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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29151-8.txt b/29151-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..059cdfd --- /dev/null +++ b/29151-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2479 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Telepathy, by W. W. Baggally + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Telepathy + Genuine and Fraudulent + +Author: W. W. Baggally + +Release Date: June 17, 2009 [EBook #29151] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TELEPATHY *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, S.D., and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE PAD THAT "BLINDFOLDS" THE YOGI + +The above is a photograph of the actual porous plaster and pads produced +by YOGA RAMA as a means of "blindfolding." The plaster is seen exactly +as it was when taken off by Mr. WILLIAM MARRIOTT. It will be seen that +the pads have shifted, allowing comparatively clear vision with one eye. +The tissue paper, making the plaster non-adhesive, will also be noticed. + + [_Page 52_] + + + + + TELEPATHY + + GENUINE AND FRAUDULENT + + BY + + W. W. BAGGALLY + + MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH + + + WITH A PREFACE BY + + SIR OLIVER LODGE, F.R.S. + + + METHUEN & CO. LTD. + 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. + LONDON + + + + +_First Published in 1917_ + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +My friend, Mr. W. W. Baggally, an experienced investigator of +supernormal phenomena, has set down some of his experiences in connexion +with the subject of Telepathy, and I heartily commend his book to the +public as the record of a careful, conscientious, and exceptionally +skilled and critical investigator. It would be difficult to find anyone +more competent by training and capacity to examine into the genuineness +of these subtle and elusive phenomena, which yet are of the utmost +importance in the development of psychological science. Telepathy, or +the direct action of mind on mind apart from the ordinary channels of +sense, opens a new chapter; it is not a coping-stone completing an +erection, but a foundation-stone on which to build. + + OLIVER J. LODGE + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +GENUINE TELEPATHY + + PAGE + + Experimental Telepathy 1 + + Spontaneous Telepathy 18 + + Telepathy between Human Beings and Animals 30 + + +PART II + +FRAUDULENT TELEPATHY + + Accounts of Cases 35 + + Description of Various Methods used by Public + Performers for effecting their So-called + Transmission of Thought 57 + + +PART III + +THE ZANCIGS + + Public Experiments 68 + + Private Experiments 70 + + Experiments before Committees 82 + + Importance of establishing Genuine Telepathy + as a Scientific Fact 92 + + + + +TELEPATHY + + + + +PART I + +GENUINE TELEPATHY + + +Sir William F. Barrett, one of the founders of the Society for Psychical +Research, more than forty years ago tried some experiments which led him +to believe that something then new to science, which he provisionally +called "thought transference" and which is now known as "telepathy," +really existed. + +At the first general meeting of the Society, on the 17th July 1882, he +read a paper entitled "First Report on Mind Reading." + +Since that date the Society has carried out a great number of +experiments which tend to show that telepathy is a scientific fact. The +evidence for its existence is twofold--that which can be gathered +experimentally, and that which arises spontaneously. To the first +category belong those experiments in the transmission of the images of +drawings or diagrams by means of an effort of the will of a person known +as the _agent_ to the mind of another person designated the +_percipient_, when the transmission is carried out otherwise than +through the ordinary channel of the senses. To the second category +belong those hallucinations of seeing a person at the moment of death or +at a crisis, evidence for which has been obtained abundantly by the +Society for Psychical Research and has been embodied in the work +_Phantasms of the Living_, and in the _Census of Hallucinations_--a +report on which appeared in the _Proceedings_ of the Society in 1894. + +There are several theories to explain the action of telepathy. The first +compares it to wireless telegraphy. On this hypothesis it is supposed +that it is due to ethereal wave action:--Thought causes motion in the +brain cells of the agent, the cells then impart motion to the +surrounding ether in the form of waves which impinge on the brain cells +of the percipient and give rise to a corresponding thought to that which +started the ethereal wave motion. + +This theory offers great difficulties. An opponent to it points out that +"A wireless message is transmitted by a succession of single ethereal +wave impulses produced by the electric sparks at the starting station +and received by the coherer at the receiving station, whereas a diagram +to be transmitted would require a number of brain-waves produced +simultaneously and arranged in the form of the diagram." + +Another mode of putting the matter recently advanced is that the agent +does not transmit his thought, but that the percipient reads +clairvoyantly what is in the agent's mind. + +There is also the spiritualistic theory. It is asserted that an external +entity, or spirit, conveys the images or thoughts from one mind to +another. + +Another theory is that telepathy takes place in the subconscious mind, +and that the subconscious mind of the agent is in communication with +the subconscious mind of the percipient by means of the universal mind +underlying all things and of which individual subconscious minds form +part. + +Not one of these theories has been accepted as proved by the Society for +Psychical Research. In cases of spontaneous telepathy it is now +generally believed that the appearance of a person at the time of death +or at a crisis is not caused by an objective bodily ghost, but arises +from a telepathic impact from the agent formulating itself into his +image in the mind of the percipient. + +In the case of two persons seeing an apparition at the same time, this +may be due to the two percipients receiving each, separately, a +telepathic impression, or there may be only one percipient who +telepathically impresses the hallucination on the mind of the second +person. + +I will now proceed to relate some cases of telepathy which have come +under my personal observation. My first experiment in the transmission +of images of drawings and diagrams took place in the rooms of the +Society for Psychical Research in May 1902. A private lady, Miss M. +Telbin, acted as percipient, and I acted as agent. There were present at +the time Mr. J. G. Piddington, Honorary Secretary of the Society, and +Mr. Thomas, the then Acting Secretary. + +During the first experiment Miss Telbin, who was a stranger to me, sat +with her back towards a large opaque screen. In front of her stood a +small table upon which rested a crystal ball. She was asked to gaze at +the crystal and to describe any vision that might appear to form itself +therein. I may parenthetically remark that the object of crystal-gazing +is to concentrate the mind and to withdraw it from outward influences. +The vision seen in the crystal does not exist objectively, but only in +the mind of the seer. On the other side of the screen, entirely hidden +from the view of Miss Telbin, sat Mr. Piddington and myself. This +gentleman proceeded to take from a box, which was behind the screen and +on the floor between his and my chairs, various articles, and to hand +them silently, one at a time, to me. I then concentrated my thoughts +successively on each article. Miss Telbin gave an account of what she +saw in the crystal, and Mr. Thomas, who sat in such a position that both +Mr. Piddington and myself were hidden from his view, took notes of what +occurred. + +The first article handed me was a _Windsor Magazine_, on the cover of +which there was an engraving of Windsor Castle. I concentrated my +thoughts on this engraving, and Miss Telbin then gave a description of +the vision that presented itself to her mental view. + +She first observed that she could see trees on the left side of the +picture, and cottages also on the left, and that there was water. + +These details were correct so far as they went, but the subsequent +details that she gave were incorrect, and the experiment was abandoned +as a failure. I then replaced the magazine in the box from which it had +been taken, so that Miss Telbin had no opportunity of seeing the +magazine during the experiment nor after. + +Other experiments were being tried when Miss Telbin spontaneously said +that she had had a vision of Windsor Castle. + +This experiment may be regarded as a case of deferred telepathy. + +Another experiment with the same lady, in which simultaneous double +telepathy occurred, is of better evidential value. + +Miss Telbin again sat with her back to the screen, and instead of the +crystal a piece of paper and a pencil were placed on the table in front +of her. + +This time Mr. Thomas and I sat behind the screen hidden from her view, +and Mr. J. G. Piddington took notes. Mr. Thomas and I acted as +simultaneous agents. We each held a small piece of cardboard with a +diagram on it known to the agent viewing it, but not to the other agent. +These diagrams belonged to the Society for Psychical Research and had +not been seen by Mr. Thomas nor by me previous to the experiment. They +were in a box which was at our feet behind the screen. We each took a +diagram from the box, taking care that we did not see each other's +diagram. + +We concentrated our minds on our respective diagrams, and Miss Telbin +drew her impressions on the piece of paper in front of her. The +following drawings show the results:-- + +[Illustration: + + MR. BAGGALLY'S + DIAGRAM. + + MISS TELBIN'S + DRAWING. + + MR. THOMAS'S + DIAGRAM. + + MISS TELBIN'S + DRAWING.] + +At the time that Miss Telbin got the impression of the diagram with +three sections, she made the remark that it looked like three leaves. + +The correspondence between the drawings and the diagrams is very great, +and difficult to account for by chance. + +The following points have to be considered. First, that Miss Telbin only +made two drawings and not many from which two might have been selected +in which there was a resemblance to the diagrams. Secondly, that Mr. +Thomas's diagram was correctly reproduced although in a reversed +position (the reversal of a figure sometimes happens in experiments in +telepathy). Thirdly, that my diagram of three triangles, although not +reproduced in the form of triangles, was drawn correctly as regards +there being three sections, and that the relative position of the +sections was given correctly. Fourthly, that Miss Telbin had not +previously seen any of the diagrams, and therefore the chances against +her being able to hit upon any diagram which was then being used were +very great. Fifthly, that the chances against her being able to hit upon +two diagrams simultaneously were even greater. + +The explanation that the result might have been due to collusion between +the persons experimenting of course cannot be entertained, at least by +myself, who was one of the experimenters. + +It was not possible for the percipient to see through the large screen +which was behind her, and there were no mirrors in the room in which the +small diagrams could have been reflected. No word was spoken to give her +the slightest clue. These two successful telepathic experiments led to +further ones at a distance between this lady and myself. + +It will be of interest to insert here an account of an experiment in +telepathy, similar to the one I have just described, between two agents +and one percipient, which Sir Oliver Lodge carried out in the year 1884. + +When the experiment was tried with Miss Telbin, Mr. Thomas, and myself I +was not aware that Sir Oliver Lodge had already tried an experiment of a +like nature. + + + SIR OLIVER LODGE'S ACCOUNT + + "My own first actual experience of thought transference, or + experimental telepathy, was obtained in the years 1883 and + 1884 at Liverpool, when I was invited by Mr. Malcolm Guthrie + of that city to join in an investigation which he was + conducting with the aid of one or two persons who had turned + out to be sensitive, from among the employees of the large + drapery firm of George Henry Lee & Co. + + "A large number of these experiments had been conducted + before I was asked to join, throughout the spring and autumn + of 1883, but it is better for me to adhere strictly to my own + experience and to relate only those experiments over which I + had control. + + "Most of these experiments were confirmations of the kind of + thing that had been observed by other experimenters. But one + experiment which I tried was definitely novel, and, as it + seems to me, important; since it clearly showed that when two + agents are acting, each contributes to the effect, and that + the result is due, not to one alone, but to both combined. + The experiment is thus described by me in the columns of + _Nature_, vol. xxx., page 145, for 12th June 1884:-- + + "_An Experiment in Thought Transference_ + + "Those of your readers who are interested in the + subject of thought transference, now being + investigated, may be glad to hear of a little + experiment which I recently tried here. The series + of experiments was originated and carried on in + this city by Mr. Malcolm Guthrie, and he has + prevailed on me, on Dr. Herdman, and on one or two + other more or less scientific witnesses, to be + present on several occasions, critically to examine + the conditions, and to impose any fresh ones that + we thought desirable. I need not enter into + particulars, but I will just say that the + conditions under which apparent transference of + thought occurs from one or more persons, + steadfastly thinking, to another in the same room + blindfold and wholly disconnected from the others, + seem to me absolutely satisfactory, and such as to + preclude the possibility of conscious collusion on + the one hand or unconscious muscular indication on + the other. + + "One evening last week--after two thinkers, or + agents, had been several times successful in + instilling the idea of some object or drawing, at + which they were looking, into the mind of the + blindfold person, or percipient--I brought into the + room a double opaque sheet of thick paper with a + square drawn on one side and a St. Andrew's cross + or X on the other, and silently arranged it between + the two agents so that each looked on one side + without any notion of what was on the other. The + percipient was not informed in any way that a novel + modification was being made; and, as usual, there + was no contact of any sort or kind--a clear space + of several feet existing between each of the three + people. I thought that by this variation I should + decide whether one of the two agents was more + active than the other; or, supposing them about + equal, whether two ideas in two separate minds + could be fused into one by the percipient. + + "In a very short time the percipient made the + following remarks, every one else being silent: + 'The thing won't keep still.' 'I seem to see things + moving about.' 'First I see a thing up there, and + then one down there.' 'I can't see either + distinctly.' The object was then hidden, and the + percipient was told to take off the bandage and to + draw the impression in her mind on a sheet of + paper. She drew a square, and then said, 'There was + the other thing as well,' and drew a cross inside + the square from corner to corner, saying + afterwards, 'I don't know what made me put it + inside.' + + [Illustration: ORIGINALS.] + + [Illustration: REPRODUCTION.] + + "The experiment is no more conclusive as evidence + than fifty others that I have seen at Mr. + Guthrie's, but it seems to me somewhat interesting + that two minds should produce a disconnected sort + of impression on the mind of the percipient, quite + different from the single impression which we had + usually obtained when two agents were both looking + at the same thing. Once, for instance (to take a + nearly corresponding case under those conditions), + when the object was a rude drawing of the main + lines in a Union Jack, the figure was reproduced by + the percipient as a whole without misgiving; + except, indeed, that she expressed a doubt as to + whether its middle horizontal line were present or + not, and ultimately omitted it." + + [Illustration: ORIGINAL.] + + [Illustration: REPRODUCTION.] + +As I have said, the two successful telepathic experiments which I have +described, and which took place in the rooms of the Society for +Psychical Research, led to further experiments at a distance between +Miss Telbin and myself. + + AT 7 P.M. + + I drew the following diagram + + [Illustration] + + AT 7 P.M. + + Miss TELBIN'S drawings + + [Illustration] + + AT 7:10 P.M. + + I fixed my attention on a + flower + + [Illustration] + + AT 7:10 P.M. + + Miss TELBIN obtained several + incorrect scrawls, but amongst + them one under which + she had written the + words + + [Illustration] + + "First impression" + + AT 7:20 P.M. + + I looked at a pair of opera + glasses, at which I gazed first + lengthwise + + [Illustration] + + then sideways + + [Illustration] + + AT 7:20 P.M. + + Miss TELBIN'S drawings + were-- + + First impression [Illustration] + + A series of crescents [Illustration] + + And this drawing [Illustration] + + Also four drawings + + [Illustration] + +It was arranged that we should sit on certain days in the week, and that +at a fixed hour I should act as agent and transmit to her my thoughts, +she being at the time in her residence in West Hampstead, and I in +Kensington. The distance between these localities as the crow flies is +four miles. The result of our first sitting, which took place on 20th +May 1902, is shown on the preceding page. + +There was no possibility that the agent or the percipient could have +copied the drawings, as the letters embodying them that we wrote to each +other were posted on the evening of the same day and received by the +first post the following morning, having crossed in the post. + +Telepathy was clearly indicated in this experiment. + +We continued trying experiments for some months after, but did not get +such good results as at the beginning. On one occasion, however, we +obtained a successful negative result. I was not feeling well, and did +not fix my attention on any object. On the following morning Miss +Telbin's letter said, "I could get nothing from you last night." It +was, to say the least, curious that she should not have received an +impression on the only night that I had not attempted to experiment. + +On another occasion, when Miss Telbin was in London and I in Folkestone, +I arranged to transmit to her the impression of a diagram on a certain +day at 8 p.m. It chanced that on that evening there was a performance at +the theatre, at which my wife wished to be present. I therefore decided +to telegraph to Miss Telbin that I would be unable to try the experiment +that night, but after a good deal of hesitation I changed my mind, and +thought that I would endeavour to transmit the impression of the diagram +on my way to the theatre. The letter that I received from Miss Telbin +the next day was to this effect:-- + + "I got a good deal of writing last night which was + illegible, but amongst it I read the words 'going out' and + 'rain.'" + +Now this may be a mere coincidence, but it was strange that the words +"going out" should correctly represent the idea that was in my mind +during a great part of the preceding day. I had much worried, +hesitating whether I should telegraph or not. + +The result appears to indicate the transmission of my mental state. The +word "rain" represented correctly the state of the weather at +Folkestone, but, as it often rains in England, this was of no evidential +value. + +In regard to spontaneous telepathy I may bring before the reader two +cases which I personally investigated, the percipient in the first case +being a gentleman who belonged to a circle which regularly met for the +study of psychic phenomena, and of which circle I was a member. + +The percipient, Mr. John Polley, gave me an account of his vision as +follows:-- + + "At a séance held within sound of Big Ben on 8th May 1901, + there were present Mrs. E. V. M., Mr. Thomas Atwood, and + myself. As Mr. Atwood resumed his seat after delivering an + address (about 8.30 p.m.) I became aware of a vision which + presented itself as being some five feet distant from me, + and displayed part of the interior of a room, namely, that + part where the stove stood. The fire in the stove was small + and dull, and close beside it was an overturned chair. In + front of the fire was something that looked like a + fire-guard or clothes-horse, but this was not clear to me. + Playing, or climbing over this article, was a child, who + fell forward, and when it regained its feet I noticed that + its dress was on fire. I made no reference to the matter at + the time, as I had an impression that the vision might be + connected with some occurrence in the family of Mrs. M., and + I was averse to mentioning it for fear of awakening sad + memories. Shortly afterwards the whole vision was repeated, + and this time I had an uncontrollable impulse to speak. Upon + describing what I had seen for the second time, I was much + relieved to hear that the matter was not recognized as being + connected in any way with the sitters. I may mention here + that the child appeared to be about three years old, and, + judging from the style of dress, I described it as a girl, + although the vision would apply equally to a boy, as at that + early age the short clothes worn by both sexes would be very + similar. + + "Next Thursday morning, 9th May 1901, upon awakening, I + described to my wife the events of the previous evening's + séance. On the evening of the same day, namely, Thursday, + 9th May, I was out with a friend, and upon my return home at + 11.50 p.m., my sister, Mary Louisa Polley, who resided with + me at the time, made the remark, 'I have a piece of bad news + for you.' 'Well,' I replied, 'what is it? Let me know.' And + she answered, 'Brother George's little son, Jacky, has been + burned to death.' Like a flash I realized the connexion of + the sad event with my vision of the previous night. I then + asked my sister, 'How did you know this, and when?' She + replied, 'Mr. Fred Sinnett told me when he came over to see + us this evening.' + + (Signed) "JOHN POLLEY" + +I obtained from the other sitters at the séance the following +statement:-- + + "At the séance held on the evening of Wednesday, 8th May + 1901, at which were present Mrs. E. V. M., Mr. Thomas + Atwood, and Mr. John Polley, we, the undersigned, testify + that Mr. John Polley gave to us a description of a vision of + the burning of a child which he saw at this séance. + + (Signed in full) "E. V. M. + + "THOMAS ATWOOD" + +I personally interviewed Mr. John Polley's wife and sister and received +a written statement from each confirming Mr. Polley's account. + +A local paper containing an account of the inquest on the child states +that the accident took place on Tuesday, 7th May, and the child was +taken to a hospital immediately and there died. The father of the child +wrote to me as follows:-- + + "DEAR SIR,--In reply to your inquiry respecting my late son, + John Frederick, I beg to say that on Tuesday, 7th May, my + wife went out to do some shopping, leaving my son, aged two + years and two months, in a bedroom with another brother aged + seven. Whilst the elder brother was getting some toys to + play with, the deceased thrust some paper in the fire, + pulled it out again, and set fire to his clothes. Some + neighbours took him to the Children's Hospital, Paddington + Green, where he passed away on Wednesday, 8th May, at 11.45 + a.m. No intimation of this was given by myself or any member + of our family to my brother, Mr. John Polley, until a friend + of the family called at my address on Thursday, 9th May, + between 1 and 2 p.m., when we informed him of the sad loss + that we had sustained, and he told us that he intended + calling on my brother that evening, and we asked him if he + would communicate the news to my brother and sister who + reside at Church Street, Stoke Newington. Of course, Sir, + you know I am antagonistic to your views, but my brother has + told me it is for the interests of science. If this is so, I + take great pleasure in its furtherance.--Yours sincerely, + + (Signed) "FREDERICK GEORGE POLLEY" + +In the above case it appears to me that the vision of the burning child +which Mr. John Polley saw arose out of a spontaneous telepathic +impression, either from the mind of the father of the child to his +brother's (Mr. John Polley's mind), or from the mind of one of the +persons who was cognizant of the sad event. + +In regard to the second case of spontaneous telepathy to which I have +referred, I cannot do better than to give the account of same as it +appeared in the _Journal of the Society for Psychical Research_ of June +1912:-- + + "The following case of a reciprocal telepathic impression + occurring to two persons at the same time has been + communicated to us by Mr. W. W. Baggally. Both Miss Emma + Steele and Mr. Claude Burgess, the lady and gentleman + concerned in the case, are known personally to Mr. Baggally. + + "Miss Steele writes as follows:-- + + "'16 and 17 SILLWOOD PLACE, + "'BRIGHTON, _13th March 1912_ + + "'Mr. Claude Burgess, who is an invalid, had been + staying at my private hotel, at the above address, + for some months. He left on 15th February to take + up his residence at No. 10 Belgrave Place, Kemp + Town, Brighton. In the interval between the date + of his leaving and the night of the 5th inst., + when I had the remarkable dream (if it can be + called a dream) which I am about to relate, I had + not seen Mr. Burgess, and nothing had occurred to + cause me to think particularly about him. + + "'On the above night I retired to rest at my usual + time. I awoke finding myself standing in the + middle of my room and answering, "All right, I'm + coming," to Mr. Burgess, who, I thought, called + three times: "Miss Steele! Miss Steele! Miss + Steele!" + + "'By the time I had put on my dressing-gown and + lighted the gas I was fully awake. I then + remembered Mr. Burgess was no longer in the house. + I looked at the clock and noticed it was exactly 3 + a.m. When I came downstairs next morning I told my + cook my dream, and remarked I hoped nothing had + happened to Mr. Burgess. During the next day, + Wednesday, 6th March, in the afternoon, a man + called while I was out and left a note from Mr. + Burgess, which I enclose. I was much surprised by + its contents. It struck me most forcibly getting + it from him, as he is paralysed and has to write + with great difficulty with his left hand. He very + seldom writes now, so it must have made a great + impression on him seeing me as he relates in his + letter. + + "'EMMA M. STEELE' + + "The letter from Mr. Burgess to Miss Steele referred to + above, which is now in our possession, was as follows:-- + + "'10 BELGRAVE PLACE, BRIGHTON + + "'MY DEAR EMMA,--I had a funny dream about you + last night. I dreamed that you appeared at about 3 + a.m. Just a glimpse of you. It's funny, isn't + it?--Yours, + + "'CLAUDE BURGESS' + + "Miss Steele's cook made the following statement to Mr. + Baggally:-- + + "'_13th March 1912_ + + "'On Wednesday morning, the 6th March last, Miss + Emma Steele came down from her bedroom at 8.30. I + saw she was looking pale. I asked her if she were + not well. She replied that she had had a strange + dream. She heard Mr. Burgess call her three times. + She told me that she suddenly jumped up and put + her dressing-gown on. By the time she had put on + her dressing-gown and lit the gas she remembered + Mr. Burgess had left the house. She said it was + about 3 o'clock a.m. when she heard Mr. Burgess + call. + + (Signed) "'SARAH POLLARD' + + "The following statement was written by Mr. Baggally on 13th + March 1912, from Mr. Claude Burgess's dictation:-- + + "'On Tuesday night, 5th March 1912, I woke up at + about 3 a.m. with a start. I saw Miss Emma Steele + standing at the door of my bedroom. I had closed + the door, but she appeared to have opened it. She + was attired in her ordinary dress. + + "'I was much surprised. It was an absolutely + distinct apparition. I had not been thinking of + her the previous day, and I cannot tell why she + appeared to me. + + "'The apparition lasted about five seconds. I was + not at all frightened, and went to sleep + immediately after. + + "'I was so struck by what I had seen that, next + morning, the 6th March, at about 11 o'clock, I + wrote a letter to Miss Steele which I handed to + Mr. William Watkins, the proprietor of the + establishment where I now reside, for him to send + to Miss Steele. In this letter I told Miss Steele + that I had dreamed that she had appeared to me on + the previous night. + + (Signed) "'CLAUDE BURGESS' + + "In reply to Mr. Baggally's personal inquiries, Mr. Claude + Burgess stated that it was the first time that he had had a + hallucination of this kind, and he had not had one since. + + _Statement by Mr. William Watkins_ + + + "'10 BELGRAVE PLACE, + "'BRIGHTON, _13th March 1912_ + + "'Mr. Claude Burgess delivered to me a letter + which he had written to Miss Steele, at about 11 + a.m. on 6th March, which I handed to a man of the + Church Army Labour Home to take to Miss Steele. + The same morning at 8 a.m. Mr. Burgess told me he + had dreamt of Miss Steele. + + "'WILLIAM WATKINS' + + _Statement by Mr. Baggally_ + + "'I called on the afternoon of the 13th March 1912 + at the offices of the Church Army Labour Home, St. + James Street, Brighton, and saw the Secretary, who + showed me an entry in their books confirming the + fact that, at the request of Mr. William Watkins, + a man in their employ had delivered a letter to + Miss Emma Steele of 16 Sillwood Place, Brighton, + in the afternoon of 6th March 1912. + + "'I have interviewed all the persons connected + with this case, and they confirmed their + respective statements. + + "'W. W. BAGGALLY' + + "In reply to our further questions as to whether Mr. + Burgess's experience was a dream or a waking hallucination, + Mr. Baggally wrote to us on 1st April 1912:-- + + "'I had an interview with Mr. Burgess to-day, and + the following is the information I received from + him respecting the points you raise. He said to + me:-- + + "'"(1) I used the word 'dream' in my letter to + Miss Steele for want of a better word. (2) I woke + up and then had the vision of Miss Steele. (3) I + did not notice anything in the room at the time I + had the vision. The room appeared dark. (4) Miss + Steele appeared to me in a bright light, not + self-luminous or phosphorescent, but just as she + would have appeared in daylight. She appeared to + me in the part of the room where the door was."' + + "Mrs. Baggally sends us the following statement enclosed in + a letter dated 27th April 1912:-- + + "'I was in the drawing-room of Miss E. Steele's + sister on the evening of Wednesday, 6th March, + when Miss Emma Steele came in, saying in an + excited manner, "Where is Mr. Baggally? He will be + so interested in this." + + "'She held in her hand a letter from Mr. Burgess, + and proceeded to tell me that the previous night + she had heard, as she thought, Mr. Burgess fall + on the floor of the bedroom over her own. She + sprang out of bed. + + "'Finding herself in the middle of the room, she + heard him call "Miss Steele!" three times. She + then suddenly remembered that Mr. Burgess was no + longer living in her hotel. She struck a light, + looked at the clock, and found it was 3 o'clock. + The following morning she felt so tired that when + giving orders to her cook, the latter noticed her + fatigue and commented upon it. She told the cook + the reason was that she heard Mr. Burgess + apparently calling her at 3 o'clock. + + "'Miss Steele proceeded to say that Mr. Burgess + had, curiously enough, sent her that afternoon the + note which at that moment she held in her hand, + and in which he told her that he dreamt she had + appeared to him at 3 a.m. the previous night. + + "'Miss Steele appeared much impressed and wondered + if anything had happened to Mr. Burgess. I + informed my husband that same night, on his return + home, of what Miss E. Steele had told me. + + "'LAURA E. BAGGALLY' + + "'On my return home on the evening of 6th March + my wife related to me what appears in her + statement above. + + "'W. W. BAGGALLY'" + +The above case is evidentially a good one, inasmuch as both Miss Emma +Steele and Mr. Burgess each reported on the morning of 6th March (the +one to her cook and the other to his landlord) their experiences of the +previous night before either of them was aware that a reciprocal +telepathic impression had occurred between them. + +There appears to be evidence that telepathy can also occur between the +mind of a human being and that of an animal. The reader will doubtless +recollect Mr. H. Rider Haggard's case which appeared in the public +press. This gentleman, on the night of Saturday, 9th July 1904, dreamed +that a favourite dog of his eldest daughter was lying on its side among +brushwood by water, and that it was trying to transmit in an undefined +fashion the knowledge that it was dying. Next day the dog was missing. +The body of the dog was subsequently found floating in the water near a +bridge. An examination of the attendant circumstances pointed to the +dog having met its death on the night of Mr. Rider Haggard's dream. As a +result of this gentleman having made public this experience, he received +from numerous correspondents accounts of telepathy between the minds of +the writers of the letters and the minds of animals. These accounts were +sent by Mr. Rider Haggard to the Secretary of the S.P.R., who handed +them to me for investigation. + +A very good case was that communicated by Lady C. The following is the +account of her experience:-- + + "On one hot Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1900 I went, + after luncheon, to pay my customary visit to the stables to + give sugar and carrots to the horses, among the number being + a favourite mare named Kitty. She was a shy, nervous, + well-bred animal, and there existed between us a great and + unusual sympathy. I used to ride her every morning before + breakfast (whatever the weather might be)--quiet, solitary + rides on the cliffs which overhung the sea at Castle F., and + it always seemed to me that Kitty enjoyed that hour in the + freshness of the day as much as I did. On this particular + afternoon I left the stables, and walked along to the + garden, a distance of a quarter of a mile, and established + myself under a tree with an interesting book, fully + intending to remain there for a couple of hours. After about + twenty minutes an uncomfortable sensation came between me + and my reading, and at once I felt sure that there was + something the matter with Kitty. I tried to put the feeling + from me, and to go on with my book, but the impression grew + stronger, and I felt compelled to hasten back to the + stables. I went straight to Kitty's box and found her + 'cast,' and in urgent need of help. The stablemen were in a + distant part of the stables, whence I fetched them to have + the mare up. Their surprise was great to find me in the + stables for the second time that afternoon." + +I wrote to Lady C., and received the following reply:-- + + "_27th December 1904_ + + "Lady C. would be glad indeed to have the case investigated, + as it always seemed to her to be of the greatest possible + interest. At the same time, it may be difficult at this date + to get a statement from the stablemen, one of whom is + somewhere in England, but Lady C. will try to do so. She is + absolutely convinced that no one entered the stable. Had the + stablemen done so they would at once have helped the mare to + get up, and anyone else would have given the alarm. It seems + a direct case of telepathy from animal mind to human." + +Lady C. afterwards sent me a statement from a former coachman; it is +this:-- + + "_31st December 1904_ + + "I was coachman at Castle F. at the time. Lady C. came to + the stables after luncheon as usual on a Sunday afternoon + with carrots and sugar for the horses. Kitty was then loose + in her box and quite well. I then went to my room over the + stables, the other stablemen being also upstairs, and to my + surprise, after half an hour or three-quarters of an hour + later, her ladyship, who had been to the garden, called me + and the other stablemen to come and help Kitty up, as she + was lying 'cast'[1] in her box. No one had gone into the + stable in the interval. + + (Signed) "E. N." + +[Footnote 1: This word is used by veterinary surgeons to describe the +state of a horse that has fallen down in its box in a stable and cannot +rise.] + +Telepathy may possibly exist between the mind of an animal and that of a +human being and _vice versa_, but a sufficient number of cases have not +been collected to establish this as a fact. + + + + +PART II + +FRAUDULENT TELEPATHY + + +I now come to another class of so-called thought transference--that +exhibited at public entertainments in which genuine telepathy plays no +part. + +On the 25th November 1912 Miss Isabel Newton, the Secretary of the +Society for Psychical Research, and I attended the demonstration given +by Yoga [_sic_] Rama of his alleged occult powers at the "Little +Theatre," Adelphi. + +Accounts had appeared in the public press of a previous private +performance given by this so-called Abyssinian Mystic, at which Sir John +Simon, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Bernard Shaw, and Mr. Anthony Hope had +assisted, and it was stated that Yoga Rama had been able to read the +thoughts of the Solicitor-General by supernormal means. + +In order to demonstrate, in a public manner, the alleged occult power of +this "psychic," a stage performance was given at the "Little Theatre" on +the afternoon of the above-mentioned date. A large audience was present, +and their expectations of witnessing manifestations of an occult nature +were raised by the contents of the programme, wherein it appeared that +Yoga Rama was to give a demonstration of "The power of mind over mind" +by means of-- + + "1. Clairaudience. + + "2. The possibility of the interpretation of vibrations + without the aid of sound. + + "3. Psychometry by sense of touch. + + "4. Telepathy. The disclosure of names thought of by persons + in the audience. + + "5. Disclosure of personalities by subconscious means. + + "6. Revelations by a circumstantial chain of mind pictures. + + "7. Various demonstrations of ideas silently conveyed to the + spectator by suggestion. + + "8. Descriptions of cities and places by mind pictures. + + "9. Messages." + +Before Yoga Rama made his appearance a gentleman (a Mr. Fletcher) +delivered a short speech from the stage. He stated that the "Yoga" had +acquired his occult powers by contemplation after many years' study. He +went on to say that in the Eastern World the occult powers of the mind +had been more studied than in the Western World, but at the present day +the Western World looked upon these powers with much less prejudice than +formerly. + +After Mr. Fletcher had retired, Yoga Rama made his appearance from +between the centre of two curtains which hung at the back of the stage. +He was attired in a long loose black gown and wore a large crimson +turban. He advanced to the front of the stage and made a speech which +had a smattering of a theosophical discourse. He described four kinds of +Yogi. The first kind, he said, was frequently met in India. These Yogi +worked on the physical plane and produced effects resembling the feats +of a conjurer. The second kind worked in the mental plane (to this +class he implied that he belonged). The third dealt with the spiritual +problems of life. The fourth was absorbed in meditation. + +He continued his speech by saying that he required the sympathy of the +persons with whom he would experiment. If they mentally opposed him he +could do nothing, but if their minds were sympathetic and not +antagonistic he would succeed. + +The speeches of Mr. Fletcher and of Yoga Rama still further raised the +expectations of the audience that they were about to witness that +afternoon a demonstration of the power of mind over mind by supernormal +means. + +Yoga Rama, after the conclusion of his speech, called for thirty persons +(ladies and gentlemen) to come upon the stage and form a Committee. A +gentleman and I first answered the call. We were soon followed by a rush +of ladies and gentlemen who rather inconveniently filled the stage, but +this did not interfere with the performance, as the majority of the +ladies and gentlemen kept at the back of the stage while Yoga Rama +carried out his experiments with a limited number of the members of the +Committee. In order to be more at his ease, Yoga Rama removed his +turban. I placed it under a table which stood on the stage. I then had a +good look at him. I found he was a black man with short crisp curly +hair. From his appearance and the fluency with which he speaks English, +I came to the conclusion that he is not an Abyssinian, but an American +or West Indian negro. + +Amongst the members of the Committee were Mr. Zancig and Mr. William +Marriott. Both of these gentlemen I have had the pleasure of knowing for +some years. They, together with Mr. Charles Guttwoch (a friend of Mr. +Marriott), three or four other gentlemen, and myself, were the only +members of the Committee who actively endeavoured to ascertain whether +Yoga Rama's experiments depended for their success on trickery or on +other causes. The other members of the Committee remained passive +spectators. As regards the lady members with whom Yoga Rama tried a few +experiments, they declared themselves, at the conclusion of the +performance, to be believers in his alleged supernormal claims. + +Before the experiments commenced, Yoga Rama asked that some one should +blindfold him with some articles which lay on a small table in the +centre of the stage. These consisted of two pieces of folded paper just +large enough to cover the eyebrows and eyes, a piece of porous plaster +perforated with holes, a thin white cotton handkerchief, two gloves, and +a long red silk scarf. Mr. Marriott offered to blindfold him. I stood +close to him while this was being done. Mr. Marriott placed the pieces +of paper first on Yoga Rama's eyes, then the porous plaster, then the +cotton handkerchief, after this the two gloves, and finally the red +scarf which he wound several times round his head. The tip of Yoga +Rama's nose could be seen under the plaster, the white cotton +handkerchief, and the scarf. Yoga Rama, who remained standing, then +requested some one to sit on a chair in front of him, to think of a +name, then to hold his left hand (_i.e._ the sitter's left hand) in +front of the sitter's face, and to trace on the palm of the left hand +with the forefinger of the right the first letter of the name thought +of. The sitter was then asked to give taps on his left hand or make +movements in the air with his right hand corresponding to the number of +letters of which the name thought of consisted. When Yoga Rama suggested +(as he subsequently did) that the name of a flower or of a city should +be thought of, he requested that the same procedure of tracing the first +letter of the name and giving a number of taps or making movements with +the right hand corresponding to the number of letters should be +followed, but when he suggested that a play of Shakespeare should be +thought of he only asked that the first one or two letters of the title +should be traced on the palm of the left hand of the sitter with the +forefinger of the other hand. He did not then ask that taps or movements +of the right hand should be given or made. About an hour and a half of +the first part of the performance was taken up by experiments of the +above nature. These were varied only by one experiment of telling the +title of a hymn which a lady thought of, one of reading the thoughts of +a young lady, and one experiment with playing cards. + +Yoga Rama then made a long speech about happiness depending on our own +selves and our being what we willed ourselves to be. He asserted that he +had overcome in himself the passion of anger. He laboured these points +so much and repeated himself so often that it became manifest he was +making the speech solely with the object of filling up the time. + +The patience of the Acting Committee became exhausted, and one of the +members advanced to the front of the stage, interrupted Yoga Rama, and, +appealing to the audience, said he had no doubt but that he had their +support when he asserted that they had come to the theatre not to hear +speeches but to witness experiments. Yoga Rama brought his speech +abruptly to a close after saying he would now demonstrate the power he +had acquired of controlling the functions of his body and of rendering +it insensible to pain. To show the control over his body he asked two +members of the Committee to stand by his side and to look at their +watches and note the length of time he was able to cease from breathing. +To show his insensibility to pain he said he would stand barefooted on a +board studded with long nails, and also stand on broken glass. + +I have given an account of the nature of the performance with which Yoga +Rama favoured us. I will now proceed to describe the experiments more in +detail and to comment upon them. + +Mr. Marriott was the first person to sit on the chair in front of Yoga +Rama. He was told to hold his left hand in front of his face, to trace +the first letter of the name thought of on the palm of his left hand +with the forefinger of the right, and give the taps or make the +movements in the air with his right hand in the manner already +described. Mr. Marriott, instead of holding his left hand up, held his +right hand. Yoga Rama immediately said, "Not your right hand but your +left." This was a suspicious circumstance, as it indicated that Yoga +Rama could see notwithstanding he was blindfolded. Now conjurers know +that blindfolding in the manner above described is not a precaution +against seeing, as at the time of blindfolding what the conjurer does is +to shut his eyes tightly and bring his eyebrows well down. When the +blindfolding is finished, the conjurer opens his eyes and draws his +eyebrows up; the bandages will then be displaced and drawn up from their +original position and he will be able to see under the bandages through +the spaces between the bridge of his nose and his cheeks. This, in the +joint opinion of Mr. Zancig, Mr. Marriott, and myself, is what Yoga Rama +did, and our opinion was confirmed when we examined the bandages at the +time they were removed from the performer's eyes, as will be described +later. + +Yoga Rama's method of telling the name thought of is to watch the +movement of the finger of the sitter's right hand while he traces the +first letter of the name on the palm of the left. This indicates to him +the first letter of the name, then he counts the number of taps or +movements given by the sitter's right hand. Thus, if the first letter +were W and the number of taps or movements seven, the name in all +likelihood would be William, or, if the first letter were W and the +number of taps or movements six, the name would probably be Walter. +Ordinary Christian names are limited in number, and Yoga Rama took care +to know beforehand whether the sitter were thinking of a female name or +of a male name. It was therefore not a difficult matter for him to hit +upon the name. Moreover, when he was in doubt, as was often the case, he +not only asked that the first letter should be traced, but the second +and the third and the fourth, etc. Before hazarding a guess Yoga Rama +often asked whether the second or third or fourth, etc., letter of the +name were a letter that he mentioned. Thus, if he were not quite sure +that W had been traced, but he had noticed that seven taps or movements +had been given, he would say is not the fourth letter of the name L. If +the sitter answered in the affirmative, he would be pretty sure that +William was the name, but if the sitter's answer were a negative one, +Yoga Rama asked that the letters should be traced again and the taps, +etc., repeated. Yoga Rama resorted to the above-described method when he +asked the sitter to think of the name of a flower or of a city, but he +only tried one or two experiments with the names of flowers or cities, +the reason being, obviously, that as the names of flowers or cities are +not so limited in number as Christian names, he fought shy of them. The +reason he gave for not being able to guess readily the name of a flower +was, he said, that he was not a botanist. + +As regards the titles of Shakespeare's plays he only asked that one or +two of the first letters of the title should be traced on the left hand, +and did not require any taps or movements of the right hand. Any person +acquainted with Shakespeare's plays and knowing the first one or two +letters of the title could have guessed with equal facility which play +was in the mind of the sitter. After getting the name of the play, Yoga +Rama asked the sitter to think of a personage in that play. He only +requested that this should be done once or twice, and was not successful +in getting the name of the personage at the first guess, but only after +making two or three guesses. + +In the experiment of telling the title of a hymn which a lady had in her +mind, Yoga Rama resorted to the same method of asking her to trace the +first letter of the title of the hymn on the palm of her left hand. She +traced the letter L, and he hazarded the guess that it was "Lead, +kindly light," which proved to be correct. Apparently the most +successful experiments were one carried out with a young lady and one +with myself. Yoga Rama asked the young lady to think of something. He +then, without asking her to trace any letter or make movements with her +right hand, told her that she wished to get married. She acknowledged +that that was the thought in her mind. This caused a good deal of +amusement amongst the audience. The young lady left the stage +immediately after the experiment. This step on her part gave rise in the +minds of some of the members of the Committee that she was an +accomplice, and that, as the experiment had been carried out, she was no +longer required by Yoga Rama. These members of the Committee may be +doing an injustice to the young lady, but it was unfortunate she should +have left the stage at that moment. + +As regards the experiment with myself, I stood in front of Yoga Rama and +did not sit down, neither did I place my left hand in front of my face +as other experimenters had done, but close against my body when tracing +the letters of my second name, which was the one I had in my mind. + +My object in standing up was to have my hands out of the line of his +vision. I took care that the movement of the forefinger of my right hand +when tracing the letters should not be seen by him. + +Yoga Rama repeatedly asked me to trace and retrace all the letters of +the name. He then gave the name correctly. Although this experiment +appeared to indicate that the performer possessed telepathic powers, it +must be borne in mind that he might have known who I was, as he had been +practising his so-called occult powers for some time in London under the +name of Professor Pickens before he assumed that of Yoga Rama. It was +not necessary that he should see my face in order to know with whom he +was experimenting. It was observed that he took a very careful stock of +the dresses of the Acting Committee before he was blindfolded. It was +only necessary, therefore, that he should see the lower part of the +dress for him to know which member of the Committee stood in front of +him. As one member after the other experimented with him he described +their dress. He asserted that he was able to do this by a sort of +telepathic vision. + +The experiment with the playing cards was a simple conjuring trick. Yoga +Rama produced a pack of cards and asked the Committee to see that it was +unopened. I opened the pack, shuffled the cards, and handed them to Mr. +Marriott, who had been asked by the Professor to retire to a corner of +the stage and choose a card which he was to show to two members of the +Committee. Mr. Guttwoch and I accompanied Mr. Marriott to the corner of +the stage and saw which card Mr. Marriott had chosen. Mr. Marriott then +shuffled the pack again and handed it to Yoga Rama, who put it in his +pocket. Yoga Rama then asked Mr. Marriott what card he had chosen. Mr. +Marriott informed him. He then wrote something on a piece of paper which +he folded and handed to one of the members of the Committee to hold. He +then drew from his pocket another pack of cards similar in appearance to +the original pack (that it was not the original pack was evidenced by +the fact that the bottom card of the pack which Yoga Rama drew from his +pocket was not the same as the bottom card of the original pack), but +which had the cards arranged in an order known to Yoga Rama. He +proceeded to pass the cards one after the other before Mr. Marriott's +eyes, asking him to tell him when he came to the card he had chosen. +When Yoga Rama came to the card, Mr. Marriott told him. Yoga Rama then +said, "What is the card in front of the one you chose and the one behind +it?" He was informed which they were. He then asked that the piece of +paper should be opened, and it was found that the names of the cards had +been written by him on the piece of paper. What occult power Yoga Rama +intended to demonstrate by this simple conjuring trick I fail to see. It +could not have been telepathy, as the two cards (the names of which Yoga +Rama had written) had not been chosen nor thought of by Mr. Marriott. + +A few words will suffice to describe the experiments which Yoga Rama +carried out to show (1) the control he had acquired over the functions +of his body, and (2) his insensibility to pain. As has already been +stated, he asked two members of the Committee to stand by him and note +by their watches the length of time that he was able to cease breathing. +He retained his breath for fifty seconds. A member of the Committee at +the back of the stage called out, when the length of time was announced, +"That is nothing. I can stop breathing for a full minute." This +exclamation appeared to disconcert Yoga Rama a good deal. The standing +barefooted on a board studded with nails and on broken glass are common +tricks which can be seen performed by negroes at country fairs. I felt +the points of the nails and found they had been filed down and were +blunt. Mr. Marriott sat on the nails to the amusement of the audience +while Yoga Rama had gone off the stage to remove his boots. When Yoga +Rama returned he stood barefooted on these nails only for about half a +minute. He then proceeded to break some bottles on a piece of felt. He +pounded away on the glass with a hammer till he had reduced the greater +part to nearly a powder. He carefully pushed the larger pieces of glass +on one side and stood on the powdered portion. + +I will now proceed to state the reasons which lead me to the conclusion +that Yoga Rama was able to see, although apparently blindfolded. + +1. The bandages were removed from his eyes by Mr. Marriott, who had +blindfolded him at the commencement of the performance. While this was +being done I had my face about two feet away from Yoga Rama's face and I +carefully noted the position of each article as it was being removed. +The lower edge of the porous plaster was above the tip of the +performer's nose, and the edge of the white handkerchief above the edge +of the plaster, and above the edge of the handkerchief was the edge of +the crimson scarf. The edges of the handkerchief and scarf were +sufficiently high up, so that, had the blindfolding depended only on +these, he could have seen under them. The gloves which had been placed +on the handkerchief need not be taken into account, as the folded pieces +of paper on his eyes prevented them from pressing into the sockets of +Yoga Rama's eyes, and he, by merely closing the eyes and bringing the +eyebrows well down when he was being blindfolded and then opening his +eyes and lifting the eyebrows well up, could displace the gloves from +their original position and cause them to rise, as a conjurer well +knows; therefore the blindfolding really depended on the position of the +porous plaster. Now when Mr. Marriott placed the plaster over the pieces +of paper he took care that the lower edges of both pieces should be on +one of the lines of holes which existed in the plaster as shown in the +accompanying engraving (which is taken from a photograph). + +He also took care that the lower edge of the plaster should stick +against Yoga Rama's cheeks. On examining the plaster just before it was +removed we found that the lower edge no longer stuck against the +performer's cheeks. There were hollow spaces between the bridge of his +nose and his cheeks through which he could have seen with a downward +glance. The point now arises whether he used both his eyes or only one. +I noticed that Yoga Rama always kept the right side of his face towards +the sitters when trying the experiments. If the reader will look at the +engraving, which shows the exact position of the folded pieces of paper +at the time of the removal of the plaster from Yoga Rama's face, he will +see that the piece of paper which covered his right eye is no longer on +the same line of holes as the left piece, but is higher up, and, what is +most suspicious, he will note some pieces of tissue paper which were +stuck on the plaster by Yoga Rama and were under the pieces of folded +paper, which prevented these from adhering to the plaster; thus by an +upper movement of the eyebrows Yoga Rama succeeded in raising the folded +piece of paper which covered his right eye, and with this eye he glanced +under the plaster and watched the movements of the sitter's hands, etc. + +2. As I have stated above, Yoga Rama always kept the right side of his +head towards the person with whom he was experimenting. He tried one +experiment with a gentleman who sat in the second row of the stalls. He +then turned his body round so that the right side of his face was in the +same position relatively to this gentleman as it had been to the sitters +on the stage. Moreover, the lights in the body of the theatre were not +alight when Yoga Rama was trying his alleged thought-readings with the +members of the Committee on the stage, but when he experimented with the +gentleman in the stalls, one of the electric chandeliers in the body of +the theatre, not far from the gentleman, was immediately lit, thus +enabling Yoga Rama to watch the movements of the gentleman's right hand +when tracing the letters of the name he had chosen on the palm of his +left hand, and giving the taps corresponding to the number of the +letters. + +3. At the conclusion of the performance, after the bulk of the audience +had left, some persons remained in the foyer of the theatre, and a +discussion arose, during which some of the persons present asserted that +Yoga Rama had brought about his results by supernormal means. Mr. +Marriott, Mr. Guttwoch, and I denied this. At that moment Yoga Rama came +into the foyer, and he was accused by us of having been able to see. He +asserted that he had not seen, and to prove it offered to try some +experiments while a handkerchief was held tightly against his eyes. Mr. +Guttwoch held a handkerchief against his eyes. As Yoga Rama was not now +able to see, he resorted to a different method from the one he used on +the stage. He held the wrist of the left hand of a lady with the thumb +and three fingers of his right hand, while his forefinger rested against +the back of the lady's hand. He then asked her to trace the letters of +the name thought of with the forefinger of her right hand on the palm of +her left hand, which was being held by him. He was able to tell the +name, but only after repeated tracing of the letters by the lady. Yoga +Rama not being able to be guided by sight as in his stage performances, +now guided himself by the sense of touch. Although I have never before +carried out an experiment of this nature myself, when Miss Newton and I +returned to the rooms of the Society for Psychical Research I tried the +experiment with her. I closed my eyes and held her wrist, and was able +to feel the letter which she traced on the palm of her hand. Manifestly +this is a difficult trick to perform, and requires great practice. I +noticed that Yoga Rama chose the hand of a lady in preference to that of +a gentleman, obviously because a lady's hand is thinner than that of a +man, and the motion of her finger would be more easily felt. + +What convinced me more than any of the above reasons that Yoga Rama was +able to see during his performance is the following fact. I placed the +sticking plaster over my eyes after it had been taken from Yoga Rama's +eyes and, to my surprise, I found I could perfectly well see through it. +The numerous small holes with which it was perforated allowed me to do +this. + +The audience at the "Little Theatre" had had their expectations raised +that they were to witness manifestations of the occult powers of the +mind through the mediumship of an Abyssinian Yogi, instead of which they +witnessed an ordinary conjuring entertainment by a man who previously to +assuming the name of "Yoga [_sic_] Rama" was known as Professor A. D. +Pickens of Conduit Street, London. + +Besides the method used by Yoga Rama for producing his so-called thought +transference, there are others resorted to by public entertainers. The +one most in use is by means of a verbal code. The letters of the +alphabet are substituted and a word can be conveyed by the agent asking +a series of questions, each question beginning with a substituted +letter. The percipient has to remember what letters the substituted ones +represent; he takes note of the first letter only of each question, puts +them together in his mind, and thus gets the word that it is the +intention of the agent to convey. + +I have made a table (shown opposite) which shows one of these systems. + +If the name "Alfred" is to be conveyed, it can be done by the following +questions:-- + + Here is a name = A + Can you see it? = L + Endeavour to do so = F + Mind what you are doing = R + Go on = D + The letter E is understood. + +TABLE + + +-----------------------------------++------------------------------+ + | SUBSTITUTED LETTERS TABLE || NUMBERS TABLE | + +--------+----------+---------------++------------------------------+ + | A is H | J is L | S is N || No. 1 is Say | + | B " T | K " Pray | T " P || " 2 " Be | + | C " S | L " C | V " Look || " 3 " Can | + | D " G | M " O | W " R || " 4 " Do | + | E " F | N " D | X " See this || " 5 " Will | + | F " E | O " V | Y " Q || " 6 " What | + | G " A | P " J | Z " Hurry || " 7 " Please | + | H " I | Q " W | || " 8 " Are | + | I " B | R " M | || " 9 " Now | + | | | || " 10 " Tell | + +========+==========+===============++==============================+ + | SETS | + +----------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+ + | SET A | SET B | SET C | SET D | + +----------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+ + | _What is | _What article | _What is it | _What | + | this?_ | is this?_ | made of?_ | colour?_ | + | | | | | + | No. 1. Watch | No. 1. Handkerchief | No. 1. Gold | No. 1. White | + | " 2. Bracelet | " 2. Necktie | " 2. Silver | " 2. Black | + | " 3. Guard | " 3. Bag | " 3. Copper | " 3. Blue | + | " 4. Chain | " 4. Glove | " 4. Lead | " 4. Brown | + | " 5. Breastpin | " 5. Purse | " 5. Zinc | " 5. Red | + | " 6. Necklace | " 6. Basket | " 6. Wood | " 6. Green | + | " 7. Ring | " 7. Book | " 7. Brass | " 7. Yellow | + | " 8. Rosary | " 8. Head-dress | " 8. Paper | " 8. Grey | + | " 9. Cross | " 9. Fan | " 9. Silk | " 9. Purple | + | " 10. Charm | " 10. Key | " 10. Glass | " 10. Violet | + +----------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+ + +The transmission of the nature of an article is by dividing articles +that would be likely to be brought to a public entertainment into sets +of ten, each set being indicated by a different question. These sets +have to be learned by heart by the agent and the percipient. I give in +the table four sets to illustrate my meaning. After asking the question +which conveys the set to which the article belongs, a second question is +asked, beginning with the word corresponding to the number on the number +table. This will indicate what number in the set the article corresponds +to. As an example: when the question "What is this?" is asked, it means +that the article corresponds to SET A. If the second question begins +with "Do," such as "Do you know?", this question on referring to the +number table would mean No. 4; therefore the article would be a chain. +Now, if the question "What is it made of?" is asked, it would refer to +SET C, and if this question is followed by "Can you tell me?", on +referring to the number table it will be found to correspond to No. 3; +therefore the article would be a chain made of copper. When an article +is not in any one of the sets the substituted letter code is used. Of +course public entertainers learn by heart a number of sets, not only +four. + +For silent thought transference occasionally electrical contrivances +are resorted to. These are placed in different parts of the hall, and +when being pressed by the foot or hand of the agent will convey a +message to a certain part of the stage upon which the percipient (who +may be blindfolded) rests his foot. + +There is another silent method which can be worked by a confederate who +is placed behind a curtain close to the chair on the stage upon which +the blindfolded percipient sits. The confederate watches the performer +who stands amongst the audience and reads through a spyglass what he is +writing on his tablet when putting down what members of the audience +wish to be done. The confederate then communicates the contents of the +writing to the percipient on the stage by whispering or by an electrical +apparatus. The position of the performer or agent while he is writing in +a clear hand on his tablets with his back to the stage easily enables a +confederate to read the writing. + +Then there is the silent method of a French conjurer, some of whose +performances I have witnessed, which consists of suggesting or "forcing" +the spectators to do certain things, each action having a corresponding +number which he conveys to his lady assistant, who is blindfolded, by +touching her foot with his after she has come down from the stage and +stands by his side amongst the audience. + +The "time-coding" method consists of silently counting by the agent and +percipient at the same rate, starting from a preconcerted signal and +ending at another preconcerted signal. The performer amongst the +audience has in his hand a piece of paper on which is written the number +that he wishes to silently convey to the other blindfolded performer on +the stage. At the moment that he bends his head to look at the number he +begins silently counting at a certain rate; a confederate behind the +scenes begins counting at the same rate from the moment that the +performer bends his head. When the performer lifts his head he ceases +counting, so does the confederate. Each number written on the paper is +thus conveyed, and the confederate communicates the total to the +blindfolded performer by means of an electrical apparatus or otherwise. + +I have attended several performances in public halls in London at which +thought transference--so-called--was carried out by the above trick +methods. + +Sir Oliver Lodge was present with me at one of the performances at which +the time-coding method was used. He has sent me the following note:-- + + "I was with Mr. Baggally on one of these occasions, and took + note of the fact that he could often guess what was being + transmitted by the performers quite as well as they could + themselves. We sat in a box looking at them, and he often + told me before they had spoken what they were going to say + (or words to that effect). + + "I perceived even without his assistance that the + performance, which was stimulated by the success of the + Zancigs, was an exceedingly inferior imitation of what they + had achieved, and was manifestly done by a code of some + kind. + + "O. J. L." + +Some of the methods resorted to by public entertainers are so ingenious +that the spectator is led to believe that genuine thought transference +has taken place. The following correspondence, which appeared in the +spiritualistic weekly paper called _Light_, illustrates a case in point. +In the number of _Light_ of the 25th October 1902 there appeared this +letter headed "Thought Transference":-- + + "SIR,--A few years ago Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin gave the + following entertainment in almost every large town in the + three kingdoms. The public were invited to write any + question or questions they desired to have answered on a + piece of paper, to place it in their pockets, and keep it + there without communicating its contents to anyone, and then + when they went to the hall their names were called out and + their question answered without the papers leaving their + possession. About fifty such inquiries were answered each + evening without a single failure by Mrs. Baldwin, who sat + blindfolded with her back to the audience. From my + experience and that of my friends, collusion was impossible, + and the only way of accounting for the performance was by + thought transference or telepathy between Mrs. Baldwin and + those of the audience with whom she was in mental sympathy. + + (Signed) "C. A. M." + +Commenting on this letter, I wrote to _Light_, and my communication +appeared the following week. It was to this effect:-- + + "Under the heading of 'Thought Transference,' your + correspondent, C. A. M., gives an account of some + entertainments by Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, at which he says" (I + here quoted from C. A. M.'s letter, and then continued as + follows):--"I never was present at entertainments given by + Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, and therefore cannot express an + opinion as to the _modus operandi_ in their particular case, + but I would point out that their entertainments bear a close + resemblance to those given by conjurers. The explanation of + the mystery in a conjurer's case is as follows:--The + conjurer asks members of the audience to write their + questions secretly, to sign their names at the bottom of the + question, and then to fold the pieces of paper on which the + questions are written and place them in their pockets. To + facilitate the writing he hands pencils round and tablets + upon which to rest the pieces of paper during the writing of + the questions, or the members of the audience, if they so + wish, can retire into an adjoining room and write their + questions on a table. The tablets and pencils are then + collected by an assistant who is a confederate, who then + retires from the hall to the room where the table is. The + tablets and table have false surfaces of leather or other + material, which, on being removed by the confederate, + disclose a layer of carbon paper resting on another of white + paper upon which the questions have been recorded unknown to + the inquirers. The confederate then proceeds to read the + questions with their respective attached signatures, and to + communicate them to the blindfolded medium by an electrical + apparatus upon which the medium's foot rests, or by other + mechanical means." + +I signed my letter W. W. B. A fortnight after, the following letter +appeared in _Light_:-- + + "SIR,--With reference to the communication by W. W. B. + referring to the supposed thought transference, and + mentioned by another correspondent, C. A. M., in connection + with the entertainments of Professor Baldwin (an American + conjurer and brother mason), whom I met in Cape Town on two + separate occasions, permit me to state that (1) if it is the + same Baldwin, he is one of the cleverest illusionists in + his special line of trick thought transference, and W. W. B. + is quite right. (2) I know that Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin did + most of their experiments by trick, because, being one of + the chosen committee to test the so-called thought reading, + I fixed it absolutely as trickery on the lines indicated by + W. W. B. + + (Signed) "BERKS HUTCHINSON" + +I was gratified to read this letter and to find that my conjecture was +correct that the Baldwin performance was a mere exhibition of +conjuring. + + + + +PART III + +THE ZANCIGS + + +Some years ago there appeared at the Alhambra Theatre, London, two +entertainers--Mr. and Mrs. Zancig--whose performances were of so +puzzling a nature that to many who had witnessed them the only +explanation of the results obtained appeared to be that genuine +telepathy was at play. The _Daily Mail_ newspaper arranged that Mr. and +Mrs. Zancig should be subjected to a series of severe tests at its +office, and on the 30th November 1906 these were carried out. + +On the 1st December the _Daily Mail_ published a full account of these +experiments. The publication of this and of other accounts by persons +who had witnessed the remarkable performances of the Zancigs led to a +heated controversy between the correspondents of the _Daily Mail_ and +the _Daily Chronicle_. Those of the first paper mostly asserted that the +performance was an exhibition of true telepathy, while those of the +second paper declared that codes--visual and verbal--would account for +the phenomena. Previously to the experiment carried out by the _Daily +Mail_ I had obtained a letter of introduction to the Zancigs from a +friend of mine who had had private tests with them, but as it was +necessary to have the permission of the manager of the Alhambra before +an interview with the Zancigs could be arranged, I called at the offices +of that theatre, and saw Mr. Scott, the manager. I informed him that I +was a member of the Society for Psychical Research, which body I told +him took the deepest interest in telepathy. I handed him a letter that I +had written to Mr. Zancig, and on the 29th November 1906 I received the +following communication from the last-named gentleman:-- + + "DEAR SIR,--I received a letter from Miss H. A. Dallas, + telling me that you would like to meet us. Now, my dear sir, + we would be pleased to make your acquaintance, and have you + call for a visit, but if it is for any private show and to + be tried and judged if our work is, as we represent, 'two + minds with but a single thought,' I will have to say No. We + have done nothing since we arrived in London but have + callers to test and try us every day, from three to four + ladies and gentlemen. My wife and I agreed to all tests they + put to us, and all was quite satisfactory. Personally I do + not care, but it has been quite a strain on my wife. Should + you care to witness our show, you would be able to see us at + ten p.m. on the Alhambra stage, but if you care to call and + see us, and have a little talk, we both would be pleased to + meet you.--Trusting that I am understood, I remain, yours + sincerely, + + (Signed) "JULIUS ZANCIG" + +Although the contents of the above letter were of a discouraging nature, +I determined to strike the iron while it was hot; therefore, on the +evening of the same day I called, accompanied by my wife, at the flat +where the Zancigs resided. They were at the time partaking of their +evening meal. We apologized for our intrusion, but by the kind way that +they received us we were soon put at our ease. I informed Mr. Zancig +that I was much interested in telepathy, and that I had personally +carried out experiments in this branch of psychical research, and that I +was assured of the truth of its existence through the successes that I +had obtained. + +Mr. and Mrs. Zancig impressed my wife and myself most favourably by +their unaffected and simple manner. After a conversation which lasted +about ten minutes, Mr. Zancig very kindly spontaneously offered to try +some experiments. I will now describe these. Madame Zancig went to the +other end of the room farthest away from where Mr. Zancig, my wife, and +I sat. She faced the wall with her back to us; Mr. Zancig then wrote +with a chalk a line of figures on a slate which he held in his left +hand, and called out the word "Ready." Madame Zancig immediately named +the figures correctly and in their proper order. The same kind of +experiment was tried successfully three times. The results might have +been due to telepathy, but I was not satisfied, as it could have been +possible that the figures were prearranged, or that Madame Zancig could +tell by the sound of the chalk what figures were being written. I also +had in my mind the fact that there is a method of communicating figures +by time-coding. + +Mr. Zancig then asked me to write a double line of figures. I handed the +slate to him, and after he had called out "Ready" Madame Zancig +proceeded to cast them up correctly. + +As Madame Zancig named all my figures aloud as she was summing them up, +this experiment was of a more complicated nature than the previous ones; +nevertheless, I was not entirely satisfied, as time-coding in putting +down the resultant figures by Mr. Zancig, and the hearing of the sound +of the chalk by Madame Zancig when I was writing my own figures, might +have accounted for the favourable result. + +To prevent the possibility of communicating by an electrical or other +apparatus concealed under the carpet, I requested Mr. Zancig to raise +his feet from the floor. He immediately complied by sitting on the +table, where he remained to the last experiment. + +Madame Zancig then retired into an adjoining bedroom with a slate in her +hand; the door was closed, but not entirely. My wife wrote down two +lines of figures, the slate was handed by her to Mr. Zancig, who called +out "Ready," and he then proceeded without speaking to add them up. +Madame Zancig then came into the room with the correct result written by +herself on her slate. This was a more crucial test than the last, but +still, although visual-coding was excluded, sound-coding while Mr. +Zancig was writing the resultant sum was not entirely so. + +Then followed the experiment of transmitting a selected line in a book. +Mr. Zancig handed me a book and asked me to open it at any page and to +point out a line. After I had done so I handed the book to him. He +called out "Ready." Then his wife opened a duplicate book at the proper +page, and read the line which I had selected. Doubtless the words of the +line were not communicated telepathically or otherwise by Mr. Zancig, +but only the number of the page and the number of the line counting from +the top of the page. Nevertheless, it was difficult to discover by what +method this was done, as Mr. Zancig simply called out "Ready." There did +not appear to be time for the numbers of the page and line to be +transmitted by time-coding. The reader will observe that as the +experiments proceeded they appeared to present increasing evidence that +true telepathy was at work. + +The following and last experiment that I tried on this occasion was the +most crucial. I requested Mr. Zancig to go out with me on to the landing +outside the door of the flat. I did not previously inform Madame Zancig +nor Mr. Zancig of the nature of the test that I was about to put. Madame +Zancig remained in the room with my wife. The door was closed, but not +completely. When we were on the landing I suddenly drew my cheque-book +out of my pocket, tore out a cheque, and handed it to Mr. Zancig, +requesting him to transmit the number. Mr. Zancig observed to me in a +whisper that the noise of the traffic in the street was very disturbing. +This was true, as the hall door to the street was open. He then remained +silent while he looked at the cheque. My wife then came out on to the +landing, and handed me a slate upon which Madame Zancig had during the +experiment written the words, "In the year 1875." Mr. Zancig then said +aloud, "This is not what we want; it is the number." My wife returned +into the room with the slate, and the door was closed, but not +completely. It was impossible, however, for Madame Zancig to see her +husband. The suspicion arose in my mind that the number on the cheque +might have been communicated to Madame Zancig by the words that Mr. +Zancig had spoken aloud. I therefore took the cheque that he had in his +hand and substituted another one with a different number that I tore +from the bottom of my cheque-book. Mr. Zancig remained absolutely silent +during the whole time that this second experiment lasted. My wife again +came out of the room with the slate, upon which Madame Zancig had +written quite correctly, in their proper order, four of the five numbers +of the second cheque, with the exception of the last figure, which was +wanting, but just as we were returning to the room Madame Zancig said, +"There was another figure; it was four"--which was correct. This +impressed me as a good test, with regard to the three last numbers of +this cheque, which were different from the corresponding ones of the +first cheque. Madame Zancig could not see her husband, and he remained +absolutely silent while the experiment was being carried out. + +I insert here a note by Sir Oliver Lodge in which he gives an account of +an experiment of a similar nature, and also of other experiments which +he tried with the Zancigs. + + "Independently of the more thorough investigations of Mr. + Baggally, I myself was favoured with a private interview + with the Zancigs, who were friendly and considerate and + helpful; and I tried the experiment of having Mrs. Zancig + outside the room, though with door open, and Mr. Zancig with + me and quite silent. I wrote five or six figures on a slate, + taking care to make no noise, and Mrs. Zancig failed to get + them correctly. Zancig seemed distressed at that, and after + a little time groaned out, 'Oh, surely you can do this'; + almost immediately after which Mrs. Zancig came into the + room with the correct figures written on her slate. It was + difficult to see how the sentence had conveyed the figures, + but it was instructive to find that utterance of some kind + seemed necessary. It was partly this, and partly the + manifest difficulty of eliminating all possibilities of code + between a pair of performers accustomed to go about + together, with years of experience behind them, that + prevented me from doing what I probably ought to have done, + though circumstances did not render it very easy, namely, to + make a serious study of the Zancig phenomena. + + "Moreover, I questioned Mr. Zancig about codes, and found + that he was familiar with a great many. He was quite frank + about it, and rather implied, as I thought, that at times he + was ready to use any code or other normal kind of assistance + that might be helpful, though he assured me that he found + that he and his wife did possess a faculty which they did + not in the least understand, but which was more efficient + and quicker than anything they could get by codes. On the + whole, I think this extremely likely, but the rapidity and + the certainty and dependableness of the power went far + beyond anything that I could imagine as possible between + people who depended on supernormal faculty alone. But if + there was a mixture of devices between people so skilled, I + despaired of bringing the genuine part of the phenomenon to + a definite issue. + + "I do not think that either this or the weight of my other + avocations are a sufficient excuse for this neglect, but it + certainly was not easy to get opportunities for careful + investigation. One of the main difficulties was that they + were not free agents, having entered into contracts with + managers whose financial interests partly depended upon the + continued uncertainty of the public as to the causes + underlying their very remarkable performance. Moreover, I + knew that so skilled an investigator as Mr. Baggally was + more favourably impressed with them than I was myself, and + was able to give to them some considerable time and + attention. + + "The extraordinary and rapid success with which Mrs. Zancig + named one thing after another, handled or seen by her + husband as he went through the hall in their public + performances, is familiar to everybody who attended those + exhibitions; but one episode which I have not put on record + did impress me as rather exceptionally good, though entirely + unsensational and unnoticeable at the time. I relate it + here:-- + + "The Zancigs happened to come to Birmingham for a week + during the University Vacation when I was away. On the last + day of their performance I happened unexpectedly to return + to Birmingham, and was dining at the club with some other + men. Some one remarked that the Zancigs were performing, and + suggested that we should cut dessert and go and see them; so + we went in the middle of the performance and sat at the back + of the gallery. Everything went on as usual. Mrs. Zancig was + on the stage, blindfolded, I think, though I attach no + importance to that. Mr. Zancig had been through the body of + the hall, and was coming along the side gallery, taking + objects from members of the audience as he went, and having + them described quickly one after the other as usual, when he + caught sight of me at the back of the gallery, and indicated + recognition by a little start. The next object that he took + in hand (a purse or what not) he said, 'What is this?' and + Madame Zancig on the stage said 'Oliver.' Zancig shook his + head and muttered, 'No, that's what I was thinking of, but + what's this?' On which she said whatever it was correctly, + and the performance went on as usual; my friends in due time + getting their tests efficiently done. Nobody noticed the + incident in particular; it was over in a second. It + conveyed no impression of anything except of a slight + confusion,--an error, in fact, immediately corrected,--but I + could not fail to notice that the very unimportant incident + tended in favour of the view that a power of sympathy or + communication between them was genuine, since she got an + undesired and unintended impression which certainly was at + the moment in Mr. Zancig's mind. + + "O. J. L." + +Later, on the same evening of the experiment with the numbers on my +cheque-book which I have described above, my wife and I attended the +public performance at the Alhambra. We were seated at a distance from +the stage. When Mr. Zancig came amongst the audience my wife handed him +a piece of something black, the nature of which it was difficult to tell +at first sight. He stooped down and asked in a whisper, "What is that?" +My wife answered, also in a whisper, "Liquorice." Madame Zancig +immediately called out from the stage, "Liquorice." No word had been +spoken by Mr. Zancig after my wife had whispered the word "Liquorice." I +then handed a visiting-card with a double name. Zancig read to himself +in a low voice the last name, which was Hutchinson, and said, "What is +the first name?" Madame Zancig called out "Berks"; this was correct. It +appeared to me suspicious, however, that the question, "What is the +first name?" although appropriate and natural, should contain the same +number of words as there are letters in the name Berks--namely, five. +Therefore some months after, at another performance, I wrote the same +name, Berks Hutchinson, on a piece of paper and handed it to Mr. Zancig. +This time he asked, "What is this?" Madame Zancig replied, "A piece of +paper with a name." Mr. Zancig said, "Give the name." She replied, +"Berks Hutchinson." + +I attended a series of performances at the Alhambra, and took down the +questions and answers in order, if possible, to discover the code. On +witnessing a first performance the spectator might be led to believe +that word-coding alone is at the bottom of the mystery, but if notes are +taken at a number of performances he will find that the same question +is answered differently time after time. + +From my experiments with the Zancigs I came to the conclusion that +although the alleged transmission of thought might possibly depend on a +code or codes which I was unable to unravel, yet their performance was +of such a nature that it was worthy of serious scientific examination. +On the assumption that they possessed genuine telepathic powers it would +be a pity that the opportunity of investigating their claim should be +missed. I therefore set myself to work to arrange with Mr. Alfred Moul, +managing director of the Alhambra, and Mr. Zancig for some experiments +to be tried before a Committee of the members of the Society for +Psychical Research. + +An article appeared in the _Daily Mail_, inspired evidently by Mr. Moul, +from which I now quote:-- + + "We have suggested to Mr. Zancig that in preference to + inquiries into telepathy by unskilled persons he should + place himself in the hands of the Society for Psychical + Research, of which Mr. Gerald Balfour is the President, and + of which Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Crookes, and other + distinguished scientists are leading members. Mr. Zancig has + informed us that he has already received a communication + from that Society, and that he was entirely willing to place + himself and Madame Zancig at the disposal of the Society for + a thoroughly scientific series of tests." + +The investigation by the Society for Psychical Research, at which I was +present, took place on the 18th January 1907. I regret that I cannot +give an account of what took place at this meeting, as it was mutually +arranged between Mr. Moul and the S.P.R. that the results should not be +divulged. They appeared, however, sufficiently favourable to some of the +members present (though not to all) to induce them to subsequently form +an unofficial Committee to carry out further tests. These unofficial +experiments did not take place till 26th July 1907. + +In the meantime I continued my own private experiments. A striking one +is the following. I was in the balcony of the Alhambra on the 19th +January 1907, and when Mr. Zancig came to that part of the house I +handed him a piece of paper on which I had written the word +"Istapalapan." I took care that he should not see the word previously to +my giving him the paper. Zancig remarked to me in a whisper, "This is a +long word." Owing to the distance from his wife it could not have been +possible for her to overhear these words. Then Mr. Zancig called out, +"Spell this." Madame Zancig immediately wrote on the blackboard which +was on the stage "Istapala," and when she came to the second "p" she +wrote "f" and then "san." I have often noticed that when Madame Zancig +makes a mistake in a letter or number there is a similarity in the form +of the letter or number to that which was to be transmitted; thus, she +would put down "f" for "p," "7" for "9." "fsan" in this case is very +like "pan," and Mr. Zancig may have mistaken the letters. I fail to +understand how in this experiment he was able to code such a long word +as "Istapalafsan" by the simple words "Spell this." It would appear as +if Madame Zancig really saw what Mr. Zancig was looking at. The reader +will recollect that in his preliminary remarks at each of his +performances Zancig says, "What I see, Madame Zancig sees." + +I have several times observed this alleged peculiarity, notably so on +the occasion of the tests at the Gramophone offices, which took place on +the 22nd February 1907, and at which I was one of the members of the +Committee. Mr. and Mrs. Zancig were divided by a large screen. They +could not see each other. A recording trumpet was placed near each, into +which they spoke. A table was placed by the side of Mr. Zancig on which +a great number of articles had been placed by the members of the +Committee. Madame Zancig with great rapidity named the articles as Mr. +Zancig took them up in answer to his "What is this? and this?" etc. An +incident which struck me as remarkable was the following. Mr. Zancig +raised a pencil, saying, "What is this?" and after Madame Zancig had +correctly stated what it was, he took up immediately (not in the +vicinity of the pencil, but some distance from it) a case, and said, +"And this?" Instead of naming the article Madame Zancig proceeded to +enumerate in their proper order the articles that lay between the two +articles which Mr. Zancig had taken up. Thus, a pencil, a seal, a +penknife, a case. It appeared as if Madame Zancig had actually seen the +articles over which her husband had passed his hand. + +An excellent test was the following. Dr. W. M'Dougall, a member of the +Council of the S.P.R., who was present at these tests, borrowed a book +from one of the members of the Committee. He came to the side of the +screen where Mr. Zancig stood, opened the book at a certain page, then +pointed to the middle of a line in the centre of the page. Mr. Zancig, +without taking the book in his hand, glanced at the line, then Dr. +M'Dougall shut the book, took it to the other side of the screen, and +handed it closed to Madame Zancig. Mr. Zancig remained absolutely +silent, placed his hand against his forehead, and appeared to make a +strong mental effort. Madame Zancig, after the lapse of a minute, opened +the book at the proper page and began reading at the word in the middle +of the line that had been chosen by Dr. M'Dougall. Some members of the +Committee and I stood quite close to Mr. Zancig. We did not hear him +utter a sound. He could not be seen by Madame Zancig owing to the +screen. + +I was present at the _matinée_ performance given under the auspices of +the _Daily Mirror_ newspaper at the Alhambra. Dr. H., principal surgeon +of a well-known hospital, handed to Mr. Zancig a set of skeins of silk +of different colours. These were then passed on to Madame Zancig, who +was on the stage. Dr. H. pointed silently to a skein of silk of a +corresponding set which he had retained, and which he took care Madame +Zancig could not see. Mr. Zancig, who preserved absolute silence, and +remained motionless, looked at the colour of the skein, and in the space +of half a minute his wife picked out a skein of the corresponding colour +from the set that she had in her possession. This test was tried +successfully three times. I particularly took note that Mr. Zancig +remained silent and motionless, retaining the same position of his body +during the course of the three experiments. + +I have tried tests with Mr. and Madame Zancig in the transmission of +diagrams. I took with me to a private house to which I was invited an +envelope containing cards with diagrams on them. Madame Zancig sat +behind a large screen at the end of the room. By her side sat a lady, a +friend of mine, who watched Madame Zancig and saw that she did not move +from her chair. Mr. Zancig stood close to me near the other end of the +room. I presented the envelope to him, retaining it in my hand. He drew +out one of the cards on which was a diagram not known either to him or +to me till he looked at it. He fixed his gaze intently on it, remained +motionless, and in a whisper said to me, "Please say ready." I called +out, "Ready," and his wife then drew a diagram on a piece of paper, at +the same time saying, "Something like half a moon." + +[Illustration: MR. ZANCIG'S DIAGRAM] + +[Illustration: MADAME ZANCIG'S DRAWING] + +Mr. Zancig then drew another card from the envelope. This time he did +not speak, but nodded his head once, and I called out, "Ready." Madame +Zancig thereupon observed, "It is a square within a square." The diagram +that Mr. Zancig was looking at was this: + +[Illustration] + +his wife drew this: + +[Illustration] + +Two more cards were then drawn, but Madame Zancig did not succeed; she +got absolutely wrong drawings. + +At a public performance at Eastbourne I handed Mr. Zancig this diagram: + +[Illustration] + +He called out, "Draw this." Madame Zancig, who was on the platform, +said, "It is something like this." She made a motion with her right arm +like drawing a capital V; she then drew it on the blackboard. After +this she slowly drew a horizontal line through the V, thus: + +[Illustration] + +Mr. Zancig said, "Give the number." She then placed a 2 in the proper +position. He then called out, "Give the rest." She thereupon placed the +_a_ under the line, thus: + +[Illustration] + +Mr. Zancig said, "What more?" His wife placed the sign of + correctly, +but she rubbed it out several times as if in doubt. Finally she put down +the sign of + and a capital X, so that her drawing appeared like this: + +[Illustration] + +I have had many other experiments with this gifted couple, but have not +yet obtained the crucial test of getting Mr. Zancig to be in a distant +room with closed doors, while his wife was in another room. The +possibility of their using a sound code at one time and a visual code at +another is therefore not entirely precluded. + +Although I have been quite unable to discover the methods by which they +can possibly communicate when a visual and a sound code are not +detected, yet I will reserve my ultimate opinion until I obtain tests +under the crucial conditions that I have named. + +Not only did I personally meet with difficulties in endeavouring to +explain the performances of Mr. and Madame Zancig, but also the members +of the unofficial Committee that I have referred to. I now give an +extract from our unofficial report. + + "... It must be remembered that the antecedent probabilities + in favour of a code to explain all performances of this kind + are enormous. + + "While we are of opinion that the records of experiments in + telepathy made by the Society for Psychical Research and + others raise a presumption for the existence of such a + faculty at least strong enough to entitle it to serious + scientific attention, the most hopeful results hitherto + obtained have not been in any way comparable as regards + accuracy and precision with those produced by Mr. and Madame + Zancig. Further, there is, so far as we are aware, no case + of any public performers (including certain recent examples) + where the use of a code or apparatus has not been more or + less readily discoverable or clearly to be inferred. In + considering, therefore, the claim of Mr. and Madame Zancig + to the possession of a genuine telepathic faculty, one is + faced by the initial difficulty that such a faculty must be + regarded as unique in quality, and Mr. and Madame Zancig + themselves as unique in kind, a difficulty on the force of + which it is not necessary to insist. On the other hand, the + difficulty of suggesting by what method, if not by + telepathy, they communicate is considerable. Those who have + only witnessed the public theatre performances, clever and + perplexing as these are, will not appreciate how hard it is + to offer any plausible explanation of their _modus + operandi_." + +In conclusion, I would wish to point out that the establishment of the +fact that telepathy is a scientific truth would have bearings of the +greatest importance. + +It would show that the transmission of thought could occasionally be +effected otherwise than by the ordinary sense channels. + +It would change the materialistic conception that thought only acts +within the limits of the brain. + +It would modify the materialistic scientific view of the relation of +mind to matter. + +I trust that what I have written will act as an incentive to some of my +readers to try experiments in this branch of psychical research.[2] It +is not enough that a few individuals by patient inquiry and experiment +should have been convinced of the reality of telepathy. What is wanted +is that scientific men generally, by the record of an overwhelming +number of experiments under the strictest test conditions, should be +convinced of its truth. Once let them be so, then public conviction will +in due time follow. + +Meanwhile I feel bound to state that, in spite of initial +improbability, the experiences which I myself have had, as partly +narrated in this book, especially those briefly summarized in Part I, +have convinced me that the telepathic faculty does exist, and that its +detection is a genuine extension of scientific knowledge; though much +more will have to be done before the bare fact receives its explanation +and is permanently incorporated in a coherent system of Science. + +[Footnote 2: Information relating to cases of genuine telepathy may be +sent to the Secretary of the Society for Psychical Research, 20 Hanover +Square, London, who will be pleased to investigate them.] + + + + +PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH + + + + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Transcriber's Note: + + +Punctuation errors have been corrected without note. On p. 20, "11.5 +p.m." was corrected to "11.50 p.m." + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Telepathy, by W. W. Baggally + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TELEPATHY *** + +***** This file should be named 29151-8.txt or 29151-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/1/5/29151/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, S.D., and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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W. Baggally + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Telepathy + Genuine and Fraudulent + +Author: W. W. Baggally + +Release Date: June 17, 2009 [EBook #29151] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TELEPATHY *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, S.D., and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/frontis1.jpg" class="noline"> +<span class="caption u">THE PAD THAT "BLINDFOLDS" THE YOGI</span> +<img src="images/frontis1-thumb.jpg" width="300" height="185" class="frontis" alt="" title="" /> +</a> +<p class="caption">The above is a photograph of the actual porous plaster and pads produced +by <span class="smcap">Yoga Rama</span> as a means of "blindfolding." The plaster is seen exactly +as it was when taken off by Mr. <span class="smcap">William Marriott</span>. It will be seen that +the pads have shifted, allowing comparatively clear vision with one eye. +The tissue paper, making the plaster non-adhesive, will also be noticed.</p> + +<p class="caption ralign">[<a href="#Page_52"><i>Page</i> 52</a></p> +</div> + +<h1><span class="wide">TELEPATHY</span><br /> + +<span class="subtitle">GENUINE AND FRAUDULENT</span></h1> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="sm">BY</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="bigger">W. W. BAGGALLY</span><br /> +<span class="wee">MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH</span></p> + +<p class="center tpgap"><span class="sm">WITH A PREFACE BY</span><br /> +<br /> +SIR OLIVER LODGE, F.R.S.</p> + +<p class="center pub">METHUEN & CO. LTD.<br /> +36 ESSEX STREET W.C.<br /> +LONDON +</p> + +<p class="center pub"><i>First Published in 1917</i></p> + +<p><!-- Page v --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + +<h2>PREFATORY NOTE</h2> + +<p>My friend, Mr. W. W. Baggally, an experienced investigator of +supernormal phenomena, has set down some of his experiences in connexion +with the subject of Telepathy, and I heartily commend his book to the +public as the record of a careful, conscientious, and exceptionally +skilled and critical investigator. It would be difficult to find anyone +more competent by training and capacity to examine into the genuineness +of these subtle and elusive phenomena, which yet are of the utmost +importance in the development of psychological science. Telepathy, or +the direct action of mind on mind apart from the ordinary channels of +sense, opens a new chapter; it is not a coping-stone completing an +erection, but a foundation-stone on which to build.</p> + +<p class="ralign">OLIVER J. LODGE</p> + +<p><!-- Page vi --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span><br /></p> +<p><!-- Page vii --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table class="toc" summary="Table of Contents"> + +<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#PART_I">PART I</a><br /> +GENUINE TELEPATHY</th></tr> + +<tr><td></td><td><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Experimental Telepathy</td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Spontaneous Telepathy</td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr> + +<tr> <td>Telepathy between Human Beings and Animals</td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> + +<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#PART_II">PART II</a><br /> +FRAUDULENT TELEPATHY</th></tr> + +<tr><td>Accounts of Cases</td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Description of Various Methods used by Public +Performers for effecting their So-called +Transmission of Thought</td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> + +<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#PART_III">PART III</a><br /> +THE ZANCIGS</th></tr> + +<tr><td>Public Experiments </td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Private Experiments</td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Experiments before Committees</td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Importance of establishing Genuine Telepathy +as a Scientific Fact</td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><!-- Page 1 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h1 class="wide">TELEPATHY</h1> + +<h2><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>PART I<br /><br /> +GENUINE TELEPATHY</h2> + +<p>Sir William F. Barrett, one of the founders of the Society for Psychical +Research, more than forty years ago tried some experiments which led him +to believe that something then new to science, which he provisionally +called "thought transference" and which is now known as "telepathy," +really existed.</p> + +<p>At the first general meeting of the Society, on the 17th July 1882, he +read a paper entitled "First Report on Mind Reading."</p> + +<p>Since that date the Society has carried out a great number of +experiments which tend to show that telepathy is a scientific fact. The +evidence for its existence is twofold<!-- Page 2 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>—that which can be gathered +experimentally, and that which arises spontaneously. To the first +category belong those experiments in the transmission of the images of +drawings or diagrams by means of an effort of the will of a person known +as the <dfn>agent</dfn> to the mind of another person designated the +<dfn>percipient</dfn>, when the transmission is carried out otherwise than +through the ordinary channel of the senses. To the second category +belong those hallucinations of seeing a person at the moment of death or +at a crisis, evidence for which has been obtained abundantly by the +Society for Psychical Research and has been embodied in the work +<cite>Phantasms of the Living</cite>, and in the <cite>Census of Hallucinations</cite>—a +report on which appeared in the <cite>Proceedings</cite> of the Society in 1894.</p> + +<p>There are several theories to explain the action of telepathy. The first +compares it to wireless telegraphy. On this hypothesis it is supposed +that it is due to ethereal wave action:—Thought causes motion in the +brain cells of the agent, the cells then impart motion to the +surrounding ether in the form<!-- Page 3 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> of waves which impinge on the brain cells +of the percipient and give rise to a corresponding thought to that which +started the ethereal wave motion.</p> + +<p>This theory offers great difficulties. An opponent to it points out that +"A wireless message is transmitted by a succession of single ethereal +wave impulses produced by the electric sparks at the starting station +and received by the coherer at the receiving station, whereas a diagram +to be transmitted would require a number of brain-waves produced +simultaneously and arranged in the form of the diagram."</p> + +<p>Another mode of putting the matter recently advanced is that the agent +does not transmit his thought, but that the percipient reads +clairvoyantly what is in the agent's mind.</p> + +<p>There is also the spiritualistic theory. It is asserted that an external +entity, or spirit, conveys the images or thoughts from one mind to +another.</p> + +<p>Another theory is that telepathy takes place in the subconscious mind, +and that the subconscious mind of the agent is in<!-- Page 4 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> communication with +the subconscious mind of the percipient by means of the universal mind +underlying all things and of which individual subconscious minds form +part.</p> + +<p>Not one of these theories has been accepted as proved by the Society for +Psychical Research. In cases of spontaneous telepathy it is now +generally believed that the appearance of a person at the time of death +or at a crisis is not caused by an objective bodily ghost, but arises +from a telepathic impact from the agent formulating itself into his +image in the mind of the percipient.</p> + +<p>In the case of two persons seeing an apparition at the same time, this +may be due to the two percipients receiving each, separately, a +telepathic impression, or there may be only one percipient who +telepathically impresses the hallucination on the mind of the second +person.</p> + +<p>I will now proceed to relate some cases of telepathy which have come +under my personal observation. My first experiment in the transmission +of images of drawings and diagrams took place in the rooms of the +Society for Psychical Research in May 1902.<!-- Page 5 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> A private lady, Miss M. +Telbin, acted as percipient, and I acted as agent. There were present at +the time Mr. J. G. Piddington, Honorary Secretary of the Society, and +Mr. Thomas, the then Acting Secretary.</p> + +<p>During the first experiment Miss Telbin, who was a stranger to me, sat +with her back towards a large opaque screen. In front of her stood a +small table upon which rested a crystal ball. She was asked to gaze at +the crystal and to describe any vision that might appear to form itself +therein. I may parenthetically remark that the object of crystal-gazing +is to concentrate the mind and to withdraw it from outward influences. +The vision seen in the crystal does not exist objectively, but only in +the mind of the seer. On the other side of the screen, entirely hidden +from the view of Miss Telbin, sat Mr. Piddington and myself. This +gentleman proceeded to take from a box, which was behind the screen and +on the floor between his and my chairs, various articles, and to hand +them silently, one at a time, to me. I then concentrated my thoughts +successively on each article. Miss Telbin gave an account<!-- Page 6 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> of what she +saw in the crystal, and Mr. Thomas, who sat in such a position that both +Mr. Piddington and myself were hidden from his view, took notes of what +occurred.</p> + +<p>The first article handed me was a <cite>Windsor Magazine</cite>, on the cover of +which there was an engraving of Windsor Castle. I concentrated my +thoughts on this engraving, and Miss Telbin then gave a description of +the vision that presented itself to her mental view.</p> + +<p>She first observed that she could see trees on the left side of the +picture, and cottages also on the left, and that there was water.</p> + +<p>These details were correct so far as they went, but the subsequent +details that she gave were incorrect, and the experiment was abandoned +as a failure. I then replaced the magazine in the box from which it had +been taken, so that Miss Telbin had no opportunity of seeing the +magazine during the experiment nor after.</p> + +<p>Other experiments were being tried when Miss Telbin spontaneously said +that she had had a vision of Windsor Castle.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 7 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p><p>This experiment may be regarded as a case of deferred telepathy.</p> + +<p>Another experiment with the same lady, in which simultaneous double +telepathy occurred, is of better evidential value.</p> + +<p>Miss Telbin again sat with her back to the screen, and instead of the +crystal a piece of paper and a pencil were placed on the table in front +of her.</p> + +<p>This time Mr. Thomas and I sat behind the screen hidden from her view, +and Mr. J. G. Piddington took notes. Mr. Thomas and I acted as +simultaneous agents. We each held a small piece of cardboard with a +diagram on it known to the agent viewing it, but not to the other agent. +These diagrams belonged to the Society for Psychical Research and had +not been seen by Mr. Thomas nor by me previous to the experiment. They +were in a box which was at our feet behind the screen. We each took a +diagram from the box, taking care that we did not see each other's +diagram.</p> + +<p>We concentrated our minds on our respective diagrams, and Miss Telbin +drew her impressions on the piece of paper in front<!-- Page 8 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> of her. The +following drawings show the results:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="10" width="60%" summary="Drawings produced from Baggally-Telbin telepathy experiment"> + +<tr class="vert-b"> +<td> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/8a.png" width="100" height="83" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap vert">Mr. Baggally's<br /> +Diagram.</span> +</div> +</td> + +<td> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/8b.png" width="100" height="112" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Miss Telbin'<br /> +Drawing.</span></div> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr class="vert-b"> +<td> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/8c.png" width="100" height="78" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Mr. Thomas's<br /> +Diagram.</span></div> +</td> + +<td> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/8d.png" width="100" height="108" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Miss Telbin's<br /> +Drawing.</span></div> +</td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<p>At the time that Miss Telbin got the impression of the diagram with +three sections, she made the remark that it looked like three leaves.</p> + +<p>The correspondence between the drawings and the diagrams is very great, +and difficult to account for by chance.</p> + +<p>The following points have to be considered. First, that Miss Telbin only +made two drawings and not many from which two might have been selected +in which there was a resemblance to the diagrams. Secondly, that Mr. +Thomas's diagram was correctly reproduced although in a reversed +position (the<!-- Page 9 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> reversal of a figure sometimes happens in experiments in +telepathy). Thirdly, that my diagram of three triangles, although not +reproduced in the form of triangles, was drawn correctly as regards +there being three sections, and that the relative position of the +sections was given correctly. Fourthly, that Miss Telbin had not +previously seen any of the diagrams, and therefore the chances against +her being able to hit upon any diagram which was then being used were +very great. Fifthly, that the chances against her being able to hit upon +two diagrams simultaneously were even greater.</p> + +<p>The explanation that the result might have been due to collusion between +the persons experimenting of course cannot be entertained, at least by +myself, who was one of the experimenters.</p> + +<p>It was not possible for the percipient to see through the large screen +which was behind her, and there were no mirrors in the room in which the +small diagrams could have been reflected. No word was spoken to give her +the slightest clue. These two successful telepathic experiments led to<!-- Page 10 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +further ones at a distance between this lady and myself.</p> + +<p>It will be of interest to insert here an account of an experiment in +telepathy, similar to the one I have just described, between two agents +and one percipient, which Sir Oliver Lodge carried out in the year 1884.</p> + +<p>When the experiment was tried with Miss Telbin, Mr. Thomas, and myself I +was not aware that Sir Oliver Lodge had already tried an experiment of a +like nature.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Sir Oliver Lodge's Account</span></h3> + +<p>"My own first actual experience of thought transference, or experimental +telepathy, was obtained in the years 1883 and 1884 at Liverpool, when I +was invited by Mr. Malcolm Guthrie of that city to join in an +investigation which he was conducting with the aid of one or two persons +who had turned out to be sensitive, from among the employees of the +large drapery firm of George Henry Lee & Co.</p> + +<p>"A large number of these experiments<!-- Page 11 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> had been conducted before I was +asked to join, throughout the spring and autumn of 1883, but it is +better for me to adhere strictly to my own experience and to relate only +those experiments over which I had control.</p> + +<p>"Most of these experiments were confirmations of the kind of thing that +had been observed by other experimenters. But one experiment which I +tried was definitely novel, and, as it seems to me, important; since it +clearly showed that when two agents are acting, each contributes to the +effect, and that the result is due, not to one alone, but to both +combined. The experiment is thus described by me in the columns of +<cite>Nature</cite>, vol. xxx., page 145, for 12th June 1884:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<h3>"<i>An Experiment in Thought Transference</i></h3> + +<p>"Those of your readers who are interested in the subject of thought +transference, now being investigated, may be glad to hear of a little +experiment which I recently tried here. The series of experiments was +originated and carried on in this city by Mr. Malcolm Guthrie, and he +has prevailed on me, on<!-- Page 12 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> Dr. Herdman, and on one or two other more or +less scientific witnesses, to be present on several occasions, +critically to examine the conditions, and to impose any fresh ones that +we thought desirable. I need not enter into particulars, but I will just +say that the conditions under which apparent transference of thought +occurs from one or more persons, steadfastly thinking, to another in the +same room blindfold and wholly disconnected from the others, seem to me +absolutely satisfactory, and such as to preclude the possibility of +conscious collusion on the one hand or unconscious muscular indication +on the other.</p> + +<p>"One evening last week—after two thinkers, or agents, had been several +times successful in instilling the idea of some object or drawing, at +which they were looking, into the mind of the blindfold person, or +percipient—I brought into the room a double opaque sheet of thick paper +with a square drawn on one side and a St. Andrew's cross or X on the +other, and silently arranged it between the two agents so that each +looked on one side without any notion of what was on the<!-- Page 13 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> other. The +percipient was not informed in any way that a novel modification was +being made; and, as usual, there was no contact of any sort or kind—a +clear space of several feet existing between each of the three people. I +thought that by this variation I should decide whether one of the two +agents was more active than the other; or, supposing them about equal, +whether two ideas in two separate minds could be fused into one by the +percipient.</p> + +<p>"In a very short time the percipient made the following remarks, every +one else being silent: 'The thing won't keep still.' 'I seem to see +things moving about.' 'First I see a thing up there, and then one down +there.' 'I can't see either distinctly.' The object was then hidden, and +the percipient was told to take off the bandage and to draw the +impression in her mind on a sheet of paper. She drew a square, and then +said, 'There was the other thing as well,' and drew a cross inside the +square from corner to corner, saying afterwards, 'I don't know what made +me put it inside.'</p> + +<p><!-- Page 14 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figures"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/13-orig.png" width="100" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Originals.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 75px;"> +<img src="images/13-repro.png" width="75" height="65" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Reproduction.</span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="clear"></div> + +<p>"The experiment is no more conclusive as evidence than fifty others that +I have seen at Mr. Guthrie's, but it seems to me somewhat interesting +that two minds should produce a disconnected sort of impression on the +mind of the percipient, quite different from the single impression which +we had usually obtained when two agents were both looking at the same +thing. Once, for instance (to take a nearly corresponding case under +those conditions), when the object was a rude drawing of the main lines +in a Union Jack, the figure was reproduced by the percipient as a whole +without misgiving; except, indeed, that she expressed a doubt as to +whether its middle horizontal line were present or not, and ultimately +omitted it."</p> + +<div class="figures"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/14-orig.png" width="100" height="61" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Original.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/14-repro.png" width="100" height="60" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Reproduction.</span> +</div> + +</div> +<div class="clear"></div> + +</div> +</div> + +<p>As I have said, the two successful telepathic experiments which I have +described,<!-- Page 15 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> and which took place in the rooms of the Society for +Psychical Research, led to further experiments at a distance between +Miss Telbin and myself.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="2" summary="Results of another telepathy experiment with Miss Telbin, including drawings"> + +<tr align="left" class="vert-t"> +<td> +<span class="smcap">At 7 P.M.</span><br /> +<p class="pad-l">I drew the following diagram</p> +<div class="figcenter2" style="width: 29px;"> +<img src="images/15a.png" width="29" height="40" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +</td> +<td> +<span class="smcap">At 7 P.M.</span><br /> +<p class="pad-l">Miss <span class="smcap">Telbin's</span> drawings</p> +<div class="figcenter2" style="width: 175px;"> +<img src="images/15b.png" width="175" height="61" alt="" title="" /> +</div></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left" class="vert-t"> +<td> +<span class="smcap">At 7:10 P.M.</span><br /> +<p class="pad-l">I fixed my attention on a<br /> +flower</p> +<div class="figcenter2" style="width: 43px;"> +<img src="images/15c.png" width="43" height="70" alt="" title="" /> +</div></td> + +<td> +<span class="smcap">At 7:10 P.M.</span><br /> +<p class="pad-l">Miss <span class="smcap">Telbin</span> obtained several<br /> +incorrect scrawls, but amongst<br /> +them one under which<br /> +she had written the<br /> +words</p> +<div class="figcenter3" style="width: 38px;"> +<img src="images/15d.png" width="38" height="70" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="center">"First impression"</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left" class="vert-t"> +<td> +<span class="smcap">At 7:20 P.M.</span><br /> +<p class="pad-l">I looked at a pair of opera<br /> +glasses, at which I gazed first<br /> +lengthwise</p> +<div class="figcenter2" style="width: 75px;"> +<img src="images/15e.png" width="75" height="32" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="pad-l">then sideways</p> +<div class="figcenter2" style="width: 70px;"> +<img src="images/15f.png" width="70" height="56" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +</td> + +<td> +<span class="smcap">At 7:20 P.M.</span><br /> +<p class="pad-l">Miss <span class="smcap">Telbin's</span> drawings<br /> +were—</p> +<p class="pad-l">First impression +<img src="images/15g.png" width="41" height="40" alt="" title="" /></p> +<p class="pad-l">A series of crescents +<img src="images/15h.png" width="70" height="40" alt="" title="" /></p> +<p class="pad-l">And this drawing +<img src="images/15i.png" width="78" height="60" alt="" title="" /></p> +<p class="pad-l">Also four drawings<br /> +<img src="images/15j.png" width="200" height="31" alt="" title="" /></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +</div> + +<p><!-- Page 16 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> +<p>It was arranged that we should sit on certain days in the week, and +that at a fixed hour I should act as agent and transmit to her my +thoughts, she being at the time in her residence in West Hampstead, and +I in Kensington. The distance between these localities as the crow flies +is four miles. The result of our first sitting, which took place on 20th +May 1902, is shown on the preceding page.</p> + +<p>There was no possibility that the agent or the percipient could have +copied the drawings, as the letters embodying them that we wrote to each +other were posted on the evening of the same day and received by the +first post the following morning, having crossed in the post.</p> + +<p>Telepathy was clearly indicated in this experiment.</p> + +<p>We continued trying experiments for some months after, but did not get +such good results as at the beginning. On one occasion, however, we +obtained a successful negative result. I was not feeling well, and did +not fix my attention on any object. On the following morning Miss +Telbin's letter said, "I could get nothing from you last night." It +was,<!-- Page 17 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> to say the least, curious that she should not have received an +impression on the only night that I had not attempted to experiment.</p> + +<p>On another occasion, when Miss Telbin was in London and I in Folkestone, +I arranged to transmit to her the impression of a diagram on a certain +day at 8 p.m. It chanced that on that evening there was a performance at +the theatre, at which my wife wished to be present. I therefore decided +to telegraph to Miss Telbin that I would be unable to try the experiment +that night, but after a good deal of hesitation I changed my mind, and +thought that I would endeavour to transmit the impression of the diagram +on my way to the theatre. The letter that I received from Miss Telbin +the next day was to this effect:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"I got a good deal of writing last night which was +illegible, but amongst it I read the words 'going out' and +'rain.'"</p></div> + +<p>Now this may be a mere coincidence, but it was strange that the words +"going out" should correctly represent the idea that was in my mind +during a great part of the pre<!-- Page 18 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>ceding day. I had much worried, +hesitating whether I should telegraph or not.</p> + +<p>The result appears to indicate the transmission of my mental state. The +word "rain" represented correctly the state of the weather at +Folkestone, but, as it often rains in England, this was of no evidential +value.</p> + +<p>In regard to spontaneous telepathy I may bring before the reader two +cases which I personally investigated, the percipient in the first case +being a gentleman who belonged to a circle which regularly met for the +study of psychic phenomena, and of which circle I was a member.</p> + +<p>The percipient, Mr. John Polley, gave me an account of his vision as +follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"At a séance held within sound of Big Ben on 8th May 1901, +there were present Mrs. E. V. M., Mr. Thomas Atwood, and +myself. As Mr. Atwood resumed his seat after delivering an +address (about 8.30 p.m.) I became aware of a vision which +presented itself as being some five feet distant from me, +and displayed part of the interior of a room, namely, that +part where the stove stood. The<!-- Page 19 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> fire in the stove was small +and dull, and close beside it was an overturned chair. In +front of the fire was something that looked like a +fire-guard or clothes-horse, but this was not clear to me. +Playing, or climbing over this article, was a child, who +fell forward, and when it regained its feet I noticed that +its dress was on fire. I made no reference to the matter at +the time, as I had an impression that the vision might be +connected with some occurrence in the family of Mrs. M., and +I was averse to mentioning it for fear of awakening sad +memories. Shortly afterwards the whole vision was repeated, +and this time I had an uncontrollable impulse to speak. Upon +describing what I had seen for the second time, I was much +relieved to hear that the matter was not recognized as being +connected in any way with the sitters. I may mention here +that the child appeared to be about three years old, and, +judging from the style of dress, I described it as a girl, +although the vision would apply equally to a boy, as at that +early age the short clothes worn by both sexes would be very +similar.</p> + +<p>"Next Thursday morning, 9th May 1901, upon awakening, I +described to my wife the events of the previous evening's +séance. On the evening of the same day, namely, Thursday,<!-- Page 20 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +9th May, I was out with a friend, and upon my return home at +11.50 p.m., my sister, Mary Louisa Polley, who resided with +me at the time, made the remark, 'I have a piece of bad news +for you.' 'Well,' I replied, 'what is it? Let me know.' And +she answered, 'Brother George's little son, Jacky, has been +burned to death.' Like a flash I realized the connexion of +the sad event with my vision of the previous night. I then +asked my sister, 'How did you know this, and when?' She +replied, 'Mr. Fred Sinnett told me when he came over to see +us this evening.'</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +(Signed) "<span class="smcap">John Polley</span>"<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>I obtained from the other sitters at the séance the following +statement:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"At the séance held on the evening of Wednesday, 8th May +1901, at which were present Mrs. E. V. M., Mr. Thomas +Atwood, and Mr. John Polley, we, the undersigned, testify +that Mr. John Polley gave to us a description of a vision of +the burning of a child which he saw at this séance.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span class="rgap">(Signed in full)</span> <span class="rgap2">"E. V. M.</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Thomas Atwood</span>" +</p> + +</div> + +<p>I personally interviewed Mr. John Polley's wife and sister and received +a written state<!-- Page 21 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>ment from each confirming Mr. Polley's account.</p> + +<p>A local paper containing an account of the inquest on the child states +that the accident took place on Tuesday, 7th May, and the child was +taken to a hospital immediately and there died. The father of the child +wrote to me as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,—In reply to your inquiry respecting my late son, +John Frederick, I beg to say that on Tuesday, 7th May, my +wife went out to do some shopping, leaving my son, aged two +years and two months, in a bedroom with another brother aged +seven. Whilst the elder brother was getting some toys to +play with, the deceased thrust some paper in the fire, +pulled it out again, and set fire to his clothes. Some +neighbours took him to the Children's Hospital, Paddington +Green, where he passed away on Wednesday, 8th May, at 11.45 +a.m. No intimation of this was given by myself or any member +of our family to my brother, Mr. John Polley, until a friend +of the family called at my address on Thursday, 9th May, +between 1 and 2 p.m., when we informed him of the sad loss +that we had sustained, and he told us<!-- Page 22 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> that he intended +calling on my brother that evening, and we asked him if he +would communicate the news to my brother and sister who +reside at Church Street, Stoke Newington. Of course, Sir, +you know I am antagonistic to your views, but my brother has +told me it is for the interests of science. If this is so, I +take great pleasure in its furtherance.—Yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +(Signed) "<span class="smcap">Frederick George Polley</span>" +</p> +</div> + +<p>In the above case it appears to me that the vision of the burning child +which Mr. John Polley saw arose out of a spontaneous telepathic +impression, either from the mind of the father of the child to his +brother's (Mr. John Polley's mind), or from the mind of one of the +persons who was cognizant of the sad event.</p> + +<p>In regard to the second case of spontaneous telepathy to which I have +referred, I cannot do better than to give the account of same as it +appeared in the <cite>Journal of the Society for Psychical Research</cite> of June +1912:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"The following case of a reciprocal telepathic impression +occurring to two persons<!-- Page 23 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> at the same time has been +communicated to us by Mr. W. W. Baggally. Both Miss Emma +Steele and Mr. Claude Burgess, the lady and gentleman +concerned in the case, are known personally to Mr. Baggally.</p> + +<p>"Miss Steele writes as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="ralign"> +<span class="rgap">"'16 and 17 <span class="smcap">Sillwood Place</span>,</span><br /> +"'<span class="smcap">Brighton</span>, 13<i>th</i> <i>March</i> 1912 +</p> + +<p>"'Mr. Claude Burgess, who is an invalid, had been staying at +my private hotel, at the above address, for some months. He +left on 15th February to take up his residence at No. 10 +Belgrave Place, Kemp Town, Brighton. In the interval between +the date of his leaving and the night of the 5th inst., when +I had the remarkable dream (if it can be called a dream) +which I am about to relate, I had not seen Mr. Burgess, and +nothing had occurred to cause me to think particularly about +him.</p> + +<p>"'On the above night I retired to rest at my usual time. I +awoke finding myself standing in the middle of my room and +answering, "All right, I'm coming," to Mr. Burgess, who, I +thought, called three times: "Miss Steele! Miss Steele! Miss +Steele!"</p> + +<p>"'By the time I had put on my dressing-gown and lighted the +gas I was fully awake.<!-- Page 24 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> I then remembered Mr. Burgess was no +longer in the house. I looked at the clock and noticed it +was exactly 3 a.m. When I came downstairs next morning I +told my cook my dream, and remarked I hoped nothing had +happened to Mr. Burgess. During the next day, Wednesday, 6th +March, in the afternoon, a man called while I was out and +left a note from Mr. Burgess, which I enclose. I was much +surprised by its contents. It struck me most forcibly +getting it from him, as he is paralysed and has to write +with great difficulty with his left hand. He very seldom +writes now, so it must have made a great impression on him +seeing me as he relates in his letter.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +"'<span class="smcap">Emma M. Steele</span>' +</p> +</div> + +<p>"The letter from Mr. Burgess to Miss Steele referred to above, which is +now in our possession, was as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="ralign"> +"'<span class="smcap">10 Belgrave Place</span>, <span class="smcap">Brighton</span> +</p> + +<p>"'<span class="smcap">My dear Emma</span>,—I had a funny dream about you last night. I +dreamed that you appeared at about 3 a.m. Just a glimpse of +you. It's funny, isn't it?—Yours,</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +"'<span class="smcap">Claude Burgess</span>'<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p><!-- Page 25 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p><p>"Miss Steele's cook made the following statement to Mr. Baggally:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="ralign"> +"'13<i>th</i> <i>March</i> 1912 +</p> + +<p>"'On Wednesday morning, the 6th March last, Miss Emma Steele +came down from her bedroom at 8.30. I saw she was looking +pale. I asked her if she were not well. She replied that she +had had a strange dream. She heard Mr. Burgess call her +three times. She told me that she suddenly jumped up and put +her dressing-gown on. By the time she had put on her +dressing-gown and lit the gas she remembered Mr. Burgess had +left the house. She said it was about 3 o'clock a.m. when +she heard Mr. Burgess call.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span class="rgap">(Signed)</span>"'<span class="smcap">Sarah Pollard</span>' +</p> +</div> + +<p>"The following statement was written by Mr. Baggally on 13th March 1912, +from Mr. Claude Burgess's dictation:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'On Tuesday night, 5th March 1912, I woke up at about 3 +a.m. with a start. I saw Miss Emma Steele standing at the +door of my bedroom. I had closed the door, but she appeared +to have opened it. She was attired in her ordinary dress.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 26 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> +<p>"'I was much surprised. It was an absolutely distinct +apparition. I had not been thinking of her the previous day, +and I cannot tell why she appeared to me.</p> + +<p>"'The apparition lasted about five seconds. I was not at all +frightened, and went to sleep immediately after.</p> + +<p>"'I was so struck by what I had seen that, next morning, the +6th March, at about 11 o'clock, I wrote a letter to Miss +Steele which I handed to Mr. William Watkins, the proprietor +of the establishment where I now reside, for him to send to +Miss Steele. In this letter I told Miss Steele that I had +dreamed that she had appeared to me on the previous night.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span class="rgap">(Signed)</span> "'<span class="smcap">Claude Burgess</span>'<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>"In reply to Mr. Baggally's personal inquiries, Mr. Claude Burgess +stated that it was the first time that he had had a hallucination of +this kind, and he had not had one since.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<h3><i>Statement by Mr. William Watkins</i></h3> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span class="rgap">"'<span class="smcap">10 Belgrave Place</span>,</span><br /> +"'<span class="smcap">Brighton</span>, 13<i>th</i> <i>March</i> 1912 +</p> + +<p>"'Mr. Claude Burgess delivered to me a<!-- Page 27 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> letter which he had +written to Miss Steele, at about 11 a.m. on 6th March, which +I handed to a man of the Church Army Labour Home to take to +Miss Steele. The same morning at 8 a.m. Mr. Burgess told me +he had dreamt of Miss Steele.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +"'<span class="smcap">William Watkins</span>' +</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<h3><i>Statement by Mr. Baggally</i></h3> + +<p>"'I called on the afternoon of the 13th March 1912 at the +offices of the Church Army Labour Home, St. James Street, +Brighton, and saw the Secretary, who showed me an entry in +their books confirming the fact that, at the request of Mr. +William Watkins, a man in their employ had delivered a +letter to Miss Emma Steele of 16 Sillwood Place, Brighton, +in the afternoon of 6th March 1912.</p> + +<p>"'I have interviewed all the persons connected with this +case, and they confirmed their respective statements.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +"'<span class="smcap">W. W. Baggally</span>' +</p> +</div> + +<p>"In reply to our further questions as to whether Mr. Burgess's +experience was a dream or a waking hallucination, Mr. Baggally wrote to +us on 1st April 1912:—</p> + +<p><!-- Page 28 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>"'I had an interview with Mr. Burgess to-day, and the +following is the information I received from him respecting +the points you raise. He said to me:—</p> + +<p>"'"(1) I used the word 'dream' in my letter to Miss Steele +for want of a better word. (2) I woke up and then had the +vision of Miss Steele. (3) I did not notice anything in the +room at the time I had the vision. The room appeared dark. +(4) Miss Steele appeared to me in a bright light, not +self-luminous or phosphorescent, but just as she would have +appeared in daylight. She appeared to me in the part of the +room where the door was."' </p></div> + +<p>"Mrs. Baggally sends us the following statement enclosed in a letter +dated 27th April 1912:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'I was in the drawing-room of Miss E. Steele's sister on +the evening of Wednesday, 6th March, when Miss Emma Steele +came in, saying in an excited manner, "Where is Mr. +Baggally? He will be so interested in this."</p> + +<p>"'She held in her hand a letter from Mr. Burgess, and +proceeded to tell me that the previous night she had heard, +as she thought,<!-- Page 29 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> Mr. Burgess fall on the floor of the +bedroom over her own. She sprang out of bed.</p> + +<p>"'Finding herself in the middle of the room, she heard him +call "Miss Steele!" three times. She then suddenly +remembered that Mr. Burgess was no longer living in her +hotel. She struck a light, looked at the clock, and found it +was 3 o'clock. The following morning she felt so tired that +when giving orders to her cook, the latter noticed her +fatigue and commented upon it. She told the cook the reason +was that she heard Mr. Burgess apparently calling her at 3 +o'clock.</p> + +<p>"'Miss Steele proceeded to say that Mr. Burgess had, +curiously enough, sent her that afternoon the note which at +that moment she held in her hand, and in which he told her +that he dreamt she had appeared to him at 3 a.m. the +previous night.</p> + +<p>"'Miss Steele appeared much impressed and wondered if +anything had happened to Mr. Burgess. I informed my husband +that same night, on his return home, of what Miss E. Steele +had told me.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +"'<span class="smcap">Laura E. Baggally</span>' +</p> +</div> + +<p><!-- Page 30 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>"'On my return home on the evening of 6th March my wife +related to me what appears in her statement above.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +"'<span class="smcap">W. W. Baggally</span>'"<br /> +</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The above case is evidentially a good one, inasmuch as both Miss Emma +Steele and Mr. Burgess each reported on the morning of 6th March (the +one to her cook and the other to his landlord) their experiences of the +previous night before either of them was aware that a reciprocal +telepathic impression had occurred between them.</p> + +<p>There appears to be evidence that telepathy can also occur between the +mind of a human being and that of an animal. The reader will doubtless +recollect Mr. H. Rider Haggard's case which appeared in the public +press. This gentleman, on the night of Saturday, 9th July 1904, dreamed +that a favourite dog of his eldest daughter was lying on its side among +brushwood by water, and that it was trying to transmit in an undefined +fashion the knowledge that it was dying. Next day the dog was missing. +The body of the dog was subsequently found floating in the water near a +bridge. An<!-- Page 31 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> examination of the attendant circumstances pointed to the +dog having met its death on the night of Mr. Rider Haggard's dream. As a +result of this gentleman having made public this experience, he received +from numerous correspondents accounts of telepathy between the minds of +the writers of the letters and the minds of animals. These accounts were +sent by Mr. Rider Haggard to the Secretary of the S.P.R., who handed +them to me for investigation.</p> + +<p>A very good case was that communicated by Lady C. The following is the +account of her experience:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"On one hot Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1900 I went, +after luncheon, to pay my customary visit to the stables to +give sugar and carrots to the horses, among the number being +a favourite mare named Kitty. She was a shy, nervous, +well-bred animal, and there existed between us a great and +unusual sympathy. I used to ride her every morning before +breakfast (whatever the weather might be)—quiet, solitary +rides on the cliffs which overhung the sea at Castle F., and +it always seemed to me that<!-- Page 32 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> Kitty enjoyed that hour in the +freshness of the day as much as I did. On this particular +afternoon I left the stables, and walked along to the +garden, a distance of a quarter of a mile, and established +myself under a tree with an interesting book, fully +intending to remain there for a couple of hours. After about +twenty minutes an uncomfortable sensation came between me +and my reading, and at once I felt sure that there was +something the matter with Kitty. I tried to put the feeling +from me, and to go on with my book, but the impression grew +stronger, and I felt compelled to hasten back to the +stables. I went straight to Kitty's box and found her +'cast,' and in urgent need of help. The stablemen were in a +distant part of the stables, whence I fetched them to have +the mare up. Their surprise was great to find me in the +stables for the second time that afternoon." </p></div> + +<p>I wrote to Lady C., and received the following reply:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="ralign"> +"27<i>th</i> <i>December</i> 1904 +</p> + +<p>"Lady C. would be glad indeed to have the case investigated, +as it always seemed to her to be of the greatest possible +interest. At the same time, it may be difficult at this date +to get a statement from the stablemen,<!-- Page 33 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> one of whom is +somewhere in England, but Lady C. will try to do so. She is +absolutely convinced that no one entered the stable. Had the +stablemen done so they would at once have helped the mare to +get up, and anyone else would have given the alarm. It seems +a direct case of telepathy from animal mind to human." </p></div> + +<p>Lady C. afterwards sent me a statement from a former coachman; it is +this:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="ralign"> +"31<i>st</i> <i>December</i> 1904 +</p> + +<p>"I was coachman at Castle F. at the time. Lady C. came to +the stables after luncheon as usual on a Sunday afternoon +with carrots and sugar for the horses. Kitty was then loose +in her box and quite well. I then went to my room over the +stables, the other stablemen being also upstairs, and to my +surprise, after half an hour or three-quarters of an hour +later, her ladyship, who had been to the garden, called me +and the other stablemen to come and help Kitty up, as she +was lying 'cast'<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> in her box. No one had gone into the +stable in the interval.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span class="rgap">(Signed)</span> "E. N." +</p> +</div> + +<p><!-- Page 34 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> +<p>Telepathy may possibly exist between the mind of an animal and that of +a human being and <i>vice versa</i>, but a sufficient number of cases have +not been collected to establish this as a fact.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 35 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II +<br /><br /> +FRAUDULENT TELEPATHY</h2> + +<p>I now come to another class of so-called thought transference—that +exhibited at public entertainments in which genuine telepathy plays no +part.</p> + +<p>On the 25th November 1912 Miss Isabel Newton, the Secretary of the +Society for Psychical Research, and I attended the demonstration given +by Yoga [<i>sic</i>] Rama of his alleged occult powers at the "Little +Theatre," Adelphi.</p> + +<p>Accounts had appeared in the public press of a previous private +performance given by this so-called Abyssinian Mystic, at which Sir John +Simon, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Bernard Shaw, and Mr. Anthony Hope had +assisted, and it was stated that Yoga Rama had been able to read the +thoughts of the Solicitor-General by supernormal means.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 36 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p><p>In order to demonstrate, in a public manner, the alleged occult power +of this "psychic," a stage performance was given at the "Little Theatre" +on the afternoon of the above-mentioned date. A large audience was +present, and their expectations of witnessing manifestations of an +occult nature were raised by the contents of the programme, wherein it +appeared that Yoga Rama was to give a demonstration of "The power of +mind over mind" by means of—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="ind">"1. Clairaudience.</p> + +<p class="ind">"2. The possibility of the interpretation of vibrations +without the aid of sound.</p> + +<p class="ind">"3. Psychometry by sense of touch.</p> + +<p class="ind">"4. Telepathy. The disclosure of names thought of by persons +in the audience.</p> + +<p class="ind">"5. Disclosure of personalities by subconscious means.</p> + +<p class="ind">"6. Revelations by a circumstantial chain of mind pictures.</p> + +<p class="ind">"7. Various demonstrations of ideas silently conveyed to the +spectator by suggestion.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 37 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> +<p class="ind">"8. Descriptions of cities and places by mind pictures.</p> + +<p class="ind">"9. Messages."</p> +</div> + +<p>Before Yoga Rama made his appearance a gentleman (a Mr. Fletcher) +delivered a short speech from the stage. He stated that the "Yoga" had +acquired his occult powers by contemplation after many years' study. He +went on to say that in the Eastern World the occult powers of the mind +had been more studied than in the Western World, but at the present day +the Western World looked upon these powers with much less prejudice than +formerly.</p> + +<p>After Mr. Fletcher had retired, Yoga Rama made his appearance from +between the centre of two curtains which hung at the back of the stage. +He was attired in a long loose black gown and wore a large crimson +turban. He advanced to the front of the stage and made a speech which +had a smattering of a theosophical discourse. He described four kinds of +Yogi. The first kind, he said, was frequently met in India. These Yogi +worked on the physical plane and produced effects resembling the feats +of a conjurer.<!-- Page 38 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> The second kind worked in the mental plane (to this +class he implied that he belonged). The third dealt with the spiritual +problems of life. The fourth was absorbed in meditation.</p> + +<p>He continued his speech by saying that he required the sympathy of the +persons with whom he would experiment. If they mentally opposed him he +could do nothing, but if their minds were sympathetic and not +antagonistic he would succeed.</p> + +<p>The speeches of Mr. Fletcher and of Yoga Rama still further raised the +expectations of the audience that they were about to witness that +afternoon a demonstration of the power of mind over mind by supernormal +means.</p> + +<p>Yoga Rama, after the conclusion of his speech, called for thirty persons +(ladies and gentlemen) to come upon the stage and form a Committee. A +gentleman and I first answered the call. We were soon followed by a rush +of ladies and gentlemen who rather inconveniently filled the stage, but +this did not interfere with the performance, as the majority of the +ladies and gentlemen kept at the back of the stage while Yoga Rama +carried out his experiments with a limited number<!-- Page 39 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> of the members of the +Committee. In order to be more at his ease, Yoga Rama removed his +turban. I placed it under a table which stood on the stage. I then had a +good look at him. I found he was a black man with short crisp curly +hair. From his appearance and the fluency with which he speaks English, +I came to the conclusion that he is not an Abyssinian, but an American +or West Indian negro.</p> + +<p>Amongst the members of the Committee were Mr. Zancig and Mr. William +Marriott. Both of these gentlemen I have had the pleasure of knowing for +some years. They, together with Mr. Charles Guttwoch (a friend of Mr. +Marriott), three or four other gentlemen, and myself, were the only +members of the Committee who actively endeavoured to ascertain whether +Yoga Rama's experiments depended for their success on trickery or on +other causes. The other members of the Committee remained passive +spectators. As regards the lady members with whom Yoga Rama tried a few +experiments, they declared themselves, at the conclusion of the +performance, to be believers in his alleged supernormal claims.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 40 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p><p>Before the experiments commenced, Yoga Rama asked that some one should +blindfold him with some articles which lay on a small table in the +centre of the stage. These consisted of two pieces of folded paper just +large enough to cover the eyebrows and eyes, a piece of porous plaster +perforated with holes, a thin white cotton handkerchief, two gloves, and +a long red silk scarf. Mr. Marriott offered to blindfold him. I stood +close to him while this was being done. Mr. Marriott placed the pieces +of paper first on Yoga Rama's eyes, then the porous plaster, then the +cotton handkerchief, after this the two gloves, and finally the red +scarf which he wound several times round his head. The tip of Yoga +Rama's nose could be seen under the plaster, the white cotton +handkerchief, and the scarf. Yoga Rama, who remained standing, then +requested some one to sit on a chair in front of him, to think of a +name, then to hold his left hand (<i>i.e.</i> the sitter's left hand) in +front of the sitter's face, and to trace on the palm of the left hand +with the forefinger of the right the first letter of the name thought +of. The sitter was then asked<!-- Page 41 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> to give taps on his left hand or make +movements in the air with his right hand corresponding to the number of +letters of which the name thought of consisted. When Yoga Rama suggested +(as he subsequently did) that the name of a flower or of a city should +be thought of, he requested that the same procedure of tracing the first +letter of the name and giving a number of taps or making movements with +the right hand corresponding to the number of letters should be +followed, but when he suggested that a play of Shakespeare should be +thought of he only asked that the first one or two letters of the title +should be traced on the palm of the left hand of the sitter with the +forefinger of the other hand. He did not then ask that taps or movements +of the right hand should be given or made. About an hour and a half of +the first part of the performance was taken up by experiments of the +above nature. These were varied only by one experiment of telling the +title of a hymn which a lady thought of, one of reading the thoughts of +a young lady, and one experiment with playing cards.</p> + +<p>Yoga Rama then made a long speech about<!-- Page 42 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> happiness depending on our own +selves and our being what we willed ourselves to be. He asserted that he +had overcome in himself the passion of anger. He laboured these points +so much and repeated himself so often that it became manifest he was +making the speech solely with the object of filling up the time.</p> + +<p>The patience of the Acting Committee became exhausted, and one of the +members advanced to the front of the stage, interrupted Yoga Rama, and, +appealing to the audience, said he had no doubt but that he had their +support when he asserted that they had come to the theatre not to hear +speeches but to witness experiments. Yoga Rama brought his speech +abruptly to a close after saying he would now demonstrate the power he +had acquired of controlling the functions of his body and of rendering +it insensible to pain. To show the control over his body he asked two +members of the Committee to stand by his side and to look at their +watches and note the length of time he was able to cease from breathing. +To show his insensibility to pain he said he would stand barefooted on a +board<!-- Page 43 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> studded with long nails, and also stand on broken glass.</p> + +<p>I have given an account of the nature of the performance with which Yoga +Rama favoured us. I will now proceed to describe the experiments more in +detail and to comment upon them.</p> + +<p>Mr. Marriott was the first person to sit on the chair in front of Yoga +Rama. He was told to hold his left hand in front of his face, to trace +the first letter of the name thought of on the palm of his left hand +with the forefinger of the right, and give the taps or make the +movements in the air with his right hand in the manner already +described. Mr. Marriott, instead of holding his left hand up, held his +right hand. Yoga Rama immediately said, "Not your right hand but your +left." This was a suspicious circumstance, as it indicated that Yoga +Rama could see notwithstanding he was blindfolded. Now conjurers know +that blindfolding in the manner above described is not a precaution +against seeing, as at the time of blindfolding what the conjurer does is +to shut his eyes tightly and bring his eyebrows well down. When the +blindfolding<!-- Page 44 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> is finished, the conjurer opens his eyes and draws his +eyebrows up; the bandages will then be displaced and drawn up from their +original position and he will be able to see under the bandages through +the spaces between the bridge of his nose and his cheeks. This, in the +joint opinion of Mr. Zancig, Mr. Marriott, and myself, is what Yoga Rama +did, and our opinion was confirmed when we examined the bandages at the +time they were removed from the performer's eyes, as will be described +later.</p> + +<p>Yoga Rama's method of telling the name thought of is to watch the +movement of the finger of the sitter's right hand while he traces the +first letter of the name on the palm of the left. This indicates to him +the first letter of the name, then he counts the number of taps or +movements given by the sitter's right hand. Thus, if the first letter +were W and the number of taps or movements seven, the name in all +likelihood would be William, or, if the first letter were W and the +number of taps or movements six, the name would probably be Walter. +Ordinary Christian names are limited in number, and Yoga Rama took care +to know beforehand whether<!-- Page 45 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> the sitter were thinking of a female name or +of a male name. It was therefore not a difficult matter for him to hit +upon the name. Moreover, when he was in doubt, as was often the case, he +not only asked that the first letter should be traced, but the second +and the third and the fourth, etc. Before hazarding a guess Yoga Rama +often asked whether the second or third or fourth, etc., letter of the +name were a letter that he mentioned. Thus, if he were not quite sure +that W had been traced, but he had noticed that seven taps or movements +had been given, he would say is not the fourth letter of the name L. If +the sitter answered in the affirmative, he would be pretty sure that +William was the name, but if the sitter's answer were a negative one, +Yoga Rama asked that the letters should be traced again and the taps, +etc., repeated. Yoga Rama resorted to the above-described method when he +asked the sitter to think of the name of a flower or of a city, but he +only tried one or two experiments with the names of flowers or cities, +the reason being, obviously, that as the names of flowers or cities are +not so limited in number as Christian<!-- Page 46 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> names, he fought shy of them. The +reason he gave for not being able to guess readily the name of a flower +was, he said, that he was not a botanist.</p> + +<p>As regards the titles of Shakespeare's plays he only asked that one or +two of the first letters of the title should be traced on the left hand, +and did not require any taps or movements of the right hand. Any person +acquainted with Shakespeare's plays and knowing the first one or two +letters of the title could have guessed with equal facility which play +was in the mind of the sitter. After getting the name of the play, Yoga +Rama asked the sitter to think of a personage in that play. He only +requested that this should be done once or twice, and was not successful +in getting the name of the personage at the first guess, but only after +making two or three guesses.</p> + +<p>In the experiment of telling the title of a hymn which a lady had in her +mind, Yoga Rama resorted to the same method of asking her to trace the +first letter of the title of the hymn on the palm of her left hand. She +traced the letter L, and he hazarded the guess<!-- Page 47 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> that it was "Lead, +kindly light," which proved to be correct. Apparently the most +successful experiments were one carried out with a young lady and one +with myself. Yoga Rama asked the young lady to think of something. He +then, without asking her to trace any letter or make movements with her +right hand, told her that she wished to get married. She acknowledged +that that was the thought in her mind. This caused a good deal of +amusement amongst the audience. The young lady left the stage +immediately after the experiment. This step on her part gave rise in the +minds of some of the members of the Committee that she was an +accomplice, and that, as the experiment had been carried out, she was no +longer required by Yoga Rama. These members of the Committee may be +doing an injustice to the young lady, but it was unfortunate she should +have left the stage at that moment.</p> + +<p>As regards the experiment with myself, I stood in front of Yoga Rama and +did not sit down, neither did I place my left hand in front of my face +as other experimenters had done, but close against my body when<!-- Page 48 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> tracing +the letters of my second name, which was the one I had in my mind.</p> + +<p>My object in standing up was to have my hands out of the line of his +vision. I took care that the movement of the forefinger of my right hand +when tracing the letters should not be seen by him.</p> + +<p>Yoga Rama repeatedly asked me to trace and retrace all the letters of +the name. He then gave the name correctly. Although this experiment +appeared to indicate that the performer possessed telepathic powers, it +must be borne in mind that he might have known who I was, as he had been +practising his so-called occult powers for some time in London under the +name of Professor Pickens before he assumed that of Yoga Rama. It was +not necessary that he should see my face in order to know with whom he +was experimenting. It was observed that he took a very careful stock of +the dresses of the Acting Committee before he was blindfolded. It was +only necessary, therefore, that he should see the lower part of the +dress for him to know which member of the Committee stood in front of +him. As one member after<!-- Page 49 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> the other experimented with him he described +their dress. He asserted that he was able to do this by a sort of +telepathic vision.</p> + +<p>The experiment with the playing cards was a simple conjuring trick. Yoga +Rama produced a pack of cards and asked the Committee to see that it was +unopened. I opened the pack, shuffled the cards, and handed them to Mr. +Marriott, who had been asked by the Professor to retire to a corner of +the stage and choose a card which he was to show to two members of the +Committee. Mr. Guttwoch and I accompanied Mr. Marriott to the corner of +the stage and saw which card Mr. Marriott had chosen. Mr. Marriott then +shuffled the pack again and handed it to Yoga Rama, who put it in his +pocket. Yoga Rama then asked Mr. Marriott what card he had chosen. Mr. +Marriott informed him. He then wrote something on a piece of paper which +he folded and handed to one of the members of the Committee to hold. He +then drew from his pocket another pack of cards similar in appearance to +the original pack (that it was not the original pack was evidenced by +the fact that the bottom card<!-- Page 50 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> of the pack which Yoga Rama drew from his +pocket was not the same as the bottom card of the original pack), but +which had the cards arranged in an order known to Yoga Rama. He +proceeded to pass the cards one after the other before Mr. Marriott's +eyes, asking him to tell him when he came to the card he had chosen. +When Yoga Rama came to the card, Mr. Marriott told him. Yoga Rama then +said, "What is the card in front of the one you chose and the one behind +it?" He was informed which they were. He then asked that the piece of +paper should be opened, and it was found that the names of the cards had +been written by him on the piece of paper. What occult power Yoga Rama +intended to demonstrate by this simple conjuring trick I fail to see. It +could not have been telepathy, as the two cards (the names of which Yoga +Rama had written) had not been chosen nor thought of by Mr. Marriott.</p> + +<p>A few words will suffice to describe the experiments which Yoga Rama +carried out to show (1) the control he had acquired over the functions +of his body, and (2) his insensibility to pain. As has already been +stated,<!-- Page 51 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> he asked two members of the Committee to stand by him and note +by their watches the length of time that he was able to cease breathing. +He retained his breath for fifty seconds. A member of the Committee at +the back of the stage called out, when the length of time was announced, +"That is nothing. I can stop breathing for a full minute." This +exclamation appeared to disconcert Yoga Rama a good deal. The standing +barefooted on a board studded with nails and on broken glass are common +tricks which can be seen performed by negroes at country fairs. I felt +the points of the nails and found they had been filed down and were +blunt. Mr. Marriott sat on the nails to the amusement of the audience +while Yoga Rama had gone off the stage to remove his boots. When Yoga +Rama returned he stood barefooted on these nails only for about half a +minute. He then proceeded to break some bottles on a piece of felt. He +pounded away on the glass with a hammer till he had reduced the greater +part to nearly a powder. He carefully pushed the larger pieces of glass +on one side and stood on the powdered portion.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 52 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p><p>I will now proceed to state the reasons which lead me to the conclusion +that Yoga Rama was able to see, although apparently blindfolded.</p> + +<p>1. The bandages were removed from his eyes by Mr. Marriott, who had +blindfolded him at the commencement of the performance. While this was +being done I had my face about two feet away from Yoga Rama's face and I +carefully noted the position of each article as it was being removed. +The lower edge of the porous plaster was above the tip of the +performer's nose, and the edge of the white handkerchief above the edge +of the plaster, and above the edge of the handkerchief was the edge of +the crimson scarf. The edges of the handkerchief and scarf were +sufficiently high up, so that, had the blindfolding depended only on +these, he could have seen under them. The gloves which had been placed +on the handkerchief need not be taken into account, as the folded pieces +of paper on his eyes prevented them from pressing into the sockets of +Yoga Rama's eyes, and he, by merely closing the eyes and bringing the +eyebrows well down when he was<!-- Page 53 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> being blindfolded and then opening his +eyes and lifting the eyebrows well up, could displace the gloves from +their original position and cause them to rise, as a conjurer well +knows; therefore the blindfolding really depended on the position of the +porous plaster. Now when Mr. Marriott placed the plaster over the pieces +of paper he took care that the lower edges of both pieces should be on +one of the lines of holes which existed in the plaster as shown in the +accompanying engraving (which is taken from a photograph).</p> + +<p>He also took care that the lower edge of the plaster should stick +against Yoga Rama's cheeks. On examining the plaster just before it was +removed we found that the lower edge no longer stuck against the +performer's cheeks. There were hollow spaces between the bridge of his +nose and his cheeks through which he could have seen with a downward +glance. The point now arises whether he used both his eyes or only one. +I noticed that Yoga Rama always kept the right side of his face towards +the sitters when trying the experiments. If the reader will look at the +engraving, which shows the exact position<!-- Page 54 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> of the folded pieces of paper +at the time of the removal of the plaster from Yoga Rama's face, he will +see that the piece of paper which covered his right eye is no longer on +the same line of holes as the left piece, but is higher up, and, what is +most suspicious, he will note some pieces of tissue paper which were +stuck on the plaster by Yoga Rama and were under the pieces of folded +paper, which prevented these from adhering to the plaster; thus by an +upper movement of the eyebrows Yoga Rama succeeded in raising the folded +piece of paper which covered his right eye, and with this eye he glanced +under the plaster and watched the movements of the sitter's hands, etc.</p> + +<p>2. As I have stated above, Yoga Rama always kept the right side of his +head towards the person with whom he was experimenting. He tried one +experiment with a gentleman who sat in the second row of the stalls. He +then turned his body round so that the right side of his face was in the +same position relatively to this gentleman as it had been to the sitters +on the stage. Moreover, the lights in the body of the theatre were not +alight<!-- Page 55 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> when Yoga Rama was trying his alleged thought-readings with the +members of the Committee on the stage, but when he experimented with the +gentleman in the stalls, one of the electric chandeliers in the body of +the theatre, not far from the gentleman, was immediately lit, thus +enabling Yoga Rama to watch the movements of the gentleman's right hand +when tracing the letters of the name he had chosen on the palm of his +left hand, and giving the taps corresponding to the number of the +letters.</p> + +<p>3. At the conclusion of the performance, after the bulk of the audience +had left, some persons remained in the foyer of the theatre, and a +discussion arose, during which some of the persons present asserted that +Yoga Rama had brought about his results by supernormal means. Mr. +Marriott, Mr. Guttwoch, and I denied this. At that moment Yoga Rama came +into the foyer, and he was accused by us of having been able to see. He +asserted that he had not seen, and to prove it offered to try some +experiments while a handkerchief was held tightly against his eyes. Mr. +Guttwoch held a handkerchief against his eyes.<!-- Page 56 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> As Yoga Rama was not now +able to see, he resorted to a different method from the one he used on +the stage. He held the wrist of the left hand of a lady with the thumb +and three fingers of his right hand, while his forefinger rested against +the back of the lady's hand. He then asked her to trace the letters of +the name thought of with the forefinger of her right hand on the palm of +her left hand, which was being held by him. He was able to tell the +name, but only after repeated tracing of the letters by the lady. Yoga +Rama not being able to be guided by sight as in his stage performances, +now guided himself by the sense of touch. Although I have never before +carried out an experiment of this nature myself, when Miss Newton and I +returned to the rooms of the Society for Psychical Research I tried the +experiment with her. I closed my eyes and held her wrist, and was able +to feel the letter which she traced on the palm of her hand. Manifestly +this is a difficult trick to perform, and requires great practice. I +noticed that Yoga Rama chose the hand of a lady in preference to that of +a gentleman, obviously because a lady's hand<!-- Page 57 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> is thinner than that of a +man, and the motion of her finger would be more easily felt.</p> + +<p>What convinced me more than any of the above reasons that Yoga Rama was +able to see during his performance is the following fact. I placed the +sticking plaster over my eyes after it had been taken from Yoga Rama's +eyes and, to my surprise, I found I could perfectly well see through it. +The numerous small holes with which it was perforated allowed me to do +this.</p> + +<p>The audience at the "Little Theatre" had had their expectations raised +that they were to witness manifestations of the occult powers of the +mind through the mediumship of an Abyssinian Yogi, instead of which they +witnessed an ordinary conjuring entertainment by a man who previously to +assuming the name of "Yoga [<i>sic</i>] Rama" was known as Professor A. D. +Pickens of Conduit Street, London.</p> + +<p>Besides the method used by Yoga Rama for producing his so-called thought +transference, there are others resorted to by public entertainers. The +one most in use is by means of a verbal code. The letters of the<!-- Page 58 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +alphabet are substituted and a word can be conveyed by the agent asking +a series of questions, each question beginning with a substituted +letter. The percipient has to remember what letters the substituted ones +represent; he takes note of the first letter only of each question, puts +them together in his mind, and thus gets the word that it is the +intention of the agent to convey.</p> + +<p>I have made a table (shown opposite) which shows one of these systems.</p> + +<p>If the name "Alfred" is to be conveyed, it can be done by the following +questions:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" summary="Example of Letter Substitution"> +<tr><td>Here is a name</td> <td>= A</td></tr> +<tr><td>Can you see it?</td> <td>= L</td></tr> +<tr><td>Endeavour to do so</td> <td>= F</td></tr> +<tr><td>Mind what you are doing</td> <td>= R</td></tr> +<tr><td>Go on </td> <td> = D</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">The letter E is understood.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p><!-- Page 59 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<h3>TABLE</h3> + +<table border="0" summary="Table of Smaller Tables"> + +<tr class="vert-t"> +<td> +<table border="1" cellpadding="2" rules="cols" width="350" summary="Letter Substitution"> +<tr><th class="b-bt" colspan="3">SUBSTITUTED LETTERS<br /> TABLE</th></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2">A is H</td> <td class="pad-l2">J is L</td> <td class="pad-l2">S is N</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2">B " T</td> <td class="pad-l2">K " Pray</td> <td class="pad-l2">T " P</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2">C " S</td> <td class="pad-l2">L " C</td> <td class="pad-l2">V " Look</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2">D " G</td> <td class="pad-l2">M " O</td> <td class="pad-l2">W " R</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2">E " F</td> <td class="pad-l2">N " D</td> <td class="pad-l2">X " See this </td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2">F " E</td> <td class="pad-l2">O " V</td> <td class="pad-l2">Y " Q</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2">G " A</td> <td class="pad-l2">P " J</td> <td class="pad-l2">Z " Hurry</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2">H " I</td> <td class="pad-l2">Q " W</td> <td></td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2">I " B</td> <td class="pad-l2">R " M</td> <td></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td></td><td></td></tr> +</table> +</td> + +<td> +<table border="1" cellpadding="2" rules="cols" width="150" summary="Words Corresponding to Numbers"> +<tr><th class="b-bt">NUMBERS<br /> TABLE</th></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2">No. 1 is Say</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2"><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 2 " Be</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2"><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 3 " Can</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2"><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 4 " Do</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2"><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 5 " Will</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2"><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 6 " What</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2"><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 7 " Please</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2"><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 8 " Are</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2"><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 9 " Now</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td class="pad-l2"><span class="pad-lr2">"</span> 10 " Tell</td></tr> +</table> +</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="2" rules="cols" width="502" summary="Questions Corresponding to Sets of Items"> +<tr> +<th class="b-bt" colspan="4">SETS</th></tr> +<tr><th class="b-bt"><span class="smcap">Set A</span></th> +<th class="b-bt"><span class="smcap">Set B</span></th> +<th class="b-bt"><span class="smcap">Set C</span></th> +<th class="b-bt"><span class="smcap">Set D</span></th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><i>What is<br /> +this?</i></td> + +<td><i>What article<br /> +is this?</i></td> + +<td><i>What is it<br /> +made of?</i></td> + +<td><i>What<br /> +colour?</i></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"><td> No. 1. Watch</td> <td>No. 1. Handkerchief</td> <td>No. 1. Gold</td> <td>No. 1. White</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 2. Bracelet</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 2. Necktie</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 2. Silver</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 2. Black</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 3. Guard</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 3. Bag</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 3. Copper</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 3. Blue</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 4. Chain</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 4. Glove</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 4. Lead</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 4. Brown</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 5. Breastpin</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 5. Purse</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 5. Zinc</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 5. Red</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 6. Necklace</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 6. Basket</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 6. Wood</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 6. Green</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 7. Ring</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 7. Book</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 7. Brass</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 7. Yellow</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 8. Rosary</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 8. Head-dress</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 8. Paper</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 8. Grey</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 9. Cross</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 9. Fan</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 9. Silk</td> <td><span class="pad-lr">"</span> 9. Purple</td></tr> +<tr align="left"><td><span class="pad-lr2">"</span> 10. Charm</td> <td><span class="pad-lr2">"</span> 10. Key</td> <td><span class="pad-lr2">"</span> 10. Glass</td> <td><span class="pad-lr2">"</span> 10. Violet</td></tr> +</table> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><!-- Page 60 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"><br />[Pg 60]</a></span></p> +<p>The transmission of the nature of an article is by dividing articles +that would be likely to be brought to a public entertainment into sets +of ten, each set being indicated by a different question. These sets +have to be learned by heart by the agent and the percipient. I give in +the table four sets to illustrate my meaning. After asking the question +which conveys the set to which the article belongs, a second question is +asked, beginning with the word corresponding to the number on the number +table. This will indicate what number in the set the article corresponds +to. As an example: when the question "What is this?" is asked, it means +that the article corresponds to <span class="smcap">Set A</span>. If the second question begins +with "Do," such as "Do you know?", this question on referring to the +number table would mean No. 4; therefore the article would be a chain. +Now, if the question "What is it made of?" is asked, it would refer to +<span class="smcap">Set C</span>, and if this question is followed by "Can you tell me?", on +referring to the number table it will be found to correspond to No. 3; +therefore the article would be a chain made of copper. When an article +is not in any one of the sets the substituted letter code is used. Of +course public entertainers learn by heart a number of sets, not only +four.</p> + +<p>For silent thought transference occasionally<!-- Page 61 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> electrical contrivances +are resorted to. These are placed in different parts of the hall, and +when being pressed by the foot or hand of the agent will convey a +message to a certain part of the stage upon which the percipient (who +may be blindfolded) rests his foot.</p> + +<p>There is another silent method which can be worked by a confederate who +is placed behind a curtain close to the chair on the stage upon which +the blindfolded percipient sits. The confederate watches the performer +who stands amongst the audience and reads through a spyglass what he is +writing on his tablet when putting down what members of the audience +wish to be done. The confederate then communicates the contents of the +writing to the percipient on the stage by whispering or by an electrical +apparatus. The position of the performer or agent while he is writing in +a clear hand on his tablets with his back to the stage easily enables a +confederate to read the writing.</p> + +<p>Then there is the silent method of a French conjurer, some of whose +performances I have witnessed, which consists of suggesting or "forcing" +the spectators to do certain things,<!-- Page 62 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> each action having a corresponding +number which he conveys to his lady assistant, who is blindfolded, by +touching her foot with his after she has come down from the stage and +stands by his side amongst the audience.</p> + +<p>The "time-coding" method consists of silently counting by the agent and +percipient at the same rate, starting from a preconcerted signal and +ending at another preconcerted signal. The performer amongst the +audience has in his hand a piece of paper on which is written the number +that he wishes to silently convey to the other blindfolded performer on +the stage. At the moment that he bends his head to look at the number he +begins silently counting at a certain rate; a confederate behind the +scenes begins counting at the same rate from the moment that the +performer bends his head. When the performer lifts his head he ceases +counting, so does the confederate. Each number written on the paper is +thus conveyed, and the confederate communicates the total to the +blindfolded performer by means of an electrical apparatus or otherwise.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 63 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> +<p>I have attended several performances in public halls in London at which +thought transference—so-called—was carried out by the above trick +methods.</p> + +<p>Sir Oliver Lodge was present with me at one of the performances at which +the time-coding method was used. He has sent me the following note:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"I was with Mr. Baggally on one of these occasions, and took +note of the fact that he could often guess what was being +transmitted by the performers quite as well as they could +themselves. We sat in a box looking at them, and he often +told me before they had spoken what they were going to say +(or words to that effect).</p> + +<p>"I perceived even without his assistance that the +performance, which was stimulated by the success of the +Zancigs, was an exceedingly inferior imitation of what they +had achieved, and was manifestly done by a code of some +kind.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +"O. J. L." +</p> +</div> + +<p>Some of the methods resorted to by public entertainers are so ingenious +that the spectator is led to believe that genuine thought<!-- Page 64 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> transference +has taken place. The following correspondence, which appeared in the +spiritualistic weekly paper called <cite>Light</cite>, illustrates a case in point. +In the number of <cite>Light</cite> of the 25th October 1902 there appeared this +letter headed "Thought Transference":—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—A few years ago Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin gave the +following entertainment in almost every large town in the +three kingdoms. The public were invited to write any +question or questions they desired to have answered on a +piece of paper, to place it in their pockets, and keep it +there without communicating its contents to anyone, and then +when they went to the hall their names were called out and +their question answered without the papers leaving their +possession. About fifty such inquiries were answered each +evening without a single failure by Mrs. Baldwin, who sat +blindfolded with her back to the audience. From my +experience and that of my friends, collusion was impossible, +and the only way of accounting for the performance was by +thought transference or telepathy between Mrs. Baldwin and +those of the audience with whom she was in mental sympathy.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span class="rgap">(Signed)</span> "C. A. M." +</p> +</div> + +<p><!-- Page 65 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> +<p>Commenting on this letter, I wrote to <cite>Light</cite>, and my communication +appeared the following week. It was to this effect:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Under the heading of 'Thought Transference,' your +correspondent, C. A. M., gives an account of some +entertainments by Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, at which he says" (I +here quoted from C. A. M.'s letter, and then continued as +follows):—"I never was present at entertainments given by +Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, and therefore cannot express an +opinion as to the <i>modus operandi</i> in their particular case, +but I would point out that their entertainments bear a close +resemblance to those given by conjurers. The explanation of +the mystery in a conjurer's case is as follows:—The +conjurer asks members of the audience to write their +questions secretly, to sign their names at the bottom of the +question, and then to fold the pieces of paper on which the +questions are written and place them in their pockets. To +facilitate the writing he hands pencils round and tablets +upon which to rest the pieces of paper during the writing of +the questions, or the members of the audience, if they so +wish, can retire into an adjoining room and write their +questions<!-- Page 66 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> on a table. The tablets and pencils are then +collected by an assistant who is a confederate, who then +retires from the hall to the room where the table is. The +tablets and table have false surfaces of leather or other +material, which, on being removed by the confederate, +disclose a layer of carbon paper resting on another of white +paper upon which the questions have been recorded unknown to +the inquirers. The confederate then proceeds to read the +questions with their respective attached signatures, and to +communicate them to the blindfolded medium by an electrical +apparatus upon which the medium's foot rests, or by other +mechanical means." </p></div> + +<p>I signed my letter W. W. B. A fortnight after, the following letter +appeared in <cite>Light</cite>:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—With reference to the communication by W. W. B. +referring to the supposed thought transference, and +mentioned by another correspondent, C. A. M., in connection +with the entertainments of Professor Baldwin (an American +conjurer and brother mason), whom I met in Cape Town on two +separate occasions, permit me to state that (1) if it is the +same Baldwin, he is one of the cleverest<!-- Page 67 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> illusionists in +his special line of trick thought transference, and W. W. B. +is quite right. (2) I know that Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin did +most of their experiments by trick, because, being one of +the chosen committee to test the so-called thought reading, +I fixed it absolutely as trickery on the lines indicated by +W. W. B.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span class="rgap">(Signed)</span> "<span class="smcap">Berks Hutchinson</span>" +</p> +</div> + +<p>I was gratified to read this letter and to find that my conjecture was +correct that the Baldwin performance was a mere exhibition of conjuring.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 68 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PART_III" id="PART_III"></a>PART III +<br /><br /> +THE ZANCIGS</h2> + +<p>Some years ago there appeared at the Alhambra Theatre, London, two +entertainers—Mr. and Mrs. Zancig—whose performances were of so +puzzling a nature that to many who had witnessed them the only +explanation of the results obtained appeared to be that genuine +telepathy was at play. The <cite>Daily Mail</cite> newspaper arranged that Mr. and +Mrs. Zancig should be subjected to a series of severe tests at its +office, and on the 30th November 1906 these were carried out.</p> + +<p>On the 1st December the <cite>Daily Mail</cite> published a full account of these +experiments. The publication of this and of other accounts by persons +who had witnessed the remarkable performances of the Zancigs led to a +heated controversy between the corr<!-- Page 69 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>espondents of the <cite>Daily Mail</cite> and +the <cite>Daily Chronicle</cite>. Those of the first paper mostly asserted that the +performance was an exhibition of true telepathy, while those of the +second paper declared that codes—visual and verbal—would account for +the phenomena. Previously to the experiment carried out by the <cite>Daily +Mail</cite> I had obtained a letter of introduction to the Zancigs from a +friend of mine who had had private tests with them, but as it was +necessary to have the permission of the manager of the Alhambra before +an interview with the Zancigs could be arranged, I called at the offices +of that theatre, and saw Mr. Scott, the manager. I informed him that I +was a member of the Society for Psychical Research, which body I told +him took the deepest interest in telepathy. I handed him a letter that I +had written to Mr. Zancig, and on the 29th November 1906 I received the +following communication from the last-named gentleman:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,—I received a letter from Miss H. A. Dallas, +telling me that you would like to meet us. Now, my dear sir, +we would<!-- Page 70 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> be pleased to make your acquaintance, and have you +call for a visit, but if it is for any private show and to +be tried and judged if our work is, as we represent, 'two +minds with but a single thought,' I will have to say No. We +have done nothing since we arrived in London but have +callers to test and try us every day, from three to four +ladies and gentlemen. My wife and I agreed to all tests they +put to us, and all was quite satisfactory. Personally I do +not care, but it has been quite a strain on my wife. Should +you care to witness our show, you would be able to see us at +ten p.m. on the Alhambra stage, but if you care to call and +see us, and have a little talk, we both would be pleased to +meet you.—Trusting that I am understood, I remain, yours +sincerely,</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span class="rgap">(Signed)</span> "<span class="smcap">Julius Zancig</span>" +</p> +</div> + +<p>Although the contents of the above letter were of a discouraging nature, +I determined to strike the iron while it was hot; therefore, on the +evening of the same day I called, accompanied by my wife, at the flat +where the Zancigs resided. They were at the time partaking of their +evening meal. We apologized for our intrusion, but by the kind<!-- Page 71 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> way that +they received us we were soon put at our ease. I informed Mr. Zancig +that I was much interested in telepathy, and that I had personally +carried out experiments in this branch of psychical research, and that I +was assured of the truth of its existence through the successes that I +had obtained.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Zancig impressed my wife and myself most favourably by +their unaffected and simple manner. After a conversation which lasted +about ten minutes, Mr. Zancig very kindly spontaneously offered to try +some experiments. I will now describe these. Madame Zancig went to the +other end of the room farthest away from where Mr. Zancig, my wife, and +I sat. She faced the wall with her back to us; Mr. Zancig then wrote +with a chalk a line of figures on a slate which he held in his left +hand, and called out the word "Ready." Madame Zancig immediately named +the figures correctly and in their proper order. The same kind of +experiment was tried successfully three times. The results might have +been due to telepathy, but I was not satisfied, as it could have been +possible that the figures were prearranged,<!-- Page 72 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> or that Madame Zancig could +tell by the sound of the chalk what figures were being written. I also +had in my mind the fact that there is a method of communicating figures +by time-coding.</p> + +<p>Mr. Zancig then asked me to write a double line of figures. I handed the +slate to him, and after he had called out "Ready" Madame Zancig +proceeded to cast them up correctly.</p> + +<p>As Madame Zancig named all my figures aloud as she was summing them up, +this experiment was of a more complicated nature than the previous ones; +nevertheless, I was not entirely satisfied, as time-coding in putting +down the resultant figures by Mr. Zancig, and the hearing of the sound +of the chalk by Madame Zancig when I was writing my own figures, might +have accounted for the favourable result.</p> + +<p>To prevent the possibility of communicating by an electrical or other +apparatus concealed under the carpet, I requested Mr. Zancig to raise +his feet from the floor. He immediately complied by sitting on the +table, where he remained to the last experiment.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 73 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p><p>Madame Zancig then retired into an adjoining bedroom with a slate in +her hand; the door was closed, but not entirely. My wife wrote down two +lines of figures, the slate was handed by her to Mr. Zancig, who called +out "Ready," and he then proceeded without speaking to add them up. +Madame Zancig then came into the room with the correct result written by +herself on her slate. This was a more crucial test than the last, but +still, although visual-coding was excluded, sound-coding while Mr. +Zancig was writing the resultant sum was not entirely so.</p> + +<p>Then followed the experiment of transmitting a selected line in a book. +Mr. Zancig handed me a book and asked me to open it at any page and to +point out a line. After I had done so I handed the book to him. He +called out "Ready." Then his wife opened a duplicate book at the proper +page, and read the line which I had selected. Doubtless the words of the +line were not communicated telepathically or otherwise by Mr. Zancig, +but only the number of the page and the number of the line counting from +the top of the page. Nevertheless, it was difficult to<!-- Page 74 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> discover by what +method this was done, as Mr. Zancig simply called out "Ready." There did +not appear to be time for the numbers of the page and line to be +transmitted by time-coding. The reader will observe that as the +experiments proceeded they appeared to present increasing evidence that +true telepathy was at work.</p> + +<p>The following and last experiment that I tried on this occasion was the +most crucial. I requested Mr. Zancig to go out with me on to the landing +outside the door of the flat. I did not previously inform Madame Zancig +nor Mr. Zancig of the nature of the test that I was about to put. Madame +Zancig remained in the room with my wife. The door was closed, but not +completely. When we were on the landing I suddenly drew my cheque-book +out of my pocket, tore out a cheque, and handed it to Mr. Zancig, +requesting him to transmit the number. Mr. Zancig observed to me in a +whisper that the noise of the traffic in the street was very disturbing. +This was true, as the hall door to the street was open. He then remained +silent while he looked at the cheque. My<!-- Page 75 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> wife then came out on to the +landing, and handed me a slate upon which Madame Zancig had during the +experiment written the words, "In the year 1875." Mr. Zancig then said +aloud, "This is not what we want; it is the number." My wife returned +into the room with the slate, and the door was closed, but not +completely. It was impossible, however, for Madame Zancig to see her +husband. The suspicion arose in my mind that the number on the cheque +might have been communicated to Madame Zancig by the words that Mr. +Zancig had spoken aloud. I therefore took the cheque that he had in his +hand and substituted another one with a different number that I tore +from the bottom of my cheque-book. Mr. Zancig remained absolutely silent +during the whole time that this second experiment lasted. My wife again +came out of the room with the slate, upon which Madame Zancig had +written quite correctly, in their proper order, four of the five numbers +of the second cheque, with the exception of the last figure, which was +wanting, but just as we were returning to the room Madame Zancig said, +"There was another<!-- Page 76 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> figure; it was four"—which was correct. This +impressed me as a good test, with regard to the three last numbers of +this cheque, which were different from the corresponding ones of the +first cheque. Madame Zancig could not see her husband, and he remained +absolutely silent while the experiment was being carried out.</p> + +<p>I insert here a note by Sir Oliver Lodge in which he gives an account of +an experiment of a similar nature, and also of other experiments which +he tried with the Zancigs.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Independently of the more thorough investigations of Mr. +Baggally, I myself was favoured with a private interview +with the Zancigs, who were friendly and considerate and +helpful; and I tried the experiment of having Mrs. Zancig +outside the room, though with door open, and Mr. Zancig with +me and quite silent. I wrote five or six figures on a slate, +taking care to make no noise, and Mrs. Zancig failed to get +them correctly. Zancig seemed distressed at that, and after +a little time groaned out, 'Oh, surely you can do this'; +almost immediately after which Mrs. Zancig came into the +room with the correct figures written on her slate. It<!-- Page 77 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> was +difficult to see how the sentence had conveyed the figures, +but it was instructive to find that utterance of some kind +seemed necessary. It was partly this, and partly the +manifest difficulty of eliminating all possibilities of code +between a pair of performers accustomed to go about +together, with years of experience behind them, that +prevented me from doing what I probably ought to have done, +though circumstances did not render it very easy, namely, to +make a serious study of the Zancig phenomena.</p> + +<p>"Moreover, I questioned Mr. Zancig about codes, and found +that he was familiar with a great many. He was quite frank +about it, and rather implied, as I thought, that at times he +was ready to use any code or other normal kind of assistance +that might be helpful, though he assured me that he found +that he and his wife did possess a faculty which they did +not in the least understand, but which was more efficient +and quicker than anything they could get by codes. On the +whole, I think this extremely likely, but the rapidity and +the certainty and dependableness of the power went far +beyond anything that I could imagine as possible between +people who depended on supernormal faculty alone. But if +there was a mixture of devices between<!-- Page 78 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> people so skilled, I +despaired of bringing the genuine part of the phenomenon to +a definite issue.</p> + +<p>"I do not think that either this or the weight of my other +avocations are a sufficient excuse for this neglect, but it +certainly was not easy to get opportunities for careful +investigation. One of the main difficulties was that they +were not free agents, having entered into contracts with +managers whose financial interests partly depended upon the +continued uncertainty of the public as to the causes +underlying their very remarkable performance. Moreover, I +knew that so skilled an investigator as Mr. Baggally was +more favourably impressed with them than I was myself, and +was able to give to them some considerable time and +attention.</p> + +<p>"The extraordinary and rapid success with which Mrs. Zancig +named one thing after another, handled or seen by her +husband as he went through the hall in their public +performances, is familiar to everybody who attended those +exhibitions; but one episode which I have not put on record +did impress me as rather exceptionally good, though entirely +unsensational and unnoticeable at the time. I relate it +here:—</p> + +<p>"The Zancigs happened to come to Birming<!-- Page 79 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>ham for a week +during the University Vacation when I was away. On the last +day of their performance I happened unexpectedly to return +to Birmingham, and was dining at the club with some other +men. Some one remarked that the Zancigs were performing, and +suggested that we should cut dessert and go and see them; so +we went in the middle of the performance and sat at the back +of the gallery. Everything went on as usual. Mrs. Zancig was +on the stage, blindfolded, I think, though I attach no +importance to that. Mr. Zancig had been through the body of +the hall, and was coming along the side gallery, taking +objects from members of the audience as he went, and having +them described quickly one after the other as usual, when he +caught sight of me at the back of the gallery, and indicated +recognition by a little start. The next object that he took +in hand (a purse or what not) he said, 'What is this?' and +Madame Zancig on the stage said 'Oliver.' Zancig shook his +head and muttered, 'No, that's what I was thinking of, but +what's this?' On which she said whatever it was correctly, +and the performance went on as usual; my friends in due time +getting their tests efficiently done. Nobody noticed the +incident in particular; it<!-- Page 80 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> was over in a second. It +conveyed no impression of anything except of a slight +confusion,—an error, in fact, immediately corrected,—but I +could not fail to notice that the very unimportant incident +tended in favour of the view that a power of sympathy or +communication between them was genuine, since she got an +undesired and unintended impression which certainly was at +the moment in Mr. Zancig's mind.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +"O. J. L." +</p> +</div> + +<p>Later, on the same evening of the experiment with the numbers on my +cheque-book which I have described above, my wife and I attended the +public performance at the Alhambra. We were seated at a distance from +the stage. When Mr. Zancig came amongst the audience my wife handed him +a piece of something black, the nature of which it was difficult to tell +at first sight. He stooped down and asked in a whisper, "What is that?" +My wife answered, also in a whisper, "Liquorice." Madame Zancig +immediately called out from the stage, "Liquorice." No word had been +spoken by Mr. Zancig after my wife had whispered the word "Liquorice." I +then handed a<!-- Page 81 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> visiting-card with a double name. Zancig read to himself +in a low voice the last name, which was Hutchinson, and said, "What is +the first name?" Madame Zancig called out "Berks"; this was correct. It +appeared to me suspicious, however, that the question, "What is the +first name?" although appropriate and natural, should contain the same +number of words as there are letters in the name Berks—namely, five. +Therefore some months after, at another performance, I wrote the same +name, Berks Hutchinson, on a piece of paper and handed it to Mr. Zancig. +This time he asked, "What is this?" Madame Zancig replied, "A piece of +paper with a name." Mr. Zancig said, "Give the name." She replied, +"Berks Hutchinson."</p> + +<p>I attended a series of performances at the Alhambra, and took down the +questions and answers in order, if possible, to discover the code. On +witnessing a first performance the spectator might be led to believe +that word-coding alone is at the bottom of the mystery, but if notes are +taken at a number of performances he will find that the same<!-- Page 82 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> question +is answered differently time after time.</p> + +<p>From my experiments with the Zancigs I came to the conclusion that +although the alleged transmission of thought might possibly depend on a +code or codes which I was unable to unravel, yet their performance was +of such a nature that it was worthy of serious scientific examination. +On the assumption that they possessed genuine telepathic powers it would +be a pity that the opportunity of investigating their claim should be +missed. I therefore set myself to work to arrange with Mr. Alfred Moul, +managing director of the Alhambra, and Mr. Zancig for some experiments +to be tried before a Committee of the members of the Society for +Psychical Research.</p> + +<p>An article appeared in the <cite>Daily Mail</cite>, inspired evidently by Mr. Moul, +from which I now quote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"We have suggested to Mr. Zancig that in preference to +inquiries into telepathy by unskilled persons he should +place himself in the hands of the Society for Psychical +Research,<!-- Page 83 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> of which Mr. Gerald Balfour is the President, and +of which Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Crookes, and other +distinguished scientists are leading members. Mr. Zancig has +informed us that he has already received a communication +from that Society, and that he was entirely willing to place +himself and Madame Zancig at the disposal of the Society for +a thoroughly scientific series of tests." </p></div> + +<p>The investigation by the Society for Psychical Research, at which I was +present, took place on the 18th January 1907. I regret that I cannot +give an account of what took place at this meeting, as it was mutually +arranged between Mr. Moul and the S.P.R. that the results should not be +divulged. They appeared, however, sufficiently favourable to some of the +members present (though not to all) to induce them to subsequently form +an unofficial Committee to carry out further tests. These unofficial +experiments did not take place till 26th July 1907.</p> + +<p>In the meantime I continued my own private experiments. A striking one +is the following. I was in the balcony of the Alhambra on the 19th +January 1907, and<!-- Page 84 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> when Mr. Zancig came to that part of the house I +handed him a piece of paper on which I had written the word +"Istapalapan." I took care that he should not see the word previously to +my giving him the paper. Zancig remarked to me in a whisper, "This is a +long word." Owing to the distance from his wife it could not have been +possible for her to overhear these words. Then Mr. Zancig called out, +"Spell this." Madame Zancig immediately wrote on the blackboard which +was on the stage "Istapala," and when she came to the second "p" she +wrote "f" and then "san." I have often noticed that when Madame Zancig +makes a mistake in a letter or number there is a similarity in the form +of the letter or number to that which was to be transmitted; thus, she +would put down "f" for "p," "7" for "9." "fsan" in this case is very +like "pan," and Mr. Zancig may have mistaken the letters. I fail to +understand how in this experiment he was able to code such a long word +as "Istapalafsan" by the simple words "Spell this." It would appear as +if Madame Zancig really saw what Mr. Zancig was looking at. The reader +will<!-- Page 85 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> recollect that in his preliminary remarks at each of his +performances Zancig says, "What I see, Madame Zancig sees."</p> + +<p>I have several times observed this alleged peculiarity, notably so on +the occasion of the tests at the Gramophone offices, which took place on +the 22nd February 1907, and at which I was one of the members of the +Committee. Mr. and Mrs. Zancig were divided by a large screen. They +could not see each other. A recording trumpet was placed near each, into +which they spoke. A table was placed by the side of Mr. Zancig on which +a great number of articles had been placed by the members of the +Committee. Madame Zancig with great rapidity named the articles as Mr. +Zancig took them up in answer to his "What is this? and this?" etc. An +incident which struck me as remarkable was the following. Mr. Zancig +raised a pencil, saying, "What is this?" and after Madame Zancig had +correctly stated what it was, he took up immediately (not in the +vicinity of the pencil, but some distance from it) a case, and said, +"And this?" Instead of naming the article Madame Zancig proceeded to +enu<!-- Page 86 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>merate in their proper order the articles that lay between the two +articles which Mr. Zancig had taken up. Thus, a pencil, a seal, a +penknife, a case. It appeared as if Madame Zancig had actually seen the +articles over which her husband had passed his hand.</p> + +<p>An excellent test was the following. Dr. W. M'Dougall, a member of the +Council of the S.P.R., who was present at these tests, borrowed a book +from one of the members of the Committee. He came to the side of the +screen where Mr. Zancig stood, opened the book at a certain page, then +pointed to the middle of a line in the centre of the page. Mr. Zancig, +without taking the book in his hand, glanced at the line, then Dr. +M'Dougall shut the book, took it to the other side of the screen, and +handed it closed to Madame Zancig. Mr. Zancig remained absolutely +silent, placed his hand against his forehead, and appeared to make a +strong mental effort. Madame Zancig, after the lapse of a minute, opened +the book at the proper page and began reading at the word in the middle +of the line that had been chosen by Dr. M'Dougall. Some members of the +Committee and I stood quite close to<!-- Page 87 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> Mr. Zancig. We did not hear him +utter a sound. He could not be seen by Madame Zancig owing to the +screen.</p> + +<p>I was present at the <i>matinée</i> performance given under the auspices of +the <cite>Daily Mirror</cite> newspaper at the Alhambra. Dr. H., principal surgeon +of a well-known hospital, handed to Mr. Zancig a set of skeins of silk +of different colours. These were then passed on to Madame Zancig, who +was on the stage. Dr. H. pointed silently to a skein of silk of a +corresponding set which he had retained, and which he took care Madame +Zancig could not see. Mr. Zancig, who preserved absolute silence, and +remained motionless, looked at the colour of the skein, and in the space +of half a minute his wife picked out a skein of the corresponding colour +from the set that she had in her possession. This test was tried +successfully three times. I particularly took note that Mr. Zancig +remained silent and motionless, retaining the same position of his body +during the course of the three experiments.</p> + +<p>I have tried tests with Mr. and Madame Zancig in the transmission of +diagrams. I<!-- Page 88 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> took with me to a private house to which I was invited an +envelope containing cards with diagrams on them. Madame Zancig sat +behind a large screen at the end of the room. By her side sat a lady, a +friend of mine, who watched Madame Zancig and saw that she did not move +from her chair. Mr. Zancig stood close to me near the other end of the +room. I presented the envelope to him, retaining it in my hand. He drew +out one of the cards on which was a diagram not known either to him or +to me till he looked at it. He fixed his gaze intently on it, remained +motionless, and in a whisper said to me, "Please say ready." I called +out, "Ready," and his wife then drew a diagram on a piece of paper, at +the same time saying, "Something like half a moon."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 175px;"> +<img src="images/88a.png" width="100" height="62" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption-nw smcap">Mr. Zancig's Diagram</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 175px;"> +<img src="images/88b.png" width="58" height="100" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption-nw smcap">Madame Zancig's Drawing</span> +</div> + +<p><!-- Page 89 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p><p>Mr. Zancig then drew another card from the envelope. This time he did +not speak, but nodded his head once, and I called out, "Ready." Madame +Zancig thereupon observed, "It is a square within a square." The diagram +that Mr. Zancig was looking at was this:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/89a.png" width="100" height="68" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>his wife drew this:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 75px;"> +<img src="images/89b.png" width="75" height="64" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Two more cards were then drawn, but Madame Zancig did not succeed; she +got absolutely wrong drawings.</p> + +<p>At a public performance at Eastbourne I handed Mr. Zancig this diagram:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/89c.png" width="200" height="48" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>He called out, "Draw this." Madame Zancig, who was on the platform, +said, "It is something like this." She made a motion with her right arm +like drawing a capital V; she then<!-- Page 90 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> drew it on the blackboard. After +this she slowly drew a horizontal line through the V, thus:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/90a.png" width="200" height="52" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Zancig said, "Give the number." She then placed a 2 in the proper +position. He then called out, "Give the rest." She thereupon placed the +<i>a</i> under the line, thus:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/90b.png" width="200" height="52" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Zancig said, "What more?" His wife placed the sign of + correctly, +but she rubbed it out several times as if in doubt. Finally she put down +the sign of + and a capital X, so that her drawing appeared like this:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/90c.png" width="200" height="52" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>I have had many other experiments with this gifted couple, but have not +yet obtained the crucial test of getting Mr. Zancig to be in<!-- Page 91 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> a distant +room with closed doors, while his wife was in another room. The +possibility of their using a sound code at one time and a visual code at +another is therefore not entirely precluded.</p> + +<p>Although I have been quite unable to discover the methods by which they +can possibly communicate when a visual and a sound code are not +detected, yet I will reserve my ultimate opinion until I obtain tests +under the crucial conditions that I have named.</p> + +<p>Not only did I personally meet with difficulties in endeavouring to +explain the performances of Mr. and Madame Zancig, but also the members +of the unofficial Committee that I have referred to. I now give an +extract from our unofficial report.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"... It must be remembered that the antecedent probabilities +in favour of a code to explain all performances of this kind +are enormous.</p> + +<p>"While we are of opinion that the records of experiments in +telepathy made by the Society for Psychical Research and +others raise a presumption for the existence of such a +faculty at least strong enough to entitle it<!-- Page 92 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> to serious +scientific attention, the most hopeful results hitherto +obtained have not been in any way comparable as regards +accuracy and precision with those produced by Mr. and Madame +Zancig. Further, there is, so far as we are aware, no case +of any public performers (including certain recent examples) +where the use of a code or apparatus has not been more or +less readily discoverable or clearly to be inferred. In +considering, therefore, the claim of Mr. and Madame Zancig +to the possession of a genuine telepathic faculty, one is +faced by the initial difficulty that such a faculty must be +regarded as unique in quality, and Mr. and Madame Zancig +themselves as unique in kind, a difficulty on the force of +which it is not necessary to insist. On the other hand, the +difficulty of suggesting by what method, if not by +telepathy, they communicate is considerable. Those who have +only witnessed the public theatre performances, clever and +perplexing as these are, will not appreciate how hard it is +to offer any plausible explanation of their <i>modus +operandi</i>."</p></div> + +<p>In conclusion, I would wish to point out that the establishment of the +fact that tele<!-- Page 93 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>pathy is a scientific truth would have bearings of the +greatest importance.</p> + +<p>It would show that the transmission of thought could occasionally be +effected otherwise than by the ordinary sense channels.</p> + +<p>It would change the materialistic conception that thought only acts +within the limits of the brain.</p> + +<p>It would modify the materialistic scientific view of the relation of +mind to matter.</p> + +<p>I trust that what I have written will act as an incentive to some of my +readers to try experiments in this branch of psychical research.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +It is not enough that a few individuals by patient inquiry and experiment +should have been convinced of the reality of telepathy. What is wanted +is that scientific men generally, by the record of an overwhelming +number of experiments under the strictest test conditions, should be +convinced of its truth. Once let them be so, then public conviction will +in due time follow.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile I feel bound to state that, in<!-- Page 94 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> spite of initial +improbability, the experiences which I myself have had, as partly +narrated in this book, especially those briefly summarized in Part I, +have convinced me that the telepathic faculty does exist, and that its +detection is a genuine extension of scientific knowledge; though much +more will have to be done before the bare fact receives its explanation +and is permanently incorporated in a coherent system of Science.</p> + +<p class="center footer">PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<h3>Footnotes:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This word is used by veterinary surgeons to describe the +state of a horse that has fallen down in its box in a stable and cannot +rise.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> +Information relating to cases of genuine telepathy may be +sent to the Secretary of the Society for Psychical Research, 20 Hanover +Square, London, who will be pleased to investigate them.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="u">Transcriber's Note:</p> + +<p>Punctuation errors have been corrected without note. On p. 20, "11.5 p.m." +was corrected to "11.50 p.m."</p> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Telepathy, by W. W. Baggally + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TELEPATHY *** + +***** This file should be named 29151-h.htm or 29151-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/1/5/29151/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, S.D., and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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file mode 100644 index 0000000..866d71b --- /dev/null +++ b/29151-h/images/frontis1-thumb.jpg diff --git a/29151-h/images/frontis1.jpg b/29151-h/images/frontis1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d0ed61 --- /dev/null +++ b/29151-h/images/frontis1.jpg diff --git a/29151.txt b/29151.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..714ff53 --- /dev/null +++ b/29151.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2482 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Telepathy, by W. W. Baggally + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Telepathy + Genuine and Fraudulent + +Author: W. W. Baggally + +Release Date: June 17, 2009 [EBook #29151] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TELEPATHY *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, S.D., and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE PAD THAT "BLINDFOLDS" THE YOGI + +The above is a photograph of the actual porous plaster and pads produced +by YOGA RAMA as a means of "blindfolding." The plaster is seen exactly +as it was when taken off by Mr. WILLIAM MARRIOTT. It will be seen that +the pads have shifted, allowing comparatively clear vision with one eye. +The tissue paper, making the plaster non-adhesive, will also be noticed. + + [_Page 52_] + + + + + TELEPATHY + + GENUINE AND FRAUDULENT + + BY + + W. W. BAGGALLY + + MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH + + + WITH A PREFACE BY + + SIR OLIVER LODGE, F.R.S. + + + METHUEN & CO. LTD. + 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. + LONDON + + + + +_First Published in 1917_ + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +My friend, Mr. W. W. Baggally, an experienced investigator of +supernormal phenomena, has set down some of his experiences in connexion +with the subject of Telepathy, and I heartily commend his book to the +public as the record of a careful, conscientious, and exceptionally +skilled and critical investigator. It would be difficult to find anyone +more competent by training and capacity to examine into the genuineness +of these subtle and elusive phenomena, which yet are of the utmost +importance in the development of psychological science. Telepathy, or +the direct action of mind on mind apart from the ordinary channels of +sense, opens a new chapter; it is not a coping-stone completing an +erection, but a foundation-stone on which to build. + + OLIVER J. LODGE + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +GENUINE TELEPATHY + + PAGE + + Experimental Telepathy 1 + + Spontaneous Telepathy 18 + + Telepathy between Human Beings and Animals 30 + + +PART II + +FRAUDULENT TELEPATHY + + Accounts of Cases 35 + + Description of Various Methods used by Public + Performers for effecting their So-called + Transmission of Thought 57 + + +PART III + +THE ZANCIGS + + Public Experiments 68 + + Private Experiments 70 + + Experiments before Committees 82 + + Importance of establishing Genuine Telepathy + as a Scientific Fact 92 + + + + +TELEPATHY + + + + +PART I + +GENUINE TELEPATHY + + +Sir William F. Barrett, one of the founders of the Society for Psychical +Research, more than forty years ago tried some experiments which led him +to believe that something then new to science, which he provisionally +called "thought transference" and which is now known as "telepathy," +really existed. + +At the first general meeting of the Society, on the 17th July 1882, he +read a paper entitled "First Report on Mind Reading." + +Since that date the Society has carried out a great number of +experiments which tend to show that telepathy is a scientific fact. The +evidence for its existence is twofold--that which can be gathered +experimentally, and that which arises spontaneously. To the first +category belong those experiments in the transmission of the images of +drawings or diagrams by means of an effort of the will of a person known +as the _agent_ to the mind of another person designated the +_percipient_, when the transmission is carried out otherwise than +through the ordinary channel of the senses. To the second category +belong those hallucinations of seeing a person at the moment of death or +at a crisis, evidence for which has been obtained abundantly by the +Society for Psychical Research and has been embodied in the work +_Phantasms of the Living_, and in the _Census of Hallucinations_--a +report on which appeared in the _Proceedings_ of the Society in 1894. + +There are several theories to explain the action of telepathy. The first +compares it to wireless telegraphy. On this hypothesis it is supposed +that it is due to ethereal wave action:--Thought causes motion in the +brain cells of the agent, the cells then impart motion to the +surrounding ether in the form of waves which impinge on the brain cells +of the percipient and give rise to a corresponding thought to that which +started the ethereal wave motion. + +This theory offers great difficulties. An opponent to it points out that +"A wireless message is transmitted by a succession of single ethereal +wave impulses produced by the electric sparks at the starting station +and received by the coherer at the receiving station, whereas a diagram +to be transmitted would require a number of brain-waves produced +simultaneously and arranged in the form of the diagram." + +Another mode of putting the matter recently advanced is that the agent +does not transmit his thought, but that the percipient reads +clairvoyantly what is in the agent's mind. + +There is also the spiritualistic theory. It is asserted that an external +entity, or spirit, conveys the images or thoughts from one mind to +another. + +Another theory is that telepathy takes place in the subconscious mind, +and that the subconscious mind of the agent is in communication with +the subconscious mind of the percipient by means of the universal mind +underlying all things and of which individual subconscious minds form +part. + +Not one of these theories has been accepted as proved by the Society for +Psychical Research. In cases of spontaneous telepathy it is now +generally believed that the appearance of a person at the time of death +or at a crisis is not caused by an objective bodily ghost, but arises +from a telepathic impact from the agent formulating itself into his +image in the mind of the percipient. + +In the case of two persons seeing an apparition at the same time, this +may be due to the two percipients receiving each, separately, a +telepathic impression, or there may be only one percipient who +telepathically impresses the hallucination on the mind of the second +person. + +I will now proceed to relate some cases of telepathy which have come +under my personal observation. My first experiment in the transmission +of images of drawings and diagrams took place in the rooms of the +Society for Psychical Research in May 1902. A private lady, Miss M. +Telbin, acted as percipient, and I acted as agent. There were present at +the time Mr. J. G. Piddington, Honorary Secretary of the Society, and +Mr. Thomas, the then Acting Secretary. + +During the first experiment Miss Telbin, who was a stranger to me, sat +with her back towards a large opaque screen. In front of her stood a +small table upon which rested a crystal ball. She was asked to gaze at +the crystal and to describe any vision that might appear to form itself +therein. I may parenthetically remark that the object of crystal-gazing +is to concentrate the mind and to withdraw it from outward influences. +The vision seen in the crystal does not exist objectively, but only in +the mind of the seer. On the other side of the screen, entirely hidden +from the view of Miss Telbin, sat Mr. Piddington and myself. This +gentleman proceeded to take from a box, which was behind the screen and +on the floor between his and my chairs, various articles, and to hand +them silently, one at a time, to me. I then concentrated my thoughts +successively on each article. Miss Telbin gave an account of what she +saw in the crystal, and Mr. Thomas, who sat in such a position that both +Mr. Piddington and myself were hidden from his view, took notes of what +occurred. + +The first article handed me was a _Windsor Magazine_, on the cover of +which there was an engraving of Windsor Castle. I concentrated my +thoughts on this engraving, and Miss Telbin then gave a description of +the vision that presented itself to her mental view. + +She first observed that she could see trees on the left side of the +picture, and cottages also on the left, and that there was water. + +These details were correct so far as they went, but the subsequent +details that she gave were incorrect, and the experiment was abandoned +as a failure. I then replaced the magazine in the box from which it had +been taken, so that Miss Telbin had no opportunity of seeing the +magazine during the experiment nor after. + +Other experiments were being tried when Miss Telbin spontaneously said +that she had had a vision of Windsor Castle. + +This experiment may be regarded as a case of deferred telepathy. + +Another experiment with the same lady, in which simultaneous double +telepathy occurred, is of better evidential value. + +Miss Telbin again sat with her back to the screen, and instead of the +crystal a piece of paper and a pencil were placed on the table in front +of her. + +This time Mr. Thomas and I sat behind the screen hidden from her view, +and Mr. J. G. Piddington took notes. Mr. Thomas and I acted as +simultaneous agents. We each held a small piece of cardboard with a +diagram on it known to the agent viewing it, but not to the other agent. +These diagrams belonged to the Society for Psychical Research and had +not been seen by Mr. Thomas nor by me previous to the experiment. They +were in a box which was at our feet behind the screen. We each took a +diagram from the box, taking care that we did not see each other's +diagram. + +We concentrated our minds on our respective diagrams, and Miss Telbin +drew her impressions on the piece of paper in front of her. The +following drawings show the results:-- + +[Illustration: + + MR. BAGGALLY'S + DIAGRAM. + + MISS TELBIN'S + DRAWING. + + MR. THOMAS'S + DIAGRAM. + + MISS TELBIN'S + DRAWING.] + +At the time that Miss Telbin got the impression of the diagram with +three sections, she made the remark that it looked like three leaves. + +The correspondence between the drawings and the diagrams is very great, +and difficult to account for by chance. + +The following points have to be considered. First, that Miss Telbin only +made two drawings and not many from which two might have been selected +in which there was a resemblance to the diagrams. Secondly, that Mr. +Thomas's diagram was correctly reproduced although in a reversed +position (the reversal of a figure sometimes happens in experiments in +telepathy). Thirdly, that my diagram of three triangles, although not +reproduced in the form of triangles, was drawn correctly as regards +there being three sections, and that the relative position of the +sections was given correctly. Fourthly, that Miss Telbin had not +previously seen any of the diagrams, and therefore the chances against +her being able to hit upon any diagram which was then being used were +very great. Fifthly, that the chances against her being able to hit upon +two diagrams simultaneously were even greater. + +The explanation that the result might have been due to collusion between +the persons experimenting of course cannot be entertained, at least by +myself, who was one of the experimenters. + +It was not possible for the percipient to see through the large screen +which was behind her, and there were no mirrors in the room in which the +small diagrams could have been reflected. No word was spoken to give her +the slightest clue. These two successful telepathic experiments led to +further ones at a distance between this lady and myself. + +It will be of interest to insert here an account of an experiment in +telepathy, similar to the one I have just described, between two agents +and one percipient, which Sir Oliver Lodge carried out in the year 1884. + +When the experiment was tried with Miss Telbin, Mr. Thomas, and myself I +was not aware that Sir Oliver Lodge had already tried an experiment of a +like nature. + + + SIR OLIVER LODGE'S ACCOUNT + + "My own first actual experience of thought transference, or + experimental telepathy, was obtained in the years 1883 and + 1884 at Liverpool, when I was invited by Mr. Malcolm Guthrie + of that city to join in an investigation which he was + conducting with the aid of one or two persons who had turned + out to be sensitive, from among the employees of the large + drapery firm of George Henry Lee & Co. + + "A large number of these experiments had been conducted + before I was asked to join, throughout the spring and autumn + of 1883, but it is better for me to adhere strictly to my own + experience and to relate only those experiments over which I + had control. + + "Most of these experiments were confirmations of the kind of + thing that had been observed by other experimenters. But one + experiment which I tried was definitely novel, and, as it + seems to me, important; since it clearly showed that when two + agents are acting, each contributes to the effect, and that + the result is due, not to one alone, but to both combined. + The experiment is thus described by me in the columns of + _Nature_, vol. xxx., page 145, for 12th June 1884:-- + + "_An Experiment in Thought Transference_ + + "Those of your readers who are interested in the + subject of thought transference, now being + investigated, may be glad to hear of a little + experiment which I recently tried here. The series + of experiments was originated and carried on in + this city by Mr. Malcolm Guthrie, and he has + prevailed on me, on Dr. Herdman, and on one or two + other more or less scientific witnesses, to be + present on several occasions, critically to examine + the conditions, and to impose any fresh ones that + we thought desirable. I need not enter into + particulars, but I will just say that the + conditions under which apparent transference of + thought occurs from one or more persons, + steadfastly thinking, to another in the same room + blindfold and wholly disconnected from the others, + seem to me absolutely satisfactory, and such as to + preclude the possibility of conscious collusion on + the one hand or unconscious muscular indication on + the other. + + "One evening last week--after two thinkers, or + agents, had been several times successful in + instilling the idea of some object or drawing, at + which they were looking, into the mind of the + blindfold person, or percipient--I brought into the + room a double opaque sheet of thick paper with a + square drawn on one side and a St. Andrew's cross + or X on the other, and silently arranged it between + the two agents so that each looked on one side + without any notion of what was on the other. The + percipient was not informed in any way that a novel + modification was being made; and, as usual, there + was no contact of any sort or kind--a clear space + of several feet existing between each of the three + people. I thought that by this variation I should + decide whether one of the two agents was more + active than the other; or, supposing them about + equal, whether two ideas in two separate minds + could be fused into one by the percipient. + + "In a very short time the percipient made the + following remarks, every one else being silent: + 'The thing won't keep still.' 'I seem to see things + moving about.' 'First I see a thing up there, and + then one down there.' 'I can't see either + distinctly.' The object was then hidden, and the + percipient was told to take off the bandage and to + draw the impression in her mind on a sheet of + paper. She drew a square, and then said, 'There was + the other thing as well,' and drew a cross inside + the square from corner to corner, saying + afterwards, 'I don't know what made me put it + inside.' + + [Illustration: ORIGINALS.] + + [Illustration: REPRODUCTION.] + + "The experiment is no more conclusive as evidence + than fifty others that I have seen at Mr. + Guthrie's, but it seems to me somewhat interesting + that two minds should produce a disconnected sort + of impression on the mind of the percipient, quite + different from the single impression which we had + usually obtained when two agents were both looking + at the same thing. Once, for instance (to take a + nearly corresponding case under those conditions), + when the object was a rude drawing of the main + lines in a Union Jack, the figure was reproduced by + the percipient as a whole without misgiving; + except, indeed, that she expressed a doubt as to + whether its middle horizontal line were present or + not, and ultimately omitted it." + + [Illustration: ORIGINAL.] + + [Illustration: REPRODUCTION.] + +As I have said, the two successful telepathic experiments which I have +described, and which took place in the rooms of the Society for +Psychical Research, led to further experiments at a distance between +Miss Telbin and myself. + + AT 7 P.M. + + I drew the following diagram + + [Illustration] + + AT 7 P.M. + + Miss TELBIN'S drawings + + [Illustration] + + AT 7:10 P.M. + + I fixed my attention on a + flower + + [Illustration] + + AT 7:10 P.M. + + Miss TELBIN obtained several + incorrect scrawls, but amongst + them one under which + she had written the + words + + [Illustration] + + "First impression" + + AT 7:20 P.M. + + I looked at a pair of opera + glasses, at which I gazed first + lengthwise + + [Illustration] + + then sideways + + [Illustration] + + AT 7:20 P.M. + + Miss TELBIN'S drawings + were-- + + First impression [Illustration] + + A series of crescents [Illustration] + + And this drawing [Illustration] + + Also four drawings + + [Illustration] + +It was arranged that we should sit on certain days in the week, and that +at a fixed hour I should act as agent and transmit to her my thoughts, +she being at the time in her residence in West Hampstead, and I in +Kensington. The distance between these localities as the crow flies is +four miles. The result of our first sitting, which took place on 20th +May 1902, is shown on the preceding page. + +There was no possibility that the agent or the percipient could have +copied the drawings, as the letters embodying them that we wrote to each +other were posted on the evening of the same day and received by the +first post the following morning, having crossed in the post. + +Telepathy was clearly indicated in this experiment. + +We continued trying experiments for some months after, but did not get +such good results as at the beginning. On one occasion, however, we +obtained a successful negative result. I was not feeling well, and did +not fix my attention on any object. On the following morning Miss +Telbin's letter said, "I could get nothing from you last night." It +was, to say the least, curious that she should not have received an +impression on the only night that I had not attempted to experiment. + +On another occasion, when Miss Telbin was in London and I in Folkestone, +I arranged to transmit to her the impression of a diagram on a certain +day at 8 p.m. It chanced that on that evening there was a performance at +the theatre, at which my wife wished to be present. I therefore decided +to telegraph to Miss Telbin that I would be unable to try the experiment +that night, but after a good deal of hesitation I changed my mind, and +thought that I would endeavour to transmit the impression of the diagram +on my way to the theatre. The letter that I received from Miss Telbin +the next day was to this effect:-- + + "I got a good deal of writing last night which was + illegible, but amongst it I read the words 'going out' and + 'rain.'" + +Now this may be a mere coincidence, but it was strange that the words +"going out" should correctly represent the idea that was in my mind +during a great part of the preceding day. I had much worried, +hesitating whether I should telegraph or not. + +The result appears to indicate the transmission of my mental state. The +word "rain" represented correctly the state of the weather at +Folkestone, but, as it often rains in England, this was of no evidential +value. + +In regard to spontaneous telepathy I may bring before the reader two +cases which I personally investigated, the percipient in the first case +being a gentleman who belonged to a circle which regularly met for the +study of psychic phenomena, and of which circle I was a member. + +The percipient, Mr. John Polley, gave me an account of his vision as +follows:-- + + "At a seance held within sound of Big Ben on 8th May 1901, + there were present Mrs. E. V. M., Mr. Thomas Atwood, and + myself. As Mr. Atwood resumed his seat after delivering an + address (about 8.30 p.m.) I became aware of a vision which + presented itself as being some five feet distant from me, + and displayed part of the interior of a room, namely, that + part where the stove stood. The fire in the stove was small + and dull, and close beside it was an overturned chair. In + front of the fire was something that looked like a + fire-guard or clothes-horse, but this was not clear to me. + Playing, or climbing over this article, was a child, who + fell forward, and when it regained its feet I noticed that + its dress was on fire. I made no reference to the matter at + the time, as I had an impression that the vision might be + connected with some occurrence in the family of Mrs. M., and + I was averse to mentioning it for fear of awakening sad + memories. Shortly afterwards the whole vision was repeated, + and this time I had an uncontrollable impulse to speak. Upon + describing what I had seen for the second time, I was much + relieved to hear that the matter was not recognized as being + connected in any way with the sitters. I may mention here + that the child appeared to be about three years old, and, + judging from the style of dress, I described it as a girl, + although the vision would apply equally to a boy, as at that + early age the short clothes worn by both sexes would be very + similar. + + "Next Thursday morning, 9th May 1901, upon awakening, I + described to my wife the events of the previous evening's + seance. On the evening of the same day, namely, Thursday, + 9th May, I was out with a friend, and upon my return home at + 11.50 p.m., my sister, Mary Louisa Polley, who resided with + me at the time, made the remark, 'I have a piece of bad news + for you.' 'Well,' I replied, 'what is it? Let me know.' And + she answered, 'Brother George's little son, Jacky, has been + burned to death.' Like a flash I realized the connexion of + the sad event with my vision of the previous night. I then + asked my sister, 'How did you know this, and when?' She + replied, 'Mr. Fred Sinnett told me when he came over to see + us this evening.' + + (Signed) "JOHN POLLEY" + +I obtained from the other sitters at the seance the following +statement:-- + + "At the seance held on the evening of Wednesday, 8th May + 1901, at which were present Mrs. E. V. M., Mr. Thomas + Atwood, and Mr. John Polley, we, the undersigned, testify + that Mr. John Polley gave to us a description of a vision of + the burning of a child which he saw at this seance. + + (Signed in full) "E. V. M. + + "THOMAS ATWOOD" + +I personally interviewed Mr. John Polley's wife and sister and received +a written statement from each confirming Mr. Polley's account. + +A local paper containing an account of the inquest on the child states +that the accident took place on Tuesday, 7th May, and the child was +taken to a hospital immediately and there died. The father of the child +wrote to me as follows:-- + + "DEAR SIR,--In reply to your inquiry respecting my late son, + John Frederick, I beg to say that on Tuesday, 7th May, my + wife went out to do some shopping, leaving my son, aged two + years and two months, in a bedroom with another brother aged + seven. Whilst the elder brother was getting some toys to + play with, the deceased thrust some paper in the fire, + pulled it out again, and set fire to his clothes. Some + neighbours took him to the Children's Hospital, Paddington + Green, where he passed away on Wednesday, 8th May, at 11.45 + a.m. No intimation of this was given by myself or any member + of our family to my brother, Mr. John Polley, until a friend + of the family called at my address on Thursday, 9th May, + between 1 and 2 p.m., when we informed him of the sad loss + that we had sustained, and he told us that he intended + calling on my brother that evening, and we asked him if he + would communicate the news to my brother and sister who + reside at Church Street, Stoke Newington. Of course, Sir, + you know I am antagonistic to your views, but my brother has + told me it is for the interests of science. If this is so, I + take great pleasure in its furtherance.--Yours sincerely, + + (Signed) "FREDERICK GEORGE POLLEY" + +In the above case it appears to me that the vision of the burning child +which Mr. John Polley saw arose out of a spontaneous telepathic +impression, either from the mind of the father of the child to his +brother's (Mr. John Polley's mind), or from the mind of one of the +persons who was cognizant of the sad event. + +In regard to the second case of spontaneous telepathy to which I have +referred, I cannot do better than to give the account of same as it +appeared in the _Journal of the Society for Psychical Research_ of June +1912:-- + + "The following case of a reciprocal telepathic impression + occurring to two persons at the same time has been + communicated to us by Mr. W. W. Baggally. Both Miss Emma + Steele and Mr. Claude Burgess, the lady and gentleman + concerned in the case, are known personally to Mr. Baggally. + + "Miss Steele writes as follows:-- + + "'16 and 17 SILLWOOD PLACE, + "'BRIGHTON, _13th March 1912_ + + "'Mr. Claude Burgess, who is an invalid, had been + staying at my private hotel, at the above address, + for some months. He left on 15th February to take + up his residence at No. 10 Belgrave Place, Kemp + Town, Brighton. In the interval between the date + of his leaving and the night of the 5th inst., + when I had the remarkable dream (if it can be + called a dream) which I am about to relate, I had + not seen Mr. Burgess, and nothing had occurred to + cause me to think particularly about him. + + "'On the above night I retired to rest at my usual + time. I awoke finding myself standing in the + middle of my room and answering, "All right, I'm + coming," to Mr. Burgess, who, I thought, called + three times: "Miss Steele! Miss Steele! Miss + Steele!" + + "'By the time I had put on my dressing-gown and + lighted the gas I was fully awake. I then + remembered Mr. Burgess was no longer in the house. + I looked at the clock and noticed it was exactly 3 + a.m. When I came downstairs next morning I told my + cook my dream, and remarked I hoped nothing had + happened to Mr. Burgess. During the next day, + Wednesday, 6th March, in the afternoon, a man + called while I was out and left a note from Mr. + Burgess, which I enclose. I was much surprised by + its contents. It struck me most forcibly getting + it from him, as he is paralysed and has to write + with great difficulty with his left hand. He very + seldom writes now, so it must have made a great + impression on him seeing me as he relates in his + letter. + + "'EMMA M. STEELE' + + "The letter from Mr. Burgess to Miss Steele referred to + above, which is now in our possession, was as follows:-- + + "'10 BELGRAVE PLACE, BRIGHTON + + "'MY DEAR EMMA,--I had a funny dream about you + last night. I dreamed that you appeared at about 3 + a.m. Just a glimpse of you. It's funny, isn't + it?--Yours, + + "'CLAUDE BURGESS' + + "Miss Steele's cook made the following statement to Mr. + Baggally:-- + + "'_13th March 1912_ + + "'On Wednesday morning, the 6th March last, Miss + Emma Steele came down from her bedroom at 8.30. I + saw she was looking pale. I asked her if she were + not well. She replied that she had had a strange + dream. She heard Mr. Burgess call her three times. + She told me that she suddenly jumped up and put + her dressing-gown on. By the time she had put on + her dressing-gown and lit the gas she remembered + Mr. Burgess had left the house. She said it was + about 3 o'clock a.m. when she heard Mr. Burgess + call. + + (Signed) "'SARAH POLLARD' + + "The following statement was written by Mr. Baggally on 13th + March 1912, from Mr. Claude Burgess's dictation:-- + + "'On Tuesday night, 5th March 1912, I woke up at + about 3 a.m. with a start. I saw Miss Emma Steele + standing at the door of my bedroom. I had closed + the door, but she appeared to have opened it. She + was attired in her ordinary dress. + + "'I was much surprised. It was an absolutely + distinct apparition. I had not been thinking of + her the previous day, and I cannot tell why she + appeared to me. + + "'The apparition lasted about five seconds. I was + not at all frightened, and went to sleep + immediately after. + + "'I was so struck by what I had seen that, next + morning, the 6th March, at about 11 o'clock, I + wrote a letter to Miss Steele which I handed to + Mr. William Watkins, the proprietor of the + establishment where I now reside, for him to send + to Miss Steele. In this letter I told Miss Steele + that I had dreamed that she had appeared to me on + the previous night. + + (Signed) "'CLAUDE BURGESS' + + "In reply to Mr. Baggally's personal inquiries, Mr. Claude + Burgess stated that it was the first time that he had had a + hallucination of this kind, and he had not had one since. + + _Statement by Mr. William Watkins_ + + + "'10 BELGRAVE PLACE, + "'BRIGHTON, _13th March 1912_ + + "'Mr. Claude Burgess delivered to me a letter + which he had written to Miss Steele, at about 11 + a.m. on 6th March, which I handed to a man of the + Church Army Labour Home to take to Miss Steele. + The same morning at 8 a.m. Mr. Burgess told me he + had dreamt of Miss Steele. + + "'WILLIAM WATKINS' + + _Statement by Mr. Baggally_ + + "'I called on the afternoon of the 13th March 1912 + at the offices of the Church Army Labour Home, St. + James Street, Brighton, and saw the Secretary, who + showed me an entry in their books confirming the + fact that, at the request of Mr. William Watkins, + a man in their employ had delivered a letter to + Miss Emma Steele of 16 Sillwood Place, Brighton, + in the afternoon of 6th March 1912. + + "'I have interviewed all the persons connected + with this case, and they confirmed their + respective statements. + + "'W. W. BAGGALLY' + + "In reply to our further questions as to whether Mr. + Burgess's experience was a dream or a waking hallucination, + Mr. Baggally wrote to us on 1st April 1912:-- + + "'I had an interview with Mr. Burgess to-day, and + the following is the information I received from + him respecting the points you raise. He said to + me:-- + + "'"(1) I used the word 'dream' in my letter to + Miss Steele for want of a better word. (2) I woke + up and then had the vision of Miss Steele. (3) I + did not notice anything in the room at the time I + had the vision. The room appeared dark. (4) Miss + Steele appeared to me in a bright light, not + self-luminous or phosphorescent, but just as she + would have appeared in daylight. She appeared to + me in the part of the room where the door was."' + + "Mrs. Baggally sends us the following statement enclosed in + a letter dated 27th April 1912:-- + + "'I was in the drawing-room of Miss E. Steele's + sister on the evening of Wednesday, 6th March, + when Miss Emma Steele came in, saying in an + excited manner, "Where is Mr. Baggally? He will be + so interested in this." + + "'She held in her hand a letter from Mr. Burgess, + and proceeded to tell me that the previous night + she had heard, as she thought, Mr. Burgess fall + on the floor of the bedroom over her own. She + sprang out of bed. + + "'Finding herself in the middle of the room, she + heard him call "Miss Steele!" three times. She + then suddenly remembered that Mr. Burgess was no + longer living in her hotel. She struck a light, + looked at the clock, and found it was 3 o'clock. + The following morning she felt so tired that when + giving orders to her cook, the latter noticed her + fatigue and commented upon it. She told the cook + the reason was that she heard Mr. Burgess + apparently calling her at 3 o'clock. + + "'Miss Steele proceeded to say that Mr. Burgess + had, curiously enough, sent her that afternoon the + note which at that moment she held in her hand, + and in which he told her that he dreamt she had + appeared to him at 3 a.m. the previous night. + + "'Miss Steele appeared much impressed and wondered + if anything had happened to Mr. Burgess. I + informed my husband that same night, on his return + home, of what Miss E. Steele had told me. + + "'LAURA E. BAGGALLY' + + "'On my return home on the evening of 6th March + my wife related to me what appears in her + statement above. + + "'W. W. BAGGALLY'" + +The above case is evidentially a good one, inasmuch as both Miss Emma +Steele and Mr. Burgess each reported on the morning of 6th March (the +one to her cook and the other to his landlord) their experiences of the +previous night before either of them was aware that a reciprocal +telepathic impression had occurred between them. + +There appears to be evidence that telepathy can also occur between the +mind of a human being and that of an animal. The reader will doubtless +recollect Mr. H. Rider Haggard's case which appeared in the public +press. This gentleman, on the night of Saturday, 9th July 1904, dreamed +that a favourite dog of his eldest daughter was lying on its side among +brushwood by water, and that it was trying to transmit in an undefined +fashion the knowledge that it was dying. Next day the dog was missing. +The body of the dog was subsequently found floating in the water near a +bridge. An examination of the attendant circumstances pointed to the +dog having met its death on the night of Mr. Rider Haggard's dream. As a +result of this gentleman having made public this experience, he received +from numerous correspondents accounts of telepathy between the minds of +the writers of the letters and the minds of animals. These accounts were +sent by Mr. Rider Haggard to the Secretary of the S.P.R., who handed +them to me for investigation. + +A very good case was that communicated by Lady C. The following is the +account of her experience:-- + + "On one hot Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1900 I went, + after luncheon, to pay my customary visit to the stables to + give sugar and carrots to the horses, among the number being + a favourite mare named Kitty. She was a shy, nervous, + well-bred animal, and there existed between us a great and + unusual sympathy. I used to ride her every morning before + breakfast (whatever the weather might be)--quiet, solitary + rides on the cliffs which overhung the sea at Castle F., and + it always seemed to me that Kitty enjoyed that hour in the + freshness of the day as much as I did. On this particular + afternoon I left the stables, and walked along to the + garden, a distance of a quarter of a mile, and established + myself under a tree with an interesting book, fully + intending to remain there for a couple of hours. After about + twenty minutes an uncomfortable sensation came between me + and my reading, and at once I felt sure that there was + something the matter with Kitty. I tried to put the feeling + from me, and to go on with my book, but the impression grew + stronger, and I felt compelled to hasten back to the + stables. I went straight to Kitty's box and found her + 'cast,' and in urgent need of help. The stablemen were in a + distant part of the stables, whence I fetched them to have + the mare up. Their surprise was great to find me in the + stables for the second time that afternoon." + +I wrote to Lady C., and received the following reply:-- + + "_27th December 1904_ + + "Lady C. would be glad indeed to have the case investigated, + as it always seemed to her to be of the greatest possible + interest. At the same time, it may be difficult at this date + to get a statement from the stablemen, one of whom is + somewhere in England, but Lady C. will try to do so. She is + absolutely convinced that no one entered the stable. Had the + stablemen done so they would at once have helped the mare to + get up, and anyone else would have given the alarm. It seems + a direct case of telepathy from animal mind to human." + +Lady C. afterwards sent me a statement from a former coachman; it is +this:-- + + "_31st December 1904_ + + "I was coachman at Castle F. at the time. Lady C. came to + the stables after luncheon as usual on a Sunday afternoon + with carrots and sugar for the horses. Kitty was then loose + in her box and quite well. I then went to my room over the + stables, the other stablemen being also upstairs, and to my + surprise, after half an hour or three-quarters of an hour + later, her ladyship, who had been to the garden, called me + and the other stablemen to come and help Kitty up, as she + was lying 'cast'[1] in her box. No one had gone into the + stable in the interval. + + (Signed) "E. N." + +[Footnote 1: This word is used by veterinary surgeons to describe the +state of a horse that has fallen down in its box in a stable and cannot +rise.] + +Telepathy may possibly exist between the mind of an animal and that of a +human being and _vice versa_, but a sufficient number of cases have not +been collected to establish this as a fact. + + + + +PART II + +FRAUDULENT TELEPATHY + + +I now come to another class of so-called thought transference--that +exhibited at public entertainments in which genuine telepathy plays no +part. + +On the 25th November 1912 Miss Isabel Newton, the Secretary of the +Society for Psychical Research, and I attended the demonstration given +by Yoga [_sic_] Rama of his alleged occult powers at the "Little +Theatre," Adelphi. + +Accounts had appeared in the public press of a previous private +performance given by this so-called Abyssinian Mystic, at which Sir John +Simon, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Bernard Shaw, and Mr. Anthony Hope had +assisted, and it was stated that Yoga Rama had been able to read the +thoughts of the Solicitor-General by supernormal means. + +In order to demonstrate, in a public manner, the alleged occult power of +this "psychic," a stage performance was given at the "Little Theatre" on +the afternoon of the above-mentioned date. A large audience was present, +and their expectations of witnessing manifestations of an occult nature +were raised by the contents of the programme, wherein it appeared that +Yoga Rama was to give a demonstration of "The power of mind over mind" +by means of-- + + "1. Clairaudience. + + "2. The possibility of the interpretation of vibrations + without the aid of sound. + + "3. Psychometry by sense of touch. + + "4. Telepathy. The disclosure of names thought of by persons + in the audience. + + "5. Disclosure of personalities by subconscious means. + + "6. Revelations by a circumstantial chain of mind pictures. + + "7. Various demonstrations of ideas silently conveyed to the + spectator by suggestion. + + "8. Descriptions of cities and places by mind pictures. + + "9. Messages." + +Before Yoga Rama made his appearance a gentleman (a Mr. Fletcher) +delivered a short speech from the stage. He stated that the "Yoga" had +acquired his occult powers by contemplation after many years' study. He +went on to say that in the Eastern World the occult powers of the mind +had been more studied than in the Western World, but at the present day +the Western World looked upon these powers with much less prejudice than +formerly. + +After Mr. Fletcher had retired, Yoga Rama made his appearance from +between the centre of two curtains which hung at the back of the stage. +He was attired in a long loose black gown and wore a large crimson +turban. He advanced to the front of the stage and made a speech which +had a smattering of a theosophical discourse. He described four kinds of +Yogi. The first kind, he said, was frequently met in India. These Yogi +worked on the physical plane and produced effects resembling the feats +of a conjurer. The second kind worked in the mental plane (to this +class he implied that he belonged). The third dealt with the spiritual +problems of life. The fourth was absorbed in meditation. + +He continued his speech by saying that he required the sympathy of the +persons with whom he would experiment. If they mentally opposed him he +could do nothing, but if their minds were sympathetic and not +antagonistic he would succeed. + +The speeches of Mr. Fletcher and of Yoga Rama still further raised the +expectations of the audience that they were about to witness that +afternoon a demonstration of the power of mind over mind by supernormal +means. + +Yoga Rama, after the conclusion of his speech, called for thirty persons +(ladies and gentlemen) to come upon the stage and form a Committee. A +gentleman and I first answered the call. We were soon followed by a rush +of ladies and gentlemen who rather inconveniently filled the stage, but +this did not interfere with the performance, as the majority of the +ladies and gentlemen kept at the back of the stage while Yoga Rama +carried out his experiments with a limited number of the members of the +Committee. In order to be more at his ease, Yoga Rama removed his +turban. I placed it under a table which stood on the stage. I then had a +good look at him. I found he was a black man with short crisp curly +hair. From his appearance and the fluency with which he speaks English, +I came to the conclusion that he is not an Abyssinian, but an American +or West Indian negro. + +Amongst the members of the Committee were Mr. Zancig and Mr. William +Marriott. Both of these gentlemen I have had the pleasure of knowing for +some years. They, together with Mr. Charles Guttwoch (a friend of Mr. +Marriott), three or four other gentlemen, and myself, were the only +members of the Committee who actively endeavoured to ascertain whether +Yoga Rama's experiments depended for their success on trickery or on +other causes. The other members of the Committee remained passive +spectators. As regards the lady members with whom Yoga Rama tried a few +experiments, they declared themselves, at the conclusion of the +performance, to be believers in his alleged supernormal claims. + +Before the experiments commenced, Yoga Rama asked that some one should +blindfold him with some articles which lay on a small table in the +centre of the stage. These consisted of two pieces of folded paper just +large enough to cover the eyebrows and eyes, a piece of porous plaster +perforated with holes, a thin white cotton handkerchief, two gloves, and +a long red silk scarf. Mr. Marriott offered to blindfold him. I stood +close to him while this was being done. Mr. Marriott placed the pieces +of paper first on Yoga Rama's eyes, then the porous plaster, then the +cotton handkerchief, after this the two gloves, and finally the red +scarf which he wound several times round his head. The tip of Yoga +Rama's nose could be seen under the plaster, the white cotton +handkerchief, and the scarf. Yoga Rama, who remained standing, then +requested some one to sit on a chair in front of him, to think of a +name, then to hold his left hand (_i.e._ the sitter's left hand) in +front of the sitter's face, and to trace on the palm of the left hand +with the forefinger of the right the first letter of the name thought +of. The sitter was then asked to give taps on his left hand or make +movements in the air with his right hand corresponding to the number of +letters of which the name thought of consisted. When Yoga Rama suggested +(as he subsequently did) that the name of a flower or of a city should +be thought of, he requested that the same procedure of tracing the first +letter of the name and giving a number of taps or making movements with +the right hand corresponding to the number of letters should be +followed, but when he suggested that a play of Shakespeare should be +thought of he only asked that the first one or two letters of the title +should be traced on the palm of the left hand of the sitter with the +forefinger of the other hand. He did not then ask that taps or movements +of the right hand should be given or made. About an hour and a half of +the first part of the performance was taken up by experiments of the +above nature. These were varied only by one experiment of telling the +title of a hymn which a lady thought of, one of reading the thoughts of +a young lady, and one experiment with playing cards. + +Yoga Rama then made a long speech about happiness depending on our own +selves and our being what we willed ourselves to be. He asserted that he +had overcome in himself the passion of anger. He laboured these points +so much and repeated himself so often that it became manifest he was +making the speech solely with the object of filling up the time. + +The patience of the Acting Committee became exhausted, and one of the +members advanced to the front of the stage, interrupted Yoga Rama, and, +appealing to the audience, said he had no doubt but that he had their +support when he asserted that they had come to the theatre not to hear +speeches but to witness experiments. Yoga Rama brought his speech +abruptly to a close after saying he would now demonstrate the power he +had acquired of controlling the functions of his body and of rendering +it insensible to pain. To show the control over his body he asked two +members of the Committee to stand by his side and to look at their +watches and note the length of time he was able to cease from breathing. +To show his insensibility to pain he said he would stand barefooted on a +board studded with long nails, and also stand on broken glass. + +I have given an account of the nature of the performance with which Yoga +Rama favoured us. I will now proceed to describe the experiments more in +detail and to comment upon them. + +Mr. Marriott was the first person to sit on the chair in front of Yoga +Rama. He was told to hold his left hand in front of his face, to trace +the first letter of the name thought of on the palm of his left hand +with the forefinger of the right, and give the taps or make the +movements in the air with his right hand in the manner already +described. Mr. Marriott, instead of holding his left hand up, held his +right hand. Yoga Rama immediately said, "Not your right hand but your +left." This was a suspicious circumstance, as it indicated that Yoga +Rama could see notwithstanding he was blindfolded. Now conjurers know +that blindfolding in the manner above described is not a precaution +against seeing, as at the time of blindfolding what the conjurer does is +to shut his eyes tightly and bring his eyebrows well down. When the +blindfolding is finished, the conjurer opens his eyes and draws his +eyebrows up; the bandages will then be displaced and drawn up from their +original position and he will be able to see under the bandages through +the spaces between the bridge of his nose and his cheeks. This, in the +joint opinion of Mr. Zancig, Mr. Marriott, and myself, is what Yoga Rama +did, and our opinion was confirmed when we examined the bandages at the +time they were removed from the performer's eyes, as will be described +later. + +Yoga Rama's method of telling the name thought of is to watch the +movement of the finger of the sitter's right hand while he traces the +first letter of the name on the palm of the left. This indicates to him +the first letter of the name, then he counts the number of taps or +movements given by the sitter's right hand. Thus, if the first letter +were W and the number of taps or movements seven, the name in all +likelihood would be William, or, if the first letter were W and the +number of taps or movements six, the name would probably be Walter. +Ordinary Christian names are limited in number, and Yoga Rama took care +to know beforehand whether the sitter were thinking of a female name or +of a male name. It was therefore not a difficult matter for him to hit +upon the name. Moreover, when he was in doubt, as was often the case, he +not only asked that the first letter should be traced, but the second +and the third and the fourth, etc. Before hazarding a guess Yoga Rama +often asked whether the second or third or fourth, etc., letter of the +name were a letter that he mentioned. Thus, if he were not quite sure +that W had been traced, but he had noticed that seven taps or movements +had been given, he would say is not the fourth letter of the name L. If +the sitter answered in the affirmative, he would be pretty sure that +William was the name, but if the sitter's answer were a negative one, +Yoga Rama asked that the letters should be traced again and the taps, +etc., repeated. Yoga Rama resorted to the above-described method when he +asked the sitter to think of the name of a flower or of a city, but he +only tried one or two experiments with the names of flowers or cities, +the reason being, obviously, that as the names of flowers or cities are +not so limited in number as Christian names, he fought shy of them. The +reason he gave for not being able to guess readily the name of a flower +was, he said, that he was not a botanist. + +As regards the titles of Shakespeare's plays he only asked that one or +two of the first letters of the title should be traced on the left hand, +and did not require any taps or movements of the right hand. Any person +acquainted with Shakespeare's plays and knowing the first one or two +letters of the title could have guessed with equal facility which play +was in the mind of the sitter. After getting the name of the play, Yoga +Rama asked the sitter to think of a personage in that play. He only +requested that this should be done once or twice, and was not successful +in getting the name of the personage at the first guess, but only after +making two or three guesses. + +In the experiment of telling the title of a hymn which a lady had in her +mind, Yoga Rama resorted to the same method of asking her to trace the +first letter of the title of the hymn on the palm of her left hand. She +traced the letter L, and he hazarded the guess that it was "Lead, +kindly light," which proved to be correct. Apparently the most +successful experiments were one carried out with a young lady and one +with myself. Yoga Rama asked the young lady to think of something. He +then, without asking her to trace any letter or make movements with her +right hand, told her that she wished to get married. She acknowledged +that that was the thought in her mind. This caused a good deal of +amusement amongst the audience. The young lady left the stage +immediately after the experiment. This step on her part gave rise in the +minds of some of the members of the Committee that she was an +accomplice, and that, as the experiment had been carried out, she was no +longer required by Yoga Rama. These members of the Committee may be +doing an injustice to the young lady, but it was unfortunate she should +have left the stage at that moment. + +As regards the experiment with myself, I stood in front of Yoga Rama and +did not sit down, neither did I place my left hand in front of my face +as other experimenters had done, but close against my body when tracing +the letters of my second name, which was the one I had in my mind. + +My object in standing up was to have my hands out of the line of his +vision. I took care that the movement of the forefinger of my right hand +when tracing the letters should not be seen by him. + +Yoga Rama repeatedly asked me to trace and retrace all the letters of +the name. He then gave the name correctly. Although this experiment +appeared to indicate that the performer possessed telepathic powers, it +must be borne in mind that he might have known who I was, as he had been +practising his so-called occult powers for some time in London under the +name of Professor Pickens before he assumed that of Yoga Rama. It was +not necessary that he should see my face in order to know with whom he +was experimenting. It was observed that he took a very careful stock of +the dresses of the Acting Committee before he was blindfolded. It was +only necessary, therefore, that he should see the lower part of the +dress for him to know which member of the Committee stood in front of +him. As one member after the other experimented with him he described +their dress. He asserted that he was able to do this by a sort of +telepathic vision. + +The experiment with the playing cards was a simple conjuring trick. Yoga +Rama produced a pack of cards and asked the Committee to see that it was +unopened. I opened the pack, shuffled the cards, and handed them to Mr. +Marriott, who had been asked by the Professor to retire to a corner of +the stage and choose a card which he was to show to two members of the +Committee. Mr. Guttwoch and I accompanied Mr. Marriott to the corner of +the stage and saw which card Mr. Marriott had chosen. Mr. Marriott then +shuffled the pack again and handed it to Yoga Rama, who put it in his +pocket. Yoga Rama then asked Mr. Marriott what card he had chosen. Mr. +Marriott informed him. He then wrote something on a piece of paper which +he folded and handed to one of the members of the Committee to hold. He +then drew from his pocket another pack of cards similar in appearance to +the original pack (that it was not the original pack was evidenced by +the fact that the bottom card of the pack which Yoga Rama drew from his +pocket was not the same as the bottom card of the original pack), but +which had the cards arranged in an order known to Yoga Rama. He +proceeded to pass the cards one after the other before Mr. Marriott's +eyes, asking him to tell him when he came to the card he had chosen. +When Yoga Rama came to the card, Mr. Marriott told him. Yoga Rama then +said, "What is the card in front of the one you chose and the one behind +it?" He was informed which they were. He then asked that the piece of +paper should be opened, and it was found that the names of the cards had +been written by him on the piece of paper. What occult power Yoga Rama +intended to demonstrate by this simple conjuring trick I fail to see. It +could not have been telepathy, as the two cards (the names of which Yoga +Rama had written) had not been chosen nor thought of by Mr. Marriott. + +A few words will suffice to describe the experiments which Yoga Rama +carried out to show (1) the control he had acquired over the functions +of his body, and (2) his insensibility to pain. As has already been +stated, he asked two members of the Committee to stand by him and note +by their watches the length of time that he was able to cease breathing. +He retained his breath for fifty seconds. A member of the Committee at +the back of the stage called out, when the length of time was announced, +"That is nothing. I can stop breathing for a full minute." This +exclamation appeared to disconcert Yoga Rama a good deal. The standing +barefooted on a board studded with nails and on broken glass are common +tricks which can be seen performed by negroes at country fairs. I felt +the points of the nails and found they had been filed down and were +blunt. Mr. Marriott sat on the nails to the amusement of the audience +while Yoga Rama had gone off the stage to remove his boots. When Yoga +Rama returned he stood barefooted on these nails only for about half a +minute. He then proceeded to break some bottles on a piece of felt. He +pounded away on the glass with a hammer till he had reduced the greater +part to nearly a powder. He carefully pushed the larger pieces of glass +on one side and stood on the powdered portion. + +I will now proceed to state the reasons which lead me to the conclusion +that Yoga Rama was able to see, although apparently blindfolded. + +1. The bandages were removed from his eyes by Mr. Marriott, who had +blindfolded him at the commencement of the performance. While this was +being done I had my face about two feet away from Yoga Rama's face and I +carefully noted the position of each article as it was being removed. +The lower edge of the porous plaster was above the tip of the +performer's nose, and the edge of the white handkerchief above the edge +of the plaster, and above the edge of the handkerchief was the edge of +the crimson scarf. The edges of the handkerchief and scarf were +sufficiently high up, so that, had the blindfolding depended only on +these, he could have seen under them. The gloves which had been placed +on the handkerchief need not be taken into account, as the folded pieces +of paper on his eyes prevented them from pressing into the sockets of +Yoga Rama's eyes, and he, by merely closing the eyes and bringing the +eyebrows well down when he was being blindfolded and then opening his +eyes and lifting the eyebrows well up, could displace the gloves from +their original position and cause them to rise, as a conjurer well +knows; therefore the blindfolding really depended on the position of the +porous plaster. Now when Mr. Marriott placed the plaster over the pieces +of paper he took care that the lower edges of both pieces should be on +one of the lines of holes which existed in the plaster as shown in the +accompanying engraving (which is taken from a photograph). + +He also took care that the lower edge of the plaster should stick +against Yoga Rama's cheeks. On examining the plaster just before it was +removed we found that the lower edge no longer stuck against the +performer's cheeks. There were hollow spaces between the bridge of his +nose and his cheeks through which he could have seen with a downward +glance. The point now arises whether he used both his eyes or only one. +I noticed that Yoga Rama always kept the right side of his face towards +the sitters when trying the experiments. If the reader will look at the +engraving, which shows the exact position of the folded pieces of paper +at the time of the removal of the plaster from Yoga Rama's face, he will +see that the piece of paper which covered his right eye is no longer on +the same line of holes as the left piece, but is higher up, and, what is +most suspicious, he will note some pieces of tissue paper which were +stuck on the plaster by Yoga Rama and were under the pieces of folded +paper, which prevented these from adhering to the plaster; thus by an +upper movement of the eyebrows Yoga Rama succeeded in raising the folded +piece of paper which covered his right eye, and with this eye he glanced +under the plaster and watched the movements of the sitter's hands, etc. + +2. As I have stated above, Yoga Rama always kept the right side of his +head towards the person with whom he was experimenting. He tried one +experiment with a gentleman who sat in the second row of the stalls. He +then turned his body round so that the right side of his face was in the +same position relatively to this gentleman as it had been to the sitters +on the stage. Moreover, the lights in the body of the theatre were not +alight when Yoga Rama was trying his alleged thought-readings with the +members of the Committee on the stage, but when he experimented with the +gentleman in the stalls, one of the electric chandeliers in the body of +the theatre, not far from the gentleman, was immediately lit, thus +enabling Yoga Rama to watch the movements of the gentleman's right hand +when tracing the letters of the name he had chosen on the palm of his +left hand, and giving the taps corresponding to the number of the +letters. + +3. At the conclusion of the performance, after the bulk of the audience +had left, some persons remained in the foyer of the theatre, and a +discussion arose, during which some of the persons present asserted that +Yoga Rama had brought about his results by supernormal means. Mr. +Marriott, Mr. Guttwoch, and I denied this. At that moment Yoga Rama came +into the foyer, and he was accused by us of having been able to see. He +asserted that he had not seen, and to prove it offered to try some +experiments while a handkerchief was held tightly against his eyes. Mr. +Guttwoch held a handkerchief against his eyes. As Yoga Rama was not now +able to see, he resorted to a different method from the one he used on +the stage. He held the wrist of the left hand of a lady with the thumb +and three fingers of his right hand, while his forefinger rested against +the back of the lady's hand. He then asked her to trace the letters of +the name thought of with the forefinger of her right hand on the palm of +her left hand, which was being held by him. He was able to tell the +name, but only after repeated tracing of the letters by the lady. Yoga +Rama not being able to be guided by sight as in his stage performances, +now guided himself by the sense of touch. Although I have never before +carried out an experiment of this nature myself, when Miss Newton and I +returned to the rooms of the Society for Psychical Research I tried the +experiment with her. I closed my eyes and held her wrist, and was able +to feel the letter which she traced on the palm of her hand. Manifestly +this is a difficult trick to perform, and requires great practice. I +noticed that Yoga Rama chose the hand of a lady in preference to that of +a gentleman, obviously because a lady's hand is thinner than that of a +man, and the motion of her finger would be more easily felt. + +What convinced me more than any of the above reasons that Yoga Rama was +able to see during his performance is the following fact. I placed the +sticking plaster over my eyes after it had been taken from Yoga Rama's +eyes and, to my surprise, I found I could perfectly well see through it. +The numerous small holes with which it was perforated allowed me to do +this. + +The audience at the "Little Theatre" had had their expectations raised +that they were to witness manifestations of the occult powers of the +mind through the mediumship of an Abyssinian Yogi, instead of which they +witnessed an ordinary conjuring entertainment by a man who previously to +assuming the name of "Yoga [_sic_] Rama" was known as Professor A. D. +Pickens of Conduit Street, London. + +Besides the method used by Yoga Rama for producing his so-called thought +transference, there are others resorted to by public entertainers. The +one most in use is by means of a verbal code. The letters of the +alphabet are substituted and a word can be conveyed by the agent asking +a series of questions, each question beginning with a substituted +letter. The percipient has to remember what letters the substituted ones +represent; he takes note of the first letter only of each question, puts +them together in his mind, and thus gets the word that it is the +intention of the agent to convey. + +I have made a table (shown opposite) which shows one of these systems. + +If the name "Alfred" is to be conveyed, it can be done by the following +questions:-- + + Here is a name = A + Can you see it? = L + Endeavour to do so = F + Mind what you are doing = R + Go on = D + The letter E is understood. + +TABLE + + +-----------------------------------++------------------------------+ + | SUBSTITUTED LETTERS TABLE || NUMBERS TABLE | + +--------+----------+---------------++------------------------------+ + | A is H | J is L | S is N || No. 1 is Say | + | B " T | K " Pray | T " P || " 2 " Be | + | C " S | L " C | V " Look || " 3 " Can | + | D " G | M " O | W " R || " 4 " Do | + | E " F | N " D | X " See this || " 5 " Will | + | F " E | O " V | Y " Q || " 6 " What | + | G " A | P " J | Z " Hurry || " 7 " Please | + | H " I | Q " W | || " 8 " Are | + | I " B | R " M | || " 9 " Now | + | | | || " 10 " Tell | + +========+==========+===============++==============================+ + | SETS | + +----------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+ + | SET A | SET B | SET C | SET D | + +----------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+ + | _What is | _What article | _What is it | _What | + | this?_ | is this?_ | made of?_ | colour?_ | + | | | | | + | No. 1. Watch | No. 1. Handkerchief | No. 1. Gold | No. 1. White | + | " 2. Bracelet | " 2. Necktie | " 2. Silver | " 2. Black | + | " 3. Guard | " 3. Bag | " 3. Copper | " 3. Blue | + | " 4. Chain | " 4. Glove | " 4. Lead | " 4. Brown | + | " 5. Breastpin | " 5. Purse | " 5. Zinc | " 5. Red | + | " 6. Necklace | " 6. Basket | " 6. Wood | " 6. Green | + | " 7. Ring | " 7. Book | " 7. Brass | " 7. Yellow | + | " 8. Rosary | " 8. Head-dress | " 8. Paper | " 8. Grey | + | " 9. Cross | " 9. Fan | " 9. Silk | " 9. Purple | + | " 10. Charm | " 10. Key | " 10. Glass | " 10. Violet | + +----------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+ + +The transmission of the nature of an article is by dividing articles +that would be likely to be brought to a public entertainment into sets +of ten, each set being indicated by a different question. These sets +have to be learned by heart by the agent and the percipient. I give in +the table four sets to illustrate my meaning. After asking the question +which conveys the set to which the article belongs, a second question is +asked, beginning with the word corresponding to the number on the number +table. This will indicate what number in the set the article corresponds +to. As an example: when the question "What is this?" is asked, it means +that the article corresponds to SET A. If the second question begins +with "Do," such as "Do you know?", this question on referring to the +number table would mean No. 4; therefore the article would be a chain. +Now, if the question "What is it made of?" is asked, it would refer to +SET C, and if this question is followed by "Can you tell me?", on +referring to the number table it will be found to correspond to No. 3; +therefore the article would be a chain made of copper. When an article +is not in any one of the sets the substituted letter code is used. Of +course public entertainers learn by heart a number of sets, not only +four. + +For silent thought transference occasionally electrical contrivances +are resorted to. These are placed in different parts of the hall, and +when being pressed by the foot or hand of the agent will convey a +message to a certain part of the stage upon which the percipient (who +may be blindfolded) rests his foot. + +There is another silent method which can be worked by a confederate who +is placed behind a curtain close to the chair on the stage upon which +the blindfolded percipient sits. The confederate watches the performer +who stands amongst the audience and reads through a spyglass what he is +writing on his tablet when putting down what members of the audience +wish to be done. The confederate then communicates the contents of the +writing to the percipient on the stage by whispering or by an electrical +apparatus. The position of the performer or agent while he is writing in +a clear hand on his tablets with his back to the stage easily enables a +confederate to read the writing. + +Then there is the silent method of a French conjurer, some of whose +performances I have witnessed, which consists of suggesting or "forcing" +the spectators to do certain things, each action having a corresponding +number which he conveys to his lady assistant, who is blindfolded, by +touching her foot with his after she has come down from the stage and +stands by his side amongst the audience. + +The "time-coding" method consists of silently counting by the agent and +percipient at the same rate, starting from a preconcerted signal and +ending at another preconcerted signal. The performer amongst the +audience has in his hand a piece of paper on which is written the number +that he wishes to silently convey to the other blindfolded performer on +the stage. At the moment that he bends his head to look at the number he +begins silently counting at a certain rate; a confederate behind the +scenes begins counting at the same rate from the moment that the +performer bends his head. When the performer lifts his head he ceases +counting, so does the confederate. Each number written on the paper is +thus conveyed, and the confederate communicates the total to the +blindfolded performer by means of an electrical apparatus or otherwise. + +I have attended several performances in public halls in London at which +thought transference--so-called--was carried out by the above trick +methods. + +Sir Oliver Lodge was present with me at one of the performances at which +the time-coding method was used. He has sent me the following note:-- + + "I was with Mr. Baggally on one of these occasions, and took + note of the fact that he could often guess what was being + transmitted by the performers quite as well as they could + themselves. We sat in a box looking at them, and he often + told me before they had spoken what they were going to say + (or words to that effect). + + "I perceived even without his assistance that the + performance, which was stimulated by the success of the + Zancigs, was an exceedingly inferior imitation of what they + had achieved, and was manifestly done by a code of some + kind. + + "O. J. L." + +Some of the methods resorted to by public entertainers are so ingenious +that the spectator is led to believe that genuine thought transference +has taken place. The following correspondence, which appeared in the +spiritualistic weekly paper called _Light_, illustrates a case in point. +In the number of _Light_ of the 25th October 1902 there appeared this +letter headed "Thought Transference":-- + + "SIR,--A few years ago Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin gave the + following entertainment in almost every large town in the + three kingdoms. The public were invited to write any + question or questions they desired to have answered on a + piece of paper, to place it in their pockets, and keep it + there without communicating its contents to anyone, and then + when they went to the hall their names were called out and + their question answered without the papers leaving their + possession. About fifty such inquiries were answered each + evening without a single failure by Mrs. Baldwin, who sat + blindfolded with her back to the audience. From my + experience and that of my friends, collusion was impossible, + and the only way of accounting for the performance was by + thought transference or telepathy between Mrs. Baldwin and + those of the audience with whom she was in mental sympathy. + + (Signed) "C. A. M." + +Commenting on this letter, I wrote to _Light_, and my communication +appeared the following week. It was to this effect:-- + + "Under the heading of 'Thought Transference,' your + correspondent, C. A. M., gives an account of some + entertainments by Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, at which he says" (I + here quoted from C. A. M.'s letter, and then continued as + follows):--"I never was present at entertainments given by + Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, and therefore cannot express an + opinion as to the _modus operandi_ in their particular case, + but I would point out that their entertainments bear a close + resemblance to those given by conjurers. The explanation of + the mystery in a conjurer's case is as follows:--The + conjurer asks members of the audience to write their + questions secretly, to sign their names at the bottom of the + question, and then to fold the pieces of paper on which the + questions are written and place them in their pockets. To + facilitate the writing he hands pencils round and tablets + upon which to rest the pieces of paper during the writing of + the questions, or the members of the audience, if they so + wish, can retire into an adjoining room and write their + questions on a table. The tablets and pencils are then + collected by an assistant who is a confederate, who then + retires from the hall to the room where the table is. The + tablets and table have false surfaces of leather or other + material, which, on being removed by the confederate, + disclose a layer of carbon paper resting on another of white + paper upon which the questions have been recorded unknown to + the inquirers. The confederate then proceeds to read the + questions with their respective attached signatures, and to + communicate them to the blindfolded medium by an electrical + apparatus upon which the medium's foot rests, or by other + mechanical means." + +I signed my letter W. W. B. A fortnight after, the following letter +appeared in _Light_:-- + + "SIR,--With reference to the communication by W. W. B. + referring to the supposed thought transference, and + mentioned by another correspondent, C. A. M., in connection + with the entertainments of Professor Baldwin (an American + conjurer and brother mason), whom I met in Cape Town on two + separate occasions, permit me to state that (1) if it is the + same Baldwin, he is one of the cleverest illusionists in + his special line of trick thought transference, and W. W. B. + is quite right. (2) I know that Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin did + most of their experiments by trick, because, being one of + the chosen committee to test the so-called thought reading, + I fixed it absolutely as trickery on the lines indicated by + W. W. B. + + (Signed) "BERKS HUTCHINSON" + +I was gratified to read this letter and to find that my conjecture was +correct that the Baldwin performance was a mere exhibition of +conjuring. + + + + +PART III + +THE ZANCIGS + + +Some years ago there appeared at the Alhambra Theatre, London, two +entertainers--Mr. and Mrs. Zancig--whose performances were of so +puzzling a nature that to many who had witnessed them the only +explanation of the results obtained appeared to be that genuine +telepathy was at play. The _Daily Mail_ newspaper arranged that Mr. and +Mrs. Zancig should be subjected to a series of severe tests at its +office, and on the 30th November 1906 these were carried out. + +On the 1st December the _Daily Mail_ published a full account of these +experiments. The publication of this and of other accounts by persons +who had witnessed the remarkable performances of the Zancigs led to a +heated controversy between the correspondents of the _Daily Mail_ and +the _Daily Chronicle_. Those of the first paper mostly asserted that the +performance was an exhibition of true telepathy, while those of the +second paper declared that codes--visual and verbal--would account for +the phenomena. Previously to the experiment carried out by the _Daily +Mail_ I had obtained a letter of introduction to the Zancigs from a +friend of mine who had had private tests with them, but as it was +necessary to have the permission of the manager of the Alhambra before +an interview with the Zancigs could be arranged, I called at the offices +of that theatre, and saw Mr. Scott, the manager. I informed him that I +was a member of the Society for Psychical Research, which body I told +him took the deepest interest in telepathy. I handed him a letter that I +had written to Mr. Zancig, and on the 29th November 1906 I received the +following communication from the last-named gentleman:-- + + "DEAR SIR,--I received a letter from Miss H. A. Dallas, + telling me that you would like to meet us. Now, my dear sir, + we would be pleased to make your acquaintance, and have you + call for a visit, but if it is for any private show and to + be tried and judged if our work is, as we represent, 'two + minds with but a single thought,' I will have to say No. We + have done nothing since we arrived in London but have + callers to test and try us every day, from three to four + ladies and gentlemen. My wife and I agreed to all tests they + put to us, and all was quite satisfactory. Personally I do + not care, but it has been quite a strain on my wife. Should + you care to witness our show, you would be able to see us at + ten p.m. on the Alhambra stage, but if you care to call and + see us, and have a little talk, we both would be pleased to + meet you.--Trusting that I am understood, I remain, yours + sincerely, + + (Signed) "JULIUS ZANCIG" + +Although the contents of the above letter were of a discouraging nature, +I determined to strike the iron while it was hot; therefore, on the +evening of the same day I called, accompanied by my wife, at the flat +where the Zancigs resided. They were at the time partaking of their +evening meal. We apologized for our intrusion, but by the kind way that +they received us we were soon put at our ease. I informed Mr. Zancig +that I was much interested in telepathy, and that I had personally +carried out experiments in this branch of psychical research, and that I +was assured of the truth of its existence through the successes that I +had obtained. + +Mr. and Mrs. Zancig impressed my wife and myself most favourably by +their unaffected and simple manner. After a conversation which lasted +about ten minutes, Mr. Zancig very kindly spontaneously offered to try +some experiments. I will now describe these. Madame Zancig went to the +other end of the room farthest away from where Mr. Zancig, my wife, and +I sat. She faced the wall with her back to us; Mr. Zancig then wrote +with a chalk a line of figures on a slate which he held in his left +hand, and called out the word "Ready." Madame Zancig immediately named +the figures correctly and in their proper order. The same kind of +experiment was tried successfully three times. The results might have +been due to telepathy, but I was not satisfied, as it could have been +possible that the figures were prearranged, or that Madame Zancig could +tell by the sound of the chalk what figures were being written. I also +had in my mind the fact that there is a method of communicating figures +by time-coding. + +Mr. Zancig then asked me to write a double line of figures. I handed the +slate to him, and after he had called out "Ready" Madame Zancig +proceeded to cast them up correctly. + +As Madame Zancig named all my figures aloud as she was summing them up, +this experiment was of a more complicated nature than the previous ones; +nevertheless, I was not entirely satisfied, as time-coding in putting +down the resultant figures by Mr. Zancig, and the hearing of the sound +of the chalk by Madame Zancig when I was writing my own figures, might +have accounted for the favourable result. + +To prevent the possibility of communicating by an electrical or other +apparatus concealed under the carpet, I requested Mr. Zancig to raise +his feet from the floor. He immediately complied by sitting on the +table, where he remained to the last experiment. + +Madame Zancig then retired into an adjoining bedroom with a slate in her +hand; the door was closed, but not entirely. My wife wrote down two +lines of figures, the slate was handed by her to Mr. Zancig, who called +out "Ready," and he then proceeded without speaking to add them up. +Madame Zancig then came into the room with the correct result written by +herself on her slate. This was a more crucial test than the last, but +still, although visual-coding was excluded, sound-coding while Mr. +Zancig was writing the resultant sum was not entirely so. + +Then followed the experiment of transmitting a selected line in a book. +Mr. Zancig handed me a book and asked me to open it at any page and to +point out a line. After I had done so I handed the book to him. He +called out "Ready." Then his wife opened a duplicate book at the proper +page, and read the line which I had selected. Doubtless the words of the +line were not communicated telepathically or otherwise by Mr. Zancig, +but only the number of the page and the number of the line counting from +the top of the page. Nevertheless, it was difficult to discover by what +method this was done, as Mr. Zancig simply called out "Ready." There did +not appear to be time for the numbers of the page and line to be +transmitted by time-coding. The reader will observe that as the +experiments proceeded they appeared to present increasing evidence that +true telepathy was at work. + +The following and last experiment that I tried on this occasion was the +most crucial. I requested Mr. Zancig to go out with me on to the landing +outside the door of the flat. I did not previously inform Madame Zancig +nor Mr. Zancig of the nature of the test that I was about to put. Madame +Zancig remained in the room with my wife. The door was closed, but not +completely. When we were on the landing I suddenly drew my cheque-book +out of my pocket, tore out a cheque, and handed it to Mr. Zancig, +requesting him to transmit the number. Mr. Zancig observed to me in a +whisper that the noise of the traffic in the street was very disturbing. +This was true, as the hall door to the street was open. He then remained +silent while he looked at the cheque. My wife then came out on to the +landing, and handed me a slate upon which Madame Zancig had during the +experiment written the words, "In the year 1875." Mr. Zancig then said +aloud, "This is not what we want; it is the number." My wife returned +into the room with the slate, and the door was closed, but not +completely. It was impossible, however, for Madame Zancig to see her +husband. The suspicion arose in my mind that the number on the cheque +might have been communicated to Madame Zancig by the words that Mr. +Zancig had spoken aloud. I therefore took the cheque that he had in his +hand and substituted another one with a different number that I tore +from the bottom of my cheque-book. Mr. Zancig remained absolutely silent +during the whole time that this second experiment lasted. My wife again +came out of the room with the slate, upon which Madame Zancig had +written quite correctly, in their proper order, four of the five numbers +of the second cheque, with the exception of the last figure, which was +wanting, but just as we were returning to the room Madame Zancig said, +"There was another figure; it was four"--which was correct. This +impressed me as a good test, with regard to the three last numbers of +this cheque, which were different from the corresponding ones of the +first cheque. Madame Zancig could not see her husband, and he remained +absolutely silent while the experiment was being carried out. + +I insert here a note by Sir Oliver Lodge in which he gives an account of +an experiment of a similar nature, and also of other experiments which +he tried with the Zancigs. + + "Independently of the more thorough investigations of Mr. + Baggally, I myself was favoured with a private interview + with the Zancigs, who were friendly and considerate and + helpful; and I tried the experiment of having Mrs. Zancig + outside the room, though with door open, and Mr. Zancig with + me and quite silent. I wrote five or six figures on a slate, + taking care to make no noise, and Mrs. Zancig failed to get + them correctly. Zancig seemed distressed at that, and after + a little time groaned out, 'Oh, surely you can do this'; + almost immediately after which Mrs. Zancig came into the + room with the correct figures written on her slate. It was + difficult to see how the sentence had conveyed the figures, + but it was instructive to find that utterance of some kind + seemed necessary. It was partly this, and partly the + manifest difficulty of eliminating all possibilities of code + between a pair of performers accustomed to go about + together, with years of experience behind them, that + prevented me from doing what I probably ought to have done, + though circumstances did not render it very easy, namely, to + make a serious study of the Zancig phenomena. + + "Moreover, I questioned Mr. Zancig about codes, and found + that he was familiar with a great many. He was quite frank + about it, and rather implied, as I thought, that at times he + was ready to use any code or other normal kind of assistance + that might be helpful, though he assured me that he found + that he and his wife did possess a faculty which they did + not in the least understand, but which was more efficient + and quicker than anything they could get by codes. On the + whole, I think this extremely likely, but the rapidity and + the certainty and dependableness of the power went far + beyond anything that I could imagine as possible between + people who depended on supernormal faculty alone. But if + there was a mixture of devices between people so skilled, I + despaired of bringing the genuine part of the phenomenon to + a definite issue. + + "I do not think that either this or the weight of my other + avocations are a sufficient excuse for this neglect, but it + certainly was not easy to get opportunities for careful + investigation. One of the main difficulties was that they + were not free agents, having entered into contracts with + managers whose financial interests partly depended upon the + continued uncertainty of the public as to the causes + underlying their very remarkable performance. Moreover, I + knew that so skilled an investigator as Mr. Baggally was + more favourably impressed with them than I was myself, and + was able to give to them some considerable time and + attention. + + "The extraordinary and rapid success with which Mrs. Zancig + named one thing after another, handled or seen by her + husband as he went through the hall in their public + performances, is familiar to everybody who attended those + exhibitions; but one episode which I have not put on record + did impress me as rather exceptionally good, though entirely + unsensational and unnoticeable at the time. I relate it + here:-- + + "The Zancigs happened to come to Birmingham for a week + during the University Vacation when I was away. On the last + day of their performance I happened unexpectedly to return + to Birmingham, and was dining at the club with some other + men. Some one remarked that the Zancigs were performing, and + suggested that we should cut dessert and go and see them; so + we went in the middle of the performance and sat at the back + of the gallery. Everything went on as usual. Mrs. Zancig was + on the stage, blindfolded, I think, though I attach no + importance to that. Mr. Zancig had been through the body of + the hall, and was coming along the side gallery, taking + objects from members of the audience as he went, and having + them described quickly one after the other as usual, when he + caught sight of me at the back of the gallery, and indicated + recognition by a little start. The next object that he took + in hand (a purse or what not) he said, 'What is this?' and + Madame Zancig on the stage said 'Oliver.' Zancig shook his + head and muttered, 'No, that's what I was thinking of, but + what's this?' On which she said whatever it was correctly, + and the performance went on as usual; my friends in due time + getting their tests efficiently done. Nobody noticed the + incident in particular; it was over in a second. It + conveyed no impression of anything except of a slight + confusion,--an error, in fact, immediately corrected,--but I + could not fail to notice that the very unimportant incident + tended in favour of the view that a power of sympathy or + communication between them was genuine, since she got an + undesired and unintended impression which certainly was at + the moment in Mr. Zancig's mind. + + "O. J. L." + +Later, on the same evening of the experiment with the numbers on my +cheque-book which I have described above, my wife and I attended the +public performance at the Alhambra. We were seated at a distance from +the stage. When Mr. Zancig came amongst the audience my wife handed him +a piece of something black, the nature of which it was difficult to tell +at first sight. He stooped down and asked in a whisper, "What is that?" +My wife answered, also in a whisper, "Liquorice." Madame Zancig +immediately called out from the stage, "Liquorice." No word had been +spoken by Mr. Zancig after my wife had whispered the word "Liquorice." I +then handed a visiting-card with a double name. Zancig read to himself +in a low voice the last name, which was Hutchinson, and said, "What is +the first name?" Madame Zancig called out "Berks"; this was correct. It +appeared to me suspicious, however, that the question, "What is the +first name?" although appropriate and natural, should contain the same +number of words as there are letters in the name Berks--namely, five. +Therefore some months after, at another performance, I wrote the same +name, Berks Hutchinson, on a piece of paper and handed it to Mr. Zancig. +This time he asked, "What is this?" Madame Zancig replied, "A piece of +paper with a name." Mr. Zancig said, "Give the name." She replied, +"Berks Hutchinson." + +I attended a series of performances at the Alhambra, and took down the +questions and answers in order, if possible, to discover the code. On +witnessing a first performance the spectator might be led to believe +that word-coding alone is at the bottom of the mystery, but if notes are +taken at a number of performances he will find that the same question +is answered differently time after time. + +From my experiments with the Zancigs I came to the conclusion that +although the alleged transmission of thought might possibly depend on a +code or codes which I was unable to unravel, yet their performance was +of such a nature that it was worthy of serious scientific examination. +On the assumption that they possessed genuine telepathic powers it would +be a pity that the opportunity of investigating their claim should be +missed. I therefore set myself to work to arrange with Mr. Alfred Moul, +managing director of the Alhambra, and Mr. Zancig for some experiments +to be tried before a Committee of the members of the Society for +Psychical Research. + +An article appeared in the _Daily Mail_, inspired evidently by Mr. Moul, +from which I now quote:-- + + "We have suggested to Mr. Zancig that in preference to + inquiries into telepathy by unskilled persons he should + place himself in the hands of the Society for Psychical + Research, of which Mr. Gerald Balfour is the President, and + of which Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Crookes, and other + distinguished scientists are leading members. Mr. Zancig has + informed us that he has already received a communication + from that Society, and that he was entirely willing to place + himself and Madame Zancig at the disposal of the Society for + a thoroughly scientific series of tests." + +The investigation by the Society for Psychical Research, at which I was +present, took place on the 18th January 1907. I regret that I cannot +give an account of what took place at this meeting, as it was mutually +arranged between Mr. Moul and the S.P.R. that the results should not be +divulged. They appeared, however, sufficiently favourable to some of the +members present (though not to all) to induce them to subsequently form +an unofficial Committee to carry out further tests. These unofficial +experiments did not take place till 26th July 1907. + +In the meantime I continued my own private experiments. A striking one +is the following. I was in the balcony of the Alhambra on the 19th +January 1907, and when Mr. Zancig came to that part of the house I +handed him a piece of paper on which I had written the word +"Istapalapan." I took care that he should not see the word previously to +my giving him the paper. Zancig remarked to me in a whisper, "This is a +long word." Owing to the distance from his wife it could not have been +possible for her to overhear these words. Then Mr. Zancig called out, +"Spell this." Madame Zancig immediately wrote on the blackboard which +was on the stage "Istapala," and when she came to the second "p" she +wrote "f" and then "san." I have often noticed that when Madame Zancig +makes a mistake in a letter or number there is a similarity in the form +of the letter or number to that which was to be transmitted; thus, she +would put down "f" for "p," "7" for "9." "fsan" in this case is very +like "pan," and Mr. Zancig may have mistaken the letters. I fail to +understand how in this experiment he was able to code such a long word +as "Istapalafsan" by the simple words "Spell this." It would appear as +if Madame Zancig really saw what Mr. Zancig was looking at. The reader +will recollect that in his preliminary remarks at each of his +performances Zancig says, "What I see, Madame Zancig sees." + +I have several times observed this alleged peculiarity, notably so on +the occasion of the tests at the Gramophone offices, which took place on +the 22nd February 1907, and at which I was one of the members of the +Committee. Mr. and Mrs. Zancig were divided by a large screen. They +could not see each other. A recording trumpet was placed near each, into +which they spoke. A table was placed by the side of Mr. Zancig on which +a great number of articles had been placed by the members of the +Committee. Madame Zancig with great rapidity named the articles as Mr. +Zancig took them up in answer to his "What is this? and this?" etc. An +incident which struck me as remarkable was the following. Mr. Zancig +raised a pencil, saying, "What is this?" and after Madame Zancig had +correctly stated what it was, he took up immediately (not in the +vicinity of the pencil, but some distance from it) a case, and said, +"And this?" Instead of naming the article Madame Zancig proceeded to +enumerate in their proper order the articles that lay between the two +articles which Mr. Zancig had taken up. Thus, a pencil, a seal, a +penknife, a case. It appeared as if Madame Zancig had actually seen the +articles over which her husband had passed his hand. + +An excellent test was the following. Dr. W. M'Dougall, a member of the +Council of the S.P.R., who was present at these tests, borrowed a book +from one of the members of the Committee. He came to the side of the +screen where Mr. Zancig stood, opened the book at a certain page, then +pointed to the middle of a line in the centre of the page. Mr. Zancig, +without taking the book in his hand, glanced at the line, then Dr. +M'Dougall shut the book, took it to the other side of the screen, and +handed it closed to Madame Zancig. Mr. Zancig remained absolutely +silent, placed his hand against his forehead, and appeared to make a +strong mental effort. Madame Zancig, after the lapse of a minute, opened +the book at the proper page and began reading at the word in the middle +of the line that had been chosen by Dr. M'Dougall. Some members of the +Committee and I stood quite close to Mr. Zancig. We did not hear him +utter a sound. He could not be seen by Madame Zancig owing to the +screen. + +I was present at the _matinee_ performance given under the auspices of +the _Daily Mirror_ newspaper at the Alhambra. Dr. H., principal surgeon +of a well-known hospital, handed to Mr. Zancig a set of skeins of silk +of different colours. These were then passed on to Madame Zancig, who +was on the stage. Dr. H. pointed silently to a skein of silk of a +corresponding set which he had retained, and which he took care Madame +Zancig could not see. Mr. Zancig, who preserved absolute silence, and +remained motionless, looked at the colour of the skein, and in the space +of half a minute his wife picked out a skein of the corresponding colour +from the set that she had in her possession. This test was tried +successfully three times. I particularly took note that Mr. Zancig +remained silent and motionless, retaining the same position of his body +during the course of the three experiments. + +I have tried tests with Mr. and Madame Zancig in the transmission of +diagrams. I took with me to a private house to which I was invited an +envelope containing cards with diagrams on them. Madame Zancig sat +behind a large screen at the end of the room. By her side sat a lady, a +friend of mine, who watched Madame Zancig and saw that she did not move +from her chair. Mr. Zancig stood close to me near the other end of the +room. I presented the envelope to him, retaining it in my hand. He drew +out one of the cards on which was a diagram not known either to him or +to me till he looked at it. He fixed his gaze intently on it, remained +motionless, and in a whisper said to me, "Please say ready." I called +out, "Ready," and his wife then drew a diagram on a piece of paper, at +the same time saying, "Something like half a moon." + +[Illustration: MR. ZANCIG'S DIAGRAM] + +[Illustration: MADAME ZANCIG'S DRAWING] + +Mr. Zancig then drew another card from the envelope. This time he did +not speak, but nodded his head once, and I called out, "Ready." Madame +Zancig thereupon observed, "It is a square within a square." The diagram +that Mr. Zancig was looking at was this: + +[Illustration] + +his wife drew this: + +[Illustration] + +Two more cards were then drawn, but Madame Zancig did not succeed; she +got absolutely wrong drawings. + +At a public performance at Eastbourne I handed Mr. Zancig this diagram: + +[Illustration] + +He called out, "Draw this." Madame Zancig, who was on the platform, +said, "It is something like this." She made a motion with her right arm +like drawing a capital V; she then drew it on the blackboard. After +this she slowly drew a horizontal line through the V, thus: + +[Illustration] + +Mr. Zancig said, "Give the number." She then placed a 2 in the proper +position. He then called out, "Give the rest." She thereupon placed the +_a_ under the line, thus: + +[Illustration] + +Mr. Zancig said, "What more?" His wife placed the sign of + correctly, +but she rubbed it out several times as if in doubt. Finally she put down +the sign of + and a capital X, so that her drawing appeared like this: + +[Illustration] + +I have had many other experiments with this gifted couple, but have not +yet obtained the crucial test of getting Mr. Zancig to be in a distant +room with closed doors, while his wife was in another room. The +possibility of their using a sound code at one time and a visual code at +another is therefore not entirely precluded. + +Although I have been quite unable to discover the methods by which they +can possibly communicate when a visual and a sound code are not +detected, yet I will reserve my ultimate opinion until I obtain tests +under the crucial conditions that I have named. + +Not only did I personally meet with difficulties in endeavouring to +explain the performances of Mr. and Madame Zancig, but also the members +of the unofficial Committee that I have referred to. I now give an +extract from our unofficial report. + + "... It must be remembered that the antecedent probabilities + in favour of a code to explain all performances of this kind + are enormous. + + "While we are of opinion that the records of experiments in + telepathy made by the Society for Psychical Research and + others raise a presumption for the existence of such a + faculty at least strong enough to entitle it to serious + scientific attention, the most hopeful results hitherto + obtained have not been in any way comparable as regards + accuracy and precision with those produced by Mr. and Madame + Zancig. Further, there is, so far as we are aware, no case + of any public performers (including certain recent examples) + where the use of a code or apparatus has not been more or + less readily discoverable or clearly to be inferred. In + considering, therefore, the claim of Mr. and Madame Zancig + to the possession of a genuine telepathic faculty, one is + faced by the initial difficulty that such a faculty must be + regarded as unique in quality, and Mr. and Madame Zancig + themselves as unique in kind, a difficulty on the force of + which it is not necessary to insist. On the other hand, the + difficulty of suggesting by what method, if not by + telepathy, they communicate is considerable. Those who have + only witnessed the public theatre performances, clever and + perplexing as these are, will not appreciate how hard it is + to offer any plausible explanation of their _modus + operandi_." + +In conclusion, I would wish to point out that the establishment of the +fact that telepathy is a scientific truth would have bearings of the +greatest importance. + +It would show that the transmission of thought could occasionally be +effected otherwise than by the ordinary sense channels. + +It would change the materialistic conception that thought only acts +within the limits of the brain. + +It would modify the materialistic scientific view of the relation of +mind to matter. + +I trust that what I have written will act as an incentive to some of my +readers to try experiments in this branch of psychical research.[2] It +is not enough that a few individuals by patient inquiry and experiment +should have been convinced of the reality of telepathy. What is wanted +is that scientific men generally, by the record of an overwhelming +number of experiments under the strictest test conditions, should be +convinced of its truth. Once let them be so, then public conviction will +in due time follow. + +Meanwhile I feel bound to state that, in spite of initial +improbability, the experiences which I myself have had, as partly +narrated in this book, especially those briefly summarized in Part I, +have convinced me that the telepathic faculty does exist, and that its +detection is a genuine extension of scientific knowledge; though much +more will have to be done before the bare fact receives its explanation +and is permanently incorporated in a coherent system of Science. + +[Footnote 2: Information relating to cases of genuine telepathy may be +sent to the Secretary of the Society for Psychical Research, 20 Hanover +Square, London, who will be pleased to investigate them.] + + + + +PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH + + + + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Transcriber's Note: + + +Punctuation errors have been corrected without note. On p. 20, "11.5 +p.m." was corrected to "11.50 p.m." + +In the ASCII version, the acute accents in "matinee" and "seance" were +removed. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Telepathy, by W. W. 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