behind them."

24 ... P. (after a pause) : " I keep on looking. . . . I see it ! an 8 and a 4 — 84."

35 ... P. : "A3 and a 5—35." S.: "How did that look?" P. : "I saw a 3 and a 5, then 35."

28 ... P.: "88. One behind the other, then one popped for- ward, and I could see two eights." (Illustrated it with his fingers.)

20 ... P.: " I can't see anything yet." S.: " You will directly. "

P.: "23." S. : "Saw that clearly?" P.: "Not so plain as the other." S. : " Wjiich did you see best? " P. : "The 2."

TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE.

67

I

NUMBER DRAWN.

27

48

20 .	. P.
71 .	. P.
36 .	. P.
75 .	. P.

17

52

73

S.:

P. :

NUMBER GUESSED, AND REMARKS.

' I can see 7, and I think a 3 in front of it. I can sec the 7." S. : " Make sure of the first figure." P. : "The 7's gone now."

' Here's another one, P." (This remark, though not always recorded, almost always began each ex- periment, until July 27th, when, to avoid the possibility of unconscious indications, Mr. Smith adopted the plan of not speaking at all.) P. : ** Another two, you mean. You say another one, but there are always two." S. : "Yes, two." P.: " Here it is. You said there were two ! There's only one, an 8." Some remarks here not recorded. We think that Mr. Smith said there were two, and told him to look again. P. said he saw a 4. Mrs. Sidgwick : "Which came first?" P. : "The 8 first, then the 4 to the left, so that it would have been 48. I should like to know how you do that trick."

' A 2 and an 0 ; went away very quickly that time."

•71."

'3 ... . 36."

' I might turn round. Should I see them just the same over there? " (Changed his position so as to sit sideways in the chair, and looking away from Mr. Smith.) S. : " Well, you might try." P. : "I don't think I see so well this way." (He did not move, however.) " I see a 7 and a 5 — 75. Why don't you let them both come at once ? I believe I should see them better if you let me open my eyes." (No notice was taken of this.)

Now then, P. , here's another. " P. : " Put it there at once." (Then, after some time :) " You've only put a 4 up. I see 7." S. : " What's the other figure?" P.: "4 ... the 4's gone." S. : "Have a look again." P.: "I see i now." S. : "Which way are they arranged?" P. : " The 1 first and the 7 second."

Here's another." P. : "52. I saw that at once. I'm sure there's some game about it." (He had said something about this before, when the number was slow in coming. He said Mr. Smith was making game of him, and pretending to look when he was not looking.)

'76."

It will be observed that P. always speaks of "see- ing" the figures, but as a matter of fact his eyes were closed, or appeared to be closed, throughout the experi-

6S APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

ments, and the pupils, as already stated, were intro- verted, at least at the commencement of the trance. That the impression was of a visual nature there can be no reasonable doubt. This may have been due to Mrs. Sidgwick's suggestion to the percipient that he would see the figures : though it seems equally probable that it was owing to the fact that Mr. Smith's impres- sion was a visual one. That the vision in most cases was perfectly distinct seems equally clear. It is diffi- cult to decide whether impressions received under such circumstances, with the eyes closed, are properly to be classed as hallucinations.^ That under appro- priate conditions the percept was capable of rising to the level of an externalised sensory hallucination, the following experiments, which took place later on the same day, July 6th, seem to show : — A blank sheet of paper was spread out on the table. P. was told that he would see numbers on it, and was then partially awakened and his eyes opened. He was at once told to look at the paper and see what came, but saw nothing for some time. Different stages of the hypnotic trance frequently exhibit different and mutually exclusive memories, and P. now had evidently forgotten all about the previous state in which he had been guessing numbers, and appeared so wide awake that it was hard to believe that he was not in a completely normal condition. Mr. Smith stood behind him.

NUMBER DRAWN.

NUMBER SEEN ON THE PAPER, AND REMARKS.

l8 ... P. : "23." S. : "Is that what you can see?" P. :

*' Yes" (but he added later that he did not see

it properly). 87 ... P.: "A 7,0. Oh, no, 8, 78. Funny! I saw a 7 and

a little o, and then another came on the top of

it, and made an 8." 37 ... P.: *' There's a 4, 7." Asked where, he offered to trace

it,^ and drew 47 in figures l^ inches long.

^ For such impressions seen with closed eyes Kandinsky has pro- posed the name pseudo-hallucinations.

^ He had been, on previous occasions, asked to trace hallucinations.

TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE. 69

NUMI5ER DRAWN.

NUMBER SEEN ON THE PAPER, AND REMARKS.

44 ... P.: "No. I see 5, 4; it's gone again." S. : "All right, look at it." P. : "45." S. : "Sure?" P. : " There's a 4 ; — the other's not so clear." (Then quickly:) " Two fours ; 44."

As he looked one of them disappeared, and he turned the paper over to look for it on the other side ; then looked back at the place where he saw it before and said, " That's funny ! while I was looking for that the other one's gone." When looking under the paper he noticed some scribbling on the sheet below and said, "Has that writing anything to do with it?" He seemed puzzled by the figures, which were apparently genuine externalised hallucinations. He could not make out why they came, nor why they disappeared.

37 ... P. (after long gazing): "37." S. : "Is that what you

see?" P. : " It's gone. I'm pretty sure I saw

37."

Mr. Smith then looked at the 37 again, and we told P. to

watch whether it came back, but after a little while he said he

thought he saw 29.

Similar trials were made with three other subjects, Miss B., T., and W. In all 644 trials were made with the agent in the same room with the percipient, of which 131 were successful, that is, both digits were given correctly, though in 14 out of the 131 cases in reverse order. The chance of success was of course i in 81, and the most probable number of complete successes was therefore 8. 218 trials were also made with Mr. Smith in a different room from the percipient, but of these only 9 succeeded, one having its digits reversed; 8 of these successes, however, occurred in the course of 139 trials with P., whilst 79 trials with T. yielded only one success. {Proc. S.P.R., vol. vi. pp. 123-170.)

As regards the possibility of unconscious indica- tions of the number thought of being given by the agent, it seems certain that no such clue could have been perceived through the sense of sight or touch, contact between agent and percipient having been absolutely excluded throughout the experiments. It remains to consider whether any indication could have been given by means of sounds. In the pres-

70 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

ence of two or more attentive and vigilant witnesses any indications by sounds — e.g., an unconscious whispering of the number by Mr. Smith — could only have been perceived by persons of abnormal suscepti- bility. We know, indeed, of no precise limit which can be set to the hyperaesthesia of hypnotised subjects. But, on the other hand, hyperaesthesia of any sense in such subjects is generally the result of suggestion, direct or indirect, on the part of the operator ; and in these experiments the only sugges- tion given — a suggestion apparently acted on through- out— was that they should see the result. Since, indeed, hypnotised persons are apparently not neces- sarily aware of the channel by which information reaches them, this circumstance is not in itself con- clusive ; but taken with the fact that no direct sug- gestion to hear was given, it tends to make auditory hyperaesthesia less probable. It is perhaps more important to note that the experimenters, including Mr. Smith himself, were fully aware of this source of error, and on their guard against it; that no move- ments of Mr. Smith's lips, such as must have occurred if he had whispered the number, were observed ; and that a careful analysis of the failures shows no tendency to mistake one number for another similar in sound — e.g., four for five^ six for seven, or five for nine.

Experivients zvith Agent and Percipient in different Rooms.

However, the later experiments by the same ob- servers, recorded below, in which a marked degree of success was obtained with agent and percipient in different rooms, will no doubt be considered to render untenable any explanation of the kind above indicated. This further series was carried on through the years 1 890- 1 -2. Mrs. Sidgwick, aided by Miss Johnson, conducted the experiments throughout, with the

TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE.

71

occasional assistance of Professor Sidgwick, Dr. A. T. Myers, and others. The percipients were P., T., Miss B., and three others, and Mr. G. A. Smith was in nearly all cases the agent Some of these experi- ments, as in the last series, were with numbers of two digits ; but the percipient was now in a different room from the agent. At first the trials were carried on in an arch, fitted up with two floors, under the Parade at Brighton. On the ground-floor was a little lobby, kitchen, etc. ; on the upper floor a sitting- room about 15 feet square. The staircase, which, as shown in the plan subjoined, led directly out of the upper room, was not enclosed above, but had a door

Upstairs Room
	1

Back Room

^1 I-

Kitchen

Lobby -1 Door

-I I-

below, which was kept shut during the experiments. The floor of the room above was covered with a thick Axminster carpet. Even so the sound-insulation was not perfect; but it was found that words spoken in ordinary conversation on one floor were indistinguish- able on the other unless the ear was pressed against the door or wall of the staircase. In the experiments carried on at Mrs. Sidgwick's lodgings in Brighton the percipient sat in the room at a distance from the door, which was closed, varying from 9 to 13 feet, and Mr.^ Smith was in the passage outside, Miss Johnson sitting between him and the door. Of course strict silence was observed by the agent. One of the ex-

72 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

perimenters, in most cases Miss Johnson, accompanied the agent, drew the number from the bag, and noted each as it was drawn. Mrs. Sidgwick, of course in ignorance of the number drawn, sat by the percipient and took notes of his remarks. As in the previous series, the- impressions received by the percipient, who in the first experiments was Miss B., appear generally to have been of a visual nature. Details of all the trials with Miss B. as percipient and Mr. Smith as sole agent are given in the following table :—

No. 14.— By Mrs. Sidgwick and others. (i) Place, the Arch. Percipient upstairs; Agent

DOWNSTAIRS.

Date 1890.	4:5 "3	1 •a S	>> 1 _	it .^0	2	1	Notes.
Jan. 6.. ]\ 8'.'. „ 11.. „ 12.. Mar. 17 . . „ 18.. „ 22.. .. 23.. Jvily 8.. „ 9.. Nuv. 6 . . „ 10..	'i 'i 9 3 1 1 2 i 1	i It It 1 'i	6* 10 2 8 13 2 1 5 6 i 1	i '2 1 1 1 i 8 1	2 4 3 10 8 6 4 4 10 2 2 "2	8 17 6 20 S3 12 8 11 18 3 6 3 3	/ Professor Barrett present in addition to \ the usual party. This set was done under very unfavour- able conditions, as there were three other percipients in the room guessing at tlie same time, which was very con- fusing. Drs. Myers, Penrose, and Lancaster pre- sent in addition to the usual party. Drs. Myers and Rolleston present in addi- tion to tlie usual party. Dr. Myers present.
Totals	20	5	55	11	57	148

(2) Place, the Arch.

Percipient downstairs upstairs.

Agent

Mar. 17 .. „ 23 .. June 16 ..	••		4 2 1	1 3	13 7 2	18 12 3	Miss McKerlie present.
Totals			7	4	22	33

* Two of these were given completely right first and then changed, t The first digit of the number drawn was guessed first.

TRANSFERENCE IN MYPNOTlC STATE.

73

f i

(3) Place, Mrs. Sidgwick's lodgings. Percipient in • ROOM, AND Agent in passage.

4J Date 1890. '^ '3	1 Q	0 1	1^ Q M 0 ^ |1	c 2	1	Notes.
Mar. 19 . . Dec. 17 . . » 1J> •• „ 19 .. „.{ „ 20 ..	.. 2 2 1 1 1	1 1 It	1 11 3 2 1 1 4	'2 1 1 1 1 2	2 12 '4 2 4 6	3 27 14	These puesses were made by table-tiltln.-i, Miss B. normal, having her hands 011 the table. Miss Uobertson present on December 17, 19, and 20. § Agent in room across passage, but only one of the two intervening doors closed. rGuesses made verbally by Miss J?. hypnotised, having her hands on the ^ table. Guesses tilted by the table, at the same [ time as the above. § Miss B. hypnotised, guessing in the usual way. Guesses made by table-tilting, MissB. nor- mal, having her hands on the table. §
Totals	7	3	23	8	30	71
Totals of (l)(2)<fe(3) tof!;ether	27	8	85	23	109	252

I

X This was given completely right first and then changed. § See Chapter iv., pp. 96-100,

It will be seen that in 252 trials the number was guessed quite correctly 27 times, and with digits in reverse order 8 times — the most probable number of complete successes by chance being 3. Further, in the unsuccessful trials the first digit was correctly guessed no fewer than 85 times. The proportion of successes in a series of trials carried on during the same period with Mr. Smith in the same room with Miss B. was, however, much higher — viz,, 29 (three with digits reversed) out of 146 trials. It is notice- able that in the short series of trials with Miss B. in the lobby downstairs a very much smaller degree of success was obtained, a result attributed by Mrs. Sidgwick to the percipient's feeling ill at ease in her surroundings.

Another noteworthy point is the large proportion

74 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

of cases in which the first digit was correctly named.^ This disproportion is not found in the trials made with the agent and the percipient in the same room, and is possibly due, as suggested by Mrs. Sidgwick, to Mr. Smith in all cases concentrating his attention originally on the first digit. When in the same room with the percipient he would hear when the first digit had been named, and would then turn his attention to the other; but when out of the room he could not, of course, follow the process of guessing.

A further series of trials was conducted with the percipient under the same conditions, except that either P. or T. acted as agents jointly with Mr. Smith. In all 53 trials were made, resulting in 9 complete successes and two with the digits reversed. The proportion of successes, it will be seen, is much higher than in the experiments first described; but the series is too short to allow of a safe conclusion being drawn as to the superior efficacy of collective agency.

Experiments conducted under similar conditions with four other percipients yielded a slight but appreciable measure of success. A large number of trials — nearly 400 in all — were made with Miss B. as percipient, the agent or agents being at a still greater distance — viz., being either in a separate building, or with two closed doors and a passage intervening; but practically no success was obtained. Miss B. complained of the numbers being so far off. "They are all muddled up," she said on one occasion; "they seem miles off." It is not easy to account satisfactorily for this failure, but it may probably be attributed partly to a prejudicial effect exercised by the novel conditions on the agent's or percipient's anticipation of success, and partly to the tedious

^ As all numbers above 90 were excluded, and as o cannot come first, the first digit should, by pure chance, have been correctly named more often than the second; but the disproportion, it will be seen, is far greater than could be thus accounted for.

TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE. 75

I waiting inseparable from experiments of this kind, where there is no ready means of communication at the end of each trial. {^Proc. S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 536-552.) Transference of Mental Pictures. By Mrs. Sidgwick and Miss Johnson. Later on, after various trials had been made with little success with letters, playing cards, and diagrams, a series of experiments was made in the transference of mental pictures. There were in all 108 trials, with 5 percipients — Miss B., P., and T., and two men, Whybrew and Major, who had been subjects of an itinerant lecturer on Hypnotism. The method of experiment was as follows : — A subject for a picture was written down by Mrs. Sidgwick or Miss Johnson and handed to Mr. Smith, who then summoned up a mental representation of the subject suggested, which he tried to transfer to the percipient. Occasionally, to aid his imagination, he drew on paper a rough sketch of the subject. During the experiment Mr. Smith was sometimes close to the percipient, some- times behind a screen, sometimes in another room.

When in the same room it was occasionally neces- sary for Mr. Smith, in order to keep alive the per- cipient's interest and attention, to say a few words to him from time to time. These remarks were always recorded. In the earlier experiments the percipient's eyes were open, and he was given a white card or a crystal to look at ; and he appears to have seen the pictures as if projected on these objects. In the later trials the percipient's eyes were closed, but this change in the conditions does not appear in any way to have affected the vividness of the impressions.

Successful experiments were made with all five percipients, full details of which will be found in the paper referred to.^ It will suffice here to quote

1 Proc. S.P.R.f vol. viii. pp. 554-577.

^6 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

a few illustrative cases of success, complete or partial.

The first experiments were made on July 9th, 1890. Miss B. was the percipient. I quote the account of the first two trials : —

No. 15.

The percipient, being in a hypnotic trance, had her eyes opened and was given a card and told to look out for a picture which would come on it.

The subject, chosen by Mrs. Sidgwick, was a little boy with a ball. Mr. Smith sat close to Miss B., but neither spoke to her nor touched her. Miss B. presently said: "A figure is coming — a little boy." Mrs. Sidgwick asked what he had in his hand, and Miss B. replied : "A round thing ; a ball, I suppose."

For the next experiment Mr. Smith got behind a screen. The subject, a kitten in ajar, was again set by Mrs. Sidgwick. Miss B. said : " Something like an old cat — a cat — I think it's a cat." Mrs. Sidgwick: "What is the cat doing?" Miss B. (doubtfully): " Sitting down." Mrs. Sidgwick; "Is there any- thing else but a cat?" Miss B. : " No; only scratches about."

In all 21 experiments of the kind were tried with Miss B., of which 8, including the two above recorded, may be classed as more or less successful.

The following experiments were made with P. on November 5th, 1890. The notes of these cases were taken by Miss Johnson, who was herself ignorant of the subject, which was chosen by Mrs. Sidgwick.

The first experiment on this day was a failure.

No. 16.

Subject : A black kitten playino with a cork. P. : " Some- thing like a cat ; it's a cat." Mrs. Sidgwick : " What is it doing?" P. : "Something it's been feeding out of— some milk, is it a saucer ? Can't see where its other paw is — only see three paws."

Subject : A sandwich man with advertisement of a play. P. said : " Something like letter A — stroke there, then there." Mrs. Sidgwick : " Well, perhaps it will become clearer." P. : " Something like a head on the top of it ; a V upside down — two legs and then a head. — A man with two boards — looks like a man that goes about the streets with two boards. I can see

If TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE. JJ

a head at the top and the body and legs between the boards. I couldn't see what was written on the boards, because the edges were turned towards me." Mr, Smith told us afterwards that he had pictured to himself the man and one board facing him, thus not corresponding to the impression which P. had.

Subject : A choir-boy.^ P. said : " Edge of card's going a dark colour. Somebody dressed up in white, eh? Can see some- thing all white ; edge all black, and like a figure in the middle. There's his hands up" (making a gesture to show the attitude) " like a ghost or something — you couldn't mistake it for any- thing but a ghost. It's not getting any better, it's fading— no, it's still there. It might frighten any one." He also made remarks about the difficulty of seeing a white figure on a white card (the blank card he was looking at was white), which Mr. Smith afterwards said corresponded with his own ideas.

Subject: A vase %uith flowers. (Mr. Smith, still behind P., was looking at a blue flower-pot in the window containing an indiarubber plant.) P. said : " I see something round, like a round ring. I can see some straight things from the round thing. I think it's a glass— it goes up. I'll tell you what it is ; it must be a pot — a flower-pot, you know, with things growing in it. I only guessed that, because you don't see things growing out of a glass. — It's not clear at the top yet. You see something going up and you can't see the top, because of the edge of the paper — it's cut off. I don't wonder, because it's no good wonder- ing what Mr. Smith does, he does such funny things. I should fancy it might be a geranium, but there's only sticks, so you can't tell." Mrs. Sidgwick: "What colour is the pot?" P. : " Dark colour, between terra-cotta and red — dark red you'd call it." Here the somewhat confused impression, apparently corresponding to the struggle of ideas in Mr. Smith's mind between what he was seeing and what he was trying to think of, is an interesting point.^

In all 50 trials were made with P., 26 with agent and percipient in the same room, 24 with agent and percipient in different rooms. Of the former 14 were successful, of the latter only one. In the 35 unsuccess- ful experiments no impression at all was received in 14 cases, 7 of which occurred while agent and per- cipient were in the same room.

Two trials with Whybrew are worth quoting as illustrating the gradual development of the impression.

^ This was an idea extremely familiar to P., who had been a chorister and was still connected with the choir of his church. 2 Proceedings Soc. Psych. Research, vol. viii. pp. 565, 566.

78 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

The percipient's eyes were closed during these experiments. The first was made on July nth.

No. 17.

Subject : A man riding: Mr. Smith downstairs with Miss Johnson ; Whybrew, upstairs with Mrs. Sidgwick, said, after some remarks on the former pictures : " There's another one — I think it's like the other two — a puzzle [to see]— if I can find the picture. I hope I'll be able to see it properly. A kind of a square — square shadow — blowed if I can understand what it's meant for — I don't know what to make out of that. I don't know if that's meant to be the lower part of a pair of legs. Do you see a picture? " Mrs. Sidgwick : " I see something." Why- brew • " I see them two spots, but I don't know what to make of them. If they're legs, the body ought to come. — Don't seem to come any brighter, but there's those two things there, that look like a pair of legs." Here Mr. Smith was asked to come upstairs and talk to him. He told him the picture was coming up closer and that he had turned the gas on to make it brighter. Whybrew: "There's them pair of legs there." Mr. Smith: "Yes" (doubtfully). Whybrew: "Why, there's another. I never see that other pair before. Why, it's a horse. I expect it's like them penny pictures that you fold over. That horse — that's plain enough ; but what's that other thing?" Mr. Smith : " Yes, I told you there was something else." Whybrew : " Why, I see what it is now — it's supposed to be a man there, I expect." Mr. Smith : " Yes." Whybrew : " Riding him. But that ain't so good as the boy and the ball." Mrs. Sidgwick . " How is the man dressed ? " Whybrew : " Ordinary."

The second took place on July i6th, 1891.

Mr. Smith having hypnotised Whybrew, sat by him, but did not speak to him at all after he knew the subject — a 7nan with a barrow of fish — given him by Mrs. Sidgwick. Miss Johnson, not knowing what the subject was, carried on the conversation with Whybrew. He said: "It's the shape of a man. Yes, there's a man there. Don't know him. He looks like a bloke that sells strawberries." Miss Johnson asked: "Are there strawberries there ? " Whybrew . " That looks like his barrow there. What's he selling of? I believe he's sold out. I can't see anything on his barrow — perhaps he's sold out. There ain't many — a few round things. I expect they're fruit. Are they cherries ? They look a bit red. Aren't they fish ? It don't look very much like fish. If they're fish, some of them hasn't got any heads on. Barrow is a bit fishified — it has a tray on. What colour are those things on the barrow? They looked red,

TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE. 79

but now they look silvery." He was rather pleased with this picture and asked afterwards if it was for sale.

Of 18 experiments with Whybrew 6 were successful. Of the 12 failures, 8 occurred when agent and per- cipient were in separate rooms. There were only two cases in which no impression was received — one with the agent in the same room.

Seven trials were made with Major, of which i wa^ completely and 2 partially successful. Subjoined is the record of the only complete success, which occurred on July 8th, 1891. The percipient was hypnotised and his eyes were closed ; Mr. Smith sat by him, talk- ing to him and telling him that he was to see a picture.

No. 18.

The subject given was a mouse in a tnoiise-trap. Regard- ing himself as a man of culture and being generally anxious to exhibit this. Major asked if it was to be an old master or a modern "pot-boiler." He was told the latter, and he then dis- coursed on "pot-boilers" and how he knew all the subjects of them — mentioning two or three — in a very contemptuous manner. He did not seem to see anything, however, and appeared to be expecting to see an artist producing a rapid sketch. Then, when told that the picture was actually there, he suddenly exclaimed : "Do you mean that deuced old trap with a mouse? He must have been drawing for the rat vermin people."

Thirty-two trials were made with T., of which only four were successful — two completely, one partially, one completely, but deferred — i.e., the subject of the preceding experiment, a black dog, came before his vision after the agent had already passed to another sub- ject, the Eiffel Tower. T. had, of course, not been told the subject of the previous experiment. Instances of deferred impressions of this kind occurred also with Miss B. A few experiments were tried with another percipient, a man named Adams, but without success ; his own imagination appeared to be so fertile that any telepathic impression must have been crowded out.

An analysis of the impressions showed that most of

So APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

them were reproductions of objects familiar to the percipient, in certain cases of hallucinations previously- imposed upon them in the course of these or other experiments. With some of the successful percipients these spontaneous impressions showed a marked tend- ency to recur. Thus P, had a wrong impression — of an elephant — no less than four times in the course of the experiments ; and T, of a woman and a peram- bulator three times. One of these coincided with the subject actually set, and the coincidence may perhaps therefore be attributed to chance. Speaking gener- ally, however, this tendency to repetition amongst the percipient's native impressions constitutes an addi- tional argument, if any such is needed, for attributing the frequent coincidences of the impression with the subject set to some other cause than the automatic association of ideas.

An instance of a quasi-experimental character, which closely resembles the cases above described, is recorded by Dr. A. Gibotteau : — ^

No. 19, — By Dr. Gibotteau.

" Madame P. complained of headache. I placed my hand upon her forehead, and in a few minutes she was in a light hypnotic sleep. Without deepening the trance I endeavoured to give her a sensation of calm and well-being, and to procure this sensation for myself in the first place, I called up a picture of the sea, in which air and water were full of sunlight. ' I feel a little better,' she said ; 'how fresh the air is !' I then proceeded to imagine myself walking along the Boitlevard Saint Michel^ in a slight rain. I saw the hurrying people and the umbrellas. ' How strange it is ! ' said Madame P. ; 'I seem to be at J:he corner of the Boulevard Sahit Michel and the Rue des ILcoles^ in front of the Cafe Vachette'' (the exact spot I pictured) ; ' it is raining, there are a great many people, a hurrying crowd. They are all going up the street, and I with them. The air is very fresh. It gives me a pleasant, restful feeling.' With these words she opened her eyes and gave me further confirmation of her impressions.

" I should add that this scene took place in the provinces ; I

^ Annates des Sciences Psychiques, vol. ii. pp. 334, 335.

I

TRANSFERENCE IN HYPNOTIC STATE. Si

had not been in Paris for some months, nor Madame P. for several years.

" There had been no mention of the subject in the course lif our conversation that day."

It will be seen that Dr. Gibottcau attempted to transfer to the percipient only the general sensation of calm and rest induced in himself by the imagined scene, and that the success obtained was therefore of a kind by no means anticipated.

Another experiment of the same nature is recorded by Dr. Blair Thaw in the article already referred to (p. 31). The percipient was Mrs. Thaw, Dr. Thaw and Mr. Wyatt were the agents. We are not told whether in this instance, as on some other occasions, the percipient was actually hypnotised, but judging from previous experiments it may perhaps be inferred that she was at least in a condition called by Dr. Thaw " a passive state," not easy to distinguish from the lighter stages of sleep-waking. The experiment took place on the 28th April 1892.

No. 20. — By Dr. Blair Thaw.

is^ Scene. Locomotive running away without engineer tears up station. — Missed.

2nd Scene. The first real Flying Machine going over Madison Square Tower, and the people watching. — Percipient : /see lots of people. Crowds are going to war. They are so excited. Are they throwing water? (Percipient said after- wards she thought it was a fire and that was the reason of the crowd.) Or sailors pulling at ropes. Agent said, "What are they doing?" Percipient; They are all lookiiig up. It is a balloon or some one in trouble up there. Agent said, " Why balloon ? " Percipient : They are all looking up. Agent said, " I thought of a possible scene in the future." Percipient : Oh., iVs the first man flyitig. ThaVs what he's doing up there. Agent : " Where is it ? " Percipient : /// the city.

An account of a similar instance of the transfer to a hypnotised percipient of an imagined scene has been recorded by Mr. E. M. Clissold and Mr. Auberon Herbert.!

1 See Phantasms of the Living, vol. ii. pp. 677, 678.

6

82

CHAPTER IV.

EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS AND OTHER EFFECTS.

In the two preceding chapters we have discussed experiments where the impression received by the percipient may be interpreted as having been a more or less accurate reproduction of the sensation ex- perienced by the agent, or at most a translation of it into some other simple sensation. There have now to be considered various cases in which the trans- mission of thought is productive of other results in the percipient than the simple duplication or trans- lation of a sensation. The most usual case is where the telepathic impulse leads to some action on the part of the percipient It was frequently stated by the older mesmerists^ that the operator, by a silent act of will, could induce a good subject to do or refrain from doing some prescribed or customary action. Isolated observations on such a point are little likely to compel belief; the vanity or the credulity of the recorder may be supposed to have led to his overlooking the negative instances, and attributing to his own peculiar gifts a result in reality due to chance. But, following on the clue thus

^ Cases are recorded in the Zoist and other publications of the period. See the instances, quoted in Phantasms of the Living, vol. i. pp. 89- 91, of the Rev. J. Lawson Sisson, Mr. Earth, Mr. N. Dunscombe, and Mr. H. S. Thompson. Traditions of the marvels wrought by the last- named gentleman still linger in Yorkshire society, and will no doubt demand the serious attention of future students of folk-lore.

I

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. 83

obtained, the Committee on Mesmerism appointed by the S.P.R. in 1882, to some of whose work reference has ah-eady been made (Chapter III., p. 60), succeeded in obtaining results less open to question.

Inhibition of Action by Silent Willing.

The first experiments of the kind were conducted on our friend Mr. Sidney Beard, who was for some time an Associate of the Society and took an active interest in its work. Mr. Beard, who was easily hypnotised, would be entranced by Mr. Smith, and sit in a chair with closed eyes. Then, to quote the account of a single experiment, a list of twelve Yeses and Noes in arbitrary order was written by one of ourselves and put into Mr. Smith's hand, with directions that he should successively will the subject, to respond or not to respond, in accordance with the list. A tuning-fork was then struck and held at Mr. Beard's ear, and the question, "Do you hear?" was asked by one of ourselves. This was done twelve times in succession, Mr. Beard answering or failing to answer on each occasion in accordance with the " yes " or " no " of the written list — that is to say, with the silent will of the agent. Similar trials on other occasions with Mr, Beard were equally success- ful. The percipient's own account of the matter is as follows: "During the experiments of January ist [1883], when Mr. Smith mesmerised me, I did not lose consciousness at any time, but only experienced a sensation of total numbness in my limbs. When the trial as to whether I could hear sounds was made I heard the sounds distinctly each time, but in a large number of instances I felt totally unable to acknowledge that I heard them. I seemed to know each time whether Mr. Smith wished me to say that I heard them; and as I had surrendered my will to his at the commencement of the experiment, I was unable to reassert my power of volition whilst under his

84 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE,

influence." {^Proceedings of the Soc, Psych. Research^ vol. i. p. 256.)

No. 21.— By Professor Barrett.

Further trials of the same kind were carried on in November 1883 by Professor Barrett, at his own house in Dublin. The hypnotist and agent was again Mr. G. A. Smith, the percipient a youth named Fearnley, a stranger to Mr. Smith. In the first series of trials Professor Barrett asked Fearnley, " Now will you open your hand ? " at the same time pointing to " Yes " or " No," written on a card, and held in sight of Mr. Smith, but out of view from the percipient. Mr. Smith, who was not in contact with the subject, directed his silent will in accord- ance with the written indication. In twenty experi- ments conducted under these conditions there were only three failures Later, to quote Professor Barrett,

"The experiment was varied as follows: — The word 'Yes' was written on one,, and the word * No ' on the other, of two precisely similar pieces of card. One or other of these cards was handed to Mr. Smith at my arbitrary pleasure, care of course being taken that the 'subject' had no opportunity of seeing the card, even had he been awake. When ' Yes ' was handed Mr. Smith was silently to will the ' subject ' to answer aloud in response to the question asked by me, ' Do you hear me?' When ' No' was handed Mr. Smith was to will that no response should be made in reply to the same question. The object of this series of experiments was to note the effect of increasing the distance between the wilier and the willed, — the agent and the percipient. In the first instance Mr. Smith was placed three feet from the ' subject,' who remained throughout apparently asleep in an arm-chair in one corner of my study.

"At three feet apart, 25 trials were successively made, and in every case the ' subject' responded or did not respond in exact accoi;dance with the silent will of Mr. Smith, as directed by me.

" At 6 feet apart six similar trials were made without a single failure.

"At 12 feet apart six more trials were made without a single failure.

"At 17 feet apart six more trials were made without a single failure.

I

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. 85

" In this last case Mr. Smith had to be placed outside the study door, which was then closed with the exception of a narrow chink just wide enough to admit of passing a card in or out, whilst I remained in the study observing the ' subject.' To avoid any possible indication from the tone in which I asked the question, in all cases except the first dozen experiments, I shuffled the cards face downwards, and then handed the un- known 'Yes' or 'No' to Mr. Smith, who looked at the card and willed accordingly. I noted down the result, and then, and not till then, looked at the card.

"A final experiment was made when Mr. Smith was taken across the hall and placed in the dining-room, at a distance of about 30 feet from the 'subject,' two doors, both quite closed, intervening. Under these conditions, three trials were made with success, the 'Yes' response being, however, very faint and hardly audible to me, who returned to the study to ask the usual question after handing the card to the distant operator. At this point, the 'subject' fell into a deep sleep, and made no further replies to the questions addressed to him."

Further trials were made under different condi- tions, the results being almost uniformly successful.

In interpreting these results there is no justifica- tion for assuming direct control by the agent over the organism of the percipient. Nor does the current phrase, endorsed as it is in the first case by the per- cipient himself, that the operator's will dominated the will of the subject, give an adequate account of the matter. When, as in the case of experiments pre- viously described, the percipient's impression repro- duces the sensation of the agent, there is nothing to indicate that the impulse transferred directly affects the external organs, or even the intermediate sensory centres. In the absence of any direct evidence it is at least equally probable that the higher brain centres only are concerned in the transmission in the first instance, and that the transmitted idea is reflected downwards, until it actually assumes, as in some of the experiments recorded with P, and Miss B., the form of a sensory hallucination. Upon this view no fundamental distinction need be drawn between the results before described and those now under discus- sion. In the latter case the question is not one of

86 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

transference of will or of a motor or inhibitory impulse. What is actually transferred from the agent is probably only a simple idea. Its subse- quent translation into action, or the inhibition of action, is as much the work of the percipient's mind as, in the other case, the transformation of the idea of a number into a visual hallucination. As regards the particular effect produced, it must be remembered that the prime characteristic of the hypnotic state is its openness to suggestion, and especially to suggestion coming through a particular channel. It is the establishment of this suggestible state, which consists essentially in the suppression of the control- ling faculties which normally pass judgment on the suggestions received from without, and select those which are to find response in action, that Mr. Beard describes as the surrender of his will. So that when Mr. Beard answered our questions he did what his natural courtesy led him to do ; when he maintained silence his tendency to respond to the stimulus of our questions was momentarily overcome by the stronger stimulus of the idea received from the agent. But the superior efficacy of the idea so transferred resulted not from any impulsive quality in the idea itself, but from the previously established relations between agent and percipient. The fact that experiments of this kind have rarely succeeded in the waking state is no doubt due to the inferior suggesti- bility of that state..

Actions originated by Silent Willing.

In the paper already referred to {supra, p. 31) Dr. Blair Thaw records some experiments which present us with a modification of the Willing Game, but with- out contact. In most of the experiments the person who was willed to perform a certain action — the nature of which had been previously communicated to the other experimenters in writing — was in the

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. 8/

same room as the agents. But the agents did not follow the percipient about the room, nor did the percipient look at the agents for guidance. The percipient appears to have been awake throughout the experiments, but it seems probable that her condition was not that of complete normal wake- fulness.

Of 26 experiments conducted under such con- ditions, 10 were completely and 12 partially success- ful. When, however, as in this case, there are several agents, all of whom are actually watching the movements of the percipient, it is impossible to feel convinced that no indication by the movements of the eyes or by breathing was given to the percipient to show her whether or not she was moving in the right direction. In the last four trials of the series, how- ever, the percipient was willed to fetch an object from another room which was out of sight from the agents, and it is difficult to conceive that any indication could have been given to her of the object selected.

No. 22. — By Dr. Blair Thaw.

April Tth^ 1892.

Mrs. Thaw, Percipient. Mr. M. H. Wyatt and Dr. Thaw, Agents. In the next four experhiients an object was selected in another room, and then the percipient sent in for it. No clue was given as to what part of the room.

\st Object Selected. A WoODEN CuPiD, from a corner-piece in room with eight other objects on it. — Percipient first brought a photo from the lower shelf of corner-piece, then said : " It's the wooden Cupid."

ind Object. Match-box on mantel. — Percipient seemed confused at first and brought two photos, then said: " It's the brass match-box on mantel."

yd Object. A Vellum Book on table, among twenty other books, chosen ; but a bag under one window was thought of first. — Percipient went to table, put her hand on the book, then went to the bag and took it up, then back to the table and took the vellum book and then the bag, and appeared with both. Percipient was in sight of agents during this time, but did not see them.

88 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

4M Object. Book on small table, among ten others. — Missed.

In commenting on these experiments, Dr. Thaw is himself inclined to attribute some of the results to " an indistinct motor impulse of some kind, leading the percipient near the object." But in the experi- ments above recorded, at any rate, it is sufficient, probably, to suppose the transference of the idea of the object.

Experiments of a somewhat similar nature are recorded by Dr. Ochorowicz {La Suggestion mentale, pp. 84- II 7). The subject in this case, Madame M., was sunk in the deep hypnotic state {I'etat aidiique), a condition in which she would usually remain motion- less until aroused by the doctor. Under these cir- cumstances Dr. Ochorowicz conducted upwards of forty experiments in conveying mental cornmands, a large proportion ©f which were executed by the subject with more or less exactness. These trials have the drawback above indicated, common to all experiments of the kind with the agent in the same room; moreover, each experiment appears to have extended over a considerable period, and the com- mand— e.g.^ to rise from the" chair and hand a cake from the table to Dr. Ochorowicz — was frequently executed in stages. In judging of the results, how- ever, it should be remembered that Dr. Ochorowicz has elsewhere shown himself to be acute in criticism and accurate in observation.

Some experiments made by Dr. Gibert on Madame B., and recorded by Professor Pierre Janet,^ seem open to a similar objection. Dr. Gibert communicated the mental command by touching Madame B.'s fore- head with his own whilst concentrating his thoughts on the ideas to be conveyed. It is difficult to feel sure that the success of the experiment under such conditions was not due to the command having been

* Bulletin de la Soc. de Fsychologie Physiologiqucy 1885.

I

I

f

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. 89

unconsciously mutLcred by Dr. Gibcrt within the hearing of the percipient. In the following account, however, thought-transference would seem to be the simplest explanation of the results. The narrator, unfortunately, remains anonymous ; he is, however, personally known to Dr. Dariex, the editor of the periodical from which the account is extracted, and the experiments were obviously conducted with carc.^ In this case it seems clear, since the command, though understood, was on more than one occasion disobeyed, that the idea telepathically intruded into the per- cipient's mind was not necessarily associated with an impulse to action.

No. 23.— By J. H, P.

[On the 6th December 1887], having placed M. in a deep trance, I turned my back upon her, and, without any gesture or sound whatever, gave her the following mental order : —

" When you wake up you are to go and fetch a glass, put a few drops of Eau de Cologne into it, and bring it to me."

On waking up, M. was visibly preoccupied; she could not keep still, and at last came and placed herself in front of me, exclaiming —

" What an idea to put in my head ! "

" Why do you speak so to me ? "

" Because the idea that I have got can only come from you, and I don't wish to obey,"

"Don't obey unless you like; but I wish you to tell me at once what you are thinking of."

" Well, then, I was to go and look for a glass, put some water in it, with some drops of Eau de Cologne, and take it to you ; it is really ridiculous,"

My order had then been perfectly understood for the first time. From that moment, December 6th, 1887, till to-day, with only two or three exceptions, the mental transmission, whether in the waking or sleeping state, has been most vivid. It is only disturbed at certain times, or when M, is feeling very anxious.

On the loth of December 1887, unknown to M., I hid a watch, that was not going, behind some books in my bookcase. When she arrived I put her to sleep, and gave her the following mental command : —

^ Annales des Sciences Psychiques^ vol. iii. pp. 130-133.

90 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

"Go and fetch me the watch that is hidden behind some books in the bookcase."

I sat in my armchair with M. behind me, and was careful not to look in the direction where the object was hidden.

M, suddenly got up from her armchair and went straight to the bookcase, but could not open it ; making energetic move- ments the while, whenever she touched the door, and especially the glass.

" It is there ! it is there ! I am certain : but this glass burns me ! " _

I decided to open it myself; she rushed at my books, took them out, and seized the watch, delighted to have found it.

Similar trials have been made with commands that one of my friends passed to me, written beforehand, and not in the presence of the subject, and the success has been complete ; iDut if the person who passes me the order is unknown to her, she refuses to obey, saying that the command is not mine.

M. N., who was convinced that mental transmission is a fraud, assured me that I should never be able to transmit an order from him to M.

I invited him to come to my house, at five o'clock in the evening, with a command written, which he was to give me only when M. was asleep, and outside my study.

At 5,10 N. arrived and we went out, leaving M. in a trance ; when we were separated from my study by the two intervening rooms, with all the doors shut, N. pulled out a small paper and said —

"You will read this command, we will both come back to M., and without any gestures, you will communicate it to her."

" Certainly."

In the note was written, " Give the mental command to M. to count out loud from 5 to i ; 5, 4, 3, 2, i."

We came back to my study ; I sat at my desk as usual — I am in the habit of making notes during the progress of the experiments, so as to report them with scrupulous accuracy — and I sent N.'s mental command, while pretending to write. M. suddenly exclaimed —

" Doubtless, you imagine that I cannot count ! I can count from I to 50,000, if I wish."

Mental command — " Count from 5 to i."

" No, I will not obey a strange command ; it is not a com- mand of yours."

All my efforts were useless ; we had to abandon the experi- ment. The command was certainly understood ; but M. N. retired, convinced that it had not been understood, and that even the trance was a sham I

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. 9I

Automatic Writing.

Sometimes the working of the telepathic impulse is of a more apparently mysterious kind. We have seen that Mr. Beard was fully conscious of the action of a restraining force; and Mrs. Thaw, who was in a con- dition little if at all removed from the normal, appears also to have been aware of what she was doing, if perhaps without explicit recognition of her motives at the time of performing the prescribed actions. But in the various cases now to be described the telepathic impulse seems never to have affected the normal consciousness of the percipient at all ; and the results produced through the agency of his organism were due to no recognised volition on his part. The intel- ligence directing his hand was an intelligence working below and apart from his ordinary life.

Now this subterranean intelligence presents many points of analogy with the secondary consciousness of the hypnotic subject ; in both states we find indica- tions of thought and will distinct from those of waking life, and of a memory not shared with that life. Moreover, it has been shown experimentally, by Mr. Edmund Gurney,^ Professor Pierre Janet,^ and others, that the consciousness which makes itself known through planchette is, in certain persons at any rate, identical with the consciousness found in the hypnotic trance, so far as the test of a common memory can be relied upon to prove identity. The superior susceptibility to telepathic influences, already referred to, of the hypnotic subject, may perhaps, therefore, in the light of these later experiments, be found to indicate a superior susceptibility of those parts of the brain whose workings lie below the ordinary consciousness, and reveal themselves only in the activities of trance and automatism.

^ See the account of his experiments on *' Peculiarities of certain Post-hypnotic States," Proc. S.P.R., vol. iv. pp. 268-323. ' "L'Automatisme Psychologique."

92 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

The following is an illustrative case. The account is derived from contemporary notes, made by the late Mr. P. H. Newnham, Vicar of Maker, Devonport, of a series of experiments conducted by himself and his wife during eight months in 1871.^ Mr. Newnham would write, in a book kept for the purpose, a question of the purport of which Mrs. Newnham was in ignor- ance; and Mrs. Newnham, holding her hand on a planchette, would write an answer to the question. The conditions of the experiments are described by Mr. Newnham, in an account written in 1884, as follows : —

No. 24.

" My wife always sat at a small low table, in a low chair, leaning backwards. I sat about eight feet distant, at a rather higher table, and with my back towards her while writ- ing down the questions. It was absolutely impossible that any gesture, or play of features, on my part, could have been visible or intelligible to her. As a rule she kept her eyes shut ; but never became in the slightest degree hypnotic, or even naturally drowsy."

In all 309 questions with their answers were recorded under these conditions, before the experiments were finally abandoned on account of their prejudicial effect on Mrs. Newnham's health. The extracts from Mr. Newnham's note-book given below show that Mrs. Newnham throughout had some kind of know- ledge, not always apparently complete, of the terms of the question. 2 But she was not herself consciously aware of the purport either of the question or of the answer written through her hand.

January 2()th. 13. Is it the operator's brain, or some external force, that moves the Planchette ? Answer "brain " or "force." A. Will.

^ Proc. Soc. Psych. Research^ vol. iii. pp. 6-23.

^ Mr. Newnham explains that "five or six questions were often asked consecutively without her being told of the subject that was being pursued."

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. 93

14. Is it the will of a living person, or of an immaterial spirit,

distinct from that person? Answer "person" or " spirit." A. Wife.

15. Give first the wife's Christian name; then, my favourite

name for her. (This was accurately done.)

27. What is your own name? A. Only you.

28. We are not quite sure of the meaning of the answer.

Explain. A. Wife.

Failing to get more than this at the outset, we returned to the same thought after question 114; when, having been closely pressed on another subject, we received the curt reply — " Told all I know."

February \Zth.

117. Who are you that writes, and has told all you know ? A. Wife.

118. But does no one tell wife what to write? If so, who? A. Spirit.

119. Whose spirit ? A. Wife's brain.

120. But how does wife's brain know (certain) secrets ? A. Wife's spirit unconsciously guides.

121. But how does wife's spirit know things it has never been

told? A. No external influence.

122. But by what internal influence does it know (these)

secrets ? A. You cannot know.

Mr. Nevvnham, who was a Mason, took the oppor- tunity on several occasions of questioning the planchette on details of the Masonic ritual and archaeology — of which Mrs. Newnham was of course ignorant — with very surprising results. It will be seen from the extracts which follow that Mrs. Newnham's answers showed not only an acquaint- ance with the terms of the question, but even a fragmentary knowledge of the correct answer — know- ledge which under the circumstances could hardly have been derived elsewhere than from the questioner's brain.

94 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

March 26th.

166. Of what language is the first syllable of the Great Triple

R. A. Word ? 1 A. Don't know.

167. Yes, you do. What are the three languages of which

the word is composed ? A. Greek, Egyptian, Syriac first syllable {correctly given), rest unknown.

168. Write the syllable which is Syriac. A. (First syllable correctly written.)

169. Write the syllable which is Egyptian. A. Second.

170. Can you not write the syllable itself? A. Third Greek.

174. Write down the word itself.

A. First three and last two letters were written correctly, but four incorrect letters, partly borrowed from another word of the same degree, came in the middle.

176. Why do you write a word of which I know nothing?

A. Wife tried hard to tell the word, but could not quite catch it.

177. Catch it from whom ? A. Not quite sure.

178. Not quite sure of what ?

A. I know nothing. Wife doesn't quite know, 182. Write out the prayer used at the advancement of a Mark Master Mason.

A. Almighty Ruler of the Universe and Architect of all worlds, we beseech Thee to accept this, our brother, whom we have this day received into our most honour- able Company of Mark Master Masons. Grant him to be a worthy member of our brotherhood ; and may he be in his own person a perfect mirror of all Masonic virtues. Grant that all our doings may be to Thy honour and glory, and to the welfare of all mankind.

This prayer was written off instantaneously and .very rapidly. It is a very remarkable production indeed. For the benefit of those who are not members of the craft, I may say that no prayer in the slightest degree resembling it is made use of in the Ritual of any Masonic degree ; and yet it contains more than one strictly accurate technicality connected with the degree of Mark Mason. My wife has never seen any Masonic prayers,

»

^ Previous questions had been asked on the same subject, and the first syllable had already been correctly written. On a subsequent occasion the same question was repeated and a wholly incorrect answer was given.

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. 95

whether in " Carlile," or any other real or spurious Ritual of the Masonic Order.

183. I do not know this prayer. Where is it to be found ? A. Old American Ritual.

184. Where can I get one?

A. Most likely none in England.

185. Can you not write the prayer that I make use of in my

own Lodge ? A. No, I don't know it.

Wc have to remark here not merely the exhibition of a will and an intelligence differing from the writer's normal self, but the display of a yet more alien dis- ingenuousness. Similar evasions and inventions occur more than once in the course of these experiments. Indeed, a certain degree of moral perversity is a frequent and notorious characteristic of automatic expression.

Some interesting experiments of the same kind were conducted, in the winter of 1892-93, by Mr. R. H. Buttemer, of Emanuel College, Cambridge, and Mr. H. T. Green. Throughout the series the questions were, as in the preceding case, written down, so that the percipient was completely ignorant of their purport. The following is the record of the last experiments of the series.

No. 25. — By Mr. R. H. Buttemer.

February 1 8th, 1893, 8 P.M. Mrs. H., Miss B., Mr. and Miss M. present, in addition to Mr. Green, and Messrs. S., W., and Buttemer.

Mr. Green, as usual, operated Planchette, and on this occasion sat with his back to all the other persons present.

Q. (from Mr. M.): What was I doing this afternoon?

A. i. the sun (all else illegible), ii. Enjoying the

fresh air of heaven. •

Q. What was Mr. Rogers doing in Cambridge ?

A. i. (Irrelevant, or possibly connected vaguely with the question.) ii. Ask another, but Mr. Rogers came up on im- portant business connected with the Lodge. (Correct.)

96 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

Q. Where has Mrs. M. gone ?

A. i. (Irrelevant.) ii. Far, far away, but more next time, iii. Her mother has gone to — oh, what a happy place is London ! iv. All change here for Bletchley. (Mrs. M. had possibly passed this station on her journey.)

Q. Who has won the Association Match to-day?

A. i. (Illegible.) ii. O ye simple ones, how long will ye love simplicity.'' Why, Oxford, of course. [This fact was known to some persons in the room, but not to Mr. Green.]

One of the company then suggested the attempt to get the name on a visiting card transmitted, and the question was written, "Write name on card." Mr. Green did not know that this experiment was about to be tried, and the card was picked from a pile at random. The name was John B. Bourne. A sentence was written by Mr. Green, which proved to be, "Think of one letter at a time and then see what will happen." We did so.

A. i. ] for Jerusalem, O for Omri, H for Honey, and N for Nothing, ii. B for Benjamin, O for Olive, U for Unicorn. (The remaining letters were given incorrectly.)

Q. How many of the Society's books are here? (There were two volumes oi Proceeding;s ox\ the table.)

A. i. (Irrelevant.) ii. The answer is 100-98.

Q. What is 2 x 3 ?

Two irrelevant answers were given, possibly owing to a slight disturbance in the room. The third answer was — "When that noise has ceased and S. has finished knocking the lamp over, I say 6."

A trial shortly after this, February 19th, gave no results, and the power of automatic writing appears to have entirely left Mr. Green for the present. {Proc. Soc. Psych. Research., vol. ix. pp. 61-64.)

In this, as in Mr. Newnham's case, the mode of expression is again characteristic of the automatic consciousness. It is explained by Mr. Buttemer that when two or more answers are given, the operator had been simply told to write again, after the first irrelevant answer, without being shown the question.

Table Tilting.

No. 26. — By the AUTHOR.

We pass on to experiments in which the ideas trans- mitted from the agent find other subterranean channels

I

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. 97

in the percipient's organism for their expression. Of all forms of intelligent automatism writing, next to speaking, is probably in an educated percipient the easiest, because in normal life the commonest. In the cases, therefore, recorded below the actual move- ments involved, though of a relatively simple kind, as being unaccustomed called possibly for the exercise of a degree of mental activity as high as would have been the case had writing been the vehicle of expres- sion. In the preceding chapter it was recorded, in the experiments with numbers, that some of the answers were given through the movements of a table on which the percipient's hands rested (p. 73). A series of experiments of this nature was made by the writer in November and December 1873, with the assistance of a few friends, amongst whom were Mr. F. H. Colson, now Head Master of Plymouth College, and the Rev. W. E. Smith, of Gorton, near Lowestoft. The following is a description of the methods adopted. Three or four of us would sit round a small centre-legged table, cane-bottomed chair, waste-paper basket, or metal tripod, with our hands resting on it. We found that in a few minutes the table (or other instrument) would tilt on one side, or move round and round, with considerable freedom. When these motions had once been fairly established, one or two of those present in the room would retire to a distance, keeping their backs to the table, and think of a letter of the alphabet. The table would move freely up and down, under the varying pressure of the hands laid on it, in a succession of small tilts. Those sitting at the table would count the tilts — one tilt standing for A, two for B, three for C, and so on. Excluding second trials, there were 70 experiments conducted under these conditions. The right letter was tilted in 27 cases, and in two others the next succeeding letter was given. On some occasions the proportion of successes was much higher ; thus, on the 28th November, out of a total of 16 trials, 10

7

98 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

were correct. On the ist December, on the other hand, lO trials were made without any success. It was the rule throughout that the agents should stand with their backs to the table at some distance from it, and after the first few experiments we found, or thought we found, that the thought-transference suc- ceeded best with a single agent In order that the letter might not be guessed from the context, we generally took the initial or initial and final letters only of a word ; in four cases only did the agent select as many as three consecutive letters of a word. If the letters had been arbitrarily chosen, the chances against the right letters being indicated would be 25 to I. But as the letters actually selected were in most cases constituent parts of a word, generally the initial letter, and as in some cases two or three consecutive letters were selected, the adverse chances would be reduced, roughly speaking, to something like 15 to I. But even so the results attained are sufficiently striking.^

In these experiments the percipient or percipients themselves counted the tilts ; and it is probable that occasionally one or other of those seated at the table half-consciously guided its movements in conformity with his own ideas of what the letter would be. But in a modified form of the experiment, introduced by Professor Richet, the percipients, two or three in number, were seated at one table and a printed alphabet was placed on another table behind the percipients and out of their range of vision. When

1 There were nine sittings in all, but the records of one were im- perfectly kept, and have not been preserved. In two cases the details given are insufficient ; in the notes of the first evening it is stated that the person seated at the table "failed three or four times, succeeded once in giving word of {i.e., selected from) newspaper (which agent) held in his hand." These trials have been omitted altogether from the results given in the text. On the third evening there is a record, "gave S H but got wrong afterwards." The word thought of was Sherry. I have counted this trial as two successes and two failures, judging from the other experiments recorded that not more than four consecutive letters at most would have been attempted.

r

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. 99

the first table tilted,^ under the automatic movements of the hands resting on it, it caused a bell to ring. M. Richet or some other experimenter sat at the second table and drew a pen slowly backwards and forwards over the printed alphabet. The letters to which the pen was pointing when the bell rang were noted, and it was found that they made up intelligible words and sentences, provided that in some cases the next letter or the next but one were substituted for that actually given.^ All necessary precautions were taken that the alphabet should be out of sight of the " mediums," who were in most cases personal friends of M. Richet, and whose good faith was, he believes, in all cases unimpeachable. Subjoined is an account of the results obtained on one evening. M. Richet appears from the account to have been one of those seated at the tilting table.

No. 27.— By Professor Richet.

" On the 9th of November we took the same precautions, but used an ordinary alphabet, not the circular one. The name of the ' spirit' who came to the table was given as V I L L O N-

^ In this case it will be observed the table tilted only once for each letter. The method adopted (after trial of the alternative) in my own experiments, though slower and more cumbrous, was apparently pro- ductive of more accurate results. It will be readily understood that it might be easier for the transmitted impulse to check a movement, at once uncertain and spasmodic, which had been already initiated, than to overcome, in a short space of time, the resistance of inertia and generate a new movement. The distinction may perhaps be illustrated by the difference between the amount of force required to start a railway truck at rest on the level, and that which would suffice to arrest one actually in gentle motion.

2 Of course substitutions of this kind considerably reduce the value of the results obtained, but it will be found that when full deduction has been made on this score, the coincidences remain overwhelmingly in excess of anything which could have been produced by chance.

2 In some previous experiments a circular alphabet had been used, with a view of preventing any of those seated at the first table from learning by the movements of the operator's hand what point of the alphabet he had reached. The other precautions described seemed, however, as M. Richet points out, sufficient to exclude all considerations of this kind.

100 APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.

Then we made a great noise, we repeated poetry, sang, and counted to such good purpose that P., who was at the alphabet, could hardly follow the ringing of the bell. We asked for some French poetry. The reply was —

QUSNNTKFSNEIGDRDAMSAM O U,SONT,LES,NEIGES,DANTAN

That is, *'0u sont les neiges d'Antan.?" — a verse of Villon's, obviously known to us all.

We then asked, what were the relations of Villon with the kings of France 1

KOUHTLECRUEL L O U I S, L E,C R U E L

Louis le cruel.

What book ought we to read ?

ESSAYSURDADMONINMANHP ESS A Y,SUR,D A EMONIOMANIE

The reader will understand that if I mention these experi- ments, it is not because the answers are interesting in them- selves, but because the precautions taken seemed sufficient to prevent the medium from gaining any knowledge of the move- ments of the operator at the alphabet. ... I add a few more rephes; but the number and intrinsic significance of these replies is a matter of but little importance.

FEST INALENTE LOFAMDTMREIINAJUBR I N F AN D UM,RE/INAJ U B E S RENOVAREDOLOREM RENO VARE.DOLOREM

The old spelling of the word "Rejina" should be noticed. {Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, vol. v. pp. 142, 143.)

In this case it will be observed that P. alone was in possession of the knowledge, without which all the efforts of those at the table could have produced only a meaningless sequence of letters. In some other experiments of the series the procedure was more complicated. M. Richet, standing apart from both tables, asked a question, the answer to which was given by the percipients with a certain approximation to correctness. The results, though less striking than

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. lOI

those already quoted, arc yet such as to suggest that they were not due to chance.^

Production of Local AncestJiesia.

We now pass to experiments of another kind, rcsembhng those last quoted, inasmuch as the effects were produced without the consciousness of the per- cipient, but differing in the important particular that no deliberate and conscious effort on his part could have enabled him to produce them. In experiments carried on with various subjects at intervals through the years 1883-87, at some of which the present writer assisted, Mr. Edmund Gurney had shown that it was possible by means of the unexpressed will of the agent to produce local anaesthesia in certain persons. (6'.P.i?., vol. i. pp. 257-260; ii. 201-205; iii. 453-459; v. 14-17.) In these experiments the subject was placed at a table, and his hands were passed through holes in a large brown paper screen, so that they were com- pletely concealed from his view. Mr. G. A. Smith then held his hand at a distance of two or three inches from the finger indicated by Mr. Gurney, at ^ the same time willing that it should become rigid and insensible. On subsequently applying appropriate tests it was found, as a rule, that the finger selected had actually become rigid and was insensible to pain. In the last series of 160 experiments Mr. Gurney, as well as Mr. Smith, held his hand over a particular finger. In 124 cases the finger over which Mr. Smith's hand had been held was alone affected; in 16 cases Mr. Gurney and Mr. Smith were both success- I ful; in 13 cases Mr. Gurney was successful and Mr.

^B Smith failed. In the remaining 7 cases no effect at all ^B was produced. It is noteworthy that in a series of 41 ^B similar trials, in which Mr. Smith, while holding his I^B hand in the same position, willed that no effect

I^F * Rev. Phil.y Dec. 1884; see also S.P.R., vol. ii. pp. 247 ei seq.

102 APPARITIONS ANt) tHOUGHT-tRANSFERENCE.

should be produced, there was actually no effect in 36 cases; in 4 cases the finger over which his hand was held, and in the remaining case another finger, were affected. The rigidity was tested by ask- ing the subject, at the end of the experiment, to close his hands. When he complied with the request the finger operated on — if the experiment had succeeded — would remain rigid. The insensibility was proved by pricking, burning, or by a current from an induc- tion coil. In the majority of the successful trials the insensibility was shown to be proof against all assaults, however severe.

In these earlier experiments it seemed essential to success that Mr. Smith's hand should be in close proximity to that of the subject, without any interven- ing barrier. These conditions made it difficult to exclude the possibility of the subject learning by variations in temperature, or by air currents, which finger was actually being operated on; though it is hard to conceive that the percipient could by any such means have discriminated between Mr. Gurney's hand and Mr. Smith's. On the other hand, even if this source of error was held to be excluded, the interpretation of the results remained ambiguous. As a matter of fact, Mr. Gurney himself was inclined to attribute the effects produced, not to telepathy, as ordinarily understood, but to a specific vital effluence, or, as he phrased it, a kind of nervous induction, operating directly on the affected part of the per- cipient's organism. {Proc. S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 254-259.)

With a view to test this hypothesis further experi- ments of the same kind were made by Mrs. Sidgwick during the years 1890 and 1892, the subjects being P. and Miss B. already mentioned. The percipient was throughout in a normal condition. As before, he sat at a table with his hands passed through holes in a large screen, which extended sufficiently far in all directions to prevent him from seeing either the operator or his own hands. Mr. Smith, as before,

p

»

PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS. I03

willed to produce the desired effect in the finger which had been intimated to him, either by signs or writing, by one of the experimenters. Passing over the trials, very generally successful, made under the same conditions as Mr. Gurney's experiments — i.e., with the agent's hand held at a short distance without any intervening screen from the finger selected — we will quote Mrs. Sidgwick's account of the later series performed under varied conditions. {Proc. S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 577-596.)

No. 28.— By Mrs. H. Sidgwick.

In the second division, {b\ of our experiments come those in which a glass screen was placed over the subject's hands. For the first four of these we used a framed window pane which happened to be handy. Then we obtained and used a sheet of 32 oz. glass, measuring 22 by 10 inches and Ye inch in thick- ness. This was supported on two large books placed beyond the subject's hands on each side, and in this position the upper surface of the glass was 2X inches above the surface of the table, so that there was ample room for the hands to rest under- neath without touching the glass. Mr. Smith held his hand in the usual position over the selected finger, above the glass and not touching it. Under these conditions we tried 21 experi- ments with P., of which 18 were successful, and 6 with Miss B., all successful. In the case of the 3 failures with P., no effect was produced on any finger. In one successful case, the time taken was long, and we interrupted the experiment by premature testing in the way explained above.

Division {c) includes those experiments in which Mr. Smith did not approximate his hand to that of the subject at all, but merely looked at the selected finger from some place in the same room as the subject, but out of his sight. The distances between him and the subject varied from about